Yay for Heroes!

It's "premiere week", baby! Welcome back Heroes and Boston Legal! We've missed you this summer. Hope your's was good, our's was kinda crazy, but good. Bring on the goodness of Monday and Tuesday nights!

We still miss you, Lost. We'll see you in February.

Finally.... we have begun settling down.

Thursday marked a crappy, yet productive day, as Jeremy and I rushed to pack the night before, so the movers could move it all here. And they did, for the most part. A few items remain at the old place: my clothes (hanger stuff, most doesn't fit... :-( ), some stuff from the bathrooms, a few shelves, rug, fridge/freezer contents, paintings and pictures.... okay, I'm stopping that, it's depressing. We've got 'til Sunday to get it all out, and clean it all out. And it'll probably be Sunday before we get around to it, too.. Oh well.

Random note: Directv contractors are jerks. Or, ahem, "A"'s, as my FIL would say ('cuz sometimes 'jerk' just doesn't suffice....) :-) I mean, seriously, you're being PAID (not by me directly, but by my signing up for service...) to come out and do a job; Don't roll your eyes and treat your customer like a 5 year old... "See? My workorder says, 'One jack, one receiver.' ONE.... jack.... ONE.... receiver...." No crap, einstein, thanks for pissing me off! Grr.... I'm writing them an email. I want a free month or something, or I'm switching to FIOS (because, yes, I have options.)

Speaking of FIOS, my laptop is still dead. Thanks a lot, Mr. Fios! I wonder if I could get anything for free for that little hiccup... hmmm...

On to other things:

Jeremiah has decided that he will only eat "chunks" now; He's a big boy and wishes to be treated as such, so kindly please refrain from pureeing my food, Mommy!! (His words exactly, I swear.... well... I translated... roughly....) I mean, every time I put a spoonful of yummy turkey (in turkey gravy! yum!)/broccoli/sweet potatoes into his mouth, he would cry... until I put a little sweet potato puff in his mouth. Then he'd be happy. Eventually, I just cut up a bunch of stuff, left it on his tray until he had almost finished his dinner, and then gave him the spoon and bowl, "Have at it, kid." And boy did he! All over his face, his arms, the floor.... But he was happy, because he was a big boy, and he was eating all by himself.

Oi vey...

One thing I did not expect to learn how to do so soon was put a diaper on backwards... Because by the time I get the wet one off (and even the dirty ones), he immediately flips over and starts "running away". Mommy then has to go chase "the naked baby", and threaten (jokingly, of course, with serious undertones) "to catch the naked baby!" Of course, that then leads to "the naked baby" escaping even faster than before... and right off the side of the bed (I've got a hold of his leg by then, no worries...) See, before the movers came, we slept on a 'firm' (i.e. uncomfortable) mattress on the floor--he could crawl off and still be on his hands and knees. Now, though, the drop is a bit further, which he has yet to realize.

Of course, once we have the nursery set up (still in the painting stages) then I'll just strap him down to the changing table and let him scream (it's so fake.... he starts off doing the whole "coughing" cry, because that's soooo convincing.... yeah... manipulator in the making, already... they start young!) Either that, or I'll just have to keep my keys with me wherever I go, because those miraculously make him stop whatever it is he's doing and just look in awe at the mighty keychain. You'd think it was the holy grail or something--I guess to him, it is.

What else... Oh yeah. Jeremiah's now working on his balance--he can stand completely unassisted for about 3 or 4 seconds before he either plops on his bum, and flails his arms to grab the nearest thing (usually a couch or ottoman.) It's really cute, because he really has to build himself up to do it. You can almost see him thinking, "Alright, Jeremiah, you can do this.... Just wait a second, find your balance.... that's it... okay, now on the count of three, let go of the couch! One.... two.... THREE! You're doing it! You're doing it!" and then, plop. :-) So cute!

Other cuteness includes peek-a-boo. He LOVES it. I dunno why.... he knows what's coming, you can see him grinning through your hands... But it gets him every time... Even over webcam, as Grandmom and Granddad have proven--he loves it. And his favorite nursery rhyme goes something like this:

Out in the darkness.... THERE LIVED A BIG MONSTER! Who liked to eat people..... ESPECIALLY LITTLE BABIES!

Once there was..... A BABY NAMED JEREMIAH! Killed the big monster, by saying,

BOO! BOO! BOOOOOOOO!

Yeah.... don't ask. Okay, I'll tell ya anyways. When I was 12, my brothers Jason (11) and James (5? Maybe 4) went to Portugal to visit my grandparents in the Azores. Our youngest brother, Stephin (less than 1 at the time, roughly Jeremiah's age, actually) stayed home with my parents. Whilst in Portugal, Jason, in his randomness, came up with that song for Stephin. So originally, the baby's name was "Stephin" and not "Jeremiah", but we wanted Jeremiah to be the killer, not his uncle.

Man.... that just sounds worse and worse the more I say....

Moving on.

The house is coming along. We've gotten several rooms painted, baby gates up or on order, several projects yet unfinished, and lots of dreams/plans/desires of next steps. I'm going to enter in HGTV's $100,000 sweepstakes to see if they'll cover my renovation bills. That'd be nice, for sure. For now, Jason's been pretty helpful getting some stuff done. The place looks 100% better already!

We've returned to Mclean Bible, after a few weeks off. We did take the plunge and put Jeremiah in the nursery.... gulp. Yeah, all I think about during the sermon is, "I hope he's okay, I wonder what he's doing," etc... But he seems to enjoy it, for the most part. This past Sunday when we picked him up, he was crying... Some little girl was holding him, trying to give him a bottle, but I have a feeling he was done, didn't want anymore, and was crying because she wouldn't put him down. Then we got home and discovered they never changed his diaper (I sensed a dirty diaper going in, and it was still dirty coming out.... grr....) Needless to say, I'm not all that impressed. Sigh. But we'll try it again, and just let them know, "Hey, if he's dirty, CHANGE HIM!" and, "If he gets hungry, he'll probably only eat 6 oz, and then want to get down. If he's crying, it's probably because he wants down, not because he's fussy...." But whatever. I'd like to think it's good for him, to be able to interact with the other babies, but I wonder what happens all that time inbetween drop off and pick up.

And that's enough for now. A friend told me once that it's better to frequently do many short posts than rarely one long post. Whoops. Well, maybe I'll just try to do more longer posts. :-) At least I blog! Hint hint, wink wink.... you know who you are (and you are many!) :-) 'Just kid, just kid, silly boy...'

Inside joke.

Okay, then, to bed, I said! G'night.

Please just let me go to sleep!

This is probably the least cutest face Jeremiah makes-when he's really tired and we didn't want him to sleep in the van. Aww... Poor baby.

If Jeremiah had been a girl...

We'd definitely be using lots of hair clips and headbands... Even in a pink dress, Jeremiah's all boy! (Jeremy's gonna kill me... Lol)

Yay for internet!

Verizon came by this morning to install our FIOS internet service. YAY! So we are BACK ONLINE!

Unfortunately, while Mr. Fios was setting things up on my computer, he uninstalled my wireless card because it wasn't working properly. Normally, Windows would just allow a re-install, no problem. But noooooooo, Windows doesn't LIKE wireless cards. "You can have an ethernet connection, but no wireless..." BOOOOOOO WINDOWS!

And then, it died. Now, it won't let me outta the "boot into safe mode" screen (nope, it won't even let me do that. NO WINDOWS FOR YOU! COME BACK, ONE YEAR!) So my laptop, with all my pics, videos, music, etc, is now simply a paperweight. BOOOOO!

