Lots to talk about...

Jackson is feeling better!! He's crankier and fussier than he's ever been (minus his first month of life)... and still has a runny nose, but he's better. Thank God for that.

I mailed Jackson's invitations out yesterday. His first birthday is quickly approaching, so I mailed out the invites early... Mostly cuz it's over Memorial Day weekend and I know people make plans, so I wanted to send early... We're having the party in Northwest Arkansas cuz that's where most of our family and friends and I just think it's easier.... I sent out invitations to people who I thought would want to come... If you didn't get an invite, and you'd like to come - just let me know!! :)


I owe Ryan $10 again. Dang it. I really like I'll be there next week though - and if I can lose 4 lbs next week, I get to gain back my $10. So far, he's up $20. I have been working out a lot and eating great, so I know it's just a matter of time.. I'm not going to get discouraged. Only 3 pounds until I am at my pre-baby weight! YAY! Shoot!!

I ran 5 miles yesterday!!! This is an all time record for me... Cuz even though I've ran 2 10K's (6.2 mi) - I always stopped and walked a couple times... So this time was 5 miles NO STOPPING and UP THOSE FREAKIN' HILLS TOO!! Our neighborhood is bad for hills, so I've been trying to train w/ the hills cuz I know it only makes me that much better (and works my booty). So needless to say, I am HUGELY proud of myself for pushing myself... I always tell Ryan that it's funny cuz when I run - I talk myself out of stopping at least 5 times. I say "ok.. as soon as I get to that 2nd mile, I'll stop and walk for a sec." Or "when I get up this hill, I'm going to walk for 1 minute.. that won't be too bad." But then as soon as I get up that hill or whatever, I say "no - it's over now.. just keep going." I'm sure if someone was listening to my thoughts, they would think I'm nuts.

Anyway - Jackson and I went to swim class yesterday and took a pic w/ our new buddies Amanda and Noah. :) Swim class is fun, but mommy has to get a new bathing suit - suitable for a mommy... I haven't been in this position before! haha.

If you've got 5 minutes to spare...

I'm calling this video "5 Minutes in the Life of Jackson Stearle." People ask me why I'm so tired when I stay home w/ this baby all day.... awh - those are usually NOT stay-at-home mom's.... So this video should explain why my sweet angel must be constantly monitored... He's always on the go and always testing his limits.... What a cutie pie! PLEASE EXCUSE MY "UH-UH-UH" SOUND... I'm trying not to say "no" so much but when I listened back to this - I think my "uh-uh" sounds dumb!

My poor baby...

Yesterday when we got up, I noticed J's head was really hot... Since he hasn't been feeling well - we knew he had about a 101 fever but this felt VERY warm... so I went upstairs and did the dreaded "butt thermometer" and sure enough...103.7! Then, I gave him some tyllenol and went downstairs to tell Ry... he didn't believe me so we checked it again... sure enough 103.3. My poor baby boy! So I immediately called and got us into the doc at 1020am.... By the time we got to the doc, his fever was gone (of course) so we look like paranoid parents... but that's ok... I was thankful that Dr. Chad was able to check his ears for ear infection and his throat for strep... both checked out ok - J just has a yucky cold.... That - in combination with - 2 teeth that are trying to come thru at the same time. He's especially cranky as you can imagine... requiring me to hold him and walk around (not sit - that is not ok - must be walking around).... and as soon as I set him down, scream time! Sadly we also missed our swim class yesterday! Hopefully he will be feeling better for Wed's swim class.
I guess J must have gotten this cold from the child care at the gym... and then he has given it to me! So I'm a sniffling, sneezing, sore throat mess too. I went to bed at 900p last night... so exhausted!

At one point yesterday, I couldn't get him calmed down, so we went outside to see what Scout and Putty (Ken/Hollie's dogs) were up to. That was the only time he would be happy yesterday... so I captured some pics, of course! You can see he doesn't feel good just by looking at his little puffy eyes...

