Category: everyday stuff

fay who. tropical storm fay. we’ve had pretty good weather as far as the hurricane season (summer) is concerned. on monday tropical storm fay made it’s way to florida and we decided to pack up the car and drive to ocala to stay at grammy and gramp’s house. mom, tyler and i picked you up at janelle’s and headed out of sarasota. we played i-spy for part of the way and had a great time. you were very excited to get to the grandparents house where there were lots of “new” toys to play with and rooms to explore. we settled into the house, bought some groceries at publix, and watched bob the builder. the next day we went to the pool to get a wireless internet connection to check on the status of the storm since gramp’s satellite tv was off for the summer. mom checked email and dad checked the weather. we decided to head home after lunch. you, mom and tyler slept most of the way home. we made it back home safely to find no damage to the house and went about our normal evening. goodbye fay.

jack’s friend henry from daycare came over today for a visit. of course his parents, bruce and dana, came along too since henry can’t drive. he’s only 14 months old. it was like a first date for the parents. kind of weird. our kids really like playing with each other all day at daycare, but what if the parents don’t play well together. fortunately that wasn’t the case. bruce and dana were great. we just sat eating bagels and talking about our kids. wow, do i sound like a parent. we talked about their development, what they’re eating, the people who take care of them at Portercare and our jobs. jack and henry were non-stop the entire time. okay henry stopped a little, but not jack. it was fun to watch jack play with another child his age.

i’m sick and tired of being sick and tired all of the time. is this parenthood? i’m sick of my son being sick. i’m sick of my wife being sick. i’m especially sick of the cat being sick, but that started years before jack came along. i’ve had a sore throat, an upset stomach, muscle aches, headaches, the flu, a cold, constant sneezing and coughing, and i’ve managed to give and get it from everybody around me. uncle sean (jack’s uncle) keeps saying it will get better and our immune systems will be so much stronger after this first year. i sure hope so. only a few more weeks until one year.

This is Jack’s Mom writing in for the first time…I always knew that as a mother of an infant I would become stronger (how many people other than new parents can carry 18 pounds around effortlessly). But what I wasn’t prepared for was how much inner strength I would gain being a parent.

Two mornings ago Chris and I woke up to a very sick little Jackson. He has had the various colds since starting daycare but never has he been burning up. The morning soon found us in the Doctor’s office where was poked and prodded, including a vial of blood taken from one of his fingers. Despite his exhaustion he managed to be his spirited self, playing with a lego and drinking his milk. For those of you who know me well you know if it were my blood being taken I would have been belly up on the floor passed out. Watching my young son innocent bravery I was inspired. From the doctor’s office we had to go to the hospital where he had to lie on a large, cold table and have x-rays of his chest taken (he’s fine). As the day ( and days to follow) went on I gained more inner strength because of my son and for my son.

Jack isn’t even a year old and he has already had a huge impact on my life and made me a stronger and better person. And boy is he the cutest boy in the whole world.

New Year’s resolution: More blog entries, more time behind the camera so people can actually see what Dad looks like as well as Mom.

so the other day as i was grading my identity and branding student’s final projects when i was reminded of a wonderful story from before jack was born. it’s a story of hope, pride, and in some ways, relief. let me preface it with this. deciding to have a child takes a lot of courage, especially if you’re of a certain age. there’s a lot of information out there for expectant parents, a lot of information that can be reassuring, and a lot of information that can be scary if you’re over 35. with that said this story always makes me laugh when i’m reminded of it. those of you who know kelly know that she is an amazing woman. she’s beautiful and intelligent and kind and lots of other things. and she’s driven and determined.

well, on a pleasent autumn day in 2004 kelly and i went to the doctor’s office for the ultrasound. there were lots of emotions running through our bodies as we stepped onto the elevator. the one thing we didn’t share was 32 ounces of water that kelly had to drink only a few hours before our appointment. as we sat in the waiting area i tried to distract kelly from her full bladder by talking about the studio, clients, school, and of course the gender of the baby. it was finally, and just ask kelly by what is meant by finally, our turn. we were taken to a room where the nurse rubbed some jelly on kelly’s belly (say that ten times fast) and began the ultrasound. kelly asked to use the restroom and the nurse said she just had to check one thing first that only took a few seconds. as the nurse was helping kelly off the table she asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby because in those few seconds she could tell. (later that day kelly would tell me she new it was a boy right then because the nurse knew so quickly. apparently boys are easier to spot. what’s that about?) kelly returned and over the next 30 to 45 minutes we got to see little jack from various angles. along with the joy, there was relief to know that everything was fine with our baby. it was overwhelming, to say the least, to see his little fingers, toes, and head. to hear his heartbeat. it was awesome.

okay, so what does this have to do with me grading projects 13 months later. as kelly and i were leaving the building i noticed this big smile. she turned to me and said “i sneaked a peek at jack’s report. i’m so proud of him. he got an A+.” I just had to smile and laugh. i looked at this proud mother to be and said “kelly, that’s jack’s blood type.”