Today was Melody's first day of 3rd grade. I got up extra early this morning, made sure Ian looked nice and was fed, and off we went to take my 3rd grader to school. We left the house at 7:20am, plenty of time to park, put Ian in the stroller and walk Melody into school. Little did I know, she is way too big to have her mom walk her into school. She asked me to just drop her off at the door. She knew where she was going and was confident and excited. I guess I've done a good job, but it sure was hard to swallow. So I dropped her off and, with tears in my eyes, I drove Ian to Ms. Kim's and then went to work.

Here's my 3rd grader!

She had a great day! I am looking forward to this year. We are in the 2nd half of elementary school now, after all!

Ian isn't only crawling...

So about 3 weeks ago, Ian began to move like an inchworm...he'd fling those arms out in front of him and pull his legs up behind him. Then about a week later, he figured out the alternating arm and leg movements, and he began to move quicker than I ever imagined. Then, about a week ago (last Friday to be exact), he pulled up. Luckily, I don't think he'll be walking this week as that requires a bit more than a week to master, but I'm sure it won't be 11 months like I have my heart set on. He'll probably be like his sister and walk around 9 months. I'm still hoping for 11 though!!

Here are some pictures of him pulling up:

Here he is pulling up on his bouncy seat.


Here he is standing at the window in the living room. This is one of his favorite places to be.

Last night was quiet around here. Ian fell asleep on the way home at 5pm and slept the whole night with exception of a bottle at around 9pm. This gave me time to take a good look at my new photo collage site that I threw together last week and make it look how I really wanted it to. There is a link to the right if you'd like to check it out. If you have a blog or a website, I now have a button on there that you can "wear".

I would like to leave you with a picture of Ian as an infant and then a picture of Ian now.

The difference between me and those who surround me...

So I've come to the realization that I seem to be surrounded by people who need to escape their everyday lives for one reason or another mostly due to their job as far as I can tell. But my perspective is different. I am happy with my career choice - not that I don't get stressed or overwhelmed with it every now and then - and when I come home I have two beautiful children and a husband who loves me. I know I am blessed with friends. But many people I know, except my children, all seem to feel the need to escape their lives. Tony comes home from work and logs into an online game because he hates his job and people make him angry and he chooses to take his anger out there. I also know many people who choose to escape in other ways - having a beer or enough beers to forget their stresses or exercising excessively. But I feel like I don't have anything to escape. So I feel like I am surrounded by people who need to escape while I am enjoying life. Except sometimes I find it hard to enjoy life when surrounded by people who do not. And that depresses me as I feel the need to enjoy life with others instead of by myself. Melody enjoys life and I think, other than her being my daughter, that is why I love her so much. Maybe I need to invite people to enjoy life with me. Corny ways I can think of doing that are board games and trips to the park and scrapbooking. Ah, I feel the need to move pass being the mother of a newborn and enjoying my interests again. I just wish there was someone who I could share my joys with even though I am a corny person who loves life and tries my best to cherish each moment. I think corny is fun!

And two more teeth make four!

Goodness, the teeth are growing quickly in my Ian Paul's mouth! I was giving him a bath tonight and tickled him under his arms and he laughed so hard and opened his mouth wide and I caught a glimpse of two more teeth gleaming out of the top of his mouth. These are not where I expected his first two teeth to come in on the top though. These are to the right and left of his middle teeth. So, to get technical, Ian got his lower right central incisor first, then his lower left central incisor next, and now he has both upper lateral incisor. This tells me that he's probably working on 4 more teeth, the upper central incisors and the lower lateral incisors. I put a chart below to make this a bit easier to understand. He must be ahead of schedule if the upper lateral incisors until 9 months.

If you haven't yet, check out my other blog site where I am advertising my new service. I can take your snapshots and make them into a nice collage. When you purchase your collage, you'll receive a jpeg file that you can have printed and framed and you can use it as your desktop background on your computer! The jpeg file is yours to do whatever you wish. Have I sparked your interest? Click on the button on the right side of my blog!

I would love to be more like her...

I would love to be able to have a blog like a friend of mine that I met on my IV board for December Mommies. She has started a blog and is giving away prizes and has a lot of great information! Maybe if I didn't work full time....

Anyway, you should check her blog out. She rocks!





While you are at it, check out my blog I created for business purposes. I have decided to make photo collages for people in my spare time. Click on the link to the right that says "Your Photos Collaged". I think these will make excellent gifts especially in tough economic times like now where getting a photo shoot done may not be an option. At least your everyday snapshots can be turned into an awesome gift for your friends and family.