Finally! A Post about Tripp!

A few recent stories about Tripp - the boy surprises me every day.

He's trying so hard to talk! Although he's not very good at completing words, he is good at saying one or two sounds within a word, so we generally have an idea as to what he's saying. For instance, "please" is "luh-ease". And yes, he does say it using at least 2 syllables.

Story #1 - We've been trying to get him to say please when he wants something. I was getting very tired of pointing, grunts, yells, & screams. He's done very well with this, and I hear him in the kitchen many times throughout the day saying, "luh-ease". (He's a non-stop eater.) The other day I was baking a cake and had given him the spatula to hold while I was pouring the batter in the pan. The time came when I needed the spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl. I repeatedly asked Tripp to give me the spatula to no avail. Finally, he looked at me & said, "luh-ease." So I said, "Please give mommy the spatula." And of course, he did with a big smile on his face...

Story #2 - As I've mentioned, he eats a lot. And before we eat, he always reminds us to pray. Before we can sit down at the table, he has those little hands clasped together. And although no sound is coming from his lips, he is moving them, nodding his head up & down, & making a valiant effort to close his eyes.

Story #3 - He's quite the magician. He loves to make things disappear, especially his pacifier...between his legs.

"Where'd my pacifier go?"

Allen and I have to act out this whole scenario of looking for the pacifier, asking T if he's seen it, asking each other if we seen it, asking Max if he's seen it...

He thinks it's very funny when we look for it.

Eventually Tripp will hold it high in the air with this expression on his face:

"Here it is!" It cracks me up that he's pointing to it.

And then we exclaim with great joy, "You found it, Tripp, you found it!!!"

Other things he likes to hide:

stuffed animals in toilets

toys in trash cans

himself

Story #4 - He loves popsicles. We were taking a break from the heat and sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor to eat a popsicle. Mid-consumption, he stopped eating, picked up the wrapper, walked to the trash can & threw it in. He started running towards me, all smiles, with his hands outstretched to me. We had to give about 10 high fives for that act of cleanliness. I was so proud, until later that afternoon and found this...

As his Uncle Will said, "Yeah, Tripp. I'd hide my face too if I were you." What a mess!

What are you Reading?

I wish I were a member of a book club - I need to work on this. Seriously, I love to read. I come from a long line of readers. My husband does not. He cannot understand why I've positioned a chair in our living room AWAY (heaven forbid!) from the television. This is my reading chair & I love to sit there at night after Tripp has gone to sleep and read, and read, and read (even though I do have the TV blaring in my ear as Allen watches). Here's what I'm reading right now:

I want to see the movie, but refuse to watch it until I've read the book. Are y'all like this? I CANNOT watch a movie until I've read the book.

I love this author. I got started with her Big Cherry Holler series - fun, quick, easy reads. Now that my brain is able to function a little better after a year's worth of sleepless nights, I'm reading the books she wrote while I was in "infant land."

*On a side note, I just saw on Ms. Trigiani's site that she is offering tours of Italy. I've always wanted to go to Italy and especially now since I'm reading 2 books set in Italy (Still in 1st part of Eat Pray Love). Maybe I should add "Trip to Italy" on my birthday list...a girl can dream!

Just checked out this book from the library:

Although Allen is not a reader, sometimes he lets me read to him. OK, this has happened once:-), but I think, since this is a short read, this might hold his interest long enough to get through the book. By the way, this is the first in a series about men of the Bible. I read this series about women of the Bible and loved it. Actually, I've loved everything she's written.

This is my "waiting to be read" book. All the women in my family have read it & said it's a "must". I can't wait!

Finally, oh finally. This is what's playing in my car right now:

I have a shocking confession to make - I don't remember reading this book. I may have, but I seriously don't remember! I DO remember watching the movie (oh the horror of watching before reading!) in the basement of my junior high school boyfriend's parent's house (enough description for you?) as the book was on our required reading list. Anyway, I only subscribe to one magazine these days, Southern Living, and there was an article recently about the anniversary of the publication. As I was reading to Allen (ok - so he's actually let me read to him twice) about an encounter between Nell Harper Lee & Coach Pat Dye (you know that caught his attention), I knew I had to read this book. But since I'm reading 3 books right now, I decided to get this one on audio. Here's hoping Tripp will learn to appreciate Southern literature as we run to the grocery store & back...:-)

So, what are you reading?

Artists in the Making

This past weekend my mom hosted a painting party at Gracefully Done in Greenville. We had so much fun & I want to do it again soon. Thanks, Mom!

And thanks to Liz Reid! She was a great teacher & I would love to take lessons. Everything in her shop was beautiful!

Big A & Mr. T

Uncle Allen stopped by a while back with a Whataburger Milk Shake. He had no problem getting Tripp to help him finish it...

