Our Very Own Backyardigans

Now I'm not sure what happens in our backyard at night....and I'm not sure I ever want to camp out back there after this morning's discovery.

I'm sure you all have heard the rat story. Or the skunk story. Or the possum story.

This morning Kyle went out to the back yard and I heard him yell (he has a habit of yelling without giving intelligible information when he's surprised). So since I didn't know if the yell meant "Wow, look at the size of our parsley bush!" or "Wow, here's an animal carcass hanging off the fence!" I ran out to where he was and this is what we saw in the middle of our little yard.

Feathers, feathers, feathers everywhere in a huge, fluffy, sad circle. Obviously something went down last night and it wasn't pretty for the feathered one. We think one of the crazy neighborhood cats attacked a bird. We followed the sad trail of feathers leading to the fence and then it disappeared. Kyle took some more graphic pictures of the destruction which I deemed unecessary to post since we aren't running an animal autopsy business here. All this to say. Our backyard is a scary place. I think I'll impose a curfew for John when he is older.

Big Man

Yesterday was John's 9 month doctor appointment. Our little boy is getting so big!

He weighed in just shy of 20 lbs, he is 29" tall and his body has finally caught up with his head, meaning his teeney pea-head is not in the 10th percentile anymore! He is up to average on that one. The little mister got 2 shots and a finger prick to check for anemia (the blood work turned out great).

Here is a list of John's current "tricks":

#1: Talking. John has discovered the art of conversation. The problem is that he doesn't really make words, just noises. But the noises come at the appropriate time and he looks at you like you should understand what he is saying. Mostly I guess at what he says then we carry on and he smiles.

#2: Separation Anxiety Crying. This one's a doozy. Whenever his person of choice (usually me) leaves the room, sits him down, or otherwise does something displeasing the cry starts. The red-face-suck-wind silent frown followed by the scream of terror accompanied by real tears. This is not a good thing and I hope it resolves itself soon.

#3: Flailing the Arms During Dinner. This is a new one where John decides he either wants to inspect the spoon/food container or decides he doesn't approve of the contents of the spoon/food container and hits the spoon/food container with his hand or arms which causes everything to spill everywhere. Lovely.

#4: Standing. John loves to stand. He likes to practice using his thigh muscles.

#5: Pointing. John has become quite good at pointing his chubby little finger at all sorts of things and he is quite accurate in his finger placement.

#6: Stunts. Here is our resident Evil Knieval

Beep! Beep!

I bought my first car today. Daddy and I decided that financing wasn't the way to go in this case so we paid for it in cash. We got a great deal! Here I am posing with my new wheels....fresh off the lot!
Here's my first test drive out on the streets....

Hmmm...somehow it appears I've lost my way?? Maybe this dern map will show me the way...

Bedtime Routine

This post is mostly for my enjoyment so we can document little man's bedtime routine at 8.5 months:

Duckie: check. Warm bath water: check.

Drying off....

Hey, Ma! Don't forget the butt cream...

Puttin' on the jammies...

My favorite part....brushin' my toof

And off to bed I go....Good night!

Valentine's Day 2008

Who's that?! Who's that man hiding behind the balloon? That man was my sweet Valentine cherub who surprised me with breakfast-in-bed, a ballon, & a rose. What a great way to wake up!

However, I soon learned that the balloon wasn't going to be gifted easily. The little man held onto the balloon string for about 15 minutes. He even held a death grip on the balloon as he enjoyed his breakfast-in-bed nursing session. And a big thanks to Daddy for helping John coordinate this Valentine's surprise!

Some Fun Pictures of Me

Here I am enjoying my very first Super Bowl with my dad. Can you tell I'm a crazed fan!

Yeah! This is great! Ya have any snacks around here? Maybe....uh......some.....

......some SALTY TOES! perfect!

And this is me helping dad weed the flower beds.....weelllll....I kinda slacked off on my job.....

Mamaw sent me this yummy King Cake. A King Cake for a King!

It's Mardi Gras! Par-ty! Par-ty! Check out my cool beads.

Catch ya later dudes....

"Are Your Fingers Broken?"

That was the question Debbie posed to me a few days ago regarding my lack of recent blogging. In fact, my fingers are not broken. My fingers have been very busy---which is the problem! Recently Kyle decided to let me indulge my wild fantasies and make some window treatments for the front 2 rooms, the dining room and the office. Hallelujah! I've been waiting for an excuse to bust out my sewing machine for months now.

So here is the final result of my efforts and the reason I have been neglecting the blog.

Dining room drapes

Office valanceSo there you have it. That is the reason for no updates.

Since our trip to Quito nothing much has happened anyway. John is still not crawling. He can scoot around on the wood floor on his big belly but otherwise doesn't get up on his hands and knees. I'm OK with this for now. I appreciate not having to chase him around the house. After all, he was able to entertain himself quite well while I spent a lot of time measuring, pinning, & sewing. My little man (and my big man) are so patient with my shenanigans.

I got these sunglasses for John today. The picture is blurry but the glasses look so funny. They look like something Endora (from the original Bewitched show) would wear.

Okay so here are the Quito pictures finally!