A Nice Visit

The past several years (except last year) my parents have come to the Lectureships at FHU and spent the weekend before lectureships with us.  I was excited that they were able to do the same this year.  They were lucky enough to spend a few days with Jackson on their way over.  My mom took a video of Jackson walking and emailed it to me--I watch it over and over!  I can't wait to see him in May (if not before).
Here are some pictures from the weekend.

 PW's guacamole is so so good!  Don't look at the Roman numerals on the cookie cake too closely...

Yum, bang bang shrimp!

What is a weekend without Muddy's? 

Five Months

This post is especially for Courtney Wall and the folks at Imperial :)

Clayton is 5 months old today.  So....an update on life.

When we went to the pediatrician at the beginning of January, Clayton weighed 9 lbs. 10 ozs. and was almost 22" long.  But, I suddenly feel like I already posted that.  Oh well.  All of his measurements were in the 10th percentile for his corrected age (3 months currently).  We'll go back to the doctor on February 2nd for his last round of synagis (RSV shot).  Hopefully they won't be playing "I've got you, babe" by Sonny & Cher....otherwise, I might have to drive angry.  I do love Groundhog Day!

I started back to school January 2nd.  Boy, I never thought I'd miss the days in the recliner, but it's sounding pretty good right now.  It's been wonderful to be back around my friends at school.  And after 4 weeks, I've finally started liking 2 of my 4 geography classes :)  Apparently my long-term sub did nothing for a semester.  Never required any work to be completed, only gave open-note/book tests, it was ok to be late every day and eat cookies in class......Needless to say, my students were in for a HUGE shock when mean, nasty, and ugly Mrs. Collier came back.  The two classes that I like are full of fun kids, but the other two are miserable because several of the kids wear bitter panties every day.  They always have a smart remark about everything, but they still haven't figured out that my smart mouth will put them in their place every time. 

So....back to Clayton.  He's sleeping really well at night.  He usually goes down around 7:30ish and wakes up between 3-4:30 to eat and then goes back down.  He doesn't sleep much during the day, but I'm not complaining as long as he sleeps at night.  I looked at my Sister-in-law's blog the other day and read that my nephew Jackson was eating 8oz when he was 3 months.  Holy smokes!  Clayton only eats 4oz!  We've got to get some weight on Clayton so he can defend himself against Jackson :)  He's finally growing some hair on the top of his head.  I just wish it was growing uniformly.  Clayton also loves to "talk."  He makes all kinds of noises. 

How long is it until Spring Break?

Jackson & Clayton

I was looking through pictures of Thanksgiving on the computer and it made me miss my nephew, Jackson.  I really enjoyed our visit with Jason, Jessica, & Jackson.  I was also thrilled that my Aunt Laura and cousin Morgan (and her son Caleb) could come over and visit with us.  I'm not sure that Clayton enjoyed Jackson's visit as much as I did.  Here are a few of the pictures that made me happy :)

Sleep!

Clayton slept from 7:00 pm to 4:30 am last night!  That's the longest span he's ever slept.  Very exciting!

4 Months Visit

Craig and I took Clayton to the doctor on Thursday for his 4 month visit.  He was actually 4 months on Dec. 26, but we like to coordinate our visits around his synagis injections.  This was the first time that a month passed between visits.  At the last visit, he was 8 lbs. 2 ozs.  On Thursday, he was 9 lbs. 10 ozs and almost 22 inches long.  While that's HUGE to me, it's in the 10th percentile for his corrected age.  He enjoyed his shots (if screaming is any indication of enjoyment).  We'll go back in a month for his last round of synagis (insurance only pays for 5 injections), and then in another month it will be his 6 month check up!  It's about another month until our next Speech/PT visit.

Some changes....

• He is sleeping very well at night (once you get Mr. Screamy to give it up and go to sleep).  He usually only wakes up once in the night to eat. 
• He doesn't mind baths anymore (used to scream bloody murder). 
• He pays attention to things--he loves looking at things and will follow noises.  He loves the TV; Craig had him watch the Marx Brothers last weekend. 
• He smiles.  You never know what kind of funny face he's going to make.

Some continuity...

• The boy screams like there's no tomorrow. 
• Clayton simply doesn't sleep well during the day.  He'd prefer to scream :)
• We're still not getting him out in public.  I refuse to go back to the hospital with a sick baby.

Christmas

I've finally uploaded some pictures from Christmas, so I thought I'd share them. I loved that my parents were able to be here for Christmas--it's always nice to have some extra arms to hold Clayton.

Hot Chocolate Mama

All cupcakes are not created equal.  A very sweet student brought me a box of Gigi's cupcakes today and we ate them for dessert tonight.  While I sincerely appreciate the thoughtfulness of my student, it reaffirmed my love for Muddy's.  I grow weary of listening to people talk about Gigi's.  Dearest Muddy's, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways....

$1.60 per cupcake.  (Gigi's is $3)

Local.  There's only 1 Muddy's.  It's always the same smiling faces behind the glass counter.  You can get Gigi's all over the country. 

So moist.  When you squeeze the chocolate cake, oil drips out.  Ok, not really--but it's that moist.  Gigi's is so dry.

Perfect icing.  It's the perfect sweetness and perfect amount.  You can actually eat a Muddy's cupcake with your hands.  You could eat a Gigi's cupcake with your hands, but you'd dislocate your jaw.  A fork and plate are required for Gigi's--way too much icing.

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I look at Muddy's website daily just to look at their cupcakes.  I discuss with my students which cupcake they'd choose if we took a field trip.  My favorite is Capote--chocolate cake with white icing.  Perfect.   www.muddysbakeshop.com

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So, the title of this blog post.  There were two chocolate/chocolate cupcakes in the box my student brought.  I tried one and it was just a simple (but dry) chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream icing.  When we tried the other one,  it left our tongues burning.  We looked on Gigi's website to see what the cupcake was....Hot Chocolate Mama--cayenne pepper in the cake and icing.  It had a cayenne pepper heart on top...my mom got that and knew immediately something was amiss. 

Once you eat Muddy's, you'll never want a cupcake from anywhere else.