Wish List Wednesday

I have seen this in many blogs that I enjoy reading and since I am sitting here at work not doing too much I have decided that I will try and start doing this weekly :o) Here goes my first try :o)

I would like to win the lotto (who wouldn't!) because I hate having to leave my little guy once I get him down for a nap. With molars coming in and the crappy nights we've been having it would be great to just lay down & nap with him in the afternoon rather than coming here to my p/t job.
Next I would love a house and not just any house, a house in FL! I am so tired of living in NY and would really love to move south where the weather is warmer and you can have palm trees right on your front lawn! And hey, if I win the lotto I wouldn't have to work down there either!
To go with my new house I would love a Doberman Pinscher for Jack to grow up with. I had one growing up and believe they are the best dogs around!

And then one thing that is specifically just for me since my birthday is coming would be the Nikon D40 so that I can take even more & amazing pictures of my little monster :o)

Oh to wish!!!

xoxo,
Jaime

Missing Him

As we are getting ready for our 2nd family vacation I am excited but also a little sad. This Saturday will be 3 years since I lost one of the most important people in my life, my dad. I start to think about it as I am packing for our trip and the tears just start to flow. How has this happened and why? I should be getting ready to go on vacation and see him, to hug him when I get there and watch him as he plays with my son but that won't happen ever. He was taken from us way too soon and it's just not fair. I want to throw myself on the floor sometimes, kicking and screaming like a kid that didn't get their way because it's just not fair that he had to leave us when he did. It's not fair that I was planning a wedding and looked forward so much to having my dad walk me down the aisle and then I had that ripped from me 4 months before the date. It's not fair that I had my 1st child and will never see him hold my baby and play with him.

All of Jack's 1st have been so amazing, so great and there are some days that I wish I could call him and tell him because I know how excited he would have been to hear it all. He loved his grandchildren, it was fun to watch him with them because it showed me what he must have been like when we were small since I don't remember stuff like that.

Being daddy's little girl was always such a great thing. He was my best friend, my go to person, someone I could tell everything to and he was always so, so honest (sometimes a little too honest) and just always there. These days I think having been daddy's little girl has made it that much harder to deal with him not being here anymore. I just don't 'get it', I mean people tell me 'things happen for a reason' and things of that nature but I just don't get it. Why did this happen? What could possibly have been more important that he had to leave us and go up there rather than stay here and enjoy all that was to come?

I know I'll never have the answers to all of this but I still think about it sometimes. I try and tell Jack as much about Pop Pop as I can and Joe helps with things he knows too. Sometimes Joe says stuff and will turn to me and say 'your dad would have liked that one', usually about a joke or something and he's so right!

For now I will try my best to stay my usually positive self and have my dad live in Jack's life through stories and pictures and hope that Jack grows up knowing what an amazing man his Pop Pop was and how much he loves him even though he's not here to tell him himself.

Love & miss you more than words could ever say!!!

xoxo,
Jaime

4th of July...Then & Now

I was shopping around last month for something Jack could wear for the 4th of July this year (yes, a month seems early but when shopping for baby holiday clothes it really isn't, they sell out fast ). I wound up in Carter's because well 1)it's down the block from my house and 2) it's quite possibly my favorite baby clothes store..anyway, I was looking for something patriotic, something red, white & blue for Jack to wear and the only things I kept seeing were 'Baby's 1st 4th' clothes. I picked one up and then put it back down, maybe I'm a little slow, or I think Jack is still a baby and not a toddler, but I realized then that he's getting in to his 2nd year of everything. He's been through all of the holidays already and that was crazy to me because it made me feel like he's such a big boy now.

Anyway, although sad in some ways that my baby is growing up so fast, it's also fun because now I get to compare all the 1st to this year. It's amazing the difference a year makes...check this out:

Then:


Now:

Jack & momma doing our best cheese faces :o)

Daddy & Jack playing & being silly:

I hope everyone had a great 4th. It's crazy how fast time is flying by but I think it just gets better & better :o)

xoxo,
Jaime

Walk This Way

Jack has started walking. He took his very first 2 steps last Monday night and ever since he wasn't too crazy about doing it again. I think we might have scared him a little with all the jumping up & down that we did and kissing and hugging him. I am so happy he decided to give it another try though, maybe he realized that mommy and daddy and just a little crazy!

