Almost Halfway!

Well, Balian is almost halfway to being 1!!!  I can't believe it.  We have a 5-month-old.  Balian is still pretty much the same, except for two things.  Tooth number one and tooth number two!!  I can't believe he has two teeth already!  He hasn't even really been too fussy.  There was one night when he thought he was a newborn again and woke up every two hours.  Don't worry, I set him straight.  He has a bit of a short-term memory.  But now he's back to his normal sleep from 7:30-4:30, eat, sleep until 7:30.  Is fantastic!  I've been feeding him rice cereal since 4.5 months.  I know...kinda early, but he loved it!!  He was just soooo hungry.  He's really starting to get the hang of it now too. 

He is definitely becoming more aware, especially of me leaving the room, or leaving him for hours at time with a babysitter.  Which is sooooo cute!!  I secretly love that he can't stand being without me for long periods of time.  Who wouldn't want to feel that loved?!  He's sitting up pretty good, but still not totally on his own.  He's a little bit stubborn and set in his ways.  He gave us a good tease with rolling over at 4 months, but has refused to do it since.  Stephen's convinced to make it happen this week.  If he could actually get up on his chubby little knees he'd be motoring everywhere though!  He kicks those chubby legs like nothin' else.  it's the funniest thing. 

Balian enjoys nothing more than the sound of his own voice.  He will talk to himself for 20 minutes straight.  It's super cute for 5 minutes.  Then it gets old.  haha  Balian also told me the other day that he's also going to be a closed captioner when he grows up.  He's already getting a head start.  He sits with me and does my show from 3-4pm everyday.  He's so studious.  He may change his mind though.  He already seems to be getting a little bored of it.  He's fallen asleep twice on the job already.  That's just unacceptable. 

HE'S THE CUTES MAGOOTS!!  And we're loving every second of him.  Now here's the pictures.  I'm sure that's the only reason anyone reads this blog anyway. 

You gotta have at least one naked bum picture

Sorry for the poor quality.  Such a big boy

Balian idolizes Dr. Dre.  He asked for these for his almost halfway birthday.  He didn't get them. 

Cruisin' with dad.

That smile just makes me melt!

We stuck him in this chair at Lacoste.  He was none too pleased with us.  Haha

Asleep on the job.  So tuckered out.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

FINALLY!!  I finally get to bask in the celebrations of Mother's Day.  And my dear husband did not disappoint.  I had an awesome weekend -- that's right, we took two days to celebrate mother's day.  I don't think Stephen intended the whole weekend to count as Mother's Day celebration, but I took the liberty of classifying it as such.  I also took the liberty of using some extra cash sent our way via old job vacation pay to update my wardrobe...as a mother's day gift of course.  Thank you hun!!  and thank you old job!!!  Believe me, this was a necessity, not a want.  So I got home and spring cleaned my closet and replaced it with my new loot, and I feel like a brand new woman.  I love it.  The best not-really-my-mother's-day gift ever!!

So I was asked to give a talk in church on Mother's Day Sunday.  So NOT fair.  If you ask me, Mother's Day Sunday should be an all male lineup from beginning to end.  Anyway, I was super stressed about it because I had a crazy week with work and just had no time to prepare.  So Stephen knowing I was super stressed and nervous tapped into my one true love.  FOOD.  In particular, SWEEEEEEET FOOD!  He cooked up this most delicious breakfast for me. 

Oh my gosh!!  Chocolate waffles, with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and fresh strawberries, washed down with chocolate milk!  FOR REAL!?!  It was soooo good.  I want to go make some more right now.  Hands down the best thing I've ever eaten for breakfast.  He did good.   I didn't take a picture, but then for supper he made me my favorite meal of lasagna....equally as good as the breakfast.  Geesh,  I sound like a crazed fatty right now.  But for real, if you want to surprise me or reward me in anyway for anything...that can easily be accomplished with something sweet.  Chocolate, candy, cake, cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate cookies.  Seriously.  That's all this girl needs to be happy. 

