It's giveaway time folks

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! THE WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED ON MY MAIN PAGE!

I was not planning on participating, but after entering 100s of giveaways today at the "Fall Y'all" Bloggy Giveaway Extravaganza I was inspired to do my own giveaway.



I am offering "Llama Llama Red Pajama" to one lucky winner! My 2 year old son is crazy about this book. He wants to read it daily and it is so cute! The story discusses fears kids have alone at night when preparing to sleep.

Just leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. November 2, 2007. I will announce the winner on November 3, 2007. Good luck everyone!

Just his size

Since every post I've had for the past week has had pictures, here's another for ya! My parents got Jake a table and chairs for his birthday, but these were backordered. We got them yesterday and put them together after Jake went to bed last night. This morning he was excited to sit down and read his books at his table.

Is it time for cake yet?

Today Jake and I went to a baby shower for my cousin. About half way through the shower, Jake decided he was tired of waiting for cake and decided to help himself.


And here's the cake, after Jake's snack.



I took the last picture just for the blog. I said, I should take a picture of the cake and my mom said, "yeah, so you can blog about it." Ha! Ha! :)

No thanks, I'd rather read

Tonight we had Trunk or Treat at church. Here is what Jacob enjoyed doing.





Yes, my son was more interested in reading a book and playing in the rocks than getting candy. I guess I can't complain. At least tonight he didn't hate his costume!

I think it's time for a diet or possibly even some plastic surgery

Remember this lovely lady? The one who was found in a book we purchased Jake for his birthday. Well, my adorable child had taken to calling this lady, "Mommy!" Well, I guess we see how I look in his eyes.

In another book he turns to this page and says "Daddy."



That's us, the BIG lady and the snowman. Maybe it is time to have the little man's eyes checked again!

Mastering the straw skills

We have been encouraging Jake to use a straw lately; however, he has much more fun pulling the straws out of the cups and playing with them instead of actually using them the drink from the cup. Tonight while we were at the store I found new cups with straws. We bought them and Jake used the straw immediately without trying to pull the straw out.

After dinner I noticed that Jake has acquired one of my quirks. He is a straw chewer! Like mother, like son!



I'm so proud!

Channeling Laura Ingalls Wilder

I have learned that the home decor I spoke about a few days ago is called Primitive decorating. And how I love it! Here is the entire collection of "primitive" decor in our home. You've gotta start somewhere! :)



This is the window which has been a part of my home for the past 4 years, conveniently purchased at the same craft monstrosity as the one I purchased these lovely framed primitive pieces of artwork this past weekend.



And finally, here are the two together, on the wall of our dining room. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to take the picture without showing the mess that is our dining room table!



Welcome to the primitive dining area, don't look too close or you'll see the modern day conveniences.

The cutest monkey around!

As I promised, here are pictures of the early Trick or Treating from Saturday night. I would have had these up yesterday, but Blogger was not cooperating. Jake was not as thrilled with the adorable monkey costume as I was. This was likely due to the 80 degree temperature and the fleece Halloween costume. This does not make for a good combination! Due to the crankiness which ensued during Trick or Treating we skipped the hayride.

Oh, the aching feet...but it was worth it!

This morning my mom, aunts, cousins and I all went to a craft fair. Each year our family pilgrimages to the craft monstrosity and we all purchase large amounts of gifts and craft decor for our homes. Here are my purchases from today's pilgrimage:



I have a new decorating passion (which apparently most of America does too since it is was EVERYWHERE today), it's rustic. I love antiques, but haven't ever purchased many. I have an old window which hangs in my dining room. I love it! My husband is not a big fan and likes to make fun of the window. Well, as you can see, there are new "rustic" purchases. On the far right, there are two pictures. I LOVE them. They were all over the craft monstrosity today and I was a major fan.

I also purchased some fall decor, which my home is desperately in need of. Don't you just LOVE the pumpkin on the left. Or the pilgrims? So cute! The snowman teapot is for our interim babysitter as as "thank you" for putting up with the crying, screaming and gnashing of teeth, which she has endured. SSSHHHH! Don't tell her!

Thanks to my dad for watching the rambunctious redheaded 2 year old while we shopped this morning. I believe they both had an enjoyable time.

Currently the house is quiet as napping ensues all around me. We have lots of plans this evening such as early trick or treating for family members and a possible hayride with other family. Of course, pictures will be included, which I am certain each and every one of you are sitting on the edge for your seats for.

Check this out!

As is usual, when I'm off work for a few days it is very busy when I get back, which causes my brain to shut down once I get home and makes for difficulty in being creative when it's time to blog.

Since my creativity is limited right now here are some links for you to check out.

First is my new BFF, Liz. Liz is a working mother of a nearly 2 year old boy, who, conveniently is lives near me! How exciting! We've been emailing back and forth lately and I've declared she's my new BFF! I hope she agrees...if not, then I'll just be an embarrassed, but at least no one can see my face change shades! :)

Second is the perhaps the best love story I have heard EVER. Ree at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is telling the story of falling in love with her husband. Oh, it's better than any fiction story I've ever read!

Third is Crystal at Money Saving Mom. I have a new addiction, reading her blog! As you may have recognized in the past, I love figuring out ways to save money and Crystal has some great ideas!

Happy reading! Jake and I are traveling west to visit my family for the weekend so the posting may be scarce, but I have a few fun ones in mind and I plan to pack the digital camera cord so be prepared for some pictures! :)

Why is the "blogger's block" only happening for the title?

I accomplished my list of activities for the day, so I guess you could say it has been a good day. I am still in my pajamas and despite the bath I gave Jake this morning, his hair is sticking to his head (putting fruit in your hair during lunch does that). Needless to say, my chores for the day are not over, nor are they ever when you're a mother.

Tomorrow it is back to the routine of our typical daily lives, which includes me going back to work. It's always so difficult to come back after being off for a few days. I know my calendar is jammed full tomorrow and I have items due within days of getting back, so I am sure I'll be nicely stressed tomorrow at this time.

But I'll try to forget about that for now and continue on about my evening in denial that in 12 hours I'll be traveling to the workplace.

10 minutes of thinking and still no title comes to mind...

The events we accomplished today were as follows:

-- Got out of bed around 8:40 a.m. (hallelujah!)
-- Ate breakfast
-- Showered
-- Took Jake to show him off at work
-- Jake and I went to library for his first visit (after all, books are his favorite toys). He loved it. We participated in storytime as well.
-- Got lunch
-- Came home
-- Nap time (for Jake, not me)
-- Supper
-- Bedtime

Tomorrow's events are to:
-- Clean my bedroom, including changing sheets
-- Vacuum ENTIRE house]
-- Organize Jake's closet
-- Laundry

I think that will keep me busy for my last day off. I hope I will be motivated to accomplish the list.

By the way, Jake is doing fabulous, until it's time for the diaper change. Then the wrestling match occurs.

Where's Jake-o?

Yesterday the weather was beautiful, the air was cool and football was being played. So what would a family of three do? Go to a Pumpkin Patch.

We loaded up and headed to an orchard nearby which has fall activities. We enjoyed the smells of apple cider and the festivities. Jake played in the kid section, which included the slide of terror (at least in Jake's eyes it was terrifying), a corn maze and big kid swings. After spending time in that area, we headed to the petting zoo, where we saw "damas" (llamas), a camel, some weird cow, goats (which we fed and were very hungry), donkeys, and even kangaroos (which, disappointedly, were sleeping).

We let Jake pick out a pumpkin, just his size, which he insisted on carrying (or lugging it 2 feet, putting it down for a few seconds, picking it back up and then lugging it 2 more feet). It was long trip to the car.

Here are a few pictures of Jake enjoying the pumpkins, I wish I had pictures of the "damas" or kangaroos, but my darn camera's battery died.

Go Big Blue!

I knew I moved to the heart of the bluegrass for a reason!

This is a perfect one!

Go Cats!

Help!

I need some help from the internets!

I am teaching Children's church tomorrow and I need a lesson! Yes, procrastination is my middle name. I have thought about the lesson a couple times in the past week and I would like to do something with a fall/Halloween (Christian type) theme.

Last year I did the Christian's are like Pumpkins illustration so I don't really want to do that again. A lot of the kids were there last time I did it.

I am leaning toward a lesson about the fall, but what can I do? I'm open to all suggestions, even if it isn't season or theme related.

I need something that will last about 30-40 minutes.

If you have any great ideas (and I know you all do), please let me know. Or if you know where to find great ideas, please send me a link!

THANKS!!! :)

A Reese Cup or 2, just what the doctor ordered!

I should have known it would be a rough morning. Actually, I anticipated it would be, but I hoped that it wouldn't be, which caused my outlook to be more optomistic, which lead to disappointment when it was a difficult morning. (Yes, that sentence was long and probably confusing, if you followed it and did not become confused, congratulations! For those of you who didn't follow it, read on).

This morning Jake was scheduled for a quick outpatient surgery. We had to be there at 7:30 a.m., which means leaving around 7 a.m. to get there timely. I planned to let Jake sleep until 6:55, then wake him up, get him dressed and leave. This would have worked, except I didn't tell Jake and I had a rough night sleep. I was scared I would wake up late and we would be late to the hospital, so much so I actually dreamed that we were late. I woke up from that dream around 1:47 a.m. From that point on I woke about every hour, checking the time and then trying to get back to sleep. When I woke around 5:07 a.m. I heard Jake in his room talking and the music from the aquarium playing.

