Florida Chronicles, Part 4

I didn't post last night cause it's been a rough 48 hrs. around here.  Tuesday afternoon we noticed that Wade was developing a runny nose. Although he's had a cold before this was his first runny nose.  Before it was mainly a cough.  So I wasn't really sure what to do with this.  During the day it hasn't been too bad, just catching the snot as it drips down his poor little face.  It's nighttime and naptime that has been difficult.  Tuesday night he woke up about midnight and I could tell his little nose was driving him crazy.  So, I put him in the swing and let him sleep in there for a few hours so his nose could drain.  Last night he woke up about midnight and Grammy said "just get him up and let him watch the game for a little while".  What!?! Do you know how many rules this breaks?

Watching the Rays struggle through Game 1.

After a couple innings he went back to bed and slept well until morning. 

Then today we went shopping. Everybody needs a little shopping when they feel under the weather. He actually did better being out and about and took a good nap in the stroller.

Wade AND Grammy sitting in a very small chair at Gymboree.

Grammy bought Wade the most adorable little outfit for Christmas (you don't get to see it for a couple months!).  Of course I had to try it on him when we got home.  So, then he just stayed naked. 

The little guy went down easily tonight so hopefully he'll sleep well through the night.

Florida Chronicles Part 3: The Beach

Today Wade experienced the beach for the first time. 

Florida Chronicles, Part 2: Naked Baby!

Wade loves having his diaper off.  Wouldn't you? Especially for crawling.  For a brief few seconds before bathtime he is diaperless.  Well, now that he's crawling it takes about 1 1/2 seconds to get from his back into a crawling position.  When Grammy saw this, she said- "oh let him crawl around naked for a few minutes."  Now we have a new routine.  He hasn't peed on the floor...yet. 

 

Just wanted to show you his adorable ghosty jammies from Aunt Cheri.

Florida Chronicles, Part 1

To my surprise, mom got internet hooked up at her house recently.  I say surprise mainly because the monitor on her ancient desktop computer does not work.  So...I suppose she uses her coffee pot to get on the web. 

Speaking of coffee pots, here is a hilarious story.  At least I think it is.  I will change the names of those involved to protect the innocent.  Let's call the characters Mary and Roberta.  In the crock pot a pork tenderloin is roasting away.  Sitting on the counter by the crockpot is a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Latte that Roberta just copied down from the CrockPot Lady.  (I'm sipping on it right now and it is delish!)  So here is how the conversation went:

Roberta: Let's get some pumpkin at the store after Wade wakes up so we can make the coffee recipe.

Mary: Yes, sounds good, that would be a good excuse to go to Target.

Roberta: (motioning towards the recipe on the counter) You know, I bet you could just make that in the coffee pot.

Note: remember the recipe is sitting right by the crock pot.

Mary: (spinning around at the speed of light to face Roberta) What!?! In the coffee pot?

Roberta: Yah, in the coffee pot.  You just need to heat it up.

Mary: Gee, I didn't think you could do that. Pausing with extremely puzzled look across her face. You mean cook the pork tenderloin in the coffee pot?

 

*Sigh* Never a dull moment.  Anyway, we've been so busy having fun since we got to Florida.  Here's what's been going on, in pictures, of course:

 

Friday, mom had to work for a few hours.  So, Wade and I walked down to the Safety Harbor Gazebo with my childhood friend, Tahnee and her sweet baby girl, Tessa.

We went to the Gazebo because on the 3rd Friday of the month there is live jazz in the park.  The "live jazz" consisted of a man with a saxophone and a boom box with a background track.  Occasionally, though, we would glance up from our conversation to find that Mr. Saxophone man had disappeared and left his background track to entertain us.  Good thing we were there for the company and not the jazz!

On the way home both babies fell asleep.

Saturday, we headed out to run some errands in the morning.  We came upon a neighborhood garage sale where some old friends, Pat & Pat Lynch, live.  I spent $6.10 and came home with a bag of clothespins (remind me to tell you of my adventures in line drying our clothes); a pillow sham for the spare bedroom; a silly looking baby picture album (given to me for free because I had a baby with me); a cute duckie net backpack for toys, etc; and a beautiful strappy black dress for some special future occasion. Here's a funny little dialogue for ya.  At a garage sale I had this conversation as I was looking around:

Homeowner (woman in her late 30's): What a precious little guy! Let me guess, he's 8 months old.

