Photo Montage!!!

Today was Jack's first time on Aunt Carrie's trampoline. He absolutely loved it. He thought it was freaking hilarious when we would "bounce" him while he was sitting down. He loved every minute of it. And I took advantage of Carrie's camera and took well over 100 photos. (I am camera deprived! I haven't had mine in a month now) Here are some of my favorites, but it was hard to pick just a few!! All of the rest are up on his shutterfly website. If you want to check it out, email me for the website and password.

Enjoy my bouncin' little monkey!

Birthday party booked!!

Yes, I am well aware that it's two months away (OMG only two months???) but I went on and booked Jack's party just to make sure! Since half of his cousins visit their mom every other weekend, I wanted to make sure his party was on a weekend they'd be able to go, too.

Anyway, I am freaking excited to say that Jack's first birthday is going to be at the Children's Museum!! It has something for everyone in our wide age range (7 months to 13 years, plus adults) and it takes the strain off of waiting to see how the weather is in November to do an outside party.

Check it out... it's an awesome place to visit.
http://www.childrensmuseumva.com/exhibits.html

He's going to have so much fun!!!

Shark Bait...Hoo Ha Ha!!!

As my sister would say....
"Dun nuh...Dun nuh...Dun nuh Dun nuh Dun nuh Dun nuh..."

Jack's Halloween costume arrived in the mail today!! And if I do say so myself, he is the cutest darn little shark I've ever seen!! Josh is excited to go Trick or Treating as a shark attack victim... "bloody cut out shirt" and all.

I was actually impressed that Jack didn't seem to mind wearing the costume, and was actually able to crawl and stand up wearing it. Hopefully by Halloween, he'll be walking in it :)


And I apologize for the horrible quality of the photos. I am hoping to buy a new digital camera soon so I don't have to keep using my camcorder for still images.

When I get a better camera, I promise better photos of this absolutely adorable costume!!

It's the little things...

Warning, this may turn into a somewhat sappy post... but it's my blog, and you've been warned!

Anyway, my musing for this week is that it really is the small things that make me smile.

For instance...

I love the look on Jack's face when I walk into his daycare to pick him up. He smiles as big as can be and crawls right over to me. I love it, it makes my day each and every time.

I love watching him play. He lights up when he's playing with his toys. Especially his new ones

He absolutely loves that Zoo toy. He just sits there, smiling and watching the animals spin around. As soon as the music stops, he hits the button to make it go again. And again, and again and again... He's too freaking smart for his own good. But I love watching him do it.

Aside from all of the wonderful, awesome things Jack does to make my day that much better, it's the small things at school that make me feel really great, too.

Great feedback on my performance in administering language screenings to preschoolers from a supervisor who seriously intimidates me made my day yesterday. I've been very fortunate to have the most laid back supervisor for my clinical practicums, so my experience yesterday was outside the box for me. It made my day to hear her tell me I did a great job, especially with the 2 1/2 year olds (which is NOT an easy age to screen, let me tell you!!)

The one downside to my week is the impending storm coming up. I hate storms around here, everyone goes into a tailspin and acts stupid. Friday traffic coupled with idiotic driving in the rain brought on by the storm made us miss Jack's 9 month pediatrician appointment. So no weight or height update.

One more year!

I'm actually feeling a lot of emotions today. I can't believe how fast this past year has gone. I started grad school one year ago. I have one more year until I graduate and actually start working in this field that I've already completed 5 1/2 years of school and have one more to go. I'm actually a little nervous. But I am trying not to focus on what comes after graduation just yet. This year is already full of so many other things to worry about, no need to add another just yet. I'm trying to concentrate on one step at a time :)

I start my last on campus clinical practicum tomorrow. I can't believe I am already a clinic III. Again, it flew by. I started my practicums when Jack was just 6 weeks old. He's now 9 months (one day!) old. Wow. I also start writing my thesis this semester. Thankfully our program encourages us to partner up for thesis research and writing, and I have an awesome partner. I'm actually looking forward to narrowing down a topic and getting into the literature for previous studies. I'm weird, I love research. Our topic is going to be somewhere in the realm of (pediatric) swallowing disorders or something to do with Aphasia (language disorder caused by strokes, dementia and other neuro problems). We're really hoping for pediatric swallowing. But we're waiting to see what studies our advisor has going on at this time.

I guess that's enough rambling today. I need to get ready for my first day back to class tomorrow. Those 3 weeks went by way too fast.

New videos!

Well, after much anguish trying to upload new videos from my brand new video camera, I think I have solved the problem. Fingers crossed.

First video is Jack and Breanna.







This one is Jack playing yesterday morning.





This one is Jack cruising around the ottoman! He's going to be walking soon... I just know it. I'm so not ready for it!

One more for today!

I promise these are the last ones for today, but i just had to share this awesome one. I really do love this website. Check it out if you like scrapbooking. It rocks.

New scrapbook site!

Photo Montage

So it's been a while since I've added new photos of Jack. So here are some recent ones! Enjoy!














More to come soon!

So... my grandpa

By the Grace of God, my grandpa is still alive. He is still in the ICU and his CT still shows the massive damage done by the strokes. Apparently we are waiting to hear from a PT who specializes in rehab for certain types of strokes, as this PT thinks he can help my grandpa regain some functioning... but the extent is unknown right now (Got to love information being passed from person to person) Hopefully we know more, soon.

My heart just aches for my family, mainly my grandmother, mom, aunts and uncle. My grandparents have been married for 60 years and I just cannot even fathom how she is feeling right now.

Again, by the Grace of God, all four children are there with them right now, and according to my mom, he is supposedly aware that everyone is in his room. As much as I would love to be there, too, I understand my grandmother's decision and I respect it. I can take comfort in the fact that my mom is there sending him my love, and she gets to be with him at this time.

I just pray for him daily. That he's not suffering or in pain. That he is able to know how many people are praying for him and thinking of him, and how many people love him.

That's all I can do is pray. Thank you to all of you who have kept my family in your thoughts and prayers. It means the world to me.

We love you, Grandpa!!!

(the photo above is grandpa with Breanna at the end of March, 2008.)