MIA

After reading my last post, I realize that it’s been a good four months since I’ve blogged. As usual, life has been busy…however, last summer I was able to blog almost every day. This year my excuse is that two year olds are harder to keep up with than one year olds.

Anyhow, since my last post, lots has happened. My sweet, darling baby boy turned 2 in April. Shortly before his birthday, we began looking for a new place. After all, a two year old should not be in his mommy and daddy’s bedroom anymore. He’s a big boy now, after all! We found a wonderful condo near the Arlington and Van Buren area of Riverside. It has everything we wanted–tile floors, two bedrooms, a courtyard for JJ to play in, central air (this was a big one!), a swimming pool, carport, garage (time to empty out dad’s and Linda’s–sorry it’s taking so long!), and new appliances. Everything in here had just been redone and all the appliances are brand spanking new. We even have a convection stovetop!

JJ began sleeping in his own room shortly after his birthday and he has done so well with it. A couple times in the beginning, he woke up with night terrors, but after he got used to it, those stopped and he really enjoys having his own stuff in his own room.

School let out on June 10th and I began looking for work…again. This time I was expanding my search to non-teaching positions as well because things are continuing to look bleak for education for at least a couple years to come. I applied mostly for jobs related to being an ABA therapist. I also applied for the few teaching positions that I was able to find. In all, I probably applied to about 20 jobs. I find that I am either under qualified or over qualified. At least, that’s the reasoning I have after not even receiving acknowledgement of my application from about 90% of those. It’s gotten me kind of down at points throughout this summer, wondering if I’m destined to substitute teach and be in debt forever…I guess I’ll take what I can get and try my best to be thankful and optimistic.

Healthwise, this summer has been difficult for friends and family. My stepdad was hospitalized for chest pains, a good friend of ours spent almost 2 months in the hospital, my stepdad’s father passed away, as did the father of one of my childhood friends. Top that off with one of our friend’s homes burning down with her animals in it.

JJ and I spent lots of time together this summer. We signed up for the summer reading program at the library and tried to go to story time at least once a week. We mostly went to the Arlington library since it is closer, but really enjoy the La Sierra storytime the most. JJ has earned all sorts of prizes, such as stickers, books, free ice cream, and a Castle Park ride pass! We didn’t get to Gymboree as often as we would have liked this summer, because it was so eventful, but we look forward to going when they start back up in Corona. He will be in a music class with kids 28 months to 5 years….should be interesting. He loves big kids!

JJ had his second surgery this summer. The surgery itself went well. The testicle was alive and was able to be brought down where it goes. However, he had to be admitted to the hospital because of some spots on his bowels and some tummy distension. Poor little guy had to have a barium enema after just waking up from surgery. We were discharged the next day and things have been pretty good since then.

We had some car issues (overheating, AGAIN!) on the way to the surgery and thought we weren’t going to make it. Our car seriously overheated in LA traffic–3 times in a 6 mile span. John burned his hand pretty good. Thankfully, my uncle had the 200 mile free tow from AAA and was generous enough to come out to LA to get us and have our car towed back. Ended up being another $300 for a broken fan switch, I believe. The cooling system on this car absolutely sucks…first, a radiator leakage, then a blown head gasket, now this….I’m about through with vehicle issues. I guess when your car has over 100,000 miles, this is to be expected…but I really would like a few months without a car payment.

Toward the end of the summer, John planned a surprise vacation for me. JJ got to stay with his nana and grandma for 5 days while we drove up and down the CA coast. At times, it was scary…nothing like looking over and seeing water a 1000 feet down…well that’s how far it seemed like anyways, especially when we were crossing bridges and such. We went to the Gilroy Garlic festival and got to sample garlic ice cream (just like vanilla, but with a hint of garlic, pretty good), went to Monterrey and saw the aquarium, went to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, went through Solvang and won some money in a casino near there. We also went on the 17 mile drive in Pebble beach near Carmel. It was beautiful! All the while, we let our GPS navigate us on mostly barely used roads, which ended up being very scenic. We also made sure that we didn’t eat at any chain restaurants during our trip–we at exclusively at little mom and pop joints and the food was delicious everywhere we went. Thanks, Hun!

