6 months

*Clothing*

B mainly wears 3-6 outfits and onesies, but still wears some pants that are 0-3. He is continuing to grow and now wears size 3 diapers. He finally fits in the cloth diapers comfortably without them being loose in the legs. The cloth diapers are definitely not his favorite, since as soon as he wets it, he gets upset and starts poking at the diaper for me to change him. This may be a good sign for future potty training; but we are not holding our breath just yet.

*Meal Time*

At this point, B will eat almost any purees or baby food (fruit or vegetable) Stage 1 we give him. He loves everything so far. We are still keeping with Beechnut and Earth's Best baby food and when there is time, I puree fruits and vegetables for him to eat. He usually eats 1 jar of food at breakfast, followed by a jar at lunch and 1.5 jars at dinner. He also loves the Mum-Mum crackers in either Banana, Vegetable and the Rice flavors.

We tried some of the Gerber puffs with him and he did not seem the least bit interested, however he loves the Cinnamon Maple, Veggie Medley and Tomato Basil Crunchies by Gerber. He dislikes the Cheese flavored Crunchies (those become a dog treat).

*Temperment*

He is a very well-behaved baby still. Typically very smiley and giggles all the time. Even when he is not feeling well, he still is mellow, just tends to want to be held or cuddled more. He is also developing a very strong personality and strong will. When he learns something new, he continues to try to do it until he masters it and is very stubborn when you tell him no or not to do something. He also has become increasingly more independent; liking to play with Lucky or his trucks or racetrack. He loves in the evenings when Daddy plays with him and they "rough-house" and also when Lucky gives him kisses, he loves to hug his face and give him wet kisses back.

*Play Time*

He is standing up more and leaning on furniture to walk around the table and reach for things on higher shelves. We had to Brantley-proof the entertainment center since he kept turning off the tuner and cable box.

*Sleepy Time*

For the most part, he sleeps 10 hours! Occasionally, he still wakes for the bottle in the middle of the night, but it is less frequent on a weekly basis. He usually goes to bed by 10pm and is up and ready to go in the morning. Sometimes he eats a jar of food for breakfast, other times he takes a bottle and will go back down for a nap an hour after waking up. It depends on the day and what else we have planned.

*Picture Time*

Shopping has begun...

So, today was a pretty successful day. I got some things done around the house and then decided to run some errands. I sat down and went through our registries and organized them as to what items were on there and what store had the lowest price (or so the registry said). With the hard copy in hand, I went to scour my "deal spots". First stop was lunch at Panera (Baby G LOVES Panera...I think we need to invest in an "I heart Panera" onesie, jk). After a yummy lunch, off to Kohl's I went to scour their deals. I was able to get a cute  9 month outfit of a collared onesie and matching shorts, along with a pack of Soothie pacifiers & a stroller/carseat toy (Ocean Wonders Portable Mobile). Next stop, Marshall's. This trip they definitely did not disappoint me (I secretly hope they will so I will not be inclined to spend money, but not the case today). I found our Tummy Time Mat for way lower than anywhere else, plus got a package of Munchkin disposable mats (great for use as a lap pad, burp cloth, etc.) and a set of soft-tip spoons. Third stop was Walmart, where I had to do some light grocery shopping for dinner since I made chicken parmigana, wholegrain spaghetti and garlic cheesy bread. I got some more bump shots printed (and updated my belly book later in the day) and then scoured their clearance/baby deals. Found the Gerber prefold cloth diapers (which we plan to use with diaper covers in the beginning, plus as burp cloths and general mess cloths), no-scratch mittens, and a package of 2 waterproof crib sheets/mattress protectors. While there I was also able to do some price comparisons and found them to offer cheaper prices on some of our items from BRU and Target...so made sure to make note of that for later purchases. Final stop was the Bell's outlet by the house to pick up a 3 pack of canvas organization totes and Gator stickers for decorating. I love Friday shopping there since they give you 10% off your total purchase...woot, woot! Maybe tomorrow we will hit Target to look at their sales, but we shall see what plans develop between now and then.

