Dolls and Trucks

Trucks, Jeeps and Dolls Oh My!
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Jeep from Mimi and Pops

Front End Loader from Mommy and Daddy

Recycling Truck from Santa

Hope's First Doll.

Hope's first lipstick and purse!

Happy Birthday, to the Twins!

One year ago my cousin welcomed into the world, Ainsley Jane and Gage Thomas Loredo. They are super precious. I only wish they lived closer so all the kids could play together.
Happy Birthday to the twins!

Balsamic Pork Chops

Last night's dinner from Southern Living. J loved it.

Ingredients
1 (6.2-ounce) package fast-cooking long-grain and wild rice mix
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 (3/4-inch-thick) boneless pork chops
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can chicken broth
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Garnish: fresh rosemary sprigs
Preparation

Cook rice according to package directions; keep warm.

Combine flour, 1 teaspoon rosemary, salt, and pepper. Dredge pork chops in flour mixture.

Melt butter with oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Add pork chops, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove pork chops.

Add broth and vinegar, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Cook 6 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Add pork chops, and cook 5 minutes or until done. Serve over rice. Garnish, if desired.


Southern Living, OCTOBER 2001

Christmas Funny

Santa Clause

"Mommy, see Sintin Clause." So, to the mall we went. Of course, shy man wouldn't speak to him. I was thrilled though that he did sit in his lap and not cry! Since I did not have a blog last year (or the year before), here are the pictures from the last 3 years.

Christmas 2008





Christmas - 2007
The best part of this picture is that while we were in line a newspaper reporter came up to me and told me what a cute kid I had. Of course, I couldn't agree more. She then asked if she could take a picture of Grayson with Santa for the paper. Wow - she really did think my kiddo was cute. As any mom's heart would do, mine swelled up with P-R-I-D-E! And what does pride come before --- the fall. See the below picture for the result of Grayson and Santa. Needless to say, no picture of Grayson and Santa in the paper.


Christmas 2006

You Know You Have a Loud Child When....

....you are standing 5 people deep in line at Super Target and a cashier comes over and opens a register just for YOU! Thanks Hope - I hate lines. Next time you need a quick cut to the front of the line, let me know and you can borrow her.

It's Hot, It's Cold, It's Hot Again....

You've got to love living in Houston. It's hot, it's cold, it's hot again....and you are still in the same day. The standing joke around here is that if you don't like the weather, give it an hour and it will change. Yesterday we saw 80, today the high is unlikely to get out of the 50s. No wonder all of our kiddos are sick.

I love the cool weather. Remember, I am a runner, the cooler and drier, the better it is for running. I also love the cool weather because it is a great time to break out the soup recipes. Yummy! Not to mention that most of them are saute a few things and then leave them to simmer. Can't beat the ease of a soup recipe. Of course, we have been pretending it's cool enough to eat soup around here because I can not keep up with the ever changing weather.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Southwestern Chicken and Rice Soup
1 med onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
(not called for but I add mushrooms and celery)
1 Tb veggie oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup uncooked white rice
2 medium plum tomatoes, chopped
1 - 2 Tbsp chopped pickled jalapeno slices
1 tsp cumin (I usually do 1 Tbsp)
1/4 tsp pepper
8 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 ripe avocado, chopped
tortilla strips

1. Saute first 3 ingredient in oil for 7 min or until tender. Add garlic and saute 1 more minute
2. Stir in chicken and next 5 ingredients. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender
3. Stir in cilantro and lime juice
4. Serve with avocado and tortilla strips

Tortilla strips

Cut corn tortillas into strips. Place on a baking sheet and spray strips with cooking spray. (I usually lightly brush mine with oil instead).
Bake at 400 for 20 min - stir every 5

From Southern Living


Chicken Tortilla Soup
6 Tbsp veggie oil
8 corn tortillas, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
½ c fresh cilantro, chopped
1 med onion, chopped
28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 T ground cumin
1 T chili powder
3 bay leaves
6 Cups chicken stock
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper
4-6 shredded, cooked chicken breasts
Toppings: cheeses, avocado, sour cream, chips

Heat oil over medium heat
Add tortillas, garlic, cilantro and onion
Saute until soft and translucent.
Stir in tomatoes
Bring to a boil and add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves and chicken stock. Return to a boil
Reduce heat and add salt and cayenne pepper.
Simmer 30 minutes
Remove bay leaves and stir in chicken. Heat until chicken is warm
Garnish with above toppings


5 Can Soup
1 can evaporated milk
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel
1 can French onion soup
1 can cream of potato

Add shredded chicken and warm. Top with shredded cheese. Serve with salad and bread.


