Christmas Eve

So it's Christmas Eve and I can't wait until morning to see the look on Jesse's face when he sees all his gifts. Anyway, it's almost midnight and Santa has already been here so I guess it's time I let the dog out and head to bed. Tony will be home in the morning and we'll have our Christmas. Jesse will get to play with his toys for a little while then we hit the road after lunch to head to Tony's moms. When we get home I'll post about our Christmas. Until then Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

School picture October 2009

Just pictures

Just playing.


Being silly!!!!


This is perfection. What a sweetheart!


Buddy Walk 2009 with Dr. Meyer. She's the best!

Potty Training

We've been putting Jesse on the potty off and on for months and nothing. We've sat him on the potty with a sippy cup of juice or milk and nothing. I have always joked that we could let him run around naked and he wouldn't pee unless he was in a diaper or the bathtub. Jesse surprised me while Tony was deployed and went potty once, but nothing since then........ until tonight. I had just gotten bath water run for Jesse and I put him on the potty for a few minutes. After a few minutes I heard it.... yep Jesse totally went number 1. I am so proud of him. He is growing up more and more every day. He's helping me around the house with taking care of dirty diapers and picking up toys. Anyway, I know I've been bad at updating so I thought tonight's accomplishment was good cause for one so here ya are. Now, it's off to let the dog out and get a lunch box ready for Jesse in the morning.

2009 Annual Buddy Walk

It's that time of year again. We are getting ready for our Buddy Walk.If you would like to make a donation in our teams name. You can do so by visiting the page for Team Jesse. All donations are greatly appreciated and will help families with children with down syndrome. Thanks for checking us out.

Just some pics

Don't have much time to blog right now, but here are some adorable pics and I'll try and get another blog done in the near future.

Stressful times

Last Friday I got a phone call from my dad. I immediately knew something was wrong. I had just talked to him Thursday to wish him a happy birthday. We normally talk about once a week so two calls in two days, well something was wrong. He said I’m sorry baby, but I’ve got some bad news. Big Momma passed away today. Big Momma was my dads mom. I knew it was coming since she has had a lot of health problems for many years, but it still hit me like a ton of bricks. I stayed strong for my dad on the phone, but was hurting so bad inside. I hadn’t seen her in over 15 years, and hadn’t talked to her in probably a month or so. She’s been weak and takes naps often so it’s hard to know when a good time to call is. She had been struggling with her breathing for a few weeks and my Aunt had been staying home with her since her problems had gotten worse. My Big Momma died in her bed with my Aunt holding her. It was a peaceful passing from what I’ve been told. Most importantly is that now she is no longer in constant pain.

This has been the first death that’s close to me since my mom died a few months after Jesse was born. My moms passing was a total shock to all of us. It had been over a year since I had seen her and she had never gotten to meet her first grandchild. My mom was my best friend and losing her was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. It was a very tough month when we lost her. We were traveling home for the funeral and everything else we needed to take care of and we were in a car accident that could have easily killed Tony, me, and Jesse. Anyway the point is that was the worst month of my life hands down. I think the only thing that could affect me more than that is if I lost a child. I didn’t deal with my moms death very well if even at all. I can honestly say that I don’t think I would have made it through my mom dying if it wasn’t for having Jesse to take care and live for. He is truly my whole world. I have pushed so much to the back of my mind and that is where it stays… for the most part. I have my times where I break down and just cry and grieve, but I feel I do a good job covering it all up. Tony doesn’t even know that I still can’t come to grips with it. The point of all this about my mom you ask. Well, lets just say that since getting the news of my grandmother on Friday I am now dealing with everything I have pushed back to the back of my mind.

