Challenged.

As my husband was leaving for Atlanta the other day, he asked me, "Do you need the GPS for anything?"

"Nope," I said, knowing I was going to be sticking to well known places for the next few days.

Fast forward to today. I loaded Drew in the car to take him to his Aunt Glenda's house while I worked at the food pantry at church for 2 hours. We didn't have to be at her house until 12:30, but I wanted to swing through CFA (Chick Fil A) to use my awesome coupon for lunch, so we left the house at 11:30. Good thing cause the CFA line was wrapped totally around the building. No problem though. We were early.

We got to her house a few minutes early so I ate my lunch and tried to feed Drew some of his. I left Glenda's at 12:30, knowing I'd be a few minutes early to church.

I chose to take the highway instead of the interstate since it was closer. Of course a dump truck pulled out in front of me. No worries (minus the THREE rocks that hit my windshield--no cracks, honey)--I was running early. About 15 minutes passed and I realized I hadn't hit Coldwater yet.

"Shiesh, this dump truck is really slowing me down!" I thought. About 2 minutes later I figured out why I hadn't passed Coldwater. I had taken Hwy 51 NORTH instead of Hwy 51 SOUTH. Instead of heading south to drop off Drew, then further south to go to church, I had instead headed south to drop off Drew and back north to my house!

Needless to say, I was embarrassingly 15 minutes late instead of early and was almost too embarrassed to explain why--because I'm severely directionally challenged.

I think I'll be mounting the GPS permanately into my vehicle.

My Five Favorite Materialistic Things

Okay so, all seriousness aside, I have a list of things I am so thankful for having in my life. You know, aside from faith, family & friends. You can't beat those, but I really wouldn't want to go without these things if possible. I give you my five favorite materialistic items.

1. Electricity. People, I hate to sweat. Air conditioning is my BFF. I could write a song about how much I love the hot water that pours, with all its beautiful water pressure, out of my shower head. I love that I can microwave my Rotel whenever I want without the aid of a burning stove and that I have ice at my fingertips to pour my already chilled Coke over.

2. Internet. It's my lifeline to the world. Without getting off my couch or out of my PJs, I can check the weather, my email, buy practically anything, get a virtual hair makeover, learn Spanish, or how to weave a basket out of twigs. It's all at the fingertips. How much easier can it get?

3. Coca Cola. I'm gonna blame it on all of you for never holding me accountable because I STILL have this Coke addiction. Life's too short not to have a the good stuff.

4. DVR. I am extremely thankful for our version of a DVR. To record shows and play them back at your leisure?! How easy is that?! And watching House, MD in crystal clear clarity, all the while not tuning in to a SINGLE commercial?! I just doesn't get better than that...

5. Purses. They're like a girls best friend. I would say they even come before shoes for a lot of women. Easy to change out. 500 different colors. A new purse can make you feel like you're walking off the New York runway. It can put pep in your step as you're walking through Kohls and that annoying Miley Cyrus song starts playing....("Movin' my hips like"....oh, sorry.)

(Runners up: stretchy pants, fat jeans, red toenail polish, long sleeved tshirts, and granny panties)

(Honorable mentions: anything holding my kid's attention)

Bitten

I've been bitten by the Christmas bug. I thought I was holding it at bay, but yesterday I headed to Kohl's to use my awesome 30% off coupon. Oh, Kohls, how I love thee. (Great prices, great merchandise, and you're open after my child goes to bed. Oh and holiday hours extend that even further. *sigh*)

Christmas trees. Christmas music. Holiday candle scents. Wrapping paper. Gift buying. I was hooked. I came home with my bag of gifts and sat them on the table.

That leaves me with my new dilemma: now I have all these gifts to wrap and no tree to put them under. A sane person might suggest putting them in a closet for 2 weeks, but I'm gonna pull the "I have no more closet space" card and pretend like that's true. And then I'm gonna pull the "It's only a week and a half early to put up the tree!" card and act like it's socially acceptable to do so.

That leaves me one question...am I crazy enough to put my tree up this weekend? Well, yes I am. It's only a week and a half early! Not sure if the hubs is going to agree to this. I'll just blame it on the Kohl's Christmas bug.

Stick around. Christmas tree pictures might be coming soon!

Random Thoughts

Ever have one of those nights where you have 500 things on your brain, but none of them relate? No? Oh. Well, I have them all the time. In fact, I feel that way tonight. I don't know if this list will total 5, 10, or 13 random thoughts. Let's take it from the top...

1. I got an awesome deal on Target wipes today. 16 boxes of wipes for 9 bucks. Thanks, Audrey!

2. I don't like arguing with my husband. Good thing we can't stay mad at each other long. When we look at the other we start smiling. I love that about us.

3. My son pitched constant fits in Target today because he wanted to run around on his own. What age do they start holding hands again?

4. I was reading through my Bible last night about all these things that God dislikes. It included murderers, jealousy, adultery, etc. Then, just as I was thinking I was safe, it said, "outbursts of anger." Ugh. Caught. Sometimes between the screaming and messy house and phones ringing, the stress just goes to the top of my head and I have a minor blow up. I am not perfect. Thank God His grace is sufficient for me.

5. Oh and that whole gentle and quiet spirit of a woman thing in the Bible? I gotta work on that, too. Sometimes my ways are none too gentle.

6. Our sit-in preacher the other day explained a good reason to us why some people have to go through bad things. You know where the Bible talks about the seed that got thrown on the side of the road and the birds ate it up? Did you know that some seeds have to be eaten by a bird and go through its digestive tract and be pooped out before it can produce? It's true! So it is for some people. Some of us just have to go through a lot of (excuse the term) crap. It would be unfair to call what some people go through (cheating, loss of children, physical loss, etc) to be poop. No. It's far worse than that. But they go through this stuff because God knows at the other end of this "digestive tract" is going to come a beautiful person who will bear great fruit!

7. Drew is going through a naptime funk. We went from 2.5 hour naps to 1 hour. Not pretty.

8. I'm sitting amongst a pile of coupons, begging to be sorted. My fridge is begging for food. My loving husband told me I shouldn't go to the store tonight. "Relax instead." So here I sit.

9. I mess up so many times a day. Not the type of sin that is public, but a sin is a sin. I pray daily to be a godly wife, mother, and person. Some days are so much harder than others.

10. How soon is bedtime? I'm catching up on Heroes and House, MD tonight. Can't beat that!

Happy 16 Months, Drew!

This last month has brought about lots of intellectual changes and accomplishments!

• You recognize family members' names and can match the name to the person. For example, "Go give this to Granna," and, in a room full of people, you take the ball to Granna. You did this for several family members, and I was so impressed! I didn't know you had made the connection of names outside of Mommy & Daddy! (This leads me to want to make a photo book with your favorite people!)
• You know the names for so many items, even though you don't verbalize them yet. Broom, vacuum, train, ball, cup, chair, phone, etc.
  
• You follow more commands now. For example, "Put this on the table," and you do it.
  
• You can sing "that" song and hit the notes so well. I'm banking on you loving to sing...and being good at it! ;)
• You're attempting to say more words, but only when you feel like it! (ie, not when people ask you to repeat something.) You've tried saying: ice, banana, yes, deda, and oakley
• You're pretty much in an 18 month size clothes now. However, the pants are still too long. You're stuck between 12 months in some pants, 18 months in others!
• You have cut almost 16 teeth! Some are not completely through yet, but they all seemed to come at once!
• You really like: putting caps/tops on things (you love putting the cap on a coke bottle), playing with the steering wheel, your lawnmower, being outside, climbing, playing with lightswitches, the vacuum, opening and closing doors/cabinets/drawers, being held, your see n' say, books, animal books, playing with phones, singing, chocolate milk, bread, french fries, goldfish, and saying the word "no."
• You really don't like: having to sit down, being put down in the shower, brushing your teeth (getting better though!), and being confined in the carseat for too long.
• You took your first long trip (Dallas, TX) in the last month and did SUPER!
  
• You played on your first fast food playground.
• Went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time.
  
