Mother's Day

This Friday, Pres and I went to visit Pete at work. We do that about once a month to surprise Pete and Pres loves to see Pete during the day. We always have to say hello to the bosses and this time was no exception. Pres has been sticking pretty close to me the past week and he wasn't too keen on being around all of these strangers cooing at him. He wanted out of Pete's arms and into mine. His sweet boss made the comment that I must be Pres' "comfort zone". His words struck a chord with me and I began to think about that. I am Pres' comfort zone-if he's sad, hurt, mad, or scared; he insists (loudly most times) to be in my arms. It also got me thinking about my "comfort zone". I would have to say that growing up, being with my mom was always the place where I felt safe (still do for that matter). So...for Mother's Day, I would like to thank all of the wonderful walking "comfort zones" that I have the pleasure of learning from:
Mom
Penny
Susan
Lynne
Aunt Angela
Lydia
Suzanne


Next year I'll be able to add Chrissy to that list! I hope you all had a wonderful day!






Pres and his "comfort zone" all dressed up for our Mother's Day dinner at Lynne's.

And they're off...almost

Tomorrow my girlie's and myself will become husband less for a few days. They are having a "guys weekend". Going to Vegas and gambling with the guys sounds very manly...like they are all dripping with machismo...uh-huuuuuh...not so much. Let me share a conversation that I had the pleasure of over hearing today. It went something like this:

Pete: "...no dude, you can only have a 3 oz bottle of something in a Ziploc bag. That's why I went out and bought the travel toothpaste, I'm really picky about that, I have to use MY kind..."

Ryan: "but what about my cologne?"

Pete: "cologne? What do you need Cologne for?" "you don't have to smell good for me."

Ryan: " no...I just like to wear cologne."

Pete: "OH, we can just go to some mall or something there and just spray some on."

Ryan: "dude...that's a really good idea."


Here is the really funny part. This was just a normal conversation between the two of them. Pete had no idea why I was laughing so hard!!!!! I guess you can domesticate a man a little too much!

All kidding aside: HAVE FUN GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The end of an era...

We are finally retiring Pres' swing. He went from vehemently hating it, to it being the only place he would sleep during his 5th month, to it being his video chair. He's been too big for it for awhile now, but we've been holding off switching it out because it means that we can't strap him in to watch his video anymore. This means no more Preston free morning showers, but it's worth it to see him sitting in his new Elmo chair. That's right...we broke down yesterday and bought him an Elmo chair. He was so cute at the store. He had to sit in it in the cart; so there was Pres sitting in the basket, in his Elmo chair, like he was king of the world! It was really cute! We tried out the Elmo chair this morning, and it went really well. He sat in it for his entire video and gave me time to clean the floors. I was quite impressed. He's not a baby anymore. He's becoming a toddler at lightening speed. Sad for mommy, but exciting for Pres.

10 Months

My baby boy is 10 months old! I can't believe how fast time is going by. Each and every week brings huge milestones. Pete and I find oursleves watching him achieve a new goal and are completely amazed! Last night I was finally getting around to putting his baby pictures in order on the computer. Looking back at those taken the first few weeks, it's hard to believe that is the same little boy. He still has the same perfect skin, big blue eyes and chubby cheeks; but in place of the blob, is an imerging toddler! !
He now has permanent scratches and bruises on his knees from crawling around outside and pulling the cats tails; his tongue can usually be seen sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he "la, la, la" (daddy has the Elmo song wrong and say "lalalala Elmo's world); he is talking up a storm and loves nothing more than to see a picture of a word he knows and pronounce the word over and over again. He says "moo" anytime he sees a cow and I know for awhile he will not say the word cow because it's much more fun to "moooooooooo" at the top of your lungs! He will sit in his chair and do the motions to "If Your Happy and You Know It". It is so sweet to watch him stomp his chubby dimpled, little feet; then pause and grab your feet to make them stomp.

Pres has found the bathroom in a whole new way and loves nothing more than to unroll a whole roll of toilet paper, rip it into pieces, and then throw them around the bathroom floor. If he has no access to to toilet paper (which is a lot now that we put it up), he will then settle for playing in the toilet. This is so gross to me, but I can't keep him out. He has learned to lift up the toilet lid. I've thought about putting a lock on the toilet, but if Pete does as well with that child lock as he does with the one blocking the kitchen trash, then I will have a lot of pee on my floor! Last but certainly not least, if the toilet paper and the toilet are all blocked, then he will just move on the the cottonelle wipes! He'll pop open the container and pull them out one by one, ripping them to pieces in the process. Needless to say, any quiet in my house means that I will soon have a HUGE mess to clean up!




















