The Warren Family: February 19, 2012

Well we returned Daisy and it was every bit has hard as we had imagined and perhaps even more so. We had prepared Jake as best we could but reality didn't really settle in until we were driving away without her. Even after she nipped him, he still really wanted her to be his dog. It was a very hard day but on the way to return Daisy Jake actually told his very first joke and that's what I'm going to focus on in my memories because it was one of the only bright spots in an otherwise sad and dreary day.

The day began with pouring rain and in the effort to get on the road Daisy got away from us and ran absolutely wild through the neighborhood for about 30 minutes. When she finally came back she was absolutely drenched and filthy from running through the mud so Trip did his best to clean her and dry her even though we didn't have time to give her a bath. We were just heading out of Boone when Jake said... "What does a train say when it has a cold?.... Ahhhh Choo Choo" and Trip and I both cracked up which was really what we needed to lighten the heavy mood. When we arrived at Miss Anne's house we unloaded Daisy and all of her goodies that we had purchased for her and then said a quick goodbye as we were all fighting back tears. As we backed out of the driveway I turned and looked at Jake and big tears were running down his face which broke my heart. A few minutes later he looked up and said... "When are we coming back to pick Daisy up?". We explained once again that Daisy was going to stay with Miss Anne and the reasons why we needed to give her back and then he got very quite before he said " but I didn't really tell Daisy goodbye". We kept going instead of returning because we were afraid going back would make things even more difficult and as it turns out we probably made the right choice because the day went from bad to worse just a short distance down the road.

We had decided to stop on the way back home to let Jake go to the toy store and grab a bite to eat but when we stopped at the restaurant Jake mentioned that his tummy was hurting and that he needed to potty. We pulled out his travel potty and quickly realized that he was really not well but he was hungry so we went in the restaurant and during the meal I took him to the restroom three times. We knew we needed to get him home but didn't want to break our promise about the toy store so Trip stayed in the car with Jake and I ran in to pick up the Cars 2 car that was at the top of his "need" list and then we got back on the road. It took forever for us to get home because every few minutes we had to stop so that Jake could use his travel potty. I'm so thankful that we have one and that I was overly prepared with supplies. I'm not sure how we would have made it without that amazingly wonderful little red travel potty.

We finally connected some dots and realized that he had gotten the Norovirus from his daycare which had been closed the day before because the provider and her family were sick. Jake came down with it on Saturday but hung in there and kicked it after three rough days. If you know anything about the Norovirus then you probably know that it is incredibly contagious so... inevitably... I came down with it on Sunday morning and Trip joined me late Monday night. Tuesday morning ... Jake was better but Trip and I were so sick that we literally could not take care of ourselves much less Jake so thankfully my Mama and Daddy came to his rescue and took him to their house for three days while Trip and I fought through the worst of the symptoms that accompany the virus. It was a rough week but thankfully we've all recovered and I have sanitized the whole house to try to insure that we don't get it again.

Jake has been able to read for quite awhile and now he's starting to work on spelling some things as well. We met one night after work at a little Italian place in town to get some supper and Jake rode to the restaurant with his Daddy so he decided to ride home with me. On the way home, he surprised me by spelling his last name out loud over and over again.

We are so blessed to have family close enough to help out when we are sick or unable to make our schedules work out the way that they need to and Grandma and Grandpa came to our rescue this month as well. Trip and I try really hard to coordinate our schedules to insure that we don't travel on the same days and to be certain that one of us is always available for Jake but Trip had to be out of town and I had to be in meetings from 7am to 9pm two days in a row so our little man gladly skipped school and played with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days instead. I don't know what we would have done without them! Not only did they come down and step in to take care of Jake but my very thoughtful Mother-In-Law also brought lasagna and her famous lemon glazed pound cake so I didn't even have to worry about food.

As if that isn't enough for the month... Trip had varicose veins removed from one of his legs and the surgery turned out to be much more painful than we had envisioned. It also required much more downtime than we had prepared for when we made our plan for the week. Trip was a trooper but having him "out of the game" for a few days was tough. I always appreciate what Trip does around the house (cooking, dealing with trash, helping with Jake, etc.) and I know how blessed I am to have a true partner in life... but when you have "a man down" you begin to fully comprehend how much your partner really contributes to the day to day operations of the household. My behind barely touched a chair for four days but I managed to keep everyone fed and cared for without too many bumps in the road. Trip's legs have bothered him for years and have recently prevented him from being able to run and play the way he wants to so we're hopeful that this will be the cure for too many years standing on concrete floors while flipping burgers and sauteing vegetables in restaurants.

It is so hard to believe that another year has already past by and that Jake is now 4 years old. He's growing up so fast! Since his birthday is on Valentine's Day we celebrate our "Sweetheart" in the morning and then we celebrate our "Birthday Boy" for the rest of the day. February 14th fell on a weekday this year so we exchanged Valentine's and had a special breakfast before leaving the house to fulfill the obligations of a work day. We took cupcakes to celebrate his birthday with his friends at school before going to one of our favorite BBQ joints for supper and then back home for birthday cards and gifts. Jake picked the BBQ place for his birthday supper because he wanted fried okra... yep ... you heard me right... I said he wanted friend okra. He loves it! The restaurant has live music and when the waitress found out that it was Jake's birthday she snuck up and told the singer and after he performed a couple of songs he started singing "Happy Birthday". Jake's eyes started scanning the crowd to try to find who they were singing to and when he realized that it was him ... he practically glowed with excitement. Before the song ended the entire crowd was singing to him and he was so pleased. Our sweet waitress also brought him a special birthday dessert which put another huge smile on his face.

Our family birthday party was at our house the weekend after our little man officially turned four. I had been planning for a construction theme at Jake's request but at the last minute (about 2 weeks out) he decided that he just had to have a Cars 2 party so we quickly changed gears and pulled it together. He had a blast and he LOVED his cake! He also especially enjoyed spending time with Gage's girlfriend. She is a sweetheart who really made Jake feel special and he flirted with her unmercifully. It's a good thing Jake is only four or he might be trying to give his cousin a run for his money in hopes of winning Faith's heart.

I have a new obsession and if you haven't invested any time on Pinterest let me be the first to tell you that you should. I absolutely love this new social media platform. It is a digital pin board where you can find and save recipes, crafts, products, ideas, designs, etc. I have found some really wonderful recipes and tons and tons of great ideas including the inspiration for Jake's Valentine's that he'll share with his little friends at school this year. You'll have to check them out below and let me know what you think. I could not have been more pleased with the results and we received many, many complements so I think they were a hit. If you would like to see what I'm pinning for inspiration you can click on the link in the right hand column titled "Follow Mama on Pinterest".