Phone Photo Fun Monday 07.02.12

 

Since I was pre-occupied with life last week and missed getting my post up, I'm sharing photos from the last 2 weeks here.

 That big ugly bug was one I got stuck killing as I saw it during Jay's naptime and of course hubby was at work. It was soooo disgusting!  It had like super thin daddy-long-legs type legs but it could fly! I had to use a chair just to be able to reach and then swat at it a bit to get it low enough for me to kill it. So gross!

Jay decided to hug Elmo - it was too cute not to take a few pictures! 

I'm soooo glad he's starting hugging - mommy could really use some hugs these days!

 

He found a "new" way to play with his activity table /facepalm

 

 Jay likes his Red Mango - yum!

 My Influenster Mom VoxBox came in the mail finally!

Expect a post about what I got soon!

 I painted my nails Indigo-Go Girl by Ulta.

Not a fan of how many coats I had to put on, but it did peel off nicely when I got tired of it!

 Jay fell asleep in my dad's Jeep!

 The female pitbull/border collie puppy we gave to a no-kill shelter.

 The 2 male pitbull/border collie puppies we gave to a no-kill shelter.  

These puppies are adorable! I'm soooo glad that they have a really good chance at being adopted to good homes! I can't thank my friend enough for all the help she was last week, contacting shelters for me in regards to the dogs that we had to do something with asap. If you're interested in any of these super friendly cuties, they are available for adoption at The Anti-Cruelty Society shelter in Chicago (unless they already found homes this past weekend!).

 This is Lady Girl (aka Lady).
She's a border collie/lab/Australian shepherd mix, between 3 and 4 years old. She's such a sweetie and well-mannered dog, we were able to take her in with no problems at all. Jay is beyond thrilled to have a dog in the house and Tiger is becoming less and less territorial with each day as she comes to realize the dog isn't going anywhere, nor is she interested in hurting her. I took her to the vet on Friday and she seems to be in good health - no heartworms or fleas or ticks that the vet could see. She does have swelling real bad in one ear and a lot of yeast with bacteria and puss in the other ear that the vet gave us medicated drops to give her twice daily to massage into her ear canals and clean them out. We plan on getting her spayed in the upcoming months, but we need to save up for it first as we weren't planning on getting a dog so soon and we no longer qualify for the voucher. We also took her to the PetCo Grooming salon and they got her cleaned up real nice for us and removed the rest of the dead fur that kept falling off her after we gave her a bath.

 

This is the wheel that I literally drove off my dad's Jeep last week.

 Lady Girl relaxing outside in my parent's backyard as I had to pick-up Jay and she can't be in the house as my parent's dog doesn't know her yet.

Jay enjoying a styrofoam bowl of Goldfish crackers while reading his book as we wait for dinner at Denny's.

 This past Saturday hubby and I went to a wedding. I've known the bride since kindergarten, as we went to grade school and junior high together, hubby knew her from our youth group days at church. Her and her husband met their 1st year of college, almost 10 years ago. So glad that they finally got married after all this time!

 This was my entree at the reception - a half baked chicken, with potatoes (underneath the chicken) and veggies. Hubby had the prime-rib cut steak. We were seated with an old friend of mine and hubby's from youth group and her husband (she was in our wedding and we try to get together with them at least once a year when they visit from out of state) and while we were seated further back, we were right next to the open bar, which was a-okay with us!

They had the local Moonlight Jazz Orchestra play for the reception music. It was neat, but not a lot of variety for dancing as it was mostly various types of jazz songs mixed with some swing. The band said they'd be there til 4am! We left around 10pm, when the majority of the crowd had fanned out as well. It was a fun time though - several other friends and familiar faces were there as well.


*edit*
I just realized, this is my 900th post!!!
Think I might do a giveaway when I reach 1000!

Plenty to be THANKful for, Day 8

The Special People in My Life!

My 2 favorite guys:
My Big man and my Little man!

First and foremost, the center of my world right now and the most specialist Little Man in my life is Jay! Overall, he's quite an easy-going baby - sure, teething sucks and since becoming mobile the past few months he likes to get into anything and everything he's not supposed to... but I still love him to death and am so thankful that he's in our lives and healthy for the most part (yeah, he's going to need surgery in a little over a year and got off to a rough start, but things could be A LOT worse, so we're fortunate!). He's my little buddy though, keeping me company and busy when hubby's off at work.