• Daylight Saving Time is kicking our toushy. You went from sleeping in 'til 9:30 to sleeping in 'til 7:30. I'm missing those extra 2 hours.
• You take a good nap in the afternoon on most days. Today it was 3 hours long (miraculous!) and at night you go down around 8:30-9:00pm.

This has been a really fun month! I enjoy seeing you make new connections each day between words and actions. This next month will bring lots of excitement and rule setting as the Christmas decorations go up! We are looking forward to celebrating your second Christmas with you and making lots of great memories! We love SO much, little boy!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

New Kroger ECoupon Site

Hey Kroger couponers! Southern Savings announced this new ecoupon site for Kroger stores. Make sure you sign up so you can upload more coupons to your card!


Click Here...

Easy Cheesy Cajun Potatoes

Y'all know I only like to cook things that have lots of flavor, and these definitely have it. We love eating these potatoes with barbecued pork loin...but in truth, I could eat them by themselves! I have no pictures to prove to you they're not yucky looking...just...trust me. They're G-O-O-D.

Easy Cheesy Cajun Potatoes

• 4-5 Potatoes, peeled or unpeeled (I prefer mine peeled)
• 1 stick margarine, melted
• 1 envelope of dry onion soup mix (find this in the soup aisle in the box section)
• 3/4 cup water
  
• 1 Tablespoon Tony Chacheres (sp?)
• 12 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or just your favorite kind)

Preheat oven to 350*
Slice potatoes and place in 9x13 dish
Mix melted margarine, onion soup mix, water, and tony chacheres in bowl
Pour over potatoes
Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour
Uncover. Add cheese
Place back in oven uncovered until cheese is melted

Sisters & Their Kids

Kacie came to visit with Caroline this week and wow how she's grown! She looks SO much like Kacie, it's unreal. And can I say--what a good baby! She just sits and stares and rocks to sleep. She loves to cuddle and coo.

My little Drew was never like that! As soon as he could open his eyes well, he wanted to be bounced and jump around. Is it just the child or is it more girl vs. boy. I've heard lots of support for the latter argument, and I tend to believe that gender probably plays SOME sort of role for the majority of kids. (Although, there ARE outliers!)

Andrew got randomly called out of town Tuesday morning to Arizona so Kacie was kind enough to stay with me to keep us company. We had so much fun! (Do we ever NOT have fun?) The kids were great. We went out to eat with the parents, talked about black Friday shopping, and caught up on House, Heroes, and Twilight.) The great-grandmothers, grandmothers, and the Papaw had so much fun playing with these grandbabies!

*The pictures uploaded in random order. Enjoy anyway!*








(Seriously NEVER thought I would post a picture of me sans make-up. Then I decided "who cares?" I bet even Beyonce looks rough in the mornings.)






Little Kacie!

Halloween 2009 & Chuck E Cheese

I know I'm the last breathing blogger who hasn't finished blogging about Halloween yet, but I can't rest until I get it written down. (Okay, that's a lie. I've slept fine.)

On Halloween night we got the pleasure of heading to our neighbor's Halloween party/cookoff (Hi, Daphne!) As Andrew's mom, Debbie, and I were getting Drew ready for the party, Andrew decided it was imperative that our pumpkin get carved before the trick or treaters came to our house (where we would not even be located...).

The party started at 5. At 4:45, Andrew started carving his elaborate Scooby Doo Pumpkin. Ms. Debbie & I headed to the party sans Andrew at 5:30pm to enjoy DELICIOUS potato soup. Even picky little Drew partook in the meal. Andrew showed up about an hour later with a proud display of Scooby Doo Pumpkin iPhone photos. (Wish I had a picture to post. It turned out great!) *sigh* Husbands. Cant' live with 'em. Can't live without 'em. ;) (Just kidding, babe--love you!)

Instead of trick or treating this year, we decided to hit up Chuck E Cheese for the first time. Are we crazy or what? We thought it would be uncrowded, but we were wrong! Drew had a lot of fun, but mainly stuck to any game with a steering wheel.


