Plan, meet monkey wrench. Monkey wrench, meet plan.

I'm not quite sure I would be able to point out a monkey wrench in a wrench line-up, but I am very familiar with the concept! Jim is in Canada this week. It's probably our least favorite thing when he leaves, but we manage and we make up for the sleepless nights that come from sleeping apart by sleeping in extra long on the weekend (we're hoping/praying/wishing on a star that Jim-Jim's plans involve sleeping in, too!) The only kink we had to deal with during this trip is that I am finishing my masters, and I have class on Tuesday nights. Jim-Jim is low maintenance so I figured I would bring him to class with me. It's a televideo course with the professor lecturing from Houston, so I could sit in the back of the classroom with Jim-Jim and no one would be the wiser. Monkey wrench = exam! My first exam fell during the week that Jim is gone. How awful would I feel if Jim-Jim were to cry while everyone is taking an exam?! Time to come up with a plan B...
We asked our Bible Study group if anyone would mind taking care of him and an amazing couple offered to help out (thanks Hillary and Brad!). They picked Jim-Jim up from daycare and let him hang out at their house until I could get there after my exam. He was a perfect gentleman (minus one very ripe diaper!). Jim-Jim must have had tons of fun, too, because he fell asleep during the car ride home, and he didn't wake up the rest of the evening! We all survived our first babysitter experience with flying colors (AND I aced my exam:)

Compromising Canine

There comes a time in one's life when a decision needs to be made. What's more important? My beliefs or what I want? I can tell mommy and daddy are trying to pay more attention to me, but the more attention they give, the more I crave!

I hate, hate, hate the bathroom! I tolerated the place while mommy was pregnant because she needed my help in taking care of the growing baby, but it is now a place of doom once again. A place where they throw me in the bathtub and douse me with water and shampoo. A place to be avoided. You can tell by the photo which won, my belief that the bathroom is to be avoided or my desire for attention. Yes, that is me sitting between mommy's legs while she potties. Call me weak in my convictions if you want, but I'm brilliant! I have figured out that this is the one place mommy goes where she NEVER takes Jim-Jim. Her hands are free to love on ME! Well, until it's time to wipe...

Bailey

Bridging the Generation Gap

As Kara mentioned, there are so many things that will be different about Jim-Jim's life than ours. For instance, Jim-Jim will never know a time before HDTV. He will never have to rely on outdated encyclopedias for report information, because he'll be able to Google anything he can think of. He will grow up thinking that the ease with which we catalog our lives through digital cameras is the only option.

With all of these differences, there are some things that stand out so strongly in the minds of his mother and me that we intend to introduce them to his consciousness. One of these is Star Wars. The original Star Wars, episodes 4-6, not some Jar-Jar-infected snore-fest. I want him to grow up knowing the age-old struggle of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, Rebel Alliance vs. Empire. I fully expect his first word to be "Vader", which would be completely fine with me, though I have reservations about his mother's feelings on the matter. She'd probably prefer any number of choices before that.

The way I see it, this is something that he and I can share, something that we have between us. His mother has breastfeeding, I have Star Wars - that's fair, and I intend to hold on to it as long as possible! God forbid he ever become a Trekkie....

Milk. Does a Body Good. Pass it on!

Does anyone remember that slogan from 20-some-odd years ago? Jim and I frequently talk about what knowledge and adventures we want to "pass on" to our son. It saddens us that he won't know what we're talking about when we refer to Punky Brewster, Thundercats (ROAR!!!), Snorks, The Flinstones, Saved by the Bell (NOT the college years)... How many times are we going to hum the theme song from the Smurfs while Jim-Jim stares at us blankly, thinking how old and irrelevant his parents are? Some of my fondest memories from childhood come from running around in the middle of the night with all of the neighborhood kids playing night crawlers. I'm new at this mom thing, and I'm aware that times have changed but are kids allowed to do that anymore...to run around the neighborhood in the middle of the night playing night-time hide and seek? Aren't there curfews and pedophiles that prevent it?

