Hello, Weekend Off!

Well, I worked Friday night and Saturday morning, but I don't have anything to do until Tuesday morning!

• Saturday, one of my besties came up from Ohio to see me and Jude before heading home for Spring Break.
• We hung out with Jude and he loved playing with her.
• We went to the bar and had some jolly good times.
• Sunday, she was still here and went with me to get tattoo #4!

"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better, it's not"
From "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss.

• We also went out for some OPA! and gyros. 
• Played with Jude some more, of course. 
• I love Kelsey and the best friend time I get to sometimes have with her. 
• Monday (tomorrow, the future!) I don't have to work so I'm going to hang out with Jude. We're going to go see "Gnomeo & Juliet" and it'll be his first time at the theatre so hopefully he'll behave. We'll go early when hopefully not many people will be there, just in case he is a menace. Who knows, maybe we'll do some shopping too. 

School started today.
I work. A lot.
I don't make enough tip-money on a daily basis, but at least I'm making money.
Jude can count. To 2.
We were at Target and they had Yo Gabba Gabba! underpants. He saw the Yo Gabba Gabba characters and started going "Yo! Yo! Yooo!" so I bought them for him. He was very happy and kept going "Yooo!" throughout the store. He's going to need them eventually anyway. :P
He was sick again at the end of last week. :( The flu and whatnot. It was messy, to say the least.
That's all I've got. I think. I'm not all that exciting.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving yesterday was spent at my Aunt Kathy's house with my dad's side of the family (all my aunt's, uncle's, cousins, and grandparents). Dinner was tasty. Jude was shy at first. My grandma brought back gifts from Disney (a shirt and Toy Story cars for Jude, an antenna topper for me, and a Mickey pepper grinder for everyone). We chatted. We played euchre and Wii games. All the cousins drew names out of a hat bag for Secret Santa gifts, which I organized. It was good, quality family time that really never gets old. I didn't take pictures for some reason, I just got caught in the moment and didn't think about my camera. Hopefully I won't do that when Christmas time rolls around.
When I was younger I never really understood the "being thankful" for something aspect of Thanksgiving. I'm not sure why, maybe because I just wasn't mature enough to grasp the concept or something, who knows. This year I was am very thankful for lots of things:

1. My super adorable son who gives me a reason to live, work, laugh, love, breathe... I think you get the point. 
2. My family for being so supportive of me by letting me live at home, paying my bills when I am strapped for cash, watching Jude so I can work and go to school, understanding that sometimes I just need to get away, and being awesome. That's right, my family is awesome. Deal with it.
3. Zak, my best friend. He's willing to talk with my about literally everything, and we do talk about everything. Some things we talk about, I'm fairly certain no one else can understand. He adores Jude almost as much as I do and he likes to talk about the silly, minute details of his life. I adore that when he talks to people about Jude he refers to him as his Godson even though Jude's not(and never will be) baptised. I do wish he lived closer, but despite our distance we still have mad-crazy telepathy with each other and our cycles sync up. I don't know if I'd be able to stay sane without him. 
4. The internet, for it has allowed me to do a good portion of my Christmas shopping in my underwear and without having a panic attack. This year I've vowed to not step foot in a mall for any of my Christmas shopping. So far, so good, and I'm almost done thanks to Ikea, Amazon, and Etsy. I'm also trying to make a bunch of stuff for people. 

What are you thankful for?

So it goes...

Lists, lists are fun, right?
-Jude's walking! Like, all over the place and not just a few steps here and there! He does still crawl a lot.
-I'm putting my blog under construction until I can make it look snazzy.
-I'm oddly excited for the hectic holiday season. I won't be shopping for any Christmas presents at the mall and I'm hoping to make a decent chunk of them, especially Jude's stocking/stuffers. I need to figure out what to stuff his stocking with. I already have most of his other presents. Amazon & Ikea are my favorite for that.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's that whole recent boycott against Amazon because of "pedophile handbooks" but all the books referred to in anything about that are not a how to diddle little boys, so I choose to continue to use their awesome services. That's enough on that topic.
-Still no check. :| Seriously, State of Michigan, you suck.
-I have no school until next Monday! I'm so excited for this little break. Hopefully I'll be able to actually get stuff done. I should write myself a list so I don't forget things, or I'll just wing it.
-I saw some of my favorite people on Sunday. I went to Kelsey's potluck in BG and it was amazing! Everyone made excellent food (I slaved over pumpkin soup all day), and it was just an all around good time. I miss it down there, but then I remember how much I wouldn't have (Jude and my awesome new perspective on life that is credited to Jude) if I were still there.
-I don't have much else to say, really. not that I can think of at least. If I don't come back before Thanksgiving, have fun, be safe, and may the force be with you!

