Lions, Tigers, and Bears - Oh My!

Aunt Leslie and cousins Abby and Ashley came up from Lexington for a trip to the zoo with us on Monday. We had a great time seeing the animals, riding the train, and having a picnic lunch. I think Warner may have noticed the big animals, but I'm not sure he was overly impressed with the smaller ones. Most of the time he was more interested in chewing on the fence outside an exhibit rather than what was in the exhibit. Ha!
Here are the girls and Warner on the train. He enjoyed the ride around the zoo in this better than his stroller.
The dirt on the park bench was very interesting as well ...

A New Trick

Warner mastered this trick a few weeks ago. Take a look ...

Never Say Never

Well, we did it. We bought a minivan. Therefore I owe my mother $100 and everyone else an explanation.

Kevin's truck has served us well, but with over 205,000 miles on the odometer, it was time to get rid of it. Seeing as we drive our cars into the ground, we knew the truck replacement would be it for many years. Our hope is that God will bless us with more children, and if that is the case, the room a minivan provides will be needed. But I must say, even with one child, the extra space is nice.

Here's one final picture of Kevin with his truck:
I've learned my lesson. Never say never.

Girls (plus Warner) Trip

We took a girls trip to Chicago earlier this week. The original destination was Lake Cumberland, but since my parents are moving to Dallas, we thought a final trip to the windy city was in order.
"The Girls" included Grandma Warner, Aunt Debbie, MaNell, Emme, Aunt Kathy, Katie, Mom, and me. We spent Monday in Geneva - a lovely town west of the city with the cutest shops and restaurants around. Then Tuesday we went downtown.
We walked to the train station from my parents' house (about a 15 minute walk), then rode the train downtown. It was the neatest experience! It reminded me of being in Europe and that I love public transportation. Ha! Here we are at Ogilvie Station. Warner had a blast too!
We then proceeded to walk walk felt like 10 miles downtown. It probably wasn't that much, and I suppose we walked off our lunch at Cheesecake Factory and dessert of Garrett's popcorn, so it was worth it. Our first stop was Millennium Park.
Here is "the bean". Warner loved this, as he could see his reflection in it.
Here's our "group picture" at the bean. Notice Emme's face. I love it.
The rest of our trip was spent at my parents' house. Warner loved watching Emme, and she just cooed over him. She still thinks he's her baby brother. Mom, Warner, and I left Wednesday afternoon for Cincinnati, and have been enjoying Grammie's company at our house since. She leaves today for the lake, and then for Texas ...

I scream, you scream ...

... we all scream for ice cream!  Or, sorbet.  Close enough.  Kevin and I are weird, over-protective parents who don't want our child exposed to an abundance of sugar.  So, we haven't given Warner ice cream yet, but we have given him sorbet.  I'm sure sorbet has a ton of sugar, but it feels like it's better than ice cream.  In any event, Warner loves the stuff.  He's not going to know what hit him when he gets the REAL stuff.  Here's Warner walking up to the window at Bruster's.  Two of his favorite things: walking (with help) and food.

Thanks everyone!

Warner has been happy the recipient of hand-me-down toys lately. His friend Ethan let him borrow a few of the toys that he has outgrown, including the one pictured below.We were in Lexington this past Saturday for the Platt family reunion, and Leslie gave us two items that Abby and Ashley have outgrown - an outdoor house:...and a swing:I'm really excited about the swing because I was about to buy one last week. Instead, I spent $2 at the Home Depot on hardware to attach the donated swing to the bottom of our deck. I must admit I'm pretty proud of myself - I attached it this morning while Warner napped. I even used the electric drill. Watch out - all of my time spent watching HGTV has finally paid off.

Couldn't Help Myself

I'm so excited that Warner's hair is long enough to spike in the bathtub.
Kevin says Warner can be a fan of whichever baseball team he wants. I wonder which team he's hoping Warner will choose?

Children's Museum

We made our first visit to the Cincinnati Children's Museum earlier this week. My friends Kelly and Candace, along with their sons Ethan and Will, invited Warner and me on their trip. I wasn't sure if it would be age-appropriate for Warner, but there actually were a few areas specifically for kids who don't walk yet. Warner loved all of the new things to see and touch, and especially enjoyed watching all of the other children. I'm already planning on an annual membership for us for Warner's birthday.

Fourth of July

This post is long overdue. In my defense, we returned late Sunday after being at the lake for 9 days. It's taken a little while to get back into the swing of things!

For my family, the Fourth of July and Lake Cumberland (or any TVA lake) go hand in hand. Kudos to those who know what TVA stands for. :) Woodson Bend Resort is the icing on the cake for summer vacations. It feels like home - probably because my parents have moved so much in the past 10 years. Whatever the reason, it might be my favorite place on earth.

We split our time between Kevin's parents house and my parents condo, which was nice. At the condo there were plenty of visitors - my aunt Kathy and cousins Katie and Timothy visited for a few days. Then my dad joined us, followed by Justin, my cousin Josh, his wife Lisa, and their daughter Sarah. Josh has been celebrating the Fourth with us for probably 15 years, so everything felt "right" except of course Meredith not being there. The mood wasn't quite as festive this year, but we did still enjoy our time together. The week was full of waterskiing, golf, eating, laughing, and napping (yay for Grandparents!).We enjoyed dinner at the Platt's on my dad's birthday. This is the best picture I could get of all of the grandparents with Warner.We took Leslie, Abby, Ashley, and Linda on the boat for a few hours. It was Abby and Ashley's first time on the lake. They weren't too sure about doing anything behind the boat, but they enjoyed the swimming!It's an annual tradition to ride the boat from Woodson Bend to Lee's Ford Marina (about a 45 minute boat ride) for dinner. The food at Lee's Ford is mediocre at best. The ride there is much more fun than the actual dinner.Warner fell asleep in the bow of the boat and I made a makeshift tent to block the sun. We wore him out.

