the cradle will rock

Big boy haircuts!

2011-05-18T20:29:00.003-04:00

The boys got their shortest haircuts so far. Boy do they look older now!

Zach hates to cooperate and have his picture taken. This is moments before he began yelling at me and spitting. Lovely.

Jase trying to keep his eyes open (he always squints thinking the flash is going to go off) and saying cheese!!!!!

Springtime!

2011-04-28T21:50:00.003-04:00

Even though it's been a couple of months since my last post not too much has been going on other than the usual up here. Jase is loving school and riding the bus. He smiles real big and runs to the bus every day. They just love him at school (minus the running off from the class moments). He is known for saying some pretty hysterical things. He even said a few curse words which was really embarrassing but he did use them appropriately. That is a positive, right?! He gets to do fun activities with paint, playdoh, glitter, glue, scissors while learning his numbers and letters. As we all know he has known his numbers and letters for quite sometime but now he is learning the sounds that those letters make so that he can identify them by sound. You can ask him what letter a word starts with and most of the time he will know! We had our first IEP meeting. He had some more testing done at school. He is now going to be receiving occupational therapy at school for his delay in some skills including how to hold a pencil properly, using scissors and getting himself dressed. Most of these things he is delayed in I feel that are they are a lot my fault. For instance who in their right mind would hand Jase a pair of scissors prior to him being in school. He didn't really have an interest in coloring or drawing so why force it?? And then getting dressed...well he sure didn't care that I dressed him! So we have also set up an appointment with a private therapy place to evaluate him and discuss these concerns along with some sensory issues he may have.

Zach is just having a grand ole time hanging out with me during the day. We leave the house almost every day and if we don't he will keep asking me to. I finally joined the gym a couple weeks ago. So Zach is going to the childcare room there and he LOVES it. He just runs in without looking back. He holds onto as many little cars he can and plays with the kids. They say he is really sweet and doesn't fight with the other kids. Good to know! HA. He is obsessed with golf and wants to go the golf store everyday. Jason bought them real golf clubs and balls. Zach has really taken to it and now knows the lingo. We went to the golf store the other day and he wanted to putt on the greens they have for practicing. I had to take him out of there kicking, screaming and crying...literally. It really was a sight to witness, 2 year old acting like he is being taken out of a toy store! He is really talking good and answer our questions!

Two funny guys playing on their electronic devices. Both boys love playing the games, books and videos on them.

I found this one evening after the boys went to bed. After researching it was Zach that decided to raid the pantry for his dump truck.

Zach still has his pacifier all the time which is really getting on my nerves but I am not willing to deal with the consequences of taking it from him except when he sleeps. I am hoping that when school starts next fall then we can enforce the rules again! His speech is getting messed up as a result but it's so cute too see his tongue when he talks (just like Jase's...OOPS!!).

We were playing with play-doh one day and I asked Jase if he wanted me to make coal for his train. At first he said no then I rolled one ball and that is all it took.

Zach loves playing outside and especially loves hitting the golf balls with Jason. It's becoming a little thing that they do. Jase doesn't like to hit the golf balls because he can't hit them like Jason does. So he likes to push his cars, trucks and trains in the dirt.

He's getting so grown up looking. The boy's favorite shows right now are Bubble Guppies and Care Bears. Of course they still love Dora, Max and Ruby, Wonder Pets, Berenstain Bears, Busytown Mysteries and Thomas.

Now that Jase has been in school he really makes an effort to try to play with Zach. It doesn't necessarily last long but it's sweet.

At school they use a method from a book called 1-2-3 Magic and so we have started using it at home and since they enforce it school it makes it easier to enforce it at home with results. Zach is a little more stubborn and but it's getting there with him.

We went to Charleston for Jason's cousin's wedding. It was nice to get to see a lot of the family and it was a pretty ceremony and reception. You see Zach has his golf club on the beach. He sleeps with it takes it in the car.

I am so glad Jase is finally manageable on the beach. He doesn't try to go straight for the ocean. He had fun digging in the sand and burying his cars.

He just loves feeling everything and trying to make it into a story. Such a creative mind.

I LOVE this picture of us. Everyone looking and smiling.

Zach eating some fruit at the wedding.

They did so good and had fun at the reception.

Jason's dad decided to Jase for a walk and they disappeared for a bit. Then we saw Jase running back towards the reception.

There is Pawpaw! Jase is fast but he had fun.

Here is our most adorable nephew.

Jason went to catch up with Jase and to help his dad.

Jason with his dad and his boys.

Jase asked permission to go rock. So here we are dancing because we "totally rock". Something Jase learned from Bubble Guppies.

Bubble bath time

One afternoon from coming inside I found the boys sitting together watching a show. LOVE

Easter basket time!

One happy boy!

New books at the best new prizes.

YUM

Georgia gnome hiding some eggs.

It was fun and they didn't even fight or cry when the other got an egg that they were both reaching for.

Serious business.

Uh Oh

Zach trying to eat all the candy

Very happy boys!!!

This video was take a couple months ago when we had the flu. I walked in to check on Jase one morning and found him like this.

School Time!

2011-02-11T16:12:00.002-05:00

Jase started school last week. It all happened so quickly. When I registered him they said they would get in touch with me in 2-4 weeks and he would probably be tested again to determine what classroom or services they would be able to provide for his needs. Well a few days later we got a phone call that we needed to meet to sign papers because there was an opening at the nearest elementary school for Jase in a special education pre-k program. They decided to accept his IEP as it was for the next sixty days then re-evaluate it to determine if they need to retest him and change the IEP. I went in the next Monday and signed papers and they said that he would start the next day, go five days a week and the school hours are 8:20-3:00. Gulp! What?! Oh boy this threw me for a loop. They then asked me if we wanted to sign up for the school bus. I said that we could sign him up and we would see how it would go. After driving him to school a couple of days and getting us all ready and then take him and Zach out of the car to take him inside I knew that the bus would help with the stress of rushing around to get him there on time. Then they told me I would have to arrive at school an hour before it was let out to sit in the front of the car pick-up line to wait for an hour for him to be released. With Zach in tow that just wasn't reasonable since he needed to be napping during that time. So the bus picks him up at 7:30 and he gets home at 3:25. It's a long day but it's so worth it. His teacher is really nice and is understanding of his needs and know just how to help him. When he gets home he goes straight to his trains and plays alone. I try to ask him questions about school but mostly he says he doesn't know and isn't interested in discussing it. But he doesn't quite have the skills to be able to have a conversation and to recollect the day's events. He is really happy and hasn't even cried. Makes us feel really good and hopefully he will be mainstreamed by the time he enters kindergarten or 1st grade.

We found out who sent the ISPY book! My lovely friend, Dee, from where we moved from. The boys are usually fighting over who is going to look at it. The still love reading books which is so great and cute.

Here is Jase getting off the bus for the first time. We had him ride home from school the first two days so that he could get used to it with someone else putting him on instead of fighting me at 7:30am. Well it worked out really well and he is just fine getting on and off the bus. Even though
he says he doesn't need to go he has a smile on his face when he walks to the bus.

Jase still prefers to play with his trains in the playground over playing on the equipment.

Zach and I have been having good times with it just being us. He is still fiery, bossy and demanding as always. But it's good for him to have this time. I went to find a preschool for him and the first church we went to was a dud for his age group. They had no schedule or art activities for him to do. Just playing in a tiny room with two older ladies supervising them. The older children had a more structured schedule so maybe we will send him there next year. So hopefully I can find another one for him to go to now. During that time I am going to be able to help Jason more with his office stuff and be able to run errands with no one in tow.

The boys do play with each other but many times there is a mishap. Zach loves to aggravate Jase and crash his trains and piles of dirt. But Jase does try to share and talk

Jase's behavior has really improved and many would not believe what has transformed since last even last year. Amazing really. He is the one I prefer to take shopping and out to eat and I can't even believe it.

Zach is such a big and brave boy. Just fearless and check him out going up this rope wall .

I got lucky with this picture. I had to run around the slide and stick the camera into the slide and just snap it. I knew that he was not going to wait for me and I knew that he probably wasn't going to cooperate and go down the slide for me again.

First Snow and Christmas

2011-01-16T21:31:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful holiday and had tons of family come and visit us. We even had snow on Christmas day! It was so beautiful. This past week it even snowed more but I will post photos of the second snow on the next post. I had a dessert themed tree this year and here are some of my favorite ornaments.

not part of the theme but I thought this clip-on mushroom ornament was too adorable.

My dad and sister found these sweet cupcakes at Nordstrom Rack.

At first the boys couldn't keep their hands off the ornaments and Jase even moved some around that he felt needed to be placed in other spots. This was one of their favorites.

Check out this most awesome Eric Carle Advent calendar! each day had an ornament to hang on the tree or present to put in the little gift boxes. Christmas day was a big star to put on the top of the tree. Thanks to my friend, Dee, for finding this on Amazon!

I bought kid size ice cream cones and they are so small I just laughed and laughed when I opened the box. It's so practical though and the boys are happy with the serving and I am happy at how tiny it is! Since the boys are dairy free we buy coconut milk ice cream and it is really good!

Trains and trucks. Boys boys boys.

Zach has been talking so much and really putting sentences together. Many things are not understood by others outside of the home but he is drastically getting better. He's our little comedian and funny guy. He is a happy little guy that is always laughing.

I love it when the boys lay on their bellies to play with their toys. Getting down on the level to really see them at another angle.

Here we are Christmas eve. We put out crackers and water for Santa. Please don't laugh too hard. I mean we are probably the only people that give Santa crackers and water but our Coconut milk and gluten/dairy free cookies are expensive! hahahaha....it makes me giggle still.

I wrapped all the presents since the boys stuff didn't really need any assembly and they are still little and enjoy unwrapping the gifts. I heart my little white tree!

The picture is fuzzy but Zach's reaction was great.

Serious stuff opening these presents.

Jason picked out a present for Zach that was a big hit. A remote control 4-wheeler with a man on it.

Christmas should be everyday!

He went to sleep every night with it for a week.

We made it over to my parent's house through the snow and my dad dressed up as Santa. Jase was in awe, Elektra wasn't too sure if it was her "Aba" or the real Santa. Zach was pretty much mortified. When Santa handed him a present he took it but wanted nothing else to do with him.

Jase was so cute and still remembers the exact train that Santa gave him. He talked to Santa for sometime. He stood at the door and waved goodbye. He continues to talk about how Santa was there and we need to go see him.

Time for Santa to leave.

Zach and Jase fight like teenagers and it's so annoying. I can't even begin to tell you how many times Zach has bitten Jase during these spats. Many times I don't even know who started it so they both get in trouble. Ugh. I have a long road ahead of me.

We got a wonderful gift from our wonderful friends from Sweden. They sent candies from Sweden and it is really neat to taste what they eat. Our candy is a lot more vibrant in color and flavors. They also really like black licorice. The boys had a couple favorites which resembled red licorice but the flavor was delicate and enjoyable and then the Santa shaped marshmallow puffs were a tasty treat. Thanks Linda!!

Check out that those lips.

Check out that long line of trains.

Jase is a silly silly guy. As always he is a handful. He's can fly off the handle in a heart beat but with that same passion he is extremely affectionate and lovable. He loves to hug and kiss all the time. He is always happy, never sad or down. Okay he cries when hurt or upset but it never lasts long. He is so good inside.

