More photo shoot pics!

So we decided to try once again to get some family shots for a possible Christmas card. These came out well, and since they didn't have an annoying watermark running through our faces, we could actually see what the pictures looked like, and were able to order a few. Here're some highlights.

Finally! House pics!

I finally got around to neatening up enough to take pictures of the house. I tried to put them up in a 'tour' fashion. Hope it makes sense. This is the upstairs, as from the top of the steps, and down the hall. The last two pics are of "the man cave" a.k.a. "Jeremy's Domain Where No Woman Dare Go." Well, here ya go!

The 3rd Bedroom (a.k.a. Playroom/guest room)

The 2nd Bedroom (a.k.a. "The Glorified Closet")

The Hall/Guest Bathroom (exciting, huh?)



The Nursery!!! Isn't it fun?? I painted it all by myself!

More Nursery shots--see? Jeremiah likes it (though he's supposed to be napping right now....)

The "Master Suite" (sans master bath... didn't feel like getting it 'photo-worthy')

The Master, yet again.

THE MAN CAVE! (You can kinda see the 'tv'... At least, the edge of it [on the right])

Ready, set, GAME ON!! (wet bar and fridge included.)

Now that I've got 'em....

The Main Level

The Entryway/Front Door

The Powder Room

The view from the hall, the "Breakfast Nook"

The "Family Room," complete with Christmas Tree, of course.

The view from the family room.

The Kitchen

The Dining Room

From the dining room, we enter the living room.

View from the living room.

The "I don't know what to do with this space" room, a.k.a. The Living Room again.

The Entryway, once again.

Psyched!

If only it were July already....

http://atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm

Good for him!

Dad sells son's 90-dollar video game online for more than 9000 (after catching him smoking pot.)

Ha ha... the link says, "canadainternetdrugchristmasoffbeat".

Christmas Photos

Last Sunday, we took Jeremiah to get some Christmas shots done. Some of them came out okay, some of them not-so-much. I'm disappointed with the Steeler shots, pesonally... I don't think they're the most flattering, at least of me, but I digress...

Here's the link, if you wish to view (and if you're feeling saucy, you can even order a few!) The password to view the album is "Jeremiah29".

We were going to order some, but the turnaround to getting these proofs was over a week, and there's no way they'll be ready in time for me to send along with my parents to Portugal for my Grandmother. Oh well. Maybe we'll take him to picture people, and I can use my coupon for a free sheet and 20% off. We'll see!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Uncle James!

My "middle" brother, James, turns 19 today. Crazy. That means he can now legally drink in Canada (unless you're in Quebec, Alberta or Manitoba--they've been schloshed for a year now!) Not that James would do so, even if he could... He's a good boy.

And it's not like he'll see this, since he doesn't have internet access up there in school (he goes to UTI right outside of Philly.) But it's the thought that counts.

Happy Birthday, James!



I couldn't find a recent pic of him, but these are pretty close. It'll have to do. :-)

Note: This is Heath Ledger as the Joker in the new Batman:The Dark Knight movie.... not actually James. lol :-)

Guess we'll let blogger handle the videos from now on....

Seems to be more reliable, at least....

Darn you, Google Video!! You made my night quite frustrating!!! GRUMBLE!!!

How 'bout this one?

Real Quick...

Been trying to get some videos on here for a while, but Google is being stupid--half my videos didn't upload, though it thinks they did! Grr...

So for now, here's a schmorgasboard of vids from Us Wilcox Types:


Update: Okay, so apparently they're not working now... I give up on Google Vid... time to try something new.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly....

The Good:

We had a very nice weekend, for the first time in a long time. Usually our weekends consist of long to-do lists with not much getting done, which leaves one frustrated and annoyed. Well, after last weekend (our party), there wasn't much we needed to do around here, so we got to chill.

Jeremy needed to get his glasses fixed, so we packed up the family and headed out to Clarendon (where we used to live). Jeremy got his glasses fixed, and as we walked back to the van, we passed by Cheesecake Factory. After much arm twisting, we stopped for lunch. And what a nice time we had! They were really great--brought Jeremiah a plate of bread and banana slices just for him (which he loved!) He spent the rest of his time flirting with all the waitresses, and was a good boy, for the most part.

