Mop Top 3.0

In Case You Haven't Noticed...

2011-02-03T12:54:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted here in about 6 months. booo... Well, I promise I am still alive! I just have been focusing on my 'new' blog, lil Mop Top. So I am basically going to stop posting here and do all my updates on the boys over at lil Mop Top. So, please join the party over there! :)

Catch Up!

2010-07-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

Wow- I haven't posted on here since April. APRIL!!! So this will be a catch up post and I will try to be better about posting about John...and Matthew who will be here in three weeks from today!

John has...

...been to the Frisco Heritage Museum

...fed the ducks at the pond

...been to the zoo

...played in the pool with Bella while Mommy and Daddy were out of town

...played with Daddy by the lake

...started to brush his teeth

...gotten a new hair do

...been to Little Elm Beach

...helped with Matthew's new room

...celebrated Father's Day with Daddy

...started sleeping in a big boy bed

...celebrated 4th of July (with a parade, Kaboom Town, and going to Nana's)

...went to a waterpark

...went to a splash park

...and so much more!

John's latest antics:
-saying 'no' to EVERYTHING even if he really means yes
-LOVES Vienna Fingers cookies. He even taught himself how to break apart the cookie and eat the icing. :)
-buckling up Brown Bear in the baby car seat and rocking him
-starting to eat with a fork for at least half his meal
-loves bananas and finally starting to eat veggies again (corn, green beans, carrots)
-starting to talk a lot more...well trying to say words!
-runs everywhere
-wants us to read books to him 24/7
-likes to hear 'his songs' on the CD and do the movements with them
-doing awesome in swim lessons
-says 'one more' when he wants to do something again...and says it over and over and over again (doesn't quite understand the concept of 'one more'!)
-tries to jump, but his feet don't leave the ground...but he is so proud of himself!
-says 'bye' to everything such as his toys when we put them away, tv when we turn it off

He is so dang cute and precious! I can't wait to see how he is with Matthew soon!

Our Easter Weekend

2010-04-04T09:13:00.001-07:00

Even though the weekend isn't over, it has been a great one so far.

Saturday was a wonderful day hanging out at the house, doing whatever we wanted, when we wanted. No plans, nowhere to be. Awesome. Haven't had one of those days in a long time so it was perfect. I even managed to stay awake during John's nap time and get stuff done for my craft show. (I posted about it at www.lilmoptop.blogspot.com)

So, what exactly did we do?

We tried to make Easter bread, but it didn't rise correctly. Well, I don't think it rose at all. We baked it anyways and it tasted pretty nasty. I couldn't even eat it, which says alot since I LOVE Easter bread! John was a great helper in the kitchen! (Yes, I was still in my pj's and my hair was all a mess. Another sign of a wonderful day!)

We cleaned out the garage! Well, I cleaned out my car whlie Brad cleaned out the garage. John just walked around and kept himself entertained. He did find the John Deere tractor and his boots and played with both. So cute! (Since our driveway backs into the alley, we put up some plastic fencing we had so that John couldn't run into the alley. It actually worked perfectly since John didn't try to knock down the fence and we could just roll it up when we went back inside! Who cares if it looks trashy in the meantime?)

Sunday was Easter so we cooked up a big breakfast which was super yummy. And yes, John is wearing Christmas pj's. Get over it.

Then we checked out what the Easter Bunny left John- ears and bubbles. Fun! Do you think John liked the ears?

The Easter Bunny also hid some eggs outside for John and as soon as he walked outside, he knew exactly what to do. He got almost all the eggs before he decided he would rather just dump out his basket and play with the eggs.

We topped off the morning with some bubble action. The bubbles John got were HUGE and so fun! However, I think bubbles work best when you don't put your whole face through the wand. Just my opinion though.

So, now John is taking a nap and I think I will take a short nap before getting ready to head to mom and dad's for John's FOURTH egg hunt and some yummy food!!

Free Postcards!

2010-03-09T17:37:00.000-08:00

I just ordered 100 postcards for FREE! Well, I had to pay for shipping (which I did with paypal!!!) which was less than $7. So, 100 postcards for $7 isn't bad. I had read about this several weeks ago and saw it reposted today. I ordered birthday postcards so all I have to do is address them, add a little note, and put them in the mail. No excuses anymore for not sending birthday cards on time. So, to those of you in my family- get ready to recieve birthday postcards for the next 50 years or so until I run out! :)

A little bit of John

2010-03-07T16:51:00.001-08:00

Well, there isn't much to share over here at the Brown household. Same ol' type of thing going on. And I didn't take many pictures over the past couple weeks, so I need to get back into taking a million pictures a month!

I walked by Brad's nightstand the other day and started cracking up. He had quite the arsenol of pacifiers in case John wakes up at night. The most annoying thing is going to his room to give him his pacifier and it is lost somewhere in the dark. So Brad stockpiles them on his nightstand which cracks me up! What a sweet (and smart) Daddy!

John also got his new custom earplugs a couple weeks ago. Since he got tubes in his ears, he can't get water in them. So, we got some molded ones from the ENT to make our lives easier. I picked blue and white swirl and as soon as the words 'blue and white swirl' left my mouth, I panicked and was worried his earplugs wouldn't match his swimsuit in the summer. I mean, how can I possibly know what color his bathing suit would be when it was only February?! And are there any greater atrocities in life than a bathing suit that doesn't match the earplugs? Brad said 'oh, he is going to be one of those kids in the pool. We made fun of those kids'. great.

Tonight we changed John into his pj's in the living room and had to try to document his cute belly. But, he is quite the squirmy kid and hard to photograph. He did seem to jump at the chance at sitting in my lap when he was naked and I was just hoping he didn't feel the urge to pee at the same moment. He is just so cute though!

In other news, I started a new blog for crafts and selling my baby stuff. Please check it out! It isn't perfect at all, but I wanted to get it going before the craft show in May!!

the big reveal!

2010-01-28T18:41:00.000-08:00

I know you have been waiting so patiently, dear readers, for the big craft surprise! Well, you will have to wait no longer! Here's the scoopity scoop...

I decided to make multi-purpose PLACE MATS!! (WOW!! nerd alert!) I am having the family over for Valentine's Day and decided to make place mats as part of the table decoration since my tables tend to look quite bare at celebrations. So, I also thought I could make them more useful by backing them with a different holiday themed material so I can use them twice a year instead of once a year. So, I figured I might be doing Halloween for a little while since Thanksgiving is so close to John's birthday and Christmas is quickly taken up my mom and Al. So, my creative little brain headed off to JoAnn's and found some cute Valetine's Day and Halloween (60% off too!) fabric.

Part of my Christmas present to Brad was a date-a-week jar where I put in slips of paper with things we can do together. I was getting super annoyed with us sitting on the couch watching tv and not doing anything. So now, every Sunday we pull out a slip and we have a planned activity for that week! Most of them are things we can do at home for free, or things that are super cheap...and I love it! Maybe I made that present more for me than for him. But, I digress. Luckily for me, last week was 'do a crafty project together'! So, Brad helped me cut, de-pin, and flip inside-out the place mats while I took care of the actual sewing part. He was doing this while watching some war movie, so he wasn't totally girly that night!

And after million hours (making 15 of these bad boys was not really fun! After one, I was kind of regretting this little project!), this is how they turned out...

Not too shabby. They certainly aren't fancy, but will bring a little color to our Valentine's pizza dinner! They were VERY easy to make, just tedious and slightly boring.

The big news now is that I applied to have a craft booth at a craft fair in Keller with one of my friends. Hopefully we get accepted because I am excited to get it all organized and see how it turns out!

And because mom will be upset if she doesn't see a pic of John, here is one from last night when we came home from the mall. He had worn himself out playing in the play area and running around like a crazy man and fell asleep in the car. I carried him inside and he was still sleeping as we tried to change his diaper! That is one tired little boy! Wish us luck as he gets tubes put in his ears tomorrow! I bet he will be talking in no time now. :)

Keepin' Up with the Crafts!

2010-01-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

Well, due to some sick people in the family, (why is it that Brad never gets sick with us?!?!), I didn't keep up with my workouts last week. Hopefully this week is better! But I DID make another craft today, so that has to help balance out my resolutions. Right? RIGHT?!?!?

I made a baby blanket today for one of John's friends who is turning one. Her monster-themed party is Saturday and I found really cute monster fabric when reading through the million blogs on my reader. So I immediately headed over to JoAnn's and bought some supplies. Even though I have made a blanket before, I am considering this a 'new' craft since I haven't used ric rac before, much less HUGE ric rac! I combined some ideas I saw online and the tag blankets I made to make a cute monster blanket for Miss Meadow! It isn't quite as big as I would have liked, but it is a good size for Meadow to use as a comfy blanket when she is relaxing or watching tv. Well, I guess good parents don't let their one year-olds watch tv...hmmm...

So, without keeping you on the edge of your seats any longer, here is my THIRD new craft for the year 2010!!!

