Steak it's what's for dinner!!

Tonight Jon grilled steak for dinner. Lately we have been trying to get jack to eat what we eat. When jack sat down for dinner tonight he said "now this is how you make steak"!!! What a compliment to the chef!!! He proceeded to eat his steak plus half of mine!!!

Website is live

My new firm website is live and functioning!! Check it out at: www.peshkelaw.com There is going to be a video intro of me but that won't be up for a few more days so check back later for that!!

Jon's 32nd birthday

Jon turned 32 on Monday! Jackson was more excited than anyone I think...he asked Jon if he was having his birthday party at Crazy Frogs like Jackson did! Poor little buddy does not understand that adults don't have birthday parties:) He was very excited and insisted that daddy would have a cake with "all of the race cars" and then he said well, "just five race cars" so, I made Jon's request which was a yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting and then Jack picked out and I washed 5 race cars to decorate the cake with! Happy birthday to Jon, hopefully our 32nd year is a great one!!

random pictures from around the house

Here are some random pictures from around the house this past week! Jackson started karate last week and is enjoying it very much! It is so cute to watch the class and to see how well he and the other little boys listen to the sensee (teacher, sp??). He has this twice a week from 4:45-5:15. So, there are a few pics of him in his gee (outfit, sp? again). And a few of SB in her high chair, and a few of Jack playing with his new Thomas train table I found at the consignment shop (best find ever)!!

Weekend pics

This weekend we took advantage of the wonderful late January weather we have been having. Lot of sunshine and a little warmer than normal meant we spent a lot of time outdoors and we even hit the beach on Sunday afternoon. Sarabeth is sitting up well now so realy enjoyed herself! Here are some pictures of our beach time and also of the kids taking a bath together! Lately Jack wants to be doing/eating/seeing whatever "sissy" is doing so on this day she was taking a bath and he decided he wanted to take one too! They are growing so fast, and I'm so glad they seem to love and appreciate each other even at this young age!

7 month post..finally!!

So, despite the fact that I realized I never did a 6 month post (that was a bit hectic of a time with the brand new start up of my firm) and despite the fact that SB is nearly 8 months...I did take some really cute 7 month pictures of her and want to do a quick post to log some 7 month milestones! She is very very near crawling at the end of her 7th month, we think it will be any day now. She is very active when in our arms and always wants to be put down to play and explore whatever she can get her hands on...this is the time that I am going through the house like a mad woman trying to get the little toys and pieces of Jack's out of reach, or just put away for now! She is also rocking up on her knees and will use us to pull from a sitting to a standing position very easily...yikes, I don't want an early walker!!! We pretty much cannot take our eyes/hands off of her right now. No more walking away from the changing table, or any surface we would sit her on before. She has also learned to click her tongue on the roof of her mouth and will do it ALL THE TIME:) It is so cute! She also wants very much for us (and especially her daddy and brother) to acknowledge her presence whenever she is brought into a room! She will look right at Jon or Jack if I am carrying her say from her room into the family room and go "ah" as if to say "hi", "notice me" and then grin from ear to ear when they look up and smile and talk to her! If you go "ah" back at her, she will do it back and forth and back and forth and have a little conversation. She is getting very good at feeding herself anything you will let her have, mostly though she can just have the gerber puffs since she still has no teeth. SHe loves to eat, for now we are on stage 2 gerber foods and banana flavored baby oatmeal cereal. She pretty much refuses bottles and even the starter sippy cups with apple juice. She gets most of her liquids still from nursing and nurses well in the morning, and when she first gets home from school around 5:00 or so, and also still a few times in the night (sigh, we are still not sleeping through the night, but I will survive)!! I am happy she still wants to nurse and I love the instant comfort that this brings her and the quiet time it allows me with her as well, even in the wee morning hours. It is one on one peaceful time that only she and I can share. She has also learned to wave and again, is very much excited to do this with her daddy! I think this is the first month that she seems to really be in to Jon and pays extra special attention to him which is nice for him. She is very aware of her surroundings at 7 months and who is with her. She is starting to fear strangers, she will hide her face in my shoulder if she sees someone she does not know and act shy, and she will cry if a stranger tries to hold her. She is also starting to show signs of separation anxiety, but not too terrible yet thankfully!! Sarabeth, 7 months has been so fun, you love your toys, your brother, your school, and your daddy and mommy. You also love to watch your dogs and will giggle and laugh at things or if someone tickles you!! You love to eat, and you let me dress you up each day, hair accessories included since you have such a beautiful head of dark wispy hair!! We love you, slow down already, it will be 8 months before we know it!!

