Top 5!

Here are the pictures that I promised from yesterday. Reed was so cute in his Sunday digs. Abbey reports that Reed had a clingy and whiny day, but by the time I got home from work he was all smiles again. Tonight we had supper at the Oliver's (who will soon be our down-the-street neighbors, YEAH!) and Megan whistled to Reed. Reed was so cute because all of a sudden he decided that he wanted to try to whistle. It was hilarious, I will attempt to get some pictures.



Since, there isn't a lot of news to report, I decided that Abbey and I would tell you our top 5 favorite household items:


Jeff's List:

5. Pillows: we probably have over 40 pillows in our house, including 15 on our bed. I love comfort!



4. Barefoot Dreams Blanket - I love blankets and like I typed above, I'm all about comfort. I have trouble falling asleep without some sort of cover.




3. Peter's Pottery - I LOVE our pottery collection which is a funny thing because I complained SO MUCH that we had to register for it and now I love it.



2. MacBook - I mean, is there really any question?



1. TV - I watch way too much TV, but I am a unREALITY junkie. I love all of the "next ____ stars," the mole, etc.




Abbey's list:

5. Sofa - sectional in the bonus room, very comfy.



4. Armoire - Abbey sold Pampered Chef and we bought it with her first check.



3. Mimi's Table - It was the table that she and her family had lunch on at special occasions and nearly every Friday.

2. CHI- I don't understand people's obsessions with hair straighteners, but Abbey does love her CHI.



1. Bamboo Spoons - Pampered Chef spoons, but I am not sure why they are her favorite.



So, how about you? What are your top 5 favorite household items and why? (And yes, we all know that your family is your favorite item, but don't list them, list not "people" items.)

Parenting Tips from Us: Stoppers

Before we get too much into this blog, I guess I better go ahead and tell you that Reed was EXTREMELY cute today in his church clothes. We have pictures, but they are in the camera, in the diaper bag, at Britton's grandparents house! So, you'll have to check back tomorrow to see the cutester. So, just enjoy the videos!



We guess its time that we offer some more parenting advice and this time, we're going to tell you our method for getting rid of the stopper. Some people around Tennessee call it a fooler, in Mississippi we call it a paci, but I prefer to call it a stopper.




Reed is 16 months old now, so we knew we were edging in on the time that we had to get rid of stopper. We didn't want Reed to be 3 and have a stopper still in his mouth. Anyway, on the trip to Hotlanta, we took 3 stoppers. In the course of the trip down to Georgia, Reed ultimately used all three stoppers. From that point, we only found 1 and the other two disappeared.

Yesterday, on the way home, Reed threw his stopper again and we couldn't find it. We actually decided that we would not really look for it. Therefore, we came to the end of the stopper in the Land house. Well, that is, unless Reed finds one. We're going to try to keep him away from them.

The only issue is that I am realizing that it is harder to get him to go down for a nap and to go to sleep. But, just like his transition from getting a bottle at bedtime, he'll get used to it.

So, how did you get rid of your kid's stopper?

P.S. Our friend Brandon told us that someone came to his spin class that reads our blog? His description of you let us wondering who you are? Although we're sure we know you, we're just a little puzzled as to your identity. Would you mind letting us know?

Two Days' Recap

I know that some of you check our blog daily and yesterday you found that we did not update. Sorry about that, but we were busy yesterday.



My conference was great and I really got a lot of great information. I can't wait to get back to the office and work on writing some new conferences based on what I learned (well, maybe I CAN wait a little while!).



After I got home from my conference we headed out to Cheesecake Factory and to look around one of the malls.



On the way home, our rental car got a flat tire. I pulled over and changed the flat and then we headed back to the hotel.



I dropped Reed and Abbey off, as well as unloading the entire stash of IKEA surprises so that I could take our car to the airport and trade it for another rental.



This time, we were blessed with a Rav-4 which is quickly becoming one of my favorite cars. We were thrilled to have the extra space, but it didn't last that long!



Since we had the extra space, we were able to call Britton's mommy and tell her that we now had the space to check at Target and see if there was an ottoman that they needed.



We headed to the Target after we loaded up our car.



And you can tell, this is what friends are for. Target had not only one, but two of the ottomans that the Batson's needed. Reed said that he was willing to go the extra mile for his best friend and road snugly between the two ottomans!



