March

It's hard to believe March is already gone and it's gone by with nothing significant really happening. These pictures were taken one morning while I should have been getting ready for work. He's really good about going to sleep and he pretty much sleeps through the night, but he gets up at 430 am. We've gotten into the bad habit of going and moving him into his swing and he'd go back to sleep...until he doesn't. We get up about 530 anyways, but if we could get him to sleep till 6 or so would be perfect. 630 even better. So when he was going back to sleep in his swing it would carry us to the 615 timeframe when we'd get him up, change him, and send him off to school, but now he just sits in there and talks to himself and then by 615 he's grouchy and tired. I guess this is a work in progress.

 

We were able to get a few rounds of golf in. We played Greenfield Lakes and Toka Sticks.

I thought JJ would be more interested in being outside but he was pretty blase about it.

We've gone out to Sunday dinner a few times again. I think it's good to get him used to be around and out and learn to entertain himself, etc. We went to Lolo's for the first time at the new Gilbert location.

Yes, he wanted my waffle and I don't blame him. He also loved the red Kool-aid.

 
I had a small triscuit thing going on for a while..... but they've come so far since I was a kid! Look at all the delicious flavors! My favorites are the dill one and the sugar and cinnamon one.

I can't remember what night this was that Stephanie was over but she helped feed JJ his dinner. He's such a good eater. He still seems to prefer veggies to fruits, but he'll take anything.

One day at work I got this message. I guess Cailee was home and messenging people. I thought it was pretty cute.

Of course on the 14th we had JJ's 6 month mark! I can't believe it's been 6 months already. Of course he's rolling and he army crawls. He doesn't sit up by himself yet. As I said, he's a great eater. He still loves the bath. It's harder to get a smile from him for pictures, but put the camera down and he'll smile all day. I am really enjoying this stage, but missing the little baby all wrapped in a blanket. He's teething and we think some bottom teeth will break through soon. I can't even imagine losing the huge gummy smile, but I'm sure there will be something new to take its place.

I tried putting shoes on him. It lasted about an hour. Oh well, it was an attempt.

I had to put these all together to see the progression. I feel like I'm looking at a different baby.

Nick and I came home from work one day to all these cups under his car. They were also in the bushes, etc. Nick said it has to be Cailee. She was gathering rain. Dirty, oily rain. I guess after she went and checked the rain catchers she just said, huh and dumped them out.

We tested out JJ's bike trailer because Tour De Tempe is coming up. He seems to like it well enough. I'm more worried about how long the ride is and if it gets hot. Oh well, I guess we'll give it a shot.

Mommy and JJ selfies. He loves playing with my phone.

JJ had his 6 month appointment. He's doing really well and hitting all the milestones I guess. He weighed 16 lbs 4.5 oz. putting him in the 23rd%, 27 inches - 61st%. He did a great job of tearing apart the dr office while we waited for the doctor and we didn't wait that long. He got 3 shots this time. He gets over it pretty quickly but I still hate it. Afraid he would get a fever like last time I took the day after off but he did really well. He did so well that he and I went shopping that afternoon.

Cutest. bum. ever.

I love this picture. Brad came over one night to talk about some stuff and JJ was just so intrigued by him talking. He sat there listening waiting for his turn.

Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Bart came to drop some stuff for our yard sale and stayed for a bath party. Bug loves the bath and I love his Tigger towel. It's one of the few things we bought since we got so spoiled at the shower, but I really wanted this and we bought it. He used to hate having it on his head but now he's ok with it.

The joys of a mobile baby. He rolls away everytime I'm trying to dress him or change him. But that bum!

We had a garage sale the last weekend of March. Again he was so good for us. I brought him outside and was going to dress him but his new shorts are really too big still and with no shirt and his socks he looks like a little chollo.

 
He ended up in his new onesie from Aunt Stephanie.

After the yard sale we went to a baby shower for one of John's co-workers. Stacie was excited to meet JJ and hold him.

It was a busy weekend and after the baby shower we went to Babies-R-Us. We wanted to get some sun gear for the bike ride. My little ham was being so good as we tried out some hats and glasses.

 

To finish out the month we had dinner again at Nando's. I've been giving JJ water out of a sippy cup. Sometimes he really likes it and others not so much. He won't hold it himself. He doesn't hold his bottles either. He'd rather hit stuff and pull hair while he's eating. We have some big events coming for April so it might be more exciting to report on.

