My 2014

My highlight of 2014 was this:

Meet Parker Henry Ford. Born on Wednesday, November 5th at 5:47 p.m. This little nugget weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces and he was 21 1/4th inches long. He came out kicking, crying and peeing!

We found out we were expecting Parker in March. This was a huge HUGE surprise to us. I feel like life just kind of happens to Jeremy and me. We don't really make a lot of big plans (besides a weekly dinner menu, if that). We go about our day to day routines and big things happen along the way -- a trip, new house, new car, babies. This is probably why we are so good together. We just take things as they come our way.

Here are some of my favorite memories from 2014:

This kid. He makes everyday fun. In the car, he loves for us to play "round and round and round and round" also known as "Wheels on the Bus." He does the motions to "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," "Happy and You Know It" (and taps his chin for "and your face will surely show it"...hilarious) and "Skinny Marinky." Never a dull moment in the car!

He was an LSU football player for Halloween (you aren't surprised). We had trunk or treat with our Sunday School class and our trunk tied for first place for the decorations. It was a fun tradition we started with our littles as they went from car to car getting candy and goodies!

Stop it. He's saying "cheese" and he's dressed like an Indian. Can't even handle this cuteness.

Connor and his baby Par-ka on Christmas Day. What a special Christmas we had in Baton Rouge with these two sweet ones.

This summer we took a trip to Hunt, TX, with friends and spent a long relaxing weekend on the Guadalupe. It was a fun vacation and we enjoyed playing outside, the Crider's rodeo and late night games! 

Love doing life with these people. This is our Sunday School class...and they have so richly blessed our lives.

Parker man at just 3 weeks old! Filling out his 3 month clothes already. I sure loved being home with him every day during maternity leave. 

LSU didn't have a remarkable season, but Connor loved tailgating and going to a game. His favorite part? The band performance at halftime! "More band" he kept saying!

Before pregnancy really kicked in (and the summer heat) I spent three mornings a week running with these girls. They were worth waking up at 5 a.m. for. We ran several 5K's and enjoyed pushing each other and staying in shape together. Hopefully I can get back in the running game again in 2015!

We moved! We have a bigger home in a darling neighborhood that is perfect for our growing family. We've really enjoyed making our new house into our home and settling in. We are enjoying the extra space and the YARD!

Connor turned 2 by doing his most favorite thing - riding the choo-choo! This year, he fell in love with choo-choo's! There's nothing sweeter than seeing your child get so excited for something! He had the best time at his birthday party riding the train at Hermann Park. He would move his arm up and down and say "choo-choo!" and say "Mama ride choo-choo; Dada ride choo-choo; I ride choo-choo!" 

This was definitely an unforgettable year! Here's to 2015!

Facing a Big Decision

Maternity leave has been nice in so many ways. I’ve lived in my yoga pants. I’ve hardly fixed my hair. And, I get to watch my favorite daytime shows – “Kelly and Michael,” “The Chew” and “Ellen” almost every day. I also try to nap as much as possible. Yep, I’ll miss these days.

But it hasn’t been all peace and quiet. Parker cries and screams. A lot. At first we thought it was reflux, so we made several trips to the pediatrician and started him on zantac first, followed by previcid. He was taking each medication twice a day, which seemed like a lot for a baby not even a month old. We waited a couple of weeks for the right dosage of the reflux medications to sink in and kept holding out hope that he would get better. He still screamed at night (nope, wasn’t colic), seemed constantly gassy and his stomach was always so tight like he was really struggling. There’s not a feeling as helpless as when your baby is in pain and you have no idea how to care for him. I have never felt so lost.

Then last Monday (Parker was 5 weeks old) I was taking Connor to the doctor for a fever virus and I happened to show the pediatrician this rash Parker was developing (see below). It was red and bumpy and started on his face and then spread to his neck, abdomen and eventually to his legs. Our doctor said to treat it with some cream and if it’s not better in four days, bring him back. Sure enough it was not better, in fact it was worse, so I brought him back in. The doctor said that he thinks it is a dairy and soy allergy, so I need to eliminate all of those proteins from my diet for a week and see if he is any better.

Tomorrow I will call and tell the doctor that Parker is better. Actually, his rash is almost all cleared up. He is starting to do less screaming (my ears are so thankful) and we have even seen a couple of little smiles.

And now I’m faced with a big decision. Eliminate all dairy and soy from my diet completely (not even a cheat day here and there) or switch him to an allergy free formula.

This is a big decision.

Chopped Beef Sandwiches

This is a great week to pull out the crock pot and let it work its magic. The crock pot is probably the most under utilized gadget in my kitchen, which I hate to admit. Nevertheless, it's perfect for this easy weeknight meal. This recipe is based on my mother in law's recipe she uses at Ford Family Tailgating parties, just modified to work for our family (and my MSPI diet).

Ingredients

• 2 cups of pre-chopped creole mix veggies (in the produce section at the grocery store)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (your choice of sauce; I use Stubb's or homemade)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (I use A1 so that it's MSPI friendly)
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of creole seasoning (I use Slap Ya Mama)
• 1-2 pounds of boneless chuck roast
• Burger/sandwich buns

Mix the first eight ingredients together in the crock pot, and then add the meat. Turn the crock pot on high and cook for 6-7 hours, until the meat is tender. When you are ready to serve, shred the meat and serve on a burger bun of your choice. It goes great alongside grilled veggies!

