Am I the only one...

that lays in bed at night going over her "mommy moments"?

• was I a good enough mommy today?
• did I love him enough today?
• does he love me? (then secretly - am I his favorite?)
  
• last week when I did this or that was it OK?
• is it weird that I don't worry when he falls down but I do worry that he might get a tick bite and then get the head stuck in his leg causing who knows what disease?

All to which Nathan answers: Yes, now go to sleep.

Wouldn't you obsess too if you saw this adorable, cute, wanna bite his cheeks, cuddly, sweet face everyday?



Being a mommy: finding inspiration not only in the everyday, but EVERY-DAY.

*sigh*

I love the Jonah B. Life is good, life is great, life is blessed.

Mother's Day Loot

Loot Item #1 from Jonah - Mine says Jonah Bentley. Wearing it today.
Loot Item #2 from Jonah - Nathan says mothers day needs "a little cheese". It is engraved on the front with "Happy 1st Mothers Day Mommy! Love, Jonah 2008". It plays "I just called to say I love you" - pure cheese.
Loot Item #3 from Nathan - PINK Dell XPS Notebook, loaded with PSElements. I am currently working on Jonah's 1st birthday invite.

I love being a mom and don't need presents, but I'm not going to refuse them either!

So much Birth in April!

We celebrated Tasha, Chris, and Josh's birthdays at my parents last Friday. 3 boys, 2 of which are a year apart. Here's some of the revelry-


























Ready Set Hike!

Yard WORK...

Last night my parents picked up Jonah so I could do spring yard clean up. I now have 6 bags of yard waste. I hope I didn't kill the tree in the front. I HAD to trim it. It was overtaking our house. It was turning into a bush/viney thing that was getting scary. I was supposed to do it in the late fall but well it didn't work out.

The previous owner liked "ornamental grass". I chopped it all down cuz it looked like a wheat field. I am going to put a rose bush or something in it's place.

My arms look like I got into a fight with a cat and I got a sliver the size of a small tomato stuck in my hand, but the yard looks better.

I cannot WAIT for my MASSAGE tonight! Yay for chiropractors and bi-weekly massages!

Here's a peek...

At our Saturday mornings. We like to go out to breakfast after Mr. J wakes up. So Saturday we headed up to the French Laundry downtown Fenton. I cannot say enough about how much I LOVE the French Laundry.

Jonah's Scone and my coffee. I love that they serve the coffee in odd mugs that don't match each other. Nathan's was solid red and it was advertising for Holly, Mi. I loved ny mug on Saturday.













The flower on our table. I don't have pictures of them, but the chairs don't match either. In the summer you can sit outside. I feel very Parisian when I get to dine alfresco at the Laundry.



















Jonah's MONSTROSITY of a pancake. It was seriously, the hugest pancake I have ever seen in a restaurant. It was larger than the plate. I used Nathans coffee cup for scale so you could see how large it was. No, Nathan did not have a shot of espresso. That was a regular sized coffee cup.













A very full happy Jonah after eating a scone and pancake. They also have old fashioned high chairs not the traditional ones,. I wasn't going to use the cover, but he kept sliding forward in the chair so we had to so he wouldn't slide on out the bottom.













I love lazy Saturdays!

Children's Place Ad!

I shot this 21 times, here are a few attempts.

Latte and Cupcake Mondays

Monday is Cupcake and Latte day at work! Cupcakes at Cake Nouveau and $2 lattes at Primo Coffee downstairs. Looking forward to this makes going back to work after the weekend not quite so bad.

Walking to Cake Nouveau and ordering cupcakes at $2.50 each makes me feel very "New Yorkish". Not only is the price very New York, but the whole idea of a cupcake store is totally NYC. This week's special cupcake Peanut Butter Cup was divinely delish!




We, my JSTOR compadres (Nahid, Courteney, and Hillary) and I, regularly hit up Primo Coffee for $1 refills. Monday is extra special because its $2 latte day! Yes, ANY size up to 3 shots for $2! JSTOR does provide the office with free Seattles Best brand coffee, but sometimes its nice to go down and get some from the coffee shop. Somehow coffee from there just tastes better. I should note that Primo (pictured) is on the 1st floor of our office building. I am on the 3rd floor. :)

Hair today, gone tomorrow

So here's my new haircut. I'm thinking maybe a couple highlights for the summer.

Update: I have not decided if its life changing yet, I've been to busy to fully evaluate it's effectiveness. Also when I do my hair its a bit more messy, I don't take the time to flat iron it... too lazy!

I ate too much...

Bi Bim Bap, but it tasted SO good and its never the same as a leftover. If you have not tried this delish Korean staple then you are missing out. Here's a sample courtesy of google images:

Also of note, Thursday I am getting a hair cut. A life altering hair cut that will give me the inspiration to shed the winter insulation, spruce up my wardrobe, get on the elliptical, and finish organizing the basement. Yes, GREAT things are expected to happen after this haircut. I sure hope its a good one. Change is in the air and it's a bringin' good things!

The good parts of my day...

So today I was a stay at home mommy again when Jonah was kicked out of daycare because of a rash. Turns out its just a little excema and heat rash. Here are some pics of the happy boy from today (before the bad 35 minutes).






















Tonight I went to a Detroit Pistons Game! Let's Go Pistons!
They lost, but Bon Jovi was there watching the game! They are performing tomorrow night at the Palace. In the 2nd picture I circled the head of Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and the Drummer. Enlarge the picture and follow the red arrow.

I was a bad mommy today...

At the insistance of others (who will remain nameless) I let Jonah "cry it out" to go down for a nap. We were not at home and he was very tired. I almost buckled after 10 minutes but they made me leave the house promising that he'd be asleep when I got back...he wasnt. I should also mention that this was the awful ugly crying, the kind that causes chest heaves and makes me think someone is performing a exorcism on him in his room. After 35 of the most horrible minutes of both of our lives I could stand it no longer. I apologized to my boy several times and walked him till we calmed down. Please rest assured that Jonah B is safely in the arms of Gramma (Di) today, mommy is in time out.

I know we all have different parenting strategies and I found today that "crying it out" is definitely not mine for Jonah. I'm not upset at the ones who encoraged me to try a different method. It was ultimately my choice and I should have listened to my mommy instinct. He goes sleep very easily and usually without tears at home and at Gramma's. Yesterday he just happened to be over tired in unsure surroundings and I should have been more sensitive to that.

I don't mind if some think my baby will be a brat, I'm OK with that. Thank you for listening.

Happy Presidents Day

So, how was my presidents day you ask? Why, it was lovely thank you for inquiring. My job was kind enough to consider today a holiday so I was able to spend it at home with my boy.

He ate pancakes for breakfast.

He enjoyed crawling under the table, playing his keyboard, and getting stuck.

Later that evening Tasha and I went out for dinner with Autumn and Tiffany. We ate at Applebees and had fun catching up. We plan to do it again soon. I will however, NOT be bringing Jonah again. He did not show his good side tonight...

After dinner the Stuve family (Tasha, Chris, Cole, Mason) spent the rest of the evening at our house. We played air hockey in the basement while the guys updated Chris's laptop. Please note the color of Tasha's hair.

Accomplishments

5 Lasagnas, 3 Zitis, and 6 Shepherds Pies in the deep freezer. Yesterdays afternoon plan accomplished only 1 day late! Yummy mashed potatoes for the shepherds pies.






I also put the last of Jonah's frozen baby food in Ziploc bags. I don't think I will need to make him anymore baby food. By the time it's gone he'll be done with anything pureed. That kind of makesme sad. It will be one more milestone toward being a toddler for him, but one more step away from being mommy's baby.


And just cuz he's so cute (they are from this afternoon):

The best laid plans...

So the plan for this afternoon was to make up 4 batches of lasagna, 4 batches of baked ziti, 4 shepherds pies, and 1 spaghetti for Jonah all to freeze for later. I took a nap instead. So today's afternoon plan is now tomorrow's afternoon plan...

Can you tell I love Target?!
Archer Farms and Market Pantry, Baby!

Tonight we played Wii for the first time at Tasha and Chris's. Let's just say I rock at Wii-ing! Tasha's youngest, Mason, is 1 year older than Jonah...they are just about the same size. Joners takes after his Daddy (he's 6'5").



As we get older, my sister and I find that we are more and more alike. Sometimes we find it funny sometimes we find it scary. In addition to now unintentionally having the same haircut, we both also picked out the same jammies for the boys.