February

February went by very quickly and there is a lot to share! I thought about doing a post mid-month and I wish I had.  I'm not going to even pretend that I got the pictures in order and I was tired of moving them around!

On the 2nd was John and mine 13th year anniversary. It was a Monday so nothing really exciting. We didn't even go out. We had Wendy's for dinner. Pretty exciting.

http://youtu.be/lnoPFsHurzA - (the quick anniversary video I did. It's even to our wedding song!)

I was still fighting pink eye and I think I had to go to the eye dr that day. I know I picked JJ up from daycare and he was wearing this weird outfit. For a split second I thought John had asked Laura to dress him in that for me, but come to find out, JJ just pooped through 3 other outfits that day and ended up in this girl outfit.

 John got me this ring from Pandora, but it didn't fit. Most rings from Pandora don't and I had forgotten that was why I don't have more Pandora jewelry!

We were having such a hard time with JJ at nights again that I called Mamie. We went over his schedule and what we were doing and made a few tweaks. We did the 'cry it out' thing and he did pretty good. We were back on track......for a few days. 

Even since having JJ the way this house echoes with the wood floors has driven me crazy. We thought about putting carpet in, but the wood is an 'upgrade' when it comes time to sell. We finally went out and bought some rugs. It took a long time to find rugs we liked and I really like these. They are thick and soft and the colors match my house really well. We covered the hallway and got a new rug for the front room. Then we moved the old front room rug to our room.

 

 He kills me. He's getting so big. Right after our anniversary we get Valentine's day. I thought I was safe this year because JJ is so little, but when I picked him up from daycare he had a whole bag full of valentines!! (first bad mom moment). John got me some very pretty roses. For Valentine's we went to dinner and Stephanie and Bart met us. JJ got all dressed up for his first Valentine's date and he was really good for us. He even let Stephanie and I go shop a cute boutique after dinner.

Valentine's was JJ's 5 month mark. 2 days before then he started rolling. He's quite the pro at it now. He can roll back to stomach and vice versa but he seems to forget he can roll back to his stomach a lot and gets frustrated. The fact that he started rolling threw a kink in our sleeping. We thought he was fine because he was swaddled and we didn't think he could roll... until the morning I went in to get him and he was on his stomach.

http://youtu.be/0fmuQjjzZpM - First time I caught him on camera rolling.

So we decided it was time to say goodbye to his swaddle blanket. It was a very sad day for me. That blanket had become my crutch and I was really worried about him making it through the night without it. Rightly so too because he didn't. We were back to not sleeping.

 I also am having to phase out his 0-3 month and most of his 3 month clothes. I can't believe I have to do that already! That means no more tractor jammies. Those were my favorite!!

Bye Bye swaddle blanket and tractors!

 With being 5 months old now the pediatrician says we can start feeding him veggies! We started rice cereal at about 4 1/2 months. He does really well eating off a spoon and it's the same with veggies. It's fun watching him as he tries new things. 

http://youtu.be/3vo3FGqSyCA - First time JJ tries veggies

We had planned one last Disney trip before our annual passes expired (so sad!). We decided to go out with a bang for the last trip; we stayed at the Grand Californian Resort. We also got lazy and decided to fly rather than drive. It's much nicer. It also gives us so much more time in the parks. We left early Friday morning and came back Sunday. JJ stayed with John's parents again because really, he wouldn't remember any of it anyways and he hasn't had his measles shot yet :-)

We flew into Orange County this time versus LAX like last time. Much nicer because it's smaller. We grabbed a quick cab and were off. It's a quick drive over to Disney where we checked in, checked our bags, and headed out.

The lobby of the hotel. Reminds me of the lodge by Old Faithful

Mickey's wheel of death... I think we've conquered this one

I'm pretty sure this was the first day. The first picture is the World of Color lake and it was all 'empty' being worked on. We went looking for breakfast because we got to the park by about 9am. We ended up eating breakfast at Flo's. It was pretty good for a quick breakfast.

They have a Frozen area until May so we were able to go in and experience the snow....in our flip flops.

Friday night we went to Carthay Circle Restaurant. It was the only expensive restaurant we hadn't been to in the parks. As all the others have been I thought it was really good and we had a fun time like always. Where we went wrong was probably at Ghiradelli after dinner for ice cream. Too much.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, Storytellers Cafe. It was just a buffet but it was good and we got to have a bunch of characters come by!

 

Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil?

 
There were a lot of rides closed for refurbishment including the castle! It was a little bit of a bummer but since we've been on them all before it wasn't too big a deal. This trip I was determined to try all the snacks we'd apparently missed all the other times. We literally ate our way through Disney and it was glorious.

