Inspirations from cheese in a can. joey, kelly and danny.

today is a big day, for a few reasons.  number one, it’s my favorite person’s birthday.  joey, co-author of easycheese, love of my life, and father of my other favorite person, turns 29 today.  those of you keeping up will note that there is something of a difference in our ages.  correct.  never been an issue.  except most days for the first seven years.  really enjoying the sentence fragments here.  anyway, that’s the big news, of course.   here are the aforementioned favorite persons carving a pahteen.

yeah, they’d be your favorite persons, too.

so.  further.  today marks the first day of national blog posting month, nablopomo for super-annoying short.  in a nutshell, it is a challenge to post every day in november.  i noticed in visiting that page last night that it was created by a writer who felt that though she was not up to nanowrimo (ugh, who comes UP with these names….national novel writing month), surely she could manage to post on her blog every day for a month.  her name is eden kennedy, and you can find her at fussy.  i’ve been accused of a dry humor….yeah, no, in that case, eden is priscilla, queen of the desert.  i find her hilarious.

so, yes, our goal here at easycheese is to post every day in pretty much the busiest month of our year (who picked november?  why?).  just because i thought he’d probably go for it and make me a little more accountable, i invited my brother-in-law greg of nagohdotcom to play along, and he has now upped the stakes, making it a personal contest.  first one to fall buys the other a coffee or big beer or pizza (wow, are you getting fed down there?).  he has intimated that he is at a disadvantage, because joey and i both post here.  well, i’m no cheater, sir.  my posts will have my name on them, and if joey wants to post, too, super, i love it, but it won’t count in our little agreement.  not unless my sister jackie posts first at nagoh.  anybody else want a piece of this?  i can’t speak for greg, but now i’m feeling pugnacious, and i want to collect your coffees, big beers, and pizzas.  not you, lula.  you know i love you, but you already post every freaking day anyway.

Three years ago today Kelly and I stood next to each other atop a gorgeous mountain and exchanged vows.

Today we celebrate our three year anniversary together as husband and wife.

Thanks to all of those that were part of our fabulous day.

Here is a picture of our son, who is proof that together we make a great team:

this morning i was hijacked by a heater.  i walked into joey’s bathroom, and the smell of the space heater took whatever day i was going to have, smacked it around, and replaced it with this one.  because why is because two years ago, when danny was born, we didn’t turn on the central heat, the whole winter.  we felt that the way it dried the air was not healthy for any of our mucous membranes.  instead we went and bought a couple of electric space heaters, and just put those wherever we were.  and that worked pretty well.  we closed off the back of the house (except for joey’s office, which was heated by eight computers…toasty!) and just didn’t even go back there.  so anyway, yeah, the winter of 2006-7 smelled like space heaters.  and this morning i got taken right back there.  almost.  you can’t really go back, but when you can smell it, it just feels like you should be able to.  or at least be able to remember enough of it to write about it.  i’ll settle for that.

i’m sure something will come along later in life to prove me wrong, but to this point, having a baby marks the biggest, most dramatic, most exhausting, most exhilarating change of my life.  joey and i don’t have any family that lives super-close, and that winter was before i had made any mom friends, so it was just the three of us most of the time.  at the time, that felt lonely to me, but thinking of it now, i realize that we all were really close then, and i remember being amazed every day at how much joey was willing to do, and how little he thought of himself.  except maybe at sleepy time.  overall, though, i remember thinking that i had chosen exactly the right man.  good father potential was high on my list when i was out on the prowl, including that night i picked him up at the office christmas party.  he’s so gentle and sympathetic with tiny things.

speaking of tiny things:  though by the time danny was born i had six niephews, one of whom i lived with for the first two years of his life, there was still a lot i didn’t know.  like what the terrible rash covering my baby could possibly be.  as it turned out, that, too, was related to the heating situation.  we were afraid that since we kept it in the 60s in the house, the baby would be cold.  so we wrapped him up REALLY well.  no kidding, i think sometimes he was triple-swaddled, with a fluffy blanket on top.  naturally the horrible rash was heat rash, but i didn’t know that until much later.  i had no idea what to do.  of course i needed to consult my dear friend the internet, but for that i would have had to put the baby down, an idea of which i was not a fan.  joey and his mother (now known as nana) were hovering about, wanting to do something to help the large, sweaty, frantic lady and the dangling, spotted-red baby in her arms, but unclear as to what.  someone found a bottle of baby lotion under joey’s sink (i don’t want to know).  generic, 5 years old, and it didn’t even smell like pink baby lotion is supposed to smell.  next thing i know, it’s covering my baby.  THE LOTION ATE MY BABY!  so what else is there for a new mom to do, other than be obnoxious to their mother-in-law about it?  sorry, nana.  thanks for the fresh bottle of brand new, johnson & johnson baby lotion you picked up when next you were out.  that was sweet and very gracious of you.

there were so many more emotions in those first months, which would take me a week to convey and 30 seconds for you to say:  ‘wow.  get a grip, captain hormonal,’ before you moved on to the next blog in your reader.  and anyway, i can’t smell the heater anymore, and plus the tiny overheated creature pictured below has been replaced with a much larger, much more opinionated little man who needs to leave for ’school’ in about half an hour, and i’m still in my pajamas.  have a great day, internet.  thanks for sharing.

That’s “real life” for those that don’t know.  You see there has been somewhat of a funk lately with posting stuff to the internets.  It’s definitely not the motivation to take pictures off the camera, because I usually do that everyday after a fun outing or enjoyable time with our precious son, Danny.  From what I can gather it seems to be the time of sitting down, typing up something and then jumping through 20 hoops to post the pictures, post the videos, blah, blah, blah, blah effing, blah.

So on to this months blog post.  Danny is really improving in the field of communication.  He is reguarly repeating things that we say, and definitely understanding more than I ever thought a two year old could understand.  We usually kick off our weekends (Thursday evenings) with a trip to our local Mexican restaurant, which we did this last Thursday.  This week however we ended dinner with a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Danny is very much excited about pumpkins  Check out his pronunciation of pumpkin. I love his little nose and face when he is trying to pronounce it:

Here are some pictures from the pumpkin adventure, with more blog post following the pics:

Saturday almost turned into a day of “oh man we should have went somewhere”, but I saved the day, by loading Danny up and taking him to the bookstore. We had a blast playing with the Thomas the train setup and also enjoying story time. Story time was totally spontaneous, but I really enjoyed someone reading me a book; Danny just enjoyed the crackers. More blog following the pics:

Danny proclaims “chair” as he proceeds to rip all the books off the shelf

Danny pointing at the camera as we have a nice sit down at “bar bucks”.

Sunday was by far my favorite of the weekend. The air show was this weekend at Dobbins Air Force Base so as a family we all set out to try and see some airplanes. Airplanes are one of Danny’s favorites things along with choo choos. After sitting in the parking lot of some random shopping center we saw some airplanes and decided that Danny might be happier at the park. Danny had a blast playing on the playground, before heading to the local pond in the park to feed the ducks and geese:

Sliding, followed by “eye did ittt”

Feeding the ducks.

He said waffle as we walked past this. He is a bright boy.

We ended the trip at McDonalds, where he got to play on the playground. He pulled a new word out of the bag today by finally identifying McDonalds:

The final video is actually from a couple of months ago but is one of my favorites. The car has been revoked now to protect our little boys head.

*****EDITED OCT 20 TO ANNOUNCE THE WEINER, THE WEINER, THE WEINER IS:  commenter #8, danyelle.  in the spirit of full disclosure, i will tell you that danyelle is my sister.  and, if you’re not suspicious enough at that, i’ll also tell you my random number generator was joey.  i asked him to pick a number between 1 and 12.  he said “8.”  i asked him if he knew why i was asking.  he said “no.”  i believe him, thus my random number generator stands.  as does the winner, who also happens to be a faithful reader, not an uncommon commenter, and new blog author her dernself:  http://babbleoninbabylon.today.com/ .  anyway, thanks to all for playing, especially to michelle, the sole representative of moms club of austell/mableton.  you bear a heavy load, sister :)  both of you, actually.******* END EDIT

first:  i know that there are plenty of mommies out there, it’s just so cute i couldn’t stand it.  second:  i totally lifted this post’s title from someone else’s blog title.  i don’t know her, but i was referred to a post of hers a couple of weeks ago.  that post is not apropos to this post at all, nor anything to do with me, in case you read that post and are alarmed.  danny’s little brother is doing just fine, and we’ll even know if he’s a boy or a girl on november 6.  so stay tuned for that.

now, about the any mommies that are out there.  as i said, i know there are plenty of mommies that faithfully read my little blog, and for that, i thank you.  what i’m wondering about at the moment, though, is the mommies that i don’t know about that are reading my little ole blog.  one group of mommies in particular, called the moms club of austell/mableton.  i’ve been a member of this club for almost two years, and it has made life so much less lonely than it would have been.  i mean, one day you are working in a building, seeing grown-ups and meeting needs that in no way involve anyone else’s bodily functions (or i guess they might, if so, sorry), and the next you are at home, with a tiny screaming animal, and no one else.  it can be a little scary.  so, if you are a stay-at-home mom looking for some others for you or your little hooligans to play with, you should definitely check this out.  they have them all over the world, so if it’s the austell/mableton thing that’s a problem for you, go here and find your own local chapter.

