Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Heavy Stuff

Today was a day full of ups and downs. Up because my baby boy slept for five straight hours in his crib like a big boy last night and because he continues to give me the biggest smiles when I get him out of his crib in the morning (it's my favorite part of the day). Down because my secretary was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis today. She got a tentative diagnosis last week, but today she was officially told that it was for sure.

I guess that I don't understand why these things happen to a person as wonderful as Betsy. She is the funniest, most kind-hearted person that I have had the pleasure of meeting. I have to admit, I am not a religious person, but I believe in God. It's times like these that I have a hard time understanding why God can't keep these things from happening. People say that He doesn't give us more than we can handle at any given time, but it just doesn't seem like that is always the case. It absolutely breaks my heart to know the pain that she will have to go through in the coming months and years. She doesn't deserve this.

I'm also personally having a really hard time right now. I just don't feel as happy as I think I should. I realized over the weekend that I think a lot of it has to do with losing my grandma so soon after Jack was born. I was obviously very sad, but, because I had an 11 day old baby, my days were kind of consumed with figuring out how to care for him. I don't think that I really properly grieved the loss and it's really hitting me now. I was at grandma's house last night helping go through some things and price things for a yard sale we are going to have in a few weeks. Just thinking of selling the house that I really grew up in is a concept that I can't even wrap my head around right now. That was always grandma's house. That was always my sanctuary. No matter what was going on in my life, I knew that I could go there and just talk to her (and my grandpa when he was alive)...we could watch a Cardinals baseball game together, or just a game show. She was so neurotic some times, but that made her who she was I guess. I miss her terribly and am devestated knowing that Jack won't know his great grandma Shirley that loved him so much before he was even born. She used to call me while I was pregnant and say "How is my Jack today?" I would respond "Hold on, let me ask him." And she would laugh and ask me if he was kicking a lot. Somehow, he usually was when I was talking to her. She loved babies and I am so glad that she got to meet Jack.

Okay, I am going to spend a little time with my baby boy before he goes to bed for the night.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Wedding Flashback...

So, over at Kelly's Corner there is are doing a thing where you "Show Us Your Life". This week, we are showing off our wedding dresses. So, here are some photos. Now, mind you, some of these are pictures of pictures, others are just candids from our wedding day, so please bear with me!

Okay, so you can't really see my dress in this one...but it's my favorite picture from the day. I absolutely love it. You see, the day of our wedding was odd...it started raining during the ceremony (a huge, huge storm rolled in...we were watching it during our short ceremony through the floor to ceiling windows where we had our ceremony). It didn't stop for a while, so we weren't going to be able to go take outdoor pictures like we wanted to. However, when we got to the reception site, the sun came out, so I decided that we should tromp through the wet grass to get some pictures next to the pond in the back of the reception hall.



See...it was sunny!

My dress was actually ivory and had spaghetti straps and a lot of embellishment at the back of the dress on the train. I absolutely loved it. None of my pictures really show off the detail of the dress at all. My veil was pretty simple...it just had some little jewel rhinestone things on the edges with some beads.
In this next picture you can see the back of the dress a little...it had a corset back which I loved. It held everything in place where it needed to be! This was where we got married...the whole wall behind us was floor to ceiling windows (we got married on the college campus where I work. This room overlooks the Quad...it was quite pretty).


This was the back of my hair. I loved the hairpins that I ordered. They were fantastic! And I got them for super cheap on Etsy. I didn't love the front of my hair (I wished it was a little more poufy but what are you going to do?).


And this picture lets you see some of the embellishment on my dress. I was looking quite shiny at this point. I was actually sick on my wedding day...I ended up with a nasty case of strep throat and a 103 degree temperature by Monday. But, somehow I was okay on the wedding day. I think someone was watching over me that day and making sure i was okay. By the next morning, I could barely swallow. It was then that I was really happy we waited to go on our honeymoon (we left a week after our wedding). It also worked out well because my sister actually went into labor on Monday with my beautiful niece Ava, so if we had left right after the wedding, I would have missed seeing her when she was first born...although I didn't get to hold her until Thursday because of my illness.

So, those are a few snapshots from my wedding day. I have tons more, but I'll save some more for next week when we will be showing off our wedding party, etc. Woohoo!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Two Months

Jack Ryan...

You are two whole months old today! I am not sure where the time has gone. Here are a few things about you this month...

You STILL sleep in your car seat, however, you now sleep very well in your car seat in your crib. We aren't sure why you refuse to lay flat, but you do. As soon as mommy lays you down, you wake up, even if you are completely asleep. It's bizarre.

You are still in a size one diaper but they seem to be much smaller than they once were!

You are wearing 0-3 month or 3 month clothes now. You have a couple pairs of newborn shorts that still fit you...however, when I held them up to a pair of your three month shorts from a different store, the newborn ones are actually bigger. Can't quite figure that out.

According to our scale at home, you weigh about 12 pounds now and when we measure you, you are about 23 inches long (maybe a little less). We think you are going to be tall!

You still love to hang out in your swing and take little naps in there. You also like to just look around while you swing.

You also love to lay in your bed and look up at the monkey mobile. You smile at it a lot.

Speaking of smiling, you are getting more generous with the smiles. If someone smiles at you, you will smile back at them. It melts peoples hearts to see that toothless little grin.

You are awake much more during the day now, which is exciting. We talk to you, sing lots of songs, and play with you. At night, you have gotten pretty consistent. You typically go to sleep between 10PM and 10:30PM and sleep until 4AM, then you go back to sleep. This has been good for mom and dad. We take turns getting up with you at night. You just want a little something to eat and then you go right back to sleep.

The biggest change this month is that mom has gone back to work. It was really hard for me...you on the other hand are enjoying your time at grandma's house.

You are such a wonderful little boy! We love you Jack Ryan.

At one month...

At two months....

Monday, July 6, 2009

4th of July and Back to work

We had a fun weekend with our families! On 4th of July, we visited with both Ryan's family and my family. The weather was definitely not great! It rained for a good chunk of the day, then it was cloudy and cool, and then it rained again. The fireworks were canceled, so we didn't get to see them. My aunts neighbor was setting off some really cool ones, so we watched a bit of those before heading home. Jack was mesmerized by them!

On Sunday, Ryan's nephew Rory was baptized. Jack and I didn't go to the church, but we went over to their house afterwards for a BBQ. We hung out there for a few hours. When we came home, I had a massive task to complete. I had to clean out my closed. it was a mess!! I had been putting this off the entire time I have been on maternity leave, but it was finally time to do it. It took me three hours, but I finally got it finished. I really wanted to take all of my clothes out and reorganize them, but I didn't have time for that. I felt accomplished when I was done.

I have to go to work tomorrow to interview a candidate for a new position in my office. This person would report to me, so I'm pretty excited. I am not, however, happy to be working the next three days when I am supposed to be on maternity leave. I officially go back to work on July 15. I am NOT happy about it. I want to stay home with my sweet baby boy. He is just getting to a fun stage where he is awake more and is starting to smile a lot and be more interactive. But, mom has to make some money! I know that it will be hard for a while but that it will get easier to leave him every morning. I am such a dork...I'm getting teary just typing this! I'm trying to win the $130 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot tomorrow so that I don't have to go back, but that doesn't quite seem likely!

I will leave you with some photos...

A family photo on 4th of July. Jack's face cracks me up. He's so cute!



I just think that he looks like such a big boy in this picture. I just love that little face!!


Jack and his Papa. He loves Papa!