Super Mom

I feel like I'm trying to be super mom. I am responsible for my job at SOJO, cooking dinner, cleaning house, caring for the 2 boys -- Joe and Jace ... and NOW I am trying to start rollin' with Stampin Up! again. I plan on staying home for several years. I miss Jace. This is the main cause of me pusing Stampin' Up! again ... (besides the fact that I LOVE to stamp!) My first workshop is on Saturday and I am madly trying to get ready for it. I have spent the last 2 days preparing options for my lovely hostess, Lyney to choose from. I have about a million other things that I have to do to get ready, but I am excited and I hope it goes well. My goal is to get at least 2 bookings from hers and to just watch it skyrocket. Thanks Lyns for throwing the party!! I'm looking forward to it!!

(If you want to see my samples, check out my other blog here! If you want to host a workshop .... LET ME KNOW!!!

7 months

7th months came and went ... I can't believe how fast time has gone. Jace is doing very well. He is growing and eating, and being a perfect little baby. We get stopped in the stores all of the time and everyone comments on how beautiful he is. His eyes are gorgeous ... look at those dimples ... everyone loves Jace.

At 7 Months I can ...

Jace is growing so fast. When he turned six months it was like ... CHECK! I can sit up now. He will sit until he decides to fall. He has his bottom two teeth and is getting two more on the top -- the ones next to the middle two. He loves to be on his belly and will climb up on his knees and rock back and forth. Crawling is meer days away ... my world is about to drastically change. He currently LOVES to say MAMAMAMAMA or PAPAPAPAPA. He generally only doees it when he is getting upset and/or tired. He loves to eat his little cereal bites and his teething biscuts. He hasn't gotten fussy with his teeth or lost sleep over it. He is the highlight of our life and we love him dearly

Waking up in the middle of my pillows

Playing with Dad

Trying on what COULD have been my Halloween Costume

I'm the oldest ... I get all of the pictures.

Trying on my ACTUAL Halloween Costume. My mom made it.

SEVEN MONTHS

Some of you Know ... Some Don't ... regardless .......

The outcome isn't pretty.

It took us 7 years to get pregnant with Jace. He is a perfect child. We love him more than our hearts have room for, but somehow we love him more and more each day.

On labor day this year we found out we were expecting baby #2! We were so excited to have made one without the use of any drugs :) We were very scared about the idea of having two babies 13 months apart, but were preparing for the challenge.

Unfortunately, today it ends. We are saddened, but we have survived this before and can do it again. Jace will be a big brother some day ... but not in April.

Photo Shot

We took our little stud in on Saturday to get his pictures taken. Everyone just oohed and ahhed over how dang cute the kiddo is! Joe and I were determined to stick to a budget ... so we only could choose one pose. It was tough -- which one would YOU pick?

6th month stats

Weight:
18 lbs
60th percentile

Height:
27 inches
70th percentile

Head:
99th percentile

Half Way to One

I can't believe that Jace is six months old. Part of me feels like he has been in our world forever, while the other part feels like we were just at the hospital bringing him home! He is the joy of my life ... and it kills me to leave him every day! It is so fun to watch him grow up and get better and better at new things. He is such a doll :) We go to the doctor's tomorrow for his well visit, so I can post all of his stats then.

At 6 months I can ...

At 5 months Jace mastered the roll from back to belly. Since then, he won't stay OFF of his stomach. Anytime we put him down he always just flops over -- he even prefers to sleep on his belly. While on his belly ... he looks like a frog out of water. A frog out of water that can only travel backwards! He is mobile ... but only in the negative direction. {But as I tell my geo students ... distance can't be negative -- it's still positive movement :)} Jace is a good eater -- he will down anything he can get his hands on. Sometimes he even tries to help you get the food into his mouth faster than you currently are shoveling it in. He has tried the following: Butternut & Acorn squash, peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, sweet potato & apple, yams, plums, bananas, and will try pears at the end of the week. I make all of his baby food and am having a great time doing it. Jace is happy {almost} 100% of the time. He has a smile that will just light up a room. Jace loves to talk, sing, giggle and laugh. He has his ticklish spots and if you hit them just right ... he'll laugh and laugh and sometimes even squeal. OH -- and his eye goobers cleared up! FINALLY!!

