White Water - Water Park

Today was Jason's first trip to the water park! He loved it and has been wanting to return since we left! They had a great toddler sized area where Jason could go down slides all by himself. He had a huge grin the entire time we were there!

He was pretty tuckered out, he fell asleep on the way home in his bathing suit:



and then actually went upstairs and took a nap!

Petting Zoo At School!

Jason was very excited yesterday when I picked him up at school, he couldn't wait to tell me about the animals that came to school that day on a little trailer!

The Little Red Barn Mobile Petting Zoo came to the school and the kids took turns petting and brushing the animals! Here are some photos of Jason:

Jason's Lastest iMix

Jason and I have been a little bummed these last few weeks... my SIRIUS radio isn't working :-( There is something wrong with the tape player in my car, which is what connects the SIRIUS in the car stereo... I just need to find the FM thingy... but that is proving difficult!

So long story short, in search of new music for Jason, I went to the depths of my iTunes library to pull out some things from the college years. We also have some new music from before the SIRIUS went kaflowey...

What Jason is listening to these days:
"Ain't No Sunshine" - David Sanborne with Sting (when he first heard this one, he said, "mommy, this is Sting, the 'Roxanne' guy" - Jason likes the sax solo)
"Something Good This Way Comes" - Jakob Dylan
"The Galway Girl" - originally written by Steve Earle, but we listen to a more Irish version
"Fast Car" - Tracy Chapman (Jason likes the "be someone, be someone, be someone" part)
"Ready My Mind" - theKillers
"Grace is Gone" - Dave Matthews Band

That's all for now! In other news, Jason floated on his back in swim class this week! Here is hoping for a safe summer of swimming!

Memorial Day Weekend

We all headed down to Brays Island, S.C. for the long weekend. Jason found plenty to do! We were able to pick fresh strawberries, and veggies from the co-op garden on the island, try our hands at some fishing and crabbing and we got some good swim time in!

Photos from the trip here

Trader Joes Tornado Time

We had another big storm hit down here yesterday. I was on my way home from picking Jason up at school. We made a last minute decision to stop at Trader Joes to pick up some things. The decision saved us from from some scary moments. While shopping in Trader's the lights went off, came back on, and then the staff ushered everyone in the store back into the "tornado shelter" which is actually the cooler! Apparently, a tornado had touched down about a mile from the store... right on the road on which Jason and I would have been driving home! It was chilly in the cooler/giant refrigerator so they handed out Trader Joe's sweatshirts to all the children. Everyone was very cool, no one complained... it is always amazing how people tend to band together in these types of situations! Eventually, the storm passed and we all went our separate ways. It was still raining rather heavily when we were checking out, so they let Jason keep his sweatshirt on for the run out to the car!

We will be brining the sweatshirt back today with a big Thank You to all the folks at Trader Joe's for keeping us safe and warm last night!

Here is a photo of Jason in his TJ shirt!

Happy Mother's Day

We were down in Panama City Beach for Gulf Coast Triathlon on Mother's Day. After a day of cheering for the racers, my boys were beat!



Gulf Coast is a great race, but it takes the zing out of mother's day :-D Last year I was still too tired from the race to enjoy the day. This year things were just too busy. I'm thinking of making a mother's day (observed) for the Poon household - one week after actual mother's day! ha! ha!

A big Happy Mother's Day to My Mom and all of those other supermoms out there that I have the distinct pleasure of calling friends!

Hi Nana!

Jason says "hi Nana" from the back seat of the all3sports truck, heading down to FL for Gulf Coast. He was upset that I hung up with his Nana before he had a chance to say hello!

Tour de Georgia '08

We did the first stage of the Tour de Georgia today! Jason and I were in S.C. visiting my parents, close to Savannah so we made the trip down to see the action. We arrived a little early, before the expo was in full swing, but it was still nice to see a bunch of people out to support the race! Jason had a little dance with Hope (of Hope and Will, the mascots of CHOA).



We are always happy to support CHOA in anyway we can. They have consistently taken great care of Jason in his times of need (Broken Arm, Thyro-glossal Duct Cyst surgery). It is very comforting to have them so close!

Jason's iMix!

Well, we haven't set up a true iMix for him as of yet, but as many of you know, Jason is very opinionated when it comes to the music he listens too. To be honest I probably set us up for this as I've always asked him what he wants to listen to in the car. Through the years he's liked a ton of really fun songs, so I thought it would be fun to start a chronicle of "Jason's top song".

