45 minutes

[do i have any pictures that don't include jack these days? sure, but they're not nearly this cute. i'm just doing you a favor.]

i'm just sitting here eating lunch & reading blogs, and thinking about how weird it is that i individually inspect every piece of fruit i eat, before i eat it. i have a big bowl of grapes on my desk and i can't just grab one while i read and pop it in my mouth -- i have to check it for bruises or grossness. i do this with strawberries, apple slices, whatever. don't get me started on bananas and their brown spots because those most likely end up in the trash. is that some type of disorder?

anyway, the weirdest thing is happening with j. it's been off and on for a few weeks, but starting a few days ago i will put him down for a nap and he will wake up, without fail, exactly 45 minutes later. it is UNCANNY. put him down, set a timer, exactly 45 minutes later his eyes pop open. no kidding. i could keep a clock by the kid. this is happening EVERY nap.

i guess it's a light-sleep-cycle thing -- babywise calls it the 45-minute intruder, friends have told me it's normal, blah blah blah. i'm sort of sleep training him and just leaving him in the crib to cry for a couple minutes before he puts himself back to sleep, which he usually does and then sleeps for another 90 minutes or so, so i KNOW he's still tired. i just find it truly amazing that it's so regular. babies are weird.

in other news, b is home!! he was in LA this time and visited our former workplace, our friends, our old trader joe's, even tito's tacos. i was seething with jealousy for four days, single mom-ing it up in lovely orem utah. luckily my sister came to keep me company for a few days, and b came home with a big bag of TJs goodness including my favorite pineapple salsa. so i guess all is well. now if only we could break the 45-minute craziness... :)

the past week

in case you were wondering, things have been a little cray-cray around here lately. [fyi "cray cray" is my new term for crazy, picked up from last week's project runway. is it just me or is that show totally hilarious this season?] so here's a brief recap.

- last monday i took jack to his 2 month doctor's appointment and he had to get his shots. :( i made b come with me and i still teared up; luckily, j recovered quickly [faster than i did, in fact]. haha. i know vaccinations are a hot topic especially among my friends, but we are pro-vac in this house. even though it breaks my heart. b took me out for ice cream after -- j gets the pain, i get the reward.

- i took j to arizona over the weekend, by MYSELF. it was his first plane ride and he seriously took it like a champ. then he proceeded to outdo himself by being fantastic throughout the weekend, which was full of noisy family parties, all-day shopping trips and tons of irregular naptimes. he only freaked a couple times, and who can blame him? h&m really IS kind of a wack place to hang out, if you think about it.

- this is the week we have ALL been waiting for: premiere week! yay! b & i seriously love us some good tv shows. pathetic, maybe, but whatever. it's cheap and doesn't violate the word of wisdom, so if TV is my worst vice i think i'm doing okay. last night was chuck [b's faaaavorite], tomorrow is modern family & survivor, thursday is so freaking ridiculous i can't even wrap my head around it [30 rock, community, outsourced, project runway]. woot. don't call me, i'm busy programming my DVR.

- my sister is coming to visit this weekend and i'm so excited. don't mention the fact that i'll be husbandless AGAIN. in a 30 day period b & i will have been apart exactly 15 days. barf. sometimes jack screams when b tries to hold him and i'm pretty sure it's because he forgot he has a dad. haha. i can't WAIT for traveling season to be over.

- i really wanted to take a photo to document j's flight, but i was a little preoccupied with the whole baby feeding / sleeping / comforting / entertaining / carseat carrying thing going on at the airport. boo. so instead just enjoy this little pic. i think j is the cutest.



till another week!

blessing baby j

last sunday was baby jack's blessing day. [in the mormon church, this is basically a naming ceremony so the baby can be put on church records...also, it's usually the dad who does it, and he gives a priesthood blessing along with it that includes guidance and commitments especially for the baby.]

the whole fam came down -- my parents came to town for the weekend, my sister & bro in law drove in from idaho just for the day, and we had grandparents / in laws / cousins from both sides there. b did a wonderful job and it was just so great. afterward, i hosted my first-ever family party and it went well [insert sigh of relief here].

here's our fam [minus granty-pants, who is away in mexico...he won't get to meet j till jack is almost 2 :( ]:



speaking of grant, here's a funny story. his on-again off-again girlfriend of three years, jenna, lives here in orem; they write to each other every week which is a sign of a serious relationship if you're a mormon missionary. wink wink. anyway, she's cool. she comes over and watches project runway with me & j sometimes. my mom looooves her and invited her to the blessing. and she came and took this picture with me & my dad. doesn't she look like she could fit right in? i'm just sayin....



proud grandparents [i know j looks dead, but he's alive...just really sleepy]:



cute rach & jesse. jack loves rachel. she can get him to smile bigger than anyone else.



our little family:



poor baby j conked out after [during] his party. it's tough being the center of attention all the time. he spent the rest of the afternoon like this:



the end.

pop culture flashback

this week, we had september 8. [we also had sept. 5, which ironically is both the birthday of my rocker ex-bf AND the day we blessed baby j, but i digress.] september 8 was jonathan taylor thomas' 29th birthday. is it completely pathetic that i know this? not really. in fact i'd say it's proof that all those hours of celeb-stalking in my tweens have actually paid off -- at least i learned something!



i was a biiiig fan of JTT. like ob. sessed. i watched home improvement every week, plastered my walls with his face, knew that his real last name was actually weiss and that "thomas" was just his stage name. i had calendars and books and all sorts of crap.

