Story time!

Today Jack and I went to our first story time!  I was super excited.  I'd looked at the story schedule and was looking forward to hearing. 

When I was little, my aunt owned a gift boutique in my hometown called The Holiday House.  She had all kinds of things from crosses to hang on the wall to baby blankets.  If you needed a gift in Palestine, this is where you went!  We spent quite a bit of time there growing up, and I spent many a Christmas season wrapping gifts in the back.  And due to that, I LOVE wrapping beautiful gifts and making perfect bows!  Anyways, at some point, they carried a book titled Good Dog, Carl.  For some unknown reason, my cousin who is 4 years older than me, read the title of that book and from then on, he would consistently comment "Good dog, Carl" to every accomplishment we made...and being the younger cousins, my sister and I thought it was hilarious, which, of course, made him say "Good dog, Carl" to us even more!  I don't remember ever reading the book, just knowing it was Good Dog, Carl

Well, Good Dog Carl was the featured book this week!  Just seeing the cover of the book on the website brought back so many memories, and now I would finally get to know what Carl did that was so good! 

Story time was at 11am and Jack's nap usually ends around10, so that should be perfect.  But of course, Jack didn't go down for his nap on time, which means I woke him up at 10:45, which means we walked into story time after 11.  Surely they start a few minutes after 11, right?  I mean, who can get anywhere on time with kids in tow?

We wind our way back to the story nook and it was obvious that the story had started...so Jack and I pop a squat in the back and I think to myself, "I'll have to catch up on the beginning of Good Dog, Carl after the reader finishes.  At least I'll know a few reasons Carl was so good!"  Once I take a gander at the book up front, it is immediately clear that it is not Good Dog, Carl.  It's a book about a monkey and he was presently riding on the back of a hippo.  Nope, that's not Carl. 

Needless to say, I was disappointed in still not knowing why Carl was good.  Well, there were about 2 minutes left of reading time, and Jack couldn't have cared less!  He didn't care about Carl or the monkey on the hippo, he LOVED seeing all those kids!  Isn't it funny how kids are just drawn to other kids? 

So, story time ended and we did a little browsing, which Jack thoroughly enjoyed.  He loved seeing all the books on a shelf and checked out a few.


But everything stopped when he spied Good Night Moon.  We read Goodnight Moon every night before bedtime and it was obvious that he recognized that book.  I could....not....pull....him....from Goodnight Moon!  Seriously!  Every time I took one copy out of his hand to re-shelve so we could move on, he grabbed another one!  At one point, there were about 4 copies of Goodnight Moon on the floor!  It was so cute. 

He also loved walking around in the store.  He's a little unsteady walking in his shoes, so he liked to hold my hand (um, I might have loved that), but he walked all over the store!!!  Such a cutie!!

So, I might not know why Carl was so good, but we had a wonderful first story time!

Firsts and Lasts

Lots of new things going on around here...

First, Jack is really walking.  Like, really walking!  And he loves it.  He thinks it is soooooooo fun and pretty much laughs every time he's walking!  It's been so fun to watch him figure it out.  And I swear, it happened all in about 2 days!  One day, he couldn't walk.  The next, he took a few steps.  The next, he was walking across the room!!  I'm working on getting a video.  Problem is, when he sees the video camera, he wants to grab it.

Next, Jeff and I were away from Jack over night for the first time last night.  Whew.  I'm not gonna lie, I missed him!!  But I didn't miss him when I got to sleep until after 8am.  :)  Jeff made reservations for us to have dinner at Wolfgang Puck's 560 restaurant at the top of Reunion Tower and it was so good.  The view was amazing and we had such a good time just being together! 

It was weird coming home and not having him be here.  And it was super weird not to wake up to his sweet noises.  But...it was also nice to sleep in!  Jeff went to pick him up this morning and he squealed with delight, seeing his Dada!

