Fort Wars, Atlanta, Jack Being Crazy

Two weeks ago our nanny, Jennie, was sick so I had to stay home from work to care for Jack. It was a rainy day, and I had a lot of energy for some reason, so I decided to build a fort for Jack. This plan was actually mentioned in our last posting. Little did I know that the construction of one little for would turn into a John vs. Erin Fort Building Competition. No. Make that WAR!!!

The first fort pictured is my puny, novice effort on Day 1 of Fort Wars. I was so proud of it! Jack loved it, too. He liked reading his books with his Daddy's camping head lamps on!

The fort below is what I came home to on Friday morning after going into work for a few hours. Jennie was still ill so John stayed with Jack for a couple of hours. When I walked in the house, I could tell I had been outdone. John's fort had two entrances to my one, more square footage, and better use of materials overall.



But I can't lose. Well...I can lose, but not without putting up a decent fight. So, GAME ON!!!

This is what happened:


After a trip to Lowe's ( to buy the tarp/fort roof), a trip to KayBee Toys (to buy the tunnel/Entrance #1), and forty minutes of hard work, I had constructed the Mother Ship of all forts, ever. And Jack clearly preferred it above anything he had ever seen in his life including Elmo. We kept the fort up for about a week until we realized we would actually like a place to sit while we ate. All of our kitchen table chairs were used in the fort process. It was fun, but I'm afraid that I will come home one day and my fort will have been outdone. Again. But for now, I have the bragging rights for sure. And I'm obviously using them as I write almost an entire blog about it.


Jack fell asleep one day at Target. I think we go there so much for diapers and other baby stuff that he feels like it's his second home. Obviously he's comfortable there! The duck under his head was a toy I pulled off the shelf to occupy him while we wheeled around the store, but then he fell asleep on it, and I ended up having to buy it!

Two weekends ago we went to Atlanta! Jordan and Trevor had flown in from Boston to celebrate Gigi's birthday with the entire family. Jeffrey had 3 games against Virginia Tech, so Jack experienced some baseball. He enjoyed climbing on the bleachers, pushing his wagon around with Jordan and Trevor and looking out for Buzz, the Georgia Tech mascot. At first Buzz was a little creepy, but then Jack warmed up to him and couldn't stop asking for him. It was great to have the family all together!

Jack got another haircut on Saturday. We went to a different place this time because we heard the kid's chair was really cool. And the rumor was true! Isn't this the coolest hair cutting chair you've ever seen?

Jack's newest trick is sliding head first off of the ottoman. We don't like this new trick. It's scary.

This is one of those pictures where I look at Jack, and I'm amazed at how big he's getting! I had to buy him a new pair of tennis shoes today because he had outgrown all of his others. The shoes look so HUGE!

And as for other exciting news, Jack is going to be a BIG BROTHER in September!!! We're all very excited about another baby! That will probably mean even fewer blog posts than we can post now with the little amount of time we seem to have, but it'll be twice the entertainment!

Hope everyone is having a great afternoon!

GO HEELS!!!!! GO HEELS!!!!! GO HEELS!!!!!

18 Months

Jack turned 18 months old last Friday! I can't believe that he's a year and a half old now. Time is flying, Jack is growing, and we're having so much fun with him. He had his 18 month check up on Tuesday, and he was healthy. He's still tall, skinny and his head is giant. That's what happens though when you're abnormally smart and your cranium has to expand to hold all of that excessive knowledge. Or that's what happens when your parents are blessed with super skull size. We're betting on the former.

Along with the growth in physical size, Jack's growth in attitude has been astronomical. He's having tantrums now, and despite how aggravating and outright maddening they can be, John and I cannot help but to laugh (in secret of course) at how funny Jack expresses his emotions. We've been trying time out with Jack, which we think is working somewhat. We'll make him sit in the corner away from all of his toys and away from us. He'll sit there and look at us and then scream, then hit the wall, then shake his head, hit the wall again and say "AHHH!!!". It's just funny to think that in his mind, all of those things sound like good options, like "This will show them!!!" If I could install a hidden video and record one of these episodes, I would, and then I'd put it on You Tube so everyone could enjoy it. All in all, though, Jack continues to be well behaved. He's great at saying please ("peez") for anything he wants, and he's getting better at saying thank you ("ay-ooh") in return. Very cute.

Here's what the little guy has been up to lately.



This is the ball pit that we got Jack for Valentine's Day, because we all know that you can only show your love to a child by getting him more toys. Especially when they're toy deprived like Jack. Ha! John and Scout decided to join in the fun. The balls in the pit are red, green, blue and yellow. I reasoned this purchased by saying it would help him learn his colors, which it has. He's pretty good at recognizing blue. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't buy the ball pit because it reminded me of my childhood joys spent at the Burger King playground on Summit Ave. Matt, you know you loved it, too.

Jack enjoys the playground at Belfair so much! It is a pretty awesome playground afterall. He likes to climb the stairs by himself and slide down the slide without any assistance. Jack prefers belly-down, feet first. This picture was taken at the chain ladder part of the playground, which time and time again proves to be the greatest physical challenge to Jack. He'll steady himself on one chain rung of the ladder, but when he picks one foot up to move upward, the stationary legs starts wobbling, he ends up straddling the lower rung and his legs are too short to get him off. I wonder when we pull up to the playground and Jack realizes where we are if part of him dreads the chain ladder attempt of the day. Probably. It does look painful.


Jack tried to kiss Shelby yesterday at One Hot Mama's. He didn't quite hit the target, but the both laughed and thought it was funny. By the way, Shelby is a new big sister! Her brother, JP, was born on January 13th, and he's such a cutie. I'll post a picture of JP soon.

This is the face John and I get right after we repremand Jack for doing something he's not supposed to be doing. This is pre time out face.

Jack is pretty much self sufficient at the dinner table now. It gets messy, especially when it's ravioli night as pictured above, but he's learning.

A few Saturdays ago, we went to the beach for an hour or so with Jason and Lauren. Jack was a maniac trying to get to the ocean! He made a beeline as soon as we got there and our attempts at distraction failed miserably. "Jack, no, no...you're mistaken. There's no water here. What?? That big body of blue that we're letting Scout play in? Only a mirage, buddy. Here's a shovel. Go play in the sand that just been replinished by the beach anti-erosion committee that's really not sand, but more mud with dog poop mixed in. That sounds like fun, now doesn't it?" He just wouldn't buy it.

Jack is proving to have the skills of an artist! He scribbles and eats the crayons with the best of them! Thanks to nanny Jennie, Jack has made some beautiful artwork that is displayed on our refrigerator door! Turns out he likes abstract!

Hope everyone is doing well. If you're reading this today, please pray for our nanny's health! She's got the yucky stomach bug that's been going around. And pray for Jack. He has a fever, but it's not slowing him down! I'm at home from work today. It's raining outside, so we're going to build a fort. More for me than for him.
And cheer hard for the HEELS tonight! They're playing GT at GT.

Confused

This is Jack's happy face after learning that UNC beat dook last week! He couldn't stop smiling.

We've been busy since the last posting. We went to Atlanta two weekends ago with Josh and Erin Hall (one of my college roomies and her hubby). It was a lot of fun! We went on the Coca Cola tour which was neat. They let you try a bunch of Coke products from other countries. Very interesting/disgusting! I can't remember where this particular soda was from, but if you're ever out of the country and you find yourself purchasing a soda called "Beverly"...try to find yourself giving the soda back and getting your money. It's terrible. I believe someone described it as dumpster juice with fizz. And who names a soda "Beverly"? I'm no marketing expert, but I'm not so sure that the word "Beverly" screams refreshing. Jack enjoyed watching the coke machines fill the bottles, and he danced to all of the old Coke commercials that were playing. We also got to see Jeffrey play in an intra-squad game. I wish we had some pictures, but we were all so busy chasing Jack that we didn't get any really good ones.





These above two pictures may explain why this blog is titled 'Confused.' Jack enjoys emailing in the nude and bathing with his clothes on!

Jack loves bath time more than anything, so usually, when we turn the water on, he'll run to the tub and do this excited little dance/cry until we put him into the water. Two nights ago, we realized after he was quite for a second, that he had actually climbed into the tub, FULLY CLOTHED! It was so funny, but a little scary, too, knowing that he could get in there by himself. He then took his post bath naked run around the house, climbed up into the computer desk chair and started clicking and typing away. He's got things a little mixed up.


