There is nothing like the smell of an apple pie candle and garlic cooking on the stove, the sounds of the early Beatles playing, and your son and husband playing and laughing in the next room while the rain beats down outside the windows to know you are really home.

The only way to make a more perfect picture would be one of the cats licking their paws in the doorway. But, they are dirty, and don't do things like that, so, too bad.


Oh, and if the furniture magically repelled dust.

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Yesterday, Andy and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Hard to believe its been that long already!

In August, I was in TJMaxx and saw a nice leather armchair for nice and cheap. Handily, the modern gift for a third wedding anniversary is leather! We bought this as our anniversary gift to ourselves to replace the horrid. vinyl recliner that has been passed along through Andy's family.

Now, this was our gift, that's it. Of course, Andy doesn't follow that rule. He never does. When will I learn, and get him a little gift?? He got me the Willow Tree Together figurine, and a cardigan from Old Navy.

We headed off to Woodbury Commons to buy Andrew's fall wardrobe. We hit up Children's Place, the Gap Outlet, and the Stride Rite outlet. I am most excited for the shoes, let me tell you. So cute. His nice brown shoes are little boots, though, so I needed to work with those to figure out how to quickly get them ON. hard!

Andrew slept the whole hour ride home, but woke up the moment we parked in the driveway. It didn't help that a strange man was in our driveway, left as we were driving up, then circled back and parked behind us. Freaky, yes? We were both wondering if it was a guy come to spy on our house, interested in looking. Yes, even Andy was thinking this.... except is was the florist delivery van with a dozen red roses for me! haha, idiot. But yeah! I tried to get Andrew to sleep more, but the cats ruined it. we were lying there on my bed, and I was sure his eyes were closed. Then carter jumps up behind me, and this little hand reaches across my belly towards him. I knew I was done for then!

We went to Hudson Ribs and Fish for dinner, and I had a delicious filet mignon. Then we headed to the mall to see Dark Knight, FINALLY. We had an hour to kill, so we went to look at the Gap. I was freezing, so we wanted to see if there was a sweater or anything there. Andy walked out with a new button down and sweatpants, and I got jeans and a sweater. Our theaters just expanded and redid everything. There are now 16 theaters all with stadium seating. Which is nice, except I think the chairs are too big for me. I left with a killer headache from aching neck and shoulder muscles. The movie was really good. But definitely could've ended at least 30 min sooner! Maybe its just cause it was late and I was tired and headachy? But dammit, catch the Joker already!

MY CHILD JUST PEED IN THE POTTY!!


I just started potty training today, and not so much potty training, as we bought one, he thinks its way cool, so I've sat him on it when I go to pee or changed his morning dipe.

We were sitting there, reading Barnyard Dance, and I said WHAT THE HELL am I doing?? He is 20 months old! he can't potty train!! Ok, Andrew, get up, let's change your pants.

AND THERE WAS PEE!!

my kid can't talk or count to 101 like everyone else's but he can pee in a potty (on accident...)!!

Happy Birthday, Eric!

I mentioned that we would be traveling to Atlanta with my parents to visit Eric and his family. I didn't elaborate on the We part, since Eric didn't know the true reason for our visit! Jo Ann wanted to really surprise him for his 40th birthday, and the first step to doing that was to throw a big party a year early! My mom and dad, Christian, Andy, Andrew, myself, and some other very special guests all descended on Atlanta to help celebrate!

First, our flight out... my parents had to go on a different airline than me, and were limited with flight times, so we took a 2:00 pm flight. Smack in the middle of Andrew's nap. I was afraid he would be so overtired and crazy, but unwilling to sleep due to cool new things. Then the plane broke, and we were an hour late taking off. He ended up passing out before we even left the gate!

Saturday, we did nothing but watch Cameron cheerleading, hang out and get ready for the party. Eric was definitely surprised! It was a challenge for my dad to keep him out of the house in the afternoon so we could get ready. Christian had spilled the beans about him and my aunt coming from Mississippi earlier in the week, then Cecilia called to "cancel" that morning. He was surprised to see them there. He had an even more surprised reaction to Andy being there though, I think! Poor Andy was holed up in the hotel all day working :(

Sunday, the other out of town guests were leaving, so we all had breakfast at Eric's in the am, then they left around noon. At this point, it was Andrew's naptime, so he and my dad napped in Genevieve's room. While he was asleep, and Andy worked in my brother's office, my mom and I went to the mall with Genevieve. My mom paid her Discover bill at Sears. On vacation. weirdo. I ran to Gap to get something long sleeve, since Eric's house is an ice box. The mall has an American Girl Store, so we went in there. I am not sure who was more excited, me or Genevieve. Probably me :) I told my mom how badly I still wanted to complete my dolls' collections, and she said I had to wait so my future daughter could experience the excitement. I said, she can get her own damn dolls. Hello! That is my plan for collecting them all! And yes. I am nearly 30 years old, and love my dollies.

We stopped at Starbucks on the way home (which was conveniently between the hotel and his house, bad for the wallet). Genevieve picked out a baseball cookie. Then after we paid, she says "I love you Aunt Katharine". MELT.

Sunday evening, they'd invited a few friends over for a BBQ.

Monday, I had to take Andy to catch the train to the airport at 5:30 in the morning. In the pouring rain. In the dark. It was so scary!
My mom and I were bound and determined to do something touristy, so we went to the Georgia Aquarium. I thought Andrew would love it, but only sometimes. He was tired and hungry, so was in a mood. He wanted to run around, then get picked up, then down, up down, up. He found it necessary to climb onto every bench. He most liked the aquariums that were floor to ceiling and chock full of fish. And the penguins. oh, and this sea lion that was swimming in circles underwater, with his eyes closed. he just kept going back and forth by the window, and Andrew loved it.

Our flight home was at 8:45. Well, mine was. my parents flew a different airline. So, we were supposed to be there at 6:45, return the car beforehand and drive there. The plan was to leave the hotel at 5:30. IN THE MORNING. Omg, it was hell. Andrew woke up, and only slept briefly in the car. Also, we didn't leave until closer to 6, because my mom takes forever to get ready. They landed at noon, and we were home around 1. Andrew napped over there, I layed around and read, then we headed home a bit after 4.

When we put our house on the market, I asked the realtor if we should maybe paint our kitchen. She said nah, leave it as is. On our feedback page, we've gotten several comments that the kitchen is very dark, and that wasn't JUST because there were merely two recessed lights on the ends, and a big hole from where the fan used to be (it fell out of the sky three years ago, when Tracey and I were baking cookies for the wedding). The room was literally a wooden box. the ceiling, the walls, the cabinets, were all the same color. you can see much better pictures at the fabulous www.1ambercourt.com

We finally bought a new light fixture to replace the ceiling fan, and my dad came to help install it. My mom stopped by on her way home from work, and decided to remove the wagon wheels from the doorways. They were a so hard to remove! She ended up leaving some nice gouges and splinters in the doorway. Alas, how to cover these up??

PAINT!! My mom thought we would be able to get it all done in one day. I would primer in the morning. Then we'd pick out paint at Home Depot and get to coats on. Ha! ha.ha.double ha. Because its allll beadboarding, you had to pay close attention to getting paint in the grooves to cover the wood. It took forevaaaah. We got the primer done Tuesday.. The ceiling on Wednesday. and the walls first coat done on Thursday. On Friday, and we were able to buy a new door and finish the second coat on the walls. I did the first coat of trim at 11:30 Saturday night, and finished it Sunday morning.
I am so in love with it. I used to have to turn the light on above the sink to wash dishes. Now I don't need to! and I can see into my cabinets! Yay!

FAIL!

I have been waiting to post until I had some good pictures of today's activity, but alas. I have nothing! But never fear! I do have a visual for you.

I don't know why I didn't post about this on Monday when I posted. Andrew woke up from his nap, and I had no diapers in his room. They were all out on the back patio drying in the sun. We went downstairs bare-bottomed (just him!), and i headed to the door to grab a diaper from outside. but lo! What was that on the table?! It was a wee bird, balancing on the very edge of our patio table. At first I thought it was just a small species, but then it hopped to the back rung of one of the chairs, and I knew by it's teetering that it was a baby bird, not quite learned in flying. I didn't know what to do, Andrew was running around with no diaper, but I didn't want to scare this little bird! I was able to go very quietly, grab the diaper pieces, get closer to check out his neat tail, then grab Andrew from the imminent escape.We ended up watching this bird for over an hour. He would flit from the patio set to the air conditioning unit to the hydrangea bush. Pretty much falling to the ground between each place. I saw him on the air conditioner, pulling a Marilyn Monroe. You know, wind blowing up from below, ruffling his dress. I ran and turned the a/c off, poor thing! The hydrangea doesn't have the most stable of branches, so he would wobble like mad before he fell to the ground. He did end up balancing on it, and sat about a foot away from our window for well over 30 minutes. Andrew kept trying to stand on our pleather recliner to look, so I grabbed his step stool and put it under the window. He was standing there banging his pointer on the finger and yelling "bee! bee!" Mama and Daddy bird came a couple of times to check on baby. We eventually went to play out front, and when we went back to the back, he was gone.
Yesterday morning, I made fingerpaints, planning to paint in the afternoon. I ended up running to Babies R Us with my mom instead, so finger painting was my big plan for today. I set up the kiddie table outside . Cleaned out the pool, and filled it with a bit of water. I made some shapes out of sponges. Stripped Andrew to a disposable diaper. Grabbed a towel, the camera, and a stack of paper.
You won't believe how much fun he had. No, really. You can't even begin to imagine the fun he had. You know why? Because you started out thinking about a baby with paint covered hands and belly. Then you started thinking about one also with a covered face, hair, feet, bottom. You are dead wrong. DEAD! He couldn't care less!! I poured a bit of paint out, he ran away. I brought him back, showed him how to smear. He smeared his pointers a grand total of 3.7 times before abandoning the table for the pool. For real, Andrew? You don't want to create, and smear, and get messy, and act like a normal toddler, and make all my hard efforts to cook paint WORTH IT??
What a stinkpot.

Time management

I feel like lately (ok, all my life) I waste a lot of time and can't get anywhere on time. I feel like we aren't doing enough constructive things each day. So, like a complete dork, I have created a daily schedule, and detailed out the exact order to prep breakfast, when to change diapers, all sorts of crazy.
I want to incorporate a little art each day. Need to cultivate that right brain! So far, all we do is color with crayons or pencils (and the occasional inkpen self tattoo), or play with play-dough. I need some more ideas of what an 18 month old can handle. I have a metric ton of stickers. If I can teach him to use a gluestick, i have a big bucket of foamie shapes. He's probably too young for scissors. But if I teach him young and get him used to them, can I avoid an Age 3 Uncle Christian Hair Disaster?

Any one have good suggestions for this age group?

Speaking of right brain, Andrew has started to sing! It's only taken a year of music classes. Oh, and language skills. We sing a song where you just sing one word - you, me, no, yes - for the entire tune. He likes to sing No no and Me me. Then in class and after a few songs on the cds, there is a rhythm pattern, ba ba baba, etc. He isn't copying the sounds in the correct rhythm, but attempting to join in the ba's. And sometimes, he just sits in the backseat singing his own little tune. It is all v.v. cute, and makes this musical mama V. Proud!


In August, we are headed to Atlanta with my parents to visit Eric, Jo Ann, and my little girls! I still have a Delta voucher to use, so will fly with them. My parents are using frequent flyer miles, so are on a different airline. Our flights are just about the same time, so they will be with me at the beginning and end, but I am still rather nervous to travel on my own with a little one at naptime! Hopefully we can win our seatmates over with his charm and good looks.

Ok, so I have this growth or something under on my finger! In my finger? Its my right middle finger, inside, lowest portion. Its like there is a pea under the skin. You can move it from side to side, up and down. It feels hard, and doesn't hurt. Unless I have just spent 20 mintues squishing it about, whoopsie. What could it be? Should I go to the doctor? Is it a toomah?!?!