Fleur de Aleta

Thankful for his First Thanksgiving

Ok, it IS totally tasteless.  Very Tacky.  But I Laugh So Hard each time I see this ad from K-Mart . You know, the one where the guys are in underwear and they umm dance to the Christmas music.  Cracks me up. Every. Single. Time. But there are some folks who take great offense to it.  Ironically, those same folks have no issue with Victoria Secret commercials, but that's besides the point, right? One Facebook friend did make the comment that the K-Mart commercial reminded him too much of the Hersey's Silver Bells commercial and because of that association, he can no longer eat Hersey's chocolate.  LMAO….   Thankful for the Giggles.

My husband wanted to take candlelight pictures of me with our son.  Ummm, the only problem is that with the candle light, he had to adjust the shutter speed… so, how do you get your son's attention and keep it focused for a few seconds?  Not an easy task, but my husband came up with the idea of using a "red light pointer pen"… yep, like trying to get the dog or cat to chase after the red dot that moves, we used this idea for our son - put the red dot on the wall where we wanted Gregory to look and there you go… only, it was just for a split second before he wanted to look elsewhere.  Ah well, we did get two shots….

I was chosen to write an article review for Pampers on the Jefferson Parish Parent site. Today the article was published. I'd love it if you could visit the site and read the article, bonus, there are cute pictures of Gregory in the article. Plus the article shares three great ways to win giveaways from Pampers!  Here's the site for Jefferson Parish Parents .  http://jeffersonparishparent.com/ The article is titled, Silent Night with Pampers - Review and Giveaway This is my first product review and I would really appreciate any feedback you can offer!

I'm thankful that my husband went with me to see the second movie of the Hunger Games.  And I'm thankful that he didn't go nutty after the many cliffhangers (I read all the books, so I was prepared, but he wasn't.. ok, so he went a little nutty, but not bad.  Lol).

I'm thankful that my husband doesn't mind us going to Lakeside Mall, along with approximately 400 other parents and children, to take pictures with Santa.  I'm thankful my husband enjoys and gets into the Christmas spirit, even before Thanksgiving Day.  I'm thankful my son was such a charming boy.  He loved all of the rush and action going on around us and even smiled on Santa's lap.  I'm thankful for technology, because I was able to get the picture today and then I took a picture of the Santa picture on my iPhone and share it on Facebook, etc.  Yes, a lot to be thankful for! For the pictures, I went with the Green Elf outfit - so that Gregory would stand out against Santa's Red and be Santa's "Little Helper." (for the above picture - if you live in this area, you know this Christmas Character - Mr. Bingle) (All tuckered out after seeing Santa!)

I'm thankful that even though I haven't played in some time, I still remember how to play Christmas music on the piano. I'm incredibly thankful that my parents gave us piano lessons at an early age (for me - 8 years old), not because my parents played, because they wanted us to have the experience.  That's love for you. It's a wonderful feeling to play the Christmas music and see my son smile at the songs and then for my husband to walk in and thank me for playing.  Fills me with Joy.

My husband took this picture as I held our son over the blocks.  He wanted to swipe the blocks down and Mommy wouldn't let him.  Hence his expression :) I'm thankful for the simply joys of Motherhood… to be able to watch as my son tries to figure things out. One thing he has down pat (and something I was worried that he wouldn't do).. is rolling.  He can do this like a pro.  In fact, to heck with crawling towards something, the little boy will just ROLL towards it!  I think he just might skip crawling altogether.  Both my mom and I wonder if the length of his torso is making it more difficult for him to learn to crawl. But I also wondered a few months back if my son would learn to roll.  So, I guess Mommy just has to roll with it. :)

Yesterday Beverly and Sally came by to visit with Gregory.  This was Bev's first time meeting Gregory.  Gregory was tickled to have so much attention :) We just got back from Gregory's nine month doctor appointment.  For length he was in the 75-90 percentile and for weight only in the 50 percentile (he only gained 2 pounds in three months).  This worried me, but the doctor didn't seem concerned.   The fun begins with food.  We get to feed Gregory the food that we eat, soft and mashed… no eggs, no honey, nothing round and nothing hard.  He will be on the bottle with formula until 1 year to 15 months, so the food is just more of getting used to the texture and experience. Gregory didn't have any scheduled shots for this visit, but we opted for the flu shot for him.  We have to go back in a month to get a secondary flu shot.  For some reason, children under the age of 1 year need that secondary shot.  Maybe it's because the first shot is less?

Yesterday, my son has been in this world as long as he was in the womb.  He made nine months on Nov 18th.  I took pictures yesterday. For some reason friends and family thought I was super-imposing the ties with the months on them.  No, those are "actual" plastic ties that are printed on sticky paper.  I peel the tie and stick it on Gregory's outfit.  In the past, he would let me do that.  But this time?  Stubborn son, he wanted to eat it.  Lol.  At least I got a picture of him holding it. I couldn't resist this next picture.  I bought an ornament from Etsy and put it on the bed.  Gregory was reaching for it as I took the picture. I'm thankful for my son, for his smiles, for his health, for the way he learns and how he teaches me.