Jack made his Mama proud when he showed interest in her shin guards last night. Everytime he throws or tries to catch something, people say, "He's gonna be a baseball (basketball, football) player." No one ever says he'll be a soccer player. Soccer's cool for guys, too, right? I mean, I don't see David Beckham getting any grief over it. Of course, John didn't like the fact that he took a liking to something pink, but we tried to look past that. We both thought the shin guards made him look like a hockey goalie anyway. Either way, it'll be fun to see what he's eventually interested in. Right now, it's Elmo, Mommy, Daddy and raisins!

GO HEELS!!!

Tonight we play dook. CHEER HARD!!! Thought you might enjoy this little picture.

Jackie turns 18!!!

John's sister, Jackie, turned 18 on the 10th! Happy Birthday, Jackie! Her parents were kind enough to host a surprise party in her honor at Berkeley Hall. We think she was really surprised. Unfortunately...I didn't take any pictures! She looked beautiful in her dress! I'll post some pictures if I can get some from Genie. Here Jackie and Jack are posing in her kitchen. Jackie is excited that Jack recognizes her and gets excited when he sees her. By the way, Jackie's going to NC State next year! GO PACK!!!

Chuck, one of John's UNC roommates, got married on the 13th! His bride's name is Angela. Dr. Angela. And Dr. Chuck. Nauseating, really. Just think how smart their kids will be.

The other day when it was 80 degrees outside, I thought Jack might like to mix art time with outside time. And I was right. He colored with his new crayons. The huge ones that are for little kids. And he loved it! He got more on the driveway than the paper, but he did manage to complete his first masterpiece, which is hanging in his Daddy's office. Scout went on the outdoors art field trip, too, as you can see by the hairy paw in the background. Scout and Jack continue to be best buddies. Every time we pull into our driveway, Jack begins his repetitious "doggy, doggy, doggy" chant that doesn't stop until we're in the door and he's received a few licks from his hairy older brother. It's cute.

This is Jack's Elmo doll that he affectionately refers to as 'Melmo'. My Mom and Dad got Melmo for Jack while we were on our vacation over New Years. Since then, he has not slept without Melmo. In fact, he gets fretful near bedtime when Melmo is nowhere to be found. This weekend my parents are coming to town and bringing a back up Melmo with them. Just in case. And I should probably start calling him Elmo instead of Melmo. I don't want to be one of those parents who starts calling people and things what their children do. John would be 'Da-da' and Scout would be 'goggy'. And I would be strange.


Jack is so full of personality these days, and I think this picture shows that. He had just gotten out of the bathtub and was getting ready for his post bath naked house run. It's seems to be his favorite way to dry off.

John and I are doing well. John continues to be busy with work, which is a good thing. Our New Year's resolution is to take our house, room by room, and get rid of the stuff we don't want or need anymore. So far, we haven't made much (any) progress on that, but hey, it's only January, and there's something freeing about that. Like the feeling of a Friday night once you've started a weekday, 9-5 job. You know what I'm talking about. The go to MiTierra's and scarf down an entire chimichanga and glass of sweet tea because no one will care if you are overeating cause it's Friday night feeling. Maybe I'm alone on that one.

Christmas Vacation

This Christmas we traveled all over the place: Greensboro, Las Vegas, Sedona, Scottsdale/Phoenix, and back to Greensboro again! We spent Christmas with my family and then headed to NV on the 26th-2nd. Jack stayed behind with my parents. It was so hard leaving him, but very worth the time spent with my husband and the Ussery and Smith families!


Santa visited Jack in Greensboro. He got a basketball goal, this Superman that sings 'Itsy Bitsy Spider" (John think this emasculates the super hero), some books, an Aquadoodle, a lawnmower, stacking blocks and some UNC shirts. His favorite gift was a singing Grinch that Gammy gave to him. We're on the 2nd set of batteries already.


Here's Jack amidst the chaos.


Gigi, Jackie, Jordan and I posed for a picture underneath the glass pansies in the Bellagio hotel. They had some of the best Christmas decorations I had ever seen. That night we watched the dancing water fountain show in front of the Bellagio. Very Oceans 11, huh? We stayed at Caesar's Palace. I was confused most of the time just trying to find the elevator to our room.

