Surprise, Josh! You're Old!

I totally remember when my Mom turned 40. I was 12 and she got a tattoo. I thought she was the coolest.

 

I sorta, kinda remember my husband turning 40. It was this past February 13th. We had a 9 day old baby. And we ended up at the strip club. Maybe Jace will look back and think his dad is the coolest too??? #parentsoftheyear

 

In all seriousness, I had really been struggling to figure out what I was going to do for Josh's big four-oh. I mean...we had a baby on the way and there was no telling how that was going to foil the plans (darn babies...). But with mere days before his birthday...I was walking through the diaper aisle at Target when it hit me: SURPRISE PARTY

 

I had five days to rally the troops, and boy did they ever rally!

 

 Step 1: the decorations.  My sister came in town Thursday, so we ran all sorts of errands to get ready. When Josh headed to work on Friday, we got to decorating. I printed off a ton of 8x10 photos of his childhood/mullet days and we hung them from the ceiling. We also made Josh mullet head sticks that were a huge hit at the party:

 

Step 2: the decoy. I told Josh that I would meet him out at Bonefish after work for some birthday happy hour drinks. Petey picked me up and we headed out to meet him. Y'all - this was the first time I felt like a human in nine 7.5 months. It. was. awesome. I got to do my hair and go out and have a beer or two. Happy birthday to ME Josh!

 

Step 3: The surprise. I made strict instructions that I had to be home by 7 to feed Jace.  I don't do schedules, so I'm not sure how Josh didn't catch on to that...but it worked!  We even got a video:

 

 

In his own words, he had "no damn clue!"

 

 

Step 4: Celebrating! We mingled and celebrated and held babies and laughed at Josh's pictures for a few hours. Baby Jace even got to meet his girlfriend, Meadow! She's beautiful :)

 

 

 

 

 

Josh got the hook-up with some presents too.  Besides the $15 gift card to Krystal's that his wonderful wifey got him, he also got these suckers. Our friends are so nice? I especially love the retirement home brochure from Dusty's mailbox #props:

 

Step 5: The after-party. The night ended with a trip to The Mouse's Ear (look it up) and a late night at Rooster's. The next morning was not a pretty sight. I bawled my eyes out in pain and my failure at motherhood, and Josh spent the entire day doing this:

 

 

Happy Birthday, Old Man! Those hangovers only get worse from here :)

 



Weekend With Aunt Kara

So as Grammy headed home to Greenville on Thursday, Jace's Aunt Kara was making her way through the gorge to come visit us in Knoxville...again. We love having her over because there's something about big sisters giving the best pro tips about taking care of babies. And as a new momma, I need all the help I can get!

 

Normally when my sister is around, we run about 90 mph...but (besides Josh's 40th bday party) we spent the weekend tending to a few light errands and completely relaxing with Baby Jace by our side. He loves loves LOVES his Aunt Kara so much.

 

And Bubbaloo can't wait until he's big enough to play!

 

Jace's favorite part of the weekend was playing "airplane" with Aunt Kara. Look how much fun they are having!

 

Unfortunately, Aunt Kara had to head home early due to some bad weather. We miss her so much!

 

 

Baby Jace can't wait to see her again SOON :)

 



Hello Ladies...

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

Sweet Baby Jace went dateless his first Valentine's Day, but it wasn't for lack of effort :)

 

 

We kept our tradition of celebrating the love on February 15th again. Hope you had a good one!!



Week With Grammy Pammy

My sweet Jace had the absolute pleasure of spending the first week of his life with my wonderfully, kooky mother, "Grammy." Or she sometimes likes to be referred to as "Glammy" now because that's the kind of person she is. 

 

I really don't think I could have made it this first week without her.  Being the youngest of four children, I never had to babysit or change diapers (or do chores or have rules but let's not focus on that). Mom helped out so much with baths, diaper changes, LAUNDRY, dinner, cleaning, moral support, and keeping me from going just plumb bonkers.

 

In fact, I hope Jace doesn't confuse the two of us...she got so much face to face time with him that he might not know who his real momma is!

 

She was there for me the entire labor and delivery:

 

She helped me with Jace's first bath:

 

She accompanied me to Jace's first doctor appointment:

 

She went on walks with us:

 

She helped Baby Jace get ready for bed:

 

She had dinner ready for us every single night:

 

She bathed him AGAIN:

 

She got Jace ready for bed AGAIN:

 

Most of all, she loved sweet Baby Jace to the moon and back:

 

and he loved her the same :)

 



Jace's First Visitors

Sweet Baby Jace sure has had his fair share of visitors! We are so thankful for all of y'all and we welcome you with open arms! Besides...Mom's back still hurts and it's nice to have someone hold our little stinker for us every now and then.

 

Papaw Dwight, Mimi, Papaw Jackie, Grammy, and Aunt Kara were among the first to hold him at the hospital:

 



 

And my friends! Oh my goodness...these people were such naturals. I think it's about time for y'all to start popping out some babies here soon!!

 

 

 

We finally left the hospital late Friday night, and came home to the Wheelers and a stork waiting on us! It was so exciting to see all of them (including the stork) that I miiiiight have left Baby Jace in the car for a minute or two #momfail

 

 

 

 

I was so proud of my nephews. I was so scared to death to hold a newborn when I was their age, and they were so good with him! These cousins are like the Three Musketeers:

 

We also had a few others drop in to share the love, and Mimi and Papaw Jackie made their second trip to see our little squirt this afternoon. I even think we convinced "Uncle Petey" that it's about time for him to get to the baby-making.  Or maybe he just had a few too many drinks :)

 

 

Baby Jace appreciates all of the love! We certainly welcome any future guests! Trust me, besides letting out a toot or two...he is about as easy as it gets when it comes to holding a newborn. Can't wait for him to meet the rest of y'all :)