Priorities

Before we unpacked any boxes, even before our bed was put together, we had to put up our tree. It has certainly helped. Having an unorganized condo with lots of boxes, it's nice to be able to look at the tree and listen to some Christmas music and actually be able to enjoy the season a little bit. It shocks me that Christmas is only a week away. I feel like I've been robbed of this Christmas season so far. We haven't been able to really get in the spirit, I don't think, anyway.

It's cold here. That seems like it would make it seem more Chritmasy, but it really doesn't to me. I don't really associate cold weather and snow with Christmas. I associate 50 degree rainy weather with Christmas. Anyhow, Jeremy got back last night with the rest of our stuff and he left everything in the U-Haul overnight, and today, when he got it all out, we found that many things were frozen. Jack's diaper wipes, and all of the almost empty bottles of beverage he consumed on the road.




And I had to include this picture. Jack found my Disneyland cap in one of our boxes and he enjoys putting it on and taking it off because it's much easier to do than with his dad's hats.

My, how you have grown.

October, 2005



December, 2006

Pork chops...

Jack successfully ate with a spoon by himself today. Well, I say "successfuly." He certainly doesn't understand the concept of scooping up the food-- most of the time, him getting food on his spoon was just luck-- but I was able to put the bowl in front of him and he pretty much ate the whole bowl of applesauce by himself. I would post a video, but, being in the midst of moving, I do not know where my camera is. That also prevents me from posting high quality pictures, but I took these with my trusty camera phone.












Ok, gotta get back to unpacking.

(Boxes unpacked: 7)

Beep-beep!

Jack decided that he wanted to see what it was like to be sick. Pretty good timing, I'd say, since we're moving on Friday. He's been having the works... runny nose, fever, vomiting, diarrhea. Pretty fun! It's certainly been a couple of sad days. I'm not a fan of that little boy being sick. Well, I guess that's pretty obvious.

Anyhow, I'm not just blogging to tell you about Jack's sick issues... I'm mainly blogging because I have two things to show you.

A picture of the feverish little boy after he fell asleep on my chest,



And a video of Jack saying one of his favorite new words.

Would you eat your hair if it smelled like strawberries?

Jeremy and I are going to move to Casper, Wyoming sometime mid-December, so right now we are in Casper for 10 days (well, 8 now, since we've been here for a couple of days already) looking for a place to live.

Let me rephrase...

Jack and I are in Casper. We all got here, Sunday, and when Jeremy went to work on Monday, his boss told him that he and the other new guy were leaving that afternoon to go on a job... for two nights. I've been hit with a few harsh realities this week, and one of them is that Jeremy's job is going to be like this. Unpredictable and sometimes long trips away from home. I know 2 days isn't a long trip, but I just wasn't prepared for it.

Today Jack and I went to the local Applebees here in Casper. As I was eating, a waitress was walking by me with some sort of strawberry drink, and right then, my waitress bumped into her, which resulted in her spilling the drink all in my hair and down my back. The waitress that spilled the drink made a sound of horror, while I was trying to decide if I should be embarrassed or not (which I decided against.) So the waitresses ran to fetch napkins and such to clean up the mess. Meanwhile, the slew of other diners were looking at me commenting on the mess (while one man actually complained about the little bit on his shoe.) A Christmas-sweater-clad lady seated behind me said "Ma'am... some of the drink got in your hair." It was hard not to be rude (especially since she was so sweet), as I would have to be comatose not to realize a drink had been poured on my head. I just kind of smiled and said "yes, I can feel that." Hmmm. That was kind of rude now that I think of it, but maybe she was understanding, considering the circumstances. Her husband was very kind to me. He got a napkin and started wiping off the back of my hair/jacket. "Well," he said, "I got all the chunks off your back."

I really wasn't upset at all. I actually felt kind of bad for the girl because she seemed to feel so bad. My waitress was pretty apologetic, which I really thought would lead to them compensating me in some way. The manager came up to me, and I was sure she was going to say "we're so sorry... your meal is on the house." But all she said was "if you have any trouble getting that out of your clothes, feel free to send us the cleaning bill."

So, I finish my meal, and my waitress brings the check and says "I'll take care of this when you're ready." The only thing she took off was a couple of dollars from Jack's sandwhich. (I don't know why. HE'S not the one that got a drink spilled on him.) I'm a little surprised by this, and I'm wondering now if it's because maybe things are different in Texas. People actually care about their customers being happy and coming back to their restaurants. I don't know if that is the reason. Anyhow, to add insult to injury, my waitresses didn't refill my drink the whole time I was there. She brought me my check before I was even close to done eating and she didn't even realize my empty glass then. I eventually had to ask her for a refill. Then she took my credit card but forgot she had it. She kept walking by me like she was waiting for me to pay my bill. Finally I said "don't you have my card?" She said "Oh yeah!" Is it rude that I did not give her a tip? I really couldn't even bring myself to do it. I have never not left a tip, but I made an exeption.