Another shot in the Bellagio. These are all the original Ussery kids plus the 'additions' (Trevor and me). Believe it or not, John and I managed to see Vegas without gambling a penny. We did get to see Seinfeld perform, which was hilarious! After Vegas, we headed to Sedona. What was supposed to be a 5 hr drive turned into about a 7 hour drive due to traffic over the Hoover Dam and a pretty impressive snowfall in Arizona.

We finally made it to Sedona! Jordan had planned a rock climbing adventure for us, but we had to cancel because of the snow. Rats. But we did get to hike some trails. One trail led to this red rock formation. Some of us were more daring than others. John, Jeff, Jordan and Ramsey climbed to the top while the rest of us stayed below (Jackie, who wanted to climb farther, Austin, Logan, Trevor and me).

After Sedona, we headed to our final destination: the Phoenician! What a beautiful resort! Among our activities were: golf, hiking Camelback Mountain, working out, relaxing, Pilates class, bellydancing class, Bocce, ballroom dancing class, lying by the pool, sleeping in, playing Catch Phrase and Pit, kicking the soccer ball, throwing the frisbee, tennis, etc., etc! We had so much fun with the Smiths and Ussery! Thanks for the vacation!!!

Here is Mr. Smith, Ramsey and Trevor teaching a tennis clinic at the Phoenician, which is mainly the reason we were able to go. Unfortunately a nasty cold ran among our group for part of the trip, but it seemed that the Smith men pulled off a great clinic. And I would know because I am a tennis expert. Jordan and Mrs. Smith played Hale Irwin's wife and daughter and BEAT THEM! WHOO HOO!!! I noticed that in order to be accepted among the Smith/Ussery crowd, you have to be at least moderately competitive.

Here's a view of one of the pool decks at the Phoenician. So beautiful. The weather was cool for this time of year. Highs in the mid-sixties. But the pools were heated and you could pull off sunbathing during the afternoon.

This picture was taken about 1/4 of the way up Camelback Mountain.



Why we thought staring directly at the sun was a good idea, I will never know. But, alas, we made it to the top of Camelback. From here you could see over all of Phoenix and Scottsdale. Breathtaking (and blinding)!

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Jack played, ate, ran, visited and talked the ears off of Mimi and Poppy (the Grandfather formerly known as PiPi). He regained his appetite and along with that a few extra pounds, 4 new molars, some new toys, and another black eye. I don't think he missed us one bit, but we sure were excited to see him again.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Best wishes for a wonderful 2007!

Angus Barn Blowout

Last weekend, John, Jack and I traveled to NC for the Kincaid/Gardner/Ussery annual Angus Barn Trip. My Grandad ("Deda" pronounced DEE'-dah) treats us every year to a fun and yummy dinner at the Barn. It was so nice to see family, feel cold air against our skin, and enjoy a Christmas family tradition. We had this picture taken before we sat down to eat because we knew things could digress quickly having a 15 month old along. It's funny to think about the things we do to try and hold Jack's attention to smile during picture taking. You can tell that we gave up quickly for this photo as we settled for just getting him in the picture.



Look at Anna! Isn't she beautiful??? She entertained Jack for most of our mealtime. He loves his cousins!

Do you like Jack's Christmas pants? They're actually his pajama pants. You're probably thinking we were smart parents for changing Jack into his PJs before we hit the road back to Greensboro before bedtime. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. Jack conveniently had a large malfunctioning diaper episode before our food even came to the table. #2, mind you. After 20 some years of Angus Barn trips, Jack was the first to family member to experience a portion of the evening being sprayed down fully naked in the bathroom. At least I think he was the first.....

If diaper explosions, raisins and light up toys aren't enough to distract Jack, it seems that a dry erase marker is! Lisa transformed the boys to men in a matter of seconds with their 'stashes.

This is a terrible shot of me trying to get a picture of Jack sucking his toe. It's a favorite travel pastime of his. Unfortunately I was a few seconds too late. Jack will always take off his right shoe and sock. Always the right one. Then he'll usually start sucking his toes. Disgusting, really. But funny. And one of those things that only a baby can pass off as cute and athletic. Look at the flexibility on that one! Future gymnast? I hope not. Place kicker? We'll see.

