play ball

play ball, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Ok, one last creation. I might like this one for JT's room. It incorporates my one little word for this year.

spring fever

spring fever, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I'm quite addicted to these texture overlays! And I'm getting more brave... I added text to this one. haha!

How much longer until spring anyway? The daffodils have poked through already. The Japanese dogwood and the lilac bushes are chock full of blossoms ready to go.

happy prez' day

rusty flower, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I spent today with JT. These days off are such a treasure. Of course, I forgot to snap our picture today for the 52 weeks of me and my kid. We'll have to see what the rest of the week brings.

There are stories and photos to share from the weekend, but that will have to wait for another evening. I have been playing with photos all night and didn't leave myself much blogging time.

Here is a flower pic I took last fall with an overlay I found on flickr... fun stuff these overlays. :-)

52 weeks with my kid

Mama and JT in the snow, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Ok, I'm taking the challenge... 52 weeks with my kid. One photo of me and JT every week for a year. Sure, starting in February is a little random. I was feeling non-committal in January though. :-)

We were lucky enough to have some daylight today and John took our picture. But I daresay it will more often be me doing a self-portrait. At least history will know that I was involved in my kid's upbringing. I mean, to look at the photos so far, I appear completely absent.

The little bugger still has a bit of a head cold. He's cheerful as can be though. You got love a hacking cough and runny nose with a big grin on his face.

He's waving all the time now. The other morning (when he woke up in bed with us... 3 binky retrievals and we opt for co-sleeping...) he waved at John and then at me. Upstairs on his changing table, he waved at his reflection in the mirror. Then he waved at a 2 foot tall Smokey Bear that my grandparents got him for Christmas. He is across the room from the changing table... JT has been eyeballing him only recently. And now it's tradition to wave at Smokey when we're in his room. And I ask him, "What does Smokey say, JT?" And in a very deep voice I answer for him, "ONLY YOU can prevent forest fires!" Lol... it's sure to be his first full sentence!

think or swim

You didn't think there was only one video from swimming, did you? Watch out, this one might make you dizzy...




John set JT beside me tonight while I was sitting with the computer on my lap. JT started banging on the keyboard, of course. He managed to open a new Firefox tab and navigate to the site thinkorswim.com. Haha... ironic. (I have no idea how or why that site - it's not something either of us had been to previously.)

sea legs

JT got his sea legs today. He goes crazy in the tub at bathtime. He kicks all the water out of the tub for no good reason most nights. So we decided to take him where there is a lot more water.

How do you think he liked it?

JT and Froggy

JT and Froggy, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

This picture cracks me up. JT and the frog have the EXACT same expression. lol!

I love digital scrapbooking... it's so neat and tidy. I wish I knew Photoshop Elements better though. I'd be a digital scrapbooking machine then!

Once again, I am up way too late. Going to bed now... Let's hope there isn't a humongously loud crack of thunder at 2:30am that wakes John and me out of sound sleep. He thought it was an explosion. I don't know how it didn't wake JT. Thunder - in February?!

just chillin'

I wish I was just chillin'... I am so tired. We just watched the end of the super bowl. That was the first time I'd sat down since mid-day. I spent the whole day making baby food for JT. We were almost OUT completely. I bought a bunch of stuff last week on Thursday and didn't get to make it up until today.

Here is the work in progress:

And here is the freezer full of goodies:

Many thanks to Ellen... the food processor and the white ice cube trays are all on loan from her. She also gave me the great idea for mango-applesauce. JT loves it! Today I made up several new foods for him, including cauliflower, carrots, and spaghetti squash. His new food over the weekend was YoBaby yogurt. The vanilla is delicious.

Oh, and I should mention... the baby food is freezing right now in our BRAND... NEW.... REFRIGERATOR!!!

The best feature? Ice and water in the door. Good-bye ice cube trays and water filtration pitcher!

