the glass house

oh, what a difference a year makes....

2011-09-18T14:37:00.003-05:00

its my party....

2010-08-21T21:09:00.013-05:00

Gavin turned one last Saturday, and I am just now getting around to posting some pictures of the big event. Who knew that a child's birthday party was such a big deal?! (all of you moms out there knew this, and now I definitely know!)
Anyway, it has taken me a whole week to recooperate from it, so the pics and blog post are finally here!
For his first birthday, we did a puppy dog theme and it was so much fun! I got really into the theme and tried to make everything puppy-related; some of it came off better than others :)
Chad made Gav a doghouse out of cardboard, and he had a GREAT time playing in it in the days before the party. For the food, we had cake balls, marshmallow pops, sugar cookies ("Bones") rice krispie treats in the shape of paws, twizzlers ("chew toys", puppy chow, chocolate chip cheese ball and crackers, veggies and dip, pigs n the blankets ("mini dogs") chip and dip, and of course, Gavin's favorite-macaroni and cheese. Also, what's a birthday party without cake and ice cream?!
Cakes by Mom and Me in West Memphis did the cake and did a FABULOUS job. I had in mind EXACTLY what I wanted and they did a wonderful job making my ideas become a reality! Besides looking great, it tasted DE-lish! The top layer was white and the bottom tier was chocolate and strawberry...how awesome is that?!
All in all, it was a great day and we were so blessed that many of our friends and family came to share it with us. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate Gavin's first year! We love you all!

oh how a year flies by....

2010-08-05T22:10:00.004-05:00

this summer part 1

2010-08-03T20:28:00.015-05:00

So much has happened this summer, and I happened to find these pictures tonight on Emily's facebook (thanks Em!) and It made me want to blog so I can remember the fun times we've been having! After all, it IS August :)

These pics are from the weekend we went to the lake with Blakely and Justin. It was Gavin's first lake trip, and Blake and Justin were SO sweet to invite us AND the munchkin. We were pretty nervous about it, but Gavin did GREAT...Seriously we couldn't have asked for a better child! It was soo much fun and we hope to have more fun lake time in the future! (Hint, hint, Nana.....these pictures should PROVE to you that you definitely need a lake house, look how happy this baby is! :)

The night before we went to the lake, I ran (let's say ran/walked, actually) my first 5k. It was an awful experience that I vowed to never do again. Just kidding! it was actually fun, and I was just proud to finish since I really hadn't exercised in over a month. Chad bought me this awesome jogging stroller for my birthday and mother's day, so I thought I would sign up for a 5k to motivate myself to start running. Well, the motivation hasn't hit me just quite yet, but maybe when the temps here in Arkansas fall below 100 degrees it will come....here are a few pics from the horrid event....

Before....

Dear Lord, please let this be over soon....

And After.....check out how RED my face is....

We also have gone to Mountain View with my family. Gavin LOVED the water and REALLY loved the rocks.

More pics of the summer to come soon....

11 Months Old!

2010-07-24T13:46:00.004-05:00

Well it's been awhile! I vow once again to try to do better at blogging. I am currently obsessed with reading other blogs of families with babies about Gav's age, and it has really been making me wish that I would've recorded in detail as much as they did. But I didn't, so it's ok. We did record occasional things in the baby book and the grandma's did a pretty great job at photo shoots at every opportunity, so I guess I'm off the bad blogger hook for now. But I definitely would like to do better if for nothing else, to be able to look back and remember these sweet moments with Gav!
So here goes, my first official "month" post! (just a few months late :)

Gavin, what are you doing at 11 months?
Well, you weigh almost 23 pounds and are quite a little chunk! Your big "ham hocks" (aka) legs :) are ginormous! You have been walking for about 3 weeks now and are practically running through the house, yard, stores, anywhere we go. Things are about to get interesting I'm afraid!

On the subject of sleeping, you have finally had a breakthrough. Actually, it ccured at about 9 1/2 months, but we are just now getting to the point where we can say you "sleep through the night" without finding a piece of wood to knock on....It has been wonderful to sleep at night but I honestly feel exactly the same during the day as I did when I was waking up with you every two hours. It's funny how our bodies adjust, isn't it?

