It *finally* happened!!

Today my sister and I took Jay to go see the new Winnie the Pooh movie, as my sister has ALWAYS liked Winnie the Pooh and I'll admit, the new movie looked cute (I was always a Tigger fan). Technically, his 1st movie in the theater was when we saw Thor with my in-laws on Mother's Day, however Jay slept that entire trip to the theater.

He did pretty good today though - he was awake when we went into the theater and the trailers were already playing... as I went to unbuckle him from his carrier to sit him in my lap I noticed he was starring at the movie screen all wide-eyed - it was funny! He laughed and grinned a few times and stayed awake during the Disney short at the beginning (it was about Nessie the Loch Ness Monster) but he fell asleep about 10 minutes into Pooh. He let out a cry when he woke up, but was fine as soon as he opened his eyes and realized mommy was there and where he was and watched the last 10 minutes or so of the movie. There were mostly toddlers in the theater and I think I saw 1 other baby, a little older than Jay.

Afterwards we stopped at Sam's Club to pick up kitty litter and a tub of ice cream (because we keep eating the smaller tubs too fast! doh!) and while walking down the book and movie aisles I found some with characters that Jay would recognize like Curious George and Dinosaur Train and got him laughing. While he was laughing I noticed a little white bud/bump on his bottom gum and proceeded to see what it was...

...he finally had a tooth break through!

It hasn't fully come in yet but it's definitely more progress than just his gums hurting as there's finally some visible proof! It's his front, bottom left tooth, which is surprising as his top front right ones seem to be where his gums hurt the most!

Dropping my sis off at my mom's house earlier, mom told us they had the free 8x10's from our church pictorial directory shoot available for pick-up last Sunday and since she didn't know when we would be there next she got ours for us.

 

I'd say it turned out pretty well!

First Haircut & First Walker

Some more firsts for Jay this week!

Last Monday he had his first haircut!

I know some babies that don't get their 1st haircut to closer to their 1st birthdays, however Jay had quite the baby mullet going on (I'm sure it could have rivaled Billy Ray Cyrus' in his "Achy Breaky" days!). Hubby's mom brought her hair cutting stuff with her when she came for her weekly Monday visit and went ahead and cut it. I wasn't there - unfortunately I had to work that night, but hubby took video of it and it was quite amusing! Jay freaked out, like it was the most traumatic thing ever! He *really* did not like the cape she put on him and stopped fussing for a moment when she went to get the buzzer, but royally freaked out again when he realized she was putting it to the back of his head! LOL...

We also finally got him a baby walker after taking forever to find one I liked that didn't have a buttload of toys on the tray (I swear it's impossible to find just a plain simple walker with nothing on the tray like the one I had as a baby!). He seems to enjoy it - at first he didn't realize he could move himself around in it, and now he's figured out how to push himself backwards - still hasn't really figured out going forward yet though! He's only used it in the alley way of the kitchen so far - we need to order a gate for our stairs, which he can't get to from the kitchen and we supervise him the entire time he's using it. It seems to have been a good buy though!

My Top 10 Diaper Bag Must-Haves

I recently got an email update from What to Expect (much like I do everyday) with an article link to "Diaper Bag Must-Haves". I agreed with all their suggestions, but had a few of my own to add.

1. Diapers
This is a no-brainer as it IS called a "diaper bag." I usually try to keep at least 4 or 5 in there so I don't have to constantly be refilling it as the only time he goes through more than 1 at a time is when he's over at my mom's while I'm working or out.

2. Wipes
I always keep a package of wipeys in the diaper bag

3. Diaper rash ointment
I prefer Desitin and always keep a tube in there

4. Sunblock (in the warmer months)
You never know when you might go outside for an extended period of time & you don't want baby to get burned so it's a good idea to keep some of this in the diaper bag. We use Huggies Little Swimmers waterproof spf50 sunblock.

5. A spare bottle
Cuz kiddo might randomly decide to get hungry at the most inopportune times!

6. Some baby food
At Target and Babies R Us you can find small formula containers like the one in the picture by Munchkin where you measure out the formula powder beforehand and then just pour it into the bottle when you need it. I LOVE this product and am soooo glad to have it - it really comes in handy and I don't have to carry an entire tub of formula with me! This particular one has 3 separate spots.

7. Your kid's "lovey"
Jay's is his stuffed Elmo so I make sure to always put him the diaper bag before we go out.

8. Bib/Burpie
Jay drools A LOT right now so for us it's mandatory to have an extra bib in the bag and of course a burpie cloth is needed in case he eats while we're out and about.

9. A blanket
More for the colder months, as you never know how the weather will be - one minute it's in the 70s and your kid is in shorts, the next it's in the 50s and you need something to throw over his legs! Plus, if you're driving in the colder months and something happens where your car breaks down, doesn't hurt to have a blanket on hand, especially for kiddo!

10. A spare set of clothes
In case your child has a blowout in his diaper that goes up his back or some other massive mess that requires a change of clothes while you're out.

Honorable Mention: A bottle of water
More so in case you get stranded somewhere like if your car breaks down - if kiddo gets hungry you can mix a bottle for them (assuming you have #'s 5&6).

Birthday Weekend

On Sunday we drove out to the Quad Cities (about 2 hours away) to celebrate our nephew Noah's golden birthday (he turned 4 on the 4th of July!). Jay had only met his cousins once before, when he was about 2 months old and he was quite in shock then to see a baby close to his size! This time around, he's a few months older and he seemed to interact with his cousin Lucas a bit more (Lucas is about 3 or 4 months older than Jay).

Jay with cousin Lucas (he's about 3-4 months older than Jay)

The birthday theme was a hodge-podge of some of Noah's current favorite things - Iron Man, Thomas the Train, and Transformers. They had Iron Man masks and I couldn't resist putting one on Jay for a picture, lol...

It was held at one of the playgrounds near them and they had reserved the pavilion for the afternoon and had to chase a few LARPers (Live Action Role Players) away to a different area of the park - it was pretty awesome though, hubby and his older brother both said that if they busted out in an all out LARPing battle they were definitely going to get it on video, lol...

We had lunch at the park, then did cupcakes and presents and just socialized while the kids attempted to beat the crap out of an indestructible Optimus Prime Transformer pinata!

It got pretty hot though so we ended up stripping Jay down to just his onesie - poor kiddo was getting tired but it was too hot for him to sleep! He passed out within 10 minutes of us getting in the car! LOL...

It was nice to see everyone again, as we don't get to see hubby's older brother and his family too often since they live a few hours away, despite us keeping touch on Facebook. I hope we get to see each other at least a few times a year - it'd be nice for Jay to at least know who his cousins are, since hubby's younger brothers don't seem to be settling down anytime soon.

Jay also seemed to LOVE his spray bottle water mist fan thingy! He would lean forward and wait for me to spray it and then pull back after I sprayed it at him... and then come back for more! LOL... too funny!

101 in 1001 progress update #5

This morning the Illinois/Wisconsin stateline was hit with some pretty strong storms and our house was one of the unfortunate 600,000+ that had its power knocked out at 715am! It's about 130am the next day and as of 1130pm it still wasn't back on and was 81 degrees in the house! My parent's house has power though so we're spending the night there, hoping ours comes back on tomorrow at some point!

Anyways, here's an update on my 101 in 1001 list!

#4 - Watch at least 2 Netflix DVDs and 2 Instant Queue movies a month (11/66, 11/66)
Yeah... slacked a bit on this one. In June we watched "The Green Hornet" on DVD and I gotta admit, it was better than I was expecting (which honestly wasn't much). While it wasn't great, it was fun and amusing. I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. So far for June we've watched "I Am Number 4" on DVD - it was alright, although I would have enjoyed it much better if it didn't have all the dumb teenage romance drama in it. I enjoyed the kid that played #4, the gal that played #6, and Timothy Olyphant as #4's guardian. It was an enjoyable movie and I'd recommend it. Also, I wasn't surprised that the team of Gould and Millar who worked together on Smallville for years were involved, as had that teenage superhero feel to it. I could see a sequel happening for this one too. As far as Instant Watch goes... no movies in June and so far for July I've watched "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - I recently finished the 1st 2 books and decided to start watching the Swedish films before the American remake comes out this Christmas. I gotta say though, actress Noomi Rapace IS Lisabeth Salander. I don't mind the casting of Daniel Craig as Blomkist in the American version, but I really wish they would use Noomi again as she's got the part down pat!


