Marshmallow World

Y'all know that the world shuts down when it snows in the South - even more so when we get a half a foot, as happened Friday night.

Sometimes I believe that snow in the South is God's invitation to slow down and relax; after all, you can't really do anything else!

So what did we do?

Russell and I mostly camped out in the cozy warmth of our house:



while Jason generously shoveled not only our sidewalk, but the neighbors' as well:



And what's a snow day if you don't, um, grill steak?



But obviously, you must end it with some homemade snow creme and a movie:



(although I don't recommend the movie we watched - District 9 - blech.)

Hope you had a great snow day yourself - and if you didn't get snow, then hopefully it was just a great Saturday! We will be holed in here for a while, it looks like.

The Many Phases of Waking Up

Waking up sure is tough business! When Russell wakes up from a nap, you never know what kind of mood he'll be in.

He may be cranky:



He may be serious:



He may be happy:



Or he may be all 3 within the span of 60 seconds! :)

Seven Months Old!

Russell is 7 months old today!

Here are a couple of his 7-month pictures:





He continues to amaze us as his personality shows through more and more. Here are some recent tidbits about Russell:

~Loves the hairdryer and our electronic toothbrushes - they make him laugh.
~He has started to scoot backwards! I think he's actually trying to go forward, but hey, he's moving at least.
~His babbles are sounding more like words: I have heard him say "mom" and "yeah," although I know he has no idea what they mean.
~Toes are a big favorite - his, yours, anyone's he can reach. It's hard to get him to wear socks sometimes because he pulls them off and puts them in his mouth (hmmm, reading this again it sounds kind of gross!)
~Has started eating meat - although he will only tolerate it if it's mixed with something else that he likes. He has had turkey (from a baby food jar) and homemade chicken and beef purees.
~Has still never had a drop of formula!! This may not mean much to some people, and I'm certainly not against formula at all, but this is a big accomplishment for me since nursing was so difficult to begin with. (And to be honest, it helps our budget!)
~He is certainly the loudest baby we know, although Cole gives him some competition! I'm sure Russell's shrieks and squeals are the delight of our neighbors...
~Loves carpet - if you set him on the carpet, he will touch and rub it for a few minutes.

I'm sure I could write so much more, but we'll leave it at this for now. He is such a funny baby and we're so glad he's ours!

Favorite so far

So I got my camera on Tuesday! So exciting! I am very s l o w l y learning how to work it. Anyway, here's my favorite pic so far (taken at Josh and Leigh Anne's today):

Okay, just kidding!

Remember this post?

Of course you do - it's the one that required you to get a password and log in every time you come here!

Well, guess what?


We're going public again!

I know, I'm a mess. But when I went private, I didn't realize a) that you can only have 100 readers if your blog is private, or b) that I have more than 100 people who want to read this thing!

So to keep the "crazies" at bay, I am just going back to safe Internet practices: no mention of specific locations, last names, etc. And I will moderate blog comments and block followers if I have to. Just in case you were worried. :)

Babysitting Sweet Caleb

Russell and I have the privilege of babysitting sweet Caleb for Josh and Leigh Anne a couple times per week while LA sleeps after her night shifts. Today was our first day! I must say, Russell wasn't a very helpful babysitter, but he sure was curious about Caleb - he kept staring at him and trying to touch him. He just loves his friend!

Caleb was so good today - hardly fussed at all. Russell had a tough time going to sleep for his noon nap (tough is putting it mildly); Caleb, on the other hand, fell asleep while I was changing his diaper! I've never seen anything like it!

Here are the little buddies hanging out:

Let's Play a Game...

Take a guess - what do you think this is?









Not bubblegum...

Here's a different perspective:





This is what it looks like when you melt a tupperware container in the oven.

This is what it looks like when you're in such a hurry to clean the house before the realtor comes to take pictures that you think it's a good idea to store said tupperware in the oven, and hours later you are supposed to cook dinner to take to your friend who just had a baby, and your baby needs a nap and is fussy and is distracting you, and you hurriedly preheat the oven to 400 without looking inside it.

And then, you come back downstairs to see smoke pouring out of one burner, and you open the oven to find, well, that gooey mess. And you say a few choice words, and call your husband (since he is at work and obviously can deal with this problem), and then you go on a walk with your baby - who is still fussy - to get away from the toxic fumes.

Mama said there'd be days like this...