AWOL

Yes, folks! I'm going AWOL... Just wanted to let you know everything is ok... we're just REALLY busy over here in the Marshall household. I've got reports due, a trip to pack for, a shower to help with, tile to pick out, lighting fixtures to decide on, carpet to pick out, a snotty baby who I pray does not get the nasty stomach bug that has taken out 3 kids in his daycare as well as one of his daycare teachers (there's only 6 of them in there, including him!)... whew!!! Yes! A lot going on... so much that I'm going to have to forfeit the blog until I have time (really until I have time to take cute pictures of Clay!). But rest assured, I will be back... and I will be back with PICTURES!! Pictures of the house, pictures from the shower we're throwing, pictures of Clay at Nana and G's... Loads of pictures I'm sure!! Everyone have a FABULOUS weekend!!!!

I Just Now Realized...

... that my sweet baby is 20 weeks old today! 20 weeks just sounds OLD! When you're pregnant, 20 weeks is that magic number for when you find out the gender as well as the half way point! It feels like it takes forever for 20 weeks to go by when you are pregnant... especially the last 20 weeks! And now... 20 weeks flies by!

He changes so fast! Just in the last few days he has become very vocal... VERY vocal! As you saw in the video in the previous post, he's laughing up a storm. He also loves to make these cute little high pitched squeals. He's figured out how to fake cough and when no one is paying him attention (like that ever happens) he uses it to get attention. He's also doing this backwards crawl sort of thing. He gets up on all fours but then pushes himself backwards. I'm sure it will be any day when he figures out how to go forwards... guess we need to start thinking about baby-proofing everything! He's traded out the paci for his thumb and when he sucks his thumb, you know that sleep is just around the corner. He's already growing out of his 9 month clothes and fits into a lot of his 12 month clothes! He's also a pro at eating his cereal and loves it! We'll be starting some other foods pretty soon and I can't wait to see how he reacts to something with actual taste :)!

I did manage to get some cute 20 week pictures of him today! Enjoy!

This one is my favorite!!!

Laughter is Truly the Best Medicine!

It does not matter how bad my day has gone... how tired I am... how moody I am... this always makes my day!

Check out that big belly and those chubby legs!!! LOVE THEM!!!

Band Wagon Jumper!!!

Let me tell ya... I'm addicted... SOOOO addicted to the Twilight series!! I had bought the first book in the series a few weeks before Clay was born thinking I'd have plenty of time to read after he came. Well, I was wrong! I had gotten about 100 or so pages into it... and then didn't have any time for it. I also wasn't so giddy about it. It was slightly slow for my taste. Anyways, I had decided to read it because I kept hearing all the hype about it... everyone I knew had read it and was on like the 3rd or 4th book already. I felt really behind! I just thought it was another book about vampires and couldn't imagine how that could be "just the most wonderful book in the world". It also didn't help my skepticism when a group of teeny-boppers in Target who saw me buying the book were like "OMG! I read that and it's totally awesome!". It brought me back to the old days of when I used to think the Sweet Valley High books were "totally awesome" (and they were - totally!). I typically like to read anything by James Patterson, or cute "girly" books, so this one was stepping-out-of-the-box a little for me. (Side note: I HIGHLY recommend the girly book "Bitter is the New Black" by Jen Lancaster. It is hilarious! I seriously laughed my butt off! Oh, AND I forgot she has a blog!! Woo Hoo! Another blog for me to follow: Jennsylvania)

Well, in order to keep me slightly motivated to work out on our elliptical machine, I always read. I normally save my US magazines for that time, but decided I'd try to read the book again. Mark read it (he had run out of reading material and didn't want to read the 100's of parenting and baby magazines I have), but he didn't too much care for it. He's a big biography buff and will read anyone's biography. Not a big fiction fan... except for John Grisham. So, I picked up where I had left off. The next few chapters were OK... but then... all of a sudden... the book got GREAT! I probably would have worked out on the elliptical machine for the next hour just to try and finish it had I not had to tend to Clay.

Seriously, folks... this book is good! I'm almost done with it (on the last chapter) and will be going to get the next book at lunch today! Who would have thought a book about vampires would cause such a following! Go get you a copy... or borrow mine if you want :)!

**UPDATE 12:00 PM**
Oh, yes! I got the second book, New Moon! It's ON!!! I should have gotten it on CD so I could listen to it on the way to Bham tomorrow!!!

Tasty Tuesday - Baby Clay Style!

