Our New Word

That is a word that I have become familiar with on so many levels. For example, "No, Jack! You can't have cookies for breakfast!" and "No, Jack! We don't eat food off the floor!", or my personal favorite, "No, Jack! Don't drink out of Rudi's water bowl". As a new mother I feel as though I say "no" way more than I say "yes".

So I should have considered that because children learn by example it was only a matter of time before Jack was going to pick up on the whole "no" thing. Now that he has developed quite a little vocabulary, I can say that time is NOW!!

As Brons has been so kind to point out, I have a habit of holding conversations with things that can't really talk back like Rudi and Jack. But now that Jack can kind of hold a two-way conversation, rhetorical questions have become something of the past and I'm quickly learning the word "no" has come back to bite me in the butt!



Before, the conversation went like this:


Me: Jack are you ready for bed?

Jack: silence.

Me: Ok. That's what I thought. Let's go nighty.




Now, the conversation goes more like this:


Me: Jack are you ready for bed?

Jack: No.

Me: Well, let's brush your teeth and get your jammies on.

Jack: No.

Me: Let's pick your toys up anyway.

Jack: No.


He doesn't necessarily cause a fuss, but let's just say, he's a little boy who knows exactly what he wants! I'm just hoping his next favorite word will be "Yes!".

What Junk is in Your Trunk?

Well, at least I can answer that question for Jack. He apparently has one of his shirts (that I haven't been able to locate for several weeks) and a pair of his daddy's underwear! If I had to guess I would say both of those items are pretty ripe at this point!

Going to the Chapel

That's right! Bhrett (Bronson's little sister) is getting married. For spring break, Bhrett and Josh (along with Stacy and Tracie) went to Mexico and came back ENGAGED!! We're so happy for them! Josh is such a great guy and we couldn't ask for Bhrett to marry someone better! We are so happy that he's officially going to be part of the family.


The details haven't been set yet, but I know Bhrett is currently thinking maybe next March in Colorado. I'm sure this is subject to change because wedding planning and making accommodations that suit everyone can be difficult. But I'm pretty sure they want a destination wedding, which is awesome. I can assure you, where ever it is, we'll be there!


Congratulations Bhrett and Josh! We love you!

Dance Party

It is no secret that Jack and I like to dance. We dance in the morning, we dance when a good song comes on the radio, we dance while cooking dinner, and of course, we dance in the car. I thought you all might like to see Jack dance too. Now I must say that his dancing has evolved over time into what now looks like some sort of full body spasm. This particular evening we were rocking out to my 70s playlist, which explains the Stevie Wonder song selection. But after I stopped recording our "marathon" continued with some Jim Croche, Bob Seger, and Cheap Trick. I just hope that my son will be a lover of eclectic music, like me.....and apparently dance, as well!

*Please note: Be patient with the beginning of the video. I started filming vertically, but soon into it I switched and the majority of it is horizontal.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

I took St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to broaden my son's movie viewing horizons. Another kid's movie I'm quite fond of is Shrek. I thought getting the movies for Jack was very holiday appropriate and possibly a way to get him watching something other than Nemo. No such luck so far....but I'm still trying!





We're having corned beef and potatoes tonight for dinner. It's potatoes instead of cabbage because my husband is not a fan of the "roughage" or anything else that's green and edible, for that matter. When I told him what we were having for dinner he said "What's that?!". I know he's going out on a limb by trying something new, let's just hope I deliver! :)





I hope you are all enjoying this St. Patrick's Day and have fun tonite celebrating in your family's tradition!

Our Newest Addition....

...and no I'm not talking about an "addition" to our family. I'm talking about an addition to our house. You might be asking yourself, "Didn't they just build a new house?" and the answer would of course be, yes. So then your next question may be "Then why are they building on to their house?".


Well, our house has a walkway on the second floor that leads to a very large space over our garage. We opted not to finish it out because, to be honest, we just didn't need the space. Bronson wanted to use it as his workshop and it has worked very well for that purpose so far. But lately, Bronson has gotten back into his guitar playing and has started working with a local band. This is very exciting because it's what he loves, however, he hasn't had a great place to practice. He has his office upstairs which kind of works, but it's right next to Jack's room and late night jam sessions aren't very conducive to my son's precious sleep. So all this has motivated Brons to finish out the workshop to make for another bonus room above our garage.


Yesterday Bronson asked Jack to help him hammer and that's all it took. Jack walked down stairs, grabbed his toy hammer, I got his shoes and coat on and he was outside helping his daddy. Bronson would tell him he needed to hammer a wall or the stairs and he quickly got to it. He seems to take orders pretty well....for now. We'll see how long that lasts. But for now, he is definitely daddy's little helper!

"Fashionmista"

Jack is quite fond of shoes and I often catch him in our closet trying on our shoes. He can also tell you, at random, which pair are mommy's and which are daddy's. Now the heels I can understand, but he can also do this with gender neutral shoes like my boots and Sperry's. I'm not sure if this means that my son has a foot/shoe fetish or if he'll be the world's greatest shoe salesman when he grows up, or better yet....maybe he's the next Jimmy Choo! Either way, he's got a good eye for fabulous shoes....that's my boy! :)

So the other day I caught him in the mudroom, up to his diaper in my houndstooth rain boots! (I apologize for the poor picture quality. When an opportunity like this presents itself, you grab the first camera you can find!) Now I'm just waiting for the day he comes strutting out in my high heels! I know the day is coming and you can rest assured....I will be waiting with camera ready!!

