First "Or-muh-men"

Last year, Nana gave Connor an Elmo ornament, but he wasn't quiiiiiiiiite old enough to put it on the tree. Well, this year is clearly a different story....He has gone from 8 months old to 20 months old (closer to 2, than 1...YIKES!) We put on some Christmas music and let the little guy go to work! When the job was done, he was VERY proud! :) He hung his first "or-muh-men"

This adorable kid is talking up a STORM these days! There's not alot he can't say. I love talking to him :) He is also able to communicate one very important piece of information during the week when I'm at work: what he had for lunch! Now when I ask, he can tell me :) He is quite the little sponge....time for mom and dad to start incorporating that filter into daily conversation that takes place in front of C! Lol :)

A New Perspective.....Thank You Connor and Spiderman :)

Sunday we took Connor to the mall to buy new shoes! We walked into Finish Line and started discussing various pairs of Nike's, Air Jordan's, New Balances, and Puma's....all very neutral, very versatile shoes. Connor was sitting in his stroller, grunting and stretching, trying to reach this hideous pair of red Spiderman shoes. He started throwing a fit, so I got him out of the stroller and let him walk around while Justin and I discussed shoes. Meanwhile, Connor is trying to put on the "Meean" (that's Connor talk for "man") shoe that he got off the shelf. He finds a bigger shoe and slips it on. I tried to slip a Nike and later a New Balance on the other foot. Connor was NOT having it. He was VERY insistent on these Spiderman shoes.....I absolutely cringed. The LAST thing I wanted was for my son to be walking around in these terribly tacky red shoes, but he really loved them. At this point, I had to put myself aside (and Justin did too), and buy the shoes....We could have gotten out of the store without them, but the kid that was helping us had made several trips to the back, so we kind of felt obligated. We were going to just take them back the next day (hush, don't judge lol). I decided to put them on Connor before we walked out of the store, and that's when my whole perspective changed.

I had never seen him so proud....he picked his feet up high, puffed his little chest out, marched out of the store, and even threw in a couple dance steps.

When you become a mom, you have this image of how perfect you always want things to be. It's absolutely baffeling to me, still, how one tiny person can change every single aspect of your life......for the better. Thank you, Connor, (and Spiderman) for the little wake-up call. I love you, buddy, and your super cool "Meean" shoes!

Heeeeeeere they are :)

"Look, Mom, they make me SUPER fast!"

Anniversaries GALORE!

November 12th was our 5th wedding anniversary! We celebrated a night early by sharing fajitas at one of our local Mexican restaurants! After that, we wandered around Best Buy, picked up a few things for Connor at Old Navy, and went home to a quiet, kid-free house :) After 5 years, anything we want we usually just go out and get, so we decided to give each other the gift of landscaping :) Ellis Landscaping (awesome, by the way....message me if you want their number!), planted this 3-stem River Birch, knock-out rose bushes, and pansies in a beautifully crafted rock circle :) We absolutely love it, and Connor does too! :) It will provide beauty and a great picture backdrop for many years to come.

In a couple of years, we will be able to remove the support sticks. In the meantime, it will grow like a weed! Well, not like a weed....more like a tree...oh hell, you know what I mean :)

November 22nd was my parents 30th wedding anniversary! 30?! 30?! That's 25 more years than Justin and me! WOW!!! 30 years....as with 5 years....comes with some good years and some bad years, but regardless, they are years of commitment to each other and the promise made in front of God, friends, and family, and that's something to be incredibly proud of. For their anniversary, I created a steak, potato, and salad dinner basket :)

It came equipped with 2 ribeyes, potatoes, cheese, sour cream, a bag of tender greens salad, capers (yuk!! But mom and dad LOVE them on their salads), croutons, Uncle Chris' Steak Seasoning, mushrooms, and their favorite little pies for dessert :) I also added a bottle of "Hooked" Pinot Noir, and personalized a little tag for it :) I loved it, they loved it, and I loved that they loved it! :) Happy 30! Here's to 30 more!!! :)

This morning I woke up to......

a text message from my husband that said:

"I want u to know this morning when I woke up, I laid there
wide awake for 5 minutes and just gave thx for u. I love u so very very
much!"

That made my day, and was just one of many reminders why I am so in love with that man. He's my Mr. Incredible ;)

Halloween Happenings!

It was a VERY Happy "Weeeeen" in the Scarlet house! Connor wasn't really interested in carving a pumpkin this year, so we made an Elmo pumpkin instead! He was very proud of his "puuuunk-in"

Silly Daddy.....

Annnnnd Silly Connor :)

Me and my favorite little Pumpkin :)

Showing off the finished product!

Holding Elmo's hand....(actually I think he was taking it apart, but holding Elmo's hand just sounded more cute!...or is it cuter?? Who knows) ;)

Putting his pumpkin by the "Pig Back!"

Mommy's super trendy pumpkin! I got to use a power tool to make it! YEAH!

Friday night we went to a costume party in Greenwood with some of our friends! We coordinated costumes with our neighbors!! Justin and I were Rubble Trouble :) I had the honor of doing Barney's tatoos...coloring on Justin's arm was really fun...just sayin' :)

Justin and Richard, and Macon and I entered the male and female contest as pairs. Wilma and Betty, and Fred and Barney each took second place. I believe the boys had it won, but due to "politics", they gave the prize to the other guy. Either way, it was an absolute ball :)

Saturday, we attended Brett's 2nd Birthday/Costume party! Connor had a blast in his "pig back" football gear. Here he is with Coach Daddy :)

The helmet was a little big, but thats ok. Our next door neighbors gave the helmet to Connor out of their garage sale. Justin refurbished it.....he cleaned it, spray painted it, added hog stickers and a mouth piece, and voila....perfect accessory for Connor's costume :)

Drew, Adrinne, and Brett! (aka, the Priest, the Nun, and the Little Devil!) See what happens when a Priest and a Nun get together? ;)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Here is Connor walking up to his first door to trick-or-treat! We visited Gramma and Papaw's first.......