After lunch, Jeremiah fell asleep in the van, so we ran a couple of errands and then drove out to Bull Run Park to look at the Christmas lights. Well, turns out the "Festival of Lights" can be yours for the low low price of $20.... No. That's alright. We found a shortcut, where you can drive through the last part of it for free, and that was more than enough for Jeremiah.

Then it was bedtime! And that was it! What a nice day.

The Bad:
So the Steelers played the Patriots Sunday... and lost.... badly... 34-13??? I mean, c'mon, there was NO reason for Brady to still be in the game when they were up by 3 touchdowns with two minutes left! Sheesh. Whatever. This is going to make Christmas Eve at my Uncles (my family's from New England, after all) very annoying.... He's gonna be blah-blah-blahing all night about it! Booo.... Oh, look at the time, we gotta get Jeremiah to bed, g'night! :-)

The Ugly:
I woke up yesterday with a nasty stomach bug. It was nooooo fun! Thankfully, I was able to convince Jeremy to come home and take care of Jeremiah so I could rest. I'm feeling much better today, as a result. And now Jeremy knows what I do all day, but not because he did it! Jeremiah didn't get out of his pajamas once, there were piles of dishes all over the kitchen, there's laundry in the washing machine from Sunday that will probably need to be re-washed, there were crumbs all over the floor from Jeremiah, etc, etc, etc.... I guess I do a lot more than I thought I did. :-)

Sunday we got pictures done of us as a family (haven't seen them yet, but hopefully I look alright--Jeremy and Jeremiah, of course, looked very handsome, so they may have to carry the picture.) I'm hoping to get them soon, so we can figure out what we want to order. We're not doing gifts or Christmas cards outside of our family this year (no extra money--figured the party was gift enough, right?? :-) But if we've got a good pose, then we may print a couple of those out for everyone. We'll see. At the very least, we'll have something here on the blog.

And that's all. Time to go get ready for some more Christmas shopping! Missed a day because of yesterday, after all.

Jeremiah-isms...

~Jeremiah has learned what a "big stretch" is. When he wakes up, whether from a nap or bedtime, as soon as you put him on the changing table, he'll reach his arms up and stiffen his whole body for a really good stretch, a.k.a. big stretch. When he's acting up during a diaper change, we just say, "BIG STRETCH!" and usually he'll do it, at least long enough for us to strap his diaper on...

~Trying to put socks and shoes on a toddler isn't always easy, but lately Jeremiah's been pretty helpful--if he see me pull out some socks, he'll lift his right foot up, so I can put them on him. However, he only does it with his right foot. Apparently, his left foot doesn't require a sock, but his right requires two... Unfortunately, shoes are a whooooooole other story.

~Everyone, repeat after me: "Shoes are for feet, hats are for heads. Shoes are for feet, hats are for heads." Now, can someone help me explain this to Jeremiah (who keeps trying to take off his hat and replace it with a shoe....)

~Everything is amusing, if you can play peek-a-boo with it... Hands, napkins, plates, glasses, counters, corners, doors, chairs, etc, etc... And boy does he laugh.

~When I was a little girl, little enough to still drink bottles before bed, I would twist my hair around my finger and stroke it while I drank (never stopped playing with my hair, though I did give up the bottle eventually...) Oddly enough, Jeremiah's hair has gotten long enough where he, too, can twist and stroke his hair whilst drinking. It's so cute!

~He's mastered the "taking out" side of "in and out". He has yet to figure out how to put things back "in". Like all the water bottles left over from the party--they're all on the floor, at least until Mommy puts them back in the tubs. And then Jeremiah takes them all out again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

~Apparently, spoons are meant to be on the floor--fingers are all that's needed to eat! And after a drink, you must throw your cup on the floor as well. Don't worry, Mommy will pick it up when you're thirsty again....

~Speaking of eating, Jeremiah's decided he doesn't like to do it much anymore. Unless it's a cookie--excuse me,--"cracker". At least, they're cookies disguised as crackers, but I digress... Babycenter says it's a phase babies go through. Hopefully so--he goes off formula in a month now, and unless he starts eating his foods again, well, it just won't make Mommy happy.

~If there are no buttons to press that makes it light up, a cell phone must be thrown on the floor. And if there are buttons to press that make it light up, press those buttons, and then throw the phone on the floor. Finally, whine and fake-cry until Mommy picks it back up for you, then repeat.

