Our Young Picasso....

I wanted to snan these, but I don't think they're dry, so a photo will have to do. Jack tried fingerpainting for the first time today. I was not sure how this would go, as lately Jack has not liked having "gunk" on his hands (syrup from his fruit, peanut butter, that kind of thing). But we had a good little time. I'm thinking about framing at least one of these to add some art to Jack's bedroom wall.
And check out that "cool" tablecloth. $2.50 at Dollar General for us to paint all we want and (hopefully, knock on wood) not mess up our table. Got a second one for the floor, too!

Baby 2

Well, looks like Baby 2 is a little mover and shaker. It took Dr. Morgan 5 times or so to get our littlest one to hold still long enough to catch a heartbeat. I figure this is good, or at least interesting news, but oh, dear. Jack didn't even move that much while I was pregnant and he's Mr. Active now - what will this one be like?

We (hopefully, if Baby 2 cooperates) find out gender at the ultrasound in 4 weeks. Yay! I'm excited to get to work on this baby's room - well, maybe I'm not excited about the work, but I am looking forward to getting it done.

This means that we need to purchase and transition Jack to a toddler bed in the coming months. We're hoping he will take this well!

Weekend WrapUp

The circus was fun! We all had a great time. Jack watched every bit of it. He particularly loved the elephants, the horses, and was oddly fascinated with the tightrope walkers. We got there early and managed to catch the pre-show, where everyone was allowed onto the floor to see the clowns, acrobats, and other stuff.

The Circus, Mooching, and Miss Georgia got Robbed!

Today I bought tickets to the circus! We're going next Sunday - Ringling Bros. is coming to Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, and we've decided that Jack MUST go. We got pretty good seats too. We're excited.

Oh - the photo at left has no relevance to today's blog - I just took it at Standing Stone State Park a few months back, and thought this posting needed a photo.

Jack totally mooched his meals today. He's never really hungry unless it's our food. This morning we didn't even bother with getting Jack's breakfast because he ate 1/3 of his Daddy's banana, mooched off his Daddy's TWO bowls of Cheerios (Addam had to get a second bowl because Jack ate so much of his first) and then mooched off my one bowl of Cheerios. At least he ate a good breakfast. He then mooched lunch after church.

Movie review - Heather (SIL) saw Brokeback Mountain and gave it a big thumbs-down. Not due to content really so much as she just thought the story was bad. Heather made us dinner Saturday night, which was wonderful. A Paula Deen recipe (Mexican Chicken), so you can't hardly go wrong with the choice there. We then watched Miss America and dogged out some of the contestants before they got down to the top 10, because somehow it's just fun to dog out beauty contestants from the comfort of your home. We were so rooting for Miss Georgia to win, because she had a better dress and played piano quite well, but Miss Oklahoma won. Heather thinks she won because she's taller; I think her "Ugly Duckling at 12" story did it. Either way, Miss Georgia got robbed. Robbed, I tell you!

Songs that randomly came up on my computer/iRiver selection as I wrote this:

• "My Poor Brain" - Foo Fighters (not too random, but I had to pick something to get this rolling).
• "Maybe I'll Come Down" - Soul Coughing - they're not together anymore and have not been for quite some time, but there's not another band like them. Addam actually saw them at Riverstages when I was living in Mexico, right before they broke up, and said the drummer was just so cool to watch - he didn't look up from his drums the whole time and was just so good and into it. I wish I could have seen them live. Sigh.)
• "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" - White Stripes - OK, I skipped this because I'm just not in the mood. Next.
• "For All the Cows" - Foo Fighters - off the first album
• "Cabin Down Below" - Tom Petty - skipped it. And you know, I have a lot of Tom Petty downloaded from CD's back in high school, and I even went to his 1995 concert and bought the T-shirt, but I really have to be in the mood to listen to him now.
• "Stand Up (For It)" - Dave Matthews Band - this is Addam's CD, and I'm not in the mood for it right now - skipped.
• "Knock Knock" - The Hives - the Veni Vidi Vicious album is always good for a high energy song.
• Skipped a Dixie Chicks song - "Heartbreak Town" - downer
• "In Other Words" - Ben Kweller - the whole Sha Sha is wonderful. I'm ending my blogging for the night with this one.

Snow! and Blue Pants

We had snow for one night and one morning last week, then the tempature climbed into the high 50's again and all that snow melted away. Anyway, I think I bundled Jack up a little too much for a trek in the snow:

PHOTO DELETED

After being a little hesitant, Jack had a great time. He especially enjoyed knocking the snow off the bushes. To give a little insight on the weather, we went outside without jackets this afternoon and ran around - it's way too warm for January. Oh well.

Anyway, after much thought and consideration Jack has officially adopted what some might call a "lovey", something that he just wants to hold and carry around and nap with. What did he choose? A teddy bear? A blankie? A towel with fringe (that was my requirement as a child)? Nope, he adopted my blue "I Heart Lions" loungin' pants (Yes, that's Detroit Lions. Love me some losers).

