One Year Ago!

So I was Blog stalking today. A friend of mine from college Lindsay Hege posted about looking back one year. She inspired me to look back at what was happening in our lives. Approximately one year ago I was blogging about.....POOP! Well not all about Poop, but more so Garrett's vocabulary and linking words...Enter blog title Bye Bye Poop! Wow have we come a long way in his vocabulary and the things he does and says. But boy does that boy get funnier everyday! Here' looking back one year to...POOP!

Bye, Bye Poop! August 19, 2009
Ok, so as I promise this is not about potty training rather some new developments in Garrett's vocabulary and speech! I was reading up on the development of a child at 20 months, the information that I read said that a child Garrett's age typically has about 10-20 words that they understand, can speak and use in the correct context. So the other day I decided to write down all the things he has been saying lately. Bill and I have been counting, he has over 30 words that he uses. We have noticed that his vocabulary has taken off since we have been at home together. I am not sure if it is timing or the difference in the teacher, but I am excited.

One of Garrett's favorite new words is "bye-bye" he says it to everyone, as we go down the isles at the grocery store he tell products and people bye-bye. He even told the lady at the check out counter bye-bye before we put the first item up on the check out. I have since informed him that he has to say hello before he can say goodbye to everyone. We are still working on this. One of Garrett's favorite shows is Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin (if you are a parent, check it out, so cute and includes some parent humor too). Anyways, at the end of the show they sing a good bye song. I have been trying to get Garrett to say bye-bye Jack at the end of the show each day. Coincidentally, he did get a chance to tell a real Jack bye-bye the other day and has started to link the item and person with his bye-bye's.

Enter story title here: We went outside to play on our new swing set this morning and were out having a great time, when I realized that Ruby (our dog) had left us a present right under one of the swings. I quickly stopped Garrett and asked him to come with me to get something to pick up the poop. We came back out to clean up the poop and as I was cleaning, Garrett says, Bye-bye Poop! Bye-bye! I just about died laughing. I told him later that we needed to include this as we went poo poo on the potty. No joke the next time we went to the bathroom, he sat down and said, bye-bye poop! While no business took place, I just had to laugh. That boy is too smart!

Road trip to North Carolina and Back!

Garrett and I decided it was time to take a road trip. Since the summer was about to come to a close and two of my best friends from college were about to go back to work (they are both teachers) and one of them had just had a baby, we thought it would be best to visit while everyone still have time to spend together. It was such a nice trip. Garrett and I got on the road on Monday and stopped in Georgia to see my Aunt Mary and Uncle Pete in their new place at Lake Oconee just outside of Atlanta. Such a beautiful little lake town, you must visit one day. We arrived just after 3 pm in the afternoon and didn't get on the road the next morning until 10 am so we were able to spend some time together. It was so nice to see them and sit and talk and they loved have Garrett too. The next morning we got up and had breakfast and jumped in the car again. We were able to arrive at Towa's house around 5 pm on Tuesday and the party started from there. It was so nice to finally get to meet Bennett and spend some time with Towa and Scott. The week was filled with fun filled kid adventures like going to the park to play, enjoying City Park in Burlington $0.50 to ride the rides and the Children's Museum in Greensboro. We also got to spend some time with Jill and Vycki made the trip down from DC for the weekend too. All and all we had a great time and were able to catch up with old friends. The road trip was great and Garrett was awesome in the car. I have a huge thank you to my friend Jennifer for lending me her portable DVD player to thank for the ease of driving 4 days at 6-7 hours a piece. Garrett averaged two movies and a nap and we were at our destination, yeah for technology!

Towa and I were talking about old times and realized that we have been friends for over 10 years now, crazy how time flies. We realized we graduated over 6 years ago now and have seen each other at least once a year since, thank you to Weddings and babies. We know we only have one of us left for a wedding (hint hint Adam get moving on that question for Vycki) and then we will really have to start coordinating family trips to beach to keep our record going. I would say that we have a great start to keeping the fun times alive. It was so nice to see the girls and we only wish that Rory and Dagny were there to join us.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. I realized when we got home there are none of me and Towa or Garrett and Bennett. Just a bunch of our outings and Garrett playing, but they are cute at that.

Little Green House...

We have been busy...well Bill has anyways. A few weeks ago Bill started the big project of getting the exterior of the house painted. Our house had never been painted since it was built 10 years ago. We originally picked a tan with a dark gray accent, however since picking that color our surrounding neighbors recently painted their houses tan. So now we stand out! We have the little Green House on the block and we love it!!!!!

Before



After


We have also been busy with a few other projects including some that are still in progress.

Our Guest Bedroom Before


Our Guest Bedroom After


Our Backyard Before


Our Backyard (Still in progress)