Shower for Baby Drew

Me, Darby, Casey & (baby Drew), and Lacy

Me and Casey & (baby Drew)
Doesn't Casey look terrific? Casey- pregnancy definitely agrees with you!Me and DarbyThis picture came out a little blurry, I might need to get one from one of you guys. My camera wasnt on the right setting. Darn!Connor and Darby
I was trying to get Connor to smile. He decided to show us his cheerios instead...Me, Connor, Sailor, and Nikki
Connor REALLY liked Sailors pretty hair!Lacy, Kiley, Connor, and Me
Husband and wife finally meet! Ha! Arent they a cute couple already?!

Lacy, Kiley, Me, Connor, Sailor, and Nikki

This weekend we traveled back to Rockwood to go to Casey's shower, given by Darby and Lacy. It was so great to see everyone with their babies and get to see Casey before hers arrives! Another boy is on the way! Casey got so many wonderful gifts. Connor really enjoyed getting to show off his new walking skills in front of the ladies. He really loved getting to meet Sailor, Kiley, and Brody. We are really bummed that we didnt get to see Kellye and Cole, we got there too late. It is was so great to see old friends and the new additions! Ok, Darby your next!! Ha! Ha!

No paci, no problem!

Arent these pictures hilarious?! This past week, Connor discovered that his puzzle pieces had a wooden handle on them that made for a great pacifier. So he thought he might try it, and da-ta-da they work great! This morning he was playing and Brad said that he turned around and had this mailman in his mouth! As you can see he is doing a head stand! I thought it was just so funny because just the other night he had a fish in his mouth. That was the first time I had seen him do this. Well, whatever works I guess...

My new game!

Pops and Grannie got Connor a basketball goal and ball this weekend and he is loving his new game! He still needs a little assistance shooting it, but he definitely understands the concept. Dont worry Pops, you wont need to help me next time you see me! Thank you for my new toy!! I had fun playing with you this weekend!

Bye bye baby!

Hello little boy! The fun is just beginning for the members of the Thompson household, as Connor officially started walking on Thursday night. He was taking a few steps on Wednesday night and by Thursday he mastered the skill and started walking 5-6 steps around the room. I feel blessed to have had a non-walker for 14 months now! What will he get into next? Ha! I love watching him try to master this new skill, however I am also a little sad. I keep reading that once babies learn to walk, they are no longer babies. Connor is now a little boy, however it makes feel a little better to call him a toddler. I feel a little sigh of relief now that Brad wont have to worry that something is developmentally wrong with Connor. Ha! He really wants Connor to be the first to do everything and when he still wasnt walking at 12 months, he got a little worried. I always had faith and knew that it would happen in his timing. Lets just say that I have my running shoes ready! Let the races begin!!

A different look

After seeing Lacy's pictures of Kiley, it inspired me to take some this morning using the color feature on my camera. Some of them are out of focus, but I thought some of them turned out pretty cute! Funny story to tell you all about... These pictures were taken this morning after following Connor up the stairs. I was watching him this time! This past weekend, Brad and I were downstairs doing different chores when it got VERY quiet. I called for Connor and looked in every room down here and Connor was not to be found. I thought what the heck and took off up the stairs and there he was, one step away from being in the bonus room! That means he went up one flight, passed the landing, and up another flight in a matter of seconds! He usually crawls to the first step and just sits there. We have had a gate for a while but it stays at the top of the stairs, now we will have to keep it at the bottom too! Brad didnt believe me that Connor had done this, so I took him to the bottom and walked to the top and he crawled up to me like he had done it a thousand times before. It just amazes me how things just click with them. I expect any day that he will do this by walking for the first time. He has been taking one or two steps this past weekend, so we will see!

Taking a walk with Nonna

Mommy's Little Helper

Connor thought he would teach me a thing or two about folding clothes! He loves to pull them out of the basket, only to put them back in again. Now if I can teach him to fold them neatly, I will be set!