Suggestions, please

Warner's sleeping schedule is wearing me out. A typical day looks like this: wake up at 5:30am (on the nose. The kid has a serious internal alarm clock). Morning nap around 8am, generally 1 1/2 hours. Afternoon nap around 1pm, but generally this is short - 30 minutes to an hour. Bedtime is around 7-7:30, which I can't seem to make later because Warner is absolutely exhausted by this point - can't blame him, since he gets up at 5:30am.

I suppose my only problem with this schedule is the 5:30am wakeup. That's really early, and coffee can only do so much for me. So, what's a mom to do? I've tried putting him to bed later, but as I said, that gets ugly since he's so tired and cranky past 7:30. And, when we've put him to bed at 8pm or later, he STILL gets up at 5:30. Should I feed and change his diaper and 5:30 and try to put him back to sleep? I tried that this morning but Kevin gets up at 6 for work now so it's noisy and Warner probably only slept 30 more minutes or so.

Maybe I should be happy with his sleeping. Until about a month ago he was still getting up 2-3 times a night. So, a stretch from 7:30 to 5:30 is really good, considering how far we've come. Or, maybe I just need more coffee.

Funny Movies

I finally downloaded more videos to our computer and thought I'd share some clips. The first one is a little old, but so funny. Warner thinks it's hilarious when we tell him his feet stink. Please excuse our jammies. :)
The next one is from our trip to Myrtle Beach, where Warner is french-kissing the mirror.

And this is our little man in the pool.

Stand in the place where you live ...

I'm not sure there's anything that gives Warner more joy at this point in his life than standing up. He can't get to a standing position on his own yet, but once he's there he can balance pretty well as long as there's something to lean on. His exersaucer has become way too boring for him unless of course he's exploring it from the outside.And here's a VERY fun activity: playing the piano while standing without Mom's help.What a big boy.

Summer Fun

After Tuesday's uplifting post I'm trying for happy thoughts today. We've had some great summer days! Wednesday morning we walked to our neighborhood pool to meet my friend Kelly and her son Ethan. Warner enjoyed the water and Ethan was a great playmate. He has a lot to teach Warner, since he's a big kid at two and a half. I unfortunately did not get a picture of the boys together - I'll have to next time.

We also went back to the park since it has been so beautiful outside. This was only our second trip to the park, and the first time Warner wasn't that impressed. This time was much better! He started laughing the minute I pushed him in the swing. He even got the hiccups from giggling so much. It was too cute. I think this picture captures the sheer joy he was experiencing.I was also able to get a video of Warner crawling. Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary, Mere

Today would have been Meredith and Justin's two year wedding anniversary. It's been a horrible day for me. I can only imagine how Justin is doing.

It's so gorgeous outside today. The sky is the deepest blue, there is a soft breeze, and it's the perfect temperature. Just like June 17, 2006. Mere and Justin's wedding was the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to (including my own, which says a lot because I'm a bit partial to my own).

I got out Meredith's wedding video today during Warner's morning nap. Meredith made sure everyone she knew had a copy. I could only sit through about five minutes and the whole time I said (out loud) "So beautiful. So beautiful. God, why did you take her?". Here's a suggestion to those who have a copy of the video: don't watch it today. Trust me on this one.

I miss my sister so much my stomach hurts. I know she's with Jesus and happy and whole and healthy. But that doesn't make my loss feel any less severe. If you have a sister, please tell her you love her today.

On the Move

It seems as though Warner will be virtually the same for weeks and then one day he's suddenly hit a milestone, looks so much different, or just seems older to me. That's been happening a lot lately.

He has figured out how to move around. I'm not sure if it qualifies as crawling yet, as he rarely moves around on his hands and knees - it's more of an army crawl or "creeping", but he can move - and fast! He can't pull himself up yet, but he enjoys standing up and holding on to objects for balance while he explores them (the coffee table, sofa, or his exer-saucer from the outside). I've installed some cushion-y bumper-type things around the brick on our hearth as well as outlet covers throughout the house. I'm going to add the door and cabinet locks soon, and I'm sure gates for the stairs will be next.

Warner has also become quite the eater. The book his pediatrician gave us ("Your Child's First Year") has a suggested diet/meal plan for 8-12 month olds that I'm using now (I'm such a book person, I know, I need to just trust my instincts but it's so hard for me). So, he's sort of feeding himself rice cakes and diced fruit and veggies, until he gets tired and then I resort to spoon-feeding again. We've also given him yogurt (loves it) and cottage cheese (not so sure yet). I haven't tried meat yet but probably will soon. He's also taking juice and/or water from a sippy cup (not the spill-proof kind yet, but we'll get there) which is a huge deal since he was a nursing-only kid until very recently.He's also getting more teeth. The top two teeth are peeking through the gums and from the looks of them I'm afraid they're going to be big like his mom's! I'm so thankful for each day I have with Warner and can't believe how quickly my little boy is growing up.

Kevin got a new position at Fidelity so he's now working a "normal" schedule. Praise God! Last night we had dinner together (woah baby, what a treat) and Kevin and Warner got to play a bit before bath and bedtime. We thought we had the best idea when we kept Warner up until 8pm - he's been sleeping from 7/7:30pm until about 5am each night. So we thought we'd keep him up an hour later, in hopes that he'd make it to 6am. No such luck - he was up this morning at 5am ready to go! I think we'll try again tonight, but if he's still up at 5am I'm going back to the 7pm bedtime. Keeping him up until 8pm is brutal, he gets so tired and cranky.

I'm trying to get some good video footage of Warner crawling, so I'll post that soon.