Here’s a few more from Canada… After our zoo trip we headed out to my Auntie Trish’s house for supper. Everyone met out there, even those who didn’t go to the zoo, and we all had dinner and played bingo. It was a great night and really fun to just relax with everyone. At some point after (maybe before- I can’t remember) my Uncle Keith pulled out some remote controlled cars that my cousins had when they were little. Jay was in hog heaven watching them and playing with them!
I know that it’s probably a little late to still be posting photographs from our Cananda trip. Especially since we have been home now for over two months; but I still have a few that I really want to share so hang in there- ok?
One of my favorite things that we did while in Calgary was go to the zoo. It’s a wonderful zoo with all kinds of animals and Jay LOVED it! It has fun kid parks, really amazing animals and Jay got to take his first ever carousel ride (which he loved). Jamie and I really enjoyed it as well, it honestly makes me jealous of Jacksonville and their zoo… By the way my personal favorite animal was the giraffe. I seriously could have stood there all day long and been pleased as punch, it might have been the playful baby that was bouncing around their area chasing birds or just that they are so majestic looking- I am not really sure but I was like a kid in a candy store and even requested we stop one more time before leaving the zoo just to see them again.
Six years ago today I was introduced to my husband. We were set up by a dear friend/colleague of mine and my now father-in-law. When Lisa asked me if I would be interested in meeting Jamie my statement was- “Sure, what have I got to lose.” What I didn’t know was just how much I had to gain…
Tonight Maggie and Josh came over and joined us in our pumpkin carving adventure- we didn’t carve pumpkins last year so it was Jay’s first time. He was excited and kept saying “carve pumpkin” over and over again :) Jay helped me to clean out all of the seeds before he headed to bed and Jamie designed and did the carving (it was getting late and I don’t think Jay would have sat for much of the carving). It was fun and such a great end to our weekend.
See that face? The one that melts my heart and pushes every button that I have all at once? Well he turned 21 months old today- I know, it’s crazy isn’t it? He is the main reason that I have been such a horrible blogger lately, that and the little one growing in my tummy, the two of them plum wear me out these days!! We have been busy lately, yes it’s true, we’v been traveling, celebrating with family, preparing to add to our family, I’ve been working (I had 5 shoots this month- yay for the work but boo for the extra work) and trying to get client images up but nothing has kept me as busy as my boys.
So give me a minute and I will fill you in a bit…
Jay Bird is non-stop these days… I saw a sign the other day on pintrest that said “a Mother of boys works from Son up until Son down”; it’s true I tell you- so true…
*He runs everywhere- literally runs, as fast as his little legs will take him, all the while saying “race”, “fast” and sometimes “super fast”…
*He repeats virtually everything that comes out of our mouths- this is funny and not funny all at the same time. He also talks non-stop- about everything and nothing all at once.
*He has opinions, strong opinions, about the most random and unexpected things. A few days ago he had a complete and utter meltdown because I tried to put the truck bib on him for breakfast and NOT the fish bib like he wanted.
*He will eat everything on his highchair tray like he is starving and hasn’t been fed in days but only if it’s his idea and if it happens to be placed there in the correct order (did I mention that the order changes daily?); however, if it isn’t in the correct order it’s full on meltdown time. Some of his favorites right now include peanut butter (which he basically licks straight off of the bread and calls “butter”), waffles (he can eat 3/4 of a Belgian waffle or two eggos on his own), yogurt and black olives.
*He is funny and he knows it… he will ham it up for people if he knows that he is being watched and he will laugh this awesome laugh at things he thinks are funny. He also loves to watch himself in videos and smiles at himself the whole way through.
*He loves to dance and will start shimmying whenever he hears music. He does have some serious white-boy moves but I love them!
*He loves to be read to and has an attention span for stories that is astonishing to both Jamie and me. He will sit through lengthy story after story every night before bed and frequently throughout the day parroting his favorite parts and pointing out things he loves to see on the pages. He also makes requests for certain favorite books and will search the house until it is found.
*He knows most of his colors… with the exception of a few he can name colors when asked with very little need for correction.
*He loves to play, mostly with duplo and cars. I am pretty sure that the first word out of his mouth when he gets up in the morning is cars and aside from the kisses and request for juice at bed time it is the last word that he utters. He knows all the names of this cars (some are die casts from the Disney movie Cars and have actual names) others are the names that he has given them but either way we play with them ALL DAY LONG! They zoom around my feet while I make dinner, they “crash” and flip off of the coffee table and they race man do they race. We talk about cars non-stop when we are in the car- he can spot a “jeepie” (a jeep) from a mile away. By the way a jeepie has to be a wrangler and a rag top is preferred.
