DakerMom

Our Baby Boys

2011-03-31T08:46:00.003-04:00

So, as promised I have news on Maddox. His very first tooth has broken through, with the second close behind... should be up in the next few days, I can see the edges poking through. He seems to be so happy theses past few days. He's screaming out of joy more than ever before and he's just started really babbling. Yesterday he started this new phase of babbling. He can say Adadadada and when he cries he says AyaYaYayayayaya, which is kind of funny. We went out to dinner last night with my mom and afterward we did a little shopping. I always look at the baby and scrunch up my eyes and pop them open to make him laugh. After about twenty minutes of wondering what he was doing, I thought the store lights were bothering his eyes, but he kept smiling... he was mimicking me! He scrunched up his eyes and his nose and opened them slowly and smiled and laughed. His smart little butt figured out how to copy me! He's almost seven months old, but apparently he's a quick one! I think it has something to do with his big brother being only 20 months older, he feels the need to catch up and copy him too. Alex is so surprised every time he grabs his clothes or tries to hold his hand, but I really think he's learning it from him. It is so sweet to watch them interact. As hard as it is to have two babies so close in age, one being a "terrible-two"-er and one a high maintenance baby who likes to be held all the time, otherwise he screams, it's totally worth it to know that they feed off of eachother, grow together, and very obviously love eachother so much already! They are going to be best best buddies for their whole lives... I can see it now! This is, for some reason, sideways and I can't change it, but it's still pretty great!

Potty Training AND Teething :)

2011-03-24T16:06:00.002-04:00

In a nutshell... that is my world right now! Alex showed his desire to graduate from diapers to big boy undies two days ago. For months now he has made it a point to go into the bathroom with me every time I have to go and just watch and help with the toilet paper and all. And he makes the dog come to, so much so that now the dog just follows right behind and if I close the door before either of them makes it in, they sit there and wait, Alex knocks and yells for me to let him in, Peppi (my mom's papillon) sits and scratches at the door and whines. I find it hilarious that a two year old has actually, successfully trained the dog at something better than anyone else ever has been able to! He's pretty much the only one he'll obey!
So the day before yesterday, that was Tuesday... I was in the family room changing Maddox's diaper on the floor and I didn't hear Alex whining for like a whole minute (which he always does nonstop for some reason or other... one of the joys of the terrible two's)... and I called for him. I just assumed that he was in the living room playing with the cd changer he's not supposed to touch like he is every time he's just too quiet. Then I heard him:
"Uh OH! Uh OH!!"
Me:
"Oh crap, what did he do?!"
He came tearing out of the bathroom with his diaper pulled up as far as he could get it out of the front of his pants, pants still up because he can't get them down by himself yet, and a gigantic sopping wet spot on his entire butt! He pointed in the bathroom, where there was a long streamer of toilet paper from the holder to the floor. The bathroom seat was up and I'm guessing what had happened was that he tried to go potty by himself, on the big potty and fell in! NO idea how he climbed out all by himself, but he did! Seriously.
Last night before bedtime I asked him if he had to go potty and he said yes. He always says yes because he thinks it's cool. But I took off his pants and diaper and let him sit on his Cars training potty just to let him get used to the idea, which we do often, but he never goes. So I told him not to move while I went to get him a new diaper. I came back about 12 seconds later and he had PEED!!!! Not exactly IN the potty because as you know, he's a boy, but he was obviously sitting ON the potty and he PEED!! We jumped for joy and gave hugs and high fives for being such a big boy and pottying like a big BOY!!!
This morning I asked if he wanted to wear big boy underwear like Mommy and Daddy, of course he said yes. So I gave him the rundown to make SURE you tell mommy when you have to peepee or poo and we will use the potty like a big boy. He said OK. About five minutes after I had him sit on the potty and he didn't have to go and we put his undies and pants on he said "Uh OH!" He had gone in his pants, so I said it's ok, but took him to the potty. Long story short... kind of... he sat there a few minutes and wouldn't get off when I asked if he was ready to put his new underwear back on... I left the room for a second, came back and he was freaking out trying to open the door (which he had closed on me Again) and he said "Uh OH" again and almost cried because he had pooped on the floor! My theory is that he started to poop on his Cars big boy potty and got up to come get me because it was weird for him and couldn't get the door open quick enough and it landed right there on the floor. After cleaning it up and making a big show of it going in the potty and flushing and having him say "Bye bye poopy" as it went away, I told him, see you did great by pooping in the bathroom like a big boy, next time we just have to get it in the potty ok, Good JOB!!! After he ate his lunch he peed in his potty again. Again, he just made me leave the room first. I have yet to actually SEE him use the potty. But, it seems to be working amazingly, I think!
Oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure Maddox is teething now. More on that when we see some teeth cut through. I'll take pictures :) Fun Fun Fun !!

Spring Special Photos!!!!

2011-03-23T12:30:00.003-04:00

Anyone in or around the Northern Virginia/ DC area...? A friend of mine, who is also a pretty awesome photographer is having a Spring Special!! Check it out!

New Supplies!!

2011-03-22T10:21:00.004-04:00

So my Etsy shop is finally starting to generate some buzz!! It's so much fun to go hunting for fun shabby stuff and to create unique treasures! Look at all the really great stuff I found this weekend! I've already started with some fun projects... coming soon to my Etsy shop!!!

Reupholstry

2011-03-14T15:20:00.007-04:00

Is that a word?.. I think so. Anyhow, I did my very first (of many planned) projects requiring my (lack of) ability to reupholster. A great hobby of mine, that I'm trying to become better at, is interior design and furniture refinishing. I didn't refinish this little bench, since it's actually my mom's and she happened to like the stain and patina of the wood as it was, so I left it and just reupholstered the top. I've been wanting to try my hand at this for some time now, I have a hope chest and big plans of refinishing and reupholstering it, so this was my chance to teach myself and see how difficult it really is. It's not that bad at all really, almost fun actually, and more time consuming than I expected... went in thinking it would take about a half hour... removed the fabric that was on it... found two more layers and little batting underneath... must have been upholstered at least 3 times before I got ahold of it... removed all of that... and started from scratch... took about two hours!! But I think it was totally worth it for a cute little old fifteen dollar bench found at an estate sale.. Go Mom!! Here are the pics!! Let me know what you think :)

<--- Before

<--- So, I'm not the first with this idea... Yes, that was 3 different fabrics!!

TA-DAAAA!!!

Etsy SALE!!!

2011-03-01T15:56:00.006-05:00

Just started a sale today in my Etsy shop, Playing In The Sand... Use coupon code SpringHasSprung at checkout to receive 20% off ANY purchase!!!

Changing email..!!

2011-01-29T18:32:00.002-05:00

I'm just coming back from a long absence from the blogging world and I've since acquired a new email address and have found it a GigantiC pain to switch blogger over to the new one. Lost ALL the blogs I was following!!! I'm sure I've also lost a bunch of followers in my absence, but if you're still reading along with mine comment so I can re-follow you Please!!! There were some really great ones I wanted to check back with and can NOT remember them all! Sometimes technology can drive me crazy. I've been working on this all day!! It's good to be getting back though :)

My Etsy Store!!!

2011-01-18T15:19:00.000-05:00

So I know I've been completely MIA for what looks like a YEAR!!! I know.. I got overwhelmed with other things in life.. lazy during pregnancy.. and ran out of stuff to talk about basically... But I'm back to show what I've been doing in hopes of starting in a NEW and exciting direction!!! I have opened a shop on Etsy to sell some finds and creations for the home that I am having so much fun creating! Please stop by, if anyone is still actually following me after my absence that is :)

Chirstmas Decor and Fam and such!!!

2009-12-29T20:14:00.001-05:00

Took these pics before I took down the Christmas decorations today... sigh, Christmas is over, but a new year's approaching, fresh start is kinda nice. The house is back in order and a whole lot less cluttered and we have these awesome Santa pics to show from Alex's first Christmas, Yay!!!

My new Guilty Pleasure

2009-12-28T07:51:00.000-05:00

I have become obsessed and enthralled with home decor! Somehow along the way of browsing bloggy land I stumbled upon some kind of spark I never knew I had that both drives me crazy and thrills me all at the same time. It really is an obsession and I can't make it stop, even though I don't want to... I'm confused and thinking most of the time, really. So, I guess it's a good thing that my mind's racing all the time again now. I was starting to feel like I didn't have anything to challenge me, and even though it's not like saving lives or anything it gives me something to think about, to create, constantly, and for that I'm thankful! I love being a mom. I love my son to pieces. My husband and my son are my life, but (although my husband can be a challenge a lot of the time) I wasn't feeling like I was succeeding with my creative capacity. So this new obsession of mine is the reason that I've been completely absent for approximately 61 days. I'm shifting gears. Bragging about my son and writing about my mommy adventures is great fun, but it's a lot of work and also very time consuming to post pictures and write stories about it all when I have a spare moment (which isn't often)... I'd kinda rather just live those moments with him and pause at sharing them with family and friends over the phone, because beyond that was starting to interfere with my time to spend making those memories, so I needed to step back and refocus so that I can enjoy every minute of his childhood.
Then there are his naptimes. While not thinking about what I could write about our mommy-Alex time I started looking around my house and thinking. Every time I'm sitting by myself trying to avoid the inevitable tedious chores I prolong as long as possible during baby's naps, I'm thinking about what I'd like to see changed in my house and how I can do them just about every spare second now.
Soo, my point is, sometime within the next few days I'll have some 'fruits of my labor' pics to post of the house and maybe some how-to's and I'll throw in some pics of the little man too... who's now growing a mouthful of teeth, eating real food, off of formula and trying to toddle!!! Oy, it's been a crazy few months!!!

I haven't left ya yet!

2009-10-27T21:50:00.000-04:00

I know I've seriously been slacking and dragging on posting lately! My name is Jessica and it's been at least a week since my last real post...
I'm sorry.
I apologize, but my head is overloaded with little revamping/repurposing/refurnishing/redecorating ideas for my house and I can't be creative there AND here! I'm too one-track minded for that so between my son, my marriage, my new church (YAY!) and my new practice of redesigning and redecorating for our home I can't seem to find the time for my blog too. Like I've said before, fall makes me want to reenergize and revamp things, so this year the focus is on the home! I'm loving it! I've hit up my Goodwill and bought (and begun using) tons of paint and made a little bit of coolness. I'd do some of the tutorials or before & afters like everybody else does, but they're not fabulous yet like all those other people's are, so we'll get there when we get there. Maybe once I have them all done and up (I do have before pics, but they're all kinda in process at the same time right now)... so not yet :) Again, I'm sorry, but I'm kinda on a roll here!
And I'm at a crossroads on what to write about as well, again with the multi-creativity... not so much. So bare with me... I'm still around!!
P.S. Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!!
I will definitely have some awesomely adorable pics of Alex in his costume after this weeekend... and maybe some of my bday funness too :) (the night before)...

I'm Loyal and here's the proof!!!!

2009-10-23T00:37:00.002-04:00

Simply Simonsons said so!!

Yay!!! Thank you thank you thank you!! And this one's awesome because I don't have to choose a certain number, just however many I want to choose willy nilly, AND there's actually a specific requirement to give proof of my choices!!
So, here they are... I'm passing this award on to....
To accept the award the following individuals must:

1.) Link back to me.
2.) Choose as many loyal commentors that deserve this award and link them up on your blog.
Here they are..
Noelle
blueviolet
Lalo (my bff:)
designitchic
Sara
Tamela

I (heart) Kohl's!!

2009-10-21T17:58:00.003-04:00

They always have THE Best sales ever!!! Everything there is somewhere around half price, or better, all the time!! We went a couple of weeks ago to get Alex a bunch of winter clothes and our total (before sales) was $212.58... Total that I paid... $117.37... TOTAL SAVED = $95.21!!!!

And all of this is what I got today, plus a couple small things I forgot to get in the pic... 3 long sleeve thermal onesies, one long sleeve tee, one long sleeve sweatshirt, three pair cotton (sweat)short, dump truck toy, two beanie and mitten sets, two long sleeve tees for me, and a pair of earrings... everything was half price or better! Total before sales = $210.09 ... After sales = $86.02 !! TOTAL SAVED.. $124.07!!! I know!! AND, I got $10 Kohl's cash back to spend next time as cash just for spending over $50!! Wow!!

Now, my son is set for winter and we got it all at Kohl's for less than half price!

Pumpkin Pics

2009-10-21T12:56:00.001-04:00

As promised....

So we did go to the pumpkin ~~patch~~ already picked, just pick one out... so not the same. But, we did go! And we got two big pumpkins! But, the weather was of the crappy sort, so not as much the photo op as I was hoping for (tear). I did get a few, but as you can see Alex was only giving the "Mom, you're crazy, it's flippin freezing and drizzly, why am I sitting with pumpkins, I don't wanna really smile..." look, but still cute, so here goes!

Notice the "really Mom??" below...

And he got to wear his corduroy overalls which I LovE to church and to pick out pumpkins!!

Still plan to find an actual pumpkin-pickin patch and a sunnier day for better pics, but it was fun, despite the drizzle. We're making memories none the less!!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

2009-10-20T10:30:00.002-04:00

So we did go to the Pumpkin patch, well not really patch, it's a farm that's got the pumpkins already picked, you don't get to pick them yourself or anything... And it was cold and raining the entire flippin time! Cold! We did get a few snaps of Alex sitting with the pumpkins and we bought two big ones to bring home, and I will post the pics I got, but we're planning to go back again sometime this week, maybe to a different one this time, when it's NOT raining!... and do better :(

I'm starting my first projects with spray painting today. Went to my Goodwill for the first time yesterday and got a few things to Re-Do :) They're sitting in the yard drying, and the others are waiting... And I need to go get more paint... Hopefully they turn out ok, will post before and after pics when I'm done... or maybe I'll do round ones when they're done drying... don't know yet.

I'm getting impatient with this whole crawling thing. I know all babies are different and Alex's main goals seem to be growing teeth and eating! 4 teeth and 26 lbs, but NOT crawling. I'm so anxious for him to crawl, even though I should probably be celebrating that he's not because it's easier now, but he's just so cute when we stand him up to hold onto things and when he does maybe put his butt in the air and think about crawling, right before he changes his mind.

We're planning to start Christmas shopping around the first of november. Excited about that too! Alex is going to get some cool toys!

Can't wait for Thanksgiving in the mountains with my parents. Mountains and snow and turkey mmmm...

Also, got some scrappy material for really super cheap yesterday and once I'm done with this spraying experience I'm going to start a quilt :) Yay!!!!

Visit The Un Mom for more Tuesday Randomness!

Six Word Saturday again!

2009-10-17T16:43:00.002-04:00

WE ARE GOING PUNKIN PICKIN TOMORROW!!

...

Fragments of my Friday...

2009-10-16T14:00:00.001-04:00

My week at a glance...
I'm scheduled for Monday morning to reenlist in the CG, so all week I've been having second thoughts. I'm excited for the bonus... nervous about three more years of the commitment (can't back out after it's done) but the bonus will provide a much needed payoff for some of our debt... between that and tax return in january we'll finally finally finally be where we should be and get to keep a little profit from our paychecks for the first time in our marriage...it's bittersweet really, but worth it for my family, and our sanity, so here we go again!

Alex is thinking about mobility and even though I'm uber-excited, I'm also very very nervous about that too! There's so much more that could go wrong that way! Even without crawling or walking he's already gotten enough bumps on the head to last him til adolescence!

This week I created my list of 101 goals I've set for myself to do in the next 1001 days! Since I'm a list- fanatic I'm so very much elated to have constructed such a massive list of to-dos and am so anxious to cross one off! Just have to decide which one, or wait to see how things pan out... I wonder which will be first... To see my list pan over to my left sidebar, the title 101 in 1001 days gives it away :)

That just reminded me of that song that says little things give you away... I think it's Linkin Park.. not really sure, but I like it. There are a lot of songs I've rediscovered lately that have a lot more meaning than I realized. It's even better when I hear one that I haven't heard in ten or fifteen years and I've always known all of the words, but never realized, or thought about, what they mean. So, when I hear them this long after the fact and I catch myself singing along, I'll stop and think about the words and realize how deep some of the phrases are and it makes me feel a little enlightened. Words can mean so much sometimes.

I had a conversation with Jason a few nights ago about how we need to have more conversations. Have you ever had a conversation about having conversations... It consisted of things like We don't talk about important stuff. We're talking now. What should we talk about? Talking about our son is important... It was a really weird conversation, but it seems like I've just recently noticed that having a child puts parents in that place where the only thing they have to speak of is their child. We can go days without having an adult conversation about anything other than the baby, chores or money. It's not that we don't have anything in common or enjoy talking to eachother but sometimes at the end of the day when we have our little bit of time for adult conversation we're too tired to talk. It's easy to focus all attention on the baby and his goings on and glance over our need for adult talk, so this is something we're trying to focus on now.

See Mrs4444 at half past kissin time for more Friday Fragments, the linky to more, and rules on how to play :) Happy Friday!!

Tamela's having an AVON Giveaway!!!

2009-10-15T16:47:00.000-04:00

Naturals 5-Piece Getaway Set includes: 8-in1 Pink Ribbons Lip Palette, Papaya & Kiwi Body Lotion, Shower gel & Body Spray; Tahitian Holiday Clutch! That's a $46.00 value!!
Enter the giveaway at her Brunette-y site.

HBO

2009-10-15T06:43:00.001-04:00

After many months of missing his favorite tv series, my husband decided to cave because we needed HBO… according to him. This decision increased our cable bill by, I think it was, about $20/month!! Twenty dollars!! That’s quite an increase! But, I didn’t say a word, except for something along the lines of “That’s nice, honey”… because it’s not That big of a deal. I know that we’re supposed to be cutting back to get things more in order. We’re supposed to be reevaluating and revamping our budget. We’re supposed to be reducing debt, and in turn, reducing our stress level, right. But, it is also important for us to let each other be happy, and when it comes to something that my husband has mentioned that he misses greatly, weekly for approximately the past five months and six days then I think I’d rather dodge having the responsibility debate with him and just let him have his luxury and be happy. After all, the reason we didn’t get HBO to begin with was because it was that or DVR (to come free with our cable package) and I HAD to have DVR, so I think it’s only fair. So, now my husband’s happy and I’m only slightly irritated by having to see either football, football recaps, football discussion and debate, or Entourage on the tv. Actually though, it is nice to have the new break from football, even though I don’t love his favorite show. My favorite show of all time that I’m addicted to is on ABC, as I’ve mentioned before I’m obsessed with Grey’s Anatomy, so I fully understand. So, for every three or four (half hour) shows of Entourage I now have to sit through, Jason owes me a full episode of Grey’s and half or so of an episode of Private Practice, although he can be back and forth on that one… he doesn’t always need to be in the room, as long as I get to watch it in silence and he takes care of entertaining Alex so I can watch. This is our new agreement and it’s going well.

AND, what he doesn’t know, until he possibly reads this blog entry (oops), is that I’m actually really enjoying HBO on demand! Regular HBO was nothing to me until they invented the On Demand option! It’s Awe.some! I love that no matter how much crappy tv is on our hundreds of channels I can always find a movie On Demand, which also means that if I’m comfy I don’t have to get up and go grab a DVD, which I’ve seen eighty thousand times and put it in the dvd player and change the settings on four different remotes to get it to work, then when I have to get up and do something else I can pause the dvd player but it does the annoying replay thing and if I let it just run without watching it goes back to the main menu instead of just tv and I like to have something on as background noise, so it’s annoying. SO, I’m loving On Demand. We’ve had it a week and I’ve watched P.S. I Love You, which I had never seen before and it’s fabulous!! It’s an awesome love story, sad story line, but they make it so good and not so mopey, with a little funny, it’s just perfect. Helps too that it features Gerard Butler, Harry Conick Jr, AND Jeffrey Dean Morgan!! And both Gerard and Jeffrey are Irish in this movie so they have really cool accents, which is even better! The movie also has some scenes where they are actually in Ireland, which is beautiful! I just love it, it’s a great movie, and I’ve watched it one and a half times already. We’ve also watched The Bucket List, which is a great one too, and 27 Dresses (while Jason was at work yesterday). Anyway, long story short (too late), I’m Loving HBO!!!

Faith

2009-10-13T12:16:00.002-04:00

We want Alex to grow in a home that is strong in the faith of God. We want him to know his God and never have to wonder about his relationship with Him. We want him to be able to know that we, as his parents, have no questions about the relationship of ourselves with God, or with eachother. We never want him to feel insecure about the strength or destiny of our family. As a child, I always went to church. As long as I can remember we attended church every sunday. I always knew that I loved God and that he was there for me and I did everything through Him. I never really knew as much as I should have, to this day, about the actual stories and teachings of God, I just know right and wrong. I know that as long as I try to distinguish between right and wrong, I'll never be perfect, but I'm trying and that's what God wants. I've always wanted to know more and to have a stronger relationship with Him, I just never knew how. How do you, as a grown woman, ask for help in learning about Him as far back as the stories I should have known as a child. I've only been to one church in my adult life that I knew that I was growing in. There I knew that they were teaching me, and even though it didn't look like a traditional church and the pastor was wearing blue jeans, he knew what he was talking about and for once, I understood! I didn't look at my watch once during those services, I took it all in and I really felt smarter in His ways when I walked out of that church. Since then I've tried a few, yes only a few, new churches to try to find that same feeling but I haven't. I want Alex to be one of the children that, from a very young age, knows what it means to know God's love. I want him to know that we are a blessed family that knows and loves God, without question.
I'm not looking for a new faith. I know exactly what we believe, I just need that perfect congregation and style to celebrate it in.
I want to be able to communicate with my husband better. I want us to know God in the same way. I don't want us to ever talk to eachother out of anger and say things that we will regret. I want us to have others to talk to who can help us learn to communicate as a Christian couple and learn to parent together without friction caused by differences.
This week we plan to try a new church that we have heard is like the one that I have missed. I have so much hope that it is all that I experienced at the one I once frequented and we can grow together in God's faith.
I'm not really looking for anything from this post, just wanted to get that out there. It makes me feel hopeful about our journey in faith together, which hasn't even begun.

Not Me! Monday

2009-10-12T14:39:00.003-04:00

I did NOT make cookies from scratch and eat about eight cookies worth of the dough before baking while hubby was running today.

I did NOT act like I was asleep when I heard the baby woke up this morning so he could go get him and I could get a little more sleep.

I did NOT spend all day in pj's just because it's Colombus Day and it's rainy out... and LovE it!!

101 in 1001 days

2009-10-11T13:47:00.001-04:00

My mission is to do all of these things to better myself and to benefit my family and friends and whoever else I can affect...

Start date: October 11, 2009
Goal date: April 1, 2012

Not Started

In Progress

~~Completed~~

I will also post this list on my sidebar and as soon as I complete #73 it'll actually fit... :o)

1. Travel to Philadelphia with hubby so he can show me the sites

2. Get passport

3. Travel to NY in the fall

4. Visit Lauren, Jamie and Rhys in Minnesota

5. Travel to see grandparents in NC more than twice in 2010

6. Visit Kori

7. Take Alex to Disney World

8. Teach Alex to swim

9. Buy running stroller for me and Alex

10. Buy Alex a sandbox

11. Philadelphia Eagles-Redskins Game

12. Plan a trip for an anniversary for Jason and me

13. Start my M.Ed. in Elementary Ed

14. Finish my M.ed

15. Have another child (or on the way) before Alex’s 2nd bday

16. Make 1st class (more money)

17. Drink 8 servings of water every day for a month

18. Learn to surf

19. Kite-Surf too!!

20. Cancel Bally membership that we don’t use/don’t need/are paying too much for

21. Hang all photos/artwork that have been unframed in closet since July

22. Make Bella an Eagles doggy bed

23. Crochet Alex a beanie

24. Sew a big family quilt for us all

25. Cake smash photo shoot for Alex’s first bday

26. Plant a vegetable garden

27. Plant an herb garden

28. Learn and become familiar with ten new recipes

29. Make Alex a playroom with more toys and space

30. Learn to play piano

31. Find a church we love

32. Get another boxer for Bella to play with

33. Buy Alex a big car toy to drive (maybe for Christmas 2009?)

34. Get mine and Jason’s two least favorite tattoos redone/changed/prettified

35. Pay off #1 (T)

36. Pay off #2 (V)

37. Pay off #3(S)

38. Pay off car #1

39. Pay off car #2

40. Pay off student loan #1

41. Pay off student loan #2

42. Start Alex savings account

43. Hit our goal in our savings account

44. Ride bike every day for a month

45. skydive with Jason

46. 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk

47. Kiss in the rain

48. Buy GOOD camera

49. Learn how to use GOOD (expensive) camera

50. Make Alex scrapbook

51. Find my ME hairstyle

52. Make mommy friends for playdates…

53. Make something bigger out of my blog

54. Try mosaic design

55. Refinish coffee table

56. Make a fabric headboard

57. Buy a house

58. Instruct spinning classes

59. Cloth diaper next baby

60. Hike

61. Visit Seattle

62. Get a stamp in that passport

63. Perfect my chocolate chip cookie recipe

64. Drive-in movie

65. Rollerblade again

66. Complete our Disney favorites collection

67. Put up our hammock from Cozumel

68. Figure out (and maybe earn) Swagbucks

69. Revisit where we got engaged in Williamsburg

70. Use our free Busch Gardens pass for this year (2009)

71. Use our free Busch Gardens pass for 2010

72. Get a really good WoW gift for Jason

73. Get a pretty blog page design and button made

74. Teach Alex sign language

75. Teach Alex to say Mama

76. Obedience classes for Bella

77. Floss every day for a week

78. Have my vision checked

79. Take Alex trick or treating at my parents house

80. Cook three good crock pot dinners

81. Learn to snowboard

82. Go boating

83. Yearly Family Christmas photo

84. Adopt an angel family for Christmas

85. Professional Baseball game with Jason and Alex

86. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

87. Shooting range- requal.

88. Start Alex Christmas ornament tradition

89. Learn to play guitar

90. Invent something

91. Plan Alex’s first birthday party

92. Bake a really cool cake that doesn’t fall apart

93. Plant a tree

94. Go to Niagara Falls

95. Really finally learn how to run

96. Wedding scrapbook

97. Frame Wedding Photos

98. Scuba dive

99. DC zoo with J and A

100. Go on a family picnic

101. Try kickboxing again

The Blogging Biz

2009-10-11T07:18:00.007-04:00

Got these questions from Tam at Lollipops.

1. At this point in the game how do you feel about your blog? I love it as a journal. I'm really enjoying being able to vent or brag or whatever without feeling guilty or conceited or anything, because it's all about me and my family, so that's the whole purpose, right? And, noone has to read it if they think it's too over the top! I'm finally starting to figure out how to pretty it up too, so I'm really having fun with it!

2. What do you think about blog etiquette? I don't really know yet, other than commenting...

3. Have you ever gotten a comment that you disliked? Not yet, but I'm sure it'll catch up to me sometime, maybe when I get a little gutsier :)

4. How do you feel about comments? Are comments important to you? Yes, they are great for inspiration, constructive criticism and a sense of purpose and effect. They keep me going with my blog.

5. Would you ever turn off your comments but still blog? Don't think so. I think that is rude. When someone turns off their comments I don't feel much like reading their blog anymore because it seems kinda like they don't care if people read it or what they have to say. So, what's the point?

6. What do you think of the SO CALLED A LIST BLOGS? They're good for inspiration and ideas... good for useful information from the DIY-type ones...

7. Do you feel that if you comment regularly on a blog that the blogger should comment back to you? Yes. Not every single time, because nobody has the time for that, and that just seems insincere, to comment to someone else JUST because they commented to you, so it's a formality, but never would be rude!

8. Do you continue to comment on a blog if that blogger never acknowledges you? No. I will a few times before I give up though, because like I said, sometimes they just don't see it, there are too many, don't have the time, they'll get to me later. I'm a busy mom, I understand. But, never, like they don't even see it or think that it matters, what's the point, so no.

9. What do you think about the advertising on blogs? I think it's a great idea. The really successful bloggers that are making money off of it are doing just that! A source of income is a good thing, gives purpose, all that... Especially for the stay at home moms! And the companies always need/want advertising, so if they're willing to pay for it hells yeah!!
PS. If anyone can tell me how to do this, I'd love to know! I don't like the adsense thing, and I'd rather do something bigger, I see a lot of mommy blogs with babies r us or baby tylenol, or something related, ads on theirs and I'd like to know, how you get to do it?!? ?? I only want to put stuff up to advertise that we actually use and like and want to let others know about, not just whatever random crap might pop up! Any help??

10. Do you have any pet peeves that you would like to air about blogging right now? I just hate when I want to comment and for some reason it won't let me!! There's always just a big blank white space that says post a comment... whiteness... then the stupid subscribe to: Post comments (atom) ...whatever the heck that means and it makes me really mad because i have something to say and i can't and whenever I click on the stupid little thing it says something about downloading somethin, no thank you, wtff!!?

11. How do you pick the blogs you like to read? They are visually appealling, offer useful tips that apply to my life, enjoy, use, and actually respond to feedback/commenting, not to overstimulating (if that's a word).

12. When you decide to follow a blog what are the reason? I just like what they have to say, or the tips/tutorials they give.

13. How do you know that you have found a blogger that is honest and true? Don't know yet. I think you can just tell by their wording.

14. Do you think that a lot of bloggers make up things so that they can have a WOW factor and attract more people? Not a lot, but definitely some!

15. What are some of your favorite blogs and why? The ones that have tons of pictures that are really beautiful, the ones with lots of tutorials/tips (money-saving, homey, decorating, organization...)

16. How many of you follower BIG BLOGGERS? I am not listing them but you know like Pioneer, the D one and so forth. Well, I do have a few of those that I follow and I don't necessarily follow every little thing they say, but some of them are fun to read... Comment though?.. never. I did once or twice on one, actually asking a question and complimenting and all and never got an answer or any kind of response. I understand, like I said before, she may have missed it, but I didn't feel the love there. Love the little people too :)

This was fun! Now you know a little more about me! And since my main purpose in blogging is focused on my son, and adventures in mothering... here's a pic :)

Nine Months!!

2009-10-11T05:46:00.005-04:00

As of Friday Alex was officially NINE months old!! Holy crap I know! I can not believe that it has actually already been nine whole months! He has gotten so big, has FOUR teeth and is learning to try to talk while his personality is rapidly blossoming!! He's finally, actually thinking about becoming mobile, so we are noticing that pretty soon we will be unprepared, so we need to make some new accomidations! Hasn't started crawling yet, but he did this himself...

Now is the opportune time to make a list of mobile baby ~~containment~~ safety items and changes to complete before he starts moving and hurts his little tubby self!

baby gates (2)- the kind you install that attach to the wall so they are always there no matter what. we need one for the top of the stairs and one for the bottom of the stairs.
outlet covers- don't want him hurting his little fingers and getting shocked by the outlets.
move mattress in crib down a level or two before he can pull himself up.
possibly find somewhere to put dog bowls so he won't be able to eat dog food or play in dog water.

