Sunday, November 25, 2012

International Winter on the Waterway


We stopped by the Woodlands Waterway last weekend to look at all the booths and all the people at the International Winter on the Waterway annual celebration. We didn't stay long enough to see Santa arrive by ferry, but we did get to check out the snow play area ('real' snow!) and see stages with dancers, carolers, drummers, and more. We also got to meet up with Marcia at the Crighton Players (great local theater in Conroe) booth and E got festive. Thanks for the antlers, Marcia!!








Monday, November 19, 2012

Butternut squash!?!

He's not sure about this but he's sure he looks cute.












Woodlands Children's Festival

daddy teaching E about being a social butterfly
Thank you, Jess, for inviting us to the Woodlands Children's Festival last weekend!!!

Barney is coming!
Gran came up to spend the day with us and we had a lovely morning at the festival. We didn't get to spend a lot of time with Jess & Kev & Jack (the age difference is still pretty significant for a few more months at least - Ethan isn't as in to arts & crafts and digging and running as his older, more sophisticated cousin) but we were happy to catch up with them and with some of Jack's other friends during the very exciting Barney show. Apparently, I still have new-baby-blinders on, because when I just checked my photos I can't find any of the rest of the family, just of Ethan...

E and the Recycle Cycle
Fortunately, Auntie Jessica is a much better documentarian and took tons of awesome photos - check out the Jackson's Lane blog!

more of daddy teaching E about being a social butterfly
E had fun watching all the other kids at the festival and he even got his face painted.

Cool bear on a cool baby
After the festival, we had some very important gran-and-me time back at the house.



Sunday, November 18, 2012

Happy third...


One third of a year old!!


I'm overwhelmed by how absolutely beautiful this little guy is. It sometimes stops me in my tracks.


He smiles the most delightful smiles, all the time, from the moment he wakes till bedtime. When I come home from work and he greets me with a smile across the room, my heart melts. Yes, of course there are tears as well, but few and far between. I was on the phone with my mom tonight and he started crying - she asked in astonishment, 'What is he doing??' because she hadn't heard him cry before.'



He's so talkative. He and his dad look at each other and coo back and forth for long stretches. In the morning, I'm awakened to the sound of his voice, talking to himself in his crib.


One of E's favorite activities is scootching himself across his playmat when we hold his little feetsies. He'll lie on the mat, face up or face down, and push his whole body against our hands and just take off.


He's learning so much about what his little body parts are capable of, and it seems that he is doing something new every day. This week, he'll swing his head to one side and the other, over and over and over. Today he was sticking out his tongue to touch the left side of his upper lip.


He can hold his head up like a champ. Hasn't quite figured out how to roll over, but he's getting closer. Kicks like crazy, particularly during diaper changes (while smiling and laughing the whole time), and has started to bounce in his bouncy chair all by himself.


Every so often, he'll reach up to his bottle during meals and hold the bottle on his own. He's still a ways off from mastering that one, but it's so cute when he does it. So autonomous.


Tonight, he had his very first real food - butternut squash puree. Messy but fun. More pics to follow.


Man, this baby stuff is just a blast!


Monday, November 5, 2012

A weekend with the cousins


We got to spend a wonderful weekend with 2 of Joe's sisters and their kids. Joss and her 3 boys flew in from Virginia on Saturday, met up with J9 and George and their son & daughter at Dewberry Farm, and then they went back to J9's house where we joined them for dinner.


Then on Sunday afternoon Joss brought her boys and Rachel over to our house for a swim and video games and more family time, while J9 had a church event.



It was a lovely weekend of family time, yummy chicken and s'mores, chilling in the 'hot tub' (literally chilling - the heater broke!) and in front of the television and several laptop computers (with 2 tweens in the house, there will always be at least one computer in use).



Joe loved being able to spend quality time with 2 beautiful sisters. We're so very blessed.

 






Photo shoot

E and I attended a work event at the Methodist West Houston office a few weeks ago. There was an open house for the medical offices, and many of the offices had special treats or goodies for the potential patients. At our office, Texas Children's Hospital provided a photographer to take maternity pics.

The evening was enjoyable, and there was quite a bit of down time between visitors requesting photos. So Ethan and I got us a complimentary photography session.


This kid is such a professional. Total rock star.


I just got the digital images this week. So amazing. The photographer did a great job capturing his adorableness - I can't wait to get some prints of these. Now, technically, TCH can use these photos for advertising etc so everyone be on the lookout for our beautiful mugs on a giant billboard off I-45...






Sunday, November 4, 2012

Halloween shrimp-in-a-pot


Wow, is Halloween ever fun with a beautiful baby as a prop!!! I got to trick-or-treat for the first time in maybe 25 years, and it was a blast! Everyone loved our costumes and several of the neighbors even asked to take our picture. I've gotta admit, it was pretty addicting to get such effusive praise everywhere we stopped - Joe and I were joking about finding our next 'hit' to maintain the high...


Ethan made a perfect shrimp in a pot. He was a sweetie all night (a sweet shrimp, if you will), very patient with mom and dad as we stuffed him in his costume and slid him into his giant pot.



We started at the block party on our cul-de-sac, had some pizza and beer with the neighbors, then carted E around our subdivision. Our neighborhood is an ideal trick-or-treating spot. Most of the cul-de-sacs and many of the familes on the main street have their own block parties, where all the candy is out for the kids to retrieve, and the parents can chat with the other adults.


As we trick-or-treated the shrimp pot filled up with candy and chocolate, and one neighbor tossed in a red glowstick which gave a bit of a boiling effect. By the end of the evening we had ourselves a delicious pot of 'mole de camaron'! Yum.


'whaddya mean I don't get to eat any of this??'

sleepy shrimp
E was pretty wired when we got back home (from stewing in all that candy, I guess!) and played and cooed and kicked for a while before knocking off to sleep. And then, for the first time, he slept through the night!!!

And the next night he woke up at 3am to eat again. Therefore, we will be taking him trick-or-treating every night from now on.
Happy Halloween!