So basically, I am exhausted most days when Jamie gets home because I spend every moment chasing this little one and as you can see he keeps me pretty darn busy. However, he is precious beyond words. He gives the best big hugs around, will freely give out kisses and tells me “love you”. It is melt your heart worthy, I promise. So even though I am tired and my days are not my own, I know that it won’t be long before I have another one to split my time with so I am trying to cherish every moment that I have with him and ignore all of the things that can wait.
Everything else is pretty good, we don’t have many things to complain about and the things we do have just don’t seem worth it. Hope you all can say the same :)
Here’s a few other photos to help fill you in on our happenings…
Last weekend, Jamie, Jay and I went to a stable that was hosting a fall festival. They had all kinds of entertainment including pumpkin painting, face painting, music, pumpkins to take photos with and pony rides. Jay rode a pony, enjoyed watching the people and children that were around and carted pumpkins around most of the time that we were there. We didn’t actually pick our pumpkins here (they didn’t have many big ones) but we all enjoyed ourselves.
The big event for our trip was the 85th birthday party celebrating my Grandma. It was such a wonderful event that celebrated an equally wonderful lady; we ate, caught up with family I haven’t seen for a while , watched a video that had wedding footage from when my grandparents got married, looked through old photos and just enjoyed the afternoon. It was such a nice afternoon and I am so thankful for my Aunts and Uncle who worked so hard to make it happen, they are great!
These are a couple from my Auntie Deb’s camera, I rarely get photos with me in them…
The day after my Mom, brother and sister-in-law flew in everyone headed to the mountains (well not really the mountains but the foothills rather) for a picnic and wiener roast. It was a beautiful day outside- perfect for jeans and t-shirts :-) We were able to grab a great spot next to the river with a beautiful view. Jay loved tossing rocks into the river, something he doesn’t have much of a chance to do in Florida, so we spent lots of time down by the river. We were also able to take a short hike, roast marshmallows and we stopped for ice cream on the way home. This has always been one of my favorite things to do whenever we visit, I just wish that we were closer and could do it more often…
I usually stray away from spliting up posts into multiple days, it’s not my style or preference; however, we have quite a few photos from our trip to Canada so bear with me for the next few days while I update you on our travels…
At the beginning of this month Jamie, Jay and I made the 8+ hour trek to visit my family in Canada and to celebrate my Grandma’s 85th birthday. I can’t lie and say that the long flight, early departure time and 19 month old didn’t make me completely and utterly nervous- it did, BUT I think I handled it as best as I could (or as best as Jamie could have hoped for). I prepared like crazy, brought a ton of entertainment for Jay- new toys, new books, pipe cleaners, bags of blocks, bags of cars, new and special snacks, an iPad stocked with childrens’ movies, and we left with a hope and lots of prayers. He did surprisingly well for his age; this is not to say that we didn’t get a few dirty looks from fellow travelers and have a few difficulties but we made it and really enjoyed our trip.
Most of the trip was spent hanging out with my extended family, we didn’t plan any elaborate trips to the mountains or want to see anything in particular while we were there and that is exactly what happened. It was perfect and just what we hoped for.
I don’t have any photos from when we were actually on the plane that weren’t taken on my phone (I had no desire to haul our mega camera down from the overhead bin to capture any of it). So enjoy the phone photos and then a few from our first couple days hanging out at my Grandma’s house.
Our first flight left so early that we just grabbed Jay out of the crib, changed his diaper and took him to the airport in his jammies. He was wide awake from the moment that we got him up until his short nap on the plane. He loved looking at the airplanes and even more so the trucks from the terminal.
iPhone photo from the first two flights- watching a movie on the iPad.