One last new thing.  Jack's transitioning from formula to milk!  The real deal.  And I am very excited about that.  If you've read long, you know that breastfeeding lasted for about 3 months around here, so Jack's been a formula baby for quite a while.  While it was the best thing for us to do, I'm ready to not have to scoop out a powder and shake up a bottle in order to feed Jack.  Not that it's physically hard to do, but the reality is, it doesn't feel quiiiiiiiite natural!  But cow's milk?  Now that's something I can get behind!  And he's loving it.  I've been doing half formula and half cow's milk and it's going well so far!

Along with all of the first, there's also a lot of lasts going on these days.  Some of them I'm sad to see go, but for all of them, it's time to say bye bye!

Jack is totally off the bottle.  As in, no more bottles.  I was most worried about his first bottle of the morning.  He loved that bottle!  But has transitioned well from his morning bottle to his morning sippy cup and is happy as a clam, sitting there drinking his milk. 

And that means saying bye bye to the bottles and bottle drying rack.  I never liked that bottle drying rack.  I'm glad to see that go.  But...my baby is definitely growing up if he doesn't need bottles or a bottle drying rack anymore!!  We 're moving on the cabinets full of sippy cups.  And this is likely the last can of formula to grace our counters.  As I said, I'm glad that he's on milk now, but just one more thing to remind me that my baby's growing up!!
It is so hard for me to believe that he's turning one in a little over a week.  I've had several friends who have had babies in the past few weeks and looking at those sweet little bundles reminds me that Jack is so big!  And how much he's grown!  And how far we've come.  We've made it almost a year!  I'm loving my growing boy, and each stage is so much more fun than the next.  God is so good, we are so blessed.

And, just because he's so cute and I got a new camera...

Standing up on our own two feet-sies!

Jeff has been singing this silly song to Jack since he was like 3 months old. 

Standing up on our own two feet-sies, standing up, standing up!

Jack has always loved it.  So far, they are birds of a feather!

Anyways, my son is totally standing up on his own two feet-sies! 

Yes, I broke down and bought some of the Huggies Jean diapers...they were on sale! 
And I promise we're not always trailer park...just sometimes...

He's taking a few steps here and there, and every once in a while gets REALLY excited when he realizes what he's doing!  I'm kinda ready for him to walk...I know, I know, you'll tell me not to say that, look at what I'm asking for.  But I'm ready to play outside.  Go the park.  Not have to hold him when it's 110 degrees outside.

And again, just because he's freakin' adorable and I have a new camera...


Birthday fun!

Monday was my birthday...birthday's get a lot less exciting when you get old.  Now, pair that with the planning of Jack's birthday, it's totally not a big deal to me.  But I had a great birthday!

Sunday night I went out with some great friends to a fancy schmancy restaurant. 

Top left is Leah, met her in Brownies.  Then me. (Duh)
Bottom row is Beth, BFF, known her since 3rd grade, the Leigh Ann, a sweet friend who the they replaced me with got to know when the other 3 girls went to A&M and I went to TCU.  Then Margaret, known her since before pre-school. 

It's Restaurant Week in these parts, which means you get a lot of food at a really nice restaurant for not a lot of money.  We went to Nick and Sam's in Dallas and it was sooooooo good!  The food was good, but the service....the service was just amazing.  They brought us a champagne toast to celebrate my birthday!  And even brought sparkling cider for the prego and the breastfeeder!  And then check out my dessert.

It says "Happy Birthday"!  That's fun. 

And...do you like the pics?  Because Jeff got me a new camera for my birthday!  I'm so excited.  I've been taking pictures like crazy.  Don't worry.  You'll notice. 

On my birthday, my sister and mom brought over dinner while Jeff worked, which was so nice. 

And the birthday fun isn't over yet!  Jeff and I are going to dinner at Reunion Tower on Friday night!  I've always wanted to go up in the ball...and the restaurant is supposed to be good, too. 

