George and the New Guys

So, Colton has a little action figure guy we've named George. He came with a Catipillar dump truck and he's an oh-so-cool looking construction man. Colton plays with him in the bathtub, in his sandbox, pretty much everywhere. He's chewed on his feet so the paint has worn off and the toes turn upward. It's his only action figure and upon realizing he was playing pretend with him, Jason went out and bought him a pack of 3 new guys. So George would have some friends to interact with. When he came home and gave Colton the new guys, I felt bad for poor old George. Colton dropped him like a hot potato:

Poor George...

Colton remembered him, picked him up, found the box of baby wipes and put George inside while he played with the new guys. The new guys danced on top of the box of baby wipes. George's days are numbered: 

I swear I'm not making this up. A two year olds imagination is always good for blogging about. 

Potty training and other things..

Colton is officially 2 1/2 now, and we got him a potty. He's perfectly happy sitting in a poopy diaper all day long, so we're not pushing the issue of going on the potty. In fact, he runs when I even pull out a diaper to change him. Sometimes he runs in the backyard, closes the slider behind him, runs in his little play house and closes the door and little windows, all the while yelling, "NOOOOOOOO!". So, he may still be in diapers when he goes to kindergarten. I remember before I had kids I assumed you just potty trained at 2 years old and Poof! I was done, just like that. Excuse me while I laugh hysterically.

Colton has enjoyed pooping in the bathtub on occasion. He's done it exactly 3 times. The first 2 times weren't so bad, just a few terds. But, this last time it went something like this:

I was in our bedroom nursing Sydney before I put her down to bed. Colton was in the bathtub and I could hear him playing. He has a little action figure construction worker man that we've named George that he likes to play with in the tub. Suddenly I hear, "Oh no! George! Dirty poo-poo!" I was hoping it wasn't what I thought, and didn't want to remove Sydney from her snuggly spot since she was so content and dozing off. A minute later I heard Jason coming up the stairs who recently has shoulder surgery and only has the use of one arm. I heard his steps down the hall and then, "COLTON! No, buddy! Oh no!!" Then heard footsteps down the hall toward me. I removed Sydney, went into the bathroom and it was pretty bad. It was like he was in a bowl of poop stew. Gross. I showered him off, gently explaining that if he needed to poop....oh, what's the use?

Still love the little stinker!

Puppy, revisited

A little over a year ago I wrote a short post about Colton's puppy. He has two now, since we bought a spare just in case we lose one. Colton brings Puppy everywhere and has recently been playing "baby" with Puppy, as seen in this picture:






So, I decided to dedicate another post to Puppy and gathered pictures of the two of them.

This was taken right around Colton's first birthday. Puppy is always with him in the car.


Puppy in the crib



Out and about on Halloween with Puppy



Relaxing with Daddy and Puppy



Playing with Sophia and Puppy




Oh, Puppy


Chasing Mommy with the camera (dropped Puppy)



Playing in the garage with Puppy


Playing in the back yard with Puppy



Celebrating Easter with Puppy



Colton's 2nd birthday, after his party with Puppy



Puppy in the baby Bjorn


And last, introducing his baby sister to his beloved Puppy

Baby wearing mama

I recently purchased a fancy new baby carrier to carry Sydney around in. Sydney has been, well....let's just say she's the type of baby that doesn't like to be alone for long. She naps in her carrier and it's so nice to have her right next to me, against me, almost as if I'm still pregnant. Although she's about 14 pounds now, so it's a little different than carrying her when I was pregnant since then she was only 6 pounds. I can just lower my head to kiss her sweet face.

She rarely cries, and I do attribute that to how much she is carried. I know very soon she will be too big to carry this way, so I cherish this time.

Never a dull moment

This morning was one of those moments that is so frustrating I end up laughing. Shower time is adventurous. I put Sydney in Colton's crib to keep her safe and I foolishly let Colton run loose. He is fascinated with everything we have in the bathroom from the toilet paper roll, to my toothpaste bottle and everything in between. All the cabinets have safety locks, but there are several things he can get into that slip by me.

This morning I was in the shower and I hear him getting into something. I peek around the shower curtain and he has pulled a basket closer to the edge of the counter and is inspecting it's contents. I tell him no, and he moves on to pulling the folded up towels all over the floor.

A couple minutes later I turn the water off and open the shower curtain. I see Colton holding an empty bottle of my make-up remover and hear him say, "Water". I gasp, he whirls around with the empty bottle in his hand. He sits down and pulls a towel over his head. Our conversation goes like this:

Me: Colton?

