JT's first Halloween

JT's first Halloween, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We had fun. Check him out! :-)

I forgot to mention, I didn't make it past the second round of Last Scrapper Standing. I wasn't terribly disappointed. It was the week that John was out of town and JT and I were hanging out. So I was plenty busy otherwise. Plus, I was using that time to dream up the ideas that I'm implementing now for Thanksgiving. I'm also doing a scrappin' project at church this week, so there was some preparation to do for that. The demo layout I did for the church project is pretty cool. I'll share it after the event. Here is round two of Last Scrapper Standing. The challenge was to scrap 7 random facts:


Nana Sparkles surprised us with a visit this evening. We went for a walk. The weather is supposed to turn cooler after tomorrow, so JT and I are soaking it up while we can. We also lose daylight savings time this weekend, so it's gonna be getting dark on us in the evenings.

JT loves admiring the sky and the trees. The trees in our neighborhood are SO colorful. I tried to take some pictures the other day, but I'm not sure that I was able to capture it.

JT's Aunt Jen is coming to visit this weekend... we will probably be doing some crafting. I told her to bring stamps and stuff for Christmas crafting. I don't usually make my own Christmas cards, but I use a TON of homemade gift tags. I've been making gift tags since I was like 10 years old. My grandma was a whiz at making tags from last year's Christmas cards. Hmm, maybe I should post a how-to. It's like the easiest paper-crafting you could do. :-)

Here is a mosaic of fall photo inspiration from around flickr. What is inspiring you these days?

going batty

Today was a non-stop, action-packed day! I got NOTHING on my to-do list done and I will have to play catch-up this week. But it was good.

Becka called after church to see if we wanted to go to Boo at the Zoo. I had planned to make chili, clean house, and run errands while JT watched the Steelers with his dad. But it was SUCH a nice day... I felt like I was being a bad mom to deny the little guy a day in the sun... so we went. It was awesome.

And it's not many days that we see so many friends in one day. We ran into Allison at the zoo with her fam. Amy stopped by in the afternoon to bring John a birthday card. And Jenny and Robert dropped some stuff off in the evening. JT is feeling pretty well-loved right now. (It wore him out -lol!)

Last night I finished up the Thanksgiving decor project I started earlier in the week. It's letters that spell "thanks" for our mantle. Check out more details on Flickr. I'm loving these letters. Plus, the mantle is the only part of the house that got cleaned this weekend... only because I wanted to admire my finished work. Now, if I could just get the rest of the house in order, I could really get on with the decorating!

Here are some creepy "flying foxes", aka bats, to get you ready for halloween...

paper leaves

paper leaves, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I'm addicted to the flickr mosaics. For this one, I was actually searching for some ideas for a project I was working on tonight. none of these actually resulted in any assistance with the project... but there was some cool stuff that got me completely sidetracked! Maybe this will inspire another project.

Oh, and my paper leaves project turned out SWEET. Can't wait to show it to you. I'll photograph it in the daylight. For now, I'm t-i-r-e-d.

n-night.

sweet little baby-pie

halloween JT, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

He is just so dreamy... JT cried a lot with the sitter this week. I can't figure out why except maybe he misses us. He has been wonderful in the evenings and all day today. We took him out to dinner last night and tonight and he was just good as gold. He laughs and coos and plays with his doggy and just goes along with whatever.

Yesterday evening after we walked, I carried him around the yard just looking around. It was gorgeous out, very still and you could hear peepers... probably the last peepers to hear for a while. So I whispered to him as low as I could, "Do you hear the peepers? Listen... Peep. Peep." He got very quiet and would concentrate for a minute then he would smile GREAT BIG and not make a sound... then he'd concentrate again... I really think he was in tune with what we were listening to.

His sitter has had him sitting in his bumbo seat a lot this week. So he is sitting up pretty good with just a little bit of help. And this afternoon he was working as hard as he could to lift himself up to sitting from a reclined position. It is pretty amazing to see him developing such strength.

