Hop and Bobby

This weekend my parents, Pop and Bebe, came in for a visit. Clinton LOVES having them here because Bebe brings a stash of homemade cookies (which Clinton calls gigligooglianas) and Clinton thinks Pop hung the moon.

The best part of this visit was how Clinton has given them new names. He's been saying Pop, or versions thereof, for a while now. He's just recently been saying Bebe (pronounced be-bay). However, when they got here Clinton stuck to Hop for Pop and started calling my mom Bobby. We found it to be hilarious and I think it's going stick.

I love when grandkids end up really picking out the grandparent names. I think it's more special for the grandparents, too!

Clinton and Hop had several adventures together. They went to a construction site so Clinton could watch the trucks and tractors. They went to Tractor Supply and got Clinton a toy truck and excavator, which he slept with for two nights. Clinton had a big time in his baby pool with Hop. And as seen in an earlier post, they got to work on the toilet together after Clinton flushed a toy frog.

Clinton thoroughly enjoyed the Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies and Snickerdoodles that Bobby brought (as did Rodney and I). Bobby helped with a couple of photo shoots of Heidi. And Heidi got lots of lovin' from Bobby (and Hop).

Below are a few pics of our fun weekend!

Looking for a frog!


Rough housin' in the pool.


Chillin' in the pool.


Heidi gettin' some love from Bobby.


Learning to walk?? NOT YET!


Calling Webster's about "gigligooglianas",

Heidi's Baptism

Sunday Heidi was baptized. In the Methodist church, this is simply a dedication by the parents of the child to God. It's a commitment we make to raise Heidi "in the ways that lead to life" with the Trinity.

I was so glad my parents were able to make it (and they were too!). Mother made Heidi's baptism gown and everyone loved it! We got stopped 100 times at church so people could oooh and aahh over our little girl and her amazing dress.

Below are a few pics Mother and I took of Heidi in her dress and then some family pics from the baptism.

Clinton is absent from the pics because he was in the nursery. We kept him in the sanctuary until the baptism was over and it was stressful for all...to say the least. We were on the front row and he ran his trucks up and down the railing in front of us, greeted a number of people behind us, talked during the prayer (why are they always the loudest during the quiet times?), and crawled under the pews. I just about made myself sick stressing over it....and I don't stress that easily.

After her baptism we went across the street and had brunch before dropping Mother and Dad off at the airport.

It was a great day, one we'll cherish forever.






Me, Rodney and Heidi with my bud, Dr. Jeff Wilson, who was so gracious to baptize her for me


Papa (Rodney's dad), Cindy, and Alexis with Heidi (Emma also snuck into their pic)


Alesha (Rodney's sister), Brian, Keelan and Emma with Heidi


Nana (Rodney's mom) and Papa John with Heidi


Bebe and Pop with Heidi


Pop and Heidi at Breakfast


Clinton helping open up Heidi's gifts


Eternally Blessed,

Happy 3 Months, Angel Face!

Our sweet little girl is already 3 months old and I find myself grasping at straws trying to get the time to slow down. I already miss her newborn stage as she is now developing into a baby with tons of personality.

At three months, we're finding Heidi LOVES to smile. She is friendly to everyone but really likes to have Clinton around. She thinks he is so funny. She is also more of a mommy's baby than Clinton ever was.

She is talking a ton and her days are filled with smiles and giggles. She's also holding her head up very well and looking around at everything. Nobody puts this baby in the corner...she likes to be in the middle of it all...and will let you know when she isn't!

We love you baby girl and can't imagine we ever had a life without you! Can't wait to see what the upcoming months have in store for us!!













Loving everything girly,

How much trouble can one frog be?

Interesting conversation heard in our house:

Mother: Clinton what are you doing?
Clinton: Oh, no! Oh, no!
Mother: Courtney, did Clinton have something in his hand when he came in here?
Me: I don't know, why?
Mother: He's flushed the toilet and saying "Oh, no!".
Me: Clinton, did you put a toy in the potty?
Clinton: Jes. (Yes)
Me: What did you put in the potty?
Clinton: Jes.
Me: No, WHAT did you put in the potty?
Clinton: Jes.



Wednesday, the day my parents arrived, Mother found Clinton in the bathroom flushing the toilet. Actually, when Mother found him he was already turned around reaching for another toy, but her entrance into the bathroom foiled his plans!

As you can tell from the conversation, we had no idea what was in the toilet but we knew something was lodged in there. We tried 2 plungers and a snake with no success. This meant the toilet was coming out...which Clinton thought was the greatest thing ever! Once the toilet was in the yard (so glamorous!) we snaked it backwards and out popped his bathtub frog!

And, yes, the frog went straight to the trash!

Keeping the bathroom doors locked,

Peas and Gumps

Lately we've been hearing lots of good manners around our house!

I feel like I have lured manners out of him over and over and over and over for the past year or more. We started out signing Please and Thank You (which we still do) but Clinton is also saying them and not always because I'm asking him to say it, but because he knows that's just part of the deal!