Even though I posted this before, I PROMISE I am making some cute a Valentine's double-duty craft. That may be not for another week or so, but I am hoping that turns out cute! Keeping my fingers crossed....

Thank You Cards...made from stuff around the house!

2010-01-16T17:52:00.001-08:00

Lately I have been 'going green' when it comes to cards. 'Going green' is also code for 'too lazy (and cheap) to go to the store so I need to make something from what I already have at home'. For whatever reason, it saves me money and I finally use the stuff that has been piling up in my closet and dining room! Bonus!!

I needed Christmas thank-you cards and I kept forgetting to buy them when I was out. So I figured I would just make them. A couple years ago I bought Christmas party invitations that I saw on sale super cheap thinking the I would need them for a cheerleading party the following year. Well, they ended up in the attic and I never used them. I found them this year when I was packing up the Christmas decorations and put them in my crafting area, thinking I could surely find a way to use them one day. That day has arrived!!!!

I started with this...

...and since the design at the bottom of the card was cute, I just typed up thank you notes on coordinating cardstock, glued it together, and I ended up with...

...THANK YOU CARDS!! (ummm...hi blogger, why are you rotating my pictures randomly? My sincerest apologies to my loyal readers!!) I stopped just short of adding ribbons and glitter. But only because I forgot to factor in the ribbon idea when I printed out the notes and I didn't have glitter within arms reach (remember, I said I was lazy!).

I am hoping that I can make Miss Meadow's birthday present on Monday since I have the day off from work. We will see if I am actually motivated to follow through with that during John's nap! So, stay tuned...

Resolutions Check-up

2010-01-10T09:57:00.001-08:00

Well, we are 9 days into the new year and I am still on track with my resolutions. I worked out twice last week...CHECK. We are keeping up with the budget...CHECK. Making new crafts...CHECK CHECK! Here are the projects I worked on this week:

Bella's cupcake outfit: I saw a cupcake outfit online and it was super cute! So my first new craft of the year was to make it for Bella's first birthday. My friend came over one night and we had a little sewing party. She made the CUTEST Valentine's Day shirt for her daughter, and I made the skirt for Bella's outfit. It turned out a little shirt (or ALOT short), and maybe not as full as I would have liked, but still it is really cute. A couple days later, when school was cancelled for possible ice (HORRIBLE decision!) I made the cupcake applique while John was taking a nap. The whole project took about 2 hours, not including shopping time.

Burp Cloths : I have a baby shower to go to in a couple weeks, so I decide I would give handmade presents. Part of their presents will be custom burp cloths. (I can say 'custom' right?!?! Sounds fancier!) I used some of my scrap material for the fronts and backed it with chenile. This was also a really great way to use some of my scrap material...and it gives me a perfect excuse to buy more material soon! Too bad I have used my 'craft' budget money for the next two months. :) The girl version ended up being a little fancier than the boy version. I didn't have big enough pink pieces so I had to extend them with coordinating material. It turned out cute and I really hope my friends like them! I like that they aren't the boring white cloths and they are a little smaller than the ones I have, so they will fit nicely in a diaper bag. Plus, babies prefer to spit up on something pretty...it is a proven fact. This project took about 2 or 2.5 hours which isn't bad considering I made 6 burp cloths.

My next project will be Valentine's Day placemats for the pizza lunch we are having. They will be double-duty placements, so be sure to check back to see how they turn out!

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

Here are my resolutions for the year...in writing....so I can't get out of them...

1. Exercise! I will excercise at least twice a week which may seem like nothing to some people, but it is really hard to fit when you have a baby (is he really a baby anymore? Boo.) and are SUPER tired from growing a baby. And seriously, when it is 7:00 at night, it is hard to get motivated to head back out to the gym. For those of you who say 'workout in the morning', ummm...I already get up at 5:30 so being at the gym by 4:30 so I can get back by the time Brad leaves for work simply will. never. happen. ever.

2. Craft it up! I will make at least one new craft a month and make a table cover playhouse for John. (like this one !) I spend so much time looking at craft tutorials online and then I never actually make them. My first one is a cute present for Bella that I am working on Tuesday with a friend. Fun!

3. Budget! We are sticking to our budget. We took one month where we lived just on Brad's salary and it was pretty easy. So, we are going back to that so we can save up some money for when I am not working anymore. It will be nice because then I won't be eating fast food all the time now!

John's Birthday Party!

2009-12-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I think I am finally recovered from John's party. Too bad it is now just over a week away from Christmas and I am sooooooo far from being ready for that!

John's birthday was a very long but special day. I was so glad to be able to take the day off of work to celebrate the big day! We started out the day with some presents and then when I happened to look out the window, it was SNOWING! What a great first birthday present for John! After breakfast (egg-free!) at IHOP and a check-up with the doctor (John is doing great!!), we had a party for the mom's group. This was a blast! We had a total of 13 babies and 16 adults at the party which made for a crowded living room! I don't think the babies minded one bit.

Saturday's family party was so fun too! We had lots of yummy food, had an airplane-making contest (Grandma's was the funniest...especially when Dad said there was no way it was going to fly), and great cake. John LOVED his egg-free cake, although he mostly ate the icing. John had tons of gifts- he is so spoiled by his family! Between the two parties, we still have toys sitting in their boxes. Hmmm...maybe they will reappear under the tree next week. :)

Only two more days of school! I can't wait for a two week break!!!

Birthday Set Up!

2009-12-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that tomorrow is John's FIRST birthday!! Just one year ago he was just a teeny tiny baby and now he is my big boy. I am so excited to celebrate the big day tomorrow!

I have been working for a while on John's birthday. This is mostly due to the fact that I had a student teacher for the past 11 weeks and had time to kill! I am very glad I spent my time wisely (lots of lesson plans done and lots of party decorations done!) so now I am not stressed out and am almost ready for tomorrow.

I have shown a couple sneak peaks, so here are some more full detailed decorations for John's airplane themed party.

**John's Party Invitation**
I got the idea from a similar one I saw online. I spent about an hour or so creating it on the computer and just printed it out and mailed it. Very cheap! I got lots of compliments on it and it really helped to set the theme for the party.

**Month by Month**
I had thought of making a long banner with pictures of all of John's 'firsts'. Yes I was going to totally copy Kinsey's idea! :) But I figured that would take forever considering I took pictures of EVERY first. I mean, do people really want to see a picture of the first time John had juice? So I modified and made a decorated page of a favorite picture from each month. Then I 'helped' Brad hang them up in a grid on the wall in the kitchen. It actually turned out pretty nicely! I used the tons of scrapbook stuff I already had as well as a gift card that I had to Michael's. So this turned out to be about a $40 project, but I had TONS of stickers left over from what I bought at Michael's so I could have done this for much cheaper. {Notice in the pictures that my table of food isn't set up yet, so ignore that!}

**Mantel Decor**
I joked with Brad that my biggest problem was I didn't know where to put all the decorations that I was making! So a banner and paper airplane 'burst' adorn the mantel, along with a book and toys that my mom got John. Brad so kindly let me use one of his model airplanes as well. The airplane 'burst' was the most frustrating thing to make! I found the idea online but mine kept looking like crap. I finally made different sized planes and that seemed to make it look nicer. I am still not in love with it, but I think it is a cool little twist to the decorations!

**Party Favors**
I really wanted to make cute little favor bags that looked like suitcases. But I am not that artsy so I just made a luggage tag for each guest and attached that to the paper bag. Each kid will get a pilot rubber ducky, a personalized sippy cup, and a little baggie of puffs and raisens. I set them up in our suitcase, even though I would have loved to have used an old bright blue hard-sided suitcase! I am too cheap to buy one from the thrift store though. :)

I also made little employee ID badges for each kid. It was super easy to make and it has John's birthdate for all the employee numbers. Thanks to my dad, Brad and I have been proud owners of a wing tip, but up until now I have banned that ugly thing to the backyard. However, it was perfect for our party! So, I put it on the dining room table so people could see it as soon as they walked in the door. I attached ribbon to it and hung the badges across it for the kids to get when they arrive and can wear them. Probably a little cheesy, but still cute. I figure that we can also put the presents on this table so they are out of the way!

So, these are some of the things I have been working on for the past couple weeks (or months!). Once I set up the rest tomorrow and have 'action' shots, I will post those too. Hopefully the babies have a blast tomorrow!

Christmas before Thanksgiving?...and sneak peak #2!!!

2009-11-23T20:09:00.001-08:00

Brad and I took John John to the Shops at Legacy in Plano for a Holiday Kick-Off Festival Extravaganza. (probably not the real name!) Brad wasn't too happy about celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving was days away, but it was a nice afternoon out. The weather was gorgeous so it was great to walk John around and see the beginnings of the holiday season.

trying to take pictures by the pond

trying out some musical instruments

petting a horse for the first time...he wasn't afraid at all!!

loving the fountain show!

We are just over a week away until John's first birthday party! I am just working away to get everything done but my to-do list seems to be getting longer instead of shorter! So, here are two more sneak peaks. (Al- Don't tell Bella about her party goody!)

Sneak Peak

2009-11-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a sneak peak of what I have been working on for John's 1st birthday. Thankfully my friend Rebecca invited me to 'crop night' at a scrapbook store and I got the majority of these pages done as part of the party decorations. I can't wait to put it all together for the big day!

Shutterfly

2009-11-04T05:02:00.000-08:00

I am slowly but surely adding pics to shutterfly. As I type, I am uploading over 200 pictures of my precious little baby into the 7 months folder. You can understand it will take me FOREVER to sort through which pictures to add so I am adding them all and you lovely viewers can see for yourself why I simply MUST take over 200 photos per month of John. Because he. is. awesome.

www.sweetbabyjohn.shutterfly.com
Don't have time to look at thousands of pictures of JAB (what?!?!?), then here is just one to tease you...

Good and bad news though...our camera is breaking on us. (overuse maybe?! hehe!) We have repaired it about a year ago when Mr. Clutz dropped it (in possibly a drunken stupor on the same night the moniker 'Mop Top' was created). Mr. Clutz reappeared with Mrs. Clutz on Halloween night and the camera was dropped again. Said camera works when it feels good and ready to take a picture. Therefore we are probably in the market for a new camera...and ASAP since John's birthday is quickly approaching and the last thing I need is the stress of not having a working camera on December 2ND!! Tears (and heads) will rolls for sure. Anyone have suggestions for a new camera?

sweetbabyjohn

2009-10-19T06:57:00.001-07:00

This weekend we took John to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch along with Al, Tyler, Bella, mom, dad, and Diana. We had so much fun! For TONS of cute pictures, go to www.sweetbabyjohn.shutterfly.com. I will be hopefully adding more pictures from the last couple months soon. :)

Where to begin...

2009-10-13T18:24:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't posted in a couple week so I don't even know where to begin.

The biggest news around here is that John is officially walking. Can't beleive it! Today he has even mastered standing up on his own without pulling up on anything. He just stands up and walks! So cute!

Two weekends ago Jenny was in town so I took the day off to visit with her. I took John to meet her in Dallas where we had a last breakfast (John LOVED the eggs and potatos!) and then hung out at the pool. John had a blast in the pool with Jenny and was such a happy baby the whole visit. Then Brad and I went to the A&M game at the new Cowboy stadium with Jenny, Jeff and other friends which was really fun as well.

Last weekend was 'family weekend' and we had high hopes of taking John out somewhere fun. Unfortunately he got some kind of stomach virus and was sick the whole weekend. But I am taking him to the dr tomorrow (on a non-related ear infection check-up) so I am taking him to story time at the library and going to playgroup! I am so excited to take the day off with him!

Today Brad found four baby bunnies in the backyard right outside their rabbit hole. (and I didn't run them over with the lawn mower this time!) We took John outside to look at them, although the bunnies weren't doing too much. So we saw a whole of bunnies sitting, breathing, and licking each other. They were TINY and sweet. John was interested in them, but we obviously didn't let him touch the rabbits. We took a pic of John's hand in comparison to show how small the bunnies were. So cute!

The next couple weekends will be filled with visits to the pumpkin patch, football games, birthday parties and Halloween parties. Almost every weekend is planned until the middle of December! John is just quite the social butterfly! So I will be posting more pictures of all our fun adventures soon. Until then, here are some cute random pics...

Look Who...

2009-09-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

...had his first trolly ride with Mommy and Marlene!

...started taking baths in his big boy bath tub!

...uses the laundry basket as a walker!

...is getting curly hair!

...loves playing the piano!

...went to his first high school football game!

What a week for sweet baby John!

A First Attempt

2009-09-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

I have been planning on making John a cute outfit for a while and finally finished it tonight. I had grand plans of something wonderful, which is hard to do for a boy!! Everything I find online is for girls. However, this is what I came up with. Not quite as grand as I would have liked, but not bad for a first try!

I got the shirt from Carters for about $3. I took off the pocket and spruced it up with appliques. The 'T' is my first attempt with 'reverse applique'. It is actually pretty easy but I of course made a couple of non-fixable mistakes. I can file that away for next time, but until then John's garment will be less than perfect. I even put in a layer of soft interfacing on the back so that it is nice and smooth for John's precious skin. I am getting so fancy!

The shorts are from an old pair of Abercrombie pants that I got when I was in college. I figure that I am not going to be anywhere near college-body shape in the next century, so those pants were fair game for the chopping block. Again, a couple mistakes that were fortunately fixable, but unfortunately I was too lazy to actually fix them. I haven't tried them on him yet, but I did use a pair of his shorts for sizing so am hoping they fit. (And before you think I am a total novice at sewing, the shorts aren't crooked like they seem in the picture. They are just kind of pushed up in the picture. geez guys...I am not that bad!)

I will try this outfit with John on Saturday when we are in the privacy of our own home. If it is actually decent, then we might venture out in public with it.

And since John is just too cute for words, here is a picture to end the post.

Lovin' the Park!

2009-09-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

We took John to the park to try out the swings again. Last time he wasn't too impressed. He must have had a change of heart because he loved it! It was so cute and he was smiling, laughing, and squealing. We will have to go more often now that the weather is FINALLY getting cooler.

It's Been A While...

2009-08-31T18:54:00.001-07:00

Going back to work really cramps by blogging-style! :)

School started last week so Brad and I took John out with us to our traditional 'Back to School Dinner' on Sunday, Aug 23. (Like the title says, it's been a while!) We went to Chili's and had some yummy comfort food.

My first week of school went pretty well. It was better than I thought it was going to be, so that is always a plus. I miss hanging out with John and it isn't the same spending time with him at night since he usually falls asleep on the way home, wakes up in time for dinner, takes a bath and goes back to bed. So I might get an hour or so of time with him. Not much! :( But we did buy him a walker toy that he loves. He is so cute with it! He isn't really steering it yet, but he is kind of trying. I 'race' him around the living room and he just cracks up. SOOO cute!

Saturday was my birthday so Brad and John took me to IHOP for breakfast, which was wonderful! John had his first pancake (can you believe I didn't take a picture of it!) but after a couple bites I realized it had nuts in it. So, I put that away and just gave him some of my plain pancakes and the rest of his fruit we brought with us. It is so much more fun to go out to eat when we can give John food while we eat and we don't feel so panicked that he might cry at any minute. (Which he has NEVER done in a restaraunt yet. What a great baby!)

After IHOP, Brad had an arts and crafts project planned for us. He put together a box form to hold cement in which we made our footprints. We also added our names, the date, and pennies from our birthyear. It was really sweet and it is now sitting pretty in our garden in the backyard. It was fun and I loved sitting outside with John while we watched Brad put it all together for us.

Saturday afternoon we went to one of John's friends 1st birthday parties. It was fun seeing all the people from our mom's group, especially since not only have I been missing stuff due to work, but John and I both have been sick and have missed the last couple things in the summer too. :(

So, that about rounds out the last week! John turns NINE MONTHS on Wednesday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the dr doesn't say he has an ear infection when we go for his appointment on Wed.

To finish off the post, how cute is John crawling with his sippy cup in his mouth?! :)

We Found It!

2009-08-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

We found something that John doesn't like to eat...mom's cooking. For two nights in a row, John didn't really eat his veggies at dinner and I had to resort to giving him a bottle of formula instead. I just kind of chalked it up to him being sick and didn't want to eat. Last night I tried again to cook some veggies for him- sweet potatoes and squash. And by cook, I took them out of the freezer and heated them up in the microwave or on the stove. Well, John did not like either of those options but once we took out the Gerber jar, he perked up and ate the whole dang thing!! So apparently he loves his pre-packaged food, but not mom's cooking. Guess that means I am off the hook for cooking?!!?!? :)

Nothing super exciting going on. John is still trying to take some steps but not really going anywhere. Of course he got sick within the first week of daycare so I am not too happy about that. Hopefully he won't sick that often.

School starts tomorrow and I am a little worried about this year. I think that my Math Models class will take a lot of work, but hopefully having a student teacher this year will help. He/she starts in about 2 weeks and will be with me for 12 weeks. So plenty of time to get some extra help in class.

Anyways, I am getting a pedicure with Lauren today and then Brad and I will take John to dinner for our 'Back to School' dinner tradition. Very exciting!!

Sorry no pics today...I will be better about taking more pictures during the week but it is hard when I don't see him that much anymore! :( Here is a video to keep you happy for the time being.

Last Week of Summer!

2009-08-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

This was my last week of summer vacation and boy, were we busy!! Since I am tired and need to hit the sack early for the first night of work, this will be short and sweet! I only have a couple pictures...

Monday:
Met Sharla and Sandra for lunch. Played at home.

Tuesday:
Met Brad, Dad, Al, Bella, and Jeremy for lunch at SWA. John started to wave at people! May not look like a real wave, but it seems like he is moving his arm purposefuly. We also took him to see a plane in the hangar- John was interested in all the big things in there! Afterwards Al and I went to North Park Mall to see the playhouses. Playhouses were disappointing, but at least we got out of the house for a little while!