It was only 5:07 a.m. I had atleast another good hour of sleep. I decided to just leave him in there, hoping he would go back to sleep, which he did not. Finally I rolled out of bed around 6:12 a.m. and took a shower. Then I got everything ready for the hospital and finally got Jake out of bed around 6:45 a.m., only a few minutes before schedule. He was wide awake and ready to get up! Thank goodness he is still in the crib (and hasn't figured out how to get out of it) or else this morning's plans would not have worked out.

As soon as we walked out the door and Jake hadn't had breakfast, the whining began. The whining that was so loud I thought my head would explode. He never cried, he only whined. I wish he had just cried, it would have been much less annoying than hours worth of whining.

We waited about an hour and a half before he went back for surgery. He whined the ENTIRE TIME! I hate whining, this is something we are going to have to STOP!

The surgery lasted only 15-20 minutes, start to finish. Everything went wonderfully and just as expected, he is running around the house tonight and you would never know anything happened, until it's time to change his diaper and mean mommy has to use ointment on him. Plus, he has inconveniently had p**py diapers twice since coming home, which may have SOMEthing to do with the 2 Reese's Cups I gave him. I felt bad for the baby, I starved him this morning and then he was cut on...he deserved some chocolate and peanut butter.

Now I am planning out the details for my 2 days off with him next week. If he is going to be feeling this good then, there is some fun to be had...as long as the whining doesn't continue! Maybe I just need to stock up on Reese Cups!

Week 3 -- Better

A few of you have asked how daycare is going with Jake. This week has been better. He didn't cry at all today when I dropped him off, a huge improvement from two weeks ago. He has grown attached to "Eser" (Esther) and follows her all around the house. This week and next he will only be there for 3 days, which helps him as well.

Friday Jake has a minor surgery scheduled. No matter how minor the surgery, it's still scary for mom and dad. So, Friday morning we will get up early and head to the hospital for a supposed minor, quick outpatient surgery.

On a completely different note, we are currently watching "Ghost Hunters" on SciFi and it is so freaky. Ghosts scare me, but I am so intrigued by this show.

Enough with the randomness.

Night!

The real 200

Thanks for all the birthday wishes for Jake! He is still coming down from the Birthday high...maybe it was more of a sugar high...not sure!

I mentioned in the last post that it was my 200th. I was wrong. Imagine that! This post is my 200th. I don't have any big celebrations, but I plan to tell a few stories I mentioned in my 100th post. After all, it only took me over 100+ posts to tell them.

For now, here's a snippet of a book that we gave Jake for his birthday. I guess I should have read the book a bit closer before I purchased it. How rude!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

I'm a few days late, but it's better late than never!

I am now the mother of a 2 year old.

Friday was Jacob's birthday. The 2 year anniversary of the day I was fillet'd like a fish to birth a 10lb baby. That sounds pleasant, doesn't it? :)

Friday morning Jake woke up at 5:30 a.m. Much too early for me. But luckily, he did so just in time for us to switch on the news and see his name scroll across the screen for the birthday list.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then we continued on with our regular activities. Donnie and I off to work, Jake to "Eter's Ouse," where a special cinnamon roll was waiting for him. Friday night we went out to eat to celebrate the big 2!

Saturday we had a small birthday party for him with some family. He loved it. I didn't know if he would comprehend that it was actually a birthday party for him, but he did. He sang "Happy Birthday" and grinned from ear to ear. He had a grand time. His favorite gifts were the books he received. He is such a bookworm.

Now we are facing the terrible twos. Let's just hope this year flies by! Enjoy the slideshow. By the way, this is post #200!

Week 2 -- Runny Noses

I'm sure you all are tired of listening to me talk about Jacob's adjustment into different childcare. Too bad! Here's another post about the subject!

Jacob has done alright this week. My dad came over on Monday and Jacob got to hang out with him at our house that day. He did fine, of course! Tuesday Donnie was scheduled to go in late to work, so Jacob and he hung out at home until 11:30. Due to this he did well that day as he slept most of the day when he was with Ms Esther.

Today he had a full day. He broke my heart when I left him, as he did his typical crying session. This morning was a little different though. As I was pulling out of the driveway to leave I saw him standing at the door with tears streaming down his face, crying, and waving saying, "Bye Bye Mommy."

Needless to say I spent the next 2 minutes wiping the tears and pulling myself together to go in to work. Jacob adjusted soon after I left and had a good day. Hopefully that will continue.

In other news, we are all fighting off colds, including Jacob, the upcoming birthday boy! He'll be the big 2 on Friday! I can't believe it has already been 2 years. I feel like yesterday I was still pregnant with the 10lb baby. But more on that on Friday!

I've had such riveting posts lately, huh? Maybe those will improve soon!