We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Birthday......

To bring you fever, chills, and vomiting.

Not by the birthday boy. But by JJ, who is missing his 2nd day of preschool to lounge on the couch with mom all day and watch movies. I had some special plans in mind to celebrate Jimmie's birthday today, all of which have been altered or rescheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully JJ's bug will be limited to 24 hours and we can enjoy the weekend.

So how old is the birthday boy?? In his own words (I would never have said this) he is now "One Third of a Century". Technically, it will be another 3 months, and 10 days before he is a third century old, but who's counting? Definitely not me because I will be turning the same age in a matter of months.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie! Thanks for getting up in the night to verify accurate medication dosing, comforting our little guy, helping me clean a disgusting mess, and allowing me to get a couple good hours of sleep. You're the best!

JJ's First Day of Preschool

JJ's first day of preschool was yesterday. He had a great day despite the rocky start we had. I wasn't sure how he was going to do when he ran into the backyard when it was time to go and I had to chase him down. All the while he was yelling "I don't want to go to school!" But I cornered him and bribed him with fruit snacks to allow me to take this picture of him. See the smirk? He is thinking that he sure does have things figured out! Look out preschool teachers! You have your work cut out for you!

Time for Change

Today was Jimmie's first day at a new job. After 8 years he felt it was time for a change. We are excited about a more consistent work schedule with no shifts after 8pm. Yeah!!


Of course he will miss a few of his previous colleagues. He has developed some close relationships over the years and it's not easy to say "Goodbye". And I know that my hard working hubby will be greatly missed. The pharmacy folks threw Jimmie a going away party last weekend. It was quite entertaining! The staff all signed a poster-sized card for him.


There was lots of "scientific" humor exchanged, some of which I was totally in the dark! Here is a demonstration of the new work attire they have envisioned for Jimmie at his new job.

• The orange wig will turn purple with prolonged exposure to chemotherapy.
• The over sized dark glasses will protect his eyes from splatter when preparing intravenous therapy, however the rest of his face is left unprotected.
• The double layer of cheap plastic comprises the preferred personal protection apparatus from biological agents.
• And the large hand shaped wand replaces his mortar and pestle.

So now Jimmie begins a new opportunity to specifically serve patients fighting cancer. After losing two family members to cancer just this year, we have increased compassion for those in the battle for their life. I'm really proud of what my husband has accomplished professionally in the last 8 years and looking forward to what the future holds in his new position.

Potty Training Update

WARNING!!!

Bathroom talk to follow. If you are not interested in hearing about JJ's bowl movements, you will need to wait until my next post.

Well JJ has come a long way in a few short weeks. He has been very successful wearing Pull-Ups the last two weeks. He is even staying dry at night, something I certainly did not expect. A few short weeks ago he wasn't willing to poop in the potty, so wearing underwear full time was out of the question. Now he is super excited to do #2 in the potty so he can hear the "plop" sound as it hits the water :) I think part of his fascination with it is seeing what it looks like and making some identifications based on the size/shape of things: spaceship poop, dinosaur poop, fish poop to name a few!

And by the way, he started out using the little potty seat but has quickly graduated to the big potty - THANK YOU GOD!

So the next step is wearing underwear during the day which will begin tomorrow. I think he will do fine. He tells us when he needs to go with plenty of time to get where we need to be. He is even using public restrooms with no problem (I'm the only one that seems to have an issue with public restrooms!)

I had been a little (okay, more than a little) concerned this summer about the whole potty training thing because his preschool has a 100% potty trained policy for JJ's class, which begins in one week. So his timing couldn't be better. This momma is breathing a sigh of relief - when I'm not doing the potty dance with JJ!

AJ Loves School

Well, it's the end of week one and the verdict is in: AJ Loves School! Yeah!! It is so fun to see him excited to wake up (on his own) early in the morning, get dressed, and make his bed without being asked. He is so proud that he can walk to his classroom all by himself when I drop him off in front of the school each day. He doesn't even argue when told it's time for bed. He knows he needs a good night's rest to do it all over again. I'll tell you - his self management skills are quite impressive at times. Now if only he would have the same self discipline where treatment of his brother is concerned :)

We feel very strongly that waiting another year for AJ to start Kindergarten was absolutely the right choice. He has been so calm and confident this first week of school. I've been so proud of him.

What a difference a year makes. AJ is much more conversational about the events of his day. I used to hear "I had fun" and "Everything was my favorite" when asked about what he did at preschool. Now we get details, the good and the bad. Like the 3rd day of school when he got a "yellow light" for saying something inappropriate in class - he actually brought it up and told me what happened. He would not have done that a year ago. A sign that he has matured quite a bit. Then he received a "Smile Gram" three days in a row - AWESOME! A "Smile Gram" is a little recognition the children get from the teachers for doing something nice in class like raising their hands before speaking, keeping their hands to themselves, etc. I think he figured out pretty quickly that he didn't like "yellow lights" and that he wanted to be a "green light" kid instead!

Something else AJ has learned to do in the last couple of weeks -

HE CAN TIE HIS OWN SHOELACES!!

What a milestone in a child's life! He has been practicing for a few months now, but it just clicked for him one Sunday afternoon. Since then he has gotten better & faster each day. My baby sure is growing up!

Happy Anniversary #12

(This is a couple of weeks late, but better late than never!)

Happy Anniversary to the man I love.
It seems incredible that we've been a couple
over half of our lives now. It's even more incredible that
we found each other attractive while sporting the
hairstyles you see here. Yes, we both have perms
and apparently enjoyed dressing alike!

We've had some fun times, and some not so fun times.
That's what married life is about.
This photo is from a Halloween party in college.
We actually won a prize!
Como podemos mirar?

Thanks for sharing life with me, sweetie. I love you!

As a side note, I can now wear my wedding ring again after
jamming my ring finger on our anniversary.
My finger was so swollen that I couldn't get it on for
over a week! I'm glad I'm not superstitious!

AJ Starts Kindergarten

Today was AJ's first day of Kindergarten!

He was so excited!

He has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. L, who I have heard great things about.
I was more emotional about sending AJ off to Kindergarten today than I thought I would be.
I am so proud of him and know he will have a great year.