JenniB’s blog

A productive day

Yesterday
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Well I had two interviews today. Both went well. I now need to get up to speed on small business creations. I have one test client and it should be interesting. If I pass my test aka...a difficult client. Then my vet will refer her clients to me. We are also going to corroborate to bring kitten training classes and cat education classes to her clients. It should be a lot of fun if we can work out the details. I have lots of research to make sure I am bringing as much as I can that would benefit other cat owners. I can't wait!

I am also volunteering with Animal Humane. Apparently I am know there and am starting to make a name for myself. One of the ladies there was like "Are you Jennifer? From Cat Talkers? OMG! I am so happy you are here. We have been wanting to bring you on board!" LOL, weird but very cool. So I will be working with their harder cases and helping out with evaluating cat behavior. If they get enough money for 2009 it might mean a staff position. I am not sure I want a staff position but I will defiantly use this as an opportunity to learn more, do more, and gain more experience.

So yeah career is moving. Scary, exciting, and really thrilling all in one. Wish me luck. LOL.

The baby challenge

2 days ago
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Or something like that. Adin and I decided about a year ago to pull me off birth control. We have been pretty focused on Jadin but we really do want to have one more child. We have had the genetic essays done to make sure we are not both carriers of something fatal or horrid that we have tests for now. We don't want to knowingly bring a child into the world with a major birth defect. But you can only test for so much.

We really want me to get pregnant before the 35 mark as it is more difficult to conceive and risk factors go up. And I would like to give Jadin a little brother or sister that is close to his age. So with this in mind we went to the fertility clinic.

The following might be boring and more then anyone wants to know...so just scroll down or stop reading now. I can't put a behind the cut in vox and sorry but being lazy about it posting to LJ.

I didn't know what to expect exactly. But with both our medical histories we wanted to make sure how healthy we are reproductively. Know what hurdles we have to overcome if any and all that. We went through an hour long question period. It was sort of funny to try to remember all our medicines, surgeries, and such. Then I got a lovely exam and pap smear. Sigh. I hate those things but they are necessary. So we shall be taking some test this month. Apparently we caught me in a good place in my cycle. So I have to get my hormone levels tested, I go for a xray to see if my fallopian tubes are open and functional, and the semen analysis. Luckily that test we can do at home and bring the sample to the lab later on.

But Adin and I are pretty open to see what is going on. We will meet with the doctor at the end of the month to see what the game plan is. It might just be a matter of upping my hormone levels so I ovulate better etc. Or in office insemination. All easy procedures and not exactly expensive. Luckily our healthy insurance does cover a good portion of this. I am blogging about this because it's a pretty big deal and it's interesting to me since I have never researched or studied this stuff.

So expect more blogs about this in the future. Yeah, my blog is turning into a mommy blog...but hey I celebrate all parts of my life. Well that is it for this portion of the baby challenge I shall write more about it later on.

It's been awhile my dears

2 days ago
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Well the birthday party went very well in SA. We had close to 50 people show up I think. My dad did bar-b-que, potato salad, rice, beans, bread, and of course... MARGARITAS! LOL. It was a great time. The kids had fun and so did the adults. Jadin got introduced to everyone. He loved his first taste of sugar aka the cake. We also got most of it recorded. I still need to do Thank you cards for all his gifts that he got. LOL. My great aunts and uncles finished the party around 3am. They where playing a game called Mexican Train. It's a Dominos game. Adin and I ended up serving everyone popcorn, drinks, and tamales. We where the youngest ones and therefore we got to serve them stuff as they needed it. They outlasted us. It was great. I have very fond memories of these same aunts and uncles doing this on all major holiday's and get together. They would always play poker or dominos till the wee hours while us kids slept on the floor. I finally got to record one of these late night sessions. It's great. It was so good to see my family and get together and provide this sort of family activity to the baby. He has a huge family and they all think he is great. :)

