bubbles, among other things.

pratt discovered bubbles several months ago in the bathtub. he loved them. would dip his head down and try to eat them.

well, nana introduced him to bubbles at uncle dougs wedding...and needless to stay, he loved those too. i found the small wand today and here are some pictures.

what else has been happening around here?

um, i'm planning pratt's birthday party. had you asked me if i'd be planning something 2 weeks out, 2 months ago...i would have said you were crazy and of course not. i would have said something about how he's turning 1...and parents go overboard with parties. and that i wouldn't be one of those parents.

hahahahahahaha.

i'm one of those parents. i have 3 lists. three. yes. with everything from plates to party favors to balloons listed.

it's his first party. and while he won't remember it, i will. and the rest of the family will. and one day we can tell him the story. about how his mom couldn't come downstairs to enjoy the party because she was an emotional basketcase and cried the entire time.

other than that, let's see...um, i've menu planned this entire week.

all thanks to the september issue of southern living.

tonight was bbq pork in a crock pot. monday is baked ziti, salad and texas toast. tuesday is "taco tuesday" with shrimp tempura tacos. wednesday is chicken stir fry. thursday we have a birthday party to attend...and at some point during the week, i'll make black bean soup and mexican cornbread for lunches/leftovers.

and friday night we have the salt bowl. benton vs. bryant. which reminds me that i have to get a benton shirt. cari, don't hate me. we can still be friends. i promise. :)

and saturday...well, saturday we have the first razorback game of the season! yay!

oh, and i'm putting my fall stuff up. the cornucopia is on my front door. i'm burning pumpkin candles. and tomorrow i'm hoping to get to hobby lobby for more decoration!

okay. i'm off to bed. exhausted. have great weeks!

friday morning coming down.

friday has always been my favorite day. it's the end of the week. the next day is saturday. which means sleeping in. well, it did before pratt came along. he doesn't understand the concept of 'sleeping in'...all in good time. :)

friday mornings are mine and pratt's favorite mornings now. dad works in little rock and doesn't have to go in until later. so...we get him all to ourselves for breakfast. woohoo!!

these pictures say it all, i think.

front porch.

when i was little, i dreamt about what my family would be like.

what my husband would look like. what my children would look like.

i can't remember what i always pictured. maybe i never had anything pictured...maybe it was more of an idea...than a perfect image...a clean image.

either way, what i have now is perfect.

and "perfect" involves a house in the country. with a porch. and a rocking chair. and a dog. and a red wagon.

and nights where we sit outside and visit.

and most importantly...a precious little angel baby named pratt.

dear allyson.

dear allyson,

next time i have a baby, could you please teach me all you know? could you show me how to get him to sleep at the dinner table. while everyone around him is loud. while everyone is laughing, giggling, etc. parker really is the best.

we love you.

ps. oh, one more thing. can you make meredith move here? that would be great. that's all for now. :)

sunday after church.

dear God,

please keep the weather as is (75 degrees at 1130 am) until you decide that it's time for fall to arrive. we love sitting outside on our front porch...rocking and visitin'.

we love you. and we thank you.

the fulks family.

new trick.

so maybe one day the "new trick" will be me getting his attention without snapping my fingers. until then, well...he's really more interested in the world around him than me.

i know, i know...this is only the beginning. and it's only going to get worse.

break.my.heart.

pratt's birthday invitations.

pratt's birthday invitations came in!

and well...i just love them!



tinyprints.com did them. they did our announcements too last year. i would highly recommend the site. if you get parenting magazine, there is a discount code in the back for the site. just an fyi. thanks clara :)

insomnia.

so i'm up. been up since 443 am.

what in the world is wrong with me. i used to could sleep all day long. this is just miserable.

it's 610 now, and my child isn't even up. he won't be up for another hour and a half.

i've done the dishes. i've made coffee and had two cups. i should have worked out, but who wants to do that. instead, i've ordered pictures online for our dining room. i measured the wall, and literally counted off with my tape measure how big each picture (including mat and frame) should be to fit on said wall. and i did all this with the clearest of minds.

i work best in the mornings. i always have. and as much as i wanted to fight that, because i used to love staying in bed until 9...i just can't.

i get that from my mother.

the person who has never taken a nap a day in her life. well, passed the age of probably 1. she never stops. much like spencer. she wakes around 5 and it's full speed ahead from there.

she doesn't sit down. i have honestly never seen her just sitting on the couch watching a tv show. if the tv is on, she's either cooking, cleaning, ironing, doing laundry, etc.

i assume this is how she got EVERYTHING done when i was little.

oh, mom...if only i were more like you.

instead, i'm dad's child. the one who could literally lay on the couch ALL day long and watch reruns of desperate housewives and law and order. every 3 days, i would get up to clean. maybe do a load of laundry. but as soon as the sink was empty and the laundry was stirring away, i'd find my way back to the couch.

i guess all that's changed now. boo.

in other news, pratt is getting so big. i took the bumpers off his crib. because he was starting to twist them and turn them and when i'd get him from a nap, they'd be all bent down. and so i figured that meant it was time to get rid of them. but now he's in a sort of jail cell...with all those bed slats. and i think he keeps bumping his head on them in the middle of the night. so i need to put them back up, i suppose.

he's gotten so used to standing on his own. he balances really well. he kind of holds his little arms out and just stands there and smiles. or pushes his little lips out. it's really funny. and he does it mostly at night. i have no idea why. it's like he's so busy at night..like he can't stop moving. wild. he's going to be so stinkin' wild.

he crawls over to the john deere atv and then just pushes his way up to standing. he has no fear of anything that moves now. one day he will fall flat on his face because of this. up to this point, i've been able to stay at a close distance and keep it from happening.

anytime he hears music, he dances. the other day he was in his big boy carseat and the song, "hotel, motel..holiday inn" came on. it's a horrible song and we shouldn't be listening, but i love rap music. i just do. it comes naturally. (the first cd i owned was tupac. i bought it with my own money.) anyway, he just starts shoulder rocking away. it was the funniest thing i have ever seen. he looked JUST like his daddy. that's clint's signature move. the shoulder rock.

he's got several new teeth. he's had them, but they are surfacing well now. three on top, two on bottom and the fourth one on top is poking its way out now.

christie came and spent the night with us last night. we're so glad she's so close now! yay!

here are some new pictures.

cupcake project.

so, pratt's bday is coming up.

and pratt's mom is COMPLETELY not talented.

like, if i were in a pageant, my talent would have to be "naming the bones of the body". cause yes, i can do pretty much ALL, and i do mean, ALL the bones. i mean, i did pay an extraordinary amount of money for that one year of medical school....i should have come away with at least something....

anyway, his bday.

i wanted to do a smash cake for him. and cupcakes. because i can bake. but i cannot decorate. and i'm not creative. so, i was searching online for decorations and ideas for cupcakes. we had cupcakes at our wedding...and i personally think cupcakes are wayyyy better than cake slices...so, that's what we're doing for his birthday.

and in searching, i found this site...



and this recipe....

http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/02/better-than-sex-cupcakes-chocolate.html

for "better than sex cupcakes: chocolate five times"



and while most moms probably do decorations first...not this chubby mom. 'round here, we do food FIRST. and then we worry about the decorations.

because after all...you can't eat the decorations...

dear pratt.

dear pratt,

when i was little i realized something. something i know to be true to this very day.

my dad...your poppy...is the smartest man i know. (you, rightfully so, will think that your daddy is the smartest man you know. and it will be true. you'll be right. so as you get bigger, you'll understand this specific letter more and more.)

back to poppy.

i rode in the car with him a lot. he would drive us to the golf course. or up to his office. or to the corner store to get a racing form. or to the cul de sac off sharp street. where he would go in circles until cookie wet her pants. yes, that's a true story. oh...and he'd drive to sonic. backwards. in reverse.

anyway, one day we pulled up to a stop light. and he looked over at me and said (and this is all clear as day to me), "han, keep your eyes on the stoplight."

and then he preceeded to count backwards.

"three. two. one. CHANGE!"

and magically the light would go from red to green. like, as soon as he said, "change!", it would...and it'd immediately be green.

unreal. he'll do it for you one day, i'm sure. you'll be amazed. he's like a magician.

another thing about him. he is the all time best jeopardy player. he knows all kind of weird and crazy stuff. stuff you'll never have heard about...he'll know all about it.

he is so wise. his letters have gotten me through many, many situations.

he left me the greatest note in my binder the day he took me to college my freshman year. it's one of my favorites. it starts out, "dear hannah. i know you'll cry as you read this. i'm crying now..." i was standing in my dorm room bathroom, sobbing. wishing that i didn't have to be a big girl. and that i could just live at home forever.

my second favorite was the one he wrote me the day i graduated from college. he wrote among other things, "find some way to help others. it is in helping others that your own happiness is assured."

oh, he's so smart.

for part of my birthday present from him, he wrote you a letter. this may not make sense to you right now. but once you become a parent...and you have kids of your own, you'll understand.

okay. so here is your letter.

