Fun with Kirk and Melissa

My brother, Kirk, and his adorable wife, Melissa, flew up from Florida on Thursday evening for a visit. It has been an incredibly fast trip, but we have packed in many fun things with them. On Friday night, Dave, Taylor, and I visited with Kirk and Melissa at my parents' house. On Saturday, we ate a great breakfast at Soby's On the Side, walked through the market downtown, strolled through Falls Park, watched the movie Julie and Julia, and then topped the evening off with an amazing dinner at the Lake Lanier Tea House. I am exhausted, but thrilled to have spent so much time with everyone!

Taylor absolutely adores his Uncle Kirk. He talks about him constantly. He really loves theStetson Law School bear that Kirk brought for him. Taylor sleeps with it each night. I think that Kirk is trying to start Taylor off early with a law school influence from his dear alma mater. We are going to see Kirk and Melissa for one last visit this evening. We will miss them dearly, but look forward to seeing them for Christmas!! We love you guys and miss you already

Bye Bye Sippy Cups

We are taking the "big boy plunge" left and right these days. Last week we said goodbye to the crib and this week we are saying good bye to the sippy cups. The bed was a piece of cake compared to this! Yesterday when I picked Taylor up from his new class, the teacher told me that they do not allow the children to drink from sippy cups any longer and today would be his last day to drink from them in class. Oh No! I didn't panic (amazing). I just had to get a little crafty and creative to coax him into giving up his cups. I talked to Taylor in the car about giving up his sippy cups and giving them over to a baby so that he could use his "big boy cups" now. He was completely fine with it. He kept asking me when the babies were going to come to our house to pick up the cups...uh....I then told him that we would need to mail them to the babies instead. He was a little skeptical at first, but then he was completely fine with it. We bagged up all of the cups and headed out to the mailbox. He was perfectly happy to toss them in the mailbox and not look back! Woohooo! Well, right before bed each night, he gets a sippy cup of milk while he watches t.v. in my lap. He kept asking for milk and "mommy's lap". He cried and cried when he realized that he couldn't do this any longer. Of course, this broke my heart. I stayed firm at dinner when he requested juice. I gave it to him in his "big boy" cup and he did really well. A lot ended up on him and the chair, but it went very well overall. However, when it was bed time, I did give in a little and allowed him to drink from his "big boy" cup in my lap. I have to wean him slowly, right!? And I am not willing to give up my cuddle time with him in my lap quite yet. All in all, things went swimmingly. Now we just have to work on the potty training. I asked him if he also wanted to give his diapers to the babies as well. His response? "Ummm...no thanks...my diapers."

Taylor is now in his "big boy" bed

On Saturday night, Dave and I took the plunge and took down the front rail of Taylor's crib. He now has his official "big boy" bed. We put up a toddler bed rail to keep him from falling out of his bed and to make him feel a little more secure. Dave taught Taylor how to climb in and out of the bed without hurting himself and then we had a little talk with him about how he is not to get up until we come and get him. I was so nervous that the first night he would constantly get up, but knock on wood, he hasn't gotten out of bed yet. Yeah!!! I am certain that the day will come when he climbs out, but until then I am thrilled! When I go to get him in the morning he says, "Mommy! I wake up now?"

Here's the picture of his bed and the perfect print that Lori gave us to put in his room. It hangs right over his bed. Taylor adores it, Lori! Thanks! There is also a short video of Taylor through the monitor in his room (I know that I am neurotic because I took a video of it, but it is more of a way for me to catalog all the "big" events of Taylor's life, and this is one big event of his toddler years). He played for a few minutes, surveyed the room, checked the door to make sure that we weren't coming back, and then drifted off to sleep.

Taylor's "big boy" room

We transformed Taylor's room into a "big boy" room yesterday. We added a few new lamps, rearranged some furniture, cleaned out toys from the toy bin, put on new bedding, got rid of the diaper changing station, and brought in his train set from the living room. After all of this, we realized that Taylor does not need another truck, train, or car. He has PLENTY!!

We decided to transform his room first, let him get used to the changes, and then this weekend we will take down his rails. His bed will look more like a daybed rather than a crib when we break it down. I didn't snap a picture of the entire bed (dust ruffle and all), but I will once we transform the bed.

Overall, I am thrilled with how things turned out. We still have a few things that we need to do: add more artwork to the walls (thanks to Lori for the adorable fire truck print and Dave for the paintings that he is working on of trucks), clean the carpet, and add the window valances. All in good time though. I know that it will get done...eventually.

The Georgia Aquarium

Early Thursday morning, we packed up the car, dropped Baxter off at Mimi and Papa's house, and headed down to Atlanta. We picked up Aunt Angie (Taylor's Godmother, my sorority big sister, and of course my very very dear friend) and toured the amazing Georgia Aquarium. What an outstanding place to spend a rainy morning. Taylor was in awe of the whale sharks, the sea otters, and all of the other animals that they had on exhibit there (well, with the exception of the jelly fish- he really didn't care too much for them). We followed the Aquarium visit with lunch from Zoe. I really must find one of those somewhere near Greenville. It is hands down my favorite lunch spot now. Ah my mouth is starting to water just thinking about their feta and tomato pasta salad..WOW!!

We had a great, but very short visit with Angie. We were able to see her new townhouse and spend some quality time with her. It has been way too long since our last visit. We will just have to schedule another trip to the aquarium very soon (any maybe the Coca-Cola factory next time?).

Oh, and check out the cute little shirt that Angie gave Taylor. It, of course, has a John Deere tractor on it and it says, "Dirt makes me cuter". Taylor insisted on wearing it right away, wearing it to bed, and then wearing it home the next day. I have no idea how I coerced him to take it off last night to wash it. Thanks, Angie for a wonderful trip! We miss you!!

The picture above is actually a fish and not a plant...crazy, huh?!