But seriously,  Stephen gave me the best Mother Days ever.  I've already begun my plans to one up him for father's day though.  He always goes all out for holidays like this, and I love him for that.  I love being a mom, everything about it.  Maybe not everything....but it all evens out in the end.  haha  There's not much not to love about our little Bails.  He's the Cutes Magoots!  That's what we call him lately. 

Here we are at the mall on Saturday doing some shopping.  He's so facinated with the camera.  He instantly stops smiling whenever it comes out and just stares.  haha  It's hilarious.

Me and Bails on Mother's Day

He was literally falling asleep while we were taking this picture.  Haha  so cute. 

I of course have to give a shoutout to my own mama.  She really is the best.  I've learned so much from my mom over the years, but even more so since I've become a mom myself.  My mom is one of the most spiritual, caring, intelligent, beautiful women I know.  My mom always wanted the best for us growing up.  She was also a huge softy.  She was always the one we'd call late at night asking to stay out just a half hour longer, and 9 times out of 10 we were successful.  Haha  She never went to sleep until all of us kids were home.  And most importantly, she never told dad when we were late for curfew!!  Bet you didn't know that did ya dad!!  Haha. 

I honestly consider my mom one my best friends.  We can talk on the phone for hours, and we do quite often.  She is an amazing grandma!  She would do anything for any one of her grandkids.  Including sleeping on the oh so lovely hospital benches for four nights after Balian was born while Stephen was at home puking his guts out.  I never could have got through that first week of being a new mom without her. 

I was facetiming with my family on Saturday and had to keep from crying.  Everyone was there but us!!  It's so hard living so far away sometimes.  I look forward to the day when we can hopefully live closer, and I can talk for hours with my mom in person instead of on the phone.  I love you mom!  Thank you for always being there for me, for raising me to become the woman, wife and mother I am today.  Happy Mother's Day!!

Mom and all her girls.  I think this was last year...or maybe two years ago.  I can't remember.



P.S.  for some reason people couldn't comment on my last blog.  Hopefully it works this time.  Someone please let me know if you can't  Thx!

Say Whaaaaaat?!
My and Stephen's conversation the other day

Stephen: Hey hun, how's it going
Me: Good how are you?
Stephen: Something terrible has happened.

(Me thinking: Oh great, either A) he's lost his job or B) he's crashed the car)
Close, but not quite. 

Me: Okay........what?
Stephen: So I just went and got a haircut at the place in my building, and it cost a little more than I expected.  But it's not my fault because there were no prices listed.
Me: Okay.....how much?
Stephen: $75 for the hair cut and then $20 for product......
Me: (hysterical laughter) 

I had to laugh.  This WOULD happen to Stephen.  The sad thing was...i didn't even think it was that great of a haircut!!  I mean come on!  If you're gonna charge an arm and a leg for something, at least make it the BEST possible haircut out there!  I liked his last two waaaaay better.  And they were only like $30 at Chatters.  Lesson learned. 

Then we were talking about it again the other day, and we were both like, you thought we would have learned out lesson when we went suit shopping a couple years ago to not purchase anything UNLESS there is a price tag on it.  In the case of the suit....the lovely bill rang in at nearly $1000 I believe, and we had to create some sort of a diversion to high tail it out of the store without paying the scam artists at Moores. 

Stephen redeemed himself somewhat when he won the company pool for the UFC fights this weekend though.  All his winnings will be donated to our checking account in order to help balance the books. 

The kicker to this whole story....the lovely hairstylist advised Stephen to get a PERM!!! Can you believe that?!  The even bigger kicker to this story is that Stephen actually considered it!!  I think I've talked him out of it.  Hopefully.  Because I can only imagine how much THAT catastrophe would cost.  Good heavens. 

It's A Brand Spankin' New.....

ME!!!!  So..........as of late I've been feeling a bit frumph...no that is not a typo.  That word describes exactly how I feel...mostly about my physical appearance.  I have a sneakin' suspicion it has something to do with the fact that I just had a baby and have since realized my body will never be the same again.  And let's face it....that's a little bit depressing.  I didn't even LOVE my body before the babe, but I'd take it back now in a heartbeat....as long as Bails gets to stay.   And since I don't see that happening in the too near future, I need to do something to make me feel sexy  beautiful again. 