~Oh yeah, he recently figured out that sticking his fingers deep into his mouth will cause whatever food is in there (whether he likes it or not) to come out--along with whatever he ate before that. (Ewww, gross... But he does it almost everytime he eats now... Very annoying...)

~Mommy's hair is there for pulling... and that's all.

~Daddy's glasses are for breaking.... and that's all.

~Opening and closing empty cabinets (or cabinets with bowls/plates/toilet paper/etc...) is okay, but opening and closing cabinets that contain chemicals is more fun. I don't understand why they're locked now....

~And finally, the best thing to do with the mail, whether bills or magazines, is to rip them up. Christmas is gonna be fun. :-)

Happy 11 months, Jeremiah!

We're having a big boy lunch at Glory Days right now, and he keeps trying to eat the crayons...

Oh, and I've learned that he's afraid of balloons... at least the green one a nice lady at Wal-Mart was kind enough to give him.

Let's try it this way.

Google doesn't want to authenticate my videos.... I don't know what it means by that, but it won't let me upload them until it does. So the heck with them, we'll try using blogger instead.

Cleaning out the camera, part 3.

Our First Snow, here in NoVA! While it's snowed since he's been born, this is the first time Jeremiah's had a chance to play in it. Look at all that snow! Three-four inches, at least!
That's a lot for around here.

Video coming soon...

Cleaning out the camera, part 2.

Jeremiah's first time playing in the leaves!

Hello, Jemiah!!! :-)

Cleaning out the camera...

A few 10-month pics, as we approach Jeremiah's 11 month. Good times!

Word to the wise...

When you're Christmas shopping this holiday season, and you get in on a Slickdeal, don't post in that thread that you bought it... ESPECIALLY when the person you're shopping for also shops on Slickdeals....

Yeah....

Sigh....

Post-placenta brain, strikes again!

The Second Bi-Annual Season's First Christmas Party!

Finally have a chance to write down all the craziness that was our Christmas party, as Jeremiah is here with me in the van, taking a nap. Well, actually, he just woke up, so I may continue this from inside the house, but here we go!

Saturday night, we had our Christmas party, and boy what a crazy time! Total, we had 37 people attend, 11 of which were kids! We were supposed to start at 4:30, but that was delayed by a few minutes (because of our guests--everyone decided to be fashionably late, which was just fine with me! Those that were on time were such a great help in getting things all set up, so thank you to them!!) My parents had come over early to help with last minute things, and it's a good thing they did! About an hour before the party, Jeremy discovered that the keg he had bought was FLAT! So he had to take it back to Total Wine, which left me down a person to help. Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa were more than willing to help finish cooking and decorating.

Food wise, I went a little nuts, like I usually do, though everything on the menu was made in advance and needed little time to prepare on the day-of. For savory items, I made Scallion & Egg Pancakes (tasted like the scallion pancakes from the chinese restaurants--the egg was barely noticeable, which was what we were going for. After all, it was only to be a vessel to keep the scallions in place.), Chicken Quesadillas, Crudities with Hummus, Cheese & Crackers, Chickety-China the Chinese Chicken Wings, and my Mom made Stromboli. Mmmm.... Desserts, we had Magic Cookies (7-layer bars), "Fire-starter Bars" (Orange & Nut Bars), Peppermint Mocha Brownie Balls, double chocolate brownies, lime coconut snowballs, and my Mom made cranberry bars. I had spent all day worrying that we would run out of food, and at the end of the party, everyone was stuffed, and there was PLENTY left! We'll be eating scallion pancakes and quesadillas for a while.... Thankfully, we were able to give some desserts away, and Jeremy took a bunch to work, but there's still a lot left... I froze some, so we'll have those throughout the holiday season.

Here're a few highlights:

~We set up the spare room upstairs with all of Jeremiah's toys, and a couple of mattresses--by 5p.m., all the kids were up there, running back and forth on the mattresses as if they were a moon bounce! It was quite a sight to see!

~One of our guests came in, said, "Hi, Jess, how are you, thanks for inviting me, I just locked my keys in my car. Hopefully someone here has AAA." lol I thought he was kidding at first, but then he walked up with his cell phone an a AAA card, and asked if I would help give the guy directions.... Guess he was serious. :-) This same guest later went on to win a consolation prize for having his gift stolen the most during the Yankee Swap, and then proceeded to leave both his gift and prize here at the house. :-) We gave it back to him so if he was leaving it on purpose, HA HA! :-)

~We had a few gift cards going around the swap--two of them iTunes, one for $15 and one for $25. I think those two got stolen almost every turn--someone would steal the $25, and then that person would steal the $15, and then the next person would steal the $25 from the first person, and so on and so forth. Pretty funny stuff. I think most people left with something they were happy with, so that worked out well!

~Of course, video game madness ensued after the party was over. Jeremy was challenged to a Guitar Hero showdown, and while he played to the crowd pretty well, I think he missed the mark on scoring higher than his opponent. Stephin then stepped in for the GH pwn-age.

And that was that in a nut shell. Thanks to everyone who came, and extra thanks to those of you who brought us a bottle of wine, cookies, or other gifts! They're very much appreciated, and meant a lot, so thank you! And hopefully, we'll see you all at next year's Semi-bi-annual Seasons First Christmas Party--or whatever it'll be called. :-)

If only I had a placenta to blame this on....

As most of you are probably aware, we had a little bit of a shin-dig here in the ole abode last night (more on that coming soon...) In preparation for said event, I had much cooking and baking to do. "Magic cookies", brownies, peppermint mocha balls, key lime snowballs, quesadillas, pancakes, etc, etc, all needed to be cooked up and ready to go ahead of time.

One particular item, though, caused a bit of, uh, drama in our house this past week. For those of you who at an Orange & Nut Bar, perhaps you realized that there were toasted almonds along with a generous drizzle of chocolate on top. Note these two items require an application of heat in order to achieve the desired result.

Well, Thursday night, I crept into the kitchen to prepare these bars. I had made the cookie bottom ahead of time, so all I needed to do was spread the marmalade, sprinkle on some toasted nuts, and drizzle on some chocolate--done! I put a pan on the stove to toast the almonds, and went off to melt my chocolate. For some reason, though, I had the great idea to use a cheap plastic cup for the chocolate, instead of something a bit more heat resistant. Into the microwave it goes!

Back to my almonds. Put those in the pan, they started warming up nicely, but needed a stir. What do I do? I thought I'd practice my chef pan-tossing skills so I wouldn't have to dirty a spoon (and it would actually flip the almonds around, to ensure equal browning.) I actually did alright, save for a couple of strays that fell outta the pan.

Back to the chocolate. Whilst flipping my almonds, I started smelling a bit of smoke, so I opened the microwave to see what was going on. Out comes a huge plume of smoke (stinky smoke, too, not pleasant smelling smoke.... burnt plastic smelling smoke... and chocolate.... it's not a good combination.) Quickly, I slammed the door shut and tried to assess what was going on from the outside. Hmmm... nothing was on fire, so I gave it a minute to, uh, relax?

Next thing I know, smoke starts billowing out from underneath the frying pan on the stove! Apparently, almonds, with their high oil content, will ignite when applied to a heat source in excess of 500 degrees... Luckily, it was only a few slices, which I quickly moved off the heating element (had it been a gas stove, they would have been ashes before I even noticed they were there...) and all was well.

The chocolate, turns out, burned a hole in the cup it was in.... and was an interesting shade of black... Needless to say, that got chucked and I used a glass vessel for the working batch.

All this, in the span of maybe a minute? Two? Yeah... Jeremy just laughed at me.

At least I didn't leave eggs to hard boil on the stove before leaving the house for two hours, SANS placenta. I would have to say that's a completely legitimate "oops" to make when baby's sucking the brains outta ya. :-) Jeremiah musta gotten a little extra, though--he's just discovered his nostrils, and that his fingers fit within them..... yeah....

New look.

I really dislike the templates that blogger allows you to choose from. But, it was time for a change (I know, big change, huh?) as I was getting sick of the old look. I've got a great template designed in my head, but until I get Photoshop back on my laptop, this will have to do (unless some tech savvy friends o' mine offer to help me... it'd be super simple to do, I just don't have the 'hardware' to pull it off.)

So for now, enjoy this and hopefully we'll see something fresh coming soon.

A bit frustrating...

I don't know what's going on with him, but Jeremiah just refuses to take his naps now...

Once he actually falls asleep, he's good for at least an hour, usually 1.5. But it's getting to sleep that's been difficult....

He used to be a good boy and just fall asleep after drinking his bottle. But now that he can walk around his crib, as soon as I put him down, he pops right up. Occasionally, he'll let me rock him to sleep, but the past couple of days, not even that will work (and I will not sit there and rock him for an hour.... especially since he likes to push himself up, look around, then lay back down, then get up again, pull my hair, lay back down, get up, try to twist off my lap, then lay back down again, etc, etc...)

So I dunno what to do. He seems too young to go down to one nap.... I know he's tired because if we're out and about, he does the whole yawning thing, and blinks the whole way home... Usually, I'm shouting at him to keep him awake, "We're almost home, Jemiah! We'll be there soon, and then you can sleepy-time! Don't sleepy-time yet! Just a few more minutes, okay??? Okay?!?!" And even when he's just on the brink of sleep, as soon as I take him outta the van, he's wide awake.

I feel bad because usually I'll just leave him in his crib until he "plays himself to sleep". Sometimes, though, that can be hours.... Like right now. I put him in his crib at 3:30 (completely appropriate naptime for him, not too early, definitely not too late...) and he's still awake. I thought he'd been a good boy and gone right out, but nooooo.... he started playing. Went to check on him, check his diaper, all was well, put him back, and he sounds like he's drifting off.... But any second, I expect him to, "Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah.... Mah-mah-mah-mah...."

Don't know what to do!

Update (Nov. 28th): Well, I'm hoping that by getting him back on schedule today, he'll be more inclined to keep that schedule even if we miss it by a few minutes. That being said, he just took a 2 hour nap! And he went down with little fuss--wouldn't let me rock him, so I put him in his crib, kissed him goodnight, he cried for maybe 2 minutes, and then he was out! Wow. I'm so proud of myself--he hasn't napped like that in a while! Thank you Jesus! :-)

Update (Nov. 29th): Nevermind... I knew it was too good to be true... Grumble grumble...

All decked out!

Today, in post-Thanksgiving goodness, we padded our pad with all sorts of holiday cheer!

Instead of hosting Thanksgiving dinner, we offered to have everyone over today (Black Friday!) for a little bit of "Deck the halls!" And boy do we look good!

My Mom and I worked on the tree while Jeremy and my brothers (and Dad, briefly, before he joined us ladies where it was a bit warmer) put up lights on the front of the house. And I must say, I'm very impressed with the job they did.

Our tree came out "GREAT!" It wasn't easy getting to that point, though. We actually bought our tree on Wednesday, so it would have time to "drop" before decorating. Well, when we got home from dinner last night, we got a good look at it, and HATED IT! It looked great when it was leaning up against other trees, and even when someone is holding it upright. But once it was standing on it's own, all alone in the corner of the family room, well, it looked terrible... So we got up 'early' (not as early as we usually do, since Jeremiah stayed at Grandma's for the night,) packed it up, and took it back to Home Depot. Suprisingly, they didn't give us a hard time (I thought for sure they wouldn't let us take it back... and had a good story ready incase of difficulty...) Well, as soon as we wheeled it in there, the returns gal was already telling another associate, "Oh, wait, you've got something else to take. Got something else for ya." (or something...) She asked if anything was wrong with it, I said, "Nope, just didn't fit the space the way we liked," (true--ugly trees have no place in our room! hee hee...) and we were walking out with a returns receipt.

After that, we went to a different Home Depot, hoping for a better selection, and our tree was the first one we saw! It's like it was sitting there, waiting for us! Yay! It's a little fatter than I would have liked, but it's got a great shape, and boy does it look nice now.

I'll post some pictures after our party next week--don't wanna spoil it for those of you who are coming. :-)

And that is that for now. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

A few things for which I'm thankful:

~I'm thankful for my husband, Jeremy, and the blessing he is to our little family--he works very hard so that we can have a roof over our head, food on our table, and Jeremiah can stay home with his Mommy. And after all that work, he comes home and helps put Jeremiah to bed!
~I'm thankful for Jeremiah, and what a blessing he's been to us these past 10 1/2 months! He's the most fun little boy I've ever known, super sweet, and loving, and even though he can drive Mommy up the wall sometimes (and keeps me worrying throughout the day) I wouldn't trade him for ANYTHING--I couldn't have asked for a better son.
~I'm thankful for our families, obviously... As crazy as they are, I can't imagine life without them (nor do I want to!)
~I'm thankful that God has blessed us with our home--another holiday season in our old apartment would have been too much! We now have a house with plenty of room for everything we would need (and then some!)
~I'm thankful that God has blessed Jeremy with a great job--I know it's tough sometimes, and people can be difficult to work with, but it's still wayyyyyy better than his old job!
~I'm thankful that God has blessed us with such great neighbors and a great neighborhood in which to raise our children.
~I'm thankful for all of our friends who have been part of our lives, challenged us, shared life with us, and supported us. I'm thankful that we have Christian couples there to help us out, should our marriage need a helping hand, and (now that we all have kids, pretty much) that our kids can grow up with.
~I'm thankful for our church, and the support it's provided to our relationship over the years, both with each other and our relationship with our Savior.
~I'm thankful for the country in which we live, and how wonderful it is! We're not perfect, but it's still the best place on earth--we're not persecuted for our beliefs, and we have so much more than most, even our poor have more than most of the world.
~I'm thankful for President Bush, and the leader he's been for this country (I'm sure there are many of you laughing at that, probably 75% or so, but this is my blog, and my opinion, and despite his mess ups, he's done a lot of good for this country that has been forgotten. I, too, will be glad come Jan. 09, but only because then it will be someone elses turn for people to find fault in. :-)
~Most of all, I'm thankful that our Lord Jesus Christ was born so many years ago, and then paid the ultimate price so that we can be with Him someday, so that we don't have to worry what will happen when we die, and that He's with us along the way, every day, helping us accomplish our dreams, live lift to the fullest and serve Him. There have been many times in my life where it would have been very difficult to get past what was going on, had it not been for God being there for me, comforting me, helping me... Sometimes faith is not enough... sometimes the peace that only God can give is what's really needed. And even though I've disappointed Him many times (haven't we all!) He's always there, forgiving, with His arms open wide, waiting for me to come back to Him (and how great that moment is!)

Happy Thanksgiving!! What are you thankful for?

Congratulations, Aron & Layton!

They've got a beautiful baby girl!

Hadley Taylor (correct me if I'm wrong on the spelling of that...) was born shortly after 5 p.m. tonight! She weighed in at 7lbs, 15oz, and 19in long!

Mom sounds like she's doing great, so I'm going to assume everyone else is doing well.

Congratulations!! Can't wait to see some pictures! :-)

I know they'll be thanking God for quite a bit this Thanksgiving!

And by the way....

We got the charger in for the camera, so we're back in business!

More pics and videos coming soon! :-)

I'm an idiot.

And apparently, I can't do math.

We ordered Chinese food tonight, mostly because our schedule got thrown off when the neighbors came over to invite Jeremy to go shooting. And Jay was here working on getting our TV up off the table that's been sitting in front of the fireplace. So we ordered Chinese.

Normally, I pay with a credit card, but I had cash today, so I did that instead. The whole time (well, not the whole time, but periodically throughout the time) before the delivery guy showed up, I was mentally calculating in my head how much to give him. Here's a sneak peak at how I do math (at least, this time...)

"Let's see... total is $54.xx (I know, that's a lot, but we got sushi, adds almost $20 right there.) I've got twenty's, so that means if I give him $60 (3 twenty's, right?), ask for $5 back, that'll leave him with a $10 tip."

Uh huh... It made sense in my mind....

Guy shows up, I hand him the $60, ask for $5 back, he gives me a look, I say, "Thank you!", he says 'yep." As soon as I close the door, I tell Jeremy, "Gee... Ya give the guy a $10 tip and all he can say is, "Yep." I can't believe that."

Are you laughing at me yet?

So that kinda bugged me the whole meal! At some point, though, a light bulb comes on, and I say, "Oh no... I didn't give him any tip!" Well, $.35... but that's really more insulting than anything else.

Now I'm even more bugged. I tried to justify it by saying, "Well, they did take an hour to get here..." but that didn't make me feel better. Jeremy says I'll be over it in the morning, and we'll never order from them again (we've ordered from them once before, but we usually order from this other place closer by...) I'm not worried about being blacklisted, or them doing who-knows-what to our food if we do order from them again (wouldn't you?? You'd think about it, you know you would... :-) I just feel terrible for not tippin' the poor guy... That's just wrong.

