Baby shower for a friend

This is my friend Lauren.

If you know Lauren, then you'd know that this smile says so much about her. She lights up a room, and her laughter makes you feel like you are being wrapped in sunshine.

Today I joined several of the ladies in our bible study group to help Lauren celebrate the upcoming birth of baby Emma Grace who is due at the end of February.

After the party was over and everyone had left, I remember thinking how grateful I felt to have found such sweet friends here in Roanoke. God is so good with his blessings of love and friendship. And I know that Emma Grace is going to be one blessed little girl to have Lauren as her mommy.

Brrrrr!

Still in his PJs, Little Man bundled up in his hat, coat and snow boots to join Daddy for an early morning store run.

Game of catch, anyone?

If you're looking for us these days, you can find us here.

Camped out on the stairs and playing catch with the ball.

Need some relief.

Down with a chest cold and stuffy/runny nose. Daddy's traveling all week. Here's hoping that relief and healing come quickly. And that Little Man doesn't catch the germs.

Dear Alex

My sweet, precious angel,

Today you were a guest at your very first birthday party. The party was for your friend Caitlin whom you met at the bible study playgroup. She had a choo-choo party, and all afternoon you were eagerly awaiting the fun by saying "choo-choo" over and over again as the clock ticked away and the time approached for us to arrive.

I watched you closely today. Seeing how you would interact among the other kiddos. Seeing how you would play with the toys. Seeing how you would handle the noise and the chaos. Seeing how you would respond to Momma and Daddy when we spoke to you amidst so many distractions.

My heart burst with pride. I could have wept all through the party as I watched you in amazement. You shared your toys. You played with great joy. You listened with unwavering obedience. Quite simply, you shined.

As your Momma, there are so many wonderful things I wish for you in this life, and a grateful, compassionate, obedient heart is one of them. Oh, how I pray these things for you. Because I know that God has great things in store for your life. And I believe that being grateful, compassionate and obedient will help you abundantly in accomplishing those things.

You are extraordinary, Alexander Cole. And I love you in ways that I never imagined I was capable of loving someone.  Being your Momma is one of the greatest privileges I will ever have while on this earth.

Hugs and kisses, sweet boy. May God bless your life richly.
Momma

Random Friday Updates

It's cold here today. High of 30º and wind gusts up to 18 mph. To brave the cold for his morning haircut, Little Man had to put on his puffy coat, his penguin hat and his snow boots. If only I could get him to wear his mittens... They just don't work for a thumb-sucker.

Alex received his first dividend check from his three shares of Disney stock. A whopping $1.20. He's well on his way!

And can someone please tell me why, WHY can I not cut myself off from the sweets? I'm eating like it's nothing to drop pregnancy pounds. Alex had a playdate with one of his friends this morning, and his friend's mom brought us four cupcakes. I ate TWO. (After they left, of course.) And Alex and Jerry are just lucky that I didn't eat theirs, too! Oh, this could get so ugly by the end. And I am not one of those people who melts away weight just by breastfeeding. No, sir. I have to actually TRY to get rid of my weight. And it takes a while. Ugh.

In haircut news, my Little Man looks like a million bucks. I haven't had a chance to snap any photos yet, but I will. Once again, he did NOT like the hair cut experience. We had hair here, there, and everywhere when it was all said and done. But I did manage to distract him with a Thomas the Train book long enough for the hair lady to "give him some style." Kudos to her for working through the meltdown. 

And finally, tonight is date night for Jerry and me. Woohoo! I can't wait to have a nice dinner where I don't have to cut up anyone else's meal but my own! And my food may actually be warm when I eat it. That would be a nice change of pace. It's all about the little things, really.

Happy Friday, everyone!

A great way to start the day

Whipped up especially for my Little Man this morning - baba pancakes. Scrumdiddly-icious!

Alex has news!

That's right - IT'S A BOY!!

Baby Correa - 19 weeks

Living the Dream

The "ni-ni" (blanket). "Ma-mo" (Elmo). "Baba." Watching "Nuh-nuh" (the Jonah Veggie Tale Movie).

Alex is, as his daddy says, "living the dream."

Cupcake Love

If you've known me for any length of time at all, then you know that desserts are one of life's greatest pleasures for me. And one of my favorite sweet treats is a cupcake or petit four from this place.

Society Bakery in Dallas. I used to go there once a week to get a cupcake with some very dear friends of mine from work. Occasionally, we would go twice a week. Yes, it is that good. It is one of the places I try to visit when we return home to Texas.

I'm not the only person who thinks Society Bakery's cupcakes rock.

And I read on their website that they're making desserts for Diddy's Superbowl party in Dallas!

We have a couple of cupcake shops in Roanoke, but they don't even come close. =( Probably a good thing or I'd be packing on the pounds - and not just from the pregnancy!

