Photo Friday... and Other Updates

I know, I know... I've been away from my blog WAY too long. I've been going through blog withdrawals. Work has just been INSANE, but now it has cooled down a bit... until Monday! Anywho... what's been going on in my world, you ask?? Well, besides work, my days (and nights) have been filled with buying stuff for the house and watching Baby Clay grow up so fast right before my eyes!


This past week, Clay has finally learned how to jump in his jumperoo. He LOVES to jump! He will literally jump until he falls asleep... and then he jumps while he sleeps (I'm not even exaggerating)! Here's proof:





He's also getting SO CLOSE to crawling! He now gets up on all 4's without any help, rocks back and forth and then lunges forward to grab for a toy. It's looking like we're either going to have to child-proof the house... or buy one of those baby fences :)! My vote is for the baby fence and he and Monte can hang out in there and have a good ole' time. Speaking of Monte, he and Clay are BFF's... they love each other! Monte follows Clay around and Clay watches Monte's every move. I'm so glad they actually like each other!


Oh, and about the new "much better" video monitor Summer Infant was supposed to send me... well, I got the new monitor and it's even worse than the other one they sent me! Now I can't even get a signal unless I stand right outside his bedroom door. Oh well, I guess I'm just going to stick with my original monitor. At least I know who's baby it is I'm seeing... and they seem harmless enough. Once we move in a couple of months, we'e going to be 1 of 2 families on the block that have a baby (with the other family being our next door neighbors and good friends). I did, however, get one of those Movement and Sounds monitor. Let me tell ya... modern technology is amazing! This monitor has a sensor pad that you put under the mattress and it "senses" the baby's slightest movements. If it doesn't sense a movement for 20 seconds, an alarm goes off on the monitor. It also works as a sound monitor, so I can hear him too. I know, I know... I'm paranoid! The other night I got a little freaked out because while I was rocking Clay, he fell asleep and he all of a sudden gasped for air and started crying... I mean real crying like he was scared or hurt. I was convinced he had that sleep apnea so I made Mark go out and get one of those monitors the next day! Last night was the first night we used it... and the alarm went off... but I think it was because he moved too far away from the sensor. He was sleeping away when I went in and checked on him. Anyways... if it helps me sleep through the night... that's all that matters! I'm sure he's perfectly fine, but you can't put a price on peace of mind!


So, now that I've rambled on long enough, I'm going to quit for the evening. We are going to Scottsboro to check on the house tomorrow. I will be sure to take lots of pictures! They've done so much just in the last couple of weeks! So be looking for a house post this weekend! Ta-ta for now!

Photo Friday - TGIF!!!!!!!

Someone doesn't care too much for bananas... Guess we'll keep trying!

Third Time's a Charm

Or maybe it will be "3 strikes and you're out"!

Well, we got the new (2nd) baby video monitor in the mail the other day and let's just say... well, it was basically a piece of crap! I was supposed to be "upgrading", but I guess in their minds "upgrading" means instead of worrying about seeing other people's kids on your monitor, you now will not see ANYTHING in the video monitor (if you don't have any clue what I'm talking about, you can go here to read the frightful post). It looks all fancy and like it should be good... but it's definitely not worth the $230 price tag (I did not pay that - thankfully - although I did pay $50 and I'm supposed to mail them my original video monitor). I was all excited about it yesterday! I set it up and turned it on... and then re-set it up and turned it on... then went and read the directions (Ha! I never read directions the first time) and after reading the directions, realized that I was setting it up correctly, but it still didn't work right! I could barely see the outline of Clay in his bed and the sound was horrible! It basically had 2 volume settings - none at all or REALLY LOUD! But, at least I couldn't see anyone else's child and I was hoping no one could see mine.

Anyways, I did call the company back to tell them how crappy that "upgraded" monitor was versus the original monitor and they have assured me that I must have gotten a defective product and that monitor is typically an excellent product. They are now going to send me a 3rd monitor and I HOPE that the third time's a charm!

