The Holidays Bring Friends In Town

One of the many reasons that I love the holidays is that it brings friends home. I guess I used to be one of those people always going home to Corpus for the holidays but now that my parents have moved here, we are able to stay in town and see the friends that come home to their families :)


First we saw the Pharrs at lunch at Baker Brothers this week! They are in from NYC and are some of our favorite people. Matt is in the running for one of the funniest people ON EARTH (in my world anyway). He keeps us laughing the entire time and the conversation is always great. I say this a lot but they are such a breath of fresh air around here! Just super easy to be with and always a good time. I'm really glad they asked us to lunch b/c we were originally supposed to see them for happy hour later that night but didn't make it. More to come on that...

Here is a picture of us with the Pharrs at their first going away party when they were moving to London a couple of years ago.

Here's a crazy story - we actually also missed the Pharrs' second going away party when they were moving to New York earlier this year. I was about 8 months pregnant and that party was supposed to be just about the highlight of my month! :) However, while our friends were seeing them off over cold beers...this is what I was doing:

An unexpected trip to Labor and Delivery that, as we all know now, ended with no Labor or Delivery. Anyway, I hate that we keep missing them but that's why we enjoyed our long lunch so much! :)


The same day as the lunch, we also had plans to meet up with the McAllisters for dinner. Justin was a groomsman and Katie read at our wedding. They live just outside of L.A. but get home to Texas about twice a year. We met them and Deran and Sarah at Maggianos for our annual holiday dinner. It was great to see them and catch up even though I started to feel sick during the dinner. Boo. 


Why do I not have any pictures of us with the McAllisters? Probably b/c Beau is Beaugarting them on his computer. Get it? Get it?...never mind.


My parents kept Grayson that night (since we thought we were going to the Pharrs HH afterward) and thank goodness b/c I was miserable all night and I later found out that Grayson was up all night at my parents' house with a cold. Good news - we are both better! :)


All in all, an awful evening with a cold, but a great day with friends made it all worth it. Miss them already!

Baby Food Maker!

It IS a baby food maker, not a baby maker as I keep calling it. So. many. jokes....

I am really excited about my decision to make Grayson's baby food! I am doing this for several reasons - primarily because it saves a lot of money and it's healthier for him.  But an additional perk is that overall, it's better for the environment than bottled food. Also since I'm staying home, I have the time/ability to do this. I would never dream of doing this if I had a full time job so I'm totally not knocking the bottled food! 

My parents gave me this fabulous baby food maker for Christmas! It comes very highly recommended from friends and professionals/critics from various things I've read. It's sold at Williams Sonoma and so far, SO GOOD! It's makes things easy enough that it's still fun. :) It does everything in this one little machine. I have successfully made bananas so far only to find out that bananas don't need to be pureed. You just add water and mush 'em [sigh]...oh well, next up apples and pears today. It all freezes really well so I plan on making about a week's worth of food. Grayson has liked everything he has tried so far (including plastics, rubbers and cottons) so hopefully, the streak will continue so I don't have to throw it all out! 

Christmas Gift - New Pendant Light!

My sisters are UH. MA. ZING. I have been dreaming about this pendant light for my breakfast area for almost a year now! You may remember it from this post. I kept talking about it and looking at it and it just never quite seemed to be in the budget. I put it on my Christmas list with other items that were more practical so I just assumed that I wouldn't get it. However, Andrea and Amanda are the best at not getting people things that they would normally get themselves. I should've known! ;-)

Here are the pictures from Christmas Eve (I only wish they could have been here with us!!)....

This is a "before" of the breakfast area (you will have to look over my unshowered-Christmas-morning shoulder to see it)....

And voila! The most perfect fixture to complete my breakfast area. And I LOVE the soft light it gives off. Way better than that sharp, exposed light from before. This was taken during the day so it doesn't do it justice but trust me, it really proves that lighting can totally set a mood. I'm much more relaxed in this room....which makes me want to change the lighting throughout our house! ;-)

THANK YOU SISTERS!!! I love you with every way-more-chilled-out-because-of-my-new-soft-relaxing-light bone in my body! xoxo

Next up: window coverings! Beau and I are locked in mortal combat over roman shades in this room. I will warn you my fellow roman shade friends, the outcome isn't looking good. Stay tuned...

