Rainbows

Every morning is sooooo exciting to Jadon! The morning sun shines right into our stairway window, and onto our entryway chandleier. As it does that, it casts little rainbows all over the walls upstairs. Jadon discovered those rainbows the other day, and apparently its the most exciting thing since sliced bread!! He runs around upstairs pointing to each of the rainbows, then makes a noise like "oooooooh!"

Thankful Today and Everyday

So last night, I was preparing to make dinner. I decided to make spaghetti and homemade meatballs. I had never done meatballs before, and thought it would be a nice addition to the normally boring dish of plain old spaghetti and sauce. I pulled a pound of beef (actually I only use ground turkey, not beef) out of the freezer, and popped it in the microwave for 5 minutes on defrost, then went about other business getting a pan ready, a bowl for mixing the meatballs, etc. The microwave suddenly stopped and I thought it was the fastest 5 minutes ever! But the microwave didnt beep like it does when the time runs out, letting you know its finished. I looked at the microwave, it was dead. My first thought was that the power went out... but no, the music was still playing on my laptop, the TV was still going... I had Baby Einstein on the DVD player for Jadon (he LOVES it! he says "Eye sty" everytime he wants to watch it... also its a good distraction while im busy in the kitchen). Everything seemed to be in working order. So I checked the cord to make sure the microwave was still plugged in. It was. I pressed buttons.... nothing. Opened it, closed it, unplugged, then plugged back in.... still nothing. It appears as though the thing just quit.

So, after 5 years, almost to the day, our wedding gift microwave died on us. Tonight we'll be heading to town to find a new one! There's not really a point to this story, other than to say how thankful I am for the little things that are almost always overlooked in life... like a working microwave. This morning I had to boil water on the stove for my coffee and Jadon's oatmeal. It was only slightly more inconvenient, but quite a bit slower. Last night Derek had to eat a luke-warm dinner when he got home from work, which bothered me much more than it bothered him. Its the little things that get used everyday that we take for granted.

So, with that said, id like to say that today (and everyday) im thankful for a microwave, stove, refrigerator, my laptop, tv, lights, running water, a heater, an a/c unit.... all of these things are essentially luxuries that are overlooked until we have to endure an hour or a day or two without them...funny how it feels like the world is coming to an end when we have to live without one of these things for just a short time.

Curious George

So the other day, I think it was saturday, Jadon was in the living room playing while I finished eating my lunch. He was being a good boy, and I kept peeking my head over the couch to see what he was doing. Well, after awhile, he got really quiet, so I peeked my head over the couch again and he was sitting on the floor playing. I couldnt see what he was playing with, but he wasnt getting into anything, and the only thing in the living room within reach (that I thought) was his toys. Couple minutes passed, and he was still super quiet (very rare when we're at home), so I again peeked over the couch, but this time I stood up so I could see the whole room and see what he was playing with that was so intriguing. It was like slow motion when I stood up: first I saw his head, then his shoulders, then chest... oh wait, theres an arm going up in the air with a kleenex on it... oh no!!! Slow motion continued as the rest of the room and floor came into view. Sure enough, he had gotten ahold of an almost full box of kleenex and pulled out every single sheet! I couldnt get mad at him though, he's just curious and didnt know that he isnt supposed to do that. Time to move things to higher locations though.... he is just getting too tall!!!

Here's a video of him putting the kleenex back into the box after he pulled them all out... very cute! He's easily amused! ;)

Horray for Derek!!

So I'm very pleased and proud to announce that Derek got a new job! Still with the hospital, but now instead of working on desktop support he'll be working with servers and stuff. Its a slight raise, and he'll be able to work his way up the ladder in this job much easier than at his current job.
I am so happy and proud of him (as I always am!) :)

In other news, this week Jadon and I learned sign language for things around the house- kitchen, family room, bathroom, sink, refrigerator, stove, sofa, rug, tv, table, toilet, bathtub, shower. Plus, we check out Baby Einstein dvd's from the library and the one we recently checked out has some sign language in it as well... so from that we have learned- driveway, sidewalk, garden, playing field, playground, trail, school, library, bank. There are many more on that dvd, but I cant remember them. I am only listing the ones that I can remember. I am really enjoying learning sign language... its amazing to me that people can actually communicate by using sign language! Its supposed to be really good for kids too, and help with tantrums and frustrations. So far Jadon hasnt picked up on anything, but we've only been doing it for a few weeks, and so far he just watches intently.

Dancing Baby

This was the cutest thing ever!

Derek, Jadon and I were at the mall the other day, and we were walking by a store that had really loud music and Jadon was holding Daddy's hand while we were walking. So when we walked by this store with the loud music, Jadon suddenly stops dead in his tracks, so Derek and I stop to see why Jadon stopped. Well, it turns out he had to bust-a-move to the music! He heard the music so he stopped what he was doing and started dancing! :) It was really cute!

And once again i'm reminded of what an adorible son I have!

Talking Jadon

So, I won't be adding to Jadon's word list anymore. Starting late last week, he has started repeating many words that we say... (all done, arm, ouchie, etc.) so I am expecting that his talking will really begin to take off now! Its really exciting! Derek just mentioned a few days ago how he can't imagine Jadon having conversations with us! It will be really weird, thats for sure!

I hope he learns to call me mommy or mama someday soon though! Apparently right now he thinks I am a dada! So, both Derek and I are Dada. He can say mama, but it means either "more please" or "water". Oh, and Jadon calls himself dada also, only it sounds just ever so subtly different than the dada he calls me or Derek.

We have also been learning some sign language. (well, ive been learning it, Jadon just watches it) PBS has a show called Signing Time, and we like to watch that! Last week we learned lots of colors- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, black, brown, white, silver, gold. A few others we learned from the show are: crayons, broken, new, great, look... I can't think of anymore at the moment.

Teething pain (for the parents!)

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days... Jadon's getting his eye teeth, and anytime he is teething his sleep patterns get totally screwed up. So all week long he has been going to bed at his usual time 8:30pm. But then he's been waking up at about 11-11:30pm every night, and not wanting to go back to sleep until after 3am. With that said, mommy and daddy dont usually go to bed until about 10:30-11pm! So, since Jadon's not going to back to sleep until after 3am, he usually sleeps until 8:30 or 9am the next morning, which is good, but still doesnt give him enough sleep for the night, and not enough sleep for mama either! Needless to say, i've been napping in the afternoon when Jadon naps to try to make up for lost sleep.

Good news though, last night he went to bed at 8:30am, woke up about 7am, so I went and got him and brought him in my bed to warm him up.... ok, so thats a partial lie.... I love to cuddle with him in the morning! :) So he fell asleep again in bed with me until 9am!!! Horray!!! We all got a GOOD nights sleep and made up for lost sleep in the last few days! I wont get my hopes up though... he will sometimes have a few bad nights, then a good night, then another few bad nights.

Derek has next week off for our anniversary (5 years!!!!) so I am hoping Jadon gets back on schedule because we have alot planned for that week!