2 Years old!!!...

of course we had a toy story party!

the birthday boy with his buzz lightyear shirt

eating some breadsticks and fruit

a new Buzz from Aunt Karen (just in time too!)

books from his Great-Aunts

first Doctor Suess book :)

basketball star

he got more and more excited as he pulled the paper off this one

toy story table

ready for church

handsome boy!

gamma and gampa

Well, my baby turned 2 on Saturday! I got all teary eyed last night thinking about him getting a few steps closer to not needing mommy anymore :( (more about that in the next post) On Thursday Jakob was running a fever of 101.7 and it would not go down with Tylenol. I finally got the fever to go down by alternating Motrin and Tylenol. I didn't know if it was a virus or teething or what so I also gave him lots of vitamin c and colloidal silver. I still don't quite know what he had, I did feel his two back molars on top have broken the skin, so maybe it was that, but I also found out that the hand, foot and mouth virus is going around the nursery at church and I know it was something in Jakey's mouth/teeth area that was bothering him, so it's still a mystery. Jeremy's parents came to stay with us on Friday and Jakob was just not acting like himself. He only wanted to be held by me and he didn't want to eat, play, read or anything. Just lay around pretty much. Friday night he was up till 2 in the morning crying. Saturday I debated whether I should just cancel his birthday party. Some of our family was coming from Tampa and I didn't want them to drive a couple hours just to have a birthday boy who had to go to bed because he was sick. Thankfully Jakob acted o.k. Still not totally feeling well or the happy, friendly Jakob but he still played a little. He ate some pizza and breadsticks (a favorite of his) and some fruit. He looked at his birthday cake and looked at me like eeeww, I am not eating that. Jeremy had to shove a piece in his mouth then he liked it and dug in :) I didn't get a ton of pictures because mostly Jakob was sitting with me. We opened presents all day long (as you can see in the pictures) because there were a lot of them and Jakob wasn't feeling too hot. His birthday turned out good in spite of the teething/sickness issue. I am glad that I decided to just invite family and not do a huge blowout though. Jakob loved all his presents. He has literally played with every one of them since Saturday, but I think the absolute favorites would be:
1. Mr Potato Head (This is favorite number one. He carries Mr. Potato head everywhere!)
2. His Toy Story table. Last night he got a container with little muffins in it, handed it to Jeremy, went to his Toy Story table, pulled out a chair and sat down for daddy to give him a muffin :) so cute
3. His basketball hoop. He likes to climb into his rocking chair and reach over and slam dunk his basketball. Yes, I know a broken limb or boo boo is on the way, but boys have to have a little fun, right? All I can say is this child is more like his Father than y'all will ever know.

Jakob lately...

One of Jakob's favorite things to do is make collections of things. He will go digging in his toy box and pull out every Toy Story character he owns and stack them all in a big pile on the floor. Lately I walk into a room and there's a row of toys, -kinda like his little farm animals all lined up-. He also takes all my hairclips from my bedroom and lines them all up on the arm of the rocking chair :) Jakey has a little dog named scout (it's from leap frog) and scout sings songs about Jakob, teaches Jakob how to spell his own name and teaches him animal sounds, etc. Well Jakob has one favorite song that scout sings, so he will push his little button over and over and over (skipping all the other songs) till he comes to that same song again. We love the way Jakob is choosing things he really loves and what he doesn't like so much. Jake's vocabulary is growing a little. He's still a pretty quiet guy, but he has learned to say "hey!" Whenever he grabs the wii remote and pauses a movie/show we're watching he'll look at me, smile and say "hey!" There is a small Bible -that his grandma got him at the hospital when he was first born- that has always been on his dresser and the other day I took it down and showed it to him and he loved it. Sometimes when he wakes up from his nap he will reach over to his dresser and say bah-boll. Lately it has been raining so much down here!!! I had no idea that when they said rainy season they really meant it. I mean we have rain/thunder/lightning just about every day. It feels like we live in the amazon or something! Jakob loves the rain. He will run around in it (when it's not lightning and say rain-rain-rain) He also has a Veggie Tales book that he will bring to me and say bob, wawwy (larry, -it's so cute to hear him say this-) and he will whisper (I think cause he's not sure if he's saying it right wau-wa (laura) while he points to the characters. So we don't have a ton of talking going on but he is saying a lot more variety of words these days. Anyways, that's just a small run down of what my little fella is up to lately. We are getting ready for his 2nd birthday on Saturday! I cannot believe he will be two. It's so funny because presents keep showing up via Fed Ex or UPS and he can see the picture on the front of the box and he's so happy, but then I hide them and he has forgotten about them. I think opening his presents this year is going to be very exciting :)

My new obsession...

Is eyebrow powder. Have you ever used it before??? I can never keep my eyebrows looking somewhat the same so I was looking online at some eyebrow shaping kits. I got this one from Sephora for 10 bucks. I figured for 10 bucks I would give it a try. I am now obsessed with the brow powder. It fills in any spots where I have no brows growing or where they're sparse. It also has brow wax so once you get your brows perfect the wax holds them in place. The only thing is it looks weird if you do your eyebrows and the rest of your face isn't made up, so I mainly use it for church or special occasions. The eyebrows look more dramatic with the powder, and somehow it makes my makeup look more elegant 
(that's the only word I could think of besides dressed up). Anyways, I don't know why I felt the need to share, but I really love brow powder :p (lol)

Haircut...

