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Showing posts from July, 2013

All Sorts of Fun!

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We had a busy day Saturday before the wedding.  There was a bridal brunch, lunch with Grandaddy and MeMe, and a breakfast treat of Southern Made doughnuts! Aaron and I both LOVE these doughnuts and have even thought about ditching our careers and opening a really GOOD doughnut shop in Atlanta.  I can envision us wearing the kids on our backs with little hair nets while we fry up and sell yummy doughnuts!  Of course, I would be so large I wouldn't be able to fit through the door from eating all these yummy doughnuts, but it's a fun daydream! Gramma hosted a bridal brunch for Arden and her bridesmaids.  The theme was hats and it was fun to see the ladies wearing their broad brimmed hats!   Aunt Barbara is always so sweet to play with Sarah Graves.  SG just eats it up, too! Here's Gramma serving brunch in her hat! Grandaddy took us to lunch at Ralph and Kackoo's so he could get Sarah Graves some hush puppies!  She loves them and asked for the

Shreveport Wedding Fun!

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Aaron's sister, Arden, got married this weekend!  We went for the wedding and all the festivities with it!  We had the most darling flower girl and a baby boy who was just absolutely adorable!   We flew in Friday with time to enjoy lunch at Cane's! We made it to our hotel and were excited to have a true two room suite with a bathroom large enough to function as a third room for Charlie!  Good sleep for everybody is always a bonus! Then, we headed to the rehearsal and the dinner that followed.  

Daddy's Birthday!

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Last week we said happy birthday to Daddy!  We celebrated Wednesday night with a small party at home with Lovie and then we went out to dinner sans kiddos.   SG loves birthdays and really wanted it to be a party, so I got some party hats, plates, and napkins to go with the cake that we baked for daddy!  She was pleased and the cake was so yummy!

Dancing Queen

Baby Shot!

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Puzzle with Pops!

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Lovie and Pops have officially moved and we are looking forward to more visits with them.  Saturday night they were still moving everything from their old house, but made a stop here to bring us some things and took time to visit.  SG thoroughly enjoyed doing a puzzle with Pops!  So glad to have the chance to see them more easily on the weekends and during the week, too!

Party Tricks!

Here Charlie is showing off some of his party tricks.  He won't say bye bye here, but he does say it!

Baby Shot!

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Shots for Charlie

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Aaron was out of town last week and I am just now recovering! My hat is off to the moms who work and care for kids on their own. Both kids missed daddy A LOT and had a hard time without him. He is back now and I am getting caught up. Charlie got his 7 month old shots last week - prevnar and HIB. He was a champ and fussed just a little.  We are slowly but surely getting caught up.  We won't be caught up by his 12 month appointment, but we will get there! I had a few other questions about little things.  It turns out my instinct was correct and eat rubbing is just a sign that he is tired and not because his ears hurt! He weighs 23 pounds now, but we didn't get all his stats since this was just for shots. I also asked the doctor about his spitting up after he nurses and he said he is a happy spitter since he isn't bothered by it and does it more as he gets older. Likely the muscle at his esophagus and stomach isn't strong enough to close off when he finishes e

Karate Kid!

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SG started a martial arts class at school a few weeks ago.  They let new kids join the class for the summer, so it seemed like a good time to let her give this a try.  We are hoping to expose her to a variety of activities and let her pick something that she is passionate about.  So far she wants to do them all! I was told by her teacher that at the end of class when the kids shake the teacher's hand and give a bow, Sarah Graves shakes his hand and gives a curtsy!  She lives up to her name, "princess"!

Lucy Girl

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Lucy has had a bad time of it lately.  A while back, our not so nice neighbor left us a letter telling us how Lucy barks all day and really bothers her.  She wanted us to do something before she called animal control - again.  We wanted to avoid any possibility of Lucy being taken from us, so we took aggressive action and got a shock collar.   We were surprised when it seemed to work.  Lucy could bark a little to alert us to something, but was triggered out of her cycle of endless barking at every squirrel, leaf, or car passing by.  Our neighbor didn't complain again, so all seemed well. Friday I noticed a foul smell from Lucy's direction and I figured she needed a bath.  Saturday, Sarah Graves and I pointed it out to Aaron.  He couldn't smell it, but agreed a bath would be good.  On Sunday, both kids were napping AT THE SAME TIME so it was a good time to show Lucy some love. Aaron took off her collars and noted the smell might be in that area.  I put her in the shower and

Breakfast Treat

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We were up early and ready really early, so we headed to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast.  She ate quick, so we had time to play.  We climbed together on the play structure, pretended to be on an airplane trip to China, and colored.  It was so much fun to be with her!

