Playgroup, scratched nose, Bradford Pears, laundry, thunderstorm

Greg and I joined the playgroup gang at a coffee shop and we ended up sitting outside in the the nice weather for most of the time. The babies ranged in age from six months to fourteen months. Greg is riding the middle at nearly nine months, so it was fun to see where he's been and where he's going.

Speaking of nine months, Greg's pictures are scheduled for this Wednesday, but he scratched up his nose yesterday. Half of me is thinking about rescheduling it until next week and letting the wounds heal. The other half thinks that this is part of his charm right now and, who knows, he could get injured next week and we'll be in the same predicament!

The Bradford Pear trees are starting to bud! Most of the houses on our street have this type of tree in the front yard. I always enjoy the white flowers in the spring and the vibrant colors in the fall.

Bradford Pears starting to bud

Greg helped me with his laundry today. And by "helped," I mean he gnawed on it.

"Let me help Mama with my laundry."

"These shorts are delicious!"

"Oh, hi!"

We had our first thunderstorm of 2011 tonight. Two out of six of us were scared (ahem, Hank and Scout).

"There's that flashing and booming in the sky again. Duck and cover!"

"I'm n-n-n-not s-s-s-s-scared of the storm!"

Other images from the day:

Photo op

Enhancing the swing experience by eating it

Petting Scout - everyone did well!

Kiddie pool failure, Scout's bone, Greg feeds himself, odds and ends

Well, the day did not start off as planned. This past Wednesday, I saw a posting on Craig's List for a kiddie pool. I called the seller to set up a time to look at / buy it. The pool was described as five feet across, so I was going to need Andrew's help with the truck cap. I asked the seller if it would be okay to check it out on the weekend. She agreed, but said that they would be busy for most of Saturday. We decided that Sunday would be fine - I was to call her that morning to set up a specific time. So I called this morning - she sold the pool yesterday. I was pretty upset about it, mostly hurt. Sometimes people don't treat you with the same respect that you offer to them, and that's a life lesson that is hard to understand - no matter what age you are.

The dogs continue to be the focus of Greg's crawling adventures. We are keeping a watchful eye on all of the interactions. This morning Greg approached Scout on her bed while she was chewing on a bone. She barked at him, so we tapped her on the head, told her no, and took her bone away. She needs to learn that he gets the same respect that we do. We can take her bone whenever we want.

We also make a point to commend the dogs profusely when they behave well around Greg. We hope to teach them that the best (and only) option is to leave the situation if Greg is bothering them. He will also be learning how to give the dogs respect along the way too.

Greg fed himself for the first time today! We have been offering him puffs for about a week and he has been fine with eating them if I put them in his mouth. He will often pick up a piece and check it out, but has never tried to eat one. Today it finally clicked, and after a few failed attempts, he was able to get the puff piece in his mouth all by himself!

The rest of the day was filled with odds and ends. Andrew, Greg, and I went out to a gardening store to pick up supplies for the garden box. Andrew went to the grocery store. We went on a walk with the dogs.

We started off the day chasing after Scout and Hank

Scout ditched the scene, Hank braced himself

Riding with Daddy

Riding with Mommy

Cute bug sleeper from a consignment sale - already too small!

We finished the day going after Max

As always, Max is a saint

Consignment sale, mango, garden box, roses, lost sock

I started off this Saturday morning as I like to do - at a consignment sale! This one was The Friendship Closet in Apex. Andrew and I went to the same one a year ago to pick up itty bitty baby clothes. Now I'm getting size 18 month stuff! This boy is growing so fast! My biggest win of the consignment sale season thus far was a basic exersaucer that I got for a friend today - $2.50!

I hurried home in time for Andrew to make it to his weekly football fun. No injuries and a good time was had.

Greg tried mango for the first time today and it was a hit! The actual mango had been sitting on the counter staring at me for a few days. I had never eaten a mango and I certainly hadn't tried to prepare one. So after calling my mom twice and consulting the internet for two written descriptions and one video, I felt as comfortable as I was going to be with the task at hand. Success! The mango also pureed nicely in a few seconds.

