WOW

I also must make note of something very unexpected that I found upon arriving home this evening. Jay, after having Jackson by himself all weekend (with some help from Mom, THANK YOU!) and getting everything ready for the week in Baytown, left our house totally clean! The trash was totally empty the sink was clean. . .he had even done all of the laundry! What an awesome husband I have. Thanks Jay!

Weekend Wrap Up

We had SO much fun last week with Jay's family that it was hard to leave today. Nanny and Paw Paw are incredible grandparents and seeing how special and loved they make Jackson feel is really cool. And this trip we got to see lots of Aunt Sherri and Uncle Dennis which was awesome as well. Jackson adores all of his Baytown family. The whole week he was constantly doing the sign for love and hugging them. It's pretty cute!
Jackson also got to ride on a tractor, a forklift, a golf cart and a lawn mower. He had a very exciting week. Poor little guy will be bored to death when he realizes it's just the two of us this week in Plano!
Also Jax LOVED the green beans I made on Thursday (thanks for the awesome recipe Jenna). It was very nice to finally see him going crazy for vegetables. . .especially if you remember the first time we gave him green beans!
Anyway, thanks so much for an awesome week Nanny and Paw Paw! And Nanny we hope you feel better soon!













Jackson and Daddy dancing before riding on the golf cart.



When Jay let's Jackson "drive" his smile never fades!







Jackson wanting to keep going.



Jay having to physically remove Jackson from the cart to go inside for lunch.



Jackson playing with the gift bag from his early Christmas present from Sherri and Dennis.



Jackson LOVES his blocks!



Aunt Sherri helping Jackson build a tower to quickly knock down.



Jackson with his Aunt Sherri and Uncle Dennis.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by great family, great food and lots of love!

Giving Thanks

This year at Thanksgiving I am especially thankful. Every year I have more than just "something" to be thankful for but in reflecting this year I am in awe of the wonderful life with which God has blessed me. Here are my top 10 blessings for which I am thanking God continually but especially this week. I must also say that due to my recent problem with being so long winded. . .this is my second draft. In the first I had more than a paragraph describing each one:) Here is the much shorter version!

1. God's unending grace and mercy. He is always faithful.

2. A wonderful and loving husband. Neither of us are perfect but we are most certainly perfect for each other.

3. A precious son who lights up my life and makes me smile each morning.

4. The huge blessing of having a husband who works tirelessly to provide me the opportunity to be home with Jackson each day.

5. Parents. . .mine and Jays. They have raised and loved Jay and I to be the people we are today.

6. A sister who is so much more than a friend. One who helps me through motherhood and life with love and laughter.

7. A brother who I am very proud of and who is doing the hard things it takes to fill the gap between where he currently is and where he wants to be in life.

8. Grandparents. A grandmother who has always modeled God's love to me. A grandfather who has always been my biggest fan.

9. Friends who are my life and my support system:) God has really blessed me with the most fantastic girlfriends in the world. I often owe my sanity to so many of you.

10. A wonderful country within which I am continually proud and grateful to belong. God bless America!

Nanny and Paw Paw's House

Yesterday Jay and Jackson picked me up from the airport and we drove straight to Nanny and Paw Paw's house in Baytown. Jay and I sang silly songs to keep Jackson happy for the last 90 minutes of the drive. I'm sure the people in the cars around us got some serious entertainment. . .it was loud. . .there were lots of hand movements. . .and Jackson was hysterical laughing. My voice could crack glass but we still had fun, despite being hoarse when we arrived.
Jackson ran straight up to Nanny, jumped into her lap and gave her a big hug. It's so fun to be here and to see Jackson so excited to see his grandparents. I know their house will quickly become a favorite of his. Today he got to go to the ponds where daddy was fishing, ride in a golf cart, do some exploring, and watch the construction workers rebuilding the bulkhead. It was an awesome day and I wasn't at all surprised when he happily passed out for the night at 5 p.m.
Here are some pictures of Jackson enjoying his wonderful Nanny and Paw Paw.


Jackson loving on his Aunt Sherri.



All bundled up for the cold. Thanks to PawPaw Jimmy for the warm hat!



Playing on the tractor.



"Paw Paw, please can I get back on the tractor!"



Mr. Cool wants everyone to see him in his sunglasses.



Always ready to go back outside!



Watching the bulkhead being rebuilt.



"I want one of those for Christmas!"



Jackson LOVES being outside with Paw Paw.



Paw Paw was very impressed with Jackson's sign language.



Jackson in the tractor again.



Sweet Nanny rocking Jackson for his afternoon nap.

Last Day in Memphis

Our last day in Memphis was of course wonderful. Time with Carolyn was awesome and Cora is such a doll. Poor Carolyn let Cora cry it out for the first time and it definitely brought back memories of how hard it was with Jackson. Motherhood is so tough but there's nothing more rewarding.
After a weekend of great food and even better company (not to mention hours of girl talk) I'm ready to get back to my guys:) Thanks so very much to my fabulous husband and loving mother for taking such great care of Jax while I was away!



THE END. . .

God Induced Amnesia??

