7 months :)

My sweet boy is 7 months old today! It seems so old. Seven whole months.. Another closer to a year!! Today was sad for me that it's another thing Kyle is missing. I miss seeing them together so much, and he does too. I feel bad for both of them having to be apart. We can't wait until you come home, Daddy!!

So, in my sorrows today I decided to get a Christmas tree and do some decorating. Normally, Kyle and I get a real tree - but I wasn't about to strap one to the top of the car myself. I also kept having nightmares of Jack scooting to the tree and eating pine needles. No thanks!!

I love the lights of the tree, they are so pretty and remind me of being a little kid and watching my Mom decorate her "beautimous tree."

I really hope as Jack gets older we can make those long lasting traditions and memories together- hopefully with Kyle not missing anymore holidays.

Whew!

Wow - I am exhausted!!!! I am not loving this taste of "single mom" life. It is HARD. I have a new found respect for single parents. I am lucky enough that I don't have to work, I can only imagine the added exhaustion and stress that would cause.

Jack is still completely crazy. He was starting to sleep so well, and then my best friend Julie came for a visit and he reverted to his old stinker ways. Hopefully I can get him back on track soon.

I can't believe he is almost 7 months old! Outgrowing his 9 month old clothes, scooting around the floor, reaching for things with all his might... It is baffling to me how we got here. Almost crawling! Showing me more and more of his personality every day. He is FEARLESS. Therefore, I am doomed. He literally tries to jump from my arms to get to something he wants to touch or play with. He throws himself around in his swing so bad that I can't walk away from him even if he is strapped in. He is constantly wiggling, playing, observing... It is fascinating to watch this little person grow. He loves shadows and his reflection. He loves mangos and avocado (fancy baby?!) he still goes crazy over his books. He is the joy of all my days, even though I could crawl into a ball and cry or die from being tired.

We are missing Kyle so much. I am so thankful for technology and that we can FaceTime everyday. Kyle will play peekaboo with Jack so I can do some dishes (hey- parenting long distance?? It works!)

Anyway - I'm just stalling doing my dishes and laundry. Here are some fun pictures of the little Devil boy.

The past week...

We have missed Kyle so much! The girls have been keeping me busy, which is really helpful. I have been able to FaceTime with Kyle daily, which is also a lifesaver!! Photostream is also really neat - really easy to send him lots of pictures of J!

Anyway, poor Blue Eyes got his first cold :( Croup is going around, so I took him in today to make sure he wasn't getting it! Doc says it's just a cold and to keep doing what we are doing. So lots of saline, suctioning, and the humidifier running constantly! Magoo weighed 15 lbs 6 oz today. He is still pretty little, but that's almost triple his birth weight... So, I think we are doing okay!!

Here are some pictures!

I love my fuzzy headed, never sleeping baby :)

Family Pictures

I could not love these more! I'm so happy we decided to get these done.

Can't wait to blow them up big and hang them! Maybe ill start posting about the inside since the outside is on hold for the winter ;)

pathway complete

The front yard is officially finished, for now. Next season we will be planting trees, flowers, bushes... all that good stuff. I am so happy with how the pathway turned out. Kyle did a great job on the herringbone design. Good thing he listened agreed with me!

 Brick, sand, and aggregate(fines) all ready to go.

 I forgot to take a picture of this before hand, but Kyle dug it down about 6 inches so we could lay down a good foundation for the brick. The black stuff is weed barrier, I did that. .... the easy part. :)

 First layer of sand! We rented a compactor and got the layers down nice and good!

 Love the herringbone pattern. We later changed out some of the blueish bricks, to red ones.. making it more uniform.

 Ugh!!! The curve, what a pain! Kyle did a great job cutting down the pieces to fit, just right! He used an angle grinder and successfully filled the house with dust :) whoops on me for leaving the front windows open.

 I gotta admit, it's pretty darn near perfect.

 We re-rented the compactor and after filling in the brick with more sand.. went over it a few more times. Those bricks ain't going NO WHERE!

 We decided on mulch for now.. not sure it will be there next season. It's already blowing away in the wind and fading a bit..

TA-DA!!!! Yard complete. Good job honey buns!

Sweet September

Lots of pictures of Jack this post. This is what we have been up to- minus the pictures of him screaming his brains out due to teething, and being frustrated with his inabilities to crawl and get to things he wants. ;)

Jack had his 4 months shots! I called Kyle in for back up. The first set of shots was traumatic for him and for me. He did MUCH better this time, and was smiling by the time we got back to the car.

Poor Jack has the craziest fuzzy hair ever. I have tried to get it to stay down, with no luck at all.