I know you're all thinking, "hey Janna, just get off your lazy butt and workout and then you'll look hot again."  Well guess what?  I DID!!  but then I got sick and it stopped for a couple days...or a week...or two.  But don't you worry, I fully plan on starting it up again on Monday.  I just needed a quick fix.  My body will be back in tip top shape very soon because we have big plans for September involving water, a beach, and a bikini.  So are you all ready for this??  My mom and dad are gonna hate me, but sorry!!!  You're not exactly the one I'm trying to feel sexy    beautiful for.  I told Stephen before he left for Toronto that I had a surprise for him when he got home.  And I totally got him.  This is what he left when he decided to desert me for three days. 

and this is what he came home to



BAM!!   How do ya like me now?!?  Pretty sweet eh?  I love it.  I've been dark plenty of times before.  I was for our wedding, and I stare at that picture everyday in my living room....longing for my darker days.  Stephen LOVES!!!! me brunette, so I thought this would be a great way to dive out of my frumph, at least for the time being, and please the husband at the same time.  And I think I can say I accomplished both. 

I was actually a little hesitant as to how Bails would react, if he would still recognize me or scream in disgust.   But he handled it pretty well.

It took him a second...

But then I believe his exact words were, "You're SMOKIN' mom!"  Ah...thanks Bails.

A little shell shocked

We're sexy   beautiful AND cute

I took this picture a couple weeks ago.  I can't believe I forgot to put in on the blog.  SO CUTE!

So there you have it, the new unfrumphified me!!!

On a side note, today Balian is 4 months!!!  CRAZY!!  He has his shots tomorrow.  Totally forgot about it until the Health Clinic lady called me this morning.  NOT looking forward to that.  I'll come back and post all his numbers once I find out tomorrow.

So Balian at four months was 14.5 lbs - 40th percentile
He was 24.5 inches - 50th percentile
His head was in the 25th percentile. 

So he's fairly average except for his cute little head.  He did so good with his shots and has been awake for one out of the last 6 hours.  Poor little guy.  So tuckered out. 

Lonely....so lonely

So Stephen is in Toronto for the next three days doing some training for work, and I'm extremely jealous....but mostly I'm just lonely.  For a split second i thought FREEDOM!!  Three days to do whatever I want, when I want.   But then as I drove away after dropping him off at the airport I just felt lonely.   And now I'm just delaying going to bed because I hate sleeping alone.  I contemplated buying a ticket and just flying out there myself.  I'd LOVE to visit Toronto.  Unfortunately I'd have to rob a bank in order to fly there.  Seriously....$800 Westjet???  Isn't that a bit much?  Good grief.  So now I'm stuck in the frozen, but slowly thawing, Edmonton....alone.  Good thing Bails is here with me.  That's what we call Balian in case you were wondering. 

Stephen was not excited about this trip.  I don't know why.  He was a little nervous about flying, even though he's done it before.  It probably didn't help that I told him about a story I captioned the night before where part of the airplane roof blew off while 36,000 feet in the air.  No one died though, so it's all good.  He also was sad that I wouldn't be there with him.  We like each other, what can I say.  And me and Bails are both deathly ill, so he felt bad leaving us.  But I hope he tries to enjoy it....just a little bit. So I hope you're having a great time hun, livin' it up for both of us.  I'm there in spirit.  And remember to bring us home a souvenir!

Now an upday for our almost 4-month-old.  HE'S STILL SO CUTE!!!  I just can't stand how cute he is.  He melts my heart everytime he smiles.  Stephen and I just can't get over how adorable he is.  He can do no wrong in our eyes.  We got an official laugh out of him the other day.  It was hilarious.  I think it almost scared him a little bit.  haha  I wish I got it on camera.  He's starting to grab at his toys and play with them.  He's drooling like crazy!   He goes to bed around 8 and sleeps until about 4am, then feeds and back to bed until 9.  He's about 16 pounds.  He's a chunker.  He really is just such a happy baby.  He totally interacts with us and reacts to all our smiles and ridiculous baby talk.  I can't even imagine my life with Balian.  Yup, I said it.  I'm THAT cliche mom.  I don't even care, because it's true.  So here's some pictures of the cutest boy in the world. 