weekend

Another weekend (or 2 "stay at home days") as Jackson calls them has come and gone again! We had gorgeous weather here this weekend, low 80's and lots of sun and blue skies, no bugs, no humidity, pretty much perfect so we spent a lot of time outdoors!! Saturday we went on bike rides and long stroller walks several times and we also went to a local festival that occurs every year, a Frog Legs Festival! They really do serve frog legs there (I did not try them) but people say they taste like chicken! Jackson and Jon got to hold a baby aligator, that was the hit of the day for Jack. Then Saturday night we had a new babysitter, one of our neighbor's daughters babysit and we went out to dinner at a local restaurant we've always wanted to try, a true old fashioned steakhouse beachside to celebrate Jon's 32nd birthday which is tomorrow! We had a nice night and capped it off with a drink at Coste' D'este. It was a nice night out and they have an outdoor bar near the pool and above the beach and when the wind is not up, it is a really nice spot to wind down a night. We saw some friends there and visited for a bit and then about 10:15, wild people that we are, we headed home! Good thing we did too becasue the night had gone great for the babysitter until 10pm when Sarabeth decided to poop for the third time yesterday which of course woke her up and the poor thing just wailed for the sitter. She is starting to get to the point where she knows who has her and has some fear of strangers which is why I put her to bed and had the sitter come later so that I could do that before we left! She normaly does not get up again in the night until around midnight, darn the poop episode! I was not expecting to walk into the house to an upset SB but thankfully she had not been upset for long and I nursed her and got her back down instantly. There is a reason God made women be able to nurse is all I can say, it is like magic and instantly calms a baby!! I think she has mom-dar and knows when I leave......she slept soundly the rest of the night until 5 am when she got up FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. Today, Sunday started bright and early so we once again made the best of it and spent a lot of time outdoors. We swam in the pool, played at the beach, played on our porch and just hung out at the house today. I will load pictures tomorrow, my computer is at my office and I can't load them from Jon's work computer which I am on now:) Have a good week everyone, happy early birthday to Jon:) p.s. my blog book arrived! I will post pictures of all three published volumes I have now soon so you can all see what I am talking about! It is SO NICE to have these books. I looked back through 2009 tonight and compared Jack at the same age as SB is now and they really DO look alike.

calm after the storm??

Phew, two blog posts in one day??!! That's what happens when I spend both a Friday and a Monday at home with a sick baby:( She is down for a good nap now and I have spent the past 2 hours sorting baby boy clothes. Aunt Frances is due with a little boy in May and I'm feeling more and more like my family is complete so we're sending our best baby boy items for this baby boy on his way who will match sizes and stages that Jackson was in at the same age:) It's been like a trip down memory lane sorting the items, I have a pile to send, a pile to consign, and a pile that I had to just outright pitch, and I found a few things for sissy to use as well:) I did find my shopping cart cover which I had been looking for now that she is sitting up so that is fun! Frances, be on the look out for many boxes coming your way this week and next! I'm on a role with this project and am happy to send our nice baby boy things to good hands rather than just consign it all to strangers, it makes the whole process much easier knowing our nice things are going to a nice home where they will be appreciated:) These days things are quieting down, we're settling into our new routine with me working independently and days like today and Friday don't throw us for a total loop like they did before as I can work nights, weekends, and juggle my schedule as I need to to accomodate karate lessons, a sick baby, or whatever life throws us. Typically I work in my office from about 9-3 or 4 on M, W and F and Tues and Thurs I work at the health department in my office there from 9-2 and then I go to my office for a few hours to check messages, sign checks, or do whatever I need to do. My website is under construction and will go live in a week or two so check it out: www.peshkelaw.com and if you have a facebook account, make sure to "like" law offices of Jennifer D. Peshke, P.A. and share this as a link! The more coverage I get the better. We're also focusing on exercise and eating better. I am in another 7 week bootcamp and with the holidays behind us, I am DETERMINED to lose 15 pounds. I got a watch and heart monitor that tracks calories burned and I am tracing exercise and calories in and out on my i phone app. It's math people (and a lot of will power) so I am going to go for it!! Jon is also on a diet and we are working on Jack eating healthy and learning good food choices too so hopefully we all succeed and this is indeed the calm after the storm we've experienced with all of the transition in the past few months! I have always liked that feeling about January.........

MLK day home with SB

SB is still running a bit of a temp from yet another cold she has caught so she and I are having another mommy/baby day at home. Jon will come home for the afternoon so I can head to my office for a few hours to get a few hours billed. While we are home, I took advantage of this unforeseen "free time" and crossed a major item off my list, I ordered our blog book for calendar year 2011! If you have not printed your blog into books yet, YOU ARE MISSING OUT! I am NOT a scrapbooker...I have all sorts of intentions but they just don't happen due to my schedule and since I already devote so much time to the blog to document our family's adventures, I figure printing it into a hard cover bound color book is better than any scrap book I could create anyways! I previewed it and saw what a fun, exciting and expectant year our family had while we waited for the arrival of little miss Sarabeth. There is nothing like waiting for a new baby to arrive! The joy and happiness our family felt this past year really comes through in the photos and posts so much. I can't wait for the actual book to arrive. Jackson especially likes to review them with me! So, if you've been procrastinating this project (don't because each year runs me around 85-100.00) get on with it and order your books! I use blog2print, google it and you will get to their website. I pick the same book cover each year but personalize the rest and I do the autobook default feature so the whole thing takes me like 20 minutes and this year's book cost $85.00. Not bad, I'm sure I would have spent more than that on scrapbook supplies, never mind the HOURS I don't have that would have gone into that.

