T.G.I.F.!!!!!

Have I metioned how big he is getting? Look at him in his big boy clothes.

Self Explanatory.

Getting some Z's

Here's a picture of the little Guy calling it an evening. He is in his crib in this picture. The white thing behind him is the "breathable" bumper that mommy just got for his crib. Nevermind the fact that we paid well over $100 for the "crib set" we purchased, which came with a comforter, pillows, sheet, dust ruffle and bumper. From that set, we are only able to use the sheet and the dust ruffle. The comforter is dangerous to have in the crib. The pillows are dangerous to have in the crib. The bumper is dangerous to have in the crib. The only way you could use the set as a whole, is if you are using the room for display purposes only as part of the Home Show Tour, and I doubt our house is EVER going to a part of that tour. Therefore, I have a baby bedding set that a baby can't even use. It's a freaking "profit game" played by the BabiesRUs conglomerate / monopoly's of the world. I'm telling you now, there is LOTS of money to be made in the "baby" world. I'm not sure what I am going to do yet, but I'm doing something. They grow out of their clothes every couple of months, you have to buy different bottles until you find they one they like, you try different formulas, diapers, pacifiers, wipes, books, toys, etc.....It's always something, and I NEED to be a part of it. I'll just put something out there and slap NEW and IMPROVED, or EDUCATIONAL, or the ever popular DOCTOR RECOMMENDED and I'm golden. Well, if you all have any suggestions, please send them my way....................

A Brave New World In Photography

Yesterday, the FedEx man came-a-calling. With him was a pretty hefty package. My first thought was "What the heck did Shannon buy now?"; as the commission check I have been anticipating from work would not be in a box that large. Well, upon talking to Shannon about it, I found that it was a box of pictures we had taken within the last few months. Since we use a digital camera, we download the pictures and Shannon saves them to a service called PhotoBucket or something like that, and orders pictures as needed (or so I thought). In any event, the disturbing part of this story is the number of pictures we received. The box contained SIX HUNDRED freaking pictures. Now, I'm not sure how the rest of you grew up, but where I come from we don't have six hundred pictures of anything....COMBINED....and I come from a family of five. Jaden now has, did I mention....six hundred pictures of himself at the ripe old age of six freaking MONTHS. For those of you that don't wish to break out a calculator, that's one hundred pictures a month! As I write this I also recall a smaller box of pictures arriving a few months ago. I'm guessing there were a good hundred or so in that package. Now I realize that technology is a wonderful thing, in most cases, and that we are very fortunate to have digital cameras and the like, but it makes one step back and ask some questions. The first one that comes to mind is, "What in the Holy Hell are we going to do with all of these pictures?" Now I know I am going to sound like the old man that says, "I remember when that was just a field" and "I had to walk to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow!", but this package really made reminisce. I grew up in a time when the instant cameras were on their way out, but I do remember using one and waving the film in the air to dry. I also recall using the 110 cameras and eventually moving to the ever popular and technologically advanced Disc cameras as well. However, with any of the previously mentioned cameras the one thing you didn't want to waste was the film. Therefore, you would make sure everything was JUST RIGHT before taking the picture. Minus the instant cameras, you had no instant gratification as you do now with digital cameras. You set up the picture. You took the picture. You kept the film in the camera until you had another opportunity to take a worthwhile picture, which oftentimes could be a very long wait. Then once you had taken all of the pictures on the roll (sometimes up to an astonishing 24 pictures), you evaluated with what method would you develop the pictures. Oh, and there were LOTS of options. The most expensive and most exciting was called Same Day Developing. If you were fortunate enough to be able to use this method, it usually meant an exciting trip to The Mall! You would drop off the pictures, go shopping for a few hours and "voila!", there they were. Once you got them back, you could go sit on the edge of the water feature The Mall had that you would throw change into and make a wish (which usually didn't come true), and break out the pictures. Many times the pictures were just as you had remembered. Many times there was a finger in the way of the shot, which looked as a white glow in front of the image you were shooting. Many times there was a picture in which neither you nor your friends could figure out who took it, what it was, or why it was there. In any event, you had your pictures, a day at the mall and happiness and glee in your heart! As I said before, that development method, was usually reserved for special pictures and used sparingly because of the cost. The method used more often was the drop off or mail in procedure. I believe that for the few that use film these days, you can still go to a drugstore or superstore to utilize the drop off method, so I won't bore you with that discussion. Last but not least, there was the mail in method. Tucked within the advertisement section in your Sunday morning paper was the inevitable Film Envelope. This was just as it sounds. Usually a yellow envelope that quoted excellent prices for film development, if you were: A) willing to trust the USPS with getting your film to them in one piece or at all, and B) wiling to wait a week or more to have your film returned to you. This was a good way to send in rolls of film that you had no freaking idea what was on the roll or if your kids took all of the pictures and you knew that 90% of them were going to suck. The best thing about any of the methods was the sheer anticipation and excitement that ran through you while you were awaiting the return of your precious pictures. The sad thing is that most of our children will never know this feeling, as they will point and click and point and click to their hearts desire and be able to look at the pictures immediately. They will be able to create photo albums online and even manipulate the pictures with their PhotoShop programs. When they get mad at a friend, they will have lots of options. They could delete all the pictures they have of their ex-buddy. They could also "erase" them from the picture, just like when the members of Michael J Fox's family were fading from the photo in Back to the Future. Or they could print up a picture at home and then cut the ex-friend's head out of the picture, just like in the old days when my sister used to do the same thing. Well, as this seems to be the longest post I have ever written, I will stop here. I hope you had an enjoyable journey down "memory lane" with me, but now I have to figure out how we are going to afford a photo album for over six hundred pictures............

