Little J

Little Jaggar had a rough go of it a week and a half ago.  See?  Trying to be more specific time wise.  He's such a good looking boy, isn't he?  I found myself really struggling with him lately in the listening area.  And Travis has been gone so much that my patience was extremely thin.  So, I just did not get his deal.  At the time, I couldn't add it up to anything other than a 4 year old testing his limits and missing his dad.

 But the Friday before last, I was giving him a bath and touched his ear with the wash cloth when he just began to SCREAM and cry.  I was like what in the world?  I thought maybe a bit of water got in it, but he was screaming that his ear hurt.  So I got him out and told him that the heat from the hair dryer would help.  He seemed to calm down, and I laid him on the bed on that side, hoping water would drain from it if that was the issue.  Jaggar has a VERY high thresh hold for pain.  He is the child that if I spank him, he'll make sure to tell me, "Hey, Mommy, that didn't hurt!"  He is just a tough boy.  He prefers shots at the doctor, remember?  And he HATES medicine.  I asked him if it felt better, and he just flatly said, "No," but he went downstairs to watch tv while I was putting Costner to bed.  No more then 10 minutes later, he came screaming through the house, "MY EAR HURTS!!!"  I just knew.  It was bad.  He doesn't act that way.  I've given birth to 3 children, and I can distinctly remember specific ear infections I've had as clearly if not more than labor.  It's that bad.  So I began calling people that I knew were close to help me with my other 2.  It was 7pm.  Costner was going to bed.  Sage was in her pjs.  It was wind down time here, so if my neighbor could've come by and sat with the other 2, it would've been ideal.  I'm thinking I'm going to CARES right by my house, which closes at 8.  I called 3 or 4 different people.  Multiple times.  Houses and cells...with no answer.  Talk about irritated and a bit frantic.  I told Sage to get her clothes on because we were ALL going, and guess what?  CARES was closed.  They closed at 6 pm...so it was to my old employer, Patient First, in Anniston. The car ride was disturbing because every turn, Jaggar would gasp and scream, "MY EAR!  Mommy help me!"  Then I heard him saying, "Jesus help me!"  It was pitiful.  We got to the doctor's offfice, and I told them, "Look...he doesn't act like this.  I know this is a full house here, but please.  He is in serious pain."  The kid that hates doctors was begging for a doctor.  AND medicine.  Thankfully, Nichole saw my missed call, called me back to see what was up, and without question from me came up to the doctor's office from where they were eating to get Sage and Costner on their own insisting.  Because I'm thinking, "I'm here.  I'm fine."  I'm so glad she came because of COURSE we were there for forever.  Jaggar was begging to be seen.  Telling me his ear hurt and then screaming, "THIS PLACE IS BORING!"  Then he'd say, "Is the doctor coming?  Can I get some medicine?!"  He was miserable and writhing, and it was heartbreaking.  We got called back and they were like, "How long has this been going on/"  Umm...hour and a half at this point?  He literally had NO symptoms until right beforehand.  No fever.  No complaints.  We waited in the room for even LONGER.  I turned the lights off and held him while he screamed in pain.  I touched his ear; it was wet.  At first I thought it MIGHT be tears...but no, it was definitely draining.

 So, so sad.  It was traumatic for me, too, seeing him like that.  I was calling and calling Travis but he never even answered because he was working.  Finally the doctor came in and asked a few questions.  I said that his ear was draining, and he said, 'That means it's ruptured."  He looked in and his ear was bulging.  He wasn't going to look for the tear because of Jaggar's pain, but he assured me once they treated it that it would heal.  (A few days later, we ended up at our pediatrician with Costner, and I had her look.  The tear was about a quarter of an inch, she said.  Is that not crazy?!)  Not only that, his other ear was infected, too.  They put some numbing drops in his ears to give him some relief, gave him some ibuprofen and a shot of rocephin, as well as a Rx.  By the time we left the office, he was a different kid.  We went to Craig and Nichole's to get the other kids, and he was excited to tell Paisley his story of his ear infection triumph...and then talk about Christmas...and that he is going to be a bug scientist :).  Sage was even bothered by how much pain he'd been in, wanting to make sure he was okay.   I KNOW he couldn't have been pain free at that point, but it was enough for him...and I thought, "Does he just not even know what feeling good is?"  HOW could he have let that get so bad without saying a word?  Where he'd been getting up at 6 (super early for him), he instantly slept until 8 something the next morning.  He is good as new now, and he was making SURE I gave him his medicine daily.  Such a STARK contrast to the kid that used to spit it in our faces because he hated medicine so much.  I'm glad he's such a tough boy, but not THAT tough!  I told him if his ear hurt at all that I needed to know and that we'd fix it so that it never got that bad again. SO glad that night is over!

