My baby got Vaseline all in his hair.

Well, Micah officially crossed the threshold of eighteen months old this week, and I can hardly believe it! He's very active, into everything, constantly using the word "no" all the time, and mimicking almost anything I say. He may not "understand" everything he is saying, but he tries to say almost everything he hears us say. I know he is trying to connect the words to the objects. He loves to point at stuff, and I say the word, then he says the word. Babies are such sponges!

I was driving in the car the other day when somebody pulled out in front of me. Immediately, I said, "Oh, geez!!" to which he repeated, "Oh, geez!" Definitely having to watch what I'm saying!

One of his favorite past times is playing under this "tree" that we have in his nursery. It's just a sticky decal I bought at Kohl's when I was decorating it last year. He loves to point at the leaves, the birds, and the tree. I just keep repeating the words, and he plays in front of the tree attempting to repeat the words.

Recently, I've started leaving the door to his nursery open so he can have some independent play. I go in and out while he plays, but I want to encourage him to play alone some. He always ends up under this little tree. Glad he likes it! He's at such a fun as well as extremely independent age right now.

In this particular picture, Micah found the antenna on the radio and broke it in half. He's become quite mischievous lately!

On another front, I looked up my running/walking activity on my online database that comes with the free MapMyRun app on my phone. Look at how many miles I've covered in the past two weeks! =)

I have to say I'm proud of myself!!

I had a few more people asking me what I'm doing to lose weight & eat healthy. I don't know how much weight I've lost yet, but  if you want to read a few of my other posts, I've written about our switch to healthy living here and here. 

I'm not great about eating healthy. In fact, I'm probably the most unhealthy eater you will ever meet. I love fried, sweet, and salty foods! It is baaaad!  It's been a challenge for me to find anything I want to eat that is healthy. My typical lunch (since I'm a creature of habit & boring) has been a turkey sandwich on a flat out with cheese, green beans (or fruit) with Yoplait (fruit on the bottom) Greek yogurt with granola.

I'm doing this Bible study called Giving Christ Control that is part of First Place 4 Health, the Biblical weight loss program I'm attending at church. In the background, you'll also see the food diaries I keep to turn in at group. I use a phone app called LoseIt! to keep track of my food while on the go, then I log it at night on the Live It Tracker for First Place.

Every morning, I load my blender up with these goodies. Typically, I'm putting 3 cups of spinach and 2 cups of fruit in with my chocolate Shakeology mix. Believe me, I stay full with that shake! 

This is what it looks like when I'm done mixing it. So no, it isn't green. I can't taste the spinach.

I've been trying to participate in the photo a day challenge again. I've already slacked off, but I took this photo for "up close" one day of our shag rug.  I also refer to it as our "toddler food catcher" which has to be vacuumed continuously. 

We've had a lot of fun this week just enjoying summertime. 

Micah loves to run to our neighbor's house next door and look for "kitty kitty" (whose name is Chester) who likes to hang out between our driveways. In this picture, he was running away from me towards "kitty kitty" barefooted.

I love his frat boy swoop of hair. I'm having a hard time making myself cut it. I know it probably needs to be cut, but I keep trimming it myself for just a little bit longer. He's "blessed" to have lots of hair like his mommy & daddy.

We spent one morning just sitting in the front yard watching the trash truck go up and down the street. Micah absolutely loved doing this, and he just sat still, watched, and pointed at the garbage man.

This morning, he & I went out for a morning run around 8:30. I didn't do my best time this morning, and I was a bit overwhelmed by the task of running. Just because I've been running doesn't mean I really like it. I have to really push through and keep going.

Here we are after our two and a half mile run! Still smiling!

I love his face here, but I hate my double chin here. Oh, well.

Here's another picture of us after the run, and man! Micah has quite the double chin himself in this picture. =)

Now for the funny story of the day, and the reason for the title of this post.

Remember when I said up above that I've started leaving the door to Micah's nursery open so he could have some independent play time?

Welllll....independent play time he had today.

We have a basket that is full of the baby bottom essentials including diaper rash ointment, Vaseline, GermX, wipes, etc. Micah loves to play in that basket, and he has been obsessed with trying to open the Vaseline jar. I usually end up moving the whole basket to the ottoman while I change him. Then I move the basket back up to the changing table after we're done.

I guess Mommy forgot to move the basket.

I guess somebody found the basket.

I guess even though he was only in there a second alone this time was the time he actually got the lid off the Vaseline.

I guess he decided to mimic his mommy who he has seen put gel all over her hair.

I guess he decided he needed gel in his own hair.

Would you believe that with all that petroleum jelly in his hair he didn't get it anywhere else but his hair?

True story.

(Don't worry. He has his diaper on in all pictures.)