Snow day, terrible "ones", girl scout cookies, and projects for the weekend

This week seemed a little odd to me... I am not sure what I mean by that, it just didnt follow the normal routine is all. On Sunday night, Connor was up every hour crying out in his sleep. It was a different cry and sounded like he wasnt feeling well. Since I didnt sleep at all and I wasnt sure if he was getting something (the flu is running rampant in Middle TN) I decided to switch my work days and stay home on Monday. We were all getting over colds in our house so I wanted to make sure it wasnt developing into something else. Connor ended up being fine and we had a good day at home, at the grocery, and running other errands.

Tuesday was a snow day. It started with ice and sleet before we went to bed and started snowing when we woke up. I had my alarm set for work and decided to turn on the news before heading to the shower. They were alarming people about the roads so I decided to use some caution and go in late. It was a good thing because Connor didnt wake up until 9 am and I had to do some shaking to get him to budge! Tuesday night Brad went to Taekwondo! I had to some persuading and he finally decided to go back. I only got to go to class on Monday due to a family emergency, they had to shut down the school until Monday.

Wednesday was normal in the sense that we went to work and everything. We set out to go dinner to Spring Hill's new Cracker Barrell. We didnt plan on doing anything for Valentines Day, but decided that we would celebrate a day early there. Nothing says "I Love You" more than a plate of biscuits and chicken and dumplins! Ha! They have only been open for a week or so and I think they have a few kinks to work out before we will be returning! The special was chicken and dumplins or "dumplings" as all of the waitresses pronounced it. They were all from up North, so Brad decided to give them a lesson on how you really pronounce it! I am not sure they appreciated "the lesson". It was so funny! It was all in good fun though. Connor was a little rascal that night. He has officially hit the "picky" eater stage. It makes it extra hard because along with the allergies, I have to do a guessing game as to what he wants that night. He didnt want anything that I had packed for him, so he pretty much whined the whole time. I cut up my green beans for him and he started lining them up on the ledge beside the table in perfect order. It was hilarious! He is really starting to change a lot. Another topic- can a child enter into the "terrible twos" a whole year early? Connor has really started to rebel and try to test me! I have tried a few different ways of disciplining him but nothing really seems to work. I know that most of this is normal, I just dont want it to get too out of control. Brad says that we are going to be on SuperNanny one day and I am determined for this NOT to happen!!! Anyway, back to Wednesday night... We decided that it was probably the most unromantic "Valentines dinner" yet! Ha! I forgot to mention that our dumplings were so watery that our vegetables started drowning and ended up in the middle of the plate. Yuck!

Thursday, went to work and girl scout cookies came in! Normally I would have been thrilled, but I had just started my Slim Fast diet on Monday so this was NOT what I needed to tempt me to get off track. (Yes, I know I already got off track the night before...) Which leads me to a question. What is your favorite Girl Scout cookie? It is a tie for me between thin mints and samoa's! Brad's favs are the tagalongs! They are all so good!! I think I will be putting most of them up in the freezer for now! Brad and I thought we might try and have a Valentines lunch (one of the perks to working together is that we can have a peaceful lunch together) I was craving PF Changs, but they were packed so we decided to try Macaroni Grill. Packed too! We drove around for 30 minutes and everything was so crowded that we found a small Japenese place. The food was GOOD and I was officially stuffed! I would have to do Slim Fast for another meal! When we got home we exchanged our gifts. We had a small budget allotted for this year, but it was still exciting to see what we had come up with for a small amount of money. I got Brad another Camelbak water bottle because he loved the one I got him for his birthday so much! It had some coupons from me like: No work at home day, Remote Control for one night, Servant for a day, etc... I also got him some new umpiring socks (this will be starting soon), some fudge brownies with icing (his favorite) and some cheesecake bites (another fav)! He got me a table to put between the rocking chairs for the front porch! I have been wanting one of these for a while! For dinner I picked up a rotisserie chicken and sides from Publix. It was very yummy! We caught up on our Tivo later that night!

