Happy Birthday Jasper!

Jasper,

Today is your birthday. August 6th, 2008 you joined your mother and I in this world at about 7:17 in the evening. I can't wait until you wake up today so we can celebrate with you. We're planning to go to the zoo and walk around and see all the animals, and maybe we'll even go somewhere special to eat.

We're so happy that your Granny Jayne has come down to visit you during this wonderful week. She's very happy to see how big you've gotten since she last saw you (around Thanksgiving 08', just before we moved from Boston to Columbia). When she last saw you you weren't even crawling around much, and now you're running circles around all of us. Granny got you swimming lessons for your birthday, so you and momma can go to the pool and you can splash around all you want.

I'm very proud of all you've learned this first year: from first rolling over, then crawling to now walking and running; from drinking breast milk and eating pureed vegetables to eating pizza and drinking apple juice; and especially from cooing and crying to babbling and saying momma and dad. Your face grows more expressive every day. You've already become quite the little flirt, and your scrunched up face brightens any day, even if we're still not sure what you really mean by it.

I'm overjoyed to get to be your father, even if it pains me to see the look on your face when you realize I'm leaving for work. The mornings of soggy diapers, breakfast and Yo Gabba Gabba are not nearly time enough for all I hope to one day teach you, but I know we must take it all one day at a time, and before we notice a year has shown its growth in your shaggy hair and expanding vocabulary. I promise to be there for all the tall tales and mental breakthroughs that I can, and know that if I'm gone, it's only to try and bring an even better life to you.

But I get to be here with you for the next five whole days without interruption! Starting with your birthday today and then your party on Saturday, all the way through til we take Granny Jayne back to the airport on Tuesday morning. I can't even imagine all the fun we'll have, the four of us traipsing around to your year old beat! It almost makes me want to come wake you up to start the celebrating right now, but I know better, "Let sleeping babies lie."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASPER IRVING!

rest in peace, grampa holmes and stockton

jasper,
we just spent the last week helping aunt "titi" doris take care of my great-grandfather, so your great-great grandfather, ed holmes. you had so much fun hanging around out there. we set your portable crib up in the huge master bathroom, and i stayed next door in the master bedroom. we missed daddy a lot, he had to stay home so he could take care of the kitties and go to work. grampa and titi greatly enjoyed your company, and you enjoyed theirs. grampa was in a lot of pain, but that's over now. he passed away at four in the morning on wednesday, may 27th, 2009. we are happy he isn't in pain anymore. may he rest pain free and in peace.
nana came down today, because she is the one who was put in charge of his will and meeting all of his last wishes. we picked her up from the airport at 11 this morning and brought her out to gilbert to be with titi, so we could go home. titi didn't want to be alone, though she has too much pride to admit it. you can just tell though. after we picked up nana, you tried to climb up a kitchen chair and busted your top gum open. you thought it was pretty awful and you bled all over your cute khaki overalls. dammit. i was scared that your new teeth went through your lip, but they didn't. you have a little scab on your gums, but i think you'll survive.
grampa didn't have a lot and died with a small piece of property, two trailers (mobile homes) some furniture (nothing spectacular) and $400 to his name. yet, as usually comes with someone dying, there is a little bit of drama going on. his girlfriend of 6 years wants his ashes, and the family thinks he should be buried with his dead wife, great-gramma holmes. she is buried in lincoln, new hampshire, which is where nana, titi and gram's four other children were born. bob, who is one of nana and titi's brothers thinks he owns one of grampa's trailers, but he doesn't. so we're expecting him to challenge the will. all of this reminds daddy and i that we need to write our wills, just in case anything happens to us. *sigh*
stockton, who quickly became your kitty after you were born, also died this week. he ran off on saturday night and hasn't come home at all. he's not the most intelligent kitty and i don't think he could survive for too long on his own out there, so daddy and i think he died. it's a shitty week, i really want it to be over. i'm really tired from giving grampa meds late at night, and not sleeping in my own bed. i'm also pretty sad right now. and i feel lonely. daddy is working and i'm home alone. you are crawling around on the floor. i just gave you fish and rice for dinner.
i hope it rains soon. it's really humid and like 90-something degrees outside. while i was editing this post, you decided that you were tired and i put you to bed, in your bed. maybe i'll go sit outside with arthur cat and make him make me feel better. he's good at that.
i love you.
momma

teething and rechid diaper rash.

