Happy 1st Birthday Turner!

One year ago today, my son Turner Alexander Moore was born at 3:17pm.  I feel like I should write something profound but I can’t seem to find words to express my sentiment towards him.  I think I’ll keep it simple and say that I love him and I will do anything for him. 

Turner, when you're older and read this I guess the main thing I want you to know was that during your first year, you were the most important thing in my life. I can't imagine loving you more than I do now but I know that as we both get older, my love for you will only continue to grow.

Happy Birthday, son!

Our first Christmas with Turner

It’s Sunday morning.   To most, just another average Sunday but at the Moore household, it’s Christmas Sunday.  I am excited about seeing my family for the Christmas holiday but wanted Turner’s first Christmas to be in his home.  The only solution I could think of was to celebrate Christmas a week early before we leave town.   We put Turner to bed Saturday night and then started to stack gifts under the tree.  Funny, as we were placing gifts under the tree Santa appeared with a few extra gifts.   

Sunday morning, I set-up the video camera and turned on some Christmas Soca.  Turner walked out from his room and saw all the gifts under the tree.   Tori and I got some nice things ourselves but it was really about seeing what Turner would play with.  Thank goodness he was interested in both his toy cars and his Elmo doll.  The winning toy of the morning was a set of car keys though.  As I write this, he’s still playing with him.  

Not too much more to say here, I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. 

Decorating the house for Turner’s first Christmas

I love Christmas.  I always have and I always will.  It’s hard to describe why but I just have so many great memories of this holiday - lots of love and laugh over the years. One of my earliest memories is crawling under my grandmother’s bed and finding un-wrapped gifts for my sister and I.  I would crawl under the bed daily leading up to Christmas and play with two G.I. Joe action figures and the tank they came with. 

This is the first year that I get to share my favorite holiday with my son. I'm going all out.  If I could rent a Santa to have him come drop off gifts, I would.  I haven' rulled that idea out for future years.  Anyway, back to the story.  As you know, we traveled to Nashville, TN for Thanksgiving.   Normally, I would start putting up Christmas decorations immediately after Thanksgiving but after a long drive and traveling I didn’t have the energy.  I also had to travel for work after Thanksgiving.   

As soon as I found some free time, I put our tree up. Turner helped. He resisted the urge to play with the decorations.  It took a while to get the tree up but it was fun.  I then hung our wreath on the door and put two 3ft pine trees on each side of our front door.   We have candles in most of our windows and I’ve hung lights around the front porch.  It’s subtle compared to some houses in the area but it works for us.

Wait, how could I forget the stockings!  Tori and I started hanging stockings two or three years ago and this year, we purchased one for Turner.  He already has two small toys in it.  I noticed that mine is flat.  I’m not upset though. Cash and checks don’t take up much space. 

What should you get Turner for either Christmas or his birthday?

It just hit me. This is great month to be Turner.  He has three Christmas’ and two birthday parties.  We’re going to open gifts from Tori and I at home before we depart for Orlando and once we arrive there, he’ll open some more.  Once we arrive in Atlanta, he’ll open gifts there as well.  That same week (December 30th), he’ll open birthday presents.  Once we fly back to Philadelphia, he will open presents at his second birthday party (January 7th). 

With all these opportunities to celebrate with Turner, Tori and I thought we'd say a few words here and hopefully make shopping easier for our friends and family.  Tori and I have done some shopping for a few gifts for both Turner’s birthday and Christmas.  We got him the Rock-n-Roll Elmo, a Radio Flyer 4-in-1 bike, and some small toy cars.  Turner has been a good boy this year so I’m sure Santa will be dropping off some extra gifts. Almost anything from LeapFrog is good.  He also loves "Baby Signing Time" - we only have the first DVD.   We like the idea of educational toys and books for him.

For anyone looking to buy him clothing, even though he’s a 12 month old – it’s probably best to get him pants that are for an 18 month old.  He can still fit 12 month old shirts but some short-sleeve 18month old shirt would be good for next summer.  He’s currently a size 5 in shoes.  He has a pair or sneakers already.  We like soft soled shoes too (pediped).  Gift cards are always a safe bet and easy for us to carry back home from traveling as well as books.  We also have a 529 college and savings account for him.