Of course with the snow came new Thomas adventures.

Zach did not want to stop playing to have his photo taken. Jase's expression of love is so sweet in this picture. I love my three men!

We can hardly ever get a photo right!

Pulling his wagon through the snow.

Pushing his Transformer through the snow.

Stanley going on a snowy adventure. Check out the snow falling in mid shot.

It's hard to remember that Jase is still a "baby" but this photo proves just how baby he is.

Jason and Jase having a blast rolling down the hill. Too, too cute!

Wait guys! I am coming.

ATTENTION!!!! Jase received this book for his birthday in the mail. It came with no packing slip so we have no idea who sent it. If you could let me know who sent it, I want to send a thank you (when I get to those!!).

Jason's Aunt sent a play rug and here is Zach pushing his trucks and cars along it.

Check out our adorable nephew!

One of the few pictures that came out clear and everyone looking at the camera.

Jason's brothers in this picture just crack me up. Boys never really grow up!!

Grandparents with the grandbabies. cute.

My friend from San Fransico was in town for the holidays and I was luckily enough to get to see her and her adorable one year old baby boy. I miss them tons. Move to Georgia guys!!!

Guess who's four?!

2010-12-12T20:50:00.001-05:00

This is Jase's serious face. He does this often when we are trying to take his picture. It's him trying not to smile. Silly boy.

Close your eyes! We have the boys do this when we have a surprise for them.

Here they are playing with their new trains. It's so sweet that Zach wants to play with Jase and copies him but Jase is so clueless as to the sweetness and sometimes takes off.

Poor Zach has had this skin virus for several months now. It has really spread like wild fire the last month and a half since we have moved. It's called Molluscum Contagiosum and would you believe there isn't anything you can do and you just have to wait for it to go away. Well the real kicker is that it can take a couple of years to go away! Outrageous. Luckily it doesn't hurt him too bad. I mostly put neosporin on it to moisture it and prevent infection.

One morning I came down to find my nativity scene tampered with. It's up on the fireplace mantel so I couldn't imagine Jase reaching up there to place the toys there. So I quickly took a picture and then asked Jase if he had done it. Well he said yes but I wasn't sure he really did it. So when Jason came home I showed him the pictures and he laughed because he had done it!! Poor Jase almost got in trouble for messing with my special nativity scene because his daddy is silly too.

We built our first fire and the boys loved it. Zach was real nervous and kept looking back at the fire.

I don't remember what Jason was having them say but I thought their mouths were really cute. Just ignore the food all over their faces.

I love this. Little boys acting like big boys!

Roasting marshmallows with Titi Maria.

Impromptu photo of us. Me in my jammies and no one looking at the camera at the same time.

We had a pirate party for Jase's 4th birthday. Good food and great company!

Some wine for the parents to enjoy

We had some cupcakes. I had my sister decorate a X on them to mark the spot of the buried treasure.

Here is the pirate birthday boy.

Our friend Meaghan brought her baby and all the children wanted to see her. Check out Zach's face. He just stared and stared at her. You see how he has his hands. Well he does this all the time when he is waiting for something.

Bowen being a good sport and wearing some pirate gear.

Birthday boy checking out his new glow in the dark Thomas train track.

Check it out.

Isn't my little scent diffuser cute?!

We went to see Santa and the boys did great. Zach was a little nervous but once on the lap he did great. Here is Jase is pulling Zach back from walking too far.

Jase is dying to get a closer look.

Look at Jase looking down at Santa's hand. What is he up to?

He went in for the grab. He was in awe and was speechless. He could barely get out what he wanted for Christmas to him.

The boys thinking that they know what they are doing.

Zach's little hand looks so cute in this picture. We were eating some lunch after meeting Santa.

Sweet face.

Doesn't Jase look so old in this picture?

And how about these eyes.

Changes

2010-11-09T21:06:00.019-05:00

Boy o Boy have a lot of things happened in our lives. We packed up our house and moved to a new city four weeks ago. Jason has opened his own practice here. We are still trying to sell our other house so we are leasing a house for at least the next year. I love it too. It's a bit far from everyone but it's really nice inside and has a pretty kitchen. Since I am at home most of the time I wanted to have a pretty interior that I was going to have to look at all the time. We are only three miles from the North Georgia Outlet mall so if you love outlets then Come On!! We are getting settled in just fine. Here are some pictures from our other house and some taken in the new house.

The boys got their haircuts right before we moved. Jase added a few years and now really gets mistaken for looking older.

He did really good getting his hair cut. He has his Iphone and all the games on it so that keeps him pretty happy while she cut his hair. He would not let her take the electric clippers to his neckline though. He has a thing for sounds bothering him, even though he's the loudest kid you'll meet.

I didn't take any photos of Zach's haircut with my regular camera. They were taken with the video camera which I need to learn how to use and download.

The boys dressed up as pirates this year. Jase kept asking to be a monster or pirate so I chose pirate since I am not sure how that would have turned out.

Zach kept his pirate patch on for most of the night. Jase couldn't see well with it on. He raced to each house ready to dig in to people's candy bowls. He kept wanting them to give him more and more.

He stopped many kids and tried to talk to them. He is a little delayed in his communication skills so most kids just looked at him confused. He even went up to scary monsters to talk to them.

Here we are. I was going to be a witch but couldn't find a witch hat to go along with my tights and witch shoes. Jase called me "pirate mommy" and so then I was just that.

Zach had a great time and they both talk about trick or treating still. Aaargh.

At the end of the candy journey on the way back to the car.

When we moved here we had Jason's parents come and help us. Here is Grammy with the boys playing with pink bath foam.

The neighborhood we live in is a neighborhood that didn't get finished so there are a lot of empty lots with overgrown weeds. Fun area for the boys to play in and get dirty and pick up strange plant life attached to their clothing.

Good times with all of Thomas' train friends in the grass and dirt.

Zach is really starting to talk now and most of it is understandable. Many things are only understandable to us because it's repetitive but doesn't really sound they way they should. He is still addicted to his pacifier on a daily basis. Which is so annoying to me but what can you do when being at home with them 24/7 you just do what you can to mentally survive. We are in the process of getting Jase into school here with the public school system and then hopefully I can join a gym and Zach will like going into the childcare room. We will put him in a preschool when our financial situation becomes more stable. Opening your own practice is tricky business.

The boys are getting along well. Jase still doesn't really know how to play together which hopefully the new schooling with help him with that. Age really makes a difference too for him. Things are improving with his outbursts and not freaking out over every little thing. So I am hopeful that within the next year Zach will grow out of his crying all the time.

Hopefully my next post won't take two months!

Zach turned TWO!

2010-11-02T16:03:00.001-04:00

I just loved the way Jase's hair looked in this photo.

It was raining and no lightning or thunder so I let the boys play in the rain. They had a blast!

This is a super happy face.

Yes I will continue to dress them identical as long as I can then I will just coordinate them!

Who knew rain could be so much fun.

One evening I had to bathe the kids and get them ready for bed alone so we sat together watching some boob tube waiting for daddy to come home. This is a rare moment in our house.

Zach has some cute tan feet and little toes.

Zach had his second birthday party. It was a small affair but went really well. My friend, Erin and her family came because her husband and Jason wanted to go hunting. Perfect timing! Here is her youngest Bowen super excited about party time.

Birthday boy was really really happy. Check out that pacifier toothy smile. This was pre-first haircut.

Going in for a taste before the party starts.

His reaction to being told No. Yep, this is seen on a daily basis at least once.

Jase eyeing the chocolate dipped rice krispy treats on a stick.

We had a pin the gumball on the gumball machine game to match the gumball machine cake.

Jason cooking up some hamburgers and hot dogs for the crew.

A picture of the cake.

Opening presents.

Some of the audience.

Really really excited to see a tractor in that package.

I love old school toys being cool again. I had to buy this smurf mobile.

Here's that face again, really annoyed with his brother for trying to take away a toy.

My friend Dee's husband and son Corbin. Isn't he cute.

Jase checking out the new gifts.

Zach and Bowen really like each other. It's so funny to see them together. Good thing Bowen is so patient and knows how to play.

Great birthday party to end Zach's second year. Thanks everyone for making it memorable.

clowns

2010-08-27T22:34:00.001-04:00

I have been so slack in my updates! Ugh, I want to do them but then I don't have enough photos or I keep putting it off. Kind of like when you want to call a friend and the moment isn't right so then you say you will do it later and then days and days go by. Yeah, like that. We have had family visiting and us visiting family the last few weeks which is always so nice! The boys are getting so big and we have had a lot of time together since they have been out of school for the summer and I did not sign them up for preschool for this school year. I am hoping to get Jase used to the playroom at the gym and that way I can take them there and get my workout in while saving money on preschool, at least for the time being. I really love them in preschool and they love going so it will be great when we can get them back in. Jase is not potty-trained so he is not able to enter a 3 year old class without being potty trained and out of pull-ups at many schools! Yikes. Too stressful so we are taking it easy and he is doing well and will pee and poop on the potty but won't do it if I have him in a pull-up or underwear. Once something covers his privates then he feels like he can go in them. So it will take a little longer than I would have wished but I am okay with it because once he's fully ready it will be easy for him. I am just happy that he doesn't freak when I put him on the potty and will actually use it. He even lets me put pull-ups on him and underwear over them which before he would LOSE his mind if I tried to put either on him. This is big gains for him. Zach cheers him on and will sit on the potty and pretend to go to the bathroom but then ask to be taken off within seconds of being put on. No rush though, he may be my last baby. These two guys may be all that Jason and I can handle!! It's no joke. They both give us a run for our money. They do give us a break though when it's time to go to bed and when they wake up. They don't complain at all and in the mornings they wait till we get them and it can be up to a couple hours after they have woken up. Many times we don't even know when they wake up because they are so quiet. During the day it's a different story but I am thankful that they are able to have fits and freak out because I know it could be a situation where I would wish for my child to just be able to express himself and hug me. So enough of that let's see some pics!

I signed up for a free sample of GoGo Juice and I could not believe the size of the bottle they sent. And you mix it with water which means it provides a lot of juice. The bottle is 32 fl ozs! Go sign up for your free bottle while the offer is still available. Totally natural with no added junk! WOW.

Jason's parents and niece and nephew came to stay with us for several days. It was fun and they did lots of swimming. Speaking swimming, Jase is really good at it. We have a shallow end in our pool so he is able to stand and have his head out of water. But he can jump off the diving board and swim all the way to the other end of the pool all by himself! He even taught himself on how to get things off the bottom of the pool in the shallow end. Is this crazy, or what?! The guy is a fish. And Zach loves the water now too. Well, the water at the steps! He loves to stick his face under and jump up and down and blow bubbles. I need to get videos of this and post them.
Zach saying PeekaBoo all on his own in the middle of breakfast. It was really too funny for him to do that. He is a character.

This guy needed his bangs trimmed so bad but he would not let me. So my mother-in-law and father-in-law helped me get them cut. Next will be his hair but not by me.

Fresh cut bangs! They were playing with play-doh that I made with gluten free flour and natural food dye. The love it but it gets kind of sticky after a few minutes of their warm hands modeling it. Not sure how to fix that! Maybe more of the flour??