In other news we bought a new car in SA. After much research and looking at Consumer Reports we bought a 2008 Saturn Vue. It has most of the bells and whistles. Leather seats, cargo attachments for cargo cover and many other things. The safety ratings are great and it has Onstar. I feel much better traveling around Colorado and other points of interest this summer with Onstar onboard. If anything happens we can hit a button and have help come to us. It's so cool. LOL. We drove our new car back to ABQ. We had help however. Our good friend Veronica and her son Cameron came with us. Cameron has Leukemia and nearly passed away back in the fall. We went out there to be with our good friends and Cameron and we told him that if he got out of the hospital we would bring him to ABQ. He loves it out here. So we kept our word. Cameron is back in school, has a full head of hair, and in his maintenance part of his treatment. He is an amazing teenager and has a great head on his shoulders.

The drive back home was pretty smooth. We stayed overnight in an hotel because it was a LONG drive and we got off to a late start. The baby did well until we hit Carlsbad. He ended up throwing up. Probably car sick or something similar. We picked up some Pedialyte and he went to sleep. Coming home was SO good. We missed our kitties, house, Leon, and our BED! LOL. I love to travel but three weeks away is a bit much.

So back home and doing well. The baby is walking this week on his own. We have all the gates going but we need cabinet locks. That will happen this weekend. He is sleeping well in his own crib again. Took him awhile to adjust to being back home....and not having grandma and grandpa to pick him up all the time. Yes, spoiled rotten he was.

Jadin had his one year check-up and he is on everyone of his markers. He is a good weight and height. He also got all his shots. He was a trooper and only cried while they where giving them to him. Once it was done he was fine. He has six teeth and is eating like a horse. :) But of course he is growing and is very active....so he is still a lean baby. But not lean as to be unhealthy. We are concerned with his what we can only call "control issues." Due to the cycle of emotional problems his biological mother has, his half-sister, and his grandmother...he will probably suffer from some emotional problems. We plan on getting him in with a child therapist when he is a bit older. Mostly so we can learn how to deal with him when he has these three hour fits where NOTHING works. We are also going to have him see an eye doctor for his slight lazy eye. See if we need to do anything. Oh, and we are getting him circumcised before he gets older.

Yeah as the months go by I defiantly feel like a Mommy. It's weird because I didn't have that 9 month prep. We sort of got thrown into it. But we are very happy with our baby boy and loving raising him.

Oh, my career options are opening up big time. I have several interviews tomorrow and we shall see how it goes. Mostly for director positions and contracting positions. We shall see what comes out of it but all of a sudden you have your degree people take you seriously. LOL.

All for the moment.

It's been awhile my dears

2 days ago
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Well the birthday party went very well in SA. We had close to 50 people show up I think. My dad did bar-b-que, potato salad, rice, beans, bread, and of course... MARGARITAS! LOL. It was a great time. The kids had fun and so did the adults. Jadin got introduced to everyone. He loved his first taste of sugar aka the cake. We also got most of it recorded. I still need to do Thank you cards for all his gifts that he got. LOL. My great aunts and uncles finished the party around 3am. They where playing a game called Mexican Train. It's a Dominos game. Adin and I ended up serving everyone popcorn, drinks, and tamales. We where the youngest ones and therefore we got to serve them stuff as they needed it. They outlasted us. It was great. I have very fond memories of these same aunts and uncles doing this on all major holiday's and get together. They would always play poker or dominos till the wee hours while us kids slept on the floor. I finally got to record one of these late night sessions. It's great. It was so good to see my family and get together and provide this sort of family activity to the baby. He has a huge family and they all think he is great. :)

In other news we bought a new car in SA. After much research and looking at Consumer Reports we bought a 2008 Saturn Vue. It has most of the bells and whistles. Leather seats, cargo attachments for cargo cover and many other things. The safety ratings are great and it has Onstar. I feel much better traveling around Colorado and other points of interest this summer with Onstar onboard. If anything happens we can hit a button and have help come to us. It's so cool. LOL. We drove our new car back to ABQ. We had help however. Our good friend Veronica and her son Cameron came with us. Cameron has Leukemia and nearly passed away back in the fall. We went out there to be with our good friends and Cameron and we told him that if he got out of the hospital we would bring him to ABQ. He loves it out here. So we kept our word. Cameron is back in school, has a full head of hair, and in his maintenance part of his treatment. He is an amazing teenager and has a great head on his shoulders.

