Thursday, January 31, 2008

C E I I I O O

That's what I was left with the other night during a friendly game of Scrabble with J. Ridiculous right?! We called it a night and saved our game (we play travel scrabble in bed; I know it's weird), but I can't say I'm too anxious to return to it with these 6 vowels and a fairly useless consonant (I apologize to anyone who particularly likes "C" or has a name containing it). And I was all excited when I used 6 letters spelling "boxing." Who wouldn't be? I mean "X" is worth 8 points alone, and if I remember right I was on double word or something.

Eh...anyway, haven't felt very bloggy this week, hence the absence. And I haven't really been taking pictures this week either. Maybe this has something to do with it:


In case you have bad eyes or the picture is just too small or blurry...let's just say it is COLD! Colder than a witch's...well, I think you get the picture.

On the health front here at the Jackson house, J asked me if I would start getting up with him in the morning to work out or do pilates or some similar action devised to slim and tone. He's bent on getting back into shape. He doesn't seem to realize that I am bent on enjoying cake, cookies, pie, wild rice sausage and eggs for breakfast, cream sauces on pasta for suppers, and the like. I think he's going crazy. ;)

Jeremy's birthday was Monday...woohoo! 27 years old. Go J. =) He did really well on his test at work that day (only missed one) and actually got to come home a little early (not because he did well though; that's not how it works!) and we took Bugga to St. Cloud for some shopping and then out to dinner. Bug was very well behaved, it was wonderful! Then I went and left 2 (of our 4) locking-head diaper pins in the bathroom. ={ Arg! I don't think they took too kindly to our call asking if they would mail them to us, seeing as how we never heard back. This may all sound crazy to you, but I really don't know where I can pick up these pins anywhere local (maybe JoAnn's?) and I don't want to pay shipping just to order pins, since I long ago promised no more diapers or diaper paraphernalia. And they were the blue ones too, I loved the blue ones!

My life is just so stressful, right?!

Anyway, I should probably just get to the pictures.

Grady dumped out a container of beans on his tray while we weren't looking the other night. We were once again making our "beans and cornbread" supper. I think it's becoming a staple around here.


And here is the face he made when I told him he had to eat ALL the beans. Just kidding! Makes a good story though.

Another picture at a window. Man, it really makes him seem obsessed with windows, but he's not. I guess maybe I am; I just think it's so cute when he's looking out a window or trying to reach a window, so I tend to grab the camera. Hmmm, maybe I need to explore this window fixation of mine. Then again, some things are better left alone.

Okay, enough for today. It's the last day of January! Insane I tell you! Anywho (I don't normally like it when people say that, but it's a segue you see)...I'd love to hear from you if you're reading this! Stranger, family, friend, foe (well, I hope no foe is checking in)...come one, come all and leave a comment for me. Please! And if you don't want me to publish your comment (I do have to moderate it, i.e. give my wonderful stamp of approval) because you don't want other people that might be reading this to know you're reading this too...well, then just let me know and we'll keep it between ourselves. ;) Our little secret.

No, but seriously, leave a comment please. I'd love to know who's checking in and reading these ramblings and cyber-stalking my baby. HAHA. I'm totally kidding and I realize that didn't sound like much of an invitation, but I am sincere. Can't wait to hear from you!

Enjoy Happy New Month tonight! =)

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Picture Saturday!

Not too much to say today (I promise!), but a lot of pictures. Here's Grady looking out the window. I love the sense of wonder over such simple things!







This one is titled "picking Papa's nose." Look close. ;)


And here's happy Bugga, climbing all over his Papa (that's J's head in the bottom of the pic).




But don't go thinking it's all happiness and light at the Jackson house....
Of course, if you know us, you wouldn't be thinking that regardless, but here is picture proof anyway. =)



Happy cuddles. I love this one because you've got happy baby, cute little baby toes (you have to look close), and you can see Paisley cuddling on the lounger with them. Yes, we're being naughty this morning, or rather I was being naughty, and invited her up to cuddle with me. No picture of that, but once J took over and took the Bug with him, I grabbed the camera and got to capture this.




