Halfway House

Tuesday, June 21

6 months, 26 weeks, half a year

Little man you've stolen my heart with that grin. I could never imagined how it would melt my heart. Half a year and it feels so right. Love you little one.

Wednesday, June 15

Recent Goo*le Searches

Boy coveralls - cute post baptism outfit

Poison ivy treatment

Plugged duct and mastitis

Cabbage leaves and weaning

Quiche recipes

All of this happened this weekend. 12 people visiting for the baptism. 2 dinners and 1 brunch for 30 adults plus kids. And momma was a hot mess. More details and pictures (of the baptism not the mastitis and maybe the poison ivy) to come. I'm still healing and catching up!!

Thursday, June 2

3 Months - A month in Pictures

3 month photo shoot - cute face with dimples

3 month photo shoot - not sure what face this is, but its kind of cute

sleeping on the guest bed while Mommy wrapped up work. Mommy enjoys her post work snuggles most days, sometimes she has to work longer though.

Great smile after 3 month photo shoot.

The NCAA tournament was at the beginning of this month. Mommy and Daddy's teams were playing in the tournament. This night they were both playing (not each other) so you were wearing your UK pants and some UNC socks. Two nights later they faced off and Mommy's team won! GO CATS!

watching the bball games with Daddy. You took position in the crook of his arm and actually watched the games (while you were awake). You love watching TV - sports, HGTV all of it. We think you'll either be an athlete or handyman ;)

Chewing on your hands and burp cloth - that's your new favorite past time. You also started chewing on Sophie this month, but it will be a month before you really get the hang of it. This picture really was to show the cute little rolls you are getting in your legs. You're a growing boy. Mommy and Daddy "weighed" you at home (on scale with you and without you and calculated the difference). We both think you are around 15 pounds. You are getting so big we tried to go to size 2 diapers at the beginning of the month. That didn't quite work as you leaked out of both sides. Back to size 1's but not for long.

Photogenic little boy! First trip to church on Sunday (your first trip to church was for Ash Wednesday service, so this was the first Sunday service)

Family picture for the church book. Really cute Gap outfit! Yes it was warm and Mommy dressed you in a sweater and khakis. You needed to look super cute for church. Later the sweater came off. And if I remember right, you had a little incident in the stroller and the pants got a little dirty ;)

All smiles while hanging out with Mommy after work. You had several days of a lot of spit up this month. We tried to switch you to formula to see if that would help and created a whole new problem. Your little belly wasn't ready for it. You went 5 days with out filling a diaper. You were not a happy guy. But no worries, a little brown sugar in the bottle and things were flowing again. We learned that we can't switch you cold turkey. Something to keep in mind for when you turn 6 months and Mommy stops pumping for your bottles.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this month. You went to your first ever beer tasting. Daddy carried you in the bjorn and you slept most of the time. We definitely got a few stares and started some discussions, but you were great. What was not so great was your explosive diaper at lunch BEFORE the beer tasting. You were sitting on Mommy's lap. She was wearing a khaki skirt and it spilled out of your diaper - not a pretty sight! (But that wasn't your first untimely explosion this month. You had an issue in your stroller on a walk with Daddy. AND naked on your changing table. It was a disaster and the timing was terrible as Mommy was trying to get out of the house to meet Daddy for a date night. No worries, we got you all cleaned up, over to Aunt B's and Mommy and Daddy had a wonderful night!)

you really started grabbing for things this month - including grandma's hair.

A visit with Grandma and Grandpa!

One morning we were up early and you helped Mommy check emails before Ms. K got here. (that's why mommy looks so good in her no makeup, dressed to work out look!) You are losing all your pretty dark hair. Check out that comb over look you have going on.

All smiles after a bath. You really enjoy getting a bath! You also started sitting in the bumbo this month. You seem to really like it and are doing pretty well holding your head up.

Buscia and Gampy came to visit too this month!! This is Buscia and both her grand-boys!

Pat your head and rub your belly - or is it the other way around?!?!?

Snoozing - you really can sleep anywhere (I think you are Mommy's boy!!)

Passed out on the play mat. You just had too much fun with Mr Octopus and the other toys you crashed right on the floor. See, you really can sleep anywhere!

Mr Impatient - you grabbed the bottle out of Mommy's hands and started holding it yourself (at the end of the month).


Bandaids on the the shot spots from your 4 month doctor appointment. You weighed 14lbs 4oz (Mommy and Daddy were a little off!) You are a growing little boy and we love you!!