For the record here is the article that started the food discussion: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/05/disney-food_n_6391754.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

One thing off the list; Mickey pretzels and the jalapeno pretzel. Both were good!

Saturday we spent mostly in Disneyland where Friday we were in California Adventure. We experimented and went out into Downtown Disney to ride the monorail into the park. It was sort of nice because you avoid the crowd of mainstreet and we were close to Space Mountain to go get our fastpasses. Later that day because we were probably full of food and tired we took the train. It was a nice way to see parts of the park we don't normally see and to get us to the front gates!

We did go on autopia which we'd never done before and after doing it we know why. Oh well, we needed to do everything at least once.

You hear a lot about the Dole whips. Another thing we had never tried but check it off the list!

At some point we started looking for hidden mickeys. It gives you something fun to do in line a lot of times. Here is part of the list from Tomorrowland:

One thing that should be added to everyone's disney food list is Roscoe's. It's not at the park but it's about a mile away; just opened. We made it down there Saturday for dinner. Chicken and waffles, so delicious. 

Saturday night we were trying to ride Space Mountain one more time and the line was really long. About 1/2 through they came out and told us the ride was closed and we could stay or leave. We were hanging out for a few minutes to see if it reopened and when it didn't we were getting ready to leave when the fireworks started. We were in a great location since we were upstairs to just sit and watch them really quick. As the fireworks were ending the ride reopened! So we got to see the fireworks and ride Space Mountain!

Pumpkin beignets are on the food list, but they are seasonal. You can get beignets but I was told if they aren't the pumpkin ones to go to the Jazz kitchen in Downtown Disney for the regular beignets. So we journeyed down there Saturday night.... probably around midnight. They were good. They were also good for breakfast. 

Sunday was our last day and as always we ended up with a lot of food, rides, and shopping to get done. We stopped for a photo with Red.

Red's Apple freeze. Thanks to Jena we had to try these!

It wasn't really in the plan to go back into Disneyland on Sunday but I had really wanted to try the Monte Cristo and that was at Cafe Orleans. So we trekked back over there. It was worth it! We tried the pommes frites and Stephanie and I were smart enough to split a Monte Cristo.

As if the Monte Cristo weren't enough to get back to the hotel we went back through California Adventure so we made a quick stop for some more churro bites. I love the churro bites. I could take or leave the sauce.

So for the record here was the list from the article:
monte cristo - check!
pumpkin beignets - sort of check....
dole whip - check! John really liked this. I thought it was good...but.....give me a churro.
lobster nachos - I would have loved to try these but the Cove Bar was closed! $@#$%%
mickey waffles - We didn't have these in the park but our breakfast buffet had them.
pommes frites - Check!
cinnamon roll - yeah... searching this out didn't appeal to anyone.
ohana bread pudding - John may have liked this but I am not a bread pudding fan.
pretzle bites with cheese sauce - dang it! forgot about these! Guess we have to go back :-)
apple pie - another item that no one was thrilled to try so we didn't.
mickey pretzel - Check!

These items were added by my cousin Jena:
churro bites - Check!
red's apple freeze - Check!
jalapeno pretzel - Check!

It was a great weekend for food.

It never fails! Delayed.

John and I had both taken Monday off. It ended up being a really good thing because we were delayed on our flight. It wasn't really late when we got home but much later than we'd planned. JJ stayed an extra night with grandma and grandpa and we had to hurry and pick him up because we had to drop my car off to be serviced. I also had an interview Monday so it was a busy day. (For the record on the interview I got offered the job but turned it down for pay. I'm disappointed because I think it would have been something I enjoyed as well as a good new skill set to learn).

Because the Pandora ring didn't fit John got me this. It's very pretty and I have always loved Sapphires, but even moreso now that they are JJ's birth stone.

The other day after work JJ and I went to take the kids their Disney present for helping watch the dogs while we were gone. JJ got to go in and see Uncle Nick's aquarium. I think he just wanted to go swimming in it.

Last for the month was yesterday. We had a busy day because we had to take my car back in and had a meeting with our insurance company and then planned to go golfing with Nick and Ashton. It was a little windy and rainy but it ended up being gorgeous. We had a good time and played all 18 holes. Thanks to Aunt Shar for watching JJ!!

It was John's first time out in about 5 years. We both had a good time and want to plan to go a bit more often.

That wraps up February! Now onto March!