Over the River and through the woods.....

to Grandmothers house we go!!!!

We are off to Grandmas.

and we are packed, dressed, ready and SOOO excited! (try not to gauge actual excitement from picture!)

See you in a few days with pictures of our adventures with Grandma, Pa and Aunt Nora.

By the way....I am soooo proud of myself...I made HOMEMADE Ravioli last night!!! Yep, even the pasta for the ravioli was made from scratch. Go me! It was really yummy too. I only did it bc I had leftover ricotta/spinach mixture from the chicken dinner I cooked a day or so ago.

ALSO...GO JACKSON!!! Look what you did Monday...

Anything to get closer to Pete huh?

You rolled over from your back to tummy without ANY help from me for the first time! You are just growing up soo fast, I cant believe that in a week you will be 5 months old!!

What to title this post...hmmmm

How about Birthday Party/Fun with Cousins/Mom wont stop taking pictures of me/...well you get the picture (no pun intended).

First I want to quickly enlighten you on a few things exciting from my world (Lindsey...not mom). Before I got preggers I loved and I mean LOVED cooking up yummy/innovative dishes for Taylor and I. I would find a recipe and then twist it to make it my own piece or just come up with something random. Some turned out DELICIOSO and some..well... think taste bud disaster. So when I got pregnant I was either too nauseous or tired to really get into cooking. Then after Jackson was born, I was either too tired or living on borrowed time to make anything really creative. So Thu on the cooking blog I have linked here and on my blog list I made the spinach and ricotta cheese stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon. I did my own thing to it and OMG HEAVEN!!! Needless to say my hubby was very happy his ol wife returned. So try out the dish, and if your like me, add your own favorite things to it (that go with it of course). I served it with my homemade caesar salad and some yummy croissant rolls I had spread a layer of garlic cheese butter on and then rolled up to bake. OMG AGAIN!!! It was all a hit! Only thing missing was a good glass of red.

Second thing I wanted to tell you was I AM NOW IN LOVE and I mean LOVE with Wet Ones Wipes. They really get out EVERYTHING. How many of us girls put on our outfit in a hurry and we find ourselves looking at :

Deodorant on our clothes AGHHHH?

Truly nothing really gets it off quick other than water + towell + time. SO annoying. So I found myself in this dilema on my way to church with deodorant on the bottom of my black dress. I had some Wet Ones in my diaper bag so scrubbed I did and voila:

No more deodorant!!! YAY!! Who knew they would be so awesome for that purpose?

( I do not take pictures of clothes with deodorant stains on them first, I took it bc I saw it worked on the other stain first, got excited and needed to share with you all!)

Now onto the Jackson stuff because that is really what this blog is all about! Saturday we went to my niece Isabella's 7th (I cant believe she is that old already) Birthday. It was in Austin where she lives so we drove up there with my dad, AKA "Pop".

There was Jumping (it was at a jumping place),

Face Painting,

Pizza,

Presents,

AND a sleeping baby who got so excited that when the rush wore off, it was time to crash!

After the party, we went back to The Brogna's house so we could visit more.

Whoa, WHAT is so colorfull on your face?.....

I would like to touch it or eat it thank you!

Candid Shots from Davis (photographer to be at age 4) YES I let him have my camera, I think his dog Daisy may be blinded from the flash so many pics were taken of her. Pretty good pictures too...I think!

His self portrait:

We had such a good time and wished we had packed bags so we could have stayed the night. Isabella and Davis love Jackson, and the way he was smiling at them, I would say he loves them too! Such a great day and he slept the WHOLE way back from Austin.

And of course, I always have to wrap up the blog post with more pictures of my love:

Hope everyone had a great weekend. This week we are taking a trip to Tyler to see my mom for a few days. It will be nice to have some "mom" and for jackson, some "grandma" time!

H.E.B. Riding Style and a Play-Date

I decided that since Jackson was doing such a good job of sitting up that I would be brave and have him take a ride in H.E.B. the grown up style. I admit I was a little overzealous seeing as he cant really sit on his own truly yet. Due to side falling and not being able to push himself back up! Well anyways, the pictures say it all:

Wait, Im supposed to sit like this???

So this is what the grocery store looks like...wow....

I think I prefer being laid out, thank you very much. Nice try though mom.

So as you can see, it started okay but he ended up liking the last pictures grocery cart style the best. I think it was somewhere between the cheese and deli meat I realized, I cannot efficiently shop with him like this...and it was somewhere in between the beans and rice that I realized when I turned my back he could lean over to the side and put the metal of the grocery cart in his mouth AGHHHHHH!!! Yeah I kinda freaked over that, wiped out his mouth with him laughing and smiling at me and am now watching like an eagle for any deformities to occur bc of grocery cart germs! So far, no extra foot or tongue..whew!

