Things that go bump in the night

The noise is still there.

Really.  WTF.

I heard it all last night while I was home.  Alone.

When the hubs finally got home, it continued.

He still didn't hear it, but I assure you, it's there.

When we went to bed I was about to open Jamie's door for the night when I heard what sounded like something hit the window.  Then it happened again followed by lots of the horrid screechy sounds.

Convinced whatever it is may now be flying around my home I step back into our room and shut the door.

Out of sight out of mind right?

After a few minutes we finally decided we should probably go investigate.

And by we I mean my husband.  I stood in the bathroom.  With the door closed.

Armed with an ice scraper from the car (hey, it's all we had) and a towel my husband goes to check it out.  I finally got brave enough to leave my hiding place.  Nothing.  We don't see anything, but occasionally I can still hear it and it's still coming from the fireplace.

Defeated we go to bed.

This morning I didn't see anything.  But I'm convinced there is something in my house.  I haven't seen it so I can't be exactly sure what it is, but based on yesterdays incident, chances are pretty good that it's a bat.  Or bats.

And to make matters worse (could it really get any worse?) we are leaving for Ohio today.  And won't be back until Tuesday.  As if spending 10 plus hours in a car with a 10 1/2 month old wasn't stressing me out enough, now I have to fear I'm giving god knows what freedom to party it up in my home for SIX days unattended.  I don't think so.  I got on the phone with some people at Critter Control.  Not an easy task I tell ya.  You tell someone you think it's bats and they laugh in your face and then hang up kindly refer you to someone else.  Thankfully I found someone willing to come out this morning, for a hefty fee, which doesn't include removal once said noise maker is found.  It's basically just to get them in the door.

Upon his arrival he confirms my suspicions.

Bats.  Lots of Bats.  He uses the word colony.  I don't know how many that even means, but one is too many in my book so this is definitely not good.  He can at least pinpoint where they are entering from the outside and where they are then getting into our house.  So that's a plus.  He's going to plug up the house entry point, but he can't do anything about the exterior entry point until August.  That's a month away people.  That's an entire 30 plus days of listening to a noise that I now know exactly what it is.  And I know he's going to stop them from getting into the house, but how well do you think I'm actually going to sleep at night now?  Where there's a will there's a way and I won't be convinced they can't just find some other gateway into my house.

Sigh.  I'm not usually one to be all "woe is me."  But really.  Haven't we had enough go wrong in our lives lately.  When's it my turn for rainbows and unicorns??

Do you hear what I hear?

For the past two nights I have been hearing noises in our house.

Squeaky bird like noises.  High pitched squeals.  A noise I really can't even describe.  But it was loud.   I was convinced there was something trapped in our fireplace.

My husband thought I was crazy.  Every few minutes I would hear this horrid noise and look at him, oblivious to all of it.  I'd be like "you didn't hear that?!" 

Nope.  Nothing.  Nada.

As the evening went on I became less and less concerned about what it was and more and more irritated that he didn't hear it.

I mean really, what is he, deaf?!

Last night I didn't notice it as much.  The husband claims he heard something, but he thinks its a cicada.  Seriously.  That is NOT a bug.  If you think that's what it is you are obviously not hearing the same thing I am.  But whatever.  Neither of us was brave enough to look in the fireplace so we continued to just live in ignorant bliss of what this mysterious noise was.

So this morning I woke up, got ready for work.

Walked down to the basement so I could post the blog I had originally planned for today.

And I see two piles of dog puke.

Lovely.

Then I noticed the rug at that bottom of the stairs is torn up.

Great. 

So first you destroyed my rug.  Ate it.  And then vomited it all over my stairs.

You're already on thin ice dog.  Don't push me over the edge.

I walk past the vomit.  Step over the torn up rug and go towards the computer.

(Yes I fully intended on posting my blog first, then cleaning up the mess.  Priorities people, priorities)

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and stop.

First thought, its a piece of the rug.

Second thought, it's a bat.

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

Tell her what's she won Bob.....

One dead bat.

Gross.

And if you recall, this isn't the first bat we've found in our house.

I turn around calmly.  Step over the torn rug.  Walk past the vomit and go into the bathroom where the hubs was showering.

