Curse You, Daylight Savings Time!!!!

Bedtime has not been going well since daylight savings time went into effect. Jake is not cool with the hour-earlier bedtimes. I have tried putting him in the crib with the hopes that he will self-soothe, but it ain't happening. I usually end up going back upstairs, give him a bottle while holding him in the rocking chair until he is pretty sleepy, and then putting him back in the crib to cry some more before finally settling down and going to sleep. But I don't wanna get in that habit, so tonight I tried just putting him in and going downstairs, assuming the crying would stop after a few minutes. Not so much. He was hysterical for close to 40 minutes. I finally gave up, went upstairs with half a bottle, and was greeted by this angry little man:


According to my parents, Jake gets the same blotchy red face that I used to get when I was a baby. Of course, my parents weren't cruel enough to bring a camera in to a document a hysterical baby. (I saw it as a great photo op. I might as well start saving up for his therapy sessions now...)


So once I stopped snapping and decided to "rescue" him, he took two sips of the bottle (he just had a full bottle not half an hour before going to bed) and decided he would much rather just sit on mommy's lap and play with her big toe. I put him back in the crib a few minutes later, played peek-a-boo with him, and left the room. He cried twice and then fell asleep...at 10:00 pm. (9:00 old time). Can't we just do daylight savings year-round? Pick a time and stick to it! Argh!

Stay-at-home mom?

Yesterday was my official last day at my day job. And Ralph official starts his new job tomorrow. Which, technically, means that TODAY, Ralph and I are both unemployed. Sounds kinda funny to me! But I sure didn't mind sleeping in, and I don't miss worrying that I was running late to daycare or work. No one to call about being a few minutes late, no alarm clock to set, nothing! Well, Jake decided to be our 8am alarm clock, but whatever.

So then it occurred to me as I was preparing Jake's bottles and then scrubbing a toilet, and then picking up his toys, that I guess I now qualify as being a stay-at-home mom. But then I kept trying to think of reasons why that wasn't true: "I'm more of a work-at-home mom" and things like that. Which made me think - is there a stigma associated with being a stay-at-home mom? Is this not one of the most important jobs out there? Does not bringing home a paycheck every 2 weeks not make this a "job"? This is something I am struggling with this morning. As educated women, we feel like we are supposed to be "employed" - it is what we worked so hard for all those years. But as moms, we are expected to do a heck of a lot MORE than just 'work'. Ralph spent 2 days being a stay-at-home dad and was ready to abandon ship! HA! I am pretty glad he got to get a taste of what my future is going to be like. Not easy.

So I guess for now I am going to try NOT to classify my current role. I am many things: I am a mom. I am a wife. I am a small-business owner (of two businesses). I am the chief executive changer of diapers. I am the senior VP of bottle washing. I am the managing editor of external familial communications (that would be blog-writer to y'all). I am the walker of dogs, the scooper of poop. The executive collector of mail, and CEO of bill writing. The general manager of moving and packing supplies. I am the laborer, the manager, and the complainer. I AM MOMMA, HEAR ME ROAR!

P.S. - To be fair, I would like everyone to know that Ralph also holds the position of senior VP of trash collection, President of bottle sterilizing operations, Executive Administrator of early-morning feedings, CEO of dog feeding schedules, manager of laundering services, Dad extraordinaire, and all-around great husband, among a thousand other things I am blanking on. I am very proud of him - he helps out more than a lot of other dads I have seen, and I am lucky to have such a great parenting partner. :)

Oh, is my momma busy!

Jake's newest word is "Oh!" and it cracks me up when he decides to use it. We are just busy busy busy trying to run around and get things done before Ralph's new job starts next week. The house in NY is undergoing major changes - the wallpaper has been stripped, and the primer is going up. Can't wait to see it this weekend. I'd like to tell you that I'll post pics, but I have been so busy lately I can't even promise that'll I'll even get around to breathing.

Okay, without further ado, here are two new pictures of Jake. Also be sure to check out the photography blog, where I posted two new recent photo sessions of some very cute kids!

Smell Ya Later, Daycare!

Ok, here it is! It's BIG ANNOUNCEMENT time!!!