Grayson's First Christmas

What a perfect first Christmas for baby Grayson! Picture perfect in fact and what better way to document our wonderful memories than with pictures of Grayson with our families....

My beautiful boys

 Yaaay more presents for my gummy mouth!

 We have confirmed that all gifts can and will be chewed on.

 Pure joy. We wonder if his mouth aches from smiling so much :)

 Jeff got a #1 Pop mug! 15 oz. of course :)

 Being spoiled by Beau's family with the Santa Sack that just kept giving :)

 Very serious "opening gifts" face

 With cousin Payton

 Four generations of Reynolds men (this was only the beginning of Grayson's new refusal to nap. look at those tired eyes!)

We will never forget this Christmas! There are about 100 more photos of this first Christmas but I'll spare you :) I'll dedicate a post to some other fun Christmas pictures and gifts. Until then, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas with your loved ones. We look forward to all the new blessings that 2011 will bring our friends and families!

Christmas Lights Tour

Beau and I decided to look at Christmas lights the other night and we really enjoyed it! Now that my Mom lives here, we knew she would want to join so we picked up hot chocolate at Starbucks and went down to Deerfield in Plano - a neighborhood that is well known for their Christmas lights tour. They even have horse and carriage rides - if this doesn't get you in the mood for Christmas, nothing will! The neighborhood had a route for traffic that kept things flowing smoothly and because of this, we managed to only snap a couple of photos. It really is house after house looking just like this :)


Ever since I moved to DFW back in 2003, this neighborhood has peaked my interest and I have always thought I would love to live there someday. Granted I haven't seen a fraction of the neighborhoods in the metroplex but I just love how charming this one is - it's not cookie cutter as you would think the suburbs should be but it's still uniform and consistent - tough to manage. A beautiful neighborhood indeed!

Making of a Christmas Card

Rewind to about a week ago - I was admittedly disappointed when I realized that I had run out of time to get the 3 of us together for a family picture AND get Christmas cards ordered, shipped and then addressed and mailed out. So what does one do when this happens? I would imagine a rational person would find an existing picture and place the order for cards or better yet choose a pretty card that doesn't need a picture. I, on the other hand, called my Mom at her house and my Husband at work freaking out that I wasn't going to get Christmas cards out in time and that I was giving up on the idea altogether and focusing my efforts on Baptismal invitations (which is also right around the corner). Within an hour, my Mom was over dressing up Grayson in his outfit, Beau was home for lunch setting up the tripod and camera and a photo shoot was underway! If one can't be rational, it's good to have rational people in one's life. ;-)

Maybe next year I will actually order enough cards to complete my list :/

Merry Christmas to all!

The Nutcracker

Beau and I went to see The Nutcracker ballet at the Eisemann Center last weekend. This ballet is truly one of my fondest memories of Christmas time and I really want to make this a tradition with my family as my Mom made it for us. I was actually in the ballet for three years when I was young in Corpus (shout out to all the mice and angels out there!) and that's when I really fell in love with it. Everything - the storyline, the music, the beautiful costumes and of course the dancing! So I was really excited to take Beau - it was his first ballet ever and he said he really liked it! I've always thought it kind of drags toward the end of the Walt of the Flowers but otherwise, it kept his attention, which made it a success! He even bought me a gorgeous Nutcracker for our house - I kind of want to keep him up year round ;-)

This particular performance is done by a pre-professional ballet and they are all local so of course it's not going to be like a performance by one of the professional international companies but it was done very well for a local group!

In case you are looking for a recommendation on this ballet, here's my take:

Wins

• Nice, intimate theatre
• Great prices
• Really nice costumes
• Mother Ginger - anytime they make her really big where the kids hide under her dress is a big win for me!
• Precious little girls! Some of the cutest angels and mice I've ever seen :)

Not so wins

• TINY Nutcracker dancer! Seriously he was shorter than Clara, which doesn't make for a very dramatic fight with the Rat King
• Dinner Party Scene - it was nice but they didn't have many adults, maybe 6 couples. Which makes it difficult to explain the 40+ kids on stage (waaaaay too many). And I have always liked when the couples dance - they always had a lot of adults in the one in Corpus :)
• Some contemporary twists - I'm uber sensitive about people jacking with traditional pieces of work. So a partial booty dance by the Rat King was a big miss for me
• The Russian Dance - we were robbed! My favorite part is the male dancer(s) like the ones in this video but this one just had 2 female dancers. It's just not the same.
• There was no orchestra :( The sound system was amazing and I didn't even notice after a while but it's just cooler to have the musicians there with you

