The Story on Morning Glory

Gifted

Labels: jack - Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Remember back here when I was in the middle of making all of the stuff for Jack's room? And I said that I just knew that he would one day look at me and tell me how much he loved his bumper pad? Well, get in line, folks, let me tell your future!

Ok, maybe not that severe, but Jack definitely loves his bumper pad. How do I know? Remember back here when I was trying to gently nudge Jack towards his owl lovie? Well, Jack has found his own lovie. His bumper pad. Seriously.

When he goes to sleep for a nap or for the night, he rolls on his side and....hugs the bumper pad! It is adorable. When we walk in to check on him, you can usually spot his little hand on the outside of the bumper pad, arm wrapped around it and pulling it to him. Or, he's rolling around in his sleep, arms flailing, looking for the bumper pad to grab! So cute.

Yes, he has stuffed animals, he's not in need, people! We had about 1.5 million of them! He's just being inventive and using what he's got. He's gifted, don't you think?

For the love of carrots

Labels: jack, Motherhood - Sunday, April 25, 2010

One day I walked in to Babies R Us.

Now, as a preface to this story, I ~~strongly dislike~~ hate Babies R Us. Before I had a baby and would go there for baby shower gifts, I would take a deep breath, walk in, and get busy deciphering the codes to 80 million tiny little things, things I had no idea about, and, truthfully, didn't care about. I would spend 20 minutes figuring out if the precious friend had registered for this bottle nipple or the one next to it, that looked exactly the same to me, so why did it matter anyway...bad attitude, but true. I would leave the store, battled and weary, guessing that one day, when I had a baby, I would love this atrocity of a mega store.

Well, things did not change when I had Jack. Now, instead of wondering the difference between this bottle nipple and that one, now I think it's just a crazy over priced black hole of mass produced baby garb. Still bad attitude...and not one I expected to hang around!

Anyways, one day I walked in to Babies R Us to get some teething tabs. Teething tabs are t hese little golden nuggets are tabs that dissolve in a teething monster's mouth and seem to settle them down for about, oh, 95 seconds...and these tabs of goodness are not found at Target...they're only found at Babies R Us. Of course. Taking a deep breath and diving into the isles of baby land, I found my gold-priced teething tabs and made a run for the register when I passed a small display in the front of the store. I recognized my favorite baby food label and stopped to take a glance at the probable rip off they were offering.

The price sticker said $8.99 for 12 jars, which is like $.75 a jar. That's about what you can get at Target, but I knew I had a coupon in my pocket that would make them much cheaper than that so I walked on by. And then did a double take...buy one get one free! What? That's like $.37 a jar! Babies R Us with a real deal? Um, yes please!

So I stocked up. And by stocked up, I mean got 8 flats of jars! That's a whopping 96 jars of baby food, people! Only catch, is that you could only get carrots, pears, and pears/raspberries. So...Jack's been eating a LOT of carrots and pears! And he loves both carrots and pears, which is good news.

When we first started solid foods and fed Jack his first carrots, they ended up, of course, all over his cute little shirt. Oh well, throw it in the wash...and then find out that carrots stain like a mother! No getting them out. So we've been careful, but you can't avoid the occasional carrot explosion that covers more than the bib can protect. And it seems to be that usually he's wearing one of my favorite shirts. Come to think of it, since I get to choose what he wears, he's usually wearing one of my favorite shirts...anyways, many cute onesies have met an early end because of the stain of carrot.

And I'm done with it. So from now on...

we're eating naked style!

And on another note....look how cute he is!

I'm a winner!!

- Thursday, April 22, 2010

I love to read blogs, especially other mommy blogs. Who am I? I don't know. Anyways, some of these blogs are so cool they are constantly contacted by vendors to do a giveaway! Isn't that fun? Anyways, I've never entered any of the giveaways, out of laziness, mostly, and I never win anything, so why waste the time? But last week, I entered my first giveaway...and...I won! Woohoo!!!

One of my favorite blogs hosted this really fun giveaway for some adorable mommy jewelry, and I couldn't resist entering! Ok, I entered like 8 times...

I was going on and on to Jeff about how much I wanted to win this giveaway, but I knew I wouldn't, so I wasn't going to get my hopes up...although they really were and I knew I'd be really disappointed when I didn't win...

Diana emailed me on Friday afternoon and told me I won and I was super excited! I got a $30 gift certificate to apply to any of Julie's designs...love me some free shopping!

I chose this adorable Teeny Tiny Initial Necklace. Obviously, mine will have a J on it and I chose to have Jack's birthstone as the charm instead of the pearl, and I can't wait to get it! I know it's super cheesy, but I've been wanting something like this...

Now that I'm on a roll (is it considered a roll when it's just happened once?), I decided to enter another one! Um, this could become addicting.

Bittersweet-ness

Labels: jack, Motherhood - Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Today was a big day. The day of the big boy car seat installation appointment!

Like I said before, Jack is simply getting crazy heavy in his carrier, so we went ahead and purchased our next car seat. I did my research, asked around, and decided on a Britax Marathon.

It got great crash ratings and Britax is a well respected brand...not to mention I found one on SALE! Woohoo! Because these suckers are expensive!!

Anyways, he's not quite at the weight limit of the carrier car seat, so the new one has been sitting in our living room for about a month now. Being the good mom that I am, right after the car seat arrived, I called the car seat check people at Cook's Children's and set up my installation appointment, because the last thing I wanted to do is to install the seat incorrectly and, God forbid, be in an accident and Jack not be as safe as possible.

Now, I can be pretty ambitious so one day I decided that I would just go ahead and install the thing. I mean, how hard could it be? Long story short, that was a big time fail...these are a little more complicated looking than our current car seat base, which is super easy! To many straps and tethers!

So Jack rode happily in his carrier car seat for a few more weeks.

But, today was the day! Our appointment was at 11, so around 10:30, I strapped Jack in and got ready to head out when all of a sudden...I was sad. This is the last time I'll strap my sweet baby boy into his first car seat. We brought him home in that carseat! His tiny little self, all bundled up...

and then I looked at Jack today, with his legs hanging out of the seat, and growing more and more every day! There have been lots of "last time"'s with Jack...last time to sleep in his bassinet, last time to wear the Swaddlers diapers, last time to sleep in the swing...but this one got to me for some reason. Just thinking about all the times I looked in the mirror to check on how he's doing, in the early days, trying to figure out where his mouth was to stick the pacifier in while he screams...then today, he thinks it's hilarious when he sees my arm comes over the top of his seat to hand him whatever.

So here it is, the last ride in the car seat carrier.

And getting excited about the switch!

Here's Jack sitting in the car with both car seats out, patiently waiting. The ladies with the car seat safety program were so nice, and beyond helpful! I don't think I could have gotten it without their help...they knew exactly what to do with the crazy straps and tethers! Go figure...

And sitting safely in the big boy seat! He will be in this seat until he's 60lbs...how old is a 60 pounder? I don't know, like 4? I have no idea. Anyways, this car seat will be around much longer than the last one, and I imagine by the time it's time to let this one go, I'll be an even bigger basket-case about it than I was this morning.

I simply can not say how much I am in love with this little boy. Who would have thought...I never could have imagined. And he's getting so stinkin' big, growing up so fast, and I LOVE watching him interact with things these days. They say they grow up fast and I feel like I'm enjoying each moment and not wishing it away...but it still goes by so fast! I feel like tomorrow he'll be 16 and my worries about a car will be a little more than just installing a car seat safely! EEK!!

How you know you need to do laundry...

Labels: jack, Motherhood - Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Now, sometimes I question what Jeff chooses for Jack to wear...tonight, that's not the case. We're struggling to figure out what Jack needs to wear to bed in this transitional season! A little warm for footie pajamas, too cold for just a onesie...so we have a few cotton pants that are left over from the cooler season that he's been wearing with a onesie to bed. Notice I said a few...

Now, call me crazy, but I like his pajamas to match. I mean, I like to wear matching pajamas to bed, why wouldn't I want him to! Well, tonight we were scraping the bottom of the barrel...so it's a onesie covered in airplanes that's too big (he was doing the whole 80's one shoulder thing) and pants with a crazy looking rabbit on the bottom...and obviously, he couldn't care less!

Don't you worry, his laundry is in the washer as I type!

It's dinner time!

Labels: Recipes -

It's a new category! Recipes!

I love to cook, and love meal time with family and friends. In the last month, we've started eating together as a family. I shamefully admit, until last month, 99.999% of our meals were consumed sitting on the couch in front of the TV. I guess that's kinda what you do when it's just the 2 of you, but it's not just the 2 of us anymore, and I thought it would be good to start the tradition of family dinners early! So, even though Jack has already had his dinner, he sits in his high chair and plays with his toys while he munches on some puffs while Jeff and I eat at the table. And we're loving it!

And tonight....I made one of our favorite spring/summer dinners, and I just have to share this recipe. I found it in a magazine and tweaked it to be mine, and it's simply delicious!!!

Summer-time Pizza

Ingredients:

your favorite pizza crust mix (mine is Jiffy...it's super cheap and very yummy!)

cherry tomatoes, halved

4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
your favorite salad greens (I usually use romaine because that's what I have around, but peppery arugula would be really good, too)

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 TBS olive oil

1 avocado (or my new favorite snack...the Wholly Guacamole 100 calorie pack...genius!!

Mix the pizza crust mix as instructed on the product, and allow to rise. Heat up a 1/2 TBS of the olive oil in a skillet. (I usually use my electric skillet.)

Divide the pizza dough into half and roll out the dough to 1/8 in thickness. Put the crusts into the skillet and allow to cook for a few minutes, until the crust is browned. Spread remaining olive oil on the uncooked side of the dough and flip. Cook until the crust is done. Now, assemble your pizza! Spread guacamole on the crust and top with the tomatoes, bacon, onion and greens. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the whole thing and devour!

I should have taken a picture of it tonight, but who can pause and think when there is this goodness in front of you!