Checkin out the goodies!

Next Stop.....Nana and Granddads!

That evening, we trick-or-treated around the block with Connor's friends, Baylor and Benton (aka "Baaaay" and "Bent"), and Ainsley. He really wanted to keep up with the big kids, but isn't quite to the point of running that fast...SOOOOO, I am still a little sore from carrying him up to the doors, setting him in place, and carrying him back to the sidewalk :) Connor wasn't really sure about trick-or-treating this year. He would back away when someone would open the door, but by the end of the night, we still had a decent little stash of candy :) Overall, he had a GREAT time just being outside with his friends! Hope you all had a happy and fun Halloween!!

What Kid Doesn't Love.......

....the BEATERS! My mom used to give me one (ok, sometimes both) of the beaters she used to whip the cream, make the frosting, beat the cookie dough, and make anything and everything else sweet that involves the beaters! :)

Sooooo......what did I do now that I'm a mom?

The same awesome thing my mom did for me :)

First Stitches.....

Well, not this past Wednesday but the one before, Connor had his first set of stitches in his ring finger and pinky finger on his right hand.

And the story goes like this:

Tuesday night I made Connor a fan potato. I didn't put it on a tray, so butter dripped down into the bottom of the over. I meant to wipe it out, but life happened and I didn't. Wednesday night, I put a pan of fries in the oven. The butter from Tuesday night caused a huge cloud of smoke in the oven. Justin noticed the smoke and opened the oven to make sure nothing was on fire. I suggested we open the doors to get the smoke out before the smoke alarm went off, so Justin headed toward the back door and opened it. Connor wanted to go outside, so he went to the open door and grabbed it saying "ah-ba, ah ba" (that's Connor language for "outside"). About the time I went to grab Connor to tell him that we weren't going outside, Justin opened the door leading to the garage. Before I could pull CJ away from the door, the vacuum effect sucked the backdoor shut on his little fingers, and the metal kick plate that we have mounted vertically (so the dog's don't mess up the door when they scratch) sliced through his little fingers. I grabbed him instantly thinking it probably hurt, and I hoped that they weren't broken. All of the sudden I noticed lots and LOTS of blood coming from his hand. I looked and instantly knew we needed to go to the Urgent Care clinic. (Entirely too many of my friends have spent several horrible hours in the ER, so we opted for an Urgent Care clinic instead....luckily this happened at 5, and they were open until 9) We got in the car, hit the hazards, and Justin got us safely to the clinic. We were in and out of there in 2 hours, but between the continuous screaming, the constant flow of blood, the x-rays, the bickering between Justin and I, wrapping him in a papoose, the lidocaine, and the stitches....it felt like were there forEVER!

Yes, I said bickering.....you never know how you will act in that situation, and you can't predict it. The moment is the moment, and with that many emotions running wild, stress is bound to catch up with the two people who feel responsible, and who feel that the other parent is responsible. We spent the first hour of the entire situation blaming eachother, which we both know is wrong. But we aren't perfect, and I am not ashamed of that :) We were just two parents dealing with something that was horrific, and didn't know how to handle it.

Connor ended up with 7 stitches total. I did really well keeping it cool in front of Connor, but when they started injecting lidocaine directly into his cuts, I told Justin was going to step outside and call my parents. As soon as I stepped out of the room, a nurse asked me if I was ok. At that point I had a short 60second cry fest. I then called my parents to ask if we could stop by after we left the clinic, pulled myself back together, and went back in the room where they were finishing up his stitches.

He had to wear a brace on his wrist and hand for a couple of days to set the stitches up. He didn't seem to mind to terribly much. He found it amusing to bang it on the table, toy box, floor, and anywhere else he could find that it made a loud sound. Lol :) After we left the clinic, we went to Nana and Granddad's where we were welcomed with lots of love and PIZZA! Connor was happy to see them, and went on about his business as if nothing happened! I was thinking, "HEY! Why are you so happy now! I am still bummed about all of this!"

When got home around 8pm where Gramma met us with some medical supplies to take care of Connor's fingers for the next few days. Justin showered while I talked to Karen about how this was just an accident, boys will be boys, and how Connor is now like his Papaw (since he had stitches in his finger a while back). I still couldn't help but feel so terribly guilty. I cried a couple more times that evening, but just had to face reality that these things just happen sometimes.

After 9 days we went to see our friend Kelsey to get the remainder of the stitches out. 3 of the ones in his pinky finger randomly fell out somewhere, but that's ok....less to pull out :) It was quick! Of course Connor screamed his head off, but when it was all done we was JUST fine, and we were able to put that chapter in out lives behind us :)

We are so thankful to all of our friends and family who offered support and prayers during what seemed to be such a difficult....looking back, it was just a minor blip in our lives, and if Connor ever plays any sports....well....we'll just leave it at that.

Here is a picture of Connor the morning after the disaster....I gave him Oreo's for breakfast....yeah, so what? That little guy could have whatever he wanted that day :) Oh, and hey, let's not forget that the MORNING of the incident, he had been to his 18 month check-up, received 2 shots, weighed in at 27lbs, 6oz and measured 32.5in long! He is getting to be such a big boy! We are so blessed by this little curly headed monster :) Oh yeah, and his eye....well he fell and hit it on a dumbell the day before....things come in 3's, so we should be good for a while (knock on wood!!) :)