See...I told you he's the cutest boy in the world

I got a new program for editing.  I wish our eyes were really that color.

Cute matching cousins!  They love each other. 

He always gives daddy the biggest smiles.  I love this picture.  I love my boys

BAH!

He kinda loves me.  Check out our matching squinty eyes.  We're definitely related.

Oh Mister Bails

 

UN-Freakin' Believable
My husband has a flaw....I know...I can hardly believe it myself.  But it's a pretty serious flaw...and lately a very expensive flaw.  Luckily he has his sugar mama to pick up the slack.  My husband loses things....like A LOT. 

I can't even count how many debit cards we've had since we've been married.  He'll lose his, so I'll give him mine.  Then he'll lose mine so we make a trip to the bank where we're on a first-name basis.  We repeat this every couple of months.

He lost his wedding ring.  YUP!!  his wedding ring!!!  Isn't that supposed to have like sentimental meaning or something??  Anyway, I bought him a new one.  I actually like the second one better, and so does Stephen.

But this latest stunt really packed a punch...right in the gut.  It hurt.  A lot.  Stephen lost his iphone like two weeks ago.  THANKFULLY we found it.  We really dodged a bullet there...or did we.  NOPE we didn't, because he lost it again.  And this time it's for real gone.  I'm sure you're asking, why don't you just use the "find my iphone" app. GREAT question.  Because my lovely husband didn't quite get around to that...even though we've had the phones for three months, and even though he's already lost it one.  Suckadoo!!

So because I'm an amazing wife I stayed calm and collected through this whole experience of tearing the house apart...a couple of times.  Trust me, it is NOT in this house.  Secretly I still think it is though.  There's also a very good chance it's in one of the ailes at Costco.  But apparently only bad people shop at Costco because nobody turned it in.  Well, unfortunately Stephen NEEDS a phone for work.  And even I will agree that you can't go back to a 'normal' phone after having an iphone.  So off to southgate we went today to purchase a new iphone....full price.  Ouch.  It stung a little. 

Oh well, I'm over it.  Stephen owes me for life basically for not ripping his head off, and he now has the option of wearing at all times one of the following. 

The Jack Bauer man bag....very fashionable if you as me...not to mention practical

The always popular and never out of style fanny pack

Or last but not least the hipster cell phone case.  Love it.

Best of luck to you hun!!

Balian Two Months!!!

Soooooo I'm definitely behind on this post.  Balian is NOW two months and 12 days, but I really wanted to record his two month mark.  Balian has changed so much!  Some things about Balian:

*He still likes to sleep on his stomach the most....even though I'm not supposed to do that
*He is now sleeping 6-8 hours at night. 
*He's still eating about every three hours, but now he's eating like TWICE as much!!  Good thing I'm built like a cow...or according to my pediatrician, a moose.  I've really lucked out with the whole breast feeding think I think.
*At his two month check-up he was in the 50th percentile for both his weight and height and 15th percentile for his head....which I kinda find weird.  All this time I thought he had a rather large head....maybe his chubby cheeks just make it seem larger than it really is. 
*He LOVES his tummy time and is getting so strong.  He pushes up so that his whole chest is off the floor and then rests on his elbows and just looks all around.  It's the cutest thing.
*He loves showers and swimming...especially with cousin Malin.
*He loves kisses...the open mouth kind
*He loves watching the tv.  No matter where he is in the room he will stretch and contort his body in order to catch a glimpse of what we're watching. 

He's still such an awesome baby.  He cries when he's hungry, and whimpers when he's tired.  It doesn't get much easier than that.  He is such a joy to have in our family, and I can't imagine our lives without him.  We love you so much Balian!

All these pictures are from my iphone, so sorry for the not so great quality.

Mama's little heartbreaker

He's actually 2 months and one week here.  Close enough. 

I love this picture.

 

Does he look like his daddy???

Or his mommy???