New Lens!

I have been waiting almost three weeks for Amazon to deliver my new camera lens and it arrived today - woo hoo! Behold, my new super-fast fixed-focal length 50mm f/1.8 lens!!!! YEAH! (I was trying to explain what all that meant to Ralph, and he did the old 'nod and say uh-huh'... kind of like what I do when he explains football to me) In laymans terms... this new lens takes killer portraits:

Emily Baker's 2nd Birthday

My dear friend (college roommate, maid-of-honor and all-around partner-in-crime) Jen Baker, had a tea party for her daughter Emily's 2nd birthday on sunday. We had a great time, and so did all the other kids! I think Jake was a little jealous that he couldn't run around with the big kids because it looked like so much fun!

Welcome Baby Lily; and other Birthdays!

Some of you may remember all of the pregnant bridesmaids at my wedding - my maid of honor Jen was pregnant, as well as my two good friends since childhood - Kelly Demaitre and Sarah Kee. They have all had their babies by now (duh), and in fact - there are a lot of exciting updates on the babies!

Most exciting, my dear friend Kelly and her husband Peter JUST had baby #2! Announcing beautiful baby girl Liliana Rose Demaitre. She joins her gorgeous big sister Ava.





Yesterday, we went to Emily Baker's 2nd birthday and had a great time! (Pictures coming later) Long-time blog readers may remember the pictures of us with the monkey at Emily's 1st birthday last year. Emily's mom, Jen, was my maid of honor at our wedding. Emily's actual birthday is today. Tomorrow is Charlotte Kee's birthday - Charlotte turns 2 tomorrow, and was also in her mommy's belly at our wedding. What blessings!! Now I just have to remember all these January birthdays!

Congratulations to all of the beautiful girls and their gorgeous wonderful mommies! Love you all!

A Million Years ago...

Some of you might remember me telling you of our trip to Vegas last fall, and how we bumped into Mario Lopez outside of Pure Nightclub at Caesar's Palace. He was fresh off of Dancing with the Stars. Well, we only got one picture with him, on my cell phone. I immediately tried to send the cell phone pic to my email. It failed. I tried again and again and again. it just stopped working. My one and only celebrity picture was trapped in my phone! I called Cingular to see if they could fix it. They told me to go to the store. I went to the Cingular store. The store told me to call customer service, and customer service would tell me to go to the store. ARGH!!! Months of this. My cell phone bill has charges left and right for trying to send messages that never went thru! Argh argh argh Cingular! Now I have a blog and I am mad! (Boo Cingular! Boo!) ANYWAY....

Fast forward a few months: So on my way to NY tonight on the long Amtrak ride, I decided, ah, what the heck, why don't I see if the pictures would send again? I sent one to Ralph's cell, one to my email address. Ralph's phone never got the message, so I was shocked to open my email and see this picture! It is really, really bad quality, even after I photoshopped the heck out of it, and this is what I got:

Bathtime!

Ok, I am sure y'all are darn tired of looking at the crusty-eyed and booger-nosed pics, so I'd better give you something good to look at this time! Here goes:

Jake has now learned to pull himself up while holding on to the side of the bathtub. Ralph is just out of the frame here, we are ready to grab him if he stumbles even the slightest bit. Safety first!



That's my happy, crazy-haired baby!



I love the splashing water here!


(For photo-nerds like me who might be interested in the details: ISO 1600, 1/200, f/5.6, shot with a 70-300mm lens (at a very safe distance from the water), using the on-camera flash - which I almost never use, but apparently it works well for bathtub shots)

Eeeewwwww! Gross!!

If you are tuning in today in hopes of seeing adorable pictures of a cute baby - well I'm sorry to inform you that you won't find any here. At least not on today's post. But, if you came here looking for extreme close-ups of a baby with nasty eye boogers and facial snot - woo hoo! - today is your lucky day! I thought it was pinkeye when he woke up with two eyes gooped shut on friday. Daycare also let me know pinkeye was going around the center. Oh fabulous! Behold our sickly little boy, who has a severe cold, with congestion that has moved up into his eyes (it's not pinkeye afterall).



We kept cleaning his eyes out all weekend, and they still look this nasty.



Jake is completely sick of seeing me come at him with a cotton ball soaked in saline solution. If my hands go anywhere near his face, he SCREAMS! But who wants to look at this eye goo all day?



If you've made it to this picture without hurling, then you deserve a little gift. Behold! New baby teeth! (with a side of boogers....eeeewwww!)