White Christmas Chili
This one makes a lot so I half the recipe

8 skinned and boned chicken breasts
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBSP veggie oil
2 cans chicken broth
4 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed, drained and mashed
2 cans chopped green chilis, undrained
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp dried oregano
`/1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Cut chicken into bite size pieces
Saute chicken, onion and garlic in hot oil over medium high heat for 10 minutes or until chicken is done.
Stir and broth and next 10 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes
Serve with shredded Monterey Jack cheese, salsa, sour cream, cilantro

Taco Soup
This is a staple for any Texas kitchen. This is another one I half for our family.

2 lbs ground beef
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 4 oz can chopped green chilis
salt and pepper
2 - 1 1/4 oz package taco seasoning
1 - 1 oz package hidden valley ranch dry dressing mix
1 15 oz can white hominy
1 15 oz can golden yellow hominy
2 - 14.5 oz stewed tomatoes - Mexican style
1 - 15 oz can whole kernel corn
2 - 15 oz cans Pinto beans with jalepenos
2 cups of water
1 bag of Fritos
1 8 oz bag shredded cheddar cheese

Brown meat with onions and 4 oz can of chilis. Stir in taco seasoning and hidden valley dry ranch. Then add undrained cans of vegetables and 2 cups of water. Serve in bowls and top with cheese and fritos.

When I Needed A Smile...

Have I mentioned recently that Grayson is TWO? Oh my goodness, the child is about to do me in. I am exhausted by the end of the day. My well meaning friends keep telling me that three is worse than two. I am in for a few tough years if that is the case. However, in spite of it all, he has done some super adorable things that have made me smile this week.

Apparently he didn't nap at Mother's Day Out this week and I got "the look" from the teacher when she told me this. I didn't have the energy to ask her just how bad he was during naptime. However, the next statement out of her mouth melted my heart. When she asked him what he was thankful for, his answer was, "Hope." My heart just welled up with love for my little boy.

As we were driving down the road, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He said, "A Jeep." I said, "Are you going to ask Santa?" He said, "No, POPS." Pops is my dad. Giggle. BTW: That was an unprompted, unrehearsed answer. Straight out of the mouths of babes.

J loves coffee and has let Grayson try it. Grayson doesn't like it. However, the other day he kept saying he wanted coffee so I fixed him some hot cocoa so he could have a "hot drink" like his daddy. I even put a little whipped cream on top. A few days later I asked, "do you want some coffee?" He said, "Want cream on my coffee."

Tonight at dinner he looked at J and said, "Don't sing Daddy, just eat."

Priceless little comments that make us laugh and make it all worthwhile.

Not So Fit Friday

Stellar Running (9-4-3-4) + Not so Stellar Eating = Unfit Friday
Dreading the upcoming Turkey Day as it is my very favorite meal of the year. MMMM....Turkey, Dressing and Green Beans. Yum!
Hope everyone else had a great week.

Fit Friday

Running Report:
Last Friday = 9 miles (OUCH)
Weekend Report: anniversary trip to Austin (Hook Em) + jello legs from the 9 miles = no running
Weeday Report: Rain + sick child = 1 day of running; I am going tonight though!

Eating Report:
Overall pretty good minus last night, but it was our anniversary so that gave me a free pass. I indulged and had some ice cream. It was so good. My sweet husband gave me a special spoon for my anniverary to help calibrate my future "bites" of ice cream. You can't really tell from the picture, but it is one of those collector spoons that is tiny! That was one of the things that I fell in love with - his ability to make me laugh.



Overall, even though I didn't get to run like I wanted to, it was still a good week. I tried on a pair of pants that I am almost back into. Still a ways to go but slow and steady wins the race.

Till Next Week...

4 Years!

Happy 4th Anniversary, J!
I love you!

Christmas Movies

I am a heel this week as I have not taken time to encourage all of my Hot for the Holiday buddies. This morning I decided I should at least see how everyone else did last week. The first one I clicked on was Rach@inhishands. She had a list of Christmas movies and I immediately got sidetracked. To say I LOVE Christmas is an understatement. Oh, the holidays are coming - decorating the house, putting up the tree, watching Christmas movies and most importantly the celebration of the birth of our Savior!

To start with the secular though - I love Christmas movies. Here are my 10 favorites, in no particular order. Just ones that I love and watch over and over again! Two that have a special meaning to me are:

White Christmas - I grew up watching this with my Papaw.
Christmas Vacation - Jon, Justin and I watched this every Christmas Eve when we were grown. Sometimes 2 and 3 times in that night. I love my bubbas!

The Other 8:
- The Santa Clause
- Miracle on 34th Street
- Holiday Inn
- Charlie Brown's Christmas
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
- Frosty the Snowman
- A Christmas Carol

Random Things About Jen

We've all seen the "Seven Random Things About Yourself" meme that has been going around. Well, my friend Missy put a whole new twist on this asking her husband, Walker, to write 7 things about her. She then challenged her bloggy friends to do the same. I asked J and he joined in. This was scary and fun all at the same time --- you should join in.

Random Things About Jen Through Jamison's Eyes:Hmmm… this could be interesting.

