Cajun Saturday in Connecticut

On Saturday we had company coming over for dinner, the Saints were in the playoffs and I had finally found a grocery store in the area that sold crawfish, so we figured it sounded like a perfect day for some CRAWFISH ETOUFFEE!!

Normally, when we find crawfish in the frozen section of the grocery store, it is peeled tailmeat.  This time, the frozen crawfish came boiled, seasoned and whole:

While Tommy shucked the crawfish and made the etouffee, I baked mom's famous recipe for chocolate chip cookies and made 7 layer dip.  Yum!

You can tell we are all new parents - Stephanie, Doug and Ethan arrived at around 5pm for dinner and left around 7:30 to be home for Ethan's bedtime.  Ethan was born last April, so he is a few months older than Jack and already starting to crawl around and walk with the help of his Mommy and Daddy (although Jack does have more hair :) ).  Ethan seemed much more interested in Max and Albert than he was in Jack, but that's to be expected, I guess.  Max and Albert tolerated Ethan's "pets," but weren't too excited about them.  It will be interesting to see how they handle having a crazy toddler around all the time when Jack gets bigger.

Stephanie and Doug have had us over so many times it was great to finally get to repay the favor.  We had a great time! (in the future, I'll try to remember to take pictures of the parents, too!)

****Bonus Jack Photos!******

Earlier in the week, we put together Jack's excersaucer.  He's not quite old enough for it yet, so he didn't quite understand what to do with all of the buttons and rattles, but he did manage to find a few buttons to push.  It will be fun to watch him as he explores and what everything can do.  Thanks to John and Jennifer Davis for the excersaucer - many hours of fun to come!!

His feet didn't quite touch the ground yet, but they looked so cute, we had to take a picture!

Stay tuned for all the info from Jack's 2 month pediatrician visit - as soon as I get the pictures off the camera...

Jack's First "Playdate"

It seems like most of my posts lately have been entitled "Jack's First" something.  I can't help it - he has so many firsts these days, and Mommy wants to be sure she documents them all! :)

On Saturday, my friend Shannon brought her son Robby over to meet Jack.  Robby is about 6 months old and I can't believe how much bigger than Jack he is - hard to believe Jack will grow that fast!  Robby is such a happy, laid back little boy with an adorable smile.  I'm not sure Jack will remember much of his first playdate, but it was so nice for Mommy to get to visit with Shannon for a few hours.  Thanks, Shannon and Robby for the company, yummy soup and name plaque for Jack's room!  Next time we'll meet you for lunch somewhere!

Baby in a Bumbo

It's been a quiet few days for the Mhire family since Poppy and Gigi left last week.  We've been trying to get into some sort of routine, but I think Jack hit his 6 week growth spurt right after they left, so its been a little difficult.  A few days ago, we were excited to get 4 and even 5 consecutive hours of sleep at night.  The past couple of nights, that has decreased back down to 3 and even less last night. :(  Keep your fingers crossed that tonight will be better!

Jack has really taken to smiling over the past few weeks - Mommy and Daddy love it!  He's also started making sounds - not really "coos" like most people say babies make, but more like "grunts."  I took him to my OB appointment yesterday and the doctor even said - "looks like you've got a grunter!" :)  We haven't been able to catch the smile very well yet on camera, but here are a few photos of the little guy - he loves his Bumbo!