Paparazzi Love

19 months (jay) and 24 weeks (me)

2012-02-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

19 months
Jay is now 19 months old and he is changing every day. He learns a new word every other day and now says: applesauce, tebow, orange, more milk, bye-bye see-ya, balloon, peas, straw, and other words I can't think of right now.
He loves to dance to music and is pretty cute when dancing. He also likes to jump up and spin in circles until he is dizzy.
Coloring and skyping with grandma help the time go by too.
He is really enjoying a Veggie Tales sing-a-long DVD we are borrowing from a friend.

Because I am working full time I really appreciate how cute he is and how funny he is. I love watching him kick his feet in his car seat, point to things in books, and give me cheesy smiles just for fun. I love how attached he is to monkey, and how snacks and baths will always put him in a good mood. I don't mind the occasional battles when coming in (from outside), getting in the car seat, or not getting candy because I am not dealing with them all the time.

He was really easy to understand "yeah" (shaking his head violently up and down), or "no-no" until 2 days ago when he came up with the word "yeahoo". WHAT does that mean?

24 weeks (25 tomorrow).
I went to the doctor this week and they said I had only gained 2 lbs since my last appointment. That is great news because I feel like a whale already, and I was afraid I was gaining too much weight.
Size of baby: I am measuring at 25 weeks (at 24 weeks) so I’m assuming the baby is growing great!

Cravings: Cookies (with frosting on them), hearty main dishes, doughnuts (I only had one but it was soo delicious), raisin bread with cheese, yogurt with granola, pina colada starburst.

What I love: Sleeping a little better this week, not as many Braxton hicks contractions as last week. Going to bed at 9:00 and considering it normal

What I'm looking forward to the most: buying a swing and a new diaper bag. I need to really decide on a theme for the office/nursery. I am thinking more about Jay’s sports room instead and that is fun, but this new baby needs some of my creativity too.
Also, even though breastfeeding was hard and somewhat painful at the beginning, I grew to love it even thought I wasn’t exclusively breastfeeding last time. I wonder if it was because it was one of the only ways to keep Jay from crying when he was so colicky, or if it was a nice bonding experience for us. Either way, I hope it works out for this one too.

Worries: Glucose test at the end of the month…that stuff is not good tasting, but I remember it being not as bad as I thought it was going to be last time…let’s hope it is the same way this time. Also, I am trying to remember what my sister said last time about how to pass the test. I remember she told me some things to eat and not eat (but I can’t remember what) and that instead of sitting down after I drink the stuff, I should walk around. I did and I passed. Any other advice? I am hoping for an under 8lb baby (because they are sooo cute when they are tiny), but I’m sure either way he will look super tiny compared to Jay:)

What is different this time around: Thinking about how we are going to do everything with 2 kids. More about how I am going to do everything with 2 kids this summer when John works 6 days a week.
This time I get more of a say in the name. I am still trying to come up with good middle names, and I’m not sure we have found one. I kind of want to stick with one syllable for the middle name. I welcome any ideas, but it is hard because I’m not sharing the first name;)

Symptoms: I had a headache yesterday which I think was associated with neck and slight back pain. I am putting a wedge by my belly at night to help me sleep better. Other symptoms- Pregnancy brain: Today I had a bunch of extra bags and I had to take Jay to the babysitter which John usually does in the morning. When I finally got to school I realized I forgot my “school bag” at home with my lunch, my shoes (I was wearing boots), my keys, my hat and gloves, my snacks. Grrr. Then I found out we were celebrating my birthday (random) so I went down to the lounge to check out the snacks: coffee, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and strawberries. All my favorites, but since I can’t eat coffee or chocolate when I am pregnant (it gives me heartburn) I stuck with strawberries and went to the closest convenience store for some more food. I bought a burrito (which was too spicy so I gave it away), some yogurt (for 1.09), and a donut (which was heavenly!)
So back to symptoms: Heartburn is a big one. I really like eating red sauce and tomatoes, but it is not an option right now.

Sleep: Some nights I will be a light sleeper, and some nights I will have crazy dreams and I can’t believe it is 6:10 when my alarm clock goes off

Movement: Big kicks- and many times throughout the day. I can’t remember if I felt Jay this much –this early –especially during the day while I was teaching.

Hmmm not sure about that, but I am still eating right now to be functioning and not nauseous, so that is what I will continue.

Milestones: Hmm…I loved saying “both my boys are kicking at once” tonight when Jay was kicking and baby was kicking in my tummy.
Jay can pretend to feed the baby (our mini-cabbage patch doll) with a fake bottle I got:)
Amusing comments from the general public: A first grader said to me today “are you getting a baby?”

Best moment of the week: Laughing with Jay. I love the baby in my tummy, but I am really savoring the moments that I can give all my attention to Jay and teach him things.

Updates

2012-01-28T07:36:00.000-08:00

I could think of something to write about every day this week...I was just too tired to do it:)
Jay has been blossoming like crazy. He learns new things every day and we are constantly amazed. So far this week he has:
-really enjoyed dipping pancakes in syrup

-learned to say his first 3- syllable word: App- le- sauce

-has been singing the first line of the ABC's pretty well (although when I try to record it he doesn't do as well.

-has been wanting to "hep" (help) with everything including supper every night. Last night he helped by taking a small bite out of each one of the ham and cheese buns I was putting together before I put them in the oven. The night before he poured the ingredients in the bowl and put blueberries in the pancake mix for me. He even enjoys pointing to his favorite foods in the grocery ads.

-he gets pretty upset when he can't "hep" with the "wah-hee" (laundry).

-his favorite thing is still going outside to play. Most of the time he wonders like a lost puppy dog, but our street isn't too busy, so I try to keep him on the sidewalk headed to the park.

-his favorite snacks are mini teddy grahams, anything with chocolate (which he doesn't get very often), and fruit: grapes, blueberries, strawberries, bananas.

-He is definitely getting an attitude (the babysitters notice it too). I think he is going to be a temper tantrum kid (oh yippee!) Yesterday when I wouldn't let him take a box of cereal upstairs he screamed. I put it up on a higher shelf, turned the lights off and walked upstairs assuming he would follow me. He did...with a different box of cereal in his hands the whole way!

-he loves to sing and dance. His car seat be-bop is pretty hilarious.

-he THRIVES when he is with other kids. He learned how to say "abi" (the babysitters daughter) and says it over and over. Even when he was sick this week he sadly begged "bye-bye?" as his eyes were watering through the sickness.

-We got out the Wii for a bit to play, and Jay loved holding the remote (and occasionally swinging it). I was impressed when he actually returned one of the balls in tennis.

-Monkey is still his favoritest pal:) He takes him anywhere he will be napping and it seems to work pretty well.

ME
-I on the other hand have been feeling a little bit better. Still feel sick in the morning (I wake up between 1-3am to take my pill), but overall a little better.
-I have been getting heartburn more and more. This week it kept me up for a few hours in the middle of the night :(
-I am keeping busy finding ideas for Jay's new sports (with the colors of Orange and Navy) room, and trying to decided what kind of a theme to use for the baby/office room. I really liked an argyle theme, but when we struck out finding material that I liked for curtains, and the painting of the wall looked very time consuming, I'm not sure if it will work or not. I am kind of proud of the crazy find we got at Hobby Lobby for 90% off last week. An orange helmet/christmas tree. Before:

After:

-I am also on the lookout for a swing that goes front to back or side to side, with a wall plug-in, that does NOT have a tray that comes down between the legs. That will be my main splurge for this baby (unless I can find a good one on Craig's list)
-I have a new diaper bag picked out, but I am waiting to buy it for a little longer. I know I can justify spending tax return money on it, so it is incentive to get my taxes prepared and done:) Of the 4 that I picked out, this is the one that John and I agree on: JJ Cole Mode Bag
- 24 weeks! I am getting more and more excited for baby, but I am trying to focus on enjoying Jay right now:)

Jay Translations

2012-01-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

Jay translations:
Da-dah or dah-dur- Cracker
Neee- cheese
Wah-he- Laundry
Mie- mine
Huh hiii- Hut hut hike (when he is holding a football)
Up- (Throw me up in the air)
Yeah?- (do it again)
Choo-choo- (anything involving a train)
Uhh-uhh (while bopping his head)- I want to play the pumpkin game on Starfall.com
Uh-oh-( uh-oh)
Nac or naa- snack
Cour?- can I color?
Mil- milk
Ni-ni- night night (or nap)
Those of you who know him best...anything I missed?

baby #2 the sneak peak

2012-01-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

Enjoy!

