Weekend in Review

We had a nice weekend. The sun was out. Such a teaser. I can't wait for Spring. I wouldn't mind one more snow fall, but after that I want some warm sunshine.

Jack started playing with his Legos last week. He likes building towers and then knocking them over with his head. Must be a boy thing.

He wore the sock for an extra challenge.

One of his finished products.

Irrisistable little feet.

Chocolate lover!

Drawing a ghost.

Jack declared he was catching bugs this morning. I think he was inspired by SpongeBob's jelly fish catching. We had to dispose of the "bugs" outside.

I filmed Meaghan for one of my projects that is due tomorrow. Jack wanted to direct but his idea of directing involved putting his face in the camera lens and yelling.

Great snap shot of Doug and Garrett.

Meaghan and Jack played catch with a ball and measuring cups.

I love my dad's look on this next picture.

I wish I had the other half of the next picture. Jack had the ball and was spinning in circles saying, "I did it! I did it!" You can see the absolute joy on his face.

I like my new look - pigtails. I bet if I pinned them to the side of my head, I would look like Princess Leia.

The pigtails weren't doing anything for Jack. He wanted to make me more colorful with a marker.

Some are born with silver spoons in their mouths. For others, it takes a little longer.:)

Doug models pot holders.

Jack's beautiful coloring.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. When's the next three day weekend? :)

A Sponge, Starfish and Squid

Pinch your nose and say, "Calm down, SpongeBob. It's just me." And you can sound just like I did tonight as Jack and I read a SpongeBob Squarepants book. He likes SpongeBob a lot. And I think the little sponge is pretty clever myself.

We read a book titled "Special Delivery" twice tonight, each time I attempted to do the voices of SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward. Patrick and the ol' Squid are pretty easy to do. The Sponge - not so easy but Jack just thought it was cool that I tried.

Girls' Night Out

I enjoyed a rare girls' night out get-together tonight. We enjoyed great wine and watched "Bottle Shock." It's the first adult movie I've seen in ages. I don't think "Monsters vs. Aliens" counts. I had a wonderful time with these ladies. Good food and wine and great company - what more could a person ask? Maybe some chocolate and there was plenty of that. Oh, and I love Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman too.

What I get paid to do

I am currently working on a few video projects that are due Monday. This morning, I had an hour plus shoot. A few of my co-workers and I pretended to be out-of-shape friends trying to get ready for a 3 on 3 Women's Basketball Tournament. That was a lot of fun. During the shoot, we had to pretend that we were horrible basketball players. That came pretty easy to me!

I am also working on a story about our town's mayor. He is the longest serving mayor in our town's history and an interesting guy. The story is probably going to run close to 15 minutes, the max for our stories.

And there's one other small project due Monday. So, the rest of my week is going to involve lots of editing.

After all that, I move on to a promotion about the US Census. I'm hoping to get a little crazy with that one. I've asked a co-worker to come up with a theme song. It's going to be kitschy, my specialty.

And that is what I get paid to do.

Saving a Life, One Mannequin at a Time

I took a CPR/AED class offered by work today. This is the third time I've taken this training. I took an extended version including first aid during our home study process with Adoption & Beyond. Although I hope to never be in the situation where someone needs CPR, I feel more confident in how to perform it. We practiced on an adult and infant mannequin today. It's hard to imagine performing CPR on a small child or infant. While I was doing the infant choking simulation, the instructor told me to thump harder on the mannequin's back. I was being too gentle!

Conversations with Jack

During a discussion with Jack this morning, I tried to convey the importance of drinking milk. I told him that milk would help him grow up big and strong.

Me: "Milk will help you grow up to be a big boy."

Jack: "I no baby."

Then,

Me: "It helps momma be a big girl."

Jack: "You no big girl. You momma."

Later in the evening we were playing with playdoh. I asked Jack if I could try the chips we made.

Jack: "No," he said, reaching out in earnest to the chip in my hand. "It's pretend."


The sun was actually out today so we took a nice, short walk outside. (The wind was chilly.) Jack thinks he's a rock star these days. He was trying to avoid the camera.

Daddy with his big boy. Get along little doggie.

Faith

Jack is slowly beginning to learn our mealtime prayer. Making the sign of the cross is not easy, but he tries so hard and loves to say, "Amen!" He also puts his hands together so cute, so perfectly.

Jack was looking through one of the song books during the singing of the "Gloria" in church tonight. He flipped through several pages but guess what page he landed on? The "Gloria." The song was almost over but I pointed out the remaining words and it sounded like he was trying to sing. The words weren't clear but he was trying to sing something. And when it was over, he said, "Yeah."

Also, Jack took Mike's and my hands and put them together twice during the homily. My little man. Even when he's not feeling 100%, he's a cutie patootie.

Mom at Sixteen

While at the gym tonight, I caught the very end of the Lifetime movie, "Mom at Sixteen." The young woman in the movie gives birth to a son and begs her mom not to make her give him up. The mom agrees and says she'll raise the boy as her own. (I grasped all this through flashback.) The young woman eventually decides that she wants to give her baby more and lets a local couple adopt her child.

I was touched by the little that I saw of this movie. I wonder if someone who has been touched by adoption wrote the script. There was "give up" my child and "give my child more" language. The young mom was torn by the decision she made because she loved her boy.

I identified with the adoptive parents. During one scene, the adoptive mom has been called by the agency about the baby, and she's sprinting to find her husband. I remember that exhilaration as I recall fast walking through the hospital after Jack was born to tell everyone, It's a boy!" But the couple is also nervous as they wait at the agency. Will the birth mom change her mind? Do you attach to a child who is not your child yet? Your heart wants to claim him. There are so many emotions that you go through. A series of attachments and dettachments in an effort to protect yourself, protect your heart from breaking.

I was a little disappointed at the end. The adoptive parents are in their living room with their adopted son and his sister, a child the adoptive mom was able to conceive. Shows like this Lifetime movie and even the "Sex and the City" movie like to add even more magic dust to the fairy tale endings for adoptive parents.

Just because a couple adopts, doesn't mean they will miraculously become pregnant. Believe me, we've tried and it doesn't seem to be in the cards. I do know that it happens for some adoptive parents and I always stand back and think, "That is definitely another miracle from God. That was meant to be."

The movie redeemed itself by ending the scene with the young boy hugging his birth mom. The couple and birth mom chose open adoption for their son which meant their boy would know his birth mom and she would be an important part of his life.

We are blessed to have a wonderful relationship with Jack's birth mom. We gained supportive family and friends who are so kind to us and Jack is able to have a loving relationship with his birth mom. I know he'll have questions some day and we will do our best to answer them, but he can also go to his birth mom with these questions.

Adoption is a journey of faith. There were many times during Jack's adoption when we had to remind ourselves that God had helped lead us on the journey and that He was there for us and Jack's birth mom.

This weekend marks the 37th year anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. During mass tonight, our priest said that all of us born after 1973 our survivors. Our parents chose life for us. Growing up, when there were seven children in a classroom, there should have been one more.

Every night, I pray that more women will choose life for their babies. I also pray that if they cannot take care of their children, that they will consider adoption. Life is precious.

The World According to Jack

Me this morning: "Do you want to sit on my lap?"

Jack: "No, I sit on my butt."

I Type

3 20110111112.5841152.020020012.000..0000f‑

What Jack typed on the computer tonight. I'm sure it's a brilliant logarhythm.

From the Redwood Forest to the Alpine hills

The gym was crazy crowded again tonight. So, I first tackled a bike. It was an Expresso bike which means it has a hard seat, no creature comforts, but it also has a screen where you can pick from biking in the Redwood Forest or chugging up and down the Alpine hills. Despite the literal pain in the butt I felt, I did both of those treks. While you're biking, other bikers speed past you. I guess it's for motivation. In the beginning, I was just happy to keep the bike on the trail because I wanted to watch TV and realized I couldn't do both at the same time.

Now, it's confession time. During the two or three times I came upon a bicyclist I ran into the person. I was almost giddy with myself. I'm sure the people on nearby bikes were wondering about me.

I Love You Pig

Piglet is the first toy that Jack has latched onto with affection. I've seen him kiss Pig and even say, "I love you, Pig." Piglet was the first stuffed animal we let sleep in Jack's bed because, as far as stuffed animals go, he's pretty tame, no scary buttons or anything that could hurt Jack. Piglet goes with us to daycare, then waits for Jack all day in the car. Awe...

Who's That Jack?

"Daddy, Jack, Momma and Bear."

Haiti

My prayers are with those who have been affected by the earthquake in Haiti. Through the deep sadness, it's been inspiring to hear about those who are volunteering their time and resources. It's at times like this that I wish I had gone into nursing.


Kudos to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and other state and federal government officials including those in Haiti who have been able to bring Haitian orphans home to their forever families.

Workout Wannabe

The workout is going fine. I've only been averaging a couple of visits per week but that is enough for now. The gym is crazy crowded. Mike, the workout king wannabe, hates this time of year because it's when all the New Years resolution folk have a go at everything.

When I arrive at the gym, I make a bee-line for the machines - ellipticals, bikes, treadmills, whatever is available. I'm like a mouse and that sometimes lone machine is the cheese. I like the machines because I can watch television and take my mind off of the sweat dripping down my face, back, etc. I saw a co-worker who had completed an hour of circuit training and was sad that no one from her class was up for jogging on the track tonight. She is in excellent shape and would run circles around me so I'm glad that I was headed home.