This past weekend, we visited with my grandmother, Olive Grimball.  She is Gregory's only living great-grandmother (my dad's mom) and she loves "her little boy." Every time she calls us, she wants to know how her little boy is doing.  Too sweet. My grandmother is called "MawMaw" by her grandchildren and is called "MeMaw" by her great grandkids. MawMaw used to raise chickens, roosters, turkeys and cows.  She named the calfs after her grandchildren and whenever she'd go out to feed them, she'd call them by name and they'd come! (Yes, that means there was a calf out there at one point named Aleta.  Lol) My grandmother is in her late 80's and she still drives, which I think is pretty amazing.  She's quick to tell you what she's thinking too!  Every morning she wakes up and thanks God for another day and every day she says a prayer for her family members.  She told me that this now includes Gregory too.  He is so blessed by

I miss my brother.  I used to be able to see him, well, whenever, as he lived close by, but that has changed. My brother is two years my senior.   (We used to call him Robbie when he was a little boy.) He used to call me "Brat" when I was a little girl and one day I told him, "I don't like that name.  It's not nice."  So he changed the nickname to "Brit."  I don't know why.  Never asked him, just figured it was better.  Thankfully though, he doesn't call me either any more.  Lol. This year, instead of exchanging gifts (or truth be told "gift cards")… I asked if we could instead.. make the gift.. time… phone calls, emails, letters.. some way to keep in touch.  Heck, even a text message can bring a smile :) My brother hasn't met his nephew.  Uncle Rob…  I think that's so cute.  Rob and his wife will be in town for Christmas.  I'm really looking forward to that. Today, is my brother's birthday.  Happy

I'm thankful for hand-me-downs, especially for my son, who gets growth spurts in leaps and bounds!  My mother-in-law gave us a bag of cloths from one of her fellow artist friends.  They are the perfect sizes for Gregory right now.  I love, love, love this outfit on him (even wore it to Gym Rompers class):

I'm thankful my husband bought letter blocks for our son.  Gregory loves them! While Gregory chewed on a letter, I left a message.  It didn't last long, as my son decided those were the perfect letters to play with. Later that same day, my husband calls out, "Aleta, you have to come see this!"  I walk into the room where my husband and son are sitting on the mat.  Greg explains, "Look at the message Gregory wrote.  He did it all by himself."  I giggled.  So very sweet from both of my guys.

My husband loved the veggie soup I made.  He asked me, "Do you remember what all you put in it?"  Errrr, ummm…. kinda?  He was a little frustrated, because I think he wants me to be able to duplicate it again.  His comment was, "This is on the top five of things that you make." Don't get me wrong, I like a good veggie soup, but ok…. wow…  Thanks, Honey. This is as I recall it: Chop 2 onions and 2 stalks of celery.  Saute onions and celery in the pot with a small piece of butter… season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add chicken broth (I used the low Sodium kind in a box and only added about half of it at first, but I did end up using the entire amount.. but first wanted to make sure I had room for all the veggies).. Add canned tomatoes (I used one can of tomatoes that had onions and bell peppers in it.. and I used half a can of tomatoes and mild green peppers.)  Add in a spoon full of tomato paste (not the entire can).  Add bouillon (I used beef and it was

I'm thankful for the cool weather.  I love it.  But I have to admit, now I worry about my son and how he will adjust to the cold.  Mommy fears. I'm also grateful that we have a working heater :)

I haven't said this much, certainly not enough, but if you sift through my blog, you might find it here and there…. I'm thankful for you.  For my bloggy friends.  This blog world has opened up so much opportunity and joy.  I never would have had the chance to meet ya'll, get to know you through your words and share my life with you without the Internet.  It's a real blessing, even without meeting in real life.

I'm so eager to see my son's reaction to the Christmas tree lights.  I SOOOOO want to take down the Thanksgiving decorations early, but we'll hold out :)  I'm thankful for the anticipation, wonder and magic that my son brings to the holiday seasons.  What a blessing!

Yesterday my husband and I went to Toys R Us with Gregory.  It must have been all the bright colors, because our sleepy boy suddenly perked up and was looking at everything! In one of the middle aisles, we saw some large stuffed animals.  We took a big dog out and Gregory was cooing, laughing and smiling.  In the buggy it goes and won't be seen again until it appears under a tree.  Later we passed by a singing Elmo.  After playing it and Gregory giggling right along with the red critter, it also went into the shopping cart. I'm thankful that our son is so young that we can go to a store and see what he likes, put it in the basket and know that he will still be surprised on Christmas day!

This year, my husband bought our family a membership to the zoo for a  year.  We took advantage of it with the lovely fall weather.  It was a perfect day and we weren't surprised to see so many other parents and children in strollers out for the day at the zoo. (This picture cracks me up every time I see it!)

The little moments that I can capture… I know I'm a big pain in the tush because I'm always bringing out my camera and taking pictures… but you know… it's little moments like this… so worth it! I think it's so cool that my son can bend his body in half like this!!  Talk about Baby yoga!!

I'm thankful my son isn't camera shy :)  Even when I take out the big camera (which used to be called the "honeymoon camera" because that's when we bought it, on our honeymoon).. now it's the big camera in comparison to the tiny iPhones.  Anyway… even when I take out the big camera, my son isn't afraid of the camera and keeps on smiling!