Nana's home...

I recently started a new project at work that is sucking my brain cells completely out of my head by the end of each day.  I sit on a Bridgeline all day assisting contracted field technicians through upgrading laptops for the top producers of the company.  My team wrote a script an app that backs up copies all the producers’ data (documents, pictures, settings…) and restores all the data to the new laptop. I wrote the document outlining every step from running the script app to get the data, unplugging the old equipment, and plugging in the new equipment with pictures to help them get through it all. The document is very basic, written so any audience should be able to follow it or at least I thought it was.  We used this same documented process for the previous project in which we migrated 30,000 plus machines, I just updated some of the pictures.  Unfortunately the document is not fool proof from some of these techs and at times makes me question my abilities in technical document writing.  I walk the field tech through each step reading them word for word off the document they have right in front of them. Apparently it makes more sense when they hear my voice reading aloud to them then when they read the words off the paper themselves.  It’s not fun like reading Pete the Cat books to Jackson while singing and do fun cartoon like voices, it more like reading a TV instruction manual over and over.  That gets real old having to it multiple times throughout the day.  Then you throw in the fact that these field techs can’t plug in displays, USB devices, or the power adapter without guidance. WOW!  It’s a head scratcher to me how some of these techs are qualified for this job. By the end of the day my brain is complete mush…add in the extreme traffic all the way home I am more gone than a very dead zombie.

I pull into the garage, turn off the car, and sit for a brief moment taking multiple deep breaths before entering the house.  I definitely don’t want to take this rough day into my loving home and I wish this nagging headache would just go the <insert expletive here> away. While entering the key into the door I can hear the dogs going crazy as their toenails tippy-tap on the floor.  I can also hear Jackson jumping up and down.  I open the door, the dogs are right at my feet making it nearly impossible to walk in.  Jackson is jumping up and down, flapping his hands, then falling to the ground. 

“NANA HOME, NANA HOME….eeeeeee….NANA HOME” Jackson says. “NANA HOME, NANA HOME….NNNEEEEE….” If I don’t respond soon, Jackson’s will get stuck in this pattern like a broken record. 

“Yes Jackson, nana is home...  are you ready for a hug?”

Jackson starts to stand up “NANA HOME, YES! HAPPY…” hands are flapping as he starts to jump up and down.  This…this right here makes that long day at work seem like a thing of the distant past and it jolts me awake from my zombie like funk.  

“Are you ready for a hug?” I ask once more.  The jumping stops and his arms reach up for me.  He’s ready.  I quickly pick him up, I squeeze tightly as he puts his arms around my neck and lets go just as fast.  “Kiss” I say.  He quickly leans towards my face; I get one quick kiss in, and set him down fast. If I hold on too long, I get a head butt to the lip.  I treasure these quick moments, they are the best part of my day. “Can Nana take the dogs out now?” I ask.

“Nnneeeee…YES!” Jackson responds with hands flapping rapidly just before he takes off sprinting towards the living room. 

Nana’s home….

These are a few of his favorite things…

I am happy to report that Jackson has been doing much better on his new medicine, Trazodone. He has been on it for a little over a week and so far it has helped him get sleep and sleep throughout the evening.  We have also noticed it help prevent the constant head banging, although he will still bang his head on occasion usually when he isn’t getting his way. The other things we noticed are he is back to his happy morning self, his appetite is back, and he isn’t crabby all day.   His therapists have noticed a difference too, he is more focused during his sessions. Today is National Fragile X awareness day so I thought I would take this time to share some of Jackson’s favorite things.

Jackson loves to play catch with me on the stairs.  I have been throwing a ball at him since he was able to hold himself up in his bouncy contraption. He is starting to get really good at catching. We have all kinds of various balls for him, his favorite lights up as it bounces. He will sit at the top of stairs and toss the ball down to me. His loves to watch the ball bounce on each step to which I make silly sound effect noises. Then I toss the ball back up to him.  It is so fun to watch.

Jackson also loves to watch Mickey Mouse Club House and Baby Einstein.  They are on forever repeat in our house, even though he might only watch 10 -15 minutes at a time.  He has always loved the Hot Dog song and dance, to which he recently started dancing along to.  With the Baby Einstein videos his favorite toys to watch are the toys with balls or any spinny things.  Recently he started noticing the wind up robots and when they are on he starts walking around like them. He also loves it when any of the Einstein kids are on. He just loves people…

Jackson is a huge fan of the swing. We installed a bar in his doorway to his bedroom several months ago and when he seems to be having a hard time swinging will calm him down. Last weekend I put together an outdoor swing-set and our little man is obsessed with it. Unfortunately St. Louis has been under a heat advisory since the day I put it up and if the humidity doesn’t get to you the mosquitoes might just carry you off.  Jackson doesn’t seem to mind the heat one bit. He loves to ride in his radio flyer, stroller, or Cozy Coup. You can walk him forever in those things. The neighbors love to see him as much as he loves to see them.  He will wave and flap his hands in excitement.  When I get home from work I usually take him for a walk and sometimes after dinner. Lately with the heat we are only getting one walk in. His other outdoor favorite is the pool.  Jackson loves the water and luckily Memaw Hamilton has a big pool that we can all get in. This love for water is great because we have no problems with bath time, except for the crazy splashing. Be prepared to be soaked if you ever have to give my son a bath..

