Mommy's little helper

Carter took it upon himself to help out feeding the cats the other day! He sampled quite a bit of cat food in the process, and made a huge mess, but the whole process kept him entertained for the better part of an hour.

On a sad note, our little grey and black tabby went missing last wed. night. I adopted this little cat after college and she has been with me when I moved to Colorado, got married, moved back to Texas, moved into our first house and had our first two babies. Cats don't adjust to change well, but she's been quite a little trooper and she and Carter were fast friends. The day she went missing they were playing in the back yard and she was loving every minute of it. Cats are surprising little creatures, so I'm still holding out hope that she might come home, but she was never one to roam, so I just feel in my heart something has happened to her.

Jack's 'first' baths

First sponge bath

Those of you that know what I'm using to wash Jack's hair will probably crack up, but those things are great for baby baths!

These next pics were actually of Jack's third tub bath, but so goes life with the second. The first two happened after some messy situations while Mr. C was out of town. Since I was flying solo cleaning up the messes, documenting the bath was the last thing on my mind.

Man, it feels like we were just doing this yesterday. Oh wait, we practically were!

Carter's first sponge bath and tub bath.

10 years ago today...

I met an angel. She changed my life and I just want to wish her and her family a very Happy Birthday! Lots and lots of love.

Our little Christmas house

We FINALLY got our Christmas lights down this past weekend. And yes, we were the last house on the block to get them down, but cut us some slack, we've been a little busy. I have to say, I hate putting out Christmas decorations. It's such an involved process considering you just take it all back down a month later. We didn't even put a tree up this year because I knew taking one down would be the last thing I wanted to do in my limited spare time with a newborn. Unfortunately Mr. C did not get off so easily. I talked him into putting the Christmas lights up on the outside of the house in order to keep up appearances with the neighbors. :) Anyway, they were so cute, I just had to share. And unless we can afford to pay someone to do it next year, it may be our last year with lights on the house since Mr. C has refused to do it himself ever again. It's a shame we couldn't just leave them up all year ;)

Brotherly Love

Finally think we're starting to warm up to the new addition :)

Colorblind?

Little C has gotten really good at identifying shapes, letters and colors with one exception, the color 'red'. He figured out the color green very early on (his favorite blankie is green), but Mr. C and I have started to notice that whenever you ask him what color an unfamiliar red object is, he initially responds 'green' or not at all. So tonight we decided to put my otherwise useless psych degree to work and conducted an experiment. We repeatedly put red and green objects in front of him and asked him to point to the green one or the red one (we mixed it up to keep it well controlled :). I will refrain from presenting you with a chart and bell curve mapping the significance (or in this case, the insignificance) of the results, but it seems that our son has a bit of a challenge differentiating between the two colors. At this young stage, that doesn't conclusively determine squat, but it will be interesting to see how it turns out. My mom's father was colorblind, but other than that, no one else (that we know of) is. Just like the whole right/left hand and eye color thing, it's fun to see what your kids end up with from the family grab-bag of genetic quirks.

Sleeping like a baby

Jack spends a lot of time sleeping.

But every once in a while....

He'll surprise you! :)

Black Eyed Pea Dip

Celebrating the new year with black eyed peas were a tradition in my house growing up. They are supposed to bring luck in the new year, and even though I don't mind plain black eyed peas, this recipe goes so well with football watching, it makes it a cinch to get your yearly dose of prosperity (and then some) on New Year's day. Now, if they just made a beer from collard greens, we'd be all set, right?!

• 4 15oz cans black eyed peas, drained (I use Trappy's with or without jalapenos depending on how spicy I want to make it
• 2 4oz cans green chilies, drained
• 1 medium onion diced
• 7 oz can pickled jalapenos, drained and diced (optional)
• 1/2 lb butter or margarine
• 1 lb Kraft deluxe American cheese, cubed (with the Velveeta, but in a blue box)

Combine peas, chilies, onion and jalapenos (if using) in a large bowl and stir to combine. Melt butter over low heat in crock pot or stock pot. When butter is melted, add cheese. Stir frequently until cheese is melted (butter and cheese will still be separated). Add bean mixture to cheese and butter and stir to combine. Continue heating on low until heated through. Serve with tortilla chips or Fritos.

I was first tried this dip on a visit to my dad's cousin about five years ago and fell in love - it's so much yummier than Texas caviar! I have made it every New Year's day since, and even though the recipe is so simple, I usually forget it and end up having to call Karen from the grocery store, so I figured I should jot it down for next year while it's still fresh in my mind!