Ch-ch-changes

This is one of those posts that I've been thinking about making for, like, a week. No joke. 
I've been busy making some changes to better myself and the world.
Change 1: I've stopped using shampoo and my hair looks/feels fabulous. If not better than before. I use baking soda & water. Plus a few drops of tea tree oil for a little extra cleansing boost. I haven't added the recommended vinegar "conditioner" because a) I haven't really needed it and b) I couldn't find the apple cider vinegar in our cupboards.
Change 2: Teaching Jude how to walk. He's getting better at it everyday, he'll take a step or two on his own here and there. I think the most he has taken on his own so far is around 4 or 5. He's getting there slowly, but surely. Soon he'll be running and driving me even more crazy.
Change 3: I made my own soap. It smells of patchouli and is shaped like a T-Rex.
Change 4: Since I'm running in the 5k for Craniosynostosis on Halloween, I decided the other day that maybe I should start actually training. I tried training before, but I always felt like crap (I'm out of shape and my legs weren't cooperating by either my knees or ankles failing on me) after running, so I gave up after a week. I was doing the Couch to 5k plan before, but this time I decided to just go for a barefoot run. Well, I wore my fancy Paper-Feet. I jogged .91 miles (which I know thanks to http://www.mapmyrun.com/) without stopping. The only reason I stopped and chose to do a 2 block cool-down walk as opposed to 1 is because I was thirsty and forgot to bring a water bottle with me. But, after running barefoot, my legs felt great and I didn't twist my ankle once(which I'm normally very prone to doing), no shin splints, no awkward cramps. I did forget to stretch, but I still felt great. I need to keep that up and work up to 3 miles for the run.
Speaking of the run. I'm trying to collect money. A $500 donation, going towards The Jorge Posada Foundation & CAPPS (the hosts of the race), also gets a spot on the t-shirt and in the official race journal for Jude's name. So far I have collected $155, mostly through Paypal. If you're interested in making a donation to sponsor Jude in the race, please let me know and I can send you the Paypal link.

Changes I still need to make include but aren't limited to: cloth pads and/or cup, sewing more, knitting more, crafting things to sell, rearranging my bedroom, and finding an attention span.

Happy Birthday Jude!!!

Today is Jude's Birthday!! He's o-fish-ally one!!
Here's the hard part, what do I write about? I can't think of the right words for this quite yet (even though I've been thinking about it for days) so I'll use this as a recap of the year in pictures, because like I said before, he looks completely different.

First born, he looked like a Mandrake when he cried, which he did a lot.

2 months.

First Halloween(2.5 months).

Right after his skin tag surgery (11/23) (3 months).

First Christmas (4 months).

6 months.

First Easter (8 months).

9 months.

First tooth(9 months).

Day he came home from surgery (10 months).

And last, but not least, his First Birthday.

There will be more postage on all of this later, including his "stats", milestones, and celebrations, plus tons more pictures from the day! For now, I have to get my camera back before he smashes it to pieces.

Birthday Party brain vomit

Jude's turning one in 2 and a half months. I've been trying to figure out what to do for his birthday party. I've been googling themes and I keep finding great stuff. Like really awesome things and now I want his party to be perfect, I don't even believe in perfection, but his party has to be it. Just a warning, this post may or may not be coherent from a spectator's point of view, it's mostly to get my thoughts out of my brain so they don't get swallowed and lost in that vortex.
I definitely narrowed down the theme from several contenders to under the sea. I'm thinking for colors I want teals and blues and orange.
Maybe some greens for shiggles. Orange doesn't really belong below the sea perse but it looks really rad with teal. I figured it out! It's the fail whale's fault.

