Happy Holidays!

New Bundle of Joy

We have officially announced the pregnancy. I'm 11 weeks and feeling relatively great. 

Here are the stats:

Due Date: June 19, 2009 - as the last time I'll be induced a week early b/c of the blood thinner I take.

Sex of the Baby: Unknown - probably won't find out until the new year unless I can sweet talk the ultrasound tech on my next visit. We will be sharing the sex of the baby but not the name. Of course, it would be great to have a little girl. I don't want to lean one way or the other because my feeling are always wrong. 

Weight Gain: 2lbs so far. My appetite has been tremendously. I feel like eating all the time. Luckily, I joined the gym by my office so I can be strong for the delivery.

Other: The pregnancy is going extremely well. I heard the heartbeat last Wednesday and all my blood work is prefect. I get nauseous in the evening but eating usually takes it away (hence the weight gain). My sister will be delivering her baby girl in February. And my best friend, Gloria, will be delivering her baby in May. It's going to have cool have so many babies around the same age. 

Now to our baby Jonah - he is walking everywhere and having a blast. We put up the Christmas tree on Friday and he has already found his favorite ornaments to pull off the tree. Right now, he's walking around with a cucumber in hand. He loves cucumbers & pickles! Definitely mommy's baby - even though he looks nothing like me! We share the same love of fruits and vegetables. Jonah will be 22 months when the baby arrives. I'm not sure if he is going to understand everything by then. OK - so now Jonah is mashing his cucumber into the cabinet so I got to go clean up!  

Jonah is WALKING!

Not sure if this is a good thing or not... Well of course it is! I guess it's about time for him to grow up a little bit more. It is a little saddening to be honest. I have already noticed that he has gotten around and surprised me a couple of times! And so quickly... it was just last week that he was just taking 2-3 steps. Then 4-5 steps a couple of days later... and now he is walking all across the room! Here is the footage... ENJOY!

Busy is no excuse. . .

It's been too long since I have posted anything. Time flies when your having fun. Here are some pictures from our latest adventures. 

We had a family fun day at the Georgia Aquarium in the beginning of October. Jonah loved the fishes but I think he loved people watching more. We got some really great pictures. The aquarium is very nice. 

I run my first 5K since having Jonah in October as well. My friend, Emily, set up the relay race for us. James & Jonah came to support me. Of course, James had to get Jonah's picture with some of the Falcon's cheerleaders. 

We went to Burt's Pumpkin Patch in October. Jonah was not happy with the pumpkins. Every 

time we put he beside one, he started to cry. Maybe the rows of oranges pumpkins were a little overwhelming. 

We went to 3 Halloween parties this year. One at Chris & Stacy's house in Woodstock. They totally decked out their house as always. Then we went to my brother's Halloween party in Dawsonville the next weekend. He provided the spooky haunted trail again this year. A lot of people turned out for the party and most of the younger kids when scared to death. But not Jonah - he gobbled around in his turkey outfit! We spent Halloween night with our friends Kurt & April's house in Inman park. They always have a great turn out of kids. Jonah & Grey were the cutest as a turkey & scarecrow. 

Now we are gearing up for Thanksgiving. I have to admit this time of year is

 my favorite. I love getting together with family and eating  wonderful meals. I especially love the day after Thanksgiving when we put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house. The house feels so full, warm and festive with the decorations. I hate to take them down when Christmas is over. 

Beautiful day

I had a beautiful day.
I woke up, showered, dressed myself, put on make-up, styled my hair, ate breakfast with my family, dropped jonah off at joshua's, went to work, was productive, challenged, had lunch, sat in a meeting, felt good about expressing myself, left work, chatted with my brother, arrived home, check the mail, made dinner, ate dinner with my family, went for a walk with my family, read books with jonah, chased jonah around the living room, gave jonah a bath, read more books, kissed jonah goodnight, painted, wrote, brushed my teeth, now saying goodnight....

painting by Keith Haring, "Mother holding baby"

Smiles & Giggles

I took this picture one evening when Jonah was having the time of his life crawling around the living room. He would crawl between the end table and sofa. I would peek around from the other side of the sofa and he would giggle and crawl towards me. I snapped the picture at the perfect time.

Jonah is starting to pull up on his push toys and walk around. He will also hold on to the furniture and move around. He hasn't made the move to walk on his own but I feel is only weeks away. I guess we should get the safety locks on the cabinets soon!

I could go on and on about his daily antics. The basics are - he is a sweet, fun, curious, talkative, social, loving, little boy. His smile wipes away all my worries and I forget about all the things I need to do. In the moment, all I want to do is hang out with my guy - and James too!