For good measure, here's a video (or two). Grady has taken to making this funny pucker face. I realized it just doesn't picture well, so I was glad I tried to video it.

By the way, you don't need your sound on, but if you did listen to it as well as watch...no, I don't know what that noise I made was. And for further background, J and I were playing our own lame version of Name that Tune last night, only it was really more like Name that Band/Performer. J kicked my hiney! In my defense, who the heck has heard of Operation Ivy? Or Cat Empire for that matter. Though I have to agree the latter is pretty cool (hence the link). Oh, and that was Sublime who came on at the end of the video (I won't name the song, for fear of judgment, ha).

And the second one. You do want your speakers on for this one. Who could get sick of this sound? I love it!

Quick shout out to our friends the Stewarts in AZ today! (Hey Justin, Tara, Miss Gabby, and little Mister Mason!) We were on the phone with them for almost 3 hours last night (did you guys realize it was that long?!). We sure miss them, and when it's below zero here in MN, we have our fair share of envy for them too. ;) Thinking about hopping on a plane...

While we're at it, here's sending a friendly hello to Mema and Papa (J's parents Linda and Danny) too. We know they like to check in and see the pictures of little man.

So there you have it, I think we've covered about 90% of our readers that check in with the blog. How sad is that?! =) At any rate, much love to any and all who come to our little corner of the cyber world. Thanks for joining us!

Friday, January 25, 2008

To fluoridate or not to fluoridate...

...that is the question. Ugh. It seems like there is always a choice to be made with this whole parenting business. Yuck! One day, you think something is a good idea, a doctor recommends it, or a friend or family member says they do this-or-that for their kid(s). Then you go online (oh the evil internet) and find all this crazy controversy. Today's battle: fluoride. Is it a poison? Or a helpful substance? I just don't know.

We did recently start giving Bugga fluoride/multivitamin drops. They were prescribed by our much loved family doctor in NY, then misplaced during the move, and we just found them and started giving them to him. It's probably only been about 2 weeks now. I figure, if it is in fact a poison, hopefully we haven't done much damage yet. The world is so scary and I'm sure there's bigger concerns than fluoride ingestion that I should be worried about.

Grady got out of his bed twice, possibly three times (I may have lost count!) today during the 2+ hour standoff over nap time today. Usually he's pretty good, pretty easy really, and goes down for nap like the sweet angel we know him to be (HAHAHA). Today, he must have decided Momma's timing was all off and he would remedy that for himself, since he's getting so old and capable. ;)

We re-signed up for netflix today. The deciding factor? They will have a film in shortly that is in limited release in theaters and community showings. It is called The Business of Being Born. I'm sure it will give me tons of wacky ideas for if we ever decide to have another child. Should be fun to watch. =) If nothing else, it might make me outraged at myself and the medical staff that urged pitocin on me to get the Peanut out. I'll have to try to watch without judging what can't be changed. That's always a challenge. On a less serious note, we're looking forward to seeing Ratatouille. =)

J came home early from work today, which is really nice since Bug is kind of a handful today.

Today's pictures take us back in time...to when Bugga could smile and maybe even laugh, but certainly couldn't move independently. He's tons of fun now, don't get me wrong, but at moments I do miss those days in the early months. The days when we could put him somewhere and that's where he stayed.
Here he is at about 2 1/2 months old; one of the first times he actually was comfortable with "tummy time." I can distinctly remember taking this photo (and a bunch of others that day). I love the drool!

This is Bug just over a month old. Making a "woa!" face.

Back to 2 1/2 months here. Waiting for his massage before bedtime. =) A tradition that has stuck. Look at that cute booty!

He doesn't get his back massaged anymore because he's too mobile for that. He would take it as an invitation to sit up or try to crawl away or something.

He may be more mobile now, but thankfully he's just as kissable and huggable as those early days. Here's hoping it stays that way for a long time to come.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Life with the Fonz

Several times throughout the day, I hear this very tell-tale "Hey..." that sounds as if I am being joined by the Fonz. Only it's coming out of little Bugga's mouth. Cracks me up! J and I usually respond with our own best Fonz impressions, which I'm sure only encourages him in thinking this is a pretty cool noise to make.

