We are the Littles

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2011-12-21T08:14:00.005-05:00

I love Christmas.... I really do! I love the lights and parties and goodies and presents. I love there is madness with shopping, and decorating and programs and school stuff and work stuff......... and then just when you can't stand it anymore, you get time off to spend relaxing (and recovering) with your family.

I love Christmas specials on TV and corny Christmas movies.... but I love slowing down to watch them and snuggle the babies that are growing up far too quickly even more! The kids are SOOOOO much fun this year. Kennedy just loves that everything is pretty, but Jaydan is at prime Christmas age.... old enough to anticipate and be soooo excited about it all! I wish I could just stop the hands of time right NOW!

Merry Christmas! Take a moment to remember the meaning of it all..... and hold your loved ones close!!
P.S. Although that pic looks sweet enough, it was about .2 seconds before she socked him with her cup. Ahhhhh, siblings ;)

Fabulous Fall

2011-10-18T08:18:00.007-04:00

The weather has been absolutely perfect the last few weeks. I mean, t-shirt during the day,
windows open with warm blankets at night perfect.

The kids and I spent Saturday playing at the park. Kennedy is now walking all over.... back and forth from the playhouse to the swings several times. Busy, busy.

Jaydan's preschool uses that park for recess, so its not AS much fun as it used to be for him. Still, its fun for me to see the new ways he's playing now that he's playing on his own there, with other kids. His class also took their first field trip...... to the Pumpkin Patch. I almost died of anxiety, he had a ball and so all was well. Now, I'm debating on still taking the family or not? We've gone every year, but he just went and Kennedy doesn't have a strong opinion either way.... yet. I have time to decide. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the Fall Fabulous-ness!

Little Bitty Steps!

2011-09-08T08:35:00.002-04:00

Kennedy is finally a walker! She'll be chasing big brother before we know it!

Jaydan Goes to School

2011-08-15T12:11:00.001-04:00

We had a late night the night before school started..... there was no "early to bed" for the Little house. See, the kids and I were sitting in the Salt Lake City airport, waiting for a delayed flight when Jaydan should have been getting ready for bed. I was torn on sending him that first day, but he insisted he wanted to go.

There were a few morning tears (him, not me I'm proud to report). The worst part, apparently was trying to get a few good pictures! This next picture breaks my heart, because his nerves are so obvious. He never was able to verbalize that he was nervous but obviously, he was. It's painful, as a parent to see your kid be nervous!

He hesitated for just a moment, when we went into his classroom. There were kids there already and it was busy.... and loud. But we sat down with a puzzle and before long, he was ready for Mama to go...... and told me so! So I steeled my own nerve and walked back to the car..... as Jaydan took his very own big step. Hard to believe how fast my baby boy is growing up!

Summer Fun!

2011-07-29T08:05:00.000-04:00

Our summer days have been filled with fun times and watermelon, just like any childhood summer should be!

Both kids love to be outside, when its not too hot.... and we all enjoy Jaydan being able to burn off some energy!

I can't believe how fast the summer has gone..... now its coming to an end and the Holidays will be here before we know it!

4th of July

2011-07-19T13:37:00.005-04:00

We had a busy and fun 4th. Jeff ended up getting a day off so we loaded the kiddos up and headed to Lake Lanier Water Park. It was SO FUN and Jaydan was SO BRAVE (a little more brave than this Mama was comfortable with). He had to do most of them on his own, which terrified me to death but he didn't hesitate.... just dove and/splashed right in!
Kennedy had fun too, which is good since it was part of her birthday celebration! They have a very cool, 18 inch deep, kiddie pool with all sorts of features and sprinklers. She was good with it all, as long as it didn't get her in the face! It was a great time for all four of us and we were glad we got some time as a family (that doesn't happen as often as we'd like).
On the actual forth, the plan was to have a pool party at Miss Heather's and then to the Fireworks in Auburn. It rained all afternoon so we played games and visited instead and then I realized that Auburn AND Winder did their fireworks on Saturday, so we'd missed them!!! Jaydan only got to see a few in our neighborhood and Kennedy slept through that. That was lame of me and I'm sorry they didn't get to see any..... oh well, better luck next year!

Teeth

2011-06-30T12:16:00.000-04:00

Here are those two teeth I was telling you about......

Can't see em? How about now???

Kennedy is ONE!

2011-06-18T12:22:00.000-04:00

Its hard to believe our sweet baby girl is a whole year old already! Kennedy, at one you are:

* So sweet. You are generous with your hugs and kisses and LOVE to snuggle! If your brother puts his head down by you, you wrap your little arms around his head and slob him up w/ a BIG kiss!

* Such a joy.... your smiles come fast and easy and you light up the whole room. You love to flirt and if you catch someone's eye, you tilt your head waaaaayyyy to one side and just unleash the biggest grin.

* A happy baby. Just recently, you have started to show a little more "spice" and will stiffen up and scream during diaper changes, etc. But it blows over quickly and you get right back to being your sweet self. You have been very easy going and a lot less demanding than Big Brother was at this age ;)

* Have two teeth... finally! You started crawling on June 1, just in time for your birthday.... and just took off like you'd been doing it all of your life!

We are so blessed to have you complete our family! We love you soooo much and have enjoyed watching your personality develop and look foward to seeing even more of who you become!

Oh, this is a funny little side-story. You HATE feet...... look at the look on your face when mine get too close! Funny girl!!

Birthday Weekend

2011-06-06T07:58:00.024-04:00

Jaydan's big birthday weekend kicked off on Friday night with the arrival of Nana and Pop from Florida. They came up early and got a hotel with a pool...... heaven for a FOUR year old boy! We had early dinner and then the kids and I did some swimming.

Kennedy LOVED the water.... spent most of her time floating on her back w/ her feet straight up in the air. She discovered pretty quickly that it is VERY funny to slap the surface of the water to make a big splash.... not QUITE so funny when the splash gets YOU in the face!

Jaydan was quite the little fish, too. He hadn't been around a pool since last summer's swim lessons with Granny, so I was curious to see where he was with it. He picked up right where he left off! He floated on his back, laid on his tummy on my hands and kicked his feet and loved jumping off the side to me..... he even went clear under a couple of times! AND he got a very big "squit gun" that he had a lot of fun playing with, too!

The party was Saturday. Jaydan hung out with Nana and Pop, while Kennedy and I headed home early to finish a few last minute things. We started out at the park at our Church for cake and presents. Its just dawning on me as I write this that he was the only little boy there!!! He didn't seem to mind! Ms. Heather, Libby and Jennifer came and Lola, Anabel and Lydia....friends from daycare.

After we did cake and presents there and then anyone who wanted to, moved on to Jungle Jumpers. That ended up just being us and the Anderson ladies..... and it was so much fun! I think the grown ups had as much fun as the kiddos did and even Kennedy got in on the action!

What great fun to celebrate a fourth birthday!

Jaydan Chase is FOUR!

2011-05-28T11:55:00.000-04:00

Jaydan, at FOUR (I can hardly believe it), you are:

*FUNNY!! You are also very sweet and still have a little naughty streak! You keep Daddy and I laughing and its hard to be in a bad mood around you.... unless, of course, you are the one CAUSING the bad mood;)

* SOOOO, so sweet and protective of your baby sis! You are her favorite person and you can't get enough of her either! And woe be unto the boy or girl that might accidentally hurt her!

* Super smart...... you know all of your letters and the sounds that most of them make. You are working on learning to write your name and you seem to have a pretty amazing memory. You are LOVING the learning apps that we've put on the Ipad for you and are learning so much every day!

* STILL sucking those fingers. You say that you are going to quit or only do it at night, but that only lasts until something doesn't go right and we frequently find you "sneaking a finger fix".

*You are busy, busy.... and love to play ANYTHING outside and with your trains and race cars inside. You also like to play most sports and you LOVE to read w/ your Mama!

*An advocate for the little guy.... you get into lots of scrapes at daycare for defending smaller kids when a bigger kid is doing something you don't like. I get reports of you rushing to love on the smaller kids too, when they are hurt or sad!

* Getting sooooo big! You tell your Mama not to worry, you won't grow up too fast.... BUT YOU ARE! You tell us frequently that you love us "better'n anybody" and sing little made up songs about loving your family or each of us individually. Soooo sweet!

We love you soooo much, Buddy and are so proud of the BIG Boy you are growing into!

Kennedy's First Words

2011-05-05T12:04:00.004-04:00

So far we've got "Mama", "Dada", "Bubba", "Biiiiihhhhh bye" (spoken like a southern belle) and her favorite.... "Uh oh".
Its good that she's talking quite a bit, because she still is not crawling and still doesn't have teeth. She scoots around and around or backwards to get where she wants to go and frankly, just doesn't seem overly ambitious to go any further than that.
Jaydan swears she says things like "I love my big brother" and "its ok for Jaydan to take my toy", when no one else is around, but we don't have any proof of that happening ;).

Easter

2011-04-24T12:20:00.001-04:00

So much FUN to dress the kiddos up for Easter. We went to Church, hunted Easter Eggs (or at least the few that the neighbor's dog didn't beat us to) and were otherwise lazy! Jaydan DID get to participate in the Resurrection Egg event at our church. They called all of the kids up and he raised his hand and was called on to stand up in front of everyone and announce what was in "his egg" ("A Cwoss", in case any of you were wondering). Its so strange that he's at an age where he's doing things totally independent of either parent. I was very proud of him.... and a little sad that he's getting so big and brave that he doesn't need his Mama so much anymore!

But enough about that..... I have so many cute Easter photos for you to enjoy!

And this is how you know its time to be done w/ the picture taking ;)

Granny and Miss Effy

2011-04-12T08:19:00.010-04:00

One big event that happened over the winter was a much anticipated visit from Granny and "Miss Effy", a.k.a. Debbi Duffy. My Dad and Mike Duffy have been bff's since they were eight years old and essentially, the entire Duffy Family is like just an extended version of our own family. Mom and Deb..... best friends. Their daughter Sunny and I..... there really aren't words to describe our relationship. Kind of like sisters, but better. As long as I can remember, the Duffy's have been around, to help celebrate the good times and to scrape us up and put us back together when things aren't so great. SO, we were excited, to say the least.

It was just a quick trip, one long weekend BUT it happened to be Granny's birthday. With such a short trip, we didn't want to plan any HUGE adventure..... to capitalize on the Granny/Grand baby snuggle time, I guess. But we did do the flea market and I tried to expose Deb to "southern culture" as much as I could in three days. Aunt Deb gave Jaydan a real run for his money..... taught him a fun new song (that I can remember her teaching ME when I was about his age). She also knows that if you say "smart fart.... took the elevator" to a three year old boy, you will be the funniest, coolest person EVER! It was a wonderful visit and we enjoyed them so much. And girls, be thinking about when you can come back!