Our last big adventure of the summer has been potty training. We did the 3 day potty training technique. After day 2 (and 20 accidents), I was ready to give up! However, I kept going and persevered and I am happy to say that my little man is about 95% potty trained during the daytime. It’s technically day 11 and we are on our second day of no accidents. The previous 5 days, we had about 2 accidents each day. He’s also pooped trained as well…only one poopy accident in the past 5 days. He’s getting much better about telling me when he has to go…today he’s told me every time. He does really well going out and tells me all the time when he has to go and we’re not at home. We’re working on getting him to tell other people as well. His only accident outside the house was at church in Sunday school…that was the first time I hadn’t been near him since potty training started. We’re also working on night training. JJ is not afraid to go potty in public potties either. He’s been a champ. We’re not using any diapers or Pull-Ups. It’s been exclusively underwear since day one of training and I’m so proud of my little champ….although lately he’s been pulling the “Potty” excuse a few too many times right before nap and bedtime….

JJ is so smart!

So I figured it was time for me to blog seeing as it’s been over a month since I have. A few things happened today that made me so proud to be a mommy. I was so impressed by my little guy. First of all, we were looking at a book and he was identifying shapes–not the normal ones you usually think of like squares and triangles, but ovals and diamonds! He also knows triangle, circle, star, and heart as well. Then, as I was putting him down for the bedtime routine, he was snacking on Cheerios and I heard him counting. I thought it was just a coincidence, so I had him do it again. He counted all the way to 11, in order, skipping only 1, 5, and 9. I was so proud! So now that he has the hard stuff almost mastered, you’d think that he would know his colors. Well, the only color he knows 100% completely is pink. A few others he knows occassionally like purple, yellow, orange, and green. I can’t believe how much he knows and how fast he’s growing…only 23 days and he’ll be two! Where does the time go?

Life Struggles and Life Lessons

I sit here, after 10 pm, my mind a jumbled mix of thoughts and feelings. This has been an incredibly trying week for me emotionally. As I sit and watch my little boy sleeping peacefully, I am reminded of what I live for every day. I see how forgiving he is, even when I might have reacted too harshly to a little boy just being bored. He smiles at me when I am having the worst day and parts of me smile inside too (and even ocassionally, the parts on the outside will smile too.)

As I sit here, just hours after dropping my husband off at the airport, I am reminded of how lonely it is to not have someone by your side. I get so used to having things a certain way, and when things aren’t that way anymore, it’s hard. Just so I won’t feel lonely, JJ and I will be sharing a pillow tonight. I could only imagine the loneliness that John is feeling at this moment, knowing that this time will be the last time he will see his grandmother. I know he is hurting tremendously inside. I rarely see this man cry and he was extremely emotional as he was packing for his trip. I can only hope that he made it in time to tell her goodbye and that he loved her, even though she won’t remember who he is.

She is an absolutely amazing woman who has beat the odds so many times in her life. She has always been positive and a lover of life like you’ve never met before. She had such a tremendous love for her family. We will all miss her.

John and I have been struggling, on many different levels, for a few months now and have made the decision to take part in a Dynamic Marriage course through our church. Sometimes I think that we’ve both forgotten why we got married. There’s no doubt in my mind that we still love each other, but right now we both seem to have our focus somewhere else. We’ve got caught up in the day-to-day struggles and we’ve let it come between us to the point where we’re arguing over dumb stuff or irritating and annoying each other. I really miss how we were a couple years ago and I want to know how to get it back and how to open my mind up to any and all suggestions.

One of my friends from work said of her late husband that they had so much fun, it should’ve been illegal. That’s what I want to look back on my marriage and say when the time comes. I don’t want to say it’s mediocre or that it’s decent. I want to look back and say, “Wow, I would do that again in a heartbeat.” With the probable passing of John’s grandma this weekend, I am reminded of the one and only thing that is really and truly important in life and that is relationships. Although things are not spectacular with my husband and I right now, I know that my time with him (and everyone else, for that matter) is limited and that I need to do my part to make it the absolute best.

To top all of this off, John hasn’t received a worker’s comp check in 3 weeks and has just been informed that should he continue to see the doctors provided to him by his lawyer instead of the ones provided to him by his company’s worker’s comp list, that his payments will be stopped effective Wednesday. As if we don’t have enough on our plates now.

Surgery Pictures

More to come later!