He is starting to get very good at feeding himself. Spaghetti is still his favorite, but he is enjoying mommy and daddy's french bread and brie! Talk about some expensive tastes!!!! He is finally sleep trained. I didn't think it would ever happen. He has just refused to go with it. The longest night we had, he cried for 4 straight hours!!!! Goodness. Stubborn to a fault that one is-I wonder where he gets it...

He is now more iterested in the slide than the swing and will go down over and over again. This is not a development that brings too much joy to Pete and I. We fight over who has to go down the slide with him. Yuck. It's dirty, too much static electricity, dirty, small, and did I mention dirty?!

He loves ice pops (that's right, we give him ice pops, another parenting no-no silly notion I had before having a little one). He sill sit and share one with us in the eveing. This week, he figured how to suck out all of the melted juice. He was so pleased with himself.

It's hot here and they are refreshing. As a HUGE bonus, he'll chew on the ice and it helps his gums. As far as I am concerned, these are a godsend!!!!!

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots, but I'll write more when I get the great pics from Dick of Pres playing with his new favorite toy-his train set!

Inspiration for faith and hope

I've been reading Audrey's story for months online. It has touched me and inspired me. It has also reminded me that our ultimate purpose here on earth is to glorify our Heavenly Father. It is not our will be done, it is His. This video sums up the story. I would encourage all of you to listen to it. You can also check out the blog itself at: www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com

Smith Family Story from Matthew Singleton on Vimeo.

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard

This weekend we had a wonderful visit with Pete's parents. We had perfect weather, good food, and a happy baby! They came in Friday night and we all enjoyed a spaghetti dinner. Pres loves spaghetti and Pete and I have found that it is a great company dinner. He will quietly sit and eat (play) with the noodles and we are able to socialize. Pres wasn't too sure who these silly people were, so he spent the rest of the evening checking them out.

Saturday was a nice relaxing day hanging out at the house. Dick and I left Susan, Pete, and Pres for some bonding time and headed to my favorite specialty store Petty's Meat Market. I love it there! Yummy gourmet food, a snobby sommelier, and free drink and food samples-there's nothing not to like! We picked out some great food and were able to try some good red wines. It is during our wine tasting that Dick and I encountered a funny situation. The sommelier was in the process of explaining the wine we were tasting. Dick was litening intently(or appeared to be), and I was just really enjoying the wine; I'm not too interested in the explanation, first of all it is hard to understand the man's thick French accent and secondly all I need to know is if I like the taste! During the explanation I noticed a older man bouncing up to us with a goofy grin on his face. He interrupts the sommalier in his explanation (big no-no for proud French men) and says, "I'd like some of the grapey wine." Hmmmmmmm...grapey wine. I was confused, I see Dick pause in his thoughts and the sommelier looks very confused so he replies, "ze grapey wine?" "Yes", the older man says, "the grapey tasting wine." "aaaaaaa ze... g-r-a-p-e-y wine???" the sommelier again replies with much confusion and a bit of disdain in his voice. It is at this point I have to turn around. I can't make eye contact with anyone or I am going to laugh so hard I just might snort! I missed the rest of the conversation, but it ended with the sommelier just giving up, taking out a cup, pouring what he had in it and handing it to the man. The man then takes a drink and says, "yes, this is the grapey wine." At this point, I did chuckle. I couldn't help myself. The man finally left and the look of the face of the sommelier was priceless. He was so relieved and a bit irritated!

Dick and I tasted a very good red wine and Dick treated us to some for our cook out. We finished up the rest of our shop uneventfully and headed home.

That night my parents and Pete's friend Joel came over to join in the festivities. We had london broil, mac salad, sauteed mushrooms, and corn on the cob! Yummy! We had a great time and it was so nice being a host to this group. Everyone chatted, took care of themselves and each spent time playing with Preston. (A big thanks to Joel for the stuffed bunny for Pres).

Sunday we had bagels and pastries for breakfast and said goodbye to the Blanchard duo. We had a wonderful time with them and can't wait until we see them again. Thank you both so much for making the drive to come and see us!

Birthday World

There is a place in Altamonte Spring here that is called Birthday World. It is a crazy, noisy place to hold your parties. Dyer's little friend at school had his birthday there, and Pres and I tagged along with he and Lynne to check it out. It is exactly what you would expect it would be...overpriced, a little smelly, lots of screaming children...a perfect place for the little ones.

Pres was a bit overwhelmed by the whole scene and I didn't know how he was going to do. It took him about 20 minutes to settle down, then he had a blast. They have an area for the little ones and he happily crawled around and let himself be jumped on by the biggest 1 year old I have ever seen!!!! Here are some pics from Lynne's phone (I forgot the camera)