BEST.FACE.EVER!

I finally did it!  I *finally* caught this hilarious face that Dane is "famous" for.
Take a look at this - SO FUNNY!

Hope this brightens your day!

Halloween 2010

Well, this year I had almost as much fun as I did back when *I* was a trick-or-treater!
We had planned and purchased costumes in plenty of time for Halloween, especially knowing that Daycare was having their party on Thursday this year.  Jacob dressed like a fireman, and Dane, therefore, had no choice other than to be an ADORABLE Dalmation puppy, of course!

We have a pedal fire truck that Cousin Casey passed down from Grandpa Dan, and I decided that this MUST be part of the costumes.  The problem was, only one boy was going to fit into the fire truck.  So Daddy rigged a wagon to tote the doggie behind.  Smart thinkin', Daddy!

The day before Halloween, Jacob and Mommy had a Trick-or-Treat Rehearsal.  Mommy went into the office and closed the door.  Jacob practiced going up to the door, knocking, waiting until the door was opened, and then saying, "Trick or treat!"  Then, of course, Mommy gave him candy.  We practiced this a handful of times, and each time, when I opened the door, Jacob giggled in laughter as he shouted his line.  It was hilarious!

Unfortunately, it was pretty cold on Halloween.  I dressed the boys in layers, which helped, but their poor little hands were so cold.    Dane's costume fit very well - until I put him in three layers of clothes!  Then I could barely get it closed.  His jacket stuck out of the back of the costume.  No problem, though - he was still the cutest little puppy in the neighborhood!  The cold weather also made the boys very tired very early!  After trick-or-treating we ordered a pizza and got warmed up.  It was a great night!

Please also enjoy the pics of our pumpkins.  When we went to the pumpkin farm this year, we picked out a Jakey-sized pumpkin and a Dane-sized pumpkin, which was no larger than an apple.  It was SO cute when it was carved.  Both Jacob and Dane took much joy in those pumpkins.  We would point to the bigger pumpkin and say, "Jacob's pumpkin."  Then we would point to the little one and say, "Dane's pumpkin."  Dane's face would light up and get a big grin.  I think he really understood that the little one was his.

We just had so much fun!  I love fall!

[overheard]

Typical Conversations with a One-Year Old and a Three-Year Old:

Dane:  Uh-ohhhh!
Jacob: What did he say, Mommy?
Mommy: He said, "Uh-oh."
Jacob: WHHHyyyyyyyy???



During Breakfast on Saturday:

 (Gary had on a shirt that I really like to see him in.)
Me:  (Thinking no one else was really listening...) Gary, you look hot in that shirt.
Jacob:  Yeah, Dad, you look hot!
(ERUPTION of laughter from Mommy and Daddy!)
Gary: (Covering) Yeah, I'm feeling pretty warm at the moment!


(I had gone to Dunkin and picked up a couple of donuts, which we were all eating.
Jacob LOVES sprinkles on his donuts.)
Jacob:  Mom, can I have another donut?
Me: No, there aren't any more donuts with sprinkles.
Jacob:  Oh.  Well, THAT's frustrating!


Oh, they say the darndest things!  We just kept laughing!

Unbelievably Blessed

For all of you who are not avid Facebook-ers, I thought I'd post this picture to the blog, as well.  Not much of a story behind it, other than the obvious post-dinner, pre-washing photo... :)  But I can't get enough of these smiles!   We feel incredibly, unbelievably blessed to have these boys as our own.  Enjoy!

[overheard]

This weekend we pretty much took it easy.  No huge plans, no trips, nothing.  It was quite a nice end to an INSANELY busy summer for the Scacco family.  So we took the boys to the zoo on Sunday and today we had a picnic at dinner time.

On the way home in the car, we had the radio on, but I began to hear some singing from the back seat.  As my ear tuned in to discern what song it was, I became more and more amazed.
Jacob was sitting in the back seat singing a song that I had sung to him when he was a baby!  I loved the rhythm and minor feel to the song, Jolene, originally by Dolly Parton, but recently remade by someone whom I can't recall at the moment.  At any rate, its a cool tune, but not exactly lullaby material.  What I loved, though, is when I sung it, Jacob would always get really quiet and listen closely.  I think the haunting feel of the minor key always caught his curiosity.  Of course, I changed the words to fit the occasion, but other than that, the song was intact.

"Jakey, Jakey, Jakey, Jakey.  Momma sure does love her little man.
Jakey, Jakey, Jakey, Jakey.  Momma loves you just because she can."

Unmistakably, he was singing "his" song.

"Your eyes are of the purest blue
and every time I look at you
I'm filled with joy 'cause you're my boy, Jakey."

I couldn't believe how many of the words he knew!

At this point, he realized I was listening and shyly stopped singing,
but the impression had been made.  
Wow...  He is listening.  He *IS* listening!  :)
My "mommy heart" is ready to burst! 