New haircut 

Wedding stuff...

A friend from church makes hair bows. All the little girls at the church are running around with cute bows in their hair. I asked her if she could make me something to wear in my hair for Kara's wedding. The flower is on an alligator clip so if I cut my hair short between now and then I can clip it onto a black headband and wear it that way. I will definitely not be wearing it as I am modeling below, this is just so y'all can see it in my hair :)

Here is a link to the dress we are wearing, the color is apple:

http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Cotton-Sateen-Strapless-with-Ruching-and-Pockets-83312_Bridal-Party-Features-Fashion-In-A-Flash

It will be really cute huh? I don't have facebook, but for those of you who do and want to check out some more of her stuff you can go to  the tortoise and the hair bows on facebook

EWWW!!!

Every two years I renew my hairdressers license. A magazine arrives in the mail with a lot of reading in it and some questions to answer in the back. Usually I just look up the answers (which by the way are all in bold italics in the reading) and answer all the questions, the material hasn't changed since I graduated from beauty school 10 years ago...wait a second..
-Seriously, I graduated from beauty school 10 years ago in February. Aye-yae-yae. Another reminder of my ever increasing age :)- Anyways, I don't pay attention to what the book says. It really is just the basic stuff you learn in school. One woman who used to cut my hair 
(and works at a nice salon) had her husband do her continuing education for her while he was playing a game on the computer, it's not rocket science. For some reason I started reading about nail salons. I didn't like doing nails in school, especially pedicures. It's just plain gross. Anyways, the book was telling about all these diseases people have contracted in nail salons. I'm talking people died from MRSA and people have lost fingers and toes because they are infected with staph or the herpes virus because the salon was using unsanitary implements and stuff. Ewww. Needless to say that killed any inclination I had of ever getting my nails done at a nail salon again. Yes, I have been to nail salons before, I was even contemplating going a couple times to get ready for Kara's wedding. I guess I will just continue to grow my nails and take care of them myself. Sometimes too much information is just too much :)

Schedule...

Lately I've been feeling like I need to be more organized. I need to fit some important things into my life every day. I need to schedule time to exercise (I know, I stop and go with exercising that's why I need to make time for it !!!). I would like to wake up earlier than Jakob and walk on my treadmill, drink some coffee and just have a little time to read or do whatever it is I put off because I feel guilty doing it while Jakob is awake. I feel like I should probably have some scheduled time with Jakob where we work on letters and colors and all that stuff little people should learn. We read books and point out animals and colors and numbers and letters, but I kinda feel like I should make some time specifically for that. I feel like I'm not as productive as I could be, or maybe as I'd like to be....hmmm. I'll have to ponder this and get back to y'all. If anybody has any tips or suggestions with how scheduling has worked or not worked in your house let me know :)

Surprises...

I don't know about you, but I love when you forget about something and then you find it again, those are fun surprises. Like when you put a five dollar bill in your pocket and then a month down the road you find it -that only used to happen to me when I cut hair, I always had cash!-. Today I was cleaning out Jakob's dresser, moving 18 month stuff out and I remembered a box in his closet where I had put some 2T clothing. I loaded all the 2T stuff into the dresser. In the closet I saw a big bag of clothes so I got it out to see what size they were. All the clothes were 3 and 4T. They were from one of my little guys in my class at the daycare. These clothes are all Oshkosh and Hartstrings, nice clothes and OH SO CUTE. They also brought back some good memories of a feisty little redheaded boy. I think it will be so special for Jakob to wear his clothes. I always had a little place in my heart reserved only for "my boys" at the daycare. 
Maybe it was a sign of good things to come :)  The only downside to this exciting find is realizing that this time next year Jakob will be big enough to wear a lot of it. Who told my baby he could grow up??? It sure wasn't me!

The end before the beginning...

