BLOGS!

As some of you probably already know, I'm a bit blog obsessed. But I bet you didn't know, that JM is also into looking at blogs. OK, he's not near as bad as I am but he does check in on you all that he knows personally. So, this is his favorite blog - that is one of the first things he does when he gets on the computer when he comes home. (I keep telling him he needs to get bloglines or something....)

Anyway, it got me thinking. How many blogs do you look at or keep up with? Alright, I guess since I'm asking, I should tell you my number. It's just a tad, embarrasingly high - Ok, it's 88 that I have on my bloglines. Now, I should say that I definitely don't know all of these personally and some are shopping/recipes/parent tips and stuff like that. A lot of the others are coupon blogs that sometimes list the same thing as everyone else. Since they are all on my bloglines, sometimes, if I don't have the time to read them all, I just click them off. Really, I know it sounds like a huge number, but it doesn't take up much time at all. Really, I promise...

So, how many do you look at? Do you have any favorites? Besides mine of course....just kidding! :)

comments...

Just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your comments on what everyone is reading! So now that you know I like reading your comment so I hope you'll keep em coming! Ok that is all - you can return to your life now. :)

what we're reading...

This is what I'm currently reading right now. Sadly, it's only the 3rd book I've read all year. After this one, I also have another Jodi Piccoult book ready to go.

And this is what Jenna is currently reading down in her baby prison... :)

Since I've always liked to read, I've had high hopes that Jenna will also be a reader. I think that she is starting to really like books. Whenever we play in her room, she has started to just go straight for the books - (maybe because it's fun just to tear them down?) well whatever... And lately, we've been going to the book stores and I pick out a couple of books and show them to her. She seems to really like that.

So, what are you reading? Anything good right now?

Nana and her Jenna

My mom has been here all week and she is of course loving being with Jenna. She, of course, has been a huge help like always and ok, I admit it, it's nice to have a little break every now and then. :)

Someone threw away some...

perfectly good CVS coupons!! (That's kind of a joke JM used to say...)

But anyway, remember that awesome mailer I got the other day - it had a couple of coupons for FREE stuff, one 10 dollar off 20 dollar purchase, and a $25 prescription gift card. Well anyway, I found another one today by our mailboxes! I used mine the other day and got $30 worth of stuff for $5 and earned $10 back so I actually made a profit. AND, yes, it's all stuff we'll definitely use (mostly baby stuff too...) My mom was with me and I think she may have been amazed. I'm amazed at people that just throw these coupons away. Seriously, people, if you have a CVS nearby, you've GOT to shop there!!! Ok, enough of my CVS rant - I was just excited! :)

AND we bought it....

Yep, here is Jenna in what JM has lovingly referred to as the "baby prison" ever since we put it in the car. But, so far, I think she hasn't minded being in there. So, I like it and it's nice to have some of her toys contained in one little square. (And yes, I took out the yellow wedge.) :)

Here is JM documenting another day in her life...

And the whole fam in the baby prison....

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my mom and my Aunt!! :)

Random things I love...

AWESOME CVS coupons!!!

Having a Fazoli's about 3 miles away - oh how we've missed Fazoli's!!!

the doggies dancing....

I WON!!! I WON!!!!

Omigosh! I actually won a blog giveaway!! I won a t-shirt from Rocks In My Dryer! It's one that Kate wears too off of John & Kate + 8 (and ya know, I'm a big fan of that crazy show!) So, I'm excited!

MUST.BUY.PLAYYARD....

We are definitely going to have to get some kind of play-yard gate thingy. We stayed home all day today and I think Jenna must have definitely gotten bored with our usual toys because this is what our day was like all day today. For the past couple of weeks, I've been lucky enough to just sit her in one of her play areas and let her play by herself if I need to do something. I tried that today and everytime, she found something else just a bit more interesting. I even tried sitting her by me in the kitchen while I made supper, but she even managed to grab some of the dog food out of the bowl too. Sorry, no picture of that because I was too busy rushing to her so she didn't put it in her mouth. Needless to say, today was exhausting....



The shoe was the first of the "new" things to explore today.

She absolutely loves the blinds. She tried every chance she could to make them swing back and forth. I even pushed them all to the side and she still found them and played with them.

Lesson learned - It's probably a "mixed signal" type of thing to actually have this box sitting right next to her basket of toys.

This is the first time she's even attempted to get this close to the stairs, much less pull up on them. And again, a baby gate for the stairs is probably in order.

(((SIGH.....)))

Have I mentioned this yet?

I guess I haven't mentioned lately (as in a couple of months) how much JM obsesses loves, loves, loves Apple. Apparently, I haven't because he was just itching for me to blog about his newest love. He is super excited to have two Apple stores close by too. Now if they only made Apple cars...

odd things around here....

On Saturday, JM, Jenna, and the doggies ventured out to a local park. There was signs up saying this was "the beach." Just because you throw some sand in front of a lake doesn't make it a beach. Maybe it comes from actually living by the beach for a year, but I just found this a tad annoying.



And, in our backyard common area, there are a couple of trees like this around. It really looks like a Christmas tree to me.

JM's note

Today I actually had multiple choices for my photo of the day. Between Jenna, the bunny at the hospital, and seeing the police in kilts and then JM shows me his note and it won.

I was in 9th grade when I first met JM. (He was in 8th.) Anyway, I knew from early on that there was always something just "different" about him. (I never ever would have guessed that we would have gotten married - but that's going on a different tangent.) Anyway, once you get to know him, you know exactly what I'm talking about. He's so unique in the way that he's so kind and caring (and then there are all his other wonderful qualitites.)

Ok, trying to stay on topic here - He's a wonderful doctor - I can see him being especially caring with his rehab patients he's had lately. He's gotten thank you notes before (this last year), but today was his first one here. This one is from a motorcyclist patient's family and it mentions the connection that John Michael made with them. I just think that it's sweet. And it's sooooo John Michael. You'd just have to know him. :)

Jenna's 1st playgroup

When we moved here, I knew that I wanted to try and immediately find some type of moms groups/playgroups for Jenna and me. Well, I've found 3 and we went to one little playgroup today. There were 3 other little boys and Jenna. Jenna was very sociable and she loved playing with all the new and different toys! So, hopefully between these 3 groups, I'll find one at least maybe and continue to do these types of things because I think she really enjoyed the other babies.

And no, I didn't take this picture there. (I would have felt silly.) But, she is finally starting to be able to play more with these mats that she got at Christmas time so I took her picture because she of course was talking and being all cute. :)

Do you see what I see?

Jenna's 8 mos Jenna Bear pic

8 months... Seriously, where has the time gone? I have mixed feelings about wanting her to be teensy tiny and then I want her to get bigger so we can do more together. Also, I've realized how good of a time it is right now - with just her and JM (and of course the doggies.) Anyway, on to the 8 month pic!

At 8 months today

• started crawling yesterday for sure! She's been close, but she has it figured out now and goes after what she sees that she wants!
• is slowly learning to pull up on small things. This is really scary!
• is a very good eater.
• likes other babies - always smiles and looks at them
• has started waking up again around 5 am - (ugh, but I've been giving her a bottle and she holds it herself.)

One of the best gifts ever...

Whitney gave me a bag full of goodies for my birthday. Among her laminated recipe cards, "A" stationery, "A" ornament, ME bookmark, picture frame, books and a CD for Jenna, and various other goodies, she made me look at the scrapbook last. She made a scrapbook for Jenna and included all of her Jenna bear pics and all of my text from my blog. It was so sweet and so thoughtful. And of course, it's one of those things that we'll be able to keep forever and look back on.

I've felt bad for not scrapping any of Jenna's life so I'm glad to have something now. I just haven't had the energy and/or motivation to do it the way I used to do it. I used to scrap, not only for the memories, but it was a good creative/artistic outlet for me. But Whitney's book got me to thinking that maybe I should just start copying from this blog and getting stuff down on paper again. So maybe it was also the motivating factor I need. We'll see, but as for now - Thanks Whit. It truly means a lot that you did that for us. :)

A Super Sunday!

We had a great day today!

• I found some awesome thrift stores!
• We went to the Plaza for a bit. (yes, again...)
• JM got to go to 2 Apple Stores.
• I picked out Jenna's outfit and JM did another photo shoot. (that his light meter you see in the picture.)
• I got a couple of newspapers for the great Electrasol coupon!
• I found a new and huge CVS that is also close by me! (and yep, went inside.)
• Big Brother 10 started tonight! (hopefully, this one looks better than the last!)

Hope you all had a great weekend! What did you do today? :)

Yes, it's true...

Yes, our living room has turned into a Picture People. Now booking appointments. :)

YAY for more visitors!

It's so nice living closer to our friends and family. We've had a steady stream of visitors since we first moved in and now we're on our own again. Jenna is definitely going to miss all the fun and all the attention she's been getting! Anyone that wants to come visit is more than welcome! :)

I love him even though...

Bad pic, but it's the only I actually took....:)

I love him even though....

• he locked us out of our home and car on Friday....(this picture was actually taken while we were waiting for the guy.)
• he put a 9.5 ft roll of white paper in my bug.
• he then turned the living room into a photography studio
• he still is messy (but bettter!)