The Most Magical Place on Earth!

2011-03-30T08:45:00.016-04:00

The Little Family braved the odds and set out on a trip to Disney World! It was with some trepidation.... our kids are pretty little, spring break means its crowded and its EXPENSIVE, but we decided to go for it and we are sooooo glad we did.

We got to the park at around 8:30 on Saturday morning and got right in. The first couple of rides we had almost no line for. We started off with "Gumbo, the Flying Elephant", which was one of Jaydan's favorites. We rode lots of rides and he liked them all..... except for Peter Pan. He cried, and tried to escape and then got off of it and said "I HATED that wide" (ha ha). Kennedy rode rides too, and she seemed to love the excitement too!

We took a break at about one and went back to the hotel for lunch and a nap. It did us all good and I absolutely believe it kept our kids from melting down. We hit the park again at dinner time.... we had reservations for a character dinner, which given the fact that Jaydan had been TERRIFIED of them earlier in the day, I was convinced was going to be a huge waste of money. At first he was timid and the next thing we know he's elbowing his way through the crowd to Piglet! He said he "just decided to be brave". So we ended up getting some great pics!

We saw some of the electric parade but by that time everyone was starting to get tired so we decided to do the Tea Cups and then head for the gates. The Tea Cups was MY favorite and Jaydan and I had so much fun spinning and spinning.... he loved it! And then he stepped off and bit it, because he was too dizzy to walk! Like every good Mama, I rolled laughing!! Right as we were passing Cinderella's castle on the way out, they started the fireworks so we got to see the whole show as we walked out, but then got right on the Ferry and beat the crowds on the Mass Exodus after than. It was a long, exhausting, completely wonderful day, full of memories for all of us! An extra special guardian angel helped make our trip possible and we are so grateful that we were able to enjoy such a magical day with our babies!

So Big

2011-03-03T07:48:00.003-05:00

Kennedy has been grabbing at the spoon now for a week or so when being fed. I often give her an "empty" spoon to play with and continue to feed her. Ms. Heather (the wonder sitter) decided to let her actually try to feed herself (and emailed the pics to me at work!)!

Clearly not a "neat" procedure but it looks like she had some success! And Ms. Heather, I'm glad that went down at your house, instead of mine!

Jaydan goes to the dentist

2011-02-15T13:09:00.003-05:00

Please do NOT be fooled by this picture. He was not nearly as brave or charming as he appears :) He had to sit in his Mama'a lap for his cleaning and it was only AFTER that was all over that he was willing to sit in the chair long enough for a photo op.

Big Cups for the Baby Girl!

2011-02-15T13:08:00.002-05:00

Kennedy is kind of drinking out of sippy cups now. TECHNICALLY is more like chew, chew, chew, swallow what accidentally falls into her mouth. But never fear, Big Brother is always right there to assist!

Precious girl, you're growing up too fast. Please slow down!

See how helpful the Big Brother is?

Snowmageddon

2011-01-17T12:02:00.002-05:00

The kids and I went to bed on January 9 and woke up the next morning to a Winter Wonderland! I mean REALLY. We got about 8 or 9 inches and for the first time since starting my job, Court was cancelled and State Agencies were CLOSED! Then came a day or so of freezing rain and metro Atlanta pretty much ground to a halt. I ended up being out of work for A WEEK! The roads were so slick and temps didn't get above freezing until Thursday afternoon. It was all fun and games until about 1/2 way through Tuesday and then the Natives started getting restless. It was nice to be off work, not so nice to literally be home bound for an entire week.

Jaydan had fun playing in the snow for about an hour or so, two different times and then said, "Mama, I'm SICK of the snow". Me too, son. Me too!

Kennedy didn't get to play but she did go out to see it.... she ended up sick that week to, to make matters worse. She didn't seem to mind the extra snuggle time!

Christmas Day

2010-12-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

This was THE YEAR for Christmas at The Little House. I have no doubt that I will never forget the joy Jaydan experienced in waking up (at 2:30 a.m.) to discover Santa had indeed made it to our house. There is NOTHING better than experiencing that magic through your baby's eyes.

He wanted a "train with a track" soooooo bad. It was all he could talk about. And Santa delivered. As I mentioned, he woke us up with screams of "Santa brought me a train with a track" and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT" SUPER early. We didn't mind ;) Daddy got caught up for a minute and thought maybe we should let him open the rest of his gifts right then but we collected ourselves and got a few more hours sleep! It WAS a huge success though and we had to really work to pry him away from it, even to open more gifts!

He also really wanted a gun this year and while I had reservations about it, WE grew up around guns and turned out ok, right? And besides, how could I resist this?

Kennedy was precious too..... she was so happy and patted all of her presents and tried to help open them. So much more easy going than her big brother was at this age!

In the interest of full disclosure, Santa came to our house a day early and all of those festivities took place on the morning of Christmas Eve. The kids and I picked Jeff up at work Christmas Eve night and we set out for his parents house, where we met up with the rest of the family. We enjoyed seeing everyone sooooo much and even Mother Nature got in the Christmas Spirit and sent us some snow in Tallahassee, Florida on Christmas Day! Naturally, the kids got spoiled rotten.... er.... um, actually we ALL did but our favorite gift of all was the time spent with family!

Playing Catch Up

2010-12-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

I know, I know.... I'm behind again. Or still behind, whatever. Anyway, here we go.... These are just a few cute random pics from around the Holidays. Not really pertinent, but too cute not to post.
Jaydan is my big helper in the kitchen. And this is what happen when he has too many of our sugary treats!

Sissy is not much help yet, but she sure is cute!

Santa is watching!

2010-12-24T08:14:00.000-05:00

I heart this video. Jaydan's reaction was priceless! And it was excellent bribe material for several weeks.

Christmas Montage 2010

2010-12-20T12:32:00.007-05:00

Nothing like a good belly-laugh (and I love how Kennedy's look is saying "What the???")

Aw, they love Daddy!

Pretty Girl!

Jaydan looks "ham-sum"

The girls!

The best Christmas gifts EVER!

Santa Pics 2010

2010-12-14T13:07:00.005-05:00

Oh, these are funny to me! Jaydan had been talking soooo much smack about seeing Santa. He was going to tell him all about what he wanted, and sit on his lap, blah, blah, blah. Well, when it came time to perform, he choked! It took me 20 minutes to get THIS good of a pic... and even then he looks like he's ready to bolt!

The whole time I was trying to talk her big brother into talking to Santa, Kennedy was chatting him up. Ok, I can't lie.... she was looking for something to eat.

This Santa is apparently the best our friendly neighborhood Walmart could do. Can't really say I blame Jaydan for having some reservations. But hey, who doesn't already have to go to Walmart this time of year..... and its free!

This reminds me of Jaydan's second Christmas, where we tried SEVERAL times to get a Santa pic and he was terrified EVERY. TIME. I'm going to hunt those pics down to share with you, we have quite a montage of "Screaming Kid with Santa" pics from that year. Maybe, as his Mom, I shouldn't thing they're funny. But I do.

Pumpkin Carving 2010

2010-12-09T12:04:00.011-05:00

Ok, so I am three holidays behind! Here are the kiddos carving pumpkins!

"You mean you WANT me to dig in and make a big mess?"

Kennedy got in on the action too.... poor thing was having a horrible eczema flair up.

The finished product! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Kennedy....

2010-11-29T12:41:00.001-05:00

loves, loves, LOVES this baby.
Weird how young they start these gender things huh?

Florida

2010-11-10T08:39:00.028-05:00

Jeff was finally able to secure a long weekend, so we packed up and headed south for a trip to visit his Grandparents in Florida. It was our first vacation as a family of four and we were looking forward to it. The ocean is so calming for me and Jeff enjoys fishing and we all enjoy visiting with family so its a great little get away for us.
Cape San Blas is a little beach near where MawMaw and Grandaddy live that is probably our favorite place on the planet. Jeff took me there the very first time I visited him in Florida and we spent many weekends there when we lived in Florida, so it is definitely part of "us".

It is so beautiful.... and totally exposed to the Gulf, so depending on the weather, it often has changed TOTALLY from the last time we were there so its almost like visiting a whole new beach But best of all, there is NEVER anyone else there. Its our own private little piece of heaven.

Grandaddy joined us for fishing this time, and I am so glad to have captured some of that special time "on film". Jeff and his Grandaddy are very close and I think fishing was always kind of a bonding ritual for them.... it filled my heart with joy to see Jaydan brought into that circle. He's growing into such a little man.

Zoe got to go too... don't tell the beach police. She LOVES it there too and her and Jaydan passed several hours running up and down the beach, rolling in the sand.

Kennedy was content to snooze in the sand, until she got hungry then she cried and pitched a fit... exactly like her Mama ;) It was just about 80 degrees and the water was smooth... absolutely perfect for a day at the beach!

We got wrapped up in the Florida vs. Georgia football game and missed "Ghosts on the Gulf" trick-or-treating in Port St. Joe. Fortunately Jaydan was happy to get in his costume and hit a gas station up for some candy :)
Our trip was not all fun and games.... we had a little scare with Jeff's diabetes and spent one day in the hospital. All is well that ends well and I will say that thanks to the staff, even a day at the hospital there is relatively pleasant. We were all spoiled by Jeff's grandparents and the time that our kids gets to spend with them is precious. All in all, it was a great trip and a great little escape for our Little family!

Fall Fun 2010

2010-10-28T11:52:00.017-04:00

I had been trying to hold off on the Pumpkin Patch until Jeff could go with us. On Sunday, it finally dawned on me that if were going to go this year it was "now or never". So I loaded up the kids and off we went!

Washington farms has done a lot of work since last year, adding lots of fun activities for kiddos, which is good since Jaydan had little or no interest in the "ghostes" (goats) or any other animals this year. The did put in new fun slides (it will be a few years before we try the big one again), a big air pillow jumper thing, a kiddie corn maze, etc. J really wanted to try the corn maze, but he kept trying to eat the corn right off the stalks and I was afraid the hour-long, full-size one may prove too much for both of us.

It was a fun day with my babies.... they are growing so fast! Jaydan is officially a little boy now and its hard to see the baby he once was anymore when you look at him. Kennedy is our little sunshine.... very smiley and chatty, she makes everyone around smile!

And here it is..... the pic that shows me plainly how much they grown from year to year. This shot always makes my heart ache, just a little!

Resemble each other much?

2010-08-16T08:20:00.005-04:00

Jaydan at 2 months:

Kennedy at 2 months:
And.... according to Jaydan they are "best friends". Aww.....

