What a Christmas!

We had the best Christmas this year! I thought last year was fun but with Sam being almost 4 he really knew everything that was going on this year. Wednesday I only worked 1/2 a day so when I picked the boys up we went home and started making Christmas cookies. Sam LOVED decorating the cookies and then he would eat one while I was not watching! Thursday (Christmas Eve) Alan & I took Sam to see the Chipmunks Sequel. Sam sat on the edge of his chair the whole time and loved every minute of it. We then went to Mom & Dad's (which is where we dropped Jake off earlier) for our Christmas Eve dinner and presents. We had so much fun! We opened presents first because Sam could not stand it any longer! He heard the hype for an entire month and was ready when we got to Noni & Pappy's. After presents we had dinner and then we had cupcakes for Jesus' birthday! By then the boys were exhausted and ready for Santa to come to our house!

Santa came bright and early (Jake was up at 6:30am) so we woke Sam up too! The boys had so much fun opening presents and then I think Jake had enough. He was so tired from all the activity from the day before! We then went to Nanny & Bop's house for lunch and then on to the Cunningham's for dinner. What a day!! The boys got so many cool presents this year from robots, race tracks, Lightening McQueen everything, cars and trucks! I think one of the cutest gifts was from JJ and Issa! They got Jake a Mator ride-on toy that he LOVES! I bet he has already walked a mile behind that thing!

Saturday we went to Meme and Grandaddy's and then Alan & I went to get him a much needed new recliner! Sunday was definitely a day of rest!

We had a great Christmas!!

I now have my favorite picture of Jake! He makes some funny faces but this has to be the cutest!

11 Months Old

I know I say this every month but seriously?! is Jake really 11 months old. I can't believe I will be getting ready for his birthday party in one month! He has really developed into what many call my "Tazmanian Devil"! He is into everything and follows Sam around everywhere. He has taken a few steps but only when he is in reach for the next object to grab onto. He laughs at Sam all the time and has the cutest laugh I have ever heard. When he really gets laughing hard it makes all of us laugh too! He has completely stopped eating baby food now that he tasted the real thing. He loves vegetables, spaghetti, mac n cheese, pancakes, and pizza! He also did great when we switched him from his formula bottle to a sippy cup with milk. He sometimes forgets to close his mouth when he swallows and it runs down his face. I am not use to a messy eater because Sam did not like food to be anywhere but his mouth. Jake loves to put his hands it in and smear it on his tray. I'm not so sure I can get use to that! His first birthday ought to be tons of fun when he gets his own cake!

Christmas is sure to be interesting at our house this year!

Ready for Christmas

Our house is definitely ready for Christmas! We had our tree up the Sunday BEFORE Thanksgiving and the reindeer in the yard right after Thanksgiving. Sam is so excited about Santa Clause coming this year! He asks me all the time to tell him exactly what Santa does on Christmas Eve. I then tell him about Santa and the sleigh and the reindeer, even though he knows all about it! He asks how Santa gets into the houses and I tell him through the chimney and down into the fireplace. He then wants to know what would happen if someone accidentally left their fire on in their fireplace and Santa burned his butt who would finish delivering the Christmas Presents! I think he is afraid that if that happened before Santa gets to our house that he may not get his presents! Every time he starts talking about that I just crack up laughing because what other 3 year old would even consider Santa burning his butt! Only my child!

Jake is going to have fun this year too even though he has no clue what is going on. He is my wild child so the wrapping paper and boxes will be the highlight of his day!

I have also been telling Sam the real reason for Christmas which he said he already knows because they've been talking about Jesus' birthday at school! He loves school and learns so much. I am thankful for a great MDO and great teachers.

We have so much going on in the next few weeks until Christmas that I just hope we can slow down enough to enjoy it all. Alan & I both have our Christmas parties for work this coming week and then I will be out of town for a few days the week before Christmas. I will be in town however for Sam's Christmas Program at school which I can not wait to see! This will be the first program that he has been in and we'll just see what happens. He's not one for attention so I'm not sure what might happen! I am lucky enough to have some vacation time left to use the week of Christmas and New Years so I will be able to spend lots of time at home with my sweet boys!

