A little more...

Here's a bit more.... the sink wall. We're closing off that door, which goes to the patio, but we never use. The fridge will slide in there, and on the right end will be a built in oven/microwave combo. We're getting convection for both, I'm curious to see what that does for my cooking. I think just having an oven that will fit 2 dishes at once will be a huge improvement!! And again... more drawers!










The other wall is a bit harder to explain. We're taking most of the wall out and creating a big arch between the kitchen and the living/playroom that is on the other side (connects to our patio, for those who have been here). In the corner we are building in a banquette seat, inspired by this picture from our favorite magazine. But since we're taking the wall out, the area above the backrest will be open to the other room.




We wouldn't want to ignore the most fun thing in our house... the kid! Miles loves this picture from Thanksgiving week. He's been carrying it around everywhere, talking about driving the John Deere tractors. He did get to sit on a real gator at PaPa Bill's place on Thursday, so that cemented the John Deere obsession.

For some reason today he's been telling me that we're going to Chik-fil-a and a basketball game tonight. We're not. I have no idea where he came up with that, but he seems to be convinced. Maybe we'll at least squeeze in the Chik and a little ball at home.

And not to be left out, little sister is currently playing soccer with my pancreas. She's a very active kid, much more so than I remember with Miles. So I think she just wanted a shout-out on the blog so we don't forget her. It's okay baby girl, we're not forgetting about you!

Have a great weekend!!

Add another to the fire....

So lets see what all we've got cooking now....
~ toddler on the go, check
~ baby due in 3 months, check
~ holiday season (that description seems to over-simplify, no?), check

What else should we try doing now? Oh, how about a full kitchen renovation. YES!!!

For those of you who have visited our home, you were no doubt subjected to the explanation of our poor, outdated kitchen. "We've got big plans..." "Someday we're gonna...," "Oh, just slide that floor tile back in place..."

No more. And no backing out! We have the cabinets and appliances on order, we're hoping to start the work around Christmas. Of course I don't mean "we" in the literal sense... no way we could attempt to do this ourselves. But the guys that are doing it have their schedules ready for us.

So here's the rundown of the plans....
Here's the cabinet door:
It's "Antique White" with "Chocolate Glaze" - basically the glaze collects in the corners and ridges, supposedly a highly effective trick for disguising fingerprints!

And here's a wall by wall look at old vs. new:
~ Soffits coming out to allow for staggered height cabinets
~ Cabinet/counter will turn the corner to fill the empty space
~ Gas cooktop shifting down - safer for little reaching hands, also space to set groceries when we get home.
~ Look at all the drawers! I have 2 functioning drawers currently. TOTAL. This will be amazing.





I actually sat down and mapped everything in the current kitchen/storage to it's location in the new cabinets and I have empty spaces still! I know that won't last, but I'm amazed at how much more space I'll get in basically the same footprint.

Okay this is getting long, so I'll save the other info for another day. Have a great Wednesday!

The Grand Entrance

photos

I meant to add that there are updated photos from the weekend at the Shutterfly link to the right (more Photos of Miles).

Gobble Gobble!

In preparation for my 3rd trimester discomfort we decided to make a big trip to see the family at Thanksgiving this year, and stay home for Christmas. All of our family is in the state, so it makes for a pretty convenient route. So last Friday we packed up our things and the dogs and headed west. The first stop was for a couple of nights at YaYa & B's to play with them and cousins Evan & Kate. They had big fun as usual and it was a nice way to kick off the big week. We dropped the dogs at the kennel in Nashville (our usuals in Knoxville were full) and continued westward to my family in Memphis.

We kicked off Turkey week with lunch of the bird and all the trimmings at BeeBe & PopPop's on Sunday afternoon. Miles is a fan of turkey and cranberries, but oddly refused to eat sweet potatoes all week (he loves them at Calypso.) We played trains and Miles napped in his cool new fire engine sleeping bag, then after a quick visit to Gee Gee Mama (my maternal grandma) it was over to Mimi's to crash.

Monday Mimi, Wayne, Miles and I played at the Children's Museum where he was really into the fire engine, the airplane cockpit and the mini-Kroger, complete with a mini-carts & working cash register (daddy had fun running that). Later we stopped by to see my paternal grandmother and entertain her for a little while.

Tuesday we went back to PopPop's for a true tourist must-see in Memphis: the Peabody ducks!! ( I have video for another post). I had never seen the spectacle either, so we parked it by the red carpet to take in the show. After a bite to eat we hopped on the Main Street Trolley for a loop around downtown. We made it a full Memphis day with a barbecue dinner, then turned it in.

Wednesday we took it a little easier, playing trains at Mimi and PawPaw's and chasing the cat around. We did trek out to ride the carousel at the mall, where we ran into Uncle Gus who was out shopping too. He had fun riding the "horse" with Miles, but I'm not sure if Miles was a huge fan of the ride. He clutched the pole the whole time! The first ride he wouldn't even sit on the animals, just rode in the sleigh with daddy and PawPaw.


Back at the house we got ready for the big Turkey dinner with Gee Gee Mama, Uncle Kiley and Aunt Megan. Miles had fun entertaining them all, and I think Kiley had a pretty fun time designing some innovative Thomas track layouts. Miles was much better at sharing the trains with the rest of the family than he is at home. We hear "NO daddy! Percy no go!" quite often when it's just the three of us.



Thanksgiving morning we hit the road back to Nashville - actually Leipers Fork - for a Thanksgiving day feast with uncle Shay's dad. PaPa Bill was very welcoming to extended family from all directions, Wayne and I think there were almost 30 people there! After another day of play with the cousins and YaYa & B (and a reunion with the pooper-doopers) we finally returned to the homestead on Saturday.

We had a fantastic time visiting everyone and Miles has already been asking "where's your suitcase?" - ready to pack and head back on the road! I don't know when we'll see all the family again, but hopefully a little event coming in, oh 90(!) days or so will garner a few visits to the Knoxville area. This week gave us something to be truly thankful for: being with all those we love the most and celebrating.

Gobble gobble, everybody!

Cowboy school

So Miles is really taking to the cowboy thing... I hung a new map in his room and he noticed the buffalo on Montana, so I sang some "Home On the Range." Not satisfied with my knowledge of 4 lines of the song, I downloaded the classic Gene Autry version about 15 minutes ago. We're already on the 6th play and counting.

boy oh boy

Oh where, oh where does the last quarter of the year go? I mean, wasn't it warm just a little while ago and now it seems like Christmas is almost here? I cannot believe Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. I'm trying to work on the Thanksgiving concept with Miles. He got Halloween, but is pretty much skipping straight to Christmas. It's partly my fault.. he had the Hallmark Halloween tree and started asking "where is Halloween tree?" I told him Halloween is over, but we'll have another tree soon at Christmas. So he's told a few people (including his stylist today) "Hall-ween over. Kiss-mass is next." So, sorry, Pilgrims, Native Americans, Squanto and Tom the Turkey. Better luck next year.

Since I've been a slacker blogger this week, here's the quick rundown of all the things Miles is diggin' right now.

.: Miles has been really into looking for the moon lately - and of course we've been in the waning/new moon stage so it's "not there". I picked this up for his room, hopefully I can hold off until Christmas to give it to him!!

.: Glad we have a piano here, even if it is sometimes in the way. He's been hopping up and serenading us all week. He'll just bang around and sing "Old MacDonald" or something. We played a duet of "Yellow Submarine," then he learned that my songbook has "Happy Birthday" so that's his go-to song now. Oh, and he doesn't like scales.

.: He does an awesome chicken dance. I will definitely try to get that on video.

.: He's a GREAT big brother to his dogs. His newest jobs around the house are putting Chelsea in her box before we leave the house and feeding the dogs. He can box Chelsea up, no problem. Gives her a treat and locks her in. The feeding requires a little supervision, as he really enjoys the scooping and pouring part - they'd get really fat if we left them to him! He puts their bowls on the floor, scoops each their food (they're on different diets), then makes them sit until he says "OKAY!". Such a great helper!!

.: This weekend he learned to "tackle" B and daddy in the yard. Although his jacket is the wrong color, he was all about some football, getting down, saying "Hut Hut!" and charging at his opponent. He's definitely all boy!

Howdy!

