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.