Retro Georgia Post

Flash back to March 17–26, 2010.
Connor and I flew to Georgia while Brian was at a sales meeting in Dallas. It was great to be back "home" for a bit and enjoy Macon in the early spring before the whole town was coated in a lovely yellow coat of pollen. :)

Ready for the Rain

The snow is finally gone and we have been spending more and more time outside. It became quite clear last week that Connor was going to need some rain boots. I never really saw the point previously, but I know now that they are a must unless I want to spend hours scrubbing and washing shoes. Of course it doesn't help that there is an empty lot next door that is constantly calling Connor's name. There is tons of dirt, mud, puddles and brush for him to play in.....in appropriate shoes.

Anyway, I was at Target yesterday and I found some of the tiniest rain boots I'd ever seen. They are XS, and fit Connor great! They are yellow with a little Paul Frank sock monkey on them. When I saw a matching bathing suit in size 2T (still a little big, but it works), I had to get it too.

This morning was pretty chilly and rainy, so we put all his gear on and headed out to play. Of course it is too cold for a bathing suit, so he just wore it over his footie jammies with his rain boots. :) He started out with a little rain coat my mom got for him last year, but he needed a little more warmth so we got out the big snow coat.

Anyway, we had fun. Here are some pictures.

checking the mail....sorta. At least he isn't in the street!
looking rough...but hey, it is Saturday morning...it is allowed. :)

We noticed the swans on the partially frozen lake while we played outside, but missed them flying away. Soon after we came inside, they came back! And this time they were really close to our house. To our delight, they stopped right behind our house near our little beach area! Connor was eating lunch, but when he finished up, he got to look at the swans too. He can't say swan yet, but threw out all the other water fowl words he knew trying to describe what he saw (duck, geese and "ga-ga" (water)).

He was SO EXCITED to see the swans!
I am really hoping they decide to lay their eggs on our lake this year.

bullets

Brian frequently tells me just to give him the "bullets" instead of the long, drawn out story with lots of details. Blog readers usually get all those details, but today, I'm going for bullets and will try to think of what has been going on around here.

• Connor found a hidden stash of chocolate chips in the pantry and helped himself. He came to me with chocolate around his mouth and a mouth full of chocolately goodness saying, "mum, yum". (they were zipped into the Pyrex Portables container in the bottom of the pantry)

• Connor's new words for the week.
—bath (bast)
—bear (bear minus the "r")
—apple (ah-puh)
—home (hahm)
—baby (beh-bee)
—Nana (for my mom...she was so thrilled!!)

His other favorites: mom, duck, geese, teeth, da da, car, ball, up, and there are others I'm forgetting. ****clock, hot, eye, ear, hi, and bye....and yuck (sounds like duck with a funny face...usually while I'm changing his diaper)****
It is still a very limited selection, but we are getting about 1 word a day now!!

He still signs "please" and "more" very frequently, but does not say either. And for the word water, he says "ga ga". This is the only thing he says that doesn't sound anything like the real word...well, that and the rest of the Connorese that we don't understand. :)

• Connor brought in his umbrella stroller to push in the house. I put a teddy bear in it and after about 3 minutes, he took the bear out and replaced it with his Lightning McQueen truck. I guess that is his "baby".

• Lightning McQueen suffered some water damage when Connor threw it in the bathtub two nights ago. He has dried out and the batteries have been replaced, but now he is possessed and we get random "ka-chow"s when no one is near the thing.

• Connor's parting words to me before bed last night, "Ka-chow". (then he blew me a kiss)

• Keeping Connor out of the street is our new struggle. I bought red and yellow duct tape yesterday and as soon as the driveway dries up from all the rain I'm going to make a warning line and a punishment line for him....otherwise I'll be chasing after him all summer. I hope it works!

• We put most of C's upstairs toys in our big, leather ottoman, coffee table. He is now great at opening it up, selecting a toy and then closing it.

• I think he loves shoes as much as his Mommy. I bought him some sandals at Once Upon a Child yesterday for $1.50 and he wore them around last night and then wanted to wear them again this morning. He was making quite the fashion statement with grey socks and sandals...

• When we aren't watching closely, he climbs up to "work" on Brian's computer or he climbs on the kitchen table to play with the fresh flowers or transfer the rocks in the bottom of the vases from the little vases to the big one. He knows he is not supposed to do this...

• He really likes the 1937 version of Snow White.

Ok, he is awake...update over. :)

Torture

I know I need to add new pictures. I just thought I'd write really quickly while Brian is giving Connor his bath.

Today we inadvertently traumatized Connor by taking him through the car wash. I thought he would think it was fun....I was wrong. From the second the guy sprayed down the car until the final bursts of air to dry the car off, he was pretty much petrified and screaming.

On a better note, his face is priceless when he absolutely lights up when he hears an airplane, he stops, points up and looks until he can find it. Tonight, there landing pattern to the Gerald Ford Airport was directly over our house and it is very clear out, so he got excited each time a new plane would come!! So stinkin' cute.

Ok, bathtime is over...time for books and bed.

Tschüss.

It takes special people....

...to purchase a pedal/paddle boat in the middle of winter...while it is snowing....and our lake is frozen solid!

We are the excited new owners of a 2010 Pelican pedal boat! On Friday, my new across-the-street neighbor, Pam took me to Costco in her big truck so we could get our new toys. I am so thankful Brian came home a little early and stayed home to wait for Connor to wake up from his nap. This outing could have been much more difficult with a munchkin in tow. Anyway, we got SO MANY crazy comments as we wheeled the purchases out of the store (with help). I think my favorite was that one lady basically ran up to me and said she liked my positive thinking...maybe the snow would be gone by the time I got home?! Countless other people said that if winter never ends, it could make a pretty cool sled. :)

However, we got almost as many comments on the other purchase made at the same time. Forgive the crazy cheesy name, but get ready for the "Relaxation Station"!!This thing is HUGE. I have no idea where we are going to store it when it is inflated during the summer. As the picture states...it is 10' x 10'. It has a ladder, cupholders and a "mesh floor for cooling feet"! I am so excited about this stinkin' float! Of course Connor will have a lifejacket on, but I think it will be so fun for him to be able to play out in the middle of the water on the "mesh floor" and he won't be able to get too far away!!!

Was it really necessary to buy this now?? Couldn't it wait until the snow was at least gone? Well, I've learned that at Costco, you gotta buy it when you see it (or very shortly after) or you risk missing out entirely. We only saw 4 of the boats when we were there on Wednesday, so I didn't want to drag our feet....there are LOTS of lakes around here (even more than Minnesota....they just marketed it well). And after looking on Craigslist for a pedal/paddle boat last year for a used one, I knew this was a great deal. And the price I just found while looking for an internet image confirms we got a GREAT deal on both the toys we purchased!)

So, we are officially ready....bring on the warmer weather! (as I look out at a blanket of white)

We have really enjoyed our mild winter, and have had a bunch of fun playing in the snow....a big snow tunnel and a snowman yesterday...pictures to come. But today is the first day of March. I can't wait for the snow to melt, and to see little buds and blossoms start to appear. I planted a bunch of tulip bulbs last year for the first time, and I am so anxious to see if they actually come up! I don't know why they wouldn't but the fact that you can just put something in the ground and it will grow still amazes me at age 29. Since we didn't have landscaping at this point last year, we will see our flowering trees (3 Purple Prince Crabapples, 1 northern Magnolia) bloom and blossom for the first time this spring. I have also never been more excited for all the nurseries and greenhouses (we have a TON up here) open up and sell plants and flowers. I know I want to get some "Rhodies" this year...not sure how many. We still have some space along the sides of the house and a really big bed that is just calling for a tree and some shrubs in a weird cutout.

Oh, and don't get me started on wanting to go to a farmer's market or to pick fruit again! I'm not going to miss out on picking blueberries this year....that will be in July. :)