Random Happenings and More Pictures

Another week has flown by and it's almost September?  Wow.  In some ways this summer lasted for-ev-er with the stifling heat and humidity keeping us trapped inside, but in other ways I can't believe it's time for school buses and Halloween costumes.  Our little girl is just shy of walking on her own.  We are down from a two-handed assist to just holding on to one of Mommy's fingers.  Go baby go!  Consequently, we just received a shipment of various baby-proofing items:  toilet lid lock, oven lock and super-duper retractable baby gate for the top of our stairs.  Who knew you had to lock your toilet?  But sure enough, SB finds the bathroom an exotic locale full of forbidden excitement.  Toilet paper is ridiculously fun.  Just one tug and whooosh half the roll is unfurled at her feet.  She like to gleefully grab handfuls of the stuff and ball it up in her little fists.  If you try to take it away she'll attempt to shove it in her mouth.  Where'd she learn that from, an episode of Prison Break?  She also likes to go for the toilet brush (ick) and peek behind she shower curtain in case Daddy is hiding there, I guess.  All I see is one slip and a skull fracture from the cast iron bathtub, therefore I do my best to keep her out of there completely.  She's a fast little bugger though.

Pardon me while I get all domestic, but I cooked the most delicious meal the other night and must tell you about it:  Mini-meatballs and Polenta served with Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce topped with a dollop of Ricotta Cheese.  All three of us devoured it and it was from the Williams Sonoma Cooking for Baby Cookbook that my Mom bought us as a baby shower gift.  You make the meatballs with oat bran instead of bread crumbs and add dill and nutmeg.  Delish!  The tomato sauce has pureed sweet potato and spinach in it so it's way healthy.  Sarah Beth loved it.  I highly recommend this cookbook if you have a little one or one on the way - the recipes go from first solid foods thru toddler meals and like I said, it was delicious for us big kids too.

So, in the category of unpleasant eating experiences, we had a stowaway in our bagged fresh arugula mix from Trader Joe's the other night.  I plated our salad and we sat down at the table.  I started eating but heard this weird hissing sound coming from Kurt's plate.  There was a HUGE striped beetle-looking thing sitting on his plate staring at Kurt.  It was apparently not pleased that it was about to be dinner and believe me, neither were we.  I, of course, being the borderline bug-phobic person that I am, flew across the room screaming EW EW EW EW as I spit out the salad I was chewing on.  Kurt thought it was all hysterically funny.  Baby did too.  Our little friend met his fate in the garbage disposal and I will never eat bagged salad again.  I am only thankful that it was not sitting on my plate because I probably would not have survived.

Since my theme here has turned to food, I may as well mention our luncheon with Daddy on Wednesday.  We went to the big city to meet Daddy at work.  We ended up at Lola's, a home cookin' cafeteria style place that possibly has the best mac n' cheese ever.  SB thought so.  She ate all of Mommy's serving save for one or two bites.  She also enjoyed the baked chicken, pinto beans and cornbread.  She is definitely a southern gal.  Oh for you Yankees, mac n' cheese is considered a vegetable in the South, so it was actually quite a healthy meal for her.  After lunch, we headed up to The Green for round two of frolicking in the fountain.  This time, no homeless people showering.  No one at all actually, SB had all 3 fish to herself and she took full advantage.   Again, iPhone video will be forthcoming.


As promised, here's the final round of photos from Avery and Sarah Beth's playdate at the park, post-haircut.

Here's BOB!

Avery was very eager to help push SB around.

Happy boy!

There's a water feature that is calling my name, Mommy!

Check this out!

Good times.

Little Man! Love this one.

SB's turn.  I have 1000 pictures of her on the swing.  

I'll spare you the masses and just pick a few.  But if I can get the video off of Kurt's iPhone you will be forced to watch it in a future post.

Here's a close up of the precious turtle hair clip Auntie Ouida bought her.  It's made of felt.  Too cute.

Wheee!  We've been to the swings several times since then and she loves it.  As soon as she sees the swing-set she gets all excited.    Even better when there are other kids to watch!

Sunday Funday

Today was a fun-filled day for our little family.  We went to the park for a stroll, then after naptime, headed downtown so Kurt could do a little filming of Charlotte landmarks and we could take SB to see the big buildings.

Two stories from our day:
As we strolled by the baseball fields at Freedom Park, there was a father pitching to his son who was probably 10 or 11 years old.  Son was hitting 'em pretty decent for his age.  As we walked past them, the kid swings and misses and dear old Dad says very loudly "NO NO NO I don't want you EVER to swing at a high pitch EVER AGAIN!"  Really?  Is that how you teach your kid to love baseball and love you?  What a jackass.  Kurt wanted to borrow the son's bat and take a few swings himself.  We only wish the son could have said "well old man maybe if you could learn how to pitch I wouldn't have to swing at that crap" but I'm sure that wouldn't have gone over too well.  Poor kid.  I hope he quits baseball and takes up ballet just to tick his dad off.

In the afternoon we stopped at The Green, a cool little park tucked in between the big bank buildings of Uptown (downtown) Charlotte.  There is an awesome water feature there that kids love to play in - it's 3 concrete fish, 10 feet tall, in a circle that spray water from their mouths, surrounded by spurts of water that come out of the ground.  Well, SB took one look at that and said  "I'm in!"  She thought it was delightful and the two of us got soaked splashing in the water with lots of other little kids....oh and the homeless guy.  Yes, amidst the rosy-cheeked children playing in the fountain, there was a bum rinsing off fully clothed (thank god for that at least) complete with bicycle helmet.  He was cordial enough, I guess, but seriously, where are the security guards to escort this guy to the showers at the local men's shelter?  You have to understand that the security people patrolling these properties are like the gestapo.  If you so much as take a picture on The Green they will tell you you're not allowed.  Last time Kurt tried to film some of the new museum buildings (just the exterior, mind you) he was shooed away by the property police saying you had to have prior permission from the property management.  Yet some guy can take a shower in a kid's water feature and that's ok.  As long as we don't take a picture of it. Awesome.  Kurt did get a little video, the sneaky guy that he is, so stay tuned for that footage in the near future.

Hope everyone has a great week.  First day of school for CMS students here.  Is it a bad sign that I'm already getting weepy over back to school commercials and Sarah Beth is only one?  

Avery's New 'Do

The long awaited photos of Avery's first haircut are here! 

Before:

Playing while we wait:

The consultation:

And away we go...um, Mom what is this lady doing?

Lady, what do you think you're doing exactly?

Not really loving this but I'm keeping it together.

Reassuring kisses from Mommy helps.

See, it's not that bad, right Avery?

Well actually Mommy it is that bad.  Almost done Avery, promise!

Whew, glad that's over with.

Now, can me and my sidekick take this truck for a spin or what?

Look at that grown up boy haircut!

The hairdresser at Pigtails and Crewcuts was so nice and good with Avery.  I will definitely be taking SB there for her first haircut.  They have the cutest hair accessories for little girls too!  Auntie Ouida bought SB a little felt turtle clip - too cute.  You'll see shots of that in our next installment: Avery and SB go to the park.  Stay tuned!

Observations from an Old Lady

In my twenties, I don't think I was emotionally ready to be a parent.  In my thirties, I am wishing I was 25 again as I'm running after/carrying/bending over my 1 year old chunky monkey.  It's a sad state of affairs, I know.  I'm not a total couch potato, I mean I did run a marathon (ok it was 7 years ago but that still counts.)  However, I'm finding that as SB changes and grows, so do the aches and pains in my back, hips, arms and even fingers and toes.  Nobody mentioned all of this when I was preggers.  I did not know that the body aches of pregnancy were just the tip of the iceberg until she is completely self-propelled.  At the moment, I have horrible pain on the ball of my foot from walking around on hardwood floors in bare feet all day and rocking her at night.  I need to be wearing shoes but I can't seem to make that happen during the day.  I have a weird shoulder pain from hoisting her up and my hamstrings are sore from bending over to hold her hands while she totters around the house.  What a pathetic inventory of woe.  I sound like I should be at the Old Folks Home trading stories with Mabel and Ruth.

