Independence Day

We went to a great picnic today in connection with my 20th high school reunion, and one of my classmates is married to a great photographer who snapped these photos of Courtney. Link to Oana Hogrefe Photography.

Itsy Bitsy Spider Song

She has recently taken up quite a number of songs, this is one of the songs she likes best.

That's Enough

We happened to capture on video the first time Courtney said "that's enough," and we laughed so now she says it a lot more often. Here it is.

Pensacola Beach Trip

This week we've been lucky enough to get away for a couple of days of R&R in Pensacola Beach. Here's shots of our room at the Hilton and our view.

First Owie

Today Courtney fell on the concrete and got her first skinned knee. She took it well and did not even cry; she just got up and kept going!

Milestone in the House

Todd reached...ahem...a certain age today. This was about as low key as I could get on such an occasion! The neighbors were impressed. Much thanks to stealthy Russell for helping me pull it off!

Destin

In Destin for work. Sweet friend Rebekah has joined me on the trip since Todd was unable to attend. Here with coworkers Eden and Wendy and on the right is Bekah.

Its Hand Foot Mouth Y'all

Todd has stayed home all week from work with our Kitten because she's got Hand Foot Mouth disease, which causes little discomfort but is very contagious. She's got pimply blisters on her feet, buttocks, legs and arms. Here's a couple of shots. She has enjoyed having her dad to herself all week. Apparently adults don't contract HFM because everyone has this disease as a kid and develops immunity. Therefore no adults who have come in contact with her have been affected.

Who Does She Look like? 18-month edition

Top left and bottom right are both Courtney, age 18 months.

Being 18 Months Old Part 2

Here's a cute photo of Todd around 18 months old, too.

Being 18 Months Old

The occasion of Courtney turning 18 months old gives me a good excuse to post one of my favorite photos of me and my mother with our cat, Fluffy. I am 18 months old and my mother would be about 25. I am sure my mother is telling me to be 'soft and sweet' with the kitty because Fluffy obviously is about to bolt because I'm around! Mom, please let everyone know in the comments section if I am right :-)

La-La-La-La, That's Elmo's Song

Courtney likes to sing lots of songs. She sings the Elmo song, the ABC song, Twinkle, Twinkle, and the Wheels on the Bus song. Here's a clip of the Elmo song for you.

Play Date

Today Courtney had a play date with Hadley and Wyn, who live in Jacksonville. Their mommies got to visit, too, and it was great to catch up with Jill! After an hour at the park the girls were completely worn out! The upper photo is Courtney in the playground tunnel with Wyn in the background. Below is Hadley, age 21 mos, with Courtney.

Easter Sunday

Today Courtney learned to do lots of new things. Pop taught her how to dye eggs different colors.
Then Pop hid the eggs and taught Courtney how to find them.
Then she watched Pop and Daddy fly a butterfly kite, which she found delightful!

Easter Dress

Mama Lyn and I took photos today of Courtney in her green Easter dress, since we knew we would not have a lot of time on Easter Sunday for a photo session. She even consented to wear bunny ears.

How to Remove a Childs Toy From a Toilet

Determine that toilet no longer works due to toy being flushed. Try plunging. After determining plunging is not working, continue to plunge in order to drain water from the toilet. Turn off water at the wall.
Unscrew bolts and pop toilet off the floor. Unscrew and remove toilet tank. Attempt to discern where the toy is in the toilet with a plumber's snake. Determine that this plumber's snake is meant for outdoor pipes, not a toilet. Toy still stuck.
Brainstorm other things to use to stick into the toilet to try to shove the toy out. Give up and take toilet into the back yard.
Run garden hose into one end of toilet to see if water will flush toy out. (This is very entertaining for toddlers.)
As a last ditch effort before dragging toilet to the street and buying a new one, get a much smaller pipe snake and thread it through the toilet.
Toy pops out! Give a fist bump. Toddler joins in with a 'yay.'
Start over again!

Fascination

Lately Courtney has been fascinated with buckles. I have been reluctant to teach her to unbuckle because then she would be able to get out of her high chair, the grocery store cart, etc., etc. She has figured out how to get one buckled, but luckily she must not have the coordination to get it unbuckled. Here she is trying to buckle the high chair buckle. This can keep her occupied for 15 minutes.
She is also fascinated with puppets, including a duck and a tiger and a frog puppet we have here. She also several times a day removes her socks and puts them on her hands, just because she can.

Cut-ney & Silliness

Courtney has started to know when she is acting silly. We get some enjoyment out of watching her put two suckies in her mouth, for example. She has just started saying her own name - she says it "Cut-ney." She is also stringing together some three or four word sentences like "go see Rufus" "Cut-ney eat peas" and "Where frog go?"

Island Party

Tonight here at the convention we had an island-themed party with a steel drum band. Here's a photo above of Todd and me, and below me with my coworkers Eden & Wendy.

Point Clear Spring Break

I am in Point Clear Alabama this weekend at the Grand Hotel for work. I am in charge of a convention here with more than 400 attendees, so this is one of the most intense weeks of my year. I'm here March 17-22 and I'm really not available to be anyone's mother this week. Luckily, this is Spring Break in Mississippi and my schoolteacher mother has the week off, so she is keeping Courtney at her house for us. I asked her to bring Courtney and make the 2 hour trip Wednesday to come down here and spend 24 hours enjoying the Grand Hotel. I was not able to spend much time with the two of them, but getting to see them both was fun. The convention photographer snapped these photos of us for me.