then on nov. 12, 1997 my friend's mom pulled some strings and we got to go to a taping of home improvement. her friend-of-a-friend was the makeup artist on the show and she agreed to bring me backstage to meet JTT. i walked behind some sets, met heidi the tool time lady, walked down some steps and there he was. i remember something about him wearing a bomber jacket and eating a bowl of rice [he IS a vegetarian, you know]. also, i, at the age of 13, was already a few inches taller than his 5'7" frame [that's a dealbreaker, ladies].

i shook his hand and squeaked out a few words and heroically managed to not confess my undying love for him. he was adorable in person, if not dwarflike. then my time was up and i was ushered back to my seat, where i sat shaking like a leaf for the next few hours. no pictures were taken that day, sadly, but if there had been i'm sure you would have seen my face crack wide open from sheer bliss.

on my way out, the makeup lady handed me a home improvement hat signed by both JTT and zachery ty bryan [who guest starred on burn notice a few months ago, haha]. i'm sure that hat is currently sitting up in my parents' attic collecting dust, but i will make sure it never gets thrown away. i went home that night and put a plastic bag over my hand when i took a shower so his germs wouldn't come off. true story. i am so weird.

yeah, that was a good day.

whatever happened to JTT? i saw him guest star on an episode of smallville once. then i heard a bunch of internet rumors he was either dead or gay. whatevs. JTT, you'll always have my heart. [also, speaking of my junior high pop culture life, did you know the LFO guy died this week?]

bath time

b took these pictures during mr. jack's bath the other night. i love this kiddo.











yes we bathe him right next to the toaster. and yes that's a huge scratch down the side of his face -- j's nails grow sooo fast and he loves to rub his face. bad combo.

now if you'll excuse me i'm off to go mope; hubs is away again. [j is good company, but let's be serious, i need adult interaction.] boo.

[non-] labor day

apparently no one in this town understands labor day.

let me tell you how fun it was to be in provo today. we had lunch at five guys -- that part was okay -- and then b & my dad were going to go gaming at a local video game place [fyi, b and my dad & brother like to go to internet cafes and "kill zombies for hours...days...weeks on end" (qwest commercial) -- it's their male bonding]. but it was closed for the holiday.

so they came home and my parents volunteered to babysit and b & i were going to go get massages since i still haven't gotten that birthday massage. two of the three day spas we called were closed -- the third one didn't have an opening until 6:30 p.m. so it was a no go.

then we tried to get a redbox movie, but they didn't have anything we liked. then i took one of j's outfits back to a store who couldn't offer a cash refund but instead will send me a CHECK...in the mail. okay, ever hear of digital technology, people? then even the freaking snow cone booth by our apartment was closed. ughhhhhh. work with me here!!

we ended up just coming home and watching the money pit. which wasn't entirely a bad way to spend an afternoon. hope things around here open up soon.

in closing, please enjoy this picture of my baby boy throwing a gang sign, because why not? he's adorable, and really good at moving his arms around [also wriggling them out of his swaddle, no matter how tight i wrap him -- the kid is a houdini]. i love jack.

neighbs

for some reason b and i have been really lucky when it comes to neighbors. this however doesn't apply to our first apartment in LA where our only options were the loud mariachi people and the crazy dreadlocked homeless guy who dug through our trash everyday.

then we moved to pasadena and after living there for a few months we noticed a new car parked on the street with utah license plates. we joked about how that could belong to some new friends, since everyone knows most utahns are mormons and therefore we'd meet them soon. cut to a few days later and what do you know, we were right -- the private-blogger mcmullins moved in right across the street. we had dinner parties and watched football and on one memorable evening we painted dinosaurs during craft night. we played with their baby henry, bonded over political activism, and b & jeff still play scrabulous against each other on the computer, a thousand miles apart.

this summer in denver, we saw a car parked outside our apartment with california plates and BYU parking stickers. could we have the same luck? yes. turns out jaran & deborah lived right across the street -- i could see into their living room from my kitchen window -- and we became fast friends. we watched the NBA playoffs and went to cold stone and played with their dog and bbq'ed. oh, and they pretty much let me borrow half their kitchen when i found myself lacking in baking appliances. we were sad to leave them behind.

then, while i was in denver, jesse & leandra moved into our utah apartment complex. leandra was a co worker at american crafts, and they were looking to move just before i quit. i like to think they came here because of my recommendation, but really i just feel guilty now for conning them into moving to this semi-ghetto establishment. anyway, one day in denver i got an email from leandra saying she'd seen a toyota with california plates outside and wondered if it was mine -- turns out, they'd moved right next door. i'm so so lucky to have them here, especially because with jesse working at night and b traveling so much, leandra comes over to hang out with me and jack a lot. like last night, when b got a last-minute ticket to the utah game and left me stir-crazy at home, again. i think i'd go nuts if she weren't here.

so there you have it. i love having good neighbors. who know where we'll move next, but you better believe i'll be keeping an eye on the street for clues to a not-yet-discovered friend's car.

the most wonderful time of the year

[b putting up his ute flag]

today marks the first day of college football season. b has been salivating over this day for months and can hardly wait for the ute kickoff tonight. my rabid-USC-fan grandparents are in hawaii for the trojans' first game. byu's first game is saturday night and we'll be watching on TV [b is rooting for washington, naturally]. we may or may not have purchased some new technology to better enjoy the broadcasted games. and jack has enough team onesies to last him the season. yeah, we like football.

in other news, this has been a great week.
+ i started back to freelancing; feels amazing to get a little baby break and use my analytical brain a bit.
+ j is back to his happy little self.
+ b started school.
+ had my first-ever mommy playdate this week at thanksgiving point. both j and i were a little unsure as to whether we belonged with the 9,000 other moms & kids; i think this may take some getting used to.
+ my fam comes to town tomorrow.
+ i froze to death on my run this morning. goodbye, summer.
+ i'm getting french toast with ang in an hour.

hooray for fall!