My mind is in overdrive and it won’t stop. I’m not going to go into detail about everything running through my mind, but I will share a few things. Was my mom in pain when she died? I’m pretty sure she was and I just can’t deal with that fact. I hate to think that my moms last moments were in pain. I’m also scared of who I am going to lose next. You see they always say it comes in 3’s, well I’m not sure about 3’s, but about a month before we lost my mom we lost my Grandpa Jeff who was Big Mommas husband. Just a few months before we lost Grandpa we almost lost Big Momma. I was around 7 or 8 months pregnant with Jesse. Big Momma had a lot of problems and died on the table a few times. Doctors were obviously able to bring her back, but it was real sketchy for a while. I remember that I was pregnant because my dad didn’t want to tell me because he was scared that it would hurt the pregnancy. So anyway, back to my thoughts, who’s next? I’m normally not the kind of person who thinks it’s all about me so I’m sorry if it sounds like it. I’m not one for talking about my feelings when it comes to being emotionally hurt and spent, but I’m hoping maybe by blogging this it will help.

There are a lot of really AMAZING, great things going on with our family right now and eventually I’ll blog about those things, but for now it’s hard to write about the great things when all I can think about are the bad things.

If you made it this far thanks for reading my ramblings. Now I need to go and fix Jesse some lunch and start to get ready for therapy. My next blog will be cheery I promise.

ABC’s and turning 4

We are 4 now! Jesse had a wonderful birthday yesterday. Tony put aside his gaming and I put aside twitter and face book. We watched Signing Time, played, and had lots of cake and ice cream. I think it was the perfect day. We decided not to do a big birthday party like last year because we might not have another birthday with Tony home and wanted to spend it together without all the commotion of a bunch of kids running around. We went through pictures of Jesse through the past 4 years and remembered how small and sweet he was. We watched the videos of the first time he crawled and the first time he walked. It was so good to just sit and go through all the old pictures and videos, but it was kind of sad to know that my sweet boy that was happiest laying on mommy’s chest is now grown up and just wants to run and play. Jesse has made so much progress this past year. He amazes me every day with his accomplishments.

Now onto the ABC’s. When school got out in June I really started to focus on the ABC’s with Jesse. In just a month he now knows the entire alphabet and sings them by himself with no prompting. If you write a letter he will tell you what it is and is so proud of himself every time he does it. Of course that probably has something to do with the fact that I pretty much always make a big deal out of it like he just got done doing his first night as lead role on a big Broadway production. I’m his mom though so I’m supposed to do that right? Well, I do and he loves it! Now I have to give credit where credit is due and say that none of this would be possible without Rachel Coleman and the ABC Signs dvd from the Signing Time Series. This has been one of Jesse’s favorite dvd’s for a while now. I just can’t say enough about Signing Time. It has helped Jesse so much and has become a very important part of our days here in the Baker house.

It’s lunch time for us so it’s time to get this posted and get to cooking. Will update again soon.

Sharing videos for your viewing pleasures

Ok so I need to update, but it's late so I'll share some videos and update when I have some time. Here are some vids of our lil' mans pre school graduation. He's growing up so fast. I still can't believe he'll be 4 next month.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Endocrinology appointment

Jesse had an appointment to see how his thyroid meds are working and I'm glad to say they are working great! There is no need to change the dosage or anything. Now all we have to do is have labs done every 4 months or so to make sure the meds are still working.
We have our annual I.E.P. appointment next Wednesday so I will be sure to post about that experience sometime next weekend. I'm sure it will be an interesting appointment since I'm bringing an advocate. I'll post about why later. For now though it's almost 1am and I need to get the trash out and get my butt to bed. 6am comes early around here.

An update just for Pam!

So I have been informed by someone that she needs her Jesse fix. So here we go with an update. Tony came home last month. I have never been so happy to see his ship come into sight. We didn't have the dream homecoming moments I had hoped for because there were a lot of problems Tony had to deal with on the ship before he could come off. It bummed me out, but it's ok because eventually I got my husband back and took him home and we had him for an entire 2 weeks to ourselves. No work, just time for the 3 of us. Jesse has been so attached to his dada since he's been home. Jesse cries when Tony gets his shoes out to walk the dog. Jesse is showing off his signing and talking skills for his dada all the time which is great! Jesse is also showing off his bad side to dada which dada doesn't like, but I think is the funniest thing ever. Remember I've been dealing with it by myself for 7 months so I've learned to deal with it and not get so angry so when Tony gets frustrated and angry all I can do is laugh.lol

We are getting ready to go in for our annual IEP meeting which I like to call the meeting from hell, but this one should be better. We are bringing reinforcements. We are bringing an advocate from the naval hospital and she doesn't put up with bs. The teacher is kissing our asses now as she understands how unhappy we are with the school. I gave her paperwork we got from the hospital and I made sure to highlight key points in there where they mention what the school is doing wrong. Is that wrong of me? I think it's great! Since then the teacher has been doing her best to kiss our asses and tell us how great it is to have Jesse in class and how great he's doing. I think it's a little late for all the ass kissing, but who knows.lol

Tony has gone back to work since Jesse has gone back to school and it's been kind of rough. Jesse comes running out of his bedroom in the mornings calling for dada and looks all over for him then gets real upset that dada isn't here. It breaks my heart, but I am sure he will get used to dada having to go to work soon.

We are trying to figure out what all we should do for season passes this year. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is about an hour away and has opened up a Sesame Street park inside for kids. We are thinking about getting season passes to give us something to do as a family. We are also talking about a year family pass to the Virginia Zoo. It's not the greatest zoo, but it's the closest one to us and Jesse loves going there. It just doesn't compare at all to the zoos I've been to in the past, but Jesse doesn't know any better yet. Maybe by the time he notices that our zoo sucks, we'll be stationed somewhere else with a better zoo. I can hope anyway.lol

Well, I think I'm done updating for now. It's about time to get lunch ready for lil' man. I'll try to do better updating. I'm sure Pam and others will keep me on my toes asking for updates. Until next time here is some cuteness for ya. One of the pics is of Jesse and Tony's dad who came down to surprise Tony when he came home from deployment. I just love Jesse in his sailor hat and shades.lol

And the countdown begins

So is everyone probably knows, my husband is on deployment. He left in September for a 7 month deployment. That 7 months is almost over. I am so excited and so happy that this deployment is almost over and that soon my son will be able to hug his dada again very soon. I haven't been so great at the blogging thing, but I've been so busy with so much going on.

We've had a lot of stuff going on with Jesse and the school. We had some problems come up within the past month and so I've been trying to take care of all of that. We're also loaded down with doctor appointments and therapy appointments. We've been sick quite a bit this winter and now the pollen is here so allergy and sinus problems are here to make us miserable.

Jesse is doing great, no wait fantastic is more like it. His therapists are great and do a wonderful job showing me what I can do at home to keep it going. Jesse is a lot more verbal now and it's finally hit me that my little boy is growing up. I can't believe he's going to be 4 this July. Where has the time gone?

Well that's about it for an update right now. I've got to get ready to pick Jesse up from school and get him some lunch, then it's off to therapy.

New pics

Ok so here is the new hair cut. Oh and since this blog is about Jesse, here's a pic of him at school the other day.lol

Need advice please

Ok so I know this is probably stupid to some of you, but I really need some help figuring out what to do with my hair. My hair is long now and I always have it pulled back in a pony tail because Jesse hates it in his face and I never have time to do my hair because it never looks right without a blow dry and flat iron run through it then I always end up pulling it back in a pony tail eventually anyway. I am also getting migraines a lot and can't figure out why. It could be my hair weighing to much or stress, sinuses, etc. My hubby loves long hair so I don't know if I really want to cut it, I know he would tell me to do whatever I want, but of course I want to have my hair a way he'll like it. So what I need from you is to look at these 2 pics and tell me what you think. Is it better long or short. The short hair pic was taken before Jesse so I was much thinner. That's another thing I'm worried about, what if I look horrible with short hair now that I'm heavier. Anyway, what do you think? Please leave a comment telling me long or short. Then if I decide to cut it I'll post pics after I get it done. Thanks in advance. Now here's the pics.

Jesse and his ABC's

Jesse is learning his abc's and let me tell you it is so adorable. He is saying A then says apples, then he says B babies, c cat, d doggie, and e elmo. He is just so darn cute. He's also saying I luh oooo.