Abbey only drove a small portion of the time, but she found time to take a picture of me napping!



When we got home, Reed played, played, and played some more.



We haven't been to the grocery store, so we went to eat supper.



After supper, we decided to go and check out GG and B's new house they are building. Reed loves their land! He had a blast running around on it.



Once again, he played,



and played,



and played,



and played! When it was time to go, we told Reed goodbye and got in the car. He waved and said, "bye bye!" and went to play again!



He was having such a great time, I think he would have stayed there all night!



Have we mentioned lately that we love this kid?

It's 10:45 PM in Atlanta ...

and do you know where my kid is?



If you guessed, he's sitting in my lap as I type, you were exactly RIGHT! Why? We're not exactly sure, except for the fact that we tried for a solid hour to get him to go to sleep and he will not.

Abbey says it is because I gave him a few bites of my coffee ice cream at Cold Stone. I contend that it is because she gave him several more bites of Better Batter at CS. It is certainly not because of a lack of activity! What do you think it is?



Reed and mommy had a busy day while I was at my conference. While I was at the conference having my head pumped completely full of useful knowledge, they were sleeping lately, eating a yummy breakfast and enjoying the fact that there was NO laundry to be done.



Reed also found a new toy. A telephone. Reed has rarely been around a real telephone as we don't have one in our house. He knows exactly what to do with a cell phone, but the landline still perplexes him.



Tonight, we decided to head to Stone Mountain for the laser show. When we got ready to get onto I-285 around 6:30, traffic was stopped! We decided to stop off at Moe's for supper while the traffic went away. When we were finished eating, it was around 7:30 and guess what? The traffic was still packed! So, we decided to go to the next best thing?



TARGET! I am sure you might have known that the Land's don't go on trips without hitting the local Targets. This Target was incredible. Abbey and I love the idea of downtown living, but Nashvegas just hasn't quite got all of the modern conveniences of the 'burbs. But, we realized tonight that Atlanta has it going on. They have a Wal-Mart, a Target, a Movie Theater, and a whole outdoor mall within walking distance of most of the condos. Now, if only they could figure out the traffic situation.



Reed also enjoyed his time in Target ...



A



WHOLE



LOT!!!!



Our rental car is a Mazda 6 this week. I don't hate it, but boy do we miss our van! It is really hard to get Reed in and out of that little car!



For the answers to the quiz last night:

1. We forgot .... TOOTHPASTE! Yes, even with no less than 12 tubes of toothpaste at home, we forgot the very thing that I "buy" almost weekly at CVS.

2. We bought Reed the table/chairs and the green rocky thing. The moose would have been great but it was $34.99 and the green rocky thing was only $7.99. Do the math, I (Mr. Cheap) say, do the math!

Christmas Shopping!

Today, we woke up early to go to Atlanta for a conference that I am attending for work on Thursday and Friday. Thankfully, since it was a driving trip, Reed and Abbey got to come along!



We've been saving up for a while for this trip, but we had a special plan! Atlanta is the CLOSEST IKEA to our house and we wanted to buy Reed's Christmas presents!

Reed was mesmerized by IKEA, so mesmerized in fact, that he walked right into the pole above that he is pictured with.



Reed really liked IKEA. He thought that the kids section was incredible.



The monkey on Reed's shoulder also thought it was pretty neat!



IKEA is very family friendly, and Reed really enjoyed it.



Reed thought that this little bear-chair was pretty interesting.



Of course, this rocky toy was really interesting to Reed. He thought it was was a lot of fun.



He also found the rocky moose a fun little toy as well. Man, IKEA has some great stuff for kiddos!



Reed and Mommy picked out some IKEA Cookies. They are like animal crackers that spell I K E A.



We were able to buy ALL of Reed's Christmas presents tonight! I emphasized ALL because I might need to refer back to this post for Abbey to look at that we have agreed that Reed's Christmas presents are now purchased.

Reed was all smiles, even at the end of the day! Tomorrow is conference day, so hopefully, Reed and Abbey will have a restful day at the hotel.

I think we're going to try to hit Stone Mountain tomorrow night.

Now, for the quiz:

1. What one item do you think we forgot and now need to buy?

2. What two items above do you think we bought for Reed for Christmas?