Are you sure you're ready for us Memaw?!

Ahhh...if you should be packing, raise your hand! Or, how about this, if you should be doing just about anything else, raise your hand. ;)

J would like to think we'll be sitting in the car, backing out of the garage, and hitting the wide open road in about 2 hours.

Pshaw. J would like to think.

And by the same token, I'm sure J would like to think that his lovely wife is doing something--anything--to make that happen.

Pshaw. ;)

Unless blogging videos of the Bugga counts. Which I doubt.

What he doesn't know, won't hurt him. Especially since he's an even less loyal blog-viewer than you (whoever you are). He pretty much waits til I announce "I blogged today" and then he makes fun of how yucky that statement sounds and maybe checks it out. =)

Enough of that, I actually have gotten quite a bit done. I promise. I hadn't put up any videos of our wacky boy for quite some time though, so I felt it was time to share. The cabinet video is pretty recent (Tuesday night, I think, while I took Paisley to Rally class). The bathtime video is older, maybe a month or more, I can't remember and I'm too lazy to look. (Anyone notice a recurring theme?!) Thankfully, he has not made that kind of climbing part of his nightly bathtime routine...whew.

So, one way or another, the plan is that we will leave today for NE. We'll probably get in late and because we're taking a chance and driving while Bug will be awake, we'll probably be lucky to have our hearing and hair left on our wary heads. Wish us luck. ;)

Did I mention there was a dead insect in my coffee this morning? And that I simply removed it and drank anyway? It'll be that kind of day.

What can I say?!

I've been absent. Again. And no good excuse. Just haven't felt the blogging energy lately. Too lazy to wait for pictures to load. Plus, I'm trying to implement a new internet policy to cut down on my addiction (no internet while the Bug is awake).

WA was great, so much fun! I miss Lindsey and Brandon and little Daly man, one of the sweetest little pups I've ever met. I sure wish WA and MN weren't quite so far apart, much like I wish MN and many places weren't quite so far apart. ;)

And of course, I missed my boys and my furry little ones and the all the comforts of home. You can enjoy lots of places, but there is only one home. =)

A few pics to share today. Bugga running around eating an apple. Paisley waiting patiently for him to drop bits of said apple. HAHAHA. (You can see her new collarmania collar too a little, so CUTE.)

The Bug smiling and laughing as he hit my knee with his apple and made my reflexes pop. =)

The great climbing Bugga. This is window that is almost 2 feet over the lounger. He was determined to climb into the sill and sure enough, he did it. If Momma was the worry-wart she once was, my nerves would be shot. Good thing I've come to see just how resilient he is, hehe.

The day I came home from WA. Notice the scrapes above his right eye and the black eye (if you can see it). Bugga figured out the baby gate and took a tumble down the stairs the weekend I was gone. No, J wasn't being inattentive in any sense, the Bug is just really that fast.

I just liked this shot. He often starts out reading books with us as seen in the first picture. By the end, if he's tired, he looks more like this:

I have a kazillion photos I could share. I'm still as indecisive as ever though and that is another reason I haven't been blogging--I would have to decide which photos to use. ;)

This Friday we are taking the show on the road once again and heading to NE! J is being sent down to a nuclear plant in NE for a week of work. Most of the time, Bugga, Paisley and I will be with Jacksons in Superior, though we are joining J for some fun and swimming at the Lied Lodge during the final days of the week. And HOPEFULLY we will be getting to visit our amazing and lovely friend Beth, who we haven't seen in a year (time always flies and it always sucks)! We can't wait, so if you're reading this Betheleanie, we need to get our plans figured out because one way or another we will be tracking you down! =) WE LOVE YOU BETH!

Okay, so the Bug actually fell asleep for a nap. HUGE SHOCKER these days as it has seemed he was about to give up on naptime completely. I better grab some coffee and chilax (thank you Lindsey and Brandon for that lovely little word) for a bit. Glad to be back, though I can't promise this signals my return to blogging more regularly. ;)

A Big Girl Blog (i.e. no pictures)

So, I'm right back here again. I should be packing. Only I'm packing for 1 and you know that sounds so much easier than packing for 3 (plus dog)...but all that really does for me is make the procrastination stronger. (Notice I don't say "worse," I'm sick of looking at my procrastination as a negative...)

In an effort to limit myself, I am therefore not loading pics today.

And now I just want to give a big ol' cyber hug to anyone that read beyond that last line. {{Squeeze}} =)

In just over 24 hours I'm going to see my awesome friend Lindsey (and of course, our other friend Brandon, aka her fiance; oh and their little dog too). I am so excited! And over-analyzer that I am, I had to overthink and figure out why I am so excited.