Dinosaur in the dough! and I cut straws and Jase said they were birthday candles.

This is Jase smiling for the camera. He couldn't get his eyes off of Thomas and the dough.

Adventures in Thomas.

We were headed to Atlanta when it started raining. Once we passed the rain there was a rainbow behind us. As I was admiring it I noticed there was a second one to the right of it! So pretty. I haven't seen a rainbow in a long time. I spend a lot of time indoors with these two clowns.

Zach with my dad and checking out a picture of himself on my dad's phone. The expression was too adorable not to post.

My sister came to stay with us for a few days. The boys love it when she comes because she does fun things like chase them around the house and she jumps in the pool with Jase. I am not too much fun in the pool since I have to be lifeguard as well and I don't like to get my hair wet. I may have sensory processing issues. Jase and Zach were helping Maria with the foot pedal to the sewing machine. Look at his foot!! I didn't get a photo of Zach doing it but he even used both of his feet.

Sweet!

My mother ordered Jase a subscription to Thomas magazine. It comes every couple of months and we received his last issue this week. He LOVES it! It's a bit pricey but it's something fun for him to get in the mail. We may need to get his subscription updated.

Here he is checking out the stories and ads.

These two videos are mostly of Zach. He is trying his hardest to talk but it mostly doesn't sound like it should. He gets easily frustrated and it's demonstrated in these to videos. At one point in the second video he spits the food out of his mouth he's so irritated with me. He is something else and I will leave it at that!

Baby, Birthdays and crafts...oh my!

2010-08-02T17:30:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago, Jason's brother and our sister-in-law came to visit us to show off their new baby. We had a great time with them. The boys were so good with baby Brian. Jase touched him so gently with the back of his hand and did gentle tickles on his belly with one finger. It was really sweet. Zach pointed a bunch and tried touching the baby but he made me a little nervous. It is weird to think that Zach is the age that Jase was when Zach was born. I think of Zach being a baby and back then Jase seemed like such a big boy to us.

They thought he was neat stuff. We haven't had a baby this size around them. It made me miss that bitty baby stage.

How does eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich get to be so messy???

Holy mackanoly...the TONGUE!!

Serious business just eating the jelly and peanut butter but no bread.

The boys posing with their adorable cousin. Jase was really loving on him here.

Look at Jase admiring his baby cousin.

Uh-oh baby is starting to cry. Zach is checking it out and Jase's response cracked me up.

We celebrated Jason and my birthday last week. Here is the cake I did for Jason's birthday that the boys could enjoy. It is a gluten free and dairy free birthday cake. It was actually really good. It is found in the specialty food freezer section. You let it thaw for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. I used marshmallow puff creme as frosting which is only visually appealing for a short amount of time. The sprinkles are naturally colored with fruit and veggie colorings.

Gluten free and dairy free pancakes. Jase loved them. Check out Thomas's head.

I get weekly-ish emails from this fellow mom blogger with crafty ideas. In the latest email she had this idea to use clear contact paper and little pieces of this and that to make a wonderful piece of art. Needless to say they loved it and so did I!!!

so big!

Jase was very intent on the precision of each piece he placed on his sheet.

so cute!

Zach's masterpiece

Jase's masterpiece

Week at the Beach

2010-07-12T15:37:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the beach. It's the annual family trip. My family now goes and it makes for a really big group. There were 20 of us!! We had a great time together.
This was taken right when we got to the beach. The camera fogged up because it was too cool compared to the warm, moist beach air.

This year Jase didn't constantly want to run into the ocean which was really really nice. He did alot of imagination play with Thomas. We didn't get pictures of the kids on the beach which is a bummer. I may get my dad to send me some and Jason's uncle and then post some more again later.

A cute family shot of us.

Gimme a break! Jase likes to hold Zach's hand and guide him on where to go. When we are at home he will go upstairs and get Zach and patiently walks him down the stairs holding hands. So adorable.

The boys working real hard on some huge lollipops. They ate the entire things in like ten minutes!!

Our niece, Bailey. I thought she looked so cute in this picture I just had to post it.

We made a trip to the local aquarium and the boys loved looking at all the creatures.

Zach checking out the sting rays.

Zach and Elektra busting a move. He loves it when kids pay attention to him.

This shot is so strange. The fish and I are making the same expressions into the camera.

Zach and I checking out this crab sifting through the sand.

All of us minus Jason's cousin, Robby, who could only stay a couple of days. You wouldn't believe how many pictures we took and only a handful of them had almost everyone looking at the camera. Sheesh.

Another super cute family shot.

The lovely locks are gone!

2010-06-22T18:56:00.018-04:00

Well there they are. The two ponytails that hold Jase's 3 1/2 years of curls. He did really good. When we first got there he was a little nervous. They wanted to wash his hair to get it all wet and conditioned it so that it would be easier to cut. This made Jase really upset.

After I measure the hair to make sure it's not ten inches I will be mailing it to Pantene for them to make a wig for a woman who has lost her hair due to cancer.

Jase did not like getting his hair shampooed one single bit.

Jase was just watching with a look of concern on his face but didn't make a peep.

Me trying to comfort Jase which only helped a little.

"Help save me" and "I didn't know what to do" is what he kept repeating.

Once he was out of that chair he was good. Still a little nervous till I gave him his new Berenstain Bears book and a piece of gum.

The first ponytail being chopped off.

It's gone!

Here goes the second one! I was too anxious about Jase freaking out that I didn't get a chance to be sad. It really was a relief to see the long hair cut.

Zach stood watching like a good patient boy.

I was tempted to tell him to leave it like this. maybe I will grow it out like this.

Looking in the mirror and happy.

Excited and nervous. Too freaking cute.

He was really excited afterwards and was giving away some good hugs.

It's a little shaggy so I am either going to let it grow out a bit or cut it shorter. I am going to buy some gel for it so I can see if I can style it.

Great Job Jase!!!! Holy cow! As if he didn't already look older than his age. Now he looks six!!!!

No haircut today

2010-06-17T17:46:00.002-04:00

No haircut today. We showed up for our appointment and they were closed :( I called today and They said that it's next week. Whatever!! Sooooooo a hair cut will be in place next Tuesday night.

He did it!

2010-06-14T21:28:00.007-04:00

Several weeks ago Jase finished his 2 year old preschool year. They had a ceremony for all the different ages in the school. Jase's class only had to stand in the front and sing. We were super nervous and thought for sure that he was going to lose his mind and cry and scream being in front of all these people. The teacher had told me that he was very nervous when they had rehearsals and that he pretty much cried with his head behind the railing and saying "no no no". So we waited patiently and he came in just fine and was a little scared looking but he did not cry and mostly hid behind his book. I had given the teacher some gum to give him if he got too upset but I "bribed" him and told him that he was going to get a surprise if he stayed up there with his class and didn't cry. Well it worked! He did hide behind his book but he stayed.

Looks like a deer in headlights.

There he is hiding behind his book.

Getting his surprise for not crying and staying with his class. He's really into Berenstain Bear books right now and I found a DVD of the shows and he was beyond thrilled. He was practically speechless. Zach was super excited too!

Here is my good friend, Dee's son. Corbin is in Jase's class and we do things often together. Isn't he so cute with his little mohawk!?!

One morning Zach woke up with the craziest hair I had ever seen.

He must have laid on his back the entire night!

Trip to Virginia

2010-06-14T14:13:00.013-04:00

For Memorial Day weekend we headed to Jason's parent's house for a quick weekend visit. We got to also see Jason's brother and his wife. She is pregnant and due in just a couple of weeks so it was really exciting to see her belly. She looked great and kind of, only a little wishing that I was pregnant. I need to get a handle on these boys I have before bringing another one along. So the weekend was great. Here are some pictures of a visit to the park.

Zach says "come on this way guys."

Jase loves to throw anything and here he is throwing wood chips.

Uh Oh there he is with a handful of more wood chips!

Zach having a blast with his Grammy. Jase digging in the chips with his train.

Playing soccor with PawPaw.

Zach can throw about any ball.

Here he goes kicking the ball.

OOPS!!!!!

It was a hot day up there.

Boys being Boys

2010-06-14T13:59:00.007-04:00

Jase is communicating better and better. It is taking some practice and we have to constantly tell him how to say things but he is getting it. He usually says "you" for "me" and "I". He still gets quite upset at little things but we are working at trying to use words instead of screaming and freaking out. Work in progress! Jase is such an awesome swimmer. He does not use any type of floatation device in the pool. He jumps off the diving board and the sides and then swims to the sides all on his own. It's amazing how well he does. It's so cute to see him put his head under the water and swim.

Zach is a real pistol! He's just as sweet and calm as he is fiery. He stays next to me when we go outside and doesn't run off like his big brother. He is saying more words and still uses signs to communicate with us. He used to not want to get any where near the pool. But he now loves getting in. He plays on the steps and hangs on the handle and swings back and forth. He even loves to put his mouth under water to blow bubbles.

Zach absolutely loves playing on the golf cart any time we are in the garage.

These two don't stop moving! Not even while eating Popsicles.

We have two hawks that have made the backyard their home. I could only get one of them in a picture.

Lovely Locks

2010-06-14T13:57:00.006-04:00

Jase has an appointment to get his hair cut and donated to make a wonderful wig for someone that is less fortunate. Here are a couple of pics for you to enjoy his hair. It will be a really sad day on this Thursday at 5:45pm. Sniff Sniff

I will miss those curls next to that face. I hope he is okay during the haircut and afterwards. I am trying not to get to anxious and we will try not to make it a big deal and hopefully he won't be too traumatized.

Paint!

2010-06-13T20:58:00.015-04:00

The boys love to paint. It's neat to see Zach be so precise with his paint brush.

Jase goes into another world. His favorite is to scoop a little bit of paint from each color and then paint on the paper.

Zach driving Sir Topham Hatt through the paint.

The curls and sweet little face that I love.

Happy camper!

Taking a different perspective on the paint.

Like his brother and driving things through the paint.

Jase saw that I was letting Zach put the toy in the paint so he joined in on the fun.

My sister came to visit and while I was cooking I found them all cozy on the couch watching "Finding Nemo."

CUTE!!!!

Zach loves playing with the iphone. Good thing my sister has a fun toddler application for him to play with. He can't get enough.

Save big on Designer shopping!

2010-05-26T14:04:00.001-04:00

I am a member to several sites that sell "designer" products for a huge percentage off of their regular prices. I have bought several things and mostly dreamed of buying things from these sites. Their are strictly children and mommy sites and then there are sites that sell women's clothes, men's and children's clothes to home goods and even for your pets. I LOVE these sites. Another plus is you can invite your friends to join and when they make a purchase you get anywhere from $10-$25 credit to spend on the site yourself. They send you email updates to when the sales start (most start at 11am each day). You can even see the sales that beforehand so you can plan ahead and be near the computer when you want a specific brand. You will see that they usually have the same sales within weeks so if you miss a sale you can cross your fingers for one of the other sites to sell the same item. So with that said. Here are links to the sites I love so go ahead and join (if you aren't already a member). Maybe one day you will own a fancy designer item for a bargain price!

