Prayers for Grass, Flowers, and Blowers.......

It's been a busy couple of weeks... I feel like I'm always saying that, but really, it has. Since my last post, Jess and I have gone to French Lick to celebrate Valentine's Day and an early anniversary outing, and Jess has had a weekend conference in St. Louis while Jack and I stayed home and went to an estate auction and visited with Freelandville family. My business is business as usual, Jess's patient load had increased (very thankful for), a good friend (Louise) has gotten more ill and we are trying to keep up with daily life.

This past week we have been battling a few illnesses. First Jack came down with a chesty cough. When it was just a cough, I wasn't worried, but then he started with a fever and off to the Dr. we went. His history is that usually a cold settles in his ears, then a fever shows up. He was true to form and an antibiotic should clear it up just fine. With the help of my Grandma Jo (Jack's great-grandma), Jess and I juggled our schedules and kept him home for a few days. I feel bad saying this, but as a parent, there is something special about staying home and taking naps and resting with your sweet, sick child. I sure wish those 60 degree days would return, but on the days he was sick, I didn't mind laying on the couch. Here are a few snapshots of the fun we had outside during one of those 60-degree days.

This week, I've battled a bit of a sore throat and a small cough. My only complaint is that I "talk" for a living, so it's not really convenient. Enough whining. Other than being a bit more tired than usual, I feel great. Pants are a tad tighter but that is to be expected. Jack is talking to the baby more and trying to understand the concept. A cute/disturbing story....... the other night my stomach was hurting (probably something I ate). Jack asked me if the baby was hurting my tummy. Not wanting to start that line of thinking, I said "no, it just hurts". In a very helpful way, he came to me, pulled up my shirt and acted like he was pulling something out from underneath and throwing it on the floor while saying "it's ok mommy, we will throw that baby away"!

Yikes, we have some work to do!

Jack is becoming more independent and this picture is just one example of that. I had different one-piece pajamas on him last night and he was fine playing in them for a while, then all of a sudden he said he didn't want to wear those anymore. He told me he was going to pick something else out. He disappeared into his room, and out he came with these jersey pants, his Purdue football jersey and a cardinals baseball hat. Keep in mind, he was wanting to wear all this to bed! Needless to say, I let him.

We are trying to encourage this independence thing and get him potty trained. We haven't tried real hard yet, just mentioning it here and there. We plan to set aside a weekend and really get after it in the near future. My problem is.... he likes to stand up to pee and the coordination just isn't there yet to do this effectively!

Last little story and it relates to the title of this post. Jack likes to say his prayers. He likes participating in the prayer at dinner time and often reminds us grown-ups that it's time to say Grace. But he has just recently started participating in his bedtime prayers, making up his own prayer. Last night, as Jess was helping him to bed, Jack said "Thank you God for the grass, thank you God for the flowers, and thank you God for blowers". How cute! If you know Jack, he is obsessed with leaf blowers... he even has a mini blower to match his dad's big blower. He must be craving good weather like the rest of us!