Ralph gets his Masters Degree!

We were so proud to watch as Ralph graduated on Saturday from the University of Delaware's Lerner School of Business with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

As my father-in-law joked, Jake found the ceremony a little boring...he slept through the whole thing! We all had a nice time, and we can't tell you how proud we are of all the hard work Ralph has put into the last three years. Congratulations to our Ralphie!! We had a very nice visit with Papa Ralph, Mema Peggy, Aunt Barb, Grandma Mary Ellen and Grandpa Jim over the weekend.

8 weeks old!

Got some nice pictures of Jake today - two months old already!!!!


Getting sleepy...


Looking up at his reflection...


A BIG yawn...


This is my happy little boy!


And look at this! Yes, his hair is growing back in! Woo-hoo!!!

7 weeks old! - A night away from the baby, plus professional pics online

Ralph and I headed to New York this weekend to take care of a few things, and Jake had a very nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Valentine, who generously volunteered to babysit. Luckily Jake was pretty well behaved for them and they even got a little sleep! Ruthie enjoyed the company of her grandparents as well. It was the lightest we have travelled in a year and a half, since we didn't have to pack any diaper bags, any dog treats, or anything else baby- or dog-related. We took advantage of our night of ''freedom" by going out late for margaritas, and then sleeping in late the next morning, but we sure did miss our kids. When we came back, we discovered that my parents had pulled all the weeds in our garden, put down weed killer, and completely mulched our landscaping! What a great surprise us for over-worked new parents! The place looks awesome!!! :)

I realized that I never posted a link to the photos that Laura Novak took of Jake (way back when he was only 8 days old), so here it is for anyone interested.

http://www.novakphotography.com/clients/babyjakeweb4-040706/index.html
(The username to log on is novakphoto and the password is vasami)

In baseball news, I'm so happy to report that Jake's Uncle Chris and his Elon Baseball team won the Southern Conference Championship over the weekend, and the team is now ranked #25in the national polls! They begin the Southern Conference Tournament on Tuesday - good luck!!!!

Mema Mary and Uncle Greg come to visit

Sorry for the lack of updating - I left my laptop at my parents house for a week, and of course that's the week my desktop decided to go on the fritz. So... no internet, no blog, no baby updates. This weekend was my cousin Jessica's wedding, and I finally got to take all those pictures I have been practing for. We had a great time and it was a great wedding!

I had my first night away from Jake, which was very odd. When we told him I was leaving, he started to cry! So adorable! Mema Mary had agreed to come stay with us and babysit while we were at the wedding, so Jake had a nice time with her, and finally got to meet Uncle Greg, who is home from college now. Ruthie also enjoyed Greg's company - they are best friends now.

More new pictures!

Here's some pictures I took today - my fast new camera caught him smiling!
(the new camera takes 3 pictures a second - I took about 200 pictures this afternoon, here are 2 good ones out of 200. I am practicing for Jess' wedding next weekend...)

In other news, some of you may remember me mentioning all of my pregnant cousins in the pregnancy blog. My cousin Jennifer had a baby boy (Ethan Robert 9 lbs, 9 oz), about three weeks before I had Jake, and my cousin Stephanie was due about a month after I was... Stephanie is still waiting to deliver her baby boy! And then my cousin Kristen was due about three weeks after Stephanie... so when my mom called to tell me there was baby news, naturally, I assumed it was Stephanie...NOPE! Kristen had a baby girl, Madison Rose - 3 weeks early! Fortunately, Kristen and her baby are doing well. I guess Madison was ready to come out, because she weighed a nice healthy 8 lbs, 12 oz! Also - did I mention Jake was over 11 pounds at his doctor's appointment last week??? None of us are having tiny babies in this family! Be prepared Stephanie! ...and Hopefully it will be SOOOON!! :)

Stay-at-home mothers deserve $134,121 in salary

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A full-time stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top U.S. ad executive, a marketing director or a judge, according to a study released Wednesday. A mother who works outside the home would earn an extra $85,876 annually on top of her actual wages for the work she does at home, according to the study by Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts Salary.com. To reach the projected pay figures, the survey calculated the earning power of the 10 jobs respondents said most closely comprise a mother's role -- housekeeper, day-care teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive and psychologist.

ROAD TRIP!

Jake has met most of the family so far, but he still hadn't met Ralph's brothers who are away at college. Uncle Greg is a freshman at Ohio Weslyan, and Uncle Chris is a junior at Elon University in North Carolina.

We took a road trip this past weekend to Elon to see Uncle Chris play baseball. He is the first baseman (and occasional pitcher!) for the Elon Phoenix. The team was playing a weekend series against Georgia Southern University. We were delighted to see all three games, the best one being on Sunday, when the team beat GSU 24-6! Chris even got up to pitch the last inning - three batters, up, three batters down! He tried out his new sidearm pitching technique, which he just started trying out less than a week ago! It looked pretty darn good to me! Here is a picture of Jake with Uncle Chris after the games.


We had a great time seeing Chris and Mema Mary, and Jake was amazingly well-behaved the entire time. He is a very good boy - in the car and at the games! People couldn't believe he was so well-behaved at only 4 weeks! We are lucky parents so far! We are hoping to take a trip to go see Grandma and Grandpa Valentine in York this weekend. Jake has yet to meet his furry "Aunt" Jamie (my parents black lab).