It's Here! The Baby Bracket Is HERE!!!!

The annual baby bracket is here! My brother Nick & his wife, Laura, have set up the baby naming bracket for their latest addition due this April. Now, for those of you who have not played before, you MUST get in on this! Last time they had a baby, I think they had over 60 people playing and a huge amount of them they didn't even know. This is the best Reese tradition! Here is the letter from my brother which explains how to play. You need to register on the website, but don't worry, you won't get spam as he runs the website:


Hello my friends,

After two great years of baby brackets in 2006 and 2007, we were all disappointed when the 2008 Baby Bracket was canceled last year due to lack of funding, declining ratings, and of course, no baby. But thanks to a recent bailout from Congress, the completion of the Large Hadron Collider, and of course, a baby, I am happy to announce the commencement of the 2009 Great Reese Baby Bracket. Commence, you bracket, commence!

For our new players, the game goes like this: 64 boy names have been chosen by me and Laura as our potential pool of names. Names face off in pairs, with the name we prefer going on to the next round to face off with yet another name, so on and so forth until we get to the end and have picked the name of the baby. You make your picks of what names you think will win, and the person who gets the most picks right will be crowned The Supreme Baby Bracket Winner of All Time. At least, until 2010 when the next baby comes along.

This year, rather than filling out those dreadful excel spreadsheets and me grading them by hand, everything has been automated and put on the web. The website interface is a little tricky at first, but just read the instructions and you should have no problem. If you do, let me know and I'll do whatever I can to help.

The baby bracket is here:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=307965

Click the "Predict It!" link above the bracket to get started. It will give you the instructions you need to play. Please note, if you played the Xmas Madness bracket you can use the same login and password.

The bracket closes for submissions midnight, March 8. Feel free to send this to your family and friends, as we'd love to get as many players this year as we can (especially now that I don't have to do all the scoring). Have fun, and good luck!

Nick

Well, the house we wanted to rent got scooped up by someone else, so we are back to square one on house hunting. I am exhausted and frustrated from it. Every time I find something we like, it gets rented. At least we don't have to be out immediately as the house we are in right now won't be auctioned off until May 22nd. Thanks Landlords for not paying your mortgage! You rock!

Jack is so happy having Soldier here. He's still calling him a dog and telling him no, but he is very gentle with the kitty. Soldier is also very tolerant of Jack. I'm sure no matter how soft Jack pets him, it still has to hurt because he doesn't understand his own strength. But Soldier will lie there and take it. They are so sweet together; It's going to break my heart when we have to give Soldier back to Antoinette. Oh, did you know that my head makes a fantastic cat pillow? Yeah, it's true! I practically suffocated last night because a certain feline found my face to be the most comfy spot in a 1,400 square foot house.

Jack and I are going to bake cupcakes today. That always cheers us up!

Big Trouble in Little Bend

My friend, Antoinette, has gone out of town for a week, so she asked us if we would kitty sit for her. Of course our answer was yes, as we absolutely adore her cat, Soldier! I just picked him up this morning and already he's made our house his castle. Jack is having so much fun following him and pointing at him saying, "Dog! Dog! No! No! Dog! No! Dog!" I'm not sure if he is saying "Mother dearest, that animal is not a dog. What is it?" or if he's saying, "You there, Dog! Stop walking away from me! I want to grab your tail!" Either way, those two boys have become fast friends and are getting along wonderfully.

Antoinette joined the army on Friday, and she will be leaving for 5 months of training in June. So, we have agreed to take her kitty in while she is off in North Carolina for training. It will be good practice for Jack so one day he can have his own kitty cat. Poor Soldier, I shouldn't refer to him as the "practice pet".

I spoke to Desert Orthopedics this morning, and Jack has an appointment on March 9th for his legs. They have numerous doctors but the only pediatric doctor in their office is out of town until then, so it looks like we have a little wait. Ugh, I hate waiting. And then, I barely could hear the girl on the phone because Jack was screaming "Dog" the entire time in my ear.

Soldier just got himself behind the dryer. I have to go retrieve the practice pet now. This is why I can't have more children. I can barely keep track of my toddler and a cat. Grumble...

