Wordy Wednesday

I'm still buried under a pile of boxes, but it's getting smaller and smaller. We're hoping to knock a big chunk out of it this weekend! The house is still a work-in-progress - a few things left to do, but it's getting there. Hopefully, by this weekend, everything will be complete (with the exception of some unpacking and decorating). I LOVE the new house! It's gorgeous! Clay loves his new bedroom and Monte... well, let's say he's a little ticked off that he has to get used to a new house. He's content to sit on a comforter in which ever room I move it to. He won't even attempt the stairs!

And as far as the new town... well, let's just say I need some time... LOTS of time. I'll have to get back with ya'll on that :).

But I do have some pictures! Surprise, surprise!

Crawling around in his new bedroom

Funny face!

The view out my office window - isn't it gorgeous!

Monte refusing to look at me - he's actually pouting and has been for the last couple of days

First bath in the new house in the big boy bathtub!

And look at those back wrinkles!! (I did have some cute "baby butt" shots, but I'll save him the embarrassment of posting them on the internet for all to see! Even though they were REALLY cute!)

Show Me You’re Pearly Whites!

Yesterday I had to go to the dentist for my regular 6 month checkup… I HATE going to the dentist. I even have pretty decent teeth and rarely have a cavity… but… I don’t floss! I hate flossing with a major passion. I don’t even know why I hate it. It’s not like it takes a lot of time or it hurts. I just can’t bring myself to do it! I’ve even made it my New Year’s resolution a couple of times and do really good for 5 or so days. My hubby, on the other hand, is a flossing MANIAC! He never forgets to floss… and I’m serious when I say NEVER. We’ll be on vacation and get in at 3 in the morning… he still flosses. He has a 103 fever and the flu… he still flosses.

Anyways, my check up went well… no cavities – Woo hoo! I did ask about when is the typical age to bring a child to their first dentist appointment. I’ve read many different things. Some say at a year… some say 3 years. The hygienist that cleaned my teeth said they typically suggest at 3 years old. She did give me a cute little toothbrush for Clay when he gets his teeth - since he doesn’t have any teeth… Oh, wait… what’s that?? Why yes, he does have A TOOTH!!! After I got home from the dentist, Mark was playing with Clay while I was fixing his dinner and brought him to me to look at the cutest little pearly white popping through (NOW I know where all that fussiness was coming from). Of course I’m ecstatic – almost on the verge of tears because my baby is growing up. I would love to get you a picture of this monumental occasion, but it’s like “pulling teeth” (like that one, don’t ya!) to even get him to let me look at it. Sooo, you’ll just have to settle for cute pictures of his new outfit he went to his last day of daycare in.

Speaking of daycare, Clay (and myself) is going to greatly miss his Ms. Martha and Ms. Velma. They are such sweet, wonderful ladies and have taken such good care of him since he started back in December. Yesterday when I dropped him off, they had a little “end of the school year” present for him. They had made a picture book with pictures from his time as a Buttercup (that was his class name). I was looking at it while still in the parking lot and the tears started coming! We will definitely miss them!

Soooo… tomorrow is MOVING DAY!!! And NO, I’m not all packed up. I do better when I procrastinate, so everything will be packed up tonight (or tomorrow morning)! Clay is staying with his Nan tonight so that we can break down the crib and pack up all of his stuff… and off to the new house in the morning! I’m excited, but also VERY sad. I will miss my hometown greatly… but we plan to move back here… eventually! So, if you don’t hear from me for a little while, it’s because I’m buried under a pile of boxes. I do have some motivation for getting everything unpacked ASAP… my mom, sister and Cadence are coming to stay with us next Thursday!! I’m so excited!!! Hopefully the house won’t be too much of a wreck!

Oh, and one more thing (Gosh! This is a LONG post!)… an update on someone possibly getting a fancy, schmancy mom camera… I made a $1000 bet (yep, I said ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS) with Mark that the word “dramatism” was not an “approved English language word that you can look up on dictionary.com”. And… I was right!! I even had to prove it to him by going to Books-A-Million and taking a picture of the Merriam-Webster dictionary where it would be if it really was a word. I LOVE being right… and I’m looking forward to my Mommy Camera!!!

Ok… enough… I’ll stop talking/typing! Here are the pictures!!

Showing off the new overalls!

Last day of daycare with Ms. Velma and Ms. Martha

We're Startin' Him Off Early!

Starting him off early with...


Cleaning house!

Clayton LOVES the vacuum cleaner! And it's a good thing since Mr. Clean uses it just about every day. Whenever he hears that thing come on, he stops what he's doing and looks around for it. His little eyes will follow his daddy's every move.

And... look what I caught the two of them doing the other day!

It's So Hard... To Say Goodbye

Well, this is my last Monday here in the “big city”. This time next week, I will be blogging from my new home… in… the… “VERY small city”. I have mixed emotions about it. On one hand I LOVE the city I currently live in. It’s the city I consider my hometown – where I’ve lived most of my life. On the other hand, change is good. Especially when change consists of moving to my dream house!

Where we currently live, I’m VERY spoiled! I have a Super Target, a mall, TJ Maxx, Steinmart, Moe’s and 3 Starbucks (yes, I said 3) all within a 5 mile radius. Not to mention endless restaurant possibilities! Where we’re moving… um… let’s just say, NONE (and I truly mean NONE) of that’s out there. Granted we will have a Sonic and Dairy Queen (Thank Goodness!) and a Super Wally World for the necessities, but it’s not the same.

My husband thinks I’m being dramatic (maybe I am) and that we’re only going to be 45 minutes away, but when you have a baby, 45 minutes there and another 45 minutes back is a LONG time (especially since I’m used to everything 5 – 10 minutes away). I’m sure some of you folks who live in big cities… or right outside of big cities and have to drive at least 45 minutes every day are reading this thinking “Suck it up!” :)… and I will… I just need some time to get used to it.

But let’s look on the bright side… there are some positives to moving to this new house. And what better way to look on the bright side than in a top 10 format! Here goes:

10) We have a restaurant within golf cart driving (yes, I said golf cart) distance that has the BEST shrimp and grits known to man. Come visit us and we’ll take you there!

9) If you ever lose your luggage on an airplane, you can bet that I may be sifting through it at the local unclaimed baggage store.

8) There are 2 main roads in the city, so getting lost is going to be difficult to do!

7) If you are ever at a loss for something to do on a weekend night, you can always go drive the “square”.

6) The store up the street from us is a one-stop-shop! I can get my gas, snacks, fishing license, bait, car wash, birthday/mother’s day/shower gifts, and tan all in one place! Convenience, Baby!

5) Our neighbors are good friends of ours and have a baby boy 3 weeks younger than Clay.

4) We will be really close to this place called the Dairy Bar (or Barn… I can’t remember the exact name). This place has the BEST burgers… AND they have tater tots!

3) To board my dog it will cost $10 a night instead of the $25 a night I spend here!

2) My mother-in-law is literally 5 minutes away. Me thinks she and Baby Clay will be seeing each other often :).

1) Did I mention that I’m moving into my dream house… on the lake???

And any of you who are reading this that are from this small town… please know that I mean no disrespect. Everything that I find funny/qwerky/different makes your town the quaint and friendly town that it is and I’m sure I will eventually fall in love with living there (or at least I may get some great things to blog about).

And because I don’t like to have a post without pictures, I have to share a couple of pics I left off of the Easter post of Clay and the Easter bunny (or rather his cousin’s bunny).

Look at that chubby bunny (and baby)!

And this is him attacking the bunny - or maybe he's about to give it a kiss... Hmm...

Photo Friday - Bath Time!

Clay LOVES his bathtime! For easter he got some bath toys from his Aunt Lee Anne, Uncle Ray and Grace and Ellie and we tried them out the other night. He loved them! Most of them ended up in his mouth... as do all toys right now, but he had a good ole' time playing with them and splashing around. I've been giving him a bath in the kitchen sink because he's sitting up really good now, but he still occaisionally loses his balance, so I don't want him to fall over in the big tub. Maybe in a few more weeks, we'll graduate to the real bathtub! Here's some cute pics I took of him the other night!

I switched them over to B & W because nothing ruins a picture like the harsh flourescent lights in a kitchen! Hmmm... someone needs one of them fancy schmancy "mom cameras"!

Our New Addition...

To our house, that is! What's up with all this bad weather!!!??!!

This past Sunday there was a horrible storm that passed through where our new house is being built. Once it rolled through it looked like a disaster area! It looked like a tornado had come through, but upon researching what happened, a "gravity wave" is what occurred. Now I had no idea what a gravity wave was, so I had to look it up. Here's what I found: Winds may blow in one direction and when the gravity wave moves through, winds will do an 180 degree shift and move in the opposite direction.

Here is what one looks like... very wicked looking!!

We were VERY fortunate that the tree that fell on our house, only grazed the side where the Master Bedroom is. It did minimal damage - only scratching up the paint and messing up a few gutters. It was one of the largest trees on the lot next to us and thankfully it fell just right that it didn't fall on top of the house. Here are some more pictures.