Surgery Details

So JJ’s surgery was today. We were scheduled for 7:30, but had to show up at 5:30. We woke up at 4 am and left around 4:45. We got to the hospital and checked in and pretty much waited until 7 am. JJ got a purple hosptial gown. Thought it was kind of girlie, until I noticed that other little boys had the same purple outfit. Ha! Anyhow, by the time we got to the surgery area, it was a little after 7:30. They gave JJ some oral liquid anaesthetic to relax him. We said goodbye to him a little before 8 am.

The surgery lasted an hour and a half. We met with the doctor around 10 am. He said that JJ does have a second testicle; however, it is way up in his abdomen and it isn’t falling into place because there is a large blood vessel blocking the path. He put a weight on it and told us that we will be doing a follow up in a month and a half and that he will most likely require a second surgery in six months. He did say that there will be a lot of scar tissue and that he may or may not be able to bring the testicle down into place and that it may have to end up being taken out. It is way smaller than the other one anyway.

After that, we got to go see JJ in recovery. He had a gauze on his belly button, which is wear they put the laporascope. He als has two small incisions on either side of the belly button, about an inch and a half long each. He had an IV in his arm, which was covered in a washcloth. He had an IV in his foot, too, which was attached to a splint. He was flailing away in his twilight sleep.

During the almost 3 hours in recovery, JJ never really woke up, just a couple of times opening his eyes at a time. He has this really hoarse voice that sounds like a seal barking. Thankfully, he did not have to stay over night and we were able to leave the hospital shortly before one. He threw up twice before coming home (in the car, at that!)

JJ slept the whole way home and until about 5 ish. He was running a small fever and is still somewhat cranky. He woke up and stayed on the couch with daddy. He has drank about ten ounces of clear liquid today (apple juice and pedialyte). He attempted to eat a little today, but that didn’t quite work. The few grapes he ate came back up a few hours later.

He isn’t allowed to take a real bath for a whole week and he can’t have a sponge bath until we take off his gauze in two days. He has some tylenol with codeine for pain and some ointment for his wounds. We took lots of pictures and I’ll try getting those up sometime this weekend. JJ and the rest of us need to get some rest. We are sure glad to be home!

Fattening up my skinny bones Jones

So, as my loyal readers know, I have a little 19 month old on my hands with zero appetite who weighs barely anything 21 lbs 2 oz–under the 3rd percentile. I found this great recipe that he absolutely loves. It’s for homemade granola bars. Here’s the recipe.

2 cups oats

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup additives (raisens, chocolate chips, cranberries, almonds, whatever…)

Toast the oats at 400 degrees for about 5-10 minutes. Melt the peanut butter and honey over low heat in a saucepan, stirring continuously. (I added a little vanilla to the mixture for some flavor.) When the oats are done, add  whatever additives you have chosen to the oats. (I picked graham crackers crushed and raisens.) Add peanut butter and honey mixture to oats. Line a pan with wax or parchment paper and pour mixture into it. Wait a few minutes to cool and then enjoy! JJ loved them and they’re full of healthy calories.

Getting better…

So as my loyal readers know, things have busy and kind of rough around the Jones’ residence lately. I decided with the help of my husband, that if things are going to get better around here, I have to make it happen. It’s not going to just happen on its own. So, that’s what I’ve been doing. While I can’t control what goes on around me, I can control how I react to it and I CAN control making myself a better person. That being said, I’ve recently started working out again. I’ve been going to Curves three times a week and doing their circuit three times each visit, even though two times around is considered a full circuit. I’ve also been portioning my food…i.e., not eating two or three times what I should be. Speaking of food, I’ve been making better choices regarding what I eat. While we still do go out to eat, I’m eating healthier when we do. I’ve also been more diligent at my skin care routine. To be honest, these changes have not been hard at all and I’ve felt a lot better because of them. During my first full week at Curves, I lost 2.5 lbs. That was a huge motivator. I’ve been sleeping so well too…it’s been great. This weekend, I’m taking time off to jumpstart my relationship with John again. We’re having a baby-free date night AND Jj will be spending his first night away from home in his almost 18 months here.

A whole lot goin’ on!

So this past month that I’ve been back to work, things have been really busy on many different levels. As regards to work, I’ve stayed busy with good ol’ Adams keeping me there at least once or twice each week. There have been 25 work days so far and I’ve worked 20 of them (taking 3 of them off by choice.) I’ve secured at least a 7 week position teaching 5th grade at Adams, most likely starting in October. After this, I will have taught (or student taught) in every grade except for 3rd. I also recently went to a district level job interview at San Bernardino City Unified. It went really well. I didn’t even have to think about how to answer any of the questions. They just came naturally. He asked what my classroom management plan was, how I handle behavior problems, what’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, how I’d explain to a parent why there’s never any science homework, etc…He said my letters of rec were great, as well as my experience. Unfortunately, there’s only 3 vacancies at the time, two of which I’m not in consideration for. One is for a bilingual position, one the principal knows who he wants, and a third is not an official vacancy yet–but when it becomes official, he said he will send me out to that school to interview for it.

On the work front with my husband, he’s been home on worker’s comp for almost a month now. We only get 66% of his pay, which really makes us try to be frugal as much as possible. It’s trying him insane having to be at home for so long because he really wants to be doing something productive at work, but right now he can only work for about 2 hours at a time before he starts hurting. Right now, it’s up in the air as to when he’ll return, so I need to work as much as possible.

JJ and I have recently started attending a once a month playgroup. Our first meeting was a pool party. There were two little girls and two little boys. They played with some toys, then went swimming, then dried off and had a snack. It’s a really nice get together. The mommies are all from Gymboree and everyone is within a few months of each other. Next month’s theme is Music….JJ will love it!

On the medical front with JJ, we have found a doctor who is willing to work with his possible susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia. The doctor is at Children’s Hospital of LA which has extremely good ratings for the urology department. He was very friendly and I feel like I can trust him with my baby. They will be doing his orchiopexy laporoscopically (sp.) through his belly button. It’s generally an outpatient procedure, but because of his special needs re: anaesthesia, they’ll do it as an in patient procedure just as a precaution. Most likely, we’ll be getting it done in December while I’m off work so I’ll be able to be there to take care of him.

On a final extremely frustrating note, we’ve been having major issues with our car and mechanic. We took our car in ten days ago for a 90K mile service and a possible radiator leak. Our car kept overheating and it would go back to normal after we added coolant, but that would only last a couple days before we had to add more, but we never saw any on the street. Anyhow, $875 later we were told the car was fixed….and it was for 3 days. Then the overheating went from gradually to all at once–we took the car back immediately because the radiator was supposed to have a lifetime warranty. We were told that most likely we had blown a head gasket and it would be another $939 to fix?!? Excuse me…I don’t think so. We were also told that the guy who worked on our car had screwed up other people’s and the lead mechanic had to fix a lot of his crap. Well, we managed to haggle down the guy to about half price because of the major hassle. We were told the part had to be sent to a shop to be worked on which takes two days…I called back four days later and was told the part was still in the shop. I was absolutely fuming! Meanwhile, we’ve been having to have a rental car ($140 so far out the window…) while waiting for these idiots to get their job done…who knows how long it will take, but I’m getting awfully annoyed waiting for them and it’s inconviencing a lof of my family to have to drive me around everywhere. I’m going to be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau as soon as we get the car back and I am never taking my car there again!

All grown up!

Well, my baby is officially all grown up. He hasn’t had a bottle in almost a week. Today, he had blood drawn and barely even shed a tear. I can’t believe how brave he was. He’s my little trooper. He’s still little though. He’ll be 16 months in like 3 days and he weighed 19 1/2 lbs yesterday. Well, I officially go back to work on Monday and he’ll be starting with a new babysitter whom he loves and adores.

Raising a healthy kid!

Most moms can’t get their kids to eat their vegetables without bribing them somehow. Not me. I’ve got me a veggie lover on my hands. Last night, JJ had four things on his dinner plate: ham slices, cheese, sweet potato fries, and a mixture of peas, corn, and cauliflower. The first thing he went for was the peas, corn, and cauliflower mix and the next thing was the sweet potatoes. I couldn’t get that kid to eat a green vegetable for the life of me when he was eating pureed stuff. He would only eat sweet potatoes and carrots. Now, he loves green beans, broccoli, peas, etc…He’s a veggie fanatic! He loves him some fruit too though. Watermelon, oranges, and strawberries are his favorites. Last night, I gave him the choice of grapes or graham crackers for a snack and he picked grapes. Glad I’ve got me a healthy eater on my hands. Now, if only it’ll last…