Happy Birthday!

Dear Jameson,

Happy birthday, you're 3!!!!

I love you so very much.. you are the brightest light in my life, the deepest love I have felt, the most humbling experience I have ever had.  My life is beautiful because of you, I'm a better person because of you.

I love you, to the Moon and back!

Love, Mommy

Almost 3!!

Dear Jameson,

OMG I haven't written in almost 6 months!!  Sorry about that, we are busy busy people :)

You are eating like a champ.  Your favorite breakfast is a Special K breakfast sandwich, and yogurt (we mix your Mirilax into it).  You love strawberries, melons, sometimes grapes and blueberries.  About a week ago we made a Green Monster Smoothie with grapes, kiwi, strawberries, yogurt, spinach and you really liked it! That same day I also made some broccoli cheese soup, you devoured it too (with a grilled cheese).  You of course still love your mac n cheese and any pasta really.  It's easier and easier to feed you, thank goodness.

The other day I gave you your first corn dog, and you were gnawing on the stick and looked at me and said "Is this a hot dog bone?"..you are SO funny, even when you aren't trying to be.

You are such a sensitive sweet little soul, you seriously almost bring me to tears sometimes with how purely thoughtful and kind and loving you are.  I have a million examples, but most recently (yesterday), I was trying to talk you into getting in your carseat and I got a little stern with you, finally you got in and said "I want to go watch TV in mommy and daddy's bed (a favorite of yours), would that make you happy, mama?".  I just melted.  Of course you said it because I wasn't acting very happy at the moment.  But, awwww so sweet. Then later in the evening I was again a little frustrated with your refusal to put your jammies on, and then you did and said "Are you happy mama?".  Melts my heart.  Then we do a game of "I love you to the moon and back", "I love you MORE", and so on.

You're fully potty trained, you aren't poop trained.  You just WONT do it!  But, about a week ago we stopped putting you in pull-ups overnight and you have done great.

We try to do fun stuff all the time. Zoo for Halloween was a hit, you dressed in last years costume. This year you were a Lion.

Speaking of Lions, I think you've watched Lion King every day for a month.. thankfully (now that we both have the whole thing memorized), you've moved on to Madagascar.  I can't wait to take you to your first movie, sometime soon!!

Your talking skills and intelligence of the world around you astound me every day.  I'm at a loss for good examples but sometimes I just sit there after you say something and go "Seriously!?" and you say "Seriously.".

You pretend to be Bailey all the time (from the movie Bailey the Lost Puppy).  All. the. time. It's so cute.  You love playing in the basement and pretending to be Bailey, running around with Oma as she pretends to be a 'naughty dog', it's hilarious.

You're not napping anymore! That happened about 2 months ago.  Sometimes (if you wake really early) you do need a little snooze, but otherwise you really do great as long as we give you some quiet time.  You sleep from around 8:30-7ish, all night long (finally).

I have to go get ready for work.  Your daddy will hang out with you all day, I'm so happy you get the time with him on Wednesdays that you do, you adore your daddy.

I love you baby (to which you would say "I mean big boy"), and yes, you're a big boy.. stop getting big so fast!! (to which you say, "I'm growing, mama").  I know... slow down.

Love you more than I could ever describe,

Mommy

2.5!