I'm debating between doing a tons-o-fish feel or narrowing it down to one main sea creature; either a whale or an octopus. The fail whale is mighty cute, but that might be sending the wrong message... Maybe I could use my master-genius to turn him into a not so fail whale just for Jude's party.
I definitely want to make most of the decorations and whatnot by hand.
- Banner. I have so much extra cardstock and scrapbook paper lying around.
- Cupcakes, because slicing cake at a party with my family is always a huge hassle. But, my grandma has been on an ice cream cake kick for everyone's birthday's this past year... and ice cream cake IS mighty tasty... NO. Cupcakes, and since my grandma loves me she'll probably bring an ice cream cake to the party for my birthday (a convenient 8 days after Jude's). Cupcake cake or individually decorated cupcakes? Cupcake toppers? Cake stand? I feel like I'm getting a little crazy, I never plan things this far in advance, I'm a very last minute, spontaneous person.
- Jude's cake needs to be adorable, and sea creature shaped.
- Invitations; do I make them on the computer and print them or do I work some paper magic like I did for my baby shower (which reminds me, Sydney's graduation announcements need finishing, good thing my parents aren't ready to mail them yet).
- Favors, to do or not to do? I'm leaning towards yes because everyone loves favors, and I have 10 freakin' little cousins for crying out loud, plus Jude's baby friends that come. That said, it really is going to be a small affair, just close family and friends but I have a lot of those.
- I'll leave the nom sitch up to someone else.
- Table decorations. Fishbowl ceneterpieces complete with real live fish that double as a party favor, anyone?
- Activities aren't really needed, he's only one and everyone can just enjoy everyone elses company, dammit.
-Oh, and of course, this will be as eco-friendly as possible. RRR, ftw.


In other, completely unrelated news:
- We went to the beach with Nicole, Carly & Kaleb on Thursday. My back is sunburnt and Jude wasn't digging the water but loved trying to eat the sand. I didn't take any pictures though.
- I'm pretty sure I have an ear infection, my ear has been hurting for days, and there was a pimple in there and it popped and it still hurts and my mastoid is swollen and PAIN OW OHMIGAWD. I'm pretty sure I'm going to urgent care after those hosers get home from the parade and I eat some lunch.
- Jude's cutting another tooth, this time on the bottom. Teething isn't as bad as I expected, he's just extra cranky and extra clingy. And he has a boogery nose.
- He plays the soooo big! game now. I tried to capture some video of my intelligent baby earlier but alas, my stupid video camera is dead even though it has hardly been used.
- I sneezed and Jude's toy cheered for me. I legit had something more important to put here but I can't remember, and yes, they do say I have A D somethi- can we have class outside?
- I like lists and I love lamp.

That is all. Have a wonderful long weekend! We're bbqing some ribs & chicken wings for dinner. omnomnomnom

Quick update.

I'm short on time right now so I can't post an in depth update, but I probably will later today or tomorrow. Pictures included, I have tons to upload anyway.
-Jude started pointing the other day, Thursday I believe. He was asked where his mama was and he pointed at me. Aww. It was adorable. He also recognizes our dog, Bubba.
-Welcome to my new followers from the BG blog thread! I promise I'm a better blog-updater than this usually.
-My blog is slightly under construction, I changed the background and need to make a new header, I'm just struggling with it though and I might change my mind again.
-I'm in the process of getting Jude and I ready for his 4 pre-operation appointments at UM. Starting at 10 ending... I don't even know when it will end, we'll be at the hospital all day basically.
-But first, I sold my carseat on craigslist! I have to meet the woman to do that before the first appointment so I should really be more pro-active about getting ready.
-We went to a bonfire Friday night at a family friends house. It was a going away party for our good friend Lisa. She moved to Texas over the weekend with her husband who's a border patrol person. They'll be missed, but it's a pretty exciting adventure for them.
-Sunday we went to one of Sydney's parades, she's in the Plymouth Fife & Drum Corp. Jude loved it.
-Jude's cute and gets into trouble a lot.

I think that's all. More details later. Wish me luck, I'll need it to get through the day in one piece.