Weekend pictures....

Hello! The last few days in Justin's world have not been fun. He is getting more teeth and the poor guy is having a rough time with it. On Saturday he was okay - not too crabby, but not really himself either. Then on Sunday, he woke up at 6am and went to bed at 8pm with no more than a total of one hour of sleep all day...in short little cat naps. I felt so bad - we knew he was tired and he would close his eyes and then wake up just SCREAMING. He will not let us touch his mouth or look at his teeth, but Rob got to once and he felt a tooth on the top and saw one on the other side. He already had his top two and bottom two middle ones, so we're working on #5 & 6. He'll be eating wings with me at BW's in no time!

He was a little better yesterday but still not back to himself!




He loves hitting things lately. When we pick him up he "pats" our back. He got a drum for Christmas from Uncle Mikey and we thought it was a perfect time to get it out!

















Little drummer boy

I know I'm good! He was trying to drink out of the drum too - I couldn't believe he could pick it up! He's got some strong arms!

All that drumming makes a boy tired!

He is starting to hold his own bottle...not for very long because it's more fun to play with it though!

For Easter dinner, we went to Biaggi's with the Jacobs. We had fun except when Justin threw up his whole bottle right when the food came :( He was then wearing his All Star pajamas for the rest of dinner - nice Easter attire!

I wanted to get a picture of Alec and Justin, but Justin just kept looking at Alec and not me. He LOVES Alec. Everytime we see them he watches Alec where ever he goes.

Aunt Connie, Uncle David and Justin - who has been awake for 9 hours with no nap.

We gave him some apple juice in his sippy cup. He was pretty good with it! More juice on his bib, but he knew what part had to go in his mouth!

Blake's Birthday Party

On Saturday we went to the Sears Centre for Blake's birthday party. He had it at the Chicago Storm Soccer game. It was a fun time (for me and Rob since we were not in charge of 20 ten year olds!) even though the Storm got their butts kicked!






Blake and Justin













The opposing team's mascot (Milwaukee Wave) came to rile up the boys!
















Daddy and Justin
















Rousing rendition of Happy Birthday sung by 20 screaming boys :)

Kim's Bachelorette Party

Last weekend the girls from Michigan took the train to Chicago for Kim's bachelorette party. I picked Amy up from O'Hare and we met them downtown. We had a very fun, laid back 2 nights downtown. Thursday we surprised Kim with Red Wings/Blackhawks tickets. Michelle made her a special veil for the game (see below!). The game was great, but a bummer ending....it went into overtime, then a shoot out and then a sudden death shoot out. Osgood just couldn't quite hold on! Oh well - a great time had by all :)








After the game














Kim's "special" dessert at Mambo Grill













Melissa and Jamie at Howl at the Moon piano bar. I miss you Jame!! It was great to see you again and catch up :)

Happy Baby!

Here are some pictures of our happy baby last night! He was so much fun :) He has learned to scream/squeal when he's happy - it's so funny!









Not sure he can smile any harder!


















Come here Daddy - Let me stick my fingers in your mouth to see how many teeth you have :)














My 4 boys hanging out watching Wheel of Fortune - Justin's favorite show!









Learning to drive already! It's really funny when he has one hand on the wheel and the other on the green accelerator, but I was not quick enough to get it on camera...

If you look hard enough you can see his bottom two chompers. He has 4 teeth already!












Rolling all over the place, but still not crawling!














Tickle, tickle













This is his favorite toy. He kept wanting our real remote and he would change channels, inputs and volumes so Rob gave him an old one we had and he LOVES it :) He just can't make it make the TiVO noises that he likes!













Happy boy :)

Sorry!

Sorry I have not posted in a while; things have been really busy! Working full time, having a baby, trying to sell a house, find a new house, get moving quotes, etc. takes up a lot of time!

First for the good news....Rob got a new job! He will be working in Peoria for Clifton Gunderson. He has a job in their technology department; I can't remember his title right now but something with software development. Justin and I are so proud of him :)

For the bad news.....the housing market sucks! We have only had 4 showings in two weeks. I am getting really discouraged, but trying not to. Rob has to start his job on April 30th - yes; as in less than a month. We don't know what we are going to do. We might be back to living in an apartment down there until our house sells? Who knows. I really wish someone would just buy our house so I can stop worrying and sleep at night!

The other thing that is on our mind is that we went to Peoria last weekend (thanks for babysitting Grandma Brooks!) to house hunt with our realtor down there and we found one that we really like. Okay; I love it but I am trying not to. I don't want to have 2 mortgages and take the chance that it will only be for a short period of time. I think that we might put in an offer with a contingency that we have to sell our house. If it works out then it's meant to be; if not then maybe it's because there is something better that we just have not found yet. Sounds simple enough, right? I just need to stop looking at the virtual tour of the house that I want so bad!