For Tasty Tuesday, I decided to do a little something different. This time of year is always my "busy time" at work so I've had to stick with some easy stand-bys for dinner lately - no new recipes. I even had to break out the frozen Party Pizza last night for my husband's dinner (I had a quesadilla made on my fabulous quesadilla maker!). What has been new in regards to food is Clay's dinner. Yesterday was the first day Clay had something other than breast milk!!! Clay got his first taste of oatmeal! I expected this event to be some huge monumental milestone - I just knew that at the sight of the spoon, squeals of delight would erupt from my cute little butterball! Actually... it was slightly uneventful! We did capture parts of it on video with what little memory I had left on my camera and I have some cute pictures. I will warn you... the video is not very exciting - Clay looks pretty darn cute, though!

Here are some pictures...

Photo Friday

I know I promised you some really cute Photo Friday pictures... and here they are!!

This first one is of Baby Clay sitting up BY HIMSELF! We've been working on this and he's getting really good at it! Normally he just balances himself on his big tummy :)!

Yo, yo, yo... DJ Drooly Drool is in the Hizzz - ouse! (NICE double chin!)

I just couldn't resist this adorable shirt! It's very nostalgic to Mark. He has told me of his fond memories of riding to school with his older sister, Lee Anne, and listening to Run DMC. He knows all the words to Peter Piper and Tricky... I was very impressed when he busted out with Peter Piper when it was on the radio one day :)!

Have a great weekend!!

And The Little Monster Weighs...

18 pounds!!!

I knew he was going to be pretty close to 18 pounds. He was also 26 3/4 inches long! He's in the 92nd percentile for weight and 94th percentile for height... so it looks like the little monster is "slowing" down slightly (he was above the 97th percentile the last time I took him to the doctor!).

He had to have his shots and he did great! The nurse had both shots done before he even had time to cry. His eyes did well up with tears a little bit and he looked like he was about to cry... but he got over it quickly and was laughing at his daddy in no time! We also get to start him on cereal! I'm VERY excited about that! I'm sure it's going to make for some cute pictures!! He's been paying real close attention to when Mark and I eat, so I think he's ready for it.

Everything else checked out great! He still has a clogged tear duct in his right eye, but he's had that since birth. The doctor said there's nothing that they can do for it until he's 1, but that it might go away before then. She also said that he is teething... she could tell from the way his gums looked... so any day now we should have a little tooth pop through! I also was told that it is not a bad habit to nurse him to sleep... as long as he stays asleep and doesn't "have to have it". Yea!

Sorry... no pictures today! I do have some really cute ones I'm saving for Photo Friday, though!

Tasty Tuesday!!

What better to follow up a "poop post" than a Tasty Tuesday post!

This week's Tasty Tuesday recipe comes courtesy of my friend Gina, yet again (she's got some good recipes!). It's very similar to last week's Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff... but it's Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff. I can't decide which one I like best! They are both definitely keepers. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:
1 pound cubed Beef Stew Meat
2 cans Golden Mushroom Soup
1 chopped Onion
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup Water
1 Beef Bullion Cube
4 ounces Cream Cheese
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder to taste

Directions:
1) In a slow cooker combine meat, soup, onion, Worcestershire Sauce, water and Beef Bullion Cube.
2) Cook on low for 8 hours or high for about 5 hours (until meat is done).
3) Stir in Cream Cheese just before serving. Serve over Egg Noodles.

You know you're a mom when....

You have a whole blog post devoted to your baby's poop! HA!

So... trying to not be too graphic and disgusting, I just had to share the infamous "experience" with everyone. I have always heard "those" stories... you know the ones where poop went everywhere and haven't really had any to share myself. We did have a small episode when he was about 2 weeks old, but it was not that bad. I was considering myself lucky since I hadn't had one of those stories to tell... until yesterday. And it was BAD!