Here's a kind of cute video of Bugga laughing as I put (clean, dry) dipees over his head. You can almost hear the "hey" I'm talking about during the video, so turn up your speakers. It's really more "fonzie" when he says it on its own though, so you might not catch it.


We discovered Bug likes black beans. Yum! At least when his Papa makes them into a delicious soup. We had wonderful homemade black bean soup and homemade corn bread the other night and there J and I sit, being the Momma and Papa birds we are, spitting whole beans onto our plate to give to Grady. ;) Nice image, right? Well, it was worth it, he ate them up.

About the corn bread though, really we should call it corn cake. We're not southern, and hence we found we don't like the real southern corn bread, which is not sweet at all. We like it sweet, bring on the sugar and honey! So it was a resounding chorus of "beans and corn bread...I mean cake" last night. (You really have to sing the song with a meal like that.)

Grady is on the cusp of walking, it is so exciting. Twice on Monday he took 1 step, as in one leg took a step, and then down. Then yesterday, he took 2 steps, as in both legs, away from the lounger in the living room (by lounger, I mean 2 twin beds set up in a l-shape piled with pillows and blankets; no it's not a couch per se, but we call it our "lounger"). He was going after Turdie; that fatty does serve a purpose! HAHA. And last night he took another set of steps, though he was so close to J it was hard to tell if he was really holding on or not.

At any rate, we figure within the next month or so, he will be walking. We are simultaneously looking forward to and dreading his aquisition of this new skill. I look at it as the demarcation line of when it becomes truly difficult to take him places. We'll see if I'm right about that or not. For once, I can honestly say that I hope I'm wrong. ;)

Okay, gross. I just had to fish a ladybug out of Grady's mouth. He won't eat his green beans, but a ladybug seems yummy evidently.

And finally, a few more visuals for the day (it can't all be words, right?). Here's one of Monka from the other day. She's such a lovely, petite girl. And the oldest of the pets by far, she's probably pushing 10 years old by now. You wouldn't guess it to meet her though. I hope it stays that way. And no, the gray in her coloring is not a function of her age. She's always looked like that. ;)

"Will this library card get me out of jail?"

Here's a shot of the "lounger" I spoke of. Want to play "Where's Bugga?" That's right, he's next to the gas stove. Safety first around the Jackson household. =)

And here's a shot of Turdie, harassing me from on top of the cabinets while I do dishes.

So there you have it, another day in our zoo.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Let's win the lottery

Back to Monday, and therefore J back to work. =( We frequently talk about how we wish we could just win the lottery and J wouldn't have to work and could be around Bugga more. We talk about winning the lotto like it is a choice...not some one in a gazillion chance. Silly, we know.

In the meantime, during the work week, he's off to work before Grady is up in the morning, usually anyway. That's why the weekends are so fun; J gets to see Buggy first thing in the morning. Gets to go into his room and see him smiling and babbling to himself and bouncing around in his bed. I think it is important that the two of them get that experience; that Grady knows it isn't always Momma who comes and greets him in the morning.

I love this picture of Paisley; I think I took it last week sometime. Her eyes just look so beautiful! She is such a silly little lady lately. She really gives Turdie trouble, but other than that, she's pretty good. And she puts up with Grady really well. He loves her; she is probably among his favorite "toys." He pulls on her, uses her to stand up, and even tried using her to walk behind last night but she's too fast for that. ;) And then there's quieter moments when he is somewhat obsessed with her jowls, the little pink that pouts out from her lips. He'll sit and point at it and touch it, very gently, to his credit. Other times, he is definitely not gentle. There's pinching, hitting, eye poking. And she is a champ about it. So go Paisley!



We're trying to teach him "gentle" and sometimes we have to tell him "no" (and so it begins) and remove him from her area, and of course attempt to redirect him. Oh, the consequences of trying to implement discipline into his young life! What fun. There's crying of course, and stubbornness on his part (I wonder where he might get that?!), and the ever-popular throwing himself on the floor in protest...that is before he picks himself up and books it right back to Paisley.

For now, he is resting up so he can play with his girl later. ;)

I actually took a couple pictures of Monkey the other day; I realized with horror recently just how much Grady had taken over the camera. Yes, he's our real life, human child and deserves to have a million and one pictures taken. But I couldn't find anything taken in months of Miss Monkey Doodle. It made me sad really. I'll have to post it, she was playing with the ribbon that was around Bugga's taggie duck he got for Christmas from J's parents.

What else? Hmmm...we nearly drown in a sea of papers this weekend. We are finally trying to get unpacked again. Instead of just letting the shop be filled with boxes and ignoring it as best we could, we thought we'd try to bring some of the office boxes upstairs. My oh my! What a mess of papers! And probably a good half, or more!, ended up in the shred pile or the recycle pile. It's insane. And our shredder will probably bite the dust before we're done with it all. It frequently got overheated and needed a break. A few times it kind of creepily started back up when neither of us was attending to it (it would stop with a sheet half way through sometimes). We filled several bags with shredded paper. It's crazy!

Okay, that's enough rambling for today I suppose. I think there's another cup of coffee (black again!), a cozy chair, and a book in my near future. If little man keeps sleeping that is. And some days that is a very big if...

Friday, January 18, 2008

At last...

Oh my, Friday is here. Whew. The weekdays can get so long sometimes. I love weekends! When J is home all day (usually) and I can get some things done since it isn't all up to me to keep Bugga alive. ;)

And today, I am drinking my coffee black. Jeremy will be proud to hear that. No, I'm not toughening up or getting "grown-up" taste buds or anything; I'm just out of creamer.

I really don't have anything exciting to say today. We went to St. Cloud last night for some shopping and J carried Grady in his sling everywhere we went. It was simply adorable! Bugga cuddled up so tight to his Papa, it was the cutest thing ever. Usually I sling him, but it was nice for Papa to do it since he was at work all day. It gave them some good up-close-and-personal time together. And gave me some good observe-the-babe-from-afar time. HAHA. I wish I had a picture of it to post.


Instead I'll post this great pic of Grady opening wide and inviting Paisley to kiss him. These two make out, I kid you not. And they would do it all day if I let them. However, I'm not that laid back. The inter-species frenching has to stop!




Oooh, we also discovered that there is a pretty good pizza place that delivers to our place. It has been a very, very long time since we could order food to be delivered. It's no Mama Mia's (our fave in NY), but it's pretty darn yummy. And straight to our door, how can you beat that?

Well, I was supposed to use Bugga's naptime to read (I'm reading For the Love of a Dog by Patricia McConnell; good so far). Instead, Pai and I did some training, I had some honey toast and my black coffee and puttered around on...you guessed it...the internet. My hopeless addiction.

And I hear him now...my time is up. =)


Edited to add, this is what I found when I went in his room:


Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Bubbles for Bugga

Last night Mr. Bug had his first bubble bath. Yes, we're boring parents and it's been plain old water til now.

Well, it didn't work out great anyway because he is so used to drinking his bath water (I know, gross). So, he tried to drink and suck on his washrags (which are really just toys in our mind) and he ended up vomiting in his bath water.


Oops! So, I guess we'll hold off on more bubble baths until little mister gets a handle on his need to partake of the water in which he sits. ;)


Grady is enjoying playing chase these days. He gets quite the mischievous look on his little face when is heading toward something we have repeatedly removed him from in the past. Like he knows he's going to get caught and dragged away, but the game is just so fun! I'm' currently trying to capture "the look" in a picture, but haven't had luck.


Back to the bubble bath...I forgot how much I like them! I was so tempted to strip down and jump in there with him, so I had to take a bubble bath after he went to bed. Oh do we need a bigger tub!!! =) HAHA. I'll make do with what I have though. On a side note, for good non-toxic, natural bubble bath, check out California Baby. Nice line of baby bath and body stuff.
So there's my product plug for the day. Off to feed Buggem.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

First haircut and other Tuesday ramblings

Okay, so the Hugga Bugga went down for a strangely early nap. Meaning I doubt it will last. So I better type fast; good thing that's one of my few real skills in this world (thank you Junior High keyboarding and just plain old good genes, you should have seen my Mom on a calculator, woa!).