18 - Read at least 15 (non-children) fiction books (5/15)
I've read 2 so far for June and July! In June I finally finished "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and promptly started "The Girl Who Played With Fire" which I finished in July. I swear, Steig Larrson had a pattern to his books - make the 1st 200 or so pages of the book have just enough intrique to keep you interested (because they are a bit boring, making you wonder where is the story going already!?) and then something major happens in the last half of part 2 or between pages 200-300 that makes you glued to the book, wanting to read what happens next, making it so you don't want to put it down! That happened with both books! While book #2 seemed to move a bit faster than book 1, I was still wondering the whole time "where is this going? what's the point?" during the 1st 200 or so pages. And then something major happens and I breezed through the rest of the book in a matter of days! I really want to read the 3rd, however it's not currently available in trade paperback (only in large print paperback) and the Kindle version costs more than the hardcover version at Walmart so I guess I'll just wait...

22 - Find a part-time job that works me at least twice a week
Well, I guess I have this now! We've had several key people quit at work recently due to moving away and apparently I've "proved" myself too since as of this week, aside from management I have the 2nd most hours at work, working at least 2-3 shifts a week with a handful of on-call shifts, half of which I get called in for. The paychecks have been nice, but it's been a bit hard shifting from working 1-2 days a week to working 4-5! I'm used to hanging out with Jay most of the week and it's been a bit strange not doing that!

29 - Have a date with hubby at least once a month (4/33)
30 - Take an overnight with hubby once a year (1/3)
These go together for June & July, as hubby and I attended a wedding up in the Twin Cities from June 30-July 2 (my childhood best friend's wedding) and we left Jay with my parents to get some mommy and daddy time! It was nice getting away and not having to worry about squeezing in feedings, etc into the schedule but it was a bit strange being without him too!

51 - Host a PartyLite party once a year (1/3)
I did this in June! While not quite as many people came as I had hoped, I did get some "book orders" and got a nice bit of hostess credit. I stocked up on my tealights and took advantage of some nice hostess offers too! Definitely worth it!

53 - Visit in person with a friend once a month (6/33)
I've seen several people in June, so that counts!

60 - Go to church at least once a month (3/33)
We had Jay's baby dedication on Father's Day Sunday and we went once again in June too.

88 - Get a pedicure 3 times a year (2/9)
For Mother's Day, hubby got me a Groupon for a mani-pedi which I redeemed days before we went to the wedding in the Twin Cities - it was nice! The finger nails didn't last longer than a week, but the toenails still look good!

98 - Go on vacation somewhere once a year (1/3)
We went to the Twin Cities this year! While it was a mini-vacation, it was still a vacation for us and is about as much of one as we'll get this year, with Jay being so little. I'm sure we'll go somewhere more exciting for longer next year. Aside from the wedding, we stopped in Mall of America for a bit, ate some CiCi's Pizza (which the nearest one is nearly an hour from us so despite seeing all the commercials on TV, we've never had it!) and we drove past the Metrodome - the home of the Minnesota Vikings! Near the end of last season, the roof collapsed due to all the snow that had built up on top of it - it still looked like it was under construction!

Jaydran Jump Up!

At my baby shower, one of the gifts my parents got me was a Johnny Jump Up as there's photos of me when I was a baby, having a blast in the thing (my sister on the other hand apparently hated it, lol...). Mom thought it was a must-have and had to get it for me.

Unfortunately, we didn't use it right away as there was no good place in our apartment for it, not to mention Jay was a tad too little to really do anything with it. When we moved we weren't really sure where to put it either, as there's not really many places in our house to put it.

When we left Jay with my parents for a few days last weekend though my mom bought one for her house and hooked it up and apparently he really enjoyed it! I made an effort to figure out where we could put in our house and narrowed it down to our bedroom doorframe and Jay's bedroom doorframe, as there's not really a lot of doorframes in our house to use it on!

He seemed to enjoy it the few times we've used it on our bedroom doorframe so far - today even he played in it for like a half hour, chewing on the cover that covers the metal bar frame and having a quite the conversation with me this afternoon! It was pretty amusing!

He can't really jump much yet, but he enjoys swinging around from it and dangling his legs, lol...

Also, today I swear he was trying to give me a kiss as he put his lips to my cheek and just held them there for a moment or so before pulling away. It was really cute!

I also *finally* got to see him flip from his tummy to his back! He's been doing it for about a month now but never when I'm around! Unfortunately though, he did it while he was on his changing table - doh!

Long Weekend & Jay's 1st 4th of July

This past weekend has been a busy one for sure!

Ketchup bottles are yummy!

On Thursday we dropped Jay off with a suitcase of his own at my parent's house as had a mommy and daddy getaway for a few days up in the Twin Cities area as my childhood best friend was getting married on Friday. Gotta admit, waking up Friday morning without my snuggle buddy to snuggle with was a bit weird, not to mention my body's used to him as my alarm clock most days!

The wedding wasn't until the evening so we had the whole afternoon to kill and ventured out for a bit and made a stop at the Mall of America, where hubby had never been before! We need to make a trip up there when Jay's a little older as I recall the aquarium being really neat, he'd be in awe of the mini-Legoland and of course the indoor Nicktoons theme park (which by the way, I was disappointed to learn that it's no longer Camp Snoopy but now it's Nicktoons Universe! Booo!!).

The wedding was in downtown Minneapolis at the Mill City Museum and we drove right past the Metrodome - home of the Minnesota Vikings - in which its roof caved in last winter from so much snow! It looked still under-construction too. The wedding was really beautiful and her dress definitely looked like it was made for her as it looked so pretty on her! The ceremony was outside in the courtyard ruins, unfortunately it did rain a little bit for the last 5 minutes or so, but fortunately it didn't pour until later in the night when we were having the reception dinner inside. It was nice to get to see her family again too - her oldest brother I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years, when he left for college! Her parents still live just a few streets over from my parents, so I've occasionally seen her mom out walking but it was nice to get a chance to chat with them, even for a brief minute or so! I'm glad we went!

It was nice to get away with just hubby, but I did start missing Jay and was looking forward to picking him up. He had a big grin on his face when we went to get him and he 1st saw us though! Mom said he did fine, save for when his gums started hurting, but he was all happy to see us again and spent most of the evening snuggling with me.

Sunday night we had a cookout out just us 3. The neighbors next door were having people over too, including one of the neighbors that used to live behind our house (he stopped over to collect a ball that had gone over our fence, and commented how he was so used to the property being vacant for so long!). Hubby had purchased some fireworks stuff when he was up in Janesville for work last week and lit about half of them off. Jay did okay with the ones that just made lots of lights, but he didn't like the ones that made high-pitched screeching noises at all! The neighbors had stuff they were lighting off too so we were taking turns, lol... they had one they lit for the grand finale which lasted about 2 minutes, but including the screeching ones, which freaked Jay out so we had to take him inside, as he got too scared!

Little Mr. 4th of July!

Watching fireworks with daddy

Monday was the 4th of July and Jay's 5 month birthday! Hubby and I both got stuck working. Hubby and Jay had a cookout with my family while I joined up with them after work and ate what was left. We joined my mom and cousin and went downtown to the same spot we sat last year for the fireworks. Jay started fussing in the car for no apparent reason and daddy carried him while we walked downtown which seemed to keep him calm. For the most part he sat and actually watched the fireworks, only getting upset twice. The first time was when the stupid girls wheeling a cart of glow-in-the-dark stuff caused a pedestrian traffic jam right behind us and I think someone bumped Jay trying to get passed, as he started crying out of nowhere. He settled down a few minutes later though and continued to watch (and grab daddy's face as the lights were making his face light up, lol...) until the last 10 seconds when the grand finale occurred, with the fireworks shooting off constantly - it scared him and he started freaking out so I held him to me with my hand covering his outside ear as he buried his face into my chest. He was fine and all smiles after it stopped! LOL...

I'd say Jay's 1st 4th of July went pretty well!