Wednesday, May 25

Closet clean up

Is it me or does the nesting instinct not stop once you have a baby. I have been on a major clean out/clean up kick - or at least wanting to do a major clean out/clean up but not finding any time. I had some time on my hands this weekend - well really not really since it was just me and baby boy all weekend. But I was bound and determined to do something about my ugly closet that I was convinced didn't have a floor anymore.

I started the clean out, clean up on Saturday morning. By Sunday afternoon, I sent James a text with these two pictures and captions....

My closet has a floor

Because this is what I took out of it.

To be honest, I cleaned more than just my closet. I cleaned my drawers too. I ended up with 2 empty drawers. I have found some things to put in them, but they are still mostly empty. I found Christmas presents that had not been put away yet. I have 3 bags of clothes for my sister and sister and law to go through. (I cleaned out a bunch of work clothes. My new work from home gig (not really new) doesn't require half as many nice clothes) I have 2 bags for goodwill and that's just this clean out - I had at least 2 others I had previously gathered. I keep a bag on the floor in the closet and when something doesn't fit right or I look at it and think "I'll never wear that" I throw it in the goodwill bag.

It feels really good to have gone through everything and purged. However, I know I probably could have been a bit more brutal in my review and probably gotten rid of a lot more stuff. But this is an honest start and enough to mark it off the monthly to do list....Wonder where my nesting instincts will take me next month.....

Tuesday, May 24

JW 22 weeks

I know I owe you all a 5 month picture and some more monthly updates but I wanted to post his 22 week picture from today. It pretty much sums up the last week or so. We are eating cereal once a day (4 tbsp) and loving it. The last couple days JW has combined his love of cereal with his love of chewing on his hands. Yes, mid feeding. I have to hold his hands to keep them out of his mouth. Needless to say we got a bath after we ate tonight!!

Saturday, May 21

Bathroom Clean up

I'm embarrassed to say it has been awhile since I cleaned my bathroom. I know, gross right?! Life got a little crazy with a newborn. Let's just say my 10 minute warm shower is about the most relaxation I am able to get (except for a couple baths I've taken). And standing under the stream of the hot water is all I want to do. I am not thinking about the spots on the grout. Or how I really should get around to cleaning my shower (well, actually I am thinking about that a little - but its far back in the brain, hidden by those sweet relaxing thoughts that the hot water is bringing). Well, it finally got to the point I couldn't take it any more. A friend recommended the above cleaning tool and said it worked wonders - well it was going to take wonders to clean my shower. So, I gave it a try. I opened a couple windows and started the fan. Then I soaked the shower. Given how bad it was, I walked away for a few minutes....okay more like an hour. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to get JW out of the house. When I came back my shower was clean and sparkly again. Now, I wouldn't get all crazy and eat off the floor of the shower, but I definitely feel better about putting my feet on the ground in there. Now I can go back to standing under the hot water and only thinking about how relaxing it feels!

(If you're embarrassed by your shower, or just want to give it a good clean - try this stuff - its good!)

(BTW - I haven't been paid for this review or even asked to write it...I just tried the product and liked it!)

Friday, May 20

How things change

As our anniversary approached this week, I asked hubby where he wanted to go eat. We've been to some really great Atlanta restaurants for our past anniversaries - see links.
First Anniversary
Second Anniversary
Third Anniversary
I was surprised when he said he didn't want to go out to eat. We had just been to South Beach and had 3 wonderful dinners with wine and drinks. A little more than this couple of a baby boy have been used to. So we decided to do something different. Something we haven't done in a LONG TIME...go to the movies. Sounded good to me ;)

We started with a trip to Williams Sonoma to buy our anniversary gift - we went with the d5 stainless as discussed here - the reviews for the line looked good and the sales person at WS spoke highly of them. Our decision making process ran a little long and we were going to miss the original movie we picked (Limitless). So we went for a later movie and decided to grab a bite to eat. We stopped at Five Guys for a quick little cheeseburger and fries. YUM. But definitely not like the meals we had at our previous 3 anniversary dinners. :) After scarfing down the amazing burgers, we headed to the theater to see Source Code. Decent Movie - kind of left you thinking at the end the same way Inception did. Overall enjoyed it.
When we got home and relieved the babysitter, we had a glass of champagne and some chocolate covered strawberries (thanks to my FIL and sMIL).

Overall a low key night, but just what we needed. A little different than anniversaries of past years, but still great!!!