I now know why you should never leave a baby alone. This is what I found after leaving Jack in his room to play for only 5 minutes. Is someone coming?
Oh shoot! I think she sees me!
And who says Jack in the Box isn't yummy?
Ok, so I needed a little escape and Jack's first haircut became it! I wasn't really thinking he needed a haircut yet until I got my 2nd comment about how cute my son's mullet was this week at the grocery store. Don't you mean "mohawk"? I thought the first guy was confused until we got the same comment again a few days later so I decided it was time for a little clean up. As the pictures show he started off good.....
No more mullet for Jack!
What a busy last 4 days it's been since my last blog. As I said before, Doug's mom arrived late Thursday night and it's definately been a change for us as a family. The first night she was with us she wandered around the house all night ending up in Ali's room at one point and in our room as well scaring the heck out of Doug since I know that is every guys nightmare.....waking up to his mother in his room. :-) Doug's mom is heavily medicated so I think that and the combination of not being in her own home is why we had that problem the first night because she hasn't wandered since. The biggest problem NOW is that she stays up really late (like 3am) watching tv while the rest of us are sleeping and then sleeps in until like 1pm. By the time she gets up, I'm ready for a nap because I've been up since 6am. Anyhoo, needless to say, I am waring thin. Also today I made a HUGE accomplishment. For weeks now I've been saying that I am going to get back to the gym and this morning I finally did it. My sister in law and I took a spinning class that literally kicked my butt! I haven't been to the gym in like 2 years so I wasn't sure if I'd make it but I did! Snaps for me! I'll let you know how my legs are feeling tomorrow. And can I just say, whoever invented those seats is an idiot!
Last but not least, Ali had a cheer competition yesterday and did great! Her team placed 3rd out of 6 teams and her coach won coach of the year! It was really exciting! Yeah Ali!
Ok, so our family is totally obsessed with American Idol. I would say we have religiously watched for the past 3 seasons. Before that, I probably couldn't have told you when it was on but if it WAS, I'd watch...so I didn't see all the episodes. Last season the kids were really torn between Blake and Jordin because we loved them both. I am so excited that this season has started! The auditions are hilarious! What's with that "eagle" guy Tuesday night and is he "Boy Shakira" from American's Got Talent??? Anyhoo, it's so fun to have a show that our family all center around. Last night we made sure Jack was in bed, we were all in our jammies, and the house was all locked up so we could just watch our show. If someone had to go to the bathroom, we paused it. And what is up with that True or False game? I'm not so sure that is worth watching simply because I don't see any good coming out of it. Like someone said last night...is it really worth winning the money over when you hear horrible things that could send you into divorce? I guess you would split the money though. Not sure on that show unless you like watching train wrecks.
**Quick plug: if you watched the Today Show this morning you will know what I am talking about but they had a segment on "going green" and were talking about a website that will help you get rid of all those catalogs you get in the mail. I just went through mine this morning and cancelled 10! Check it out...........www.catalogchoice.org
I think he also would like to put my camera in his mouth :-)
Today is a very important day for our favorite inlaws in Ohio. Today their oldest, RJ, turned a whoppin' 16....sorry no car dude....and their adoption of little Abigail becomes legal today....did I say that right Lori? Anyway, we are so happy for the McCarthy family today and want to send them some big hugs via this blog. This is #4 for this family so Brad and Angelina....eat your heart out! XOXOXO
This morning there was no sleeping in....even for Jack! Ryan had a hockey game at 7:15am which meant that we had to leave our house by 5:45am to be there @ 6:15am. Those of you that don't know me very well, I am NOT a morning person so this was not easy. Anyhoo, there we were headed down the 5 freeway this morning in the dark....Jack and all! A little history about Ryan's team....they have not won a single game. And when I say they have not won, I mean....the score is usually like 1-15 or somewhere in there. It's pretty bad. BUT- last week something happened....they were actually winning against a fairly good team and all of us parents suddenly perked up and were planning drinks after the game and everything....but then we lost 4-2....still better than we are used to. Ok, so this morning with the whole getting up early thing and all I really was worried our kids were going to have a hard time ringing the bell but they totally surprised us all by winning 4-1! As the buzzer ran to end the game, kids threw their gloves in the air, were moonwalking, hugging, and just being silly. Parents were even laughing, crying, hugging, and cracking jokes....it was pretty amazing considering this team has been a little disfunctional. At the end of the game, it was so worth getting up at 5am! Go Lightning!
Giants 2006
Marlins 2007
Update on Doug's mom: Doug's sister went to see her today and said she is VERY tired but seeming to be in good spirits and looking forward to her trip to see us in 2 weeks. I'm a little nervous because my house is not really set up for someone that has trouble getting around but we will make it work. My biggest concern is that I am not sure what to expect. We have not seen her in almost 2 years and I know this is probably going to be the last visit we have with her before she passes. I want it to be a positive thing for the kids and for them not to remember Grandma Berdie in a way that may scare them. Does that make sense? Thank you for all the prayers and keep them coming!