1.Let’s start slowly… Jen’s already mentioned this quirk- “just one bite of ice cream.” Normally Jen is a very careful eater, both in quality and quantity of calories consumed. But bites of ice cream are a different animal altogether. Two bites just might be enough to make a whole serving for our son! That said, what’s more amazing is that “one bite” is one of her only regular indulgences and, only when we have ice cream in the house. THAT, my friends is unique.

2. In the same vein, she has an inexplicable, almost magnetic draw toward MY desert and MY Dr Pepper. I know that we’re supposed to be ‘one flesh’ and all, but does it have to extend to MY desert? I usually just hand over my spoon or folk and let her take the first bite, and I usually offer the DP before I have to suffer the puppy-dog pleading. I know, I’m a pushover.

3. Driven by guilt. Jen has a strong personality, but easily persuaded by guilt. Thankfully, I stink at guilt trips so I can’t make her do anything! J

4. Forget “body toxin removers”: just send the girl on a run. Nothing clears her head and makes her a renewed person better or more quickly than a run. Running is the miracle cure-all in our house.

5. Jen’s a neat freak. Emphasis on the FREAK. We’ve had “discussions” in the past about definitions of words and how her use of the words “nasty” or “disgusting” just don’t align with most people’s expectations of what they’d find in our house. My arguments fall on deaf ears. So I’m learning to make the bed, clean up after myself, keep my footprints to a bare minimum…

6… but what’s up with all the Christmas decorations?! No room for my stuff, but plenty of room for decorations. Jen LOVES Christmas and would be THAT HOUSE on the block if we could afford to, and if she thought I’d let her get away with it. You know the one, right? When they turn on their Christmas lights everyone else’s dim? Stock tip: buy stock in energy companies and Christmas retailers if the Smiths ever strike it rich.

7. She’s uniquely mine, and you can’t have her. I love this woman, and that makes her unique too: ain’t no one else out there whom I love like this crazy woman. Besides, she laughs at (some) of my jokes and I need someone like that around to make me feel good about myself!

Fit Friday

Week 3 --- went about as well as the election did this week if you are in the McCain camp! I would love to say that I stayed far, far away from the Halloween candy but it jumped up, bit me in the rear and permanently attached itself there. Plus every morning my precious child says, "Pick 1 piece Mommy" and we each get to pick a piece out of his pumpkin. The Mexican food on Sunday attached to the waist and then I got mom of the year award for baking cut out sugar cookies with my 2 year old and one of his friends. I love the way they baks. A bite for Grayson, a bite for Luke, a bite for Mommy. Who can resist a cute 2 year old sharing his cookie dough? After all, I have been working on him sharing! At that point, I gave up even keeping track on how bad I blew it foodwise this week. I made the mistake of getting in the mindset of "Oh well, I've already blown it, might as well finish it off." Kind of goes with my sports philosophy - if you are going to get a foul, make it count.

On a very positive note, I have had a stellar week running. Sat I ran with my good friend Dana and we knocked out 7+ miles. On Monday I had what I am calling my postpartum break through run as it was the first fast, I feel awesome run. I ran 4 miles in 36:30 - just over a 9 minute mile. I thought, no way could I ever do that again as that is the fastest pace I have ever run. On Wed I ran the same route in 35:34 - just under a 9 minute mile. Yippee!!!! One more day to run this week, but Jamison and I are headed to Austin for the Texas game so I am not sure when it will happen.

Many of you have commented on my running so I feel inclined to give you my top 10 reasons to why I run:

10. A friend of mine 4 years ago encouraged me to run a half marathon. He believed in me and I trained in 8 weeks and ran it in 2 hours, 2 min. It can be done - I had never run over 3 miles prior to this.
9. Some friends of mine didn't think I could do it! I am competitive so proving them wrong became the name of the game.
8. Runner's high - it's awesome once you clear 4 miles and get in the grove.
7. Running is ADDICTIVE
6. Running is a stress reliever
5. Running is the only time I get some UNINTERRUPTED, QUIET time to myself - unless I am doing my long run in which I welcome my chats with Dana. We can solve the world's problems on these runs! Then I get GOOD QUALITY girl time. Either way it is a win win situation!
4. Running gives me time to think
3. Running gives me time to pray
2. Running is the only effective thing I have found to take the weight off
and the #1 Reason....
1. After a nice LONG run, there is no guilt about the Sonic tator tots and diet coke.

Yes, eating is the #1 reason in my world to run!

Here's to a better next week.

UnAmerican?

Last night Jamison and I were discussing the fact that my child does not like peanut butter. What 2 year old, minus those with allergies, doesn't like peanut butter? Isn't that like the all time favorite toddler food? Seems un-American to me or un-something. All kids are supposed to make life easy on their mommies by liking PB&J. I'm baffled.