The drive back home was pretty smooth. We stayed overnight in an hotel because it was a LONG drive and we got off to a late start. The baby did well until we hit Carlsbad. He ended up throwing up. Probably car sick or something similar. We picked up some Pedialyte and he went to sleep. Coming home was SO good. We missed our kitties, house, Leon, and our BED! LOL. I love to travel but three weeks away is a bit much.

So back home and doing well. The baby is walking this week on his own. We have all the gates going but we need cabinet locks. That will happen this weekend. He is sleeping well in his own crib again. Took him awhile to adjust to being back home....and not having grandma and grandpa to pick him up all the time. Yes, spoiled rotten he was.

Jadin had his one year check-up and he is on everyone of his markers. He is a good weight and height. He also got all his shots. He was a trooper and only cried while they where giving them to him. Once it was done he was fine. He has six teeth and is eating like a horse. :) But of course he is growing and is very active....so he is still a lean baby. But not lean as to be unhealthy. We are concerned with his what we can only call "control issues." Due to the cycle of emotional problems his biological mother has, his half-sister, and his grandmother...he will probably suffer from some emotional problems. We plan on getting him in with a child therapist when he is a bit older. Mostly so we can learn how to deal with him when he has these three hour fits where NOTHING works. We are also going to have him see an eye doctor for his slight lazy eye. See if we need to do anything. Oh, and we are getting him circumcised before he gets older.

Yeah as the months go by I defiantly feel like a Mommy. It's weird because I didn't have that 9 month prep. We sort of got thrown into it. But we are very happy with our baby boy and loving raising him.

Oh, my career options are opening up big time. I have several interviews tomorrow and we shall see how it goes. Mostly for director positions and contracting positions. We shall see what comes out of it but all of a sudden you have your degree people take you seriously. LOL.

All for the moment.

Party Pre-prep

Jun 6, 2008
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Adin and I both woke up and met the parents and my Aunt Terry at Denny's. No sooner did I sit down did I have to get back up again to change the kiddo. He made a good poop and soiled his pants. Luckily I had a change of clothing in his diaper bag and my mom helped me change him. Jadin was eating up a scrabbled eggie. He loves those things. LOL. We are working on making his bottles at night with less formula and more water. That way as more teeth come in we don't have to worry about the effects of milk on his teeth.

After Breakfast Adin and I went to check out some cars. We are narrowing them down to about six models. Yippie. We are really leaning towards the Saturn Vue. We shall see. We have paperwork to sign on Monday and then we just send the purchase order to the credit union when we find something.

So tonight was the running around and getting stuff done. Adin went to get his hair styled like I did yesterday. Really cool lady named Doris at A-Spectacular Hair. Adin has wanted to try out BT's hairstyle for a long time now. We he took the plunge and it's very different. It's taking me awhile to get used to it. Not because it's bad or anything. It's just when Adin changes his hair he looks very different. So he has blonde streaks throughout his hair and it's jagged and spiky at places. It's really cool. Might need a bit more blending but looks good on him. :) My hair I got my usual cut and some highlights. :)

Tonight we decorated the house. We got the main table decorated. I think we have 12 kids, about 5 older kids, and 48 adults coming. It should be fun. The theme is baby Sesame street and the cake should look awesome. We have little toy boxes filled, blue bags filled with candy, and the Pinata got stuffed full of candy. So everything is ready to go. I can't wait till tomorrow. Mind you that is providing I get enough sleep tonight. Tomorrow we get set up the tables and chairs. Then get the final things we need like the cake and balloons and call it good. :)

Our child's first birthday party. I hope we have all our bases covered. Wish us luck that we survive hosting our first kid party.

Birthdays, Car Buying, and Hair cuts

Jun 5, 2008
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So today finally to get to my dad's credit union to open an account and apply for the auto loan. The credit union is all automated. It's cool and weird at the same time. The only people you see are the member service people. If you want that personal touch you will not get it unless you need some help. LOL. Takes some time to get used to but does rock in geek meter way up. LOL.

After that went to Saturn to test drive a Vue. I loved it. A lot more comfortable ride then I thought and I got to play with the stabilization and acceleration. I like the safety features and the On Star. So I am leaning to this one but have a few more places to go before I just say "I want that one!" LOL.

I finally got to get out and get my hair highlighted and colored. It was highlighted with a nice color called Caramel and she did a great job on my hair. I get so bored with my hair but the hair stylist ,as Adin always tells me, said "You have beautiful healthy hair and the style is great. Don't mess with it much!" She asked me if she could take pictures of my hair for her portfolio. So that was cool. Adin has an appointment with her tomorrow.

We finally got to see our friends Giles and Veronica. They stayed for dinner and we got to chat and see Aaron who is four years old now and TALL. I can't wait to see the other boys on Saturday. It was good to see them without the cloud of their oldest son having cancer. He is in full remission and doing great.

Jadin is officially walking up to five steps on his own now. He started it yesterday a day before his birthday. He was walking between Adin and I back and forth. It was great. He is being spoiled rotten and being loved on.:) He is also eating everything we let him try. But he doesn't want baby food anymore he wants big boy food or what we are eating. So it's been fun letting try different things and seeing if he likes them.

The Birthday preparations are in full gear. We have the balloons ordered, cake ordered, tables and chairs, decorations bought, plates and cups for the cake. We did the small little toy boxes tonight and treat bags. I still need to buy paper plates, and such. Oh, and the candy for the pinata. But we are ready to rock and roll. It should be a blast.

So that's the news down here in SA. I can't wait till Sat and see everyone. :)

Wine Festival & Trip out to SA

May 28, 2008
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Well it's been MANY years since we have been able to attend the wine festival at the Ballon Festival Grounds. But this year we decided we really wanted to hit it. It's hot but also less people then the festival. Bernaillo is cooler but much more crowded. Adin and I took Jadin and Leon joined us too. We had a great time. We tried some new wines but loved being able to get our favorite wine from our favorite wineries. It was very hot but there was a cool breeze blowing so it wasn't so bad. We did end up with about two cases of different wines. Hehe. We always end up doing that.

So that night was get baby settled down, do a bit of laundry and pack for the trip out to SA. I got everything done and Adin helped me out. Poor Leon did get left behind with a bit of a dirty house. I didn't get a chance to clean up like I usually do before a big trip. We woke up at 6:30 am to leave for the airport. Oh, wait Adin didn't sleep at all that night and was already awake...and TIRED. We will never do Wine Festival and then leave town the next day. LOL.

The airport security went pretty well mostly because we are well prepared and now how to get through it as quickly with a baby as possible. This was his second trip by plane. He is a frequent flyer member already LOL. Last plane ride he slept most of the time and was great. This time however he was very aware of everyone and everything. He watched out the window for take off but that only lasted so long. About halfway through the flight he wanted to explore his world. He was a wiggle worm! He wanted to climb the seats, on the floor, Adin, me, and wanted to walk down the isle. LOL. It was crazy! After a break down he finally crashed out like ten minutes before landing. Sigh.

Got to SA and was hit with that lovely humidity. LOL. My mom dad picked us up and we where on our way to their house. Adin stayed here at the house and rested. My aunt and niece Chloe came by and we went to dinner. My aunt Anna in from Puerto Rico and my grandmother met us. Everyone loves Jadin and the party will be a blast.

