jack is one

[aka baby jack; jack jack; jack-o-jack; buddy] 

these are ten of the things we love about you:  

1. you are a champion sleeper [and we appreciate that very much]  

2. the way your face lights up when you smile  

3. when you laugh really hard and drop your head  

4. the way you play and explore  

5. you are generous with your smiles and good at making friends  

6. how excited you get when you see mom or dad  

7. the sound of your giggles  

8. those bright blue eyes that everyone loves to comment on  

9. you are an easygoing traveler  

10. when you lay your head on us and snuggle [it doesn't happen very often, but we LOVE when it does]

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anniversary number seven

on anniversary eve jack spent a few hours with grandma while we used donald's beloved amc film fanatic card to see just mercy and indulge in some sweet treats from hurts donuts.

on our actual anniversary we were heading to st. louis, so to keep with tradition we scouted a location for some road trippin' fried chicken. we ended up at lee's famous recipe chicken in columbia and were pleasantly surprised to find that their recipe is famous for good reason. we made it to my mom's house and after putting jack to bed we settled in for an evening of fighting the villains in harry potter hogwarts battle.

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dyer [not so] diy: kitchen edition

after five years of dreaming, planning, and also procrastinating, we officially said goodbye to the original 78th street kitchen on august 12th. and a very, very, very long four months later, we finally have a working kitchen again!

as someone who is not great at making decisions and loves to overanalyze everything, a kitchen remodel that we plan to enjoy long term was quite a daunting task. throw in the fact that i'm kind of a perfectionist with impossibly high standards and it's borderline impossible. after the literal years we spent designing the layout and choosing the finishes, the final hurdle was finding a contractor to do the actual work. this was another lengthy step in the process, but in the end we found robert and he was delightful.

it was interesting timing to be without a kitchen when jack was starting solid foods. we did have a refrigerator and microwave, but no running water on the main level of the house. generally our eating habits weren't stellar to begin with, but the no kitchen situation brought them to a new low. thankfully i discovered microwaveable pot stickers, which became a staple of my diet, and a friend lent us her kitchen for some crock pot meal prep, so we muddled through.

the transformation is pretty stunning in both appearance and function. it's very surreal, but we're thrilled with the final result.

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