I promise that I will take more pictures of Justin soon and post them. I am ignoring the hate mail I'm getting for lack of pictures by the way!!! :)

AJ - your prayers seem to help; think you could put in a good word for our house???

Week in pictures...

This week was like Christmas for the garbage pickers of Elgin - it was Spring Clean-up Week! This is where you can throw away anything and everything without having to pay for the stickers. This truck was in front of me on my way to work Monday morning and I had to get a picture. It's like a game of garbage Jenga!

The Jacobs are in Cancun this week so we have Snicker at our house. She's been pretty good, but Rob and I are not small dog people :) Here is a picture all 3 of them. Snicker does not usually look this possessed!

What's taking you so long to eat your treat Snicker? They were just waiting for her to walk away from it :)

Thursday night we went to BW3's for a family date. Justin was good; it's just hard to get used to him being a big boy and not having his car seat with us at all times to take a nap if he gets tired!

He loved the game of get a toy, throw it on the floor, watch dad pick it up and repeat :)

What are you going to have Mommy?

He's a Miller Lite lover too :)

Team in Training

Hello everyone! One of my friends from MTU and Delta Phi Epsilon (Courtney McGuire) is running a marathon next month for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Her cousin Ethan was diagnosed and has been battling this disease since January 2004, when he was just 18 months old. Below is her information letter and a link to her website if you can spare any amount of money to help her reach her goal! I know that Justin has a lot of fans who religiously check our blog, so I thought this would be a great way to help Courtney reach $5,500.00!! Posting this as a way to help out is much easier than running 26.2 miles :)

http://www.active.com/donate/tntenc/courtneymcguire

Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.
Dear Friends & Family:
As you may already know April 28th is one of my favorite days of the year...my birthday! I love my birthday. And even though it is months away, I have already made fabulous plans! I'll be running my first marathon! The Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN. 26.2 Miles! This may become the most painful birthday I've ever had, but it also may be the most rewarding by far!
I am training to participate in this endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers, including my little cousin Ethan (You saw the pics above, right?! Could he be any cuter?!).
Ethan was diagnosed with leukemia in January 2004, when he was only about 18 months old. So...it took me a while, but I finally have found the courage to raise the money and run a marathon for this great cause...kind of makes me feel like a wimp when I think about the courage Ethan has had to have to fight against cancer! Ethan and all others battling blood cancers are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!
Here are some statistics of what we're fighting against. *Leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma are the major forms of blood cancers, with leukemia remaining a leading cause of death in children. *Evey 10 minutes another child or adult is expected to die from a blood cancer. This statistic represents 149 people each day or six people every hour. *Leukemias are the leading fatal cancers in men and women under the age of 20. *747,465 Americans are living with leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin disease or myeloma.*This year, an estimated 114, 530 Americans will be diagnosed with one of these blood cancers and about 60,000 will die from these cancers.
So, instead of planning on bringing me a birthday gift, taking me out to dinner, or buying me a drink, please use that money to make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission. And if after making a donation you still feel the need to send me a birthday gift, I won't be mad...I promise! :) My fundraising goal is $5500...although I'd like to go above and beyond that goal! Please click on the button to your left to make your donation today!!
If you have any questions, comments, words of encouragement, or a birthday wish :) feel free to email me at courtney_mcguire@hotmail.com. Check back often for training and fundraising updates!!
Thanks again for your support!! Please send this on to anyone else that may be interested in helping out!
Love, Courtney

BEAUTIFUL DAY!

It is supposed to be close to 80 and sunny here today! I really wish I didn't have to work!!!





Here is Justin sitting watching the Shamrox Lacrosse game on Sunday afternoon. Aunt Connie had to hold the seat down because he's not quite heavy enough yet!



















Sunday morning me and Justin went to Woodfield because he does not have any summer clothes! We got a couple pairs of shorts and tee shirts to get him by for a while. And this outfit was too cute to pass up....even if I did have to buy 18 month for my 6 month old!!! Oh, and he got new Nike sandals. He hates socks so he is going to LOVE summer!













I LOVE this picture :)

Some weekend pictures

Hello to all of my adoring fans!

Mommy was holding me up to stand so Daddy could take a picture, but I didn't need her help! I stood on my own for about 2 minutes; with the help of the couch a bit :)












I love the Nike shoes Uncle Mikey bought me!





































I love his smiles :)

















Tom & Lori came over for steaks on the grill on Saturday. Justin was the life of the party - see next pictures :)













He was loving his cookie!!!











This should guarantee Mommy won't skip my bath tonight!














I love the new bathtub that Grandma Brooks sent me! I can sit up and play like a big boy...thanks Grandma!

Another one bites the dust.....

....that one is Daddy. He now has the exact same bug that I had. Ugh. I feel bad for him because I know how miserable it is! Justin is going to play with Aunt Connie tonight and have a sleepover. I am not looking forward to not having him home when I get there, but he'll have fun with his aunt and cousins!

Here is a picture of Justin and Aunt Connie from one of the hockey games this year!