No longer bare

Hubby got a great deal on these iron wall hangings at the Costco in San Francisco, so of course he bought 2...one circle, one square. We hung one in the back and one in the front and I must say I really like the flare they add to the previously bare walls.

Sleeping like a baby...

Seth slept during the ride up to the Yosemite Mountain Sugarpine Railroad. I think he is really going to enjoy this little outing. Choo-Choo!!!

Gotta wear shades

Mmmm spaghetti...

Unconscious Mutteringes - Week 271

Silence :: baby sleeping

Wall :: color?

Killed :: good mood

Wishful :: thinking

Poodle :: topiary

Sullen :: sad

Do not disturb :: hotel

Philadephia :: Tom Hanks

Anticipation :: CPA License

Sidewalk :: sale

The Second Shift

I was tagged by American Girl, so I better comply. Plus my life consists of tax returns right now, which I'm sure none of you care to know about.

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

My book is "The Second Shift" by: Arlie Russell Hochschild

"Even if he couldn't be home, she wanted him to want to be. In the meantime, she felt oppressed by his dominating absence. Jessica did not adjust to Seth's absence from home in the way nineteenth-century wives adjusted to the absence of husbands who were fishermen and sailors, or the way twentieth-century wives adjust to the absence of husbands who are traveling salesmen."

If your reading this...and you write your own blog consider yourself tagged!

Tax season is upon us

Last week I officially started tax season at work, which means 55+ hour work weeks. I know this is part of the job I chose and I don't mind the extra money, but man those extra hours suck...especially now because I have to be away from Seth even more. The weather this past weekend was beautiful, so Seth and I went for a walk...here are some pictures of the little guy enjoying himself.

Awesome website

My Aunt Sis just told me about this website and I think it is a godsend. For those of us who are retarded in the kitchen this could be a lot of help. Thank you Aunt Sis!

http://www.supercook.com/

Supercook is a recipe search engine that finds recipes you can make with what you have on hand. Enter an ingredient and click Add. The more ingredients you add, the better the results will be. It suggests other items you might have on hand that will bring up more recipes. (As an example, I put in "artichoke hearts," and it came up with 13 recipes.)

A breakthrough...

Last night Seth slept for 6 straight hours!!! This may not seem like a big deal to you, but what if I told you that this is the longest stretch since he was born. I of course woke up in a panic and thought something was wrong. I really do hope there are more of nights like these to come, bring on the sleep!
Also Seth's one year pictures have been uploaded on the photographer's website, here is the link if you would like to check them out: www.iseebeauty.com/seth. I'm interested to know what your favorites are.

New cookbook

I don't know why, but this looks very interesting to me. I came across a review for it in a magazine while waiting to get my hair done today. I don't cook very often, but if I did I would like to make something out of this cookbook. I'll have to add it to my wish list.

Oh and in case you were wondering the winner was the picture with the frosting. It won by two votes. It was really hard for me to use that one though because even though I of course love that picture the full body shot was my favorite. I did however tell Nolan that I would take a vote on which picture to use because he had his heart set on the frosting picture, so when the tally was completed I had to follow through with my half of the bargain and submit that picture. The semi-finalists will be announced February 11th.

What a hard decision...

So, I want to enter Seth in the Regis and Kelly beautiful baby photo contest and I am having the hardest time deciding on which picture to use. I have narrowed it down to two pictures, one that is my favorite and one that is Nolan's favorite.
Which do you like?

Playing catch up again...

I know, I know I am terrible at updating this, but my friend Craig showed me how I can now update it through email so maybe it will be easier to keep this up to date.

On August 23rd I turned 30. No big deal...just another year right?

During the month of September...

My father-in-law gave us quite a scare when he had a heart attack. He had 2 stints put in and has made a couple of major life changes and is now doing well, which is a lot to be thankful for.

Nolan turned 31 on the 15th.

Seth attended his first Fresno State football game and tailgate. This is an annual event through my work and we had a great time. Seth stood on his own for the first time during the tailgate.


During October...

The three of us went to San Francisco. I had a three day CPE (Continuing Professional Education) class for work. We had a great time and we really enjoyed hanging out with all of my friends from work. Here we are at a great little Italian restaurant we found.


On October 6th we took part in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's annual Light the Night Walk. I formed a team at work and we were able to raise about $1300. I have multiple people in my life who have been stricken with this awful disease and it really felt good to do this in their honor. We even made a banner for our team...


10/28/07...First Steps!!! Seth is so proud of himself his face just lights up when he lets go of the couch and walks to me.

10/31/07...Seth's first Halloween. He was a fire-breathing dragon! This was my favorite picture.


During November Seth began dancing. He is so cute because music will come on and he will stop where he is and bob up and down. We can also say "dance baby" and he will put on a show for us, whether there is music or not.

11/22/07...Baby's first Thanksgiving. We did Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. We had the full spread and everything turned out very nice. My timing was a little bit off, but not too bad for my first time hosting Thanksgiving.

December 5, 2007...Happy 1st Birthday, Seth!!!

We had a big shindig for Seth with a 49ers football theme. He loved having everyone at the house and he begged for food from anyone who would listen. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but we taught him the sign for 'more' and he will clap his hands at you to indicate that he wants something. He wasn't too interested in opening presents, but our 2-year-old neighbor was happy to do this for him. However, he knew exactly what to do with his cake. Check out the mess he made...


I can't believe my little boy is one already. Where did the year go?

And now for my big news, which most of you already know...