Martha Stewart

That Martha Stewart... is there anything that woman can't do? Since I don't work today, I am whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I'm trying a different recipe from the one I did before, and already the batter looks and tastes better. Did you know she has like, 50 different chocolate chip cookie recipes on her website? She's amazing. 

After Babycakes takes his nap, we are going to go to Target to pick up sheets for his new bed. They carry the Cars sheet set so of course we have to get it to go with the Cars theme. So, his room is a Cars/Pirate theme, which you wouldn't think would look right, but it actually looks pretty good! I think if we put a pirate hat on Lightening McQueen (the car), it'll really bring the room together.

Kevin and I have been looking at like, a million place to move to. There are so many rentals in this town and at really good rates. The town house we originally wanted to rent ended up not being as glorious as we had hoped. It was really small and I think the property management company exaggerated on the square footage. We did find an adorable 2 bedroom + den, 2 bath, 2 car garage house not far from where we are now. It's single story, new, and just the right size for us. We are going to apply for it on Monday. If we get it, then the den can be a play room for Jack so we won't have to have the tent, easel, and other big toys in the middle of our living room. 

Oh! Cookies are done! 

Bow Legged Baby

Today Jack had his doctor's appointment. We found a new doctor at the same clinic who is a billion times better then the first doctor we went to there. Her name is Dr. Steiner and she was amazing! She looks around my age but was super knowledgeable and smart, and got along wonderfully with Jack. Her nurse was amazing, too. She gave Jack his immunizations and was the fastest nurse I've ever seen! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! All done! She should enter an immunization contest.

Jack is 31 pounds, 9 ounces. I thought for sure he weighed more then that. He scored 90th percentile in weight and was off the charts in height. The doc says he is proportionate and a good sturdy boy. She was impressed that he can say 11 words, and he even said "Oh no!" and "Door" for her. So far these are the words he can say: Mama, Dada, Pippa, Dog, Ball, Door, Oh No!, No, Yes, Truck, & Yeah.

In regards to his hitting, she gave me a few hints on proper disciplining to try out. Then Jack went over to her and slapped her. I just about died. She was a good sport and gave him a chat. You could tell he understood because he frowned and looked really sorry. Then again, he probably was tricking her to make her think he was sorry but really wasn't. That boy has more moves then Elvis.

As many of you have read, I've been so worried about my baby's big feet. The doctor checked them out and assured me there was nothing to worry about. She said most babies have feet that grow wider instead of longer for a few years and have large insteps. She said it was natural and she doesn't know why shoe companies don't make shoes that fit the majority of toddlers. She said for now he can just go bare foot and for me to not worry another second about his big feet. You know what they say about a boy and big feet.... he has to have big shoes!

The only thing she is concerned about is his right leg. Ever since he started walking, he's always been bow legged. His left leg has straightened up, but the right one is very curvy. She has referred me to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and Jack will be meeting with him next week. She said not to worry for now as it could be nothing. So, I'll let you know how that goes next week.

On our way out, I was at the check out desk. When I had finished, I turned around and everyone was looking at Jack and laughing. Apparently, he took off his four Band-Aids from the shots and was quietly placing them on the floor while looking at me to make sure I didn't catch him taking them off. When I looked at him, I said, "JACK! What are you doing!?" and he made an "O" with his mouth and hid the Band-Aids from me (more like picked them up and threw them hoping I wouldn't notice). So cute!

Lightening McQueen

My mom and I were at Costco yesterday having lunch. I walked her past the Cars bed we wanted for Jack but couldn't afford $450 for it. Well, guess what... it's on sale for $299. So, I've cancelled the other bed we ordered and we're splitting the cost of the bed. She made a good point that the other bed was too small and he'd grow out of it in a year or two, whereas this one would last until he's 12, and it has a trundle for storage. We pick it up today at 5:15pm!

Silk Vanilla Soy Milk

"Mommy! Put down that camera and follow me!"

Whenever I go shopping, I buy two kinds of milk: Whole cow's milk for the boys, and delicious Silk soy milk for me. Yesterday we had run out of whole milk so I gave Jack a glass of the soy and oh my goodness! That kid sucked it down like it was a Dr. Pepper on a hot July afternoon. Jack absolutely loves soy milk! So last night when I went to the store, I picked up a few varieties of the soy milk and this morning he tried the vanilla soy and loved it. He keeps grabbing my hand and taking me to the refrigerator for more. I even tricked Kevin into having soy milk. Last night at dinner he told me the mac & cheese was the best he's ever had. It wasn't until he ate most of it did I tell him the secret ingredient was soy milk. He didn't look to disappointed... I wonder if I can trick him into soy bacon.

Jack is such a ham. Every time he sees the camera he poses for it. He reminds me of me. =) These are from around 8:45am this morning.

Chocolate Chip Cookies VS Sugar Cookies

I just finished cleaning house, so, now the biggest dilemma I have today is whether to make chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies. I love being a stay-at-home-mom.

We spent the day yesterday at Laura's house. Jack had an attitude the entire time. Here are pictures of him glaring at me and having a tantrum because we wouldn't let him stick 25 blueberries in his mouth at once. He did, however, get an entire PB&J sandwich stuffed in his face before we could stop him. He gets like that when other kids are around. I think he thinks they are going to steal his food so he stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. Then, he grabbed William's sandwich and attempted to shove that in his mouth at the same time he was choking down his own sandwich. When he was unsuccessful in that, he got really mad.

While typing this he unrolled all of the toilet paper in the bathroom, unrolled half a roll of tape in the tape dispenser, and locked himself in the pantry. I think it's nap time now... yeah, that's it, nap time.

Play Date Part Deux!

Last week we decided to have Pip and Will come here for a play date while Laura got to go out and run errands. Thank God I had my mother there because I fell asleep on the floor while playing with the kids. Then, Jack dropped a flashlight on my head to wake me up. He also smacked Will in the head with the flashlight, but that's ok, because Pippa took his toy and put him in the "naughty spot". She's a much better mother then me.

Somewhere in that mess of kids is Laura

Pippa explaining to me why I should wake up and play with her.

That's Will with Kevin's motorcycle jacket. He wants to be just like Uncle Kevin and ride fast motorcycles!

Don't tell Grandma Beautiful we use cheap hair brushes!!!

You're Never Too Small To Love

Jack getting ready to take his mama to The Pancake House

Yesterday was an awesome Valentine's Day! The boys took me to the Pancake House which is my favorite breakfast joint (not to be confused with IHOP, two totally different places!). Afterwards, we went to Old Navy and bought Jack a ball with monsters on it and some new clothes for when he gets bigger. That place has the best prices in the sales department! We got him a St. Patrick's Day shirt for $5! And his new ball was on sale for $2! The boys also bought me a shirt for $5. Even the Goodwill is more expensive then that!

We all exchanged gifts when we got home. We got Kevin a bottle of tequila and a bottle of rum. We don't ever have hard alcohol in the house so we thought it would be a nice treat for him. We also got him an iTunes giftcard and a corny stuffed animal. Kevin and I bought Jack a book called "You're Never Too Small To Love". His card was my favorite though. It's a pirate Valentine's Day card. I mean, seriously, how perfect is that? The boys got me my new shirt from Old Navy and some Bare Essentials makeup. Oooooh I love that stuff!

When I went to work last night, I found out they laid off several people. When I looked at the schedule for this coming week, I only have 5.5 hours. As I looked at my co-workers schedules, they too had their hours cut drastically, some not even on the schedule. The one time I have a babysitter and can work any hours is the one time they don't have the funds to work me. Thankfully, Kevin's job seems to be a bit more secure. He received employee of the month last week and got a nice little bonus. Still, one can never be too sure in this economy. 

Luckily the Ebay business is bringing in a little extra cash flow. I've had some good luck with buying items at the Goodwill and reselling them for a profit. And my tax return was nice and fat so we payed off a bunch of bills and got the cars serviced and the truck registered (yeah, that's been past due for a while). Part of me doesn't want to marry Kevin because I get an additional $1500 for being a "single" parent! 

Below are some pictures of Jack's latest art. Hope you enjoy them!

This is the two paintings he did for Aunt Jessica and my mom for Valentine's Day. The blue one on the left is entitled "Oh No!" which is for my mama. The green one on the right is entitled "Door" for Aunt Jessica. 

Jack's masterpiece on the chalkboard.

Happy 2nd Valentine's Day, Baby Cakes!

Picture care of GrAuntie Michele!

