delicious indeed!

for my birthday my fabulous husband bought me this cookbook.  its making a blog post b/c its worth it!  so far EVERYTHING I’ve made from it is delicious.  i love this cookbook b/c its full of recipes that most of us think about cooking on a regular basis…the ingredients aren’t extravagant…and the recipes have been tested and adjusted to make them the best they can be.  if you are looking for that great “go to” cookbook you should get this one.  i can promise you that you’ll love it. *oh and if you are smart you’ll go to Amazon to buy it :)

“Funny the way it is…if you think about it”

Last week I went home at a lovely & ripe 8 months pregnant.  My dad hasn’t been doing so hot, so I wanted to see him before I had Madeline b/c I knew I wouldn’t see him until May otherwise.  My fabulous in laws drove Jack & I home with them, and we booked a flight from Houston to SA to get back home(b/c my dad had a planned surgery in Houston.) Yes, I flew home with Jack sitting on my pregnant belly :)  He was actually an angel the whole flight!  I asked him if he wanted to lay down and take a nap on me, and he did it!  He slept the whole way!  It was a great trip, but a tough one I’ll say.  Being this pregnant with a very busy little boy is quite challenging at times.  Thank goodness I had my very helpful mom and sister to help me out! 

Now we are home and getting back into our routine.  I love routines.  It makes my life so much easier. 

Updates on Jack---

Jack is still sleeping in his big boy bed, and he’s doing great.  He pretty much lets us know when he’s ready to go to bed by telling us “night night” or he just starts giving good night kisses and walks to the gate at the bottom of the stairs.  I never dreamed it would be this easy, but it is :)  He sleeps all through the night, and when he wakes up he just calls my name through the monitor….easy breezy.

He has become quite a talker lately! He repeats almost anything we say, and he adds more and more words to his vocab every day!  I’ve been trying to teach him words like “help” “please” “all done” “up” for awhile now, and he’s finally using them rather than crying to get what he wants. 

His favorite things to do still include playing with balls, his guitar, his “choo choo” & his tool set.  Did I forget going outside??? He LOVES to be outside!  He also has a new found love for painting, which he calls “pretty” b/c my mom told him one of his paintings were pretty so he’s associated that with painting :)

Updates on the baby in my belly---

I’m a little over 32 weeks pregnant, and I still can’t figure out where the time went!  I’m starting to really feel “pregnant” now.  We still haven’t decided if we are going to try a VBAC or do a repeat c-section.  If I do the c-section we’ll be having a little girl in 7 weeks!!! If I try for the VBAC…then we’ll wait for me to go into labor & see what happens :)  I’m pretty nervous about the VBAC, and to be honest I’m leaning towards the nice & easy planned c-section.  Who know though…I’m known to change my mind on things pretty frequently.

Here are some pics from the super bowl party we had. Yes, Jack is wearing LSU b/c we didn’t have any SAINTS gear for him :( and you can’t find it anywhere in San Antonio & I didn’t have enough time to order something.  At least he was representin’ our home state!

Patiently watching the game! 

The Kids Rooms

Well…I’ve finally accomplished some of the things on my to do list!  I’ll say I probably spent a month or two with my scattered pregnancy brain in a frenzy just trying to figure out what I wanted to do…then when I’d do it…making lists over and over again…rather than just starting with one thing and doing it!  Thank goodness I finally got myself started on some of my tasks :)

The first project was to refinish an old wooden bed to use for Jack’s big boy bed.  I decided to paint it navy blue, and I’m very happy with how it came out.  I spent many many months trying to decide on “big boy” bedding, and I finally decided on the green & blue rugby stripe you see in the pictures.  I fell in love with it from Serena & Lily, and I finally broke down and bought it!  I’m so happy I did!  Its the perfect bedding for Jack to grow into for many years to come!  Right now his room is still “animals” from his nursery, but a sports themed room is in the works.  If you know Jack…you’ll know he LOVES balls…so I hope to do some “ball” paintings for him soon!

As you can tell the room is all set up for a big boy, and Jack has become a big boy indeed!  He’s been sleeping in his big boy bed for a couple of weeks now, and he’s doing great!  We had a couple failed naptimes and sleepless nights, but now he’s doing great!  It just took some dedication and not giving in, and now he pretty much naps and sleeps like he did when he was in his crib.  I was more worried about the switch than he was for sure!

My second project was putting Miss Madeline Grace’s room together!  Of course it took me FOREVER to pick bedding, but I finally did & I LOVE IT!  We decided to make the spare bedroom her room, so we’ve left the guest bed in there so we can still have visitors.  After much thought…I figured she would be easier to move out of a room when people are visiting than Jack would.  The room is not completely finished yet, but while I was taking pictures of Jack’s I couldn’t help myself :)  I have a few little extra touches to add..I guess I’ll have to add some more pics later!  Her dresser also needs to be painted & I need to get hardware for it, so that’s in the works for the next couple of weeks.

You see that sweet tutu??? It’s one of my favorite purchases so far! :)

I still need to find something to put in those picture frames…what you see is just green craft paper right now so I don’t have to look at cardboard :)  (I’m a very visual person)  

I also still need some sweet stuff to put on top of this shelf…

I can’t believe she’ll be in here in a couple of months!!!!  I can’t wait to hold her!

LIFE is so much fun these days…

Jack LOVES to play in Paw Paw’s truck when we are in Lake Charles!  He pushes all the buttons, jiggles every lever or knob & puts the keys in the ignition :) He NEVER wants to get out, which can be challenging for me & Mimi when its below 50 degrees outside!

Jack also LOVES animals!  This is my parents neighbors dog & Jack was giving her all kinds of love! He was starting to give a little too much loves right here..lol!

and this is my handsome little man….I can’t believe how much I love him!

and this picture makes me cry…I can’t wait for our little girl to arrive!!!!! 

a little bit pregnant…

i’d say i’m a little bit pregnant! i can’t believe how fast this pregnancy has gone!  while the first four months were pretty crummy, the recent months have been not so bad.  I LOVE BEING PREGNANT IN THE WINTER!  I never thought love + pregnant would both be in one sentence out of my mouth.  Pregnancy tends to be my not so favorite thing…but I do realize I’m so blessed to carry my own babies, get pregnant easily, & have healthy little ones and for that I’m very thankful & happy to be pregnant.  When I got pregnant w/ Jack I prissed around saying how I’d eat healthy, exercise, etc. and I’d only gain the minimal amount of weight :) HA!  Lets just say cheeseburgers were my go to and exercising was minimal.  I gained WAAAYYY to much weight, and I was pretty pissed at myself when it was all said and done.  With this baby I’ve really tried to do better, and so far I’ve gained half as much as I did with Jack….I must have been really fat…sheessh.  I guess being so busy helps, not working allows me to exercise more, & the WINTER keeps the swelling down!  In my 3rd trimester I couldn’t wear any of my rings, but this time around I can!  It’s nice to not get those looks from people…the ones wear you can tell they are thinking you are too young and got knocked up…I always wanted to say…yes I am married lady!!!! I just can’t wear my damn rings b/c my fingers are too damn swollen! Anyways----------

Things are going great!  My little girl moves around ALOT more than Jack every did & I love it!  Her nursery is coming along, in fact I’m almost finished!(pics coming soon)  I’m just waiting to move Jack to a big boy bed so I can move the crib into her room.  I’m SO nervous about moving Jack out of his crib, but I REALLY don’t want to buy a new crib.   He may do pretty well…he’s one of those kids that asks us to go to bed…seriousely.  When he’s ready around 7:30/8 every night he’ll just come give us our goodnight kisses and go to the stairs and basically tell us he’s ready to go ‘night ‘night….so we put him in his crib and he 'waves bye bye!---pretty easy, huh? 

The big question lately is to go for the VBAC or do a repeat c-section.  It’s a tough one ladies.  Brad and I read all the up to date research stuff, and we are leaning towards a repeat c-section.  We pretty much know why I had to have a c-section the first time around, and based on that it looks like I’ll do better with a repeat c-section.  We are still waiting to read the reports from Jack to make sure, and then we’ll decide. 

I’M HAVING A BABY IN 14 WEEKS!!!!

 

usually….

I’m very sad when the holidays are over…and I am sad to not be with our families in Lake Charles anymore, but I have to say…I’m happy the holidays are over.  while the good food, good company & celebrating Jesus’ b-day is tons of fun…I will admit that i was pooped out.  I told myself I’d wait until after Christmas to prepare for Mady’s arrival b/c Christmas shopping and planning for her and Jack’s big boy room were all starting to make me feel a little stressed.  now the holidays are over and the preparing begins.  I’m amazed at how fast this pregnancy has gone by…I'm already in my 3rd trimester!  anyways…here are the last of the pics from Christmas….

i’ve got pregnancy fat face…just thought i’d throw that out there. 

 

Will, Gabby & Aunt Christie

Check out this little stud….notice the Sambas he’s wearing(thanks Aunt Mary)….now he and brad will match!

  Brad with his Dad….

Jack and his cousin Marianna…. 

 

this is fun….

while my new obsessions should be refinishing jack’s bed and mady’s dresser…among a few other things…i’m finding myself obsessed with some new little tools…all a download away.

 Brad says Jack is going to be a field goal kicker…or a punter b/c its a good gig and who else practices being one while growing up? this is my family…what if i didn’t take these pics in bw…and i just edited them in my other new obsession…picasa. i threw one in finally :) how much fun can you have with a bowl at mimi’s house?