After getting some homework done (boo!), I cleaned up the registry list and started writing our my packing list since we plan on packing in 2 weeks (34 week point). I also got the rest of my patterns cut out for the remaining 3 sewing projects I have and got the extra Boppy Pillow cover laid out, cut and pinned so Husby can help me by sewing it tomorrow. It was a VERY productive day to say the least. Although I have my "homework" for the week in each of my classes done, I still need to check-in on my class' discussion boards and be actively reading/posting the remainder of the weekend (typically an hour or so 2x a day) and I probably should write my paper this weekend since IL's visit on Wednesday and lobster hunting is Friday (no worries, I am not hunting...IL's and Husby are going diving while I hang on the shore) and next weekend is jam-packed between lunch and dinner plans with family on Saturday and Sunday  we have another round of class (1st class this weekend!).

Update on 101 in 1001

In 13 months, I have surprisingly accomplished a lot of my tasks.

101 in 1001 Starting Date: Monday,December 1st, 2008
Ending Date: Monday, August 29th, 2011

:::Those in bold are completed:::
Marriage
1. Cook dinner every weeknight for Michael.
2. Be more romantic with Michael.

3. Work on communicating my feelings more with Michael.

4. Plan 1 night a week for an entire month as a date night.
5. Kiss Michael every morning and every night for an entire month.
6. Compliment Michael every day for an entire month.
7. Do 101 special things for Michael. 
8. Fight more fairly in a disagreement.

~4 left to do~

Religion
9. Find a local church Michael and I can start going to.
10. Post 20 Bible verses that touch my heart.
11. Resolve my "lost faith" and forgive him for my childhood loss.
12. Write about 100 things I am grateful for. (50 down)
13. Read The 5 People you Meet in Heaven.

 ~4 left to do~

Motherhood
14. Continue to follow doctor's regime in terms of the medicine for TTC.
15. Start a family.
16. Remove the clutter and refocus our lives around our family.
17. Don't raise my voice for an entire month.
18. Begin a holiday tradition.
19. Make a nursery in the house.
20. Create a scrapbook for each child/ pregnancy.

~5 left to do~

Homemaking
21. Add curb appeal to the house.
22. Establish a weekly cleaning routine.
23. Follow that cleaning routine for an entire month.
24. Paint the house with Michael.
25. Clean out and organize the freezer and fridge.
26. Organize my office.

27. Take the donation clothes to Goodwill.

28. Fill the remaining photo frames around the house.
29. Reorganize the kitchen to accommodate everything.

30. Fill my recipe box with the recipe cards (rewrite all the scraps onto cards)

~5 left to do~

Cooking
31. Cook dinner along with Michael at night.
32. Make breakfast for Michael.
33. Make banana bread from scratch.
34. Make Italian Antipasto Salad for Michael.
35. Cook Christmas Eve. and Christmas Day meals with Michael.
36. Make salsa from scratch.
37. Learn a new Italian dish.
38. Learn a new Chicken dish.
39. Learn to make a soup from scratch.
40. Learn a new Asian dish.
41. Learn a new breakfast dish.
42. Learn a new dessert.

~4 left to do~

Financial

43. Eat dinner out only twice a week for a month.

44. Eat lunch out only once a week for a month.

45. Save $20 at the grocery store (via coupons or value buys).
46. Establish a budget for our household.
47. Stick to my entire budget for two straight months.
48. Cut our grocery bill to $50 for a two week shopping period.
49. Pay extra on our school loans.
50. Build up our savings to $10,000.
51. Payoff all my store cards to have no balance for an entire 2 month cycle.

~5 left to do~

Health
52. Take the dogs for a walk everyday for an entire week.
53. Exercise four days out of a week for 1 week.
54. Workout (run or swim) twice a week for a month.
55. Give up soda for an entire month.
56. Eat a green salad five times in a week as a meal.
57. Eat 3 servings of fruit every day for an entire week.
58. Drink only fruit juice or water for one week.
59. Make target weight of 130lbs.
60. Don't eat after 9pm for an entire month.

~8 left to do~ Huge set back with the shoulder injury...hoping to be healed soon to work on these

Kindness
61. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

62. Bring in a "treat" for my co-workers one week.
63. Do a favor for someone else.

64. Host the chapter at my house for dinner 1 night.
65. Host a "family night" at my house for 1 night.
66. Cook someone else dinner.
67. Offer Megan a vacation down to us and follow through.
68. Make a birthday cake for someone at work.

69. Offer a ride to one of the younger girls at work.

~4 left to do~

Pets
70. Make each of the boys a toy.
71. Find Reese a new coat.
72. Find Snow a new coat.
73. Find Lucky a new coat.
74. Pamper each of the dogs.

Completed!

Randomness
75. Read Tuesdays with Morrie.
76. Post a picture everyday for an entire month.
77. Complete 2 old yearly albums on POGO.
78. Try a new berry.
79. Get a new hairstyle.
80. Read 50 books on my All-time list.
81. Catch up on the scrapbooking.

82. Make a wedding book for each of the moms.
83. Visit Michael grandparents.

84. Recycle (even if the city does not want to bring their bins)

85. Visit Michael's aunt and uncle in Michigan.
86. Take better care of the Civic.

87. Try something new at a local eatery.

88. Do not splurge shop for an entire month.
89. Make a scrapbook for someone else.
90. Take Meghan for a girl's weekend.
91. Take a honeymoon with Michael.
92. Plan a bonding weekend with my female cousins.
93. Learn to surf.
94. Scuba dive in the Keys.
95. Go on a vacation with Michael.
96. Slim down my stomach and get my belly button re-pierced.

97. Start my education classes.

98. Bowl a 200.
99. Beat PCOS.

100. Blog about the items I cross off.

101. Write a new 101 in 1001 list.

~19 left to do~

That leaves 58 more tasks on this Goal list to accomplish. Many are tied together, so once I complete one, I'm sure the others will soon after.

Recap

So it has been a busy last 2 weeks and this and next week are going to be even more hectic.

1. Saw the 3rd Orthopedic doctor since my accident in May this past Monday (11/9). He quickly suggested arthroscopic surgery to repair my shoulder. According to him, I have a trauma-induced impingement in my shoulder where the bursa is being smashed between my two bones in the joint like between a rock and a hard place. This is because I have no more gap/room in my shoulder joint. The surgery will involve them reducing the swelling by either removing part of the bursa or shaving each of the joint bones down to make room. Also, he thinks I may have a tear near my rotators cuff (which is something Husby, the physical therapist, and my family doctor thought may have occurred due to my earlier symptoms).

2. My workman's comp nurse is trying to pull a fast one over me and not cooperating on getting my paperwork and authorization filed so I can have surgery soon. I'm on to her and so is the doctor's office...and well, let's just say I have a lot of time on my hands and will be calling her everyday until the authorization is sent to the surgeon's office.

3. I am hoping to have the shoulder surgery done the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, that way I have the longest gap of time for recuperation without affecting work, Husby's work, Teaching, Grad School, Husby's travels for work, and life in general. This means Husby will be doing all the cooking for Thanksgiving for us, and his 2 European coworkers. He is brave and insisted he will be fine to do everything.

4. My reproductive specialist/ Gyn doctor changed practice effective Nov. 1st, 2009 and unfortunately, I am not allowed to see her any longer because her previous practice states she must sign a contract to not see patients from her old practice at her new practice for at least 2 years. Thankfully, a family friend (who is my old Dr.'s administrative assistant) got my file and referred me to a new doctor, which I promptly called this week to schedule an appointment with.

5. New doctor's appt. is next Monday and the office is close to Husby's office, so hopefully he will tag along for moral support and give me his vibe of the new doctor. I am almost out of medicine and am still having the severe side pains and wacked cycles, so hopefully he can prescribe something or do further testing to determine the root of the problem, and start off BC to TTC.

6. Snowie hurt himself somehow last night. He has a small cut on his behind, like he dragged his butt along a rock or something (they all tend to do that time-to-time when they go #2 and feel like that missed something or left something). It was bleeding last night and we cleaned him up and bathed him and Husby tried to hold pressure on it, but puppy was not having it. This morning it still looked pretty bad and was oozing, so when I get home I may need to consult with the vet if it is still oozing or bleeding. Poor puppy!

7. As if that all is not hectic enough, I have not yet started Christmas shopping for anyone. The one small gift I bought Husby he did not like...happened to see it in the store and he stated he didn't like the look of it, so tonight we are returning it (I'm making him return it and explain his fickleness to the store clerk).

8. Grad school is driving me nuts. The current class is sooooooooo boring!

9. My final big project at work is suppose to start around the 1st week of December and I am needed around the 18th (so hopefully shoulder is operated on next week, so I am healed enough to work the 18th or else major problem).

10. We decided obviously not to go anywhere for T-day and instead split Christmas and New Year's between the Mom's....Christmas at my Mom's, New Year's at his. Hopefully this still works, but as of now that is the plan.

So excuse me if my blogging becomes scarce in the next few weeks as it is quite hectic here.

We have Furniture!

 Our Sleeper Couch  (that we already had) with the 2 new little pillows

The New Loveseat

The Living Room being enjoyed.

Pics of the Dining Room & Fridge to come tomorrow!

...

Blogging has definitely taken a backseat to life here but mainly because grad school, being sick, teaching 7 classes a week, Husby traveling, and my shoulder still hurting has been the primary focuses. Once again Husby is traveling and it is a quiet week between grad school (term starts Wednesday) and teaching (Exam 2 this week).

Nothing to exciting has been occurring either. We have the village almost all set for Halloween (pics to come in future post) and this weekend, we bought some new furniture for the home. We are beginning to transition ourselves from newlyweds and "stay-at homes" to more entertaining and future family status, so we found a really nice dining table that has a leaf for widening/extending it with 6 matching chairs and also a loveseat to match our couch in the Living Room.

Our Couch:



Our New Loveseat:



This is the Dining Room Table except with 6 chairs:



The Tall chairs (Ones on Left) are the chairs we went with (We already plan to redo the seats as I do not like the material on them from the warehouse):



*I think we are going to cover the chairs in a blue suede-like material, but cannot find a good picture*

*::*Update*::*
Although this is crappy camera phone picture, you can kid of see the color of the fabric. I happened to be near Joann's and figured I could snap a quick picture.



Saw this fabric and want to make pillows out of it or maybe placemats and napkins:
*http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat1183844&PRODID=xprd779844*

What have I done?

I still can't believe I have not blogged in over 2.5 months. I have completely neglected this thing, but then again I have barely had time to breathe. So here's a recap.
In February, I decided to go back for my Master's finally. Because of the time constraints of working and not being able to find an adequate program at a local college, I am trying an online program through Kaplan. I am pursuing a Master's in Higher Education with emphasis on teaching and instruction. Each "class" runs for 10 weeks, so it's like taking 2 classes a semester at a normal college. So far, things have been going well. It is a lot of writing and reading (big surprise!) but I am learning a lot and am enjoying the connections with the other students and faculty. I am still teaching at Indian River. I now have 5 classes a week that I teach and then this summer it will be 3 classes (meeting 2x a week...so really 6 classes). It is hectic, hence why I have dropped off the face of the Earth. Greene has kept himself busy with work, joined a softball league and bowling throughout the week when I am teaching night classes.

In March, we went on our vacation for our anniversary to Key West. We stayed at a quaint hotel called Banana Bay not too far from downtown. We did some scuba diving (I kept extremely sea sick, first time for everything I guess). The weather was awesome, so we got to explore Duval St. and ate at some nice restaurants. Our next vacation is to Pcola for his sister's graduation and Mother's Day. I definitely need a break and thankfully this trip falls when I am between semesters and classes.

Other than the big events, things have been pretty quiet. The doctor's visits have lessened (thankfully!), but still having a lot of issues. Now I am back on some BC that hopefully will return my cycle (but what I don't understand is they suspect my previous BC was the reason I am no longer cyclic, arg!). Still nothing on the food allergies front, excpet I have been super selective where I eat and what I eat and what not. No body wants to mess with this until the PCOS is under control, so for now it's a russian roulette on foods. When time allows, we have been working on the house...planted a garden in the front 3 weeks ago. The master bathroom is the next project on the list. We found some cute shower tiles and trim, and now we need to decide if we are going to look for new floor tiles or stick with the same tiles we have in the other bathroom...decisions I am not willing to make since my brain is fried.

I'm going to try to keep this thing going by putting aside a few minutes each day for it. We'll see how it goes.

Just a 2 year recap...

Since I haven't really blogged continuously in the last couple years I figured one of my first blogs should be my "update". So let's see where to start? After a lot of soul searching and restless nights of thinking and trying to fit the pieces of my life together in 2005, I took a risk. I had been having issues finding myself and during the summer realized I wasn't happy with my life or where it was going or who I was becoming and so as I began the move back to college (my final year), I spaced myself from my then boyfriend (for many reasons which will go unmentioned) and started my college semester a bit upset, a bit excited for what the future would hold for me and ever busy with my classes and activities. As one door closed, another unexpectedly opened and I met someone new. We had met previously during freshman year due to some of our mutual friends but we were both in different places in our lives and had our baggage and so nothing progressed then. I guess Senior year was the time for things to progress since he became the man of my life. What started out as occasional bumping into each other at friend's events turned into nights of watching movies (sometimes cheesy, sometimes awesome), late night drives to Steak and Shake for milkshakes and cheese fries and eventually a relationship. I felt like the center of his world; a feeling I never felt before. With him, I could be myself and I knew if and when I poured my heart out to him he was there to listen and comfort me. My baggage was heavy that year and the real test of the strength of our relationship came around Christmas when we were apart and I felt like my glass world was about to shatter. My dad had been having medical problems and when I came home he was being released from a rehabilitation hospital after numerous skin grafts and surgeries. Even though I'd seen my dad in worse conditions it was tough to be festive and upbeat about Christmas. I knew time was short with my dad and it became even more evident when he went back to the hospital right before Christmas with complications. The phone calls back and forth over that holiday break between Greene and I were my life line to sanity. For Christmas, Greene sent me flowers and they were the most beautiful roses one could ever imagine; pretty pinks and white. As soon as I got them I quickly called him to thank him for the roses and he got quiet knowing he didn't order roses (my favorite flowers are carnations). Not caring that he had sent me roses, I thought the gesture was amazingly beautiful, and he on the otherhand was pissed at the florist and made them send me the correct arrangement (needless to say I will never get flowers via online/teleflora again), which they still got wrong but this time were closer to the ideal bouquet of wild flowers, gerber daisies and bright pinks and purples...cheerful and happy.
After Christmas I went back to school and Greene and I spent the few days before classes started together when he wasn't busy with RA training. What should have been an exciting point in my life; a fresh start and outlook on myself and life, my last undergrad semester, became the lowest point in my life that January. After many consultations with my dad's doctors my mom (and I; even though I was already back in FL) made the decision to move my dad into hospice and make the last moments of his life as comfortable as possible. The doctors weren't sure what was going on with him; if the brain cancer was back, if a new cancer had developed, etc. and so the first week of classes I planned my trip back to NY; not knowing how long I'd miss school for. My friends and most of my professors were very understanding of the situation; except for one professor. This professor (which many of my college friends know) told me I had to choose between finishing my college career (and not going home) or going home (and giving up my last semester and not graduating). I of course chose to go home and fought him tooth and nail to graduate on time (his class was really the only class I needed to graduate and so I made it a point to get the notes from my friends and do all the work. So here I was trying to decide where Greene's and my relationship would stand and he was already booking plane tickets for himself so he could go with me. He switched shifts with people for his RA job, called out his other job and told his teachers he would be out of school for a little while due to a family emergency. So that Saturday we were on our way to my home...his first trip to NY, his first meeting with my family and friends. It was that day I realized I'd met my soulmate. It was a tough few weeks and having him there made things all so much better. I'm sure it was a rough situation for him to be there while I went through that but he never showed it. Eventually, he went back to school and I stayed to be with my parents. It was within the next 2 days of Greene's departure that my dad quietly passed in his sleep. I believe my dad finally felt confident I'd found my other half and he could finally let go. The funeral and seeing all the extended family was rough alone, but every night I knew I could call someone and never be judged. I returned to school soon after the funeral and felt no desire to deal with my rude professor, but through the various meetings I was forced to have with him, Greene supported me, sat outside the office to make sure I got all my questions answered and he was never rude to me.
The semester continued, Greene's and my relationship continued to grow and become stronger. We worked together on Homecoming stuff, I met his family for the first time during Spring Break, and then we hit our next roadblock; what happens after Graduation? I hadn't really had time to look to grad schools and after the emotional stress I'd endured with the unnamed professor I had no desire to continue my education at the moment, so I decided I would follow Greene wherever he was going and take each day one at a time; another change in my life. In May we graduated, our families met for the first time and the pieces fell into place beautifully. We decided to stay around our college town; continue working our jobs and look for new career jobs. I went back to college after much pushing by Greene to get my second BS degree since I was only 1 class short. Greene landed his career job not too long into the summer and for once in my life I was able to breath and was comfortable with my life; an entirely new feeling for me. We made another trip to NY, where we helped my mom pack up the house and prepare to move to SC (it was her time for a fresh start). Since Greene had never been to NY before, we took a day out to show him NYC and played tourists for the day.
During the summer Greene and I talked about what we wanted to do in the future in our lives and we realized our lives were becoming more and more entwined and the discussion of marriage came up. Since we really hadn't been dating long (and yet gone through so much together already), I said I wanted to marry him someday if he asked but would want a long engagement. We casually shopped around for the perfect ring (yes ,I had an idea what my rings looked like before I got them) and our daily lives continued. In October, after a romantic dinner at The Melting Pot and a night stroll on the beach (and numerous other funny moments which I will not recap here), Greene proposed to me under a beautiful night sky and I said yes. We revelled in the feeling of being engaged awhile and around Thanksgiving (2006), we decided a March 2008 wedding would be in the cards next. At Christmas time of that year, Greene got the chance to take me to IA (not for a happy occasion though; his great-grandmom had passed away) and I met his entire family. From the moment I walked in, I felt welcomed and loved and knew I'd made the right decision to marry him. 2007 was busy with work, wedding planning and spending time together whenever Greene wasn't travelling. We bought our first house in May of '07 and quickly settled in. In November of '07 Greene injured his shoulder while surfing and in December he had the surgery right before the Christmas holiday. We had a family wedding in OK and spent New Year's in a Holiday Inn in OK. Thankfully we were surrounded with family, but it was a tough weekend.
On March 1st, 2008 Greene and I tied the knot surrounded my all of our closest family and friends. It was a beautiful wedding and joining of two familes. I tell everyone I married my best friend. After all the planning and designing that went into making our wedding ours, Greene and I celebrated with all of our friends and had a great time. I'm still trying to catch-up on the scrapbooking, but there are just so many pictures to incorporate. We attended a few more weddings for our friends and saw some other locations. We opted to take our Honeymoon another time since we had such a tight schedule with other prior engagements. The way I look at it is that we travel and see and do so many great things together and we've had many small honeymoons instead of just 1 big one. We got scuba certified in June and had a blast scuba diving in West Palm.
So that pretty much brings us up to current time. We have a zoo of animals still; 3 dogs (2 chihuahuas-Reese & Snowball, 1 Parson's Russell Terrier-Lucky which we adopted from the local pound in July), 6 turtles, 1 gerbil, and a saltwater tank and cichlid fish in our freshwater tank. Life is grand in our house. We have been tackling home improvement projects little by little and just enjoying our time together. Our future is still being shaped but I'm learning to take it one day at a time and loving the new adventures Greene and I are experiencing.