And to pack away since he's outgrown them and they're wasting valuable space that could be storing massive amounts of big boy toys...

swing
little bouncy chair thingy that sits on the floor
bumbo chair
slings that we never even used because we got crappy ones that suck!
the two gigantic rubbermaid containers full of clothes that are now too small for him and taking up half of his closet space

That's it so far, but i'm sure I'll think of more!

I stood him up here, but he'll hold himself up and he thinks it's hilarious, so I'm thinking we should be nervous about when he figures out how to do it himself!!

Six Word Saturday- fall craftiness

2009-10-10T09:12:00.007-04:00

How many memes can me I do in one Saturday??

Fall brings out my creative side!
Lately I've been looking through a Pottery Barn catalog I somehow received in the mail and I'm loving some of the ideas! Their stuff is Crazy Expensive and I can find way cheaper stuff at other places that either match perfectly or make wonderful supplies to make the imitation myself! I got these pics from the PB catalog I have, they are not pictures of my imitations, but mine are very similar!! Some of the models I'm creating after are...

I had some vases just like these left over from our wedding decor, which can be bought at stores like walmart or target for just a few dollars or less and instead of these special (really cool, but kind of expensive) pumpkins I filled mine with fall-colored potpurri which I bought at walmart for just a couple of dollars and it even smells, so it serves the same purpose, plus one!

Found some pumpkins just like these for $2 each at Target, WAY cheaper!!

I'm going to make a fall wreath, like I did for Christmas a few years back. I'll use a bunch of different materials just like the ones in this wreath, but mine came from Michael's, they have tons of them for a really low price out on the sidewalk reduced, all the time, just jam them together into one of their inexpensive bare wreaths and I'll get some wide ribbon to tie around it to hang it from a door, just like in the tutorial on the beautiful wreath and hanging concept on A Soft Place To Land!!

I love Fall!!

...OK, so apparently only two, after looking all day, that's all I've found, thought I was on a roll for a minute there this morning! BUT... If you haven't before, check out A Soft Place to Land... she has Tons of cool ideas like this! ***Noticed that she has another pumpkin idea too, that's even more creative!! Great minds :)
Happy Saturday!!!

My blogging goal

2009-10-10T06:51:00.006-04:00

Elevator Pitch I started my blog because it was considerably easier to post pictures and updates on the baby for our family to see so that they don’t miss a minute of Alex’s life. I actually have a best friend from high school who had one first and I copied her and started one, but that was back before the baby came along. That was before her baby came along too (he was born two months after mine). Lauren started her blog of her and her husband to keep in touch with family in England, friends like me (I like to think), and friends from camp where she and her co-camp-counselor husband first met. So when I was at work and exploring the endless expanses of the internet I would always stop by her blog to get updates and see what kind of fun they were having. So I started my own because it looked like a fun idea. That was, again, back before Alex came along. And it didn’t last long. I put a few updates, thoughts of where we might have been moving at the time (which turned out to be nowhere) and it drifted off because a. no one was reading it, b. I didn’t have much to talk about, and c. I had NO idea of the whole blogging community that existed out there! I thought it was just something that I would want to read of people I knew, along the lines of facebook, to reconnect and stay in touch. In my days of blogging virginity I had no idea what it all was. My sister even started one at some point before that and I didn’t get it. Many many hours of blog reading and searching and browsing later, I now know what it really is. It’s not just good for updating the family and old friends. It’s also for finding new fellow-mom friends to share with, and learn from. It’s also about me. Not in the sense of I feel better knowing that people know every update in every venue of my life, but in the sense that I need to clear my head. Sometimes all I need to make myself feel freed of stress and mental weight is to get my thoughts out there. Like writing them on paper and setting it off into the wind, I got my thoughts out and I feel good. The bonus to blogging is that, even if they are strangers, I get feedback and encouragement. Many great writers of all time weren’t even known, recognized or appreciated in their current time, but just writing out their thoughts and feelings made them feel like they were accomplishing something, I’m sure. And the last and likely best, reason for me to spew at the mouth to the cyberworld is for my son. I will never delete these thoughts. What is put on the internet is easily seen and lasts as long as we have computers (we anticipate), so when my son is older and wonders what he look like, what he did, what I felt about him, when he was so much younger, he will be able to refer back here and see how wonderful he was as such a little man and know how much we bragged about him!
*idea from Saturday Share Fest @ SITS!!

Another Award!!

2009-10-07T12:29:00.002-04:00

Kelly @ A Day In the Crazy Life gave me this award and I am so excited!! I am still 99% brand new to blogging and I'm loving it! This is the third time in the past week (or ever) that a fellow mommy blogger has thought that I deserved one of these really cool awards! Thank you so much! It really makes it even more fun to do this when you know others are enjoying what you write!! I feel so special :)

And now, the rules are that I get to handpick five other fabuloso bloggers to pass it onto, which is NOT easy! As you can tell from looking at my list, I follow a LOT of blogs and they are all great in their own way, so how can I pick just five?!! Well, the last one required me to pick 15, so I'll pick five others that I may or may not have just discovered more recently that are equally as great! (I love that I get to post this award now because it's a pretty one too!) So, my ~~nominees~~ choices are (in random order :)....

Sara @ Domestically Challenged who actually has the time and dedication to run marathons while being a mom and a teacher, Wow!

Kim @ Life as I Know It who has really fun stories to share about her son.

Sarah @ The Great Umbrella Heist has adorable triplets and is an AmaZing photographer!!

Noelle @ Because Nice Matters gives great optimism with a side of humor.

Kari @ p.s. love. love. who has two adorable kids and tons to say!

AND, I get to answer some fun questions about myself as a bonus, which is always fun!! ...hmhmhmhmmm... (my husband's favorite quote from Batman)... Here.We.Go!

1. Where is your cell phone?.... coffee table downstairs

2. Your hair? ......straight, long and blonde.. thinking of changing that.

3. Your mother? ......loves so much.

4. Your father?.....would do anything for anyone.

5. Your favorite food? ......anything mexican (mmmmm.)

6. Your dream last night?......don't remember longer than about five minutes after I wake up, which is weird.

7. Your favorite drink?....diet mountain dew; I'm seriously considering checking into addiction on that!

8. Your dream/goal? ....to have more than a few kids and all of them be best friends and never regret wish I had done anything differently!

9. What room are you in? ......loft/craft/computer room/ Bella's bedroom (seriously).

10. Your hobby? ......I don't have one big one.. I like to try to write, try to sew, try to crochet, bike ride, read when I'm bored.

11. Your fear? .....water, more what's in the water, but I still love the beach.

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?......anywhere with my husband and child(ren??)... possibly somewhere really warm, like Florida would be nice!

13. Where were you last night?....in my bed by 9 :)

14. Something you aren't?..... a morning person.

15. Muffins? .....blueberry

16. Wish list item? ......I'd like a magic fairy that could grant away all of our debt so we can never have to worry about money, ever!

17. Where did you grow up?...... NC, to GA, back to NC, to UT, to VA to VA to VA Beach now :)

18. Last thing you did?...... put Alex down for a (much needed) nap

19. What are you wearing? ......comfy pj's; it's my day off :)

20. Your TV? .....Lifetime.

21. Your pets? .........Bella the big butthead Boxer that we love despite the buttheadness.

22. Your friends? ......everywhere :(

23. Your life?......kinda hectic.

24. Your mood? ......unmotivated even though I need to get my butt to work cleaning, little motivated, but not enough auite yet, and I'm too distracted by the excitement of I got another rockin blog award!!

25. Missing someone? .....quite a few people..

26. Vehicle? ......4runner

27. Something you're not wearing? ......work uniform, thank God I'm off today!

28. Your favorite store? .......Target

29. Your favorite color? ......I have two, pink and green.

30. When was the last time you laughed? ......about twenty minutes ago, Alex is entertaining!

31. Last time you cried? .....can't remember, Yay!

32. Your best friend?......I have a few, I am loved, and miss them all!!

33. One place that I go over and over? .......Wal Mart, ugh.

34. One person who emails me regularly?.......hubby, while I'm at work.

35. Favorite place to eat? .......Olive Garden or Taco Bell!!

This was fun! Thanks again to Kelly!!

We're tricking ourselves into saving some cash- step 1

2009-10-06T12:54:00.002-04:00

I have strategically placed change receptacles all over my house. Every day when Jason gets home from work, or the store, or anywhere he might have been that day, everything in his pockets comes out and lands in one of about four place. The most notoriously irking is precisely in the right corner of my kitchen table. One of my biggest pet peeves about my house growing up was that everything from everyone always and forever ended up at some point in time on the kitchen table, or the kitchen counter. There always seems to be a place in every house where each person walks in the door at the end of the day and empties their smallest possessions. The clutter that ensues can drive me up a wall in a matter of less than two.point.five seconds!! Jason’s absolute favorite spot is the very right corner of my kitchen table. The corner that is right there next to Alex’s high chair. So, not only is this the forever messiest quadrant of the table because, a. there’s always a little gunk I missed in cleaning up after the baby’s meals, but then b. there’s the crap Jason loses right there on that same darned corner! THEN, there’s me sitting the baby in his little booster right there at that very same far right corner of my table, more on the end, but his ever-growing wiggling stretch armstrong arms spring into action the second his little baby bum hits that seat and they’re grabbing whatever’s there! It’s better, I’ve surmised, than him jutting them to the opposite side because that’s where the trash can is and although it’s one of those really awesomely camouflaged-noone ever knows it’s there until they ask-keeps the smell in and covers up the ugly-all while keeping trash away from the troublemaking dog-amazing lifesaver of a trashcan device. So, the table, not so bad, reach away, tap on the table, bang on the table, eat off of the table. But, don’t pull Daddy’s random receipts, papers from work, work hat and car keys and ipod and headphones from the ipod (which, why again are there always two sets of black headphones for the one ipod?? I will never understand.. moving on again), or the plethora of pennies, nickels and (Woohoo) Quarters off of kitchen table and onto the kitchen floor where there will then be a whole other mess for mommy to pick up after at a later date because right now I’m supposed to be completing initial task number one of what was it again, I can’t remember from all the distraction and messiness, oh yeah, feeding the baby! OY!! Do you get my drift? Have I painted the picture? You’d think, but no. So, every day it happens, then when I follow behind and go hang the hat on the hat hanger, hang the keys on the key hanger, throw away the receipts and put the ipod and accessories and papers from work that may or may not be important, and all is in it’s rightful homestead… I also grab all the change that he’s told me every time he catches me doing it, is going to be used for a soda or something at work tomorrow, I tell him no it’s not- use a dollar bill, all said change goes into one of the strategically placed change receptacles that I have so thoughtfully and strategically placed in approximately four different areas of our home. A few weeks ago I got home from working a long long twelve hour night at work (just like I do about six nights out of every month) and I was wide awake from all the coffee I drank at work to keep me awake that whole twelve hours. So, I decided I’d use my extra wakeful alert to dump out the biggest change depot in our house, the one on my dresser, and count up the change, just cause I was curious how much we were making off this project I’ve heard is so great an idea! This really cool big silver bowl thingy I got a while back as a part of a gift set from Bath and Body Works has made a perfect change keeper! It’s pretty ginormous! So I dumped out all my our loot and began my count.

Mr. giant silver really cool pretty perfect change collector was not even half full at that point (but not half empty either) and I counted $55!!! I know! So, when I get it all the way completely filled to the brim it’ll be at least $100!! Wahoo! So, that was the day that I started placing other change keepers around the house because who knows how much we can make after a good chunk of time with more than one of those! I’ve started putting some that I find in a couple of different little piggy banks in Alex’s room too, so he’ll have a little stash saved up, call it a prelude to a college fund…

Money money money munnay.... munnaaaaye!

What will Alex think??

2009-10-05T22:54:00.005-04:00

I often wonder how my life would be different if I were truly creative. …If I had the gift for painting or drawing or writing long novels or short stories or deep complex poems. …If I had an outlet that took no work from me, just helped me to relieve stress. It would be a way to express myself, my innermost thoughts, views, creativity that people would want to see. Not even for the monetary benefit, just for the pure joy of release and the feeling of pride and freedom that I’d get from knowing that something so beautiful could come from my mind and my heart with such ease (although the big bucks that could come from it wouldn’t be all bad). That it could flow from me so easily and others would ponder how I see the world. I want to see beauty in everything. I want to remember to hold onto that beauty that my eyes consume for more than mere seconds.

Too often, I do notice and appreciate the wonders of my world, but I feel like I lack the ability to use it for something. Trees, water, clouds, even grass draws my eye if I take the time to notice. The smell that emulates from the freshly mowed lawns on Saturday mornings in my neighborhood make me feel the earth’s true beauty. Those perfect days of the year when I can step outside and the temperature is just right, the comforting smell of the perfect breeze… those are the things that should stop us in our tracks… we should all smell the roses whenever possible. The lazy days where there isn’t a care in the world except what to see first are the ones I miss. Now that I’m a mom I feel the need to just explore and take the time to see it all and show it all to my son so he can know such beauty and perfection.

Often lately I’ve thought back to my younger days. The days when I didn’t have a worry but was mostly too distracted to allow myself to consume it all. If I could I’d go back for just a day to a time when I could have spent hours on end laying in the warm sun and watching nature, listening, smelling and breathing it all in. it would have beat the moments of endless, draining boredom that we spent all too many of indoors back then. Then again, at the time, that boredom was what made us happy. As children we all loved the tv and whatever mind-numbing sedentary games we could get our hands on. Yet, to this day, my fondest memories of that time are the messy and adventurous ones. …The days when we’d sneak away with our best friends to forbidden parts of the neighborhood to see what we were missing. The most thrilling times were when we hopped on our bikes, actually got some exercise just because it was fun, and went to a hideout full of nature and bugs and dirt, and that was what made us happy! Now I wish I had pictures of all of these fuzzy memories.

They are fading. The friendships are lost in time and space and can never be what they were fifteen or twenty years ago! I never called or wrote. They never called or wrote. We had all moved on to new houses, new friends, new adventures, schools and goals. We didn’t want to spend our time in the house on the phone or hunched over notebooks in our rooms writing letters to our old pals and at the time we couldn’t think of a thing to write about even if we’d tried. I had spent day in and day out with the closest of friends. We’d had innumerable sleepovers, campouts, contests, chats, and laughs. Then one day, because we were military children, one of us would move away and we all took for granted the relationships that had been built. Now I think of my child and the possibility of him going on in life without a constant friend to grow with. We are also a military family, just like I was growing up, and he will likely live exactly the same life that I had. The only difference is that technology might keep him in touch, but not indefinitely, with some of the best lifelong buds he could have.

When it was me, I adored moving! I got so excited about the whole deal! I loved new friends, new schools, new places to see and people to meet. I love fresh starts, and I’ve always loved change. Being an ‘army brat’, as we call it, was the coolest thing ever!! There was so much excitement in all the new schools, new friends, new teachers, new places, new houses, new customs, and my core family always remained constant and strong.

But, there’s always a but, now I think of what I might have missed out on. Do I want my child to experience the sadness with every move? Do I want him to have to leave every friend he’ll ever grow to love? Or do I want him to know what it’s like to have the kind of life where he can know his friends from preschool all the way up to when he leaves for college? He could have lifelong friends!! They could know every secret, every quirk, every fear, every family member, pet, tradition, or pain or joy that would have been shared.

