Thanksgiving in Review

I feel as if I have been neglecting our blog lately, and since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I really wanted to recap our little guy’s first turkey day before Christmas sneaks up on us.

Thanksgiving has always been the one time of year when we always make an effort to spend time with as much family as possible, and with the exception of traffic (air and ground), there is not near as much stressful anticipation, commercialization, need for last minute gift shopping, or just plain hustle and bustle as at other times of year.  I also love the colors, scents, and crisp air of Fall, and I am reminded more often during this season of all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.  This year added a whole new realm of ‘thankfulness’ since we were able to celebrate with Little A.

Playing with Granny

He loved his turkey, peas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and rice!

Taking a bottle with the help of a much older, experienced cousin...

Grandma Wilson with all 6 great-grandchildren!

After a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with the Wades and Wilsons, we packed up the car again with stuff and the Riggs pup, and we headed 2.5 hours South to Thanksgiving with the Michaels (and friends) in Milton, GA.

Thanksgiving #2 - Part of the Crowd

We spent the Friday night after Thanksgiving at Stone Mountain with Nana, Papa, Lauren, and Erin.

Great Family Fun!

Until the train ride, when he became tired, hungry, and bored.  His favorite parts were the Polar Express 4D Experience, although he wouldn’t wear the glasses of course, and a 1/2 hour musical review complete with four singing and dancing elves – he danced and jumped the whole time which was better entertainment for me than the show itself!  Then, despite the fact that it was 9:30 and two hours past his bedtime, he was intrigued by the Snow Angel who flew over the park and made it ’snow.’

Snow Angel at Stone Mountain (from Little A.'s perspective)

All in all, we had a wonderful first Thanksgiving with our little guy and both families, and we look forward to many more happy holidays and times together!  Next up for the Wilsons is an adventure to Statesboro for Lauren’s graduation from GSU and Four Christmases .

 

Eight Utterances by an 8 Month Old

Little A. turned 8 months old on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  I have compiled a list of his 8 most frequent utterances to help us remember this age (and, yes, I am well aware that our pediatrician told us not to expect deliberate speech until after a year of age, but it’s fun to pretend he is not just imitating our frequent gestures):

1 – “ba” accompanied by an opening and closing hand (translate to bye)

2 – “keeeee” accompanied by a reaching arm toward a scared pet cat (translate to kitty)

3 – “ma ma ma” (translate to ‘I want my Mommy’)

4 – “da da da” (translates to either ‘I want my Daddy’ or ‘doggy’)

5- “pa pa pa” (not sure about this one, but we do talk about ‘Pop’ and ‘Papa’ often)

6- “ba ba ba” (may be bottle, ball, bell, or whatever he may reach for at any given moment)

7- We say, “what does the piggy say?,” and he scrunches up his nose and makes a snorting noise

8 – We say, “what does the tiger say?,” and he says very sweetly, “rrrrrrr”

These other new tricks are not necessarily verbal, but he finally gives kisses and hugs both spontaneously and upon request (most of the time).  And, although we try to get him to sign ‘more’, ‘please’, ‘all done’, and ‘thank you’, his favorite method of communicating these needs/wants is by throwing his cup or bottle or slapping the spoon, full of food, across the kitchen (I assure you we are working on this).  He has perfected the speed crawl, can successfully open all the cabinets we would prefer him not to, and he has learned to crawl up steps – babyproofing is in full effect.  Every once in awhile, he will get really confident and let go after he has pulled up, resulting in standing for a few seconds, followed by a plop on his bottom.  We enjoy him more and more everyday, and we can’t wait to see what 9 months will bring…maybe a TOOTH, since he remains without at this point .

Happy 8 months to our precious baby boy!

 

This Post Cost Me $140 [First Clemson Tiger Football Game]

Tickets to watch Clemson clinch the ACC Atlantic Division – $100

Parking close to the stadium – $20

2 Pretzels, a Diet Coke, and a hot chocolate - $20

The rest of the story – Priceless

So we decided to take little man to his first ever Clemson football game.  This game, against The University of Virginia, just so happened to be a very important game that Clemson needed to win (well not quite since Boston College lost) to clinch the ACC Atlantic Division, and go play Georgia Tech in a rematch for the ACC Championship.  Originally, we were a little concerned about taking A. with us, but we had some friends coming into town who had invited us to tailgate with them in Lot 2 (right beside the stadium), so we thought it would be a perfect time to take A. to his first football game.  Little did we know what was in store.

