Oh how life has changed once upon a time I was just a girl and my dog. I lived to work and worked to play. Then on the evening of June 24th, all that changed with one little word... PREGNANT. Now I am carting a a diaper bag, worrying more about toxins in and around my home and looking for money saving and green living tips for my family. Following is completely unedited down and dirty of a first time mom's very opinionated journey through life plus baby and tons of dirty diapers :)
Today was Homecoming for the high school I went to. It's a big deal in this small town, but then what event isn't a big deal here in the south? We'll party for any reason we can find. There's of course a pep rally, a parade down mainstreet, a football game, which we hope to win, and a dance at the school. I was super excited to take Nicholas to the parade since he's never been to one before! We have a little po'dunk parade where the cheerleaders ride 4 wheelers, the band outshines the ROTC in marching skills, and various pee wee football teams/cheerleaders, business, local politicians, and of course the homecoming court ride down mainstreet in the back of trucks on floats or on the tops of convertible sports cars waving and tossing beads and candy out to the masses. What can I say, small town charm ;) It's fun. I remember riding more than a couple of times in the homecoming parade both as a young'in and as a highschooler. That was fun to. Now though fun has a whole new meaning and charm because we have a baby to show the world to and to show off to the world. Nicholas experienced his very first parade today and attended the homecoming football game as well. His Aunt Kay (my younger sister) just happens to be in the color guard with the band (The Big Red Machine, she's a riffle), and we had fun watching her on the field as well as marching in the parade.
Jazz showing her school spirit
Anyway we loaded up Nicholas, the stroller, and a spray painted (non toxic hair color of course!!) poodle and trucked ourselves off to down town Crestview to stand on mainstreet and watch the parade. It kicked off with a quarter of crestview;s finest (cops) driving their squad cars blaring their sirens and in general scaring little kids and waving like big goobers. I backed off and stood against the building with baby and dog and covered Nicholas' ears -just in case. He's not a fan of sirens after all and they ARE kind of loud and shrill. He didn't get upset so YAY, brave baby! :) I was so proud. Jazz the poodle was almost as big a hit as Nicholas because of her colored ears and tail. Several people came over to pet her and love on her. She was a happy happy poodle and it didn't matter at all that she couldn't eat any of the yummy candy being thrown her way lol.
Nicholas hung over Aunt Donna's shoulder to watch the high school's band, The Big Red Machine, came marching up the street playing our fight song as well as several other pieces commonly heard at games through out the fall. We got lucky and Aunt Kay was marching on OUR side of the street so we were able to see her. Which really means we were able to yell her name and embarrass her, what is family for after all?? LoL. We did at least get a little wave and a smile so maybe she wasn't totally mortified. See for yourself in the video below :)
The only two downers to Nicholas' first parade experience was that he learned flying candy can be dangerous. His was leaning down over Big Daddy's shoulder and got beaned in the head with a sucker thrown by somebody on one of the floats. Awwwwwwwwwwww poor baby!!! He cried for a few minutes, VERY offended and then the middle school band marched up and caught his attention and he was instantly in awe again. Good thing babies are easily amused lol. (To the person who hit my baby with a lollie pop... BEWARE, I shall seek revenge!! Hell hath no furry like a pissed off MOTHER!) The second issue was the heat. Last week at the football game the weather was warm but not humid and there was a nice breeze. Today it was like 200 degrees in the shade and a billion % humidity. In other words, we live in Florida. LoL. It was a bit warm and sticky but we had shade and ice water to soak a rag in and give him a rub down so he didn't get to hot. He didn't seem terribly uncomfortable. Of course if he had we would have gone ahead and left. As it was it was just a bit sweaty. He really enjoyed himself on the whole and flashed his big baby grin to get tons of beads tossed his way which naturally, in true redneck hick fashion we immediately put on him and let him wear for the duration of the parade. All in all good family fun.
Nicholas watching the parade with Big daddy
Nicholas showing off his beads with Aunt Donna
Falling asleep with Mommy
After the parade was over we waltzed back to our car grateful for the air conditioning that awaited and ran home to drop Jazz off so that we could meet the family at a local Mexican place for a bite to eat before the game. That was rushed b/c we were late due to the fact that mommies have to pump in order to keep making milk and then traffic was awful on our way back across town to eat. Still though the cold sweet tea was what I was really after and I had enough time to guzzle down three of those so it didn't matter to much. Good food and lots of laughing some cool pictures taken by somebody other than mommy, which is why they don't appear here, and yummy nachos. Nice! :)
snoozing in the stands
Yay, Mommy's Favorite! Just like last week he was in love with the band as and the cheerleaders. I'm not sure why he likes the cheerleaders so much but he watches and I just know he is learning all their moves and the words to the cheers. He cuddled with mommy, took a nap in the bleachers, and woke up to do a little dance with daddy before halftime arrived. I was surprised he wasn't more fussy than he was, he hadn't had more than a 15 or 20 minute nap all day and he was tired at one point. Somebody got the fantastic idea to lay a couple of kushie towels down so that he could nap on a little bed in the stands. Soooooooooo cute and soooooooo convenient. It was MUCH cooler for him and for me not to be cuddled up together. We pulled his little shirt up so he could catch more of a breeze on his skin and he was a happy content baby. He even slept through everyone doing the wave and never so much as moved. Then he woke up and was happy to cheer for the team and went back to watching the cheerleaders lol. The viedo below shows his team spirit dance :) Maybe it helped b/c our team won! Yay!
We wrapped up our evening with a trip to sonic for ice cream and a bottle of milk for Nicholas. We joked, we laughed, and we were all merry. Hubby got to shoot several people, including Aunt Kay and Aunt Donna with the new water cannon he installed on his car. That was really the highlight of the after game festivities and provided tons of laughs since it's a HUGE surprised to be soaked by a car :P All in all I think we had a pretty good day and night. Baby Nicholas got to experience a couple of firsts and see several family members and hubby got to experience homecoming in our town for the first time since moving here two years ago. He wasn't thrilled about the idea but I think he accidentally had fun anyway :) I know Nicholas and I did :) I sure can't wait to take him to the Christmas Parade!! :)
The only two downers to Nicholas' first parade experience was that he learned flying candy can be dangerous. His was leaning down over Big Daddy's shoulder and got beaned in the head with a sucker thrown by somebody on one of the floats. Awwwwwwwwwwww poor baby!!! He cried for a few minutes, VERY offended and then the middle school band marched up and caught his attention and he was instantly in awe again. Good thing babies are easily amused lol. (To the person who hit my baby with a lollie pop... BEWARE, I shall seek revenge!! Hell hath no furry like a pissed off MOTHER!) The second issue was the heat. Last week at the football game the weather was warm but not humid and there was a nice breeze. Today it was like 200 degrees in the shade and a billion % humidity. In other words, we live in Florida. LoL. It was a bit warm and sticky but we had shade and ice water to soak a rag in and give him a rub down so he didn't get to hot. He didn't seem terribly uncomfortable. Of course if he had we would have gone ahead and left. As it was it was just a bit sweaty. He really enjoyed himself on the whole and flashed his big baby grin to get tons of beads tossed his way which naturally, in true redneck hick fashion we immediately put on him and let him wear for the duration of the parade. All in all good family fun. 
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