Random

To make up for all of the lengthy non-picture posts lately, here a few pictures with few words :-) We went to Hollywild on night before Christmas Eve where a zebra and a buffalo came up to our car. I fed the buffalo; the zebra was too good for Adam's bread. John Dickson rode on my lap through the entire park and loved looking at all of the deer running wild, emu, zebras, bison, and cows. Then we got out and fed more of the above and reindeer, pigs, camels, and more. There were probably a couple million lights. It was actually a LOT of fun, until of course John Dickson's diaper leaked and he peed all over my lap. He rode home in his turtle neck, puffer vest and no pants. I just rode home with wet pants.

Christmas - Attempt #2

This is going to be somewhat of an abbreviated version of what I originally typed... and it only includes one picture, because I, in an effort to continue my Mom of the Year streak, failed not only to not charge up the camera before Christmas, but forgot to pack the charger altogether. I got one shot of John Dickson in his Christmas Cars PJs with matching slippers and some SERIOUS bedhead, Elmo and Bank in tow, and then the camera shut itself off. While I know a few other cameras were around at the Kelley's to hopefully capture a few good shots of John Dickson, and a lot of good video was taken by us, there was not so much as a flash at the Propst Christmas. This makes me sick. Everything just happened so fast... I walked in and Jared threw a big present into my arms... and then things just got so fuzzy...

We headed to Winston Salem on Christmas Eve just in time for some BLTs (I have eaten 4 since then, in case you are counting). John Dickson took a faux nap that included taking off everything from the waist down (no one would listen to my pleas to duct tape that diaper), and then we headed over to Erin and Jason's for some yummy food and drinks. John Dickson dug into some sugary cream cheesey roll up thingamajigs and later packed one for church (he may not take real pacis but he sure takes the food kind). It wasn't needed for a good while though, as John Dickson was captivated by the bat flying about the sanctuary. We could hear him a few seats down (with Granna and Papa) - "Where bir? Where bir? Where bir? I nnnknow! Where bir? BIR!! BIR!!! BIR!!! Bah bye bir..." This went on for quite some time. He was great throughout the whole service until he tried to color in the hymnal and refused to let me put a piece of paper in the hymnal for him to color on. Ahhh the story of every Sunday morning...

On Christmas morning everyone was up and waiting on John Dickson, who, for probably the very last time, slept in on Christmas (bat excitement is exhausting!). When sleepy head finally woke up, he got to see what Santa brought. Now, Santa brought John Dickson some bath crayons. NOT some bathroom cabinet crayons, as John Dickson thought, but some BATH crayons. Santa should be more clear next time ;-) (Kidding, of course, although the cabinets were blue). These were definitely a HUGE hit. You should just see our little Picasso at bath time. I'll be sure to post a picture soon. Really, I will. No, really.

Erin, Jason and sweet Ella came over for more Santa, presents and delicious food. Why is it that you can never not overeat on holidays? Holiday food is just too delicious... mmm I'm thinking about it now... my mind is very food tracked these days... anyhoo, had John Dickson been a little older, we would have been mortified at his complete and utter disregard for manners (which you could argue, he doesn't really have in the first place to disregard... not for lack of trying on our end, I assure you...) but that little man was just tearing through some presents (his and other people's). At one point, he opened a bag of clothes and threw them all over his shoulders, alternating left and right, until he grabbed the empty bag and flung it in Papa's face, I believe to distract him while he tried to open Papa's next gift. He was opening presents out of turn, sneaking some while no one was looking, and he emptied a box of shoes, turned the box upside down, then tried to get more out of the other side, and finally looked up and asked for "mo" (more). Like I said, a little older... mortified... however, this was just stinkin cute. Our little tornado had a Christmas blast.

After we were so stuffed I thought I could pop, we headed to my parents house for Christmas Day Pt II. We had some of my sister's famous some sort of cheesey hamburgery salsaey something dip that John Dickson ate by the spoonful, and mom's famous 7 layer cookies. I know they're popular now, but I'm pretty sure she invented them. John Dickson whirled his way through even more presents (this time half opening an ornament and then flinging it aside... boring! And I can say this because the ornament was from us). Nana and Grumps got little man a tent that connects to a teepee via a tunnel, and John Dickson thought this was absolutely, positively, one of the greatest inventions he has ever seen. The rest of the night and the entire next day were spent squealing and dashing through the tunnel. He then took a bunch of toys in his tent and would hand them back, one by one, only sticking his arm out of the tent. Too. Stinking. Cute.

All in all, a wonderful Christmas.

New Year's Resolutions

This year I have three new year's resolutions:

1. Take more pictures, post more pictures
2. Floss more

And most importantly:

3. Do not break new year's resolutions.

This means I will not resolve to do the following:

1. Lose weight
2. Exercise regularly
3. Stay on top of laundry
4. Keep Ellie
5. Send birthday cards and gifts on time

You can hold me to it!!!

