Peekaboo!

Courtney loves peekaboo and has just figured out that she can 'hide,' too! Todd got it on tape this morning. For more Courtney videos, go to youtube and search for user 'kris10phil.'

Hurricane Gustav Preparations

Hurricane Gustav (now category 3) is bearing down on the Gulf Coast and is expected to make landfall in Louisiana on Monday. Our home in Jackson has become a haven for evacuees in our families. This morning (pictured) we loaded up two cars full of things in Hattiesburg at my mother's house and brought them all to Jackson. My mother, although she lives 80 miles from the Gulf Coast, lived through a really bad situation during Katrina and had no wish to do that again. So we left her house this morning (where we had been staying for the Southern Miss game) and we all came to Jackson. Also, Todd's mother and her husband and their friend are under mandatory evacuation of the New Orleans Westbank, so they are on their way to our house as well. That brings the grand total of our household guests (so far) to 4 adult, 2 feline. So we have been shopping and stocked up on things, plus pulled out inflatable beds and made ready 3 guest bedrooms here at the house. It's going to be a strange Labor Day!

Southern Miss First Game

We all went to the Southern Miss campus to the first football game today. Courtney only went to the Eagle Walk before the game, and but Todd and I went to the game itself. It was hot and miserable and 95 degrees with high humidity. However, the team did well and won 51 to 14.



















The Eagle Walk takes place underneath the stadium - behind us - and it involves the band and players walking to the field house.














View from my seat of the newly-completed end zone bleacher seats in front of new end zone boxed seats.
















Our view of the stadium from our seats on the 20 yard line. The center of this side of the stadium houses the new air conditioned 'club level' seats. It was so humid today that I bet those tickets were in high demand.

Car Hissy Fit

Some people might accuse me of only putting the baby's happy moments on this blog. Well here you go. If anyone wants to listen to the Curtain Climber crying for a few minutes, have at it. Living through it once was enough for me, so I don't care to watch this video again! This was a 24 minute crying hissy fit between Jackson and Hattiesburg tonight. Courtney does not particularly like to be confined, bored or tired, and in this video, she was all three. The triple whammy came down on Todd, me and Rufus.... So get ready. And before you nominate me for parent of the year, please note that we had done all we could do, already, and nothing had worked. And for more (mostly pleasant) Courtney videos, search on youtube for user 'kris10phil.'

The Piano Prodigy

Our little piano prodigy - ha! She got over the teething thing quickly today. She was in a great mood all day today - so pain must be over for the most part.

The video below is of her improving walking skills.......

NOTE FOR COURTNEY FANS: To view all of my Courtney videos on YouTube (including many that I do not post to this blog), go to YouTube and search for user kris10phil - that's kris - the number 10 - phil.

It's a Tooth!

Today, Courtney's first tooth broke through the gum. Our normally bubbly baby was crying, moody and clingy, and refused a bottle, so I knew something was up. I peeked into her mouth and she had a lower front tooth coming in. At long last - aged 9 months 2 weeks - it's a tooth!

Childproofing

Courtney is working hard to figure out how to get the cabinet doors open despite the childproof lock. Check out the tongue position and concentration!

Who does she look like? 9-month edition

This is always fun (for me) to compare our baby photos. I happen to have a baby photo of my maternal grandmother on this computer so I have put the 4 photos up for comparison. Top left, Todd, top right, Courtney, bottom left, me, bottom right, Lucille.

Cat Food - Yum!

Today Courtney discovered a new delicacy - Meow Mix. I can't believe we don't have a photo of it, but we were too caught up in it to take pictures. I was outside washing the car while Todd and she were playing inside. I came inside for a moment and he was holding her, and she looked like she'd ben smearing dirt on her face. He explained that he had found her in the laundry room eating from the cats' bowl on the floor. She doesn't have a single tooth, so who knows if she was able to swallow any, but she stored quite a bit - hamster-style - in her cheeks, and was very upset when we stuck our fingers in there to retreive the bits. I think Daddy learned his lesson about letting the baby out of his sight! Also, we have now put the cat food up on the washing machine out of baby's reach.

Belhaven Street Fair

The Belhaven neighborhood street fair was today and the three of us went with Mama Lyn and Paco. We will definitely go back in future years because there were a lot of activities for children. As it was, CC was impressed just by the crowd. She rode on my shoulders and just babbled at everyone, turning and twisting to watch the dogs and people go by. We stopped at the curb of someone's yard and took a break and those are the only photos we got.

Summer Reads

The two books I've finished recently are 'In the Woods' by Tana French and 'Break No Bones' by Kathy Reichs. Luckily Courtney sleeps from 7 pm to 7 am so I have some time to read. Tana French is a new Irish author and In the Woods is her debut - a detective novel/mystery.










I've read a lot of Reichs and her books are what the TV show 'Bones' is based upon.

Courtney Walked Today!

She loves those stuffed animals and wanted to walk to them.....

She Sorta Wants to Walk

Months from now we will look back and say WHY were were encouraging her to walk?! But here it is, some quick video of a few tentative steps. The key is motivation. We held out her favorite book for her to see, to get her to move toward the book. Video from today.

Resourceful Dad

I have to brag on Todd for what he did today. For some reason, there was a power outage in our neighborhood last night, and this morning, the power still was not back on. I went to work today, but for Todd, the story was different, because today the day care was closed for staff development, and he had planned to 'stay home' with Courtney. Staying home in an un-air-conditioned house wasn't very appealing, of course, and I was worried about what he would do, but he insisted they'd be fine and he'd figure something out. I shouldn't have worried. He took her to breakfast at Broad Street Bakery, to work out at the Courthouse gym (she stayed in the nursery), then they came home and had some lunch in the hot house. Later, they visited the local library branch and read some kids' books, and visited the Parham Bridges playground where she had her first ride in a baby swing and absolutely loved it. He said she belly laughed and laughed while on the swing. When I got home from work at 5, the power came on and we were able to resume a normal routine. Todd never even complained today! If I had been in his situation, I would have been freaking out about what to do, not to mention whining non-stop about not having any power. Also, I probably would have gone shopping and spent $$ and he did not. :-)

Courtney's Taking Steps

Well we've tried to encourage her to walk for us this week because the day care was closed for staff training and we have had Courtney's full attention all day every day since Wednesday night. She did take a step or two Friday at the doctor's office but she was kind of marching in place and I can't get her to replicate the action again. So since I've the only one who has seen those marching steps, I can't really claim she is walking. But it's coming any day. But this morning marked a milestone at our house. She climbed the steps leading from our master suite to the main floor. These are the only two steps in our entire house, and we were confident she couldn't climb them. We were wrong - this morning Todd came up the steps to get something, and turned right back around and she was up the steps too! Walking; climbing steps; she is about to begin running us ragged!

Saints Training Camp

Courtney and I went today to New Orleans Saints Training Camp at Millsaps College in Jackson. Courtney's day care was closed today and I took a vacation day from work to stay with her. We watched an afternoon practice on a day that had the unusually low temperature of 85, plus 100% humidity. (But it could have been 101!) I wasn't able to watch much practice, because I was tending to her, but I got a couple of shots of the offense. Courtney was oblivious to the players on the field, but looked cute in her Saints outfit and flirted with lots of folks.

Portrait Innovations

I was off work today, and I had Courtney's 9 month photos made today at Portrait Innovations, which recently opened in Ridgeland. This place makes it easy to get cute shots of your kids with very little trouble and not a lot out of your pocket. It was really FUN, too, so I'd recommend it to anyone with children. You leave that day with your photo prints in-hand. They also give you a CD of your photo shoot, so here's one shot from the shoot.