Grampa's Visit

2010-08-10T12:02:00.014-04:00

Anybody who is familiar with the world of logging knows that summer is a busy, busy time so we considered ourselves blessed when Grampa was able to sneak away for a few days to come and hang out with Jaydan and meet Kennedy. AND he misses Granny so horribly while she is with us that he was probably MORE excited to see her.
We had planned a fun camping trip for the first night he was scheduled to be here and, as always seems to be the case when Dad flies, there was a snafu with his flight. Rather than getting in at 3 something, he now wouldn't get in until after 9. I almost canceled reservation for their camp site but Grampa wouldn't dream of breaking baby J's heart, so we forged ahead. We got the access code to the park's security gate (MUCH different than the camping we did growing up, huh?) and dropped him off where Jeff and Jaydan had already set up camp. Jaydan was out for the night, but I wish I could have been there to see his little face when he woke up and his beloved Grampa was there!
We also took a quick trip to Helen, which is always fun and other than that we pretty much just hung out at home. We had a long honey-do list for poor ole Grampa...... when stuff breaks down or falls apart around our house, we just put it aside until Grampa comes again to fix it! So, that kept him pretty busy too. He spend lots of QT playing with his babies and in the blink of an eye, his visit was over! Thanks to you, too, Grampa for all you do! An interesting side note.... it was shockingly cool over the 4th of July in Georgia this year and for some reason the weather always seem to be very mild when Grampa is here. He remarked that he doesn't believe it get that hot here at all! For any of you Georgians that beg to differ, go ahead a post a comment ;)

Kennedy's Room

2010-08-08T16:41:00.006-04:00

Some of you know that the fact that I didn't get Kennedy's room painted before she came was my first source of mom-guilt this go-round. I had Jaydan's room DONE about 10 minutes after the ultrasound showed that he was a boy. I just couldn't get myself motivated this time and I felt awful about it. So, I took Jaydan to the sitter's, Daddy was on Kennedy duty and Granny and I got to work. I think it turned out pretty cute (please ignore the hide-a-bed.... I'm hoping it will soon have a nice brown cover... just think how cute it will be then!). What do you think?

Granny's Visit

2010-07-29T13:02:00.011-04:00

So, we all got in a panic that Miss Kennedy was going to come early and Granny made arrangements to change her ticket and come early. Once she got here, Kennedy decided she was fine where she was and so we waited..... and waited.... and waited. It was not wasted time though, I was pretty miserable by the time she got here and she had Jaydan all to herself for about three weeks and the two of them had fun, fun, fun. And I guess the ultimate goal was accomplished in that she got to see Kennedy be born.

I will NEVER be able to communicate how much I appreciate all of Mom's help over the 7 weeks she was here and there aren't words for the joy I get from seeing her play and bond with my babies. The only bad part was that she had to go home!

We snuck in some fun during her visit, including a day trip to Helen while Grampa was here and then a couple of fun-filled days in Florida with Jeff's family. Granny and Jaydan did swimming lessons and were partners in crime for probably more than I know about. I can't believe how fast that time went and look forward to the next visit! We love you Granny and THANK YOU so much, for all you do!

She's HERE!!!

2010-06-22T09:12:00.002-04:00

The long awaited arrival of Miss Kennedy is finally here. She joined our family on June 18 @ 5:49 p.m., weighing in at 7 lbs, 14 oz and measuring 19 inches long. Apart from my water breaking at the Mall of Georgia, in the middle of Toy Story 3 my labor went relatively smoothly and she arrived in perfect form! Daddy and Granny were great coaches (ok, Daddy had his head in a closet for most of it) and Dr. Weiss was fabulous! Jaydan can't get enough of her and has handled the transition pretty well so far. Welcome to the family, Baby Kennedy..... we love you!

How did this happen?

2010-06-11T12:52:00.001-04:00

In the blink of an eye...... we went from this:

To this:Where does the time go????

You asked for it.....

2010-06-09T08:40:00.003-04:00

You guys asked for it..... here is a belly shot! Notice how sweetly Jaydan is giving her kisses. Hope that lasts ;)

And here is Miss Thang as of yesterday. I think she's going to look a lot like her big brother.... and it looked like she was trying to suck her fingers already! Ok, Miss Kennedy......come out now! Time to meet the world!

Jaydan's Third Birthday!

2010-06-07T12:07:00.007-04:00

We planned Jaydan's big #3 for a couple of weeks early this year.... just in case. Given that he decided to join us almost 6 weeks early I figured it couldn't hurt! It was a small party, just us, Nana and Pop and Jaydan's best friend (yes, the same one he loves to hate) from daycare and his family. We went to Chuck E. Cheese.... I questioned my own sanity over that decision for a while, but its easy, I didn't have to cook or clean and for a small party it wasn't that expensive. Jaydan wasn't too sure about Chuck E., himself but he didn't cry.... just kept one eye on him at all times. The kiddos had a blast and I think even the grown ups had fun. Its so hard to believe that three years has gone by already!

Here are some things we want to remember about Jaydan at three!

1) You are funny and feisty and not just a little hard headed!
2) Your favorite parent is whichever one is not handy at the moment.
3) Still sucking those fingers....
4) Not quite potty trained yet, but getting closer all of the time (you can do it, you just can't be bothered most of the time).
5) Your favorite TV show right now is Curious George, your favorite movie changes from day to day.
6) Your favorite food is chicken nuggets from "Donna's" (McDonalds), but if given a choice you will say either a) chicken nuggets and apples b) chicken french fries or c) shrimp and broccoli.
7) You are generous with hugs and "I love you"s right now.....I hope that never changes!

Jaydan and Daddy's Camping Trip

2010-05-11T12:23:00.003-04:00

As you know, from time to time, we struggle w/ behavior problems with our little Jaydan. If you've been a follower of this blog, you also know that we have NO problem bribing our son. So, one week he said he wanted to go camping and we seized the opportunity for shameless blackmailing. IF he was good at Ms. Kate's all week, THEN he could go camping with his Dad. Well, it was a struggle but he did it! Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't get the memo and it was COLD that Thursday night. So, Daddy built a campground in the middle of the living room and they did their camp-out right there. It was probably a good way to get their feet wet, because honestly, neither of them has a whole lot of experience in this department. They have since graduated to camping in the garage and one time even the back yard or "ward" as Jaydan calls it. As a former Idahoan, it has been difficult for me to let them do their thing w/out offering my two cents. They have spent a few very cold nights w/ not enough ground cover, and their "camping" involves a portable DVD player, BUT I do try hard to let this be their "thing". They are planning a real camp out when Grandpa comes this summer..... and in the meantime, you can find them practicing in the garage!

New Pics

2010-05-11T12:19:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to uploading some old pics and I've updated some of the older posts w/ photos that I always intended to come back to later...... check out Halloween '09, Christmas, Easter and the newest camping entry!

Potty Training 101

2010-05-07T12:28:00.002-04:00

I'm happy to report that we have made some real progress in this department over the past few weeks. Jaydan finally tried pooping on the potty and as long as Mama is around, makes it to the potty more often than not. That being said, we've learned a couple of lessons the hard way, and though Jaydan will hate me for this one day, I'm willing to pass our knowledge along.

1) Never let your trainee fall asleep on your back with undies on. This one goes to Jeff.... they boys feel asleep watching cartoons the other morning, with Jaydan laying on Jeff's back. Jaydan peed on his Daddy, got down stripped his undies off and pooped successfully on the potty and THEN woke his Dad up and said "I pooped on the potty all by myself. Sorry I peed on your back, that was an accident". Hard to be mad about that!!!

2) If your trainee suddenly goes very quiet, be VERY afraid. We have dealt with our share of messes for overlooking this one. I asked him one time if he was pooping and he told me "don't worry about it". I should have been worried...... very, very worried.

3) Your child can go a weekend at a time without an accident, but the second you take said child to Walmart, they will pee their pants. Guaranteed.

4) Blackmail, bribe, or do whatever it takes to get them to sit on the potty..... they will NOT ever learn if you can't get that much done.

All things considered, I feel like we are well on the way at this point! Three were times when I thought it might never happen, but I think we are getting there! One out of diapers, just in time to start all over again!! Woo hoo!!

Gestational Diabetes

2010-05-03T08:31:00.002-04:00

I learned about two weeks ago that I've got gestational diabetes this go-round. I guess it shouldn't have come as a surprise, here are some of the risk factors:
1) Family history of type II diabetes (check)
2) Previous baby weighing greater than 8.5 pounds (check.... kind of. J was 6.6 lbs almost 6 weeks early).
3) Overweight prior to pregnancy (check.... shocking I know).
4) Maternal age great than 25 (check).

So yeah, I suppose I should have seen it coming..... the thing is.... I DIDN'T. I have been so much more careful about weight-gain this pregnancy and over all I FEEL so much better... this was kind of a punch in the gut. I barely failed, which means that they believe they can control it with diet alone but it means sticking my fingers four times a day and trust me, between this and the Progesterone shots, I feel like a human pin-cushion (and I'm not ALL that fond of needles anyway).
Ok, enough with the whining. There is SOME good news in this. They sent me to a nutrition class and I actually learned a lot, so I feel a lot more empowered about this whole thing now. I will be going to the doctor every week now, and they will NOT let me go until my due date, so now we know that Miss Kennedy will be joining us some time prior to June 25 (hopefully not too much prior). And at my check up last week they were VERY pleased with my numbers and said I was going a fantastic job! And the best thing..... this goes away after delivery. It was a bit of a wakeup call though and I'm trying to make long term changes to the way we eat, so that we don't have to deal with this again down the road. One diabetic per household is plenty!

WARNING: The Following Post contains shamless bragging....

2010-04-19T08:47:00.003-04:00

Ok, I get that every parent thinks their kid is smart so you all will have to bear with me for a minute while I brag on Jaydan. Let me start by saying he will be three at the end of May. At this point, he can count to 10 by himself and knows his alphabet by sight at LEAST up to "T" and know the sounds that about 1/2 of the letters make. He knows that Jaydan starts with "J", Mama starts with "M", Daddy and Dog Dog start with "D" and Horse starts w/ "H". He can tell you that Granny and Grandpa live in "I-ho" and Nana and Pop live in "Fyowida". And he's two! I actually think that this is where we run into trouble sometimes w/ his behavior! Next up.... we continue to wage war on diapers and then.....dressing himself!