Luckily, it came pretty easy. It is because of the caliber of friend that miss Lindsey is...she is just one of those people who I feel truly appreciates me for me. She weathered the transition to Motherhood with me, even though she doesn't have any kids. That's big! She listens to me talk about poop and sleep schedules and all the minutiae of parenthood without a hint of boredom and no eye rolling (unless she's just really good at hiding it all, which I suppose is possible when 95% of your interaction is by phone/email). Yet, at the same time, I did not become more interesting because I became a mother either, and I appreciate that just as much. That's the key--the fact that becoming a Mom basically didn't affect my friendship with her, didn't make it stronger or weaker--somehow that stands out because there are few relationships in my life that didn't swing one way or the other when the Bug came along.

Anyway, if you're reading Linds...know that I appreciate you for you too! Your generosity and humor, your limited diet (hahahaha, I have to tease), and all the other wonderful details that make you you. Can't wait to see YOU! (And Brandon and your little dog too, hehe)

Okay, and the Bug update since I've mentioned him anyway. He's crazy. There's your update. ;)

And when I said before that he is into everything, I simply didn't understand what everthing was, I didn't even have a clue. =)

He is signing more. In his repertoire now are "more" (the old standby, his first sign, though he is using it a lot less now that he has others in his toolbelt), "eat," "please," "potty," and "book." We're working on "bath" and "drink" and "thank you." This changes almost daily as he picks new ones up and I decide to try to introduce more. Oh and we sign "I love you" a lot, but it is pretty complicated as far as hand positioning, so I'm not counting on that one any time soon.

OH and Mischief went to his potential new forever family yesterday for a trial visit!!! If all goes well, his adoption will become final on Monday. =) This worked out perfect, since I'm leaving for the weekend, that way J just has to worry about Bug, Paisley (who is generally easy-peasy) and the cats (who can generally be ignored, poor things). Anyway, last night was awful quiet without our little Mischievous. ;) Each dog in our house tends to get a theme song--here's a little insight if you ever wanted any huh?!--and his was taking Prince's little ditty "Delirious" and changing it to "MischievIOUS" (I know, that's not how it is spelled or correctly pronounced, but that's how we did it for the song's sake). "I get Mischievious...whenever I'm awake...d00-d00oo-doo...cause so much trouble you can hardly take it...doo-doooo-doo...."

Moving on, hopefully the visit is going well. The family he went to (not the pot-belly pig family, though that would have been funny) seemed like an awesome match for him, so I expect only good things. We're so happy for our little Needlenose (another nickname, said with love I promise).

Okay, gotta get to it. All this time, all this writing, and no pictures! So sorry! Next week, I promise. ;)

OH my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh...can't go with saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA tomorrow!!! Wishing you all the best lady because you deserve it!

And Happy Birthday Linds on Saturday, I'll be there to help blow out candles, YAY!

Good-bye July

Welp, tomorrow marks another month gone. I cannot believe it! I have been a horribly absent blogger this month. Can't think of anything outstanding to account for it either, just summer laziness I suppose. And maybe the fact that this guy is becoming such a little boy (read, not my baby anymore):

Ever since we got him some legos, it seems we can't get enough pictures of him playing with them. Seriously, we have folders and folders of legos pictures. It is ridiculous. I think it is because a) they are colorful and fun and b) we can't get over that he is actually old enough to play with them. This is one of my favorites though because it is so silly. He has started doing this little head-stand move, usually without his legos of course, but when he decided to do this and play with his legos simultaneously, well I couldn't resist. ;)

Here is a shot of that "adopt me" collar I mentioned before. There was a new application in on Mischief just the other day and, on paper at least, they seem like a great couple. They have pot-belly pigs and 7 acres--I can just see Mischief now, running around with pot-belly pigs, and chickens, and horses. HAHAHA. Doesn't it sound like fun! We'll see what comes of it anyway.

The other night we put Bug to bed, it seemed like a normal night. We sat in the rocking chair, cuddled with his fleece blanket made by Memaw, read some books, then laid him down for final snuggles and the tuck-in. Bingo-bango, easy-peasy, just like most any night. Then I headed off to shower and J headed downstairs with the dogs for a bit but forgot the monitor. So I went to check on him later and this is what I found:

=) My heart melted right then and there. I couldn't believe it! He crawled up in the rocking chair, pulled the blankets down and fell asleep. Oh my! The picture kind of sucks, but it was too precious to pass up (even though I generally loathe flash pictures).

Doesn't he look like a little boy now? Where did my baby go???

J captured this fun action shot of Bugga dumping his legos out while he sat on top of the trunk. ;) He is so silly. He likes to put the bucket of legos up on the trunk, then crawl up there and dump them out.


