When I was around 5 years old, my mother told me to clean my room. She returned a few minutes later to find me crying. She asked me what was wrong and I told her..."Mamma, I'm not a worker girl, I'm a Dreamer, a Thinker and a Player." For the next 25 years, this was one of our favorite inside jokes!
Spring Break 2012 Michael and I decided would be the beginning of our new family tradition of taking a family trip. Maybe we were a little too premature on this. It's a little hard to describe, but I'll be honest, we had really high highs and really, really, low lows! We decided that the boys are just a little too young or maybe we are just a little too old...either/or or a combo of both! Judge all you want, there are some things that I am really good at as a parent...but traveling is not one of them!
Our agenda was just to get out of town, see family, see some sights and eat some good food!! We succeeded in our plan and now that I sit here and recap, I am so glad that we did it (and I am also glad we didn't leave early). My favorite part of the trip was seeing my cousins, their spouses, and children! I have a cousin Sean and his wife, Britania that live in Austin and I have a cousin Emily, her husband, Jason, and their kids, Lance and Lainey that live in San Antonio. Thank you for being such great hosts to us!
One thing is for certain, we are all home bodies! The evening and into the night was the worst part of all 3 nights we stayed away. So much so that Sunday night, the second night of our stay, Jonathan cried for about 2 hours that he wanted to go home. Once we got him finally settled down and in bed...he THREW UP! I am sure that it was because he was worked up, because he was fine after that.
Health issues did play a big role in our trip as well. For instance, Jonathan was the ONLY one of the 4 of us that WASN'T on an antibiotic! I had Strep Throat for the 3rd time in a month, Ben had an ear infection and we believe Michael had Strep too (his was never confirmed, but the Dr gave him an antibiotic anyway). Ben and I started feeling bad on Tuesday and went in to the Dr. on Wednesday, so he and I were almost back to normal by the time we left Saturday morning. Michael on the other hand started feeling bad on Thursday night. So he went to the Dr on Friday afternoon, but didn't start feeling really bad until Saturday afternoon...once we arrived in Austin!
I took 600 photos of our 4 day trip. So many good ones that I HAVE TO share. They will take my negative words and squish them! In other words, by the looks of the photos, we had a blast, and we DID! I am having a hard time narrowing down my favorites! So I decided to break them up into categories. Family, Food, Sights...etc.
Austin Family:
Jonathan, Britania and Ben at Sean and Britania's beautiful new home!
Jonathan and Sean at Sean and Britania's new home - the pictures are blurry, something weird was happening with my camera.
Jonathan, Britania, Ben and Sean...as we were saying good-bye to our short, but very sweet visit!
San Antonio Family:
Jason, Lance, Jonathan and Michael.
Lainey is playing peek-a-boo with Ben, who is next to me. Emily, my cousin, is expecting her third baby in August, so both Lainey and Lance were very excited to play with baby Ben!
Love this picture! Lainey is so happy that she made Ben laugh! And she looks just like her momma!
Ben says, Well done Lainey, that was pretty funny stuff!
Back at the Mayes' house...my boys took over all the toys!
I love this picture! I think Ben had the most fun! He was trapped in some kind of contraption all trip long...ie, car seat, stroller, high chair or pack and play! This was the first time he was really free in days!
We have very happy to say that we have found a church we can call our home. We haven't joined yet, but we will in the next month or so. We have been attending this church on and off for 5 years, so I guess you could say, it's about time! It is where Jonathan goes to Day School and it is where I attend my CCM Meetings. We just really like it there and feel very comfortable. I love all the different things that I can do and all the things that are available for my boys, too!
So last Sunday we were told that Jonathan would sing in the big church service!!! We were so excited! It was a first for us! So here are some pictures and the video of the stellar performance by my awesome little performer! He will sing at least 3 more times in the next couple months in the big service, so if you want to see him "live", let me know and I send you the dates!
I realize now that I probably should have cropped this a little. I am sure you don't need to see the lady in front of me shoulder...but do you spy a cute little boy you know?
Jonathan singing! I know I'm bias, but I think he did great!
