Children #1 and #2

I've realized that our first two children (Sadie Rose and Dodger Dog) have been neglected on the blog. They have had a rough year...a new member of the family that takes up A LOT of their time and a huge move from warm sunny weather to not so nice rainy weather. They've adjusted quite well.

Sadie spends 75% of her day outside exploring, chasing animals and keeping track of the comings and goings on the street behind our house. Dodger spends 75% of his day inside trying to stay out of Shane's path and reach, but still trying to be as close as possible to my reach.

Sadie is great with Shane. She lets him crawl all over her, pull and tug on what ever his fist grabs. Dodger would prefer that Shane doesn't touch him, but is very willing to chase after a ball tossed by his hot little hands. Shane thinks they are both fabulous. Every evening he plays this little game with them (Sadie and Dodger are very unaware that they are playing it with him). Shane will hide around a corner and when the dogs get close he screams and crawls away really fast like they are after him. It is hilarious to watch.

Dodger and Shane at the very popular front living room window that looks out over the cul-de-sac.

Sadie at the window.

Sadie and Shane at the window.

Dodger on the couch after a rough day

Sadie and Dodger on the couch together (yes, couch sleeping is allowed at our house if they are asked up there. Dodger does forget that part of the rule OFTEN.)

Water Hose Video

A couple weeks ago when it was hot out, Shane was playing on the deck with Kenny and the hose. I got this video of him...I think that we may be able to win some money with it from AFV.

It is a little long, but at the end you'll see him try to lick water off the post on the deck since he can't get the water from the hose into his mouth. It's pretty funny.

Three Big Boo-Boos!

Shane's head has had a rough couple of days. Within 24 hours he took 2 hits to the forehead and 1 to the cheek. Today the last 2 were within 5 minutes of each other. He was not a happy camper. By the time the final blow to the cheek came he wouldn't let go of me. We sat in the rocking chair for 10 minutes....in silence. He wasn't crying any more, just holding on for dear life. I finally pulled him off of my shoulder so I could look at him and make sure he was okay. He has recovered fine from all 3 tumbles.

Yesterday his forehead was puffy and blue. Today not much is left up there, but a few scratches from todays fall. But the cheek will leave a mark for awhile I imagine.

How the falls occurred:
#1 He was sitting on the curb outside in the cul-de-sac, playing nicely in the rocks, when a plane flew over head. He reached up to point at it and lost his balance. He fell face first onto the concrete.

#2. Dodger plowed him over as they both hurried out the slider door.

#3. While crawling on the deck his finger got caught, so his head kept going forward as his body stayed behind.

A Day of Firsts.

Shane has had a quite an exciting day of firsts today...

1. Walking on his own. He did this a handful of times today, where he would be standing holding onto something and then just take off walking. The last one today was quite a distance. Our little guy is a walker!

2. Standing on the dishwasher door. The dishwasher has been one of his favorite "toys" in the house for awhile now. Today Kenny was loading it and the door was down and Shane just popped right up on there and grabbed a spoon from the top rack.

3. Standing on top of his learning table. Well...not standing with his feet, but with his knees on top of the learning table. Mom and Dad watched with their mouths hanging open.

4. Eating chocolate (flour-less) cake. It turned out to not be a hit, even though I would have beat he would have liked it, but not so much. So I'm guessing he doesn't want chocolate cake for his birthday?!?

5. Drinking milk. He had a drink from his sippy cup, the 1st drink went down good, the 2nd drink he spit out. Later in the day he managed to drink it with out the spitting out part. Bring on the milk and say bye to formula (soon)!!!

More Steps....

Here is a little video of Shane's improved walking abilities. Every day he gets better and can go further. But he has no interest in doing it on his own...we have to stand him up and then he walk. Once today he did let go of his truck he was pushing because he wanted to grab Dodger. He took one step with out holding onto anything and then realized what he was doing and grabbed a hold of the truck again. He's getting there...no hurry on our end (as long as he walks by our camping trip at the beginning of July).

Jessica's Life List

I've always had a "Life List" in my head....things that I want to accomplish in my lifetime. In January I started writing those things down and now have a well established list that I have actually crossed some things off already.

My Life To Do This:

*fly in a helicopter
*travel to Europe -- Italy and France for sure
*travel to New Zealand
*spend a vacation on a secluded tropical island
*take a photography class -- COMPLETED!
*take a cooking class
*foster/adopt a child
*volunteer regularly somewhere
*raise/foster a seeing eye puppy
*be a good enough photographer to volunteer for the
Lay Me Down To Sleep Organization
*get published in a scrapbooking magazine
*have a winter home in San Diego
*get a tattoo
*grow my Close To My Heart business
*go on a scrapbooking retreat -- I'm going on one in September!!
*live a healthy and green lifestyle -- I work on this one everyday!!
*own my own home
*grow a veggie garden -- I planted one yesterday!!
*go on a cruise
*have a flower cutting garden
*attend a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show
*see a Broadway show in New York

After I started to write the things down it really was amazing how it has helped me to start to complete some of them. Who knows if all of them will get accomplished, but it won't hurt to try.

The Test has been taken...

Kenny took his AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) test yesterday afternoon. After studying for the test day and night for the last 6 months he was VERY ready to be done with it. It took him 3 hours to take and he had a time limit of 4 hours. There were 170 multiple choice questions. At the last minute they changed the format of the test, so the content of the questions were a lot different then he had been studying for. He'll find out in late August if he passed or not. Our fingers are crossed that he passes. If he does he becomes a member of the AICP and along with that hopefully a raise at work. If he doesn't pass then he'll have to decide if it is worth the $400 to take again along with all the time and stress of studying for it.