22 weeks

2012-01-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

So I am 22 weeks now (23 tomorrow). I feel BIG, but I also know that because I am eating every couple of hours to help myself function I am ok with that. Since I have not done regular updates with this pregnancy, here are a few pictures and the rundown on how I am feeling (based on what my blog-friend Julia does).

Size of baby: at 23 weeks it is a Papaya, I can’t remember what 22 weeks was already.

Cravings: Sugar...a bit more this week. I expecially love cinnamon rolls, BBQ chicken, and rasin bread.

What I love: knowing that I am fat because I am pregnant, and not because I am just fat. The people who are especially nice to me if they notice I am pregnant (holding doors, letting me cross the street).

What I'm looking forward to the most: Figuring out the nursery and Jay’s new room with balls.

Worries: Today my stomach was really tight a lot (maybe Braxton hicks contractions- not sure) but I think it was because I was on my feet a lot yesterday and I had a long day. I’m going to take it more easy the next couple of days. Other than that, no real worries.

What is different this time around: We get to think more about the name, especially the middle name. Last time we used the family name and Jay is the FIFTH. This time we have a little more freedom. I am bigger this pregnancy and I am also functioning WAY better. Even teachers at school have noted that I am a lot happier this time around.

Symptoms: Still sick in the morning (taking a nausea pill), and the stomach tightening today, otherwise a bit of tiredness, and some back pain but mostly at night because I get sick of switching from left side to right side

Sleep: I go to bed before 9:30 most nights and sleep pretty well-except for switching from left to right side because my back gets sore.

Movement: I started feeling movement at 19 weeks and I feel it very consistently-especially after I eat when I sit down. It is fun! I don’t make John keep his hand on my stomach this time, so he hasn’t felt it yet…but he will.

The belly: Really stretching out! I think it has been slowly growing this whole time though.

Boy or Girl: A healthy baby boy.

Milestones: The ultrasound at week 20 nice. It confirmed all our thoughts and they said he has long arms and legs. Also Jay knows where the baby is (in mommy’s tummy).

Best moment of the week: I found the ultrasound DVD in my purse and popped it in the computer. I picked a cute song to play while I watched it…and knowing that I was watching our little boy made me SOOO happy. Actually I decided to edit the best parts of it to a cute song so you can see it too. Be on the lookout

stock show with grandpa and grandma 2012

2012-01-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

The indoor light show and "fireworks" at the beginning of the show had him mesmerized...and then the animals kept him entertained. He actually sat for an hour and 45 min. Then I ran him around the Colosseum a bit and he sat for longer.

I love how excited they both look!

Jay got to pretend to drive some type of John Deere.

4 generations at the stock show.

the bet

2012-01-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

So my cousin who lives in Boston and I had a bet on the game and the loosers of the Patriots and Broncos had to hold up a sign about the other persons quarterback. Although we love Tebow, Tom Brady did win the game for his team...so here you go Jodi:)

shootin some hoops

2012-01-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

Jay is kind of obsessed with balls right now. When he found our hoop in the basement he kept thowing balls up at it and hitting himself in the head because it was too tall for him to reach. My solution was to put it next to his bed for some "play time". It is like a playpen with balls.

I love his follow-through in this picture.

skit

2012-01-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

My yearbook kids did a skit for an asembly today and at the end they did a Tebow (it fit in with the skit). FYI they were dressed as old people for the skit too.
Here is a picture.

Jay is going to have a little...

2012-01-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

brother!
We are very excited. Baby boy didn't show too much on the ultrasound. Here he is hiding his face. You can see his elbow and knee touching eachother.

He did make it pretty obvious in the first few minutes that he was a boy.
Everything looked great on the ultrasound and they said he has long arms and long legs.
Two boys 23 months apart. Sounds exciting and daunting all at once. John is really excited to be a dad to another little boy, and I am so glad that Jay will have a friend and brother to play with because he loves other kids so much. I did tell John we were going to teach them how to play volleyball though:)

The perils of pregnancy

2012-01-07T07:04:00.000-08:00

So, although I am doing considerably better with this pregnancy (because I know how to manage the nausea and sickness better) I still am sick.
For example, this morning at 3:40am I woke up because I felt like I was going to puke. Then I got that saliva in your mouth feeling like it is coming. I slowly turned over in bed, reached for my nausea pills. I popped one in my mouth with a quick sip of water and layed as still as I could for 5 min. breathing through my nose and focused soley on not puking. It worked, which I am very thankful for...and then I got to sleep until 7am (thanks to Jay):)

I also get the nauseated feeling during the day if I have not eaten for around 2 hours. I have had a lot of pretzels, crackers, and fruit around for those situations. Between 3-5pm is sometimes hard because I am in the process of finishing up school and picking up Jay and I forget to grab a snack.

On the other hand, my days are so much better than the last pregnancy. I am doing more than just functioning. I am a generally happy person and I can teach to my full ability the majority of the time.

Other annoying things would be that I have not been able to kick this dry cough I have had for over 2 weeks. I also am noticing it is harder to pick up Jay when he is not wanting to go somewhere and squirming.

I am excited to post about the best parts of pregnancy and the news from our ultrasound sometime soon.

jibber jabber

2012-01-05T19:07:00.001-08:00

John and I both get such a kick out of this video...

We have no idea what he is telling us, but it seems like a good story:)

The rest of break

2012-01-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

Since I am still on break today, I will update with a few things that have been happening.
John and I did a lot of cleaning and organizing early last week which was great because we need to clean up the room for BABY. We find out in a few days if it is a boy or a girl and I am very excited. I think it is a boy because of the heartbeats, but I could be wrong.
Since I am not taking a masters class this semester I am so excited to have more time to myself. This meaning I don't put Jay to bed, do homework for an hour and go to sleep. I even found myself perusing Facebook and Pintrest. Nice. I was inspired to make my own chicken/turkey soup. I created my own recipe and at first it was too watery, but then I found a potato soup mix I got for Christmas, and put about a 1/2 up in. Now it is DELICOUS!

Tonight I am making a spiral ham and inviting the neighbors over. It feels good to be cooking again, because I realized how much money I was spending on take-out and already prepared grocery store food...and because I think I can stomach it better now.

Of course John and I have been cleaning, but Jay's favorite thing to do first thing in the morning is to dump out his large plastic container of toys and lay in them.

I also took out our old SLOW laptop because I wanted to get some music off it and Jay claimed it as his personal computer. I don't mind if he pounds on the keys to play kneebouncers.com free games (where you press any key to get something to happen), so he had a blast.

Because I got a nap almost each day I got ambitious one day and hauled out the potty. We set it in the bathroom and practiced sitting on it without clothes on (but still with a diaper on). We never actually did any more with it but Jay was intrigued. Later that day when I was doing something in the kitchen I heard him playing and assumed he was pretending to do laundry. I was right, but when I found him he had dragged his potty into the hallway and used it as a chair to "fold" the laundry. He usually finds all the socks for me:)

Other than that we have been hanging out with our neighbors more. One has a 3 and 1 year old. The other has an almost 2 year old and they are awesome. We even went to a bouncy castle place together. Jay has a BLAST. I knew going there with 5 kids 3 and under (one was watching a friend) would be a challenge, so I didn't even try to bring my camera.
Back to work tomorrow.

Christmas recap

2011-12-29T07:50:00.000-08:00

There was a lot of craziness happening, but all the guys loved it:)

He enjoyed baths in Grandma's big tub.

He also hung out with monkey a lot.

This is how Jay reacted when he got a Christmas present: "wow":)

Snow fun

2011-12-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

We went to the park next to grandpa and grandma's house and played in the snow. It was beautiful but Jay was pretty tired. He had fun but he wasn't giggly:)

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

Well, my Christmas cards will eventually get to friends and family but...I ordered them a little late (Dec. 13) and then it took them a while to ship, and then we got pounded with a snow storm so the shipping was delayed. I won a few fancy prints from Shutterfly, so some of them look cool like this:

Blessed Family Religious Christmas Card

Create personalized Christmas cards. at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Dec. 23

2011-12-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

I cleaned and decorated the house and baked and cooked and got stuff ready for a cookie decorating party I was hosting for some friends and neighbors. I felt that it would be a fun thing to do (and I had been neglecting friends because I am pregnant and sick) so this was my plan to hang out with everyone. 3 people got sick or couldn't make it, so when the start time came and went...I asked Jay and John to help decorate cookies with me. Jay gladly licked frosting and ate M&M's...but he wasn't too much help:) Eventually two friends showed up and brought other friends so it was actually a bunch of fun.