I now hear a lot of "Mont, peas" (Milk, please) or "Ish, peas" (Goldfish, please) or "Chox, peas" (Chocolate, please) or "Hup, peas" (Help, please). Or sometimes he just starts screaming "PEAS" at me as if I can read his mind about what he wants. That's always fun.

Clinton was learning how to blow kisses about the same time he was learning to sign "Thank you". Since they look very similar, "Thank you" just became blowing a kiss. I will miss this as he has learned to say "Thank you". Although, not many people understand what he's saying when he says, "Gumps". I think it's a version of "Thanks", best I can tell. Now, without prompting him, I hear a lot of "Gumps" whenever I give him something. I also hear a lot of "No, gumps" in response to a question.

Don't get me wrong, I still have to prompt him from time to time so he can remember his manners, but things are definitely starting to stick with this kid!

Next task: "Yes, ma'am" and "No, ma'am". (And sir.) I love some good Southern manners on a kid!

Brushing up on my own manners,

Let's Jump, Jump!!

Heidi has nothing but love for her brother. She thinks he's so funny and she smiles every time she sees him. I, too, think he's funny and adore him but...


I also have times of frustration with this little wild child. Take for example last week as I was trying to nurse Heidi and Clinton insisted on "entertaining" us (and himself) by jumping all over the bed I was sitting on.





Elated and frustrated,

She Plays!!

Recently I have been putting small toys in front of Heidi to see if she wanted to "play". I have had no success...but Clinton did. He was watching his tractor video the other night and decided to get his tractors out to play with. As any loving brother would do, he took them over to share with his sister. For the first time she reached out and played with a toy. I, of course, ran for the camera.

A little while later I took Heidi in the other room to feed her. Clinton has a tendency to gravitate to whatever room Heidi is in, so it wasn't long before he joined us and brought Heidi a tractor to play with again. I hope his love of sharing with his sister continues...for at least the next 16-18 years! ;-)






Caring and sharing,

It's Daddy's Day!

To a man who knows about exhaustion, financial sacrifice, poopie diapers, unending Thomas the Train movies, up-all-night crying, consoling an "injured" toddler, nonrelaxing vacations, little feet in the face while trying to sleep, few (if any) nights out with the guys, hours of "soccer" in the back yard, chasing a little one through the neighborhood, more take out than homemade meals (lately)...may you have a wonderful day. We hope you feel the love and appreciation we all have for you!




Celebrating all the wonderful Dad's in my life,

Fashionista? Maybe not.

Clinton has been asserting himself around here lately on all types of issues. One that has been considerably noticeable is his insistence on picking out his own clothes. Some days I'm happy to oblige. Other days I cringe then just smile and nod as people make their comments about how "cute" his outfit is. I'm certain their aware it's an outfit the child picked out himself and not something I would actually put together. But who knows, maybe they think this really cute kid has an idiot for a mother.

This shirt is always okay with me, of course. Sometimes he even wears it with his hat and his adorable Longhorn Crocs that Uncle Brian sent him! Thanks Brian!! Yesterday he wore his Crocs with his Mater socks his Nana gave him. This is an instance where I would cringe. He also pulled his Longhorn shirt out of the dirty clothes and wore it dirty. Oops...guess mommy needs to do a better job keeping up!


Again, another favorite of mine and Clinton's. But he often wears it cocked to the side like this which makes everyone who sees him chuckle a bit.


Nudey patooty has been a recent favorite for Clinton. I don't let him leave the house like this, OBVIOUSLY, but the neighbors often get a show. :-\


Clinton found this shirt at Kohl's the other day. I had him strapped down in the Sit-n-Stand, but he was still able to come up off the seat and rip this shirt off of the rack. He LOVES monster trucks. And while I typically wouldn't care for something like this I was able to dig around until I found a pair of shorts that I thought made it a cute outfit. As I was digging around I heard him struggling, I looked over and he was trying to get the shirt on. I helped him but told him that he had to leave the tag on which was bothering him considerably. The next thing I heard out of his mouth was, "Yay, I did it!" I looked over to see the tag leaving his hand and floating down to the floor. Perfect. Tip for dressing boys: a pair of plaid shorts can make just about any outfit cute.


The yellow Polo is one of Clinton's favorite. (He thinks the RL Horse is a Longhorn. I don't tell him any different.) He often insists on wearing it, but two days ago he insisted on wearing it with his boots only. He refused to wear pants. I finally convinced him (a few hours later) that he had to wear pants so we could leave the house.


A few weekends ago we went to Papa John's house and as I was trying on outfit after outfit Clinton stood in my closet checking out everything that hit the floor. When Clinton saw this shirt, he insisted on wearing it. Since it was all family, I allowed such a fashion catastrophe! ;-)


He also has a John Deere shirt (that I can't locate a picture of) that is an absolute fave. I think he would be perfectly happy with just his Longhorn shirt, Monster Truck shirt, John Deere shirt and yellow Polo. The boy would be happy with only those...although he has a whole closet full of cuteness!

Dodging the fashion critics,