oh little dude, i feel so bad for you.
you've got some horrible diaper rash. i mean awful. i can google "bad diaper rash" and see images that are on par with what you've got. you need to go to the doctor, and will very, very soon. you got an oatmeal bath and got to run around diaper-free for a while tonight, though.
you've also got four teeth now. you think it's pretty amazing to grind them together. and i mean all the fucking time. you sneak up behind me and start breathing all heavy and grinding your teeth. it wicked creeps me out. i think that's pretty obnoxious, but what do you care? you haven't bitten me with your new top chomper yet. i'm glad we're one more step into teething. just sprout all those goddamn teeth already!!
you took your first steps yesterday. big stuff, little dude. i can see in your eyes and the way that you stand there that you'll be walking in no time. it terrifies me. sometimes i wonder if i should tie your legs together, but of course i won't.
you will be 10 months old so soon. i feel like i've already lost my baby. i snuggle with you all the time and tell you that i'm going to miss having you as my baby. i'll definitely miss our snuggle time. :-(
i have a late blog to post and some wonderful pictures of your first beltane! we went strawberry picking and you had such a blast. but, more about that later.
we have a potential transfer from dad's work to move back to massachusetts, something i want to do very badly. it's something we all want to do. unfortunately, we thought that moving to south carolina would make our lives easier, and it hasn't. so, we have the {potential} option to move back home, and getting some help from family, because taking care of you is a very time consuming process and i really need a hand so i can work or go to school. you can't be left alone, and that makes doing anything rather difficult. *sigh* i hope the whole moving home thing works out, it's somewhere i really want to be. i think it would be better for all of us. it is now the 19th of may, and if this worked out, we'd be moving in the beginning of july. so, that makes me nervous as it's obviously not a lot of time. particularly when i'm trying to hang on to your infancy.
we went to the food pantry today, because we're broke people and we needed some food. we spend almost two hours there. you had a blast, talking to people and trying to go home with them, you little flirt. you have such a nice time whenever we go out together. you think other people are so fun.
we've been visiting aunt doris and grampa holmes on sundays, while dad is working. you love them. grampa is dying right now, and we all wish him a quick process that's as pain-free as is possible. you like to sit in grampa's bed with him and give him kisses, it's really sweet. the day after tomorrow, we have to bring grampa's brother bruce to the airport so he can go back to canada. we'll go and have lunch with aunty and grampa before we go.
i think that's all for now, my little lovie. you are sleeping soundly and i am baking a white asparagus quiche with some of my food pantry bounties.
love you sooooo much,
momma.

Nana is home.

Your Nana, that is your Momma's father's mother, was down here visiting her step-father, who is considered to be my great-grandfather and therefore, your great-great grandfather. We call him Grampa. I know, it's all very complicated. Grampa is succumbing to leukemia and he was taken off of blood transfusions and sent home to be on hospice. That is, they're going to work on managing his pain, but not keeping him alive. You great-great Aunty Doris, who is Nana's younger sister, is staying with Grampa at the moment.
We went to visit Grampa, Nana and Aunty the day before Nana left. It was a nice time and you were rather gentle with Grampa, which I didn't expect. I expected you to pull on his beard and try to rip his oxygen tubes out. Woohoo! Like I said though, you were good with him. You smiled, laughed, and gave hugs and kisses to Grampa. It was very sweet.
Nana and Aunty came to visit a few times too. When they first got into town they visited and had a lot of fun with you. Nana brought you a plastic baby book that sings songs, and you love it. It has a twinkle, twinkle little star page, which you of course adore. It's now one of your most favorite toys.
They came over later on in the week, at night when Dad was working. They wanted to commandeer our television so they could watch American Idol. I am not an American Idol fan. It is a "talent" competition of singers who... sing and crap. They get judged by crazy people who work in the entertainment industry. People can vote at some points in time. I'm not a fan, and all I know is that I'm happy I have DVR because it's on at the same damn time as LOST, and I'd would seriously even beat my own grandmother down to watch that show. So, look out, Nana!
They joined us for dinner one night as well. They were surprised at how well you eat. We had faux-BBQ chicken, 3-bean salad, baked potatoes and dinner rolls. It wasn't too bad.
You had a lot of fun with those two. It was pretty nice. Nana didn't even complain about how dirty she thought the house was, which I was very proud of her for.
Tomorrow, I get to be a person with a sign waiting for someone they don't know at the airport for the first time. Nice! We're going to get Grampa's brother Bruce who is flying down from Halifax, Nova Scotia (crazy canuck!) from the airport. I haven't ever met him before, so we get to hold a "Bruce" sign. I hope Dad remembered to make it at work. I have a feeling he'll come home and get all flustered and yell "shoot!" when I remind him about it. Oh well. (He ended up offering me a used bandage instead.) This will be your first time at an airport, and I'm bringing bulk hand sanitizer since I've been successfully freaked out by swine flue.
Saturday we're celebrating Beltane a day late! Beltane is the celebration of the first day of May, when everything is all alive again, not just coming to life like it is for the start of Spring. Anyways, we're going to pick strawberries in celebration, and I'm looking forward to that. You, naturally, love strawberries.
Also on Saturday Dad's going to celebrate his Mother, Grammy Linda's, birthday with Grampa Steve and Aunt Breanne. Her birthday would have been Monday.
I think that's all for now. Lots of Love, Momma.

