Goof!

Hardin has become quite the goof.  This is him goofing off while I'm trying to get him to eat dinner.  He's a mess!  And I have a feeling that although the boy may look like me, he's got a lot of his daddy's wild ways charm up his sleeve! 

Doug. Dougie... or Dog?

Well, we knew the day would come.  The day we'd go to get Hardin out of bed and he wouldn't leave without his buddy Doug.  It's happened a few times this week, and I don't think H could be more excited that Doug exist outside of his crib!  He gets so excited when he remembers he's down stairs.  He gives him all kinds of kisses and hugs.  For the record, I still have the floppy dog I carried around as a child.  I'm digging it out this weekend.

We are still working on our animals, and Hardin thinks Doug is a dog.  He calls him dog and barks at him all the time.  He barks at our neighbors dog too.  It's the sweetest little woof woof woof you'll ever hear.  Unless it's at 5:15 am.  That's when he started barking at ole' Doug this morning.  I just knew he'd start fussing to get up or go right back to sleep.  I was wrong.  He sat in the bed and barked at Doug, laughed, read his cloth book, practiced his favorite words, walked around, barked some more, laughed some more.  Until Jason got in the shower at 7:15.  Then the boy laid right back down and went to sleep.  Right in time for Jason to keep me awake.  I don't get up before 7:45 unless a force I can't control makes me.  He's too young for them to be in cahoots right?

I was also thinking this Christmas outfit was going to be strictly for Ft. Myers, I was wrong about that too.  It's been in the 70s this week, and we've enjoyed every moment outside we could!  Even if it is pitch dark.

It stuck!

Well, the walking stuck.  Hardin officially spends more time on his feet than his knees now.  The only time he crawls is if we are playing the "I'm gonna tickle you..." chase game.  He still loves that.  And to get to a chair or something to pull up on.  He's not yet mastered the standing up with no help.

He follows Jason around until he gives him his golf club, my golf club really, Jason leaves mine sitting around all over the place to practice swinging.  Hardin has also picked up on that.  Jason will say "show me your swing buddy," and H will swish his arms just like daddy.

Have I mentioned how much I love my boys lately?  If not, I should.  I love them.  And just when I think I can't love them anymore, I do! 

What a week!

This week was nuts. NUTS.  But I did get to meet The Grinch.  That was exciting.  I read the book to Hardin every single day.  And every single day I tear up at the end.  I've always been a sucker for it, but now it reminds me of a picture I took of my B and Hardin last year, and that really gets to me.  That picture is framed in my kitchen also, that's totally normal right?

So far this month I've had 24 HARD closings and five Christmas parties, all with a pretty gnarly head cold.  At least I got to take H to two of the parties.  The pictures from Santa #2 are below.  The other two work ones were this past Thursday and Friday.  I rushed home from both days to hang out with Hardin and then at bedtime I got myself all dolled up and headed out.  One was at Turner Field.  That's no where near Winder.

Between all of it I felt like I hit the ground running at 7:30 and didn't stop until 11 or later every night.  That is NOT how I like to live.  Quite the opposite, and it sure made me thankful for my relatively calm life most of the time.   

Saturday I had a lazy morning with H and then Faith and I took a photography class in the afternoon.  The class was great and I learned a lot.  That said, I'm not sure how much it will help with taking pictures of my non stop moving boy that doesn't hang out in perfect lighting all the time...  but I can't wait to try anyway.  I came home from class, got H ready for bed, and headed to meet Jason at yet another Christmas party at our club.  That one was super fun though.  Too much fun in fact!

Today was super lazy, and by far, my most favorite day.  The only thing productive we did was a quick trip to Walmart and to drop off a ton of stuff at Goodwill.

Finally, the most exciting thing all week happened about an hour before bed tonight.  Hardin has been perfectly capable of walking for a while, he's just chosen not to.  He'd take a few steps, and then drop to his knees to crawl as soon as he needed to get anywhere.  Well...  tonight we were coloring (read: taking out all the markers, crayons and colored pencils and throw them all over the place), and he picked up the eraser and put it in his mouth.  I went to reach for it and he crawled away really quick.  Then he got to the sofa, stood up and walked right across the room.  Then he did it again, and again, and again.  It must have been a magic eraser because he walked his happy little proud self all over this house.  It was so cute.  SO cute.  I have no idea if he'll keep it up, nor am I worried if he doesn't, but it sure was fun tonight!

His face absolutely cracks me up in this one!  He must think we are all crazy.

Laughing at the Walmart mirrors.

I whistle at him to look at me for pictures.  He's now trying to whistle back.

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see him sit like this.  Not sure why, but I love it!

Look at him go!

No naps for mama.

This was the first weekend in a while that I haven't taken long naps with Hardin.  I missed them, but we sure did have fun!

