It's Been A While...

Going back to work really cramps by blogging-style! :)

School started last week so Brad and I took John out with us to our traditional 'Back to School Dinner' on Sunday, Aug 23. (Like the title says, it's been a while!) We went to Chili's and had some yummy comfort food.

My first week of school went pretty well. It was better than I thought it was going to be, so that is always a plus. I miss hanging out with John and it isn't the same spending time with him at night since he usually falls asleep on the way home, wakes up in time for dinner, takes a bath and goes back to bed. So I might get an hour or so of time with him. Not much! :( But we did buy him a walker toy that he loves. He is so cute with it! He isn't really steering it yet, but he is kind of trying. I 'race' him around the living room and he just cracks up. SOOO cute!

Saturday was my birthday so Brad and John took me to IHOP for breakfast, which was wonderful! John had his first pancake (can you believe I didn't take a picture of it!) but after a couple bites I realized it had nuts in it. So, I put that away and just gave him some of my plain pancakes and the rest of his fruit we brought with us. It is so much more fun to go out to eat when we can give John food while we eat and we don't feel so panicked that he might cry at any minute. (Which he has NEVER done in a restaraunt yet. What a great baby!)

After IHOP, Brad had an arts and crafts project planned for us. He put together a box form to hold cement in which we made our footprints. We also added our names, the date, and pennies from our birthyear. It was really sweet and it is now sitting pretty in our garden in the backyard. It was fun and I loved sitting outside with John while we watched Brad put it all together for us.

Saturday afternoon we went to one of John's friends 1st birthday parties. It was fun seeing all the people from our mom's group, especially since not only have I been missing stuff due to work, but John and I both have been sick and have missed the last couple things in the summer too. :(

So, that about rounds out the last week! John turns NINE MONTHS on Wednesday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the dr doesn't say he has an ear infection when we go for his appointment on Wed.

To finish off the post, how cute is John crawling with his sippy cup in his mouth?! :)

We Found It!

We found something that John doesn't like to eat...mom's cooking. For two nights in a row, John didn't really eat his veggies at dinner and I had to resort to giving him a bottle of formula instead. I just kind of chalked it up to him being sick and didn't want to eat. Last night I tried again to cook some veggies for him- sweet potatoes and squash. And by cook, I took them out of the freezer and heated them up in the microwave or on the stove. Well, John did not like either of those options but once we took out the Gerber jar, he perked up and ate the whole dang thing!! So apparently he loves his pre-packaged food, but not mom's cooking. Guess that means I am off the hook for cooking?!!?!? :)

Nothing super exciting going on. John is still trying to take some steps but not really going anywhere. Of course he got sick within the first week of daycare so I am not too happy about that. Hopefully he won't sick that often.

School starts tomorrow and I am a little worried about this year. I think that my Math Models class will take a lot of work, but hopefully having a student teacher this year will help. He/she starts in about 2 weeks and will be with me for 12 weeks. So plenty of time to get some extra help in class.

Anyways, I am getting a pedicure with Lauren today and then Brad and I will take John to dinner for our 'Back to School' dinner tradition. Very exciting!!

Sorry no pics today...I will be better about taking more pictures during the week but it is hard when I don't see him that much anymore! :( Here is a video to keep you happy for the time being.

Last Week of Summer!

This was my last week of summer vacation and boy, were we busy!! Since I am tired and need to hit the sack early for the first night of work, this will be short and sweet! I only have a couple pictures...

Monday:
Met Sharla and Sandra for lunch. Played at home.

Tuesday:
Met Brad, Dad, Al, Bella, and Jeremy for lunch at SWA. John started to wave at people! May not look like a real wave, but it seems like he is moving his arm purposefuly. We also took him to see a plane in the hangar- John was interested in all the big things in there! Afterwards Al and I went to North Park Mall to see the playhouses. Playhouses were disappointing, but at least we got out of the house for a little while!





Wednesday:
Went to last playgroup of the summer with mom's group. It was fun b/c there were just a couple of us there. John stood up for about 5 seconds too!



Thursday:
Went to a storytime at Barnes and Nobles with two friends. John stood up again! After playing in the play area in the mall, we went to cheer practice to help Shelby fix the dance for Kit Kamp. John was fascinated with the cheering for about 10 minutes and then decided to climb on the bleachers. Then we met Abbie and Ashley at Starbucks.




Friday:
Went to the Railway Museum in Plano for storytime with three friends. John liked it but got antsy halfway through. John liked the puppet dog! It was too crowded to go into the railway car so I will have to go back with Brad another day. Then the group went to Willow Bend for lunch and then the Sunflower room for new mom's meeting. John played with some new friends!



Saturday:
Joint celebration for my birthday and Tyler's birthday. We went to the Arboretum in the morning (so pretty!) and then to mom and dad's for a BBQ. Very fun!