As a mom and a wife I have the heart of my world to share and grow within my new circle. I will have them to love and support for the rest of my life. My son will always have me to believe in him and to love him and teach him and help him no matter where we live. I just wonder if we are meant to follow the same path that I grew up on. Will my child wonder what it would have been like, or regret, or resent the choices that we made for his life? I love what my childhood was for me, but what if he doesn’t want the same? Will his biggest wish in life be to have had friends that knew his every side through all of his life? Will Jason and I, as parents, wish one day that we’d let him experience what we didn’t have, or will he grow to love it as well? Do the positives outweigh the negatives? There isn’t going to be much that we can do to change these things, this is after all the career path that we have chosen for our family, but will he benefit from it?

These thoughts and feelings are what fuel my desire to have a large family. The more children we have, and the closer they are in age, the stronger their bonds will be, and the happier they might be! I think…

Things I'm grateful for...

2009-10-04T23:11:00.009-04:00

These always make me feel good!
I have a supportive husband. No, he’s not always perfect or always understanding. No, we’re not always patient or forgiving of each other, but he tries and I try and we’re learning together. We try and that’s all that we can expect of one another.

We have a healthy, very happy baby boy.

We share the same views on the important things, religion, family, children, parenting…

Fall is beautiful and it’s my favorite season.

We aren’t going without anything important. We have everything that we need and even though we stress at times, we aren’t without.

We have family.

We have the ability to learn more about ourselves and our family. We will never stop learning and growing.

We have a future to look forward to and our son to watch grow.

Fall :)

If I were a cartoon

2009-10-04T22:18:00.001-04:00

Today's Writing Prompt: Cartoon

Describe what a cartoon version of you might look

like and act like. (Think of it as a caricature,
overemphasizing certain qualities.)

I've actually had a caricature done before when I was in San Fransisco. It was of my mom and me. Apparently I have a roundish face with a pointy chin because that's what it looked like. Oh and long blonde hair, big teeth and humongo boobs. Seriously, I know they're kinda big, but geez! The expression on my doodly-me was one of sass and confidence. If I remember correctly there was no color to my eyes, but it wasn't a super sunny day so maybe the guy didn't know what color they really were and didn't want them to be wrong. Actually, the more I think about it my mom had ginormous teeth too! Maybe the guy just thought our best attribute was our big teeth and boobs, I'm sure :) Eyes don't matter. It was an interesting one to say the least, but as odd as we look it was kinda fun, and turned out kinda cute because you could tell we were having fun. My mom has it framed on a wall in their house at the beach, so I get to see it once or twice a year and I'm glad we had it done, I've only been to San Fran once and it was only for a few months so it brings back good memories.

Okay, that was about four minutes instead of one, my bad :)

And I need a pic, so give me about 90 seconds more...

I got an award!!! Times 2!!!!

2009-10-04T20:25:00.004-04:00

Thank you so much to Tami and Jayme for my very first blog award!! I've been eyeing everyone's awards and coveting one of my own, and they have both given me one in just one day!!! Yay!! I'm still very new to this and I'm already struggling with having enough to write about and making it creative and entertaining enough for everyone else to want to read and to enjoy as much as I do everyone elses! Thanks so much Tami and Jayme, what a compliment!! Anyone who hasn't seen their blogs check them out! Tami's got lots to share on family and she's also an awesome follower/commenter, even to newbies like ME!!! Jayme has tooons of good stories and stuff to tell too since she has some very adorable twins to show off!

And now I am to pass it on to 15 other bloggers!! Wow, this will be hard, there are so many that I read daily and I'm not sure if they are supposed to be new bloggers or just newly discovered to me, but I'm thinking the latter, so here goes!!!

1. Simply Simonsons

2. Momspective

3. Okay. Fine. Damnit.

4. Design It Chic

5. Wooden Nickel

6. A Woman's Life Stages

7. April Showers

8. Scary Mommy

9. The Messy Mom

10. Unnecessary Drama

11. Unknown Mami

12. The Making of M.O.M.

13. Ravings of a Mad Housewife

14. Mama's Losin It

15. Frugal Vicki

The rules of the "One Lovely Blog Award" are:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to make an award section on my blog, and I'm not getting it, so if anyone can help, Please do!!! For now I'll just put it up as a pic!!

I want this phone!

2009-10-04T03:14:00.000-04:00

The Samsung Reclaim. Made from recycled stuff, green and Green :) Pretty sweet, huh?? I need it :)

Another Fabulous Fall pic I found!!

2009-10-04T01:29:00.004-04:00

Wow!! I just love fall :) I'm the opposite of the rest of the world; I don't get spring cleaning kicks. Istead, I get fall cleaning, rearranging, cleaning out, reinventing kinda kicks. It must stem from the whole new start of back to school starting over fresh mindset. I've always used this time of year to evaluate myself, my life, and restructure or replan and reset goals. I love the feeling of resetting my mind and having a new fresh slate. This is the time of year that I feel the most creative and together mentally. Now is when I like to plan for the next year, starting with my birthday at the end of this month, Thanksgiving,
Christmas, then the New Year...
I think that also has something to do
with it... my birthday is a start of a
new year for me... Just thoughts.
Isn't this photo beautiful?!!

Photo by Victor Eredel

Things I never knew (brought to me by Alex)

2009-10-03T22:51:00.000-04:00

Alex has taught me more than I could have ever taught myself. Before him I didn’t know what patience was. I still have trouble with this one when it comes to being patient with my husband, mostly, but I’m really working on it! Right honey?? :o)

Before Alex I didn’t know how much I slept, or how much I took it for granted.

I didn’t know that I could not want to throw things at someone who woke me up at 5am on my day off.

I had no idea how special the tiniest bites of food could be.

I never thought of how much skill or thought it took to get a teeny tiny piece of food into your mouth without dropping it four or five times first because it just keeps slipping through your fingers!

I didn’t know that anyone’s arms and legs could move so fast just because something exciting passed by.

I never realized how quiet and boring I could be at times until he brought out the goofiness in me.

I didn’t know that my husband and I could spend hours in the same house and not even share two words because there’s just so much more to do now…

..so I never valued our quiet time together as much as I do now.

I never knew what it was to have a family of my own, that I made. I always had a family, my parents and siblings were always there for me, and still are, but this family, we created this!!

I never knew how hard it would be to make decisions for my child. Even things as small as which cereal to buy, whether or not to give juice, how to arrange the furniture, what kind of cleaning supplies to buy, paper or plastic, reusable or disposable, none of this has ever mattered to me until I had someone else to think of. every little decision that we make, every thing that we bring into our home affects him in some way.

Sometimes the only solution is to laugh. When you’re so tired you feel like curling up and ignoring everything until you fall back asleep, the best thing to do is grab a pick me up cup of coffee to wake my butt up (even though it’s 6 am on my day off) and sitting on the hardwood floor with my little boy and playing peekaboo!

I never ever knew what it was like to see myself slowly emerge in a younger person’s expressions! Everyday he becomes more of me and more of my DakerDad.

I never ever knew someone could get SOOO excited about taking a bath! I’ve got to videotape how fast and loud his little legs kick on the floor when he knows it’s bath time!

I never knew how fast eight months could go by!

I never knew I could love so much!

Six Word Saturday

2009-10-03T19:41:00.000-04:00

I want to wear more hats!

There are so many things that I want to know how to do. I try to teach myself, but it takes forever and sometimes I don’t do them well. There are some that I know how to do, like be a mom, but I always want to do that better. There are some, like have a career, that I do, but I wish I could do it less. Less is more. I want to be able to wear my mommy hat more, my perfect mommy hat at all, my save the world hat some too, my work hat less, my Stepford wife hat more, my craftiness hat, my plastic hat (plastic as in plastics like the perfectly beautiful skinny girls are called in the movies and don’t even have to try, my similar skinny b*tch hat, my business-owner/ entrepreneur/ work at home and make millions and spend all of my time with my son and have lots more kids and only have to work while kids are napping and still support my family so my husband can also spend all of his time with the kids… That’d be a big honkin hat but it would be so very perfectly awesome!! And it would be pink too : )

WWWednesday!!

2009-09-30T03:27:00.000-04:00

Today will be Whirly Wednesday.
I do this thing with my son that causes him to make the funniest face. It's a look of excitement, anticipation, humour, adoration. He loves to be whirled! Whirling is when I'm holding him on my hip and I spin around in a circle. The momentum and gravitational changes move him out away from me while holding him almost sideways. He must feel a change in weight and place, almost as if I've lost control and he's drifting away. It must give him the same sensational feelings that one gets when riding on a tilt-a-whirl.

It's freeing. All at once you feel the weight of the force on your body, but even though you aren't in control you feel freed to just let go. Your muscles relax. Your thoughts are lost and you feel the overwhelming need to laugh but can't, because all you can do is let go and smile.

We spin until I start to feel my footing miss. I do this to my little boy at least once a day and while it's probably not the best thing for his joints or his eyes, balance, or head, it's not the safest mommy-ly practice, especially with Bella at my feet to trip me up at any moment...

(This is Bella, about 50 pounds ago)

But it is fun for us both. He gets the biggest kick out of it and I feel like it's just one of those things that brings us closer together. He's not afraid of anything. His most favorite activities in his world involve jumping, bouncing, flying up in the air waiting to be caught.. again, probably not the safest activity out there, but he loves it! We enjoy our whirly times and I love the look in his face as he's grasping my arms with his little pinchy grip and looking at my face with the biggest smile I've ever seen on such a little person!

The absolute best pic to put here would be of my son's face when we're whirling. It's magical, really. So much delight. But, as it is impossible for me to safely whirl my whirly-boy while holding camera in other hand, backing up enough behind my shoulder to be sure to capture his perfectly excited expression all the while keeping me out of the picture and rotating in sync with the spaztastic circular pendulumism without either breaking camera, breaking son, breaking said sync or busting my butt on the floor and still only ending up with a pic as good as maybe one of the ceiling fan blades in the corner of the pic as we both go tumbling down brought to our doom by Bella's giant paws and nipping at his heels... Can you see how completely unfeasable this photo op would be? Chyeaa. THat NoT Easy. Maybe I can get hubby to try to play photog after work today. If not, you're left with your fabulously active imaginations I'm sure. Don't try this at home unless you're a regularly experienced infant whirler like ME...and Alex!

I heart Random Tuesday!!!!!

2009-09-29T03:09:00.001-04:00

I like edamame, or soybeans, they are yummy and healthy and good to munch on without the guilt and sugar. Just had a debate with co-workers that they are NOT the same as snap peas. Googled it and I was right (which I already knew, but men don't give in easily)... My point!

I've more than double my blog followers in the past twelve hours. I am amazed and SupER-Excited!!!!

Alex still has his cold, but it's been a lot better the past day and a half or so. So, let's hope it stays that way!! Poor little boy was miserable with an earache, he's trying to shake it off and he's doing a good job. I actually can't believe he's never been sick this long! He made it to 8.5 months before getting his first cold!

I need a new layout. I hate having a generic template that eight thousand other people have. I need creativity in my blog-life but I super seriously suck at html crappiness so there's no way in h-e-hockey I can do it myself... I've tried... I suck... Even my stupid Twitter button didn't work right, WTH!!! Poor me.

I need to figure out couponing... For reals...

My ellipses march on, hahaaa, see what I mean..?

We have weigh-ins for work in October... oy. Haven't weighed myself in a while... hope and a prayer I haven't gained any weight... I had a baby, doesn't that give me an out for like ever?!?!!

Alex is so cute and I'm convinced that I'll never think another child is as perfectly adorable as him, which makes me nervous to have more because how could I possibly love them as much as him, and how could they be as wonderfully perfect as him?? Hehe :)

I can't wait til Thanksgiving!!! We're sooo excited!! Woohooo!!

I might have more to add later in the day. It is, after all, only 3 am! I was anxious, can ya tell?

MyConfessions

2009-09-29T00:18:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I need to vent. It's kinda all random babble, but it makes me feel better. So, here goes....

I wish I were more worldly
I want to travel. I love to see pictures of new and beautiful places. I see so many that I'd love to experience. My so-far, tentative list is as follows... and grows daily...
NY (planning this Thanksgiving and can NOT frikin wait!)... I've actually been before but that trip was a bust, went with a boyfriend long long ago and he wasn't the most exciting, adventurous guy. And, we could both only afford to do so much. And it was new years so there was basically the standing in the middle of the street in Times Square waiting for a teeny tiny ball to fall from the sky, for like FOUR flippin hours, which is SO Totally Very Much OVER-RateD!! Then there was a walk around the most un-pretty parts of Central Park, which I know isn't the real Central Park package because Hello, it's beautiful in ALL the movies and of course the movies Do Not Lie, so we did something wrong... Boring... I need to do it all again, and this time I'll have a Whole week!!! And we'll be staying in the mountains upstate, so we'll get to see some of both worlds and my mad skills of the art of googling have shown me that the part we'll be staying in is pretty gorgeous too, especially in the fall, which is my most favoritist of all the seasons there are! Yippeeeeeeyy!!

Other places I absolutely have to at some point soon in my life see, if only we could afford to not have careers and jobs and had won tons of lottery money would beeee... drumroll please...

The Great Lakes
Maine
Washington (state, not dc, seen plenty of dc to last me the rest of ten lifetimes)... but I'd really love to see the Seattle area
San Diego, maybe even LA
Hawaii

Canada (Niagra Falls would be cool to see)

Australia

Croatia

Italy

and

Greece!!!

I can never seem to figure out how to be bubbly all the time.

I used to be the happy, bubbly, hyper one of the bunch circa my high school days. I was that way until I had friends that were the boring ~~chill~~ no, boring type that were too cool to ever smile or be in a good mood, or Hyper as they called people like me. I was a cheerleader, what can ya do. So, I learned to tone it down. And now I can't seem to get it back. Ten years later I would give my left pinky toe to be the hyper always happy bubbly smiley one that brings a smile to everyone's face and never runs out of energy. I feel like my bubbly little world was deflated a little way back when and can't be regrown. It's something I miss. It would make some things in adult life a LOT more fun.

Materialism is overrated, but I'd love to have like five cars.

I'd need my big SUV that I love!!!

I'd need every car I've loved before, my Jeep, my Scion.

I'd also need a super-sporty car, such as a Mustang or that really really cool Camaro from Transformers!!

And I'd need a big truck like a Dodge Ram or Titan.

All the same color. Dark blue, just like they've all been so far.

Please and Thank you.

...But materialism is overrated :o)

Blog for a Cure

2009-09-28T21:07:00.000-04:00

For a good cause... Check it out, make a donation, and if you're a fellow-blogger looking for readers it's a good way to get followers. I've had a couple of loved ones in my life affected by cancer. The need for a cure is unbelievably huge and eventually, hopefully, it will be discovered.
Research needs funding, so check it out and think about supporting!! All this week. And, as always, Thanks for stopping by!!

Blog for a Cure starts today!!

2009-09-28T12:24:00.002-04:00

I love it when we're cruisin together

2009-09-27T23:51:00.003-04:00

The age old story of the baby who cries all night and can not be consoled. The baby who is in pain and you can’t tell why, let alone even begin to know how to fix it! The baby who becomes too exhausted to hold his eyes open another second but hurts too much to go to sleep. Who can only be cured by a ride in the car, until now, has seemed to me to be a croc of poo. That was until last night.

