A visit with Santa

This weekend Allison was kind enough to inform us that Santa himself would be at the Renaissance Hotel this weekend letting the kiddos sit on his lap. So we dressed the boys up and took 'em on down!

At first, it was going surprisingly well. Allison was snapping these pictures below as Pollard kind of half-smiled and tried to pull up his pants leg. I was really impressed he wasn't even crying!!!

This is about where it all got nasty. He figured out he was on some fat guys lap, and turned around to see who it might be. WHOA! STRANGER!!!!

Well buddy would it help if Riley was up there with you?

Um, let me think....NO. This is so scary!!

I love the way Riley is looking at him in the one above, as if to say "Dude, cool it or you won't get your presents".

So that lasted about 30 seconds and we all got a good laugh. I snatched Pollard up pretty quickly, and right when I did he saw Riley take off, started laughing, and it was like nothing bad had ever happened. Gotta love that.

Here they are wrestling around, being boys.

Pure Exhaustion

Yesterday goes down in history as one of the most tiring days of my life. And to top it all off, I have no idea what I even did.


I don't know what it is about Sunday nights but I just flat out do not sleep. (note: I really don't sleep much anyway, even on the rare occasion that Pollard is not sprawled out on top of me or Britton). I can't figure out if it's because of Brothers and Sisters (I cry every time I see Kitty, I still can't believe she has cancer), or if it's just that day. I just loooooove Sunday, and somehow I can't come down from my bliss and I'm up every daggum 2 hours.


I woke up Monday morning and I think ate breakfast, but I can't be certain. Then I somehow managed my way out of the house and to the gym, letting Pollard play in the play room with another baby. I'm sure he stole this kid's paci, but that's another saga.

Monday is a very busy day for me since I don't go into the office. I feel like I have to get every errand I have on my list done by the end of the day, all while getting 2 naps in for the baby. It's a lot for just one Mommy.


The rest of the day is a blur. All I remember is that my arms were trembling. Pollard feels like he weighs about 180 pounds and his new move is dive bombing out of my arms as fast as he can to try and get down. I don't know how to explain it except that when I go to put him on my hip, instead of resting quietly and taking in the scene, he throws his back arm forward and reaches for the ground. No son, you cannot crawl around in the Dollar Tree parking lot.


He continues to do this wherever we go. Doesn't matter if I'm filling out my new patient form at Adams Drugs (I swore they had buggies in there to set him in, but NO buggy to be found), walking from car to Dollar Tree, or while sitting in the grocery cart. I turn around for one second to pick out my marinara and my 180-lb kid is half way out of the cart smiling all the way down. That's always when an older lady passes you and silently critizes your mothering capabilities.
The ladies at Adams were just giggling and said "He is so cute!" That was the first time in my child's life when I said "Sometimes" instead of "I KNOW!"


At 4:30 we met Britton at the house to go on a walk. After that walk (a total blur), we went to his parents for a delish dinner. I crawled around behind him because he eats everything, and pulls up on objects that are not stable. After about an hour, and one cry later (the baby, although I probably could have used a good one), I lay on the floor with my arms on both of his ankles as he tried to swim across the hardwoods and yelled "BRITTON CAN WE PLEASE GO NOW". He gave me a strange face.


My arms were trembling and my legs had gone rubbery (could be from double workouts).


Then this is what looks up at you and you just have to die out laughing....

(note the toe point)

So what I would like to say is that my hat goes off to all full time stay at home Mom's. How you tote around 1-3 children and make yourself look somewhat presentable 5 days a week I will never know. But I commend you, oh makers of the home. You are my heroes.

Happy Halloween from my Teddy Bear!

Happy Halloween from Pollard, the friendly bear :)

Fall Photo Shoot

Yesterday afternoon Jennifer and I got into the fall mode and decided to dress the boys up for a photo shoot. It was SO nice outside and they just looked adorable. So we grabbed the Trott's pumpkin and off into the front yard we went. Here is what transpired...

Pollard and the pumpkin.

Pollard, Barnes and the pumpkin.

The boys having fun!

And the now famous BITE. Barnes never saw it coming. From what he could tell, this was reeeally fun. "Maybe he's letting me feel his teeth?", thought innocent Barnes.

Until...CHOMP.

My kid bit his 5 1/2 month old cousin like he was tearing into a piece of beef jerky.

Poor innocent Barnes man!

He recovered but it was a rough moment.

And THAT was where the photo shoot ended.

9 months old!

It's been so long since I've posted that I thought I'd appease you with a video. Here is Pollard and his new best friend Norman. For whatever reason, the thinks Norm is just absolutely hilarious. This video pretty much sums it up!

Here is what else has been going on in the life of Pollard:

-After an outbreak of hives all over his face, neck and arms we found out he is allergic to eggs. 2 shots in the thunder thighs and 2 oral doses of Benadryl later, we were on our way. I had a strange way of controlling myself (thank God my Mom was in town to help me with that), and then was able to laugh about it once I realized his throat wasn't closing up. He can eat things that have had egg baked in them, just no scrambled eggs for breakfast :( The sad part is, he LOVES them!

