Hugs for Mama

A much-deserved day off of work for my mom took us on an adventure with her to Coolidge park today, where we enjoyed a coolish, crisp couple of hours this morning.

These are days to remember. The skies are crystal clear, the sun is just warm enough & the breezes are frequent enough to dissolve any fleeting thoughts that I might begin to sweat. As David sleeps peacefully in his baby carrier, his sweet arm hanging limp out the side of the carrier, Teya chatters away about how God made the boats on the river & giggles when the grass tickles her toes. She points out, too, that the flowers on the bank of the river are zinnias. Note that every flower is a zinnia since that's all we grew in our pitiful flower garden this summer. A walk up to River Street takes us to the River Street Deli, an authentic New York deli, where I enjoy a mix of salads & Teya begs for "one more chip," while I encourage her to have one more bite of something other than chips.

We head back to the carousel for one more look at the animals before turning toward home for naps. While we teeter in the rocking chairs with the drone of circulation fans and cheesy carnival music in the backround, a drowsy baby falls asleep again on Nina, much to her delight. Who can pass up the sweet treat of a baby falling asleep in your arms, even if for a few fleeting minutes. The taste of salt & vinegar chips lingers even as I write, as do the memories of a sweet day together.

Bathing Beauty

No swimsuit, no problem! Off come the socks, shoes & shorts, only to reveal a pair of ill-fitting, hand-me-down training pants. Perfect for a dip in the cool waterways near the aquarium! You can't imagine how many snickery glances we got from passing tourists. Enjoy it while you can, Teya, and I will, too!

Mr. Intensity

I was talking to someone the other day about how different David and Teya are. If my memory serves me (and it seems to nearly 47% of the time), Teya was always very laid back as a baby, REALLY happy, but also pretty unresponsive and unmotivated. She waited until 10 months to crawl and 15 months to walk. We'd try to entice her to move (or blink) with toys with very little response. What a sweet girl she's always been.

Teya, at 3.5 months

Then there's David. David is in-tense. From the beginning, everything has been full-tilt with him. If he's crying, he's crying with great emphasis. When he babbles, he does so with great inflection and spirit. When he laughs, he laughs from the depths of his belly. When he gnaws on his hands, the volumes of spit produced could lubricate a small country. When he vomits, the "splat" is a "splat" to be heard around the world. And when this boy plays....oh, how he plays!

What'd she say?

Recently, I've been forgetting all the funny things Teya says all the time. As she grows, so does her verbage, and I realize that we're losing many of the amazingly cute things she says like.....


*She was anxious to see "Dr. Suess" during a visit to Dr. Anderson in Atlanta.


*"Fich-a-lake," or Chik-fillet (her pronounciation is better than my spelling)

* "Mommy, I like beans. God made the beans."


* morning routine: "Mama, come get Teya out of bed. Open the door, turn off the fan and get Teya out of bed!"

* Green beams

* "Mama, let's talk. How's your day?"



A Recent conversation:
P: "Teya don't get too close to the edge, or you'll be in big trouble."
M: "Maybe we should talk about how getting too close to the edge is dangerous, not how she'll get in trouble for getting too close."
T: "Daddy, I forgive you."
D: "Goooo. Gahhh."

* "What's his name. What's he doing. Where's he going?"

* "Let's see if Millie is on the 'puter" (that's computer)

* Promptly, after David wakes from a nap, T. instructs me that "Its time for him to go back to bed. He is very sleepy."

* "I love you, Daddy. I'll pray for you."



You're an amazing kid, Teya, and we all love you very much!

Last few weeks...

He DOES smile. Teya has gone from saying, "He cries a lot, a lot," to "He laughs a lot, a lot." Pheww!
Last Monday night at SV: David, the chick-magnet. Two things are certain: girls love babies, and Teya loves pizza and cookies!

The deck is coming together slowly but surely. Teya has stopped asking if the deck is done yet. I think she's given up.

Good old and young friends. A visit from Holly Brady Welch and her son, Walker, was great fun. Walker is a few days younger than Teya. We convened at the Tolsons,' and had a great time together!

"Let me see your camera, Mama." I am too kind to our 2-year old. I have given in and allowed her to "take pictures" under my supervision. As I found today when uploading pictures to the computer, Teya has been taking pictures of herself while I'm not watching. This one shows how she hasn't yet figured out how to turn to the camera toward her subject. Pretty cute, but I know she's lost eyesight from flashing herself in the face......



Swim Days with church friends. The past two weeks, we've been blessed to have the opportunity to participate in Swim Tuesdays with Tiffany Roerdink and some other moms from church. It has been WONDERFUL to have some time with friends (for both Teya and me) by the pool while David naps inside. This week, Rachel joined us with the boys. Here Teya and Noah are lounging and stuffing their cute little faces with lunch.

Tessa Tolson turns four! Today Teya, David and I celebrated Tessa's 4th birthday with friends, cupcakes and Caprisun at the Mountain Maze. Once again, I was thankful that David weathered the travel and change of schedule really well. Afterward, we went to Clay and Amy's for lunch - we are so thankful to have them nearby, though we don't see nearly enough of them! Here Teya has polished off her cupcake and is about to ask for another. She is sitting between John Tyler Tolson and Jacob Oster (son of Olivia Pugh Oster, a friend from college).

A Little of Eveything...

COUSINS....Teya is surrounded on boys on the Stanton side, and David is surrounded by girls on the Long side. Maybe Anne and Taylor will come through with a boy this time around! If not, we LOVE our girls and have plenty of nail polish to go around!

A few weeks ago Rachel and the boys were over & I caught a rare (never before or again) moment where all three were sitting still. These cousins are all boy - Sebastian (4 1/2) and Noah (2) - and they have opened up Teya's world to activities like jumping, hide and seek, tag, etc. Teya LOVES to boss Noah around, and he doesn't seem to mind. Phil found her the other day holding Noah by the collar saying "NO, Noah. Don't do that!" Who knows what had just transpired, but they seem to have a symbiotic relationship - he bugs, she bosses, and the world goes round.


Teya has become a world-class "helper" in the kitchen. Sometimes I can get her to unload the siverware from the dishwasher. Most of the time I remember to wash her hands first, but you might want to be wary if you ever come to our house for dinner :-0. We spent much of this very hot day today playing "tea party" on the living room rug. This game involves removing all the contents of a kitchen drawer, pretending to eat spaghetti (she no longer calls it 'bano', so sad) & drink fresh cold water with lemon in it. I have yet to get used to re-loading the drawer only to have it emptied again hours later for another round of "tea party."


Teya has also started saying to us, "Mommy, Daddy, let's talk." I don't know where she got that, but I'm hoping it will continue through her teenage years.

A partial smile from D. Philips, as V. Philips, Sr. calls him when he's being good. When he's crying or pooping, he's David P. Long. Guess that's the advantage of having your grandson named after both grandpas!

Praise the Lord, at 2 months, the D-man is sleeping like a champ. I've found that if I get him down for a nap BEFORE he gets too tired, he'll go down pretty easily and sleep well. That basically means we have 1 hour from waking to get back to bed. That's lots of sleeping! Nightime is also going well. I'll put him down at 7:30 and the other night he slept till 2:30, and then again until 7 (I did have to let him fuss at 5:30, but not for long). We think he's a cutie pie, even if he smells like drool and spit-up most of the time.

Good night, buddy boy! There's the yawn....its time to hit the bed!