February 26th was Olga's 99th Birthday (Michael's Grandma). I am honored to say that we attended to help her celebrate! I have never celebrated someones 99th before, so as the days approached I got excited. I think that it is really cool that Jonathan and Ben get to celebrate it with their Great-Grandma! My Grandma O'Brien just turned 82 on February 18th, so it was an exciting Birthday month for both our Grandma's!!! Happy Birthday to you both! We love you!!! - I just wish I could have celebrated with my Grandma!
Olga at 99 and Ben almost 1.
Michael, Ben and Olga, telling funny stories.
Pat and Ben, reading stories.
Loves to upside down!
Or in a box...Jonathan was there, it just seems that some days one boy or another gets in front of the camera more than the other! :)
DFW Airport is one of the airports that soldiers come to when they are coming home from the War Iraq and Afghanistan. Volunteers have put together a "Welcome Home Hero's" greeting group that you can join on a daily basis. They have offered this since the war began...and it's been on my to-do list ever since! Today, FINALLY, we went and joined the families of soldiers, veterans, and other greeters in welcoming a group of soldiers home! (It was NOW or never because they will no longer do it after mid March, since there has been a troop reduction!)
What an awesome experience it was! My friend Kirsi and her two daughters, Taryn and Mazie joined us. We felt so welcomed by everyone...shocker, the welcoming committee made US feel welcomed! It was such a neat feeling of comradery as we waited to see the troops! There were about 100 of us there to greet the troops and there was about 50-75 soldiers that came HOME.
When the first soldiers turned the corner the welcoming crowd burst into cheering and applause! It was a very moving experience! It became even more emotional for me when I saw tears in the eyes of one of the soldiers. I just couldn't imagine what it was like for him.
Even though I have wanted to do this for so long, I am glad I waited until now. Things are so cool to experience through Jonathan's eyes. He and I made "Welcome Home" and "Thank You" signs prior to going and he proudly displayed. But then he quickly put them down and stuck his hand out to shake their hands...melted my heart. Jonathan told every single solider "Thank you".
I explained to Jonathan that these soldiers went away from the families for a very long time so that they could protect Jonathan and our country. He really liked that.
I think the cutest thing was when we got home, Jonathan asked me, "When are the soldiers coming over?" After a few clarification questions back and forth, I still didn't understand, and then he said, "Well, we made a sign that says, Welcome Home, so when are they coming to our home?" :)
Jonathan and Taryn, with Taryn's very pretty sign!
Ben, Jonathan and Mazie. And the matching strollers!! Ben is almost 9.5 months and Mazie is 6.5 months!
We got there really early, so we had some time to kill and energy to burn!
I didn't know this, but you can buy Girl Scout cookies for the soldiers. There were probably 3 or 4 different Girl Scout Troops there handing out cookies to the soldiers! Very neat!
All the gentlemen in the caps are the extremely helpful veterans. We assume that most of these men do this everyday. Kirsi and I were towards the very end of the line to greet and a couple of these men brought us all the way to the front to be with the veterans and the family's. We felt very special being up there! These men reminded me of my Grandpa, who is also a veteran and I know he would be the same way!
Our little spot behind the veterans!
The crowd!
This is when Jonathan put down his sign and flag and stuck his hand out.
Oh how I wish these photo's weren't blurry. But I love, Love, LOVE this photo! This guy was so nice. He said something like, "Hey there buddy, your going to make a great solider one day!" Jonathan got so excited!
Thank you to all of the United States Service Men and Women!
He has grown so much and so many developmental things…I think the easiest way to do this is bullet point them:
The Stats:
·He is 38 weeks / 8 months and 3 weeks old
·He weighs around 22lbs
·He was 25” tall at his last appointment, 2 months ago, so I am sure he is taller now.
Sweet doll baby at his 7 month check up.
Movement:
·At 6 months he was sitting on his own.
·At 6.5 months he was rolling everywhere and surprisingly getting from one end of the room to the other pretty fast!
·At 7 months he was really, really trying to crawl. It was comical. He would pop his knees under him and like a cartoon character or something he would run his feet really, really fast, but he wasn’t able to go anywhere. It was very frustrating for him. It was like he could get the back going, but not the front!
·By 7.5 months he finally got all the parts working the way he wanted and he finally crawled! Yeah!
