Happy Halloween!

So, TJ's first halloween was a hit! He even trick-or-treated a little bit. Ok, only at Great-grandma Whitehead's and Aunt Annette's, but he was cute and happy all the same. My little munchkin had a growth spurt over the past few days, though, because when I tried his costume on two days before Halloween, it fit. Yesterday, his legs couldn't stretch out! The little stinker! I had originally planned to make myself a monkey costume, but time ran out! Oh well, my little banana was cute all on his own!!

HELP!!

Ok, so I've been trying do upload my family photos for EVER now and it is not working. Apparently, its just with the family pics I got from Rhonda, because as you can see, I can post other pics! Did I do something wrong when I loaded them? I just put the disc in and saved them. Thats all I ever do, really! It just sits there in the "your images are being uploaded to blogger" window FOREVER!!! Either that or it says the webpage is unavailable. PLEASE, if any of you smart people can give me suggestions that would be fantastic. Please bear in mind that I know almost nothing about computers, so keep it simple!! Thanks a million!!

Well, on to pictures I am able to post, this our newest member of the family! His name is Damien (not the name that I would have chosen), and he is super cute!! He is big, but oh so gentle! He is great with babies and other pets and LOVES to be petted! He is microchipped, tattooed and could be registered if we wanted to pay the money (we're not going to). He is an American Staffordshire Terrier and I LOVE him!! The best part was that he was free!! He belonged to a family in Calgary who had him for the first three years of his life, but they decided he needed room to roam, so they offered him to a home that would give him the love he deserved. Those of you who know my hubby know how much he loves animals, so I was going to buy him a puppy for Christmas. Then we found the ad about Damien and I saved $800. I couldn't be happier. Ok, well, maybe if Damien was half his size I could be happier, but you can't have everything!!

We had a few momentus occasions this past weekend. On Saturday, the thirteenth, my Dad turned 50 and TJ turned 6 months! Dad didn't want to do too much, so we are going to go to Missoula next Sat. to take him to Craker Barrel, his all time favorite restraunt. Other than that, not much was done for his b-day. Here is TJ's six month pic! I love it!!!!!

And here are few other recent pics I love...

All smiles while we waited for Grandma at the Dr.

Movie night with Mommy...After climbing in the laundry hamper, (aka. the new playpen (j/k))...After climbing in the bag at Auntie Manda's feet...And, crawlaking, which is a word meaning crawling on you hand and feet, rather than knees. He was on both feet until I turned the camera on, then he turned to see what I was doing.

Happy Turkey Day

Holly macaroni, its been forever since I wrote!! Crazy how time flies. I can't say I have a good excuse, but I have been busy. In the past few weeks, TJ and I have both battled the flu (I think we are now winning the battle!!), I started a new job as an EA in the elementary school, we are working on renos at mom and dad's, I've done a lot of scrapbooking, we've made two offers on the same house (both fell through), I've looked at about a half a dozen houses, we've decided now is not the time to buy a house (furrowed brow...) and we've just been generally busy. Oh, and TJ has perfected the scoot, so I have no time to sit.


Hmmm, looking at it in that little paragraph, it doesn't look like I've done that much. Oh well, it felt like I was really busy!! I think its the whole being back to work thing. I'm really not that crazy about work, but I'm sure it will get better. I really like the kid I work with. He has severe autism and hes not verbal, but he knows what he wants! I work with him Monday thru Thursday mornings and we go swimming two of those four days, which is totally fun! Then, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, myself and another girl are in charge of a play therapy group. We just started planning last week, but it sounds like it should be fun.





Ok, so I've done some scrapping and have some really cool layouts that I'd love to post, but I'm not sure how, so if any of you know how, let me know! I'm SO not technically adept. Fortunately, I do know how to post pictures!! I got the pictures from Rhonda and they are FABULOUS!!! Don't worry, I won't post all 80+ of them, but here are a few of my favs!

Ok, so the computer hates me. I'll try again later to post some pics. In the mean time, here are my top five things I'm thankful for today...

1. Family - James, TJ, Mom, Dad, the whole group. I love them so much and they love me. I know that no matter what, they will aways be there for me.

2. My Heavenly Father and my Savior - What can I say other than I would not be without them.

3. Friends - I have the best friends in the world. In most cases, my friends are just as close or closer than my family.

4. The Ability to Learn New Things - I love to learn and love that I live where I can learn whatever I want and wherever I want!

5. The Temple - The peace and insight that the temple offers is unable to be matched anywhere else and I love it.

Ok, I could come up with a ton more, but TJ is crying and needs his mommy, which is one more thing I'm thankful for.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home?...

Ok, let me start out by saying I love my husband and I love when he is home. However, the week he is home is the busiest and most frustrating week of my month. Not only are we running around trying to get a billion different appointments, we are trying to see all the people we can see and maybe squeeze in some time just for us. Add to that the fact that the "new daddy" has really only had under two months of parenting experience, I can get quite frustrated. I usually end up saying at least one or two things I later regret and have to apologize for and I'm generally grumpy for an entire day for no particular reason. I cannot wait until the next two years are finished. I mean, I can, but really I can't. I just have to keep reminding myself of what we will accomplish in the next two years. Unfortunately, I'm not the most patient person in the world. Sigh. Oh well, what can you do.

