Baby Proofing on a Budget

So, we get home from breakfast this morning and Jack is crawling all over the place when Randy informs me he has an "idea".  We put up a few baby gates a couple of months ago, but we have an opening from the living room that goes to our bedroom and the front of the house and Babies R Us doesn't really make a gate to that fits it, so Randy had come up with his own solution.

Yep, that's my coffee table turned on it's side to block the opening.  So far it is working, but it is a little inconvenient that I have to walk through the kitchen and around the living room to get to my bedroom, but I guess it's worth it for Jack to be contained!

So, there you have it, baby proofing on a budget! HA!  At least now Jack has a wide open space in the living room to play. 

Someday my coffee table will return to it's home in front of my couch.

Happy 10 Months Little Man!

Today you are 10 months old.  I can hardly believe we have had you for 10 months already!  The time is flying by and you are growing like a weed!  We cannot even keep up with you anymore.  We look away for one second and you are already in the other room.  You are one FAST crawler... I can only imagine how fast you'll be once you start walking. 

Official 10 Month photo - He looks like such a BIG boy!

You just took your second trip on an airplane (we went to visit Grammy when you were 3 weeks old - that was EASY).  You did pretty good considering you are 10 months old and find it extremely difficult to sit still for more than a minute. HA!  You have yet to meet a stranger and made friends with quite a few people at the airport and on the plane.  You just smiled, showed your teeth and crawled to everyone.  It was kinda embarrassing to me since I tend to be a little less outgoing around people I don't know. 

You make this silly face all the time!

You pull up on everything and have even stood by yourself a few times.  You can walk along the furniture and behind a push toy, but I don't think you'll be walking anytime soon since you are still pretty wobbly.  But who knows, you've mastered everything else over night it seems.  You love to be upside down and will sometimes throw yourself back with no warning.  Sometimes I'm scared I'm gonna drop you on your head.

You are always banging your hands on things.

You only eat "table" food now.  You love all crackers - goldfish, graham crackers, oyster crackers, club crackers, cheese cracker.  You also enjoy strawberry and blueberry Nutrigrain bars.  We are working on veggies, but so far you only like broccoli.  Maybe it's because it looks like something you might find in the yard - you still like to eat grass, or at least try to eat grass.  Sometimes you'll eat fruit.  I think you like mandarin oranges and no sugar added fruity applesauces.  You are not a fan of cottage cheese.  You do love cheerios and last weekend, thanks to Heather and Lily, you had Honey Nut Cheerios for the first time.  Sorry buddy, only the plain cheerios here.  The only meat you really like his hamburger.  You tried chicken, but made an awful face!  At school you eat all kinds of good stuff - I guess the ladies there know tricks your mama doesn't.  HA!

Pouty Face

At your 9 month appointment the doctor told me that you would most likely begin having "temper tantrums" and boy was she right!  You make this pouty face everytime you don't get your way or I take something away from you.  It breaks my heart to see you unhappy, but I am your mama and my job is to keep you safe and raise you well, not make you happy!  Plus it is pretty funny to see this face.  You look so pathetic and helpless.  It makes your daddy and I laugh pretty hard!  Unfortunately these little fits are coming more frequently.  And you can turn the water works on in a heartbeat!

I think he's mad because I took away his spoon.

Overall, you are still such a HAPPY baby and quite the little ham.  You mock sounds we make and say "mama" and "dada" all the time.  You can say "bye bye" and wave, but most of the time you choose not too.  You have said "bravo" a few times and clap anytime we say it.  You are so funny.  You have decided that you like your paci (I guess your teeth hurt your thumb) and we are fine with it.  We would much rather have the option to take away your paci since we can't exactly take away your thumb. 

I'm sure there are so many things that I've left out, but you are so fun and we love you so much!  I can't wait to see what the next 10 months bring!

Jack's Stats:

Weight: 25.6 lbs

Height: 31 inches

Clothes: 18-24 months in most brands

2 bottom teeth and 1 top tooth with another top tooth coming in

1 - 2 hour nap at school during the week

2 - 2 hour naps at home on the weekend (I guess school wears you out!)

Sleeps from about 8pm - 7:30 or 8am

32oz formula and 4 meals (we are fixing to eliminate one 8oz bottle)

We love you so much!

Happy 10 Months Little Man!

It Could be a lot Worse

We had a great weekend with Heather, Lily and Baby Chase.  We didn't do a whole lot, because let's face it, getting out of the house with three babies is not easy!  We did do a little shopping and ate at Outback and Chilis.  Jack loved the burger bites and black beans at Chilis and tried ate his first steak at Outback, but I think he was full from all the bread he ate before the steak came!  I don't know where he put it all, but he ate the bread faster than I could break it up for him! HA! 

Baby Chase is just precious!  I wish I could remember when Jack was that small, I tried all weekend to remember what his cry sounded like as a newborn, but for the life of me, I can't.  It is so crazy how fast time goes and how fast kids grow up!  Lily is such a good big sister.  She ran to Chase everytime he would cry and give him his paci.  I know Heather has her hands full with two little ones and her husband away training for deployment, but I admire her strength and am glad we were able to visit and help out a little.  I don't know how much help I was since I had a little one of my own to corral, but it was still good to see them.  I wish they didn't live so far away.  Hopefully we'll get to see them when they come to Texas this summer.

