So Much To Do, So Little Time

Nothing like a subtle reminder that:
1: my to do list need not matter sometimes
2: he is still little, even when some days he just seems 'so big'
3. we all have our limits. Sometimes I think I'm the only one that has a 'limit', but clearly I'm not!

Hopefully kids really are as forgiving as everyone says they are. Or I'm in big trouble...

Out with the "old, old, old"---In with the "not so old"

It is time to blog about yet another new member of the family....I know, it's been a big year for our family, hasn't it?! But after getting stranded twice, leaving the old pickup on the side of the Earhart Expressway for a couple of days, and sinking more money than it was worth into repairs, we decided the time had come to upgrade. The vehicle which Tyler had dubbed the "old old old junky gray pickup" just wasn't reliable enough for Garrett to drive to work and back every day. So....after weeks and weeks of looking, Garrett finally found his new baby. We had looked locally only to find a lot of really really beat up vehicles and a few with flood titles from Katrina (neither of which we cared to get ourselves into...). So, then Garrett started searching afar for something and found this on ebay. We have purchased a lot of things on ebay, but this was our first vehicle purchase, and I have to say, it was really a pretty good experience overall. It was in Houston, so it was a reasonable distance to make it work. So instead of cruising around town (or sitting by the side of the road broken down) in a rusty 1992 GMC with 229,000 miles on it, he is now doing it in a 2003 Chevy Silverado with LESS than 100,000 miles on it. Woohoo! Mileage in a number that is less than 6 digits is pretty exciting for us!
And to go and pick it up, Garrett purchased a one way ticket to Houston and when he was booking the ticket, he came to me and said "I think I want to take T with me." I kind of sat there for a second with a blank stare because I was first surprised that he just thought of that out of the blue, and then because I couldn't think of any reason for him not to! So I said okay, and he booked a second ticket and then had himself a companion for the flight there and the drive home. They were both so excited to go and it was so cute! I dropped them off at the airport in the morning before they flew out and when I said good bye to Tyler, he was really playing it up and was pretending to be sad and that he was going to miss me just to appease me. It was pretty funny because you could see right through him! He was just too excited to be sad! So I said good bye to the boys, and was kind of sad actually for about two minutes until I got home and put Sam down for a nap and crawled right back into bed. The sadness mysteriously went away at that point! :) And later that day I even went to the mall with just Sam...again, I wasn't very sad anymore! LOL I'm just glad that Garrett does things like this with Tyler. It's so great! Here they are right before they took off at the airport.

Twenty Seven

I'm not even quite sure where to start this post. This week has been kind of a blur and here is my attempt to recap a few things. For starters, yesterday, I turned 27 years old. And in preparation to turn 27, I got sick for the first time in over a year. You forget how great it is to feel good until you are sick, that's for sure! I first got a bit of a cold--not too bad of one really, but enough to make me feel run down for a few days and really tired. I woke up Thursday finally feeling like it was maybe on its way out, to then find out that I had a really fun stomach virus to keep me company for the next 24 hours or so. All these visitors just for my birthday, I guess! So....I did finally feel pretty good by the time my birthday did roll around, thankfully.

My birthday was actually very quiet and low key. Garrett took Tyler on the Fathers & Sons outing over Friday & Saturday (more on that in a minute), so Sam and I spent some time by ourselves that night and most of the day Saturday. I enjoyed shopping with just one kid (that was birthday present enough, really!) and sleeping in Saturday about an hour longer than usual. It gave me some down time to enjoy all the phone calls with birthday wishes that rolled in throughout the morning before the boys got home. They drove up at about 2:30 and we got ready and headed out for dinner. Enjoyed a great dinner at Two Tony's--good food, good dessert, good company--what more could I ask for!