I remember when Danielle came to visit me right after Jackson was born. First of all it was immensely helpful (THANK YOU DANIELLE!) and secondly I recall waking up and sitting on the sofa talking with her and having her say that she had totally forgotten just how tired you are with a new infant. At the time I thought she must be either crazy or trying to let me know that it does get better and that in the future my bed would go back to being a place where I would dream instead of the place I would just day dream of visiting.
Well, as happens often in my life. . .I now understand. Being with Carolyn and Cora this weekend has been so wonderful! Cora is precious and Carolyn not only looks fantastic but is a fabulous mother. But I have to notice that getting up every two hours with an almost 4 month old baby is pretty darn tiring. With Jackson only 14 months old I have already forgotten not only how not pleasant the process of bringing him into the world was but also how sleep deprived I was in the beginning. The only plausible explanation for me being able to recount (verbatim) conversations I had with Jay (much to his dismay) at 19 years old yet forget a period of my life that lasted for months only months ago is that God gives us temporary amnesia so that we'll talk ourselves into doing it again. Either that or just the nature of being sleep deprived makes our brains unable of committing anything to long term memory. . .

Anyway, the weekend has been great so far and here are some adorable pictures of sweet baby Cora!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADRIENNE!!!!

Adrienne's birthday was yesterday and she spent the day at the urgent care clinic with poor little Ellie who had an ear infection:( Happy birthday anyway and we can't wait to celebrate with you when you are back from Colorado!

Meeting Baby Luke

Last night Matt, Joanie (who looks way too good to have a 6 week old baby!) and Luke came over for dinner. It was so awesome holding sweet little Luke! He is so tiny (6 weeks old) and just such a cuddler! Jay has had baby fever for a while now and is asking on a semi regular basis when I will want another baby. . .Luke was definitely helping Jay's case:)
The pictures don't even do the little man justice because he's just so darn cute but here are a few!

Joanie with her little guy.



Remembering how fun tiny babies are. . .they can't run anywhere. . .



Thinking how easy it is to hold a baby. . .and then remembering that Jackson is asleep and it wouldn't be so quiet if he were up!


Thanks Matt and Joanie for sharing little Luke with us! He is absolutely adorable and I can't wait for he and Jackson to be buddies! We really miss seeing you guys every week at the Tomba's house.

And on the baby fever thing. . .I'm not there quite yet but this weekend with baby Cora may push me over the edge. . .stay tuned!

Everything is Bigger in Texas. . .And Jackson is All Texan!

Yesterday I was giving Jackson some dried fruit (one of his favorite snacks) in a small tupperware dish with a small plastic spoon. Jackson, being a true Texan wasn't quite happy. My little man went to the cabinet and returned with the largest container in the cabinet. He then proceeded to the kitchen drawer where he grabbed a huge spoon (think ladle) and came back with a smile. After pouring the snacks into the larger dish he starts doing the signs for "more please" while smiling. I was hysterical! Much to his dismay I didn't fill his dish with snacks but I did hug him and tell him how much I loved him while helping him eat out of the gigantic spoon. He is such a joy, exhausting at times, but just watching those wheels turn is so much fun! I love that little guy with all of my heart and seeing his energetic, sweet, loving, mischievous, affectionate, wild personality come out is pretty amazing!


Trying to get more fruit snacks out of the little bag.



He's not happy that the bag is empty!



Very happy about how much bigger his new "bowl" is than the first!



Smiling as I tell him how much I love his inventive and creative nature:)



Still in awe that I'm letting him eat from the huge spoon.

So Excited!!!

Jackson has two new expressions for when he is excited. They are so funny! I've been trying to get them on film and haven't been too successful but here are my attempts.
The first one is where he just squints his eyes and has a really big smile. This one usually comes if I say the word, cracker. I have given him some organic stoned wheat crackers lately and I truely believe they have actual crack in them because he goes nuts. He actually bit my finger the other day trying to get the cracker faster!





The second expression is really the funniest because he opens his mouth really wide as if he is so thrilled that he is in shock. This face is what I see when I say anything having to do with Daddy. Jackson looks for reasons to go see Jay during the day. He LOVES having daddy working from home. The other day he even went and got his halloween costume out of his closet and tried to put it on while saying "dada daddy dada!" So, of course we had to put it on and go show daddy. Jay always humors us and stops work (for about 30 seconds)to love on Jackson. I try not to disturb him more than once or twice a day because he's so busy but it's really nice having him here with us! Ok, here are the best shots I've gotten of the happy about daddy face (hopefully I'll get a better one soon b/c these don't really do it justice):




And here we have sweet Jackson just jumping around. I had thought he was too big for this and so we loaned our other one to Ellie but lately when we go to her house he loves it and I found this one cleaning out the garage.

Mr. Independance!

Jackson is a very independent little man lately. He wants to do everything himself. I'm pretty used to the pushing of his own stroller but now he even wants to rock himself before naps some days. On those days he will either get into his little recliner for his bottle or actually sit in the glider and rock himself. Jay says he gets this crazy Independence and stubborn nature from me. . .I think it could be a combination of his awesome parents!