Big Birthday Weekend

We're gearing up for Knox's SECOND birthday party!  Second party for turning two!  The men of the group will have eyes glued to the TV--I thought I had cleverly planned the party to end right in time for the SEC Championship kickoff, as it worked out last year.  Unfortunately, after invites were sent, we found out that kick off was right during the party.  Why put the #1 and #2 ranked teams for a day slot anyway?  OH well, the kiddies won't mind--they'll be having fun regardless!

While we're gearing up for the big celebration, I wanted to make a list of words Knox is saying now on a regular basis--in case we're asked at his two year check up.  And just so you know, I'm spelling as it sounds coming from him:

mama:  unfortunately not used to refer to me, but instead cows and Elmo

uh-oh:  self explanatory

shu:  shoe

E-E:  puppy, for puppy food, but won't call the dogs that

bayball:  baseball, my child can already play baseball on the Wii--sad or stellar?

haut:  hot

nummy nummy:  yummy--often says when he sees cookies in stores or in the drive thru

choo-choo:  for any train or to watch Thomas the Train, normally accompanies with an imaginary tug for the train whistle

juce:  juice

*Just thought of two more:

all gah:  all gone

tha i is:  there it/he is

ca:  car--this is new one as of today!!!

There may be a few others that I just can't think of right now.  I know it's very limited for a two year old, but he saying a few more slowly but surely.  Some words he's said once or twice include bug (as in bug juice--sugar water packaged with coloring), horse, ice, match point (I know this one seems crazy, but he repeated it after the Wii tennis game!)

He understands more than what he lets us hear him say.  He signs please, thank you, more, eat and milk, but you usually have to get him to quit whining with his hand stuck out, and ask him point blank what he wants.  He also can do all the hand movements to Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  He knows where all of his body parts are and can point mommy and daddy's too.  He listens very well at school and almost as well at home.  :)  He's getting very good at helping pick up his toys when asked.  Oh and he LOVES all things cleaning--did NOT get that from his momma.  :)  I got him a toy broom that he carries everywhere and is obsessed with the vacuum when it's out of the closet.  We think he played with our steam cleaner so much that it doesn't work like it's supposed to anymore.  Hopefully this continues, and he can help really clean soon!

What else--oh, he loves putting together his little wooden puzzle with animals on it.  It's kinda like a matching puzzle--animal picture in space for piece and also on the piece with little knob handles on the pieces--does that make sense?  He does it all by himself and almost always gets it right the first time.  Speaking of animals, which he adores, the animal noises he makes are moo moo for cow, grrr for bear, meow for cat, ss-ss for snake, zzzz for bee, doo doo for rooster (as in cocka doodle doo :), and gobble gobble for turkey.

We're very familiar with time out.  You almost have to be with a temper like our Wild Man's.  :)  We just tell him he needs to go sit in the corner (a dining room chair in the corner of the dining room), and he just goes and sits (and whines a bit too).  We remind him there is no crying or whining in the corner, that he needs to think about what he was doing to get him there.  We never leave him there for long since once he gets quite and calm he just sits there.  We go over and explain to him what he did wrong and what we expect of him and then ask him to say, "Yes, ma'am (or sir)" when we ask him if he understands.  Right now our response is a head down movement for yes and a mouth that moves with no sound.  (I think that comes from me pointing to my mouth and telling him to SAY, "Yes, ma'am."  Normally he just points at his mouth and smiles when I point at my mouth asking him to talk.)  We save pops on the leg for when he does something dangerous or has fits in excess.

And last, but not least, my most favorite thing about Knox right now is how affectionate he is.  He is totally a rough and tumble little boy--chasing the dogs, trying to sit on them, running into the couch full speed, walking on everything in his way and doing "down, set, hike" in the hallway.  But in the midst of it all, he stops to give fabulous bear hugs and kisses, and kisses are now followed with a big MUAH!  Even his teachers at school say that he gives the best hugs!  And when he's winding down for nap time or bed time, he'll sometimes come over to me and crawl up in the chair with me to veg to some TV before turning in.  These are the days.  :)

That just turned into a rather long post.  I just wanted to make sure I'm documenting things going on in his life right now.  I have been horrible at keeping up with his baby book.  Anywho, hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

SICKIES--again!

As Knox and I hang out at the house today with yet ANOTHER case of the sickies, I thought I'd write a little note to self:

When feeding sweet baby boy a jelly biscuit...

put a top on the biscuit. :)

I haven't felt up-to-par to recap our great day visit to Chattaboogie for Sweet Jill's 30th birthday party, but she has lots of pictures I took posted on her site. Our only down side of the visit was getting hit head on (at only about 15mph, THANKFULLY) and just ONE HOUSE from Jill's. We're so very thankful we were in the SUV, but sad since we've only had that vehicle since late March. Oh well, at least it was only cosmetic damage to the vehicle and NO ONE WAS HURT--praise God!

Happy Birthday USA & ETSY.com!

I know, I know. It's been another long break in my personal blogging, but we have so much fun while I was away! We made yet another extended stay back home with both sets of grandparents to celebrate the hubs birthday and the birthday of our country.

While home we were treated with fabulous food and fabulous weather. A wonderful, almost humidity free summer night made eating fresh veggies from Grandmother's garden even more amazing on hubby's birthday, topped off with homemade peach ice cream. The rain, rain stayed away long enough for us to get some serious play time in water.

One time was Knox's first romp in a creek, complete with "skipping" rocks. He has a mean wind-up, you know! :) The water was clean and crisp, with the location being perfect. The creek rolls over a "floating bridge," I believe that is what Keith called it. Shallow enough for wild man to dig out rocks perfect for throwing, and just deep enough to keep cool. He got a little distracted once some others showed up on four-wheelers. This little country boy is already obsessed with all things country--four wheelers, tractors, horses, and cows. Definitely related to his Daddy, Grandaddy and Grammy! :)

The other water play was in a pool with my parents. Knox hasn't had the opportunity to get in a big pool this summer, so he was a little unsure of not being able to touch solid ground. The longer stayed, the more brave he got. He had enough floatation devices on to almost rocket him out of the water--life preserver swimsuit and arm swimmies at all times! All of that swimming worked up quite the appetite for BBQ, burgers and chicken that were scrumptious! Big Daddy and Ma Jack loaded up on "quite but pretty" fireworks, or at least that's what the guy at the fireworks stand thought. Knox would have begged to differ. His interest was piqued, but once something got louder than comfortable he bee-lined for the safety of Momma's arms. I think he would have just been happy with a bubble show!

We're now all somewhat adjusted to everyday life, though I think Knox is going to take a bit longer since he was away from home for a little over a week. I was up late last night completing my first round of listed items on my Etsy.com store front. Check it out, and let me know what you think. More info is over on the creative blog or go directly to my store front!

Have a fabulous Tuesday, y'all!

"Skipping" rocks

Digging for rocks to skip. I think this pick looks like he's floating on top of water!

He spies the four-wheeler and wonders why he's not on it.

Getting sleepy

Not so sure about all the loud noises fireworks make. Definitely related to his Momma.

His Tutu telling him it's okay.

My father the weekend's Pyromaniac! Haha!

Big Daddy & Knox playing with something more Wild Man's speed--bubbles!

The Space Between...

is what's driving me insane! Well, not literally, but almost.

Today is only the second of four days that Keith is on a business trip. Knox, thankfully, attends "school" for four hours, four days a week. If I didn't have this time to get work done, grocery shop and just regain mental strength, I don't know what I'd do.  It's not that Knox is terrible, though he can throw a pretty mean tantrum, it's just the mental stress of being a temporary single-mom.  All you single moms out there get some major props--you are all very strong women and must have amazing support groups around you to raise a child on your own.  It's just so hard when ALL of your family is four to four and a half hours away, and your friends that live the closest are 30 minutes away, others being an hour or more away. On top of that, the only people we trust with Knox (to babysit) are our amazing next door neighbors who won't let us pay them, so we don't want to take advantage of them by asking too much from them. We've visited churches in search of a Christian community were we feel we belong, but the only one that we felt welcomed at is 30 minutes away--even 45 minutes during the weekday due to commuter traffic. It gets frustrating when you know a place of worship is were you want to be, but don't feel totally welcome when you're there. And if you don't feel welcome there, you don't feel comfortable exploring groups where you could potentially meet new friends--especially if you can't even find if and when the small groups meet...

