Spellcheck

Filed Under Daddy, In-Laws, Names | 7 Comments

Someone should install spellcheck in my mother in law’s brain. My husband, Jonathon? The one who has the unique spelling that we are forever correcting people about? His name is actually JonathAn. He said he used to spell it as Jonathan when he was little and then for some reason his parents told him it was with an O. We noticed a few years back that his SS card had JonathAn on it but figured we just needed to get it corrected. Well his parents mailed a random envelope of “old memorabilia” to him the other day… including a little school pencil box, a KVM, some photos… and, drumroll- his original birth certificate and passport (they left the states when he was six weeks old) and those both have the A spelling… OMG seriously, how do you forget how you decided to spell your child’s name?

And the really ridiculous part is that his parents didn’t even notice any of this stuff when they mailed that package. They are still oblivious. Even when we tell them I am guessing it will be something like, “Oh, hmmm, yeah well we couldn’t remember what we decided on, oh well…” Duhhhhhhh

So now we (well really he) anyway SOMEONE needs to make the decision of whether he wants to legally get his name changed and spell it the way he thought it was, or just get his driver’s license changed and stick with the real spelling- we are thinking that might be easier because that’s how it is on all his other documents, plus that’s how most people spell it on his stuff anyway. It’s just weird because he didn’t know that was his name. I am married to Jonathan.

Jen, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you this at dinner.

Happy Father’s Day!

Filed Under Daddy, Holidays | 4 Comments

Just wanted to wish Jonathon and my dad (who doesn’t read this) and all the other dads out there a happy Father’s Day!

Jonathon is so good with Bailey. From the beginning, I have trusted him completely with her. Which is saying a lot, because I am seriously a control freak. I have learned that daddies don’t always do things the same as mommies would, but their way is okay. Bailey loves Jonathon so much. He plays with her whenever he is around, and talks to her, and teaches her things. He even reads to her, and he HATES reading. I could not ask for a better father for my daughter. I am so proud of him and love him so much.

Just a few pictures of Jonathon and Bailey…

Playing With DaDa and Book Recommendation

Filed Under Daddy, Play | 2 Comments

Being chased by Daddy

Caught!

Playing with her Little People Zoo (birthday present from Mommy and Daddy)

Her favorite book is Goodnight, Baby.
On each page of the book, you can tuck a different farm animal into it’s bed (pocket). The animals are attached by different colored ribbon. On the last page, you tuck the baby into his bed. Bailey LOVES putting the animals in bed. She kisses each one first. I seriously recommend this book to anyone whose kid likes animals! Some days we read it about fifteen times in a row.

Just a quick post to say, yeah, I’m still alive!

Filed Under Daddy, Twelve Months | 2 Comments

We have had a really busy weekend so far! I watched Alison yesterday and then last night went to dinner with Faith. Today I went to the Baby Mania sale with my mom, then Jonathon and I got stuff ready for OUR garage sale, then we went to a Cinco (Tres) de Mayo party at Jen’s house.

I have lots of fun pictures to post from the past few days but will leave you with just these of my two sweeties

Yesterday afternoon we played outside while waiting for Daddy to get home from work. The weather was beautiful and it makes me so excited for some nice spring days!

In this second one she looks a lot like I do in some of my baby pictures. Sometimes she really seems to resemble me, other times Jonathon. But in this one, I really see me as a baby.

Something dorky

Filed Under Daddy, Technology | 4 Comments

Jonathon is doing something really dorky in our storage room. He is linking like five or six laptops together and says they will run as one big computer. He is adding more laptop memory and also doing something about a server. I am not sure what his goal is here (he already has his own server) but it is currently overtaking our storage room. Does anyone else’s husband get one weird project kicks like this, which will ultimately accomplish basically nothing?

Happy Anniversary

Filed Under Daddy | 4 Comments

Today is our anniversary. And not that Jonathon ever reads my blog, but just in case,

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETIE! I LOVE YOU BUNCHES!

Organization

Filed Under Baby Gear, Bailey's Birthday, Church, Daddy, classes | 1 Comment

Friday night I went to a ladies night thing at my church. I know, you are thinking “Exciting Friday night, Tara!” It turned out to be a lot better than I expected. I mainly signed up because my mom and grandma wanted to go. They had snacks and then we got to pick three classes we wanted to take. The first one I chose was about organizing your busy life. Scheduling everything- including a cleaning schedule. I know some people think this sounds neurotic, but it’s the kind of organization I need if I am going to get anything done. We also talked about communicating better with your spouse to divide up responsibility/time with kids/etc. The second class I did was card making. They had a Stampin Up! rep help us make three cards and a gift tag. They are really cute. The last class was a cooking one. The lady kind of drove me nuts who taught it. She was one of those people, who wants you to know that she has money. Like she kept talking about “having the girls over after golf and just putting together a little lunch” and “I try to buy from the Smokehouse and keep them in business” but it was the way she made her comments. It was just kind of funny. But the recipes were good. She made a chicken dish, salad, bread, and banana dessert. Also we got a recipe for a fish soup that I am going to make for Jonathon.

