Happy anniversary to us...

Well, lots of things happened this past week. Friday, as Jeremiah says, "Brady finally cut one..." yep, Brady got his first tooth!!! It's one of the bottom ones in the middle. It's kind of hard to see, but it's really sharp so you can definately feel it. I think there's a few more teeth not far behind. His gums are still pretty puffy looking on the top. So that was Friday. Saturday was Brady's six month birthday already. Can you believe it? Wow. Six months. It's amazing what can happen in six months. Brady basically went from an eating, sleeping and pooping little bundle to a little guy with a happy and playful personality all of his own. He giggles a lot now. And he loves to play. He can sit by himself without falling over - 98% of the time anyway. Sometimes when he reaches for something far away he'll still plop over onto his side. He can crawl backwards like a champ and rock really fast on his hands and knees. He's super funny and nearly always smiley. He's not really particular about what he eats as long as he's eating something! Sunday he spent the day playing with his cousins Ryan and Logan while I worked and Jeremiah slept after he got home from work. Today is our anniversary. We spent the morning being bums and I even took a nap. Whoa. That hasn't happened in a LONG time. Brady took a really good 2 hour nap this morning so I got in a good one too. I expected him to wake up after only about 45 minutes or so, but lucky for me he decided to give mommy an anniversary present. Since Jeremiah and I have been working like a bunch of nuts we haven't had time to get each other anything so we decided to pool our gift money and just get something nice for both of us to share. Besides, a second anniversary gift is supposed to be cotton. Cotton? What's that about? I told him I'd get him some nice socks. We opted for one of those undercabinet cd/radio thingies instead. We put it in the kitchen. It's pretty nice. You can get channels 2-13 from the TV tuned in for audio only, there's a CD player, a regular AM/FM radio and a weather radio too. My favorite thing is the light on the bottom. It's really bright so at night it helps light up the countertops. We did a good job bargain hunting.
Tomorrow it's back to work for both of us. I'm off Thanksgiving day, but I have to work 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. I have to work sometime on Sunday but I just don't know what hours yet. Good grief. Have I mentioned I need a new job lately? I know, you're sick of hearing about it. Something will turn up eventually.
Oh, tonight we went out to dinner for our anniversary. We went to the Cheesecake Factory. That's a dangerous place. A person could eat way too much in there. It was really, really yummy. Jeremiah's such a nerd. I asked if he was going to get his cheesecake to eat there or take home because our meals were really big and he was like, eat here. So I said, well, what if we get one for here and one to take home. I meant one to share there and one to take home to share. He thought I meant we would each get one there and one to take home. At $6.50 per slice I wasn't up for that. So we split a carmel apple strudle cheesecake piece there and brought home a heath bar crunch one.
That's it for now I guess. My left eye is all red again like a few weeks ago. I don't know what the deal is with it. It's burning and itching and looks horrible. If it doesn't clear up by Wednesday or so I guess I'll have to go to the doctor.
Well, Jake's trying to climb into his food container so I better go pull him out of there. I'll try to get some updates and some new pictures on here as soon as I can.

I hate interviews...