Children and Mommy sites:

the mini social (right now they are having $25 credit to you when you get 5 people to join and you don't even have to buy anything)

zulily

totsy

Women:

ideeli

billion dollar babes (sometimes they have kids)

Women, Men, Children and Home:

Gilt (they even have vacation deals!)

Hautelook

Modnique

Beyond the Rack

Rue La La

Row nine

Just for the Home:

One Kings Lane

future cuddly big bear

2010-05-20T15:08:00.001-04:00

Zach had his 18 month check-up today. I had forgotten he needed that so we were a little over a month late. He weighs 31 lbs and 9 ozs. He is 34 and 3/4 inches tall! Ginormous head too. His stats put him in the +94%

Jase Graduates his ISR refresher course

2010-05-19T14:57:00.001-04:00

Jase did really awesome at swimming this refresher course. In these two videos it shows him swimming with his clothes on. They do this to get the kids familiar to swimming with their clothes on. Since the boys are not potty trained they are also swimming in a regular diaper which can get HUGE and HEAVY. So that makes this lesson pretty tough and tiring. Way to go Jase!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know how to float??

2010-05-19T14:48:00.001-04:00

Zach also finished his lessons! I forgot the camera so these videos were taken from my phone. You can see he is really good at flipping onto his back. He was having a hard time trying to flip back over to swim to the teacher because his diaper was so full and his jeans were so tight. This is how he screamed during every lesson. It's pretty pitiful but everyday for 4 1/2 weeks makes it not as bad.

Good Boy

2010-04-27T20:10:00.003-04:00

It's a sad day here. We had to lay our beloved, trusty Chopper to rest today. He has been suffering unknown illness the last couple of weeks. We will miss you more than you know.

2010-04-27T15:00:00.001-04:00

Our new little friend in our house, Penguin the Nebulizer. Jase started wheezing a few weeks ago. While in the doctor's office they wanted him to have a breathing treatment done. I was so nervous that he was going to freak out and lose his mind over doing it. Well he was a little anxious but did awesome and his oxygen levels went right up after that. He was diagnosed with the beginning of pneumonia because of fluid in one of his lungs. After 10 days of taking some really nasty medicine (and I mean nasty!) he was all better. Zach even got sick but didn't have pneumonia but had to do the breathing treatments also. They have a pacifier adapter that blows the medicine in his nose while he sucks on the pacifier. So cute.

Jase doing his breathing treatment like a big boy.

Say hello to our "swarm of bees". These bees came one afternoon while Jason's parents were here visiting us. (yes, it's been that long since I updated the blog!!) Luckily Jason's dad saw the bees or we would have not known that they had invaded the wall of our house. Jase was none too please about the sight of all these bees. He kept say "oh no! oh no!" and boy that couldn't have been a more appropriate response. As you can see there were thousands and thousands of them.

Zach investigating the bee situation.

There they are starting to cluster in two areas.

This is when we really began to worry. So we took a look outside and found that they were squeezing into the side of our house.

So we called in a professional to come and spray them to tell them to leave and go somewhere else.

The bee man doing his work. Jason said that he duct taped his outfit around the wrist and ankles to keep the bees out. Shortly after that they did leave the house but were getting nectar in the bushes all around our house.

Our friends Erin, Ben and three of their kids came to visit us. Here is Bowen chowing down on some breakfast. Get it all in there Bo!

The boys all together.

"Everybody look at me and say Cheese!" no luck.

So a couple of days after the bee guy came, Jase pushed his wagon through the front bushes and before we knew it. The wagon was covered in bees. I didn't get to witness it because Erin is the one that had to come swoop Jase up and run away from the bees. When we went back to look at the wagon he was pulling all the bees were gone. We couldn't figure out what had happened. Well, Jase went out later and found them. Hanging out in the bush.

How freaky is this?? They are all hanging on each other and the size of a football. Ewe. Well this was gone two days later. Hopefully they found another house to set up their home and make honey.

Zach is my salty food eater. He is not into cakes, cookies, ice cream...you get the idea. He loves all of our dinner and this is him after eating some rice and beans. He does make the sound "Bba" for book, makes the "Ja" sound for Jase, "mama", "up", "poop" (which he told me today that he had poop right when he was pushing it out) and he still signs to have milk, eat, drink, book, bath, and down.

Jase has been wanting binoculars for sometime now. So for Easter he got some. They are some cheapo ones that I got at Toys R Us. They don't do the job so we are going to have to get him some better ones. Which by the way I tried to return and the store would not take them back because we did not have the original packaging! I tried to do an even exchange so then I would be able to return those in the original package but I guess they figured out what I was planning on doing and then retracted their statement of being able to do an even exchange. So make sure you keep the original package, even if you have the receipt for items you purchase at that store. Grrr....waste of 10 bucks.

Jase is so smart and is doing really well in his ISR refresher course. He is a character and laughs during those swim lessons. His instructor says she has never had a student quite like him.

Zach is doing good in his lessons as well. He pretty much has to start from scratch because he was so young when he did them the first time and now he has to learn to swim to the stairs when before all he had to do was learn how to flip over and float on his back. He cries and cries the entire time. Poor guy thinks we are torturing him and that the instructor is trying to drown him. I look forward to when he is finished and can swim to the side.

Playing on the driveway. The boys love being outside and digging in the yard and running back and forth on the driveway with their toys and wagons. Jase's hair is getting to be a nuisance so SOON it will be cut and donated. I made an appointment for him to get it cut.

I love how this picture shows that Jase is still a "baby". You can see those fat hands and that fold from the arms to the wrist.

Zach with his Easter wagon for the beach toys.

Anyone remember this outfit from Jase. We love to see Zach wear Jase's clothes.

Run!

Zach loves Jase so much and hugs him when he can get a chance. Jase is beginning to hold Zach's hand and walk with him and hugs him too. Sometimes just a little too strong though and Zach hates that.

It's serious business pulling that wagon up and down the driveway.

Baby face. I am going to miss this hair. I hope that he doesn't freak out when he sees himself without the long locks. He has started to twirl it with his fingers and likes to wrap it around his wrists.

Zach loves his Abuelito

2010-04-17T19:08:00.001-04:00

I hope he will always LOVE to read

2010-04-14T17:32:00.001-04:00

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if brother does it then I do it

2010-04-14T17:30:00.001-04:00

wind in my hair

2010-04-13T09:48:00.002-04:00

Zach is my little complainer so to distract him I open the window. It usually does the trick.

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crooked smile means it likes it

2010-04-13T09:42:00.002-04:00

Jase asks to have window open in the car so he can enjoy the breeze.

Lovely Locks

2010-03-10T16:41:00.008-05:00

This past weekend we went to visit Jason's family. The weather was great and we had a great time. It's always a nice treat to see them. Even though the boys don't see them all the time, they are so happy and excited about seeing them.

Jase loving his Grammy time!

Jase doesn't carry Thomas everywhere he goes anymore. He does like to take him outside to play in the dirt. I stopped letting him watch Thomas because it was becoming an obsession and he kept reciting the shows and wouldn't really talk about much anything else. So I think this has affected his desire/need to carry Thomas where ever he goes. Thank goodness because we only had one and it was a Christmas special!

The boys playing with their cousin Austin. Look how big he is getting. Only like an inch shorter than me and only in sixth grade.

Zach and PawPaw playing sword fighting.

Grammy and PawPaw on poop scooping duty so that the kids wouldn't step on brown glass. YUCK!!!!!

Kick that ball!

He looks like a big boy here. He swings his right arm when he really gets walking/running and sometimes tilts his head to the side when he gets excited.

They think their Grammy is really funny.

Zach had his tubes put in and his adenoids removed this week. He did really well and the doctor said that he right ear was A LOT worse than he had realized. He said it was pretty nasty. So it has been draining blood and other icky stuff. When he woke up from the anesthesia he was pretty cranky for a bit then he fell back to sleep and when they woke him up he was just like new. Happy guy eating goldfish and drinking apple juice they had for him.

Even when he was out of it coming off the anesthesia he was able to sign milk to me when he was crying! Wow, especially since he was drugged.

We had a great time in Charlotte visiting Jason's brother, Tim and his kids, Austin and Bailey. The boys love being around them. It was really cute to see how excited Jase got when he saw his cousin Austin get off the bus and then when his Uncle Tim got home from work he ran to the door and said "Hi Uncle Tim, I so happy to see you."

Zach has been known to bite Jase a time or twenty. So Jase usually runs from Zach when he thinks he's about to be bitten. Or he puts his arm to Zach's face to let him do it?! Here is what it looks like.

Jase's finger has gotten infected and looks pretty sore in this photo. It has since gotten better and we also started him on some antibiotics for precaution.

I flat-ironed Jase's hair to see how long it is and to see if it's long enough to donate to the Locks for Love. I think it's just about there but it's too close so we are going to let it grow a little longer so that we don't have to buzz cut it to get the full ten inches.

He stayed still for me while I did it and this makes me feel better to know that he may actually stay somewhat still for a real haircut. One day soon. Isn't he so cute!

We went to Monster Jam a few weeks ago and forgot to post pics. This is a video we took. The really liked it. Next time we will go to Atlanta so the arena will be bigger and they can have a better show to watch.

Potty training and Pond fun!

2010-03-04T15:57:00.001-05:00

After getting the potty training DVD and books for Jase he has had a little interest in sitting on it. He actually peed on it for the first time! This was so exciting for all of us and he did it before taking a bath and after getting out of the bath he ran over to it and peed again. We could not believe it. I haven't really pushed the issue yet just so that I don't make him want to retaliate and back track. So we just have been doing it at night before bath. Well, yesterday I needed to get urine sample for the doctor's office so I needed to get him to pee during the day. After three tries of him sitting on the potty he went for me. He was so excited and gave me high five. Now we just have to get me to get on top of it and put him on it numerous times during the day. Is there a how to train a mommy book?

Jase used to not be interested in doing any artwork. Since taking out the dairy/casein in his diet he has actually sat down to participate. So we painted a bird house for Grammy (Jason's mother). This was before painting and I guess he wanted to practice with his mouth.

There are the colors before the painting.

He had to put the brush in each of the colors and then paint. So cute. He wanted to paint the same spot over and over. We then packaged it all up and he and I took it to the post office.

The paint after Jase got a hold of it. A piece of artwork all in it's own. Now I wish I would have save this to see it dry. I have a quick hand at throwing things away.

This was the best photo I could get without flash that was semi clear and had both of them looking at the camera.

A moment that is rare.

I have been trying to make different things for dinner. Here was my attempt at stuffed mushrooms. They were really good the second time I made them when I filled the bottom of the pan with enough liquid to cover most of the mushroom caps. YUM.

This past weekend my parents came to visit and thank goodness they did. Friday night I woke up with a super sore throat and fever. After a few hours I broke out in hives. I was so scared that I was going to end up in the ER like last time but Jason pumped me up with Benadryl and Zantac (helps with hives for those that don't already know this). My hives got a little worse then disappeared while I slept literally all day long except about an hour total. I haven't been in bed all day in years, I couldn't even tell you the last time. Too bad I was sick to not really enjoy it.

My dad bought a John Boat so they took the kids down to ride in it. Here they are riding on the back of the lawn mower in a wagon down to the pond. Serious faces looking at the water. Zach's profile is so precious.

