2013, a short review

2013 was a huge year, pun intended (hello 40lb weight gain!), and by far the best year of my life. i had started a recap like i usually do and stopped mid-way. im sure you would all love to hear about my great target debacle i had back in the beginning of the year (aka my obsession with that damn store), or re-live super snow storm nemo... but all that matters to me was the day of may 20th. when i look back on 2013, that day, and each day that followed, will be what i remember.

the love i have for this little man is beyond any and all words i can write. ive had my share of struggles and set backs this year, but i have this face to look at every day. and that is what matters to me.

i look forward to all that 2014 will bring and im so happy i have henry and tyler (and duke and chips!) to share it all with. happy new year everyone!

on the 5th day of christmas we...

...look forward to a new year!

linking up again with:

wife mommy me

growing up jacobson

books, looks, & babies

sweet turtle soup

if you didnt notice, i missed the 4th day. im way behind on my blogging, and have a zillion posts (ok like 5) that i wanted to post before the new year. honestly, i just didnt have time. shocking, i know. but ill catch up a little here.

christmas was wonderful. beyond wonderful really. seeing henrys eyes light up with the christmas lights, and having him rip the paper off his gifts, it was all just so special. and having family here at our home is a gift in itself. our christmas traditions have changed over the years but we are able to start new traditions this year... pajamas on christmas eve, a new ornament, and many more to come. christmas next year will be so magical for henry and for us!

the new year will bring many more firsts... firsts for henry, firsts for mommy and daddy, a new niece or nephew/friend for henry...

more miles...

...more friends...

   ...more love.

operation jack 10k

this year marked the 4th year team maine has set out on the weekend after christmas to run in support of Operation Jack. i met Sam in 2010 in boston after the boston marathon. boston was number 20 of 61 marathons that he ran after starting "Operation Jack" in support of his autistic son, Jack. the satellite runs started in 2010 as a 6.1 mile run to support sams 61st marathon and finishing off his year, and has grown each year with more runners and supporters (and is now a satellite 10k, half marathon, full marathon, and ultra marathon depending on where you are in the country). our meeting happened by chance of him seeing a poster that sarah and i made for him, and has grown into a good friendship over the past few years. i am proud to support him and his cause.

it was a beautiful morning in brunswick on saturday, 26 degrees and clear skies with little wind. other years have surely been colder, but today was a great day. we had three veteran operation jack supporters, jim, michelle and myself, and three new supporters, leslie, mandy, and cindy. this was also mandys first 10k, and she came all the way from new jersey! (ok she was on vacation here, but still its pretty awesome!) we ran along the bike path and enjoyed good conversation along the way.

gorgeous sunrise that my camera did very little justice to

missing cindy who ran home. she loves running!

cindy and michelle, two members of "idiots running club"

leslie and me. maine coast training partners!

overall it was a great day with great friends and i cant wait to do this again next year. i talked with jim about changing up the course again for next year, get some different scenery. we will see what the year brings! hopefully more of you can join us or start your own team where you live!

cat photo bomb

4th annual operation jack satellite run

2013

happy holidays!

henry: seven months!

weight/height

probably almost getting to 20 pounds now, and 28 inches long. hes a nice, long, chunky little growing boy!

health

poor little guy had his first cold a few weeks ago. just before thanksgiving i came home from work and ty told me he had been sniffling all day while my mother in law was here with him. he had a runny nose and was pretty uncomfortable (im assuming he picked something up from the airplane?). he didnt really seem to have a fever but we gave him some tylenol before bed but his breathing was funky and he hated being all stuffed up and he didnt care to sleep laying down. i ended up rocking him for an hour or so and he fell asleep, but would wake up when i would try to put him down. of course then i got sick since he was sneezing and coughing all over me (ty too, he happened to sneeze and spit right in tys mouth!)... not to mention i also developed pinkeye, thankfully he didnt get that! since theres really nothing much you can do for a baby cold, we just suctioned him (which he HATED... yay for mom being a respiratory therapist! sorry kid), had the humidifier running with vicks things in it, and a little bit of tylenol here and there. some warm soapy baths helped too. he took the cold like a champ... i think it hurt mommy and daddy more seeing him all sniffly and snotty!

