Long time no blog!

I'll try to get on here during one of my days off this week, we have been SO busy doing SO many fun things I haven't had any spare time to update!

Crisp autumn days.

We spent today having a picnic in the park. 

You may say I'm a dreamer.

cookie making.

little friends.

This, coupled with cleaning, was how we spent our day. Two hours of which involved watching IMAGINE; a John Lennon Documentary. Adrian remarked several times that "Daddy look like John Ennun"; "That's my favorite song!"(anytime they showed live Beatles concert footage); and that "I like John Ennun."

Stop motion.

My sister Kiki made these incredible stop motion movies from our last visit up north.

Bounce!

Coney Island

Trivia and the ineffectiveness of time outs.

Adrian likes time outs. When threatened with a time out, he will deliberately disobey me or Dillon in order to receive one. With this being said, one would assume we wouldn't offer them as an effective form of punishment, yet we continue to do so. Why? Because I don't know how else to let him know I mean business. Time Outs in our household consist of him sitting on the floor of my bedroom with the door closed stripped of his beloved Coco and binkie in the dark, he cries at the end of every time out and inevitably apologizes for the action that provoked his being reprimanded. He is typically very well behaved, but tonight we encountered a situation. He hit Joplin, not hard, just little taps on her back, instead of petting her. When I tell him hey kid, don't ever hit a dog, that dog will bite your nose off your face and you won't have a nose anymore, he continues to hit her. I again take his hand (Joplin is on my lap at the time just wanting a little interspecies lovin' and attention) and tell him NO, do not hit her Adrian. He pauses for a second, and then deliberately defies me and starts hitting her again. I am not a patient person. I admit it, and I cannot change it,  and do not like having to repeat myself, especially when I know he is ignoring me on purpose. I asked him "What do you think you're doing?" to which he looks me dead in the eyes and says "I hitting her." Then the time out hits. I take his binkie and his Coco and put them on top of the TV, high enough so he can see exactly where they are yet just inches out of his reach, and take him hand and put him in my room on the floor. As we're walking in he comments "I like time outs!", I turn around and close the door. I go back in the living room to see Dillon laughing (of course whenever Adrian acts this way it's really actually very, very funny to see this attitude out of such a tiny body, and we always have to try really hard not to laugh until after he's out of the room and we've enforced that the behavior was bad and not funny). Which reminds me of the time I told him to go do something and he looked me in my face and called me an As*hole, another situation where I had to cover my mouth to withhold from laughing (I was so shocked, you don't expect to hear such words out of such a small mouth! And we don't curse often so it wasn't something we were expecting-- just out of the blue he called me an a*shole, right to my face, in correct context one would use in referring to someone else who's being an asshole as such.) I timed him out and when I went back to hug him and tell him I love him and explain why what he did was wrong, he looked at Dillon and said "Mommy's an a*shole." Of course Dillon loses it. It took us several attempts, but we've finally seemed to rid that word from his vocabulary. Anyway, back to tonight's time out, we hear him in our room singing "I'm in a time out I'm in a time out" and tapping on the walls, enjoying his little self. So aggravating yet so hysterical! He knocks on the door and we ignore him. He knocks again and finally I say "You're still in time out! Sit your booty down!" to which he replies "Don't say booty."... I raise my white flag and let him out, he's too cute to argue with.

And now for a little "picture this in your mind because it was really cute" moment. We went to dinner at Drifters here in East Nashville tonight for some BBQ,  and as we're about to leave a Trivia game begins. The guy hosting it starts listing the categories and the first one is Toys, mind you this is primarily a bar but has a few tables for families and larger groups, Adrian was the youngest person in there by about 21 years.  He says loudly "Toys!?" And the whole room looks at him and laughs. It was very, very adorable.

DISCLAIMER/TRUTH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: I write a lot of run on sentences, in the same sense that I talk very fast. I have to get the words out before I forget, and throw punctuation and grammar to the wind.

An accomplished day.

Today Lonnie (Dillon's Dad, Adrian's Papa, my future father in law, etc) took Adrian to work with him. He puts together radio shows for Kix Brooks' radio station, and Kix happened to be in today, so Adrian got to meet him. Not a bad way for a two year old to start the day.

As soon as the boys got home Adrian and I headed out for our day of errand running. We started off at PetSmart (when I told Adrian the name of the store he said "Joplin not smart she's a dumb dog".. ha!) We got her a new black collar ("because Mommy likes to wear black too"), a new teddybear chew toy which Adrian named Jellybean, some nail clippers, a new chewtoy bone thing, and a hotdog/cheeseburger combo. Spoiled? Of course, but hey, that's my style while she's a puppy.

We then headed to Party City to look for Halloween Costumes. 

Adrian: "Where we going now?"

Me: "Party City for look for Halloween Costumes."

Adrian: "WE GOING TO A PARTY!? I Looooove Parties. A Halleeween party?"

Me: "No baby it's not a real party, it's just the name of the store where we can look for costumes."

Adrian: "No party? But I love to party."

Me: "I know, it's just called Party City, sorry baby."

Adrian: "Oookkk."

We pull up to the store and there's a large Spiderman decal on the first window. He points out that he sees Spiderman, and that he's with his girlfriend. (The window next to it had a large Tinkerbell, whom everyone knows Spiderman is dating.) Out of all the costume photos on the wall, Adrian picks out his favorite, and we decide on our theme this year: Football! He's going to be a Football player, and I'm being a Cheerleader. Very cute, I got pompoms and a sweatsuit to wear with my blonde wig, he's costume included a felt helmet, Red Jersey, pants, tube socks, a mini football, and black under eye smudge marks. Last year we were a family of pirates. Can't wait to take him trick-or-treating!

We made a couple of other quick stops including one to Michael's craft store to buy felt letters and a glue gun so I can personalize the Jersey to say "NAPIER" across the back. Little touches go a long way! While I was there they had some huge sales on Fall-like decor, so instead of decorating for Halloween this year (esp considering we will be out trick-or-treating and not home handing out candy) I purchased two small little outdoor items that I think are perfect for Autumn.

Now we're home relaxing, almost time to cook Adrian's request of red pasta with grilled chicken. I really love every aspect of motherhood, it's so fun and rewarding!

Bananas.

Whenever it's time to go to the grocery store, we all have our own preferences that add up to our typical grocery list. I usually get some root beer, Dillon likes BBQ chips, and Adrian always needs Apple Juice, Bananas, and Strawberries. Last week I went to our local WalMart market (strictly groceries, which is alright, but I'm spoiled and prefer the large find everything in one stop shopping WalMart. Trashy? Perhaps.) and bought the usual items. I came home, unloaded the bags, and couldn't find the bananas. I looked at my receipt and I paid for them, but they weren't in any bags and weren't left in my car. I assumed I somehow left them in the cart at the store, and didn't really think much more about it after that. Later that night Adrian and I have the following conversation.

Adrian: "Mommy, where's my Coco at?" (Coco is Adrian's beloved friend stuffed animal gorilla. They have been inseparable for years.)
Me: "I'm not sure baby is he in my room?"
Adrian: "No I think he's in my room."
Me: "Ok, go get him out of your room."
Adrian: "I want you to get him."
Me: "Ok, let's go get him together."
Adrian: (lights up) "Ok! Let's go!"
(We go in)
Adrian: "Coco was hungry."

I walk in and he has this grin on his face, and I look over on the bed and see this:

Just one of the guys.

Tonight Dillon and his friend Jon are having songwriters night/acoustic practice at our house. Adrian refers to Jon as "Coondog", and Jon in turn refers to Adrian as "Coondog". The story behind this nickname is simple, when I was around 7 months pregnant Dillon and I were at Jon's house with some friends watching Gram Parson's Documentary. His father's name was Coondog, and immediately Jon points to my belly and says "Name him coondog!" to which Dillon laughs and I cringe. Jon thereby swears that no matter what we name him, he will always call him Coondog. He stuck to his word. When Adrian first started talking and remembering people, he could never remember Jon's name, so we'd say "You know, Daddy's friend who calls you Coondog." And so now he calls him both Jon and Coondog.