·Now, at 8.5 months he is speed crawling…I mean seriously, this kid can MOVE.
·Almost the same day he crawled was pulling up and standing while holding onto something.
·He thinks he can stand, take his hands off whatever he is holding onto and DANCE. But, sadly, it never works out for him. He falls on his bum bum, quite hard. But the good news, HE LIKES TO DANCE! Just like his momma and his brother! Good times ahead for sure!
·He has rhythm! Anytime he hears any beat of any kind, he will stop and look for the source and sit up and roll his belly. It is the funniest thing! Jonathan did the same moves when he was this age too! I LOVE IT!
·He is waving hello and good-bye, but only when he wants to.
This video was back in November on the day that he first started dancing.
Loves to Laugh
Personality:
·I wrote in our Christmas card that he is “laid back”, but I don’t think that is how I would describe him now. I think that if I had to choose one word to describe him, it would be “EASY”. Yes, he is an easy kid. He is easy to be around, easy for me to get him around, he is easy to feed, easy to play with, easy to get to sleep, easy to smile, easy to laugh…I could go on and on! – Now there are times it isn’t so easy, but that is usually when he isn’t feeling well or he is hungry…or wants out of his high chair!
·He thinks EVERYTHING that Jonathan does is hysterical! I mean it. He will start belly laughing, and Jonathan and I are looking around, like what happen? What’s funny? Like just the other day we were outside and Jonathan drove up on his tricycle and said in his best robot voice “HI BEN” and he dinged the bell on his tricycle. And Ben just burst out laughing! His laugh is so fun that you can’t help but laugh with him.
·I don’t think that Ben will ever realize how special he is to the 3 of us. When he laughs, whatever the 3 of are doing or where ever we are in the house, we all stop and come and watch him laugh.
·Just tonight, Ben crawled up to me with something in his hands. He raised it over his head, never taking his eyes off me, and then throws it to the ground. Then he laughs and laughs.
·He is very quiet when we are in public or anywhere away from home. I don’t think it is a shy thing, I think he just needs time to get used to things and people. Like in the car, he is typically very quiet. I have pulled over to check on him at least a half a dozen times just because he is so quiet. At the grocery store the other day, he didn’t make single peep the whole time. He was cranked around to see where we were going. And from what I could tell he only smiled at one lady and it was funny, because we had seen her on almost every aisle and every time we saw her she would smile and say hi to him. Finally on the 5th or 6th time we saw her, he gave her the biggest smile. I think it made her day!
Movie watching time with brother!
Eating:
·HE IS A GOOD EATER! Yeah! There really isn’t anything he doesn’t like that we have given him so far. He has eaten all the different types of veggies and fruits. Now we are on to trying mashed meats and veggies…yum.
·Oh, but there was one random time that I had given him mango’s for dinner and I also put him in hand-me-down PJ’s from Jonathan…well one of the 2 things or both made his entire trunk (middle section) break out in a rash. It took a couple days to heal. I am not sure which did it, so we took away the PJ’s and no more mango's for him!
·I would say his two favorite foods are the baby oatmeal and baby yogurt! He will yell at me if I am not getting it to his mouth fast enough.
·He does have a personal time limit on how long he will sit in his high chair and the alarm he sets off when he has had it can get rather annoying. J
·He likes feeding himself some finger foods, but we have to be careful. We had a choking incident on Christmas Eve and thank GOD Aunt Amy knew the infant Heimlich maneuver! I was scared out of my mind! Thankfully all is well with little buddy! We just are going a bit slower with how many fingers foods he gets now.
Messy Eater, but I'm not complaining!
Teeth:
·He cut his 2 front bottom teeth on his 5 month birthday. Both at the same time! Ouch! He handled it pretty well! He was only fussy for a day or so.
·He cut his 2 front top teeth the week that he turned 8 months (the week after Christmas). And yes, both at the same time again. These 2 were more painful than the first.
·He is now, at 8.5 months, cutting his top 2 side teeth; sorry their actual names escape me now. But I find it so interesting that they keep coming in pairs, all of Jonathan’s came in separately.
Brotherly love! Words cannot describe how much they love each other.
General Health:
·Poor Benny Bear has now finishing the 6th round of antibiotics for ear infections. He had his first ear infection when he was about 3 months and he has had one a month ever since and he has had 2 this month alone!
·He has been a pretty awesome sleeper for the most part since he was born, but with all these infections and teeth, it really effects his sleeping. I really hope that we have healthier and more restful days in our future.
·We have an appointment later this month to discuss tubs for his ears. I will keep you updated.
Sleeping Beauty!
I love how his lips curl up!
Things Ben loves:
·His favorite person in the whole world is his big brother! I mean it is the coolest thing as the mom of these 2 boys to watch them together! They love each other equally and I know their bond will only grow as they get older! Crossing my fingers it stays this way!
·He loves his Daddy! Back when he was 5.5 months, I was up early in the morning with Ben. I had just changed his diaper, strapped him to his changing table and left the room to wash my hands. While I was in the bathroom I distinctly heard Ben say, “Hi Ya, DaDa”! I stopped and ran back in there, and to my surprise, because I didn’t hear him go in there, Michael was standing right there! So I asked him, “Did he just say what I think he said?” And with a big smile, Michael said, “did you hear, hi ya, DaDa?” – Wow! And he has said it at least a dozen more times and only when Michael is around. Crazy! He hasn’t said any other words just yet.
·I am pretty certain that my boy loves me. J We cuddle and snuggle. We have our own little language. He has recently started crying when I leave the room. Or when I have been gone running errands and Michael stays home with the boys and the second I walk in he starts crying…I think that means he loves me!
·He loves it when I sing, especially “When you’re happy and you know it!” He is so funny and starts dancing!
Jonathan teaching Ben how to talk on speaker phone with daddy!
As time keeps moving on by, my two boys are growing, growing, growing...almost literally at lightening speed (or at least that's how it feels).
I've had at least a dozen blog post topics swirling in my head for a month or two, but I have yet to make it to the computer.
I don't keep a journal on these little guys, although I wish I would/could. You see I love everything about journals, especially the really pretty leather bound ones and recording memories...but just check my book shelf, I will write in them for the first few pages, but the rest of the book is, sadly, blank...When we went through mom and dad's home I found journal after journal of mom's. I would get so excited to read something she wrote, almost like having a brand new conversation with her. But just like her daughter, the first few pages are beautifully written, but the rest is blank. It made me giggle, so at least I know where my love and short attention span on writing comes from! I am excited and surprised that I have kept up with this site as long as I have and intend to just print this and let it be the journal to the boys!
So I will attempt to update this site with all the happenings from the past few months, there are so many to share!! But first I will start with updates on each of my boys...starting with Jonathan!!!
I just love this little boy! He has got his Buzz Umbrella, his train engineer hat and his Great Grandpa Pickett's boots on (the wrong feet, of course!)! A few of his favorite "around the house" apparel!
Jonathan started the 3 year old Pre-School class in September and without sounding too dramatic, it has been the most important 3 months of his life. I was warned about a few things heading into this year from other mothers. 1) they really push the kids to be more independent. 2) no nap time during class. 3) the kids are really 'into each other', as in, they talk about boyfriend/girlfriend or marriage...etc. 4) they really push that the kids be potty trained by Christmas (which we weren't even close in Sept).
In response to the first 3, I simply said, he is ONLY 3, he is too young for all of that.
So the first month or so was extremely difficult, well for all 4 of us. The no napping thing was really hard. Jonathan had already started naturally weening himself from napping over the summer, but would still nap 3 or 4 days out of the week. Now that he was in school 3 days of the week, it seemed pointless to try to get him to nap on the other days. It was taking more time and energy just to get him in bed and he wouldn't even sleep. So I finally threw in the towel! No more naps! :(
It didn't help that at the same time Ben started randomly refusing naps too...needless to say that was a rough period of time. LONG days with no breaks what-so-ever, and with two cranky boys in the early evening...I lived for their bed time. Ben still didn't sleep through the night either, but at least I had some down time for an hour or so around 8:00.
Passed out! For the FIRST TIME EVER! I am serious. It kinda scared me. I thought something was wrong with him. His back was to me and was nursing Ben, then I put Ben down in his room, came back in the den and was talking away to Jonathan and he wasn't responding...so I went around and saw that he was sleeping! I could not believe it! So of course, I had to take a picture! He has done this a handful of times since. Every time he wakes up, I'll ask him how his nap was and he'll be like "I DIDN'T NAP!!!"
The "making the kids more independent" part was more difficult for me than it was for Jonathan. It's not how it sounds though, it just seemed a little much in the beginning for me. The teachers explained that they were simultaneously getting the kids AND the parents ready for kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, I was all for him being more independent! Especially now with Ben, it is harder for me to juggle the little things that Jonathan needed help with and now in 3 short months he is so self sufficient, and everyday he is doing more on his own.
I was used to getting 'daily report cards', telling me how he acted, what he ate, how many times he went to the bathroom...etc. But no report cards anymore. Or, I would be able to have a quick chat with the teachers about the day, nope didn't have that either. Jonathan didn't really help either. I would beg him to tell me about his day and he would simply say, "I p-wayed" (played). I was not used to being so in the dark about the him. Thankfully as time progressed, that got easier for me to deal with and Jonathan got better about giving me some sort of info about his day! I have to hand it to his teachers, they do know what they are doing. It was a rough transition, but Jonathan and I have both grown because of it!
On that note, I have some really big news...Jonathan is Potty Trained! Dec 4th was the magical day, it was like a switch went off in his head and he wanted diapers NO MORE! For the last year or so I have asked him every day if he wants to go potty in the toilet or wear underwear. But the answer was always, "I'm not ready, not just yet". So you can imagine our surprise and delight when I asked my standard morning questions and his answer was, "yes, I'll wear underwear and go in the potty". Just a few accidents, but we haven't turned back!! I'm so proud of my big boy! Thank you to all the mom's who told me to just sit tight and be patient, you were right.
((I don't have a picture of him on the potty, and if I did, I wouldn't put it on here. Your welcome Jonathan.)) :)
Another discovery this semester, my sweet little boy is a "ladies man". He has had about 5 "girlfriends" in 3 short months. His main squeeze is Lily. We have known Lily for a couple years now, she is the daughter of my friend, Becky. Lily and Jonathan were in the Toddler class together a couple years ago, but not last year in the 2's class, she was in the 3 day a week class and he was in the 2 day class. So they were reunited this year and have been attached, for the most part, ever since.
So everyday when I picked him up from school I would hear, "I p-wayed...with Wiwy". I would ask, did you play with anyone else, and he would say, "No just my Wiwy". That is all I would get and then finally, one day, the teacher stopped me to tell me some pretty cute stories...
Apparently he has some "moves" that we have no idea where he got them from! On the play ground he and Lily walk around, he has his arm around her shoulders, and he will stop to pick a flower (weed) and give it to her. She will smile sheepishly. They hold hands when they are in class.
The best story yet is one week Lily was out sick all 3 days, this is when all the other girls made their move on Jonathan. One little girl told her mom that she was going to marry Jonathan!! I heard various other stories of his new little girlfriends that week, it was hilarious! I asked him, "what about Lily?" and he replied quite simply, "um, she's sick".
But the best part of the story is when Lily came back...according to both teachers, who ran to tell me when I came to pick him up that day. They told me it was one of the sweetest things they had seen!! They said Jonathan went running up to Lily when she arrived and he could see she was trying to remove her jacket, so moved behind her and assisted her in taking her jacket off! In one arm he draped her jacket and in the other, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He escorted her to her locker, hung up her jacket, then turned and gave her a BIG hug! She replied, "OH, thank you Jonathan!" - Oh Goodness Me!! Who is this kid and were did he learn that? Ha! Of course I'm kidding! He learned it from his daddy!! I just think its the sweetest though. But I think some of it has to be natural and I hope it stays and he treats all the women in his life with that gentle respect! He is my sweetie!
Jonathan and his main squeeze Lily...she's trying to steal a kiss and he's playing it cool.
It is amusing to me that this time last year I was really concerned about his language development. He had probably 300-400 words. Which wasn't bad, but compared to the boys in his class, he was a few hundred behind...but this year is a different story! He has about 30,000-40,000 words and uses ALL of them, multiple times a day!!! His favorite word by far, as is for most 3 year old I'm sure, is "WHY?" that word alone I will hear about a bazillion times in one day! We love his inquisitiveness, but come on!! What gets me is when he will ask something...
