It's a Hot Tradition

I don't know why we put ourselves through it every other September, but we do. The Volunteers travel 10 hours south and the Gasbarros travel an hour. This year we were joined byBlacky, his friends from Atlanta, a friend from Jax and our neighbors to tailgate in the Swamp. We had a good time tailgating with some co-workers from one of the offices I support inGainesville who hooked us up with a great spot. So we had a mix of Vols, Gators and people there just to enjoy the party.

The game was miserably hot and of course we were in the blaring sun the whole time. So this meant I watched the second half of the game from the breezeway. No matter how long I live here I still can't get over the heat on days like those.

Adelaide - 14 months

My updates have been very sporadic, but I did want to give a little Bean update. She officially turned 14 months on the 19th, yay, so what is she up to these days...

Walking...no way too lazy

Crawling...very fast, just ask Buddy. When she gets really excited she goes face first into the floor and then she laughs really hard.

Bad Habits....dog food, yes it's gross and as I mentioned she is fast so I have to remember to pick up the dishes before I put her down not as easy as it sounds. The other new found fun is closing doors and then crying when it doesn't open again. In her room the closet door springs back if you push it hard enough and of course that is hysterical to her. Not to me mind you because I am waiting for the screams of squished fingers.

School...moved to the ones class, though she is the only one not walking. She hurt my feelings this week when she saw her baby classroom teacher and screamed until I took over there. The kid would have rather stayed there than go home with me. I was mortified.

Food...eats anything and everything EXCEPT spaghetti. She likes mac and cheese, but not plain spaghetti with red sauce. Fish sticks and chicken nuggets are always winners in our house, but her absolute new favorite is her Grams chocolate chip banana bread. Adelaide loves to feed herself and gets frustrated if you try to help.

Talking...jabbers all of the time and is trying really hard to get new words out. So far she has no problem saying Dada, Momma and BuBu (Buddy). This week she added to her vocabulary with yes (sounds like ish) and duck (sounds like uck). I'm thinking she is also saying milk (sounds like ilk), but I'm not sold on that one yet.

Teeth...10 giant teeth and we are so lucky because she makes no fuss about it. The other month Grant had her upside down and told me to come look. She had 4 molars coming in at the same time and we didn't know it until they had already come through. The poor kid is going to have giant teeth like her mommy.

Size...teeny tiny, we still haven't made it onto the growth chart. We went for a sick visit last week and with her clothes on she was 17 pounds. This was a very exciting day for us.

Health...Adelaide's sight seems to be good, but her eyes still shake and cross occasionally. We don't go back to the pediatric opthamologist until next year. On Tuesday we are heading to a Neurologist at Nemours Childrens Hospital to have them observe her due to her development being behind and she occasionally shakes after sleeping. Our pediatrician is waiting to see how the appointment on Tuesday goes, but has already recommended that we look at physical and speech therapy.

Fall Festival

The cool weather came just in time for the Orange Park Fall Festival this year. Apparently this is an event that has been occurring for 20 something years and this is the first time we graced the grassy area.

There were all kinds of vendor booths and kids performing, but the most important booth was the Funnel Cake and Fresh Squeezed Lemonade. Yes, that is Adelaide trying everything that she could to get to the next piece of funnel cake.

Just a side note, every year I have to explain the difference between funny cake and funnel cake to him. You would think after being with a junk food addict for 10 years he would have gotten it straight by now.

Cool Weather and Cool Relatives

Adelaide had three great surprises this weekend...Not only did the weather get very cool, but Daddy came home and he brought some special visitors...GG, Pap, Granny Franny and TT.

I'm not over exaggerating about the cool weather, it dropped about 40 degrees in one night. She wore a tank dress to school on Friday and by Saturday we were digging through her closet for something that had sleeves and pants. So we discovered that Adelaide officially had one long sleeve cardigan and one pair of jeans in her closet that actually fit her. Needless to say the next day after all of our visitors were gone Adelaide met up with her Grams for an emergency run to Target for a pair of tights and another cardigan.

I jumped ahead to Sunday in a hurry, but we can't forget to mention that Adelaide is going through a Mommy only phase right now. So she wouldn't let anyone hold her except me, Grant and eventually Pap.

There were even cookie bribes in place. Let me tell you the kid can eat more cookies than you can imagine.

Labor Day

10 years ago on Labor Day weekend, Grant I met at a fraternity party after a Vol football game

7 years ago on Labor Day weekend, Grant and I got engaged in a Sears in Atlanta

6 years ago on Labor Day weekend, Grant and I were married on a beautiful summer day on the St Johns River

5 years ago on Labor Day weekend, Grant and I celebrated our first married year on a Caribbean Cruise.

1 year ago on Labor Day weekend, Grant and I were in a foggy daze from no sleep after having a baby 2 weeks earlier.

This year we took a break from our cell phones, Adelaide, work and everything else. Grant and I spent the evening eating a fabulous dinner at Orsay and driving around the beautiful homes on the St Johns River.

lost visitor

I don't know how I didn't get this posted sooner, but better late than never. I seem to be saying that a lot lately.

This summer we had a brief visitor from Grant's cousin Tiffany and her two kids. They were on a grand journey from New York to Florida and a lot of stops in between.

Haircut

It has taken me a month to get this up here, but it finally happened...Adelaide got her first haircut. Poor Adelaide had to crawl around for months with a rat tail just waiting for her first birthday so that the haircut could finally happen. So we took her to this great childrens place called Cookie Cutters and then we made a stop a Beauty and the Beef for lunch.