Today is Jack's second Valentine's Day. We are going to the Pancake House for breakfast, followed by running a few errands until I have to go to work. I have loads of pictures I need to upload on my next day off so stay tuned for those.

We hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day today! And do you know what we love best about this day? The super sales that will go down tomorrow on Valentine's stuff! Yay for sales!!!

Yeah, My Baby Is Spoiled... So What?

Kevin and I cracked and got Jack the Lightening McQueen race car bed from the movie Cars. It's not the Costco one ($400 is a bit steep!) but it's still really nice and 1/4 of the price. It will get here around the 27th as we had to order it, but with free shipping, who cares, right?

I can't wait for it to get here. Jack will absolutely go nuts when he sees it!

Happy Feet

Jack does a little thing I like to call Happy Feet. It's his own little way of dancing that is the sweetest thing you've ever seen. So the other night, in celebration of Jack's feet, we decided to watch the movie, Happy Feet.

So, we're sitting there watching it and Jack is doing his dance to the music. Then we get to the part of the movie where the seal tries to eat Mumble the penguin. Jack gets this look of terror on his face and says, "Oh no!" Then, the seal tries to eat Mumble again, and Jack screams, "OH NO!" and runs over to cuddle me. Totally the cutest thing ever! Now every time something suspenceful happens, he looks at us, frowns, and says "Oh no!"

Yesterday it snowed and when I looked outside and frowned at my tot, he looked back at me and said, "Oh no..." I absolutely love it!

Here's a bunch of pictures I took of Jack the past three days. One of them he was watching Happy Feet, and the one where he's eating barbeque chicken wings shows the new table and chairs we just bought him.

My Sleeping Baby Won't Sleep

Last night around midnight, we went into Jack's room to check on him. His body was on the floor and his head was on his mattress. He looked so uncomfortable, so we moved him to his bed. Of course that woke him up and he cried his little eyes out. Kevin asked me to get some blankets and pillows so we could sleep on Jack's floor to keep him company. When I came back, we got all situated in our makeshift bed. Kevin tucked Jack into his bed, but no sooner did he do that did Jack grab onto him and cry. My sweet baby ended up falling asleep in Kevin's arms all night. Am I jealous? You bet I am.

So, I don't know what time it was when I had woken up. It was still dark out, so I'm guessing around 3am or 4am. I look over at Kevin and Jack is gone. So I look in Jack's bed and he isn't there. And then a rush of panic hits me. O...M...G..., Kevin is asleep on him. I start to freak out and am shaking Kevin whispering and screaming at him at the same time. Kevin wakes up and without moving says, "I'm not asleep on him." Yeah ok, then where is he? After more freak outs, Kevin finally wakes up and points to above his head. Jack is asleep horizontal to us flat against the wall on the floor. Not only did he look cold, he looked so uncomfortable. This time we let sleeping babies sleep, and just covered him up.

Last night was the worst night sleep any of us have ever had. If Jack wants to sleep upside down tonight, we are going to let him. I don't know if the house is too hot or too cold for him, or what keeps waking him up (aside from us last night). I say we put the crib back up, give him a bottle of milk, and turn him into a real baby again. Something tells me Kevin won't let that happen though. =)

Lucky Day!

Wow, this blog is going to be long. I've been writing it for several days and every time I have a random Jack moment, I blog it down. So, sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee (unless you're my friend Summer, then grab a cup of hot chocolate), and enjoy!

Update on the bed: Jack is loving his new freedom of being able to get out of bed and play with his toys in the morning while I sleep. The first night he got out of bed, ran to our room holding his big blue bunny, and decided to be monkey in the middle. He woke up twice last night crying so we brought him into our room again. I'm not sure if maybe he's rolling off his bed or what the problem is. I might sleep on his floor tonight so I can see what all the baby commotion is about. Other then that, he's doing well taking naps in it and going to bed at night. Getting him to stay there all night is the tricky part.

