If you're picky and you know it, clap your hands.

One of the many things I felt like we'd use a lot for this baby is a rocking chair. Most popular right now are the really fluffy upholstered chairs to match the nursery and gliders. The upholstered chair really wasn't practical for me because once I am done with it in Jack's room (and the room(s?) of future Gentry progeny), I don't have a place for it.

Plus, let's be real. I knew exactly what I wanted, and it wasn't either of those. I wanted an antique windsor-back rocking chair that had been passed down through generations of mothers rocking their babies in my family, specifically in a dark stain. Can't you just see me, rocking my sweet little love to sleep, 3 weeks post-partum and back to my pre-pregnancy size?

{A girl can dream, so please don't interrupt my reverie...}

Not only do I know it will probably take me more than 3 weeks (if ever) to get back to pre-Jack size, my family doesn't have the aforementioned generational rocker. So I did the next best thing--I got online and googled it.

Jack's grandparents (B's parents) graciously gifted us with precisely the chair that I was hoping for. I found an Amish furniture maker online, so it is a new piece, handmade in Delaware and is really beautiful and classic. It goes perfectly in the living room of our home, and I'm hoping that one day it will be an heirloom for our children to pass down.

When I sent my mom a pic of it she told me that my great-grandmother had one just like it, but her uncle had sold it in an estate sale after Grandmother passed away. I didn't know her, but apparently she had good taste.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

A few weeks ago, the Girls' ministry at our church had a Mad Hatter Tea Party, and I volunteered to make and decorate cookies to go with the theme. I've always wanted to learn to decorate cut out cookies, but to be quite honest, I've never been very good at step 1--actually cutting out the cookies and having them maintain their shape getting them from the countertop to the cookie sheet.

I did a little bit of searching and came across this recipe on "Bake at 350" linked on the Pioneer Woman's blog (of course she would have the answers!) for cookies. You don't even have to refrigerate the dough. It was good and thick, and even I, the cookie cutter challenged, was able to work with it.

I also used this recipe from Bridget at "Bake at 350" for royal icing. It calls for meringue powder which I thought was safest since last time I checked I'm not supposed to be munching on raw egg stuff. (And yeah, I don't bake cookies that I can't eat.) It worked out well, and I think with a little bit of practice I'll get the hang of it.

{I started with the pink. You can totally tell they were the first I tried.}

The cookies were pretty plain at this point, but later on (and I didn't get a pic--bummer) I wrote "eat me" on some of them. You know, like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

Next time I will add a little bit of almond extract to the icing, and I probably won't leave the cookies in the oven quite as long. We like our cookies a little softer in the middle than these. Overall, I love how they turned out!

One of these things is not like the other.

So I was re-organizing my cabinet space a few weeks ago to make room for Jack's bottles and came across this. I'm not entirely sure when I decided Edward was special enough to reside with my crystal, but he has now been banished to the random unmatching plastic collection that includes A&M football game and Dickey's BBQ cups. {All of the crystal has been moved up a shelf to make room for baby's things too.}

It's a new world, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ice Days

So while the world was iced in, I was working from home. It's very interesting for me to work from home while my husband is home, but on vacation days. One thing the ice has done is disprove our theory that we never have any food in our pantry. It's amazing all the ingredients for meals I have available at any given time. I just rarely have time to to plan them out. My quick commute this week made that easy!

At one point B was bored enough that he started assembling baby items.
He's a good one, that Brad.

In a moment of desperation when we ran out of Little Debbie Valentine cakes (my faves), I found a strawberry cake mix in the pantry. I added some homemade buttercream frosting and valentine sprinkles (that I randomly had on hand) and voila, we had something sweet to eat. That was dessert Thursday night when we had our neighbors over for supper. And yes, that is some crazy fluorescent pink frosting. I got a little excited with the pink gel food coloring.

That picture is hurting my eyes. Scroll quickly.

Friday at lunch, we took a quick break to play in the snow!


Just a few more weeks until Jack makes his debut!

Happy Snow Day!

Love,
Jack's Mom & Dad

Week 35

This week Jack got bigger, therefore I got bigger. I started packing his hospital bag at 1 am one night because I couldn't sleep. It's just about ready and filled with some blankets to come home with, a couple of sleepers for the hospital just in case, his coming home duds and shoes, and finger nail clippers as I've been advised by many that the hospital doesn't always provide those. Maybe it's a liability thing? That doesn't seem right since they--you know--do SURGERY there. I intend to get to the bottom of this.

As I mentioned yesterday, we were thrown a wonderful baby shower, so I've been unpacking some things, organizing, and washing some of the 0-3 month stuff. The first little load of tiny laundry I did was sooo precious. Just made my heart melt.

I can't wait to hold my little boy.

Photo by the super fabulous Hailey Erickson.

Shower for Baby Jack!

A few weeks ago, our friends from church threw Baby Jack and me a wonderful baby shower full of such cute and thoughtful details. They filled it with some of the best of the best things in and around Fort Worth--including themselves (and Bluebonnet Bakery petit fours!) So many of my other sweet friends and family were able to make it in to celebrate this special time in the life of our family with me. It meant so much to see everyone!

We received so many great things. By the time the last gift was opened, we were completely set for Baby Jack's arrival. Overwhelmed with thankfulness is how I spent the rest of the day, as I sorted through everything, looking over all the tiny clothes, toys, and cuteness.

Below is a wonderful tree that by the end of the shower was filled with encouragement and blessings for Jack and our family like prayers, parental advice, and an even an offer for Wal-Mart runs (thank you Amy D.!) I will have to snap a closer picture soon, but the tags were re-styled vintage airline tickets. So precious! I just love to thumb through them and know they will be a blessing for years to come.

I wish I had enough space and pictures of the day. I could go on and on, but below is a small sampling. Thank you everyone for all you did to celebrate our boy and dream come true who is coming very soon!



This little lady knew exactly what to do with the rocking chair my grandparents gave Jack!
Airplane cookies from J. Rae's as favors. YUM.
My Grannie, Mother (Jack's Sugar), and my aunt Sheri.

Fun friends!






All of the goodies!