-He pulls up on EVERYTHING, crawls everywhere in his signature crab crawl (seen in video above), and loves the dogs or any animal.

-He loooooves to eat! He doesn't really like to be fed anymore, so I try and cook things he will like too. So far his faves are spaghetti, chicken pot pie, red grapes and pancakes on Saturdays.

-He is a big fan of the sippy cup, but the only problem there is that he will really only drink out of one kind (the Nuk) and I can't find them ANYWHERE right now to grab extras!

-He goes to bed between 7:15-8:00 and sleeps until whenever he wants to. Could be 5:30, could be 6:30 (on a very, very lucky morning when God knows I might blow a gasket if I hear him at 5:30 one more time...).

-He always, always, always wakes up happy.

-He is loving being with Ms. Dorothy every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and we're pretty sure she loves him right back :) We don't know what we would do without her!

And lastly, he still has really good hair.

Waaaay better than Gerber, and 2 videos

I want you all to know that as of late, I do realize I've been slacking. So, I thought I would surprise you all and post videos (I know...amazing). One is P playing on the floor with his fave new toy, Ziploc containers. The other is of his favorite new perch, right on the baby gate where the dogs hang out. This one has a happy ending in the diaper.

Also, tonight, I made the big man some big boy spaghetti. It sounded good to me, so I made it with rotini noodles, which I thought would be easier for him to pick up and eat. I just used a mild tomato sauce and some ground beef. It was like the kid had never eaten in his life. The sucking and grunting sound he made when a noodle hit his tougue was priceless. I really couldn't get him to look up and smile because he was too busy shoveling.

This was waaaaay better than Gerber.

No, he didn't eat that entire bowl of spaghetti, some of that was for his Mommy.

I highly recommend going with the rotini noodles for all you Momma's wanting to try spaghetti with the kiddos! It was so easy for him to pick up and put in his mouth as quickly as he possibly could :)

What has Pollard been up to?!?!

I know this will come as a shock but we've been at the beach! We went back for Labor day and had a blast. We also found this cute vintage-inspired baby boat hat in the front closet at the Henig's condo. How could I resist?

By the time he was done crawling from the beach chairs down to the water, he had said in every tiny crease of his body.

And he now crawls at the speed of light, so why not give it a go on the sand?

He got a little rashy (but everything makes him rashy), but it was no biggie. He ate so much sand, it was just out of control. Every time I would wash away the handful in his left hand, I'd turn to wipe it off and his right hand would be full of it and already in his mouth.

A little too much sand, buddy?

And why not just stick it in your ear while you're at it...

And with all this, his hair has gotten a little...unruly. Well YOU see, it look at it blowing in the wind in the beach pics above. It's uncontrollable. We even had to bobby pin it for him to eat. What a pretty little girl!

Which leads me into THIS.

His first at home haircut. Ehhh, it didn't quite turn out like we'd planned. Is it just us, or has he taken a liking to Lloyd Christmas?


But, when you sweep it to the side, he looks ADORABLE!!!

Just another Tuesday

This past Tuesday was helacious. Is that how you spell it??

Start me off with another looooong day at work, problem after problem, no solution after no solution. Awesome!

Norm headed to the vet at about 8 am for a day of vaccinnes. At about 11:30 I called and the vet tech told me he was ready to be picked up. About 15 minutes later I get a call on my office phone from Josh (vet tech). "Yeahhhh, um, if you could just leave Mr. Norman here until after you get off work, that would probably be best. He's had a bit of an anaphlactic reaction to the vaccinnes and he's swollen all over." Oh my. After being assured that the baby pug is ok, I showed up, as requested, about 5:30 to retrieve mr. puffy. He charges out, excited as ever, looking really good (he got a complimentary bath since they had to douse him in cold water to ward off the hives....comforting). When I get him home, he goes racing through the house, running into walls, snorting like never before. Obviously it's been a really bad day and he's glad to be home. Pollard is there, sweet as ever, and off goes Ms. Dorothy.

About half way through his dinner, Norm goes postal. He's left his food in the bowl (never before seen) and is dive-bombing into Allie's bed. Runs as fast as he can (which is not very fast) to the couch, throws off all the pillows, runs underneath a circular glass table that I have and will NOT emerge from beneath the table cloth. Not even for a milkbone. Bad sign.

I finally pull the pug out from under the table (baby is cooing sweetly in pack-n-play) and his face looks like a balloon. His fur is standing on end, hives everywhere, and he is having trouble breathing. He looked exactly like a Char-pei.

Suddenly, I too am having trouble breathing. Baby is laughing at his toys.

I grab the phone and the pug, throw him in the bath tub and douse him with cold water. I hit a picture frame and knock it off my shelf, it goes crashing to the floor. Pillow are everywhere.