Wednesday:
Went to last playgroup of the summer with mom's group. It was fun b/c there were just a couple of us there. John stood up for about 5 seconds too!

Thursday:
Went to a storytime at Barnes and Nobles with two friends. John stood up again! After playing in the play area in the mall, we went to cheer practice to help Shelby fix the dance for Kit Kamp. John was fascinated with the cheering for about 10 minutes and then decided to climb on the bleachers. Then we met Abbie and Ashley at Starbucks.

Friday:
Went to the Railway Museum in Plano for storytime with three friends. John liked it but got antsy halfway through. John liked the puppet dog! It was too crowded to go into the railway car so I will have to go back with Brad another day. Then the group went to Willow Bend for lunch and then the Sunflower room for new mom's meeting. John played with some new friends!

Saturday:
Joint celebration for my birthday and Tyler's birthday. We went to the Arboretum in the morning (so pretty!) and then to mom and dad's for a BBQ. Very fun!

Sunday:
Played at home, cleaned the house, went to the mall to play in the playarea and then swimming after dinner. BIG NEWS: John took his first real steps! He pulled himself up on the leg of his high chair, turned to me (sitting on the floor with him), put both arms straight up in the air, walked one full step, then fell on me with the second step! I was SOOOOO excited and I think he was too because he had a big smile on his face! I didn't think he would start walking soon, but now I am not convinced. :)

That rounds out the week. Day care starts tomorrow and hopefully John will make some new friends!

Ansel in the Garden

2009-08-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

Back in May, we re-landscaped our front yard with the help of my mom and dad and Brad's mom. Although I am pretty impatient with gardens, I love looking outside and checking out new growth. With the rain we had last week, our garden has continued to expand so we took a visit outside for about 5 minutes with John...just long enough to look at the pretty flowers without melting.

Here is the first day of planting..

...and the pretty garden as of tonight...

Isn't it beautiful!?

Fabulous Family Weekend

2009-08-03T04:09:00.001-07:00

Brad and I set aside this weekend to be with John all by ourselves and have a Fabulous Family Weekend. While we love the rest of our family, we really enjoy a weekend to ourselves and try to make them special! So here is what we did...and tried to do...

Saturday morning I snuck out early to do 30 min of cardio at The Colony Rec Center while Brad had some quality play time with John after breakfast. It rained most of the morning so we couldn't do much outside. Once John woke up from his nap and had some more fun play time, we went to Sprint so we could get new phones. Fun! Then we went to Carter's to get some new clothes for John as a present from Great Grandma Brown. (See how I 'refashioned' a onesie I bought here!)

On the way home, after a stop at the Frisco library, we took an impromptu trip to a splash park in Frisco. Thanks to my laziness, I still had Brad's new swimsuit in the car along with hand-me-down towels. So I changed into Brad's swimsuit in the car and looked really pretty with my tanktop on. The look was complete with my bra straps showing- I was just hoping I didn't know anyone at the park! We just let John play with his clothes on, and thanks to my unusual preparation, I had an extra outfit for John to wear after the fun was over. It felt really good to cool down because it felt like it was about 150 degrees out.

After a little din din (where we are practicing eating soft pieces of veggies- tonight was green beans) we played on a blanket outside in the backyard. It actually wasn't 1000 degrees and felt pretty nice out. John loves to eat grass...guess he hangs around Gracie too much.

Our plan for Sunday was to head out to the Dallas Arboretum in the morning so we could be there when it opened. We figured we could walk around before it got too hot and look at the storybook houses that are set up. Unfortunately, I was getting sick and felt pretty badly and decided I needed to sleep and rest instead. So Brad got some more quality time with John while I was able to nap. We will try the Dallas Arboretum maybe in a couple weeks...hopefully before the end of August since it only costs $1 this month!

So once I was feeling better, we took a trip to Walmart because we had seemed to run out of everything at our house...and because how else should you celebrate your 8 month birthday? (I had to start an 8 month folder on the computer for pictures and almost cried!) I guess Sunday around lunch is a busy time at Walmart because we waited in line FOREVER. I used that time to teach John about the world of tabloids. :) I read to him a story about Jon & Kate and he laughed the whole time! It was so cute!

After lunch and John's nap, we took him to the mall to play in the play area. He did great and was crawling all over. He really liked being around other kids and kept smiling at everyone. His big milestone on Sunday was holding his bottle all by himself...the WHOLE TIME! We put him in his stroller as we walked around the mall and he didn't need any help from us to finish his bottle! Now if we can get him to do that while sitting up, we will be set!

To end the weekend, we took John for a little naked swim in his baby pool after dinner. Then it was pjs, a bottle, and bed. He even played with his teddy bear in his crib without screaming and fell asleep on his own! So I guess a once-a-week screaming fit before bed isn't terrible.

So, the weekend wasn't exactly what I had planned: no Arboretum, no Little Elm beach. But we still had fun and fell in love with John even more than before!

Just a little applique-ing on a Saturday night!

2009-08-01T19:03:00.001-07:00

Tonight I made my first attempt at appliqueing (is that a word?!) a shirt for John. I got a super cheap onesie at Carter's today (20% off the clearance price!!) and did a little modifications with an old Wakeland shirt I had. I loved this shirt but unfortunately it got stained around the collar somehow...and I am WAY to plump to fit into it now. Anyways, I love the 'jagged' look of each piece that I added- makes it look like a worn in patch. You can't tell from the pictures, but the appliques are a little frayed around the edges. But I don't like how the 'wake' and the 'land' don't line up quite right so it looks like an uneven box. Oh well. I am sure John won't care when he wears it at Wakeland games this year! Here are the before and after pictures. Notice I even removed the pocket!! Watch out - I am getting fancy here people!!! And please be don't be jealous of my exciting Saturday night adventures. (We are in the middle of a fabulous Family Weekend and I will post about that after tomorrow's outings!)

Lubbock Trip

2009-07-20T17:39:00.001-07:00

We are home safe and sound from our {short} trip to Lubbock! Brad and I packed up everything but the kitchen sink and took John to visit Great-Grandma Brown in Lubbock.

We left Sunday morning and came back Monday afternoon. Short and sweet! John was such a good baby on the plane! He fell asleep before take off and slept for all but 15 minutes on the way to Lubbock. I was really nervous he would start crying, but once again he proved to be the easiest baby ever. I tried to put his pacifier in his mouth on the way up just in case his ears started to bother him, but Brad and I cracked up as John tightly pursed his lips together at all attempts. Guess he really didn't want his pacifier while he was sleeping!

Grandma Brown was in love with John as soon as she saw him. Most of the time John entertained and was entertained by Grandma Brown and Grandpa: playing with toys, reading books, going for walks, taking family pictures, etc. At night we played Skip-Bo. (Obviously if we didn't have a baby sleeping, Brad and I would have totally went out to see what Lubbock had to offer. Oh wait. Already saw what Lubbock had to offer when we drove from the airport to Grandma's. Hmmm.) Brad won one game and I won the second. Yeah!! :)

While waiting for our plane today to return to Dallas, John played with a fun over-sized chess set. How cute is that?!

John again fell asleep before take off and slept until we picked up the carseat to walk off the plane. Have I already said he is the easiest baby ever?

I will be getting ready for another busy week: inservice, playgroup, and meeting up with friends. I should have totally quit my job because this is way more fun than going to work everyday! :(

Spare Time???

2009-07-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

Do you have an hour or two (or three or four) to kill? Then you are in luck! I just uploaded about 400 pictures of John to our shutterfly account. :) It is much easier to upload them all (and let the computer do it's thang for an hour or so) than pick through 400 pictures. So, if you want to see some go to www.sweetbabyjohn.shutterfly.com.

4th of July

2009-07-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

What a tiring weekend! It is only 8:15 on Saturday night and we are already pooped and ready for bed...

Friday we took John to the annual 4th of July party at the Hagan's lakehouse. As usual, the Hagan's were wonderful hosts and we had a blast. John was a huge hit at the party and was passed from one person to the next for the majority of the day. He is such a sweetie and didn't cry the whole time! The lake is about 2 hours away so we were definitely tired from driving there and back in one day, although the trip was sooooo worth it! And how gorgeous is their new house???!!!

We went to The Colony's Independence Day Parade in the morning. I was really excited about it, although quite skeptical given The Colony's track record of events and activities. However, the parade was super cute and I felt like we were at a little hometown parade. It was also nice and short so John didn't get antsy. The only complaint I had was that we totally got skipped over for all the candy! And if you know me at all, I LOVE candy!! We got one lolly-pop and I managed to grab a couple random pieces of candy as we were walking back to the car. John kind of got to try his first lolly-pop, although I only let him suck on it for about a minute with the wrapper on. hehehe... I mean...do you give babies candy? I doubt it!

After the parade we went to mom and dad's for a bbq with the rest of the family. John had a great time in the pool with so many people and loves to play with Bella. He actually stood up at mom and dad's without pulling up on anything! He just stood up...crazy!!! He will be walking before I know it, and then the real chaos will begin.