Happy New Year from us :-)

Darn You Mike Fleiss!!!

Every season for the past eh 3 or 4, I have made myself the solemn vow to QUIT THE BACHELOR. That show goes through unbelievable editing, and I can't stand the way the show brain washes me every season. This time, however, they made it easy for me to quit. Jake as the new bachelor? I don't think so. May as well have the girls competing for Jake and his Mama... (John Dickson, if you are miraculously reading, it's ok to be a Mama's boy) I mean, I could barely watch him with Jillian... a whole show, all about Jake? Really?

I will not watch the Bachelor.
I will not watch the Bachelor.
I will not watch the Bachelor.

Screw that. I cant WAIT for Monday!

ARRRGHHHH Mike Fleiss... what have you done to me?????????

(As an aside, the Christmas post is coming... you see, I typed a whole long recap of A Kelley Christmas, but then it got deleted. And I cant bring myself to type it again yet...)

Mom of the Year

It's true. I won this prestigious award, given by myself to myself. Last night I put John Dickson to bed and then left to go to the grocery store. About an hour after I had put John Dickson down, who was at that point screaming his head off, Adam calls me to see if I can guess what I forgot to do when I put him down.

Reading books? Check
Elmo? Check
Blankie? Check
Pajamas he cannot take off of himself? Check
Nothing in reach of the crib? Check
Kisses? Check

I was stumped. Any idea???

Ah yes, that's it. I left the light on.

Mom of the Year.

He's Baaaaaack!!!

I can't believe I forgot to mention last night the best part of all about being HOME SWEET HOME... After his 5 long nights away, John Dickson is BACK! I think I will be eternally grateful for my parents bringing him all the way here rather than meeting them in Clinton, as originally planned. After about 8 hours in the car yesterday, the very very last thing I wanted to do was get back in and add another 2 to the trip.

I was not very hopeful about John Dickson being excited to see us when we got back (he actually beat us home... how is THAT for service??)and I was not let down. John Dickson would not give either of us the time of day. In fact, he took a little tumble or something that made him start to fuss (I cant even remember what... can you say tired??) and he went straight past us to his Nana. My parents stayed about an hour maybe and the entire time they were the only ones he wanted. I wasn't surprised because after my week long trip to Raleigh back in the summer, John Dickson tried to convince me that Dad was the new Mom.

John Dickson went down for some shut eye last night and screamed his head off. I think I finally understand the term "screamed bloody murder". I thought I understood it long ago, but I know now that I did not. After Nana and Grumps left, John Dickson got back up (with some assistance) and with Nana and Grumps gone, Adam and I were allowed to resume our former roles.

John Dickson did not come home empty handed, mind you. Other than his Bob the Builder juice (who he calls Bob and tried to feed Special K to this morning), he was sporting a brand new baby Dyson, complete with miniature attachments. If the thing really cleaned, we would have one squeaky clean house. Except that I vacuumed and mopped all of the floors today, so they are squeaky clean anyway, but that's beside the point. And our guest room is squeaky clean because, well, I'm a sucker...

On Wednesday afternoon I got a knock on the door. It was a sales person who wanted to shampoo one room. After much reassurance that this would take 30 minutes, came with ZERO obligation, and was guaranteed to get out all stains, including the big stain from when our dogs were left inside for 24 hours due to some miscommunication while we were out of town, I let her in to work her magic. I thought she was selling a service, and had she gotten the stain out, she would have most definitely come back to do our other carpeted rooms. So, she starts to vacuum the rug (vacuum? vaccuum? I think it's one C, but Im a terrible speller) and then she lets me sweep with the "electric broom", while trying to convince me that this broom is so much better than the non-electric kind, ignoring me when I told her I just vacuum the hardwoods. (Now Im thinking 2 Cs??) She "deep cleans" the hard wood in one spot, vacuums some furniture, then lets herself into our bedroom and starts to vacuum the mattress. She then tells me that I should be doing this every 3 weeks, and that this vacuum is so much cheaper than buying a new mattress every 3 weeks. You know, because that's what my lazy rear end normally does when I dont feel like cleaning my mattress... I just buy a new one. They even deliver, you should try it...

So... two and a half HOURS later, she finally sets foot in our guest room. Low and behold, the stain IS gone, and the carpet looks great. Unfortunately, she is not selling a service, she is selling this vacuum/shampooer, and she gets down to the bottom line.

$2,499

But wait. She will knock off $100 if I agree to buy before my husband gets home. No really, its called a "spouse alone" discount. AKA, sign up before your husband can tell you no. So Adam FINALLY comes home, right as I was about to ask my neighbor Scott to come be my husband for a minute, and he politely argues with her for 30 minutes, working the price down to a mere $1,500, with $0 down and only $60 something a month for a mere 3 years. (Working the price down, by the way, was just telling her no over and over, while she continued to lower the price).