His current favorite song is "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend. I've linked it to the video posted on YouTube. Hey, Craig, can you do me a favor and tell me what kind of guitar that is? On a personal note, I really like these guys, my favorite of their's is "Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa". This link goes to a live version, so you can't hear the music all that well, but it has a good energy.

Some recent other favorites are:

"Won't Go Home Without You" - Maroon 5 - From the album "It won't be soon before too long"
"Such Great Heights" - The Postal Service (interesting side note, as a baby/1 year old, he loved the slower, and I think original, version by Iron and Wine from the Garden State soundtrack, but now he likes this faster version).
"Shadowplay" - the Killers - this is a remake of a Joy Division song; Jason likes the begining

I'll save some of the others for the next post! Take a listen, you might like 'em too!

No More Cast!

Jason had his cast removed today!! He is very excited to be able to use his right arm again!

Here is a photo from outside the doctor's office!!! Thanks again to Children's Orthopedics of Atlanta, for taking such good care of us!!

We got the big envelope!

We just found out today that Jason was accepted to High Meadows! Starting in September, he will be in school Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are very excited about the program, especially their music program and the weekly pony rides! Jason is excited because they have a red caboose and roosters on the school campus!

San Diego Wild Animal Park

We took a day at the Wild Animal park! It was amazing, much better than any other Zoo or Animal Park I've been too! It was spring time, so the weather was mild and all the animals were out in their glory, plus many of the animals had new babies!



Photos here!

It's a Wedding!!

We've been in California for the past week! It was uncle Tom and Aunt Cathy's wedding! Jason was the ring bearer and I was the mommy who was very nervous about how the trip down the aisle would go!!

The wedding went off without a hitch! Jason did his freak out at the rehearsal, and was a perfect gentleman for the wedding, I wouldn't have had it any other way!

We had a great week spending time with family and friends, here are the photos!

The Happy Couple


Uncle Tom and Jason


the Bride and Groom and their Parents


at the reception and Jason is still smiling! Whew! BTW - that's future baby poon at 19 weeks along

Tom and Cathy had to work the week after their wedding, so they were nice enough to spend time with us after the wedding! They took us to Travel Town the day after the wedding, Jason was in heaven! Travel Town is full of old trains!


Travel Town!!!

and what is a trip to the west coast, without a little beach time! Jason is wearing a rubber glove to keep the sand out of his cast!


We even had time to get a picture of our Cars Movie fan under a Rt. 66 sign!! Go lightening McQueen!



Link to all the pictures!

Jason will be a big brother

The announcement is long overdue, and most folks know already, however, I have to make it blog official, Jason will be a big brother sometime around August 25th! I'm 18 weeks along today and feeling fairly good.

Jason's reaction when we told him the news? At first he seemed as if he didn't quite understand what we were talking about, but within a few days he pointed out a grouping of two pairs, he pointed to the first pair and said, this is mommy and daddy, then he pointed to the second pair and said, this is Jason and my little brother or sister.

When asked if he was excited about being a big brother he said "yeah" and then went on to say that he would share his toys but not his food! Another gem was when I asked his opinion on what we should name a little brother, he said "Curious!"

Will post some pics soon!

Cast #2!

No, it isn't another broken bone, thank goodness! Jason cracked the palm of his first cast, so today they cut the first one off and put on a new one! Jason chose the color "Lime Green" for Cast #2 and seems pretty excited about it!

We also heard today, he'll be in the cast for at least another 3 weeks, but so far the break is healing quite well. Alex took Jason to the dr. today (i had a dr. appt at the same time) so he was able to see the x-rays being taken. According to Alex the bones are already much straighter than the original x-rays he saw two weeks ago.

Here is a photo of the new cast:


additional photos here.

Tornadoes Anyone?!?

After 8 years in Atlanta, I should be used to this season, but I promise you it surprises me every year! Yesterday we had some amazing hail storms and the tornadoes rolled through about a mile north of our house. Suffice to say, Jason, Olivia and I were down in the basement for a good part of the early afternoon. Luckily, the wireless internet reaches in the basement, so I was able to follow the storms on my computer, since we don't have a DirecTV in the basement. Just when I thought it was safe and brought everyone upstairs, a third cell came through, this was the closest to the house and the hail came pouring out of the sky, the TV showed the red part (i.e. tornado cells) right over our town so I gathered everyone back downstairs. It was over in minuets and afterward the sun came out shining brightly! It was a little surreal directly after the dark, dark clouds. We had some amazingly large hail fall on the house.

Jason holding one of the larger pieces

two smaller pieces
I've heard about golf ball sized hail before, but I'd never seen any before.

Luckily, no one we know was injured in the storms, nor houses damaged. Everyone had their basement stories of the day though. Also, Alex was at work, when the last of the storms of the day, roared right over their heads, a warehouse full of bikes and bike parts? not where I want to be in a tornado, but luckily, the storm passes by with just a lot of hail, wind and noise. Whew!
Here is a link to all the photos I took of the hail.

Jason's Broken Arm

Well, it turns out, when you think that fall looked a little odd, even if your tough little guy says he is fine and his arm doesn't hurt, it might be a good idea to get it checked out!

Jason took an odd fall/trip about a week ago, and cried a little, which is odd for him. I told him we should go wee the doctor and he said he felt fine. He was using his arm, hand, etc. just fine so I thought he was okay. But we noticed that every time he fell forward and caught himself with his hands he cried, instead of just bouncing up and continuing on his way. So, long story short, we took him to the pediatrician. His pedi said, it may just be muscular, but to be on the safe side we should get xrays. She did a lot of turn, prodding and nothing in particular seemed to hurt him, he flinched a little when she pressed on the bone just above his wrist. Well, obviously, we got the x-rays and he had broken both bones, radius and ulna, just above his wrist. Yep, that's right, the kid breaks his arm and hardly cries... what is in store for us in the future!

Here is the little guy with his cast, as you can see, none the worse for the wear! We took him to CHOA to get his cast, we love those guys, nothing but amazing and excellent experiences with the entire CHOA system. One of the things I am most thankful for here in Atlanta. Also big thanks to Nana and Papa for getting much appreciated advice from their next door neighbor, a retired pediatric orthopedist!! THANK YOU!!




full slideshow of cast photos

Jason's First Solo Swim Class

Well after several attempts at Parent Tot swim classes, I thought we might have more luck waiting until Jason was old enough to be in the pool without me. I must say that this was a big leap of faith on my part, but I've been swimming at the Woodstock Aquatic Center for several years now and have seen their program up close and was fairly confident that all would turn out well. (If you are interested in lesson times, click on the link above and click "lessons" on the left nav bar).

Well, suffice it to say when I said to Jason we were going to swim lessons he basically freaked out and did not want to go. After a tantrum, which did not end until I had him buckled in the car seat and I started to pull the car out of the garage, he must have decided it was a done deal and sulked his way to the pool. Once we got to the pool, he saw other kids heading in and seemed to decide he was going to do this. It also helped that they had those heavy plastic "car wash" sheets hanging down to keep the cold out a bit because Jason thought it was great fun to walk through them. So we got changed and headed into the pool, they whisked Jason away from me (before either of us had time to worry) and the next thing I knew he was in the pool.

They ask you to leave the swim area... so I stayed by the other parents, all perfectly calm with their books, crafts and friendly chatter. I must say this is a great group of parents, I must have had that "first timer" look about me because folks started to volunteer updates of how Jason was doing. This way I knew what was going on without chancing that he might see me and start crying. I cringed my way through the cries that I knew were his and several parents alleviated my fears by saying their kids were the same way and now they love class. *fingers crossed*.

After 45 min of tourture, class was over and they brought Jason back to me. He was shivering and cold and hugging me very tightly. The instructors were all positive and seemed to think he did great. Jason seemed to be feeling better about the entire situation and we made even better by the offer of a lollipop! It's not just for the dr. office I guess! We stayed behind after we changed out of his swimsuit to watch the older kids swim. Jason left the pool saying that swim lessons were scary, but he doesn't think he'll be scared next time!

On our way home we stopped for some hot chocolate and I think it made everything better!

Here is a little photo post swim, he seems okay:

Trip the Fernbank

Jason has been interested in seeing dinosaurs lately, so we thought a trip to Fernbank was in order. After spending so much time at the aquarium it was a bit different to go to an order museum. While it may look a little shabby on the outside, there is a lot going on inside! The Frog exhibit was beautiful and very kid friendly. Would recommend a visit to anyone with kids over the age of 2. (Any younger and I don't think they would be interested as there isn't a lot of action, more interaction.)

View the photos:

Fernbank-firstvisit

Birthday Party Time!

Jason invited his friends Ella, Peyton and McKenzie over to celebrate his birthday! It was a fun time, the kids made their own cupcakes and then decorated them. In true birthday party, sugar rush fashion, the also had birthday cake cup cakes, and ice cream. I'm sure everyone was wondering how so much sugar got into our house at one time! Pics from the big day are here: (Big thanks to Andrea for the great photos! You can have my camera anytime!!!)

Jasons 3rd Birthday Party

Thanks to everyone for coming, we had so much fun!!!