Well I had an interview today with the district manager for Old Navy. At first I thought it was going really well, but then in the end I don't know. I hate interviews. They're so dumb. There really is no possible way to learn enough about a person through talking about mundane junk and this situation and that. We'll see if it goes anywhere. On one hand I would like to get the job there because it would be better than what I've got now with Sears. I'd have every other weekend off and only be working about 40-42 hours per week as opposed to 45-50 now with relatively no weekends off (by now I mean in general throughout the year with Sears...NOW being the holiday season means 55-70 hours...and by the way I don't get paid overtime which would probably help ease the annoyance a little bit at least). The downside is it's still retail which I really want to get away from eventually. It's too crazy to have me and Jeremiah both having psycho schedules. Plus it makes it virtually impossible to have any kind of normal schedule for Brady, let alone any kind of steady day care arrangements. We're lucky now that we have such a great person to watch him, but if I get relocated somewhere else it might mean having to find someone new which we are totally not wanting to do. We'll see I guess. I never did hear anything from Garmin. My sister, Jenn, is going to talk to some people she knows who work for Yellow Transportation (no, I'm not looking to be a trucker) and Hallmark. Hallmark would be awesome. Their headquarters are here in Kansas City and it's supposed to be a great place to work. Jenn's mother-in-law worked there until she retired. I have no idea what she did, but I know she really enjoyed it. Plus, she got us into the "Double D" discount store once which was fun. It's like some secret clearance place for associates and family/friends I guess. It was a long time ago when I was still in college that I went there.
In a perfect world - one in which I actually played the lottery - I would win the big jackpot, move to the country on a big piece of land with cows, someone to pick up after the cows, lots of dogs and cats (rest in peace Kramer - Jenn's cat died this week) and more babies! Jeremiah could hunt and fish all day and rebuild Supras and other cars and I could play with the kids and pets and scrapbook and do crafty things and take naps and go to culinary school and write books. We could build a little compound with a bunch of guest houses so all of our friends and family members could come and stay as long as they like whenever they wanted. I think I'd go back to school and get degrees in anything and everything since I like to learn new things and would be a much better student now than I was when I actually was a student since I am older and much more wiser and also less interested in frat parties and staying out late and more interested in actually learning something.
However, since we don't play the lottery it is highly unlikely that we will win the lottery thereby making all of the above irrelavent. I'll have to settle for my stupid job for which I should be grateful to have while I endlessly search for a better one with a more normal schedule. The only good thing about working this chaotic mess of a schedule now is that Brady is too young to remember any of it and hopefully by the time he is old enough to start remembering memories I will have a normal job and be able to be in the memories for being around with him and not always at work. Upon dropping Brady off at Jenn's house one Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago on my way to work my little nephew Logan said, "Headdder, why do you work so much?..." to which I replied: "I have a mean boss."
I better get to bed now. Today was my last day off until Thanksgiving. I worked six days in a row before today, I have 8 in a row starting tomorrow and probably at least 10 or 11 in a row after Thanksgiving. Yipee. I'm sooooooo excited. (Insert your own sarcastic tone here.) I've got some new funny pics of Brady - as usual - so next time I get a break - January possibly !!! - I'll get them on here. He's getting so big and so funny I just can't believe it. He'll be six months old Saturday. Happy half-birthday to him!
Oh - one more thing: Brady's babbling is getting longer and funnier by the day and he's now saying "da-da-da-da-da" all day and night. Mom says if babies say da-da first it means you'll have a boy the next time around. I'm ok with that. Boys are fun. Girls are nice too. I'm not picky. As long as he or she is healthy I'll go with the flow. Plus, if in a few years we do have another boy we're set with all the blue stuff we have now we won't have to buy a thing!!!

So far, so good...

I got a call this morning from a recruiter for Old Navy. We talked for about an hour and it seems like things went really well. She's going to have the district manager call me to arrange a face to face interview sometime in the next week or so. That's good news. I told Jeremiah after the interview that yesterday I bought a new pair of jeans at Old Navy and today I got an interview. I asked if I could go buy a sweater and maybe I might get a job. He thought my logic was fuzzy. I was surprised he didn't tell me to bring home a GPS for his boat so that Garmin might call!

Well, other than that not a lot has happened today. Work work work.

Oh, what do you think about the new layout? I love it!

Question:

WHERE'S THE BEEF????
Brady had his 6 month check-up today and his 6 month shots. We went to the new doctor, Dr. Monzon who saw him in the hospital when he was born. He said that Brady is growing really well and is ready for more food - "He needs meat," he said. He still needs to be drinking milk, but he won't get enough iron from milk alone. Basically he is going to be eating three meals and drinking five bottles a day. Whoa. That's lots of food.
We love Dr. Monzon. He was really nice and really helpful telling us things that we need to know rather than throwing a handout at us and saying see you later. Brady got half a flu shot today. I guess in babies they give them half a dose one month and the other half the next. So we have to go back Dec. 12 for the other one.
Brady's been babbling up a storm today. It's the first day he's really been making long strands of babble with consonants and vowels. He's found ways to mimic what we are doing too. If we blow raspberries, he does. If we stick out our tongues, he does. He's starting to try to curl his tongue. I think he'll be able to do it soon.
UPDATE: He is now 17 pounds 7 ounces and 26 & 3/4 inches long. His head is getting bigger too - it's 17 inches around.
All is well. He's still spitting up a bunch so he has some baby zantac he has to take three times a day to help keep his esophogus healthy.
Well, the weather here is nice. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 80 degrees. Can you believe it? It's November! Oh well. At least it's one less day we have to run the heat in the house!
I can't think of anything else for now. I've got to get Brady in the tub and get Jeremiah up for work. He's got to work tonight and then has training in the morning. I asked today why they don't have training in the middle of the night during his shift sometime and make all the other people come to work during their sleeping times. He agreed that would be nice, but it's not going to happen.
Oh - one more thing. The job front: no news. Nothing from Garmin. Nothing from Old Navy. I'm feeling like giving up on the job search. It seems like a joke and I'm feeling doomed to a life of chaotic nonsense stuck in retail. I hope I'm wrong.

