Time well spent

There are about 3 dozen things I should be doing other than blogging. Especially since it takes me about an hour to do one post. Does it take everyone that long or am I just slow? Anyway, while the Bear is napping I wanted to take this opportunity to get on paper (or the web) what I was feeling right this minute.

I have had more fun being at home over the last few days than I ever thought we could have right after a surgery (even one as minor as tubes.) I took Thursday and Friday off of work to take care of the Bear after his surgery. Danny was at home with us Thursday and it was nice to just hang out at the house. After the Bear got his nap, it was fun. He was ill as a hornet when he woke up from the anesthesia. But after that we played patty cake, peek-a-boo, gave high fives, and played with toys all afternoon.

Yesterday and today, the Bear has gotten to sleep in until he's ready to get up. I've gotten up before him and had time to eat breakfast or shower before he's started stirring. This morning I could hear him moving around in his crib and talking his sweet gibberish. I left him in there for a few minutes and listened to that sweet baby talk through the monitor. When I opened his door to get him up he was still on his tummy with his legs tucked up under him and his hiney in the air. He smiled when he saw me before picking up his little head and trying to stand in the crib so I could get him.

I've also gotten to rock him for a few minutes before putting him down for his morning nap. He lays his little head on my chest and does his slow blinks until he just can't fight it anymore and dozes off. That has probably been the highlight of the past few days. Holding and rocking my baby for his nap. He doesn't often let me cuddle him and put his head on my chest. He's too big of a boy to do that anymore. I love how the sun shines through the curtains and makes his hair look a little lighter and casts shadows in such a way to make his little cheeks look even juicier.

While he naps I've gotten kitchen cabinets organized, the living room vacuumed, and a living room cabinet straightened up. But when he's awake we play. He's cruising furniture like nobody's business. He crawls so fast I have to run to get to him before he plays in the trash or finds the minuscule crumbs on the kitchen floor to eat. He's so mobile these days you can forget about household chores when he's awake.

I even cooked dinner last night! *SNAP!* Alright, come to already...I know it's shocking but nothing worth fainting over. I cooked dinner AND made a pumpkin pie! Now I'll wait while you regain consciousness......welcome back. Anyway, I think Danny was in a bit of a shock too. Bless his heart. He certainly didn't marry a Martha Stewart. As is evident by my meager dinner offerings of Hamburger Helper on at least a weekly basis. Isn't that sad? When I do cook dinner it's something like Hamburger Helper. I don't like to cook. I do like to bake.

I'd like to tell you a little about the Bear and his BFF, Mortimer (we're on a first name basis, we call him Morty) Moose. Wade loves Morty. He drags him all over the house, he went with us to the hospital, he plays with him in the car on the way to daycare. Here they are playing under the coffee table.

And playing in the kitchen...the Bear is laughing because Morty tells hilarious jokes...

But this is how sweet Morty spends most of his time: with one leg in the clutches of the Bear and one of his colorful, bell-ringing feet in the Bear's mouth. Like this:

They're quite a pair.

Hope everyone is having a happy Saturday! We've got a busy one when Danny gets home from work: Bama game then a party with people Danny works with. I won't know a soul, but I'm kinda looking forward to meeting some new peeps. Have a restful weekend!

Embrace the Camera: November 4

I should've combined this with the last post but wasn't thinking. So...two in one day. Some sort of record for me! Here we are Embracing the camera on Halloween.



See the previous post for his adorable costume and its sweet little history. Now go get your camera and embrace it. Love it.

Also, Wade's surgery (tubes in his ears) went fine this morning. He was really grumpy when he woke up but after a good nap and something to eat he was set to go. He has played like crazy this afternoon. Thanks for thinking about us!

Halloween and the Great Pumpkin

I know I'm a little late getting this up and that you've already seen his costume, but I just had to post some of the cute pics we got with him. I also wanted to tell you about his costume. My mom made this little pumpkin and I wore it when I was about 6 months old. Since then about 18 other kids have worn it. And now my little Bear has worn it. It's got holes in it and the stuffing is coming out in places, but it's still precious. I think that's a pretty neat little story. Just thought I'd share.

These are of the cute outfit his Nana got him.