I went to the mall the other evening and before I even entered the building I caught myself twice thinking "I can't believe her mother lets her out of the house like that" as I passed young girls coming out of the mall.  The first had super tight short shorts on, barely covering her rump.  She was maybe 10 or 11 years old.  The second had on similar attire.  I know there are creepy men who sit in those lounge areas in the middle of the mall with sunglasses on just staring at young female passersby.  I sure as heck wouldn't want Sarah Beth wearing  (or not wearing) anything to attract Chester the Molester's attention.  Especially at age 10.  It makes me nauseous just thinking about it. 

On a brighter note, Kurt and I just watched the movie "Babies" and it was the cutest thing ever.  Amazing to watch 4 babies from different corners of the globe grow up and see how different and how similar people are.   It seemed to me the Mongolian and African babies playing with dirt and sticks and farm animals were much happier than the San Fran or Japanese babies with all the fancy toys and gadgets.  But all the families were very heartwarming.  I don't think I'd have appreciated it half as much had I not had SB.  I could see the same facial expressions and the same sounds that she makes coming from that little African baby.  Made me want to hold hands and sing  "We are the World."  Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but it really was a cool movie.  Made me feel a little silly for worrying about SB playing in the grass.  It's not like she's in danger of being trampled by cows.

Interruption ...sweet Sarah Beth was just having a baby nightmare, whimpering in her sleep.  It is the saddest sound.  I woke her up, changed her diaper and she went back to peaceful slumber.  Poor girl.  I wonder what babies have bad dreams about?

Blessing in the Produce Dept

Yesterday SB and I went grocery shopping.  It was blazing hot out (as usual) so she had her sunhat on, but once inside I flipped the brim up a bit to give her an unobstructed view, so she ended up looking like a tiny Gorton's fisherman.  Very cute.

While we were standing in the produce section consulting our list, a grandmotherly lady came over and said, "Your daughter is just beautiful and I love her hat."  I thanked her and introduced her to Sarah Beth, age 1.  SB politely smiled.  (Good girl.)  The lady said "Oh you must be having so much fun with her." I told her we indeed had lots of fun together. 

She then squeezed my arm and said "Well you be sure to tell her when she's old enough to understand that God loves her and that He has a special plan for her." She smiled and walked away.

What a nice lady.  Sometimes people are really great.

First Haircut, First Swing...First Date? Just a teaser...

We had such a fun day yesterday!  Avery brought his Mom and Dad down to Charlotte for a visit.   He had his very first haircut, then we went out for ice cream and followed that up with a trip to the park for SB's first ride in a real playground swing!  I have an entire pictorial planned, but I still have to go through the photos.  Here's a teaser of what's to come...

The Height of Laziness...

Ok, this is lame but that's what happens when you have two blogs.  SB's one year photos looked so great I wanted to post them on my New Shoe Blog so here's the link to her post. Sorry people. I've been crazy busy.

I am soooo excited about this weekend because Auntie Weedie, Uncle Greggie, and SB's boyfriend Avery are coming for another visit.  Yay!  Not only will it be fun to catch up and watch our kiddies get better acquainted, but Avery may be getting his first haircut while he's down here.  There is a super cute kiddie hair salon near us that has the whole nine yards...firetruck barber chairs, playroom, etc etc.  So hopefully Avery will have fun and we can get some cute pictures.  Also, Ouida has let slip what SB's birthday gift will be and I can't wait to see this thing.  Rest assured, this will be another photo opportunity.