Jamison then reminded me that I can't call my own child un-American without saying that about myself. You see, I don't like apple pie, cherry pie or hot dogs. You know, those good old 4th of July foods. So, since we were finger pointing, I reminded J that he didn't really care for baseball and that is the "American pasttime" - it just doesn't get anymore un-American than that!

I might add though that we are both very AMERICAN in the fact that we believe in exercising our right to vote! I am thankful that I live in a free country where I have that priviledge and I thankful for the many willing men and women that serve this country to give me freedom.

God Bless America - land that I love!

Trick or Treat!

Fit Friday Week 2

Not good, but not that bad either.

For accountablity and follow up purposes from last week, I did complete my final run last Friday and went 6 miles! The kiddos were crazy that afternoon and I needed some fresh air and a lot of it. It was one of my best runs since having Hope.

As for the running - I completed my goals!
On Sat I thought it would be a good idea to get my "long" run in for the week and went another 6. Did I mention that I ran 6 the night before? I paid for it dearly! My legs were jello for the next couple of days. I am definitely not ready for the half marathon that is coming up.

On Monday my 2 year old wanted to go running with me. That is WORK, I tell you. I pushed him in his stroller for around 3 miles. I would love to say that we ran the whole way, but we mostly trotted (and walked). One of his priceless quotes this week came from this trip. He said (and I quote), "We're not running, Mommy. We're walking." As if I did not know this? He did keep me honest as he would periodically tell me to go faster! "Go faster, Mommy, Go faster." "Sweetie - you're heavy - 33 lbs heavy + stroller weight, I am going faster!" That has to count for a few extra calories.

Tues and Thurs rounded out my runs with 4.5 miles and 4 miles respectively. Although the Thurs run was more walking than running as I mistakenly ate some soup before leaving. SLOSH. SLOSH. SLOSH...and I decided to walk. On a very POSITIVE note, I did ab exercises 3 times this week - which is a record for me!

As for the eating - over the course of the week I ate a bag of candy corn. BAD JEN! However, I was really good with eating well the rest of the time. I was studying to teach on Wed and the late night called for sugar. The very POSITIVE note is I stayed out of the ice cream - not one bite; not even a little taste. I also stayed out of Grayson's snacks! I've given up on the diet coke reduction. Much caffeine is needed for a 2 year old and newborn.

I did brave the skirt last Sat. I have about 3/4" to go in the waist and my rear end and hips need to shrink! Having a girl did a number on my body; my flat tushy is not so flat anymore.

Goals for this week: run 3 weekdays and 7-8 miles on Sat; eat well.....no bad snacks

Through the Night

I am a rule follower. Always have been. I also listen to doctors. Perhaps that comes from the fact that I grew up with one and was constantly hearing that he couldn't cure people who did not do what he told them to do. That is why when my OB told me to not eat deli meat, soft cheese, limit my caffeine intake, etc. I did exactly as I was told. Despite the fact that my mom and everyone else who had babies for the many thousands of years before me did all those things, and more, and their kiddos turned out just fine. I don't question, I just do as told.

However, I do question the sanity of the American Pediatric Board on one particular issue. That is their definition of through the night. 5-6 hours? Are you kidding me? Through the night in my book is lay the little angel down around 7:30, give kisses and see the little angel again sometime the next morning when the sun is up. OK, the sun does not have to be up, but the rooster does have to crow....5:30 qualifies in my house as thorugh the night.

So, for weeks now I have been asked, "Is Hope sleeping through the night?" Lets see, I may have only been up once at 3 am which would technically be through the night, but my answer is still NO. If I'm not sleeping through the night, then neither is she :).

I am happy to say that today, October 29th, it is 6:49 am and my little princess is STILL asleep. Hallelujah! I have already praised and thanked the Lord for this. I am sure this won't continue from here, but we now know she CAN do it and will hopefully make this the new norm in short order. I think the Lord is being super gracious to me as I am teaching this morning and was up most of the night with a nasty cough. I finally got to sleep around the time she usually gets up! I have already said my thank yous and counted my blessings. The Lord is good to me even in the small things!

Now Miss Hope can teach Mr. Grayson about how to sleep. He's been up since just before 6.

New Addition

We have a new family member...and no, I am NOT pregnant for all of you whose minds went that way. For the time, we have added a precious little shih tsu puppy, Prissy, to the Smith clan. It's a bit bittersweet as it is my 92 year old grandfather, Jack Crockett's, puppy. A few weeks back, the doctors found a tumor in his lung that turned out to be cancerous. This past Monday they went in and removed the tumor. He is still in recovery. In the meantime, we are keeping his dog. Grayson is in heaven.

At first, I wasn't so sure how well the transition would go for either us or the dog. It was one more thing I had to keep alive and for her, she went from a quiet enviornment to one that is anything but quiet. The first day she was here, Grayson was running after her screaming, "Chase Prissy" and Hope was just screaming. The dog was cowered under my feet as if to say, "Please make it stop." My sentiments exactly. However, we have adjusted and I walked through the living room today to find Prissy perched on the couch on TOP OF one of my pillows. I think she feels right at home.