Dane - Eleven Months

Hi there!

Only a moment to post this tonight.  Wanted to get it in before it was too late.
Dane's first birthday is coming right up!

Enjoy!

Dane - Ten Months

Sorry for the lack of posting lately.  Life has been pretty CRAMMED full as of late.
Here is a pic of Dane at 10 months.   What a sweetie.
He was having quite a time with his crawling.  We found out his SI joint was out, which caused him a lot of pain when he tried to crawl normally.  Between two of our fabulous chiropractor friends, we got it all straightened out, and now he is tearing it up!  He is doing the regular cross-crawl, which is SO VERY IMPORTANT to neurological development, and is now also pulling himself up on the furniture and starting to move himself along the edges.  As you can see, the crib (or "baby jail") is a favorite spot to pull up to.

Enjoy!

Dane - Nine Months

How do you like my faux-hawk???  :)

Haircuts!

We went a little crazy this weekend and had both the boys' hair cut!
It was the first real haircut for Dane (aside from Mommy's hacking), and he was such a good boy for the whole thing.  We got Jacob's hair cut, too, and it was a little bit of an adventure.  Our regular coiffeuse, Marlene, only had time to cut one of the boys' hair, so I had her cut Dane's.  We then took Jacob to a nearby salon who accepted walk-ins, since I couldn't stand the bushy mop any more.  I asked the lady to leave it longer on top and shorter on the bottom.  She must not have had a lot of experience with children, because it was looking a little hacked up, and every time she tried to fix it, it kept getting shorter and shorter!  Finally I told her to stop, thinking I'd fix it myself at some point.  Oh, well, it still looks cute.  Here are the pics!

Getting ready for his first haircut:

The mop

 See?!?!

 Marlene working her magic!

Very chill...

The final product!

He looks so grown up!

 And speaking of grown up...

Shorter than I had hoped for, but still adorable!

Playing Catchup - Dane's Monthly Photos

Okay, I KNOW!  I'm terribly behind in Dane's monthly pictures.  So, to make up for it, today I have THREE pictures of the little guy.  :)  He is a bubbly little thing who has learned how to blow zerberts with his tongue and is sitting for short periods of time.  He's almost ready to crawl, too, and does the "downward dog" yoga pose, as well as bouncing on his hands and knees, just trying to figure out what to do next.  His latest addition is: THREE TEETH!  Can't believe how much he's growing and changing.

[overheard]

This morning I was getting Jakey ready to go, putting on his socks and shoes. I had him sitting on the diaper changing table. Usually I wear regular pajamas to bed, but last night I had worn a nightgown. It was long, down to the floor, and was cinched a bit at the empire waist.
I saw Jacob focus in on the hem of my gown and follow the line of the fabric up to my waist.
Suddenly he looked up at me with wide eyes and said, "Mommy! You're a princess!"
Oh my precious, dear boy. If only all the world thought I was a princess.
But, since you do, then I certainly am.

Snips

Well, I did it...



Poor little Dane. He has this GORGEOUS head of hair, and hasn't rubbed it off in the back like most babies. Instead, however, it has rolled itself into little dread locks. Not my idea of a baby hairstyle. So, I chopped it. YES - He's only 6 months old, but it HAD to be done! I cut off enough so that it could be brushed out, and then I had to cut some of the rest of it to look like it was "meant" to be like that. He now has an asymmetric haircut, that I'm sure would cause any good stylist to shake their head. But it will grow out again, and I'll have a professional do it next time. :)

3-week Update: Still Purple

Three weeks later, and I'm STILL purple! But its definitely getting better.

Love at First Bite

Now that Dane is 6 months old, it was time to try some solid food.  Well, I don't know that I would really call it "solid", per se.  We learned recently that until a baby has teeth, they don't have a certain enzyme in their saliva with which to digest carbohydrates, but that soft fruits and veggies are fine for them to have.  So, since little Dane has no teeth, we dove into his first taste of...sweet potatoes!At first he wasn't too sure.  After figuring out that Mommy wanted to put that long metal thing in his mouth, he took a bite, made a strange face, and then tried to eek out a smile, as if he was feigning delight.  But after a few more tries, he was grabbing my hand to put the spoon into his mouth.  Here is a before and after picture, and a video.Bon appetit!

 

Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This...

I don't usually blog about myself, but this time, the story is too much to pass up.

I guess I qualify as subject matter, since the title of the blog is "The Life and Times of the Scacco Family".  Anyway - Here goes...

It all started at 4:30am on Saturday, January 23rd, 2010.

I was awakened by Dane, who wanted a bottle.  When I went to get out of bed, I noticed that somehow my neck had become out of place.  (How your neck goes out while you sleep is a mystery for another day.)  My neck *really* hurt as I tried different methods of sitting up, but finally I succeeded and headed to the kitchen.  My intent was to make the bottle and then get Gary, who was sleeping on the pullout couch in the TV room (something you do when you have 2 small children), that I needed help.  As I walked to the kitchen I thought to myself, "My stomach hurts.  I think I'm going to throw up."  