Dear Jameson,

Hello my love!  You're 2 and a half now, I cannot believe it.  It's impossible to sum you up in these letters, but I'll try to hit the highlights.
First off, as usual.. you're adorable.  You are sweet, thoughtful, and hilarious.  You always have been, I bet you always will be.  You're also very much a 2 year old.  Fiercely independent one minute, fiercely dependent the next.  You love to ask if you can do things yourself, you love to help with anything we're willing to let you help with.  You have an opinion on most things, and 'no' is a typical expression from you.
Your talking is unbelievable.  You're lightyears ahead of your age, and it's hard sometimes to remember how young you really are when you talk like such an adult!
Lately you've been saying "surely" a lot.. like "Yes, I surely would like to go for a walk"  or "Yes, it surely is good pasta".  Cutest thing ever.. so proper!
You're such a boy.. bugs and construction are your two favorite things right now.  Dinosaurs too, but not as much as bugs or construction.  You've actually made ME really interested in construction, it "surely" is fascinating!
Technical things, you're wearing a 3 T in clothes, size 5 diapers.
You sleep well MOST of the time (today is a bad day to ask me this, you wouldn't sleep very well last night), but you do still get up randomly sometimes, not sure why.  We talked a little the other day about a big boy bed and how you would like to have one, but I'm just not sure until you're sleeping better.  You slept with me last night, which is sweet and all that, but really you don't need to try to sleep UNDER me, or with your butt in my face or elbow in my ear.
You're eating like a champ.  You eat a lot (for you), and you're willing to try anything (even though you'll spit it out if you don't like it.. I don't blame you!).  You love pasta (still), string cheese, sausage, those are all old news. You also like grilled chicken, cauliflower, melon, grapes.  You'll eat ground beef in dishes that I make, you love my chicken and dumplings still (haven't made that for a while!), yogurt, puddings, actually you eat a lot of different things pretty regularly.  Oh you love pizza of course, and ice cream.
We do fun things all the time, yesterday we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, you love the animal halls and even really liked the gemstones area.  We've gone to the zoo, aquarium, Children's Museum, Heritage Square so far this Spring.  You love being out and about, and I use your stroller less and less. You've been really good about staying by me and walking, even at the grocery store!
We're going to Chicago next month, you haven't flown since last November.  It's just a 2 hour flight so hopefully that goes ok, and then in January we'll go back to Florida, we all love it there.
Potty training is pretty much on hold.  You WILL go in the toilet, but you'll also refuse to go without a diaper.. I'm not going to force it on you.
We play with a few friends sometimes, mommy's friends Kristin and Stephanie have kids your age and you really enjoy them.
You love playing with kids now, you really JUST started actively playing WITH instead of along side of them.  You were chasing this little boy at the park the other day trying to tickle him, it was so adorable.  You like to hold hands with people and try to kiss them.  So sweet!  I'm really protective of you, it's hard to let you go knowing that a kid could be rude or mean to you (which has happened, and trust me I've dealt with it for you!).
You know your ABCs, but now you refuse to say them.. that independent streak and determination running rampant in you.
You play the piano a lot and always tell me that you're playing my favorite song.. it's so cute (and not half bad, I like my favorite song a lot!).
You spend time with Oma and Opa at their house more often, you love it there. We got you a jungle gym of sorts for their backyard, which you really like. Your relationship with them is so wonderful, I'm lucky to have them, and you're lucky to have them too.. and I know you know that.
I can't even think about all the other "stuff" with you, I'm sure I missed a ton, but there's the basics of where you are right now.  We tried to start a quote book of things you say but it's hard to keep up with, we'd be writing in it all day long!  I'm terrified of losing any memories of you, but also have to balance just enjoying those moments instead of documenting every little thing.
I love you, so very much.  To the moon and back!

Love, Mommy

28 months!

Dear Jameson,

Hello my love!! (I love it that you say that back to me now).
Oh boy has it been a crazy few months.
You are absolutely the sweetest boy I have ever met, it brings me to tears how sweet you are, how important family is to you, how polite you can be.. it's adorable and terrifying at the same time.  I actually hope that you develop a few rough edges to protect that giant heart of yours.
So, those colds I mentioned a couple of months ago that you just couldn't get over.. well you got one AGAIN, and man was this a doozy. 

It started as a cough, little runny nose.. I had googled coughs a zillion times in the past and I knew by heart that they last for approximately 2 weeks.  So the Wednesday of the week you had this cough, Daddy was taking care of you while I was at work.  He called me and said you were coughing more than ever and that he was going to take you to the doctor.  Your appointment was around 4pm. 

Daddy called me from the doctor and told me that your oxygen was way down to 86.  You were exhausted, you hadn't been able to nap (you were too busy coughing!), and I rushed out of work to come see you.
When I got there, your big red rimmed eyes broke my heart.  You were trying to be SO big, and so good.. Dr. Frand (Dr. Friend as you call him) said that we needed to do a breathing treatment (nebulizer with medicine and oxygen) and see if we could get your oxygen up.  I guess before I got there they had tried twice.  It took three people to hold you down and you screamed the entire time.  So we tried again, and we sang to you, turned off the lights and you just relaxed.  We sang the ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat, Close to You, Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Your oxygen was still a little low (91) and Dr. Frand sent us home with a nebulizer and instructions to do a treatment every 2-4 hours.  It was going to be a long night.

You did GREAT with them at home.  You slept with me, and we woke you just twice through the night to give them to you, and then had an appointment the next morning with Dr. Murphy (Dr. Frand was on vacation).  We spent a couple of hours at the doctors office.  You were so sick.  We kept you on oxygen, and made the decision to take you to the hospital. 

Dr. Murphy was unable to find a bed, and asked that we just head to the ER of whichever hospital we wanted you in, so that's what we did.  I'm going to say it 100 times in this post.. but you were SO good about it.  My little tiny boy on that big ER hospital bed.  Thank goodness they had a TV and ice for you to eat.  They admitted you and we went up to the pediatric floor.

We were so excited about the peds floor, it looked really cool!  Tons of toys and books.  But then they let us know that you couldn't leave your room, as they assumed you were contagious and we couldn't risk other kids getting sick.  In your room was this giant crib/cage.  I think you actually liked it!  I decided that they needed to bring you a regular bed that I could share with you through the night.  You had oxygen in your nose (nose medicine as you called it) and a pulse ox monitor taped to your toe.  We ordered food, found DVDs to watch, brought you toys.  Oma and Opa and Uncle Jon visited you.  You napped there on the bed, actually it was pretty comfy!  Through the night the nurse weaned you almost off the oxygen and we decided that even if you needed to be on oxygen, we wanted you home.

We came home after you napped in the hospital, you were prescribed 1/2 liter of O2, steroids, and nebulizer treatments.  Oh, and an antibiotic for an ear infection (your first!).  The steroids made you pretty crazy.  Moody, saying random things.  You seemed a little scared sometimes, and you would screech when you got mad (which was often!).  The creepiest thing you did was start whispering "Be careful" in the bath over and over.. no idea what that was about.

You did a great job sleeping with oxygen for a few days and eventually Dr. Murphy decided to discontinue it.  I personally decided to stop your steroids, and the Budesinide nebulizer.  You saw Dr. Frand a week after that and he gave you a clean bill of health.

Don't you EVER get that sick again.  Thank you.

So what else... You're a lingual master.. you have seriously astounded me in how you've grasped the concepts of launguage, grammar, inflection, and emotion.  Makes me just look at you and shake my head.. and worry that I'm in a heap of trouble later on..haha.

With all your colds and such we sort of stalled on potty training.  You CAN go without a diaper, but you CHOOSE not to a lot.  One thing at a time.. we'll work on that soon.

You are eating!!!! Gosh that probably should have been the biggest part of this post, but the hospital thing sort of trumped it in urgency.  But you are actually eating.  You will eat cereal, breads, cookies, candy, tortillas with cheese, pizza, pasta with tomato sauce, cauliflower (preferably roasted), broccoli, soups, casseroles, and all of your regular stuff.  Talk aboug a gigantic hurdle.. you have absolutely no idea how happy this has made me.  Oh and you eat your vitamins (gummies) too!  We will take you off the pediasure at some point.. a lot of things got frozen in time with the illnesses.