Mr. Helpful

2011-12-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

Dec 19

2011-12-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

I bought a set of battery powered lights to possibly make a tacky sweater very tacky...but it requires 2 DD batteries. I don't plan on carrying those around with it...so I let Jay play with it. He can turn them off and on, and that is pretty much all he does. I take them away if I am not around watching him.
He got a cold this weekend and has a super runny nose. His eyes are all red (around the outside- not in the inside) and he coughs occasionally. My babysitter said he may have a cold that spread to his eyes becuase he rubbed his nose and then eyes. Poor baby. Only one more day of school left and then...CHRISTMAS BREAK! As much as I love teaching, I am always READY for the breaks (especially now that I have Jay).

Dec 17

2011-12-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

Davina, Thank you so much for the awesome overalls (I can't remember what you call them). They fit great!

The pictures display his totally tempramental behavior today.

Dec. 16...It's these things...

2011-12-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

that make me love hanging out with my little guy:
One day I talked about how daddy would be coming home in 20 min. and he started day "dada, home" over and over.

John gave Jay an old flip phone of mine and when he opens it he says: "Heeeyaa ummmm Ha ha ha (jiberjaber) ummm hahaha byebye" and closes the phone. Then he picks it up and repeats it. I haven't gotten that one on video yet, but it is hilarious.

He can point to a picture of Daddy on the fridge, and the picture of Tebow I cut out from the Kohls ad:)

He learned how to say "amiee", "orange", and calls all trains "choochoo's"

He got a mini basktball hoop with balls for the tub and he has become a pro at rebounding for daddy and "fixing the net". Bathtime is now for playing basketball:)

He is also chewing on his fingers like mad and getting another tooth in. It seems like some days it hurts worse than others though.

He won't touch the presents under other peoples trees but once we set one down in front of him he can't wait to tear into it.

He loves doing whatever I'm doing including makeup, dishes, laundary, writing, reading, cooking, pouring...everything.

I'm having a harder time keeping up with him because I can't run around and play hide and seek as fast. (Plus he doesn't really wait for you to hide, so you need to get him to one side of the house and run faster than him to somewhere else in the house so you can actually hide somewhere where he didn't see you hide.)

He has started saying "no" but prefers "yeah"...which is great for us.

If you want to get him to squeal in delight, just turn the volume on the computer loud and have someone call on skype (the ringing sound sends him running to the computer). He loves talking to grandma, grandpa and anyone else who will talk to him on Skype.

He is still a picky eater but seems to do well when we let him stand on a chair and eat by the counter instead of eating in his high chair. Well, if he's going to eat MEAT and VEGGIES I guess I can't complain too much because the rest of his diet consists mainly of yogurt, cheese and fruit.

This turned into an almost 18 month update. I was due for a longer post I guess:)

lollipop, lollipop

2011-12-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, Mommy and Daddy caved and gave me a blue dum-dum to keep me busy before bath time. It was awesome!

Dec 12

2011-12-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

Ugly Christmas Sweater Birthday Graduation party.
Yup. (from this weekend)
We went to I-hop and Ice skating (and then they did cookie decorating, but we didn't make it that far).
We all dressed up.

Jay doesn't look ugly in anything, but this was in his closet...and it matched so...:)
If I had to plan a party for myself...it would be right up my alley.

Dec. 11 Go Broncos!

2011-12-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

What a great game that ended up being!
With something like 5 min. left in the 4th quarter we were down 10-0.
Then it was Tebow (and Prater-the kicker) time!
Such a fun overtime victory and we were at the game.
Thanks for coming with us Chad!

Dec 9 ...

2011-12-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

December Photo Project...video mode.
Flashback to ThanxChristmas family time.
Mom with Jay and Livia (11 months apart).
Both are very happy. The video is kind of long, but cute.

Later on after we stopped recording he stuck his hand near her mouth and she tried to bite it:)

Dec 8

2011-12-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

I skipped Dec. 7. Oh well.
OH THE HAIR.
I gave him a haircut like 3 weeks ago (not very short) but still enough to matter and now it is super long again. I also let him talk in bed from 6:10-6:30am this morning, and when I went and got him his hair looked like this!

At least the front of his head is cuter:)

December 6: Sweet things people make...

2011-12-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

My dad made these awesome puzzles for Jay for Christmas.

He has this weird habit of sticking out his tounge when he is concentrating.

My sister made him a book that he reads every night:

He loves pointing out specific people in it.

And I ordered a specially made "monster" hat from my friend Chelsea and it turned out GREAT! Her etsy site is HERE

Jay loves to wear it and will put it on just for fun. My nephew on the the other hand (2 1/2) was scared out of his mind whenever Jay was wearing it.

Go Broncos!

2011-12-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

December 5 of December Photo Project.
It's Tebow time!
We are huge fans.

John is teaching Jay some quarterback skills:)

Putting up the tree.

2011-12-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

Jay helps put up the tree.

Jay is sad because he is not allowed to touch the "balls" on the tree.

Jay's Video 13-16 months

2011-12-03T18:23:00.001-08:00

I had this video done at 15 months, but couldn't find good music. By that time it was a month later, so I threw in some more videos and picked a song that was the right length. It is only 5 min. but it took 8 hours to upload!

December 3

2011-12-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when mommy makes a path in the snow for me to walk in...and I fall down.

December Photo Project..for fun.

2011-12-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

My sister does this every year, and this year I am going to TRY and keep up:)
December Photo Project.

I might have to use pictures from the last week, as I haven't posted in a WHILE.

This was taken the night we got home from our trip to Iowa.
Jay loves the Monster lunch box he got. He says "bye-bye" grabs his lunch box and heads to work (in the hallway) on his John Deere:)

Thanksgiving preview

2011-11-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

I have a big assignment due this week for my masters class, and I still haven't done laudry after our trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving, but here is a preview of the pictures to come.

Random Cousin Visit

2011-11-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

We were fortunate enough to see John's sister Davina and her family this week. It was a quick gathering and after 6:30pm, so even though the kids were surprisingly happy, they did not want to smile at the same time:)

Thanks guys, wish we could do this all the time.

bit-o-fun

2011-11-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

Jay is learning new things left and right. He loves being the center of attention too. Here are some videos proving he can say "o" in old mac donald, and that he is a ham.

This one is highlighting his favorite book "Moo, Baa, LaLaLa" by Sandra Boynton...but is favorite part is the pigs that say "la,la, la"

Jumping on his new Christmas present.

Fun with Grandpa...It's not too interesting, but the hug at the end is cute.

Today, twice when he couldn't find me he yelled "ma ma", "ma ma" over and over again until he found me. I LOVE IT!

100 percent cool

2011-11-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

Not sure how a kid gets a percentage sign embeded on his forehead, but it is pretty hilarious. I think he might have fallen into a laundary basket or something.

Shopping with Jay and Livia

2011-11-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

(Livia) "Woo Hoo, were going shopping!"

(Livia)- "Wait, is HE coming along?"

(both)- "I guess we'll make the best of it"

(Jay)- "Heeeeyyyy Livia, You little Pumpkin, You"

(Livia)- "Did you seriously just call me a pumpkin? How rude!"

(Livia)- "Here's what you get for calling ME a pumpkin" (slap)

(Jay)- "I'm sorry, I love you Livia", (Livia)- "MOM, please get me out of this cart."

Confessions

2011-11-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

*I haven't eaten chocolate in over a month. It gives me heartburn right now.
*I only went trick or treating with Jay for one block because I felt too sick to go any farther, so John took over.
*When we found out John's debit card information had been stolen, (a movie theatre in Loveland got hacked) I didn't check the balance right away...then our bank switched computer systems and shut down for 3 days, and now I can only see transactions from the last 2 days. Thank goodness the people at the bank canceled his card and said they didn't see any fraudulent activity. Hopefully were in the clear.
*I have not cooked more than twice a week for the last 3 weeks. Thank goodness for frozen pizza, PB&J, mashed potatoes, canned vegetables, and ready-made-food from the grocery store.
*I really wanted a snow day today. We got over nine inches of snow last night. Too bad I had school, it would have been fun to chill with Jay.
*When the power went out last night for an hour and a half, I used the laptops battery life and edited videos of Jay. John on the other hand was bored out of his mind...and every time he thought of something else to do...it required electricity or Internet:)
*I bought Jay a baby carriage and a cabbage patch doll from a garage sale a few weeks ago. He pushes it around until I make a crying sound, then he brings the doll to me for me to comfort it...and then takes it back.
*I have loved the taste of grapefruit lately. It is so sweet (and on sale) this time of year.
*My husband is amazing. He has cleaned the house (including sweeping and vacuuming) on his day off every week lately.
*I can't decide if letting Jay climb on things is a battle worth fighting or not. Of course he is not allowed to climb on tables or places where he gets into big trouble, but chairs and couches seem to be pretty harmless so far...I think.
*I am so thankful for my neighbors and their friendliness and helpfulness. When I was sick a few weeks ago and John was busy doing sprinkler blowouts, they had all the kids outside painting a craft project in their diapers.

The kids are 13 months, 16 months (Jay), 20 months, and 3 years old. How fun.
AND....if you haven't inferred from context...
*We are pregnant and we got to see the little baby and the heartbeat in an ultrasound today!
I am 11 weeks (12 wks on Friday), and will be due May 22ish.
I am definitely sick, but since I have nausea pills and have forced myself to eat more often I am managing a bit better than last time.
I was more worried this time around, but after today's appointment I am really excited. John is excited too, and Jay has no idea what is going to happen.

Fun in Denver

2011-10-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

Jay and I went to Denver on Sat. because my sister, her husband and thier youngest little girl was in town. We hung out with them and my brother and sister-in-law. We had a blast.
Lori, Livia, Christine, Jay and I went for a walk to the park.

Jay enjoyed touching Livia's hair. I think he was petting her.

Remember when Jay wore this last year?

Here is Livia in it.

We went to a "Trunk or Treat" event at a nearby church, and it was perfect for our little kids. Not too busy, not too crazy, just some candy, some games and some cute pictures.

Here's a video of Jay hanging out with Livia. Kind of dark, but funny at the end.

I have another post in mind for some of these pictures:

Snow day

2011-10-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful day today. John had the day off, I had a snow day, and it was Jay's first snow that he could actually play in. When he woke up he walked right up to the window and said "wow!" about 10 times. I only got the end on video.. then he was interested in his early Christmas present from Grandpa and grandma.

John was out at 7am pounding on trees to shake the snow off the leaves. He also shoveled off the picnic table and a few other places. One of our branches in the back did break, but we saved the rest. This is also significant because ever since I have known John (8 years) he has always plowed snow when it snows. With his new job, he no longer has those responsibilities and it is pretty nice.

We ended up going sledding in the yard. We invited the neigbor boy to join in the fun, and they fit in the sled so nice.

New things Jay can say:

2011-10-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

New things Jay can say:
Chugga Chugga, Chooo, Chooo (chuhh, chuhh, chooo, chooo)
Socks (tak), Shoe (tuuuu)
WOW
Cat or Hat (aat)
Nose (nuuus)
Bellybutton (bbbttt)
Eye (yyyyyy)
I say one, he says (tuuuu)
Milk (mrk) (hand sign squeezing together like milking a cow)
Yougurt (do-dur)
Cracker (or any snack) (da-dur)
No, No, No (nu,nu,nu and he shakes his finger) (he also usually does what he is not supposed to at this point like eating rocks, throwing his food on the ground, or climbing on the chairs.)

Pumpkin Patch round 2

2011-10-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Since John and I BOTH had the day off Wed. we took Jay to another pumpkin patch I heard about. It was a little further away than I expected, but judging by this picture...totally worth it:

We did some normal outdoor things, like.. checking out the goats,

Climbing in the hay,

Then we decided to put Jay on his first barrel train ride.

He seemed excited...and SMALL.

John followed the little blue hat (that was all we could see of him) halfway around the track, but he was fine, so we let him have his ride:)

Of course Jay's favorite thing was grandpa's version of a tractor...the Dukes of Hazard lawn mower:)

He was even doing the "pbbbbb" and "rrrrr" sounds

He definetly did not want to take the time to pose for pictures with Mommy.

I took this picture for Caleb and Isaiah who love all things "Cars".

Fun times.

It looks like Fall...

2011-10-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is what used to be a dead tree in our backyard.

Now, it is perfect for the new found sport of "leaf picking"

Or as Jay likes to call it "leaf eating".

Jay won't really look at the camera anymore so most of my pictures of him are on-the-go:)

We also needed to get out of the house on Saturday, so I took him to a pumpkin place about 3 miles away. We only stayed for about 45 min. but it was still fun. I recently heard of a better one about 6 miles away, so I hope we can go there sometime too.

This is my favorite picture ever right now.

Feelings lately

2011-10-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day I actually felt guilty for being a working mom. It is remarkable actually, becuase Jay is 15 months old and he started going to the babysitter when he was 3 months old.
I dropped him off at one babysitter and then picked him up and dropped him off at another babysitter because I had parent teacher conferences. Finally at 6:15 I picked him up and we went home to spend an hour and a half together before bedtime. The main culprit to the guilty feeling is that I wasn't feeling good and I wanted to be at home with Jay (not at school).
Jay on the other hand was thrilled to have such excitement in one day. The first babysitter (on his first day) took him to the park and he got to play in the sand. The next babysitter has three kids and he LOVES thier toys. He never cried when I dropped him off and wasn't eager to leave either. I guess it was my feeling, not his.
I also think he has had such awesome babysitters that I have never had to worry about how or what he was doing.

We had his 15 month dr. appointment this week. He is 25 lbs and 31 inches tall. 60th and 50th percientile. He has reached all the develomental milestones and he is getting 2 molars on his right side.

The teeth don't seem to have bothered him much at all because he is a happy camper most of the time.

Silly things I want to remember about these months: He loves dipping everything. Today he learned to dip his quesadilla in sour cream. He is happiest when we go outside for 1/2 hour or more when we get home from babysitter/school. He is facinated with opening and closing things and going up and down small steps (he still can't do the big set of steps). He does not have the patience to learn many things unless they are funny. I am trying to make things I want him to learn (nose, eyes, mouth...) funny so he will learn them. He loves climbing on things, but when he gets up there he says "sit down" and points down (because he knows that we are going to say that). He also loves throwing things in the washer and dryer for me, and can say "shoes", "eye", "do-dur" (yogurt), and more.
He doesn't actually point down in this video, but it is still cute.
I can't get the embed to work so here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2JiXj22UiU

blog worthy picts

2011-09-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from this last month that are blogworthy.
The music toy at the park.

Driving the racecar carts in Lowes:

"Mum...mon muk" translation: "mom, more milk"

Um...anyone know how to keep your kid from eating rocks? He gets a warning each time, and then the next time we have to come inside...obviously it isn't working...and today he went back to eating sand. Maybe it was just a "hungry day".

OH,the drool. Today alone he drooled through 4 shirts. I really don't want to go back to bibs...he wore them for over 9 months.

His bestest pal monkey.

Happy Birthday Grandpa...and...

2011-09-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

Happy "Talk like a Pirate Day".
:)

(costume came in some hand-me-downs from a friend of a friend)

videos of sweet, silly and sincere Jay

2011-09-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

Here we are just hamming it up with eachother one night.

This is a fun little game he created...and a habit of his. He takes one of my clothing items out of the closet, puts it on his head and walks around. Yet, he usually bumps into something.
(not sure why the sound isn't working- he whimpers a little at the end...and I laugh)

I occasionally use Starfall.com with my 1st graders at school. I pulled it up and Jay and I played the pumpkin game together. I love how he says "yeah" after I ask him each question.

What we've been up to...

2011-09-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

Mowing with Daddy (well, kind of)

Exploring EVERYTHING.

Lounging in the toy train while watching Baby Einstein.

Also, Jay loves copying everything everyone else does. The babysitter and her kids have lots of fun with this, and Jay is learning so much. Now he dips his fries in katsup and wants to feed himself yogurt with a spoon. He also has LOVED all the fruit that we've been buying lately. Strawberries, blueberries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears... He also says more words like "airplaine" and "dog". We have been to various parks after school and on the weekends to play...and he is fearless. Even the big slides make him giggle. He has been a JOY...(and a crab when he won't take naps).

Mud Volleyball this weekend

2011-09-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun playing mud volleyball with some of my school friends this weekend. There were 49 adult teams and we made it to the top 6 or 8 before loosing our second game. By the end we were SOOOO dirty. It just looks like we are wet in the pictures (and cold) which is true (it only got up to 74), but the mud just CAKES on you and by the end it is everywhere! Here is our team:

An action shot of me running. Go Robyn!

Going for a pass.

Resurrecting my underhand serve.

John and Jay came for a while. Jay wondered everywhere and smiled at everyone.

What a fun day. Thanks for organizing it Jenelle!

Now what?

2011-08-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

Seriously.
Are we supposed to get new door handles? Is there a baby-proof device for this?

This is how the majority of rooms in our house are baby-proofed. Now what:)

Outside

2011-08-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

It has continued to be very hot here. Jay loves it outside, but even at night it is HOT, so we play in the sprinkler, the pool, with bubbles, and whatever I can find. Today I got a beach ball sprinkler at a garage sale...which combines two of Jay's favorite things right now:)

Fixed!

