Birthday Bashes

Last Wednesday was my dad's 74th birthday, and Jacob's 10th.  I can't believe an entire decade has passed since Jake was born!  Have I told you the story of Jacob's birth?  Maybe I have.  If so, sorry to repeat myself, but I feel like the 10th anniversary warrants re-telling.  So here it is:

At my 30 week check-up, my OB told me that Jacob was breech.  At that point, he told me not to worry, because a good percentage of babies turn head-down before 37 weeks.  As the weeks passed, however, he remained breech and the odds of him turning head-down became smaller and smaller.  Finally, at 35 weeks, we decided that the best course of action was to schedule a C-section.  It just happened that I would be 38 weeks along during the week of my dad's birthday, so I chose June 5th to be Jake's birthday too.  On June 4th, my mom, dad and sister drove to Pittsburgh (where I was living at the time) so that they could be present for Jake's scheduled 6:00 a.m. arrival.  As it turned out, Jake would share a birthday with my dad not just because I contrived it to work out that way, but because it was meant to be.  

I went into labor late at night on June 4th.  Looking back, I had probably been in labor most of the evening and just didn't know it.  My back hurt a lot, but I was 9 months pregnant.  A sore back wasn't out of the ordinary for me.  I tried to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep one last time before becoming a mother, but I just didn't feel well.  I thought that I had a stomach bug, so I went to the bathroom, but I never got sick.  I'm not sure how much time I spent in the bathroom, but it was a fairly good amount of time.  I remember thinking, "Oh, this is just great.  I'll be up with diarrhea all night when it's my last chance for a peaceful night of sleep for the next year!"  It wasn't until I noticed that I was bleeding, some time during The Late Show with David Letterman, that I realized I was in labor.  Smart, huh?  Yeah, well, that degree of mine is in German, not biology! 

I called the doctor, who told me to gather my things and meet him at the hospital.  I then called my family and told them to grab their things too.   Thankfully, everyone got there in plenty of time.  Jacob was born via cesarean section at 3:04 a.m. (I have to also note that my sister's birthday is March 4th) on June 5, 2003.  

I remember shaking uncontrollably in the recovery room, with my mom tucking blankets around me.  I wasn't cold, though.  It was just a side effect from the anesthesia, but it was a little freaky.  And the morphine really messed up my hearing.  Jacob was screaming, mad as hell at the labor and delivery nurse for taking his measurements.  My mom commented on how mad he was and I said, "Yeah, but at least he doesn't cry loudly."  The labor and delivery nurse said somberly, "Oh my, dear.  I've been doing this job for 19 years and this is the loudest baby I ever heard."  When the morphine wore off, I understood why she made that statement.    

After 5 days in the hospital, and tons of visits from friends and family, we headed back to my parents' house to live, and this is the only way Jacob would sleep for about 2 and a half years:

Snuggled up against someone was where he wanted to be - all the time - and not just snuggled, usually snuggled and also walking.  We all learned to sleep while walking during that first year of his life.   He was a high maintenance baby, but he sure has turned into a sweet little man.  I never worry about Jake doing anything dangerous or risky.  He's cautious.  He listens well.  He thinks things through (most of the time).  He's done all of the usual things - learned to read and write, learned to swim and ice skate.  He has certainly grown!  He is nearly as tall as I am and now wears the same sized shoe as me!  He's not my little peanut any more, that's for sure.   A lot has changed during the course of the last 10 years, but some things have remained the same...  

 He still loves cats.

He is still infuriated by the Pirates.  

And most of all, he still loves his Pap.  

And so does Andrew!  

(Andrew also likes to photo-bomb whenever possible.)  

I'm so happy that Jacob shares his birthday with my dad.  He will carry this connection with him forever.  No matter how old he is, even when he celebrates his 100th birthday, he will think of my dad, and I'm sure my dad will be celebrating with him.  It's a life-long blessing for Jacob, and I know it also helps my dad remember the date of Jake's birth...since he can really only approximate everyone else's dates! If he forgets his own birthday, we're in real trouble! 

Getting a gift from his little brother. 

The Annoying Orange.  It's so, well, annoying.  

An electric scooter.  Heaven help us.  He can't even ride a bike yet!  

Hand painted cat and dog bobble heads - just what everyone wants! 

