Friends are the same as family

My girlfriend Cheryl came up from the Bay Area on Monday and stayed through Tuesday morning. She brought her 21-month old son Aidan with her and I got to watch him Monday afternoon while she took care of a little business in Sacramento.

He is such a little cutie pie and he and Joe are becoming fast friends. He loved playing in the pool(s) and splashing with Uncle Larry and the boy is absolutely crazy about pool noodles. He got such a kick out of banging them into the water and watching the water splash up.



I hope that he and Joe grow up to be great friends just like Cheryl and I are. I'm so lucky to have them in my life, and Joe's.

Sundays are made for families

We had such a lovely time this past Sunday. Crystal, Jeff and Gracie came over for a play date in the pool with Joey and an outdoor BBQ. Since the temp was 100+ we pretty much stayed in the pool all day. In fact Joey even refused to get out of his baby pool when lunch time rolled around so I sat in there with him and he just noshed off the plate I held for him while he continued to play, take a bite, play...I think you get the picture.

Grammie came over will Elsa and she got to get her swim on as well. Gracie is in love with her and has declared her a "cousin" too. They are all so cute together.

Pop's showed up after he got home from being JEEP Certified (now he can handle any driving situation) and joined in the fun. Joey sure loves his Pop Pop and thinks both he and Grammie are great fun. In fact in Joe's world he thinks everyone in it is just there for his pure amusement. All he has to do is look at Crystal and he starts giggling. Go figure.

Joey's BooBoo is on the mend

Well Joe is finally able to put some weight on his right leg again - YEAH. He's still having a difficult time of it but we've been working out in the pool quite a bit and he is making progress. We're just going to have to monitor it quite closely to make sure he continues to progress.

Joey's got a Boo Boo

My poor little guy. Thursday we went to a playdate, which only one other mom showed up to, and during our play at the park he injured his right leg/ankle.

They had a 3-story slide that we went down together a couple of times, laughing all the way. On the third time Joey started screaming about 2/3 of the way down. I thought maybe he was upset because we were going to fast, so I bent my knees to slow us down and realized that he had hooked his foot under my leg. Well needless to say that pretty much ended our playdate.

He didn't have any swelling or bruising and as I couldn't feel any obvious breaks I decided to wait and watch it rather than going to the ER. Several hours later, when he still wouldn't put any weight on it, I called Kaiser. I was lucky that they were able to get us in to a Pediatrician that same afternoon, and that he was a doctorate that we'd seen before when Joey had RSV. Anyway two hours later we determined that there were no breaks that could be seen and he diagnosed it as a bad sprain.

Since the weather's so hot we agreed that wrapping it would be miserable and that he should get back on his feet probably beginning the next day and progress rapidly to good health within five days time. Well we are now on day four and he is still unable to put any weight on it. I even wrapped it yesterday despite the heat to see if he could withstand any weight on it with a little support. Still a no go.

So I'm gonna call tomorrow and try to get him in to his regular doctor and see what our next steps will be. I'll keep one and all posted on the outcome and his progress. At least he can still enjoy his water time even with a hurt leg.

Water, Water Everywhere

Joe lives to find water - big water, little water, 1/2 an inch will do and he somehow manages to make a party out of it. Lately Daddy has become one of his favorite people because he's been giving him big water, as in the pool experience. They've spent the last couple of days swimming together each afternoon. It's delightful to watch them as they play and cavort together, splashing one another, gliding along the surface of the water with Joe holding tightly onto Daddy's t-shirt. He's gaining confidence, getting in and out of the water on his own, walking along the first two steps. The other day just as Larry dove under to swim the length

of the pool Joey decided it would be fun to just step off the edge and into the water. Mom was watching as Joe made his splash down and then began trying to get on top of the water but only managing to continuously roll over and over. Just as she was about to intervene she realized that Larry had seen what was happening and was making his way over to Joe. No worse for ware, Joe just continued to kick and play with Daddy. I'm glad I wasn't out there when it happened as I would have felt the need to immediately jump in to rescue him when in reality Dad had it all under control.

That said I'll still be glad once Joe has completed his swim lessons in June and knows how to roll over and float on his back.

My little man is growing so fast

Joe is turning into a little man right before my eye's and I don't mind telling you I don't like it one little bit (lol). He wants to do everything for himself now - getting in and out of his booster seat at the table, and his car seat in the car, not holding my hand when we walk down to the mailbox, feeding himself. I mean it's great and all, real progress in the growth area, but I miss my baby.

Today I took him to day care and then just hung around talking with Joanne. Joe was so cuddly and I couldn't bear to part with him. He sat in my lap, stroking my face, and just being with me and I was in heaven. I ended up staying for two and a half hours and then decided to take Joe with me when I left. He did play for a while with the other boys, and had snack with them so he still got to have his bonding time with the other kids, so I don't feel guilty. Well except for the fact that I messed up Ms. Joanne's regular schedule - needless to say none of the kids had their pre-school portion today, but I don't think they minded. They all were having so much fun using their imaginations.

I feel so blessed to have Joe in my life, and to have found such a wonderful caregiver in Ms. Joanne.

Me time, Me time - YIPPEE

I went for a night out with my mommy group last night to a Passion Party and dragged Crystal and Kelli along with me... and may I say not kicking and screaming. My friend Jackie was hosting it and from the minute I walked in the door I was laughing. If you have never been to one of these parties ladies, I'm telling you that you have to go if for no other reason than the laughter, plus you might pick up a point or two to go home and try with your significant other (wink wink). And don't worry if you don't want to buy any of the toys shown in the above picture they have great lines of lotions, potions, and bath products that are really of a grea quality.

It went for about three hours then I made my purchases in a non-descript bag - black with a big red heart on it, and then the three of us headed out to a late nite dinner at the Olive Garden. It was so much fun to hang with my sisters for a while and talk about nothing and everything at the same time. I didn't end up getting home until almost 1:30 and needless to say I am exhausted, but still feel the joy of spending quality time with my friends in my heart.

Aqua Man has come alive

I swear my boy must have been a fish or a dolphin in another life. If he spots an inch of water he has to be in it, as fully submerged as he can be.

The other day it was just a little to cool for a "good" mom to allow her child to go swimming. So I made the conscious choice to not fill his baby pool for him even though he kept pointing to it to indicate that was his first choice for activities for the day. Mom and I just laughed at his persistence.

I tried to get him engaged in riding his tricycle in the back yard, playing with his balls, dump truck, bowling set - basically anything and everything in my backyard arsenal. I had him sidetracked for a little while with the sidewalk chalk - yes he ended up covered head to toe in chalk dust of all colors but in the end what does Joe choose.... to play in Bubba's water dish.

He truly is my little Aqua Man.

Day Care Dilemma's on HOLD

Well I checked out one or two other day care options and they are no where near up to the standard of Miss Joanne's, so I have decided to keep him where he is and just pray that she still will have a drop in spot for him come August. If not, well my research this past week has shown me for the price of two days at a lesser quality day care I can enroll him full time with Joanne for only $5 more than their quoted daily prices and just use her on the days I choose. I can't believe that the other day care's in my area are more than double her price and don't even offer a pre-school element to them. Plus I can't imagine anyone being as loving to him as Joanne is. I feel really blessed to have found her.

Day Care Dilemma's

Well as you know I enrolled Joe in day care one day a week and thus far it hasn't gone that great. He did awesome the first week, the second she called me a few hours in after not being able to console him and not wanting to have him stressed any longer. So we put our heads together and decided that 9:00 to 2:45 was too long for Joey, especially the nap section, so we decided to try 9:00 to 12:30 which is when the kids go down for nap. He did a little better but it was still taking almost two hours before he got into the swing of things and relaxed enough to play with the other kids. That was my main reason for enrolling him. Last week we decided that maybe seven days between visits was too long and so he was having to refamiliarize himself each time to the new environment. A weeks not long in your and my mind, but in a kids world it's forever. So we decided that perhaps it would be best if he came a couple times a week, on Tuesday and Thursday's and see how it went.

Alas it just isn't to be. Miss Joanne left me a voicemail this afternoon saying that Thursday's wont work as she already has a full house that day, did I want to do a Tuesday/Wednesday combo, or she could do Mon/Wed. I guess I could make either of them work, but then she mentions that as Joe is considered a drop-in (meaning he doesn't attend full time) that come August she wouldn't be able to accomodate him any longer since she's taking on two additional full time children.

So my dilemma now is do I ride out the summer, trying two days a week to see if I can get him used to it and/or should I just look for a new provider now since he'd have to make a change come August? I love Miss Joanne's daycare - she's caring, fun, and provides a teaching aspect, but at the same time it's not making sense to me to get him acclimated with her if it's not going to be for the long term. Or do I just call it quits on the idea all together at this time and wait until he's a little older?

I wanted him in daycare to ensure that he had consistent play time with others since it is hit or miss on playdates due to my pain, plus I thought it would be good for me to have a little "me" time as well. Now I'm not sure what to do. If any of you readers out there have suggestions, I'm all ears.