all baby, all the time

This is one of my favorite things that Garrett does...
when he is really hungry, he sucks on Daddy's nose.

Nothing new to report, but I wanted to show off my son. He's amazing, even when he doesn't do anything interesting at all.

Here are some videos. Don't feel you have to watch them. There really isn't much interesting to see; these are mostly for the grandmas to enjoy.

Garrett's first bath

This little baby can scream. He doesn't usually but if you want to check his lungs strip him down and throw him in the bath.


Okay, don't throw him in, gently place him in the bath. And make sure the water isn't too hot. What would be relaxing for you is way too hot for that little guy. Momma, Dad, and Grandma Bostwick fought the good fight and got the little guy clean, though Grandma Bostwick suffered the worst casualties.


The most concern came from the dog. Bobby was totally on edge during the entire bath. He paced, whined, worried, fretted, tried to climb up onto the counter and was generally afraid that we were performing some sort of child sacrifice. Since then, this little dog has become very protective of his little boy. He keeps a careful watch and is ready at any moment to protect him from any bath-givers. I guess the dog and the baby can relate.











But in the end he is so darn cute we just kiss him so much that he probably needs another bath.


This kid is just so perfect!

Garrett Thomas

Garrett Thomas was born March 21st at 7:11 AM. He was 8 pounds and 20.5 inches long. He is an absolute joy. Mom is doing well, recoverying nicely. She should be able to return home tomorrow. We've had a few sleepless nights already, and though I vowed I wouldn't be one of the fathers who is caught off guard by a peeing baby-I promised myself I'd always be prepared and that it wouldn't happen to me-it did happen. Dang it! So, until you are able to visit and meet this little guy yourself here are some pictures to enjoy.

Once Upon A Time...

Even though no one asked, I just know that everyone is dying to hear about my DIY art project for the nursery.
You know, this one...

It all started with my insatiable desire for information. For some reason, I was wondering why we begin stories with "once upon a time". So, I hopped on the Internet (dear wireless internet, what would I do without you??) and typed "once upon a time" in the search box. Up came a link to Wikipedia. Now, in hard core research situations, I am pretty anti-Wikipedia... but in this case it seemed like the perfect place to look.
And wouldn't you know it, Wikipedia knew how we started using this phrase...

Once upon a time -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase that
has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the Oxford English
Dictionary) in storytelling in the English language, and seems to have become a
widely accepted convention for opening oral narratives by around 1600. These
stories often then end with '... and they all lived happily ever after', or,
originally, 'happily until their deaths'. These are examples of the narrative
form, and occur most frequently in the narratives produced for children aged
between 6 and 8.

It is particularly apparent in fairytales for younger children, where it is almost always the opening line of a tale. It was commonly used in the original translations of the stories of Charles Perrault as a translation for the French il était une fois, and of Hans Christian Andersen as a translation for the Danish det var engang, and the
Brothers Grimm as a translation for the German es war einmal.

Now, Wikipedia didn't stop there, although I would have been satisfied with that answer.

No way! Wikipedia had a list of 69 other languages that also use this phrase in some variation as a beginning to their stories. And it had the translations. Now, that just jumped out at me as being way too interesting to just click away from. So, I methodically copied and pasted each and every translation into a word document.

I found the big "O" on Daily Drop Cap where the designer posts a newly styled capital letter every day. It is pretty fun to scroll through and see your initials, or the initials of your yet unborn son (wouldn't you like to know the letters I looked at!).

I printed it all out and slammed it in a frame we already had lying around and TA-DA free art for the baby's room. And I learned a little something in the process.

new 'do, new duds

This is Bobby. He is my daytime companion while Adam is at work and I am at home praying that this baby will make his grand appearance. Bobby is my walking partner. He can be very motivational.

This weekend he got a new 'do. We shaved off his old man eyebrows, trimmed up the beard and trimmed his ears (sorry mom!). He also got an all-over trim. It is spring here in So Cal, so, this dog was ready for a cooler hair cut.

He also recently got a new collar and this too cute tag.

If I'm alone, I'm lost. Doesn't that just scream, rescue me! I mean really, don't we all feel that sometimes. The tag was compliments of Under Her Charm and a giveaway that I won on the Brightside Project. I also won a pair of earrings for me... Bobby wasn't the only lucky one.