Today we had a playdate over at Kristen's house with her adorable little one Cassidy. There were 9 other girls there with their babies and toddlers. Maranda brought Jake and Lori brought Grant. There were mostly babies around Jackson's age. We attempted a few pics:

Here is the first, all are happy and content!

Not everyone so content, but had to include this;

check out my son next to Cassidy (in yellow).

His dad would be proud, he was totally sticking his hand up her shirt,

mom...not proud so much. ;)

Jackson and Cassidy holding hands. Awwww!

The VERY cool ball with noise and rattles in it had all the kids interested.

Jackson and Grant, still interested in the ball!

Today has been good so far. He is waking up from his nap now so off I go. Courtney is about to stop by with the little bean in her belly. Aiden is due in the beginning of the year!We are going to my niece, Isabella's jumping party tomorrow, YAY! Have a great weekend!

These days go by so fast,

They really, really do. I cannot believe it is already Wednesday and it seemed like it was just Saturday morning! I really don't think we are even that busy, and the days still just blow past. We have had a relaxing week so far. Taylor had Monday off so we piddled around the house, had lunch with some friends, went to Lowe's to price lumber (more on that later) and made a pit stop at Target. I love it when he is home during the week. Its nice to have a buddy to hang out with during the day and run errands with. Jackson of course loves it too. I think he was a little bit of a Daddy's boy on Monday to be honest!

Jackson hasn't been upset or fussy since Sunday, I haven't been giving him cereal so I have no idea if that was it or if it was just a rare fluke that made him feisty and uncomfortable! I am going to try giving him some cereal tomorrow or Friday and we will see if he responds well to it in the aftermath! Keep you fingers crossed we don't have another upset tummy! If we do, at least I will know that that was what it was.

I caught Jackson going to town in his jumper today and got a small bit of it on the video.

Normally when he sees the camera out he stops to give you a serious look, but he didnt seem to mind it so much today! AND yes my living room has been transformed to a child's play arena. Thus brings me to the lumber pricing we did on Monday. We have decided to turn our formal living room into a playroom. The problem I have been struggling with is the fact that it is also our formal dining room too with a large and nice dining room table, buffet, and sitting area with coffee table in it. SOOOO at 11 o'clock at night this last weekend I had a creative brain wave. I figured out a way to incorporate it all but have it still look nice. We have been wanting to stain the buffet (its an old family piece) and coffee table to match the DR table, so why not build and stain some bookshelves to put on each side of the buffet, which I can then put baskets in with toys in them. We can set a small flat screen on top of the buffet (which I don't use to store my china in anyways..its empty) so they (Jackson and future children God willing) can watch videos if they want. We will also build a small bookshelf for books to sit in the middle part of the bay window in there. Im really excited about this and Taylor thinks that with his amazingness (wink wink) and the help of REALLY wonderful friends or family members (hint hint) that we can build and do it ourselves. So here we go, in uncharted building territory. Hopefully we can get it done before Christmas since all the family is coming here, and I have a feeling Jackson might get a few more toys. I am, however, keeping in mind how long it took him ( I love you honey) to get the armoire stripped and stained for Jackson's room. Yes it took an emotional meltdown on my part to light the fire for that one to get finished. The meltdown went something like this (Heavy breathing, near neurotic) : "You dont understand my need for this room to be finished before my last shower. I HAVE to have everything done so I can put the babies stuff in the room...you just need to accept this and please get it done"( I really do not think I was that nice, but this blog is G rated and I dont quite remember the night in question...blank spots) I was 8 months preggers at this point and panicking over not being able to "nest" in Jacksons room! So wish us luck! Pray for us too, we will need it! Between my bossiness (yes I know,shocking that Im bossy huh?) and Taylor's bad habit of putting things together backwards, it will be interesting.

Enjoy these few pictures, I just love this guy so much, it is becoming a real treat to take pictures of him, in each one I just want to squeeze him!

Laughing and playing with me one morning!

Loving this rare moment on his tummy...it didnt last long!

He had been sitting, and he fell. When he did, this is how he landed, right on the pillow on the mat. So he just layed there an watched the TV. It was so funny. He was quite content!

To wrap it up.....

Ill try to make this short (who am I kidding, really), seriously though I will try.

Here is the review of the last couple days...wrapped up nicely in a bundle by the this super tired mommy:

Last week we introduced the little guy to Guacamole. Well, really Avocados, but down here we say Guacamole. Pop has been chomping at the bit to get some to the little guy and finally it was time so of course he got to do the honors at our old hole in the wall stand by we eat at almost every week, Juan's. The avocado was a hit. He only tried it that one time though, so when we pick it back up we will see if he still likes it!

Jackson then moved on to Sweet Potatoes today. HOMEMADE Sweet Potatoes my friends. Check out the process below:

Make sure baby is happy and begin dicing potatoes.

Check

Steam potatoes

Check.

Blend up the steamed potatoes to consistency I want.

Check.

Put in tray for easy freezing and eating.

Check.

Feed to Baby

Check.

Hmmmmmmm Thinking...

Check.

Satisfaction. Sweet Potatoes for the Sweet....

Successful! (talk about alliteration in that sentence!)

Check.

Oh last night. What a night. We had a rough go of it. Jackson had an upset stomach and he was really having a hard time drinking his bottle and going to sleep. I think I counted 3 feeding attempts, 5 putting to bed attempts, milicon, LOTS of love and rocking. All of this lasted from about 6:45 till when he finally went down to bed at 10:45. The last hour up was a good one, he was in my bed with me watching Baby Einstein. Taylor was gone so that kind of made things a little more stressful for me. Thank Goodness Maranda and Jake had come over to hang out, she was a good shoulder to cry on and Jake is the sweetest, he climbed up on my lap when I was a little teary from the stress of it all. Thanks guys for being there for me and Jackson. He is still having issues today so I am going to lay off the food for a few days and see if that helps. I think Ill call the doctor in a few days also if it isnt better. I just dont think its normal for him to cry, squirm and not want the bottle at EVERY feeding. So thats the yucky part, but lots of good things to be thankful for. Here is one I am thankful moment: Uncle Troy and Aunt Chelsea came over to babysit this afternoon while Taylor and I went to go see the Harry Potter movie. Which was a nice little break, love that one on one time with one of the two best guy's in the whole world. (The other is Jackson of course:))

So thats it, the last couple days, all wrapped up in a nice little bundle. Much like this bundle here:

Nice bundle huh?

Oh Goody!!!!

I know I said I wasn't going to update until Saturday...yeah right! This blog entry I am soooo excited about though. Over at Kelly's Corner, for the weekly "Show us your Life" its Baby Shower ideas....YAY!!!! Be sure to stop by her blog and click on one of the many other blogger links to get some more ideas.

Mainly I am excited about this because I had really great baby showers and I havent found a way to put them in the blog yet, seeing as I had already had Jackson when I started this thing that I am now obsessed with. Soooo here are some pictures and ideas from my baby showers that just sent me over the top with appreciation and love for my friends and family.

First I will start by saying this is Jackson's room. I LOVE THIS ROOM!!!

The bedding came from Baby Gap and is Baby Safari animals. So several of my showers had a "safari" like theme or touches of "safari" in them so they could give me the decorations as a added gift.

At the Bunco Shower, on each table they put recieving blankets with fun designs on them as the table cloths and put a few stuffed Safari animals on each table to go with the theme of Jacksons room. All the food was "baby". Baby Carrots, Baby Back Ribs, etc....One of the most creative gifts I recieved was a flower pot made with "onesie" flowers inside it. I loved it and Janice did an excellent job on it! What a sweet gift.

The couples shower was hosted by my best friends Maranda, Lauren, Brooke and Charlsie. Some of Taylor's and my closest friends were there to celebrate Jackson's upcoming arrival. Not only did they make fabulous lasagna (4 or 5 different types) but they ordered my favorite cake from Austin and brought it down for the occasion. YUMMY!!!

Chocolate cake with Amaretto Creme Filling and Fudge Icing...need I say more?

My best girlfriends in the whole world.

The Family Shower was hosted by My mom Diana and two Sister in laws Chelsea and Jordan. It was so full of creative, and special touches. Every thing about this shower made me feel special and loved. Here are some pictures with the details that go with it.

The entry way, with amazing flowers my mom arranged, and cake balls put in little baggies for everyone to take home with them.

This runner was made by Jordan to match the color theme of the shower.

Cake Balls: MY FAVORITE!! Chelsea made these..yummy.

Chelsea made these little blocks, painted them. On one side is scrapbook paper, and on another side is a hand painted safari animal and on another side is a letter of his name.

This is going up the stairs in my house. On the first bannister my mom tied baby toys with toole (Sp?)

At the top of the stairs Chelsea had taken baby pictures of Taylor and I and printed them sepia toned, and put them on scrapbook paper then tied them up with twine. We still have the pictures and several are on our fridge!

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at the showers and getting ideas, I know I cannot wait till some more of my friends have babies so I can now use some of these ideas for them. It makes a special and exciting time even more special when you have loved ones who go out of their way to make it a happy day for you and your little one!

Thanks to all who helped make that time in our life special to us! We love you all.