Well, I don't remember even crossing the threshold of the kitchen.  The next thing I knew, I was face-down on the kitchen floor between the island and the range oven, with Gary leaning over saying, "LeAnn!  Can you hear me???".  At that point I could hear him, but barely, over the LOUD white noise I was hearing in my own head.  My vision "faded in", the opposite of what a TV show might do at the end of the program.  I now knew that I had passed out on my way to get the bottle, and that I was a mess.  I sat up and leaned against the refrigerator to gather myself, and Gary started asking questions.

Mostly they were questions like, "Do you know your name?" or "Do you know what day this is?"  (That one I had to think about, but not because I passed out.  Life is moving so fast these days that I rarely know exactly what day it is.)  This exercise was strangely similar to questioning I received from my mom as a child, after I had fallen out of trees or off of stacks of hay bales.  "What were you doing?"  "Do you know who I am?"  "Who is the President of the United States?" Cringe.  

I answered the questions to the best of my ability and began to survey the damage.  The left side of my face was cold and throbbed a bit.  It didn't exactly hurt, per se, but I could tell that the impact point was just outside of my left eye.  "That's going to leave a mark," I thought - a common phrase from my husband.  I must have passed out just as I was entering the kitchen, and, since I was moving at the time, I made it to the range oven and fell on it, smashing the side of my face on the way down.  He said that I knocked the salt & pepper shakers and sugar & creamer containers off the back of the range oven, which made a huge CRASH, and then he came running.  So I must not have been out for very long.

We decided I needed some water and a bit of food.  Since my neck was still in pain, I determined I'd have to sleep in the recliner, upright, and call Dr Fager (my chiropractor) after they opened.  Dane did, eventually, get that bottle, but not from me.  :)  When I saw Dr Fager later that morning, he was alarmed that I felt sick to my stomach and then passed out.  He sent me for an MRA (like an MRI, only for your arteries) and told me we'd have to wait on the results before I could be adjusted.  Even though it was an "Open MRI", I have to tell you it was NOT fun, especially with excruciating neck pain.  I don't consider myself claustrophobic, but after that... I may reconsider.  It didn't help that I was having "shock shake" between sessions.  But I made it through.  The results came back completely normal, and after a few days of letting my neck  muscles relax enough to be adjusted, I went to see Dr Fager again.  (He and Tara take such good care of our family!)

I am now about 90% normal, save the BIG black eye I now sport.  By now, it is starting to go away, but I must share with you the crazy self-photos I have of the damage.  At this point, I just have to laugh about it, and chalk it up to a good story.  I think I'll even devote a scrapbook page to it.  More to come...

So, without further ado, here they are:

The day of the incident - Swelling, a little blood, but not terrible:

Starting to get purple:

 

Very purple: 

  

Starting to get green now, joy of joys:

  

Very green, but losing purple:

That last one is from today, more than a week later.

I probably have another week to go.

You should see people look at me at work.  My coworkers have started to make up stories of what happened to me, just for fun.  I even did three interviews with this lovely shiner.  Tell me THAT was fun...

I'll keep you updated on the healing process.

LeAnn

MonkeyBuns

Just thought I'd post a few pics of Dane in the outfit he got from Grandma Smith for Christmas.  I commissioned a lady on Etsy.com to create these "sock monkey" pants.  They are SO CUTE!  (Especially on Dane...)

Enjoy!

[overheard]

The other night I was putting Jacob to bed with the usual routine.  I don't recall exactly what we had been talking about or what the circumstance was, but what I do remember is what he said to me. 
    "I 'cared, Mommy."  I stopped.  Silence.  Thought. 
    "You're scared, Jacob?"  "Uh-huh."  More thought. 
    "What are you scared of?"  Silence. 
Evidently he didn't know how to express what he was scared of, because, as quickly as it had begun, the moment was over.  His attention moved to something else in the room - the lamp, a book, something. 
Every day it is amazing to me what he says, both because he has physically formed the words with his mouth, but also because it gives me a glimpse into the workings of his mind.  I am having trouble remembering that he is only two years old, because he seems so much more grown-up than a "mere" two-year-old could be.  But along with this growth comes his venturing into new situations, new emotions.  It breaks my heart to know that - already - he is learning that the world he lives in is not always safe, that sometimes there is reason to be scared.  Hopefully he understands it only at a shallow level right now.  And I hope he understands the protective love his Daddy and I have for him.  I pray we can help him understand God's protective love for him, too, especially since God has the ultimate power to do so.  Even more so than the fact that his parents are here for him, I want God's fatherly love to be a comfort to him.
These are the moments you never expect, in being a parent.