Just keep swimming...just keep swimming...

Dear Cheeks,

I am so proud of you!  Tonight will be your fourth swimming lesson, and you are doing fantastic!!  You do cry quite a bit, and even try to push away your teacher sometimes, but do everything your supposed to do.  You grip onto the wall.  When launched, you make it to the wall, grip on, and pull up.  So so so proud.  I can't imagine what you are going to be doing at the end of the six week course!

Here is a video of you doing your thing:

Trouble Posting Comments?

For some reason, I can't comment on anyone's page :(

Amanda - I tried to comment to you ,but it wouldn't let me.  Are you on FB?

Vacation-a-Go-Go

What a fantstic vacation.  I was very nervous about Cheeks in the car for so long, but he did amazing.  I'll break it down by day:

Friday 7/8
Doc and I couldn't sleep.  We decided to load up the car, and head out at 11:15pm.  We wake up the Cheek-meister and get on the road.  We had hoped he'd fall straight back to sleep, but nope - he was WIIIIIDE awake.  This was us at 3:30am at a random gas station in SC:

Saturday 7/9
We continued our drive and made it up to Alexandria, VA.  The drive really was nice - and we saw deer on the side of the road!!  We got a pet friendly hotel and Sophie and Harley did fantastic.  Cheeks was SO SO SO excited to be free of the car seat.  He was running around the room like a mad man.  At 6:00pm, all three of us konked out.

Sunday 7/10
We woke up bright and early (around 5 or 6ish) and grabbed some free continental breakfast downstairs.  We sedated the animals (they were so much less stressed this way) and we got on the road around 7:30 or so.  We decided we were SOOO close to Washington D.C., we needed to stop and visit the White House.  So we did!! 

We then continued our drive stopping for lunch in NJ where Cheeks learned how to use a straw (finally)!

After a long drive, we made it to Upstate NY!  Cheeks was so excited to see his Grandma and Grandpa and his Great Aunt and Great Uncle!!

Monday 7/11
Monday was a relaxing day.  We went down to Water Street Market and Downtown New Paltz.  It's such a quaint little town.  We enjoyed looking in the shops and had some lunch at a local restaurant. 

Tuesday 7/12
Of course the week that we go up to NY, it has to be in the midst of a heat wave!!!  We decided it was probably too hot to take Cheeks into the city, so he spent the day with Grandma and his Great Aunt.  Doc, my dad, and me went into NYC.  We had such a good time.  And we met Twist from the Frest Beat Band (those of you with kids probably know who I'm talking about!)  We were just walking down the street and Doc recognized him (out of costume).  He was SO nice.  Stopped and chatted for a few minutes and took his pic with us (this one was a pic of the pic on my dad's camera):

We had a pastrami sandwich at the Carnegie Deli, went to FAO Schwarz, the Apple Store, and to the top of the Empire State Building:

By the end of the day we were exhausted and missing Cheeks.  We went back to my Aunt and Uncle's, enjoyed some great Italian food, and crashed!

Wednesday 7/13
Wednesday was Catskills day.  We went up into the mountains to a little town called Phonecia.  There was a super cute store called the Eggs Nest where Cheeks got a drum - he loves to bang on it!  We walked around, let cheeks walk out of his stroller, and enjoyed lunch on a river in Kingston on the way home.  That night, Cheeks enjoyed a HUGE NY cookie while sitting in his cousin's coon skin cap watching the Fresh Beat Band:

Thursday 7/14
We just stayed around the house on Thursday.  We played outside, got some great pics, and Cheeks played with his new cousin!  It was a perfect day.

That night, we met my cousin for dinner.  We got this fun pic of the four of us:

Friday 7/15
We took Cheeks to a petting farm this day!  He loved looking at and petting the animals.  He was particularly smitten with the pigs:

Saturday and Sunday 7/16 and 7/17
These two days took up the drive back to FL.  We stopped overnight in Florence, South Carolina.  Cheeks had a ball running up and down the corridor in the motel back and forth between grandma and grandpas and our room.  He had a ball.  After a goodnight's sleep, we drove back home the next day and our vacation was over.

We had a really nice, good, relaxing time.  I am glad to be home, but wish we were still on vacation!  Next trip is coming up in about a month - a weekend at Universal Studios.  This should be an easier trip on us as it's only about 25 minutes away from home :)

Much needed vacation...coming right up!

Doc and I are gearing up to take our first *major* road trip with Cheeks (and together as a matter of fact).  We are driving from Central FL to Upstate NY!  We are very excited - and slightly nervous.  We are going to have a carful:  Doc, Cheeks, me, Harley (our dog), and Sophia (our cat - or soon to be ex-cat).  We were going to leave Harley here with a friend - but once she went and busted up her knee, we decided it's best she come along with us so we can keep an eye on her activity levels.  I don't want to - but because of the amount of space we have, and the lack of attention they have gotten lately - we have decided to find new homes for a couple of our kitties.  Sophia is going to a fantastic home - a friend of my Aunt and Uncles.  They love cats and are very excited to have her.  I hope we are making the right decision - I believe Sophie will be happier.

So we leave at 3:00am tomorrow.  I am nervous about Cheeks being in the car for so long.  We are breaking up the trip into two days - so hopefully it won't be too bad for him.  Between all the Fresh Beat Band episodes we downloaded to the iPad, the toy cars, the coloring books/paper, and books for him to look through, we SHOULD be good - fingers crossed!!

I cannot wait to get away and enjoy nature for a bit.  Upstate New York is beautiful - and this time of year is so much more pleasant up there than it is down here.  I'm excited for Cheeks to experience soft grass instead of the "cut your skin" blades of grass we have in FL.  Chasing lightening bugs is definitely on the agenda - as is a trip into the city with our family. 

Now - if the work day would just be over, vacation can START :) :)

Seriously?????

I am so frustrated and enraged with what has happened with the Casey Anthony trial.  Seriously???  I can tell you with complete certainty that my car does not have cloroform in it.  I have never researched "neck breaking" and "how to make cloroform".  I don't let someone take my child, lie about it, and then go out partying for 31 days.  I don't lie about where I work.  You cannot tell me that she did not murder her child.  Not Guilty.  REALLY?????? 

To me, there was plenty of physical evidence in this case.  More so than the Scott Peterson trial - and even he was found guilty (rightly so I believe).  It is infuriating to me that a mother can get away with this.  Perhaps it's because I have a son of my own that I am so enraged by the outcome of this trial.  If Cheeks is out of my sight for a few seconds I am worrying about him.  You cannot tell me that she didn't do something to that child - not the way she was out living it up for 31 days.  This was not an accident.  If this was an accident, 9-1-1 would have been called 31 days before they were.  If this was an accident, duct tape would not be on that child's skull.  THIS WOMAN GOT AWAY WITH MURDER. 

This, to me, was a miscarriage of justice.  This is an instance where, to me, the justice system has screwed up.  This, to me, is....infuriating.

An adorable ball of trouble

Cheeks has been exploring and testing his limits with us lately.  It is soooooo hard not to laugh and smile at some of the things he does that he really shouldn't be doing.  Let's take our dog for example.  Harley just had surgery on her knee and is on strict crate rest for awhile.  Well Cheeks has figured out how to unlock her crate.  It has turned into his new favorite thing to do.  We have done the firm "NO".  We have counted to three...1 - 2 - 3.  We have redirected.  It came down to a potch on the rear end (to which he responded to with a smile and I felt so guilty!!)  He finally got bored and went on.  About an hour later, I was in the kitchen washing up dishes and he was running back and forth from the kitchen to the living room (where Harley is).  Next thing I know, I am hearing the sound of a dog running on the floor.  Um.  Cheeks???  What did you do???  Harley comes trotting into me with a big doggy grin.  I lead her back to the living room - to find Cheeks standing by the dog crate playing with it.  OY!!!  It's so hard to get mad at him - he was just trying to give his puppy a bit of freedom.  But I had to put on my mommy hat - and he got a stern talking to. 

Last night, Cheeks woke up crying around 3am.  Doc went and got him and brought him into bed with us.  We don't do this often, but it's nice every now and then.  As soon as he lies down in the middle of us, he pops up and decides it's playtime.  Really Cheeks???  He is pointing to everything.  He is sticking his fingers up my nose.  He is babbling away.  After 45 minutes, we make the short trip back to his crib.  I lay him down, and with one very short "WAH", he was fast asleep again.  I was exhausted this morning - but I will probably treasure that time we spent this morning forever - it was pretty cute after all.  And exhaustion is nothing a little Java Monster can't fix :) :)

So Cheeks is definitely testing us.  For the most part we don't give in - but there are times that I just can't help it.  I am human after all - you can't deny so much cuteness ALL time time :)  And now some pics: