This Very Busy Week

Well, it's been another whirlwind week for us. Jake and I left PA Sunday, spent the night in a hotel and returned to Cincy Monday afternoon. I worked my usual 13 hours on Tuesday and by Wednesday Jake was really sick with an ear infection. The ped was amazed that a preemie went 21 months without needing antibiotics post-hospitalization.

I worked 12 hours on Thursday and Friday got about 5 inches chopped off my hair. Check out my new do!

On Saturday, Jake turned 21 months! We celebrated by resting and recuperating.
Finally, we made our first trip of the season to King's Island today. I'm not sure how Jake is going to like the rides this year, but we got on the LazyTown Sports Copters and the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion. Greg rode the Beast while Jake and I searched for soda machines to "push buttons" (his latest obsession).

Jake continues to enjoy clocks, doors, phones, remotes and of course, buttons. He likes music, too. He sings several songs. He has learned songs at Kindermusik, on TV and songs that we just make up. He likes to watch videos on YouTube and look at his pictures on the blog. He will point at the computer and say "Jakey" to look at his picture or "Wiggles" or "Gabba" to watch Wiggles and Yo Gabba Gabba videos.

This will probably be my last post for a while. I'm headed off to Vermont on Tuesday for school. Nana is flying in to the rescue to watch Jake while I'm gone. This is a bittersweet occasion for me - I'm looking forward to some adult time, eating ethnic foods (which we have so little of in Cincy), sleeping without waking up and looking at a monitor, not having to yell at Leeza and learning new things. But, this is the first night I will spend away from Jake since he came home from the hospital :( I'm going to miss Jake and Greg terribly!!! I'm going to install my new videocam on the laptop tonight.

Wedding Pictures

My Best Friend's Wedding

Jake, Sarah and I traveled to PA for my best friend, Steph's, wedding. I was the matron of honor. It was a stunning wedding and tons of fun! I met so many awesome new people that I want to stay in touch! Check out some of these pictures.

Bodies the Exhibit

Papaw, Sarah, Jake and I went to see Bodies, the Exhibition today. In case you aren't familiar with this, it's a traveling exhibit of real, dead bodies. Some are entire bodies and others just organs. Some people object to the way these bodies were collected - all were unclaimed, unidentified cadavers.

I thought it was amazing. The intricacies of our bodies is astonishing. Jake, however was less than impressed and decided that he wanted to run free halfway through the exhibit and started screaming. I'm going back again so I can take my time and read each sign without having to deal with Jake.

Jake did think some of the stuff was "neat." At one point, he looked into a case of brain parts and said, "neat." I'm not sure what that was all about, but he was happy for a few minutes.

This Week

As you can see, Jake's had a few tantrums this week, but nothing like the previous weeks.
We are gearing up for the next 3 weeks. In that time period, I have several papers due, the Smiths are coming to visit, Jake, Sarah and I will be traveling to PA, I will be the matron of honor in my friend Steph's wedding and I will travel to VT for a week for school. I will also get to see the Sells. On top of that, we have our regular work schedules, daily chores and of course, Jake. I look forward to May 5th when our lives slow down a bit.
Jake is a little under the weather at the moment. He went to daycare yesterday and seems to have contracted some type of illness. He's running a low grade fever and is lethargic. He's eating even less than normal. He just isn't the typical Jake. I pray that he recovers quickly!
Jake continues to learn new songs. I often catch him singing while he is off playing. He has such a cute singing voice and he even stays on key.

Mama

My name has changed. I am no longer "mommy", but "mama." This change spontaneously occurred last Friday. Jake suddenly started calling me mama. He won't even say mommy. There is a song that we sing about family and he changed the words in the song to mama instead of mommy. Maybe I'm over-analyzing this, but I can't help but wonder why? Is there some major change in his thinking about me? Did my relationship to him change in some way? I guess I've been called a lot worse.