So far, so good...

Well, so far Part time is going great. My first official part time day off was last Thursday and I couldn't quite enjoy it because I kept feeling like I was going to get busted for not showing up to work. Luckily, I think it sank in over the weekend and I was way more relaxed today. It was SO great. We had a busy day, but it was so nice to spend it with Jacob and I'm sure he enjoyed it too.

Sooo, I took Jacob back to the doctor today for this recurring diaper rash that he has and they covered his bottom in this purple dye. No problem, I thought, I'll just give him a bath tonight and wash it off. Not so easy. Jacob STILL has a purple bottom and now our tub is purple too. Well, it WAS purple... Aaron was finally able to scrub it clean with bleach and elbow grease (thanks, hun!). I've never heard of this before, I sure hope it works.

Anyways, guess that is all for now. We are planning a birthday party for Jacob soon, here is the invite draft...

Update.....

Part Time, Baby

So it's official, I'm now a part time employee. My new schedule will be Tues, Weds and Friday. I am REALLY looking forward to it. I have some financial concerns, but there are a lot of areas where Aaron and I can make cuts, so that shouldn't do too bad, but I will miss my favorite pastimes of shopping and going out to eat (Hint: Anyone looking for gift ideas for future birthdays or holidays should be aware that gift cards to stores and restaurants are much appreciated! ;) ) . My other concern is that they are NOT going to hire anyone to job share, so not only am I stressed about trying to get all my work done in fewer days, but I'm also concerned about the animosity from other coworkers who are upset over their increased workload, etc. So if you don't mind, please send some prayers our way that these things work out. Okay, enough about work.

Morel Madness

I had no idea what a Morel was until I moved to Northern Michigan. For those of you that don't know, it's a mushroom. A special mushroom that is supposed to taste very good (I usually find it gross and gritty tasting) and is usually only found once a year. I guess it's found in lower Michigan too, I'm not sure why there isn't Morel madness down there. It's everywhere up here, though. The local restaurants feature special Morel related dishes, the newspapers have different articles just about Morel hunting and everywhere you go you hear people talking about them. It's crazy. In fact, while purchasing gas today I was informed that the best time to go Morel hunting is when the leaves are the size of a squirrels ear (Uhhh, who has ever measured a squirrels ear?). And people are crazy about them. They LOVE to let you know that they found some, but they will NEVER tell you where. So anyways, Aaron and I went out to the sleeping bear dunes yesterday and I found my first morel! We found about 13 total, it was fun! We also climbed the dunes just high enough to get a view of the Glen Lakes and then drove to the Lake Michigan overlook. I just kept thinking that I can't believe we live 20 minutes from a place so beautiful. You can't help but feel close to God. It's just breathtaking.

Jacob Update

Okay, finally a Jacob update. While Jacob has been pretty advanced in some areas, he is taking his time in others. For example, he really doesn't say anything yet... the closest thing is "Kitty", but I'm not even sure if that really qualifies. Don't get me wrong, the kid has PLENTY to say, he babbles on and on, sometimes quite loudly, but nothing resembles actual words, yet. Except Kitty. The other thing Jacob was a little slow on was clapping, but as of Saturday, he's got that down! He LOVES clapping now.

Well, I guess that will be it for now, here are some pictures from our weekend.

I love how grumpy Jacob is in this picture. It was VERY windy and he did not like that.And here are some from the Lake Michigan Overlook at the Sleeping Bear Dunes, can you believe we were the only ones there?

Thanks for looking!

Changes

What a week. We all battled colds and Jacob got kicked out of daycare. Well, not completely, Grandma just needs more days off and it became painfully apparent to her while taking care of two sick, needy, whiny and clingy babies. So I'm in the process of trying to get approval from work to begin working part time and hopefully I'll have an answer next week. My fear is that they will let me do it, but not hire anyone else to work the other two days a week, so I will have the same work load, but be expected to do it all in three days. And, my coworkers are sure to become disgruntled if that is the case because of how this will inconvenience them. There are lots of uncertainties at this point though, so I guess there is no need to worry about those things yet. The other thing that will be rough is the impact this will have on finances, especially with so many things coming up in the next few weeks with Mothers day and Fathers day, birthdays, weddings and one sure-to-be-a-blast Bachelorette Party. I REALLY hope it works out though and that I am able to stay home with Jacob two days a week, but I am worried about the added stress it will bring.

I don't have any pictures at the moment, but I'll try to take some and add them later...

What a beautiful weekend!

