Wacky Wonderful time with Tia Sophia

This week has been an absolute blast so far, Jackson's Tia Sophia came into town to visit and we had such a good time with her that we are still grinning and talking about all the fun we had. While we knew this trip was going to be all about Sophia and what SHE wanted to do, we also knew it was bound to be interesting because when you hang out with Sophia you end up having an adventure or 6 all along the way.

Monday began with a quick lunch at Sof's favorite Cuban restaurant and then a hop over to her Alma mater, St. Edward's where she ended up saying hello to some old friends and coaches. While there, we learned that her old tennis coach is still in love with her and that one of the many maintenance workers she befriended while in college, ended up getting arrested and sentenced for sexual harassment. Priceless. We then went to a few different boutiques so that she could get a good idea as to 'whats going on fashion-wise in Austin' and ended our day with a lovely Pho dinner at home from a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant that her and I used to go to in college.

Tuesday we had a jam-packed day full of bridal boutique spying and of course everywhere we went Sof asked questions like 'are you making money?' 'what lines are you carrying?' and 'how much do you pay in rent?'. I have to admit she is the best market researcher out there and when you have a friend like me who loves to make up fake stories about herself to get her way anyways, well it just makes for some pretty interesting conversations. Poor Jackson ended up playing his own role in our made up reasons for trying on dresses and taking pictures of merchandise and I'm sure his dad LOVED me using him as a prop in our role-playing shenanigans.



Our visit ended abruptly, but not before we completely redid Sof's room at the 11th hour with a phone call to her mom that went something like this, Sof: "mom, Missy is redoing my room since you never did. Yes, so I need you to call Jose and tell him to paint my room light grey. Yes this week. Ok see you tomorrow, bye". I don't think I've ever designed a room, bought everything for it and had someone paint it so fast ever. It was like an episode off HGTV. We'll have to take before and after pictures for you all to see what we came up with but here is a teaser below to keep you interested ;)



Needless to say we were quite sad to drop off Sophia at the airport this morning and we cannot wait to see her again next week when we road trip it to El Paso with Gigi.

Spring has sprung

Spring has officially arrived at casa de Zinda. I've been asking Jack if we could start mulching and planting for a few weeks now and he happily obliged today after brunch. We started off with a trip to Lowe's to get some plants/mulch and ran into Uncle Johnny Marrs there, John is one of Jack's fraternity brothers and really good friends. He got to meet our little guy and was thoroughly impressed with how good he was being. He had just been fed so he really was being an absolute delight.


We got a few bags of mulch and some succulents and got on home to start some digging. Jackson said he wanted to help but only from 'afar' so we let him chill in his stroller and wear his sunnies while his dad and I did some hard labor.

Put me in coach!

I'm ready to play! Today the lion cub wants to play ball, unfortunately he had his 2 month vaccinations though and now he just wants to sleep and be held. He did suprisingly well at the Dr's office but his dad and I feel terrible for the kind of week he's had thus far...Skin rashes, stuffiness, and now vaccines :( and its such a gorgeous day out too. Maybe we'll make it out tomorrow for some much needed vitamin D.

Tias and SXSW

This past weekend Jackson's tias from El Paso came to visit him, he had so much fun with them and absolutely loved listening to all their stories about when them and his momma were in high school. He told me based on our conversations he is reallllyyyyyy glad I ended up with his dad and not one of my high school 'friends'. I told him, "Jackson, you have no idea how right you are" ;)

Our little guy was a little under the weather (no worries friends just a mild congestion episode) for the majority of the weekend but he was a trooper because he wanted as much quality time with his tias as possible. This however prevented him from attending the SXSW festivities that he so eagerly wanted to see, but I'm glad he didn't come along because his ears might have fallen off due to the extremely LOUD music going on everywhere. I ended up downloading music from the bands we heard so he could listen from the comfort of his own house.



Overall it was a fun filled musical weekend and we were so sad to see our tias go but we are VERY excited to report that we will be making a trip out to the west Texas town of El Paso in just a few short weeks! So we'll get to visit with our tias even more! Until then friends!!!

2 Months!!!

Grandaddy and Pom Pom

Yesterday Jackson met his other set of great-grandparents, Grandaddy and Pom Pom. They drove all the way down from Kilgore, TX to come and visit our little guy and he told me that he had a great time with them. He had lonnnngggg conversations with Pom Pom and made silly faces with Grandaddy. I was so proud of him, he was the perfect host.

Jack's great aunt Carol and uncle Harold also paid us a visit and gave Jackson the most beautiful pair of cuff links that belonged to Jack's great grandad. They are close to one hundred years old and they have an 'M' on them for their family name, McWilliams but I like to think it will also stand for 'marvelous momma' ;).

As if this kid wasn't spoiled enough he also received a beautiful smocked outfit that I think I'll add to his Easter Extravaganza wardrobe....we're going on 3 outfits so far and I'm sure there will be a whole lot more if Gigi and grandpa have anything to do with it. Easter's blog post should be quite interesting...

Good Little Catholics

Today Jackson and I went to get our ash on at our local church. He did so well throughout the mass and I'm happy to say we didn't even have to use the 'crying room' and got to sit with all the other members inside the actual church. Hopefully he continues to follow this routine as opposed to the last time we went where Jack had to take the boy outside.

He told me he gave up crying for lent so we'll see if he holds up his promise ;)

Pollito

Our little one :)

Gangsta

Today I gave the boys some bandannas and told them to go crazy. Jackson decided to be hood and dress up like a seriously scary looking rapper and his brother decided to go a different route and be a cowboy...like a Brokeback Mountain cowboy. Two brothers, same household, varying personalities, what can I say?

FOREWARNING: Jackson looks really scary in this one...

Play time

Jackson is 6 weeks as of yesterday and he has been growing somethin' fierce y'all! (in my best Paula D voice). As of late he has been smiling a whole lot, figuring out his appendages (arms & legs) and even imitating sounds. His favorite book is one his Gigi bought him titled, 'Baby Animals' and it may just be a contender for the New York Times bestseller list it is soooo riveting. It follows the story of baby animals and their speech patterns, or more simply, every page of the book is a different baby animal and the sound they make. Anyways, Jackson is obsessed with it and every time we make an animal sound he goos and oooos after us. TOO CUTE. His dad says he is particular to the 'chirp chirp' of the baby chicks. I'm sure his Gigi will have a field day reading it to him next week when she comes and visits.

Additionally the lion cub has also started using his toys. He loves his activity mat and stares at the patterns and crazy things hanging down from it. His dad has taught him how to 'punch' them and so here he is knocking about during him and daddy's play time.