So there you have it. I really didn't intend to critique this ballet but it looks like I did. I recommend it for an easy, fun night out. However, I really want to do the Moscow Ballet's Russian Nutcracker next year! We passed on it this year since their Dallas stop was the weekend before Thanksgiving and I refuse to get THAT in to Christmas before Thanksgiving!

First Word?

Doubtful. But Beau SWEARS that Grayson's first word was "Dada". My Mom even told me that he said it for her. However, I believe he has to know what he's saying for it to constitute a real word. Otherwise it's just sounds being put together, right?! ...you be the judge. Of course with everything he does, he said it a billion times but by the time I found the Flip, he would barely say it....





First word or do I still have a chance for it to be Mama?!

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Baby Grayson!

Happy 6 months to my beautiful, perfect-in-every-way-except-sleeping-through-the-night baby! You are full of curiosity, discovery, thrill-seeking, SO many smiles and some really sticky fingers (figuratively, of course)! 


This feels so far away...yet so recent too...
(sorry for the boy parts. I should've trimmed. The video, not the...never mind)

• You roll over from back to stomach all the time now
• Grabbing everything - in true baby fashion, you have a knack for remotes, cell phones and anything with buttons and/or that glows!
• The motive behind every quick grab is that you want it in your mouth! You're fast too!
• You are still waking up about 1x per night. We had a week where you slept through every night and no matter what we do (short of hopping on one leg, rubbing our bellies and patting our heads), we can't seem to replicate it. 
• You are responding more and more to the babies in our play group and at Musical Story Time! You BEAM through the songs and even the other moms enjoy watching you :)
• When we put you on your hands and knees, you rock back and forth but no crawling yet. The inevitable lunge to reach whatever we are enticing you with is adorable. You want to get up and go so badly but it will be here before we know it!
• You are eating sweet potatoes, more and more avocados, and rice cereal. Next up, oatmeal and more veggies. Mama is slow to introducing you to something new every week. I'll get better!
• As you can see in the recent videos, your laugh is contagious and if you are 1/2 as happy throughout your life as you are now, I think you'll be just fine ;-)
• 6 month ped. appt. is the first week in January so no new stats just yet. 
• You are so strong! Everyone says it - not just your gushing Mama ;-) You can stand with support from the coffee table and still prefer to stand rather than do anything else.

I often think back to the times before I was pregnant and I would read blogs from new moms and they would talk about this love for their babies, and how their lives have changed and how motherhood is like nothing else. I couldn't fathom it, was terrified at the thought of change and couldn't understand loving something more than my husband (It's an equal love, Beau. Promise!! :)) But I SO get it. I cry sometimes just looking at you and when I think about how blessed we are. My heart feels this inexplicable pain when I think of anything happening to you (even bullying - you are going to have the most protective Mama!) and I thank God every day for you!! 


Happy 6 months, Grayson! A billion hugs and eskimo kisses coming your way!

Grayson "walking" - Part 2

We had so much fun with Grayson in that last video, that we thought we would play around with him some more like that the other night. :) It was close to bedtime so Beau didn't have him as worked up. I actually want to post this video because of the very end. The expression on Grayson's face when he realizes that Beau isn't holding on to him is pretty precious. 


The video below is labeled Playing with Daddy - Part 1. If you just absolutely can't get enough of this cuteness, check out Part 2 here.

My 5th Love

only after Beau, Grayson, Shelby and Brinkley.....

ADDICTED. Pure perfection in a tiny little packet. I panic when I'm running low on these little bad boys and I'm afraid I will never enjoy coffee again that isn't Cinnamon Spice-flavored. I don't even enjoy going to Starbucks to get a latte anymore. It's all about the Via, baby. 