And, of course, a couple animal pictures to round out the post. ;)

OH, big news, for the first time EVER, we had a babysitter this last Saturday!!!! Woa! Interestingly though, we can't say that it was some amazing thing to be without him; if anything, we kind of missed him. We didn't do anything that special, we wanted to keep it short and something we could leave easily if we needed to, so we just did some shopping and supper. In the end, I think we decided that most of the time, we do fine with our alone time at home after the Bug hits the hay each night. It is nice to at least have the option of a babysitter though.

Anyway, Bug did AWESOME. He didn't even make his little 14-year-old sitter change a dirty dipe! She took him potty about every hour and he used the potty like a big boy. YAY! She said he got just a little whiney about a half hour after we left, but otherwise did great.

Happy New Month to everyone! I can't promise I'll be any better about posting in August. I head to WA Friday, August 8th and return early the following Tuesday morning. I'll be visiting our wonderful friends Lindsey and Brandon! =) Indecisive gals that we are, Lindsey and I decided we really needed to get together and get the whole bridesmaid dress issue resolved. ;) Plus, Saturday is her birthday, so it was perfect timing. Ahhh...I remember her birthday 2 years ago too, right after we found out a certain little one was on his way. =) This trip will be a bit different no doubt. ;)

Buggarillio just woke up from his nap, better go entertain him. He's getting to be quite the little destructive force if left to his own devices. =)

This, That, and Everything Else

Okay folks, due to my lack of posting lately, this post is going to be all over the map. I swear I'm not ADD, it's just going to seem that way for a bit. ;)

Life at Chez Jackson is going well. Bugga grows ever more entertaining by the day, which also translates to--depending on his mood--ever more exhausting for Momma and Papa, but boy is he cute. Good thing too. ;) He has recently decided naps are not so cool, which is...uh...interesting. He's developing some pretty adorable antics, though as I keep typing and deleting, I am realizing they are hard to describe with the written word. Oh well, I suppose most of you will trust me when I say he is a cutie and we get lots of chuckles out of him each and every day. =)

Check out the nekkie lego time...he is ALL boy. ;)



The Mischief man is growing, both in size and in skills needed to make him a tolerable member of any family. ;) HAHAHA. In many ways, he lives up to his name, but with a renewed dedication to training and positive guidance, he is really starting to shine. The great part is that he has shown he is just as willing to work as we are, so it has been a human-canine joint effort for sure. We are proud of our little Mischievous! Now, if only the perfect family would step up to the plate for this little guy...we know they're out there. ;)

You can't see it in this picture, but he has the cutest little collar that says "ADOPT ME" in embroidered letters. We really need to take it out for a spin in public (he has only had it about one week).

And now back to the Bugga Boone. This is just a funny shot of him on the toilet, because we really do enjoy being ever so slighly inappropriate. ;)


I had this whole big thing written up about his success in leaving his bodily deposits in the toilet and how we have practiced elimination communication (or natural infant hygiene or whatever you want to call it) since birth and how we really believe it has merit...and then I realized that very few, if any, of the people reading this blog give a toot when it comes to our son's bathroom habits (give a toot, haha; okay that little funny might have been just for me). BUT, in case there is anyone out there who is even mildly curious, I'll throw a couple links out there: Natural Infant Hygiene (an article by Ingrid Bauer), Diaper Free! (book by Ingrid Bauer; very good read), Dare to Bare (an op-ed by Meredith E. Small; gotta love that title).

Anyway, because Grady has been doing so great lately with using the toilet, we thought it was high time we got him some cloth trainers. It is hard to see, but the one he is wearing below is brown with little bugs all over it, so cute. =) We figured trainers he can pull up and down will make potty breaks so much easier, since we won't have to lay him down and unpin his flat and then go to the toilet. We only have 2 though, so much of the time, we'll still be using his flats. Today though, he only messed ONE diaper, which was awesome! No, not every day is quite so awesome, but still, we're happy we've been ECing him since birth and it really seems to have paid off.


Okay, back to non-toilet related Bugga news...actually, we go back in time here. I told you I'd be all over the map. ;) Here are Bugga and his Papa at a 4th of July parade. Bugga had the best seat in the house, of course, and he sure seemed to enjoy it.

We thought that this year, Bug was old enough to enjoy the 4th of July and fireworks and such. Ooops! Boy, were we wrong! Deliberately keeping him up past his bedtime was our downfall. We've done it before, every now and again, but that night was pretty bad. He was overstimulated to the max and cranky and we actually ended up bailing on our claimed spot to watch the show just minutes before they started. Oh well, there's always next year!

Finally, to wrap it up, a picture of Miss Paisley herself getting a healthy dose of the Bugga love. ;)


His hugs for the pets tend to look like this: him draped over them while they try to figure out what is going on. =) It really is precious. He LOVES the animals so much, it is impossible to imagine our life without all of them. True, it is a zoo around here much of the time, but wouldn't life be boring if it weren't?! Hehehe.