Now, I typically like to tell stories on this blog in a paragraph format, but I think this story lends itself pretty well to outline form.  Here we go:

Got to Clemson in plenty of time after A. had taken a pretty substantial nap…what a great way to start the day.

Found perfect parking right across the street from where we were going to be tailgating…$20 not too bad

Found the tailgate spot very easily…man this really is close to the stadium.

Hung out with friends for an hour or so

Met up, right before the game, with the folks we were buying the tickets from

Tickets were REAL…things are going well so far.

Entered the stadium from the North side instead of the South, where our tickets were

Got stuck at the hill, in a crowd of people waiting for the players to rub the rock and run down the hill…this is a little annoying.

Got a picture with little man rubbing the rock…well worth the wait.   (I couldn’t get the picture to upload right.  Click here to view it.)

Got to our seats to realize they were in the center of the section…man this is going to be a tight squeeze for the 3 of us.  Hope we don’t have to move around much with A.

Finally got seated and there were already only 10 minutes to go in the first quarter…what???!!!???

The second we sat down, A. pooped on himself…Thats cute, I will take him down and change his diaper hunny, I say.

Waited forever in line at the family bathrooms…wonder what is going on in the game?

Got back up to the seats and it was already the second quarter…again, what???!!!???

All was well because it was time to feed A…He will go to sleep and we can watch the rest of the game in peace

No formula? I had forgotten his formula at the tailgate…you have to be kidding me!!!

Had to call my buddy and get the keys to his vehicle, so I could get the formula…thank goodness he answered after the 5th call.

Walked back to the tailgate and got the formula…I think I will have a beer before I go back.

Got back and there were 10 mins to go in the 3rd…all together now…WHAT???!!!???

Kristen was not too happy

Started to make A.’s bottle and Clemson scores…yayyy!!!

Powdered formula goes all over me…not yayyy.

Cleaned myself off and made his bottle.

Started to shake the bottle and liquid formula goes all over me, Krissy, and the guy in front of us…whoops, my bad dude.  what a day this is turning out to be.

A. screamed his head off for the bottle (in the middle of the section mind you)

I looked at Kristen, and without speaking a word, we packed his stuff up and left…I am sorry, I am sorry, we say to the fans around us.

Waited inside the stadium trying to watch the rest of the game but there were too many people

A. was finally content because he had his bottle

Left the game with 4 minutes to go…I haven’t seen a full offensive drive, or defensive stand…let alone a touchdown!!!

On the way back to the car I somehow managed to lose his toys and Clemson orange pullover…wow what a day, what a day.

We made it home safe. Clemson won.  All-in-all a GREAT DAY !

I must say, while it didn’t turn out quite like I had it planned in my head, a BAD day spent with my family, is better than a GOOD day spent anywhere else.  Stories like these are why we write this blog.  One of these days I will be able to hold this over my son’s head, and I will be able to tell my son this story so that he understands why we are watching the game at home .

 

Swinging Solo

A couple of weekends ago, we packed up the family and headed to Atlanta for a surprise birthday party for Laura, a friend of ours from Sunday School who we miss dearly since she, husband Rob, and their little girl moved down there.  Our class jumped at the opportunity for a weekend away to spend some quality time in fellowship, so Nick and Nicole, Stephen and Heather, and Burgess and Lindsay joined us for part of the weekend.  While there, we were able to celebrate my sister Lauren’s birthday, and then it just so happened the Redskins were in town to play the Falcons, so we ended the weekend with Little A.’s first trip to the Dome for an NFL game.  The outcome was not favorable, but a great time was had by all. After a great but very busy weekend, our normal 2 hr. 15 min. trip turned into  a 5 hour journey up 85 North.  After much griping and complaining, we decided we should be thankful that we weren’t the ones in the wreck North of Commerce or the ones having to pave the SC highways all weekend long…and, we vowed to spend the following weekend at home.

So, we spent Saturday taking a leisurely lunch trip to visit friends Dalton and John and meet their new baby boy, Jonas, who was absolutely beautiful (and weighed an impressive 10.5 lbs, I might add).  We enjoyed Brixx pizza and the first half of a great Tiger football game.  Then, Ron and Little A. caught afternoon naps.  They slept so long that we didn’t make it to the zoo in time to spend the 78 degree afternoon there, so we settled for  a nice walk in the park and a little people watching.  While there, Little A. took his first ride in a park swing:

He was a little unsure at first...

and then decided he LOVED it!

