B.C. and A.C.

We have realized that now there are two distinct epochs in our lives - Before Courtney and After Courtney. The biggest difference between B.C. and A.C. is bedtime. B.C. I would watch Letterman and stay up to watch Craig Ferguson's show. If I went to bed before midnight, I was sick. A.C., I can't stay awake past about 10:30 p.m. What a sleep weenie I have turned into.

Courtney Meets Clay

We went to Nicole's house tonight for supper club and I took Courtney to meet Nicole's 8 month old Clay. I think he liked her! Courtney (here held by Susan) is looking dubiously at Clay in this photo - I guess her dad has already been coaching her about boys. :-)

That Face!

C at 3 months and 3 weeks. Notice the ever present drool!

Soulshine Pizza

We went tonight to Soulshine Pizza with Sheila, Bekah, Tony and Carl - Eric Stracener was performing and it was a lot of fun. Courtney even went and she behaved pretty well even though there was loud music. I wasn't able to fit Todd in this photo but you can see his hands. Todd's vote for favorite Soulshine pizza is the Jacksonian, but I vote for the Boudreaux.

Antique High Chair

Mike found this high chair in his attic, and it either belonged to Todd or Kim as a baby. Either way, it's more than 30 years old. Mike brought it to our house this past weekend. Although it would be great to use for sentimental reasons, Todd and I are pretty sure the paint is lead-based (!), so it would require some stripping and re-doing if we wanted to use this chair. We have a little time to decide, because Courtney isn't even on rice cereal yet, much less solid food, but it's nice that Mike saved it for all these years.

Links R Us

I feel like we should call our house Links R Us because everything is linked up. I remember I got a package of 10 links as a baby shower gift, and I had no idea what they were. I figured they were teething rings for babies, but I had no idea why I needed a pack of 10. Anyway, fast forward to now, links are great. We've strung chains of links back and forth across the exersaucer, we've hung a half dozen toys from the play mat, and we link things to the car seat. Courtney loves to grab the chains and rattle them and put them in her mouth.

Kick Butt Headphones

We love our Sennheiser wireless headphones, which we got for Christmas this year. They plug in to the back of the TV and enable you to listen to the TV through the headphones. What a marriage saver. As I advised my recently married friend who said her husband was fond of the volume button, GET these headphones. One person can sleep and the other can watch TV without disturbing the sleeper. It even blocks out the sound of baby crying. The sound quality is awesome too.

Seafood Lasagna

I made Seafood Lasagna tonight, which is one of my favorite things to cook - here is my recipe......

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup milk
1 cup clam juice (sold in bottles)
1 cup dry white wine
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon basil
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
9 lasagna noodles, cooked
1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese
1 cup raw shrimp, peeled
1 cup canned or packaged crab meat
1/2 lb raw scallops, chopped
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Heat butter in saucepan until melted. Add flour and salt and make a white roux. When bubbly, remove from heat and add milk, clam juice and white wine. Heat sauce on low to medium, stirring constantly, until boliling. Boil for one minute until sauce thickens. Add green onions, white pepper and basil.

Layer lasagna in a 7 x 11 glass pan as follows: 1/2 cup sauce, 3 noodles, cottage cheese, shrimp/crab/scallops, mozzarella. Repeat. End with last 3 noodles and parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. Serves 6-8.

Definitely Maybe Movie

For Valentine's night, the three of us went to see the new movie Definitely Maybe and we all three liked it. Of course, Courtney slept through it, but she watched a bit of the beginning and gave it thumbs up too. It's not as chick flick as you would think. The remarkable thing Courtney has done for our lives is given us the impetus to go to an early movie. B.C. (Before Courtney) we would never have been able to motivate ourselves and organize ourselves to go to a 6:50 p.m. movie on a school night, but we did it this night. We had dinner at El Charro on Lakeland afterwards.

Happy Valentine's Day

Courtney has had her first cold this week. She had a runny nose and sore throat, and we kept her home from day care on Monday and Tuesday. She was much better on Wednesday and went back to 'school.' She woke me up this morning at 4 am with a stopped up nose, and so far I have not been able to go back to sleep. As for this shot, she was fascinated by the shiny ribbon. Note the constant drool on her chin - it's a fixture here now. I suppose she will be sprouting some teeth pretty soon.

They Make Baby Sunglasses

...and since they make them, I had to pick some up. Courtney didn't like them at first, but once she realized she could see out of them, she was fine wearing them. They are a bit big but I just call that the J Lo look.

Kim & Charles' House

Todd's sister, Kim, and her husband have bought a cute house in West Monroe, La., and we were able to go visit them and see the house on Saturday. We got a house and neighborhood tour and are really excited for them. Their dog, Gill, has found a great spot underneath the coffee table where nobody bothers him, so I had to shoot a pic of his hideaway.

Cedar Grove, Vicksburg

This weekend we stayed at Cedar Grove Mansion, a bed and breakfast in Vicksburg, Miss., on a trip for my work. We had a two room suite in the bed and breakfast complete with chandeliers and antique furniture. Cedar Grove, which survived Union bombardment during the Battle of Vicksburg, still has a cannonball lodged in one wall of the living room.

Unfortunately I have a rant about Vicksburg. We have spent an unusual amount of time there in the last year. You may recall from this blog that we visited there in June 2007 for my birthday, we traveled there in December 2007 for Jalissa's wedding, and finally were there this past weekend for a business meeting. I have now dubbed Vicksburg "the town that customer service forgot." It all kind of crystalized recently that we were getting pretty bad service there at every turn - at convenience stores, at restaurants, at hotels, at buffets, at casinos, at the Mississippi welcome center. The most glaring example is in my planning for the business meeting, I had to call the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau to ask a question. I was put on hold for a long time; then the person returned and said she was too busy to help me and could I call back? Needless to say, I did not call back.

Day Brightener

Courtney is in such a good mood each morning. We don't know where she came from because we can barely speak to each other before 8:30 am! She is so happy and just babbles and plays and smiles. She puts me in a better mood myself.

Courtney 12 Weeks

Jambalaya Recipe

Friday night I made jambalaya - here is my recipe - adapted from Best of the Best of Louisiana cookbook.

CHICKEN, SAUSAGE AND SHRIMP JAMBALAYA
4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced into half moons
1 lb. raw shrimp, peeled
3 cups converted long grain rice
6 cups canned chicken broth
½ stick butter
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 6 oz can tomato paste
¼ teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon Tabasco

Cook rice in 6 cups canned chicken broth 20-25 minutes until absorbed. Fry sausage until lightly browned; remove meat. Add butter to pan and sauté onion, pepper and parsley until tender. Add sausage and chicken; stir in garlic, tomato paste, thyme, salt, pepper and Tabasco. Add raw shrimp and rice and mix thoroughly. Cook over low heat 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not add shrimp before then or they will be tough. This makes a dozen large servings.