Latest art project: Jonah and I made construction paper pumpkins to hang in the playroom. OK - I did the cutting and pasting. Jonah threw the crayons around the playroom and attempted to eat the red crayon. It was a fun mommy & jonah project. Now we have a pumpkin patch in the playroom.

simple moments

I love my family. . . I love the simple moments, hugs, kisses, reading books, crawling on the floor, giggles, smiles, open arms, loving embraces, crayons, curiosity, new adventures, snuggles, singing. . .

Jonah's ONE!

It is unbelievable how quickly time flies... It seemed only yesterday that we were taking Jonah home from the hospital with absolutely no idea on how to take care of a new born! Now it is a year later and he is amazing. He crawls, makes great noises and sounds, and loves his mommy and daddy! Actually today, Jonah has started to feed himself! We have his efforts on video to share with everyone. It took him a while, but he finally figured out it was easier to bring the food to his mouth than to try to slurp it off of the table.

Carrie is another year older

We celebrated my birthday at my mom's house for lunch. My mom got my favorite dessert, carrot cake - yummy. James' made a handmade card for me which was absolutely super sweet! He is definitely wins the "best husband" award. My office prepared a lunch for me today that was fabulous. It got me away from my desk and I got to eat an excellent lunch instead of eating an apple or a couple crackers.

Here are a couple pictures of my 31th birthday. The first picture is Jonah Bear & his big round eyes, the next picture is of my nieces, Ellie & Taylor and the last picture is me & Emily.

Mommy Track'd

I have discovered an excellent website for working mom's, http://www.mommytrackd.com/. I have been reading articles that I can totally relate to. For instance, I have been juggling around the concept of a "balanced" life. And then I read the following paragraph from an article on mommytrackd.com:

Balance Is Bunk
Go for acceptance--expect and accept imbalance. Find your own comfort zone. Work your own plan. Accept that your day to day life simply isn't always going to flow smoothly. You have to cede a certain amount of control in your life--especially if you have kids. Some days you're going to feel like, "Shit! I'm so overextended. That feeling can be extremely frustrating--until you say to yourself, "You know, things are just always going to be kind of out of balance."And once you do that--once you expect at least a little normal life chaos, and stop beating yourself up over it--acceptance takes over. And here's the irony: once we begin expecting and accepting imbalance, that mind-set paradoxically guides us to periods of--guess what?--balance.
Forgetting Balance is Freeing

This article was freeing and exactly what my heart had been saying all along. Love it!

Long day. . .

It was a long, taxing day at work today. It's funny how my exhausting work days get erased by a big, sweet, goofy Jonah grin. Nothing gets that kid down (except bumping his head on the desk leg - ouch) which is so refreshing. I love that little kid's spirit - his chubby cheeks - his dipples - his round brown eyes. I just want to kiss his face all over!

OK - enough baby talk. I've started to paint again in my few spare moments. I have couple projects started. I'm working on them in stages - letting the inspiration hit me. I've been carrying my journal around in my purse and jotting down my ideas. And I'm OK if those ideas never make it out of the journal. Journaling is such a great outlet (kind-of like blogging). I do miss the days when I would stay up all night and work on a painting. I would be so jazzed up - charged with creativity. Now I can barely stay up passed 10pm and I seem to have an internal alarm clock of 6:30am. What's up with that?

I'm really into Matisse right now. The painting I have attached to this blog is called "Polynesie le Ciel". I love the shapes in this painting. They are so fluid and full of motion even though they are cut-outs. I got to see some of Matisse's painting at the High Museum several years ago. James took me during Christmas time as a gift. The High Museum has a "Toddler Thursday". I may have to play hookie from work one Thursday and take Jonah! I'm so excited about sharing my passion for art with him.

Learning to feed yourself is messy stuff

James and I realize that Jonah should have started trying to feed himself months ago. Yes, we have babied him but he is our first. We have started letting him try to put food into in his month. These pictures show how successful the attempt was. The bath water that night turned brown! He has started putting his snacks in his mouth but sitting in the high chair proves to be different story. He is definitely not a picky eater because everything WE PUT into his mouth he eats. I fed him a pickle the other day and he didn't make a face.

It's moments like these that make me crack up. And at the sometime worry, "will he ever feed himself & why didn't i know to start this early". As a mom, you never know if you are doing the right thing at the right time. It's such an instinctual thing and sometimes I forget to turn it on.