Jack did pretty good on the plane - just a little rambunctious.  It's hard to keep a 9 month old sitting still on your lap for 2 hours!  Thank goodness the men sitting next to us were understanding!  When we got back to Dallas yesterday afternoon, I was putting all of our stuff in the car and sat the diaper bag down while I put Jack in the car and forgot to pick it up.  I didn't realize I left it until we were almost home and by the time I got back to the airport, it was gone.  I was so upset because my wallet and camera were in the bag.  I checked all around the airport and it was nowhere to be found. 

Well, when I got to work this morning, there was a message from my insurance agent telling me that someone had my bag.  I called the number he left and a sweet old man was holding my bag for me at the parking garage of the airport.  I was SO relieved!  I ran right over to pick it up (the airport is right around the corner from where I work) and to my surprise all of my credit cards and gift cards were still in my wallet.  But, my cash and camera were gone.  Most likely someone took what they wanted from my bag and turned in the rest.  Guess they were not in need of goldfish, diapers, and bottles!  I'm thankful to get Jack's things back, but sick that I lost my camera because those pictures can never be replaced. There were some really cute pictures from the weekend and a few pics from last week for my Project 365.  Oh well, it could be a lot worse, at least none of my credit cards were used and I did manage to get home with my cell phone!

Destination: Nashville!

That's right - Jack and I are headed to Nashville, Tennessee tomorrow morning!  We are so excited to visit Baby Chase, Heather and Lily.  Although, I must admit I am a little nervous to fly with Jack.  It's a 3 hour flight from Dallas to Nashville, with one stop and a plane change in Houston.  Damn Wright Act. 

I am thankful though that Heather is such a SUPER BFF and bought a carseat for Jack so I wouldn't have to fight with getting it on and off the plane.  Getting it on probably would not have been too much trouble since I can check bags at the curb - getting it off on the other hand, would have been a mess.  Jack + stroller + luggage + carseat = bad news!! 

Heather, we cannot wait to see you and finally meet Baby Chase!  It is still crazy to think about how much our lives have changed over the past few years.  There are days when I still miss us living together and being able to run into your room and tell you whatever was going on at that very minute.  I miss our weekly trips to Abuelo's and shopping together.  I hate that the Army has you on a tour of the United States, but thank goodness for phones and airplanes that seem to make the distance between us bareable.  I know someday you'll be settled in Texas! HA!

And, sweet Lily, I know you are such a GREAT Big Sister and am so excited to see you!  You are such a sweet little girl and I love getting to talk to you on the phone and hear all that you have learned.  You are growing up too fast!  I know you and Jack are going to have so much fun this weekend.  We'll see you tomorrow!

Peek-A-Boo

Jack has finally learned to play "peek-a-boo".  Sunday afternoon we were in his room and I was trying to put his shoes on him (this has become quite a chore since he rolls, squirms and crawls off most of the time) when he crawled off into the laundry room.  Well, he was playing peek-a-boo with me from around the corner.  He'd barely look around and just smile when he saw me and he kept doing it over and over.  Fast forward to tonight...

After giving Jack a bath, I sat him on the bed in the guest room so I could get some jammies, and being the little ham he is, he started acting silly and playing peek-a-boo with the towel.  I had to run get my camera and I'm so glad I did.

He was so cute.  Straight out of the bath, all nice and fresh and clean, playing peek-a-boo with his mama!

He just laughed and laughed.  I'd say "Where's Jack" and then he'd peek out when I said "peek-a-boo".

And the next picture might be my FAVORITE picture of him to date.  Just such a sweet little face.

He's growing up so fast and I am often reminded that he is no longer a "baby" but quite a "big boy" now! 

New Pictures Posted

I have so many pictures to post from our Mother's Day in Longview, but that will have to wait. But for now I have updated my Project 365 site, so go check it out!

The sun was in our eyes!

I do have to tell you right quick about the dinner we had tonight - it was so good!  I think I say that about everything, but this was delicious!  HA!  We had grilled chicken, seasoned with Uncle Chris' Steak seasoning. (I think Uncle Chris should start paying me for advertising! HA!)  I made Jack Daniels sauce for dipping and roasted red potatoes with Uncle Chris' seasoning and Randy grilled fresh corn on the cob.  Yummy!  I love summertime and fresh corn.  It is so good and so easy! I wanted to link to the sauce, but I can't find it right now, so I'll just tell you what was in it and post the actual recipe later.  It had teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, roasted garlic, dark brown suger, Jack Daniels liquor, lemon juice, pineapple juice, crushed pineapple and cayenne pepper.  I'm sure I left something out, but you get the picture.  It was supposed to get syrupy, but ours never did.  Next time I will make a simplified version, as the recipe I used took FOREVER to make, but it was still really good!  I wish I had pictures to share, but we scarfed it down before I could even click the camera! 

Mama, me and Jack

I will post more pictures from our Mother's Day tomorrow. 

 Have a great week!

Into Everything!

Ok, maybe Jack isn't really "into everything" but he does love to crawl under, around and behind this little table.  I know you can't really tell what it looks like, but it's just a little folding table in the corner beside Daddy's couch.  It doesn't have much on it, usually just the remote control, a cup and sometimes Jack's breathing machine, and it is really light-weight so it falls over easily when he pulls on it.  Luckily it's only fallen on him once and it didn't even phase him, he was just happy to get the "prizes" that sat on top!  HA!

Well yesterday, I walked out of the room for a sec and when I came back this is how I found him.  There is just enough room for him to crawl between the couch and the table and we are constantly moving him away from that table, but he is not easily diverted!

He was trying to pull up on the table, but there wasn't quite enough room between the table and the corner.

Hummm?  How am I gonna get outta here?

Oh, I can crawl under it.

Almost out.

Uh oh, Mama caught me!

ps. I think his eyes are turning green.