Who doesn't love a good distillery tour in the rain?

While the Nashville portion of our summer travels was mostly about spending some quality time with Grandpa and KK, we still managed to squeeze in some sightseeing.  Our first adventure was to the George Dickel Distillery.  Let me tell you it was in the middle of no where, but after a few wrong turns we made it to the distillery that also happens to be a functioning post office.  Who knew?

 

Grandpa and Matthew enjoying waiting out the rain.  Apparently they don't like to take people on tours with giant golf size umbrellas when there is lightning.

 Of course they don't let you take pictures in their top secret areas, but the parking lot was nice.

 Matthew spent the entire tour trying to help out the tour guide as well as chat it up with all of the other folks on the tour.  He's such a know-it-all.  But the other tourists and the guide seemed to think he was entertaining.  I guess that's the difference between a disruptive happy baby and a disruptive screaming baby.  I personally found both types annoying when I was sans child, but I'll take what I can get and he was having a blast. 

The gang at the barrel house.

Here is Matthew making a drop off of moonshine.

Afterwards we needed to stop at Matty's new favorite restaurant.  Well, he likes the atmosphere of McDonald's as a backdrop to his formula and baby food purees.  He hasn't actually consumed any of the imitation food that they serve.  Mommy, however, has probably consumed her weight in their iced coffee!

10 Months

Well, more like 10.5 months.  I'm a little behind this time.

 New words:  Dada has morphed into Da-DEE.  'Baby' and 'Mama' have taken a back seat to more important words like, um, lets see, Da-DEE.  Also, 'Hi', 'Uh-Oh', 'NA-NA' (no), 'doggie' (obvious to the trained ear), 'duck' (sounds like dut), and 'quack' (but pronounce more like the literal duck noise). He says 'Owe' and 'Good' and 'Out,' but I don't think he knows what they mean.  He responds to "No" and "Be gentle" by stopping what he's doing and giggling about it, when asked he will point out people (or their noses) in person or in photos, and will give out hugs and kisses when asked (usually).

Showing Aunt Keely some love.

 

Fun & Games:  So Big means that he needs to lift your hands up to show how big he is.  I'm not sure how I managed to teach that one backwards.  Peek-a-boo is now only a fun game for when we are snuggling in mommy and daddy's bed or while riding in shopping carts and happen to have some sort of fabric handy.  Waving Hi and Bye has made remarkable improvements.  Super Why is THE television show to watch, and we've managed to master the Peek-A-Boo Farm app on mommy's phone.

Where is Buzz's nose?

 

Bath time has become a bit traumatic since he is now in a regular bath tub.  He really does not like to get water in his face.  He also doesn't like to tilt his head back, so that leaves me between a rock and a hard place when it comes to rinsing out his hair.  It usually ends with crying (crocodile tears included) and little man attempting to claw his way out of the tub.

1st big boy bath.  Don't let the smile fool you.  Notice his hair is still dry.

 

Diaper changes have also taken a turn down "what the heck just happened" lane.  We've ditched the changing table and now he thinks reapplying fresh diapers is optional.  Sometimes it legitimately takes two of us to re-diaper and dress him.  No joke.  How are they THAT STRONG and so small at the same time???

Clothing size: 12 months
Diaper size: 4
Bedtime:  8 pm - 6:30 am
Food:  beginning finger foods (finally) and we're starting the transition to sippy cups.  One out of four bottles has been replaced (most of the time... except when I forget... or get lazy).

Forget the milk mustache.  How about a milk goatee?

 

Overall this little guy is quite the character.  He's still as affectionate as ever and he is super quick to smile and giggle.  Those little eyes just shine with humor and love.  He's the best.

Eating at Joe's Pizza in TX with Grammie, Papa, Wayne & Mila.

Smoosh Face

The first destination on our road trip adventure was Nashville.  I'm just going to say that where we live it can get humid-hot, but nothing like southern hot.  Matthew adjusted to this new found bead of sweat above the lip in the following manner...

Stopping at a gas station on the way:

Going for a morning walk:

Exploring the playground at the resort:

Touring Belle Meade:

 Shopping for local art:

On the way to his first time swimming:

 Swimming:

Drying off after swimming:

 Hee Hee - It just doesn't get old!  I'm pretty sure one of these mugs will be gracing the front of his 1st birthday party invitation.

High Chair Highs

Who is this big guy?  After road tripping for the better part of last month (more on that in future posts) Matthew and I arrived home to find this! 

Matty fills out his high chair so much that his feet actually touch the first rung of the foot rest.  What a big boy he's becoming.

That and if you can see through my stellar photography to what is on his tray you can see that we've finally started attempting finger foods.  I may be a little behind on some of his food stuff, but the allergy thing throws me off a bit.  I'm probably overly cautious about continuing to introduce new things one at a time for four days straight, but it's the only way we can really be sure that he's not reacting to something.

So far pieces of real banana and Gerber Puffs are a hit.  He can only have the puffs in banana (gross), peach (meh), and vanilla (yummy) flavors but at least that gives him a little variety.  Did you know that the Apple Cinnamon puffs have carrot puree in them?  UGH.  I'm hoping we can soon add blueberry to the list.  We'll be attempting those next week.  This week is avocado.

More Food Allergies... Maybe

Poor child!  One night for dinner we gave him pumpkin for the first time.  The next morning he woke up with a swollen left eye and red rash splotches on his left cheek.  We can only assume it was the pumpkin since he wasn't exposed to anything else out of the ordinary that day or night.  After a quick check in with the Dr. we now have a new and improved "Foods to Keep Matthew Away From" list.

Mango

Strawberries

Oranges

Eggs

Nuts & Peanuts

Chocolate

Seafood

Dairy

Carrots

Pumpkin

Yams/Sweet Potato

Potato

Turnips

Beets

Tuber/Root Veggies

Also: Fabric Softener & Detergent with dyes or fragrance as well as perfumes/colognes.

SUPER SAD PART...
Little Man doesn't get a birthday cake!  Not a real one anyway.  I was told by his Dr. that we'll be avoiding eggs and dairy until he is at least 18 months old.  Maybe even longer if new allergies keep popping up.  Anyone have a good recipe for a gluten free, vegan, cake recipe?