Birthday's around the corner

Jonah's 1st birthday is approaching in 24 days. My 31st birthday will be here in 20 days and James will be 21, I mean 37, in 30 days. We'll be having a small family party at the house for Jonah. We decided to keep it small because our list of friends with kids is getting huge. I'm a little concerned about Jonah's 1st birthday cake. He is definitely not self-feeding yet. In fact, he hates picking up food with his hands. If you hold out a piece of food for him, he will move his open mouth towards to morsel. He is drinking from a sippy cup so that's a step in the right direction. Will he be into the birthday cake is the big question.

The summer days have been hot so we have been spending time in the pool. Jonah loves the water. He splashes and kicks while you hold him. We have dunked him in a couple time and he did not fuss. He will sit on the edge of the pool and jumps (falls) into our arms. Jonah may not look like me but he is definitely my child since he loves the water. James says that he has my toes too! Thanks!

Our families are doing well. The grandma's love spending time with Jonah. My nieces, Emily & Ellie, had fun playing with Jonah this pass weekend. They love trying to get him to laugh. It's super cute to watch. I cannot believe how big my nieces are getting. Emily's starting first grade on Thursday and Ellie will be in preschool. I remember going to the hospital to see them after they were born. Now they talk in complete sentences, ride bikes, watch Hannah Montana and like boys on TV. The time flies by especially now that we have Jonah. It's been a year since he was born and it seems like yesterday. I look back at pictures from the hospital and it's amazing how small and precious he was. Now he's a little boy crawling about under my feet. He reaches up for me to hold him. He'll start fussing if I sing the "ABC's" to him and I'm a terrible singer. He even gives me these open mouth kisses on the cheek which just melt my heart. Motherhood does make you soft in the right places and it's so much fun! I pretty sure James would say the same thing about fatherhood.

Jonah's first crawl!

Crawling...

I can't believe it! Jonah has started crawling! I have been saying he is going to start any day now for about 2 months! Well if finally happened. We had just gotten back from vacation and were sitting in the play room. He started the rocking that we had seen for some time now... I told Carrie that he was about to crawl and that we should get the video camera. So I jumped up to get the video camera and within minutes of doing so, Jonah sprung about 31/2 feet into action! AND WE GOT IT ALL ON VIDEO! We will be posting his first movements soon!

With this being said... it is like Jonah has a new personality now... he is his own little man. He is starting to shake his head "no" when he doesn't want any more food or if he doesn't like what we are feeding him. He doesn't like help doing things either... quite an independent little fella!

I really enjoy watching him grow... I would have never thought that I could love someone like I love Jonah. He continues to impress me with his joy for life and people. I could have never imagined the feelings that I have for him... -James

Cape San Blas Vacation

Here are some pictures for our vacation to Cape San Blas. We had beautiful weather. The ocean was calm and blue, beaches white and fluffy. We set up a tent on the beach and spent each afternoon under it, watching the waves break on the shore. Kris was our "sitting chef". He did not have to get up once to grill our hamburgers & hot dogs on the beach. Jonah had a wonderful time. He was curious about the sand. He didn't eat alot of it. He rubbed alot of it into his eyes so his eyes were very bloodshot by the end of the trip. He really enjoyed the ocean. He would kick he's legs and try to swim. He is definitely a water-bug like his mommy. We enjoyed hanging out with our friends and the week went by slow for us.

Out of town

We are getting ready to go on vacation to Cape San Blas. This will be Jonahs's first trip to the beach. We going with 3 other couples: Pam & Eric, April, Kurt & Grey, and Gloria & Kris.

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. I cannot wait to have the sand between my toes, the rays on my face & pure relaxation all over.

Good Times!

Here are some pictures  of Jonah enjoying bath time. It's so cute to see him more interactive with his toys & books (and us, of course). He laughs when we read "Brown, Brown Bear". He loves playing with his stacking blocks and jumping in his jumperoo. He is not crawling yet but it's only a matter of days before he starts. Luckily, I bought the baby gate a couple of weeks ago. 

This weekend will be a lonely weekend for me. James left for his "boys camping trip" this morning and Jonah was picked up by grandma this afternoon. He will be spending the night with her tonight & Friday night. I already miss them tremendously. Jonah is such a joy to be around that I have a hard time letting him go. But I know in my heart that other's need to enjoy him as well. That leaves me with -  what am I going to do with my free-time? There will probably be some cleaning the house and laying out by the pool in my future as well as catching up with some of my girlfriends. George (the cat) will be happy because he will finally get some attention from me!

