The Q Family Blog » Joel

Daddy-less Weekend

Jamie — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:46:12 +0000

This past weekend Joel went to Miami for a photography workshop; he returned energized and appeared to have a productive and fun experience. While he was gone, Mommy, Jacob, and Grandma played. I left Joshua out because unfortunately he was pretty fussy all weekend. He had drainage issue (probably due to allegeries) and cried quite a bit. It wasn’t that bad, but he wasn’t the most fun child to be around. Jacob…. he got spoiled. I got him McDonald’s Saturday for lunch and even I partook for the first time in months. They were so busy; it had to be fresh. The fries were pretty good, but I can’t say it’s the greatest food. I think it tasted better in my fantasies. We also watched movies, did a craft, worked on his Bible verses and speech exercises, had pizza, ate ice cream… we did fun stuff. Jacob was good for most of the weekend, and only really frustrated me once when he wouldn’t do anything but was “bored.” In the end, it was a fun weekend but exhausting!

Survivor Portraits

Jamie — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:30:46 +0000

Photography has become a hobby for Joel, and he’s really gotten into it. I’m not talking about taking some pictures; I’m talking different lenses and lighting and framing and other stuff I know nothing about. Joel does a lot of nature and scenery photographs, but he had this idea to do a portrait session with me. It took weeks to get everything together: lighting, a black backdrop, the right lens, a red drape… We did the session Sunday night. It was a little torturous. The lighting was hot; the wooden floor was hard; Joel had issues, and I felt that I really looked big/fat. However, in the end, I think Joel selected some really tasteful photographs that reflect this point in time. I have survived, but I’m still recovering and my appearance reflects this fact.

Joel put the photos together in a collection that tell our story. I would definitely recommend viewing it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24856421@N00/sets/72157623940338340/

Let us know what you think.

A Valentine’s Weekend to Remember

Jamie — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:24:24 +0000

The boys are back in West Palm and, of course, I miss them. Luckily, our weekend together was memorable. The boys arrived late Friday afternoon, and we just hung out and had dinner together. I gave Jacob and Joshua teddy bears that I made at Build-A-Bear with message from me (expect a separate post on this); I can’t say Jacob was that thrilled but mom got Josh to giggle with his. Jacob did show more interest today before he left; he even posed for a picture with his bear for me.

On Saturday, mom and I made the boys Belgian waffles, which they seemed to like. Then Joel and I went to the flea market while mom watched the boys. It was fun just to be together; plus, I got to show Joel this shop with tiki’s. I bought one on a previous trip for Joel because it’s the theme Joel wants for our backyard pool area. Since he liked it, we got two more, but we still need more to decorate – maybe some tiki torches.

That night Joel and I went out to dinner at Red Lobster, which was decent. Busy, though. Apparently, we weren’t the only people who thought the 13th would be better than the 14th. Again, it was just nice to be out with Joel and spend time as a couple. Speaking of being a couple, this trip Joel slept in the same room as me. My room (as well as the guest room) has two single beds, so we were in the same room like it’s 1950, but I enjoyed not being alone. We watched some TV and said our good-night’s and love you’s which I had missed. I wake up quite often now, and what was great this weekend is that I could see Joel and listen to him breathe.

We also exchanged Valentine’s Saturday night via Joel’s request. The boys surprised me with a CD of pictures taken by a photographer (Dawn Yap) who used to work with him at the movie theater years ago. It’s amazing and so unexpected. I gave the boys their gifts too, but the boys’ gift still stands out. Here are a few of the pictures:

Didn’t Dawn do a wonderful job? They are beautiful.

Sunday morning we had waffles again because the boys liked them. We took Jacob to MOSI science museum and it was okay. We like some parts better than others. We had fun in the “Kids in Charge” exhibit because Jacob got to explore and manipulate.

Next, we went through a Da Vinci exhibit, but it was really more for adults. Jacob was not thrilled; the one exception was with the inventions. He actually knew that a sign with a hand that has a red circle around it with the line through it meant “No touch.” That’s literally what he told me. I was so proud. So he read me every sign, but I did have to explain when the sign changed and he was allowed to touch, which he loved. I only had to tell him once, and he totally knew the difference between both signs.

The rest of the museum wasn’t really impressive. There was Disasterville, and there were just too many loud noises. Jacob did not like it and the earthquake room we took him in made him seriously unhappy. There was an area about the human body, but for Jacob, it was more gross than anything. Plus, we kept finding things broken or just plain lame. Second to last, we watched an IMAX movie called “Under the Sea.” The only problem was that the film kept showing sea animals eating other sea animals in split seconds. It kept causing Jacob to jump and kept scaring him. I ended up holding him and later he sat on my lap, but I liked comforting him. The last thing we did was let Jacob play on a playground set that had numerous slides and he loved it.

Afterward, we went out to lunch and Jacob was actually really good. We took Jacob back to the apartment and then Joel and I went to Publix to buy some steak because Joel was going to cook for us, which he did even though he was starting to feel ill. Unfortunately, that continued and Joel ended up going to bed early and leaving pretty early Monday morning. Fortunately, we had time together before he felt sick. Joel went so far as to wear a duckbill mask around Monday morning because he didn’t want to infect me. It was a sad departure. Jacob kept saying he didn’t want to go, but then he seemed okay. Joel and I teared up, and little Josh has no clue but he sure is cute!

Charlie Brown heads BUT Josh has more hair!

Boo!

Little Scarface

Joel — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:00:40 +0000

Jamie is an extremely organized individual. She makes lists for just about anything we do. Going to the store? List. Going on a trip? That’s a list. Kid’s birthday party coming up? You betcha there’s going to be a list involved. So when the time came to start getting things ready for her stay over in Tampa, there were lists everywhere. Not surprising, there was one for me too and prior to leaving, I was handed a notebook.

No, the entire notebook wasn’t full of lists…. only the first three pages. Still it must have been awesome to see my face when she handed it to me.

Most of the list items dealt with Christmas and other minor odds and ends. However, item 12 on page 3 was one she STRESSED could not be overlooked. It reads:

Clip Josh/ Jake’s finger & toe nails at least once a week.

So every week I set some time aside to clip their nails. I mean, I literally put a weekly alert on my calendar to remind me to do this.

With the exception that I had totally neglected their toes and Jake had some gnarly toenails when we visited Jamie a few weeks ago, I had done what I felt was a fair job staying on top of their finger nails. Still, the toe nail incident had kind of placed me on notice. I certainly didn’t want her thinking I wasn’t taking proper care of our kids.

Then it happened.

I’m over at my mom’s house having dinner and Joshua goes into one of his notorious fits of rage during which time he manages to put a nice gouge across his right cheek and draw blood. I had trimmed his nails the evening before and had no idea how he managed to do it, yet there it was.

My mom had the typical parental response: “Oh no, he hurt himself. Poor little guy.” Me? I think my first thought was “Jamie is going to KILL me” and my first words were “why did YOU let him do that?” Is this kid trying to get me in trouble? Fortunately, after the initial shock passed, I realized the scratch would probably be gone by the time Jamie saw him again. I was probably in the clear.

No such luck.

The very next day I receive a text message from Jamie saying she wants to do a video call on Skype. Bear in mind that we haven’t “skyped” since she was in the hospital.

I am so dead.

So that evening I call her on Skype and we chat for a while. Jake gets his turn as well and eventually Jamie asks to see Joshua. I bring him over to the camera and sit him in my lap. Maybe the scratch wouldn’t be noticeable through the webcam? The picture quality from my en couldn’t be that good, could it?

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “you get what you pay for?” Well, apparently I paid too much.

The first thing Jamie says: “Ouch! He scratched himself good.” I immediately respond with “I swear I just cut his nails two days ago and have no idea how he managed to do that!”

In what felt like an eternity, she paused, gave me that strange head cocked to one side – squinty eye look she does when she doesn’t quite believe something, and just said “ok”.

She knows I’m trying my best. I love you, Jamie!

Jake and Daddy go to the Fair

Joel — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:31:15 +0000

We usually try to get out to the fair when it’s in town each year. I can’t say it’s a favorite outing of ours, but it generally gives us an excuse to go out. Every year we go, and after an hour or two, we’re sort of ready to leave. There’s usually one or two things of interest to see or do (the Chinese acrobats come to mind), but beyond that it’s pretty much the same stuff every year.

