LOOOOoonnng post!

BREAKING NEWS!

First and Foremost JADA ROSE WENT POTTY IN A "BIG GIRL POTTY YESTERDAY!" We were very excited. We haven't been pushing her very hard to go potty in the toilette. So yesterday when she asked to potty? Andrea was somewhat surprised. She set her on the toilette and the rest is history!

HEALTH CONCERN UPDATE

A few weeks ago we were somewhat concerned about Jada's platelet count. Today they are running some more labs to see if the count is still low. Apparently normal is 150,000 or higher. Jada was at 130,000. You don't worry until it is well below 100,000. But they are watching it. Also we have been increasing Jada's dose on her immune suppressants. :( She is now at 90 ml, up from 80 ml. Overall however, Jada is very healthy!

REGARDING OUR LAGOON INFATUATION

I need to make an apology for all the Lagoon stuff. I realized I may have a slight problem when I asked Teya to watch Jada's Lagoon Video last week. Teya's first response was "it was...LOOOOOng" It occurred to me that this might not be as big a deal to others as it is to us. So please allow me to explain our obvious Lagoon infatuation: Throughout the week I am working 15+ hours a day, and when I do see Jada in the late evening her one request is "MONSTER RIDES?" So Saturday evenings we jump in the car and spend 3-4 hours at Lagoon. It is the highlight of the week for both of us! If you are sick of hearing about Lagoon you may want to stop reading now. But I need to give you a fair warning: If you see Jada and want to talk to her? She will almost assuredly want to talk about "Monster Rides".

Up until now Jada has only been on a ride by herself once. That was a car ride and she was in tears by the time it came back around. I have been begging Teya and Loni to get lil Troy, and Kit out with us so Jada would have a co-pilot and could ride the airplanes, the whales, spaceships, helicopters etc. This last Saturday Jada saw a ride that had elephants, dragons, and ladybugs flying in a circle. She turned my head and said "Ride?" I told her she would have to ride it all by her self because daddy was too big to ride on it with her. She replied "By Self?" then ran into the line (without me) :( So, over the next several hours I turned into one of those parents that I used to feel sorry for,leaning against the gate making faces and cheering on my kid as though I was at a Football game. The purpose of my cheering? My kid figured out how to pull a stick towards her, causing her "plane" to soar into the air...

Heres a little tidbit of information for anyone who might read this. Lagoon season pass costs like $79. IHC employees are $39 according to Teya. We have already gone 8 times! If you live even remotely close to Lagoon it is an extremely motivating tool when devising rewards and penalties for behavior. For instance most tantrums can be avoided with Jada Rose by simply saying the words "Good Girls get to go ride on Monster Rides"...Well worth the money in my opinion. Now there are some pressing issues for people who are germ-a-phobes like us. As many may remember the Lagoon crowd is not as hygienically educated as many of us would like. Here is a list of precautions we take. I know that most people don't have to deal with avoiding germs like we do, but hey blogs are for narcissistic expression, so humor me as if I was giving advice that might actually be useful to "normal people".

1.We NEVER NEVER NEVER go near Lagoon a Beach. YUCK! Can you say Crypto-sporidium cesspool?

2.The other obstacle is avoiding face to face germs. I find the best way to avoid this is putting your little one on your shoulders. This keeps them out of the faces of other people coughing and hacking. As well as providing an extremely effective upper back and shoulder workout! Just be sure to duck several inches lower for some of those low hanging trees! Especially if your name is Dan Briggs or Craigy Chilton!

3. Take a package of sani-wipes and wipe down each ride. It only takes a split second, and when you think of the sticky hands that have been touching that handle/bar all day...ewwww.

4. Sunscreen Sunscreen Sunscreen!

5. If you are just taking one child, and don't want to worry about a stroller. Park at the northern end of the main parking lot next to the trees. That way you don't need to haul a diaper bag around all day and when "the moment" comes that you need it? You know exactly where you parked. I found that by the time I grabbed the diaper bag out of the locker, cleaned the bathroom space, and changed the diaper, I could have just walked to the car and taken care of it in half the time.