Christmas in Orlando, FL and Atlanta, GA

In a previous post, I mentioned that we celebrate Thanksgiving with Tori’s family and Christmas with mine. A few people have been asking us what we will be doing for Christmas this year.  Good news – we’ve finally figured it out.  We’re going to Orlando and Atlanta. Wait, two cities? Doesn’t sound like we’ve figured it out but please continue reading.

Normally, my family does a rotation between D.C., Orlando and Atlanta.   Last year it was in Orlando and this year it is supposed to be in Atlanta.  My older sister (Kerry)  in Atlanta who normally hosts is expecting her first grandchild (Congratulations Victoria!) and won’t be hosting this year.  After emails, texts and phones calls with family, we have decided that we’ll be joining the Orlando crew for a holiday celebration this year.  It was in Orlando last year at my Brother Sammy’s home but since Turner was due right around that time, we obviously couldn’t travel.  My brother, sister and father are in Orlando and it’s the largest concentration of my family.  Turner has never been to Orlando.  I’m sure he’ll enjoy it though. He has three cousins there, his grandfather, two aunts and two uncles.  One of his cousins (Alakai) is only 1 month older than he is.  It’ll be fun to see the two of them playing together.

It doesn’t stop there.  We’re going to drive over to Atlanta and see my mother, sister, aunt and cousin.  Our cousin Ondrea, is co-hosting a birthday party with us for Turner; more on that later. You might recall, that our cousin Ondrea was the first family member to come up and see Turner.  She flew up from Atlanta and came straight to the hospital.  We decided to host a birthday party in Atlanta so that our friends and family could help us celebrate his first year (also not everyone can travel up to Philadelphia for a party here).  That’s where our holiday travel ends.  It will be great to be around family in both Orlando and Atlanta.  To our family in both cities – get ready because we’ve just booked out tickets!

Turner’s growing vocabulary

Over the last 6 months, Turner’s vocabulary has really been growing.  We started with ‘Ba’ and we got a “Mama” followed by “Dada”. Nothing special but now, we’ve heard him utter “Buh-bye” while waving, “Hi”, and “Go”, “Dog”, “Uh Oh” – with a really funny face.  I'll try to get a photo.  He also says “Up” when he wants to be picked up.  I’m trying to get him to say “Ooh yeah” but no success yet.  His grandmother really wants him to learn, “One” for his birthday. I’m not so sure if that will happen but we’ll see.

Turner’s First Thanksgiving!

Tori and I have large families and our families are distributed across the country.  When you have large families that are scattered throughout the U.S. (and Canada if I count my younger brother and sister), it makes it difficult to get together for the holidays.  To make things simple we decided to divide up the two major holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We will celebrate Thanksgiving with Tori’s family and Christmas with my family.  While visiting family in Nashville, TN, it was decided that Thanksgiving would be held back in Nashville, TN.

To save on costs, we decided to drive down from Philadelphia to Nashville.  It’s a 12 hour drive.  Our strategy was to get Turner ready for bed and wait until he fell asleep to drive down while he was sleeping.  The plan worked perfectly.  He woke up a once or twice and looked around but overall slept until the following morning.

We arrive Wednesday morning and Tori’s parents arrived Thursday morning.  We had a great dinner and shared lots of laughs.  No one went out shopping on Friday – we took a different approach and went to the Nashville Zoo.  This was Turner’s first trip to the zoo.  He seemed to enjoy it.  Not that I didn’t enjoy the trip but the Philadelphia Zoon is much better.  I’m looking forward to taking a few trips there next summer. 

Saturday, we took a family portrait.  There was some confusion about what everyone would (or should) be wearing but I think it all came together nicely in the end.  We managed to get a few individual pictures if Turner that we are going to use for his birthday party invitations.

We left Nashville at 5am on Sunday morning and made it back to Philadelphia Sunday night.  Turner was a real trooper dealing with all that time in the car.  Overall, Thanksgiving was great.  I am already looking forward to celebrating next year with family.