Wednesday night we gave him a bear to hold and tried to get him to walk between us (the bear so he wouldn't have his hands to throw right on the ground) and he did, he took maybe 4-5 steps between us twice. Again we jumped up and down and acted like fools but luckily this time it didn't scar him. Last night he walked all over the living room from one person to the next. It was so exciting!!! He is far from walking full time and still has to be encouraged to do it at all, won't do it on his own yet, but it's definitely a start.

We are so so proud of our little man!!!!! Here is a video from last night:





xoxo,
Jaime

Great Giveaway...sooo cute!!!

While I was pregnant I would frequent a website called thebump.com and met some really nice girls. A lot of us have since become very friendly and we talk through there, facebook, our blogs & sometimes even on the phone, lol!

A few of the girls are extremely talented too and have taken the things that they like for their children and come up with some cool stuff themselves. One of the girls who we call "Southern" made the most adorable little gummie dolls for girls & boys. These dolls have different fabrics and patterns and the kiddies seem to love them. She is doing a great giveaway now and I could only hope that Jack will be the lucky winner of a little boy gummie doll!

Please check out her blog and also her Etsy shop, she is so super talented, you will love her stuff!!!

Blog: southernsews.blogspot.com

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7056380

xoxo,
Jaime

Houston...We Have a 1 Year Old!!!

Ok, ok, I'm a little late but keeping up with an almost walking TODDLER is not easy these days!

I have done so much thinking this past week. I remember holding Jack for the very first time and looking in to those sweet innocent little eyes and thinking that I didn't want to blink because I didn't want to miss any second of this amazing baby's life. Now, here we are a year later and he's a toddler already! I feel like I blinked and the time just flew past me.

I miss that little itty bitty baby so much, but Jack is so much more fun now! He gives hugs & kisses (ok, so they are open mouth & sometimes biting kisses, but kisses none the less), gives the biggest cheesiest smiles and is just hilarious when he is chanting Daddy...yep, you read right chanting! Joe thought it would be cute to teach Jack to chant daddy and now he does it 85% of the day!

On to the birthday celebrations. Jack's birthday was last Friday 6/12. We were trying to think of what we could do with a 1 year old that might be a little fun for him. I thought that maybe we could bring him to the mall by us since it has a carousel & a ferris wheel. I thought that would be fun for him but daddy thought Chuck E Cheese would be more fun...not so much though.

Before we did that though, we took Jack for his very first haircut and then we went to IHOP for breakfast. He loves all the waitresses there (we go about once a week) and so as soon as we walking & sit down they talk to him & he hams it up. He was wearing a shirt that said 'Birthday Boy' and so before we left the ladies brought over a bowl of ice cream & whipped cream with a candle in it & they sang happy birthday to him it, it was so sweet! After his afternoon nap we went to Chuck E Cheese and Jack just wasn't a huge fan, maybe next year it will be better.
Saturday was his birthday party and it was so much fun! We had family & friends at a nearby restaurant party room and even Elmo came & paid Jack a birthday visit :o) He had such a good time and so did we. We are so happy everyone who made it could and Jack got a lot of great gifts too.


Here are some more pictures from the weekend:'til next time :o)
xoxo,
Jaime

In Denial!

So, our little monkey will be 1 next week...WHAT?!?! How did this happen? Where has the time gone? How can I go back to it?

Our little monster is so awesome these days and really just on the cusp of walking, which I will be the first to admit, scares the crap out of me! How did I go from having a baby to having a toddler in what seems like the blink of an eye?!

Oh well, I guess it is going to happen no matter how much I try to make it stop. In the meantime we are 9 days away from a birthday and 10 days away from a party :o) Party planning is almost complete, I am going to order his cake today (the big one for the guests) and then try and finalize with the restaurant tomorrow or Friday.

Oh boy...my next post will probably be THE BIRTHDAY post! In the meantime, let's reminisce a little about when our peanut was actually just a little peanut!




xoxo,
Jaime