grandma and grandpa mcandrew...

Grandma and Grandpa McAndrew came to visit on Saturday and we picked them up at the airport. Saturday we just hung out and went to get something to eat. Sunday morning we went to Church, to breakfast and then grocery shopping. (Standard Sunday morning!) Then after Eric woke up from his nap (what nap???) we drove up to Mt. Lemmon. It is so beautiful up there. At first you see so many cactus, then it changes to some greenery, then it is covered in pines way up top. It is crazy how much it changes on the way up. It was our 2nd time up there, and I of course don't have any pictures! I forgot the camera the 1st time, and brought the camera the 2nd- just didn't take any pictures! We had a lazy day on Monday, didn't really do anything. We want to see some of the museums and such while they are here, but it is just so hot that I'm not sure what we will get done. We'll update you along the way!!!:)

no turning back...

Ok, so I thought that kneeling in the crib was a big deal and that we were in trouble! That was nothing! I can't believe that when he was supposed to be sleeping, this is what I found!!! I hurried up and got the camera, then took his picture without him noticing me, then ran and showed John the picture. I didn't think he would be able to get back down, because that is what I have heard (and so I just let him standing there while I went to go show John-I'm scary!), but when I got back, he was already sitting down. They say that is what you should do though, just let them figure it out, because if you don't- they will just depend on you to help them down and not figure it out. Not that I know any adult who doesn't know how to sit down from a standing position, but I guess it causes more frustration than is necessary. Anyway, he got down by himself, and now I think we are in trouble. There is no turning back, we are definitely in the fast lane now!!!

And on a side note-just to show you that I am TOTALLY losing my mind! We went to a get together last night and I had to make a dessert. I wanted to make a really yummy chocolate eclair cake that is so easy to make. I have made it a couple of times already and it is just so good. So anyway, I made it yesterday and it totally didn't turn out the way it did before. You mix 3 boxes of French Vanilla Pudding with 1 -8oz. container of cool whip. Well I did that, and it wasn't just right. So I ran out and got another thing of cool whip- 12 more oz. and came home and mixed that in. It was just grainy and gross looking- real stiff, just not good. I didn't know what was going on, I was going out of my mind. Well I finished making the rest of it the best I can- complaining the whole time to John. I figured maybe it will look like crap, but taste ok. When it was time to eat dessert, I tasted a piece, and it was just awful! I was so embarrassed, but still couldn't figure out what was wrong!!! Well we came home and I was sitting on the couch and it hit me!!! I was supposed to MAKE the pudding, not just mix the powder with the cool whip!!!!!!! DUH!!!!!!! Like I said, I made it before and it turned out great- yeah I made the pudding! I was even more pissed off than I was before, and I couldn't believe that I actually took it! How could I be so stupid, and that is when I got really scared, because I am truely losing my mind!!! :O

pools and bruises...

Ok, I bought a pool the other day at where? Right, Babies R Us, and I was so excited! Well it isn't quite as much fun as I thought it would be! It will be much better when the baby can play in it and I can just supervise!!! It would be great too if we had some grass to sit it on! The concrete patio just isn't cutting it. Eric is tall enough to stand in it, so he wants to move around and squirm and lean over the edge and play! Well I'm getting too old!!!:) My back was killing me after we got out! Not a ton of fun! But it is nice to get him in the water, without having to drive anywhere, so I'm sure we will go in again!

Well Eric hit his head again! He did it the first time when John's parents were here, he hit the entertainment center and had a bump on his eye brow (what eye brow right???) This time he hit his little cheek on the coffee table. I wasn't quick enough to grab him and crack! Poor little guy!:( Can you see a little bruise on his left cheek?

lovely...

Well our weekend was a blurr! Saturday we went to where? Right, Babies R Us, to pick up the dressers for Eric's room. Well with the car seat in the car, we couldn't fit either dresser in also. Therefore John had to take me and the baby home, and then make 2 trips back to THAT store to pick up the dressers one by one! Well when he got home and was putting the car seat back in the car, I noticed something disturbing in the tire! Yes a NAIL!!! Well John couldn't do anything about it just yet because he went to go help friends of ours move. So yesterday morning, the fun began for him. He took the tire off and put it in his truck and took itto Sears, and they said they couldn't fix it because the nail was in the side wall, so we needed to buy a new tire!!! Well Sears didn't carry Dunlop, so he drove around to like 5 other tire places around town. What do you think happened??? RIGHT, nobody that was open carried the right tire!!! So after hours of driving around, he came home again with the tire- not further ahead than he was several hours and 100 miles before!!! Anyway, he put my spare tire on and will have to just buy a new tire today or sometime this week. I won't be going too many places anyway, so I don't have to drive too much on the spare! Here are pictures of John putting the spare tire on, and I threw on in of the baby sporting a new outfit, from where??? RIGHT!!!:)

a good stock tip...

Wow, Babies R Us is going to bring us down! We spend SO much money there, every week!!! I can't believe it! Here is ONE of our purchases for today! (The outfit is ONE of last week's purchases!!!) We only went to pick up the furniture for his bedroom. I said, I am going to close my eyes, we will go right to the desk and NOT look at anything. Well we went to the desk and gave them our papers, and they said it would be about 10 minutes "Why don't you go look around for a few minutes!" NNNOOO, then it was all over! I had no choice but to buy! It is a sickness! I can't believe it, but it is true, once you have kids- all of your money goes to them, and you buy less and less for yourselves! That is ok, but I'm telling you, you really should go buy stock in Babies R Us...

uh oh!...

Well this is what I found yesterday when I went to wake up Eric after his nap! He was just loving it, and now he does it every time I put him in his crib!!! He has such a good time! Except when he fell over, just onto the mattress though- but it scared the crap out of him! Well I didn't want to ruin his fun, but I had John lower the mattress down so he can't reach the top. He is sleeping now, so we'll see if it works, or if he will pull himself up to a standing position! I'll let you know!!! The other pictures are of today when I was trying to get him to take a nap!!!

it must come down...

Most of you know this, but when we had Eric in Enid, we knew we would only be there for a little while- and we had no room- so we didn't do a nursery for him there. When we got here, we had a room, but no crib or furniture! My mom bought us a crib over Christmas, but it was out of stock and the delivery date kept getting pushed back and back. Anyway, by the time we got the crib, Eric was about 4 1/2 months, so that is about when he started to sleep in his own room. We finally went out and got him a mobile, although they all say to take them down when they are 5 months old! Well we bought one anyway, put it up and he was fine! The mobile has a little bubble with a fish in it, and there are fish hanging which turn around when the music is playing. The last few times I went in to get Eric up from his nap, there has been a fish in his crib with him! I just thought it fell at first- and I put it back up. Well I can't say that it falls every time he takes a nap! He is either getting himself into a sitting position from laying down (which he does now- yeah!), or just pushing up from his belly and reaching up and pulling those fish down! So this past time, I finally realized that I have to take the mobile down! I can still keep the base on the crib though, with the bubble fish- and it can still play music. The hanging fish have to go though! I will have to take the bubble down when he starts trying to climb out, even though it is up against the wall- nobody said he was the sharpest knife in the drawer!!! Just kidding!:)

on your marks- get set- more?...

Well we can pretty much mark it as a milestone today, Eric crawled! I am willing to wait a little bit longer, because now he will just get faster and faster and I will have to chase him around everywhere! (although that would probably burn more calories and i could possibly lose some of this stinkin' baby weight???:)) Anyway, he can definitely get to where he wants to go. He does creep and wiggle and roll, but now he is moving knees and hands- not too many before falling- but I'm sure it won't be long before he totally gets the hang of it!!! http://media.putfile.com/on-your-marks--get-set--GO


I have been working with Eric for about 3 months now on sign language. I have only been doing a few simple signs, like 'more', 'eat', and 'milk'. Well I really think he is finally doing the sign 'more' back to me! He did it a few weeks back too, but John just thought it was him getting excited, but now I really think he is doing it now! It was so neat to see him do it, I just hope that it will help with our feeding issues! We'll just take one step at a time! Sorry for the bad video, but it is hard to sign, feed, and video tape at the same time! http://media.putfile.com/More-40

mmmmm?????.....

Turkey and Gravy- mmmmm! Right? I don't know how the baby food company can make turkey and gravy taste so nasty! I gave Eric his first 'meat' last night for diner! Maybe he will get used to it, but I think I found something that he doesn't like!!! After the first bite- I thought he was going to gag, but he kept it down, so I kept feeding it to him!!! How rude, I know! I think I would almost go buy and cook meat, and then just blend it up! That would work, right? MUCH more work, so it probably won't happen, but it is a good thought! When we have chicken or beef or turkey- so any kind of meat, I will do that though. So far, all the veggies and fruits haven't been so bad- I've tasted them all, but I would definitely gag too if I had to eat that meat!!!:P Here's a little example of Eric not liking the turkey and gravy!!!http://media.putfile.com/Turkey-and-Gravy

last night week...

John has his last night flight tonight! I am so excited, I hate it when he flies at night. He doesn't get home until about 12:30 or so, and I can't sleep good until he gets home! This week is slowing down a little for him, at least for now. He didn't fly yesterday, and he isn't supposed to fly tomorrow.

We are a little nervous, grandma and grandpa Fife were supposed to leave this morning, but grandpa is sick, so they are staying for another day or two- depending on when he feels better. Grandma has been sick for about a week, but we originally thought it was food poisoning. Now we know it isn't, we are nervous that our whole family is going to get it! Keep your fingers crossed for us, and hopefully grandma and grandpa Fife will both feel better soon!

bye-bye...

Grandma and Grandpa are leaving tomorrow morning. They came over this afternoon, John was home early from work, and we went to Oregano's for an early diner. Oregano's is this really good Italian restaurant, but you have to go EARLY or you won't get a seat! We came back to the house afterwards and just hung out together. John took his parents to return their rental car and back to the RV park, and I got the peanut ready for bed.
Eric is doing so well going out to eat, we just entertain him for as long as possible, then pop veggie puffs into his mouth until we are ready to leave! I have to make sure that I have a container full of them every time I leave the house now! I don't like to rely on them, but they sure do work when you need them!
Eric has started to wave bye-bye now! John and I have been working on it for awhile now, and he has actually started it in the last few days! Last Friday we went out to diner and when we were leaving some guy was talking to him and waving good-bye. The next thing we knew, Eric waved bye to him! It was so cool! Since then we have really been working on it, and of course he does it only when he wants, but when he does it at the appropriate times- it is awesome! It is really funny that so many adults can get so excited over a baby waving bye-bye!!!:) http://media.putfile.com/bye-bye-80

naked baby!!!

When Eric was first born, he hated to be naked! He cried when we changed his diaper, but was sooo happy when we put his clothes back on. Well have things changed! Who in our family likes to be naked all the time, it has to come from John's side!:) Eric loves it!!! Everytime I change his diaper or his clothes, he cries and complains! He would love to be naked all the time! Now the big problem comes because he can now take off his diaper!!! He can just reach down and undo the velcro! It makes it very hard to put clothes on, because everytime I concentrate on the head and arms of the clothes, I go to snap the snaps, and the diaper is off! What a little turkey! When it is really hot, well it is always really hot now here, and I let him nap in his diaper, I have to put shorts on him, because we would totally be naked!!! Here he is in the crib, and then rolling around the livingroom floor! I also see why you shouldn't put a blanket in the crib with them at this age- they could get all wrapped up!

grandma and grandpa fife

Grandma and Grandpa Fife came to town on Friday afternoon. We hung out with them all weekend, and then we dropped them off last evening at the airport to rent a car. They plan on doing some sight seeing this week while John is at work, and we will play again this weekend! We will also do lunch or whatever we can throughout the week when they are free!:)

Wow, was it hot today! It made it up into the mid 90's, thank goodness it isn't 100 yet! It is supposed to be in the mid 90's all week! Our activities this week are going to include nothing outside I'm sure, unless we make it to the pool! Or maybe just the bath tub!!!:)

tucson

I am doing this blog so that you can stay updated on the Macasek's happenings. Eric has his own website, www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/jeric, and if you want to visit and don't have the password, email me and I will give it to you. This blog is for the family, so you know what we all are doing, and day to day thoughts and happenings.
For those of you who don't know, we are staying here in Tucson for John's next tour. We will be here for about 3 1/2 years, including this training. John is in the "Dragons" right now, and in June when he graduates he will move over to the "Bulldogs". He is going to Alabama this summer for SOS, which is an officer training that all captians must complete. We are thinking that Eric and I will drive over there with him and stay for a week or 2, then fly home to Pittsburgh for several weeks, and then fly back to Alabama before we drive back here to Tucson. We would like to meet up with Kif and Matt (friends of ours from the B-1 who are in Pensacola right now), while we are in Alabama.