Snow Day

Yesterday, we finally got our first snow of the season here in Colorado! It was actually very nice to have the cold weather since our Fall has kind of been lacking this year.

Remy had technically seen snow already {when he was a week old} but this would be his first getting bundled up and going outside experience.  So after nap time I zipped him up into his snow suit, threw on his hat, and then realized that my child could hardly move. A Christmas Story anyone? 

And what did my precious child think of the snow?

He was pretty indifferent about it. 

I think he was just trying to figure out why I kept making him sit on a snowy log in our front yard to take pictures.

We didn't stay out long but he got to touch it and we walked around the neighborhood for a hot second so it was a pretty good first snow day for Remy! Of course this won't be his last as long as we live in Colorado. 

And finally, later that day I made a big pot of Caldo de Res which is a soup with meat and tons of veggies. It's served with rice and in my bowl, a big helping of lime juice. It was the perfect meal to end a cold, snowy day.

And...one outtake. 

Trip to Texas Part Uno

October is almost over! Can you believe it? I also can't believe that I once again, have gone a little over a week without blogging. Ugh, life sometimes gets in the way.

Of course with that excuse also comes the fact that Remy and I flew down to Texas for 8 days last week! To say I was nervous would be an understatement. But if I chickened out and didn't fly down my Mother would have never forgiven me! So I sucked it up, over packed and off we went.

Since I had never flown before with Remy I didn't know what to expect so I might have slightly over packed my carry on. Toys, books, a million diapers, 4 changes of clothes, sippy cups, snacks, burp cloths, and Ziploc bags were just a few of the things that were bulging out of my bag.

We got through security pretty fast and easy {minus my ridiculous effort to open the stroller which included using my one free hand and a foot} and I had just enough time to do a diaper change before we boarded.

I got a window seat in the front and proceeded to pull out some toys to keep him busy while everyone boarded. I had planned to nurse him during take off so it would help his ears but of course my child demanded his food during boarding. So everyone was boarding and there I am nursing in my seat. 

Ah, motherhood.

Of course my giant plan for him to nurse during take off was ruined but with his pacifier he was fine. A nice girl sat next to us so I felt comfortable that she wouldn't throw a fit if my child decided to throw a fit.

The 2.5 hour flight which included a stop {but no change of planes} was successfully mastered by a quick 30 minutes of playing with the drink menu {what? Remy didn't want any of the million toys I packed? Ridiculous!} and then he fell asleep for the last 2 hours!

I was amazed at how awesome he did and continually prayed my thank yous to the Lord for such a great flight. I got to enjoy my music throughout the flight while enjoying my pretzels and sprite with one awkward hand.

We landed on time and the reaction on my parents faces when they first saw him as we were coming down was well worth the nervousness of my trip. {I'll share more later on Remy with the family}.

So I had a great flight going to Texas! How was my trip back to Colorado? Well it was a bit more interesting. But you'll have to wait for that story.

P.S. To the old lady who sat in the aisle seat on the first half of the trip and then for the second half got up and moved ONE row back so you would not have to sit next to me and the kid, you're pretty ridiculous! My child was asleep the whole time!! Was I really such a bother? At least you could have moved farther away so as to seem that you just wanted a better seat. Thanks for making me feel wanted. {haha}

a :: boarding pass  b :: playing for first 30 min  c :: snow capped Rocky Mountains  d :: sleeping baby

Insta Friday

 

I can't believe it's Friday already. 

Anyone else feel like their week just flew by?
So, it's another link up to Insta Friday over at Life Rearranged.
Join the fun!

My cousin was in town and we made the hour and half drive into civilization, i.e. The Mall, and I had to buy this hat immediately. It's from babyGAP and it's oh so fabulous, right? What can I say? The kid likes hats! 

Sunday I managed to convince the Hubs to take us to the pumpkin patch a couple exits down.
I of course forgot to bring the aforementioned hat!
It was fun and we may or may not have purchased about $40 in pumpkins including one that looks like a giant jalapeno. We like the weirdos.

My friend Alexis lives in LA but drove up to visit family in Denver. She was actually the very first person I told that I was pregnant last year and she had never even met Remy! So she drove up to spend the night and Remy just loved her! But, who wouldn't love a model? {She was on Project Runway people!!}
I mean c'mon, how come I never look this good when taking pictures with my child?

I'm from Texas which means that I was born with the notion that no other state is greater than Texas. Therefore it still tugs at my heart to know that my son is an official Coloradoan.
{Had to go pick up his bc because we're flying this weekend!}

Toys, toys, toys!!!

