Jessi

It's Groundhog Day...again

2012-02-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

I love that movie. Everyday feels like Groundhog Day here. Just the same thing over and over again. But lets talk about some of the new things happening around the house - bullet point style:

- After 3 years of Justin participating in the Overnight Website Challenge, I finally decided to join him. I applied for a team and was accepted! I'm no developer, but I can add content like no ones business. So that's what I'll be doing in March.

- Justin and I are attempting to relive our days of Drum Corps. We're auditioning for Minnesota Brass - an all ages drum corps. This time he'll be my seat partner!

- Jules continues to be our loving, sweet, son who bosses us around by saying, "You come to my room to play trains wif me." His new question is, "Is that you mommy?"

- Scully is still around and terrified of Jules who loves to chase her. But he also asks her to be his "best friend" - he's tender like that.

- We've had the strangest winter in Minnesota. I don't think we had any snow in January and if we did, it melted because we've been in the 40's. Except today. It's 5 degrees out right now. Yes, it's as cold as it sounds. I'm hoping it just means we'll have a longer spring and a hot summer. If not, I don't think Justin will want to continue to live here.

- Justin's into bikes, beer, and baby's. Let's just say he's attempting to make one of each.

- We knew Jules would be like us in many ways, but we didn't take into consideration some of the things we didn't want to pass to him. Talking in his sleep, bad skin, hard breathing when he's watching t.v. or concentrating on something, and biting his nails. These annoying little habits are sure to get worse.

- And speaking of Jules, he's terrified of loud noises. I've read about many who have dealt with kids and sensitivity to things like sounds or new situations or foods - and I should take comfort that these sensitivities will lessen and even pass with age. But man this is tough. He remembers instances of loud noises, where he was when they happened and he obsesses over it.

We were heading out to Utah over Thanksgiving break and we stopped at my office to do some last minute work. It was first thing in the morning so hardly anyone was there. My boss and I were chatting, Jules was sitting at the table and Justin was in the hall on the phone. Suddenly, the building fire alarm went off. There was no mention of a drill so this was the real thing. When the alarm goes off all the doors automatically shut and when that happened, along with the startling noise, Jules FLIPPED the F out. I had to grab him and bolt out of the building and reassure him it wouldn't happen again (of course, how the hell am I supposed to know that?). He talked about that for days.

I had lunch with him and Justin this week and we went to my building after lunch and he immediately panicked and started babbling about the alarm and doors closing and he how hated my work. I felt terrible for him when he started crying. It'll be a long time before I can bring him back.

He's constantly asking "What's that noise?" when he hears something he's never heard. Sometimes it's just a question other times you can tell he's worried. All we can do is reassure him. I hope this passes.

- And speaking of obsessing: I'm all over Adele right now. Isn't that voice amazing? If I was in London like someone I know, I'd totally go to every show she was doing. Seriously, amazing.

Hilarious

Upgrade

2012-01-22T12:40:00.000-08:00

He's a tiny little bossy pants who now has a "big boy" bed. We purchased this bed well before Christmas and never had time to set his room up. It also meant we needed to move his chair somewhere else. And at the time, the somewhere else was where the Christmas tree lived.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

He likes it. He especially likes to push the bed away from the wall and hangout (and sometimes sleep) on the floor between the wall and bed.

And just for fun, here's Jules who refuses to look at the camera but still smiles (from Christmas Eve).

Why Hello There!

2011-12-14T05:55:00.000-08:00

I'm going to pretend November didn't happen. And according to my blog, it looks like nothing happened.

Moving on...

Christmas last year was fun with an 18 month-old. But I'd like to take that back. Christmas with a 2 and 1/2 year-old is fun. Sure, he's sassy and sometimes naughty, but he's really into the magic that is Christmas. I set him up with his own decorated tree in his room and Justin put a little train set around the base. He loves it! And he loves to show it to people who come over. It's so much fun to see him so excited.

He happily obliges with our traditions of cutting down a Christmas tree in the freezing cold, standing outside in the freezing cold for a 10 minute parade, and soon, he'll participate in Christmas Eve fondue. I can picture it now - all bread and cheese for dinner and peppermint ice cream for dessert. It's Christmas, why fight it?

He's not really sure about the purpose of Santa - and we're fine with that. That's a conversation Justin and I need to have because our nieces and nephews were told from the beginning there is no Santa. (Not sure what to think of that...)

I'm not doing a whole lot of handmade items this year, just a few things for various people. So far it hasn't been stressful. But ask me next week when I get back from a conference and realize my last weekend to get stuff done is gone. Hello Amazon!

Work was very generous with holiday time off. They gave us 5 days between Christmas and New Years. So that means I only had to take two days off to get 12 days. It's much needed for a lot of employees; we've been busy. My co-worker resigned and moved back to his home state which left me doing the work of two people. Needless to say, some items have been put on the back burner until they hire a replacement. I'm patiently waiting for that replacement to show up in January. It'll be a New Year's miracle!

The Fan

2011-10-20T05:26:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our house we immediately noticed the bathroom fan was unusually loud. Like airplane engine loud. The second you turned on the light, the fan came on and you couldn't hear anything even with the door open. The plan was to replace the fan before the baby came.

2 1/2 years later and that fan still lives. And honestly, I don't want to get rid of it. Sure it's loud and I hate yelling "I can't hear you!" when Justin asks me a question from the hall. And it's also annoying when I'm taking a bath with my iphone and want to watch something. (What, doesn't everyone do that in the tub?)

But you know what it IS good for? Locking yourself away and pretending the child you just put to bed is actually sleeping and not in his room screaming "READ STOWY MOM-MOM-MOMMMMMMY!" or "MORE WAAAAAAATER!" or just plain screaming because he's over tired and doesn't want to go to bed. Nope, can't hear it.

After hanging out in the bathroom for a few minutes, I'll turn the light/fan off to see if he's still howling. Sometimes he is and sometimes he isn't.

It's the little things that keep you sane.

Now if I could just get the creaking hardwood floors to not wake him up when I'm sneaking in his room.

Two Year Molars

2011-10-10T05:48:00.000-07:00

Jules was always a content baby unless he really needed something. He had this high-pitched "EEEEE" right before he would start to cry. So if we caught him at that stage, we were golden. As a toddler, pretty much the same way. Except the "EEEE" is now "Help ple-EEEEEEEse mommy!"

He's a good eater. He has manners. He's funny. He's a little self-destructive when we say "No" or tell him not to do something. And even when he's sick, he's manageable. Just cuddle, a little meds and he's good.

But damn these 2-year molars! Never was he like this in all of his teething episodes. At first I thought he was sick. A slight fever and a hacking cough, I blamed it on the kids at the gym. But then I saw little teeth poking through and it all clicked: the moodiness, fever, not wanting to eat, screaming when it was time to brush teeth. Turns out, giant, stabbing knives were poking through his little gums. I'd be moody too.

Mommy: Jules, do you want Mini Wheats or Cheerios?
Jules: Cheerios.
Mommy: (getting the Cheerios box)
Jules: NO CHERRIOS, MINI WHEATS!!
Mommy: You want Mini Wheats?
Jules: NO! CHEERIOS!
Mommy: (WTF? Getting the Cheerios Box)
Jules: In little bowl. (he means a ramekin)
Mommy: You can't eat Cheerios in a ramekin.
Jules: IN LITTLE BOOOOOOWL!
Mommy: Fine, here.
Jules: Pour milk.
Mommy: (starting to pour milk)
Jules: NO MILK!

One day, I think he ate yogurt and raisins. That's it. For a kid who normally eats a big bowl of cereal, toast, yogurt and milk, this new diet of nothing is a little worrisome. But I know it's temporary and he'll be fine.

Last night after a particularly difficult diaper change, he actually said "hurt in mouth." Oh, it was so sad! And I felt really bad for him. So Justin and I cuddled him and tried to help him feel better with medicine and distraction, diaper-less.

So 2-year molars, hurry up and get here. We miss our sweet Jules.

Trains

2011-10-05T05:11:00.000-07:00

My kid. He loves trains. That is until we took him on a real steam engine that freaked the f out of him.

Trust me, he's holding on for dear life.

Before the weather got all weird and cold, we took a trip up to Northern Wisconsin. On the way, we stopped and rode on an old steam engine. We thought Jules would love it. And initially, he did. But as soon as that whistle let out its high-pitched squeal, Jules FREAKED OUT. There was no consoling him. There was no "Look Jules! You're on a steam train like Thomas!" There was only screams and tears.

We're awesome at parenting!!

He eventually lightened up after lunch and was excited to sit in the engineers seat of a train that did not move. Or make a sound. Or had a weird hiss to it. It was finally exciting for him.

He requested to go inside the caboose, up top. Justin was excited to crawl around old train cars. I was just happy Jules wasn't crying anymore.

On the way back, we decided to sit at the furthest car from the engine. What a difference that made. Jules was so happy, bouncing from seat to seat.

Wait for it...

And, steam whistle.

OhHAI!

2011-09-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

Not intentionally forgetting this space. It exists and at this point, something that isn't a "hey, lets make something that works well even better!" Except, I'm not sure it's better.

I'm looking at you Facebook.

Seriously, I've only seen a few new features over at the bookface and really, I'm getting tired of it anyway so now may be the time to jump ship?

So I come back to my old bloggy friend, Blogger. Who's still reading anyway?

Peter Pan Fan

2011-09-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

I loved Peter Pan when I was younger. Well, I should say, when I was 12. It was just a sweet, fun, adventurous story. I haven't seen it since. But I somehow own the dvd - pre-Jules. Weird.

I showed it to him the other night and, wow, is that a violent and somewhat scary cartoon for kids. This is the most violence Jules has seen and naturally, he's glued to it.

It's much different than Thomas & Friends' gentle "James was cross," or "Cinder and Ashes!" Peter Pan has sword fighting, beating up girls, missing hands, bombs, drowning, and pirates.

But then it ends so sweetly.

I think I'll hold off showing him Bambi.

Minna-Do-Da!

2011-08-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Lots of dumb stuff going on so let's review in bullet points!

- The Minnesota State Fair started and yes, we've already gone. The open invite still exists for those who want to bust out their stretchy pants (or draw string pants, whatever you've got) and come out and eat all day long. It's an event. An event that means summer is over in Minnesota. And you gain 6 lbs.

- We spent a long weekend in Northern Wisconsin with Justin's family. Eight kids, six adults and two dogs in a cabin. It was as fun as it sounds.

- Jules speaks like an adult now. Just ask him where he's from. "Minna-do-da!"
What's my name?
"Mommy!"
No, my real name.
"Des-deee."

It's cute.

- The garden is doing well. I've plucked cucumbers and tomatoes as they've ripened. The corn, carrots, onions and potatoes are growing nicely and should be ready in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed! I learned a lot and I'll do some things differently next year, but it's been fun.

- We went to the Vikings game Saturday and I got groped while walking to the bathroom. I thought Bears fans were assholes.

- Started watching Mad Men. Love it! Love that it's streaming on Netflix. Love Netflix. The end.

Dead Presidents

2011-08-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

After we put the baby - excuse me, toddler - to bed the other night, we got to talking about past President's. Justin asked, "Can you name all the President's from the 20th Century?"

"I think so."

And I proceeded to go from Roosevelt up - the first Roosevelt. Now, honestly, starting with Roosevelt was a guess. I was about 80% sure he was the first but it turns out he started in 1901. I was pretty impressed with my abilities to name all but three President's from the 20th century (and 21st of course). I only needed a few hints to name those three. Justin admitted he couldn't name that many. Sad. And he's smart!

So once I was done, I told Justin we should learn all the Presidents, not just in order, but the years they served. Sounds like High School all over again, eh? Forced learning! Sleeping in class! Economics at 8am! (true story)

But really, who says you can't take time out to learn (or sadly, re-learn) something as an adult? And shouldn't learning be about, well, learning more on something that interests you? Plus, it's a challenge!

So I'll be index-carding it up with President's and their terms. I'm sure this information will help me in trivial pursuit or something. Lord knows most subjects didn't help me land a job. (I'm talking to you ALGEBRA.)

Just gotta talk Justin into it...

Just Like Dad

2011-08-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Looks like this little guy looks up to his Dad.

Scully

2011-07-28T06:53:00.001-07:00

Let's talk about Scully for once (it's been a while since she's been featured). Since the baby was born, I hate to admit it, but she's been put on the back burner. We don't neglect her but she doesn't get all the attention she got for the first seven years of her life. We took her everywhere, got her special treats from expensive pet boutiques, bathed her once a week and everything else a furry friend could ask for. Now she only goes to the vet or my in-laws for excursions, no trips to the pet boutique, bathed probably five or less times a year, and many times, yelled at just out of frustration. She's regressed in her training - as little as it was - and has taken to cowering when Justin calls her name.

We've never hit her. Although, the baby hits her when he thinks he's petting her. He's getting better but he gets really excited and she gets really scared. It's sad and I feel terrible that I can't give her all my attention like in the past.

Recently, she got sick as a result of us forgetting to give her her heart worm meds. It didn't help that she's constantly out in the yard exploring and eating mice. As a little dog, her job is to burrow and hunt rodents. Instinct got the best of her and she found mouse town under our shed (awesome, huh?). Caught one or two, who knows, and got sick. And recently, she came in from exploring outside and ended up with a gash on her upper back and hind leg. She's just not having a good summer. And we're not having fun taking her to the vet and feeling guilty because we aren't protecting her well.

Justin thinks it's her fault and while I agree to a point, we are responsible for her well being and safety. It might be time to reconnect with her, refocus with training and make the last part of her life as fun as the first part.

The Kid...He's Got the Beat

2011-07-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun summer so far! Now that Jules is older, we can take him to lots of outdoor activities, including a Drum Corps show. He loves music and always does a dance when any type is playing. We took him to our local parade and he stomped and danced when the bands went by. Afterwards, we listened to a local Drum and Bugle Corps - Minnesota Brass - do a stand-still of their show. Jules was enthralled and loved it! He danced. He screamed. He stayed out late!

While we didn't get the same response when we took him to an actual show, he still did well. You can't expect a two-year-old to sit still when there are bleachers to climb on!

!!!!!

2011-07-15T09:09:00.001-07:00

I want to talk about Facebook status' for a second. You've seen them, the ones with multiple exclamation points, like this many!!! after every sentence!!!! "And it's gonna be a good day!!!" !!!!

Really, I think one exclamation point does enough, possibly two to get a point across. But let's limit it to every other sentence, at least. Please?

Or better yet, don't post a status update if you're super excited.

Mkaythxbai!!!!!

It's All a Crap Shoot

2011-06-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

While living in Las Vegas, I tried to grow an orange tree. Guess how it turned out? I don't know either. I gave it to a friend's wife to take care of when we moved to Minneapolis. But the first year I had it, it survived and actually grew fruit. I learned you weren't supposed to pick it the first year so the second years harvest would be better. (I hope it's growing yummy oranges for my friend and his wife! It probably is, I think she's got a super green thumb.)

When we bought our house, the family before had a huge garden in the corner of the yard. I loved the idea of a garden and wanted to do it. But then I had a baby and then it was winter and then summer again and the baby was crawling and I wasn't in the right mind to start such a task. We did, however, prep the garden by digging out weeds and left over leeks (we ate them, they were good. The leeks, not the weeds.). But after one really heavy, rainy week, it all grew over again and I gave up.

I made up my mind, this was going to be the "Summer of Gardening" (and "Summer of Beverages"). So I started all my seeds inside and they were growing beautifully. I had Friday's off and that gave me time to work in the garden. And I borrowed a family tiller to do the really heavy work for me. But the weather. Oh Minnesota and your weather. You always ruin my plans!