Jay loved playing with an old Barn that my Grandma had, he used it like a parking garage for all of his cars. He also loved the wind-up toys that she had. Especially the zebra that he called a Z-B :)
While my Auntie Deb was grilling we played outside on the back porch (where I had spent tons of time during the summer as a kid) with some bubbles. It was so much fun to see Jay run and play in the yard.
the return plane trip via iPhone…
one last photo of Jay sleeping on Jamie in the airport- taken with the big camera
To say that we have been busy lately would be an understatement and I know that it’s only going to get worse. We haven’t necessarily been running around like crazy going here or going there but the list of to do’s and responsibilities that have added up lately and the amount of time that we have to complete them in just doesn’t match up…
My coping method you ask?? Ignoring the list and relishing in a little bit of this from time to time…
Afternoon snuggles and stories with Daddy…
A little boy that can ask for certain books by name- Go Dog Go is one of the favorites right now :)
Random duplo pieces everywhere you look. Yes, they hurt like heck if you step on them but the joy that comes from playing with them makes up for it. Besides, he calls them his “poopy cars” (ie people cars) and if that doesn’t at least make you smile I don’t know what will…
The opportunity to spend some time as a family, just the three of us and take random self portraits that aren’t great are cherished all the same. I told him to squish in for this next photo and he poked his head in between ours and just kept saying “squish, squish!” over and over again…
Animals that are still wearing blue sweaters but that are healing, puppies that only wish they were small enough to join us on the bed and little boys (and Daddies) that love them both…
It’s been a long last few weeks with Daddies away at conferences, sick kitties to take care of and now sick little boys to mend as well; but with a few naps, a few early bedtimes, and a whole bunch of to-do’s ignored we are managing… Heck we’re thriving and making memories in the meantime :)
Jay is 20 months old today and time is flying by… Honestly what I am truly grateful for lately is that we have taken the time to slow down, to enjoy each other’s company and to live more in the moment. Yes, the floors are dirty and there is fur pretty much everywhere you look around the house (editor’s note: The fur’s omnipresence is a matter of opinion), the laundry isn’t near being done and regardless of what room you are in you can find something that hasn’t been put away- dishes, a toy, a car, a suitcase from the trip. No, this isn’t the type of house that I was raised in but it’s the house that I have come to love because while I used to wait around for everything to be perfect I realized that I have everything I need and then some, and what could be more perfect than that?
Happy Tuesday to all of you, may it be so perfectly unperfect…
I haven’t mentioned much about my growing bump in a while so I figured that I should give a little update…
Last Saturday we hit the 30 week mark; which means that I have about 10 weeks left until we get to meet this little guy. Yes, you read correctly we have almost hit the single digits- which is SO hard to believe in my opinion. I know that I have said this before but this pregnancy is really flying by! I had a doctors appointment yesterday and our doctor said that everything is looking great- that his heartbeat was strong and that he was about 3 pounds. At this point, I will see the doctor every two weeks which will continue through the beginning of October when I start going every week.
As for how I am feeling, I can’t really complain at all. I am pretty blessed with great pregnancies (knock on wood) so other than the usual third tri-mester stuff things are great! I have been taking naps every once in awhile in the afternoon while Jay sleeps; because I have been more tired than usual. I am also be a little short of breath while holding Jay (when I do, I have both boys squishing my lungs/diaphragm which isn’t really fun). This cuts into our dancing time which is a shame but we have been dancing on our own too (I have a cute video of Jay that I need to share soon). My sciatic nerve bothers me from time to time and I have a few contractions here and there but mostly I get an ache or a pain when I try to do something I shouldn’t (move or pick up something heavy) or when I move to fast. Honestly, even with the watermelon sized belly I forget occasionally that I am pregnant…
I am pretty much in full on nesting mode at this point; however, this doesn’t differ a whole lot from my normal personality so… I am not sure that it should really be called nesting. Most of our “baby preparations” are going into Jay’s big boy room since we are keeping the nursery the same for this little guy and plan on moving Jay to a new room. Once I get everything settled in there for him I plan on washing and pulling out all of our tiny little clothes, I am sure that they will all look huge compared to the stuff I put on Jay, and getting that settled in the nursery. My project list is long (what else is new) but there are only a few things that I really, really want to finish before he gets here- like his baby blanket. I will keep you posted on how that goes :)
I guess that is about it for now. I will try to be better about the updates and I promise to be really good about photo updates when he actually arrives. I CAN’T wait to get some photos of him and some photos of him and Jay, they are going to be such sweet brothers!!
And because every post is better with a picture- here is one of the three of us from our Canada trip (yes, I am still working on those photos- I have just been a little busy lately). I know that we aren’t in focus (don’t blame the stand in photographer my camera is not easy to use- especially when you are trying to get a toddler to look) but it is the best photo that I have of the growing bump and the scenery around us is great, don’t you think?
the perreault family 