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.