Friday, Connor and I played that morning and did some cleaning. Connor took a 3 1/2 hour nap, so Brad and I mapped out some projects that we wanted to complete this weekend. We decided to repaint the rocking chairs, hang blinds in the living room and dining room and pick paint colors for the house. We scrubbed the chairs and went to get the paint for them and blinds, when Connor awoke from his nap. We hung two blinds and discovered that they didnt cut one of them, so we stopped since we have to go back today and get it cut. We spent the night at home and I got a great surprise that night! I was watching a concert for Celine Dion on TV and a commercial came on saying that tickets went on sale today for her concert here in Nashville in 2009. It was only wishful thinking, but I told Brad that I would LOVE to go! She is so incredible and I have always wanted to see her sing Live in person! About 20 minutes went by and Brad left the room with the computer and I didnt think much about it. I guess he couldnt keep a secret because when he came back he put the computer in my lap and said "Look!" It was the receipt from where he had bought us tickets to go and see her in January 2009!!! I was so EXCITED! I didnt think there was a chance that we would be able to go because they would be too expensive. They werent cheap, but not as bad as I would have thought. Now it is a year away, I dont know if I can wait this long!!!! I will be counting it down! Dont I just have the best husband ever!?

This weekend we are going to finish our chores and head up to Lebanon on Sunday to see my parents and hopefully Brett and Hillary! Hopefully I will take some pictures soon, I have been slacking lately! Sorry!

Happy Belated Valentines Day and have a great weekend everyone! Sorry for the L O N G post!

He's a fan already!

OK, so its probably not the best thing for a 14 month old to watch... Dont worry he is only interested in the theme song for now!

Training Session- 2

We met with our trainer for our second training session on Saturday. It had been scheduled for last Thursday night, but because of the tornados she had to assemble her dog rescue team and do a cadaver search in Macon County, so we had to reschedule. Fortunately, for them they didnt find anything. She said that her dogs are trained to do air scent, but because of the size of her dogs and all of the devastation that occured they really needed "rubble dogs" to be able to get into the tiny places beneath collapsed houses and such. She said Coopers size would be perfect for what they needed. She asked me if Cooper needed a job! Ha! Unfortunately it would mean about 40 hours a week of unpaid work for me, or I might seriously consider it. He would love it!

Because of the beautiful weather we had on Saturday (upper 50's and sunny) we spent the day outside, addressing Coopers lack of control around other animals, children playing, and bicycles. She was amazed at how much action we have just on our street. She had previously thought we would have to do a field trip for this session but she said we have plenty of opportunities right here in our front yard. Our neighborhood is filled with kids and when I say that, I mean I would feel safe to say that every house on our street has at least one child under the age of 16. There was a football/basketball game going on in our front yard, at least 3 bicycles went by, and lots of people were out walking their dogs which was perfect! Connor napped during this, which made it even more perfect since I didnt have to wrestle and try to keep up with him during this. We hadnt been out there for more than 10 minutes and she was giving us some instruction about what we were going to be doing, when our first opportunitiy approached. It was 2 ladies with a golden retreiver... I was about 2 seconds away from saying, "Make sure Coopers collar is tight enough." Cooper has a history of coming out of his collar when he is trying to get after a dog. Well, you guessed it... He came right out of it and charged after the dog across the street. Brad ran after Cooper and apologized to the ladies. Nikki told us that in that situation we should calmly walk over to the situation because the other dog would see 2 conflicts coming at him instead of 1. Brad and I were both glad that this happened while she was there to see just how out of control he really is. Nikki also had her rotweiller in the car and we spent the rest of the afternoon working with Cooper so that he could get close enough to the dog to meet her. This is going to take lots of work and practice on our part, but I have confidence that it can get better. Next, we were trained on how to get Cooper to walk on a leash. To do this, we used LOTS of treats. She said that we should use as many treats as possible to get the attention on us right now. Once he gets the hang of it, the treats will slack off. After a few minutes of me trying it, it really started to work! Again, this will take a lot of time an practice on our part but I know if we are consistent he will do it. I cant wait until it gets warmer so that we can go outside more. We also worked on Coopers ability to stay in control when someone knocks or rings the doorbell. For any of you that might be visiting us any time soon, you might be standing on our porch for 10 minutes before being greeted because we have to ignore Cooper until he calms down to open the door. This will teach him that by barking and acting crazy will not get us to open the door, which is what he ultimately wants. Thanks Mom for helping us practice this yesterday when you came over. Nikki told us that we should pay one of the kids next door to come and ring the doorbell over and over. Oh my goodness! I never thought I would have to think about doing something like this!! Ha! All in all, everything is going great and we will meet with her again in a week and a half. Cant wait to see what we will learn then!