"Hun....I think I figured out what that noise was"

"Oh yeah....what?"

"A bat." 

"Why?"

"Because there's a dead one downstairs...."

"Awesome. Are you sure it's dead?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask it...."

He tells me he'll take care of it if I will clean up the dogs mess.  Fine by me.  I'll take puke over dead bats any day.  But now I ask myself, where the hell are these bats coming from.  How are they getting in?  Where do we live, Gotham City?  I start picturing thousands of bats living in our fireplace.  Or hiding out in the attic.  And do you know what my husband tells me.  The man who's been telling for days that I'm crazy because he doesn't hear a thing. 

"Oh I'm sure there aren't anymore.  Because if there were....we'd be able to hear them"

Really?!?  Maybe me and my apparently supersonic bat hearing, I'm not so sure about you.

Flashback Friday (and a Jamie update)

Thank you everyone for your comments, tweets, FB messages, emails, texts and phone calls!

Way to make a girl feel loved!

Poor Mr James is hanging in there.  His face rivals that of any heavyweight boxer right now (there are pictures, but I can't bring myself to share them with the interwebs), but he still seems to be his same ole, happy self!  Stitches should come out on Sunday.

As for the dogs.  Well that's still up in the air.

In the end I know we'll make the right choice for our family.

Now, because this blog needs some serious funny......I bring you

FLASHBACK FRIDAY!

I've been toying with this idea for months now.  Seriously.  Months.  Because I had a pretty awesome life pre-blogging days that none of you know anything about.  And how fun would it be to dig into the photo archives of the past and share with you stories of me before I became Mrs. EyeCanSee? So today when I saw one of my favorite bloggers (seriously, her blog was the FIRST I ever followed) The Heir To Blair do one, I figured it was time to get off my lazy butt and join in the fun!  Since I'm at work, my access to photos is limited to those on Kodak Gallery.  So I went and found the oldest one I could.

August 2005

Every summer my friends and I would go camping to an area just south of Columbus called Hocking Hills.  And by camping I mean cabins, indoor plumbing, hot tubs and general 20-something debauchery filled with lots of beer.....and smores.  Well on one of these infamous trips we were also celebrating the soon to be weddings of two different couples.  The guys decided they wanted to have a contest to see which Best Man was "The Best Best Man" and proceeded to craft Jousting Sticks circa 1980s Gladiator.  After they had their fun, my bestie (and bride to be), Nikki and I decided to take a stab at it ourselves.  Bride vs MOH.  I joked and said the winner got the longer train.  If memory serves me correct, I reigned victorious 3 out of all 3 matches, but I still let her have the longer train.  She was the bride after all.

Happy Friday!

The things that happen when you aren't looking

Last night started like any other.  I picked up Jamie, went home, took the dogs out.

When I came back in there was Jamie...sitting in a pool of water, flinging the dogs bowl side to side.

He was grinning from ear to ear.

I was not. 

We've been working on this whole water bowl issue for a week or so now.

It's become his new favorite toy.  Seriously.  The minute you set him down in the kitchen he makes a bee line for it, so I can't say I was really surprised by what he'd done.  I laughed.  Grabbed the camera, took some pictures (cause that's what every good mom does right?  photograph the evidence) then proceeded to clean everything up.

The hubs come home.  He feeds the dogs, I start dinner.  We chat...

I hear Kasey growl and bark, assuming at Moose who's trying to steal his food.

Turn around and see Jamie, on his back, screaming.

My first thought is he got too close, the dog barked and he got scared.

Then I see a cut on his face.  And another by his eye.

He's screaming.  I'm hysterical.  The husband is putting the dogs away.

Neither of us saw what happened, but at this point it's obvious he's been bit.

Once we're calm I realize the one on his cheek is pretty bad.

We pack everyone up and head to Children's Hospital.

At this point Jamie is fine.  Happy.  Playing.  Smiling.  Talking.

I'm a hot mess.  How did I let this happen.  I know he's obsessed with that damn bowl and I know the dogs do NOT like anyone to disturb their eating time.  And now because I was careless, because I wasn't paying attention for 1 second, my baby is hurt.

