The Month of May

We've had lots of fun this May. Here is a little glimpse at the past month.

One Saturday morning, we met our friends, the Johnsons, for breakfast at the Pfunky Griddle. The Pfunky Griddle is a little breakfast place where you make your own pancakes with your choice of toppings.
Scott and Ford:

Waiting on the pancakes:

The kids:

My sweet friend Renee and me:

On another Saturday, we met some members of our church community group to have a play date with the kids. There's a church in Nashville, Christ Church, that has a very cool indoor play area that anybody can use. The kids had a blast.


After the playing at the church, we went for ice cream:

Strawberry season is upon us. One day, Mary Ann, Will, Ford and I went to a strawberry patch to pick strawberries.




The highlight on my month was getting to meet my friend's triplets for the first time. The triplets were born on December 13th and were in the hospital for several months. For the safety of their health, no visitors except for immediate family could visit. They were given the green light to have guests this month! Look at these sweet babies!
Nola Kate:

Maddux Lee:

Luce Reese:

Scott got to take a trip to his college town for a fraternity brother's wedding. Here is a picture of Scott and some of his buddies. Scott isn't able to get back and see them much. I'm happy for him that he was able to go and have a fun time at the wedding with all of his friends.

Ford just hanging out looking cute (I'm a little bias):

Every now and then, I'll sneak into Ford's room and take a picture of Ford sleeping:

I'm not sure what happened to his pants here:

Ford and his sweet smile:

On Friday, we went to the pool with Mary Ann and Will. It was a little bit cool and the sun didn't shine. But, the boys didn't seem to mind and had so much fun playing together. Yeah for three year olds!
Ford and his goggles:

I don't know if you can see, but the boys have mototcycles. They are driving them up the pool ramp, motorcycle sounds and all.

Buddies:

Rest time at the pool:

Ford resting on the couch with his "friends" after a long, fun day at the pool:

In house news, our newest renovation was adding a patio. The patio is in, but we still need to landscape around it. I'll post some before and after pictures when we are finished.

Then and Now

Almost two years ago I started this blog. My first post was our trip to visit Grana and Papa Forest in North Carolina. I took some similar pictures this time to show you how much Ford has grown.

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day Weekend, we went to visit Grana and Papa Forest in North Carolina. As usual, we had a wonderful weekend and a nice visit with them. There was also one other perk. I recently got back in touch with one of my old roommates, Taryn (gotta love Facebook). She lives in Asheville, just 20 miles from Scott's mom. We were able to meet her out for dinner one night and I got to meet her sweet family. Since my last post was so long, I'll just post lots of pictures with captions from our weekend. Oh, and here is my disclaimer...Both Scott and Ford love the color green and therefore have several shirts that are green. I rarely wear green, but I happen to have two maternity shirts that are green. Hence the seemingly matching shirts again.

Grana's dog, Ty, giving Ford kisses.

I think it's crazy how much Scott and Ford look alike.

Hanging out at the pool.

Grana and Ford at the pool.

Wiped out.

On Friday night, we went to dinner at some friends of Cindy and Forest. Their daughter, her husband and three-year-old son, Will, were there visiting. Their house is within walking distance to this beautiful waterfall. We took the boys fishing at the waterfall and took some cool pictures. Will and Ford became fast friends.

Waiting patiently to fish.

Fishing with Papa Forest.

Playing shuffle board with Will.

Goodbye hugs.

Driving the boat.

Mommy and Ford on the lake.

Playing on the playset at the beach.

Grana and Ford at the beach.

Walking on the beach.

Playing in the sand.

This picture isn't very clear, but we saw a mama duck and her babies. Look how little and cute they are!

We also saw deer on the way home from the lake.

For Mother's Day, Ford made Grana a stepping stone for her garden. Ford got to help put it in her garden while we were there.

Ford eating breakfast. I just think he looks cute here.

Ford and cute little Sienna.

My friend, Taryn, and her sweet babies with Ford and me. My, how times have changed!

Top Ten

I was having dinner with my sweet girlfriends, Mary Ann and Jennifer (Jones), not too long ago. Jennifer has new babies and we were asking about them and she was glowingly talking about them. She said she felt like she was bragging and mentioned that neither Mary Ann nor I seem to go on and on about our boys (bragging). Of course, Ford is a major topic in any conversation I have with anyone because spending time with and caring for him is predominantly what I do.

I'm around so many mommies with a child Ford's age, that I try not to talk about all of the things he can do either a) because her child can probably do the exact same things, OR b) because I wouldn't want to make her feel badly if Ford could do something and her child couldn't.

Those are a couple of reasons. Probably a bigger reason is because Ford and I got off to a rocky start. It's no secret that Ford cried ALL THE TIME when he was an infant...colic and reflux. He started taking medication for reflux eventually and outgrew colic and STILL he cried all the time. He was moody and fussy until between two and two and a half. So, what in the world did I have to brag about? I just didn't get the camera out when he was screaming and if I did, I didn't post those pictures on my blog.

Why am I writing all of this? Because I'm Ford's mommy and I should brag on my sweet son sometimes. So, here it goes. I'm bragging about Ford!

1. Ford is empathetic. I heard another mom say about a child who showed empathy, "oh, good, that means he's not a sociopath." I'm guessing empathy is, hopefully, part of child development. But, Ford is very sensitive to the feelings of others. If he sees a child crying, he'll stop in his tracks. He will even go up to someone who is sad and pat or hug him/her. He can't stand it for someone to be sad and it warms my heart that he's that way.
2. Ford is a perfect mix of careful and daring. He is not scared to try most things i.e. trying something new on the playground. But, he's also careful when doing so. He also is keenly aware of danger and whether or not something is safe. If he sees someone riding a bike without a helmet he will say, "He's not being safe. He needs to have a helmet on." As a mother, I prefer things this way. He's not going to be a daredevil and that suits me just fine as long as he tries new things.
3. Ford is healthy. We are blessed beyond measure with a healthy son and are so thankful. Other than reflux, a few colds and ear infections, he's been healthy thus far with very few trips to the pediatrician since the 18 month mark.
4. Ford has never been a consistent napper (I'm not bragging about this). Before 14 months old, putting Ford to bed was a two or three hour stressful ordeal. But, I read the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth when Ford was 14 months old and implemented his sleep training methods, and Ford has become a wonderful night sleeper. He usually goes to bed without major complaints and stays in his bed. He sleeps through the night until morning 99% of the time. It is a huge blessing.
5. Ford went almost three years of his life without having separation anxiety. I could take him anywhere...church, the YMCA...and he never cried when I left him. One month before he turned three, he started getting apprehensive when I would leave him somewhere. I know that at about age three kids develop a heightened sense of awareness, so this is normal for some children. I'm just thankful that for three years, I didn't have to worry about leaving him!
6. Eating has not ever really been an issue. I've heard horror stories about breast feeding and bottle feeding. I have a friend whose first daughter took an hour to eat for one feeding. I have another friend whose eldest child refused to take a bottle at all. Ford didn't have a preference, he just liked to eat. He had reflux with major spitting up. But thankfully, he got the nutrients from the food before spitting up and he grew. Failure to thrive is a big issue with lots of reflux children, so we were blessed that THAT wasn't an issue. Now, as a toddler, some days he eats well and some days he doesn't. But, he does eat. I just try not to make a big deal out of eating and offer him healthful choices.
7. Ford can drink out of a juice box and not spill it. I know this isn't a big deal, but I think it's pretty cool that he doesn't spill it everywhere. When he was was smaller, he spilled a juice box maybe one time and learned not to squeeze the box.
8. Ford is independent. Now, this has been a source of major conflict for us because Ford has been insistant on doing things by himself before he was big enough to do it (i.e. feeding himself, getting dressed, etc). However, now that he is older, it makes things easier. He'd prefer to do most things on his own and that keeps ME from having to do it for him.
9. He can speak well for his age. Until he was 18 months old, he had a five to ten word vocabulary. I believe that part of his frustration as a baby was because he couldn't communicate what was on his mind. Even though sometimes I wish he's stop talking, it is wonderful that he can express himself so well.
10. He potty trained himself. Granted, he was three years and one month when we started. I tried it when he was two-and-a-half, but he had no interest in it and didn't really understand how it all worked. It's amazing how far he came in just six months. We've gone over three months now with diapers only at night time and he's had less than ten accidents total. I guess that's one easy thing about a strong-willed child. He's willed himself not to wear diapers anymore!

Ten things to brag about is enough for now. Being Ford's mommy has challenged me in ways that I didn't even know I could be challenged. But, it gets easier everyday and I love him more than words could ever say.

Weekend Fun

We had a very busy and fun weekend this past weekend. Ford attends playschool and this weekend was the annual family fun festival at his school. It's a fund raiser for the school where they have food (Satco-yum!), pony rides, a rock climbing wall and lots of fun games in the gym. The theme was "whole world in your hands," hence the picture of us standing in front of all the hands.
Here is Ford checking out all of the fun stuff when we arrived:

Ford was flirting with an older girl in the pony line. I heard him say, "Look how fast I can run," and also, "Do you smell the ponies' poo poo?" He's really going to have to hone his skills with the ladies.

Riding a pony:

There were lots of fun activities in the gym:



On Saturday night, Scott and I had a date night. We went out to dinner and then to the Dave Matthews concert at Vanderbilt. The weather was perfect and the show was great.

Sunday, we went to church at my sister's church in Hendersonville with my entire family and then to Rainforest Cafe to celebrate my niece Audrey's 5th birthday. I forgot my camera, so I'll have to get some pictures from my sister to post. I can't believe Audrey is five! She's such a big girl.