Ten on Tuesday

1) John's new word is "Heeeeeeyyyyyy" to just about everything. Picture a little scowl on his face. Pretty funny.

2) John and I listen to the Wee-sing Bible Song CD in the car and I love it. He asks to hear his "Jesus songs". Love him!

3) Registration for his school next year is tomorrow. I am going to suck it up and pay the fee to secure our spot here, but am planning on standing in line in February to get him into another school that we want him to be in. He only has 2.5 years of preschool left. That seems weird to me. I feel like he should have like 6 left. :)

4) Carl got his birthday present early and we have a 3d TV now. It is pretty cool! John likes to wear his "special glasses". We have only watched movies on it so far, but tonight there is a basketball game being broadcast in 3d. I can only imagine what they will come up with next.

5) Today is the funeral for Chris and Jenny (Goodpasture) Stigler. I have not been able to get them off my mind since Christmas Eve. I think about them and their surviving baby every day. It makes me stop and squeeze John tighter and tell Carl how much I love them. It gives things a new perspective, I suppose that is the silver lining for me. I will also say that I am so glad I have kept this blog....if anything was to happen to me, at least John and Matthew would have something that would give them a glimpse of me and my thoughts. I know that sounds morbid, but it is what it is.

6) I made a to-do list yesterday - I am not kidding - it went to almost 2 full pages.... better get to cracking, I think nesting as settled in.

7) Carl's close of business for 2010 is today!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! I know there are still busy times in the next month or so, but for the most part.... WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8) So excited about making some picture frames this weekend! Thanks Abbey for the awesome ideas and instructions.

9) John is so skinny! SO SKINNY! I want that boy to fatten up. The Doc says it is nothing to be concerned about and it will probably be this way or worse until he is 4.5. still in 2T pants, but they are getting to short now. Even the adjustable waist 3T pants will have to be cinched up so tight it will look like I put a sack on him.

10) John loves his "big blue bicycle" that Santa brought him and he will tell anyone who will listen all about it. BUT - the boy will not ride it! I think it is because when he peddles backwards, the brakes kick in and he can't move. I saw him on his tricycle and he looks like he goes backwards for about 1/2 a turn to get his feet positioned right to go forward.... since he can not do that on this, he gets frustrated and gets off. As soon as the weather will allow, I think I am going to have Garrett over and see if he will ride it for him, then John will be all about it!

Matthew Allen

We have decided on a name for this precious baby boy in my belly!

Matthew Allen Jones

Matthew is just a name we like and Allen is after several men in my family. Ralph Allen (my granddaddy); Gary Allen (my uncle); Allen Brent (my brother) and David Allen (my cousin).

It is so much easier to call him by name now, although it took some time to change it from Kee Koo!

He will be here before we know it!

Ten on Tuesday (Long time coming)

Holy Moly! It has been a month since I last posted. Is that possible?!!? time is FLYING! I have a list of blogs I want to do and hope to spread them out over the next couple of weeks.

1) John had his first Christmas program a couple of weeks ago - it was SO CUTE! My pictures and video is not that great because he was behind a microphone stand the whole time. Such a big boy! He knew those songs frontwards and backwards, Carl and I do too!

2) I am feeling pretty darn good, no complaints with the pregnancy (outside of the expected of course)

3) John and Carl both have the rot that is going around. It seems to last almost 2 weeks! I think John is almost done, but Carl is only about half way through.

4) With John's sickness, he got an ear infection, so they put him on amoxicillin.... only to break out in a head to toe rash.... back to the doctor...he is allergic to penicillin and amoxicillin. Awesome. It is actually not that big of a deal, we just have to make sure that anyone watching John is aware.

5) Thinking about John's birthday party... deciding between a party here at the house with fishing/camping theme, or possibly taking a couple of his buddies and Dad's fishing for a day around here in one of the private lakes. Everyone does Pump it Up and we did Little Gym last year. Only other thing I was thinking was maybe having one of those traveling farm things come to the house, but my concern there is that not all kids love animals like John does.