Thankfully, Jeremy has an "extra" work laptop that I can use to at least surf the net. Hopefully, he'll be able to fix mine so I can get my pics back.

It's good to be back!

Ever wonder what would happen if Jeremiah fed himself?

Now you know... Messy, messy, messy...

A few house pics....

The outside (see "the hotness" in front of the garage??? Yeah, that grill is sweet...)

The backyard (to the right of the deck)
More backyard (view from the house)
Our very own pond! (Complete with goldfish--3 biggies and a baby... so cute...)


This'll hafta do for now. :-)

Grrr...

Found the cord to the camera (wasn't lost, just hiding on the coffee table, all tied up neatly.... yeah, I'm a spaz sometimes....) but now Google Video is giving me trouble....

For now, enjoy these pics! :-)


From this morning:
(the red-eye light kept making him squint...)





Did you see the chops on this guy?! I would keep fingers out of range, if I were you.... :-)

Jeremiah is 8 months old!

Soon he'll be walkin'... Drivin'.... Goin' to college... Time sure does fly when you're havin' fun! In other news, we've been spending most of our time at the new house, with no internet service... Hence, posts are few and far between. Thank goodness for Mobile Blogger and Yahoo! GO. Keeps me somewhat connected. So if ya need me, cell phone is the way to go! And now, so shall I... Go, that is... Anyways...

*Sniffle*

Well, it was bound to happen one day.... I just didn't think it'd be so soon!

Jeremy sold our 61" HDTV.... :-(

For those of you who were fortunate to bask in the warm glow of full high definition video, 2,073,600+ pixels of pure entertainment dancing across the screen, know exactly why it's so sad to see it go... That was a freakin' awesome tv!

But alas, it is gone, bought by a buddy of our loan officer (unbeknownst to him at the time) to put in a rec room somewhere in Arlington.

We will miss you, Samsung.....

....until we replace you with something better! :-)

Jeremy decided he wanted a projector for the basement instead. The construction of said, "Man Cave" has begun! Duhn duhn duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhn.....!

Of course, that still leaves us without a tv. So, looks like the "Stinkin' Lincoln"'s gotta go too. Cutting the fat, so to speak, in toys, to make room for different, better fat, like an LCD to put above the fireplace. Yeah, good times, good times.

In other news, I've misplaced the cord to the camera (sound familiar, Ali? lol), though we haven't actually moved yet, so there's really no reason for it to have gone astray.... I'm sure it's under the couch or in a cushion or something... I just haven't had a chance to look yet. Maybe I'll just try to use the card reader for the xbox, since I assume it's USB, but we'll see... The house is a work in progress anyways, so not much to check out for now. We'll keep ya'z posted!

Jeremiah is a weed.... My goodness. His latest trick: climbing stairs. Did I mention he can also pull himself to a standing position, now, and jump up and down while wailing for someone to come pick him up outta his crib??? Yup, started that a few days ago. He's also learned the ancient art of "pitching a fit", otherwise known as, "throwing a temper tantrum." If we're shopping in the store, and he doesn't want to sit in the cart anymore, "WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Like he broke something, or is in extreme pain, or being abused.... All because he wants Mommy to pick him up. Uh-uh, young man, Mommy don't play that. Gonna nip that in the bud, ASAP!

It's kinda cute, though. He's learning to express himself.

Finally, Jeremy's grandmother passed away early Wednesday morning. She was 94. Definitely lived a long, full life. I did get to meet her once. We were planning on visiting in October, but I guess we'll visit Jeremy's great-aunt instead, who is 96, I think. The funeral is tomorrow (Friday), so we'll be driving up to Pittsburgh first thing in the morning.

The good news is that Ted and Charity will be coming back with us. They'll check out our new "crib", and of course, spend time with their favorite grandson. So though the weekend may start out on a sad note, it will progressively improve (hopefully!)

And that's that. :-)

It's official! We're homeowners!

You're welcome, America. We've just created money.

Quick fire:

~Jeremiah is getting new teeth; Two on the top now. Will post pics when he lets me take them.

~We close in 33 hours, and counting.... (woo-hoo! Will try to post video tomorrow night...)

~Lousy week for "back to school"... Rainy... "cold" (for August... seriously, 70??? In August?!?!?!)

~Big Fella's still retarded, but he'll be moving into the basement of our new house (where he will remain.... FOREVER!)

~Jeremiah has mastered the "hands and knees" method of crawling.... hide your things. He loves Legos. :-)

~Jeremiah likes bananas, plums, peaches, yogurt and toast. His dislikes chicken, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas & carrots, cereal.... basically, everything he SHOULD be eating primarily. Oh well, he'll come around...

~"I like turtles."

~We've upgraded Jeremiah's carseat to a convertible now, and his feet still hit the back of the chairs... Five more months, we can flip him around!

~The power of the "na-na-na"'s.... Or as Jeremiah says it, "Nyuh, nyuh, nyuh, nyuh, nyuh! Mm mm mm MA MA MA MA!" "Dd dd dd DA DA DA DA DA!" He could now sing many hit tunes, such as, "Angel is a centerfold"; "Na na na na. Na na na na. HEY HEY HEY! GOOD-BYE!"; "Hey Jude" and some Mark Schultz song that I keep hearing on the radio.

~"Jeremiah, do you want to go to Grandma's house???????" *Jeremiah shakes his head "no" back and forth* We didn't teach him that, I swear. :-) (If you haven't seen the video with this in it, it's below, but you have to watch until at least 6 or 7 minutes in...)

~Jeremiah really likes shoes... I don't know why, but if he's on the floor, and there are toys on one side, then shoes on the other, he'll go for the shoes (and then put them right in his mouth... eewww....)

And now for a word from our sponsors....

Oh, and I forgot to mention: I got spewed on.... Oooooozed, more like it. Jeremiah was "starving", sucked down 7 oz, didn't want to sleep, so was laughing and smiling at me while I tried rocking him to bed, when all of a sudden... Uck--uck---BLEEEECH! All 7 oz, I'm sure, all over me. Yuck. This morning, he still stunk like "baby puke" (this was no spit-up, my friends...)

Yeah.... the joys of parenthood.

gg

(That's "good game" in online talk.)

Yesterday, Jeremy and I attended the Steelers vs. Redskins game at FedEx field (a "closing gift" from our load officer--I guess if you're going to give them $500k+ in interest over 30 years, it's the least they can do...) We had a great time! After Jeremy got in the "football spirit" by playing a round of Madden with Stephin (who'd been here since Tuesday), we drove out to Warrenton to drop off our future NFL star, Jeremiah, at Grandma/Grandpa's and then headed out to Landover, MD!

I tell ya, 2-3 hours before the game is the best time to arrive--we hit very little traffic (other than at the Woodrow Wilson bridge, where there seems to be traffic at any hour of the day [we hit it again coming home at 1:30 a.m.]) and had a wide choice of parking spots near the stadium (if you go to fedex field, and have a permit parking pass, get off at 15B, not 17B--there was ZERO traffic getting in, and out, even though Redskins Rd was a parking lot... crazy...) We settled on a spot amongst fellow citizens of the Steeler Nation! We parked, put together our baby charcoal grill (it's so cute, yes it is, so cuuuuuute!) lit the bag of charcoal, and sat back to relax.... Twenty minutes later, we were cookin' brats, burgers, and sweet potatoes, sipping bee--ars (mike's for me), and just chillin'. Good times, good times.