There are some things to which Jim-Jim won't get out of being exposed. Star Wars is mandatory! Jim has been talking about introducing Jim-Jim to Star Wars since the minute we found out that we conceived. The second is Curious George. Jim has long been a fan of Curious George and has a Curious George stuffed animal that is older than I am. Jim-Jim now has one of his own (thanks Gran!), and we hope that he grows as fond of it as Jim did to his. AND we hope Bailey doesn't find it and decide it's a dog toy as most of Jim-Jim's toys that end up on the floor will become!
Kara

Current pictures have been uploaded to the "Growing So Fast" album to the right.

Start 'em young, Raise 'em right

This is for all of the Cajuns I offended in my previous post when I commented on their inability to speak phonetically. Consider this my penance:) And for daddy- Happy Anniversary!
Does it still count even though I couldn't resist putting Jim-Jim against a maroon background???

Kara

Best Laid Plans

The Omen: A smirk. We were making a pit stop in Natchitoches (pronounced Nak-a-dish...I know, those Cajuns are crazy!) on our way home to LA , and I had a conversation with a woman in the rest room (yes, I talked through the stall door with a woman who was peeing). She informed me that the gas stations in DeRidder were running out of gas. Huh? For a category 1 hurricane? When I walked out of the bathroom, the lady I had talked with whispered to her friend that we were headed to DeRidder, and her friend smirked. A subtle smirk, but a smirk that said, "Those poor schmucks!" Jim and I discussed whether it was wise for us to continue, but we were SO CLOSE to home, and we'd been looking forward to this trip for such a long time!

The Plan for the weekend:

• Let Nana spoil Jim-Jim as only a grandma can do


• Take Jim-Jim swimming for the first time in Gran's pool


• Play with our nieces and nephew


• Visit old friends


• Eat Gran's pecan pie


• Eat shrimp etouffee


• Eat shrimp etouffee left-overs


• Pack up shrimp etouffee and take it back to Dallas with us (it's really THAT good:)
  

What actually happened:

• Arrived Friday night at 8:30pm and visited briefly before turning in for the night


• Spent some time with family on Saturday morning


• Prepared the house for a hurricane


• Helped load sandbags for members of the community


• Left 22 hours after getting there due to impending evacuations
  

Who knew that category 1 hurricane Gustav would gain intensity and speed becoming a category 5 hurricane? I feel like we got to LA, blinked, and we were gone again. It was just what we needed, though, and some good things came of our trip. We were able to retrieve the top of our wedding cake so we can celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary on Tuesday, we now know that we are capable of taking a long trip with Jim-Jim, and we were able to visit family even if it was brief. We really needed that time with family! Jim and I feel like an island here in Dallas because the closest immediate family we have is 6 hours away. We feel isolated and alone, and technology only goes so far in bridging that distance. We pray every day that God will take us closer to family. I want my son to grow up knowing his Gran, Nana, GrannySan, PawPaw, CoCo, aunts, uncles, and cousins. For now, we will enjoy the precious few moments we do get to spend with them and look for opportunites to make it happen, even if it means driving 300 miles only to leave less than a day later.

Kara

Wanted: Personal Trainer

After visiting Jim-Jim, my mom said, "The way he moves around now, I have a feeling he's going to put that energy and his curiosity together for some fun exploring times!" Our baby is a mover and a shaker! My mom has raised 4 children, and SHE was shocked by how animated he is. From the time he was 4 weeks old, we had a little treasure hunt every morning to search the crib for him because he was NEVER in the same place we laid him when we went to bed.
I can see his little infant mind working when I put him to bed:
Mission #1: Kick off my sheets
Mission #2: Make it to the stereo
Mission #3: Take over the world
The first picture is where we place him in his bed every night, and the second picture is how we find him every morning, with his head pressed against the stereo that plays white noise and his arms and legs flailing.

He doesn't cry...he just MOVES, and I have no doubt he would end up in Austin before stopping if the crib railing wasn't there to prevent it! I'm thankful he's such a happy, smiley baby or that energy would be spent making our lives miserable! We're going to have to hire a personal trainer just to keep up with our little monster once he becomes mobile!
Kara