Water Fun in the Sun

It's been a hot few days here in Western WA. Shane had his first experiences in the water...sprinkler (he didn't enjoy that at all), kiddie pool (that is okay on his terms), big pool (nope, doesn't like that one) and hose (lots of fun).

Shane's idea of how to get into the pool.

1. Stand by the edge of the pool.


2. Try water out from the edge.


3. Stand in the water.


4. Then sit down in the water and drink it.


By no means does Mom set you into the pool!! He also would prefer to crawl in and out of the pool after he has decided that the water is okay. BUT, life is not good when he does a head plant into the water when trying to crawl in. Then it is time to take a nap.

Shane has taken his first steps

On Mother's Day Shane gave me the gift of his first official steps. Four little tiny ones, but steps none the less. He can stand very well on his own, until he falls backwards and expects someone to catch him. He can also throw quite well in a standing position, which Kenny and I find truly amazing. A baseball player in the making...that makes Dad happy.

The video is a little long, but you'll see him stand, throw some toys and take a few steps here and there. I think the best steps are right at the end. He also finds all of this very funny and can't do most of it with out having his mouth wide open.

Shane is 11 months old

Shane turned 11 months old yesterday. I can't believe that my little baby is almost 1. Kenny says that the first 3 or 4 months went by really slow, but since then time has been flying. It's weird to think that just last Mother's Day he hadn't even arrived yet. So along with Shane turning 11 months...it's my 1st Mother's Day. I got to sleep in and had a nice yummy cinnamon roll for breakfast. Along with a gift for a manicure. There also were no complaints made when I asked to have Shane's stinky diapers changed and when I suggested we go to Molbaks to pick up some plants. Overall it has been a nice 1st Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there!!

11 month old Shane eating lunch with all of his 6 teeth!!

Final Photograhphy Class

Today was my 3rd and final photography class. I learned a whole lot and have improved quite a bit over the month or so I've been in the class. I'm excited to keep exploring my camera and understanding it even more as time goes on.

This week our teacher asked us to bring in 3 8x10 enlargements of the pictures we took since the last class. We hung them up on the walls in the classroom and he went around and gave us feedback on all of them. All three of my pictures I had taken in my neighbor Julie's front yard. I thought they were okay. I had tried using the composition ideas he had given us from the previous class (framing the object with your camera viewfinder, looking for items with various shapes in them like circles, lines, and rectangles, etc).

Below are the three pictures and his feedback.



He really liked this picture and thought the green blurry background to the right was great. Even the blurry tree trunk he thought was okay. He did say the white blurry area in the middle may be a little distracting.



He also liked this picture. He commented on the shadows that he thought added to it. The best part is I actually did that on purpose!! I have come a long way.



He called this picture "fine art". He was all excited about it and giving it rave reviews. He didn't get this excited about any other picture in the class. He liked other pictures, but nothing like this one. It was very flattering, but hilarious all at the same time. He said that this must go in my portfolio. At this point, it is my portfolio.

Jackson Elementary, San Diego, CA

The school I worked at for 3 years in San Diego has had a lot of press lately. Some for good reasons and some for bad. The link below is a great article that was just written on Jackson. It really sums up what the school has been through in the last 5 years. It was a tough place to work but very rewarding. I miss the staff and the kids so much. Some days I think about how I would love to hop in my car and just "swing" by and say hi to everyone. To bad that it is more then just a simple car ride away.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080506-9999-1n6jackson.html

He'd spend all day outside....if he could.

Shane just loves being outside. He gets really mad at us if you walk over to the slider and don't go outside or if you open it to let a dog in or out, but we don't go outside or if you come inside and he isn't done out there. He lets you know he is not happy about leaving the great outdoors. If the slider is open just for a second he comes flying over to it so he can go outside.

He'll crawl through anything....dirt, gravel, grass, rocks...you name it, it won't stop him. The other day I found him drinking from a small puddle of water. He had his whole face in it. When he came up there was gravel all around his lips. Didn't bother him.

Our neighbor Julie took these of him the other day when we were outside. He was having lots of fun opening and closing the fence gate.

Sad News

Kenny's good friend from college Jason and his wife Jo have experienced the tragedy and loss of their precious little girl before birth. Keelee Sue was due a few days ago but passed away before birth and was delivered Thursday morning. The cord was wrapped too tightly around her neck. Our heartfelt sorrow cannot be expressed enough.

Kenny spoke to Jason Saturday evening. They are doing exceptionally well. They are strong people and are moving forward. All the love and support of family and friends has really helped to keep them going.

A group of friends has set up a fund to help Jason and Jo with expenses that will be incurred as a result of this tragedy. We would love mostly for you to keep them in your hearts and prayers, but if you are interested in contributing to this fund click on the link below.

While the Baby is Away, Mom and Dad will Play.

Shane is out-of-town for the weekend. He went to Sequim to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. We rode the ferry together Thursday after morning nap and my Mom and Dad meet us on the other side. We switched cars (since mine was all ready full of his stuff and I didn't want to take out his car seat). Then he headed over to Sequim with them. I've checked in on and off through out the last two days. He is happy as a clam! He hasn't skipped a beat. Mean while Kenny and I have been having our own fun. We hit the Fish Cafe in downtown Kirkland for a great deal on dinner during happy hour. I did loads of shopping today, and tonight we have plans to go to Redmond Town Center. Then tomorrow it is dinner and a movie. It's amazing how fast you can fall back into life before baby. Yes, we miss the little guy, but are sure enjoying some much needed free time. If Shane could talk, I think he would say the same thing! He'll be returned to us Sunday afternoon.