Post Christmas Update

Wow, we have been busy. Today is the first day I have been home with nothing to do in quite some time. We had a great Christmas holiday and saw tons of family. Just like the movie says we celebrated Four Christmas' starting Christmas eve and ending on Friday night! Beckett was a trooper and did great the whole time.
Guess what.....Momma got a new camera for Christmas!!! I got a Canon Rebel and I am super excited about it. I took most of our pics with it and i haven't gotten everything set up to download anything yet, so once i get that done i will share some santa shots. Beckett got lots of cute stuff and so far his favorites are his four wheeler and boots from Big E and LeLe and his shopping cart from Santa!
Derek and Beckett have been fighting colds for a couple of weeks now. I am so tired of kleenex i could scream. If beckett doesn't show major improvement in the next couple of days we might be ringing in the new year with a trip to the doctor! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

15 Month Check-up

Today we went for a check up at the doctor. Beckett is doing great and she doesn't seem too concerned about his eating habits. She said it is good that he is eating fruit and drinking his milk. I guess that equals it out or something. He cried for all the typical things to cry about. Such as weight, height, ears, throat, and shots. Other than that it went well. He even showed Dr. R some of his tricks. The doctor did a double take when she saw his height! She thinks he is taller than her 2 year old. She also said she didn't need to wait until his 2 year appt. to tell us he will be tall. He might look just like me but he is built just like derek...crooked pinkies and all :)

Just so i will remember here are some of his favs. Chicken Nuggets! fruit, yogurt melts, mandarin oranges, balls, hats, elmo, barney, the backyardigans, showing you where is nose, belly buttom, eyes, and head are. He has a few words-uh-oh, byebye, ball, dog, mama, dada, iiii-ce...he says is like a total redneck. He loves opening and closing doors and drawers. He cries for hours at MMO-he never stops! This also goes for church nursery. He is all about his momma these days, but is showing a lot more attachment to derek as well. He is very active and is acting like a little boy through and through even though he gets called a girl at least twice a day! He really is the sweetest little boy ever and we are all so thankful to have him in our lives.

Stats at 15 months:

Weight: 25lb 8oz. (60th percentile)

Height: 34 1/2 inches!!!! (off the percentile charts!!) this is crazy to me seeing as though

i am 5'1"

Head: 48cm

Story of a Green Bean

I just wanted to prove to some of you out there that i do attempt to get my child to eat veggies. This is just a sample of the looks we get. He won't even taste them. He sees them and locks his lips and starts shaking his head no! His new thing is he will "move" the veggies to the section of his tray away from the rest of the food. NOT COOL!!!

Christmas Pic Attempts....

Almost a keeper!
At this point i don't care if he is wearing a tee shirt....i just need SOMETHING to work with!

The only smiling pic we have so far!! Cheesy grin!!

Playing in Dada's hat....he is obsessed with hats these days....

We have been attempting to get a Christmas card pic for weeks now with no luck. He is just TOO busy. I am hoping that tomorrow night in Canton we might can get a good one. If any amatuer photographer out there would like some practice let me know. At this point i will pay big bucks for a good picture! If the cards didn't say 2008 i might just scrap the whole thing this year and save them for next year:) Here are a few of the rejects.....

Prayers for John Matthew!

Ok, this will be a short post, but I wanted to ask everyone to keep this sweet little boy and his family in your prayers. John Matthew is currently in Boston awaiting surgery for his medical issues. I am not sure the details, but you can go to their website to find out. I met JM and his family bc his mom, Mandy did Beckett's pics for me a while back. She and i just kinda clicked and i have been keeping in touch with them ever since. I had the privledge of bringing them a meal last week and buying one of the cookbooks they are selling....FYI they are super nice! If you need a last minute Christmas gift this would fit the bill and go to a GREAT cause!!
Anyways, Please say a prayer for this sweet boy, his family, and a speedy recovery so they can get back home!!!
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnmatthewdavis

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

Ok, so i thought my next post would include pics from our trip to the beach, but we didn't quite make it down there. We were supposed to leave after lunch on thursday, but Beckett woke up from his nap running a fever so we made a quick decision to stay home. I was afraid it might be the stomach virus and i didn't want to find that out in the car half way out of town. Needless to say he woke up friday morning fever free and back to his normal self....weird.....
Derek went hunting and left me and Beckett to fend for ourselves yesterday and today. We are so bored! We did a bit of shopping yesterday and church today, but for the most part we have just been home playing. He has developed an attachment to Derek's real football so for the past couple of days it has been going everywhere with us-it even went to church today! When i tell him we are going byebye he goes and gets his ball and takes it to the car. I tried so hard to get him to attach to a blankie or lovely, and of course he pics a football that i can't even pick up with one hand! He is starting MMO at a local church this week, so pray that goes well. He doesn't have the best track record when it comes to being away from me.
Also, I have been looking for a new TREE TOPPER. Right now we have a big red bow that has seen better days and derek hates it so i am looking for something new-a star i think. I know you can get one on the internet, but i would really like to see it first. Has anyone seen any pretty ones out in the stores???? If you have leave me a comment and tell me where.
Hope eveyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I will post some new pics soon!

God Bless Whirlpool!

Anyone who knows me well knows that for the past 2+ years i have been fighting a never ending battle with my dishwasher. Our history goes way back......About 2 years ago our dishwasher broke-stopped draining to be exact. Well, derek and i spent about 3 weekends shopping around for a new one. We finally bought one and got it home where it sat in the garage waiting for derek to install it. So one night i had a Christmas party to go to and derek and his dad were going to put in the new washer while i was gone-perfect! Well i return to the house that night and see my hubby and FIL laying in my kitchen floor finishing up RE-INSTALLING the OLD one!!! WHAT-you must be kidding me....i was LIVID. I had spent my past 3 weekends shopping for the new one and now you tell me you "fixed" the old one! Please tell me you are kidding. I think i remember dragging Derek into the closet away from his parents to throw a hissy fit. Needless to say Derek won this battle and we returned my lovely new dishwasher to the store. For the next 2 years i used a mediocre dishwasher that barely cleaned, much less sanitized my dishes....

Now fastforward to a few weeks ago.....well the original dishwasher finally got bad enough for derek to listen to my pleas. I mean you couldn't roll the baskets in and out, not to mention the wheels were falling off. Oh, and one more thing-the soap door has never closed! So all the soap just runs down the door-hence the reason it was not washing properly. SOOOO....we finally got a new dishwasher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't you just hear the Angels!!!! I could...that's for sure.....

I love my new dishwasher. It has digital buttons and everything. This is a HUGE plus in my book because now Beckett can't turn it on whenever he feels like it.....oh, and it even has the silverware basket in the door--we are BIGTIME now people:) And what i think is even better-it set us back less than $400 thanks to my mad bargaining skills at Sears:) So, without further adieu...i give you my new dishwasher!!!

MSU Weekend

Trust me he was not as miserable as he looks...disappointed about the game-yes, but miserable no.....

A few weekends ago Derek and I spent a weekend in oxford and starkville. Well over the course of the whole weekend i only took one picture and of course Derek had to strike one of his poses and make it not cute! He thinks it is so funny when he purposely poses weird in our pictures. You should see the pictures from us leaving our wedding reception-i am still mad about it to this day......you know the one where everyone is throwing the petals, well derek closed his eyes and smiled like a complete goofball the whole way down, so none of them are frame worthy:)

Mealtime...or lack thereof!

As some of you might know Beckett doesn't eat anything but chicken nuggets, fruit, grill cheese and yogurt. And i say this in all seriousness. It is a problem we know, but we just aren't sure what to do about it. He won't even try anything new. If you manage to sneak something in his mouth he immediately spits it right back out at you. I know that kids don't require much food to function, but i just worry bc he won't eat any veggies. So one night i made him yet another Gerber meal to try and this time i decided to put it in a bowl and give him a fork. Bad idea-he didn't eat one bit and the pictures should speak for themselves.......

Fun in the park!

He didn't think the swings were near as cool as i did.

Ok, i am totally playing catch up here. And at some point i am going to get the CD with his bday pics on it and show yall those too!

A few weeks ago we took Beckett to the park. The weather was perfect and he loved the slide! He also loved trying to chase the ducks into the water:) I learned on this park trip that I won't be taking him without derek to help me wrangle him. He is getting SO hard to photograph these days bc he moves constantly.

The elusive brown onesie!

Ok, does anyone know where i can find long sleeve brown onesies-the turtleneck kind?? i have been looking EVERYWHERE for one. We have a couple of winter outfits that we need one to wear with them. I am totally lost. I can't find one on the internet either. Any suggestions????

I am off to the Big Easy for a bachlorette party for my friend Melinda this weekend. We are staying at the Ritz!!! I can't wait-should be interesting:) But what is going to be even more interesting is that Derek is on baby duty all weekend!!! Pics when i get back......

Update: Thanks to Claire Green, Beckett now has his brown onesie. Claire saw one at Toys R Us of all places and notified my SIL who is her sweet baby girls nurse at UMC and sunday afternoon we made a trip a picked one up! So thanks claire and yippee for big girl beds!!!
Also, i am obviously back from the Bachlorette weekend in N.O. but i am also sick-AGAIN! this time with a bad cold....so once i am back to normal i will post some new pics.

Blog Award

Ok, so my friend Emily tagged me awhile back with this nifty little award and i think that means i am supposed to list 6 interesting facts about myself.....lets see what i can come up with shall we!

1. I am an only child. I do however have 3 step brothers, 1 step sister, and 1 half brother....confused yet??? My mom and dad divorced when i was young and have both since remarried. My stepdad had 3 kids from his first marriage-so this gives me 2 step brothers and 1 step sister. My stepmom had one son from her first marriage and then she and my dad had a son together-giving me 1 more step brother and a half brother (who is 10 years younger than me). I consider James and Carson as just my brothers, so if you hear me mention "my brother did so and so" i am talking about one of them 9 times out of 10. James also has one of Koda's recent puppies-his name is Max and he is supposedly HUGE! So i am sure you are wondering why i consider myself an only child-the reason is....i am my mom's only child and I never grew up with any kids in the house except for me:)

2. While we are on the subject of my childhood i will throw this one out too.....When i was in 2nd grade my mom got me a cat, her name is Abby. If you do the math you will figure out that at Abby's bday in April she will be 20 years old!!!!! CRAZZZZY!! If she makes it to 20 we are all going to celebrate with dinner at a nice resturant in her honor:) I must add that Abby is the meanest cat on the face of the planet...my stepdad calls her satan. My friend Harper will vouch for her meaness. But don't worry mom...i will be sad when she dies. My mom blames me for Abby's behavior. She says i terrorized her when she was just a kitten. oh, and Kimberly Cameron-if you are reading this...we got Abby from your across the street neighbors 20 years ago following one of our playdates:)

3. Me and Derek have the same middle name...Leigh/Lee. Hence the reason for Beckett Lee. I guess our next child will just be the odd one out:) Also strange, if i was a boy my name was going to be Derek-crazy huh??

4. If you ask me what my hobbies are i usually say reading, antiques, and oil paintings. I love looking for good deals on antiques and i am eyeing a certain artist for my next painting purchase-we shall see though. Both of those are kinda expensive hobbies, and if you asked derek he would say so are my books! He has been begging me to get a library card for years now, but i just can't-it is not the same. I could sit in Barnes and Noble for HOURS just reading book covers and narrowing down my 3 choices. I really like going late a night when there is no one there and i can just sit right down in the aisle. I read really fast and have tons of books, so if you are ever wondering about a good book to read just let me know. My go-to writer is Jodie Picoult-so far i have loved all of her books.

