friday phone dump

Frequently these days I snap a photo on my phone (it is usually around and handy) and since some of them turn out to be simply adorable I thought that I might start sharing a few of them here… I can not take credit for the post title, I saw it on a few other blogs that I read, but it is indeed catchy ;)

1. hanging out with Daddy
2. me and the boys- our first day on our own
3. playtime reading with Mommy
4. coloring- “dot, dots” creatures
5. brothers
6. “what??”
7. bean sensory box- to occupy Jay Bird while Mommy makes dinner
8. sanity walk- one in the stroller, one in the carrier
9. playing on “his” iPod Touch while Mom and Dad finish dinner
10. making faces at his brother
11. snoozin’ (this boy loves his tummy)
12. snacks AND cars ;)
13. cheeks!!
14. car ride

christmas 2011 recap

The holidays this year were filled with many different things…  Time to relax and enjoy playing with the boys, time to start “new” traditions and to introduce the boys to old ones. Time to cherish with family that we don’t get to see very often and time to hang out with friends that live far away.  Honestly we got to spend a whole bunch of time appreciating what is really important and spending time surrounded by people that we love; to say that we are blessed would be an understatement.

goofing around with mom
jamie relaxing
festive playtime with duplo- and no I did not make him wear the Christmas tree headband. he would frequently put them on and wear them around the house :)

Jay Bird at the sing a long playing frosty the snowman with Mary Beth
decorating cookies for the neighbors

quality control
christmas eve photo
"santa" setting up Jay's duplo table

the boys' stockings after santa came :)
holiday jammies
bed head and new toys
helping charlie with his books
jeepie!

jay getting michael to draw for him

mary beth and charlie

crashed!
mom, ed and the boys
group shot of my family
snuggling with auntie frannie
frosty!

2011- a year in photos

January

We visited Lou Gardens, played outside at the park a lot and celebrated our sweet little Jay Bird’s 1st Birthday.

Februrary

We decorated a bunch of cookies, reorganized the kitchen and we harvested a large crop of carets and beets from the garden.

March

Jay really started walking on his own, we picked a ton of Strawberries and made Jam, hosted the crawfish boil and found out we were expecting our second kiddo!

April

We frequented the zoo, picked and ate a ton of strawberries, we played outside with the water table frequently, hunted for Easter Eggs, finger painted for the first time and got to tell our family that we were expecting again.

May

Jay started coloring a lot, we played outside in the hose frequently, we celebrated Mother’s Day by playing outside in the kiddie pool, picked and ate peaches off of our tree in the backyard, Jay started swim lessons and he had his first haircut.

June

We played outside in the rain, I hosted a bridal shower for Nicole and we spent a week at the Beach with Jamie’s family.

July

We went to cow appreciation day at Chick-fil-a, we visited Mom and Ed at their condo in south Florida, we celebrated our 5th Anniversary, Jay discovered cars, we celebrated my 29 birthday and announced that we were having another little boy!

August

We took our first trip to the splash pad, Jay’s obsession with cars grew, he began using utensils on his own and Jay completed his Infant Survival Swimming Course.

September

We flew to Canada to celebrate my Grandma’s 85th birthday, Jamie and I survived a very long plane ride with a toddler who wouldn’t nap, we made considerable progress with putting together Jay’s big boy room and Dolce got really sick and had to have major surgery.

October

Jamie celebrated his 31st birthday, we took a rode trip to North Carolina to celebrate Jamie’s sisters wedding, we carved pumpkins, Jay took his first pony ride, went trick-or-treating and Jay decorated cookies for the first time.

November

We finished up a few projects around the house in preparation for our second little one to arrive and we welcomed Charlie into our family 10 days earlier than we had expected!!

December

We adjusted to being a family of four, Jay slept in a big boy bed for the first time, we decorated our house for Christmas (which included a tree with only lights on it), and celebrated the holidays with lots of family and friends.

a favorite

Life has been busy lately and honestly there are a ton of photos of our little family of four that I would like to post; however, until I can find a spare second here is a glimpse of what the really good moments look like at our place.

nothing better

There is nothing better than having a dear friend love on one of your babies like it is her own.  We don’t get to see the Knights nearly as much as I would like to since they moved home to Mississippi last May; however, when we do get to see them it feels like not even a day has gone by since we saw them last.  That in my opinion is the test of true friendship and man are we blessed because of it :)

2011 the end

As each year comes to a close, I usually end up regretting the the things I didn’t get to finish, wondering where the time went and making grand plans regarding the new year. Not today, not this year. This year I won’t make promises I can’t keep or “resolutions” because it is what you do at new years. Instead, I will take a more gentle approach and create a list (it wouldn’t be me if it wasn’t a list) of hopes, hopes for the new year…

I hope to cherish the present and to not worry about what has yet to come.
I hope to trust more in God’s plan.
I hope to be good to my family, and to be the kind of friend my friends are to me.
I hope to enjoy the small moments with my small children who won’t be that way for long.
I hope to appreciate the moments I get with my husband and to constantly remind myself how lucky I am to have found him.

a self portrait of me and the three most important people in my life

Happy New Year everyone, here’s to a wonderful 2012!

today i am…

One month old!!

So lets’s be honest, Charlie is honest to goodness a second child.  I don’t photograph his every waking moment, heck I didn’t even get his big “weekly” moments like I did with Jay.  We don’t jump the moment he peeps and if we are being honest with the few dozen or so people that read this blog sometimes we let him fuss… a lot. We know it will pass and that he will survive, all lessons that we learned the hard way with Jay.  By the way, we also put him down. I know gasp- he isn’t held all of them time!  Another lesson learned the hard way with Jay.  However, second child or not, my little Squishy is one month old today and that’s cause for cupcakes and photos!!  We even pulled out the blocks for the occasion:)  Every time I make the effort to have a “photo shoot” with either of my boys, regardless of the pain it might end up being, I am so glad I did. I know I will cherish them for years to come.

Stats: will update this when we can get somewhere with a working scale… the battery in ours isn’t working

Weight-  Charlie is growing like a bad weed, this little one is not going to be in the 10% like my other little guy.  I think he has hopes of being the big little brother.  He has already outgrown outfits that Jay was wearing past five weeks old and when people comment on how tiny he is I find myself laughing because I think he’s so big and compared to Jay he is!

Height-

A few other things of note for posterity’s sake…

*Charlie is on a pretty consistent “schedule” of eat, play, sleep.  He is eating every 2.5-3 hours during the day and 3.5-4 at night.  The 4 hours at night has been a little less frequent over the last few nights than it was and he has been taking longer to go back to sleep after his feedings but that has more to do with his cold than anything.  His congestion is pretty bad at night and it is easiest for him to breathe when he is in more of a reclined position (half up rather than on his back) so we have been pacing or rocking and using the frog position that he likes so much until he falls asleep the last few nights.  This isn’t all bad since frequently I log some pretty good Squishy cuddles by the light of the Christmas tree.

*Other than eating, sleeping and pooping, all of which he does pretty well, there is not a whole lot to report.  He still likes to be warm but not swaddled up tight.  In fact he prefers his hands to be on the outside of any blanket he is under or wrapped in and will fuss until they are out.  He has taken to the swing and likes the sound and mobile to be on while he is in it.  He also really enjoys Jenny, Jay’s stuffed giraffe sound machine. We keep it in the cradle for him, that is of course when Jay doesn’t notice it and take it back to his room (btw- Jay never really took to a sound machine so it’s not like he is being deprived in any way).

*Jay has more or less taken to Charlie at this point.  He still occasionally has his moments of jealousy but has come to realize that baby brother is here to stay and therefore is making the most of it.  Frequently, he gives Charlie hugs or asks where he is.  He also wants to help feed him, share his snack/juice or play cars with him.  He also is the first to notify us if Charlie is crying and we need to get him- “Baby Charlie cying, Mommy/Daddy- Baby Charlie cying”- this statement is frequently accompanied with a furrowed brow and much concern which in itself is just too sweet.

I think that about covers the highlights.  It really is hard to believe that he has already been a part of our family for a whole month now, especially when I can’t imagine a time without him.

cheese

I will admit this isn’t a stellar photo of myself. I am sporting a nice case of bed head and am still in my jammies but I think that the two adorable boys and the husband foot (it makes me laugh that he didn’t move it for the photo) all but make up for my short comings… I love that all of my boys are in this photo, that my big boy posses for them with an adorable “cheese” face and that my squishy is well, squishy.

Happy Friday to you.