I ran out earlier this week and, for whatever reason, kept forgetting to swing by Starbucks to load up and I have been hurtin'. We're talking caffeine headaches (that proves the addiction right there), dragging in general and reducing myself to the old, stale $2 bag of Aldi coffee in the pantry. Ick. So when Beau showed up with TWO 6-packs of Cinnamon Spice Via this morning, an intense feeling came over me that I can liken only to what I expect a druggie feels when his dealer gets out of prison (or comes back from vacation or whatever drug dealers do). Oh, the joy-relief-excitement-love-"fix" of it all!


Merry Cinnamon Spice Via Christmas!

Grayson "walking"

This is by far my favorite video of him to date!

Music from a 5 1/2 month old

We just can't get enough of this!

Santa Baby

Grayson had his very first visit with Santa yesterday! The line was short, the Santa was good and Grayson did really well. He asked Santa for a couple of toys and a remodeled kitchen. Silly goose....


Hey Santa, over here!

Italian Lesson - Sort of

You have seen Beau's spanish abilities here but have you seen him channel his inner Italian? It's not pretty ;-) Fortunately, Grayson loooooves it.


Grayson has a special little treat for you if you can make it to the end of this video. Baahahahaha!

Giving Thanks

It goes without saying that I'm thrilled that I was able to spend so much time with my sisters and their guys over the long holiday weekend. This was the first time that we all brought someone to a holiday and it was so cool to see the boys bond over hitting golf balls into the lake behind my parents' house, frying shrimp with our dad and of course, eating and drinking. Aaaand repeat. :)

Since I could go on and on about all the things I'm thankful for, I'll keep it simple....

Amanda's twinkle - She has this sparkle in her eyes when she smiles and especially when she laughs that is contagious. I just want to keep laughing with her so that I can see it all the time.

Andrea's ideas - She has big ideas that make me want to talk to her for hours. Decorating, fashion, her career, real estate, politics, it's all in that brain of hers and it makes you want to dive in to learn more.

Andrew's laugh - Andrew is Amanda's fiance and gets the Trooper Award for being around our family for FOUR solid days and kept us laughing.

Rogan's calm - Rogan is Andrea's boyfriend and one of the coolest people I've met. He is the calm to everyone else's chaos and anxiety (not that there is ANY of that in our family! ha). He can joke with just a simple look, not even saying anything - I've never seen anything like it and he makes me laugh. Only after he's made me chill out a bit. :-)

Jeff  and my Mom - They make their house a home even if it's not the one we grew up in. It's filled with so much love and laughter (and a full fridge). We never go without. No really, you should see their inventory of aluminum foil. ;-)

Beau - he's just so good. I feel like I say this all the time and I'm left lacking for the perfect words to explain how perfect he is. Supportive, loving, positive and he has his own calm that I admire so much. And it's just so cool to see him with Grayson!

It was so special to watch everyone else with Grayson, too. Even the guys were wonderful with him and I didn't really have to parent the entire weekend! I love watching Amanda and Andrea with him - they are going to be great mamas!

Daylight Savings Time

In the past, I have had a strong distaste for the stupid time change but now I'm passionately against it. Three things have run through my head on a daily basis since we "fell back":


1) If I ever run for president, my only platform will be to abolish the time change. And I would win too.

2) I never knew how terrible it was until I had a baby. Babies don't observe Daylight Savings Time. So their parents don't get to either. A baby that once slept from 7pm to 6am (with about 3 wake-ups a night in our case - ugh) is now up at 5am. And the transition takes a. long. time.

3) Grayson has now adjusted but I haven't? It's so strange. Never before has it taken me this long but I still feel like it should be 8pm when it's barely 6 yet. Really weird...

So...vote for me for President. Maybe I'll run if I can ever adjust to the time change and gain my energy back!

Thanksgiving with Beau's Side of the Family

Beau, Grayson and I headed out to Beau's brother's house yesterday for an early Thanksgiving celebration.  His family is always so flexible and understanding with sharing with the "other sides." Since Beau's sister planned to spend Thanksgiving out of town with her fiance's family, we all decided Sunday would be a perfect time to bring everyone together. Grayson's cousin Payton just adores him!! And it's so cute to watch the two of them. It won't be long before he can play back and they will have so much fun together. 