Jaydan's Night Away

2010-04-12T10:01:00.002-04:00

Jaydan's Nana and Pop came for a visit from Tallahassee this weekend and asked if he could spend Friday night in their hotel w/ them. He was so excited to go and told his Daddy and me, more than once, that we "can't come". He helped pack his bag w/ some favorite books and a bedtime buddy and off he set. We met them for dinner Friday night and they took off from there.... so bittersweet to have your sweet baby wave you off w/out a second thought!! On the one hand I'm sooooo grateful that he's independent enough that its not a problem for HIM, on the other..... could you act like you like us a little, kid? They stayed at a hotel on the Georgia campus and had all kinds of fun. The Georgia Spring Game was on Saturday and they went to that, or the first half anyway. They said he about jumped out of his skin when the audience erupted after the national anthem, but from the on he kind of knew the routine and would clap and cheer when the crowd did! We all met back up on Saturday, where we retrieved our tired but happy Little Man. I think EVERYONE had a great time and it was a nice break for me. Thank you, Nana and Poppers for a fun weekend!

Easter!

2010-04-04T12:08:00.000-04:00

Easter at the Little House was pretty quiet. It was spent just the three of us and actually it was more like 2 1/2 because Jeff ended up coming down with a stomach bug. Jaydan got up early and hunted Easter Eggs (not an area in which he's particularly skilled, it turns out) and check out the loot the Easter Bunny brought. He looked so handsome for church that this post will mostly be pics from that..... too cute!You can kind of see Miss Kennedy in the pic of Jaydan and I.... we took a bunch that morning, but somehow I ended up looking H-U-G-E so you don't get to see those!

Spring has Sprung!

2010-03-29T08:30:00.004-04:00

Oh my, its been a long time since I've updated..... I fear that this may not bode well for once there are TWO kiddos at the Little House! Our lives are crazy and busy, but happy.... just not much time for blogging these days!
Jaydan is of course, growing like a weed. He has quite the little personality and we vacillate wildly between thinking he's the funniest thing ever and being absolutely horrified by some of what he says and does! For the most part, he is super sweet and seems to be VERY smart.... we are going to have to stay on our toes to keep ahead of him! We are in the throws of potty-training... some days I think we're close and some days I feel like we're barely past go. He's been known to inform me that he's "clapped in his pants" (I told you he can be horrifying) but shows very little interest in performing that particular function on the potty. I KNOW he's smart enough for this, so its a little frustrating that he refuses to do it.
Friday night was the Flashlight Eater Egg hunt at the church. He had a lot of fun with that.... he scored lots of eggs and they had inflatable jumpers for the kids. That was all fun and games until the big kids took over and got really rowdy. He screamed for everyone to "STOP THAT, YOU GUYS" and when that didn't get the desired result, he sat down and cried. Its better than swinging on everyone in there though, so that is progress!!
Obviously, a big event looming overhead is the upcoming arrival of Miss Kennedy. We are working hard to get ready for that and Jaydan has been a big helper so far. He's even gone through his toys and books and picked out some stuff he would like to share with "his Ken-dee". Hopefully that trend continues. Over this past weekend we did have an issue of him getting very upset when I would tell him she was kicking.....he would point his little finger at my belly and say "you stop that". I tried to explain that it doesn't hurt me and that she isn't doing it on purpose, but I don't know how much he's buying it! I'm happy to report that I feel great at this point and with the exception of some third trimester narcolepsy, don't have too many complaints! Granny has booked her ticket to come mid-June and we are praying that little missy cooperates so that Granny can be here for her birth!

2010-02-11T08:29:00.002-05:00

The Fun Part of Our Trip

2010-02-04T08:19:00.004-05:00

Despite our trip getting off to a shaky start, we managed to have a good time. Ty and Priscilla and the girls were able to stay all week so we got a lot more time with them than we would have otherwise. Because of the outpouring of love from family and friends, we were able to see a lot of people we wouldn't have and even in those circumstances its good to catch up with old friends!
We did Christmas as we were able and that worked out pretty well... the kids weren't overwhelmed and enjoyed playing with their things as they came across them. Jaydan had talked for months about building a snowman with Grampa, so despite the fact that the snow was kind of "yucky" the kids, Grampa and "Munca Ty" managed to put one together. One snowy night we built a bon fire and even poor Granny was able to venture outside for a few minutes to enjoy a roasted marshmallow and some winter fun! The kids played well together and enjoyed some good, MOSTLY quality time and we enjoyed getting to know "Laila Bug", the newest member of the family and the sweetest baby EVER! Jaydan was soooo good with her, that I have hope for when our baby gets here! He and his "Munca Ty" developed a pretty special relationship over the course of the week and even though some times "Munca Ty" gets a little carried away, as far as Jaydan is concerned, its clear that they adore each other! We all were grateful to still have each other and I think "family" probably means a little more to us all these days!

And then our lives were changed.....

2010-02-03T12:00:00.004-05:00

The day after Christmas, Jaydan and I boarded a plane to head to Idaho for a week. Our flights went smoothly, Jaydan was a trooper and up until we arrived in Spokane I felt like the day had been a sucess. My first clue that something wasn't right was when we rounded the corner in the Spokane airport and no one was there to greet us. That was alarming, because normally the excitement of seeing Jaydan puts my parents to the airport PLENTY early. I turned on my phone, thinking maybe they had ran into construction or something that was making them late..... 14 missed calls! And and this point I know that whatever news is coming isn't going to be good. I've always called our dear friend Debbi Duffy my "other mother" and this was reiterated when my first phone call was to her, and she was given the unhappy job of telling my that my parents had been in an accident on their way to pick us up. Luckily, by the time I called she was with them and knew first hand that they were going to be ok. Mom's wrist was badly broken and she had a couple of broken ribs.... Dad had bumped his head, which is always scary when there is a plate in there, but had checked out ok.

We are so thankful that their injuries weren't more severe. The young lady that hit them passed away and her little boy was airlifted to Spokane, so its easy to see how much worse things could have been. That a fatality was involved has been tremendously difficult for all of us, mostly Mom and Dad, but I think that we are all overcome with gratitude that they are still with us. Their injuries, both physical and emotional will heal with time. I know that I speak for all of us when I say that life will never be totally the same. With each sentence.... action....thought the knowledge is in the back of my mind that life is so precious and can so quickly just be gone, or drastically changed. Each day that God gives us is a gift and I've made a concious effort to live my life accordingly since that day!

One more gift that has risen from the ashes of all of this, is that we have all been reminded how blessed we are by our friends and family. It has been over a month since the accident and Mom and Dad are still getting deliveries from the local flower shop weekly and I don't think they've cooked a meal since!! During the few stress-filled days that Mom was in the hospital there were lots of jokes made about how far friends and family would go to show thier love. I won't get into that (thats just how we work people).... let's just say its FAR!!! We will never be able to adequately express our gratitude....we can only hope that you know how much we love and appreciate you!!!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-25T12:07:00.002-05:00

Our Christmas this year, was a lot different than what any of us are used to. It was spent just the three of us and it was very quiet and laid back and a little lazy! Nana and Pop are in the process of moving to Tallahassee and where Jeff worked both Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, there wasn't an opportunity for us to travel. We did all of the usual stuff, left treats out for Santa and all of that.... except when we woke up we just stayed in our jammies and took our time opening presents. We ate breakfast when we got hungry and my very first attempt at a Christmas dinner was eaten when it got ready! It was very strange and yet strangely wonderful! Jaydan had all day to play w/ all of his loot (it was ample) and we watched A Christmas Story on T.V. While I think its safe to say that we would ALL prefer to be with our familiies during the holidays, its nice to know that when circumstances are such that we have to do it just us, we won't hate it (and dinner wasn't bad, either)!

HA HA HO..... BERRY KISSMISS!!

2009-12-21T08:13:00.003-05:00

Oh, what fun it is..... preparing for the Holidays with a two year old in the house! This is our third Christmas w/ Jaydan in our lives, and while the first two were fun...... mostly for Jeff and I, Jaydan is having a ball this year.
As per usual, we decorated our tree the weekend of Thanksgiving...... I had the "trunk" up and the very top section installed before Jaydan proclaimed it "boomiful". It just much easier to justify all the work it takes to make the house "boomiful" when there is someone around who appreciates it!!! Santa was a no-go last year...... Jaydan would shriek and hide and bawl if he so much as SAW him..... this year, he's pretty much down, as long as he gets a candy cane out of it, he calls him "Kissmiss" and thinks pretty much EVERY old man is "Kissmiss". I still don't know that he REALLY gets it..... they wrote letters to Santa at daycare and apparently all my child wants is candy and fruit snacks. He has enjoyed it all this year, the lights, Santa, the treats and even the corny Christmas specials on TV. He's a big "helper" and has to be right in the middle of anything going on but its fun anyway.
As for our upcoming new addition, things are going well. We had a check up last week and everything seems to be going great! I feel markedly better, this go round and with the exception of exhaustion, am enjoying the experience. Jaydan is excited.... he talks to my tummy and kisses his "sistah" and thinks every small baby he sees is "her". We'll see how excited he is when new baby comes home to stay!

"Tiny Baby" Little

2009-12-15T12:23:00.000-05:00

So here is our new addition..... note how "it" stood clear up at one point during the ultrasound as if to say "WHAT?". A little frightening for a Mama who is hoping for a very laid back baby this go-round!

Big News at the Little House

2009-12-01T12:02:00.003-05:00

Baby #2 will be joining our family around the end of June! Having some rough days, but over all I feel better, more than I did w/ Jaydan. Hopefully that is a good sign! Jeff is convinced that he only produces boys (you know, based on the ONE boy that he has) and Jaydan is sure its a "Sista". Any takers out there?

Halloween!

2009-12-01T11:54:00.004-05:00

Oh, Halloween was fun around our house this year! Jaydan's mind was blown that merely saying "Trick or Treat" inspired people all around him to give him handfuls of candy! My boss and her husband live in a fantastic neighborhood in midtown Atlanta and she had been telling us for years that we need to bring our kids for Halloween. Well they decided to host a little party for the staff w/ young kids..... and they were right! Their neighborhood is just like a movie..... first of all its gorgoeus ..... all beautiuful homes built up high with stone steps. And then they "DO" them some Halloween.... they shut down the streets for several blocks and EVERYONE has their home decorated. They have police patrolling and if you can get them to pull over, they have candy in their saddle bags for the kids. So. Much. Fun. After the kids got their fill of Trick or Treating, they grilled hot dogs. Our neighborhood is Lame-O, so it was great to go somewhere that people were really into it. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Barnes for having us and I hope you meant it when you said we were welcome to come every year. Ahem ;)

Pumpkin Patch 2009

2009-10-08T13:03:00.017-04:00

I've resigned myself that the only way to ever get "caught up" with my blog is just to start with the present and work backwards?!? Will that work? I don't know..... but it seems like more fun, anyway!
Jill and Gavin came for a visit over the weekend and we decided it would be fun to take the boys for our annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch. Jaydan had a blast and was able participate a lot more this year. He seemed to enjoy everything but was particularly excited by the animals.