5. Two of my biggest pet peeves are toothpaste spit and ironing. Let me explain. I HATE watching other people brush their teeth especially those of you who let the toothpaste spit run down your chin! And heaven forbid you try to talk to me while brushing-no thanks, i will just wait. And ironing needs no explaination. I never did any of my ironing growing up. My Luella ironed EVERYTHING for me. From socks and tshirts to jeans, so i never really learned how and i am terrible at it, so if derek wants it ironed he does it. Not to sound like the bad wife or anything i will add i have done it a handful of times but not many. Derek-if you are reading the solution to the problem is the dry cleaners...everyone else goes there-why can't we???

6. I am digging here, so i don't know how interesting this is.....but when i was little i used to love to rollerskate. I remember going to the skating rink and they would play Wind Beneath My Wings and i would try so hard to skate my best to that song because i thought it was the greatest song EVER. And if i fell i would get so upset that i would go to the DJ booth and ask them to play it again so i could start over! Ok, so now everyone officially has something to make fun of me for:)

6a. some of you are probably wondering how i remember something so strange, but one last interesting fact about me is my childhood friends swear i remember every story and everyone we ever knew. I think they all plan to stick close to me at our reunion next year, so i can remind them who everyone is:) I guess i just have a very photographic memory-at least i think that is what you would call it.....

So now i think i need to award/tag 6 people: Katie B., Harper, Elizabeth Q., Kelly E., Melanie, and Samantha

Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok so today i am the big 28! I had big plans for a good update tonight, but last night i started running fever. My mom had to come stay with us bc derek is gone to Chicago for training with his new job (will post more on that later) Anyway i knew i was getting sick so I had my mom come spend the night so she could take care of Beckett. i woke up this morning with really high fever and felt AWFUL, so i went to the doctor and to make a long story short i got 2 shots and 3 prescriptions-they are treating me for the FLU AND STREP THROAT!! So momma is taking care of beckett and i am spending my bday sick for the 2nd time in two years!
Thanks to everyone who has called today. I am sorry if i haven't answered, but i feel terrible. I will call everyone back when i get to feeling better hopefully tomorrow. Don't forget to vote tomorrow! I will be dragging myself up there at some point.....

Happy Halloween!

Monkey on the loose!!

Silly little monkey!!!

Happy Halloween! I am frantically trying to get packed to be gone all weekend. Me and Derek are taking our first whole weekend trip away from beckett! We are going Oxford tonight to give a shower for my friend Melinda and then Saturday it is off to Starkvegas for the game. We haven't made a game in two years! We are both really excited about our little getaway and fun with friends we haven't seen in a long time. He is of course more excited about Starkville and i am dying to get to Oxford:).

I didnt' want to leave town without posting some pics of our little monkey!!! Sorry the pics aren't the best...he won't sit still--ever! I will do a BIG update next week so be checking.......until then, everyone have a safe, fun weekend!!

Keep your fingers crossed!

Ok so it is 9:40pm and beckett is asleep in his bed for the first time in a week! We decided last night at 1:30am when he was still screaming in his bed and i had to go get him so we could all get some sleep that tonight was it. He was going in his bed at 8pm and WAS NOT getting out! About 20min. ago i brought him a sippy cup of water bc i am sure his throat was hurting from screaming for 1.5hours and i also gave him my pillow off our bed. Hopefully that did the trick bc so far he is asleep! Let's pray it stays that way:)

Camera Help!!!!

Ok, so for my birthday/christmas i want a new camera. I am thinking it is time to just spend the big bucks and get a good one. Here is my question-which one do i get?!? I have been looking at the Nikon N60 and have heard good things about the Canon Rebel. I do use photoshop some and i would love a camera that is VERY user friendly and easy to download the pics onto your computer from (my mom's camera is weird about that). I took photography in college, but i consider myself a beginner in all this for sure. I know i want a digital SLR and something that is not at the top of the price range would be great!
So.....any advice would be appreciated. What kind of camera does everyone use??? what are your likes and dislikes about it???

Who needs sleep?

Obviously not Beckett! This has been a rough week. Beckett recently decided that he is not tired at night and WILL NOT go to sleep. For the past 4 nights our bedtimes have been as follows: 10pm, 11pm, 11pm, 12am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't figure out what is going on. I let him cry in his bed last night from 10-12am. I was convinced he had something wrong so today i took him for his last flu shots and had her look at his ears just in case. As expected his ears were fine and then she told me his throat looked red. Geez, i wonder why? I told her i have been letting him cry for hours. She assured me that it really is the best thing to do and trust me i do feel bad about it, but i am at a total loss! Last night i gave in at midnight at brought him to bed with us hoping he was just sick or something. I guess tonight we will just leave him in there.
Has anyone else had this problem?? i am praying it is a phase. He normally goes to bed around 8 or so. If anyone has any ideas feel free to pass them along. I am totally over this, but then i look at him today in his cute sock monkey outfit and it makes it just a tad better:) I need to get a pic of him in this outfit when he wakes up from his nap-it is really cute!! TGIF!!!!!!

Pumpkin Patch 2008

I found one!!
So many pumpkin to move......so little time!
Ok...now this pig is cool!!!!
Beckett and his "stolen" pumpkin, which now lives on our front porch.
Have a seat!
Sparks striking a pose!
Oh i love this thing!!!!!!!!

A group of us visited the pumpkin patch at the Ag Museum yesterday. Beckett had a great time. He was worn out by the time it was over. I was surprised by his behavior with the animals. At the fair he really didn't care about them at all, but he seemed to warm up to the ones here. He reallly liked the pig! Everyone got to take a pumpkin from the little patch, but while i wasn't looking Beckett walked up to some lady and took hers! Even though she said it was fine i am sure she wasn't to excited that a baby stole her lovely pumpkin-oh well!

MS State Fair!

Not to excited about touching the animals!


Ready...set...go....
Running like a wild man!

Last night me, derek and Beckett went with the McMasters to the fair. Beckett rode a few rides and even went down the big slide! My mom about had a heart attack when she found out I took him up there, but i really didn't think it was a big deal and he really loved it! Will M. really had a great time too-he got to ride more things than Beckett. I can't believe Derek didn't get any pics of us on the big yellow slide! Funny of the night-We walked by a tent a man was outside holding a baby alligator. Will of course thought it was awesome and got to hold and pet the gator, however when the man brought it up to beckett's stroller he FLIPPED out and started screaming bloody murder. I think he just wanted to help his momma prove her point to daddy that he has no plans of ever going on the gator hunt:)

If anyone is at the fair tonight come see me at the Wordless Tent. I am going to be there with a group from our church. I am a little nervous with it being Friday night and all but i know it is for a good cause.

The Beach!

So Sweet...So busy....
Up and down and up and down
Leighton loved playing with the bucket and shovel, Beckett just wanted his football back!
Last week we took our friends Katie and Leighton to the beach with us! The daddy's were going on a fishing trip for the weekend and we didn't want to be stuck at home so we packed up and headed to Perdido. If you go to the Butlers on the side bar you can read a little more in depth about our trip, but all in all we had a great time. Beckett loves the water and is not at all afraid of it. This makes for an interesting morning around the pool. He also is now obsessed with climbing up and down stairs. If he sees any steps anywhere he makes a beeline for them. Derek took him out in the ocean and he had the best time getting knocked over by the waves! And when it came to playing in the sand all he wanted to do was throw the big football. I think we have a future ball player on our hands! Enjoy the pics!

Happy Birthday Derek!