I am proud to say that a) my dish turned out well, b) we didn't forget anything going or coming back, and c) everyone had a lovely time with great food! Here is our family photo:


Please note that we are all well aware that it looks like I have two children. But Payton just loves her Baby Grayson and wanted to stay close. How could we resist? :)

The Baby Squeals....

are getting louder! They are still cute to me...for now ;-)

A Taste of What's to Come

Yesterday I lay Grayson down on his back on his play mat (as I often do) while I went to put the diaper bag in the car....soooo, I was away for 15 seconds maybe...my easy days really are behind me!

My New Digital Digs (or iHaveNoMoney)

I'm super excited to be blogging from my new fancy shmancy MacBook Pro. I swore I would never own one after I worked at an agency once that was all Mac, all the time and the learning curve was doubly frustrating for me (new job AND a new operating system - ugh). However, time heals all wounds (dramatic, I know) and I jumped on this snooty Apple bandwagon yesterday! Never mind the Mac desktop I married into and have been reluctant to use for the past 3 years.

To tell you the truth, I didn't even feel like I belonged in the Apple store. Like the little 22 year old girl helping us was above me - all while she upsold us on a gazillion other things (iTV - WTH?!) and checked us out in the middle of the store on her little iPhone. Wayne's World's "We're not worthy" comes to mind here!

Maybe I'll impress you with some snazzy photo editing once I figure out what the iHell I'm doing on this thing! 

Family Conversations

Just today, we talked about important things like this:

[Driving through neighborhood]

Beau: "Oh look, they're putting up Christmas lights! It's that time. I'm going to put some up this year."

Me: "No, you aren't."

Beau: "I am to."

Me: "Beau. You fell off the roof last year."

Beau: "I didn't fall, I jumped."

Surrre, whatever helps you sleep at night!!

and...

[In Walmart]

Me: "Beau, we agreed that we would stick to the grocery list!"

Beau: "Yeah, so?"

Me: "So far all we have is two bottles of wine and an elf suit for Grayson!"

Beau: "Yeah. Priorities."

Happy Monday!

Grayson is 5 Months!

Grayson is now 5 months and I feel like a broken record always talking about how much he's growing up and how active he wants to be. He is reaching for things now - everything - from my hair and glasses to menus and salt shakers on the dinner table! He's fast too - I'm still not trained to look out for it yet! 


He is drooling like crazy from teething but still no teeth yet. He usually always has at least 2 fingers in his mouth. We know it's a rough day when all 5 fingers make it in. :( 


Weight: 18.56 lbs (87th percentile)
Height: 26.75 inches (84th percentile)
Head: 17.5 inches (85th percentile)


Everywhere we go, we get comments on what a big baby he is so I was surprised to see the 80th percentiles - what do the babies in the 90s look like?! Ha! Overall, the ped said everything looks great and commented on Grayson's strength after he grabbed ahold of the doctor's two fingers and pulled himself up with minimal help from the doc. We really do have a stander/mover/shaker on our hands!


We are still working with the same solids as before - avocado and rice cereal. I'm introducing sweet potatoes this week. He's still waking up at least once a night. If he wakes up any more than that, we give him the pacifier and just rub his belly until he goes back asleep. No additional feedings. We are now putting him to sleep awake and having him sooth himself to sleep. It's really working out quite well! This is also how he goes down for naps now, which is still about 3x a day. 


Grayson is starting to notice the other babies in our play group but he isn't ready to reach for them or anything. It's really entertaining to watch the progress of a baby. Everything is so new and exciting in his world. :) I'm just glad I get to be here to see it all. 


I don't have any spectacular 5 month photos so once again, a video of giggles! 




Okay, I take that back. Here's a quick pic I just snapped of my boys on the floor. Grayson is almost the size of his playmat :)

Oh my goodness, updates!

Have I been MIA or what?! My laptop finally gave up the good fight and I'm sharing the desktop with Beau. I have never known what sharing a computer is like and let me tell you, it's not fun! So much to talk about so let's dive right in....

Halloween Wrap-Up
I must brag on Beau for a minute. He carved these pumpkins of our family and they were amazing! So much detail and it only took him an afternoon to do it.

I mentioned in my last post that my Fall decor kind of fell apart. Welllll, let's just say mold took over - on these pumpkins, one I was using as a vase and the gourds in my cake stand from this post. Looking back, that cake stand was a glorified petri dish. Gross. I most definitely did NOT take a picture of that.

