6 mos

It's time again for another recap of what you've been up to in the last month. At your 6mos check-up you weighed in at 18lbs 3oz, 26.5" long, and a 17.25 head circum. Math lesson real quick since birth you have gained 11lbs 8oz, gorwn 7" longer and your head well I don't remember your head circumference at birth (it's written down in your memory box) but either way you have grown.


*You have tried the following foods and love them all: butternut squash, sweet potatos, carrots, asparagus, spinach and peas.

*You've went into the Notre Dame Football stadium to watch me cross the finish line from the 1/2 marathon. After all you napped all 162 those training miles in the jogging stroller you had to be a part of it in some way.

*You can sit on your own for all of 15 seconds before you topple to the side or forward, but hey it's a start.

*You have apparently rolled over neither your daddy or I have witnessed this yet but you did twice for your Grandma Z a couple weeks ago but have yet to repeat your performance for anyone.

*You are a great baby, very rarely do you cry but when you do it's usually for good reason. Such as scooting your way into the corner of your crib and being stuck (I'd cry too). Overall you are a happy baby 98% of the time. You fall asleep talking and wake up talking...I really have no idea when you wake up because you wake up happy and slow.

*You're a water baby or at least on your way to being a water baby. Daddy and I got you a pool and at first you may shed a tear or 2 do to the water temp you quickly get use to it and love it. When your Aunt CiCi was in town we took you to a in ground pool and it didn't faze you one bit.

*You love to laugh at your daddy and I. You like us to do chest presses with you...you love being super close to us and lifted away. When we are tried we cheat and lay you on the bed and do really cheating push ups if you can even call them that. Your daddy loves to play with you once I've put you to bed you guys play peek a boo and with your monkey and your frog. This goes on until I usually drag your daddy out of your room and tell him you have to go to sleep now.

*You recognize that your name is Ian but will also respond to Buddy.

*Where ever we go you always catch everyone's attention. And they have to look at you, luckily that don't try to touch or else I may turn into a momma raccoon and let them know you are my baby so back off!!


*You love to stand and jump on our laps. We will have to schedule a visit to Aunt J's to try out the Johnny Jumper since our doorways don't have trim.

We are so lucky to have you in our lives and for you to be happy and healthy, such a blessing.

non-sense

Bunch of non-sense and ramblings of the past few weeks.

*our camera fell in the pool, don't ask why or how just be sad for me. Thanks


*Father's Day Weekend: my sis in-law and her hubby came to town and they were to stay w/my in-laws. Well Mother Nature had other plans and huge storm came through leaving us in the dark for about 3hrs Friday night (with 6 people, 1 baby and 4 dogs in our house) and my in-laws without power for about 48hrs. My parents were without power for over 72hrs (they have a big generator and didn't risk losing any freezer food or use of the potty). Back to the weekend though, since A)we live in the city and have city water we can use as much as we want and our water heater is gas (BONUS), B)my in-laws live in the county and have a well and septic meaning they can't use their water or if they do they have limited flushes. That translate to us being the sole entertainers for the weekend. So on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we feed and entertained 6 people, 1 baby and 4 dogs...that translate into exhaustion and a very dirty house!!!

*Since my in laws didn't have power or a generator we got their ice cream!!!

*Since we were entertaining Marcus didn't get the Father's Day we had pl which was doing a whole lot of nothing but relaxing instead we did the exact opposite Ian and I got him some exhaust something or other for the Jeep. So meaningful...Ian did make a craft at the sitters the picture of it is sitting on the other camera.

*To escape some of the madness the entertaining weekend I took a spinning class Saturday morning which allowed me to have "me time" and gain some sore butt bones.

*I turned another year older Tuesday (june 8th) we celebrated it and my sister being in town at Olive Garden. Marcus and Ian presented me my push/b-day gift, Ian's birthstone. My parents got me a new bikini top. No, they don't expect to run around bottomless I'm using some of my b-day money to get new bottoms the top is just super pricey but very cute and comfortable. My sister gave me 13.1 miles, she paid the registration fee for the 1/2 marathon I ran. Thanks much family love you guys!

*We had another storm pass through Wednesday night we were under a tornado watch and like any normal person when the TV people said head down to your basement, I pulled up the blinds and looked out and then raced around doing things in case we lost power. We didn't lose power and no tornado's came through I did have clean floors and dishes though.

*this is the one time of year there is no disagreement over the covers. Despite the 70 degree temps at night and 80 something % humidity I sleep with all the covers on a and 1 leg out of the covers. Crazy I know

*On Wednesday at work we had to call 911 for the fire department to inspect the smoke we were smelling and today we had to 911 for the police to get a report of a attempted vehicle break-in. These things both happened before 8am.

Friday Night

A typical Friday night at our house usually starts around 6:30 (on a good night) And it begins with deciding where our dinner will come from. As in which pizza place is going to get the pleasure of making our delicious dinner. Once that decision is made we move on to what movie is going to entertain us. Approx an hour later we have made all necessary decisions and the pizza is in our possession. Right at the sametime Ian is in need of 8oz of pure liquid gold (credit to Kaley and Mo for the term). Which is when the juggling begins between Marcus and I one starts feeding Ian while the other eats and then we switch. Once Ian is feed and put to bed, we get comfy on the couch and the dogs start going in circles in need of fertilizing the lawn. I let them back (dang it why haven't they run away yet?) and when walking through the kitchen I realize Ian needs bottles made for the next day. Because starting your Saturday morning out having to make bottles is not fun. Once the bottles are made I realize I need to get more milk from the freezer so down the basement I go in search to locate the next bag of milk that is up for thawing, it's located and the milk thawing process begins.