Jack learned a new word... Yay! He now can say "door", which will be the title of his latest painting he did for Aunt Jessica. Her walls are quite bare, and we felt they could use a toddler's touch. She will be receiving her gift on Valentine's Day, as well as my mom will receive the painting Jack did for her that is titled "NO!". We used a different kind of paint and canvas then the ones we did for Lisa and my dad. I'm not sure if I like it as much. It's easier to paint with, but much harder to clean up and it doesn't look quite the same. You'll see next week what I mean. Anyway, back to the "door" story (wow, I'm turning into my Grandma. I try to tell you the story about Jack's word "door" and I end up telling an entirely different story instead!"

Jack loves to close doors. We open all them so he can run around the house and shut them. I'm not sure why he enjoys it so much, but if it makes him happy, I'm happy. Except when he closes his fingers in the door, then I'm secretly happy on the inside because he runs to me crying and wants to be cuddled. Anyway, I was trying to use the bathroom the other night and since I didn't shut the door all of the way, Jack swung it wide open... Ah, mommy in all her glory! I hope he won't be traumatized when he's older. I'm naked a lot. Anyway, I said, "Jack! Shut the door!" and he said, "DOOR! DOOR!" and shut it. Now he knows how to say door. What an adorable boy.

I also have another funny story about someone mistaking me for a teenager. Twice in one week! Thank you Olay Moisturizer!

Ok, so I'm downsizing as many of you read before. I sold a ton of stuff on craigslist. Well, a woman shows up to pick up one of the items I sold her. The moment she steps out of her car, I recognize her as my co-worker's mom. He's 16 and a bag boy at my store and she picks him up every night he works. So, I go out to her car to greet her and say:

Me: "Hi! Oh my gosh! You're Austin's mom!"

The Mom: "Hi! Do you go to school with my son?"

O...M...G... She thinks I am in high school! So she may think I'm older then 16, but not over 18... I'll take it!

I explain to her that I work at Albertson's and we realize she didn't recognize me because I didn't have any makeup on. Both times I was mistaken for a teen I was not wearing makeup. So, the natural look makes me look younger? Hmmm, I'll have to experiment more with this thought. Although I prefer my face caked on with makeup, perhaps there's something to say for the natural look.

Ok, enough about me being full of myself. Back to the boy. Jack had a playdate at Laura's last week. Pippa is so adorable. I brought over McDonald's french fries for the kids. She kept calling them "chips" though (her mum is from England). I absolutley loved it! Shortly afterwards, she needed her nap, so it was just the boys and the moms. Aside from Jack throwing the Pepsi can at their couch, and screaming because he thinks it's hilarious (and I do too!), he was a pretty good guy. He didn't hit anyone which was a big thing! I put Will's hood up on him, which irritated Jack a whole bunch (see picture below) so he kept trying to pull it off of Will. Then, every time he tried, Will would go in for a "cuddle", which is the Reese word for hug. Jack isn't much for hugs, so he would push Will away. Then he'd go back to Will and the cycle would start all over.

My Baby Isn't A Baby Anymore

Jack's New Bed (Probably!)

While cleaning things out of the house yesterday, Kevin took it upon himself to take apart Jack's crib. I was like, ummmm, A) What are you doing? and B) Where is my baby going to sleep? Kevin's response is that Jack isn't a baby anymore, he's a toddler, and toddlers sleep in big boy beds. I laughed and told Kevin to have fun with that idea, and that if he wants Jack in his big boy bed, it's up to him to get Jack to sleep in it.

Well, nap time came around and Kevin brought him into his room and tucked him into his bed. Of course, I sat in the other room smug as ever just knowing my baby will get out of bed and cry at his door for me. Kevin had a heart to heart talk with him before leaving Jack, and guess what... yeah, Jack went to sleep in his bed without a peep. I am so mad! I know, most mothers would be proud of their children behaving, but I thought for sure he would throw a fit. Ok, so maybe he was just tired. So I went to work and when I came home, Kevin told me he had put Jack in his big boy bed and for me to check on him. I went upstairs, confident that my baby would have fallen asleep on the floor next to his door because he would be crying for his mommy. Nope. Snug as a bug in a rug in his bed. What is he trying to do to me!?

So, I had a good cry over the crib incident. It served us well for 18 months and I am so sad that it is going back to GrAuntie Linda (She leant us her entire nursery bedroom set so we wouldn't have to buy one... saved us a TON of money!). I don't want my baby to grow up. It's breaking my heart! I'm trying hard to accept it, but it's not going so well. This whole growing up thing is so much harder on me then Jack. Jack could care less. Bottles? Cribs? Who needs that? He's a big boy with his big boy cups and his big boy bed.

