been too long....

It's been a while since I last updated and not that a bunch of stuff has happened I have been keeping busy!!

We had our race banquet last weekend, it was nice to get out (just the two of us) and hubby even won a trophy!! He won the "drag staff appreciation award", it was the second time he won this trophy and I do believe it was well earned but both of us kinda thought he was going to win a different trophy (one for the most dedicated employee - I forget what it was called but it goes to the employee that always gives 110%).

Jacob has been sleeping better, still waking at least once during the night (except when he had the sleep over at the in laws -- I'm soooo jealous!!). It makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong? Why will he sleep through the night for the in laws but wakes for us every night? I have tried cutting his naps down and I have tried letting him nap longer (thinking that maybe he was over tired?) Hubby and I butt heads over giving him a bottle at 2am, I say we need to maybe let him cry it out OR water down the milk until eventually it is just water. He for whatever reason doesn't like either of those ideas. He thinks that by watering down the milk it will make Jacob bloated!? and he doesn't think that the cries Jacob has are cries that he will fall back asleep from (not that we have ever tried). I'm at my wits end, I get embarrassed when people say "o-well at least he is at the age where you are getting more sleep" or ask how his sleeping is, we got more sleep when he was 6 months old then we do now and I know we HAVE to STOP giving him milk to fall asleep! It's hard when you aren't on the same page!! Maybe hubbies eyes will open soon, he has improved a bit and will now let Jacob cry it out at bedtime but just not at 2am!?

I'm also confused about the H1N1 vaccine!? I'm stuck between getting it or not!? I've heard scary stories from both sides. Hubby doesn't think it is necessary, and I kinda believe that the flu virus changes all the time so even if you do get the H1N1 vaccine you can still get H1N5 virus (which is apparently way worse!). I have never gotten the flu vaccine before and I have never caught the flu so do I take my chances with something that sounds so big!?

I'm taking my Dad shopping next week, he needs some warm clothes and groceries, plus he wanted to buy some Christmas gifts for the kids. He also wants to go shopping for a new recliner. I think it will be too much for one day, for a guy that barely gets out to do all that shopping - I think it will definitely tucker him out! It's good though that he is excited to go shopping and is willing to buy new things for himself, he was always the type that believed if it's not broke don't fix it (or buy new). But he is also talking to me about his funeral arrangements which is kinda weird to me, our family barely talked about small issues never mind talking about death and what our plans are!

Jacob and I went to a Discovery Toy party last night, it was fun, we have been to them before and Jacob enjoys their toys. Tonight I am going out for coffee with the girls (I'm soooo excited!) I'm thinking it might be a late night though!! Then tomorrow I am having a Creative Memories party that I was kinda roped into having but if it gets me free stuff then it's all good! Saturday is Halloween and the Mom group is trying to organize a party, I also want to take Jacob to a few houses 'trick or treating' then we have to be home in time to help hand out candy at our house!

On the weight loss front ... I'm sure you've probably noticed my tickers haven't budged for a while!? It's hard when life is so hectic and I want to spend my evenings/ weekends with Jacob. He just isn't really into sitting in a stroller for a half hour or more so I can go for a walk and pretty soon it is going to be so cold out that I don't think I will want to take him out for a walk! I think I need to get a small TV and set it up in the basement beside my treadmill. It's just frustrating, it seems like I know all the things that I'm "suppose" to do with weight loss and weaning Jacob off the bottle but they are so hard to do.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! LOVE YOU ((HUGS))

Things feel like they are getting better, Jacob is going back to his "normal" self and is sleeping through the night - there fore giving us some needed sleep. There is a saying that says ... "Happy Mommy = Happy baby (family)" I think it's the other way around ... Happy baby = happy Mommy = happy family! Cause when Jacob is cranky EVERYONE is cranky and now that he is happy everything seems better! :) I forgot to post for his 16 month update so here are some new things:

--- Jacob likes to talk now and there are definitely some real words coming out. We can ask him a question and he will usually answer with a "yes" or "no" (mostly yes, surprisingly). For example I'll say "do you want to go outside?" he'll say "yes"
--- Jacob says about 15-20 words like, Momma, Dadda, dog, baba, yes, no, downstairs, outside, juice, there are others but I don't remember.
--- He HAS to have bubbles in his bath now and will grab the bottle for you, try to squirt the liquid in the tub and put the bottle back.
--- He is trying to jump and will stand there lifting his heels off the ground but his toes never leave the ground.
--- He is wearing the same clothes he wore last Christmas!! They are size 12month onesies but his pj's are size 24 month!

Not much is new, I haven't talked to Dad for a while and feel kinda guilty about that but I plan on going to see him on Saturday. We also have a banquet for the race track on Sat night so Jacob will be having a sleepover at the in laws! :) Halloween is next weekend and I think Jacob will just wear the same costume as last year. The Mom's group wants to have a party for the kids in the afternoon so Jacob and I will go for a little while then after supper I think I will take Jacob to a couple neighbors. Usually my hubby does the garage up like a haunted house and the kids have fun going through it, he has fun scaring them but last year the garage was full of cars so he did it on the lawn. It wasn't as much fun, I'm not sure what he has planned this year, hopefully he does the garage again, it was so much fun!

Oh-Yeah and on the diet front .... it is a challenge, things are much harder this time with having Jacob. I am finding it hard to get my exercise in, usually Hubby works in the garage in the evening so I have Jacob and if it is cold out I'm not sure I want to take him out for a long walk!? Plus I'm not sure he will sit in the stroller for longer then a half hour!? I need to find a routine that works for us, maybe I will have to go after Jacob is in bed at 9pm?! Or get up early and go before he's awake!? Either way I'm not really excited about going at those times ... I'm usually pretty sleepy around those times!? But if I want to loose the weight I have to do my part! One of my friends was trying to sell me on this multi-vitamin called the Double X, she gave me a speal on it and it actually sounds really good and she made it make sense BUT it was pretty expensive and I wasn't' sure if it was worth it to make it work into the budget (even though there is a money back guarantee if you don't think it made a difference). So she was nice enough to give me a FREE 10 day sample, I tried it yesterday for the first time, you take 3 vitamins twice a day with a meal and it is suppose to make you feel a little more energized and not as sluggish. Well - I'm not sure if it was because Jacob finally had a decent sleep but I did feel different, more energized and not as sleepy. I felt more motivated and didn't feel like I needed an afternoon nap. The only thing I noticed that was weird was my pee was a different color!? And I think it made me drink more water but that is a positive! I will finish the 10 days and see how I feel, if it does seem to make a big difference then I can make it work in the budget.

Need more sleep!! :(

This picture is a little old now but I wasn't sure if I shared my bean bag story!? Sooo ... I thought it would be fun for Jacob to have a bean bag chair, little did I know that you had to put the beans in the bag yourself and when the directions recommended filling the bag in your tub I kinda ignored them and decided to fill it in the living room!! I learned the hard way on why they recommend doing it in the tub!! It was a complete mess but Jacob had fun and all I could do was laugh!!

Everyday I find that my love grows for him and although some days are terribly frustrating lately I have been seeing all the positives. He is such a little smarty pants but maybe I'm just by ass? He seems to learn things that I don't feel like we taught him but he watches and learns then shows us what he knows. He now has to have bubbles in his bath every night and wants to be the one to put them in, and will put the bottle back after we are finished. He is becoming such a little boy, it just amazes me at how far he has come and yet has so much more to learn!

We spent the night last night in the ER, Jacob has been sick for a few days and his cough sounded really bad so we took him in. It is frustrating that they make kids and babies wait so long in emergency, you would think they would try to get them out fast. There was one little girl there that had a broken collar bone and had been there for 3 hours, waiting to see a doctor!! We were there for 2 hours and Jacob was getting quite restless by the end of that! Turns out to be just a viral infection but there was no harm in getting him checked out, he should start feeling better soon~?

Sleep has not been on my list of things to do lately, with Jacob being sick the nights are even longer then before BUT on a plus note he went the entire night without having milk, we just gave him water and he seemed to be OK with that!? We tried to do it again last night but he wanted his milk, we will keep trying to swap out that night bottle of milk with water and hopefully he just wont wake anymore!? Plus with him being sick he has a hard time sleeping on his back so we tried putting a pillow in his crib to elevate his head but we end up sleeping with him on the couch for a bit or bringing him into our bed.

I feel like everyone around me is sick lately, everything from a simple cold to terminal cancer! It's mentally exhausting and you mix that in with being physically exhausted and you end up with an emotional basket case! Ready to snap at the smallest thing! I almost snapped on my hubby when I found out he cancelled my pvr recording for Biggest Loser and we watched Hell's Kitchen instead!! But then I realized it's just a TV show and that maybe I could watch the episode on the net? The new guy at work is so funny and makes me laugh almost everyday, like a hard belly laugh and I have to catch my breath. The only problem with this is that since I am on the verge of snapping I tend to cry when I laugh hard and it feels good but it's like a window opening that could be a disaster at work. It's just hard right now to be strong and stay strong, I feel like my brother isn't doing his part and I'm sure he feels like he is doing everything!? I want to do more for my Dad but it's hard when you have young children and live so far away!? I might just have to take a week to help Dad out, he has been talking about selling his house but personally I think it should get a little TLC before listing. He just wants to list it "as is" and will probably loose out on thousands of dollars just cause he doesn't want to spend a few hundred.

Anyway .... here is a pick of the finished bean bag and Jacob enjoying a snack on it.

Papa is sick

Well, I guess my Dad isn't doing so well. My brother called the other night to say that he stopped in to see how things were and it looked like my Dad hadn't been out of bed in a few days, hadn't eaten and hadn't finished taking his chemo meds for his first round. So yesterday my SIL stopped in to again and determined that he was dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital, so that is where he is now. I'm actually kinda happy that he is there, cause he has no one at home so at least this way there are nurses to look after him and he will get 3 hot meals a day! I'm hoping that they keep him in there for a while to try and fatten him up but I doubt they will keep him, with all the budget cuts!?

On the diet front, it's hard .... I finding that I am a stress eatter, and right now I seem to have a lot of stress in my life!! I'm good at work, probably because I only bring healthy foods but at night (especially if my hubby isn't home) I tend to snack more, not really bad but I'll have 2 NS snacks instead of the one I'm suppose to or I'll finish off Jacobs snack. My vice right now is coffee, my goal for the week will be to have one glass of water in place of one cup of coffee.

Jacob was really good last night, I think this dayhome thing is really working well! Apparently they have him coloring lots which he really likes. He actually slept straight through the night till 4:30 this morning, which is much beter then he was! However it took me forever to fall asleep, I tossed and turned for a good hour before finally falling asleep!?

I'm cooking my very first turkey this Saturday and I'm kinda nervous, hopefully I won't ruin everyones supper!? It's a potluck so there will be other food, I'm just doing the turkey, stuffing, gravy and maybe a salad?

Woke up this morning to snow!! The drive to work was rediculous! The accident report on the radio was crazy! I hate winter driving but can't wait to have fun with Jacob in the snow!! I wanted to take pictures of him with all the leaves on the ground but now they are cover in a skiff of snow?! Maybe I will take pics today after supper?

Sleeping is over rated anyway ..... right!?

Who needs sleep? I DO, I DO!!! :( ((sigh)) Sleeping is not on Jacobs priority list right now and I can tell it is starting to effect me!! The funny thing too is that I just had holidays and my in laws took Jacob for the entire weekend that just past so I was able to rest and sleep in, it was great!! But now I am back at work (which I love) and getting up at 6:30am is becoming a challenge!! Last night Jacob woke up 3 times, every 2 hours!!!! I put him down at 9ish and I crawled into bed at 11pm, just as I was about to turn the light off he started screaming, so I go in to check on him, get him back to sleep right away and off I go to bed! Then at 1am he is up again and again at 3am!! It's like he is reverting back to when he was a baby, although I think he slept better as a new born then he does now!! It's exhausting and I'm starting to wonder if he will ever sleep through the night again? I'm almost certain it is because of his teething but then I worry that we are causing him to get up from our bad habits, like feeding him when he wakes? I am not looking forward to the "tough love" day and I'm praying that he will get back on track by himself without us having to force the issue!?

Other then Jacobs horrible sleep habits not too much else is new. Thanksgiving is this weekend and I am going to try to cook my very first turkey!!! I invited a few friends over for a potluck on Sat and I'm hoping I don't make them all sick!! :P I'm sure it will be fine as long as the turkey isn't pink or so dried out it turns into jerky!

I haven't seen my Dad for a little while, it has been hard to see him now that I'm back at work and last weekend we were busy with track stuff. I keep forgetting to ask hubby if we can go over there on Thursday night so maybe I can go there this weekend or have him over for leftover turkey!!

In weight loss news ... it's going OK, I wasn't that great on my holidays but still managed to loose a few. But then last weekend I wasn't "good" at all! We went out with friends and even though I wasn't hungry I still ordered and ate. Then we had friends over at our house and ordered Chinese, the worst "diet" food out there!! I had no will power and gave in very easy, I must be stronger, need to find my will power!! I posted my tickers so hopefully I will look forward to seeing them move in the right direction!?