As I said, we are pooped! John is of course asleep already which means we aren't seeing any fireworks tonight. Maybe next year...

Santa Fe Baby!

2009-06-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

Brad and I took our Christmas/Annivesary trip this weekend to Santa Fe. The trip was so relaxing and perfect! We had a great hotel (free!!!) and we had a nice room upgrade so we had a little living room, fireplaces, and the bedroom. The pool area was awesome and since it wasn't even remotely hot, we just sat by the pool without getting in. We walked around Santa Fe for a little bit on Saturday then relaxed the rest of the night at the hotel. Again, the hotel was awesome, so we were occupied with the hot tub, a walk through the casino, and watching the boob tube in our comfy bed! On Sunday we had an amazing free breakfast and then headed over to Bandalier National Park. We visited the cave dwellings (I wasn't impressed!) and then hiked for about an hour. I wasn't prepared for the cool weather and had to buy a t-shirt at the gift shop to wear for part of the hike. So yes, I was that person wearing the shirt while in the location stated on said shirt. Does that make sense?! :)

We were back in Dallas by noon on Monday and were excited to get back to John. He looked so old and big when we saw him! He is so good a pulling up on the coffee table, couch, crib...anything that is sturdy enough to hold his weight! He cracks me up because when I get him after naps, he is just standing in his crib smiling at me! Precious!

Speaking of...John is waking up so enjoy the pictures...

Happy Father's Day Brad!!!!

2009-06-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our first Father's Day this weekend! John and I took Brad to Amore's on Saturday night for an early Father's Day dinner. As usual, the food was yummy. Also, there were only 3 other groups of people there so I wasn't super paranoid about John making too much noise. This was only his 4th time at a restaurant and his FIRST time in a restaurant high chair!! He did really well...and the music was loud enough to cover up his 'talking'.

This morning I let Brad sleep in (although he said he was still woken up when John was crying. Oops!!) and got him some breakfast for when he woke up. I took John to get Brad an apple fritter and chocolate milk from his favorite donut shop. I would have make him something at home, but he doesn't seem to like when I make him breakfast for some reason. hmmmmm.... John and I were crafty and had made some of Brad's presents. Well, I guess I should say I made them and John kept trying to eat the paper so all wrinkles in the project were courtesy of John.

Later we continued the celebration by going grocery shopping (FUN!!) and got some Father's Day Wendy's!!! After John woke up from his nap we went swimming in the backyard for a little while. Brad has one of his 'Daddy Dark Ale' beers...and John had his first experience of choking on pool water! He did NOT like that one bit!! :(

That about wraps up our celebration...unless you count going for a walk after dinner and giving John a bath before bed. But I don't count that...but then again I counted going to Kroger's as part of the celebration, so whatever...

John did have some random acts of cuteness over the past couple days. (He is always cute, so I guess they are random acts of SUPER cuteness!) He is still crawling all over and FINALLY caught Gracie today! He LOVES Gracie, but she doesn't seem to care for him all that much. However, John took full advantage of Gracie being preoccupied with food and pounced! Gracie just kind of looked at him and kept on eating. John was laughing and loved petting her. Too cute!

John also managed to make his way onto the shelf on our coffee table. Am I seeing a future of a really active child that I can't leave alone for a second????

He also is learning to pull up on things. I was on the laptop this morning and I see John's head pop up on the other side of the coffee table and there he was standing as if he had been doing that forever! By the time I ran to get the camera and turned it on, he fell. (Don't worry. I caught him...that time.) However, he wasn't quite so lucky the next time he tried that and I couldn't catch him in time and he hit his head and cried for a little bit on that one. Now my poor baby has a mark on his face. :(

I need to do some more baby-proofing now since not only does he hit his head alot, but he can grab things on the coffee table now so I need to keep that cleared off! Why don't people tell you having a baby is hard work BEFORE you get pregnant?!?!!?! :) Good thing John is so cute and totally worth all the hard work (especially when he sleeps like this!)

Weekend Update...and Monday :)

2009-06-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

So John has done it again and met new milestones!!! But let's not get ahead of ourselves and start with Saturday...

Saturday we went to a mom's group Family BBQ. We had so much fun with the other families (about 9 all together). We went to a neighborhood pool and then cooked out at Carrie's house while the babies played on the floor. They were all so cute together! John is younger than most babies, but I think is advanced! hehe. I mean, there was only one baby there that was crawling so John will be schooling them tomorrow at our weekly playgroup! Well, if you can crawl in the pool, then he will be schoolin' it up!

Sunday we headed out to Em and Jeremy's summer BBQ, which again was super fun! Up until Sunday, Sweet Baby John has been on the verge of crawling. He gets on all fours, bounces around, and even would move his legs and arms randomly. Then on Sunday at Em's BBQ, he just decided he was ready and crawled across the floor with pretty good coordination! I was so excited! Ever since then he has been a crawlin' fool and I can't leave him alone for a second. He loves to try to crawl to Gracie, but right now she is MUCH faster than him and gets away easily (which is amazing considering she is about 50 pounds overweight). Yesterday when Brad came home, John starting laughing and crawling right over to him as fast as he could. How cute is that?!

At the same time that John 'mastered' crawling at Em's, he also went from a crawling position to a seated position. Not sure if that was on purpose because he hasn't done that again, but I was impressed. Maybe we need to go to Em's more often and John will learn to walk in no time!

John got tuckered out at the pool and fell asleep as soon as I put him down.

The summer has been nice so far...well it has only been two days! :) John is too cute and I am glad I am home to see him because he is certainly different during the day compared to at night when I see him when I am teaching. He smiles and laughs all the time and is so interested in everything around him. Monday he was slightly cranky so I took him for a walk in his new stroller. Note the before and after picture. Too precious! Tomorrow we are going to the library for story time in Frisco which should be fun. Then we will head to the playgroup so he will have a full day! Thursday and Friday will be spent making Brad his Father's Day gifts...not sure what they are going to be yet so I had better start getting that together! Any ideas???

Also, here is a sneak peak at what I am making for Laura's daughter's 1st birthday next month. I think it will turn out super cute. So...question...should I put her name on it or leave it plain?

Latest and Greatest

2009-06-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

Well, school is officially out for summer! Oh wait...I am still working. Boo. Only three more days until I am finished writing curriculum and have two months off! I was leaning towards not going back to work next year and living the glorious life of a stay at home mom. After talking to Brad tonight (for the millionth time!), now I am back to going to work for another year. This will help us build up our savings again (new air conditioners are EXPENSIVE!) so I can stay home the next year. I am not thrilled with going back to work so hopefully I can tough it out for one more year.

Anyway...

John is getting super big and learning new things. He is on the verge of crawling. I know, I know. I have been saying that for a while. BUT, he actually started to crawl tonight! He moved his legs and arms, just not in a coordinated fashion. I give it another day or two before he figures it out and keeps his balance. It is funny because he picks up his leg and extends it all the way out and doesn't know how to place it back down again to keep moving. Too cute! He has learned how to hold his bottle now basically without any help. He is eating his veggies like crazy and even starts to get cranky when you stop feeding him. He LOVES to eat so I am glad he isn't a fat baby! John is also getting really strong and can almost pull himself up to standing. He is always wanting to stand and can even hold himself up against my arms or an ottoman for a couple seconds at a time. Very impressive! I am so excited that I get to spend every day with him starting next week!

I made a couple more tag blankets and crinkle blankets for John and Bella. John of course loves his and hopefully Bella will too once she gets old enough to hold things. My next sewing challenge will be to make bibs and hooded towels. I can't wait! I am also going to make a blanket for Laura's baby that I am hoping will turn out really pretty. I am excited to go to the store next week and pick out some pretty material for little Ellie's first birthday. Can you believe she is almost a year old?! I can't wait for them to visit this summer.

Enjoy the pics!

'Stuff About the Weekend'

2009-05-31T19:32:00.001-07:00

Brad comes up with catchy titles, doesn't he?

So, stuff about the weekend...

I had to ask Brad to help out on this one as we had a pretty uneventful weekend and this was the response:

'Walked down the trail by the lake, bought a kiddie pool, sat in the kiddie pool...'

Then he trailed off and continued watching 'The Office'. As in the British 'The Office', not the American version that is getting worse by the week.

So, basically Brad's recap said it all. We checked out the new trail by our house that goes along the shore of the lake. Pretty view, but super hot with no shade. I didn't dare bring a camera because John had an odd outfit on and I didn't want to document that for all eternity. Besides, John fell asleep before we even got to the trail so he wouldn't have been all the photogenic.

I took John with me to JoAnn's to buy some fabric for some taggie blankets that I started to make for him and Bella. The ones I made so far turned out pretty dang cute and John loves his crinkle one already! Who knew that sewing in straight lines could produce something so fancy-looking?