Catapult.  Anything involving hurling objects through the air is a good gift for a boy! 

Sparring gear for Tang Soo Do. 

Hi-Ya! 

We also celebrated with the whole kit-n-caboodle at our house on Sunday.  

Ice cream cake is the way to go! 

Pap getting a birthday hug from Ella Jacqueline. 

Enjoying some sunshine...

...and some enthralling stories from Pap Ed.  

Cousins

Taking another turn at blowing out the candles

What a handsome pair.

The Williams men were appropriately satisfied.  With full bellies and a beer in hand, they all snuggled down for an afternoon snooze.

That was the weekend in a nutshell.  We did a lot of celebrating, all focused around two of the most important men in my life.  I love them both and wish them many more years of birthday festivities together.

While You Were Gone

Andrew and I had a few minutes alone this evening, and decided to take a world-wide adventure, just the two of us.  It went something like this:

Our first stop was the Baltimore Aquarium.  The fish were very gracious hosts.  

Next we popped over to Yosemite.  Andrew thought the falls paled in comparison to Niagara.  

At the gift shop, we were able to purchase two Superman capes, which helped us to fly to our next destination...

Paris.  While Paris was indeed beautiful, and walking along the Seine brought  back some lovely memories, we thought it would be more fun to make like Godzilla and wreck some stuff.  

 After our mini-reign of terror, we decided to relax at the beach.  If it had been up to me, we would have stayed there, but Andrew got restless.  After he caught his first Great White Shark, he was ready to conquer more of the world.  

He loved the rides at DelGrosso's so much last weekend, that he wanted to jump on another roller coaster just for kicks.  Look!  No hands!  And here I said I wasn't big on amusement park rides!  

OK, well, actually, the roller coaster did leave our heads spinning just a bit.  

But we hadn't had our fill of amusement park attractions just yet.  We hopped into a space simulator, and rocked out on the moon for a while.  How could we resist a little T.N.T. in zero gravity?  We totally nailed that sh*$! 

The little rock show we put on left us feeling like stars!  

 I think it even went to our heads a little bit.  

When I started talking about our debut tour, Andrew said, "Enough's enough!"

 So we took it down a notch and headed a little closer to home, to the Andy Warhol museum to see if we could "pop art" ourselves.  

Unfortunately, during our visit, we were hit with the worst indoor rain storm I have ever witnessed!  That was enough excitement for us.  We decided to call it quits and head back to Hollidaysburg.  

We had some X-Rays taken to make sure we were healthy enough for the return journey, and off we went.  

Teleporting can have some strange effects on a person.  We felt a little green at times. (I never did travel well.)

 And there were times when everything seemed just a touch out of focus, but we made it through safely.  

When we first got home, we felt a little washed out, but after a few minutes our color returned...

...and all was right with the world again.  

That was exhausting!  

Good night! 

Sweet Summer

While Memorial Day weekend may be the official kick off to summer, and while I thoroughly enjoyed our time on the boat last weekend, the weather was just shy of making it feel authentic.  Mother Nature sweetly obliged me with some piping hot winds and glaring summer sun this week, however.  Now it feels like summer!  I know a lot of people hate the heat, but I have to say, the older I get, the more I like it.  I hate the winter.  I hate being cold.  I don't like to be hot when I'm sleeping, but otherwise, I'll take the sweat if it means being outside in a tank top and flip flops, and I'll take it even more happily if it means being on the boat!  We didn't get to take the boat out this weekend, but we were still able to enjoy the summer sun.  

Friday was Jacob's school picnic at DelGrosso's Amusement Park.  On a whim, I decided to take Andrew along for the ride.  I thought that Jake would probably meet up with a buddy and then Andrew and I would spend the day in Kiddie Land.  That's not at all what happened.  When we got there, the two boys rode a few rides in Kiddie Land.  Then we ate lunch with Jake's classmates.  He hooked up with a few buddies from school, and we all went on the train together.  The other boys wanted to go on rides that Jake just wasn't ready to risk yet, so he veered away and stayed with Andrew and me.  They played in the arcade a little, but what they really wanted was to ride rides.  Unlike Jacob, Andrew is a little dare-devil.  He was through with Kiddie Land and wanted to go on the big rides early on.  Unfortunately for me, he had to be accompanied by an adult, so I spent the whole day riding rides with the boys.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a big ride person.  For one, I'm ultra paranoid that a bolt is going to come loose, causing the ride to blow apart and kill everyone on and around it.  Secondly, all those people sitting in those seats and touching the handles with sweaty hands and bodies....Ewwww....  But I hate them the most because I get sick.  Really sick.  The last time I was at the park with the kids, I rode the Carousel and got nauseated.  I'm a total wimp when it comes to rides, so you can now understand just how big of a deal it was for me to ride all day with them.  Amazingly, I didn't get sick at all.  I'm not sure what made the difference, but I am grateful for whatever it was.  I did have keep my eyes closed on the Tilt-O-Whirl, though.  That one was just a little too much for me.  