2011-08-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for your help with my last problem. After reading a bit in the help forums, I found this advice:
a) Edit the affected post
(b) Go back & forth between html and compose mode a few times
(c) Then republish
and it worked!

In relation, other things we fixed this weekend were:

Jay's mullet hair went from this:

to this:
(and yes, he enjoyed sitting on John's head one afternoon)

We also "fixed" the blank space on a few of our walls with canvas prints. Here is the spot by the front door.

I used Winkflash to buy the canvas prints. They were 60% off and when you ordered more than one shipping was VERY reasonable. The link goes to their "what's on sale" page.

After that, we fixed the plumbing in the cupboard.

Just kidding. Jay just loves exploring.

anyone know why my blog list and other gadgets on the right side aren't showing up?

2011-08-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Can you see them?
I'll keep searching, but so far... I can't figure it out.

Picture comparisons

2011-08-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of me when I was litte and Jay doing the same things:)

(Both on my parents piano)

Mine was called "teddy", his is called "monkey".

I staged this picture:)

Do we look alike?

School has started...

2011-08-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

It's time to:
Put on your thinking cap (or mommy's wash bag).

Make sure your clothes are clean,.

Practice your special talents- smiling and playing can be some of them:)

Practice turning the TV OFF on school nights.

Get your tech gear in order.

Call grandma so she can wish you good luck.

Practice your goodbye hugs (monkey gets lots of hugs too).

Be cool when it's drop-off time.

Go to school prepared and smiling!

13 months

2011-08-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, Jay turned 13 months old.
He has grown a lot this last month in his maturity. He knows the signs for "please", "more" "bath" and "all done". I am very happy with his progress in signing because I learned them a few days before his 1st birthday. Then I worked with him at each meal and before bath on the signs and he could do them all in about a month.
He can say these words (although they may be indistinguishable to some): yeah, all done, dada, airplane, up, aspen (the babysitters dog), duck, quack, hi, a ball, and more words that I can't think of right now.
He can wave bye-bye, clap, put his hands over his eyes for "amen", and throw a ball- but he can't catch yet. He also enjoys pointing at things.
He runs laps around the house at night...well he CAN run, but his laps are usually a fast paced walk.
Everything is a phone. Our cell phones are phones, mp3 players, remotes, toys with buttons, occasionally even diapers become phones;) He puts them up to his ear and says "hi".
He gives nice big open mouthed slobber kisses. His bib that says "I'm a sloppy kisser" is SO true.
The transition between summer-at-home-with-mommy TO school-time-at-babysitters-house has actually gone very well. The first day he cried, but I had him calmed down before I left. I brought "monkey" his favorite stuffed animal along for some comfort and he wanted it the first two days, but now it doesn't seem like he even needs it anymore. It REALLY helps that the babysitters kids don't start school yet, so they keep him entertained-even if he is just running around following them:)

Here is a video of a few of the things he does:

what you can do when you get a wild hair...

2011-08-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

...at a wedding, when you don't have to worry about your child, and you are just sitting around at a table.
Take the wedding favors:

Get crafty with it and a few other things on the table (feathers laying around and button from flower vase).

and make a headband!

Pretty cool huh? Especially because I was looking at these at Walgreens the other day. (couldn't find a picture but here is a pict from etsy of what I was looking for)

I made one for the bride without the feathers and with white tulle in the middle:)

Just for kicks, a picture of John in a tie:)

a few summer videos

2011-08-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos just for fun.
Jay enjoying the sprinklers.

Jay dancing to the "House" dvd theme song.

What to do when family is in town...

2011-07-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

I ponder that every time people come to visit us. Compared to the SMALL town in Iowa I am from, there should be TONS of things to do out here in Colorado...but I can never figure out the really good things. Plus a lot of times I rule out anything over an hour away and my parents hate traffic.
A friend told me that when people visit her it usually revolves around shopping and eating. So, I took her advice. Over the course of the 3 1/2 days my parents were here we went to Target, Kohls, Ross, Marshalls, Goodwill, Garage sales, Coldstone, Starbucks and Golden Corral. FUN.
And I had someone to keep Jay occupied while I shopped a bit.
A

Guys hate Kohls. It's probably because once we get in there they know it will take us forever to finish shopping. We left Jay with grandpa to sleep in the car. When he didn't sleep and we didn't answer our cell phones he came inside and drove Jay around in a cart...for about a 1/2 hour till he found us:( Jay seemed to have fun, but grandpa did NOT go shopping with us the next day:)

Here is one of our goodwill purchases. I hope he gets $3.99 worth of fun out of it:)

We also went to the Dam Store and Tower.

This picture is hilarious.

We also hung out a bunch.
I love this video because it shows how long Jay will really sit with a book. He also does a cheezy smile for the camera with his nose scrunched up.

Jay will enjoy watching this video over and over.

Family pictures and Jay's 1 year pictures

2011-07-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

We spent some time earlier this month getting family photos and Jay's 1 year pictures taken.
Our friend and Photographer Chelsea Ellingson took the photos. I really like that you get a CD of the edited pictures and you can print whatever you want without ridiculous printing prices.
If you are interested in her Photography you can go to her website for more information: http://chelseasattic.org/
Chelsea was super easy to work with and took some of my ideas and her eye for detail to make this a great photo shoot.

Here are a few of my favorites (and it is hard to pick just a few). I will post more on facebook.

It was a bit scary letting him sit up on the stool with cement below, but he LOVED it...and it worked:)

John and I both kind of hate our feet, but the composition of this shot is so cool.

Monkey was instrumental in making Jay laugh quite often.

This pictures makes me giggle every time I see it. Reckless abandonment with drum sticks.

"help mom!"

This one is a favorite of my family! CLICK on the picture to make it bigger for the full effect:)

Mom and I got this chair at a garage sale for $4 last year.

So much fun! I hope to do another post soon with a few other quirky pictures from the shoot. Thanks Grandma S. for the clothes that we used for the photo shoot.
Thanks Chelsea!

Can anyone guess the location we used for the photo shoot?

Clue: The inside is a FUN place. We were outside.

All the things about summer I haven't posted yet...

2011-07-19T20:09:00.001-07:00

Jay loves cookies. He is just like his mama...although he still calls me dada half the time. He climbed in the stroller today sneakily while I was putting on my makeup. When I came over to him sitting there ready to go he pointed at me (because he wanted ME to take him for a walk). I hesitated because it is SOO hot outside, but when I put on my sunglasses he giggled with glee because he knew that I gave in:) This picture of John (in the background) cracks me up:) Jay has been swimming and to the park many times, but Grandma caught these moments on camera. My brother and his wife came to visit and Jay basked in the attention. We went swimming at a nearby lake with a bunch of my teacher friends and their kids. Jay LOVED it and didn't even eat the sand (most of the time). While we were in Iowa I got to see a few friends. Here is my friend Sharla and her kids with Jay and I. Like I said in my last post, Jay and his cousin Isaiah are best buds. GRRR the sound isn't working. I'll keep working on this:) Here is a video of Jay and his cousin Isaiah just running around giggling.

Trip to Iowa

2011-07-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

Jay and I had so much fun going to Iowa to visit my parents and my sister and her family.
We flew...which wasn't easy by myself with a 1 year old...but it ended up going fine. I knew I was in for some trouble when I had to put the stroller on the security line belt and the second I set Jay down he took off waking/running. He was at least 10 steps away by the time I collapsed it and put it on the belt. Then getting all my stuff off was annoying too. The Denver airport is SOOO rushed. Everyone is in a hurry. The Sioux Falls airport is very friendly and the people in line are much more laid back. Anyway, Jay did not sleep the whole time but he did sleep for a good half hour each time- which was nice.
BTW- pictures are large because I edited them to print and I'm too lazy to make them small again.
We visited my parents first. Jay loved his "tractor"/lawn mower rides from Grandpa. I tried to take him off and he shoved my hand away because he wanted to keep riding:)

He also loved playing with all their new-to-him toys.

He enjoyed grandma's flowers and the rain...he walked around in it like he had never seen it before...which is probably partly true...we don't get much rain in CO and when it does rain we go INSIDE:)

After that Grandma drove us to my sister's new house on the Eastern side of Iowa. It was a beautiful drive, full of cornfields, and friendly people. I even counted the number of Barn Quilts I saw. THIS is just a random site I found that shows what they are.
My sister and her 3 kids + Jay kept us running around!

Jay and his cousin Isaiah (2) are two peas in a pod. They giggle at each other like crazy.
**possible video here soon.
Jay also adored Livia. He would touch her gently and try to give her a pacifier. Although if she was getting a bottle he would get whiny unless we distracted him.

While we were there we went to the park,
(my sister made that shirt for Jay- isn't it awesome!)

and we roasted hot dogs and made smores.

(this is the best way for kids to be at a campfire)

We went to the fish hatchery...(not so cool only because- Jay wanted to get in the water the whole time.)
went to a waterfall,

and we went to the county fair.
We had so much fun goofing around.
On the way back to Grandpa and Grandma's and then to Colorado, Jay was exhausted. Monkey (his stuffed animal) was with him the whole trip and I got this reaction on camera when I handed him Monkey while he was crying one time:)

On the Farm

2011-07-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Baby Einstein's "On the Farm" DVD has been a favorite in our house... but today we really got some REAL farm time on my aunt and uncles farm.
We saw the cows:

We saw the tractors:

We even drove a tractor:

We chased some cats.
We played in the hay.

My mom and my aunt.

Then we saw the calves. They sucked on Jay's hands and he GIGGLED!

Thanks Aunt Marlys!

Jay 10-12 month video

2011-07-06T16:46:00.001-07:00

Actually I realized that I skipped most of 9 months in the 7-9 month video, so I included some of 9 months too.
It is pretty long...but you can really see how much he has changed in 3 months!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

Can I have a cracker?

Food woes...

2011-06-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

New things Jay has tried lately:
Waffles, red pepper, cookies, eggs, toast, strawberries, blueberry smoothies, Popsicles, raw carrots and dip, pasta with Alfredo, Wheat thin sticks, cupcakes, and garage sale price tag stickers.

What has he actually liked? Waffles, cookies, and wheat thin sticks.

I feel like other people don't have problems with their kids eating food -or if they do it is because the kids are being stubborn (and maybe that is my problem too).

Jay knows what he likes, and he hasn't been too keen on trying other foods. He also loves baby food, applesauce and yogurt fed with a spoon (I guess without a spoon too)

Or anything in those expensive pouches- he can suck it right out!
Or this kind for all ages.
I'd have to say that the thing that has helped MOST so far is this book. "First Meals and More"
I have checked it out from the local library at least 3 different times in the past year.
It answers a lot of questions (it is in question and answer format) and also includes recipes to try. I haven't actually tried any of the recipes but it inspired me to mix up some ham,nectarine and peas in my baby food grinder. Of course Jay hated it. He has tried the regular foods I have attempted to grind up or mix and has hated them all. I think it is the texture. I just keep trying and I guess that is all I can do:)
OTHER RANDOM TRAIN OF THOUGHT THOUGHTS:
I was also inspired by the book to make John a fresh fruit smoothie (with no dairy). He has a swollen uvula (the hangy ball in the back of your throat) because the tube they had down his throat for surgery today pinned it in a weird position and now it is swollen. It hurts him a bunch to talk and swallow. Good thing I watched 20 min. of baby sign language videos on YouTube last night and taught them to him this morning. He (John, not Jay) can say "eat", "drink", "more", "all done", "bath", "cheese" and "cracker". Now we need to teach Jay the signs. OK back to the smoothie. It had fresh strawberries (that I stuck in the freezer last night because I thought that I wouldn't get a chance to use them- so frozen), blueberries, a bit of nectarine, a bit of banana, a few tablespoons of water AND my special ingredient: A bomb pop (Popsicle)YUM.
Any food advice for getting Jay the food that he needs? I also read that babies under 2 should be getting supplements (vitamins) after they go off formula. What kind?

Jay's 1st birthday Monster Bash

2011-06-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

I apologize right now for posting SO many pictures...but this is the most fun thing I have done in a long time. Most of my ideas came from reading other blogs:)
Now for the good stuff...
Decorations
First I ordered THESE monsters as JPEG files from etsy. Then I went crazy with invitations, signs, pictures and labels.

Happy Birthday little monster:)

I got the idea for balloon garland idea from THIS blog post:

I dressed up all Jay's stuffed animals in his Monster clothes.

We had lots of balloons around thanks to the balloon time helium tank- which Jay LOVED until he got tangled up in them:)

John and I had our monster shirts (which I made with iron-ons).

We also borrowed a friends "monster mix" CD and listened to it, but it wasn't very loud so we kind of forgot about it after a bit.

Our Monster Meal:
Monster smiles were Croissants, monster eyes and noses were the fruit(with a fruit monster watermelon), monster teeth were Doritos, monster fingers were veggie sticks, monster toes were carrots and dip, monster juice was lemonade. We also had monster cookies (oatmeal cookies with M&M's), and monster nibbles (a family recipe), and string monster cupcakes.

The snack table:

I enjoyed creating monster eyeball cups (with lids and straws) for the kids.

I made 12 string monster cupcakes...

and then my hand started hurting from frosting too much...so I made some normal ones:

The cupcakes were delicious- apparently:)

Games:
We had Monster bean bag toss

Which was a hit with some of the kids.

We had Monster Bowling. (one of my favorite .25 garage sale purchases)

Silly Monster Grins
(thanks for modeling- friends of Jay:)

Jay modeled his last week:
and Pin-the Eye on the monster

and in case they didn't know what to do...I made a list (I'm such a teacher!)

People came with monster gifts:
And the kids got party favors: Some of the stuff was from Oriental Trading Company. I had soft books and a beach ball for the "under 1" kids:)

We sang him Happy Birthday but he has just woken up 5 min. before so he was kind of out of it.

Our little man had an awesome party.

I know I will probably never do a party as elaborate as this one again...but it was so much fun. If you are looking for more great ideas for Monster parties-click on the links throughout the post. What do YOU like about the party?

Bean bag toss

2011-06-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

My latest project has been working on the bean bag toss game. For my birthday I asked my dad to make the boards (he is a very handy woodworker and enjoys scroll sawing)and he did a great job even though he was kind of busy that week (THANK DAD!).

My mom sewed some bean bags and they are beautiful.

Then I drew the monsters I wanted to paint on in pencil (I darkened it so you can see).
After that I spray-painted the boards.
Then I learned you are not supposed to use spray paint on it because it makes it rough and you want it smooth. So I sanded it. I had already painted the body of my purple monster on before I sanded it, so he now has a little lighter hue.

I originally drew green dots on the purple monster, but I kinda think he looks like the hamburgler, so I am leaving the dots off:)
Jay will demonstrate: First you set them up.
Then you throw the bean bags in here:
And if you get bored while playing, you can always eat grass:
Here we come Monster Party!

He's Walking!

2011-06-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

He disappears behind the doors for a bit and then come back walking. It has taken a while to get this on video- but here it is:)

Shopping with kids and other random thoughts...

2011-06-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

...on a Wednesday.
-Pillow Intervention. Before I was pregnant, I slept with one pillow and a small pillow to hold. When I got pregnant (and wasn't supposed to sleep on my back anymore) I added another pillow under my head (so my sinuses could drain), a body pillow to put between my legs and a full size pillow to hug. I haven't been able to break the habit, so it looks like there is someone sleeping in my bed- even when I'm not there. I think I need a pillow intervention (anyone watch "How I Met Your Mother"?). At least John doesn't complain about it.

-Free lunches. On Monday I stopped by Noodles to get my free bowl of Pasta (for my birthday), and on Tuesday I stopped by Red Robin and got my free birthday burger to go. Jay and I had picnics in the grass both days, then we did some shopping. If you sign up with these restaurants- you too can get your free birthday meal (which usually is good for the 2 weeks surrounding your birthday). Noodles sends you an e-mail and Red Robin just started a new loyalty card, so it is a little more work, but totally worth it. FREE FOOD.

-Shopping with kids? While I was shopping I stopped by a store that was having a big sale to get some new bras(guess which store). I navigated my way through the sale racks with a stroller and picked up a few things from the sale racks. As I was pulling in to the dressing room area I overheard two of the store employees talking. They said "if they can afford to shop here the can afford a BABYSITTER". I decided to turn away from the dressing room with my stroller and think for a second. Then another lady with a stroller came to the dressing room and asked to try something on. They informed her that only one of the dressing rooms was big enough for a stroller and it was being used so it could be a while. I asked about the return policy and decided to buy something and try it on AT HOME. I'm still feeling kind of disgusted by the comment. If our kids are being good (and every kid in that store was just hanging out in the stroller being good) we should be able to shop with them- right?

-Almost walking. Jay has been cruising along the furniture, the walls, anything he can get his hands on. He really has been "almost walking" for 2 weeks now. He can take 5-6 steps anytime he chooses to. I guess he will decide when he wants to walk.