Sunday:
Played at home, cleaned the house, went to the mall to play in the playarea and then swimming after dinner. BIG NEWS: John took his first real steps! He pulled himself up on the leg of his high chair, turned to me (sitting on the floor with him), put both arms straight up in the air, walked one full step, then fell on me with the second step! I was SOOOOO excited and I think he was too because he had a big smile on his face! I didn't think he would start walking soon, but now I am not convinced. :)

That rounds out the week. Day care starts tomorrow and hopefully John will make some new friends!

Ansel in the Garden

Back in May, we re-landscaped our front yard with the help of my mom and dad and Brad's mom. Although I am pretty impatient with gardens, I love looking outside and checking out new growth. With the rain we had last week, our garden has continued to expand so we took a visit outside for about 5 minutes with John...just long enough to look at the pretty flowers without melting.

Here is the first day of planting..






...and the pretty garden as of tonight...










Isn't it beautiful!?

Fabulous Family Weekend

Brad and I set aside this weekend to be with John all by ourselves and have a Fabulous Family Weekend. While we love the rest of our family, we really enjoy a weekend to ourselves and try to make them special! So here is what we did...and tried to do...

Saturday morning I snuck out early to do 30 min of cardio at The Colony Rec Center while Brad had some quality play time with John after breakfast. It rained most of the morning so we couldn't do much outside. Once John woke up from his nap and had some more fun play time, we went to Sprint so we could get new phones. Fun! Then we went to Carter's to get some new clothes for John as a present from Great Grandma Brown. (See how I 'refashioned' a onesie I bought here!)

On the way home, after a stop at the Frisco library, we took an impromptu trip to a splash park in Frisco. Thanks to my laziness, I still had Brad's new swimsuit in the car along with hand-me-down towels. So I changed into Brad's swimsuit in the car and looked really pretty with my tanktop on. The look was complete with my bra straps showing- I was just hoping I didn't know anyone at the park! We just let John play with his clothes on, and thanks to my unusual preparation, I had an extra outfit for John to wear after the fun was over. It felt really good to cool down because it felt like it was about 150 degrees out.





After a little din din (where we are practicing eating soft pieces of veggies- tonight was green beans) we played on a blanket outside in the backyard. It actually wasn't 1000 degrees and felt pretty nice out. John loves to eat grass...guess he hangs around Gracie too much.






Our plan for Sunday was to head out to the Dallas Arboretum in the morning so we could be there when it opened. We figured we could walk around before it got too hot and look at the storybook houses that are set up. Unfortunately, I was getting sick and felt pretty badly and decided I needed to sleep and rest instead. So Brad got some more quality time with John while I was able to nap. We will try the Dallas Arboretum maybe in a couple weeks...hopefully before the end of August since it only costs $1 this month!

So once I was feeling better, we took a trip to Walmart because we had seemed to run out of everything at our house...and because how else should you celebrate your 8 month birthday? (I had to start an 8 month folder on the computer for pictures and almost cried!) I guess Sunday around lunch is a busy time at Walmart because we waited in line FOREVER. I used that time to teach John about the world of tabloids. :) I read to him a story about Jon & Kate and he laughed the whole time! It was so cute!

After lunch and John's nap, we took him to the mall to play in the play area. He did great and was crawling all over. He really liked being around other kids and kept smiling at everyone. His big milestone on Sunday was holding his bottle all by himself...the WHOLE TIME! We put him in his stroller as we walked around the mall and he didn't need any help from us to finish his bottle! Now if we can get him to do that while sitting up, we will be set!




To end the weekend, we took John for a little naked swim in his baby pool after dinner. Then it was pjs, a bottle, and bed. He even played with his teddy bear in his crib without screaming and fell asleep on his own! So I guess a once-a-week screaming fit before bed isn't terrible.

So, the weekend wasn't exactly what I had planned: no Arboretum, no Little Elm beach. But we still had fun and fell in love with John even more than before!

Just a little applique-ing on a Saturday night!

Tonight I made my first attempt at appliqueing (is that a word?!) a shirt for John. I got a super cheap onesie at Carter's today (20% off the clearance price!!) and did a little modifications with an old Wakeland shirt I had. I loved this shirt but unfortunately it got stained around the collar somehow...and I am WAY to plump to fit into it now. Anyways, I love the 'jagged' look of each piece that I added- makes it look like a worn in patch. You can't tell from the pictures, but the appliques are a little frayed around the edges. But I don't like how the 'wake' and the 'land' don't line up quite right so it looks like an uneven box. Oh well. I am sure John won't care when he wears it at Wakeland games this year! Here are the before and after pictures. Notice I even removed the pocket!! Watch out - I am getting fancy here people!!! And please be don't be jealous of my exciting Saturday night adventures. (We are in the middle of a fabulous Family Weekend and I will post about that after tomorrow's outings!)