We also picked up a kiddie pool for John, making sure it was big enough for me too of course. We broke it in today. It. Was. Amazing. Why didn't we buy one two summers ago? John seemed to enjoy himself after he got used to the cold water. He is perfecting his skill of splashing water everywhere. Apparently he felt he didn't get enough practice in our bathroom at bath time during which he soaks everything in a 5 foot radius.

John also had us laughing pretty hard when we fed him carrots tonight. He must have been famished because he gobbled up those carrots! It was hilarious because he would look at Brad with wide eyes and as soon as he saw the spoon, his mouth dropped open as he waited for the carrots to be shoveled in. He certainly doesn't have the same reaction with his green beens or peas! He ate the entire portion of carrots...what a piggie!

So that about wraps up the weekend. Looking forward to the last week of school and our THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

Couple More Firsts...

2009-05-25T19:05:00.001-07:00

What a fun three day weekend! Brad and I got to spend time together just the three of us on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday! It was so nice to be laid back and relaxed without having to be anywhere at certain times. We took a couple walks with John, went to good ol' Walmart and Kroger, and tried to meet up with Cheryl at the park. We got John all dressed and ready to go for the park (he looked so stylish!) and then when we were about to leave he decided he was hungry (and cranky since he didn't take a nap) so he ended up totally passing out while nursing. So, he ended up sleeping his cute 'park outfit'. Too bad Cher Cher didn't get to see him during her visit to Texas this time around. :(

Then on Monday we went to mom's for Memorial Day and hung out with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Al, Uncle T, Bella, Auntie Em, Uncle Jer Jer, Melissa, Jeremy, and Madison. We had a lot of fun with all the babies although it was chaos as usual!

So John had two more 'firsts' this weekend. He had his first taste of vegetables on Saturday. We started off with green beans and he actually like them! What a good little boy!

On Monday John had his first dip in the pool. He didn't seem to mind it most of the time. He didn't like the fountain too much and he didn't like it when Purty ran up to him and licked his face. Other than that, he wasn't too impressed, but looked super cute in his swimsuit, sunglasses, and hat!

Overall it was a great weekend and I am counting down the days until summer!

Sleeping Like a Baby

2009-05-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Let's flashback to 3 months ago. Those were the nights full of frustration of trying to get John to go to sleep. He would yell his cute little head off as we tried to rock him asleep. He would usually fall asleep in our arms and as soon as we put him in the crib he would wake up and start crying again. We were trying so hard to get him to fall asleep on his own without being rocked for fear that he would get used to being rocked to sleep every night and never learn on his own. Yet, the only way we could get him to go to sleep was to be rocked and gently placed in the crib with a pacifier carefully placed in his mouth. I remember getting so annoyed at a lady at work who gasped and said 'OH NO! Never rock him to sleep! Don't do that!'. What else could I do?!?

Then it was as if something clicked. Well, lots of things clicked. John went to daycare (maybe he got super worn out?) and we started a better night time routine that included a bath and a feeding right before he fell asleep. Ever since then we have had almost no problems putting him to sleep. We were still rocking him to sleep but we could easily put him in his crib and he could fall back asleep if he was jostled awake. Nice.

Back to the present. This week has marked new territories. We do our same night time routine- eat around 6, play until 7ish (until he gets antsy), then bath and pjs and bottle. He is in the rocking chair with Brad by 8 at the latest. Brad whistles for a couple minutes to help John get sleepy (Dad calls it John's punishment after hearing Brad in action last weekend!) but then John gets put in his crib even if he isn't sleeping. And get this...HE FALLS ASLEEP ON HIS OWN! We hear him sqirm around, flip onto his stomach and then he falls asleep. It is quite amazing to be honest! When I think about to 3 months ago, I thought this would never happen.

I am so glad that our nights are a million times easier and I am happpy to know we didn't ruin John by rocking him to sleep. In fact, I would rock my next baby to sleep the same way because he/she won't be a baby for long and I don't want to miss out on anything! John barely even likes to be snuggled anymore unless he is sleeping so I actually miss those nights of him sleeping in my arms! ...minus the screaming...

Of course we need a recent picture of John :) Here he is flirting with Jill at Abbie's baby shower yesterday. Everyone loved him...of course.

Why I am In Love with Brad

2009-05-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

As I was taking pictures off my camera tonight, I came across one that made me smile...well actually laugh pretty hard...and once again realized why I love Brad so very much. (He may get upset that I am posting this picture but hopefully the nice post will make up for it!). Before bathtime tonight, I decided to take some pictures of John sans clothes. (Let's just ignore the fact that he decided to pee on the bed. Payback for being in so many pictures today??) So I needed a backdrop so all our junk from our bedroom wouldn't be seen. So, as I am taking pictures of John...

...this is what my perfect husband was doing to help out...

Yep. That is Brad under there and he was even so kind as to move left and right as I tried to get the perfect shot of John. It was so funny and I laughed so hard I almost copied John and pee'd my pants.

So my point is this: I love Brad. He is the perfect husband and perfect dad. No matter what I ask of him, he will do it. He is so helpful and supportive at all times and he always makes me happy. I hear people at work complain about their husbands and I just feel sad for them. He cracks me up everyday and we are so content to just hang out in the living room together. I am so lucky to be married to Brad and John is very lucky to have him as a dad. I mean, he converts himself into a human backdrop. What more could you ask for??

I love you poopy! :)

Vogue...

2009-05-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

I realized today I hadn't taken pictures of John this week so after work today I held an impromptu photo session with John. I took Alana's advice and switched my camera to continuous and took about a million pictures. Here are some of my favorites. He is getting SO BIG! :) He is much easier to take pictures of now that he can sit up on his own (only rolled backwards once the whole time!!!) and smiles easily. I am sure Alana will get much better pictures tomorrow during the big family picture day!

podcast- take 1

2009-05-12T19:48:00.001-07:00

Just Call Me Martha

2009-05-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest craft project. (Seriously, Team Craft...when are we meeting again!?!? It was a lonely 2 hours in my kitchen last night!) My friend at work is having a baby in July and her shower is next week. So I made her this super cute tag blanket that I found on one of the oh-so-additing craft blogs. It is small which makes it quite portable. It is also super soft so I think Baby Ashley will like to hold onto it during her naps. John LOVES his soft blanket and holds onto it as he falls alseep in the car or swing and it is so cute seeing him with it! I am sure Ashley will be just as cute and precious with her blanket.

Mother's Day Weekend Adventures

2009-05-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

We had quite the busy weekend!

Friday night Brad kicked me out of the house so I could go out with some friends at work. I am glad he 'forced' me to go because I needed to have some fun with my girls! I also got my gossip fill for a while. :) Brad was super sweet and cleaned the house while I was gone so we were ready for Saturday.

Saturday we were up early to feed John and then my parents came over to help plant our front yard. We got a new retaining wall at the end of last summer and we finally were able to plant yesterday. I have been very embarassed to walk up our front steps b/c the yard was so ugly. It looks a million times better but we will still need to plant grass. Maybe next weekend??? Maybe we will also 'inspire' our neighbors to fix up their yards...I can always dream...

After we finished planting the rest of the family headed over to celebrate Brad's belated birthday and mother's day. John and Bella were of course center of attention. John did so well- skipped his nap and didn't get cranky or anything!

This morning Brad and John took me to IHOP for breakfast and then I got to go back to sleep for a couple hours while Brad took care of John. Best Mother's Day gift ever! John also sent me flowers at work this week and gave me a photo album to store the million pictures we have. :) What a sweetie!

Here are some pictures...

Preparing for the family visit:

No one was paying attention to the opening of presents by the time we got to Al! :)

Aunt Allison and Bella:

With Grandpa!

Mother's Day Breakfast:

She's Crafty...He's Messy

2009-05-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

I saw a post on how to make a baby gown out of an old t-shirt and decided to give it a try. I whipped it up in about an hour which is why it is not perfect by any means. I think not having wonderful sewing skills could be a possible reason for an imperfect gown, but that is just me! Looking back on it, it may also help if I read the directions as I went instead of just figuring it out as I sewed. I am going to have John wear it tonight...if it fits. It was sitting on the table this morning when I walked by and I realized that John doesn't wear gowns all that often (Brad calls them dresses even though John only wears them to sleep). So I thought I could modify the pattern slightly and make shirts instead! So that will be my next project! If he is going to venture out of the house with it on, I will have to learn how to make nice hems I guess... :)

On a side note, although I have nothing to base this on, I have always though boys are a little more rough and that John would grow up to make a big mess in our house and destroy everything in his path. Well, today marked the first day of destruction. He was playing on the floor and when I looked up he was wrapped around the coffee table leg and playing with the magazines. He pulled a couple down and when I sat him up, he proceeded to rip a couple pages out and put them in his mouth. Must be tasty because it kept him entertained for about 15 minutes!

Random Thoughts On The Past Week

2009-04-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

Lots of things going on this week...

