7 Years ago today

I can't believe that we have been married for seven years. It sounds like such a long time!
I am so proud that we have accomplished so much these past years. When we got married Mike had like 1 semester of school finished. He now has 2 degrees and we have a child. In March I was able to stop working and stay home with Jack full time. I am so proud of Mike for working so hard in school and doing what he loves. I am so grateful for Mike's job and the oppurtunity's it has provided us. We really like St. Louis and it has been an adventure moving to another part of the country. Mike turns 30 next month and I just feel like we are so much older than the 19 and 22 year old in this picture. lol

Thanksgiving/First snow

This is going to be 2 posts in 1.

For Thanksgiving we went upto Des Moines, IA to visit with my sister and her family. We had a great time and ate alot of good food. I ended up getting the stomach flu which is always good times. Especially while sitting in a car for 7 hrs. It seems I am always sick every Thanksgiving. Sunday morning we woke upto a couple of inches of snow. It was so nice to stay inside with a nice fire and just look at the snow without having to go outside and deal with it. I stayed in bed for most of the day and just read. I was still not feeling 100%.

Painting with water makes everything better

So I took Jack to the doctor today and he has an ear infection. This is the first one he has ever had and is on antibiotics. He is still in a good mood and is playing so it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much. While waiting in Target for the prescription to be filled I picked up a new coloring book and one of those painting books where you just use water. I figured I might as well get some stuff to entertain him while he is inside because I don't really want to take him out too mush since it has been so cold and that can't help an ear infection.

Some recent pictures

It has been a really long time since I have posted to I figured I would just put up some recent pictures. Jack was a dinosaur for Halloween but I don't think I got a good shot of it. Not too much has been going on here. It's gotten really cold and this Sat. the high is supposed to be 37!

In which I realize how much of a city kid Jack is!

Jack and myself went to the wonderful state of Ohio for a week to visit family. We stayed with my moms cousin and his wife. They live on 12 acres of land in southern Ohio where it takes 30 mins. to go to the nearest Wal Mart! They have tractors so Larry took each child on a tractor ride around the lake and Jack was not having it! He liked to stand and watch everyone else go by. He would not go outside until I put his shoes on and when we would get outside he would just want to run around on the porch instead of running free on a bunch of land like I thought he would. Oh and Jack saw more animals up close than anywhere else. These cows were pretty much in a front yard.

I also realized how much more I like the city as well. I did not appreciate driving on little 2 lane country roads with no street lights.

My little gymnast

Jack started taking classes at The Little Gym. He seems to have alot of fun and really enjoy himslef. I really don't think he will become a gymnast or anything he just like hanging on the bars and jumping off of the balance beam. He goes every Wednesday and it is a 45 min. class. It is a "mommy and me" class because the kids are so young. I just make sure he doesn't hit a kid and shares. He really likes it and follow directions pretty well!

Wii Fit & Iowa

Last week Jack and I took a little road trip and drove upto Des Moines, IA. My sister and her family moved up here the begining of July. We had not seen each other in over a year. The last time she saw Jack he was 3 months old. The whole trip one way took 7 hours. I was very nervous because I have never driven that far by myself led alone with Jack! I compare taking a road trip with a 17 month old to traveling with a dog. They both need to get out to stretch their legs and walk around. Every time we stopped Jack would go over to the grassy area where people were letting their dogs use the bathroom because he wanted to pet them?! It would be like 4 dogs and Jack. We had a nice visit and it was fun to have the kids together. On the way home Jack had an "accident" that resulted in me having to strip him down in the Mc Donalds parking lot and basically give him a sponge bath with a bunch of baby whipes and he rode the rest of the way home in just a diaper so you can imagine what had happened.

Last night Mike let Jack "play" Wii. It was pretty cute so here are some pics. Oh and I realize that Jack looks naked in the right pic. but he is wearing a diaper!

Bringing It Back Old School

On Thursday I went to the grocery store and was pleasently surprised. I noticed that they have brought back Trix cereal in the shape of balls instead of it being shaped like the fruit it tastes like. Now anyone who was raised in the 80's know's that Trix was originally in the ball shape. I remember one weekend when I was pregnant going through a whole box of Trix in less than 2 days. I normally don't ever buy trix but It was on sale and there was a cool Batman toy inside that I knew Jack would enjoy! I took a picture of it to refresh everyone's memories and included a picture of Jack freaking out because I would not give him any.

New T.V.