Yikes, time for an update! It was such a nice weekend that I had no desire to play on the internet! Jacob is now 11 months old! I know, I know, I got everyone thinking he is a year now because of my last post. Speaking of which, thank you so much for the kind comments, I'm SO glad you like it and it was a lot of work to put together, but a lot of fun, too.

So, we are officially weaned. And it feels good. Except I have noticed that I've gained weight already. Jacob is doing just fine with it too, hey... breastfeeding, bottle feeding... as long as he is getting milk he is happy. The best thing about being completely weaned is that we are establishing a bedtime routine that involves putting Jacob to bed AWAKE and he is doing great with it. You know what that means... overnight date for Aaron and I! Just don't know when or where yet, but I can't wait to take full advantage :)

So we took advantage of the weather this weekend and bought some outdoor things including a little water table for Jacob. Unfortunately, it didn't come with all the parts, so we plan on taking it back. However, we didn't want to have to drive back into town then and wanted Jacob to have something to play with outside, so we let him play with it without the table legs for the day. I've attached a video so you can see what kind of damage he did. Aaron and I decided we will return the water table altogether and just buy a baby pool! Saturday night Mark and Lisa brought over some steaks and we grilled out, it was great. Noah is getting big and has the most adorable big boy baby laugh, you just can't help but smile ear to ear when you hear it. Sunday we had breakfast on an outdoor patio and then went to the park, which was a ton of fun, since Jacob is just getting to the point where he can enjoy the toys there. Here are some pics from the park.....

And then here is little Noah, looks like Mark has taught him a few things already...

And then here is a video of Jacob enjoying his pool, er... water table. As you can see, Roxy really enjoyed it too.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Latest Project...

Here is a little montage I've been putting together for Jacob's first birthday. It's a work in progress, feel free to check it out, keep in mind it's about 8.5minutes long.

Hope you like it!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Walking!!!

Here is Jacob walking! I'm sure the video quality isn't as good as it would have been with the video camera (it was taken with our regular camera), but at least you get a glimpse of his steps!

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Leaps and Bounds...

Happy Easter everyone! We had a great day and really enjoyed the time we spent with family this weekend. Church went pretty well also, although Jacob is getting pretty ridiculous with the whole breastfeeding thing. He was pulling my hair, pinching me, slapping my chest. Aaron said "He's done". Right now I'm down to just breastfeeding in morning and evening, but I was hoping to keep Jacob quiet a bit during church, which he DID quiet down, but I think he was still very distracting! Anyhow, hope everyone else had a great day as well. I forgot our camera, but we took a few with my mom's camera, I'll try to add her photos later.

Well, Jacob has really grown by leaps and bounds lately. I really feel like I have a toddler now and not a baby. Since we returned from Florida on March 23rd, Jacob has cut both of his top front teeth and is now WALKING! He started taking several unassisted steps last Sunday and by this Sunday... uh, yeah, he's walking. It's the cutest thing to see, since he is just so short and small. And he walks like a zombie or someone who is sleepwalking, with his arms straight out in front of him. He also walks kinda silly, like he is a drunken sailor. I'm trying to download it so I can put a little video on here, but I'm having problems, so I will keep working on that. In a couple of years, Jacob will be able to show me how to do stuff like that, but in the meantime I am on my own!

In other news, the weather sucks. We have had major snowy/windy/blizzardy/icy conditions since Wednesday. It's such wasted snow too, since all the area ski resorts have closed :( I have seen a few sleds (snowmobiles) out, so at least a few people can take advantage. Let's just hope it doesn't do too much harm to the cherry crops up here, those cherries are important to this area!

I'm so glad people are commenting more. It's making this blogging thing so much more fun! And, I'm super excited that my cousin Julie started her own blog, check it out at www.julie-fiveisenough.blogspot.com (hope you don't mind me posting that, Julie!). I highly encourage anyone else that is thinking about it to try it out! It's been fun and like my cousin Jeanine says, it's kind of therapeutic!

Oh and a BIG congrats to Shannon and Joe who are expecting their first child together November 3rd, just one day before Shannon's birthday! They are going to make us wait until then to find out if it's a boy or girl, but my money is on a BOY! Congrats guys, you two are going to be GREAT parents!

So, since I don't have any pictures from our Easter, here are some from last week of Aaron and Jacob on the Quad. Of course, Jacob loved it, although he looked pretty grumpy for the camera.

Also, here are a few of Jacob and Noah together. Noah is 3.5months in these photos, Jacob is 10 months.