More Christmas updates to come...

Thanksgiving 2009

So this post is a little late but we had a great Thanksgiving this year! We have so much to be thankful for this year! I can't believe how fast times flies! It feels like we just celebrated Sam's first Thanksgiving and that was 4 years ago and it was Jake's turn this year! We went to my Aunt Ann's house for lunch with the family and although I'm not surprised Jake ate as much as some of the adults. He LOVED the "real" food and has now decided that's all he wants to eat...guess we're done wtih baby food!

After lunch we went to the Cunningham's and had a great time watching the boys play with Parker. Those boys just love each other so much! Here are some pictures from the day...

Fun Times at the Pumpkin Patch

Every year Noni and Pappy take us to the Pumpkin Patch Express in Calera. This year Sam said he wanted to go back to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton since he and I had already been with his class and had a lot of fun. We loaded up and headed to Clanton. The weather was perfect and Jake was really excited to be out of the house! He has not had to many adventures in his short 9 months but that's all about to change! We rode on the covered wagon hayride to the Pumpkin Patch and yet again Sam picked out the biggest pumpkin! We have lots of carving to do this weekend! Once we had our Pumpkin we went to the Petting Zoo where Sam fed ALL the animals. Sam and Jake then rode on the Tractor Train with Noni and Pappy. Jake was such a trooper the whole time we were gone. He would kick his legs and get all excited over each thing we did. He loved the hayride and the tractor train ride.

After we left the Pumpkin Patch we got home in just enough time to change the boys into their Halloween Costumes for the neighborhood fall festival. We got there just in time for the costume contest. Sam's buddy from school, Carter, won for the 0-3year group. He was the cutest little indian I have ever seen! There were tons of games for the kids to play. Sam decided he wanted to do the cake walk and when we found a number that was open we jumped in but they had not called the winning number from the previous walk. When they called the number I looked down and it was the number we were standing on so we won without having to actually walk! Sam won a 6pk of Halloween Cupcakes and had to have one right then! He loved it! We stood in line with Carter to bob for apples and once Sam saw that you had to put your face in the water he was out of the line...not for him! We dug for buried treasure instead!

We had a great weekend and another great weekend ahead. Friday is Sam's Halloween Party at school and then we are going to carve pumpkins and go trick or treating!! He is finally at the age where he understands whats going on and loves it. Jake still has no clue and will wear whatever you put him in unlike Sam the past few years!

Jake is 9 Months Old

Actually Jake was 9 months old on October 14th but we just now got around to going to his 9 month checkup! Jake is 29.5" long (90%) and 21.9lbs (75%) and his head is 18.5cm (90%). I was in complete shock that Jake's head was in the 90% range. Compared to Sam's head, Jake has a normal looking head but gosh I guess both of my boys have a good size noggin! At each visit I look to see what Jake's stats are in comparison to Sam's and I was SHOCKED to see that Jake is the exact same height as Sam at 9 months old and only 1.5lbs lighter...I'm going to need some help feeding these two in about 5 years!

Jake is such a sweet baby. He loves to cuddle and is such a good sleeper! He goes to bed at 8pm and will sleep until about 7:15am!! The past few nights we have been putting Jake in his crib while he is still awake because he is getting difficult to rock (he thinks he can stay up with Sam). He fusses for about 2 minutes and then he is OUT! He is also a great eater. We have been giving him some "real" food lately which he loves. He is already eating an entire Toddler Graduate meal at lunch each day and still wants more when his plate is empty! He loves cheerios, spaghetti o's, carrots, peas, mashed potatoes, and just about anything else you will let him eat. He does not like to hear you scraping the bottom of the jar or bowl because he knows that means he is running out of food! He is such a fast crawler and has been pulling up on the furniture for a while now. He is starting to let go which scares me because I am not really ready for him to walk yet although he thinks he's ready! He can say "Da-Da", "Bye-Bye", "Ma-Ma" (but he only says it when I am feeding him which I think he is actually saying "more-more"! He will wave to you and loves to clap his hands.

