Understanding

Bo is starting to realize there there is more to communication than just the literal. It's wild to see him understanding the non-verbal/emotional elements of conversation. Here's a taste:

Bo: Hey, where's daddy?
Me: Oh, Dad's at work. I wish he was here. I miss daddy. I wish that we could see him. [making a pouty face for emphasis]

Bo suddenly got this very concerned look on his face and I could tell he was really thinking.

Bo: I know mommy, why don't you call to him?
Me: We can't call him Bo because he's working.
Bo: But if you call to him you will not be sad.

I love that kid!

Why do I do it?

Most days I eat lunch after I put the kids down for their naps. It's just nice to be able to not get up the entire time I eat unless I need to or want to! So, today, for some crazy reason, I decided to eat on the couch and see what was on TV for a few minutes. The only thing I could possibly find that was remotely interesting was "My Super Sweet Sixteen," but that quickly became too overwhelming to watch...really a Mercedes for a sixteen year old? Anyone else think that is CRAZY?
My other option was "A Baby Story." I always cry [eating and crying not recommended], and I can NOT watch the labor. All it takes is one contraction, and I just can't go there! Don't get me wrong, labor is the most amazing life experience ever, but I'm just not sure I want to relive it while I eat my lunch. AND I know those people signed all kinds of permission slips, but I just feel a little like I'm jumping in to some huge secret family moment that should be reserved only for them. It feels a little stalkerish; that's a pretty intimate moment to be a part of!
So the TV is now off. I'm suffering through the heartburn that comes with my spicy BBQ chicken sandwhich. So worth it! But now that I am no longer wondering if I'm missing some fabulous afternoon programming, I'm going to be productive.

Budding Photographer

Bo has a new passion: photography. He loves to push the button on the camera and see the picture he took all by himself.

This was his first attempt. My pride really took a hit putting this one on the blog. What kind of face am I making? I think I was trying to talk him through the process and smile at the same time. I don't really think the look is working for me!

His abilities are definitely improving. He got this one of Ella the other day. She was showing us her chin, and Bo thought that a worthy moment to document. Note: I did play a large role in keeping the camera steady for this one!

Daddy helped set this one up, but here's another pride busting shot. I am, well, I'm 26 weeks prego [6 months] in this shot and with baby number three, my belly seems pretty comfortable just hanging out there, way out there! Some of you have been asking for pictures, so hopefully this will suffice for a while. I'll try to get at least one more belly shot before I deliver!

Feeling the love?

The other night as the kids went from playtime to bathtime with dad, Bo decided it was necessary for everyone to hold hands. Despite many attemps to form a "line," it was decided that a circle was the more exciting way to make the journey.

It took about ten minutes to make it the 30 feet or so to the bathroom, but fun was had by all!

Notice Ella's slippers in the picture? My mom got those for her while she was in town, and Ella is now obsessed. Today, I forgot to take them off when I put her down for her nap. Not a big deal until she accidentally kicked one off and started screaming! I walked in the room and she was crying, "shoe, shoe" and pointing at the pink slipper on the floor. Who knew a slipper could cause so much commotion?!

Kids and Tools

I've had these pictures forever and I keep meaning to take a picture of Jason and Bo together. Since it's been almost two weeks and I keep forgetting, I figured I go ahead and put the ones of just Bo on the blog!

We found out from a friend that Home Depot does a come and go workshop on the first Saturday of each month for kids and their parents. Jason decided to have a special morning out with Bo a few weeks ago, and they went to build something together. They give every child an apron to personalize and a pin for each craft completed. Jason said they also have a little child sized set of tools for them to use in the store.

This week's craft was a castle piggy bank, and Bo was so proud of the fact that he actually made it [with dad's help, of course!].

Since dad didn't make the picture, I thought I'd include the video of Bo talking about making it. They had so much fun together!

Bo has been talking about it ever since they went. They went to Home Depot, ate lunch out, and went through a car wash. I love seeing Bo relate to his daddy, AND Bo LOVES tools and building things so that's a great way for the two of them to connect.

Mmmm...Fingers!

What can I say? My kids love their fingers! I debated the idea of a pacifier for about 24 hours, and then I decided it wasn't worth it. I knew I'd end up making middle of the night runs to pop a pacifier in their mouths. They both ended up attached to a finger by the time they were about six weeks old!

I guess we'd better start saving for braces...

Seriously, Seriously!

One of the things that my mom really wanted to do while she was here was get Bo a birthday present. His birthday is still a few weeks away, but this allowed us to shop together and kept her from having to deal with shipping! I had told her a Leapfrog pad/computer/early learner might be a fun thing, so we were checking those out at Toys R' Us, and mom asked if there was anything else she could get for him. I mentioned that I'd thought an easel might be something he'd enjoy, so we decided to check them out.