We didn't actually trick-or-treat. We just went to the grandparents houses and showed him off in his little costume. Next year though, look out. Hide your candy.

I Love October

Just a few reasons I love October...

1. It finally cools off. Somedays you can still wear shorts, but it isn't as hot as Hedes anymore. Finally.

2. The FAIR!

source

3. Hubby's Birthday

4. Our anniversary

5. Pumpkins

6. Beautiful leaves

source

7. Football. Specifically, University of Alabama football.

source

8. Punkins

These aren't in any particular order. Although I have to admit that number 8 probably is my favorite. Hmmm...I miss October already.

Embrace the Camera: October 28

I know you're shocked. Three posts in three days. What can I say, I wanted to get the Bear's 9 month pics and new tricks up for everyone to see. And I couldn't miss out on Embrace the Camera.

I didn't do this one tonight (surprise!) This is one Danny took last week. Again, one of these days I'll get it done ahead of time and it'll be a really great pic. But until then, this is life.

We've got a busy weekend coming up. I'm helping to throw a baby shower

Saturday morning (thank God it's not at my house). Remind me to tell you about making punch. What an adventure! Then I'm taking pics of a friend's kids. She wants to use one of these pics for her Christmas card. No pressure. Ha ha. This will be the first time I've done pictures of kids (that aren't mine.) Anyway, hope I can get at least a few good ones for her. This is good practice for me and without practice I can't get any better or get comfortable doing pictures for other people. But still. Saturday night I'm supposed to stop by a wedding reception (they got married in Vegas a few weeks ago. They planned to get married there. It wasn't a drunken spontaneous thing.) We're also taking the Bear "trick or treating" that night. When I say trick or treating, I mean he's going to knock on a few doors of people related to us. Not strangers in the neighborhood. Although I'm pretty sure Danny and I could eat a few fun sized Snickers and Butterfingers. Hmmm...I'll have to think on that, maybe we'll knock on doors after all.

Have a happy Friday! I'll post pics of the Bear in his costume soon. You're gonna love it!

At 9 Months...

The Bear turned 9 months on Monday. It's hard to believe that time is going by as quickly as it has and I'm doing another one of these posts. He is as happy as ever and is doing great tricks.

At 9 months you...
-have found other people's ears and noses.
-commando crawl.
-get up on all fours and rock. You'll even move your hands and knees forward a time or two before dropping back down on your belly and commando crawling again. I think you do this because you're so much faster when you commando crawl.
-pull up to standing without help (including in your crib).
-go from sitting to crawling and on your belly to sitting.
-clap.
-give high fives (though I think it's just hitting hands, not so much a high five).
-have started reaching and leaning when you want someone to take you from somebody else.
-look at Mommy/Daddy when asked "Where's Mommy/Daddy?"
-cry when I leave you at daycare in the mornings.
-love to eat!
-have added chicken and brown rice, sweet pea turkey wild rice, blended fruits and oatmeal, beef carrots and corn, and vegetable turkey dinner to your diet. But your favorite is chocolate syrup. (I hate to give this to you, but it's the only way you'll take your antibiotics without a fight.)
-feed yourself finger foods like mum mums, sweet potato puffs, veggie puffs/crunchies, and biter biscuits.
-hate to get dressed, especially your shirt. You hate for it to go over your head.
-found out you have to get tubes in your ears. You've had double ear infections for about two months and four rounds of antibiotics haven't done a thing.
-have started getting your two top front teeth in.
-are still learning to use a sippy cup. You don't like it when we try to help you use it.
-love to play at your workbench.
-don't like it when we take things away from you. It makes you mad!
-poke and pick at things with one or two fingers instead of your whole hand.


Sitting up by himself is easy peasy these days.


He's getting so big! We took his four month pics on this blanket his Aunt Marci made him and he was so much smaller.


It's hard to keep him in one place for very long. Once he's on his belly he's ready to motor away!

I'm sure I'll say the same thing every time I post what he's doing this month "He's getting so big. Time is going by so fast." But it's true. When I got him up this morning he looked bigger than he did when I put him to bed last night. How is that possible? He's changing all the time and each stage is more fun than the last. He explores more and more of the world around him all the time. He wants to know what's going on all the time. He cranes his little neck to see around me or a corner if he thinks he's missing out on something. These are good times.

Hope everyone is having a great week. Tune in tomorrow for Embrace the Camera!

Laughing at Myself -or- Nine to Shine is Nakie Time

I have to laugh at myself sometimes. Ok, I have to laugh at myself a lot. There are days when I should cackle all day like the village idiot because I do so many goofy things. When I really have to laugh at myself is when I do something and think, "Wow! I am so clever!"

I am tired of picking up toys and sippy cups when the Bear drops them while he's in his high chair or stroller. I don't like the idea of them being on the dirty floor or ground but it also becomes very tiresome and occasionally frustrating. For example, when we were at the fair a few weeks ago he kept dropping his peacock. (SOOO cute, you've got to see it. His name is Jacques the Peacock. Super colorful and makes all kinds of squeaks and rattles. The Bear loves him.) Now, I try not to be a germaphobe new mom, but the fair isn't winning any awards for cleanliness. They've got animals (and their poo) and a kajillion people that stomp through there everyday. You don't really want him mouthing on it after it's been on the ground. He doesn't throw things yet but he drops them a lot and I know the throwing days are coming. So, because of all this I knew we needed one of those leashes for sippy cups and toys that I had seen at the store so it wouldn't roll around in all that stanky nastiness. When I saw these sippy cup leashes at the store I thought to myself, "Why pay $12 for that? I can make that!" These words..."I can make that"...are often my undoing. (Ask anyone about the @#!%*$ hutch on my front porch.) It typically means I buy the stuff to make it and put it on my to do list that never gets to done. Well, this time it did get to done...

Now, before you ask what all the fuss is about, let me just say that I used my sewing machine to do this. (Write that down, hubby!) Not only that, but I sewed on elastic AND velcro. A first for me! I made one with velcro so we could loop it around a toy and one with elastic to fit snugly around his sippy cup. (We won't talk about how the first time the Bear dropped his sippy cup it promptly slid out of the elastic and dropped onto the floor. It landed on its bottom and hasn't slid out again since. Go fig.) I'm good with instant gratification projects like this. It was quick. (Seriously, like 10 minutes. Probably would have been faster if my sewing machine wasn't so out of practice.) I got the tutorial for it here. Yes, I am so re-re when it comes to this stuff that I need a tutorial for something so simple. That and I figure someone has already worked out the bugs, why reinvent the wheel?

And when the fabulous sippy cup leashes were done, I smiled smugly to myself and thought, "I'm so clever." At which point I had to began laughing at myself. I had to gently and sweetly remind myself that I didn't come up with this idea. It didn't take me several tries to figure out the best materials to use...velcro or elastic, etc. I googled what I wanted and BAM! Someone had already done it. I wasn't so clever, I just know how to use the internet. Still, I did allow myself to pat myself on the back for turning the sewing machine on and using it. (After a little troubleshooting help from Mom. Thanks Mom!) And I actually finished something. Wow, another something finished. I better watch out, I'm making that a habit.

Okay, now that you've suffered through my monologue I'll get on to the real reason anyone reads this blog to start with. The Bear.

Why, yes, that is a naked bottom you see. We've been fighting a raging case of diaper rash because of antibiotics. He was letting it all hang out for a while. He likes being nakie (and dumping all of his toys out of the bucket).

Here he is up on all fours. This is a fairly new trick. He'll move his hands and knees forward a time or two before dropping back down onto his belly and commando crawling. And see? He's not completely naked. He's wearing socks. Man, he's gonna kill me for these pics one day.

Just an update...after four rounds of antibiotics that didn't work to clear up the double ear infections our pediatrician sent us to an ENT. We had that appointment yesterday and the ENT says he needs tubes. We pretty much knew that was what he was going to say, but we're still not excited about him having to be put to sleep. The surgery is scheduled for next Thursday. Say a prayer for us. I know everything will be fine, but we were hoping to avoid this. But what else can you do? He's had ear infections for two months. We're pretty much out of options.

Hope everyone has a super week. We're getting geared up for the Bear's first Halloween! You're gonna love his costume...so cute. He turned 9 months yesterday so later this week I'll post his monthly pics and what new stuff he's doing. And Embrace the Camera is Thursday. Y'all come back now. Ya hear?