We do have fun when James is home, though. TJ loves his daddy. In fact, when James is home, TJ usually cries when daddy leaves the room. James is really great with TJ, even if he is afraid to put diaper cream on him because it would mean having to touch his bum. Really, for how much of a tough guy my hubby pretends to be, hes quite a wimp. Its quite hilarious to watch, actually! Here are a couple pics of TJ and Daddy from this past week when James was home.

TJ LOVES Daddy's hats. He plays peek-a-boo with them all the time.

They also take naps together quite frequently!

I decided that before James got home this past week, I wanted to repaint the family room and get the new floor down. Unfortunately, TJ was not let in on the plan and he decided to be EXTREMELY cranky and a giant mama's boy for the days I had planned on workings. Consequetly, not everything got done, but it will this weekend. Here are a few "working" pics. I'll post some finished product shots when we're done.

I don't always mud and tape in my good clothes, I was just touching up a few spots before we went out for the night!Jessica and Amanda "helping". Ok, they actually were pretty helpful. We were up painting until 4 am. We also had my Aunt Cheryl's 40th birthday party on the 8th. Here are a few of my favorite pics. For more, you can check out our family blog, http://www.bpwhitehead.blogspot.com/.

Grandma Whitehead and TJ, her first (and only so far) great-grandson.

The birthday cake, compliments of yours truly. (Insert blatant publicity plug. I do birthdays, weddings, you name it!)And, some fun with balloons. Hey, at 1:30am, there's just no telling what people will do with a balloon!

Family Pictures

Hey everyone. Last time James was home, we had Rhonda take some pictures of us and they look GREAT! I've only seen the ones on her site so far, but I'm super excited to see the others next week!! Check them out on her blog at http://www.rsteedphotography.blogspot.com.

As Promised...

Here are some pics as promised. Enjoy!!

TJ loves to get up close and personal with the camera, so I end up with a lot of pictures like this.

About a month ago, he decided he didn't need to use a bottle any more. Hes a big boy now. So, any time anyone near him is using a cup, he grabs it. We have to be VERY careful! He's surprisingly quick.

Here are a couple of my favs from camping.

Playing cards...

In mommy's favorite hat...

And in Grandpa's skull cap from Puerto Vallerta.

At Grandpa Gilbert's 75th birthday in July, he discovered he LOVES the grass.

On August 11, James' brother Trevor got married, so these are some pics from the wedding.

Our little family. Oh, on a side note, all of our paperwork is FINALLY in Salt Lake. After several amendments to letters b/c of things changing over the past 2 years and some additional information being requested, it looks like they've got all they need. So, now its just a matter of playing the waiting game. Keep your fingers crossed and keep us in your prayers and hopefully soon we, too, will be an eternal family!!

And my boys! Aren't they handsome. Ok, well, James looks much better when hes not making faces, but the suit helps!

On the first, we discovered what TJ really thinks of parades...

And fireworks.

We also went to the Stampede in July, where TJ got his first cowboy hat! I'm not really a country girl, but it was so cute, I couldn't resist. Its kind of gigantic on him, but it should fit really well next year.

He also got a lot of looks because hes so darn cute. In fact, my cousin volunteered to take him for the day because he was such a "chick magnet." I didn't go for it. (I wish I could figure out how to rotate these darn things. Stupid me not knowing squat about computers.)

Well, by now, you should all have your fill of TJ pictures. That pretty much sums up the majority of our summer. We also went to Moose Jaw for a few days while James was home after the wedding, but didn't really get any great pictures there. They almost all involved me in a swimsuit and thats just not something I'm willing to publish on the web! Its been a great summer and now that school is back in, maybe we'll actually get something done around the house. Here's hopin!

Going Backwards

Ok, so I thought that babies were supposed to sleep better as they got older. So why is it that my 4 1/2 month old, who has slept through the night since he was 5 weeks old and has had a very definite nap schedule, has barely slept a wink in the past week. Consequently, I'm sitting here at 4:30 in the morning waiting to see if he'll actually stay asleep this time for longer than 20 minutes. Needless to say, I'm very frustrated and less than perky. I knew the whole "best behaved baby ever" thing was too good to be true. My good little boy who used to only cry minimally when he was hungry is now crying what I have affectionately dubbed "the scream that never ends." He is so tired that he just can't be happy for longer than 15 minutes. Argh. I have no clue what has happened. I have checked for teeth (nothing), constipation (nothing), fever (nothing), uncomfortable clothes (nothing). I am considering taking him to the doctor, but for all intents and purposes he seems to be a healthy baby and I don't want to be one of those moms who runs to the doc every time her kid has a runny nose! Ok, well enough of that. In this state of mind, I'm liable to say something that may not be entirely true. I haven't posted some pics in quite a while and have had several requests to do so. So, here goes, lets all keep our fingers crossed that my computer co-operates.

He loves these keys. Actually, he loves anything he can put in his mouth!

His four month pic.

The reason I'm happy even when its 4:30 in the morning and he's screaming.

He took this pickle right out of Mom's hand the other day and chewed on it forever! He became VERY irate when I took it away.

Ok, well its just after 5 now so I think I'm safe. I'll post some more pics later today when its not so taxing on my brain!! Sleep, here I come!