We needed assistance from a store employee because apparently they keep the easels in the back so we were asking for help. We knew we wanted one that was two sided with a chalkboard and dry erase board, so he went to check in the back. Turns out the only easel they had left was this one. There was no model on display, so I asked how much it cost. As the man walked away, I was imagining a reasonable amount in my head. It was a little nice than the $45 easel that was on display, so I was imagining it would be about $60.

Imagine my shock when the employee comes back and puts this sticker on the box...

I took a picture because it was just so unbelievable. ONE PENNY...seriously, I looked at the guy, ONE PENNY????? I keep going over his response in my head trying to make it make sense:
"It's a discontinued item ma'am so it was in our dump pile. We were just going to have to figure out how to get rid of it, so thanks for taking it off our hands."
Seriously, seriously! I wish that I could look at the security footage from the store because we beelined it to the check out so fast! It really felt a little bit like we were stealing something! I just begs the question for me, does this happen often? Is there are one penny area in the back of the store somewhere. I just can't fathom how this makes sense on any level! BUT we were glad to take it off their hands!

Since it was only a cent, we decided to go ahead and let the kids play with it. It's been big fun already!

Ella is completely obsessed with the letters and likes to make sure they are taken care of at all times.

Bo has really enjoyed writing on the whiteboard, and he's been practicing his letters. He came running over to me at one point, and said, "look mom, I did a B!" Sure enough, he had really drawn a B! I had to take a picture super fast because he was really wanting to erase it. I could not get him to pose with the letter!

This was definitely the best bargain of the visit, but we also found some great deals at Old Navy. We got a ton of items for $2 and $3...things like coats for next year and jeans and cute sweaters. Check it out if you get a chance...most of the kids section was 75% off!

Fun with Grammy!

Well, I have certainly been out of the blogging loop! My mom, Grammy, came to visit and we've had so much fun. I didn't do a great job of balancing all that fun with time to check my email and post pictures on the blog. We had a great visit, and the kids were really missing Grammy this morning. Bo kept asking if he could go and wake her up! He thought she was sleeping, and he was so sad when I reminded him that she had to go home to Grandpa.

There was certainly no shortage of snuggles during the visit. I love it that my kids enjoy snuggling! Bo actually took his thumb out of his mouth long enough to smile, but Ella was so comfortable that she wasn't interested in posing for the camera.

Grammy also had to share a lot during the visit. The kids love eating the ice from her cup! Unfortunately, mommy isn't always as good at sharing ,and last night Ella was really upset that I wouldn't share my drink with her.

More ice and more smiles before church on Sunday morning.

Bo really wanted to show off his train car toy, so that was pretty much the only way I could keep him focused on the picture! Can you tell Ella was loving the ice?

We had so much fun and so enjoyed Grammy visiting. I convinced my mom to help me with a sewing project which resulted in us going to bed late several nights in a row. Mom was such a champ! She totally helped me figure out what I was doing and taught me a few new tricks. I just felt bad that while she was traveling yesterday afternoon I took a 3 and 1/2 hour nap!

We love to color!

The kids have rediscovered coloring thanks to their new table. Thanks Grammy and Grandpa! We've had much fun creating masterpieces at the little table.

Bo is especially interested in drawing people these days. He tends to narrate as he draws, "this is the body; here are the legs; and the head." I think he got the artistic skills of his mama because the finished product doesn't always look, well, human, but he enjoys the process!

Animal Noises

This was too cute not to post right now...

It so reminds me of Bo. Here's a similar video of Bo from when he just a few weeks older than Ella is now...

February Fall

The leaves stayed on the trees for so much longer this year because of our mild fall. The didn't actually fall off the trees until all the ice we had about a month ago. SO, our yard is covered in leaves. I raked a big pile together and let the kids play. They thought that was quite a bit of fun. These pictures definitely would have been more commonplace in October, but oh well!

Play Days!

It was an amazing 70 degrees here for most of last weekend, so we spent quite a bit of time outside. the kids really enjoyed being outside without having to be all bundled up and freezing!

The play set in the back yard was completely rediscovered as well. Both kids had lots of fun on the swings. Bo likes to "fly" on his swing and Ella thinks the wind in her face is just hysterical!

New Table

Problem solved...yay, pictures!

Jason has been working hard to finish this little table for me, and it's finally done. I should emphasize the little because the two large panels behind it are the previous top. It was a massive L shaped sewing table that our neighbors gave to us before they moved last summer. It was one of those things where Jason said sizing the table down would be no big deal. That was back in June, and the table just came inside the past weekend. Anyways, I'm glad that it's done and he can now park his car in the garage. It turned out beautifully and I'm excited to start figuring out how to work the machine!

91

91 pictures on my camera from SIX days. Some great ones to come!

And apparently I am not that technically savvy because I can't get the pictures to load. Something about the drive not being connected to the Internet...ugh...I'll figure it out at some point!

And we're back!

Ahh...it feels so good to be back online! We had some computer issues [let's just say there was smoke involved!], and so the computer needed a little break. It's starting this new year with a brand new power supply!

I had grand plans of updating things today and posting all of the fun pictures I've been taking for the past week, but our external hard drive is currently disconnected. I may try to play with it and figure it out, but it might just have to wait for Jason to fix for me. I basically don't have access to anything until that gets reconfigured.

We are doing well...healthy and happy. More to come soon...assuming there's no more smoke!

Bowl Games

We've been having fun watching all the great football lately! Last night as Jason was watching the beginning of the Oklahoma vs. West Virginia game, he settled onto the mattress with a pillow. Bo immediately followed suit and grabbed a pillow from the couch so he could plop down next to him. Yes, that is the mattress from our bed! We thought we'd be able to stay up 'till midnight on New Year's Eve if we could hang out in bed. Turns out we both fell asleep long before midnight! The mattress finally went back to our room last night, but we had a little family snuggle time while we watched football first.

It's just so much fun to see Bo want to be just like his dad. He copies every move he can!

Then, of course, there's Ella copying all of her brother's moves. As soon as Bo got up, Ella moved into his position to snuggle with daddy. She actually seems to enjoy watching the football. The other day when she saw a team fumble, she started saying, "uh-oh." Dad was so proud!

Outrageous Brownies

A good friend gave me a Barefoot Contessa cookbook and a box of the brownie mix for my birthday not too long ago. After trying to figure out how it would be possible to bake and eat the brownies without anyone else in the house knowing, I finally gave in and made them with full family participation! We had quite a bit of fun last night licking the bowl as we waited for the brownies to bake.

Bo was absolutely devastated when all the brownie was gone from the spoon. This is why it's so hard to do fun things with your kids. They get so worked up when there's no more that it's almost not worth it. We've been talking a lot about being thankful and content with what we do have. It's a hard lesson for me, so I'm not sure exactly what to expect from a three year old!

The brownies were definitely outrageous! I thoroughly enjoyed all the chocolate despite my immediate heartburn. I don't know what it is about pregnancy and chocolate with me, but the result is heartburn...always!

And the battle goes to...ME!

I'm celebrating all victories these days!

New Year, Same Old Me!

I didn't exactly have the New Year's Eve celebration that I planned last night. I totally fell asleep around 9:30 as I was attempting to watch the end of the Auburn vs. Clemson game with Jason. The excitement of the game wasn't quite enough to keep me away!

We had planned to have a rockin' New Year's celebration with some friends out of town. I was so looking forward to a little road trip and a fun time with friends. Turns out the kids had other plans for us. About 3 and 1/2 hours into the trip [a little less than halfway] Bo started throwing up. Not a little "I don't feel so good" throw up, but violent, all over the car seat, multiple times before we could get off the interstate sickness. As we were cleaning him up and trying to get the car back in some sort of order, we made the executive decision to turn around and go back home. Not a fun decision, and I think I cried almost the entire way back. The last time we were with these friends, Bo was throwing up with a fever and all kinds of sickness...we just had no idea if we were up against that again, so we felt it better to be at home to deal with whatever happened.

By the time we got home, Bo was his old self. This was frustrating. He wanted to eat and play and talk about our fun "trip." We're still working on the whole trip concept. It was after dinner that things started to fall apart. Ella joined the fun and threw up her dinner. Then, Sunday, she started coughing and running a fever. Since then, she's coughed so hard that she's made herself throw up a few times and been generally out of it. Yesterday she played for a total of about ten minutes and then spent the rest of the day whimpering in my lap. Today, it's been more of the same!

Having kids just makes me realize that there are so many times that as a parent I have to be self-sacrificing. It's not always my favorite thing about being a mom, but I'm trying to cling to the reality that before long my kids aren't going to need me the way they need me now. The days of diaper changes and wiping snotty noses will be gone in a breath, and I'm just trying to remember that while I'm in the midst of it all!

So here I am, more than halfway into the first day of the new year, unshowered and enjoying a few minutes of rest while the kids lay happily in their beds. I can't believe that it's 2008. Bo will be THREE in six weeks. We will have a third child in a few short months. Ella is actually starting to put words and ideas together. Jason is almost halfway through his residency. It's just overwhelming!

Okay...babies are no longer napping happily....we're due for another dose of Tylenol!