Anyway, here are some photos of the men practicing Jon's song "Cheap Women Ain't Good". (Might as well teach him young.)

"If you pray, why worry? And if you worry, why pray?"

Pottery class.

Every Tuesday for the past several months, Adrian and I have been frequenting All Fired Up, a cute ceramics place in Hillsboro Village. For a 6 dollar sitting fee you get unlimited colors and amounts of those colors of your choice, plus the price of your piece. We leave them for 5 days, then walla! Adorable ceramic creations. We bring in snacks and drinks and will spend all afternoon working on our little treasures. So far I have made a mug, a frame, a jewelry box, and an ashtray. Adrian has made a frame, a ceramic car, and a guitar shaped box. Our friend and local artist Sara Estes featured our latest painting adventure in her blog found here:

The Spotted Fox


Here are some various pictures of our sessions. This is particularly fun way to interact with your child for artsy moms who are into crafts, the paint in nontoxic and it helps keep the little one calm and focused, plus gives them something to look forward to when you pick up your finished pieces.

Funny sh*t my kid says.

Two Napiers and a Buccini August 2010

Welcome to my blog! I am Lauren, a 24 year old mother of a soon to be 3 year old toddler. My life's gotten monumentally more interesting and entertaining since the birth of my son, Adrian, on November 12, 2007. His daddy (my fiance) and I met on New Years Eve of 2006-2007, fell in love, and the stork came (by surprise!). We lived in Smyrna with his parents and brother for the first 6 months of Adrian's young life, then lived on our own in a townhouse in Smyrna until February of 2010 when we moved to our current home in East Nashville. I am a waitress/part time restaurant manager, and Dillon spends his days listening to people complain about problems with their cable and his nights and weekends as a musician. We, like most first time/fairly young parents out there, are constantly encountering new, funny and strange situations as we raise our little boy. He is very cute, which he knows and uses in his favor. He's also very smart, and loves to draw and paint. He has a difficult time pronouncing his "t's, s's, and l's", but I understand him perfectly. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is his favorite television show, and we promised him an all out Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 3rd birthday party this year. Now that the introductions are out of the way, I'll begin.




 A typical conversation held between Adrian and I about potty training will start out as such.


Me: "Adrian, are you ready to use the potty today?"
Adrian: (instant worry on his face) "No, let's do it later." 
(I lay him down, take off his diaper, he realizes I don't have another diaper ready to put on him.)
Me: "When later? You're a big boy. You need to start using the potty, it's so fun!" 
Adrian: (getting increasing anxious) "But me love me diaper.."
Me: "If you love your diaper you'll really love the potty!"
Adrian: "NO ME WONT! ME WANT TO STAY LITTLE! ME LOVE ME DIAPERRR!"
(flip out, cries, goes in his room and grips entire bag of diapers while chasing me around the house trying to shove the diaper he has in his hand to me. Repeat every other day, and that is where we are now.)

Coney Island, May 2010

There are too many memories to go back and repost about now, so starting from here on I'm going to try to keep track of our good days, our bad days, the joys and frustrations, the moments that touch me and the moments that sicken me (mostly including changing poopy diapers. I don't care what anyone says, you NEVER get used to that icky mess.) The expression "Kids say the darndest things!" holds true time again and again, I cannot believe we brought this amazing child into this world! Sometimes what he says takes me completely off guard. Dillon turned 27 on Monday, and we spent the day together, which was really nice. In the car on the way home they had the following conversation.


Adrian: "Happy Birthday Dillon!"
Dillon: "Thanks buddy, but don't call me Dillon, call me Daddy."
Adrian: "Ok Dillon."


LOL.