My poor baby boy has had his very first cold! He has been stuffy. He has been runny. He has been coughing and congested and stuffy and runny all at once! His eyes have itched and watered. His face has been flush. He has been parched about 99% of the day. This has been little Alex’s life for the past four or five days. The thing is, though, that he is such a happy baby, so you can barely tell. He still laughs and smiles and stands and jumps and kicks and plays all day… until last night! Until last night the only sign of ale to him was the rasp behind his giggle, the occasional cough, and the glossy eyes started to give him away… until last night.

We took him to the doctor yesterday, just in case. Just so that we wouldn’t give him the wrong otc medicine, or the wrong dosage, and cause him worse problems. We were trying to be overly cautious. We were looking ahead so as to avoid it getting worse and causing him pain. He has never been sick a day in his life… until last night. The diagnosis was just a small cold, slightly inflamed ears… we were not told that it might be a good idea to NOT give him his nightly bath right before bed because the water might get in his ears and cause him further, and far WORSE pain! Jason told her that he was concerned that Alex might be predisposed to chronic ear infections since he was that way as a very young child. Even though we were told that his ear canals did look inflamed that the only thing to avoid was the bottle right before bed because it could make the congestion a little worse, and that it was just a cold, right? Not to worry about an ear infection. Yeeeaaahh, not so much.

So, at bedtime last night I gave him only a little of his bottle, and my baby’s a big boy so I felt like I was depriving him of his evening meal, my poor baby. And then I followed it with a bottle of water, since he’s so thirsty now, it’ll also help him stay hydrated and get well, and it cleared him out a little to maybe help him breathe with less congestion.

The congestion however, was NOT the problem. He fell fast asleep perfectly fine! He was asleep in seconds. Passie in mouth, music on, good to go. He slept great for about two hours, so it seemed to me that she was being over-cautious and he’d be juuuust fine, because our baby’s a trooper and he’s not going to let a little cold kick his butt.

Yeeeaaah… Two hours later he was ScreaminG!! Out of nowhere, he was screaming like someone hurt him in his sleep. It was the saddest thing and I hoped that holding him and rocking him, or hugging him would help. Not so much. Poor baby was inconsolable and had to be carried, while standing, walking in order to even think of ceasing the screaming.

He was not a colicky baby, so this was a First for us!!

We finally decided that he was having an earache because he wouldn’t stop pulling on his red little lobes. He had had his nightly bath right before bed and, to be sure, had gotten some water in his ears… again, we didn’t think of this until after it was too late.

We held, we rocked, we walked, we sang, we sat in the bathroom with the hot steam going for twenty minutes… as a family… huddled in the bathroom with the door closed. We bulb-sucked out his boogies, which we knew would cause the hysteria to quadruple! He was miserable. He tugged on his ears and cried his poor little eyes out.

We packed him up in the car and headed for the ER at about eleven at night. We weren’t even a mile from the house and he started to relax. I watched him from the seat right next to his as he lulled off to sleep. Finally peaceful. Finally sleeping. Then there was the red light! The crying began again! We were able to hop right on the highway and do a big loop back to the house because we were NOT about to wake him up and let him cry for hours in the ER waiting room. So, we made it home. He stayed asleep. We let him sleep in his carseat, in the floor of our bedroom. Two hours later he woke up again and we moved him to his crib where he slept peacefully in increments of approximately two hours. He’d wake, we’d check on him, rub his back, restart the music and give him his paci. And we all got a total of about four hours sleep… just last night…

So, the moral of my story is… that the age old story of the baby who cries all night and con not be consoled unless he goes for a ride in the car around the block, or around I64, is officially NOT a crock of bull!!! It does happen and it is not fun!

Moral number two is that we will NOT give Alex nightly baths right before bed when he’s got the sniffles, because he probably has allergies and sensitive ears just like his daddy!

My poor boys : o)

This isn't him, but kinda how he looked...

WWWednesday!

2009-09-23T16:50:00.002-04:00

Alex wanted a Wannabe Wednesday

So far all Alex has wanted to be is fed and dry all the time promptly at the hour of, If you don’t do it now I swear I’ll scream. Other than that he's spent brief moments mulling over other ventures. The first one I can remember that was a big reach was a wannabe G...

He likes to steal Daddy's hats and play (boy) dress up because they're half the size of his body (Daddy has a big dome). That got him really excited!!

More recently, he started mulling over the idea of truck driving.

Specifically, dump truck driving!

Other interests may possibly include baking, or

mixing of some sort... He looooves playing with mommy's mixing bowl and big giant spoons, and anything else that can fit inside. The bestest, most exciting, rewarding part of this career route for him is when he works hard and long to remove all objects from the big giant bowl to see how many pacies he can find inside. Upon completion of retrieving all pacies that were sneakily hidden by his wonderful mother he is finally satisfied and can be seen occupied for minutes at a time (which is an accomplishment at his age) with giant bowl, giant spoon, and whatever may have been put inside...

Dada and Baba

2009-09-23T07:15:00.001-04:00

Alex’s two words. For at least a month now he’s been saying Dada. He calls Daddy dada, he calls Mommy dada and he just babbles dadadadadadaaa all day long, so he might not as much know that that means daddy as much as he just likes it! Three days ago he said baba!! I’m pretty sure that most the time when I give him a bottle or talk to him and ask if he’s hungry I also say do you want a baba? I don’t realize it, so I can’t be positive that I do it, but I think so.
So the other day I was feeding him some carrot and squash babyfood I made him and he loved the first few bites. Then he shook his head, which he’s been doing for a few months now, and I think he’s finally got what that means. Before he just always thought it was funny. But, I’m pretty sure that on this day Alex and I might have actually had our first real conversation! He took the spoonful of food in his mouth, didn’t chew and slurp it down like he was doing, but left it on his tongue. He then smiled at me and said BABA. Very quiet, very polite, just baba. Then again. Next bite, baba again. And the next and the next. It was really very funny, but even though I thought it weird I assumed that he was just making sounds to babble because he couldn’t possibly have just meant to actually say baba with a mouth full of food, could he? So I asked him baba? Are you saying bottle? Then I said, Alex do you want a baba? And I’m pretty darn positive that real quick just then he did a head nod! For the first time ever, I’m pretty positive he nodded yes, not no!! So I went and grabbed a bottle and showed it to him to make sure. He started kicking and waving and laughing, which is what he does every time he sees that he’s getting a bottle. Then I act quickly because I know what comes next…
Alex is a little Hunger Monster… I become a little impatient and somewhat mean when I’m hungry for too long and people are making me wait, some have said so I guess he gets it from me. My husband is the number one believer of this trait in me, he says it’s funny, but I don’t think that he thinks as much at that particular time. I’m sure all babies get a little fussy and cry when they’re hungry but Alex is on a whole other level! He is laughing and bouncing around excited and happy one second and then a switch is flipped. No one ever sees it coming and all of a sudden he is furious! He jumps up and down to begin the temper tantrum, then he sees the bottle being prepared. So, he switches from night to day, he’s happy and laughing thinking he gets to eat. Then he sees that it’s being warmed and doesn’t understand why he’s not eating yet and it’s holy terror again! The flailing arms, jumping legs and screaming shows that in just eight short months he’s figured out how to throw the perfect tantrum, just like mommy! OK, I’m not that bad. But as soon as he gets his bottle, which he grabs viciously from the hand that feeds ~~(and would probably bite if he could get hold)~~ he’s back to being a perfect little angel! It’s an emotional roller coaster, that hopefully is way worse than my display, but it’s a little funny after the fact. We are starting to think that we have produced our own personal little Jekyll/Hyde duo!

… It may seem to you that these are all negative traits, but it depends how you look at it. He’s not afraid to get comfy, no matter how funny he looks, he has a wonderful sense of humor, and sarcasm already emerging, and he knows what he wants and how to get it pretty darn quick!!! My little man is growing up so fast!

But, yes, from these events I’ve gathered that Alex has learned to say baba and knows what it means!! My smart little man !!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

2009-09-22T06:58:00.000-04:00

I'm running out of stuff to write about. I'm boring. But I'm sure that as Alex starts doing more really cool stuff I'll have plenty to talk about... hopefully.

I'd call this Totally Random Tuesday, but the name's already made up, thanks to The UnMom, and not that I don't like her name for it :), but I'd add a Totally just to make it even more exciting and fabulous if it were me, but she knows what she's doing. She has Waaaaaaaay more readers than me and I'm kinda jealous... and she's funnier :)

Alex says two words now!!!! I'll write about them separately, possibly tomorrow, that'll be a good one for the fam and friends to see what's going on with little man, which was the inspiration for the creation of my now digressed and boringly irrelevant blog that needs work... at least it looks kinda pretty !!!
PS. Word I hate: digress. In the sense that I just used it, not so bad, but it's still the first time I've ever used it and I'm kinda not liking it, but it just fit, so I'm leaving it. Think of it as a statement of something. In the sense of 'blah blah blah blah blah... I digress'. It drives me up a flippin wall!

I told Jason I want my hair done for my birthday and I'm really excited to have it done, but I'm really nervous it's going to be bad and I'm going to cry like I did last time.

I want another baby.... soon... like really soon.. Alex needs a sibling.

Alex also needs a haircut, but it's kinda sad to cut it too, even though he doesn't have the curly locks people leave for years, he has an old-manish combover because it's board-straight, which is also adorable (on him), but it's an old-man combover, so really... It might be time.

I like ellipses, and I'm pretty sure that 99% of the time I don't even use them the right way, but I like to use them, lots... see? Aye. And another PS, I'm sure people think my ellipses are as obnoxious as pointing out digression (if that's even the right word for it, not sure) are to me, so I apologize... Even though it can't be stopped!

Happy Tuesday!!
...hehe:)

Like a Stone

2009-09-19T16:39:00.002-04:00

As long as I've loved this song and the way Audioslave did it which such emotion and I knew all the words, the meaning of it didn't hit me until I heard it on the radio on my way to work yesterday....

On a cold, wet afternoon

In a room full of emptiness
By a freeway I confess
I was lost in the pages
Of a book full of death
Reading how we'll die alone
And if we're good we'll lay to rest
And then will we wander

In your house I long to be
room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone

And on my deathbed I will pray
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan to anyone
Who will take me to heaven
To a place I recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The wine was bled
And there you led me on

And on I read
Until the day was gone
And I sat in regret
Of all the things I've done
For all that I've blessed
And all that I've wronged
In dreams until my death
I will wander on

In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
Alone

Written by Chris Cornell

My paragraph on TP and other things

2009-09-17T16:13:00.002-04:00

Ordinary people just suddenly come up with the most brilliant ideas for the simplest of things and make millions, as well as an amazingly useful product that the world can never again live without! Where does that creativity come from? Some of our common, absolute necessities today were once just a flicker in some genious' mind! The lightbulb came on and history was made, and the world was never the same again. Some of the things I couldn't exist without; like if it were suddenly banished I might ~~die~~ be a very miserable, crabby person for the rest of my earthly existence. But really, how did people think of this stuff before it existed as an everyday commodity?

chap-stik?!!!?!?!! Seriously, I might have had a stroke by now if I couldn't apply and reapply eighteen thousand times every day.
lotion?!?!?!! Ditto from above, I'm a little bit wee slightly most definitely addicted to both and must have both on my person, or at least within arms reach all day every day, so I have them stashed everywhere and when I'm at work I can not fully function, and be happy doing it, without both. If I happen to forget and go through an entire day without both to reapply and repeat all eighteen thousand times while I'm at work I'm thinking about how something doesn't feel right, all day. It's sad really. My names Jessica and I'm a chappylotiaholic.
fingernail clippers, have one of those in my work bag too, weird I know, but it's gross to bite them and they get on my nerves if not perfectly trimmed at all times.
tp... hello?!!!! Seriously, what did they do before THIS stuff, eww... Noveltp.com/trivia says "In our age, Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857. His new toilet paper was composed of flat sheets. Before Gayetty's invention, people tore pages out of mail order catalogs - before catalogs were common, leaves were used. Unfortunately, Gayetty's invention failed. Walter Alcock (of Great Britain) later developed toilet paper on a roll ( instead of in flat sheets). Again, the invention failed.
In 1867, Thomas, Edward and Clarence Scott (brothers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) were successful at marketing toilet paper that consisted of a small roll of perforated paper . They sold their new toilet paper from a push cart - this was the beginning of the Scott Paper Company."~ Thank goodness for them!!!

WWWednesday!

2009-09-16T07:04:00.002-04:00

Wednesdays are my opportunity to think of things that start with W to Write about. This week I'm picking Working mom, which is What I am.

Oh, how do I love spending my days at work for twelve long hours while my baby boy is at the babysitter's all day..? Truthfully, it kinda sucks at times, but somebody's gotta do it; actually in our family two somebodies' gotta do it! That means that as much as it bugs me to be away from my little bundle of perfection now, it'll be that much better for us in the long run. Now that we have a child we have to plan for his future, right? Luckily, he started going to the babysitter's young, he was two months old then, so he actually kinda likes it. We had a really good babysitter, the wife of a coworker of mine, who lived right here by my place of work, so I felt really comfortable with that. We just changed, however, to someone who is less than five minutes from home for us, which means that on days when Daddy has to take little man to the sitter's it's on his way to work too, instead of diverting him an hour out of the way! So, this is best for us all. Also, new babysitter has a boy more Alex's size and heft and also very energetic, so on day one our guy came home having sweated out his energy and with plenty of naps so he was in the happiest mood! This was a relief for me, because he was starting to get to where he was a little overtired and crabby coming home to us before, so so far we are very happy! (Half the price doesn't hurt either!!!:)

At least I only have to work for three days at a time, then I get three off. I know a lot of people think (and often tell me) that that's a cake schedule and what am I whining about... As they say on that show on MTV which I haven't seen in a long time, so I don't remember the name (True Life, maybe??)... You think you know, but you have no idea... You have no idea, unless you've done it before, how long twelve hours are when you don't get the napping breaks every few hours. Or how it feels to come home from work exhausted and wanting to do nothing but spend hours playing with your child but you have no more than thirty minutes before he has to go to bed, in which time you also have to eat dinner and pack his bag for the next day! Then rush yourself off to bed to wake up at 4am the next day to do it all over again! I know there are lots of us out there that do it, nurses have a very similar schedule a lot of times, and they feel my pain (haha). But, my saving grace is those blissful three days off that I get in between every one of these short work weeks, which completely makes up for it!! As much as I feel run down and as much as I feel like I miss in his life is washed away after three whole days together without work to interfere. We actually do get a lot of one on one time, just the two of us, and sometimes we're EXTRA lucky and my days off fall on a weekend, so we can all spend it together!! It's amazing how much more you value family time when you don't have it every day. Not that stay at home moms necessarily take it for granted, but it seems different for me personally, so I'm grateful for that, because I might not see how good it is for us if I was home every day.
Eventually, once I'm finished with my military career (whenever that may be, haven't decided yet), I'd like to have a new career where I work a more kid-friendly schedule... ie. a Teacher!! It's funny because that was my absolute dream job when I was younger. Picture me, age 8 or 9, bossy little blonde chic, my favorite store was the teacher supply store (I know), and I would actually corral all of my friends (who were willing, kinda) or pets, stuffed animals, whatever, so that I could "teach" them. I even had a real teacher grade book, and I loved it! I think of that sometimes when I'm organizing or list-making now, it still makes me a little excited, it's sad really. But that was me, I wanted to be the leader and instructor of all the perfect little children that wanted to sit still and eagerly learn from my experience and know-how! Somewhere along the line I lost my way, I think it was high school that ruined it for me. Everyone hated school, hated learning, hated teachers, so I was discouraged and decided that I didn't want to teach ungrateful brats who thought they were too good to learn. Now I just realize that I'd rather work with the younger ones who might still care a little and want to be motivated. So, when I grow up (after career #1 is over, that is), I think I'll be a grade school teacher :)

