Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week in pictures:

 Jude and I had some pictures taken for our Christmas cards.  I gave up on having Jimmy take them for me in a cute local.  It has been the rainiest fall here on the weekends.

 We had two Thanksgivings.  On Thanksgiving Day, Jude and I went with Jimmy to his great aunts house.  His grandparents always come up to Ft. Worth for the holidays, so it was nice to get to see them.  This was the first time they had met Jude :)

 We also did a Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (Saturday) with my family.  My {pregnant} sister was very adamant that she needed specific sides and dishes my mom has always made this holiday.  We all worked together to comply.  It was kind of fun though because my sister and I planned a lot of it, and my mom worked with us.  I don't think all 3 of us have ever done Thanksgiving together, so it was fun to think about.  You know those moments where you are like- oh I'm an adult- it was like that.  

Jimmy was actually in charge of the turkey though.  My neighbor recently gave me his old grill which is half propane/ half charcoal smoker.  Jimmy really wanted to try smoking the turkey, and I was more than willing to allow him that priviledge.  He did an amazing job- even waking up at 4:30 to start smoking it.  It had an amazing mequite smoked flavor.  Heavens to Betsy...  And now Jimmy is going to be taking up a smoking habit.  And I am all 'ohmygoshbrisket!!!!'

 In true Rinehart fashion, we ended the day by playing a game of 5 Crowns and Catch Phrase.  Jude hadn't napped all day.  We looked over from our games and saw that he had fallen asleep in the middle of Spiderman.  Such a sweet kid.  He never once complained or cried.

He ended up just taking the perfect cat nap- short enough to allow him to go to sleep easily tonight, and long enough to allow him to regain some energy.  We spent the evening celebrating my dad's birthday and just enjoying our time together.  It was perfect :)

Top of the Mornin to Ya!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

We are celebrating today in true Irish style- at least as much as a breastfeeding momma can!

Michael is watching No Reservations- Ireland while cooking. We took a picture like the Irish flag. And when Jude wakes up, we will introduce him to this awesome music!

A Year Ago Today- A different kind of Valentines

Hey Jude,

Today is Valentine's Day. All day I keep thinking back to where we were a year ago on this very day. Your dad and I had the most perfect Valentine's at home dinner ever last year. One of the perks of being married to a pretty awesome chef. The meal was amazing, especially dad's mushrooms stuffed with brie, chives, and lemon juice. That was also the last time I had a glass of wine.

(I know you're thinking, surely you did not write me a letter about a meal, mom. I know you're from New Orleans, but come on!) Relax, this blog centers around you. During dinner, I tactfully and hesitantly brought up the fact that maybe possibly there might be a slim chance or maybe a really really big chance that I was pregnant. Talk about Valentines dinner conversation, especially when no one was planning on babies for another year or two.

Your dad just seemed surprised and shrugged it off. We went about enjoying our dinner, not really thinking about what the possible (inevitable) reality might be. Maybe we just wanted to have one more 'normal' evening before our lives changed forever.

Eventually that evening, your father, big brave man that he is, went and purchased a pregnancy test. It sat on the bathroom counter for quite awhile, but eventually I faced the music and within a matter of minutes we saw that baby blue plus sign.

That plus sign changed our lives. We knew it then. We were both terrified. I think we both cried that night because we realized we could no longer be selfish. We didn't know what to expect when you were here. We didn't know if we were ready to be parents. We didn't know if we could afford it. Your dad had never changed a diaper. There were so many questions.

Looking back on everything a year ago, it's amazing to see where God's brought us thanks to you. God was using you as part of his plan from the very beginning. Those questions that plagued us are not really terrifying at all. Being selfless for someone like you isn't difficult, it's the most exciting/rewarding/fun thing in the world. Who cares about shopping when you smile at me? The money thing was a waste of worry too. Thanks to God's provision, we are making all our ends meet. He even led us to the perfect house for you to grow up in. All of those things fell in to place eventually. Even dads and diaper changes have gone together seemlessly.

