Changes

I have done some changes on the blog this morning, like you couldn't tell hehe. I have also added a new ticker just for me. It is of my weight loss and the way I figure it, if I log on everyday to see that thing staring at me in the face, I just might not go for that extra snack in the kitchen. It might also motivate me to get off my butt and do something also. Ha Ha. We'll see. But my goal is to be down 43 pounds before our vacation in June so that I will be not so scary at the pool at the Nick Hotel.

I also plan to change the header, but I need to get a semi-decent picture of the boy and well that is hard these days since he won't sit still for longer than 1.2 seconds. Makes it hard to snap a picture.

We have My Gym today. Yay. Burn some toddler energy. Always a good thing. Love that.

We haven't tried the toddler bed again. During the day, I do have the mattress on the toddler bed and he does love to climb all over it. I just don't think he quite understands that it is for sleeping. This might be a harder transistion than I thought. Thanks for all your advice on the subject. In the meantime, the redecorating will go forward with the new choo choo theme. The bears are coming down. Maybe that will inspire him to sleep in the big boy bed.

Another Cheer Day and Another Great Performance

Laura had another cheerleading competition today. They are coming fast and furious now. She has a 2-day competition next weekend also in San Diego. That means we don't get to see the Super Bowl and this is one that I actually wanted to watch and see the Seattle Seahawks in the big game. Boo hoo.

Anyway the competition was in Long Beach today and her team got second place. I could tell that her team just wasn't on top of their game today and they had a couple of oopsies. But second place is still awesome and this competition was teams from all over California, so that means a lot more! Again, we are incredibly proud of her as usual. I took another video and will have to post it tomorrow when I am more awake.

The venue where the competition was held today just happened to be right where Jim works. It was neat going to see where he works today so that was an added bonus.

Jack was quite the little trooper today and held out all day without any nap at all and without any major fussiness! He did fall asleep on the way home, but that wasn't until 6 pm. After Laura performed, we quickly left and went to eat at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Yummy stuffed shrimp! And yes blew my diet yet again. But did I say it was really yummy?

And now it is time to get me off to bed. These days totally wear me out.

Toddler Bed Woes

Well we did it. We bought the toddler bed yesterday. Jim put it together (does anything come assembled anymore?) and put it in the middle of Jack's bedroom. He was soooo excited about it and kept climbing on it saying "my bed". I thought all was going to be good in the transistion, and it was... for about an hour.

So last night we went to change into jammies and get ready for bed. He climbed on the bed, under the mickey mouse quilt that his Uncle Bill made for him and he seemed very happy to go to sleep there. So we read some books and then I sang the "sleepy song" to him, kissed him and walked out the door. All was good for about 15 minutes.

And then he started to scream "Momma, Momma, Momma". I go in there and he is NOT a happy little boy. So I stayed with him for a little bit longer trying to soothe him down and he seemed like he was going to sleep. So I tiptoe out and all is good for 30 minutes this time.

So long story short, it didn't work. Finally about 10 pm, I gave up and moved the mattress back to his crib and put him in there where he slept for the rest of the night.

So my question is to those who have transitioned to the big bed, how did you do it? Or is it just that Jack is not ready for it yet? Jim's theory is that he squirms around so much in the crib and when he tried to do that on the bed he felt like he was going to fall off and got scared. Might have to move it against the wall and see what happens. But I don't think we will be trying to do the toddler bed again for a few nights.

Oh and my reaction to putting him in a big boy bed? Yeah, you guessed it, I ended up crying. I really thought I was ready for him to transistion to the bed, but maybe neither he nor I are ready just quite yet.

Told Tat in a Tar

The words are forthcoming big time now from Jack. It is so much fun to watch him try to say a word for the first time and the concentration on his little face as he is forming the word is just priceless. However, there has been a trend in the last few weeks of replacing C's (K sounding C's) with T's.

So if he opens the door and it is cold outside he will say "burrr Told!".

If he is yelling (copying me actually) at the cats he will say "TAT!".

And his favorite word right now, right up there with choo choo is TAR! There are lots and lots of tars on the road. And he likes to play with all of his tars.

Slight problem with this. Jack has brainwashed me. Now when I see a car or when I go to say the word? I think and say TAR! The boy is rubbing off on me.

But in other news:

Last night when I was putting him to bed. I stayed there for a few minutes just stroking his face trying to get him to sleep and when I was leaving, I said "I love you Baby". And he lifted his head and said " I uv you" back to me. Ahhh those moments you just want to capture them and bottle them and keep forever. Not to mention you could probably make a fortune if you could mass produce em and sell em.

