Jack Turns Two!

Jackson Cooper turned two on the 25th and we sure celebrated, multiple times. Jackson has so many people that love him that he had three celebrations all with different members of our extended family. As I mentioned before Jack and my dad had a combined birthday party on the 21st. He was able to blow candles out on his cars cupcake and received new clothes, new cars and a new boat to play with in the tub. We were at Cami's house on Thursday on his actual birthday. It was great to celebrate with Cami and Grace. We had a great birthday breakfast where Jack was able to open his presents. He got a train set from mom and dad and Mack from Cami. It was so cute when he opened the car from the Archers he pulled it out of the paper and said "whoa" then for the rest of the day he would not let it out of his sight. I had a doctors appointment in Salt Lake that morning so after that was done we all headed to the zoo. Jack and Grace were super cute. It was great weather and we had a great picnic of all Jack's favorite things. We had mini cupcakes there and Jack would just eat off the frosting and hand me the rest of the cupcake while he proceeded to get another one. Jack got really hot because for some reason his mother dressed him in a long sleeve thermal shirt...so at the end of the zoo trip we took of his shirt and let him run around. He acted like a true boy and love having his shirt off. It was quite the funny sight.
We got home Thursday night and he was able to open present from Grandma and Papa Balls...so many fun books! Jack also got to see his daddy and was so excited to show him all his new presents. Then on Saturday we went out for Pizza with Pat, Seth and Ranell. Jack acted like a true two year old during the dinner but it was fun to be with his grandparents and aunt. I think Jack is all partied out...he was too fussy and had to come home from nursery yesterday. So we are going to keep it pretty low key this week in hopes that Jack will calm down and recover. He has been quite the party animal. Thank you everyone for making Jack's Birthday so special he is one spoiled little guy with all the people that love him!

Our whirlwind trip to Florida!

I have returned from the land of palm and vine and have things to report. We flew to Florida last Wednesday to spend some time with my family and more importantly for Jason to have an interview with a PA school in Orlando. We were there for six days and we sure did pack it in but is was fun. Jason interview was on Friday afternoon in Orlando. Jason looked so good in his suit and it truly was one of those moments where I was very proud to be his wife( not only because he looked so good but because I know how much work he has put in to get to this point in his life). I meant to get a picture of him all good looking in his suit in front of the palm tree lined school but I forgot the camera at the hotel. We are still waiting for the news but feel confident in the fact that whatever happens we will end up where we are supposed to be. We spent the night in Orlando and had a great time. We swam in the fun hotel pool,celebrated on Friday night at a great buffet restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Went through a Saturday morning session in the Orlando temple with my parents and Jack got to spend some quality time with the Brenchley family.
We had a huge birthday bash on Sunday for dad and Jack's birthday, including all my mom's family in Florida. Mom has truly taken on the southern hospitality and the southern cooking. We had the best ribs I think I have ever eaten it was great. Jack became quite attached to Pepi (what he calls my dad..we don't know where that came from but it works) because of all the pool time that they had together. He also ate everything his Nana Mary fixed for him and she showered him with toys galore and was always willing to play "toys" with him whenever he demanded it. However I think the greatest love affair is with his Aunt Kate. Those two have quite the connection. He followed her around and always wanted to be with her and got very distressed when she was not around. It was great to see him bond with all of them.
It was a great trip, I am exhuasted but it was totally worth it. Jack turned two yesterday and I have fun pictures to share but the celebrations are still continuing through the weekend so I will post on that when I have all the pictures of all the celebrations.

mr.trouble...his toys and his bed.

This is what we saw when Jason and I checked on Jack tonight. He had every possible toy that he could reach, in bed with him. His car garage his push wagon, cars, little toy magnets that go on an easel. His blankets, Shamu, Baxter the bear, nemo and pooh bear and of course Jack all crunched up in a ball. Oh I wish we had a video camera in there to see what he does after we tuck him in bed and say good night...it sure seems like he gets busy.

.....this fall like weather

(Jack at one of his visits to the hospital last fall)