We have decided to call my grandmother Gi Gi for Great Grandma. LOL. Chloe was being a good cousin and teaching him how to dance and playing with him. My aunt Anna who has a husband who is a golf pro and is good herself wants to teach him to play golf. LOL. Of course we will have to let his grandfather Wayne teach him first then he can visit his aunt in Puerto Rico for follow-up. LOL.

So everything is going well and we are doing good. Baby is being spoiled rotten by everyone here. He is being introduced everywhere. He seems to be adapting to all the people and newness very well. He is getting more and more bold with his attempts to walk too. He is giving my mom a heart attack on the tile floor every time he crab walks around. Hehe.

So to do list:

Hit G and V's house a few times

La Cantera

Graduation Party for me

Family get together at my uncle's

Salon visit

party shopping

Party

Much to be done. LOL

Don't buy a Dell.

May 24, 2008
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I may offend some here but my recent experience is one I just HAVE to vent about. So my god daughter wants a XPS Dell laptop. They are on sell this weekend for Memorial day. I have never bought a Dell computer before. I am used to building my own or as of recently just buying from Apple. I have heard all sorts of Customer Service horror stories from others about Dell. That you get someone that can barely speak English etc. Well apparently for my god daughter to get in on some of these "good" deals she had to purchase the laptop this weekend. Adin suggested that I tried to go through the purchasing process on dell. So I did and OMG they have all these little discounts that are all manner of confusion. Some end in twelve hours, some in two days,etc.

So I decided to send her some Dell e-cards to her mother's email address so she can purchase her laptop today. Well Dell doesn't even make that easy either. You are only allowed two e-card purchases a day and it has a limit of $100.00 each e-card. Sort of hard to get her a $500 dollar gift e-card this way. I know it's to prevent fraud but come on! At least provide a number I can call and do it over the phone. So I decide to do five $100.00 dollar e-cards to her email addy. Well Dell screws up two of them and sends them to the wrong email address. Because no folks like most online purchasing companies where you have that final screen to double check everything...they do not.

I then have to attempt to call Dell to fix it. After ten transfers, five countries, and go knows what else I finally get a number for their Gift Card department. Who is of course closed for the weekend and won't be back until Tuesday. Sigh. I then call my bank to see if we can stop the payment. No, of course we cannot until Wednesday when the purchase actually goes through. Then we can dispute it and stop them from charging us. MY GOD! LOL.

So I will never EVER try anything with Dell again. NEVER.

And if you love yourself and your family never do it for them either. Flip side Adin's Iphone is defective and we have an appointment tonight in town at the Apple store for them to replace it. No hassle, no problems. I love Apple. LOL.

A Memorable First Mother's Day...

May 11, 2008
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Not it wasn't flower, candy, breakfast in bed, or a huge rock. I awoke to find my son standing up in his crib with poop everywhere on him and the bed! At that moment I realized what today was. I also realized that even if he doesn't know it he gave me one hell of memory.

Baby got washed up, sheets are being cleaned, it was bath time for everyone. It is these moments that define in your mind that you truly are a mother. LOL. Well I am off to do what most mom's do on Mother's day...continue to be a mommy.

Happy Mother's day everyone. I hope your day is as memorable if less icky then mine.

Yes, we are alive...

Apr 29, 2008
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Ok, so I have been so busy and crazed finishing my degree , raising a baby, keeping house, working, and the usual shit that I haven't had a chance to update. I have been using twitter some to keep updating but most everything online except email has gone by the wayside. I can't even imagine how it will feel to be DONE.

The good is that I will be done. The bad is that to gain respect in my field is to really get my PhD. Sigh. Ah well another battle for another day. LOL. So Adin is doing well. He is really doing daddy duty lately. LOL. We have taken turns on napping and sleeping when neccessary.

Seb's surgery is almost way in the past. His head suffered one small infection on the suture coming through the scar line. He is doing well and healing well. Hasn't slow anything else down thank god. Leon is happy at work and doing well with life.

well life is moving again and I need to move along. Hopefully soon I will have some time to update more. Laters all!