...on our trip to Phoenix

Another trip to Phoenix under my belt.  This time I put on my big girl pants and made the drive out by myself.  I mentally prepared to be on the road for a little longer than usual due to the fact that I had a baby in tow.  Our first stop was the longest and most frustrating due to a poo explosion and a gas pump that made me go inside to pay after I had Jack all loaded up in the car.  The rest of the drive was pretty much smooth sailing!  Little dude did awesome and it only took us about an hour and a half longer than usual.

Hangin' out with Auntie

Uncle Danny aka the baby whisperer

Jack's first spring training game

Why do we have a bat, you might ask.  Well, that is an excellent question.  You see, Auntie and Uncle Tom (who I didn't get any pictures of!) have season tickets to spring training that are located right off of first base.  Before we left for the game Auntie kept on warning us to watch for foul balls.  I'm assuming you see where this is headed.  Instead of a foul ball we got a foul bat.  The player swung for the ball, released the bat, it cleared the net and headed straight for us!  Thankfully, thankfully Dad was holding Jack and reacted!  He leaned forward and the bat hit directly behind him then bounced forward right behind me and Sharon before Danny caught it.  NO ONE WAS HURT.  Had I been holding Jack, it probably would have hit us because I have NO reflexes when it comes to panicky situations.  You know how they say you either have a fight or flight reaction?  I don't have either.  I freeze.  Everyone was so concerned and extremely kind.  The only meanie was me who had to break a little kid's heart because I wouldn't give him the bat!  I felt so bad-he even asked if he could buy it!  I really wanted to keep the bat for Jack because 1.  I think it's kinda neat for him to have it and 2.  The name "Jack" is carved into the bat. That is the name of the player who released it.  At the time I kind of laughed off the whole thing but looking back I am realizing how potentially devastating that situation could have been.  Praise God that no one was hurt.  Here are some pictures from the rest of the game.  

About to have a melt down but holding it together for a picture with Hammy

I don't know if you can tell from the picture but that is Annie and Jack on the screen.  Jack is sound asleep with his mouth wide open.  He gets that from his dad.

Hangin' out with Grandpa and Grandma

Test run with the new hat.  I'd say it's just a tad too big.  

We had a great time and I just have to add one more thing-I did not step foot into fashion square once on this trip.  I know, I can hardly believe it myself.

...on funny things

Two funny things happened yesterday.

First:  I went to the store wearing two completely different earrings.  One was silver, one was gold.  Seriously?  How do these things happen?

Second:  This...

Adam and I had just sat down to eat and something about Adam was just HILARIOUS to Jackson.  The best part-this was the first time Jack really laughed and we both got to be there!

...on all things paleo

Some of you saw my post from a little while ago on the Paleo Challenge that Adam and I did. You may have realized that I never followed up with the results of our challenge and here is why. We finished out the month...well wait. Before I get into that let me explain a little more about what the paleo diet or the "caveman" diet is. More or less it is a way of eating that includes lean meats and tons of veggies with no gluten, grains, legumes, and little to no dairy. Before you start to judge, and I know some of you are, let me just start by saying it really wasn't all that hard to cut these things out of our diet. I can not give you the science behind all of this without copying it out of a book but I have been doing a little bit of research on why this is a healthy way to eat. One great resource is Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution. He goes into a lot of the science of it all and at the end has a practical plan for applying it to your lifestyle. Here is a little video blurb of Robb Wolf discussing his book.

Ok, so back to the challenge. The reason why I haven't followed up with the challenge is that we have pretty much decided to turn it from a challenge into a lifestyle. Are we crazy? No, far from it. We found after eating this way for a month that we both felt better and had both lost a bit of weight. Also, we were able to eat until satisfied and never felt guilty for eating. You know how when you have a huge bowl of spaghetti and then ten minutes later you think, "oh, I feel stuffed, I shouldn't have eaten that much?" Well, we never really felt that way but we still go to eat, you follow? Because our food was good for us it actually made eating a little more enjoyable. Another thing that it has done for us is take the comfort out of food. Adam and I are both comfort/stress eaters and this diet did not allow us to be that way. Sure, we will still eat pasta, bread, and milk, every now and then but over all I think we are going to try to stick with this way of eating. We really want to live a healthy lifestyle and food is the main thing that keeps us from doing that. As Jack gets older we want him to have a healthy view of food and we feel like it starts with us. So that brings me to a different topic which, to some, I know is pretty controversial. Do babies really need grains and rice? Hmm...I'd love to know what you think. I'm going to ask our pediatrician on Tuesday when we go for Jack's four month check up.

I have a lot more to say on this issue and will post more later with some recipes for you all to try. If you want more info you can check out Robb Wolf's website HERE.

Have a great Monday!

...on four months

WHAT?! I'm four months old today!?  Neat!

I mean, yeah, that's right.  I'm four months old..no big deal.

...on pants and perseverance

So remember the fabrics that I posted on my last blog entry?  Well......TA DA!  It turned into more tiny little pants!  

Kinda blurry but he was just so excited about his new pants I couldn't get him to stay still.  At least that's what I tell myself.  

Again, they are not perfect.  Somehow one pant leg ended up a tiny bit longer than the other which is really quite frustrating because I spent at least 30 minutes making sure they were even.  Oh well!  I bought a pattern to use for these pants but it was the most complicated pattern I had ever seen!  I finally gave up on the pattern and used a pair of Jack's pants as a template.  I found this to be much easier until I accidentally sewed the pants upside down.  SO ANNOYING!  But, I am very proud because instead of scrapping the project I persevered and ripped out every single stitch in order to make it right.  All in all this was a really easy project!  I really want to do an applique of a gnome on a onesie to go with these but I can't find a template and I am no artist so I dare not try to draw it myself!  

On a different note, it is BEAUTIFUL here today!  Jack and I went for a walk to the park and now we are sitting in the back yard hanging out.  

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you.  Jack is most definitely sporting his onesie outside of his pants.  I forgot to snap it before I pulled up his pants earlier and just went with it.  Don't worry, he's due for another diaper change here pretty soon so I'll fix it then.  Mommy fail or baby fashionista?  You be the judge.  My vote is for fail!

...on cutie little shorts

I finally got around to a little sewing project this weekend that I have been wanting to do for a while.  Converting an old t-shirt into shorts.  I wanted to start out with something simple and boy, was this simple! There are several tutorials online on how to make these including this one.  I started with a t-shirt that didn't fit me quite right and used a pair of Jack's shorts as a template.  In the future, I'll buy a pattern but for this project his shorts worked just fine.  I'll let you look at the tutorial for more on the "how to" but here is my finished product.  

I wanted to take a better picture of just the shorts but one of us had a poo explosion in them and i'll give you a hint, it wasn't me.  The JH patch that is on the butt was on the back of the t-shirt so I cut it out and stuck it on the little tush part of the shorts.  This project probably would have taken me about 30 minutes if it weren't for the full on battle with my sewing machine-that took about 30 minutes, as well.  Here's a little sneak peak at more sewing projects to come...

I am very excited!  I'll leave you with this incredibly awesome picture.....

What's a girl gotta do to get a little smile?!  

...on photos and mommy juice

The other evening, while googling something about parenting (probably about how to get your baby to nap) I stumbled across this really cute blog called rookiemoms.  They had a post about things you can and should do with a newborn at home.  One of their suggestions was to have a photo shoot with your baby.  If any of you know Adam you know that there is no shortage of photos of Jack.  I, on the other hand, rarely ever take pictures of him so today, I did!  Here is what we came up with.  It's pretty easy when you have a subject as handsome as our little Jack-pot.

I tried to get one of his pretty blue eyes.  That's right, I said blue!  I know it is still kind of early but he is almost four months old and the blue seems to be sticking!  I suppose we can thank Grandma and Hammy for those.  

Another thing that I saw on their blog was this wine called....wait for it.....

Mommy Juice!  LOVE IT!