What a Wiikend!

Saturday night Mil and I got my folks to babysit so Millie could take me out on a birthday date. We were all nervous thinking that Gray would be a pill. Well, Millie fed at 6pm; we were out the door by 7 and seated at Cafe Europa by 7:15. After the requisite Red Oak and Catalina Mussels (Mil had a salad) we went down to Cheesecakes by Alex and picked up a piece of Pecan Sweet Potato Cheesecake and two decaf coffees. We called my folks to check in (expecting the worst) and heard that Gray had slept the whole time and been nothing but a peach. They were about to feed her a bottle. I verbally lowered their expectations for the bottle feed and we went to get a $5 pumpkin from the HT. When we got back we learned that Gray ate (drank) more milk for them than she ever has for me. As Millie would call her: "What a little stinker!"

I woke up Sunday morning (my birthday) to find this:


Millie decided to decorate at the 4:30am feeding.

Grayson gave me the "I {heart} daddy" shirt pictured here. Don't you just want to eat her?


We had some friends over for brunch and pumpkin carving . . . and drilling.


Looks like we're getting ready for lighted-ball season


Millie, Susan, Mamaw, and my folks chipped in to get me a wii (and with the leftover $ I paid for Maggie's vet bill - not as much fun, but both were stress relievers.) Grayson took her first of many trips to Target to help up pick it out.


Me; note the topspin


And lastly, in an effort to wear more Halloween costumes/outfits than any 6 week old in the country . . . (please note the progression of happiness)

Crying, Smiling, and Rolling

Wow. What a week. Gray's been smiling all over the place; just not for the camera.

Grayson is still figuring out her schedule; she's gone as much as 6, 7, and 8 hours between feeds at night, and as little as an hour during the day. To which Mil and I said; "Girlfriend; seriously." We've handled it with lots of prayer . . . and 13 episodes of Heroes (season 1). We highly recommend it; what a show.

But not as good of a show as this one; Grayson's first rollover:



I don't mean to discount her accomplishment, but after the rollover I gave Gray a physics lesson. If you watch the replay and focus on the HUGE head, you'll see that Gravity should get a lot more credit than Grayson.

She loves her little mat that Mil's dad gave her (he didn't wrap it because, being so bright and busy, "it already looked wrapped"; a man after my own heart.) Cute kid, huh?

Again, training for "fan watching"; this time she's watching a monkey and a giraffe.

She's getting soooo big; weighing in at 10lbs even last Tuesday. I always tell Millie that she looks cute in "pinks and browns"; Grayson comes in a close second in her "pinks and browns" today.

The Farmer's Market and Hobbies

Funny Things Said at the Farmer's Market
The three of us went to the farmer's curb market this morning and this lady in her seventies stopped and exclaimed "Why, she's got more hair than me!" to which Grayson replied "Thank you, thank you very much."


Hobbies
So I like sports (mostly tennis, basketball and a little flag football when the weather is nice), Millie likes sewing (and any craft-time activity that would be Martha Stewart worthy ) and so we were wondering what hobby Grayson would pick up.

Well, apparently she has taken up competitive ceiling fan watching. This fan in particular:


Seriously people, she is glued to this fan. Gray and I had laid down the other night and I went over the finer points of competitive fan watching. Lesson one (as seen below): always keep a good, wide base.


You can see in this video that (as instructed) she keeps her eye on the fan at all times. It's funny how low our entertainment standards have fallen.

Please note her cute "Dad's Choice" outfit and please don't note my "Dad's Choice" bedhead.

"I wish I could own a Wii"

Mmmm Mmmm Good

We've had a whole host of friends and family bringing us meals this week. My Uncle Jon, Cousin Emily, and Aunt Karen brought over some Beef Stroganoff and Salad (with Goat Cheese; a personal favorite of mine.) Jon thought it up and it was so good, I prompted Karen (the vegetarian) to request Tofu Stroganoff.

Whitney, Matt, and Ollie Hannam asked what our favorite take-out was and brought over a Large Italian Sausage and Cheese (no sauce) pizza from Elizabeth's and some store-bought cupcakes with 2 inch tall frosting (a personal favorite of Millie's).

Hotmomma (my mom) came over and fixed pasta (the kind that are the size of a think quarter) with pine nuts, white beans, parm, greens, and (optional) sun-dried tomatoes and garlic.

And then last night, after Gray gulped down her 'Dulce de Leche', Mil and I enjoyed a homemade delight from the kitchen of Jenni Hoggard:



Parmesan Mashed Potatoes, Buttery Delicious Asparagus, Chocolate Cake, and Beef Tenderloin with an Mushroom Au Something French sauce (I renamed it "Mushroom Au No You Didn't Sauce").

Best Part: the food was delicious.
Second Best Part: she walked it over to our house.
Third Best Part: she packed it in a 100% disposable container so I didn't have to remember who this dern casserole dish belonged to.

Wow. Not like we needed such great meals from all these folks (because anything is better than Cheerios - which might have been the alternative) but what a treat.

p.s. - included in this list was the turkey that Millie noted in a previous post. Friend Shirley Carr brought it over (along with a Chicken Pot Pie) and we had it for dinner and then lunches for a few days. Maggie must have heard us rave about it so much that she decided to take it out of the trash, hop up on the couch with it, and make sure it was cleaned to the bone. Waste not, want not.

It's Official - I won

My buddy Matt owns a sign company and make up signs for our neighborhood.

He made the 'Yard of the Month' and 'Property Improvement Awards' and decided to use his creative license (and the artwork) to make a 3rd more distinguished award:

Also: Gray downed her first attempt at a bottle.

Week 3 highlights of sweet Gray's life!

Week 3 highlights of sweet Gray's life!

Aunt Ali came for a week to visit...we had some great snuggle time and she was a BIG help to mommy and daddy. Ali also sewed me some ribbon burp cloths that are cute enough to sell in a store! My spit up never looked so good.

Aunt Kiki (Kristin) came to visit and brought me some fun pink Young Life gear (thank you)!I got to wear some of my new clothes (thanks MayMay and Peeps!)
Gramashu came to visit me too...she missed me and had to come to see how much I had changed in the last week. She also brought me some very fun gifts from her "grandma" baby shower at work. Thanks for everything! I visited Dr. Rubin and weighed in a 9lbs. 7 oz! He said I had "exceptional weight gain". I'd say so, since I gained 2 oz. a DAY in the last week! He told me I'd be a 53 lb. one year old if I kept gaining weight at this rate. Mommy and Daddy laughed. But I decided that big babies are cool, so I decided to hit a growth/appetite spurt for two straight days after the visit to Dr. Rubin. I wanted to be sure I stayed in that "exceptional" category. Feed me Mommy!Also this week, Peeps has been cleaning the windows at my house and making them nice and shiny. He sure is a good Peeps. I got to meet Aunt Karen, Uncle Jon & second cousin Emily. And while me, Mommy, and Daddy made a quick diaper run, my silly dog Maggie dragged a turkey carcass out of the trash and decided to eat it on our bright red couch! But I slept through the whole clean up ordeal. The last week sure has been busy and fun!

1st Two Weeks

Please post a comment if you cried while and/or after watching this video. I get 1 point for each woman that cries and two points for every man; shooting for 15 points. This little experiment is on the honor system; please self-police.

Sooooo Funny

A friend of mine, Kristin Leathers, forwarded this to me . . . I laughed so hard that my c-section inscision hurt.

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we're in the library, the grocery store or at a drive~thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just~turned 3~year~old, and you never have to ask him to turn up the volume; it's always fully cranked. There have been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not~so~audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco. Halfway through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom. If you'd been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this iswhat you would have heard coming from the second to last stall:

'Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy,what are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?'

At this point, I started mentally counting how many women had been inthe restroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full. 4? 5? Maybe wecould wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity.

Cade continued, 'Mommy, you ARE going stinkies, aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on thepotty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh, Mommy! I'm trying to see in dere. Oh, I see dem! Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You ARE gonna get some candy!'

I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side ofme. Where is a screaming new born when you need one? Good grief. This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, 'Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you can find some candy. We'll both have some.

'No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies. Oh! Mommy!' He started to gag at this point. 'Uh oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!

As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall. I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with myself: Okay, there are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone.

'Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done doing stinkies! Get up! Get up!' He grunted as he tried to pull me.

Now I could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door.'Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at, Mommy? You wooking at da wady's feet?'

More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation.'Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy.'He started pounding on the door.

'Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!'

I saw that my 'wait 'em out' plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door, and found, standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud. My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, 'Where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy?' But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought,'I'd sign it all away again, just to be known as 'Mommy' to this little fellow.'

Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three. She lives withher family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she no longer uses public rest-rooms with her 3~year~old in tow.