Jackson could watch you push a vacuum for hours. Lately though just pushing it around isn’t enough, he has to have it on.  He has figured out that the cord has to be plugged in, thank goodness for those plastic covers.  We bought Jackson a mini-Dyson of his own for Christmas, but he prefers if you push it and not him. He is a smart child…

Jackson likes to watch people come and go from our house. I don’t know what it is, but he loves to watch people through the window. If a car goes by and he hears it, at the window you will find him.  The neighbors across the street like coming home to see him knocking on the windows and waving away. You can see his big smile from across the street. It brings me great joy to see this every morning when I leave for work and when I come home. Speaking of cars, he has this awesome Fisher Price Speedway toy. The center of the floor spins and it has special cars that go on it. It has a ramp the cars go down into the center and the cars go around and around till they shoot through the finish line.  It is a very loud toy, but he loves it. He has perfected balancing the cars on their rear bumper while the floor is spinning. I can’t even balance them on a flat surface. 

Jackson loves music. He will pick a favorite song and want to listen to it over and over. Right now the favorite song is “If you are happy and you know it…”.  He is also a big fan of the “Farmer and the Dell” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. I am not the vocalist of the house, but since he was born I have sang him to sleep.

Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Mmm

Last night was a rough night of sleep in our house again. I was ubber crabby to say the least. It was hard to not get out the shower to finish getting ready for work, but I made it through. The best parts of my day are leaving for work and coming home. You might think that is strange to include leaving for work in that statement, but let me explain. Even though today was rough getting out of bed I am still one of those morning people.  I have always looked at mornings as a fresh start to a new day.

Sure...going to work is not my favorite thing to do, it is the send off I get that makes it so special. One of Jackson's favorite things to do is watch people leave or come. He will stand at the window, knock and bang on it, flap his hands, making his "Eeeennnneewww" sound, jump up and down, and wave. He is so excited. If the neighbors are out, he will get just as excited and wave to them. He loves to see people on the other side of the window.

This morning Jackson was really fussy, but after laying around a little bit with mamma, he seemed more his morning self. He knows when it is close to the time for me to go down the steps and drive away and he starts getting excited. Mamma and Jackson were sharing a banana at leave time, but that didn't stop him for giving me a kiss goodbye. Mmm, banana kisses. I get my kisses from everyone every morning and then down the stairs I go. As I open the garage, I can hear him banging on the window and jump'n up and down already.  I start the car, pull out, and look up...there is my son with the biggest smile on his face. I always roll down the window so I can hear him. He is waving feverishly while jumping up and down, I am waving back to him wishing I could sit in driveway until he is bored with smiling and waving at me. I need to get a picture of this, perhaps even some video.

Coming home I get the same reception.  As soon as Jackson hears the garage door open, he runs to whatever window he is closest to. The best days to see this is on Monday and Tuesday when I stop in the middle of the driveway to either take out or bring in the garbage cans. You can hear him from the driveway, "Eeeennnneeewwww!" and knock away. If he is downstairs when I open the door he runs up to me and pulls on my pants, then runs away and comes back. This goes one a for a bit before I get my welcome home kiss. If he is upstairs, he is waiting pacing back and forth at the top, arms flapping away.  He looks so happy and excited to see me. I can't even explain how good it makes me feel.  I get kisses from everyone when I come home from work every day.  When I say everyone that included the doggies. How lucky am I to have that much love under one roof!

Another thing to add about the morning drive in...  I am a huge fan of music and I am lucky to have Sirius satellite radio. It gets me going for the day and I also have a dock that allows me to listen all day at work. It is a total savior for me. When I drove away from my house this morning the first song was the Crash Test Dummies "Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Mmm". I haven't heard that song in forever.  The line in the song that hit me and got me thinking was, "She couldn't quite explain it."  That line inspired my post today, trying to explain how lucky I am and my bubbly mood despite the limited sleep for the week. It also makes me think of the doctors, philosophers, psychologists, or therapists who can't always explain the whys or hows to the many things they discover about us humans. Or even when they have the science behind all the discoveries and still can't answer the questions.  Perhaps..."they'd just always been there....."