Me: Yup, 8 1/2 months, you're good.

Homeowner's daughter (about 5 years old): Yah, well that's cause we have a puppy who's 8 months old.

I love it!

After a nap, Wade went for a dip in the pool. It was a little chilly but he was splashing around and having a good time. 

If you're thinking, gee, it looks like he doesn't have any bottoms on, you're correct.  Totally butt naked.  I won't be getting in the pool till mom shocks it. Haha.

Sunday (today), we got up and went to church then ran a few errands.  After a nap, we headed to one of my favorite places on earth: Philipe Park.  It was extremely crowded since the weather was absolutely gorgeous today.

In case you forgot what his smile looks like...he's been Mr. Serious in pictures lately.

I can't get enough of that little grin.

Mom, what is this between my toes?

It's confirmed, Grammy is an angel...just look at her golden halo.

Yah, he is.

Dimples

How do I get this green stuff in my mouth?

 

Ok, I'm pretty sure this blog is approaching the word limit per post, if there is such a thing.  Stay tuned for the beach, Frenchy's, Miss Betsy, Great Uncle Sam, Uncle CJ and more coffee pot adventures.

P.S. Go RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I am unashamedly a fairweather fan)

Mother Knows Best...

So I get this from my mom shortly after my last post...

 

Alright, dear,

Calm down-even if it's a brown recluse, you are about 20,000 times bigger than it. The problem you now have, is what if he (assuming gender here) is no longer in the bathtub when you dare to open the door????

Where is he??? Let knowledge be on your side at this moment. As long as you know where he is, you have the upper hand.

Equip yourself with a can of Raid (I hope you have-if not use Off or some strong cleaning solvent) and a broom (also assuming you have this). Take a deep breath and open the bathroom door with an eye towards the tub. We hope he is still in the same vicinity he was originally. Trap him with the broom (all the while, humming the itsy bitsy spider song to keep your courage up) and spray the Hell (excuse the term, but this is war) out of the area under and around the broom. Try to ignore the small cries emitting from the broom-he should have known better than to come in and this will serve as a lesson to any of his buddies that may be watching (from outside!!).

Come on, girl, you can do it!! You are woman, let's here you roar.

Let me know who wins..

Mom xo

 

Before I know it, I am up and heading to the shed to retrieve the outside broom.  All the while asking myself "why are you doing this?" Just give it a try-it's only a spider.  Going into the shed is scary in itself.  Who KNOWS what's lurking in there? Got the broom. Now the Raid.  Guess I used it all on those bugs in my cabinets in Houston (another story for another day).  I did have some good cleaning solvent options. But I also needed to consider spray nozzle type.  I needed aerosol for this-there's no time for saving the environment here, after all I am trying to kill a spider.  So, I opted for hairspray.  Armed with broom and hairspray I march downstairs to conquer my fears.  When I got there, he was gone.  I even shook out the shower curtain-I know, extremely brave.  My theory is that he heard me stomping down the stairs and began to tremble in fear.  His fear seized him and caused a heart attack.  And he is one of those types of spiders that vanishes after death.  So, ha, take that, stupid spider. 

 

I still closed the door on my way out.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider Climbed Up the Water Spout

I just need to calm my heart rate down for a minute before I can go on to my next chore. So, I'll share what just happened with you. I was downstairs (in the basement) cleaning the bathroom. I pushed back the shower curtain, leaned down and turned on the water to clean the tub. And then I noticed a little friend take a big hop towards me. A spider friend. I am not usually squeamish around bugs or arachnids or whatever. But, since moving here I have developed a little fear of spiders. We do find them with some regularity since we have woods behind the house-you would think I'd be getting used to them. I'm not. Back to the basement. So I dash out of the bathroom and close the door real fast. Standing outside the bathroom I realize the water is still running. Crap. How long does it take a bathtub to overflow? Andrew will be home in 7 hours...is that too long? Probably. I will say the spider was not huge. Probably the size of a dime. But, we have a friend who lives not too far from here who has had brown recluse spiders in her apartment on and off for several months now. These guys are poisonous and can really mess you up...click here if you have a strong stomach (and haven't seen any unidentified spiders lately). I muster up all my courage and lunge back in, turn off the water and run out, closing the door behind me again. I gather up my stuff and run upstairs. Of course, you know the first thing I do. I do this every time I see a spider and think there's a chance it's a brown recluse. I google it. Google image. And every time the same picture pops up (the one hyperlinked above). I never get a good enough look at the spider to see if it's really the poisonous kind. But he's downstairs in the tub behind a closed door (the carpet meets the bottom of the door and creates a pretty good seal). And I'm leaving for 10 days tomorrow. I'll make Andrew go check on him in a few days.

Btw, according to the www (which we all know is all facts) with our modern day plumbing it is highly unlikely that a spider could crawl up your pipes into your bathtub. So, how does that effect Wade's favorite little song...I've been singing lies to my son since he was 3 months old apparently.

If at first you don't succeed...

We all need a little motivation, right? Well, we have found Wade's.  This amazing duck (or is it a chicken?) from Andrew's sweet aunt is training him to crawl.  You can kinda tell the video has 2 segments.  The first segment shows some extreme crawling action.  I believe there are at least 4 crawl steps documented.  The second part is for those of you who need a little encouragement to persevere today.  Despite fatigue and distractions, stand firm to the end.  You will reach the chicken. Or duck. Or whatever it is.

Mayfield Dairy and Farm

I promise this will be my last post tonight! We went to the Mayfield Dairy today to see how they make milk and ice cream.  The Dairy itself was kind of a let down.  We pretty much just got to see them screwing the lids on the milk jugs and opening the chocolate cookie packs for ice cream sandwiches.  BUT then we went over to the farm and got some GREAT pics of the kids. 

I did not forget about correcting the 8 month photos and I plan to do it before I leave Thursday...so hold me to it. 

Crawl-ish

So, there's been a lot of pressure on Wade to crawl before this Thursday.  He & I are heading to Florida to see Grammy for 10 days. We knew the crawl would be happening sometime in the coming weeks.  But, of course, we didn't want daddy to miss this milestone! We've had 2 sightings in the last 24 hours.

Andrew got to experience the first real crawl.  Even though I was not there, I will not dispute it.  They were sitting on the couch (watching football I believe) and Wade crawled over Andrew to get to the remote control.  Why am I not surprised? He is his father's son. 

Tonight he took 4 legitimate crawl steps in front of both of us.  I didn't catch it on video but I did catch 2 or 3 steps.  He is still reverting to army crawl most of the time.  I think you can also catch him working on his biceps with some push ups in this video.

Take a Hike

Saturday Renee, Wade and I went for a very long hike.  Very long. 

About an hour and a half in we checked out our trail info and noticed that it was an 8 mile hike.  One way.  Then we had to hike back.  I really have no frame of reference for what hiking 16 miles is like.  Part of me is sure that it wasn't really 16, but certainly it was more than 8.  Either way, it was far.  But it was totally worth it.

Once we arrived at Edward's Point we enjoyed a picnic lunch. Wade ate dirt for the first time.  Delicious.

The trail we followed was used by many dirt bikers and four-wheelers.  A couple bikers arrived at the point shortly after us - Wade loved checking out their bike.

 

By the end our feet and backs were screaming at us but we felt great for accomplishing such a feat and getting to see some of God's marvelous handy-work.  We will definitely be hiking on Signal Mountain again in the near future, especially since it's only 15 minutes from our house!

Creative Discovery Museum

Tonight the museum was free. So we went.  Turns out there is a great little area for babies.  And it was free. 

