4 months

li'l j is 4 months old today. i can't believe he's been here a third of a year already. he is seriously the cutest thing. he has lost most of the hair on top of his head, so he looks like a little old man. his hair looks like it is coming in kind of blonde, which i am sure will be cute, but i was kind of hoping at least a little of his quarter mexican-ness would shine through. and he is kind of a chunk. we went for his appointment today, and he is already 17lb 11oz which is the 95th percentile. he's also 95th for length, so at least he is proportionate.

we have swaddled him in the miracle blanket since he was about a month old, and we gave up on it a couple of nights ago because he started getting out of it before he even went to sleep. he has been waking up every three hours since then. i told this to the doc today thinking she would say that we should keep him unswaddled, but instead she said to wrap him tightly with another blanket first, then put him in the miracle blanket so he couldn't get out. she said she sure would not be getting up every three hours to put a paci back in. she cracks me up.

sadly, j is starting daycare soon. he also quit taking a bottle. this is not awesome. it is my fault for being lazy about bottle giving this summer. i have less than a month to get this straightened out, or he is going to be his teacher's worst nightmare. the doctor said we may have to give him food during the day and let him drink in the morning and evening if he refuses, but i really REALLY just want him to take the bottle.

here is the most recent picture i have of him. i need to be better about taking more.




and one more...

summer days

so jon got me an ipad2 after jack was born. it was sort of a "push present" if you will. i like to think of it as a "you might as well face the fact that you are never getting an iPhone" gift. i have come to terms with the fact that i will be one of the last flip phone, non data plan cell phone users around. we are a dying breed. anywho, i am loving the iPad because i can take pictures and video of jack with it and e-mail them in a flash. the picture quality sucks, but who needs good quality when the subject is so cute? not me.

since i have been off work for the sum, we have been having some photo shoots. jack enjoys them for the most part, and yesterday he looked especially shootable in his hat. i am loving that he doesn't know how to take it off yet. also loving the double chin.

shark attack

this guy went for his first swim last week. this was his expression the whole time. there were no screams, so i would call it a success.

announcement

Baby Boy Name Birth Announcement

Find 100's of cute birth announcements at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

jack

two weeks ago, we welcomed our son to this crazy world. he is seriously the cutest thing, which makes the past couple of weeks completely worth it. i mean, it would be worth it even if he wasn’t that cute, but he is.

jack (jonathan andrew cook, jr.) was due to arrive on march 24, but i had started progressing quite early and was almost 3 cm dilated at 36 weeks and measuring way big. this sent me into a panic as i had really hoped to work up to his due date so i wouldn’t have to go back to work so long at the end of the year; therefore, i really did not have much ready. i had a sono to make sure he was alright, and he was almost 8 pounds already. i really thought i would go into labor at any second. we went to a childbirth class to understand what to expect, and what we learned was that no matter what we had lined out in our minds, we have zero control of actual outcomes. our experience was NOTHING like what we sat 8 hours through to learn in that class. loved the class, but it made dying to what i had hoped for in a birth experience a little harder to do.

at my 38 week appointment, my doctor told me she had scheduled me to be induced the next week – a week early. didn’t ask me, just told me. she thought jack would be rather large, and my blood pressure was starting to rise some. i DID NOT want to be induced. i tried everything i could that week to go into labor naturally. jackie wanted to stay in though. jon and i went in to my 39 week appt. to find out what to expect the next day – induction day. my doctor mentioned an elective c-section. another piece of my expectations died. she did not say i had to have one but mentioned concerns with jack’s shoulders getting stuck. i told her i would rather not have the c-section, but then started second-guessing myself. i felt like she was saying i couldn’t push a 9 pound baby out. i also felt i was risking my son’s body. i was not feeling confident.

on march 18, 2011, we checked into baylor hospital at 6 a.m. anxious to finally meet our baby boy. they hooked me up to monitors, and i was actually already having contractions that were 3 to 5 minutes apart, they just weren’t that strong. i had decided that i didn’t want the epidural until i really thought i needed it. the doctor broke my water and started pitocin, and i got through a couple of hours and to 5 cm before i thought i should probably start the epidural process. especially if it was going to be a long day. it took them 6 tries and 45 minutes to get the epidural in. one doctor told the other that he was “struggling”. not what you want to hear when someone is poking a needle in your spine. after a while, my bottom half was uncomfortably numb. i asked them to turn it down some, and then after a bit they turned it back up when the pain was more intense. i dilated pretty quickly, but jack decided to turn face up at some point during the day, so i had to “labor down” for a while to see if he would flip face down, which he eventually did.