So right now, we are in search for the perfect bed for Jack. I found some awesome pirate ship beds but they are $400 - $1600 and that is just ridiculous. We were at Costco and found a Cars bedroom set as well... which would cost $850. Yeah, I don't think so. Craigslist hasn't had anything too fabulous either. Walmart carries just ordinary toddler beds for $50 - $80, and we'll probably go for that.

Thanks For The Bunny!

Whoever bought Jack the big blue bunny last Easter, THANK YOU! I can't remember who it was from (I know it was either a Lynch or a Harrington). Jack sleeps with it every night and won't go to bed without his bunny.

The Rumors Are True...

Jack was voted the sexiest man alive by People Magazine, and I'll be playing Bella in the second Twilight movie. 

Downsizing

Since we are going to be moving in the next couple of weeks to a smaller home, I've made it my mission to downsize. Being that 90% of everything in this house is stuff that is mine, and 40% of that is just junk, I am dedicating the next 3 weeks to getting rid of that 40%. I started listing a bunch of stuff on ebay and craigslist today.

Some of the stuff I listed are things from when Jack was a baby. As I was looking at similar items that were for sale so I could come up with a good price, I realized that people spend way too much money on new babies. For example, I am selling a swing that we have. The swings on craigslist were going for $20 - $50. I went to Target. com to see how much they were brand new and they are $90 - $160. What!? That is insanity! It shocks me that someone would pay $160 for a swing when there are at least 10 - 15 of them in fantastic condition on craigslist for $20. Maybe it's just the frugal Reese side of me, or maybe it's the totally broke side of me speaking, but am I the only one who finds that to be outrageous? I'm just glad that when I was pregnant, everyone loved that little thing growing in my tummy and hooked me up with sweet hand-me-downs. I didn't buy anything for him the first 6 months!

Jack has over $1000 in his stock account waiting to be invested in the right stock. I'm thinking we should invest that money in baby products like Graco and Fisher Price, because apparently, that's what all these crazy mom's are receiving as baby shower gifts.

Exhausted

Today Aunt Jessica and I took Jack to the library. Why is that his favorite place? Because he loves to pull the books off the shelves and scream at random people in the quiet area. It's ok though because everyone thought he was so cute.

After that, we went for a walk. Jack loves downtown because his screams echo throughout the streets. So of course, he had to scream non-stop. A very nice homeless man encouraged Jack's happy noises, probably because it's the first time he's met someone who can out-scream him.

But none of that compared to the fun we had at the Goodwill, one of my favorite places to shop! Jack had a ball pulling clothes off the rack. This woman who was 33 years old (you'll figure out how I knew her age) came up to me and here was our conversation  (edited out the boring parts):

Lady: "Oh he's so cute! How old is he? 9 months? 10 months?"

Me: "Umm, no, he's 18 months."

Lady: "Oh my gosh! I didn't realize that. I remember when mine was that age."

Me: "Oh? How old is your son now?"

Lady: "18."

Me: "WHOE! Really? You look amazing!"

Lady: "I had him when I was 15. You're a young mother, too... 16?"

Yeah, she thought I was a teenage mother, God bess her.

Me: "No, I'm 26."

Lady: "OH!"

Needless to say, I did not ask her for the winning loto numbers. Guessing games are not her forte.

After the Goodwill we took our friend, Antoinette to work followed by a trip to Cost Plus World Market and Trader Joes. Luckily Aunt Jessica was there to entertain Jack. He was very grouchy after 5 hours of shopping. I was, too. I even took a nap after today's extravaganzas. 

Hmmm....

Caught in the act!

Lately we've noticed Jack has a real passion for cleaning up his mess and organizing his toys. He doesn't like anything to be where it is suppose to be though.

Example 1: We have a drawer that is for Jack's legos. We found all of his legos under the desk and on the bookcase, however. When I picked them all up and put them in the drawer, he went right back to it and took them all out and did it again.

Example 2: Jack loves to put toys on the other side of the baby gate at the bottom of our stairs. Then he likes to cry because he can't reach them.

I can't explain why my little cowboy does what he does, but it's so adorable.