Saturday, April 27, 2013

I'm one of those parents.


Well, not one of THOSE parents...sort of... I confess, I entered my son in a baby photo contest! Ah well, I've never been against shameless attempts at glory. I was (am?) and actress after all and see no problem with making profit off your looks or ability to say things with feeling. (I'm snickering at that last part)

Ben and I have even talked about getting Whit some headshots made, and mine redone, to send off to agents in Nashville. And I straight up told Ben if we had a girl she was doing pageants. Don't worry I'm no Toddler and Tiaras mom, but I'm not against winning savings bonds to add to the college fund. I mean, I did a few pageants growing up and I'm fine! I still just as much a tomboy, hate wearing makeup and don't care how I look or what other people think of how I look. BAM, no body issues here, thank God!

Anyways, here's my shameless begging: if you've got two seconds in between cute baby animal pictures, send a vote Whit's way here: http://www.parents.com/photos/parents-cover-contest-2013/2013-04-22/x3oi

He's technically a cute baby animal?

Thursday, April 25, 2013

52 Weeks: Week 16


This week was spent mostly just hanging out and marveling at how quickly Whit is growing and mastering new things. He's so much more fascinated by the little everyday things than his toys. As I type this he's squealing, crawling around the kitchen carrying a dish towel and pushing Foster's food bowl across the floor. He'd much rather those things than his blocks, cups or his talking puppy, which has apparently fallen so out of favor he cries at it now. Ben had Whit for two days by himself this week, so after I got out of work Monday we tried the playground. Whit wasn't too impressed at first, he does already have a swing at home. But he did enjoy sliding quite a bit, here's an action shot:


He also really liked swinging in that contraption Ben's using. I've never seen anything like it and can't figure out why it exists. When we came to it I felt like I was discovering a new land like the first time I had escargot or the time I discovered a female urinal (yikes). 

Anyhoo, his favorite activity was watching the big kids play. I have got to find him some other babies to play with. Hopefully we'll get to do a water babies class here soon and we're going to try Gymboree, so we'll see how those go. 

Okay, wow, I can really ramble if given the chance. The top left pic is from Whit's first taste of edamame, which he's still not sure about. And the bottom right I am in love with. I took a bunch of pictures of Ben holding trying to wrangle Whit and every expression is different. And it's so amazing because I see both of us distinctly in him. One picture will be of me when I was little, then the next is a face Ben makes now. Now I want to scan some old pictures of us as babies and compare!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Oh, and this happened...



heart melter.

Gardening... glorious, glorious gardening!

Ha, sort of. It's been so nice lately (with the exception of the past two days.. freeze warning tonight!) that I've re-caught my gardening bug. I already potted my yellow cherry tomato, mint, and lemon balm for the year and got a strawberry plant to try. I've tried before without success, but I think I have an idea of what I'm doing now, so wish me luck. I also got to pruning some of our shrubs, including one particular monster...


Originally I was going to just take down the entire thing. Clearly the previous owners thought it was just a shrub a planted it a mere SIX INCHES from the house. Well, turns out it's sort of a tree and is eating the nursery's window. So I start chopping away trying to figure how I'm going to do this without a chainsaw, and then I noticed a robin's nest. With eggs. And being the damn hippy I am, I can't destroy the entire tree until the little ones have left. So now we have this...

Thursday, April 18, 2013

52 Weeks: Week 15


Ooh, that summer is trying to show up way too early! We had a couple days this week of 80+ degree weather, but I'm fine with that since I lurve warm weather. So out came the snoball trucks, which has become a recent sign of warmer weather here. I grew up in Mississippi where there were always snoball places, but since it's warm during most of the year they were open pretty much all the time. Here, there's an actual winter so the past year middle Tennessee has acquired a couple of cute snoball trucks. I got mine with "creme" (really it's condensed milk... and people wonder why the South has such an obesity problem) and the guy making it was surprised, since only real Southerners know about creme in their snoballs.

Whit has become only happy while in motion... or when smearing food into his hair. He's still obsessed with the dogs' houses and opening and closing their doors. And he's recently become fascinated with the washer and dryer. He can sit and watch our Laundry TV run for 5-10 minutes, and that's a long time for him! The main picture this week was from this morning. Ben fed Whit his morning bottle today and Whit started stroking his beard. It was so fascinating/delicate/cute/adorable. I love pictures of my two guys together.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Happy Eight Months!