JT's library

I've been pining for yard sale season lately. In order to get a little fix, JT and I visited the second-hand store one evening this week. He got a pair of swimming trunks for $1.60 (because we plan to take him to the pool soon for some splashing.) And I got 3 books. Ok, the books are "for him". But really, they're for me.

My favorite is Will's Mammoth:


I love the drawings and how the text works right along with them. The story just wreaks of imagination. The little boy imagines that he spends the day playing with a woolly mammoth and all the ice age creatures. Most of the pages just have pictures, so you can make up the story of his day as you go through the book... a book about imagination that requires imagination. Just look at these dreamy images:


The other two books are Clever Tortoise and Madeline and the Gypsies. Clever Tortoise won me over because it covers animals and African culture. It's also a cute tale with a lesson. And the Madeline book, well! Any story about a kid who runs off to be with the gypsies has to be good! LOL - I like when Miss Clavel gets the postcard and realizes that Madeline has forgotten how to spell in her time with the gypsies! Oh and sure, it has some French culture as well...


I've added many of JT's books to a list on WorldCat. Check it out: JT's Library.

new handmade

So I can't give up the handmade stuff. I bought these two prints for JT's room. Now I just hope they arrive before we go visit my brother. He can make me custom mats for them and I can paint up a couple yard sale frames to match all the other frames in his room. You know, the other frames that don't have anything in them yet. Yeah, yeah, I'll get to those.

Turtle Kite - Gocco Printed

by jenskelley

awww, how sweet is the turtle?!

Baloon flight

by MiaMiBox

This little girl in the balloon is a print of a mixed media painting. I love the trees. Have I mentioned how much he loves the balloon mobile in his room? My heart just lights up when he oohs and ahhs over it.

teething on a lollipop

valentine baby, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Sometimes after JT goes to bed, we sneak up to say good night again and watch him sleep. We did that tonight after watching Friday Night Lights. When that show ends, we say "shwew, thank goodness we won't have any teenagers for a while." Then we want to hug on our lovable bundle of joy while he'll still let us.

I mean, really... I'm not going to stop smothering him with hugs and kisses. He'll just have to get used to it. *kiss*

little taste of sugar

JT had his first taste of sugar... in the name of photography!



Oh yeah... Lost is back tomorrow. Can't wait! I just rewatched the last episode from last fall and I'm pumped!

Caesar... salad.

We had PF Changs takout for dinner. You know what that means... lettuce wraps, mmm-mmm.


Caesar... salad., originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Hey JT, you look like Caesar. Caesar salad!!

C'mon, lettuce go get a bath. :-)

feel good

feel good, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Little guy just coughed in his sleep. It was a nasty sounding cough, so I ran up to check on him... he was sound asleep still. But since I was there, I may as well kiss him and tell him I love him. He wrapped his little hand around my finger so tight in his sleep. Awww... this must be why mommies gain weight with pregnancy. If I were a smaller woman, I'd crawl right in his crib and cuddle with him. :-)

Last weekend was a long weekend out of town away from JT with our youth group. It was a great weekend, but exhausting in many ways. And uplifting, in many ways.

And then this week has been so busy at work. My eyes are so tired that when I blink they threaten not to open back up.

Good things planned for the weekend... looking forward to it. Also hoping to find some time to be creative!

blankie

blankie, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Aren't these blankies yummy?! I have an idea in mind for a blanket for JT... in the greatest shade of green. Now if I just had the energy to put it together. Last night I went to bed with a headache at 9pm. Tonight I've lasted til 10, but I'm fading fast.

I got some good tips from a quilter friend at work on how to attach seam binding. She also showed me how to make my own binding from fabric. I'm looking forward to trying it out. Just.need.energy.

My poor little guy is spending his days in misery over his teeth. I just want to spend the whole day snuggling him (and holding a teether for him to gnaw).

And so... I'm short on interesting things to post this week... maybe next week I will get some inspiration back.

play, play, play!

JT has been in bed for almost 2 hours now... I miss him! He was fun and adorable all weekend. He's teething pretty fiercely which causes some grouchiness, but overall... much happiness. The drooling and gnawing of teething has not been in vain, his first tooth came through this weekend!

On Saturday JT played with Ally and Nicholas most of the day. We walked in the park and played on the swings... it was beautiful outside! There was a LOT of baby laughter that day. We gave Ally the fleece blanket I started on around the start of the new year. I have a few more blankies lined up for the sewing machine... I'm pretty excited about how this one turned out and looking forward to some more:


John, JT and I spent a lot of time just playing. He is sitting up on his own really well now. He is launching backwards less every time we try it. :-) So we make little "baby nests" of pillows and toys and let him go to town.

So here's looking forward to another week of play and laughter... and no more growing up!!

6 months

Half a year already, can you imagine? Our little JT is so sweet... how did we ever get by without him? I think he had a pretty good half-year birthday today. He did have to get stuck a few times for vaccines, but otherwise it was fun. He weighs 17 lbs and is in perfect health.

His daddy took the day off and they hung out all day. The three of us had sushi for lunch. JT totally flirted with the cute waitress. He even convinced her to carry him around and she showed him off to the other tables. In the evening he and I had a little photo shoot (obviously), played some games, and watched Sesame Street.

I could write a blog post every day about how much I love him and what he means to me. I was thinking today about how lucky we are to have him and that he is so healthy (and I sent up a little prayer of thanks once again)... and I remembered the finch who visted us last May.

I'm pretty sure we weren't very thankful for him at the time and I called him some ugly names (sorry about that). Susannah pointed out that the finch symbolizes "multiplicity, new experiences and encounters." Other sources claim that during the Renaissance the finch was associated with the Passion and Christ's crown of thorns (because it eats thistle seeds).

His timing was just uncanny. He was around for a couple months at the end of my pregnancy. I don't remember exactly when he stopped visiting. And while a bird tapping on your window doesn't necessarily have to mean something, I can't shake the thought in my head that he was bringing us a message:

Your little boy is going to be just wonderful.

a blurb

Have you heard of Blurb? I'm going to try it out. The coolest thing is the ability to "slurp your blog into a book". How cool is that? I think if I had in mind that my blog would become a book at the end of each year, it would take on new meaning.

So this year... more stories and more pictures. What do you think? I mean... it's pretty much a scrapbook of our lives that I don't have to work very hard to capture.

I'll let you know how it goes.

*play*

Now... about resolutions and the new year and all that... I did terrible with last year's resolutions. Here's the recap:

• Gain no more than 30 lbs before giving birth. Really should have stopped gaining at 30!
  
• Lose that 30 lbs by December. Needless to say... the amount I went beyond, I still have to lose.
  
• Read more books. I think I read 3 books... which, sadly, was more than the year before. (This was reading for pleasure... not slurping up every bit of info I can find about caring for a baby.)
  
• Put photos in photo albums (takes pressure off scrapping EVERY photo). I think I have one photo album started.

So this year...

1. Lose the remaining 11 pounds of "baby" (er... ice cream) weight.
2. Play

That's right... just two. I'm not going to better myself beyond the weight loss, not going to save money, not going to get organized. I mean, I might do some of that. But the big thing is my one little word... PLAY.

P L A Y

This year I want to remember to take time to play with my little munchkin. I want to remember not to be so serious, so type A, so uptight, so hurried to "accomplish". I want to savor every moment with him by taking time to just play. Hopefully along the way I will be present in more moments with him and create some cherished memories.

And hey, maybe some of our play will bring weight loss!

believe it!

You won't believe it, but it's true, every bit of it. Tonight, JT said his first word. During his bath he looked up at the shower head and said... "bubba". LOL.

Then... he pooped in the potty. That's right, he pooped in the potty just shy of 6 months of age! More LOL! Ok, he had some help on this one. He made what we call "the poop face" in the bathtub. In this situation, the easiest thing to do was to take the baby out of the tub and set him on the toilet. Potty training. Done.

:-)