Anyway, Sunday was Grady's 9-month-old birthday of sorts. I can't believe he's that old...yes, I'll join the choir of trite parents that lament about how fast time goes by. It is just so true! ;) In celebration, J gave him his first hair cut in the bath that night. Okay, so it really had nothing to do with his being 9-months-old and more to do with the fact that the top was getting long and looking funny in relation to the rest of his shorty hairs.





Let's see, what else is new??? He went for his 9-month well visit yesterday, which given his newly acquired stranger anxiety was pretty funny. Maybe I'll post more details of that some other time. The short version: I discovered that my cotton sweater is as absorbant as a diaper. =) Good times!




Paisley is doing well with her training. She still has her utterly stubborn moments, but she can sit calmly on her bed while J comes home and gets settled or if someone comes to the door, both of which are pretty exciting developments. Before, we always had to corral the dogs on the other side of a baby gate or crate them to deal with things like that. Or just deal with them hopping all over us when one or the other would come home. Hopefully we'll start attending class with her before the end of the month. I think she needs it.



Did I mention too that we might foster in the future for a rescue called A Rotta Love Plus that specializes in pit bull and rottweiler rescue? We figure since we have the set up for two dogs and we're used to two dogs, maybe it will be nice to help out and do so in Ari's memory. We'll see how it goes anyway.

So the pictures finally loaded! Woohoo! I'm been having a lot of trouble with uploading pictures lately. Hmmm...what magic occurred this morning? I don't know; I won't question it. In the first pic you can see the "tidal wave" of those long hairs on top of his head. Then the hair cutting pictures are pretty self-explanatory.

It might be time to share the blog with the grandparents. Since these pictures are floating around in cyberspace and I know they love pictures of the little man. Maybe I'll test it out on a friend first...hmmm, now who to send the link too??? =)

I suppose it is also possible that some stranger has stumbled upon the blog. Welcome stranger! Let me know you're there, if in fact you are there.

Oh goodness, I feel like I've lost my mind.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Lazy Saturday...or so I would hope

Okay, so I'm supposed to be helping J in the master bedroom. Ahh...a dirty mind could go places with that. Alas, I'm supposed to be putting on my charming painting clothes (aka my everyday clothes, my uniform of sorts as a stay-at-home-mom, my sweats) and getting ready to paint away. Somehow, years ago with our first house in NY, I was unemployed and became the painter in the house. I am still the one who paints.





That's okay though; I'm kind of a perfectionist with it so I would probably find fault if I let J do it himself. Does it ever really turn out "perfect"??? No, but if I let him do it, I probably would see every little flaw and wonder if I could have done it better myself. It's ridiculous really. And I know it.



I think I was a little spent after my long post about dear Ari boy. Gosh, the sadness won't quite let go. Some days I can smile and be happy looking at pictures, other days it's a friggin' flood.



But, I decided at some point I'm going to dedicate a post to each lovely pet. I don't want to wait til they're gone to celebrate how much they mean to us.



Bugga boy gets a part of almost every post, so I don't need to vow to do any such tribute to him. Heck, he got naming rights for the blog itself.



He's napping, I should get to work...I think I've said this before....

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Ari Guitari


Well, this is it. The post I devote to someone who made me so happy and for whose loss I am currently feeling so much grief and sadness. Ari, our male dog. Little Ari Guitari, assless chaps, our silly frisbee loving, muscle-bound, snuggle-bug, meester-keester, crazy wiggle-butt little guy.



First things first: Ari was not a bad dog. He was an exceptionally good dog actually, but something wasn't right and it wasn't something we could ignore. Despite his intense desire to please us and his very loving nature, he did show human aggression, something a sound pit bull does not do. It is that simple. So maybe something was wrong genetically, or maybe we did something wrong; it is too hard to tell and too painful to guess. He never showed aggression toward us; it was strangers that he was iffy with. Could we have worked with him to try to remedy it? Probably. But in the end, we decided the risk involved in failing to "fix" the problem was too high. So for his sake, for our sake, for the sake of people we come in contact with, and for the sake of other pittie lovers, we had to make the most awful, gut-wrenching decision, to put our little boy down.