So I did what any modern, blogging mom would do. I stripped him down to his diaper, rushed him into the bathroom to keep Vaseline from getting everywhere, and I grabbed my camera to document it.

I mean, look at how much Vaseline this child got in his hair.

As my mom put it via text message, "So have you gotten it out yet or is he going to look like Elvis for a few days??"

Six shampoos with Dawn later, I'm afraid he's going to be looking like Elvis for a few days. If you are out and about in town and see us, please know I have washed my child's hair. I simply can't get the Vaseline out. I really hope this doesn't end up needing a buzz cut.

The Battle of the Vaseline and the Memphis Botanic Gardens.

Well, last night after my baby decided to smear Vaseline all over his hair in imitation of his mom's love of hair gel, I scrubbed at him in the tub for thirty minutes using Dawn liquid detergent before he went to bed.

In case you have ever wondered what a baby with Vaseline looks like in their hair the next morning, here you go.

How cute is he? It's hard to stay mad at him. I've laughed a lot.

He's quite the character this one! I can just imagine all the wonderful things he's going to do to keep Mommy & Daddy on their toes over the years! I'm getting gray hair just thinking about it! 

I tried again this morning to fight with the Vaseline, but we had to meet my mom, so I finally gave up.

Today we went to the Memphis Botanic Garden with my mom (Micah's KayKay) and Ebin to visit My Big Backyard. I think the kids had a lot of fun, but it got hot quickly! We didn't stay too long, and I was glad small kids were still free. I spent 45 minutes this morning still trying to get the Vaseline out of Micah's hair to no avail. Don't mind all his greasy wanna be Elvis looks in the pictures.

Micah chilling with his Cheerios & milk for breakfast.

They have flowers in all kinds of things!

Literal flower "beds"

Watching the duck at the pond (who I think wanted some food).

Micah was still enjoying his breakfast. That's how we roll when we spend forty five minutes scrubbing at Vaseline.

Mommy & Micah

(Daddy was still at work. Typically he gets off around 8 am, but today they had a lunch meeting he had to stay for.)

Finally, I let Micah get out of the stroller to explore for a while. He loved this xylophone exhibit, but it seemed to be a little worse for the wear and missing pieces.

There was a small screen door leading to a house, and Micah is really into "does" lately, so he spent a lot of time opening and shutting the "doe" while his cousin ran around. I tried to get a good photo of him, but it didn't really happen.

He would tell me, "Bye!" as he shut the door.

There was a fake chicken coup, so the boys had fun taking the chicken in and out. Again, I couldn't ever get a picture of Micah looking at me. He is so fast these days!

As you can see, he went back to the screen door again. I think he could have lived there.

Here is the grease mess of hair he modeled all day long.

I wanted to tape a sign to his forehead that said, "Yes, my mom did wash my hair ten times. I just smeared Vaseline in it, and she can't get it out."

Then, there is this huge stroller friendly ramp that leads up to an awesome playhouse!! I loved the walkability of it, but Micah was still a little young to play on the playground.

Walking back down the ramp after letting Ebin play inside the tree house.

After going to play at My Big Backyard, we took the kids over to the Japanese gardens where they could feed and watch the huge fish.

Micah just stared and stared at the fish. He was so chilled out this morning, and he barely said a word to anybody. He just likes to take things in, I guess.

Ebin enjoying his Capri Sun while watching the fish.

Micah chowing down on his Cheerios still.

KayKay and the boys.

The infamous red bridge in the Japanese Gardens.

Swarms of fish trying to eat the food!

An attempt to get a picture of KayKay with the boys.

It didn't really work out that well. 

Another classic of Mommy behind the stroller where Micah won't look when you want him, too.

Ebin had fun hanging off the bridge and counting all the turtles he saw in the pond.

The wedding chapel which is probably one of my favorite parts of the botanic gardens.

Finally, we start heading back in because it was getting pretty hot!

I then came home to fight some battles with getting Micah to sleep (he fell asleep on the way home which ruined most of his nap). I also took on the Battle of Vaseline once again after consulting Dr. Twitter. My friend Summer said to try putting baby powder in his hair, so I did.

I'll have some milk with my white hair, Mommy.  It matches!

As you can see, the baby powder got absolutely everywhere!

It's a lot of fun to walk around with baby powder in your hair for forty five minutes!

Believe it or not, after fifteen shampoos with Dawn detergent, an olive oil shampoo, and finally some baby powder followed by some more Dawn shampoos...the Vaseline is almost gone now!

Thank goodness. We have family pictures on Sunday. I was starting to freak out just a little bit. =)

Thank goodness for Dr. Google, Dr. Twitter, and Dr. Facebook. What in the world did we do without them? Haha! Have a great weekend!