Baby Book

Ok, so not only am I a blog slacker, I'm a baby book slacker. Tanner is now 15 months old and his baby book is barely started, much less up to date.

I have been toying with the idea for sometime to do one of those online books that I've seen advertised on Shutterfly, Snapfish or Piknic. The ones where you do it yourself online, submitting your pictures from your computer and adding your own memories and tidbits of info. My friend Jill has several and I think they were done online at Creative Memories, not sure, but that's kind of the idea, just a little bit more frilly and baby boyish.



I just want to be able to have something to remember all the things that happened in his first year and maybe some day be able to pass it along to him when he has his own children. For the record, I have written down everything that has happened from height and weight, to first teeth, to first steps. Maybe I'll get started on that next week because girls weekend with Cathy, HERE I COME!!

Valentines Day

Valentines Day at our house is usually just like any other day. Since it's so commercialized we usually do something together but it's not a big production. I have banned receiving flowers since I think they are a gross waste of money unless I have just birthed a baby. That's the only exception, so far.

So Saturday began like any other day. I woke to Tanner laughing and playing in his crib, walked across the house, cleaned up Pepper's poop along the way (becoming a daily/nightly occurence), and spotted something different out of the corner of my eye. I usually get up, use the bathroom, brush my teeth, and then head to get little man up. Contacts or glasses are usually something I think about half way across the house when I'm concentrating on not stepping in a possible poop pile so what I saw out of the corner of my eye didn't make sense until I got much closer to it. It was a bike in my living room. It looks like either Santa was late or Cupid made decided to make an appearance. Either way, my new bike rocks and I love it!

We spend most of the weekend riding since Larry and I both have bikes and Tanner has a trailer. It really is awesome!!!

What I Wouldn't Give for a Donut...

Ok, so, I've been doing Weight Watchers for a couple of weeks now and lost a couple of pounds (8 to be exact). The only thing I haven't lost is my craving for that which has added to my current weight predicament - donuts.

I used to not care a thing about donuts. I mean, I liked them, but not like Cathy liked them :o) Chocolate was always my thing. Now, it seems that since I don't do a lot of sugar, my body misses it and I'm seriously craving something sweet and cakey. Which brings me back to donuts.

The really good thing about Weight Watchers is that everything is assigned a point value and you keep track of your daily points, trying to hit a certain number. So, in theory, I could have a donut as long as I calculated the points and made sure I didn't go over my point allowance for the day. Also, WW gives you an extra 35 points a week to use if you have a birthday party or company picnic or something to attend where the choices might not be so great. So, with my 35 extra points, I'm stock piling them for my weekend visit with Cathy in two weeks so I can have a donut!!

TGIF

For real. This has been a LONG week. Nothing major or bad or anything like that, just long. I have had several projects at work that are just about finished and I've had several projects at home that didn't even get started. Oh well. Maybe this coming week I will get my "stuff" in order.

Something that I did do reluctantly, after dragging my feet for a week or so, is complete a "25 Random Things About Me" note on Facebook. When I first started to see them posted I said I didn't have time to do one, I didn't want to do one, and that I thought they were silly. Then I read my friend Kevin's "list" and it was great. It was heartfelt and funny. It was real and fairly eye opening. It got me to thinking about my 25 random things. They are things that I rarely admit outloud or that few people may know and some are just funny and quirky things about me that people have known forever.

So I'm posting my list here for those of you that read this and don't Facebook (Cathy).

25 Random Things About Jamie

1. The older I get I find that I am more like Mr. Rogers and laugh…as soon as I get home from work I change out of my work clothes and shoes and put on either my favorite jeans or yoga pants, a t-shirt, and either my crocs or bedroom slippers. The only things I’m missing are a cardigan sweater and creepy puppets.
2. It took 7 years and many tests, procedures, and surgeries to get pregnant with our now 14 month old son Tanner.
3. My husband Larry and I have been married for 8 years and we’ve been together for 11.
4. Tanner is the joy of my life and a true miracle baby. He’s a pretty funny kid too.
5. My dream job would be working with kids or adults with disabilities in a creative and fun setting with little to no paperwork OR opening my own kitchen store and offering cooking and baking classes.
6. I really enjoy hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law and their kids. We are a tight bunch and have a lot of fun together.
7. I used to play bass guitar (sadly not very well) in a rock/punk/grunge band name Taming Meat while in high school.
8. I really enjoy camping, again, especially with my brother and sister-in-law. We have a pop up camper (we got one after they did and saw how awesome it is) and it is such an upgrade from tent camping.
9. I twirled a flag in the colorguard at HHS for 3 years and it was awesome and we had some really great times. People seemed confused that I didn’t do it for all 4 years but I played volleyball my freshman year.
10. I am blessed in so many ways but especially by the people I am surrounded by. I have the best best friends in the world – My Mom, Jill, Cathy, Stormy, Renee, Jason, and Larry.
11. I listen to a lot of random music. On my iPod currently is Pearl Jam, Neil Diamond, Dave Matthews, Tori Amos, Bob Marley, The Killers, Sinead O’Conner, Credence Clearwater Revival, David Crowder Band, Blind Melon, Limp Bizkit, and more.
12. I have the same iPod as my 8 year old nephew and my 5 year old niece but their iPods are actually cooler because they are fun colors.
13. My husband is from California. We met through “mutual friends” – Ha ha! It’s only funny if you know the real story.
14. I enjoy blogging (www.all10toes.blogspot.com) but sometimes feel, what I imagine is, writers block.
15. I eat lunch with my Grandma every Wednesday and have for years. Usually we split a sandwich, have a handful of chips, and pickles. She sits one small piece of chocolate with my keys for my ride back to work. (Random side note but my Grandma is the youngest sibling of 13 and my Papa was the youngest sibling of 16.)
16. I was voted Class Clown for senior superlatives in the Heritage year book. Who would have guessed?
17. My parents are two of the sweetest people you will ever meet. They care so much about others and both of them would do anything for anybody at any time. They are an inspiration to Larry and I since they have also been married for 38 years.
18. I really like to ride my bike and am thinking about getting a new bike maybe for my birthday. The one I still ride is almost 14 years old.
19. I’m a firm believer that growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional.
20. I swam competitively from the time I was 3 until my freshman year in college. The younger years of swimming were some of the best years of my life.
21. From 4th grade until I graduated from college I went to 8 different schools.
22. I loved loved loved reading the Twilight Saga although I swore I wouldn’t read it. They were the first books in a long time that seriously challenged my imagination and I struggled to put them down. I love to read now but hated it when I was a child.
23. My favorite holiday is the 4th of July. I love that we get together as a family, eat a good meal, usually something from the grill, go to the ballgame and then watch fireworks. No gifts or panicking involved just a chill day.
24. I love water and love every chance I get to be at the pool, lake, ocean, water park, etc although I am deathly afraid of drowning and what lurks in the water that I can’t see.
25. My brother and I speak in movie lines. It drives some people crazy. We love it.

Oh to have today off...

Didn't happen. What a rude awakening when I realized that unlike the majority of my family and friends, I have to work today. What I wouldn't give for an extra hour of sleep (Tanner still wakes up somewhat early) and to stay in my pajamas all morning. Maybe we would have visited others that have the day off, maybe we would have gone out to eat, maybe we would have stayed home and played with toys and made a huge, fun mess. Who knows.

As I sit here at my desk at work, in my tiny cubicle, I wish I could be anywhere but here, just for today, doing something with my little man.

Also, on another random note, thanks to Jill I have gotten the paint bug. I hope to be able to convince Larry that adding color to our living room will be really great. I might need some advice in the color department. I have been going back and forth between a light sagey green or a darker khaki brown that is hard to describe but I recently saw at a friends house and it's great. Anyway, I have to do something different in our great room to bring a little life to it. Please feel free to weigh in. Our furniture is a medium khaki color with black accents, the wood is a chesnut cherry, and the picture frames are mostly black. I welcome all suggestions!

Pictures from back in the day

Man, those were some good times. The first 3 pictures are from Sandusky pool - swim team fun and I think the last picture had to be from a piano recital since John D was there! Ha ha!

Oh Good Gracious

Ugh. Trying to lose weight absolutely stinks. What a miserable thing to do. But I'm going to do it. I am the poster child for failed diets but I'm also the poster child for I want what I want when I want it so I should have seen this coming.

So today I started Weight Watchers. I weighed in this morning (totally abysmal and embarrasing and it was just me in the bathroom with the scale) and we are having weekly sessions here at work. I'll weigh every Monday and take the successes and failures as they come. I'm walking with a group here during our lunch break and I'm walking and riding my bike on the weekends (due to the fact that it's dark when I wake up and dark when I get home from work).

My long term goal is 30 pounds although I need to lose about 50. I think 30 is both realistic and attainable. I am really looking forward to getting off the rest of this baby weight and hopefully clothes shopping will be fun again. Here's to my health!