Cast your vote...

Jacob is in a photo contest at the following site-- check him out and cast your vote (last I checked there was something wrong with the voting link). I've included a sneak peek at the picture below.

http://happyheinys.com/contest/contest_result.php?cid=12

Under my Umbrella...ella... ella...

These pictures remind me of the Rihanna song-- had to share them :)

Crawling soon?

So who wants to make bets on how long it takes for the little man to start crawling. He's already up on the hands and knees trying to figure out what to do next. But so far he just crashes face first into the ground or toy.

Rub-a-dub-dub...

Three Zees in the tub :) Jacob took his first bath with his big sisters the other night. He loves water so as you can see, he had a blast. I'm a paranoid mom-- so I censored Ashley--hehe!

You've got the cutest little baby face...

This little guy makes some of the funniest faces. I've yet to catch him doing this slurpy tongue thing. It's so cute and funny. These made me laugh!

A slew of appointments...

On Monday and Tuesday, I met myself coming and going! Let's summarize the schedule:

Monday:

7:35 get Hannah on the bus for school
10:00 Optometrist appointment for me
11:35 get Ashley on the bus
1:00 Jacob's 6 month checkup
2:45 Get kids off the bus
6:00 Feed kids
7:00 Homework
7:30 Bath
8:30 Bedtime

Tuesday
8:10 Annual well-woman appointment for me (which was rescheduled to 9:00 because the doctor was running late)
11:35 - get Ashley on the bus for school
12:30 meet Marc at the tile place to select tile for the kitchen
2:45 get kids off the bus
5:00 highlights and haircut (I had 2 inch long roots, yuck!)
7:35 home 5 minutes and Jacob threw up all over his bed, me, and the bathroom floor (yummy!)
8:00 finally have time to sit down and help Hannah with her homework

Well by the end of all this-- my Wednesday in the office is seeming like vacation :) A couple notes.

Jacob's 6 month stats:

weight 21 pounds 2 ounces (off the chart)
height 29 1/2 inches (off the chart)
head circ. - can't remember (off the chart)



He got 3 vaccinations and a flu shot-- poor baby! We also learned that he can go off of his Zantac after this week. He has had a rash on his bum for a month or longer-- not a painful looking rash-- more of a contact dermititis rash-- looks a lot like Ashley's eczema spots. We've tried changing diaper brands, using sensitive wipes, using only water to clean his bottom. I don't know what it is that he's allergic to, but I'm determined to find out. I finally decided yesterday to purchase some cloth diapers to try. Have you seen cloth diapers these days? They certainly aren't the same as when I was a kid, that's for sure. First of all, I had to call the store to get an education on terminology, what to buy, how to clean, etc. The lady at Jillian's Drawers was just the most helpful lady ever! The diapers have fun names like Happy Heineys, BumGenius, and Fuzzi Bunz and they look super cute with all the color choices. Now when Jacob makes his first stinky and I have to do more than wipe his hiney and throw it away-- I may change my tune :) At first, I'm planning to only use them at night to see if they work for us or not... then I'll evaluate next steps. I'll keep you posted!



Update on Ashley and school

First of all, so many people wrote to tell me that they felt so sorry for Miss Ashley after reading my post last week. I'm happy to report that after the first day, we had no more tears! In fact- she loves school and loves her teacher. Unlike Hannah, she's very excited to share everything about her day-- which makes me smile. I can already tell an improvement in her handwriting. I can't tell you how happy I am that she likes school - I was worried about it a little!



Update on Marc and my diet

Marc has lost 12 pounds-- as of this morning, he weighed in at 180. He's a champ at sticking to it and encouraging me to exercise. I, on the other hand am a big fat cheater! I have lost 6 pounds-- I'm down to 133. However, I cheat every day! I'm a picky eater and those nutrisystem meals just don't do it for me. And how many salads and fruit can one person eat? I'm doing well about controlling the sweets and carbs, though-- so I think that's my saving grace :) We're planning to drop nutrisytem after this month and just incorporate the healthy habits into our regular meals. With a little planning, I know we can do it!

Shhh, don't tell Daddy...

I'm in love with another man! He's short, chubby, and drools like crazy!

World's funniest pictures :)

So my girls picked up the camera the other night and proceeded to terrorize me with it the way I do them-- I played along and they got the biggest kick out of the results. I promised them that I would post a few less incriminating ones. Most of the pictures are badly out of focus, but I think they are too fun not to post!I hope you laugh as much as we did!

First Day of School and a surprise from Jacob...

Well, today was the first day of school and it definitely had its ups and downs.

The Ups

Hannah was so excited about 1st grade she could hardly sleep last night. She even made a checklist of the things she needed to do when she got up this morning. It read:

1. Get dressed


2. Brush teeth and hair


3. Eat breakfast


4. Kiss family goodbye


5. Get on the bus

So needless to say the biggest challenge about getting her off to school will be the getting up at 6:30! She's alreadly pretty fond of her teacher and even though she only knows a couple kids in her class-- we know she's going to love it! We hear that they will have homework every night-- she's going to be a tired kid!



The downs

So next came time to get Ashley on the bus. She acted excited and not really nervous. She watched TV and kept asking when it was time for the bus. So I took her outside a few minutes early to take a few pictures beforehand. That's when I should've seen it coming-- looking back at the pictures it was written all over her face. She was NOT looking forward to getting on the bus. The bus pulled up and I saw the look of fear in her eyes. I was crying inside for her-- but I couldn't let her see that. I walked her around to the steps and she clutched my arm even tighter. I told her that I couldn't come to school on the bus with her and that's when the tears started (hers, that is). I walked her up the steps and started to sit her down next to a little boy named Nicholas-- I could see she didn't like that. So I saw a little girl sitting alone and sat her down next to her. They all wear name tags so I introduced Ashley to the little girl and told her that I had to go. I kissed her and got off the bus-- I know she was crying, but I didn't want to look back at her. For a split second I thought about taking her off the bus and driving her to school, but that would only prolong the inevitable. Luckily our house is the last stop before the school-- so hopefully as soon as she got to the familiar classroom, she settled down. I guess I'll see this afternoon. I'll update the post then!





Jacob's Surprise

And I'm pleased to report that the little man is sleeping in his crib at night and for naps. He slept all night in his crib last night and has taken two naps in the crib today! This is a MAJOR accomplishment. For those who don't know why... he slept in his carseat until he was five months old (with his reflux this is the only place he felt comfortable). Only in the last month has he started sleeping at night in the bed-- but it was our bed. We knew the day would come to get him into his crib and reclaim our bed-- I've had way too many kinks in my neck over the last month and some pretty funky bed head :) Anyway-- he's graduated! Yay! Oh, check out Jacob's arm "muscles" in the picture. How many do you count? That's only cute on a baby!

The last days of summer...

Marc's brother and his family are spending the week at our house, so we took the kids to the pool at Lansdowne yesterday. Cathy actually got a room there just so they could use the pool-- it's so pretty there! They swam for a solid 2 hours. The only thing that stopped them was a basket of chicken fingers and french fries. Hannah and Ashley were so tired when we got home that they actually asked to go to bed-- that's rare!

Oh, and I can't use a point and shoot camera to save my life :( I took Marc's camera with me since I didn't want to add any bulk to the 3 bags I already had. I had the hardest time with it-- give me a complicated SLR anyday!

Jacob's redneck side...

Took these before the kids went swimming the other day. They make me smile :)

Happy Friday!

So today I feel like complete crap! I'm tired (Mr. Jacob isn't sleeping all that great) and Aunt Flo has returned after over a year. To be honest, she wasn't missed at all! I quite dread her company and since its been so long since we last visited, she's really pulling out all the stops this time. But I'll be looking forward to her monthly visits from here on out, I suppose. I'm hoping next time she'll pack lightly and only stay for a few days! Ok, I'm cracking myself up-- on to the point of my post. Guess what, no pictures today! I have two things:

1. Marc and I have started the Nutrisystem weight loss program. We both have about 20 extra pounds that we need to shed. Yes, folks-- I weigh more now than when I put on the freshman 15. As a matter of fact if you combine Jacob's current weight and the 20 pounds that I haven't lost-- that's what I gained during the entire pregnancy-- 42 pounds. So... since it has been 6 months, I've stopped nursing, and I'm still +20... I decided it was time to take a bit more action. The heat and our crazy schedules put a quick halt to our jogging routine-- but we are determined to pick it back up. So a HUGE box came yesterday for Marc with all of his pre-packaged food (that by the way looks much better in the picture). He packed up some for work this morning and so far has reported that a) the blueberry muffin he had for breakfast smelled like those dog food crumbly pattie kibble things that we used to feed our dog--YUMMY, can't wait for that and b) he's about to burst from drinking so much water. On a brighter note, he wasn't able to eat all of what he was supposed to eat for breakfast... so at least he isn't going hungry. My food will come in the next couple days, so I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress :)
2. Yesterday, I got a mini Boden catalog and found some of the cutest little things for Jacob... the girls are picky and they've moved on to a new store :) Anyway, Marc looked at a page that I had doggy-eared and said, "Wow, that's a little expensive for a pair of pants... for Jacob". It is-- $32-- but they looked so cute! So as I was folding clothes last night, I noticed how utterly gross and stained Jacob's clothes are. Even after both girls wore clothes when they were babies, they still looked immaculate-- no stains. Well I guess its one of the many differences we're seeing between girls and boys. As I thought about a pair of $30 pants getting puked and pooped on, I decided that Target and Old Navy was a much better option. So today during lunch, I went next door to eat at Pei Wei (PF Chang's Asian Diner-- love it) and stopped at Kohl's on the way. I saw some cute baby blue and brown clothes (LOVE that combination for boys), but they were up to 9 months. Mr. Meaty is wearing 12 month clothes now-- so I'm buying 18 months for fall. So I went on back into the infant department (rather than newborn) and found the cutest table of little boys clothes. They were by Sonoma (Kohl's brand) and were so stylish and soft. They actually looked like some of the things that mini Boden sells. I am pleased to report that I bought 8 tops and 4 pants for less than it would have cost for 1 outfit from the catalog. At $5 a pop, you can't go wrong! I had a blast mixing and matching-- who said shopping for boys was no fun?

Have a great weekend!

Just playing around...

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a lot of time to just sit and "play" with the kids. After we finally got the house back into shape today, the girls went over to our neighbor's house to play with their friend... so Jacob and I got to play. First we played with our food... no pictures of that... then we played in the wet grass, lots of pictures of that. Then we played peek-a-boo with the blankie, one picture of that. Then "we" were tired, so one of us fell asleep and the other one is playing on the 'puter.

Yesterday before dinner I did some playing with the girls while Jacob was napping. They would jump as high as they could and I'd snap a picture. It was fun for them and fun for me :) Even big kids like to play with their toys! I loved Hannah's expression even though her legs were completely behind her which made her look like she had no legs :0

A bit behind...

I meant to post these last week, but ran out of time. Just a few funny ones of Jacob and Hannah. Jacob has become a pro at sitting up in the grass...but he's yet to find the same satisfaction sitting up anywhere else. He turns into jello...anyway this captured his first official minute of sitting unassisted.

Then this was a series of Jacob attacking Hannah's nose and giving her kisses.

And this one turned out to be the last picture of Hannah with her pretty piggie tails. It'll be a while before her hair grows out enough to make braids again.