clothes

henry is so long... long legs like daddy and long torso like mommy. so we are into 9-12 month clothes. i have to do another go through of his closet and drawers and get rid of things that dont fit. it makes me happy and sad at the same time! i still look at some of the clothes he used to swim in and i cant believe he was ever that small (and i look at clothes that hes almost outgrowing now and remember when i first got them and thought he will never be this big!)

bear and blanket obviously must have shrunk in the wash...

sleep

great sleeper, terrible napper. as i write this he is fighting a nap like no tomorrow. but mostly we just let him cry it out (we as in mommy and daddy. the grammys and grampys pick him up. whatever). hes dry, fed, and just doesnt want to sleep. but eventually he falls asleep and naps on and off. i think he is more of a 2 nap per day kid now, although he sometimes does 3 one hour naps. no matter what time we put him to bed he will be up by 5:30am. usually he is tired and in bed by 8pm (and so are we!). 

milestones

almost crawling. at least trying to anyway. he will get up on his knees with his butt up in the air, and either move backwards, or flop back down on his belly and flop like a fish. im pretty sure he would be a good swimmer right now. we might need to start lessons soon. also, we have ONE TOOTH! its just a little sharp thing on the bottom thats slowly coming out, but it hurts when he bites down. it appears another one is starting to try to come through right next to it as well. all hen wants for christmas is his two front (bottom) teeth!

baby gear love

hen loves the whale bath tub, sits up now and splashes (and makes a huge watery mess of me and the bathroom!) hes kinda over his little activity seat and we thought about getting him a doorway jumper for xmas but we have one doorway downstairs (well technically we have two... one goes to the basement. didnt think that was a good idea)... the other is the bathroom, and its kinda out of the way. so we bought him a sled instead. we still use the bumbo seat on the kitchen island to feed him, the high chair takes up a lot of space. 

outings

we went to have lunch with grandma and grandpa speckman in new hampshire, and also had a visit with parker and gavin again for a baby play date. it was so fun now that the boys can sit up and move around a little. all three of them have grown/developed in different stages, and it was neat to see them interact with each other.

2 and a half weeks old

(gavin, parker, henry)

almost 7 months old

(parker, henry, gavin)

henry also met santa claus! i sadly had to work but ty brought him to a local restaurant. hen didnt cry one single tear, as we knew he wouldnt. he loved the bells on his gloves and pulled on his beard. santa told ty that henry asked him for a sled for christmas!

after henry met santa, someone else came to pay our house a visit, sent from santa himself! meet ernie!

diapers

still pretty comfortable in size 3, but he is wearing size 4 at night because he is a really big wetter at night. he used to wake up around 4am just needing to be changed, then falling back asleep. going up a size has cut out that wake up.

diet

what doesnt this kid eat? 4-5oz bottle after waking up (with 3mL of antiobiotic, easiest way to get it into him by far!), breakfast is oatmeal cereal with fruit and cinnamon, 6oz bottle, lunch is vegetables, snacks throughout the day are banana puffs or apple cinnamon puffs, another 6oz bottle in the afternoon, dinner is fruit/vegetables, and 1 or 2 more bottles before bed. foods he has tried (and he likes them all, shocking...) squash, sweet potato, avacado, peas, green beans, apple, banana, pears, peaches, mango, and cinnamon. the weirdest combo we've tried, which he devoured, was avacado and banana. barf. (i, on the other hand, love the apple/sweet potato/cinnamon combo!) i think were going to try pureed meet soon... cringe.

likes

dislikes

having socks on his feet and naps.

happy 7 months henry man!

on the 3rd day of christmas we...

