January 25

Every week I decide I am going to get my butt up early and get some stuff done before I go into work... and most of the time I fail miserably! However, today I was somewhere in the middle - not hugely successful, but I did manage to get moving at a decent hour - get downstairs and worked on the laundry - and then I turned on a movie and was worthless the rest of the day! Oh well...

Tomorrow is a big day for all of us - we are going in to have more testing done on Jake regarding his kidney issues. We have to be at the hospital at 8:30 and it will take most of my day until I have to be at work at 3.

Greatest news ever - I have FANTASTIC insurance! They called today to preregister our little boy and I was told the whole thing would be COMPLETELY COVERED by insurance! After coming off of pretty crappy insurance that never covered anything I am over the moon about this!

January 24

Sundays are always yucky... no matter how much fun we have before I have to go to work, I just hate leaving my boys...

January 23

Saturday was clean out the garage day... an event I had been trying to put off for as long as possible. I guess in a way I am lucky because Jess is the big cleaner-outer, while I get the baby tending duty - I'm not sure which is REALLY harder though. The garage looks substantially better now, but there is still a LOT of stuff to deal with! Our work never seems to end!

January 22

Jake walks! Well not really, but he's so very close!

We were up at Daddy's work and they were trying to teach him :)

January 21

Layla got out today... which for those of you who know Layla know that that is not really a common occurrence, but it did nothing to lessen the urge to take away the urge to ground her.

Here's the saga...

Jake and I were planning on going to see Daddy for lunch, so we were all ready to go, but I needed to put the car seat in the car. So I set Jake up with a drink and cartoons, but Buster in charge and stuck the baby gate in front of the kitchen to keep everyone safe. I ran out the garage, took 2 mins to latch the car seat in, walked around the car and there is Layla standing in the driveway. So I told her to get back in the house, but it was too late, she had smelled the great outdoors and she took off! I ran in the house, grabbed Jake, considered a stroller and decided there wasn't time to mess with that, then ran outside to wrangle Layla. She was such a toot! She wouldn't fall for any of the usual tricks - I sat down and pretended like I wanted to play with her, she got about 2 feet from me and Jake lunged for her and it was over. So after walking as calmly as possible behind her, trying to herd her back towards home, an angel appeared in the form of a lady walking out to her car! Of course, Layla, being the ever so friendly dog that she is runs for the stranger. So I holler over to her that Layla is very sweet and if she could grab her collar I would be forever grateful, and she did! WOO HOO!! She even offered me a leash for the journey back home! So me, hyper-just discovered freedom-crazy-dog, and 26+ lb baby Jake head back home - all the while I am giving Layla the silent treatment (hey she does it to us, I figured it would be effective than screaming at her). Once we arrived home I took some rawhides and treats, put them in a bag with the borrowed leash and wrote a thank you note...

At least she is safe and sound and I didn't murder her, but she is so grounded...

January 20

Finally I have finished Jacob's Birthday Party Invitations!!! So it took me forever, mostly because I just couldn't seem to get to it, but tomorrow I am picking them up and they will be in the mail by day after tomorrow at the latest. Here is a sneak peak for anyone who is interested...

January 19

Poor little Jake is still trying to get over his cold! He is such a great sport though, he even takes his breathing treatments like a champ!

January 18

Monday? Where did you go???

January 17

Have I mentioned how much I REALLY REALLY hate Sundays? Well you see for years and years I had to work most Saturdays, but I always had Sunday off and now I have Friday and Saturday off (woo hoo), but I have to be at work every Sunday at 3 PM. I can admit that it could be worse, I could have off Wednesday and Thursday - that would be terrible! I just miss my boys so much on Sundays, they are at home playing and having fun and I just want to be with them.

This is my blog and I'm allowed to whine a little... so today I just wanted to say that I REALLY REALLY hate Sundays.

I do love my boys though.

January 16

So you may have noticed I missed some days... We had company and I got busy and didn't even take any pictures to post!

However, the company was excellent and we basically cooked and ate the entire time Will and Kristi were here. We also managed to get some good visiting time in while we sat around the fire in the back. I'm not sure that I will ever get the smell of bacon and smoke out of the house, but I'm not sure I mind it either.

January 15

Jacob can go from totally awake...



...to totally crashed...


...with only a tiny bit of persuasion. :)

January 14

Bananas!!



He's such a mess!!

January 13

Nothing was hugely eventful today... Jacob and I enjoyed hanging around the house and then I went to work. I love the fact that I get to spend so much time with my little boy, I know how hard this all is on Jess, but to me it is such a blessing. I get the best of both worlds, being a stay at home mom and a working mom - I am totally exhausted most of the time, but every time I look at his sweet little face I know that this is the right thing for him.

At the moment we are working on baby sign language - we started the first sign which is "More" - he doesn't quite get it, but he knows physically how to do the sign because he did it today randomly. I can't wait to learn it all with him and watch his little mind soak it all up.