So basically, it's just been Knox and I for almost 48 hours (he, luckily gets a reprieve from me by seeing "school" mates and teachers.) Only about 48 more to go...

Maybe Molly will come tomorrow, to at least break up my monotony. Oh! Noah Clark Moss, one of the tickers on the right hand side, made his debut today. From what I hear, he was breach at Cacey's appointment yesterday, so they scheduled a C-section for today at noon! He weighs a healthy 7lbs 10oz! Congrats to my SATL!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

and Happy Birthday to MY MOMMY!!!

I just wanted to take a second to acknowledge these two special events that took place today.

I'm sitting here with a full belly (I cooked, but don't mind--great thoughts from last night's sushi still linger), with a slight shade of pink to my white-as-all-get-out skin (I was able to layout while Knox napped for TWO AND A HALF HOURS!) and still enjoying our new patio set.  We broke in the patio set well today--Knox and I enjoyed a late lunch on it (while we watched Daddy build our new horseshoe pit!!!) and we had our first family dinner on it, as well.  Well, when I say family, I really mean Daddy and I ate while Knox played on his slightly wet slide in a diaper, shirt and no shoes.  Oh, and I also received four wonderful cards from Keith, Knox, Ma Jack & Big Daddy and Grammy & Grandaddy!

All in all, it was another wonderful Mother's Day, with the exception that we couldn't actually be with our Mommas--especially sad since it was also my Momma's birthday, my brother was home, and his birthday is coming up on Wednesday (THE BIG TWO-ONE!)  I've said it before, I'll say it again, and will probably say it many times more--butone day soon, we'll be close enough to our families to be able to attend all family functions.  Hopefully sooner than later.

Hope today and this weekend was as wonderful to y'all as it was to me!

This is where I sat for basically the ENTIRE weekend--FABULOUS!!!

Happy Birthday Knox (One Day Late!)

Knox had an amazing first birthday!  We had a fantastic birthday party with wonderful family and friends, though we missed Grammy & Grandaddy, who weren't able to make it.  The party was puppy dog themed from the invites to the decorations and the cake.  

I made Knox a sign for outside in the shape of a dog bone that read, "Happy 1st Birthday Knox" completed with a bunch of balloons.  The center piece was a dog bowl full of tennis balls and smaller signs that read "Knox" and "1".  All food was served out of dog bowls (new and never used, obviously).  I made party hats out of felt for the adults and doggy ears out of felt for the kiddos.  Food included veggie pizza, kiwi & pear salad with banana smoothie dip, sausage balls to resemble dog food, bread sticks tied to resemble dog bones and pineapple cream cheese dip with crackers.  We had one large cake flanked by four smaller cakes to resemble a puppy paw.  Knox didn't dig into the cake as much as I thought he would, but I still think he enjoyed the sugar.  :)  Opening presents was more like playing with presents as Mommy opened them.  Everyone was so generous and Knox loves all of his gifts.  The party came to end with handing out favors in the form of "doggy bags" full of dog bone shaped cookies, cups with puppy paws and names, and small containers of Play-doh for the kids.  Check out a few pics of the festivities below.

I can't believe it's been a year since our crazy hospital visit that resulted in the birth of our amazing baby boy.  Well, he's actually classified as a toddler now.  I can't believe that either.  He has been such a wonderful blessing in our lives--he has made me a better person and watching him grow everyday is truly a gift.

While I'm talking about birth and a child, I want to stop a second to share this website with you, which I found on a sorority sister's blog.  The Compassionate Friends is asking people who know someone who has lost a child at any age for any reason to light a candle on December 14th at 7:00pm (your local time) in remembrance of that child.  I'll be lighting one for Katherine Nix Bowling--I love you, Jayma.  As we remember your sweet angel Katherine, we'll be looking forward to the bright life and future of Baby Bowling you now carry with you.

The centerpiece

The puppy print cake

Knox wearing the doggy ears

The grown-up kids in the hats I made

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

A bit under the weather...

