June 28th, 2006
So this post serves two functions. #1-- To show off my nursery. I love it a lot. Jack and I spend a lot of time in the beyond comfortable orange chair reading, and singing. #2--To complain about the heat. For those of you who know me, you know that it took Chris and I about 3 months to finally get Jack into this room. He spent most of his time in our bed (which I kind of miss... But only kind of). However, for this past month, Jack has been working on sleeping through the night, and doing it in his own bed. Big victory at the Kiesel house. However, due to the massive heat wave (103 yesterday) he is back in bed with us, due to the fact that our end of the house is the only cool place in the house. Jack's room now resembles an oven. So, for the past 3 nights, Jack has slept by my side, and manages to spend the majority of the evening grabbing my face, pulling my hair, and trying to nurse (which I stopped doing about a month ago). He also likes to wake up at 5:00 in the morning, and sing to himself, while grabbing my face, hair, and nipple. While it is fun, I am massively missing my sleep.
In other news, he has recently figured out how to roll over. We are having fun with it, but have to be carefully not to leave him anywhere unattended (not that we did before, but now we have to be really careful).
In other news, I am getting ready for my first trip away from my little guy. I will be traveling to Boston for 4 nights to go to a conference at Boston Arts Academy. I am so excited about the trip, but nervous too. I'm sure he won't even realize I'm gone, but I worry that he'll need me, and I'll be far away. I guess I had better get used to it... School starts up again soon.

June 24th, 2006-- I had to look up the date, just now. It is amazing how, when not in school, the days kind of blend together... Even when you have only been out for a couple of days. Mostly this post is for the picture. This one was just too cute to pass up. And I am board beyond recognition. I have stuff to do, but no motivation to do it. While I am looking forward to a summer off, it also scares me. I hate my summers. I like to be busy, and staying at home just makes me want to go out and shop--Which I don't have the money for right now. Luckily, Jack keeps me pretty entertained. If it was a bit cooler outside, I would take him for a walk. Unfortunately, Oregon suddenly decided to hit a heat wave. It is supposed to be up in the 100's on Sunday. Yuck. Oh well. I think the important thing is for me to establish a system. Things to do everyday. Hopefully that will keep me from going crazy. In the mean time, I'll write in my blog, and post all beauty I need for a life time.

June 21st, 2006

This is a picture of Jack at his first college graduation. My sister Jessica just graduated from Southern Oregon University. We had a good time traveling down to Ashland. We were able to eat some awesome food, see a play (Cyrano... One of my favorites), and enjoy the sunshine. The best thing was seeing Jessica graduate. This makes it my parents' third kid through college. By the time Jessica is done, they'll have two kids with masters. Pretty impressive. It was also neat standing there, and realizing that before long I'll be standing at some graduation, camera ready, waiting for Jack to cross the stage and get his diploma. The whole thing made me cry.

Considering that this was our first road-trip with Jack, it went pretty well. I thought I had a lot of stuff to pack before. Considering that he is only 24 inches long, Jack has me beat hands down. Traveling wasn't nearly as hard as I thought I would be, and the whole trip was pretty uneventful.

It has been a while since my last entry, and a lot has been happening. Jack went for his four month check up, and now weighs 17 pounds, and is 2 feet tall (24 inches). He is a big boy... Getting bigger by the second. We have also started him on solid food, which has been fun. A lot of funny faces, and rice cereal all over the place. I think I was more excited about it than he was. Now week has gone by of solid foods, and he is getting the hang of it.

In other, non-baby related, news.... School is finally out for me. I am excited to start this summer. I have a lot of plans. Besides working on small schools I plan to start actually taking care of my yard, baking bread, and watching less TV.... Oh yeah, and walking, and eating better. It is a lot to take on at once. We'll see how it goes. Mostly, I want to establish a life style for myself. One that includes being a mom-- You just can't get away from it can you. This paragraph was supposed to be Jack free, and yet in the end it always comes back to him, and how I can do better for him.

June 7th, 2006

It is amazing to me how much this little guy is constantly learning. We bought him a Johnny Jump Up (Actually it's a Tigger Jump Up). You can watch his face, as he learns how to use it. He'll randomly jump up and down really quickly, and get this surprise/"I beyond please with myself" look on his face. And then it changes to a look of concentration as he tries to figure out what he did so he can do it again. Yesterday he figured out how to yell. Today... He is yelling all day long. Not crying... Just yelling. Its sound is both really cute, and really annoying. He seems please with it however, and makes it all the time. The one thing he hasn't figured out is how to suck his thumb. He wants to really badly (and he won't take a binky) but it seems to elude him. When he does get it into his mouth, he has his own unusual style. As you can see. It is sooo cute. Of course Jack is not the only one who is learning. I learn more everyday. I learn what makes him giggle (something he'll do, but only every once-in-a-while... He's stingy with his giggles, and we think me may grow up to be a movie critic of some sort.) I learn how to juggle a wiggling baby and type, make dinner, make a bottle, get dressed, do my hair, everything. I learn how to feel more love then I ever thought I was capable of feeling. Everyday a new lesson. I am so used to being the teacher, it is kind of neat having to be the student.