It was done Wednesday, December 19th, 2007. We were lucky enough to have an awesome vet office (even though we're still so new here in MN), where they had a comfort room with carpet on the floor, and staff members stayed with Grady in the lobby area so Ari could have his Momma and Papa to himself that one last time. He was happiest when he had us all to himself I think anyway, so it felt good to give him that. We got to hug him and cry and tell him how loved he is and that he will always be loved by us. He will always be part of this family. We have enough pictures to plaster the walls with Ari; there's no erasing him and I would never want to.




I'm crying as I write this, so maybe it is time to move on to the happier memories. Pictures and maybe even a video too. We adopted Ari on May 18th, 2005. He was a little 3 month old spunky pup. He and sissy Paisley, then about 9 months old, hit it off pretty well from the start. We have some pretty cute and funny pictures from those early days. He was a pup, so he tired easily and would konk out in the funniest positions, sometimes with his little tongue hanging out.




Speaking of his tongue, the boy never learned to keep it in his mouth! He had to be kissing you, putting his mouth, his tongue on you always. He just didn't seem to know any other way of interacting and sharing his excitement and his love with people. That's why I took to calling him "meester keester" or mister kisser.




His wiggle-butt was so crazy, his tail would hit him on each side as it went back and forth. And if you were un-lucky enough to be in the path of this tail...ouch! It was often truly painful when he was really excited to be hit by that whirling tail of his. It packed a punch for sure.





He loved his sis, Paisley. He always wanted to be right with her, laying on her so often, as picture after picture demonstrates. While it seemed a pesky, annoying habit on the surface, I think he did it just because he loved her so much and loved the contact. He was not a boy who appreciated alone-time.




His greatest love in this world though was Jeremy, his Papa as we called him. Nothing could compete with a game of frisbee with his Papa. Unless it was a run with his Papa, or exploring in the woods with his Papa, or cuddling with his Papa, or going for a ride with his Papa, or...you get the picture. He hated it if J was outside and he was stuck inside; he would run from window to window, whining, running to the door hoping to be admitted outside or that Papa would come back inside. Nothing, just nothing, could compete with his Papa.






I could go on for days about our lovely, wonderful boy, I really could. He loved frisbee fetch so much and often J would purposely throw the frisbee outside the fence back in NY and let Ari out to go find it. We called him our Frisbee Search and Rescue All-Star. =) Just the memory brings a smile to my face; seeing him run around the fence line and out of site, always to return with his red frisbee in his mouth, triumphant and proud. J and I would clap and laugh and encourage him to come back to us, which he was always eager to do.




Oh crap, I'm crying again.




His love for frisbee could even entice him out in the snow and cold, which he did not love one bit. I can remember one particularly cold, snowy morning in NY. I believe it was the winter of 2005/2006. Ari went out to potty, but got so cold and stood there on three legs, just staring at Mommy in the doorway to the warm house. He whined and his little eyes pleaded with me...and I totally gave in like the sucker Momma I am and went out to pick up our little 45 pound boy out of the snow and cold and cuddled him all the way inside. What can I say?! He broke my little heart with those eyes and that face. Jeremy made fun of me mercilessly for it, but I would just respond "you should have seen his face; you would have done the same."




Were there bad things about Ari? You bet. He barked in his crate if you were home, protesting having to be away from you for even a moment. He was exciteable and hard to take places. He never grew his big-boy bladder and had to go potty about 8 times a day, and would often pee in his crate when left alone. He could be dog aggressive, and he and Paisley did have a few fights that were pretty serious. That we could have dealt with though. And as we mentioned, those few instances of human aggression. While they weren't intense or vicious in any sense, they were enough for us to fret and worry and finally realize something wasn't right.




All the rest was so good, so very, very good. He listened, he really did, because he wanted to make us happy. And he loved so much and with such innocence. There were times he was just so good, it would make me so proud. Proud enough to tear up at how wonderful my boy could be. Times when he would react wonderfully to strange people and other dogs, times when he was everything we knew he could be. It still breaks my heart to think of those very few, isolated times when he wasn't good, when he was actually dangerous. A term I never would have thought I'd have to apply to my snuggly, lovey boy.