Then of course there's Hubby - I've known him since Junior High and he's always been there for me through various ups and downs... I couldn't imagine him not being in my life. Plus he's our main provider and he doesn't seem to mind - call it old-fashioned, but he feels that the man should be the one to provide for his family. Jay seems to really like it when he plays all goofy with him too =)

And then there's my family - my mom, dad and sister.

At my sis's high school graduation
last spring

Growing up, my dad was off on business a lot during the week so until my sister was born when I was in 3rd grade it was just me and mom during the week. And as a typical teenager and eventually college student away from home for the 1st time, I shut my parents and my mom out. Since growing up and becoming an adult though we've gotten to be close again, chatting regularly or just hanging out. Plus she helps me A TON with Jay during the week when hubby and I both have to work, but she doesn't seem to mind. Dad and I used to spend daddy/daughter time together growing up when he was home on the weekends. He was the provider for our family though and I do appreciate that as I was very fortunate growing up and we were able to live comfortably, within our means. My sis and I were always at odds growing up as there was an 8.5 year age gap between us, but now that she's grown up and isn't an annoying baby/kid sister anymore (seriously, try spending time alone with your boyfriend in high school when you have an 8 year old wanting your boyfriend's attention, lol...) we seem to get along pretty well these days though, going to movies on occasion or just hanging out.

There's a lot of extended family too - my inlaws, my aunt, uncle and cousin that all live nearby... all my relatives that live all over the country... those in the military (I have a cousin in the army and another in the navy) as well as my sister's boyfriend who's gotten to be more like a brother this past year as hubby and I have gotten to know him (he's also going into the navy).

Bar-hopping for my bachelorette party!

I'm also thankful for my friends - Erika, who's been one of my best friends since like 5th or 6th grade. With us both having kids now (her youngest and Jay being 11 months apart) it's been nicer hanging out together, going to her with mommy questions, etc. There's also my former college roommate Jeny, who despite living down in Dallas for the past few years now, still makes time to visit with me when she's up this way (honestly, she's the only one of my former roommates who has seen/met Jay, despite all the others living just a short drive away!) - we had sooo much fun together back in college, definitely fond memories and made all the free-time outside of classes (and during the classes we took together) a lot of fun! And there's also me and hubby's friend Jackie - she too has moved out of the area but still makes an effort to try and see us when she's in town visiting her family! Isn't ironic that these 3 were also my bridesmaids??? Glad to know I picked the right gals ;-)

I have a handful of other more local friends, but most of them I mainly keep in touch with on Facebook... but I am thankful for them too as they provide me with encouragement and advice too! You all know who you are!

Who are the special people you're thankful for?

Life as of late

I realize I haven't actually posted much on this blog in awhile - as it is, I barely update my baby/family blog much either. Not sure why, as Jay falls asleep before midnight, giving me a few hours to myself... guess I just haven't had the motivation!

For those still following (and I noticed I somehow gained a few this month!), here's a brief update on life and what I've been feeling!

Baby Jaydran (Jay) is doing pretty well! He'll be 6 months already next Thursday and has been hitting all his development milestones, some of them even early! He just cut his 1st tooth last week, after several months of teething/gum pain and I think he's got at least 1 more that's pretty close to coming through! He eats baby foods now, getting a big bowl of apple rice cereal in the morning and a jar of fruits or veggies for dinner. He doesn't crawl yet but he can roll from back to tummy and tummy to back with no problems and will roll around all over the place if you let him (which BTW is NOT fun when you're trying to change his clothes or diaper! lol...). Lately he's been working on sitting up by himself and he's starting to get the hang of it. He also enjoys playing in his new baby walker and jumping/swinging around in his Johnny Jump Up.

Not sure if I mentioned it on here but we're seeing a pediatric urology specialist at the children's hospital in Madison for his enlarged kidney issue - turns out, the ureter tube, where it connects to the bladder there, is deformed and basically pinched shut which is why nothing is getting through and why the kidney is enlarged. The specialist said it's basically one of those things that just happens when the organ is formed in the womb and that we'll most likely have to have a minor surgery when he gets closer to 2 years old to remove the ureter tube, snip off the tapered part and reattach it into the bladder. Not looking forward to that, but the specialist assured me he's done it plenty of times and it's always been successful.