...may have been a slight understatement in how us Lamm-Rogers have been feeling--hence the lack in posts.  Well not all Lamm-Rogers, just Keith and I specifically.  We had a joint doctor's visit last night at 8:00pm, with wild man in tow, making for a more complicated visit since he wants to be into everything.

The sickness started over Thanksgiving so I have no fun family photos to post, because I was so sick and I didn't even feel like getting the camera out!  BOO!  Now the sickness is making me not want to finish all of my projects for Knox's birthday.  What a fine time to get sick--the weeks leading to your first child's first birthday party.  Fabulous.  BUT WE WILL PREVAIL!!!  :)  I don't feel so "bad" other than the ache that is my left sinus under my cheekbone, which continues it's wrath to my top teeth making chewing a difficult task.  Oh, don't worry.  I still manage to shove food into my mouth, just like I did during Turkey Day.  I couldn't taste a dern thing, but I still ate it because it was Thanksgiving and I HAD to have turkey and dressing.  Anywho, I digress as usual.

Daddy and I will get things finished so Knox will have a wonderful first birthday party, and what doesn't get accomplished no one else will know the difference. :)

Fun Filled Weekend

We definitely had a fun-filled weekend!  Knox attended his first birthday party, had his picture taken for Christmas cards and got to have a lazy Sunday of football with the Schuchs.

Kaylie was born 12 days before Knox, so her FIRST birthday party was this past weekend.  Kaylie's mom, Natalie, works with Keith, so that's how we know the Bolmon's.  Anywho, I was curious as to what Knox would do or how he would act.  Well, he had just a blast!  He had been around Kaylie when they were about 6 months old, at our Annual Memorial Day party, and he LOVED her then.  Well, time doesn't change this puppy love!  They just stood and grinned and giggled at each other.  They tried to hug, but it was more like bouncing and shaking each other.  So stinkin' cute!!!  The STILL love each other!  Other than loving on Kaylie, I think Knox throughly enjoyed seeing ALL the other people there.  Kaylie had tons of people there to help celebrate her first birthday.  Knox even helped Kaylie play with one of her toys.  As she was opening more gifts, Knox was trying out her pop-up toy--the same one he has at home that he just recently really started playing with.  So since the two love birds have so much fun playing together, I'm excited that they will be able to attend Knox's first birthday party!

Sunday morning, we decked Knox out in one of his studdly little outfits to attempt Christmas card pictures.  I say attempt, because the wild man won't sit still for anything!  The square in downtown McDonough has a sleigh attached to light up reindeer, oversized Christmas ornaments and a gigantic Christmas tree.  We had so much fun letting Knox run around ALL over the place, inspecting the ornaments and the giant tree.  I think I got 2/3 more pictures of the back of his head, than I did of the front.  I also had several pictures of just background due to the sheer speed of the wild man whizzing past the camera and my lack of keeping up.  :)  Thank goodness for continuous shoot, otherwise we won't have any decent pictures.  After 30-40 minutes of chasing Knox around, we headed over to Jeff and Bridgette's for a nice, lazy day of watching NFL.  We sat around eating yummy Mexican food Bridgette made, then made S'Mores in their real wood fireplace.  So cozy, with it turning into kind of a dreary day.

Oh and I forgot to mention that we started our Christmas decorating Saturday morning.  Keith almost has the lights on the house done and I finished the tree.  Knox was determined to take the ornaments off the tree as soon as I put them on, so I had to wait to naptime to finish.  He's much better now, but occasionally thinks the tree looks better with one less ornament.  :)  The tree mainly has ornaments on the top 2/3, but there are a few non-breakables at his arm's length.  He needs those few ones down there so he can learn NOT to take ornaments off everyone's tree that we see this year.  I'm thinking I'll wait until we get back from Turkey Day to attempt to set out anything else that he can reach.

The Lovebirds

See how he's grinning at her?!

She wore the shirt I made her! :)  Isn't she so cute in it?

Nat had a girl come in to do face painting.

Wild man by the tree

Wild man dwarfed by the giant tree!

See how fun the oversized ornaments are?