He LOVES them. Mention the "Blue Pants" and he giggles and runs to find them. He naps with them. He drags them around the house. I've given them up - they're his now.

Trading Spaces & Co., Eat Your Heart Out

I can makeover a bath room for just around $20.

Here's the before - our"adult" bathroom, complete with shower curtain from Target we received as a wedding gift and Bombay wall plaque purchased way back when I was an employee and we had the temp store "everything must go" sale:

Here's the after:

Jack loves the curtain. We spent about ten minutes in the bathroom today while he stared at his new curtain and pointed at things. He's too funny. We need to take him to an aquarium soon - he'd love it.

So how did I accomplish this amazing frugal transformation?

• Shower Curtain - Old Time Pottery - $5 - unfortunately I found out that the low, low price was due to "Irregularity" on the curtain, meaning there is a slight incline at the bottom because they took in some fabric at the top. I think I can fix it, if I want, but I don't think it's going to be necessary.
• Fish Shower Curtain Hooks, matching toothbrush holder, soap tray, and tub grippies - in the $1 section at Target - what luck! I had to buy 3 sets of the hooks to get 12, so I spent a total of $6 on this.
• Orange Bath Mat and Hand Towel (not pictured) - Target - regular price, I think around $5.99 or $6.99 for the mat and $3.99 for the towel.
• Fish Scarf on Wall - Free, at least to me! Dad bought that for me in Japan when he went about 15 years ago.

I still would like one more picture or something to put on the wall, but I am very pleased with this frugal transformation. And the best part - I didn't have to paint! I just painted those walls 2.5 years ago - I'm not doing it again, at least not anytime soon!

Random Thoughts on....Matthew McConaughey

With Texas reaching national prominence these days, I'm sure you've noticed that many eyes have been on one man. Vince Young, you may say? No - look no further than the finest actor of our generation, Matthew McConaughey (seen here in an AP photo on the field at the Rose Bowl).

I thought the Will Ferrell/MM exchange was pretty funny. Then last Sunday I dozed while watching playoffs, and awoke to an interview between...Terry Bradshaw and Matthew McConaughey? What???

Apparently MM is now the face of Texas.

But it got me to thinking - if I had to hang out with a celebrity, who could I tolerate? And it would probably be MM. MM played Wooderson in Dazed and Confused - and I don't think the role was a big stretch for him. He doesn't seem to take any large political stances (i.e. play politician) that seem beyond his responsibilities as an actor. He obviously likes his football and is loyal to his home state and school. Quite frankly, I don't think the man takes himself that seriously. No wonder Penelope Cruz went to him after dating Tom Cruise.

Think about it.

Hang out with MM - he tells you some wild story about how he, his friend Jim-Bob, and Penelope went out to buy some moonshine, but got lost, hilarity ensues, etc... Go Longhorns!

Tom Cruise lectures you for an hour about how you need to convert to Scientology, meds = bad, and tells you that you're just being glib if you even question him about his opinion. And when did you graduate from high school, Mr. Cruise?

Yes, I'd much rather hang out with Matthew McConaughey. At least I'd get a good laugh.

Champion Losers

Ever wonder what happens to the merchandise bought for the losing team of a championship game, like USC? Slate has the article here.

Too Smart for His Own Good?

In our quest to get Jack some speech therapy, preferably free, we visited Vanderbilt today to see if he was eligible for a research project. Basically, it would result in 1. a speech therapist coming to our home, and 2. using a proven speech therapy method to help Jack (they are testing whether 1 hours vs. 5 hours of speech therapy is the way to go). So, Jack went down to Vandy and had what I understand to be a cognitive evaluation.

He was SO GOOD. He went into the room with the nice evaluation lady, Sherri, and played with her (I watched the whole time through a two-way mirror). He then went to see a Dr. Lee, with Sherri, and she did a pretty thorough evaluation (she said "he was doing so good, we just kept going" meaning he did pretty much everything they asked of him). He did all sorts of things. I was amazed when he did this exercise where she had a picture of six colored crayons, and she would hand him a disk to match to the color of a particular crayon, and he did it. They assumed that I worked on this with him, when in fact I did not work on this specifically - we work on colors, but I have not truly asked him to match anything.

So he tested at 22 mos. when he's 20 mos. old. Yay! A prior developmental evaluation also revealed this, giving me scientific proof of what I knew anyway - my kid is smart, he just does not want to talk! He communicates, so he's not frustrated by his lack of speech. I think he just has not seen a need to talk yet. Heather thinks that he'll just start speaking one day in complete sentences. I'm starting to think she could be right - that's just how he is.

So the good news - Jack's a bright child! Yay! The bad news - no free speech therapy, at least not through Vandy. Oh well. Sherri at Vandy was very nice, and did give me a few resources to check on to see if he can get services through them.