Asheville

John, Jack and I were on the road again...this time to the mountains in NC. We went to the Albert's mountain home outside of Asheville near Mars Hill, and it was so much fun! Thanks for inviting us, Alberts! The girls and Jack played well together, and we all got a small taste of REAL December weather. By real, I mean anything below 60. We had S'mores by the fire, John and Gerrit went hiking and the women n' kids held the fort down at the cabin. So great to relax in such a beautiful place!

On Sunday, the Alberts had to go home, so we took a daytrip into Asheville to the Biltmore! John and I had been before, but never at Christmastime. It was so beautiful and Christmasy and just what we needed to get us into the Christmas spirit. Surprisingly, Jack behaved very well and managed to take advantage of the activities for kids. He had his first memorable Santa experience, which went about as well as most kids Santa experiences go. He freaked. Cried for a few seconds and then spent the remainder of his lap time paralyzed in fear. The only things moving were his eyeballs. Jack also enjoyed the farm village there, where he saw a cow for the first time. He now moos when you say cow. They also had a horse named "Mike." Strange.

The above picture was taken outside of a barn where some people were playing banjos and other moutainy music. Jack did his best knee-bend dance while we were there. I think he's a fan of folk music.





Outside of the Biltmore, John took Jack for a recess period. John was so nice to let me tour the basement of the Biltmore while he took Jack for a run/walk. Here Jack is playing with his phone that he loves! Luckily this was one toy that he didn't throw into the fountain. We did leave the Biltmore one Lion King toy fewer than when we arrived.


Leslie took this picture on the deck of their mountain house. Hopefully I can get some copies of the pictures she took of the kids. SO CUTE in their mittens and hats. Although the best part was watching Jack frantically try to rip his hat off.




Funny shot of my wonderful hands-on husband changing Jack's diaper in the back of the car.

This was Jack's first pitstop when we got back home: his chair! Now he can finally watch his Mickey videos comfortably!

If Jack grows up to despise Walgreens, this is why. I went to have some pictures copied, but ended up taking a few more of my own.

Hope you're all doing well! Thanks for reading!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we stayed home and had dinner with the Usserys and Smiths. John and I were happy that we still qualified to sit at the kid table! WHOO HOO!!! We had a lot of fun catching up with everybody and trying to force feed Jack all of his food since he hates food now. He would only eat the cranberry salad, which is mostly Jello and fruit. Thanks for the recipe, Grandmom!!! On Thanksgiving night, my parents came down for the weekend which was fun.


This is Trevor, Jack's uncle. I wanted to put a picture of him on the site because he's a devoted blog comment writer. Thanks for noticing us, Trev! He got the task of carving the turkey this year. We were both surprised to see how much meat is on those birds! Amazing, really. Kind of makes me respect turkeys a little more than I used to. Which was none.


This picture was taken Thanksgiving Day. Jack wanted to tell everyone that he's thankful for his wagon, remote controls and Cheerios.



It's been a while since I posted the last butt shot. This is a butt shot in action. Jack can get into his housework a little more when he's 'free.' He's vacuuming the house with his Cookie Monster/Elmo vacuum cleaner that either says, "Ah! Me love to vacuum with you" or "Cleaning crew coming through!" Fortunately this is one toy that Jack has not found the ON button to yet.



On Saturday after Thanksgiving, my mom and I decorated the house. John and I went back and forth on do we get a tree, do we not get a tree. We're going to be out of town for Christmas and didn't want the fire hazard of a real tree being in our home over our vacation...and with having a 15 month old running around pulling all of the ornaments off it would be tough...and with Scout trying to drink the water from the bottom...etc. So, we decided on a prelit fake tree that we can use in the future in Jack's room. John and I both love real trees, but it just wasn't worth the trouble this year. (You can tell I'm still trying to convince myself we did the right thing.) Well, if you're used to only having real trees, a prelit fake one just doesn't cut it. No matter how I try to look at it, it always reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree but sadder. Not only is it pretty ugly, but we can't even decorate the bottom half because of Jack's curious hands. I would put a picture of it on here, but it depresses me. So, here's Jack being tempted to yank the candles out of the window, which he's already done a few time. He'll grab the candle and stand there saying, "hot, hot, hot...."

Hope y'all are doing well!

The Tarheels play Ohio St. tonight at 9 on ESPN. GO HEELS!!!!