I can't hear you!

Lately, Jake has been pulling what my sister-in-law affectionately coined "the ear-muffs": when he has done something wrong and he knows you're going to say something about it, he simply puts his hands over his ears and pretends like he can't hear you. He also does it when he just doesn't like what you're saying to him.

For example, yesterday morning I was getting ready for the day when all of the sudden Jake came running into the bathroom and stood in front of me with his hands over his ears. Knowing this means that he has done something he knows he's not supposed to do, I went around the house looking for the disaster. What I found was no disaster at all, just a half eaten apple on the table that he had gotten out of the fridge and started eating. The funny thing about this is that I really don't scold him for doing that, I usually just say something like, "Jake, next time ask mommy if you want an apple." But he knows...

Another example is when we tell him that he can't have dessert until he eats his dinner first. It's like he thinks that if he can't hear that we said something, then it was never said at all! Nice try buddy!!!

This picture was taken at the same time as the "ear-muff" picture...I just love this kid!

Trunk-or-treaticus

On Saturday morning we had our church Halloween trunk-or-treat party, and our family came dressed as Harry Potter, Hermione, and Dobby the house-elf! I had so much fun making these costumes, and even more fun wearing them to the party!

This is one of those pictures where I was laughing at the camera. But Jake just looked so cute I couldn't not put it in!
Jake was playing with his buddies the whole time, and I tried to get a picture of all of them together but this is as close as I could get.

The "balloon pit" was one of Jake's favorite activities.

Jake refused to wear his socks or a jacket (or his elf-ears for that matter) for the trunk-or-treating part of the activity. Luckily, the weather was unusually warm, but I still felt like a deadbeat mom letting my son walk around outside in a pillowcase!!

We all came home loaded with lots of candy and good memories. Happy Halloween everyone!

Sicko

Yuck. I knew that there was a terrible bug going around here lately (Jake even had it about two weeks ago) but I had been lucky enough to have escaped its path thus far. That is, until yesterday. Holy cow! This thing was BAD! I woke up at 2 am on Sunday morning with my stomach just churning. I thought it was something I ate because I had gorged myself on pizza the night before (there seems to be a recurring pizza theme here lately...) In my mind's eye I could see that last piece of cheese pizza just laughing at me as I lay in bed about to hurl. From that moment on, I couldn't keep a single thing in my stomach all day long, not even sips of water or ice chips. To make matters worse, during all of this stomach upheaval, I started having pretty bad braxton-hicks contractions. That evening it got to the point where I was just throwing up bile, and Joseph made me call my doctor to see if there was anything I should do. They said they wanted me to go into the hospital to make sure everything was OK with the baby and get some fluids in me through an IV.

When we got to the hospital they monitored the baby (everything was fine) and put me on an IV and expected me to stay for just a few short hours. However, after they took my blood and some other fluid samples, apparently I was worse off then they originally thought. That's when my 2-3 hour stay turned into an overnight with ten bags of fluids put into me! I thought I might end up swimming out of the hospital by the time I checked out! But really, I felt SO much better when I left. The anti-nausea medicine was amazing, and I was just more tired than anything else.

So today I've just been resting and laying low all day. The worst is definitely over. The doctor at the hospital said that this virus that has been going around has been hitting pregnant women especially hard because it causes you to deplete anything in your stomach, and then you can't eat, which then makes pregnant women even more nauseous, and makes you throw up even more, and it's just a cyclical effect. Thank goodness for friends that just knock on your door at 8:30 am and take your child so you can sleep all morning (you're a lifesaver Jess) and for a wonderful husband who comes home during lunch to take care of you (love you Joseph) and even for a 2 1/2 year old who is more than willing to watch movies all afternoon so you can rest some more. Hopefully by tomorrow this will all be a thing of the past!

A late birthday present

I can finally check this one off my bucket list! For my birthday back in August, my AMAZING husband bought us tickets to see The Lion King in Chicago this past weekend (I know, right? He's the best!) We stayed with my ever-so-gracious aunt and uncle who live outside Chicago and they even watched Jake for us while we spent the afternoon in Chi-town. Their girls, who are my youngest cousins, loved all over Jake, and he couldn't have been happier. In fact, when we came home for the evening, all he did was tell me that he was picking raspberries with my aunt. Not even a hello. I took that as a good sign.

The play itself was incredible. Of course, me being me, I forgot our camera, but these are a few pics of what we saw:

I didn't know what to expect, but the set and props really blew me away. In reality, the play itself is almost exactly like the movie, same script and everything. In fact, it was so similar that Joseph had a hard time because he wanted all the characters to have the exact same voice inflection as they do in the movie. Sorry, babe, it's called artistic license...at least I think it is.

After we got home, my aunt and uncle treated us to real Chicago style deep dish pizza at Giordano's. And yes, it really is as good as it looks! And, no, I didn't feel guilty at all because, after all, I am pregnant!

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies, playing games, and talking and laughing until the wee hours of the morning with my aunt and uncle. A good time was had by all!! Thanks again, Galen and Janet, for everything, we had a blast!

And the awkwardness continues

Joseph has now jumped on the awkward train with me (braces and a growing belly are not a good combination) and has gotten braces of his own! He had braces when he was a teenager, but lost his retainer so now he has to get them again. We've known for a while that he was going to get them, but I think he secretly hoped that the day would never come. Well, it finally did, and I love that my husband and I can be in this somewhat bothersome stage together. We can share in each other's misery.

When Jake saw Joseph's braces he just stared at them then finally said, "Take that off." Joseph told him that they won't come off, to which Jake replied, "Yes, get scissors."

I still think Joseph is very handsome, but both of us are anxious for this awkwardness to be over. When it's all done we'll both have smiles fit for a dentist and his family. So cheers to that!