His new favorite thing is being totally naked... he gets all excited and kicks his legs like "yaaaah, I'm FREE!"

Sporting Daddy's new hat and call sign.

 I love this face and those blue eyes. I still don't know where he got them from, but I'm glad he did. They are so beautiful! (I mean, handsome!)

I was very reluctant to start Jack on solids... We tried rice and he had a terrible reaction to it. Now he is eating oatmeal, and he LOVES it. He literally goes, "mmm" after every bite. I was surprised he knew how to swallow it down, most people said he would probably spit it out the first few times. After watching how excited he got and how great he did with it, I knew we made the right decision.

This is his new trick. Standing! He goes crazy and gets the proudest look on his face - like "watch me Mom!"

We took family pictures and I was trying on outfits for him.. I think we found a winner. Can't believe how big he is!

A rare moment of the two of us. I love this little crazy baby.

This was taken on his 5 month birthday. FIVE MONTHS!!! WHAT!!!! He is getting so big. I look back at pictures when he was only 5 pounds and my oh my.. how things change. And fast!

And this is when we tried giving him sweet potatoes. I have decided to make his baby food.. so I was SO excited to have him try it. Nope. He wasn't excited, at all. He spit it out and made this face like, "excuse me people, gross." We tried again this morning and he only took two bites before he wouldn't have any of it. He took an extra long nap today so I made him apples and carrots. I think we will try apples tomorrow and see how he does.

Anyway, we have really been trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible. With recent changes in schedules, we will be without Daddy sooner than later. I'm glad Kyle got to be here for more firsts.. standing and eating food. :)

 I can't wait until we get our family pictures back. I will be sure to post them!

4 months old

How is it humanly possible my little baby is 4 months old?? Maybe it's from a severe lack of sleep that I'm having a hard time believing it.

Jack is CRAZY! He is giggling so much and making the craziest noises. Recently he growls and comes at my face with an open mouth. A version of kisses maybe?? He is always always always keeping me busy.

He is now 25 1/2 inches long and 13 lbs 6 oz. A true string bean. We love him and I am looking forward to him crawling and becoming more mobile. He gets very frustrated with himself that he can't be a big boy and grab and go to things he wants. I think mobility will make him happy!

We got him a "jumper" and he loves it. He also loves looking at himself in a mirror... He giggles and smiles. He cracks himself up :) we love our big boy!

SOD!!!

Disclaimer: These are just the pictures I took on my phone... I've been too eager to post about this to upload the photos from my camera, but I will add them soon!

First of all- I have to make a public apology to my sweet husband. There have been so many days I was so mad at him for being outside for hours and hours... because I'm a brat like that. However, he is amazing and I could not be more proud of him for all his hard work. He did our entire fence by himself, the sprinkler system, dealing with weeds from hell (seriously those things were OUT OF CONTROL) and now laying grass. (Although... I did help with that, and I got to lay the first piece down!!) Kyle - YOU ROCK! I can't wait to see how the pathway comes out next... hehe. I love you honey!

I'll start with the pictures on my phone of the fence as he was building it. We did redwood posts with cedar pickets. He painstakingly stained them all before putting them up. We chose a "shadow box" style to help with the wind. We don't want this bad boy blowing over!!

 Evil weeds!! We had them sprayed by a professional, and they still wouldn't all die.

 Kyle and our awesome neighbor Ethan, went in on a harley rake together. For those who don't know.. I liken it unto a hula-ho (remember those?!) but on STEROIDS. It tills up the dirt and gets those suckers out. But, we still had to hand dig way too many. BOO

 Weeds be gone!

 

Staking out for the pathway.

 

 Sod arriving! I think I squealed and ran towards the truck. The driver probably thought I was insane.

 Watering it down! It had dried out a little from the ride over.

 And that's where the progression pictures stopped because I was helping and no one was too concerned about taking pictures. But way in that back corner by the house is where I laid the first piece down. Boo-ya!

 Had to throw in some pictures of Mr. Blue Eyes. This picture looks like he is trying to eat me.

 I look so cute, but I'm SOOO naughty!

 This is our crazy neighbor Brady, who insisted he help while wearing his rugby attire. I told him he is going to be the neighbor we joke about to our grand kids someday. He is so nuts! But we appreciate his help!!!

 And this is a messy last picture. It looks soo good! And the sprinkler system works like a champ. We get our brick delivered in two weeks. So, in the meanwhile we have to dig down the pathway... and the rock and sand will be here this weekend!

Our house is finally looking like a home!!! Way to go Kyle. You sexy handy-man, you.