With Jamie away this year, I contemplated skipping the fair altogether. However, I’ve been so busy working and taking care of the boys and our home lately, I haven’t really had a chance to go out and do something fun with Jacob (Joshua is way to young for the redneck Disneyland as Jamie refers to it). So, as with years past, I purchased an advance ticket for the fair late last year and decided to venture out today with Jake.

Soon after we arrived, I realized what a HUGE mistake I had made deciding to visit the fair on a Saturday. There were lines EVERYWHERE! Certain areas were so cluttered with people, it was difficult to get through. Kind of reminded me of Disney World during the summer months, except the fair is no where near as as clean, organized, or fun.

We arrived later in the afternoon and only had a few hours of daylight left, so I decided to start by taking Jake through the livestock tents. Cows, rabbits, chickens, the petting zoo… things you would think any kid would totally be into. Not Jake, no sir. We were in the cow tent for maybe a minute and he tells me he’s ready to go. “Do you want to see the chickens?” I asked. “No”, he replies. “Do you want to see the rabbits?” “Nope.” “What about feeding the llamas in the petting zoo?” “No, I don’t wanna do that.” he tells me while furling his brow.

O…..K….?

I took him into the petting zoo area anyway and sprung the buck for a cup of carrots (clearly marked for *animal consumption only!*). Perhaps if he saw me feeding the animals, he may want to give it try as well. It seemed like a good strategy and after all, I am a ninja master with this parenting stuff.

Well, I had fun feeding the animals. He basically hid behind me the entire time I worked my way around the petting zoo feeding goats and sheep. “Do you want to feed the goat?” “NO!”, he says peaking out from behind me.

Well that didn’t work. But it’s okay, there’s plenty of other stuff to do. The fair is full of all sorts of junk food and kids just adore junk food. Even Jake, who we call picky pants for his stubborn aversion to trying new things, couldn’t possibly resist the allure of all the fried, sugary, teeth rotting, goodness that is fair food.

EPIC FAIL

During the course of the evening I had a pork shiskabob, jumbo corndog, and the classic funnel cake. He refused to try any of those, including the corn dog which is one of the few things he eats at home. I offered to buy him cotton candy, which he’s never tried, but he passed on that as well. Cotton freakin’ Candy!!! A food that is just one notch below eating pure sugar. Nope, picky pants wanted no part of it. I kept him hydrated with lemonade, but even that required me to offer him a prize if he tried it. He relented, tried it, liked it, and proceeded to finish it. He didn’t leave me any… guess he was thirsty.

So by now you’re probably thinking in a VERY sarcastic tone. Boy Joel, your fair trip sure seemed like fun. Yes, it was kind of frustrating and felt a bit how I would imagine it is hanging out with Debbie Downer from SNL, but I never once got mad or annoyeed and actually found the entire thing rather humorous.

It wasn’t a total wash of a trip for Jake, though. He did have fun.

The model trains. Jake was REALLY into the model train display they had in one of the exhibit halls. Like everything else, it had a super long line which was moving VERY slowly. The track itself is well over Jake’s eye level so I had to carry him through it. He’s a light 36lbs at first, but after the 15 minutes it took to walk through, I was hurting. The reason I capitalized and bolded “REALLY” is because once we exited, he was ready to go again. I was not, but you could tell he really enjoyed watching those trains and the little city lights, so after what was probably a very long 3 minute wait for him (and conversely a very short 3 minutes for me), I picked him up and we walked back through. Thankfully, this time there were less people and line moved through much quicker.

The cowboy hat. Jake turns five in a few weeks and to celebrate, we’re throwing him a cowboy themed birthday party with his cousin who turns four the day before. I found him the perfect little cowboy hat to wear for his birthday and to my surprise, he liked it and actually wore it around the fair.

The Prize. But, I think my favorite part of this year’s fair trip, and the memory I will carry with me going forward came right before we left the park. We were walking down the midway section where the carnival games were and I noticed this little fishing game for kids where you win a prize by hooking a fish. You play until you hook something, so EVERYONE IS A WINNER!, as the sign says. He looked kind of interested, so I asked if he wanted to play, to which he replied No, all the while staring at the game, like you would stare a freshly baked chocolate chip cooking cooling on a counter. I figured that was it, there’s nothing left for us to do here but fight through the crowd as we move towards our exit.

And that’s when a voice called over to us.

“Hey…” he said in a very non-carnie, I don’t smoke too much, voice. “I’ll let your son play and win a prize regardless”. The offer was coming from the operator of the infamous “throw darts at balloons” game. I thought, there’s no way Jake would want to do this, and in a moment of 100% confidence that I know my son, I asked him somewhat smugly. “Jake, do you want to play this game?” His response: a very low “Yeah”.

“Alright let’s do this”, I tell the guy giving him some of my hard earned cash which I seem to be freely handing out since we got out of our car. The guy counts out 10 darts and lays them up on the counter. These were real darts. Like the kind with sharp pointy metal tips that will “poke your eye out”. Jake can barely throw a baseball, let alone be expected to throw a dart through a confined space and at a specific target. To his credit, the carnie was actually pretty nice and gave Jake some instruction on how to properly hold and throw the darts.

and HE ACTUALLY HIT AND POPPED A FEW BALLOONS! I should also mention he hit the guy a couple of times. The carnie was kind of funny to watch. After the first near stick, he kept flinching back every time Jake threw a dart. I kept thinking to myself, why doesn’t this guy just move back a little? I moved Jake away from him a few times, but it’s like he had a strong magnet under his shirt attracted to the dart tips and he would slowly move back towards us.

I wasn’t sure what kind of liability I had should Jake injure him with a dart, so I was kind of relieved when the darts ran out and the game was over. Jake got to bring home a “large” prize which basically means I paid 3x what this prize is worth so he could play. It was worth it, though. He seemed genuinely thrilled to bring home a prize he had won, a trophy if you will, and that’s really what matters… even if the toy is stuffed with what feels like packing peanuts.

“So Jake, did you have fun today?”

“yeah”

“Are you hungry?”

“yeah”

“What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t know.”

Bittersweet Return

Jamie — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:00:27 +0000

After almost 4 years and a long family discussion, Joel returned to Aikido on Monday. So far the plan is three days a week – currently Monday, Thursday and Friday – and Joel went all three times. It’s given me and Jake a lot of time together, which is both good and bad – depending on how tired I am and how well Jake behaves. On the flip side, Joel is taking quite a beating as his body adjusts. Today, he woke up hurting all over and his shoulder looks awful because it’s covered in a huge bruise. But putting all the aches aside, it’s clear that he’s happy and content and excited. How do I know? Let’s just say that after night #1, all he could talk about was Aikido. He told non-stop stories from class. I think it may be the most I’ve heard him consecutively speak in ages.

G is for…

Vacation over. Back to School

Joel — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:13:25 +0000

It’s funny. I’ve been back at work for a week, yet it’s Sunday night and I feel like my vacation is ending. Jamie goes back to work tomorrow and Jake’s back to school. For the past two weeks, all of us have fallen into the habit of sleeping in late. And that includes Jake who normally wakes us up every morning at 6:30 (or earlier), even on the weekends! It’s going to be harder on Jamie and Jake, but even when I was back at work, Jamie would take care of Jake in the morning, so I was able to get another 15 – 20 minutes of sleep.

Tonight before our heads hit the pillow, I’ll be setting the alarm back to 5:30am. I think I can speak for the entire Q family when I say none of us are looking forward to this week.

Ironic Allergy

Jamie — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:26:39 +0000

Well, it’s official. Joel is allergic to cats. It still doesn’t fully make sense since he gets attacks far away from our pets, but at least we have a definitive answer. Fortunately, we do not need to get rid of our cats; the doctor told Joel that instead we need to change his environment by turning our bedroom into a cat free zone, encasing our mattress and pillows in zippered covers, adding Hepa filters, and the worst item of them all – making me clean out the litter bins!

New iPhones

Joel — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:17:11 +0000

That’s right! Jamie and I have officially joined the 21st century.

[Jamie]Please someone help me!

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Look How The Family has Grown!

Joel — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:24:32 +0000

Every November, our family gets together to celebrate the Autumn birthdays (Joel, Jamie*, Amy, and Bryan). A good time was had by all this year at my sister’s house. Angel’s barbeque chicken and ribs were tasty as always and my sister’s pumpkin pie cupcakes were awesome! This year, we had a few new additions to the family – our new nephew Gabriel and our new niece Emma. It’s incredible just how much the family has grown!

*Technically Jamie’s birthday is in winter but she gets lumped into our celebration since it’s so close to Christmas.