I was picking up these blankets that I lay out on the floor for Remy to play on and apparently Stella thought I was making her a nice comfy bed.

I just had to take this shot. He looks so B I G standing up as if he's actually doing something important. I think it's the polo and khakis that add to the B I Gness. So stinkin' cute!

Our makeshift "pillow block" so Remy doesn't get to the stairs to go downstairs. I know this isn't legit, but it's really just to deter him for longer than 1 second.
{I spy a tiny sock!}

This is Stella's very best friend, Peace. He came up from LA to visit too! They hadn't seen each other in almost 9 months or so and they had a blast running around and playing. 

{I took this when they were standing at our back door...can you tell I need to clean it?}

And finally, last week I put a picture of my sparkly nails {you can see it here} and just yesterday I put on the houndstooth ones. Have you ever tried the Salon Effects nail strips? They're pretty great!





Tomorrow Remy and I fly out to Texas for a week! It's the first time he'll be flying and I'm a little nervous to just be flying alone with him and no Hubs. Pray for us will you? I'm sort of a nervous traveler and I get an upset stomach from the moment I wake up until I've arrived at my destination. Why you ask? Because when I was 16, on the way up to the mountains, I threw up all over my best friend due to car sickness. From that day on, all I can think about is how I'm going to throw up everywhere every time I travel. Yes, I know it's just in my head, but I usually just drug myself with Dramamine and go to sleep, but I'm thinking that wouldn't be a good idea whilst traveling with a baby, right? Haha! So just send us your prayers and we'll be fine!
Have a great weekend y'all!

Poop!

That's right.
I titled this post, "Poop!" 

Are you embarrassed?

You should be. 

:: g r i n ::

Act One:

Setting:
Mom and Baby make an unexpected trip into the city to take Daddy to the airport to acquire rental car for work.  After drop off, Mom & Baby stop to see their old friend, Target. Baby is in car seat and gets picked up and taken to dressing room so Mom can try on really cute blouse she found.

Mom: "It's okay baby, Momma's just going to try on this blouse really quick. See how cute it is?"

Baby:  {I can only suspect what he was thinking} "Mom, change me NOW!"

Mom: "This top is fabulous and would go great with a belt!"

Baby: "Change me woman!"

Mom: "What's that Remy? You're hungry? Okay, let's get you out of the car seat and feed you."

{this is why Mom loves the big dressing rooms...plenty of space and privacy}

Baby:  "Change me!....Oh, okay, I'll eat a little bit."

Mom: "Okay, are you done yet? Let's get going so we can meet Daddy."

{Mom thinks to herself that she should probably change baby here since he's already out of car seat.}


Act Two:

Setting:  
 Mom takes out changing pad and diaper and puts Baby down only to discover that something feels wet on her finger. Mom then turns baby around and notices that Poop, yes POOP, is all over the side and back of baby. Mom then realizes that she never, NEVER, carries the diaper bag inside when she goes to stores and because of this no has no clean clothes for very disgusting baby. Mom is in a slight panic.

Mom: {thinking out loud} "Okay Jennifer, what are we going to do about this? Why don't you ever bring the diaper bag in with you? Are you crazy! This is exactly why you always bring the diaper bag inside with you. Sheesh woman! I wonder if I can run to the baby section and get a shirt for him real quick. No, that would require explanation and I really don't like that lady that mans the dressing room. Can he just go naked in his car seat? No, it's windy and slightly cool outside, I'd look like a horrible mother.

Mean Dressing Room Employee: "How's everything ma'am?"  {translation: you have ONE shirt, what the heck is taking so long?"

Mom: "Okay, thank you! Almost done here." {translation: Did Target all of a sudden become fancy where the employee talks to you inside the dressing room? LEAVE ME ALONE!}

Mom continues to think out loud to herself.

Mom: "Holy moly this is a lot of poop! What is the situation? I cannot believe this is happening. I'm so glad I refilled my wipes case or else we'd be in big trouble right now.

The Baby who has recently discovered that it's fun to reach down and feel around below the bellybutton whilst being changed attempts to do just that while Mom yanks that little hand out of the way of the poop situation.


Act Three:

Setting:
The wipes case is officially out of wipes now and there is a big, filled to the max and overflowing diaper on the little bench and a baby in only his diaper laying there happily while Mom is trying to see if her Mary Poppins size purse holds anything to help this situation.

Mom: "There has to be something in this giant purse for this baby. Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! I am Momma, Hear Me Roar!!!!"

Mom pulls out  sweater that Uncle bought for baby that is buried underneath her wallet and other various elements of nonsense in her purse.