Valentine's Dinner Party

We celebrated Valentine's Day at home this year, and had two of our favorite couples over for dinner! My husband is a fabulous chef and prepared an amazing meal for us. It was a great evening with friends, and allowed us to have meaningful conversations without the chaos that comes with dining out on the "most romantic night of the year."

Since we were just at home, I wanted to give the dinner an extra touch with a simple, but elegant tablescape. I pulled my grey chevron table runner I had made out of the drawer to start with. I knew I had to use red as my corresponding color versus pink, since red would pop more on the grey runner. Added in some votives, and we have the table ready to go!

For the silverware, I wrapped it up in red dinner napkins and then twisted a red and silver heart wire strand to keep it together. Very simple!

On the menu: homemade hush puppies with a side of creole butter, grilled veggies, salad, garlic mashed potatoes and flat iron steak topped with New Orleans style BBQ shrimp. It was as delicious as it looks!

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!
B

15 months!

Little man is 15 months old. At his checkup this week, he weighed 30.5 pounds and was 33 1/2 inches long. He wears 24 months/2T clothes and he still only has 6 teeth. He's growing so quickly, and time is passing by too fast! Since I'm not updating the baby book monthly anymore (and I'm a little thankful for that, let's be honest) I need to still keep up with documenting what Connor is up to these days! His favorite thing to do is walk around, no matter where we are (parking lot, restaurant, etc.)! He is so busy! He walks and shrieks and screams happy sounds. So fun!

His favorite toys:

Balls

The Fisher Price dog that he can pull

Wooden knob puzzles (really just so he can bang the pieces together)

Toilet paper

Wooden spoons

The sprinkle shakers from Connor's own shelf in the pantry

His words:

Dada (first word)

Mama (my favorite word!)

Ball

Dog

Bye-Bye (with a wave toward himself)

Up (he usually says this while he's laying on the ground and he puts his legs up in the air!)

Nana (as in banana)

Out-ide (outside...his favorite place to be)

No (he usually says it when we are reading the Find Spot books)
All done (and he puts his arms out to the side like he's motioning "I don't know"
Hello (and pretends he's talking on the phone by putting whatever object he's holding up to his ear)

Connor is a busy little man, and he keeps us on our toes! Not many quiet moments around our house anymore. But, we wouldn't have it any other way. I'm amazed at how smart he is and how much he understands. What a blessing to watch him grow up and discover his world!

Here are a few recent pics from the past couple of months!

Sliding at the park...I think we did this 20 times that day!

Celebrating our friend Preston's birthday! Blurry picture because he was SO busy walking all over the place!

During the first Houston "snow" day we went to Wonderwild to get some energy out!

Think he has enough bath toys?

First trip to the Zoo in January. He loved the petting zoo!

What a fun age! We are having a blast!
B

Our Merry Christmas!

Whew - I need a vacation to recover from our Christmas. Or a spa day. Hubs, are you listening? Our little man is wild, let me tell you! But these are some pretty fun times, I must admit. Connor starting walking just after Thanksgiving and he hasn't slowed down. When he walks, he still kind of waddles like a penguin. He also squeals and screams and shrieks as he walks, and it's so cute. And so loud - we're going to be deaf here pretty soon! I need to get a video of this, but I swear he's camera shy. Every time I press record, he freezes up. We're going to have to work on that.

I digress. Christmas was fun and filled with lots of family and friends. We headed to North Louisiana to see my dad's side of the family, and then back home, and then off to BR to see the Fords'. Connor got more than we could have ever asked for or imagined. This is one spoiled rotten boy. The third carload of gifts are coming back to Houston from BR this weekend. And I'm not kidding.

So, here is an overload of pictures from Christmas.

A picture from his Christmas card.

Throwing his annual Christmas tantrum after the Christmas Eve service at church.  

Adams cousins in matching shirts! Beck (1), Elizabeth (1.5) and Connor.

Checking out his new chair from Santa on Christmas morning!

Look at all of his presents from Grammy and Paw Paw. Like I said - spoiled rotten. He was mildly interested in tearing the paper off of the gifts, and VERY interested in putting the paper in his mouth. 

The theme of Christmas for my family was tacky sweater!

The Ford cousins. Look at C's expression! So funny!

My favorite picture! Big boy is riding on his new Buzz Lightyear car! Thank you Nana & Pops!

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas!
Brittney

A Christmas Tradition: Texas Trash

As long as I can remember, my family has made Texas Trash for us to snack on at every Christmas gathering. It's a Gibson family tradition, and one that I want to continue with my own family. Every time I eat it, I'm taken back to Christmases spent with my grandparents and extended family sitting around a Wahoo board. I can just hear the sound of the dice being slung across the room when it didn't roll the number my mom wanted it to. But no one sat down to play Wahoo without a bowl of Texas Trash next to their 10 lucky dice!

Ingredients
1/2 cup of butter, melted
2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce
2 cups chex cereal
2 cups cheerios
2 cups of pretzel sticks
1 cup of mixed nuts
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine the butter and worcestershire sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Add in the cereals, pretzels and nuts and mix well so that the sauce mixes in. Sprinkle the salt and garlic powder on top. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Let cool before serving.