Jase pointing out the boat! I was still not feeling well and the thought of them out there made me nervous as hell. It's really clear water and shallow but still!

There they go!

Checking out what they can see on the bottom.

Zach is trying to talk. He says Bobo (pacifier), mama, hot, tootoot and tries to say Jase. No one told me that becoming a mother meant that I had to learn how to read minds!

I think Jase liked it!

Aaaaaahhhhh! I know my dad was nervous enough for both of us, especially when he saw Jase doing this.

Give me a break.

We had our first appointment with the school system through Child Find. Jase can speak very well and knows so much but his ability to communicate back and forth is a little delayed. So we wanted to make sure there wasn't any significant delays and get him evaluated and tools for me to help him learn how to communicate with us and other people. The asked me a ton of questions about his development and they even did a little activity with a speech therapist. He seemed to be a little confused with some of the questions but did really good. So for the next few weeks I have some exercises that I have to do with him and see how he progresses. If he was in school then they would have a teacher do it. At that time we reevaluate and go from there.

It's tons of fun in the backyard!

Zach is getting tubes next Tuesday so keep him in your thoughts and hopefully we will see a new happier baby soon! By the way, we learned a hard lesson in making sure you have any expensive procedures done at the end of the year when you have made more payments toward your deductible instead of the beginning of the year when you have your entire deductible to meet. Grrrrr..... (Jase 39 months and Zach 17 months)

Love Love Love

2010-02-18T14:50:00.000-05:00

"No one could have told me how hard it was going to be to be a parent" this is a thought that I have had often since Jase turned about 1 year old. And no one can know what each person goes through if they aren't in their home on a daily basis. Being a stay at home mother is one of the easiest and HARDEST things I have ever done or will ever do. I have never had my patience tested like this or felt so much joy from anything. I hope to never judge any parent again by they way their child is behaving. With this said, Jase is so much better and I have so much less anxiety when going out and worrying about when (not if) he was going to freak out. Now I have Zach who cries a lot and lets everyone know if he is not happy. So I go armed with these tasty organic lollipops and fruitabu and some gum (for Jase) and pacifier (for Zach). I try not to get sidetracked by looking at all the new stuff on the shelves and reading all the labels in the Natural foods section. I have to move fast which I don't always do but when I do the experience can be enjoyable. I have to make sure the time frame is doable as well. I have to plan activities fairly early in the morning or I run the risk of Zach getting really, really, really upset with me until we get home. So many mom's group activities are avoided because of this. I had Zach go to one nap a day a LONG time ago so that I would not have to stay at home all day long while each child took their naps from 10am-4pm. I would have never done it with Jase and I would have been disappointed in any other parent that would do that to their child. But for mommy's sanity I went against what I believed at first and luckily he took a super long nap that added up to the quantity of two (or three) naps all in one right in the middle of the day when Jase would be sleeping. Speaking of Jase's sleeping. He is having a hard time falling asleep for his nap and if he does fall asleep it takes him till 10pm to fall asleep. Luckily he does stay in his room and read books and plays with his trains for at least two hours so then I can have some time to myself and to do laundry and dishes. If he doesn't nap then he is able to fall right to sleep but first I have to remind him that he didn't nap and is very tired and needs to stay in bed and if he gets out I will throw Thomas in the garbage. It works because he does not want Thomas to go in the garbage. This is my ammo for many things that I want from him. :)

Zach pulling on his train toy and actually pulled it through the house. He isn't as wild as Jase Jase never pulled a toy across the floor like it was supposed to be pulled. It was usually thrown or ignored. I loved this picture of him because it captures his sweet nature. Which he does have when he isn't crying. He has always loved to lay his head on your shoulder randomly but he loves to hug our necks on purpose and gives kisses often without being asked. It's like he craves them and needs them. I love it!!!

The boys investigating the potty that we have had for over a year without use. Jase is not potty trained and we have randomly mentioned it to him over the last year. Initially he freaked out so bad it was as if we were torturing him with hot needles when we put him on the toilet. When we ask him if he wants to wear big boy underwear he says "put the big boy underwear away!" and if we ask him if he wants to sit on the potty he says "no thank you mommy!" For Christmas he got a DVD that he already had so I exchanged it for a potty DVD where this little girl talks about her younger brother being potty trained. Well that night after watching it we pulled out the potty (which he's too big for) and he wanted to sit on it (with his clothes on). This is huge because before he would totally cry and lose his mind if we mentioned the potty. So now it hangs out in his room to get him used to seeing it. It's still a long time from now that I think he will be potty trained. He much rather wear his diaper for sure. Maybe by this summer I will have him run naked and do that tactic. This DVD has his interest so we hope that it will encourage him a little.

Jase didn't want Zach to mess with his potty so I pulled out another potty that I had and he liked that.

It snowed here in Middle Georgia which is a rare occasion. The boys loved it but it was wet! Here is Zach tasting it on his glove.

Must have been some dirt in it.

Going back for more.

Zach loves umbrella's and knows how to hold them. I saw the neighbor lady with an umbrella and I thought it was genius so we all pulled out our umbrellas so shield us from the wet snow.

Jase mostly played with his umbrella because it has Thomas as a handle.

Not too many pictures of me so here is one from the snow. Jason had the camera so there wasn't one of him. Of course now I wish there was one of us both and one of all of us.

Our humble abode. You can see the track marks in the yard from Jason having a hay day on the golf cart.

Jase loves to read books still and now that he can sit still for longer than three seconds he likes to sit on the couch with us.

I just love this mischievous look on his face.

I was playing with my camera and trying to figure it out a little but my subjects had to be really still. So my dad was trying to hold Jase still for me.

When it was snowing Jason tried to build a snowman for/with the boys. Jase was in total disapproval and was screaming and crying. We don't know why because he can not communicate that type of thought so we can only speculate that he didn't like the snow to be rolling off the ground into a ball. Jason had the snowman halfway built and Jase came rushing over screaming and knocked it over. The next day before the snow melted my mother built three snowmen in the shade of the backyard for Jase to enjoy for the next few days. He did want to kick them over but here he is helping put the nose on the one on the back porch.

For the last couple weekends we have been wanting to do a treasure hunt with the boys. I could not find treasure chests to save my life so I bought some boxes to paint. Jason spray painted them and I added the skull and crossbones. Jason made up the map and it worked out to be a Valentine's treasure hunt.

Off we go to find the clues along the way.

Zach with a fruitabu in his mouth and umbrella in hands (it was not raining or snowing). Jase wanted to wear my mother's scarf.

First clue was in the mailbox...what could it be??

Lollipops!

Now to the second clue which were some fruit snacks.

They thought it was fun.

Wait a second...Jase had to check the map to make sure we were going in the right direction.

I see some treasure chests hiding.

Fun presents inside. Look Abuelita!

Jase had to take a moment to look at his new books. These are the best books ever! It's the Tag Junior system and he loves them and I highly recommend them to your toddler/preschooler. This is what he does in the mornings before we come to get him and during nap time and also at night before he goes to sleep. What a good, smart boy!

Taking a break to eat lollipops and enjoy the gifts.

Look mommy, no hands!

Off he goes with his new Caterpillar.

Abuelito loves his grandchildren. (Jase is now 38 months and Zach is 16 months)

i heart kisses

2010-02-08T16:08:00.004-05:00

The blog "i heart faces" is having a photo contest this week that is about kisses. I am entering a photo of Zach's first day of life. I LOVE this picture. Head on over to iheartfaces to see other entries and maybe enter a photo of your own!

Rascals

2010-02-03T15:41:00.001-05:00

As always it's been pretty busy in our house. We have been concerned with Jase's communication skills and looking for resources and options. I have contacted the county school system and they will be testing him. We had his hearing and vision tested and he passed those both. We are on week 4 of getting Jase to be on a dairy/casein free diet. I have been reading about how our diet affects our behaviors and our development. Of course being totally organic, no processed foods, no food dyes, toxic free home is the ultimate goal but one step at a time. I found on a website www.generationrescue.com that removing diary from children's diets can help them with their behaviors and communication skills. You would have to read more about it since it's all new to me about the details. When I read what other parents were saying about their children and how they had improved, I thought "why not give it a shot?" He is now able to answer many questions when I ask him, whereas before he would just look at me and repeat the question. He is now starting to be able to answer "yes" or "no" to some questions. It's still a work in progress but he is improving. He is more calm and has less fits, which is huge because it was a daily occurrence for him before. I need to learn more about it and wish there was a course or something I could take because by the end of the day I just want to veg out in front of the TV. I will keep you posted on his progress.

Jase normally doesn't like to color or paint and almost always never participates at school art activities. So I thought I would give it a go and sure enough he painted a "rainbow" for me. I gave him the paint and he went at it. I asked him what he was painting, not expecting him to answer me, and he said rainbow. I almost cried.

Examining that paint before mixing them all together, which made a rainbow colored affect. Doubt he intentionally did that but it was neat.

Zach thinking he is so big eating his cereal with a spoon. It has been a week since I stopped nursing Zach and we both haven't even looked back! I was nursing him twice a day and it just seemed that I wasn't making much milk and he was getting really angry when the milk took to long to let down. So I pulled the plug and did us both a favor. Looks like my body may not produce milk past 16 months since this is when it stopped when I was nursing Jase but I thought it was because I was pregnant with Zach.

It is hard to get him to smile and look at the camera at the same time. Usually he closes his eyes because he thinks it's going to flash in his eyes.

I am not sure what went wrong with my Chocolate Mousse pie that I was making with dark chocolate tofu. Maybe I beat it too long and too high? Well this is what it looked like. Sunken in and quite awful looking. It went straight to the garbage.

Zach loves to feed himself and many times gets very angry and refuses to eat if you try to feed him. He is a stubborn little guy. See that bottle? Well, I nursed him exclusively and right before turning one I thought I would occasionally give him a bottle to just make sure he was getting enough fluids. I probably used up about two canisters of formula total. I stopped doing it for a couple of months and then one day he found a bottle in the pantry and pulled it out and was grunting and handing it to me. I filled it with warm milk and he drank the entire thing. So now when I get him up first thing in the morning and after his nap I bring him a bottle. This is the only thing that keeps him from crying and kicking when I lay him down to change his diaper. You would think that after 16 months he would realize that he has to have his diaper changed no matter what. Nope, I guess it's a habit to get angry and cry and kick when I change his diaper. What happened to my chill baby?

As you can kind of tell by this picture his front is turning grey. He was trying to play with his new big wheel and was rocking back and forth real fast and bumped his mouth on the handle part. It wasn't until about two weeks later we saw it getting grey. We took both Jase and Zach into Jason's office and had their front teeth x-rayed. We are almost certain that he will lose that tooth. Root canal on Jase?! I can't even imagine it. The x-rays were so cool though, you could see the permanent (adult) teeth sitting right behind the baby teeth waiting to come out. This may be something you know but for me I was shocked! I yelled out "it's like a shark!" Too cool.

Playing in the pine straw is tons of fun for them.

Jase loves playing with his "Christmas Thomas" in the dirt. He will do this for as long as you let him and boy does he get dirty.

I could keep this hat on him all the time. I wish I would have bought one in every size when I originally bought it for Jase. Zach is still not talking and I am only giving him his pacifier at bedtimes. He babbles but he has a lot of catching up to do. He does sign though and actually uses them to get what he wants. It is so cool when he is grunting and wanting to tell me something then sticks up his hand and does the milk sign. He shakes his head no when he doesn't want to eat something, which cracks me up because I don't remember Jase doing that at all.

Look at those sweet BIG little hands.

Jase is so much gentler with Zach since removing dairy from his diet. He actually offers him toys and food, where before he really had no interest in him except for pushing him or knocking him over.

Jase has been sick with diarrhea and some throwing up the last several days. This photo was taken yesterday afternoon. We went to the doctor and they checked for Strep but it came back negative. They then wanted me to get stool samples to be tested for parasites, E Coli, Salmonella and some other things to rule out if it wasn't a virus. When I went to get him out of his room yesterday there was throw-up all over his bedroom floor and he was covered in poo. Poor guy didn't even cry for us and I found him all curled in a ball on the floor in his Thomas tent. I have no idea how long he had been up but he was so pitiful with sunken eyes and pale skin. He still has bad rings under his eyes but seems to be feeling a little better and ate breakfast and some lunch. Hopefully his body can get rid of this and he can gain some weight back. He has lost 4 pounds.

Zach fell at school and chipped his front tooth. They called to tell me that he had fallen and weren't sure if it had chipped. Well, let's put it this way, 1/4 of his tooth is gone....uh YES he chipped his tooth!!! So now both boys have chipped front teeth.

Holiday trip

2010-01-12T16:45:00.002-05:00

Traveling almost 2,000 miles total in just under two weeks from Georgia to Virginia to Ohio then back to Georgia. That was our Christmas and New Year holiday. The trip to Virginia took FOREVER it seemed. It was a little over 13 hours. The reason it took so long is because of two traffic jams on the interstate along the way. Jase is the ultimate traveler with his blankie, pacifier and DVD set on Thomas the Tank Engine movies. Zach on the other hand doesn't really like being in the car for long periods of time and was seen literally pulling his hair out. He did watch the Thomas videos but for 13 hours straight he had had enough. After that long trip they were very happy to see their Grammy and Pawpaw and Uncle Brian and Aunt Betsy. They had had a big snow storm before we came and Jase loved the snow. All he wanted to do was push the his Thomas through it. We had our first Christmas their then we drove to Ohio to see the rest of Jason's family. It snowed while we were there which was great because we moved farther south which makes it less likely that the boys will see snow at our house. After a few days there we headed to my parent's home for a second Christmas celebration and New Years. What a wonderful time we had traveling from family to family. Many new Thomas trains and lots of wonderful stuff later and we are home. Back to the daily grind. The boys each had their "Well Checks" and as usual they are my hefty boys. Zach weighs 28 lbs 12 ozs and is 33 and 3/4 inches tall. Jase weighs 48 lbs and is 3 ft 5 inches tall. Zach was referred to the ENT to have his ears checked and see if they are preventing him from being able to hear to speak. Part of the reason he isn't talking is because I keep a pacifier in his mouth all the time so it's now only given to him during his nap and bedtime. So hopefully he will be speaking real soon.

The two monsters ready to brave the snow!

Uncle Brian showing Jase how to be on top of the mountain

Zach thought it was cold but had a good time in the snow

so cute

Digging in the dirt

Help I can't see! and yes he is waist deep in snow.

There is the trusty Thomas in the snow.

Zach learning how to jump in snow.

Is he hugging the snow??

This is what I call "at the wrong place at the right time". Jase had no idea.

Check out the gloves on Zach.

Look Grammy, I can dig in the snow too!

Christmas morning Jase did not want to put on his Santa outfit. Well, after much fighting and screaming he accepted that he was going to have to wear it. The next day he didn't want to put on his clothes, he wanted to put on the Santa outfit! .

Grammy gave them green chocolate Christmas tree lollipops to start of the day! Grandparents are the best. Playing with some of his new trains.

Zach had fun eating this and helping everyone open their presents.

If you look real close at Jase's mouth, that is the sideways smirk that means he really likes something.

Gotta keep an eye on Thomas to make sure he is going in a straight line on those tracks.

Zach and I posing

Zach being entertained by Uncle Brian or is it Uncle Brian being entertained by Zach??

Jase, Zach and me eating snow. YUM

We brought in a sink full of snow for Jase to play with so he wouldn't get so cold and neither would any of the adults. He loved it.

Christmas dinner! Check out my super cute Sister-in-law that is pregnant!

I see a resemblance

We were at Jason's grandmother's home and we had Zach sleeping in one room and Jase slept on the floor behind the couch in the room that the men were in watching sports. Prior to this I would have told you there was no way he could have fallen asleep here.

Jase and his cozy nap spot.

Our family with Nene, Jason's darling grandmother.

Jase adventuring in the Ohio snow. Thomas in hand of course.

Loves the snow and even though it was cold I loved that it would melt and Thomas would stay clean unlike the dirt in our yard that ends up being tracked through the house all over Thomas.

Check out that face of pure excitement that his Thomas is in the snow.

He is Awe.

Gotta place that snow just right like in the movies.

all bundled up

That snowsuit must have been warm to lay in the snow.

Oops he fell in the snow.

Back in Georgia at my parent's house. Zach checking out one of his cool toys.

You see this chaos. It doesn't have to be Christmas to be chaotic with all three grandchildren around! Great time and great memories.

Happy Birthday Jase!

2009-12-17T21:14:00.001-05:00

The weeks have flown by and we have done many things. The most memorable is Jase turning 3!!! We had three parties to celebrate this year. One party with some of my friends and their kids, a party with my family at home and then a party with our new friends that we have made here. The third party was just a gathering of a few moms and their kids, so we treated it like a play date. Jase was so funny whenever we sang happy birthday to him because he would act shy and look down, almost embarrassed. What does he know about being embarrassed?? He opens his presents really good and would act animated with each opening. He got many many great things from everyone. We made a Wish List at ToysRUs which helped people get him things we knew he would love.

All dressed up and ready for picture day at school.

One afternoon Jase looked up and said "Look Mommy, so many train tracks" when I looked up this is what I saw.

Best party ever!

Go Jase Go

At the jumpy place and the kids are in the baby/toddler section.

Fun floor game

This is when we were singing Happy Birthday and he was acting all shy but very excited.

The birthday crew.

Zaqui says "where is my cupcake?"

We made a big production about the cake and talked about a Thomas cake for a few weeks.

But when he actually saw it, it was priceless.

Worth every ridiculous dollar it cost.

This one is going to make his future girlfriends giggle.

Do you think he liked it?

Still can not believe it.

Don't worry the lollipop is inside that egg shaped plastic.

Admiring his new James trains in the box.

Check out the Thomas drum. Zaqui approves.

Loving his new Thomas watch. Although now I can't get him to wear it.

Abuelito gave me a spoon to takes bites right out of the cake.

Isn't it so cute how he tilts his head to look at the pictures on the side of the box?

"I can not believe it!"

He was so excited about all his gifts.

Hurry up Abuelito and open that train.

Checking the time again. Looks like time for more cake! BTW...store made cake frosting does some crazy stuff to poo that can even stain a toddler's hiney.

This is what happens when you try to take a picture of the boys together. super silly

Check out those legs. yum.

Zach learned how to walk a few weeks ago and he get more and more stable and quicker by the day.

Zach has been super whiny and cries a lot when he doesn't get his way, which is often. He also has an ear infection and a molar coming in. Poor guy.

See ya!

We hope everyone has a magnificent holiday!

Jase meets his Idol

2009-11-12T14:58:00.006-05:00

The weekend of Halloween we went to see Thomas the Tank Engine in real life! When my mother sent me info that he would be less than an hour away, I knew that it was where we needed to be. They had all sorts of fun stuff for the kids to do and then get pictures taken with Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas. Every hour they had a train ride that last about 20 minutes with Thomas pushing and pulling the coaches. Jase could not believe his eyes when Thomas came tooting his whistle. He wanted so bad to touch him but they had the area roped off since he was a mobile engine. He had a great time and didn't want to leave. They had a tent selling all sorts of Thomas stuff and I would not allow Jase nor myself to go in the tent. It's hard enough not buying everything I see in the stores. My mother ended up buying him some stuff and some he will get on his birthday then Christmas. If your child loves Thomas it is worth going just to see him in life size.

Jase not too sure of Sir Topham Hatt.

I had to get in the photo with him. Kind of creepy

cute!

They had it set up for a professional photographer to take photos on this platform.

Super excited and can not believe his eyes.

Zach going along for the ride.

very cool

They didn't want to sit with us!

Now I know why! hahahaha....

It was nap time so Zach was holding on to his blankie to keep him happy on the train ride.

They played music and sang songs on the ride and made us clap our hands.

He went back for a second trip to Sir Topham Hatt.

This time he had his picture taken by himself.

Zach attempting to eat an apple. He's my super picky eater.

He had fun playing in the dirt so his pants had to come off. Look at those muscular legs! yum

WARNING---Ineffective cabinet lock product!!!!!!

2009-11-05T14:27:00.002-05:00

If you own this above product I highly recommend throwing it away and replacing it with a better product for the safety of your children. I thought this was a great product until Jase pulled on the cabinet handle and opened it and the safety latch just popped open with no effort! I then locked it back and tried it again myself and it opened with hardly pulling on the cabinet doors. I have four of them and they all do this. I called Safety 1st and told them of my concern and they put it on record that I called and are sending me different lock called the Secure Close Handle Lock. I looked online and found several reviews for this lock stating the same thing I discovered. I hope they recall this item soon before there is a tragic accident as a result of it's faulty design.

Three weeks past due

2009-11-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

Having a good time with Abuelita. This picture was taken several weeks ago but I thought it was so cute.

Running home to see mommy

Look at those red cheeks. It was chilly outside while my mother and he walked the neighborhood.

This is one nasty looking witch. I originally hung it from the light fixture in the dining room to see what Jase would do. Well he wanted her down so I hung her on the pantry door.

Needless to say he really liked her there.

I have made some friends and joined the moms group and we went to a Pumpkin Patch that had a hay ride and farm animals and a corn maze (which we did not go through because I was afraid Jase would decide to get lost). He and the other children loved the farm animals and chased the chickens around for most of the time!

Here he is coming back from going to the pig pen after chasing the chickens and roosters in there. He was not supposed to be there and luckily came back out before jumping in the mud pit.

So he climbed up and watched from the fence.

He thinks he is soooooo big.

The boys posing for a photo. You can tell Jase will be a protector when they get older.

yum. Zach has eight teeth now. He loves to dance and prefers adult music to children's music. He will swing his arms around and bounces up and down. He doesn't say any words yet but can do the signs for milk, eat, bath, sleep, fan, finished, daddy and blows kiss with making a clicking sound with his tongue!! I haven't really taught him any others but I need to since he isn't' talking. He is very sweet but boy does he get angry when he is upset! He loves to cuddle and lay his head on your shoulder randomly. He pretty much goes to anyone that wants to hold him, including strangers. He is still just cruising and crawling but can stand on his own and has taken a couple of steps at one time but not more than that. He loves to try to get Jase's pacifier from him and suck on it. And when he can't get his way he screams and then lunges forward to bite you. I have been bitten several times trying to get him from biting Jase.

Jase sat for the entire hayride which is surprising since he has a mind of his own and wants to do things on his terms.

Jase was nervous about something but couldn't keep his eyes off of it. Here he is squatting looking from the other side of the porch.

This old lady in the right side of photo thought he was cute and kept taking his picture. She said she was an artist and was going to paint his picture. She was very serious and not real sweet so she was hard to read. I should have gotten her name and number so I could buy a painting from her.

So Zach was a little more brave but concerned about the same thing that Jase was hiding from.

Look mommy a spooky witch that moves when she senses movement.

I really shouldn't put this shirt on Jase again until he gets his hair cut because it really confuses people on his gender.

Here we were packed up a couple of weeks ago to visit my parents. We took the truck so that Jason could tow the golf cart and work on it with my dad. It's a tight squeeze in the back of the pickup truck. This was also Zach's first time in a forward facing car seat. He now doesn't cry every single time I put him in his seat which makes my life just a little bit easier.

My beautiful mother at a whopping 60 years old! And for those of you that remember what my dad looked like a few years ago, he is growing out his beard and hair again.

My precious niece Elektra. She was a good girl for dinner out for my mother's birthday.

Trouble number 1 and 2.

Jase wearing his old spider costume hat that Zach wore for Halloween this year. Jase wore it when he was 11 months old.

A picture of his luscious locks. I have been told by several people that I need to cut his hair. Maybe for his third birthday we will do that but we will see how much I actually let them cut.

A cheapo mask I bought that did not look as cute on me as it did on Zach.

Jase dressed up as a skeleton for Halloween. He was so cooperative when I went to put some makeup on him. Here he is puckering his lips. He was so excited that he kept smiling which made me mess up on the skeleton teeth a bit but he looked so cute.

I should do play makeup more often. He would never stay this still for anything else. the look in his eyes is so cute. And no he does not have white makeup on the rest of his face. He is just that pale.

Looking at himself in the mirror was priceless.

So happy to be a spooky skeleton.

Serious business here.

At first Zach did not like his brother's spooky face.

Then he was okay with it. Jase only lasted to the end of the driveway in the wagon. He wanted to walk the entire time.

My mom dressed in her cow costume pulling Zach along for the ride.

He looked so adorable and said Trick or Treat in a loud voice at every house. Some people were dressed scary and would be cautious but not afraid. At one house this man was dressed as the Grim Reaper and was really freaky but all Jase said was "hi skeleton" in his high pitched cute voice.

Here we are waiting our turn for candy.

This was Jase's first time trick or treating and he did awesome. He held my hand the entire time and really enjoyed himself.

Zach had a good time riding in the wagon. There was one house that the lady put candy in his basket and he looked inside and started digging for the candy. It was so funny to see. He does like to eat lollipops but prefers salty foods over sweet foods.

Snack time

2009-10-21T16:10:00.001-04:00

Zach had reaction to antibiotics

2009-10-20T09:16:00.000-04:00

Poor guy broke out in hives which led us to after-hours doctor. He is all better today but suffering double ear infection.

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2009-10-16T16:35:00.003-04:00

Last weekend we had some great company come to visit. We went to the fair twice this week since the boys had fall break from school. We went to Monkey Joe's and today we went to a Pumpkin Patch with the mom's group. Zach has been on and off with a fever for almost a week and both boys have runny noses. Zach had his one year check up and got all those nasty shots. He didn't cry the first or the second shots then by the third one he started to get ticked off and then started to cry. I had heard of babies not crying but I thought that was insane. So if he had only had two shots he would have been one of "those" babies. He weighs 26.6 lbs, is 31 inches tall and he has a big ole noggin.
Women pay good money for hair like this!

Wagon is popping a wheelie!

and off he goes down the little hill in our yard. He loves this so much.

Good times out in the yard with family.

You can see the pink mark on his face from his injury a few weeks ago. I forgot to mention it in the birthday post. Jase burnt his face on a light bulb that I was changing. He got angry at me and charged me and his face hit the bulb I was holding. Just goes to show how delicate their skin really is. The doctor prescribed special burn medicine for it and he kept a bandaid on it (which I could not believe) and it healed nicely. Now we just have to wait for it to fade.

The mouth says it all

Jase got some new Thomas rain boots for all these rainy days. He loves them but luckily he doesn't request to wear them day and night. at least not yet.

He's all smiles and he does this funny thing where he will either close his eyes when someone tries to talk to him or he looks down.

Jase with Zach's hamper. He kept walking and running into things trying to get to me. I got up quietly and got the camera and slipped away from the chair.

Geared up and ready for the rain

2009-10-16T16:32:00.001-04:00

Scoping out the driveway

2009-10-16T16:31:00.003-04:00

Jumping in the rain is the best

2009-10-16T16:31:00.001-04:00

He may never get the chance to say it in school

2009-10-06T20:23:00.000-04:00

Guess who is the BIG O-N-E!

2009-10-04T20:53:00.009-04:00

Zach is One now and boy did we have a fun time celebrating it. Both sets of grandparents came, Jason's brother and his family and my family were here as well. Zach was so happy about his party and didn't cry at all, not even during the singing. Poor Jase was quite overwhelmed with all the company and spent most of the day screaming and freaking out. It was so awesome to have all the family here to celebrate the special day.
Zach is still just cruising around and crawling. There have been a few times that I have seen him standing on his own but as soon as he realizes what he is doing he sits down immediately.

Zach is finally getting his eighth tooth on the bottom. He has had seven teeth for several months with no sign of more till today. On top of that his nose is runny and he has fever.

I just LOVE this picture. It is going to be one of those pictures that the kids look at when they are adults and laugh.

Jase is talking so much and just talks and talks non-stop. He loves to go to school and is doing really well with not crying at all. He still loves Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora and Little Einsteins. He still plays in his room without complaints when we put him to bed and turns out the light when he is ready to go to sleep. If it's too late then we go in there and sit on the bed till he falls asleep. He loves to read his books and play with his trains that it can keep him up really late sometimes.

Party time!

Big boy with his cake that my sister made for him.

Seriously the cutest cake...EVER!

Proud parents and birthday boy!

That's my cake!

So much fun!

He liked sticking his finger in the cake and then licking the tip.

Daddy had to help him get into his cake.

Big brother checking things out

It's all good with a cupcake in your mouth.

Dirty boy

He liked the presents but his favorites was one of the bows.

Gift table. Check out the artwork on the gifts my sister and her boyfriend gave. He painted them with hints to what was inside the packages.

The present from my parents was a big hit. Good thing we have no furniture because it was super easy to walk around the house to keep them happy.

My sister and the Man of the Hour

I don't know how much Jase weighs currently but it amazes me that he is so heavy but you can see his ribs and he isn't "fat."

Everyone having a good time in the "water park."

Zach loves to point, even if it's at nothing.

Big News!

2009-09-16T21:37:00.002-04:00

Zach is officially finished with his ISR swim lessons. He had to do a test where he had to wear his clothing including a regular diaper and shoes. He did so amazing. She even took his soaking wet shirt off and placed his over his face while he was on his back in the water. He immediately took it off and kept floating. My camera lost memory space before I could capture this on video. :( So typical, right?! Jase is going to take a few more weeks but she says he will get it eventually. He just likes to play in the water and isn't afraid which makes it hard for him to learn to "survive" since he doesn't feel any threat. I will be so happy when he is finished because it's frustrating packing them into the car every afternoon and not letting them eat till after the lesson. At least now it's just Jase I have to worry about starving.

Jason and I went to the UGA v S.Carolina game. It's a two hour drive but was worth it since he and I had a blast. We got to walk alone together holding hands like the old days. This is my favorite picture of the day.

Settling right in

2009-09-09T21:22:00.005-04:00

Life has been quite busy and fun the past few weeks. The boys continue to have their daily swim lessons. Zach will be possibly done this Friday!! Jase on the other hand still has at least a couple more weeks. He has discovered that it's easier to lift his head out of water instead of rolling back over to his back to rest and get his breath. The instructor says that he is not afraid of the water and that is the problem we are having. He isn't afraid of getting water in his mouth and swallowing it. Cross our fingers that he gets it soon! He isn't allowed to swim outside of the lessons until he "gets it". The boys have been going to preschool and are doing great. Jase is now very excited about going and doesn't even look back when they take him out of the car in the drop off line. What a huge difference from a couple weeks ago. Zach is having fun and doesn't cry much while he is there. I don't expect him not to cry because he cries when he is with me. It is such a wonderful break for me to have those six hours by myself.

So I joined a mom's group to get together with some other women with children the same age as ours. We have played at the playground at Burger King once and last week we went to a Fire Station. It was really neat to go into the fire station and see where the action takes place. Jase was a wild man and was very excited to see other children his size. While other kids stand next to their mothers, he walks around looking at what ever he wants to see and gets irritated with me if I tell him to stay. So I look forward to more playgroups at playgrounds where he can run around till he drops and I don't have to worry as much.

Jase was very nervous when we put him in the fire truck.

Zach wasn't too sure either but didn't cry.

One of the few photos that I have with me and the boys! Too bad I am the only one looking at the camera.

Once a week we go to Monkey Joe's (which is an inflatable jumping place). He loves it and it pretty much releases about a tenth of his energy. His favorite is a very tall slide and he goes up and down over and over and over. There was one that once you go in you can't see your child till they come out and he used to be really afraid of it. I actually had to lift him out of it over my head one time when he was screaming in fright. But this weekend he went in and was fine and kept going in an actually stayed in there for quite sometime. At first I thought he must have exited without me seeing but then he came down the slide. Who knows what he was doing in there!

A couple times a week after Jason gets home from work he takes the boys for a golf ride through the neighborhood. Jason is liking his job and really enjoys the guy he works with. We haven't made any friends in the neighborhood yet. Jason has talked to a couple of them but I am rarely outside to see any of them. It's a very quiet neighborhood and it seems that many family has older children living with them or the children have left the house.

The boys absolutely LOVE riding on the golf cart.

I love this photo. Check out Zach's hair.

I have made friend's with one of the mother's in Jase's class. So we thought we would make it fun for the boys to get together outside of school so that they would feel more comfortable at school and get excited when they saw each other. She is the first person I have met that is actually someone I could really hang out with other than with our kids. It is really nice to have someone with a child Jase's age to do girl things with and mom things with.

Jase really loved pushing this around and around better than being on it.

Zach just relaxing watching the other children play. He does real good sitting in his stroller but will get upset if it's too long.

Why is it that when ever I see this photo I think of future broken bones and stitches in my future? He is all boy and thinks he is real big.

Move out of the way!

He does like to push this truck several times throughout the day. Look at that leg and foot.

Zach is still just crawling and pushing random objects around the floor. Not sure when this guy will walk!

Erin came to visit with Jack (almost 5 yrs old) and Bowen (2 years old)this past weekend. This is what I found around the corner one afternoon. The boys all sitting together and Zach screeching with pleasure. We had a great time with them visiting us.

Wild crazy boys! Hey Bowen, that's not your pacifier!! Little rascal kept taking Zach's bobo and sharing it with him.

My mother bought Jase a costume. We were afraid that he would be scared of it but he loved it and wore it for over an hour, except for the mask part. He sure is a cute spooky skeleton. Jase is speaking non-stop. His teacher told me that he was so smart, she coudn't believe it. He knows all his colors and the alphabet (all the time) and 1-10 and can count to twenty. I told her I needed to teach him to be able to recognize numbers larger than 10 and she told me not to teach him too much because that wouldn't leave much for her! Funny.

Zach has learned that screaming is a fun thing to do and does it whenever Jase screams and on his own for fun and for frustration purposes.

Zach has learned to sign eat, sleep and milk. He signs milk when he first wakes up and it's so cute.

just in case the video can't be viewed above. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ_UT-PFg_s

Big boys

2009-08-11T10:19:00.001-04:00

This is where Jase hangs out a lot of the day. We eat breakfast and snacks here. Sometimes even lunch. He likes to stand there because he can see me and the TV when it's on. He will play with his toys and read books there too.

We went to the beach with some great friends who have children around our children's ages. They are so cute to see interact together.

What better than friends for life?!

They thought this exersaucer was so cool.

Jase showing the boys how to play with it.

Zach watching the boys play in the kiddie pool. I forgot to mention that Zach weighed 24.3 lbs at his last well check appointment. No shots...thank goodness, it is so sad to do that to them.

Jase wearing daddy's sunglasses. This pool was only 1 1/2 feet deep.

How awesome is this for the kids?!?! They had a blast. It was on the fourth floor roof that was extended out from the condos.

Not sure who had more fun?

The beautiful butterfly slide. Check out the view of the ocean!

This pool worked out great. Jase will no longer be able to use any flotation device since it will mess up his new skills of water survival that he is learning.

Just watching the boys...still. Mommy why can't we get in?Jase's language and communication is really really growing by the day. He can say any word and I call him my little echo. He knows how to ask questions and answer some of my questions. Soon we will be able to have conversations.

Zach is a happy boy and smiles all the time. He is a cuddler too and lays his head down on your chest or shoulder. He is vocal and grunts to talk but mostly happy as a lark.

When we got to the condo we all sat outside on the patio and talked. It was so late but there was no way Jase was going to be able to sleep yet. So while we were out there he pointed below us to the water and said "Look the E is coming out of the water". Needless to say, it took the adults several minutes to figure out what he was talking about. After that, it was all we saw too.

part of our view

The also had the largest water show in America at this place.

Enjoying some ice cream.

Big strong squeeze hug from Jax.

Time to pack up and leave. Great time.

Eating some cereal before his first day of preschool. He did great. No tears from either one.

Mommy is so silly taking so many pictures of us.

Jase has this Thomas coloring book. We were flipping through the pages and he says "Look mommy it's Henry" I was stunned that he knew which one it was since there were no colors and he looked like many of the other trains. So I asked him "Well how did you know it was Henry if there is no color on the pages?" (knowing he would not be able to answer me because he never had before) so then he says "Henry is number 5" I just sat there for a few seconds and was shocked! He answered me, that means he did know what the heck I was saying! Wow. (Sorry for sideways picture but could not figure out how to straighten it once I downloaded it to blog.)

2009-08-02T20:36:00.003-04:00

The last two weeks have been full of events. Jason and I both had our birthdays. I tried to cook a special dinner for us for Jason's birthday. Along with little boogers at my ankles slowing me down, the potatoes took forever that I wanted to make into twice baked potatoes so we just had regular baked potatoes and then the grill caught fire but luckily did not damage it. So for my birthday we went out to eat. We went to Japanese Steak house which was so good but Jase FREAKED out when they lit the grill on fire. Poor guy about tipped over the high chair trying to get away and was screaming and the look of terror on his face was so pitiful. For ten minutes afterwards he held onto my arm leaning his head on me saying "it's okay mommy, you right (you're alright)". I felt sooooo bad. My sister came this weekend and got to see our house for the first time and it was wonderful to have her here. I registered the boys in preschool and they start in one week. I can now go grocery shopping by myself and am so excited about it! Jase will go three mornings a week and Zach will go to two mornings for three hours a each day. Tomorrow also starts the beginning of the boys swimming lessons. It is through a program called ISR. It is going to be at 4-6 week program with 10 minute lessons everyday of the work week for the amount of weeks it takes for the children to learn the skills to survive. These are not your ordinary swim lessons. Check out the link if you are interested in learning more.
What do you get when you leave Zach's bowl of food to close to him? A real messy boy!

Zach is really scooting himself around when he lets you put him down. He loves to dance and when we are in the car he will push his feet against the back of the seat when he is really jamming out. We listen to children's music, my music stations and the Black Eyed Peas CD which is the boys favorite. Jase's is also trying to learn the beats and words to the songs. Boom Boom Pow!

Zach's pincer skills are really good and he loves to pick up all sorts of things, including nasty bugs outside. My sister was so traumatized when he did this while in her care. I had seen the dead bug outside so I knew why she was so upset. It was huge! We have been doing a few signs with Zach and he has caught on to the "eat" sign and uses the back of his hand and hits his mouth and makes the sound "ah ah ah".

Jase thought my breast pump was a "spy scope"! Here he is demonstrating them for us. Spy scope is on the Diego show.

At least once a week we got to Burger King for Jase to play on the indoor playground. He loves to wear a crown every time we go and even wears it days later. He is talking so well and is starting to be able to tell me things he wants or needs or just wants to say his thoughts. His overall temperament is getting more pleasant and less and less emotional outbursts are occurring. Thank goodness!

I am back online!

2009-07-15T21:40:00.002-04:00

We are moved in and trying to get settled. That is going to take some time since things don't happen overnight. Right now we have little furniture since we lived in smaller house before and some of the furniture we have has to go (well, at least to the basement). I am dying for new family room furniture! Who knew furniture was so ridiculously expensive!! Ugh. So for now the house is kind of bare inside. We had Jason's parents and my dad help us move in. So we have had tons of family time between a week at the beach and then a week here. I am learning my way around town but with GPS it isn't too hard. Jason is enjoying his work and keeping busy. Here are some photos taken over the last few weeks.

Zach at Jason's "graduation" dinner. Zach clapped whenever everyone else was clapping. We didn't get to bring Jase because we were driving to and from Augusta in one evening and it would have been a nightmare with him. A very happy moment in our lives!

Jase playing outside. He sees train tracks for his trains no matter where he is. Including my shoulders and the neckline's of my shirts!

Here he is getting this Thomas on an adventure through the mulch.

Hey Jase, Look it's Abuelito and Abuelita driving up!

Yeah!!!!

We went out to dinner to celebrate Jason finishing school. Here he is showing his muscles with Daddy and Uncle Syd.

Bubbles taste good mommy!

He is insanely crazy about getting in bath and actually will try to fall out of your arms to get in.

Ladies please don't be jealous of this hair.

Zach loves drinking out of his sippy cups. He also loves blowing the train whistles that Jase has. He prefers to be held but for some bouts of time he will play with toys and walk around the coffee table. He is finally in a crib which is helping him in his pulling up and sitting back down skills. I had him in a cradle for over 7 months and then he was in a pack'n'play while we were traveling and in my parent's other house. He has 6 teeth and it seems like there will be another one popping out sometime soon.

Jase enjoying his new "waterpark" with Jason's parents.

This picture reminds me of my sister when she was a baby. He loves being in bed just as much as Jase did. I can lay him in bed and he just talks and plays till he falls asleep and then the same thing when he wakes up.

For those of you that have been following this blog since I started it. This is the float we used when Jase was just a little baby. He was just relaxing in it, so chill. For a moment. He has really been loving swimming. He has this great flotation device called "puddle jumper" and it really gives him confidence and he just swims around by himself without too much struggle. Now if we could convince him to keep his mouth closed and stop swallowing the water and sometimes choking on it.

Woohoo!

I caught my mother in a precious moment with Zach after swimming.

Having good times with my dad. Jase is getting somewhat better with his major meltdowns. But is getting a little bit more vocal and doing this annoying screaming thing when he gets upset. And in a house with almost all hardwood floors, that can get pretty freaking loud! He loves to help me around the house by feeding the dog, throwing away trash, putting his toys away and putting the clothes in the washer and dryer. Now if I could just figure out how to get him to put his toys and books away on his own.

I thougth this picture was so adorable. He was smiling and squinting while I was taking his picture. You can see the big space between his front top teeth and how they are kind of crooked.

What a big boy wearing 12-18 month and some 24 month clothing. Jase is in 4T and 5T, although the waist of most pants are too tight when I buckle them.

Zaqui likes walking around the coffee table and only goes to the right.

You see the couches. I have couch covers for them but I am hoping that exposing them will encourage Jason to get new ones sooner! ;)

Jase now lets me put hats on him and he actually keeps them on. Check out how he stacked his toy.

Tasty Morsel.

Brothers

2009-07-14T08:40:00.001-04:00

Getting some shopping done at Publix

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Home Sweet Home

2009-07-01T16:49:00.001-04:00

Well, we have moved in to our new home. Things have been hectic to say the very least. Still no Internet till next week then I will back on track to posting weekly. So here she is.

Beach Time 2009

2009-06-26T22:36:00.001-04:00

I finally have a computer to post more than a sentence. We have been at my parents "spare" house for three weeks and now at the beach for a week. Zach is now able to sit up on his own from the laying down position. Which has made him get "stuck" and I have to go in and hold him and then lay him back down. Today he went to sleep sitting up and then fell forward. My dad totally thought he was suffocating and I had to move him and prove to my dad that he was fine. Jase has been talking so good but he many times says Thomas, Little Einstein, Dora and Diego phrases so you have to know the story lines to understand what he is saying. I have mostly stayed inside the beach house with the baby and Jason has been outside with Jase. Here are some photos of the family trip.

Don and Cheryl

The boys and Mom and Dad.

My parents. How freaking cute?!

The entire family (minus my sister).

Me and my BIG baby!

I had to hold Zach's hands to keep them out of his mouth. What a sweet baby.

Kind of awkward looking but it is actually one of the best! It's hard getting a picture of all of us looking.

It's Official!!!!!!

2009-06-13T13:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Jason's Graduation. We are done with Augusta. I am so proud of my husband. We are supposed to close on our new house June 30th and we are so thrilled to close one chapter and start a new one in our lives. Here is a picture of his certificate. (Woohoo...per Cheryl!)

GAME TIME!

2009-06-09T15:22:00.001-04:00

At the local baseball game

Sleeping beauties

2009-06-07T22:48:00.001-04:00

Never in the last two a half years would I have done this. I am a nap nazi and can admit it. But a friend came into town and I wanted to go shopping. Zach fought going going to sleep but Jase just turned his head and went to sleep. This is only the second time Jase has slept in stroller since he was a baby. I am out in the boonies so for me to do anything someone is going to lose a nap. This precious nap ended when some other children screamed thirty minutes into it. It was fun and peaceful while it lasted. BTW...I have no internet which explains the lack of posts. This one is through my phone as my last one was.

muscle baby

2009-06-01T20:55:00.002-04:00

Zach wearing a precious outfit that my cousin Michael wore when he was a baby that my Titi Liany had sewn.

wrecking ball and giggle monster

2009-05-19T22:02:00.007-04:00

If you see the camera shake it's because Jase has rammed his body into mine.

This is how Jase is most of the day. Poor Zach.

Jase says "Swiper the Fox" so funny. (for those that don't know, he is a character on Dora show).