Politics and Halloween

Fit Friday

I did about as well on my Hot for the Holidays quest this week as I did with keeping up with my blog. That's not quite accurate I made all week minus one day without a bite of ice cream and that is progress. The lack of sleep made the running difficult and the diet coke consumption hard to keep at one per day, although I did get down to 1.5 on a few of the days. Progress! :) I ran 3 miles Sat, 6 miles Sun, 3 miles on Tues and well....if I get my run in tonight then I completed my running for this week. I did manage to stay out of the snacks, for the most part.

Still no pictures although take my word, my belly is BIGGER this week! As the title says, "I'll think about it tomorrow!" Here's to a fit Holiday and a better week next week.

Hot for the Holidays

My good friend, Missy, is hosting Fit Fridays in an effort for all of us to get Hot for the Holidays. I am joining in on the effort, because I jiggle - all over. I know many of you are going to say, "You just had a baby," and well, I did and yes, I'm nursing (buying myself extra calories per day). However, that has been an excuse all too often for my indulgence in chips and salsa as well as Blue Bell and Magic Shell. I may look good for someone who has a 10 week old, but I still can't fit in my jeans....and that is UNACCEPTABLE! Plus, I don't want to be sitting at high school graduation saying, "It's baby weight." Not to mention that I have never made it even one week with a new year's resolution, so perhaps starting in October, I'll have a chance.

Setting Goals:
My goal is not a number per se, but my really cute pencil skirt that I wore to my bridesmaid luncheon four years ago. It's the most form fitting thing I own from when I was at my thinnest. Perhaps I'll put it on now and post a picture for after....

For accountability, here is my plan of action:
1. No more "bites" of ice cream in the evenings (a bad indulgence I have to satisfy the sweet tooth. After all, it's just "ONE" bite. Don't ask the size of the bite!)
2. I started running a few weeks back. My plan is to run 3-4 miles three days a week and to do a "long" run on either Sat or Sun. I'm training for the half marathon - so tack that on to my list of excuses to why I should get to eat more. Nursing + Training = Food
3. No more finishing Grayson's snacks or stealing them out of his back pack when I am in the car running errands.
4. No more "I've had a bad day so I deserve blue bell and magic shell" for dinner days. Caveat, unless it's on a weekend that I've run 10 miles - b/c that really is burning a boat load of calories and if I run that far, I deserve a treat :)!
5. One diet coke per day. Period and LOTS of water.

No pics for now, b/c everytime I see myself in a pic these days, I want to cry. My poor little face is not so little, it's round! Plus, I am at my mom's, am on her computer and don't have any of my pictures. Perhaps I'll post one when I get home.

Here's to a Trim Christmas.....we would love for you to join in!

Ever Had One of Those Days?

Ever had one of those days that drives you to hit the bottle? Oh....I had one of those days. In fact it was so much one of those days that I even let my 2 year old hit the bottle with me. He said, "Want Sauce Mommy!" Yes, I sauced my kid up and then gave him some more. Jamison just shook his head and said, "It must be bad."

Thanks Ash for showing me that most days can be solved with the following:

Hook 'Em Horns!

Grayson learned an important phrase today; one that he is ALLOWED to be a broken record with. "Hook 'Em Horns!" 45-35....Go Horns!

Broken Record

For those of you who were born in the age of cassette tapes and CDS and don't know what a good old record is, then you won't appreciate the few days that I have had. On the other hand, my mom has pictures of me at 2 years old sitting at my little talbe with my record player. I'll have to find a picture to post sometime. Side note: I just repainted the table for Hope Elizabeth's room. So there I would sit with my 45s singing along. I'm sure this tortured my mother as I couldn't carry a tune to save my life.

I digress though. This nostalgia was brought on by my son over the last few days. I use to long for the days when he could talk, communicate, tell me what he wanted. I thought it would be pure bliss. I believe I even said, "I can't wait until I wake up to the sound of 'mommy' as opposed to screaming." Hmmmmm.....it's a toss up these days. Don't hear me wrong I love my son, but he needs an OFF button. He's like the broken record I was reminiscing about above. He won't drop one thought until you have acknowledged what he is saying and then he moves on. That is most days, then there is today. Jamison said that the 45 rpm's I was remembering didn't really stand for revolutions per minute in our house, it stood for repetition per minute.

J's sister came into town tonight and I made the mistake of telling Grayson this morning that she was coming. All day, and I literally mean all day, it was, "Aunt Ne-ne is coming, aunt ne-ne is coming, aunt ne-ne is coming." He barely finished the word coming before he started in on the next round of "aunt..." I took him to Target to distract him - instead I got looks from everyone in the store. Between his constant babble of his aunt and Hope's screaming, I got the please leave so we can shop in peace looks! Oh well!

I did find 10 minutes of sanity from the repetition. Can anyone say Flavor-Ice?