The nurse takes us back and determines the cut on his cheek will probably need stitches.  And then tells me no short of a million times that dog bites often get infected and yes this will scar.

Great.  More mom guilt.  Way to make me feel like an even bigger piece of crap. 

So they send us back to the waiting room to do just that....wait.

And wait.  And wait.  Until we finally get called back to a room.

By this point it's pushing 8:30.  Well past Lil Man's bed time, but he's still quite happy.

The nurse tells us it's going to be awhile.  And it was.  A loooooooong while.

The doctor finally comes in, determines that yes, it will need stitches, but we have to put the numbing gel on first, which then needs to sit for 20-30 minutes. 

Jamie is finally sleeping, but we have to wake him up to put the gel on.  He screams.  I cry.  The nurse leaves and he falls back asleep.

30 minutes pass and they all come back in.

We have to burrito Jamie in a sheet so he can't move.  The nurse holds his head.  I lay my head on his chest to help hold and calm him and miraculously didn't cry.  I had to be strong for him.  Four stitches and what felt like for.ev.er later we're done.  They give him some motrin, an antibiotic and send us on our way.

It's now been almost exactly 5 hours since we got there.

We're all exhausted.

Thankfully Jamie fell asleep in the car and slept the whole night.

I heard him crying about 6 this morning and went in there to find him sweaty.

Took his temp.  100.9.  Great.  Visions of infection dancing through my head I frantically start searching for the discharge papers.  Unless it gets to 101.5 it's fine.  I give him more motrin.  Some if his antibiotic and a bottle.  The cut by his eye is swollen now and he can't open it, but he was babbling away as if nothing was wrong.  He's such a trooper.  My brave Mr. Boo.

I had to go to work today so he's at home with dad.  I know they'll be fine but I HATED having to leave.  As if I didn't already feel like the worst mom ever, now I can't even stay home with him.  His 4 stitches.  And his swollen eye.

I know he won't remember this.  I'm praying the scar will be small.  I even know that eventually I will get over it because accidents happen, you can't keep your children in a bubble.

But now there's the question of what to do with the dogs.

Honestly.  In my eyes.  They have to go.  Period.  No questions asked.

Accident or not.  I can't worry that it may happen again.  As Jamie gets older, more mobile and more curious he's going to get in their face from time to time.  I can't watch him every second of everyday.  I have to know he is safe when he's on the floor.  Keeping them separated from now until kingdom come isn't an option.  Making them outside dogs isn't an option.  Several people said I should take a day or two to think about.  Not to make any rash decisions and just give them away because I might regret it later.  In this situation I feel like I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't.  There will always be that person who can't believe I would even think of keeping the dog who hurt my child and there will always be that person who can't believe I'd even think of getting rid of them because accidents happen.  It's a lose-lose and now I get to be the "lucky" one to figure it all out.

Life's just never easy is it.

Does this make my butt look big?

The answer?  Yes.  But stop blaming the pants.  Your butt looks big because it is.

So is your stomach.  And your thighs.  And your arms.

Sorry self.  The truth hurts.  But sometimes that's what you need to hear.

I've fallen off the wagon.

Hard.

It's so far gone I don't even remember what it looks like.

This is nothing new to me.  I've been dieting for as long as I can remember.

It started when I was 9.  Yes. 9.

The summer after 3rd grade I started to get a little pudgy.  I remember telling my mom I wanted to take Dexatrim.  Apparently even at a young age I was looking for a quick fix.  She took this as a wake-up call and enrolled me at a program at our local Children's Hospital so I could learn to lose weight the right way.  And that summer I did.  I started 4th grade at my goal.  I felt great.  I even got to be on my local news station who was doing a story on overweight kids.  I thought I was a celebrity.  Shortly after that, I fell back into my old ways and the pounds started to creep back on.

The yo-yo of my weight loss began.

My Junior year of high school I did Weight Watchers and lost 50 pounds.

I was the only teenager there amongst a group of postpartum and middle aged women.

I didn't care.  It was working.  I was losing weight.

It's the thinnest I've been in my adult life.  And the weight my driver's license still says, 12 years and many pounds later.  I like to think of it as my ultimate goal.

  I kept if off for the most part until my Sr year of college.

That's when I hit my highest weight.  (Until I gave birth to my son, but we're getting there)

After I graduated I jumped on the Atkin's bandwagon.

I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Quarter pounders with cheese no bun for lunch.  And more sugar free candy than anyone should ever consume.  It was like the fat girls dream diet.  And it worked!  I lost 40 pounds basically eating crap.

A few years passed, a few more pounds found their way back.  The hubs and I did South Beach together.  A slightly more healthy approach to the low carb catastrophe I had done before.  I lost about 20 pounds, didn't reach my goal, but at least continued to maintain through our engagement.  Then Labor Day weekend hit.  Summer was over.  There were 4 months to our wedding and I was determined to lose more.  What bride doesn't?  So I started doing Slim Fast.  I was busy with work and wedding planning.  This required no thought.  No points to count.  No calories to consider.  Just a shake for breakfast, shake and turkey sandwich with carrots for lunch and a regular dinner.  Easy.  I didn't even follow it on the weekends.  I lost 20 more pounds and walked down the aisle weighing less than 200 pounds.  Which on an almost 6ft frame wasn't too shabby.   I looked good.  I felt good.

Our first few months of marriage I stopped doing slim fast and a few pounds crept back on.

Then we moved to Kansas City and a few more crept on.

Then I got pregnant.  I did great the first half.  Not gaining a thing.  I was eating healthy and determined not to blow up just because I was "eating for two."  Somewhere around the 30 week mark I threw that theory out the window and started living on ice cream, frosting, potato chips with ranch dressing and gummy worms.

You can imagine what that did to the numbers on the scale.

It was pretty gross.  Towards the end I just stopped looking.

My doctor never said a thing so I figured all was a-ok.

After lil man was born I quickly lost the baby weight and was back to what I weighed when I got pregnant.

Which if you recall, was still horribly overweight.  And none of my clothes fit even though I'd hit that magical pre-preggo number.

Things slowly shifted and even though I wasn't losing, I got back into my pre-preg jeans and went on when life.

Once spring hit I felt ready to start tackling the weight loss.

I was motivated.  Or so I thought.

I wrote a whole post about my plan.  My goals.  Then did nothing.

I'd gotten comfortable in my own skin and while I didn't like it, I'd just accepted it.

Finally around April I started Slim Fast again.  It had worked before.  I was a busy working mom with little time and it was easy.  I stuck with it for 6 weeks or so and lost 13 pounds.  I was on a roll.

Well then one weekend we didn't make it to the store.  I was out of shakes.  So I went out to lunch.  Then one day turned into two, turned into three and well now here I am.  Off the wagon.  My clothes starting to feel snug again.  I'm tired all the time.  I'm not motivated to do anything and I hate it.

I've been on a diet for nearly 20 years and quite frankly I'm tired of it.

I'm tired of the restrictions.  The ups and downs.

I want to make a change.  For good.  I want to teach my son good habits from the start.

I want to walk past a mirror and not be disgusted.  I want to look at myself in photos and actually like what I see.

But I don't know how. 

Dear Dad

This past year has been full of it's ups and downs,

but I've always been able to count on you.

You always put yourself first, even though I worry about you all the time.

You always manage to cheer me up, even when I know you're hurting too.

You're always there when I call and listen to all the gossip and drama, even when I'm sure you have other things to do.

You've had some pretty big shoes to fill lately, playing the roles of both mom and dad,

but you always manage to do it.

So thank you dad.

Thanks for everything.

I don't need just one day out of the year to tell you how lucky I am to have you as my dad,

cause I'm lucky all 365.

Happy Father's Day!

xoxo,

Your Scooter

Vegas Baby!

Remember that one time?  When we went to Vegas?
I know, it's been so long I almost forgot too!
Well I finally managed to scrounge up a few pictures to share with you!
Bare with me, there aren't many!  I may go down in history as the worst vacation picture taker ever!
Hopefully that improves as we start taking family trips.

Anyhoo.....onto Vegas!

After a long day at work.  Running home.  Packing.  Sending the baby off with Grandpa and battling rush hour traffic we made it to the airport with plenty of time to start the weekend off right.