And finally, more pictures from Grayson's second Halloween costume for his first Halloween (got that?) I ended up buying costume #2 when we realized that it was going to be 87 degrees Halloween day for the Prestonwood Baptist Fall Festival. The bumble bee would have been suffocating to my already-sweaty boy!

I included this last one because if you look in the background just to the left of us....now THAT'S a bat! :-)

Ma in town
My grandmother has been in town this week and we have been BUSY! This week has flown by and each day of running around has ended with me practically falling asleep at dinner, my mom worn out and Ma wondering what's next on the agenda. Ha! She has so much energy - ready to keep going and we just couldn't! Yes, she's 90! When Grayson starts walking, I'm sending Ma after him!

Play Group
Thanks to our friends Kristi and Emmie, Grayson and I have joined a play group full of fun moms and cute, cute babies! It feels so good to have him socialized and too many things on the calendar to count. Even better, this group finds all the free/low cost fun things to do in town - I don't even know how they find them! Here is a picture from Mom's Night Out (not so free but oh so fun!) this past Wednesday.

Good News!

Beau has accepted a job offer that will put him in Dallas for the first time since I have known him! This is the job that most everyone has heard us talking about since before the baby was born and he is so excited about it! I'm just happy to have him home :D

Changes to my Digital World
You may have noticed that my Facebook page looks a little different these days. I have tightened down on some settings for a little while for security reasons. Nothing to be alarmed about but on that note, I'm following in many friends' footsteps and this blog is going private! I will be in touch when I'm ready to make that move.

Family Pictures
Beau and I decided that we would take some pictures after church last week. Why not, it was a beautiful day and we were dressed for it. It was much more difficult than we imagined since no one was behind the camera to get Grayson to smile, look, focus, etc. We decided no more picture time BEFORE his nap. We are such amateurs with all this baby stuff! ;-)

And finally....
a little backyard family time. These two had been giggling and chasing Brinkley around for a solid 20+ minutes before I grabbed the camera. So this little boy is exhausted from laughing so hard (not crying, like I say in the video). I wish I had captured ALL of it! We just can't get enough of his giggles :)

Happy Sounds

Here is another video of a very happy Grayson and a crazy-sounding Daddy...Happy Wednesday!

Road trippin' with a 4 month old

We did it! My mom and I successfully traveled to Corpus Christi and back last week - an 8 hour trip with Grayson in tow! It was a last minute trip to attend the funeral of Ma's cousin, Amelia Garza Verley. Sadly, it's things like this that bring family together but we really enjoyed seeing everyone. There were so many cousins and distant cousins and first, second and third cousins that we were able to see again! It was really cool to see my mom and grandmother interact with so many people that they grew up with, yet that we don't see very often anymore due to distance. Ma is 13 years older than Amelia so she was able to tell Amelia's daughters stories of her childhood, which was awesome to listen to. Ma is a great story teller and has an amazing memory (yes, at 90 years old)! 


I forgot the camera so I don't have any pictures of family (are you even supposed to take pictures under these circumstances?) and I only had the video camera so OF COURSE the only videos are of Grayson. :-) Take a look - overall, he did great sitting for so long, which is he hates to do...


Here we are working on holding an (empty) bottle...it's 1 1/2 minutes of the same thing so you only have to watch the first 20 seconds or so ;-)





A time-passer that quickly came to an end!



and a little down time while we were there...he REALLY wants to be on his own...hope the same applies when he's 18! :)

I'm tired...

I know I haven't written in a while. I have lots of updates from our last minute road trip to Corpus Christ (8 hours with a 4 month old!) to the Prestonwood Baptist Fall Festival fun we had yesterday! Other stories like how I hit a woman in the parking lot of the kid's urgent care center (like my vehicle made contact with her body - don't worry, she's okay, it didn't even knock her off her feet) to the actual reason why we went to the urgent care place and other things like Beau's mad pumpkin carving skills to my throw pillow updates and my fall decor's fall from grace. Lots to talk about. But that involves lots of typing, even more thinking and photo downloading on my laptop that is dying a very slow death.....which is running better than I am, might I add.

Maybe someday my baby won't wake up 100x a night and I'll have the energy to update this blog!

Till then, Happy Halloweenie!

