Some updates...

Four days off and gone....POOF! Just like that.

Where does time go? Last Thursday night, I stayed up until nearly 1am watching "Stepbrothers" because I needed a good laugh....and because I could. Never mind that I've seen the movie a dozen times. I just wanted to stay up late. Oh sure, I paid for it the next day because we got up early on Friday and took Reese to have some professional photos taken - will share as soon as we get them - and I essentially gave the company about 3.5 hours back because some jerk released the hounds on a promo that wasn't supposed to hit until Tuesday on Friday morning (If I had done it I would have been threatened with my job...this turd will probably be lauded at the next meeting.) So my one measly day off turned into a half day with a little mowing and Cornhole building.

Saturday turned into cookout day. Our neighbor came over and asked about slow cooking some chow on Saturday and hanging by the pool so we had ribs and two pork butts that slow cooked for about 10 hours while we went to the pool, drank beer, and took it easy. Reese went down to the pool with us and lifeguard nazi boy told us that Reese now has to wear swimmer type diapers, a stinking baggy thing, and then her suit. So, we looked for the baggy things all weekend but to no avail. Everyone is out because some kid shat in a pool and now everyone is scared of E.Coli.....I thought we used chlorine in pools....and I thought chlorine kills E. Coli?? Maybe not. So a modified garbage bag around Reese will prevent it from happening. What about the 10 year olds that are swimming for hours and never going to the bathroom? I'm sure nothing is wrong with that...of course not.

Anyway....We still put Reese in the water after Stalin-lifeguard boy changed shifts. She had a blast. Loves it. And has absolutely ZERO fear of jumping or getting her head wet. She is completely over the moon about the pool....which means we'll be there more this year and I couldn't be happier because I need some sun. I'm slightly pale and need color desperately.

Sunday was a trip over to Lake Weiss to visit Chuck and Nan. Reese did great over there and was a little ham the whole day. She loved riding the golf cart around the little area where Pawpaw and Nana's place is and this sort of helped feed the fire for my own "needed" cart. I think Kim is on the hook but she isn't in the boat just yet. I'm on it though. We left around 5pm and headed back only to hit storm after storm. We stopped in C-Ville to eat Gondolier's....we actually love that place but we're leery of the one down here. It just doesn't seem the same so we stopped for a little stroll down chow memory lane.

Today....Cornhole-a-thon. Well, finishing it anyway. TONS of taping, TONS of painting, TONS of touch up and then....steady decal placement. All I have to do is poly everything and touch some stuff up and I'll be done!

Outside of that, we let Reese chill at the house mostly and ate some La Parilla for dinner. It was a great weekend. We had an awesome four day weekend even if the weather didn't cooperate. I'm bummed about heading back to work Tuesday but its already Tuesday so the week should fly......I hope.

Take a look at my handy work on these cornhole boards...I'm pleased but still not done so I could still screw up something.

Reese is a baby warrior...

What a blast!

Today...Lance and I entered our first --- I'll use this term lightly ---- adventure race. We're not triathletes and we don't run these adventure races that span the course of four days but we pretty well laid it on the line for about 20 minutes today and had a blast. I wish we could have had better pics of the course itself and the way we looked prior to rinsing off and changing some clothes but we had a muddy, dirty good time. Black Foot Mud Run is up June 26th and I'm already working on Kim to get her to run it.

Yep....we're morons.

But we're WARRIOR morons!

Warrior Dash....

is today!! Lance and I will be leaving shortly to compete in the Warrior Dash and I'm feeling pretty Warrior-ish today. 

Pics later.

Somebody got a hair cut....

A MUCH needed haircut at that!

We've drug out feet on the haircut thing. Reese's bangs have just gotten out of control and we have been needing to do something but we didn't know what to do. We didn't want her to look like a little boy and we want her hair to grow so we just left things alone. Only problem with that is that Reese doesn't really care for hair bows and will constantly pull them out....and we end up with this look...

The other issue is Kim and her weird obsession with the salon she goes to.....IN CALHOUN!! 45 minutes from our home....two houses and two different towns later, Kim still goes to Calhoun to get her hair cut and colored. (I hope that wasn't a mistake...to mention that Kim dyes her hair. Of course her hair is naturally a beautiful mixture of blonde and brunette highlights that look perfect all the time.) but I've been shoved into the idea of understanding and now it makes perfect sense.....Sort of one those...."are we clear?" moments. To which I say, "Crystal."

Kim was about to haul Reese up to Calhoun to this holy grail of hair salons. But we debated that and Kim mentioned the other day that Reese's hair was getting a little out of control and Calhoun might be a little much. She mentioned wanting to look locally and even asked Sherry where her boys get their hair cut. Well of course, they go to a Great Clips like any normal little man would. Great Clips is about as hoity as I want to get and I can get in and out under $20 all day long. I do, however, recall the Calhoun days for myself when all I knew was the Barber Shop and you got whatever hair cut the old crotchety man wanted to give you. You could ask for a #3 guard but what you got was a comb pulled out to "about" a number three. Sometimes that meant you barely got your hair cut and other times it meant that you were ready to enter the service. High and tight was the specialty at the barber shop and little kids went ape when one of those guys come at them with sheers. All I remember was little boys hitting DEFCON 5 when they got their hair cut......I could see this with Reese as well.

 

 

I had opted out of the hair salon trip thinking it would be a little too much estrogen for me but then a guilty streak took over. What if Reese was blowing a gasket! Kim would need help....I know I would want it if I was by myself so I figured she couldn't have gone far and sure enough, less than 1/2 a mile down the road is a nice little salon. No one else was there so I pull up to find my little angel getting her hair cut like a little lady. She was cool as she could be. I went in and marveled at how well she was being. Kim said that she was perfect......All that "anxiety" for nothing. We didn't really fret over the decision but we've both seen the nightmares that ensue so we were so pleased that Reese was chilling out holding on to some curlers....a weird fixation hers now.

Long story short, Reese looks sooooooo much better now and doesn't look like Sam the sheep dog on Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Then she came home and decided to tell all of her friends about her.....ehem....Hair raising experience. (so incredibly corny I know.)

Weaning....

Alright. We're weaning now.

And to be perfectly honest we've done pretty well. We cut three bottles in the span of a week (nearly two months ago) MUCH to my excitement aaaaaaand we're off of formula to whole milk with just a little push back but only for a day or so. But we're still on the morning bottle, a snack bottle that we could easily ditch and probably will, and then the bedtime bottle. That's it. So within the week we'll be a two a day family but it's those two that seem to be the hurdles.

See, we seem to have a child that will not drink milk from a sippy cup. I'm sure it will come and honestly, if we continually presented it in such a manner, she would likely give in but the test runs have been failures and resulted in a bottle to finish the deal.

So....how do we do this? Looking for suggestions here.

Kim and I chuckled tonight about the fact that Kim was so worn out that those "first moments of life" weren't spent all curled up in a nude ball of breasty, baby, mommy love. The books seem to make it out like if you don't bond then....skin to skin mind you and breastfeeding all the way....it won't happen and your little girl will become a stripper at Boomers. Quite the new parent physco-babble and dead wrong. Kim didn't really get to experience Reese's cuddle for about 12 hours or more because Kim was blitzed from all day labor and Reese was out too. Trust me folks, it worked out and Reese is attached to Mommy's hip. I don't know that Kim felt it but sometimes people completely put their two cents where it doesn't really belong and sort of lecture you with a look or with words about not breastfeeding. It just wasn't for Kim....no issues here. So we've been formula folks but it's interesting the advice you get at one year of age.

Some say, wean 'em on their birthday....others say 18 months is fine....still others are letting junior take a boob at 6 years old. Weird....very, very weird. So at 13.5 months, we're trying to wean and get little mama to eat some more solids. Oh, she's getting there with the chewables but it just has to be her idea. Reese will NOT open up for a strange food. She's simply not that accommodating but she will hold stuff and now she is investigating so we're making ground.

It's just an adventure trying to do the right thing and while it's not all consuming for us, it would be neat to hear what other folks have done. That's it for tonight.

We're almost through with these things!

A little Mother's Day update....

So, first things first....Is this not the cutest little girl in the world?

And yes...its been a while since a post because the Hall family has been getting it lately. I normally travel about three days of the week when I head out but this past week was a longer run and man did it bite! So here's what happening......

Kim wanted to get the little lady out of the house for some fun in the sun since it has been spectacular weather this weekend so we decided that a trip to Kennesaw Mountain might be in order. We got ourselves a little picnic lunch and made our way to the Battlefield for a little playtime. Reese had a blast just roaming around the fields but the little squirt can find the exact spot that we don't want her to go to in a four acre field and kept wandering toward this marshy area. We kept her out of it and kept her busy with bubbles and a couple bouncy balls that she is starting to kick around....maybe a soccer player??

 

 

 
The weather was perfect and after wearing her out we strapped her into the stroller while Mommy and I trekked up the mountain on the road. The views were amazing yesterday. You could see Stone Mountain clearly and all of the city. Buckhead, Vinings, parts of Roswell....it was beautiful. We were too gassed to take pics and getting the camera could have meant waking Reese so we opted against it this time. Maybe next go around.

After that, we came home and had dinner with Lance and Celeste....long lost gypsies from south of Atlanta now. I think Lance needed an excuse to not do something around their house for a weekend so they made a visit for a few hours. We ate at Taco Mac and chilled.....then we put Reese down and fell asleep on the bed at 8:30p......we're getting old.

Today we kept it low key with a run up to Calhoun to see my Grandmother and have steaks for lunch with my parents. Everything was great and Reese and I rode around for a bit in my Dad's tricked out golf cart...I'm jealous. Reese loved it so I'm wondering if I can use this as leverage to get one????? Maybe? Anyway, after that we stopped in to see Kim's parents before they set sail for Alaska on Tuesday. Those jokers are going on an Alaskan cruise this week and we're about eat up with the vacation bug so it was tough to wish them farewell. This retiree stuff and all of these teachers in our family that work about three months a year is getting to Kim and I since we have the jobs that never end.....no SUMMER break for Yamaha employees. What gives?

Outside of that, I've been working around the house when I can and getting some things accomplished. I'm sort of tired of things piling up so I've been checking them off the list a little stronger now. I like the accomplishment but I just need more time to get things done.....hint hint Yamaha....I need some more days off.

I think we'll get back in a better run of posts now that I don't have to travel for a bit so I hope everyone enjoyed the pics of Reese! She is such fun now. I'm ready for another but I'd really like him or her to come out of the womb around this age....its just so much fun. Make it a great Monday everyone! I know I'll be counting the clock until home time to see my ladies.

Check out the Mother's Day pic from last year and this year....What a difference a year makes!!

Daddy......

Is home.


This was a long, long trip. 1800 miles covered over four days.

I am glad to be home with my girls again.....