I can't believe how much he has changed lately and that in less than 3 months we will be having his one year birthday party! Time is really flying by!

October Fun

Friday was Sam's first field trip with his 3K class at Helena Methodist Church. We went to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton and had a great time! We had a hayride out to the Pumpkin Patch where Sam got to pick his own pumpkin. The picture below shows him with a small pumpkin but don't let that fool you because we came home with the biggest pumpkin! We already had 2 small pumpkins at home that I had bought for the boys and Sam decided that we needed a BIG one to go with the baby ones. After the hayride we went to the petting zoo and Sam got to feed the animals. He loved feeding the chickens, goats, and sheep. I even had to buy an extra cup of food so he could keep feeding them! We stood in line for him to ride the pony and after waiting for 20 minutes he decided that he did not want to ride the pony. I was in shock that he did not want to do it since that is all he had talked about on the ride to Clanton. When we left Clanton he wanted lunch so we decided on Moe's. He loves their quesadilla's! We had a great time on his first field trip! I love Mommy & Sammy Day's!

On Sunday he asked if we could carve a pumpkin and because it is 2 weeks until Halloween I was afraid the big pumpkin might rot if we carved it now so we decided to carve one of the smaller pumpkins. I asked Sam what he wanted the pumpkins face to look like and he said he wanted a MEAN pumpkin. He helped me get some of the seeds out but when his hand touched the inside of the pumpkin he was done! He said it was disgusting and that I could finish it for him while he watched (his OCD comes out again)! When I finished the pumpkin I gave it to the boys for a picture (I ended up cutting the pumpkin off in the picture) and then let Jake hold it. Jake had his paci in his mouth and when he looked down at the pumpkin he threw his paci and tried to eat the pumpkin!

We had a great weekend and look forward to next weekend when we go with Nana and Pappy to the Pumpkin Patch! This time we will take Daddy and Jake with us!

Picture Post

The boys had a good time visiting with Nanny & Bop yesterday...we must do this more often!

Look at me standing up like a big boy!

Jake is so proud of himself for standing at the window...he stayed there for about 15 minutes until the thunder and lightening started.

And we're standing...

In the past few days we have noticed Jake crawling to the furniture and trying to stand up. I didn't think it would happen because he is 8 months old and because he never looked to sturdy on his knees, but once again he proved me wrong! Jake is pulling up to a standing position and he is really quick too! I tried to get a video or picture of him last night pulling up on the couch and end tables but he is just too quick for me! Once he is up he just grins and then starts reaching for things that he does not need (glasses, Sam's DVD player, etc). I know I have said it before but I just can not believe how fast he is growing up. Sam was not walking until he was 14 months old but I think Jake will be walking by 10 months if he keeps this up! He will already take a step or two if you hold his fingers.

All of Jake's new "tricks" is making Sam very jealous. He is starting to act out all the time so we are really having to watch how he interacts with Jake. He loves Jake very much and most of the time wants to play or love on him but he has also shown us the jealous side where he tried to step on Jake's feet...one of these days Jake is going to let go of the couch and chase Sam down and I think I'll just sit back and see what happens!

I'll try to get pictures or a video this weekend of Jake in action!

Sam's First Alabama Football Game

Sam went to his first Alabama Football Game this weekend and loved it! We decided since it was Florida International and a night game that we would try to take Sam and see how he does. Sam was great! We did not walk around the Quad or anything because I knew it would tire him out so we went into the stadium about an hour before kick-off and Sam sat on Alan's shoulders to watch the guys warm-up. The annoucer must have had his speakers up a little louder than normal because Sam kept holding his ears everytime he came on the speaker (the speaker behind actually blew 1/2 way through the game). Sam told me later that we'd have to bring his ear plugs next time! We bought him a foam finger and he would cheer. I thought I would be up and down the stairs the whole game but actually we only went down twice, once in the first quarter for a pretzel, and once in the second quarter for some dip n dots. He was exhausted after the game but had a great time!

We had to get a picture of all of us before the game with Jake since he was dressed in his Bama gear too!

Watching the guys warmup with Daddy!

Starting to get tired during the 3rd quarter!

8 Months Old

I can't believe it but Jake is 8 months old today! He is crawling everywhere and getting into everything! He has started pulling up to his knees and sometimes feet when he holds onto the couch. I know he will be walking a lot sooner than Sam did just because he is trying his best to keep up with Sam. He is such a good baby! He can say "Dadadada", "bubbabubbabubba" (which is what Sam says Jake is going to call him - Bubba), and he says "mommamomma" but only when he eats which is more likely moremoremore than momma! He loves to eat and is a very messy eater. He does not mind having his hand in his mouth with a full bite of food. He has 3 teeth and he is not the teether that Sam was. Jake lets you know he is teething about a week before the tooth actually comes in. He will wake up in the middle of the night numerous times, he is EXTRA cranky during the day, and he drools everywhere! Jake loves to follow Sam whereever he goes, which one day will get him in trouble! He has also learned to defend himself against Sam. Sam tends to get right in Jake's face to talk to him and this weekend Jake started swinging his arms and hands and actually hit Sam in the face a time or two. Of course Sam just thought it was funny but one of these days Jake is going to ball up a fist and sock Sam for aggravating!

I just can't believe he is already 8 months old. Here are a few pictures of Jakey!

School has Started

Sam started 3K yesterday and loved it! He is going 3 days a week this year instead of just 2. He did not have any of his friends from last year in his class but that did not stop him from already making some new friends. His teacher this year is Ms. Margaret and there are 8 boys and 3 girls in the class...Ms Margaret has her hands full! I am a bit nervous at how he will do this year because they have more independence. I knew that he had to be potty-trained before school started so I assumed that the rooms had individual bathrooms in them and I was wrong. When he has to potty he has to go across the hall into the little boys room and then come back into his classroom once he's done. I guess my concern is because sometimes he still needs a little help to pull his pants back up...he has his momma's butt!

Noni's Eventful Carpool Yesterday Morning: Sam decided half way through the carpool line that he needed to potty (he would NOT go before they left the house). Noni asked him if he could hold it until he got into school and he said yes but since it was the first day of school the carpool line was extra slow so Noni took Sam and Jake inside the school for Sam to potty. Sam finally got into his classroom and had a great day! Tomorrow will be the big test...he will be dropped off at the curb with the teacher aides and must walk to his classroom by himself!

Here are a few pictures of the boys from last week. Jake thinks he can do anything his brother can do!

Jake is 7 Months Old

What a weekend! Jake was 7 months old on Friday, cut his 2nd tooth on Saturday, and started crawling on Sunday! I can't believe how much he has changed! He loves to follow Sam around and I had no doubt that he would start crawling or walking before Sam did just because he would want to keep up but wow it did not take him long to master crawling or pouncing! He will be in the middle of a crawl and just stop and then all of a sudden he pounces forward like a cat. It's hilarious! He has also started eating Puffs! I remember going through a ton of Puff cans with Sam and Jake is not showing any signs of being any different. He took his Puffs with him to Noni's today and when I set them on the counter he pitched a fit until I gave him one!

Here are some pictures of him crawling and his new tooth he proudly shows off!

Below is a video I took of Jake laughing. Sam was running around like a wild man behind me...Jake thinks he's crazy!

One More Month Until MDO Starts

We have had a great summer! It has been extremely busy but so much fun! The latest adventure we had was Alan's 30th Birthday!! We took Sam to the beach and Jake stayed home with Noni & Pappy! We had a blast and did whatever Sam wanted all weekend. I was a little surprised when he said he wanted to play golf (putt-putt) because we had never done that before and since he is 3 I did not think it would interest him that much but boy was I wrong. Sam LOVED putt-putt! We made it through 16 of the 18 holes and the only reason we did not finish is because it was already 9:30 and we had to wait at every hole...Sam does not have the best patience! Once we left all we heard about the rest of the trip was putt-putt (which of course makes Pappy very happy)! I found a place in Pelham and Trussville that have Putt-Putt so we can take him one weekend.