Visiting Family in Jackson, MS & Nashville, TN

As most of you know, Tori is from Mobile, AL.  What you may not know is that she has family in both Nashville, TN and Jackson, MS.  Actually wait, if you read this blog regularly you know that one of our baby showers was held in Jackson, MS so obviously we have family there.   We usually take a trip down to the south once or twice a year.   Now that Turner is here, our family in the south really wants us to visit more often.  Two major family events were happening in July of this year.  The first was Tori’s grandmother’s birthday on July 4^th in Jackson, MS.  The second was the birthday of Tori’s niece, Sinclaire Elizabeth Rowland July 11^th in Nashville, TN.  

We decided to fly into Nashville, TN and meet Sinclaire then drive to Jackson, MS – 6 or 7 hours away – so that Turner could meet his great-grandmother.   It might sound like a lot but we’re used to it.    Visiting family in Nashville and Jackson as a success. 



Everyone was glad to finally meet Turner and he enjoyed all the love and attention. It may have been Turner’s first trip to Jackson, MS but it won’t be his last.   He’ll be spending at least a week there every summer and as you’ll see here – Thanksgiving dinner was also held in Nashville, TN this year.

My first Father’s Day

I know what you're thinking - this blog post is long overdue.   In June I celebrated my first Father’s Day with Tori and Turner.  I was very excited about it.  I made sure Tori didn't group our anniversary gift (June 16th) with my Father's day gift (due June 18th).  Two major events require two seperate gifts - those are the rules. 

OK back to the story.  The gifts were great; both humorous and serious.  You can see most of these in the photo to the left.  Starting from left to right, I got a nice card from Turner and a recordable Hallmark book.  I have to look closer at the instructions but I plan on reading and recording the story for Turner soon.  Next up, we have a card from Tori and a picture frame that Turner made at daycare.  The picture frame says, “Dad’s Pride and Joy”.  I plan on keeping that in my office, near my computer for those days where I wonder why I'm working hard or putting in late hours.  Lastly we have another card from Turner (clearly my son is an overachiever) and a coffee mug from Tori.

What’s not pictured here is a dog tag that Tori got for me.  You might be able to see it in the photo to the right.  I know what you're thinking and yes, Turner and I were wearing matching shirts.  The plan is to take it to get it engraved with a quote that I like; “Father, giver of strength, love and wisdom.  Son, giver of life’s greatest joys”.   After being showered with cards and gifts, Tori and Turner took me to brunch.  Tori and I enjoyed a great meal while Turner flirted with the waitresses. 

Thank you Tori and Turner for an awesome first Father’s Day!

Turner’s Quilt

A longtime family friend of Tori’s had a custom handmade quilt made for Turner. There isn’t much of a back story to this blog post. Tori and I wanted to thank Ms. Presnell for her kindness and generosity. We also want to thank Ms. Arletha Patrick for actually making the quit by hand! It’s really a beautiful quilt and great keepsake for Turner. You can see from the photos below that Turner loves it. However, it’s one of those gifts that are just too nice, so after these photos were taken we quickly put it put away so that Turner wouldn’t get it dirty. We plan on letting him look at it from a distance every year on his birthday.

Someone really likes blueberries

Turner & Sophie

Turner’s trip to the Jersey shore

Turner’s godparents are awesome.  Kelly and Adrian’s family has a house in Ocean City, N.J. and have invited us down to the shore several times.  We finally had one free weekend (well one free day) and decided to take them up on the offer.  The traffic wasn’t too bad.  Tori and I had both heard stories that made it seem worse.  We arrived at their beach house and after a few minutes of resting, changed and headed down to the beach – not before applying a healthy dose of sun block on Turner.

After finding a good spot and settling in, Turner feel asleep.  Not a bad thing, it gave the rest of us a chance to get in the water and get some sun.  Turner eventually woke up and was ready to play in the sand and water; or so we thought.   We each took turns with him but Turner was not a fan of the beach.  I think at one point he was scared of the waves.  We relaxed on the beach and let Turner play in the shade for a while before heading in for dinner.  Adrian grilled and Kelly’s mom made some great sides dishes. 

I think the highlight for Turner was playing with Stephanie; another one of our good friends who was enjoying the shore with us.  Steph enjoyed hanging with Turner and is looking forward to playing with him and babysitting him in the future.  We all agreed that after some swimming lessons at the YMCA or at least playing in a kiddie pool, Turner will have more fun at the beach next summer.

Halloween is right around the corner

My favorite holiday is Christmas but Halloween is definitely in the top 5. My earliest memory of Halloween is from my kindergarten costume party in 1986.  I was into many cartoons at the time; correction, I am still into many cartoons. I was excited to see what costume my mom was going to buy for me.  I thought about being Lion-o, lord of the Thunder Cats or some heroic character.   I waited patiently for my mother to come home with my costume.  She handed me the bag and I pulled out a mask for … Beast-man. Really mom!? You got me a costume from the He-Man cartoons.  Thank you for sparing me the embarrassment of being He-Man but seriously, one of the villains?   Truth be told, it didn’t matter what I was for Halloween.  My sister and I were the only two kids in our apartment building so with little to no effort we got all the candy.

Fast forward to today and it’s time for Turner to start enjoying Halloween.  Turner’s daycare teachers and my coworkers have heard me toss ideas around for the family.  I’d love to see Turner, Tori and I dressed up and Batman, Robin and Cat Woman but Tori has already made it painfully clear on that one.  I was also thinking we could be Peter and Stewie from Family Guy.   The list continues on with several inappropriate ideas. 

Let’s take a look at some of the more age appropriate costumes that won’t get me in trouble at the daycare.  Based on the catalogs I’ve received in the mail, these three seem like they would work well (1) a Puppy, (2), a Lion or (3) a Bee*

I thought it would be fun to create a new poll on the blog and allow all of you to vote.  What do you think Turner should be for his first Halloween?  Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.

*Note: The Bee idea was submitted by Turner’s aunt Ondrea and normally would not be included as an option.

A trip to the Philadelphia Premium Outlets

Turner is growing. He’s 15lbs and I think either 24 or 25 inches.  He’s got some length on him but not much width.  Thanks again to Suron to gave us a ton of clothing that her two boys outgrew.  My friend Kathy has some shoes for Turner as well.  We were able to give some gender neutral clothing such as white onesies to Tori’s sister who is expecting a little girl in July.  All of the remaining clothing we are boxing up and putting in storage.  Our plan is to reuse as much of the clothing as possible for Turner’s little brother.  Now before you get excited, no Tori and I are not expecting any siblings for Turner.  I’m just hoping for another boy.  My friend Suron shares some hilarious stories about the adventures she has with her two sons.  That was off topic, let’s get back to the story.

We decided to drive out to Limerick, PA to the Philadelphia Premium Outlets.  There are usually some great deals out there.  I won't bore you with details about the store Tori and I shopped in.When it came time to pick-up items for Turner, we visited Carters, Baby Gap and Osh Kosh B’gosh.  The deals were pretty good in all stores but we didn’t see too much in Baby Gap on this trip.

I really like the shirts and clothing from Carters and Osh Kosh B’gosh – especially the ‘Boy Genius’ t-shirt and ‘T-Rocks’ since it mirrors Turner’s (a.k.a. Mr. T’s ) mohawk now.   The best part of the day was that being at the outlets and seeing all those new sights coupled with a long car ride really tired Turner out and he slept through the night!

Tori’s First Mother’s Day

A new mom’s first Mother’s day is a big deal.  After all, mothers are the best thing to happen to this world.  Without Tori, there would be no Turner AND there would be no one to sing him to sleep because I’m not doing it.  Turner started things off by having a Mother’s Day Tea party at his daycare with Tori.  We arrived at 3pm on Friday, May 6^th to pick him up and we were greeted with juice and cookies (We later learned that Turner did NOT help prepare these).  Turner gave his mommy her first gift, a magnet for the fridge that said ‘MOM’ and his photo was the ‘O’ – very cute son.

I’m slightly competitive so I pulled out my gift for Tori and when I say pulled out my gift…..I mean handed her a card and a small box.  Unlike Turner I wrapped my gift (take that son).  Tori read the card that Turner helped me select and then opened her gift to find a heart necklace with one side being her and the other being Turner.  She put it on and wears it casually as a reminder of her first born son, Turner.  