My first Valentine from my sweetie!

Yesterday Connor got his first "official" Valentine! It was from Miss Kiley in Florida! Kiley, I showed him your pictures and he smiled very big from ear to ear and grabbed your picture to take a closer look. He read your card and cant wait to meet you too! It wont be too much longer now.

As many of you know, there was already an arranged marriage between Connor and Kiley before either one of them were even born! In a couple of weeks they will meet for the first time, so hopefully they will like each other. I have a feeling that Connor will be swept off his feet by Kiley's sweet beautiful face!

This week in pictures...and one video too!

Mmm mmm! Sgetti!
I am learning how to use a spoon!

This is fun!
Would you like one of my beads?

Mirror, mirror on the wall... (He must think he is pretty cute!)

An eventful week

What a week it has been. I feel like this week has been a whirlwind of events of some good things and some very bad. From the tornados that ravaged our state on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, to the presidential primaries, to the horrible things I heard on the news today. I guess the only good things that come to mind were that there were no fatalities at Union University from the twisters, the "miracle baby" that survived being thrown 100 yards from his home in Castalian Springs from the tornado, and my guy is still in the race for the presidency. I know there are more miracilous stories of people that survived the storm, actually I just got off of the phone with my Mom that said my Dad had been cleaning up the rubble from a mans house that works for him. His wife and kids heard the storm coming and took cover in the crawl space of the house. The tornado took the house right off of the foundation. The family is OK; another miracle! I am listening to the news as we speak and the death toll is still rising in Macon County and there are still others missing. My heart and prayers go out to the families that have been affected by this horrible natural disaster. I keep thinking that at the time the storms were coming in was the least scared I have been since we have lived in M.Tenn. It turns out that this was the deadliest round of tornados in the nation since '85. The tornados were all around us, but it didnt get really bad until about 2 in the morning. Needless to say I didnt sleep a wink. The weather radio went off constantly which made it hard to do anything but think about the storms that were near. We didnt have to take cover, which was good because I really didnt want to have to wake Connor up. He wouldnt have been a happy camper! I cant believe how many storms we have had already and it is just February! I am going to pray that we dont have a bad spring! I dont want to have to replace another roof this year.
On a lighter note, look at this miraculous story of the "miracle baby" if you havent heard about it already. His mother died, but it was by God's grace that he was saved!
Hopefully this coming week will be better and brighter!

...what else I did today for the first time!

It wont be long now...

Look at what I did today!

Well, Connor didnt actually vote but he did press my "confirm" button at the end to cast my ballot. I think he enjoyed his first time at the polls. He liked smiling at all of the ladies working there and of course they made a big fuss over him, which he loved!

Do a favor for your feet

I just finished running on the treadmill and I had to take a minute before showering to tell you how much I love my new running shoes. I am sure a lot of you have heard of this place, but in case you havent Fleet Feet is the best place to buy your shoes if you are a runner, walker, or even if you just want the best shoe for you feet. They will watch you walk and run and will determine what shoes are best for you. They gave me several options so I could have a little bit of choice in the look of them. My new Brooks shoes are the most comfortable ones yet and I love to wear them all the time, even though Brad says they are my running shoes and I should only run in them. I found out that I have been doing a great injustice to my feet by wearing some of the worst shoes made- Nike Shox. I have always thought these were so cool looking, but in reality that was all they were. They arent even comfortable now that I put them back on. What was I thinking? Fleet Feet is located in Brentwood and I think there is one in Knoxville too. If you are due for some new shoes, I would strongly suggest checking them out! You will never buy anywhere else!