It's been a wonderful birthday...my first birthday as a mom!  And Jack couldn't handle it.  He wanted to spend the entire....day....with....me.  So he decided to skip his afternoon nap.  Happy birthday to me!  :)

And just because he's so cute and I got a new camera...

When Babies Bite

This is my arm.
That is a bite mark.
Jack bites. 
The little purple-ish spot towards the right?  That's the mark of his top teeth. 
I won't lie.  My first instinct was to thump his nose just like you do a dog.  I didn't do it, but it was close. 
It really hurt.

Jack's gone wild!



Ok, not really, but look at that sin nature already developing in my little boy!  Knowing...flat out knowing...what he's supposed to do, and just clearly deciding not to do it.  Nobody taught him to disobey...he just does it!  And yes, he knows what no means.  He definitely knows.  Or at least he did last week...

And yes, he does this weird thing where he runs his mouth along the table.  I don't know.  It's weird and gross.  But apparently very fun!  And so is kissing the wall. 

Enchilada Delight

Last Sunday we hosted a Mexican themed church pot luck supper at our house...yes, we're a little crazy...but it was a great time!!!  About 60 people, big and small, packed into our Morning Glory home to fellowship over some yummy, yummy Mexican treats.  It was the hottest day of the year so far, and my biggest fear is that people would die of heat stroke.  Our 50 year old "Weathermaker" is large and in charge, doing a good job of keeping the house cool...but 60 people and 105 heat just might put it over the edge!  EEK!

I made some sour cream chicken enchiladas, and I've got to share the sour cream sauce recipe. It's to die for. (Can you tell I like Mexican food? I seem to get very dramatic about it.)

Sour Cream Sauce

1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
1 can chicken stock
1 c sour cream
1 can green chili's

Melt the butter in a big sauce pan. Once it's melted, dump in the flour and stir constantly until it's well mixed, making your roux. Once that's well blended and browning, add in your chicken broth. Once it's mixed well, remove it from the heat and add in your sour cream and chili's. Sometimes, if I'm feeling spicy, I add in a little jalapeno juice from the jalapeno jar. Mix it up and eat it up!

To make your enchiladas, just chop up some boiled chicken and toss it in a corn tortilla. Top it with cheese, and roll it up! Fill your pan with the enchiladas and pour the sauce over it. Sprinkle with a little cheddar and pop it in the over until the cheese is melted.

Yum, yum, yum!

On Sunday, I made it into an enchilada casserole...just to make it more pot luck friendly! So I just layered my chicken, cheese, tortilla and sour cream sauce in my crock pot and let the sucker go! It was a big hit. I could also see using the sauce over some chicken, black beans, and rice. It's so good, I literally lick the pan.  It's also a super yummy dip.

The Mexican fiesta food was delicious.  From grandma's queso, to El Chico's guacamole (recipe rumored to be stolen from a former employee), to some Mexican lasagna, there was definitely not a shortage of food or conversation!  And I think we still have about 5 bags of left over chips.  I'm thinking it's time to make some salsa! 

The BEST leftovers, I have to say, is a bag of Julio's corn chips.  I'm not kidding, ya'll.  These chips are TO DIE FOR!  I can't even put it into words.  While I was in college I worked at a youth camp down in the Texas Hill Country.  We had a lot of kids from San Angelo, and pretty much all of them would bring these Julio's chips.  One taste turned to a few handfuls, turned into a few bags, turned into an obsession. 


Here is Jose, Julio's son, standing proudly (as he should be) in front of a Julio's display.  If you don't recognize that yellow bag, go right now and find some.  You will not be disappointed. 

And go crazy!!  Dip one of the Julio's into the sourcream sauce!  My mouth just watered.

11 Months!

Well, we've made it almost a year with our little boy!  Wow.  I can't believe his birthday is in less than a month!

Now, I swear, the minute he turned 11 months, he started being crazy.  Two weeks ago, if he was crawling toward something he didn't need to touch, Jeff and I would say no, and he'd stop.  And he was easily distracted into forgetting about whatever it was he initially wanted.  Now, if he's crawling towards something he doesn't need to touch, Jeff and I will say no, and he'll stop...and turn around to look at us....and then turn around and look at whatever it is he wants...turn back around to look at us....crawl a little closer...turn back around to look at us...and go ahead and do what he wants.  All the while, Jeff and I are in the background telling him no!  I mean, it's crazy.  And if he's removed from the situation, once he's back on the floor, the first place he'll head is back into trouble!!!  Crazy, I tell you!

With his crazy bout of  disobedience comes the most adorable personality I've ever seen.  It is just breathtaking to see my little baby turning into a little boy.  He is funny!  Just this morning he was making faces at me to make me laugh!  He still loves to play peek a boo, and loves to be startled and surprised.  He's more independent...hence the naughtiness (he loves to sneak into the bathroom and unroll a roll of toilet paper).  I've been giving him space to play...if I'm in the living room and he crawls in the den to play, I love just listening to him talk to himself and bang his spatula and ladle around!  Until he spy's Vincent's dog food bowl, and before I can get in there, he's got a mouthful...oh well, protein, right?  He loves to be tickled and LOVES to laugh!!  Which is just too much to handle.  He's just so much fun.

He's a good little eater.  He loves mango, kiwi, and macaroni and cheese (and apparently fish sticks...yes, he ate a fish stick...for breakfast...am I a bad mom?), loves yogurt and adores Cheerios.  He's down to half of his morning bottle...I'm a little worried about getting rid of that morning bottle.  Once he wakes up, he is READY for that bottle.  We'll see how that goes.  We're supposed to be bottle free by 12 months!  He is a big fan of fruit bars, and could eat an entire bag of goldfish crackers.  Seriously.  His love for Saltines continues and the big hit recently has been a Simply Fruit jelly sandwich (on double fiber bread...sometimes we have issues).  He's a big fan of that!  And if he's had a jelly sandwich, you can tell, because somehow it ends up over everything in the whole house.  I can't for the life of me to get him to eat any vegetables.  Remember his love of carrots?  Apparently it's gone.  Hopefully he won't always reject anything green, but for now, it's straight up fruits!

Yesterday was the first day of school for lots of schools around here.  It's weird to not be getting ready to start the year...but I am beyond blessed to have this adorable thing for my boss for another year!

Wave 'em like you just don't care!

So, Jack is a fair weather waver.  He doesn't wave at people when they're coming or going...but usually waves at the TV or out the window, and usually waves to show excitement or any other random emotion. 

Excuse the video quality...it's my iphone video...


I'm not sure what the emotion is here, seems like a mix of everything...although I think it ends in some tired crying. But he waves like this all...the...time! And usually it's when he's excited about something...and with Cheerios, there's always at least a little excitement!

Monk, Bossy, and All God's Creatures

Jack is going through some crazy sleep times these days.  My wonderful napper is talking for an hour before actually going to sleep, waking up crying in the middle of the night, refusing to take naps all together...good times.  Who knows what's going on.  Last week he was up at 5:45am, now he's letting me sleep until 7 again.  Crossing fingers that this crazy sleep stuff is just a phase.

In the mean time, Jack is LOVING his monkey or, as we like to call him, "Monk". 


I'm not kidding, when he sees Monk, he smiles like it's his looooooong lost friend that he hasn't seen in years, not hours, and lunges forward to grab him and pull him near.  It's pretty adorable. 


Last week I went in his room one night before I went to bed and he was sleeping on his back on top of Monk.  Monk was his lumbar support.  Sometimes he's holding Monk's hand, sometimes his face is buried on top of Monk...and usually when I go in to get him in the morning, at least one of Monk's red pom-poms is wet.  Apparently we like to nom on Monk, too! 