It's now about 9:30 and we aren't even halfway through the movie yet. And I realize it's time to pump so I get my pumping supplies sit back down in the living room resume the movie and 15min later I'm back up again to put the milk I just pumped away. Then head to the bathroom cause hello I was sitting still for 15min and well I gotta go. Since I'm in there I decide to go ahead and wash my face, take out my vision enhancers, and brush the pearly whites. Head back into the living room with pillow in hand, curl up on the couch try to figure out what I missed while I got distracted in the bathroom. Fast forward to a dark room filled with just the glow of the TV and a blue screen get my bearings realize that I fell asleep and Marcus has since gone to bed. Pretty exciting Friday, right? Let's remember though I've been up since 5, worked 9+ hours dealing with 100+ women...I'm allowed to be tried.

Dad's Day

Where to begin...

I will start with my dad.
Daddy Jim (as my sister and I refer to him as) a daddy to 3 daughters in which 1 is in heaven. You are a a hard working, hard playing, hands on dad. A dad who works for everything you have and have instilled a respectable work ethic into both your daughters (which I sometimes get upset with you about). You are a hero to me and I know to many others. Thank you Daddy Jim for always being there when I've needed you and for being a shoulder for me to cry on at times.

My sister, dad and I before the Sunburst 10K 2008

Daddy Jim and I

Ian and PaPa Jim



Marcus, Ian has no idea how lucky he is to have such a hands on daddy. A daddy who will help him poop (push knees up to chest so baby is in squatting position), feed him, change him, love on him, comfort him and make him laugh. Thank you for being such a wonderful daddy to our baby boy.

again

If Ian could talk I would imagine him saying "again, again, again". It's the quite the workout with a 18lbs (completely guessing there) baby.

what's the rush?

What is it as soon as you do this:



People ask when are you gonna do this:


and then not even 6wks later they ask when you're gonna do this:

soft talker

The past 3 days I have been a soft talker. You know the Seinfeld episode that Jerry ends up in a pirate shirt because he couldn't hear what the lady was saying? Ummm...what could I make people do?? Thank goodness for unlimited texting and the internet.

I feel fine I just have no voice so I whisper and re-whisper until the person I'm speaking to has invaded my personal space. I had to conduct interviews for work on Monday and then again today. It has been pretty funny though, I went to Target yesterday and I had the lady at the service department whispering back and she didn't notice until I told her she didn't have to whisper. It happened again today when I stopped in the offices at the fire station to pick up somethings I had one of the ladies in there whispering back. The other thing that people have done is talk louder as if I whisper because I can't hear. Why do we do that? My sister says they do that down in Florida at her work when speaking to those who speak little to no english they talk louder as if it's going to make a difference. Too funny...

Then I'll have people point out the obvious, they say hello I whisper hello back then they say oh you have no voice...really I had no idea my voice was gone. Then we go through the whole let's play Dr thing and they come up with no medical diagnosis what so ever. Fun times...

cross off

I can cross run a 1/2 marathon off my list of things to do. The only trouble now is that I'm competitive and want to do better. I know can do better I was doing great while training. I had 3 goals: Goal 1: finish, Goal 2: take no potty breaks, Goal 3: finish under 2hrs

I fulfilled goals 1 and 2 my finish time was 2hrs and 16min. For one I was battling a sore throat, sinus drainage, cramps and a blister that welcomed itself to my foot by mile 3. Yes mile 3 I still had 10.1 miles to go...the race was yellow flagged the entire time due to high humidity (the humidity was the highest it has been on race day according the Sunburst officials) so we can add that into the conditions I was running against. The blister that developed then caused me to change the way I ran to help reduce the pain and well at the finish line and all day after the race my knees paid the price for that minor shift. I was not prepared for the hills, yes I ran hills some hills in training but not Hill St. this hill is even hard to drive up so I've heard...I also don't know my way around the area in which we ran so I had hard time talking myself through it. When I train I know my course I know what to expect, Running is basically playing mind games with yourself till the finish line. Oh the mind games I played.

The question has already been asked if I will run a 1/2 again and I think the answer is yes, I know I can do better and I know if the cramps and blister hadn't attacked me, my sister and I would have finished together. Which would have made the course not feel so boring and never ending and the mind games wouldn't have been so hard to play.

Bonus Marcus, Ian (my training partner) and my parents were in the stadium to greet us and take us home to our respective showers.

Real quick my cousin Connor who is 17 and the one that will be a senior at Penn ran the 1/2 in 1hr 38min his goal was 1hr and 50min...are you kidding me he always under estimates himself and does way better. Oh to have that thinking.

Here's my sister and I:


Here's the part of the family my cousin Adam and his wife Alicia and their son Nicholas walked in the sunburst.

common courtsey?

Isn't it common courtesy to hello back when someone says hello to you? Did I miss something? I mean I know I basically missed the the new year but I'm pretty sure common courtesy what not something that we gave up. During my runs Ian and I go to one of the area river walks and there are always people there. I always say hello or good morning with a smile on face in passing and very rarely is it reciprocated. I don't get it, I'm not looking for a conversation or best friend just a friendly hello back.
I will have some days where everyone I smile at and say hello too will acknowledge and reciprocate and then there are days (lots) where I can't get even get a smile out of people. I feel like if people acknowledge my hello and smile that they are nice enough that if I were to be in some kind of trouble that they would be kind enough to help me. You know sending out good karma will bring good karma to me, or treat others how you want to be treated. The basics we all learned way back when we were wee little people figuring this world out.

Am I asking for too much??

3 mos pics

So that Ian is 5mos lets not waste anymore time here are Ian's 3mos photos from Knox Photography.