Hopefully we will have some more beautiful Fall days like that one before the season is over! After a relaxing weekend, topped off by a great lunch at Granny and Pop’s and a surprise visit from Nana Lynn, Ron had to leave town for a big trade show TSP participates in every year.  We’re two days in, and we miss Daddy bunches.  I have been cooking and eating my dinner after Little A. goes to sleep, and my ‘Mommy time’ (after errands, feeding, bathing, changing, bedtime, cooking, eating, cleaning, and picking up toys) begins about 10pm, just in time for me to crawl in bed all by lonely self.  If nothing else, these few days of being a single Mom are helping me to appreciate my hubby bunches and be thankful that we get to spend most evenings together! Now, we have another weekend at home to look forward to before my favorite holiday of the year.

 

What Sound Does A Pig Make (with video)

Well our little man has made some really major changes since the last time I have posted.  I really appreciate Krissy keeping the blog up during my hiatus.  Since my last post, A. has started sitting up, crawling, sitting himself backup, crawling some more, standing in his crib to defy sleep, imitating mommy and daddy, and much more.  The latest, has been waving his hand good bye (and hello??? he doesn’t understand the difference) and snorting like a pig when he laughs.  I think the snorting like a pig is hilarious right now, but I hope he grows out of it by like age 2 .

Here is a video of A. showing us what sound a pig makes.

For those of you watching this on Facebook click here.

 

Happy Halloween!!!

Just a few pictures of Little A. on his first Halloween.

It Looks Like I Just Got Done Eating Pumpkin!!!

Mommy's Little Pumpkin.

Daddy Are You Going To Take Me To Get Some Candy?

Thanks For The Candy Jennie!

Candy Is Sooo Good.

This was the best Halloween I have ever had Mommy.

 

Seven Months

Our little guy is seven months old today! Here are seven phrases that describe our baby boy:

He is 1-constantly on the move and 2- a great eater, but he is also 3- a sleep fighting, 4 – attention seeking, 5 – animal loving,  6 – hugging, 7- adorably sweet buddy!

His newest trick is an approximation to waving accompanied by something that sounds like ‘ba ba ba.’ He is also mastering the pincer grasp (yes, the school psychologist is coming out in me – I have to resist the urge to give him the Bayley Scales of Infant Development or something of the sort) – we practice with puffs.

Here is a comparison for you just to help us all see how time flies:

7 Days Old

...and 7 months old!

I finally have some days off work in the form of a four-day weekend.  I am looking forward to spending some QT with my cutie (HA) and taking a weekend excursion to see Jennie and Chris’ new house in NC and meet the twins!

Even though he looks sleepy in this picture, he loved when his aunts came to visit!

 

When can we go fishing, Mommy?

Happy Seven Months, Little A.!

 

 

Apples and Pumpkins and Leaves…Oh My!

Ron and I decided to take a peaceful little day trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard near Hendersonville, NC last weekend to see the colors of Fall and take Little A. to pick his first pumpkins and apples.  Granny and Pops thought that sounded like a fun day, and they joined us as well.  Ten minutes into the trip, they were probably wondering (and so were we), if we were ever going to get there and if Little A. would ever stop screaming.  We timed it perfectly to drive up during his nap time, but on this particular morning, he opted not to sleep.  I guess he thought he was going to miss something?!?  We took a 45-minute detour to McDonald’s, where Ron’s parents waited patiently while we drove around for a 1/2 hour trying to get him to fall asleep.  He never fell asleep, but he was still a little angel pumpkin for the afternoon (sleepy, but happy, with no major meltdowns).

Here are some pics of our day:

In the Apple House

What are these things?

Little A. loves his Pop!

We all took a ride with Granny on the 'hayless' hayride. Little A. was mesmerized by the rolling tractor tires. He had no interest in the colors of the leaves, types of apples, or petting zoo animals we pointed out to him.

One of these things is not like the others...can I eat it?

On the move...some of the pumpkins were as big as he is!

Group Picture...I can still smell the apple fritters (that I never tasted because I didn't feel like waiting in line - maybe next year?)

We left with plenty of apples but no pumpkins.  They seemed to be very overpriced, and Aunt Lauren really wants to take Little A. to a pumpkin patch when she comes to visit this weekend.  After our Sky Top experience, we decided we were all hungry for BBQ.  Pop’s favorite BBQ joint happens to be in Cashiers, NC, so we ventured through the mountains some more, traveled through Brevard, and ended the day in Cashiers with some NC pulled pork.  On the way there, we happened upon Ron’s highlight of the day: a family of Albino squirrels.  Apparently, according to our genetic counselor friend, there is an abnormally high population of them in the Hendersonville/Brevard area. (Lindsay is full of fascinating facts about genetics.)

We ended the weekend with a Sunday evening stroll, food, and live music at Fall for Greenville on Main St.  We love going downtown, and Greenville’s Main Street was recently named one of the nation’s top streets by Great Places in America. Check it out for yourself, and let us know if you want to come visit .

In other news…

Our grad school friends, Chrystal and Eric, welcomed healthy twin boys nearly two weeks ago, Asher and Felix. As if bringing two babies home and recovering from a twin delivery weren’t challenges in themselves, the new Mom and Dad both contracted the dreaded H1N1 the day they took them home from the hospital.  They have since recovered, and the babies look happy, healthy, and adorable! Congrats guys – can’t wait to meet them.

Little A. went for his 6-month check-up and shots last week.  He is now a healthy 16 lbs. 13 oz. and measures just over 27 inches long.  He has successfully learned to crawl, moves from sitting to crawling to sitting, and pulls up to stand.  Needless to say, while he is quite proud of himself, we are in the process of childproofing – any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Both my sisters are coming to visit this weekend.  Even though I know they are secretly, or maybe not so secretly, really just coming to hang with their nephew, Ron and I are looking forward to their visit and celebrating his birthday with them.

Happy Fall!

 

Half Birthday

Well…I would say that 6 months ago today, I was in a lot of pain. But, quite honestly, our whole hospital stay is a blur to me (I would say that is due to the natural high of having a child, but it must have been the Lortab they gave me after the C-section), and any pain I endured was so wonderfully purposeful that it is really not worth complaining about.

Look at our little blessing we have only six short months later:

I think I can...I think I can...

Success!

Here are six fun facts for Little A’s six month birthday:

1 – He has been eating some solids for a little over four short weeks now, and he hasn’t met a food he hasn’t liked.  Menu items now include rice and oatmeal cereals, and homemade peas, green beans, butternut squash, peaches, plums, prunes, and bananas.

2 – His preferred method of transportation is walking while holding onto someone’s fingers, but a cross between scooting and crawling works to0.

3 – The crib mattress has been lowered since he learned to sit up – he has only pulled up on furniture/people a couple of times, but that is a couple too many to take any chances.

4 – Our little guy has never liked to be cuddled or rocked, but he makes our days now when he reaches for us or lays his head on our shoulders as if he is giving us a hug.  This never lasts more than a few seconds, but I’ll take what I can get!

5 – His favorite toys of the week are The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton, froggy barrel rattle (see above pics), and stacking rings.

6 – And lastly, we are pretty sure he has said his first word: ‘kitty’.  On about four occasions now, with several different people and referring to two different cats, he has reached for a pet cat and said something that sounded like “keeeeeeeeeeee.” Of course this may be totally coincidental, but it is very obvious his favorite animal is the cat.  Thankfully, Norman has been incredibly tolerant of Little A.’s petting ear and fur pulling!

He goes for his checkup and shots in another week, so I’ll be sure to update his weight and length then, but one thing is for certain, he is growing and changing every single day! Nothing could have prepared us for this amazing journey of parenthood, and we thank God everyday for this preci0us gift we have been given.

Happy first half-birthday Little Man! We love you .

 

Fall Is Here

While we have not yet felt the crisp air or seen any leaves change color or fall to the ground, one of my favorite signs of the season has arrived:

My weakness! OK, one of them at least...

Tonight, after watching some disappointing football (yes, my Tigers and Tarheels both lost), and listening to it rain, yet again, for most of the day, Ron packed up the baby and the dog, and we drove around for 1 1/2 hours round trip, just so he could take me to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.  Yes, there are many specialty coffee shops within a 5-mile radius, but NO ONE has perfected the combination of fall flavors and coffee like Starbucks.  Thank goodness the closest one is 20 minutes away, which is more like 40 minutes in the pouring down rain, or my wallet would be a little thinner and belly a little rounder from now until Christmas.

Thanks honey .