With Beer!  (And the cheapest beer we bought all week I might add.)
I have my lucky horseshoe necklace on a la Carrie Bradshaw...ya know, for all that gambling I'm going to do. (yeah right)

We got in pretty late so I didn't take anymore pictures.  Shoot me.  We did however stay up and explore the city until almost 3am!  Not bad for people who usually hit the hay by 11!

Here's where we stayed

The New York New York

Now this was our first trip to Sin City so I don't have much to compare to....but we liked our hotel.  Location seemed good.  Not in the heart of the strip, but not out of the way either.  It had a lot of bars/restaurants/things to do but it wasn't HUGE and overwhelming like several of the others we walked through.  There wasn't much in the way of shopping (which I didn't care about) and the pool was on the smaller end (but we never had problems finding a chair), but overall we enjoyed it and would definitely stay there again!

The first day we walked around all the hotels/casinos on our end of the strip.  Excalibur where we lunched at Dick's Last Resort.  Ever been to one?  Their whole "thing" is being rude and you get to be rude back.  I thought it was hilarious and played along.  The hubs, though not offended, didn't really get it.  I think he was embarrassed at my obnoxious shouting at the waiter...haha.  I don't have a picture of it (shocker I know) but they make hats for you to wear.  Mine said "He only thinks I've always been a woman"  His said "She only thinks I'm straight"

After lunch we went over to Mandalay Bay and saw Shark Reef.  I actually did take pictures of that, but none of them turned out very good.  Camera fail.  But there were lots of sharks.  It was pretty sweet.

On our way out we stopped by the tattoo place where I chickened out. (the first time)

Instead we bought two of those frozen drinks you see everyone with.

$40 later we decided those would be our first and our last.  It was mighty tasty though and they did NOT skimp on the tequila!  Worth.every.penny.

Next stop MGM Grand.

More like OMG Grand.  This place was freakin' huge!  They have lions inside.  Seriously.  Lions.  We had a fabulous dinner at Diego.  Best tacos ever. (after embarrassing myself on where the monorail station was....ummmm right behind you)

We played some penny slots.  I won six bucks.  I walked away happy.

We saw the biggest wine cellar ever.....

We caught some rays.  I chatted it up with a pregnant lady who proceeded to tell me her entire life story including ALL about her IVF due to her husbands dud sperm.  True story.  That happened.

The view from my chair.  Bar to the left.  Roller coaster to the right.

And yes, we rode the coaster.  It was a blast!

 {One night we cruised down to the opposite side of the strip.  Strolled along the streets of the Venetian.  Gawked at all the gondola riders.  I still can't believe this was inside! }

 {Hit up the Eiffel Tower}

{And of course watched the Bellagio Fountains.  They were awesome!}

Our last night there we toyed with the idea of heading down to Fremont Street, seeing a show or just bumming around.  We went with the latter and had a great night!  We'd walk a little, stop and eat.  Check out some shops.  Walk a little more, grab a drink and people watch.  Stopped in another tattoo parlor where I chickened out.  (Again)  We ended up at this local brewery where we befriended the bartender and got the insider scoop of all things Vegas.  Even became BFFs with a promoter for one of the hottest clubs.  Or so he says.  It was such a good time!

{Finally got to sport the dress and shoes I talked about for so long.  Oh and my hair LOVED the Vegas weather!  Hooray for no humidity!}

So there's our Vegas trip in a nutshell.  We had a blast and would love to go back.  I'm proud to say I remember all of it.  Did not marry a hooker, steal a tiger or end up on the roof of Cesar's Palace!  I'll leave those shenanigans for Hollywood!

Betty White does it, so it must be cool.....

Somewhere pigs are flying.

Hell has frozen over.

And I'm hanging my head in shame.

Yep I went there.

I joined Twitter.

It only took months of constant pestering and peer pressure before I finally caved.

So now I document my life in hash tags and try to form thoughts in 140 characters or less.

Wanna follow along?  You can find me @WorthDaSqueeze

That's right.  Da.

  Cause WorthTHESqueeze was already taken by some guy in the Philippines...poser.

So DaSqueeze it is.

Do you tweet?  Let me know so I can follow you too!

#happyhumpdayfriends

A little Blog Housekeeping

A long time ago in a far away place.....a wise woman schooled me on how to attach my email address to my blog so people could reply to my comments.  Thanks to her I've been living a happier, more fulfilled life ever since.

Ok.  Maybe it hasn't been that life changing....but it did make it easier for people to answer all my burning questions.  So now I feel it is my blogger duty to pass this knowledge on to all of you.  Why?  Because I get people asking me questions all the time, and when I go to reply I get the dreaded "noreply@blogger" email address....it makes me sad.

I love my readers.  I love that you actually read the random thoughts I call writing my blog.  I love that you ask questions.

I don't love that I can't always answer them and feel like I leave you hanging.

Sometimes I even go as far as to go back to your blog to try and answer it there...only to discover you didn't link your own blog in your profile or worse, due to blogger malfunctions I can't even comment on your blog.  

  (More on that to come)

So pretty pretty please with a cherry on top follow these few steps so we can all live together in blog harmony:

1. Go to your blogs Dashboard

2. Click on "Edit Profile" on the upper left hand corner

3. Under the Privacy section check the box that says "Show my email address"

4.  Scroll down to the Identity section....enter in your email address.  (It can be any email, not necessarily the one you use to sign in to blogger)

5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Save Profile"

6.  Sleep soundly at night knowing I can now respond to your comments and flood your inbox with even more nonsense. YAY!  :)

Now on to my next favor.

I know, I know, I'm all sorts of needy today.

I love reading all of your blogs.  I love commenting on them.

I don't love that Blogger has gone all ape shit and won't let me.

Have you missed me?  Have you noticed my lack of blog love?  I haven't forgotten about you.  I'm still reading.  I'm still trying to comment.

But after trying to log in 194843023 times and getting an error, I eventually just give up.

Apparently there's a malfunction out there where if your comments are set up a certain way it's giving people error messages.  So if you love reading my funnies on your blog, make sure to do this:

1.  Go to your blogs Dashboard

2.  Click on "Settings" (Top center next to the new post and edit post links)

3. Click on "Comments" (Along the top after Basic, Publishing & Formatting)

4. Under Comment Forms Placement choose either if the top 2 options (Full Page or Pop up).  Do NOT choose Embedded Below Post.

5. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click "Save Settings"

6.  Smile knowing I can post comments on your blog again!  YAY!  :)

All righty.  Are you still there?  Have I bored you to tears yet?  Kuddos to you if you're still reading, cause I have one more teensy little favor to ask.

I want to change up the ole blog.

It's starting to look a bit cluttered, the pictures are spilling out over the margins and driving me all sorts of crazy.

I need a face lift.

But I'm technically challenged. 

So I need some help.

Do you design blogs?  Do you know someone who designs blogs?

Please send their name my way!!

I guess that about covers it.  I will now return to our regularly scheduled programming

Happy Tuesday Friends!

Just Go With It

I've got a serious case of the Mondays.

It's easy to do when you had as great a weekend as we did!

After spending the past two out of town.....and knowing the coming three will be out of town as well, it's so nice just to be home!

Friday night we went and enjoyed some pizza at Minskey's, our favorite local joint.  We hadn't been in for-ev-er...it was SOOO good.  I love having a good restaurant baby.  For awhile there we were pretty home bound, but now that Mr.  Boo can sit in a high chair and eat right along with us it's a MUCH better dining experience......for all involved!  Now if only we could bring the dogs along for floor duty it would be perfect!

Saturday I was up bright and early to meet D.A.R for an impromptu photo shoot.

It was a perfect morning and she sent me a few sneak peaks.....ah!  So cute!  And makes me even more envious of people with good cameras!  Thanks lady for suggesting it, you can photograph my lil man any time you want!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing one of my favorite things....returning!  Yes, you read that right, returning.  The hubs is convinced I buy stuff just to return it.  Well I wouldn't go that far, but these days trying things on isn't always an option, so it usually results in a keep and a take back pile.

Once the babes was in bed for the night I suggested we watch a movie.  The last few I've picked out have been horrible.  Absolutely awful.  I was starting to lose faith in Hollywood.  Well we finally watched a winner!  Just Go With it.  Have you seen it?  I mean it's not going to win any Oscars but it was cute, funny and actually kept my interest the whole time.

  Plus it had Jennifer Aniston in it.  Heart her.  She's my girl crush for sure.

Seriously, she looked just as good as that 20 something girl who was supposed to be the "hot" one.

And it had a KILLER soundtrack.  Tons of fun summer remixes.  I may actually have to dust off the ole iPod and download a few.  This one for sure.  Ah-mazing!

Sunday we went returning again.  What?  Ok, maybe it is my favorite past time.

But it was such a beautiful day and the shopping center is outdoors, so it was a win-win.

On our way out we stopped by the fountains...not quite as impressive as the Bellagio, but not bad for KCK.

Jamie got a kick out of watching the water literally jump out!

So that's it friends.  Our weekend in a nutshell.

Stupid Monday came WAY too soon.

At least I'm meeting one of my favorite ladies for lunch to get me through my morning!

Pour some summer on me!

So a few weeks ago I participated in my first Blog Swap!

I had so much fun shopping for Katie over at The Lacy Family

and was surprised with a box of my own goodies that ironically showed up on my Birthday!

Look at all the fun stuff!!  Blue flips and polish for my toes! 

Skittles, my favorite!  (especially the sour ones!)

And adorable picture frame, can't WAIT to get a great summer picture in there!

A sign that's message hit home!  It's so easy to get caught up in the drama of life and forget the important things!  Now I just have to find the perfect place to hang it as a constant reminder of all the GREAT things in my life!

And finally, I saved my favorite for last.  My very own monogrammed cup!  I've been eyeing these reusable cups for quite some time now but never actually picked one up.  I love it!!  I washed it the minute it came out of the box and have been using it non-stop ever since! 

Thanks Katie for giving my summer a jump start!

To see what I sent her way....check it out HERE

Friday Brain Dump

Now that Jamie is eating real food, every night I make sure to fix him a well balanced meal with all the appropriate food groups. Then I eat PB&J.

I don't get Pinterest.  Or Twitter.  But I've found myself wanting to sign up just to see what all the fuss is about.

So many of you have commented how much you're looking forward to all our Vegas pictures.  I have a confession.  There aren't many.  I'm horrible about taking pictures on vacation.

I came *this* close to getting a tattoo in Vegas, but I chickened out.  Twice. My first 2 tattoos have personal meaning. They weren't just some random design. I always said I would never get a tattoo if I didn't have something in mind. One that meant something. All I know is I want something girly on my foot. Something colorful.  Something just for me. Since I didn't have anything concrete in mind, I couldn't do it. Would have been a cool souvenir in honor of the big 3-0 and now I'm kicking myself for not doing it.

If I had gotten a tattoo the hubs wanted to get one either on his wedding band finger or on the underside of his wrist. I nixed the ring finger idea. While I like the romantic sentiment of it all, and I don't want to sound like I love hater.....you never know what the future holds and that's pretty permanent. I told him if in 50 years he still wants it, ok.

My cell phone has been acting all kinds of crazy.  Part me hopes it's broken so I can get a new one.  The other part me hopes it's fixable because all the texts my mom sent me are saved on there and once the phone is gone, they're lost as well.

I saw a fabulous Coach purse on our trip.  The print was gorgeous.  Lucky for my bank account they were sold out in everything but the wallet.  Now it's all I can think about.

I'm thinking about making the ole blog private.  I blog for me.  No one else.  I'm not trying to make money off of it or become the next Pioneer Woman.  It's just a journal of my life.  Somewhere to share my thoughts.  All the friends I've made along the way were an unexpected bonus.  Lately I just feel I need to take a little more control over who reads it.  A girl has to have some privacy right?

This is the only weekend in a 6 week period that we will be at home.  I'm sooooo looking forward to catching up around the house and taking a trip up to our neighborhood pool!

Happy Friday!

Double Digits!

Age Blocks from BB Blocks

Hello friends!  Happy 10 months to me today!

Double digits....woo hoo!  And check out that hair!  Move over McDreamy, there's a new man in town!

It's been a busy month over here!

