Potty Manners

If you're the least bit squimish or offended by potty humor, turn away now. The title alone should alert you of what is to come. Consider yourself warned.

We've not been practicing good potty manners around here lately.

Exhibit A...
Now, that is one good daddy!

So in mid diaper change, Keatyn decided she wasn't quite finished and Jimmy's natural reaction was to catch, freeze, and wait for backup.

I'm sure he was delighted to see his backup come running with a camera :)

(Can't you just tell Ginger is thinking "Seriously...what is wrong with you people?" The ever faithful mommadog is just chomping at the bit to lick them clean.)

Exhibit B...

Just as I was about to take my first bite of food, I heard the old, "MOM, COME WIPE ME!!!!" call.
I go in to find this...
Apparently, I took too long getting there and he started without me.

Great. Where's the hanger?

So I threw Keatyn in the beanbag and started declogging the john while muttering 4 letter potty words under my breath.
I know it sounds strange, but it was hard to get upset with him because buried under that entire roll of toilet paper is, you know what. And if you know the drama and fear Trace has overcome about all of this, to know he did it, and by himself without me even knowing it, warrants a celebration in itself!

Let's just say, there was a time I feared Keatyn would be potty trained before Trace was. Or that I would be forced to homeschool because you don't typically see 3rd graders with pull-ups in their backpack.

I am SO proud of him for overcoming his fears, now we just need to work on "moderation" with the TP. ha! I love that boy!

Someone thought all of this was very funny.
And so are the days of our lives...

You are my sunshine

We took the kids up to a friend's house that had planted an entire field of dwarf sunflowers. They own several acres and have a pond and a barn. It is breathtaking!
It was 110 degrees in the shade but well worth the ride to Sale Creek. I never realized this but all sunflowers open and point to the sun, which is beautiful, but also means whoever is having their picture made is also looking directly into the sun. So, perfect smiles and unsquinty eyes are hard to come by, but I was happy to get a few decent shots.
Jimmy was literally laying in the middle of the field holding her up. Thanks hon! :)

She's a left leaner...




Thank you so much Fred and Jennifer. You have a little slice of heaven!

Stop staring at my bass...

When I opened this picture on my phone, my first thought was... "You go babe!"

My next thought was... "Oh Lordy, that thing's gonna be hanging in my living room."

But luckily for me, he's swimming freely in Lake Chickamauga as we speak. Whew.

This was a 9 pounder... the biggest Jimmy's ever caught (and fortunately for me, bigger than either of our children at birth.)

Too bad he couldn't tag it, trap it, or just bring it home and let it swim around in our bathtub til the next CBA when it would bring in some dough. :)

Sweet, deep sleep

OK, as a mom, you just know sleeplessness is part of the gig. It's what you sign up for.

In fact, I always find myself saying to someone fixing to deliver a baby (especially their first)... "Go home and sleep, DEEPLY, because you may never again."

I don't do well without sleep. I think I require more than the average person. It's just in my DNA.

I was never one of those "I'll sleep when I'm dead" kinda people. No, no... I'm much more the "I sleep, or you're dead" type.

I tend to have the same change in personality if I'm not fed every 3 hours. Much like a newborn.

It's not pretty.

With Trace, it was easy. You're up all night nursing, you sleep when he takes a nap the next day.

With the second... not so much.

Please hear me when I say I am NOT complaining! I have a lot of help and am so thankful to be a stay at home mom. I honestly don't know how working moms do it all.

I am so incredibly thankful for my babies and would rewind the clock back to February 4th and start all over again tomorrow if God granted me that wish.

I kept thinking that I wouldn't mourn the loss of every stage with my second, yet I found myself fighting back tears after stocking my cabinets with pureed squash and rice cereal the other day. And pulling the exersaucer out last night nearly did me in.

What??? Already??? Didn't I just bring her home from the hospital???

So we are phasing out of the newborn stage and most would think the dreaded "sleepless" night phase. But, for some reason, the sleep Gods are yanking my chain.

First, we went through the "let's lift our legs in the sleep sack (picture double leg lifts) and SLAM them against the crib mattress" stage.

Repeat... and now repeat... and repeat again... until the sun comes up.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed this stage is behind us.

(Although on the bright side, her rock hard abs at 5 months are impressive.)

We had a couple of good solid weeks of sleep after that. Occasionally having to wake to put the paci back in, but other than that... sweet, deep sleep.

Then early last week we began what I call the "beached whale" or "turtle" phase.

She has been rolling over on the floor for some time. But has now decided she wants to be a "side sleeper" like her mama.

Do you know how many pillows it requires to get me in my desired "side sleeper" position? It has taken years to perfect.

Unfortunately, she has yet to master this skill and therefore does the dreaded "over roll"... resulting in the beached whale and/or turtle position.

If you've ever seen a swaddled, half asleep infant in a sleepsack stuck on her belly with her hands pinned under her, it's a pitiful sight.

On one of the worst nights, I counted. Lame, yes, I know. But between 1 a.m. and 1:37 a.m. I turned her over 7 times.

SEVEN TIMES. That's an average of once every 5 minutes for the non-mathematical type.

Are you exhausted yet?

I have started unswaddling her in the hopes that she will learn to do this on her own, so I can regain my sanity.

I tried to remember in the middle of the night, when I went staggering to her bed for the umpteenth time, that this too shall pass. And oddly, one day I will miss these sleepless nights.

Hopefully, we will be phasing out of this stage sooner rather than later. But Lord only knows what's next.

Until then, if you pass me walking down Lower Mill Road in a catatonic state wearing my panties over my shorts, please stop, bring me home and put me to bed. :)

I'm almost afraid to say it but we've had 2 wonderful nights in a row and I'm actually starting to feel human again! Right now at this very moment, this is my sleeping beauty...


on her side...but for how long???

The 4th of July

I LOVED

my first

4th of July (and 5 month birthday)

at Mimmie's house!

I even brought home 2 souvenirs...
The tradition at Mimmie's on the 4th used to be over a hundred people came from their church and all congregated on her back deck to watch the fireworks. We never went for that, but heard it was chaos. Now, the new tradition is the 3 sisters, their children and spouses, and all of our kids. Much smaller number, but still chaos. But wonderful family memories!


The cousins (we missed you Missy and Kellie ) and their kids...








Watering the view...
Something about peeing outside... through the fence posts...off a cliff...into the river below, that a boy just can't resist. I guess I can't blame him, if I could, I probably would too.


Sisty brought bracelets for the kids to make and wear. Yes, Trace actually sat with a needle and thread and made a craft. For more than 3 minutes. I never thought I'd see the day.

Mark will be a first time dad in a few weeks...I think they broke him in pretty good!




A little pre fireworks surgery to remove splinters...


The night ended with jammies and ice cream in bed...
It was the perfect way to spend the holiday!

My life in cell phone pictures...

I was going through my phone the other day and found all of these pictures I take on the fly, when I can't get to or don't have my "real" camera on me.

It occurred to me that these pictures will never be printed and put in an album or downloaded to my Picasa account like the thousands of other real pictures I take, and when I inevitably drop my phone in the lake or back over it with the car, these memories will be gone forever.

So... here they are.

The boys and the big, BIG bass...
Baking banana bread in the buff...
Perfecting that precious pucker and pout...
Painting porches and pondering...
child labor laws.
Getting good golf guidance...
I forwarded this picture to Uncle Andy when I took it because he loves going to the driving range and wants Trace to love golf as much as he does. A few days later, I was in the office and he pulled it up on his phone, and from that tiny little picture on his 2 inch screen he commentated on this perfect stance, great swing, his follow through and blah, blah, blah...

That's a sports crazed uncle for ya.

I just thought he looked cute... but that's just a mom for ya.