For all you future mothers...

Yet another thing that they don't tell you in pre-baby classes--how your shopping experiences will change. Let me enlighten you.

You will not be able to leave the house without diapers, a massive, cumbersome stroller, wipes, an extra outfit, goldfish, and juice/milk.

You will attempt to buy a book, and end up buying one for your child too because he/she starts throwing a fit in the super-quiet bookstore and screams "Book! Book! Book!" at the top of his/her lungs.

You will go into your favorite store, Anthropologie, and attempt to find something cute, weather-appropriate, and inexpensive (good luck with that one) to wear to a football game that weekend. You will take the huge, cumbersome stroller into a handicapped changing room and strip down as quickly as possible. Your child will tire of the book you just got him/her, and he/she will demand "cackas.'' Cue the goldfish. While you attempt to wade through the pile of potential outfits, your child will open the door and show everyone in the dressing area what you look like without a top on. Awesome. You will leave a trail of crumbs Hansel and Gretel style all over the store, therefore making it easy for the employees to figure out which person made a fantastic mess. You will turn red with shame.

On the bright side, you will get 3 cute tops and a blazer. Your child will be so exhausted from peeking out under the dressing room door that he/she will fall asleep on the ride home.

I'm just warning you.

Super fun...

Insert sarcasm...

This weekend we noticed that Sam had a small, seemingly insignificant rash on his face. It turns out we were really wrong about the insignificant part.

By late Sunday afternoon, the rash covered pretty much every inch of his body, and it looked horrendous. Our pediatric group is open every day of the year except Christmas and Thanksgiving, so we took him in Sunday night at 7:30 and a doctor checked him out. Hand, foot, and mouth disease was the diagnosis. If you're not familiar with this particular brand of torture, it's a super-contagious virus that causes a person to run a low-grade fever and break out in a rash all over the body. (Specifically the hands, feet, and mouth.) Poor kid even has sores in his mouth, too. Good news is that it's nothing major. Bad news is, it has to "run its course." No Mother's Morning Out for us this week.

I would post pictures, but let's face it, that'd be gross. Feel free to google it.

What's even more fun is freaking out every time I have an itch...I'm terrified I'm going to get it. I bet you're itching now, too.

The Samburger

Warning--disgustingly obnoxious amount of pictures to follow.

On Friday Sam had his first "school" party. Talk about organized chaos! Toddlers were everywhere, art projects flew through the air, and all kinds of food ended up on the floor. I really don't know how his teachers handle it every day. They totally won my admiration.



Sam wore his delicious hamburger costume to the party. He had a good time, but he didn't smile for the camera very much. I promise he enjoyed himself.

The cheeseburger cheesin' for the camera

Serious face

Working on his "art project"

Hangin' with his friends Snow White, Ladybug, Angel, and Frog

This pic has absolutely nothing to do with Halloween. I just think it's funny.

Halloween night

Yes, that's me. I have always wanted to be Snow White...

At 30 years of age, I made it happen. When I googled "Snow White Costumes" a ton of trashy versions came up. Who knew that you could make Snow White look promiscuous? I passed on the bows and garters and went with the traditional version.

We took Sam to a few friends' houses and then headed to a Halloween party. He hung out with us for a little while, but we had to call in reinforcements to take him off our hands.

Family portrait

Sookie Stackhouse, Willie Nelson, and S. White

Anthony dressed up as a friend of ours; it's an inside joke that would take way too much explanation, so I'll pass. Anthony's posing with John Gosselin and an Ole Miss fan. That's right...someone dressed up as an Ole Miss fan. He's an Auburn grad, so his costume was particularly timely on Saturday.

Hope your Halloween was full of treats!

Ace of Cookies?

First of all, I want to give a shout-out to my MSU bulldogs, who gave a valiant effort against the #1 ranked Gators. Progress, people...I'm seeing lots of progress from those guys.

We've got a busy week at the Sherman house, so get ready for a lot of posts and pictures over the next few days. I'm sure you're sitting on the edge of your seat.

Anyway, earlier this year, I attended a super-fun Viking Cooking Class with mis amigas. We ate, we drank, we conquered--pasta.

Monday I had the pleasure of attending another class, but this time I was solo. The goal? Decorating cookies in honor of Halloween. I had a blast. I love crafty stuff, so this was right up my alley. (No pun intended.) We worked with rolled fondant and royal icing, and my work turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

Deciding on a plan of attack--this was before I figured out that I needed to pull my hair back.

Hair taken care of--working with some fondant

My witch--isn't she sweet?

Pumpkinhead

The finished product

I have a feeling that my Christmas cookies will be a little more sophisticated this year. My next goal is to round up my husband and some friends for a group cooking class. I can only imagine how that will go.

This weekend...

I went to the fair for the first time since I was 17. There is a reason for this; the fair kind of gives me the creeps. I guess it's not the fair itself...or even the people who run it. I'm mainly wigged out by the humanity that pays to get into the fair. (Yes, I know that includes me.) I was greatly reminded of why Mississippi is one of the fattest states in the nation. This fact did not stop Anthony from eating a chicken-on-a-stick...

a fried snickers...

and a fried twinkie.

I tasted the twinkie, and it was worth the heart attack it will cause later.

Sam couldn't do a whole lot, but he loved checking out the lights.

Saturday Anthony and I headed to New Orleans for a night out and the Saints game. We had a great time, and the game was fabulous. What wasn't fabulous was having obnoxious Giants fans sitting right behind us. I'm pretty sure I heard some of the most colorful language of my life. And that's saying something. I don't have pictures yet, which is probably a good thing since it was a trip to New Orleans.

On a completely different subject, today was pajama day at Sam's "school." He was pretty pleased to be in his sleeping duds. I, of course, thought he looked ridiculously cute.

My Friday Night Part II...

The discovery of 2 week old milk wasn't enough excitement for us this weekend. (See previous post.) Sam decided to throw us a real monkey wrench and get sick. Hooray.

While most young people (a category I no longer belong to) were out at 11:45 on Friday night, I was cleaning up vomit. Awesome. No one likes vomit, right? I know I don't, and I became close friends with Captain Puke during the 40 wks. of my pregnancy. I was one of those lucky people who physically threw up the entire 9 months. I've been fortunate to avoid dealing with this oh-so-fun brand of stomach upset since Sam's arrival, but he happily reintroduced me Friday night. I can't complain too much...Anthony had to take a second shower at midnight.

Poor baby Sam was confused, frightened, vomiting, and running fever, and his parents were just trying to hold it together. Now that Sam's nausea free, I can only think about what we must have looked like--Sam in a diaper with puke everywhere, Anthony with upchuck running down his chest, me trying not to slip in it.

Parenthood.

My Friday night...

Tonight we picked up hamburgers and kicked it at home. It should have been a fairly normal night...until the smell.

Anthony sat down in our living room, and sniffed. "What smells so bad?" I responded, 'I don't know--I smelled it earlier, but I never could find anything." We decided that while we were out getting burgers one of our pets decided to use our house as a toilet. We got down on all fours and tried to figure out where the cat/dog had done the deed, but then we found the source of the odor, and it wasn't a pile of poo.

Sam's sippy cups have been disappearing, you see. So much so that I went this week and bought four new ones because I couldn't find the other cups. Well, we found them. One in particular that I haven't seen in weeks. And it still had milk in it. Spoiled milk. That smelled more like rotten cheese. Or cat/dog poo. Disgusting.

Yes, we fought over who would wash it out. I won.