Some Answers...

Once upon a time, long, long ago, I posted asking y'all what you liked to read about on this here blog, (more out of curiosity than anything), and asking if y'all had any questions for me.

While it seems like I surely forgot all about that post, I did not!  In fact it has been driving me absolutely crazy that I haven't responded to it before now!  I honestly think about it all. the. time.  I just haven't had time to sit down and answer the questions, and pull pictures to go with it.  Who likes a post without pictures? haha But husband is off work today, and trying to put sweet baby boy down for a nap, (always a challenge!!!), so I'm taking a little bit to get this done with so I can cross it off my to-do list! :)

First of all, thank you to all that commented on the post!  I love reading comments even if I don't always get back to answering them!  Which actually brings me to another question, what is the best way to respond to comments??  I used to try and email everyone back, but not everyone has their email address tied to their blogger profile, so they don't get the emails.  Then I set it up where I could reply to a comment at the end of a post, but then I think, honestly who is going to come back here and check to see if I responded to their comment?  I'm so confused by the whole thing!

Alllright...

Sweet boy this morning. 

About Henry...  I'm SO glad that y'all like seeing pictures of him! ;)  This is the easiest way for me to share pictures with my family who we don't get to see often enough.  I really try not to make it all about him all the time, but I don't think I'm doing a very good job! haha  He is just the center of our world right now, so by default there's lots of talking about him and pictures to go along with it!

About our house...  I was really surprised by how many people said they wanted to see/read more about house projects!  I LOVE decorating projects, but they have definitely been in short supply around here lately!  First is the fact that we have a 4 month old, (how did that happen!  It is going by too fast!!!!), so lots of things in our house have been moved around to accommodate him...

We have a full-size leather recliner, a crib, and a changing table in our bedroom,

and our garden tub has been overtaken with baby whale tub and toys, (this one's not that big of a deal because we never really used it anyway),

there is always a giant quilt with toys on it in the middle our living room floor, and a jumperoo stashed in the corner.

And the second reason we've been slacking in the decorating department, we're moving soon!

Since Henry sleeps in our room, his room is a catch-all for packed boxes.  I still can't bring myself to take down all the things in his room though, even if he's not sleeping in it.  I love this room!!  You can see more of it in this post.

We're still not sure where exactly, (talk about some stress!), but we rent our house and our lease is up in a couple short months and we're not interested in resigning for a new year.  I'm one of those freak-of-nature people who really loves to move, so I'm excited by this.  Having moved about 18 times in my life though, I know exactly how long it takes to pack up a house, and how little free time I have with a baby in the house, so I've been slowly packing things up here and there.  It started with crystal and china serving pieces, and has now moved on to things that are purely decorative.  It doesn't thrill me to live without all our house pretties for a few months, but I know that it's easier to pack them up and get them out of the way, so that our essentials can be packed more quickly when the time comes.  I did realize this week just how fast June flew by, and how little free time we have in July, so I probably need to step the packing up a little bit.

You can bet that when we do move, I'll be back with tons of house projects in the new house!!!  I'm excited just thinking about it! :)


About recipes... Husband and I have really been trying to cut out all processed foods from our diet lately.  It's hard, but kind of exciting, and I LOVE fresh fruits and veggies, so it's not been too bad!  Henry has a sensitivity to all things dairy and since I'm still breastfeeding that means no milk, cheese, sour cream, and worst of all ice cream for me!  These two factored together have really changed how we eat so, so much!

Breakfast one day last week - An omelette with cilantro pesto in the eggs, (that's why they're green!), red onion, tomato, less than a Tablespoon of Monterey Jack cheese, and avocado, with a home made corn tortilla.  Delicious!!!  (Also, UGH my kitchen table is in dire need of refinishing!!!)

I've been trying lots of new dishes out lately, and have some recipes that I really want to share with y'all if I ever have the time to write everything up!  I feel like most of the recipes I've posted before have been pretty easy, and I'm not sure how more complicated ones would be received.  Are y'all interested in some recipes that might take a few more steps, but are super healthy??

Love that sweet little fluffy bum!  This was when he was only 2 weeks old!

About cloth diapers...  Posts about cloth diapers are coming!!  Yes, that's posts plural!!  I'm so excited that there were people that wanted to read more about our experiences with cloth diapers!  We love them so, so much, I'm stoked to get to share more with y'all!  I started trying to write a post about them over a month ago, and it got so ridiculously long that I'm in the process of breaking it up into several posts.  Soon we'll have a cloth diaper week!  :)

Husband and I, (and Henry at 19 weeks in-utero), at a Rangers game last year!

Where do we like to sit at the Ballpark at Arlington, (where the Texas Rangers play!!)?  

