Sacramento Business Journal

How exciting! Jeff was interviewed by the Sacramento Business Journal. He is quoted on the second page of the article. You can check it out here, by clicking on the link below:

"Sac Business Journal"

OR I have posted the part that pertains to Foamtec below:

A drop in the bucket
Jeff Lemon owns Foamtec in Rancho Cordova, which manufactures polyurethane architecture products such as crown molding, indoor ceiling beams and other decorative products made to look and feel like wood. Lemon estimates he’s cut his expenses by as much as 20 percent in the past three months.

Foamtec has avoided layoffs mainly by eliminating a few steps in the manufacturing process.

For example, the company now paints products during the molding process, as opposed to painting products in a more raw form, when there’s a smaller surface to paint.

Lemon also buys more products in bulk and shops prices for materials “like you wouldn’t believe.”

He also figured out a way to use mixing buckets more often. He was using 100 $2 buckets a day — a new bucket for every pour. Now he uses an additive, something like a spray wax, allowing Foamtec to scrape excess material out of each bucket and use it over and over again.

“All that stuff, it really does add up when you sit down and look at it,” he said.

ONE YEAR!

Exactly one year from today Jeff and I were married. This past year has been so full of wonderful things and I am so thankful for all of them.


Anyway, I came home from work on Friday, expecting to spend the weekend just hanging out with my two favorite boys. But, to my surprise Jeff had planned for us to celebrate in Napa! He had gotten a hotel, made dinner reservations, tracked down some of the best wineries and even made plans for our friends to watch Aiden. The trip was an absolute blast and such a huge surprise!

We arrived in Napa around 11 am on Saturday, and ate an amazing lunch at the "General Store" in downtown Napa. Then we went to about 4 different wineries and did some wine tasting. The weather was gorgeous. Then in the evening we had a great Italian dinner and listened to some live music. We slept in yesterday, went to breakfast and then headed home. It was so nice to get to spend some real quality time together.

I think it was just what we both needed. I cannot wait to celebrate many, many more years together.

*Oh as you can see, we buzzed Jeff's head last week.....

Warning: Extreme Cuteness Ahead

We have been LOVEing our sink baths.



And our new Jumperoo.




And our big boy cereal....somtimes.

Do You Smell That?

OK you all will think I am crazy after I post this one, but I felt like it needed to be shared. I have an issue with smells. Let me explain....

I think that I am one of those people who has a couple of heightened senses. I have always had really good hearing, and a fairly good sniffer. All my life people have made comments like "wow, you heard me say that?" or "I thought you were in the other room when I said that". My parents can account for this ever since I was very little. Now as I have gotten older, I have noticed that I smell things ALL THE TIME. And trust me our personal hygiene is not the issue. Now, as most of you may or may not know, your sense of smell is also very heightened when you get pregnant. This symptom was in full effect for me, however never really went away after Aiden was born. An all to frequent conversation in our household or in the car goes a little something like this.

Me: sniff, sniffff, looking around, " WHAAAAT is that smell?"
Jeff: "Babe, I don't smell anything."
Me: "C'mon Jeff, seriously what IS that?"
Jeff: ::eye roll::
Me: SNIFFFF

Now presenting the latest and greatest. This my friends is what I refer to as "phantom poo". I smell poo everywhere. This is just not any regular poo smell, it is dirty diapers. I think it is related to being a new mommy. When I am at home, I spend entirely too much time with my nose pressed up against Aiden's pants seeing if he has a dirty diaper. The majority of the time this is not what smells. I don't know where it comes from, it just is there and I can't find it. Even today when I walked back into the office, I smelled dirty diapers, it's all a bit disturbing. Anyone else experience this phenomenon? Tell me I'm not alone.

Is this all in my head? I think some of it, however here is the proof that I am not totally crazy. A few weeks ago, I started smelling syrup, of all things. Syrup ALL the time. After a few days of this going on and accusing Jeff of spilling syrup when he was eating his Eggo's, I thought I was going nuts. Low and behold I come across a little tid bit of information while reading a mommy chat board: One of the side effects of Fenugreek (herb I take to promote milk production) is that it makes YOU, notably, your pits smell of MAPLE SYRUP! You can imagine my relief and horror all at the same time. So, I did the sniff test and sure enough I reeked of syrup. Mystery solved.

Now the poo, I swear it's not me.

"45 Minutes To Do What Takes Others 15"

This explains it quite nicely, even if Aiden is still only an infant: (click on the link below, then click on the article to enlarge for reading)

Why don't friends with kids have time?

FOUR months

Yep, another whole month down! I swear February FLEW by. Aiden had his 4 month wellness check-up yesterday. He is now 14.2 pounds and 25 inches. The doctor says that he looks great, and she commented on what a cute personality he had. However, when it came to his sleep habits I had to let her know that this was not necessarily his strong suit. When I told her that he was still up every three hours to eat, she said that we should probably consider starting him on some rice cereal. Since he is still exclusively on breastmilk, this will hopefully help tide him over for longer periods of time. I am going to do it, but I have to be honest when I say I am hesitant. I want sleep, but I feel like it is early for him to be starting solids. Am I in denial that he is getting older?....think so. Anyway, Jeff and I have been letting him sit with us when we eat dinner in hopes that this will help him get ready to do like mommy and daddy do, and eat from a spoon. I am going to get the cereal today on my lunch break and tonight we shall see just how ready he is. Wish us luck!

In other news, Grandma and Grandpa Martz were here starting last Wednesday through the weekend and as always we loved them being here. Aiden was a lucky boy and got lots of special presents, like always. Please note the hunting ensemble from Grandpa below. I have to giggle every time I look at that picture.

Lastly, Jeff and I booked our tickets to Cabo this weekend. We look forward to this trip so much every year. This year especially since our little monkey will be coming with us. Speaking of, we also need to get Aiden's passport pictures taken this weekend. Yes, you read right....infants now need passports. AMAZING.

Ladies Night

Last Saturday night I hit the town with my girlfriends. I hadn't been out for a ladies night since my bachelorette party, a year ago in Arizona!(miss you girls..) Anyway, it was so much fun! Jeff was on "daddy-duty", in which I was very appreciative of, and I think Aiden probably enjoyed the one-on-one time with him. Thank goodness these nights don't happen too often though, because I was still draggin' from lack of sleep on Monday morning.

Real Boys Wear Baby Legs

NO, they're not tights and NO, they're not just for girls. They are Baby Legs and they are adorable. They are little leg warmers that just go up to the bottom of his onesie. I bought Aiden 2 pairs, this one and a red and white striped pair. Needless to say, Daddy could do without them, but Daddy's not the one that dresses Aiden, Mommy does and loves every single minute of it!