February

We started out February with our 14 year anniversary. I got some flowers delivered to me at work. I also surprised John and got a babysitter so we could go to dinner that night at High Tide. Really I just wanted some spicy seafood pasta and it was a good excuse.

Just a picture of Bug one day driving home with my purse. Sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to get when I pick him up. Sometimes he is really tired and grouchy and sometimes he is super silly. But no matter what I get everyday about 2 or 3 I am so ready to go get him. Monday’s are worse and I want him sooner.

We’ve definitely seen a change in his attention span. I know TV is supposed to be all bad and everything but it’s useful when we’re trying to get ready for work or make dinner but he’s had an attention span of about 5 minutes until lately. Suddenly Frozen is his favorite thing to watch and he can sit for about 30 min or so and watch it. He was so into whatever he was watching here I had to get a picture. I know he doesn’t watch any TV at daycare so I figure a little bit of TV at home isn’t going to kill him and he still highly prefers to be outside than watching TV. I hope it stays that way.

 

On the 6^th John and I did our Molly Weasley Ugly Jumper 5k. It was a horrible run for me. My calves were cramping less than a mile in and it was a slow run.

I don’t get to play much but sometimes I like to take JJ in to let him play on the piano.

 

With it finally being nice outside that is where we’ve spent a lot of time. JJ loves this statue in the back of his grandma’s yard. It’s his little girlfriend. He will touch her face or point to her eyes and try to give her kisses. He’ll put stuff in her basket too. So silly.

It’s still cool in the mornings but gets warm during the day so we send JJ to daycare in pants but when it’s warm Laura changes him into shorts. I don’t remember if she didn’t have any shorts or what, but I picked him up one day in a pair of daisy dukes. It was a pair of girls shorts and they were definitely too small for him. I about died laughing when she opened the door and there stands my little boy with his cute little white legs sticking out. None of the pictures truly do it justice for how funny he actually looked.

 

February is when our lemon tree really puts out some fruit. We always have WAY more than we would ever use and rather than letting them rot we tried to pick them off this year and give them away. They are huge and smell so good. JJ likes to eat them too.

This owl sits in the extra bathroom. I got it from my mom. JJ loves it. He will break in on me in the bathroom and wants to hold it. I try not to give it to him but one day he wanted nothing else so I gave it to him and hoped I wouldn’t be cleaning up broken glass. I came out a few minutes behind JJ and found the owl nicely placed on the rug.

 

Another example of my days. After work is always a little hectic because I’m trying to get dinner started, clean up various things, play with JJ, etc. So occasionally when he climbs into the dishwasher……fine by me. Here he had thrown the bottom rack out so he could get in better.

Probably the big event of our month was JJ’s first haircut. We took him to a place nearby and he thought it was pretty great a first with all the toys. I don’t know that I was prepared for what the haircut would do to him. He hated it; no surprise there. We didn’t use the clippers at all just scissors. I’m sure it’s not even and it will grow out fast because we didn’t get it very short but it definitely changed my baby into a little boy. The funny thing is I think it makes his hair stand up more now than before. I’m surprised at how light it still is but just yesterday I thought, oh look how dark it is now. So I’m sure it will darken up. He’s such a handsome guy. 

John’s aunt and uncle were visiting from California so we spent a few evenings over visiting and having dinner. It had been a long time since Aunt Viv had seen JJ.

Valentine’s day was JJ’s 17 month mark. It was the same weekend we cut his hair so crazy to see how much he’s grown and changed in that time. He’s really at a fun age right now. It’s not without its challenges but overall he’s just a fun kid who makes me smile every day.

 

We had made plans to go to dinner with Stephanie and Bart that day as well. We went to Zinburger. They branded hearts into our buns. As always the food was yummy. 

I spent President’s day running around like crazy. I went for a run that day, dishes, laundry, grocery store, and then tried to tackle the office. Every year I move last year’s files out and put new files in for the current year, plus go back 8 years or whatever and shred stuff. Well…………. I hadn’t done that for 2 years. So I had a mess. On top of that we want to sell our desk so it needs to be emptied out. I got most of the paperwork moved around as needed but that was about it for the day. While going through old paperwork I found the vet bill from when we put Dakota down. I can’t believe it has been 8 years. We got him 2 weeks after we got married which was probably a mistake and he had so much energy for the first 4 years of his life and just when things were getting really good he got sick. We both miss having a big dog and would like another one but we’ll see. It’s hard down here when it’s so hot and small house, and small child….. and two other small dogs… maybe someday. 

