Snoozes and Sneezes

In honor of the little guy's birthday tomorrow, I thought I would give you a few updates about him. In the last few weeks, Daniel has a tendency to sleep in until 10 or 10:30 a.m. once a week. He sometimes stays up late at night talking to himself (last night he was still awake when we went to bed) and he has a hard time waking up in the morning. Well, we prayed for a Dave child and I think we got him. Or at least the sleeping part of him. This sleeping in usually messes up his afternoon nap, so he might sleep in more often if I didn't wake him up. This morning I have to wake him up so we can go take his picture in a park. We tried to practice last night but only can him to look at the camera about 50% of the time. He likes to say "Cheese" though.

Yesterday I went out to the garden during naptime and picked basil and tomatoes. This always makes me sneeze and pregnancy has my nose perpetually stopped up anyway. I was cooking dinner and I started sneezing when I washed and cut the basil. All of the sudden I heard Daniel's little voice, "Bless you" and then he giggled. It was the sweetest thing. We practiced sneezing and "bless yous" for a while after that. It cracks me up when he picks up on something that we haven't intentionally taught him to do.

We hope tomorrow will be a fun birthday for him. We have lots of surprises for him and he has no idea he is having an Elmo family birthday party on Saturday. I'm sure he will not want to sleep in and miss it.

The first day of school! 

At the State Fair 

Playing with Daddy 

At the Pool... 

We were out of town last week in Indianapolis. Daniel and I took a little road trip and Dave joined us later in the week. Our week included a trip to the Indiana State Fair, Vera Bradley, and a Women of Faith Conference (just me). Daniel enjoyed the time with his cousins (although he was a bit mesmerized by them). We made it home safely and had a busy day yesterday. I had already planned a small dinner party last night with some friends with a guest speaker, and I didn't want to rearrange it again. Everything went well and the rest of the week should be less busy. Next on the agenda is getting ready for the big #2 birthday next week!

Daniel is talking more in sentences. His favorite sentence is "where is ____?" Momma, Dadda, PaPa, Milk, etc. He also is counting to 10 and singing a lot of his ABCs. His problem area is colors. He thinks everything is Red. I wonder when you can tell if he will be color blind. No one in our family is, but I think it skips generations. I guess that will rule out a career in the fashion industry or interior design. Oh well!

You're So Nashville If...

I can't believe I missed this annual issue of the Nashville Scene, but you probably did too. Here are some of the better "You're So Nashville If...."

Your marathon was slower this year because you circled Musica 10 times. —Pat Johnson

You buy sushi from Publix. —Victoria Pittman

If you bought and sold a downtown condo before they even broke ground. —Todd Shelton

You’re salivating at the chance to ascend the food chain from Wild Oats to Whole Foods. —Wando Weaver

Perry March conspired to kill you. —Zach Bennett

You’re the only one who hasn’t run into Nicole Kidman in Green Hills. —Ilissa Gold

You never thought Vanderbilt would win more football games than the Titans. —Mike Williams

Your police department has a used Taser sale. —Mike Williams

You think changing the name of Antioch will make it a better place to live. —Mike Williams

Your dad helps you dispose of the body. —Mike Williams

Your real estate agent is also your favorite country singer. —John Danley

You work for Dave Ramsey and you have an adjustable rate mortgage. —Nancy Oakes

You cannot pronounce the name of the new symphony center. —Wando Weaver

You think Neil and Heather are having problems because they aren’t doing the morning news anymore. —Bret Moran

You think two Wal-Mart Supercenters are exactly what Nolensville Road needs. —Lola and Suzanne Austin

Al Gore is your friend on MySpace. —John Danley

You taped Perry March’s trial on NewsChannel 5 plus. —Michele Totty

You oppose gay marriage because it undermines the institution but wish Travis and Sarah had tied the knot. —Matt Burnstein

You tell your children that their great-grandkids will the see the construction work on Briley Parkway and I-40 finished. —Mike Williams

Here's the rest....

Diamond earrings galore!

We've had a big home improvement weekend around here, working on Daniel's room. It's almost done and last night he actually wanted to go "night night" there. Yesterday, after having swept and steam cleaned the carpet, I still managed to find a diamond earring in the carpet my sister in law lost over two years ago when she visited. It was a small miracle!

Then today we got home from church and Daniel ran up the stairs to play. He came right back down with something in his hand. It was a cubic zirconium heart shaped diamond earring my mom gave me in college and I just love even though they are fake. I went upstairs to make sure he didn't swipe anything else and sure enough, one of my real diamond earrings was missing. I was so upset because I had begged for them for over a year and received them last Mother's Day. After about 10 minutes of searching, Dave managed to find it in the carpet downstairs. Close call. All jewelry is now locked up and out of growing son's reach.

In other news, I made Dave a deal that if I could get rid of our 27" tv (we recently inherited a newer 36" model), he could get an Xbox. What have I done?

Family picture with Daniel's scrunched up nose. 

Picture with cousin Beth in Atlanta at IKEA 

Daniel says IKEA assembly is easy.... 

Swimming lesson picture (ignore my cheesy smile) 

Learning to blow bubbles 

The Super Van held Hostage- Day 3

Once again, we have turned the Super Van over to the dealership for "warranty repairs". It seems important to be able to access your glove compartment (door broke), and it might be handy to pop out a seat now and then (stuck on the track). I've heard the "parts ordered" story twice now, and I'm thinking it will at least be the end of the week.

At least I got a decent rental this time. So far I like my Ford Freestyle SUV type vehicle and I'm trying to convince Dave to put it on his short list for his next car (so far he has the Infiniti G35 coupe, Lotus and a Honda Accord- just don't ask).

Three more swim classes!