Social Media Update

So I know that it was only yesterday that I went on my rant about social media....don't worry my feelings are still the same! I just realized that I completely left out the other option I am considering switching to instead of Instagram and maybe even Facebook....Google+

I have had a Google+ account since it was in a trial period and I really love it.  My only issue is that not enough of the people I want to see and read about are on it.  So in addition to letting me know if you are on Flickr let me know if you are on Google+ so I can add you to one of my circles.

Love & Hate of Social Media

Social media and I have a love/hate relationship.  I love the fact that I can share things going on in our lives and pictures of our family instantly with our friends and family that live no where near us. But I absolutely hate all the games, spamming and so on that happens on social media. I also can't stand the constant changes in privacy settings...I want my stuff to be private and I only want the people I want to see it.

Ok well what brought this whole post on is that I have been getting really fed up with Instagram lately. Don't get me wrong I love Instagram but it seems that since they sold to Facebook there has been more problems. Half the time my pictures won't load or my news feed won't refresh. I also hate that now when I log on to Facebook I get to look at the same Instagram pictures I just saw in Instagram...it floods my newsfeed with stuff I have already seen. I completely get that putting it on Facebook allows people without Instagram to see your pictures but I still don't have to like it. I also have the same problem with Pintrest...seriously people I really don't need to see every single thing you pin and if I wanted to I would follow you on Pinterest.

So after all of that I have been thinking about switching from Instagram to Flickr. You can follow people just the same but you have the ability to share pictures with certain people that you want to. You can look at the pictures on your phone or you can use your computer. I was also able to upload all of my Instagram pictures & captions to it. And then you can order prints and stuff directly from them. I just signed up for Flickr the other day so I really don't know 100% if I am going to like this better and I am not 100% sure I am ready to give up Instagram but let me know if you are on Flickr so I can follow you.

I apologize if my rant offends any of you, that was not my intention. I am just fed up with the way social media has started to control our lives. If I lived closer to our family I would probably delete my Facebook account...at least until I felt it wasn't something I wasted way too much time on there.

Picture Overload!!!

Since I have been slacking on this whole blogging thing lately I have a TON of pictures from February till now to post. I also have to admit that all of these were taken on my phone because not only have I been slacking in blogging, I have also been slacking in taking photos with the real camera....it's all a work in progress :)

 Kisses!

Above and Below: Jackson's new thing is flipping the coffee table....the coffee table is no longer in our living room

 Loving birthday presents from Aunt Pigg

 Playing with his new-to-him car he got for his birthday

 He's a Badger!

 Or is he Batman!!

 Music Lessons from Daddy!

Name thief

Last week I was catching up on some random celebrity  gossip when I read that Kerri Walsh Jennings had her baby. For those of you who don't know who she is, she is an amazing Olympic beach volleyball player. Anyways I am always intrigued by what celebrities name their babies...some of them pick really fun names I wouldn't have thought of and really like and others are so off the wall that I just laugh to myself.  To get to the chase Kerri and her husband had a baby girl and they named her Scout Margery...SAY WHAT!!!! That was one of two girl names we had it narrowed down to when we were pregnant with Jackson....the only difference is the spelling of the middle name, we would have spelled it Marjorie. I really would have never thought someone else would have picked the exact first and middle name as us when we first off agreed to include Marjorie in the name some how and then paired it with Scout.  And then to top it off her reason for naming her that (according to People) is almost exactly the same as mine! The only difference is that Margery was after her Mother and in my case it would have been after both of my Grandmothers.

My mind was completely blown by this.  I mean seriously Scout Margery or Marjorie who would have thought! I know that there are other Jackson Henry's out there, that makes sense to me. So all in all I am just going out on limb and saying that if I ever get pregnant again and have a sweet baby girl and name her Scout Marjorie I did not get the idea from Kerri Walsh Jennings she totally read my blog and got it from me :)

We now have a toddler!

Jackson turned 1 a week ago!! Holy Cow! The Man and I tried to make Jackson's day a little more special than any other day since we wouldn't be able to have any sort of party with family. The Man had drill during the day but when he came home we made cupcakes and then opened gifts and played with all the new stuff. We decided not to over do-it with Jackson's birthday gifts because we pretty much buy him anything he needs already. So he got 3 new Melissa & Doug puzzles and a ride-on car that we found at a thrift shop. Jackson loved having happy birthday sung to him and really enjoyed his new gifts. 

 The Man and I made tye-dyed birthday cupcakes

 Opening birthday card from Grandma Patty and Grandpa Bill

 Showing off his birthday shirt...moments later a blow-out diaper happened and ended the b-day shirt for the day!

He woke up super happy and stayed this way for the entire day!!