One of our current favorite dinners is creamy shrimp pasta. I have only cooked with shrimp about 2 times as it makes me a little nervous. The first time I tried this recipe I wasn’t thrilled with it but I wanted to try again. It came out SO much better the 2^nd time. JJ even likes the sauce and noodles. I place a lot of self value in if I can get JJ to eat something I make. This past weekend was a win when we got him to try apples and peanut butter and jelly. 

I don’t know what he was watching here but I cracked me up the hand on the hip.

I broke down and ordered a new shower curtain. I had a hard time finding one I liked but I think it’s cute. JJ likes it. Some mornings we have to go in and say hi to it before we do anything else. It also goes pretty well with the paint already there so now I just have to change my towels and I’ll pretty much be set!

When we got hockey tickets back in December it was cheaper to do a package so we had 4 more tickets to use. Nick, John, Shar, and I went out for the St Louis game. We made it out in time to grab some dinner at Crave and then get into the game. It wasn’t the best game, but Arizona tried to come back at the end. We had a good time and met up quickly with 2 of Karol’s boys since they were there.

Plans were made to meet up with all our hockey friends on Sunday for brunch. We got to see Melissa, Gard, Paris, Finn, Karol, Noe, David, and Kristian. It’s hard to believe how much all those kids have grown up! It was fun to visit with everyone and hopefully with Kristian coming to school up in Phoenix we can all get together more frequently. We went to Cracker Barrel. I was worried that it was going to cut into JJ’s normal nap time; which it did. He fell asleep on the way there and we were able to get him to sleep for about 45 minutes. The rest of the time wasn’t the most fun because he really didn’t want to sit still for anything.

 

This is pretty standard lately. We spend a lot of time out on the patio. I had been afraid I would miss the window for this outfit so I was glad when I was able to put him in this. He will probably hate Mickey Mouse, but right now he has no say.

It’s part of our routine to go to the grocery store on Saturday or Sunday. This ball thing is the bane of my existence. JJ can see it from pretty much anywhere in the store and he thinks he needs a ball every time we are there. 

We also had to run to Lowe’s one night after dinner. This is called trying to keep the kid entertained. Carpet and tool boxes were my distraction of choice.

 

I look at this and I think it’s so funny but what I really see if how Grandma Wallace would come and roll our shoulders back and make us not sit humpbacked. I guess I need to start that with JJ.

We got our medal for our 5k also. I think I talked about this last month also, but it’s the Hogwarts Running Club. It’s a virtual running club. The money they raise this year is going to a charity to provide coats for kids. John and I are members of the Hufflepuff house. 

I got looking at my vacation for the rest of our year (ends in September) and I have 15 days to use and NOTHING planned to use them. I am tentatively planning a trip home but that still leaves me with a lot of time so I decided to take last Wednesday off. I used the day for another run and cleaning the office up some more but I made sure to take a little time for myself to watch a TV show. I also got to try this lemon butter chicken recipe out. I liked it. Not sure if John did because of the spinach. I took the day off because I was really close to taking a new job which would have meant basically no time off between now and December. It was a long weekend trying to work out details on the job but in the end I turned it down. When I realized if I’d taken the job and would have lost at least a week of vacation that prompted the impromptu day off.

 

Here is the office after my day off. I got the file boxes put away and moved the piano. Next up was moving the next storage unit into the room. Next is getting the desk actually emptied and out of the room. I’m working on that part now.

Karol told John and I we needed to read this book. I’ve started it but I’m not that far into it yet. I’ve decided that child raising isn’t about the kid as it’s more about not letting the kid train you. We’ve gotten bad with JJ on catering meals to him and letting him graze. That is going to stop. 

This past weekend John dressed JJ in his track suit. I thought it was adorable. We spent all morning out on the patio and in line with not catering to JJ I made his snack apples instead of goldfish crackers. He did pretty good with them. I know I need to just get better foods in the house for him so that is one of my goals is more fruits and veggies.

 

Saturday evening we went to the Paniq Room with Nick and Shar, and Nathan and Erica. Shar had gotten a groupon or something for it. It was a lot of fun and we escaped. It was similar yet different from the other escape rooms we’ve done. We had a good time and we’re glad we’d been invited. We all went for a burger at Habit Burger afterwards and sat and visited a little while. 

That pretty much sums up our month. I can’t believe another month has gone by. It went really fast. I don’t have much on my calendar for the next while so we’ll see what we come up with to keep us busy.

January

January is already over. One month into the new year and I don't feel like anything has been accomplished or changed. Isn't the new year supposed to be a fresh start? It wasn't for us. It was a continuation of a really bad December. So here we go. New Years Eve after the hockey game we came home and went right to bed because I knew there was going to be fireworks at midnight and yes, just like 4th of July I was terrified they were going to wake JJ up and I was going to be furious if they did. Our neighborhood seems to really go crazy for the fireworks and they start around 11 and go until like 1. It is REALLY annoying for anyone with a young child I'm sure.

One New Years Day we didn't do anything. We broke out some of JJ's toys from his birthday that we hadn't opened yet and just lounged around. On the 2nd we met John's parents and Kim and Paul for breakfast and then went and looked at some model homes and then Kim and Paul headed back to Idaho.

Sunday the 3rd was my birthday. It pretty well sucked. John got really sick on Saturday (I think it was this Saturday....) and JJ was still sick. As you can see in the picture he really didn't feel well. He never falls asleep with us holding him and that's what he did.

After sleeping with John he woke up and came to me and went back to sleep. Poor little guy.

This picture was post nap. His crazy bed head. I am about ready to get his first hair cut, but I love his crazy hair.

This picture was taken on the 7th. So I don't have any pictures between the 3rd and 7th, but here is what was happening. On the 4th I called out of work to take JJ to the dr because he was so sick on Sunday and I think maybe he threw up that night... anyways I took him in and they sent me for a chest x-ray. It always throws you for a loop when you expect to get an antibiotic and sent on your way and they send you for x-rays. For my little baby? So we got the call that afternoon that the x-rays showed he had pneumonia. So we were on antibiotics for that and still low grade fevers and a lot of night waking. The new year wasn't the fresh start I had hoped for.

I was trying to get mentally ready for our upcoming Disney trip but with everything going on it wasn't easy. Here is my new wallet and purse; both Harvey's. The wallet has some of the vintage Disney posters. The purse JJ has decided is his and that he loves it.

This picture was on January 7th. It was the start of some cold weather for us and just a grey cloudy day at work.

This was one of my birthday gifts. It's a fun distraction some days at work.

This was on the 10th and I think this was actually the weekend John was so sick and barely came out of the bedroom. I laughed pretty good at this because he's told not to touch the dogs food and water and technically he wasn't.

Sometimes I feel like our house is so small and there's not a lot of room for him to play or stuff to keep him entertained. Especially when dad is sick and so is he and it's not warm enough to be outside, but a laundry basket is always fun.

He loves that purse. He will sit with it on his lap while we drive. He can't even see over it, but it keeps him happy so whatever.

So now my pictures jump to California, but let me tell what happened before that! On the 11th I took JJ back to the doctor because I didn't feel that he was getting any better. He'd been on antibiotics for a week and it just didn't seem better. We got sent for another chest x-ray and we got told that the pneumonia while it hadn't spread it hadn't gotten any better. They also added that now he had RSV. We were put on a 2nd antibiotic and sent home with a nebulizer and told to do breathing treatments at least 3 times a day.

It's not a good day when you find out your son has RSV and obviously can't go to daycare. They weren't really clear on how long we needed to keep him out. One person told us as long as he's coughing he's contagious and that could be up to 30 days. Another said as long as there isn't a fever. Another said as long as he wasn't real mucousy. I was panicking because we both have jobs and I couldn't expect to dump JJ on John's mom for a month. Plus we had this California trip planned from 6 months before and we'd be out probably at least 2K if we didn't go. Oh yeah, and also I went to the doctor because I wasn't feeling well and ended up on amoxicillin and a steroid.

We decided to go to California because he didn't seem to be getting any worse. Here was a picture from the plane on the way there.

This is where I should probably break this post into 2 but oh well. We got to Orange County Friday morning and got a cab to the hotel. We were staying at Paradise Pier which is one of the Disney Resorts. We decided to splurge a little on the hotel because we didn't want to be miles away on race day trying to get to the corrals at 430 AM. It was not too bad in terms of getting to the parks, but more on the race day stuff to come.

We were to the hotel by probably 830AM. So we dropped off our bags and went to find some breakfast. 

We had decided not to go into the parks on Friday because we didn't want to wear ourselves out knowing we had an early morning the next day. So we wandered Downtown Disney and went to the expo to see the race merchandise and get our packet pick up. Here is a picture of some of the medals.

I don't think any of us got any of the race merchandise. I wasn't in love with anything. We spent a lot more time over in the expo. New Balance puts out race shoes. You have to make an appointment to try them on. Stephanie got an appointment so while she tried them on I grabbed them and tried them on too. Glad we're pretty much the same size shoe. I liked them, but I am just not a sneaker type person so I decided not to spend the money on them. I spent enough on other stuff.

John and I had both forgotten to grab any of our energy gels so we picked some of those up. We both got new hydration belts. I am highly skeptical of them for women because my last one doesn't stay and bounces around, etc. I have only been on one run with it so far, but I LOVE IT.

