Rachel Zoe Round Up

The new season of the Rachel Zoe Project has started. In case you don't know who Rachel Zoe is she dresses celebrities because, you know, they are far too busy to dress themselves. It's ok, I didn't know or care about RZ either until her reality show appeared on my favorite reality channel and I got sucked in to RZ madness. Trust me, it's mad. And ridiculous. And flamboyant. OH the flames!

In case you missed tonight's episode, let me summarize in my best Rachel and Brad quotes possible {to be read in your best Brad voice because even if you don't have a gay entourage, this is how everyone on the show talks. You have to be stressed out too because this shiz is what stresses them out because OMG it's 4 hours before the Globes and OMG, there are MAJOR storm clouds rolling in}:

"What are Cameron, Kate and Jen going to wear to the Globes? Let's go to the Land of Styling. It's so major! Kaufman Franco, Versace, McQueen - a big, delicious present. OMG, there's shoe shortage. How do you pose without a train? It's tricky. OMG is it raining?! It's raining! How can it rain an hour before the Globes!? I mean, what can I do? I mean. This is like an nightmare. OMG, look at Kate! She is so major!"

My Friend Debbie

Please welcome Debbie Downer as my guest blogger.

JW just completed his first week of daycare. He's making a lot of new friends and establishing a routine. He's even brought home a crusty nose and smoker's cough that has spread across the entire family. WHUAW WHUAW.

The Dad is working hard; jet-setting to NYC for important meetings week after week. He promises to be helpful when he gets home then he reminds me of his golf date with his friends all day Saturday. WHUAW WHUAW.

Mama is feeling a little down and a lot lonely. Really just wants to chat with an old friend, but realizes her friend is by appointment only and costs $100/hour. WHUAW WHUAW.

Thirsty

I can't help but imagine this being JW in a couple years. The only difference perhaps is that this kid keeps trying with a smile on his face. JW tends to get frustrated after making several attempts at trying new things that don't go exactly his way - I could see him getting totally pissed off after soaking himself with the hose. Proof that he does have at least one strand of my DNA.



Little Kid Cant Figure Out How To Drink - Watch more Funny Videos

Lucky Number 7

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear JW,

Happy birthday to you!

Today you turned 7 months old. June and July are big birthday months in our family and oh boy, what a celebration we've had over the last month. Plenty of BBQs and birthday cake to last until you turn one! One thing I noticed this month is just how lovely our family sings Happy Birthday. I mean, we actually sing on key and harmonize. What a lucky boy you are to be born into such a talented family :)

This month we celebrated your first Independence Day by joining Grandpa Ted and Gramma Kathy in the neighborhood parade and picnic. This pretty much means all the kids who live in, or have ever lived in the neighborhood for generations decorate their bikes, strollers, dogs, whatever with red, white and blue streamers and ribbons then march around the neighborhood.
The coolest part of the whole parade was the big red fire truck that escorted us through the streets. The calendar-worthy firemen even let us check out the fire truck after the parade. You thought that was pretty special. I thought you were going to tumble head first off the bumper.

What wasn't cool about the parade was the guy juggling a couple sticks, which were on fire. He also happened to be walking right next to us when he DROPPED his fire sticks, nearly torching our entire entourage.

This month marks some big milestones for you, my little friend. First, you went to daycare for the first time last week. This was really hard for mama. As if handing you to a perfect stranger who in no way will love you like Gramma Nay loved you wasn't hard enough, the look you gave me as I walked away, a look like, "Wait, are you really going to leave me here?" really put me over the edge. I cried all day. Your dad tried to console me by saying, "Are you sure JW wasn't asking, 'Hey Lady, why are you still here?'" This did not help out matters or make me feel any better. Despite the booger nose and junky cough you now have (because I'm sure you've licked every inch of that viral daycare floor), you appear to be enjoying your new digs. In fact, I think you have a new girlfriend. Her name is Hazel - she is a real cutie pie.

Speaking of a real cutie pie, YOU are a showstopper. Everywhere we go I hear, "That is a cute baby!" "Oh, what a darling baby!" "Wow, that baby is adorable!" Yes, you are adorable. So much so that I have a giant head shot of you on my computer wallpaper at work so I can stare at you all day. What I have also heard is, "Well you know what they say...ugly parents make cute babies." I'm sure the two times I've heard this (yes, twice!) the people saying it were not intentionally trying to be jerks (or maybe they were?). If there is one thing I teach you in life it's going to be how to properly treat a lady. Rule number one is NEVER, directly or indirectly, implied or jokingly tell a lady she is ugly. I don't care if she's the spawn of Quasi Motto and Shrek, you just don't say that. That's almost worse than, "You are fat."

but I digress...

Your second major milestone this month - you have a tooth! While at lunch with Gramma Nay the other day you were sucking on a piece of bread, when lo and behold I noticed (or Gramma claims she saw it first) a little tooth popping through your bottom gum. We were both thrilled. You were more interested in sucking on that piece of bread which I eventually took away after you darn near choked to death).

I'm always amazed at how fast you are growing up. Before I know it, you are going to be crawling. You have been practicing your crawling moves like crazy. You especially like to practice your moves while I try to change your diapers. Or maybe you just like hangin' out.

6 Months

Happy half birthday, JW! You are growing up to be such a big, happy boy. You are rolling around leaps and bounds. You LOVE to be outside. You will lay on a blanket on the lawn or sit in your Exersaucer in the shade for a long time (well, 15 minutes. That's a long time for you). When you tire of all of that, I put you in the Baby Bjorn and we bee-bop around together. The other day I put you in the Baby Bjorn and tried to sweep the sidewalks. You held on for dear life to the broom. This made my chore more difficult, but I know you just wanted to help.

You make me laugh. Your sense of humor is starting to emerge. I was talking on the phone with Auntie the other day {while carrying you around in the Baby Bjorn again...}. Every time I laughed with Auntie, you would let out a little "hehe" courtesy laugh in your manly, grunting sort of way. I'm glad you agree...Auntie is funny.

Dear boy, why have you suddenly become such a pill when it is bed time? You are the best sleeper, but you fight going to bed, even when you are soooo tired. The last few nights I've had to show some tough love. Mama lets you cry, no, SCREAM yourself to sleep. "They" say this teaches you to settle yourself down to go to sleep. Quite frankly, it kills me to do this. I just want to snuggle with you and let you know that I love you SO MUCH, but you get so mad that you're going to bed, that you just hate me. I'm sorry. This is all for your own good, I promise. Hopefully you will soon learn that bed time is glorious and you'll lay down and go right to sleep like the champ you are.

Dang you are cute. Every morning I get you out of bed and eat you up with kisses. This is our ritual. The other morning you surprised me by putting your arms around my neck and nuzzling your slobbery face into my face and you schmooed me. I have bottled up that moment to remember forever, it was so sweet.

You made your inaugural trip to the cabin this month. You were a bit of jerk on the drive. I know, it is kind of a long time for a little guy to sit in the car, but the look on your face when we got inside the cabin was awesome. You were in heaven! While we were there we went with Uncle Daniel and Auntie Elizabeth to Yellowstone National Park. We were hoping to see lots of bears, instead we saw lots of buffalo, elk, and a stupid guy in an orange shirt trying to get frisky with the animals (we were waiting for the dingbat to get gored by a one-ton elk). Don't try to play with the wildlife, OK bud?

You also saw Old Faithful for the first time. You could have cared less about the geyser, but you were pretty impressed with the crowd. You are a people watcher. The crazier the better.

Everyday is a new adventure with you. Pretty soon you'll even be able to sit up all by yourself (you're pretty good at it now, but you still have a rolly-polly bottom and tend to face plant into the carpet).

Dubs, you are growing up too fast. For the millionth time today, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Muah!

5 Months

My little buddy is 5 months old today!

To celebrate he ate a giant piece of chocolate cake.

OK, I lie. It was actually a giant helping of stage 1 {read: liquid} pears.

He was very pleased.

The other day I was looking at pictures of JW as an infant. I wanted to cuddle with him again as a wee newborn. I could smell the baby lotion through the picture, like a scratch and sniff sticker. For a second I had forgotten how HARD those first weeks were when I was wishing he was not an infant, but a frisky 4 yr old.
Now I try to savor EVERY moment because this kid is in the growing-up-too-fast lane.
I love him.

My Little Buddy

My sister sent me the link to this blog this morning. I've tried to read it all day, but can not get through it without getting completely weepy. This girl had a daughter who passed away a few months ago. Her sweet baby girl was JW's age.

There is something so special about the bond between a mother and her child that is just impossible to express in words. I felt it early on in my pregnancy and it grew exponentially as I could feel JW kicking and rolling as I got a sense of his personality. I remember being so scared about losing him after learning about my abnormal umbilical cord situation. I have never been such a mess as I was for those few days, and that was before I had met him.

JW's presence has completely changed my life. I admit, motherhood didn't come naturally to me. His first several weeks of life were really hard. I think life outside the womb was a bit of shocker for him too. All he wanted was to be swaddled and rocked and warm and to be awake at night and sleep all day. JW had his own agenda and I wasn't following along. He just wanted to eat, but struggled so desperately to latch on. That darn tongue tie messed up everything. Of course he couldn't tell me he wanted or needed all of these things and I spent every minute of my day (and night, it seemed) trying to figure him out. I don't know how many times the two of us just cried together because he wanted something and I didn't know what.

Here we are four months later in full swing. Just as soon as I think I've learned his tricks, he grows up a little more and has moved on to the next item on his agenda. He has reached so many milestones in his short life. He is a serious kid, but there is no shortage of laughs and giggles. He laughs at his own jokes. He laughs while changing his clothes. Itsy Bitsy Spider is downright hilarious.

JW rolled over for the first time on Sunday. Twice. After the first roll I thought it might just be a freak incident, so I put him back on his tummy and sure enough, he did it again! He didn't seem terribly startled by it, just irritated that he had to have tummy time. He has never been much of a fan of tummy time.

Getting a full night sleep was only a memory in his first weeks of life. It wasn't until literally a few days before I went back to work did he start sleeping longer than a three hour stretch. Suddenly one night he slept five hours, then the next night seven, then nine. Now he begs to go to bed by 8:30 PM and this week he has actually slept all night (11 hours!) without needing to be swaddled. I thought he would never grow out of that!

He loves a long ride in his stroller, hanging out in the Bumbo or the exersaucer and being the center of attention. He is the center of my attention. I love this kid and life without him would be so empty.

First Time for Everything

JW got his first taste of baby cereal today. He wasn't impressed.

How do you feel about Seattle?

I'm pretty sure it's time for me to move and here is my new house. Want to come visit? I wonder if G's job can relocate him to Seattle...

Happy Birthday JW!

JW turned 4 months old today! Instead of a party hat and birthday cake, this little duffer got his second round of immunizations. Oh he felt so betrayed.