I have no funny conclusion to this story, I just wanted you to know that I am a sucker who lets vacuum sales people into my home. Oh well, my carpet is clean. The best part though? Her bargaining tactics were trying to convince us to help her win some trip to Virginia. Sorry lady.

So John Dickson is home. Our floors are clean. And soybean is the size of a grape this week. Those are the highlights.

Super Quick Update to a Super Quick Update

We are HOME!!!!!!!!! We left at 3:30 Friday afternoon and made it back just after 7:00 tonight... 22 inches of snow where we stayed in Staunton, VA. I have never seen snow like that in my life, and hope I never do again!! Unless, of course, I'm in my house and the power doesn't go out and I am well stocked up on food. Then I could probably get on board :-) We're just thankful we had a hotel to sleep in instead of the car on the side of the interstate, as many many other people did. It is good to be HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!!!!!

Oh snow...

Super quick update... Adam's surgery went well yesterday, taking less than an hour, and was discharged at 3:30 yesterday afternoon. We started to make our way back before stopping in Virginia due to some crazy weather. We are now officially snowed in (a first for all four of us - Adam's parents came too...) and Virginia is officially in a state of emergency and the National Guard is kicking people off of the streets. Looks like we'll be here a while!

It's Friday!!

And for once, the very first time EVER, that is not a good thing. We dropped off John Dickson yesterday with my parents. He will be bounced around for FIVE NIGHTS (well, only four more) until we get to see that kiss giving chubby cheeked face again. He spent the night with Lauren and Jared last night and is hanging out with Lauren today. Tonight he will stay at my parents' house and will spend the day with mom on Thursday, dad on Friday, and I guess mom and dad on Saturday and Sunday. Adam and I are off tonight to Winston Salem, our stopping point on the way to Maryland. Adam is getting a new pacemaker on Friday morning. This is like surgery number bazillion and one, but if everything goes as planned, it should be his last for at least 7 years. Here's hoping. So, like I said, this Friday (which is really Wednesday) is 100% completely and totally the opposite of exciting. For us. Not for John Dickson.

Does John Dickson miss us? Ha. Hahaha. AAAAAAHAHAHAHA. No. Why would he? It sounds like his days are pretty jam packed. I have already talked to Lauren 3 times today, and it sounds like he has been eating nonstop, drinking Bob the Builder juice (Lauren took John Dickson to the grocery store, and apparently she is the sucker that I am not...again, score 1 for Aunt La La), unpacked his own suitcase, tried to cram a broom into Zoe's cage, and I believe he is destination Edventure today. Saturday he's is all lined for Monkey Joes, and I'm sure there will be other fun adventures (or, edventures... sorry, that was totally lame) in between. In fact, I would almost put money on my dad taking him to Hardee's on Friday. Dad, if you do, please dont tell me. Well, that is if they aren't dove hunting. My dad has been lobbying for this since John Dickson was in my belly and it was determined he was a boy.

Speaking of people in my belly, I completely forgot to post about our first doctor's visit. We were busy sharing the good news and didn't want people finding out via our blog, but we went to the doctor 2 weeks ago, saw the little soybean (who looked absolutely nothing like a baby) and even got to see the little heartbeat. Soybean (yeah, we took the name from The Office) was 7 weeks to the day, measured 1 cm long, and yet you could actually see a heartbeat. That to me is UNREAL. So tomorrow I will officially be 9 weeks. So... we probably started telling people a little early, but quite frankly, we had known for about 4 weeks and I HATE keeping secrets. Plus, I needed people at work to know why I was eating Cheez its at 9:00 in the morning and eating enough lunch to feed a small army. When I was pregnant with John Dickson, I didn't know nearly as early as with this one, so this may have been the case and I just didn't realize, but this time around, weeks 3-7ish were insanely hungry. I think we went broke just trying to feed me. Then came the nausea, which lasted a couple of weeks, but I think I'm all through with that (which would be consistent with last time, and I hope is the case). So if I could just start staying up past 8:00 PM, it would be time for the fun part to start!

Speaking of raging appetites, did I mention that this baby craves bloomin onions?? This could get dangerous... So far I have only indulged once, and it was John Dickson's first trip down under. Adam and I ordered steaks, mine well done, Adam's medium rare. You may recall John Dickson is 99.9% vegetarian, BUT... he has never had steak before. I gave him a few bites of mine, and he liked it, but then he had a bite of Adam's delicious red centered steak and that boy started shoveling it in. To quote Adam: "This is better than any paternity test"

Christmas Tree Shopping

We've been wanting to create some holiday traditions of our own, and we got the idea to start getting our tree from a Christmas tree farm where you cut your own down. We drove about 30 minutes to get there, stopped by to see the 850 lb pig, checked out some turkeys (that John Dickson calls ducks) and peacocks, walked through the farm, sampled strawberry cider (twice for John Dickson), scuppernong cider, moonshine jelly and sweet potato jelly, indulged in an apple dripping with hot caramel, nuts and whipped cream, took a goofy picture, mailed an invisible letter to Santa Claus himself, and left. Left to buy a tree. From the produce stand. What can we say, we're just a frasier fur kind of family, and I'm pretty sure those cant grow here.

Instead, we started the tradition of letting our kids (just one this year) make our wrapping paper. With a big roll of butcher paper and some paint markers (which are very different from paint pens, by the way) and a few stickers, John Dickson has been making masterpieces. And he loves it!

Thanksgiving

I fully acknowledge the next few posts are all out of order, but... oh well. These are some cute shots of John Dickson with his Uncle Jarey, Aunt La La, and Nana on Thanksgiving. Apparently turkey makes Aunt La La REALLY happy (although I like to think it was my crock pot mac & cheese). P.S. That donkey sings and dances to "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" which may not be the real name of the song... eh

4 Years Ago Today... (and some change...)

Disclaimer: This is long winded, and here mainly as a way for me to remember an important day

I was going to wait until December 23rd to do this post, but I know me, and I know I will absolutely not be thinking about blogging on the day before Christmas Eve :-) 4 years ago today (and some change), Adam and I were at my good friend and old roommate's wedding up in Clemson. I wanted to wait until the bride and groom left, but Adam seemed to be in a hurry to leave. This was irritating, but not quite as irritating as the excuse he gave... he claimed his mom wanted to see Bear. Who could have blamed her, by the way? But when you are at a dear friend's wedding... it hardly seems worth leaving for! So after much back and forth, I gave in, and we called it an early night, trucking it back to Columbia.





We stopped by my parents' house to pick up Bear, and then headed over to the Kelley's. I decided this would be a good time to give them their Christmas gifts, and then I became a chatter box and chatted away about who knows what. Little did I know, everyone else was starting to stress a little bit about the house that was soon to catch on fire from all of the unattended candles upstairs, but I just continued to babble.





Adam had gone to New York the week before and told me he had gotten me 3 presents, A, B, and C. When I asked him what the best present was, he told me B. He also told me that that night he was going to give me present B. As it turns out, there was really a D present as well, and that night I got B and D. Adam took me upstairs to give me B, and while I consider myself a very intuitive person who is nearly impossible to surprise, I was blind as a bat as to what was happening. We walked into the room, filled with roses, candles, champagne and some sort of chocolate truffles (which I refused to eat or throw away... they are probably really disgusting now, but they've still got a long life ahead of them). We walk into the room, and I simply say... "Nuh uh..."





When I see other people get engaged or married (whether in real life or on tv), I ALWAYS cry. No matter how many times Chandler proposes to Monica, I still boo hoo. And don't even get me started on his speech about how Monica is a mother without a baby... just bring me some tissues. HOWEVER, I have decided that when events take place in my own life, there are no tears. I do, however, shake. Adam made me sit down so that I wouldn't fall over. When we got married, I teared up and cried A LOT whenever I would hear a song on the radio that would make me think about marrying Adam. I thought I was going to be a WRECK, but instead, I just shook. Like a leaf. Lauren was on standby to catch me. I did not even know I was shaking... So, on December 23, 2005, I believe I let a few people down by neither screaming nor crying, but man did I shake. When I cant eat caramel apple cheesecake or drink champagne due to severe shakes, that is how you know that this is one of the best moments of my life.





Adam proceeds to tell me that he has loved me since the 8th grade and has always known he wanted to marry me. And some other stuff that I absolutely do remember... mm hmm... He got down on one knee, and in front of me was the most perfect ring. I never spoke a word to him about anything I wanted in a ring, on the off chance that he had a family heirloom. While I really really really didn't want a tear shaped diamond, I would have adored it if it was a ring that was special to him and wouldn't want him to ever think otherwise, so I just kept my mouth shut. I majorly lucked out, or maybe he just knew me as well as I had hoped... brilliant solitaire... perfection. I couldn't have picked a better ring myself. And I am definitely not just saying that. However, I did tell Adam that I wanted white gold. He even got his Clemson ring in white gold so that it would one day go with his wedding band, which would, of course, match mine. So you can imagine my surprise when the setting was yellow gold. I was surprised, but I loved that ring every bit as much. Then Adam turned on the light, and I realized my eyes had deceived me, and this was in fact a white gold ring. Is he the best or what?





He then calls me his fiance, and he says "as of December 22, 2005, we are engaged!"




Umm... babe, its the 23rd.

A little something to get you through your Friday...

This is less than a minute, and totally worth it :-)
In other news, John Dickson saw Elmo on tv yesterday and started saying "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo". To our knowledge, John Dickson has never watched Sesame Street, and Im 99% sure they do not watch anything at daycare. I guess maybe they have Sesame Street books or something like that. All I know is that Adam came home from work that day with a stuffed Elmo for John Dickson. A few minutes later, Adam heard "mwah, mwah" and turned around to see John Dickson giving Elmo kisses. So sweet :-)

20 Month Update

John Dickson turned 20 months on Saturday! He celebrated by going to meet his cousin. We will post pictures just as soon as we can get him to get close enough to her to actually take said pictures... he was terrified of her... all night.

In other news, John Dickson surprised us by telling us what a chicken says (this is not in our usual repertoire of animal sounds). He says "buh buh buh", and he also told us what a cat says "Noooow." Also since our last post on animal sounds, he is making a noise like a bunny. I have no idea how to type it, but its like the sound bunnies make when they eat vegetables. It's so cute.

Other words John Dickson says are "hot" when he sees steam, or gets food that has come out of the microwave, or even when we open the oven door. He knows his hair, his mouth, nose, eyes and ears, his arms, legs and feet. He can say hat, and will point out hats in pictures. He continues to tidy up around the house, and will push his laundry basket around to put his dirty clothes into and puts any toys that have made their way out of the bath back into the bath. He is quite the fan of "no" now and uses it frequently, especially with the dogs. We now have to physically hold him in timeout, or else he jumps up and runs away squealing with delight. On that note, he really doesn't behave much at all.

But probably the biggest change in month 20 for John Dickson was his big news. That little man... he's a big brother.

Updates to come...

I've been a major blogging slacker...its true. And that's not going to change quite yet. But I will let you know to stay tuned for pictures from Thanksgiving, our trip to the Christmas tree farm, where we ACTUALLY bought our Christmas tree, a great video of John Dickson majorly breaking it down to some Christmas tunes, and, potentially, pictures of John Dickson meeting his cousin tomorrow.

Also, John Dickson got his H1N1 shot this morning and the entire way back to daycare said "all done. all done. all done." And then when I asked him if he was a good boy, he just put his hands up and said "I dont know" which comes out "I-ou-ow" Very cute. Trust me.

An oldie but goodie

We love our niece!

After we begged and pleaded with Ella to make her debut anytime over our long Thanksgiving break, she ultimately decided to begin making her move early Monday morning, arriving early afternoon. We went up there to see her, and got there about 2 minutes after they had taken her to the nursery for a couple of hours, but we finally got about 10 minutes with our beautiful and perfect niece.














She has the teensiest little mouth! This picture really doesn't do her justice, but it was hard to photograph her upside down...

















Proud Uncle Ad















Prouder parents


















And what did John Dickson think of all this, you ask? We'll let him tell you himself -

















I assure you that picture has absolutely nothing to do with the ice cream cone he just devoured :-) Little man actually didn't get to meet Ms Ella this trip, as he was not allowed in the hospital. But don't worry about him too much - I think he did just fine with his playdate at the mall with his Granna and Papa. He slept the whole way home.

We love our niece!

A little of this, a little of that...

Last weekend was the St Judes walk with Leslie and Jessica, and I wound up with $200 raised - only $50 shy of my goal... not bad, I say. John Dickson did great the whole way and didn't even object when I bundled him up, wrapping his arms and hands up tight in his blankie. He was so good :-)

Wednesday night we headed down to Columbia where Adam would become the man who saved Thanksgiving. My mom had bought a turkey and defrosted it for 4 days (the max recommended) but that bird was still froze! His tail was froze...and his nose was froze and his ears were froze. And his toes were froze. He didn't still have all of those parts, but it's a great line from 101 Dalmations :-) So Adam set out at 9:30 Wednesday night in search of a fresh bird, but only found partially frozen "fresh" turkeys at BILO (and no ham), and no fresh turkeys at all at Kroger. Kroger did, however, have a spiral ham, which became the center of Thanksgiving dinner at the Propst household. That night the bird was nice and ready and Adam fried him up good. It was a feast x2.

Friday morning my mom and I were in line at Belk at about 3:50 AM to win our $1,000 gift card, which we had prearranged to split. However, we only wound up with $5, which I barely even got, as they were only giving the gift cards to 18 and up. I stood there for a minute while they continued to pass out the cards to several people behind me before I made them give me one. Sometimes it really helps my image to have John Dickson with me, but as it was only 3:50 AM, he was sleeping tight in his crib. (By the way, anyone willing to show up at your store before 4 AM deserves a freaking gift card, 18 or not... ahem).

Yesterday we pulled down all of our Christmas stuff and began decorating the house. We didn't get to decorate last year between my crazy work schedule and John Dickson's 7 months-ness, but this year we've gotten a few lights up outside. We need to go to Lowes and get some more though, as I grossly underestimated our need. We also need more lights for our tree, as we were a couple hundred short last year. Our tree was pretty sparse. As I pulled everything out yesterday, John Dickson gasped and/or squealed at EVERY item I pulled out of the box. Every single last ornament. He was in sheer heaven. We have 3 different musical decorations, and he insists we play all 3 at the same time, over and over. And over. And over and over and over. Yes sirree, John Dickson is a Christmas man.

