Convention End

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am in Florida for a work-related event....here are some pics. The theme for our event honored a certain person named James, who is from Indianola, Mississippi, and so we adopted the theme 'Indianaola James,' a play on the Indiana Jones movie series (of which the 4th installment launches this Thursday). The person whom we were honoring, James, really got into it and one night, he actually wore the 'Indy' costume that we got for him (hat, whip, khaki shirt). The middle pic is of me and my coworkers. The back row is Russell, Nikki, Wendy and Mac. The front row is Sherry, me and Amy. The bottom photo is the Mississippi band 'Homemade Jamz' who performed tonight as our banquet entertainment. They are a teenage blues band (no kidding - they are siblings aged 15, 13 and 9) that has won several awards for their music. They were pretty good. I am not a fan of watching a band play, it's just not my thing, but others said they were awesome.

Wish You Were Here

I am at Sandestin Resort in Destin, Fla., for a work-related event. Todd was unable to attend because he is keeping Courtney, but Stacey came here with me and while I am working, she is doing things like shopping, bike riding and getting a pedicure! I will be here until Sunday when I will return home needing a vacation, ha!

Martha Foose's New Cookbook

I'm a fan of Mississippi chef Martha Foose, the Viking Cooking School director who is down-to-earth and has great Mississippi stories as well as recipes, so I picked up one of her new cookbooks for my mother for Mothers Day. It's called 'Screen Doors and Sweet Tea.' Here's a link to a Lemuria Bookstore description of the book. Foose was also interviewed by my friend Melissa Townsend this past month in Delta Magazine about the book (interview not available online, but one recipe is).

Courtney in the 'Jumper'

She may be a bit short for it, but Courtney loves her new Johnny Jump Up jumper......

Mothers Day

My mother was in Jackson this weekend to help us out with Courtney care, since I had to work Saturday in preparation for a big work event that will take me out of town from Tuesday to Sunday this week. We took these shots today, a beautiful cloudless day.

CUMC 5K

Todd and Courtney (and our friend Rob) ran in the Christ United Methodist Church 5K run (results on link) this morning. Todd said he wasn't sure, but he thinks he finished first in the category of dads pushing strollers.... Seriously he finished with a time of 26 minutes, pushing a jog stroller, and I think that's pretty good. I was not in attendance, as I had to work today.

Courtney and the Guys

A cute 6-month old is irresistible to many men, including Todd and Mike. Here they are with Courtney doing her thing.

The Deck

Todd has mostly finished the deck. The 'decking,' which is the part you walk on, is completed. Today, he has also done the beams up top, which will support the roof. So he has plans to do the steps down to the concrete, plus the arbor-style roof. He also wants to install a ceiling fan and some cabinetry. But for now, it's terrific to be able to walk onto the deck. We have a double-screen door, so from the dining room, I have a 6-foot wide view of the back yard.

Saturday Outing

Gas is $3.50 per gallon, so we walked to breakfast this morning. We found out that we live 1 mile from Pillow Doughnuts (going the back way, through the neighborhood), and we took Rufus and Courtney in the all-terrain stroller. Rufus behaved very well 'parked' in a sit-stay by the stroller, outside the doughnut shop, while the three of us went in and ate. The first photo is of Courtney eating a paper bag at the doughnut shop -- too young for doughnuts. The second photo is of Todd and me talking to the gas meter reader. The local gas company now has Segways and we were fascinated by it - I had never seen one up close before. The guy said he loved the thing and he could do the work of two men using it.

Charlie Wilson's War

Tonight, we rented Charlie Wilson's War and enjoyed the movie, which was nominated for several Oscars this year.

Hattiesburg Weekend

This weekend we visited Hattiesburg on one of my work-related trips, and we saw a great deal of the South Mississippi region. We burned up the roads in a minibus with a group of two dozen others. Bill and Hermine, who are from Hattiesburg, were our hosts and engineered the whole thing. The first two photos are of the exterior of Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, where we toured Saturday. The second two photos are of the exterior and interior of Bill's mother's home in Laurel, where we had lunch Saturday. The second two photos are of the Richton Club House in Richton, where we all ate dinner Friday night. The last photo is everyone loaded up on the bus. I should note that we had to stop to fill the minibus up with gas once, and it took $250 to fill it up - gas is now $3.43/gallon.

So...who does she look like?

So here are photos of the three of us at approximately the same age. The larger photo is Courtney of course, taken this past weekend. The 2nd photo is Todd (who apparently had so much hair at age 5 months that he had to have his bangs cut!), and the 3rd photo is me at 5 months (Baldy). Please weigh in on the comments section re who she looks like. One notable thing is Todd had brown eyes already at age 5 months......C and I both have blue eyes at the same age. So maybe C's eyes will stay blue.

