Tuesday, November 30, 2010

the rest of Thanksgiving, with pics


We had a full house for Thanksgiving at my parents'. The above pic is what the living room looked like with six blow-up beds, one of which was a double. And yes, there are people sleeping in them right now. I'm so mean like that.

I grew up next door to my grandparents, so I am super close to them. I'm so excited that they get to know Grayson, and I love when G hangs with his great-grandparents. Aren't they so cute?



It took forever to get this pic of my parents because my dad kept making "funny" faces. (Yes, those quotes are so intentional.)


G was his grumpiest on Thanksgiving, but he had his moments of happy.


He adored my cousin Binky. She could make him smile all day. Loretta, Alex's wife, was the same way. And Binky has seriously pretty hair.


He rather liked Alex as well!


My mom took over a lot of baby duty... not that she minded. I think she hated sharing him with other people - haha. My grandmother and her fought over who got to hold G during Thanksgiving dinner. She's coming to stay part of the weekend with us while the hubs and I go see a Titans game. I'm way excited about the game, even though the Titans suck.



Alex and his wife Loretta are way cute.


Of course, there were group pics. I've already posted the one of the entire group. Here are all of the ladies.

And then all of the cousins. We accidentally lined up according to siblings. So the two brothers on the left are twins, the two in the middle are sisters, that's me in the orange (yeah, I'm short; what of it?), and my brother is on the right. 


I was sad to leave, but it was time to hit the road and get G back to normalcy. He was super loud when we got back, probably because he had to screech loudly to be heard about the crowds. haha. His sleep has also been all messed up. Last night he woke up every two hours. Not cool, little dude, not cool. I hope tonight we are more fortunate.

Can't wait to see all of the family again. I'll see my mom's side on Christmas. But then I get to see all the rest of these peeps on Binky's wedding next October. Can't wait.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

thanksgiving full of family

My Thanksgiving was grand. I had two aunt, four cousins, and two significant others fly in from various parts of the country to stay at my parents' house in Alabama. So altogether we had fourteen people under one roof. I've got a plethora of pics to post (ha) tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to do a quick recap, along with a group shot.

This Thanksgiving:
  • We ate and ate and ate. I was rather touched by how much effort various family members put into making sure I had dairy-free things to eat. I actually got to eat stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cupcakes, brownies, and a cherry/pineapple dump cake.
  • We drank and drank and drank. Well, I had a little and most everyone else had a lot.
  • Lots of games were played. The hubs and I discovered a few news ones to add to our collection. I hope G grows up with a love of playing card and board games. It's just what my family does!
  • Cousin Binky is getting married next October, so we got to gab about that.
  • The hubs and I actually stayed up till 11!
  • G actually slept till 6:30 two nights and 7 one night
  • Speaking of G, his screeching noises have only gotten louder. I think he upped the volume over the last four days to hear himself over a full house, and then he's forgotten how to tone the volume down now that it's just the three of us again. So ear-piercing. He's also discovered his feet (a little).
So thankful that everyone got to meet G. Also thankful to see the family banding together in the wake of my aunt passing away earlier this year. I didn't get to be involved with the funeral or the get-together to celebrate cousin Alex's graduation, so I was eager to spend time with everyone. I'll get to see them again when we travel to Miami next October for the wedding. G will get to meet his other great-grandparents.

From left to right: (front) Grayson, me, my mom, Loretta (big Alex's wife); (back) Paul (Steve's boyfriend), cousin Steve, aunt Marlene, cousin Binky, the hubs, my dad, cousin Alex, my brother Manny, cousin Alex, and aunt Poti.

What a damn fine lookin' bunch!

Oh, so G didn't poop for almost three days while we were away. It was the longest he'd gone without pooping. It's scary when he only poops once a day because it's huge, so we knew it would be bad. This morning, he finally pooped a decent amount. We thought that meant the Missing Poop Adventure was over. However, on the way back to Nashville, within 10-15 minutes of leaving the house, there he went with the I'm-poopin-now face. And he kept on and on. I was sitting next to him and the smell was awful.

