Jon 372 months....31 years

Today my better half turns 31! My little sidekick also turns 8 months today and since it's always about Ford, I figured I'd do an update on Jon. 31 years ago at 12:12pm, Jonathan David Hart stretched those massive calves out in the real world of Cleveland, OH. To say I love him is an understatement. Life is just better with Jon around. He's funny, smart, generous, and loves wildly. He never ceases to wow me with being an incredible dad to Ford (and helping me way more than I deserve), his success at work, and His trust in the Lord. Happy birthday munchkin!
Jon did his best to channel his inner Ford...

A little big for Ford's chair

Weight: 220lb 
Height: 72inches
Nicknames: daddy, da-da, munchkin, munch, honey pots
Clothing: Jon wears an XL in most clothing, loves wearing Polo, Puma, skinny jeans, and Steve Madden boots. 
Eating (liquids): Jon drinks 2 gallons of skim milk a week plus a couple of Muscle Milk protein shakes. Jon also likes Starbucks fraps, Verners soda, and Topo Chico. Eating (solids): Jon's favorite foods are fried eggs, cottage cheese, sushi, burritos, anything with Sriracha sauce, stuffed olives, and froyo with almonds and chocolate chips. He has a sweet tooth like his wifey!
Teething: Nothing new to report here, Jon's been wearing his retainer lately which makes me realize I haven't worn mine in ages. 
Sleeping: Jon is a night owl and could sleep all day if I let him! Unlike me, he can survive on less than 8 hours of sleep but prefers getting more. He is an awesome daddy in the rare instance Ford wakes up at night, Jon gets up to soothe him. 
Social: Jon is working on his project car like mad lately and has been having lots of car days/evenings with friends to help him get stuff done. Jon likes going to lunch with buddies or having a beer and catching up. He travels for work with a good friend/co worker of his and often sees buddies in Houston or Dallas when he's working. Jon also loves games and seems to beat me 75% of the time in our nightly game of marbles or gin.
Likes: muscle cars, rat rods, car shows, tickling Ford, working out, going shooting, 
Dislikes: mornings, allergies (dust and cats), mixing sweet and savory foods
New this year/fun things we did:

• Jon became a dad! What a monumental thing for this year.
• Jon also hit his sales quota and was gifted an all expenses paid trip to Costa Rica... well remember when we went to Cabo? Since Ford wouldn't take a bottle, we took the money and went to Cabo
• Jon bought a 67 Fastback Mustang just this week! This has been his dream car forever. He plans on doing an engine swap with the engine his dad built and is currently in the 1987 Mustang in our car.
• He delivered a wonderful message and dedicated our niece and God daughter Embry to Jesus Christ
• He promoted me to COO and cruise director of our household
• He was told by the Lord to name our son Ford Nehemiah
• He traveled with me to two conferences (Influence & Hope Spoken)
• Jon celebrated 3 years of marriage with his awesome wife!

What he's looking forward to:

• Hopefully another successful work year
• Finishing the fastback Mustang
• Taking Ford to his first Baylor Football game at the new stadium
• Cleveland Browns to the Superbowl!

We were babies

I was cleaning out the picture folders on my computer to make room for baby Hart pictures and I loved coming across old pictures of me and Jon before we were married. Thought it would be fun to share! Jon and I met in May 2009, got engaged in July 2010, and were married in February 2011. We look like babies in some of these pictures, even though it was only a few years ago. Love this man!
October 2009, visiting me in College Station, Anchors Away!

November 2009, Texas Renaissance Festival

December 2009, office party photobooth

May 2010, celebrating my graduation at Fogo de Chao

June 2010, South Padre Island

June 2010, San Antonio, TX at a sorority sister's wedding

July 2010, Michael Buble concert in San Antonio, TX

July 2010, our engagement party

October 2010, Estes Park, CO

November 2010, our couples shower

December 2010, Lake Tahoe ski trip

Christmas 2010, our first monogrammed gift

New Years Eve 2010

Getting away

Last weekend, Jon and I made an hour and a half drive to San Antonio for a little getaway. Jon gifted me this weekend for Mother's Day and knowing that in 4 weeks, we need to stay within an hour of our doctor, this was the perfect time. We stayed at the Westin on the Riverwalk and even though we'd both been to the Riverwalk before, we'd never been together. San Antonio has a lot to offer beyond the Riverwalk...Sea World, Six Flags, the Alamo, etc. but honestly I was just looking forward to being away from home, relaxing in a hotel.Sometimes I find it hard to relax at home when I have projects and chores calling my name.

