It's definitely all about Jack!

Three generations of Bodin men. Dad, Michael, and Jack.
Aunt Elizabeth was teaching Jack his alphabet in sign language. He really liked it.
Here's Jack watching his dad play softball. He even wore the right shirt--it had little baseballs on it.

Nana and Jack.
Uncle Michael and Jack.
Nana held Jack A Lot! She had to get as much Jack time as possible. She loves her grandson!
Brian and Jack at the overlook.
Papa and Jack.

Memorial Day Weekend on Petit Jean

My sister, Elizabeth, and I in a rock crevice on the side of a hiking trail. She was hilarious! She was climbing and hopping all over the rocks like a little kid.
Sunday the church group played softball. They let all ages play so my dad, Brian, and my brother, Michael, were playing with little 4-year-olds. It was really fun to watch, and they had a great time. Here's Brian batting.
This is a cave we hiked to called the Rock House cave. It was HUGE, like a big amphitheater. It was such a pretty place.

This is my dad, sister, brother, and our friends from Rison, Rickey and Diane Fore. We hung out and ate at their camper the whole weekend. They are such great people! They are like our parents away from home.
Me (aka Donk-A), Michael (aka Sped), and Elizabeth (aka Hairball)--don't we have lovely nicknames? :)
This was taken at an overlook on the mountain that was incredible! You can see the Arkansas River and for about 40 miles out. It was so beautiful! My brother and sister were hopping around on the rocks like crazy, and I was a nervous wreck, I think that since becoming a mom I worry about safety a whole lot more. I can't imagine what it'll be like when it's Jack out there climbing on the rocks. I'll start praying now. Seriously! :)
Michael and Elizabeth at the overlook.
This is a rock formation along a trail we hiked.

We went to Petit Jean Mountain this weekend. Our church gets a group together every Memorial Day weekend and camps there. We couldn't get a campsite, so we stayed in a house a few miles from where the church group was camped. But we were with them, or hiking around the park the whole time. It was so much fun! We already reserved a campsite for next year. Jack had a great time, he was held pretty much the whole time. He was so good! Saturday night he slept for 6 whole hours! He was exhausted! It was great. We can't wait to go back next year.

It's all about Jack!!!

Jack has found his hands, and plays with them all the time. We think he spotted his feet today, we'll see if he starts playing with them too. SO PRECIOUS!
Here he is smiling at my mom. He got tons of attention this weekend, and ate it up! I feel a little smile deprived, so I'm gonna be stocking up now!

Jack and his wonderful daddy! I love these guys!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture! He still likes being wrapped up, but he busts out of the blanket a lot. This is what he looks like as he is busting out! He looks like he's wearing a toga. :)
Laid back!
Jack and mommy.
This is another picture that I LOVE LOVE LOVE! Look at those eyes.

Here are some recent pictures of our Jack man. He's getting so big and is doing all kinds of great stuff! He's even more alert and is focusing on objects now. And his smile is the cutest, most incredible thing! I crave that toothless little smile! These are pictures from the last few days at home and up on Petit Jean Mountain where we went this weekend. Jack loves the mountains and says he wants to go back.

Daytrip to Little Rock

We drove to Little Rock yesterday for Jack's second well-baby checkup and made a day of it. We ended up leaving later than we expected and getting around the city took longer than we thought too, so we didn't do a whole lot, so no pictures. But we had fun. We drove around to learn our way around the city some and then we went to an art gallery which was fun. I thought that it was a more kid-friendly type place, but it was a formal, quiet gallery, so we looked around for a little while--we had Jack in his stroller. But he got fussy, so we left. We did see some really good artwork done by teenagers. Then we went to the doctor. We saw a doctor named Dr. Malak who was really nice! She said that Jack is perfect and that everything looks great. He weighs 11 pounds, 9.5 ounces which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight, and he is 23 inches long, and is in the 75th percentile for length. So he's growing really well! He's really long, I hope that means he'll be tall like his Daddy. Poor little guy had his first shots, but he did so good! He cried for a little while, but once I held him and comforted him, he calmed down. He was so brave! I told him that he's my little hero! Now he just has little red spots where the shots were given. We just love him so much!
Today and tomorrow we're just hanging around the house getting things ready for this weekend. I'm really excited about my family coming! My brother called a couple days ago to say that he's going to come too, and I'm so glad! He hasn't seen Jack since he was born. I'll take a ton of pictures this weekend and will make sure I post them soon.

Bull's Eye Makeover

BEFORE

Many of you have enjoyed the beauty and majesty of my car, the Saturn, A.K.A. "Bull's Eye," especially after my wreck and she went two-tone. Well, we finally got around to painting her, so now she's perty as can be with a hood the same color as the rest of her. I hated to see the two-tone look go, but it was time. She looks GooooooooooD!

