We're Famous!

So Jack's pictures are up the mall now! I'm so stinkin' excited! I will admit, I've been back to the mall twice since I found out they were going to hang them. I guess my friend Sarah hadn't been able to get over there to give her manager the release paper and they won't hang them without it. (Like I would have cared.) But today was the day and I dragged my poor sickly hubby out of bed to go look at them. They are so CUTE!!! So, without further ado, here is my famous little boy!

The studio where the pictures are. They are hanging right in the corner that sticks out into the mall, where everyone walking by will see them!


They picked so many of my favorite pictures!


Jack posing with his pictures!


And a cute one from naptime today, just for kicks.



Oh, and on a completely separate note, it kind of bothers me that Walgreens will sell candy that is WAY past its expiration date. I'm eating it anyway, but I'm planning on writing a complaint as I eat it. Is that wrong?


Updated: I just realized this is only showing the left half of the pictures. If you click on the picture, it will let you see the full thing. Sorry.

The cutest little tax deduction there ever was...

Look at me sitting up by myself like a big boy!

Jack Stats

Weight: 18 lbs, 12 oz

Height: 26.5 inches

Just to compare, 6 months ago, he was 6 lbs, 13 oz and 19 inches long... He has gained almost 12 pounds and 7.5 inches! What a beast!

Milk.

Today, we threw away half a freezer's worth of pumped breastmilk. Just tossed it in the trash. I know that we couldn't use it anymore, but it was still kind of hard. I had hubby do it, because I don't think I could have been the one to dispose of it. It was always so easy to think, well, ok, if I have to go somewhere last minute, it's not a big deal, because I have a whole freezer full of milk at home. Now, it's real. There are 3 bottles in there. A total of about 13 ounces. That's two, maybe 2 1/2 meals. And that's kind of scary to me.

I know it's not the end of the world. I'm home with Jack all the time, and he's a great nurser, so there's times where he will go 4 or 5 days without a bottle. There's just something so unsure for me about not having a huge backup. But he'll be fine. We'll be fine. I just need to learn that's it's ok to live day to day. We'll just take it as it comes. C'est la vie.

My shining star!

Today, I went and got Jack's 6 month pictures taken at the Picture People at the Roseville Galleria. My friend from work, Sarah, is a photographer there. She took our family pictures in December and I really wanted her to take Jack's pictures this time as well. Well, it took about a week for our schedules to jibe and for her to get over her cold, but today was the day, and it was definitely worth the wait! The pictures turned out SO cute! Sarah did such a great job AND (this is the exciting part!), her manager liked them so much, they want to display them in the studio!!!! I'm so stoked, I'm going to go back to the mall this weekend just so I can check out the pictures of my cutie patootie! I wish you all could live around me so you could go see them too!

What A Deal!

So there's this great kid's store in Roseville called Right Start that we love. They sell car seats and strollers and toys, and it's all kind of high end and educational type stuff. Well when we went in there today they were had everything in the store on sale. We were able to buy our new car seat for Jack for 20% off! We had really wanted the Britax Boulevard, which Consumer Reports rates as the best car seat available, but they cost over $300!!! We had been planning on sucking it up and just doing it, because we wanted the best for Jack, so when we were able to get it for only $250, we just couldn't resist!

Now, the sad part of the story is that the reason they were having such a huge sale is they're going out of business. I really hate this economy. It's so frustrating when you see smaller places like this go under, because then you have no choice but to shop at the big box stores. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Target and I love Babies R Us, but it is nice to shop with the little guys every now and then. They're just so much happier to have your business and it shows in the level of service they give you. For example (and this is totally random), we just switched our dog food to a brand we can only get at a local feed store, and when we went in to buy it, the people working were SO nice and so helpful. We had barely stepped into the store when they asked if we needed help. The last time we were in Petsmart, we were there for almost 45 minutes before we could track down someone to help us. This is really a rant more suitable for my husband's blog, though!

As always, I'll leave you with a cute picture!

Doggie Madness and so much more.