Last Saturday was Brad's birthday so we went over to his mom's to celebrate with his brother and 'sister-in-law'. John was of course center of attention most of the day. He started to scoot backwards for the first time so I think he will be crawling very soon! He also rolled from his tummy to his back so we were really excited that maybe he would do that at night when he wakes up crying on his stomach (more on that later in the post!). John looked so cute in his plaid shorts and converse sneakers!!!

John is also learning to sit now. He is actually doing really well and can sit and play with a toy for a couple minutes before losing his balance. He just is so advanced for his age! hahaha...

So John had been waking several times at night crying. We couldn't figure out why. He had been sleeping around 10 hours straight for about a month or 2 so we were not used to waking up several times a night with him! We thought at first it was because he had flipped onto his stomach and didn't like it. But then he was waking up crying every 1-2 hours and he was sometimes still on his back, sometimes he was totally awake, sometimes he was still basically sleeping, sometimes he was hungry...we just didn't know what to do. So I called the doctor and his nurse said to come in to have him checked. She said to give him tylenol that night to make him comfortable before the dr saw him the next day. Well, wouldn't you know he slept all night without a peep! The doctor checked him out and said that John had a 'nasty ear infection'. I felt pretty bad but I wouldn't have known to get that checked! Looking back, he was fussy a week before I took him to the dr but I thought it was a growth spurt. Now I realize that he was crying every time I put him down because his ear was hurting! Thank goodness I didn't take him on the plane to Abilene for Brad's grandpa's funeral- that would have been a DISASTER of a ride!!! Anyway...John has been taking his medicine extremely well (he sucks on the syringe of medicine like it is a bottle and cries when you take it away) and he is sleeping like normal again. He is so cute when he sleeps now b/c in the middle of the night he flips over and tucks his legs under so his butt sticks up in the air!

Last night Brad and I took John to his first baseball game! Granted it was Wakeland High School's game (my student made it off the bench for the game!!), but still it was so fun to be outside and let John experience a new situation. Everyone in the stands loved him and he got passed around to my friends and some of my students. He is SUCH a good baby and didn't cry the whole time. (not that I expected him to!) He just really likes to look around and stare intently on people and objects so he seemed to enjoy himself. He doesn't smile at strangers yet (which is odd b/c he smiles all the time at home and at daycare!) but hopefully he will soon!

(Just can't get enough pictures of John? Go to www.sweetbabyjohn.shutterfly.com There a couple thousand more over there!).

For those of you who are still reading the longest post ever, I leave you with a question. Does John have enough pants???

by the way...yeah for Bella gaining weight!!! boo to having an intolerance for milk and soy protein. yeah for Al going on a crazy diet for Bella- I doubt I could do it!!!

Striking a Deal?

2009-04-21T09:54:00.001-07:00

So I have been reading some blogs that teachers have (I am getting addicted here people!! You may see me on Intervention or somethig). In just a short amount of time I read that not one, but TWO teachers strike an interesting deal with their students to behave in class. This was the deal- the student behave and the teacher PASSES THEM!!! What????!!! Maybe I am totally naive here but I don't see how it is right to tell a student that they will pass a class simply because they behaved. One example said the kid couldn't read (at the middle school level) and thus couldn't do the work and was a distraction. Well, is passing them helping them at all? Is that the best deal the teacher could have made? I am hoping these are once in a lifetime deals during the first couple years of teaching when you will do ANYTHING to have good classroom management, but even then I think it might be a little unethical. Am I going crazy here???

Teaching Something New?

2009-04-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

My big dilema of the week is deciding if I should try to teach a new class next year. Well, I guess that isn't such a big dilema, but still a big decision! Should I stick to what I have done the past 7 years because I know it and it is easy? I can try to add in more activities and tweak lessons, all the while risking being bored and antsy next year? Or should I make a change and switch to a new math class and challenge myself with creating all news lessons and material? Tough decisions! Here are some pros and cons:

Pros to teaching Algebra II again
- already have TONS of lessons, notes, worksheets, activities, etc
- can use the navigators pretty easily and have some activities made up for that
- would be easier to spend time with family because I can get all my work done during school hours

Pros to switching to a different math
- would gain experience with other subjects (always good for the resume!)
- probably won't be bored and complacent- keep me on my toes with new material
- work with a different group of teachers which is always good for 'networking' among the department
- probably will have a student teacher in the fall so I would have some help getting materials together (may be a perfect opportunity to try something new)

Cons to switching to a different math
- have to start from scratch. (can share with other teachers, but will still need to tweak to make my own)
- could possibly be teaching sophomores and I am spoiled right now with the older and more behaved students
- not sure how to incorporate the navigator with a totally different math such as geometry
- LOTS OF WORK!!!!!!!!!

hmmmm...lots to think about!

This is Where the Magic Happens

2009-04-05T15:21:00.001-07:00

John seems to really like being on his changing table. This is the site of many first so far: first smile, first time he 'talked', first time he 'talked' ALOT, first time he stayed on his tummy and held his head up for an extended period of time, and now his first laugh. Don't know why he loves that pad, but we just need to keep the camera in the dresser permanently or something!

So I was talking to John after changing his diaper about how I was nervous that he hadn't pooped in two days. Guess he thought that was funny (and knew what a HUGE mess he was going to make later that night) and he started laughing. Brad and I were cracking up and then Brad ran to get the camera as fast as he could! This was the first time we heard a real laugh...not just sounds of happiness. I promise that in the video I was crying b/c I was laughing so hard at John and b/c when Brad ran to get the camera, he dropped it on the way which is very typical for him. I am not the sappy mom who cries over everything! :)

He laughed on Saturday and we haven't heard it since. I will just be waiting until he finds something funny again!

For those of you reading this at work in FISD, the video does not appear! :( sorry!

Teaching With Technology

2009-03-30T18:56:00.001-07:00

As of right now, I am scheduled to lead a session of staff development this summer on using a TI Navigator in the math classroom. This is an awesome piece of technology for math classes that connects the class through the students' calculators that are hooked up to wireless hubs that is ultimately linked to my computer. I really like using them in class and students for the most part love them. I can send quizzes to student on the calculator and then when I collect them on my computer, the program automatically grades it for me. This is quite handy for easy skills checks in class! We also have a feature called Quick Poll where I can send questions to the class and they answer on the calculators so that the class can see everyone's answers (kind of like the CPS systems). The best part is the Activity Center where the students have individual controls on their calculator- so they can control a point or a graph and manipulate it all while other students are doing the same thing and everything is projected onto the screen at once. Today we used this in class for the first time in a while since I have been gone for 3 months on maternity leave. One of my students actually said 'I have missed using these things!' I was so excited to hear that! I really think they enjoy doing something different and like using their calculators to keep them engaged in class.

So this brings me to my point of today's posting. The head of math who asked me to help in presenting this session told me she expected this to be a beginner session because there are Navigators unopened in boxes on all campuses. Now, I can't say I am surprised, but it is disappointing that we have such great teaching tools (and REALLY expensive teaching tools at that!) just sitting in boxes and not being used. I totally understand that it takes a while to learn the program and you can't just jump in and start using it. However, like with anything else, it takes a little bit of practice and then you can catch on pretty quickly. I am still learning the ins and outs, but this is my third year to have one in my classroom and I just try to add a little more each year. I wonder how many other departments have great resources available to teachers that aren't being used. Again, teachers need to work on branching out of their comfort zone to really reach students on a new level which include learning and using new technologies! This can only help keep students engaged in the lessons and help them reach success in class. Just think- even if a teacher used the Navigator once a 6 weeks (or any piece of technology), that is better than nothing! Then the next year they could try to use it once a month....even if a student gets that exposure to that technology 9 times that year, it could make a huge difference in that year for them!

Single Parent for the Week

2009-03-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

Brad is out of town all week on business, so I am playing Single Parent! It is actually much easier than I thought it was going to be. John of course has been on his best behavior and has been really easy to put to sleep. I have been singing to him at night so maybe he realizes my voice is so bad that he would rather sleep than continue to hear me sing. Whatever works... Although I could physically be a single parent and would survive, I would never want to be in that situtation! I don't know how people do it for years at a time!

Of course, I miss Brad tons. I have been busy at home without him there since I am usually quite spoiled. He usually cooks dinner while I nurse John, feeds the cat at night, puts John to sleep after bath time and then gets him dressed in the morning so I can get ready. So I don't have much time this week to sit around and dwell on missing Brad, but it is certainly much more fun to be with him! He always makes me laugh and I love being around him. I am looking forward to Friday night when he gets home (well, more like Saturday morning since he will get home really late on Friday!) We only have a couple days left to do our March Date Night (heading out to a coffee shop!) and I am looking forward to that as well!

Our Baby Boy is Growing Up!