We got some Oofos. Apparently this is big with runners? I don't know, but I like wearing them. I decided I wanted some compression socks. I don't run with my compression sleeves anymore but I also don't run 6 miles all the time so I bought some of those. I don't remember what else we bought, but they took a lot of our money. 

Also in the spirit of the weekend we went to Star Wars. It was a nice way to kill the afternoon and not our legs and of course I love the movie. 

After the expo we headed back to the hotel to see if we could get a room. I think this is the order we went. I don't know. Either way we got a room at some point and were pleasantly surprised to have an awesome park view. Also ironically and literally our room was right where our corral was. We could have walked out our room and like 5 feet the corral but because you have to go through security and such we walked probably a mile in a circle.

Good view at night too. I saw a brief moment of World of Color but didn't get a picture.

Race day! Our start time was 530 but we were supposed to be there at 430. I can't remember what time we got up, but we all made it there in plenty of time. Again if we'd known it was right outside our room we might have slept in and tried to sneak into the corral.

I think we heard there were 25K runners between all the races and around 10K (ha ha ironic?) for the 10K. We were in one of the further back corrals so we actually started probably around 545.

This was approaching the starting line. They were playing clips from the movies and such. It was fun to have the Imperial Death March or the opening sequence, etc. Set a fun tone.

I was happy with the course because there wasn't much straight areas so you were constantly turning and it gave you a lot to look at and take your mind off of what you were actually doing. That being said, because you cut through back lots I was so freaking lost! Also, after standing around in our corrals and stuff for a while by the time we started running we had to pee. The first mile or so was outside of the park so there weren't really bathrooms. I told Stephanie if she saw a bathroom to grab me, but we got separated and both stopped at different ones.

I picked probably the worst bathroom to stop at because there was a line and only 2 stalls. I should have left and gone to another one but once I had decided I needed to go there was no going back. John said I probably wasted 5-10 minutes in there.

I tried to take a few pictures but I wasn't really going to stop and move to the side and take a picture so all of these with my phone are blurry. But here is the castle. It did get congested in a few places where the trail narrowed like through the castle.

Here is by It's A Small World. They still had it decorated for Christmas which I highly prefer this to the all white non-Christmas lights.

This was coming down Main Street in Disneyland. This was the 1/2 way point. I actually ran this part alone because John had stopped for a bathroom by Indiana Jones and I kept going. He caught me right after this. I got separated from Stephanie and Bart early and I figured with my bathroom stop I was way behind them. Well, I was surprised when about mile 4 they suddenly passed me. I thought the trail was going to loop around so I slowed down and moved to the side so we could high-five when they came by but it didn't.

Coming into Cars Land. This was pretty cool because it wasn't too long after sunrise. This was right before mile 5 I believe. I could definitely tell that I usually run about 2.5 miles because at about 3 miles my body was like ok that's it! I was happy that my shins and feet were doing pretty dang good but my hip flexor was hurting pretty bad by about 3.5.

I guess I didn't take any more pictures after Cars, but we all finished. I didn't finish in the time I was hoping to see but for my first 10K and for it being a Disney race, I'm told it wasn't bad (thanks Liz).

We got our medals and grabbed some of all the food they hand out and got our pictures taken (I just haven't bought any yet) and headed back to the room to change! The medals are no joke. They are freaking awesome and I love it.

After showers and some food we headed to the parks. I can't remember what Stephanie said her pedometer showed but we were at like 10 miles pretty early in the day. I'm sure we got some good mileage that weekend.

I don't remember what all we did Saturday... I know I ate the most delicious, amazing pickle ever while we waited for Indiana Jones (I think I needed the salt). We had dinner at Blue Bayou; it was yummy. We did the parade Saturday night. Because of our dinner reservation we were too late to stake out a good spot out front and we didn't want to stay out for the late parade and we got the most awesome spot right by It's a Small World where we could see the fireworks, the parade, and be right there to get the monorail afterwards to head back to the room! We also got to see mean Stephanie come out and tell some guy where he could go. (Don't worry I was right there with her and would have told the guy the same thing!)

This was a new parade I hadn't seen before and I loved it. Watching it I couldn't help but think how much JJ would probably love it. I can't wait to take him sometime in the near future!

Everytime I see the princess' also I think about Nick's girls. I don't know if they're too old or not but I hope they would love them too.

We went back to our room pretty early since it had been a long day. John, Stephanie, and I went down to the hot tub for a quick soak before it closed. I think it was that night as I was laying in bed thinking Stephanie and Bart aren't even in bed and I am going to pass out. And I did. I was completely exhausted.