What I Was Doing Ten Years Ago Today

Today is our tenth anniversary - we were married March 13, 1999. Excuse me while I'm mushy for a second: I love you, Toddly, and here's to many more years!
Wow - how young we look! So can you BELIEVE there was no digital photography back in 1999? (I'm sure it existed, but at least my wedding photographer didn't do it and I didn't know anyone else in Jackson who did.) I don't have any of these wedding photos on disk in good quality because they were taken using film. I happen to have these photos you see on this post because a few years ago, I laid the actual photos on my scanner and scanned them in. Since we have instant photos these days, it's just hard to imagine how we lived without a digital camera. Also, in 1999, I did not even own a mobile phone. Ten years ago, Todd and I threw some things in a 'wedding time capsule' and we looked at them the other day, and under "trends for 1999" I had literally written down "E-COMMERCE" as if it was some here-today, gone-tomorrow kind of thing.
Okay so let me ID everyone here. Todd and I are in the middle. In the green dresses: Julie, Beverly, Stacey, Kim, Laura and Diane. In the black tuxedoes, Breck, Ben, Tony, Dan, Bruce, my dad, Mike, Kevin, Scott, Sandon and Allen. Wow, that was before Todd even met Jake!

Obsessed with Clothes at 16 months?

Okay this can't be happening: she's obsessed with clothes at 16 months. Courtney wants to spend interminable minutes struggling with clothing...wearing pants on over her head, stepping into the necks of shirts and struggling to walk. This can keep her occupied for 20 or 30 minutes during which she is whining in frustration....then when she has accomplished dressed status, she stands up and says Yay! Here's pics of her putting on some extra pants tonight. Additionally, she wants to wear my clothes. I take off a shirt or pair of pants in my closet, and she puts them on over her head. Also she wants to 'help' with the laundry, putting on smelly clothes and parading around the house.

ABC Song

We thought this was cute - she ends the song with W, X, TUV!

Easter Pics

This morning we went to our neighbor's house - Lisa Patti Photography - and had some Easter photographs taken of Courtney with baby chicks and baby bunnies. Then we came home and I took a few of her in her cute dress. The temp was 80 degrees today and I wore shorts for the first time this year. Here's some cute ones of Courtney in a cute spring dress. I brought out last year's basket and eggs for her to play with.

Teething

We are teething this week and keeping Mommy up for several hours each night! Show off those pearly whites! These are the 6 that she already has and she is working on 4 more in the back.

First Haircut

We took a little off the back this morning! Courtney had her first haircut because it had been looking like Shag City. We're growing out the front bangs so alas, those will continue to hang in her eyes. But she behaved like a little lady at the barber shop!

Mini-Wheats Half Size

I am obsessed with this product - Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats Half Size in honey nut flavor. Click here for web site. And I am a mini-wheat hater from way back. For one thing I have never liked their ad campaigns - including the current one where a mini-wheat grows legs and arms and talks to kids. Also I have always thought they looked gross and I have never been tempted to try them.

So I'm changing my tune. Yum. These are the perfect size for a toddler to eat, now that she has a few strategically placed teeth. And I find myself stealing these out of her snack-trap! Mama Lyn found them at Wal-Mart - I have not seen these at the regular grocery store. These little wheats are really tiny - 1/2 inch or so - and tasty. The calories are about the same as my beloved Fiber One Caramel Delight and still have a respectable 6 grams of fiber per serving (compared to 9 grams for Fiber One Caramel Delight). By the way Fiber One has their own shredded wheat with 8 grams of fiber in that, but it's not TINY and CUTE and flavored with honey and nut.

She's a Dancing Machine...

watch her get down.

Aunt Margaret & Uncle Ralph

Today Aunt Margaret & Uncle Ralph were in town from Florida and came to see us and Courtney. I cooked a pot roast and we had a big Sunday dinner. Also, Kim and Charles came over from Monroe, La, and Mike came from Natchez.
Above, Mike, Courtney and Todd

Cupcake Adventure

This was the day care's Valentine Party.

Courtney, Cookie & Elmo

Courtney likes Cookie Monster and Elmo. We didn't start watching Sesame Street until seven days ago when I taped it and we watched an episode together, but she has had a stuffed Elmo, Elmo books, and an Elmo shirt, and at least one Sesame Street toy, so she is familiar with the characters.

CC and the Barstool

Courtney is fascinated by the barstools and is always dragging them all over the dining room and hunching down underneath them. The other day I threw a blanket over the chair seat and made a 'fort!' She was really proud of that.

Learning to Use the Spoon(s)

Here's a cute photo of Courtney learning to use the spoon. I believe this is yogurt she's eating.

Google Reader

In praise of Google Reader, I have to post about it. It's an app that you use with your google account, and it enables you to keep up with updated blogs and other web sites. If there's a new post on any of the blogs you're following, it shows them. Just an easy way to keep up with other blogs and web sites without having to visit each of them daily. Check it out - add http://heyguytheblog.blogspot.com to your Google Reader (www.google.com/reader)!

Courtney Wearing My Shoes

Recently Courtney has reveled in walking in my shoes or her father's shoes. Here's video of her putting the shoes in the right place and stepping in.

Bow Battle

Courtney has never had a haircut, and her bangs are hanging in her eyes. Every morning I pull back her hair with a bow and she pulls it right back out. So I found an old huge obnoxious bow I used to wear in the 90s and I put it in my hair one morning. Then I said to Courtney, 'Mommy wears a bow in her hair, and Courtney wears a bow in her hair.' It worked for a little while before she pulled it out again. So now I try this every morning, putting one in my hair. I'm hoping she will leave it in for longer periods of time each day. (Edited to add photograph of this monstrous bow from the 90s!)

Courtney & Reilly Cat

Courtney loves the live cats at the house as much as her stuffed cats (all named Meow). Here's Courtney interacting with the one live cat that doesn't run away - Reilly. Reilly is our 10-year old orange tabby and he's got a laid back philosophy about life. Babies don't seem to bother him as you'll see...