I feel pretty good . . . after my 50 minute workout is over. My target area is down under. My northern hemisphere is not so bad. Not saying I can't pinch an inch above the equator but it's the southern area that needs some work. I'm a little pear that doesn't need any more ripening, if you know what I mean.

The best part of the workout is coming home to my little man. Jack and I played hockey with two plastic golf clubs and a ball and jumped over a slinky that we pretended was a rope tonight. He's a good jumper. Oh, we also played hide-and-seek, but Jack always gave away his hiding place - the same place each time. He's so stinkin' cute.

Everybody Counts

I worked at our town's annual Diversity Breakfast last week. Each year, school children write poems about diversity and these are included in the event's program. The following is by 4th grader, Zayd Alrawi.

I think everybody should count

It doesn't matter if your skin color is black, brown, or tan

It doesn't matter if you have a broken arm or a missing limb

It doesn't matter if you're short, tall, fat, or skinny

All that matters is that everybody is treated equally

If you have a good heart

This means you share and care about others

Have kind feelings towards others

That's what matters

To live peacefully

We have to accept everybody's difference and forgive each other

That's what matters

Amen. On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I pray that people will see others for what's inside them. I hope all people will come to appreciate diversity and how beautiful it makes our world.

Weekend in Review

The three day weekend was nice but reality hits tomorrow. Back to work. But we had fun this past weekend, playing and actually cleaning. It's hard to keep a house clean with a 2-year-old monkey running around but we manage.

We saw Grandma and Grandpa and the cousins yesterday. The kids love playing behind mom and dad's curtains. Meaghan even made a tent with the help of Skippyjonjones. The boys are starting to play together a little more...
...whenever Garrett isn't trying to bite fingers and toes off of a poor doll.

Somebody please get that kid a binky!

Census Swank

You hear about it all the time - Hollywood stars receiving swanky items at events. Well, I'm sure those flashy fancies and techy toys have nothing on what I picked up at a meeting on Friday - Census Swank.

Want to look cool in front of your friends? What about a Census ball cap? Perfect for any event like an upcoming class reunion. If you didn't dress cool in school, now is your chance to shine. We'll even throw in a Census tote bag.

What about a note pad doo dad that almost looks like a PDA? Yep, we got that.

One of the themes for the 2010 Census is "It's In Our Hands." Well, not with these antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer.
By the way, it is important to be counted during the 2010 Census. It helps determine the number of congressional seats and federal funding a state receives. However, I think the government may be spending too much on trinkets.

Jack's Wise Words

Mike and Jack were playing trains tonight when Thomas fell off the track. When Mike pointed this out to him, Jack answered, "It happens."

The Blessings of Friendship

We had so much fun at Aunt EE's house last night. Aunt EE and the gang took wonderful care of Jack while we were going through the adoption process. They were a rock for us.

We love hanging out with this family.

EE's children played London Bridge with Jack. And let's just say he liked being caught when the bridge fell down.

"Again!"

Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick

Flash Cards and Trains

A few months ago I bought Jack alphabet and number flash cards. I think of the alphabet cards as an opportunity to expose him to some objects we don't see or say every day. He's quite a talker so it's fun to challenge him. The other day, I said something about our food being delicious and he said, "Delicious, too," so I know he's up to the challenge of learning new things.

Occasionally, we look at the number flash cards. We count school buses on the way to daycare in the morning so he's exposed to counting but he likes to count to 3 then skip to 5, 7, 8. After looking through his alphabet cards, I took out a few of the number flash cards (less than the number 10). While counting, he skipped some numbers so I suggested he point at them like me. That way we could say and point to them at the same time. Well, he ended up grabbing my finger and just hung around for the finger ride. So cute.

We also played with the train set his birth mom gave him for Christmas this year. With the help of a battery, the train really moves. Jack loves it!

Help Me Momma

Oh, the joys of eating stick-to-your-teeth candy.

He soon asked for another one.

Mastering the Art of Blowing Bubbles

Wow, it's blustery white outside. What a great time to be a kid and off of school, although it was mighty cold today. I took off work because of all the snow we received last night. A couple of neighborhood kids spent 20 minutes here because they locked themselves out of their house. Jack was happy to watch "Kung Fu Panda" with them.

We played with bubbles tonight. Jack mastered the art of catching a bubble on his wand. It's amazing how fast children learn.

I didn't take any photos tonight but these are pictures from November that capture my little boy's energy and love for bubbles.

I hope everyone is keeping warm. Thank God for our many blessings.