Godspeed, Little Man

On February 25, 2011 at 7:01 PM, God gave us the most beautiful gift...our son, Jackson David Hooten.  Today, our little man is celebrating his one month old birthday!!  Time is simply flying by! I've been told to cherish every single second...especially in the early days of his life, because it goes by in a blink of an eye.  This includes the moments of joy...and the moments when you feel lost and even scared.  We did have some rough days his first week home due to a health scare.  That's all that it ended up being...a scare!!  Now we know we have a totally healthy baby boy and have been able to truly enjoy him!  We are incredibly blessed...he's a really good baby!!!  He has such a calm and sweet temperament.  We love cuddle time together...he's a Momma's boy already!!

I love our days together.  It's so amazing to watch my sweet angel grow each day.  It seems that with each passing day he's teaching ME something new about himself. I'm learning his likes, dislikes, fears, habits and I'm loving every step of the way.  I always knew I wanted to be a mother more than anything in the world.  But, no one can prepare you for the love you feel for your baby.  There just aren't words to describe the instant bond we have.  His sweet coo's and gassy smiles win my heart over time and time again...THIS is what life is all about!!! THIS is the good stuff!!  I have to thank Jake for being so incredible.  I know it's hard for him to miss out on these moments when he's at work. However, he does an amazing job of catching up when he gets home.  They love tummy time together..it's their thing!

We had pictures taken last weekend and as soon as I get them I'll post them!! For now...here's a few of my fav pics so far!!  If you know me...all I seem to do all day is take pictures!!! ;  )

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. – James 1:17

You Make My Heart "Melt"

After Lauren's shower Jake took me to The Melting Pot in Midtown for an early Valentine's celebration.  Since baby J could surprise us at any moment we decided to play it safe and have our special night that weekend.  I absolutely LOVE fondue!  We were there from 6:30-9:30...time was spent enjoying the delicious meal and having a wonderful evening celebrating St. Valentine.  It was a truly memorable night!  

Jake and I tend to have "moments" in life that are very "us"...and that night was no exception! On our way out, we asked the hostess to take our picture.  She suggested a wall with The Melting Pot logo...seemed like a good choice at the time.  That was until we looked at the picture (once we had already left the restaurant) and realized that the fondue pot in the picture made Jake look like a viking!  We were cracking up!! We thought the hostess would get a kick out of it so we walked back inside to show her...then we took another picture (without the viking hat background) and I also took a picture with the hostess, lol!

Came across this when I was Googling "viking" pics..... cute!!!!

My Valentine Viking and our hostess/photographer! She got SO close...BFF!!

Do-over!!! XOXO!!!

On the note of Valentine's and hearts...a few weeks ago I had my maternity pics taken.  I never thought I'd want to take "belly" shots.  But, my friend Julie from Peach Blossom Photography offered to do them for me and I didn't want to look back and regret not getting the traditional maternity shots.  I'm so glad I got them done! She did an amazing job!! Pregnancy is such a blessing, the miracle of it all is so amazing...I'm so excited that I decided to have this part of my life captured! I can't wait to see the session once it's completed! Here's the traditional "heart" belly shot! ; ) 

Sweet Baby Boys!

Emily, Hilliary and I hosted Lauren's baby shower this past Saturday. Lauren's precious baby boy is due April 16th!  My little Jackson and Landon will have so much fun growing up together! It was a wonderful morning as we helped welcome baby Landon!

The shower was from 10-12 which meant yummy breakfast foods! 

Highlights: 

Emily made a delicious cream cheese danish that was out of this world.  Everyone wanted the recipe!!  Hilliary brought the cutest turtle cake with cream cheese frosting...so good!!! Jake was so sweet and woke up early to make the breakfast casserole ( *bash eggs*) for me while I set up. It came out great, thanks babe! ; )

Recipe for "bash eggs":

1 lb. sliced ham, diced

1 lb. cheddar cheese, grated

2 cups saltine crackers, crushed

6 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Turn into 13X9 inch greased baking dish.  Bake for 40-50 minutes. Can be frozen and reheated later. 

My grandmother has a wonderful collection of party/shower ideas that she shared with me.  One of the creations were onesie cupcakes. I couldn't quite get the onesiess to fit, so, I made washcloth cupcakes. Super easy and a fun parting gift for your mommy-to-be! We played GUESS THE PINS game...you guess how many safety pins are in a baby bottle and the closest guess wins. It's a great game...no pressure, no difficult instructions...real simple!! 

SIDE NOTE: Speaking of REAL SIMPLE- Jake surprised me with a subscription and I'm SO excited about it! It's funny how life changes and your taste in magazines follow...there was Seventeen Magazine back in the day, then People...and now, I'm all about magazines on parenting, crafts, organizing, etc...lol! I plan on keeping a craft journal of cute ideas as I come across them.  I also hope to do a better job of collecting yummy and SIMPLE recipes for when I'm home with J.

As I was writing this post, my friend Karen from UF (who's ALSO having a boy) texted me to look up the song Godspeed by Dixie Chicks.  She did warn me to have tissues near by, and boy did I need them!!

Here's the video! It's a precious song written from a mom to her son...the lyrics are so beautiful! The amount of love I have for my little man already is more than words can even explain. I'm so grateful to God to have blessed us with this little miracle. It's hard to imagine I'll be meeting my sweet son any day now.  I'm sitting at a desk with a view of the nursery...I can see his crib...all the baby blue bedding with sweet polka dots. This is where our angel will dream as Jake and I stand over him, praying for our little boy! Wow...I'm in awe.

You can see more shower pics here!

Makeovers

I love a good makeover! I'm a sucker for them! Whether it's a new "do", home renovation, etc... When thinking about our blog design, I knew I wanted to change it up completely. After fiddling with Blogger for what seemed like hours...I decided to bite the bullet and start from scratch. I found a great site....Makin Cute Blogs, that had a super easy to follow tutorial on how to give your blog a face lift! 

If you are interested in redesigning your blog, give her site a try! I loved her tips and simple directions.  I emailed the author of the blog about some font questions I had and she surprised me by writing back to say she had picked our blog to be featured as the weeks DIY Cute Blog award! Fun! I never win anything...seriously...ever. LOL! So basically...if this non-html girl can pull off an extreme blog makeover...you can too! Good luck!!!

Speaking of makeover...not a lot of people know this but in nursing school, I dyed my hair DARK....very dark! For the sake of the ole budget and highlight costs, I see a brunette Lindsay in the future. Ahhhh.... but, not in the near future....gotta rock out with the blond hair for one last summer!

That's me on the LEFT...crazy, huh??

Blog Swap

I love it when people share their fav blogs with me! There are so many creative people out there doing really neat things!!

One of these blogs is Craftily Ever After! I was recently introduced to it and I LOVE it! Check out the link to see their newest "freebie"...a fun Valentine's Day "printable"! I love the look of printable art and have used quite a few prints in the nursery.

I stumbled across KevinandAmanda.com last week and have really enjoyed following it.  If you love photography, Amanda has some awesome photography tips! Her pictures are amazing.  She's the kind of woman I wanna be when I grow up! ; )

If you have any fun blogs to swap, let me know!!!

The Nursery: A Sneak Peek

Door decoration and diaper cake made lovingly by Auntie Emily!

People brought books to my baby shower. Can't wait for bedtime stories!

Yes...that is a Halloween costume in the closet...it was a consignment store impulse buy!
Major organization needed in the closet, yikes!

It's blog time, baby!

Happy (belated) New Year! Welcome to our newly designed blog! According to our blog, 2010 was pretty uneventful.  In fact, the very opposite was true.  We got the best news of our lives...we found out we are expecting a sweet baby boy around February 24th!  God is SO good!! Since finding out at the end of June, our lives have been full of joy, excitement, planning and making BIG decisions.

When thinking of New Year's resolutions...I realized I had an entirely new set of goals and plans. There is nothing more I've ever wanted than to be a mommy...and now I'm 6 weeks away from meeting our little man.  There's a laundry list of things I want to achieve in the next year...personally, as a wife and as a first-time mom. 

On that list is to dedicate more time to our blog and to treat it as an online journal of Jackson's first year! I'll be staying at home with the baby for a while and hope to return to CCDHC part-time, in the future! People tell me I'll be busier than EVER which is why I felt the need to get this blog organized ahead of time!! I'm really looking forward to documenting my sweet boy's "firsts'" and our parenting stories to share with YOU!