The scene of the crime was the Jumperoo - his new favorite toy to play on. Oh, how he loves the jumperoo... and oh, how the jumperoo's music gets on my last nerve - but enough about that. Anyways, we were in a hurry to get my car up to the body shop Mark uses that's in Scottsboro. I had myself and Clay all ready to go, with the exception of the quick diaper change I was going to make right before we left. I took a few steps toward the jumperoo - and then it hit me - the smell, that is. I knew I was in for a messy one! So, I picked him up from the jumperoo and just happened to glance at his back... and that's when I saw it! It's amazing how poop defies gravity and moves UP the back. I guess with him being all snug down in the jumperoo, there was no place for it to go but up! I carried him into the kitchen to show his daddy and plead for help (this was not a one-person diaper change!). We laid a garbage bag down on the changing table and proceeded to remove the clothes. The pants magically did not have much on them... if any, as well as the shirt. The onesie he had on under his shirt and pants... well that's a different story. All I can say is WOW! And it was one of my favorite onesies too! I kept thinking that we'd just soak it and it would be all nice and clean, but Mark informed me that there would be no saving it... there was no way we could pull it over his head without poop going EVERYWHERE. So we had to break out the scissors and cut off the precious onesie! Wow! You know it's bad when you are using scissors to remove clothing for a diaper change! Anyways, after using about 50 wipes we finally had him all clean and ready to go! The whole time Clay just thought it was the funniest thing... he kept smiling and giggling while Mommy andDaddy were trying to clean him. How can one sweet little thing produce something so disgusting! Yuck!

And of course I can't have a post without pictures... so here are some pics from our adventure...

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Just kidding... you really didn't think I'd post poopy pictures, did you! Believe me, it was not a pretty sight! But I do have some cute "poop free" pictures I've taken in the last few days of sweet Baby Clay.

My cute sweater from Nana that I got for Christmas

Sound asleep with Mr. Monkey

"Stop kissing me, Monte!!!"

"You talkin' to me?!!?"

Bad Gas!

Bad Gas Company... that is!

Holy Cow! Our utility bill has been outrageous the past couple of months... mainly the gas part of the bill. Gas alone cost us $200 this past month and the only thing in our house that is gas, is the heat! We don't even have that big of a house! I was convinced we had a gas leak because we keep our thermostats pretty low - or at least what I thought was low. I called Huntsville Utilities to inquire about our bill - which I was convinced was incorrect - and they explained that it was correct and that the "typical" thermostat settings for the winter was 65 - 67. Are you kidding me?!?!? That's freezing! Anyways, they told me how to read the gas meter, so I have totally been the gas nazi (that sounds really bad!) around this house. I've lowered our temps on the thermostats (don't worry, little Clay is dressed in plenty of warm clothes) and have been monitoring our gas usage. Since I started this on Jan 2nd, we have only spent $16 in gas :)! Take that Gas Company!!! I've even gone so far as to wake Mark up in the middle of the night inquiring if he turned the heat up because I was "slightly" warm. Ha!

Well, it is Photo Friday and while I don't have any new cute pictures of Clay (I know you are utterly shocked) I do have some new pictures of the house we are building. They are not spectacular or anything, but it does show that they are making a lot of progress! Hopefully we'll be in it by the end of March or April!

We have Hardy Board on the outside now!

More Hardy Board (it will be painted a sage green and there will be rock around the bottom where the cinder blocks are)
And we have walls (and ceilings)!!! This is the kitchen - that window is on the front of the house which is where our view of the lake is!

View from the top of the stairs.

Told you they weren't much to look at. I promise I'll take some more cute pics of Clay this weekend. Speaking of this weekend... I'm taking a "me day" tomorrow and going shopping! Woo hoo! Wish me luck! I have this tendency to not find a darn thing when I actually have money to spend... I've got Christmas and Birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and I'm determined to spend some of it! I also have plans to spend a good amount of time playing with the Wii Fit I finally found! I looked for one of those things since the day after Christmas and finally found one at Target!!! I can't wait to try it out! I hear the hula-hooping is so much fun! Well... have a fabulous weekend folks!

Happy 4 Months Old, Baby Clay!!!

Today my sweet Baby Clay is 4 months old!! Can you believe it?!?! Time sure has flown by! He's changing so much week to week... even day to day! He's got his 4 month well check with the doctor next Wednesday, so I'll be able to give you the "official" stats on his height and weight, but I think he's pushing close to 18 pounds in the weight department! Yes, he's a chubby one, but he's also very long. He's got really long legs like his daddy. He's already growing out of some of his 9 month outfits!

