It's been an awful long time.....

Haven't updated my blog in awhile due to some overtime that I have been working. Our sister hospital went live with the computer system that we have been using for about 2 years. I volunteered to go over and help out when they finally switched over to mostly computer charting. All in all it went very well and I had a good amount of overtime to show for it.

So what have we been up to.....well not too much until more recently. Mike and I took Mike to the Zoo on one of the very few hot days at the June. We had a good time. I wanted to go to see the new snow leopard cubs, but they weren't been too social this particular day. Yep, that's them sitting up on top of their inclosure. Not much of a view....



None the less it was a good day. Jack got to play outside in the water, groom the goats, and hang over the aquarium to see all the fish (and made Momma very nervous). We didn't make it to see the polar bears this trip because someone was getting pretty grumpy without his nap..... No, I didn't mean Mike. hahaha Here are a few of the pictures that I was able to snap while he was holding semi still.












It's amazing that such small little hands hold my heart each and everyday.

Acupunture is going well....

Most of you know that since Jack was born, I have been struggling with a lot of pain, fatigue, and a mirad of other annoying things. Most recently it's been the headache that never ended, palpatations that caoused chest pain, and so much pain that I had trouble just getting around. After seeing doctors that had no explanation (sooooo annoying) and offer help that wasn't helping, Mike and I deceided that I should try acupuncture. I've seen Mike, my acupuncturist twice now and there really has been an improvement. I haven't needed my pain meds for about 3 days now and that was something I couldn't even fathom 2 weeks ago. I just finished my second appointment and I'm finally hopeful that the pain might go away completely. I still have pain but it's much less severe and widespread. I'm taking hebs that I have NO idea what they are. I'd need a trasnlator to just to pronounce the name of them. You have to take a LOT of them in one day, but it's worth it to me if I feel better. They are pretty easy to take. I can take 36 of the herbs at a time which is one dose (they look like little pelletss for a BB gun). I take them twice a day because I never can seem to take them three time a day. I took a few pictures of the session because I thought it looked pretty cool. The needles are really fine and some times I can't even feel them go in. Other times, I feel them. Mike (my acupuncturist) says thats because I havve more blocked energy there. He says that it's good when the points throb. That means it's working well...... The overall pain of the treatment is nothing compared to the pain I was in everyday of my life. I'll take acupuncture over that pain any time. I do find it humorous when he talks about my liver Qi (pronounced chee) being too over active and my yin and yang. Some times I just raise my eyebrows and shrug my sholders. He seems to know what he's doing. As long as it's working, I'll let him try to balance my Qi. Most of the needles that I have placed are in my lower legs and in my lower arms. Mike says that is because in Western medicine, you have more nerve endings from your elbow to your hand (and also your knee to you foot) than you do in your entire body. It's similar in Chinesse medicine. there are more points on my meridians (little chuckle) in the same areas. I took some pictures of my legs with the needles placed. I would take pictures of my arms but it's hard to take pictures with needles in your hands....


don't mind the cellulite....


The needles are hard to see but I do have one on my right foot. See if you can find it.

Jack is a chip off the old Momma

Apparently this is a look that I used to give my sister when I was little..... I think that I still give Mike the same look.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to one and all!! I hope that this post finds you all well. Not so in my household..... My mother's day started with Jack vomiting at 2am. Gotta love the irony. Celebrate your day with vomit and diahrrea!! Wooo hoo!! Motherhood.

I haven't posted much in recent days.... We've had a lot of doctor's appointments lately and with work, and my daily pain, I've been pretty wiped out.

Being such a nice day yesterday, Mike wanted to take the boat out on the water and test the motor. We had my niece, Quinlan with us so Mike, Jack, Quinlan and I went out on Spanaway lake and burned some gas. I think it was the happiest day that Mike has had in a long time.



Here's a few pictures from the day....











All in all it was a pretty good day. Hope that eveyone was able to enjot the sunshine like we did. :)

War paint....

We bought Jack an easel a little while ago and he uses it, and likes it to color on but the main reason that I wanted to buy one was so that he could paint without sitting at our table. He has a tendency to get paint on alot of things so I thought if he was standing, away from most stuff, less things would get painted. We have had the easel for some time now and I haven't had him paint yet, so I thought that today woud be as good a day as any. Jack painted for the first time on his easel. He really loved it. He kept saying the color as he painted them. I really think that this kid is smart, but I guess every Mom thinks that about her kid..... He made 3 works of art. 2 on paper, and one on himself. Needless to say, he got a shower after he was finished.


One of Jack's paper works of art.....


Jack's SELF work of art.......


The proud artist with his popicle....(it's hard work being an artisit, you know....)


No matter how much you tell your child paint doesn't taste good, they will always taste it.

Sleeping Rock star....

Jack is notorious for not wanting to take naps. (My parents say he gets that from me.....)So when we put him down for a nap, we expect yelling and crying most of the time. On this day, we happened to hear a toy guitar playing from his room. He wasn't upset, so we left him alone....... The rocksatr fell asleep with his guitar at his side.

Easter fun for everyone....

Tis the season for Easter and as I sit here on my computer today, the Bunny has come and gone. The goodies he brought with him are scattered around my living room. Jack had a pretty good time. I wish that I had planned things out a little bit more, but with all the extra time I'm putting in at work, it sort of slipped my mind. Daddy was there to save the day. He went out and bought an Easter basket and a toy for Jack. The basket was cheaper than cheap....I think next year we will make our own. Mr Bunny did make a very good purchase in the talking Scoop machine he picked up. He's one of Bob the builder's machine and Jack does love Bob. Scoop moves, talks, and even sings. Jack was VERY excited when he saw him.

Happy Easter!!


He was saysing 'Ohhhh, Scoop...'




A boy and his machine....





Last weekeknd, we took Jack to Wilcox farms to an Easter egg hunt there. I was working extra that weekend, of course, so I wasn't in best of moods. We did manage to have some fun while we were there, though. The egg hunt was at 1pm so Jack didn't get his nap in before we went. That made for a bad combo. Between me being tired, and Jack being unruly we didn't spend too much time there. The Perez family did travel all the way from Gig Harbor to come see us and participate in the festiviites. We unfortunately didn't get a chance to visit too long because my fuse was short and Jack seemed to lit it upon arrival.... Shortly after the egg hunt, we left for home (Sorry, Crystal). I always have an internal struggle between not letting working nights get in the way of life, and paying for it later... or even during the event. I refuse to put Jack's life on hold because I have to work nights. Okay, enough of my rambling, I'm sure all you want is to see picutres, so here they are.



Jack had this real fascination with the Wilcox chicken (above). I guess this is Stand-off #2. Jack would just run up to him and stare. He gave him 1 or 2 high 5's with prompting but when he ran up to the chicken he would just stand there with a confused look on his face. I'm sure he didn't know what to think about a human sized chicken. We had to pull Jack away eventually, but still kept looking back at him.



The Egg hunt was supposed to start at 1pm but apparently there was a delay because it didn't start until 1:15pm. You wouldn't think 15minutes would be that long to wait but for a tired and unruly toddler, and a tired Momma, we were got pretty irritated that it didn't start on time. Eventually thry sounded the bell and Jack went hunting for his eggs. He got a lot of candy, which he was happy about.... not so much for Momma and Daddy, but what can you do. Tis the season....

Waiting.......


and waiting....


and more waiting....


Watch out eggs.... Here he comes!!