And today, I woke up to get ready for church to discover that both boys caught my cold (let's pray the stomach virus is not going to follow!), so I stayed home with them. It has been a really long time since I have missed church (since I had Sam, I guess) and it is really strange not to be there. I missed it and realize that I need it every week. It just feels good to be there! But I'm glad the boys were not sick on my birthday and that Tyler could go on the campout with Garrett. Having a quiet weekend for my birthday did give me more of a chance to reflect on the event of turning another year older. I hadn't really thought about it much on my past birthdays, but I did this year. It makes me think back to where I was, what I was doing, etc, on my birthday last year. I have to say that overall, I am very grateful for where I am in my life after another year. Of course I can think of dozens upon dozens of things I would love to improve or accomplish, but am glad to see a few things checked off the list and to have had another sweet babe placed in my arms in this last year. I thought I'd maybe even have Garrett take a picture of me with my boys to mark my 27th year....but since the cold I had has now brought on a cold sore/fever blister outbreak that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy and all the other members in the house now have drippy noses and our surroundings look like a sea of used kleenexes that haven't hit the garbage, I suppose we'll save the picture for another day. So instead of a picture, I'm listing my 27 favorite things at 27:
1. My handsome husband
2. My adorable boys
3. My camera
4. My 400 thread count sheets
5. Getting good mail
6. The Discovery Health Channel
7. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
8. NOLA
9. The Real Housewives of Orange County/New York City series on Bravo
10. Giggles from my boys
11. Southern rainstorms
12. The Deadliest Catch
13. Blogging
14. Lindt truffles
15. Scrapbooking (or collecting the supplies...since it's been a while since I actually "scrapbooked"!)
16. Merrell sandals
17. Finding killer bargains on kids clothes
18. My Chrysler Pacifica
19. Friends--near and far
20. Spending time with my family
21. Snuggles from my boys
22. Scott Kelby's photography & photoshop books
23. Being a stay-at-home mom
24. My card exchange group
25. Reading comments on my blog. :)
26. Shopping at Target
27. My family and the family I married into--I couldn't have asked for more
OK....I need to work hard to have "exercise" make the favorites list next year!
And thanks to my family for making it a great birthday!

And now onto the report of the F&S outing...in the words of the mom who was not there (since I don't know if I could ever talk Garrett into blogging!). This year's campout was at Tickfaw State Park and Garrett was able to sneak away from work a little early on Friday so they could get away at a decent time. They pulled into the campsite at about 6:30 and got camp set up. And from what I hear, they had a great time! Tyler was so excited to sleep in the sleeping bags in the tent, roast marshmallows, etc. What little boy wouldn't?! They were able to rent a canoe and paddle up and down various channels of the Tickfaw River, where they spotted an alligator, some snakes, and lots of turtles. After that, they got to play at the water playground for a while before coming home. Tyler had so much fun and I just love the fact that he got to do this with his dad. Garrett LOVED going on these campouts with his dad growing up (he even has gone a few times with him since we've been married) and gets just as excited as Tyler to go every year. It's cute to watch them both and how excited they get. The week leading up to it, I wasn't sure who was more excited--Tyler or Garrett! And if there was a way I could figure out how to make a boys' campout less work for the mom, I'd be in business! It seems I spent more time getting all their stuff ready for them to go and putting it all away than the time they actually spent "camping". Oh well, it's worth the memories!! So I took these first two pictures before they got on the road:

And I gave Garrett our old junky camera and told him to take pictures (because I just HAVE to have pictures, you know)...and he came home with this ONE and only picture.... I'm glad to have it, but I'm also glad that I have my camera! I had forgotten how poor of quality our old camera was! :)
And now I will officially end what feels like the longest post ever, with very few pictures (hard for me to do really).... Ciao!

Not Your Average Egg

This is a story, a story starring my dear 3 year old son, that can only be told with the use of pictures.... So here goes:

Back in February, we did our taxes using the following software:
And after we bought that software, Tyler found it and ran to me asking me what DVD it was. He was clearly excited thinking that it was a new movie for him. Ahhhh, if only.... So instead of hearing that it was a new movie, he was told it was some software for the computer (I knew he wouldn't know what that meant, but it was the best answer I could come up with). So after that, the case sat on our computer desk for at least two months, and at least once a day, Tyler would pick it up and ask me what it was and carry it around the house with him. (you'd think I would have eventually just put it away, but um, no.) After a while, the answer that it was something for the computer got old and boring, so he asked me what it was called. Still, knowing he wouldn't have a clue what it meant, I told him it was indeed called TurboTax. He was WAY excited about that, for some reason. And every time we went in a store (i.e., Best Buy, Circuit City, WalMart, etc), and he would see the stands of TurboTax, he would say: "MOM!!! Look, TurboTax!! We have this for our computer!!". Yippee! How exciting, eh? Well, not as exciting as Friday morning when the following discovery was made.

