7 Random Things...

I have been tagged a few times now to post 7 Random Things About Me, but truthfully have been too lazy to get it done. (That happens when you're 9 months pregnant, right?) So anyway - here they are in no particular order...

1. I am halfway finished with my MBA; but ended up changing jobs, adopting JJ, getting pregnant, and I could think of at least a dozen more reasons why I haven't finished...
   
2. I get up and check on JJ at least once while he is sleeping every single night. And now that I am about to have a baby and getting up 4-5 times a night...I check on him that often. Yeah, I am full of paranoia.
   
3. I truly believe that I am going to win the lottery some day. But then again, I told this to a co-worker and she said that she always believed she would win too. So now I am wondering, does everyone think they will win someday?
   
4. I have thought about going to school to become a pastor. I highly doubt this will ever happen, but what a great job...
   
5. I really, really want to move someday...to another place - city, state, whatever. That being said, it is hard for me to accept change and learn to deal with unfamiliar things so I might just be stuck in NW Ohio for my entire life.
   
6. I like being pregnant. Maybe it's because I am nervous of the whole labor process, or the fact that I will be handling a newborn. Whatever it is, I just like being pregnant.
   
7. My latest TV obsession is Dog the Bounty Hunter. I've been watching the show off and on for about 2 years now (and was introduced by my mom), but for some reason am fascinated by this family as of late.

Ok, so that's it for my Meme. No tagging anyone else as I came into the picture way to late.

Random JJ Pics

JJ and Daddy outside during the first snowfall of the year...

We're trying to potty train the boy, but can't let him go to bed without a diaper. So - this is what happened when he insisted on wearing his new Elmo underpants...

I swear we didn't put him in there, he did it all on his own...

JJ was bit on the eyelid by a mosquito about a month ago... One of our 5 eye injuries within the last year...

We had an early Christmas with my family. The kids were all supposed to wait for everyone to open their gifts (kids go by age), but of course JJ couldn't wait and tore right in.

The First Snowfall of the Season

You would think that being in NW Ohio we would have had tons of snow by the middle of December. Last night was actually our first "real" snowfall of the season. This, of course, excited Jerret who was dying to try out his new tractor and snowblower and he ended up doing all of the sidewalks in the neighborhood and a least a dozen of the neighbor's driveways. JJ was just excited about the prospect of being able to build a snowman, which hasnt' happened yet. Oh well, a wagon ride's just as good...

JJ Pics

Seriously? Ringworm?

So JJ has ringworm…on his scalp. He and Jerret went for haircuts a couple of weeks ago and when they came home I noticed a small (very tiny) bald spot on his head. Naturally, I assumed the chick at First Choice nicked his poor little head and wondered which girl had done it since we are there every 3 weeks and seem to get a different person each time.

Over the course of a week, I noticed the spot get bigger and bigger and bigger, until it was the size of a nickel. Finally, I realized that it was more than a nick and thought I might want to call the doctor. I took him to school the next day and as soon as I removed his hat the teacher looked at me and gasped loudly, slapping her hand over her mouth and whispered “Ringworm!” I was very surprised and looked up at her and said “how do you know?” and she said “Oh, its been going around the school.” This, of course, upset me as this is now the second time a communicable disease has gone around that school and I heard NOTHING.

Anyway – I made an appointment that day with Dr. John who told us that ringworm of the scalp is VERY different than getting it on your skin. He said that it is very hard to get rid of and that JJ would need to be on meds for 2 months! And it could take a year for the hair to grow back in that spot (which is now that size of a quarter!)

I sent Jerret to the pharmacy that night to pick up the script and received a call from him to ask how much these meds should cost. I had no idea, but he told me that the pharm tech was telling him that a month’s worth of the antibiotics cost $200! Again, I assumed she must be incorrect and surely they had not run our insurance card so I told Jerret to double check and give them our insurance information. We discovered that yes, they had run our insurance and that this WAS the generic form of the meds. They just really, actually cost $200 for a month’s worth! I have never heard of such a thing, but we needed to fix the poor little guys head so we surrendered our cash and paid up.

