Cracker Barrel in Cullman, Al

On Sunday afternoon, we packed up our car and headed out to Columbia, to visit Nana and Poppy. Of course, we had to stop at Cracker Barrel. My deal with Jeremy was that if we stopped at Cracker Barrel, we had to visit the Parthenon in Nashville. Did we visit the Parthenon? Nope. He owes me big time. For those of you who don't know me well, I don't like eating at Cracker Barrel.

I made the best of it, though! Ava had a great time pulling all the pegs out of the little wooden game. At one point, she had a death grip on them and would not give them to Jeremy :) Greta was hungry and cried almost the whole time. There was too much commotion and she could not concentrate on eating. I finally had to take her to one of the rocking chairs on the front porch and feed her. She is definitely her mother's child! I am not one for loud restaurants either.

One of the things that was remarkable about this trip to Cracker Barrel was the people. We sat down at our table and the family directly across from us kept staring. Finally, the mom leaned over and said, "You have such a beautiful family. Your girls are beautiful." I thanked her and smiled. When I took Greta outside to feed her, at least three more couples stopped to tell me how precious she was. One woman told me that she had a grand-daughter who was the same age as Greta. She stood and talked to me until her husband walked out of the restaurant. I don't know if Cracker Barrel attracts laid back people, or if Cullman is just a really nice place, but it was a neat experience. :)

I couldn't resist taking pictures of these gorgeous blooms...hibiscus, I think...

A Tid-Bit About My Childhood...

I had a fairly normal childhood, but I did get to experience things that most kids did not get to do. My dad is a grain hauler and has been for about 25 years. When my sister and I were children, we would go trucking with my dad while he was on jobs. We would ride with him into the fields and wait for the combines to come fill up his grain trailer. Sometimes several combines would be waiting to fill it up and it would only take an hour. Sometimes only one combine would be available and it would take 4 hours. We never knew what we were going to get, but we made the best of it. Brittany and I would climb into the trailer (after the combine filled it up) and play in the grain (milo or corn) We got to know the farmers really well and enjoyed seeing them year after year. After the trailer got filled, we would ride with my dad to the different ports and deliver the loads. Sometimes we would wait in line all night. I remember many nights where we would get stuck in a line of about 100 trucks (not exaggerating) My dad would not be able to pull out of line because he would lose his spot, so we would have to walk to the vending machines to eat dinner. Sometimes a honeybun hits the spot!! :) Anyway, I haven't been trucking with my dad since I was about 13 (about 15 years ago) but my brother now gets his turn. The other day, my mom sent me a picture that warmed my heart. It was a picture of my dad's truck in a field with a combine filling up the trailer. It brought back lots of memories that I wanted to share.

Greta At 2 Months!!

Greta will be 2 months old in 3 days!!! My little lovely is growing so quickly! I hate to do a post too early, but we will be out of town on the 31st, so I need to go ahead and record this post under this month.

Here are some fun photos of my darling baby:

I think it is funny that she is asleep in most of the pictures! Greta is certainly a sleepier baby than Ava was. I have been working really hard on a sleep schedule with her and I am realizing that she cannot tolerate more than 30-45 minutes of waketime after her naps. I have to consider how long she is, though. Greta is shaping up to be a much taller child than Ava, which means she growing faster (she was only 18 inches long when she was born) That could account for all the sleep :)

Here are some little things that are new this month:

• Greta is mastering rolling over. She started rolling over when she was 3-4 weeks old and has not stopped. She is now trying to roll from her back to her stomach. She has only managed to make it onto her side, but I have a feeling she will master that skill pretty soon.
• She is giving out more social smiles. I am so glad! I love this stage!
• She is in the beginning stages of cooing. It is so sweet to hear her voice!
• Her movements are beginning to make more sense. No more flinging her arms around when she is startled!
• She LOVES the ceiling fan! Ava did too! She gazes at it and smiles. I call it flirting :)
• She curls her toes just like me!! Both of my girls curl their toes under. It drives Jeremy crazy!
• She doesn't seem to have the spit-up problem that Ava had. I am knocking on wood right now, though.
• She is still waking up 1 time at night, but she can sleep for a 6-7 hour stretch. I moved her bedtime earlier (8-9) and that seems to help.
• Greta will take anywhere from 2-4 oz. of formula.
• She is settling into four 2 hour naps a day. I really don't have anything to complain about as far as sleep.
• She and Ava take naps at the same time every day. I moved Ava's nap back an hour in the afternoon so that they would sleep at the same time. WooHoo! I am able to clean our house and stay on top of the laundry! (You wouldn't know it to look at our house today, though!) :)
• She is learning to deal with her pacifier a little better. I am not going to force it on her, but I would like for her to take it a little bit to buy me some time before she starts wailing.
• She still HATES her carseat. Luckily, she is about to outgrow the padding. I think when I am able to remove the padding, she will be more comfortable.

As always, I know I missed a few things. When I think of new things, I will just make a new post :)

Ava At 19 Months!

I said in an earlier post that I was behind on blogging. Ava turned 19 months on July 13th. Today is July 28th. You do the math and figure out how many days late I am. I don't feel like doing math tonight. That sounded a bit rude and demanding. I don't mean it to be. I just really hate math :)

First, some photos of Miss Priss:

 Playing outside in the rain. She caught raindrops in her red solo cup :)

I took her to target one evening while Jeremy stayed home with Greta. I was looking through the accessories when I came across a display of straw hats. There was a really cute tan and orange one that I wanted her to try on, but she had to have the pink one. She pointed to it and got really giddy. I think it was the perfect fit! ;)

 Swinging

 Ava found Greta's pacifier and decided to give it a try!

My pretty baby girl!

Now for the information:

• Ava is now tall enough to climb on our dining room chairs. It is such a battle to keep her off of them. I could babyproof our table and just take off my centerpiece, but I refuse to. She has to learn to stay off when we say "no." Therefore, the centerpiece stays :)
• She can push the chairs all around the house. She climbs on them and turns the lights and fans on and off.
• She is just now beginning to get curious about the electrical outlets. Luckily, I babyproofed them a long time ago!
• She can climb in and out of the bathtub by herself.
• She can reach up in the bathtub and pull the shampoo and conditioner off the shelf.
• One of her incisors is finally coming through the gums!! Maybe the other 3 will follow suit!
• She is in a 5.5 shoe.
• She is still in a 5 diaper.
• Ava can wear 18-24 months clothes.

Manners:

• Ava has really come a long way in this area! She now says 'thank you' when we give her something that she asks for.
• She will say 'please' when she really wants something.
• We are still working on 'yes ma'am' and 'no ma'am' but she is learning.
• We are teaching her to say 'hi' to someone when they come up to speak to her. It is a work in progress. :)

Big Sister:

• Ava is a great big sister! She will stop playing with toys to walk over and kiss Greta on the forehead.
• She is just now figuring out how to hug Greta. A few days ago, she climbed onto my lap and just hugged Greta's neck for the longest time. She was so gentle and kind. It was really sweet!
• She still helps me burp Greta. She will gently pat her back to help ease the gas bubble.
• When Greta is crying, Ava will walk over and try to either give her a pacifier, or pat her mouth with a burp cloth.
• She is learning to whisper when she is around Greta. It is so sweet!

Word Inventory:

I was having a hard time remembering which words I have posted during which month. So, I "tested" Ava on her words to see which ones she knew. I am going to post most of them in this post. This will hopefully help me remember.

Animals: cat, dog, frog, meow, woof, moo, BIT (ribbit), bird, duck, bee, fish

Body Parts: eyes, mouth, nose, ears, hands, feet, toes, teeth, knees, hair, bellybutton. She can say these and identify them.

People: Mommy, Daddy, Jeremy (she just learned this one!), Greta, baby, Britt (beet), Gigi, Nana, Hadleigh, (we are still working on Pawpaw and Poppy) Bobby, Avery, Nathan, Joe (jojo)

Things: cup, flower, trees, outside (ou-shize), phone, meat, peas, beans, snack, milk, water, swing, bath, toys, book, diaper, seat.

Phrases: All done!, I see!, I don't know!,

I know I am missing some, but I think this is the majority--I just remembered! Her new favorite word is movie (meevee) Ha! She begs to watch a movie almost every day. Although I was a bit more lax with the TV while I was pregnant, I have gone back to a stricter routine. I turn the TV on maybe once a week. When Jeremy gets home, though, he puts a Disney documentary on almost every afternoon. I would say that she gets about 30 minutes of television per day.

Now that I am mobile and able to do more, I clean a lot. Ava is really a big help. She will help me load the washer, dryer, and dishwasher. She will also clean up after herself. I make her put all her books back in the bin when she is finished, and she also has to put her toys away before her nap.

Wow!! This was a long post!! If I think of anything I missed, I will post more :)

Date Night @ DePalma's

A friend from church (Judy Wilkerson) volunteered to watch the girls one night while Jeremy and I went out on a date. Of course, we took her up on the offer! Our plan was to go out and eat and then see a movie. We changed our minds midway through the date and decided to go to Barnes & Noble instead of a movie. We wanted to look at travel books together, but ended up buying a book of personality tests instead. We then went to Starbucks in Midtown and sat outside testing each other. It was a pretty fun date!! :) Oh yeah, we went to DePalma's to eat. I almost forgot to mention that! Ha! In 5 years of living here, we have never been. It was delicious and we will definitely go back!

This was really just a silly pose that Jeremy did because he didn't want me to take a picture of him. I posted it to my facebook and got a lot of response. It was funny because it was just a silly picture to me. Apparently, a lot of people got a kick out of it. A few days later, I got the picture below posted to my FB account! Ha! My friend Allison and her husband were at DePalma's and decided to do a copycat photo! Too funny!

 Allison :)

 Outside the restaurant

 Another silly pose!

At Barnes & Noble looking at Batman memorabilia. I forgot to mention that we bought Batman t-shirts on our date! We were getting ready for the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises.

 We bought this book :)

Sitting outside at Starbucks. What a fun date!

Pots & Pans & Crayons & Highlighters

Two weeks ago, Jeremy made the trip to Tennessee to pick up our new washer and dryer. Since Granny is going into an assisted living facility, she decided to divide her possessions between the family. Jeremy brought back so much more than just the washer and dryer! We now have lots of Granny's home decor as well as her very, very nice pots and pans! I had to completely rearrange our cabinets in order for it all to fit. Ava, of course, had a hay day! While playing with the new pots and pans, she came across my 216 tower of Crayola crayons as well as my stash of highlighters. You can imagine the devastation in my kitchen floor that morning. :) It was too cute, so I snapped a few pics:

Comparison

Sweet Sisters

Fire College

Two weeks ago, Jeremy spoke at the Central church of Christ's summer series. Since their building was destroyed in the tornado, they have been meeting in the Shelton State Fire College facility. We arrived a little early to meet and greet. We walked into the room where we would be meeting and saw a golf cart parked in a corner. Ava had such a good time climbing all over it and pretending like she was driving it! Too cute!

What Works & What Doesn't Work

At the beginning of last week, Greta broke out in the most awful rash on her scalp and face. Part of it was baby acne because her oil glands started producing oil at about 6 weeks of age, but I wasn't sure what the other part was. At first glance, someone would probably diagnose it as severe cradle cap, but her bumps were not consistent with that of cradle cap. Last Monday was probably the worst. I almost took her to the doctor because I thought it could be something really serious. Then, I did a little thinking. The bumps were only on the parts of her face that had been touched with baby soap. I had been using the small bottle of Johnson's head-to-toe baby wash that we had been given in the hospital. I remembered it being too harsh for Ava's skin, so I decided to switch over to Johnson's Natural (which was the only thing we could use on Ava's skin) It worked! The next day, the bumps started to go away and her skin started to flake over. It stayed dry for about a week, but she is now totally healed!! Yay!! So, I guess my girls have expensive taste! I guess it could be worse, though! I hear of babies who can only use California Baby or Burt's Bees. So, Johnson's Natural it is!