Easy Come, Easy Go

I think before Wyatt was born, and really even now, the things I've thought would be the biggest struggles have turned out to be no big deal.  I say that without exception.  Nursing? No problem ... that was easy.  Dropping mid-night feedings?  Not a problem. Weaning? Not hard at all.  Taking him out of his swaddle?  Easy peasy.  Moving him to the crib (from our room)?  No issues.  Taking away the bottle?  He never even missed it.

BUT.  the one transition that I was certain would be a problem for us is taking away his paci. 

See, from the beginning he was a paci kid.  I remember him taking it in the hospital and thinking "great ... there is one habit i'm going to have to break eventually".  But it soothed him and comforted him, and frankly kept everyone sane at times. 

We kept several in his room, and one in each of our cars. 

 Wherever Wyatt went, the paci wasn't far behind. 

Now, after he turned 1 I tried to limit car-paci use, and definitely didn't let him use it in public.  Mostly because I didn't want to look like a redneck.  Ben kept asking when we were taking it away and I kept putting it off.  At one point it was 1 year, then 18 months, then 2.  I nearly pushed it to 2.5  but decided against that. 

Although he wasn't using them in public, he did go down each night with a minimum of 4 pacis.  Ben and I would always go to his room and "re-paci" him before we went to bed.  He was addicted.  He knew where we kept them and would frequently go into his room to get them.

On a whim last Friday night, I just decided I would put him down without them and see if he asked.  He didn't and slept all night without a problem.

He did ask for them for the next few days but I hid them and have just changed the subject (or ignored the request) when he asked.  

He finally stopped asking.  We have had no problems with sleep interruption. 

I can't believe it.  The things I think are going to be the most difficult with this kid are EASY.

That all being said, I would be remiss if I didn't also point out that the things which should be "simple" with him are anything but.  Seriously.  Cooking dinner? Can hardly do it unless he's asleep.  Preparing one of his meals?  Practically impossible.  A simple grocery store run?  Pretty much rocket science ....

Garden!!

I definitely do not have a green thumb.  At all.  As I've mentioned before I have 3 live plants in my house and its all I can do to keep those alive (actually, the one I replace every 6 months is in need of replacing now).  But, BUT, BUT ... when I do have gardening successes you can bet that I'm going to show them off!

So, this spring when I was at Pike's picking out stuff for my front and back planters, I also picked up a couple of tomato plants just for fun.  I came home, put everything in my planters, and then planted both tomato plants in 12 inch pots.  They sat like this for a good few weeks until Mom finally had the grace to tell me that I really needed whiskey barrels.  But, stunted growth be damned, they are flourishing right now!!  We water every day and Wyatt tries to pull each and every "big ah-ma-mo" off the vine.

Look at these puppies!!! They're huge! Even Ben says he'll eat our home-grown tomatoes once they ripen.

These are the planters I mentioned.  This guy was near-death after I returned from Memorial Day weekend at the lake and it didn't get water for 3 days but I nursed it back to life!!

However, my proudest gardening accomplishment of 2012 is my sunflowers.  Look at this dude about to open .... the anticipation is killing you, right??

Here he is along with a couple friends a few days later.

Last night I was out watering and discovered that several of those sunflowers have multiple heads.  This is so much fun!!! I don't think you can really see well in this picture, but there is another little head about to bloom near that leaf.  Its such a happy little flower, isn't it?

I think you can surmise based on the empty space in my garden that I've no clue what I am doing.  I planted the sunflower seeds and then just got overwhelmed and didn't know what else to plant.  At first I wanted different flowers all summer.  Then I wanted things blooming spring-summer-fall.  Then I got all confused about how tall things were and the color wheel and all that stuff. Sooooooo I'm left with a lot of empty space.

I'll tend to that next year, I suppose.  Anyone want to draw up a plan for me though??

Amelia Island Vacation

I'm not sure where to start here ... this is going to be a pretty long post!

We spent the last week in Amelia Island with my whole family -- except for Ben :(  We all missed having him there, but duty calls so he didn't get to join us.

One of Wyatt's favorite activities as of late is jumping on the bed.  So naturally there was a lot of that taking place throughout the week.  As you can see, Ellie played right along!