Around 7:20, we packed up our foods, doused the coals, pocketed a few beverages, and headed in. Oh, did I mention we had "club level" seats??? Yes, we did--and that is the ONLY way to watch a football game, IMHO. Here's the view from our seats (it was actually better than this, but you get the idea...)
They were sweet--in the middle of a bunch of die hard Redskin fans, but hey... we made enough noise to drown 'em out. :-) And the nice thing about club level (and besides the fact that our seats were cushioned, too...) is the lack of gum, vomit, and who knows what else all over the floors. In fact, they had granite tile floors (freshly cleaned), air conditioning, leather lounge chairs, big screens all over, and all sorts of restaurants to chose from (though they all mostly sold the same thing...) Yes, it was good times.

The highlight of the evening had to be winning the game, though. It was a pretty boring 3 quarters.... Neither team really did anything exciting (touchdown and field goal for Washington, 3 field goals for Pittsburgh.) Even Big Ben couldn't deliver--Batch seemed to have the best game, quarterback wise. However, once each team had it's 3rd-stringers in there, that's when it got exciting. After a tough possession, Steelers finally kicked their 4th FG to lead by 2. But there was still a minute 30 left on the clock. The Redskins could have easily won that--and they should have, as they had multiple opportunities to--they were in FG range with 30 seconds left on the clock! But throw in an incomplete pass, a couple of penalties, and they were backed on to the 42 yard line with no timeouts left on 3rd and 25 (I think... all I remember is that it didn't really matter at that point...) with 13 seconds left. Interception by Steelers=Steeler victory!

Heh, the silly skins fan next to me kept saying, "Yeah, they're going for it on 4th down cuz they've got "guts" (he used a different word, rhymes with "calls")" He left before I could tell him that it looked like they got their, ahem, "guts" handed back to them... ;-) But its all good (not very lady like, anyways....) We were friendly with each other (us and the skins fans). Besides, most of them weren't there for the game, but for the real "talent"--the Redskin cheerleaders. :-) At least, the guy behind us felt he needed to point that out everytime they came on, "See, here comes the REAL talent! Yeah, baby!" Ohhhhhhh kay.....

Ah yes, good times.

Ever wonder what happens...

....when Jeremiah doesn't get his afternoon nap???

Probably not, but you can now find out anyways! :-)

Last but not least...

The last of the videos.

The Chicken Video!


The Woot Monkey!

How 'bout that belly, huh??

Playtime with Jeremiah!

Videos!

8/8/07

Jeremiah tries pears for the first time. Yummy, yummy, yummy!



7/29/07

Okay, so this video was shot because everytime we put food in his mouth, he spit it out. Of course, as soon as we started filming him, he stopped...


7/25/07

Jeremiah tries broccoli for the first time. I think he liked it more then than he does now... Oh well.

Some new pictures.

Finally cleaned out our camera. Not many pics on it, mostly videos, which I'm uploading as we speak, so look for those, coming soon!

Jeremiah is 7 months old!

And still the cutest baby ever!

New Home Phone #

Okay, so now that our Sunrocket number is completely gone (as far as we know), we have switched providers and have a brand, spankin' new number!

It's kinda weird, though, 'cause it's a DC number, and we live in VA, but whatever. Close enough!

So if you want it, shoot us an email. If you don't have our email address, send an email to our spam account at bigfellawilcox@gmail.com (yes, we let Big Fella get all of our spam... bwahahahaha.....)

TTFN! :-)

Any advice??

We're beginning our planning for "the move".

If anyone has any experience with movers, good or bad, please let us know! ESPECIALLY if you have GOOD experiences.... so far, it seems like I've only heard nightmares. Hopefully, someone liked their movers.... I really don't want a headache.

THANKS!

We got red-carded....

Well, so much for going to church....

Apparently, no one else appreciated the "joyful noise to the Lord" that Jeremiah was exhibiting during the sermon today. I mean, c'mon, it's not like we were sitting smack dab in the middle of the congregation. We did what we could--sat all the way in the back, by the door so that we could step out if Jeremiah got a little out of control. For the most part, he was good, but a couple of times, he may have been a bit loud, but those were the times we stepped out with him.

It wasn't enough, I guess. Right before the end of the sermon (maybe 5 or 10 minutes left), one of the ushers came up to us and handed us a cream colored card with "A Message from Lon" on it. Basically it said that the church wanted to make sure everyone was entitled to a distraction-free woship experience, and that they had the nursery, kids quest, and family rooms available for those with young children. Yeah... We know. Lon told us the same thing when Jeremiah was dedicated--families with children under 6 should sit in the balconies. No problem, that's where we were. I'm not "ready" to put Jeremiah in the nursery yet (I'm just not--got a problem with that?!?!) and going to the family room is pointless, because no one who goes in there actually controls their children. It's like they think, "Oh, well, since we're not in the same room as everyone else, they can do whatever they want." But I guess that's our only option if we want to go to church--sit in the family room, and allow everyone else's kids to ruin our woship experience, or attempt to sit in the auditorium and risk Jeremiah being a distraction to those around us.

Very frustrating. Only in a church as big and as "corporate" as Mclean would this be a problem. I don't blame them, I guess. If everyone had their babies in there, it could be crazy, but what's a Mom to do?! Most other churches have plenty of room in the back for Moms and Dads to walk around with their babies, so it's not an issue.

Whatever. It really ruined my day (that and the stupid lady crossing the street that felt the need to stop and point out the crosswalk she was in because we took too long to stop and let her cross... stupid freakin' people... Next time, we'll just accelerate and barely hit her, I guess--would she like that better?!?! Seriously, just because you're in the cross walk does not mean you have the right to STOP in the middle of the road! Geez...)

Tomorrow, we have our home inspection, which should be fun. Stephin is here to baby-sit for us, so we can be distraction free. Hopefully, the day will go better than today.

It's (semi) Official!

Contract is ratified--we close on August 24th!

Looks like the Steelers Kick-Off Party may have a change of venue! We'll let ya know!

Hmmm.....

More info coming soon.....

What's with that face?!

Jeremiah started making this face the day he started crawling... I have no idea, but i'm pretty sure It's not a mean or unhappy face-He's only done it in a good mood so far. It's pretty funny though!

Hmmmm.....

Our home phone is now working again.... for now...

I don't know what's going on... we'll keep you posted.

Maybe some (former??) SR employees can clue us in???? :-)

"These legs were made for crawlin'...."

It's official: Jeremiah's mobile. Today, for the first time, he started crawling around.

I had him on our bed while I went to get ready for the day. As soon as I put my phone down, Jeremiah starts charging for it--next thing I knew, he had crossed the bed, and was using it as a teething ring. WOW!

Very cool that he's now moving around! Of course, now we need to worry about such things as baby gates, disposing properly of small objects, and somehow keeping the stupid cat off his blanket so he has a clean place to explore (of course, the blanket's not cool enough for him to stay on, he must go off the blanket, and try to eat wires instead.....)

I think our lives just got a whole lot more complicated!

[Sorry it's a bit dark--it was in the middle of a thunderstorm when we were recording, and my parents don't have many lights in the family room. But you get the gist.]



And here is more of the same darkness, but this time, we get to see Jeremiah attacking his favorite Uncle Stephin. Why he kept trying to eat his head, I dunno, but he really gets into it! At least Stephin didn't mind. :-)

Peeeeeeeeeeeeas!

Jeremiah tries peas for the first time! And..... I think he likes it!!!

"Mo peas, pwease!"

I tell ya, the more active this kid gets, the more frustrated he gets when he's strapped down. Whether it's his high chair, car seat, whatever, if he can't move, he's not a happy camper (unless you're spoonin' food in his mouth or he's asleep...) I can see this becoming a problem very quickly--not that I don't think we'll get over it, and he's still an angel, even when he's in a "mood". But gosh darnit, I had him in the car for MAYBE 30-40 minutes total today, and he fussed the whole time. I'm a little worried that this will continue into the fall, as we're trying to plan a trip out to the Azores to visit my grandparents--a 5 hour flight! (With the time change, it's 10 hours total.) Yeah right, Jeremiah isn't gonna sit still for 5 hours. Luckily, that flight is a red-eye flight--he'll be sleeping like a.... well, you know. :-)

Aside from the added temper that seems to have tagged along for the ride of his rambunctious self, HE'S STILL THE SWEETEST BABY IN THE WHOLE WORLD! I mean, look at him?? Have you ever seen such cuteness?! I know one day I'll regret not trying to get him "baby modeling" gigs, but then I'd have to share him with everyone else. And he's not nearly as sweet on camera--sweet, just not super sweet. Melts your heart with every smile, toothy-grin, and wink. Almost makes you wanna wake him up when he's sleeping so you can play with him (I've had to talk Jeremy outta that one a couple of times... especially after he's been outta town, like he is right now...)

We're not biased. :-)

New Diaper Bag!!!!

Jeremy, being the sweetie that he is, bought me a new diaper bag for my birthday (I know, lame, huh? Used to ask for leather totes from Franklin Covey, or something... now it's Amy Coe and Caden Lane...)

It originally arrived a couple of days after my birthday, and of course, I had to start using it right away (even took it to "Mom's Night Out" last week... now that's a sight--two moms sitting at the bar with their diaper bags.... hey, they now make 'em fashionable and functional! Why not?!) Unfortunately for me (and the bag) I must have tried to carry one too many "kitchen sinks", because the zipper broke the second day. BOOOOO! HIIIIIIIIISSSSSS!

Where did I then turn?? Google. "How do you fix a zipper" was my query, and I did find an answer! After some f'nagling with a needle nose plier, some elbow grease, and a great deal of finesse, it was (nearly) as good as new! Until Mom's night out at least. And then it popped off again.

:(

Luckily for me, my hubby had purchased it from Nordstrom's online, and not some random diaper bag site, so with a quick phone call, and two-day shipping later, I have my bag again, in tip top shape!

And if I break it again, they're gonna have to send me another one. Hey, it's a diaper bag! It's supposed to be full o' stuff, and survive! You don't see my Amy Michelle Azaelea bag (in chocolate!) complaining, and I regularly stuff that one to the brim! Sheesh!

Maybe zippers hate me.... I broke the zipper on my first diaper bag, a snazzy little number from Target (at least, I thought it was snazzy at the time... last time I saw it, my brother was using it as an overnight bag...) THAT, however, was not from over-stuffage. I'm pretty sure that one was just because it was cheap.

THIS bag, however, was not cheap. Reasonable, but not cheap.

To all my preggers friends out there: start thinkin' about diaper bags NOW! Never too early to plan how you're going to haul all your gear around. I love all my bags (I use three total now) so if you like them to, you can copy me--just make sure you buy a different color. :-)

And now..... videos.



Jeremiah tries out his playard for the first time! Yeah, now everytime we put him in it.... he cries. So much for that!

Much Ado About Something....

Wowwee, what a time it's been!

Since dropping the van off at the body shop 6 days ago, we continue to be without a "family vehicle", as it is still not fixed. Even though our insurance had already approved the repair, they requested an adjuster come out to survey the damage before they would do anything. Then they had to order the window... Now, we're just waiting for it to arrive, so they can install it.

In the meantime, I'm driving around the Accord. I'd forgotten just how zippy that car can be! It sure is fun weaving in and out of traffic on the beltway when you've got 200 horses pullin' ya along. Good times, indeed! I'll be glad to get my van back, though... Every time I go shopping now, I have to think, "Do I have enough room in the car to fit what I want to buy, with Jeremiah in the back..." Jeremy had to remove a few items (forget using the trunk at all... he's got TWO subs in there now. As if one wasn't enough, I guess....) So far, we've managed. I still miss my van...

And now, a moment of silence, for Sunrocket.

......


Apparently, Sunrocket is DEAD. Which really sucks for us, since we had our phone service through them. I guess paying $199/2 years isn't a good deal if you only get 8 or 9 months of service... BOOOOO! So for now, if you have our house number, don't bother calling it, as it won't work anymore. If you need our cell phone numbers, leave a comment, we'll email it to ya. Since most of ya call us on our cells already, I don't see this as being a problem. However, all of our doctors, dentist, credit cards, utility service, and even the gate here at our community, is tied to that number. Hopefully we'll be able to get it ported to someone else soon. I read in one of the message boards that the phone number should automatically port back to it's original owner, which in our case is Vonage (who got it from Verizon, I believe...) Boooo! That's okay, I guess. Better than losing it completely!

Switching gears...

This week is a semi-busy week for us. Jeremy's going to Boston Wednesday and Thursday, which means Jeremiah and I will probably be hitting the pool at Grandma/Grandpa's house. I've got dentist appts, lunch with Moms, and Jeremiah's got a Dr's appt this week, as well. More shots for him. Boooooooooo! He's a pretty tough guy though, so it should be okay.

Speaking of tough guy, Jeremiah spent the night away from Mommy and Daddy last Friday, and LOVED it (at least, that's the impression I got). Mommy, however, was kinda a mess. But we had mucho errands to run Saturday, and were able to get them done rather swiftly, not having to worry about him. So that was good. He's been in the pool so much that I think he gets confused at bath time and thinks he's supposed to splash as much as possible--I think we end up as wet as he is, by the end (he's always been a splasher, but usually by kicking... he's figured out that he can use his arms along with his legs for even BIGGER splashes!) Aww, he's so cute.

I've started trying to teach Jeremiah a few simple sign language signs, such as "milk", "eat" and "more". I wasn't expecting him to get it right away (we just started last week), but yesterday and today, it was time to eat, and before I even got his bottle ready, he started making, what appeared to be, the sign for "milk". Now, it could just be a coincidence, as milk pretty much just involved making a fist and moving it sorta like you're milking a cow (at least, I think that's what it is... hard to tell from pictures in a book), and he knows how to make a fist pretty well! But when I tried it with him, he just kept on doing it, like he was saying, "Yeah, that's what I said, Mom!" We'll see, I guess! Apparently, he knows how to say, "Daddy" too, but I didn't teach him that... I'm pretty sure he's just hitting his forehead for no reason... ;-)

And that's all folks!

Today is....

7/11/07

(I tried making that really big, but it didn't work... :-(

Today is also:

Flemish Community Holiday! (Belgium)
La Fete de la Magdalene (France...)
Revolution Day! (Mongolia)
St. Rosalia Day! (Italy)
World Population Day!

And, make sure to stop at your local bakery in celebration of...

National Blueberry Muffin Day!

"Deep Thoughts"

I know, it's late, but I didn't want to end the day on a sour note. I'll keep it brief! (For me, at least...)

So I was reading Ted's blog yesterday, and how he wants to start listing three positive things that happened that day. Well, today, after the whole fiasco with the van, and Jeremiah was in a really lousy mood alllllllll daaaaaaaaaaay looooooooooooong, I thought to myself, "How is God going to make this a good day?! What good can come out of having the rear window of our van smashed in?!"

