Walk like an Egyptian

Adelaide is walking. She has just turned 11 months old today. She has been walking on her own, like crazy, for almost a week now. That girl gives me no breaks.

We bought her her first pair of shoes yesterday. They are just your standard "first walker" shoes, white, but with cute little pink embroidered flowers at the top. When the salesman pointed out which shoes were beginning walker appropriate I just about peed myself. I had to forcibly stop myself from buying her 4 pairs of shoes. There are some cute ones. But I played it safe and bought her ones that will go with any outfit. Of course, they won't go with a dress. Dang. I have to go back and buy her a pair that will go with her dresses. She's going to put me in the poor house.

She was so incredibly funny to watch as she walked with shoes on for the first time. She would take these big huge exaggerated steps and then fall down. She did that several times and then decided she was done and she started crawling, but it was the kind of crawling that used a knee and a foot to propel her along. She couldn't quite grasp the shoe thing. She needs practice. And we'll have fun laughing at her (and videotaping her and exploiting her on the internet) as she hones her skills.

Kids are great entertainment.

Home improvement

So my dad is at this moment dismantling the shower stall in our master bathroom. This is something we were hoping to do in the next couple months, get a new shower stall. But Gabe had a little mishap with trying to rig the already warping tiles and let's just say when he was done there was a big hole in the wall. I couldn't have asked for a better mishap. We should have our new shower stall in this weekend. I can't wait. There are 2 benches and it is pretty and white. And clean. And there are no tiles and no grout. I will never have to battle mold on the grout again in there.

I am one happy girl.

Spreading the disease

It always strikes me funny how pregnancy comes in clusters. During my pregnancy with London I knew (actually personally knew) 5 other women who were pregnant too. If you ever were to visit our old church (Crossings in da house) you would see specific age groupings of the kids there. While pregnant with Adelaide, 5 other women at our current church ended up pregnant too. All the babies were born within 6 months of Adelaide. Boy did that put a strain on the nursery staff!!!

So now, as I announce to you my readers, that I am once again expecting (that would be baby #3, due at the end of September) I have just come to find out that 2 of my dear friends from CT are also expecting, one at the end of August and one on the same day as me. How trippy is that? I have two other friends who are due in May and June. And I believe the good people at Gymboree pump some sort of pregnancy drug through their ventilation system. The two other moms in London's class are both pregnant. And the class after ours, there are 4 pregnant women in there and one who just had a baby a few weeks ago. Seriously! I was just bound to get pregnant with all that surrounding me! It's an epidemic.

Watch yourselves....

A day late and a dollar short...

I am always behind. I'm never on time. Ever. I totally meant to post on Saturday, it was London's 3rd birthday. My firstborn, my son, my bubba. He turned 3. We had a SpongeBob party for him. He was so excited! We decorated the living room before we went to bed Friday night, so he'd wake up to it. He loved it! It's so great to experience those moments.

We still can't believe he's 3. Now granted, it's not like he's 16, I know. But still. Each year older he gets just blows us away. People have always told me to cherish these times because it passes in the blink of an eye. These last 3 years certainly have passed that quickly, as I know the next 3 will. He is becoming such a little man. He talks non-stop. He is a curious sort. And he is active as all get out. His shins have been continuously bruised since he was 8 months old! His manners are great. He is becoming so polite (most times without our urging!). He says please, thank you, excuse me and I'm sorry. He loves his sister and absolutely adores his Dada. Yesterday he woke up from his afternoon nap and started crying. When I went in to get him I said "Hi Bubba". He said "Mama, I cry" and I said "I know, why were you crying?" And he replied "Because I love you". I'm not quite sure what that means, but it melts my heart nonetheless.

London was my first lesson in complete and utter selflessness. My first experience of loving something more than I thought possible the very first time I saw him. He has been a test of patience and faith. He has deepened my relationship with God. He has changed my relationship with my husband. He has brought laughter and tears and unconditional love into my life. I praise God for blessing us with London. Our lives are better, richer because of him. He will always be my little Bubba, no matter how big he gets.

Yum

Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies are one of the best things ever.

I am so thankful to Mrs. Wakefield for creating such a delectable recipe.

So happy together

Today I got new pots and pans from Costco. They are Ameriware Professional commercial grade. My brother also bought the same set several months back and has been happy with them, so I decided I'd give them a try. It was a great deal for the money. I was holding out for All Clad, but with how pricey those puppies are I knew it would be years before I would own them. The pots and pans we currently have (going on almost 6 years) have served us well (though we've had to get rid of both frying pans due to the coating wearing off) but are coated with Teflon, which is the worst thing you could ever cook with. I know this now but didn't back when we got the cookware. So for the sake of my family's well being, I really wanted to change my cookware. So now we'll see how the new stuff does. I'm always excited to have new kitchen stuff. Plus the set came with so many pots and pans, more than I had, so I have some new pieces to find uses for. Hopefully they won't let me down.

I also finally received the Shun Classic bread knife that Gabe got me for Christmas (the company he ordered it from originally sent him a completely different knife than what he ordered). This is the knife I needed to complete my knife collection. It is beautiful. Now my Shun Classic santoku is no longer lonely. Those two are very happy together. That bread knife seriously slices bread like it's butter. Gabe and I are both impressed. And I am oh so smitten.