Him: Colton?

Me: Did you spill Mommy's make-up stuff?

Him: Colton, where are you?

Me: Were you naughty?

Him: Were you naughty?

Me: Did you make a mess?

Him: Make a mess?

At this point I begin to laugh. He's 2, and I pick my battles.

Sydney Marie

I haven't posted in 8 months. The reasons aren't important- what's important is that Sydney Marie Owen was born on September 15th!







Her birth was amazing and she is a happy and healthy baby. At this posting, she is eleven weeks. It's true that the second baby is much easier, it's like I'm a different mommy. Sydney loves to be held. So much so that she will only nap in someone's arms. During the day I carry her around in the baby carrier. All. Day. Long. I try to remember that someday she won't want me to hold her at all, so I cherish this time that I can snuggle her and give her kisses whenever I want.

Colton is sweet to her. He likes to help me change her diaper (he says, "Ew! Dirty poo poo." We're hoping it will help him want to not be in diapers anymore, but so far no luck there) and tries to cover her with a blanket.

Jason is over the moon. He smiles at Sydney with such love it just melts my heart. She's got him under her thumb already.




So, now we are a family of four. We are complete.

Sydney's birth

September 15th, 2009 was by far the most adventurous day of my life.

If you've read the birth story of my son, you'll hopefully understand my thoughts and feelings concerning the upcoming birth of my daughter. I was in personal predicament, being pulled in two different directions; on one side was my obstetrician strongly recommending I have a repeat cesarean section due to "risk factors" and the other side were my instincts telling me myself and my daughter were healthy enough to handle labor and that a natural vaginal birth was best for both of us rather than a surgery, given before she was even ready to be born.

That morning I had an appointment with my obstetrician. I brought my husband Jason with me because I knew it was going to be tense. The week prior, I had agreed to tentatively schedule a repeat c-section for Thursday, the 17th, which was one day before my due date. My OB and a perinatologist recommended I not go past my due date because of risk factors I mentioned in my last post. During the appointment as my OB is telling me he really doesn't think I should push the date back to wait until I go into labor on my own I broke down in tears. I was hoping to not get emotional, but at that point I was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of arguing with a medical professional, tired of unsolicited advice from others telling me what I should do. I felt my body and my daughter were telling me something: That everything was fine. All the recent tests (including one that morning) showed she was healthy. But there was a little part of me that felt compelled to listen to this man who had the medical degree and 25 years of experience. My husband asked him, "Are my wife and daughter in danger?" and my OB replied, "Well, there's always the possibility of sudden stillborn."

As below the belt as that comment was, I still knew, I just knew that we were okay. I went home and cried my eyes out and trying to come to terms with the fact that I should just give in and have another c-section. My doula, Linda, said we didn't need to make any decisions today, and that I had until Thursday morning to decide. She said to do my best to relax. That was much easier said than done.

At 5 pm I went in our back yard to sit with my son while he played. As I tried to get comfortable on an uncomfortable wooden patio chair I felt some movement down below and a warm trickle. I told myself not to get too excited that my water broke and stood up. Sure enough, warm clear fluid raced down both legs and if you've ever had this happen before (the same thing happened with my son), it's pretty obvious that it's not pee. I was in somewhat disbelief. But OH MY GOD IT HAPPENED! All the tears, all the worry, stress, indecisiveness and frustration, all came together and this was it. I still didn't know how it would all turn out, and there was still worry that my daughter wouldn't handle labor well, like the doctors warned me she may not, but at least I was going to get the opportunity to try to labor like my body was meant to.

Jason got home from work about 10 minutes later, we scrambled to eat and get some last minute things together. I called my doula, Linda and she was ecstatic. She said to call her when we got checked into the hospital because it would most likely be a while before my labor began. And away we went.

In the car the contractions started. They were uncomfortable, but bearable and I could still talk through them. But pretty much all I was saying was, "Ouch, this really hurts." They were steady at 5 minutes apart. We got to the triage floor and I approached the front desk where there were 3 nurses there. No one looked up for several seconds and that, for some reason, really irritated me. I suppose I expected them to see me, throw all their papers in the air and start yelling, "Oh my God, she's here!! The girl that wants a VBAC is here! Everyone get ready!" No such luck. They were very busy, but got me checked in and into a room. At that point time started to go really, really slow and I was very impatient. They took entirely too long to do everything, (which in hindsight they weren't, but in my position it was taking too long to do anything). My contractions were getting noticeably stronger and I felt like I had to go to the bathroom (yes, poop). This happened twice and both times I had to unhook myself from the monitors and tip toe across the triage room to the only bathroom. I had to stop a couple of times for contractions to pass.