First ride together, eager to start the day! 

I was worried about Andrew on this ride, because it spins pretty fast.  I thought he would get scared and want off mid-ride.  Boy, was I wrong!  Scroll down to see what else this kid rode!  After one disappointing ride on the boats, Kiddie Land quickly lost it's appeal for Andrew.  

I think the way to take the most flattering "selfie" is by looking up at the camera.  Unfortunately, with two kiddos who are shorter than me, that wasn't possible.  Add to it the fact that I can hardly see my screen in the sun, and you get several self-taken photos that are seriously unsightly.   Just how many chins can one girl have?  Apparently, many more than I ever imagined!  When I was taking this picture, Jacob was very concerned that I was not going to put my phone away before the ride started.  "Mom, seriously.  Put it away.  It's going to get broken."  That's my little old man! 

The disappointing boat ride.  I think he envisioned driving his own speed boat...not quite what he got! 

"A-hoy there, Mates!" 

Snack break and attempt to get out of the sun for a few minutes.  Unfortunately, all of the shaded benches were taken, so this was the best we could do.  

This is the face of someone who really enjoyed his ice cream! 

Jake is a born rider! 

Tilt-O-Whirl.  ( See what I mean about the chins? Yikes!)

Yes, I rode this thing too - 4 times.  Jake was too chicken to get on.  He sat happily at the picnic tables below us and waved, not caring at all that his 5 year old brother was braver!   

On our way out, Jake and Andrew got the front seat of the caterpillar roller coaster.  

Another "selfie."  Getting better, don't you think?  Really, I took them just to prove that I actually went on these rides.  This one is the Paratrooper.  It goes in an oval up, around and down.  At one point during this ride, Andrew said, "I love this ride!  It makes my butt hurt!"  I started laughing and he asked why.  I said, "It makes your butt hurt?"  He said, "Yeah.  It feels all squishy inside!"  

Jake wasn't so thrilled about getting a hug from his little brother on a 90 degree day.  Maybe that wasn't a hug...he was probably wiping his sweat on Jake's shirt! 

After several attempts, I finally got one photo of them that was decent.  The best part?  Right after this picture, Andrew took a bite of his cotton candy and said, "Oh!  Ew!  This tastes like fur!"  

This is what a satisfied little boy looks like at the end of a day at an amusement park.  

On the way home, Jacob said, "You know, I had a really good day."  That's not something he would typically say, and seeing as how we spent it together, just the three of us, it meant a lot to me.  I'm glad I didn't chicken out and make them ride the rides in Kiddie Land for an hour and then truck home.  It was worth every anxiety-ridden eeby-jeeby.  

Today we went to the pool in Martinsburg for a few hours so the boys could swim.  Andrew was so excited to get in the water.  I am usually pretty on-top of things, but somehow I managed to get to June with no sandals for Andrew!  In last-minute desperation, we bought him a pair of flip-flops at the dollar store, just to get us by for today.  When I told the boys where we were going, Jake said, "Oh yeah.  Dollar Store flip-flops.  That's a great idea.  What could possibly go wrong with $1 sandals?"  Seriously, is this kid 10 or 45?  But the flip-flops worked out splendidly!  Andrew loves them!  He wore them out on some errands this evening.  Even if they break tomorrow, they were a dollar well spent!  

All decked out and ready to swim! 

Under the water umbrella

Andrew's turn

Taking a warm-up breather.  

"Mmmm....concession stand candy is to die for!" 

Jake was pleased with his french fries too.  

And while we were hard at play for the last 2 days, Sam picked up the slack at home and did all of my laundry!  I love that cat!