They also do a cow train ride and he got to ride in his own "cow" this year and entertained his Mama with cries of "Whoa Horse" and "Giddyup". Apparently there is a little cowboy laying dormant in my city kid! The boys played great together and Jill and I always do, so fun was had by all! There impending trip to Japan is looming near so we are trying to squeeze out as much time together as possible!

And of course.... it's the now famous Annual Pumpkin Yard Stick Photo Comparison!

The Great Flood!

2009-09-24T08:39:00.003-04:00

Wow, what a week for Georgians!! Sunday evening the bottom positively dropped out of the sky and our area got between 10-15 inches of rain, essentially over night, after about a week of steady rainfall. If you've ever been around Georgia clay, you know that once its saturated, there is just simply no where for the water to go and by Monday morning, most of the metro area was on its way to being underwater. My drive to work is normally about 1 1/2 - 2 hours..... Monday morning it took us THREE hours. There was much talk in the carpool about turning around and calling it quits, but we had court that day and it is a cardinal sin to miss work on a court day so we soldiered on! It rained ALL day and by the time I drove home from work that night the sweet little creek that runs along the road to our house was swollen and angry, crossing the road in several places and encroaching on some of our neighbor's front porches! I have always cursed the two large drainage ditches that run down the length of our property..... but on that day, they earned a place in our hearts! The road in front of our house literally looked like a muddy little river! All in all, we were very lucky.....10 people in Georgia lost their lives and countless hundreds lost their homes, belongings, cars, etc. We've had a few days of sunshine now, but are expecting more rain as we go into the weekend. Please pray that we are able to stay high and dry this time!

Chuck E.Cheese

2009-09-19T20:21:00.008-04:00

So. We had a couple of REALLY rough weeks at the babysitters. It does NOT make your day, when after an already long day you hear "He was AW-FUL". In fact, our dear, sweet Kate actually resorted to spanking him...... twice (yes, we asked her to if the need arose). You see, he decided at some point that HE should be in charge and that he could spank other kids who were not following the rules. Some of the rules he was enforcing were Kate's.... some where his own. At around this same time, he started to really demonstrate some Smith behavior and began to just swing on however was closest any time he fell down or was otherwise embarrassed. So I resorted to bribes. I read somewhere that "we bribe them cuz we love them" so I figure this doesn't make me a terrible mom..... or if it does, at least I'm not alone! We told him that if went a whole week without getting a spaking at school we would take him to Chuck E. Cheese. Well, judge me if you must but IT WORKED!
This was the first time we'd been to CEC for a good while. We were gonna go when Granny was here, but that didn't pan out (LONG, heartbreaking story..... for Granny and I at least). It was a VERY different experience this time. Jaydan freaked out when I would try to put him in the toddler rides.... you know the ones with Chuck E. or Barney, or whoever. I thought "Oh, great.... here we go with this stage" but soon discovered that his only real issue was the he wanted to ride the big kid rides...... you know the ones that make your mother hold you by the back of the shirt and cover her mouth in horror. This is what he likes, apparently.

Note the full size horse that actually "jumps" and the mud bog thing (I don't even know what to call it) but I'm pretty sure I saw it in the Dukes of Hazzard when I was little. My little thrill seeker is growing up.... no more baby rides for this kid!
As a side note: I am actually writing this blog some time later..... STILL no more spankings at Kates! BRIBE YOUR KIDS.... it works. I'm starting to think that the "anti-bribing" people are part of a large conspiracy to make you AND your children miserable!

Jaydan-isms, Part II

2009-09-17T08:21:00.003-04:00

"Binosaur" = Dinosaur

"Mickey Monkey" = Mikey Mouse

"Pickabus" (as is "I wike pickabus") = asparagus

"I wanna wop the yoop" = I wan to walk the loop.

"No talk Me" - when he is getting in trouble. This can also be altered to "No talk Mama" or "No talk Daddy" if he thinks we are arguing.

And this is more of a short story but sooooo sweet. The other night when I got home from work he ran up and said "I give Mama hug and kiss" and then he did. Then he stepped back and said, "Now Daddy give Mama hug and kiss", so Jeff did. Jaydan gave a nod of approval and said "Good Job". Geez, who's child is this?!?

He also this week ventured out of his bed at midnight and into our room where he proceeded tap my should and ask "Mama...... what doon-in?"! Well, son I WAS sleeping! And so the fun begins.... I'm thinking baby gate or possibly a dead bolt?!?

Labor Day

2009-09-17T08:06:00.008-04:00

Labor Day this year brought a much needed long weekend for all of the Littles! We spent the weekend at Nana and Pop's lake house, enjoying fantastic weather! The kids all swam and fished and the adults ate and drank and fun was had by all. Of course, another thing that comes with Labor Day every year is the kick off of college football, so a good bit of time was spend in front of the Florida and Georgia football games (don't worry Pop, that is ALL I'm going to say about that)! Jaydan and cousin Lindsey played particularly well and Jaydan loves his Aunts and all of the attention that they direct his way and of course, he strives to imitate the big boys. These pics are courtesy of my sister-in-law Burgundy, who was the ONLY one who remembered her camera!

Fall is in the Air!

2009-09-16T08:09:00.004-04:00

I want to start by saying that I have no idea how the summer got by us so fast!!! We've been super busy and it seems like we've just turned around and here we are closing in on the Holiday's again.
Our biggest event in August was a 10 day visit from Granny! Jaydan was able to anticipate it this time, so that was fun. We all acquired webcams and have been enjoying chatting via Skype, so when we picked her up at the airport he ran to meet her with hugs and flowers and no reservations! God bless technology! I was able to get a few days off, which we packed full of visits to the Children's Museum of Atlanta, Helen, GA and the winery and pottery shops and lots of shopping. If you have a children's museum in your area, I HIGHLY recommend it..... for two hours Jaydan was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted without once hearing the word "NO"! I'm pretty sure it was his idea of heaven (and maybe mine too). The rest of the time, Granny was in charge while Daddy and I worked...... who knows what kind of mischief the two of them got into with no supervision! I essentially held Mom hostage until my birthday had passed, so we had an extra special celebration before she had to return home to get ready for school. We enjoyed having her so much as as per usual, lots of tears were shed when the time came to say goodbye (OK, so it usually is just me and her). It always helps to have the plans for the next trip on the books, so I've already booked flights for Jaydan and I to come home just after Christmas..... maybe we'll see some of you then?!?
Pictures of our summer adventures to follow soon!!

Welcome Friends and Family

2009-09-15T12:39:00.003-04:00

Hopefully some of you are seeing this for the first time, as a result of the email I sent out from the Baby Website! All of this media stuff just got to be too much and I enjoy the blog the most, so I decided it would be the thing that I do! So Welcome.... and I hope you enjoy!
For those of you who have been following all along, I promise to update very soon! As you can imagine, our lives are pretty crazy these days! The good news is, there is LOTS to blog about.... now if I can just find them time ;) "See" you soon!

Jaydan-isms

2009-07-14T12:19:00.004-04:00

Our Little man keeps us in stitches these days. Almost everyday he surprises (or horrifies us) with something new coming out of that little mouth. Here are some of our recent faves:

* He now knows that Daddy is "Jeff" and Mama is "Towee" and his name is either "Boogis, Jaydan or ME". The other day, I picked him up from the sitter's and he said "Where is Jeff?"

*He IS two. Some of his favorites are: "I go first", "my turn", "I do it myself", "I go again".

*He is convinced he is "Pu-pow" (purple).

*When he wants either his Daddy or I, he'll say "I need to hold Daddy" or me...... usually Daddy these days.

*Uh-Hi (ok, he's pretty much grown out of this already, but it was so cute I listed it anyway).

*"I fall down"

*Miss Kate had a talk w/ me when I picked him up the other day..... apparently he's calling all the little girls "Sweet hawt".

He also seems to be pretty smart (I know, I know all Moms think their kids are gifted), but on our way to Florida the other day, we say an airplane and he said "Air-pane goin to Granny and Grampa's"! See, I told you!

Ah, the Sea Air

2009-07-14T12:01:00.004-04:00

Jeff, Jaydan and I took our first family trip in about 8 months this weekend to visit Jeff's Grandparents in Port St. Joe, FL. We got a phone call at about 4 on Friday that their A/C had gone out, and any of you who have ever been to Florida know that the Gulf Coast is NOT the place to be in July with no A/C. We decided to take our chances, despite all of that..... weekends off are hard to come by in world of Publix and we figured we had better go while we had the chance. We got a late start on Friday and had to take Zoe (our dog) b/c our usual pet sitters weren't available. We didn't end up getting into Port St. Joe until about 3:00 a.m. on Saturday..... needless to say THAT was a long night!
I was determined to get Jaydan (and myself) to the beach this trip.....the last several trips, we just haven't had the time. So early Saturday we loaded up and went to a favorite spot of ours, Stump Hole @ Cape San Blas. This beach was seriously damaged by hurricane Ivan and last time we were there it was U-G-L-Y.... the sand had washed out sufficiently that the stumps for which the beach was named were some 20 feet tall and all kinds of nasty stuff had washed up. I'm happy to report that it has been restored to even better condition than original. The waves were gentle, there was a nice breeze and it was pretty much heavenly! Jaydan loved the sand, wasn't so sure about the water (Jeff too for that matter), and Zoe and I pretty much loved it all! I could have easily sat on that beach all day, but a two year old's attention span can only handle so much so we headed home for lunch. Durning Jaydan's nap Jeff and I headed over to the bay and went crabbing and pretty much just enjoyed the area's bountiful beauty. Its funny how while we lived there, we took it for granted. Now we are just like all the other tourists and are a little blown away by it all! We now realize just how lucky we are to have access to the "last of the greatest" as Grandaddy says!

NO PEANUTS PLEASE!

2009-07-04T15:04:00.000-04:00

We have long suspected a food allergy in our little man..... peanuts have always seemed to be a no-go. So, on the advice of our new Pediatrician, we took Jaydan in for allergy testing. Turns out peanuts are the biggie, but he also exhibited reactions to cashews and eggs (?). When we first starte eating solids, he reacted to eggs twice, but has never had trouble since, but Doc says no. This was one of those visits that makes you go home and cry as a Mom..... is this because of something I did wrong while I was pregnant or nursing? Or, is it just my crazy allergic genes surfacing in a new way? I suppose its always difficult to get a diagnosis that there isn't a treatment for.....we just have to keep him as far away from nuts as possible and carry and Epi-pen just in case.