...deck the halls!

linking up again with:

wife mommy me

growing up jacobson

books, looks, & babies

sweet turtle soup

this years decorations got out very late... my work schedule and going away various weekends and having an almost 7 month old just all got things pushed back. we have yet to put the outdoor lights up and really, im ok if they stay neatly folded in the box in a clumpy jumbled mess ball in the basement somewhere.

we got a fake tree when we moved into our house and that works just fine for us. chips has made a home in the back corner and has eaten a few lights, as well as broken a few of the lower limbs after duke came along and chased her in and out of it last year. but its perfect for us. 

weve collected a few holiday items throughout the years and get those out each year. while our halls certainly arent all "decked", i love seeing our holiday things, lighting the candles and feeling warm and cozy thru the winter (while barfing every time i see the propane delivery truck). 

the collection is growing!

we had a third hanging thing on the right there 

but it got knocked off the wall and duke ate it

disclaimer: i dont like candy canes. those arent real. just like the tree.

the most ridiculous day

yesterday (ok well now its not yesterday... im really good at prompt blogging...) thursday was one of the most ridiculous days in the history of forever. for real. i cant even make this stuff up, so of course i decided to blog about it. beware this is the most random assortment of things, but this is how my day went, and i think it is all pretty ridiculous.

i had one day off in between work days. on these days i like to get house work and cleaning stuff done, make some food for henry, and stay in our pajamas all day. hen miraculously slept a little longer than usual and instead of going to the gym, i stayed in bed til 7am. oops! (win). ty left for work at 8 and hen fell asleep shortly thereafter for his am nap. so far so good on this lazy pajama day!

then the phone rang. ty apparently forgot his briefcase and wondered if we might be out and about any time soon. my bad, i hadnt shared pajama day plan with him or else im sure he would have remembered his bag and made sure not to bother us. hen didnt sleep long but i managed to get in a shower and we headed out to tys office. but not before he took a massive shit. three times. including once on the couch. ridiculous. (oh the joys of pureed food)

also before we left i noticed the tree... all i have to say is wow. just wow. (and ridiculous)

cat and dog proof

it looks slightly better lit up. ignore the broken/drooping lower right limb.

ok so we got ty his laptop and visited his coworkers, then headed to the mall because, well, why not. i found a relatively close spot and went into the food court to feed hen before doing some shopping. i set us up right outside of picture people and watched a family of four attempt to get the 1 year old to comply with fun holiday poses. if that wasnt entertaining enough, one of the older girls grabbed the womans camera at one point and ran around the store with it and the camera girl chased her. pretty ridiculous.

we went to a few shops, stopped at gap and victorias secret, then headed to american eagle. i had bought a pair of jeans online and wanted to exchange them, so i brought them with me. i tried on two other pairs, and found the one i wanted, and brought all three pairs to the counter. the jeans i exchanged were more expensive than the ones that i had purchased online so i got a $10 and change gift card. the cashier needed to wait for the manager to approve and swipe her badge, she handed me my receipt and gift card and we left. easy.

we then headed to bed bath and beyond where i was looking for a baby hand print ornament thing. i had seen it on buy buy baby and bb&b online but figured i could use one of the many coupons i have for that place and also save on shipping.

they never expire, even though they say they do. just fyi.

does anyone want any of these?!

i had stashed a 20% off and a $5 off coupon in my purse to bring just incase i found more items i wanted. i found the ornament i was looking for and waited in line. a woman in front of my bought over $100 of merchandise and didnt have a coupon, so i told her "oh i have an extra one you can have!" and went to pull it out of my purse. it wasnt there. i know i had brought both. and i have 8 hundred zillion at home. ridiculous. so i gave her the one i did have, i def didnt need the $1 off or whatever it would have been. but what the heck?!

and well then wouldnt ya know, target is right next to bed bath & beyond! how convenient, especially since i hadnt been there in over a week, thanks to my texas lover betting me i couldnt make it. didnt i show her! (i had serious withdrawals though, for sure. my bank called me asking if i was ok, really). i was also meeting my friend angela there after she got out of work, i couldnt stand her up! (side note: i really only needed to get eye drops but wanted to see what else the great and wonderful target had to offer since i hadnt been there in forever! also, im pretty sure angela has a new found love for me... im her personal target map!) 

so we drove over and i found a car with his break lights on getting ready to pull out of his parking spot. it was about 5 spaces from the door and was right next to a cart, perfect spot for me to put hen in the cart and get inside quickly (it was 8 degrees out!). i put my blinker on, no one else was around, and i waited for him to back out. just as he backed out of the space, a car came flying around the front and zoomed right into the spot i was waiting for. seriously?!!? i just sat there in shock. he got out of his car and looked at me and i just put my hands up like "really guy??" he obviously just kept walking. i didnt have any guts to roll down my window and argue with him, but i was not pleased at all. jerk.

one of the first things i found when we walked into the store was this. i win at everything for finding this. i surely wasnt going to spend the $24.99, but the pic had to be taken. ridiculous.

and of course hen slept the entire time we were shopping, so i knew nothing would get done around the house once we got home. lovely.

we left target having only spent $48! id say that is a huge win. of course driving into the driveway i remembered that i didnt get the one thing i went for. fail. when i got out of the car i noticed there was a package on the front steps. yay! i love getting packages! and i didnt remember ordering anything so it was surely a gift. i looked at the box and it said it was from runners warehouse or road runner sports, addressed to me! i was so excited to see what it was.

!!obviously excited about it!!

but i had forgotten i had ordered it for myself. my brain is mush right now.

i put all the bags up in the nursery which currently doubles as sterling christmas headquarters and started making the hand print ornament. ill let the pictures tell of its true ridiculousness...

first of all- the only things included in the box were the blue ribbon, the impression molding, a little plastic roller, and the frame circle cutter thing. however, when i opened the box, out fell about 6 pieces of a broken glass ornament. little sharp pieces, gold in color. wtf?!

this process seemed pretty easy to make the mold, but lets see how the directions read:

(on the impression bag) knead impression material for 1 minute

general instructions manual- knead impression material for 2-3 minutes

instruction 3-flatten into a rectangular shape

instruction 4- look at the photo. looks rectangular to me...

instruction 5- wet foot and press foot into impression material

instruction 6- that pic sure looks like a foot to me...

so i made two. a rectangular foot...

and a round hand. 

and i didnt need my ornament to be the size of my head, so i improvised.

i thought that whole thing was pretty ridiculous.

lets see... so then ty came home from work, we had dinner, hen went to bed, and as we were going to sleep i said to ty "this was the most ridiculous day ever. thank god its over!" and we shut the lights off. about a half hour later, my mind was kinda just replaying things from the day, and i was thinking about the jeans i had gotten at american eagle and what i would wear with them for our christmas party. thats when i realized... i dont have the jeans. i did not remember seeing them as i was putting all of my stuff in the nursery after getting home. so i got out of bed, went and checked all my bags. nothing. i checked the stroller and the car, nothing. i knew the mall was still open so i called and of course there was no bag at the counter, but she told me to call back in the morning as the cashier i worked with would be there. this left me feeling so unsettled but there was nothing i could do about it tonight.

i went back to bed and had just fallen asleep when hen woke up screaming. were talking real tears, sniffles, trying to catch your breath upset crying. hes been cutting his first tooth for a week or so and it really bothers him during the night. so we both got up and went in to get him, fed him a bottle, gave him some teething gel, and he fell back asleep after some rocking. poor little dude.

again back to bed. and as im laying there, close to 11pm, i shut off my alarm which had been set for the gym. no thanks, ill take the zero running miles week over going to the gym on under 5 hours of sleep thanks. of course as i laid there i started thinking again... and i remembered that i had poked holes in the hand print ornament. the instructions said it could take up to 2-3 days for the molding to dry, but i wanted to make sure i could get a hole in them for the ribbon and didnt think i should let it dry all night. so up i got, went downstairs, and made the holes before finally going to bed and falling asleep for good.

what. a. ridiculous. day!

continuing into the next day to resolve the american eagle issue (which kept the ridiculous streak going just a bit longer...) i called at 10am like the lady had told me to, and the girl on the phone again checked and didnt see a bag. im sure she thought i was trying to swindle them out of a $30 pair of jeans, and i told her to check their security cameras to see that i didnt my bag. she spoke with her manager and called me back, asked me which jeans they were, she went and got them off the shelf and said she would hold them until the end of the day. which meant i had to go to the mall at 730pm after work on a friday night two weeks before christmas. not ideal, but i was happy she was doing this for me. well wouldnt ya know, when i got to the store after work, the jeans werent at the counter. thankfully the girl i worked with was really sweet and cool and just had me go get the jeans and all was good.

ri. dic. u. lous.