My hours at work picked up for awhile but they seem to have slowed down now, although I still have the most hours our of the regular employees (non-management). They picked up because we lost 1 of our assistant managers so that was like 30+ hours that needed to be picked up and most of them went to me and another girl, but the last week or so we've gotten a new assistant manager for that spot and so there goes that whole block of hours. I still seem to be getting at least 2 shifts a day though (down from 4, which I'll admit was bit crazy to adjust to so all of  a sudden like, as it seemed like when I wasn't working I was on call). The paychecks were nice though and Jay's pretty much set on clothes for fall (I swear I come home with a bag every week!).

We lost power for about 2 days straight at the beginning of the month when we had a really nasty storm come through early one morning. By the time I got off work that night it was 86 degrees in our house and just too hot so my mom said we could spend the night at their house in the spare room if we wanted, which we did! It came back on later the next night though.

I recently started going the chiropractor for my back (finally) and he's got me doing some physical therapy for it too. I've been going twice a week and they do this electrical stimulation for 15 minutes, then a 10 minute ultrasound (which feels like a light massage) and then a full massage to loosen up my back muscles and get out any knots as he said my back muscles were just waaaaay too tight which was a big factor in my back pain. He also does a few adjustments which seem to have helped.

I'm sure you've heard, Borders is closing! That really makes me sad as I'd rather not have to shop at Barnes & Noble if I want to get a non-new release or best-seller. B&N's prices are higher, they have no free rewards program and the only thing I like better there is their kid's section - everything else I prefer Borders. We went the 1st night of the liquidation sale and dropped some cash on some finds. I went back the other day too and picked up a few more collectibles for Jay that we either didn't get on Friday or they were out of and just got more in. That really does suck though... I really liked Borders and before we had a Borders in my town I enjoyed Media Play for my books, but they went out of business long ago.

We joined Sam's Club recently and I really like it! We can buy diapers and baby food in bulk for good prices, as well as our kitty litter, hubby's beer (Sam Adams) and a giant tub of ice cream that'll last us awhile among other stuff we can buy in bulk to stock up on (like body wash!). Also their book and movie selections are decent and are often cheaper than Walmart too (by like a dollar at least) so I've picked up a few newer/best-seller books there.

We finally got Tiger spayed too. Ever since we moved, we've been finding furniture and stuff that she had been peeing on! I'm not sure why she suddenly felt the need to mark our brand new furniture in addition to random boxes in our storage closest, other than maybe she was pissed or stressed about Jay and then us moving soon after too or what but we took her to the vet, they said she seemed fine and decided that spaying might solve the problem. Seems to have worked so far as we've noticed she's been peeing in the litter box again. She was confined to the basement for most of the month, 1st to keep her from peeing on all the upstairs furniture and then after she we spayed we had to confine her to the larger downstairs bathroom for a week or so til she healed so she wouldn't be jumping up high and tearing em open. We let her back upstairs the other day and she seems to be doing fine. She's still curious about Jay though and he tries to pet her every chance he gets (he's very fascinated with textures right now too!).

There will be football this year!!! In case you don't pay attention to sports, there was an NFL lock-out going on the last few months involving the player's salaries and the owners and the players coming to an agreement or something... because of this there were no organized team things going on which explains why there's been so many NFL players arrested over stupid stuff the last few months. But anyways, if the lock-out wasn't settled soon there was the possibility there would be no football this season and that would be sad as I look forward to spending Sunday (and sometimes Monday nights) watching football with hubby and we were looking forward to Jay experiencing his first season of football (we're hoping to teach him to say "football" "touchdown" and "Cowboys" at some point!). It reminded me of when I was a kid and there was no baseball that one season in the early/mid-90s. The 1st Sunday Night Football game of the season is the Cowboys vs the Jets so hubby wants to have a football for it too - should be fun!

