Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

 Happy Memorial Day!  

Some pictures from the last few weeks:

Music in the Garden at City Park

Happy Graduation Daddy!

Pretty in pink

First pool visit this summer!

Almost birthday girl :)

The Many Faces of Jacob Landry

In any one week, Jacob Landry can be found:

• managing the strategy team at the largest school district in Louisiana
• tending the Landry farm: feeding the ducks and chickens, putting new plants in the ground, watering the vegetable garden
• heading out to Tulane for Executive MBA courses (but NOT anymore, hello family Saturdays!)
• selling eggs on Craigslist (the chickens' eggs that is)
• participating in pretty much every New Orleans leadership fellowship/summit/weekend/happy hour
• wrestling with a 3 year old or crawling around with an 11 month old
• finding the very best deal on every single thing we need to buy
• washing dishes, cooking, bathing children, reading bedtime stories

You don't have to tell me I'm a lucky woman.  Now he's not perfect or anything.  He doesn't do dirty diapers.  He will be the first to say that sentimentality is not his strong suit.  He stresses me out by nitpicking every trip I make to Whole Foods.

But he is such an awesome father; he really loves me and our family; he really cares about people.  He lives life fully and he makes sure I do too.

We've had some awesome adventures together with many more to come.  He is my co-pilot in this life.  I'm very proud of you Jacob as you add another couple of letters to your name. 

Happy Graduation Daddy!

Young Jacob wearing, yes, fake glasses

College-era Jacob

This guy's hair grows fast!  Jacob in France

He occasionally sports a mustache, mainly to annoy me!

My favorite Jacob Landry hairdo.

It's been fun (scary?) to see that Jack is turning into a jokester just like his Daddy.

Daddy Jacob

Cora at 11 months

I like to play a little game called "This time last year..."  I remember doing this a lot the month before Jack's first birthday and I've already started doing it this month.  When you are pregnant, there is no way to fully appreciate what happens post-child birth.  This past year has been such a journey and definitely one to celebrate next month.

We have such a beautiful little girl over here.  We get lots of comments on how happy and social she is.  (Outside of her experiences at the church nursery where she is one sad puppy!)  She is a charmer with her southern "Heyyy" and accompanying wave which she generously shares with the world.  She recently added "Nuh-nuh-nuh" with a wagging finger to her list of words (mama, dada/dadee, ja-ja, and hi/hey).

The last one she picked up because we've started using NO a lot this past month.  At the toilet.  At outlets.  At nightlights and fans and wireless routers.  At stairs.  This has been her month for getting into everything.  If she's quiet, then you better go check.

She reminds us of a little puppy dog because she is always crawling around with something (stuffed animal, LEGO, coaster) gripped between her teeth.  She chews on everything (with her 8 teeth: 4 top/4 bottom).  She pulls up and can even stand unassisted (briefly) but she doesn't cruise.  Crawling is how she gets around.

She's very expressive and has a gasping "oh-oh" sound she makes.  Today she would do it every time a song ended on the CD player. Then when a new one would start, she'd start bopping to the beat.  She loves music :)

We still are all over the place with sleep.  She has been making some improvements with going down for naps.  She cries for shorter times and sometimes will just talk herself to sleep now.  But she still wakes frequently at night.  A handful of times I only nurse her one time in the middle of the night, but most of the time it's twice, with several nights of THREE night nursings.  This would be on nights where Jacob has tried for 15-20 minutes to get her back to sleep.  Enter another Cora characteristic: DETERMINATION.  Sometimes she just wants me and she's not going back to sleep until I come in.  As any nursing mother knows, night nursing can be a doubledged sword.  It's a magic potion that immediately induces sleep, but only you can administer it!

It may be true that I coordinate her sunhats with her clothes :)

Nursing is still going well and she still nurses a good bit every day.  I've been questioning the baby-led weaning a bit this month because I sometimes wonder how much she's really eating.  She picks up food, puts it in her mouth, chews it, but then it seems a lot of it comes back out and ends up on the floor (where a dog would come in handy.)  We do spoon feed her oatmeal some mornings (to limit the mess) but there are times when she doesn't want to be spoon fed or to feed herself.  I never nurse her before meals, but I could see how all her nighttime nursing leaves her not all that hungry.  It's a balance I'm going to pay more attention to over the next month.  I trust that she knows what she needs and we certainly offer her a wide range of healthy foods.  But there is a desire to know that she will ULTIMATELY eat more/nurse less :)

I had my first Cora-induced mother's guilt this month.  Our oven doesn't get hot on the outside, so I'm not overly concerned when Jack and Cora are near the oven when it's on.  Well it was on and Cora cried out.  She had her hand between the broiler drawer and the oven and I thought she just got her finger stuck.  I pulled her hand out and she crawled off, seeming fine.  Well the next day I notice she had a nasty burn on one finger.  Even then I didn't think too much of it, but it looked worse each successive day - to the point it looked like a chunk of her finger was missing.  AAHH!  Then I called my mom (the nurse) and her doctor but was told to just keep it clean and expect it to take some time to heal.  It is a bad feeling to think you let your precious child hurt themself.  :(

Pretty Cora - now with bangs long enough to warrant a bow!  We are in love and so lucky to know you!

Ellie - cute new exercise fashion line!

A few months back I tried pv.body, a company that sent you a monthly exercise outfit to match preferences you submitted. The company has since morphed into its own fitness fashion line, Ellie. Their rationale was that rather than trying to find consistently quality, stylish fitness wear, why not invest the energy in developing their own high quality product.

I was interested to follow the company's evolution, so I signed up as a Fit Fashionista to review their first offerings. Their goal is to offer a new collection each month. You can still sign up to receive a monthly box (you can pre-select the items or you can let the company pick) or you can just shop the online store at any point. The monthly box option is attractive because you can pick any two pieces for $49.95 and free shipping.

I loved their first collection (February) and I was really happy with the leggings and long sleeve running tank I received (pictured here.) The leggings are flattering and have a nice long fit.  The shirt I just love.  The material is very soft, the color is beautiful, and there are both thumb holes and cuffs that you can fold over your hands for cold runs. (Which I would do if I lived somewhere cold, that is.)

Their March collection was on the theme "Little Black Collection" and was also fun to shop through.  I opted for black leggings and a black sports bra/racer back tank combination top.  This is definitely the most stylish workout top I own!

In April, they launched the Coral Crush collection; Ellie will continue to roll out a themed collection each month.

The turn around time on my February and March outfits was slow, so I held this review to see if the company could work out the kinks with their shipping.  Their customer service was excellent and they sent me a free outfit for April.  That outfit came within a week of the order.  Their commitment is to turn orders around within 24 hours.

I have a friend who has also tried the clothes and really likes them. Check them out online and take advantage of the 20% off coupon you get through my link!