First of all, this might be my favorite question that was asked!  We love some Texas Rangers in this house!!!  We like to sit in the sections that are dark green on this map, on the first base side.  The view is great, (all the pictures from this post were taken from this section), and the seats aren't too expensive!  If you sit back far enough, there's even a little shade on the seats, which is always welcome when it's over 100 out! ;)  Go Rangers! 

What surprised me most about being a mom?

What a loaded question!  This one is so hard!  I am constantly surprised by things every day!  I think the thing that really surprises me most though is the power of maternal instinct.  As a planner and researcher, I tried to read every thing possible on the topic of babies while I was pregnant and even since I've had Henry.  I am continually amazed how many thing just come naturally though.  I try to remember daily that no book is going to have a one-size-fits-all approach to parenting.  My husband and I know our child better than anyone, and we know what works for him and what is best for him.  I've also learned that I can be quite the momma bear when someone tries to challenge me on something in regards to his well-being. ;)

Kind of a side note to this, in the past few days I read a book that I highly recommend!  I thought it was so incredibly fascinating, (though part of that could be my sociology degree coming out!), and a reminder that there are so many different correct ways to raise a child!  I think in a lot of ways it's freeing to be reminded of this every once in a while! :)  So if you're looking for a book to read, look into How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm And Other Adventures in Parenting.

What are some of my favorite places to shop?

Oh shopping, how I miss thee! haha  Really, I don't have much time to shop these days!  Pre-baby I mostly shopped at Target, JCrew, Dillard's, REI, and Eddie Bauer for clothes.  While I was pregnant I discovered the wonderfulness that is online shopping! haha!  Because clothes still don't fit me well, (I've lost all the baby weight plus another 10-12 pounds, but clothes just fit awkwardly right now!), I mostly buy things for Henry lately! ;)  I'm pretty sure our UPS/FedEx/Mailmen think I own stock in Amazon and Zulily.  

What blogs do I read regularly?

I think this is answer falls kind of into categories.  I mostly read blogs of sweet girls I went to high school with, house blogs, and a few mommy blogs.  But here are some of my favs, (you can check out more on the right side of the page)!

Girls I Went to High School With

Harvest Home

In This Wonderful Life

Lauren Spindle: Artist Blog

Modern-Day Family

The Babbling Brunette

The Letz Family

The Young and the Precious

Willis & TBoff

House Blogs

Young House Love

A Country Farmhouse

House of Turquoise

Cote de Texas

Little Green Notebook

Tobi Fairley

Pure Style Home

Hooked on Houses

I think that just about covers it! :)  Big thank you to all those that provided feedback!  So sorry that some of my answers are pretty lame! haha

Happy Monday!

Jennifer

  

Overalls

Henry is channelling his GrandDaddy today...

He has on his overalls and he's ready to go work on the farm.

Once all the work is done, he can don his camo and Carhartts and head out to the woods.  ;)

I love little boys in overalls!  Henry has several pair that are bigger, but these are the first pair that he's been able to fit into, so I had to take a picture.

The Carhartt diaper cover was a Christmas gift to him from my parents.  They first saw the diaper cover when I was pregnant before we even found out we were having a boy, and I think decided we would be getting it whether we had a boy or a girl.  ;)  Husband and my Daddy are both big Carhartt fans, so it's very appropriate.

Good to know that even though we live smack in the middle of suburbia Henry has a little down home country boy in him somewhere. ;)

Jennifer

Memorial Day

I was looking at the calendar a couple months ago and realized that Memorial Day falls right in between my birthday and my sister-in-law Haley's birthday, and that my brother, Jordan was actually off work for Memorial Day weekend!  So we asked if they wanted to come up and see us.

Well, my parents were not about to miss out on spending time with their granddaughter, so they were up for a weekend here as well.

With all our of out-of-town immediate family coming, I knew my brothers that live in the area would probably want to visit also, so we ended up with a house FULL for Memorial Day weekend.

I honestly wish I had taken pictures of all the food that we made!!  Whenever my family is all together, you can bet there will be some good food!!  On Sunday night we had chicken teriyaki, fried rice, stir-fried water spinach, homemade egg rolls, shrimp dumplings, and some rainbow slaw.  I don't have a single picture of all that deliciousness because I was putting Henry to bed right about the time everyone else was eating dinner, and that food did not stick around long!

I do have pictures of cake however! Because Memorial day fell right between Haley's birthday and my birthday, we decided that we would make birthday cakes and switch! ;)  Haley made the absolute most heavenly coconut cake I've ever had!  It was soo incredibly delicious!!  I'm very thankful I waited to look at the recipe until after I was done eating it! ;)

I made vanilla cakes with strawberries, whipped cream cream cheese icing, and white chocolate.  Yum!!

On Memorial Day Jonathan got up early and made pulled pork in the crock-pot and for lunch we had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, grilled corn salad, leftover rainbow slaw, and my momma's potato salad.  Delish!

Other than eat, we spent all weekend around the house.  Henry got to play with his cousin Adelaide when one of the two wasn't napping.  The last time we saw her was the day after Henry was born and we were still in the hospital, they've both grown so much!!

 Miss Kitty spent the weekend sleeping on a bed of everyone's shoes by the front door.

Remember when I made the owl taggies for Henry and Adelaide?  Well, Henry has yet to care anything about his, but Adelaide loves hers! :)  Here she is munching on it!

Isn't she gorgeous?  I love her big, beautiful eyes!

And since the whole family was in the same place at the same time we had to take some family pictures!  I was doing lighting tests, and ended up with this one of my dad and brother Joshua that cracks me up:

 Here is the whole crew:

 And here is an outtake picture, that's not great, but it makes me laugh.  I get all these group shots, (and most of the pictures of me, husband, and Henry), with the use of a tripod and a remote for my camera.  It works well, but I still have to do a lot of running back and forth to check lighting, make sure everyone's in the shot, see if we've gotten a good picture yet, and so forth.  Well, one time I set off to check the camera and was immediately jerked back!  Henry had a big hand full of my ponytail and was not letting go!!

 Miss Adelaide Elizabeth.  Man, if looks could kill! haha

My youngest brother, (I'm trying to get out of the habit of saying "little brother" when referring to him and Joshua, because they're almost a foot taller than me!), his wife Haley, and Adelaide. 

My parentals.

My middle younger brother Joshua, and his girlfriend Catie.

They're so incredibly photogenic!!  This next picture is my favorite though! ;)

Me and my brothers.  From L-R, Jordan, me, Joshua, and James.  Yes, we're all J's. ;)  For the record I had on 4 inch wedge sandals in this picture.  That's how short I am. haha

The husband, me, and sweet Henry with a crazy look on his face.  It was a little warm and bright outside.

Joshua has a collection of old cameras, and he actually uses them!  So while I was taking pictures with my DSLR, he had this monstrosity out! haha I love it!

As evidence from the above picture, Joshua is interested in photography, and my brother Jordan is too.  They always harass me because I "don't know how to use my camera", (I'm getting better though!!).  I caught both of them playing with my camera and new lens during the course of the weekend, but didn't think anything about it.  When I uploaded the pictures to the computer though, I came across several I know I didn't take!  This was one of my favorites. :)

Hooray for family and holiday weekends!!  

Jennifer

Happy First Father's Day

...to my amazing husband.  Throughout all our years of trying to get pregnant, I used to get so sad thinking about the prospect of my husband never being able to be a father.  I just knew in my heart he would be an absolutely amazing dad.  I was so, so right.  Seeing him with Henry has been so incredible to watch, and makes me love him even more every day, which I didn't think was even possible.

From the moment we found out we were going to have a baby, he was so incredibly excited.  And when we found out we were having a boy, he was completely over the moon.

For the record, I think he would have been just as ecstatic about a girl, and she would have had him even more tightly wrapped around her finger, (if that's at all possible).


The moment Henry was born, it was love at first sight.

Husband was one smitten kitten.  

I think these two have an extra close bond because for the first few weeks of Henry's life I was recovering from my c-section, and husband was the one really doing the majority of the care-taking.

Henry was almost 2 weeks old when I changed my first diaper, no lie!

Those first few weeks, they spent hours napping together, while I rested and recuperated.

Husband was also the official baby-bather the first few weeks, when I was pretty terrified of dropping a wet, slipper newborn.  (This is really making me sound like a slacker Momma, huh?!)

And, as Henry has grew out of the newborn phase, he found a perfect play mate in his Daddy.  

While I've known for years that I am so unbelievably blessed to have my husband as my spouse, I'm pretty sure Henry might be even more blessed to have him as his father.  

He will get to grow up with a Daddy who takes care of him:

Supports him,

Makes sure he's clean,

And well-fed,

Listens to him, 

Plays with him,

Sings him worship songs praising our Lord and Savior,

Keeps him from running positively wild,

Tells him all about the greatness of Texas sports,

Encourages him to get out and enjoy the great outdoors,

Makes him laugh,

Carries him when times get rough,

And most importantly loves him like no other...

Happy 1st Father's Day!  Henry and I love you ever so much!!!


Also, Happy Father's Day to my Daddy-o!

This picture is from Memorial Day this year, (which I still need to do a recap of!).  The older I get the more I appreciate my parents, and realize that not everyone has parents as great as mine!  I had to go to the ER on Thursday, (long story that I'll probably write more on later this week), and ended up having to have an endoscopy done at about 10:00 Thursday night.  My dad was in Louisiana on business, but he and my mom still dropped everything and drove up here.  They did the same thing when I had my c-section.  He's also helped me and my brothers move approximated 2,476 total times, and makes the best homemade biscuits.

Love them both. :)

Jennifer