The festivities didn’t end there.  I asked Turner to make a reservation at Christopher’s in Wayne, PA.   We had heard from Turner’s godparents that it was a very nice restaurant for brunch.  We arrived and were pleasantly surprised.  The first thing we noticed was a huge dessert table; everything looked so tasty.  We had a seat and proceeded to enjoy an amazing brunch.  Sadly, no mimosa for Tori, she had to feed Turner shortly after brunch.

Happy Mother’s Day Tori!!  Turner and I both lover you very much and appreciate all you’re doing! 

Turner’s first Easter Sunday

Turner was up bright and early and dressed in his Sunday best for Easter mass at Blessed Virgin Mary Church.  Luckily we arrived early and were able to get a seat as it was very crowded.  As usual, the ladies all enjoyed Turners smile during service.  

It was a very nice service.  I wish we could have taken a photo of Turner and Father Corely; that would have been good for the photo album.   Hope you enjoy these photos of Turner in his Sunday best.

Finally getting big enough for the cool toys

Tori and I have been waiting for this moment for a month or so now.  One day Tori went to pick Turner up from daycare one day and when she arrived she saw our son in some contraption of a toy and Turner looked like he was in heaven.   This was the confirmation that we needed; Turner was now  finally able to play with some of his cool toys. 

He only has one so far but trust me, his future will be filled with gadgets and toys that I will.…. I mean HE will enjoy playing with J. 

 Don’t get me wrong; we are both excited about his development with whatever this 'Bright Starts Around We Go' thing is (I really don't know what it's called) and how excited he is while playing with it.  It’s just that when I look at Turner, all I see are Nerf foam and water guns.  I see him developing leg and arm coordination so that he can perform some amazing wrestling moves and one day tackles his mother.   Was I too premature in purchasing the mini football, basketball and soccer ball set from Target? 

And we’re back…

Sorry for the hiatus.  Turner, Tori and I have been a little busy lately and haven’t made time to update the blog with our adventures.  Over the past two month, Turner has had his first Easter, developed his motor sills, and helped me plan Tori’s first mother’s day. 

Luckily, I’ve been able to take pictures from most of the big events in Turner’s life over the past two months.   Thanks for continuing to read the blog.  Expect to read 5 or 6 new stories about Turner a.k.a. “Lil’ Moore” a.k.a. “Turner Burner” a.k.a. “Tony Jr.” a.k.a. “I have too many nicknames”.   

Frog Prince

Not much of a story here.  There have been a  few complaints that I don't post enough pictures so I'm taking action on that request. We were giving Turner his bath and afterwards wrapped him in his towels.   I thought it was a cute pic.  Better this one than him naked right?

Turner is baptized!!

We have been planning Turner's baptism for about 2 months.  Truth be told I've been thinking about it since the day he was born.  Tori and I couldn’t have asked for a better day.  We had family and friends come from as far as New York, Virginia and Alabama to join us in celebrating Turner’s baptism into Catholicism.  We spent Saturday getting the house and food in order for the big day.   

Sunday morning we had the godparents meet us at our home and drop off some of the food.   Many of our friends and family were able to join us for mass at 11am.  The baptism immediately followed.   Father Corley spoke to the parent (us) and the godparents about the importance of this sacrament.    We re-confirmed our faith and I lit Turner’s baptism candle from the Easter candle (a perk of being baptized so close to Easter).

Following the baptism, we invited everyone over to our home for some food and drinks.   Tori made her famous sweet potato casserole and I ordered my famous stewed chicken, rice and peas, and plantains.  Turner’s godparents provided baked chicken, drinks, macaroni and cheese and sautéed green beans --- there was good food at the reception.   Our guests enjoyed a red velvet cake and ‘sinfully white’ cake.  Yes, I not see the irony of ordering a sinful cake for my son’s baptism. It won’t happen again.

I mentioned it to our guests but want to make it clear to everyone that reads this blog.  Tori and I really appreciate the close relationships we’ve developed while in PA.  While we don’t have family in the immediate area, we do have a strong network that we can lean on whenever help is needed.    I’m going to stop now and let you all enjoy some of the pictures from the event.  Turner’s godparents also videotaped the event for all of our family that wasn’t able to be here in person.