Halfway between Austin and SA there is a massive outlet mall so we hit a few stores and got on our way. We spent the afternoon at the Mexican market (El Mercado/Market square) and had a delicious lunch at Mi Tierra. If you are in SA, it is a must visit restaurant! It was worth the 1 hour wait at 2 in the afternoon. Jon came on a mission to buy a chess set for his office and bought a beautiful onyx set that fits perfectly with the colors of his office. He's taught me a few times but I pretty much stink at chess (I will blame it on my impatience... Jon is such an engineer in every aspect of life, including games and strategic decision making). 
Happy boy at home with his chess set! (I should mention we now own 2 chess sets haha)

Now I've told you we are game nerds and had no shame walking into our fancy hotel with our huge marble board. We play at least 1 game a day so we couldn't miss a day just because we were away from home! The funny thing is the game is 4 player but we make it work. My grandpa actually hand made this board for us when we got engaged so it is really special for us. A normal marble game for us includes a Louis Armstrong or Cas Haley concert on the iPad (helps calm us when we get too competitive haha).

My big ole pregnant belly was a trooper walking around the Riverwalk but we had a fun time taking breaks to "people watch"... one of our favorite past times. We had an incredible dinner at Paesano's which we highly recommend and decided to forgo the piano bar by our hotel in favor of hot showers and an awesome foot massage for my tootsies. 

(first time I thought my belly looked HUGE was in this picture)
It's funny when your wife is a blogger, you are constantly coming up with ideas or bits for the blog. Sunday night was definitely good blogging material thanks to my husband. A few weeks ago we watched a Dateline special with Chris Hanson where he went to meet internet scammers, phony mechanics, and Craigslist weirdos and Jon was hooked. I was telling him about To Catch a Predator and he'd never seen it. Lo and behold, 10pm rolls around and old To Catch A Predator episodes were on HLN. I wish I could have filmed Jon watching them, he was hilarious. He couldn't believe these guys were real and was looking them up on LinkedIn lol. We kept saying this will be great material to talk about on the blog... our romantic weekend getaway and watching To Catch a Predator! 

We slept in and had a yummy breakfast at Schilo's by our hotel before heading back to Austin. We spent some time downtown, browsing, shopping, and having a late lunch before picking up our little piglet and heading home for some more R&R. Tonight we are heading to Dallas one last time before the baby comes for some time with our sister, brother in law, and precious Embry. We've been on the go but we gotta pack it all in before we set up camp here in Austin. Time is flying people!! I am savoring these sweet times with my husband and so thankful for weekends like these.

Little moments

I had been hinting to Jon for a few weeks of gift ideas for Mother's Day and never did I think I'd get treated so special on my first Mother's-To-Be-Day. My late sleeper was up before 7am making breakfast, picking out flowers, and letting this tired mama sleep. 
I don't think I have eaten a donut in about 10 years yet have been thinking about them non stop during this pregnancy. Jon is hypogylcemic and is really good about sugar so he just laughs when I ask for them. Well he brought home these on Sunday morning and I can honestly say I can go another 10 years without another one. They were good but I'd much rather indulge in other things :). 

In the past, Jon would wish me happy Mother's Day from Ernie or tell me what a great mother I would be someday but yesterday was different. Feeling my son kick all day was just one little reminder of the wonderful privilege  blessing, and job I will soon have as his mother. Yesterday I thought a lot about little moments. Jon talking to my tummy saying, "Little man, wake up!", having the song "no woman no cry" stuck in our heads for about an hour so making up our own rendition, and getting Ernie all fired up with belly rubs and kisses. This life, which is nothing extraordinary, is more than I could have ever dreamed of. Going to sleep at 8pm on a Saturday night is not desirable to most mid twenties but it is the perfect night for me. I remember meeting Jon when I was 20, he was 26 and thinking okay I need to be really fun for him. Yes we've had crazy nights, late nights, and nights we will never forget...but nothing tops the nights we choose now. 
Last night we played an intense game of marbles (I told you how game obsessed we are...we play at least once a day haha) and pulled up live Louis Armstrong performances on the iPad to pretend like we were at a concert. I thought to myself, this is exactly where my life is supposed to be right now. I am to the point in my pregnancy where I am not uncomfortable (yet) but I am so anxious to meet this baby boy. I think of my sweet niece or see moms at church with newborns swaddled in their arms and my heart yearns for that right now. But it's the little moments that makes the wait worth while. 
I really do think life will become so much sweeter when our baby is born but I know it will be a lot different. Last night there was a point where we were in bed and had tears coming down our cheeks and barely could catch our breath laughing about something I can't even remember. And I remember thinking... can we do this when we are parents? Will we still have our dumb inside jokes and laugh like kids together? I pray the answer is yes... that we will continue that bond with each other and our children.

Scenes from Mother's Day
We spent the beautiful morning at church with my parents and then an outdoor brunch at Blackfinn. So many cute kiddos running around the Domain (outdoor shopping center) and all dressed alike. 