We are hoping to make our Christmas tree buying experience an adventure today... will let you know how it turns out :-)

Random Picture

Look at this picture of me and John Dickson on his birthday...














Did this picture fool you? It fooled me. And Adam.

That's a picture of Lauren and John Dickson on his birthday. We look nothing alike, but every so often there are pictures like this one.

Random, I know. Just thought I'd share :-)

Kids have a funny way of doing that...

They just get bigger.

















Yes, that is the same high chair.

Also, they put books in the washer when you aren't looking. Books that are only identifiable as books due to the remnants of plastic covering that show a part of a puppy dog face. Other than that, all confetti. In our sheets. Lovely. We are also missing some plastic dinnerware that I fear was thrown away by our little helper, and we have to make mental notes to ourselves to remember that the other slipper is in the kitchen cabinet, and the blankie is crammed in the basket of coupons.

Yes, kids have a funny way of doing just about everything :-)

Help

I was doing a little shopping this weekend when I found this Osh Kosh coat for John Dickson... it's fleece lined, water proof, hooded... and it was a STEAL. But when I got it home, I noticed the tag said it was a girls coat. Then Adam pointed out that the sides are cinched (which I was kinda hoping was just a toddler thing) and that the buttons are on the wrong side (did not realize this was a "thing"). But the colors are definitely not girlie! So, I'm wondering if you can tell me if this coat is in fact a girl's coat, and if it is, if it is worth taking back. If you just saw him in it, would you even notice?

Long overdue post

Ugh, so I think I've been avoiding blogging this week, not only because I was working like crazy and didn't feel well enough to be doing anything I didnt have to be doing anyway, but I had nothing good to say. This past week was just plain crummy. But we're past that, and all getting well and starting to enjoy life again, so here is the latest...

I got this adorable outfit for John Dickson (well, the vest was compliments of his Aunt Leslie), and he enjoyed last Sunday at church, soaking up the millions of oohs and ahhs he got over his little hat. I mean, that hat is quite the chick magnet... he may want to hold onto that for later in life... (You may have to click on the picture to get the full effect). If you know me, you know I'm a hat person (for John Dickson, not me...), and I was mildly obsessed with this new outfit. Until... yes, you guessed it, attack of the Ellie dog. I just dont know what gets into her! Suffice it to say, it was a sad day.















On Sunday we took John Dickson to Build a Bear where he built his very first "scruffy puppy". He was so cute rubbing his face all over it, and they have a little bathtub that sprays out air and you can brush your new furry friend. John Dickson LOVED that part of his adventure, and spent a lot of time brushing out Mr. Grumbles (the name is courteousy of a Mr. Adam Dickson Kelley). The puppy is super cute and sports a pair of cowboy boots, but he is hiding in the closet until Christmas morning. Along with his very own brush.













This morning John Dickson had Thanksgiving lunch at his school, and this time Adam and I both got to go. Adam got there first, and got a big warm welcome from John Dickson. Then I showed up and got a big warm welcome from John Dickson. Then, John Dickson turned to Adam and waved bye bye, at which the whole room got a good chuckle. Of course John Dickson adores Adam and is long past his stage of playing favorites... I think he was just confused. I told Adam to lean in for a picture... check out John Dickson taking advantage of an opportunity to steal food from his daddy (quite the feat!).















John Dickson loves Thanksgiving - with his favorites being cranberry sauce and stuffing. You really never can predict what food he is going to love.

And in other cuteness, John Dickson is talking up a storm. He is also successfully signing! He is signing more, all done, please, and milk. He kind of is doing I love you. He is making kissing noises when he blows kisses or when we ask him for a kiss. He is mooing like a cow, quacking like a duck, naying (is that how you spell it??? Im not up to speed on my animal sound spelling) like a horse, and "la la la"ing like a pig, as that is what his Moo Baa La La La book taught him. (That last part isnt a joke). He also baas like a sheep and does a ruff ruff for little dogs. He pretty much does the entire Moo Baa La La La. He is pointing out every 18 wheeler on the road and saying "truck", and he has also recently started taking off his shoes in the car and slipping a sock on his hand to do sock puppet. He is voluntarily pointing to apples or pictures of apple and saying "apple." He says ball, shoes, socks, hot, no, bubbles, and I think he might also be saying book and some sort of ba sound for his blankie. He's finally taking off with the talking! Still no sign of mama and daddy (at least he doesnt call us that!). He has a few times, however, called Adam "Adam" when I am calling Adam from another room. Such a little copycat. Adam does NOT find this humorous. And he is learning to give kisses when he gets out of timeout... to whoever he has either hit or bitten or thrown a remote or picture frame at. While I am not a fan of the hitting/biting/throwing picture frames, John Dickson is EXACTLY what I wanted, and exactly why I wanted a little boy. I just love having a crazy little maniac running around. Keeps life fun. And hilarious.

Until next time...

Thank you for not blogging

You should really thank me for not posting this week... it would have gone something like this...

"I've been getting to work at 6am this week, have not had time to break for breakfast, lunch (or dinner on Monday), have barely seen my husband, much less my John Dickson, and my house is a disaster. Disaster."

That would about wrap up the week in a nutshell! Oh, except for the colds Adam and I are coming down with. And the excessive amount of food I have eaten this week, including a gigantic hamburger tonight that hit the spot like none other.

Yep, you're welcome for not blogging!

Go Tigers!

Today marked an important day for Tiger fans everywhere... it was officially the first home game of the season that did not get poured on... I actually type this before kickoff, so I guess I should say today marked the first tailgate of the season sans rain. Anyway, we finally made it out there with John Dickson. And let me tell you, little people have it SO EASY!!! I google mapped our route today just to get a guess, and it looks like I either pushed that little man, pulled a cooler, or pulled a cooler with that little man on my shoulders 5 miles today... 5 miles on the ever hilly campus of Clemson. But let me also tell you... it was worth it.

John Dickson played a little corn hole... although he also cheated pretty hard core.

He also tried his hand at a little football.

This is him after JUST throwing the ball.

He cooled off with a cold refreshment.

And then he geared up for the big game...

...just in time to go home to take a nap.

John Dickson was a great sport all day, and I think his first real tailgating experience was a success. The only downside would be that he lost his beloved dinosaur and a blankie in the process. :-( It also might surprise you that John Dickson was NOT interested in the food at the tailgate. Good weather, good friends, good food, and home sweet home of Clemson. It was a good day.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane.. It's...

By day John Dickson is just your normal toddler with an excessively big grin (love that huge open mouth grin...) But as the sun begins to set, he's off to fight crime... with the help of his dad and without crossing the street, of course.

It's a big job for such little boots, but somebody's gotta do it...

Believe me, you don't want to break any rules when he is patrolling the sidewalk.

What's that up there?

It's a bird... no, it's a plane... no, it's JOHN DICKSON!!!

Babycenter

When I was pregnant with John Dickson, Lauren made me sign up for babycenter updates. Then every week I got to announce, usually with a laugh, what strange fruit or vegetable my baby was that week. After John Dickson was born, the updates kept coming, this time to tell me that my baby should be uttering his first words around 9 months (and he did, 6 months later!) or to tell me my baby would finally be starting to roll over at 4 months (which he had been doing for over 2 months). Yes, babycenter updates are fun, but rarely are they accurate.

But probably the most far fetched update I have received to date came last Thursday.

Your two week old:

Hello, Amanda! A whole week has passed, but doesn't it seem more like a lifetime? As you're adjusting to feedings and getting by on less sleep, your baby is also adjusting to his new world. He sleeps in short naps, wakes to feed, and spends some time quietly alert before drifting off to sleep again. Babies' eyes focus best on objects between 8 and 15 inches away — not coincidentally, the distance to your face when held in your arms.

Either babycenter is pulling a fast one on me, or Adam has adopted a newborn baby. I totally would not put it past him... have you seen him with John Dickson?

More on the walk for St. Jude

Should you choose to give to St. Jude, this is what your donation could provide:

$40 = Platelet Count
$50 = Complete Blood Count
$274 = Spinal Tap (include physician fee)
$344 = One Hour of Physical Therapy
$771 = One Day of Chemotherapy
$2,800 = ICU Room for One Day

Potty training

I think if it weren't for daycare, we might just be close to potty training. FCDC doesn't start working on that with the toddlers until they're 2, so with no reinforcements 8-5 Monday-Friday, there is clearly no point. John Dickson has finally decided that stinky and/or wet diapers are not comfortable, and is eager for needed diaper changes. In fact, the other day I asked John Dickson to go to his room and bring me a diaper. I heard the plastic rustling around, and John Dickson came back with...

A diaper. That his dad gave to him.

So, I sent him back again, on his own, to see if he'd bring me a diaper. He ran off, and 30 seconds later, he emerged with...

A wipe. Are you impressed? I thought that was REALLY smart! Ok, maybe I shouldn't type REALLY in all caps, and maybe I'm biased (ok, I definitely am), but thats smart, right?

So we did the diaper change thing, and then about an hour later, John Dickson ran to his room and came back with another diaper! He then laid on his back on the floor and lifted his legs.

He definitely does not like stinky diapers anymore. This should be a good thing. But its not. Yet. He has taken to solving the problem of the stinky diaper all on his own. It involves finger painting.

Ahem.

Tis the Season!