Eating-I weaned you at 10 1/2 months. I never dreamed that I would nurse you that long, but now that you're weaned, I miss our sweet time together. You now take 3-4 8 oz bottles every day. We are working on the sippy cup...
I made your baby food from about 4 months until you were 9 months. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed making healthy food for you! Now, you eat everything! Your favorite things are macaroni and cheese and spaghetti. This past week you have become obsessed with feeding Addison instead of eating your food. It's really cute, but we might have a problem if this continues!

Teeth-you finally got two teeth this month and we think a 3rd is soon to come. I was secretly pleased that they held out as long as they did, I just love toothless grins!

Diaper changes and putting on clothes is a disaster. You scream, flail ham hocks, kick me, flip, run away, etc, etc, etc. I am at a loss for what to do except bribing you with my Iphone. Luckily, I've gotten pretty good at quick changes and we are only
on our 2nd Iphone :)

You are still in the baby room at the daycare and LOVE your teachers and friends. It is so stinkin cute each morning because as soon as we pull up to the center you get soo excited and clap your hands. You are never sad when I leave either. It makes me sad that you will be moving up soon to a different class and new teachers, but I know you will do great.

I love how curious you are about everything and how everyday is a new adventure with you. You are growing so fast and we love you more and more each day, sweet boy!

we love fall!

2009-11-06T14:01:00.004-06:00

We love fall around our house. For some reason, it has just always been one of my favorite seasons. Cool football nights, the smell of cotton being picked, and beautiful mums and pumpkins just make me happy! We decided to take pictures of Gavin in this Ginormous pumpkin my mom bought. She was so excited about getting a good deal on it at the local greenhouse. My dad quickly burst her bubble by telling her it was hands down, the ugliest pumpkin EVER and that's why it was so cheap. We didn't care, and Gavin didn't really know what to think about any of it.

So sweet! This is my favorite of the pumpkin pics....

My mom took these pictures below two weeks ago when he stayed the night with them (first night away from me). It was all a big ordeal, I went home from work with a fever and thought I had swine flu...I didn't, but didn't want my child to get it so he went away for the night. Very traumatizing for a new mom, but I got some much needed rest and was COMPLETELY healed by the next morning. It's amazing what sleep will do for a tired soul!

We are having Gavin's baby dedication this week, so I will post some pics on Monday of my sweet baby in his cute little outfit! Hope you all have a great weekend!

blogging

2009-10-30T14:17:00.003-05:00

I don't think I'm meant to be a blogger. I still have trouble posting, putting pictures in my blog, and getting the header to look right. What is wrong with me?! I know some of you may find blogging really fun, but it is really stressful to me, which is probably why I've only had 10 posts total....

Gavin is doing great! He is 10 weeks old today, and a little monster! Still not sleeping that great, but our pediatrician told us to start a bedtime routine, we did, and he has started sleeping at least 3 or 4 hours at a time after we do this. The problem is that he wakes up at 12:30, 2:00, and 4:00 to eat still. Yikes. Any suggestions for a weary mom??

We got some great fall pictures at my mom's, which I will post once she makes me a CD.

Halloween is tomorrow, and the costume selection is up in the air still. He will either be a monkey or a scarecrow. I don't know about you all, but I don't typically get all into Halloween. My dad so nicely pointed out that I will just look like I am begging for candy since Gavin does not have teeth yet. Sad to say but I'm kindof ok with that..........

Here is a TERRIBLE picture of me and Chad last Halloween

Isn't that just AWFUL???!! The label on the Adam and Eve costume said "one size fits most" HA!! Fun times. It is amazing how much how changed in one year!!

6 weeks old...wow!

2009-09-29T10:13:00.003-05:00

Hey....this is a post I started SEVERAL weeks ago, but I wanted to go ahead and post and say that I am working on a new one with updated pictures :)

It is so hard to believe that Gavin is now 6 1/2 weeks old! The past 6 weeks has been such a fun, exciting, life-changing time and we are so in love with our little man. I go back to work on the 12th and I thought this 8 weeks would give me plenty of time to get in a routine, work out (or stroll with Gavin), keep the house cleaned, put Gavin in lots of cute little outfits and take pictures of him, make trips to visit other friends with infants, update the blog at least weekly,but so far NOT ONE of those things has happened. Seriously. :) I mean, I know I have always had poor time management skills, but I don't really feel like this is because of my lack of those....

