July 4th Weekend

Here are some pictures from our trip to Red Oak from 2 weekends ago.

Jacob and Andrew - I know Jacob has a goofy smile, but I just love this picture!

Jacob kisses Andrew

Grandma Rose and her grandsons!

Brian and Jacob rest from playing outside. Jacob is glistening!

Brian and Andrew.

Our July 4th weekend was GREAT! Friday we took Andrew to school and took Jacob to the zoo. It was so hot at the zoo, but he loved it! We decided to get season passes. We only had to buy them for Brian and me because Jacob gets in free. Brian and Jacob went back on Sunday because Jacob told Brian he wanted to go to the "goo." Here are a few pics from the zoo.

Jacob walks on the alligator.

Jacob on a stagecoach.

Then Friday night we had date night. We went to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and got to experience a few kid-free hours. Thanks to Grandmother for watching the munchkins for us!

The rest of the weekend I spent cleaning. It sounds bad, doesn't it? It was actually great! Brian took the kids out of the house so that I could work undisturbed. Now the real chore will be to keep it up! But since we only have a couple of clutter spots now instead of a lot, I think we'll do okay. Let's see how long it is before I post another blog like this.

Andrew is 3 months old today! I cannot believe it! He is such a good baby, and he has adjusted to daycare pretty well. He has stepped up his sleep to 7.5 - 8 hours a night. He loves bath time, and he is extremely chatty! I think he is starting the teething process because he is drooling everywhere, and he has these random fussy fits. The other day he literally cried and screamed for an hour and a half. Then he fell asleep, and he was fine! He loves Jacob, too! I'm so happy that both boys are so happy and like each other so much!

Finally, today is our 4 year wedding anniversary! I love the life we have built together so far and cannot wait to see what lies ahead for us. I still love and adore Brian as much as I did the first day we met!

Potty Training

I swear, the best tool for potty training is an idol. Matthew was in Red Oak when we visited last weekend. On Saturday morning, he and Jacob were sitting at the breakfast table waiting patiently for Grandma Rose and Papa to finish cooking. Matthew got up from the table, said he had to go potty, and went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. As soon as he returned, Jacob started to get down from his seat, and he announced to the room that he had to go potty. So I started to go into the bathroom to help him, and he quickly escorted me back out and closed the door behind me. He wanted to do it by himself just like Matthew! So I watched him thru the keyhole in the door. He pulled his pants down just fine, but he could not figure out the diaper. So I watched him work on it for a minute and then asked if he needed help. Of course, he said yes, so I helped him. He didn't do anything on the potty, but he was so proud of himself for sitting on it and trying! He did this about 2 more times that day, and he's been excited to sit on the potty ever since we got home. He hasn't been this interested in the potty since Andrew has been born. Let's hope he keeps it up! Go Jacob!

Farm Boys

The last 2 weekends we spent in the country. I had scheduled with my brother and parents to visit my grandfather in Kaufman on Father's Day weekend. My brother and I were going to take our families so that Grandpa could see his great-grandsons. So I'm at work on the Friday before, and Jacob's school calls. He has a red eye, and it's getting more red as the day goes on. So I'm thinking it's pink eye. It turns out that he had a cold and the drainage was coming out of his eye. So since he was contagious, he and Brian did not get to go to the farm. I was so sad! Jacob is the only one who actually cares about the farm! Andrew and I went and had a great time! My grandfather LOVED meeting him! My uncle Russell was so sweet to Andrew, too! He has Downs Syndrome, so I just try to keep an eye on him around the kids. We don't go down that often, and I just forget that he is the sweetest person! He would straighten the blanket for Andrew, and I even saw him patting his little belly. He was just so sweet!

Then last weekend we heard there was going to be some hay bailing going on in Red Oak! Jacob is all about tractors and hay right now! I don't know how long it will last, so we decided that we were going to go watch Papa bail hay! Jacob just wanted to climb in and out of Papa's tractor on Friday night. Matthew was there, too, so they took turns riding the gator. The next morning, Jacob could not wait to get outside to watch Papa bail hay! It was really cute! He kept saying that he was going to ride with Papa and help him, but he wouldn't get on the tractor when we got down to it. While Papa was bailing one pasture, Jacob got on the gator and started picking up his own hay. He played very hard! We all had a really good time.

Nanas Nonny Stoo

I mentioned in another blog that we are using the naughty stool for Jacob. He's really pretty good; he only has to sit on it every couple of days. Last night he and Brian were playing with Mr. Bananas, this stuffed monkey that Jacob has. Jacob loves this little monkey! I don't know how it started, but I sat down to feed Andrew, and Jacob and Brian were putting Mr. Bananas on the naughty stool. Brian set the timer for 2 minutes, and they sat on the stairs to wait for Mr. Bananas. Then when time was up, Jacob went to the stool, picked up the monkey and made him apologize, and then topped it off with a hug and kiss. I don't know how many times they did it before I started watching, but they did this another 4 or 5 times after I sat down. Jacob would take Mr. Bananas off of the stool, take a few steps towards the living room, and make Mr. Bananas hit his head. Then he'd tell him "Nanas nonny stoo hit kakob 2 mimits." A few times he wanted to get him off of the stool early, but Brian made him wait the full 2 minutes.