So me and Amber were talking the other day about how I will read the end of a book to make sure I like the ending before I commit myself to reading the whole thing. It's weird, I know. If you know me very well at all you will know I like reality tv. Not like the sleazy kind, but I love Survivor, Amazing Race, etc. Even with television I will read spoilers and I'd rather know who got kicked off the show before I watch it happen. I guess the reason why I am so freakishly strange about knowing the endings is because I get emotionally invested in a book. I know it's not a real situation/person, but when you read it it seems like it is. Tv shows are kind of the same way. I get so nervous watching Survivor even when I know my favorite person is about to be booted off. Lately I've been wishing that my life was a book, so I could flip to the back and see how the story goes. As most of you know we've heard through the grape vine about a job that might be opening back home at the end of the year. We're really hoping that Jeremy could get the job and we could move back to our old house and all that stuff. If we didn't get the job back home then we are probably going to be looking into moving closer to Fort Myers and where everyone we know lives. We'd really like to get settled somewhere so we can try to have another baby. See, that's the part I'd like to sneak a peek in the back of the book and find out. I was thinking the other day about having another baby, and we've pretty much decided whether we move or stay we'd like to try for baby number two (the beginning of) next year. Being back home there's no hesitation with trying to get pregnant again. I know that our families will be there to support us and they've been through the stress and emotional turmoil with us once before. Not that I think it'd be a cake walk, but I would be all for it. Thinking about remaining here and doing IVF without the support of family nearby, and remembering how hard this whole process is on us (not physically, but emotionally) I get really nervous. I told Jeremy the other day I wish we could just know if the IVF will work or not. As long as we are not actively trying to have a baby there's all these questions in my mind. Will we be able to have another child? Are any of our remaining embryos going to be healthy enough to result in a pregnancy? There's so many unknowns. If I knew the outcome (whether good or bad) I could prepare myself to handle anything that would happen. The hard part is not knowing. I know there's still a good 6 months or more until we would be ready to start the whole IVF process but I still wonder if there will be anyone here I can lean on if/when times get tough. I can just remember days of crying while going through infertility, and I don't want to go through that again, but it's the only way to have the hope of another child. There was a comfort in sharing what I was going through the first time around, but I was sharing with friends I'd had my whole life. Church family was as close as my blood family so I knew that when I had days of crying and I couldn't explain people understood. I have met someone at my church here that has struggled with IF and PCOS but she has decided that it's not God's will for her to be a parent. We can talk now,and empathize with each other's feelings on IF but I don't know that I can share this (IVF) journey with her, I don't know if she will understand or be able to handle listening to what I'm going through.The thought of opening  up such a raw area of my heart to brand new people is daunting to me.I know I need to trust God, but that does not remove the emotional aspect of infertility and trying to get pregnant again. Anyways, that's just some of the thoughts going through my head. Now you know why I like to read the end of the story right from the beginning :) Sometimes it's easier to handle defeat, rejection or pain when you know it's coming. I know that if God let me read my life story before hand I'd never learn to trust him. I'd never grow into the person He would want me to be. Every time these questions pop up I'm just reminded to pray and ask that when the time comes I will trust no matter what. I know one day I will look back on my life and I will know the ending to my story but for now I just have to wait...

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

 

I think that Jakob is going through a bit of separation anxiety. Last week I was gone every night helping out with vbs at church. Jeremy stayed home with Jakey because he (Jakob) had a stomach bug and was not in any mood to hang out with other people. Every day when I would leave he would run to the door and cry for a few minutes. I don't think he understood why I was leaving him. On Monday (last week) Jeremy left for his tdy to Homestead. I was getting over the stomach bug then so I told Jeremy I would head over when I felt better. By Wednesday I felt absolutely awful. I didn't know when I'd feel like traveling. By Friday though I was finally feeling better, I had all of our stuff packed and in the trunk of the car, and it was a lot of stuff. I was bringing toys, books,(of course kids need a lot of stuff anyways) snacks and drinks, -basically we would eat at the hotel for lunch every day and that way we would only have to spend money for dinner- as well as clothes for ten day, diapers, wipes, etc. I was trying to have a good little vacation without spending too much money. Friday around 12:00 Jeremy called and said that they stopped work for the day because of rain. The contractors he was working with were also working somewhere else on Saturday so he was free until Monday morning. We decided that he would come home, I could do his laundry and pack it all up again and Sunday afternoon we would leave for Miami. Jakob was so excited to see his daddy. Saturday night I went out to check the mail and Jakob started screaming. He ran out the door and up to me and grabbed me by the legs and was just crying uncontrollably. The only thing I can figure is that he thought I was leaving like daddy had. Sunday afternoon Jeremy went to work to do some stuff for next week and me and Jakob headed off to Miami. We arrived about 30 minutes before Jeremy. I got most of the car unpacked but Jakob was not doing too well. He didn't want to go in the hotel. I don't think he was liking being in an unfamiliar place. We went to dinner that night and ate some (super yummy) cuban food. Jakob cried at the table. He finally quieted down and we had a nice dinner. At the hotel (when it was time for bed) I laid Jakey in his playpen. He cried and fussed and rolled around but he finally fell asleep at about midnight. Around 2:00 Jakob woke up and just started screaming. I tried putting him in bed with us, he wouldn't sleep. I tried rocking him, he just kept crying. Finally around 2:30 I just decided that this whole trip was probably not going to work out. Jeremy is working 10-12 hours a day in the everglades (6 days a week). It's hot, mosquitos are really bad, he needs rest when he gets back from work. I packed up all of our stuff and headed for home. I was too tired to be disappointed that we couldn't stay. I just wanted to get home and put Jakob in his own bed and let him rest. I have always been happy that we could travel with Jakey. He's always done so well with traveling, but lately it seems like if he's away from his schedule and his element he can't handle it. Now we're here for the next 10 days without Jeremy. Not so much fun, but at least we'll both get some sleep.

(I never thought I could sleep less than when Jeremy's away, but I found out I can!). 

So basically I drove 4 hours to go and have dinner with my husband. Miami was pretty cool. I will have to plan a day trip there...when Jeremy can come...and it will definitely not be an over-nighter!