Gavin is such a good baby, but we are experiencing a slight problem-he never wants to be put down. I know some of you will say, just put him down and let him cry it out....we've tried it, he will scream for hours and turn beet red and sweat so much I think he might have a stroke if I dont pick him up...We are definitely open to suggestions if you all have any!

As I type this, he is asleep in the swing with it going full blast with the sound machine turned on high right beside him. He does well with this part of the time and I am grateful for the time that he does enjoy it and go to sleep.

I am going to try and post alot of pictures since there are NONE of him outside the womb on the blog.

update

2009-07-10T13:20:00.009-05:00

Hi All!

I know it has been an incredibly long time since I've posted, but I promise to do better in the near future...especially since little Gavin will be here in just over a month! We have been so busy lately that it seems like the past 8 months have really flown by! The pictures below are some of me at 29 weeks, and I am now at 34 weeks, so I have grown a little bit since!

These were taken when we were in Magnolia for my dear friend Tammy's wedding, she was SO beautiful and the whole weekend was alot of fun for Chad and I. Here are a few pics from the weekend...

I wanted to post an update on the nursery. It is coming along great, but we still have a few things left to do such as pictures on the wall, curtains, a lamp, etc. But we are getting closer to being done every day!

How cute is that monkey?! My mom is pretty amazing and figured out some way to rig it up in the corner. I think it is awesome and I hope Gavin will love his safari room!

One last thing with pictures...Chad has been working sooo hard to get his garden to grow and so we were ecstatic when he finally got his first squash! Yes, I took pictures. And then I proceeded to fry the squash for dinner. This was the first thing I have ever fried in our house and do not plan on making it a regular occurence! But you gotta love good fried vegetables in the summer...yum!

Will post more pics again soon...

Gavin's first pic...and other fun stuff!

2009-04-13T15:05:00.006-05:00

Well, my computer cord FINALLY came in (all the way from China apparently!) So, we finally get to post Gavin's (yes that is our baby's name!) first picture! Isnt he precious?!

Since I have taken alot of pictures since the last time I had a camera cord, I will post a few with each post and tell about them....I love pictures!

Some of the pictures below are from my dear friend Ellen's shower last weekend. Our friends Kristi and Anna are fabulous and did all the cute decorations by themselves!

This past weekend was great, except for me being sick for the first day or so. I am feeling much better now, thank goodness! We spent Easter yesterday going to church and then to my parents for a dinner/70th birthday party for my papaw. I was going to try and be a domestic goddess and cook a little since I am a grown up now and will have a child soon. So I woke up bright and early on Sunday to begin making a spinach casserole, hasbrown casserole, and a jam cake. The spinach casserole is a dish that my sister-in-law makes and is absolutely wonderful, but it did not taste the same when I made it. I even witnessed a family member make a terrible face after taking the first bite....Sad day for the home team on that one. Oh well. The hashbrown casserole was yummy though, so I was 1 for 1 at this point. Now about the jam cake....first of all let me preface this story by saying that I am NOT a baker. I always have trouble baking, no matter what I do. So I was thumbing through recipes on Saturday and decided that I would make Ms. Janice Henderson's (our dear friend that passed away in August) jam cake. Since it only had a few ingredients, I figured, oh this should be a piece of cake (no pun intended...). So on Sunday morning, I got up bright and early to start cooking. I decided to start with the cake, knowing my track record with baking. The first red flag should have gone up when I read that I was to be using a bundt pan. For some reason, me and bundt cakes of any kind have never gotten along. I dont know why, but I have NEVER successfully made a bundt cake. I'm not kidding at all. I remember at least three instances in the past year where the cake has fallen completely apart, I have left out ingredients, and dropped half on the floor. BUT, I was feeling very optimistic yesterday morning thinking that things might be different.....So I bake the cake. It's smelling fabulous by the time I take it out of the oven and I'm thinking my luck might be changing. Next step-call my mom (as I do everytime I make a bundt cake) to get specific directions on flipping it over, etc. By the time my husband gets up and comes into the kitchen, I have successfully flipped my cake over and it is COMPLETELY intact! Woohoo for me! He walks in and our conversation goes like this: Chad: "Wow, babe, the cake looks great. You've really been busy this morning." Me-"thanks, yeah I've been up for awhile." Chad-"did you make it from scratch? Why is it so small?" Me-"Well, It was only a few ingredients" Then I proceed to pick up the recipe card to read off the ingredients. Only to realize I had left out a whole cup of water. Hence the cake being a mini-me and extra dry version of itself...So the bundt cake won again. Maybe next Easter.....