Besides growing by leaps and bounds, he's also learning so many new things! He hates to be on his back now, so every time we lay him on his back, he flips over to his tummy. He's been rolling over from his back to his tummy since he was 2 months, but now you can't keep him from doing it! I'm trying to master the art of putting his diaper on him while on his tummy! He's also making all kinds of little sounds. It's so funny to watch him because when he makes a new sound it surprises him and he sits there and practices it for a while. He likes to blow bubbles and make the "motor boat" sound. We're practicing sitting up on his own and he's getting real close to accomplishing that feat! He loves the Jumperoo and hasn't exactly mastered the art of "jumping" but he knows how to move around to get the music to play (music that has yet to leave my head - I'm singing it's tunes all day long!!). He smiles often and we even get the cutest laughs from him. He loves to be rocked to sleep and loves to nurse while being rocked to sleep - I'm sure this is probably one of those bad habits that I've started, but I so enjoy it! He still sleeps through the night and we're trying to move his bedtime earlier and earlier. Last night I got him in the bed at 9:00 PM... and here it is, 7:00 AM and he's still asleep! Woo Hoo! He's starting to recognize his surroundings and people, so he knows when he's in a new place and when he's around unfamiliar people (and he let's you know it too!).

Wow! So many new things and it changes day to day! Happy 4 Month Birthday, Baby Clay!!

Tasty Tuesday!!

I've got a good one for ya'll today!!! It's another recipe my friend, Gina, gave to me. It's also a slow cooker recipe... and I love me a slow cooker recipe! I totally was licking the bowl it was so good! Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts (cubed)
1/8 cup Margarine (I don't know if I used butter or margarine - I have yet to determine the difference)
1 (.7 oz) dry Italian Style dressing mix
1 (8 oz) package of Cream Cheese
1 can of Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

Directions:
1) Put Chicken, Margarine, and Italian Dressing mix in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 5 - 7 hours. In my crock pot, it probably took it around 6 hours - just make sure the chicken is no longer pink.
2) Add the Cream Cheese and Cream of Chicken Soup and cook on high for 1/2 an hour or until heated through and warm.

Note: I did add a little water while the chicken was cooking (like a couple of tbsp) just to make sure it didn't dry out. I also added a little more after I added the cream cheese and cream of chicken soup to make it not so thick - personal preference, though :).

Serve over noodles.

Holy Cow... this stuff was good! Mark even like it and he doesn't necessarily care for cream cheese.

2008 - Year in Review

So after being inspired by a few of the blogs I keep up with, I decided to do a year in review since 2008 was VERY eventful!

We started off 2008 at our friend Jason's house for a big New Year's bash in Marietta, GA.

Melissa and I... as well as Baby Caroline and Baby Clay - in our tummies - we knew about hers then :) Jason, Mark and Jeremy Me and Emily

Then on January 2nd, I got the long awaited plus sign... Plus sign for "WE'RE GONNA HAVE A BABY!!!" And here is our baby's first picture... I can't believe how long ago that seems! Mark thought it looked like a little rabbit. This ultrasound was done at 7 weeks.
Then in March, we went on a beach trip to Destin for our friend, Jeremy's 30th birthday. Everyone but myself went deep sea fishing. I was planning on going, pregnant and all, but decided not to since I got sun-burned the day before. Thank goodness I didn't go! Many people got VERY sick on that trip!

Lori, Me, Emily and Beth

In April, we found out that we were having a little boy!And then in June, we got a sneak peak at what our sweet little Clay was going to look like! (I think it looks just like him!)

The rest of the summer we stuck close to home. It was a long... hot... summer being all pregnant! I found out I had Gestational Diabetes in June and had to go on insulin in order to control it. The rest of my pregnancy was filled with finger pricks, injections, and 2 times a week trips to the doctor... but it was all worth it!! Here are a couple of belly shots... I can't believe how big my belly got!

33 Weeks

Right before we went to the hospital to have Clay! Wow! I was about to pop!

August 8th, Mark and I celebrated out 10 year anniversary!! Wow! I wish I had a wedding picture to post, but we got married so long ago, I don't think there were even digital cameras around :).

Then September 8th finally rolled around... and Baby Clay finally arrived via c-section! Probably the most AMAZING day of my life (besides my wedding day, of course!).

8 lbs 7 oz. 20 inches long!

I can't believe how fast he's grown just in the last 4 months! He's changed so much from that itty bitty baby we brought home from the hospital (well, not really itty bitty - but much smaller than he is now) to the 17 pound milk monster we have today :)!

2 weeks old

8 weeks old

13 weeks old

I could go on and on about this past year! I had many wonderful baby showers... we went to the Auburn vs Georgia game... we had great Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations with our families... the list just goes on! This year has been amazing and I am definitely looking forward to 2009!

Photo Friday

The outfit is compliments of his Aunt Emily!

And now I can't get "I'm Bringing Sexy Back..." out of my head!!!