finally, at 4 p.m. i got to start pushing. they said i was doing it perfectly, but i couldn’t feel it. i asked after a while for my epidural to be turned down some again so i could feel some sensation. it was a lot better when i could feel, but had i known how long i would be pushing, i probably would have reconsidered. my doctor came in at 6 and said she would give me 30 more minutes. she helped me push for a while, and they could see his head. meanwhile my epidural was way wearing off and my doctor had to leave to deliver another baby. not cool, because i knew 30 minutes had passed and i needed her to tell me what to do. he was not coming out. she finally showed up around 7 and told me that i had done everything i could. i was completely worn out from pushing for 3 hours and had developed a fever. she said she could get him with the forceps, but again was worried about his shoulders getting stuck. she said c-section, i agreed.

it took a while to get prepped. this anesthesiologist wanted to be extra careful because of what had happened to me in the morning. jon had to take down his camera set-ups and change into scrubs, pack our crap back up, and put it in the recovery room. he waited out in the hall until they called him into the operating room – the only thing that was the same as what we learned in the class was where he would be standing to wait if i had to have a c-section. i was drugged and completely out of it. i could still carry on conversations, but it did not feel like me.

they asked me if i wanted music on. i said i didn’t care. they listed choices. all i could think was to wonder if they seriously were asking me about music when they were about to cut me open and pull a baby out of me after pushing for 3 hours. jon chose sting.

after a few minutes they said jon could take pictures. he actually took video. it’s disturbing, but so amazing to watch the birth of little jack. he was so big that they had to use a vacuum to get him out. it looks awful. they finally got him out and i heard his squeal for the first time. tears came to my eyes. i knew he was out, but nothing else. couldn’t see anything. they didn’t put him to my chest like they would have in a vaginal birth. i just had to listen to the voices around me to hear about him. he was born at 8:31 p.m. and was 9 pounds exactly, HUGE hands and feet. they had to give him some air, so the protocol was that he had to go to the nursery instead of coming to the recovery room with me. jon held him up to my head for a couple of minutes, and our first family of 3 photos are of me on an operating table, jon in scrubs with his face covered, and our sweet baby boy with goop in his eyes. my doctor said my labor/delivery was what would be called an ass whipping, and that he was too big to come out of my too flat pelvis. i was still completely out of it and starting to shake uncontrollably. they took him away and took me to recovery.

my parents came in to see me. i don’t remember talking to them much, but i told them to go see jack at the nursery. my sweet friends were at the hospital all day long, much of the day with their kids. they stayed till the end, which blessed me so much. i was so glad they would get to see jack, even though it was only through a window. the nursery called down and said they were going to give him some formula. i wasn’t the first one to feed my baby.

finally, a little after 11, they wheeled me up to my room and a few minutes later they brought him in. he is wonderful. they said i could feed him. i wondered how to do that, but then just did it. they took him away a couple of hours later since we were still kind of out of it. they said they would give him a bath. in the childbirth class, they said jon would give him his first bath. oh well.

our first days with jack have been a roller coaster of emotions. i love him so much. i bawled when they brought him in with lights and an eye mask due to jaundice. i have bawled when he cries his horrific cry that hurts your ears and i don’t know what to do. there are so many things to keep an eye on with a newborn. so many things i feel that i am not competent to do, but i have to just do them and be confident in being the mom i was created to be. i’ve already done things i swore i would never do. we’re just doing what works for baby j. we’ve got a lot of learning to do to see what exactly that is. Lord, help us.

2010

since i didn't quite get around to blogging this year and there are only 2 days left, i will sum up my 2010 in one post...my top 10 of 2010. we'll see if i can get 10 whole things in here. it may be tough. 10 things chronologically...

10) we are ready for a baby!!! weird and sudden.

9) shapes stars make puts out a new album "these mountains are safe." it is amazing.

8) we have a boarder for a few months. he helped us go on vacation :)

7) we celebrate our first anniversary in the great town of frisco, tx. the year went by so fast!

6) we go on an amazing trip for 8 days to new york and boston. we loved every minute.

5) ssm goes on a west coast tour. i went with friends to california to see them in san diego and LA. so much fun...especially the speed tour of LA.

4) i'm pregnant! i found out while jc was on tour. we are having a baby boy due march 24 and his daddy can hardly wait another minute for him to be here. lucky boy.

3) jc and i are both in online school. it was a busy semester of work and school work for us.

2) i go to san diego to visit my fam. my nieces were the cutest ever and i got to be there for ak's 3rd b-day party. sweet times.

1) i graduate from grad school! sweet relief. there's no way i could have done that and had a newborn. oh, and my smart husband is on the president's list. so proud.

2010, you were a pretty good year.

2011, bring it on.

more swellness

jc got me a new camera for my birthday. it's pretty fancy and the pictures i take are really hit or miss. they either look really nice or really blurry. i have to take a ton. jc is much better at taking them. these pics are all from the new cam.

my new niece, jenna grace, was born on september 1. she is such a sweetie. thanks to my sweet husband, i got to go visit them in san diego when she was a month old. she had some problems with the gas, but i loved every minute i got to spend with her and anna. they are cute cute.

we went to the beach, and anna let me take her in the water. daddy was sleeping and mommy was feeding the baby, so i as her choice #3 had to do.

i was taking tons of pictures to test out the camera, and anna kept posing for them. i think she likes the camera.

i traded in my dream car last month. it gave me 3.5 years of convertible fun. i was sad to say good-bye, but excited about my new sedan. i've never had a sedan, and it drives great! i'm so old.

jc and i drove (in my fancy new-ish sedan) to canyon for thanksgiving this year. we had a full house with my bro, sis-in-law and the girls. we played a ton, ate a ton, saw a ton of people in two giant thanksgivings. i even taught anna how to say "go cowboys!" (it sounded like "poppycock!") i can't wait to do it all over again in 3 weeks when we celebrate early christmas. only this time we're flying! that drive is boo-ring.

the swell season

it's been a couple of seasons actually, but swell none the less. jc and i got married and had such a fun wedding mostly due to his rocking playlist. the boy likes to dance, as does his wife. here is a picture of us at our friends' wedding a few years ago before we even started dating followed by us at our wedding. a familiar scene.

when i got out of school, we went on our honeymoon at the tides in lovely zihuatanejo, mexico. it was amidst the mexico swine flu panic of '09, but we braved it out and had a fun, flu-free time. one day, we will buy a condo on the beach and move there. that will be a good day. we loved the town and watching the fishermen. we also loved being waited on hand and foot on the beach. we did not love the birds eating our free breakfast every morning. we relied on those tiny croissants to get us through till lunch. we were definitely out of our league at that place, but it was so fun to live in luxury for a few days.

can't wait to make it back to zihua. or any beach really. i'm not that picky.

we made the blog!

this past week our wedding pictures from our photographer came in. i had been checking her blog for any sign that they would be in soon, and alas we made it! go check it out. i love the pictures...makes me want to learn to take good ones. thanks, lauren!

www.laurenlarsen.com

http://laurenlarsenblog.com

blah blah blog

sooo, it's been a while. a long while. i just haven't felt like i had much interesting to say. right now of all times is when i have the least business being on the computer, but that's probably why i am right now. when i have tons to do, i like to distract myself with less pressing things like blogging, facebook, online shopping, etc. oh well, things will get done. the most pressing thing is that i have to move on the 1st. that would be a wednesday. not an ideal moving day. 

i thought i didn't have much to pack since i've only been in my current place a year (and i'm only moving less than a mile away,) but i worked my buns off after work yesterday for about 3 hours, and it doesn't even look like i put a dent in the place. ugh. my goal today is to get it completely knocked out so i can start concentrating on my next project...thank you notes. it is hard for me to focus on one thing at a time, i do everything at once going back and forth - clean, pack a box, vacuum something, move some stuff around, and then repeat. i also am trying to get every bit of laundry done (even the hand wash stuff that sits in my basket for months until i finally decide it's not really dirty and wear it anyways.) i'm nervous about moving the washer/dryer and getting it hooked up, so i'm just trying to be prepared. although a coworker said to me yesterday that if you can't figure out how to hook up a washer and dryer, then you're a moron. i'm so ready for moving to be over and to be in OUR new place, except that even then i won't really be there. k and k have graciously offered to let me stay with them for 6 weeks until we get married, so jc has the whole huge place to himself for a bit. lucky. i'll post pictures of the new place when i actually get to see it again. i really don't remember what it looks like, so that's kind of scary. 

other happenings include our wedding showers that have happened in the past 3 weeks. my great friends hosted one in dallas, and family friends from home did in canyon. they were both beautiful, and we are so overwhelmed and thankful for the blessing of community and friends. here is a pic from the dallas one. 

my good friend stephanie even drove from houston to be there! sweet friends. we have been blessed with lots of fun new things for our new place, but they've just been sitting in boxes all around my tiny place, so i can't wait to get them out and play. at the showers lots of people asked if i loved to cook a lot since i had received so much kitchen/baking items. i just told them that i was going to start. i really am. no more whole foods every night, we're on a budget! 

really, i'm so ready to just be married already! when that day comes it will mean no more planning (not that i'm planning much right now...it's basically all done), no more living out of a suitcase, 3 weeks until school is out and we get to go on our honeymoon...i'm just ready. 49 more days!

i'm coming home!

jc and i are patiently waiting for our delayed flight from AMA to DAL. we had a big fun time at my parents' house hanging with my fam. we still have lots to do this afternoon when we get back to prepare for more christmas festivities at jon's dad's house tomorrow. the fun just keeps on coming! 

highlights of christmas include getting a wii fit from my parents (shocker! my mom is so persevering!), getting a cool photo album from jc with pics from our nyc trip, playing and playing and playing with sweet anna, and receiving sweet, thoughtful gifts from j and s. we also got to have 3 christmases in one day, celebrating with about 60 of my closest family members. thankfully it was all drama free. whew. in all i had a great and relaxing week, and i can't wait to get home and bust out the wii.

merry christmas.

sick of toilet woes? me too. i'm back. i'm just sitting here relaxing enjoying the 2nd best day of the school year...the day we get out for christmas break. it's such a joyous feeling. this week has been the longest week ever...capped off with my class party which is always a beating. it's only 30 minutes long, but it feels like forever. my favorite part was when i looked over only to see one of my students chugging a plastic thing of juice as the others were standing around him chanting "go! go! go!" he polished it off and let out the hugest burp i've ever heard from a child, which happened to be the 3rd burp of the party. being the grown up in the room, i had to let them know the rudeness of belching, especially when others were trying to enjoy their ever so tasty grocery store cupcakes. yuck. quick side note...i've noticed this year that kids aren't embarrassed (at least mine aren't) when they burp or pass gas in class. it's like a game or a way to get attention with them. i remember people getting ridiculed and laughed at, but now kids don't even laugh. they just keep about their business and hold their noses. i've had to give a lecture on this as well. i did receive the best christmas present i've ever gotten from a student this year...a twenty dollar bill. i almost gave it back because i thought it must have been a mistake. another girl brought me a stuffed animal that had its nose chewed off...that's more like it. my sweet kids...those are really the best gifts.

on the homefront, i've been busy preparing for the holidays. i've thawed out two cheesecakes for holiday parties, done lots of online shopping, downloaded the original super mario bros. on wii, and even decorated my place. i only decorate every other year, so it happened to be this one. i always have to weigh the pro's and cons of putting up a tree to make sure it's really worth the effort. as i pulled out my junk this year, i decided that the table cloth that had served as my tree skirt since '01 would have to go. i made my own tree skirt out of felt and glue. it's alright. i had some leftover materials, so i decided to make stockings for jon and myself. those are real cute. they are pictured here.

i'm all packed and ready to go home. i'm excited to see my fam...especially little anna. in case i don't blog before then (highly likely), merry christmas!

toilet woes

i can't imagine any dirtier job than being a plumber. i truly admire plumbers for what they do...rootin' around in other people's toilets...ugh. currently, one is in my bathroom taking care of a problem i've been having. you can refer to my previous bathroom post. that was my first overflow of what has turned out to be many. a couple of nights ago it overflowed for the 5th time after jon flushed. he assured me he didn't "do anything" which i know he didn't because it usually happens the second time after someone "does something." the plumber just had to call my landlord's wife because the 6 foot snake wasn't doing its job, and he is currently pulling the toilet because there is something blocking a pipe or something. umm...seriously, would you ever want to find out what that something is? i am so embarrassed that i even have to be here right now. now he's looking for the hole in the floor to crawl under the house. oh my gosh. this is turning out to be a much bigger thing than i had thought...probably than my landlord had thought too. it was already like $125 for the 6 foot snake, who knows how much it is for "pulling a toilet" and crawling under a house. i guess plumbers are well compensated for the job they must do.

happy birthday anna!

one year ago today we eagerly awaited the arrival of my niece anna kate. it's so weird that it's already been a year. she has grown and changed so much. she is so precious, and i miss her greatly! she is currently celebrating with a cupcake party a million miles away in california. i'm so sad i couldn't be there. she did receive her card from me that had a recording of my sweet voice. i know she'll play it over and over and probably have to sleep with it every night. that was the goal at least. anyway, happy birthday, anna. your aunt chichi loves you.

nice faux hawk

so sweet.

thirty, flirty, and thriving/ENGAGED!

it's true. except for the flirty part. i got the best post birthday present EVER! i'll start at the beginning...

this week marks the 30th anniversary of my birth. thursday was it actually, but the week began with severe back pains that made me dread hitting 30 even more. i felt like my body was falling apart. i'm much better now, thank you.

thursday was a pretty good day. i got a lot of the standard notebook paper cards from my students and promises of a gift that they "left at home." i hold to those promises very loosely. i had lots of messages from sweet friends wishing me happy birthday. jon came and picked me up for dinner and gave me my gift...an anthropologie gift card. coincidentally, my brother and sister-in-law and my bff gave me the same thing. they all know me too well. deep deep down i was hoping he was going to propose for my birthday, so i just told myself it wasn't going to happen. maybe christmas? we had a lovely dinner at texas de brazil which should be renamed "see how much meat you can shove in your stomach." i guess that's kind of a long name for the sign. everything there is sooo good. i was trying so hard not to fill up with the incredible salad bar, but it's just so delicious with so many things to choose from. after passing on viewing the dessert tray, jc reminded me that it was my birthday and i unpassed. my poor stomach.

on friday there was a b-day party at darrah and michael's house. darrah, karis, and i had been planning it for a while. michael set up the wii outside on a big screen to play. i got the american idol game which is for a whole other post. anyway, we had lots of food and chocolate items and such. it was going well. then karis brought out the cupcakes on a plate with candles and everyone sang happy birthday and i blew out my candles. backing up just a little- karis said, "make a wish" right before i blew them out and i literally wished that we would get engaged. push play...two seconds later, jon stopped traffic with an announcement where he asked me to MARRY him in front of EVERYONE! not even kidding. i never use all caps and i've done it like four times in this post. i of course said yes through my shock. he told me to put my cupcake down so he could put on the ring. it's beautiful...i LOVE it. (5 times). i had to squeeze it on my finger (they're enormous. one thing i love about jon is that his hands are really big...not in a bad way, but they make mine look smaller.) jon is by far the last person i would ever think would propose in front of a lot of people. it was kind of convenient for me though, because i didn't have to call a bunch of people...they were all there. he was definitely going for shock value. he had had the ring for a while and had snuck my cell phone to get my dad's phone number. another shocker is that my parents didn't give me any clue. they don't keep things in very well. my very fun party instantly got a million times better. i'm still kind of dazed.

i went to get my ring sized today, and i already got it back. it looks perfect. darrah also came with me to borders so we could look at and buy many wedding magazines. it's so weird to legally be able to purchase such items and seriously contemplate the things in them. wow. anyway, i am so excited and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with jonathan andrew cook! here are some pics.

pre-engaged. yes, he's that much taller than me.

putting down the cupcake (and drink)

we're engaged!

some of my sweet friends

i heart ny

i really do. i've always wanted to live there...i'm still concocting ways to do it. anyway, jc and i took a quick trip to nyc this past weekend. it was my fifth time to go. it really never gets old. it was jon's first time. our reasons for going were two-fold. one-one of us is a hardcore baseball fan and really wanted to see yankee stadium before it got torn down at the end of this season. and two-one of us is a mere few days away from turning 30. i'll let you guess which reason was whose. anyway, we decided a few weeks ago we wanted to go, so we just did it. i think that's what you have to do when you have semi-far fetched ideas...just buy the tickets. once you do that, there's no turning back. 

my uncle (tio juan) was gracious enough to allow us to stay at his apartment in queens. it was a somewhat short subway ride into manhattan, so quite convenient. we had grand plans of the things we were going to do for the two full days we were there. we were somewhat faithful to get up at the crack, but even with that some of our plans had to go out the window. everything took longer than we thought it would. we went to ellis island and planned on going to a museum and then tkts to get half-price tickets to a show for that evening. ellis island cut into museum time, so that was out and by the time we got to the ticket place, it was out of control. people everywhere! we had no idea about any of the plays and were going to have to choose at random (after we stood in a huge line), so we took a girl's advice and bought tickets to this play called "perfect crime" at the actual box office. no line there, and also cheaper. she made it out to be like law and order or c.s.i...a real thriller.

that night we went to the play (at jerry orbach theater...no lie). it is the longest running play in nyc at 21 years. the main character, a woman playing a psychiatrist who may or may not have killed her husband, has been in the play for 21 years. she has missed a grand total of 4 performances in those 21 years. yeah, it was pretty obvious. she needs to move on. it was pretty terrible. it's like she was just itching to get off stage saying all of her lines in fast forward. i don't really understand what even happened in the play, nor do i wish to. it was still a fun experience that we could laugh at.

next day was harlem for brunch. chicken and waffles. sounds strange, but it's so good...thanks d and m for the suggestion. we then caught the subway to yankee stadium. we sat in the section where the "bleacher creatures" are. very interesting. let's just say they love them some yankees. it was a lot of fun but kind of a bummer because we were quarantined to the bleacher section and couldn't explore the whole stadium. the atmosphere was great though. the yanks aren't doing so hot lately, and sunday's game wasn't any different. so after the 7th inning, the most unlikely thing of the trip happened...we left the game early. i was fully prepared to stay at the game for its entirety, but we decided to beat the subway traffic.

we met my uncle in chelsea for dinner and then decided to do the next thing on our list...go to the top of the empire state building. it costs something like $32 to do this...a little ridiculous, but that was a thing we wanted to do, so we were going to suck it up and do it. when we got there, the line was crazy long. it was going to be 2 hours. we still weren't ready to call it quits (i have no idea why not), so we went to the security line. we were taking some photos of the line when my camera decided to die. of course i didn't have extra batteries, so we bailed. a little disappointing, but really a blessing. we saved $64 and 2 hours. we'll go back. when it's not a holiday hopefully.

ok, so this is getting really long, and i haven't even put pictures yet. here they are.

jc and lady liberty

at the yankees w/ the crazies

in the line that killed my camera at the esb

(i never realized how crooked my teeth are)

i want to go home

here's me right now...on my way home from san diego. i'm at the airport in albuquerque waiting for my flight home. what is it that makes it so stinky to wait around when you're going back? my flight is slightly delayed which makes the layover slightly more annoying. thankfully i don't have to be at work or anything tomorrow, so i'm trying to be as patient as possible. being by myself makes me antsier though. i've finished my people's, not in the mood for my book, and i'm missing the olympics! i want to see michael phelps swim (even though i keep accidentally finding out the results beforehand.) that's why i started taking pictures of myself with my computer in the airport and blogging. thank you albuquerque airport for the free wi-fi. all airports should have it. by the way, i learned on the plane today that southwest is going to start having wi-fi on airplanes in september. it's going to be $10. i wonder how many people will actually use it. so, when buying the ticket for this flight i had some factors to consider. first of all, it was about $100 more than when i went in march. dang gas. i could have had a non-stop flight on american for only $3 more-pro. would have had to pay $15 to check my bag-con. would have had to have someone take me to and pick me up from dfw-con. were i to get thirsty and want a little something to drink in flight e.g. water, would have had to pay for it-con. therefore, i wait.

the last hoorah

i'm currently on my big trip for the summer. chillin' with the fam in san diegs. i go back to work pretty much as soon as i get back. boo. the weather here is such a refreshing break from the hundreds in dallas. it's so pleasant to just sit outside and read or eat or whatever your heart desires...you can do it without getting the sweats.

when i got here i was so excited to see my niece. she was napping when i was being picked up from the airport, so when i arrived at the house she and jonathan met me at the door. she saw me, squenched up her face, and started bawling. i think she was just so excited to see me that she got overwhelmed and couldn't take it anymore. she got better quickly, and we are getting along quite well. here's us playing on my computer.

so today we went to the beach.  my only requirement for things to do here. i love the ocean so much. i really could be there all day and be fine. apparently the only person more excited about the beach and the ocean was anna. she loved it. she went straight for the sand, so of course the sand hand went straight for her mouth. we thought that she would figure out that it was nasty and stop, but apparently it was a good snack. she also loved the ocean and the waves. she was so cute and excited about everything. this is turning into a mom (aunt) blog now, but oh well. i don't get much time with her, so i'm enjoying every second.

there's a zoo trip in the works for tomorrow, so i'm sure there will be more updates to come. i know i have come out against zoos in a previous post, but it was more about one specific zoo. we'll see if the sdz is all it's cracked up to be...really i'm kind of excited.

burnt poo

so tonight i decided i would cook. i don't cook a lot, and i started feeling a little badly that i've had so much free time this summer and still haven't cooked much. last weekend i actually went and bought a cookbook. my first such purchase. i guess a lot of people get them as gifts as well, but i'm not a person they think to give them to for some reason.  anyway, i got the sandra lee semi-homemade cookbook. sounds easy. i've been perusing the recipes for a few days and thought i'd try one out before i head out to cali. i went by the store to get the ingredients. first thing i learned was that not all stores have the things you need for semi-homemade cooking. i had to improvise. second thing i learned was that contrary to what people say to make you feel guilty about not cooking, it's cheaper to eat out. we could have gone to two semi-decent meals for the price i paid for the ingredients of this one. maybe cookbooks are supposed to be used only for guests? i don't know.

for my first attempt with this particular book, i chose the recipe entitled "steak pinwheels with sun-dried tomato stuffing and rosemary mashed potatoes." it sounds daunting, but how can it be when it's semi-homemade? prep time 12 minutes. simple. i got everything put together and in the oven and went out to my yard to water while it cooked. so easy i can multi-task. jon got to my place, i finished the potatoes with his help, the dinger went off, and i opened the oven to pull out the main course...burnt poo. here is what dinner was supposed to look like:

this was my version of the dish...

not even close. i couldn't believe it when i saw it...my stomach sank. we laughed and ate it anyway and will be eating it tomorrow for dinner as well. i decided that i'm going to have my own cooking show where i try people's recipes from cooking shows and cookbooks and show viewers what it's really going to turn out like. or maybe others can make it look like the beautiful photograph, and i'm just cooking impaired. i don't know. next time i'm trying something from the "cocktails" chapter. that could be a little harder to mess up.

happy birthday!

yesterday was big jc's birthday, so yes this post is a bit late. he's the big 2-9...such a youngster. we had a weekend full of out of control heat and sweets, and don't forget the baseball.  jc is off sweets, but he made an exception for birthday weekend; therefore, i made an exception for his birthday weekend (not that i'm usually off sugar, but i was extremely on sugar this weekend.)  i think i've only eaten sugar since friday topped off with a late night real dr. pepper last night. we had a texas rangers party on saturday.  jon loves the rangers (esp. josh h.) so what better way to celebrate?  it was only about 150 degrees on saturday, but no worries...it got down to about 130 by the time the game started and 129 by the time it ended.  i brought my camera to take pictures, but i don't think anyone would have appreciated them being taken or posted with sweat pouring down our faces.  all i could think of the whole game was a cold swimming pool and how i would just jump in it clothes and all if i saw one.  maybe i should always go to rangers games in extreme heat because i ate about a tenth of what i usually do there.  i got the usual garlic fries, but only ate a few before i completely lost my appetite. we were all a little lethargic and dehydrated on the drive home.

yesterday the moose (the church softball team) were supposed to play at 5.  brutal. yesterday was the most intense heat day of the summer. jon said it was ok if i didn't go since he knew i was completely dreading it, but i had decided that i should since it was his b-day.  thankfully coach casey had mercy on us all, and they forfeited the game.  seriously, that's got to be on some kind of top list of best decisions ever made. it was a special birthday treat for jc because the softball game was replaced by intense sunday napping.  we finished the weekend off with the deluxe 57 at mi cocina (aka a lot o food) and some cookie cake. such a fun weekend!  i hope it was for him as well. happy birthday jon!