So I've been going back and forth in my mind if this is a good game to let Jacob play. One side of me says that we shouldn't do it. The other side of me says that he is practicing and understanding the concept of the naughty stool, so it's not really a big deal.

In other news, he woke up this morning talking about Andrew pooping everywhere; Daddy put on gloves; the gloves were stinky. That little incident made quite the impression on him!

Andrew Coos

I took this video of Andrew over the weekend. I have a hard time catching him with a smile when I'm taking pictures, but he performed like a champ on video!

He is doing so well at school! He loves the bounce chair and he is very curious about his new surroundings. The down side is that he is so ready to be with Mommy at night that he cries the entire way home. The first night, he just wanted to be held all evening. Yesterday he played in the floor while Jacob made me a nervous wreck while he ran around.

Jacob had wheel day at school yesterday. Mrs. Miller said he loved his little truck that we sent in. She called me yesterday to catch me up on the summer activities, and she went on and on about how wonderful Jacob is. I'm so happy he can put on such an act for his teachers at school. I'm kidding!

Jacob does not like white noise. He is scared of the vacuum, blender, food processor, and even the fan in the bathroom. While we were at Costco, we saw a giant vacuum (it looked like a zamboni or something). He was fascinated with it and did not have a break down, but in the checkout line he told me that the giant vacuum hurt his tummy and arm. I'm not sure where the arm came from, but his tummy probably hurt because he was feeling anxious. So I told Brian the story, and he decided to do a little vacuuming Sunday evening (right before Aunt Megs was coming over). So, of course, Jacob totally freaks out. Brian is so patient with him! It probably took about 20 minutes before Jacob was calm enough to touch the vacuum. Brian ended up holding Jacob's hand on the little handle to help Jacob get over his fear. Jacob did not talk about any vacuums all day Monday. But this morning he woke up talking about how Daddy got the vacuum out and it hurt Jacob's arm and tummy. This kid does not forget anything!

Pictures....finally!

So I have finally put together the pictures from the end of my maternity leave!

We had a pretty good weekend (although as I type this I realize it was pretty uneventful). Friday night I picked up Jacob from school, and I thought we'd do something fun. I told him, "Mommy and Jacob are going to go eat pizza." He said, "Daddy Jacob pizza." So I called Brian, and the 3 of us went out. We left Andrew with Grandmother. After naps on Saturday, the 4 of us headed out to see Big Gaga. Jacob was so excited to see Gaga and Oscar. Jacob got to play with Seth while we were there, too! We went to the cemetery to visit Granddaddy when we were finished. He is buried in the DFW National Cemetery, and it is just beautiful out there! I took Jacob to Costco with me on Sunday, and Andrew got to go to Target with me. Then Aunt Megs came over Sunday night. Jacob had so much fun with her!

I had borrowed my sister's label maker so that I could label all of Andrew's bottles for daycare. I recruited Megan to help me since she was there, but it didn't last long. Just as we got enough bottles labeled for his big first day, the tape started acting up. No biggie...I'll get a new tape tomorrow, I thought, and finish tomorrow evening. Then I decided to do baths for the boys. I get everyone's gear ready, sit down next to the tub, turn it on and a small trickle comes out with a lot of air. Yep...our water was out. It turns out there was a water main break around my neighborhood and they expected to have it fixed between 3 and 5 a.m. the next morning. That meant that when I woke up at 5:00 I would know if we needed to go somewhere to take showers. No biggie.

Sure enough, no water yesterday morning. So I spend 2 hours (yes...2 flippin' hours) packing bags: Jacob's daycare bag, Andrew's daycare bag, my pump bag, my lunch, and my bag to get ready at Grandmother's house. I sent an email to work (which no one received because our server was down) and fed Andrew in the middle of all of that, too. Ugh! So naturally, I cry a little before I leave the house because Andrew started school yesterday. He was so happy and playing when I left which makes it 10 times harder to leave him! The rest of the day was wonderful!

The weekend before last, Andrew had his first poop incident. In the middle of a diaper change, he pooped everywhere...and I mean everywhere! It got all over the wall, changing table, package of wipes, and even in Jacob's clothes hamper. Jacob was sitting on his bed and watched the entire fiasco. Brian came in with latex gloves to help me clean which was really nice. So now when Jacob has a dirty diaper, he says, "Jacob poop everywhere!" And on Sunday night while Megs was there, Jacob took off his socks, put them on his hands, ran to his room and shouted, "Jacob poop everywhere!" He is starting to pretend now, and it is so much fun!

Granddaddy's Memorial Service

I setup a couple of photo frames at Granddaddy's memorial service. Here is a slideshow of the pictures that I put on them. We got a cassette tape of the service and I’m working to get it digitized; I just need to find a male-male headphone cable.  I’m sure I threw a couple away when I cleaned out the office a few weeks ago.  Once it is ready I’ll post it.

 

You can watch the show with larger pictures here OR, click on the four arrows in the lower right corner once the slideshow starts to watch it in full screen.