Mom and 3 of her 6 kids

And 2 of my 3 boys! 

Thank you all for your sweet comments on IG about my belly... hard to believe he has 12 more weeks of growing to do, I think we have a big boy on our hands!

Jon surprised me with a weekend away just to San Antonio before the baby comes. Our trip to Mexico in a few weeks is acting as our baby moon but this will be a great way for us to purely relax and not too far from home. He even made me a powerpoint of the hotel amenities, activities we will do, restaurants, etc (if you remember one of our trips last year, he is good at power points!). 

1983 Prom

Believe it or not, Jon never went to a prom growing up, let alone a school dance or even a high school football game. Months ago I had started throwing around ideas for his 30th birthday party and thought, "Hey! Jon never went to a prom, I am going to throw him one". And there's nothing more that Jon loves than dressing up so to spice things up, we decided to do a 1983 prom, the year Jon was born. Jon turned 30 last Thursday and since I was traveling, I knew I wanted to make it extra special for him. I surprised him with a note and gift for each day of the week... starting with his favorite snacks and ending with an iPad (to which he exclaimed, this will be good for the baby to play with! First world problems?!). 
Back to the party...I will let the pictures do the talking...
I borrowed a dress from my mom that I had tried on a few weeks ago. Let's just say that it was like using the jaws of life to get that thing around my growing belly on Saturday night haha. And yep Jon's mustache was real.

The 2 "teen moms" at prom

We are so lucky to be surrounded by family and friends that love us and helped celebrate Jon's birthday, it was an absolute blast. It was kind of nostalgic knowing this was the last big party I would throw before our baby boy is born and as bad as my little tootsies hurt the next morning, it was totally worth it! Jon is worth celebrating every.single.day.

Guess who's over the hill?

I used to think 30 sounded so old but now heck it's the new 20! I don't think you are technically over the hill until you are 40 but I love joking with Jon that 30 is ancient (since we are 5.5 years apart).
30 years ago today at 12:12p EST, this dashing young gentleman was brought into this world.

(how awesome is that blue suit?! He's gotta be 2-3 years old in this pic)
I feel like from the time I was about 6 months old until present day, I haven't changed much. You look at my kindergarten picture and there I am, unmistakably Ruthie Lynn with big eyes and dimples. I feel the opposite about Jon who was a major cutie pie as a kiddo but almost unrecognizable today. 
Excuse me while I fan myself, I think my husband is a major hunk...

Can you now see why I get so many hard baby kicks? Look at daddy's calves!

I was sad to learn that I would be gone the week of Jon's birthday because I love making a big deal out of it for him and hate missing it. I am basically taking a midnight flight tonight to get home in the wee hours of the morning, just so I can celebrate with him. I did leave him with some special treats throughout the week that I will share with you next week.
I could write a million paragraphs why I am thankful Jon was born 30 years ago because not a day goes by where I don't feel incredibly blessed to have him in my life. I am so proud of him as a disciple of his faith, as a wonderful husband, as a hardworking business man, and this year, as he becomes a father. Jon, the world is lucky to have you in it. I love you!

Week in review

You know what makes Monday mornings bearable and actually enjoyable? Baby flutter kicks!! I wasn't sure if this was the real thing last week but baby Hart has for sure moving and shaking the past few days and it couldn't be more precious. Yesterday at church I kept grabbing Jon's hands to put on my tummy to see if he could feel it but for now, it is something little man and I will share together until he gets bigger. 
The past week has been full of random fun...craft night, game night with our community group, date night, baby registry, more community group nights and surprisingly lots of energy for this prego. You know who hasn't had much energy?
To give you a hint he has a giant head and a is less than a foot tall...

The other day Jon and I were talking about Ernie and how things may change when the baby comes. Please don't comment about how he is being naive or "just wait" but Jon is sure that he will still give Ernie just as much attention and love... which makes me so happy. It makes me sad that he won't be my #1 baby anymore but I know it is natural...luckily Ernie will still sleep with me in bed...unlike baby so we will for sure get lots of cuddle time! Jon said that I still need to post lots of pictures of him when the baby comes since he has so many fans ;-)
I think he is getting antsy for the baby to come so I will stop dressing him up in baby clothes/accessories. Just imagine if we were having a girl...Ernie would be a bow and headband model for sure. 

He is funny about all the baby stuff we are accumulating...he wants to be right there in all the action. Or I should say ON the action. I was showing Jon some baby clothes I got and Ernie perched himself right on top of the stack, despite the wide open floor. 

Friday I attending the Verge Conference, a disciple making Christian conference, in downtown Austin. I had the pleasure of hearing incredible talks from David Platt and Francis Chan, surrounded by 2,500 other believers. Another highlight of my week was purchasing my ticket to the Hope Spoken Conference (and being one of the first 20 tickets woot woot). Let the year long countdown begin.

