cute carter and coupons!

This is Gray's BFF, Carter. They hung out in a previous post, remember?!

Well this is them 6 months later. Way more aware of what's going on around them, way more mobile, way bigger, and way more fun! Sorry about all the blurry pics, these boys are always on the move!

They shared toys and watched Preschool Prep together (more about that later) while their Moms chatted about life and couponing. Happy to report that Carter's Momma is now an officialy Coupon Queen :) It was a great weekend trip and G and I can't wait to do it again!

G slept the whole way home. Playing hard makes this little guy all tuckered out.

mirror, mirror on the floor

...who's the fairest, little boy?

Gray has recently discovered... HIMSELF. He loves to look at that cute boy staring back at him... and who can blame him?! As you can see in the bottom pic, he's giving himself a kiss. So sweet!

picking the right one

Last Tuesday, Chris, Gray, Lynn and I went to Matt Family Orchard to pick some delicious blackberries. They were enormous and juicy and I think it is suffice to say that we went home with the appropriate amount of blackberry juice on our fingers and lips... at least I did. :)

It was a gorgeous day, albeit a little hot you know, with the DROUGHT and all. Thankfully the fruit was plentiful and we each picked almost a full bucket. 

Hopefully, some jam and baby food will be made with these.

Gray supervised from his stroller and let us know when we had been in one place too long by fussing at us to move it.

I went home to have a coffee date with a friend while Chris and Gray hung out with Lynnie and the dogs.

 Gray also met his new best friend, Max. I'm not sure he realizes Max is a 100 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback and about 5 times his size... and I'm not sure he cares. (As long as he'll watch Diego with him and occasionally lick his hands and face.)

Mom Rule #27

No matter how many bright, fun, educational, loud toys you buy them, they will always love the dog's toys more.

just one of those days

So in the chaos that defines being a parent, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that my day has been a bit on the hectic side. 

As many of you know, I'm an avid couponer and thankfully I just got my binder back in order (perfect timing cause we were running low on everything) so I was set to go to the grocery store. Enter Randall's with my giant a** coupon binder (GACB), Gray, purse, and grocery cart cover. I love my son completely but he is become a less cooperative coupon shopping companion with each trip I take. So picture an 8 month old climbing up the side of his mother while simultaneously squealing and drooling everywhere. Yeah, we were those people. Finish trip thanks to the fact that I am shoving puffs in his mouth continuously while also watching my transaction to make sure everything goes right. ($102 down to $51... not great but pretty good)

Drive home to a whiney baby (literally) and leave all the groceries in the car to quickly put G down for nap. Walking down the hall to his room I feel a gooey, warm sensation and freeze. Doggy diarrhea. Grrrrrrrr.  Then I don't know what to do. Do I keep walking and trapse it all into G's room... the floors that he crawls on and then puts those poo infested hand into his mouth?!?!? Ahhhhh! While I'm having this dirty poo dilemma I am, of course, STILL standing in the poo. I decided on a partial hop/make my steps as big/few as posible. Doesn't really help. It. Gets. Everywhere. Eventually got G down for a nap/screamfest while I scrubbed the floors with tears in my eyes. 1 bottle of carpet stain cleaner and the rest of my Glade carpet freshener later and we have a house that smells of citrus, fresh linnen, lemon chicken (in the crockpot) and just the slightest scent of liquid poo. 

All that said, I was super stressed and upset about it all but knew that blogging about it would make me feel just a little more in control. Sigh. Thank goodness for crockpot dinners already ready and for my amazing blender that will make delicious margaritas tonight.

first of many firsts

Although it started coming in last month, this little tooth is finally officially in. 

It's sharp, crooked, pearly white, and perfect. :)

(Please excuse the black raspberries smooshed into his eyebrow.... sometimes his Daddy doesn't have the best aim while feeding this wiggle worm.)

Adios Ancillary

I will surely miss this crew. 

Especially our very formal PLC meetings and our very stable schedule. JK! ;)

 I will miss them though for sure and our field days, and fun days, and their willingness to help out, and our... we'll call them "flexible Fridays", and their sense of humor and their laid back nature. This past school year has been great and so fun! I hope the best for all of them and hope that my team next year is as easy to get along with and work with as these guys have been. 

Blessings and have a great summer Yvonne, Ronnie, Apryl ;), Judy and Ben!

A is for

AUNT AMANDA!

What can be said about this awesome lady?

Let me break it down for you...

1-3 months

Well, she lived with me for a month when I was just born. She even got up with me all through the night and would give me sweet hugs and kisses even though she was tired. She helped my Momma tons and would go get her yummy smoothies since that was all she could eat. She bought me lots of cute outfits, bibs, shoes, special shampoo, and jammies. (Even a cute panda hat!) 

4-7 months

Aunt Amanda was my full time (M, W, F) babysitter for the Spring of 2011. We would play all day together and then usually both nap too. ;) She worked with me on eating solids, sleep training, crawling, dressing cute, drinking from a bottle, and dancing! She kept a bib around my neck all the time because she said I drooled too much. I say she just didn't drool enough. You try growing a whole new set of teeth! Jk, love you. We went to Antique Shows together and out to lunch and I even got to watch her graduate college!

Which brings me to the next phase in my timeline...

7 months +

My Aunt Amanda just started a new adventure last week, Teach for America. My Momma is a teacher and now my Aunt is going to be one too! I know she's a good teacher already because she's taught me tons! I know she's going to do so well and make such an impact on those kids lives... I mean I REALLY know she will.... otherwise there's no way in the world I would have let her leave. 

Love you Aunt Amanda!

-Gray

PS: Make good choices and don't do anything I wouldn't do. 

1 more day!!!

I canNOT wait for summer! Tomorrow will be my official last day at Milne as I will be working at a new school next school year. I'm super excited about it but will miss the past two years and the people that made them awesome. The best part about this summer though is that instead of being all hot and pregnant and miserable, I get to hang out comfortably, in the AC with my favorite little guy.

A few quick updates for 7 months. Man, it has been an eventful month!

On Sunday, May 22, Gray started clapping at Patty Cake and those hands haven't stopped since. Any time you say "yay" or he's proud of himself or you smile at him, those cute little chub hands start banging together.

On Monday, May 23, Gray started officially crawling, not belly on the floor dragging but real crawling. Holy cow, has this rocked our world.

Two days later, on Wednesday, May 25, Gray started teething. Bottom right and man that thing is coming in sharp. Also, although he's been doing this for a while, when he's not smiling or sporting a binky in his mouth, the bottom lip is sucked in and no where to be found.

Friday, May 27, 2011 (as if we didn't have an eventful week already), Gray started pulling up like he never wants to touch the ground again. Hence the baby gate... now the licking... the pole licking I can't explain. 

Overall, I would say I have an adventurous and impatient little boy who wants to know about everything around him that instant. He is a little explorer and loves people watching and I know I'm slightly biased but I'd venture to say he's a pretty special little 7 1/2 month old.

Let our summer adventures begin!