Not Me! Monday

Boy do we have a doozy for you this week. Not Me! Monday is a place to discuss a few times during the week that you cringe when you think back on and instead try to laugh about them! To join in the fun head on over to Mckmama.com.

This afternoon when I laid Grayson down for his afternoon nap, Hank and I laid down too. I plugged in the monitor and turned on a fan in our room. The next thing I know, it is an hour and a half later, Joe opens the door to our bedroom and I hear a little boy screaming at the top of his lungs. I had not plugged in the monitor's power source incorrectly, so that it was off, and slept the afternoon away while Grayson woke up and screamed until his dad got home from work. The fan in our room drowns noise out and in my defense, Hank slept at my feet through the whole thing. My husband was definitely not a little upset with me over something that was completely an accident. Of course Grayson was none the worse, as soon as he was picked up he was all smiles again.

Grayson is almost 9 months now, and even though I know that babies reach milestones at all different ages, I do not spend my day wondering why Grayson isn't interested in scooting/crawling in the least bit. Yes, I know that I should be a little thankful that he isn't mobile yet, as it is easier on me. And on this topic, someone once mentioned that there are lots of people in prison that crawled at 7 months- just to show it doesn't really matter when it happens. While Ami D, Joe's mom, was here last weekend, she did say that Joe was just like Grayson, he just sat on the blanket and happily played with his toys. However, Joe also walked at 9 months. Hmmm.

And now for the ULTIMATE not MY husband. I must first apologize to our sweet guests this weekend, the Seefeldts. I know you are reading this and I am sorry you are finding out this way. It's just too good, although a little controversial, to not include in Not Me! Oh wait, Joe has just decided to make a guest appearance just now and type this up himself-

Joe: Well, it all happened on Thursday. I was heading to the restroom, and I needed some reading material to help pass the time. Luckily (actually unluckily) I spotted, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die on our bed. It is a great travel book where you can find all kinds of information. For example, if you are ever in Namibia, you have to see the Etosha National Park, and while there, you should stay at Huab Lodge.

Later in the evening, Ashleigh asked if I had taken 1,000 Places to the restroom. I said yes, not thinking it was big deal. Then she asked again, holding the book. "Did you take THIS copy of 1,000 Places to the restroom?" Again I said yes. And she said one more time, "Did you take THIS copy of 1,000 Places to the restroom - the one I am giving to Sarah and Josh as a gift?" And then it hit me. I had defiled the gift that Ashleigh had so thoughtfully choosen for our friends.

Ashleigh: I had left the book out on our bed before placing it in the guest room. A couple hours later I walked into the master bath and found the book. Surely my husband had NOT taken their gift with him into the restroom. I was leaving to pick them up from the airport in just a few minutes and I REALLY wanted them to have the book since I know they love traveling as much as we do. I would have given them our copy (that hasn't been in a restroom as far as I know), but we have marked it all up. So I went ahead and wrapped it up and placed it in their room.

Josh and Sarah, if you no longer want to be friends with us, I understand. However, if I know you like I think I do, you are probably laughing hysterically.

So there you have it, folks. Hope you had a good laugh on us! See you next Monday.

Not this week

I have opted out of Not Me! Monday this week, because yesterday I was way too busy following along and praying as MckMama's (creator of Not Me!) son's heart stopped, had emergency heart surgery, and experienced a MIRACLE as his heart came out practically perfect. What a great day! You can read all about it here. My Not Me! will return next week.

For today, I thought I'd post some recent pictures of our goings-on; especially since I get an earful from my mama when I write a blog without posting a new picture of Grayson. I say that lovingly, mom.


Grayson and Mama's new stroller- we are SO proud of this thing and walk and run all over town with it. It's like a cadillac!

Three weekends ago the leaves peaked. Too quickly- these trees are bare already!

My sweet boy finding his thumb.

Unfortunately, Hank found the herb planter in the backyard while chasing a squirrel. We hadn't planted anything yet, but now he knows there is a huge box full of loose soil for him to dig in. Awesome!

Grayson and Jonah sitting in big boy high chairs for the first time. Of course, Grayson has to have all sorts of things tucked around him so his little body won't fall out. And for those of you wondering, he is 8 months old and 16 lbs 6 oz. (Still solidly in the 5th percentile!) Jonah is 7 months and in the 95th percentile.

First time completely bundled up for an evening stroll to Whole Foods with Dad. Our friend Nick calls it "Whole Paycheck". Ha!

Ami D came this past weekend!

We visited a beautiful winery, Chrysalis Vineyard on Saturday. We've been doing a lot these outings this fall because the vineyards are always gorgeous, the tastings only $5 and you can bring a picnic to enjoy. There are at least 20 wineries within an hour from us. A very affordable day trip!

Grayson loves sitting in the grass.

Team D at the winery

Thanks for a great weekend, Ami D! We miss you!

Not Me! Monday

And Monday brings my second installment of Not Me! Monday. Mckmama, who created this blog carnival will not be doing her Not Me! today because her sweet baby is sick in the PICU this Monday. To read about her Stellan, click here. I will be doing my best to bring this post to you every Monday that I can, just so YOU will start your week feeling better about yourself!

The past 7 days made quite the week in the Dickerson house. Joe came home sick from work on Monday and was diagnosed with swine flu on Tuesday morning at the doctor's office. When I found this out I most certainly did not grab my baby, tuck my tail, and run away to our friends' house for the rest of the week, leaving my husband to fend for himself. Nope! Not me! On Saturday morning when our pediatrician called and said they had H1N1 vaccines and to bring Grayson in ASAP, there was no panic in me! Nope! After reading my super smart microbiologist friend Dr. Jenny's post about it and knowing she is vaccinating her 10 month old daughter I was totally on board with no reservations! I certainly wouldn't allow my thoughts to be swayed by misinformation. Grayson did get the vaccination on Saturday and we were very thankful that we have such a great pediatrician.

For Halloween, I bought a pretty awesome bag of candy at Costco. All chocolate like Snickers, M&Ms, Milky Way AND Reese's Cups. Reese's are Joe's absolute favorite. During the day on Halloween, Joe kept begging me to open the bag of candy. When I finally opened the bag for the trick or treaters at about 5 pm, Joe grabbed one. At the end of the evening, most of the candy was depleted and we sent some home with Hope. I certainly did not accidentally give away the last Reese's cups to her, breaking my husband's heart in the process. Nope! No matter how many things I have on my mind, I always notice the little things like that and make sure I am taking care of everything! For the mini-party, I did not spend ALL my time making my beautiful pumpkin cheese ball (see previous post for a picture) and make all of my other food by moving it from Costco to the freezer to the oven to a plate. Nope! Not me!

A BIG thanks to Chris and Noel for taking care of Grayson and I this past week. They definitely did not try to convince us to stay longer and leave Joe alone just because we were having such a great time!

Have a great week everyone!

What was Grayson for Halloween?

After much deliberation...and even thoughts of NOT dressing him up because I couldn't think of anything meaningful...we settled on...
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SOPHIE!

(Sophie visiting a winery last weekend)

As some of you know, Sophie la Giraffe is by far Grayson's favorite toy, given to him by Ellis.

Grayson and Sophie together

(And don't start thinking this is my beautiful lawn. This is at mom and dad's earlier this month)

Tonight we had a mini-Halloween party with the Leonards and the Armors. We ate and played games. Grayson handed out candy to the neighborhood kids and made his best giraffe noises. (What?!) I have to include a picture of of the pumpkin cheese ball I made, straight out of Southern Living.

Everyone said it was really good. But who cares? It was SO beautiful!



Happy Halloween! And to that child that came to our house FIVE times- you should be ashamed of yourself!!!!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! I have been enjoying this fun little blog carnival that I found through my friend Jenny's blog and was created by MckMama. Basically its a great way to confess the silly things you did (NOT do) the previous week. Isn't it nice to know that no one is perfect and that everyone has their moments when they do silly or brainless things? So, I hope you enjoy my very first Not Me! post. There should be many more to come because I'm always doing crazy things that will make you wonder how in the world I got a graduate degree, and how I manage to get my shoes on the right feet every morning. And please, if you need even more encouragement, head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

My friend Kimberly came to visit this weekend. I always try to have some sort of little gift or flowers in the guest room when someone arrives. However, I did not put a vase of flowers in her room that my husband had given me earlier in the week because I had forgotten until the last minute. When we roamed around the Virginia countryside this weekend I most certainly did not almost faint every time we took a picture from working so hard to suck in my stomach, chin and every other body part I could while standing next to slim and trim Kimberly. I am not vain since childbirth and always rest in the fact that what is on the inside is most important.

While planning this week's meals I did not add hot dogs to the grocery list for a night I was feeling lazy. I take pride in cooking my family nutritious, healthy meals every night and would never feed them something full of junk just because I could not be bothered to stand in the kitchen for a little longer. Speaking of family, I would never let my husband get up twice in one weekend night to feed Grayson when he has a bad night. I always jump up out of bed the second time so my husband can get some much needed sleep!


When I was traveling last week I definitely did not skip working on my bible study everyday so that I had to do four days of work in about one hour before I met up with my group. I am very diligent about setting time aside to meet with God each day and never let anything get in the way.

And finally, I did not copy and paste my friend Jenny's explanation of Not Me! Monday for the first paragraph of this post. I would never steal anyone else's words when I am so creative and original with them myself.

Happy Monday!

Little Boy in the Leaves

Fall is definitely our favorite time of year, especially since we moved up here and actually have a fall. It is just too beautiful and if I could just sit outside and stare at the trees all day, I would.

We took little boy on a walk this evening to try and capture some color...









Hank had a good time as well...

JDRF Walk (LONG overdue)

At the beginning of June, Team Dickerson participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund Walk for the Cure. Two of my kindergarten students, Maggie and John, from last year have Juvenile Diabetes and we wanted to support them and their wonderful families. You can read more about Maggie and John here.

Thanks to your VERY generous support, I'm pretty sure Team Dickerson raised the most money towards each team, besides their families (who raised THOUSANDS!) We had a great day and were so thrilled to be able to donate money (with help from YOU) to this cause.

Joe walked "officially" for Maggie's Muscle

I walked "officially" for John's Buddies

My team shirt

Six year old John gave a SPEECH to the entire crowd before the race. Wow!!

Rosario has never made an appearance on the blog- but she should have. She was my kindergarten assistant. One of the hardest working women I know and we spent ALL our time together. I'm not sure who was more excited about G's arrival: her or me.

John's family during the walk.

Grayson enjoying the festivities