It's a BOY!!

Introducing Crossley Baby Boy 2010!

Trust me... this little guy was not at all shy about showing us who he was: a boy!! Pete and I couldn't be more excited - for another little gus to love and for a little buddy for our Jack-Jack.

So far we like:

Thomas - nickname Tom or Tommy
William - nickname Will
Henry - nickname Hank
Charles - nickname Charlie

Those are our top four. We are definitely open to suggestions, though. :0)

Our New Favorite Place!

I'm always, always... always... looking for new things to do with Jack. So, if anyone has ideas, I'm all ears!

The newest thing we've done is visit Redmond's Farrel-McWhirter Park and the farm animals there. It is sooo much fun for us because it's small, it's great seeing baby animals, and it's FREE! Jack especially loves the farm cat that greets us when we arrive and chases pine cones that he throws for her.

Most of my pictures didn't turn out, but here are two that I was able to salvage. On this day, we met Jennifer Schmalle, her son and her nephew at the park.

Left to right: Elliott, Jack and Logan. There were a couple of goats and a baby calf hanging out behind this fence. Too bad I didn't get them in the picture, but oh well.

This sheep is my favorite because it's usually in this position, and in the same spot, every time we go. I think she is peaceful and sweet.

Hopefully, I'll get more pictures - good pictures! - soon.

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. :-)