J: "can you put my water on the counter?"
Me: "sure buddy"
J: "why?"
Me: "why what?"
J: "why did you put my water there?"
Me: "you asked me to...???"
J: "why?"
Me, exploding: WHY WHAT???
All kidding aside, I actually LOVE having conversations with him! I love the way he thinks, his imagination, and his tender hearted nature. He can be very expressive with his hands and that alone just cracks me up! He talks with his hands right by his face! Which I've really never seen anyone do before, so it just makes it funnier!
He has quite an imagination! The day Ben came home from the hospital Jonathan declared that "Monster" is with us. To be clear, his name is Monster and he is a monster. But he is a nice monster. He is brown with orange spots and he has a long tail. At first Michael and I were a little concerned that monster was in some way in relation to Ben, but as time moved on, we realized he is good. Then over the past few months another friend came to be with us, Mouse. Again, his name is Mouse and he is a mouse. And mouse is just plain silly. We have encouraged him to name them something else, but J doesn't quite grasp that yet. He looks at us like we're crazy!! Ha!
Other fun things that Jonathan says:
"ma-ne a-morrow" = maybe tomorrow. That is his answer for things he doesn't want to do right then.
"let's p-way on the compu-per" - that one is obvious! And he already knows his way around my iPhone & iPad! My Dad would have love to see him in action!
"I haven't done that in a couple hours" = means he hasn't done it in a while and wants to, I just think its cute that he says "a couple"
"$22 dollars!" = not sure where this amount came from, but that's the usual amount that he will bring up when we talk about spending money. He spins it either way, "what??? You spent $22??" or "come on momma, it's only $22!!"
"I need to tell you somfin" or "I need to ask you somfin" = I need to tell you something or I need to ask you something...It usually includes pulling you close and whispering in your ear! It is just one of those things that just melts Michael's and my heart!
"ruby" = movie
"I miss you" = I love you
"I stand you or I can't stand you" = I UNDERstand you or I can't UNDERstand you! That one didn't go over well the first time he said it! Ha!
"We need to say our pray" = We need to say our prayer! He is in charge of this at dinner time. He is usually at the table waiting on us as we are still gathering drinks, silverware, etc and he waits, rather impatiently..."WE NEED TO SAY OUR PRAY!!!" Makes me smile every time!
"I don't need pants and I don't need money!!!!" - Which included him taking off his pants and throwing them on the floor! Okay only happened once, but Michael and I laughed all evening and bring it up as often as we can!
On the Compu-per at the library.
At his favorite part of the museum (Fort Science and History) with his favorite person, daddy! It's a wind tunnel that you put paper cups or airplanes up and watch them fly!
He is a BIG helper! Almost can't do anything without his "help"! :) We are making fresh Lemonade.
Watching the washing machine, he curious about everything! Also, he had to "help" load the clothes!
We arrived at Pat's mid afternoon, along with Anna Marie and Brian and of course Olga was there too. We jumped right in to opening gifts! We had a great time! Anna Marie, just like my sister Amy, is super crafty and talented, I am so glad we are the ones that benefit from their great talent!! :) After the gift opening we had a yummy dinner and dessert.
Getting started and J cannot wait to jump into it!
It's light bulbs!!!! Not really, but he was so excited about getting light bulbs!
Anna Marie made Jonathan a traveling car kit. To the left is their pouches and to the right is the street they drive on, then it folds up for easy transport! He loves it!
Big Hugs!
Another really cool thing that Auntie Rie made the boys is a "Quiet Book". Both Jonathan and Ben have different activities in their books. This is 2 pages out of Jonathan's book. She crocheted those flowers...a lot of time and effort went into these! Thank you so much!
Anna Marie also made a shirt blanket, one for Pat and one for Michael. They are pieces of Theron's plaid shirts quilted together. Very cool. Now Michael and I can both cuddle up with our Shirt blankets that our sisters made!!
Once Daddy's old Matchbox cars came out, we lost Jonathan's attention for the rest of the night.