Mom: "This wonderful, adorable little sweater is going to save the day! Yay Baby!!"

Baby: "Man, I don't know why you're so happy, but YAY for fun day at Target!"


Mom puts baby in sweater that is too big for Baby but because so, it perfectly hides his diaper and straps that sucker into his car seat asap. She remembers to grab blouse {that she loved! Go Target!} and little dressing room number and runs to her cart without making eye contact with over zealous dressing room attendant.

And scene. *

 

Okay so perhaps the above was a bit ridiculous but I assure you it is all true.
And to prove it, here is a picture of Remy once we got home an hour later.

He is still in sweater only and no pants.
{I had every intention of changing his clothes, but by the time I checked out and got to the car he fell asleep!}

Moral of the story?
Always have extra clothes in your purse or at least bring down your diaper bag with you!

*I would like to thank Ms. Davis, my high school drama teacher who taught me how to write a script.*

"Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mommy! Momma! Momma! Ma! Ma!"

 Did y'all have a good weekend?

I did and we had some good times that I'll be sharing about this week, but first I wanted to share with y'all the best news!!!

Are you ready?

You sure you're ready?

Okay, okay....

Remy said his first word on Sunday!!!!.......

and it was "MAMA!"

{Can you tell I'm a bit excited?}

It was, by far, the greatest little voice I have ever heard. {no bias here! haha}

He was with the Hubs when he started whining a bit and wanted to come with me, so I put out my hands and then he stretched out his arms and clear as day, said, "Mama!"

It was so great.

Of course, the Hubs said it was as fluke and that he was just mumbling sounds, but we tested it out 2 more times {because we're those parents}
and sure enough, every time I would reach for him and he wanted to come with me, he'd say, "Mama."

BIG : : GRIN

He even managed to say it to me whilst on Skype with Grandma and Grandpa, so you know it's legit now. 

Anyway, among all the excitement I couldn't help but think that one day this  would be my fate.
This is actually my ringtone for my mom!
Enjoy!

haven't we all done this to our moms before? LOL

Insta Friday

Another fabulous linky party @ Life Rearranged! 

Join the fun with pictures from your cell phone, regardless if you have the instagram app or not! 

And as a side note, does anyone else not like the new instagram with the update?
I sort of feel that the quality of my favorite "Nashville" is just not the same!
I love the suggestion that we use our instagram names on the link up!
I'm "jenlechuga"...fancy, no?
Anywho...

This photo is actually from last week but since I didn't link up last week I thought I'd share it because it's one of my favorites! The Hubs and Remy out for a stroll at the festival downtown.

Chevron pajamas? Yes please!

Oh yes, that's the Baby Bullet!! My folks bought it for me and I just whipped it out to make Remy some food. This was apples, which he HATED!  {so far he only likes avocados}

Cutest kid on top of a vehicle.

This is my Brother's favorite cereal. My Brother who is in his 30s.
BUT they apparently do not sell it in Texas, so here I am in Colorado being an awesome Sister and stocking up for him. Last year I actually ordered 6 boxes from Amazon and had them shipped to his place for Christmas! 

For some reason I'm just not a fan of a baby in his diaper only.
But, the Hubs had him like this one afternoon and boy is the chubby little chest to. die. for.

Stella thinks she's safe on the couch.
She is mistaken.

Rockin' the shades on an outing to Target.
A pretty big deal since the closest one is an hour away! {sad, sad times}

My cousin is here and she bought the Sally Hansen Salon Effects peel and stick nail polish.

This one is called Frock Star.
I love that 1 strip can do two of my itty bitty nails.
I'm slightly obsessed with it already.
{Man my hands are wrinkly up close!}




Have a great weekend everyone!

Mobile and loving it

For almost a month now Remy has been crawling.

And by crawling I mean scooting around so fast that he inevitably hits his head on something long before I even get a chance to lunge towards him to prevent said hitting from occurring.

I have to say that watching him go from getting on his hands and knees and just rocking back and forth to finally figuring out that rhythm of crawling has been so exciting. He's such a funny kid and when he takes off he looks at me as if to say, "Watch out woman, I'm on the go!"

Of course his favorite place to crawl to is underneath the counter where Stella's dog food is. So we finally went out and bought a fancy gate that screwed into the wall to block off the dining room and kitchen from him. 

You hear that kid? We bought a fancy one just to prevent you from going somewhere!

So there we were one night, happily drilling giant holes into our wall to set up the gate so that we wouldn't have to worry about him crawling over there and getting into things. I mean come on, parents are genius, no?

No.
No, we are not.