My college roommate is up visiting this week from Texas so we got together for a bit today so she could see the house and Jay (he's doubled since she last saw him in March) and we figured out her centerpieces for her wedding next year too. She also told me some rather pathetic but amusing news about my ex that only confirms I did the right thing leaving his lazyass - he's 29 now and living with his girlfriend he met online (who moved up here from Texas)... in his bedroom in his parents house! He's also still going to school and since he's living at home I assume his parents are still paying for it... his poor family, they've been paying for his tuition for at least 10 years now and it's all because he's just downright lazy and doesn't apply himself or go to class! The thought of living in his bedroom at his parents house just scares me and makes me soooo thankful I got out of that relationship! I'm sooo thankful I have a husband who WANTS to work and that it's important to him to be the provider for his family and that we have the means to have a home of our own and can support ourselves and way of life, plus we have one of the cutest baby boys ever! I can't imagine being nearly 30 and still living at home because I'm too lazy to support myself. That's just pathetic (*note* it's one thing to have to move back home because of the current economy and say you lost your job and thus lost your home and needed somewhere to stay til you get back on your feet - I get that. But the fact is, my ex is lazy and always has been and is on track to always will be. He's been wasting his parent's money for years and doesn't seem to have any problem with it either).

So anyways, while I haven't been too active on the blog here, feel free to keep in touch with me on Twitter as I'm always tweeting on there throughout the day and I LOVE tweeting with my blogger friends on there too - I've enjoyed getting to know some of you more via Twitter!

Wedding Bells are Ringing!!

I have four - 4!- good friends getting married now within the next 2 years! I'm so excited for them and just because of the fact I love weddings! They're soooo much fun and it's neat to see how every wedding is done differently as each couple likes different things.

First one coming up, that we got a Save-the-Date card to, is my childhood best friend's wedding.

Us drinking hot chocolate at McDonalds in the late 80s after a day of sledding!

It's on the Friday before 4th of July and up in Minneapolis as she and her fiance live near the Twin Cities. I hoping that hubby is able to get the Thursday before off so we can drive up there and spend 2 nights in a hotel before driving back early Saturday for him to be at work. I'll be really sad if we can't go and I'd rather not drive up there and stay by myself, as it's like 5-6 hours away.

Us drinking fruity drinks at local cafe Octane
summer between my freshman & sophomore years of college

The next wedding isn't until December and it's a good friend of mine I've known for years. She was a freshman when I was a senior and she was one of the few freshman who somehow got stuck in the senior lunch period, but it was okay - my friends and I deemed her as one of the "cool" freshmen. I had known her a little prior too from church as we both volunteered in the summer at our church's summer kids day camp. Anyways, we kept in touch when I went off to college and hung out a lot. She lived with me and long-term college roomie for a year, although the 2 of them had some issues and that didn't work out very well. She ended up transferring to a school in the Chicago suburbs to get a court-reporting degree and I still keep in touch with her online and try to meet up with her when she's in town visiting. I'm excited for her though too as she's been dating her fiance for years - I actually met him when I was a freshman in college as he lived 3 doors down from me on my dorm floor and that's how they met!

Us during one of the youth groups
annual Snowcamp winter retreats

Summer 2012 an old friend of mine is finally getting married to the guy she started dating when we went off to college just over 8 years ago! I've known her since like kindergarten as we went to grade school together and eventually church too when my family switched churches in 2nd grade. We hung out in the same group of friends during high school youth group. She lives in Ohio now but is having the wedding back home here, as her and her fiance are both from Illinois (I think he's from the suburbs). I've been able to keep in touch with her via online over the years though and she's another one I see from time to time when she's in town visiting family. So excited for her too as she's been with the guy for so long, a bunch of us all agree, it's about damn time they finally got married! lol...

We had a pirate-themed party for her birthday one year.
Don't we make hot wenches?? Johnny Depp eat your <3 out!

August/September 2012 is the one I'm probably most excited for as I get to be part of it! I've mentioned before, my long-time college roommate is getting married! And she asked me to be a bridesmaid too so I'm really excited about that as in my "adult" life I've never gotten asked to be one before aside from a few friends saying after the fact that they wished they had asked me (last wedding I was in was my aunt's when I was 12 and I was a Jr. Bridesmaid so I wasn't all that involved). Although she moved down towards Dallas a year and a half ago, they're having the wedding up here in the suburbs where she's from. She's coming up in March to look at venues and stuff while she visits - can't wait! It should be fun and I look forward to helping her with planning stuffs as well as the actual wedding itself!