-Sippy cup failure. I have been trying to get Jay to take (and like) a sippy cup for MONTHS now. I took out the stoppers (so the water comes out easily) but that doesn't seem to help. He shoves it away from his face anytime I am trying to get him to drink. I mostly put water in, but sometimes I put some watered down juice in. When he is in the baby pool with a cup (without a lid) he will drink LOTS of water (spilling most of it over himself). I haven't tried water in a bottle or formula in a sippy cup- should I be trying that? I'm slowly limiting the bottles he has in a day because he is almost a year old...but he needs to drink. Help.

-Date disaster. John and I went out on a date and couldn't find a babysitter (we didn't try that hard) so Jay came with us. We went to a nice restaurant and Jay had a blast. He ate 1 1/2 things of baby food, drank a lot of water (yes in his sippy cup- maybe that was because it had ice in it?), had some crackers, a bean, and a few puffs. He was a happy camper. After we were done, we strapped him in his car seat and headed to a nearby town to do a bit of shopping. Along the way we heard a big PLUCHHHH sound and it started to smell like throw up:(. We pulled over in a parking lot and Jay had just puked up like a cup and a half of stomach contents. We started emptying his car seat, changed his clothes, cleaned everything up and then...continued shopping. YEP. He seemed to be pretty happy and he was holding a blanket, so most of it was on that. When we got home we washed all the cloth parts and the straps of the car seat, hand washed the metal parts, and disinfected the rest. Kinda gross- but I guess every parent has to experience it sooner or later:)

-My Business plan. I am teaching a clay animation class for kids this summer and it has been going great. I charged a bit less than other classes hoping to get lots of kids to sign up- and it worked. I have two 8th graders there helping me run the class (and helping out with the little kids) and they are getting community service hours (which are required at our school). I have a teacher watching Jay during the class each week and can have their kid attend for free. I paid the art teacher to help me run the class the first week and I am running it the second week by myself - with the student helpers. I have had a blast and the projects are looking great. Maybe I will post a few on here. That being said...Jay spends a lot of time at my school with me while I get set up in the morning and while I clean up afterwords. He doesn't complain and kind of likes that chance to explore new things.

His FAVORITE thing is to touch all the keyboards and push the keys (we don't let him do that at home:)

a constant state of "project"

2011-06-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

I feel like right now I just run in between projects. Of course there are the ongoing laundry, dishes, cooking, e-mail, cleaning ones...compounded by the fact that I can't open the dishwasher anytime Jay is awake because it will be attacked:) The other projects are fun ones, but I just can't get anything done because I only have 15 min. here and there. Today I decided to take a break from my projects - Happy Birthday to me- and go swimming in the backyard with Jay. That turned into a project: getting the pool from the basement and cleaning it off, filling it and letting it set for 2 hours to heat up, getting Jay into a swim diaper, sunscreen for all of us, finding toys for the pool... Of course swimming only lasted 30 min. so then it was the project of cleaning it all up and getting back into normal clothes. oophta.
I guess the best part about summer is that I can be in the middle of 30 projects and not get stressed out, because I don't have much else going on:)
I knew it was time to get out the baby pool because when grandma came over he went swimming in the sand table:)

This pictures makes me laugh every time I see it.

a few videos

2011-06-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Fake Laugh

Practicing Ei-ei-o

I sang this song for like 40 min and then we watched videos on you tube of Old Mac Donald for 20 min. I think he is singing ei-ei:)

Taking a few steps (but he has taken a lot more since then)

Terrorizing the village (and making a mess:)

Practice party

2011-06-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

When we went to visit Jay's cousins in Nebraska last week, I decided we should have a mini-birthday party for him so I could practice making cupcakes.
I took along some monster decorations/activities I got on clearance at Target, and our "activity" for the party was decorating monsters (which I will use for decorations at the real party). Here is Caleb's creation:)
Here is a picture of what I bought:
I found them online too in case anyone is interested: MONSTER CRAFT

Here is one that my brother-in-law created.
After the activity we set out my cupcakes and took a few pictures. I got my ideas from other blogs. These cookie monster cupcakes were adorable, but seemed a little difficult to make.
So I settled on these adorable fur-ball and string monster cupcakes.
On my first try I got something that resembled a purple shaggy dog: If anyone has tips on how to make the fur-ball cupcakes look more like the ones in the picture (like a different tip on the frosting decorator?) let me know:)
Then I tried a different approach, but it ended up looking like monster guts instead of a cute monster.
My third try was a string monster cupcake.

John thought they looked kind of weird without mouths, so I got out the yogurt pretzels I had packed for my road trip and created a mouth for the string monster. That's when I decided I could combine the cookie monster and the string monster cupcake ideas.
Here is my final draft for the practice party. I'm thinking of trying some more colors, and maybe doing something different for the eyeballs. The eyes should be placed closer to the front of the head too:)
Everyone enjoyed them.

Visiting baby Livia

2011-06-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

My sister had her baby a few weeks ago and we got to meet her when she was 2 weeks old.
She is not quite 6 lbs.

She is wearing a skirt:)

Jay always wanted to touch her feet or her hair.

Here is a video of us interacting with Livia:

I had a lot of fun staring at Livi. My mom came too, and Caleb was a big help (most of the time).

Jay had much fun romping around with his cousins. This is so typical with them.
My sister took us all to a free water park which was a blast!

Caleb and Isaiah with happy smiles:

Planning the party

2011-05-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

So, I might be weird for saying this but I have been looking foreword to planning my child's birthday party since I was in college. I love planning events, and I love themes even more. I think I get the love of themes from my mom who has a new "reading room" theme every year for her classroom.

I was thinking about saving all my party ideas for the party and then doing a big blog about everything...but I am just too excited to wait. Being creative is a big part of me, but I feel like I have taken the last 2 years off from it because I was sick when I was pregnant and then I had a colicky baby when I was home.

Here are a few things I have done for Jay's first birthday party so far.
I bought a set of digital clip art from Etsy for $3.25 and am using the monsters as a theme for my party. The monsters are adorable...you can find them here.

Here was my first project: Pin the eye on the monster:)

Here are the eyes. I hope to have kids decorate their "eye" with markers or crayons, then play the game with their special eye.

I used Photoshop to take the eye off the monster and paste it in an 8.5x11 document and then reproduce for printing (on card stock). I took the poster to a copy place and got all my invitations, the poster and the 2 copies of eyes for $7.

I also finished the invitations. I used a picture of Jay wearing a monster hat that my friend Chelsea took. See her blogs HERE and HERE. Then I used my monsters from Etsy and added party hats, balloons and strings using the artwork and brushes in Photoshop Elements. I also downloaded a few fonts from fontfreak.com
I blurred a few of the details using liquify in Photoshop.

Like it?

SAHM

2011-05-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Being a stay at home mom (SAHM)for the summer (for the past 4 days)...has been interesting. Jay has been very clingy but I'm not sure if he has an ear infection, if he is teething again, or if he is just so excited I'm around he wants to be near me all the time. (note: he does not want to be held, he just wants to touch me)

I have LOVED the moments racing him back and forth in the little tykes car, we had a blast playing outside every day (except Tuesday), and he loves taking walks and runs in the stroller which has been great for me too.
Besides entertaining him, I have sorted through a lot of clothes I had packed away in the basement. Yipee my pre-pregnancy clothes fit...but I still am not liking the pudge above my belly button.

I have also been planning Jay's 1st birthday party. It is so fun to get to be creative again!! We are doing a MONSTER BASH party, and I have SOOO many ideas I think I am going to have to limit myself.

Also, last week my sister had a baby!!! Welcome little Livia. She is adorable (in the pictures I have seen) and I can't wait to meet her. Go HERE for pictures.

Just for fun here are some pictures from the week. This is a Curious George outfit my mom found at a garage sale. I would consider Jay a curious little man, and he sleeps with a curious george stuffed animal, so it works:)

My sister made the "rock on" shirt, and the collared shirt is hand-me down from her boys. Too bad I threw it in the wash with a red shirt so it turned pink, then I bleached it and it faded the green. Oh well, it is still cute.

Rainy Tuesday

2011-05-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

It rained pretty much all day, so I got a lot of cleaning done. Jay hung out with me.
He did find the window and stare out it longingly...

Although whenever I give him a really big smile he gives me this cheesy grin.

After a while he resorted to sorting my socks:

And when the vacuum started attacking him he didn't really enjoy it.
It is amazing what we can do in a day being at home.

What Jay is scared of...

2011-05-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

it's NOT Mommy leaving him with a babysitter or at the nursery (actually he can't wait to get away and play with toys and kids).
He is scared of: electric toothbrushes, loud whistling, and talking oven mitts.:)

New discoveries

2011-05-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Jay still isn't walking-although he is cruising along next to everything and crawling faster than we can jump (usually to shut the bathroom door so he doesn't "explore" the toilet).

