Little man is already 10 months old!

Where does the time go?  Two months from today our little man will be one year old. I can't believe it has went by so fast.  Last week was a big week for him. He started crawling last Wednesday and started clapping last Thursday.  Sunday night he started "dancing"(moving the top of his body side to side) to the Bubble Guppies theme song. Also last week he started trying to pull himself up on his little car. While doing that for the first time, he flipped over the car and scared the tar out of me. So, our little man has been very busy learning and discovering this last month.

Who is your favorite Chef?

       Tonight while I was trying a new recipe out of my Pioneer Woman Cookbook, I had a funny memory. I remembered my Grandma and my Mom watching  Emeril Live  (a.k.a. the BAM guy) and laughing and saying ooh I would like to try that. They loved that show and as a teenager I could not understand why.

      Now 15 years later, I get it! Cooking shows (some of them) are not only entertaining but they are very relaxing to watch. I found this out when I had our Little Man last March.  I was feeding him in the living room one morning and turned the t.v. onto the  Food Network channel. I watched an episode of Paula Deen (whom I was obsessed with for many, many years) and watched her cook with some celebrity.  I left it on that channel and watched the next show that came on. After a couple of days of this, I realized that I would relax so much when I would listen to these chefs' talk. There voice always stayed calm.  I then got hooked on cooking shows. 

     So, Now I'll get back to when I was cooking tonight and I thought about all of this. It also led me to think of how every few years there is a new chef that is very popular. Back in the 90's it was Bobby Flay and Emeril Laggase. Then in the the early 2000's it was Paula Deen and Rachel Ray. Now it is the Pioneer Woman.  Oh how I love to watch the Pioneer Woman. I attempted her Meat loaf tonight and I must say it was Fabulous!!  

 Here are some pics of the Great Meat Loaf I made with her recipe. Meat Loaf with bacon on top, plus a sweet and tangy ketchup sauce on top of that.

          

     One more thing is on my mind. Why when ever we (we being in general) want a snack and there is not one in the house; we go and stand with cabinet door or fridge door open starring in? Do we really think that the food is going to magically appear? This is what Drama Queen did while I was cooking dinner tonight. So I snapped a pic of it.  Gotta love it!

Realizing how blessed our family has become.

     I was eating dinner with my family tonight and I was hit with a great wave of happiness. I realized how blessed my family is. I made the choice almost two years ago to become a stay at home mom. I was tired of only seeing Jae for a couple of hours each night Monday through Saturday. I  usually only had Sundays to really spend time with her. Lonnie had went to working weekends back in 2011, so we didn't have to have a sitter anymore and he spent the majority of time with Jae. When Jae was about two and a half years old she started begging me to stay home with her and crying every morning when I left the house. I was always so exhausted from working 48-58 hours a week and having a 35 min. commute each day that I felt as though I was felling a Mother. All I had ever wanted in life was to be married and have a child. I wanted to cry every day, because I had my child and I couldn't even be there for her. So, Making the decision to quit my job ( and I had a very good paying job) was a GREAT decision for my family!  Lonnie and I are both able to spend quality with  both kids. Jordan has never had to be left at the baby sitters or had to be left with someone over night due to me working late one night and being back at work at 4:45 am the next morning. I had to do that with Jae when she was about 5 months old. I cried when I picked her up the next  day after work. That was the first time she held out her arms for me to pick her up.  My kids don't have to worry about daddy being gone all the time due to work either. They both know daddy is at work Sat, Sun, and Monday. On Tuesday they are both ready to see him and do stuff with him. Jordan is usually saying Dada, Dada and Jae is usually asking if she can watch something with him or if he can fix something for her. He is known as Mr. Fix it around here. We may not have a whole lot of money because of the choices we have made; but we have a lot of time with each other. Something that me and Lonnie never got to experience with either one of our dads until we were much older. My dad was always gone working, fishing or hunting. Lonnie's dad was always on the road as a truck driver. It is the greatest feeling knowing that we will be able to be a close family. We do everything as a family from grocery shopping to going to sporting events. I realize not every family is the same, and what works for our family my not work for yours. Every family is different and functions in their own way. But I must say that the way we live now for the most part is less stressful,and I feel like a much better mother. I am liking living more simplified.

       Now, I need to get back to my family and watch our Duck Dynasty Marathon we have going on.

                                           Me and my lil man at Mt. Nebo

                                             Me and my lil Drama Queen at Mt. Nebo.

                                             Daddy lets Jae "do" his hair.

                                             Daddy with his lil Man.

                               Our family enjoying the first snow of December 2013

                                   Drama Queen and Lil Man enjoying the snow.

                                 Drama Queen and I went out for some girls time in the snow.

                              Drama Queen talked daddy into getting her an icicle down.

Jordan's 9 months old

Jordan turned 9 months old on December 14th. With Christmas and all the running around we had to do, I didn't get his check up scheduled until December 31st. The doctor said he is a super laid back little guy. That is just his personality. He was not crawling or pulling up yet when we took him.  But Dr. P said he is plenty strong enough and able. He had gained 2 lbs and grew about a 1/4 of an inch. Jordan is now in the 25% for height and weight. Dr. P  said that would probably put Jordan at growing to about 5ft 7in. We shall see. All in all though Our little guy is super healthy!


Jordan is now:
weighs 16lbs 13oz
26 1/4 inches long
drinks about 20- 24oz a day
drinks some goats milk
eats 1.5 oz of rice cereal daily
eats 1oz of protein daily
eats 2oz of fruit daily
eats 2 oz of veggies daily
gets up on all fours and rocks
can say nae nae(for paci) dada, mama,jae jae, bye bye
waving as of 12/31/13
laying on his belly and pushing himself backwards everywhere.
goes to bed around 11pm and sleeps until 10am or 11am
takes about 2 naps a day. 1 short and 1 long nap

He still has not had any teeth come in . The two front ones are very close. They swell up and go back down and Dr. P said it should be pretty soon when they come in.

                                          He loves to play with this train

                                        This is his balancing act he does pretty often

    Practicing his duck calling for when his Poppy and Uncle Boots take him duck hunting

                                 trying to ride on his mailbox dog he got for Christmas