I'm outta here!!

Well, not for a few weeks anyway, but it's official! I got my plane ticket today and I'm off to Utah!! One of my best friends from college is getting married and I cannot WAIT to see her and take a momcation. That's right! Not only am I going to get to go out to Utah, but I get to do it BY MYSELF!! Sorry, for those of you who are out there who still have yet to meet Jake, but I'm just gonna let you know right now that there is no way that I would be bringing a toddler with me. Since Joseph is going to be in school, Jake and I are going to take a train up to Michigan, where I am going to drop off Jake and fly from there to SLC. Of course, I'll be spending some time in Midland before and after the Utah trip, so I've got all kinds of fun things to look forward to!

Oh my gosh, I'm getting so excited right now I think I might just pull a Jake and start running around in circles, maybe even run into the wall. I'm going to get to see these girls:

And these girls:

And hopefully all my ladies who are out in Utah. It's been so long and I miss you all so much!!

So, the plan is to be there for Elena's wedding, but I also plan on seeing all my friends and family who are out in Utah that I haven't seen in a while. I can't wait!!

Mark your calendars ladies, Oct. 14-20. It's gonna be a party!

A success? Maybe...

Another week in nursery, another epic tale (alright, maybe not epic, but it makes it sound so much better). We took a few more precautions this week: we talked to Jake about nursery and how exciting and fun it was going to be, and when we took Jake to nursery we made sure to walk in with all of his friends, and we had our pacifier on hand in case the screaming ensued. He was very excited to be walking toward the door of the nursery, and Joseph and I thought that it might be a good sign. However, as soon as we opened the door and he saw what was on the other side, he stopped, turned around as fast as he could, and tried to make a run for it while big crocodile tears all of the sudden started welling up and streaming down his cheeks. *sigh*

When we left this time, apparently he only cried for about 10 minutes. Certainly not the 45 minutes it was last week, but still about nine more than we were hoping for. But we'll take it! He had a good time, and when the nursery leaders came and got us about an hour later because of his stinky diaper, he was all smiles. That is...until we took him back in. The screaming and tears started right back up again.

This time, Joseph sat with him while he settled down and the kids ate their snacks, then snuck out. The nursery leaders told me later that he saw Joseph leaving and thought about bursting into tears again, but decided against it and continued to eat his snack instead. HOORAY!! Maybe this means that each time we leave it's getting easier and easier... Or maybe we've learned that it is not, in fact, his parents that calm him down, but food. Hey, whatever works!!

Nursery or bust!

Sunday was Jake's first day in the nursery at our church. Joseph and I have been counting down to this day for the past 6 months. As this has obviously been much anticipated, we naively assumed that things would go absolutely perfect. In my head I envisioned dropping him off, giving him a good-bye hug, and slipping out quietly as he enthusiastically did puzzles with his friends. Well...needless to say it didn't go exactly that way. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

When we dropped Jake off in the nursery, he did see the puzzles and made a beeline for them. He did sit quietly in his chair as he got started on one. I thought to myself, "wow, this is almost too easy!" And then I tried to sneak out. Suddenly, Jake frantically climbed out of his chair and came running for my legs. I took him back to the puzzles, but he was on to me this time. Not even seeing his friend Spencer coming in could fool him for long. When I left the nursery, I left my sobbing child in the hands of the nursery leaders. I felt terrible.

Here's the thing: when I was a preschool teacher I used to always see parents lingering while their child tried to adjust to being left at the school. I would say to myself, "come on, get a backbone, mom, little Frankie here will be just fine as soon as you leave!" Turns out it's much harder to leave when it's your own child that is having the issue.

Joseph and I went to Sunday school and after about ten minutes we decided to go stand outside the door to see if we could still hear Jake crying. Yep. Joseph handed Jake's pacifier to the nursery leaders to give to Jake...more for their sanity than anything else. They later said that it was the only thing that kept him quiet... ugh...we really don't like to use that thing unless it's an emergency...

