My Old School Baby

Will is in that great stage where he mimics all kinds of things he sees Steven and me do.  I love seeing him try to act like Mom and Dad.  We have an old school Nintendo hooked up in our guest bedroom.  Yes, we still play it every now and then.  (Steven and I stayed up until like 3am playing on our first date by the way)  

Anyway, I walked in the bedroom to see what he was up to- b/c he was way too quiet- and found him blowing into the games and pushing buttons on the remote.  

Now I don't plan on letting my kid play video games all day, but every now and then will be ok.  Especially if we can instill a love in him for the "classics".

And yes, my hubby still tries to punch out Tyson about once a week.

My Summer Reading

I love reading.  I L.O.V.E. to read.  It's kind of ridiculous.  When I get a new book my husband sighs or grumbles and basically knows that I won't hear two thirds of what he says to me. (Which is a good way for him to see what it's like for me once football season starts, but anyway...)

I'm a fast reader too.  I don't like to leave a book unfinished.  A story just sitting there waiting for me.. the characters frozen until I pick it up again.  I can finish a huge book in two or three days, much to the dismay of my poor neglected home.  Once Will goes to sleep for naps or bedtime- it's book time.  And I can hardly wait.  It's a problem really.  I admit it.

The past few months I have read some really great books.  Here is the stack that's on my nightstand right now.  I need to return a few of these to friends.

Did you notice there is a book in there called Duel of Passion?  I ran out of books and a friend passed it on to me.  A Harlequin.  Of course I read it.  It's a book.


My latest finished book was The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.  It was good, but hard to get started.  I was committed though and look forward to reading the other two that follow.


Before that I read THe Help.  AMAZING!  If you haven't read this- do.  So, so great. I've recommended this book about a hundred times to anyone that is literate.

This is the one I'm on right now for a book club I've joined.  Mennonite in a Little Black Dress.  It's a memoir.  I've read about two chapters and laughed out loud- seriously- many times.  It's hilarious.  I actually just almost aborted this blog post to go pick up the book.  But no, I will post.  Then I'm cleaning up toys and the bathroom.

Also, I found THIS last night at Half Price Books on the clearance shelf- a hardback Nicholas Sparks book for $2!  It has a little tear in the jacket so it was marked down.  Merry Christmas to me.

I also just finished Eat Pray Love.  It was a book club choice, otherwise I probably wouldn't have read it.  I was happily surprised and really loved this book. It was more of the author's writing style, humor, and fantastic imagery that I loved so much. Some book club girls and I saw the movie too.  Not so great.  If I hadn't read the book I would have been both confused and bored.  Instead I was just bored.

Well, that's it for now.  I have two books lined up and should be satisfied for the next two weeks.  After that, I'm open to suggestions!

All I've Got

This is all I've got.  I have no blogging motivation.  I babysat for a friend of mine all last week and today.    Her name is Kendall, she's 5.  We had a great week & Will has a super new friend.  Here are some pics from when we went to the zoo and sweated our faces off last Monday.

Just because they're cute (both the penguins and shirts), here are some new shirts I got Will this week.

Will loves to play tug of war with Dex.

My hub.  We had a small family reunion in Garland on Sunday.  

My cousin Barbara's baby girl- Laney.  So adorable!

Post banana pudding.

Sorry, that's all I got right now.  I've been so busy and am a little pooped.  Hopefully this little bit will relieve some of the pressure to blog.

Getting ready for a nap,

Bravery

UPDATE:  It turned out ok.  It's actually kind of strawberry-ish.  I can live with it.  It's just nice to be able to pull my hair into a ponytail and not have such dark hair underneath.  Maybe next time I'll be more bold. 

I can't take the dark roots anymore.

Blonde hair is a pain in the butt.

I had a darker brownish color box in my hands, but chickened out.

I went with this one.. Dark Golden Brown. 

I'm too cheap to go get it professionally done right now.

I'll let you know how it turns out....

You'll still be friend if I look like an oompa loompa won't you?

Holding my breath,

15 month Stats

Will turned 15 months on July 19th and I never posted his stats.  He is almost 16 months now, but I'll do it anyway. 


He is still a big boy, but is definitely slowing down.  Remember, I have the kid who was 15 pounds at 2 months old.  It was crazy.  Anyway, here are his weight and height for 15 months:


Weight: 27 pounds (82nd percentile)
Height:  33 inches (92nd percentile)


It's nice that he's on the charts now.  I actually think he'll be able to wear his clothes from last winter b/c he was in 12-18 months then and still his.  He has thinned out  A LOT.  


He is saying so many new words and is trying to say a lot too.  I love to see him watch my mouth as I sound out a new word and then he tries and it's pretty much just jibber jabber, but so cute.  He just jabbers nonsense at me all day with a look on his face like, "Of course you know what I'm saying.  I just told you, lady."  