Sunday was the 1/2 marathon. I thought about getting up to see Liz in her corral but that was just a nice thought. Because the corrals for this were also right outside our room we had a heck of a time trying to get across the dang street to get to the parks. I was probably within 5-10 minutes of seeing Liz and her mom come up the final stretch.

I'll throw this in here now. Liz is a friend I met online in a music chat room called Turntable like 3 years ago. Turntable is shut down and this group has migrated to several other music rooms. A handful of us have stayed in touch through other means as well as the chat room and Liz is a huge inspiration to me on my running because she does all these awesome 1/2 marathons. Well, when I found out she was going to do this run it's part of the reason I signed up for it too, but I didn't dare do the 1/2. But that she was going to be there from Florida and then her boyfriend with her from Texas (another online friend) and me from Arizona... there was no way that all three of us could be in California from different states and not meet face to face. We had hoped Chris and his family would make it down too so we could meet but they had a busy weekend with birthdays. So the fact that we kept missing each other was almost comical. I would message them and find out there were at the Matterhorn when I had just left that area 15 minutes earlier. Or they were at the ferris wheel and I was there about an hour later. We just couldn't get our timing right. 

Sunday we focused on California Adventure. We got Tower of Terror done; a favorite for us all. Yep, we're some of those that stage their pictures on this ride. This one was so funny to us I had to take a picture of us all. We also got in Screamin' California, Mickey's Wheel of Death, Toy Story Mania, and a few others. Some of those might have been Monday too. We hit most of the rides we really wanted though, I think. Radiator Springs we got for John. We were also dumb enough to do Grizzly River Rapids in January. Finally I didn't get soaked on it! We did it right before going back to the room for a mid-day shoe and outfit change.

So Monday afternoon we were headed home. I still hadn't met up with Liz and Mike but we were going to make it happen somehow. We finally agreed to meet in front of Flo's cafe as they were headed to Radiator Springs and we were headed to Disneyland for Hyperspace Mountain. It was so fun/cool/nerdy to meet them! Liz's parents were there too and they were very nice. I was happy to see neither one of them was catfishing me :-) This was a highlight of the trip for me.

Is it weird nowadays to meet friends online? I don't know, but I am glad I have had the chance to know them through our shared love of 80s music and now met in person. Liz is also a huge amusement park guru so we have that somewhat in common too. Mike likes hockey so he's ok by me. I'm going to get us to Florida to do Disneyworld with Liz if I can.

Then we were headed home. I took this picture because obviously to get to Arizona we don't fly over an ocean so I thought maybe the pilot was taking us to Mexico or something. No such luck.

We got home with no incidents and John's parents and JJ picked us up. JJ seemed to be doing better and Chris said he'd had a good weekend; so that was good. We took him to the doctor again on the 18th and they said the pneumonia was gone. They didn't give us a clear picture on the RSV but we kept him out of daycare the rest of that week too.

We've taken him back since then and he had a bit of a struggle wanting to be there and leaving dad. It made John feel bad and it made Laura feel bad. It seems though that we are getting over that. So hopefully he can like going to school again.

I can tell that JJ is feeling better because he's eating better. Knock on wood he's eaten quite a few of my dinners lately. It makes me feel so accomplished that I made something he'll eat.

Nick, John, and I signed up for the Hogwarts Running Club and the Molly Weasley Ugly Jumper Run. It's a 5k virtual run. Liz's mom told me about it. It benefits charity and sounds like a fun group. Looking forward to my run coming up.

Nick and Shar invited us over for a bonfire and smores and hot chocolate. We went down for a little while before JJ's bedtime. I think he liked it. The kids liked playing with him and he got to try marshmallows for the first time. He loves them.

He's started to expand from just Baby First TV to Disney Jr too. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a favorite.

This past weekend was a nice weekend finally. I mean finally because we had a good weekend with JJ. It was much needed after the past month of sickness. We were able to get outside and play a little and run some errands and he took a good nap and mom got to go for a run and dad worked on his truck. I think everyone was happy. I know I needed a good weekend like that.

John had made dinner reservations for Hillstone on Saturday the 30th. Our anniversary is 2/2 but that's ok. So Jim and Chris came to watch JJ so we could go to dinner. It was delicious as always and nice to have an evening away.

Finally to wrap up the month I have no idea what was going on here I just think the picture is funny. This guy is so goofy and silly I love it. He likes to chase the dogs, play hide and seek, he comes running when he hears the bathtub. He likes to throw his balls, and he's so loving. He will come up and just give you a love that melts my heart. His smile is amazing and his laugh is the best part of my day.