On December 18, 2007 I found out that I passed my fourth and final section of the CPA exam, which means I will now be able to put those three little letters behind my name. I have been taking this exam for almost two years now and it has caused me so much stress and heartache that I can't even begin to explain to you how relieved I am to be done with it and not have to study anymore. The exam is like the BAR for Lawyers and just to throw out some statistics..."according to the California Board of Accountancy, approximately 16,000 people take the exam annually, but only about 2,700 new CPA licenses are issued."

I hope every one of you had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you the best in 2008!

Does anyone look at this anymore...

I am so awful at updating this and if you are checking it I am really sorry. Here goes a recap of the last 3 months (I can't believe that it has been that long, man time if flying by):

In June we went down south for the Anaheim Angels game and while there we went to Downtown Disney where Seth got is first ear hat.

On June 10th Seth had his 6-month pictures taken by a local photographer...check them out at www.iseebeauty.com/seth. Also on this day he had his first solid food, rice...

Overall June was a busy month...

Our dear friends the Frazer's came for a visit all the way from New Mexico. They cooked us enchiladas, we went to a Grizzlies game, Heather became addicted to Guitar Heroes and we had a great time...

Also in June Seth began army crawling, which means we really had to start keeping an eye on everything he does because if he shouldn't be touching it he wants to try.

During July Seth celebrated his first 4th of July, to celebrate we spent the evening at a BBQ with our neighbors, Shannon and Carrie. He wasn't the least bit frightened by the fireworks. Also during July he pulled himself up into the standing position for the first time.

So far in August he got his first two teeth, started crawling on his hands and knees, and went to the zoo for the first time. He had a great time watching the monkeys, touching stingrays, and feeding the giraffes...

Sitting Up

On May 18th Seth starting sitting up!

He also had his 6 month check-up and he is doing very well and the doctor said that he is really gaining weight at a good pace. He is now 16 lbs. 10 oz and is 25 inches long. Tomorrow we are going down south for the Anaheim Angels baseball game and we will spend time at Downtown Disney, which is always a lot of fun.

Rolling over

Since my last post my darling little boy has done so much. He started sucking on his toes, he can sit up supported by his arms, and he rolled over. It was so exciting to see him roll over for the first time. He first rolled over from his tummy onto his back and then a few days later he figured out how to roll from his back onto his belly. When he first did this Nolan and I were both watching him and we squealed with delight and then to join in Seth started squealing also, it was very cute.

We had another appointment with the lacatation specialist and she said that we are both doing very well, Seth is gaining weight and he weighed in at 15 lbs. 11 oz. He has little chunky legs and has really filled out. I can't believe how much he is growing. Now when I look at his newborn pictures its hard to remember him that small and skinny. I would really like to continue to breastfeed him until he is at least a year old, if not longer. We will start him on rice cereal when he is 6 months.

This past weekend was my first Mother's Day and it was so exciting. Seth and Nolan got me a beautiful mirror for our entry and the card Nolan picked out for me was very touching and brought tears to my eyes. We spent time with both Grandmas and had a wonderful day.

I am off of work this entire week, which of course I love. I still have a few weeks of disability left so I will take time off when we are slow at work. I love, love, love being at home with my little guy.

For Heather...

When my dear friend Heather was here a few months ago she helped me pick out paint colors and drapery for our new house. Ever since then she has been asking me for some pictures of the finished product. The kitchen color is Merlot and it looks quite a bit darker in the picture than it does in person. We love it and couldn't be more thrilled. Thanks, Heather!

The last month...

It has been a month since I last had a posting and for that I am truly sorry. All I can say is thank god busy season is over and I can drop back down to 40 hours a week and hopefully get more things accomplished(like updating my blog).

Since I last wrote Seth has discovered his feet and started reaching for things. He also had his 4-month check up, which meant another round of shots and he was quite the trooper barely crying at all. He was 14.4 lbs and 24 inches long. We also had pictures taken with real baby bunnies for Easter. He also started rolling on his side, but not quite all the way over yet. He also loves to take baths and I had to take pictures of him in his little puppy robe and slippers.

I also found out that I got a 73 on the last CPA exam section I took. A 75 is passing :) I feel like I'll never be able to pass this damn thing, but I will keep trying.

I am now on vacation until the 30th and I am looking forward to spending this extra time with Seth.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Seth is growing bigger by the day now and this week we had our doctor appointment with the lactation specialist and he now weighs 13 lbs. He is on track for his percentile, which is the 25th. Being at work is still difficult and this week I was out at a client's so that made pumping interesting. They were nice enough to set me up in a room where I could lock the door. We think that Seth will be giggling here any day and we can't wait! We spent Seth's first St. Patricks Day shopping. He was such a good boy and he looked so handsome in his new outfit...

I don't know how, but I did it...

This week I had to do the hardest thing I have ever had to do, leave Seth to go back to work. It is really hard to say goodbye to him every morning and it just breaks my heart, especially when he says goodbye by giving me a big grin. He is at home now with Nolan until the 16th of April, at which time I hope to take a couple more weeks off. Seth and I had a dr. appt. this week and he now weighs 11.13 lbs. He started bringing his hands together this week and he even took a 3 hours nap in his swing!

Have you seen Patricia Arquette on Medium?

So I did it, I chopped my hair off. See for yourself (ignore the fact that I have zero makeup on)...

This will be super simple for me to style in the mornings and is quite baby friendly. My hair was down past my shoulders, so we ended taking about 2-3 inches off. I also took some new pictures of Seth here is my favorite...