At eight months, Whit...

...weighs in around 22 lbs... I think. The last time we weighed, three weeks ago he was almost 21 lbs.

...is wearing 12 months in Carter's and 12-18 months in Old Navy/Gap clothes... and those are most of his wardrobe. Honestly he's not long enough for any of it, but his shoulders are so dang broad anything smaller looks like he's wearing muscle shirts!

...is still wearing size 4 Swaddlers.

...may be teething again! His bottom gum looked a little funny tonight and he's been chewing his fists again. Poor thing is going to have a full set before his first birthday at this rate!

...is CRAWLING, STANDING and CLIMBING like a madman! The past two weeks my only job has been keeping him from killing himself. And believe me, we've had a few close calls. When he finally figured out how to crawl it was on! Within two days he was pulling up on the furniture, trying to stand. Two days after that he pulled himself up and sat back down by himself (I've read that some kids have a tough time figuring out how to get down?). And as soon as he was standing, he's lifting his feet trying to climb over whatever it is he's holding onto. Oy, so this is what having a son feels like!

...is in love with the dog's room. If I don't corral him somewhere, he'll bolt to the dog's room. He loves using their crates to stand up and he LOVES opening and closing Foster's crate's door.

...another reason he loves that room? Laundry TV. This past week I've sat him in front of the washer or the dryer in his bouncer and he loves watching the colors. Plus, we have high-efficiency machines so they make some pretty weird noises.

...has started waving! It occurred to me that we could probably be teaching Whit how to do certain things. He picks up on stuff wicked fast, so why not? I had him waving in a day and a half! I'm trying to get him to blow kisses or do something helpful like, sign when he's hungry, but no dice just yet.

...knows what "No" means. Thankfully he only has to be told once before he stops. Except when it comes to the dogs' food and water bowls. I may need to do some creative problem solving for those.

...says "dada" A LOT. In fact he stopped saying "mama" almost completely... until today. He kept wanting to say it when I was feeding him so today was pretty messy, not that I minded!

...makes yummy noises when he eats. This is totally my fault. Four months of feeding him solids and still I can't not open my mouth when he does and I can't not make yummy ("nom nom nom") noises while feeding him! But it's so cute when he does it.

...is starting to show some emotion... and a temper. Normally, Whit is a very easy-going baby. But lately, he gets mad at diaper changes, if his bottle is taking too long (and he can see it) or if you take something from him. Ooh, that last one has been a little tough since he doesn't move on to the distraction well. He's also cried a few times when I've scared him. Not on purpose! I was trying to play with him and I guess I was a little too loud and I surprised him. He looked like someone had shocked him and just started bawling. Once he bit me and I told him No, but I guess I did it a little too sharply and he just cried. Oh I felt horrible and started to cry too. So I'm learning to quiet down a bit.

...has thoroughly enjoyed all the outside time lately: in the swing, in the grass, on blankets, whatevs.

...snores. Loudly. His sleeping habits have become a new source of entertainment for me and Ben. Thursday night it was butt in the air, on one shoulder, mouth hanging open, in the corner of his crib, snoring. His favorite has been wrapping his blanket around his head, making a cocoon as soon as you put it on him.

...is such a chuckler. And has started fake laughing. I don't remember what Ben and I were laughing about, but Whit was watching us, confused, and started laughing. Sort of. It sounds a little like a laugh, a cough, and his dying duck noise. Oh gosh, this kid cracks me up and melts my heart!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

52 Weeks: Week 14


We've had Awesome Weather here lately. Spring has definitely sprung (and Summer peaked it's head a little on Sunday... 80 degrees, sheesh!). So Wednesday we celebrated with happy hour oysters on a half-shell and sweet tea. Most of the pictures from this past week are self-explanatory. We saw a cool car, which around here is a sign of warmer weather, Whit is still in love with his puppies and that bottom right is a picture of our friend Wess enjoying a tiny mug of milk. We tried a swanky new restaurant in Nashville called Urban Grub and it was currrr-azy good. But any time there's bacon ice cream is a win, right?