I highly recommend the book and sermon series Real Marriage by Marc Driscoll (and his wife Grace) from Mars Hill Church. Jon and I love being married and often say we feel like we are good at it but nothing humbles you more then realizing your own sin and downfalls in marriage, especially when it comes to thriving for a Christ centered one. The sermons can all be found online here. 

Like I've said before, I like hoarding my husband on the weekends since his weeks involve lots of travel. We did an at home date night with dessert out but also spent time with friends this weekend. Jon saw Django for the 2nd time and we basically spent the rest of the weekend listening to the soundtrack which I must say, kicks butt.

Saturday night the guys in our community group celebrated Texas Independence Day with a Texas Hold Em tournament and a few Texas themed beverages...

Pretty much half the ladies in our group are pregnant so we enjoyed dinner at La Madeline, typical girl conversation, and crashed the guy party later that night. I am proud at how much I've late night rallied during my 2nd trimester!
Yesterday was pretty much the most beautiful day ever and after church and Greek food out, I talked Jon into outside chores around the house. Again... I rallied and helped Jon wash and wax both cars, pull weeds, and dilly dally outside. We have hopes of getting a deck built before summer time so it was fun to plan out. 

I feel bad for Jon today, he was up at 4am to drive to Houston for a 1 hour meeting so we have a home date night...5pm...jammies and most likely some froyo. 

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Anniversary Randoms

Tuesday Jon and I celebrated 2 years of wedded bliss. Call me cheesy or naive but it has been bliss. We love (most) everything about marriage and look forward to what the 3rd year of our union has in store for us. What's crazy is our our anniversary is exactly 6 months before our due date so it was cool/weird to think about how our lives will drastically change in 6 months.

Next anniversary we will have one of these! 

We got home from Chicago Monday night and frankly were still exhausted and recovering on Tuesday. We decided to lay low that evening since we hadn't spent much time at home the past week, still hadn't unpacked, and would much prefer cuddling at home than a night out. Jon brought home an anthurium plant and we each spent some time wrapping and prepping our gifts. 2 years is hard!! Last year I was on my game with the paper theme (I had budoir pictures taken and made into a beautiful leather bound book) but cotton was hard. Lame but I ended up getting Jon 2 pairs of Nike workout shorts, that probably aren't even cotton but spandex or polyester, a Yankee candle (he is funny about candles and only likes Yankee), and a new lamp for his office. Jon is really a thoughtful guy (hello he MADE me a clock last year since traditional gifts were clocks) and gave me some awesome pieces of clothing. Ever since dragging him to Target last winter, Jon is now obsessed with it and bought me lots of clothes from there for Christmas and now our anniversary. He bought me some cute tanks and shirts that will fit my belly and told me he was bummed he couldn't find any plastic plates to serve as the traditional "china" gift for 2 year anniversaries. He also got me this awesome resistance band home gym thingy... I know you must be thinking wow that is a little forward of your husband but I have been asking him to help me with workouts I can do at home, especially for after the baby comes and I won't want to go to the gym. Jon Hart...husband and personal trainer.

Last year we went back to our wedding venue to take some pictures but this year our backyard had to do...

1 year//2 year

Thanks Pinterest for the idea! Hard to tell but we are holding our 1st year anniversary picture in our 2nd year pic. Next year can we teach our 6 month old to snap a picture instead of using a tripod??

We made dinner at home, took Ernie on a long walk, and read each other letters we wrote. We wrote letters on our wedding day and then again last year...it is such a special way for us to express our feelings and thoughts about the past year. I am already an emotional gal but add these prego hormones and there were lots of tears and hugging. We have a busy weekend with lots of family in town but may try to go out and celebrate one night!

We also gave each other Valentine's Day gifts too because we are going away next week. Since Valentine's is right after our anniversary and gifts tend to get cheesy, we decided to do something small. Jon got the cutest, softest plaid shirt from Target (once again he loves Tar-jay) that will keep me warm on our getaway :-). And I got Jon two board books from me and the baby...

(Baby Hart already has about 10 books!)

Before we even talked about trying for a baby, I knew what kind of crib I wanted, and Jon agreed with me. So last week when we found it for 15% off and free shipping on Wayfair, we ordered it. It came in 3 days later and this giant box has been sitting in our dining room. I happened to be in there the other day and read on the box that we have 14 days to report damage/missing pieces. I don't think we would have put it together for a while but I didn't want to be left with a janke-y crib so we (Jon) put it together. I'm not gonna give you any more details yet but it is gorgeous!! Very surreal seeing a crib in our baby room (but then again we were already given a basinett, baby Moses basket, bottles, swaddles, clothes, etc... we feel like we could basically bring this baby home today!). 

Have a good weekend!