TODAY WAS THE DAY I GOT TO GIVE DAYCARE OUR TWO-WEEK NOTICE! That's right - no more sick baby, no more stupid rules, no more nasty daycare staff, no more sniffly noses, no more sick notices, no more stolen binkies, no more $600 a month childcare, no more filthy white socks, no more french fry incidents! We're DONE!

Why this sudden change you may ask? Well, on Monday, Ralph was offered a position with a Wall Street firm in Great Neck, NY that deals in hedge funds. It was a great offer, with a great company, and we would be crazy to turn it down. Ralph's new position will allow me to stop working my 9-to-5 job every day, and to stay home with Jake while I freelance full-time. I am beyond thrilled at the opportunities that lay ahead for our family. We will be putting our house on the market and moving to NY soon. We are actually going to be renovating Ralph's grandfather's house and living there. Jake will be the fifth generation of Ralph's family to live in this house! Very cool!

While Delaware has been the butt of more than a few jokes from me, I do still think I will miss it. I will miss the awesome friends I made (come visit!!!!), I will miss the memories of all the "firsts" that Ralph and I had here. I will miss our cute little townhouse. I will miss tax-free shopping. I will miss Wawa. Most of all, I will miss being so close to all my family in PA. But I am sooo excited and I am happy to share the news with you all. I will keep you posted!!! :)

Worst. Blogger. Ever.

I would like to apologize profusely for my lack of blogging lately, but I promise you there are lots of pictures and a BIG announcement coming soon! :) NO, I am NOT pregnant! Let's just clear that up right off the bat!

I have been busier this past week than I have ever been in my life, so busy in fact, that I had no time to cry about TURNING 30 last friday! Big thanks go out to my girls Lisa and Mary for showing me a great time friday night!!! :)

Also, big thanks to Lisa for being my awesome design "intern" these past few days and nights - I would accomplish NOTHING without her help. We are talking 12 hour days, 4 hours of sleep a night, crazy running around, working myself into the ground (enter sore throat and coughing).

Jake spent thursday night to Monday night at "Camp Grandma" - he and Ruth had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa Valentine, Uncle Danny and Jamie dawg. He got to eat all kinds of yummy things, and even clapped after his taste of CHOCOLATE Carvel cake - mmmmm! I got some time to myself - which was sooo nice! - while Ralph travelled with his parents, aunts and grandparents down to Florida to see Chris play vs. Miami.

Jake is growing tooth #5 (bottom lower left), and will turn 11 months old in a few days! (So how does that work when your birthday is the 30th, but the month only has 28 days???) I need to get his birthday plans in gear!!!

Carvel Ice Cream Cake...

...Is apparently Jake's favorite food on earth. (Not that this should be a surprise to anyone, seeing as Ralph and I refer to Carvel Ice Cream as 'the fifth food group.') Grandma Valentine let Jake try just one tiny sample of vanilla ice cream from her piece of our Carvel Ice Cream Cake tonight and he liked it so much that he grunted and fussed until she fed him darn near the entire vanilla part! Then he got some from Grandpa, and a little more from momma too before he had his fill. It was hilarious! If only I had tried Carvel Ice Cream on Jake when he was 4 months old, maybe he would have realized much earlier that this eating thing ain't so bad afterall!

Valentine's Day

We spent the day inside, without power, huddling down to keep warm with all of the snow and ice, ice, ice outside. We were without power for about 10 hours total on Valentine's Day, but luckily my digital camera had full batteries and I snuck outside for a few shots when the sun came out for a half-hour.



Ruthie had to wear a pair of Jake's pajamas because she was shivering - wish I had a picture of that! We bundled up and took a nap on the couch, Dada got a picture of us:



Jake missed his Valentine's party at daycare, I missed being able to use the televison, the internet, or my computer (I had been planning to work from home). I had these grand plans to send out a Valentine's Day email to my freelance clients (my design company is valentine designs) and wasn't able to do it. :(



Luckily, a lot of the snow and ice was cleared out by the 15th, so I was able to go back to work, and Jake was able to go back to daycare. Ralph, Jake and Ruthie were kind enough to have flowers delivered to me at work, and Jake's classmates gave him his Valentines Cards too, a day late but just as sweet.



Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day!