Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we went to Kinder, LA for Thanksgiving with my Mom's family. We had a wonderful time. The food was delicious, and it was great to go back to Kinder. My mom grew up there, and as a child I spent every Sunday and many weekends at my grandparents house in Kinder. My cousins and I used to do everything from shelling peas on the front porch to catching crawfish in the ditch with a homemade fishing pole. My grandpaw taught us how to tie string to a stick with a piece of bacon on the end, but the key was to put a small rock in the middle of the bacon so it would be sure to sink to the bottom where all the crawfish were. We spent many nights standing next to bon fires and roasting marshmellows...and many days riding fourwheelers and horses down gravel roads. We went every single Sunday for "dinner"...but for most of you it would have been considered lunch. Grandma would cook a roast and rice 'n' gravy, which other than fried chicken is one of the most southern old fashioned meals you can get. It's a real treat. Thank goodness she taught my mom who I made sure taught me! It took me awhile to perfect, but I think I've finally gotten it down. Most of the time when I cook a roast Brad won't even let me invite people over because he wants to have leftovers. Anyways, we had a great time out in the country, and everyone loved seeing Jack. John Scott actually went out to my uncles garden and picked some home grown veggies...which you can't beat! Here are some pics from the day, as well as some from tonight when my mom was feeding Jack. He still loves his rice cereal! Tomorrow we'll be having a "day after" Thanksgiving meal with my immediate family...I've gotten to eat 3 Thanksgiving meals this year! Last week while Brad's parents were in town we cooked a Thanksgiving meal so Brad could have Thanksgiving too, because ofcourse he didn't have the actual Thanksgiving Day off. I hope everyone has had a wonderful day! And just for kicks----I'm thankful for...
my loving family and friends, my dad's stable health, my amazing husband who works unbelievably hard so I can live this dream life, my sweet baby Sadie baby girl, my beautiful healthy baby boy, and this beautiful earth we all get to enjoy!

4 months

Jack is becoming more fun every day. He has really started to laugh a lot, and almost everytime you look at him he smiles. I feel so lucky to have such a beautiful healthy baby boy. I can't believe I get to have more...what a blessing! I have to say thank you to everyone for all the wonderful advice and ideas for helping Jack sleep better. Some nights are better than others. I had one comment though that has stuck out in my mind...one day you will miss those late nights with Jack...so with that I've completely changed my outlook on this situation.

Brad has been working extremely hard lately. We've hardly been able to see him. His parents are in town this week. Usually he only gets one day off a week...on some random day, but this week he combined this week and next weeks days to have two days off in a row. Its such a treat. This morning he walked into the room with this little bundle saying "one fish taco coming right up!" It was hilarious. Jack seemed to enjoy every bit of it!

Jack has been sucking on his toes...literally. He's quite flexible. I was trying to catch a pic of it, but this is all I could get!

advice anyone?

For awhile Jack was only waking up once a night and it felt like Christmas. Then he started waking up like he was 4 weeks old again...3 and 4 times a night. He was getting close to being four months and I was sure rice cereal would do the trick. At four months we gave him rice cereal and he only woke up once...but it went down hill again after that. I'm not trying to complain..broken sleep eventually becomes easier but..wait...thats not a good word...maybe you get used to it...no not completely...I don't know. I guess there are no good words to describe it...I just know that I deal with it---I still go one with my day and of course I don't get frustrated with my little man who can't help it and smiles so sweetly when I go to pick him up at 2 am. I pretty much just roll with it...but I would like any advice if you've got it. I feel like I've tried everything from keeping him up later...changing his afternoon nap to earlier...letting him "cry" it out a little...rocking him back to sleep rather than nursing him...giving him formula instead of breast milk before bed...making sure he's warm...patting him rather than picking him up when he crys...changing him...pacifiers...I feel like theres nothing else, but maybe one of you experienced moms will have some other idea ;) My mom says I was like that...I guess what goes around comes around :)

Rule #1: Never open your door for strangers!

Sooo tonight Brad is on call...just like he is every fourth or fifth night depending on the rotation. This month its every fourth night also know as Q4...yuck. Anyways...if you don't know already I'm a super scardy cat...always have been and always will be. I wasn't just born this way...I've had a few significant instances in my life that have made me this way. Not only am I a super scardy cat, but I'm also extremely cautious due to the fact that I lived in Baton Rouge while a serial killer was on the loose! Anyways...tonight I was sitting on the couch watching TV and someone knocked on my door--lovely huh? I stood up and my heart sank...they knocked again just a little louder...why didn't they ring the doorbell??? not sure. I walked to the door where my sweet husband has installed a peep hole just for me...but ofcourse I have some fall decoration blocking it :) So I walk to the office window and look out to see that there is no car parked in front of my house. They knock again...only louder and don't answer me when I say...who is it? All this time I have my cellphone in my hand about to call Brad and then I say to myself...what the heck is he going to do?...so I grab the house phone insuring my address will pop up when I call 911 and dial the those three dreaded and relieving numbers 911...I was feeling pretty light headed at this point...scared to death as they knocked again. I grabbed Jack as the 911 operator answered. I told her what was going on and she said for me to go somewhere where I could lock myself in a room...so up I went with Jack and Sadie. Ofcourse Sadie is pretty pissed off at this point so she runs in the room with me and then right back out again b/c they knock again and she feels the need to bark and protect us. I just close the door without her and then ofcourse she's all talk and decides she'd rather be with me...and starts scratching at the door...so I let her in quickly b/c I'm sure no one is in the house...and relock the door. The whole time the 911 operator is talking to me and letting me know the cops are on their way. After 10 minutes...which seemed like FOREVER...she says they have arrived and I can check to make sure its them by looking out the window. I walk outside and you wanna know who had been knocking on my door???? A solicitor...trying to sell me a water softener!!!! What an idiot!!! The cop was pretty disgusted as well and told them they needed to stop knocking on peoples doors at night and leave the neighborhood. Thank goodness it was just a solicitor and not some freak. So, now its 10:43 pm and I'm still awake b/c I'm scared...not sure when or if I will go to sleep. I'm sure eventually I'll fall asleep...it was just a solicitor...but it still scared me. Just always remember to stick to those rules you learned in elementary school---Never open your door for strangers! It doesn't matter what they are selling...you don't want to buy their junk anyways.

mmmmm yummy!

To say the least...Jack is still not even close to sleeping through the night. Our neighbor is a pediatrician and said at four months you can give them a little rice cereal...and tomorrow Jack will be 4 months, so I decided what the heck...tonight we'll give it a try! I'm desperate for some kind of decent sleep, and I'm very hopeful this will help. If it doesn't I'll be okay and accept these wonderful sleep patterns God has given my child, but we'll keep our fingers crossed. Awhile back Jack was only waking up once a night, but all of the sudden he relapsed to 3 & 4 times a night. It's hard to take steps backwards after things started improving. Anyways...I guess we'll see! I was quite suprised that he did as well as he did. I think he really liked it. Here a some pics :)

oh just chillin relaxin

I laid Jack down for a few minutes while I went to make my coffee the other morning, and I came back to this sweet little guy just relaxing and watching the Today show! Sooo funny...he's as laid back as his daddy! Hopefully he stays that way!

Brace yourself

Life brings us many things we can't contol, but we can choose how we will respond. Everyone needs to take the time to watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0&feature=related

Splish Splash...I was taking a bath!

Bathtime is always fun! Jack can be really fussy, but if you bring him into the bathroom and turn on the water he starts to smile right away!

This yellow foam bath mat is one of my favorite things! I originally thought I would need a baby bathtub...but I came across this in Target and thought I'd give it a try before buying a bulky bathtub I'd have to find some where to store when I wasn't using it.

Luckily, I love it! I just wring it out after bathtime and keep it in the tub. It's perfect and it only cost about $5 at Walmart or Target.