All things considered, Jaydan handled all of the pokes better than Mama did..... after about the third round, he arched his back and said "OUCH", but that was about it. It was a looooonnnngg appointment but they gave him some bubbles and he was able to figure out how to do it himself, which was exciting for us both!

Welcome Baby Monkey!

2009-06-19T12:14:00.002-04:00

Welcome Laila Lavon Smith to the family! This is her in the dress that I wore home from the hospital 30+ years ago! Her's cute, huh? Looks like her Auntie, I think ;)

Idaho Vacation

2009-06-11T12:05:00.009-04:00

I am the worst blogger EVER! I'm telling you, I don't know what they did to me in Idaho this last time, but I can't get my head screwed back on straight since!
Jaydan and I had a wonderful time visiting our family and friends, as usual. My cousin Shell (a/k/a Nack "snack" to Jaydan) was home too, so we got to spend lots of QT with her and my Mom's parents who are "snowbirds" and had just "flown North" for the summer. Jaydan had not one but TWO birthday parties..... one with each side of my family, so he spent some time getting to know his "Grandma Soup" and Papa Smith, too. He got spoiled, as always but it was fun to see him sort of "get it" this year. Tyson, Priscilla and Jaz came for a few days and again, it was fun to watch the babies play. "Baby Monkey", as she has come to be lovingly known by the whole family will be here very soon and we are looking forward to another addition to the family. I got to golf w/ my Mom and Rashell which was a blast..... they really are not THAT much better than me and a few beers into it, that hardly even mattered. These pics are ones I've pirated from family member, I haven't even had time to download mine yet! Its so weird! I guess its to be expected between having a two-year-old, a new job and a serious case of jet-lag, but seriously I am ready to be myself again!
We hope to see Mom, at least this summer sometime. It seems like it gets harder and harder to say goodbye each time, so we'll need to start planning that next trip very soon!
NOTE: Check out Jaydan's shoes that are present in TOO many of these pictures. They originally belonged to our dear friend Sunny and were passed down to me, and then have spent about 25 years in storage! My son was OBSESSED with them..... even wearing them OVER his footie pajamas. He was convinced they made him run fast and somehow he WAS able to run w/out breaking his neck.... but oh boy, were they dorky!

First Dentist Visit!

2009-05-02T20:04:00.005-04:00

Monday, April 27, was a "holiday" here in the South, known as Confederate Memorial Day (I think it may only be a "holiday" to Georgia State Employees, in fact). Trust me, no one is more shocked and horrified by that than me....... BUT it is a paid day of.....and virtually EVERYONE else is working so its a good time to do things like Dr's appointments, bank errands, etc. I scheduled a dental appointment for Jaydan a few months back, because he's a finger-sucker and he's got some staining on his front teeth and well, they say you should. I have to say, I've been dreading it......the melt-down potential is through the roof and given the fact that brushing his teeth is like WWF smackdown every single day I didn't have a lot of hope that things would go smoothly. Those of you who know me well, know that I'm a big subsciber to the "when in doubt, look in a book" school-of-thought so my fist plan of attack was to check out every single kids book on going to the dentist I could find and you know what? IT WORKED! Jaydan was a champ! When we first got there the receptionist was like "you know we usually don't start actually cleaning their teeth until they are at least three because they just won't usually tolerate it much before then". He not only let them clean his teeth and count them, check for cavities and look closer with the mirror, but he did most of it with a smile on his face! He introduced himself to the dentist and was such a good boy!
Naturally, as a reward I took him to McDonalds to play. Apparently he can handle a stranger's hand in his mouth better than he can handle being told that No, he may not take his juice box down the slide. He pitched his first ever public tantrum and had to be carried to the car (where he got spanked) kicking and screaming. Apparently his good behavior was taxed completely at that point!

Quick Trip to Boise

2009-04-22T07:54:00.004-04:00

Jaydan and I were truly Jet-Setters this past weekend, flying to Boise on Friday and back on Sunday. My beautiful God-Daughter, Amya was baptized on Saturday and I was blessed to be able to attend. I hadn't seen her in about 4 years..... she has grown into such a lovely young lady and I am very proud of her!
Of course, Granny and Grandpa couldn't resist the opportuntity to spend some time with J while we were in the "neighborhood" so they drove down and kept him busy on Saturday while I was busy with baptism stuff. My sister-in-law Priscilla and darling neice, Jazmyn also ventured down to spend some time with us. Jaz and Jaydan are only 6 months apart and they have a very special relationship and it gets more and more fun to watch them together as they grow! Jazzy is very nurturing and protective.......which is good since she is about to become a Big Sis, but Jaydan gives the poor little thing a run for her money! Granny and Grandpa took the babies to the zoo and all of those fun things and fun was had by all.
We stayed at my oldest and dearest friend Sunny's house in Boise, but sadly she and her new hubby Darrin were out of town! Their house is wonderfully cozy and welcoming and it was very easy to make ourselves at home...... the only thing missing was them! We were also able to catch up with our old friends the Wilsons (Cindy and Zack, anyway) for dinner on Friday and my Aunt Sherie and Uncle Aaron and cousin Angela on Saturday. It was wonderful to see everyone and as always, the trip went way too fast! We are in recovery mode this week...... it takes a lot out of you to travel that far with an almost-two-year old for just a few days, but wonderful memories were made and it was well worth the jet-lag!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

2009-04-03T08:15:00.003-04:00

Jaydan and I took a trip to Montgomery this weekend to celebrate Gavin's birthday. Those of you who are regular followers may remember me telling you that my best friend Jill and her family were moving to Japan last fall. Well, shortly after their arrival, the got the news that her hubby Matt was being sent to Iraq...... did I mention that just BEFORE they left, she discovered that she's expecting baby #2. Babies and Iraq seem to go hand-in-hand for them..... Matt was there for most of her first pregnancy too! So, long story short, she decided that she would come home, rather than trying to manage having a new baby and juggling a two year old in a foreign country..... by herself. So, they are back! We had a wonderful time, and the boys played great, just like they'd never been apart.
Please keep their little family in your prayers. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to go throught any of these things, one at a time.....but all at once...... thats a lot. I'm so glad that she decided to come home so that her friends and family can better support her, but I know its got to be really tough. Happy Birthday, G-Unit, we love you and it was so good to see you and get to play with you!

Snow Day in Georgia!

2009-03-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it? We got EIGHT INCHES OF SNOW!!! Let me tell you, eight inches here translates roughly to about 4 feet in Idaho....... schools, stores and business close, power goes off, trees break and fall, roof collapse and the roads are deadly...... it was really something.
Of course having a rowdy 21 month old makes it a little more fun (NO, I do NOT miss the snow). Jaydan was really mesmerized by it all and had a lot of fun eating it and building a tiny snow man. And then, once his hands got cold, it was over and he quickly dissolved into screaming, bawling hysterics convinced he was freezing to death...... like me! My office did NOT close.....thank you Governor Perdue (again) but I decided that taking a vacation day was worth not having to be anywhere near 4 million idiots on the road who have never driven in snow and don't know what snow tires are. Here are some fun (?) pics of us playing in the snow! I couldn't resisit including one from last year when it "snowed" about 1/2 an inch!

I think we can all agree that warming up with a movie, popcorn and hot cocoa is the best part!

Mama's Nightmare

2009-02-17T20:46:00.000-05:00

One of my ultimate worst fears as a mother came true on Thursday. I got a phone call from Kate (our WONDERFUL) sitter at about 9:15 in the morning saying that Jaydan was having trouble breathing. As if that's not horrifying enough, right?
Every since Jaydan was born I have lived in fear that he would get sick and I am so far away at my job...... and I wouldn't be able to get to him. So, I enrolled in a "Guaranteed Ride Home" program that is sponsored by the State for employees who carpool, ride buses, etc....... to get us home if there is an emergency and we don't have a vehicle. Well, it was a comedy of errors (except not funny) and long-story-short, it took me about two hours to get out of my building! We live about another 1 1/2 hours away.....so, I couldn't get to my child, knowing he was sick, and miserable and probably scared to death! I can tell you, it was the single worst feeling I've ever experienced in my entire life!
The end result was an all-afteroon visit to the ER. Jaydan had a virus that caused him to have "reactive airways".....for some stupid reason, they are reluctant to diagnose "asthma" in kids his age..... I'm pretty sure thats what it is. We all survivied, but there were many tears shed that day and many asses chewed the next day! Don't mess with a Mama when her baby is sick!!
This pic is Jaydan @ the hospital playing w/ his Valentine's loot from Ms. Kate and Mr. Clyde. We have spend WAY too much in this hospital over the past couple of years and the nurses and I joked that they should dedicate this room to us (I'm sure we've paid for it)!

Prayers for Kyle

2009-02-17T10:03:00.003-05:00

Our family's "baby" re-enlisted in the Army last week and is set to embark today. His first four years with the Army were rough, he did several over-seas tours and was injured in the line of duty more than once and I know we were all relieved when he finally got out. Now, he has decided that this is the best move for his newly established family. It is somewhat hard to imagine our funny, goofy, sweet little Kyle doing such important, serious work but he is very good at what he does and seems to enjoy it! It was a surprise to learn Kyle was on the way and he's been surprising us every since...... and this is no exception. Please include him and his new wife, Drea and the rest of the family in your prayers. Kyle has always been a hero to us and though its hard for us to let him go, now he'll get the opportunity to be a hero......... again, for America. God Bless you Kyle, we love you and are sooooooo proud of the man you've become!

Stomach Bug

2009-02-04T07:50:00.003-05:00

Many of you know that we've been battling a stomach bug at our house. Jaydan started it Saturday night. He started throwing up at about 9 Saturday night and threw up about every 15 minutes or so all night. We ended up making a quick trip to the ER on Sunday where they confirmed that it was a stomach bug, gave him some icee pops and sent us on our way. He hasn't thrown up since then, but its now Wednesday and he still isn't eating much or drinking as much as I'd like him to be. Yesterday Daddy came down with it...... luckily his seems less intense and shorter lived! I'm praying that this one misses me........who will take care of everyone if Mama is THAT sick? You all pray with me, will you?

