Missing My Baby!!!

So I have been in Vegas since Sunday (for two professional photography conferences) and I am DYING to see my baby!!!! Tomorrow is Jake's 1st Birthday and I can't wait to scoop him up and kiss him and hug him and squeeze him and not let him go!! I may be hogging him all to myself at his birthday party! I got a great idea while I was out here, and I won't reveal it to you now, but the pictures will be a w e s o m e. Stay Tuned....

P.S. - I also miss Ralph and Ruthie, but I really miss the Jake-a-boops!!!!

Our Beautiful New Home

As you can tell, it's almost ready to move right in! (laughs)





If you want to follow our renovations, I have added a new blog.

Spring is OFFICIALLY here!

Jake and I went to Rita's italian Ice today - where, on the first day of Spring, they give away free Italian ice all day! Woo-hoo! Jake was too young to taste any last summer, but he sure got his fill today! He now says the word "Mmmm!" I sat in the backseat with him and we had Cherry Ice and a small cup of custard. I think we both preferred the free Cherry Ice! I have a feeling this won't be our last trip to Rita's this season... Oh crap! Are there Rita's in NY??!!!

Days before Spring, Jake "plays" in the snow

Grandma Valentine just sent us these winter pictures of Jake last weekend. Why does it take until just days before Spring to really dump snow on the East Coast? Argh!!! Notice Jake's ghetto snowsuit: he has not one, but TWO perfectly good winter snowsuits, but Jake's mama is such a flake when it comes to packing his suitcase for a weekend with Grandma, that he ends up going out in the snow with Yankees socks on his hands and plastic bags on his feet. HA! Luckily for Jake, Grandma is creative!







This one just absolutely cracked me up as I was going through the images. I had to add it. Grandma adds this disclaimer: "More pictures ... I'm not trying to be artsy with the half faces. I was holding Jake with one hand and snapping with the other - not looking at the view finder. Is that what it's called on a digital camera? I know you're laughing at your technologically challenged mom."



I gotta tell you, this snowstorm really just pissed me off, if you wanna know my opinion. Friday afternoon, I was due to fly out to Los Angeles to join my friend Chrissy at her bachelorette party in Palm Springs. Instead, Philly airport cancelled 95% of its flights due to snow, sleet and ice. ARGH! Instead, I spent an unexpected weekend at home with JUST my sweet husband - no dog, no baby, no problem! We got to pack (well, toss stuff out, which is probably better than packing where we are concerned) and spend the weekend acting like we did before we were "Married With Children." While I'm still really mad I couldn't go out to sunny California, I did really enjoy the time with Ralphie. A blessing in disguise I guess.

To keep everyone updated on the big move, Ralph is enjoying the new job, I am up to my eyeballs in bubble wrap and packing boxes while trying to hold the fort down without him. Being a stay-at-home mom is quite possibly the longest, toughest, most draining job EVER!!! 9-to-5? I wish! I am hoping to get some before and after pictures up soon of the new house. Stay tuned!

Old Pic From Daycare

Ms. Cystal from Jake's old daycare just sent us this picture of Jake with one of his daycare friends. She says they miss him! :)

Curse You, Daylight Savings Time!!!!

Bedtime has not been going well since daylight savings time went into effect. Jake is not cool with the hour-earlier bedtimes. I have tried putting him in the crib with the hopes that he will self-soothe, but it ain't happening. I usually end up going back upstairs, give him a bottle while holding him in the rocking chair until he is pretty sleepy, and then putting him back in the crib to cry some more before finally settling down and going to sleep. But I don't wanna get in that habit, so tonight I tried just putting him in and going downstairs, assuming the crying would stop after a few minutes. Not so much. He was hysterical for close to 40 minutes. I finally gave up, went upstairs with half a bottle, and was greeted by this angry little man:


According to my parents, Jake gets the same blotchy red face that I used to get when I was a baby. Of course, my parents weren't cruel enough to bring a camera in to a document a hysterical baby. (I saw it as a great photo op. I might as well start saving up for his therapy sessions now...)


So once I stopped snapping and decided to "rescue" him, he took two sips of the bottle (he just had a full bottle not half an hour before going to bed) and decided he would much rather just sit on mommy's lap and play with her big toe. I put him back in the crib a few minutes later, played peek-a-boo with him, and left the room. He cried twice and then fell asleep...at 10:00 pm. (9:00 old time). Can't we just do daylight savings year-round? Pick a time and stick to it! Argh!

Stay-at-home mom?

Yesterday was my official last day at my day job. And Ralph official starts his new job tomorrow. Which, technically, means that TODAY, Ralph and I are both unemployed. Sounds kinda funny to me! But I sure didn't mind sleeping in, and I don't miss worrying that I was running late to daycare or work. No one to call about being a few minutes late, no alarm clock to set, nothing! Well, Jake decided to be our 8am alarm clock, but whatever.

So then it occurred to me as I was preparing Jake's bottles and then scrubbing a toilet, and then picking up his toys, that I guess I now qualify as being a stay-at-home mom. But then I kept trying to think of reasons why that wasn't true: "I'm more of a work-at-home mom" and things like that. Which made me think - is there a stigma associated with being a stay-at-home mom? Is this not one of the most important jobs out there? Does not bringing home a paycheck every 2 weeks not make this a "job"? This is something I am struggling with this morning. As educated women, we feel like we are supposed to be "employed" - it is what we worked so hard for all those years. But as moms, we are expected to do a heck of a lot MORE than just 'work'. Ralph spent 2 days being a stay-at-home dad and was ready to abandon ship! HA! I am pretty glad he got to get a taste of what my future is going to be like. Not easy.

So I guess for now I am going to try NOT to classify my current role. I am many things: I am a mom. I am a wife. I am a small-business owner (of two businesses). I am the chief executive changer of diapers. I am the senior VP of bottle washing. I am the managing editor of external familial communications (that would be blog-writer to y'all). I am the walker of dogs, the scooper of poop. The executive collector of mail, and CEO of bill writing. The general manager of moving and packing supplies. I am the laborer, the manager, and the complainer. I AM MOMMA, HEAR ME ROAR!

P.S. - To be fair, I would like everyone to know that Ralph also holds the position of senior VP of trash collection, President of bottle sterilizing operations, Executive Administrator of early-morning feedings, CEO of dog feeding schedules, manager of laundering services, Dad extraordinaire, and all-around great husband, among a thousand other things I am blanking on. I am very proud of him - he helps out more than a lot of other dads I have seen, and I am lucky to have such a great parenting partner. :)

Oh, is my momma busy!

Jake's newest word is "Oh!" and it cracks me up when he decides to use it. We are just busy busy busy trying to run around and get things done before Ralph's new job starts next week. The house in NY is undergoing major changes - the wallpaper has been stripped, and the primer is going up. Can't wait to see it this weekend. I'd like to tell you that I'll post pics, but I have been so busy lately I can't even promise that'll I'll even get around to breathing.

Okay, without further ado, here are two new pictures of Jake. Also be sure to check out the photography blog, where I posted two new recent photo sessions of some very cute kids!