I was whipping up some scrambled eggs for breakfast and Tyler was standing on his stool next to me "helping", like he always does, and he started to check out the egg carton, pointing out letters and the like, when he saw the following symbol:

Immediately following the discovery of the symbol above, Tyler yelled out: "MOM!!! Look! We have TurboTax eggs!!! Yay!! I love TurboTax eggs!". And then he proceeded to thank me for making TurboTax eggs. I know, I am a good mom. What can I say???

So, there you have it, folks. My secret is out. I not only make eggs for Tyler...I make him TurboTax eggs. And they are better than any other eggs Winn Dixie sells, I'm certain.

What a funny kid!! Seriously, stuff like this is always coming out of his mouth and I could have an entire post dedicated to things such as these. He does NOT forget anything!! Like when we're driving down the street and he belts out: "Hey, let's build something together!" And at that point, I realize we are driving past a Lowe's Home Improvement store. And he recognizes bill boards with pictures of local politicians running for office and points them out and tells us their names. Clearly, we must watch too much TV, right?
What a goober! I better be on my best behavior and watch what I say because it will definitely come back to bite me with this kid. It has before, and it will in the future, that is for sure!
And, ahhh, would it not be seriously entertaining to live in the mind of a three year old just for one day? I think it'd be a riot!

7 Months

Monday marked 7 months for this little man. Ahhhh, another month gone by. I swear if he didn't get cuter every day, it'd be harder to watch him change and grow so fast!

At 7 months, he:
hates wearing socks and pulls them off right after you put them on him
loves mealtime and solid foods
still sleeps great at night
is a "so-so" sleeper during the days
is getting the hang of sitting up much better (but still topples over quite a bit)
is still quite a ways from being mobile
sunburns easily (I'm going to have to be really careful with our days at the pool this summer!)
is starting to babble instead of coo. Says ba-ba da-da ga-ga
HATES green beans
laughs at Tyler all the time
loves his bath time
remains a toothless wonder
has crazy hair that is getting longer and thicker and is staying dark
is SO incredibly loved!!

Swimming Lessons

So, this is what we have been doing with our time in the early evenings on Mondays and Wednesdays for the last two weeks. There are two weeks left of the class and I'm already considering putting him in for another round of lessons in May. He is having so much fun and it is always the highlight of his week. He is the youngest in his class by quite a ways (there are only three other kids in his class), and all things considered, he's doing pretty good with it. He is very playful and thinks it's 'all for fun' but we have talked a lot about listening to the teacher and trying to do ______ (fill in the blank) better next time. And he actually usually does try a little harder at the next class, believe it or not. He refers to his teacher Ryan as "my friend Ryan" and tells Ryan he has crazy hair every single time he goes to class. And Ryan still seems to like him after that. But I figured I'd better get him warmed up to the water and get him a few water skills (since I know now that he will not be actually swimming any time soon...) since the time of spending our days at the pool is quickly approaching. I love having quick access to the pool, just walking distance away, during the summers here. It is the only saving grace during a summer in Louisiana! So we're excited to start swimming, and working on our tans, but I am SO SO SO not excited to get in a swimsuit (the things you'll do for your kids, I tell ya). 'Nuff said.
(and please pardon a litle grainy-ness in the pictures. i had to up my iso quite a bit to deal with the lighting in the pool area, which means more grain in the pictures. and some from the day pictured below still turned out a bit dark--probably because i was sitting on a different side of the pool. it was just kind of a weird light... sorry to get off on a tangent!)
Oh, and do not fear. The blue goggles (or dogduls, as T calls them) were just loaners for a day. He now has his very own pair of--you guessed it--GREEN ones.
Here he is with his teacher Ryan with the "crazy hair". (really, it's not that crazy! don't know where T came up with that.)

Baby Sitting

He's starting to get pretty good at this sitting business. He's pretty comfortable if he's on a bed or a couch (something soft), and starting to get more confident when he's on the floor too. But I think it'll still be a while before he's an "independent sitter". :) But he thinks this being upright business is pretty darn cool.
And all I can say is sitting babies are cuuuute babies. For sure!
As you see below, this is why he's a ways from being classified as an "independent sitter". And this is why he still does most of his sitting while he's on the bed. A much softer landing than the floor! We're hoping to eliminate the scene below soon. He'll be pleased as punch when that happens!