Reasons I am longing for spring!

As I was driving home from work yesterday in the pouring rain, I thought to myself how it was one of the most depressing days. The sky was grey, the roads were lined with bare trees with no greenery in sight. All I could see in front of me were the two red dots that were rear car lights. As I was driving I started thinking about the things in my mind that make me yearn for spring!

1) Warmth!!!

2) The beautiful color of green returns!

3) Planting flowers and new landscaping

4) Feeling inspired to freshen up the house decor

5) Taking Connor and Cooper to play outside

6) Enjoying the playground and swimming pool in our new subdivision

7) Events and trips- I am looking forward to going to Vegas in April, Brett and Hillary's wedding in May, and a trip to Saint Martin next September.

8) Earning my black belt!

9) Giving our front door and shutters a facelift by giving them a new color and fresh coat of paint.

10) Shopping for some new spring clothes for all of us!

11) My grandmothers visit in March!

12) Watching Connor continue to learn more and more every day!

That is about all I can think about right now, but I am sure there are more! What are some of your favorite things about Spring?

Macho, Macho Man!

Training Session -1

We had our first private training session last night with our dog trainer. I am so excited about this new change in our lives and to FINALLY get our dog in our control! It is going to be so much calmer and enjoyable when we are home. However, it is going to be a ton of work on our part until Cooper catches on. Needless to say, I now have 2 children to feed each night (we have to hand feed Cooper for his evening meal) and I will have to carry around dog treats in one pocket and cheerios in the other for Connor! Ha! It will be so worth it though in the end! I was very impressed by her knowledge and how simple things really worked! She teaches a type of discipline that she calls "dog speak". It focuses on rewarding your dog for behaviors that you like and want him to continue and ignoring the ones you dont. Here are some things that we are changing at our house, with the advice of our trainer.

1) Changing Coopers food to a more nutritious selection. (FYI- Pedigree is the equivilent to McDonalds; Nutro,Science Diet, Iams are the equivilent to Applebees...) She has recommended we feed Cooper a food called Canidae or Solid Gold. You cant buy these at PetSmart or any specialized pet shop, we will have to go to a Vet Clinic in Cool Springs to get it. You are probably thinking that it will cost us a fortune, but actually it isnt that much more expensive than Nutro! Also, we are to feed Cooper twice a day in 20 minute sessions. If he doesnt eat, the food goes up until the next feeding. Also he has to wait for us to say the command, "OK" until he starts eating. This is going to teach him that we are leaders of the pack and in control of his food.

2) Cooper can not lay under beds or any other place that might be a safe haven where it might be difficult to get him out. (For those of you who dont know he has a biting problem that we are trying to correct, and the times he has biten have been when he was under the bed) This will help with his fear and self confidence.

3) We have to throw the word "NO" out the window. We are only to reward good behaviors and ignore the ones we dont like. Once he learns this he will want to do what he gets rewarded or attention for. If we ignore him when he is barking excessivly then he will learn it gets him nothing.

4) Go back to using the crate when we arent at home and Cooper is in the house. He is outside most of the time, except in bad weather. This will prevent him from getting on furniture when we arent around, which we are going to break him from. He will also sleep in a crate instead of wherever he chooses.

5) He cant go outside or through doors without us telling him, "OK". Another way to establish being the leader of the pack.

6) Dont talk to much... We have to remember not to tell Cooper what we want him to do. He needs to learn the good behaviors on his own and use his brain! Cooper is very smart and we know he can do this, we have just not been good parents to teach him how.

7) When we play with Cooper, we start and finish the game and always WIN!

Those are most of things (excluding a few) that we covered, although with more instruction of course. I am being careful not to give away her "secrets" because as someone who also gives design advice and a service as a career, I have to respect that she does this to make a living. I cant wait until it gets warmer and we get to have some outside sessions around other people and animals. That is where it will get very interesting! We are meeting her next Thursday, so I hope to make this a series of posts after each one.