August, 2009

Pratt,

Your mother has been aftger me to write you a letter. She is one of those "box" people who keeps a box near her bed where she saves everything that's ever been sent to her in the mail, or left by her bed, by her friends or family.

Reading what's in her box makes her smile and laugh, but mostly it makes her cry. She cries a lot. I'm not sure why; but it's probably my fault. There is this thing called DNA that children get from their parents that makes them look alike, and sometimes act alike. More about that later.

I heard this song not long ago, and I thought about you and me. I'm planning on being around to see you grow up, and get a box to put letters in to save and later read and cry. But you never know about those things. So, reluctantly, I have decided that sending you a few letters might be a good idea. After all, I know you will have a box, and will need to have something to put in it. And, I'm not sure that I will live forever -- although that's the plan.

So, here's the song, written by a cowboy singer from Texas named Waylon Jennings. He's dead, but I will save some of his records for you to listen to. Your daddy likes him too, so he will probably listen with you. Be careful, he sometimes likes to sing along. I think he thinks he is a good singer.

I changed some of the words so it would help me to tell you how I feel about you and me.

It goes like this:

"I've got a couple of more years on you Pratt, and that's all. I've had more chances to fly and more places to fall.

It's not that I'm wiser. It's just that I've spent more time with my back to the wall. And I've picked up a couple more years on you Pratt, that's all.

I've walked a couple more roads than you Pratt, and that's all. And I'm tired of running while you're only learning to crawl.

You're going somewhere, and I've been to somewhere and found, it was nowhere at all. And I've picked up a couple more years on you Pratt, and that's all.

Saying goodbye to you Pratt won't ever come easy at all. You want to fly cause you hear them young eagles call.

Someday when you're older, you'll think of me, and smile at some young man, strong and tall. You'll say, I've got a couple more years on you boy, and that's all.

It's not that I'm wiser. It's just that I've spent more time with my back to the wall. And I've picked up a couple of more years on you Pratt, and that's all."

In a few weeks, you will be one year old. Happy Birthday.

Always be kind, and your life will be rich.

Poppy.

i'm crying as i read that. of course i am. i always cry. he said that :)

it took me several attempts to the get through the entire letter the first time i read it.

he gave it to me at my birthday party on friday night.

i didn't make it through the entire thing until sunday.

i got hung up at the part about waylon jennings being a texas cowboy.

and then i got hung up again in the lyrics. the part about saying goodbye to you.

but your daddy didn't really have dry eyes at the end of it either. if i remember correctly, as i was sobbing, blowing my nose, wiping my eyes...your daddy said, "yeah....that's a good one."

i'll second what poppy said...be kind. and your life shall be rich.

i love you little man,

mommy.

all alone!

so this is the first of many "stand alones" that occured last night.

by the end of the night...he was standing alone, balanced for a good/solid 15 seconds.

un.real. y'all. unreal.

weekend wrap-up.

so last night christie and nana stopped by for one last visit before christie officially becomes a college student! yay!!!!

we had a celebratory dinner of sushi and fried rice...our favorite!

nana (of course :) brought pratt a toy. she "claims" that she meant to give it to him last time, but she can't fool me. i know that was all a ploy...just kidding, nancy. well...sort of. :) here he is with his new cell phone...driving while texting. shame, shame.

also, my parents are in saratoga for the races. it seems like they've been gone for an eternity. mom sent pratt an email yesterday.

the subject was, "missing you."

Dear Pratt,I know that you don't even realize that I am gone, but I miss seeing your little smiling face and adorable personality. I've seen a few babies up here inSaratoga, but none can compare to you, in looks and ways. Last night at dinner, Bicky and Spencer were telling John and Robin all about you and that you were the happiest baby they had ever seen. Bicky still thinks your mom drugs you to make you sleep! Just kidding. He just can't believe that you are so good.

Your mom told me that you ate roasted red pepper hummus. That is so good for you. But I know that you will eat anything. I told her she needs to try beets. We had some that were grown here and roasted and they were delicious. Of course, Poppy wouldn't even try them. You're certainly not like him, cause you will try anything. I'll roast you some beets when I get back home.

I made banana bread for everyone this morning, so I better go check to see if it is ready. Have a good day and I will see you in one week. I'll try to send a picture of me and poppy sometime this week. I think that Bicky, Spencer, poppy and I are going to somewhere around here to the baseball hall of fame. I'm sure that your daddy would love that.

Love,Cookie

pratt is so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents. i can't wait for him to really get to know them as he gets older. and we are so lucky in that we're only a short distance from each other. i know that this isn't always the case.

have wonderful weeks.

eleven months.

so pratt is one month away from turning a whole number. instead of just months.

i mean, i know that after that, he'll be back to 13 months...or whatever...but it's just hard to believe that he's about to be 1. one. a whole number. i say it every month...i know you're sick of hearing about it.

let's see...

he inspects anything and everything given to him. he has a little cell phone that cookie bought him. and when you open it, the picture on the screen changes according to who is calling. like sometimes the blue cat is calling. other times, it's the white dog. anyway, he totally gets it. he will sit and open that thing and just stare at the picture. and then close it, really fast. then open it, and stare. and giggle. like he totally gets it.

yesterday i was laying on the floor of his room while he turned the pages in his board books. he squints his little eyes and furrows his brow, and ever so carefully, with his thumb and finger, will grab one page, and turn it. then immediately begin work to get the next page turned. it's useless trying to read him a book. you don't have time to get the first word out.

randomly, throughout the day, ace and yoda will chase each other. i'm assuming because he is about their size, they're his friends. and so, well...if they're chasing each other, he wants in on it. yoda will take off, ace running after her. then there is pratt...crawling as fast as he can, giggling the entire way there. trying to catch up with them. this is probably my favorite thing right now. it reminds me of why i deal with pet hair.

pratt has a little clear ball that came with one of his many toys. it will pop in and out of the toy, and he loves to roll it. or attempt to roll it. it's more of kind of a toss...and then it hits the ground and rolls. he LOVES this. and could do it for...10 minutes. which is an eternity for him.

i illegally turned his carseat around already. i know i'm a month away...but poppy left his car here and they had a big kid carseat in their car. i figured he would LOVE to face forward, and he does. i'm sure that this isn't okay. i know, i know. and i swore that i would leave him back-facing as long as possible...but it's just sooo much better this way. the kid can look out the window. and smile at me in the rearview mirror. which by the way, completely confuses him. he sees me, and then i'm in the mirror. what?!

as soon as he sees us eating, he crawls as fast as he can over to us to get a bite. he will eat anything. oh, something i discovered yesterday. kroger has a bunch of specials right now. i was on the veggie aisle...and started checking out the beans for pratt. he loves them. but i'm constantly buying dried beans to soak and cook for him because of the high salt content. i decided to do a little comparison.

the organic brand of kroger beans has 1/4 of the salt content that the regular beans have! per serving, the regular beans have like 20% of the daily value of sodium for an average bear. not even a kiddo. anyway, just a thought. the organic beans weren't all that much more. maybe 30 cents. maybe not that much. but for that much of a difference, does it really matter?!

pratt loves to crawl up to the back of our couch and stand up. he will rub his hands down the couch, (it feels like a bathrobe), and then fall to the ground. once on the ground, he raises up on his knees, with his arms up really high and then just slams his hands to the ground. it looks like it really hurts, but he just laughs out loud. he is such a boy.

he is eating pretty much everything. but prefers to feed himself. he LOVES pineapple. he's pretty much done with blueberries and blackberries. oh well. oh, and watermelon. he loves that too these days.

he's still a pointer. and makes a "d" sound for pretty much everything he sees. he will sit near ace and talk to him. he raises and lowers his little voice like he's having a conversation with him. and then he will look at ace, and touch his nose or his feet. ace just deals with it because he is the best dog ever.

i bought organic whole milk in an attempt to get him to try to drink it and enjoy it...so we could start weaning him from his bottles. but in the last two days, i've decided i'm not ready. i know that sounds like i'm one of those crazies...but i'm just not. i still really, really, really enjoy him laying on me for that early morning bottle. and pretty much all the rest of them. because he's so big now. and he won't let me hold him for any other reason really. unless he's hungry or tired. and he's doing that thing where he straightens out. when you pick him up and he wants down...he gets straight. with his arms up and legs down and tries to slide out of my grasp. and well, i just can't get rid of the bottles just yet. we may wait until right at 18 months. who cares. i'm with bethany in that they are only small for so long. and it's not "long". it's short. and i'm crying just thinking about it. and he's already dropped one of his bottle feedings, so he really only takes 3 now instead of 4. ahhhh!!!! he's getting so big and grown up....

okay. on to something else before i have a breakdown...

at night after dinner and a bath, he will play in his basket on the living room floor near his daddy. every once in a while, he will look up at clint and say, "hi dada." clear as day. and clint always hears him. and will say, "hi pratt."

and then i cry. and want to have a million more little babies.

and then i snap back to reality.

it's been the best 11 months of my life. there is nothing greater than seeing him grow. watching him change every single day. loving him as much as we do.

life is good. oh, so good.

randomosity. is that a word?

well, i finally understand all those celebrities who are so stinkin' skinny...and when the interview person from E says, "how do you stay so thin?" and they answer, "well, i just chase my kids around"....yeah...i finally get it.

well, i understand part of it. i understand that all i do these days is chase my son around. now...i'm just waiting on the fat to start falling off as i'm running around this house. (this would be fitting after all. just something else i will need to pick up. ha)

i'm holding out hope that it will happen. i mean, the only reason i had any food yesterday was because spencer and i actually went into a restaurant to eat. so i strapped pratt in his highchair and shoveled food into my mouth. watching me eat these days isn't pretty. i can down an entire plate of food in...oh, 5 minutes. i'm finished long before anyone else is. it's then i get really self conscious and wonder how many refried beans are on my shirt.

i mean, i have to eat fast. fast enough so that i can handle pratt who is trying to tump over the basket of chips. or trying to eat, yes...eat the side of the table. or hurl himself out of the highchair. or eat the paper off the straw. or touch the "hot plates" at the restaurant. all of it. i'm trying to stop all of that at once.

seriously, all you moms understand what i'm talking about.

last night for dinner...um, a bowl of quaker oatmeal squares cereal. and then around 9 pm i ate popcorn. which caused me to wake around 130 with the worst stomach pains EVER. thanks to cousin willie and his movie theater popcorn.

speaking of oatmeal, pratt is d.o.n.e. done with me feeding him. done. i made the best homemade oatmeal for him yesterday morning. organic oats, organic whole milk, a sprinkle of brown sugar, and a few cut up strawberries. yes. it was so creamy and delicious.

so i sat down with him to feed it to him, and he did his normal/new/everyday thing of once it hits his tongue and he doesn't want it, he sticks his tongue out of his mouth...and yes, the food falls either a. on his tray, b. on the floor or c. into his lap.

if it falls into his lap or on his tray, he takes his little bitty hands and finds it, then rubs it together in his hands..then smears it in his hair, on his shirt, on the tray...oh, and on his feet. yes, i dunno.

and y'all...he does this in no time. like, i literally begin reaching for the fallen food, and BAM! he's already got it in his hair, on his shirt, etc....

you get the picture.

i was determined that he was going to eat this oatmeal. i knew he was hungry. and he was eating it once it was smeared on his hands. it was just that he wanted to be the one taking it from his hands to his mouth.

fine, i thought. so i wrapped up the oatmeal mixture in wax paper. made a little square out of it. kind of like the oatmeal squares that you can buy at the store. from quaker. my fave. yummy.

i baked it at 350 for about 10 minutes. let it cool, and cut it up into bite sized pieces.

and you know what? yep...he ate the ENTIRE square! score one for mom! woohoo!

okay. so that's pretty much how our days are going. everything on pratt's time. he's getting so big. he's actually 11 months today. i can't even begin to type out what that means. i think i may forfeit the 11 month update...maybe if i do, then the clock will stop and he won't turn...well, you know...that dreadful number that he's supposed to turn next month. i'd rather say "voldemort" a million times than that "number who must not be named". geez.

one thing i do need to document. spencer came up yesterday to go back so school shopping. pratt napped from 9 to 11. and when he woke up, we immediately drove into little rock to shop. the kid DID NOT CRY, WHIMPER, FUSS anything all day.

y'all. i'm serious. spencer is my witness. he fell asleep as we were meeting my parents at the airport around 315. and when he woke up there, he was upset. and sleepy. but that was it. the entire shopping day...he made no mention of being upset.

when i have another child (God willing) and he/she is terrible...remind me that pratt was literally the best kid ever. and so i really do deserve a difficult one. i mean, the kid shopped from 1130 to 3. no problems. i think he is a robot. i really do.

okay. here are some pictures from my birthday party. i'm such a lucky girl with such wonderful friends. thanks to you all again for coming.

and the most appropriate picture of the night...



yes, i'm totally licking my lips. i'm like pavlov's dog when someone brings out the cake/rings a bell/etc.

and then on my actual bday, sunday, clint made dinner.

as a kid, the "birthday" person always got to pick out what they wanted for dinner. we could have anything. my mom, would could cook ANYTHING...and i mean, anything..well, i would always pick, mac-n-cheese and pigs in a blanket. yummy. still my favorite birthday meal. i'll for sure make it pratt's number 1 pick!

clint made steamed rice, shrimp, asparagus, and squash...with some great spicy ginger sauce on top. it was fantastic! by far his best chinese/asian meal yet!



and here is pratt getting ready for birthday dinner! so, so sweet!

and here he was earlier that afternoon enjoying some asparagus. those cheeks crack me up!