We're Getting Close & The Nemo Ban

I've been busy trying to get Christmas shopping done and out of the way early this year. I even started wrapping last night so that Jerret wouldn't be stuck not knowing who gets what or where things are at just in case we have this baby early. I am thinking that she is going to come early, but still feel like she is way high and I have a constant foot under the ribs to prove it. In fact, I am nervous she is going to be born with a broken foot because I have felt this pain every day, in the exact same spot, for about the past 3 weeks. She is tossing and turning all around, but I am convinced that her foot is stuck.

JJ is finally getting used to the idea of having a baby and actually acknowledges her by name now. He still goes into her room and tries to climb in the crib saying "JJ bed" until we explain that JJ has a big boy bed now and this bed is only for babies.

JJ has really started getting into movies lately and we ended up buying him the Monsters, Inc. DVD in hope that he would realize how nice Sully actually is, and it is working so far. Then we borrowed Finding Nemo from Aunt Jill and once again traumatized the poor kid. He was so distraught when 1) Nemo's mom dies 2) The fish eggs disappeared and 3) When Nemo was taken by the scuba diver. Poor JJ stood in front of the TV with tears in his eyes shouting "Nemo, Nemo!" for a good 2-3 minutes. (Who ever said these movies are for kids?). And at the end of the movie, when Nemo and his father were reunited we had full on crying as though something awful just happened. So again, Jerret and I had to sit there and explain that everything was Ok, that Nemo found his daddy, but JJ still cried and cried. So we had to put a ban on watching Nemo in the Hartman house.

We Are Really Dumb!

A few weeks ago Jerret went to the "Special Persons Breakfast" at my nephew's school. After breakfast there was a book fair (how smart are they? Have a book fair when the people with the real money are around!) and Jerret bought JJ a Disney book that had stories from 5 different Disney movies in it. Out of the 5 movies, the only one JJ has actually seen is the Cars movie, but he quickly fell in love with the other stories after reading them. His two favorites are the story about Buzz Lightyear and one from Monsters Inc., and it has become routine for either Jerret or I to lay in bed with JJ and read one of these stories.

The other night Jerret was reading to JJ and I wanted part of the action so I barged in and plopped myself down next to them. While reading the Monsters Inc. story - you know the one where Sully scares all the little kids behind the doors - Jerret said "Hey Mom, you need to check the closet and make sure Sully isn't in there!" (dumb)

So I, being the great mother that I am, decided to jump up and slowly open the closet door to take a peek inside. (This is where we get really dumb) Rather than open the door all the way and let JJ know the coast was clear, no monsters in his closet, I said "Aaaahhhh! There's a monster in there!" and quickly slammed the door closed.

JJ's eyes were as big as saucers. He stared at me and then looked at Jerret, and then fixed his gaze on the closet door. He wouldn't speak...just stared.

I realized the trauma that we had just forced on our child and looked at Jerret and asked "Why did we just do that?" and we both just laughed at our stupidity. I tried opening the closet door all the way and turning on the light to show JJ that there wasn't really a monster in his closet, but he wasn't hearing of it. JJ quickly said "Shut the door!" and continued to stare at the closet door out of the corner of his eye. We tried reading another story to take his mind off of the monster, but JJ wouldn't even look at the book. We asked him questions to change the subject, but JJ wouldn't answer us. When we finally did get an answer out of him he would only whisper, as so not to wake the monster.

We are trying to forget the whole incident, but every time we enter his bedroom JJ has to run and close the closet door. And he will absolutely, positively not go to sleep with that door open.

Na-Na-Na-Na-Na BATMAN!

JJ is going as Batman this year at Halloween. He is so funny in his costume and will go around singing the song - Na-Na-Na-Na-Na- BATMAN! (I'll have to get video).

We took JJ trick-or-treating at the local nursing home where Aunt B's in-laws live. I am glad that she takes him and gets him used to being around other people who might look a little "different." Many of the residents and staff know him by name and even saved special candy to give him in his bag.

Here is a pic of JJ with his cousin Kalib. He was so scared of Kalib in that costume that he didn't even want to stand next to him.