I am sure one of my smarty pants friends will comment that he comes by it honestly....but I already know that!

Fire Ant

This is the term my best friend, Erica, has dubbed the beat red, I'm really mad face that almost all newborns do at one point or another. Grayson was a challenge and we had several of these moments. Being a first time mom, I worried, I picked him up, I soothed him, I did everything in my power to make him stop crying. Generally this led to MORE screaming. (Did I mention he was a bit of a challenge?) My brother Jon gave him a classic shirt that said, "Warning, Instructions Not Included." We staged a fire ant picture just so I could have documentation that my child screamed!



Hope on the other hand is a fairly laid back, easy child. She cries when she is wet, hungry, bored, etc. Rarely does she get really worked up. The other night right before bath she had one of those rare moments. She let it all out; I think she must have been storing it up. I can tell I am a second time mom as instead of picking her up, consoling her, etc as I would have done with Grayson, I yell to J, "Quick, get the camera." To which it took a few minutes for him to find, all so I could get a kodak fireant moment. I know, she'll probably be scarred for life because I neglected her!

Dr. "P"

We had our 2 year and our 2 month appointment today. We love our pediatrician, Dr. Pielop (a.k.a. Dr. "P") and all the doctors in the practice are awesome! www.bluefishmd.com He managed to get Grayson to make it through the whole appointment, until the shot, without crying. That is HUGE! Bottom line of the appointment, I have healthy and TALL kids.

Hope has grown 5 inches since birth: wow! She is 23.5 inches (95%) and weighs 12 lbs. 3 ounces.

Grayson is 38.5 inches tall (>95%) and 33 pounds.

Both had shots, so they are drugged up and sleeping. I'm sure the drugs will wear off and the fussiness will come, but for now, I am enjoying some silence!

Blowing Out the Candles

One of Grayson's favorite things on his birthday(s) was blowing out the candles. Every time I mentioned birthday, he immediately said, "cake, candles." Each time he had candles (and it was a lot), he blew them out multiple times.

One of my good friends, Suzanne Box, does photography and captured him in action. These are a few of my favorites. Her website is: www.suzanneboxphotography.com.

Birthday Month

Birthdays are a BIG deal in my house and always have been. That was something my mom and dad did for all of us. I liked it - who wouldn't. Doesn't everyone like being made feel special for at least one day out of the year. It was a tradition that I definitely wanted to keep when I got married. I am not sure that Jamison understood it at first, but he has gone with my make a fuss over everyone on their birthday and let me run with it.

When Robin married into our family, I knew she was meant to be a Crockett as she instituted the birthday week. Every day of your birthday week, you get to choose the activity. I liked the idea! She can stay! (Note: Robin is a way cool person anyway, this is just one of the thousands of reasons that I am glad she is part of the Crockett Clan).

However, Grayson has taken our birthday tradition to a whole new level. He managed to make it a birthday month. Granted, Ike kept pushing one of his parties out, but that is beside the point....the child blew out 4 separate sets of candles! The original plan was to have a little kids party and invite the grandparents. Sounded good - only the rest of the family wasn't up for that idea. So, I compromised since my cousin Kelley and her twins were going to be in town, we would have a small family party the weekend after his birthday. Being the mom that I am, I could not let the actual birthday pass without singing to him - really, all we were going to do was have sweet rolls and sing to him.

Lets recap how it all went down:
Sept 1:
Birthday Celebration 1 - breakfast and presents with mom and dad


Birthday Celebration 2 - steak dinner (How did he pull that off?) and cupcakes at Mimi and Pop's


Sept 6:
Birthday Celebration 3 - COOKIE MONSTER! italian dinner and cake with the family





Sept 28:
Birthday Celebration 4 - TRUCKS! pb&j and cake with friends

Playing Together

Just a few cute shots of my kids "playing" together on the activity mat. It was one of the few moments yesterday when a toy was not flying at Hope's head.




Now time for me to say... I spoke too soon. Hope's nights have been less than stellar since I made my last post.

Stellar Night

7 pm - feed Hope
8 pm - put Hope to bed
10 pm - go to sleep: still no sounds of Hope
1:30 am - feed Hope
6 am - wake up to Grayson screaming - where's Hope?
6:30 am - feed Hope

Wow! I only got up once with her last night. J says she stirred at 3:30 and he comforted her, but it was just for about 5 minutes and I slept through it. I can manage the above schedule. Now if she'll just do it every night for a while!

Grayson during IKE

Well, I was the chicken little in the group and talked Jamison in to heading to Tyler to ride out the storm. After all, we have a massive live oak in our back yard and 4 huge trees in our front yard, not to mention a newborn in the house. Between my fear of a tree falling on us and Hope being in the house without electricity, I wanted out of Houston. I feel very blessed to say that all of our trees are standing and that we were only without electricity for about 48 hours. Not bad considering most of Houston is still in the dark.

While my IKE story is very uneventful, my son, Grayson had an eventful trip to the big T-town.

Thurs
2 pm - It started on the way there - his runny nose led him to cough and cough and cough until he threw up in the car. We pull over, clean him up, buy some benadryl to knock him out and press on. Scenario repeats - poor thing never fell asleep and the car stinks.
9 pm - By the time we arrive, his fever is 102. Back to the store for Tylenol and Motrin. Still no sleep. 3 am rolls around, hurricane is still in the gulf - Grayson has labored breathing. J takes off for an emergnecy clinic. He has bronchitis and an ear infection. A breathing treatment later Grayson is wired, but can breathe. Still no sleep for the little man - in fact, he was running around like a crazy man; drug side effect.
9 am - finally crashes for ONE hour ONLY. Geez, even sick and after pulling an all nighter, Grayson still does NOT nap.

Fri
Watch all day coverage on IKE while praying for friends and family in Houston and Galveston.

Sat:
2 pm - Nap time AT LAST. Grayson figures out he can climb out of the pack and play. It's a NEW game. Several spankings later and his little bottom is red.
Mom lays down to sleep with him in the big boy bed. Grayson sleeps, mom leaves, Grayson rolls out and hits his head on the end table. HUGE goose egg right between the eyes (picture to follow soon). OUCH. Mom is praying there won't be a trip to the ER as they will think that she beats her son.
late afternoon:
falls down and skins both knees while playing with the dog. IKE moves through and we get rain.

Mon:
We're home in one piece I think! Life with a 2 year old is never dull!

What I've Taught Grayson....

Our conversation today after MOPS setup.

Mom: "Grayson, what would you like for lunch?"
Grayson: "Grayson, diet coke."

Little Longhorn

Hook 'Em Horns!

Bad Mommy....

Bad mommy over here forgot to take a picture of Grayson's first day of Mother's Day Out. I'm sure he will be scarred for life.

Overall, Grayson did great. He walked up and told the teacher, "I'm a dragonfly." Yes, he knows he's a human, the class is the dragonfly class. He then gave me a "you traitor" look before I broke down. Fast forward 3 years - kindergarten dropoff is going to be horrible.

I picked up a grimy, but very happy little boy who wanted to carry his own stuff out. That made me tear up as it made him seem older. The teacher asked me, "does he nap?" Ha! He does at 2, but bot at noon. She said that he kept sitting up saying, "mommy, please come back." Sigh. More tears....and still no pictures. Bad mommy.

Sept 1, 2006

15 years of prayers were answered...I became a mom.
I learned to laugh, cry, worry, love like I never had before.
Happy 2nd Birthday Little Man.
I love you!

Question of the day: how many cakes does a 2 year old get?
When little man gets through with all his celebrations, I'll post pictures of the answer.

Goin' to the Chapel....

Yesteday was my sister-in-law Neta's birthday and her boyfriend, Jonathan proposed! There will be a wedding sometime in the near future in the Smith household. I don't have a lot of the details yet, but apparently he wrote her a 3 page poem and proposed at the end. To which Jamison looked at me and said, "don't be expecting a 3 page poem from me." Don't worry, I don't. J's proposal to me was all Jamison just as Jonathan's proposal to Neta was all Jonathan. CONGRATS to Jonathan and BEST WISHES to Neta!

I love to hear proposal stories and as I thought about Neta this morning, it reminded me of my birthday weekend 4 years ago when Jamison proposed to me. So, for the next few days I am going to reflect, remember and write about it. At times I think it is good to think back on the early days of our relationship - it reminds me of the romance, the laughter, the giddiness that came with the newness of things and it sparks in me that which drew me to J in the first place. The maturity of our relationship as it has grown over time is fun, but there is something to be said for the early days of love.

In the beginning there was Jamison and there was Jen....and Jen had a boyfriend (important factor in days to come)! Lets start the story by saying that it all began when Jen went back to Bible Study Fellowship leadership. Jen had done 7 years of BSF and had said she would never go back. Oh, those infamous words, but she knew there was a reason to go back, she just didn't know that reason would be tall, dark and handsome or that a year later she would be engaged to that reason. (On a side note - that used to be a prime place to meet your future spouse....examples: Missy and Walker, Reagan and Lisa, Jen and Chris, Angela and Ryan, Jamison and Jen, etc.
) However, when she first went back she dismissed him as nothing more than a friend based on the fact that she had a boyfriend. She did on ocassion give him some dating advice and he informed her that if he could ever get a girl to go on three dates with him she would be the one (another pertinent fact). Jamison could almost always get two dates with the girls, but never the third.

Question of the day for all my bloggy friends: how did you and your spouse meet?