Here's a recap of the last month
Cheering Mom on before the race.


Me and my DADDY!


I'm happy after naps.

Helping mom get ready for work.

Just being pretty darn cute!

Photo shoot with mom before race day (#2)

Wow ... all that running tuckered me out! It was probably because my dad came in 1st!!


SIX MONTHS!

The BEST Gift Ever!

My new hobby is making quilts. I love it. I love cutting out the little squares, sewing them together, and then stitching it (by hand!) up! I love sewing the binding on. Hours of blood sweat and tears go into each quilt. LOVE IT!

When my little (and only) sister turned 18 I decided to make her a birthday/graduation/free babysitting/I don't owe you anything else for the rest of your life quilt. :) We picked out the material, chose the pattern and off I went.

I totally underestimated how many hours it would take to get this done. I figured that if I ran out of time at the end, I'd just tie the quilt up. Once it was on the frames, I COULDN'T tie it! Hours (and a lot of money) had gone into this quilt. Joe and I decided to hand stitch it.

It turned out lovely! Joe, Jace and I took an inpromtu trip down to Ephraim to give it to her once it was done. Luckily she loves it just as much as I do ... (IF she didn't I'd just demand it back!)

Jen's Update

It has been awhile since I have blogged. I have several pictures to put on -- so I need to just sit down and do it. I thought that I would take a minute and journal my thoughts on the 2009-2010 school year.

First of all -- this is a very DIFFERENT year! I knew it would be though. In the past I have been the kind of teacher that would work until there was a good stopping place or until the job was done. I would make sure that I was over prepared for my lessons the next day. I had plenty of time to get home since Joe generally would get home after me anyway. That is not the case this year. I have a {{VERY CUTE}} responsibility at home now. Once 3:20 hits -- I'm out the door. There will always be tomorrow. I feel like sometimes I'm hanging on by the skin of my teeth. I wish I was more prepared ... but I just don't have the time to be. I feel like sometimes I have LESS time now that I have a prep period. I do LOVE my prep though!!

The other thing that makes this year difficult is the district, or legislature, has taken away so much for teachers. Morale is low. I don't want to work hard because 1) I don't feel valued and 2) They know that they can take away and take away and the teachers will still do all of the work. Well this one has decided not to. I feel like they are going to be losing good teachers because of decisions that are being made.

I am about 99.9% sure that this is my last year. I want to stay home with my baby Jace. I want to be able to take him to swim lessons, or walk him to preschool (OR Drive since I am SURE he'll be going down to his Auntie Char's Pre-School!). I want to play games, walk the dogs, learn lacrosse, and just be home with him. I don't wan't to be gone when he learns how to walk. I don't want to be the SECOND one to notice that his tooth has broken through. I want to be home. SO I've decided to start pushing my Stampin' Up more. I even have my first workshop (in like 4 years!!) next month. I hope it just skyrockets. It would make me much more comfortable staying home -- but even if it doesn't we'll work it out. I know that next year that is where I need to be. It just makes it tough for this year.

SO that's my life so far. My boy is adorable. My husband is great. My house is a mess. :) Everything is just ... normal!

2009-2010 Project

I may have underestimated the project I have just gotten myself into this school year. I want to make sure that the kids know that I care about them. I decided to send home birthday cards {via mail} to all of my students this year, {hand made ... of course!}

I just sent out my first two today ... YAY! I hope that it will help me stand out above their other teachers. I also hope that I can make "boy" cards that the males in my classes will enjoy. Another hope is that I will be able to make enough cards for all of my students. It is a big project and will take a lot of time, but will be worth it. I'm excited.

Officially

They just posted my official time. 31:26 ... that's a 10 min 6 sec. mile. I was less than 1 second behind my co-worker, Mandee! I came in 137th out of all of the 740 5k runners/walkers and 47th out of the 231 in my age group. For my first race ... not too shabby!