Sam Update

Today was the first day of school for most of Shelby County and it was obvious with the increase in traffic. Sam and I counted 13 school buses between our house and Grandmas. Sam kept asking when he gets to go back to school. He loves school and has been ready to go back since July! I can't believe it but he starts 3K in September. No more walking him into his classroom you just pullup and let him out of the car in the carpool line. This is great news for Noni since she is the one that drops him off but I can't believe he is ready for this already! Time is really flying by!

Jake Update

Jake will be 7 months old tomorrow. I can't believe how much he has changed in the last 2 months. He rolls around everywhere and will be crawling before long. He actually gets on all 4's and scoots his legs but does not move his arms so he ends up face first into the carpet! I am not sure if I am ready for him to be crawling! He loves to be outside or in his stroller so he can sit up and watch everything that is going on around him. He is such a happy baby!

Nothing else to report except that we are ready for football season!! ROLL TIDE! We will be going to Atlanta for the first game and spending the day with James and Melissa! We are always chasing the kids around when we are with them so we should have SOO much fun on our short trip without kiddos!

Jake's 6 Month Doctor Visit

We took Jake for his 6 month checkup yesterday. He is 19.7lbs and 27.5" long which is 80% for both weight and height. The doctor said he is healthy and doing exactly what he should be doing at 6 months old. He had 4 shots and did not like them at all. His face turned red and he got really mad. Once I picked him up though the tears stopped and he started laughing as we walked out of the office! He's a trooper!

When we got home I immediately went to check Sam's baby book to see what his measurements were at 6 months because I would have bet that Jake was longer. I was wrong! Sam weighed 21.8lbs and was 28.5" long and in the 90th percentile. I guess I just forgot what a big baby Sam was but then again Jake is not that far behind him. I can say that Jake does not have the head that Sam has and probably never will!

**Jake's 6 month doctor visit pic above...Sam's 6 month doctor visit pic below!

YEA for Sam!

I am so proud of Sam! He is finally potty trained! We cut it a little close on getting him officially potty trained because he could not have started 3K in September until he was able to go the potty by himself. I took a day off work on Thursday, July 2nd and told him that he was no longer wearing pullups and that he'd be wearing big boy pants.

He has been using the potty for 13 days and we are now on our 9th day without an accident!!! He only had 3 accidents since he started using the potty!

He also learned on Friday how to stand up to t-t (at first he was sitting down to t-t)! He thinks its funny that when he t-t's standing up it makes bubbles!! We did reward him with chocolate/m&m's when he goes to the potty which has been a big hit! I went last night to get an M&M out of the jar and he said "Momma did you go potty because you can't have one until you go potty"! Needless to say I put the lid back on the jar and walked away because I did not have to go potty!

Jake is 6 Months Old

I can't believe it but Jake is 6 months old today! He has changed so much in the past few months! He is learning to sit up by himself and he is starting to scoot (he goes backwards but at least he's moving)! He also rolls EVERYWHERE! Sunday he was about to roll into the kitchen and Sam ran over to him and grabbed his legs and pulled him back into the middle of the den! It was hilarious and Jake just grinned the whole time. Jake is learning to put up with his brother but I don't think it will be long until Sam gets his payback!

Jake's new trick is to blow bubbles. He is constantly making some of the funniest noises with his mouth. He also says "dadadadada".

Jake is also eating baby food at every meal and loves it! So far he is not a picky eater! This past weekend I started putting him in his highchair to eat and he gets so excited because he knows its time to eat! He is not a messy eater at all. He is a bit greedy because he eats every drop of every bite and grunts for more if you are not fast enough between bites! He is eating either 2 fruits or 1 fruit and 1 vegetable at each meal along with a 4-6oz bottle which is great because he is only eating 3 times a day now instead of 4! He does get a juice bottle late in the afternoon to keep him content until dinner!

I am taking Jake for his 6 month visit tomorrow so I will post his measurements later this week.