getting in some practice...

Judah and Leo were having a play date while the mommies were having a play date. We had to stop our play date though to go and figure out what the boys were up to...this is what we found:

One of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no experience,

but needs some practice to be a good one.

Charles Dudley Warner

The Future Mario Andretti :)

If you've spent 5 minutes with Judah...if you've talked to him at the grocery store while you were standing in line...if you've looked in his general direction and made eye contact...then you know that he loves cars. Like, really really really, loves cars.

So when we were in WI visiting his "grinny" and "great grinny" and we found the local Nascar museum, I knew we had struck gold...black gold...OIL! haha...I am cracking myself up right now....okay...here are a ton of adorable pictures of Judah's mouth hanging open in pure awe and pleasure at the amazingness that was before him...

Hanging onto Grinnie's hand so he didn't slip on the snowy path..

wow!

he actually stood here and admired the car for more than .02 seconds...so like a whole 4 seconds...which is ages in toddler land...

I wish I had been in front of him for this picture...he was crouching down and creeping forward with pure excitement towards the cars he kept seeing at every turn!

pointing to more car stuff!

look, I was there too :) legs! and more pointing from the boy...

The Grinny's were content to watch Judah having all the fun :)

There were even cars hanging from the ceiling! so awesome!

"look grinny!"

trying to figure out how to get in...haha...not yet hunny bunny...gotta wait a few years for that!

"cheese!"

yikes. 14 more years people...

running his hands along the car...did I mention he was in heaven?!

they had tons of these little model cars, he really enjoyed those.

lucky for me, they didn't care if he wandered and touched stuff....

or maybe that is lucky for Judah...hmm..

Great Grinny bought him a fun shirt in the gift shop :) he liked it!

Oh what a fun adventure we had!

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food for thought..

Feeding a toddler has turned out to be one of the more frustrating things I have dealt with as a mom...er...I mean as a human. honey child has a way of making me crazy by not eating and gagging on things he doesn't like and just generally being picky. Now, the things he will eat, he will eat endlessly...but the rest of it is a crapshoot.

Things Judah WILL eat:

Tortilla

Cheese Slice

PBJ sandwich

Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Grapes

Crackers-Ritz, Graham, Club

Corn

Oatmeal

Apple Sauce

pizza

watermelon

hot dogs/corn dogs

french fries

All stage 3 baby food in a jar...

Things Judah MIGHT eat:

Mac N Cheese

Black Beans

Meat Balls

Banana

Bacon

Hummus

Chips

Guacamole

grilled cheese

blue berries (but never the skins)

casadias with cheese or with beans

And pretty much everything else he flat out refuses. And trust me, I have offered him a variety of tastes, textures and types of food. ahhhhh! He just started drinking cow's milk for the first time last week. glory. (he still nurses like 3 or 4 times a day)

He shocked the heck out of me tonight when he ate meatballs...sheesh!

What do you feed your toddler? I need some serious ideas....help...

He is still in the 90+ percentile for all growth and his doc says he is fine...but...I'd like for him to eat more things...maybe I'm just dreaming...

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Zoo Crew

The weatherman said it was going to be 70 today...so of course we made plans!

The Zooooooooo!!!!! woohooooooo!!!!!

I went with my friend Katie and her doll faced boy, Andrew...or as Judah says "Ah-dew"

It wasn't really as warm as it was projected but it was perfect weather for

the animals to come out and play. And lovely light for a good photo :)

Love Birds!

This Giraffe was walking super close to the fence, I think she wanted her picture taken.

Fine by me! I took a gazillion pictures, these are a couple of my favorites.

Sassy girl! Stickin' out her tongue at us!

I almost forgot I had a child! ha! Katie was on top of the mama photo op

moment though...good thing! ha! So we got the boys together and they humored us for the pic.

These little mere-cats made me laugh, the mommy was peacefully nursing her baby and along

came daddy who wanted to play with the baby all rowdy like...sort of reminded

me of my own little family...lol...

Oh those eyes!

"As we go walking through the Zoo

This is what we'll see,

Elephants and hippos,

And monkeys in a tree.

Tigers roaring loudly,

Giraffes who stand so high,

Dolphins swimming freely,

And parrots in the sky.

So let's all go walking,

Having fun the whole day through,

As we go on our field trip,

To the friendly city zoo."

Author: Beverly Qualheim

The grand finale of the day: Monkeys!!!!

They were kind of far away and I couldn't get a really great shot, so the shots I did get

I edited to look all overexposed and crazy, which I actually kind of liked the look of.

I admit, the monkeys are a favorite! Judah loved them too!

Do you have a zoo?! do you go?! do you love it?!

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the duds were a hit

So a couple days ago I bought myself some Milk Duds. I had only eaten a couple of them and I left them sitting out. The next morning I heard Judah playing with the box and heard them all fall out of the box onto our couch and the floor, I rushed over to pick them up and found Judah putting one into his mouth. I cleaned them up really quick and got more of them out of his little hands and he kind of looked at me all serious and then swiped a couple more I had missed and shoved them in his mouth really quick. And then backed away from me. haha. He said "mmmm" and then ran away. It was hilarious. I was a little worried they might be a choking hazard but Judah didn't have any problems devouring them.

I am so glad my kid has good taste :)

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you are being warned...

...when I was in WI visiting my mom I found a ton of old photos of myself when I was a baby and I borrowed them. And then I got a scanner. So consider yourself warned. I have boxes and boxes of photos from college, and high school (eek!) and even some from Jr. High...those may never be seen, we'll see how my self esteem holds up with the others first. lol.

So right out of the chute...here is an adorable baby picture of yours truly.



awh! wasn't I adorable?!

I am especially loving finding pictures where I resemble Judah. From our looks to our expressions to our activities.

It may be a little bit like a forced family slide show around here for a while :)

You have now been warned! hehe :)

blessed and blessing

Have you ever had someone do something for you that just made all the difference? Because I have.

For instance:

I needed to buy a car. I had no idea what I was doing or how to go about it and the truck I was driving was pretty much at the end of its limits. So a friend let some folks know what I was needing and someone gave me a donation of money that blessed my socks off and another person loaned me a really really nice car for about 6 months so I could save up and not have a car payment for a while.

For instance:

I was new in town and didn't know anyone. And I was sick, really really sick (pregnant...same thing). My neighbor, who was also new to town, knocked on my door. Regularly. She visited me. She invited me along to do things with her. She invited me for dinner and even spent Christmas with me when I was alone for the holiday. A few times. She offered friendship when I needed it most.

For instance:

I had just spent a week in the hospital (dang pregnancy..lol) and when I got home I found a gift that had arrived in the mail. It was a slanket. A blanket with sleeves. It was a simple gift that when I put it on made me feel wrapped in love at a time I was feeling my worst physically.

For instance:

I was discouraged and feeling overtired and overworked at my job. I still loved it, but I was honestly just tired (mono probably didn't help...). I came back from a week of doing something (I forget what) and discovered that a group of friends had painted and decorated my office in a way that made my work space feel so wonderful and special. I was rejuvenated and excited again to come to work every day. I still have the lamp that was given from my boss/senior pastor to help make my office homey. I will probably keep that thing for a long time because it just reminds me of what those folks did for me.

These are just a few instances that come to mind. I have many more examples of ways people have blessed me and made an impact on my life. From money to time to gifts to patience to you name it. The ways we impact those around us and how we are impacted can be vast.

And in the spirit of what all those people did for me, I love when I have a chance to "pay it forward". I had a chance today to do something for someone I care for. It was a "full circle" kind of a moment for me. I knew that the reason I was able to do what I did was because of what others have done for me.

I have been blessed and that has made it possible for me to be a blessing.

I remember watching a "Friends" episode on tv where Phoebe wanted to do a good deed and be completely selfless while doing it. Only she couldn't succeed at it being completely selfless because it made her way to happy to do all of the good deeds she attempted. :) It was just so rewarding to do good things for other people. And if something is rewarding it isn't exactly selfless...well, that was her premise. And I totally get it.

How have you been impacted by someone in your life during a time of need? How have you paid it forward? feel free to comment and share! I'd love to hear about it. Or maybe this will inspire a blog of your own...that would be cool too :)

little drummer boy

Judah and I spontaneously went to a drum circle here in East Nashville on Saturday. I had known it was going on but didn't think we'd be able to go because we had a birthday party to head to across town in the same ball park of time...but it was a long morning and when I checked my email and saw that it started at 10:30 and the party didn't start until 11:30, we double timed it and got ourselves out the house fast! and boy am I glad we did :)

It was SO much fun! Loud...but fun :) It was at a local music shop called Fanny's house of Music.

Judah was digging it. I was a little nervous because he is not a fan of loud noises. And he did lose it at one point when everyone in the room did a loud drumroll at the same time...it was a little too intense for a moment, but he recovered and went on to be one of the louder drummers in the room :) haha.

I am hoping we get to do a few more of these! It was awesome. It was hosted by Hands on Drums. I am going to look into how much it would cost to use them for a birthday party...seeing as how someone around here is breaking the rules and growing up...

Here's a little video of Judah drumming :)

Before I had a kid I never...

...forgot to brush my teeth in the morning.

That's all.

Anyone have a mint?

watching over me...like angels...only...not...

So Judah and I went out today to go to our favorite little neighborhood haunt...it is usually a huge hit...but today it was kinda packed and the story time was endless...which just doesn't work with a squirrley toddler....or 10, cause seriously, there were a lot of little people there today.

So we cut out as quick as we could with out being rude and headed next door to the restaurant that is attached. I ordered us some food and Judah spotted the Thomas Table so I let him down to go and play with the trains.

There was another gal there with these adorable twin boys (holy cow they were cute) and their big sister...turns out she was the aunt...she was clearly out numbered and not used to it. haha. So I offered to watch the twins so she could help the big sis go to the potty. I could tell she wasn't sure if she "should" but the potty dance forced her to trust me.

She headed off pretty shortly after that and then it was back to just Judah and I hanging out.

Judah has started telling me when he is going poop. He usually tells me after...but today he told me and then I could see him start making it happen (if you know what I mean. ha!)...I offered quickly to rush him into the potty so he could go on the potty...he was all excited but sadly it was to late...so we utilized the koala changing station instead. And as I was dealing with poo and a squirrley toddler in a public restroom I was so distracted that it took me probably a full five minutes in the restroom before I realized who was watching me...

10 eyes...staring...watching over me...reminding me of a time in my life when I was horribly awkward...and making me kind of wish I could go back to such carefree moments...back when I had the right stuff...and less poo...

And it was a HUGE poster...like...life sized...

And then I started laughing.

Thanks boys...

I could almost hear them singing as I walked out of the bathroom...

"please don't go girl...it would ruin my whole world..."

I'm not really feeling all that talkative.

I still haven't off loaded my pictures from my week in WI.

Maybe tonight I will do that. I have a cold and my energy level has been zero this week.

For now I am thanking God for Puffs Plus and quiet days at home.

Hope you are doing better than I am.