When Jack had his ear infection, his nose was running like crazy.  And when he would get up from a nap, he'd have the crustiest nose I've ever seen on him! (I would say crustiest nose ever, but there are some crusty noses out there!)  One time I got him up for a nap and he had a crust nose...but it was red!  I thought maybe his little nose bled a little bit...nope, just a fuz from Monk's pom-pom dried in the crust.  It's true love, people!

Jack has also realized that I have a routine when I go in to get him out of bed.  First, I give him a hug, then turn off the sound machine, then turn on his lamp, then unzip his sleep sack.  Lately when I go in, as soon as he sees me, he points to the sound machine...to make sure I remember what to do first.  Once that is off, he points to the lamp...just to be sure.  And this morning to conclude his instructions, he picked up his sleep sack where it was slack...just to remind me the end of our routine.  Um.  Precious.  And kinda bossy.  But for now, just precious.

Remember this wall in Jack's room?

I feel the need to tell you that the pictures are re-arranged and that crazy orange frame is gone now...it's so off balance that I can't even stand not defending/promising it's changed now and much more pleasing to the eye.

I absolutely love it because of it's sentimentality.  The middle needle work picture was hung in Jeff's nursery right above his changing table...there's a pee-pee spot to prove it!  And the Animal ABC's needle work was hung in my nursery.  No pee-pee spot...but I promise it's true. 

These days right after we pick Jack up out of the crib, his last place to point is the All God's Creatures needle work.  He loves to study it as we tell him the names of all the animals.  It's adorable.  He gets the sweetest grin, and listens intently, and sometimes even studies our mouths as we say each animal name, taking it all in. 

Sleep problems or not, he's a precious little thing!  Remind me I said that tomorrow when it takes him over an hour to get down for a nap...

Fried Rice

It's so freakin' hot outside these days...there's nothing do to that doesn't involve a lot of sweating, which is bad for everyone.  So, life is boring right now.  We go swimming (which I must take pictures of!) and that's about it.  So, that's why I have nothing to write about but cooking.  Because basically my day consists of waking up at 5:45 am (thank you, Jack) thinking about dinner, making sure I have everything for dinner, getting excited about dinner, cooking dinner, eating dinner, saying that dinner was good, and going to bed...mixed in with a lot of being a mamma.  Hence the onslaught of recipes lately.  One day life will get more interesting and so will my blog...but until then, hopefully you enjoy the recipes!

I've found that the more I cook, the more boring I get with the things I cook.  I mean, you can't beat a good ole fajita night, but when I get lazy, I get boring, when I get boring, I cook chicken marinated in some kind of marinade with a salad....over and over and over and over...boring. 

When my friend Sarah made cashew chicken a few weeks ago for our Bible study, it inspired me to get my Asian cooking on.  (Jeff recently taught me that calling people or places "oriental" wasn't PC...so now I know to call things "Asian"...rugs are oiental, people are Asian...that's my PSA about all things Asian.)  Up until a few years ago, I swore I hated Asian food.  Hated it.  Truth be told, I really had never tried it.  I'd just heard about nasty Chinese buffets.  And growing up in small town east Texas, there weren't a lot of Asian restaurants to try out. 

Then one day I was introduced to Pei Wei.  Ok, not totally authentic Asian food, but yummy none the less, and gave me confidence to quit saying I hated Asian food and give it a try.  Now I love it!  From sushi to fried rice, it's one of my favorites.  Only second to Mexican food...but mainly because Mexican has the whole chips and salsa going for it.  You simply can't beat that.

I digress.  I don't ever cook Asian food just because I'm not familiar with it.  I mean, Mexican food?  Do you have beans?  Do you have cheese?  Do you have tortillas?  You've got dinner.  Easy enough.  But not being as confident in the Asian flavors, I haven't done much of it. 

