March 12th:

"I bet you never thought you'd willingly catch someone's vomit". These are the paraphrased words from Marshall's brother, Gregg, just minutes after I was nearly covered in Jake's lunch. Gregg nailed it on the head. It's amazing how kids change you. I would have never thought a year ago that I would put my own hands in front of my son to catch his puke, seriously, that's just disgusting. But, I didn't think twice about it and after it happened, and after it happened, I didn't even mind. Instead, I felt horrible for Jake. He was mildly sick and I didn't know why. Luckily it only lasted a day, but it was heart wrenching to watch the poor little guy suffer and not be able to do anything about it. That's not the half of it…I can't even watch a movie that has kids in it without getting choked up over anything and everything. Those that know me know that I rarely cry. Not now. Now I cry over a child leaving for college in some stupid cell phone commercial. Just ask my friend Teresa. She and her boyfriend of about 18 years (not really, but it feels that way) came over a week or two ago. Teresa came over wearing a fake engagement ring. I was SO happy for her that I started crying. I was elated that her boyfriend finally manned up (I hope you're reading this Jeff), only to find out that it was a big joke. I wanted to cry more, but I already looked silly for crying in the first place and so I had to fight the urge. But you get the point. I'm a big cry baby now. Speaking of which, if you haven't already seen it (and you're a mom), stay far away from "My Sister's Keeper". Great movie, but simply unfathomable. I just don't know what I would do if that were Jake.

I was talking to my Mom the other day telling her all of this and she sort of chuckled because she expected this exact reaction from me. In fact, the day I was in labor, she told my mother-in-law that having Jake would change me forever. Proof that moms know best.

Guess what? Jake is finally crawling!!! He started crawling on Monday of this week, right around the same time that he started pulling himself up to his knees, waving, shaking his head no and saying ma-ma. This was a big week for us. He's changing so much. Lucky me, I get to witness most of this since I'm a temporary stay-at-home mom. I think he's fascinated by all the changes too. Sometimes he just sits and stares at his hands as he waves bye-bye. It's so cute. What won't be cute for long is Jake shaking his head no. I have no idea how he learned that. He's uses his new skill mostly during dinner time - go figure. I've been bad about taking pictures this past month. But, I do have a video for you. Jake was taunting Argos…his new bff.