Fire Trucks & Silver Dollar Eyes

Last Thursday for play group, we were able to tour the local fire station. I'm sure it would come as no surprise for you to find out that Tyler was absolutely and totally mesmerized by the entire thing. It was pretty funny actually! The firefighters gave the kids a few demonstrations and talked to them about fire safety and such and I couldn't believe how still Tyler was during this time. He did not move a muscle and at one point, he was even folding his arms! I have never seen him quite like that. His eyes were as big as silver dollars the entire time. I was thinking I should ask the firemen to come over and help me on a daily basis since he definitely does not pay attention to me like that. During their demonstration, he watched and nodded and I don't think he blinked even once!
I think this may have been the time at which they asked if it was good to play with matches and he emphatically nodded his head up and down. He was paying close enough attention that he wasn't catching a word they were saying! ha ha!

And I actually kind of liked this blown out over exposed shot of him since it shows just how big those eyes were the ENTIRE time!
When the guy came out all dressed up in the fire gear, Tyler got totally worried and was kind of scared of him and then we finally got Tyler to stand by him, but he was still pretty unsure of the whole thing.
And Sam just hung out like this... :)
I laughed at these pictures of Tyler with the fire man because it took some coaxing to get him to stand there with him and he was being all shy and stuff. And he was trying his hardest not to smile, but he did finally give a thumbs up.
And then he got to sit in the big fire engine. How cool is that?!

And then we see the return of the silver dollar eyes again (as pictured above)!!

And another thumbs up!

And a great day at the fire station it was. We had a great time and I must say that the three firemen that were there were SO nice and SO great with the kids. I actually quite enjoyed myself because they were just so pleasant and seemed so happy to have us there. And I have to thank Aimee for throwing it all together. Tyler is still talking about it!!

Soul Fest

Here are the last of my "old" pictures from my old hard drive. And after this, everything will be current. But like I said, since this is where I currently document our family life (since I haven't scrapbooked in ages...), I'm still puttin' em up! :)

March 1, 2008

On the first day of March, we decided to get out and enjoy the amazing weather, since this is the time of year that you think Louisiana is paradise. Ask me again in two months and I will surely not be thinking that... So, we headed out to the zoo since nothing beats going to the zoo on a beautiful day. Especially this zoo. I love this zoo! And we had heard that the sea lions recently returned for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. I guess they have been in Texas since the storm and they are back home now. And we've been anxious to see them.

As we drove up to the zoo, it was obvious to us that there was some big event going on because we were pretty sure there could be that many people there just because it was a nice day! We pulled up and realized it was Soul Fest in honor of Black History Month. So, all the more fun. That meant we'd get music and great food along with the great weather at the zoo!
So, we saw some of our favorite animals, as always. We can't miss out on the monkeys or the elephants. The sea lions were great and somehow I managed to come home without even ONE picture of them...Hmmm, don't know how that happened!

The kids were great and seemed to love being out in the great weather as well. Sam was just being the cute little man that he is, hanging out in the stroller, watching everything that was going on.

Home Depot Kids Workshop was there doing free kids workshops. When we went to Swamp Fest back in November, they were all out of projects so Tyler didn't get to build anything, but we got in on the action this time and he was able to build a bug catcher (with Dad's help, of course!). So he thought that was totally cool as you can imagine.

He's been setting it out and trying to catch bugs ever since then and I can't say that it's been all that successful. But it's still been fun. And hey, he got a free apron out of the deal, so it was a total score!

And then we hit the stage and listened to some live Jazz music.
And that meant that Tyler couldn't hold himself back and headed for the dance floor, of course. And Sam happily looked on.
And looked on... :)
And some of my favorite sights for the day (besides my yummy dish of jambalaya) were the beautiful flowers that were in bloom all over. I have no idea what these are called, but the pink is so bright and so awesome. I love it!
And my other favorite sight was chubby little bare baby feet that made an appearance to enjoy the nice weather. I love it when it is warm enough to not have to put socks and shoes on babies (since they are always falling off anyways!) because I just love baby feet!