Do I have to think of a title?

So I have been bad about writing.....We have been having a fairly busy summer. Ian and I spent the last week of June with the in-laws. We had a good time and Ian had a couple of "very important" firsts while we were there. While at Wendy's one day he both learned to drink from a straw and dip a fry in ketchup. He has been wanting to use a straw for a while now so that was cool. The dipping was a fluke. I had done the typical mom thing of breaking up fries and some burger into small pieces and putting them on a napkin in front of Ian. We were all chatting and not paying attention to the boy. All of the sudden he grabbed a fry out of his aunt's fry box and dipped it in her ketchup and ate the whole thing. For some reason my aunt started crying at this (since it is a rite of passage in American culture) and so I snapped a picture.

We went to Nottley Lake in Georgia one day during our visit. Ian didn't think much of swimming but enjoyed running around and tripping over a concrete culvert that drained into the lake. At lunch he would have nothing to do with the hard boiled egg or hot dog that I had broken up for him. He grabbed a whole hot dog and started eating away. In my head I always think "Baby eating hot dog = Choke! Choke! Fire! Alarm!" but he would not be deterred from doing it himself. This is one of those times when I just let him do it himself and keep a close watch on the proceedings.


We are heading to Florida this weekend for our official summer vacation. I am hoping that we will be able to see the shuttle launch on the 13th. It has always been my secret wish to be an astronaut. I will turn 28 while we are in Florida. I will write and post pictures upon my return.

Mother's Day

We had a gorgeous picnic on Mother's Day. We had my aunt and cousin in town for the weekend and on Sunday we drove them halfway home. We met my mil at a rest stop and had a huge picnic for lunch. My mil went all out-she fried chicken, made cole slaw, potato salad, and brownies. She also brought strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, chips, carrots, dip, and watermelon! It was great fun to watch Ian eat his first slice of watermelon;he mostly ate the rind and of course he made a mess. It was such a beautiful day and we sat in the grass and talked and played for a few hours before we loaded up to drive back home.


In other news, my sister had a baby boy on May 10. He was 7lbs. 11oz. and he has ten fingers and ten toes. She hasn't picked out a name yet, but she better tell me soon:). This is her fourth baby (and her third boy!). Now there are 8 grandkids in the family and Ian isn't the youngest anymore. Welcome to the world, Little One!

Are you going to the Renaissance Faire?

I guess it has been a while...there's not too much going on here. We were kept very busy at the end of March and the beginning of April by the Renaissance Faire. My husband teaches Medieval martial arts (swordfighting, hand to hand combat, whip, etc) at a school here in NC and they always have a booth at the Faire. Last year's faire almost coincided with Ian's birth (but we missed it by a week) so I guess Buck would have been telling me to push while wearing chain mail :). Anyway, we had a good time at the faire this year but I am glad it is over and I am glad that I have my husband back! Here he is in his armor:

And here is a picture of Ian after sharing ice cream with me.

I started going to Curves last week. I am loving it so far. I feel more energetic, I am in a better mood, I feel less sore, I just feel great in general when I go. I have only gone 5 times so far but I think I already feel a difference. I am starting to firm up a little bit. I hope I lose weight but even if I just continue to feel better it is worth going.

Easter

I hope everyone had a good Easter. The Easter Bunny came to visit and left us with a basket full of candy (which is almost gone now...), a duck, and a book. The book is "Poems to Read to the Very Young" and it's illustrated by Eloise Wilkin. She illustrated my all-time favorite kid's book "The Visit". Just another way that my husband, A.K.A. the Easter Bunny, shows that he is paying attention and that he loves me!

Happy Birthday to Ian

My boy turned one on Sunday! We stayed with my in-laws for a long weekend to celebrate his birthday and we just got home Tuesday night.
He wasn't all that thrilled with the cake and ice cream but he liked opening presents and chasing my mother-in-law's dog around afterwards.

I can see him changing on an almost daily basis now. It is exhilirating and more than a little scary. I love having a one-year-old...but it feels weird to think that he is a toddler now. I still can't get over that. He definately has preferences and desires of his own. He loves music, he is intersted in animals, he loves to hang out with both me and his dad. He loves to bump foreheads with people (ouch!) and thinks fake sneezes are really amusing. He has a personality and a sense of humor. He dislikes waking up alone, getting his diaper changed (but who doesn't?), and having pens and scissors taken away from him. We love having him in our lives and look forward to many more years of excitement and joy with him.

Just press play!

*Edited to add* I have been trying to post this since Tue but Blogger wouldn't let me!

When I was a little girl we lived in Saudi Arabia. I had to go to private school since there weren’t any English-speaking schools around. My parents put chose a British school for the first two years we were there (3rd and 4th grades). We took all sorts of interesting classes but one of my favorites was music. On my first day of class the teacher asked if anyone knew how to play the recorder since we would be learning it that year. “Sure I do, “ I piped up, “you just press play!” It really didn’t occur to me until after she passed out the instruments that I had said something weird. I totally thought she was talking about a tape recorder!
Buck brought home a recorder last night. He works at a bookstore and sometimes he gets freebies. Yesterday he got a new, unopened recorder from work. I am having all sorts of fun trying to figure songs out. I can play “Jingle Bells” and “Hot Cross Buns” so far. Ian is enthralled with the recorder. He doesn’t quite know what to make of it. He laughs when he hears me playing it. He wants to try too but he doesn’t understand how to blow through the mouthpiece yet. He basically chews on it and hums like he is playing a kazoo or something. This is one of the best parts of being his mom, getting to watch him open up and learn about the world around him.

Lets go to the movies

I got to see a good friend of mine this weekend. We hadn't seen or spoken to each other in over a month. I regret this since I love her dearly and I want to see her more often! We are movie buddies--we see movies with each other that no one else will see with us. But more importantly we are great friends. I like that she is who she is; she doesn't care what people think of her and she is happy with herself. She knows what she likes but she's not pushy about it. I think she likes me because she thinks I am wacky and funny (wacky is sort of a lame word, isn't it?) and because she can be herself around me. When Ian was born last year we didn't see each other very much. I was a new, overwhelmed, busy mom, and she thought I didn't want her company. Not true! I was just in too much of a daze to poke my head out and tell her so. I really look forward to spending lots of time with my friend C this year. I am so glad that Ian is almost one (on Sunday) and doesn't need me quite so much. He is happy to stay home with Buck and he can fall asleep without me nursing him down. Oh yeah, we saw "Robots" at the movies. It was cute.

Why do people let time get in the way? I thought about C over Jan and Feb when I didn't speak to her, but the longer I waited, the harder it got to call. I thought, "I bet she is mad that I haven't called her by now so I better not call at all." I imagine that she was thinking the same thing. I just wish that I could be more direct with people and say what I mean (and I wish others would do the same with me).

At Christmas I saw my older brother who I hadn't seen in a long time. The night before I left we talked for hours and had such a great conversation. We realized that we have a lot of the same anxieties. We like a lot of the same things. We are so alike! If we weren't brother and sister we would probably still be friends. Why then do we let time and place keep us from keeping up with each other? Maybe I will give him a call tonight.

Farmers Market

Ian and I went to the farmers market today. We were the only 2 shoppers in sight so I tried to buy one thing from a lot of people. We always try to buy fish at the farmers market. They have fresh stuff from the coast. We also visited a nursery. There's not much to see yet. It is too cold to have the colorful bedding plants out yet. We settled for some seeds instead (sweet alyssum, cosmos, and morning glory). Tonight we went to BJ's. Our membership runs out on the 31st and we don't plan on renewing it so we stocked up on tons of stuff. I also found lilies-of-the-valley at BJs of all places! They are my favorite flower but I never seem to have luck with them. Oh well, I will plant them tomorrow and see how it goes.

I heard Ian playing in the kitchen last night. I was next to him in the living room typing away on the computer. When I went to check on him I found that he had pulled out every plastic grocery bag we own and spread them out on the floor. I ran for the camera and then cleaned them up. I find that distraction is the best method for keeping him out of trouble at his age. I just turn on Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla" and he starts jamming. Buck changed the lyrics from "Godzilla" to "Go Ian" so now he loves that song. Hey, it works for now!

bags, bags, everywhere! 

Maybe I will give it a try

I was originally going to just put pictures of my son on this blog but perhaps I will write too. I feel so vunerable when I see my own words in print, like they are going to come back and bite me in the butt someday. I have always been the type of person who wants to be a peace keeper. I don't want to offend anyone or rile anyone up. Oh well, I guess I will just say what I think.

I am 27 years old, I have been married for almost 6 years to my wonderful husband Buck, and we have an almost one-year-old son (he'll be one on the 20th) named Ian Reed. I live in the southeastern part of the United States. I have a degree in forestry but I doubt I will ever use it. I wish I had gotten my degree in horticulture instead. I like to garden but I usually get overwhelmed by the weeds and all of my plans so my garden doesn't look the way I want it to. I am a stay-at-home-mom, I love to read, scrapbook, garden, and hang with my boys.

That's me for now.

Ian on the couch 

Ian at 8.5 months