Cutest boy on earth

We got pictures of Brady done today at Sears. Grandma Joyce and Poppy Don watched Brady today and then brought him up to meet me at work at the end of my shift. The pictures turned out AWESOME! He's such a ham. I think he should be the next Gerber baby or soemthing. Maybe a poster kid for Pampers. I have a few more to put on here once I flip them vertical in photoshop on the other computer, but check these fun ones out:

Cute pics of Brady-boy

He's so cute. I just can't get over it.

Brady's dressing warmer these days. It's cold outside so he has to bundle up!!!

Giggling is his favorite thing to do now.

A new view

Brady can stand next to his train table by himself now...with Mommy or Daddy not too far away of course! Last week Brady stood for 10 minutes or so just playing with his pacifier and his toys on top of his table.

Unsupported sitting!

Brady is doing really good at sitting by himself now. Of course we try to keep the boppy close by since the transition from sitting to lying down isn't yet a smooth one.

What a happy kid. We're so spoiled by Brady. He still only cries for two reasons: he's hungry or he's tired. Most of the time he's like this - cheery and full of smiles.

Push-ups

And a one, and a two....argh. Push-ups are hard work.

Brady started doing push-ups about a week ago. All of a sudden he just pushed up on his hands and toes and hovered above the ground. Now he's started getting on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth really fast. It's like he's gearing up to go, go, go. He's already moving backwards pretty quickly. Soon enough he'll be crawling all over the place!

Bradyodonus

Brady was the cutest dinosaur on Halloween. He looks like one of those Anne Geddes babies. What a cutie!!!

Look at those round little cheeks!!

Like a doll.

Having fun standing.

Hammin' it up.

One tired dino.

On the move.

Aww.

Sleepy.

Tricks or Treats

Brady had fun last night in his Halloween costume. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house where Brady donned his Dino costume. It was awesome. He looked like a little bitty doll. It was hillarious. Then we stopped by Aunt Stacey and Uncle Jeff's to meet their new puppy Harley (and raid their candy bucket). Harley is a puggle - pug/beagle. He's really cute. And tiny. Brady loves him.

I'm going to try my hardest to get pictures online later tonight. One of my coworkers called today and asked me to switch shifts tomorrow so I have to be up by 5 a.m. so I can't stay up really late. As long as Brady gets to sleep at a decent time I'll at least try to get his Halloween pics on here. I still have a bunch of other ones too - his push-ups, sitting & playing, and standing at his table.

Things are crazy around here - as usual. It's getting ready to go into hyper-crazy mode since the holidays are coming. Can you believe Thanksgiving is in three weeks??? Whoa. It seems like Brady was just born yesterday and here we are getting ready to take him to the doctor next week for his six month check-up. Good grief. Where does the time go?

Jeremiah is getting ready to spend the weekend in St. Louis with his cousin Brian. They're going to the Rams/Cheifs game Sunday with Dave. I have to work Saturday, but Brady and I plan on spending a relaxing day together Sunday. Maybe we'll watch the Nascar race. We haven't really watched one yet this year - and there's only two left!

Work has been keeping me busy lately - preparing for the holiday season. My electronics department is in disarray right now. I'm having them reorganize and rearrange everything. Hopefully we'll have it done in the next few days. My boss likes to sit on his hands a lot so progress is moving at a slower pace than I would like. I've got my eyes on a couple other jobs. I'd really like to get out of retail. It wouldn't be as bad if Jeremiah had a Monday-Friday day job, but with two of us having wacko schedules it really makes things difficult on us, and more importantly on Brady. Luckily he's been really good about always being on the go to day care or grandma's or one of his aunt's houses. Hopefully I'll find something soon. I put in my resume at Garmin. You know, they make GPS units and depth finders for boats, and other technical stuff like that. They have an HR position that I applied for and there's a sales manager position I'm putting another resume together for. Their headquarters are in Olathe. I haven't heard anything from them yet, but hopefully I will soon.

Well, it's time for Brady to get some sweet peas so I better get going. Look for pictures soon!