The Old Man is Snoring

It is raining here.  But we are dry inside...unlike some other rainy days of late.  Wade decided to wake up early this morning at 7am.  Fun. Thankfully he was content to play in his crib for a while.  So I could sleep.  Oh wait, no I couldn't.  Sammy was more anxious than usual to go outside.  Actually in the mornings he's not really interested in going outside.  He's interested in his food. But he knows he's supposed to go "hurry up" (pee) outside before he can have his food.  Lately he has been going around the corner-not even leaving the deck-waiting a few seconds then running back to the door like he was a good boy. Ha.  This morning I let him out and stood at the door to redirect him into the yard, thinking he would be especially hesitant this morning because of the rain (which he HATES).  Nope.  He sauntered out to the grass and started eating it, like a cow.  Dogs eat grass when they need to vomit.  Great.  Well, he ain't coming back in this house.  He stayed out there about 15 minutes, eating grass in the pouring down rain.  Finally it happened. It was gross but it was outside so I don't really care.  But he kept eating grass.  Andrew had to go out there and get him.  So we get him all dried off and into the house.  I am keeping a real close eye on him cause I have had to clean up dog puke twice this week already and I'm not planning on doing it again.  I'm not sure what's making him puke.  I spied him last night ferociously eating something in the neighbors yard.  When I went to get him I didn't see anything over there.  Back inside he's acting pretty normal, scarfing his food down as usual.  After a while I got concerned that he hadn't actually peed while he was out there.  So I let him out.  Andrew warned me not to saying now that he realized he wouldn't melt in the rain he would go find his little treasure to eat.  I should have listened.  He tore off to his special spot on the far side of the neighbor's yard.  Picture me marching across the neighbors yard in the rain (this is a big yard-probably like 40yds. from our driveway to theirs) with my sweet green raincoat, pj pants rolled up, no shoes, yelling "Sammy, come!".  Proud moment for Andrew right there.  Have I mentioned before that our neighbor's name is Sammy - not our neighbor's dog, our neighbor himself.  So it's always a bit awkward yelling for Sammy to come.  Finally I convince him to go back to our house.  I still don't know if he peed.  A while ago he was acting all fidgety  but I told him he couldn't fool me and took him out on the leash.  He didn't pee. 

Wow, all of that before 8am.  Well, at least it got my butt into gear.  I've been quite productive since then if I don't say so myself.  Laundry, vacuumed, emptied dishwasher, made baby food, played with Wade, cleaned out Wade's closet.  And it's only 12:31pm!

The little man got his flu shot last night.  That makes it sound like I took him up to the Seven Eleven on a cigarette run and had them shoot him up there.  Just kidding. I don't smoke.  (Nor would I ever consider it) At the doctor's office, silly.  He did great.  Cried a tiny bit after he realized that lady with the big hair had stuck him with something pointy. 

Ok, I'm going to carry on with my productive self here.  We have a guest coming this weekend.  Renee Runyan is coming all the way from Houston and we could not be more excited!  She's coming for the fall leaves, mountains and Wade. Just joshing ya! I think she wants to see our new house too.  Andrew went camping last weekend at Fall Creek Falls so the basement looks like a tornado went through it from his last minute packing.

Surveillance Video Footage

Wade is getting pretty good with finger foods. His favorites are peas, carrots and cheese. Turns out Sammy also likes peas, carrots and cheese. Know how I know that? Mm, hmm, check out the above video of Andrew's son.

Did you see that? Yes, clearly Wade drops food out of his hand onto the floor for Sammy. And Sammy ain't no fool. He gobbles it up almost before I can notice. So, there you have it. Wade is getting smart in his old age.

Wade's 7 Monthabirthday (oops! I mean 8 months!)

Well, here is the up to date monthabirthday slide show, sort of. Just last night I was telling Andrew that I feel like I've been having a multitude of brain farts recently. He concurred (sweetly, of course) that it didn't seem like I'd been bringing my "A game" lately. And I've done it again. Did you notice the sign in this month's photo? Yah, I typed that, printed it, hung it and took approximately 30 photos of Wade in front of it. Then I sorted through all 30 of them to find the cutest one and uploaded it to Photobucket. Guess when I noticed that I had put "seven" instead of "eight"...when I viewed the new slideshow on Photobucket. R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S.

Oops!

Blooper announcement: on the previous post I said to test your homemade Taggy making skills by giving it to your kid and if he puts it in YOUR mouth you've done good.  While I suppose that would show some measure of success, the real evidence is when he puts it in HIS mouth.

 

Also, the printer is working again so prepare yourselves for 8 monthabirthday pics (hopefully tomorrow).

A Little Project

Have you heard of Taggies? I saw one for my first time at a shower last weekend.  They are so cute.  And practical!

And expensive...

regular price $24.95 (Gasp!)

 

Wade loves to put everything in his mouth. But he especially likes ribbons, strings and high chair straps.  As soon as I saw it I thought to myself 'Self, you can make that!'.  A stroll through the fabric section of Wal-mart reminded me that after I purchased the fleece fabric and ribbon I would definitely spend more than even the super clearance Taggy I saw online for $9.  Bummer. 

This morning as I lay on the floor playing with Wade he grabbed for the string on my hoodie.  Immediately it went in his mouth.  I thought to myself 'Self, if you were to make a Taggy, you would have to consider putting such a string on it.'  I started thinking of the other things I would have to put on it.  Ribbons, of course; a piece of strappy stuff like his high chair straps; maybe some buttons on a string...wait a second, I have all those things!!! The fabric, what could I use for the fabric? I took my hoodie off (so Wade could continue chewing on the string) and headed to his closet.  And there I came upon it.  The stack of extra baby blankets.  If you're a new mom, you know you have at least 3 in your closet.  What? You say, you were saving those to regift? Do the person a favor...use it to make her a Taggy (and of course one for yourself).  Join me on my Taggy making adventure...

 

Note: I am NOT a seamstress. And you don't have to be one either.  If you've ever made a pillow, no, if you've ever held a pillow, you can do this.  It's basically the same, except you gotta add the taggies. 

 

Step 1

1. Locate and dust off your sewing machine. If you don't have one, you can do this by hand...just find some needle and thread. 

2. Decide on your fabric.  I'm using a medium weight blanket for one side.  I wanted the other side to be silky so I'm using an old pair of athletic shorts (they originally belonged to Andrew-I wore them and got paint on them (oops!) so they became mine, then I wore them through pregnancy...remember I gained 60lbs. so you can imagine that they're a little stretched out now!).  Other items I considered were: fleece blanket, t-shirt and dri-fit shirt, towel. Be creative.

3. Gather your tags.  I had a lot of ribbon from scrapbooking so that was an easy start.  I found a piece of string like the one from my hoodie. Mom helped me decide against the buttons-too risky if he could pull them off. I cut a piece of strap off of a hiking pack that my brother made useless by cutting off the waistband but I love it to much to part with it. I also had a few of those rattles that velcro to a baby's wrist or ankle-Wade never liked it being velcroed on.  Again, be creative.  Even if you're not crafty, I guarantee you can find items around your house.  Or beg, borrow or steal some from friends. 

4. Cut your fabrics to size. Actually, cut the fabric to about 1-2in. bigger than you want the finished product to be.  My finished product is going to be approximately 9 x 9in.  But make yours whatever size you want. 

5. Cut your tags to size.  You want them varying sizes.  Now, they are going to be looped so you actually want to cut them twice as long as you want them.  Then leave about 1/2 in. extra.

6. Lay them all out. I have 8 tags per side. 

***Pause:  I did all of the above and then blogged about it.  This is what happened next.

7. Lay your material down right sides facing each other. Pin the fabrics together in the middle.  Pin (or use sewing tape) your tags to the edges facing inward like so...

8. Carefully sew around the edges of your fabric but leave a 2-3in. gap to turn it right side out.  Use a straight stitch, thread color doesn't matter (read: use whatever is already on your bobbin).

***There is a far easier way to do this.  Of course I didn't realize it until I was done. It would require a little extra stitching but would be worth it to me as I am not that great at keeping everything aligned as I guide it through my machine.  Easier way...

• Go back to step #7.  Do NOT lay both pieces of material down- just one, face up.  Continue on with the directions, taping/pinning the tags on.  Then sew around the edges.  You are just sewing on the tags.  Then you would lay down the other piece of fabric, face down (like above).  Then stitch that fabric onto the tagged fabric leaving a 2-3in. gap to turn right side out.  You'll want to stitch right on your previous stitch or on the INSIDE of it. 

This is where I got into trouble because I didn't do so hot keeping it all lined up.  My fabric ended up bunching up and I had to cut it about 3 inches so it turned out more rectangular.  I tried a few other stupid things that almost ruined the whole thing before I cut off the 3 inches.  I would tell you more about it but it's not funny yet-I'm still a little aggravated with myself. 

9. After sewing around the edges, trim outside the stitch to about 1/3 in.  Turn rightside out. Now sew up the remaining few inches as you would a pillow. 

Ta-Da, you have a Taggy!

Give it to your kid and see what they do.

If he puts it in your mouth then you've done good.