With the approaching of this fall weather it has made me a little depressed. I am a fan of heat and it physically hurts my body when the temp drops below 7o degrees. However that is really not why I have been in a funk these last couple of days. There is much to look forward to. Fall colors, pumpkins, donuts and apple cider after the pumpkin walk, Halloween and not to mention celebrating all the boys birthdays! We have dad on the 21st, Jack on the 25th, TJ on the 30th, Jason on October 5th and Jake on the 12th. (Tyler my nephew on the Balls side is on the 26th of Septemer as well.) So there is a lot of things to be celebrated. I just have these bad memories of last year that I just can't shake. Last year I went through my first transplant in April. We were living with Cami and Tj and Jason was lucky enough to get a summer internship at Kennecott which is 15 min from Cami's house. So once school was done Jason was able to move our stuff down and we lived in their basement. It was good times despite all the healing that was going on. Jack and Grace bonded in a way that is still palpable today. They love each other and get so excited to see each other, everytime hugging. Anyways I had hit my 100th day and was able to return back to Logan. So we made the move back to Logan at the beginning of August. However the day we were packing up to leave Cami and TJ's I found a lump in my neck. I made an appt to see my oncologist and tried to keep busy organzing our apt in the weeks that i had to wait to see the doctor. As I waited the tumor grew so the news that my cancer was back did not come as a schock but more as something that I dreaded more than anything. So once again I had biopsies, scans and tests and started to undergo treatment just after Labor day. So the cool weather brings back those memories of getting up early and leaving my little family to drive down to Salt Lake with my mom for more treatments. Anyways to make a long story short that was the beginning of all the rough stuff. Hospital stays almost every week and on every Holiday. I was in the hospital on Halloween, then two weeks later for two weeks thankfully getting out before Thanksgiving and then back in the hospital for yet another Christmas and New Years.
I hate memories and cannot shake the bad feelings so I have been praying a lot and have just come to the realization that I can't live in the past and I have to move forward make new memories and when I feel sad do something that I couldn't do last year. So I am just letting you all know that these next couple of months I am going all out. I am decorating, celebrating and I am going to make this Fall the best fall ever. I hope you join me in this quest to celebrate everyday and try to get the most out of each day. Life is worth celebrating because you never know what will happen in the future you just have to enjoy the day! I would love to hear some of the fun fall things you do to celebrate with your family, I would love the help to get me out of this awful funk!

Are Naps Transferrable?

A honest question I am posting here. Can one day Jack and I just trade? I would love to be called to come to my room at one' o clock to be soothed and then placed in a nice comfy bed with new clean smelling sheets and drift asleep to my lullaby cd playing in the background. In the meantime Jack can take my duties of tackling my list of things to clean and organize. He would do a better job and it probably would take him less time since he is little and can get down and scrub in the places I can't. He can even have the privilege of indulging in that afternoon drink....something sweet and carbonated...he does in fact deserve it after all that he does. I promise to sleep at least three hours and will even greet him nicely at the door when I am awake with a huge smile and loving kiss. Doesn't that sound like a good deal? It does to me so why doesn't Jack agree? For some reason he doesn't want to nap today and he won't trade either.

Change is rough

Change is rough alright. Today we changed church schedules. Because we are going to a student ward we change at the beginning of the school year, rather than the new calendar year. So we went from 9:30 church with Sacrament first, nursery last. To 1:00 church with nursery first. Oh man we were worried. One o'clock is right when Jackson goes down for his nap so when we got in the car for church we didn't know what to expect he already had tired eyes. He cried a little when Jason dropped him off which is not like him he loves nursery but I guess he calmed down and when we picked him up two hours later he was HYPER! Little to say he didn't spend much time in the chapel but more time in the foyer with Jason. When we finally got him home he ate a little and then laid down on the floor in the living room and fell asleep. Jason tried to keep him awake but he wouldn't budge. He slept for a while then Jason tried to get him up, changed his diaper and then when he let him go he ended up in the doorway to the office. I wasn't any help I was passed out at well. I have had bad allergies all week and this weekend it had gotten worse. I lost my voice and was super congested and totally out of it. Needless to say it was one of the longest Sundays. We are hoping that next week goes better and we can talk Jack to taking a little nap before church. That would be best for all of us, parents and child. All I can say is don't mess with a kids schedule...it sure is rough.

Signs that I am mother...

This week..well actually this whole month,I have been dealing with the terrible two's with Jack. I don't go out because it's just not worth carting a screaming kid into the house or out of the store. I have bad ingestion from eating quickly so I can clean up Jack's dinner off the floor before he plays in it and I am so sick of saying "no" (or variations of no but said in a positive and loving way :) That I am annoying myself. But today after he was in his room...playing quietly when he should be asleep...I was cleaning up and I kinda laughed to myself. Even though things are rough right now I love being a mother. I am so glad that I am finally his primary caregiver and get to be with him 24/7. This can be hard to see during the rough times but today I noticed things that made me laugh. Evidence that I was a mother to an active toddler boy.
1. The physical evidence: finger prints on the t.v,glass door, the bookcase and the mirrors or anything that shows fingerprints
2. Juice stains on the carpet, cookie crumbs and the occasional abandoned half eaten piece of banana.
3.Cars everywhere!In the drawers, cupboards, closets and even a couple in my purse
4.Pillows always askew and off the couch and bedding crumpled
5.His little bike and chair in the office...just so little and cute and waiting for his use
6. Discarded binkies and blankets where food or toys looked better suited for his tastes at that time
All these things tell me...here lives a little boy, my little boy and I am glad (at this moment) that they are all around to remind me to be grateful for him because soon he will grow up and I will miss those little signs of Jack.