Here's a look at how big the tree is

Look at how close it came to the house!!

I am particularly glad that we were not in the house when this happened or I would have FREAKED out! I'm already contemplating moving Clay's room to the other bedroom on the opposite side of the house - further away from the big trees.

Mark was able to get out there with his chain saw and cut the tree away from the house. We've contacted the owners of the empty lot that the tree lived on and hopefully they will be quick to move it off our land so we can get the landscaping under way!

Happy Easter from the Marshalls!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Clay's 1st easter was a great one! We got to spend it with Mark's side of the family. We met for lunch at Cracker Barrel and then went over to his sister's for dessert. Clay got a few Easter gifts... an Elmo from his Nan (Mark's mom), some bath toys from his Aunt Lee Anne Uncle Ray and cousins, Ellie and Grace, and we got him some Easter books to add to his growing book collection. Here are some pictures we took of the day!

Outside Cracker Barrel - Ellie, Nan, Clay and Grace

Getting a kiss from Daddy!

Rocking with Daddy

Clay with his Nan

Grace, Clay and Ellie
Family pic

Happy Easter!!!

Happy 7 Months Old!!!

WARNING: This blog post is VERY long! If you have a short attention span and don’t want to read all of it, scroll down to the cute pictures at the end!

So, it seems like it was just last week that I was writing Baby Clay’s 6 month post. I know I keep saying that time is going by so fast, but for some reason, this month has just flown by! It’s been a busy, busy month, though! We had vacation, then we got the flu, and (of course) there’s all the house stuff we’ve been working on! The house stuff is quickly winding down and we hope to be completely moved in by the weekend of April 25th! I am so excited to fix Clay’s nursery up in our new house! We’ve been in this rental house for the last year and it’s never really felt like “our home”. We did paint his nursery and put up paintings and a window treatment… but I can’t wait to have “his” nursery! It looks like we’re also going to immediately have to Clay-proof the house. Gone are the days when I could leave him on his blanket in the middle of the living room and trust that he’d be on the blanket when I left the room for a couple of seconds. Now I put him on the floor… and he’s 20 feet away from the blanket in a matter of seconds (usually heading for Monte or the dog food). He’s still doing the cute little modified army crawl and is probably going to stick with that since it’s pretty slick on the hardwood floors. He does crawl up to the couch and “thinks” about pulling himself up… hasn’t actually done it without assistance, but I feel this is right around the corner.

While we were on vacation, my mother-in-law kept him and managed to get him going to bed at 8:00! Like clock-work… he’s got that thumb in his mouth around 7:30 and is ready for his bed-time routine. We rock, sing lullabies, and nurse and then he’s out until about 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. Some days he wakes up a bit earlier, but has figured out how to turn his mobile on. He will watch that and then (usually) fall back to sleep.

He is babbling so much more these days… and, of course, I’ve been constantly saying “Ma-Ma” to him over and over hoping that he will pick it up and say it all the time… but guess what the little rascal says most of the time… “DA-DA”! I like to tell myself that it’s because “d’s” are much easier to pronounce than “m’s”. I don’t think he quite knows what he’s saying, but it’s very cute to hear!

Since his 6 month check up, we’ve added an additional meal to his schedule. He now eats food for breakfast and dinner. He’s moved up to the level 2 foods… which are really no different than the level 1 foods except they puree different foods into combinations I could not stomach myself! But Clay seems to like them! He loves things like veggies and turkey, chicken and sweet potatoes. His new favorite thing to eat now is fruit puffs. They are these puff things that dissolve in your mouth and he loves playing with them and trying to put them in his mouth. He’s gotten pretty good at it. I’m thinking he might turn out to be left handed because he’s gotten really good at picking them up with the left hand.

He’s decided that he DOES NOT want to be on his back and it’s like wrestling a greased pig to try and keep him on his back so I can change his diaper or put his clothes on. I’ve now mastered the art of putting the diaper on him and dressing him while he’s on his stomach (which isn’t an easy feat, I might add). He’s sitting up really well, so now we take baths in the kitchen sink. He’ll sit in his bath and play forever if I let him! He loves to splash and play with his rubber ducky Mark got him from the Hooters Casino in Vegas (yes, you read that right… at least he didn’t get him a Hooters onesie).