This was it, the year Miles got into Halloween. We dressed up all day, first for playgroup then for the evening of fun at the house. Miles was the best darn cowboy east of the Mississippi, even without cowboy boots.

Halloween morning we played at his friend Isabella's house. Isabella has a brand new baby sister, Ellie, and Miles was really sweet with her. On the drive over I talked with him about not touching her face, but touching her toes, and he repeated those rules many times when looking at her. I think he's starting to get the whole "baby sister" concept. He'll pat my belly and say "baby sister" in a cute little cooing voice. The other day I was wearing a dress and Wayne asked Miles where baby sister is. Miles started lifting up my skirt to get to my belly! Thankfully we were just at the house, but I guess we should start working on those boundaries.

Anyway, back at Isabella's house, cowboy Miles donned the stethoscope and became the prairie doctor. He was by joined his cowgirl friend, Millie, and Pocahontas (Isabella), as well as an angel, a Tennessee cheerleader and Diego. When Miles saw Ava, the cheerleader, he started his own round of football cheers. He still shouts "go big Orange" and "go Vols!," but somehow the generic "go football go!" is now stuck in his repertoire too.

When daddy got home from the office, we all got on our western gear. Wayne and I decided to dress up too so Miles would be more likely to keep his hat on, but I think he would have been just fine without us. We played out in the gorgeous evening, oddly light for Halloween with the late time change this year. The family across the street had their annual gathering for their 5th grade daughter's friends. Once they all assembled, about a dozen girls came traipsing across the yard to see Miles. The girls were a rainbow - each dressed head to toe in a different color. Miles had a big time entertaining them. He and I'd worked all day on saying "Howdy, ma'am" while tipping his hat, so he was quite the charmer.

We decided to trick or treat at the four houses around us where we know the neighbors. So the first stop was Beth & Dan's, the ones having a baby boy next month. I prepped Miles to ring the bell and say "Trick or Treat" and he didn't disappoint. Since this was the first year he carried a treat bag it took him a second to understand what Dan was doing with the bowl of candy. But he quickly got the process and began loading up his own bag! I don't know where he learned about candy corn, but he recognized it and started digging for that.

We played in their yard for a few minutes, tossing the disc with their oldest dog, Cole. Poor Cole was just diagnosed with canine leukemia so he won't be there for much longer. Miles will miss heading to the back yard to "wake up Cole" on the weekends.

Back to Halloween, we then trick or treated a 3 more homes before returning to ours. It was a slow evening, with just about 4 groups at the door. One neighbor about a mile away pulls a hayride with his truck every year, so when we see them coming we know it's time to unload whatever candy we don't want to be stuck with!

Miles enjoyed the ritual dumping of the candy on the floor, and even got a sucker for the bathtub. We'll see if he remembers his stash when he gets home from school today!!

can we rest now?

Here's the quick (yet still exhausting) rundown of our weekend:

1. Friday afternoon: making new friends at the playground. And being silly for mommy.

2. Friday evening: Our favorite pizza out with our neighbors, Beth and Dan. Beth and Dan are having a boy in about a month, so we're excited for new playmates there too. They got some good practice keeping Miles entertained and playing trains at the dinner table.

3. Saturday morning: zoo trip! Since my membership expires this week, thought we'd squeeze in one last free trip. I didn't realize the opening time had changed, so we had to wait to get in. But it was a gorgeous fall morning and Miles loved running around to all the different animal sites. He was really into the ducks and elephants this time. Oh and there's a really fantastic new habitat for the red pandas - you can see them up close and personal!

4. Saturday afternoon: EVAN'S HERE! Uncle Shay and Aunt Elizabeth came for the game and brought Evan to play with Miles. They put in a full weekend's worth in one afternoon... sandbox play, trains, drawing, blueberry pancakes for dinner, bath time and of course, monkeys jumping on the bed. Ah, to be 5 and 2 again! Miles was sad to see Evan go, but hopefully it won't be too long until they can play again.... maybe with Hurricane Kate next time!!!

It's TOY TIME!!

We're back and all better, finally. After bouncing back from two days of lethargy (the mack truck cold?) Miles was in great spirits but still had a persistent cough. Nothing a little homemade sorbet couldn't improve!

Now he's off and running like never before. He's chock-full of cute phrases that I need to make notes of. Wouldn't want to forget these gems. The best (and most common) is "It's TOY time." Variants of this are "Not bath time," "Not nap time," "Not night-night time," well, you get the idea. It's ALWAYS toy time!

He's also big-time into daddy, especially when he gets home from the office. The afternoon ritual is for us to meet him on the driveway for a spin up and down the street. Miles is much more interested in the gadgets - wipers, blinkers, windows, radio - but do NOT deny the kid his drive time. Yesterday I was "powdering my nose" while he was in his room. All of a sudden I hear "Prob-by DADDEEEEEeeeeee" and feet racing down the hall. I followed as fast as I could and rounded the corner to see kitchen door wide open. Laundry door wide open. Exit to garage wide open. Garage empty. No Miles. OH MY GOD. After a slight panic I realized he was already in Wayne's car and on his way for a drive. I must keep that exit door dead bolted, that little booger is too fast for me!

Speaking of toy time, I got a new toy too. I didn't go all the way to SLR (yet) but did make a big step up. This one has a massive zoom and lots of advanced automatic features. And it gives me the option of doing some manual settings, so I'll have to start studying so I can wow you with some great Miles (and baby!) shots.

The wish list starts now

Still camera-less, so this is from a few weeks ago. But I had to share this funny story from our sick days.

Since he was so lethargic the first day or so, we watched some Thomas the Train OnDemand. Of course there is only one show listed, but he could watch it over and over and over. He was so miserable those first days, we'd snuggle in the chair and he'd lie on me to watch.

So now that he's feeling much better, he still wants to watch those shows. "Miles watch Thomas, Percy, Car-bell. Tee-vee," he says. I tried to explain that we watched those when he wasn't feeling well, but now he can go tell his own stories with those trains that he has in his room. To which he responds (with glistening eyes), "GOR-DON! Ann-ieeee, Henry!" Those would be the trains he does NOT own.
See mom, how can I make up stories, I don't have all the players!

"Mies sit on hay. Ride Trak-tor."

That is the oft repeated quote of the happiest boy in the world since Saturday when we joined our Mom & Tots group for a little hayride and pumpkin pickin'. Oh, he knew it would be fun when he saw all his buddies jumping around in a big pit of corn kernels - I'm amazed he didn't have them stuffed all in his shoes! But then he noticed the three orange tractors hooked up for the hayrides and it was all over.

While he wanted to ride the actual tractor, he was fine climbing in the wagon full of hay to be pulled by the tractor. Our driver was one of my former co-workers, so after we stopped we went up for a closer look at the cool ride. Miles could have cared less about the field of pumpkins nearby.


Finally we enticed him out to gather a gourd... he grabbed the first one and started heading back to the tractor! So we found his friends and they distracted him for, oh, 5 minutes. It was really cute how the kids gathered the "kid sized" pumpkins. But Wayne found a nice, big, round one that is now by our front door waiting to be carved. Actually we haven't carved a pumpkin in... maybe ever! So this could be a first. I think Miles will like it, but we'll get a spare pumpkin just in case the sight of us hacking away at pumpkin flesh is too much.

The rest of the weekend was beautiful and uneventful, a perfect combination. But poor Miles woke up Monday with a bad cold. There was a little fever but it's gone now. It's mostly a cough and runny nose. And is he tired or what! He slept in about 1.5 hours both Mon & Tues, and has taken long naps too. Lets hope all that rest is working its healing magic.

And the last minor drama at our house started Saturday evening when we went to Boo! our neighbor. All of a sudden my camera started taking pictures like this. I thought I'd just hit a button, but no. Ever since then when I hit power the lens just opens and shuts several times, then it freezes. Argh! I'm starting to miss taking pictures!! Need...new...camera...now!!

She's halfway done!

Thanks so much for all the excitement after my last post. We're all pretty excited here, although Wayne did mention starting the wedding fund already. I guess he figures she'll get a full scholarship, so no need for a college fund, right? The sonogram went well, everything measured and looked as expected.

She was very cooperative in letting us know she's a she. And she was very feisty, bouncing all around and blocking our views at times. Hopefully those two characteristics don't follow too strongly into the teen years!

They turned on the "4D" system at the end to get this picture of her profile. I was kind of nervous when they did because the sonographer sat back and gave me this little talk about how strange and shocking they may look in "4D" at the stage, yadda-yadda, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Took a second to focus, but looks pretty much like a facial profile to me.

So now we face the next big hurdle in prenatal preparation: choosing a name. Hopefully we'll be a bit more decisive this time and know the name before we're checking out of the hospital (sorry, Miles). Although I am really glad we didn't go with out first choice and waited to meet him before deciding. I still like the name Mason, but he's just much more a Miles.

And then there's the other naming challenge: a new blog name!! Can't be just "More Miles" for much longer!

Speaking of the booger bear, he had a great time at YaYa & B's. In fact for 20 minutes after I picked him up he sobbed "Go back YaYa and B's" over and over. I distracted with my lovely singing voice and we made it home just fine. He didn't seem to care that we moved the crib out of his room while he was gone, so there's a big hurdle cleared.

So we spent the rest of the week catching up on stuff he missed, like driving the neighbor's tractor and eating out with daddy. Tonight we tried a new one - Stir Fry Cafe. He was convinced that sweet and sour chicken was the same as nuggets and sauce, and he totally loved the idea of eating with sticks. Awesome!!

{drumroll please...}

Over the river and through the woods...

Miles paid a long overdue visit to his only Great Grandpa this weekend. They'd never met and he he is already two! Miles had a big time running around the house, giving high fives and chowing on some KFC.

Since PaPa lives halfway between YaYa & B's and our house, YaYa & B made the trek too, but they got to leave with something special - Miles! That's right, Miles is on his very first away-from-home visit ("no mommy, no daddy" as he has said this weekend). He sounds like he's having a blast and probably won't want to come home when I go to get him tomorrow.

While we've of course missed the little booger bear, Daddy and I have had a fun & relaxing weekend ourselves. We got back from "the drop" just in time to see the fantastic, amazing (miraculous?) romp by Tennessee over Georgia. We watched the game at home then met some out-of-town friends downtown for a celebratory dinner.

On Sunday since our "alarm clock" was away, we got to sleep in a bit and enjoy the day. We did both clock some office time before heading out to out favorite Mexican dive - now smoke free! We dined with our neighbors who are expecting their first child in December, so it's not as if we were out for a big night of their yummy margaritas. But somehow we ended up closing the place down, as the staff subtly asked us to leave by blaring some Mötley Crüe.

Anyway, the big news of the week will be a cooperative baby (hopefully) letting us peek at the boy or girl parts tomorrow. So check back soon to see what we learn!

A Pirate's life for me

Pirate Davey turned 4 last week and Miles was more than happy to join in on the fun! We all gathered at Lu and Poppy's house with some other friends that we don't see often enough. It's been fun to watch all the kids grow over the years (meeting annually for this party - check Jen's blog for this year's group shot). This year we had 2.5 new babies joining us - including the half-baked one in my belly.

Speaking of the wee-one... according to the weekly newsletter I get, Noodle (our temporary pet name) is about the size of a small cucumber. I've started feeling the swimming about and am definitely out of regular clothes. Can't wait until next Tuesday when we can start using the gender appropriate pronouns!

Back to the party, Jen had some great pirate themed fun, including hats, scarves and eye patches. Wish I'd thought to video one-eyed Miles growling "Arrrgh." The big boys loved searching for buried treasure on the "beach" out back - a blow-up pool filled with sand and goodies. Miles found some gold doubloons and strings of pearls (Mardi Gras beads). He really loved the beads, wearing home several strands and a giant ring on his thumb!

Oh, have a new find to share with the moms out there.... Gymboree has opened its "Old Navy" version: Crazy 8. There are a few stores, but for most of us, I think it will be online shopping.

Cowboy Miles

Did we really go on vacation just last week? We've been so busy this week, it's all a blur. Miles really missed his playgroup buddies, so we were happy to see them twice this week. On Wednesday we even celebrated Ava's 2nd birthday with Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes and some jumping in the bouncy-house.