Here's a tip. Serve your customers!

Also... don't spill drinks on their heads.

When I was 17, I drove a very good car.

Ugh. I can't believe we have to sell the Prelude. I don't want some random dude driving it! It's MY car. Oh man. Selling this car is a very difficult thing for me to do. Since I was 17 years old (dang, I had actually just turned 18, I just really wanted to use that lyric for the title), this car has been nothing but dependable. I've never had any problems with it. Even after countless trips between Bartlesville, OK and Texas, and many notable roadtrips (Wisconsin, a month long trip to the East Coast, California, etc.) The ol' Lude is now up to 136,050 miles on the odometer.

Anyhow, it's been such a good car, and carries seven years of many memories and stories, that I couldn't NOT blog about it.

I'm gonna miss you, Lude.

"I lost mine..."

Jack just started this new hand gesture. I don't know where it came from, but I like it!

He's the master of fright...

I certainly hadn't planned on dressing Jack up for Halloween, but my friend invited us over so all of our kids could dress up, so I thought "what the hey." (Actually, I was more like... SWEEET!!! An excuse to dress up Jack!!)

Viva Eckstein!

My little friend is the World Series MVP! Oo-da-lolly.



Oh, how I love him. So little, so enthusiastic.

(I'm such a sucker for little fellas.)

So graceful...

Well, I'm pregnant again-- and so returns the evil clumsiness monster.




I think maybe I need to get a helmet for Jack, since he's often hanging around me. I guess a better idea would be to not handle breakable objects when he's near.

Oh, dear.

What is this, Miami Beach?

Well, I'm a little late posting this, but the first snowfall here in Brighton happened on Tuesday. It melted pretty quickly, but it was really pretty while it lasted. Now it's back in the 40's. Ugh. So warm.




The best thing about cold weather: Getting to put hats like this on Jack...

Happiest of Birthdays, Jack.

This little guy is a year old today! We were in Tennessee this past weekend, so we thought we'd celebrate with cake so Jeremy's family could be a part of the fun. So here's a video for all of you to enjoy.



It turns out that at 1 year, Jack already has 14 teeth. I had been pretty good at updating you guys on his development, but when I went to Texas for a month, that pretty much flew out the window. All of those teeth just snuck up on us. Oh yeah, and 4 of those teeth are "1st Molars". Who is this kid, and why is he in such a hurry to eat steak? I think maybe he has been wanting to eat steak since before he was born, because that was really the only thing I craved when I was pregnant with him.

Speaking of pregnancy, we were able to acquiesce to Jack's Birthday request for a little sibling. You can expect that one close to my birthday.

Cheerio!

I just found some pictures from last week that I had meant to post, but forgot about. My friend Amber has two little boys, and she has an Incredibles Halloween costume that her boys have outgrown, so she brought it over for Jack to try on. It was too big, but cute all the same.

I've so much to learn from the lady in gold

I love dancing to this...

Hehe... Nugget.

Poor guy had to give a presentation on his birthday. But Jack makes it all better.



Jack takes his hand at drawing. When I was in Texas, he picked up a pen and started mimicking writing... so I thought I'd let him draw something for Jeremy's birthday. So here's Jack's first piece of art:



Here are some pictures of ESPN Zone-- which is where we ate supper last night.





It's really weird being at a restaurant where pretty much every person is staring at a TV. It's really loud because of the game and then all people yelling at the game.



Very strange. This sculpture of Mace Windu as a Nugget, is pretty sharp...and random.



(If you think I knew the name Mace Windu, or how to spell it, you're sadly mistaken.)

I think I'll end this blog post with a couple of funny pictures of me trying to pull Jack's shirt off over his HUGE noggin. It's always a struggle...





(Quick little rant...

Few things anger me as much as shirts like this)

He's got those happy feet

"It's about time"... I know, but here's some video footage of Jack walking. Notice how Jack stands up without any support at the beginning of the first video. He just learned how to do that yesterday. Hmmmm... what else can I tell you about that little scamp? Oh yeah. His 10th and 11th teeth just broke through today. I can't think of anything else right now. Watch the videos, please.





Also, I thought some of you might be interested in seeing a better picture of Jeremy's beard. Here ya go.

Normality has been restored.

(Well, except for the extra whiskers on Jeremy's face.)

The 4 week separation between Jeremy and us is now just a memory. A very dismal memory. He came back! And two days early!!! Huzzah! It's so nice seeing his furry little face. We've been having such a good time sitting next to one another and watching Jack walk all over the place, and often times in circles. It's quite nice having my two favorite people close to me again. A week is now the longest Jeremy's ever allowed to leave us again... Jack and I decided. Eat it, Halliburton!