As far as his size… well, he’s still growing like a weed! He’s in 12 month clothes, but is growing out of them fast! He seems to be slowing down slightly in the growth department… or maybe he’s just working some of it off in the jumperoo (which he still LOVES). I weighed him on the Wii Fit and according to that, he weighs 22.2 pounds! Time for the new “big boy” car seat! We’ve had to recently pack up the swing… he’s gotten too big for it and the ole’ swing was struggling to move back and forth… which is fine because we needed to make room for the pack N play that he now spends a lot of time playing in.

Wow! Sorry about the long-winded post! I do want to makes sure that I capture all his milestones in these posts because I’m planning on doing a blog book for his first year since I’ve been a slacker on his baby book (or any scrap booking project that I had “hoped” to do – that’s gone out the window!). I’ll end this post with a few recent pictures. The first few are some we did this past weekend in his Easter outfit. I think he looks mighty handsome in his sweater vest!

This one is my favorite! I LOVE his cute little smile!

Hmmm... someone looks a lot like his "G" (this is my dad when he was maybe 2 or 3 - I don't know??)

This is what I like to call the "If you don't quit taking my picture, I'm gonna..." face
And I LOVE this one too! His daddy was making him laugh while I was taking pictures!

And I have to show you his adorable sandles I got him the other day! He, of course, hates them and tries with all he has to take them off!

Tasty Tuesday - Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Today I picked up Clay’s first class picture and just had to share! It cracks me up! Clay obviously was not too thrilled to have his picture taken that day... and bless his heart...He's the only baldy in his class!

The pic is kind of small and I don't know how to make it bigger... he's the 2nd one from the left.

Now on to the Tasty Tuesday Recipe! I love some Jambalaya and this recipe is so easy and delicious! It’s another recipe I got off of allrecipes.com, but I’ve made some changes to it. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, with liquid
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
2 – 3 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
1 – 1 ½ cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 Can Chicken Broth (don’t add all at once)
1 pound cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined


DIRECTIONS:
1. In a slow cooker, mix chicken, celery, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomatoes with liquid, sugar, salt, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, bay leaf, Old Bay Seasoning, and about a ½ cup of the chicken broth. Cover, and cook on Low 7 to 9 hours.

2. Remove bay leaf from the chicken mixture, and stir in orzo. Increase heat to High. Cook 15 minutes, until orzo is tender. This is where I add more chicken broth, but how much to add depends on how much orzo you add and the consistency you like your jambalaya. I usually add 1 ½ cups of orzo and end up using most of the can of chicken broth.

3. Stir in shrimp, and cook 2 minutes, until shrimp are heated through.

I also like to get that low fat Turkey Kielbasa sausage, slice it up and add it when I add the shrimp (since it’s already cooked). It makes a ton! You’ll have leftovers for days! Enjoy!

Only a Few Weeks Away...

And we will be moving in! Finally!!! We went today to see the progress on the new house and check on a few things and it's looking good! This week they finished the hardwood floors and installed the counter tops. They both turned out gorgeous! Next week we have carpet going in as well as the final coat of paint. We're hoping to get all moved in by the end of April. We've started packing up our current house today... and I was reminded of how much I DESPISE packing! I managed to remember the camera on this trip and got some good pictures!

View of the fireplace from the Great Room

Our really neat Master Bathroom sinks and faucets
The Kitchen with the new counter tops

Master Bedroom
Our back porch that I'm sure we're going to spend a lot of time on!

The back patio with the fire pit

And what was Baby Clay doing during this... he was over at his Nan's with his cousins, Ellie and Grace. They put together his "Baby Condo" and had a good ole' time in it!

Peace and Quiet at Dinner Time

Mark and I (and Clay, of course) have a tradition of going to eat dinner at Wing's every Sunday night. He (Mark) gets wings and I get the BLT... every Sunday night. Typically we take Clay in the baby bucket and he sits quietly and plays with his toys... sometimes he even falls asleep. Well, the last month or so, Clay has not wanted to cooperate and I usually end up holding him while trying to eat my BLT... which ends up in disaster, so Mark and I have to take turns eating and holding him.

Until now... this week, we went to Wing's last night, instead of Sunday (still recovering from the flu Sunday night) and we were armed with the Fisher Price Rainforest Booster. AND... we ate in peace! Let me tell ya... this thing is one of the best "baby" inventions! He sat in it and played... and ate his fruit puffs... and played the whole time! He loves it! Here is what it looks like:

And here are some HORRIBLE camera phone pictures I took of him playing in it last night:

Wordless Wednesday

Ok... so I find it extremely difficult to be wordless! Here are a few pics I took last week of Clay playing with his new favorite toy... his blocks! He loves them! (He also loves "Naked Redneck Baby Day"!)