My Cool Little Dude

One thing Jack hates more than anything is having the sun in his eyes. Every evening while driving home we fight the sun's vicious glare. Since the sun comes in from the windshield our options are limited, however we have tried everything. I first started shielding him with my planner, then he was just turning his head for awhile, until he finally just started covering his eyes with his hands. But today we tried the obvious.....sunglasses! He can wear his sunglasses, be sun free, look like mommy and daddy all the while looking like a rock star! I thought he looked so precious I just had to take these pictures and share them. I think we've finally found our solution.

Baby News

My best friend Melissa and her husband, Ryan are expecting their first baby in September! As you can imagine....I'm about ready to burst with excitement!!! She was by my side for my 8 months of pregnancy (since Jack arrived a little early) and has been the best Auntie a little boy could ask for, so I can't wait to return the favor. She's been pretty sick, but now finally being in the second trimester I'm sure things will look up soon.

Several weeks ago I went over to the Farley's for a little photo shoot. Melissa wanted to have announcements printed to mail out to friends and family, so I got some great pics of them to include on the cards. They all turned out really great, but here are a few of my favs.

So you can expect regular updates and ESPECIALLY the big news at 20 weeks! We are all leaning toward, "it's a boy", but with a 50/50 chance, things could go either way! :) If you want to see a picture of their little pea, you can click on her blog link to the right (Confessions of a Martha Stewart Reject).

My Latest Project

I have been wanting, for some time now, to decorate the upstairs bathroom. But for some reason, I find it very tricky. I think the bathroom is the hardest room in the house. You need something on the walls....but what do you hang in the bathroom? I couldn't look at the blank, depressing walls anymore, so yesterday I took action. I had the idea of using "bath" pictures of Jack. It is the bathroom he uses for baths, but I have not decorated it for a kid since it doubles as a guest bath. So I thought the idea was actually very appropriate and pretty creative if I do say so. I also threw in the rubber ducky picture because I thought it turned out pretty well. I worked a little editing magic with the color saturation to make them more appropriate for this room and voila..... I have bathroom decor!

A Surprise Package

Yesterday, Jack received a surprise in the mail. It was sent from an old friend of mine, Kristin (Pankey) McGinnis. I have known Kristin since I was about 7 or 8 years old. We took dance from the same instructor and performed many routines together throughout the years.

As you can see from the vegetables she knitted pictured below, she is a seriously talented girl. After seeing the video I posted of Jack naming his body parts, she thought her veggies would be helpful with the learning process. It also goes very well with practicing colors, which we are currently working on.

Thanks so much, Kristin! You are one sweet girl! You can expect another video when Jack masters his newest project!

M.I.T & Dharma

I wanted to take an opportunity to brag on my little sis-in law, Bhrett. She has been a busy girl lately and she's doing great things, as usual. There are two pieces of information that deserve recognition and the first would be, her upcoming internship at M.I.T. I'm sure you all remember when I mentioned in a previous post that Bhrett was doing calculus at age 7....well that was no exaggeration and all her hard work and brains have paid off. She was offered a summer internship at M.I.T. And just to fill you in if you're not familiar, it is arguably the best technical school in the world! So she'll be spending her summer in Boston. She's a math major at SIU and is also interested in computer science, so this position is perfect for her. She can now surround herself with other people who also love working math problems for fun (I'm kind of kidding, but not really). :) She will also have Hayley and Tom (her cousin and husband) close by as well. They both work at M.I.T. where they also earned their Ph.D's and specifically Hayley, in Aeronautical Engineering. That's right.....she's a rocket scientist!


So I consider Jack VERY fortunate to be a part of that gene pool. If it were up to my genes he would be great at reading and writing and have a memory like a steel trap, but wouldn't be able to add 2 + 2. Yikes! I'm confident the combination of the "Parrish" and "Dawes" genes will lead to greatness.


Moving on to Dharma. Dharma would be the newest addition to the family. She's Bhrett's one-eyed pug. She is a puppy mill rescue and as you can see from the pictures below, couldn't be any cuter. Last night we took Jack over to meet Dharma and at first he didn't really know what to think. But by the time we left, he was giving Dharma kisses (shown in the last picture).


So here are a few things to consider when you have a one-eyed dog:

1. Depth perception on one side isn't so good. Walls and furniture seem to sneak up!

2. Food on one side of the bowl will remain uneaten unless spread out again so it can be seen!

3. And if you ever want to sneak up on it, come at it from the no eye side. It'll never see you coming!

As you can see....we've had a little fun with the one-eyed jokes. And by the way, I'm hoping she'll be a pirate for Halloween, complete with a patch and all! :)

Finding "Memo"

That would be Jack's latest obsession (other than "beee-tahs" of course). Also I'm sure you noticed the "Memo" instead of "Nemo". He has many "N" words in his vocabulary to include "Nanny", "Nina", "Nana", and "na-na", however "Nemo" doesn't seem to be one of them. So for whatever reason, he says "Memo".


If I could stand it, he would watch "Memo" every morning and every night and all the time in between. He is truly addicted. He knows "Memo's daddy" and "Dory" and always makes sure I know them too. He gets scared when "Bruce" the shark makes his appearance and says "baby ball" when "Memo" is just a mere egg in the beginning. He also says "boat" repeatedly when "Memo" is taken by the divers as well. It's all quite cute.


So, I have officially seen this movie so many times I have most of the lines memorized, but I guess it could be worse. I actually like "Nemo". It's a precious movie and very entertaining.


As soon as we got home from Evansville on Saturday evening he plopped down in his chair and started saying "Memo". So we put it in for the last showing of the day. I guess I'm going to have to break down and purchase a DVD player for my car. I think it's safe to say that there will only be ONE movie playing at all times!