January 12

Today I took pictures of Jake for his bday party invitations... He wasn't feeling the greatest, but he continues to be adorable. ;)

January 11

The last 24 hours were not fun.... So Jake was feeling kinda crabby all weekend - or at least that is what I thought. Last night he starts running fever along with some little cold symptoms, so we decide just to watch him and see what happened. After I got home from work is when the REAL fun started, Jacob woke up and felt terrible, we couldn't get him to go back to sleep - the fever didn't want to break, it was rough. This morning we took him to the doctor and it took hours - Jake wouldn't pee for the urine test so we waited and waited and waited then finally success! Turns out he is having a break through bladder infection and so after a shot of antibiotics and a very long nap he seems to be feeling quite a bit better. I am hoping tonight we ALL get a lot better sleep. We have an appt with his urologist in a few weeks so we'll see what she says we do now.


The positive for the day - that which does not kill us can only make us stronger - today I was reminded what an amazing team Jess and I are - we were both exhausted all day, but we never even snapped at each other and we even found time to laugh through it all. I love him more and more everyday.

These were taken on my cell phone - the first one is before we saw the doctor and the second is about 4 hours later - while we were still there!

January 10

The goal today was to take a picture for Jake's birthday party invitation - and that was a total bust! We drove way out into the boonies to find a John Deere tractor to take his picture on and the place was closed and totally locked up. So we decided to take a quick pick on a riding lawn mower at Home Depot - I figured I could make that work. So we get a cranky Jake out of the car and I snap a picture of Jess and him and then it happens... my camera flashes "Change Battery Pack" ?!?!? Are you kidding me?!!?!? I have to be at work soon and we drove 45 mins out of town and there is not battery life on the camera?! So I have had to resort to plan B for Jacob's bday picture... I haven't had a chance to do it yet, but I think it'll be ok.

The positive side from today - my Dad rode in the back with Jake and they were so cute playing together the whole way out of town... He was feeling kinda rotten, but he and Dad laughed and played every game Dad could think of. :)

Here is the one picture I got today...

January 9

Busy busy busy day!! We spent a lot of time with family today - running around all over the place, but really enjoying the company!! Jake was a great sport, but wore out eventually... He is just such a joy to everyone - he loves to flirt with strangers! It is such a hoot!

Here are some pics from our visit with Lollie and Aunt Nancy:

January 8

Happy Birthday to my big brother!! Love you Arnold! I didn't take a picture today, but thought everyone out there in blog world might enjoy a few old ones. :)







Baby Jake with a pic of Baby Arnold

January 7

Tonight is a BIG BIG BIG game for Texas Football - I don't yet know the outcome, but in this family we bleed orange - so I may be stuck at work while everyone parties and watches the game at my house - but I still LOVE my horns and we are going to kill Bama!!

Hook 'em Horns!!!

My little longhorn taking a nap this afternoon...

January 6

Ever since we returned from Victoria after the holidays I have been in Spring Cleaning mode! Which is exciting for me because I haven't felt like doing much of anything in recent months, and all of a sudden I am starting to feel like myself again - and my house really appreciates that! I didn't realize how much I had let EVERYTHING go - so the first thing I did was rearrange the furniture in the living room - I think I like it...

January 5

Socks!!! I love 'em - they don't have to match what I am wearing, they just have to be fun!

Oh and there is that added benefit that they keep my feet warm... it's been COLD!

January 4

The simplest things amuse my little boy...

January 3

I have been knitting a scarf on a loom and it is almost done - I'm typically not good at finishing things like this, so I'm pretty proud of it! Hopefully in the next few days I'll put it in the mail to Wendy...

January 2

Jake is too cute when he sleeps! This was taken after a fun evening with Will, Kristi, Jess and Laura playing "What's yours like?" (which is a board game!)

January 1

I started the year at a party at my bro-in-law and sister-in-laws house - it was wonderful and LOT of fun! So here is a picture I took at the party:



:)

New Year... new attitude...

I'm working on it at least! I was looking over my status updates on FB and noticed that over and over again I would talk about trying to get motivated - so I decided this year is a year of IMPROVEMENT!  The last year was a roller coaster - from the most amazing thing in the world happening to me to the worst thing, but through it all life has certainly continued to occur, whether or not I was ready for it! 

I may be a few days late, but I'm not going to worry about that at all (which is something I'm working on - worrying about stuff I have no control over). So I am going to start writing about something positive everyday - hopefully with a picture most days. I need to remind myself about all the wonders in the world and I'm really going to be working on my photography.  Also, I am going to start getting up and moving more - and hopefully going to bed earlier.  There are more things, but the general idea is to take this year as a fresh start for myself - letting go of the past and improving the present. 

Here is to a wonderful 2010!  I'm so glad to be here!