I miss him so much; I still cry almost daily missing my Ari. I know Jeremy misses him so much too. I have never seen Jeremy cry so much or be so broken up in my life. And that is saying a lot, as during our life together we have lost some very wonderful and important people (my Mom, his Grandma, my Grandpa). Would I go back and not have had him in our life, and not have this pain now? No, not for a second. I treasure the time we had Ari with us, and we will continue to keep him with us in thought and in our hearts forever. I have no doubt of that.




A trainer we consulted with when trying to make the decision of what to do said something that sticks out in my mind. She said "maybe you were meant to be his family." I think that is very true. For whatever reason, we were meant to love him and have him love us. And sadly, we were meant to make this decision and fulfill this responsibility of putting him to rest before something truly bad happened.




One last good memory, and unfortunately one we never got recorded, despite the many videos of him. J taught/encouraged him to howl because he thought it quite cute, which it was, though I was serious-Momma who didn't want to encourage "bad" behaviors. They got their routine down to a pretty good science: J would do air guitar and Ari would howl in response to it. Their own little band, kind of. ;)




So to my dear Ari Guitari, I hope there's a big red frisbee whereever you are now, and bones filled with peanut butter, and someone to kiss and cuddle until someday when hopefully me and your Papa can be with you again. Much love to our boy. Ari we miss you and we love you still and always will.






Wednesday, January 9, 2008

One year ago today...

Oh my, what a year can do. One year ago today I was working at Saratoga EOC with an amazing group of people, but I only had two days left. And they threw me a surprise baby shower! And I truly was surprised. Despite at a least a couple good clues, I remained clueless to their plans. It was much fun and they made me feel truly special. I miss them all!







We didn't know what was in that baby bump and little one was dubbed "Peanut" from early on. Those of you that know me know I love cake (and a multitude of other sweets!), so just imagine pregnant me and cake. YUM! ;)



And of course, here's a picture of just some of my glorious co-workers there (Lillian, Bonnie, Lynn, Alan, Theresa, and Lori):


There were lots of others and sadly I don't have pictures of everyone. So I'm blogging good thoughts to the good folks of EOC today, they work hard and are good people.


So, back to the "what a year can do" train of thought. A year ago...living in NY, me, J, Monkey, Paisley, Ari, Turtle, and a Peanut growing inside me. Now...living in MN, me, J, Grady, Monkey, Paisley, Turtle; J got out the military and got a job at a nuclear power plant in Monticello, MN. I left a job I loved to stay home with our little one. I resigned with about 3 months left to incubate Peanut so that J and I could have some time together to prepare for this next journey in our lives. Okay, it may not sound like much, but it has been quite a year. And it is strange to think back to life just one short year ago.


Of course, I've got to include a picture or 2 of what life today is like:

Yes, it is amazing what a year can do. The good and the bad, we take it all. Yes, there are things I'd change if I could, but that's not how life is and we all know it. So I sit typing, in my small way mourning the bad and celebrating the good. The pictures above certainly represent the good. I think that's a nice place to leave it for today. =)

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Momma's Helper

Ahhh, you maybe be thinking "who? Grady baby?" No, I refer to Miss Paisley:

Here she is laying in a pile of clean diapers while I try to fold them. What a kook. She did this to me the other day too only she layed on top of them, which really hindered the folding. ;)
And some of you may be thinking "fold diapers?! What the heck are you talking about?" Yes, we use cloth diapers. And though there are tons of cool new cloth diapering options out there, we are pretty old school and actually use flats (about 27" squares of cotton) and pins and then wool pants/wraps for covers. There really are fitted diapers and all-in-ones that are just as convenient for putting on as disposables. Alas, somehow we came to a place where flats seems to work the best for us. And little man's bum-bum doesn't touch all those chemicals and such. It is nice. We like it anyway.
Moving on, J had a sick say yesterday. =( Poor dude actually vomited. He hadn't vomited since he put an ax in his foot 2 days before our 5th anniversary. All those pain meds and antibiotics caught up with him on our anniversary and he was puking all over. At least we won't forget our 5th anniversary. HAHAHA. I think he is better today; he is off to work anyway and hasn't come back or called in agony, so I'm assuming his body is back on track now.
So I'm having fun with this blog thing even though we haven't shared it with anyone. Who knows when I will do so. It feels a bit pretentious to contact friends and family and say "here, we're blogging if you care to check it out." Almost like I'm assuming anyone would give a crud what is going on with us or what I think about things. If nothing else, maybe for the pictures of the Bugga. As a general rule, I have found people care a lot more when there's a wee one involved. ;)
Speaking of Bug, right now he is testing those precious lungs of his. Getting so loud! It's been quite a playful day around here with he and Paisley playing and licking (mostly Pai licking him, but I caught Grady mouthing her head too) and Paisley and Turdie chasing and wrestling around. Everyone is feeling playful, maybe I should join them...

Sunday, January 6, 2008

by the way...

About the blog title. I almost forgot. So it's not the best name, couldn't really come up with anything particularly good.

But we call Grady "Bug" or "Buggem" or "Bugga" most of the time; possibly more than we call him by his given name.

So hence Bugga's World, as we are all just part of his world now (around here anyway).

let's get going...

Okay, so I have resolved to blog. Not really a New Year's Resolution so much, since I don't really believe in that hooey. Just a way of recording some of our crazy life, since I don't often sit down with pen and paper these days. The laptop, on the other hand, is my near-constant companion in my life as a (dreaded words!) stay-at-home Mom.

So here you have it. The first post. Groundbreaking, huh?! And no one really knows we're here...or at least I don't think so because I don't know how all this works.

Briefly, I'll introduce the cast of characters around here:

Jeremy--the hubby, the Papa, the fixer-upper of most all things broken or needing improvements around here, one of the great joys in my life and also one of the great annoyances in my life. We've been married since 2000 and it is hard to believe but he still finds ways to surprise me and make me laugh almost daily.

Grady Boone--the son, little apple of our eyes (ahhh...the cliche version), the noise-maker, the drooler, the little giggler, the one that is changing it seems almost every moment. Born Friday, April 13th, 2007, this little guy has certainly shaken things up here at the Jackson household. He will probably be the most prominent feature of this little space.

And I cannot leave out the pets, I will go in order of when they joined the family.

Monkey--the queen, a little dilute tortoiseshell cat that J and I adopted just after Christmas 2000. The is kooky and sweet and tolerates all of the craziness quite well considering she probably still remembers life when it was just the three of us. Of course, she had a whole life before she joined us that we always wonder about...

Paisley--or PaiPai, Missy Pants, the ornery doggie girl that J and I adopted in early March 2005 just after we lost both my Mom Carol and another cat we were lucky enough to share our family with for a time (Baboo, we still miss you girl!). It was a hard time, to say the least, but Paisley's antics helped make it easier and gave me something else to focus on other than just the loss of my Mom (a loss so profound I can't really find many words to describe it, though I try from time to time). She is a good girl, but stubborn, and very cute. Loves her Papa so very much; Mama she could do without on most days. She just never gets rid of me long enough to miss me and appreciate me. That's what I tell myself anyway. ;)

Turtle--or just plain Turdie and that name really says it all. We brought little tiny kitten Turdie home in May 2006; a co-worker of mine at the time had found him in the woods near her house and he needed a home. Of course, being non-cat people and him being a tiny kitten, they thought him a "her" and named him Tiki. Might have been okay, but he proved an unruly sort so we traded that name in for Turtle with the fitting shortened version of Turdie. He is fat and believes himself part dog. Still rather ornery, but age has slowed him down a little at least. That and all the weight.

We recently had to say goodbye to our male dog Ari, a topic I'll probably touch on another time. Lots of tears, we still love and cherish our boy.

2007 was insane. Something I'll go into later at well. I meant for this to be short. Being concise is not a skill I have been able to master, as most anyone who has met me, talked with me, or exchanged emails with me, can tell you. So, in the spirit of trying--and of resolutions--I'll sign off for now.