Your favorite books are.. all of them!  You are loving storybooks finally.. you understand the story line of most of the books now and you just love them so much.  I have to limit how many I read you at night, you use them as a stall tactic also.  Right now your favorites are these stories about PJ Funnybunny, Go Dog Go, you were loving Fox in Socks (a challenge for me to read) for a while there.

Your favorite TV shows and movies are Go Diego Go, Dora, Lilo and Stitch, all the Land Before Time movies.  You adore this ONE particular episode of Go Diego Go about a Hippo and an Oxpecker, and you'll sing a song Symbiotic Friends that they sing on there.

You love it outside, still.  You could dig in dirt and run around and throw balls for days.

You're sleeping and napping pretty well.  We're getting close to needing to switch your bed.  I think you're aware that you *could* climb out.. but you haven't officially done it yet.

I started a quote book for you, you say so many funny and cool things!

Ok, I'm at work and I need to run.  I can't say enough about you.. but this will have to do.  You're a magnificent being, my love.  Namaste.

Love, Mommy

26 Months!

Dear Jameson,

Hello my sweetheart!  Oh boy I haven't written to you in a while.  You sure do keep Mommy busy!
You've had a couple of colds from hell lately, but I think you're finally over it.
You're almost potty trained!!  You are only in diapers for night time and naps (and poopies).  The first time you peed in the potty was almost a month ago I think, you went on the big toilet after we let you run around 'peepee tail' for a while and sat you on the toilet and you went!  We started a sticker chart, and give you 2 M&Ms, but honestly at this point you don't really care about the reward anymore, it's just what you do!
You're eating better and better.. granted it's been a challenge with your colds but now you're actually eating these fruit/veggie pouches, AND you're eating your vitamins!  Might be able to stop your pediasure soon (yay!).
We had your 2 year appointment and you were 32 lb (but I think that was 'off', they weighed you with your clothes and diaper on, and 35.5 inches!  Big boy.
You're talking a ton, singing songs, you finally have your colors down pretty good.  Everything used to be blue or green, but now you're getting it!
You are the sweetest little person I know.  You want to hug, kiss, and talk all the time.
Geeze I can't even think of the things you say but let me try to hit on some of the faves:
"Comango!" I have no idea what this is, it's your own funny word.. you say it all the time
"Hello mommy!" You walk up to me and just look up so sweetly and check in with me, all day.
"I'm sorry.." You say it SO sweet it almost breaks my heart
"Sweetie Baby Mommy" You called me that one day, my heart melted
You can sing the Wonder Pets song, Little House in the Middle of the Woods, Barney song, Ring around the Rosie, Hickory Dickory Dock, and you say your ABCs like "ABCDEFG YAY!!!!" or "ABC NUMBER 2 YAY!!".
You're sleeping really well, usually through the night other than these colds that make you cough, or if you potty through your jammies.
We're still going to My Gym, we've also started going to a place called Lil Monkey Bizness, an indoor playground for toddlers.  You get to draw and paint there in the art room, too.
We took you to TRex Encounter, you love dinosaurs.. you were a little scared, but fascinated at the same time.
You're wearing size 7 shoe and 3T clothes.
You have big boy undies! The first ones you got had trucks and cars or stripes on them, now you have som GO Diego GO undies w/ dinosaurs and some Thomas the Train ones.. you're not a huge fan of wearing them, you'd rather be naked.
We don't give you Mac n Cheese anymore.. you're doing well with that.
You still have your pacifiers, and you're in love with them.  Only in your crib or mommy and daddy's bed.
Speaking of that, laying in our bed is your new favorite thing.. I think you could lay there and watch TV and roll around and play all day long!
You're running and climbing really well.  You're just perfect, seriously.
I am so lucky that I have you in my life.  You teach me how to be a better, kinder, funnier and stronger person every single day.  I'm amazed at the depth of your little being, how thoughtful and complex you are.  You're my life's treasure, every single day I am so excited to see you again when I wake up, like when I was little and I knew that Santa had visited and left me my favorite things to enjoy, times a million.

I love you my prince,

Love Mommy