We pulled over as soon as we could, and it was horrible! In fact, Dave's face of horror as he peeled off the layers of sticky clothing actually scared G. Poor baby. It was cold with a fierce wind, and we had to take off all his clothes with him laying in the driver's seat with the door open. Poop everywhere! The biggest poop ever! We cleaned him up the best we could, put on new clothes, and got him warmed back up. I think he must've felt bad (or tired himself out) because he slept all the way home, over two hours. In fact, he was so out that I stopped and picked up some diapers.

He was in a fantastic mood when we got home, even though we had to wake him up. Of course, that was until we both accidentally clipped his fingers while trying to cut his nails. He's so squirmy, so I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do about those nails. He keeps scratching his face, and just using an emery board doesn't work too well.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. Off to edit more pictures for tomorrow's post.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

nostalgic - early pics of me and the hubs

The hubs and I will soon be celebrating our second anniversary. The February 6th will be the fourth anniversary of our first date.

Aww, right?

I sometimes forget how long we've been together. It both feels like we just hooked up a few months ago and that that I've known him forever. Certainly it doesn't feel long enough to have a kid! Hubby and I met on the Internet, on a dating website. Gasp. What? Oh yes, we are one of those couples.

His profile pic was this:

Hunka hunka. How could I say no to the offer of a first date?

Our first years have been a roller coaster of awws and cuddles and sweetness it'll rot your teeth. I've been so incredibly happy.

This was taken on our four month anniversary of dating. Man, I was skinny!


Once, we built a fort out of pillows, a mattress, and lots of blankets. It was awesome.


Easter was the first time he met my family. They were all as smitten as I was.


We took our first trip to South Carolina to visit some friends.



He was so brave and took a week-long trip with my family to Gulf Shores, Alabama, crammed into a tiny condo on the beach.




We threw our first ever pirate party.


By the end of that first summer, I was moved in. By the end of that year, I was engaged. He proposed outside of the Opryland Hotel, under the Christmas lights.


And in January 2009, we were married. June 2010, we had G. How crazy is that? Roller coaster years, for sure. By I'm so thrilled with my life!

Tomorrow, we're heading down to Alabama to spend the rest of the week in my parents' home. I have 8 family members from dad's side flying in, so it'll be a house full of 14. I can't wait to see everyone. I hope they don't mind G waking up at 5am. hahaha.

So I'll be MIA for the rest of the week, except for a Wordless Wednesday for tomorrow. But when I come back there will be plenty of pics of Thanksgiving.

Ciao!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

puppy luv


The hubby's grandmother (so G's great-grandmother) gave him a soft pale blue puppy when she visited last month. G absolutely adores the thing. He takes to few toys, so it's really something special if he'll pay attention to it for more than a few seconds. Right now, his favorite toys are this stuff animal, a purple butterfly with crinkle wings, a ball with holes in it that he can grab, and one of his playmat dangling toys that's a turtle with some fish hanging from it. Go figure.

The cutest thing ever is when you place the puppy on his stomach. He'll grab it with his hands and feet, then roll over onto his side. He'll do this over and over. (The second cutest thing is when you hold it over him and then move it toward him. His arms and legs go nutso with the anticipation of getting puppy kisses.





I love the way he plays with it with his feet. He loves to rub his feet on anything they come into contact with, including each other. The feet just kill me with cute in all of these photos.




I'm gonna punch ya, puppy, if you don't get over here so I can chew on your face!


Nom nom nom. I don't think he actually enjoys chewing on puppy's face because he makes faces whenever he does. But he just goes back in for more.



What? So I like to chew?


G just REEKS of cuteness. It's really more than I can stand sometimes. And yes, he's wearing a onesie that says "I love mom and dad." No, we didn't buy it for him because we just don't buy clothes that say that kinda thing. He looks good in green, though, doesn't he?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

want... to... sit

Grayson says,

I'm doing this thing where I try to sit up from laying flat on my back. Mum laughs at me and says that's not the way to do it, but I just know sometimes when I do that, I sit up. I have to shake my hands to make Mum let go because for some reason she's always hanging onto me when I do this. Jeez, woman, just let me do it! I know what's up and up.

She just wouldn't put the camera away a few days ago.


What's up? What are you trying to get a picture of? Wait, I want to eat my sleeve. Let me eat my sleeve!


But it was so tasty... Meanie.


I guess that's not what you were trying to take a picture of, huh? How about my cute face? No? You're waiting so patiently to see me doing my latest trick, aren't you? I've been lifting my head all afternoon and once you take out the picture I just suddenly stop. That's just like me, huh?