Like father, like son.......
I might look like my momma, but they say i am going to act like my daddy!

Today Derek is the big 28! He is the best daddy a little boy could ask for! I hope you know that you are very loved and i don't know what in the world we would do without you.....gator hunting and all! I hope you have a great day!
I could list a million reasons why we love you, but i ran across this today....i am very thankful you don't have plans for our family that include this type of behavior:)
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26942419/?GT1=43001

1 year stats!

Waiting on the doctor
He loves that mini Elmo!
Getting ready for dinner at Primos on his real birthday!

Uh-oh!

Ok, so this is a bit overdue, but we just went to the doctor this week. We had a good check up. He is doing good with table food and we are starting on whole milk! She commented on the fact that he starting walking so early and said he seems to be developing normally, so that was good to hear! We started out this year with a bang to say the least. A few days before his party a mosquito decided to take up residence in his bedroom and literally feasted on him for a few days. So he went to his party looking like he had the plague! Then to make matters worse as i was cooking one night he managed to run into my legs as i was moving a pot of boiling water and i spilled a little on his shoulder! Poor Baby! It is healing fine, but i am surprised the doctor didn't call child services. So all this happened in the first two weeks of september.

Now onto this week.....Monday he had his shots. He got all of them but the MMR. I decided to wait on that one bc we have a party for him at my dad's house on Saturday and i didn't want him sick for that. Well Monday night he started running a high fever and i just thought it was from the flu shot so i started giving my tylenol regularly. The fever however stayed for 2 days over 101, so today i decided he needed to go to doctor. So we went this afternoon and found out he has his FIRST ear infection! Bless his heart-i had no idea-i just figured the fever was due to the shots! So we started our first ever antibiotics so i am hoping it will knock it out quick. The doctor seems to think since he has never taken antibiotics before they should work quickly. I hope so, i haven't been getting up at 3am since he was 2 weeks old!

Due to all this excitment the blogging has taken a back seat-i apologize to my 10 readers! Here are some new pics and hopefully i can get some party pics up soon.

Stats at 12 months:

Weight: 23lbs. 9oz.-70th percent

Head: 47cm-75th percent

Height: 31 3/4"-97th percent!!!!!

Crazy-obviously he doesn't get his height from me!

Derek is Famous

Now the whole state can know just how redneck he can be! Luckily though his little brother Kirk was the one wearing the cutoff-button up this year:)

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080914/SPORTS08/809140343/1127

This is just a little of the article. For some reason the whole thing is not there, so if you want to read the interview with my FIL you will have to get the Sunday paper. They killed the biggest gator of the weekend. I will post our pics later-we have had one heck of a day today.....

This just in.....

For all of you waiting for news on the big gator hunt this weekend....I just received a message from derek saying they caught an "eleven footer" Glorious....they are going back out to try to get another one. This year the wildlife guys deceided to allow 2 gators per tag-how generous!
I am off to bed, but i will post a full report tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Beckett!

It's a boy!

Momma meets beckett for the first time
Beckett now.....so big!Playing in the front yard!

Happy 1st Birthday to the sweetest, cutest, happiest little boy in the whole world! We love you to the moon and back!

So today is the big day. It is so hard to believe that a whole year has past. This time last year i think i was probably getting ready to get my first of many epidurals that day:) Even though the day proved to be the longest, most painful day of my life the end result was all worth it. Beckett is thriving. He amazes me everyday. I will do a one year post later, but we have to get ready for our day with Mimi. Tonight we are going to dinner and then this weekend is the big par-tay!

Dear Aunt Cath....

Dear Aunt Cath,

As you can see by the pictures I love my John Deere tractor you gave me for my birthday. My favorite thing to do is push it all over the driveway. And now that i learned to open and close the seat all those little animal friends better watch out:) Thanks a bunch and my mom says she is going to call you tomorrow to see how the new J-O-B is going!

Love,

Beckett