A new message from the boss!

So, Jack has already made me into a blithering idiot in so many delightful ways. First of all, the baby brain in general....a gift that does not come in handy at work. He causes me to make funny faces just to try to see his little smile. You should HEAR some of the sounds that I make just to get him to laugh! Not to mention, the crazy sounds and shenanigans that Dan and I come up with to try to get him to eat his veggies. Oh yeah, it is a job to try to get him to eat his veggies...remember this post? Well, he has changed his mind about green beans, peas, carrots and any other kind of vegetable we try to send his way. I guess this is the beginning of a life long battle ( well at least the next eighteen years). Check out this video if you wanna see the battle in action. You can thank me later for sparing you the crazy sound effects that we usually try!

By the way..notice the way he keeps looking at the camera...as if it is another person in the room that might possibly sweep him up and spare him from the scary vegetable mommy.

Will You Be Mine?

I was the epitome of a first time mom on this first Valentine's Day. I found out that Ms. Kim was having a party for the kids at school and jumped at the chance to put together my first school Valentine's. I am recording this momentous occasion so that 10 years from now when I HATE putting together treats for Jack's class parties, I can reminisce about the days when I thought it was cute and fun! My genius sister gave me the idea to make goody bags with fruit snacks and juice boxes, so I got my favorite Welch's fruit snacks and the cutest tiniest juice boxes with Elmo on them. Dan helped me stuff the goody bags. I was so proud of us! Anyway, my hero, Kim, took pictures of the adorable class. They were all dressed in pink and red ( so glad I did not opt for the blue stripes that morning!) I love the Valentine she made with the picture and sent home! She said it only took 30 tries. Jack got all sorts of little cute tinkerbell and fairy valentines. His class is all girls with only one exception as you can see from the picture! Messiah gave him a blue's clue's valentine. I did not know what kind of character to get, so I got generic cat and dog valentine's from Jack. They were the 3D kind that the picture changed when they moved. Dan hated them....oh well! That is my Valentine for ya!

Miscellaneous Marsh Updates

Not a lot has been happening around here lately. Just work, home, bath, bed, repeat...We are definitely getting into a routine. One fun thing was Barry's 40th birthday party. Dan and I had a ball! Grandma and Grandpa came into town for the boat show, so we had a built in babysitter! We had a great time. It has been a long time since I have let my hair down like that ( hence the reason there are no photos to document the momentous occasion)!

On a sad note, Dan went away for his annual "it's barry's birthday so we gotta go see his momma and while we are there we will make it a long weekend and do some diving" trip. Jack and I had a great long weekend together, but we missed the daddy terribly! Sam's weekend was not so great. The picture shows his run in with the jumping tree AFTER the cone was removed...oh yeah. It looks MUCH better now- IT WAS PITIFUL!

Jack has REALLY started teething. It has been rough on us all. At least we are starting to see the evidence of a tooth breaking through. That helps make sense of all the tears and grunting...oh and Jack complains sometimes, too! Anyway...a few pictures.

chocolate stuffed boobs

Our dear friends Jim and Vanessa graciously had the crew over for Christmas. We usually get together and go out for extravagant dinners and drinks. Well, I guess EVERYONE is changing their ways these days. Especially our gang...we are collectively about 30% unemployed:)

Anyway, we had a blast! Vanessa's son the professionally trained chef made lasagna ( 2 kinds meat AND vegetarian), Eileen brought a delicious and nutritious salad, Rayna brought some kind of kick ass asparagus wraps, Adrianne brought red wine, of course. That left dessert for me...the kitchen moron. NO PROBLEM! I had just stumbled across the most delicious semi homemade desert you have ever heard of! Crescent Rolls wrapped around mini Milky Way chocolate bars- delish! After the first round won the crowd over, I decided to make round number two. Being that it was several beers into the evening and all, I thought it would be a great idea to take part of the crescent roll and drape it decoratively across the top of each delicious little masterpiece ( cause I am just creative like that). Well, it did not turn out the way I planned. It ended up making each delicious little masterpiece look more like a boob! OOOPS :) Oh well, when this group gets together, you never know what is going to happen. Let's just say, it could have been much worse than rated R deserts! I had such a great time!

santa claus came to town

It was fun even though Jack did not realize how magical it was that Santa Claus found him all the way in Alabama! Christmas was a nice relaxing day with the family. It was filled with good food and LOTS OF PRESENTS! Jack got lots of cool things for such a tiny little boy.

The children were nestled all stinky in their pajamas

So christmas with a new baby was a blast! A tiring, whirlwind, circus of a blast! I always love gathering with my family on Christmas Eve. It has always been a special part of the Christmas celebration. We always gathered at Nana's house on Christmas Eve and exchanged gifts. I can remember that anxious excitement when the announcement would come...."better get ready to go home- Santa is getting close"!

These days we gather at mom and memaw's house. What fun we had with two little ones this year! Memaw got matching pajamas for Jack and Grace. Of course we immediately changed them for pictures of babes nestled under the christmas tree. Oh if it were only as easy said as done! No sooner than we had them sitting JUST right, did Grace announce, Ooooh- he stinks! (Bless his poor little heart...the antibiaotics he was taking for bronchilitis and double ear infection made even his wet diapers smelly!) Once the offensive diaper was replaced with a fresh one, we repositioned the the two Christmas pajama clad babes just so! Then Grace had to go potty. My first reaction, was "no- just hold it", which I was scolded for( and rightfully so). We finally got a couple of cute ones. I think my favorite is the "he stinks" announcement. Only because I know what she was saying and it was such a funny moment! Memories with family are always nice. Stinky or not!

"I like this one"- Mall Santa Picture 1st Christmas EVER!

Who knew that Santa could cause someone to look confused, surprised, like a deer in the headlights?

Whatever you might call this look, the photographer at the mall "liked this one". Oh, he will smile, I say, as the wonderful Santa ( isn't hea great Santa?) is actually talking and playing with Jack, about to coax him into peels of laughter. The photographer looks at the photo again....yeah, I like this one he says. FINE. We only waited in line for 30 minutes. It could have been worse! At least he didn' t cry!

It is after all a picture of Jack. You can never go wrong with that ; )