Random Tuesday Thoughts

2009-09-15T07:35:00.001-04:00

I wish I could be a rich, super-popular, super-hip stay at home mom and host playdates-slash-mommy cocktail hour while my husband was at work every day.
Alex needs a super-cool nanny or au-pair, whichever's more 'in', and most fun!
Jason and I are going to be vampires for Halloween and take Alex trick or treating (most likely as a monkey because he's slightly obsessed with monkeys and so far it's the only costume he got really excited about when we showed him).
We're also going to get as much candy as we can for him, but it's really for us since he only has three teeth so far and it's really bad for babies, SCORE!!
Alex is at a new babysitter's today and I'm kinda nervous, but she seems really nice and has two kids for him to play with that he really seemed to like, and she fed him baby wafers and cheerios yesterday so he likes her already, but I'm really going to miss him today knowing he's not right across the street like he used to be :(
Craigs List is pretty awesome. Aside from the fact that it's sometimes a royal pain in the arse to get the time and location and all coordinated with people, so far we've found furniture, our house, a car (that kinda sucks, but worked out temporarily), and a babysitter five minutes from our house (which sounds bad, I know, but she seems normal and nice, and he likes her), so score!!!
New babysitter cloth diapers, it's way cheaper and way better for the environment, I'm totally going to do that next time around, between babycenter people, her, and Lauren I'm convinced.
Made beef stew for dinner last night, it didn't turn out as I had planned, it was pretty good, but less gravy-y and more water-y based, so I didn't like it, but Jason took leftovers to work today (which he's told me before is the true test of his like for the dinners I make him, because if he doesn't like it he won't eat the leftovers, so I guess it wasn't that bad), but it still bugs me when I make something new and it's not GreAT, but oh well, I'm still new at this, right??
Yesterday I witnessed a 19 year old girl who had to ask her mom how to cook eggs and how to start a washing machine, and she did it FOR her, so at least I was never that bad, right?
I almost feel the need to watch all of my Grey's Anatomy (seasons 1-4) dvds all over again before watching season 5 for the first time just so it lasts longer and because I'm just that obsessed, am I crazy??
Is it also crazy that I looove the name Addison for a girl, which I never even heard until watching GA and I've really seriously contemplated naming a daughter (if our next child's a girl) that, but think that people will think I'm crazy having two children with the same names as characters from my favorite tv show, which really does sound kinda crazy, but seriously, I just like the names :)
I'm teaching myself how to crochet. It's like 70% easier than knitting (which sucked!) but it would be a lot easier having someone to teach me, BUT I'll feel really good when I master it and I taught myself, completely I guess. So far I can make a really cool little bracelet, I should sell those on etsy, they take about ten minutes to make, but it's kinda fun. I'm sure though that as soon as I got an order for more than about ten (if that ever happened) I'd remove my ad-page thingy because that's too much demand. hmm..
I got the cutest picture of Alex and Jason in their Eagles gear for the game Sunday, but I think I might save it for Fun/ny Photo Friday, muahaaahaa (evil laugh).
Why is it SOOOO difficult to find a template I like, and then if I find one I'll settle for it's near impossible to get it to actually work! Oy.
I love coffee, mmmmmm.
Is there one main inventor of 'reality tv shows', that makes bookoo big bucks for inventing the whole idea or was it just an individual thing? Like, was the creator of Real World Season 1 the first person or was it someone before them? What about the inventor of infomercials, would they count? I need to think of some weird random contraption idea that can make me a millionaire just for coming up with the idea. Add that to my to do list, since it looks like I'll never win the lottery, besides, you don't really get famous for winning the lottery, but inventing something, imagine how many times you'd be googled after that, that's making history!!
OK, I'm good for now, this is fun, I'll be back next week too! Great idea The UnMom!!

Grey's Anatomy!!!!!

2009-09-15T00:31:00.003-04:00

Yeah Yeah Yeeeahahahhh!! Season 5 is released on dvd today and as soon as Jason gets off work he is (pre-~~instructed~~ requested) to go buy it for me on his way home and I can't FliPPin wait!!!! Now I have exactly 9 days to watch this complete season before 6 starts on tv and now that I have dvr (thank you thank you) I can actually watch the entire season without having to ignore that it's on and wait til the dvd release because I can't watch it every week when it comes on due to my crappy work schedule. Yay!!!! I'm so excited. I love them all!! Perfect cast, perfect plot, perfect script, it's hilarity at it's best and the drama's great too. And no, to those who wonder, I did not name my child after Alex Carev, it was just a bonus ;) Yay!! (Can you tell I'm a little obsessed??)

Things WE can't wait to do with Alex...part 1

2009-09-13T08:10:00.000-04:00

I got the idea for this from Dadblast

teach him to ride a bike
practice writing his name (backwards and all, it'll be adorable).
watch him play doggy games with Bella (it'll be great to see her have a companion more her size, she gets so bored sometimes I know he'll be the only one able to keep up with her energy).
one word: play-doh!
swim!!
play family football
Philadelphia Eagles game (Daddy's input of course, but I'm all for it too :) )

... There are so many more, but for some reason I'm drawing a blank right now, but we'll be back with more later!!

Some questions about me...

2009-09-12T08:11:00.001-04:00

Got this from franticmom and thought it looked fun.
1) What are you wearing right now? ODU’s (work day).

2) What is your biggest fear? SIDS, kidnappers (I have nightmares frequently about these things).
3) Do you nap a lot? Only on days immediately following working all night, so like twice a month Alex and I will take naps as much as he’ll let me, which isn’t much, but I’ve gotten three or four in before on a really good day!! Normal days, no, not so much, there’s always something to do!
4) Who is the last person you hugged? My husband while leaving for work today after seeing him for about five minutes when he got home from work :/
5) What websites do you visit when you go online? Blogger, Babycenter, Facebook sometimes…
6) What was the last item you bought for your child? Breathable bumper for Alex’s crib. Again, as previously stated I’m terrified of sids, so I had to go get one as soon as he started sleeping with his face right up against his original monkey bumper and pulling it as close as he could get it to his face because he liked to cuddle with it. It was the weirdest thing and though it was adorable I started freaking out! Every night I started waking up every hour or so because I was having nightmares of him either suffocating or being kidnapped. I actually woke up from dreams of people breaking into the house and taking him that felt real. I assumed it was God’s way of telling me that I needed to protect him from being taken away (in whichever form) and I listened! I took the original bumper out at about two in the morning while he was sound asleep. My husband thought I had lost my mind when he stumbled down the hall to ask what the heck I was doing to the crib at such an hour. I mentioned sids and he went back to bed and left me to my insanity. He finally gave up on convincing me that our baby was too smart for that. I read an article recently about a one year old that suffocated in his sleep, just because of too many pillows and blankets! I’m not taking a chance, I don’t care if he did bump his head a little that night, he was breathing and that’s all that mattered! So I hit up Babies R Us the next day and now all is well in the world!!
7) What was the last thing you ate? Pot roast I made for dinner before work.
8) If you woke up in the morning and were a boy, what would be the first thing you'd do? Cry, but not because boys are too tough for that, and then call someone to get my story out there so I could make my millions off of it, and apologize to my son because he’d forever be confused by having two dads… weird.
9) Has a celebrity hairstyle ever influenced your hairstyle? Kate Hudson, and I will never ever ever figure out how they do it! Think I’m attempting it again for my bday gift.
10) What was your most embarrassing moment? Giving birth and everyone and their mom seeing it ALL, but at the time I didn’t really care.
11) What was the last movie you watched? Crank 2, Sooo not as good as the first one!
12) If you had the whole day with no commitments, interruptions or work, what would you do? Create something really cool, like a gigantor quilt or a hat for Alex, which is going to take way longer for me to figure out, started trying today, Oy :/
13) What is ~~one~~ (two) indulgence you cannot live without? Coffee, Chocolate,mmm…

+ My two cents

2009-09-12T02:36:00.002-04:00

Here are my thoughts on this article at Woman's Day. I read this article hoping to see that it would be insightful and provoke thoughts on some things I hadn't considered about being a mom. I thought that maybe I'd find tips on how to do things that would make me a better mommy! I like tips, not pity or me toos.
What I found was that this article was ~~another~~ one to console those of us who think that we should feel bad about the way that we raise our children so that we know that we're not alone. NOT that that's a bad thig, but I'm kinda over it (no offense Woman's Day, or the website that will remain nameless that I stopped spending every available minute at work on because I grew reeeeeheheealy (my version of jim carey) tired of every response to every post being it's okay, you're a great mom, your baby loves you no matter how dumb you feel sometimes (blech))). I know that some moms need that, and that it can be a nice boost when we're feeling like we're falling below par. I will also willingly admit that I spent hours upon endless hours on that site looking for that kind of info, support, drama, whatever, and it made me happy. And now that I've well-fulfilled and even surpassed my need for that kind of entertainment/ support, this momma finds it lots more entertaining to discover newer myths I haven't thought of, or that I might actually wonder about, instead of just Every new mommy bumps their baby on his head every once in a while, you're not a horrible person because of it... blech, I know my baby's tougher than that, and I like tough love type inspiration in my life! So, this article was nice because instead of just saying it's okay it did give a little real world substance for those of us who need it. SO, today when I came across this article it made me think... Here are the myths, provided by Woman's Day, and my thoughts on the myths, which support, but also add my personal touch, so I'm not really sure if I'm the fellow debunker or the debunkee (if that makes sense), just wanted to add my two cents... Enjoy!

Myth 1: A good mom likes her children all the time
Woman's Day~Christine Nicholson, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Sequim, Washington, thinks it’s perfectly OK that Meryl Beck lets her sons know when they are not her favorite people. It’s when you suppress those less-than-motherly feelings that you’re more likely to lose control and act in ways that you’ll regret, she points out.

Given the challenges of raising kids, it would be impossible for you to be happy with your brood, and they with you, every day. “Some days you just want to pack their bags, drop them off at the train station and drive away,” says Dr. Nicholson. “That’s normal. If you can find the caring, kind parts of you 75 percent of the time, you’re doing really well!”
Me~ This is true WD, I am fully aware that it is perfectly acceptable for me to tell my perfect child that even though I love him unconditionally and he can never change that, that I am entitled to being upset with him when he does wrong. Although my child is too young for this to occur as of yet (there's not much wrong he can do when he's not even toddling yet) but just so we're on the same page when he gets older I'm laying it on the table early, No need to set him up for failure! But, WD says that it is A-okay to dislike your child and let them know that they are disliked when they're bad. I think what they meant to say is, let him know that he's done something wrong and you expect better, but you will always love and like him no matter how wronged you feel, because you and I both know my child will always be perfect (in my eyes).

Myth 2: A good mom bonds with her children immediately

WD~Rachel Brown of Clifton, New Jersey, had fallen in love instantly with her first two children. So she was distraught when she didn’t experience that automatic attachment the third time around with son Jared. “It wasn’t until he was almost a year old that I began to feel that same bond,” says Rachel, who still harbors guilt about it today, almost four years later.
For the most part, women do have strong instincts to protect, nurture and love their kids. Sometimes, however, your newborn may seem like a stranger at first. Bonding isn’t always instantaneous, Dr. Sanford reassures. “Like any relationship, your connection to your children develops over time,” she explains. “You learn to become a mom by getting to know them and by them getting to know you.” Instead of feeling inadequate or blaming yourself, focus on the many successes you help your child achieve as he grows.
Me~ I only have one child so far, but I have found that the love you have for a child is different than any love you've ever experienced before. It is my understanding that you will never possess exactly the same form of love for all children. No matter how many children a person has they can't have the same exact relationship or some exact type of love for each of the children. Each child is unique so each love is unique. No child is loved more or less than the others, just differently. This is what I've heard all my life, and though I haven't experienced making the differentiation for myself as of yet, this is what I hope to be true. I think that if I did have multiple children and knew in my heart that I held them on a sliding scale of which child I loved more all the way down to the one I loved least, or even that I'd always love the oldest more because he was the first, I would be racked with guilt and unable to sleep at night. That being said, I'd like to think (and hope) that it's not that a person like the one in this example should feel guilty because there's no possible way that she hasn't developed a relationship with her third child, it's just that she doesn't understand how it is different and just as perfect yet, but she will!

Myth 3: A good mom balances it all
Me~ Yeah I just skipped them on this one (sorry WD). You know what it said, right? Again, the link is at the top, and we know it's okay to be a little off balance, don't feel bad was the point of it. BUT, my idea behind this is that if I try to hold myself up to the pedastal of the good, perfectly balanced mom icon, I'd need a team of about twelve ~~(x3)~~ and still wouldn't have achieved the perfect ideal because then I wouldn't be doing it all myself and I'd also not be able to give my child anything else they want or need because everything I had would be going to pay the ones that are really raising them. Do you see where I'm going with this, it's an endless ugly cycle, so NO, I'm just not going to balance it all all all the time, and that is what's okay. I'm going to make a statement by not being perfect. I'm going to rely on my husband to provide just as much as me, because he can and he wants to and that's why he's my husband and I need him to help me. I'm going to try my hardest and do my best for my child, but I'm not supermom (even though I may have hinted at it a while back :) and I do try, but let's be real. A good mom is off balance! A good mom has quirks (sp?) and her kids love her more for it! So, what they're saying is that no mom is perfect, but I say that an imperfect mom is the perfect mom, because that's what kids need.

Myth 4: A good mom spends a lot of time with her kids—and they like her because of it

WD~You volunteer in the classroom, chaperone the field trips, coach your daughter’s soccer team—all in an effort to get closer to your kids. But is it too much of a good thing? “Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt,” muses Kelley Cunningham of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, author of What’s the Matter with Mommy? Cunningham had been a stay-at-home mom for eight years. Worried that her three sons would feel abandoned after she returned to work full time, she wanted to be sure to give them extra attention at night, talking and laughing with them as she tucked them into bed. But whenever her evening routine went on too long, she’d hear, “OK, that’s enough. Can I go to sleep now?”
Me~I'm just going to simplify... Oy, kids can't grow without the room to flourish. And I can't keep my sanity without having my moments. So, I agree with WD, just in a more blunt sort of fashion ;) But until my son gets old enough to tell me he can do it himself I'm there for every second of firsts that I can witness, and video tape, and write about, and encourage!!

Myth 5: A good mom belongs to one big, supportive Moms Club
Where can I sign up for a big, supportive Moms Club that can do things for me whenever I need them, because I'm totally in!!! You don't have to be Mrs. Popularity to be a good mom. But if I could I would, for shO!!

So, their conclusion is to rely on insticts, and I totally agree, no research or outside opinion can trump what I know in my heart now that I have the wonderful privilege of being a mom! And it never hurts to try to be
Dudununuuuuhhh, Supermom!!!

Fun/ny Photo Friday

2009-09-11T10:00:00.002-04:00

This is Alex at any computer! As soon as you sit in front of one with him anywhere near it he reaches and jumps and squeals until you let him push buttons. He loves anything with buttons and it is SO fun to watch him play like he really knows what he's doing! I especially love this picture because of his adorable little overalls and the look on Daddy's face too :) Perfect fit!

What is marriage?