Not one to disappoint, God came through for us. Y'see, Jeremiah's stroller was in the back of the van... It is now covered in glass. Of course, I don't want to use it anymore, no matter how much time we spend getting the glass out of it! Jeremy asked our insurance about it, and they said that they wouldn't be able to cover it, the best they'd be able to do is use it towards our deductible.

Well, after speaking with our agent, they agreed to cover a replacement, no deductible, under our comprehensive coverage! Yay! Now, this is good news, but it's even better because now we get to get the stroller I should have bought in the first place: Phil & Ted's E3 Sport Buggy. It's great because it's an all terrain stroller that reclines to flat for infants, but what makes it so cool is the option to purchase a "back seat", making it a double stroller for toddler/infant or toddler/toddler. So once #2 rolls around, we won't have to purchase another stroller, just the seat. Awesome!

Anyways, I just wanted to share. Oh, and Katharine and I had a Mom's night. It was a lot of fun--I think we both needed a break! Gotta make those a monthly thing... :-)

That's two! Is that enough???

Unbelievable.

Oh, Lord, please get us into a house soon! I do NOT want to renew our lease here in Tyson's.

Guess this is what we get for parking on the street....

Freakin' idiots....

And of course, Fairfax County Police have better things to be doing, so whoever did this gets away, scott free. Must be nice. Maybe I should smash some windows, too... At least our insurance company is helpful.

I'm behind on my videos...

Okay, sorry, I know I'm behind.... But here we go!

Jeremiah and the Amazing Technicolor Ice Cream Cone! (June 22nd)

Carrots! (July 1st)

Jeremiah and his "Mad Skills".... (July 2nd)

Bananas! On his 6 month birthday! (July 7th)

Most Insightful Interview Ever!

Most Insightful Interview Ever - Watch more free videos
Jonathon the zombie gives a very insightful response to this reporters question. Hey Jonathon whats your stance on the war in Iraq? Who are you voting for president? Give us more of your insight!

We've been to the movies...

Okay, so I was going to do this methodically, telling you all about our weekend, and how we've seen two movies at the theater in the past 48 hours (here, AMC, take $48 of our hard earned dollars for 5 hours of entertainment... really doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way, actually... anyways...) I have to jump right in and tell you this...

Transformers was freakin' awesome!

Seriously, the best movie I've seen since, probably, Spider-man 1, maybe 2, but I still love the first one. Yeah, so anyways, it was awesome! As one person put it, "It was like a big honking slice of Awesome-toast buttered on both sides with awesome. It was a double serving of Hell Yeah with a side order of OMG.!" (don't feel bad if you don't quite get that... the point is, it's awesome!)

Now, I grew up on Transformers... I have the first three seasons on DVD, the movie ("You've got the touch!" Gotta loves 80's hair bands...), my uncle had a bunch of the toys (metal and plastic--theose things were dangerous! Until my brother destroyed them all... I'm sure he's pretty pissed now. Oh well.) While I didn't always understand what was going on in the show (I remember being utterly confused by it, but always knew we were switching from the Autobots to Decepticons when the little face/mask thing would flip around and stuff...), it was fun to watch, though looking back on it now, it was really kinda lame. But it was fun to watch. That's the point.

The movie is very similar--it's really fun to watch. It has it's moments where you just kinda cringe (like, everytime there was blatant product placement... Hello, Mt. Dew! How's it going? GMC, looking good! Nokia, whatever happened to the N-Gage??? And of course, what would a robot movie be with AN X-BOX 360 and Dance Dance Revolution!? Anyways...) and that part where Sam and Mikayla's character have that tender moment when he should be haulin' ____ (your choice of body part) to the stupid building was just S-T-U-P-I-D! Oh yeah, and Optimus Prime does NOT say, "My bad..." Seriously.

But, aside from those few moments, it was really really cool. Do NOT wait for the DVD on this one--even our TV, as big as it is, would not do this movie justice.

Moving on.

We also saw Fantastic 4. It was good. I'm glad we saw it first, though. Otherwise I wouldn't have seen it (would have seen Transformers a 2nd time.)

And that's 'bout all I've got. :-)

I was on the radio!

Ever since the "Great Dads" seminar, Jeremy's been playing the local Christian radio station, 91.9 WGTS in his room instead of replacing the batteries in his mobile. Well, everyday weekday morning, they have the "Family Name Game" where they look for someone with a son or daughter of the name they're looking for.

So today, I was putting Jeremiah down for his nap, and they said they were going to play "The Family Name Game" and in my mind, I was thinking, "Jeremiah! Jeremiah!" and then they said, "We're looking for a Jeremiah!" (I found out afterwards that they list the names on their website ahead of time, so you can be waiting for your child's name, but I didn't know that! So, yeah, totally a God thing--I had just been thinking about how awesome my birthday will be this year because I have Jeremy and Jeremiah, and how great they are, and then, boom, "call us and brag about your son!" God's so cool how he throws those little things in there like that...)

I called right away and got through and was able to brag about my boy!

Just heard it now, and they had the most appropriate background music---Munah Munah. Also kinda weird, because my ringtone for my brother Jason is Munah Munah... He never calls me, but today he did (he thought my birthday was today) so I'd just heard that song an hour beforehand. Weird...

That was fun. :-)

You can submit your own child's name, too. Layton, I dare you to submit Egbert. :-)

Big surprise....

Detailed Local Forecast

Tonight (6/26): Widely scattered showers or a thunderstorm this evening. Then partly cloudy. Muggy. Low 73F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Tomorrow(6/27): Partly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms developing during the afternoon. Continued hot and humid. High 92F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Tomorrow night: Variable clouds with thunderstorms, especially during the evening. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Thursday(6/28): Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High near 90F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Friday(6/29): Scattered thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the low 60s.

Saturday(6/30): Morning clouds followed by afternoon sun. Highs in the mid 80s and lows in the low 60s.

At least it should be the perfect day Saturday for a party.

Neat Idea

I've never seen these before! Dad's have it so good nowadays. The baby gear manufacturers sure are trying to cater more to Fathers than they did before.

DadGear Cargo Baby Gear Jacket

The concept behind the DadGear style is simple - a masculine look combined with high quality materials and thoughtful design. The goal for DadGear products is not just neutral or unfeminine, but style that reflects who we are - guys. Guys who take pride in caring for their kids.

The DadGear Cargo Jacket™ is the long-sleeved brother of the DadGear Diaper Vest™. With the jacket, you can change, feed, and entertain your child with ease and no one will be able to tell you are wearing your diaper bag. Like the vest, this jacket is constructed with high quality materials for ultimate durability and longevity. All jackets come with a changing pad

The revolutionary twist on the traditional diaper bag sets the standard for "hands free" line. Strategically placed pockets for all of the baby-care essentials that a diaper bag would hold. It is better looking than most fleece jackets available in sporting goods stores but with specific functionality for carrying all of your essential dad gear!

They also make a vest! So cool!

So sweet!

Saturday, while I went to Sunny's baby shower, Jeremy spent his morning not sleeping in, but attending the "Great Dads" Seminar at Mclean. I must say, I'm so proud of Jeremy for taking steps to ensure that he'll be better prepared to be the best Dad he can be!

I read through some of the material they cover (not sure if I was supposed to, but it was just sitting there!) and there were some pretty staggering statistics--the average dad spends just 37 seconds a day with their children; the average child watches 30-50 hours of TV a week; 80% of children entering 1st grade feel good about themselves; By 6th grade, that drops to just 10%. Some 50+% of kids worry their parents will divorce, even more so fear violent harm will come to someone in their family.

The conference aims to change all that.

