January 31st:

Let me start by apologizing. This was the longest I've gone without updating the blog. It's been on my 'todo list' for a couple of weeks, but I just haven't had the time. For those of you that are frequent blog checkers (like myself), I'm sure it's been a bit annoying to constantly see the same pictures for a month. I will do my best to never let that happen again. ;-)
So let's see, what have you missed this past month? Well, most of you already know the obvious…I'm no longer employed. Yup, my territory was eliminated in the restructuring of my Company. I fully expected it so I can't say I'm surprised. In fact, the whole thing is probably a blessing in disguise for a couple of different reasons…I was underpaid and so this gives me a chance to increase my income…I have severance for a couple of months, so that's nice...and, I get to spend quality time with my son. Of course there are a few negatives such as the lack of company car and the relentless hours I now spend on the computer for the job search. Marshall has been incredible through this whole thing. In fact, on the day that I got laid off, he came home with a super sweet card and a container of my favorite ice cream from 31 Flavors, and, he broke down from his disciplined eating habits and ate the ice cream with me. How cool is that?
Have I told you that Jake is the coolest dude in the universe? We're having so much fun with him these days. He's always checking things out, smiling at people and just generally a very happy baby. Well, maybe not at 1am and 4am, but all the smiles during the day more than make up for our lack of sleep. It's fun watching him change on a daily basis. Jake's just now appreciating all the animals in his bedroom - he especially loves the monkeys. Sometimes he just looks at them and laughs. We're still working on crawling; he's so close. It's my guess that he'll be crawling in the next week and…I'll actually be home to see it happen! Oh, and Jake LOVES Argos. He lights up every time he sees him.

Jake met his cousin Aaron at the Aquarium earlier this week. He definitely had a good time. I suspect that we'll be visiting Sea World or the Zoo in the very near future. I can't wait.

I added a few pictures of Jake's bubble bath from last week. It was his first time in the big tub with me. We had fun with the bubbles. ...I think he was sick of having his picture taking in the second photo!


The other two picture I just had to add because they're adorable.