Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Second Christmas

Things couldn't have been greater. Or nicer. I say nice cause that was just what this Christmas was. Christmas Eve is always with my family, with a huge roasted pork called "lechon" as the main dish. I was good and didn't have as much as I would have had in the previous years. Why do we gorge so much over the holidays? Oh because my mom's cooking is fantastic.
Jack has been the picky eater lately and even though my mom made some kicking rice, he was not having any of it. I think the black beans scared him off and in fact that was the case since as soon as Jack put a spoonful of rice in his mouth, he immediately went "puft, puft, puft" and spitted out everything.

I thought we were past that stage.

He did understand the concept of presents this year. He knew that he had to rip paper to get to a certain gift, but he did not understand that he would get numerous presents. Everytime we presented him with a new gift, he had a look of confusion, as in " I just got this new toy. You want me to have another one?" He very much enjoys his big score from Santa, the huge train table complete with a helicopter pad, airplane and a working crane. He has destroyed the train layout that was set on the table, so now Brian and I have to figure out how to make 30 + of train tracks look like an enjoyable train layout. Good luck to us.

Let's hear it for 2010 - Jack turns two, our perhaps first trip on a plane (yikes!) and looking forward to the first sunny , warm day.
Pics to come soon.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Official Family Portrait

Being the son of two photographers, Jack doesn't really have a lot of photos where he is with both parents. It is usually just Jack and myself or Jack and Brian. Sad huh?

Enter Rob Hart. A great photographer, a friend of Brian and one who understands on how to shoot with a rookie spirit. Thanks Rob, you have become our official photographer.
http://www.robhartphoto.com/
http://www.hotsoftlight.com/






Copyright © Rob Hart Photography


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Breakfast





We went to a Breakfast with Santa on December 12. It was at the hotel that my mom works at so it was the perfect opportunity for her to show off her grandchildren to her co- workers. I thought that while my mom was with the kids, I can sit back, relax and enjoy an endless supply of coffee and breakfast items. Little did I know that Jack had other plans for me.

As soon as we arrived, he saw the huge empy hallway that was right outside the banquet hall. He just wanted to run around the whole time and tried to go down the escalator a few times. Nice try Jack, but you are just a wee bit small for that one.

He is definitely going through an "Only Mama" stage. My dream of just sitting there drinking coffee quickly vanished. My mom's dream of carrying him around somewhat dissipated. Whenever Jack realized I was not with him, he quickly went Mama! Mama! and his little outstretched hand was reaching for me. Awww, cute right. It is, but it always happens at that moment when you sit down and you go "Ahhh, finally and then the Mama mamas come out again.

He was not impressed with Santa. He did like that Santa was giving away books, so Jack scored a fire engine book. Thanks Santa.

It was great to have Jack's cousin Nathalie there as well. The two of them just ran around the hallway for awhile. Nati is 11 and she is in that great stage of she's not really a teenager but she is old enough to take care of Jack but be his playmate at the same time.

Monday, December 7, 2009

The Talk

The words, the babbles, the thought processes...all while we are trying to give Jack his dinner.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

A Trip Around the Christmas Tree

Probably one of the best ideas that Brian has had yet...and please stick around for the very end of this video. It is worth it.
Love, The Morowczynski's

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Sacrafices

While this blog has been mostly a glowing one, I mean even when I wrote about Jack's teething experiences, it didn't sound that bad, I realize that I have not written enough on what Brian and I go through ourselves.

I still hate that I have to work every day. Lottery, when will you come into my life? Our mornings are very hectic in that both Brian and I are running around getting dressed, trying to get some breakfast in our mouths, while we try to change Jack and give him at least a cup of milk before he goes to the specific daycare of the day -whether it's my parents or Miss Ronna. It's a horrible feeling that I have to give my son a quick hello and kiss before I leave for work. Perhaps I am still too new of a parent to shake that guilty feeling away. That guilty feeling of leaving.
My son wants to be with his parents when he wakes up. He wants to play with them, yet they take him somewhere and they leave for the next 9 hours. This sounds very dramatic to some, but as a new parent, there is no better feeling in the world than to be loved and wanted as soon as your child opens their eyes. Now that Jack has been waking up later and later, that is great for the weekends. But for our workday mornings, it sucks. Plain sucks. Sometimes I did not get my Jack morning kiss. And I curse work for the whole day. I am thankful for having work. I am not thankful that it stinks to work. The double edged sword.