You can find more info about it from their website (title is linked), but I just wanted to share one more thing...

At the seminar, they asked Dads to make a commitment to their kids. They even gave them certificates to use. Jeremy made one up for Jeremiah (and took 5 more, just to be on the safe side... :-) It says....

My Commitment

Jeremiah Zachary,
You are a unique gift from God
and a very special treasure in my life.
I am thrilled that you are my child.

So it is with great joy that
I commit myself to be a Great Dad to you
--always loving you, encouraging you, and caring for you--
with the guidance and grace of God.

Signed by his Daddy, June 22, 2007.

I 'bout cried. :-) It's getting framed and put up. I'm so glad Jeremy went. :-)

He got his "toof!"

Jeremiah's first tooth came in today--yesterday, it was a mere lil' hole in his gum. Today, it's a razor sharp slicing bone! Well, maybe not that sharp, but I will no longer be offering my finger for him to chew on! :-) And I think the one next to it (it's the bottom middle [his] left one) is on it's way--looks like a tiny bit of corner is already starting to poke out.

It's so cute. I've been trying to take a picture, but he won't let me get a good shot... I'll keep on it!

Update: 6/24/07 Number two has broken through!

Mish Mash

Today is the 2nd day of Summer! YAY!

I meant to post something yesterday, but Jeremiah and I were busy running errands. But, yay! it's summertime! Officially!

The first day of summer always marked a weird day in my life--it was awesome, because growing up in RI, it meant it was finally going to be WARM! We'd have a few nice days in May, but usually it stayed firmly in the 70's until right around June 21st. Although, it never failed, every time I tried to throw a pool party for my birthday (a week from today), the nice weather was gone, and we always got RAIN. :-p I remember having a beach party one year--this is how pathetic it was... First, I had to pick up some of my friends or they wouldn't be able to go (my Mom wasn't working at the time, lucky for me), and then when we got there (I think we went to 2nd Beach in Newport, RI), we found out there was an $8 parking fee. Well, my Mom hadn't brought any cash, so my friend Priscilla had to lend us the money. Of course, it was only high 60's, low 70's at the beach, despite it being 85 at my house in Tiverton, and there was red tide (when all this lovely brown and red algae fills the ocean making it look like 'soup'.... not exactly fun to swim in, nor is it safe....) so no one really swam (and I learned that day that it was not a good idea to shave one's legs the day of going in the salt water of the ocean....... yeah, that junk burns!)

Needless to say, not one of the best parties I had growing in. In fact, most of my birthday parties were failures.... At least in my mind. The best one I had was when I was in college, and I came home after the spring semester for a week before leaving for an internship in Pittsburg, KS (yes, no "h" in that one...) I wanted to see all my friends before I left, so I threw a party the night before, invited everyone and surprisingly, for the first time, almost all of them came! (I did have to pick someone up, still, but he didn't drive, and he was a good friend of mine that I really wanted to be there--no, not "that" kind of friend [that was understood both ways]. He was like another brother to me... Not a Christian, but always had lots of questions, so I always tried to spend time with him. He was a cool guy. Now he lives in NYC, so dunno when I'll see him again...) Well, that in itself was cool, but then my parents surprised me with a cake (this was in May, so I wasn't expecting that) as an early birthday thing, since I'd be outta town for my actual birthday, and I cried... I'd never had a "surprise cake" before. So that was really cool.

Anyways, back to June 21st. This also marked my Grandmother's birthday (my babci...) which meant my parents were gonna have a fight. Without going into it to much, she wasn't the best at allowing my parents to "leave and cleave" and so she caused a lot of stress and turmoil in my family over the years. She passed away right before Jeremiah was born (I think... pretty sure it was around Christmas, though it may have been later... maybe right after Jeremiah was born. I dunno, that whole time is a blur.) So this is the first year my Dad is "free" of obligation and guilt.

Hopefully, that means it'll be sunny for my birthday. :-)

In other, more exciting news, someone's cutting a tooth...... :-) Hmm.... I wonder who it could be.........

Oh yeah, and I'm currently uploading all my music to "MediaMax" so that you can stream our wedding album. Several people have asked us for it, I figured this would be the easiest way to do it. I haven't used them before, but I'm hoping it works well... We'll see. I'm about 2% done right now... I think it's gonna take a while (for some reason, it's trying to upload 24 gigs of data... I don't have THAT much music, that's for sure. Maybe James does, but not me. So I dunno what all that is.)

Jeremiah Pics, Mother's Day & Father's Day

I finally got Picture People to email me the the photos from our last two photo sessions--one before Mother's Day, and one last week, for Father's Day.

You can view them here (for Mother's Day) and here (for Father's Day).

Enjoy!

Congrats and updates!

Congratulations to Todd & Paige who, after much prayer, are now pregnant! YAY! I know it's been an uphill struggle, and not the easiest time, but God is good, and He's blessing them with a bundle of joy! YAY!!!! When she told me, I screamed... Literally, I screamed. I think I scared Jeremiah, but he was okay. Best news I've heard in a long time! So congrats again! Looking forward to belly pics, now! :-) (See their blog for sonogram photos)

And just a quick update on Jeremiah's squash experience... I think he likes it okay (still trying to figure that one out), and he's just an impatient eater.... Gave him more today, and he acted the same way, pouting and gettin' all upset.... until more food was in his mouth, that is. So we'll see.

Oh, and Jeremy's going to the Great Dads Seminar at Mclean this weekend. I think it's so great that he's going, and that Mclean puts something like this on... Our society today is not as kind and supportive of Dad's as it should be. It's not an easy job, and many Dads fall short (Lon Soloman shared briefly his own story about his father, how it affected his life, and how he had to make a choice to learn to be the father that God has called him to be... For other dads, though, it's too easy to just "be".... It was really good, every Dad/Dad-to-be/Future Dad should listen to it. You can hear the sermon here [it's called "What kind of Dad will your children remember?] or download it here.) We've all seen examples of what NOT to do as a parent, and this seminar is to help empower Dads with WHAT to do (those examples sometimes harder to find...) So I'm very excited that Jeremy's going! :-) I so proud of him!

And with that, I leave you, as Jeremiah's had enough fun in his jumperoo. Time to go start the day (I know, it's noon, technically my day started at 5 am this morning, but now starts the "outside the house" part of my day. Shopping!!! Woot!)

Yellow Squash!

Jeremiah tries yellow squash for the first time today! He's not very happy about it... I don't know if it was the squash or he just didn't want to be eating in his chair.... I dunno. He kept eating it, though, so it's a mystery. We'll try again tomorrow and see what happens.

Hopefully it won't make him gassy like the sweet potatoes (we're taking a break from those for a week or so... give him a chance to adjust to these new foods. It was really bad, though... I've never heard/smelled such things from such a small person. I know, TMI, but I had to share. :-)

Stuff

Yay! The nice weather is back! For a couple of days there, it was COLD! Well, cold for NoVA in the middle of June. I mean, c'mon, 70's?????? Seriously, what was up with that. BRING ON THE 90's! Woot! I can't go in the pool if it isn't ridiculously hot--water's too cold. Same thing with Jeremiah; When the water was only in the low 70's, he was NOT a happy camper. But after a couple days of highs in the 90's and lows in 70's, that water will be nice and warm, but still refreshing. Ahhhhh.... just thinking about it is relaxing. So we'll try to hit the pool tomorrow!

Today, we're going to the mall. Jeremy's outta town in Tenn for a couple of days, so it's just me and the lil' bullfrog. Mommy needs some clothes...

Funny story:

Sunday was Father's Day (Jeremy's first!) and we were getting Jeremiah dedicated that afternoon. The day started off well--I got up "early" (for me at least) with Jeremiah, fed him, and then we went upstairs to make Daddy some waffles, 'cause Daddy LOVES waffles. By the time they were done, it was nap time for Jeremiah, so Jeremy put him down and we enjoyed our breakfast while Jeremy opened his gifts (Jeremiah's a pretty good shopper already... got him some cigars and pipe tobacco for his "Indeed" days with other new "Daddys" [how he was able to order tobacco is beyond me... ;-)], some Steeler's slippers, a REALLY CUTE photo of himself in his Steeler's jersey [thanks to Uncle Laurence and Auntie Katharine!] and so on and so forth...)

After all that, we started getting ready for church. Now, two weeks ago, I went shopping, and I had purchased an outfit that I was saving for a "special occasion". Well, this was just such an occasion, so I went to go pull it outta the bag and set it out to make sure everything was good to go. There I am, in our room, gettin' ready and I can't find the bag.... It wasn't there. Then I tried to find the box I remember setting it in (more clothes that I had ordered online...), couldn't find that either. It was no where in the room!

Well, before I completely freaked out, somewhere in my mind, a conversation began to replay... Last week, Jeremy had asked me, while I was in the bathroom with Jeremiah, I think, if the box on the floor in our bedroom was trash. I said, "Yeah, there's ONE box that has a bunch of junk in it behind the door..." And I remember thinkin' at that time, "I hope he doesn't confuse my clothes for trash.... Nah, he wouldn't." Well, guess what: He did.

That's when I freaked.

I can laugh about it now; I know he didn't intentionally throw out my new clothes (that I never even tried on...) But oh my gosh, was I upset! Partly because I then had to find another nice outfit to wear (which is not easy when most of my nice clothes don't fit) and partly because it was a total waste of money... I now get to go out and re-buy it all (I loved how Jeremy kept telling me, "It's only money!" Awww... he was desperate to calm me down... he would never say that under normal circumstances.)

Anyways, it ended up being okay, I found another outfit to wear, and all was good (I was sooo hot, though... not in the, "Wow, you're hot!" way but in the, "It's so freakin' hot in here," way.) We made it to the dedication, he cuddled with Lon on stage (it was so cute!), we said our vows (see below), and called it a day.

Oh yeah, the clothes thing wasn't the only hiccup that day. We also didn't have a camera that worked. I grabbed my camera on the way out of the house, and when we got there, we found out it was dead. How it was completely dead, I dunno, but it was dead. And we don't have a backup battery. Grrr... That's okay though, because we had our video camera in the car. Our friend Aron was awesome enough to go fetch it for us---only to find out that that battery was also dead. SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE HECK?! Luckily, one of the gals from the church took some photos, and said she would send 'em to us. So hopefully, we have some kind of record of it.

Drama drama drama.

So as I was saying, we're going to the mall. I was gonna walk, but it's 93 degrees outside... Great for pool weather, not so much for walking a mile or so. (It's a nice walk, but I don't have any nice summer clothes that fit... Not gonna do it in jeans.) I'll walk the mall once we get there, get the exercise that way.

And that's that. Now, I just gotta wait for Jeremiah to wake up and we're good to go (and go we shall!) Ta ta!

Child Dedication Vows

1. Will you do your best to raise this child to honor, revere, and love Jesus Christ?

2. Will you do your best to maintain a home where Jesus Christ is honored and obeyed, where the Word of God is the authority and Jesus Christ is the head?

3. Will you commit this child to God in prayer on a regular basis, trusting God to override your mistakes and make up for your shortcomings?

4. Will you actively rely on the Holy Spirit to raise this child and to incline his or her heart to the Lord?

5. Will you do your best to release this child to the will of God, whatever that might be, without bitterness or resistance?

6. Will you do your best to be living models of what sold-out, committed followers of Jesus Christ should be, so that this child has godly examples to follow?

Here it is!

Sweet Potatoes!

Jeremiah tried sweet potatoes for the first time today! And it 'weren't' no sweet potatoes from a jar! Uh-uh, Momma's too good for that! Momma spent all night last night sweating over a hot stove to steam those yummy sweet potatoes so that Jeremiah could have only the best! (Okay, I didn't actually stand over the stove... I actually put them in the steamer, and then forgot about 'em for about an hour... whoops. But, you can't over-mush sweet potatoes, I found out!)

Anyways, I have a video to share with you of the whole experience, but Google Video is not currently accepting new uploads.... Grrr... So as soon as they get over that, I'll put it up here.

For now, enjoy this adorable pic of Jeremiah after he finished eating all his yummy new sweet potatoes!

(Seriously, when was the last time you saw anything this cute??!?!?! Not sure?? Look again...)

(Still not convinced?? Look a little closer....)

Coming soon to a blog near you, the week of June 17th----yellow squash!

Baby (Parent) Dedication

This Sunday, Father's Day, June 17th, Jeremiah will be getting dedicated right before the 12:30 service at Mclean Bible Church. For those of you not familiar with what this entails, it is not a baptism or a christening. Dedication does NOT guarantee salvation. It's basically a time for parents to pubically vow, before the church and before God, that they will do their best to raise their child in a home that demonstrates authentic Christian faith. The goal is to not force them to become Christians, but that they would see the example in their everday lives, and that they would come to know and follow Christ at an early age.

And we get to show him off to everyone before service starts, which is always fun.

So, if you're in the Tysons area and would like to come, please do! You're more than welcome! it will take place 5 minutes before the service starts (I think), but I suggest you arrive before then, say 12:10, 12:15, before the parking situation becomes crazy.

We're looking forward to it, though, and hope you can join us!

"Tonight..... you!"

Inside joke...

Anyways! I love this weather! It's been so nice and warm and cozy.... great stuff! Friday last week, it almost hit 100! Now, I know in my mind that's pretty freakin' hot, but it really didn't feel that hot to me... Maybe because Jeremy keeps the house, like, 60 degrees, any warmth is welcome warmth!

We did hit the pool a couple of days, as you could see from Jeremiah's 5 month pic below (he refused to look up at me--was more interested in the little plastic fishes swimming around in his little "splash pool" on his floaty). It was sooo nice, though the water was a bit chilly at first (cool nights the days before). We had a good time hanging out with Uncle James on Thursday (his is the hand in the pic), and will hopefully be able to do that regularly, as he'll be heading off to PA for school in the fall. :-( Oh well... Gotta let him go sometime, right? Something like that.

Friday, the really hot day, the pool water was a bit warmer, but Jeremiah didn't seem to care--he was still kinda pissed off that I kept draggin' him in there. He just whined and whined and was not having any fun at all. I thought maybe he was tired, so I put him down for a nap (we took his co-sleeper over my parents' house for that purpose, until they buy him a playard :-) and after what seemed like over an hour, he fell asleep. I don't know what his problem was, though... He just did not wanna be in the pool. Maybe it was too hot, and the water too cold? I dunno... It wasn't any hotter than Mexico (though the water was a bit cooler--not too much, just a little), and he loved the water there. Guess he's getting older and wiser, and wants to do what he wants to do! The heck with Mommy, apparently.

Satuday, James graduated high school. Yay! We were gonna go, but it would have meant packing up Jeremiah and leaving the house at 6:30 in the morning! For some reason, graduation was at 8 am... crazy. So yeah, that didn't happen. We'll be at his party next weekend--at least that's in the afternoon. :-)

Jeremiah's takin' a nap right now... Aww, so cute! I actually took the time to rock him to sleep today. Usually, I'll just put him in his crib, turn on the music on his mobile, and he'll fall asleep on his own. But I've missed him (for some reason... he's never been away from me... I guess it was just from last night, while he was sleeping?) so I took the time to rock him before putting him down for a nap. It's so funny because it seems like he's wide awake--he'll be pushing himself up, looking around, smiling, laughing, etc... But I just kept rockin', and hummin', and eventually, he would bury his head in his hands... and then he'd lay it down and make his little "going to sleep" noises (Jeremy calls it his "flying a plane/driving a car" noises), and next thing I knew, he was fast asleep. And it only took, maybe, 10 minutes! It was just such a precious time, just rocking him, feeling his little breathes puff on my chest.... I love it! I wouldn't trade this job for anything! No job in the world is better than staying home with my baby. I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with such a great husband that sees the value in his wife staying home, and works so hard so that that can happen! It's awesome, and I love it!

That's all that's been going on, really. Time to go fold diapers before Jeremiah wakes up (which should be any minute now).

Jeremiah's Five Months Old!

Birth Stuff

I just thought I'd share a few links that I'll be adding to the blog.

Currently, I have, let's see, 4 friends? No, 5 friends! who are expecting a baby anytime between July and January next year. Some have had children previously, some are on their first, most are doing things "by the book" (OB/GYN, hospital, etc...) As you all (should) know, we had Jeremiah at home in roughly 4.5 hours. To be fair, the disclaimer needs to be made that this was not my first childbirth, which may account for the "easy" labor (no labor is truly "easy", but it was "easier" than my first [First was 12 hours, start to finish, in a hospital with an epidural--had a terrible recovery time afterwards, much easier time the 2nd time around...]) However, I do believe that if I can do it, sans meds (I'm such a baby when it comes to pain...), ANYONE can do it, provided you have all the proper tools in place beforehand.

There are two new independant films about childbirth coming out:

The Business of Being Born (focuses on midwife/home birth vs OB/hospital birth)
and
Pregnant in America (focuses more on the "who's getting rich" off births in America)

I haven't seen either of them yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I didn' realize that some 40%+ of hospital revenue is from births alone.... It's a big money maker, especially if you get the 'extras', like epidural, or even a c-section (more expensive, but cheaper for hospitals--they can schedule it, get you in and out in less time than if it's an emergency, and it frees up a l&d room for another Mom....) Now, I'm not saying those things are bad--they're great if you need them (and there are plenty of women who do, but probably not 30-40%, as our country runs an average of, for c-sections...)

Everyone's different, and I think no less of a Mom who choses to have a hospital birth with an epidural. I do think, though, most women are prepared to do it no other way, don't hear all options available, and end up with a birth that may not be exactly what they were hoping for.

Anyways, interesting stuff. Check it out.

Jeremiah Laughing

It is what it says it is....

Hel-loooooooooo, Sunshine!

Ahh.... this is the time of year I wait for--late spring, with its almost summer-like weather... Soooo nice!

Today was absolutely gorgeous! Bright, sunny, hot.... Perfect! Jeremiah and I were gonna head to the pool, but unfortunately, it doesn't open until 4 during the week until the kiddies are out of school. The heck with all the Moms and their young children, who don't want to go to the pool when it's full of older kids, jumping and splashing around! I may just head out to Warrenton instead, and go in the parents' pool. Anyone wanna join me?

Oh, and btw, since it is pool season, just thought I'd let ya know: If you're using public pools, and you smell chlorine, that means there's not enough chlorine in the water, not that there's too much. This can cause skin and eye irritation, but otherwise, it's more annoying than anything else (and means they need to add more chlorine to properly ward off the badness that's floating around you...) Just an FYI.

Other than the nice weather, not much else going on. All of our shows are now over (Boston Legal was the only one left this week), small group is over, and soon, even the Union and the 7:30 Frontline service at Mclean will be over (for the summer). Our schedule just opened up an additional 11 hours a week! Wow! So far, we've done nothing with those extra hours.... Jeremy's playing a few more video games, I've done a bit more shopping, but that's about it.

That's alright. We could use a few days of "nothing" after being outta town for 3 days. That was an interesting trip.

In case you didn't read my post from last Friday, Jeremy, Jeremiah and I headed to "upstate NY" to visit the Penn Cabin and visit with family. Jeremiah got to see his "Grandmom", whom he hadn't seen since birth (he promptly began to cry, too, when she held him at first, but that's normal for him now... there were a lot of new faces, and he freaked. Even cried at Mommy and Daddy! Sheesh... so sensitive...) Now, I'm not an outdoors-y person. I can appreciate the cabin, in that it's a way to "get away", but I was perfectly "away" in our B&B. The only way for us to "get away" now would be to leave Jeremiah at Grandma's for the weekend, and get away without him, because it's tough to feel like you're on vacation with a baby--he still needs his regular naps, still needs to be fed, changed, rocked, hugged, held, loved, etc. For me, these are my day-to-day activities. So while we may have been away from home, I was still "working". If anything, my job was more difficult, because at the cabin, there's really no place you can put a sleeping baby that's away from everyone (where it's quiet and he'd be undisturbed). That was if you could get him to sleep to begin with! Too many people, plus too much new stuff to look at equals too little sleep for Jeremiah. The entire weekend, he went to bed 2-3 hours past his normal bedtime, and had very few naps.... So yeah, not very relaxing for Mommy.

Daddy, on the other hand, doesn't get to do so much with Jeremiah during the week, so I guess it was still an "away" time for him. And he got to do some shooting, and visit with his family, so he enjoyed himself. I'm not saying I DIDN'T enjoy myself.... It was nice seeing Jeremy's family again. It was just difficult to "relax" with Jeremiah in tow.

Jeremiah survived the drive well. We had to stop more often than if it were just us two, so that Jeremiah could get changed and fed, but otherwise it was okay. Jeremy got a good upper body stretch a couple of times, and Jeremiah would get hungry outta nowhere, so Jeremy would feed him while driving (I had to do it yesterday--couldn't take the screaming anymore while stuck in traffic... I don't recommend it... Sore today.)

Aside from a bad pedicure that now has me on antibiotics (not fun...), nothing else is new! Hopefully we'll get to the pool this week. That's my goal in life (for this week at least). I try to shoot for the stars, y'know? :-)

Will He Do It???

Jeremiah is trying to show "Mommy" how he can roll over--except, he never actually does. But it's still pretty cute to watch! So apparently, he'll roll over all he wants to, so 'long as the camera ain't rollin'...

Sigh... I'll get it one of these days.

The first time he rolled over was when we were in Mexico. He did it once, and only once (though that was back to front, this is front to back). Then he started doing it ALL THE TIME last week. He has a new "cry" that he uses when he's rolled over while sleeping, and can't roll back (he doesn't like it one bit...) We'll be watching tv, we hear him crying, and know, "Oh! He's rolled over." We then proceed to go downstairs to roll him back onto his stomach.

Silly baby.

For now, enjoy!




P.S. This video is pretty long, and not much happens.... Just uber cuteness!

Random Cuteness

Post bath--so cute! All nice and clean!

"Sheesh, don't just stand there lookin' at me, takin' pictures... Get me outta this crib, Mommy!"

From "The Farm"

Tuckered out--he was so tired, he didn't let go of his ducky rattle
all the way upstairs to our room!

Hanging out with Grandmom.... The bib says it all--Adorable. :-)


Ben, Emilia and Ted, just chillin' at the cabin.

"Future Geneva College Alum"