My baby is 10!

Happy 10th Birthday Jack!

These are some of my favorite pictures of Jack growing up. He is such a funny kid and I am blessed to be his mom :)!

10 years ago today I held my first baby in my arms. He was so amazing and HUGE...Jack was 10 1/2 pounds at birth and had to be dragged out with forceps. 10 years ago right now (10:30 pm) I was laying in my hospital bed crying because my new baby was in the NICU hooked up to an IV due to very low blood sugar. Jack was born at 3:06 pm and by 4:30 pm he was taken to the NICU because his blood sugar was registering at 15....it has to be above 40 or 50. I made Jared go with him because I was still getting cleaned up. I made him promise not to leave his side, no matter what. The nurses told us that Jack would be there for a couple hours at the most until they got his blood sugar back to normal and he would be with us in our room just like we planned. When I finally got cleaned up and made my way up another floor and down some loooonnnng hallways I saw my not so little baby in a plastic house hooked up to moniters and iv's. He was sleeping peacefully. I wanted to open the top and hold him (I had only held him for about 45 minutes before he was taken to NICU), but the nurse told me I couldn't because his body temp would fall and then his blood sugar would fall more. I asked when he would be brought up to our room and she LAUGHED and said they were hoping he would get to come home with us when we left in a couple days. I couldn't believe it! I was devestated. I wasn't prepared for this part of a new baby. I had prepared myself for a possible c-section or the need for an epidural, but I was not prepared for this. I wanted my son to be in my arms, to meet his grandparents and all our family and friends. Instead, I had to leave him there and the few family and friends that did come up to the hospital I had to greet with empty arms. I spent as much time as I could in the NICU before I HAD to go and lay down. The day I was being discharged from the hospital we prayed Jack would be allowed to go with us. We sat in the NICU after I was all checked out and waited for the final test. If his blood sugar level was above 40 (or 50...I can't remember) he could leave. The 3 hours before that they started checking his levels with no IV running and he started in the 70's. By the time they took the last blood test it was 3 points above what they wanted and they released him. They didn't seem to care that every blood test taken, his level was dropping. I trusted them and we were OUT OF THERE! I finally had my baby in my arms and I wasn't letting him go. We stopped briefly at Yaya & Papa's so they could finally hold their 1st grandson and then we headed home to bed.

It was wonderful and Jack was fine. We had to take him to see his Dr. the next day but that was completely uneventful...they didn't even take his blood sugar levels. So, that is the short story of Jack's crazy birth. I am so amazed and blessed by Jack's giving attitude. He LOVES his little sisters so much and wants more (preferably brothers)...the jury is still out on that. I love his smile and his laugh. I love watching him play with Grace and Kate and all of his friends. I love how much he loves God. I can't believe 10 years has past this quickly and I pray the next 10 years will go slowly...I know it won't but I can hope.

This year, Jack is saving all his money for a hunting gun. I asked what he is going to save for after he has his gun and he said, "I will keep a couple dollars out when I get some money, but most of it I am saving for a car." Then he told me he can start driving with us in 5 years and he really wants a car and he figured he can save enough for one if he starts now. I wish I was that smart! I think at 10 I was saving money for Barbies....cars weren't even part of my thought process yet. So, tonight as I tucked in and kissed my 10 year old goodnight I prayed that he would continue to make good choices, stay sweet and most of all love God more everyday. I will close tonight with my favorite Jack story (I have many....)

Jack was 3. We were driving somewhere and he said:

Jack: "I want to have a restaurant in our backyard for homeless people"

Me: "What do you mean bud?"

Jack: "I want people that don't have a home to be able to come to my restaurant and order food. They never get to choose what they eat, so I will make a menu"

Me: "what food is on your menu?"

Jack: "Robin Noodles, Hotdogs, Chicken Nuggets and French Fries"

Ok....I don't even know how he knew about homeless people at 3 years old, but he knew there were people without houses and he knew they didn't get to choose their own food. That is the giving heart I was talking about.

Ok....One more story to show he isn't all perfect!

Jack again at age 3 (he was a funny kid)

Jack: "Mom, when I grow up I am going to have my house in your backyard so I can have breakfast with you everyday."

Me: "What about your wife?"

Jack:"She can make her own breakfast"

His wife is going to hate me unless we can convince him to have breakfast with her too :).

Happy Birthday Budder and thank you for making me a mom!

WOW....I'm Baaaaackkkkk....

So I left off with Week 5 of training. That was like 3 years ago right? I made it to and through Week 7 (run 25 minutes without walking)...and then the van broke. We have been using only one vehicle to do everything while we save up the cash to buy another "new" van or SUV (Jared's request....please no more Man-Van for him). So, that last sentence says alot...
1) One Vehicle= no time for the gym to do training. I like to work out in the morning right after the big kids go to school so I can get the rest of my stuff (read: laundry, dishes, laundry) done before lunch. We are either working in the morning or Jared is at his other clinic the opposite mornings with the one working vehicle.
2)Saving up Cash....we have not charged anything on our credit cards for over a year now. We are sticking to Dave Ramsey's plan of becoming debt free....that is quite a task in our situation. We will go without another vehicle until we have the cash in hand.
3)Saving....Jared and I are creatures of instant gratification. This is how we got into the above mentioned debt (that and Chiropractic college). We have forced ourselves this past year to stop and think before impulse buying. In the past couple weeks we have had my computer die (for good this time...Jared threw it on the ground...another story), my camera start taking pictures upside down (no I was not holding it upside down) and Jack needed a new bed so Kate could have the bottom bunk in Grace's room. We were all ready to go out and buy a new computer but God stopped us by allowing someone to buy the Apple computer that was on sale just as we were deciding to buy it. Then, we decided I would use the kids computer and instead of buying a new camera (that started working again after I took the battery out for awhile) we were able to get Photoshop Elements 8.0. And the bed.....I mentioned to a VERY good friend that we were going to start saving up to buy a new bed so Jack could have our bed and she mentioned they had a King size bed they weren't using and we could have it! WOW...God knows our desires! So, all the things we wanted to buy would have cost us $2000 easily BUT we spent $150 total. Amazing.
4)The Man-Van: We need to start looking at prices on vehicles that can tow, hold the entire family, has 4WD and ISN'T a Man-Van...SUV's here we come....when we have the cash :).

So, I have been stuck at week 7 and am really hoping I can jump back in without losing too much ground. I signed up for a 5K in 3 weeks...or is it 2 weeks now...YIKES! I am going to have to start going to the gym at times I don't like to go to the gym.

That is my return to blog post....I will definetly be back tomorrow because it is a certain kids double-digit birthday that I can't wait to write about!