Building dining room forts...

Life here in Georgia is going pretty well!
Slade's almost two and is growing to be quite the independant, loving little man. He's learning the thrills of potty training, and refuses to sit in a wet or poopy diaper. He takes his dirty diapers off himself, then plops down on his potty chair. We haven't gotten him to actually USE the chair for its purpose- rather, it's a place to recline while waiting for mom or dad to fetch a clean diaper. I think once he pees in it, he'll catch on immediately, but I'm not sure how to coax it out while he sits.
He's also tall enough to turn on the lights all over the house. Barely reaching, he's up on his tip-toes and 'helps' to also turn them off when asked. He figured that one out yesterday.
I cut his mohawk off cuz it was grown out and looked more like a mullet when we didn't style it, and being in Georgia is bad enough- I don't like my kid to blend in so well, lol.
Here's a few pictures to update everyone!

Working with Dad in the garage, building a speakerbox...


Enjoying the newly constructed (and colored) fort in the dining room...

Always one of action, don't mind the blurry Slade as he's caught eating a crayon

Peekaboo!

A secret hideout for serious truck-playing

And after a long scream-fit on the 4th of July, we find our Slade curled up in his secure fort, asleep...
Blurry, but an adorable picture nonetheless

Goofing around with Dad

Playing with the kitten instead of getting his diaper changed

Don't mind it being sideways- fish kisses!

Brief update

As always, since I wait so long in between posts, there's been a lot going on around here. Medically, my elbow surgery went well and they removed the wires and pins out of my elbow. I had a huge knarly scar (again) stapled up, and I removed the said staples last night myself. I have an ortho follow up tomorrow morning, but everything should be fine as my elbow hasn't felt this good in about a year!
James had an emergency situation on Sunday which landed him in the ER. He ended up flat on the floor in severe pain thinking somehow he pulled his back, but it turns out he had a kidney stone the size of a pea. Patient is recovering well, up and about as he is quite stubborn to take it easy. But it was a scary situation, and made for a LONG day.
Slade is about as cute as ever, impersonating James and I more and more and more. Which, in turn, is making us more and more aware of what we say or do around him. His latest: 'Slade, what does a puppy dog say?' to which Slade pants. 'Slade, what does a kitty cat say?' Slade (while rubbing his wrist against his cheek, impersonating a cat cleaning its face): 'mewmewmewmew!!!' in a soft voice. :)
His speech is a little behind, probably due to his chronic ear infections for so long, but we work with him on clarification. His biggest addition to the vocabulary: going around the room pointing at stuff saying "What's this?" And the dogs aren't allowed to roam around the house when they're inside, so we yell "KITCHEN!" when they push the boundary. Slade, today, after James yelled "KITCHEN!" ran after the dogs and screamed as clear as day, "Get in KITCHEN!!!" much to our surprise. We are left cracking up at his antics everyday.

New Pictures!!!

It's been forever (again) since I last posted an update. There's been a few upgrades around here, namely James' surprising me by getting Slade's haircut...
side view, eating ribs...Sly little smile. The haircut is suitable for a little boy in his terrible two's!
Other new updates include renovation of our master bath (finally!!!) It's been gutted out since July of last year. The bathroom is tiny, about the size of a closet. The original setup was all 80's, all yellowish and stained, vanity, toilet then tub. It's going to now be pedestal sink, toilet, custom walk-in shower, and storage by way of large medicine cabinet (holds toilet paper too!) and a custom in-set shelf James built. Here's some pictures, at least of where we're at right now. I don't have any before pictures to compare the differences- you'll just have to take my word for it being horrible! Top pic is of the shower floor and bathroom floor. Bottom pic is of the seat in the shower.

Shower with inset for shampoo, etc

Our shower! We're going to get an all-glass enclosure door when our funds get straightened out. If you've been to the Hard Rock hotel in Biloxi, you've seen the glass door style we're going for...otherwise, wait for more pictures when we get it done!

We've also added some decor in Slade's room. James painted my old shadowbox that I've had since I was probably Slade's age. It's very fitting to house some of our shell collection, and it works well in Slade's room!

When we left Biloxi during our last trip to LA, we stopped at Dino's gifts and bought some cheap figures to add to Slade's wall....notice anything 3D hiding in the seaweed?

We added the sea turtle and also a vibrant octopus.

Slade on a sick day, with his mohawk down.

All in all we're doing well. Have to go put Slade down for a nap. More later!