I think we're going to have to make a stop on the way home from church tomorrow... and then we'll have to stop at Old Navy, because when they rang me up for Jeremiah's outfit, they forgot to charge me for the hat... I noticed, and didn't say anything because I wasn't sure until I left.... And now, everytime I think about it, I hear Jim Supp in my head, saying, "You forgot to charge me for the cup of coffee. Could you add it to my bill?" (Those of you who are Union-ites will get that... Everyone, it's a long story, but basically they forgot to charge him for something [he has several of these to choose from] and he makes a point of going back to pay for it, because it's the right thing to do.) It is the right thing to do, and I've got a few I need to go back and do besides the hat (biggest one is a piece of lingerie from Lord & Taylor that I bought the day we got married... I had two pieces together, and she only scanned one.... But I'm pretty sure they don't sell that anymore, and I'm not sure how much it cost, but it was at least $70... 'Though I think she knew what she was doing, just wanted me to spend more money on makeup [I did.])

Thanks a lot, Jim Supp! You've given my conscience a voice--your's! lol

Moral of the story: Tip your delivery guy, pay for things you buy (even if someone may get in trouble for it! I've gotten a few people in trouble because I've gone back to pay for things I wasn't charged for... I'm sorry!) and don't drink and drive! Yeah....

Thank you, Allison!

She has answered my calls of frustration with a great little website for kid-safe toys.

From their website:

A bit About Us: Hearing about recall after recall we decided we didn't want our children to be exposed to any toxic chemicals. We wanted to be guaranteed that the toys our little ones had were safe as can be. We figured other parents would want the same for their children and decided to launch OrganicToyBox.com. We are dedicated to making the world a safer place for our children.

I checked it out, and the wooden toys they have on there are so cute, and very reasonably priced! I love the Shape Sorter, the ABC Wagon, the Keys, the First Vehicles thing, all so cute! So if anyone was trying to come up with gift ideas for Jeremiah, this is the place to go!

Hmmm.... maybe I'll just place an order anyways.... ;-)

Organic Toy Box

So.... freakin'.... cute....

While at the mall yesterday, trying to help my friend encourage her baby that it was time to be born, I found the CUTEST little outfit for Jeremiah to wear during the holidays.

I wasn't even really looking... I was just wandering around the baby section at Old Navy when I came across it--it's so cute, I may have to rethink getting his pictures done (I wasn't going to, since he'll have pics done again next months, but now....)

Annnnnnnd, we got the matching socks, too. I mean, c'mon, it's so cute! The hat alone is adorable on him (and it fit, surprisingly!) Let's hope he doesn't grow anymore, because I bought it in the largest size available.... Jeremiah! No more growing until after Christmas! Okay? Okay.

The only thing that kinda bugs me about it is that I paid full price... I NEVER pay full price for clothes... There's gotta be a coupon floating around online somewhere....

I also found a BABY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS! outfit for him. This has been a pain in the neck, because most of the "Baby's First" stuff is for newborns. That makes sense... I mean, how many <1 year olds are the size of a two year old???
So.... cute!!

I'd better call picture people before they get overbooked....

Update: Good ole' slickdeals, strikes again. Found a coupon code for free shipping, and orders over $50 get $10 off, so I got a good deal! Woot! :-)

Ridiculous...

"Santas warned "ho ho ho" offensive to women"

This whole thing is getting a bit out of hand, don't you think? A Santa Claus in a mall, saying, "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!" is not going to offend women!

If it does, it's the woman who's got a problem, not Santa.

Sheesh.

At least America is okay with Santa and his "ho ho ho"'s.

I'm not paranoid.

In light of the many many recent toy recalls, I've vowed to be extra careful in my selection of Christmas/birthday gifts for Jeremiah this year. I check the ChinaFreeChristmas site regularly, and inspect everything I consider buying, to determine its country of origin. Good plan right? Shouldn't have to worry about anything Jeremiah gets from Santa this year, right??

Well, turns out, it's a pain in the neck to not buy from China. Most of the toys that are popular are made in China, and those that aren't are really really expensive.

This, for example, is something I thought about getting for Jeremiah.

It's cool, made of wood, and will help him learn his colors, as well as learn to stack things (I'm big on stacking or building--something that actually gets him thinking as opposed to just being amused.) Best part, it's from Poland! "You'll love the price!" CFC said. I clicked on the link to check it out on Amazon--$39! Okay, now, it's cool, but it's not that cool. So I ordered the cheap plastic version from BabyCenter for $5--and it's not made in China. I forget where, I think Italy, but I just remember it wasn't China.

Not that buying China-made toys will mean you're home free of recalls. But I do think twice when something is.

One toy I was interested in for him was the Maxi Modo Blocks by Chicco. They're giant legos, basically, and they were on sale at BabyCenter (tried to order a bunch of stuff to get the free shipping... yes, I will shop somewhere just because it's free shipping [if Amazon doesn't carry it, that is... You can't beat 2nd Day!]) Well, I looked and I couldn't find any info on where it was made. I checked their website, and they're an Italian based company, so I thought they'd be safe, but gave 'em a call anyways (I thought, "What the heck. It's quicker than email.") Customer service answers, and I kinda cringe as I ask, "I was wondering if any of your toys were made in China...?" You could almost hear the gal on the other end rolling her eyes and smiling as she said, "Yes, most of them are." I asked which toys weren't, she told me, and then added, "If it makes you feel any better, Italy has very high standards on what chemicals are used in the production of our toys, even higher than what we have here in the US, and in the time our company has been around, since the 40's, there's never been a recall." Yeah, that does make me feel better. And the blocks are so big, I don't think they'll be going in his mouth (he doesn't chew on the big stuff, just the little stuff.)

I will say this; I'm sure that woman has heard that question a thousand times by now, and lots of people are probably rude about it (she didn't say that, but she implied it.) But she was the nicest gal I've ever talked to at any Customer Service (well, besides Nordstrom. The chic that helped me out when the zipper on my bag was busted was really sweet, too.) So Chicco toys are okay with me!

Thomas the Tank, however.... buyer beware (too bad, too... was thinking about getting this for Jeremiah someday, but not if there are babies around... Maybe Brio's safe...)

Booo....

Jeremiah's been regularly taking a few steps at a time, here and there. I think the record, so far, is about 5. But lately, he's been having a blast trying! This afternoon, I sat on the floor with him, stood him up arms length away, and let him walk to me. He thought it was the absolute most fun, and giggled the whole way (even if he fell on his bottom... so cute!)

Y'know how most parents try to help their babies walk by holding their hands above their head?? Well, Jeremiah won't have any of that. We're allowed to give him one finger, and one finger only! Anymore, and he just gets mad... like we're holding him back, or something.

Things are about to get more complicated!

And hence the booo... All this action going on, and the battery on my camera is dead. We have a backup that we bought, specifically for this reason, but that's dead too. As for the charger, it's no where to be found... BOOO!

We have a real video camera somewhere around here...... Maybe that's not dead. Hopefully either that or the charger will show up soon. Don't walk anymore, Jeremiah! We need to find the camera first!

You think he'll wait???

China Free Christmas

In light of all the recent toy recalls that have been happening lately, someone put together this site/blog that lists a bunch of resources for buying toys that are safe (as far as it is known) to buy for the holidays. There's also info about recalls, and manufacturers for which to watch out.

With the latest recall being Curious George dolls, I wonder if I should take away Jeremiah's Toy Story Woody doll, that he loves to chew on so much. Not that Woody is related to Curious George, but he does love to chew on it.... And it's not a "baby's toy", so they wouldn't have necessarily done lead testing on the paint. Hmm....

Anyways, here's the site.

http://www.chinafreechristmas.info/

It will be in the side bar, as well, should you need it later on.

The countdown begins...

The lighting of the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center will take place on November 28th!

They just got the tree today (well, late last night), and are getting ready to hoist it on up! Woo-hoo! It's from Connecticut, and this year, the in the way of eco-friendliness, they cut it down with handsaws, and will be lighting it with LED lights vs. traditional incandescents.

Of course, our tree will be up long before that one will be. And it will be pretty.

I think I've figured out the solution to the tree problem here... But I don't know how well it will work yet, so we'll let ya know how that works out after Thanksgiving. :-)

Spin Master Recalls Aqua Dots – Children Became Unconscious After Swallowing Beads

This is getting ridiculous--are no toys safe anymore?!?!?!

How is it not obvious by now that the Chinese are trying to kill our kids (in this case, Canada's in on it, too, as the toy's distributor. Does that really surprise anyone????) I mean, c'mon, everyday it's a new recall. What's a mom to do!!

Luckily Jeremiah doesn't really need toys yet. So we're safe.... for now....

Ten Months Old!