Hopefully the weather will cool down soon.  I feel like a prisoner in my own home.  I discovered I fall into one of those "sensitive" groups when the Ozone level is high (or is it low) thanks to a touch of asthma and crappy allergies so SB and I have been locked up for 2 days straight.  If I had an emergency slide I may pull the cord and jump with a few Coronas in my hand.  Ok, how many people wish there was videotape of that outburst?  I know it's inappropriate but you can't help but feel the urge to high-five the guy.  He is the new patron saint of disgruntled employees.  They're going to have to change the term "go postal" to "take the chute" or something.  The best part of the story is that he grabbed beer before he left.  Ha! 

Well I better go order some prints of our precious baby before she turns 2.  Grandma is itching to get her hands on some new brag-worthy material and I think those baby blues qualify.  Stay cool everyone!

One Year Old Baby Stats

30 inches tall (75th percentile)

21 pounds (50th percentile)

Doctor's Diagnosis - Perfect in every way

Well we could have told her that. But I disagree on the weight, their scale must be off. According to my aching back and burning arms, she is at least a ton, maybe a ton and a half. Anyway, we had a successful trip overall however the two shots in her arm were not received well by Miss SB. She protested. Much. The whole way home, in fact. Poor thing. She recuperated quickly at home with a few laps of the coffee table and a little Yo Gabba Gabba. Man that show is weird. They must be on some serious hallucinogens when they’re crafting that material.

Other than doctor appointments and frequent Mommy-assisted strolls up and down the hallway, we haven’t been up to much. First of all, it’s hotter ‘en Hades in Charlotte. 100 degrees? What the heck? I thought I left all that behind when I said goodbye to Arkansas. It’s definitely cramping our BOB style and thus my plan to have six-pack abs and run a marathon again by September is foiled. So instead of exercise, why not visit our favorite French air-conditioned bakery for some salted-caramel brownies, chocolate croissants, and delicious baguettes? We got SB a delicious little cream cheese puff. How could we resist, she loves puffs, after all. She enjoyed her dessert quite a bit but for some reason did not want to indulge herself with the leftover half-puff for breakfast the next day. What is wrong with this girl? I’ll need to teach her that pastries are an acceptable breakfast food.

The other way I’ve been keeping cool is by toiling away on photos in our frosty basement. Our lower level is so cold we could hang meat down here. I literally have to dress in long sleeves, pants and wool socks to spend any amount of time downstairs. It’s refreshing at first but when I start to lose feeling in my fingers it becomes a problem. The other problem is the giant cockroaches that occasionally attempt to keep me company. We only get one every now and then, but with all the trees in our yard and our house pushing 50 years old, it’s inevitable. BLECH. I hate roaches, I mean REALLY hate them. They make me want to run screaming from the room (ok I do run from the room most of the time.) Why are they so big? God they’re prehistoric. You can actually hear their creepy little legs twittering along the tile UGH. I was watching an episode of “Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends” the other day (don’t ask) and the cutest little cartoon cockroach came to visit the Sunny Patch from the big city and I almost gagged. Even a cute doe-eyed cartoon roach makes me want to grab a can of Raid. I’d never make it on that game show where they had to eat a giant Madagascar hissing cockroach. Great, all this talk about bugs, now I’m paranoid one will make an appearance as I write this. I swear they can read my mind, or maybe smell my fear. I better change the subject.

I just put another photo shoot “in the can” so to speak. Proofs are online and hopefully a happy client will be ordering soon. I am loving my new gig. It’s a lot of work. Hours and hours of post-shoot editing work, but it is so rewarding when someone loves the photos you took of their loved ones and you know those pictures will be with them forever. I just mailed the OpLove photo albums today. I think of the soldier opening up that package all the way in Afghanistan and *poof* his family is there with him for a few moments. I love that I can do that for him. Sure beats spending my day in a cubicle on conference calls all day. Even if there is a roach or two to contend with once in a while!