Doug and his mom -April 2006
Okay, so remember my post yesterday about missing Oregon....well, maybe I don't miss it all that much. While I was lounging out by my pool yesterday, I was talking to my mom while she was trying to drive through the rain and hail while listening to the news about a tornado that had touched down near her house. I was listening to her radio while she was driving and was hearing them tell people to get in their basements or if they didn't have a basement to get in the lowest part of their house. All of this while I was listening to birds chirping and the waterfall going with the sun beating down on my face poolside. Granted tornados in WA are rare...I don't remember ever hearing of one while I was growing up....I guess I would much rather weather the few earthquakes we have than deal with tornados and golf ball size hail.
So my day today is the easiest of all the days while Doug is gone. I have to hit the grocery store, go to Sears to get a replacement filter for the fridge, take Ryan to get cleats for bball tryouts tomorrow, and do some shopping at the mall. It's an absolute beautiful day today....weatherman says the high should be in the 70's so I'm good with that. I talked to Doug late last night and unfortunately our team lost by a goal yesterday and Doug said the boys weren't playing their best....obviously. He had one of his "kicking over the water bottles and storming out of the locker room" moments between periods with the boys so I'm guessing some kids didn't give it their all....hopefully today will be better.
Okay, so my day yesterday was a little hectic but it was partly my own fault. I shouldn't have scheduled to have new tires put on my car on a day when Doug wasn't home....I also shouldn't have scheduled a dentist appt. but oh well. Amazingly I got so much accomplished yesterday and everything ran very smoothly with the exception of Ryan's ride to hockey being a no show and then showing up 45 minutes late and Ali being late to cheer because of it.....all went well. Today my day is not so eventful. I scheduled a chiropractic appt for the kids, Ryan has hockey (not using the same people for his ride), and Ali has cheer. My biggest goal today will be to get a shower in which I should be able to do right after this blog. I talked to Doug and it's not as cold as he thought it would be in Michigan so AJ didn't need that long underwear afterall. They are having their first game as we speak and hopefully I will have some good news to blog about tomorrow. Weather here is totally bizarre....well, maybe not so bizarre but isn't it winter? The weather man is saying it may hit 80 degrees this weekend.......I miss Oregon!
Today is the first day of my 5 day stretch without my husband around. There are negatives and positives to this situation and this morning it was obvious I cannot do it all by myself. So, my morning schedule was as follows....6:45am, get up and get Ryan moving....breakfast, check homework, make his lunch, blah, blah, blah. Take him to his friend's house to walk to school, come back home pick up Ali and Jack, have Ali feed Jack in the car while driving her to school. 7:45am: coming home from dropping Ali off, listening to poor Jack burping himself in the back seat. Pull up to house, pick up Jake (our dog), take Jake to the groomers, go to the bank, make deposit, drive to tire place, wait for way too long to drop off my car while holding a 25 pound baby, a carseat, and a diaper bag. 8:30am: spend 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get my carseat into someone else's car that I'm borrowing while my car gets new tires.....9:00: call the dentist and cancel appointment that I was crazy to schedule for myself today, 9:15am: back home, throw Jack in his high chair with some cheerios, turn on Sesame Street, and head out to the side of the house to clean up the dog poo and hose it all down while Jake is gone. 9:30: vacuum whole downstairs while Jack is starting to squirm, 9:45: Put Jack down for morning nap.
And here I am. Now that may not have sounded like much but usually Doug and Jack have their little morning time and I don't have to do all that while dealing with a baby. So, I was really missing my husband this morning. Thank goodness Ali is such a big help because I think I would have thrown in the towel! I have a new respect for single moms!
t lovely picture of AJ, I went to our storage unit and sifted through memorabelia until I found the infamous blanky. And AJ was such a good sport, he let me take an updated picture of him with his blanky. No, the blanky hasn't shrunk...I think our little "buddy" has gotten bigger. I bet his hockey team would love this!
Today Jack had his 9 month well check and everything went well despite having to get one shot which I hated having to watch. He weighed in at 24 1/2 pounds.....the other day was with clothes on...and he's 28.5" long. So 93% for weight and 50% for height. His doctor says he's looking pretty good and right on track for where he should be. The only thing that concerned me was that I've been getting a lot of comments like he should be crawling already and I talked to the doctor and he says it's fine....he will get there. Thankfully, whatever little episode he was having with the not sleeping through the night nonsense has ended and I'm finally getting some much needed sleep.
Today Jack is 9 months! Where has the time gone? So I wasn't sure if we were going to have a big "milestone" event for this month but my little guy didn't let me down! About 4 days ago he started clapping his hands on his own! Ya Jack! A not-so-great part of this past month is that Jack has suddenly decided that he is no longer sleeping through the night which has been exhausting! I took him to his doctor and after weighing in at 24.7 pounds, we discovered that he had a sinus infection so now he is on antibiotics and hopefully he will get back into his routine once the kids are back in school on Monday. With clapping out of the way, which is very helpful at all those hockey games, we are working on waving. It's so amazing to watch what little things are so BIG when you are a baby. Jack is now eating a breakfast, lunch, and dinner aside from having bottles throughout the day. His fav seems to be pureed mac-n-cheese which means he's a true Sheridan/Rummel. Anyhoo, here are some recent shots my mom took of him the other night while Doug and I were out to dinner. It's really sad just how miserable he is....enjoy!
courtesy of Ali, my stand in photographer.