We played on the beach

built sand castles

ate beach snacks

and also suckers

walked on the beach

ran down the boardwalk (this was after dinner one night while we were waiting to get the check.  wyatt made friends with every. single. person. around -- as we were walking back down the board walk to leave i must have heard "bye wyatt" at least 12 times! he makes friends with everyone ... just like his daddy)

we collected shells (and every shell is a big shell)

searched for turtles

walked on the beach more

got really sandy

wrote our names in the sand 

posed (reluctantly) for tree pictures

looked at the waves with meme

pushed big trucks around on the beach

played with the water hose

refused to cooperate for meme's pictures

ate ice cream

and caught really big snapper!  (The fisherman put this on his website.  I told dad he's as famous as I am!)

Memorial Weekend at the Lake

I do love a long lake weekend.  Its just so nice to have 3 mornings to relax and enjoy coffee, not have to have a schedule, and not worrying with fixing my  hair and makeup. 

Wyatt was at Meme's on Friday, so after lunch I went over to her house and the 3 of us headed up to the lake.  Ben and My dad both came up later that night after work.  We didn't do a whole lot Friday other than get in and get settled, so Saturday is when the real fun began!

I think I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking from here on out ....

I already covered Birthday Party # 573, but here it is again. 

 We went for a few boat rides ...

 Wyatt enjoyed his very first Sea Doo ride.  (Although he calls it a "water quey" a.k.a. motorcycle)

We also took plenty of Kubota rides.  Wyatt even got to drive some on Friday evening ... but I don't have those pictures :(

Someone refused to look at the camera or smile for photos

 That same someone helped Papa drive the boat

 This is the only way we could get him to smile/look for a picture with his Daddy!

 He fished with Meme

 I don't like to name names, but someone got a funny sunburn ....

 We took cousin pictures.  2 smiling ... 1 not smiling.  There were trucks that needed to be pushed around and he didn't have time to crack a smile!

He practiced driving the boat (while it was docked)

 We played around on the dock

 We headed home after lunch on Monday.  (Notice my purdy hydrangeas ....)

 

I like Things

I don't do a whole lot of shopping because usually with a crazy-man at my side I end up doing grab n' go style errands.  Basically, I run in and out and get only what I need because he doesn't have the patience for me to leisurely shop.  Not that I'm complaining, because it does keep me from spending money on useless crap.

But I happen to like useless crap.  So, here are some recent discoveries o' mine ....

1) Trader Joe's Peach Pops -- I read about these on someone else's blog and OMG they are divine.  They also have Strawberry, which Wyatt likes.  They're not too sweet and are perfect for a hot day.

2) Trader Joe's Spanish Cheese Sampler - I had this for lunch the other day with a loaf of french bread and some mini heirloom tomatoes (to round it out, ya know ...). We won't discuss the sodium and fat content of this lunch, but it was sooo enjoyable.  (I love TJ's ... that is a store where I could spend an obscene amount of money in a very short period)

3) Creme de Menthe Hershey's Kisses -- these aren't all that 'recent', but Mom sent them to me right around St. Patrick's day.  These things are dangerously good.  But I doubt you would find them stores until next year around St. Paddy's so probably pointless for me to even post this!

4) My lake Hydrangeas.  Although this isn't technically something I bought, I do love them and I've got to stop posting food items!  It may be hard to tell because these are Instagram pics, but they are 2 totally different shades of blue.  Man, I could stare at them all day ....

5) E.L.F. primer -- I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Elf really does make some good makeup.  I hate spending a lot of money on makeup just to test it out.  But this primer is awe-to-tha-some.  Makes your make up slide on so smoothly and really does a good job at holding it in place all day.

6) Fold-over Jersey Skirts from ON -- I know I shop at ON a lot, but for things like this its really a great place.  These skirts are perfect for hot summer days, running errands, work, and you can even pull them up an use as a bathing suit cover-up!  They have these in pretty much every color under the sun. 

That's all I have for today.  But, I've got a Target run planned during lunch so maybe I'll come up with another 'I Like Things' post soon!