2009-09-11T03:43:00.004-04:00

Writer's Workshop Writing Prompt (provided by mama’s losin it)::

Marriage is a bond between two people that should not be broken. It is the simplified word that represents a promise made to another and to God. It is a display to the world of the love and promise you have to another person. It is the selflessness that you (intend to) give to that person and the promise that it will never falter. Marriage represents the trust and faith and hope that you have in a person and everything they stand for. It shows the world that you stand behind that person one hundred percent. Marriage is to be the ultimate expression of love, hope, faith, trust, and integrity. A person who is a partner in marriage is blessed with the ease and assurance of knowing that he or she has someone who stands behind everything that they represent without waiver. Marriage should be the easiest act a person can perform, because it is simply the need to love a person unconditionally and while trusting with all of your being, also remaining completely trustworthy; this is also what makes marriage the hardest thing for couples to do. In our society it seems much easier to trust someone who is able to make a choice in the matter, which is altered through the commitment of marriage. If the kind of love can change than it is feared that the ability to love another enough to spend forever and always with them can also change. This is a fear that comes with love. This is the seed that spawns distrust. Distrust is poison in a relationship that requires the perfect blend of revere and blind faith to overcome. This is what makes marriage hard at times, but it is also what can help it to grow strong.
Marriage is one of the two biggest and best changes a person can have in their life.
Marriage is the first hardest, but also the first greatest thing, I have ever done in my life (Alex was the second.. in order of time, not greatness). My getting married was step one in the right direction of my becoming who I was meant to be. I was meant to be a wife and a mother first and foremost. I thank God every day for the life that we have made and pray that it can only get even better, and maybe a little easier, but I'm guessing that comes with age and experience :)

Marriage requires blind faith. Marriage requires hope. Marriage requires love. Marriage demands faith, hope, love, and the willingness to work no matter the cost to maintain all aspects of a loving, forgiving, helping, hopeful, faithful relationship.

The greatest thing that a person can experience in life is love. Marriage is the source, and also the result, of love. Marriage is a partnership between two people with the vow to withhold all of these things, with love.

Rain

2009-09-10T20:41:00.004-04:00

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain outside my open window. I could feel the breeze and breathe in the clean smell of the mist that put me at ease. On a cool fall day when it's not too hot, not too cold and I have nowhere to go I don't mind the rain. In fact I enjoy it. The sound is relaxing as it taps at my window. The smell is so fresh and new that I just want to open all the windows and let it febreze the whole house! A few days ago I was saying differently simply because we had planned to take a day trip to Williamsburg and it was shot due to rain. It's one of those things. I hate when it inconveniences me, but if it works with my schedule it's nice. Can't help it, that's just how we are, right. So today as Jason left for work (and to take his test for promotion (good luck)) I got to fall back to a peaceful sleep to the sound of the rhythm of the rain on my windowsill. Alex even slept in a little, because apparently he sleeps better in a warm house. With the air on all the time he had to sleep with a blanket and somehow his legs were always a little chilled when he woke up. Now that we've turned the air off and left the windows open all day the air in the house is cooled and lasts all night which makes it just comfortable enough for him to sleep without a blanket and be the perfect temperature. For two consecutive nights now he slept for 10+ hours and was rested and happy when he woke up! We're starting to think that he's going to be with us on the strong preference to warm weather over cold.
A rain poem for your reading pleasure;

Rain by Shel Silverstein

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.
I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

Some pics just 'cause!

2009-09-10T10:17:00.001-04:00

He's being photogenic :)

Bella tries too, but not so much...

And Alex trying to teach himself to read already!

Then, he tried to eat them, I took them away, and he screamed :)

Beautiful Fall pics I found on Flickr

2009-09-06T02:26:00.003-04:00

I thought I'd search for some pictures of my favorite season just to add some color and excitement and a smile. Of all the incredible pictures I found these two were my absolute favorite! This winding tree shows beauty with age while beckoning for the livelihood of climbers and wonderment.

I'm not even sure if this one is real. I know it's supposed to be an actual photo someone took and uploaded, but it's unbelievable! What an amazing photographer and a captivating scene! Wow! I would love to find the place they snapped this one and spend a whole day there just taking it all in.

Craftiness for Alex

2009-09-05T22:54:00.003-04:00

In attempting to ~~further~~ find my mommy craftiness skills I've broken out the sewing machine, for the first time EVER!!! Tada! I made Alex a small, square-ish, very bright, overly colorful quilt (if you can call it that) blankie-thingy. It is one that any adult whose seen it (so far my husband and sister-in-law) try their hardest to say it's great and ignore the crookedness and, did I mention, overly-bright colors...

And they didn't even see the reverse side of the fabric! That was a mess of thread strands and huge flaps of extra fabric because I have yet to master the technique of a straight line with a sewing machine, and after all the pulling, stretching, groaning, thoughts of giving up, I decided I didn't have the desire to cut off all the extra, I'd just tuck it in, who'd know. I'm shocked I mastered threading the needle and the really insanely difficult contraption called a bobbin that took about eight times to get going! But, no matter how difficult it was actually really fun and I didn't so much care that it wasn't coming out perfectly straight at all whatsoever because I knew it was project number one and my dear son would love anything his mommy made for him as long as it wasn't green beans or avocado. Luckily, I was right! It came out okay, a little bunchy in small spots, a little ripply in places, a little extra padded in places, and a completely lacking of the ~~annoyingly stretchy~~ super soft fabric the pattern called for, and oh yeah.. I didn't so much follow the pattern because it was ~~dumb~~ a little complicated, so my way was better:) Nonetheless, it turned out done, if anything. And the only thing that mattered was that after Alex woke from his nap and I gave it to him he Loved it!! I think it's just the bright colors, but whatever it is he seems to think it's pretty darn cool! So, mission accomplished and I've concluded that I need more practice on sewing machine usage, but I think I'm going to like it. It's part of being a mommy. My great grandma hand quilted tons of big beautiful quilts that are still being used at my mom's house and I would love to make something as pretty one day. My mom follows her lead by hand-quilting as well. I just don't have THAT much patience, so mine will be made via machine power, but with just as much love, and much less time :)

Next project to start: Crocheting. I have all the yarn from when I thought I'd learn to knit, which did not go according to plan, I ended up with a pretty pink, pretty crooked, very uneven, not at all pretty scarf, ughh, and that was a couple of years ago. So, when I was at the fabric store the other day getting supplies for the blankie I picked up some crochet needles and a little booklet on the basic stitches, or loops or crochet-lies or whatever they're calling them. I figure one needle's gotta be easier to handle than two, and a little hook at the end of that stick's gotta help grab something somehow to maneuver. So, this week I will attempt to teach myself to crochet. My goal in this project is that I want to make Alex one of those cute little earflap hats that are so cute on the little ones in the winter. There are tons of them for sale, handmade on etsy which are all very cute, but I really want to try to do this stuff myself if I can, so I embark, again, on the third brand new misadventure in my mommy-hood tale in just a couple of weeks! I'm being daring, and maybe soon I'll master something useful!! Haven't begun to attempt the hats yet, but here are some ideas I've borrowed, got these from

Fun/ny Photo Fridays begin!!!

2009-09-04T02:08:00.001-04:00

OK, I came up with an idea for a weekly pic! At two o'clock in the morning, I know, but I'm at work, so it's not completely weird!! Fun and/or funny Photo Friday will be something I'll do every week. I'll post a pic of Alex (sometimes including the rents too (that'd be me and Jason)) that is either of us having fun or a really funny one of Alex! This particular pic was back when we took our Daker Family Vacation Number One (2009) to Wilmington, NC. We spent one day while we were there downtown checking out the Cotton Exchange, a sushi spot and the Serpentarium (pictured :). As you can tell Alex wasn't too sure if he was diggin the crocodile that may have been trying to eat his chubby little arm... good thing there was glass!!

My Favorite is Fall...and check out my craftiness...and the most A-dorable pic of Alex yet!!

2009-09-02T12:12:00.004-04:00

Today I was adding some touches to Alex's bedroom, this strange, but fun tree I cut out for his wall, and it really made me think about what this week signifies. It's the second day of the great month of September. Somehow I think that God flipped a switch on the weather system because yesterday was the first day of September and even though the technical first day of fall is still but a couple of weeks away, the temperature has suddenly dropped. At the same time, there seems to be a major decline in humidity here too! I have been anticipating the feeling of fall and have been waiting for September to get here because that's when it all begins… The feeling of change in the air, the crispness of cooler months approaching, the downfall in humidity, the brilliant colors, all of the smells that come along with it... That’s what I love. One of the businesses I love to frequent in the fall is Starbucks. I'm not sure why, but whenever it starts to feel like that time of year I crave the smell and relaxing music. I think it reminds me of the start of the school year. I used to love to sit with my laptop in a coffee shop and finish my homework there. I've always loved this time of year, mainly because, when I was younger, it always started with shopping!!! I loved the feeling of having new 'outifts' that were paired perfectly and crisp with the tags still on them tucked away in my closet unable to be worn until that first day of school. I even loved the new notebooks and pencils and assignment books and highlighters. As you can tell I was a big nerd when I was a child. And it's always stuck with me a little bit. Now I go shopping and see all of the back to school stuff and I still get excited and feel the need to buy anything I might use, like pens, craft supplies, post-it notes, listing pads, anything I might possibly need to get organized in this great time of change. It's also my favorite time of year to organize. I've always felt like it's the ideal time of year for a fresh start. Everything can be revamped, redecorated, rethought and replanned. I get a thrill from all of the change that's coming. It may also have something to do with my birthday being in October, however now that I'm older I'm not too excited about aging. But, there's still the anticipatory thoughts of change that will occur in my family this winter and with the New Year (although that's still months away). I like to think that as we get older we grow a little wiser and a little more creative and a little more compromising, in a good way. I feel like I'm more carefree at this time of year. Like now I tend to relax a little more and it helps everything to flow a little more smoothly. This is the time of year that I look around at things in nature and really appreciate the beauty and wonder more than any other time of year. Now that I have a family of my own I am growing even fonder of those wonders, I'm looking forward to taking my son trick or treating, and teaching him how to play in the leaves and sharing with him all the new things that come with autumn like colorful leaves and pumpkins and the smells of cider and cinnamon.

Three falls ago I met my husband, two falls ago we got engaged, last fall I was joyously expecting our son, and this fall I get to see him learn how to crawl and stand and eat by himself. It truly has always been the best time of year for me. This fall is going to be different than any other before for my family because we won't all be together. Some of us are overseas (like my sister), and for the first time ever my family won't have the typical at home Thanksgiving we've always had. We have some exciting plans with my parents for Alex's first Thanksgiving and we'll get to spend Alex's first Christmas with Jason's family, which we've also never done before. Last year we missed out on being a family for the holidays. With Jason being overseas I spent the holidays with my parents, which was great, but my sister's family wasn't here and neither was my husband, and I didn't get to spend much time with his family at all. Our first holiday season as a married couple was, in a way, bypassed, and we get to embark on that journey starting this year. It's like nothing I've ever done before and, although it'll be different to not see my family for every minute of every holiday anymore, I'll feel even more like a grown up and wife and mommy. Alex will get to experience so many firsts in the upcoming months and I cannot wait to experience and document them all!

Stupid stupid stupid cat must die... game.

2009-08-29T16:38:00.003-04:00

Be warned. This cat will irritate the crap out of you and it says it's doable, but I think they're lying. But somebody's gotta beat it, it's driving me crazy and I've only been at it for a bout ten minutes!!!
http://www.members.shaw.ca/gf3/circle-the-cat.html

Got this in an email...Pregnancy and children

2009-08-29T07:50:00.003-04:00

Not sure where it came from originally, but it's funny..

Q: Am I more likely to get pregnant if my husband wears boxers or briefs ?
A: You'll have an even better chance if he doesn't wear anything at all

Q: What do you call a pregnancy that begins while using birth control ?
A: A misconception

Q: What is the easiest way to figure out exactly when I got pregnant ?
A: Have sex just once a year

Q: What is a chastity belt ?
A: A labor-saving device

Q: When does a woman's biological clock start ticking ?
A: Right after she looks in the mirror and thinks, "On my God, crow's feet!"

Q: What is the most common pregnancy craving ?
A: For men to be the ones who get pregnant

Q: What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex ?
A: Childbirth

Q: Should I have a baby after 35 ?
A. No, 35 children is way too many already

Q: I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move ?
A: With any luck, right after he finishes college

Q: How will I know if my vomiting is morning sickness or the flu ?
A: If it's the flu, you'll get better

Q: Does pregnancy affect a woman's memory ?
A: Most of the ladies I asked don't remember

Q: My breasts, rear end & even my feet have grown. Is there anything that gets smaller during pregnancy ?
A: Yes, your bladder

Q: The more pregnant I get, the more often strangers smile at me. Why ?
A: Cause you're fatter then they are,

Q: My wife is 5 months pregnant and so moody that she's borderline irrational.
A: So what's your question ?

Q: What's the difference between a pregnant woman and a Playboy centerfold ?
A. Nothing, if the pregnant woman's husband knows what's good for him

Q: What position should the baby be in during the ninth month of pregnancy ?
A: Head down, pressing firmly on your bladder

Q: What are forceps ?
A: Giant baby tweezers

Q: What's the best way to get a man to give up his seat to a pregnant woman?
A: Brute force

Q: How do I know if my baby has dropped ?
A: He/She will start crying. Be more careful !

Q: How long is the average woman in labor ?
A: Whatever she says, divided by two

Q: My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right ?
A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current

Q: When is the best time to get an epidural ?
A: Right after you find out you're pregnant

Q: Is there a reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor ?
A: Not unless the word "alimony" is a concern for you

Q: I'm modest. Once I start to deliver, who will see me in that delicate position ?
A: Authorized hospital personnel only -- doctors, nurses, orderlies, photographers, florists, cleaning crews, journalists, etc.

Q: What does it mean when the baby's head is crowning ?
A: It means you feel as thought not only a crown but the entire throne is trying to make it's way out of you

Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth ?
A: Yes, pregnancy

Q: Does labor cause hemorrhoids ?
A: Labor causes anything you want to blame it for

Q: When should a baby not be circumcised ?
A: When it's a girl.

Q: Where is the best place to store breast milk ?
A: In your breasts

Q: Is there a safe alternative to breast pumps ?
A: Yes, baby lips

Q: What does it mean when a baby is born with teeth ?
A: It means that the baby's mother may want to rethink her plans to nurse

Q: What is the best time to wean the baby from nursing ?
A: When you see teeth marks

Q: What is the grasp reflex ?
A: The reaction of new father's when he sees new mother's breasts.

Q: Can a mother get pregnant while nursing ?
A: Yes, but it's much easier if she removes the baby from her breast and puts him to sleep first.

Q: What happens to disposable diapers after they're thrown away ?
A: They are stored in a silo in the Midwest, in case of global chemical warfare.

Q: Do I have to have a baby shower ?
A: Not if your change the baby's diaper very quickly

Q: What causes baby blues ?
A: Tanned, hard-bodied bimbos

Q: What is colic ?
A: A reminder for new parents to use birth control

Q: What are night terrors ?
A: Frightening episodes in which the new mother dreams she's pregnant again

Q: Nannies aren't cheap are they ?
A: Not usually, but occasionally you'll find a floozy

Q: Will I love my dog less when the baby is born ?

A: No, but your husband will most likely get on your nerves

Q: What are the terrible twos ?

A: Your breasts after baby stops nursing cold turkey

Q: Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to act normal ?

