I am going to have a FANTASTIC time, don’t you worry, but I’ll miss my work habitat just a little. Truth is, I like my job. I had so many years of jobs I hated, where I was abused by The Public and underpaid, that even after four years of working in IT, I still thank my lucky stars every single day. I’m so fortunate to have a job I don’t hate, where I get to feel smart and be surrounded by some of the smartest people in the world, working for That Giant Software Company on this beautiful campus.

I’m not far enough from those dark days, though, to worry that perhaps my luck has run out. My team is having a re-org and it’s possible my job won’t exist in 100 days. Then I’ll have to job search and ohmygod what if I can’t find anything and I have to be a waitress again and AHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH…..

Deep breaths. I hope to put all of this out of my mind and live in the moment, and cherish this special time with my boy, and just make the most of each day of this grown up summer vacation.

But MAN will I miss the free beverages.

*In manner of Braveheart. (Um, wow. That was MEL GIBSON. Crazy, amiright? Now he’s such a douche, but back then? Dreamy.)

Anywho, after such a long hiatus, I keep finding myself moved to blog, but with no blog for blogging. So, I hesitate to say it, but I think I’m back.

Let me catch you up. Firstly, we moved! I can’t believe we found a house, went through the whole real estate process, closed, packed, moved in, and set up, all in the space of time I’ve been gone, but in fact we did. There should be a post coming about our new (not new, 1890) house, which is AWESOME.

The other big thing that happened and is most responsible for my lack of blogging is I did a GIANT photography job that is consuming my every free moment and has been for about the last 6 weeks. Basically, I had about 400 clients in 3 days, resulting in countless hours of post processing and data management, all of which must be completed within my two nap windows and after 7pm. You know, the same time I have to do EVERYTHING ELSE in the world. Like cleaning and cooking and setting up the house, etc etc.

Let’s see. What else. I suppose a Clark update is in order. I’ve been reflecting a lot about how much I love this mothering gig. I was so afraid I wouldn’t! In fact, I just assumed I wouldn’t. I guess I listen to the wrong moms, but it seems like I hear more about the bad parts of being a mom than the good ones. I love it SO much. Yes, there’s the never ending to-do list, things I always feel like he won’t let me get done, but really that’s the worst of it. I know I’ve got some challenging times ahead as I enter toddlerhood, but seriously, the vast majority of the time I spend with Clark is utterly delightful. He makes me want to have 10 kids. We wont be having another one any time soon, but if something were to happen (impossible) and we got pregnant again, I don’t even think I’d freak out. Never thought I’d say that!

He is about to have his first birthday, so I’ll update you on his tricks in a later post, but here are some photos of the fam to tide you over.

The most gorgeous boy:

Clark’s first Thanksgiving, and most importantly, his first mashed potatoes:

Can anyone else feel me on the super unsuccessful xmas card photo shoot? Here is one of the gems:

Just a good one. His eyes are still super crazy blue.

So, friends, give me a shout if you’re still here. What’ve you been up to?

Oh good lord. Is anyone still here? Hellooooooooo? I don’t blame you if I’m talking to myself. Gone are the days of three posts a week. I’m lucky if I do one! I have so much to say, too, but about a million things to do in my limited spare time. Let it be known that my kitchen is staying dirty during this naptime so that I may update my stale-ass blog. Don’t come over. I’ll be embarrassed.

So what have y’all been up to? Me, I’ve been busy with my New Career. I keep meaning to do some epic post about it, but clearly, that isn’t happening. So here goes.

It probably comes as no surprise, given my previous posts, that I’m about to embark on a career in Bullfighting. No, just kidding. Photography!

A couple of months ago, a friend asked me if she could send me some photography business, and I was all, “Um. Yes! Yes you can.” Then SB and I arranged the finances a bit so that I could start putting my unemployment checks entirely towards gear and training. Then I stopped blogging because I needed to spend every spare moment thinking up a name, designing a logo, building a website, taking photos, editing photos, and on and on.

So, finally, without much fanfare, I announce Ginger Jacobs Photography. Why Ginger? Well, because Jenny is boring and common. Ginger has always been my karaoke name, or my table reservation name, the name I use when Jenny won’t do because someone else will take my turn or my latte. Ginger Jacobs is the saucier version of myself who has the guts to do this. Ginger wears big rings and will tell you what to do, and won’t get nervous. Ginger knows that out of the 200 shots she takes in a sitting, there will be plenty of good ones, so she doesn’t stress out.

I hate it when people blog about not blogging, but there it is. That’s my excuse. I think it’s a good one. So far, things are going really well! I’ve started a photography blog (um, it’s kind of stale, too, surprise surprise), which is where I will normally post such things, but here are a few of my favorite images I’ve taken so far. I hope you like them! Please don’t tell me if you don’t.

You like? Now for the plug.

You can find my new website here: gingerjacobs.com
You can find my new photography blog here: gingerjacobsphotography.wordpress.com
You can follow my photography related musings on twitter here: GingerJacobs

Should you be local and interested in having your pictures taken (families, babies, bellies, seniors, weddings, events) please contact me!

For your reference, the first one:

This rug was recommended long ago by a lovely blog reader, but it took me a while to convince SB that rugs are expensive and if we wanted a nice one, we were just going to have to pay for it. When discussing this rug with various folks, some were like, “That’s not that bad, we bought one double that price,” and some, like my cheapass thrifty mom, would nearly fall over and die. But for some reason, getting a rug became a fixation for me, like we couldn’t POSSIBLY have a baby with these bare, cold floors. Then, because SB loves me and is kindly putting up with my hormonally induced craziness, when his work finally reimbursed him for some business expenses last week, I finally got to get it. And now the baby can come. (JUST KIDDING.)

Also, did you know that nice rugs made of nice wool shed a bit at first?

So, yesterday, I sat in my last 2 hours each way commute. That’s right. Farewell, I-5, I-90! Suck it, 405!

I’m not sure when I’ll go back, but it’s nice to actually be able to choose, you know? No one is waiting around for me.

Today, my first day of freedom, I slept in until 9! Then we went out for breakfast at PSP. And then, because the middle of the day on a weekday is the only suitable time to go, we went to Ikea.

Um, I cried at Ikea. When we were like 30 feet inside the door, SB said something smartass, I threw a little tantrum, and then burst in to tears. Big ugly ones. I had to go into a fake living room and make pretend to be really interested in a corner shelving unit until I pulled myself together. Ah, hormones. It was not one of my best moments. But we got through it. By the time we got to couches, we were all sorted and back on track. We even managed to buy a dresser for the baby’s room, that will double as a changing table, but be a sensible piece of furniture once changing is no longer necessary. See? Isn’t it nice? It’s red.

But that wasn’t the coolest thing we bought at Ikea. Clearly, that would be the nice marmot.

For your reference:

WALTER
And let’s also not forget–let’s not
forget, Dude–that keeping wildlife,
an amphibious rodent, for uh,
domestic, you know, within the city–
that isn’t legal either.

DUDE
What’re you, a fucking park ranger
now?

WALTER
No, I’m–

DUDE
Who gives a shit about the fucking
marmot!

We are pregnant! Sixteen weeks already, and the Wee One is the size of an avocado. I have no good excuse for waiting so long to blog about this. Well, first of all, we didn’t tell anyone for the the first 12 weeks, for which we deserve bright shiny medals of honor. That shit was hard. (“How are you? What’s new?” “Oh fine, fine. Nothing, really, just working a lot.”) Then, after puking for 2 months straight, I started feeling better and it didn’t seem real anymore, and I felt like talking about it was counting chickens or something, you know? I’m a weirdo.

So, I didn’t post about it, and the few IRL people who knew and read my blog kept asking me when I was going to. I just didn’t know what I was going to say! I wanted it to be joyful, but this whole experience is SO FUCKING WEIRD. I don’t want to be a whiner, but DUDE, some fucked up shit’s been going down that I must talk about, even though I’ll probably be interpretted as whining by someone. Oh well. You’ll indulge me a little, won’t you?

Anyway, all in all, this is fabulous news. The details include: yes, we were trying, due late December, no we won’t find out the sex, and if all goes well we will birth here.

Not sure if this will work, but here is its heartbeat, which my sweet dorky husband recorded with his iPhone:

The Wee One

E-mail me your address, chica! Season 4 is all yours!

Fine print: There were 19 comments, but two were from Swistle who withdrew her name, and that sneaky tacomachickadee also left two, so counting only one of hers, there were 16 entries, and it picked number 1.

I’m so happy to have a husband who will smile for pictures again.

Here he is enjoying a celebratory piece of corn on the cob, a “Forbidden Food” he hasn’t been able to have in quite some time.

Cool, eh? In retrospect, the year and a half he had them on went by so fast. He’s had all kinds of adults talk to him about how they’ve thought about getting braces, and I say do it. Now he’ll have a pretty pretty smile for the rest of his life, after only a year and a half of pain and suffering. Not bad!

(You can still enter my SATC contest below, BTW. I’m going to leave it open till Friday. My posting has been so spotty lately, I’m gonna give folks a chance to wander back over here.)