First Stand, then Step...

Jasper,

Today you stood up by yourself for a good five seconds. You're gonna be walking running around the house in no time. *Sigh* time to re-babyproof the house. You spent most of the morning playing around with Momma, Daddy, Stockton and Oatmeal the bear. You were crawling around chasing Stockton when you got him cornered and he popped you in the face. You cried for a minute, but you're fine now, Stockton didn't have his claws out. You gotta learn that everyone needs their space sometimes, even kitties. Other than that you just talked with Oatmeal and used Momma and Daddy as jungle gyms.

Now you and Momma are taking a nap while I track the Red Sox-Orioles game on the web. It's Patriots Day in Massachusetts, so the Boston Marathon is being run and the Red Sox game started early. Justin Masterson is pitching today since Dice-K is on the disabled list. Right now they're up 3-1 in the bottom of the 3rd inning. If they win today they'll be over .500 for the first time other than the first game of the season. Momma's been worried about them already this year, but I keep telling her that it's still early. Hopefully when you're older we can go see the Red Sox play at Fenway Park, especially since you're a Red Sox baby and all.

Too soon I have to go to work, though I'm sure you'll be awake again before I leave. Maybe we can all have some lunch and play outside in the weed-free lawn together before I go. And tomorrow you and I get to hang out together for the morning while Momma and Colleen go walking. Who knows what fun and exciting stuff we'll do when it's just us boys!

Daddy

Mango!

You had your first mango today! You seemed to think it was rather tasty. I was a little pissed because I got you an avocado too, but it was all brown inside when I cut it open. Dammit! I wasn't too happy about that, and you didn't know the difference. I'm waiting for Daddy to come home from work, he should be calling me really soon to tell me he's on the way. ...and there he is! You're crying in your bed, because I know you're tired but you don't want to believe me. Go to sleep, you baby!
I've been preparing for Nana to come and visit us. I have to clean and clean and clean or else I'll hear about what a slob I am and how the house smells like cat shit. Woo! So, I've been running around cleaning up after you and your father and our three cats. Also, trying to clean any general messiness around the house. It's certainly not the easiest thing. I can only think of 100 other things I'd rather be doing.
...Go to sleep child!
We took care of the massive weed problem in our yard yesterday. You were pretty in love with Daddy using the weedwacker. Our friend Colleen came over to watch you for a minute so we could pay attention to what we were doing and you were also in love with her toes. She had them painted red and you wanted to kiss them... or suck on them. You little weirdo!
Daddy is on him way home, and I'm going to make him get you out of your crib when he gets here, since I don't think you're going to go to sleep. You brat. I love you anyways.

Dear Jasper,

This morning you and I hung around for a while Momma slept in. She's a good Momma and deserves it. Then we had breakfast and played around a little before we all took a nap until Daddy had to go to work. Today was April 15th, the day taxes are due. I had a busy day at work helping people who waited til the last minute. Momma and Daddy filed their taxes a while ago. Thanks to you being born we got back quite a bit of money, which is nice, since we have to spend so much to take care of you. Momma said you laughed so hard you pooped on the floor today! She was letting you crawl around without a diaper before your bath. You saw Stockton (your kitty) playing in your playyard and you laughed and laughed until you just let go in the living room. Good thing Momma was planning on giving you a bath anyway. You woke up for a little while after I came home, and we watched Momma cook supper and then you went back to sleep.

Good night, little Jasper.

Daddy