A: Possibly when the kids are in college

Operation Jessica Get In Shape:

2009-08-28T07:43:00.003-04:00

I have had this bike for almost two years now. I think I went for one bike ride back when I got it. Since then it’s been relocated to my shed, then to my parents’ garage since I had moved into a place with very limited storage space and I was pregnant at the time (which was why I couldn’t use it, duh!), and now it’s back home with me (we moved again) and I have now begun a workout plan! My goal is to get in shape again so I feel better about my mommy body. Also, the thirty minutes of quiet time three or four times a week makes me a happier mommy. I love my time with my son and my husband, but after those days when I’m busy busy all day it’s nice to take that little chunk of time to plug in the ipod, and just ride and listen, and sweat it all out! Step one of this project was to go retrieve the bike from my parents’ house, check! Step two was to give up my love love relationship with cookie dough… uhh, let’s move that to step three, since it hasn’t happened yet, did I mention I love love cookie dough, love it, chocolate chip to be exact, hmm…uncheck. So, step three was to get out there, water bottle in hand, ipod up loud (in just one ear, due to the cars whizzing by that could kill me, I’d like to hear them coming, so I can pray real quick before I possibly die), and me taking off, all alone to possibly embarrass myself by hitting a parked car or worse, hitting a rock and falling and skinning my knee, or something horribly humiliating like that. Good thing I’m a grown woman now and it takes far more to embarrass me enough to stop me! Although, luckily, I haven’t fallen yet :) So, I’ve been out twice now! And I-love-it!! It’s awesome to do something that even in the 99.9 degree weather when I can’t see straight there’s so much sweat, and my legs are burning more than they have in eight months (I haven’t done any physical activity at all since my son was born in January), I’m actually enjoying every minute of it, seriously, that's not sarcasm, amazing!!! For once, exercise isn’t torture, It’s completely freeing and I’m loving it! And I can only imagine how it’ll be ten times more enjoyable when I’m not seeing Final Destination type flashes in my head every time a car comes by, or spending the whole trek contemplating which side of the road I should be on to avoid impending doom… On the left side, where I started on day one, I can see the cars coming, this is good… until they decide that, I’m guessing, since they see that I can see them coming they give me no extra space, just keep on their straight (and way too close) path, which causes me to get wobblier and tense up my shoulders so I look like the wicked witch of the west because, sure they see me, and they have a little room, but if I hit a teeny tiny little pebble in the road I could skid out of control, wobble all the way to the ground, and of course there’s no doubt in my mind I’d tip to the right, smack dab into the grill of said approaching car and I’d, you guessed it, die. Aye aye aye. Soo, day two, I chose the right side of the road, where the universal (who knows where they come from) rules of the road say for bikers to ride. I came to the conclusion yesterday that this is indeed better. My theory for this being the rule of the road is because at least if you’re going to die by freak accident car hits biker collision, this way your body will be relaxed because you’ll never see it coming. Works for me, but now I’m thinking, does this rule require me getting those dorky rear view mirrors for my bike, or the ten foot tall flag so everyone in a ten mile radius sees me coming, moving on… Now, I realize, I’ve been riding without a helmet, that’s probably bad. At least if I do go down, I could suffer a less severe concussion if I had a plastic helmet on to break the meeting between my head and the concrete… add that to the list of to-do’s for my biking adventure.

Another thing I thought of while on my route for day one was the bicycle incident I will never forget from when I was about ten or twelve years old. And this was back when I was a pro! My BFF and I were riding side by side down the empty little street in our neighborhood, both fully clad in helmets and, well that’s it, no padding, just helmets as our only safety precaution. Anyhow, side by side, we’re discussing,

“Are we going to your house or my house?”… somehow we miscommunicated and while I thought we were heading two streets up to my house, she thought we were turning NOW for hers and crash, bang boom!!! We went down!!! As it was hilarious and we’re both lying in the road, a little in pain, laughing uncontrollably, cars passing by staring to make sure we’re ok, it hurt, lots! Anyway, this is my most fond memory of the great sport and I think about it each day I head out on my good old bike. It makes me laugh and not be quite a ginormous chicken when I think of crashing!

In conclusion, I love this new form of exercise that I’m planning to do at least three times a week and hopefully I become a little more confident in my skill as a biker and actually lose some extra poundage to boot! Oh, and in case you're interested, here's a pic of my awesome bike that I love, but mine's cooler, it has a nifty little pink water bottle holder that I had added on specially for muah!

PS. I know it seems obvious, ride on the sidewalk, and wouldn’t have to worry about cars at all, right?! Yes, while very true, there is the multitude of cars parked in driveways right over the sidewalk that I could painfully collide with and then the random spots in the sidewalk that are giant gaping holes with cones or the big tee-pee looking devices over them that alert you to the fact that there’s a hole there, but don’t help me either when I hit them, so I stick to the road, just hopefully not too close!

2009-08-24T09:53:00.008-04:00

My son is almost eight months old;

his smile lights up my world.

He owns my heart and knows my soul

like noone has before.

His father is my other half and Alex is our whole.

At times when I am feeling down and weakened from the day

and sleep weighs heavy on my mind but Alex wants to play
I feel like he is looking through the smoke that covers life
and with his laughter and his smile he takes away my strife.
I never knew I’d love so deep or feel a pride so great
as when I met this child so sweet and knew he was our fate.
God smiled on us when he was made and now I truly know
He has a plan for all of us wrapped in a perfect bow.

... I can't believe I wrote this and that I actually have the guts to post it for all to see, but why not... What can I say, he inspires my creativity!

Alex's 31.

2009-08-22T08:32:00.000-04:00

A few of Alex’s favorite things…..

1. Food, food, food and more food.
2. Pulling on Bella’s dog tags.
3. Bella licking his hands.
4. Bella sharing her toys.
5. Pulling on Bella’s face.
6. Sleeping with his head in the corner of the crib.
7. Sleeping with his butt way up in the air.
8. His monkey mobile hanging above his crib.
9. His sleepy music machine his Grandma got him.
10. Tylenol (for some reason he loves the taste of baby Tylenol.
11. Sleeping in the car.
12. Song called Mercy by Duffy (he loooves it, even though it’s totally a girl song :): )
13. Red Hot Chili Peppers.
14. Spongebob Squarepants.
15. Bouncing!!!
16. Spinning in circles.
17. Rolling over and over and over.
18. Pulling leaves off of trees.
19. Glow-worm.
20. Cell phones.
21. Remote controls.
22. Ice cream (I know).
23. Babbling in the morning (with the sunrise).
24. hanging upside down (no clue why, but he looves that too).
25. Noses.
26. Necklaces.
27. Earrings…. Well anything shiny that he can grab onto.
28. Army crawling in reverse (hasn’t learned forward yet).
29. Sitting surrounded by his toys, he’s already a little possessive.
30. Mommy and
31. Daddy!

And we can't forget some of our favorite pics of the cutest baby ever!!!

2009-08-18T22:07:00.000-04:00

We're baaack..

2009-08-18T20:00:00.001-04:00

After a loong break from our still brand new blog, I've decided that I want to start it up again. I stopped because I sent the link to family and I was pretty sure nobody ever looked at it, but now I've found a few others that might, and I've found that if it's entertaining enough, even strangers might like it :) Either way, it's a good place to journal our life and reflect, so I'm doing it for me! ((But it'd be great if I had some followers so I'm not just completely wasting my energy)). Anyhoo.
First order of business, I've got to update on the family!
Alexander Michael (aka. Alex)
~is the most perfect, most wonderfully amazing baby boy any mom (or dad) could ever pray for! We love him terribly and he has brought so much joy to our lives! He is now seven months old. He was born January 9, 2009 after I thought I was going to die from the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, but I came through it and was rewarded with the most absolutely perfect gift from God. He has the most beautiful spirit. He brings joy to anyone he sees. He smiles and laughs (an exasperated giggle) nonstop! He now has his first two teeth, long straight brown hair just exactly like his daddy's, he's sitting straight up like a big boy, thinking about trying to crawl, eating solid foods (mashed up) and holding his own bottle (never thought that day would come)!!! I have so much joy and pride every time I see him do something new and I don't even miss the days of sleeping til noon, or eleven, or ten, or even eight or nine... heck I don't even remember what that is! I wake up at the buttcrack of dawn every day, but the first thing I hear is his 'talking' or giggle and it makes it perfect. He's a big boy, he now weighs 20 lbs (and 7 ounces, Jason tells me that's important too) and is starting to get taller, but he's our chunky little monkey :)
Jason
~is doing well. He's become a wonderful Daddy and Alex absolutely adores him! He's not a complete softy yet, so it's a really good thing we had a boy first since girls are more fragile, but I'm sure he'll melt if we ever do have a little girl. He tries to make Alex the tough boy, but he can't keep up the shell all the time, he loves cuddling and kissing his son. He's a very Proud Papa! In fact, I think it gives Alex a good balance... Alex fusses the least little bit and I hold him and rock him and feed him and carry him all over the house... which I've come to learn is the perfect recipe for a spoiled and cranky baby... Jason lets him sit and play on his own sometimes and knows that if there's work to be done, Alex can survive as long as he's got a full belly, a passy, a dry bum and tons of toys! This means that Alex is learning that he's okay playing on his own sometimes as long as he can see someone nearby that loves him and is watching out for him, he just doesn't need to be held all day. If it weren't for this I'd have a very spoiled baby on my hands who probably still wouldn't know how to roll over because I didn't let him try on his own. I guess this is one of the things they mean by couples completing each other.
For the first four months of Alex's life I was playing the role of the single mom. It was hard, but being a military mommy I knew there was no avoiding it. Luckily we timed it right so that he got to be here for the birth and the first two weeks, but after that, I was on my own. I did have the help of family and a very helpful friend/roommate for that whole time, thank God, otherwise I don't know if I could have done it and still kept my sanity and my job. That's right, after eight weeks of maternity leave (I stretched it as far as I could get it) I was back to working full time, which by the way I also did up until 21 hours before our little one was born. This meant I would be the only one there to wake up with him every two hours all night long, then get him and I both ready before leaving for work at 5am and pick him up from the babysitter's on my way home at 7 at night, working 48 hours a week. But, after coming through it, I feel like a really great mom and stronger for it!
In the weeks before his return home I was told by just about everyone I know (and some I don't) that the hard part was yet to come. That even though I felt like I was approaching the finish line because I would all of a sudden have my hubby there to be my loving spouse and helper that I wouldn't be on double duty anymore. Life would be the ideal american dream.. I wouldn't be the only feeder, carer, snuggler, rocker, diaper changer, and oh yeah, I didn't mention mommy to the big obnoxious (love her anyway) crazy boxer of ours did I?? But, I was expecting that life would suddenly become a piece of cake (mmm)... I would have so much time on my hands to take naps and bubble baths, and lounge with my wonderful son and wonderful husband with no care in the world. These people were right, because what I didn't know was that in the course of a couple living apart for (did I mention) a flippin YEAR, that we would be used to doing everything my own way and his own way. This meant we had to learn to live together again, which isn't as easy as it sounds when you add the new addition into the mix. I've recently discovered a book called Babyproofing Your Marriage... well I haven't read it yet, but I've looked at the website and all of its tips and suggestions for the couples that have been married and used to being together, but how they should prepare for the changes a baby will make. And this website (and I'm assuming the book) doesn't sugar-coat it. Didn't find a section there for those that were spending the year prior to baby's debut apart and how it would be compunded by this, I'm thinking they just don't want to dive into that pool which is ten times deeper and more dangerous... WARNING, You may kill eachother a little quicker over stupid things like 'How does ha possibly have enough socks to occupy the bathroom floor, the kitchen floor, the living room and the other bathroom floor all in one day... But that's just a taste.
NOTE: I am not saying that it's been unbarable, it just hasn't been easy, and I'm starting to think (ha) that maybe we've both been a little stubborn in the past... hmm.
SO, what have we done about this. We've been learning to relearn each others new habits and implement them both to reach a happy medium so that we can be the perfect mommy and daddy for baby Alex all at the same time... And neither of us has the prefix Super in front of our names either, so that's out the window. Though it was difficult at times, infuriating at times, exhausting at times... we have learned to accept eachothers' changes and differences and focus on what's really important; our son and our future together as a family. Who cares about stupid socks and spoons :) I like the motto Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (also a book :), and we have been learning to implement it in our everyday routine. Socks on the bathroom floor, who cares, ice cream spoon on the kitchen counter every morning from the midnight cravings, no biggie, work uniform in the middle of the kithcen floor every friday, because it doesn't make sense to take it upstairs if we're going to just bring it back down on laundry day, whatever:) That's right, I'm learning to be less uptight and it's working for me! ...Helps that he's been trying too. It's amazing the changes in routine and habits that a person can acquire over a years time. But, love changes and I believe that the changes are what helps it to grow bigger and stronger!! I love my life and I have the perfect husband and perfect son for me and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world!!!
Oh, and Bella's (still) Bella (she's the aforementioned obnoxious boxer of the house... that we love tons too!
Until next time, happy reading and happy blogging! This is fun, who knew I had so much to say!!

~Supermom

Oceana

2008-11-07T10:19:00.000-05:00

So, it's official. Jason will be getting stationed back here in Virginia. Oceana Naval Base to be exact. We are excited to start our family and find our first house for our family and all of that good stuff together. We also may have possibly found a name to settle on for our baby boy. Two more months to go! We are also starting to get everything set up for his arrival. The baby shower last weekend went beautifully and now he has some stuff to welcome him into the world, thanks to our friends and family. It was wonderful. Yay!!! We're getting really excited!

Home in Virginia!!

2008-10-21T20:38:00.000-04:00

OK, so ix-ne on the South Carolina thing! We realized that it's not practical at all for Jason to go down there without me and go out to sea for six months as soon as he gets there. That would leave me here in Chesapeake as a single mommy for almost a year in all by the end of it! Soooo... new plan, he's trying to be stationed here in the Chesapeake area, which means we'll be together as a family with our new little baby. We just have to wait until he comes home from Bahrain in May and we're good! We had a funny feeling about how all of this was going to work and the South Carolina thing sounded fun (for once I get down there too) but definitely not good in the process. We are happy to be able to be together and find a home together for us and Baby next summer! Maybe staying here in the Virginia Beach area won't be so bad after all! A beach is a beach, right... and also close to family is nice. Oh, and it looks like we're starting to settle on some name options for the little one too! Less than three months to go now... getting close!

25 Weeks... and still NO name!!

2008-09-30T15:12:00.000-04:00

It is so hard to believe that it's already been 25 weeks, and even more impossible to believe that that means there are only about 15 more to go! Our poor little boy, adorable as he is (this picture is not of him, by the way... it's a general one Babycenter.com shows for the 25 week baby)... anway, adorable as he is, still does not have a name!! We have come up with a few prospects, but can't seem to settle on one! Actually it goes a little more like this... I pick one I like, tell Jason about it, he says "Eww, no", then he comes around a couple days later and after about a week or two of loving it, I change my mind out of boredom!! I can't help it, it just happens! So, he's going unnamed, as of yet. Just found out that Jason's cousin, Ashlie, had her baby boy, Daniel Alexander yesterday, Yay!! He will only be a few months older than our little one, and then there's my BFF Lauren who's due two months after me!!! I'm soo excited, our son's going to have all kinds of friends his age!

Our Baby Boy in the Oven

2008-09-22T15:43:00.000-04:00

We are so excited to know that in January

we're going to have a little boy of our very

own!! Just wanted to show off some of his

sonograms because he's soo cute!!

Our Story...

2008-09-22T01:19:00.000-04:00

We were married on April 13, 2008 in Fredericksburg, Virginia with all of our family and friends there that matter the most to us. A week later we went on our honeymoon, which was wonderful! About six weeks later we found out that we were expecting a honeymoon baby!!! Jason left for Bahrain (Navy tour= 1 year) the day we found out we were expecting :( We are excited to build our life together (starting from afar) and welcome our little one into the world in January. Welcome to our story....