Monkey Princess

Can I tell you that I am in LOVE with the little girls clothes at Target. Not only because they are inexpensive, but because they are cute! More on Kate's fall wardrobe later, but for now, enjoy these pics of her in her Monkey Princess PJs!

The Monkey Princess - who spends most of her time with her hand in her mouth.. helping those little toothies come in! They're visible now, but only with the naked eye - not on film.


My babies! I tried to get a photo of them side by side, but it just wasn't possible.


Because Kate wanted to touch Foster.


And he's not a big fan of baby pettings. He tolerates it. Unless she pulls hard or, heaven forbid, touches his feet.

Here she is just moving around.. standing up, crawling around, saying her new favorite word: Ba or Va (its hard to tell sometimes).

Worth a Fortune

As some of you may know, I've developed quite the craving for Fried Rice lately. And by craving, I mean that I could eat it for every meal that doesn't involve pancakes. We've always frequented the Chinese restaurants around here - mostly Miyo's and Antai - but the fortune cookie has become kind of anti-climactic lately. It usually says something like this:


Yeah, great. Like Ohio far away? Montana? or somewhere more exotic - Cambodia? Argentina? So then I leave it on the table or shove it in my purse and that's the end of it. What do I really want from a Fortune Cookie anyway? I want something profound! Isn't that the point? I did once get one that said I may "prosper in the field of medical research." Which was as close to anything personal and profound that I ever got out of a cookie. Boy, was it wrong!

But lately our fortunes have gotten more interesting... Maybe you remember this post a while back, where I told you about Don's continued quest to have a simpler life. Well,First, Don gets this fortune about a month ago:

And we had one of those moments where we go: "Whoa.. that's pretty close to home!" So we saved it and were pleased that we finally got a meaningful fortune.

Then the other day, we cracked open another pair of fortune cookies.

Don first:

Which prompts him to raise his eyebrows and smile and ask me if there's anything I need to share with him.

And then me:


And the look on our faces? Worth a Fortune. :)


Our lucky package arrived last year. Maybe those fortunes were just 17 months late!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to another episode of Not Me! Monday. This week is actually not my child! Monday, where you can confess all those little fun things about your children - "Did you almost die of embarrassment when your child pulled their own pants down at the library? Want to scream bloody murder when your toddler took a pair of scissors to the dog's fur? Feel like a terrible mother when your kid said a four-letter-word at a back to school event? Well don't! Mothers aren't perfect and neither are children. Let's 'fess up today because it's Not my child! Monday!" Even Don laughed out loud when he read MckMama's post. She has 4 kids, which leads to lots of "not me" material.

So if you know me at all, you probably also know that my life is not a comedy of many small errors. This week I did not knock an entire cup of water over on my desk or shake a bottle of formula that wasn't closed. I always learn my lesson the first time and would never repeat these two instances that have happened at some time in the past.

I was not almost late to a meeting because I needed Starbucks. I did not spend part of my time in that meeting coming up with a list of things I did not do last week.

I have not been eating 5 pieces of toast with jelly for breakfast for the last year. That would be insane since I'm paying someone to make me fit again.

I love working so much that I am not counting down days until we go to Isle of Palms for the week. I did not spend time in the meeting mentioned above to daydream about winning the lottery and moving back to the coast.

And in keeping with the "not my child" theme:
Kate and I went shopping in Hartsville this past weekend, but she did not enjoy the haute couture baby store so much that she was grabbing dresses and squealing with delight. With the amount of clothes she has, it wouldn't surprise me if she was into fashion. She likes shoes a lot too, but she does not eat her shoes whenever she can get them off of her feet. And she does not eat other peoples' shoes either. That would be gross. I did not justify purchasing a ridiculously cute and equally ridiculously priced outfit for Kate because it was "on sale."

Ok all.. see.. not a very interesting week around here. I'll try to do better for next week. In the meantime, look for an upcoming post on Fortunes!!

Lazy Weekend Take 2

Another lazy weekend! But we managed to make it to Hartsville where we shopped a little, had coffee at the Midnight Rooster, and visited the family.


Did you notice that Kate was chewing on her shoe in that last photo? I'd like to say that she was eating her shoe because she is teething... but she really eats her shoes on a regular basis (i.e. whenever she can get them off her feet).
Sunday we relaxed. Kate played. She's such a good girl.





Kate now has a tooth (not yet visible to the naked eye), and she's slow, but she is getting better at the crawling!

Well Hello There!

Ready for Wednesday!


Kate waves!

Not Me! Monday

Happy Monday everyone! Gosh, last week was so perfect that I don’t have anything to share this week.. ahem.. NOT! Oh, MckMama’s nots are particularly funny this week, so please check it out here!

As for me… you know, I never lose anything. Just like a couple of weeks ago when I did not lose the baby monitor at 2 am, this week I did not lose my keys at work, nor my pocketbook at the rock garden place. If you talk to my Mom she might try to tell you about how I used to lose my pocketbook (and my glasses) on a near weekly basis when I was a kid/young adult. Whatever! Not Me!!

I did not just finish Kate’s nursery this weekend. The child is 8 months old! Are you kidding? I had it all ready to go before she was even born (3 weeks early). The pictures below were not taken this weekend. That is not my baby trying to pull the nightlight out of the wall under the giraffe. My sweet, well behaved, crawler would never do such a thing!





Oh, and speaking of Kate.. did I mention that she is finally starting to crawl a VERY little bit? Sometimes she practices in her crib. However, that is not a bruise on her forehead from bumping it on the side of the crib. That’s what crib bumpers are for right - see the picture above. That picture was not staged. I did not remove those beautiful bumpers long ago because I’m some kind of paranoid new Mom who is afraid that her baby is going to roll up under them and suffocate!

And finally, no matter what Foster says, we did not buy Smokey that expensive cat grass that you see in the checkout line at PetSmart and laugh at the people who actually pay for it. This picture is Smokey eating grass that we pulled up out of the yard and put in a container...


So go! And have a great week! And if you do something particularly embarrassing or guilt inducing, just remember.. its really not so bad, its just one more thing for Not Me! Monday!

Just Being Cute

I would write about our weekend, but its getting late and I'm tired. Lets be honest. You come here for the pictures. And I will post some of Kate from this weekend - just being cute. And for those of you who are interested... tomorrow is Monday, and you know what that means... Uh oh. She's awake again. I'm hoping for a better night tonight!

No! No!

Recently Foster was stomping all over Kate and I while we were playing on the floor. I said "No!" very loud before I realized it. I looked over at Kate, expecting her to cry, but to my surprise she began to laugh... hysterically. Just further proof that she is her father's daughter. Really, I don't think this bodes well for the future discipline of our child.

Happy Go Lucky

Kate demonstrates how to start your day off right! A photo shoot on the front porch!

Its that time again. Aren’t Mondays just a little more exciting because of Not Me! Monday? Are you feeling guilty about eating an entire box of cream pies in one sitting? Do you (like me) not wash your hair any more than you have to!? Are you embarrassed that your baby screamed and squirmed in the restaurant like you were branding her with hot pokers? We'll don't be! You can let it all hang out on Not Me! Monday. If you have a blog, you may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing! Please be sure to check out MckMama’s site (since she started this whole thing) and see all of the things that no one did this week!

So, do you remember the trip Don and Kate and I took to the beach 3 weeks ago? Well, I came home and unpacked straightaway, so I certainly did not wait until this weekend to unpack the bag I dropped on the bench at the foot of our bed. And I am also not one of those people that takes stuff to the dry cleaners and then waits so long to pick it up that I’m almost embarrassed to do so. Because those people that run the laundry are keeping tabs on when I come and go and how long they hold my laundry, right?

Talk about procrastinating. I did not just go to the website for the Public Health Laboratorian Board Exam on Friday and realize I may miss the deadline for the October Exam. And I certainly would not secretly avoid registering because I don’t think I’m ready. They offer it again in the spring. What’s 6 more months?

Guess who turns 8 months old tomorrow!? If you said Kate, you’re right. Guess who turns 8 years old Saturday? If you said Smokey, you’re right again! (bet you didn’t get that one) Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, my sweet 8 month old does not sleep through the night (why does everyone keep asking this?). I’m always wide awake in the middle of the night when I get up to feed her, so the other night I did not lose the baby monitor at 2 am and spend 20 minutes of precious sleep time looking for it. I did not walk back and forth between the only 2 rooms in the house that I had been in about 5 times. I also did not note during this time that the following persons/animals were all sound asleep: Don, Kate, Smokey, and Foster. I did not find it only when Don rolled over and it fell on the floor. He did not tell me the next morning that he thought he put it back in a place that I could find it after he turned it off.

And finally, Kate and I took a little shopping excursion to Kohl’s Saturday morning after bagels. She loved, LOVED riding in the shopping buggy/stroller thingy that they have there. I put her in it and she squealed with delight when I started to push her through the store. I did not wipe the thing down with baby wipes like I was decontaminating it for Anthrax before I put her in it. I’m not a crazy microbiologist germaphobe like that!

Happy Monday! Hope you have a fantastic week! And remember:

“Inviting people to laugh with you while you are laughing at yourself is a good thing to do. You may be the fool, but you're the fool in charge.” ~ Carl Reiner

Another Lazy Weekend

Wow.. two weekends in a row at home.. or is it three? I lose count anymore. At any rate, it was nice and relaxing. We all squeezed in a little of what we wanted: Don rode his bike so hard he wrecked it, Kate bounced and squealed and bounced and squealed and bounced and .. well .. you get it, I shopped a little and ran. We also shopped for plants to add to the new landscaping, tried out a new church/Sunday School class, and Don's parents visited! That sure sounds busy.. but it wasn't really. We even managed to team up and clean the house (while Kate napped). Thank you Lord, for baby naps. :) Now we're getting ready for a new week.

Kate took a nice long nap after church. Here she is in her church clothes showing off her skills (pulling up on the side of the crib).

Grandma and Grandpa Meredith came and brought a Sock Monkey and Elephant. They're quite a funny pair.

Standing up with a little help from Dad. Don't know if she'll ever crawl, but would walk tomorrow if she could!

Cutie. Doesn't it look like there's an elephant on her head?

Sat out in the heat as long as we could bear it, enjoying the new patio.

Hanging out with Grandma.

Don and his Dad.

Sharing her 1974 death-trap walker with elephant. This is a legendary walker, and not only because I used it! Apparently Courtney took a nose dive in this one, and several of my other cousins used it as well. Kate likes it, but can currently only go backwards. They don't sell them anymore.. something about being dangerous, folding up on kids, falling down stairs.. blah blah blah. Kate's a rebel.

Pointing, probably at a dog or cat.
Cleaned up and ready for bed. She's a pampered baby, sitting around in her robe.

Finally Friday

Well, here is a Friday post full of randomness. Have a great Friday!

I left a happy girl at Nanna's house.


The patio/landscaping was completed today!



Filled in Foster's moat. Now he has the nicest dog path in town.


How I found my sweet family when I got home.


Just in case you didn't believe it... Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma