20 Months = Tantrums Galore

The tantrums have begun. And oh they're all out fall on the floor, stomping and high pitched screams. But let me tell you, they're not here for long. After weeks of trying to decide which method of discipline I wanted to take, the wooden spoon also made it's debut this weekend. I hated to go that route, but mama don't play those tantrum games. Actually I just had to show him the spoon and tapped his leg very softly and say, "Spank!" and he got it. He looked at me wide-eyed like, "Oh goodness, she's for real now." I'm sure it won't always be that easy. But from what friends tell me, just the threat of the spoon is usually enough. Let's hope so b/c mama hates giving spankings. :(

Oh the bright side, Evan started MDO last week. Today's his second day, thus I'm back to blogging, enjoying some quiet laptop time at Panera. He wasn't happy when I dropped him off, but I prayed he'd have a good day today. It's hard for the little guy, but I know it's best. We also started attending MOPS which I LOVE, so he's getting a double dose of childcare on some weeks.

His favorite words lately are first and foremost, "cars" for the Cars Movie. He literally wakes up saying "cars" and goes to bed saying "cars". What kind of hyponosis did they put in that movie? His other favorites are, "choo choo", "yes", "copter" for helicopter, "cheese", "tractor", and he likes to roar like a lion. hehe He still predominately says Mama alllll the time. He calls everything Mama, including Steve and pictures of himself. We're working on that. I'm teaching him to show me his happy, sad and mad faces...he thinks that's hilarious. He loves itsy bitsy spider and patty cake and basically all sing songs. Oh and he gets a kick out of sticking his index fingers in his nostrils at the same time. Hopefully he doesn't do that at MDO. lol

Gosh I don't know what I'd do without that kid. Lately I've been frustrated with him a lot because of the tantrums, but that little kid is my world. It's gonna be fun to have another one, but he'll always be my first.

Food Intake Restructure

My new fave website/magazine: http://www.eatingwell.com/. Healthy, low cal, delicious.

Gymboree/The Little Gym

Evan loves Daddy

Happy Father's Day

Making the Stepping Stone

Stone for Dad's Garden

Daddy's Cake

The Meisner Men

Signs that I'm old and have completely lost the cool points I had built up

1. Starting with the most scary, I'm actually starting to want a minivan. I NEVER thought those words would come out of my mouth, but I'm sick of changing diapers in the front seat, bumping my head on the door and not having any room to put anything.

2. I have at least 3 gray hairs.

3. I'd rather watch movies at home than at the theatre.

4. Steve and I return from dates at 9 pm...or earlier.

5. We go to bed at 9 or 9:30 pm.

6. I can't sleep past 8 am any more...even if I want to.

7. I actually care about politics.

8. I care about incorporating more fruits and veggies in my diet (still not giving up Diet Dr. Pepper though).

9. I wear sunscreen instead of baby oil.

10. I like watching the news.

11. I'm not the youngest of my friends any more.

12. I actually WANT to move to suburbia and give up the downtown pad.

13. I realize that my mom's right about 99% of the time.

14. My metabolism has definitely slowed down.

15. We often go out to eat at 5 or 5:30 pm (although that's mostly Evan's fault).

16. I don't think twice about changing a diaper in public or stripping him down to a diaper.

17. I want a minivan. That one has to count for at least two.

But I did recently go bungee jumping, so all's not lost. ;)

16 Months/Update

Stylin and profilin'

In my big boy pants!

I'm a cheese

Hunting eggs with Dad

Peekin at my Easter basket

I'm growing increasingly worse at blogging. I used to be so into this. I just don't have that much time any more. During the 2-3 hour period I get to myself during the day, I'm usually cleaning, preparing for dinner, doing my devotion, facebooking or just resting! That being said, here's what's up with us...

The most exciting news is that our house is on the market. We're anticipating our move to Franklin. We're hoping and praying everyday that someone puts a contract on our house. One lady loved it and said it's in her top 4, so I'm praying she's the one!

I thought Steve and I would never agree on where to move around Nashville, but everything finally came together (read: he gave into me) and we agreed that Franklin is the best spot for us to raise our family. I've lived around Nashville for most of my life and Franklin is the one area that I've never lived in, so it makes it all seem new to me, which my personality type needs. Plus they have the best public schools, the cleanest, nicest mall/shopping/restaurant areas, plus my Mama's group is nearby. The only thing is we'll have to find a new church, but there are TONS to choose from and I'm confident we'll find something we love. I already have a few good leads. I'm on a waiting list for MOPS and Evan's on the list for MDO, so I'm reallllllllllly looking forward to that. Oh and did I mention how awesome it will be to be in an actual neighborhood? We don't live in much of one now and I never lived in subdivisions growing up, and I want Evan and our future kids to grow up near other kids so they can ride their bikes and play basketball on the streets and stuff.

Evan is 16 months now. Wow. He acts like he's been walking forever, even though it's only been 2 months. He likes sticks and drums and wrestling and chase and most of all, being outside. He is so boyish! He says new words a lot, but doesn't repeat them for several days, sometimes weeks. It's weird. After months of me trying to teach him the sign for "more", I had given up. But today my mom showed it to him when we were eating lunch and he did it repeatedly! He's done it all day and even signed "more" when he wanted Steve to tickle him again. He's 26 lbs. He likes to unroll the toilet paper for me when I pee because he knows he can't touch it any other time. lol He points to almost all of his body parts when I ask him where they are. He does good eating with a fork, but still likes to use his hands. He LOVES songs. Fave shows are Play With Me Sesame, Handy Manny, Backyardigans. Fave foods are pizza, chips, sweet potato fries, mandarin oranges, and puffed snap peas. (Info for his baby book.)

Steve is doing great at work. He's billing more than he ever has before and he's getting lots of new files from the partners. He's even had a few cases that came in specifically for him. I'm so proud of what he does. I couldn't be a lawyer for a day. I would never be able to sit and read and dictate and research and have all that conflict everyday! He has to deal with some barracudas sometimes. I love that he does his work with integrity, professionalism and the right attitude even when things aren't fair. I know it's not easy.

I went to my first law dinner with him 2 weeks ago with NES. It was actually fun, great food and it was nice to meet some of the wives I haven't met. All of us associate wives have boys, mostly just a few months apart. Kinda cool.

As for me, I'm enjoying my time with Evan. Some days more than others. hehe I love being home with him. We go to the gym, go on playdates, run errands, play at home, go to parks A LOT, play outside and are looking forward to spending lots of time at the pool this summer. I'm so blessed to be able to stay home with him. I try to never take it for granted, although I know I do sometimes.

That's about it for now. :)

Pee-Pee Potty!

Can I just tell you how shocked I am that Evan pee-peed on the potty today??!! He's had an ongoing fascination with the potty for a while, so I started sitting him on there two days ago. This morning, I sat him on there and voila! I'm sure it won't be this easy to do the full-on training, but it's a good start!

Oh and we thought we'd multitask and brush our teeth at the same time. lol

Wilderness at the Smokies

All the gang with sleepy Ev

Sweet face
Kiddie pool
See-saw in the kiddie pool

Chillin

Hey this brush fits up my nose perfect

Sleeping on Momaw

Swinging in the kiddie pool

We made it alive out of the storm chaser!

For spring break, my grandparents took Briana, Macey, Mom, Ev and me to the Wilderness at the Smokies in Sevierville. It was F-U-N!! It's an indoor waterpark that is truly amazing. Heated pools, huge slides, 2 big kiddie pool areas and best of all a hot pool, not a hot tub, but a hot pool! We will definitely be going back here and we're bringing daddy next time! It's an absolute perfect place to bring kids of any age...from 6 months up! Check it out: http://www.wildernessatthesmokies.com/

14 Months...he walks!

By far the biggest milestone came this month...Ev started walking! To daddy of course! He waddled over to Steve with 5 or 6 steps (March 17). He's still very new at it, but he gets from place to place nonetheless. I think it's so cool that I started walking at 14 months too. His first word other than "mama" and "dada" was "this". lol Hilarious first word if you ask me. He says it when he points to something and wants it. I realize that I overuse the word "this" when talking to him. "Do you want this? This one? Come get this. More of this?" It's super cute when he says "dis!" because he says it all the time. And just this week I've heard him say "bite", "juice" and "drink". He understands almost everything that I say to him. He knows what things are even if he can't say the words. I hear that that's what's most important at this age, so I'm pleased.

He has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth. He has huge feet for his age (5.5!) and is still on the tall side. He's continuing to rock his faux-mo haircut, although it's grown in a lot since I buzzed it.

He's also practicing throwing fits...yay for me. Oh and hitting people when he's not happy with them. My mom even almost had to pop his leg! And that's a shocker because she's a softie. So now I get to learn how to train him that it's not okay to hit people (including me) or throw tantrums. Parenting is so fun. :) j/k It really is hard at times. Now I see what people really mean when they say parenting doesn't come with an instruction book. It's hard to know what to do when you've never done this before. But as my friend April told me, you just pray! I love to think that I can read books and they'll give me all the answers, but only God knows Evan better than me and only He has all the answers.

Ev's really a good kid, despite the aforementioned things. hehe He has such a calm demeanor and is sweet and loving. Mom's nicknamed him "love sponge" because at any time he'll sit on your lap and let you hug and kiss on him. There's no such thing as too much attention to him! I already worry about whenever he has a brother or sister. I was holding my nephew Josh (6 months) the other day and Evan kept trying to hit him! He's a jealous little sucker! Guess that's normal though. He loves to give big open mouth kisses and his favorite game is wrestling on the floor with Daddy. Steve lays on the living room floor with him every night before bed and they play. Usually Steve has his shirt off. Evan discovered Daddy's nipples and belly button and is obsessed with them. He constantly tries to grab them or flick them off. LOL All three of us crack up every time.

Even though it's still present, we're getting through the separation anxiety. Actually I think I'm just getting less emotional about it, which is good. He still puts on a pathetic show when I drop him off, but I know that the people I leave him with are taking great care of him and I think that's finally getting through my brain.

Steve and I were talking last night about how we are living our futures right now. All of our twenties we were waiting for where we are right now...married and watching our children grow. This is such a great time in our lives. It was a long time coming, but not only was it worth it, it was meant to be. We agree that it was probably a very good thing that we had to wait for God to put us together when He did. We're about to put our house on the market and look for a home to raise our family in. Exciting times.

Goodbye Mr. Kirby :(

Our neighbor Mr. Kirby died today. He was around 95 years old. Such a sweet, sweet old man. I first met him when I was outside painting our porch and he yelled over, "Come over and visit me sometime. I'm here all by myself. I get lonely. You can bring that baby with you. I like babies." So I got Evan and went over and visited with him a while. I visited him every now and then. He's a talker and it was always hard for me to tell him I needed to get back home, so my visits were less frequent. I'm upset with myself about that now.

Mr. Kirby always loaned Steve tools. In fact, I think we have his blower right now. He was always one to give us advice about our house and tell us stories about his life. He was such an interesting man to talk to. He had such a sweet nature. He'd see Evan and say, "I wish I could hold that baby but I'm afraid I'd drop him." I plopped Evan on his lap one day. I'm so glad I did. Evan loves his dog, Minnie. Minnie's really gonna miss him.

Today I got home and lots of people were outside around his house. I knew. I went over and his grandson told me he had passed 30 minutes ago. What I'm most upset about is that I planned on going over to see Mr. Kirby this weekend. Steve told me he wasn't doing good. I've been on vacation this week and told myself I was going to go see him as soon as I got back. Too late. I'm so sad that I didn't even get to ask him if he knew Jesus. I'll live with that regret forever. :(

I hope Mr. Kirby is in heaven with his beloved wife. He missed her so, so much.

I'm sorry, Mr. Kirby, that I didn't get to say goodbye. You know I admired you and I was your friend. Please forgive me for not visiting you more. You'll be missed by all of us.