Grayson's 1st Halloween

This is what all the buzz is about!! ;-)

The Miracle Blanket

If this blanket is a miracle, then consider my baby a Houdini-like genius because it. doesn't. work!


This is what it's supposed to look like (found this pic online - I don't have one of Grayson b/c there is no way I'm waking him up with a flash once I get him to sleep!):

and this is what I find when I go into his nursery after a few hours:

It's pretty amazing really!

Let me get you a tissue - Part 2

How about I just bring you the box?

Let me get you a tissue....

Fall Home Decor

First, I have to give this disclaimer....I am in no way pretending to be a decorator's blog nor am I thinking that I have great tips that haven't been done a thousand times....I just thought I would share what I've been doing lately! :-)


I have never been one to decorate my home for Fall and now I can't figure out why. It's really the perfect time of year - it lasts for TWO months! You can't say that for Christmas or Easter or Columbus Day. Kidding on that last one. I didn't do much but I thought I would share my little touches around the house - on a budget, of course. I keep checking our budget spreadsheet for a Home Decor line item - I can't figure out why Beau hasn't added that yet. ;-) 


But first, I have to share this wreath that my Mom made me!! Is she not talented and shouldn't she sell these?! Made it from scratch and I'm so proud to hang it on my door. Thanks Mama - you wear your Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow Award of 1969 proudly! ;-)

Moving on....I changed out the centerpiece on my dining room table to something more seasonal. Tom Thumb was selling bags of pumpkins/gourds for $5 - all looked great - it was a steal really. So I grabbed a couple of place mats I have and my beloved footed cake stand (b/c let's face it, this girl isn't making any homemade cakes anytime soon) and voila, a Fall centerpiece for five bucks. Done.

The fireplace in our house is one of my favorite areas and is really a blank canvas in any home so I'm having fun with it! It's mid-October and this is not even close to complete but here it is so far. I just grabbed my gold frames from around the house and picked up some garland from Hobby Lobby. As you can see, I have some picture frames to fill and it's also looking a bit cluttered so I'm working on all that. I may figure it all out just in time to take it down for Christmas - ha!

 I want to swing by Half Priced Books and pick up some big, fall colored books (with cool titles, of course) to layer and stack a couple of the picture frames but do people buy books just for decoration?! I'm having a hard time with that one. :)

One last nod to summer

I get really sad when it's time to pack up Grayson's clothes as he outgrows them (which is just about weekly). Here are two little outfits I will especially miss as we say goodbye to summer:

There are really SO many others - time needs to SLOW DOWN!

Impromptu Spanish Lesson

Oh Beau, I'm sure glad I married you :-)

Happy 4 Months!

Grayson Reynolds, you are now 4 months old today and the happiest baby I know! I just wish I could get more of it on film/video. :-) You are a great joy to be around and the coolest boss I have ever had, yet probably the most needy too! Your smiles are addictive! I live for them and they can make any situation (and time of night) bearable. 


Today, Beau and I took Grayson to the Dallas Arboretum and had a ball with him! The Pumpkin Village is truly something to see! Pictures below but first, here are some quick updates on this very big 4 month old!

• Weighing in at 17 lbs. yikes.
• We are starting solids! Beginning with avocado (video below) and then probably sweet potatoes next
• He is laughing more and more and those laughs are my world! we are just so tickled when he starts giggling!
• Grayson is trying to sit up all the time. it's rare that he's content just laying there, which just continues to confirm our suspicions that he will be SO active. 
• On that note, he STILL wants to be walked around all the time. Rarely is he content just playing on his mat or in his jumparoo (yes, the one I purchased b/c he's so active). This makes me tired.
• Teething but no teeth yet. He gnaws on his hands for the better part of the day. Which produces A LOT of drool. And sometimes some spit-up (but only when he manages to get his entire fist in his mouth!)
• He can now pick up things in front of him that he wants! It's all downhill from here. He can even grab and squeeze things he doesn't want (sorry Shelby, your nipples will heal soon. promise.)

And some recent videos:
Grayson is addicted to TV. I know, bad Mom. Here I am trying to keep him away from it and as a result, he watches it upside down. And don't suggest the "off" button. I don't know where that is ;-)





Example of a teething, tired baby :-(



Eating solids for the first time:



I will leave you with this picture of my beautiful, blue-eyed 4 month old....I'm in love.