Whoa Weekend!

This weekend has felt like about 3 weekends in one! We have done so much stuff this weekend - it's nuts! On Friday, J and I went to lunch w/ our gang: Stacey/Mark, Eugene/Darcy and of course, Ryan! :) We went to TGI Friday's - which was a first for me. After that, Ken/Hollie dropped off their dogs to stay in our yard for a week and so I got to get some photos of the BEAUTIFUL Clayre w/ Jackson. Then, I went over to Ryan's dad and Debbie's house where we got ready for the garage sale. I stayed the night there.. had too many margaritas... but loads of fun! Then, the garage sale was Saturday morning... Ryan brought Jackson as it was ending... for me to find out my son is sick! His little eyes were puffy and when I got him home, I found out he had a 101.7 degree fever. Poor baby.. He did sleep though, so that was good. We finished Jackson's birthday party invitations (finally!) - so that was a big accomplishment! Saturday night, our friends Mark and Stacey came over and we had some turkey beer brats and strawberry shortcake and played some Phase 10 (I was the winner, yay!). Then, today - Ryan (my AMAZING husband) allowed me to sleep in while he took care of Jackson and then Bryson, our electrician friend who we did the trade out w/ came over and installed some under cabinet lighting (see Ryan's post below). After finally getting Jackson to sleep, Ryan and I are tired! He's asleep right now - but I had to update the blog! :) Here's to a GREAT weekend!!

My happy boy before he started feeling sick...

I love this face he has been making.. Too cute!

Playing in Nana's pretty flower garden...

Awh.... Aren't they adorable!?

My precious boy and I today....

Bob Vila Strikes Again!!!

Another weekend, another home improvement! The project this time: under and over cabinet lighting for our kitchen. A few weeks ago I tinted a truck for a friend of mine who happens to be an electrician. In exchange for the tint job, he agreed to come over and help me wire up my new masterpiece. I installed lights like these in our house in Frisco, but it this time was a little more complicated because my cabinets are separated by my sink, and I wanted to run all of the lights together to a dimmer switch. Bryson hooked me up with the wiring, and I did the install on the actual lighting. Here's how it went down:

Here are the parts that I started with...


Bryson took the switch plate that used to hold only the switch to my outdoor flood lights in the back and modified it to house the new dimmer switch as well.


I had to empty out all the cabinets (which took forever...)


Here's a very glamorous shot of me hanging one of the under cabinet lights - it's not a pretty job, but someone had to do it!


After mounting the lights, I had to drill holes up through all of the shelves to get the wires to the topside.


My buddy Bryson had the crappy job of climbing into the attic to pull our wires through the ceiling. He is not a small guy, either!! We didn't know if he was going to make it into this crawl space, but after some squirming and shuffling he disappeared around the corner!


I leaned around the corner to snap this one - he got himself way back there! Since my cabinets are separated by my sink, we had to pull wire up through the ceiling and drop it back down on top of the other set of cabinets so that all the wires would be hidden...


All done! Getting out was almost tougher than getting in...


Bryson installed electrical boxes on the top of both sets of cabinets, then he made sure that the new boxes had a circuit breaker in the garage that could support them.


Let there be light!! I put 6 of these "puck lights" on the underside of all the cabinets...


I used "rope light" to light up the topsides of the cabinets. I was going for a "glow" effect on top of all the cabinets, and Bryson suggested that this would probably achieve that look the best.


This stuff was really easy to work with - I used brackets (like the kind you use with Christmas lights) to hold the rope in place and just ran it along the border. The other end has a plug that went right into the new boxes that Bryson installed.


This picture kind of captures the "glow" of the over cabinet lighting...


Here's the finished product!! All of the lights turn on and off together, and they are all hooked up to a dimmer.

Week 3 Down, 8 Wks to Go...

.....before the beach!

I owe Ryan $10 this week, which sucks. I haven't lost nor gained for this week - which I will say is an accomplishment since we were #1: My mom's house (which enough said right there.) and #2: Went to Dallas and had Maggianos, Chipotle, Jinbeh, Cinnamon roll at IKEA and Easter candy.... OH - and TONS of wine (what can I say - there was no baby for me to take care of, so I had some fun!). So... w/ all that - I am proud that I didn't gain but am looking to make a FIERCE comeback by next Wed.... stay tuned.

Our 1st Swim Class!

.... was a success!!! YAY! Since J isn't too fond of baths, we were a little nervous, but he did great and seemed to really have fun! Daddy came during his lunch break and snapped some photos! I have chosen to NOT post some of them as they were a bit too "revealing." lol! Anyway, we were introduced to this from our new friends Amanda and Noah who are in our Mom's Playgroup w/ us. Noah is a GORGEOUS little 13 month old w/ these adorable blonde curls and bright blue eyes! I told Amanda that he will definitely be a heartbreaker! :-) I'm so glad Jackson has a new buddy (and me too!)!!

A little modest in his skimpies!


Jackson in his "Little Swimmers" which are obviously required before he goes in the pool.. but they were a little big so I put a diaper on underneath... just to be sure!

In his swimsuit - all ready to go!

Our swim class consists of 4 Mommy's and the instructor - as seen below... There is a 10month old little girl, Jackson, Noah and then a 2 1/2 yr old little girl.

Jackson and Noah remembered each other (I think!)... Noah was SO good in the water - he was splashing around all over the place! Such a cutie!

At Mimi's house last week, Jackson learned to wave "Hi" so he does it all the time now! It's so cute... We were trying to get him to do it for Daddy, but he was preoccupied!

The yellow noodle was the "pony" we were "riding." No jokes, please...

Practicing climbing OUT of the pool - an important safety precaution. We'll practice this at every class....

We had fun! Looking forward to next week!

Spring Blooms!

Ryan went out and took these pics of these beautiful flowers growing right outside our door... We weren't living here last year in April, so these were a surprise to us!

No Crying at the Gym!

What an accomplishment!!! Yesterday, Jackson and my swim class was cancelled at the last minute - so we went to the gym... and for the first time in about a month, he did NOT cry at the gym! I am so excited that I wrote it in his baby book!

However, when we got home, he was tired and cranky... as you can see below.

Keisha has the crazies!

OK- so when Calvin and Hobbes get rowdy and start running around really fast like they have no idea where they are going but they want to get there in a hurry and without paying any attention to anyone else - that's what Ry and I call "the crazies!" Well, today, I have the crazies! After being away from home for 10 days, I have a mess of a house, a baby who is way confused on why his surroundings have changed, and a swim class today at 1100am!! I have already done 2 loads of laundry, gotten ready for the swim class, had breakfast, 2 cups of coffee and now I'm about to unleash some clean on this house!! I'm excited about Jackson and my first "mommy and me" swim class, but I wish it were tomorrow when we had a little more time to get adjusted again.

Anyway - If I'm not communicating much today, it's cuz I have a TON to do! :)

Date Night!

Mike, Shelly, Ryan and I went ice skating yesterday (my first time!), shopping and then we went to dinner at Maggianos (YUM!) and then we headed over to the Main Event and did some laser tag (again, my first time!), bowling and games! We are having so much fun!!!

Getting ready to go ice skating!

Shelly and I were latched onto the railing in the beginning!

Ice Skating Pros...

Getting more brave!

Shelly and I on the way to dinner.

At Maggiano's...

Good Looking Boys!

We changed clothes and went to Main Event!

Ryan is a great bowler!

Shelly barely made the height limit!

Before Laser Tag

(Ann (Tony's GF), Andy, Tony,Mike, Ryan and Me)

Ryan kicked my butt in air hockey (7:5)

Ryan kicked butt in Pop a Shot!