I think that next to the birth of his first child, last night was the happiest day of Mike's life! Some of you (the Peeler's) may know that Mike has been bugging me for years about buying a new t.v. Not that there was anything wrong with our old one that we bought brand new 5 years ago but it wasn't "big enough" and "HD" and "a flat screen". And all of these things that only guys really care about. So last week I finally gave in so Mike would just stop bugging me about it. It was delivered last night and I could tell Mike wanted to jump up and down like a little boy on Christmas day but was containing himself lol. I do have to admit that the picture does look alot nicer. Right now he is playing a racing game on xbox 360 and he is commenting about how "it looks like you are really driving" too funny. I am just happy that he is happy and will no longer be bugging me about it!

Sleepy Jack

A couple of weeks ago Jack went through a phase that lasted for around 2 weeks where Jack would fall asleep on my chest. This wasn't too bad because I could sit there and watch t.v. , read or even take a little nap myself. The bad thing about this was he is no longer a newborn and now weighs 24 lbs. and sometimes it would start to hurt! NOW he takes his naps on the couch. Which is perfect because now I am free to move around and it doesn't make me hot with another human body on me. On Monday and yesterday he slept for 2.5 hours! The last time he slept like this he was a new born. He sleeps great through the night but not so during nap time till he discovered the couch. I was telling Mike how Jack now takes his naps on the couch and Mike was like well is that ok, should we try and put him in his bed? I was like what?!?!? He can sleep on the bathroom floor for all I care! As long as he is sleeping for that long he can nap wherever he wants. Here are some pics. for your viewing pleasure. A couple on the couch and some just random cute ones.

Jack in the Arch

Mike's mom is here visiting so we figured it would be the perfect time to do all of the tourist things in St. Louis. First we went up in the arch then went on a boat ride that goes along the Mississippi river. It was alot of fun and really nice weather. Mike and his mom had already been up in the arch when Mike was around 16. If you do not like small spaces DO NOT go in the arch. First of all you ride up in the tiny capsule sort of things that you have to sit down in. It's about a 4 min. ride. Then once you get up top it's pretty crowded. You can also feel it sway in the wind which is kind of un nerving.

Summer Hair

I don't consider myself to be a cheap person but there is something inside of me that cannot bring myself to pay $20 to have someone cut my one year olds hair. So I took matters into my own hands. (and Mike's too) I had tried "trimming" it but that just made it look even worse. I hate dragging a ragga muffin child around town so Monday night when Mike got home I announced that we were going to buzz Jack's hair. It seemed simple enough so we lured Jack into his bathroom took off his clothes (I think he thought he was going to take a bath and that was what made him pissed because he loves baths) On a side note............why does Jack poop everytime we give him a bath the past 2 weeks? I have decided that there will be no more toys or playing and we will wash him then pull him out because he is getting too comftorable in there! OK. Back to the story............ So Mike holds Jack and I turn on the clippers and Jack FREAKS!! Now Jack has had his hair cut by a professional before and the trimmers were his least favorite part so you can imagine what it's like when we do the whole head?!?! So we basically take turns holding/shaving Jack. By the time everything was said and done we were ALL covered in hair! I think the end result was good and it was worth the struggle. They took the cover off of our pool here at our apartment complex and I bought Jack some swimming trunks or whatever they are called so we are ready to go! Now we just have to wait for it to warm up a bit. The problem with Missouri is it will rain one day then be like 85 the next. Then the next day there will be tornado warnings so it is pretty much anyones guess. I just pray that there will be no tornado while we are in our current residency because we are on the 3rd floor and you are supposed to go under ground so we would pretty much be screwed here! So cross your fingers. Oh and funny story. Saturday morning around 9:30 am my mom called to make sure we were still alive. Apparently she saw on the news that there was a tornado in the state of Missouri. Never mind that it was on the other side of the state. It reminded me of the days when we lived in Orange County and she would call to make sure we were not victims of drive by shootings she would see reported in L.A. Needless to say she doesn't leave Butte County very often.

Grants Farm

This morning we went to a place called Grants Farm. It is St. Louis and is kind of half zoo half farm. They had elephants and zoo animals like goats and dear. It was really fun and will probably go back when it gets a little warmer.

St. Louis

Well Saint Peters to be exact. So first of all I know it has been FOREVER since I have updated this thing. We just now got internet after a month of living here! I am sure most of you know but we moved to the lovely state of Missouri about a month ago. We are about a half hour from St. Louis. Mike works for Toyota and really enjoys it so far! I am staying home with Jack which is a job change also. I enjoy spending more time with Jack. I was starting to feel guilty about leaving him everyday. We really like the area and everyone seems very friendly! As much as we enjoyed Orange County we really felt like we needed a change after having a child. I really like the fresh air and the green scenery. I will post some more pictures soon.