jc and i vlog for the first time!

i am alive!! i have made it through the worst of the moving process and we have internet!!! instead of blogging about all the moving updates, i just wanted to do something fun. so jc and i vlogged!

little bits of happiness, w.2

wow. i didn't mean to not do anything blog related for a week but it sort of worked out that way. after meeting with our caterer (who also happens to be charles's dad's fiancee) for our wedding over the weekend, i realized i still have SO MUCH to do! it really put my butt into gear. honestly, it is getting a little overwhelming. if it was just moving/renovating our new house or just planning our wedding, it would be a lot of work. but it is both. at the same time. ARGH! so i've been trying to prioritize and sending out our wedding invitations got the top spot. of course, "just sending them out" entails designing them, printing them and mailing them out. so it was a two day project. but they are done and in the mail!




it also helped me to take some time, sit down and write down every little thing that needs to be done for the wedding. a lot of it is just talking to charles and finalizing our decisions. sometimes it's so hard to do that when he gets home so late from work, we have dinner, spend time with jc, put jc down for bed and then we usually turn into zombies after that. so i had to make sure we talked about a few things every night. not too much because i don't want to overwhelm him but my list is two pages long. and growing.




but it definitely made me happy to write everything down and cross off a few important items off the list. currently, i'm on the hunt for jc's groomsmen outfit so he will match the rest of the groomsmen and narrowing down our search for a beachfront condo in san diego for our honeymoon. i guess i could have bigger problems, right?

i'm linking up with stephanie for little bits of happiness.

thrifting makes me happy

i should clarify, when i actually find stuff that i like, thrifting makes me happy. this doesn't always happen, in fact more often than not, i don't find anything i like. but i got lucky a couple weeks ago, didn't have the toddler with me so i was able to look around a little more sans shopping cart (i feel like a shopping cart can be the biggest hindrance to finding good stuff while shopping in a little tiny thrift store, with little tiny narrow aisles). i decided to peruse the book section that i usually pass over and found some awesome little golden books. and discovered that i am in LOVE with the illustrations! so cute!










the ones that were originally made in the forties and fifties are my favorite. it doesn't hurt that the dog in Scamp looks just like my dog. or that the bird on the back of the Birds book looks JUST like my tattoo!




i didn't ask for a "little golden book illustrated bird" tattoo when i got this three years ago but apparently that's what i wanted! these books were about $1.50 each so a pretty good deal for some cute books. i seriously want to buy more and do crafty things with them. i don't know what i would do exactly, maybe something like this or just framing them. i don't know but my brain is spinning with ideas.

i'm linking up with stephanie for little bits of happiness and mandy for high on thrifting thursday.

wordless(ish) wednesday: we are homeowners!

that, my friends, is the most beautiful picture i could post right now. it is jc holding the keys to our new home! after tons of messed up houses, paperwork, and red tape, we can officially call ourselves homeowners. just in the nick of time too because we need to be out of this house by april 1st. we got the keys on monday and charles has already been tearing out carpet and flooring. i wish i could help more! this is the first time we've moved with the baby so it will definitely be a different experience. i can't wait to share all the renovations and projects we have in store for the new house!

{Linking up with The Paper Mama, a little king and i, and then, she snapped, Live & Love Outloud, 5 Minutes for Mom, jenni from the blog and Baby Baby Lemon. Whew, that's a lot of linking up.}

jc at twenty-one months

check out previous monthly updates here

here we are again! another month closer to two. i don't even want to think about it. i can't believe my little guy is approaching this birthday so fast. it's been easy to distract myself with our impending home purchase and wedding, but it's coming no matter what. i guess i better get to pinning some second birthday ideas, eh?

this month has been SO much better in toddlerland. the tantrums have been to a minimum and happy-go-lucky jc has been in full effect. i know the grumpy, grouchy jc usually comes around when he's sick or teething and he's been very healthy all month. but that still means NO NEW TEETH! i swear, i'm going to have to get dentures for this kid. no molars yet. no canines yet. i'm not sure if i should be worried about this or not. i can definitely feel them under his gums (at the risk of getting bit) but there are no signs of them cutting through yet.




another reason that i've been a little concerned with his teeth is jc's speech, or lack thereof. again, i don't know if i'm just being a worry wart first time mom but i feel like jc should be talking more. and charles who is usually mr. cool-doesn't-worry-about-anything has expressed the same concern. i wonder if his lack of teeth may be limiting sounds he can make? and therefore, words he can say? i don't know. i tried really hard to compile a list of all the words jc can say and i got about 40-45 words. he's put two words together a couple times, usually "bye bye daddy" or "bye bye puppy". i guess it's a fair amount of words but he just doesn't say them very frequently. i guess i kinda thought he would take to talking the same way he took to walking. once you start, you keep going and get better at it and do it all the time. but he seems to learn a couple new words every couple weeks but then he won't use them consistently. i'll ask him to say a word that i know he can say and he will refuse. get mad even. i don't know if this is just being a toddler, testing his limits and whatnot but it is SO frustrating. i've been trying to play dumb more often to make him actually say what he wants instead of just pointing and grunting but he will get SO frustrated with me. if i push it too much, it turns into a full on tantrum. so if anyone's got any pointers or can assure me that this is normal or even tell me that it isn't so i don't feel crazy, i would love any and all of it!

jc has also been exhibiting a sort of split personality at times. sometimes it seems like his separation anxiety that i thought was a thing of the past is in full swing. other times, he is happy and friendly with people we just met. i think that if he thinks we are leaving (even if we aren't), that's when the separation anxiety kicks in. if he's pretty confident that, yes we are in a new place with new people but my parents are staying here with me, he is super happy and friendly. he will offer you the toy he is playing with and fist bumps if he really likes you. kisses and hugs if he loves you.

some of his favorites this month include the books Good Night California and anything elmo related, CHEESEBURGERS (all caps is necessary because this is the kid who wouldn't eat meat at all), park trips, turning anything into a drum, and just hanging out in his little tikes cozy coupe.




here are some 21 month milestones via babycenter. again, jc was born almost two months premature but i'm going to compare his stats to his actual age anyway. because that's how i roll.

mastered skills (most kids can do):

can walk up stairs - yes, as long as he can hold onto something. he definitely prefers to try to walk up them rather than crawl.

able to set simple goals (e.g. deciding to put a toy in a certain place) - yes. in fact, he spends most of the day trying to place a menagerie of toys in mr. potato head's butt (if your kid has a mr. potato head, you know what i'm talking about). and it's only certain toys and if they fall out, god help us all.

emerging skills (half of kids can do):

throws a ball overhand - yes, all day everyday

kicks ball forward - yes, all day everyday

stacks six blocks - it might be cheating because we don't have regular blocks, just mega blocks that connect together but i've seen him stack at least ten blocks

advanced skills (a few kids can do):

names simple pictures in a book - this is one of his favorite things to do

can walk down stairs - same as with walking up stairs. it's not perfect but if he can hold onto something, he will prefer to walk down rather than climb down.

week in iphone photos

what a week! we had the oscars (that only i was into), a mobile notary came to the house so we could sign some escrow paperwork (no keys yet but hopefully VERY soon!), charles and i headed out with some friends to a king's game, and jc was just his normal, adorable self. couldn't really ask for a better week.











follow me on instagram? my username is melissajenkinslinking up with a good life and life rearranged.

fill in the blank friday

so the baby is napping and i'm doing about a hundred thousand things and i literally (not, like actually with "stumble upon" or whatever it's called) stumbled upon a blog post by jessica that she actually linked up with lauren. and i thought i could use a little break in all the madness that is going on this week so here we are. fill in the blank friday! who knows if i'll do it again next week but i'm doing it now. yay!

1.  The highlight of my week was finally ordering my wedding dress!! i ordered it on etsy (of course) and i'm hoping i'll get it a few weeks before our wedding date. 

2.   If I had to classify my interior design aesthetic it would be modern and clean. this basically means that i'm afraid to commit to any sort of design aesthetic. i don't know why but we have always hesitated to actually "decorate" our house, wherever we've lived. with our home purchase coming up (VERY VERY soon guys!!!) on the horizon, i'm trying to find my/our/whatever-charles-will-agree with style. dudes, i'm so jealous of you if you have a guy who is like "whatever you want honey" because that is NOT how my guy is, at all. he has to have a say in EV-ER-Y-THING. which, i understand, buuuuuuut why can't i just put a bird on everything??

3.  My first vehicle was a 1995 chevy monte carlo. it was my dad's and he passed it along to me (thanks dad!). it was only about 11 years old when i started driving and kept it until i bought my nissan versa in 2007. we traded it in for, seriously, $500 toward my new car. i thought it was on it's last leg, but i swear i've seen MY car several times around town. i'm glad to see that someone else is giving it some love still.

4. An item I need to have in my day in order to function is my phone. i feel like it's permanently attached to my hand sometimes. if i'm on twitter, instagram (my username is melissajenkins), facebook, playing games, checking out pinterest or just general browsing, i am always on my phone.

5. My favorite way to waste time is my phone. goes right back to number 4. i could sit on my phone for hours and not get bored.

6. Right now I could really go for a walk. haha, we had smashburger for lunch and now i feel all bleh. hopefully jc wakes up from his nap before it gets dark, i could use a park trip.

7.  This weekend I will be somewhat busy. we are trying to decide if we want to head out to a wedding celebration on saturday after charles gets off work. we are all pretty tired of running around this week. and on sunday, charles is taking senior portraits for one of his co-worker's sons and they have invited us over for dinner afterwards.

kinda fun, right? i'm linking up with the little things we do.