Okay, here you go, Mama. I'll play. And... lift.



There, I did it. Now take the camera away and grab my hands so I can sit up!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

30 days of truth: yeah, I'd get rid of that


Day 16: Someone or something you definitely could live without.

I looooove TV. Love it, love it, love it. I love the fact that we have a giant one in our living room. I love that I can record four shows at once and watch them whenever I feel like it. I watch sci-fi, drama, and a smidgen of comedy. I watch all sorts of dirty reality shows like The Real Housewives of _(insert city here)_, but some really great ones as well, such as Top Chef. I watch Glee. I will turn it on and put it on mute while I listen to music and do stuff on the computer.

Yeah, I love TV.

Growing up, I remember having something like 5 channels, including channels 52, 48, 15, etc. We got only the basic of basics. It wasn't until I was 14 or so that we got a dish service that didn't royally suck. It wasn't until I got my driver's license that we had something resembling cable. I didn't get my own TV in my room until I was 17.

But once out on my own, I became so addicted. And it got worse when I finally had a DVR, after I met my soon-to-be-hubby. I could actually pick and choose what I watched. Suddenly, TV became even more interesting than before. When my grading was done, I was glued to that thing (while surfing the Internet as well, of course). I watched a ton of TV while pregnant. Really, what else was I going to do?

Then G was born. At only a few months old, his eyes would wander toward our giant TV in the middle of the living room. How could he resist? Here was this black sliver of a machine that flickered bright and colorful images. What baby wouldn't like TV? But I was disturbed by the fact that later on, he would actually fuss if we didn't turn him toward it. Despite our efforts to keep him from watching it, he knew it was there and when it was on. Gimme TV, my kid would fuss at 3 months old.

Yeah, so not happening, child of mine.

While home by myself, I decided to turn it off one day. I was trying to play with G and his eyes kept wandering to the TV behind me. I turned it off and didn't turn it back on until later that evening. The house was quiet. I could hear G clearly when he talked to me. Babycake is a way vocal baby - check out a video I'm posting tomorrow morning for a bit of that cuteness. G didn't miss it when it was off... and strangely, I didn't either.

Since then, I've turned it on while G is asleep to watch a few shows I have recorded. I also keep it on right before the hubs comes home. We restrict what G watches to just a few minutes here and there a day, mostly by accident, except for football on Sundays when he can watch all he likes. He looooves watching football with all those pretty colors and the fast movement, and while it's certainly not going to enrich his development, I doubt it'll hurt him either. Sometimes if he's really fussy, especially at the end of the day, we'll watch a few short clips of Yo Gabba Gabba!

In short, I've rather grown to like my quieter days. Sometimes I'll go most of the day without turning it on. Sometimes I won't even turn it on during his naps. Today, I maybe had it on for two hours. That's a huge difference for me. This TV experiment has proven that I really could go without watching it at all. I'd get used to it eventually, like I have cutting back my hours.

And really, if I want to watch something that badly, I could always find it on the Internet. Oh, Internet, how I love thee. Let me count the ways...

Sunday, November 14, 2010

in which g works on the sitting (and standing)


G is learning how to sit up on his own. He's getting really good at it - it's so amazing to see how much he's changed in just the past few weeks. We've been trying to get him to sit up on his own as much as possible so he gets lots of practice. It's cute how he'll grab our pants to try to stay sitting up.

Sometimes he's not too good at it and falls over, though. Especially if he's trying to eat his hands or look at something on the floor. He can't do anything else and sit up straight at the same time. He's not phased by falling over! In fact, I think it amuses him, even if he falls on his face. (Yes, we let our baby fall on his face, but only gently so he just gets the point. G, if you lean forward like that, you will fall over.) I'm hoping he'll be sitting unassisted by 6 months. Maybe he will!


After a while, he'll get tired of sitting and wants stand for a bit. He loves loves loves to stand. Sometimes it's difficult to get him to practice sitting because he'll dig in his heels, straight his legs, and try to stand. That just results in pushing himself backward. Which makes him even more frustrated. haha.


Then he gets tired of it all and just wants to chill. He was about ready for a nap here anyway. I love when he decides to lean back against us for a bit.


Yeah, I'm just chillin' and ready for a boob nap. But I can still manage a smile.

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