So around 9:40 Jack and I get up out of bed. I let dogs out into backyard to potty, and go to change Jack's diaper. It's then time to start thinking about making breakfast, when I notice the BEAUTIFUL roses my sweet hubby brought home for me for Valentine's Day.My intentions were to let him sleep in a little bit because I don't even know what time he got home last night, but I decided I had to wake him up and thank him. As we're laying in bed talking, I realize that the dogs were being too quiet. And with our dogs, quiet is never a good thing... When I call them from the back door and no one comes running, I know something is up. I go to look out in the front yard and realize the gate is open. Crap, crap and more crap. I run back inside and tell Lewis that he needs to get up. Like, yesterday.
I'm FREAKING out. We live in a really quiet neighborhood, but Ariel is such a flighty dog that she could be anywhere. And Peyton is so trusting that he would go with anyone. Either one of them would get in a car with just anyone and be gone. I automatically grab on a sweatshirt and boots, toss Jack in his crib (not literally... what kind of mother do you think I am?), and we head outside. Hubby takes off down the street to look for them, and I hang back to try and close the gate, but the wind is so strong, I can barely grab hold of both sides to pull them together (it's a double gate for RV access to our yard.) It's the most helpless feeling, because I want to go out and help him look for them, but at the same time, I can't leave Jack at home alone. So I stay home, just watching out the front window, hoping...
Then Lewis decides he's going to drive the neighborhood instead of walking. As he does the first lap in front of our house, he stops. I run outside and who is sitting in our yard like a good girl? Ariel. I am able to grab her by the collar and bring her into the house, where I can lock her in. What seems like an eternity later, we spy Peyton down the street. Lewis grabs a bone and goes after him, and finally he is able to get him and bring him home....
The worst part for me was that I complain so much about how much they drive me crazy with their barking and their shedding and their need to be right on top of me whatever I'm doing. Yes, they're obnoxious, but they're also part of our family and I would never forgive myself if something happened to them. I do love them. But, thankfully, they both made it home pretty much unharmed. Peyton has some scratches on him, we think from a rosebush. We were able to get the gate closed and even went to OSH to get a better lock for it, so this can't happen again.
That was just the first hour of our Sunday. Talk about a way to wake up.
The rest of the day was pretty fun. We drove down to Elk Grove to see Grammy Pam and Grandpa Stu, hung out there for a while and then stopped into my old Outback to pick up my revised W-2 and see everyone there. Then we came home, relaxed for a quick minute, and it was off to work for hubby and the remainder of America's Next Top Model on the DVR for me. I think it's almost bedtime though, I'm pretty beat! I'll leave you with some pictures. Enjoy!

The BEAUTIFUL roses hubby brought for me!

Jack and his Grammy Pam

Jack eating his first Outback coaster.

This is Kelly. When I was pregnant with Jack, she would talk to my belly every day so that when he was born, he would recognize her voice!

Myspace

So, I know this is going to sound silly to some of you, but I am having issues with my current myspace page. I am in the process of creating another one, but it is such a tedious process. I have to go through and find all my friends again, spend time filling in all of the information I want to provide about myself, and make the page cute. What is really stressing me out, though, is all of my pictures. Since my laptop is pretty much in the toilet right now, I have all of my pictures from the last like 3 years that I really care about on my current myspace page. Just the thought of saving all of them to the hard drive and putting them up on my new page is giving me gray hair. Seriously. I feel them growing.
There really isn't a way around it, though. So, here goes. If I'm still on myspace next week, come rescue me.

High Chair

Jack in a restaurant high chair for the first time. He loved it! There was even a little girl in the booth next to us that he flirted with the whole time!

Pictures

Our beasts (Ariel is the Husky and Peyton is the Lab.)

My boys on the beach in Coronado.

Just us being silly.


J's feet in the sand for the first time! (Check out my sweet hair!)

My little cutie patootie!

Hello, World!

Well. It seems to be that it's about time to start a blog. J is almost 6 months old and growing and changing so fast that I'm afraid one day I'm going to look down and see a little boy instead of my little baby. I don't want to forget anything. I want to be able to go back and say, oh yeah, when you were 6 months old, this is what was happening. Plus, this will be a great way to keep our friends and family posted. I can add pictures and videos and no one will be able to complain that I never update them.


So, to begin, who we are and what we're all about.







This is my family.













I am the Mama/ Wifey. I married the love of my life, the Daddy/ Hubby, 10 months ago. We have been together for almost 3 years and are just as disgustingly in love as ever. J, the baby, as I said, is almost 6 months old. He is just the light of our lives and pretty much the cutest baby ever. We have 2 dogs, Ariel and Peyton Manning, who drive us crazy. We don't know what we would do without them.

We live in Rocklin, CA in a cute little house in a great little neighborhood that we love. I work part-time for the Outback Steakhouse in Roseville, CA. I work 3 nights a week and stay home during the day with baby J. The hubby has unfortunately been looking for a full time job for the last 2 months. If anyone knows of anything, let us know! He stays busy working for 2 bars at night and being a great husband/ daddy during the day. I don't know what I'm going to do without him when he goes back to work!

Baby J stays busy by learning how to be a little man. He has started rolling over (today!) and is teething like crazy. He learns something new every day and will be keeping me on my toes here pretty soon! His favorite things are jumping in his jumper, petting/ ripping hair out of the dogs, eating (both milk and solid foods!) and taking naps. He is a great baby all day long unless he misses his nap. If that happens, watch out! Cranky pants! He has slept through the night since he was 3 months old and will usually go to bed in his crib without a fuss. Hubby and I joke that since he is such a great baby, our next one will be a nightmare!

Speaking of the next baby, we do not know yet when we will start trying for another child. Depending on our situation, maybe sometime later this year? We'll see. I don't want our children to be too far apart in age, but I don't want to bring a child into the world if we don't feel we can provide for it. (Don't get me started on the lady with the octuplets...)

So, to conclude this, welcome to my family. I will try to post frequently and keep y'all updated!