The most amazing thing is just how God knew you were exactly what we needed. My relationship with your father is even more significant now. We aren't just together because it's fun and we love to be together, you've given our relationship a purpose. We have a common cause. Antoine de Saint-Exupery said "Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction." You made that true in our lives, and the direction we are looking at is towards you. We are two completely transformed people these days. We aren't completely selfless yet, but we're getting there. We couldn't be the parents you need without God and it's absolutely amazing where he's brought us in the past year. We love you buddy!

Momma

A year ago today you were the size of a poppyseed. Here is your first picture taken at the beginning of March when you were about 6 weeks along.

Here you are today celebrating your first Valentines day!

You've changed a lot in a year! You can smile. You can make all sorts of sounds. You are the best part of my day every day!

And your hair is out-of-control.

Who Dat Superbowl

Last Sunday was Jude's first Superbowl. We aren't really an NFL family, but it was still important. We want Jude to be well rounded. Ha!

I was more excited than normal just because New Orleans was actually in it. And of course eventually won. Please do not mistake me for a bandwagon fan. I am definitely not. I am honestly not capable of getting in to it. And believe me, in college I tried.

I just know so many people who have literally waited their whole lives for the Saints to go to the superbowl. I was really excited for them.

So we went to a Superbowl party and cheered on the city of my childhood. And we are so happy that they won. And I have to say Drew Brees is a really good guy + strong Christian and I like that. Can someone get him on I am Second please?

Anyway, Jude had a great time. Ok not really. We went to our friend's house where he met their baby for the first time. Chase cried. Which made Jude cry. He was so sad when he heard someone else cry. During college, I learned that babies show empathy to other babies. Didn't realize how true it was until Jude proved it. Sweet and sad at the same time. I missed most of the game because Jude was eating and then needed to get home for bed before it was over. Oh well, my official congrats to my old friends.

Christmas Dos

You may recall that we celebrated two Christmases this year. Our second Christmas was celebrated with the in laws at the end of January. Really, it was just us opening up presents for Jude with the tree up. Still, here's a couple good ones.

Jude's New Year

Yes, this is late, but it should be noted that Jude rang in the New Year in true style. He slept. Michael and I also went to bed before midnight. How festive. The point of this blog is just to have a place to post the cute pictures of him we took that time.

Blowing bubbles....

Confused, but with a precious little pout....

Faces Jude makes while talking....

Smiles during play time...

A furrowed brow... He probably was in the middle of talking. He makes this face a lot while he's talking. I'd love to know what he's thinking when he says stuff. He seems so concerned about it all.

Watching mom and thinking "she's a wackjob".

I love the little dimples on his hands. I could freeze time and look at them forever....

Tuckered out little guy..

I also could watch him sleep for the next 100 years....

Happy New Year

Jude's First Christmas

Jude's first Christmas was quite bittersweet for me. Obviously, it was sweet because it was his first Christmas. It was bitter because if it weren't for Jude it would have been the worst Christmas ever.

For the sake of time, I'm not going in to details, but just comment if you want them. Anyway, we have been put through the ringer in a million ways trying to buy a house. Our 70 yr old agent was amazed, and after 30 years in the real estate business you would think he would have already seen it all. Crazy things like having both people working on our mortgage leaving the company a week before the scheduled closing and thus closing being pushed back 2 weeks. Anyway, we finally did close on the 22nd, 3 days before Christmas. (House pics will come in a later blog.)

Anyway, we had planned on repainting the entire house and recarpeting as well. Originally, we were going to close before Thanksgiving and would be done with this process in time to really enjoy the holidays in our new home. Didn't happen. So Michael has been diligently, trying to maximize any available hours to get this house painted.

In all his dedication, he decided to stay and paint on Christmas Eve while I came down to my parents the 23rd. (Note: we were supposed to celebrate in New York with perfect Christmas weather, but since we closed on the 22nd, we had to cancel the flight. That was boo for Christmas numero uno.)

While Michael was working on Christmas Eve, the unthinkable happened. Denton got a white Christmas! What the crap! So not only did we close on our house late to mess up original plans, now I missed enjoying a white Christmas at the new house. Boo for Christmas numero dos.