The next day Remy crawls right up to the gate, (meanwhile Stella is so freaked out by the gate that she cowers under the bed all day) stands up whilst holding on, and shakes the living daylight out of that fancy gate. And what happens?

He manages to pull out 2 of the screws that were screwed into the wall out and flips the gate over so he can crawl underneath. 

Touché Remy Daen.
Touché.

What a feeling

For almost a month now, my heart has been exploding with love because of the tiniest occurrence. 

You see, ever since Remy learned to sit up in his crib I constantly find him sitting up after a nap or whenever he happens to wake up from sleeping.

And with this one simple task, my heart fills with an emotion that is hard to even put into words.

He often wakes up with a little cry which means, "Momma, come get me because I'm hungry and then I want to immediately go back to sleep." And it is at this moment when I get up and quietly go to his room, and in the haze of his blue {my favorite light bulb ever!} lamp that I see my precious son sitting in the middle of his crib, with his eyes usually closed, whimpering ever so softly, just waiting to get picked up.

Do you even know what this does to me?

I usually want to start crying because it's just too precious of a sight.

I realize that we were all babies once and that we all longed for our Momma or Daddy but it's not until you become a parent that it hits you.
This one little person depends solely on you. 

You are all that matters.

When I find Remy sitting in his crib, I know that he needs me.
"Me?"  I find myself asking.
But I'm just a kid too. I can remember high school still! And what about all the fun times in college? And of course, I've only been married 3 years, so I'm barely a wife.
But none of this matters at that moment because even though I am still just Jennifer, I am also now
Momma.

And that precious child just sitting there in his crib needs his Momma.
Little does he know that I need him even more.

I realize this isn't a crib picture but isn't he just adorable here?

Jennifer A to Z

I've been seeing this in blog land for a while so I thought I'd join the bandwagon.

A. age {26}

B. bed size {queen}

C. chore you hate {making the bed}

D. dogs {Stella Luna}

E. essential start to your day {moisturizer}

F. favorite color {pink & torquise}

G. gold or silver {silver}

H. height {five feet seven}

I. instruments you play {have played french horn & piano}

J. job title {daughter turned student turned teacher turned wife turned momma}

K. kids {Remy Daen}

L. live {Small Town, Colorado}

M. maiden name {...Doza}

N. nickname {Jenny :: which I dislike}

O. overnight hospital stays {younger with Asthma and last March with baby delivering}

P. pet peeve {horrible drivers}

Q. quote {""The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax
Of cabbages—and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."}

R. righty or lefty {right}

S. siblings {older brother, Daniel}

T. time you wake up {whenever Remy wakes up, 7-9am}

U. university attended {Texas Tech University, Wreck 'em!}

V. vegetables you dislike {cauliflower}

W. what makes you run late {everything involved with having a baby}

X. x-rays you've had {dentist?}

Y. yummy food {pizza & ice cream}

Z. zoo animal favorite {panda & monkey}

Don't you feel you know me better now?  {smile}

I'm sorry

Dear Momma,

I'm sorry that you haven't blogged {what a funny word!} in such a long time.


I'm sorry that the laundry is piling up in the closets.
I'm sorry that the house is a mess.
I'm sorry that you forgot to pay some bills.
I'm sorry that your hair has been in a french braid for that past week because you just haven't had the time to fix it.

I'm also sorry that Daddy keeps telling you that you should probably at least start one of your many projects that you have planned since the garage is piling up with all your junk {I mean things} that you buy at thrift stores.

I'm sorry that you've been forced to eat at weird hours of the day because you just can't find the time to sit down for a full meal.

I'm sorry that you've had to take me to the doctors' twice in a week because I got my first ear infection, my first cold, and my first tooth all at the same time.

And I'm sorry you didn't get a lot of sleep these past weeks.....

But you know what Momma?

I lied.

I'm not sorry.

Wanna know why?

I'm not sorry that you didn't get to do all your grown up things because you were too busy taking care of me.

I'm not sorry that even though you wanted to sit down and eat lunch, you rocked me back and forth for hours while I cried because I was so sick.

I'm not sorry that you didn't do all your craft projects because instead you were playing with me on the floor and making sure I didn't get hurt since I can crawl now.

I'm not sorry because all those times you could have been asleep, you were singing to me and hugging me, and giving me kisses, because Momma, sometimes babies just need extra love every once in a while.

And I'm not sorry that this past week has been crazy because to me, it was just extra special Momma and Baby time.  


I love you Momma.


Love,
Remy Daen

You know what baby boy? I'm not sorry either.
"I'll love you forever
I'll love you for always
As long as I'm living
My baby you'll be"