kindergarten

I know I have been terrible at posting things lately but I do still take photos aside from iPhone photos and instagram posts. And since I actually took the time to take a look at them today I thought that I would share. Jay started Kindergarten at Brookshire Elementary today. It’s a day that I have been looking forward to and dreading all at the same time. Jay is SO ready to learn, be in school and soak up any and all information that is thrown at him. Being home with his brothers all summer has had its advantages, they play really well most of the time, but it’s also been hard since they are together all of the time too and have endless hours to push each others’ buttons. So for those reasons I was ready and he was ready to go. However, I don’t ever think any Momma bird is really ever ready to send their little one to kindergarten all day long and for that reason today was tough. I managed to keep it together all of the way to school and up until we had to leave him in the classroom. There were Momma tears on the way home, randomly throughout the day and while waiting to pick him up outside of school (I was 30 min early) when friends asked how I managed throughout the day. I was so thrilled to see him and even more thrilled to hear his excited stories about school. He talked all the way home about his day and then some. Man it is hard to watch my sweet Jay Bird spread his wings and fly but it is also so, so wonderful! I couldn’t be more proud of him than I am right now.

Here’s a few photos (actually more than just a few but it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want), the first from meet the Teacher and the later (with the backpack) from this morning.

Meet the teacher- Jay

meet the teacher- Jay

meet the teacher- Jay

First day of school- Jay

First day of school- Jay

First day of school- Jay

first day of school- Jay

First day of school- Jay

First day of school- Jay

first day of school- Jay

first day of school

walking to school- Jay

walking to school- Jay

walking to school- Jay

lots of kids!!

all ready to go in his classroom!

Things have been crazy with Jamie in grad school and working a ton, the boys being home all summer- TOGETHER- and well, just life. I have a ton of photos that I would love to share at some point. Fingers crossed I will get to that soon. Like I always say, my older self is bound to thank me for whatever I get the chance to post…

one (school) years time

It truly is hard to believe that the school year is already over, it feels like just yesterday that we were meeting the teacher and having the first day! Jay had such a wonderful experience at the MSEE and we can’t wait until next year. Also, while I know that he is growing and getting bigger by the day, putting these two photos next to each other makes me want to go cry in the corner! Slow down time, please slow down…

first and last day

one day…

One day I won’t trip over piles of cars and duplo that clutter our floor, one day I will be able to sit on our couch without being asked to move so Charlie can drive his “truck/boat/etc” or Jay can have a race, one day I won’t have crumbs under our kitchen table and dirty hands to wash after they help in the kitchen, one day I won’t be asked for story after story and kiss after kiss before bedtime, one day I won’t have a baby to snuggle before bed, or hear baby snores in the middle of the night, one day I will be able to hear Jamie as we sit across the table from each other at dinner and one day our house will be quiet and not quite so much of a constant zoo.

Raising small children is hard. My days are full and busy. The time I have to myself is limited and often interrupted. But this season of my life is fleeting and I pray constantly that I can fully understand that and  that I can truly appreciate all of the ordinary moments that make my life so extraordinary.

I sincerely wish that I had more time to post photos of my adorable boys because I do take them (my older self with thank me for this I am sure). But until I do, for those of you that still check in on this little blog of mine, my random posting will have to suffice.

Jay- 4 years old

Charlie Tuna

coloring

Charlie and Luc- brotherly love

the next two photos were taken by Charlie with my big camera ;)
Jay- constantly moving

big smiles from Jay

Charlie and Jay- fancy brothers

Charlie- quite the stinker!

Luc- such a big boy sitting up on his own

Luc- finally getting his hands on some real food

playing catch up

So here is the short (kind of) version of what’s been going on around here…

-My computer all but died while Jamie was away a few weeks ago. He was super busy with work when he got home and wasn’t able to work on it so it didn’t get taken to the Dr (aka the mac store) until a few days later. At that point they told us that we needed to change out some of the stuff that we had upgraded in it before sending it to the factory since they couldn’t guarantee that it would return with our upgrades (or even be worked on). In one last ditch attempt to get it working Jamie wiped EVERYTHING from it and reinstalled from scratch. So far this seems to be working; however I am not holding my breath. I am actually crossing my fingers for it to die before the beginning of next month- why? Because that is when the warranty is up and if it’s going to really die it needs to it before the 3rd. Say a little prayer for me that it is either completely fine or that it craps out soon, otherwise I am in deep trouble.

-Having no computer has been killer on a few different levels.

1. I haven’t been able to update the blog or edit any of the personal photos that I have been taking. Hopefully soon I can bombard you with a bunch of photos that I have taken throughout the last month- my two little guys are quite adorable these days so I have a few.

2. Since I haven’t been able to edit personal photos I also haven’t been able to edit work photos either. This is no good especially since I am headed out to photograph my 4th family this weekend. I am trying desperately to rectify this and get people their photos ASAP- I have so much to edit and so little time to do it… Don’t get me wrong at all- I LOVE that I have been able to work with some super sweet families of over the last few weeks and I can’t wait to get their stuff to them but man is it a pain do without a reliable computer! By the way, if you all know of any one local who is looking for a photographer- I still have a few spots open and would love to meet some more adorable families!

-Aside from computer troubles and photo editing backlogs my list of to-do list is getting longer before it gets shorter; especially since the holidays are approaching. I really want to tackle some of my holiday/gift projects soon but we have been trying to put the “finishing” touches on a few of the house projects that we have been working on- painting furniture, touching up baseboards, hanging photos that were taken down while we painted etc. It is all really coming together and I love everything that we have done but WOW has it been a lot. Hopefully I can post some “before and after” photos soon :) Along with house projects I have also been working on Halloween costumes (can’t wait for you to see my sweet little boys!) and planning a party for a sweet soon-to-be one year old! Yeow- sounds like a lot doesn’t it??

-Lastly and probably the biggest update we have is that a little over a week ago we made our first trip to the ER. I’ll back up and try to fill you in as best I can without writing a novel. The boys and I had been heading to the park frequently in the afternoons

1. because the weather had been SO beautiful and we didn’t want to be stuck inside and

2. So we didn’t end up killing each other in those few hours between when the boys get up from naps and when Daddy gets home.

We had gone every day for almost a week straight without any issue at all that is until Thursday. Jay was playing on this metal spinny thing that kind of resembles an elevated one person merry-go-round and when he went to get off he slipped and didn’t catch himself. He met the metal base of said spinny thing face first and didn’t really break his fall at all. Needless to say, the spiny thing won and Jay’s face/tooth/lip did not. When he fell he ended up pushing his big left front tooth all of the way up into his top gum and putting his teeth all of the way through his bottom lip. We walked home after the fall (my shirt sleeve was soaked with blood by the time we got home because I didn’t bring anything with me except a phone when we went to the park so I didn’t have anything to hold against it, thank goodness this didn’t really have to time to register with me) and thankfully Jamie got home before we did and met us in the backyard. We took Jay to the emergent care place (we left Charlie with my Mom who had been with us playing at the park) and they told us to head to the ER. After sitting in the ER for close to 5 hours — I am not placing blame just stating how long it took, they were really busy but very nice — we were sent home with an antibiotic to prevent infection and an “appointment” to have stitches put in the next day by a plastic surgeon and an appointment for a dental consult. Thankfully Jamie was able to come with me the next day to the appointment when the stitches were put in and all things considered Jay did an amazing job. I know that it hurt when they were putting the stitches in but Jamie and I had to laugh through it because while he was getting stitched up and crying (obviously) he kept saying “NO, Thank you!! NO thank you!!” over and over again. Guess we are doing something right :) He was super sweet and really well behaved the whole time we were at the ER and the following day when get his stitches put in, all of the nurses and Doctors that we worked with were singing his praises. He had to get 12 stitches put in his lip and got xrays taken to make sure the tooth (his top front tooth got pushed back up into his gum- you can’t see it at all right now) hadn’t caused permanent damage to his adult tooth or nerve. The good news is that they don’t think it hurt the permanent tooth and we are hoping that there is no nerve damage. At this point, we have already gotten the stitches taken out, he still has one more disolvable one that I can see on the inside and we are just waiting for the tooth to come back down on it’s own. I wasn’t ready to see the toothless grin this early in my Mommy career, I thought I had a few more years at least before that, but it just goes to show that nothing about this gig is predictable.

So I think that about covers the big things… we are busy, Jay got hurt but is fine now and my computer died but seems to be working… I will try to be a little more regular with the posts. Enjoy a few photos of my tough little guy and his lip- caution if you have a weak stomach the following might bother you… they are of his stitches and a few phone photos taken while we were in the ER and before he was stitched.

excitement over getting to watch cars 2 while waiting in the ER

the inside of his lip before his stitches

a little quiet time after a very long night and early morning

a few close up of the stitches taken the morning before he got them out

on the move

Guess who’s crawling?!?! Sure enough my tiny wee one is on the move and he is pleased as punch about it! It’s still slow going for now but man am I in trouble… both boys are mobile- crap! Oh well, we’re moving on to the next phase and going to enjoy every minute of it :)

Will try to post some video soon- the video editing department (Jamie) has been notified of the need and is doing it’s best to fulfill the request- until then here are a few photos. Maybe if you flip back and forth between the two of them you can get the gist until video can be produced.

seaworld

A few weekends ago Jamie and I took Jay to Seaworld for the day.  We had been putting off a trip to one of the theme parks for quite some time since Jay is really still on the young side (people who go with itty itty babies to parks are crazy with a capital C!!) but decided to take the plunge and get Sea World passes.  We packed a bag with a lunch the night before so we would be ready to go first thing in the morning and honestly, I am not sure who was more excited about our trip- me or Jamie, Jay had no idea what was in store for him.  We left Charlie with Mimi- it was way too hot for him to be out all day- and had Jay all to ourselves for the day!  It was very hot out and we all were melted and tired when we got home but we had so much fun.   Jay loved getting to see the dolphins in the underwater viewing area (I had to pull Jamie away so we could go see other animals), he liked the beluga whales and splashing in the sting ray tank among other things and Jamie and I enjoyed watching Jay take it all in (we liked the animals too).

I didn’t take a ton of photos since I was so busy soaking it all up but I do really like the few that I got…

enjoying the underwater dolphin viewing area-

watching the Shamu Show-

Jay kept doing hand motions along with the jumping Shamu

splashing in the stingray lagoon-

I know that this is out of focus but it is the only one that I have where you can see him actually touching the rays- he loved it!

oh and I promise that I was actually there- I just didn’t ever get in any of the photos!

flash forward

Jay is spending the day at my Mom’s Fun in the Sun Summer Camp.  I packed him a lunch and packed a few things for him in his “packpack” (backpack). When I saw him standing there this morning all ready to go I had just a glimpse of what it’s going to be like in a few years…  Not sure when he got so grown up!

being a ham for the camera…

A shot of his lunch- just because I have it :) “Happy Peanut Butter Quesdillas”, Blueberries, Cheese Stars and a mix of yogurt covered and plain raisins.

Oh, and can I just tell you how much it warmed my heart when he introduced himself to one of the teachers as “Jay Bird Puhwoh (his version of Perreault)”- love, love, love this kid!