Time

I just don't seem to have time for this blogging thing anymore! I feel bad. I don't even have time to read other people's blogs. I'm amazed at how much time a kid can take up! And then when I'm staying home I find there are a million and one things that I could be doing! Here's what we've been up to lately:

• The Great Wall of Erdahl is finally finished. Most of our evenings have actually been spent outside working on the yard. It's exhausting! But the end result is awesome. We have all of our flowers in, the mulch laid, and even managed to build some new patio furniture. We bought two chairs and ottomans with bright red fabric and really big cushions. They look awesome, if I do say so myself. I'll try to get a picture in here later.
• Max FINALLY has two bottom teeth peeking through. They've been waxing and waning in his little gums for almost two months. And now they are finally peeking through. Nice and jagged. He is now experimenting with biting things. Including me. :P
• My birthday party was a great success. Lots of visitors (upwards of 50 people came!) and plenty of good times in the Jumpy house. :) My legs were SOOOOOO sore the next day. It was crazy! But totally worth the money. I am thoroughly enjoying my new decade. Considering I've only been 30 for one day....haha.
• We're taking Max on a plane for the first time ever next week. Kendall is heading to a conference in Orlando for 4 days and we're tagging along. We're staying a pretty posh resort and spa that offers a crib for the room and on site babysitting for when I want to get a pedicure or massage or whatever. Crazy! I'll try to take pictures of Max and me by the pool. We're thinking of trying to get a shuttle to either Sea World or Disney one night. Should be a good time. Hopefully Max behaves on the plane.
• School starts in a month. *sigh* I'm totally not looking forward to it at all. I think I'll be counting the days until Christmas break. And then Spring Break. And then Summer Break. :) I was looking as my class rosters and I'm already having dreams about screaming at the kids. Not a good sign.
• I have really enjoyed my summer with Max. I was sitting in front of him the other day at his highchair and was thinking about how great it's been to have him in our life. This time last summer I was just wondering what it would be like to juggle a baby and all of our other day to day chores and business and now I realize how great it is. Even if he has meltdowns and bad days, Max is such a great kid.
• I got a Sony Reader for my birthday and I'm super excited. I've already downloaded three free books from the Internet and the library. It's compact and lightweight and easy to read the screen. This might actually help cut down on the ridiculous number of books we have in the house! We'll see.... :)

Fake Sneezing

I guess this is all the thing now as a 7 month old baby. He thinks fake sneezes are HIL-AR-I-OUS.

I posted this from my phone just so Sarah wouldn't drown in her disappointment. :P.

We took Max to the pool tonight and decided to buy the family pool pass. That we can go whenever we want and not worry about how long we stay. :)

I am officially testing to see if I can post blog entries from my phone. If it works maybe I'll actually blog more! :)

Summertime

Well, now that I'm off on summer vacation, hopefully I'll be a little better about blogging again.  Here's a list of the things I'd like to happen this summer:

1.  Get the deck refinished.  This one is "in process". Kendall is on his way to get the sander as we speak.  Should be done by the end of the week.

2.  Finish the Great Wall of Erdahl.  Again, we hope to have this done soon.

3.  Get the front yard finished.  The landscapers are supposed to be here around the 16th of June.  Hopefully they stay on schedule.  I want a pretty front yard again.

4.  Max sitting up on his own.  He tries so hard.  His head is so heavy.  His belly makes him spit up almost every time he tries.  But I'm hoping that by July he's sitting up on his own.  It will make playing with toys so much more fun!

5.  Read at least 10 books this summer.  Half trashy, half young adult lit.  I think one of the 7th grade teachers is going to start a book club with me at school in the fall.  It would be a great way to get the kids reading for their required reading and I think we could read some really fun books.

6.  Start trying for baby #2.  Yes, we're crazy.   But we also know we want several children.  And at the rate it took us to have Max, we don't want to take any chances.  We're thinking maybe September....but we just won't commit yet.  Which means we're not ready.  :P

7.  Clear out my closet.  It is full of old clothes that I have just beat the crap out of.  White t-shirts that just look gray.  Sweaters with holes in them.  I need to pitch some of this stuff!

8.  Find a way to marry my iPhone.  Yeaaaaaa.  I love it.  I want to marry it.  Must find a way around polygamy being illegal.....*grin*

Typing As Fast as I Can

I suck at posting to my blog. Maybe that's because I feel like I have very little time anymore! Why didn't someone tell me that being a mom and working at the same time would be exhausting and ridiculously time consuming!

Fast update while Max naps!

Max:

• His stomach issues seem to be under control a lot more. He rarely spits up. It's nice.
• He's now eating rice and oatmeal cereals, peas, green beans, pears, and applesauce. I think we are going to try carrots tonight. He refuses nothing. He gobbles it up. It's hilarious. He cries when it's all gone.
• Still trying to work on sitting up on his own. Still struggling with it.
• Wearing size 12-18 month summer clothes. Good thing for stuff we got as gifts and garage sales.
• He sleeps from 8:30 to 7 now. Super nice. I wish he'd sleep from 10 to 9 for the weekends. :P
• Still not talking much. I want him to say more. I'm hoping he won't be behind. He doesn't make the usual baby sounds, just screeches a lot. I know he can hear me though. He turns when I say his name.
• We've been working on 10 animal flashcards at least twice a day. Current animals: Dog, Cat, Bird, Lion, Pig, Horse, Duck, Monkey, Cow, and Mouse. We say each word twice and then make the animal noise 4 times. His favorite part is, of course, the noises.

Me:

• I get my iPhone is just a little over a week. I'm SUPER excited! It's my early 30th birthday present.
• Speaking of birthdays...I've decided to have a giant cookout at my house for my 30th, on my 30th since it's a Saturday. So mark your calendars now. :) Invitations forthcoming.
• I've been struggling with pumping. My milk seems like it's starting to dry up. I refuse to quit. I'm hoping to hold out the 10 more days of school and then go back to breastfeeding exclusively for a while. Then we're going to try formula again in July I think.
• I hate work right now. My kids suck. I got a death threat last week. And had two parents yell at me. Jerks. I just want this year to end.
• Next year's schedule looks awesome though! I'm not teaching 7th grade- thank GOD- and will be picking up the Creative Writing elective. I'm also still teaching the gifted kids.

Kendall:

• He's been working on the Great Wall of Erdahl and we have the first half complete. I'm so glad he can do these kinds of things.
• Also been super awesome about packing my lunches in the morning and getting Max off to daycare. I think he likes having that time with him in the morning.
• Going to a conference at the end of July in Orlando. I'm heading with him for the 4 days and will be hanging out with Max at the resort. It looks super nice and I think Kendall is looking forward to me going this year. It used to be in Chicago (I was actually going to go to see Viki!) but the conference people decided to change it up.
• Driving around in the Bird Turdmobile. Since we've been hauling all this dirt in, the birds have been finding more worms. And shitting all over his car since it's in the drive while we store various tools in the garage. LOL! He's really tired of it. And calls his card the above-mentioned name.

Gotta go! Ciao!

Crazy, Crazy Busy

I feel like starting back to work has made me lose track of everything! My house feels like it's a mess, laundry hasn't been put away in weeks, and barely washed. Even Max hasn't had very many pictures taken! I try to take a couple of shots a week, but sometimes I don't feel like I get them.

The weather has been screwy too. We had several glorious days of summer weather, a total tease, and then we've had crappy rain and dampness all week. Today looks like it has the potential to be better, but it's cold, so that ruins it.

Some quick updates on life:

Max:

• He has now completely mastered the art of rolling over from his back to his stomach. He does it all the time. At daycare, he does it so much, they have had to put a wedge in his crib so he can't do it. Since he can't roll back over to his back, he gets mad and cries.
• He is drooling like crazy. No teeth yet. But teething has definitely begun. He loves chewing on things.
• His hand-eye coordination is getting really good. He grabs for small objects and is starting to choose the toys that he prefers when given a pile to pick from.
• He loves his Grover that he sleeps with. We lay Grover next to him and many times catch him hugging him while sleeping. Way cute. I have a picture I'll try to get up.
• He is now eating Rice and Oatmeal cereals. He gobbles it up. He's also taking an interest in our table food. Last night at Red Robin, he grabbed a french fry out of my basket and had it in his mouth before I even noticed. LOL! We obviously grabbed it away. I think we will start baby food in a few weeks.
• He now responds to his name most of the time and is starting to reach for us to hold him. It makes me feel good when I go pick him up from daycare.

Kendall

• Work has been hectic and many days he gets frustrated and feels behind. Sometimes he only gets a 20 minute lunch (instead of his scheduled hour) because his morning gets behind so badly. He's frustrated with the schedulers for not giving him the proper amounts of time.
• Only 2 more months until his contract runs out with the practice. Not much has been said about his buy-in except that they've been talking about it. This is only frustrating because Kendall will be losing out on money if they don't give him his buy-in in July. He already makes more than they pay him. We want that money! Not to mention the fact that partners get 6 weeks of vacation vs 2 weeks employed.
• Kendall loves me so much that he built me a wall. We're calling it the Great Wall of Erdahl. It's going to go around 2/3 of our house when it's all finished. He built the first portion last weekend around part of the deck and we will hopefully be buying plants this weekend for Mother's Day. I'm so excited. We even had a landscape design done for the front and back and are planning on doing much of it ourselves throughout the summer.

Me

• I am only 28 days away from an iPhone. SOOOOO excited! We went to Best Buy last night and were playing with them. I can't wait!
• It's only been three weeks since I started back and already I'm sick of working. Part of it is that this year's group of kids has gotten really obnoxious. I'm so glad that I was gone for 4 months. They just don't have any respect for rules or homework or...anything! And it's not just for me. They're this way for every teacher! I'm so looking forward to summer vacation! Only 23 more work days...
• TMI WARNING: I stopped taking my mini pill last month because I thought it was pointless. We barely have time for sex as it is and we want to start trying for baby #2 sometime this summer. So of course, I go off the pill and get my freaking period the next month. Grrrr....I was looking forward to going several more months without it. Oh well, at least this means my body will be ready when we are. Unfortunately, I think it has reduced my milk supply a little bit. I'm hoping to make it to the end off the school year and then possibly trying some formula once Max is on baby food. His stomach has been so good lately I just don't want to jinx it yet.
• I'm DYING for some Mexican food- yet another reason to try Max on formula. :)

Sorry for the lengthy absence and even lengthier post. I'll try to be better, but can't promise anything. Summer is just around the corner, hopefully it will be easier then.