Happy Toddler Again

I would like to announce that we have a much happier Jackaroo this morning. However, he woke up REALLY REALLY early - before 5 am! Oh joy! So it has been a long morning so far and it is only 8 am.

Since we were all up and raring to go this morning, I set Jack up in front of Sesame Street and I went to work cleaning my kitchen. I am now a proud owner of a clean kitchen - scrubbed counters, mopped floors and all. Now I just need to do the rest of the house along with 6 loads of laundry. Problem is, there is no other show out there that holds the boy's attention like Sesame Street and I think I pushed my limit for the hour between 7 and 8 am.

So now what to do, what to do? Always the ultimate question isn't it? I am thinking we might go to My Gym and make up our second class we missed. And that will make the boy good and tired (hopefully) to come home and nap so I can clean the rest of the house. I can tell that I need to come up with something because the boy is bored at the moment and we are going to have to do something today.

Oh and on Lost, did anybody else feel sorry for Charlie? That is if he was telling the truth about not using the drugs and he indeed was freaking out. That is one freaky freaky show. And was that supposed to mean something that Hurley thought he saw Libby before? If so where? So many questions. Just when you get one answered, three more pop up. Makes ya go hmmmm.

OH. MAH. GAH.

Today Jack screamed for over 3 hours straight. I kid you not. And I am not sure what the problem was either.

We got home today around 3pm. He did not get a nap before then because he was with my friend Janet who watched him for me while I helped out her husband again at work for a few hours. So when we got home, I put him straight down for a nap. I could tell he was really tired because his eyelids were turning purple (Jack's tired indicator light). He went right to sleep. At 4:30, I decided to wake him up because I didn't want him to sleep too late and then be too wired for bedtime. (This whole toddler sleep thing is a very delicate science ya know.) Well I guess that was NOT a good thing to do to a Jackaroo because the boy did not stop screaming from the time I got him up until I laid him back down for bedtime 15 minutes ago. Let me just say it again - OH MAH GAH!!!!

The boy can rattle my nerves and when Jim got home around 6:00, I was ready to throw Jack and a few animals out the window. I think they were all conspiring against me. Jack was screaming, the dog was knocking over the trash in the laundry room to get to the empty cat food can, the cats were jumping on the kitchen counter trying to eat the chicken I was cutting up for dinner. Oh and there was a really really awful smell coming from the trash in the kitchen that was totally gagging me. This was all at the same time!

Man oh man. I understand when they say SAHM is the hardest job in the world. Just trying to control the chaos in our lives is enough to drive us over the edge. Okay, now going to find some wine and relax and watch Lost that I didn't get to see last night.

Did You See Oprah?

Scaarrrryyy! I tell ya. She had on some guy who was talking about the bird flu and the fact that a pandemic WILL happen eventually and what will happen to all of us. Scarry stuff people. I had never thought of the food shortages because people would not go to work or the hospital overload. I mean we were there in the ER a few weeks ago and it was already totally overfilling with people. I tell ya that show scared me and you can bet that I will have on hand enough food to last the 5 or 6 weeks so that we won't have to leave the house. Oh yeah and stock up on some masks while you are it. Scary Scary Scary.

On a lighter note, what is up with Gilmore Girls? We had like 5 weeks of nonstop reruns and then TWO weeks of new stuff and bam back to reruns again tonight? Don't these people know that Gilmore Girls is what I live for on Tuesdays? My chance to veg out in front of the tv after everybody is asleep and just have me time with my Gilmore Girls? And that time is seriously substandard when it is a rerun.

Not much happening around here lately. We went to My Gym today. There was a meltdown on Jack's part today. The reason behind the meltdown involved a motorized choo-choo train ride and only getting one turn to ride the thing. He was NOT happy to have to give it up and share. I was thinking we were going to have to go home because I could not get him to enjoy anything else in that place. He ONLY wanted the choo choo. I need to tell them that they need to warn me about the choo choo usage and prepare myself for the meltdown. Oh and yeah Jack was the only one who was having serious sharing issues with the choo choo. Of course.

Poor Jim. He came home tonight, ate dinner (chicken kabobs, wow that cooking thing is still going) and had to go straight to bed at 5:30. He has to be back to work at midnight tonight and then work straight through his normal shift until 3:00 tomorrow. I don't know how the poor guy does it. So because of Jim's early bedtime tonight, that meant that I got to spend one-on-one time with Jack tonight. Oh yay! I tell you, bedtime sure took its sweet time getting here.

Oh and yeah I have to go to work tomorrow. I got the phone call last week from my old boss needing my help with year-end stuff. Blech. I really don't want to go in there. I have come to realize just what a negative place that place was. But it is extra money that we could use and I said I would do it, so I guess I will. But I can complain about it also. So there!

Laura Cooked Last Night

I bought Laura the Betty Crocker's Cookboook for Kids. It really is good because it breaks the recipes down into easy steps. Even I can do it - HA! So last night she cooked the dinner. The menu included: chicken fingers, tator tots, and for desert - Fudge! And she did a great job! Jack finished his plate off so you know it was good.







After making the fudge, Laura got the bowl to lick and Jack got the spoon. As you can see, the boy loved it! And later after having a piece of the fudge? The boy was stoned... literally, seriously! He was absolutely insane and did not stop for a full hour. He came up to me and laughed in my face and I looked at him and his little eyes were all glazed over. He was stoned on sugar!

Proof of What Drugs Can Do

Does anybody remember Leif Garrett? Or am I the only one is old enough to remember? But for awhile there, I was mesmerized by Leif Garrett. I remember when I was in 6th grade and in the hospital with pneumonia and somehow somebody brought me his record album. I remember sitting there and just staring into his eyes. Ahhh.

But flash forward almost 30 years and you go from this:



To THIS!!!!!!!


Sad just sad sad sad. The man is only 44 years old and looks like he is 60! Proof of what drugs can do to your looks AND life.

Oh Yeah, There Was Fun Involved

We went to the new toddler heaven in town today called Child's Play. The place was a lot of fun and such a great way for Jack to interact with other kids his age and also burn off some toddler energy. The place is basically one big playroom with hundreds of toys and climbing thingys and ball pits and just cool stuff.

I actually met some nice other mothers while there. I met one woman who had two twin little boys who were only 2 weeks younger than Jack. Boy oh boy am I glad I did not have twins. I asked her if she was having anymore and she answered "Oh God No" so incredibly fast. They were totally into everything and of course opposite ends of the room. I can't even imagine trying to keep up with two Jacks. Good Grief. The woman is a hero, I tell ya.

The great thing about the place was you could just let your little toddler run free and kinda sit back and watch or talk with the other mothers. It was a lot of fun and I am sure we will go back there again.

And the best part of it all? We came home and ate some lunch. Afterward, Jack went and picked up his Doggie and started walking back to his room singing the Sleepy song we sing to him everynight. The boy WANTED to take a nap!!! Miracles do happen! I put him in his crib and he said to me "Nite Nite" and rolled over and went to sleep! And slept for THREE HOURS.

Oh yeah we are definitely going back there again.


Started the day off in the kitchen washing dishes. He LOVED this thing and for about a minute I actually was considering putting one of these things in my house. But what with the train table, the massive amounts of books, the toy bins, toy chest, and trains, planes and automobiles scattered throughout the house, do I REALLY need this also? No, I don't think so either.


Played with the wall thingy with all the cool gadgets.


Then there was the many multiple rides on the roller coast. He kept getting on and figured out how to turn it on by himself and went round and round and round. Big Hit.



Had to do a bit of work involving moving some blocks from one end of the room to the other with the hand truck. This ended when the little brunette in the background decided she needed to move the blocks back across the room and there was much screaming on both sides.


Rode the fishie rocking thingy for a bit.



Worked out a bit on the "treadmill". He actually jumped a teeny tiny bit for about 3.5 seconds. Seriously the kid doesn't get the whole concept of jumping.



And finished the day off with a bit of coloring. Really cool idea of putting paper down on the table and letting the kids go at it. Might just have to do that and maybe do some finger painting or something.

Gonna Try Again

With the Playgroup. The last time at the park was a disaster of sorts because the other mothers were not friendly at all. But today's activity includes going to a toddler heaven place called Childs Play. I have been wanting to go to this place for awhile now and have heard only good things about it. And today the playgroup is meeting there today. According to their website, there is 7 other mothers going and they ALL can't be snobbish can they? Or maybe its me???? Who knows. But it is going to be a good opportunity to burn some Jackaroo energy off and that is ALWAYS a good thing in my book.

I will try to post pictures later of the outing.

What a Weird Night!

Okay last night had to be one of the weirdest nights in the Jackaroo house in a long time. It seems lately that I have not been able to sleep very well, or I should say getting to sleep has been hard. But last night just capped it all off.

Jim and Jack went to bed at 8:00 and I stayed up. Watched Lost (how creepy is that show anyway?). Then surfed the internet looking for Pottery Barns Train Junction bedding for the boy's room. Let me just say ebay doesn't seem to be any cheaper than the PBK online.

So about 11:00, I am thinking this is ridiculous and decided to take a book into the guest bedroom bed and read. My thought was that if I were horizontal reading, I would go to sleep within minutes like always. But no, at midnight, I finally turned the light out and laid there forcing myself to sleep. Finally.

2:30 am. I wake up wide awake! What in the world is up with that? So I get up and go check internet for a few minutes until Jim's alarm rings at 2:45. Yes poor thing had to be at work at 5 am today and he has at least an hour commute. So he gets up and gets ready, turn the tv on in the bedroom to watch the news. I am wide awake. He leaves about 3:30 and I lay in bed forcing myself to sleep again.

4:00 am. Jack starts screaming his head off. I wait a few minutes and realize this is the real thing. He needs me. So I go in there, and see that his diaper needs changing BADLY. So I change his diaper, go get a sippy of milk and put him back to bed.

5:00 am. I finally get back to sleep for another 2 hours of sleep. At 7:00, I am wide awake again. I give it up and decided to just get up and start the day with shower and coffee. Jack is going to my stay with my friend Janet today while I go do some accounting year end stuff where her husband works. Extra moola for the vacation fund.

Oh and now Jack is awake. Yay! Good Morning Everybody!

Not Coming Out But I am GOING In the Closet!

Because I can! I have been cleaning, throwing away, making piles of clothes to go to charity, and organizing all morning long. And now I can say (quite proudly I might add) that I can WALK INTO my Walk-In closet! It is quiting an amazing feat for us here in the Jackaroo World. You see when we moved into this house, Jack was a tiny baby of 3 months old. And at that point in time, I did not have it in me to move my entire house AND organize it at the same time. Surviving day to day was about it for me. So we just kinda threw things here and there and well over time learned to live with the disorganization and clutter. But here it is a year and a half later the closet is now organized. Of course, I did not throw one piece of clothing out that belonged to Jim. To me that just seems a bit stepping-over-the-line-as-a-wife thing.

So now it is official, the man has more clothes than I do. Is that sad or what? What happened to all those business suits that I used to wear when I worked at a bank 3 lifetimes ago? What happened to the Nordies outfits that I used to have back when I actually shopped at Nordies? Oh yeah, I remember those were 3 sizes ago. Silly me. I got rid of them because they made me depressed. Ahhhhh the days of my 20s and early 30s. Now my side of the closet is filled with $7.99 Old Navy t-shirts, jeans, and sweats. The Mom Wardrobe I guess. Hey Oprah, if you are reading this - call me in for a makeover, k?

Back to Normal?

What with the holidays, having Auntie and The Grandparents stay with us, and the sickness that invaded our house, it has NOT been normal around here lately. In fact, since quitting my job 2 months ago (has it really been 2 months now?), it feels like it has not been normal. I spent almost all the time getting the house ready for Christmas and doing the usual Christmas rush. That now with all that behind us, it is down to normal days. I guess now I will find out what it is like to be a regular SAHM. And Yay it starts today with MY GYM! Toddler heaven! Burning toddler energy is always good.

I might have to check out this place also. I heard from one of the other mothers last week at My Gym that it was great for toddler heaven also. In fact, I just may try out the online SAHM group again and go to one of their events to this place. We'll see.

Off to Toddler Heaven. See ya laters.

Money Matters

It was a quiet weekend in the Jackaroo household. Jim and Laura both had yesterday off, so it was a long and lazy weekend. We didn't do much because well we in the Jackaroo house are trying to not spend. I am on this "save money" and "no spending" kick at the moment. I am very determined to save the money we are going to need for our 2 week road trip in June. So I have put a clamp down on all spending for awhile.

Along with the no spending thing, I am trying to sell as much as I can on ebay. Whoohoo I made $32 over the weekend just selling a couple of things of Jack's. Every little bit helps right?

Thank You Aunt Ann and Uncle Bill, You shouldn't have

Really! They sent Jack a tractor (his 14th I think) and the thing is THE most annoying toy in the world. It makes this sound of the tractor engine and also a rooster crowing ALL AT THE SAME TIME! What did we do to deserve that? Wasn't Jim a good enough brother to you?

No really, thanks a lot guys. Jack really does love it. It just may "lose" its batteries very soon.

A Good Mommy and Jack Day

We went to My Gym for a makeup class today. We actually have 2 classes to makeup because he was sick one week and I was sick the next. Anyway, Jack had an absolute blast. Of course, goes without saying. That place is such a toddler heaven. Today we had a really great guy for a teacher. I think he owns the place. He was hilarious and had so much energy! He kept making Jack his example kid. Today was "back flip" day and he used Jack to teach us stupid parents how to back flip our kids. Of course, Jack was a mass of giggles doing the flips. Later on, they brought out this trapeze thing where the kids would hang on it and then turn them around in circles. Again, massive giggles came from the boy, especially once he tried to walk and was all dizzy. He just thought that was the funnest thing in the world.

He also participated a lot better this time. It is so funny because a lot of the songs have the kids jumping and well I don't think Jack quite gets the whole concept of jumping. His "jumping" consists of pumping his arms up and down but his feet never actually leave the ground. Yeah weird kid, I know.

On the way out, they always give the stamp the kid's hands. He was so proud of his stamp that he had to show everybody in the grocery store his stamp.

We then went to McDonalds for lunch. He is such a grown up little man now. He is so good. He will stand right next to me while I pay and not run off like some of the other kids were doing. Even when there was the huge temptation of THE PLAYLAND just a few feet away. And then he sat in the booth across the table from me without a booster seat or anything. He just sat there and ate his happy meal while watching the kids in the playland. Then I let him play for a few minutes before we left.

Now he is napping. It is a late nap for him today. But he was such a little trooper today. Ahhh days like these make the whole parenting thing worth while.

Delurking! Come on out wherever you are...

Alright since EVERYBODY is doing it, I thought I would do it also. Come on people, I know you are there. Make a comment, even if you never ever have made a comment in your entire life. You can do it. I'll even give you a topic. How lame is the new 2 cent stamp increase?

Now Go!

When did I become one of those?

Jack has an appointment today to finally get his flu shot. You see back in November I had an appointment all set up for him for the shot, but was called 3 days before and was told that they were out of the shots and don't bother coming in. And of course, you just can't take an almost-2-year-old just anywhere to get a flu shot like you can a 30-something mother. I got mine at the grocery store!

So when I was at the doctor's last week with Jack and mentioned that he did not get a flu shot because THEY ran out, the doctor informed me that they got a second shipment in a few weeks prior. Why was I not notified of this? Why did it have to be that my son had to get a raging flu bug and end up in the ER because they did not notify me? Mad? Um yeah.

So I said that I would like one. They said they had 4 left and would reserve one for Jack. So today is the day he gets his flu shot. A little bit late, but I guess better than never.

Anyway, the appointment is for 9:30 this morning. And upon waking up and realizing that I had to be out of the house before 9:00 to get there on time (since we moved, the doctor is now a good 30 minutes away), I was bummed. I didn't want to get out of the house at that "early" time. Of course, it doesn't help that I have been out of the house for a total of 20 minutes in the last 4 days. And that was to run to the drug store!

But my question is, when did it happen? I used to be able to get up and out of the house with both me and Jack dressed and looking good BEFORE 7 am. And now after 2 months of being unemployed, I grumble about having to get out of the house at 9am?!? Sad. Very Sad.

Seven In Seven

I was tagged by Dee for this one.

Seven things I want to do before I die:
1. See Jack grow up and have kids
2. Travel to Ireland
3. Travel to Europe (yes I know Ireland is part of, but this is my list)
4. Travel to Australia
5. Own my own business
6. Go back to school just for fun stuff
7. Get down to a size 8

Seven things I cannot do:
1. ice skate
2. run a marathon (stole that from Dee but it sooo applies to me also)
3. live without coffee.
4. live without my husband and child.
5. keep a green thing alive
6. climb a mountain - hate heights
7. go to a kid's program without crying

Seven things that attract me to my husband:

1. His good looks
2. He is an awesome father
3. How he makes sure every single day that he tells me he loves me
4. His caring heart
5. His pride
6. His ethics
7. His hugs

Seven things I say most often:

1. JACK!
2. NO!
3. CAT!
4. Damn Cats/Dogs
5. He is almost 2
6. Jack Jack
7. I love you

Seven favorite series/books/authors:

1. Jennifer Weiner (In her shoes, Little Earthquakes)
2. Diana Gabaldon (The Outlander series, a new one just came out)
3. Jude Devereaux (Romance stuff)
4. Judith McNaught (more romance stuff)
5. John Grisham
6. Parenting books
7. Elmo Lift the flap and see books (about the only ones I read now)

Seven movies I watch over and over:
1. Grease
2. Ferris Bueller
3. Gone with the wind
4. Star Wars
5. All the Christmas movies
6. Sleepless in Seattle
7. Thomas the Tank

Seven people I tag to do this:

1. Jane
2. Carolyn
3. Cooper's Dad
4. Liesl
5. Kelli
6. Claire
7. Madeline Monkey