He has said his first 2-3 word phrase too!  "I did it" or "did it"

Current Loves

watching Yo Gabba Gabba - he screams and dances when it comes on

playing outside, in the dirt, with sticks and rocks- awesome

playing in the car

playing with keys (which we've tried to outlaw, but sometimes he snags them)

playing catch (he can catch now!)

"slamming" the basketball in the hoop outside (wants to do it every time he sees a goal)

bubbles - outside & in the tub

water- drinking & playing

coloring 

climbing steps

laundry basket racing

raisins

shaking his head no 

Pop Pop (sorry all other grandparents, not to mention ME)

throwing food on the floor ;(

fruit

Current Dislikes

going to bed, laying in bed

church nursery

time out

being told no

having his diaper changed

getting in his car seat

having sunblock put on

Our Good Habits

signing please

saying and signing more

hugs 

kisses

sitting in booster seat for all meals and most snacks

drinking lots of water

Bad Habits we need to break

using a paci (not sure when we'll stop, it just helps so much)

not going to bed alone (we've been sitting in his room, but he's not going to sleep with us anymore!)

putting his hand down Mommy's shirt for comfort (a really bad habit)

temper tantrums

Having a toddler is challenging and tiring, but everyday is definitely an adventure.  I love my little maniac so much more every day it's overwhelming.  He is adventurous and playful and a little comedian.  We are having so much fun seeing the little person he's turning into & can't wait to see how he develops each new day.

Thank you Lord for our little boy!

We made a tent in his room the other day.

Grits & Sleep!

1.  HE DID IT!  My kid slept through the night!  I can't even tell you when the last time that happened was.  Thank you Lord.  (He knew I'd need to be rested for the day it looks like I'm going to have.  It's only 8:20 and we've already had a time out)  I know my son is 15 months old and most moms already have this happen nightly.  We don't.  Yes, it's probably my fault and I'm currently being judged by every Babywise mom out there.  Oh well.

2.  I'm not sure we'll do grits for breakfast again soon.  He really liked them and ate most of it all by himself with his spoon.  Then he decided to spray paint the dog, the floor, his chair, and himself with his breakfast.  Nice.

3.  We acquired our weekly black eye last night.  I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I know he fell off a step at a friend's house last night.  You can hardly tell in the picture, but it's blue and purple and already darker as I look at it now.  At least he didn't fall on a chop stick and have it stick in his eye and need stitches.  (Yes, that happened to the two year old son of a friend of mine recently.  Thank God he still has his eye!  Note:  Don't let your kids play with chop sticks.)

 It's underneath the right eye.

Happy Tuesday,

 

First Day of School Teacher Gift

So this will be my second year not teaching, staying home with Will.  I probably should have gone back this year.  It would have helped out a lot financially, but I will just have to do my part with quite a bit of subbing.  This time of year was always very exciting to me as a teacher.  The stores are putting the school supplies front and center, parents and kids are walking the aisles with their supply lists, and teachers are getting their rooms ready for another long year.  Of course it's sad too b/c summer is ending, but a fresh start is always good.

Anyway, I've caught wind of a few conversations lately of parents thinking about a teacher gift for the first day of school.  Since I'm not teaching this year, I don't feel like it would be super tacky for me to offer some suggestions... and some "don'ts" for beginning of year teacher gifts.

Here are my thoughts

Great Ideas:
-gift cards:  even just $5 to Sonic or Target is much appreciated
-gift card to a teacher supply!  I got this once & loved it!
-a sonic drink, Starbucks drink, bottled soda- so simple and inexpensive
-cheap flowers
-school supplies: fun pens or notepad
-candy:  again, much needed after a long day
-food:  I've had a mom make me a strudel once and another made me a pie.
-Donuts!  This past year a student brought me a little bag of donut holes & it totally made my week!

Thoughtful, but Please Save Your Money-Items teachers get ALL the time and don't know what to do with
 (This is actually quite a touchy subject, as I could very well end up looking like an unappreciative jerk.  Please know I appreciate all thoughtfulness from my students and parents.)
-Coffee mugs: I know it's super cute to fill it with candy and that it says "World's Best Teacher" on it, but I am being serious here- your teacher probably already has a cabinet full of mugs
-Stuffed animals:  again, it's just not very practical or useful.  Cute and the kids will like though.
-Apples, plaques, signs, calendars,... that say "World's Best Teacher"- We get so many of these

These previous items are sweet gifts, but the problem comes we get so many year after year and don't know what to do with them.  I hate the thought that someone spent money on something that is going to end up in a cabinet somewhere.  I'd really rather you just save your money and write me a note.

Anyway, I hope this will be helpful to at least one parent out there.  I also hope I didn't come across as horrible rude.  I've seen so many families on the back to school aisle discussing what to get the teacher.  Don't stress about it.  We're easy.  We like drinks, snacks, and mostly just smiles.

Good luck this year,