Jack's ABCs

The camera was only able to catch the last half of his song - but it is still so cute!

Bye, bye Lucy

Well, Lucy has found a new home. It's been a week since she left so I think it's official - she's not coming back. I needed to go back to work (to pay off bills and pay for all the new things I want to buy the new baby) and with this new baby on the way, we felt it best to find a better family for her. And boy, did we! They are inlove with her as far as we can tell and I couldn't be happier. The family has another Weimaraner in the neighborhood and apparently they get to play outside together all the time. It's like a Weim club and they sort of disconnect from the other dogs... what snobs. Anyway, it's been weird not having her around - but also a relief in some ways. Dogs come with responsibility, and I have been rather enjoying not having that responsibility right now. :)

Maybe someday in the future we'll get a dog again, but as I figure it: I'm in my prime baby-makin' years. We're gonna have my hands full with #2 on his or her way - 3 more weeks til we find out which - and then a few years later, maybe #3. We haven't decided how many kids we are having yet, but I think we have decided that dogs can wait for a while.

But fish... now, there's a pet or two with much less responsibility. And the fish tank can act as ambient noise for Jack's sleeping pleasure. It's more pricey than I thought to start it up, but a lot less expensive to maintain. And we don't have to make sure they get proper exercise and affection. I also found out there ARE fish that can live peacefully with Betta fish, so I'm excited! We have started with just some Zebra Danios (tiny, but very active little things) and then we'll get the Betta after the first nitrate cycle. Look at me! I'm using fish lingo already.

Wish us luck!

Sumo-Jack!

While I was trying on some maternity clothes, Pete and Jack came up with a way to entertain themselves.

Our Daily Craziness

Jack is still roaring, still wrestling, still tickling (he loves to tickle our faces and, trust us, it hurts!) and still running a muck. Huh... wonder where he gets all that from?

Here's what the last few days have been like:

Wearing Keri's 3-D glasses from "Alice In Wonderland" movie we just saw. Good show!

One of Pete's daily lessons to Jack on how to be crazy!

Then on to wrestling!

I'm Pregnant!

I feel like I knew I was pregnant from week 4... nauseated... fatigued.... yuck. Dr. Graham is guessing that I'm around 8 weeks along now, so in other words, this pregnancy is going to
be a l o n g one.

I love this kind of info, so I'm sharing:

Our baby's elbows are beginning to form within it's arms and it's fingers are starting to develop. The leg buds are beginning to show feet with tiny notches for toes. Our baby's face is continuing to change as the ears, eyes and the tip of the nose appear. Intestines are starting to form in the umbilical cord. Teeth (yikes!) are developing under the gums.

I feel like I'm already showing, too. My pants are getting tight, not to mention my shirts are more snug around the middle. Graham has put me on a eating schedule to see if we can get the bloating under control sooner with this pregnancy. Last time, I blew up like a balloon. So this time, I'm to follow the pregnancy diet to the "T" and I should stay away from things coming out of a can or box.

The schedule for eating is:

Big Breakfast, small snack before lunch.
Medium lunch, small snack before dinner.
Small dinner, hopefully before 6p.

But on the bright side, I started working part-time and it seems to be helping take my mind off of all the pregnancy stuff. I feel very blessed that our friends, the Werry's, have taken Jack in so I can work in the afternoons. I love that I can go to work without worrying about him. You guys are the BEST!!

Jack's New Slide

I've uploaded a bunch of new videos, but I wanted to make sure that you all got a chance to see Jack's new slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOU2zGV1zq4

420 New Pictures!

You know it's bad when your last blog entry was two months ago, but you know it's really bad when your camera has 420 pictures you still need to organize!

I don't even know where to begin. You can check out the new pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/thecrossleyclan. I hope to have stories attached soon.  Right now, they are grouped by month.

And don't miss out on the new videos you can check out here: http://www.youtube.com/thecrossleyclan

But I wanted to highlight just a few of my favorite pictures from the last few months.

Our friendly neighbors came over to carve pumpkins – Jack thought the mess was just great!

 

This is the wind down after pumpkin carving: A Jack Sandwich.

 

Jack discovered how much fun laundry can be.  This is his “Cheeeese” face.

 

I was sick one week and in desperate need of some entertainment for Jack… the answer was a bouncy thing with 100 balls in it.  It was heaven-sent!

 

This is a great representation of how Mom, Katelan and I all felt after a very, very long Black Friday.  We literally shopped ‘til we dropped!

 

Jack LOVES to blow out candles.  He was so excited that Pop Pop invited him to help blow out his birthday candles.

 

Jack took his first picture… didn’t it come out so cute?

 

Merry Christmas! This was taken standing outside of Santa’s Cabin, but we never did go in.  Jack was not amused.  Maybe next year.

 

This was our Christmas morning! You may be able to tell, but Jack is doing another “Cheeeese” face.

 

Squirting silly string at each other.  What a face! That’s my husband. :)

 

Jack drawing with his very cool new paint system.  It’s just clear goo that changes colors based on what color you point the paint brush at: technology!  Thanks, Poppy and Nanny!

 

“Cars?! Cars?!” Jack loves, cars, and they always come in multiples.  He absolutely loves this “cars” from Pop Pop and Grandmom.  Thank you!!

 

His hand was moving so fast the camera couldn’t focus.  “Blocks are built to be knocked down.” Jack’s motto.

 

Our Christmas family picture. Does Jack look like he feels squished to you, too? Too funny.

 

Gotta have good friends! This is Pete’s best friend, Matt and his wonderful family: Jennifer and Aiden.  I hope we get a pick like this every year.

Tips, Tips, Tips

Since being a mom, I've needed tips more than I've ever needed in my life. Blogs and self-help books have new meaning, and my ears are all but ringing with advise (great, good and bad) from those who feel they could help me. With all of this, I have realized that I need some way to filter, edit if need be, and share with those who may also be looking for the same answers I am.

So I'm going to start cataloging here. It's the perfect place, right? :)

Here's my first tip:
Pete left the house Monday morning thinking that I would let Lucy out for her morning "duties" a bit later, but by the time I got going, I thought Pete must have taken Lucy out already. And throughout the day, I also thought that she was pretty annoying - always getting under my feet - she wouldn't leave me alone! It wasn't until 7p that she couldn't take anymore and ended up peeing on the third floor, waiting for me to put Jack to bed. The poor dog! She did everything she could to tell me, but I was just oblivious to her. I felt, and still feel, terrible.

Anyway, we've tired a bunch of different things over the years for this kind of mess, but I personally believe this is the best way to get any kind of urine out of carpet - and the smell:

Absorb as much urine as possible then sprinkle area with warm water. Follow this by sponging area with a solution of equal parts of detergent and warm water and a half part of vinegar. Pat dry and repeat sponging with solution 2 or 3 times. Finally sponge with clean water and pat dry. At no time saturate the carpet.

Oh, and definitely wear gloves. :-)

You May Call Me "Homemaker"

I've been talking to different friends and family about making homemade laundry soap for a LONG time now, but I'm really going to do it!

Everyone knows that it's cheaper to make it yourself, but the main reason I'm doing it is for Jack. He has some very sensitive skin that, per doctor's orders, we've been maintaining by:

Prescribed lotions and lots of cetaphil
We buy Dreft laundry soap and we don't use dryer sheets
Instead of regular soap in the shower, we use baking soda in the bath water

So when my mom mentioned that my sister makes her own laundry soap and she noticed that it seems to help her son's eczema, it was a done-deal for me. Anything to help Jack's skin!

I was able to find all my ingredients at Fred Meyer of all places. And I found what I think is a really good website for people of my caliber: people-who-don't-know-much-but-want-to-learn. It gives 10 different recipes for laundry detergent as well as a million other helpful tips. I think I'm going to go for recipe #4 cuz it looks pretty darn easy.

Wish me luck!

Our Little Frankenstein

Last year, I was adamant that Jack was to be a Lobster for Halloween (don't ask me why... hormones?) but this year I was drawing a blank. Everyone had good suggestions, but nothing really made me say, "Yes! That's it!"

So, after buying and returning three Halloween costumes, the winner finally came to us by mail: Frankenstein! It turned out better than I could have guessed - cuz I could have guessed that Jack would rip it off mere moments after having it on. But he seemed to adjust immediately after seeing tons of candy everywhere.

He looked adorable!

We had a great time on Halloween, even though Jack started showing signs of a nasty cold. I'll share the stories and pictures very soon.