I had to wait a few weeks until the ground was dry. My little seedlings were starting to die-they needed to be planted! But it finally dried out and I was finally able to get started. Let me tell you about a tiller. It's a machine that-while digging into the ground-you hold on for dear life because it's going to take off and not care you're holding on or not. It.was.fun! And quick! It took maybe 45 minutes to till the entire plot. I made Justin till the back scary corner.

We planted the seedlings and BAM, Minnesota decided to go from 70's to 100's in about a day. And most of my seedlings died. All but two cucumber plants died, but my tomato plants survived. I also planted corn, carrot and potato seeds. I figured they were a lost cause too because of the heat and I couldn't keep up with watering. But then Minnesota went back to the 70's with tons of rain. And guess what? Everything grew! Including weeds! So now, I get to pull lots weeds thanks to all the rain. Most of my seeds have sprouted and are growing beautifully. I will have to plant some more corn because they are being overtaken by grass. Meh, I've got tons of corn seeds.

Now, how they will taste is a whole other experiment. Stay tuned...

24 Months

2011-06-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

Oh baby Jules, my little two-year-old, you are so grown up. You'll never be the squishy little 6-month-old baby again. I had to sneak into your room to cuddle you the other night just like when you were 6 months old.

It was easy to get you because we switched your bed to a big boy bed last week. You get so excited to go "night night" you don't even get out in the morning. You patiently wait for us to get you.

You're so proud.

We've got a running list of signs you know. It's very close to 50 signs! You learn them so quickly now. Your language has also improved dramatically. You know colors and we're working on numbers. You can count to three.

You adore being outside. You and Dad have been spending a lot time outside during the day: playing, working in the yard, bike riding. Anything to stay outside.

Driving cars, looking cool.

We had your birthday part on Saturday. All your cousins adore you and had fun taking you all over the play area. You napped so well afterward!

Not the best family photo, but it is what it is.

You got a sand and water table. I haven't put the sand or water in it because you like to drive cars all over this thing.

You totally love it!

You took it upon yourself to climb in and play.

"Just checking this umbrella thing."

These two years went by so fast. There's no slowing you down. Happy Birthday my little one!

Three Years

2011-06-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

I was recognized this week for working here three years. That's the longest I've worked somewhere that wasn't school. My usual thing to feel after TWO years at any place is anger, frustration, stress, boredom, blah, blah, you get the idea. But here, I haven't felt that. Sure there have been frustrating days. Anger at dumb decisions. Stress at getting a project done. Boredom from lack of work. That's at all jobs and not at once as it was in the past. Since being here, I've never said, "I'm done. I want out. I hate it here." Not once. Ask Justin how many times I said that at my last employer.

It was nice being recognized because a lot of people didn't know what I did, who I was, or even what I looked like. But that changed within the past year. The role I have now lets me interact with more departments and become the hero at the last minute (toot toot! - that's me tooting my horn.). And when my boss ended his speech about my work here, I was surprised at the applause that came. Loud cheers! What? Who was doing that? No one knows me or the work that I've done. But people did know me and the work I've done. And they cheered. I was the popular kid for 15 seconds.

I haven't thought about where I'll be in the next 10 years career wise. Where ever I am, I hope I'll be as happy as I am here.

Themes are Good

2011-05-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

*ooh, Looks like I can now "mobile post" - but I'm not gonna.*

May in Minnesota is weird. You have beautiful, sunny days with a high of 75. Perfect, Minnesota! Then you have beautiful, sunny days with a high of 55. She can't help her moodiness.

I'm doing a garden this year. I was with infant last year and couldn't get my act together for many reasons. This year, this summer is the summer of gardening for me and the summer of beverages for Justin. We're nerds and like to theme our summers. One summer was the "summer of socks" the next was "summer of slurpees!" So, once we declare it, it'll happen.

Summer of gardening consists of 1) cleaning up the front and back yard and not be the embarrassment of the cul-de-sac any more. And 2) planting a simple vegetable garden. By not going overboard, I'm keeping it simple and doable. Or else, I'll fail. Corn, potatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, cauliflower, and pumpkins - for the kids. So far, so good! I got my starters going and just finished tilling most of the garden. But, Minnesota wants to ruin everything for me and rain. Jerk. While the hard work is 1/2 way done, it really all comes down to how things will taste. I can only hope it's edible.

Summer of beverages consists of 1) brewing our own beer and 2)creating our own pop. Orange, root beer, grape, cream soda, whatever! Plus, we'll need a cool beverage after the long hours of garden time we'll be putting in EVERY.NIGHT.FOR.THE.REST.OF.THE.SUMMER!!

I'll let you know how it goes. What's your summer theme?

23 Months

2011-05-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Oh man, good thing I only said I'd do this until you're two because capturing you on camera is not easy. You're too busy to sit still for me (duh, MOM!) and you would rather scroll through the photos on the camera than sit still for one.

At 23 months, you have a few more words, some new songs, and tons more signs. You sign "shoes" which means you want to go outside. You run and run as fast as you can outside (and inside) and love to chase the dog, dad on the bike or just run.

We give you a high-five after you've done a chore. You're a good helper and love high-fives. We'll see how long this lasts.

You've perfected the "sack of potatoes" and "drop to your knees" when I need to pick you up and you don't want to go. You kick and scream and while this would have frustrated me 10 years ago, I just giggle to myself and say "this will pass".

You're growing up so fast. You like to feel like a big boy. So we let you sit in a chair at the table and you did great! Yes, I have white seat cushions that I should probably change out but you were so proud sitting in my chair. Guess we'll have to get you a booster seat. Bye bye high chair!

The big TWO coming up!

Weekend

2011-05-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

Besides feeling a bit sick on Mother's Day, the weekend was pretty good.

I actually busted out my very first issue of Burda magazine (in FRENCH!) and made a cute new summer top. I took a photo, but a photo of me wearing it would be better. Despite the French instructions, it turned out really nice. Here's a line drawing:

Saturday, Jules and I went to cheer Justin and friends on as they biked 60 miles for MS.

Jules made friends at the rest stop with his cool sunglasses and his fist-bumping skillz.

Then the weather went from this:

Cool jacket weather.

To this:

Hot, muggy, and too hot for clothes weather. This is the Minnesota we love :)

I got a replica Kate Middleton engagement ring (you know, the blue sapphire with diamond beauty?) and its totally blinging! A perfect Mother's Day gift!

So with my new top, ring and warm weather, I'm like a new girl!

It's Not You, It's Me

2011-05-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not a picky eater. That's my sister. Although, Justin would disagree and throw me in the same crowd as picky eaters like my sister. There are some flavors I just can't stand. Some textures that are horrid. And probably the most frustrating thing for Justin, some foods I won't eat because the name grosses me out.

For example, I hate cilantro. HATE the smell as much as the taste. Apparently, I'm not alone:

http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com/?nc&vid=25107474

When Justin eats anything with cilantro, I can smell it on his breath and I keep my distance. Same thing goes for garlic - although I love garlic, just not cuddling next to someone who reeks of it.

Chewing peas is like sandy dirt. The texture just makes me gag. The flavor doesn't help either. Peas have a very earthy taste (dirt) so I don't even bother with them anymore.

Greek yogurt. Nope, don't like the word "Greek" in food. Although, I like Greek food, just not "Greek" something. Hummus, yes! Falafal, yes! Baklava, yes! Greek yogurt, no!

I tried Clotted Cream while I was in England. I was VERY hesitant at first, but I really wanted to try it. The word "clotted" has got to be the grossest word ever associated with food. Just sounds like a blood clot and who the hell wants to eat that?!

I tried it and it was THE.BEST.CREAM.EVER!

But I still hate the name.

This one is straight ignorance: Butterscotch. I had no idea it was basically caramel, in liquid form! Oh so yummy.

Justin doesn't think I try many new things, but I really do. They just aren't as obvious to him - he eats everything. I'm just now trying butterscotch, that's like kids play in terms of sampling new foods. One day I hope to try more, but for now, I've grown past scraping the sauce off pizza (I'll still eat it with sauce), but I prefer no sauce.

Things I'm Loving Lately

2011-04-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

- the walk into work. I don't park in the parking garage at work anymore for many reasons. My new parking situation is a few blocks away and outdoors. Now that spring is mostly here, the walk in is nice, even in the rain. Makes me feel like part of the city. No idea why, but it just does.
- Muse. Their new album, you know, from last year, is so good in every way. Rock, sexy rock, classical, some song that sounds Jewish to me (clarinets make me think of Jewish songs, no idea why. I'm weird.).
- finally feeling like an adult. Job with challenges, rewards, co-workers I adore and respect and others who are meh. The fact that I have a kid is finally making me feel like I'm in my thirty's too.
- cooking from my pantry. Taking a coupon/stockpiling break and using up everything we have.
- the sun!
- movie night!
- homemade croissants. I've been making them almost every weekend. Not good for the gut and/or butt.
- Jules and his sweet "hi-ee!" and "bi-e-e-e-e-ke".

What are you loving lately?

22 Months

2011-04-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Whoa kid, you're growing up way too fast! I went away for WGI again this year and when I got home, you looked so much like a bigger, little boy! You're tall with just a hint of baby fat, you run really fast from the living room to the kitchen and you spin in circles until you fall down laughing.

Daddy had to lower your bed to the last possible setting because you really want to climb out. We're not ready for that yet. So in you stay and we can sleep for another 20 minutes.

Throwing, hitting and screaming are a daily treat for us! We love it when you toss a car in our direction and throw a spoon at Scully and we especially love it when you slap our faces.

(Mad about something.)

Actually, we hate it, but we try really hard to be patient with you and your outbursts. You see us as both bad and good guys. Phew, because I didn't want to be seen as a mean mom!

You love to help me with chores. You like to stir whatever I'm cooking. You know where the garbage and recycling go. You know how to throw dirty clothes down the laundry chute. And you help me put clothes in the washer and dryer. I give you a high five when done and you immediately want a fist-bump too. Then you run to find Dad for a fist-bump.

Giving Lammie a kiss.

Your two babies, Lammie and Doggie.

You're getting a little more social. When someone says "Hi" you might say it back. When the boys are in the cul-de-sac playing, you'll yell at them, "HEY!" When Dad has to yell for Scully to come back, you chime in yelling for her too. But you're still shy in certain situations.

Here's to 22 months, Jules.

What I Did This Weekend

2011-04-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

My opinions - offended by what I say? Meh, move along then.

Instead of going over every show that was amazing (or not), I'm just going to give a rundown of the weekend. Isn't that what I do every year? I'm too lazy to look back. I've had little sleep and my brain is overwhelmed by all the groups that used versions of Radiohead's Creep and Metallica for strings, there were a lot. (I totally made that up. It's essentially a classical version of Nothing Else Matters. Classy.)

I was also overwhelmed at the number of Texas guards and even more impressed at how many made it to finals. I'm going to say at least 10 made finals. And we heard this all weekend:

The stars at night
Are big and bright
(clap, clap, clap, clap)
Deep in the heart of Texas!

Minnesota did well too. Irondale made finals in A Class with their sports-themed show and MBI (Minnesota Brass, Inc.) made finals in Open Class.

My top shows were (ha! So I am giving a run down, but it's a small list):
Black Watch - A sight to experience in person, really.
Trumbull HS - Tearjerker and beautiful. Wish I had seen it more than once.
Carmel HS - These girls are amazing. Connect the dots!
Delazure - One of the Creep shows...with Mime faces.
Beatrix - All the way from the Netherlands bringing the story of Anne Frank to the floor.

My most WOW and DID YOU SEE THAT!? List:

Zydeco
Braddock Independent
Vanguard
Fantasia
James Logan

And not for fun, but to show that I didn't like everything I saw there and I'm not afraid to admit it to the interwebs:

South Shore - I know it was a crowd favorite but I have no idea why it won.
Onyx - I get that you're World Class level, but please, don't make the show alienate the audience by your concept.

That's all I can remember or that stuck out to me as big-time hot dog guards*.

Thursday, I watched 9 1/2 hours of Winterguard at three different locations.

Friday, I watched 9 hours of Winterguard with A Class finals that night.

Saturday, I watched 10 hours of Winterguard with it being Finals for both Open and World Class groups.

That's a lot of guard in a short amount of time, but I loved it. Til next year...

*Hot dog guard is a group you don't like or want to see again and you get something to eat, like a hot dog.

Skillz

2011-04-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

I think I'm getting the hang of this croissant thing.

A Year+ in Cloth Diapers

2011-03-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

*ETA - Check the comments for Justin's take on cloth diapers.

After my first post on how we were using cloth diapers, some things have changed and some stayed the same. So I thought I would do an update for those who are interested. If you're not interested, see you around!

Ok, so let me first start off by saying I still like cloth diapers but there are times when I use disposables. I have a big enough stash where I don't need disposables. But sometimes, I'm just too lazy to get them from the laundry room or get them washed in a timely manner. It happens and I don't beat myself over it.

These are BumGenius All-in-Ones. When I did the first diaper post, Jules was wearing the little yellow one (size small). He now wears the large. He was in the small from 1 month to about 4 or 5 months. Then he moved to the medium and wore those til almost 10 months. The large is still big on him and he could squeeze into the mediums but I was ready to streamline my stash.

So, what have I learned?

1. There was a time when we got a HORRIBLE ammonia smell. I thought it wouldn't happen, but it did. It took a while to really get them clean and figure out a washing routine that worked for me and the diapers. So until I did get them sorted out, I used disposables. (and that's ok!)

2. Our stash has changed. We mainly had AIO's (all-in-one's) and pockets (all BumGenius brand diapers.) We also had kissaluvs (fitted) but he grew out of them. Oh, how I can't wait to use those on a new baby. I LOVED them.

AIO's have a downside. Once used, that's it, time to wash. So if you want to do an entire AIO stash, you need a lot of them. After Jules outgrew the mediums, I moved onto a new diaper that just came out, the Grobaby hybrid diaper.

Grobaby (now, rebranded as GroVia) on the largest setting:

This has a snapable insert made from 100% organic cotton, a cover that is breathable (no PUL), adjustable, and aplix (velcro) that is very flexible.

I really like these inserts because gusset has elastic sewn in the insert, not just the cover. If you are sizing the cover down to small or medium the insert will fit as well. On the small setting, you do have to tuck the insert in since it'll pop up the top. But it's not a big deal.

Grobaby also has a disposable insert option. These biosoakers are flushable and have a sticky backing to hold it in place. However, I don't use it because it leaves a sticky residue. We took this system to London with us and had no issues at all. No leaks, no nothing. The inserts are very small and we carried enough for a week on our trip to London without taking up tons of space.

Biosoaker folded up (super thin) on the left, snapable insert on the right.

Disposable inserts also have elastic to help contain messes. To dispose of them, shake off any solids then tear the side, shake the interior contents in the toilet and toss the shell of the insert. Or you can throw the entire thing away.

I have more inserts than covers because we can reuse a cover a few times before washing. I do have two issues with this system:
1. The elastic on the covers are thick and leave marks on Jules' legs. But, elastic on cloth diapers are vital in my opinion. Without it, leaks can happen and you might as well use a disposable. 2. The rise is very short. So if you have a kid who's really tall in the torso, these might not work. But the Grovia version solved that with a higher rise.

Also, the inserts for Grovia will fit with the Grobaby covers. Grovia inserts are slightly different. They have a waterproof backing so you can use a cover even more often.

Up next, the Flip (from BumGenuis).

This is basically an adjustable cover with an adjustable insert. The insert is microfiber with suede cloth one one side (the side that should be placed next to baby's skin).

I really like this system because they are very trim. I wish I had more covers but I really don't need anymore diapers! The Flip cover works really well with prefolds and the best part are the snaps. Jules can't undo this diaper and the velcro doesn't snag on his jammies.

So those are the two new diapers that we've been using in addition to the BG's.

Now that Jules isn't nursing, washing diapers is a bit different. A friend of mine sent me her entire diaper stash along with a diaper sprayer. For the longest time, I told myself I didn't need a diaper sprayer. But after having so many issues with diapers not getting clean and winding up super stinky even after washing, I figured I'd try it.

It took all of five minutes to install and it makes a world of difference! Now, a soiled diaper is brought to the bathroom, we switch the water on, spray everything off, and drop the diaper in the hanging wetbag I had made from a seller on etsy.com.

On wash day, I grab the bag from his room and the hanging wetbag, take everything down stairs and toss it all into the washer. I do a presoak with a cup of vinegar, then a hot wash with soap (Dropps), and a double to triple warm water rinse.

Honestly, use whatever soap works for you. People have success using Tide, others stick to diaper safe detergent. Some say don't use vinegar, others say it's ok. I've been using vinegar for over a year and haven't had any issues. Like I said, use what works for you.

And just for fun, here are pictures of the diaper drawer:

At the top are the BumGenius 3.0 (one size pocket diaper). The row below that are my new hybrid diapers, Grobaby. To the left of the Grobaby are four extra inserts for Grobaby. And to the left of the dark blue diaper are Motherease one-size fitted diapers. I'll talk about those at another time.

The other side of the drawer:

Top right are the Motherease again and below are covers. In the container to the left, all my extra Grobaby/Via, Kissaluv and BG inserts. Inserts are good for nap time or if your kid is a heavy wetter.

So that's it. (phew!) A year+ - almost 2 years - in cloth diapers. I'm no expert, but if you have any questions, just ask.

Croissant Challenge Part 2

2011-03-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ha! Michelle and Todd were right, these are tough! And I'm insane now.

Let's do a recap:
Friday (I don't work on Friday's) I started around noon with the recipe. And I immediately had baking fail. Honestly, that doesn't happen to me but I totally blame the recipe. The ingredients were translated from grams into what we know as "traditional cooking measurements" and I should have been leery. The dough in the mixer was VERY dry even after incorporating the wet ingredients. So I let my mixer throw it around for a few minutes and then I called it good.

Mistake #1 (luckily, there were only a few.)

Silly me to think dough that was hardly mixed would rise. Oh, did I say I had to be somewhere at 6pm? Yes, I figured I could easily get to the part where it could rest overnight by the time I had to leave.

Mistake #2

The dough didn't rise after 3 hours (THREE HOURS!). So I said screw that recipe and did a quick search for "Julia Child Croissant Recipe" and found this one from Mamaliga. After reading through and drooling over the pictures, I realized I could salvage the dough.

I took it out of the bowl, kneaded it by hand, plopped it back in the bowl and set the oven to the "hold" temp (175 degrees) and placed the bowl on top of the stove. (read that Todd? On top, not in it ;) )

I WIN, it ROSE, but it was 6pm! So I shut off the oven and left it there to finish rising while I went out for some culture (and evening at the Orchestra). When I got home it tripled and I put it in the fridge to stop the yeast from covering my stove with dough.

Saturday: Let's just say I gave up on dough #1 and tossed it. While it started off promising (I let it get to room temp), the dough was just so dry. Rolling it was difficult and it was missing something.

So at 2pm on Saturday afternoon, I started over with the new recipe and already felt better about it. It mostly looked like her photos. I didn't expect it to be perfect but it was close!

Someone needs to tell me that I live in Minnesota and it's freaking freezing here. There's a good chance that's why my dough (for any recipe) takes forever to rise. Same case here. Not a big deal, just takes a long time.

I didn't follow her directions for the butter. I used recipe #1 for the butter directions and felt it worked just fine. All the turns worked nicely but by the last one, it was hard to roll out. Fourth turn and into the fridge overnight for my dough to rest.

Sunday: The dough was cold and while it was a little tough to roll out, it wasn't impossible. I really had to put some effort into it but I got it 20 inches long. I cut the dough the best I could and lol'd at myself because they were gonna be small. At this point though, I didn't care. I got 12 croissants just at the recipe said I'd get.

I let them rest for about 2 hours (where they puffed up), egg washed them, baked and got these beauties:

Not too shabby, eh?

Masterpiece? Ok, so two came out a little funky. They tasted fantastic though. They were very buttery and had lots of flaky layers. Justin loved them!

They were still hot and the middle kinda came out when I split it open. The inside is always my favorite :)

Ok, so after the challenges I had in the beginning, I would make them again. (Yes, I'm insane.) There really isn't a lot of hands-on action going on, it just takes A LOT of time. But why spend 3 days doing this? So when I do it again, I'll double the batch and freeze the dough for the future.

Worth the effort, meh, not sure. But I like challenges.

Croissant Challenge

2011-03-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make homemade croissants for a long time. Justin's Grandma used to be a baker and is always bringing "Grandma Rolls" to family events. We love them! But, they are more American (very bready and dense, but really, really good) and I really want one from France :) So I've been looking at recipes for the French versions. All the recipes I've found, they are very labor intensive.

My friend Todd and his friend Michelle decided to tackle homemade croissants in a "he said" "she said" way. While their outcomes were mostly the same, the process was, well, a process.

But since they were both brave to try it, I figured, why not? So that's what I'm tackling today. They used this recipe (with photo goodness!) so I'm using it too.

So, I guess it's not really a challenge with anyone, but a challenge for myself. Anyone else care to join? I'll be back later!

21 Months

2011-03-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

You surprised us with lots of words this month! I guess all we had to do was ask if you could say something. Because you can!

(us: Show us your teeth! you: TEEEEEETH!)

Done, eat, bee (ha!), bath, more, beer (sounds like he's from Boston), bike (more like biiiee but not to be confused with bye-bye), whoa, moon, and yum. Scully is just an Szzz sound with a giggle.

(Epic face)

You're really quick to learn new signs too. Home, leaf, strawberry, night-night, tree and the most adorable sign you do yet, baby. It's so sweet when you sign 'baby'. We'll go through a list of words and ask you the sign. You first make the sound, then the sign. You're a little sponge!

You have a fake laugh. HA HA HA AAHHHHH. You start laughing when other people are laughing. You totally get that from me.

You're a good singer. You know the theme to Thomas the Tank Engine and will sing it in your bed at night and whenever we ask. We never showed you how, but you somehow figured out that microphones are for singing. You love to dance when music is on and when we ask you to roll over, you do a few circles and then roll to the ground. We ask Scully to do it first, but you want to do it too. (You don't get a treat, though.)

Not many can say their kid wants to brush teeth, but you'll ask to brush as well as ask for medicine, both with made up signs (finger on the teeth for brush and finger in the mouth for meds - no idea how I figured that one out!).

We got your hair cut and now you look like a BIG little boy! It's almost too short! But you still look really cute.

Poor Szzzzz.

Help!

2011-03-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

I don't fit in anywhere. Specifically, clothing sections in stores. I'm finding it more and more complicated to shop for myself because all the clothes in the "Juniors" section are a bit too "not work friendly" but clothes in "Women's" are a little to "frumpy mom". So where do I buy clothes?

When pregnant, you shop the maternity for the most part. Or just find something that you already own that will suffice until the little bundle is born and you're back in your favorite clothes.

I'm lost.

I'm at the in-between age of clothes. Too old for "Juniors" and too young for "Women's". Even Old Navy is beginning to bother me. In the past, I could easily hit Old Navy and find 10 things I wanted. Now, maybe just a pair of pants and a top.

I actually do a lot of online shopping for clothes. I can sort by the item I want (shirt, pants or jeans) as well as sort by size. It's the trying on part and feeling the fabric I miss out on.

So, am I the only one who feels stuck between "Juniors" and "Women's"? Got any great stores or suggestions? Because, I need some new clothes!

And the winner is...

2011-02-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

#8 is Jenny! Who said "I subscribe in google reader."

Congrats Jenny, you should have an email from me. If I don't hear back from you in 24 hours, I'll redraw. Have fun shopping!

Thank you everyone for entering!

Motoring Away

2011-02-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who've entered the giveaway! I think spring is on everyone's mind, huh? Those of you who live in warmer climates, I'm totally jealous! We just got hit with another snowstorm and I ended up with a snow day at work. Almost three years I've worked there, I've never had a snow day. It was that bad!

We're still working on our basement. We're priming the walls today and hopefully get the electrician and contractor back to do the finishing work. Then we can move everything back and I can clean out the guest room. Once that room is done, we're moving to the bathroom. The only real difficult work will be tearing out the laminate floor and replacing it with tile. The rest is finishing work. Just trying to make our home nicer, one room and one project at a time.

If you're a shopper of Ikea, check out this great site, Ikea Hackers, for all hacked Ikea products. I love to see what people use to solve common problems. There are some really creative people out there!

Something Fun - A Giveaway!! (CLOSED)

2011-02-16T14:16:00.000-08:00

All the snow is melting and it's still February! That can only mean I can see parts of my yard and its brown, water-soaked grass. Baby Jules loves to be outside even more now and that gets me thinking of him playing outside this summer.

He's well past the age of sitting under the tree on a blanket, crawling around, not wanting to touch the grass. He might not be old enough for swingsets yet, but he's old enough for something fun, just gotta figure out what.

And speaking of something fun...I've got a fun and easy way to win a ~~$55~~$60 gift certificate from csnstores.com!

CSN Stores have over 200 online stores where you can find anything you need whether it be swingsets, fitness equipment, or even cute cookware! CSN Stores have given me a gift certificate worth ~~$55~~ $60(!) for one of my readers! All you have to do is comment on what you can't wait to do when you can see your yard again.

Wanna earn extra entries? Sure you do!

1-extra entry for subscribing to my blog - leave a separate entry to say you subscribed (or if you already subscribe)
1-extra entry for blogging about this giveaway - leave a separate entry with your post link.
1-extra entry for tweeting: Enter to win $60 gift cert to @CSNstores via @jeeprsjessi's blog! http://xrl.in/78p5 Ends Mon, 2/28 - leave a separate entry when you have done this.

Now, the rules:

Contest ends February 28th, 5pm CST.
Must be a resident of the US or Canada (promotional codes cannot be used towards Canadian international fees)
18 years of age
Provide a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.
The winner will be chosen by Random.org and will have 24 hours to respond or I draw another name.
Gift card must be used by March 31st. (sorry such short notice)

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this giveaway from CSN Stores.

This One Time...

2011-02-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

I join my sister-in-law at her sons hockey game. Apparently, there's a parents league that plays after the kids are done. Her team annihilates the other team. The other team never gets any new players because, well, I don't know the reason. I can see it in their faces; the faces of defeat every week.

At the end of the game, they do a race from mid ice to see who can get to the end the fastest. My sister-in-law says I should do it. So I lace up my skates and hesitantly get on the ice. Oh man, it's slippery! I take my place next to her and the wall at the end of the line. The bell goes off and the line of parents scramble to gain traction on the ice to propel them forward. I do the same. Soon, the fastest emerge from the starting line and I'm just behind them. I start passing parents right and left and my speed picks up. I can't decide if I'm really slow and these parents are even slower or I'm somehow a natural when it come to speed skating.

I'm in second place, eying the first place mom who's looking behind her. I easily skate past her and make my way full speed to the finish line (the wall). Surprised at my out-of-no-where finish, the announcer asks what team I'm part of and I answered back, "No team."

My sister-in-law steps in and says "She's on our team!"

The losing team look at each other and start to cry. I feel bad for them and can see how much a skater like me could help. I'm uncomfortable with my unexpected fame so I walk away.

20 Months

2011-02-13T16:52:00.000-08:00

Only four short months until the big TWO. But you are still such a baby in my eyes. We still call you Baby Jules (as do other family members).

You still love your train set and will play in your room without problems. You realized I've been keeping toys from various holidays - that I haven't given to you yet - in your closet and you try to open the doors to get to them. Don't worry, you'll get them soon enough.

You added some new words this month! Hi, bye bye and night night. We've only been saying these to you for over a year :) To hear you say "hi" is really sweet. You'll come into the room or look for us and say "Hi-eee". It's really cute. You also added two new signs: bike and cheese. Bike was easy, it's like pedaling with your hands and we figured we'd teach you cheese, your favorite food. You picked it up within a day. You're getting good at doing two signs. You'll sign "more" and "train" and that means you want to watch "Thomas the Tank Engine". Or "more" and "milk". Guess we should teach you more signs!

You have nine teeth on top and six on bottom. Poor you, they come in two at a time. But I think you're set on teeth for a while. You still sleep 12 hours at night but your afternoon nap is about 2 hours. Dad isn't getting as much work done. But my day off helps him get caught up and you and I get to hang out all day.

On my day off, I take you to the Y with me. You cry when I drop you off to play, but the second they show you the train table, you're fine. You do the same thing when the Babysitter comes over. The second you see her, we see your anxiety level increase. You start to pout and cry. Here's to hoping you grow out of that!

You love to visit our neighbor, Donna. She's older and lives alone. Daddy tells me that you walk up to her door, pound on the glass and she opens it to let you in. Scully goes with you. She loves it when you visit her! She'll watch you while Daddy is working in the garage or needs to get something done. She's very, very nice and loves you like your other Grandmas.

Your hair was getting too long so I decided to cut it. Dad had to hold you and we gave you a tootsie roll to chew on. No dice. You didn't like me combing your hair, you didn't like the scissors, and you especially didn't like sitting still. But, I did manage to cut off the mullet even if it was a little uneven.

Happy 20 months, Baby Jules!

January Burns

2011-02-01T10:11:00.001-08:00

Since moving to Minnesota, I knew that January would be a difficult month when it came to weather.
Actually, it's January through May with February or March being the really difficult months.
It's spring, and snow is still falling. That's hard to swallow when all your friends in ALL THE OTHER STATES are out having a good time in spring-like weather.

Can you tell Justin's bitterness has rubbed off?

It's been a really rough winter. So Justin took me to Kauai with another couple for my birthday. Hawaii in January. I didn't care if it was going to rain or be in the 70's. It wasn't snow and I didn't have to take a jacket.

Hawaii in January!

We were going to sail, kayak, surf, eat, drink and relax by the ocean. And we did and it was awesome!

But, there was a drawback. Our pasty white skin. It burned. We were diligent about using spf 50 and above. Our Indian friends didn't want to get "darker" (their words, not mine) either and were slathering spf 70. But us white folks burned areas of our body that we didn't expect. Legs, feet, hands, lips. And nothing would soothe the pain. Then I thought of this:

Back in Junior High School, 90210 was new and all the cool kids were watching it. I could NEVER get into it. The adult-like (fake) situations, the sex, a dj in a high school (pu-leeese!). I get they were trying to relate to people my age with issues of our generation but it was done in such a way that it made you feel shittier about yourself.

So I turned it off.

BUT! I did see an episode that officially gave me the green light to never watch the show again. The main, dark-haired chick (Brenda?) is out sunbathing before the big dance, naturally. But, oh noes! She got burned bigtime! WTH was she gonna do?

Don't worry, cool mom from the 90's used granny's sunburn aftercare, secret remedy and came to the rescue. Brenda came walking down the stairs in her poofy sleeved, black dress all ghost-like. Pasty skin restored back to normal.

YA RIGHT, 90210. Why do I get so angry about this story line?

So anyway, the sun is damaging and burns are painful. I could barely put socks on for my 9 hour flight home. Surprinsly, just my feet were affected and are now a beautiful tan color (3 weeks later).

I'm now the only Minnesotan with tan feet - that no one will ever see. Not til May, at least.

Hiding behind bikes. Even flip-flops hurt my feet. :(

19 Months

2011-01-23T08:08:00.000-08:00

(Somewhat late, but we were in Kauai and I've been slow to get back into the groove of life.)

Your love for trains has grown since you got a Thomas the Train set at Christmas. We have it set up in your room where you spends about 30 minutes playing quietly. Then you come running out wanting us to stick the trains back together (magnets). You still love cars and trucks, but I think trains are your favorite. If you're sitting and you hear the Thomas theme, you come running in and immediately start dancing around the room

You now shake your head when we ask you anything.

"Do you want to take a bath?"

Shakes heads!

"But you LOVE baths!"

Shakes head faster!

I'm sure soon you'll learn what it means.

You recently became attached to Lamby. You stole it from your Grandmas house when you were about 8 months old. It was something we put in your bed for comfort but now, you LOVE Lamby. One of your new words this month was "Lammie" sometimes screaming for her. Poor thing needs a bath after being dragged around, kissed with peanut butter lips, and grabbed with really dirty hands.

Speaking of new words, umm, well, Lamby is the only new word. But you are able to tell us what you need or want without issues thanks to Sign Language. You can now sign "Train" and you do a hand-washing sign. After meals you rub your hands together, requesting a hand washing. So I take you to the bathroom and hold you next to the sink. You rub your hands together in the water then reach for the soap pump for extra cleanliness.

(What? Doesn't everyone have a slide in the middle of their living room?)

You're still about 25lbs but you can eat like a big boy! You tend to eat a very big breakfast and then less and less through out the day. When it comes to new foods, we do offer them to you, and unless we force some on your lips you won't try it. Of course, after you've tasted it, you usually like it. But we're entering the independent phase so we don't stress over it if you don't like something or are being stubborn about food.

Check out all those teeth! You're very good about letting me brush them.

It's hard to think you'll soon be turning 2. But it's fun to think of the new things you'll be doing in the next few months. More words? More cute personality coming out? Favorite things to do? I'm pretty sure the list is endless. 19-months baby Jules, it's going by too fast!

In That I Have Nothing to Say

2011-01-19T20:23:00.000-08:00

Really, nothing since December? Sad, but actually a lot has happened. Maybe it was the post-holiday blues or the amount of eating that has me now 10 lbs heavier (suuuuuucks), but I just didn't feel like anything was worth writing about.

Wait, now that I think about it. It's the month of January. Does it suck for you too? It's cold, days are short, the holiday's are over, blah blah blah January blows.

So anyway, Jules turned 19 months(!) and has a mouth full of teeth, we went to Kauai to escape the brutal cold of Minnesota (5 degrees today!), our basement project is almost done, and Scully is now considered a "senior" but don't tell her that.

I haven't done his 19 month post because I feel like I just did his 18 month. But that's me just being lazy and not posting anything else. Plus we were in Kauai when he aged another month.

Kauai! It was a birthday gift from Justin. Since moving to Mpls, I've requested a trip to Hawaii in January. In his old, crotchety state, he agreed and booked the trip. It was WARM and SUNNY (most of the time). We burned our legs and feet, hiked, kayaked, swam, boated, drove, sun bathed, surfed, ate, shopped. It was a much needed break.

Our basement remodel is going well and this phase is almost done. The old panel board and ceiling was ripped down and new drywall was installed. We also added lighting and wired it for internet and the projector. After the second coat of mud and ceiling work is done, we just have to paint and move everything back. It's chaos in the office and guest room, Justin can't wait for everything to be moved back and I'm excited for a "new" basement family room.

Scully is 7 years old and that puts her in the "senior" age group. If anything, she's middle-age. She still plays with toys, pretends to attack Jules, jumps all over the place, chases bunnies, and anything else a younger dog does. She's fearful of Jules and tries to stay away from him and his swing arm. But she's a good dog who still loves to cuddle.

Ok, time to get over this jet-lag. Til next time...

2nd Christmas

2010-12-31T19:45:00.000-08:00

This was such a different year compared to last year. Baby Jules was just a small 6-month-old who really didn't know what was going on. This year, while he still didn't know what was going on, he was into opening gifts.

Especially when it's a Thomas the Train set.

Poor kid, he had to wait until the next day for us to set it up.

Jules had a great Christmas. We hope you did too.

18 Months

2010-12-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

The reasons why I haven't done an 18-month post until now.

You are 23 pounds, petite, cautious, a singer, laugh at everything, love cars and trains, becoming a picky eater and can't sit still long enough for a photo with Scully.

We've been singing a few songs to you for what seems like forever and you now sing them with us. "This old man..." "Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques..." You love to dance to music from the television, radio or us singing. When the "Thomas the Train" theme comes on, you start to bounce and turn in circles. That's your white-boy dance.

You only say a few words: Mama, Dada, doggie, duck, nana (banana), baby and what sounds like "touchdown!" You sign: dada, doggie, bath, car, all done, milk, hat, shoes, more, eat, bird, airplane, books, bye-bye, stars, ball, and are perfecting: train, kitty. The doctor isn't worried about your speech at this age. Unless you were a girl, then she'd be a little concerned. Apparently girls talk.all.the.time!

We all survived the big storm to 2010. (Hard to tell, but that's me, it was zero and we got about 15 inches in addition to the 12 inches that was already in the yard.) The next day we made our way out to a birthday party where you were traumatized yet again by us when we put you in this:

We thought it'd blow your mind, but apparently not. You just wanted to push it, and not RIDE in it, mom!

You fist-bump, you throw your hands in the air when we say "Touchdown!" and you know "first down." Your daddy's little football watcher.

We read stories before bed and you love it. You sign "more" after 10 books. You never want me to stop reading. You still sleep 12 hours at night and have a 3 hour nap during the day.

Toddler moments are becoming a little bit more frequent. Throwing food on the floor, throwing toys at Scully, throwing yourself on the floor, I'm starting to see a pattern here. But really, you are a very good boy and tantrums happen only about 15% of the time.

We flew to Utah for Thanksgiving and you got to meet your Great-Great Grandma Dot. She thinks you're super cute. I loaded her cork board with your pictures.

We made the annual trip to cut down our Christmas tree. You love to be outside. I think it was only 12 degrees this day. It didn't phase you at all. You aren't interested in the tree or the ornaments this year. I bet next year you'll be interested in the stuff under the tree.

When asked, you know the sounds these animals make: dog, cat, cow, and bird. And you know what a car and train say. When I asked where your nose is, you scrunch it up and breath through it fast.

Each month gets better and better, baby Jules. Merry Christmas and happy 18-month!

Mind Blown

2010-11-30T14:05:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning out my coupon book and, in my head, it made sense to keep all coupons that were 11/1 and beyond. This was 2 days ago.

So that's where my heads been. Not with it. Not realizing November is over. It's not like life went fast. No, there were plenty of slow days. I just had no idea I celebrated Thanksgiving when looking at expiration dates of 10/31.

Month gone, poof. No recollection of it.

I recently took the Myers-Briggs personality test for work. To see my personality on paper, mind blown I tell ya. I thought it'd be some surface personality traits that are obvious until I read:

Since ISFPs believe that what they do speaks for itself, they do not attract much attention. Thus others may overlook their contributions, leading ISFPs to feel underappreciated and less adequate than they really are.

YES, THIS! Being overlooked is so frustrating and so true. Am adequate, am underappreciated. Everyone needs praise, no matter what the personality.

Some more results:

Keep personal thoughts and feelings to yourself in many circumstances; as a result, some people see you as hard to get to know.

Maybe?

May be quite talkative and witty with familiar people.

Nope.

May be seen by others as resistant to change, although you may not see yourself that way.

Yep, I don't like change.

Expect others to respond to you with kindness.

Doesn't everyone?

Like to wait, see what happens, and then “wing it.”

Is that bad?

After reading all 17 pages(!) of it, I came to the conclusion that if people saw my test results, they'd think I was a doormat. Hey, walk right HERE! She's got no spine!

Maybe I'm misunderstanding?

So, what do you think? Have you taken this test? Did you find it was spot on or you have no idea who that person is on paper?

17 Months

2010-11-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

17 months gives us a little boy who adores cars and anything with wheels. You see a car on the road, on tv, in a magazine, in a book and you go nuts. You sign "car" and say "nuh!" Over and over and over. I have a feeling cars and anything with wheels are an obsession that will be with you for a long time.

You dance by stomping around. You put trash in the trash bin. You throw your hands in the air and say "dut-down!" when we yell "touchdown". You need something in both hands when you eat. You love to be outside with dad. You sing when your gloworm is on. You make car noises while playing with cars.

I took you to the Children's Museum this past month and you had a great time playing. You were very interested in everything. I think we'll go back especially now that our first snowfall has happened. It's time to hibernate!

We also celebrated Halloween. Your costume was a hit! You now love candy. Sorry for being so mean and only letting you eat 2 pieces. Dad ate the rest of it.

You're starting to hate naps and you really fuss when it's time for one. But you clearly need a nap and are so much happier after one.

An 8th tooth popped up two weeks ago. I think that was the worse one yet! But once it pops up, you're fine again.

When you get a chance to play with your cousins, you are very shy at first, but then warm up. Your cousin that's five months older loves to baby you. She pats your head and gives you hugs. You don't even notice mostly because you are playing with cars. We recently went to a birthday party where you found a table full of trains and cars. You latched on to two cars and wouldn't let go. Other kids tried to take them from you, but you didn't give them up. No fighting or crying was involved, just a firm grip. You didn't look for help. You dealt with it on your own. You are very independent most of the time.

It's amazing how much you know and understand! I showed you twice where your toes were and now you know when I ask, "Where are your toes?" We're teaching you "what does the (blank) say?" and you make the sounds instead of trying to say the word. Your vocabulary hasn't grown but that doesn't mean you don't know what we're saying. When we read a book, I'll ask where the ball, bird, stars or anything is and you know where they are.

You are a very sweet boy who cries when daddy leaves the room. You love to tease Scully. You love to jump on our bed. And you love to cuddle.

The Long Minnesota Goodbye

2010-11-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

When I first moved to Minnesota, I thought I knew what to expect. I'd seen Fargo. I heard my Father-in-law say "You Betcha!" and my Mother-in-law say "Oh, YAAAA" countless times. My husband taught me that the casserole I had been eating/making my entire life was actually called a Hotdish and tator-tot hotdish was WAY better than any tator-tot casserole I could ever make. Of course, it's the same recipe, but still. HOTDISH!

Passive-aggressiveness is a way of life and if you don't do it, then you're obviously not from here (or a Foell). Beer drinking during winter is popular - actually, it's popular all year. I know, I know. It's popular in other states as well. But when beer is a staple in your fridge, at your in-laws fridge, are friendly with a brewing company, you dress your kid as a German Bier Drinker for Halloween, it's serious. Funky sweaters, mukluk's, big, poofy winter coats, pasty white skin are just part of the culture too.

In our family after any get-together, we just hang out and talk around the dinner table. Kids running in and out of the room. Dogs clean up the messy floor, thanking the kids for dropping part of their meal. We'll talk about all sorts of stuff. Politics, kids, health care (Minnesotan's LOVE to talk about health care), stories of family members, and break up a few kid fights along the way.

Then, it starts. The Long Minnesota Goodbye. My Brother-in-law starts it.

"I'm tired, let's go."

Then we respond, "Yep, we should go too."

But, no one gets up.

After a few more topics are started and finished, my Brother-in-law says again, "Kid 1, go tell kids 2-5 to get their shoes on, we're leaving."

Justin and I will look at the clock and say, "Yeah, baby Jules is tired, we should go too."

Again, no one gets up. The kids all run in and say, "But we're watching a movie!"

"How much longer is it?"

"10 minutes. Please, we want to finish it!"

"Ok, 10 more minutes."

And we sit around for another 10 minutes. During this round, my father-in-law prepares bags of left-over food we ate that night. It's divided between the two families, mine and Brother-in-law's. One time, we got home with a huge container of corn, rolls and mashed potatoes and my Brother-in-law got a huge container of meat, fruit and gravy. Totally didn't make sense and we've since said, "We thank you for the left-overs but maybe we can divide it equally because what's mashed potatoes when someone else has the gravy?"

Its since been sorted out.

Once the bags are prepared and the movie is done, we make our way to the hallway for the sorting and hunting of shoes and jackets. Kids run from room to room looking for the toys, shoes and jackets they threw about while here. Moms yell at kids to pick up toys. Grandpa hands us bags, "Don't forget your leftovers!" Babies are placed in their carseats. Dads start the car to warm it up. Moms still talk in the hallway. Grandma says, "Justin, can you look at our computer?" Brother-in-law says, "LET'S GO!" and kids give hugs to all family members still in the process of leaving (that's us).

One kid ALWAYS comes back in looking for something. And Grandpa ALWAYS runs out after he found it just before they leave the driveway.

This can take an hour or longer from the moment Brother-in-law says, "I'm tired, lets' go" to "LET'S GO!" and kids are scrambling to give hugs.

We're all guilty of the Long Minnesota Goodbye here. It's just the culture and honestly, it's annoying. Don't mention you're ready to go unless you are ready to go.

Are you guilty of the Long Minnesota Goodbye?

Take a look at how it works.

Obsession

2010-10-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

Daddy likes trains.

So we all like trains.

Old People Get Confused

2010-10-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

A few months ago we went to our neighbors for National Night Out. Our neighborhood is old and we have a lot of older residents. Not saying anything bad about them, they are good neighbors.

During the event, our Mayor came by to talk about the safety of the city and neighborhoods. We live in a very safe city, btw. Then he spoke about what to do in case of break-ins, theft, or anything where you'd need to call 911.

"Call 911 if you have any problems," he said.

Thanks, Mayor.

Just then, an older neighbor who watches too much television said, "Do I call 411 after 911?"

I immediately started laughing...to myself.

The Mayor was thrown and said "What?"

"You know, on t.v. the cop says to call 411 after 911."

Oh boy, he's getting real life confused with a personal injury commercial. I'd like to see what happens if he really does call 411 after calling 911.

Not that something like this would happen in our neighborhood, but here's how it could all go down:

Old man: (walks out to his car) "What the? HEY, someone broke into my car!"

OM: I better not touch anything in case they want to test for prints. I better go call 911.

911: 911 what is your emergency?

OM: Yes, I was on my way to the doctors office and I walked out to find that my car was broken in to!

911: Is anyone hurt?

OM: The window is all busted and glass is everywhere!

911: Sir, is anyone hurt?

OM: I think they took my dashboard compass!

911: Sir, I put in a call and a police officer will be there shortly. Is anyone hurt?

OM: No, but now I'm going to be late to the doctors office. I guess I should call them to tell them.

911: Ok, sir, I'm going to let you go. A police officer is on his way.

OM: Ok, thanks. bye

OM: Dials 411.

411: 411 Pain, how can we help you?

OM: Oh, well, my car was just broken into and I saw the cop on the commercial say to call 411 after I call 911. I spoke to 911 and they are sending a cop over.

411:

411: Umm were you hurt?

OM: No. Someone broke into my car.

411: Yes, but if you weren't hurt then we can't help you.

OM:

411:

OM: Should I call back after I get a police report? He's on his way now.

411: No, we are personal injury lawyers. If you weren't hurt, then there is no case.

OM: Oh. Well I got confused because the commercial said to call you after I called 911.

411: Yes, after you've been in an accident.

OM: I see. Ok then, thank you.

411: Yep, no problem.

See. Confusion. I wonder how many times 411 Pain gets calls like that. Lets help our older neighbors by telling them not to believe everything they see on t.v.

16 Months

2010-10-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

I had no intentions of going so long without posting anything. We've been busy and I'm a jerk, really. Sorry, friends.

Jules, you are 16 months and now a professional walker. No more crawling unless it's under the table to reach something or push a car.

We got your hair cut for the first time a few weeks back and you cried like it was pure TORTURE! It was over in less than four minutes but that was four minutes too long for you. Even with a cool ball to hold on to, a sucker, bubbles and any other trick they could think of to get you to stop crying. What worked was her being done.
She trimmed you up without looking too grown up and put all your hair in an envelope for me.

Before

During the torture

After, at home

You're a great sleeper, 12 hours a night. You are still a good eater but starting to get picky with some things. You LOVE bananas and ask for them all the time! You love little cars and sleep with stuffed animals. Binkies are mostly gone but you've been so sick lately so I give it to you for comfort. And speaking of sickness, you have some sort of virus and haven't been yourself for a while now. We can't wait til you're back to cute, normal self.

You have weighed 22lbs for almost six months now but grew three inches! You're between size 12 and 18 month clothes. You love to put your shoes on and you love to be outside pushing your stroller. Good thing we live in a cul de sac with no traffic.

I showed everyone how well you sign. I'm not sure if you've added any new words but you have definitely added more signs. You now sign:
airplane
car
fish (sometimes)
bird
Dad
Shoes
You understand train and bath but those are a tad difficult to sign.

We bought you Signing Times and Baby Signing Times and you LOVE them. They are nice and short (about 20 minutes), have catchy tunes and easy signs. (I got them at babysteals.com. If you haven't been there, you're missing out. Visit kidsteals.com too.)

You now love books and bring them to us to read. Anytime you see a dog or a horse or anything with four legs in a book you immediately sign or scream "Doggie!" It's cute.

You still get frustrated with things and will throw a little fit, but we try to refocus you on something else and it works most of the time.

You understand when we ask you something. (Where's your car/water/lamby? Sit down. Come here. Etc.) We've included you with things like throwing something away, giving Scully a treat (you just throw it at her. At least you don't try to eat it!), walking to your bedroom to go to bed instead of carrying you. And exploring the house without us hovering over you all the time. (Don't worry, we don't let him out of our sight for very long.)

I changed up my work schedule so I can spend more time with you. Dad needs a break to get work done and I miss you! And, guess what? I love it! You and I just hang out and play all day.

Time flies, baby Jules!

Busy Boy

2010-10-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

He's busy these days (no idea with what, but he's ALWAYS walking around like he's got things to do).

I've been (surprisingly!) busy at work. You may see me on Facebook and you're right, I am! But it's for work. "Riiiiiiiight Jessi" I know, sounds fake but for reals, I'm actually helping a department use it to their advantage. So I get to figure everything out before pretending I'm the expert and show them how to use a certain app or whatever they want.

Justin's about to be more busy too which is also good. Busy = work = money. Amazing how that works. So with that, I'm doing a modified work schedule starting Monday. (Can I just say that my company is awesome offering alternative schedules? Well they are!)

Anyway, so ya, I'll be able to spend some more time with Jules and Justin will get a break. Hopefully this will be a nice balance.

He's getting so big and smart, I don't want to miss anymore of his cuteness.

9 Years

2010-09-20T18:57:00.001-07:00

We've gone from this:

To this:

15 Months

2010-09-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

This was a big month for you. You are officially walking, signing to communicate, understanding and listening, hitting and throwing fits, and still stealing the hearts of the neighborhood ladies.

Walking was a big milestone! You practiced all the time but preferred crawling until about 2 weeks ago when you decided that walking was really the way to move. And now you've got places to go and fast! You love to wear shoes, which is great since now you won't slip while walking.

Too fast for photos!

Busy, busy boy you are. With walking all over the place, you also love to push your cars and anything with wheels from the kitchen to the living room and back again. You line them up and push them one at a time. You have a method, although I can't tell what it is, but you are very serious about this activity.

You sign eat, all done, doggy, more, milk, bye-bye (which is also night-night), you know where your nose and ears are and you mastered pointing at things. You understand other signs too so you'll probably be doing them soon. We got you Signing Times (with Alex and Leah!) and you LOVE it. It's super cute and the music is catchy (just ask us how we know :) )

You also understand us. We ask you to do something and you do it.

Me: (puts baby Jules in his crib) Go night-night!
BJ: Waves night-night
Me: Ok, night-night, lay down
BJ: lays down and giggles.

So cute. :)

You do get frustrated and with that comes the hitting and screaming. We try to stop you and get you focused on something else, but sometimes the tantrums are funny. We still love you even when you're being a little dramatic.

Scully is scared of you because you hit her for fun. That's not funny! So she probably isn't your friend anymore.

You're still a little guy but you grew 3 inches in 3 months! So now you're at 50% for height and 15% for weight. You still wear size medium cloth diapers and size 12-month clothes.

You were the baby of the family until Cousin Deacon showed up a tad early. You haven't met him yet but you will soon. We'll see how you are around him. If you're good, maybe you'll get a new brother or sister. (That's NOT an announcement, so calm down everyone.)

And Just Like That...

2010-09-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

We have fall weather.

I've only been here two years and I already want to move to the one place that truly has four seasons.

Utah.

Not Nevada. Not Texas. Not Minnesota.

Utah.

Baby Jules doesn't even have any long-sleeved shirts or pants. Because it's SEPTEMBER and we should still be wearing SHORTS and T-SHIRTS.

Ok Justin, you win.

14 Months

2010-09-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

As I write this, Jules is closer to 15 months, (and closer to falling off the couch as I type) but I figured I should write up his 14 month post anyway.

All of a sudden, you're a toddler! We left you with Grandma a few weeks back, headed to DCI and you showed her your walking skills. She was so happy to be here during a big milestone. You get better everyday with all the practicing you do. Many times I'll be in the kitchen and you'll just wander in, wobbly with one arm out Frankenstein-like. I know one day you'll run full speed around the house and I know I'll be wishing you were still the little baby who waited forever to crawl, but I'll be so proud of how far you've come.

You LOVE stuffed animals. Any kind, any size. You want them all in your crib even though you throw them out. You point to them (hey, you point now!!) when we walk in because you want us to put them back in your crib for the next time you go to sleep. We love how sweet you are to all stuffed animals.

With all of the growing, you're also testing your limits (to the extreme that a one-year-old can). You throw little tantrums when you don't get your way. It's really funny when you pretend to hit yourself knowing you're being naughty. Most of the time when you don't get your way, we just redirect you to something else and it works. Sometimes, but you can really turn on the tears of injustice.

We're also working with a "no hitting rule" since you go around swatting at Scully. She doesn't like it and my face doesn't like your swatting too.

When it involves me and Scully, it usually goes like this:

Me: "Baby Jules, NO HITTING!" (grab your hand away from Scully)
Baby Jules: AHHHHHH (swat MOM's face fast and furiously)

Me: trying to grab a hand moving at light-speed. "Stop!"

Justin: Laughing

You say: Dada, doggie, duck, nana (banana), and sometimes mama.
Signs you know: Bath, eat/food, all done, milk, more, bye.

You like:
-music and you dance to it
-cars! but really, anything with wheels
-girls
-my cell phone
-our laptops
-airplanes in the sky
-babbling
-peas
-climbing on our bed and playing
-feeding Scully from your tray

14 months, what a big boy!

Bento

2010-09-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

I got this little blue case at a shopping center in Portsmouth, England in May. I loved how cute and contained it was. It even came with (plastic) silverware! Justin's occasionally used the silverware for Jules since it's small and a perfect size for him.

I started researching Bento lunches, boxes and accessories a few weeks ago. It's pretty simple to do and to get started you don't have to have a cute little box. A simple leftover container will work too. But, really, it's all about presentation! And kids, who wouldn't want to eat something that's a cute heart, star or flower?

My simple Bento. Ranch roll-ups, carrots and hummus (in the little container). Luckily, the divider is removable so I was able to fit everything just right and tight.

It looked like this when I opened it up 4 hours later. But I think I broke a rule...or didn't follow a simple rule of Bento making - make it look good. It's pretty bland looking. So for my next one, I'll try to make it more colorful.

If you're interested in making your lunch neat, tidy and cute, here are a few resources I found:

A flickr pool with meal ideas

Just Bento is a great resource for everything Bento's

Laptop Lunches

Fun Bento's for kids

And just for fun:

Star Wars Bento

What I Did

2010-08-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

I know I'm late posting a 14 month update on baby Jules. We were out of town and I've been busy. He's doing so much, he really needs a monthly update. Coming soon, friends :)

On Friday, I happened to see a show call What Would You Do? on ABC. Basically, what would you do in certain situations like if you saw a dog in a hot car, or a child crying on a busy sidewalk, or a baby left alone in a hot car.

I would like to think that people would get involved, but sadly, the majority of people just walked by not paying attention or completely ignoring the situation.

Really? You'd walk by someone laying in the middle of the street, like they were hurt or dead?

My office overlooks a really busy street. People park and run into the post office or court house all the time. Most of the time they don't bother paying the meter because they think they'll be quick.

And I laugh because the second the people walk away from their car, the parking enforcement rolls up and writes them a ticket. Bang. $40 parking ticket.

Ask me how I know how much it is. Or, better yet, ask Justin.

Anyway...

As I often do, I looked out the window to daydream when a woman with BRIGHT BLONDE HAIR holding what I thought, was a little baby walked up to her car, got in on the drivers side, put the baby in the passengers seat and pulled up to the next open spot (my only guess was that the next meter worked or still had time on it?).

She got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, took out a TODDLER and walked away.

She left the baby!! I panicked! I couldn't see in the car really well. I started to think, "Maybe there's an adult in the car?" But I really couldn't see anything to confirm.

I couldn't sit there knowing that they *may* be an infant sitting in a hot car. So, I went around to other offices and looked out the windows to see if I could get a better look. But I still couldn't confirm.

A co-worker had binoculars (don't ask why) and I still couldn't see.

So I headed out to the street. I crossed and started towards the car. Before I got to it, I looked behind me and the lady was coming, with the toddler. So I casually walked close to her car and peeked in.

Guess what?

There wasn't a baby in the car.

But, guess what else?

I felt so relieved that I was wrong!

(Guess what, you probably won't hear me say that again.)

Seriously, I felt better knowing I went down there to check. I thought he was a baby by the way she was holding him, but the toddler was wearing the same blue striped shirt I thought the baby was wearing.

I know it's cliche, but better safe than sorry.

Cluttered

2010-08-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

Reading while listening to music. Listening to talk shows while trying to read something online.

Watching t.v. while surfing the web.

I'm cluttering my brain with all this multitasking. And I have a feeling you are too.

Went to DCI and All I Got Was a Gas Card

2010-08-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm going to DCI but I already got the gas card. They must be really hurting in ticket sales because they were offering a few different promotions. Buy finals tickets, get a $25 gas card AND a cd of your choice (I picked 2008, thank you), free finals tickets to 2009 age-outs, and some promotion with Hard Rock Cafe.

I didn't have a hard time getting finals tickets (except if you call using ticketmaster hard, then YES, IT WAS HARD) or finding a hotel about 3 weeks before the show. Normally, if we don't book 3 months in advance, good luck finding something. This year, we are across the street from the stadium.

Across.the.street.peeps.

We don't have tickets to Quarterfinals and Semi's yet, but I have a feeling it won't be hard getting good seats.

This will be our first time away from Jules for more than a few hours. He'll be home with Grandma getting away with being cute and possibly taking his first unassisted steps. Actually, he started doing it 2 days ago but I'm hoping he doesn't master it while we're gone. I'm not ready for him to grow up while we're away.

Oh, right, he's teething too. So maybe us leaving him with Grandmas won't be a bad thing.

Summer Recap

2010-08-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Where has the summer gone? It's August and we're trying to take advantage of Minnesota and its warm temps. So we've been outside as much as possible. I've got a bunch of new freckles, wrinkles, and a baby who loves water after finishing swim lessons.

We had a family reunion where Justin and I let our baby fall face first on various outdoor equipment, multiple times.

Boating with tubing wipe-outs:

(oh, ya, I have a youtube account. And while I'm not vlogging, I am posting videos. Justin hates the word "vlogging" "vlogger" and anything like that. Got any suggestions?)

We've also been biking a lot. Well, more like Justin and Jules. I just bike to swim lessons and easy trail rides. I don't like a sore bum.

We swim as much as we can. It helps when your bro-in-law has a pool at his new house. I feel bad inviting ourselves over, but nine times out of ten, they are in the pool too, so it's a good bet we aren't interfering too much.

And now that it's August, DCI is in two weeks and we decided to go. Not looking forward to a 10 hour drive, BUT it beats spending $800 on plane tickets.

And of course, the highlight of summer is the State Fair. Remember, open invite. Stay at my house. Come with us. But you might want to go on a diet now because you'll probably gain a few pounds in one day. Sounds like fun!

An Open Invitation

2010-07-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Our State Fair is the BEST State Fair and you are invited to stay at my house to spend a day (or two or three!) at the Minnesota State Fair eating everything you can. Phew!

Bucket-o-Cookies. Let me tell you, these are so good, so soft, so right out of the oven warm! We have to get some every time. Ok, once you get this, head over to the all-you-can-drink milk (and chocolate!) for $1!

(yes my once 3-month-old needed a wardrobe change.)

Ok, after you've chugged so much milk you wanna puke (because it's hot out). Take a seat...if you can find one.

After resting for a moment, wander around and see if you can spot some interesting people.

Ready for some more food? How about some cheese curds? A staple at the Fair.

Don't like cheese curds? How about a Quesadilla?

Still not your thing? Hmm, ok. Oh! Food on a stick! How about tator tots on a stick?

Or Fried Mac and Cheese on a stick?

Looking for something unusual? The Minnesota State Fair doesn't disappoint! Chocolate covered bacon!

(Not another wardrobe change, we went for a second day!)

For reals, we love the State Fair! Discount tickets are now on sale so if you wanna come up, make your plans! August 26th through Labor Day. Great food, great music, great people watching. So who's in?

Bye Bye Baby

2010-07-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

He totally says "bye bye" and wanders off. He's a busy boy these days.

I know you have an answer

2010-07-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

I wanna know; what are your favorite songs/albums for a road trip?

Mine are (while Justin let's me play them, I'm not sure they are HIS favorite):

Styx Greatest Hits - I'd never heard of Styx until the movie Big Daddy. The movie was dumb and the line about Styx being be "greatest band of all time" is pretty far off, but I still like the album. It's good car-driving music.

Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits - But ONLY the first cd. NOT the second one. Oh, lord is that one bad. We like to listen to his good stuff. You know, before the 1990's.

Muse!

Anything Weird Al. It's just fun to listen to!

Of course, if I'm in my car, I've got satellite radio so I can listen to anything.

Ok, what are your favorite road trip tunes?

13 Months

2010-07-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

(Swimsuit edition!)
I know you're considered a toddler now, but you don't walk - yet - and you're still a baby to me...so, preshus baybee.

Baby Jules, you are hilarious! You can push a car around the kitchen all night, if we let you, crawling through the chairs like an obstacle course. You love to give kisses to any plush toy (and mom and dad) including Scully's toys. You crawl as fast as possible when you want to get away from us. Your new thing is to crawl up on our bed and somehow, you can get down without too much damage.

You and Scully are ok with each other. She plays with your toys, you play with hers. You learned to keep your distance from her while she's eating. But she loves to hang around the highchair when you're eating. You reach your hands down to let her lick your hands. Gross, but it's funny.

Daddy plays "the game" with you where he stands you up and lets go for a second or so. You stand, giggle and fall down. A few times you even took a couple steps towards him. Shocked, you laughed! You have a great laugh. It used to be just a "GEEEE - breath - GEEEEE" but now it's a full belly laugh.

We signed you up for swim lessons. Oh man, were you unhappy for the first 10 minutes but once you got used to the water, you LOVED it! Good thing it's two days a week or else you'd freak out every time.

No more baby food for you! You are a little picky right now, mostly because you wanna play, not eat. But you do eat almost everything we put in front of you. You drink whole milk and are finishing off the last of the frozen breastmilk.

We launched fireworks at Uncle Jake's house for the 4th but you HATED it. So, instead of giving up, we took you to St. Paul's show and you didn't cry at all! Maybe you hated the homegrown show, who knows.

You and dad still hang out during the day. Bike rides to the store or library, sometimes a trip downtown for lunch with me, and much needed naps so dad can get some work done. He really loves being home with you.

You jabber all the time and clearly say "doggie", you have used the sign for "more" and you know the sign for "bath" (which you LOVE to see).

We love you baby Jules!

Goodbye Sillycar

2010-07-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'm almost there. Just buy me a mac and I'll be the smug douche-bag everyone hates. (Except the people who are ALREADY 100% smug. They just don't know it because they are...smug.)

I bought a hybrid SUV (new-to-me. See, I'm not smug, I bought used!). It gets a little less mpg's than the sillycar did, but I did gain a lot of room. Enough for baby Jules' new car seat to still be rear-facing even when Justin drives. Enough to haul fireworks (that may or may not be illegal in Minnesota), the pack 'n play, beach bag, cooler and chairs to the 4th of July party.

Big enough for teh pimp stroller AND a new bathroom cabinet at the same time!

Justin doesn't want to admit it, but he likes it. I'll admit I love it.

I Appreciate What You're Saying... But

2010-06-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

I am, by no means, super attractive (please don't tell me otherwise, I'm ok with the way I look - not that I expect anyone to object to that.). Just an average girl trying to do what she can with the face and body given to her. I like to keep things simple with hair and makeup. Clothes and shoes are also simple. I don't over do it and I feel weird when I do.

So when someone in the skyway says to me, in passing, "Hey sexy!" I immediately look around to see who he's talking to. Because, clearly, he can't be talking to me. But then he says, "Oh, I see that big rock on your finger." And I still look around for this sexy chick with a huge rock on her finger. (btw, my ring isn't huge. It's just that my hand and fingers are really small so the ring looks REALLY BIG.) (And, apparently, he was talking to me. There wasn't anyone else around.)

This all happened while I was walking to lunch. I didn't say anything mostly because I didn't believe it. I mean, really, when someone says something to you in passing, you might think, "were they talking to me?" And by the time you realize they may have been talking to you, you've walked away. What would you say to that person anyway? Thanks?

Flattered, I was also somewhat grossed out. Since when did the skyway become a club for picking up chicks? Thanks for the compliment (and I'm sure my husband thanks you too), but no thanks.

(Totally unrelated, but super exciting: I was asked to audition for some voice-over work at tpt and they liked my voice for kids spots! (hahahaha, guess I've got a "kids" voice.) So Minnesota friends, stay tuned because Clifford's coming up on tpt kids!)

12 Months

2010-06-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jules' 1st birthday with lots of cupcakes.

Lots of splashing (on a very cloudy day).

And lots of baby friends (one of like 5 babies at the party). Jules learned quickly to share his toys.

A smash cake that he didn't really smash at all.

At 12 months, it's hard to get a photo of you with Scully.

She thinks you are TOO crazy for her and she stays away. Unless you are casually throwing food to the floor.

Along with all the fun things you do I listed last month, you also:
- Walk along the couch
- Are a pro at getting up and down super fast
- Clearly say "doggie"
- Know when you're naughty
- Like balls and anything you can roll on the ground to chase
- Love bike rides with dad
- Love it when people say "hi". You get shy and coy but with smiles. You LOVE the attention.
- Laugh so hard when Scully comes in your room.
- Still fake cry but it usually starts with a smile and ends with a smile. (you're really a tease)
- Eat pretty much everything we eat

While you still only have two bottom teeth, that third one still hasn't progressed. But, you have two top teeth coming in and one broke through on your birthday.

You really don't have much baby chub anymore. You've thinned out a lot so we'll see how much you weigh and your height at your one year appointment later this week.

(No babies were hurt falling off the couch.)

You're a kisser. When I get you in the morning or afternoon nap, you greet me with a kiss. And when we ask for one, you eagerly pucker up or go for broke with a wide open mouth - tongue and all. I didn't teach you that!

And when you're not kissing, you're usually in the kitchen open and closing cabinets or going through the obstacle course (table and chairs).

Are you a toddler yet? I hope not, I'm not ready. Happy 1st birthday baby Jules!

My Preshus

2010-06-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

Oh my garage, people. My preshus baybee is going to be one on Sunday.

O.N.E.!

Looking forward always seems so far away. But looking back, was like yesterday. (Except I can't remember what I wore yesterday. But you know what I mean.)

This time last year, I'd had a false alarm and worked from home most of the week. The one day I did make it to work, we had a company wide meeting and I received my one-year award. I waddled up to the stage - wearing HEELS - and accepted my award wondering if people thought I looked really big. (guess what, I did.)

I look back at photos and it all seems completely foreign to me. I can't seem to remember what being pregnant was like, the day our lives changed (well, the second day. The first day was finding out I was knocked up.), and holding a very tiny baby Jules.

Now, he demands his own meals, sits at the adult table, and pretty soon he'll be auditioning for Regiment.

Entertainment

2010-06-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Oh, youtube. You've entertained me so much lately (that's where I've been in case you were wondering).

I've been watching the Shaytards for a few months now. Love this family!

Another vlogger I like is this Mexican-adopted dude from Las Vegas (west side!). He's hilarious and his baby his super cute.

(makes me wanna vlog, but my life is boring.)

You can watch music videos, tutorials on anything you're interested in, and stuff just plain hilarious.

What have you been watching on youtube?

Talent at an Early Age

2010-05-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Smart, well-traveled, adorable baby Jules can now drink from a straw. Yes, the talent level increases everyday.

(note his eagerness to clap. he loves to clap.)

I'm here...

2010-05-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

Just getting over jet-lag (finally), what I thought was allergies turned into a head cold with ear problems (on antibiotics now) and passed it to Jules (who's also on antibiotics) and just generally feeling behind on everything in life.

Poor Jules - I used the bulb syringe on him so many times he actually lets me do it without a fight. But he does put up a fight when it's medicine time.

I started a post with photos of our trip but if you can't wait, you can see Justin's here.

We got Jules a bike seat for the back of Justin's bike and now we've got a family bike ride planned for this weekend. Justin's really excited. They tried it out last night and Jules didn't smile or cry. He's still sick. I'm sure he'll love it when he feels better.

We also bought him a tree swing. Totally an impulse purchase. We still have to hang it but I know he'll love it.

I pretty much used up all my vacation time so I'm really looking forward to a 3-day weekend. The plan is to busy ourselves during the week with stuff we don't want to do on the weekend so we can play. It's not fun to do boring stuff like chores on a 3-day weekend. What else is everyone doing?

11 Months

2010-05-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Baby Jules, you turned eleven months in London! This month you have mastered a bunch of new skills!

Motion! It really happened after you turned 10 months but it was mostly an army crawl. Now, you crawl. FOR.REALS. I feel bad when I call you like a dog, but you do follow me. It's cute.

It can turn dangerous quickly because we have yet to baby proof the house and we need a baby gate STAT! So we just watch you closely and have you follow us into common places like the living room and kitchen.

(Hotel room in Brussels where you had a great time eating too many waffles and fries)

As fast as crawling came, pulling up came just a few days later. You now pull up to the couch, our legs, tables, and anything else that you can grab. It's fun to see things from a higher perspective. I like to do it sometimes too. One night, I put you to bed and you played for a few minutes, then started to scream. You like to yell but this was different, so I went in your room and there you were. STANDING UP! You looked so proud and so cute. We quickly learned it's time to lower your mattress.

You love to eat and prefer to eat whatever we're having. No more baby food! Ha! Or so you thought. We still give you baby food-from our spoon/fork. So you're still part of the meal, just eating your own food. I'm sorry for the trickery.

(nom nom Speculoos cookies)

Things you love:
Eating
Scully
Mommy/Daddy
A new love for binkies (oh, boy enjoy them now because they are going bye-bye when we get home)
Bath time
screaming with excitement
cuddling
opening doors or anything that you can open
kicking
Standing in your crib
grabbing
pulling my hair
knocking on the door
being outside
tickled behind your neck
taking medicine

Things you don't like:
being told "no"
me walking out of a room
messing with your sleep schedule
jet lag

I'm sure the list is longer, but you really are a good boy who loves everything!

You recently took your first bike ride through Brussels and you loved it! Guess what you'll be doing this summer with dad (wearing a helmet of course).

We think your first word is either "da-da" or "dog-gie" but you do throw "mama" in every once in a while. You also learned how to clap. And when I say "yea!" you immediately clap. You also clap when you see something you like. You must like everything because you clap all the time.

Happy 11 months baby Jules!

Kickball Hiakus

2010-05-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Stretching before games
something I have yet to do
I'm in pain today

Kicked the ball towards first
I ran as fast as I could
I dodged the ball - OUT

Last inning, third base
Dude kicks the ball at my face
I caught it, you're out!

Dudes

2010-05-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

I think I just saw a drug deal go down.

It reminds me of the time I saw some people "meet up" for s.e.x. in the parking lot of my old job. Multiple times.

Did I just see...

No, that didn't just happen!

Wait, yes! OMG. For reals!

It's Been a While

2010-04-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Let's have some updates, shall we?

- We're buying Jules a convertible car seat. But we're waiting til he's a year old before we use it. 1 year AND 20lbs. is the rule and we're following rules.

- Minnesota is WARMING UP and it's GREAT! I weeded my garden but I still need to finish it before I plant my veggies. A veggie garden, how awesome is that!? I'm so excited.

- We leave next week for London. Have a few things planned, but really, we'll determine places to go based on how Jules will be. He'll be good! YES! He won't be crabby or anything!

- I'm looking for a car. With a new style carseat (that still needs to be rear facing), it's time to upgrade the Sillycar. There's no way one will fit and I'm ready for something new (to me. buying used of course). Any suggestions?

- With gardening and now, being a kickball player at work, I've been sore for about 2 weeks. (We lost our first game - but it was a great comeback!)

(OH! So my office - did I tell you I moved offices? - has a window looking down to a very busy street with lots of people. A guy just walked down the street in a gray suit and a hat. Straight out of the 40's, I tell you what!

Yesterday, a guy wearing too short shorts was rollerblading on the same street. Not sure if he meant to go this way because it's downhill and he wasn't controlling his blades very well. I watched him until he almost bladed into traffic but turned at the last possible moment. He turned down another downhill road. I hope he made it.)

Anyway, back to kickball. So I'm playing third base and the ball got kicked to short stop, he's literally 4-5 feet away from me, goes to give me the ball and throws it WAY HIGH and the runner goes home while I'm scrambling to the ground to get the ball. DUDE, I was right there, just lob the ball. (lob, right?) Don't toss it way above my head when you're that close! IDIOT!

So I'm saying, because of that, we lost.

New

2010-04-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the maid came 2 weeks ago and is coming tomorrow. While I was excited for a clean house, I said "meh" when I got home. Some things weren't done.

To her defense, she said she didn't have enough time to get to everything and I believe it. My house isn't big, but for one person to clean the WHOLE thing, it would take more than 2 hours.

That's why I hired someone.

In other news. I started on my vegetable garden! We've got about 60% of the ground weeded and should finish the last of it tonight. The space is huge but I'm starting small with onions, sweet corn, carrots, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkin, cauliflower, and...that's it. The previous owners had a huge garden and took a lot of it to the Farmer's Market.

Maybe one day I'll have one that big. If you have gardening tips, please send them my way. I'm a newbie.

And, in one last other news: I'm going to try to make refried beans this week. The one time I tried, I ruined them. RUINED! (and the pan too) I was newly married and wanting to cook all sorts of stuff. After that fiasco, I never wanted to try them again. Now, I have way more knowledge and confidence in the kitchen so I'm going to try them again. I'm pretty sure I know where I went wrong. Wish me luck!

10 Months

2010-04-13T07:19:00.000-07:00

Double digits! 10 months! At 10 months you: scream with delight whenever you see me or your dad.

(or an Easter basket. No candy for you. Just empty eggs, a puzzle, a map of the U.S. and some new pjs.)

Stats: 20lbs (50%) and 28" tall (10%). Lots of baby chub, hair, and cuteness.

You LOVE to eat so we've been making homemade baby food. But most of the time, you end up eating whatever we have on our plate. You also love Cheerios. We'll sprinkle a few on your tray, you grab as many as you can with your right hand, hold them, and use your left hand to pick up the rest. Once you are done, you still have some in your right hand. It's like saving the best for last.

What you eat:
Cheerios!
applesauce
sweet potatoes
peas
refried beans (oh, I'm so glad you love them!)
bread
rice
chicken
green beans
asparagus
crackers
yogurt
cheese
cereal
and on and on

You recently tried mac 'n cheese (which you LOVED) and jambalaya (which you also loved). You pretty much eat anything we put on your tray or give you. But you still nurse once in the morning and twice when I get home and bottles through out the day.

Loving your Ergo!

We love to take you to new places to learn. Here, we learned about tapping a tree for maple syrup! Guess what we're doing next year?!

You love to be outside and watch the neighborhood kids ride bikes (Dad may or may not be riding with them.) Now that the snow is gone, we go out for walks and enjoy the sun. But on days when it's too cold, you're happy looking out the window, giving it a little tap.

I've been working on teaching you how to sit on your own from laying down. You are 95% there. You are so close to doing it on your own, it will be soon! (you did it once yesterday using my leg for help.) You've also increase the frequency you rock on all fours. You REALLY want to get somewhere and you know forward motion is the way to go, but after one "step" you can't get your left side to move. So you drop and roll. But you have crawled 2 steps before dropping, so you'll be doing that soon too.

You sprouted another tooth about a week after the first one. And you've got another one in the works - all on the bottom. You handled it surprisingly well, but did have a few rough nights going to bed.

Monthly photos with Scully are getting easier. Here's the "outside" edition.

We spent last weekend apart. And while I found out you did just fine while I was gone, you were so excited and upset when I got home. You obviously love me :)

Dear WGI 2010,

2010-04-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

To the high school students:
I was once you. Excited because my FAVORITE show was coming on! No, WAIT, THAT was my favorite show! I spoke of "I hope next year..." and "When Mrs. so and so asked me to blah blah..." and other stories of your season and everything else you commented on, I did it at one point too.

But.

If you stick with it, soon, you'll be me. A spectator who paid her whole way to Dayton including very expensive seats to finals. A spectator who doesn't want to hear your stories during the performance. After, sure! Go ahead! Talk all you want. But when that music starts, please, be quiet and watch.

A spectator who doesn't want to get kicked in the butt by your very stinky feet. Wait, let me be clear. MY feet don't smell like vinegar. I'm wearing shoes. YOUR feet smell like vinegar and please, don't place them near the shoulders of people. We can smell them. And if your feet stink, for the love of EVERYTHING, don't wear flip-flops!

To WGI:
I appreciate the VIP section. I did it last year and it was nice. But, why would I want a VIP seat on a High School bleacher? It's not like the seats are any better. I'm still sitting on a bleacher.

To the rest of you:
SIT DOWN! Especially BEFORE a show starts! Just SIT! SIIIIITTTT! Find a seat AFTER the show is done. I didn't pay to see YOU walking by. Also, please place garbage UNDER your seat and not in front. Wanna know why? Because when I leave to go pump for the hundredth time and you don't want to move, I end up kicking and stepping on all your garbage. It's gross and just annoying.

To all the finalists:
I think you all deserved to be there this year. Last year, a few were questionable. My favorites this year (in no particular order, just as I remember):
Pride (really, if this wasn't your favorite, you might want to get out of the activity)
Santa Clara
Onyx
James Logan
Mariam Catholic
Cypress
Tarpon Springs

And a bunch more I can't remember the names of. Either way, so many great shows this year. Til next year...

Best Deal Around

2010-04-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

I have many levels of frugalness. I like to save money but there's a side of me that likes to spend, wisely of course. If it's worth it, I'll fork out the cash. I carry my coupons with me all the time. I check websites for the best prices before I buy. Justin always asks if I have a coupon for something he wants to buy. I don't have the newest (or even remotely new) car. I scour craigslist for items I need or just wait for a good sale.

Since Jules joined the family, my time is valuable. Before, I took the bus to work. A 45 minute trip on the bus with an additional 15 min drive home. Now I drive it in about 20-25 min BUT I pay for parking. It's a big chunk out of my check, but I'm home in time to hang out with Jules for a few hours before he goes to bed. So it's worth the parking fees.

If I can do something to save cash, I'll do it.

Oh for hecks sake, I hired a maid. No reason to beat around the bush. And I shouldn't be ashamed of it or have to explain to people (like I felt I had to explain to someone WHY I would spend so much on a stroller.) Yes, I am frugal, but I hired a maid. Let's just say I'm frugal with my time and I can't spare it to clean my floors.

We all sacrifice things in life.

Removed title because too many people came here for something else

2010-04-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

(It IS dark for the first 10 seconds or so. It's not you.)

Bullet Points

2010-03-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

- About 6 years ago (maybe less), I was listening to NPR on the topic of a messaging system that gave updates to family and friends but was limited to about 140 characters. I immediately thought, "Why would anyone want to use that?"

Twitter, HA!

Now, I get to do status updates for work on Twitter. for WORK. How odd, huh? If you want to follow tpt go here. (I won't be offended if you don't or have no clue as to what I'm talking about. I'm a late adopter.)

- I tried on my wedding dress a few weeks ago. No reason, really. But, should I be worried that 1) it's still dirty from that day. No I never dry-cleaned it - should I? and 2)it fits. I know, I was shocked too. Either I was chubby 9 years ago or I've somehow lost all the married and baby weight I put on.

- I have a new office mate. And while he's nice, he's extremely opinionated. OPINIONATED! He thinks I'm in idiot for using a PC. Hey, buddy, I've got me one of them fancy itouch things so lay off me!

I've also been banished to the woman's dressing room to pump. Actually, it's pretty sweet. I have a private bathroom and I catch up on my two tv shows. (Parks and Rec - Hilarious! and Office) It's a nice break during the day. But still annoying.

- We're heading over to London in May. WITH.THE.BABY.NINE.HOUR.FLIGHT.OH.HELP.ME! I'm a little worried. The kid has flown as recently as January and did great. But now, he's getting more like, "hey, you, hold me!" "No, wait! I want to look at you upside down." "Put me down over there!" "WHY'D you put me down!!"

Ya, that should be fun on a plane. But his passport is so cute! (my preshus bayyy-beeee has a passport!)

- and speaking of Jules (I'll keep it short, I promise), he totally understands me! For example:
(Scene: Baby in my moms arms at the table, playing with her necklace. Me sitting next to them.)

Me: Jew-uls, eh, eh. Don't pull

Jules: (blank stare at me - then back to pulling)

Me: Jew-uls, don't pull

Jules:

Me:

Jules: (yanks hard)

Me: JULES! Eh, eh! Don't pull.

Jules: (pouty face emerges and begins a FAKE CRY, people)

Me: Oh, Jules, you're fine, don't pull.

Jules: :)

Saved

2010-03-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

On March 14th, we had baby Jules baptized in the Lutheran Church. He said, "I love baths!" Then proceeded to pull his socks off.

Justin with his look a-like, Jake and me with my look a-like, Heather - Jules' sponsors.

Our friends and family. Baby Jules is loved!

Iz saved! M'kay BAI!

Giant-ness

2010-03-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

LOOK! A giant marshmallow!

Bigger than baby Jules' nom nom nom-able body (in a picture!)

I could only eat half of it. Hey look, a glimpse of my desk, two days in a row. I must be really busy at work.

Leftovers

2010-03-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with this photo? (not the "photo" but what I'm photo-ing)

I very rarely make my way to the lunch room to hit up the vending machine, but today I really wanted a treat. Something to tide me over until I go home for the day. So I scoured the machine to see all of my options. Normally, I'd get a bag of peanut M&M's but I wasn't feeling it. While looking I noticed these "fit" stickers next to some items.

Oh, right! That's our tpt fit! program. Sweet, they made it easy for me! (The program has been around since August of last year. See, I don't hit the vending machine up often.)

Pretzels. YES! Ooh, with CHEESE! Even better!

Do you see it? Guessed what's wrong yet?

I opened my bag and immediately thought my pretzels were BROKEN! Seriously!? A bag of broken pretzels! ALL OF THEM! What crummy luck.

But then I looked at the bag closlier and read "Pretzel Pieces" and it all clicked.

Oh, Snyder's, you are GENIUS! For reals, you just made up a whole new line of pretzels without doing anything different! By using the majority of broken pretzels, tossing them in fake cheese, I imagine you've reduced how much leftovers you throw away.

Which leads me to think of ways I can use leftovers. Sure, I made burritos with leftover pulled pork last night (way to re-heat, Jessi!) but what about other things that aren't usually part of meal? Say, the last bit of milk in your cereal bowl? What to do with that? And the peels of carrots or cucumbers? Someone's gotta have an idea?

Help a girl out. What do you do with any/all leftovers? (doesn't have to be food related either. Hello - paper towel rolls - I'm SURE they can be re-purposed into something.

Nine Months

2010-03-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

Baby Jules, you are. Well, what can I say? The best baby? Yes. The funniest? Yep. The cuddliest? uh-huh. You are my favorite little boy.

This has been a very, very busy month, developmentally for you!

At nine months you:

- recently mastered picking up cheerios/baby puffs and shoving them in your mouth. Pincher skills! (a big improvement from a few weeks ago when most ended up on the floor!)
- Drink from a sippy cup (but need help with the tilting part).
- Talk a lot!
- blow bubbles, loudly.
- sprouted that TOOTH, finally! And have another one on the way.
- super crabby because of new teeth.
- roll, roll, roll everywhere. BUT, you've finally figured out how to get on all fours. I think crawling will be in the near future.
- get all excited when you're naked and ready for a bath.
- at least 20lbs. We'll get the full scoop this Friday at your check-up. (and your car seat is HEAVY!)
- a rock star sitter-upper.

You still take about 3 naps during the day and sleep all night. But taking naps are hard for you. Lately, you fight to stay awake, worried you might miss something. But really, you're a much happier baby if you nap. So just go to sleep.

You love to eat especially if we're eating. And Scully loves when you eat too since some of it ends up on the floor.

You babble but mostly you say mamamama - thank you! (although, I'm fully aware that it doesn't mean "mama")

I love going in your room after a nap, singing, "bay-beee Jew-uls, bay-beee Jew-uls, it's time to play." With your face all red from sleeping on it, you just smile and giggle. Obviously, ready to play.

Happy nine (9!!!!) months, Jules!

The PROCESS

2010-02-26T05:24:00.000-08:00

Why am I showing you my cluttered counter?

Just keeping it real, people.

I hate clutter. But I have it. The mail area in our kitchen is the worst for clutter. THE.WORST. Many times I've cleaned it but never really found what the problem was to begin with. So, I decided to use the PROCESS to deal with this area once and for all.

My Plan: Ask myself, "What do I want this area to be?" I found coupons (expired!), bills, tax forms, instructions to various things, vitamins, magazines, and a sudoku cube. None of these things belonged here! I wanted this area to be the bill paying area and that was all. Not a drop place for random coupons, mail, toys, etc. The plan also meant that I just didn't move things to a new location. They had to have a home. Old bills down to the shredder or filing cabinet, games to the game closet, vitamins with all the other meds, etc.

I Removed everything from the space including cleaning out the container and put like with like.

I Organized into piles. The garbage and recycling bin were close by so whatever I didn't have a home for were tossed/recycled. I was ruthless with the purging too. While I might like to have used a coupon, the reality of it was I probably wouldn't, so I tossed it. Once the space was cleaned and piles were made, I found homes for everything that wasn't tossed/recycled.

My Container works when it's just bills. Anything else and it's just a mess. I keep pens (that work), a notepad, checkbook, calculator, checks that need to be deposited, stamps and anything else that relates to bills and bill paying. My container also has a small section that's perfect for gift cards. I like to keep all gift cards in one area and this makes sense for us.

After a week of this new organized system, I've Evaluated to see if 1) the area was still organized and 2) being used as its real intention. It was a relief knowing that it was still organized and nothing else was being thrown in there that isn't a bill, check or gift card. It works for me!

Right now, I don't need to Solve or simplify anything that I see.

Wanna see what it looks like now?

Come back tonight and I'll show you!

Update! Shazaam! Here's the finished space! Now, I can Sit back and enjoy the clean, organized space.

ETA...again: I'm entering this in the 28-day Organizing Challenge. Here are my 5 answers:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it? Seriously, just doing it. I would look at that pile after the rest of my kitchen was clean and just feel defeated. Turn off the lights, walk out of the room.

Sorting and purging, that's the easy part! Also, who wants to give up a snuggle moment with their little one to do something like this? So, I did it when he went to bed and I didn't have anything on tap for the night. Starting was the hardest part.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order? The rule is deal with the mail as it comes into the house, not weeks (and piles) later. So simple, but it's working.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space? If it was a paid bill, I took it to the office to either shred it or file it. Games went to the game closet, etc. I didn't just move it to another space. That was the rule I made with myself. Everything had a home and needed to be there, not moved to another pile.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries? I already had the little storage container (yes, from Ikea Tony!) and it really is perfect for the mail role. And I thought if I put a cute photo of my little one and my pup, I'd be more inclined to keep it organized.

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge? Oh boy, doesn't everyone have this problem with the mail? While this was a small area, I could definitely use help with bigger areas, including simple organizational tools for my life. I want to be that organized spouse/mom/employee!

Dull Jules

2010-02-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

All shopping at Menards and no play, makes Jules a dull boy.

(crappy quality courtesy of my camera phone. You're welcome.)

8 Months

2010-02-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

This is babyhood as people know it.

At eight months, Jules rolls to get places, but also stretches super hard to reach something. He's doing the rocking thing but doesn't get up on all fours yet. He sits very, very well and has gone from sitting to tummy trying to reach something. It looks deliberate so he must really want the toy.

Not only do we think he's the cutest, but he's hilarious too! If his shade is down and we're changing him, he'll reach for it to see outside. He smiles and laughs at the light that comes in. Or maybe he's just laughing because I'm telling him "no". He's already ripped off the "warning" label. Speaking of labels, he loves tags on toys. He studies them and shoves them in his mouth. He gets all screamy when I come home from work, we show him a favorite toy, or when he just gets excited - which seems to be all the time!

He's between sizes right now. But really, some of his clothes are 3-6 month and they still fit, so who knows. It seems like every 2 weeks I have to pack up more of his clothes. So I've just kept the storage bucket in his room since I have to fill it all the time.

He's eating more and more, but still likes to nurse. He eats sweet potatoes, cereal, peas, carrots, bananas, and we just started prunes. We also started giving him a sippy cup for him to hold. Hes interested in it, but not enough yet. He's been so spoiled with bottles during the day so I might be a hard transition. We'll keep working on it.

He's got a little nubbin of a tooth coming in. It seems to be taking its time. But Jules doesn't seem too phased by it.

We're also teaching him to clap and wave and we'll start a few baby signs soon.

He reaches for people when he wants to be held. And his stranger anxiety (the little bit that was there) is almost gone.

There have been some major changes with sleep. Last month, not sure if it was because I was home for two weeks, growth spurt or what, but his sleep habits were crappy. He's gotten back on track but now sleeps a bit more. He's put in bed around 7pm, he talks for about 20 minutes and then falls asleep. Wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 then will either doze for another hour or will be up for about 2 hours. Then Justin takes over. He takes about two 1 1/2 naps then a quick one late in the day. Which can make or break bedtime. So we drop it sometimes which helps his naps and sleep at night.

I know people stop swaddling their little ones around 4 or 5 months, but we were still swaddling him until about a week ago. While it did seem pointless every time we did it (he would bust out the second we walked away), he somehow knew that being swaddled meant it was time to go to sleep. The times we didn't swaddle him, he'd talk and play in bed for over an hour, but the second we'd swaddle him, he'd be out.

So now he's in a sleep sac. He's used it before but now we're trying to use it all the time. And he's cut down on the length of time he talks before falling asleep. It's usually about 20 minutes now.

When I get home from work, he wants me to hold him until he goes to bed. While I would love to do this, I do have a few things that I need to get done. So I decided he's big enough to carry on my back leaving me with my hands free. And he loves this!

We're still using cloth diapers. No rashes, no blow-outs, no leaks (unless he's left in it too long). It was a great investment. But now we've got the stinkies! It happens. And really, the only way I can get rid of them is to line dry. Ha! Can't do that until about April, maybe May. So until then, I have to just keep cleaning them in small amounts, altering the water hardness with the softener, try different detergents - basically a science experiment. But I still highly recommend cloth diapers!

Happy 8 month birthday baby Jules!

Passive Aggressive

2010-02-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

After Jules was born, I decided to drive to work. Taking the bus would be about an hour commute and driving was about 15-20 minutes less. I want all the time I can get with him, so I drive now. And since I was giving up my super cheap bus pass for a parking pass, I wanted to park in my building. Which happens to be the most expensive in downtown St. Paul (lame, Lowertown!) In my mind, this situation is temporary and I'll start taking the bus again - so I could splurge on the parking fee.

The garage is nice with lots of spaces if you get here early enough. Lately, I haven't and I just go straight for the lower levels where there is always plenty of spots.

One day, I got to work late and had to park on the bottom level. While waiting for the one working elevator (the other was out), the number of people waiting grew - this never happens, the elevators are FAST. Just when we all started to look at each other, it arrived. Phew! I didn't want to walk up SIX flights of stairs!

We filed in and hit Skyway (P7) and away we went. P1 lit up, P2 lit up, P...and the one working elevator stopped. STOPPED between floors! Someone hit the closest floor to get it going and it went up, then dropped some and got stuck again. Another person pushed all the buttons - like that was gonna help - while on the other side of the elevator, a woman used the "call help" phone (or really, the "get me the HELL outta here" phone). She started talking to the operator and the elevator dropped again and the doors opened at P2. Everyone fled and started walking towards the stairs.

Crap. 6 flights of stairs at 8am. Too early. For reals. I'm so outta shape. I'm carrying 2 bags because that's what people who work in either downtown St. Paul or Minneapolis carry. Heavy winter coat. This sucks!

I made it. Barely. (This coming from a former casual runner. Yes, I know, I suck.)

I had hopped that was just a fluke and I wouldn't have to do it again. But I was also glad to know where the stairs were just in case.

Good thing I now know where the stairs are because later that day, an email went out to all employees. "Elevators are out for undetermined amount of time."

Nothing to do now but use the stairs. And you know what? When I get here early, I still park at P1 and walk up the six flights of stairs. I like a challenge. Apparently, others do not.

Minnesotans are notoriously passive aggressive. My husband said he learned from the best, his mother. (btw, I think he enjoys this trait especially now that he's amongst his own people.)

And since the elevators have been out for about three weeks now, people aren't happy anymore and it's showing:

Maybe they have to order a part? Maybe it's being shipped and nothing can be done until it gets here? Maybe they need to replace something and only one person in town can do it and he's on vacation? I'm not passive aggressive; I look for other explanations or assume something.

So I'm assuming this person only has to walk up three levels. What a bitch.

You Are NOT Entertaining!

2010-02-05T07:26:00.001-08:00

While I tend to get the daily news in "scouring the web" format, last night I watched the local news, that led directly into Entertainment Tonight. Not news at all. But here's what I saw and now, want to know why it's even a story.

Sarah Palin's grandson spends the day with his dad.

Only ET has the first video of new father Levi Johnston at home in Alaska with Sarah Palin's grandson, baby Tripp, doing everything from changing his clothes and playing to diaper duty!

Did anyone else see this? The crew followed Levi from picking up the baby (but no footage of baby mama), driving him home, changing a diaper, playing with the sound guy's boom, and I gave up and walked out by then. (I was waiting to hear how fat Kirstie Alley is.)

Ok, lets break this down. A Governor who quits (btw, the people of Alaska should be PISSED that she quit. They voted her in and she turns around and say's "see ya" - she knows she's got leverage after the failed Vice Presidential run to make money selling her image, and being Governor of Alaska isn't glamorous. But look!

(photo courtesy Awkward Family Photos)

How can she not get anymore glamorous than this?!

Ok, back to breaking it down. Governor, Alaska, quit. Ok, who's daughter has a baby at the tender age of whatever.WAY.too.young.and.not.married (possibly ruining super conservative Governor's image), and now the baby and baby daddy are in the spotlight wasting their one and only day away during the week to host Entertainment Tonight. Yes, it's sad that they both only get one day a week to spend with each other, but why is this the "entertainment" part of Entertainment Tonight?

This isn't the pairs first visit. This happens every Saturday. Just a dad spending time with his kid. What I want to see is (if I HAVE to see something regarding this ridiculous family) Levi, Baby Mama and Sarah on Maury. Levi, if you're gonna exploit yourself and, sadly, your son, do it where the rest of America does it.

Now that's entertainment!

(disclaimer: Stuff like this happens all the time. And I do find Maury entertaining, but honestly, I'm sad for the little ones who are caught in the middle of custody battles, being exploited on t.v., not knowing who their dads are, moms that sleep around. It's really, REALLY sad. And for that, I wouldn't wish on any kid and I can only hope they are loved and feel loved no matter what.)

Well, That Was January

2010-02-03T13:30:00.001-08:00

January, you came and went, and for most people, it sucked. Why is that? You shouldn't be any different than any other month, right? (Ok, I give you weather. Weather in the frozen tundra pretty much sucks this time of year. Meh, I'm over it.)

- The holiday's are over and there isn't anything to celebrate - except birthdays!
- My niece turned 1(!) (who's parents requested no gifts, not sure why, but I think it's because she just received a pile of toys and clothes for Christmas, but still! BIRTH DAY, Hello!)
- I turned 32 on a Monday (which blows because I got crap sleep the night before. I forgot my pump so I ended up going home early anyway to work. And I had to hide from a baby who wanted me to hold him, but NOOOO, I had to work.). Surprisingly it's a good age, but for some reason, I never really remembered I was 31 to begin with so I feel like I lost a year.
- Jules helped me celebrate my birthday with a quick trip to Cheesecake Factory where he immediately started screaming. We ate half our meals and got cheesecake to go. It's the new norm now.
- But natural disasters like crappy snow storms and an earthquake that has killed hundreds of THOUSANDS of people is a big downer, January
- Apparently, January 24th is the most depressing day of the year. Another downer.
- The Vikings lost. Poor Justin.

Ok, so, ya. I guess you did suck again this year. Oh January, I've long given up on you. My birthday month has never been anything special. But don't you think the birth of someone is something to celebrate, no matter what time of year or what age? Why is a birthday in January any less important than a birthday in July, August or September? Holiday's are just holiday's. But birthdays... I get it now. I gave someone a birthday and it should be celebrated! Every year! So while I've given up on my own birthday, I've got someone else to focus on. In June - a sweet little boy who made me a mom (and basically a new person) so I'm moving my "mom" birthday to June! Suck on that January!

Photography

2010-01-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

I know some think high priced photographers aren't worth it. Sure, if you can do it yourself, go right ahead. But I can't, so I didn't. I contacted Chrissie Marie here in Minneapolis because I really liked her photos of little ones.

And I REALLY like this little one:

NOM NOM NOM Look at those hands and toes!

If you want to see the whole gallery, go here. Enjoy!

Revisit

2010-01-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

This year, I'm going to try to sew more. I had fun making all those goodies for my nieces and nephews that I want to sew more for me as well as others. AND make more bags! I've really missed it. I worked on a bag for a friend (hi Neha!) and while it turned out terrible (supposed to be a fashionable camera bag), I still have hope for it.

So to keep me motivated, I bought a few new patterns:

Lots of variations on the basic t-shirt. This pattern got great reviews and I really like Jalie's instructions.

And this one...well, look at how cute! I love that I can make one for Justin and Jules.

Now to go fabric shopping!

The Screamer

2010-01-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

You know when they say "Oh, he's just finding his voice." I thought I knew what that meant, until this:

This is HI-larious until we're out at a restaurant. Or on a plane. Or we're sleeping and he's not.

ETA: Oh, wait, this one REALLY gives you the full experience (minus lighting. I'll never be able to capture him without the flash. Oh well.):

Black Hole

2010-01-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

- I heard this song on my way home today and it reminded me of the first time I heard it. On my way to Galveston, Texas for Prom, I actually asked, "Is this some sort of Christian rap song?!" I really didn't listen to much outside Country music and Alternative.

- I'm trying to wear earrings everyday. I have tons of pairs that I never wear. Lets see if I can do something this simple.

- Ok, I signed up for another 5k. Last time I ran one, I was pregnant, but didn't know. I am definitely NOT pregnant this time around.

- I just got back from Houston. Don't ask me how to get anywhere in that city. I have NO clue anymore. It's foreign to me.

- Flying with a baby does have some advantages. On every flight, people were willing to help me (and commented on how cute Jules was). And since I traveled light (stroller, baby, purse), I didn't need help. But it was so nice to know people were willing to help.

- Sometimes, flash sites SUCK.

- Palin and Bachmann...for reals?

- Apparently, I'm really dumb when it comes to buying disposable diapers. I've used cloth for so long that when I had to buy disposable for my Houston trip, I thought I got the right size. I didn't. They leaked. The end.

- SKOL VIKINGS!

WUT? I drool lots now.

7 Months

2010-01-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

Oh Jules, I miss you sometimes when I'm at work. And how can I not? You're so cute, funny, sweet, cuddly, smiley, and I love how you love Scully.

This past month, we've really upped the cereal and other solids and after a few weeks, you've finally decided you like food. Now, you eat cereal, sweet potatoes, carrots, applesauce, sweet peas. You're not a fan of green beans. I can't blame you, they are pretty bland and smell like dirt. I just bought you some other flavors, but we'll wait a while before we give you those.

And with food now being part of your diet, your diaper habits have changed. But we won't get into that. Let's just say we've been really lucky. You still wear cloth diapers. Here you're sporting a G-Diaper that I didn't put on right. Don't worry, I fixed it. After I took a few photos. You know, for documentation.

You STILL love that sound stage toy. LOVE!

You celebrated Christmas and had lots to open. People were so generous! And while you were out of your regular routine, you were happy getting back on schedule. I had two weeks off from work so you and I hung out and watched Maury Povich all day in our pj's. (Well not all day, for two hours, then we'd nap. Because the drama on Maury was exhausting!)

With all of the changes and growing, your sleep habits are, well, crappy right now. You first slept through the night around 3 months. And it continued til about 6 months, where you decided you needed to eat 2 times a night. And now, we've got you back down to one time a night. Not bad, but I know you can sleep through. So we're working on that. You still preferred to be swaddled since it helps you fall asleep. If we don't, you just babble to yourself for hours. And you need your sleep!

Scully loves to clean your face and hands after you eat. I don't let her do that, but daddy does. You're gonna be her pal when you're older, dropping food on the floor.

Happy seven months Jules!

Limited Showing

2010-01-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

Today's high was five. Last year, since I was new here, it was really shocking when the temp on the bank sign said negative 18. So a high of five is nothing. It's a warm front really. But I don't have to deal with it much longer.

(well, for a weekend at least)

I'm going home to Houston for the first time in probably 3 years. 4 years? Who knows. And right now, they are like "Burrrr, it's 30 degrees. Where's the electric blanket?"

They should really try a mattress warmer. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, I'm going to Houston. Alone. With Jules. On a plane. With a layover. He's at the age where he's squirmy, screamy, but still a cutie. I'm hoping the hum of the engines will lull him to sleep or I might owe my seatmates booze.

So, if any of my Houston friends wanna see me or meet Jules, let me know. I'm only there for a weekend.

In the Mail

2009-12-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

Now that they've been sent and hopefully opened, here are some of the projects I made for nieces and nephews this year:

Toddler Backpack. This was for a 2-year-old nephew. Really, he had so many other gifts that I don't even think he noticed it until the next morning when I said, "Hey, Reese, you can carry all your new cars with this!" and he proceeded to load it up and carry it around. It was cute.

Fleece Jacket with Hannah Montana accents. My niece LOVES Hannah Montana and LOVES pink. This is my standard fleece jacket pattern (Jalie 2679) that I've made many times. Works out great, but I see that Burda has one in their latest magazine. I might have to make that one to compare.

T-shirt turned backpack. One of my nephews loves Ed Hardy but I wasn't about to spend $100 on a t-shirt that I was gonna cut up. So I found a screen print kit at Joann's, a t-shirt at Saver's, and this pattern, and ended up with this:

I actually made another t-shirt backpack for another nephew. He was getting a guitar for Christmas and I found a t-shirt at Savers with a cool guitar and skull - it was perfect. And he really liked it too.

I've never ventured into doll making, but I decided to try a Wee Wonderful doll for another niece. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be. Lots of hand sewing, but surprisingly, I didn't mind.

Now that all the gift sewing is done and my sewing area is cleaned, it's time to make stuff for me!

Happy Festivus for the Rest of Us

2009-12-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

Today, December 23rd is Festivus. Let's celebrate, shall we?

Over in the corner is my aluminum pole (no tinsel or any decorations of course). Average and plain, isn't it?

Ok, be done looking at the pole.

Let's move on to "Airing of Grievances."

Oh boy, do I have some issues this year. And you people are gonna hear about them. In no particular order:
Who cares about the following:
Tiger Woods, Oprah retiring, Jon & Kate, People who do nothing yet are famous somehow.

Car seats that are safe, yet HUGE! I need a new car to fit this thing, and it's only going to get bigger. Thanks safety for making me sit so close to the steering wheel that, while my kid is safe, I'm not! Jerk.

Verizon Wireless. While you work EVERYWHERE else in the world, you don't work in my cul-de-sac. Seriously? What's that all about? Why am I paying x dollars when I can't even use my phone at home. I'd like a refund for the past YEAR, please.

Ok, now it's time for the "Feats of Strength" but I don't want to embarrass anyone, so we'll skip it this year. But, next year, just you wait. Better watch your back.

And finally, "Festivus Miracles!" A friend said she made caramels. I was going to stop by her office to get one. But she stopped by MY office and brought me one. It was a Festivus Miracle!

Goodbye TPT...

2009-12-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hello TPT!

I got a new job at tpt (I LOVE that they LOVE to hire within!). When I'm done with the Minnesota Video Vault project, I will have watched about 1000 shows.

One THOUSAND shows. Actually, there will be 1100 shows, but I've had some help (Thank G!) My brain is fried, but my knowledge of Minnesota and its history is unbelievable - or I like to think.

Remember when you were a kid and it was summer time and all you wanted to do was watch tv all day? (Maybe you weren't as lazy as I was. But seriously, it was HOT in Texas during the summer, so unless you were swimming, you were watching tv.) And you wished you could get paid to watch tv all day?

Yeah, I did that. (But I did plenty of other things too!) And while the project was really awesome and ahead of the pack in terms of online archiving, sometimes, watching programs all day sucked. But, I'm proud of my work, my knowledge of Minnesota and the opportunity tpt gave me to take charge of the project.

It paid off.

So now, I'm finishing up my list of shows (1100!)and moving onto another project managing various internal websites. MANAGING, kids.

6 Months

2009-12-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

Six months gives us at least two inches (if not more!). Rolling over in every direction in your crib. Which you now love sleeping on your face, freaking both of us out when we go in and check on you. And squealing as loud as possible just to let us know you're ready to get out.

Six months also means you've now got a little stranger anxiety. Nothing too bad, but you're not afraid to cry if someone you don't know well is holding you. But you warm up eventually. You're super smiley and generally happy and excited whenever you see one of us.

You're getting interested in food. Enough to grab at it and want to put it in your mouth. But that's where it ends. You're not sure what to do with it once it's in your mouth. Oh, the faces you make! You had a little bit of cake at a birthday party this weekend and while you really wanted it, you had no idea what to do with it.

You still sleep about 10 hours a night with about 3 hours of naps a day. But you don't do well at other people's houses when it's time for bed. You're definitely a creature of habit.

You celebrated your first major holiday, Thanksgiving, with a trip to Nebraska. Cousin Jordan just loved playing with you and wanted to help take care of you. Everyone loved playing with you and you loved the attention!

Scully is still your pal, but you really prefer me or your dad. And, while we like Scully too, we prefer you even more.

We Replaced the Swing With This

2009-12-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

Our bundle of joy.

A Decade in Review

2009-12-09T12:55:00.000-08:00

2000 - Was excitingly dating Justin Foell from Minnesota while I lived in a small basement apartment with 5 windows, a killer dog upstairs named "Gangster"(who once tried to bite my face off when I gave him water. Jerk) and his owner "Chris LaDoux" (Can't remember his real name. But he was hick-ish and smoked pot at 5am before working construction.) Hank Hill lived across the street. As did an old bitty who was 90 and called me "Suzie Q!" She also drank her pee. She told me.

2001 - Planned a wedding, got married, moved out of the basement apt (goodbye $300 rent, Chris, Gangster, Hank and Old Bitty!) and moved into our first house (hello mortgage payment!).

2002 - Still in school, worked at the steakhouse off and on as I liked (or didn't like - some managers were JERKS!). Had to sell the house due to layoffs, and moved in with Granny for a few months.

2003 - FINALLY found a cool apartment in downtown SLC. We were hip, until my Jeep was broken into like 3 times. Oh ya, I had a JEEP! It was AWESOME! Justin had a new job too! But it didn't last long and found another one in Vegas. I graduated and we made the move. Scully was my graduation gift. Tender!

2004 - At first, I thought our new apartment was an old folks home because we were the youngest ones there. Turns out, it wasn't an old folks home, but we were the youngest ones there. Jean, our neighbor, would drink and drive a lot. She was also on blood thinners. That's why she wobbled. Sure, Jean. I landed a sweet editing job and sold the jeep at the first sign of hot-ness (you know, 120 degrees. I not kid.)

2005 - Decided to buy another house. This time, we built one. We closed on our anniversary. Tender, again! BUT, then I lost my job. However, I landed another one by that December. I also ran a marathon, vowing to never do that again.

2006 - Started working for the same company as Justin (but we didn't work together). I had high hopes, but they quickly faded when my boss went on maternity leave the day I started. Here starts 2 years of frustrating work.

2007 - I ran a marathon, again. Actually, it was 12 miles. It could have been better. We took a cruise with my family to Central America, we traveled to Idaho for my g-granny's 90th, and we went to San Francisco for the first time.

2008 - We went to Thailand for a wedding and then spent my birthday in London. (Go ahead, be jealous.) I quit my job and we moved to Minnesota where I now work for tpt (PBS affiliate in the Twin Cities - Love it!). I got knocked up and enjoyed a symptom free first trimester.

2009 - It was cold. COOOOOLD all throughout my pregnancy. I wore sweaters one week before Jules was born. IN.JUNE. We spent the rest of the summer traveling to Nebraska, Utah, South Dakota, and Indianapolis trying to take advantage of their warm temps. We bought another house and did lots of updates before Jules arrived. We have, yet again, another old bitty who lives next door. But she's the nicest, sweetest old lady out there. We are also the proud owners of a snow blower. Because, for reals. I'm not shoveling anymore.

It's the First Wednesday of the Month...

2009-12-02T11:00:00.001-08:00

And you know what that means...

The CREEPY siren that goes off at 1pm in downtown St. Paul. Like nuclear bomb loud. I'm surprised our windows don't break.

Did I mention it's loud? and CREEPY?