Who Does She Look Like Part 2

Here's part 2 of the face game - photos of the three of us smiling at 5 months old ........... I think she and Todd look a lot alike. She may have a lot of Todd's facial structure but my mouth. Feel free to weigh in. Photo 1 is Courtney, photo 2 is Todd and photo 3 is me.

Baby Photos of Todd

I'm so excited that I found the photo album with Todd's baby pictures in it! (I had lost it for a couple of years and had really been searching for it since the baby was born.) Since he's adopted, the first photos we have of him, he is 5 months old, which is Courtney's current age. So now we can compare how she looks........ The photos below are of Todd in his crib at 5 months, and Todd with his mother Barbara at 5 months.

Courtney Sat Up Today!

Yes, she sat up unassisted today. She did it briefly on Sunday, but fell over after just a few seconds each time. Yet today, she got the hang of it and was happily sitting up when I went to pick her up after work. Here's a video.

Building a Deck (Before)

Todd decided this weekend to build a deck (after years and years of speculative planning). Here are two shots of the back of our house (which is U-shaped). The first photo is Sunday and the second photo is Tuesday (today). The photos are taken from the top of our rotten treehouse platform, which is the next thing to go :-) I'll post another when it's done.

Catching Up - Part 4 (April 16-17, 2008)

We had a very nice work-related event at Jackson's Old Capitol Inn this week. The bed and breakfast in downtown Jackson has a wonderful rooftop garden (pictured) where we had an evening reception with entertainment by vocalist Meredith Virden. The sleeping rooms are terrific there - each has an individual theme and decor unlike any other room. Each room is pictured on their web site. On Thursday the 17th, several of us with the event visited to the Mississippi Capitol to see the legislature in the final days of its 2008 session. We watched action (such as it was) from the galleries, plus we went to sign the book in the Governors office and we caught Gov. Barbour exiting his office. The 2nd picture is of the guv with the people I was with - I'm not in it because I was the one snapping the photo. But it was exciting to meet Gov. Barbour - we just lucked up on being there at the right time. Also my co-worker who is a lobbyist gave us a mini tour of some of the inside stuff at the Capitol, so it was great for many of those people who, unlike me, had never been there before.

Catching Up - Part 3 (April 9-10, 2008)

My brother Breck visited from St. Louis on April 9 and 10 - here's a photo of him feeding her a bottle.

Catching Up - Part 2 (April 10, 2008)

We went to the Fondren neighborhood's Arts Eats & Beats, and took the baby. We walked around during the street fair, watched performance artists, and ate at Sal & Mookie's. Here's a photo of us, Tony/Sheila, Carl, Paco, and Scott at the restaurant. Carl posed with Courtney for another photo, and Todd with his ever present cell phone on State Street in Fondren. The last photo is of the new commercial building being constructed at State and Duling.

Catching Up - Part 1 (April 4-8, 2008)

As I write this, it's late April, but I'm going to go week-by-week and catch you up on happenings at the household. First of all, tornadoes hit our area of Jackson on Friday, April 4, and we were lucky enough to be spared damage to our house. However, we were out of power from Friday until Tuesday night. Luckily after Katrina we got a generator and we were able to use that to keep the refrigerator running while we were without electricity. We did sleep at our house each night, although we had generous offers from several folks to stay with them locally. These photos are of the tree that fell from the neighbor's yard, across the street and up our driveway.........sparing our house. Todd immediately worked all afternoon in the pouring rain with his chain saw to get the tree out of the street, and Paco helped him. Paco posed in front of the tree beforehand as you can see..... Also I included a photo of the generator, which saved the day as far as I'm concerned. At one point Stacey came over and we watched Oprah using the generator to watch TV.

Family TKOd by Virus

Luckily for you, there are no pictures of this blog entry. Recipe for a really fun weekend:

1. Thursday at work, get call from day care that baby is sick with stomach ailment and fever. Go get baby.
2. Baby in a terrible mood all evening Thursday but goes to sleep at normal time and sleeps all night.
3. Baby still has stomach ailment, fever and bad mood on Friday morning. Since Todd has a very busy day on Friday, stay at home Friday from work tending to sick baby.
4. At lunchtime Friday, notice baby has terrible pimply red rash all over face and neck. A little while after that, it spreads to stomach and back.
5. Call doctor. Doctor works you in late Friday afternoon.
6. Visit baby's doctor. Diagnosis is stomach virus. (Doc says rash is also related to the virus.) No medicine given.
7. In the car on the way home, feel terribly ill. Realize upon arriving home that you have stomach virus and fever too. Nutrients exit digestive system.
8. Put baby to bed at 7 p.m. Friday. Retire to bed yourself, to the extent you can.
   
9. After eating dinner alone in the kitchen, Todd comes into the bedroom and mentions, 'I don't feel so good myself.' He has fever. Nutrients exit digestive system.
   
10. Realize all hell has broken loose. Call mother at 7 am Saturday morning and beg her to come to town to help with baby. She agrees, God bless her.
11. At 8 am Saturday, drag oneself to Walgreens to get Sprite, Gatorade, and disposable latex gloves for Mama Lyn to use in changing diapers so maybe she won't get the virus.
12. Sleep all day Saturday - while Mama Lyn takes care of baby.
13. Sleep all night Saturday - while Mama Lyn takes care of baby.
14. Sunday, feel a bit better and become able to function somewhat. Todd does not. Todd sleeps all day Sunday. (This is a man who won't even take an asprin because he doesn't like medicines. He actually asked me Saturday where I kept the Advil.)
15. Blog on Sunday night. If baby still has stomach ailment tomorrow, she won't be able to go to 'school.' Cross fingers that baby and husband improve.
    

The Squealing Has Begun

She's started squealing - heaven help us.

Simone's Bib

Our cat Simone is a profuse drooler. Todd was complaining about it today, so I went over and put a baby bib on her. She was really proud of it, as you can tell, and is asleep on the couch still wearing it.

Easter Sunday in Brookhaven

We had a big time in Brookhaven today for Easter Sunday, seeing all of Todd's family. It was too cold - about 55 degrees - for Courtney to wear her Easter dress, and I didn't wear a dress either. We stayed all afternoon and Courtney put on a good show - some of them had never seen her before. The first photo is Courtney reaching for the ceramic rabbit - whoops, guess who's into everything! The next photo is Dolores making homemade fried chicken; I haven't witnessed anyone doing that in a long time. The next photo is Courtney and Pop Pop, and the last photo is (clockwise from left) Dolores, Goat, Todd/Courtney, Kim, Charles, me and Mike. Mama Lyn was there, too, but she took the photo. Also, Greg, Jody, Kern, Kensy, Kay, KayKay, and L.C. were there, but we took the photo after they left.

You Might Be a Redneck if...

...you play the redneck board game on Friday night! I don't know what's more embarrassing (or revealing) -- that we own the You Might Be a Redneck board game, or that Todd gave it to me as an anniversary present! We had fun playing the game with Mary Lou and Harold on Friday night. The actual object of the game is to gather some beef jerky, a satellite dish, a hound dog and other items and be the first one to get back to your trailer! :-)

Scooching

Courtney has started 'scooching' which is the precursor to crawling. The first photo is how I put her to bed last night. She is a side sleeper like me. I put her on her back and she rolls right over on her side. The second photo is how I find her each morning. She scooches into the corner of the crib and puts her face up against the bumper. She is strong enough to lift up her face, so I am not worried totally, but the first few times it freaked me out. She did this when I had the 'wedge' in the bed to keep her in a certain place, so finally I just tossed the wedge in the closet.

Tie Dyeing for Easter

This is the last year I won't be dyeing eggs for Easter, but I had the idea to tie-dye something. So I went and got some white onesies for Courtney and some white Tees for me, and made us matching t-shirts. Tonight, I made a black and gold Southern Miss matching set for all three of us, and I made Courtney and myself some matching red/yellow shirts and matching pink/purple shirts. For Easter I made Courtney the pink, yellow and purple one in the first photo. She will have no shortage of clothes for Sunday!

I Actually Finished a Book

I finished a book since Courtney was born! Bill O'Reilly's 'Culture Warrior.' I started on this book back in October and have finally finished it. It's an interesting take on American culture and the subtle ways it's changed over a generation or two. It's also a cautionary tale that I think a lot of Mississippians can identify with.

Vampire Weekend

Todd bought and we've been listening to Vampire Weekend's new album and it is great. It reminds me of one of my favorite Brit bands, Razorlight. They use a lot of interesting instruments like hand drums, etc.

Jogging Regimen

We stayed in Hattiesburg last night with Mama Lyn and we got up early this morning and came home to Jackson with Courtney. It was fun to see her last night after six days without her. She smiled when she saw me and it was so cool. I took a vacation day from work today, and I thought I'd take a nap and rest, but I ended up cleaning the house and doing laundry all day. Tonight we started our new jogging regimen - Todd is my coach and is going to help me get started. Courtney is going to come on our jogs, too, plus Rufus. Here are the three of them from my vantage point, panting and trying to keep up!

Saturday Night

The convention is over as of 9:30 p.m. tonight. Today's events included a board meeting, a ladies brunch, a crawfish boil, an ice cream party and the evening banquet. I had free time between 1:30 and 3:45 pm but got 7 phone calls during that time - no rest for the weary. Late tonight, there was a board of directors party honoring Doug and Leigh Anne - Doug is the outgoing president of the organization hosting the convention. Pictured is the couple of the hour (seated bottom right) with all of the children of the board members gathered around them - they were watching them open gifts.