While Michael was working on Christmas Eve, the unthinkable happened. Denton got a white Christmas! What the crap! So not only did we close on our house late to mess up original plans, now I missed enjoying a white Christmas at the new house. Boo for Christmas numero dos.

While Michael was working on Christmas Eve, the unthinkable happened. Denton got a white Christmas! What the crap! So not only did we close on our house late to mess up original plans, now I missed enjoying a white Christmas at the new house. Boo for Christmas numero dos.

While Michael was working on Christmas Eve, the unthinkable happened. Denton got a white Christmas! What the crap! So not only did we close on our house late to mess up original plans, now I missed enjoying a white Christmas at the new house. Boo for Christmas numero dos.

And bonus: The real cake topper to this whole year was that the road at our house iced over, sadly resulting in 5 deaths. Michael was stuck in Denton at our house until 12am Christmas morning. He arrived in Houston around 4 or so, but missed all those Christmas firsts with Jude and me. Jude will never remember this, but it just really made a trying year even more frustrating.

I'm really looking forward to next year in our house. However, I'm giving myself a band aid. The carpet will be put on the 30th and 31st. Then our little family is decorating the tree in our new house and we will be celebrating Christmas the weekend of Martin Luther King Day because I have a 3 day weekend. Will our new neighbors think we are psycho? Probably, but I don't care. And hopefully God will show mercy and send some snow that weekend!

Enjoy the pics!

Christmas Eve

Here are some of my favorite pics of Jude from Christmas Eve....


I am loving how his little arm is perched up on the arm rest. Precious...



Future Naval Academy plebe?

Wittle Santa...

Sitting with Pops in his new Christmas pajamas. He's ready to go to bed and await his first visit from Santa...

Jingle Bell Rock

Today while I was feeding Jude, I had Christmas music playing. Jingle Bell Rock came on, and Jude just stopped eating. His eyes got huge, and he became super alert. Then he just started smiling and smiling. I started singing along with the song and he started cooing! He didn't start eating again until the song was over. I think we've found Jude's favorite Christmas song!

* Let it Snow *

Jude got his first snow today! What a way to start off the Christmas season ! It wasn't a lot, and it only stayed for an hour or so. For the first time, I'm thankful for early morning feedings. Otherwise, we would have missed it. I know it's slightly bad parenting to take a 6 week old out in freezing weather like this, but we were so excited. We couldn't resist. The baby 1st's are important after all!

Mommy and Jude- ignore the just rolled out of bed look....

Sadie- She didn't like it at first. Then, once we were inside, she sat at the door begging to go back out. Silly dog. It was her first snow too!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Jude Dylan!!!

Jude is thrilled for his first holiday season! He wore his Santa jammies to sleep last night!

He's wearing snowflakes today!

And at naptime he's dreaming of snow in NY when he meets his grammie and grampie!

Blow Me Away Black Friday

Exciting news- this post includes our first baby video!

But first, some Black Friday photo fun...

Jude had some morning fun with Uncle Joel and Aunt Jamie....

He also got to hear Dad practicing on the piano...

He is clearly amazed by his piano man....

All that piano playing led to nap numero uno... He loves his swing. (And so do we!)

He woke up in time to hang out with Aunt Jamie a little more...

Jude enjoyed nap numero dos during his diaper change.

He woke up by the time we changed his outfit though...

Doesn't he look like such a little boy here? I love making him look like a little man. What a rock star!

Unfortunately for Aunt Megs, he must have partied like a rock star with that breast milk because it ended up all over her shirt.

Nap number 3 with Aunt Megs. This time she's prepared with her handy dandy burp cloth. How cute does Jude look sleeping on his little first...

We moved the nap party to the swing.

Jude loves his Uncle Joel! Joel got Jude's first chuckle. He thinks its sooo funny when Uncle Joel blows on his hair.

More fun with blowing Jude's hair. Big smiles all around...

Jude would let Joel do this forever. The wind fun even managed to distract Jude from his hunger. Not many things have that kind of power! Who needs a pacifier when Joel's around to blow your hair?

More tug of war with Sadie and Jack. Best cousins!

And now the best part of this post, a video of Joel and Jude's windy frenzy