A Better Momma - Staylistening

I have been taking a wonderful class through Hand in Hand Parenting, Building Emotional Understanding.  The class is done over the phone once a week and the materials are provided online as video segments and reading materials.  It is a great way to do a class for a busy momma!  There are five of us from all over in the class.  We have Singapore, Australia, Boston, L.A., Wyoming, and me in Atlanta. I have been gathering some wonderful insights that help me to recognize some things about Sarah Graves' behavior and a bit about Charlie, too.  The class is focused on teaching three tools, Staylistening, Limits, and Playlistening.  At the core of it all is maintaining connection with your child.  I like that their tools pair nicely with the things I have read and liked from people like Alfie Kohn and Hiam Guinott. One thing that I have been able to recognize is that Sarah Graves has been the most challenging during times when she likely felt very disconnected.  Times when I went away

Indoor Camping

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Sarah Graves loves the idea of making a tent, but we have a hard time building something sturdy enough for her and Charlie and big enough for everyone and everything she desires to go in it.  So, I had the idea to set up the real tent in the basement to make for fun indoor play during our long, rainy weekend.  It was a hit! We brought out the sleeping bags and lantern to make it like real camping! Quickly every toy in the basement was brought in the tent and even Charlie enjoyed being in it! Aunt Nay came over for some tent fun, too! She hasn't worked up the courage to take a nap in the tent and we aren't up for the whole family trying to co-sleep in it!  Maybe one day we will be ready for real camping!

Cars and Kids

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Aaron and I both took the Friday after July 4th off.  We had plans of going to the zoo and hoped the forecast was correct and the low chance of rain would make it possible for us to be outside.  We woke to lots more rain and decided that wouldn't work.  We headed out to mail a package and look for Charlie new shoes.   SG was very excited to help mail a package! The shoe store for Charlie was closed and I was a little bored as we headed home with both kids asleep in the backseat.  Aaron suggested we stop at a car dealership and I look at some cars.  We stopped at Hyundai and Kia and then I was into it.   We have been planning for me to get a new car this summer, but hadn't necessarily planned to this weekend.  My Volvo was 13 years old and the inside was definitely showing its age.   Sarah Graves liked looking at the convertible and wanted us to get one.  She didn't seem bothered by the lack of a backseat for her and Charlie! We went to the Mini dealership a

July 4th Holiday

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 When we thought about July 4th, we envisioned grilling hotdogs, an afternoon at the pool, and going to watch fireworks.  Then, we saw the weather forecast and thought we ought to have a different plan.  I has rained here for the past 5 days straight and we have thought we ought to find Noah and get our ticket for the ark! The flags were a big hit with them! Yes, our picnic blanket is in fact a splat mat for arts and crafts.  When SG has a pretend picnic or beach trip, she uses this as the blanket.  So, it was only normal to grab it for our picnic in the basement!  We had our picnic while Charlie was napping, which was probably good since we learned on subsequent picnics that he takes real offense to being on the floor with all sorts of things in arm's reach and not being able to have them! We opted for an indoor picnic complete with homemade cupcakes that SG helped bake, iced herself, and decorated them!  You have never seen the kind of care that she put into gett

Baby Shot!

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Love his sweet spirit!

Independence Day!

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Charlie is excited to celebrate his first July 4th!

Happy 4th!

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Yesterday we celebrated the 4th of July with a parade at SG's school!  Lovie and Charlie came to see the festivities and it was precious.  The classes each made things and dressed similar for the event.  SG's teacher made the girls tops and tie dyed shirts for the boys!  They were precious! This is SG with her teacher, Ms. Anne Preschool 3 and 4 share a suite and a lead teacher, so they joined forces to build a float and make decorations.  The float depicted a picnic complete with a beach area and grill! I know that I am biased, but I don't think she could have been any cuter!  She was so proud to sit on the float and wave!  Future Mardi Gras princess here! She was so excited for the event and she really enjoyed herself!