Nascar season is back and anyone that knows me knows all to well that I am a die hard nascar fan. When I was pregnant I was at the Daytona 500 when Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag and Jesse totally kicked me. I thought wow my son is a nascar fan already. Well it's proving true. All week since it's been Race Week he has been glued to the practices, qualifying, and anything else that has to do with the cars going around the track. I can't wait to take him to his first race.

Well, it's time to get Jesse some lunch so off I go.

Jesse and his sharing skills

Well Jesse is learning to share now. He tried to share his sippy cup with me the other day and has been sharing his dada bear too. One thing though I am upset about him sharing. He's sick and he shared it with me. Ugh, now we are both congested, tired, and cranky. It makes me so happy that Jesse is sharing, but I have to say he is sharing way to much. I hope he starts to feel better soon. It was so bad the other night I almost took him to Portsmouth, but I handled it so I didn't need to. That was a good thing because we would have been waiting for about 4 hours just to be seen then another 2 hours when we finally got a room. It was already 3am and we hadn't been to sleep yet so I'm glad I saved us from that trip. He's eating and drinking today so I'm hoping that means he is starting to get over this. I need him to go to school so I can catch up on the housework I let go over the weekend to cuddle with my sick little man. Just look at this poor kid. He's miserable.

SIGNING TIME GIVE AWAY! YOU CAN'T MISS OUT ON THIS ONE

Pam over at The Bird Flock is rocking this give away thing. What better give away than Signing Time. I'm sure you have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, or a friend who has kids that you can get stuff for. This is the best of the best for give aways. I mean you have the option to have Rachel, Alex, Leah and Hopkins in your house everyday! What more could you want? You totally need to get in on this give away. So get over to The Bird Flock now. Here's the link. http://theflockofbirds.blogspot.com/2009/02/signing-time-giveaway.html

Better check this one out

So a friend of mine over at The Bird Flock is doing a Bloggy Giveaway and you definately don't want to miss out on this one. You have a chance to win the most adorable lovems for your kiddos. So if you don't already read The Bird Flock you totally need to go there now and check it out. Not to mention she has the cutest little boy ever, well equally cute with Jesse anyway. So don't waste anymore time, the blog giveaway ends soon. Here's the link! http://theflockofbirds.blogspot.com/2009/01/bloggy-giveaway.html

Time for a much needed update

Jesse is doing great! He is having a hard time with deployment still, but school and therapy is going good. Speech therapy is tough because as far as I can tell he doesn't like the speech therapist. I can't blame him though since she told us to cut back on Signing Time and well Jesse won't stand to have his beloved Rachel cut out of his days. His speech therapy is Rachel, it's just Rachel and me. He has shown so much improvement since we got the whole Signing Time collection. I'm not going to take that away from him. He loves physical therapy. He spends the whole time in physical therpay laughing and having a blast. School is going good for him. The teacher said he's making progress with a lot of things.

I'm doing pretty good. Just trying to stay busy to keep my occupied for the deployment. Jesse missing his daddy and crying for dada has been really hard on me. I just can't stand it when he's crying and really upset and I know I can't do anything to make him feel better. I'm just glad we have already past our half way point for this deployment. It doesn't help any that Tony can't call that often either. It seems they are always cutting off the phone lines or Tony is working 20 hour days with no days off. It's really rough. I email Tony at least once a day to let him know how we're doing and tell him the new things Jesse is doing. Most of the time I find myself emailing him 2 or 3 times a day. He looks forward to our emails every day so I make sure to keep them heading his way. I also try to send him at least one picture of Jesse a day. I just recently started working on our Down Syndrome Association Buddy Walk comittee. That should take up a lot of time also because I have so many ideas. Currently I'm trying to get Rachel from Signing Time here for the event. I've also been trying to lose weight. So far I've lost 25 pounds since September when Tony left. I am hoping to lose another 20 by the time Tony comes home.

Well, it is after midnight and I am in desperate need of sleep so off to bed I go. So that is about it for now. Time for me to go to bed. I'll post again soon.