but i ramble (which i’m beginning to think is one key to a successful blog).  witness, the first actual prize to be given at easycheese.  in a shameless attempt to lure out of the darkness any of my moms club sistren who read this blog, i am offering a tiny little present to any commenter who is a mommy.  you don’t have to be a moms club member to comment or win, of course, i love all you mommies who come here.  actually, i wouldn’t want to exclude greg or sharyn or the maybe two other people who read this blog that aren’t moms from our first (and possibly only) reader gift, so you don’t even have to be a mom.  leave a comment, get a chance to win a prize.  but consider this your call, moms club of austell/mableton, to represent.  and maybe, just maybe, win a small token of starbucks affection.  just a little one–don’t get crazy, y’all.  i’ll use a fancy random number picker next monday morning (oct 20) to pick the weiner.

sweet baby danny,

though i have a five-year diary where i try really hard to scribble a few lines a day to keep our days from disappearing forever, this is the only other place where i keep up with stuff you do.  so, here are some things you do, recorded for posterity.  for the moment, without pictures, because that takes a lot longer to accomplish, and i only have until you start yowlering in your crib.  by my calculations that is less than half an hour from now.  maybe i or your father will dig up some pictures and add them later.  or not.

when we pass by a mcdonald’s, burger king, chik-fil-a, or playground, you chant:  “pay.  pay.  pay.  pay.”  either this is a really big coincidence and you’re talking to bugs that you happen to be squashing every time you see a playground, or you are saying:  “mother, please pull the vehicle over and allow me to make use of the very nice recreational facility i see out the window.”   you are very big into recreational facilities.  besides fast food playgrounds and parks, you also enjoy more proprietary recreational establishments, like kangazoom, monkey joe’s, and pirate’s cove, this last of which was the location of your friend avery’s third birthday party yesterday.  i was too busy chasing your lightning-fast butt all over the place to take any pictures, and for that i apologize to you and your loyal readers.  it’s possible there might be some at that last link, though.  unless you were too fast for them, too.  a couple of times, trying hard to be a good guest and have tiny conversations with other attendees, i lost sight of you.  once, when i finally found you, you were at the very top of the tallest inflatable there.  all i saw was your behind rounding the corner to go down the slide.  which you did, by yourself, not even knowing that i was standing there watching you.  when you saw me, though, you were glad to see me, and it was too loud to tell, but you might have said:  “i DID it!” like you sometimes do when you have tickled yourself pink with your latest accomplishment.

this week your cousin emmett came to stay with us.  you really, really like emmett.  we have to be careful about how far in advance we tell you that you will be seeing him, because you can really wear out a word.  even if you just hear certain words in conversation, you will pick them out and repeat them until eventually you bend me or your father to your tiny, unrelenting will.  anyway, you played hooky on tuesday, and i took you and emmett to the zoo.  you loved the “choo-choo” and the “pay” areas, the animals you could take or leave.  our zoo has one of the world’s best gorilla exhibits, and as emmett and i watched several toddler gorillas wrestle and play, doing a great impression of you tackling me on the sofa, you were fascinated by the gorillas, too, in your own way.  gorilla statues, that is.  you kept smacking the silverback statue on the butt, saying “wawa,” which is either how you say “who’s your daddy, monkey?” or “gorilla.”  i tried and tried to get you to look at the real ones, but you were way into the statue family.  at the gift shop, you rivaled your older cousin’s skill when you grabbed a $3 snake toy from your stroller.  emmett took a gamble when he initially chose a $6 rubber snake, but he immediately replaced it with a $3 one when i looked iffy about the $6 one. this kid’s been to a few gift shops with cheap people, evidently.

you are really enjoying the cooler weather, mostly because sometimes we leave the back door open and allow you to come in and out as you please.  this is a very big deal for you, and one of your favorite things to do is to run outside at full speed, make a loop of the sea of concrete, hollering “ahside!  ahside!” and then coming back inside and running through the kitchen and down the hall, turning around and doing it all over again.  what freedom!  we got out the chalk a few days ago, and we all drew our best chalk versions of airplanes for you.  the next day we went out, and you went and patted the one your father drew and said “ehpane.  daddy’s.”  i guess that one was your favorite.  we also went to the square in marietta, one of your favorite places because you can see a choo-choo pass by as you eat your edamame and tom tha gai soup at thaicoon, and THEN you get to run through the square, and THEN we have to bribe you with a cookie from the coffeeshop to get you off of the play choo-choo.

you are a child of changing tastes.  lately, on nights when you won’t allow us to toss you exhaustedly into your crib, but instead request some sort of bedtime ritual, we’ll talk to you about your day, what’s in store for tomorrow, and sing the abc song.  then, as your father told me, you like to play an airplane making its final descent into the bed.  last night when i went to lay you down after our conversation, i told you that now it’s time to fly like an airplane into the bed and go night-night.  you said:  “choo-choo.”  as you wish, my sweet sweet thing.

love,

mama

i just can’t for the life of me think of anything interesting to say.  so continue at your own peril.

it’s hard to give somebody hell for not reading my blog if i never write anything on it, so this one’s for you, tyson.  my best bud from high school, he finally moved back within the boundaries of the great state of georgia, but i really don’t see him much more often than when he lived in michigan, africa, or oregon.  so what’s up with that?  anyway, in a recent correspondence in which i attempted to use my patented guilt trick by saying he must surely know i’m pregnant since he promised to read my blog (he neither knew nor promised), he said sorry, but email is the best he can do on the electronic front….he ‘ain’t no blogger.’  well.  hrmph.  you’d think he’s 80.  not that there aren’t, i’m sure, thousands of 80-year-old bloggers out there.  anyway, TYSON, you don’t have to be a blogger to check a website or add one to your feed reader (probably got way technical for you there, buddy, sorry).  and.  further.  if all of my past, present, and future buds would do me the solid of updating a page to keep me informed as to their business, i would be most appreciative.  i love keeping up with my friends.  i think the internet was invented for it.  it’s so much more efficient than letters or emails or phone calls or christmas cards. k?  k.  oh, and your mother reads it.  or she used to….jane, are you there?  i know delores is at least.

oh, and by the way, for the other four people out there that are watching survivor gabon:  bob is exactly who tyson will be when he’s 57.

As of September 22nd it is officially fall.  Hoorah for that.  Fall if we haven’t mentioned it is our favorite time of the year because of the abundance of holidays and celebrations.  Oh and who doesn’t love the changing of leaves and the cool brisk air?

Every year now for the past three or four years I have had some weird fetish with peppers and growing them in the front yard (it’s the best place for sun).  Around this time of the year the pepper plants start producing mad amounts of peppers.  The interesting thing about this year is Danny is now old enough and interested enough in things Daddy does to make it entertaining.  Here is a picture of Danny helping me string some chili peppers that we grew together.  He calls them “peppahs”.

Along with the birthdays, Halloween, color changing leaves, and our aniversary we now have another item to celebrate in the fall.  I picked up our newest edition to our car lot yesterday after a large amount of research, negotiation, and burning up tanks and tanks of gas. It’s a 2004 toyota sienna with get this, 24,000 miles. We are an all Toyota family with Danny’s squinty eyes to match the origin. Now if only we can find a home for the two Fords, one Chevy and one Dodge truck…..

One last thing to mention is if you click on the pictures it will take you through to the gallery where there are lot’s of other pictures that never make it to this page.

as you all know by now, my sofa exerts considerable gravitational force on my butt in the best of times.  and lately, i’ve been pulling some serious g’s.  it’s like something is sucking the life out of me.  oh.  something IS sucking the life out of me.  i like to call it “danny’s little brother.”  you’ve by now used your context clues to determine that i’m pregnant.  i’ve just cleared the first trimester, and have left the nausea behind.  the fatigue remains.  thus the extra g’s and the general failure to maintain the web presence to which you have become accustomed.  i know you missed me desperately.  cousin heather.  oh, wait, you just wanted pictures of danny.  i’ll see what i can do.

you may also have used context clues to lead you to believe that we know the gender of the baby.  false.  it’s a little trick i learned years ago, and it’s called sandbagging.  as much as i love having my face used as a target for sippy cups, books, trucks, and the like, i’m hoping that the next one will perhaps be of the  gentler, more sedentary, less throw-things-in-your-face sex.  thus, by referring to the littlest rutledge as “danny’s little brother,” i am tempting God/fate/sperm/genderselectionfairies to prove me wrong, as well as preparing for the possibility that my face is just beginning its long career as the best target in the house.  ****this note is just for you, danny’s little brother, in the event that one day you’ve decided to drudge up the old blog and see what you can dangle over your poor mom’s head and make her feel guilty about:  i have wanted and loved you from the second you began to exist, regardless of your naughty parts and/or penchant for throwing things at my face.  plus, my favorite name i have brewed up is a boy name.  so if you turned out to be a boy, i’m glad you’re you, and also that i got to name you the best name.  assuming your father didn’t nix it.  ****end note

and here’s what you probably came for anyway, pictures of danny’s little brother’s big brother.

Any sight or mention of cheese and Danny runs around repeating “teese”.  He was so determined to eat when he came across the box of mac and cheese that he decided he wanted to eat it as is.

We eventually cooked it for him, but he wasn’t a fan of waiting for the cooking.