Friday's Refrigerator

Todd arrived at the resort after dropping off Courtney with Mama Lyn. The convention events today included two speakers, a luncheon, a basketball tournament and a kids' talent show. Then tonight there was a 'rock concert'-themed dinner with a band. I'll post better pictures later from the convention photographer, but here's a photo of what's in the Kern hotel room refrigerator during a week away. Only the essentials: bottled water, light chocolate soy milk and a six pack of Shiner.

Banquet Food

This joint has some terrific banquet food - tonight's steak was perfect and served with a butter knife, which was all you needed...... My friend Diane T. of Di's Floral Designs did the centerpieces, and I loved this topiary design using the red roses. Todd is on his way down here to the convention, and I'll see him tomorrow. Tonight is our 9th anniversary. I had to attend the dinner, and he is driving Courtney to Mama Lyn's house so she can keep her while we are here. I haven't had time to miss Courtney since Tuesday, but I know she has been in good hands with Todd and now my mother.

View from My Room

This week I"m at the Perdido Beach Resort, and here's the view from my room of the Gulf of Mexico. I'm here for a 5-day work related event so I won't actually get to go to the beach or pool. But it's a beautiful view! I'm here for a convention of about 550 people, including more than 100 children. There are a lot of kid-related events at the convention, including an ice cream party, a dance party, and a music-related game night. These kids get to stay up way past their bedtimes and it's fun to watch them having a great time........

Tuesday Night

Here's a good shot of Wendy and Sherry, my coworkers, as we were leaving Perdido Beach Resort to go to dinner at Johnny Rockets burger joint. We're all here for a work related event, and the hotel is so peaceful tonight. It's quiet and there's no one in the hallways. Later this week, it will be hopping with lots of people and noise.

My Boss's Car & The Trip

Today I drove my boss's car on a six hour work-related trip. My car isn't big enough to take all the supplies needed for the trip. This V8 can haul butt. However, it costs $65 to fill it up with gas...yikes!

Courtney Rolling Over

She has been rolling over for more than a week now, but this morning I caught it on video.........

Sunday Outing

Today we went and had a picnic lunch at the Reservoir overlook, then took Courtney on the 2 mile Ridgeland walking trail in the jogging stroller - we broke in the jogging stroller - we have never used it before now. She is a bit too small for it and slumped a bit during her ride!

B.C. and A.C.

We have realized that now there are two distinct epochs in our lives - Before Courtney and After Courtney. The biggest difference between B.C. and A.C. is bedtime. B.C. I would watch Letterman and stay up to watch Craig Ferguson's show. If I went to bed before midnight, I was sick. A.C., I can't stay awake past about 10:30 p.m. What a sleep weenie I have turned into.

Courtney Meets Clay

We went to Nicole's house tonight for supper club and I took Courtney to meet Nicole's 8 month old Clay. I think he liked her! Courtney (here held by Susan) is looking dubiously at Clay in this photo - I guess her dad has already been coaching her about boys. :-)

That Face!

C at 3 months and 3 weeks. Notice the ever present drool!

Soulshine Pizza

We went tonight to Soulshine Pizza with Sheila, Bekah, Tony and Carl - Eric Stracener was performing and it was a lot of fun. Courtney even went and she behaved pretty well even though there was loud music. I wasn't able to fit Todd in this photo but you can see his hands. Todd's vote for favorite Soulshine pizza is the Jacksonian, but I vote for the Boudreaux.

Antique High Chair

Mike found this high chair in his attic, and it either belonged to Todd or Kim as a baby. Either way, it's more than 30 years old. Mike brought it to our house this past weekend. Although it would be great to use for sentimental reasons, Todd and I are pretty sure the paint is lead-based (!), so it would require some stripping and re-doing if we wanted to use this chair. We have a little time to decide, because Courtney isn't even on rice cereal yet, much less solid food, but it's nice that Mike saved it for all these years.

Links R Us

I feel like we should call our house Links R Us because everything is linked up. I remember I got a package of 10 links as a baby shower gift, and I had no idea what they were. I figured they were teething rings for babies, but I had no idea why I needed a pack of 10. Anyway, fast forward to now, links are great. We've strung chains of links back and forth across the exersaucer, we've hung a half dozen toys from the play mat, and we link things to the car seat. Courtney loves to grab the chains and rattle them and put them in her mouth.

Kick Butt Headphones

We love our Sennheiser wireless headphones, which we got for Christmas this year. They plug in to the back of the TV and enable you to listen to the TV through the headphones. What a marriage saver. As I advised my recently married friend who said her husband was fond of the volume button, GET these headphones. One person can sleep and the other can watch TV without disturbing the sleeper. It even blocks out the sound of baby crying. The sound quality is awesome too.