Pumpkin Time

We have yet to pick out a costume for Halloween this year, but are still preparing in other ways. JJ helped carve his first pumpkin last night with Daddy. The funniest part was when we cut into the pumpkin and took the "lid" off. I don't know if he was referring to the smell or to what he found inside, but JJ made the craziest face and said "Ewwww...poo poo Mama!"

And this is what happened when we were all done with the pumpkin and JJ still wanted to play with his plastic knife...

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Watch JJ's version of the song...he's too cute.

JJ's Real Big Boy Bed

We transistioned JJ into a "real" big boy bed this time, not just a toddler bed. He was so funny when we went to Wal-Mart to buy his bedding. We painted him an Ohio State Buckeyes room last year when he came home and are definitely not ready to re-paint so naturally I wanted to buy OSU bedding.

While shopping, I was trying to get JJ excited about his new blankies and he kept on saying "No, mamma, don't want" And then he made it clear that he instead wanted "Boom, Chow" blankies, which is his code for Cars. So I quietly put the Ohio State comforter set in the cart thinking he wouldn't realize it was in there, but when we got to the checkout he let out a loud "Don't want football! Boom Chow, Boom Chow!"

Luckily, by the time we returned home and put the bed together, he was in heaven and loves the big boy bed, Ohio State blankies and all.

Super Happy Fun Land

JJ paid a visit one of his favorite places over the weekend...the John Deere Store. Or as we like to call it, SuperHappyFunLand. Jerret had to return to the store again today and JJ was in heaven playing in the John Deere toy area. He tried to carry out 5 boxes thinking he was taking all those toys home and was very upset when Daddy put them back.

His vocabulary is growing like crazy and his teachers have commented to us that he is the most polite little boy. Although, I must admit that this past weekend had us cursing the terrible twos as he showed us that he definitely knows how to throw a tantrum or two!

No! My Baby!

This is a video of JJ manhandling the poor little baby that my sister-in-law babysits. He was actually being very cute, but the poor baby starts to look a little confused. Either way, I can see that he is going to be a very overprotective big brother...

JJ's First Wedding

Jerret's cousin Lisa was married down in Bluffton last weekend and JJ got to attend his first wedding. He actually did really well during the ceremony. I guess I consider doing well not making any noise and no loud interruptions. He mopped the floor with his sweater a few times and kept going back and forth between us and Jerret's parents who were in the pew in front of us. He had a ball dancing in the middle of the dance floor, all by himself. He found a little friend and decided to dance with her too. We stopped at McDonald's between the wedding and the reception and tried to work out some of the kid's energy. He loved it.

JJ's Pink Eye

I had been at work on Monday for a little over an hour when I received a phone call from JJ's preschool teacher. She requested I come back and pick JJ up immediately as he had pink eye, and it was apparently oozing from the corners. My first reaction was surprise, because I hadn't noticed any "pinkness" to his eyes that morning, followed by embarrassment that I could possibly be one of the worst mothers in Northwest Ohio for not knowing when my kid was sick.
And then I got over it - rather quickly - and became angered when the teacher told me that they had 3 reported cases in their class last week.

Isn't this something that should be shared with parents? Did they possibly tell Jerret when he picked JJ up one afternoon and he forgot to say anything? I was very surprised to hear that they in fact did not mention this to parents. JJ goes to a very reputable school and I would think it their policy to share such information.

Anyway - a call to the doctor, a day off of work, and a $60 prescription later we are rid of the pink eye. Getting those drops in his eye was a chore and a half. JJ hated the medication and would close his eyes as tight as he could, with both hands over the eye so that we could not get the drops in. It took Jerret to hold JJ and his hands down while I tried to force open the super-closed eye and squirt in a drop or two. JJ was usually in tears by the end of the whole ordeal and then I wondered if he was just crying out the medication I had just squirted in. All in all, it only lasted about 24 hours and then he was as good as new.

JJ's New Ride

Jerret was finally able to figure out how to get the bike seat onto my bike so that we could take JJ for rides. ...Well, he can. Obviously I cannot get my butt up on a bike at this point in time. JJ was in heaven and very excited. He was not so excited about wearing the helmet, but he kept it on after all.

I was outside taking pictures of the two of them as they rode around the block and waited and waited for them to come back around, and then decided to start walking to look for them (thinking maybe the chain broke, or the seat didn't stay put or something...) Anyway, little did I know that Jerret decided to ride all the way to his parents house - 3 miles away!





And here is a picture of JJ entertaining himself with an empty box at Jerret's work party...

It's Almost Fall?!

We had a party last weekend for Jerret's grandfather's 80th birthday. It was a good party and everyone enjoyed the good weather, swimming, food, and company of family that we only get to see a couple of times a year. Here is JJ and his cousin Alexander playing together like good little boys.......

JJ really has been doing well playing with other kids. We did, however, have a minor set back two weeks ago when JJ changed classrooms at preschool for the new school year. He ended up biting someone two days in a row. The teachers didn't make a big deal of it and said that the first kid tackled JJ over a toy and the second day they didn't even fill out an incident report. The funny thing was that JJ told me about it as soon as I walked in the door that night. He ran right up to me and said "Mama - right there" and pointed to his arm where he must have bit the kid. So we had a little talk and now every morning I ask him to be a good boy at school and he answers me with "Oh Tay."

His speech is also improving greatly. He has added all sorts of new words and phrases. He now says "right there, over there, love you, nite nite, and elbow." I'm not sure how we taught the kid elbow, but he knows right where it is.

And I know I say this a lot, but you have got to see this kid swim. I am going to take a video this weekend to post because he really is amazing. He can float on both his front and back sides, go under water, and actually swim across the entire pool. On his last day of swim lessons he even jumped off of the diving board at the Y, into the 12-ft-deep water...all on his own. Jerret just stayed in the pool to catch him and JJ climbed the ladder and walked the plank twice! There were 6 and 7 year old kids who got up there and started crying, but not our JJ. Yes, he took swim lessons, but they weren't actually taught to "swim." It was a parent/child class where the kids were taught the basics of kicking in the water and learning to reach out in front of them. The motions were all there, but the kids were never taught to put it all together - after all, they were just babies. He learned the most by swimming at Jerret's parents house and we would just tell him what to do and he did it for the most part. We will sure be sad when the fall weather starts to hit us and we can't swim any more. And we'll all be asking - where did the summer go?

In other news, Jerret bought a new John Deere. He and his dad were at a tractor show and got the "deal of all deals" so of course, had to buy it. The two of them have made quite a hobby of refurbishing tractors. They prefer the older ones and say you can't buy one these days that is made like they used to. He was very excited to tell me how big it is and that it has a 60-inch deck, perfect for mowing a our land - 2.5 acres that we will not be building on for another couple of years. But in the meantime, he admits he will look rather silly mowing our lot at home, in our subdivision.

It's A....

So today was ultrasound #5 and we finally found out the JJ is going to have a baby sister!! I am so excited that I get to buy cute girly things. I'm thinking we need another baby though to give JJ a little buddy to play with. I guess then we'd need a fourth to give the baby her own little sister... but what if it didn't work out that nicely...then we'd need a 5th....

Who Doesn't Love the Fair?

I' ve been in a serious blogging funk lately. It's been a busy couple of weeks and I must have had some sort of writer's block, becuase nothing seemed noteworthy.

My cousin and I took her son and JJ to the County Fair and had a blast. JJ was so hilarious when we went to check out all the animals. He was very timid around the larger animals and wouldn't even get out of the stroller to check out the cows or horses, although he was facinated by them.

We finally coaxed him out of the stroller and got him to pet a lamb. While we were checking out the sheep a couple of little girls, who had animals at the farm, approached us and asked if we wanted to by a tiny ball of wool. It was 5 cents. We bought two.

JJ also enjoyed his first snowcone at the fair.

Grave Digger

The Auto-Rama is coming to town and one of the trucks was parked at a local store until showtime. Jerret's dad took JJ down to see the truck and boy was he impressed. everyone is always saying how big he is, but he looks so tiny compared to that tire!

The Reunion and The Tourist Trap

We had a great time at the CWA reunion in North Carolina last weekend. It was so great to meet our Kyrgyz bloggie friends - Gen, Andrea, Shea, Jamie, and Esther. We also got to reunite with the Estes family who we have not seen since we traveled to Kyrgyzstan to pick up our little ones. Here is a pic of their son Ben and JJ giving each other a high five.

This is a pic of JJ and AP who were in the Tokmok orphanage together. JJ knocked her down shortly after the hug.

And this is one of our favorite little girls, Aliya. Her family traveled with us on our journey to Kyrgyzstan.

After the CWA picnic, we took my nephews to Gatlinsburg, TN for a little vacation. So many people told me it was a tourist trap and I had no idea what that actually meant until we were there. We had fun anyway though. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves. Here is a pic of the boys and I in the garage before we left on our trek.

JJ loved having the big boys around. He wanted to be one of them so bad. The boys were taking their suitcases into the hotel and JJ had to do what they were doing, so he began pulling his backpack behind him. The handle on his pack is broken though so it was hilarious to watch him pull his broken-handled bag everywhere he went.

JJ's Pool

I haven't downloaded our pics from the 4th yet, but here are some pics of JJ doing his favorite summertime activity - swimming. He will miss swim lessons this weekend b/c we will be out of town for the CWA reunion, but our hotel has a pool, so we will work with him there. The kid is getting WAY too brave. He was jumping off of the diving board the other day!

Puddle Hoppin

We had a crazy busy 4th of July weekend, but it was super nice to have the time off. JJ stayed at his grandparent's house while Jerret and I went to a party Thursday night. We've had quite a bit of rain lately and he found some water in the yard.

Funny...

This morning while I was getting ready for work JJ came up to me and patted my belly, saying "Baby?" Then he lifted up my shirt and put his eye all the way up to my belly button, searching, as though he might be able to see a baby in there.

We'll Be There!

Next month is the CWA reunion and we have decided to make the trek from the Buckeye State all the way down to North Carolina. I am very excited to see some of the Kyrgyz pioneers who we have come to know since our adoption. So Martins, Blacks, Hatches, and Collingham’s – get ready to meet our little handful JJ!

We have decided to tell JJ that he is going to be a big brother. And while he doesn’t really get it, he will pat my belly or kiss it and say “BABY!” Our favorite is when we ask “Where is the baby?” and he will lift up his shirt and show us his own belly, pat it and say “BABY!” So JJ thinks he too has a baby growing in his belly.

Father’s day was nice and we started the day with JJ giving Jerret a gift of new swimming trunks and 2 large bottles of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (his favorite). After that we made the rounds visiting our fathers and ending up at Jerret’s parents for a cook out. Jerret’s dad has an old Chevy truck (maybe 1954 or something?) that he refurbished and JJ thinks it is the coolest thing ever. He was putting it away in the barn and let JJ help.

Finally...

Guess who's eating for two ya'll?



Yeah, me.

AAH.....

I wish I slept this good!...

The Pool Is Open!

What a nice, relaxing weekend it was - with no real plans to keep us tied down. It was just Jerret, JJ, and me doing our thing and trying to keep cool.

Friday night Jerret went to the Detroit Tigers game with some friends and we had a major storm system move through. We are very close to the Michigan border, and the storm was creating tornadoes to the south of us that were headed right for Michigan. I watched the news and heard the sirens going off, but didn't see much outside except for wind, so I wasn't planning on taking cover. While watching the news, the news station was hit by lightning and the screen went black. I could still hear what the weather guy was saying, but couldn't see him Then the General Manager of the station came on and said that they were all going to go in the basement. So then I thought - Man, if the news people are going in the basement, I should too. So at 9:30 I got JJ out of bed and took him down in the basement with me. I admit, I was a little scared, but after all the drama...no storm. It was super windy for about 10 minutes and then it was all over.

My in-laws opened their pool up for the summer, so we spent the day over there yesterday. JJ loves to swim, and as I said before, I am not allowed in a pool right now, so I just put my feet in.

Here are some pics of our little fish...