2009-03-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

So, John is almost 4 months now. Well, he is almost 16 weeks, but not quite 4 calendar months which is always confusing! In the last two weeks he has just acquired so many new skills! He will reach for toys that I hold out to him and then of course shoves it directly into his mouth. He talks ALL THE TIME! He is still on the verge of laughing and is kind of tickelish. The big event is that he can roll from his back to his stomach now. Brad found him on his stomach in the crib about a week ago and John was not a happy camper. He really didn't like waking up on his tummy. However, in just the last day or two, he has been rolling on his stomach more in the crib which makes it more challenging for him to fall asleep. But, it was so much fun to watch him today because he was playing with a toy on his mat at a Mom's Group meeting and all of a sudden he just rolled over onto his stomach. He seemed to really like looking around at other people and at at the other babies. (Who could blame him...it is probably boring looking at the ceiling all the time!) After a little while he got a little fussy so I put him on his back again, but he kept rolling over! It was so cute and I was so mad I didn't have my camera with me!! I did get a picture of him yesterday of when he rolled over at the end of his nap. (No, I don't let him sleep on his stomach!)

John also has a new cousin, Bella. She came home from the hospital on Wednesday! I got to visit her yesterday and hold her for the first time. She is SO light compared to John and super cute. John is getting over a cold so he didn't get to visit Bella so hopefully next weekend they can finally meet.

Well, that is about all for now. John seems like he is about to wake up so I had better get prepared!!!

Bella Baby!

2009-03-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Bella is here! My sister Al had her baby on Tuesday night, about one month early. Bella is still in the NICU but hopefully can come home soon. I visited her on Thursday and Saturday and I am just amazed at how much hair she has! Maybe it is because I am used to seeing John's mostly bald head. Either way, she is precious! I am excited to see her again and can't wait to hold her. I bet Al is also happy to not be on bedrest anymore and to be out of the hospital finally! Now we just need to teach John to pick on his little cousin...

Back to Work

2009-03-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

This week marks the end of my maternity leave. I start back to work on Wednesday although John starts daycare tomorrow. I have a feeling that John will adjust much easier than I will! Thankfully I only have to work for three days and then have another week off for Spring Break.

He is still doing really well and growing like crazy. I am just amazed at the little things he is learning to do- like holding his new toys! He is on the verge of reaching for them- this morning he moved his hand about an inch to grab his toy which is a big improvement!

I spent yesterday looking online and reading about blogs and uses for the classroom. Of course that got me to brainstorming and I am excited to try to use new things with my class. It might take a little while though to really get a good activity or lesson planned out and then I just have to hope I can get my class into the computer lab! I also read about what it means to 'truly blog' and apparently I am not doing it correctly! (nor are some of the other people who I follow!) And if you know me, I have to follow the rules! So, hopefully as I get more into this, I can be a true blogger and not look like a total idiot on these things. Ahhh, learning new things....

A Day in the Life of John

2009-03-01T05:09:00.001-08:00

Here is a typical day as a 3 month old...

7 am: Wake up with some poop caked onto my butt. Mom has to scrub it off with a wipe while I squirm on the changing table. I give her a couple good smiles before I start to fuss because I am hungry! I haven't eaten in about 10 hours since I sleep all night long now!

7:15 am: First feeding of the day! I am so excited that I attack Mom's pretty hard and she let's out a little cry, trying to pry my mouth open. I am stronger than her though and she gets used to it after a minute or two. After about 10 or 15 minutes Mom stops to burp me which I HATE so of course I need to cry and tense up my whole body so that I am standing on her lap while she tries to get out a burp by pounding on my back. Finally she wins out, although if I am lucky, some milk comes up too and gets all over her lap! Switch sides and repeat process.

7:45 am: Done eating. Start smiling and cooing while playing with Mom.

8:00 am: Pee in diaper.

8:15 am: Get diaper changed and Mom tries to get me to sleep. Should I cry really hard today or just fall asleep quickly since I am tired? Tough decision.

8:30 am: Finally asleep. Decided to cry just a little to make Mom feel good about the day. I will work up to crying later in the day!

9:15 am: Start grunting and making noises as if I am waking up. Do this just as Mom is falling asleep since she thinks that she has another 30 minutes until I get up. Fooled her!

9:50 am: Wake up for real and get diaper changed. Throw Mom for another loop and poop all over changing table and curtains! The cover needed to be washed anyways and I didn't care for the curtains all that much.

10:00 am: Have a second breakfast. Don't feel like crying during burping this time.

10:20 am: Smile. Coo. Tummy Time.

11:00 am: Diaper change. Mom changes me into 'real clothes' instead of the pajamas that I have been in all night long. FINALLY!!!!

11:15 am: Mom tries to rock me to sleep, but that never works. She finally just puts me in the crib until I get sleepy and start crying. I wait just long enough for her to walk to the living room and as soon as she sits down, I cry. I have learned to time it perfectly!

11:30 am: Asleep!!! But I did throw in the 'sleep in Mom's arms and cry when she puts me in the crib' routine a couple times for good measure. She loves when I do that!

12:30 pm: Start to wake up. Mom comes in and changes my diaper yet again. I pee A LOT! I start cooing, smiling and talking to Mom and then screaching. She thinks it is cute!

12:45 pm: Lunch time!

1:15 pm: Poop big time in diaper! It is loud enough to wake up Gracie the cat who ignores me all day long. It also is really stinky.

1:30 pm: Get dipaer changed again. The Mom loads me up in the stroller and we take a walk. It is nice being outside although I just stare at Mom the whole time I am awake. After about 15 minutes, I fall asleep. Spend the rest of this nap in the car seat which is way better than sleeping in my crib.

4:00 pm: Wake up, Mom changes diaper, start screaching again since I am learning how to make noises instead of cry, I eat an early dinner.

4:45 pm: Finally Dad comes home so I have someone else to play with. I love Mom, but all day long I have to look at her silly face! Dad plays with me for a little while before I get swing time. I fall asleep.

6:30 pm: Wake up. If I time it right, Mom and Dad will still be eating dinner so I get to interrupt that. Get my diaper changed and then have my second dinner!

7:30 pm: Dad tries to put on my pj's and do our night time routine. Our night time routine goes the same way every night: lullabyes or Dad reads a book, quiet time in Dad's arms with pacifier, then I start to scream my head off b/c I don't want to sleep, fall asleep on Dad's lap, wake up when he puts me in the crib and cry, fall asleep in Dad's arms again, cry when he puts me in the crib, Dad gets frustrated so Mom has to take over and she rocks me to sleep and puts me in the crib. Usually by now I am tired of this little game and just stay asleep. I mean, I have been going at it for TWO HOURS! I must get my beauty rest!

10:30 pm: Give a little 'wake up fake out' where I start to make noises that I am hungry at the same time Mom starts pumping. But I give her a break and go back to sleep until the morning.

Man, it is good to be a baby! :)

Best 20 bucks ever spent??

2009-02-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

So I have been a little worried about John eating enough throughout the day. For the past two weeks or so he has been sleeping through the night, which is great! Last night he slept for 11 hours straight. He is only three months old (today!!) so I am really glad that he has been so easy to take care of so far. Maybe this means he will act up as a teenager?

Anyways, so since he sleeps for so long now, he basically he taken one of his feedings out each day. Therefore I was worried he wasn't eating enough during the day. So I went to the doctor today and John weighs 12 pounds 11.5 ounces. That is a little over a pound more than he weighed at his 2 month appointment so I think he is doing fine! They did not measure his length but he is getting so big! So many of his clothes don't fit and he was wearing a 6 month outfit today that fit pretty well. Bottom line...he dr said he was doing great and there was nothing to worry about. So I would say, yes, 20 bucks well spent for a peace of mind!

And I got a little bonus at the dr's office for that 20 bucks. While in the waiting room, there was a women there with two of her kids. It seems they were homeschooled since the mom was giving her son a test, who was in a nicely pressed karate outfit. He was quite the handful, although he seemed like a normal 10 year old (I would guess that to be his age). At one point the mom asked him to do something and he said 'yes sir!'. Well, good old mom said 'Do you want to do push-ups for saying that?' and the boy quickly said he was joking and said sorry (although I didn't hear a genuine sorry in there!). I just thought it was really funny that the mom would make her son do push-ups as part of his punishment! That is what I did with my cheerleaders because it was an athletic situation. I don't know if I would make John do push-ups for misbehaving. :) So at least I had some entertainment with that family while I was waiting and that makes the 20 bucks that much more well spent.

Why Mop Top???

2009-02-23T19:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my new blog! I am making this in part because I have to for my online book study and in part to be as cool as my sister Emily who has TWO blogs already. Well, maybe not the latter quite so much!

I figured I would start out the blog with an explanation of the name. Over the summer Brad and I went to a friend's wedding and perhaps he had more than one adult beverage. At one point in the night he turned to me and said 'Can I or can I not invert you and use your head as a mop'. At the time I didn't find it very funny, but now Brad and I laugh about it and he calls me mop top.

I will be updating this blog weekly until at least May and possibly longer. Mostly I will be writing about my new life with a baby which is sooooo different than my life before John arrived. I will be going back to work in two weeks and will be back to teaching Algebra II. I am not returning to cheerleading now that the 'year' is over which will give me many hours back in my week! I am not looking forward to going back to work only because at the moment I hate the idea of John being in daycare. We will see how that goes and see how many tissues I go through...