Seeing as how I've found a few minutes in the midst of this mass pandemonium I like to call work to actually do a post, I thought I might also post Baby Clay's first artwork. OK... Baby Clay really did not do this all on his own as I'm sure you can tell by the artistic mastery of this work, but he did hold his hand down on the heart for me to trace (thanks, Lori for the idea... although some little kid one-upped us and did a hand print using paint). The daycare sent these hearts home for us to decorate for the teachers for Valentine's Day. Oh, and by the way... Mrs. Over-Acheiving Mom who totally cheated and scanned the heart onto her computer and then made some perfect collage including her child's picture and printed it out on their color printer - That's just not fair! Thank goodness my child isn't old enough to have a complex about his "un-artistic" mommy making his valentine's heart for his teachers! I only can hope he takes after his daddy in the art department!Anyways... here's the damage in all it's glory. Notice the font I used on "Happy Valentine's Day"... all my years of being a cheerleader and making signs for the basketball player's lockers finally paid off!

Whew! Can we tell it's been a LONG day??!!??

Anyways... Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day!!!

5 Months Old!

I'm a few days late on Clay's 5 month post... but Sunday sweet Clay turned a big 5 months! Wow! I can't believe it's been 5 months already! I remember thinking when I was pregnant how much my life was going to change... not being able to get up and go when I wanted, making sure someone was fed, dressed, etc., never being able to sleep late AGAIN :)... and now that he's here and has been around for a whole 5 months, I can't imagine life without him! We've all just gotten in a good little routine around here. It's amazing how much your life changes, but you don't really even notice because it's the most amazing change!


I usually wait for his doctor's appointment for the weight check, but he doesn't have another appointment until his 6 month well check. I was curious, so I got on my Wii Fit board (which acts as a very accurate scale) and held onto him... it's as I expected... 19.7 lbs! I knew he must be pushing 20 and he didn't disappoint! He needs to slow it down a bit because he's going to start outgrowing a lot of his baby stuff... like his car seat which is only rated for 22 lbs!


So much has changed in the last month! He's now discovered his feet. He LOVES to play with his feet while I'm trying to change his diaper or change his clothes. He's also getting really close to crawling! He pushed up on all 4's last night and was rocking back and forth! He already scoots backwards all over the place. I'll put him down on a blanket on our rug and he'll be on the other side in no time! He LOVES Elmo... what is it with Elmo??? While I'm getting him ready for daycare I plop him in his jumperoo in front of Sesame Street (I know - bad me! I shouldn't be letting him watch TV) and I always know when Elmo comes on because he gets so excited! He also loves Monte. Whenever Monte is in the room he watches his every move. He wants to pet him so bad... but has to be supervised to do this because he is going through a hair pulling phase. We've added Sweet Peas to his menu the other night and he seems to like them. In a couple of days we'll get to add another food... I'm thinking Carrots or Bananas. We're still nursing and he's become a pro at it! He's pretty much given up the paci, but will take it if he's very cranky - mainly to play with it. He still prefers his thumb, which I'm kind of happy about since I don't have to worry about putting the paci in his mouth every time he spits it out. He loves to squeal and I think he does it just to hear himself.


Whew! That's enough for now! I can't wait to see what new things he learns this next month!

We're Getting Close!

Our house is coming along quite nicely... extremely fast, if you ask me! We have spent the last few weekends picking out all sorts of things for it - light fixtures, carpet, faucets, tile, granite, stair railing! It seemed like it was taking forever when they were framing it and working on the outside and now that we've moved to the inside... it all goes so quick! This week the tile goes in and I'm very excited to see how our master bathroom turns out! We've got some gorgeous travertine tile and mosaic tile that is going to go in our bathroom. I've also got some neat square vessel sinks picked out to go on the vanity in there. I'm having an issue with faucets because there's not a whole lot of "budget-friendly" ones that go with the vessel sinks in the bronze color we're using. We're still hoping to move in mid-April!

Here are some recent pictures:

View of the front of the house - We had originally wanted a different color for the outside, but when we looked at another house painted with that same color, it looked like pea soup! I'm glad we decided on this color instead!

Backyard view - That's the garage straight ahead and that's going to be a screened-in porch off of the garage to the right.
View of the kitchen - hardwoods are down!

Balcony Railing is going up!

And my favorite part of the house so far - The gorgeous fireplace - it goes all the way to the ceiling (you can see it in the picture above as well)!

Boo!