Andrew built our second garden box today. (He and my dad built the first one last summer.) He was very happy with the results. Tomorrow we'll fill it with the special dirt mixture. Soon it will be time for planting seeds!

Andrew works on the new garden box

Foremen Max and Scout observe Andrew's work

Swing time!

We have roses in our backyard. The previous homeowners planted them and took good care of them. Seven years ago, they moved out and we moved in. The roses have been pretty much neglected since then. My parents take pity on the poor plants every once and a while and will trim them when they visit. Despite the roses' hardship, most of them have carried on and still bloom beautifully. Today I went out and pruned the roses, and I actually enjoyed it. Well, minus the thorn stabs. Hopefully the attention won't shock the plants too much!

Greg lost his first sock tonight. We retraced our steps at the store and the restaurant, but to no avail. I am surprised that we were able to make it almost nine months before this event. Farewell, tan sock. We hardly knew ye since we just switched sizes.

"This bed is pretty comfy! Kind of smelly though..."

Errands, walk prep, blanket troubles

The weather was rainy as we awoke this morning, but the clouds soon scattered and we had a beautiful day!

Greg and I ventured out to run a few errands. As I got his stroller out of the truck at one stop, I realized that if I were by myself, I could have gone into the store, picked up what I needed, paid for it, and returned to the vehicle by the time the two of us even headed in there. Ah, but it is so worth it!

In the afternoon, I decided to take everyone for a walk. This is generally a 10-minute preparation process. Get out the backpack for Greg, put on my shoes / hat / sunglasses, get waste bags for the dogs, get all of their collars / leashes / etc, put on Greg's shoes and (optional) jacket, put Greg in the backpack, put on the dogs' gear, put on the backpack, pick up the dogs' leashes, head for the door. If I'm lucky, I have remembered to grab a house key somewhere in this process.

So today we went through all of the steps, walked out of the front door, stood on the porch, and found that it had started raining again. Really? ... REALLY? After composing myself, I decided that a little bit of rain wasn't going to slow us down. Besides, it appeared to me that it was not going to last long. Thankfully the rain did cease soon and we had an enjoyable walk.

Greg had a tough time of it for a moment today. I was at the kitchen sink when he started screaming in the family room. I looked over to him and found that he had rolled over while grabbing his blanket and was now entrapped in it with his head covered. Poor buddy! Oh, the things a baby can do!

We finished off the evening with another walk with Andrew. The dogs were excited to have two walks in one day!

An apprehensive Hank eyes the intruding baby

You're never too young to love playing with boxes!

Crawling and dogs, play time, weekly photo, lowering the crib mattress

Greg continued to improve on his crawling yesterday. It is amazing to watch the progress one day to the next. Beyond the usual babyproofing, I am also mindful of his interaction with the dogs. I will have to be watchful every moment when they are around. Yesterday Max was a champ as always. He didn't even flinch when Greg grabbed his tail.

"This dog is fuzzy!"

Eyeing up Scout - she kept her distance

Playing with Max's tail (I pulled him away after the picture)

We had an impromptu playdate with one of his friends and his mommy. Greg enjoyed playing with "new" (someone else's) toys. He took a good nap after our visit!

Yesterday was also weekly photo time. These sessions are becoming increasingly difficult with a boy on the move! He reaches for the "age" blocks a lot and yesterday he also wanted to crawl away from the dog. So eventually after several failed attempts for a postable picture, I gave him some blocks. He loved it! I'll take a picture without a smile instead a moving blur!

38 Weeks

Last night we lowered Greg's crib mattress as planned. We went straight to the lowest setting so we don't need to take the crib apart again. We'll have to remember to stretch before picking up the big boy!

Crawling!

It's official - Greg can crawl!

He has been working on it for a few weeks now and had become quite good at rolling wherever he wanted to go. Earlier today he was about 75% of the way to a real crawl when he was going for Max's tail (poor Max!). Tonight he put it all together and crawled a few steps. His goal? His new favorite gadget - the audio receiver! It was great that Andrew and I were both there to experience the moment. We'll try to get some video of the crawling soon.

We're going to have to do some babyproofing! We already have some gates up around the house and some of the plugs are covered. Tomorrow we're going to lower his crib mattress. My back is not excited about that!

Greg and I enjoyed some more time out at the swing - I think this will be a daily occurrence whenever the weather is nice enough.

He was a little fussy tonight, a particular mood that may be signaling another tooth. Who knows? We'll find out soon enough!

Checking out Mr. Giraffe

Playing with Daddy's muscle roller

"Oh, hi! I'm going to check out your computer."

"Shiny blue lights!"

Tuesday recap

Greg and I hung out around the house on Tuesday. I made a lasagna for our next-door neighbors - they just had a baby girl! I also made a big batch of sweet potatoes for Greg.

It was much cooler, so Greg and I bundled up for some time out in the swing.

Bundled up, but having fun!

We have continued on the quest to introduce more texture to Greg's food repertoire. We started offering him puffs the other day. He'll pick them up in his hands, but he is not interested in eating them. During lunchtime he took a piece of a puff in each hand and held them the whole time. I wondered where they had gone! He still has a hard time with the banana chunks and will sometimes throw up at the end of a meal.

In the evening, I went to a consignment sale with a few playgroup friends that had never been to one. I was able to find some pajamas, two shirts, and two pairs of swim trunks for Greg.

Monday recap

In the late morning, Greg, myself, and the dogs went on a walk with a friend and her dog in Bond Park. The weather continued to be beautiful and the pups really enjoyed getting out of the house.

Finally, a picture of the three-ring circus, including Greg's hat falling over his eyes

In the afternoon, we joined playgroup for another pleasant outing. Several of the mommies enjoyed taking pictures of the cute source material!

Soaking in the sun - when I'm not shading him 99% of the time!

So much going on in this picture

Greg had fun checking out the ball

A thoughtful look

Courtesy of a playgroup friend

Courtesy of a playgroup friend

Courtesy of a playgroup friend

Sunday recap (*only* 3 days later!)

Continuing on my catching-up crusade...

Sunday:
I went and got a new battery for the truck. We all headed back to Lowe's and were able to get a better (and preassembled) wheelbarrow with 10% off from the coupon we used the day before. Hooray! To Home Depot for other odds and ends, including swing hangers. Back at home, Andrew and I (mostly Andrew) put up Greg's swing under the deck. We moved the garden box to make it easier to get to the swing and give the veggies more sunlight - this meant shoveling out all of the dirt into the new wheelbarrow and emergency backup one. Greg tried out the swing. He was so-so on it the first time. I went to the grocery store and the rest of the day has become a blur in the past.

Putting up the swing hangers

Constant companion

Max surveys the dominion

Enjoying the swing (a new personal favorite picture!)

Mommy pushing Greg

Daddy pushing Greg

Foreman Hank is unimpressed

Wearing the shades!

More standing-up practice

Saturday recap

And just like that, I've fallen behind on my daily recaps! I'm going to have to do the short short versions to catch up!

Here's our Saturday:
I went to a consignment sale and got clothes and toys for Greg. (I love consignment sales - I hope to blog more about this later.) Andrew played football and had a great time! We went to Lowe's and got a bunch of stuff, including reseeding supplies and a wheelbarrow. Tried to assemble wheelbarrow back at the house. Wheelbarrow narrowly defeats us. While looking for better instructions online, Andrew discovers reviews that say this wheelbarrow is worthless. We'll return it on Sunday and get a better one. Five Guys burgers and fries for dinner. I go to bed at 9:00 PM. That's how I roll.

Greg can pull himself up on his music table!

Greg and I sat by the front window - just like our doggies do!

Channeling his sister Scout and gnawing on the window sill

Enjoying the breeze and listening to the leaves blow around

He was drawn in by the blue light on the subwoofer

How cute...

... until he pokes your eye out!

Bedtime story with Daddy