Oh, and congrats to Laura, whose Longhorns won the Rose Bowl and the National Championship. I actually called the three point win (Addam asked how I thought it would turn out - I think he said USC by 2 - and I said, I don't know, Texas by 3). And was anyone annoyed by the constant reference to a possible 3-peat by USC? Hello, I'm not a fan of the Tigers, but didn't LSU win the BCS National Championship a couple of years ago, and we had a split national champion because the stupid AP poll? I thought the whole point of the BCS was to prevent a split national champion....oh well. I think that's one of the reasons Addam and I prefer the NFL to college football anyway.

Anyone watching Project Runway this time around? I think it's even better than the first round, which I caught onto about halfway through. I'm rooting for Nick and Chloe. I thought Marla was a goner this time but she managed to slide through. I bet Heidi says "Auf Weidersein" (sp?) to her in next episode.

Random news for the day

My parents took us all out to the Aquarium Restaurant at Opry Mills to eat for my birthday. I thought the food was good, but of course since they were not busy in the least we had to wait forever for our food, and Jack doesn't do so well with waits. At least there's a HUGE aquarium to stare at while you wait for your food.

Addam and I then got DQ on the way back - an Oreo blizzard for me, and a chocolate dipped cone for Addam. I don't care if it's January - sure didn't feel like it at 76 degrees - I love my ice cream.

We've got baby names worked out for #2, but we're not telling.

I forgot to mention on yesterday's New Year's entry that we
accidentally locked Annie (our dog, right) out of the house yesterday. Addam brought the groceries in and she must have gotten so beside herself that she went onto the porch and we closed the door right on her. We didn't notice for about 20 minutes - I looked outside and there she was. Thank goodness our dog is such a freak that she will wait on us for 20 minutes to open the door. My birthday would have been awful if something happened to her.

New Year's Just Ain't What It Used to Be...

Come to think of it, I've never had a really wild New Year's celebration. But normally I stay up to watch the ball drop. This did not happen this year!

December 31 - a Saturday, so time for Emily to travel to Brentwood and get some work done. Jack wakes up at 4:00am, which is completely bizarre and not cool since his Mama went to sleep around 11:30pm, so I kind of get ready in a haze I guess. I leave for work about 6:30ish and get to the office around 7:20.

At this point I realize that I left my wallet at home - with my office key inside it. Yep, I'm in Brentwood, 45 minutes away from home, without my office keys and therefore locked out of the office. And I'm the only one working in the office that day.

So my lovely husband gets Jack ready and drives to Brentwood to give me my wallet. I sit outside our office door, feeling like a complete idiot. Addam gets there about 8:30 - I'm finally in the office - yay - and work until sometime after 5:00pm.

So I head home, stopping at Kroger on the way (never but never go to the grocery store on New Year's Eve - madhouse!). We get home and my wonderful sister-in-law Heather brought us food (from Chili's). We eat and all is well. Jack goes to bed about 30 minutes past his bedtime. I'm out like a light from about 9:30 until 6am when Jack wakes up (6am is normal, folks). So I missed the ball drop - Addam saw it, and apparently some folks in our neighborhood were setting off fireworks to honor the occasion, which I slept through.

Boy, do we know how to party.

I've noticed a lot of year-end lists about what was best in movies, books, etc... in 2005. I've realized that I am probably not cool anymore, if I ever was, because I just don't even recognize some of the stuff that I've seen. But here's a few things that entertained me in 2005 (I'm sure I left some things out):

• iRiver - Come on guys, the iPods are done to death. Be an original - get an iRiver. No honestly, mp3's, whatever your particular choice in brand, are just plain great. Jack-friendly playlists, all-day tunes at work, not having to pick and choose which CDs to travel with - it's all awesome. Love it.
• Foo Fighter's In Your Honor - I love everything Dave Grohl and the rest of his Foo Fighters have done, and they just get better and better. Rock and acoustic - incredible double-disc.
• Weezer's Make Believe - they've grown a lot since the Blue Album, and I'd definitely put this up there with it. Great songs. I was a little disappointed with Maladroit when it was released, so it was great to see them come back with this one. And Jack loves Beverly Hills. Weezer toured with the Foo Fighters this year, so it was super-disappointing that they didn't make it to Nashville.
• I finally read Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a beautiful book that truly reads like a memoir - they actually had me a little fooled there for a while. I now want to see the movie, but I'm sure I will be disappointed.
• Walk the Line was wonderful. I've officially forgiven Reese Witherspoon for Sweet Home Alabama (I was mad because she's from the South but allowed everyone Southern in that movie to look like dumb, Civil-War-reenacting rednecks - but I digress). They both deserve some awards for this one. And if you ever get a chance to read Johnny Cash's autobiography, do so - it's a great read. I read it years ago, and we loaned the book out never to see it again.

Ultrasound

As many or all of our friends and family know, we're having Baby #2 in July 2006. We had to go in for an ultrasound last week - my doc could not pick up a heartbeat for 2 weeks in a row and sent us in. What a relief to see that heart beating! Turns out I'm just not quite as far along as expected. Anyway, without further ado, here's a first glance at Jack's baby brother or sister: