CHEESE!

Peter's favorite new thing is to say "CHEESE" whenever a camera comes out.  He even does it with pretend cameras and things he imagines look like cameras.  This is his "CHEESE" face:

I just love the rosy cheeks.  My little bubba knows how to melt my heart.

18-month check-up

Peter got a glowing report from the pediatrician at his 18-month check-up!  I got the usual lecture about getting him to eat more veggies and dairy, but otherwise the doctor thought Petey was doing great.  He is 32 inches tall (the 40th to 50th percentile) and weighs 23 pounds, 3 ounces (the 10th to 25th percentile).  He's a skinny minnie just like his dad was as a child.

Charlotte decided SHE needed to be up on the exam table as well at one point, so I took a quick picture with my crappy cell phone camera.  She loves going to see Dr. Hood!

Dough boy

First play-dough experience ever!  He was smitten, to say the least.

Singing in the rain!

Peter and Charlotte were bouncing off the walls, so I decided that we would venture where we had never ventured before -- to play in the summer rain!  I didn't get a shot of Charlotte, but here is little Petey happily playing away with the water spout.  I think he was looking for the Itsy Bitsy Spider or something.

Yes, those are pool noodles in the driveway.  Charlotte seemed to think she needed those to play with in the rain.  I told her it wasn't going to rain THAT much!  Building an ark may be next.

No big deal

When we moved Charlotte out of her crib to a big girl bed, we agonized for weeks.  We completely redecorated the guest room, bought a twin mattress, strategized for days, and then quaked in our shoes and held our breaths when we put her down to sleep in it for the very first time.

With Peter?  We chatted about it casually off and on for the past month or so.  Then yesterday, I had a whim to take the mattress out of his crib and stick it on the floor next to the crib.  I tossed Petey down onto it for his nap, and voila!  We have a kid who seems to have transitioned to a big boy bed even easier than his big sister did.  I guess we should probably actually buy him a twin mattress, huh?

Petey "slept" for well over three hours at naptime yesterday.  At about 5:00 pm, Charlotte and I decided it was time to go get him up.  We crept in and found him wide awake, lounging on his sister's pig pillow pet on the floor next to his mattress.  How long had he been awake?  Who knows!

Last night we completely uneventful.  Petey slept like a rock (from what we heard over the monitor), but when I went into his room after hearing him fuss a little I found him lying on the floor next to the door.  He couldn't really walk around because we put him down in his sleep sack rather than with a sheet.  I think he wiggled over there after waking up (and didn't actually sleep there all night).  This is very different than Charlotte -- she still waits in bed and bellows for us to come "wake" her up.  Once she falls asleep, she never gets out of bed for any reason as far as we know.  I know she'll start getting up on her own eventually, but I keep imagining her at age 15, still yelling for me to come get her up and change her diaper.

We're on the hunt for the perfect quilt for Petey's bed, and we're still debating how to rearrange the room.  Otherwise, we're ready to ditch the crib for good!!

Congratulations, little brother!

A big congratulations to my little brother, Jordan, for graduating from the University of Washington yesterday!  Can I still call him little if he's all grown up and married with a college degree?  He will always be 23 months younger than me, but it still doesn't sound right.  I'll figure it out when I see him (hopefully) next month.

And yes, I know I still haven't posted any photos from Abbey's graduation last weekend, but I completely forgot to burn a disc of Mom's photos before I flew home.  Argh!

New 2011 Mustang

A few videos . . .

Niki leaving this morning in the Mustang for an errand.

We still have not taken a bunch of pictures.  Maybe tomorrow.

The rig is a 2011 Ford Mustang GT - Kona Blue with a Saddle Tan leather interior.  It has a 6-speed stick, a 3.31 rear end, and 412 horsepower out of a 5.0L 32v V8   This car is very, very fast.  It is also green - it gets 26 mpg, 3 more than my old Mustang with 260 horsepower got.  On the inside, it has a 500 watt stereo (essentially the same on my old Ford had), and Sync, complete with voice-activated-Bluetooth.  When I picked it up at the dealership, I had to sit through Sync training, which took just about an hour.  Wow.  You need an advanced degree just to operate the radio . . .

We drove my old, trusty Ford Mustang GT for 131,000 miles over 9 years, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  We will miss the old Ford.  This new Mustang has big horseshoes to fill.

Interesting Night

More later, but . . .

Niki brought home a kitten this week.

I brought home a pony . . .

Vet time!

Rocky sailed through his first vet visit with an extremely clean bill of health.  He weighs 15 ounces -- the vet tech laughed at me when I guessed a pound, but I got the last laugh.  Charlie Jo was very, well, sort of helpful during the visit.  Peter was downright ornery.  Remind me to leave at least one kid with Corey or a sitter next time I need to go!  Here is my little helper holding Rocky after he returned from all sorts of indignities in the back room.

Oh, and I figured out that Rocky was born on May 2, 2011.  That makes him six weeks old on Monday!

The newest member of our family

After losing our cat, Chewie, a few months before Charlotte was born, we have talked about getting another feline buddy for Pacey.  When our friend's cat had kittens a few weeks ago, we couldn't resist.  Enter Rochester James Stringer, aka "Rocky".

Charlotte told me she wanted to wear her ballerina dress-up outfit (to go see Rocky at Melissa's house before we adopted him) so Rocky would know she was "a real ballerina".   

I think Rocky totally treats her like a real ballerina.  Isn't he a sweet little dude?

We picked Rocky from the litter because his markings were most like Pacey's & Chewie's.  We named him "Rochester" because that's the town Corey grew up in and because once upon a time, Corey had a misguided notion that we would actually name a human baby Rochester and call him Rocky.

Peter and Charlotte are seriously smitten with Rocky, but Pacey is still not so sure.  Connie has sniffed Rocky a bunch and we thought Connie might have been considering picking Rocky up by the scruff of the neck (but we stopped her!), so it appears that Connie suspects Rocky is one of her little puppies or something.

He's a playful little sweetheart!

Rocky is settling in and wrapping us all around his little furry paw!

Story time with Faithy

Trains at Cheekwood

Today, NanaB, Charlie, Peter, and I went to Cheekwood to see their new trains exhibit.

This exhibit was situated in the "Color Garden," and incorporated model trains and models of signature Tennessee buildings made out of materials found in a garden.

 The Tennessee state capital building.

 A portion of the exhibit.

 Diesel engine.

 Trains!

 Graceland.

 Ladybug car and Graceland.

 Peter.

 Cheekwood.

 Peter and Cheekwood.

 The Hermitage.

Thomas comes to Union Station.

 NanaB and Peter.

 Franklin's own Carter House.

 Peter and the exhibit.

 Barn in Cades Cove.

 More of the exhibit.

 Charlie and the Ryman.

 Making our own "natural house" in a studio at Cheekwood.

Lunch at Urban Flats.