A New Twist

We had a new twist on breakfast for dinner tonight. It's not that we meant for it to happen the way it did, it just happened. About 3 pm I realize, I need to have something for dinner tonight. I have gotten spoiled by all the meals that people are providing - thanks girls! I thought we were going to have freezer potluck, however, when I went to nuke dinner for Grayson tonight can anyone guess what I found? I found my nuked egg left from breakfast still in there. I can't decide what's more disturbing, the fact that it was in there, the fact that I considered serving it to my family or the fact that I didn't realize that I hadn't eaten this morning.

You would think that this would be due to the fact that I have a newborn in the house, however, my day has been this way due to my "I'm 3 days short of being 2, but I am going to act every ounce of it today!" Small glimpse into my day: I found Grayson jumping in Hope's bed WHILE SHE WAS IN THERE ASLEEP! They are going to call CPS on my 2 year old.

I would love to think that my 365 day count down out of the terrible twos is about to begin, that it truly is a step function (yes, I'm a math geek)and that somehow magically on his 3rd birthday he would revert back to an angelic state, but sources tell me that the 3s can be as challenging as the 2s. It's going to be a long few years...and perhaps those surprise breakfast for dinners will come in handy. We're having "tomorrow's" breakfast for "tomorrow's" dinner - any one care to join us?

Minor Victory

Grayson has NO interest in potty training; none; nada; zilch. No big deal in my world beceause he's still not two. OK, OK, so he's a week shy of 2, but that still does not make him 2 YET. I have not been pressuring him at all but have been talking to him about it, letting him sit on it, bribing him with M&Ms, the usual mom tricks. His favorite part? FLUSHING. We are trying to train him that you only flush it when you have used it. That's almost a pointless exercise as anytime he disappears, it is almost guaranteed that you will find him by one of the potties flushing away. All that to say, he refuses to actually "go" on the potty, even though the reward of flushing comes at the end. 100% of the time, he'll sit there for about a minute, say all done, only to hop off and go in his diaper. Frustrating.

Tonight, dad gets a gold star as he got Grayson on the potty in the nick of time to have our first potty training victory. There was a celebration in our house. We had M&M's, we called the grandparents, we did high fives, we celebrated some more....

When you are sleep deprived, minor victories are BIG victories. Now, if I can convince him to do this more often.

Puddles and Squirts

One of the main reasons I hesitated entering the blogging world was the stress of coming up with a name for my blog. I settled on "I'll think about it tomorrow" as Jamison suggested using a line from my favorite movie that also had something to do with my life. As life with a 2 year old goes (& now a newborn), many things get left until tomorrow - the laundry, mopping the floor, scrubbing the toilets, washing my hair, etc. However, I must admit that I have secretly been envious of all the cute blog titles of my friends, "tumbles and tutus," "bruises and bows," "it's almost naptime," etc. etc. etc. In my sleepless stupor and during one of the many changing sessions, I had a revelation. I looked at J and said, "my blog title should be puddles and squirts." Actually it should be squirts and puddles to go in correct age order, but puddles and squirts had a much better ring to it. (Side note: that's what we used to call Grayson - little squirt. Don't ask the number of times I got it before I figured out appropriate measures to take.) I got a laugh followed by, "Jen, you can't name your blog that!" Well, why not? After all, that's what my days are like. With one I keep washcloths on the changing table, with the other, I now know to keep the diaper under her until the last possible moment. Oh, the differences in little boys and little girls! So, what do you think - can I change the name of my blog?

2 Weeks and Growing....

Hope had her 2 week appointment today and I got a gold star for her growing. I'm not sure how that works - I simply feed her when she is hungry. Apparently, most nursing babies don't gain a pound and a half in 2 weeks. Must be the chips and queso! She weighed in at 7 lbs 15 ozs and is now 20 3/4 inches long! Wow... my little girl is growing! Not only that, but she takes a paci - very strange for a Smith or Crockett baby.

On another front - there are babies everywhere:
Welcome David Midani, son of Carrie and Tarek
and Preston Fehr son of Justin and Brooke!
We look forward to hearing about the new additions of Lacey & Barkley as well as Allie & John Mark - both scheduled to arrive this week.

Weekend Happenings

We had a fun filled and eventful weekend. On Saturday, Pops and Uncle Justin came over to help Jamison pick up and construct Grayson's second birthday present. He got a play system and needless to say, he loves his "BIG slide." He's out there every morning. It is going to be a lifesaver for me as I learn to balance two kids - especially since one of them needs to eat every 3 hours!

On Sunday, J's Uncle Strode, Aunt Karen and two of their kids, Lee and Madeline came to visit along with J's sister, Neta and boyfriend Jonathan. After they left, round two of family came. My aunt Sandy and Uncle Mike were in from Plano and came by to meet our newest addition. It was so much fun to introduce Hope to her extended family!

Enjoy the pictures.

I love my sissy!

Grayson is so incredibly sweet with Hope. He gets up in the morning asking for her. Today he said, "sissy." I think that is what he'll call her. That makes me smile because that is what both of my brothers call me to this day.

He loves to give her kisses!