Jaggar's Fall Festival

Jaggar had a fall festival at his school on Halloween, and the parents were invited to come.  I was more than happy to do so.  It began at 10, and I had a meeting at 9, so I just walked over after that.  I remember doing these things with Sage for many of her preschool years, but this was Jaggar's first one so it was cool.  Costner got to share in the day, too.

This first pic wasn't the actual fall fest day, but they had dress up days before Halloween.  This was "farmer day."

The first stop for Jaggar's class at the fall fest was the pumpkin patch.  Jaggar immediately went to that huge pumpkin pictured, rolled it, and found a huge worm underneath.  He was SO excited about that and was more than ready to take it with him before I stopped him.  He also wanted that pumpkin, which I'm pretty sure I couldn't have even lifted.

He did sit down for a second for me to take his picture.

Jaggar and Paisley

Then Gracin wanted in on a pic.

Next stop was the gym where they had many different stations.  All Jaggar saw were the inflatables, as any boy would.  The first table was the cookie decorating table.  Icing and many different sprinkles lined the table.  Jaggar had to have very specific sprinkles for his.  I ate the cookie.  :)  Only because he didn't want it when he was done.

Candice came in with her kids, including Mia, who is just two weeks younger than Bleu.  Although, she has been blowing him away with milestones:  talking, standing, walking...weight :) for their lives thus far, we got her on one thing:  hair.  We have WAY more hair and teeth too, now that I think of it.

It was SO cute watching them check each other out.

I think she's such a cutie.

Kent with Paisley and Hadley

While they were waiting to go to the arts and crafts table, Jaggar got to jump.  He had a blast.

He got to decorate a pumpkin picture at the art table.  We wrote his name in glitter, and all he wanted to do was dump more and more glitter out.

Ms Mirian, his teacher, helping him.  He's so cute.

Look who found a container of crayons under the table and dumped them out.

Nichole put Cosnter into the jumpy too.

My boy and me

Kisha painting Jaggar's face at the face painting table.  He chose a pumpkin.

Finished product

His favorite:  the big slide.  He said he was on "the boys' side." 

Then we got to eat lunch with them in the classroom.  This boy ate anyone and everyone's unfinished food.  As usual, he was the first and last one eating.  Pizza, fruit, chips:  he ate it all.  Look at him sitting there like a big boy.

At the very end, Jaggar got to go back out to the pumpkin patch and choose a small pumpkin.  Of course, he wanted that huge one, but we settled for this.

Baby Bleu checking it out.

We had a wonderful day with Jaggar, and he's still talking about this day. He wants to do it again.

Never Boring

Jaggar continues to be the much needed comic relief in my life.  If you don't know what that is, well...never mind. :)  It's clean, by the way, for anyone concerned.

Dance Class

This was probably the first or second week of school, to be honest, but Sage is VERY into her dance this year.  And apparently, she wants Jaggar to be as well. So she put last year's shoes that didn't fit her anymore on guess who.  He was a very good student from what I could see.

Jaggar's First Day of Preschool

I'm so behind on this!  Something worth noting in a major way happened:  my little J started preschool.  Can you believe it?  I've said before that I don't regret at ALL keeping him with me his entire life thus far...but kindergarten looms ahead, and I just thought it was unfair to send him straight to that having never done any type of structured school away from me.  Key phrasing being "away from me."  So I'd thought about doing the same place Sage went, and I even had the paper work from there. It was 3 days a week, 3 hours a day.  It gave me no time to get anything done, but I was pleased with that place with Sage, but the issue was that their K-4 was full, and he would be in K-3.  Even though I'm sure it would've been fine...it wasn't EXACTLY what I wanted.  A few weeks later, I got a phone call from Nichole saying that our church was opening up a 2 day a week "Mom's Day Out," but it was going to have curriculum.  They'd do their alphabet, numbers, colors, writing, Christmas program, and she was going to be the teacher through Christmas (until she has another baby). My issue was that all K-4 programs aside from St Mark, where I was going to send him, were 5 days a week, 5 hours a day.  Can we say overkill?  But I also didn't want to just send him to a 2 day daycare.  I wanted him to learn.  I wanted him to have class parties and make things.  If you'd not seen Jaggar singing his alphabet, it's because he DOESN'T.  Anyway, it was the perfect solution.  I'd been talking about it to him for weeks, and he assured me that he was not going...but yes, he was.

So he actually started the day after Sage did. He goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2.  I thought he'd enjoy packing his lunch, and he did get into that...kind of.

 But then this was the next morning.  READY FOR SCHOOL.  I love this picture, by the way.  Travis went into work later because this was a big deal for our little guy.

 This is better.  Getting ready to go.  He picked out a new Monsters Inc backpack when we were in Louisville.  It lights up and everything.  My baby.

 Such a good looking boy

Here is the car ride.  It appears we're headed to a funeral based on Jaggar's mood.


While Nichole thought that being at church would be nice and familiar for him...that was not the strong point for me.  It's nice that he knows some of the kids, but he does not think this is school.  He actually told me on the 2nd day while riding in the car there, "Um...just so you know, that is NOT school.  It is church.  ALL'S I do is go to church EVERYDAY!"  Needless to say, I was rolling. 

 Look how THRILLED he is.  Hahaha!  He actually did great once we left.  Not to discredit Paisley, but she is all smiles because her mom is teaching the class lol.

 Sweet boy. I told him that when I came to pick him up that I'd take him out for ice cream for his first day of school. 

 When Travis and I left, we stopped and ate breakfast at....Shoney's.  I've come SUCH a long way.  There used to be no WAY I'd have eaten at HALF of the places I've graced lately.  Travis really can't believe it.  I used to be the most difficult person in the world to choose a restaurant with and now I'm like whatever.  And this boy LOVED eggs.  My other kids had NOTHING but baby food until they were like 2, but Costner Bleu is eating off of our plates.  I still try baby food, but he hates it and he has from the get go.  Sooo, if he's not choking, why not?

That afternoon, I had one happy boy.  And you know what they told me?  The kid who won't count, won't say his ABCs, colors, ANYTHING, was the first in the class to shout out the letter A when it was shown AND to write it.  Like he knew how.  Yes.  So I was shocked and excited, so when I showed him the letter A from one of the papers he did, I said, "Jaggar, what letter is this?"  "R!" he shouts.  "P!"  Little rat.  Yep.

 Some of the work he did on his first day.  He was SO proud of his papers.  He ran upstairs and put them under his bed so "no one would mess them up."

 

 Sweet boy after a long day.  So even though he tries to make me think otherwise, I am pleased with the decision we made to send him here, and I know it will be good for him.  (I'm told the second I leave, he starts playing.)  And I still get to spend most of my days with him during the week while the option is still available.  Love my boy.

Enjoying a Break

We are actually in Kentucky for a while enjoying our break from...everything really, but my friend, Heather, sent me this precious picture of Jaggar.  They took this right before we left for the break, and I thought that it was precious.

Room Tours

Thank God, it is indeed summer time.  When we aren't at a doctor's appointment every other day like last week, Sage and Jaggar play really well together (most of the time).  I love that.  I love sleeping in and not having to wear makeup or go anywhere.  Not that I really wear makeup even when I did have to go out during the school year.  I realize I will have to come out of "new mom mode" eventually, but it takes me a good year usually.  Anyway, Sage and Jaggar have had a lot of fun the past few weeks making videos.  Sage loves to watch some of the videos that other girls her age have made on youtube with their rooms and American Girl dolls.  I have full monitor over this and everything she watches and is allowed to put on there, fyi.  Anyway, I laughed at the videos they made, especially the ones where Jaggar is involved.  HILARIOUS.  "My room toy."  lol  He's so cute.

If you have 13 minutes on hand, you can watch Sage's very in depth tour.  :)


Jaggar's room.  SO funny. 


And then they did Costner's.

4 Years?!

How can Jaggar be like this...

 
when he was JUST like this?

What pure joy Jaggar Cruiz has been to me.  He makes me laugh more than anyone I know.  He is so wonderful.  He really only seems bothered when there's a thunderstorm (sheer terror) or if a toy just won't do what he wants it to do.  If I'd known how wonderful having a son would be, I may have preferred a boy before I ever had children.  (I was the typical, "Have to have my girly girl" as a newlywed planning children one day...not that she's not wonderful too)  My life would be missing so much if I didn't have him.  Some of my favorite phrases he says are, "He waked up."  "My feets hurt."  "Can I sit with you?"  "My tummy just wants chocolate!"  He is just content and easy and...wonderful.  I can't say it any other way.  He is my heart, and I am so proud he is my son.