blessed beyond measure

Haircuts at home Both Brandon and Trey got haircuts last night at Mama's Barber Shop, aka our bathroom. I've been cutting Brandon's hair for a long time, and this is Trey's second haircut at home. Not that using an electric trimmer takes a lot of skill, but it sure is a good thing I can do it. Those boys' hair grows faster than lightning. Seriously, Trey has had 8 haircuts in his lifetime, and Brandon is in dire need of a cut every 3 weeks. Saves us around $300 a year. Here's an "after" picture of Trey. Makeshift toys Trey has seemed a little bored with his toys lately, but has been finding amusement in the strangest places. Among his favorite things are pushing his nursery glider back and forth, going through my collection of greeting cards, taking VHS cassettes out of their boxes, and playing the trumpet through an empty paper towel roll. Below is the best of all - who needs expensive light-up/noise toys when you can put a crib mattress on the...

Besides talking, one milestone we've been a little "behind" on is self-feeing with a spoon. Trey handles finger foods well, but honestly has never shown any interest in utensils. I've asked him to help me hold the spoon a few times, but he would do it once and get bored with it. Today I warmed up some mashed potatoes and just handed the spoon to Trey. Voila! He fed himself the entire bowl. Who knew he could do that? Woo hoo! Of course I realize that more practice will be required for foods that aren't thick or sticky. Not to mention patience for my mess-phobic self. But this is a great start anyway.

Bottle per day, that is. Trey went kicking and screaming into this change. When we first started to try and eliminate bottles, we learned that Trey is very specific about which liquids belong in which containers. And neither soymilk nor his formula belonged in a cup. And if he discovered one of these things in a cup, that cup's immediate fate was to be hurled across the room in a violent rage. This made for a very frustrating few weeks, and comments from his Dad about how strange Trey would look carrying around a baby bottle at his prom. I called Trey's doctor and asked if they had any hints. Looking at his weight (or lack thereof), they said we could use chocolate soymilk. That did it! Trey was still resistant to the cup for a while, but once he would take one sip, he'd realize he actually liked it. And now we have no problem with milk in a cup. So we've replaced his two daytime bottles with at least two cups of chocolate soymilk. The only bottle remaining is...

Well, Kelly has tagged me. I still love you, Kel, despite the sarcastic rant to follow. This is not my cup of tea. For two reasons. One, have a quick look at my list of other blogs. Very short. It is going to be impossible for me to tag 7 other people because I don't have 7 friends with blogs. In fact, other than Kelly, I have one. Hey all you people reading this who don't have a blog...get one and send me the link! It's easy and a great way to brag on your family. Two, I'm just not that interesting. It took hours of pondering for me to come up with what is below, and I don't even consider this stuff interesting. Sarcastic rant over. Here we go. RULES: * Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog. * Share 7 little known facts about yourself on your blog. * Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. * Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. 1 - I have an uncanny ability to p...

We had a little time Sunday afternoon to get out and work on the game a little. Trey loves basketball, which really pleases his dad, and he is constantly pointing at our goal outside. Every time we are in the driveway for anything, getting in/out of the car, going to the mail box, or just walking around, he will point at the goal. Since I installed an adjustable goal about 3 years ago (with my future son in mind) I decided to drop it down to around 8 feet to let him take a few shots. This had its limits. I could only hold him in this position for a certain amount of time. Trey showed that if he is ever able to jump this high, he can probably make a dunk. Notice the hang time of dad holding Trey..... Notice that dad is really on the ground. Here's a little bit of the "action." Trey also enjoys golf balls. Not sure if he is a fan of the sport, but he enjoys playing with and throwing the balls. Sometimes it's difficult to practice because he will grab the ball before ...

Saturday was our church's annual community pig roast. This is something I look forward to all year - good food, good fellowship, games, and great music. Trey was a bit too little to really participate last year, but we made up for it this time! Trey and Aunt Whitney entertained the crowd by dancing to Lane & Co. Bluegrass Worship, and of course Trey had to explore the crowd a little. In one of his center-of-attention moods I guess. Trey did try some barbeque pork, which he thought was OK. But what really got him going were two huge deep-fried chicken tenders. Because of his allergy, there wasn't much else for him to eat. Oh, except a blue raspberry sno-cone. Then Grammy and Trey explored another area of the crowd, chased around some acorns, and chugged a grape soda. Once Pawpaw got hold of Trey, it was nonstop fun. This year we had a "train" made out of old barrels and pulled by a 4-wheeler. We weren't sure how Trey would do, if it would scare him or i...

Though a few days early, thought we'd give a little 15-month update on the boy. Moving around Trey runs pretty much everywhere he goes, and he's gotten very good at balancing himself when turning a corner, stopping quickly, and handling surfaces that aren't completely level. When he does walk, he is usually focused on something and not watching where he's going. He's walked right into a few walls in the house. And now...we have a climber. Here's another one with climbing - for some reason Trey started doing this funny face/noise every time he got on top of the stair. Talking It's hard to pick out and VERY sporadic, but I think we have some English happening. Maybe we're reading too much into it, but some of the things he says now sound like real words. Over the last few weeks Trey has said basketball ("ba-ga-ba"), thank you ("tee-koo"), and tick tock ("dee da" - this comes from a mantel clock at Brandon's parents' ho...