No, no, no, I'm not ready to jump to Christmas just yet! While I begin Christmas shopping sometime after June 30 every year, I'm a pretty firm believer in the Christmas season starting at exactly 12am the day after Thanksgiving. And Adam and I tend to jump in feet first... you can find us at Best Buy, Target or Toys R Us at about 1:30 AM, braving the thousands of people waiting in line all night. The weekend is full of decorating for Christmas, buying our tree, and other holiday festivities. However, the season of giving needs no start date, and I'm asking your help on one of two causes:

1. I've always wanted to do a 5k race, but have never been able to train consistently enough to get there. It's on my bucket list, but it's probably not going to happen for a while. HOWEVER, Gymboree is doing a 5k WALK in Charlotte on November 21, and I am so there! A walk is much more my speed, literally. AND, the walk benefits the kids of St. Jude. Adam and I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed to have a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy free John Dickson (it's not for sure for a few more years, but he has absolutely no indication of the condition), that we feel strongly about supporting children who struggle with their health. I wouldn't compare HCM to what the kids at St Jude struggle with, but as thankful as we are to have a healthy and thriving toddler, I simply cant imagine being the parent of a child who is less fortunate. SO, if you feel so compelled to support the cause, simply click on the picture on the sidebar of the blog to make your donation. Or go to www.mygivethankswalk.org/amandak

2. Adam and I had such a blast running around with John Dickson Saturday night, going house to house trick or treating and showing off his precious tiger costume. We stopped at a neighbor's who had their friend Kelly over. Kelly has taken on fostering 2 brothers - an 8 week old who she has had since day 12, and his older brother who is 8 years old. The baby was born addicted to meth, and she has spent the first part of his life helping him overcome it. Since under her care, the kid has packed on the pounds and is up to 11 lbs at week 8. Did I mention she is a single mom of a 14 year old? The woman is incredible. Anyway, when she got the boys, they came with nothing but the clothes on their backs. And the 8 year old had no underwear. We sorted through John Dickson's old clothes and gave her what we could for the baby. However, as John Dickson was born in April, the seasons just didn't hit quite right for the most part. And we had nothing to offer the 8 year old. So if you have any old clothes (especially for the 8 year old) or feeding supplies, or if you just want to donate a pack of diapers or wipes, please let me know.

Halloween!

The long awaited day has come and gone... and John Dickson loved it! Here is a picture of him at his party at school... unfortunately, he only really wanted to be held.

And this kid gave him a serious run for his money! How stinkin cute is that?

Leslie and Nick came for the weekend, and we stuffed them full of cheese sticks, pizza, candy and more candy. It was a super healthy weekend! I'll take Halloween food (i.e. CANDY) anyday over Thanksgiving or Christmas food. Thank goodness it only comes once a year! I was a serious pig.

Jessica also came and took a gazillion pictures that I cant wait to see... I also FINALLY got to meet her adorable dog, Max! He is super cute, super well behaved, and a pretty tough little guy! He wrestled our dogs like a champ! He also had a super cute devil costume...

Here is John Dickson all geared up and ready for trick or treating! As a nasty aside, our big pumpkin was really infested with slugs... of all things. It was gross.

Oh its bad... so bad...

Remember this? It was our perfect Charlie Brown pumpkin. Pumpkin carving is a big deal in our house! First, I got in trouble for inviting people over for a pumpkin carving party... apparently this is a sacred and exclusive family event... then there was the hour long debate on what our pumpkin should be this year. This was basically how the end of the conversation went:

Adam: I want to do a pac man ghost, but I'm not sure how an outline would work

Me: I think it could work

Adam: Yeah, we'll just have to make little bridges to hold it together

Me: Definitely

Pumpkin carving commenced...

Adam: I'm not doing this very well... can you take over?

Me: Sure

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia came on...

10 minutes passed...

Adam: What the heck are you doing?!?!?

It's true... I ruined our beautiful pumpkin. The outline idea was sooo much better than my interpretation of eyes hanging by bridges. We'll be lucky if any kids are allowed to trick or treat at the house with the male anatomy pumpkin...

Oh well, at least this little dude had fun!

I need you to know...

There has been quite the confusion regarding the picture of John Dickson lying in a tree from a previous post... and I think everyone should know...

I am behind the tree, and I am holding onto him.

Whew! Much better.

We're Ready!

It's official... Halloween is a go... John Dickson has his pumpkin pjs, his pumpkin to collect his candy, two baby pumpkins - one for each hand, 3 pumpkins on the porch, and a pumpkin shirt. He also has his what is turning out to be a very unoriginal Halloween costume... what do I expect shopping at Old Navy, right? On Friday, John Dickson has a Halloween party at school followed by a costume parade, and then he'll come to my office for trick or treating. Friday night is pumpkin carving and then Saturday is all day tailgating and trick or treating!

Now... to Halloween and beyond!!!