Walking into a place like Chuck E Cheese with 200 sets of dirty hands and prevalent strains of the flu give me the chills. Good thing I had my handy dandy Lysol spray! Yep. I sprayed every one of those toys with Lysol before I let Drew touch them. Oh, I got laughs, but you know what? He didn't get sick from there, so it was worth the stares!

My verdict: we had fun, but Drew probably would have had just as much fun playing in our truck with the steering wheel. Andrew, however, got our money's worth. He had a BALL. I actually went to find him after 10-15 minutes of him being gone. Found him right where I suspected: the deer hunting game. Are we surprised? ;)

Trunk or Treat 2009 Pictures--Arrr Matey!

Last night's Trunk or Treat was a hit! Our family costume theme was "pirates" and our costumes were pretty cheap & easy. Drew's was store bought from Target ($12) and mine was pieces put together out of my closet. For Andrew costume, we bought a $10 black shirt from Marshall's and cut off the sleeves and neck. Made a cheap vest! We did spend $2 on his hook and $10 on his wig. It was worth it; he loved the hair! ;)

I don't have much time to go on about how great the night was, so I'll just give you a few pictures:









To see all of the night's pictures, click here!

Striped Tie Attire

Last night was the long awaited evening. After a trip to 2 separate Wal-Marts, I came home with my fabulous new sewing machine. I was so thankful the manual included instructions on how to thread a bobbin and a needle. I'm that type novice level.

I waited all afternoon to see Drew's tale-tell signs of naptime so I could throw him in the crib and...er, rock him to sleep and put him to bed...so I could start to work on project #1.

This has to be sewing 101 'cause it was so easy! There is an obvious flaw on the knot, but naptime is too short to rip out each stitch and start over. So the flaw stays! But besides that, how cute is my man gonna be?!


Thanks to Char for the instructions! And please go look at her site. She is so crafty it's sickening.

Weaned.

I had been thinking lately that it was probably time to wean Drew. About 6 weeks or so ago I really thought it might be the last time I nursed him because he was really showing a lack of interest in nursing. So, that night I took it all in. I tried to take mental photos of exactly how sweet my precious boy looked as he nursed. I remembered nursing for the first time, at 1 week, at 8 weeks, at 6 months. How he would kick his feet around and smile while he nursed. Beautiful memories no one can take from me. I cried and prayed and thanked God for such a sweet blessing.

Weeks went by and Drew suddenly became very attached to nursing again right before bedtime. I began to think I might end up nursing a 125 lb. 9th grader if I didn't put an end to this. But how?! Nursing was our crutch; it made bedtime so easy!

Well, last week Drew cut 3 more teeth. And seriously 5 more are peeking through now. That's 11 teeth plus 5 coming in that were joining us in our nightly nursing sessions. Last Monday night I bit my lip through it. Tuesday night's nursing session lasted about 1.5 seconds--long enough for me to get well acquainted with each tooth. I unlatched him and that was it. No turning back! He hasn't fussed once and has gone down for naps and nighttime beautifully.

The last nursing session wasn't exactly as I had imagined, but it was time! Breastfeeding was so hard in the beginning. I wasn't sure I would make it to 6 months, let alone a year. But then it became second nature and that time was "our" time--one no would else could replace it. I'm so thankful God gave me the opportunity to nourish my sweet boy for the first 15 months of his life. It's been a beautiful process!

(Now please bear with me as my hormones are going nuts and I'm eating myself out of house & home!)

Dallas- Day 3

Thankfully Drew slept in this morning until 9:30. Good thing since we were up from 5am-6am with one grouchy kid. We had muffins and juice in the hotel room, played with the vacuum (finally got a screwdriver!), and read books.

Drew started getting fussy so I decided he and I would get in the shower. Our hotel is awesome--but not kid friendly. We have one of those cool looking showers that has no door or curtain; it's only partially blocked to the rest of the room, so you can just step in and out freely.

(similar to this)

Drew was all over the "stepping in and out freely" part. I was so worried he was gonna bust his head-again! After we both got clean, I stepped out to dry off. When I turned around. my squeaky clean little boy was squatting....pooping right there in the shower floor. Ahhh! Yuck! I went to get a wad of toilet paper to clean it up. It took like 4 seconds. When I turned around, he was playing in it! I know, I know. TMI for most of you. He basically had to have another shower after that & I had to clean the poop deck.

It was so nice outside today so we eventually went out to the hotel pool. It was very relaxing & a nice change of scenery. My friend Hilary warned me that Texas always has a constant breeze, but I'd say it's more like strong winds! The wind blowing just never ends around here. It's pretty much useless to curl your hair unless you prefer it stuck in your lipstick from the wind!

Tonight we got to meet several of Andrew's coworkers, including 2 of his bosses. One of them was so sweet! He saw Drew in the lobby and got on his hands and knees and played with him! I was so thankful to this man for entertaining my bored child! Andrew & his coworkers went to eat and I made the decision to bring Drew back to the room; it was late, he hadn't eaten, and was getting really tired.

He's finally asleep now, and we're praying for no diaper leaks tonight! We're heading out in the morning around 10, hoping to make it back home before 9pm. I so look forward to my own bed and all of Drew's toys to occupy his time! Oh, and there's no doubt I'll be praying for a quiet ride home tomorrow! So long Dallas, TX!

Dallas--Day 2

Yesterday morning Drew and I had the hotel room all to ourselves for a lengthy 3 1/2 hours. We nearly drove each other nuts! And poor Drew--he was pretending to brush his teeth while I brushed mine and he slipped on the tile and hit his forhead on a piece of hotel furniture. He immediately had this huge gooseegg on his forehead. I noticed he had a little blood coming from his mouth. He wouldn't let me look to see, so I assumed he had just bitten his tongue or scratched himself with his toothbrush. 20 seconds later all the tears were gone and he was in a good mood again. While we love being here with Daddy and wouldn't want it any other way, we were more than ready for him to pick us up for lunch yesterday!

We battled the chilly day and ate Chick Fil A for lunch and then hit up Toys R Us. Since Drew and I would be in hotel confinement for several more hours upon our return, Andrew & I decided to try and find him a toy to play with. Do you know what we came back with? A vacuum with a detachable dust buster. This may only sound crazy to us because we just bought him a vacuum at home 2 weeks ago! But even though he already owns one 8 hours away, he pushed this one around the store and won our hearts over. He is now the proud owner of TWO vacuums.

When we got back to the hotel and Andrew headed back to his conference, I went to take the vacuum out and....needed a screwdriver just to get it out of the packaging! I guess Toys R Us is seriously protective of 18 dollar toys. So...we drove each other crazy some more.

Not long after that, Drew laughed with his mouth open and I noticed something looking really crazy on his left, bottom jaw. I can't even describe it except that it looked like he may have broken an uncut tooth in half and taken half his gums off. That's when I kinda freaked out. We know no doctors or pediatric dentists around here. I didn't know if I should call an urgent care facility or what! When we finally got a hold of Andrew he'd brought his boss, who is also an ER doctor, to see Drew. Thankfully, he said he thought it was just a large flap of his gums that had gotten pushed up. He said it should "flake off" soon. Ick. I was so relieved to hear it was just minor! Drew hasn't complained about it once! We headed back to the room to wait for Daddy for another few minutes.

It was about that time that I realized Drew had no pajamas for last night. Somehow in the rush of packing for TX, I layed out Drew's PJs and forgot to put them in the bag. What he's been sleeping in the past 2 nights got covered in chocolate milk yesterday morning so....off to town we went! We ate at Outback where Drew acted as tired as he felt. However, he was still long enough to eat almost an entire loaf of brown bread! Then....Target! Oh, how I love me some Target. I found two lamps I really wanted, but Andrew insisted on pajamas instead. (Party pooper.) In the end, Drew got Christmas pajamas. I figured, "Hey! I'm all about celebrating Christmas early. Might as well start in October!" So last night he donned his Christmas pajamas for bed. Good thing 2 sets came on the hanger because his diaper leaked last night. That meant he was in the bed with us. Have mercy! I don't think a California King would be big enough for Drew and us!

Dallas--Day 1

Aside from a few whines here and there, we made it to Dallas in 10 hours without any major complaints, mental breakdowns, or pull-my-hair-out sessions! That's a "win" in my book! I'm tellin' you--one of you out there who prayed for us must have it really good with the good Lord 'cause that's the ONLY way we made it here without a crying fit. I was literally stunned at how great Drew tolerated the drive. We broke out all of our "new" Goodwill books, magna doodle, new talking cell phone, bubbles, stickers, and a Walgreens basketball we got the day before; those pretty much did the trick!

I have to mention that Drew got to play in his first fast food playground in Little Rock during our lunch break. Mommy & Daddy both slid down the slide with him!



Our hotel is quite lovely! Egyptian cotton sheets and a flat screen TV (which hasn't been turned on yet) and a beautiful open tile shower. However, we somehow wound up with the hotel room whose bathroom door won't shut completely. So yeah, Drew's been caught playing in the toilet 5 times today. The last time I caught him he was this close to throwing the roll of toilet paper into the toilet bowl. That woulda been fun to clean up! ;) As I type now, he's asleep in his playpen (do you hear the angels singing?).

No, really. He's been a trooper! Today we got up and made our way across town to the children's museum. (And getting "across town" in Dallas is no small feat, might I add. The interstate system here is one in which to marvel!) Drew had sooo much fun at the children's museum...and I think Mom & Dad enjoyed it too. ;) We've decided to get our family a membership to Memphis' Children's Museum for this winter! (Pictures to prove how much fun we had..)


(This pretty much sealed the day as being great for Drew. The child has a love for all things "cleaning" related. Example: when we went out to eat tonight, there was a map mopping the floor. He went NUTS wanting to use the mop! He was fighting the other kids for this dust buster and vacuum.)


Sliding down the fireman's slide.


He really liked this John Deere tractor!


Andrew kept calling Bessie the Cow "Betsy the Cow." Just another reason I love him.



He really liked this pit of foamy blocks. Don't say it. We do NOT need a ball pit.


Okay so then we wandered into the adult museum. I found these huge bubble wands. Andrew was on the phone and saw my humongo bubbles and got so jealous. He was just itching at the bits to try it out.


Niiiice, honey!


Then Drew got in on the action!

Then we headed to TGI Friday's for a quick bite of lunch. Drew created a gift in his diaper for me, so I headed to the truck to change it. (No changing tables anywhere!) The door was open while poor Drew lay stark naked and half hanging out the truck with the wind blowing. Suddenly the "gift-covered" wipes fell out of the truck onto the ground, "face" up. Then the wind blew the door shut on my hip and leg! We were a sight to behold. It crossed my mind that if that wind blew hard enough to blow those wipes a few feet across the parking lot, that's where they'd stay! (No such luck--picked them up!)

Drew & I came back to the hotel for a quick nap. When he got up, he was ready to play. Our lovely hotel is awesome, but I don't think "child friendly" is a good term for it. We had to
get creative so I let Drew run up and down the 5th floor halls, ride the elevators, and play with the vending machines. Then we came back in the room and I let him climb in and out of the open shower, open and close doors, and play with the balcony door lock for a solid hour. I think we're gonna take that lock with us for the drive home.


Cracker Barrell was the top choice for dinner tonight, followed by a quick trip to Walgreens. I found Drew a $7 medical kit that will hopefully keep him occupied tomorrow. My plan was to travel Dallas, but uh...I don't think I can manage to get out of the parking lot here. Seriously. It makes my head spin and my stomach muscles tighten up. Memphis traffic doesn't hold a CANDLE to this place! So...we'll probably be dining at the hotel for lunch for the next two days. ;)

Overall....LOVE Dallas. It's beautiful! Lovely architecture. Green trees everywhere. People are SO friendly. My only suggestion would be to make these roads simpler! I'm off to think of hotel activities for tomorrow!

Blogger Widget Help

I've had a few people ask how certain features on my blog and how to get them on their blogs as well. Instead of rewrite it each time, I'm going to link it all up here! Hope this helps some of you!

• To put a cute signature at the bottom of your post, go here: My Live Signature (Pick a font, a size, the signature color, and a slope. It should then tell you you're finished. See all those little buttons for all the different sites? Click on the orange blogger button. If you enter your blogger user name, password, and blogsite, it will then add your signature for you!)
  

• To get a counter, there are several sites you can choose from. I chose: Site Meter. Why? It's free, easy to use, and breaks down where your visitors are from, how they got to your site, etc.

• To put the links to older posts at the bottom of each blog post: Link Within. This is fairly easy to use, but if I remember correctly, once you enter this very little information and click "Get Widget," it automatically puts it into your layout of your blog. So don't think it's not working when nothing happens! Go look on your layout to find it, then move it underneath the post section of your blog. If you can't get the colors to match up, contact customer service. They're fast and fix the problems quickly!

• Other cool stuff, including stick figure families: Widdly Tinks

Hope this helps a few of you! Happy blogging!

Finer Things

There are so many finer things to be glad for this week (one of which is not my keyboard which keeps moving the cursor all over the screen!):

1. Apple butter pancakes and chocolate milk with the whole family.
2. Independent play time. Hallelujah!
3. White pumpkins on the mantle
4. Not having to turn on the air conditioner or the heater during the day. Hello, savings!
5. Hearing Little Man say "Daddy"
6. A molar and canine finally cutting through the gums
7. Aunt Deda who kept Drew for 6 hours yesterday while I shopped/ran errands
8. Finding a dress I'd been eyeing for months on sale at half price!!!
9. Drew's new sleeping pattern...sleeping until 9-9:30am! Yes!
10. Rocking & cuddling with my little boy at night while he sings to himself.

Post Children Fashion Rules

I was at the store the other day during nap time, trying to hurriedly find an item worthy of my Kohl's bucks. After searching through every department and coming up empty handed, I spotted the perfect pair of boots in the shoe department. They were adorable, my size, and the exact color I wanted. How lucky can a girl get? I pictured myself cruising the mall, the movies, and restaurants with these cute boots on.

As I headed to the register, boots in hand, I thought, "Wait a minute. When am I actually going to have a chance to wear these boots to the mall, movies, or restaurant?! I haven't been to a real mall in ages, and I've been to one movie in a year and a half; eating at a restaurant usually means Drew's chewed up and spit out food ends up on my feet!"

Motherhood surely takes its toll on our fashion choices. Post baby, it seems there are different times that affect how we don our bodies. During breastfeeding days you must choose wisely: button downs and flowy shirts are good; one piece dresses and tighter fitting shirts are bad...very bad. Then you must consider matching your hooter hider material to whatever you're wearing that day. If you're pumping at work, you must choose clothing that comes off and goes back on easily...and is not too prone to wrinkling if you must hold that article of clothing between your knees as you pump in a public bathroom.

Then take the kids' runny nose days; you'd best wear something green so the nasal output blends in. Oh and just forget anything white or that says "Dry Clean Only." It's a waste of your time and money! And let's not mention jewelry choices post baby: namely small and nondangly...and indestructible to little hands.

So Clinton and Stacy, as you continue dishing out advice to mothers around the world to look cute and stylish while heading to the grocery store with kids-in-tow, just remember all the rules those mothers are having to abide by. And they're probably just lucky they got a shower and dry hair that day. Much less 3 inch heels and a matching cardigan.

Oh and just for kicks, I got the shoes. I decided I could wear them while I electronically, socially network with you all.

Dear Santa, Love Drew

I'm a planner by nature, so making my kid's Christmas wish list in October is right up my alley. He'll be 2 weeks shy of 18 months when Christmas rolls around, so I'm looking for toys in the 18-24+ month range. Any suggestions of toys you have for that age is greatly appreciated! So far we have:

Dusty the Vacuum Cleaner


or if I can find it, I'd prefer this one since it's more realistic...

iPlay Vacuum


Little Helper Broom & Dustpan

(Are you sensing a theme here? Little Man loves to help clean!)


Play kitchen and/or grill. Still haven't decided on a specific one yet. I want it to be: sturdy, durable enough to last through several kids, and have noises to make it realistic. I've read the Step 2 Deluxe is the best if more than one kid will ever use it.

(I'm also reading lots of reviews about Toys R Us giving a coupon out before Christmas for 20% any one item...Good thing!) Suggestions?



Play Food




Shape Sorter


Any small, play tent that can be "his" space. I think he would really love one!

Any other suggestions on things that hold your kids' attention span for more than 10 minutes? I'm all ears!!!

Ms. Priss Goes to the Pumpkin Patch...and takes her family with her

It's 12:07am and I have no clue as to why I'm sitting here with cats on my eyes, attempting to blog. I guess that will be my excuse if you find 20 grammatical errors in this post. ;)

Did anybody else get to pull out their long sleeves this last weekend? We had planned on going to a pumpkin patch with Andrew's mom which was located in Arkansas. Andrew's mom even made Drew an adorable pumpkin shirt for the occasion! We woke up Saturday morning around 8am, stopped for doughnuts (First ones we've eaten in over a year. Um, I had three. And I'm not ashamed.), and headed out on the 2 hour drive to a pumpkin patch.



So we got there, petted some stinky animals, rode around on little miniature tractors, and took the obligatory pictures. Drew had a grand time running amuck.



What a cutie!


Then his daddy wants to go and be the center of attention... ;)

Then we headed out past the donkeys and a pig to get on the biggest trailer I've ever seen sitting in the biggest pile of mud ever to ride to the pumpkin patch.

(Biggest trailer ever.)

Okay so we rode to the pumpkin patch. Does that sound weird to anyone else? All the pictures I'd ever seen of people taking their kids to the pumpkin patch consisted of kids sitting among piles of orange pumpkins placed conveniently next to the cash register. Not so in our situation! We headed out to the actual "patch" of pumpkins. And mud.


I clearly was not prepared to walk into the actual patch of muddy pumpkin fields since I had chosen to wear my brown suede flats. Instead of ruining my shoes, I opted to play the role of Mrs. Priss and keep my feet inside the trailer, taking pictures. Boy, was I a sight among all these other women! Let me break it down for you:

We're on this extremely long trailer full of hay being pulled by a tractor through the mud and muck. I so conveniently chose to sit right by the tires of the tractor. Three words: lotsa mud slingin'. My hair is blowing in my face and sticking in my lipstick while all these other country women had smartly chosen to ponytail it for the day. My sweater is just a little more than see through, and the wind riding down the highway doesn't make me much warmer. I'm really cold and shaking and am trying to wipe my kid's snotty nose on my new Gap sweater to keep it from being blown back into his hair. Andrew says rather loudly due to the engine noise, "Too bad it's not two weeks later! You would have been in luck 'cause I would have had my camouflage coat in the truck." "I don't think I would get that desperate!" I said, in hearing range of all the other country women on this trailer.

Then I took my cute brown suede shoes and shoved them down my throat.

They were all wearing camouflage. One lady was wearing a baby sling made of camouflage.

"Yeah, I only wouldn't wear it cause it wouldn't match these shoes, dear." Argh!

So then add to the fact that I didn't wanna get out in the mud to pick a pumpkin, and they really thought I was stuck up. Then it really didn't help that when I stayed in the trailer, I was "hollering" to my husband where the pretty white pumpkins were to pick for me like a little priss pot. Then I'd either yell to him that I liked it or hated it.


Trying to find the wife a suitable white pumpkin.

Sorry, ladies that I came off as a snob. I'm really not! So next year I think I'll just stick my hair in a ponytail and borrow the hub's camo to save myself the embarrassment.

Okay so ALL of that to say....we had a really good time overall! Drew had more fun than any of us, and really loved playing with his pumpkins. Here are all the pictures that couldn't fit into my crazy, snobby story:


This little guy was on clearance!


He doesn't think my joke is funny.




A fake picture of me looking warm and not snobby and my child's nose clean for 0.5 seconds.


Someone is impressed with pumpkins...






Daddy showing off Drew's new Mossy Oak camo boots from Uncle Austin!




Drew's scary face. :)



Overall a very good time at the pumpkin patch of 2009 with lots of lessons learned for mommy!