6) On Christmas Eve, a friend of mine from high school and her husband died in a head on collision in Texas. Their 7 month old baby girl Emmie was in the back seat. She survived with multiple injuries. I have not stopped thinking about that baby girl and the crash since. It is truly unbelievable to me and I can not wrap my head around if that was to happen to Carl and I. It could happen to any of us and any time. Absolutely breaks my heart. It has made me hug John tighter. Here come the tears again....

7) We are working on John's big boy room! It is going to be a fishing/water life/cabin type of theme. Pictures and more details to come soon. Just know that he room is a construction zone and Carl is through demolition and is working on rebuilding! It is going to be really cool.

8) Found a new recipe that I love. I have made it twice and it is going into my regular rotation.... It is Emeril' crawfish etouffee. It is actually pretty easy. A friend sent it to me with a few renovations. If this is something you like and want the recipe, let me know. I will email it to you, it is too long to post with this.

9) I am ready for this baby to be here...oh wait...no I am not... TOO MUCH TO DO!

10) Happy Birthday to my cousin's baby Roman tomorrow! I can NOT believe he is going to be 1.

Ten on Tuesday (baby #2 edition)

I have not spent much time chatting about the baby and several people have pointed that out to me lately. As such, I am dedicating this Ten on Tuesday to baby #2!

1) No names yet. Thrown around a couple, but Carl said to me the other day that he may have to see this one before he decides! WHAT?!?! I am pushing for NO!

2) This baby will be in the nursery that John was in. I am planning on painting it a different color, maybe greens, just to change it up. But I love the furniture and it all fits so well in there, so it will stay. This painting party will probably not happen until well after the first of the year though. Not until John's big boy room is painted and ready for him.

3) I am on a hunt for a stuffed animal that will be his to take periodic pictures with. John had his little monkey that I still get into every professional shoot. I would like the same thing with this one, but I just don't know what it will be yet... any ideas?

4) We have a TON of clothes and toys for this little one. But I do feel bad, I want him to have some things that are all his own. But I suppose that will really start when he gets to be a little older.

5) Looking around the house today - we are SO unbaby proofed.

6) All the little babies in the neighborhood that have been born in the last 6 months are boys, so we will have a whole new set of little buddies for him.

7) I feel MUCH bigger with this baby as far as the pregnancy grows. I feel like there is no way I can keep growing at this rate until March. But maybe if I started growing earlier, I will stop too?

8) I have been having this wierd discomfort the last week or so and it seems to be getting progressivly worse.... I describe it like this... it feels like I have held my breath for too long and it is starting to be uncomfortable. I have taken my blood pressure and every time it is perfect. I have a Dr. appointment on Monday, so I will let them know.

9)I love my pregnancy pillow, can't believe I did not have one with John.

10) I started to fill out a registry.... funny how different it is the 2nd time around!

First School Picture!

Ten on Tuesday

1) I love every other Tuesday! My house is clean and I can focus on other things. I heard Jamie Lee Curtis speak once about a clean house and how "external housekeeping" allows us to turn our attention to the "internal housekeeping" within ourselves and we start to feel accomplished and settled. I think I agree with her. I always feel organized, energized and ready to tackle the day when my house is clean.

2) I think I added another regular to our recipe rotation. Simple meatball subs, but this is a good base recipe (I did not do the mini version, only used provolone slices and sauteed my onions first):
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mini-Meatball-Subs/Detail.aspx

3) Why are men so hard to buy for?!? I already have several ideas for the women in my life, but am totally stumped on 3 of the men. If any of you have an extra special gift idea that you are buying for a man in your life, share the wealth...

4) With Carl and John out of town on their camping trip this weekend - I was a MACHINE! I got so many things knocked off that "to-do" list that just never goes away. Although I missed them like crazy, it felt so good to be productive. (a separate post with pics to come on this trip)

5) I got a new camera lens! I am super excited about learning to use it and getting better at it. Watch out world!

6) Daylight savings went pretty well for us this year. No prolonged issues. Although in general he has started waking up a bit earlier. Which has helped prolong the nap! YEA! He is taking one more than he is not taking one. Today - 2.5 hours!

7) I picked up "Elf on a Shelf" at the bookstore. I am anxious to start it with John this season. I think he will totally grasp the concept of hopefully it will help with some of the behavior issues that come along with a 2 year and 9 month old. :)

8) John's newest questions or saying: "what do you think?" (showing me his drawing or something he built); "Whad you say?"; "Do you think that is a good idea?" (love this one!); "I did that 'yasterday'" (referring to some time in the past, although it could have been a week or more ago.

9) He is really into coloring right now. He does not stay within the lines yet, but you can tell that he knows there are lines and it is no longer just scribble. It is really neat to watch him progress.

10) Baby is in full movement, that is really all I have on the baby update - we need to get our bums in gear... it will be here before we know it.

Lets Go Rangers! (Clap, clap, clap clap clap)

As the Texas Rangers were heading into their last game against the NY Yankees to clinch the American League Series Championship, Carl decided at the last minute to get us tickets. I am SO GLAD that he did. As long as the kids are less than 36 inches they do not need a ticket. John was about .5 inch over that limit, but I was prepared to make him walk in bare foot and slouched over! J Good thing they did not even question it as we walked through the gates. J

So, we had 2 seats in the 3rd base commissioner’s box which is literally on the field, 1st row. I could reach out and touch Derek Jeter, A-Rod or any of the other NY Yankees that I really like. Of course I was cheering for the Rangers, but I like the Yankees (remember the post of Carl and I going to the 1st game of the World Series last year to watch the Yankees!!!) so it was super cool to watch them here in Texas with such great seats!

The game started at 7:00 and John chose not to take a nap that day! WHAT?!?! We were both a little nervous about it. But he did GREAT. And he is a magnet for getting cool stuff. First the little Ranger girls came by and picked him out of the crowd to give a t-shirt to, then the Rangers mascot “Captain” came over and gave him a hug, took a picture and gave him a baseball card. And last but not least – a foul ball! The story was this: We had these 2 really annoying/drunk men behind us that were screaming mean things to the Yankees (at least they were not cussing), and as Bengi Molina hit a foul ball down the 3rd base line and the umpire put the ball in his pocket, the two men behind us were giving him a hard time. Telling the umpire that it was a ‘fan friendly’ game and he should have thrown it to the crowd, etc., etc. Well… come to find out, as soon as the inning was over, the umpire walked the ball straight over to John and handed it to him. He was just waiting for the inning to be over to make sure that John got the ball. It was AWESOME!

John did have his hands over his ears for a bit, but relaxed as the game went on. We were on TV during the bottom of the 5th inning which was really cool! He would do his antlers and claws through out the game, it was SO CUTE! He got to eat whatever he wanted including a hot dog, popcorn, French fries, ice cream and of course cotton candy. All the way up to 10:00 I must say.

The Rangers of course won this game. We stayed until the trophy ceremony was over; it was really cool to be at that particular game, such energy! It was about 10:30 and people were crowding the 1st row to see the field, John had had enough. He put his hands over his ears and passed out on my shoulder.

AWESOME EXPERIENCE!

Halloween 2010

We had several Halloween parties this year, although only a couple with costumes and only 1 of those did he actually wear his costume:

#1) Crosspoint Clubhouse Fall Party
The first one was at his school and I was able to be there. I am so glad I went and I can not wait for the next parent participation at school.

I got there a little early and was able to watch the kids on the playground. John listens to his teachers really well and he it is so funny to watch him follow instructions with this friends and be part of a group without me. They had to hold on to this little rope and walk together to the pumpkin patch, sit in a row on the sidewalk and take turns picking out their pumpkins, and then take a group picture. Then we headed inside and decorated his pumpkin, ate lunch and then sang some songs. I did notice that I do a lot more for him that I probably should have. The teachers really make them do things for themselves (where appropriate of course) and I realized John might be a bigger boy than I give him credit for. J No costumes at this party.


#2) Neighborhood Play Group Halloween Party
We were SUPPOSED to wear our costume, but someone was NOT in the mood. I think I got him to put his shark head on once for a picture. Laura, the hostess, did a great job! She rented a bounce house and the weather was awesome for it, she had several games for us including bobbing for apples, a spoon race and crafts. John had a ton of fun and then got to finish it off with a pizza and cookie lunch!


#3) Chili at the neighbors and then trick-or-treating
After noticing the arguments we were getting about the costume, we had been working on John for days about trick-or-treating and informing him that he HAD to wear his costume or no one would give him candy… that is all it took. I have to say that this is the last year we will be doing a big and bulky costume, I think it will be more comfortable for him and he will enjoy it more.

We started out the afternoon carving pumpkins, John was more into this year, but Daddy still did all the work. Although John made the request for the owl. :)

We went over to the Waters house for chili and play before trick-or-treating. It was awesome weather so we all sat outside and ate together and played. Garrett and John play well together especially when they are outside and can be as loud as they want, because they do tend to go up in volume when they get together. J Then came time to get ready for trick-or-treating! He was a little hesitant at the first house, so Dad went with him, but a few houses into it – no problem! I really wanted to come with them for a bit, so I sat half our candy out in a bowl on our front porch. We made it around one block and back to our house and it was already gone. By this time we were well into the 1st inning of the Rangers game, so Carl stayed home and gave out candy while John asked to go to “one more house”. So of course, I took him, but after every house he said “just one more house”. He was so cute, he would RUN (which looked like waddling in his costume) to the door by himself and I could hear him say ‘trick-or-treat’ and then ‘ thank you’ all on his own. I was so proud.

Then out of the blue he looked in his bucket and said “that’s enough, lets go to my house”! Good choice big boy! So then we went home and sat on the front porch giving out all of our candy. He thought that was so much fun. When we were out of candy he told the huge blow up black cat in our neighbors yard “night night” and we went inside. He had a few pieces of candy, but then went to bed without a problem.

John's first horse ride

Just a couple of cute pictures of John riding a horse for the first time at a local pumpkin patch.

Ten on Tuesday (11/2)

1)Christmas is sneaking up on us, and outside of a bike for John I have no ideas for Christmas. Anyone reading this that has any fabulous ideas for a 3 year old – please let me know.

2)If anyone is reading this and wants to know what things might appear on my wish list – silicon cooking utensils, a deep frying pan, set of chili/soup bowls, a super duty stick blender, ANYTHING from baby registry, a good book (ya, I know I will probably not have time to read it for a while, but maybe before baby boy #2 get here)

3)I am a true believer in Kleenex with lotion! John was snotty one day last week, and all I had was “ultra soft”. His little nose and lips were torn up and chapped SO BAD after only one day of using those.

4)We are in the heart of Carl’s busy time at work right now and although I could never truly understand the pressure of his job my heart goes out to him each and every day as I know how much of a struggle it is. John, baby boy # 2 and I are so lucky to have such a dedicated and hard working man taking care of us! WE LOVE HIM!

5)Moses baskets – pros? Cons? Thinking about getting one for this baby.

6)The newest phase of John not listening is when he is around his friends. HOLY MOLY. It is like the boy loses all hearing capabilities for my voice. SO
frustrating.

7)The good in him will always out weigh the ‘not-so-good’ – he is still my cuddle bug and I still love it! He will lay on my chest and rub my belly and see if he can feel the baby rolling around. It is so precious. He really is the sweetest boy I have ever known!

8)We bought Toy Story 3 yesterday – have already watched it once with a request to watch it again and again. It is a classic, but a bit more adult than the other two. I even cry at one point at the end when all the toys think they are going to ‘die’.

9)Looking forward to a trip to Edmond this week! YEA!

10)John asks to "work on" his letters and numbers. He will go to his "office" (card table in the game room) and get a marker and these workbooks that Kara got him. He will trace the numbers and letters and then try them on his own. Not quite ready to read and write, but I LOVE that the interest is there.