We figured that Bobby needed to look his best when he meets this baby.

We do want them to make a favorable impression on each other.

slight OCD

I may be slightly OCD (CDO, if you know what I mean...). I have this insane need for things to be lined up, stacked evenly, and preferably color-coordinated. So, the state of our desk was enough to drive me crazy every time I sat down to pay bills. There was a pile of receipts (ok, mostly from Babies R Us, but a pile nonetheless), notecards, CDs ready to be legally burned, webcam ready for the arrival of baby D, cords galore, and a stack of magazine cutouts that were waiting to be turned into an inspirational "idea book" (the idea for which I stole from Robin).

I had been lusting after some storage boxes from the Container Store (oh how I wanted two grey ones and two green ones...). Because the container store is like a drug for those of us who like to organize... it's like you can walk in the store and all is right with the world because everything has its own place and a container. It is addiciting.

I digress. I was unwilling to pay $53.98 for four paper boxes. Although I did hover over the "order" button on more than one occasion. And had been known to periodically visit them online. However, I was rescued from my box envy when I was in Ikea. I found these and these... and bought a set of each for... $8.98. Even after assembling them, because it just wouldn't be Ikea without "some assembly required", it was still a bargain.

I found a cutie binder at Target... organized my magazing clippings and VOILA... organization that makes me smile.

Baby Room Revealed

Oh my. I posted the nursery sneak peak 6 weeks ago. How time flies when you wake up huger than you thought humanly possible every day!

Well, the wait is over. The baby room is done DONE DONE! Do you know what that means? The baby needs to COME! And that you get to see pictures and read all the details about the room.

Without further ado...

the view as you walk in

the view from the incredibly comfortable reclining rocker

the view from the crib

the bookshelf that Adam so handily assembled, but more importantly,

the orange and blue canvas bins I have been stalking for three months!

shelves over the dresser

Nearly everything in the baby's room was either a gift, or purchased with a gift card. We were so blessed to be able to put together such an amazing room. The crib and dresser are from the Nordells, the rocker was a gift from my parents, all the books and toys were gifts (other than the orange hippo in the crib... I paid $5 for that at Ikea because I couldn't imagine myself without it; oh and the puppy on the bookshelf... that was mine when I was a baby). The bookshelf, canvas bins, and blue laundry hampers were all purchased at Target with gift cards (so much more fun to shop with giftcards!). The blanket is handmade by Ashley. The framed print on the bookshelf is a card from my cousin Paula, the Eiffel Tower print is from the Welbourns. The "Once upon a time" print was a DIY project by yours truly.

And there you have it, the baby's room. We both love it and I find myself gravitating toward the rocker. I think it might be the most comfortable spot in the house. This room is definitely the only completed room in the house, and probably the cutest too. And now, if its occupant would please vacate his current quarters...

Monkey Bread

Adam talks big; like he doesn't walk in the house when I am baking and just throw himself at me in gratitude. He makes it sound like I force feed him the cake dips and the monkey bread. I am perfectly content to eat them all myself, especially lately, since the late-term prego cravings have kicked in. (read: I bought a Costco-sized box of ice cream bars, have been known to eat three cake dips while hovering over the plate, and considered getting out of bed in the middle of the night for a cookie... and I don't even really like sweets!)

But, for those who are interested in the monkey bread... this is what it looks like in all its glory. Yum! I used the recipe from here. However, I didn't make the cream cheese glaze. I just poured the leftover butter and cinnamon sugar over the top of the pan and called it good.

It was delicious. We ate half of it for breakfast on Saturday morning. Yes, I did get up and put it in the oven and then go back to bed for 40 minutes. No use being up and drooling over the oven.

When you flip the bread out of the pan, the bottom becomes the top. And the top is covered in gooey, yummy caramely delicious-ness. In my opinion, this makes the cream cheese glaze useless. However, after you eat the top half, the bottom half is a little sad. I think the glaze would be perfect here.

And, although I did make the dough from scratch... because it really is easy and I already had everything it called for... I suppose you could use refrigerated. But, it seems so much more impressive to make it from scratch. Plus, it gives my KitchenAid some love!