With that said, new choices are always coming for Brian for work. He sometimes is faced with the dilemma of how much work is too much. For a photographer running your own business, there is no such thing as too much. In fact, Brian has been having a great year in regards to acquiring new clients and keeping current clients. But there are also choices of working all weekend, working nights and leaving his family to spend the whole day without him. I always tell him that it is ok - Brian is not only working for himself , and working for his family. There is no argument there. Although I would love it if Brian was with us every weekend and every night, there is a great benefit for him to work that much.

As parents, we all do what we can for each other. Brian and I are learning this every day. I think that as working parents, we know what is truly important and there are things that we do not take for granted. We don't need gifts to tell each other we love each other. That hug and kiss will do just fine. Even if it is for a quick second and then we dash out the door.

Monday, November 30, 2009

An Accomplishment!!!

Last night, it was about 7 pm when Jack wanted to see a movie. Now, his code for watching movies is pointing to the DVD player, then wanting for me to pick him up as he just stares at the DVD. Brian and I also have a habit of leaving the last DVD that we watched just lying by the player, so he knows that there is a movie laying about. When he sees a Baby Einstein lying there, he asks in his baby talk "Can I watch this." As I was about to explain to him that it is getting late, he says

"Peas? Peas?"

Wait - did he mean Please? Yes, Jack has said please. I looked at Brian and I said" How could I refuse. Just for this one time Jack you can watch your movie.

Jack went to bed, regular time 8:30 and woke up sometime today after 7:30.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Man, that was hard.....

After Sunday, I realize now why kids need naps. Because if they don't , they become a relentless ball of energy that they feel it is funny to scream and spill their soup. This was Jack on Sunday.

I am a bit ashamed to say that I do not know on what is the best way to put him down for a nap. Jack is shipped to so many different places every day of the week, that everyone unfortunately has their own way of directing his naptime. Which on the weekends, I am faced with a huge question mark as to what to do for his naptime. On Sunday, at 2 pm , I lay down with Jack and for the next 45 minutes as I "slept" , Jack sang songs, pulled my hair, even laughed a "Hahahaha" at me and pointed at my eyes. I thought that it wouldn't be so bad that he wouldn't nap for that one day.

Except that a friend of Brian's was going to come over for dinner. And while Jack was fine, his energy spurts sometimes were a bit out of control. Dinner time came, Jack kept dipping his fingers in his soup , which I said NO repeatedly. When he started to rock back and forth and soup spilled everywhere, I said" That's it" and placed him in his crib. The next five minutes were the worst for me,cause Jack started to cry that special cry that he has. The one where it seems to say "You really hurt me Mommy. I am sooooooooooooooo sad!"

In order to not have a stone look at the dinner table, I hid in the bathroom. And just listened to Jack cry. And told myself to pull it together cause there was a guest in the dining room that was ready and waiting to eat smothered pork chops. What do you do in something like this? I feel bad because although I should have been playing the good host, my child was screaming in the other room and he was mentally exhausting me with every scream and tear. I could not concentrate that night.
I realize that there will be more nights like this, but could that be avoided if Jack had a nap? And if guests are over and Jack acts up. I am not the type of person that can easily hide on how I feel. So what do I do? The questions are coming up as Jack is about to turn two and is turning into his own little person. I wonder where the days went where I would just be timing Jack's feedings and his tummy time.
Time does pass by quickly. Too quick to even take a catnap.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Weekend Gems

* Saturday was a perfect day for the park. We were walking down the steps when Jack got a burst of the "It's a warm day" excitements. He kept jumping up and down and singing "Go outside! Go outside! Go outside!"
I could not stop laughing for the next five minutes.

* It was a boy's day out for Brian, Jack and my father in law as they went to Milwaukee (yes as in Wisconsin) to go to a train layout convention. They spent five hours there.
Brian said that Jack would get upset everytime they would leave a train layout, but quickly got over it when they arrived at another one.

* We ate dinner at the Elmwood Family restaurant yesterday. Kind of those mom and pop restaurants where the restaurant marquee exclaims -Dinner and Cocktails. Yeah, now you know what I am referring to.
We ordered a cream of chicken for Jack. Which he was eating fine, til he got his hands on the Saltines. From then on, he kept dipping his crackers into the soup. He then got a hold of my french fries and dipped the fries in the soup.

* Jack asked for a sip of my "water", which was actually Sprite. I said " alright you asked for it" and watched as he gave me the most disgusted look for having drunk that fizzy liquid. I then told Jack "This is Mommy's water, and that is yours", pointing to his cup.
He then repeated over and over, "Dis is Mami's, dis is Jack's.

* As we left the Elmwood Restaurant, the cashier asked if Jack could have a lollipop. I said "He can't , but I can."

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

All the little things

There are ways and expressions that a child really does inherit from their parents. When I was about 1 -2 years old, the story would be that I would go into the kitchen, stand in the corner and just jabber. The baby talk would be non stop and there is even a photo to prove that I did such a thing (thanks Mami and Papi).
Now, Jack has gone into the world of speaking. Some words we can understand, but a lot of it is just a wonderful sound of blurbs to us. Even when I am trying to give him his dinner, he will sit there and just go, aahahvns;bntonbot ksfhfsdnfsbfaeuifnasuebfwif. Those are actual words by Jack. I cannot wait til it comes to that time when I can actually talk with Jack and have real words exchanged, but at this moment, his little words is one of the greatest moments of our lives

Jack is becoming a real Sesame Street kid. And thank god for http://www.sesamestreet.org/.
There are a lot of classic videos on there, and most of them are ones that I remember when I was about 4 years old. It made me a bit teary to see that Jack was laughing at the exact same videos that made me laugh when I was young.
It's an amazing feeling to have when you realize that the things you loved most as a child, now brings the same happiness to your own child. For Brian that would be his love of trains, which now Jack cannot live without Thomas and must play trains at least 6x's a day. Jack and I now share a love for Sesame Street. At times, I am finding that I am more excited to watch it than he is. It never goes away, you know..

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Sorry Mac.

But his name is Jack and he is a PC. I wonder if in writing this I will need to pay some royalties on this post.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

In October





*Jack has discovered the joys of a DVD. Pixar's Cars, Toy Story, Thomas the Tank Engine. He will watch the movie for about 20 minutes, then will go to something else. Sometimes that something else will be another movie. I secretly love when he wants to watch Cars. I love that movie.
*He knows his ABC's. He knows the letter O. But if you show him a letter and say it, he will repeat it.
*He says "What is that? Who's that? Look at that!
*We went to a pumpkin patch and he attempted to only pick up the heaviest pumpkins. What a strong guy.
*We had our toughest night yet as parents last night. Jack has been battling a fever on and off last night. He woke up around 1 am and didn't go to sleep til 4 am. Around 3 am, we put on Thomas the Tank Engine and it was a bit surreal to see a bunch of trains run around and talk and crash in the wee hours of the morning. He woke up around 9:30 this morning with high spirits.
Coming up in November - three birthdays to attend to, a Thanksgiving, and the official countdown til our guy turns 2. sniff sniff

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Mobile



The mobile is this great invention that I think has fooled all parents. Let's just get that out of the way. Show of hands, how many parents out there have had the mobile actually soothe their baby?
I saw this episode , even before I was pregnant, on Sex and the City, where Miranda went to her baby's room and turned on the mobile and the baby stopped crying. I thought how lovely a scene that was and when I found out that I was pregnant, my mind retreated to that episode and that specific mobile song. In the days that Jack was a fussy baby, and there was some, Brian and I would do everything. Leave him in the crib, swaddle, turn on the mobile. That will work!
No, it didn't. I can only remember one time when the mobile did stop Jack from crying and when the song ended, he would cry all over again.
Jack will be 21 months tomorrow, so I decided on Monday to take down the mobile. Even though we rarely used it , I got incredibly sad to take it down. That mobile stood as a symbol of his infancy, and the excitement that we had to have a new baby in the house. That new baby now runs around, has his own likes and dislikes, and goes to bed on his own.
I did cry a bit as I placed the mobile in his closet, and I did replay that sweet mobile song one last time in my head.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Frances Lila Morrison





pictures taken by Brian. Jack and I will meet Frances on Wednesday

Frances Lila Morrison was born on October 16, 2009. Brian asked as his Christmas wish last year for a baby cousin for Jack. His wish was granted 10 months later.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The Many Faces of Jack Morowczynski





No.
That's right. Jack has said "No" followed by a shaking of the head. My worst fear come true. I cannot remember now what happened, but I think Jack was standing on the chair perhaps. Brian told him to sit down and Jack responded with a "No". Brian asked back NO??? with the " Are you kidding me?" tone. At that point Jack sat down.
Which brings me to the subject on how to discipline a child. I have been playing the role of the Patient Mom, which I will not yell but just talk sternly but calmly to Jack, should he do any wrong. It works sometimes. And sometimes, while I am telling him on why he should not have thrown his food on the floor, Jack will stare off into space. He is probably thinking, "Wow, what the heck is Mommy saying?"
Where do these kids learn these things? And why so soon?
My mom never really yelled at us when we were kids. She just had the LOOK. Once we got that LOOK, fun was out the window. I am trying to perfect the LOOK. I saw Brian give Jack the LOOK yesterday as well. It works somehow. I am hoping that it works for the next 18 years.

Last Days of Summer


I feel that there were not enough days in the summer. Granted we did go out as much as we could have. But we had a ritual every day. Come home from work, eat dinner, play at the park til the sun came down. Our days in the park are numbered, especially with this special weather we are having recently. I told Brian that I wouldn't have minded so much if it was a bit chilly, but this moist weather makes it impossible to go to the park even with our jackets on.

Summer 2009 - the summer that Jack slid down a slide for the first time, and by summer's end was mastering even the highest slides all by himself.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Just....breathe

What we find amazing now are the actual words that Jack is saying. Not just the blah, grrgglle, whsgrrgnron. He is actually saying real words. This is however a bit bittersweet for me since I love his baby blabber. I am not ready for him to say "Hey mom, how about today we go to the park" in actual English. Or Spanish in his case.
We are getting closer to his second birthday which made me think "Oh my god. I am the mother of a two year old.I have a kid! When did that happen?" There are moments that I have to stop myself and relish in the little laughs and giggles and hugs that Jack gives us. Why do we always have to run around and worry about work and time and dinner? And as soon as dinner is over, I have to hurry and clean him up, give him a bath, oh no it's already 8:10! Gotta put him to bed. I secretly love the times that he wants us to still carry him and hold him, because I know that those moments will not be as much as he gets older.

Jack words:
Otro - means "another" in Spanish
Ay! - It is kind of like the "oh no!" in Spanish. He will say it when some water spills from his cup.
Girraf - Giraffe!
Dirdle - Circle
Choose - Shoes
Eyes, irs, noooooss - Eyes, ears and nose

New likes

Every Thursday night is library night for us. We were in a habit of picking Thomas the Tank Engine videos so Jack can have his weekend treat. That "weekend" treat turned into an every day, all day treat that he wanted. It got to a point where as soon as Jack woke up, he would go to the TV and point to the DVD player.

"I'm awake Mommy, now where's Thomas?"



We stopped renting the Thomas videos just for that reason. In hopes that Jack wouldn't cry for Thomas all the time, I put on Toy Story once for him to introduce him to the cool toys that talk. That was my introduction to him about this movie. Now Jack has gotten into the Pixar movies. Great for us, since we are a huge Pixar family. Bad for us, since now all Jack wants to see is Toy Story or The Incredibles.



If you see Jack the next time, show him The Incredibles DVD , point to Edna Mode , and ask him who that is. Nine times out of ten, he will say "Mama".

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Kiddieland

My first thought was - Jack is at a perfect age right now where he can enjoy a ride and we can enjoy ourselves in an amusement park. My second thought was- Wait, is Jack old enough to go on these rides? Will he fly off the ride?
We got there right around the time that Jack was coming up on his nap. While we waited in line for the second ride, his head lay on my shoulder and Brian and I looked at each other. This boy was ready for some sleep. A ride on the Flying Elephants later, Jack took a great two hour nap. Which allowed us big kids to go on some rides ourselves.
Yes, Jack is old enough to go on the rides. And he is old enough to know that when the ride was over, that meant that you had to get out. And he did not like that. At one point, as soon as the car that he was riding on stopped, his smile turned into a very angry frown. How do you explain to a one year old that rides are not forever?

This ride was called the Roto Whirl and I felt that I was about to fly off, much less hold unto my son.

Jack's reaction when the ride was over. This happened again and again and again.

No time for smiles here. We have a race to finish.

Jack and his best friend, cousin Nathalie.

Jack and Brian on the Kiddieland Train.

My sis Maria and Nathalie.

Brian and I enjoying some quality time together.


all photos by Brian Morowczynski -proud dad.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The new cut

Yay or Nay ? My intent was to have a super short cut as the last cut of the summer, since the poor boy sweats at the drop of an 82 degree day. Since his John Lennon hair days are over, I am trying to come up with a better nickname than "short cut."

Thomas and Jack - Best Buds

Going to see Thomas the Tank Engine was everything we thought it would be; crazy , crowded and a kid who would not nap. Jack the amazing one went through an incredible 5 hours that day with only 30 minutes of shut eye under his belt. He was the happiest boy, running around and saying "choo choo, choo choo".
It was very rainy that day but that did not stop Jack from sitting on the wet sidewalk and choo chooing on the ground.
Both grandpas went with us and it couldn't have been more perfect.Brian is a huge train guy, so this was as big a deal to him as it was to Jack. As expected, when we left, we weren't even out of the parking lot and Jack was passed out.
You're welcome son.







This is my new favorite photo- Three generations of Morowczynski Men.