I tend to make things harder on myself.

I do it so often, it's as if I enjoy it.  I do not.

For instance......

I waited one extra day to order the most adorable outfit for Reed to wear in the pictures that we are having taken of him the Saturday after we return from vacation on Friday.  Of course I go to order it and it is out of stock.  Now the race is on to find him something to wear.  It looks like we will be doing some shopping on vacation.  Cross your fingers that we find something!

And, a soon to be issue.....waiting until the last minute to decide where to buy flowers from and what kind to buy for my high school reunion on Saturday.  Yeah, I'm not sure that there will be any table decorations, unless you count an empty vase full of water decoration.

I seriously always do this and promise myself that I won't every time.  Unfortunately, I never get on the ball quick enough.  So, these are just a few things that my poor husband has to deal with.  I am sure he isn't looking forward to the stress that will ensue tomorrow evening and then shopping frantically on vacation!

13 Months!

Wow, a month has already passed since the big birthday party!  Our little one is growing and changing and learning so much every day. 

Stats:
Weight:
Height:

At 13 Months:

• He has started using a "stink eye" look.  He wrinkles his forehead and looks at you like "I know you didn't just say that".  Sometimes it goes along with "Mom, you're embarassing me".  His expressions never cease to amaze me.
• He has learned to sit on his ride-on toys and use his feet to push himself around.  It is so adorable.  And, he thinks it's pretty great that he can get around by himself.
• His new words are Brooke or book, probably book, but I like that it sounds like Brooke.  He also can say Coca-Cola (too funny!) and stop.  He recently started saying "bite bite" and every now and then he says Nana and PawPaw.  He is getting to the point where he is doing his best to repeat what you say to him.  He can also sign "milk" but not all the time.
• His favorite toy recently is a glow worm that someone gave him before he was born.  He has recently discovered it and absolutely loves it.  He will make it play music, dance around with it, hug it, give it a kiss and a little pat on the back.  So cute!
• He absolutely loves the We Sing Together Sesame Street DVD.  I turn it on for him when I need to shower or do other getting ready things.  Most of the time he walks into our room pointing to the TV so that he can watch the DVD.  He claps when it starts!
• He is a pro at riding his rocking horse that he got for Christmas.
• He has become a little bit opinionated in regards to the books that we read prior to naptime and bedtime.  I sometimes pick up books that we haven't read recently and I can't get past the first few sentences before he pushes it out of the way.  He won't stop until I pick up a book that he wants to read.  He likes Brown Bear, Brown Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Each Peach Pear Plum, Moo, Baa, La, La, La and The Going to Bed Book.
• He's showing early signs of being a pro golfer.  He uses anything as a golf club and little things beware, he is going to try to hit you.  He even used a maraca to hit an egg in music class today, lol!
• We started music class tonight at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.  It took him a few minutes to stop being shy, but once he did, he loved it.  He danced and played the instruments.  We are looking forward to this 8 week class!

13 Months!



Loving on his glow worm!



Just a little bit of the "stink eye".





Riding on his car carrying his golf club.

He loves Glee too!

Current Favorite Song.....You might be surprised.

I have been taking Zumba classes at the local YMCA and there is one instructor who plays mostly hip hop music and it is such a fun class.  The below song is the cool down song she uses and I loved it the moment I heard it!  I hope you enjoy it.  Gotta love Nelly!

More Firsts

Our good friends Luke and Abbey came to visit this past weekend.  It was so great to spend some time with them.  Since we left Boston we've only seen Abbey and that was just for dinner, so it was nice to have them stay with us and hangout.  We went and took the tour of the CNN Center, which Chris and I had never done before and then we headed to fill up on the healthy food of The Varsity.  Gotta love those chili dogs!  This was Reed's first trip to The Varsity and he seemed to enjoy himself!

"Where's my dog guys?"

Reed and Daddy!



The second first of the weekend came when we took Reed to get his first haircut.  It was a mini-cut to just get rid of the fuzz.  I've heard that getting this first haircut will make their hair grow faster, let's hope that's right.  Reed was such a good boy and never even tried to get upset or get away from the lady.  Unfortunately, the place that I took him didn't have the little cars that he could drive while getting his haircut.  We will go there next time!

Before Pictures....a little unruly after his afternoon nap.

She promised that the comb was sterilized.  Let's hope so.  It kept him entertained for the few minutes he was in the chair.

After Picture....it really doesn't look that much different, but you can tell that his hair isn't nearly as crazy.

DIY Project #2

DIY Project #2 was a project that I spur of the moment talked my husband into doing and then he spur of the moment asked his dad for help. Thankfully, he agreed. I purchased a new TV for us a little over a week ago. A TV that Chris had been dreaming of purchasing for quite some time. We went to buy one Labor Day weekend, but the place we went to was out of the one we wanted, of course. So I went back later to another location and purchased the TV. The bad thing about now having the TV we wanted was that we didn't have anything to put it on. Ugh!

I had been desperately searching everywhere for one that would look great in our living room/sunroom, but I never found anything that really fit. Of course I could easily find one at Pottery Barn that we like, but who wants to spend $700-$900 on a TV stand? Not us.

As I mentioned in my previous DIY post, I have become addicted to designers' blogs. In the midst of reading these blogs, they have led me to a new addiction, Knock-Off Wood. This lady basically takes furniture from Pottery Barn and other expensive stores and tells you how to build it yourself. Awesome. We can pick what we want and build it ourselves for a fraction of the cost! I have been super pumped ever since I found this website. Chris, on the other hand, was not so thrilled.

After searching one Friday night in every furniture store we could think of, we were thinking that we weren't going to find anything that would look great in our space. Saturday morning we woke up and I said, let's do it, let's build our TV stand. Huh? Those were Chris' exact words. I think he was pretty frustrated from the previous night's search, so he said okay, although his expectations were very low. Thankfully, Chris' Dad has all the necessary tools, because we own zero. Christmas presents anyone? We called Chris' Dad to see what he was up to for the day. He was probably planning a day relaxing on the couch, but thankfully he agreed to help us out. We drove to Summerville, dropped off Reed and then headed to pick up the wood and start building.........

Here is the link for the Tryde Media Console that we built. We only built the bottom half, which is all that is included in this plan. There is another plan for the hutch if you are interested. This plan is very similar to the Hyde Turned-Leg Media Console from Pottery Barn. Of course ours doesn't have the turned-legs, which we really didn't want and it didn't carry the pricetag of the Pottery Barn one. Theirs is $699, ours is around $150, yay us!

Making some cuts. Chris and his Dad did all of the work on this project during the building phase. I literally didn't hammer a single nail. I don't see how that's fair since it was my idea. My role for this project was project manager. I plan to be a little more involved in the next project.

The first step was to build the box that makes up the main part of the console.

Then, attach the legs.

And then attach the top.

The unfinished finished project.

We took it home, sanded it, stained it and put two coats of polyurethane on it.

And it looks so AWESOME in our sunroom!! Please ignore the cords, Chris hasn't had time to organize the mess I made hooking everything up.

A little bit closer shot.

And, from the side.

It fits so perfectly in our favorite room in the house. This is now where we spend most of our time while at home.

A HUGE thanks to Mike, Chris' Dad, for helping so much on this project! We couldn't have done it without you and it certainly wouldn't have been as straight. And, thanks to Chris for agreeing to my crazy project and for coming out ready to do it again. We think a dining room table is probably next!!!

TV is Back!

This weeks marks the end of any of my free time because TV shows are returning. Last week, a few shows started up, but this week begins the craziness that is my TV schedule. I seriously need to cut back. I really do enjoy having the extra time to do other things that I find more important than watching TV. I hope to do a lot of multitasking while watching TV this season. Here's what I'm watching......

Sunday:

Desperate Housewives: This show got a little better last year and I hear that Vanessa Williams is joining our favorite desperate gals. We'll see if gets even better this year.

Brothers and Sisters: I am pretty sure that Robert died after the car accident at the end of last season. We'll see what happens as we pick up with our characters one year after the crash.

Monday:

House: This is really Chris' show, but I'll watch it just to hang out with him.

90210: Great background noise for blog writing.

Gossip Girl: I love to see what Blaire is wearing!

Tuesday:

Glee: My favorite show on TV, probably, since LOST is no longer on the air. If you want a fun, family friendly show, then you should definitely check this show out. It's awesome!

One Tree Hill: Not sure why this is on the air still, but I have to watch to see what happens. I am thinking this may be the last season.

Life Unexpected: Another CW show that I like. It's just a guilty pleasure that I really enjoy. I love the two actors that play the main character's parents.

Running Wilde: This is a NEW show that stars Will Arnett, husband of Amy Poehler, and Keri Russell, of Felicity. I am checking it out because I absolutely love Keri Russell and am happy to see her making a TV comeback. The description provided on my TV guide says "a comedy about a wealthy playboy who tries to woo his childhood sweetheart, now a single mom and a devoted humanitarian". I'll give it a shot.

Parenthood: This show is really good and stars some of the actors that I really love.

Wow, Tuesday is craziness!

Wednesday:

Modern Family: Hilarious, enough said!

Cougar Town: Reliving my love for friends by watching Courtney Cox's show. The first episode features a guest appearance by Jennifer Aniston.

Better with You: A NEW show that I am not sure what it is exactly about but JoAnna Garcia is a member of the cast and I LOVE her. You might remember her from Reba, Priveleged or her two or three episodes on Gossip Girl.

Thursday:

Grey's Anatomy: I look forward to seeing where they go after the craziness that was the season finale.

Private Practice: Dropping it. They killed Dale.

Fringe: Pacey Witter.

Whoa! This is absolutely embarrassing! Time to cut some shows and spend more time reading so that my brain doesn't turn to mush. Now, to decide which shows deserve the cut. I'll bet I can find a few, lol!

Happy new season of TV to everyone!!! Please don't tell me that I should be watching any other shows, I have zero extra time no matter how good it might be.

#1 Rule of Computer Use: Backup your Data

This past Tuesday my computer randomly shutdown and would not start back up. I went through several repair your computer screens but nothing worked. I called Dell for their help. Of course, I am out of my warranty period, so I have to pay $60 for their expert advice. They take me through a diagnostic test and tell me that I will need to reinstall my operating system and all of my personal files on the computer are gone. Great, thanks for your help. Ah! Talk about feeling like you've been punched in the stomach. I sobbed like a blubbering idiot. I was devastated. Guess what's on my computer? The only videos from the day Reed was born and other memories from the first year of his life. Most of the pictures are saved on picasaweb, thank goodness, but most of the videos have never been uploaded. I was so angry and upset. Why, oh why hadn't we backed up our files before? Because most people don't backup their computers, right?!?! Right. We never have.

Thankfully I found a guy would was able to recover all of our files. He said that the solution Dell provided to me is exactly why he got into the computer repair business, there are other options to losing all your data. It's all still there, thankfully! So, we got the computer back on Thursday evening and it seemed to be working fine, except for the fact that the speakers didn't work. I picked up a hard drive on Friday to backup the data on the computer. We went to bed last night with the computer backing up 15,000 files to the external hard drive. I came down this morning to discover the dreaded screen on my computer that I saw the night that it crashed. Ugh! Thankfully the backup process had completed prior to the computer crapping out again. I hate computers but I am thankful for the external hard drive. I am considering taking my Dell out back and torching it. It deserves it from causing so much pain and suffering. We will forever backup the data on our computer from now on, because I never want a replay of this week and I recommend that all of you do the same. Because, you could lose things that could make you a blubbering idiot as well.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Our good friends Graham and Kim's precious little girl Natalie turned two on Monday. She celebrated with a party at Mighty Jumps in Atlanta on Sunday. Reed had such a great time at the party.

Natalie with her daddy, Graham. Yes, this is the best pic I got of the birthday girl, ugh!

He was a little apprehensive to begin with.

He warmed up to them quickly after he went down the slide. He loved it!

He loved the alligator bridge.

I think there was a little girl trying to encroach on his space. How bad is it that he is already making faces like this?!?!?!

Not a very good pic of Chris (sorry babe!) but an 0h-so-cute pic of Reed.

And, he's already climbing up the slide, uh oh!

DIY Project #1

I have become quite obsessed with reading interior decorator blogs since we moved into our new home. I have found several decorators/designers that I love their style, so I follow them religiously to see what new ideas they have. Shortly after beginning to read these blogs, I found this guest bedroom that one of my favorite bloggers had designed in her own house. Check it out here at High Heeled Foot in the Door. As luck would have it, our guest bedroom is painted almost exactly the same color as hers, although it isn't quite as bright. I decided that DIY striped curtains would be my/our first project. It took a while longer than I expected due to Chris' crazy work schedule and Reed's sporadic nap schedule but we finally got them up in the room this past weekend.

Here are the steps that we went through to make the curtains. You can also find the step by step process that the blogger used by going here.

Step 1: Tape off horizontal stripes 7" apart. We used Frog Tape, which kept any painting from leaking through.

Step 2: Tape any kind of paper to the part of the curtain that you don't want to paint. We used some paper that we got from Home Depot to lay down when we were painting trim.

Step 3: We used fabric spray paint that we got at Michael's. I have to admit that this was the worst part of this project. I might consider an aerosol paint or painting it with a brush next time.

Step 4: Pull off the paper and tape to reveal crisp lines! I was so relieved!

Step 5: Hang them in your guest bedroom and admire. I obviously have a lot left to do in this room before it is actually finished but at least I completed one project, woohoo!

Bring on Fall

This past weekend the weather was absolutely perfect. We headed to Blue Ridge on Saturday to enjoy the beautiful weather with Chris' parents. It was absolutely perfect up there when we arrived around noon. Fall is my most favorite time of year, so I was extremely excited to feel the first bit of fall moving in. All three of us had a great time visiting with family and just enjoying the nice day!

Reed and his Mike Mike on the 4-wheeler. He loves anything that is motorized and moves.

And so does his Dad.

LOL!

Sporting his GT colors on gameday. (Photo courtesy of Mekenzie and Amanda. Thank you!)

Cute Pic also taken by Amanda and Mekenzie. Doesn't he look adorable? This outfit really didn't cut it after the sun went down. Thank goodness their was a warm blanket around!

Eating a popsicle with Kath.

Chris took one for the team and took our niece and two of her friends tubing in the too cold weather. They didn't put their tubes in until 5 or so and didn't get out of the water until after the sun was behind the trees. Needless to say, they got a little cold.

The girls, Karlie, Tori and Hannah

The girls and their guide. Notice that they all have wet hair. Karlie purposefully tip Chris' tube over and then they all went in the water after that.

Reed's first campfire. It came with roasted marshmallows, yum!

Reed and Daddy at the campfire, both shocked by the flash.

Golf Lessons

My brother got Reed a set of plastic golf clubs along with a few real golf clubs for his birthday. We've hidden the real golf clubs for now in fear of him knocking us or himself out. But we do let him play with the plastic ones and he loves them. He carries them all over the house taking a swing at anything in his path. The weather was so beautiful this past weekend that Chris decided to take him out and give him his first lesson with his real clubs.

1. How to hold the club - He's actually really good at holding the club and usually gets it right even when just walking around the house.

2. Taking the club back - Look at him keeping his eye on the ball!

3. The follow through.

4. Make sure you keep your eye on the ball once you've hit it.

5. For now, you have to carry your own clubs. Hopefully he will have a caddy someday!

First Fortune

Last night we took Reed out for dinner at a chinese restaurant. The food was not good at all but at least Reed got to get his first fortune ever.

I am not too happy with Reed's first fortune. His idea that if his slings his head enough, slaps his hands on the ground and acts like an all out crazy person then he might get his way is not the assertion that I am looking for. He certainly doesn't need any encouragement to keep this behavior up.

And, how about that fortune of mine? I think my favorite part is the use of "unusually". What does that even mean? Can't be anything good.

And, Chris is looking forward to a new relationship that will be blossoming soon, lol!