Jake in the Jumperoo

What you can't see in this video is me behind the camera, arms flailing, body jerking, yelling funny things to make Jake keep jumping. Too bad the little camera doesn't have sound because it would have been HILARIOUS!!!!

New Pictures - Yea!

My poor child was starting to suffer from camera neglect. I did my part to save him from this awful affliction tonight. Captured photographic evidence of crawling, eating, and two new teeth. And the adorable outfit and new shoes mama got him...because apparently mama doesn't have anything better to do with her money...

My little sumo wrestler all bundled up for the cold weather - tee hee



His tiny slobbery fist



LOVE this one:




Accepting food from a spoon (rice cereal mixed with applesauce - not his favorite).



Hilariously deciding not to accept any more food.



Crawling on his hands and knees. Ruth is smart to stay out of the way on the couch...not in her nice bed that I spent a half-hour cleaning the other day - there it is empty in the upper right hand corner.



Two shots of him 'feeding' himself. The spoon becomes a chew-toy.





The new teeth on the top! Look closely - very closely. They're there. Seriously.

Manic Monday

Yes, I am guilty of not posting for a while. The world has been a crazy place lately. Just trying to figure it all out... I would like to ask everyone reading the blog today to say a prayer for the Graves family, who are laying sweet Noah to rest today. I noticed that we have had more visitors than usual to the blog lately. I'm glad to see more people reading, and I welcome anyone who may have made it here from reading other blogs I have commented on.

I guess the most exciting thing that is going on is that Jake is finally crawling on his hands and knees, instead of the previous method of scooting in a military crawl. We were at the doctor's last week for his 9 month well-baby check-up...and flu shot. I always hate to see my baby get shots! :( He is now 9 months old, weighs 22 pounds and is 30 inches tall. Ruthie now outweighs Jake by only one pound!



Well, this morning I narrowly escaped a big fat scary speeding trap, in which I most certainly deserved a speeding ticket. I am an admitted speeder, and as much as I have tried to slow down in the past few years, and I have slowed down, I still find myself pushing it sometimes. And on mornings when we are running late and I am trying to make it to daycare ontime (or else Jake will be turned away for the day - don't get me started on that rule!), I have almost no choice but to make up the time on the highway. So this morning with all the fog, I figured the cops wouldn't bother setting up their usual speed traps because they wouldn't be able to see anything. Stupid assumption on my part. I still don't know how I didn't get pulled over, but I am darn thankful for it. The Lord has been hearing from me A LOT lately. Maybe I should begin to pray that my ears will work well enough to hear my alarm clock, and for my body to get the heck out of bed on-time in the morning!!!!



So Jake also got a new pair of shoes this weekend. I wandered down to Payless while Ralph was at Hair Cuttery and found a pair of $3 sneakers! How could I say no to that??? Very cute, especially now that he is trying to stand more and more often.



Jake had a nice time with Grandma and Grandpa Valentine this weekend, and he tried to console Uncle Danny on the Eagles loss. Ralph was kind enough to pack Jake's Eagles sweatsuit that Unlce Rick and Aunt Jackie gave him for Christmas... even though Ralph is still mourning his Giants loss.

Prayer Request

Noah Graves and his big sister, Emily



Dear Friends & Family,

I am hoping you will forward this prayer request to your friends and family, for the family of Noah Graves. This is a family that I have mentioned here before, and we have a link for the Graves Family Blog posted at right. Noah and his family are in need of lots of prayer. After spending 5 months with their little boy in the hospital in Colorado (they are still not sure what is wrong with him, or how to treat him), they decided to take Noah off of life support as of this friday. The family has reached thousands of people with their incredible faith in God through the whole process, and it is an inspiration to all who read it. Please check out their blog at www.noahsteven.blogspot.com.

Keep them in your prayers as they are dealing with an incredibly sad and difficult situation. Thank you, and please pass this on.

Arggghhh....

Just when I am finally starting to really get along with the ladies at daycare (evil witch is no longer employed there - woo hoo!), they do something else to make me furious. I go in at lunch to drop off some bananas for Jake and spend some quality time with my little guy and end up leaving the place wondering why I let him stay there day after day....

Conversation with D.W.D.P (dim-witted daycare provider) this afternoon went something like this:

D.W.D.P:Oh, I have a funny story for you!
ME, tired but in a good mood:Oh yeah?
D.W.D.P: Yeah, so... has Jake had french fries yet?
ME, cautiously: Uh, noooo...why?
D.W.D.P: Well, when I got my lunch today, Jake was very interested in my french fries! He came over and almost crawled up me trying to get to them.
ME, more stern now: Yes, he's very curious about things...
D.W.D.P: Yeas, so he seemed like he really wanted some of these fries...
ME, terrified silence
D.W.D.P: So I gave him one, and...
ME, freaked out: You GAVE him a french fry?
D.W.D.P: Oh yeah, he was really wantin' them!
ME, more stunned silence:
D.W.D.P: So he was just playing with it and playin with it, and then he chewed on it a bit and played with it some more. He's so funny!
ME: Yeeeaaah... I don't think he should really be having french fries yet. We are really trying to get him used to his baby foods, and our pediatrician recom--
D.W.D.P: Yeah, so then, I got my cheesteak out and--
ME, jaw on the floor, please dear god no...
D.W.D.P: But I wasn't going to let him have that since I was really hungry.
ME, trying not to let my head explode: Yeah, he's way too young for that.
ME, to Jake, trying to contain my anger in front of my child: No more french fries for you, Jakie!
D.W.D.P, still not getting it: I think he really liked them!
ME: Riiiight..... I think I should go back to work now.

Apparently I need to stop thinking that they will get my gentle hints about what my child should and should not be eating and doing. I need to go back to being a blatant... uh... (rhymes with witch). I do NOT think it is funny or amusing to feed an infant french fries, and I need to make it crystal clear to this woman when I go to pick him up tonight. Arghhh....

More eating progress!!!

[Eyewitness News Theme Music]

Breaking News!

We have confirmed reports from our sources in Delaware that Jake has eaten multiple bites of baby food. Sources close to Jake and his parents say he opened his mouth and tasted not only peaches, but also pureed bananas, late this evening. One eyewitness had this to say:

"Yeah, it was like, suddenly he was all receptive to it. He even leaned in for a few extra bites of the bananas, and called for them by name!"

We will keep you posted as the situation unfolds. Jake's parents told our reporters they want to try applesauce tomorrow, but don't want to push it after months of Jake refusing any baby foods.

Now, back to Chip at the Eyewitness News desk....

[Eyewitness News Theme Music fades out]

MAJOR PROGRESS!!!

Some very exciting stuff has been happening at the Vasami household lately! It's been insanely busy, so I am sorry I haven't posted more lately. I will try to do better in 2007! :)

1. Jake is talking more! He FINALLY said "MAMA"!! Yeah! He also says "Dada" "Baba" "Nana" and... "Eggo". Funny enough, Eggo might have been his first word - ha! He would babble it while crying with his binkie in his mouth - "eggo-wegga-wegga".

2. JAKE STOOD TODAY!!! He pulled himself up into a stand by pulling up on his new Baby Grand Piano that his grandparents got him for Christmas! It only lasted a second, but I was so thrilled to see him using his legs for once!!

3. Jake finally learned how to bounce! He is using his Jumperoo properly for the first time since we've owned it (5 months). He learned to bounce in the activity center at Mema Mary's house over Christmas. Now he can't stop bouncing in everything - crib, bed, floor, activity centers that don't bounce - etc.

4. Jake willingly took food on a spoon!!! This is the first time he has let me put a spoon in his mouth in MONTHS! He usually clamps his jaws together and turns away, refusing ANY baby food. Now, the good news takes a bad turn here, because all I had to offer him was peas. Bad move. Ralph hates peas, I should have known his son would too. So he took the peas, tasted the peas, spit out the peas, made a horrible face, gagged, and puked all over himself and his toy. Maybe I will go back to bananas....

Have a great weekend!

Christmas (Part Two)

Here's Christmas with the Guie family, including all of the 'new' cousins (you probably read their blogs too!)

All of the (local) great-grandkids: Madison, Brittany, Olivia, Ethan, Jake, Kyler, Brian, and Brett (Austin and Rachel live in Montana).



Jake goes in for a kiss on cousin Kyler (I got a pic of the kiss, but my flash didn't fire, I'll photoshop it and post later).



Brett and Brian are just too cute!



The 'new' little boy cousins: Ethan, Jake and Kyler.



Ethan's proud big sister, Olivia. Total cutie pie!!



Then, Jake opened presents with Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle Danny on New Year's Eve Day:



Jake loved the toy Uncle Danny got him!



Jake was very excited to get a "Drive-It-The-Car" (Uncle Danny's favorite toy when he was a little dude)



Ralph had a few of Grandma's famous chocolate chip cookies sitting next to him, and Jake reached around and pulled out a few cookies to nibble on. I guess he knows to go right to the good stuff - ha! (No, we didn't let him eat it)



Alllllll of the stockings



Grandpa Jim helps Jake open his Christmas stocking...



and 2006 comes to an 'end' (heh)...