Goodbye Nuk!!!

The Nuk is gone, yippee!! Anyone who knows me, knows that Evan's nuk "sippy cup" has been the thorn in my side for months now. Evan didn't have the easiest time transferring from a bottle to a sippy cup, until we used the Nuk. The Nuk is just a bottle with handles. Babies are not supposed to drink from bottles after they are 1. Evan would drink EVERYTHING but milk from the plethora of other sippy cups we had. But not his milk, it had to be in the Nuk. Since it soothed him, I gave up up the fight. I mean, he never took a pacifier, has never gotten attached to a "lovey", so this was his thing. But just last week I decided that he's approaching 2 and although it's not as bad as Suri Cruise and her nursing bottle, it's close. So, we got rid of it. And he's done really well. I let him choose any cup he wants when he gets his milk and he still looks for his Nuk, but it's nowhere to be found. And so, he just chooses another. His milk consumption has plummeted to about 5 ounces a day, but he eats enough dairy I don't care. I'm so proud of him, way to go Evan :)!

Cookie Monster

You love cookies just as much as you love the Cookie Monster. You are still one messy eater though, thank goodness for some Oxi Clean!

Curtains-finally!

Yeah, I finally have some curtains in our family room. That only took 9 months. Thanks to Kelly who helped me pick out the fabric. I really love them, even though I cried when I got them back from the seamstress and told Joe I hated them. Thank goodness he's the level headed one who told me to hang them and then decide. Great advice, b/c they look great and I finally feel like that room looks decorated! Just a few more things to hang on the wall, but we are getting there.

Melt my heart

We have been teaching Evan his manners over the last month or so. I figured since he can say so many words, he can definitely say please and thank you. He has been great with it. Sometimes he needs a little more prodding to say please when asking for things, but all in all, he's very polite! The other day he just started to say "thank you mommy" and "thank you daddy" all on his own. I could have fallen over, it was the sweetest thing to ever come out his mouth. It is so freaking adorable, I just love it! His longest sentence so far-"More apple juice please". I love that he is so verbal!!

As a side note, do you see how old he looks? I feel like he looks like he's 3.

Fay, Fay, Go Away!!

I'm SO OVER this rain and being stuck inside. I'd die in snow storm with a toddler. The things that you get soft to, so quickly.

We are all doing just fine with this storm, just a little stir crazy. Over on the coast they are completely flooded out, they've gotten 2 FEET of RAIN?? They have found alligators and snakes in the water that has flooded their streets. YIKES! Say a prayer for all of those near Melbourne. 

Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay

So, here I am on the eve of my first Florida hurricane. Although is it just a tropical storm? I've lived through these before in Virginia, but a Florida hurricane just has more excitement to it. A level of severity that a "Virginia hurricane" could never have. School is already canceled here tomorrow (yes, school is already in; it started today). Joe is in Arkansas, but thankfully got on a standby flight home tonight. Not that we need him to protect us (ok, maybe a little), but he would have been stuck there for days with canceled flights, etc. Yeah, so we have our protector. But what does one to do prepare? We have water and flash lights. But no generator or storm radio. We have lots of frozen food, but that will likely spoil if we lose power. So much for preparing for it like a snow storm. I'm sure this whole thing will just resemble a cool thunder storm. But there is something about the excitement that I love. Let's just hope, this is not what we see coming towards us tomorrow.

Family Beach Portraits

While in Ocean City, we had a professional photographer take some pictures. Our friends Kelly, Joe & Avery Garr did it with us as well. I'm really happy with a lot of the pics. Some are less than flattering, but that's my fault, not the photographer's! My favorite moment from the photo shoot, is when Evan went running straight into the ocean, got caught up in a wave and got soaked and quite sandy. It was about 10 minutes into our hour long session. Joe was right next to him, so it wasn't scary, but it was pretty funny. You can see some of the before (dry) and after (very wet) pictures in this. Guess that's just the way these things go with a toddler. Actually, it wouldn't have been right if that hadn't happened. Evan loves the water and goes running for it full steam ahead, so I think I would have worried he was sick if he hadn't done so.

Here's the link to the pictures!
www.tiffphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/5695787_nVcC9#351221916_i5E4r

Back home

here evan is doing one of his favorite things-running through water!

Family & Friends

Here are some great shots of us visiting family & friends in MD. Evan & Griffin got along so well and had a great time playing with each other. I'm so happy we'll be back up there in just a few weeks and the boys can play again. Evan keeps saying that Nani is at work and he misses her, her doggie and her cupcakes!!

Since I can no longer figure out how to put captions under the pictures, a few side notes. Evan is not in swim clothes while in that pool. That's actually the 1st of 2 times he jumped in fully clothed within an hour.

And yes, that is Peggy, all 0 pounds of her! She is so skinny now!

OC trip

We had a wonderful vacation with the Garr's in Ocean City, MD. Both Kelly & I had great 30th birthdays. We got to eat lots of crabs while we were there. And I tried as hard as I could to gain at least 10 pounds on the trip with subs, fries, ice cream, frozen snickers, wine, beer, you name it. I almost succeeded!! Right-I know, nothing to be too proud of there. The weather was okay, kind of foggy and cloudy and cooler. But I honestly wasn't complaining. After all the summer heat in Florida, I was happy to put on sweatshirt and not bask in the sun. Besides, I'm tan enough.

I've been putting off updating the blog lately because I took 300 pictures on our trip to MD (I know a tad bit of an overkill). So, here goes, I'll just jump in with a few of my favorites.

Surprise Birthday Party

Thanks to Joe, Peggy & Kathy for throwing a wonderful surprise 30th birthday party! I had a wonderful time, and hope everyone else did too! BTW-how cool is that cake? Thanks Jen!