The fun started Thursday with Santa, take two, at a work event.  I have yet to see the pictures, but I am dreading them because I was on Santa's lap as well.  He saw H clam up as we walked in, patted his knee and said "have a seat mama."  I quickly told the jolly old fella that I'd squash him, and he told me his knees were made of titanium and to sit down. 

Saturday morning we had take three.  Breakfast with Santa at the club.  Hardin didn't cry, but he did the full body flex and squirmed his way right out of Santa's arms.  Progress?  I'll let you be the judge.

Daddy stayed to play in the Holiday Scramble and we headed to Athens.  My friend Libba was in town with her 18 month old and we met them at her mom's.  The boys were too cute together and it's crazy what a difference 5 months makes in their looks.

While in Athens we swung by the Elephant Trunk to pick up a few pairs of bigger knee socks.  Three outfits later, I was reminded of something my dad said to my mom every time she came home from a shopping trip bragging about her deals...  Remember that nothing at full price is less than anything at half price.  Even at half price, that place is highway robbery.  But it sure is cute!

We got home just before 2, put Hardin down for a nap and I rested for a few minutes before Mary Ellen and Liddie arrived.  We planned on going to the Christmas Parade at 4, but my little turkey slept until 4:15.  We hung out and ate Mexican instead.  That was just as fun!

Today we all met Faith at the Yellow River Game Ranch.  I hadn't been since elementary school, so I was pretty excited myself.  I was so proud of H for being so brave.  I have to admit, I was a little worried he'd be scared of the animals.  We don't have any pets, and he is NOT fond of our neighbors big mean dog that barks at him all the time.  He was feeding the little goats right out of his hand.  Big brave boy!

We are going to work on our animals some more.  He called everything either a duck or a dog.  I took pictures of all the animals so I could make him a little flip book to look through.  Hopefully it will help to see the actual animals instead of cartoon drawings in books.

It was much colder when we got there than when we left our house, so H ended up wearing a sweat shirt I bought for Cawley and sweet Faith's jacket over his legs.  I also ended up feeding H as many graham crackers as the animals, but all in all it was a success!

We followed that up with lunch at Chili's.  H hammed it up there flirting with Faith.  He was way too late for his nap, but if you can't break a schedule for the game ranch and lunch with great friends, when can you? 

One more thing.  Jason played East Lake today.  That means absolutely nothing to me, but it sure was a big treat for him, so I'm glad he was able to go. 

Safe Play

After our trip to the park last Wednesday, I made it my mission to teach H how to get down off things safely.  He would get to the end of a tunnel and get so scared he wouldn't even try and get down.  We practiced and practiced and practiced this past week, and he has mastered flipping to his belly to get down.  He can get down off the sofa, beds, stairs, you name it.  He loves showing off his new skill also!  The tunnel isn't as high as the sofa, so he doesn't even have to flip all the way over to get out now.  Such a big boy! 

And yes, I realize his shoes are nasty and beat up. I put the same ones on him for the park because he drags his feet all over the equipment and scuffs up the shoes.

Still catching up...

I took so many pictures over our four day break that I am still catching up!  Here are a few more I had to post before moving on.

This one melts my heart.  I just love how Hardin is holding his hand under his face looking at Jason, and pointing his other little finger right along with daddy.  H is obsessed with his books right now, and will bring you one, after another, after another, after another...  As much as we both love reading to him, sometimes after the 17th time reading the same 4 favorite books it gets old, but we don't stop.  He has started to make the noises and motions before we even turn the page now, and will go find a specific book if you ask.  Example, if you say "where's your rooster book?" he'll find the farm book and say his version of cock-a-doodle-do. 
This is the two handed banana shovel we go through every morning.  As soon as we start going down the stairs he starts bouncing up and down saying NANNY, NANNY, NANNY.  He eats it as quickly as I can cut it up. We follow that with oatmeal made with milk and apple sauce stirred in.  He's a creature of habit like his daddy.  I also forgot to note for my own records, we have been off the bottle for a week or so now. 

I thought this one was so cute.  Cat and Lil met us Saturday to run some errands and have lunch.  Chili's with those two is actually very fun at this age.  They can eat table food, are confined to a highchair and are easily entertained.  Cawley stayed home with Justin so it was just us and the babies.  They picked out each others Christmas gifts at Costco, had a ball looking at everything and riding around.  You can also see how lazy Cathy and I are. Since we ate a late lunch, there was no way we were cooking supper... she has a calzone for Justin and I have a pizza for Jason.    Surefire way to a McWhorter's heart!

 I've been trying to catch the little spout he's been sporting on his head, this is the best I've got so far. 

Finally, I'm 99% sure we've got some molars coming through.  He's had swollen gums, crazy drool and this sad face.