I'm thankful that he is such a good sleeper and has taken to sleeping in his crib... but at night I get a little bit of separation anxiety and I just want to climb in and sleep there with him! (Obviously, I won't fit... and we're too paranoid to let him sleep in our bed.)

Christmas Spirit

Christmas Spirit, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I'm thinking Christmas... here's what's inspiring me!

felt

felt ornaments, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I bought some felt last weekend... I might be feeling felty crafty. I've been working on a little Thanksgiving decor project this week. The hardest part of it is finished... hopefully tomorrow I can get to the fun part and be done with it. Maybe I'll have photos by the weekend!

And then I can start on the felt. :-)

i.am.so.full.

I just put my little guy in bed for the night. I am so full of love for him right now! His daddy has been gone most of the week, so it was just the two of us. Uh yeah, I should be ashamed to admit it was the first time I was ever alone with my own child for more than one day. I'm lucky - John loves taking care of JT, so we share him pretty equally.

The house is a disaster... I think I picked up two piles today and created 12 more. AND THEN, we were upstairs playing today and a shelf full of picture frames fell down!! So my house went ahead and undecorated itself. Ugh. I got that mess about half cleaned up. Oh well.

Adrienne and I went shopping on Thursday evening. I started my shopping for Thanksgiving stuff. I decided to not be cheap this year. Haha. I figured if we are always hosting, I should invest in some decor items that will make it special. I gave myself a budget of $100. So I found this platter at Crate and Barrel. I love it. I know, it's nothing fancy, but it's cool.
Today I found some other stuff at Kohl's for $50. I'm talking matching tablecloths for the two tables, some candles, a big pumpkin centerpiece, and some festive towels. (My kitchen towels are DISGUSTING - been doing a lot of dish washing since July!) So that leaves me $15 to finish up with some garlands and crafty stuff... hmm, hope that's enough!


As evidence, here is decorating scheme from the last two years. It features mismatched vintage tablecloths and a vase I made in a pottery class that leaks. I still like that vase... pretty sure it will make the cut this year also. I rig it up with a plastic cup so it will hold water. I'm creative that way. hehehe.

Sooo, I'm having company for coffee in the morning bright and early, so I should really think of going to bed now. Night all....

inside Penzey's

inside Penzey's, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I finally made it to the Penzey's store here in town! Theresa made a request for a gift box that I needed to get before the weekend. I literally got there with only 10 minutes to shop around. I'll have to go back. I'm not any good in the kitchen, but I could fall in mad love with this place. It.is.delicious.

Of course, I didn't get out of there without something for myself. I picked up a jar of their special southwest seasoning to make my taco salads taste scrumptious.

love.this.baby.

Have I mentioned how much I love this baby? We took him for a walk at a metro park yesterday. It is so much fun to be outdoors with him. He just looks around like, "Wow, this place is amazing!" It's very grounding to see God's little creature take in God's landscape like that. It makes us look around with new eyes, too.

Although, he had a similar look of amazement in Target today. :-) Rows of bright-colored shirts, toys, and furnace filters were all equally fascinating. Hehehe. We walked to Target to exchange the furnace filter I got the other day that was the wrong size. There's your reminder to replace your furnace filter.

I love summer. Love, love, love it. But a 90ish degree day on October 7... little weird. I think we walked about 5 miles to and fro... the little guy did really well. He is a champion stroller baby. I was sweating like crazy though.

My bathroom is sparkling clean this evening. And you won't believe how little effort it took to get it that way. "Honey, do you think you could clean the bathroom today?" And he did it. Too bad he's not into doing it on a regular basis, because he does a really good job. (John, I mean... not JT.)

And to round off a completely rambling and random blog post... a story about bird nannies. That's what I'm talking about... longevity for the mother who gets plenty of help. Have I told you that we are going to move the whole fam-damily to a compound? Well that's what we fantasize about anyway. Yeah, not that it takes a village to raise kids, but maybe it helps moms and dads keep it together. And you figure it would be fun for the kids, too... always having someone available to play.

Ok, if you don't hear from me for a few more days, I am working on my "7 random things" entry for Last Scrapper Standing Round 2.

moving on, catching up

Whoo! I am moving on to the next round of Last Scrapper Standing! woo-hoo! I was worried. I just sighed out loud when I checked their blog. John says from the other room, "You made it?" "Yes." "You were worried?" "Yes!" "I wasn't worried." Sometimes he's a nice boy.

In other news (quickly, as it's time for bed):

- I'm reading Alice in Wonderland via DailyLit. Sometimes I think like Alice... it's weird.

- We had the house sprayed for spiders tonight. You know the story of the spider in the breast milk. And maybe you know about the spider that tried to get JT during floor time one morning. Then last night... I went downstairs to get something from the storage closet in the laundry room... I turn to walk out of the room and there is the BIGGEST SPIDER YET in the doorway. I mean, I had just walked through that doorway. Now, I'm the spider-killer in our household. But this one had me at a weak moment in my pjs with nothing at hand to kill it. AND it was blocking my way out. I had to BEG John to come and kill it so I could leave the room. Ugh! SKEEVY! So anyway, hopefully we are on our way to being spider free for a while.

- I hung some painted frames in JT's room tonight. Most of them are empty... but they are on the wall awaiting the perfect art work.

- My mom has me converted to Diigo for social bookmarking. I imported all my del.icio.us links. We'll see if I like it enough. It has more features, but it's missing the suggestions on tagging that keep me using the same tags. (It prevents me from getting mixed up and tagging some "computer" and some "computers". I like consistent data, you know?)

- The "fourth trimester" must be over... my hair is falling out. Too bad the extra pounds don't shed away like that!

- JT is so adorable. He lights up my life every single day. I've never looked forward to 6am so much before. :-)

last scrapper standing - round 1

Ok, here we go!

The first challenge was to use 8 transparencies on one page. I've been meaning to get around to using transparencies on my pages like a pro. But I hadn't yet. So I think I spent about 2 whole days thinking through what I'd do. I should give a shout out to my hubbie who talked through all the design ideas with me. And another shout out to Jari for helping with the technical details!

Check out my entry on flickr. There is more information there about the layout.

Because it's such an interactive page, a photo doesn't really do it justice. Here is a video of the inside in the dark:



Oh and if you read my blog only for JT updates... He's doing great. Cute as a button and smiling and laughing up a storm. Been too busy enjoying him to blog about him. Maybe later. :-)

baby ego

I sent JT off to the sitter wearing a "Future CEO" shirt. And an "I may be small but I'm the boss" bib. Think his ego will ruin their day today?!


hahaha!

JT stories

Let the JT stories begin! Last week was lacking in blog posts, I realize. There were stories to tell, too. I just never got time to sit and write them. It was my second full week at work and I really just hoarded my evening time to be with the boy.

Last week the three of us went to the mall for dinner and a haircut for John. JT and I finished up shopping and I stopped outside the salon to give JT a bottle. He had chugged about half of it when John brought his stylist out to meet the little guy. Now, mind you, we were the epitome of mother and beautiful child just as they walked over. As soon as she starts to tell us how cute he is, he starts pooping. And when he makes poopie, it's an event. So he's grunting and groaning; face turning red and all scrunched up. And he works so hard at it that the milk I'd just fed him gets worked up, also. So he's grunting and turning red and the MILK IS FOAMING OUT HIS MOUTH. LOL. I just started laughing. She's trying to think this baby is cute and he is being SO DISGUSTING. Oh well, people with kids understand... it's not always glamorous in babyland. lol... still laughing over the grunting and the foam....

We've been giving him baths when we remember. Isn't that good of us?! We remember at least once a week. ;-) Well, there is really no need to avoid a bath, because he loves it. Last week we dropped his rubber duckie in the tub with him for the first time. (He hasn't been interested in toys too much.) We showed him how to kick the duck with his feet. So he began staring intently at the duck, following it all around the tub. He'd lightly tap it with his foot and watch it move to the other side of the tub. He was so light and gentle with it... very controlled movements. We were so surprised! So now that bath time has an element of learning to it, I think we might do better at remembering to bathe him.

Today Mom, Aunt Joan, and I took JT to the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs, OH. How often does a day turn out just as you'd hoped? The weather was beautiful, the day was unhurried, and JT was in a fabulous mood. He slept there and back, slept a little in the stroller while we had lunch and walked around, then he woke up and took in all the sights. He was a little darling all day. Back at our house, he let Aunt Joan play with him for 45 minutes. He cooed and chatted and let her stretch out his little bodied that had been cramped in the car seat for so long. Aww... how sweet is he?!

more recent photos on flickr here

In mommy news... I signed up for Last Scrapper Standing vol. 2. You might remember, I did this last year and ended up hanging in until the last round. You know, back when I was childless with lots of time on my hands. I know... how will I find time? I have no idea. But John said it was ok and he'd chip in with JT. And I'm going to want to scrap anyway... I mean, I have a lot of new material to work with. Last year I made some of the coolest stuff I'd done all year. So we'll see how it goes. I will of course be keeping everyone posted here.

JT Simpson

Here he is... our little boy as a Simpson baby:


Remember, John and Stacy as Simpsons?

sit up

Guess what?! I worked out on Friday and DID 10 SIT-UPS!

This is good news because my abdominal muscles have been missing in action the past few weeks. So no excuses now on losing the baby weight...

Here's a sweet picture of the fam on flickr...

rough day for the mama

I was fine on Tuesday when John stayed home with JT. I was fine yesterday when Nana was home with JT. Today when John took JT to the sitter's for the first time, I lost it. I cried all the way to work today. I just wanted reassurance that JT would have a good day. I knew he wouldn't miss me. I knew he'd probably do nothing but sleep most of the day. But still... he and I had pretty good times and I wanted him to have the same or better.

Well, at the end of the day, I think it worked out just fine. The sitter gave us a full report of his day that was too cute. I think he's going to like her. She read books and played with him a lot today. He likes that, so I can have some peace of mind.

He's been a total angel baby all evening. We played when we got home, had a bottle, went for a walk, and now he's taking a nap with his dad. Speaking of naps... I can't keep my eyes open! He has been sleeping really well this week - letting me sleep until 5:45am, but it still catches up with you. So I am off to bed now while John makes JT his last bottle of the evening.

what do the keywords say about me?

These are the keywords that are bringing folks to my blog from Google and Yahoo. It cracks me up a bit to put them all together. Makes me seem like a freak, really...

brungrrl blogspot
ceilingmax sucks
dark and twisty meaning of
jaundice itching cream
last scrapper standing winner
cafe alfresco dunedin menu
craving donuts
stacy's chips sent to everyone in america named stacy
"cream stick" + donut
tai chi for expecting mothers
100 random things
have got the baby's room nursery all organized

It's like I'm a pregnant, scrapping, zen-wannabe food fanatic... hahaha!

Tomorrow is JT's first day with the sitter. We met with her tonight, along with Reagan, the other youngin' in her care. Wish Miranda luck... her day is going to be an adventure!

I got everything packed up that I think he'll need. I'm nervous for him... I hope he has a good day.

He had a bath tonight... he smells delicious. It's hard to put him down... but we all need to get some sleep, so night-night!

back to work

Today was my first day back at work. JT spent the day with his Daddy. I was happy to go back to work. I'm not a stay-at-home mom. I didn't think I was and I'm glad that I didn't try to turn myself into one. I think we'll be ok. I imagine in a few weeks or months from now I will be miserable and need to spend some days with him. That's what I have personal and vacation days for though, right?!

So tomorrow he's with Nana and Thursday with the sitter. Wish us luck that it all works out ok!

reminisce

I was just going through a cd of pics and video my mom took on JT's birthday. Here is a video of John holding JT (for the first time, I think).



How sweet our little boy is. He sure was little.