Frog Butts

It would figure that the first really nice weekend in 2009, the kids and I were all sick. I felt terrible with bronchitis and what I believe is an ear infection. Blake has an ear infection. Bekah was congested and also possibly an ear infection. Ugh. Crappy weekend stuck in the house.

I'm grateful to Matt for staying home on Sunday to help out with the kids. He even watched the kids as I took a nice bath. And as I lay in the bathtub, relaxing in a nice warm bath, I looked up and this is what I saw:

This is the "frog" used to hold Bekah's bath toys. And the picture above is his butt. And that's what I stared at for my entire bath. I guess this is what having kids is all about...

MindField Online Surveys

One of those survey sites has finally paid off for me! I take a survey or two each week through MindfieldOnline and usually only make $5-10/mo because I'm not that active.

I'm fairly active on a message board to talk to other parents of kids Bekah and Blake's ages. I posted a referral to MindfieldOnline to that discussion board. For each person that signed up through my referral, I got $1. I posted it on Monday, and today found that I had $29 waiting for me. Isn't that awesome!
Click here for my referral link: http://mindfieldonline.com/referral/c3bdb7dd

Because Bekah is lacking in toys, this is what I bought her with the money:

Look what I made to welcome our precious boy...

Make a Smilebox photobook

Matt & Jess are Headed to Montana!

This is where Matt and I will be heading to for a 4-day/3-night vacation at the Crazy Horse Ranch (Montana). We'll leave the day after Labor Day. Matt won this trip from Marlboro through being on some sort of mailing list. He actually won it in 2007 but I've been pregnant every time they've asked us to go. Finally, we're going to go. Apparently, there are all sorts of activities to choose from (horseback riding, cattle drive, humvee driving, fly fishing, white water rafting, etc) but we haven't gotten that list yet. We'll keep you updated! Needless to say, we're looking forward to an action-packed vacation, but we'll sure miss the kids...

Bittersweet News...

We have some bittersweet news. We've received an offer to buy Budha and it looks like we're going to take it. Budha has been a wonderful horse and a blast to own. He's a reliable horse that anyone can ride and hopefully someday we'll own another like him. In the meantime, we're stuck with a green broke 3 yr old and that turd Dinky...

Back to work update...

I've had many people ask about my going back to work and what the kids are up to while Matt and I are at work. I came back to work last Wednesday, on April 8th, after only 6 weeks of maternity leave. We were lucky enough to recruit Bekah's former daycare teacher to come to the house and watch both kids! We're on day 4 now and things have been going great at home. She does activities (crafts, reading, fingerpainting) with Bekah every day and engages Blake too! Bekah loved her at the daycare and so the transition has seemed pretty natural. So far, everything is going beautifully!

Bekah is a Great Big Sister!

This is for all those people who have asked how Bekah is doing as a big sister. She's doing great! Although she's really not the most gentle person I've ever met, she does a pretty good job overall. She has a baby that she likes to pamper just like I do with Blake - she'll feed it, give it a pacifier, put a diaper on it, burp it, put it "night night" and sometimes she may even try to nurse it. She's a funny, funny kid!

Blake tolerates her very well too! He has never really gotten upset with her or her games ("Where did baby go?", "Night Night Baby" or "Let's Pretend I'm an Only Child" - ok, I made that last one up). So far, he's been an excellent baby and is growing like a weed! Now if we could only get him sleeping through the night...