This week, I decided to brave the Asian food dinner.  I love friend rice, seen the hibachi guys make, so I thought I'd start with that.  I was doing some research for a good recipe and stumbled across this Shiok website.  The best thing that I read about fried rice is this:

One of the most common questions I get as a chef is about making good fried rice. This usually puzzles me because "fried rice" in Asian food is hardly haute cuisine. In fact, it's the very opposite of it. Fried rice is not one single dish. It is more of a way of combining leftover rice with leftover anything else and turning it into a one-dish meal...fried rice is more of a formula than a single recipe.

I love reading that!  I can do left overs with few boundries!  So, reading on, the chef gives some great tips on how to get your rice ready to be fried and a few other tips that were really really helpful.  The biggest thing he stated over and over again is that your rice can not be freshly cooked to be fried up right.  It should be old...at least hours old, but better if it's days old, and cold or even frozen.  Interesting.

I have a torrid relationship with rice.  I don't like minute rice, and every time I've tried to make old fashioned rice, I've either burned it or it's been soupy.  Not good.  At all.  So with my fried rice adventure looming in the foreground, I decided it was time to spring for a rice cooker!  And it is...amazing.  It's huge, can cook up to 20 cups of rice (no, I can't think of a time that I'll need 20 cups of rice, but if there ever is a need, I'll be there) and cook it PERFECTLY!  It was so easy...dump in the rice, dump in the water, snap the top, press the button...30 minutes later, perfectly cooked rice! 

So I cooked my rice Monday morning early and stuck it in the fridge to cool and then the freezer to get it really ready to get fried.  And I have to say...maybe it was beginner's luck, but my fried rice turned out GOOD! 

So, here's a basic run down of what I did.  I didn't measure things out, I just kinda went with the flow...

Fried Rice:

To start off, I marinated some chicken breasts in a yummy Lawry's Sesame Ginger marinade (YUM), diced it up into bite sized pieces and fried them up in the skillet in a little sesame oil.  After the chicken was cooked, I took it out and set it aside. 

Now for the rice. 

  • Put a few turns of oil (I used sesame because I had it, but you could also use canola or vegetable)in a large skillet and start heating it up.  (FYI, I don't have a wok, but the huge skillet worked just fine).  You don't want too much oil or it will be too greasy...so go light, you can always add more later.
  • Smash a few cloves of garlic and toss them in the oil to infuse the oil with flavor. 
  • Slice a few thin slices of fresh ginger and toss those in the oil to get that ginger flavor mixed with the garlic. 
  • Once the garlic and ginger pieces brown, take them out. 
  • Now, toss in your cold rice.  Stir fry it around for a few minutes, warming up the rice and coating it with oil. 
  • Once it's warmed, toss in your choice steamed veggies.  I used carrots and peas, but next time I want to toss in some water chestnuts.  I love their crunch!  And bean sprouts.  Stir fry for a bit until everything's warmed. 
  • Toss in the chicken and continue to stir fry. 
  • Push aside the rice in the skillet to make a "hole" in the middle.  Crack 2 eggs in the hole and saute them until they are kinda set before tossing them with the rice. 
  • Add in a little salt and pepper (I also added in a few red pepper flakes and a little ginger) and soy sauce. 
  • Stir it up until all mixed and serve! 
It was sooooooooo good, pretty easy, and I'm totally making it again...and probably very soon.  And it would be so easy to do with any type or protein...left over beef, shrimp...and I love that you can toss in any veggies and be good to go.  So, I encourage you to try the fried rice!  I think you will be glad you did.  And maybe it will make you forget how hot it is...and how there's very little to do around here but think about dinner. 

Friendship and Banana Bread

I love banana bread.  Who doesn't?  Is there a better smell than banana bread baking in the oven?  And I am going to share with you today the most WONDERFUL banana bread recipe ever.  I'm not kidding.  I get compliments on this bread from every single person I've ever baked the bread for.  And not like "Oh, you're so nice to bring banana bread," type comments, more like "This is the best banana bread ever!" comments. 

When I graduated college, I moved in with my best friend since 3rd grade.  Although we had a rocky start (I was basically a little punk who didn't want to be nice to the new girl) we overcame that unfortunate incident and eventually became best friends!  We were inseparable through grade school and high school, and went our separate ways in college, her to TAMU and me to TCU.  I was so blessed to have her as a friend during those ridiculously trying high school times...who knows where we would have been with out each other!!

I feel the need to explain the pics...so, clockwise from the top right, that's BFF in my bathroom, and my cats in the drawer.  What?  They loved it!  Middle pic was in high school, dressed up for 60's day.  Bottom right was at my bachelorette party!  She is sitting on my right.  Bottom left, dance recital, BFF on the left, me towards the middle...she was a better ballerina than me...I mean, look at that pic.  Middle left was on a trip to Mexico!  And top left...embarrassing for everyone.  Look at the amount of denim on my body and don't miss out on my loafers with socks. 

Think that's the end of the story, right?  I mean, classic story, BFF when we were young and then never seen again.  Nope, not here!  We graduated from college and after her year teaching out of the country, I convinced her to move up to Fort Worth so we could live together!  Yes, the time apart changed us, the Lord had grown us in different ways, and every friendship has bumps in the road, it definitely hasn't been perfect, but living together in our young adult years was soooooooo wonderful.  A huge huge blessing.  I mean, who doesn't want someone you feel completely comfortable with walking through some strangely awkward years with you?  We forged through the church singles group together, met our husbands while living together...and watched each other marry the Godly men we fell in love with.  What a blessing to walk for so many years with someone who sees all of imperfections and walks with you anyways.

She got married first and moved out (albeit, just a block down the street) and I'm sure you know, any time there's any packing up of things after living with a roommate, things don't always end up leaving with whom they came.  She got my small strainer, I got her mom's banana bread recipe!  And it's to die for.  Super easy, I literally use a fork to mix it all together.  I did have a little trial and error with my loaf pan size...bigger is better.  For the first few times (years?) I baked it in a smaller bread pan, and it was consistently doughy in the middle.  I switched to my larger loaf pan, and perfection!!

Banana Bread:
3-4 ripe bananas
1 c sugar
1 egg
1.5 c flour
1/4 c melted butter (I think this is what makes it...)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mash bananas.  Stir in other ingredients.  Bake in greased loaf pan for 1 hour at 325. 

Could it be any easier!?!?!?!?  No.

So, back to the BFF story, yes, we still hang out and I completely treasure her friendship and will forever.  The Lord has taken us in different directions and grown us into different people as we've grown up, but He has allowed us to remain friends, which is a huge blessing.  She's pregnant and I can't wait for Jack to have a new friend to play with!  I see the playdates now...and I'm pretty sure they'll involve juice for the kiddos and wine for the mammas!

Why, Jack, why?

Why are you waking up at 5:45am these days?  What made you decide to make the switch from 7:30am to 5:45am.  And 5:45am on the dot.  How do you know? 

And why aren't your naps longer when you wake up at 5:45am?  Shouldn't you be making up for that sleep somewhere?  Aren't you extra tired?  Because mommy is! 

Doesn't all this crawling, pulling up and general mischievousness make you more tired?  Doesn't swimming at Grammy's, playing with Vincent and laughing at your daddy make you want to sleep more?

And why don't you sleep later when you go to sleep later?  It doesn't matter if you go to sleep at 6:30pm or 8pm, you still wake up early. 

Why?

Spit up and baseball

With Jack's birthday coming up, it's time to get the invites ordered! 
I found some ADORABLE baseball themed invites on Etsy, so all we needed was a cute pic and I'll be totally on the ball. 

So today in the 102 degree heat, Jeff and I decided to give it a go.  Got Jack all dressed up in his baseball outfit, gathered up his baseball paranifilia, and headed to the backyard. 

Well, we're slow to start...

Ok, now we're getting somewhere...

Oh, crap!

And....spit-up everywhere. 
Really?  I swear, he spits up like once a week these days.   

We'll try again tomorrow...after mommy does the wash.