Sat morning Jonathon got up and took some stuff to the bank for me, then went and bought me flowers! Then I got our bedroom a lot more organized and sorted through our closet to pull stuff out for Goodwill. I ended up with two boxes and two big bags! Yay! I need to do a lot of work on the rest of the house and purge every room, but I’m glad I started. Then in the  afternoon, Jonathon went to Lowe’s and got a board to fix our ghetto baby gate setup and bought more lightbulbs for all the burnt out lights in our house. I am glad he finally did this because it was starting to drive me crazy. But I am working on not bugging him/nagging him about stuff that needs to be done. He also picked up Bailey’s big birthday present while he was out!

Saturday night we had an event for Jonathon’s work. My parents watched Bailey and of course they all had a great time It was nice for us to dress up and get out together too.

Just a quick brag

Filed Under Being a Mom, Daddy, Gifts, This Rocks | 7 Comments

This one’s about my husband. For Valentine’s Day, he gave me a new day planner. (I had actually been wanting one). When he gave it to me, he was like “What’s the date today?” I opened it to the 14th, and a piece of paper fell out. He had made four coupons for a DAY TO MYSELF where he will watch Bailey all day and I can sleep or read or leave the house all day and do whatever I want. He also said if I wanted a weekday he could take the day off work. He has like a million vacation days. I don’t think I would ask him to do that, but I am definitely going to take him up on this VERY SOON!

He gives me time to get stuff done and never minds watching Bailey. But I always feel like he is watching her so I can go get something done. I feel guilty just taking time away to relax. Like I am slacking and “sticking him” with the kid by himself. I shouldn’t feel that way; I know he loves here and it’s his responsibility too. The Mommy Guilt thing is just so hard sometimes. I feel the need to be there, all the time, making sure EVERYTHING gets done (my way).

Anyway, that was the best gift he could have given me. Well that and some hot lovin’ of course Um… yeah.

Jonathon is my Alexander Graham Bell guy

Filed Under Daddy, Future, Money, Random | 1 Comment

My husband daydreams about being an inventor. He is always having these *big* ideas. Some of them are really good, and others are really weird. (No offense, honey) but like the air-conditioned suit? Now we actually know someone who has made an invention. It’s some type of glue stuff that goes over ink. Jonathon probably knows more about it than I do because he has talked to the guy about “inventions.” Anyway, I like to indulge his fantasy about being an inventor but I also would love to see his dreams become reality. And of course I wouldn’t mind being rich, either.

In order to do any type of invention thing, we’d have to have some extra cash, though, which we don’t have. He told me he wanted to take a year off work but I told him that probably wasn’t a good idea since he is our only income. Am I a horrible wife for crushing his dreams? Anyway, I guess there is always the possibility of getting some type of loan if he does have a good idea that he wants to work on. I don’t know that I would want to do a home equity line of credit, because then I think it restricts how long you have to stay in your house and stuff like that.

I found a website for AmericanOneUnsecured.com and they have unsecured Lines of Credit, which are basically loans that you don’t have to put up collateral for, as far as I understand. I don’t know if there are any other loopholes or gotchas for that kind of loan, but it sounds more like what we would be looking for. This company offers a free consultation, and the approval depends on your credit standing.

I guess this is always something we can talk about in the future. Right now I am looking forward to getting our tax return (we just filed) and hopefully our government $1500 this spring before we do anything else!

Jonathon is going to an allergist! Woo hoo

Filed Under Daddy, Doctor Stuff | 3 Comments

Thank God. Since I have known him, he has been sniffling and hacking about 75% of the year. He got a new PCP and they referred him to an allergist. Today he goes and sees this allergist for the first time. He THINKS they are going to do allergy tests today but my guess is that it will just be an initial consultation. Please God, let this fix his nasty sinuses and nose.

Has anyone had allergy testing done as an adult? DO they still do all the needles in your back like they did back when I was a kid?

First hairclip and sharing a popsicle with Daddy

Filed Under Daddy, Firsts | 4 Comments

Today I was getting Bailey ready and decided to experiment with her hair clippies. Until now she has only worn the headband bows, except for her Christmas picture when I managed to get a bow clipped in her hair. She didn’t want to hold still for me to put this in, so I did it while she was in the highchair having lunch and she never noticed once it was in. I can’t believe how much more hair she’s gotten recently!

Aren’t I cute??

Bailey has been so crabby I can hardly stand it. We are pretty sure it’s her teeth. Sometimes Tylenol or Motrin helps and other times, it doesn’t. Plus I don’t want to just drug her up all the time, but I want to try to keep her comfortable too. We had been using Orajel and then a pediatrician I know said it doesn’t do much anyway, so we haven’t been using it much lately. Bailey loves to chew on cold teething rings so today Jonathon let her try his popsicle. She loved it! He will let her suck on it and bite tiny pieces off. They finished a whole popsicle together and she cried when it was gone, so they had a second one.


She sure does like to take her shoes off!

New Activity…

Filed Under Daddy, Nine Months, Play | 2 Comments

Hey look! I can see you guys through here! (Looking down at Daddy, who was standing at the top of the first flight of stairs).


What would happen if I put this toy through here??

Ahh, never mind. You guys never give me my toys back anymore when I drop them. I’m going to hang on to this guy.


**This activity was carefully supervised, but thanks for asking**

She cries when I leave

Filed Under Daddy, Difficult Stuff, Friends, Nine Months | 3 Comments

One thing that shocks me is that my formerly so independent baby CANNOT cope when I leave the room. We are suddenly struggling again with naptime, only this time she stands in the corner of her crib and screams at the top of her lungs. No tears. When I enter the room, she stops and waves. Ya right kid. If I leave the living room while she’s playing, she cries. I have to keep talking to her and walk slowly enough that she can follow me. I can’t sit her on the floor if I am still standing. I have to sit first and THEN put her on the floor or she thinks I am just dumping her there.

I leave her places fairly often, like with Jonathon or my parents or church nursery twice a week. A few times she has been left with a friend of mine. I guess since I am home with her all day, she is used to having me there anyway. I finally finished cleaning out my office so that she can play in here while I list on eBay or check email. She is slowly learning to play nearby and hopefully eventually will even let me leave the room to pee on my own. It’s just a hard phase. Everyone warns that separation anxiety hits at nine months.

Last night I went to church to work in the nursery during Awanas and when I left home, Bailey freaked out. I kissed her and Jonathon goodbye, tried not to make a big deal at all, and said “Be good for Daddy, I’ll be home in a little bit.” She cried and cried, and she was in the middle of eating dinner so he wasn’t having much luck distracting her. I called about five minutes later and I could still hear her fussing but he said she stopped soon after that. Normally she comes with me to the nursery when I work on Wednesdays but I wanted to make sure she was completely well first. I guess it’s good for her to have more time away from mommy. We will practice that more in the near future, I hope. Like tonight, when I go to dinner ALONE with my friend Sarah.

My Sweetie’s Birthday

Filed Under Birthdays, Daddy, Date Night | 4 Comments

Jonathon turned 32 this week. I can’t believe it… where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday that we met and he was like 26 and I was 22 and had just graduated from college. I feel like he always gets shortchanged on his birthday, since it’s in December. I have usually already started my Christmas shopping and tend to just use one of the things I bought for Christmas, for his birthday. I’m sure his brother gets it even worse, as his birthday is December 31st.

Anyway, this year I decided I was going to make a point of doing something special for his birthday. We had his birthday dessert over at our house (I did not want to try to cook an entire meal, we’ve just been too busy lately) and I even put up streamers I will have to post pictures of that later when I get a minute.

I also made an effort to do my shopping in advance for him. He got two big gifts. The first was a wine of the month package. Like from one of those wine clubs. It turned out to be cooler than I thought it would be. At first, I couldn’t figure out why we were getting a FedEx shipment that an adult over 21 had to be home and sign for in person. Duh… I have just been doing too much online shopping lately and forgetting what is coming when!

Our neighbor ended up signing for it so I went over there to pick it up. It included a newsletter and a little score sheet for judging wine. There are two bottles, one red and one white. It also said on the package that a gift card was included, but apparently it was just a “greeting card” and not an actual gift card Anyway one of these nights we will have to do a date night and try our wine.

His other gift was a pocket knife. Not like a high tech Swiss Army one or anything, but a cool personalized one with his initials engraved on it. I tried to take a picture to include, but it wasn’t turning out well because the flash was reflecting off the shiny silver. I think he was pretty excited about the pocket knife. My dad and my grandpa both have one and they are always busting theirs out when something needs to be opened or cut or whatever. My grandpa was commenting last night that his was dull, so I might order him a new one for his birthday. I think it’s too late now to get it for Christmas, unless I pay for super mega fast shipping!

Oh, and we went to Outback on Jonathon’s actual birthday night, while my parents watched Bailey. We sat at the bar after dinner and had a few drinks. It was so great not to have to try to entertain her while we ate. We haven’t gone out alone in a few weeks, at least.

Aaron and Mo’s Wedding

Filed Under Daddy, Five Months, St. Louis, Weddings | 1 Comment

A@ron and M@ureen’s wedding, October 2007
-Jonathon was a groomsman. Bailey stayed with Jen during the ceremony and then came to the reception with us. The reception was at the City Museum, which turned out to be a really cool place for a reception.

Faith and I went to Starbucks to kill time between the wedding and reception, while Jonathon was off doing groomsman things. Bailey “tried” her first Starbucks drink

Big girl at the dinner table!

Jonathon did a great job entertaining Bailey at dinner. Somehow we got stuck at the “groomsmen with kids” table instead of at the table where all of our friends were seated. That was a big bummer. We didn’t know the other people we were sitting with because they were all from New York. Sometimes you really get screwed for having a kid.


Jonathon and the groom, Aaron

I thought the back of her dress was really cool. It was SO sparkly during the ceremony!

Maureen and Me- ug, this is NOT a good picture of me but I couldn’t leave out the picture of the bride, so here it is…