About Last Night....Disgusting, but Funny

DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU GET QUEASY EASILY....YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The following is pretty disgusting. Do NOT leave me a comment about how sick this post was, because I have tried to warn you not to read any further, and I am not kidding....it's sick!

So when Shannon and Jaden normally arrive home in the evening, I will meet them at the garage and bring Jaden inside. Sometimes he's asleep, sometimes he's awake. I usually take him into the living room, unstrap him from his car seat, and play and talk to him while Shannon is getting into some "comfy" clothes. Well, last night we went through the aforementioned motions, and I continued to play with him. I was tickling him and kissing his face and neck. Oftentimes when I do that he will start "belly laughing" and it just really amuses me. So there I am working him all up and getting him laughing, and then it happened. I was giving him some kisses on the mouth, (and before my smart alec friends post anything, it's my SON, so it's ok to kiss another guy on the mouth in THIS particular situation) when he started laughing, and as quickly as you can say "blah" he puked IN MY MOUTH! I didn't know what to do. I started laughing and grimacing at the same time. It was disgusting, but freaking hilarious. All I know, is that if Jaden has this HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE taste in his mouth every time he gets sick, I don't understand how he can keep going back to eating. I have to say that there might have been a college occasion or two in which I might have gotten sick myself, but then I would quit consuming whatever it was that caused the inconvenience. However, I guess at his age he doesn't have much of an option. I have always felt badly for him, when he has gotten sick in the past, but I now have a much more deeply rooted appreciation for how this must really suck for him. Anyway, I hope you got a laugh out of my experience, as Shannon certainly did last night, and I'll try to keep you posted on future situations!

Time for Work!

Well, Jaden is over 6 months old now, so I think it's about time for him to get a job! He needs to start helping out with the bills around here, since daddy's commission checks seem to keep being "postponed". Plus, formula and diapers aren't freaking cheap! Instead of going to school today, we are sending him out onto the job site. He is going to work construction today and assist in building the new Colts stadium. By the looks of his outfit, I think he plans on running the crane. Ahhhhh, just like his dad, looking for the easy job! He also looks pretty excited about heading to work too, doesn't he? ;-) Enjoy your week!!

Pictures from Target's Photography Studio

Well, here are some pictures we had taken at Target. Jaden didn't do too well there. He got really upset, so we were only able to get a few. We are going to try another place next time b/c he seems to get really scared when we go into the small room there for the pictures. Please forgive the poor quality of the pictures. I had to scan them into digital images and the quality isn't quite as good as an original digital print. In any event, here they are for your enjoyment!