Four and a Half Pounds

When checking my luggage at Bush Intercontinental Airport, the man at the desk informed me that my suitcase was 4 1/2 lbs over the weight limit. The charge for luggage over the weight limit: $50. Call me crazy, but that seems a bit excessive. Fortunately, T-Bird was at the Check-in desk with us, so I opened up my suitcase and started looking for the heaviest items within. And what did I find? The Iliad, a toy xylophone, and a can of formula. I put them on the scale and .... 4 1/2 lbs. Nice. So T-Bird took the Xylophone and the formula, and I found a way to stash the book in Jack's booster chair. Just thought I would share that in case you were wondering what the combined weight of those items was.

Hello Please... keeping you informed about things you didn't know you needed to be informed about... and you're probably right.

"They look the same."

Please join me in marveling in their likeness.

On the ol' space highway

"NEVER leave your baby in an infant carrier while it goes through the X-ray machine."

Good advice. Thank you www.TSA.gov.

Well, you should know this but I'll say it anyway: I'm in Texas. Jack and I are currently drifting among the Tyler/Longview area. One thing I've learned is that being a drifter is much more difficult with a baby. But I'm adjusting and I'm trying not to let that hinder my spontaneity.

I'm having a pretty good time. I gotta mention the main highlight of my trip thus far... being at the hospital when Sara's twins are born! Man, two babies at once? That's just crazy. Picture time!



Michael and Owen... those are their names.. and they're muy cute.

Let's see... do I have anything else to say? I don't think so. I'm gonna finish this so I can hang out with Hannah. Here are a couple of pictures from the first part of our trip.

We shelled peas in Tennessee!


I put this forward as evidence that overalls are ok if you are a jolly old man

"All right, Pop-Pop... let's go!"


He likes holdin' her hand.

"Say, who is this walking man?"

Jack took his first steps today! Oo-da-lolly! And of course I have a video for you to watch.

Coming Soon

Jack started doing that hand thing right before I got the camera out. In case you're wondering, I'm trying to get him to say "eyebrow" because that's the closest he's ever come to saying his first word. "Eyebow". Does it count? I don't know. It was over a week ago, and he hasn't repeated it, so...?

That is all. I'll See most of you in a little over a week! "How exciting!"

"He probably misses his old glasses."

This immediately became one of my favorite pictures.



Man, Jack loves Jeremy's glasses so much.

He got stuck only once, for a moment or two...

Jack has a new trick...



Today he was stacking the rings while I wasn't looking, and since I didn't clap for him, he clapped for himself! He clapped for the very first time!

Most.... appropriate... shirt... ever!

Many thanks to Jenna for my new shirt. I knew I had to blog about it so you could all see. (I asked Jeremy if this shirt hurt his feelings and he said "no".... he knows he's a nerd.)

Please don't take me out to the crowd.

Well, yesterday Jack attended his first baseball game, and more importantly, his first Cardinals game. Jeremy, Jack and I took in a Rockies/Cardinals game at Coors field. It was pretty sweet. Jack didn't do so well at first. He would cry anytime the crowd would applaud, so Jeremy and I would take turns walking him around. I was glad we had his toothbrush, because, for some reason, it always seems to calm him down when he's upset. Later in the game, he slept for a few innings and was in a pretty good mood after that.

Coors field is really nice. We had really good seats. Pujols didn't play, which was sad, but the Cardinals played really well and my favorite pitcher was pitching.

Here are some pictures and videos to further document this momentous occasion.

Brighton's seedy underbelly

Jack has a new obsession: eyebrows. I'm starting to wonder if "eyebrow" will be his first word.



Can anyone tell me why Jeremy has been singing the following jingle the past few days?
"We're having a great day, at Allen Samuels East Texas Dodge!"

This evening, around 7:40, while getting Jack ready for bed, we heard police sirens. We looked out of Jack's window and saw a police car that had apparently been chasing a white car full of people. The cop and the car were coming to a stop at the gas station by our apartment. We went out to our balcony to get a better look. The cop gets out of his car, holding his gun and yelling at the driver "put your hands up in the air!!!" The next thing we know, there are five cop cars, and all of the cops are pointing their guns at the car and yelling. One by one they arrested the people in the car. I went inside at one point to get the camera, and Jeremy said that while I was gone they threw one of the guys against the hood of one of the squad cars. It was pretty intense a couple of times. Here is a picture AND a video. I'm very thorough.





So after watching the bad men get arrested, we went inside and read Goodnight Moon to Jack. Pleasant dreams for everyone.