Jackson picked out his own wrapping paper :)

Long time coming

So life happened and blogging didn't for a long time...sorry, kind of

Here is some of what happened and hopefully maybe if I get a huge burst of energy I will go into more depth on some of these events in other posts.

~ My Dad came to visit the end of February/beginning of March. It was awesome to have him here. He helped a ton with Jackson and even watched him so the Man and I could go on a little date!

~ The Man joined a geek club at school....apparently our schedules weren't busy enough so he thought we should add another thing to the agenda.  In all reality I am really happy that he joined this club, he loves it and it gives him some time to himself that isn't work or school, its just fun.

~ The Man was scheduled to go on a 1 week det for Navy Reserves. He has to do 2 weeks every year. After finding out he was going about 3-4 weeks before he was suppose to leave and getting lucky enough that the Man's Mom could come out and watch Jack so I didn't have to take a weeks worth of vacation to sit at home with the little man. Two days before he was suppose to leave that changed and now he is going for 2 weeks in the beginning of June. And that's life in the military

~ Like I said above my Mother-In-Law was a saint and took off of work to come out in the middle of March and watch Jackson with very short notice. Even though the Man didn't end up leaving it was amazing having her out here. She helped did all of our laundry for us and also agreed to watch Jack so we could have another little date!

~ Easter happened! Jackson's technically 2nd Easter, last year he came home from the hospital Easter Sunday. The Man had to work, Jackson had a cold, and I ended up getting one of the worst flu's ever that night. Jackson loved his Easter basket and didn't mind that we didn't end up having a special meal or anything else.

~ We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! We didn't do anything to special but the Man did have off of work so we were able to have an at home date night together after Jackson went to bed and it was perfect!

~ Jackson had his 1st birthday!!!!! Yep that's right we have a toddler in our house now.  The Man had drill on his birthday so Jack and I spent the day together playing and just hanging out. When the Man got home we did cake & presents. It was simple but I don't think Jack minded.

~ Family Vacation!!! The Man and I both took a couple days off of work and headed to the ocean this past week. We rented a fully furnished condo for 2 nights...it was incredibly relaxing! The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Jackson wouldn't have gotten sick.

Well that pretty much summarizes all the extra things that happened in my life besides the normal work, baby, husband, house duties.  I am hopeful that I will get at least some pictures up from some of these events but bare with me since my Mom arrives on Friday and I have a huge work thing happening next week.

Lazy Snack/Meal Fillers

Just an FYI I started this post about a month ago but things became a little crazy and blogging took a backseat.

I don't know about everyone else but I have lazy days and well sometimes those days turn into a lazy week. It was never a real big deal before we had Jackson. We would just eat random crap around the house for meals, example: string cheese, peanut butter, cereal and potato chips. Since Jackson has started to eat meals with us it has become more of a priority to get our crap together and have 3 meals a day instead of just 1-2.  We still have those lazy days/weeks and for that reason I usually have the following items in my house so when I'm lazy Jackson still gets a decent meal.

Brothers-ALL-Natural Fruit Crisps
I found these at the Commissary I do most of our grocery shopping at.  They are fantastic for meals & snacks and they are less than $1.00 a piece!! Each package contains a ton of fruit...I think the apple one contains about 1 1/2 apples. There is usually at least 1 package in the diaper bag at all times!

Single-Serve Frozen Vegetables
I usually buy Steam Work Organic Single Serve Corn, Broccoli and Green Beans. I couldn't find a website for them so here is something similar. These are awesome because I can pop a bag in the microwave for 3 minutes and I have some good veggies for the little man. Especially veggies that I won't eat like green beans. The single serve bags are perfect because we usually have enough for two different meals.

Gerber Graduates Yogurt Melts
Jackson LOVES these! and I may like the strawberry ones I try to buy the organic line of them but the Commissary I shop at doesn't sell them so we usually have the regular in our house. These are fantastic for snacks in the living room or on the go. This is something we usually grab for the diaper bag when we go anywhere.

Earth's Best Organic Sesame Street Yogurt Rice Crisp Bars
This one can get a little messy but its an easy addition to any meal or to have as a snack.

Organic Just Strawberries
These are a little pricey but they are yummy! There are a ton of different varieties to choose from if you don't want strawberries. We usually have about 3 different kinds at our house and I try not to always buy the same kinds. They also have veggie kinds too if you are looking to add more veggies to the diet.

Now granted these aren't the only snacks and things that Jackson eats, we usually have fresh fruits and veggies to cut up for him, cheese slices, oatmeal, eggs, and bagels w/cream cheese or apple spread. We also have a couple bags of frozen berries, these are super messy and he only gets them on days I know he is getting a bath after breakfast, but its super easy to throw some frozen berries on his highchair while we are cooking breakfast.