His current favorites include opening and closing things, hitting things, pushing things (especially pushing buttons), ripping things up, and getting into places where he shouldn't be:)
He still loves peek-a-boo, singing (other people singing), eating crackers, and baths.

He LOVES other kids and he never cries when I bring him to the nursery or the babysitter, mostly (I think) because there are other kids there to look at and play with. He is not a big sharer of toys yet, and doesn't listen when Alysa (the babysitters 3 year old daughter) tells him to stop hitting her toys, but he would rather smile at kids than push them over.
I thought this outfit looked so handsome on him.

Just today he discovered the toilet paper roll dispenser.

One more day of school left! I can't wait to blog more this summer.

Summer...clothes

2011-05-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

I was so excited last week because I finally got to put summer clothes on Jay.
Shirt- garage sale, shorts- $1.00 super clearance at Kohls, actually the monkey was $2.50 at Kohls too.

Shirt $2.00 with a bunch of coupons at Kohls, shorts- $1.50 clearance at Kohls, crocs .50 at goodwill 1/2 price day

Shirt- baby gift, shorts $1.00 clearance at Kohls

Shirt- (same one as the last picture), Pants- hand-me-down from my sister's kids

Onesie- baby gift, jeans- from my mom from a garage sale, shoes- .50 garage sale

Not too bad:) If you want to see other deals I got lately check out my other blog:
http://beingdutchgetsyoumuch.blogspot.com/

Graduation

2011-05-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

John graduated with his bachelors from UNC this weekend. It was a long... but awesome day and the weather could not have been better!
Here are some pictures:

Jay cheered for daddy...kind of:)

We had such a great time. Jay actually did really well.

A HUGE thanks goes to John's parents who made everything about this day possible. I also appreciated all the help his mom gave me for the grad party afterwords.

CUTE!

2011-05-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

My friend Chelsea took pictures of Jay a while back.
I LOVE them!
It is especially amazing that she got so many great pictures...because he was super squirmy, he never stayed in one place for more than a second, he bonked his head when he fell over (my fault) and was crying for part of it, and he pooped in the middle of taking pictures:) Still- look at how great they turned out.
Oh, and besides taking the pictures...she made the hat too!
(I lowered the quality of pictures for faster uploading)

If anyone is interested in her photography work or having her take their pictures you can contact her through: chelseasattic.blogspot.com

10 months

2011-04-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Jay is now 10 months old!
He can crawl FAST, he has 2 teeth, he loves to giggle, and has really enjoyed standing (with help) and holding on to anything he can find. He also finds trouble VERY quickly. He loves: pulling on our door blinds, racing over to the DVD player (or anything else with buttons), emptying out cupboards or drawers (the ones that don't have the baby locks on them), spinning stroller wheels, looking in the toilet, and playing with the dishwasher (he already broke a dish). He has also been the sweetest he has ever been and is cuddly when he wakes up from a nap (for a min. or so), and can't wait to hug us when we see him after work.
I went through his clothes again today because his 9 month clothes were too short for him.

We are also very busy. I have 2 assignments due next week for the masters class I am taking, and John is currently finishing his paper for his last class, and he will GRADUATE with his Bachelors in Psychology next week!! We are all excited and already starting to get things ready for the party that night. I went on my school's 8th grade class trip OVERNIGHT to the aquarium this week- so I am catching up on sleep this weekend:) I'm very excited for summer so I can get more than the basics done.

Wordless Wenesday

2011-04-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

His teeth

2011-04-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

I finally got a picture of his teeth. He has two on the bottom. They are both crooked, but just as cute as ever:)

my favorite picture

2011-04-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

that I have taken right now:

Cute pictures of Jay in a Monster Hat

2011-04-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Check out my friend Chelsea's blog for some pictures of Jay:
http://thehighlandlady.blogspot.com/

Superhero Jay

2011-04-19T21:15:00.001-07:00

So, someone put this superhero cape on me while I was sitting in my high chair. Guess I should do something about it...but what?

Well, I guess superheroes fight bad guys. I'll try that. Caleb are you stealing my cheerios of my tray? Smack.

YESSSS! Done with fighting the bad guys. Check that off my list.

Now, to finish up my superhero duties I must fly away.

Until next time...Superhero Jay.

Jay behind walker

2011-04-17T13:12:00.001-07:00

He gets mad when he can't walk any farther:)

snapshots

2011-04-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few snapshots of what has been up lately. I have videos of the good stuff, but no time to upload tonight.
One of my best investments ever: a $1.50 toothbrush from Walmart. He played with that longer than any other toy he has ever played with.
We have had more trips to the park lately (he went with Grandma too). Here is is standing on a bench:)
He has been getting into a lot more trouble. Most of our cupboards have latches on them, but this one didn't so he took advantage of the opportunity to rip everything out. I thought it was cute this time so I took a picture instead of stopping him.
I have been trying to photograph his ONE TOOTH! I think it came in a few days ago because his mood has been a bit better since. I didn't get any pictures of his tooth, but this one was cute.
Also, he is crawling and is pretty fast! He has been using the walker to walk around the living room and is really loving that too. Videos to come soon.

More spring break pictures:)

2011-04-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Jay got lots of pushes in the swing...

and lots of smiles on the other end:)

Jay had no problem hanging out with Grandpa a lot.

And had fun hanging out with Grandma too!

Working on the sound issues

Cousin time

2011-04-04T20:11:00.001-07:00

We spent some time visiting Jay's cousins in Nebraska over SB.
Here are some cousin pictures.
Caleb (4) loves Jay and makes random comments about him. "Jay is not wearing any clothes, just his diaper" "I'll give him a hug...squeeze his guts out"
Isaiah (2) loves to look at him real close. He also gives him "hugs" and steals Jay's cheerios.
Jay (9 mo) is one tough guy. He has defence mechanisms in place to defend against people up in his face...but mostly he loves to watch and smile at his cousins!

I have lots more pictures, but no time to post today. Maybe later this week:)

7-8 months video

2011-03-31T12:59:00.001-07:00

Who does Jay look like?

2011-03-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

John as a baby:

John as a baby 2:

Angie as a baby:

Angie as a baby 2:

We staged one picture each:)

Anyone want to have a picnic?

2011-03-28T19:44:00.001-07:00

Anyone want to come over for a picnic on the front porch?

I have chapstick.

Fun when Grandma came over

2011-03-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

Random Thoughts

2011-03-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah...really random. These are all things I don't really care to expand on online.
-Hooray for tax refunds when you have a kid. Seriously.
-Why do cookies call my name when I am staying up late doing homework?
-I hate letting people down because I am trying not to over commit myself.
-I don't think I would ever be able to be an individual sales representative for a company. I think I am too cheap. Plus I know other people who are so good at it, and I want to give them props for what they do.
-Education budget cuts for next year stink. It changes the attitude in the workplace.
-I think Jay may have a third nipple. John didn't even notice it until I pointed it out. We'll ask the doctor next time.
-I love working out once I am doing it...but I hate getting myself out to do it. Grrr.
-I've been thinking a lot about how much hometown Dutch roots made me the person I am today.
-John and I both think we might be a little bit lactose intolerant, but we both are choosing not to be (meaning we are still going to eat whatever we want:) I guess it might get a little bit smelly around here...we'll just blame it on Jay:)
-Do most people do 6 month and 12 month professional pictures but skip 9 month pictures? I think that is what we are going to do.
-Sooo happy for spring break. I think John is too because shortly after I took over baby duty today, I found him listening to heavy "ra ra" music in the office while "Praise Baby" music lingered in the living room.
-I think Jay might be teething now. For real this time. Maybe. But that is what I said the other 5 times too.
-I love Skype, even if adults have a hard time focusing on real conversations because the baby in your lap is so cute.
-Waaay excited to see family in the next week. Chad and Christine tomorrow, the rest of my family next week.
-The TV show Modern Family is really funny, we got a season from the library and are enjoying it.

Random pictures

2011-03-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

In the last week Jay has changed a ton.
He can now army crawl, pull himself up to standing (although he usually hangs out on his knees), he has tried eating a few Cheerios, and he has been babbling a lot more too. (he still only says DADA)
Here is some proof:

Getting into trouble again:

Army Crawling:

Pillow protection

2011-03-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

Jay enjoys standing by this toy for periods of time holding on and hitting the buttons...but eventually he falls down. When Jay had a temperature last week and I had to stay home one morning I built a fortress of pillows around him so I could walk 10 feet away to get a drink. When I showed John how well it worked- Jay stood up (and held on) for like 3 minutes without falling down.
Now we have taken the fortress down, but it was fun while it lasted.

Jay under exersaucer

2011-03-12T06:44:00.000-08:00