I desperately call the vet praying that someone is still in the office. Thank you LORD, Dr. Rogers is still there. When I tell him it's another flare up, he says "Are you sure??" AM I SURE?!?!?

After he believes me he tells me to get him to the office ASAP. I am sweating profusely. Baby still cooing and laughing.

I grab my purse, throw it over my neck (literally), grab a paci, throw it in the purse. Get a towel. Get Norm in the towel, put pug in right arm. Reach into pack-n-play and put baby in left arm. All while looking at the baby saying cheerfully "It's OK! This is fun! This is not an emergency!"

This is SO an emergency.

After getting another IV of some sort of doggie-benadryl, Big Norm was back to his curly-tailed usual self. Pollard was an angel, didn't make a peep. I was sweating like never before, and somehow my right foot was bleeding.

After a few hours in our bedroom by the air vent, and 2 anti-histamines, Norman Wayne Henig is baaaaaaack.

Water, water, everywhere!

Yesterday Pollard was invited to Ellie Callahan's 1st birthday party! It was a "Splash Bash" and there were mini-pools GALORE in their backyard. I sat Pollard in this one just to see how he would like it, and 30 minutes later I had to pull him out of it when all the other kids were leaving!

He was obsessed with the water that sprayed up...where was it coming from?!?!

And this is the most I could get him to look up. Not only would he not look up for a picture, he didn't even look up to see if we were still there, and didn't care about any of the other kids. Too funny!!!

A video!

Good Lordy, I hope this thing works. Our baby is now 7 months old and guess who just got around to uploading the software for the video camera!?!? That's right, all the millions of videos we've taken were stuck in Sony-land. But not anymoooooorrreee.

We have a blog friend named Blair Verdiget who P is secretly in love with (even though we've never met). She is Pollard but in a beautiful, chubby little girl-baby. Anyways, the other day I was about to DIE watching a video of Blair laughing at Tara going "BOO!". Greatest laugh ever! And then I realized that P thinks that's hilarous too, so I caught him the other day laughing at it. Yet another reason why they are destined to be. It's not his very best belly laugh, but it's pretty darn good. Nothing compares to Blair, but this is close!

Wrestlemania

It's no secret: Our kid doesn't sleep. I mean that in the most literal form. From the day he was born, he was up and at 'em every 2 hours all day, all night....driving us dangerously close to oblivion. Thinking back on it, neither one of us should have been operating motor vehicles. Many of our friends/family/doctors have shared their secrets and bragged about their children being fabulous sleepers. We like to think that Pollard has many talents, and staying asleep is not one of them.

As he has matured into quite a large 7 month old...mmm...eh...things have slightly improved. Going to bed at night is a breeze. It's GLORIOUS. The baby loves to go night-night. Nap time, a wee different. The only way we can describe what has to be done to get this baby to nap is Wrestlemania. It starts with him grunting. Then we pick up the baby, try all the "usual" positions to try and rock him to sleep. He grunts, spits out his paci, starts dying out laughing. Oh my gosh kid you've been up for SIX HOURS.

We try all the stations: our bed, the den couch with Noggin, the rocker, the stroller. Nothing. Not even a sign of eyes closing, just straight up Wrestlemania.

This term involves, but is not limited to, an overload of grunting, many kicks and punches (usually to said parents face and gut), crawling while being held, divebombing into pillows/covers/my boobs, laughing, and crying. All while we try our hardest to wrap our arms around him and make him surrender.

This afternoon I have spent an hour and a half trying to get this baby to take a nap. Since he woke up at 8 this morning (after a bottle at 6 and falling back asleep with me while hitting me in his sleep), he has slept for a total of about 35 minutes all day. What?!

Afternoon of wrestling baby into submission equals this...

And now...I go shower.

Wallace Family Beach Week

Britton's family was very sweet and let the Wallace's do our summer vacay at their place in Destin this year. It was so nice... a whole week at the beach!

Most of our days started out like this...
Poor P, he's the kid at the beach whose Mom didn't rub all the sunscreen in. Do you know, despite all this rubbin', the kid still got a tan?

And here are some shots of my angel on the beach.

Look at that belly, ugh, I just wanna kiss it all over.

This baby pool was a fabulous idea, but it didn't last too long once he found the sand...


And here we are thinking something is absolutely hilarious... (have no idea what it could be but kudos to Debbie for taking this) The Townsends and the Kevers were in Destin at the same time, we had a ball seeing each other almost EVERY day...so fun!!! (Lizzie, send me some pics!)


Also, I mean not to ruin it, but do we see the Christmas card before us???

And my 2 favorites from the entire week. Pollard and Papa outside Graffiti (highly delicious), and Pollard and Mimi enjoying looking at the seagulls. Is it just me or do Dad and Pollard look JUST ALIKE in that picture???

Ahhhh, the beach is GOOD.