The nurse came back and checked my cervix. I was 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced. So, no big emergency. Yet. She said they were really busy and would check again for a room. At this point time seemed to go as slow as molasses. People could not move fast enough. The only thing that was moving fast were my contractions and I really, really, wanted to get to a delivery room. Now, I don't consider myself a high maintenance kind of girl, but I told the nurse I needed a room, NOW. The next thing I knew I was getting into a wheelchair (which before then I thought only sissies had to be wheeled from triage to labor and delivery. I thought for sure I would be walking. Insert hysterical laughter on that thought). I asked the nurse to stop twice on the way while I had a contraction.

When we got to the room, I immediately had to throw up. I was trembling and shaking like I had never experienced before and began to feel like I was completely out of control of my body. Like it wasn't even my own. I made it to the bathroom and told my husband and Linda that I wanted some privacy. I sat on the toilet and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I had one hand on the wall and the other clutching the safety handle bar. I was pale white, sweating, and a little confused. Was this early labor? If I was only 2 cm dilated, didn't I have possibly hours and hours before I even make it to 4 cm, when the active labor stage starts? I left the bathroom and the obstetrician was there. For some reason I was relieved to see that it was a woman, perhaps I thought she would be more supportive that I wanted a VBAC. I managed to make it into the bed and the OB began asking me question, after question after question. About my health history, about this pregnancy, about my previous c-section, about my pain. I couldn't talk through contractions and even in between was difficult because all I wanted to do was be still and not utter a sound in fear that my voice vibrations may conjure up another contraction. I finally said, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but isn't all this information in my file or on some computer here?" With that, the OB said she wanted to check me again. Perhaps they know when the laboring mother gets feisty, things are moving pretty quickly, who knows. I finished a contraction and told her to hurry and check. I had my eyes closed and heard her say, "She's a seven".

Excuse me? Seven centimeters? I immediately thought of a book I had read, Your Best Birth where Ricki Lake describes the transition phase of labor going from seven to ten centimeters as something like, "This is the part where you're not fucking around anymore!" And boy was she right. I have also heard women say that at this point you sort of leave your body. It was like that for me. It was all happening so fast I could do nothing but think of how to stop the pain. I had previously decided to have a natural child birth. (Again, insert hysterical laughing here). However, when given the option to have an epidural when my head was spinning around, guess what I said? I would have taken a shot of tequila with a hit over the head with a frying pan.

The anesthesiologist arrived and I had to sit through transition contractions while he administered the medication in my back. He kept saying, "Don't move!" Ummm, okay. As soon as he left the room the OB checked me again and said, "She's complete." I heard the nurse tell me she was sure I was complete before he even started the epidural and that I had just gone through what takes most people 10 hours of labor in one hour. I've mentioned in other blog posts that I've always been the type of person that does things in a hurry. Apparently this was no exception.

I kept asking if the baby was doing well and the nurse told me (after I asked her for the 10th time) that she was doing better than a lot of babies that come in with no "risk factors" like mine. After the epidural kicked in things were a lot more peaceful. They left me alone with my husband and Linda so I could "labor down" and just let the baby come down naturally. After more than an hour the nurse said I could practice pushing and I said, "Like a dress rehearsal?" It was a little strange to push with no feeling down there, but practicing did help. They said they could see her coming. I was impressed with my husband who previously said he wouldn't want to see her come out at all, but he did in fact look. Part of the baby's head showed and I asked him if she had hair. He said yes. The nurse decided to call the OB to deliver. I was ecstatic!

It was 10:30 when the OB came in and sat down. I did about 4 sets of pushing and her head was out. One more push and Sydney Marie was born at 10:37. The OB put her on my chest and it was totally quiet. I didn't cry like I thought I would. I didn't say anything. I was stunned. Stunned that I did it. Stunned that she was here, finally and she was fine. Stunned at how beautiful she was. And stunned at how beautiful labor and birth are.

They let her stay on my chest for at least 30 minutes, I can't remember how much time passed. I think I finally cried, as did Jason. The placenta was delivered with no problems and the scar tissue was still attached to it. I didn't have any tearing. I kept thinking it was too good to be true, that everything went so well, even with the fast and furious labor. I said a few times that I felt like I was dreaming and that I would wake up and it would be earlier that same day. Linda pinched me and said, "You're not dreaming, you did it!"

I want to close this post by saying that the reason I wanted to share all of this was to emphasize the importance of listening to your body. Sometimes it's easier than others, but if we try and open ourselves to it, our bodies will communicate with us. I never once felt like anything was wrong during this pregnancy. There were times when I had to stop and ask myself, "Am I lying to myself?" and the answer was always no. I spent time alone, relaxing to become in tune with the mind/body connection and my body responded by opening up and communicating with me. I had to trust it and let go of fears which was probably the hardest part. In all that I have been through over the last several years, doing this has been the most empowering and healing reward I have been given.

Sydney Marie- 2 days old

*I also wanted to give a special thanks to the staff at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women. The nurses and obstetrician were so helpful and played a major role in the safety and smoothness of my birth. Without them and their support that night, I'm not sure how it would have turned out. I don't believe there are enough words of gratitude.

Photos courtesy of author. Please do not duplicate without my permission.

19 Months

So I finally understand what all the moms have been talking about when they say a mothers love is like no other. I truly didn't know love until I had a child and every day just gets better and better. I've been thinking about it a lot lately because Jason and I are pregnant (yah!). At first I was nervous about having another baby and how it would effect my relationship with Colton. Colton made me a mommy, the best job in the world. How will I have enough room in my heart for all the love I need to give to another baby? It honest feels as though my heart has swelled up to a bigger size because of him. He has truly made me a better person.

On to the funny stuff. Colton was 19 months last week and is turning into quite the animal. He repeats everything and is developing a sense of independence. He recently has taken a liking to the new Geico commericals and is mesmorized by that little stack of money with the googly eyes:


Last night as I was putting him to bed we were snuggled in the rocking chair as he drank his bottle of warm milk. About half way through he pulls the bottle out of his mouth and says, "Gieco!" I had no idea where it came from, but I listened and could barely make out the voice on the commercial downstairs....the Gieco commercial. Just then the music played and Colton did his little pelvic thrust dance and continued to drink his milk. He's funnier than any sitcom!

Christmas

This year we got to spend 12 days is Utah with my mom and stepdad. It was nice to have a white Christmas and Colton got to play in the snow, although is was obvious he was a California boy with his Vans shoes!

Before we left Colton was saying about 5 words which were "No!", "Uh-oh", "mama", "dada", and "bye-bye". During our trip his vocabulary has expanded to include:

Hello? (he holds the phone to his ear and repeats it. He also says it when he hears any phone ring, or even repetitive beeping.)
Hi! (usually follows 'hello", but now he says it when appropriate. So cute!)
Shoe (repeats it when you are putting on his shoes)
poo-poo? (says it like a question and pulls on his diaper)
WOW (started saying it when both Jason and I said "wow" after he burped while sitting in his high chair. Now he only says it if someone burps. It's more like "Woooooow")
Woof-woof (when he sees a dog)
meow-meow (when he sees a cat)
Nana (for banana)
More
Up
Down
Ok
All done
Yeah
Baby (more like "bebe")
Emma (we have a picture of Colton and his friend Emma on the fridge. He points to is and says her name)

Colton continues to surprise us with everything he is learning, as well as pushing our limits. For instance, this morning as I started this blog post, he was happily playing with his toys when I noticed he had gone over to the trash can, pulled out the coffee grounds and threw them on the floor. I went into the garage to get the broom (takes 5 seconds) and in that time he had gone outside and was running across the wet grass in his pajamas. I had to chase him down (let the kicking and screaming begin) and I was also in my pajamas.

Welcome to Toddlerhood, Mommy

A couple of days ago Colton turned 15 months old. He is now officially walking and I had heard and read that in this transition a shift happens from a typical easy-going, calm, passive type child (if you are lucky enough to have one of those like mine, I suppose) to a fidgety, I-want-to-do-it-myself, get-me-out-of-this-stroller-before-I-lose-it, type child. Today I took Colton shopping to try to get some early Christmas shopping done. Now, keep in mind, I think either I haven't yet seen the worst of it, or my son is just being nice, but today was no picnic. If he did not have something to either eat or entertain him, he was trying to climb out of the stroller and/or grab all the nicely stacked and folded items and pull them off the shelves.

But, on the other hand, it's so cute to watch him toddle around and explore everything. He says several words which include: "ma ma", "da da", "bye-bye", "uh-oh", "NO" (more like "nnnnnnO!") and lately he says "Bye-bye, ti-ti" but we don't know who or what "ti-ti" is. Jason thinks Colton is referring to the fact that he is no longer breastfeeding anymore, but I disagree. I'm not positive, but I am pretty sure he says "Oh yeah" too.

Puppy

I felt compelled to write about Colton's puppy because he loves him so dearly. It started around 8 months old when I introduced it to him at night in his crib. Quickly he took to him and I made a rule that Puppy would stay in his crib so we wouldn't risk losing him. Then we made the exception that he could have him in the car. Now he pretty much takes Puppy everywhere. Jason found an identical one online and I didn't hesitate to order it. Now we have two that are in rotation.
I had puppy with me when I had Colton's professional pictures taken and used him to make him smile and laugh. In every picture that he is squealing with delight it's because I was entertaining him....with his Puppy.

Fourteen Months old!

So, it's been over 2 months since my last post, and mostly it's simply because I've been swamped, not because nothing has been going on with Colton. As I type this, he is pulling the food processor out of the cabinet and yelling at it.

He is about 75% walking, but he gets there faster if he crawls, so he chooses to more often than not. He started going to daycare part time when I started school 2 months ago, and that was a hrder adjustment on me than it was for him. Luckily, it has worked out well, there are other kids there for him to play with, lots of toys and even a dog!

Right now one of my favorite things to do with Colton is to share food. He knows if I sit down with a bowl or a plate of anything he stops whatever he's doing to quickly come over to me so we can eat. He loves pretty much anything, shredded wheat cereal, spicy foods, pretty much the only thing he has rejected is avocado. And he's not shy about shoving food in his mouth either. I went to the Wild Animal Park with my friend Annamaria and her son Brayden, who is 2 months older than Colton and I gave Brayden one of Colton's favorite snacks, a mini Nilla Wafer. Brayden politely took little bites out of the cookie to eat it. I gave Colton two cookies and he shoved both in his mouth at the same time.

His first word a couple of months ago was "NO!" He said it to me with emphasis when I asked him to give me a kiss. It was also the day I decided to stop nursing, so it was a sad day.

Happy First Birthday Colton!

Dear Colton,

Today is your first birthday! I didn't think I would be so excited about it, but today I wanted to shout it from the rooftops how happy I am that you are 1 and what an awesome year we have had with you. It went by so quickly...sometimes I look at you, especially now that you are almost walking and I think you look SO big! But then other times, especially when you sleep, you still look like such a fragile little baby.

Today you woke up from your nap and I went upstairs to get you out of your crib. Sometimes you are grumpy when you wake up (just like mommy) and it takes a while for you to wake up. So, I sit with you in the rocking chair and rock you for a few minutes and let you rub your eyes and rest your head on my chest until you are ready to go downstairs and play. Today as I rocked you, you fell back to sleep. I made sure to remember everything about you. You smelled like baby sweat and sunscreen. Your little mouth was all puckered up. I thought about how wonderful it was just to hold you in my arms and that someday you would be too big to sit in my lap. I also thought that no matter what happens, I will always be your mommy and I will always love you. And that is the best thing I have ever had happen to me. One year ago today my water broke and a nurse said, "Looks like you're going to have a baby today!" I thought I wasn't ready, you were more than 3 weeks early...But I never knew just how ready I was to have you in my life.

I love you more than I can ever tell you. Happy Birthday my beautiful, beautiful boy!

Love,
Mom

Water baby!

We took Colton to the beach today, I think this was his 3rd trip, but it was the first time I let him crawl around in the sand and do whatever he wanted. He LOVED it! I actually felt guilty for not doing it sooner!

Happy First Father's Day!

When toothpaste smeared the counter and wet towels lay upon the floor, she thought about her family life and loved him even more.

When dinner was a hurried rush to just get out the door, with errands, meetings, things to do, she loved him even more.

When they dropped into bed at night and finally closed the door, she counted herself one lucky wife and loved him even more.

You're such a good man, a wonderful father, and a great husband. I'm so lucky to have you, our family and our life together.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Colton feeds Himself!

You would think he just cured cancer. A few weeks ago Colton learned how to pick up little pieces of food and feed himself! Yeah! Now if we could only get him to crawl forward instead of backwards.

Mama Bear

If somehow the fierce feeling of protection a mother has for her child could be packaged and sold, someone could make a fortune. I believe it is far stronger than any amount of testosterone, or even synthetic drugs like steriods.

I have never had the real feeling of wanting to physically hurt another human being, but the thought of someone hurting my child has made me think of things like. "Hurt my son and I will gouge your eyes out. Trust me on that."

Somebody's Mom

when I was pregnant I remember thinking, "I can't believe I'm going to be somebody's mom". Thinking of my own mother, she was always just "mom". I never knew her before as a person, so I guess I just always assumed she was always a mom and no one else. Never a person of her own. But for me, I have lived 32 years as my own person and then one day I was given a new hat to wear with the inscription "MOM".

So now I am Colton's mom and he'll never know me as anything else. And I think that's pretty fantastic, but when I sit and think about it for too long, I realize that it comes with a lot of pressure. I don't stress about it too much, because it's enough to make me crazy. But it's like all the good I've done in my life I need to pull all together to show him. To teach him and lead him in the right direction. I guess so far in his short 8 months of life both Jason and I have started him out right by just loving him as much as we possibly can. And loving each other matters a lot too. So, Colton if someday you are reading this, I'm glad you chose me to be your mom and I hope you think I've done a good job. Every day I hold you and think that I am so happy that I had you.

I've created a monster!

As some of you have heard me complain, Colton is not a good napper. I'll give credit where credit is due, he goes down at 6 pm without fussing and sleeps through the night until around 7, getting up only once to eat. Naps are another story. He goes down around 9 or 9:30 for a half hour (his usual cat nap), but any nap thereafter is a battle. And actually, that morning nap is turning out to be not easy anymore. It goes like this: He gets sleepy, I carry him upstairs and lay him in his crib, turn on the mobile and instantly the crying starts. I gently plead with him to go to sleep and he calms down a little so I leave the room. After a few minutes, sheer hysteria breaks out. I go back in his room, sometimes pick him up, sometimes just try to calm him. More crying. I leave the room. This goes on for about 15-20 minutes. Then about the 4th time I give up, I get him out of his crib, dry off his tear soaked face and take him into mine and Jason's bedroom, lay down with him and nurse him which takes only about 2 minutes for him to fall asleep. It's gotten to the point now, that if I take too long to get ready to lay down, he gets mad and yells out. He is literally bossing me around! So, I've created a monster. It's my fault, I've given in to him and let him have his way. It started way back when I was still sleep deprived myself and would nap with him, now it's his favorite way to nap. It's actually nice to snuggle with him and have that quiet time with him, but I know if it continues I will have a preschooler that will have to have him mommy come to class at naptime to lay with him on his mat to nurse him.

Jason is always at work when this drama goes on. He usually calls me from work and asks, "How's is going?" and I always have the same answer. My mom was visiting the last couple of weeks and saw the nap drama first hand.

So this morning I had to run an errand that took me a couple of hours. I came home around 11:30 and it was quiet.

me: Is Colton asleep?

Jason: Yes.

me: How did you get him to nap?

Jason: I laid him in his crib.

me: Did he fuss?

Jason: no.

me: (Grrrrrr...)

Later that day it was time for another nap. I asked Jason to put him down and he did, just like that. That little boy has his mommy wrapped around his tiny finger.

P.S. Colton is 6.5 months old. 18.5 pounds and 27 1/4 inches.

Raising a Boy

"A young boy doesn't come with instructions. He just comes with boundless love and an adventurous spirit. But the journey to manhood begins very early...the first time he looks at his dad and thinks, 'I want to be like him'" - Harry Harrison author of Life Lessons on Raising a Boy

Before Colton was born, I knew Jason would be a great father by the way he treated me. He is kind, caring, compassionate, responsible, sincere, and most imporatnt, has the kind of morals, respect and integrity that I have learned are the pinacle of life. He's not perfect, nor would I want him to be, but he knows his flaws and accepts them and tries to fix them when he can.

When I was pregnant we saw a little boy in the neighborhood riding his bike on the sidewalk. He had hit the breaks and turned around to look at the ground. Jason , with a big smile on his face, mentioned that he used to do the same thing as a child. I had no idea even what the little boy was doing and he told me that he had looked behind him to check out his skidmark on the sidewalk from his bike. I remember thinking how happy and blessed I was to have him in my life...to show Colton all the "boy" things that I had no idea about. To teach him how to treat girls (and to tell him he doesn't understand them sometimes either, even as a grown-up), how to pee standing up, how to spit, to be there at his sports games when Colton says, "Dad, did you see me?", and over the years to teach him how to be a good man. So, thank you Jason, you mean more to me now that ever. I love you.