catching up!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts and photos, we've just been busy manging our lives, work, school, play, does not leave much time to be on the computer!! Here are some pictures from the last two weeks! It was really warm and nice the weekend of new years so we decided to heat the pool and enjoy our backyard. Sarabeth was not so sure about the pool and refused to go in her little float but Jackson is a fish. I think he will definitely learn to swim without a float by this spring in time for the warmer weather and swim season here. We also started Sarabeth in the high chair right around 7 months. She is eating food 2-3 times a day now. She eats breakfast with us in her high chair and also dinner when we eat. She loves the fruits and purees the best (of course) but will do most of the veggies too. Like her brother she is NOT a fan of the green beans or peas. She loves the oatmeal gerber baby cereal mixed with sweet potatoes or any of the fruits. She loves to feed her self anything she can manage which right now is realy just the baby puffs. She is a big fan of yo baby yogurt and will gobble that right down!! She sits very well now but still not crawling, which I am happy about. For the most part I can set her down and leave the room and come back and she is still right there..I know this phase will pass fast so I'm trying to remember it! She does not like to be on her belly, she is happy on her back and will kick her feet and occasionally scoot herself across the floor this way. Last weekend we took the kids to our local zoo on Sunday to enjoy the nice weather...warm, sunny, not hot, no humidity or bugs= perfect zoo day! Jack's favorite is the giraffe. You can get real close here and actually feed the giraffes which is really cool. They also had a giant python snake out and he loved that too! Last night we had friends over for a piaya (sp?) dinner home made by Jon and to watch football! We had three babys here, Fiona who is 4 months and Hope who is 8 months and SB who is 7 months and of course Jackson and his buddy Lola who are both 3 and a half plus 6 parents = a full house!!

Happy weekend all!!

week in reveiw!

It is hard to believe another week has come and gone. We had a good and productive week after all of the holiday hooplah that the last few weeks brought! I started the new year with about the worst cold I've ever had, that was only fitting since Jackson and Sarabeth had it for Christmas. It was one way to easily lose a few holiday pounds though, its amazing what you DON'T eat when you cannot taste or smell anything and have NO appetite!! I am feeling better today though and the kids are also mostly better so hopefully we will start off next week with all four of us healthy. Sarabeth turned 7 months last week so watch for a blog post coming on that with 7 month photos and updates on what she is doing these days...we are hearing lots of dadadada and mamamama...not really sure that she means what she says yet, but those are the sounds she makes continually! She also graduated to her HIGH CHAIR, pictures of that too, she is so petite and cute sitting up there like a big girl!!

My business is also going well and I am getting more comfortable in my new role each day. I even had a client drop by with a nice note and a gift of a beautiful Mariposa silver frame engraved with "family" for my new space. I am more than 100% confident I made the right decision!! This week we continued to make progress with the two guys building my website and I hope it will go live in just about another week or so! I had photos taken Friday as well for the website and a sign is being made for the outside of the building advertising my company and will sit right outside along A1A. I am really excited for the opportunity to form my practice the way I want to and so thankful that this time has finally come! I am loving self employment and setting my own schedule as well.

In other news Jack is excited that we are going to try some pre-school karate lessons possibly this coming week on Monday afteroon. The lessons are for 3-5 year olds and are on Mondays from4:45-5:15. He is excited and I think this will be a good activity for him! We also found out that he is old enough this spring for tiny tot tee ball, registration starts Feb 1st and he is all about it! I am going to sponsor his little team with my company:)

Pictures coming later, hope everyone is having a nice weekend, weather is gorgeous here this weekend, and all the northern visitors are in town. We hit the "Nemo Park" this morning and the adjacent farmer's market and this afternoon we got out for a long walk and stroller ride! Great way to spend a Saturday!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We are excited to welcome what 2012 will bring, yet we are also happy to reflect on what 2011 brought for our family, namely baby Sarabeth, and secondly, freedom and independence for our family through self employment for me! I wonder what 2012 will bring us? We hope to be able to buy the house we are in, while still maintaining our other house as a full time rental, and we hope to be able to have successful business years for my new business and for Jon in sales in what is looking like yet another tough economic year with all the additional uncertainty that an election year brings to the ecomony. We also hope to maintain our health for ourselves and everyone in our families.

We had a wonderful new years at home. We participated in our neighborhood's beach bonfire this year which was really fun for all of us. Jackson had the time of his life running around with our neighbor, J.P. (who is 12 and whom Jackson idolizes) and J.P.'s friends. J.P. is our pet sitter whenever we are out of town and is a really great kid. Jackson loves to watch him skate board, or shoot a paint gun, or surf, or drive his golf cart or play basketball...whatever he happens to be doing, you can be sure Jack is watching closely out the window:)

Today we are continuing to play with all of the new toys Santa brought us, we have swam in the pool which we heated for the weekend, we've been on a beach walk and we're still trying to kick the colds the kids have had since Christmas just relaxing at home. Two days in a row I have gotten them both down for naps at the same time...miracle that that is!! Time for me to go try to take a nap myself while I can, happy new year everyone, hopefully 2012 is a great year for all of us:)