Local Celebrities

So Jennifer won't look narcissistic, I'll post this one. We went to the GreekFest here in Knoxville yesterday for a little culture. There was music and food and all sorts of arts and crafts. Tyler enjoyed the music and Jennifer enjoyed the baklava. After that, we went to the hot air ballon festival and today we went to Dollywood - quite a weekend full of fun!! Right is a picture of the "balloon glow" and an image of the mosiac on the ceiling of the Greek Cathedral.

So why did I say Jennifer might seem narcissistic??? Well, while at GreekFest a local news station caught wind of her appearence and took the opportunity get her on camera. Jennifer wants me to assure you that she will not let her stardom get to her head and plans to keep her relationships with the "little people." (Please note: If you happen to blink you will miss her shot. She has sunglasses on and is holding Tyler). Click here for the video.

Cat With 11 Lives

All in all, this has been a pretty terrific week. First we found out the sex of our baby, then we found our cat. The adventures of our cat Morris have been extremely turbulent over the years, but one thing we have always been able to count on is that he hangs around the house. So naturally when he had been missing for 4 days, I started to panic. After a trip to the animal shelter (where no pregnant woman has any business going...and if you do go- do NOT read the poems posted in the lobby written by the staff in the voice of the animal about it's emotional journey before being euthanized -TearFest 2007). I was starting to come to the realization that Morris might be gone forever. Until...Tyler and I are in Food City and Tommy calls on the cell phone to let us know he found our cat! On the way to the car Tommy heard a pitiful whine from our neighbor's garage. Morris had been accidentally locked in there all week. Upon seeing Morris, Tyler clapped and proceeded to give him about 4 choke hold bear hugs. Morris is probably wishing he were back in the garage about now.

More Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails....

It's A Boy!!!!!!

A Is For Alphabet

Tyler and I have hit the alphabet hard the last two weeks. We started with a few letters and progressed to him being able to spot and say all the letters as they were written out. Tommy and I were amazed tonight when he said the entire alphabet by memory. Tommy got out the video camera to try to catch a repeat performance (as I wiped away proud tears). Most of the alphabet you can make out- a few letters are spotty, but we know what he means. As usual, the first performance was the best- but we will take a close second since it is documented on film. Enjoy!

Bear Necessities

Now don't think for one second that blue bear is out of the picture (in fact , he his in Tyler's lap in this one). However, as of late- Tyler has taken up quite the affection for Pooh Bear. He has been dragging Pooh around the house and making him sit beside him while he plays- and even trys to give the bear high fives after doing something wonderful. If Tyler demonstrates half the kindness and attention towards the new baby as he does towards his bears, we are in luck.

Tastes A Little Like Chicken

Crow, that is. So maybe we bragged a little too soon about the transition to the toddler bed. After the first post in which Tyler slept all through the night following a perfectly long nap earlier that day, things have- well, let's say hit a snag. We think it started the next day when he realized he could get out of the bed if he wanted to. Thirty minutes into nap, we were sitting pretty in the living room when in waltzed Tyler. Same thing at bedtime. Then it got worst. After being put into bed, Tyler wanted one of us to sit in his room until he fell asleep. We made the mistake of humoring him for a few nights, only to come to the realization that we did not want to sit in the dark in a rocking chair until he was snoring. After suddenly weening him off our nighttime company, Tyler has gone ballistic. He won't take naps worth anything, he comes in our room at 2:30 am, 4:45 am and for good at 7 am. We are sleep deprived and edgy...and still having to sit in his room until he falls asleep. In fact, I am sitting here typing this just waiting to hear his bedroom door open. Any suggestions from my loyal blog readers on how to make a smooth transition from crib to toddler bed? (And don't take too long to reply- another baby coming in March).

This Weather Has Us All Head Over Heals

The weather this weekend was like something out of a storybook- just perfect. Both days I think were a high of 76 degrees. We took complete advantage and basically spend the entire weekend outdoors. On Saturday was my grandmother's 80th surprise birthday party and family traveled from all over to help make it a special day. I was too busy visiting to take pictures, however, my sister had a professional photographer come to capture the day- so maybe in a few weeks I will be able to post a few pics of the day.

Today we spent the morning at the park and then headed to the grocery store. Tommy made a huge batch of chicken tortilla soup that we have grazed on all day. Tyler and I napped while Tommy watched football. It just seemed like the ideal way to kick off a weekend that showed us the first hint of fall weather to come.

RIP Crib: July 2005-September 2007

I am not going to cry. I am not going to cry. Repeat five more times. Yesterday was a landmark in Tyler's life that I found myself not ready to face. He climbed/fell out of his crib during a nap that he was fighting. I heard the thump, and took off running to his room only to have him and his red spot on his forehead beat me to the living room. I guess the first landmark should be that he fell and we did not have to go to the doctor because of an injury-ha. The obvious second was that, yes- it was time for a toddler bed.

Tommy and I went back and forth over it- I wanted to simply put him in the youth bed with rails that the crib converts to, and move him to a toddler bed next summer. Tommy felt that it might be a little cruel to kick him out of the youth bed when the baby needed the crib, and that we should just minimize the moves to new beds by getting him his own one now. Tommy won. I sulked. I was not ready for Tyler to go to a "Big Boy Bed" yet (ever).

I stormed in his room with a camera this morning to capture him showing us where he slept.

As you can see- he fared wonderfully. In fact- he slept until 9:10am !!! Leaving me to ponder...maybe we should all be sleeping in toddler beds....

Elmo Resurrected

Yes- we know it is still early, but Tommy and I decided to re-introduce the Elmo potty. We had initially brought it out at 18 months, just to get Tyler used to seeing it- but after breaking his leg, we made the executive decision to retire Elmo to the basement. After reading all the signs on the internet which cues parents when their child is ready to be potty trained (and Tyler not meeting any on the checklist), we decided to give it a shot anyway.

Our "new" ploy in trying to get Tyler to go in the potty, is that if he sits down and gives it the ol' college try, then he gets to wear the "potty hat" while giving effort. One day Tyler is going to look back at all these pictures and be really mad at us....And yes, we are going to move the potty to the bathroom.

"You Must Just Grow Them Big..."

This was an actual quote from my sister last week. I am about 12 weeks, and feeling quite the big girl. Of course, Hardee's for breakfast every day this week cannot be helping things. It has been some week- which is why the big lapse in blog postings. We took Tyler to the doctor last Monday and were told he had a double ear infection. He is on medication and almost himself again, so we are all getting back on track.

Since we have been inside like albino bats all week trying to feel better, I really haven't had the opportunity to get any good pictures (unless you count Tyler and I taking 3 hour naps together quality pictures). Therefore I decided to have Tommy take a picture of how baby #2 is coming along. I will try to post a recent picture of the pregnancy at least every few months...until I get really fat, and then I will start to repeat the 8 week pregnancy pictures!

Market Square Morning

We decided to hit the town this morning, with it being Labor Day and UT's first football game weekend- we figured there might be a lot to get into. We were right. Market Square was having their regular farmers market, and we packed a swimsuit for Tyler to play in the fountains. Tyler was able to play in the water while enjoying an Elvis concert (who knew Elvis' hub is now Knoxville Tennessee?).

After the show we headed to another area of downtown that was hosting a kids day play area. Tyler and Tommy enjoyed the big inflatable slides as well as a concert from the "Animal Band". Tyler even got into the spirit when we shoved him on stage to participate with the singers. The morning ended with a ride on one of the local art bears.