Just when mama thought I was falling behind with my big milestones, talking smack about me on the blog, I went and did amazing things to prove her wrong!  It started with pulling up.  One day she set me on my back in the family room and walked to the kitchen.  No less than a minute later she looks down and sees me STANDING at my exersaucer.  Apparently the fact that I could roll over, get into a seated position and then proceed to pull myself up left her speechless!  Oh ye of little faith mama!!  Then she found me standing in my crib one morning, just smiling at her like I've been doing this for years.  Dad lowered my crib mattress so I wouldn't fall out and now it's one of my favorite places to play!  I can sit in there forever just pulling myself up and then letting go to free fall and bounce around like a crazy man.  Luckily for mama it's also still my favorite place to sleep.  Long gone are the nightly cuddles in our favorite chair before bedtime.  All I do is wiggle and squirm until mama lays me down and then it's right to sleep.  My new favorite position is on my belly with my booty stuck up high in the air.  Mom says it sure doesn't look very comfortable but I'm sleeping a solid 10-12 hours a night so it must be!

Next up is big boy food!  Remember me?  The picky gagger who could barely choke down baby food at 6 months?  Yep, well I'm an eating champ now!  In fact I put up a pretty big stink these days if mama even tries to put that spoon of baby food in my face.  It usually results in screaming and swatting, food flying everywhere, until mama gives up and feeds me some real food.  I love peaches, pears, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, bananas.....if it's a fruit I'll eat it!  Turkey and chicken are also personal faves and one day mama picked me up from school and my teacher told her I'd had pizza for lunch.  Pizza!  She couldn't believe it!  I'm not a huge fan of eggs or cheese, but will eat them.  Veggies still rank pretty low on the list too.  Carbs however get two thumbs up.  If there's a pancake within in a 2 mile radius I will probably seek it out and immediately shove it in my face!  The dogs are getting a kick out of this food business too because my accuracy isn't always the best and there's usually a scrap (or 10) that end up on the floor.

Aren't I a ham?  Mama has noticed in the last month that I've finally figured out this whole camera business.  As soon as she whips it out I will usually pause, look right at her and then totally cheese it up.  Sometimes the smiles I give are pretty goofy.  One night mama sat in bed scrolling through some pictures and actually had tears rolling down her face from laughing so hard at my silly faces.  Daddy thought she'd gone off the deep end.

For Memorial Day weekend I got to take my 2nd boat ride and go in the pool for the first time.  I wasn't so sure about the pool at first, clinging on to mom for dear life, but once I got the hang of it I splashed around a bit.  The boat however was a huge hit.  I loved sitting on grandpas lap, steering the big wheel.  He better watch out, because it looks like I may be the new Captain in town!!  All jokes aside, me and grandpa are best buds!  We had a good time together pal-ing around while mom and dad were in Vegas.  I got a little stinky the last night though and mommy could tell Grandpa was ready for them to come home!  They discovered I was cutting THREE teeth!  No wonder I was such a crabby pants!  Two on top and one on the bottom.  One more bottom tooth and I'll have a complete set up front!

The biggest news of course this month was crawling!  Once I mastered rolling over, I could easily get up on my knees.  Mama waited for what felt life forever before I finally took off!  As you can see in my picture, I don't take a conventional approach to crawling on all fours.  I always keep one foot planted firmly on the ground to push off with.  My 3 legged crawl as mama likes to call it may look kinda funny, but it gets me where I want to go.....and pretty fast!  You've got to keep a pretty good eye on me because I'm usually on the hunt for trouble.  Why would I play with toys anymore when there are lamps, tables, cords and minuscule pieces of god knows what to shove in my mouth!

Mama has no clue on any official stats as far as height and weight go.....but she's pretty sure I'm at a growing standstill for right now. All my 12 mos clothes are still a bit baggy, but for the most part fitting pretty well. At this rate she's keeping her fingers crossed I can keep the same wardrobe through the summer! She picked up some 18 mos PJs just to be on the safe side though. I'm still rocking size 3 shoes and flips and holding steady on the middle setting of my diapers. We've also entered Birthday planning mode over here!  The theme and date have been set!  Hats and banners officially ordered! Two months and counting to the big one year!!

Until next month!  Peace Out

PS  Today is Grandma and Grandpa's Anniversary.  It would have been 38 years!  Please keep him in your thoughts because days like these make us all kinds of sad.