Hmmmm... what's with the scary post title you may be asking yourself?? Well, that my friends was Clayton's first word! Just 1 day shy of being 5-months, Clay said "Boo!" and it was the absolute cutest thing in the world! I know it's not a big word or anything, but I like to consider it a big milestone! We were all laying in the bed (and by all - I mean the WHOLE family - me, Mark, Clay and Monte). Clay was laying on his daddy and his daddy was playing with him saying "Boo". For some reason, Clay has always giggled whenever we say "Boo" so it's not surprising that it would be his first word. When Mark said it, you could just see Clay concentrating on moving his mouth in order to copy his daddy... and he said it! It was too cute! Of, course we made a big deal out of it and now he won't say it again, but I'm glad we both got to hear it!


Here is a picture of my 3 favorite guys...

And... I'm Back!

Wow! It's been a B-U-S-Y, busy week! One of my jobs where I work is to get some govenment reports ready for all of our community health center clients that they have to turn in around mid-February every year. This year, the government decided to throw us a curve ball and add all sorts of new (difficult to report on) things. So, I have been working on these for the last couple of months. I thought I had everything taken care of to release this past Monday... but like always, something came up and I had to work around the clock (and I do mean AROUND THE CLOCK) to get them done. I deployed them yesterday and I am a much happier person now! I think I got in my 40 hours by yesteday evening!

Anyways... this past weekend we headed over to ATL for a wedding shower we hosted for our 2 great friends, Jason and Leigh. They are getting married in May and I'm soooo excited about the wedding! It's going to be a blast! (Random side note: I am VERY creatively challenged so I have enlisted Leigh's design skills and she is helping us with our new house... so if people like what we've done, I totally cannot take the credit for it! Thanks, Leigh!) And, of course, I've got some pictures from the shower (although, I can't take credit for these either - I stole them from my friend Christy who also helped us host the shower).

The Hostesses w/the Bride-to-Be

Jenny, Leigh, Christy, Me

And this was before the wine :)

My ultra-sexy husband :)
The guys - Mark, Ryan, Jason, and Rob

Group Picture
Jenny, Mark, Me, Kristin, and Melissa

Clay got to stay with Nana and G (my parents) overnight for the first time and he did great! I'm getting so good at not getting upset when I leave him overnight! I definitely need the practice because we are going to Vegas in mid-March and I'll be away from him for 4 nights!!! Don't worry, I'm sure there will be plenty of activities/beverages that will keep my mind off of missing him... Wait! I take that back, I will totally not stop missing that sweet baby!!


Speaking of that sweet baby... he must have some amazing antibodies floating around inside of him!! Last week in daycare, kids (and teachers) were dropping like flies! He was the ONLY baby in his class (with the exception of one baby that only comes a couple times a week) that managed to not get the nasty stomach virus! He was even in class the day the one baby puked all over the floor... and he STILL managed to not get it! I am totally convinced it's the breastfeeding :). He does have a little sniffly nose, but it's not too bad. He's still as happy as always and is still sleeping really good.


And yes, I have pictures of my chubby little monster! I was going to save them for Photo Friday... but it's close enough :)!

Look at those big brown eyes!!!

Daddy washing what little bit of hair he has

I LOVE this one except that it is blurry... boo!

And I LOVE baby feet!

Ummmm... That's Not My Baby!

Lately I have been boasting about how much I LOVE my baby video monitor. I've claimed it's the best thing in the world and the main reason why I get more sleep... I don't have to get up and check on him with every little noise. I can just look at the monitor and see if he really needs me.

So, this past weekend we went to Atlanta for a wedding shower we were hosting and Clay got to stay overnight with my parents for the first time. Since I didn't want him to keep them up by sleeping in their room, I brought the baby monitor along. When we got home, I was setting it back up in his nursery and turned on the handheld monitor to make sure I had the camera lined up just right on his crib. What I saw MAJORLY freaked me out!!!

This is NOT Clay's crib... and that it NOT Clay!!!

I checked the camera and it was turned off. When I turned it back on, Clay's crib showed up. I called the company that makes the baby monitor and they acted like it was no big deal... they obviously have had this reported multiple times. I was basically told that the frequencies the monitor uses are public and if someone near me uses the same monitor, I might be able to pick their's up (and vice versa). You would think they'd warn you of this in the manual because this is a BIG problem! If I can see someone else's baby (and hear them as well) then they can see my baby! They offered to take the monitor back and upgrade mine to a better model that is more secure (for $50 I might add - but worth it since these video monitors are expensive).

So STAY AWAY from the Summer Infant Day and Night Handheld Color Video Monitor!!! This is what it looks like: