Spread the K-Love

I am not sure who started this little dance, between the two of them, but I think it is fair to say that they are both equally entertained. Monkey see, monkey do - at it's best. Noah will have him jumping through hoops by the end of the second visit.



I love this fella. The little one and the big one.
Thank God for strong, amazing friends who weather the storms, bring the sunshine, and make you laugh regardless of the forecast.

What Came First?

Forget the egg or the chicken, the pox came first at our house.
There are many things I like and desire about chickens, but this my friends, is not one of them.

I think he is handling it way better than either one of his parents. We just want to take the pain away, the confusion away, the multiplying red bumps. We have never felt so helpless... this is definitely the first real trial as parents, to be patient and know that God will heal his little body in due time. Say a little prayer for our little guy - and maybe one for his mama and pops, too.

Noah shows us how he really feels about those pesky bumps -
or he's trying to lick the oatmeal bath off his chin.

Daddy always makes everything in my world much better.Can't nobody hold me down, oh no...

The crazy thing, or at least what I find wild, about Chicken Pox is that there is a vaccine for the infection but there are no antibiotics or salves that will speed the healing process, only things to make the child less itchy. I know it's a viral deal, but still, one would think that with the sickness that effects millions of kids and adults each year, there would be some glimmer of goopy hope.

And what better than to have Noah's very own, very special, personalized cape (handmade by the wonderful Liz) arrive during his first oatmeal bath of the day!

Yes, that's right - the wonders of this cape will bring super speedy healing powers and will have Noah bouncing off the walls again in no time! And he will be very cute doing it... But for real, go check Liz out and buy one of these for the little dude in your life - Etsy, everyone else is doing it.

We are on the outs right now, chickens and me, but I still think I want them in my backyard (I don't really have a "yard" per-say, but I like to think of it that way...). I will have to sleep on it. The thought, not the chicken.

Eleven

The procrastination of creating this post is not coincidental. I assure you that.

This time last year I was counting the days, hours, minutes until Noah would grace us with his sweet, sweet presence. I could never have imagined the way my life would take on a whole new form, one almost entirely unfamiliar to the one I'd always known. More about that next month (gulp).

In Ford fashion, it's been a crazy busy month for us, capped off with a trip to Florida over Labor Day weekend. And in Noah fashion, he continues to amaze me, knock the Chacos right off my feet. It's phenomenal the things he picks up on and learns within minutes of seeing it for the first time. Blows my mind.

And in no particular order:
1. If he wasn't a flirt before, Noah has now added the wink to his repertoire. Cute as heck and will charm the pants off of anyone - if he isn't too bashful to show you. It's the double wink followed by a flutter of the eyelashes... guys, you better hold tight to your ladies.

2. His vocabulary is growing leaps and bounds - he will repeat, or at least try, anything you say to him. Among his easiest to decipher: hello - ayeee, fish - ish, daddy - da-dih, mama - behh (which we think is him calling me "babe" or "Elizabeth" because that's what Chris usually refers to me as), here - hee-ah, this - diss, duck - dah, Grits - giss... and many, many more that I am sure we just can't figure out yet.

3. The tooth count is up to eight - and they are pretty adorable. They sure do make him look big though, which is the part I am not so sure about.

4. Uncle Caleb came to visit and meet Noah for the very first time. Noah was none too impressed that it took Uncle K-Luv ten months to finally make it to Tennessee, but I think they made up for lost time rather speedily. We are hoping and crossing our fingers that we will get to see a lot more of him in the near-ish future.

"Whoa, I've never been this high before."

Noah, Uncle K-Luv, and Mama before C headed home, I mean to Ridgecrest.Ay-eeeeee!

5. I for sure thought that by this point he would be running circles around the house, mostly because he crawled so soon, but I think he figures he can get there just fine on all-fours, why mess up a good thing? He has started to let go of my leg, the couch, a bench, or whatever he is holding onto at that moment and balances for a few seconds before he realizes he's not touching anything and plops onto his fanny.

Nothing better than morning cartoons with these guys.

6. At the ripe old age of 11 months, Noah has started his first LDR (Long Distance Relationship) with one of his very first and favorites, Ms. Allison. We took her out to lunch at the Tellico Grains Bakery (if you haven't been, you must - I don't care if you live in another state, region, or country, this place is goooood.) for a last shebang before she headed west. We miss her already, but I think this is one LDR that will survive. I mean, this is the stuff love is made of, right?

7. Tantrums - have I talked about those yet? He has them. They are entertaining. He snatches his arm away when I try to make him sit back down in the tub - he waves his arms furiously in the air like the "all done" sign language if he doesn't like what you are doing or giving him - he has a fake cry which sounds similar to that sound they make on Dumb and Dumber, you know, the most annoying sound in the world. These are few and far between but his not-so-little personality is starting to show more and more. And show that he got a lot of it from his daddy...

8. The mullet is official. Yes, my precious son rocks the Euro-Mullet. His Aunt Dita would be so proud...

Look closely, it's there...

Now I can only hope as he gets older he can claim
the sexiness of the mullet like David Beckham...
with the money and humor of Terry Bradshaw?

9. Hello, my name is Noah and I like to greet you like this:

I have no idea how this started or where it came from, but apparently his pops and his Uncle Matt (of the Matt/Heather married combo) did this very same thing when they were little. I have always known Chris saw the world a little differently. This explains a lot.

10. My independent, do-it-myself, won't cry when I fall on my hiney-child has found a new love for snuggling. I will stop whatever I am doing whenever I am doing it to take full advantage of scooping him up, breathing him in, and lingering while time stands still and all is right in the world. He even let me rock him to sleep a couple of nights - he hasn't done this since he was probably 6 months old. We pray and hope and love that our babies sleep on their own and through the night, but let me say, rocking him in my arms those nights will stay in my heart for a long time.

...and last but certainly not least...

11. We are weaners! Yes, that's right, Noah has successfully weaned himself as of the beginning of September. Breastfeeding mamas, don't ask me how we did it, what we did, or if I have any tips because all I can tell you is this: let the baby take the lead. I know that many, many people much smarter than me preach wholeheartedly against "demand-feeding" during the beginning, but let me throw out there that once you have a rhythm going and it's good for mama and baby, I really believe that it will all happen naturally - at least that's the case for us. All along Noah has "dropped" feedings around the suggested ages without any coercion, and the whole experience has been fabulous. Do I miss it? No, not yet... I am just glad to have the girls back.

Let's take a look back real quick, to what I was doing a year ago today:

Holy guacomole, I looked like a rolly polly...

...and he still had a month to cook. I am woman, hear me roar.

So let the labor, I mean growing, pains begin... countdown to twelve months. I don't even want to talk about it.
Think I was late this month?
I may just have to resign from this blogging gig, it's giving me wrinkles.

Be still my heart, be still.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Meet my fellow mama-friend, Liz, creative and artsy as all get out. We go way back to Crestridge where she and I, along with two other wonderful gals, shared a 700 square foot cabin, surely built at least 50 years ago. And I may be generous with the 700...oh, if only walls could talk. She was the Crafts Director that summer - very fitting, you'll see - and promised to spend her life with a sailor as well. Big summer all around for that little cabin.

Liz is wildly creative, in words and craft, and keeps me well entertained on her blog with her hilarious stories of motherhood, wifedom, and her candid thoughts on religion and politics. Mostly, I love to see what handmade good she comes up with next... and lucky for me (and you!) she opened up shop on Etsy to sell her amazingly precious skirts for little ladies and eventually these awesome little superhero capes for the little dudes. I highly recommend checking her out, you won't be disappointed.

In celebration of the shop opening, and because she's cool like that, Liz ran a contest on her blog to win either one of her skirts or capes. Though Noah could definitely pull off the skirt because he is that cute, I opted to enter for the cape (to keep peace in the house)...

AND WE WON!

This is not the actual cape, though it does don an "N" - Noah's will be some combination of green, blue, and yellow because those are his favorite colors, he told me last week.

So in the spirit of Labor Day (what does this holiday actually celebrate, anyone?) go check out Liz's labors of love and creativity... and her kid is pretty terrific as well. It's well worth the time - and what's better than handmade loveliness?

Ford Excursions

Cheesy, yes I know.

In case anyone was worried, Hotel de Ford is back in full swing after a sweet little lull right at the close of the summer season. As mentioned before, we kicked it back off with the Giusti family escaping the heat of their AC-less house and getting in one last footloose jaunt before the booger picker, I mean, Mason started Kindergarten. (I am wrestling with whether or not I should re-word the previous sentence because I could potentially make my sister cry for two different reasons in-between that capital letter and period containing only thirty-five words. Well, if she's going to cry anyway, might as well leave it.)

This past weekend Matt and Heather, the married ones, made the eight hour trek from Savannah to come and spend a way-too-short weekend with us. This was their first time to our house (Matt came last summer to the first house we lived in at camp, remember, the big one.) and we were so glad they came up. The funny thing with them is that we go long periods of time without seeing each other, like since Christmas, and then it seems like we see each other a few times close together, like in two weeks in Tallahassee.

We ventured out to the Market Square Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, admittedly our first time going since we've moved here, and let me just say, I may have found my heaven on earth - or at least my heaven in Tennessee.

Fruits, vegetables, fresh bread, jellies and jams, handmade goods, hippies, diaper-clad bathing beauties, and sideshow-Joes galore. Heaven. We even got on "the list" to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the spring! We could have joined now for the rest of the year, but we decided that we would save up our cash and join next May - $17/week for a half-box containing 5-7 variations of farm-fresh goodness. I wish I could remember the name of the farm, but crazy enough, I didn't write it down or take a picture of their stand - come next May, say good riddance to Kroger's produce aisle.

The five of us grabbed lunch at Tomato Heads which happens to be right in the middle of Market Square - how convenient. And delicious. They are all about the local, in season, and fresh - music to my ears.
Our pizza was phenomenal and a victory all in one - it's not very often you find ONE pizza that all four folks, especially with me around, will agree on and love. And that's saying a lot considering I typically pick off at least one topping on every pizza I eat, but when you know it's so fresh and local it's hard to disregard the hours of love that have been put into that mushroom and olive.

Matt, Chris, Heather & Noah at the Market

Accordionist on stilts and his lovely lady.Noah and his daddy playing in the water.

Next year he will be one of the naked babes running around.This kid loves the water. Loves.

You would think after being surrounded by food galore we wouldn't be able to eat for at least a week. For us, this is not so. In Ten Mile fashion, we had to take Matt and Heather to eat at the Marina - it's a must if you stay with us for more than one day. And the Braves game was on - bonus!

Noah is trying out new smiles these days.
I am partial to this one.

The gang outside the Marina.Matt & Heather at Watts Bar Lake.

Sadly, or not so sadly depending on how you look at it, the more I educate myself about food, our food industry, where it comes from, where it doesn't come from, I find myself more and more picky about what I eat. Maybe not so much picky as I expect food to look good, taste good, and that I feel good about eating it. For me, this was not so with my selection at the marina. Breaks my heart because I love the little place, but it opens up a whole world of questions about the quality that they are serving when I can visually see the problem - makes me wonder what I can't see.

Anyway, that's for another post.

We had a briskly wonderful weekend with the married Uncle Matt and Aunt Heather...they have to come back when they can stay longer.

Oh... and one more thing:

Happy Birthday to my mama!
She had me 26 years ago so that makes her at least 37.

Here's to a year full of blessings and bliss!

Booger in the Sugar

...no it's-not.

To show that I play fair and not favorites, it is pertinent that I share a story that my sister, Heather, specifically looked at me and said, "Please don't put this on the blog,"... even if it makes her crawl out of her skin, it's a must read. Kids say the darnedest things and this kid in particular is quite funny.

Mason, age 6

The Giusti clan (minus Mike) came over and stayed with us for a few days last week. We were busily cooking dinner and maintaining the other wild banshees while Mason was taking a bath. (Note: The bathtub is practically in the kitchen. No children were left unattended while bathing.) He was playing, pretending, make-believing when he asked Heather what this blue plastic pot was that he was playing with. She said "That's Aunt Beth's snot-cleaner-outter!"...to which he promptly dropped in the water and scurried for something else to play with.

He landed his hands on a clear plastic cup that has lime green coloring on the bottom to which he asks, "Why is the bottom of this cup green?"...to which Heather responded, "That's where she puts her boogers." I tell him it's green because the boogers turned it that color. His face distorts and again, he promptly drops the cup.

Seeing the opportunity of a lifetime, because after twenty-six years and plenty of tattling I know the way my sister feels about the olfactory and it's functions, I ask, "Mason, what color are the boogers you eat? Green or yellow?"

He thinks about it for a minute.

"Yellow."

And if you listened close enough you could hear a little part of my sisters heart breaking. And her skin crawling. And her head spinning. And the steam blowing. And her innermost being dying.

And me laughing, quite loudly.

And Mason going on bathing.

Random Fact: There are studies that show that kids who eat their boogers turn out to be healthier adolescents and adults. The boogers boost their immune systems and ultimately help ward off the common cold and other such funkiness.

Explains why I've always been so healthy...

Sweetness

Nothing is finer than sipping sweet tea and blogging in the moooooorning. 

Oh yes. There is.

Doing all of the above with this little face looking up at you:

I mean seriously.

Fiiiiine.