Little Man

Dear Jake -
Tonight after dinner you pushed open the door to the guest room, the one with all the cords that you love.  I followed you in and told you couldn't play under the desk, but that you could play on the bed.  This is where I change your diaper and you always like to run away and explore.  You crawled around for a minute or two on the bed and checked out everything.  I laid down on the only open side to keep you safe.  As soon as I laid down you came over to snuggle with me.

The next 10 minutes or so were some of my favorite I have ever had with you.  You gave me lots of kisses, I could smell your sweet hummus breath and I have teeth marks on my arm from your little mouth.  The feeling of your chubby hands hugging me and your slobbery face, mouth wide open, coming straight at my face has to be one of the best things in the world.  You climbed all over me, sticking your fingers in my mouth so I could "bite" them and make you laugh, blowing raspberries in each other's faces and of course watching "the little man" (my index and middle fingers) walk around the bed before he finally found you and tickled you so you would fill the room with belly laughs that I hope you never lose.

Don't get big Jake.  Don't stop crawling to your Mama for snuggles and kisses when you see she is nearby.  Don't stop smiling at everything and laughing at the jokes only you hear.  Don't stop exploring and being curious.  Don't stop being Mama's little baby and the sweetest little boy I ever knew.

Love,
Mama

Boys and Girls

Jake can't focus on anything if there is a noisy truck going by.  Is that all babies, or do little boys really come out loving trucks and other "boy" things?

Today at breakfast I was feeding Jake and the garbage truck was on our street.  We had a front row view right from our living room of the cans being lifted up over the truck and dumped in.  I even thought it was pretty amazing and Jake couldn't get enough.  As a girl with a sister I always thought I wanted to have girls.  I can't believe it, as now I can't picture anything but my little guy.  I feel like I might be a Mom that is better suited to boys anyway.  I'm not sure why, I just have a feeling we will be great buds. 

It is so much fun to watch him discover everything.  When he was a little smaller I told Brian that I worried sometimes because he was so sweet I didn't want him to get picked on when he was older.  He is still so sweet and his little bottom lip curls out when he starts to get sad, but he is also brave and smart.  He isn't going to be a push-over, especially with Mama's blood in him!  It's amazing how you start to worry about your kids before they have even taken their first step or roll for that matter.  

I follow this blog:

http://www.thewiegands.com

I am pretty obsessed with this sweet family.  They have a very strong sense of faith and are a little more religious than we are, but their values cannot be beat.  Casey's husband Chris is making a film called "American Blogger." He has been traveling all over the country filming and she posts some of the bloggers he has met with.  It has sent me to a couple of new sites, this one: http://nataliefalls.com and particularly her story I found incredibly honest and touching.  

Friday rambling I guess, just another fast and fun week with my buddy. Time needs to slow down!

To the End of the Universe

Today on our walk back from Starbucks I watched two little boys yelling out the window to their Dad as he left for work.  One of them was sitting on the window ledge in his underwear (it was a low window) and his Mom was trying to wrangle them back inside.  The other one was yelling out to his Dad.

He said, "Hugs Dad, hugs"

then, " I love you to the end of the universe...no, no, no...Dad, I love you infinity."

It is hard to think that that little exchange didn't make that guy's day as he headed off to work.
Jake doesn't say it yet, but I can tell how he looks at us that he loves us almost as much as we love him.

The Bus Stop

I am sensing that the bus stop is where a lot of stuff goes down.  Our morning walk is usually right around the time that the bus comes to pick up the kids for school.  Today was the last day of school.  You could actually feel it in the air, the kids literally looked like they might explode.  

A few things I have observed about the bus stop - 

- It is basically all Moms that take their kids, usually one token Dad. 

- If the younger siblings that come along are boys they are running around in someone's front yard, jumping off their rock wall, digging in their dirt, if they are girls they are patiently standing next to their Mom (many times holding hands) until it is time to go

- Everyone waves to the bus when it leaves the stop.

- The bus stop is like a single's mixer in September, but more like a family reunion by June. 

- Mom's (even the sweet ones) are all judging each other, you can just tell. 

- There is an unspoken bus stop etiquette with the kids, they line up as they arrive and they board in that exact order. 

Today's conversation was pretty funny as we passed by.  

One of the Mom's said "Well, the last day! I mean we are all ready for a break, but 13 weeks, I am not sure I am ready for that!"

Another Mom said, "It is actually only 11."

(That's two Moms that actually sat by the calendar and counted the weeks)

Walking away from each other the second lady said, "I just worry about how to handle it, how do I work when my kids are home all day?"

That would be tough.  One parent who works is worried, one parent that stays home is worried.  Everybody has a tough job, raisin' kids ain't easy. 

Which brings me to second rambling of the day... last week on Thursday I was an idiot and published to the world wide web that I had a A+ kind of day on the sleep front with Jake. You just should never write or say that stuff out loud, ever.  Yesterday was basically the total opposite of last week.  I should say that even on these tough days, I still feel like I have the best job in the world to be home with Jake. 

I won't go into all the details but basically I had a overly tired baby that wouldn't sleep, it rained most of the day, our power went out, I got peed on (a lot), and I made pancakes for dinner, screwed them up and had to make the batter again. Yes, I screwed up pancakes. 

My only saving grace yesterday was that Grammy came over to teach me to bake a pie and got a few smiles out of grumpy-pants.  By the end of the day everyone was exhausted, but there were still lots of smiles and giggles to go around! We all survived and now it is Friday and a fresh start!  We are rested and ready to go!