This is Brian's paint booth that he set up in the backyard. It worked really well. I am so glad that Brian knows how to fix and build anything.



AFTER
Isn't she perty! :)

Our New House!!!

I've gotten some requests for pictures of the house, so here are a bunch!
My sweet Mom had this made for Jack and we hung it on the outside of his door. It's so cute!

This is the bookshelf that Brian made for my birthday two years ago and now it's in Jack's room. I really like his room a lot! We're trying to spend more time in there now that it's in order. He takes his daytime naps in his Pack & Play in here. I love all his books and toys and everything. I was so excited to have his room organized!

Here's our kitchen. I absolutely LOVE all the cabinet space. I have several drawers and some cabinets that are still empty. It's great! I have enjoyed cooking in here!
Although we still have the dreaded college guy leather furniture, I like it much better in this house. It also helps SO MUCH that our parents scrubbed it with Magic Erasers and so there's no Lucy hair or dirt or anything on it anymore! YEAH! I actually feel ok about taking a nap on it or folding laundry in here now, which is really nice. We spend all of our time in this room watching TV, getting online, and most of all playing with Jack. I love all of the floor room we have to get down and play with him.

Our room is has beena little neglected. We just sleep and get dressed in here really, so it's for pure convienence (sp?). You can see all the baby stuff on the cedar chest below. That white thing in the middle is a changing pad that is awesome! It folds up and is so easy to clean! We use it like crazy. It's great especially since we don't have a changing table.

Our guest room is my next project. I have to get it in shape this week b/c my family is coming to stay. We sure do have a TON of stuff!

Exploring Arkansas!

We have been so blessed that Brian has been able to be home a good bit since we moved and we've had time to spend with Jack and in getting settled in. Also, we've been able to travel a little bit and see some of our new state. We've been to Pine Bluff a few times to shop--it has the closest Super WalMart and mall. It also has a few resturaunts and other things to do. It's an OK town, though it's kind of rough especially at night.

This past Thursday, the 17th, we drove to Hot Springs, AR to check it out. We got there and ate luch at a really good pizza place called "Rod's" and then went downtown and walked around with the stroller. It's a really pretty town with some neat little shops. Most of the pictures are near and in the park. We thought it was just a little park in the middle of downtown, but you can go way up these trails to the top of the hill and there is a big overlook and park up there. We started to go all the way up, but it looked like a long way and I didn't have on good walking shoes, plus we had the stroller. We are definitely going back again and we're going all the way up! We saw a spring that was really cool. The sign by it said that the average temp was around 130 degrees. We touched the water and it was HOT!!!! It was weird. Obviously that's where they get the name Hot Springs. :) There are a bunch of bath houses in downtown too where you can bathe and do spa treatments and stuff in the spring water. After the park we drove to the other side of Hot Springs where the mall and restaraunts are. And there's a big lake that is beautiful! It'll be a fun place to go when Jack is bigger and we can really sight-see and he can enjoy it.

This next week we're going to Little Rock to a doctor's appointment for Jack and we're going to make a day of it and check out the big city! Jack will get his first shots :( Poor guy! And then Memorial Day weekend my family and us are going with a group from our church to Petit Jean Mountain. I can't wait to keep on exploring Arkansas! I'll definitely take tons of pictures and post them soon! I'll also have to post some of our house now that Jack's room is put together and we have our decorative things out around the house.

We're relaly enjoying it here! With Brian home so much and all of this travelling, it feels like a big vacation! Praise God for this fun time! We miss Mississippi, but God has granted us so much grace in this new place and we're so thankful!

Jack Learning to Play

Jack is getting bigger and bigger. We see all kinds of changes in him every day, not only is he growing like crazy, but he's learning new stuff all the time. He's started focusing on his toys more and turning to look at us when we talk to him and

he's making more sounds too. He LOVES getting on his play mat and playing with his toys! He will lay there and swing his arms and legs around and accidentally hit the toys. He just smiles and makes cooing sounds. I can tell that he's learning and discovering what his body can do! It's amazing to watch him grow up each day! He'll be 2 months old next week! and WOW do we love him! Sometimes I just want to squeeze and squeeze him! :)

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was wonderful! Jack and Brian gave me a gift certificate to go shopping when I woke up that morning.

Then we went to church. Jack wore his first cute little outfit ever. They had baby dedication day and we dedicated Jack. There were 6 babies in all and they were all boys! Jack will have lots of friends his age! At the end of the service Brian, Jack and I went to the front and formally joined the church. We had been talking and thinking about it for a while, and decided to go ahead and join. We really enjoy the teaching and it is strongly based in scripture, as is the way the church makes decisions and goes about a lot of its business. There are also many young couples and small children there. So, now we're members of Rison Baptist Church! After church we drove to Pine Bluff and ate fried catfish with our friends the Fores. We had a really good day! Jack was really good and I enjoyed my first Mother's Day so much!