Today I thought I'd try making some semi-homemade cupcakes. I had my sweet helper in the kitchen with me. We're already getting in the spirit for Valentine's day with our lovebug muffin cups.

And my little lovebug even gave his momma some sugars to make those cupcakes extra sweet!

The cupcakes we made are certainly no Society Bakery cupcakes, but they were made with lots of cupcake love that we're going to share with our friends in our church group tomorrow.

Blog funk and random joys

I've been in a blog funk for the last couple of months.

I feel like I can't get good pictures - and that REALLY frustrates me. You know how it feels when you want to be able to do something a certain way sooooo badly, but no matter how hard you try you just can't quite attain it? Well, that's me with the picture taking right now. And I find it to be discouraging not to get the kind of photos I want.

I don't know what to write about. Occasionally, I think about random things throughout the day that I'd like to talk about, but then I sit down to write and my topic has conveniently escaped the mind. The irony.

And the further irony is that if I do have a topic to write about, I don't seem to have a lot of time. Hmph. Go figure.

Anywho, enough of the rant. Today I'll just post a few random photos of my sweet Little Man and some of his latest joys. Maybe the blog fog will lift soon...

The thumb. He still loves it. And I love to watch it. Probably not when he's eight, but for now, I find it precious.

Our poor Little Man needs a hair cut so badly. Going next Friday. Can't get here soon enough for his daddy!

Still loves his books.

Loves playing with his race cars, too. He'll let them roll down his slide and on the racetrack. So cute to watch.

"Baba." The obsession of all obsessions for Alex.

Loves his little "Baba" books. Poor Beatrix Potter has nothing on these things.

Sits through the entire book and loves it when the Grimble Grinder lets out a loud BUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPP to help Jimmy and his jalopy get home! Oh, how he laughs at the Grimble Grinder.

Recent Adventures

Alex and I have started working on learning the alphabet. I don't know why this task seems daunting to me, but it does. Anyway, we sit down at the Leap Frog letters a couple of times each day to sing the alphabet song. And then I focus on one specific letter. We started with the obvious - A.

Then I had a couple of coloring/painting activities for him to do. He colored the letter "A." He stamped leaves on an apple tree and then made fingerprint apples. And then he finger painted an ape. Here he is painting the ape. He wasn't too sure about getting paint all over his hands.

And here is why I will only be using paint brushes until he is old enough not to satisfy his curiosities.

That's right. He decided he needed a little taste test, people. He got paint EVERYWHERE. In his hair. On his forehead. In his mouth. Around his mouth. But you know what? I love that he's learning to express his creativity. So we'll keep at it.

In other adventure news, he's been enjoying the new toy that Aunt Sylba gave him for Christmas.

He hasn't gotten to ride his battery-operated Batmobile too much because it's been so cold outside, but we had a little sunshine on Sunday, and we took him out to the back yard to play around for a bit. 

I have visions of a bat cape and mask for him to wear when the weather gets warmer. Can you imagine? I chuckle at the thought. I've got to start working on that.

New Froggie Footwear

Last fall, Noni bought Little Man a pair of "ribbit" galoshes from a children's consignment store.

I wasn't sure he'd wear them. I couldn't have been more wrong. He wanted to wear them everyday.

Sadly, he's outgrown the ribbits. Despite this, he still wanted to wear them yesterday. So off we went to run our errands with too-small ribbits on his feet.

One of our stops was Target. They had ribbits, too. I couldn't help myself. I just had to get him some new froggie footwear.

He wore them all day today. And loved every single minute of it.

I'll admit, I loved every minute of it, too. So stinkin' cute!

Puddin' Pleasure

I don't really need any words, do I?

Closing the Christmas Chapter

Seems like this should have gone up days ago, but my to do list has been long since we've returned home. And blogging was, unfortunately, not at the top of that list.

A few of my favorite Christmas memories from 2010.

Riding the rocking horse. Push this pony's ear, and he neighs and moves his mouth and tail. Too cute!

Storytime with loved ones.

Cookin' up good grub.

Serving it up hot - and with a smile!

Enjoying Christmas decorations.

And figuring out how to turn the lights and music off and on.

Moments in time with those we hold dear.

Getting to watch a proud mama and papa bask in the glow of their newest love.

Lazy days with time for napping.

The temperatures! Especially since we were getting snow in Roanoke!

 
Time for play at the Discovery Science Museum.

Gifts that are perfectly suited for the recipient. If you know Pop Pop's passion for his toys, then you know that this may have been the best gift he received!

Returning home to a house with no heat, but feeling warm inside watching Alex enjoy what Santa left.

And my two favorite memories of all from this Christmas... feeling Baby Correa's first stirrings and taking time each night before we left for Texas to read to Alex about the nativity story and what God wants for Christmas - our hearts.