Camping & Father's Day

On June 6th, James, Jonah & I went camping in the Nanahala National Forest with 9 of our friends. Jonah was an amazing camper. He played, napped, hiked, ate in the great outdoors. He had a little trouble sleep at night but he was in good spirits otherwise. For Father's Day, we were really lazy. Jonah & I napped in the bed until 11am. We played in the pool. Then Jonah napped on Daddy for 2 hours. Then we went to grab dinner at the Mad Italian. Low key - the way we like it!

Jonah LOVES kickball!

This is a hilarious video of Jonah playing kickball with Mommy and Daddy... to view the video click here. Be sure to have your volume up so you can here this.

Peek-A-Boo!

We had a very exciting weekend. Jonah & Mommy went to Grandma Mary's house to hang out with her while James was out of town. Friday night, Jonah got to be silly with his cousin's, Emily & Ellie. Apparently, they were making him giggle when they rolled a soccer ball towards him. Emily help with giving Jonah a bath. She's such a good helper. Saturday, Jonah hung out with Grandma Mary while Mommy do some stuff around Grandma's house. It's so wonderful to see him interact with people these days. He's so aware, alert and ready to play. The rest of Saturday we spent with Daddy since Daddy hadn't seen Jonah since Friday morning. And Sunday we all went to lunch at a Hawaiian BBQ place off of Briarcliff Rd. Then we went to Target & Sport Authority to look for a rocking, fold-up chair for camping this weekend. Luckily, we found a nice one on clearance and a few other items too! 

This series of pictures is of Jonah's peek-a-boo game with Daddy. He was just so smily and having such a good time that he passed out later that day. 

Happy 9 month's!

Today is Jonah's 9 month birthday. James & I cannot believe how quickly the time passes. Jonah is just a joy to be around. We had our 1st pool party of the year over Memorial Day weekend. Jonah "hammed it up" with all the ladies. We had a good crowd throughout the day and the weather was amazing.

Family

This picture shows my two great loves. My husband (I should tell him more often that I love him) and Jonah (the sweetest and most fun baby ever). 

Family Portrait

This is one of my favorite pictures of the "new" family... I have several other favorites too! Just ask me to send you some of them! Jonah was 5 weeks old in this picture. Amazing how the time flies right by.

Cutest Kid Ever!

What a HAM! Does someone know a good Agent for this guy?!?

To answer you question, Yes. Yes, Jonah is always happy. There are only a few times a day that he fusses. 1. when he's hungry. 2. right after bath time and getting his PJ's on b/c he knows he's about to get a bottle. 3. if he still want to play and you lay him down for a nap. but he usually falls right to sleep. Other than that it's giggles & smiles. 

1st Mother's Day

I celebrated my first Mother's Day with my family. We had Thai food on Saturday with Hai, Candy & Dave and of course James & Jonah also. I got to take a nap with Jonah in the afternoon which is one of my favorite things to do on the weekend. Jonah got a hydrangea bush for me for Mother's Day. James was so kind to plant it by the back deck for me.

Today, we went to my mom's house to celebrate with my family. We had a picnic style lunch and Jonah had a great time with his cousin's. I got another nap today but it was sans Jonah. I let James nap with him on the sofa. James and I have a hard time putting Jonah down for naps on the weekends. Thank goodness our nanny, Veronica, keeps him on a schedule during the week.

It's been a good weekend. I wish it could last one more day. As for relaxing, I did more than I thought I would. Although I still washed clothes and picked up the house. I stole a couple moments for myself like laying in bed an extra 40 minutes that lead to some drooling on my pillow! I was sleeping pretty soundly! It was a good day.

Mr. Giggles

Jonah turned 8 months old on April 28th. He such a fun-loving baby. He is babbling, smiling & laughing. He hangs out with his pals Joshua & Veronica during the day. If you have not seen the giggle video, check it out at http://youtube.com/watch?v=29vIUvQO-F8.


As for James & I - James' company is growing. He has hired staff to help him with the mortgage business. I am still working with Leader Enterprises as a Traffic Manager. I have a love/hate relationship with my job. In the end, I work with great people and that is all that matters.

This was Jonah's first "puppy kisses" and he didn't mind them at all.

My first blog

I have canceled our website and started this blog. It broke my heart to cancel the website b/c I started it when I found out I was pregnant with Jonah. But I'm trying to cut back on expenses so the website had to go. Hopefully, this blog can help keep family and friends up to date with our lives. Now, I have to remember to update this! 

This picture of Jonah is one of my favorites. It was taken by April when we were visiting her, Grey & Kurt. Their family is doing well and from her blog - Grey is sleeping through the night already! Way to go!