Hope everyone is having a great Monday so far.....

It's a Boy!

2009-04-07T16:49:00.002-05:00

Hi all!
I have had good intentions of posting for awhile with the ultrasound picture, but I ordered a new camera cord (connects camera to computer) and it STILL has not come in yet...so maybe in a few days we'll have pics! Yes, we found out last Tuesday that we are definitely having a stinky ole boy! HA! We are both very excited and now my husband will have a partner in crime!

Here is what we are trying to do to the nursery... I am very excited and think that it will look extremely cool once it's finished. Here is the link.

My task at hand right now that consumes my thoughts constantly is naming the baby. I have quite a few that I like, and I am in the process of narrowing them down. Chad has not really been alot of help, as his top names are: Atticus, Ezra, and Emilio....Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with any of those, they are just not my style...Needless to say, his style and my style are not matching up. Oh, what fun.

This weekend I got to spend a great weekend with my family and some good friends. My mom and aunt went to dinner and Wal-mart (oh the fun) on Friday night. We always have a good time when we go places. On saturday, I helped host a shower for one of my best friends, Ellen, whose little boy, Morgan is due in May. She got some really nice things and it was so good to get to visit with her and the others. Since she lives in Fayetteville, I dont get to see her as much as I would like, so it's always special when we do get to visit! On Sunday after church my nephew, Clayton, had his 5th birthday party and it was lots of fun. My sis-in-law made an awesome looking cake that could have easily passed for store bought (will post pics later!) so she is now nominated as the cake maker for the family birthdays :) All in all, it was such a great weekend and I even got a little teary eyed when we left my parent's house on Sunday afternoon...(probaby just pregnancy hormones kicking in, but I felt like I was a freshman in college leaving my mom and dad to go back to school....) We get to see them alot and I know we are fortunate to live so close, but sometimes there is still just "no place like home."

Check back as I hope my camera cord comes in the next day or so.....

furniture tomorrow!

2009-03-27T16:09:00.004-05:00

I am writing this with much excitement because I just talked to the lady and our FURNITURE IS HERE!! Woohoo! I am very excited and can't wait to go pick it up! I will be posting pics soon, even though we don't have any idea what bedding we will get, how we will decorate the nursery, or, for that matter, even the sex of our baby yet!

We are now counting down the days until Tuesday at 2:30pm...when we finally find out what the baby is. I feel like all my friends who are around the "same amount of pregnant" (does that make sense?) as I am have known FOREVER, but I am trying to be patient....Please say a prayer as I am still very nervous about everything working right, being in the right spot, and the baby just being healthy.

Last night we had a great dinner with our "supper club" friends. Polly and Matthew (sis and brother in law) cooked a great New Orleans style dinner of shrimp and grits with asparagus. They love New Orleans, so we can always expect something Cajun-style at their house. Polly is a phenomenal cook, so we are never disappointed when we eat at their house. (I, on the other hand, not so much...Hamburger helper, bertolli, and spaghetti are still my claims to fame.) It's a work in progress.

If you watched the Memphis game last night and are a Memphis fan, you know that the night did not end on the best note. Our friends Ethan and Emily who are die-hard Memphis fans are in supper club with us and were decked out in Tiger Blue. Emily even brought her blue pom-poms to help cheer them on. (I'm not sure if those were the ones she took off her mailbox or her entertainment center or just extra ones she has around the house.) Regardless, I know the loss was tragic for them....There's always next year, guys....

Have a great weekend!

Until next time....

my weekend

2009-03-23T10:19:00.003-05:00

First of all, I just want to say how much I love my mom and mother-in-law. They came over Saturday and worked their fingers to the bone cleaning out our nursery. You might think, cleaning out the nursery, what's the big deal about that? Well, our nursery was completely FULL of wedding gifts, my china, my old school books, Chad's work things, filing cabinets, etc,etc. It was so jam-packed that we could not even walk through it. Not to mention, they also helped me clean out my closets (an ordeal in itself) to make room for maternity clothes and take out all the too small clothes (or ones that will be this summer.) Since I am somewhat of a packrat, I find myself "cleaning out my closet" very frequently, but usually only end up with 2 0r 3 things that I am willing to part with. The presence of my mother helped tremendously with my packratness!
Also on their to do list was cleaning my bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, buying me lunch and dinner (yum...Colton's fried pickles) and who knows what else they did while I was "resting" on the couch for a bit. They are absolutely god-sends, and we feel so lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive pair of women in our lives!

So, with the nursery so empty, it made me antsy to get it ready for baby. So...yesterday, I ordered the furniture! I ended up going with the Morgan collection in espresso (dark wood), and now we are just waiting on it to arrive! It is all becoming so much more of a reality now, and we are counting down the months before he or she arrives!

One downside of the weekend...I got a ticket on Sunday crossing the bridge, so don't speed if you are in between West Memphis and the Memphis bridge. There is apparently one mile in that stretch where the speed limit is not 65, but 55, and the Arkansas State Police finds that it can meet their quota for tickets for the month there, but whatever....My apologies if you or one of your family members work for them. I'm just a little ticked about the whole incident.

If you are off on spring break this week, I am jealous, but hope you have a great week!

still working on it....

2009-03-20T16:13:00.005-05:00

Hey all!

Well as you can see, I have been working on the blog layout. It is still not exactly where I want it, but I will get there. Thanks Paula for directing me to the sites, I think I just need to play around some more with them!

Countdown to finding out the sex of the baby stands at T-minus 1 week and 3 days! Yay! We absolutely cannot wait. When they do this ultrasound, the doctor says they will be primarily checking to make sure all the organs are functioning where they should be, the heart has 4 chambers, etc, etc. So please say a prayer for us that our sweet little one is making good progress! Chad and I have grown quite fond of calling the baby "Lil Baby G" but maybe when we find out the sex we will actually call it by it's name...after we get that figured out.

We also picked out our nursery furniture this week, sortof....Actually, I'm still trying to decide between two, so any input is appreciated! Whatever we order, it will be in espresso (dark brown). I was IN LOVE with the different colored sets (pink, green changing table) but my mom tried to bring me back to reality by explaining that we will be needing to re-use this furniture and pink furniture is not practical for a boy and vice versa....So once we decide on one of these, we plan on ordering it after my mom and I get the nursery cleaned out this weekend.

If you can't see the furniture in the pictures, they are here. One is the Tori collection and the other is the Morgan collection. Also, if anyone has heard bad things about their furniture, please let me know! I want to get something that is good quality as well as affordable. I am finding out that babies are VERY expensive, before they even get here!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a happy first day of spring!

First ever blog

2009-03-03T15:59:00.000-06:00

Ok, so for the record, I would just like to say that I have been trying to make my blog look pretty for, um, about 10 days now. I just can't get it! I found a really cute template that I wanted to use, but after getting it onto this site, half of my original (ugly) template was popping through! So, I just decided I would go ahead and post and maybe someone will feel sorry for me and help me make it pretty! (please...??)

I have been reading several other people's blogs for some time now, and after finding out that we are expecting in August, I thought that this would be a great way to share our lives and pictures with friends and family that we might not get to see as often as we like. So here it is!

First of all, since the date of my inaugural blog just happens to fall on the night after "The Bachelor" finale, I feel obligated to contribute my two cents about this 3 hour world-changing event. I have watched this show religiously since the start of this season, and just knew that my favorite sweet southern girl Melissa was a shew in. Well, she was, and Jason proposed to her, only to change his mind six weeks later and decide to go back to Molly. Yowza! I definitely didnt see that coming. But let's face it, this man HAS been married, divorced, on the television show The Bachelorette, proposed to the Bachelorette, on the Bachelor, proposed again on The Bachelor, and changed his mind all within a relatively short time period. It is exhausting to think what he has been through. I would probably make poor decisions had I gone through all this as well. I think he just might be a bit confused.... I did decide to boycott this series for good, but that will be only after I watch the who knows how long "The Bachelor After the Final Rose, Part 2" tonight. Who knows what will happen?? It is definitely high class entertainment.....

Until next time.....