Fortunately, the nursery leaders said that once all the toys were out and the kids were given snacks, Jake was fine - even without his pacifier. Unfortunately, it took about 45 minutes or so to get to that point. I really don't want Jake to be super clingy and needy, and I POSITIVELY don't want to be outside in the hallway with him ANY MORE!! Any suggestions on how to get past this??

P.S. - We took this picture of Jake right before church started. We got him dressed all handsome for his first day in nursery! Seriously, this kid melts my heart...

That's 100, folks!

Well, my fellow blogging friends, it may be hard to believe, but this is my 100th post here on blogger. It's quite exciting, actually, to think that I've made 100 entries since I started the blog a little less than a year ago. To be honest, I only got into it because a lot of my friends had them and I thought I might as well join the bandwagon and start one too, but I have found that I absolutely love it! Since I am not what you would call a prolific journal keeper, it has been a wonderful way for me to keep a record of events in our lives. Although I may not be incredibly entertaining as a writer, it has proven useful in keeping friends and family informed on our (often boring) lives!

It's also fun for me when people say things like, "Oh, I read in your blog you did such and such and blah blah blah". Actually, more often than not it totally surprises me because I think, "Really? I mean people REALLY read it?" I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, because let's be honest, I totally stalk other people's blogs all day long too!

And so, on this, the celebration of a blogging milestone, you might think that I would have something terribly exciting to write about and commemorate, but you would be wrong. The only thing that I have to say is that lately I have been finding Jake in this position in the bathroom:

Unfortunately for me, he is standing on top of the toilet instead of standing over the toilet (you catching my drift? No, I haven't started potty training yet...that will be the day). This new activity includes him putting the toilet seat down, climbing on top of it, leaning over, and turning on the faucet so that he can play in the water. Fortunately for us, our landlord pays our water bill. So I say, have at it Jake!

Isn't blogging great?!

Baby Picasso?

We've all heard of Baby Einstein videos (I wish I could put a plug for them here, but seeing as Jake will not sit still to watch anything longer than 5 seconds, we've just really never gotten into them). So, although we may not have an Einstein on our hands, we just may have a Picasso!

My sister got Jake these cool bath crayons for his birthday a while ago, and they are his absolute favorite tub toy. I know they're just scribbles, but as his mother I like to think he's finding his inner artist.

The great thing about these crayons is that they wash off the walls easily. The terrible thing about these crayons is that he loves them so much that he screams when I take them away because he's been in the bathtub way too long. At least he's a clean baby!!

He's at it again

Looks like the summer has officially come to a close here in Iowa City. Joseph went back for his first day of his second year this morning. I thought about making him a nice big breakfast this morning to help make the transition going back to school a little bit better, but of course that didn't happen. Nice thought though, right? Instead I'm making him homemade rolls for when he gets home.

Since it's hard to think of Joseph being in school for another 3 whole years, I am trying to take it one day, week, month, year at a time. Most importantly, we're grateful to have this opportunity to be here in Iowa City getting such a wonderful education. We really do love it here (I have to keep saying that to myself as winter starts to roll around). The summer has just gone by too quickly.

Random, I know, but Jake is having a hard time sleeping right now. He's in his crib just playing/yelling. We're right back in the swing of things!!

Weeride all day long!

You may know this already, but for those of you who don't, let me officially inform you that I am a Craigslist addict (hey, the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?). I check it at least 4 times a day - first thing when I wake up, at least twice throughout the day, then once at night. Thanks to my problem, we have found some fabulous deals on some various things, including our car, bikes, and our newest craigslist purchase: a weeride! For those of you who don't know what a weeride is (I didn't know either until just recently) it is a seat that attaches to your bike that allows your baby to be sitting in front of you rather than the traditional rear seat. I have been looking FOREVER for a child seat for the bikes since we bought them, and finally we found one that not only was a good deal, but super-cool as well! So, this is how we are going to spend the rest of our lazy summer days, which, sadly, are quickly coming to an end. We took our first bike trip today and it was wonderful! Isn't Jake handsome all decked out in his gear?!
I think my husband is very handsome as well!