Last night I went to a potty training session given by The Potty M.D., Dr. Preston Smith (inventor of the Potty Monkey.) Miles has been doing pretty well peeing on the potty and has started to tell us when he needs to go, but I figured a little free advice couldn't hurt. The Doctor said when you are ready to do it you need to take them to the potty at regular intervals (1-2 hours) and make them stay on the potty for several minutes - not just a "pit stop." I knew about the frequency but hadn't thought about the odds of success by just having him relax and hang out for a while. (He should be willing to do that - goodness knows he's related to enough people who can hang in "the office" for a loooong time.) The other piece of wisdom I gleaned was that potty training is never really over until they're practically teenagers. You're supposed to stay on them, making sure they go regularly through the day, not lapsing back to holding it in because they'd rather keep playing. Keeping them good pee-ers and poopers through the day helps ward off bed wetting, constipation and other fun potty issues that can reemerge.

Anyway, didn't mean to go on for so long about that, but it's a big deal in the house right now. And apparently all I needed to do was attend the session because today.... DRUMROLL please..... Miles pooped on the potty. Yay!!! We had a big celebration for that one. Or two, as the case may be.


Some fun mommy stuff - I signed up for two new websites, Kaboodle and GoodReads, and {love} them both. Kaboodle compiles links to anything you want on the web, including pictures. It's great for keeping ideas for a project (or wish lists!) all in one place. GoodReads is a fun place to keep track of the books you've read and get ideas for new reads from friends. My book club has joined as well as some others, and we've already gotten a great list of books to read next. So if you join either of these, look me up and be my friend!

The beach bums

Ah, the beach. Sun, salt, sand, splashing in the waves. Miles did it all this year and loved it. Last time we were at the beach he was just starting to crawl, so he didn't get much sand time, and just a toe-dip in the waves. This year it was all we could do to manage the full-speed tear across the sand to splash through the surf. He went out to some bigger waves and only got knocked off his feet once, closer to shore. He went under (which cleared out his sinuses!) and was startled enough to not charge the waves the rest of that day. But the misstep was forgotten by the following day. Thankfully we could distract him easily with a shell hunt or digging in the sand.











Our friends Robb and Yen joined us for the first couple of nights. Miles entertained them with his silliness and choo-choo trains, and while they were there he discovered his new love for games. While we played Scrabble, Miles became the tile dealer; during Backgammon or Yahtzee he was the designated roller for all players. The tile dealing worked well and he showed off his counting skills, but the dice rolling was trickier... he wanted to grab them all back as soon as they hit the board. But Yahtzee turned into a great way to get him to clean his plate: "Take a bite, then you can roll again."







We all fell easily into the relaxed beach atmosphere. Miles still slept great at night and for naps, and we even kept up with the potty skills while there. (I think Robb was wowed every time Miles said "No pee-pee on floor!" or "Still DRY!") We ate out at some great places: The Eggs Up Grill had fantastic French Toast that Miles stole from me; Fish Camp served yummy she-crab soup on the back deck, right next to a playground; and of course we went back to Kudzu. This place freezes gourmet entrees so you can cook them at home - great when your little one won't do so well in the fine dining arena. We enjoyed the Cajun Snapper, Crab stuffed salmon and Chicken Saltimbocca. That plus some basic beach fish and chips and I think I hit my omega-3 quota for the week!

We ended up coming home a day early. Some storms were rolling through and we spent Thursday doing indoor stuff - library, shops, ice cream - but decided we might as well drive a day early rather than sit around for another rainy day. Since we came home early we got to celebrate Eileen's 1st birthday! Sadly I forgot my camera, but never fear, Erin took plenty. Just click on Eileen's blog link to see the fun! Miles helped open her presents and then pushed her around on her new Pooh car. What cutie-pies!



Now we're back to reality. Miles was so glad to see his buddies at school again. The night before as he went to bed he told daddy, "Miss Rory" - meaning I miss my pal Rory. Awwww! When I took him into school the kids were already outside and Rory came running over as soon as he saw Miles. Sweet kids.

quick update

I haven't gotten around to the vacation pictures just yet, but I did check a big To-Do off the list: update Shutterfly! My biggest hurdle with the iMac so far was figuring out the best (fastest) way to load pics online... I just figured it out this weekend. So Miles' page has been updated with June, July and August photos, including all the birthday fun! Enjoy!

Link to right (More Pictures of Miles) or click here.