So, that's the sporadic update for now. Seems July will be over before we know it and then Momma is taking off for WA by herself! Can you believe it?! Yup, more on that later. Until then, au revoir.

ps~not sure what is up with all my french references today; guess it is just part of the ADD fun. ;)

Flora and Fauna

I'm finally off my keester to bring you this photo of the GORGEOUS floral arrangement that J's parents had delivered to us on our anniversary. =) Complete with purple daisies which always remind me of our wedding.



Here you can see our "wedding jar." J got it for us when he was stationed in South Carolina before our wedding. 51 weeks out of the year, it faces the other way and has a similar design with no words; the week of our anniversary it gets turned so that our names and wedding date show.


True to form for us, we didn't really do anythings pecial that day though, so when Linda asked the question "Did you do anything special?" my answer was "yeah, we got your flowers." ;)

THANK YOU again Danny and Linda! It has been wonderful having such cheery flowers in the house this week.

On to the fauna portion of this post. ;) Earlier this week, after Bug was in bed, I was letting the dogs go potty and Paisley suddenly reared up on her hind legs and let out a kind of strange, low growly sound. I followed her line of sight and this is what I saw:

Momma and Baby Deer were back! It was so fun to watch them, and to watch Momma watch me to make sure I wasn't going to do anything crazy. ;)

Not only was it cool to see, but it turned out to be an interesting lesson in the fallacy of the naked eye sometimes. I could have sworn that Momma and Baby were inside our fence line, there was pretty much no doubt in my mind actually. Then, the next day when J and I put the pictures on the computer and began inspecting them, it became clear that I was wrong. Just an interesting reminder that we can't necessarily believe everything we "see."

And then there was this guy. ;) Another Blanding's Turtle, or at least I'm pretty sure. Wasn't your garden variety paint, that's for sure.

Of course, we can't forget this animal. ;)



More teeth have finally come through! Whew! And he's getting closer to talking, at least I have sensed a change in his babbling. The noises coming out of his mouth are taking on a more purposeful tone. A woman at the store yesterday informed me that she wasn't surprised he wasn't talking yet, since clearly "his Momma talks for him." =( Hmmm...interesting assessment lady.

Anyway, I consider him to be a toddler these days, talking or not. So much going on for little Bug. =) He is at that age where he is infinately comical, infinately exhausting (haha), and infinately adorable--quite often all at the same time. ;)

Last, but not least, the doggie update. Pumba went to his new family, his hopefully forever home (though I think I learned my lesson about declaring that too early), last Wednesday, July 2nd. It was so bittersweet--we were very happy for him, but we still miss him. He is such a wonderful dog! Ultimately, we told ourselves it would be selfish to keep him to ourselves; we had to spread the Pumba love. HAHA. We hope to get updates from his new Momma. She has big plans for this boy, aside from the good life with 4 kiddos and another dog in the house, she has started him in obedience and hopes to get his Canine Good Citizen and possibly even a therapy dog certificate. Go Pumba! We know he can do it!

We still have a foster dog though:

Can't you just hear Mischief's confident declaration here? "I'm back!" The day after Pumba moved on, this guy was back. The search is on again for a forever home for this little guy. He is such a pup...whew...I'll leave it at that. He's coming along though and definitely keeping things interesting around here. =)

So that's that. A summary of the happenings at the Jackson house. Riveting I'm sure. ;) Happy weekend to all. Off for playtime, coffee, and maybe snuggles, if I'm really lucky. =)

Bugga and his truck...

Bug and his tonka have been having lots of fun rides in the yard. We have a great hill for just such activity. ;)

Excuse the size of the photos today; I must have had it set to small or something and didn't realize it. And I am far too lazy to go back and load them again. =) No one is surprised by that, right?!

You might be able to click to see a larger image if you would like.


We tried to hook a dog lead up to the tonka and get Mischief or Paisley to pull him. We tried. ;) They were not interested in a pulling him around the yard, much to our dismay.

So Papa decided to use the handy lead himself.

A quick THANK YOU to everyone who sent us anniversary wishes, you were all so sweet to remember us and J's sweet Aunt Kim, who is so on top of all the dates, was nice enough to post well wishes on the family website. =) OH...and I can't forget J's parents, who sent beautiful flowers! We hadn't had fresh flowers in this house yet--how sad is that?! They are still going strong and I'm going to try to get a picture up of the beautiful arrangement soon.

Welp, it is hot and humid today and it is seeming like an "inside" day. Yuck. BUT, we got a free grill on freecycle the other day, so at least we know what we're doing for supper (and that we won't be heating the house). ;)

Wishing everyone a great weekend!