Mother's Day Oregano

which, incidentally, is not one of the herbs in my planter.

Joseph came running in from school yesterday with a gift for me and a loud - "Happy Mother's Day Mama!" (which was then repeated about 4 times - each louder than the last.)

Freezer Danishes

During Potty Training Boot Camp we spent a lot of time in the kitchen area (considering the easy to clean tiles). Because of this I was able to do some baking. I modified this Cream Cheese Danish Casserole recipe by adding some cherry cake filling (different from pie filling) and then froze the individual pieces on a tray. Finally I put the frozen pieces in a plastic tub divided by parchment paper. These are delicious and far better than Toaster Strudels. So now we can just pull a couple out of the freezer for the occasional breakfast. yum.

Potty Training Boot Camp

We have tried potty training Joseph several times - and at one point early on, he thought it was fun to sit on the potty and actually went a couple of times. And then it was over. He wanted nothing to do with it. We tried rewards, stickers, M & Ms, Cheerios. . . everything we could think of. Nothing worked. Finally we sort of gave up and figured he would do it when he was ready.

Then our dear friend Gibson used a method with her daughter that worked and we decided to try it too. Three Day Potty Training! We started talking it up to Joseph. He'd always say, "ok, we'll do that later." And we would say, "yes. And later is going to be on Tuesday." We sent Joseph to school on Monday and started Potty Training Boot Camp on Tuesday morning. First we had Joseph throw away all of his diapers. (And by throw away - we mean that we had him put them all in a nice clean trash bag and daddy hid it in the garage.)
He wasn't too thrilled about doing this. But then he got into it and said good-bye to all of his diapers. We started out Day 1 with an accident which he apologized profusely for. The second time he had to go we had a partial accident but made it to the potty for most of it. We had no more accidents that day! The bed was also dry after his nap!!!
On Day 2 Joseph woke up dry! He had one partial accident during the day but every other trip was a success. And he was dry during naptime.
Day 3 - no accidents!!! He woke up dry again and stayed dry during naptime. He is able to go to the bathroom almost entirely on his own.
You'll notice by the charts that we're still having a little issue with going #2 in the potty but that will come. We are so proud of our little boy and so excited that this method worked. Tonight we're having a celebratory Potty Party!

Serious cuteness

Ready for church

One month check-up

Jacob had his one-month check-up today with his TV doctor. (A pediatric resident who was featured on a recent Dateline. Interesting aside - about 75% of the doctors we've seen in Little Rock have been on TV since we've moved here. All for good things.)

Anyway - on to the important things.

Weight = 10 lbs. 2.58 oz.
Height - 22.13 inches

He measures right at the 50th percentile for weight and slightly over that for height.

Basil = Pesto

We decided to make the planters in front of our house functional as well as decorative. In addition to some pretty flowers and grasses, we planted basil, rosemary and lavender. The basil is growing at amazing rates and I decided to make some fresh pesto this morning. Ingredients:
Basil leaves
Spinach leaves
garlic cloves
pecans
olive oil
parmesan cheese
red pepper flakes
salt & pepper

One month old

Yesterday marked Jacob's one month birthday. We can't believe it's been a month already as it has flown by with all the company we've hosted. Jacob is a very sweet baby. He seems to be a serious little guy . . . looking around and taking everything in. Christopher says he has an old soul. He found his voice this week and mostly uses it to talk but the occasional cry will come out . . . for about 3 seconds. He's just not much of a crier. He is still an excellent sleeper and celebrated his one month birthday by sleeping 8 hours last night. That is probably the longest he has gone at night but he is consistently hitting the 6-6 1/2 hour mark. It makes for very happy, rested parents. At our church regional cook-out last night - hanging out while big brother enjoyed the jump castle.Compare this with pictures from his homecoming.

Swearingen Siblings +Nanny

I barely had time between our last two rounds of visitors to change the sheets on the bed. . . let alone post about the Swearingen Sibling +Nanny weekend. We were so glad that Christopher's grandmother & sister were able to come along with Travis & Aftin for a weekend visit. Jacob loved being loved on/held and Joseph loved the entertainment. As seen the video several posts previous . . . he also got in on a few hands of Rook. He'll be a pro in no time.

visitors

I took the last of our visitors (Natalie) to the airport this morning. It has been so great to have almost all of our immediate family here to visit in the past 3 1/2 weeks. We've enjoyed showing them our new city, new home and new baby! This past week found us on-the-go with our visitors which was refreshing after a couple weeks of recuperation. I'm happy to say that I seemed to recuperate a lot faster this time. In addition to our day out downtown (Clinton Library, etc.) and day at the Zoo, a day was also spent helping my sister Natalie start her baby registries. I can't wait to meet my new niece in September!

Joseph loved having Rudy here too. That poor dog is probably more than ready for his vacation to end.

right before Aunt Meggie's departure. Joseph cried that he wasn't going home with Uncle Chris. I told him that I would miss him too much!Can you find the baby?
Joseph with his new rocket launcher (gift from his aunts). Such a fun toy for a little boy who has been counting down the launches of various objects for quite some time now.
My beautiful sisters - waiting for a table at Cajun's Warf.