"Ummm, yeah, he has my pacifier in his mouth. Mom, you see this, right?"

And moving on to # 13 on the list...

#13). The best pair of sewing scissors money can buy!!

Since I've started sewing, or since I've started making an attempt to sew, I'm learning the value of having some really great sewing scissors. You see, I don't have any and I end up with frayed fabric all the time! Makes me a little crazy. Note: Apparently in the sewing world, they're referred to as "shears". Shows you how much I know about sewing...

#14).My mom recently gave me a gold chain from a beautiful necklace Dad bought her for her 50th. I would love a gold pendant/charm to go on it...I love this one that I've seen on Courtney Cox a few times:

Her turtle has diamond eyes and costs over $1k! My turtle doesn't need diamond eyes... In fact I'd be completely happy with a turtle that had NO eyes. I'm not picky about my turtles.

I also love this initial pendant:

This Post isn't about Tripp...Surprised, Right?

*I REALIZE THIS LOOKS CRAZY. I STARTED PLAYING WITH IT & DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO FINISH. SORRY!

For those of you who don't know, I have a birthday approaching soon. Well, "soon" may be pushing it. It's actually in 3 months. November 11, 2010 will mark my last birthday in the 20's. :-( :-( Double sad face. I know I shouldn't be as sad as some people, like Allen, for instance. He turns 30 this year. 30!! And...get this! He is refusing to let me throw a party. "Seriously?", you might ask. Yes, Mr. Allennofun won't let me throw a party, not a flash back 80's party, not EVEN an Auburn party. Go figure.

Anyway, since my birthday's approaching "soon", I thought I'd prepare a list for all interested parties. And feel free to roll this list over to Christmas.

#1.) The Atlantic Armchair

I bought the bench a while back to go on our front porch. I thought it would be substantial enough, but the porch is still lacking. I think this would be perfect in the corner. Since we have newly painted pea soup green (that's really the name & I love the color! Thanks Brad!) shutters, I need new outdoor throw pillows. This leads to me #2 on my list...

#2).Gift Certificate from Fabric.com

Since I've been on this design kick (thanks to Amanda who led me to LittleGreenNotebook - I'm addicted!), I've been painting, sewing, RE-decorating everything in sight! When I found this site, I immediately ordered samples for the border around my curtains. I decided on this (I think):

This is also going on the cushions on the chairs in the dining room - indoor/outdoor fabric will be easy cleanup for all the food that gets thrown around here (I'm sure you can guess who does the food throwing around here - just a hint, it's not Allen & me...). With my GC, I will order these fabrics for pillows on my bench & chair mentioned above:

#3.) Ulu Knife (& a pretty wood or bamboo cutting board to go along with it!)

I chop more onions and garlic than an Italian chef.

#4.) Gift Card to One King's Lane

#5.) Domestic Note Cards from Leslie Graff

I think one large canvas print would be very dramatic in the laundry room (another item on the list of things to REdo!), but I love them all so much, I might just want both sets of print notecards. Which one is your favorite?

OK - I can't decide which one I like best, so I'd like them all! (definitely a mirror image of how I look each & every day. HA!)

#6.) This picture blown up to epic proportions

I've been thinking lately about doing Tripp's room in a vintage circus theme & using blues and reds (he loves the American flag...not sure how he became some patriotic, but I think he'd like the colors. And well, let's be honest, he IS the ringleader around here, anyway). When I saw what April did with this picture, I almost fell out. It's perfect, don't you think?

#7.) The Pioneer Woman Cookbook

#8.) New Front Door

#9.) Old Screen Door

I would love to have a screen door between our kitchen & laundry room. And I so want to paint it a fun color (Allen mimics me saying this all the time "fun color" - I can just hear him now! He generally hates it when I say this) Plus this would hopefully be a good separator for Max & Tripp - those two are always a disaster waiting to happen.

these pictures are a thing of the past, for sure!

#10.)Victoria's Secret dream angels demi bra

I tired to find a picture of just a bra but couldn't - all I found were pics of women wearing bras & I just don't feel right about posting pictures of scantily clad women on my blog. If interested, please call for size...that's something else I don't feel right about posting on the blog. It's a shameful little number (& letter!).

#11.)2 club chairs for my living room

something similar to this. I found this one at Pier1...of course the cushion would have to be recovered in a "fun fabric", don't you think, Allen?

#12.)Rug for my living room

To be honest, I'm not even sure what I want. I'm thinking just a plain sisal or jute. But I adore this rug:

and this one:

and this one (actually, I think I heart this one. what do you think, mom? too much?):

OK, OK...enough day-dreaming. This mama's gotta' go change a diaper & refill a sippee cup. I'll be sure to update the list on a regular basis...:-):-) (double happy face - I love lists!)