Gymboree

2009-02-03T12:26:00.003-05:00

Its official, I am a Gymboree Mom! I've been looking for a way (as an alternative to Chuck E. Cheese) to let Jaydan blow off some steam on the colder days. A friend mentioned that there is a Gymboree in Athens so I decided to check it out on Saturday (cold, cold, cold). They let you come to one class free so Jaydan and I sat off to see what was up. He LOVED it. Its a big padded play room and they break classes down into like 4 month age ranges, so all of the activities, etc. are really geared toward that specific age. They have climbers, balance beams, balls galore, bubbles, parachutes and music and its CORN-Y! Whats not to love when you're 20 months old? He had so much fun I enrolled him, even though its a little spendy. I figured it burns some of his energy and gets us both out of the house and doesn't totally drive me crazy, its money well spent! I will report back on the driving me crazy part......

Happy Birthday Granny!

2009-01-30T12:18:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to our dear Granny! This time last year Jaydan and I were in Idaho to help Granny celebrate her "BIG 50". We couldn't make it this year, but we did the next best thing.....got them (and us) webcams so that they can "see" Jaydan while they are talking to him. He's never had much use for the phone.....too many buttons to distract him and not enough visual stimulation. But this....this is FUN! He waves to them and blows kisses and just generally chats them up. Its pretty cute and I think they are enjoying being able to see him too. I know as far as I'm concerned, this shortens the gap between here and home considerably!

Not Totally Terrible Twos

2009-01-27T12:06:00.000-05:00

You hear a lot about "terrible twos" and the kids and parents trying to survive them. And yes, at our house we have our fair share (maybe more) of the tantrums, screams of "NO WAY", "MINE", etc. But what you don't hear much about is the FUN side of this age. At 20 months, Jaydan is able to more or less communicate what he wants to do, eat, etc. He will now walk to and from the car, just holding my hand and I don't have to carry him all of the time! He is able to run, dance, climb to his heart's content. He's funny. I think the things with kids this age is that they just FEEL a LOT! Anytime I walk in the door, he runs for me yelling "Mama" (finally just started saying that.....we'll save that for another blog). Whenever you are down on his level picking up toys or building a fire or whatever.....he will bowl you over with a great big hug. He can reciprocate some of the love that we've given him all of this time and he does so spontaneously now......he kisses you because he wants to and not just because you asked him to and he's performing. He tries to imitate everything you say and most everything you do....this can be good and bad.
Of course, some days are better than others. He still does and says a lot that I don't like. One example: he will NOT say "excuse me". Twice now, in public I will try to squeeze by someone and say "excuse me" and he will start yelling "Wove, wove". SO EMBARRASSING! He also now says "wove" when he toots.......apparently "move" means the same thing as "excuse me" in all contexts. But at least I'm TRYING to teach him manners (right Granny?). Anyway, this entire blog is devoted to defending "two". Maybe its just because my kid has always been a challenge and I don't know any better..... but I think two (almost anyway) is wonderful!

HOPE!

2009-01-21T07:41:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was such an exciting day in American History! It is such a pleasure to be part of a generation that elected the first African American into the office of President of the United States!! I could go on and on about all of the way in which I'm excited for this new chapter, not the least of which is that we can FINALLY but George Jr. behind us but what I am really most grateful for is that for the first time in a very long time American has cause to be hopeful. That is a gift that President Obama has given us already and one that we so desperately need in these times of turmoil. I will continue to pray for a safe and effective term but already, I want to say thank you for restoring HOPE!! And of course, it never hurts to have a President who can do the Electric Slide ;)

Words to Live By

2009-01-16T11:49:00.002-05:00

This is a cute little story sent to me today by a dear family friend, Debbi. Something to help keep things in perspective....... how did you know it was just what I needed today, Deb?

GOD CREATED CHILDREN
(AND IN THE PROCESS GRANDCHILDREN)

To those of us who have children in our lives,
whether they are our own children,
grandchildren,
nieces,
nephews,
or students...
here is something to make you chuckle.

Whenever your children are out of control,
you can take comfort from the thought that
even God's omnipotence did not extend
to His own children.

After creating heaven and earth,
God created Adam and Eve.

And the first thing he said was
'DON'T!'

'Don't what?'
Adam replied.
'Don't eat the forbidden fruit.'
God said.
'Forbidden fruit?
We have forbidden fruit?
Hey Eve.. we have forbidden fruit! '

' No Way! '
'Yes way! '
'Do NOT eat the fruit ! '
said God.

'Why? '

'Because I am your Father and I said so! '
God replied, wondering why He hadn't stopped
creation after making the elephants

A few minutes later,
God saw His children having an apple break
and He was ticked!
'Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit?'
God asked.

'Uh huh,'
Adam replied.

'Then why did you?'
said the Father.

'I don't know,'
said Eve.
'She started it! '
Adam said.

'Did not! '
'Did too! '
'DID NOT! '

Having had it with the two of them,
God's punishment was that Adam and Eve
should have children of their own.
Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom
and they haven't taken it, don't be hard on yourself.

If God had trouble raising children

what makes you think it would be
a piece of cake for you?

Go Gators!!!

2009-01-15T07:44:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday our beloved Gators won their second National Championship in three years! It was an exciting time at our house and in the video above you can see the Littlest Gator cheering his team to Victory!! Last time they won, I was pregnant with Jaydan......Jeff and I think that HE may be the lucky charm!

Granny and Grampa

2009-01-03T11:37:00.004-05:00

The rest of Mom and Dad's visit was pretty quiet. I think they were glad to see me return to work for the second week of their visit..... they got lots of quality time alone with Jaydan. They all got to be pretty good buddies. Jaydan was like Grampa's shadow and got into the habit of following both of them around to the point that he would stand outside and pound on the bathroom door, calling their names while they showered!! They played OUTSIDE a lot at Jaydan's insistence and they all enjoyed that!!! Grampa did lots of odd jobs around the house for us and I'm sure the baby was lots of help. Granny cleaned while I was at work and was there for the hugs and kisses side of things. There is something pretty precious about seeing your child interact with your parents and I feel blessed that we got such a long visit this time!! We always miss them when the time comes for us to part ways, but the fact that J got so close to both of them this visit will make it harder for all of us. Up until now, I don't think he was cognitive enough to express that he misses them but I'm sure he'll be looking for them when he wakes from his nap this morning. Granny and Grampa, thank you for coming to see us (and everything you did while you were here). We will miss you lots until May!

Christmas!!

2009-01-03T10:48:00.003-05:00

I was so looking forward to Christmas this year.... I thought "Jaydan will have sooo much fun with all of the presents and lights and pretty decorations". YEAH..... let's suffice it to say that the reality was more grim. Jaydan has always been prone to over stimulation, every since he was tiny. So imagine the impact all of the noise, lights, excitement and variance from normal routine on a kid like that...... and that is more like what Christmas was like at our house.
We went to our church's Christmas Eve Candle Light service, which was very nice. We thought it would be nice to keep him with us and have a very family vibe. That lasted about 5 minutes, until the Teddy Grahams ran out, at which point Daddy made a dash with him for the nursery. Before the service we drove around looking at Christmas lights, which once we found some, was great. Jaydan DID seem to enjoy that.....there was lots of oooohing and aaaaahing and he cracked us up by yelling "Bye" (with a VERY southern drawl) at each house as we drove away.
I would go as far as saying that Christmas morning was very nearly a total disaster. He was fussy and ill, and when we could manage to make him interested he would scream "NO" and "MINE" in varying different combinations. At one point, as I was almost in tears I looked at Jeff, who was dripping in sweat and thought, "What went wrong here?" Eventually we all calmed down, had a nice breakfast and coffee (everyone but Jaydan) and got ourselves together. We went over to Nana and Pop's for Christmas dinner and presents with them that afternoon and that went better. The food and company were wonderful as always! The weather was perfect and we spend most of the day on the dock on the lake and I even sunburned my nose!
Next year we will do some things differently. I think we will do Santa gifts ONLY before breakfast..... this will keep us closer to our normal morning routine AND let us sort of "wade into" the excitement. If we have to do part of the gifts in the morning and part later (or another day) then so be it. I guess the lesson is to just go with the flow. You can't force a square peg (i.e. Jaydan) into..... well, anything really. This is one of the MAJOR lessons I've learned as a parent..... you can have an idea in your head of how something is going to go BUT your kiddo may have other ideas completely and all you're really going to do is make everyone miserable if you don't learn to adapt!!
Despite all of this (it probably wasn't as bad as it seemed) it WAS Christmas and it was spent with loved ones and was therefore wonderful. I am grateful that our families have blended so well that we are able to share a holiday with both sides!!! Maybe things will go more smoothly next year!!

Georgia Aquarium

2009-01-02T07:51:00.005-05:00

The world's largest aquarium made its home in Atlanta several years ago and brings in visitors from all over the world. I made a point to wait until an age where I though Jaydan would be able to at least take part in the experience....... last time I went, I was about 5 months pregnant with him!! So, I planned a trip while Granny and Grampa are here as sort of a "thank you" for staying longer than they'd planned to help with Jaydan when I had to return to work. It was worth the wait..... Jaydan LOST HIS MIND!!! He would run up to the glass windows and yell "WOW" at the top of his little lungs. It is pretty wondrous and it is so cool to watch your kids experience something like that. And I'm so glad that Granny and Grampa were here to experience it with him. We ate lunch at The Varsity (check out the website @ www.thevarsity.com), a fun, local Atlanta car-hop style burger joint that is sure to give you a tummy ache and made a quick stop at my work to deliver Christmas goody bags. Another fun, fun day!

Baptism

2008-12-31T08:28:00.003-05:00

I am just going to start at the beginning and start going through our activities of the past few weeks in chronological order...... I'll write now and add pics as I get time to upload them, so if you are reading this and there are no pictures, check back in a few days. We are blessed and delighted to have my parents here for the holidays this year. They flew into ATL on December 20, just a 1/2 hour late or so, despite weather-related weirdness spanning MOST of the country. We were all praying for that between freakish storms and holiday crowds and considered it a blessing that there were no real issues in their trip. They had a bit of a stressful connection in Denver, where my usually calm Dad nearly had a freak out from the sounds of things.....despite his telling my Mom to relax and just go where the wind blew them all day! And then NATURALLY their bags did not make it on the same flight they did. They were delivered the next day to our house, so all in all not too bad.
We were sort of tentatively planning to get Jaydan baptized while Granny and Grampa were here, pending Jeff's schedule with his new job. It all ended up working out for us to be able to proceed on the 21st. My parents and Jeff's were able to attend, which was important to us. Jaydan did not disappoint...... as the Pastor went to sprinkle the water on his head he screamed, "NO, NO, NO". And the church we recently joined has a tradition of carrying the child around the congregation while they sing a sweet little song to the baby. Of course, he screamed the whole time only stopping to check out a very cute little redhead in the crowd!!! This blog may NOT have pics b/c we were so stressed out by his "performance" that we simply didn't think to get any!

New pictures are up!!

2008-12-07T21:03:00.001-05:00

I know, I know......

2008-12-03T08:38:00.006-05:00

I've been terrible about blogging these past few weeks...... we've just been so darn busy!!!! We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Rashell.... it went way too fast, as usual. The next weekend we loaded up and headed to Florida to spend and early "Thanksgiving" with Jeff's grandparents and extended family. That was lots of fun and Jaydan got to meet his new baby cousin, who he liked just fine...... unless his Mama was holding him! MawMaw and Grandaddy's house is always lots of fun and Jaydan has a truly special relationship with both of them and Jeff's Aunt Gayle. I got some fun pics but haven't had time to upload them, so you'll have to stay tuned for the visual aids.
For "real" Thanksgiving we went to Jeff's parents. They only live about 20 minutes or so from us, which is great and they have a beautiful home on a beautiful lake, which is even better. His sister's couldn't make this trip, so it was just us. It was much quieter than usual and we missed them a lot and can't wait to see them at Christmas! It was a very relaxing long weekend. Jaydan and I packed up and headed home Saturday after the football game (GO Gators!!!) and I was up late that night and busy all day on Sunday putting up the Christmas decorations. Its a lot of fun having a toddler for the holidays........ it kind of reminds you how magical it all is. He was a lot of "help", as you can imagine. I bought a box of shatterproof ornaments and he carried them from the box to the tree, where he proceeded to stuff about 17 balls into one little space in the tree. It kept him busy and he was quick to tell anyone who would listen that it's "HIS" tree and that he was making it "pitty". He's picking up new works like crazy right now.... some of the latest are: "move" (as in, get out of my way), bwok (block), fwuit (fruit), shoes, and on occasion he actually says the word "please" instead of the usual "heeth".

TIME OUT!!

2008-12-03T08:17:00.006-05:00

The time out thing seems to be working pretty well. There are even times now that Jaydan will do something that he knows earns a time out, look right at us, and just take himself to the time out rug without us having to even say anything. He stomps over and plops himself down and wails..... just like we told him to go!!! It seems to help a lot for him to just have a few moments of no stimulations to get himself back under control. Here is the issue we are having now (he TOTALLY gets this from his Dad). We make him hug us to say "sorry" before he can get out...... that's when we talk about why he got put there, etc. That child would rather sit in the corner for 30 minutes than apologize!!! Often, he ends up setting for two or three more "sessions" before he will finally give in and give you a hug. Lord help us!!!

Rashell's Visit

2008-11-18T08:43:00.002-05:00

Jaydan and I picked Rashell up from the airport Saturday afternoon. She came prepared with gummy bears, so Jaydan was easily won over! He had fun and was pretty cute showing off for her.....all those gummy bears make a boy hyper, so he was in rare form! We were pretty lazy, just visiting and enjoying getting to catch up. We brought her down to her hotel on Sunday and hung out there for a little while and helped her settle in (Jaydan is a ton of help, you can imagine). Tonight I am staying w/ her downtown for some girl time. We are going to go somewhere nice for dinner and enjoy being grown ups!!!
I am ashamed to admit that I failed to get any pictures of her playing with Jaydan this time!!! I don't know what I was thinking! Hopefully we'll get some tonight but I regret that I won't have any of the two of them together from this trip.

We get to see Shee-eeeell!!

2008-11-14T08:55:00.005-05:00

My cousin Rashell is flying into Atlanta tomorrow and we are SOOOOOO excited!!! We haven't seen her since Kyle's wedding in May and I am really looking forward to it. We were raised very close to these cousins and really, they are more like siblings than cousins and Shell and I have gotten into lots of trouble together over the years! Rashell, we will see you tomorrow!

Weekend Update

2008-11-10T12:11:00.002-05:00

We had a nice, quiet weekend at home. Jaydan is at an age where he is "testing" us quite a bit. Sometimes, its such a surprise when such an ugly "NO" comes out of that sweet little mouth. We have decided to try time-out, since that seems to hurt his heart more than a swat hurts his bottom. We'll keep you posted and we are open to suggestions from any of you who are parents of hard-headed kids! I took him to the park at our church on Saturday.....he's able to climb the first several stairs, situate himself, and launch himself down the little slide by himself now. Its a good way to burn off some of that rowdy boy energy!

Random Cuteness

2008-11-04T12:22:00.004-05:00

So last night after I got home from work, I was in our bathroom taking my makeup off, getting comfy. Of course, my Little shadow followed me in and proceeded to entertain himself. He LOVES getting into Daddy's cupboard of the vanity and making a mess. His toy of choice last night was an un-opened bar of soap. He held it in his two little hands and it instantly transformed into an airplane. He was "flying" it all around, making a very cute airplane sound (how do little boys just KNOW this stuff?) and I was able to watch him without him knowing it for a couple of minutes. Then, his spidey-senses kicked in, he felt me watching him and made eye-contact with my reflection in the mirror. He gave me the cutest, most sheepish smile ever and then was off....... to find something else entertaining. Its amazing to see him begin to pretend and I'm learning that its one of the many gifts of "Mommyhood" to get to watch your child play when they don't know you're looking!

Halloween Stinker

2008-11-01T13:18:00.003-04:00

Well, this Halloween was decidely more fun than last...... last year Jaydan had bronchitis, HATED his costume and didn't really "get" any of it. This year he loved his skunk costume, trick-or- treated a couple of the neighbor's houses and had lots of fun. He woke up in a terrible mood but his morning nap fixed that. We had lunch with our first babysitter, Ms. Allison and her daughter Savannah at Chuck E. Cheese. It was the first time we've gone since he was a tiny baby and it was fun to see him enjoy all of the exciting things for kids to do. We then swung by Daddy's work and said hi to him and some co-workers. We hit a bumpy patch at dinner, which nearly caused Jaydan to have to go to bed without trick or treating, but a brief time out seemed to tune him up. We got his costume on and set out at about 7 o'clock. We couldn't quite get "trick or treat" down before we disembarked, so we settled for "Heeth" (please) and the neighbors seemed to think that was close enough. He got multiple treats from each house because they would hand him one, he would throw it in his bucket and then reach for another from theirs! Our neighborhood was sadly quiet, we probably got 10 trick-or-treaters, but I did meet some new neighbors and we've already decided to do a block party or something next year to liven things up!!

Weekend in Montgomery

2008-10-27T12:15:00.008-04:00

Jaydan and I traveled to Montgomery, AL (land of tornadoes and duct tape) Friday night after work. It was raining, traffic was horrendous and we got there much later than we planned....but once we got there we had lots of fun. We went to spend one last weekend w/ my BFF, Jill and Jaydan's BFF, Gavin. We took the kids to the Montgomery Zoo (fun was had by all), the kids played and Jilly and I chatted and enjoyed being together.
The parting on Sunday was bitter sweet. Jilly and her family are moving to Japan for FOUR years courtesy of the U.S. Airforce. I am so excited for them and their new adventure but also completely heartbroken that it will take them so far away for so long. I am planning on making a trip over there at least once during their tour and Jill has committed to coming home at LEAST once a year. Jill and I have only known each other about 4 years, but we have been through a lot together including being pregnant at the same time. She got in her car, drove 6 hours and left two month old Gavin overnight to be with me when I was in labor and she knew my Mom couldn't make it in time (only to have me kick her out of the room almost as soon as she got there). I was her surrogate husband when her real husband was in Iraq for the majority of her pregnancy (it wasn't easy, she was crazy most of the time). She has filled the large hole that being so far from my friends and family leaves in my heart and honestly I don't know how I will cope without her. Hobbies, we love you and will miss you more than you know. Have a safe journey filled with many new and exciting adventures...... and then hurry home to those of us that will miss you so much!
If you want to contribute to the "Tori's going to Japan Fund" you may do so by entering torikay23@hotmail.com as a seller on paypal and donating there ;)

Happy Birthday Dear Daddy......

2008-10-22T08:28:00.006-04:00

To my "Dear Old Dad"! Your wisdom and big heart are truly an inspiration and I am so thankful for you. Tyson and I are lucky to have you as a Dad and now our kids are even more blessed to have you as a Gum-paw. May this year offer all of the blessings you deserve!

Weekend update

2008-10-20T07:04:00.012-04:00

We had a very busy, very fun weekend. Saturday I took Jaydan to our local Pumpkin Patch. We went last year and he was way too small to enjoy most of the fun stuff, but we saw the potential for fun as he grows so we knew a tradition was born. Sadly, our Daddy had to work so we went without him! It was so much more fun this year. Jaydan really enjoyed the petting zoo, and cow-train ride. He was able to run around and get some exercise and get dirty. There were several exclamations of "Wow" upon seeing the different animals and he was so excited to see the "duts" (turkeys and a peacock). I hope that someday we will be able to convince him that all birds are NOT ducks, but right now he's not buying it.

I couldn't resist doing a picture comparison. My what a difference a year makes! I'm sure next year will be even more fun and we will be able to enjoy even more of the activities. We came home that night and carved our pumpkin. Well, I carved it, Jaydan played with and tried to eat the guts! It turned out pretty cool..... you should run out and but a pumpkin carving kit. I am SO not artistic and if I can do this, just think of the cool things you can do if you have a modicum of talent. It was our first real snap of fall weather, it was cold enough Sunday morning to provide an excuse to build the season's first fire. That sparked (ha ha) a whole new reason for "No, nos", but it added to the fall-y festive mood!

And the winner is......

2008-10-20T07:01:00.003-04:00

This is the new ride. Its a minivan, but its still a little cool, right? This is how we spent Sunday. Last time we bought a car, Jaydan was two months old...... lets suffice it to say that things didn't go AS smoothly this time :) This car is new to us, had low miles and was very well taken care of..... AND it had an automatic sliding door, which is sooooooo nice when you have your arms full of kicking and screaming toddler, this I know for a fact. You see, Jaydan did his best to make sure that all of the amenities would work for our family. He did enjoy that there is so much space....he explored every square inch before giving his approval. He even figured out how to turn the stereo on and then proceeded to show the salesman how well he dances!

Sick Day

2008-10-15T11:26:00.002-04:00

I'm home with Jaydan today, who is under the weather. I think its just a bad cold, but he was up all night off and on, which lead me to believe that it was worse than it actually is. We had a great weekend with Jeff's family.....his sisters and their kids were up from Enterprise, Alabama. For the first time Jaydan was old enough to sort of play with his cousins so that was fun. He chased his cousin, Lindsey around Nana's house for a good hour yelling "Woo woo woo". Not sure what that means, but they both thought it was big fun.

This is a picture that I promised my mom I would post. Jaydan picked this up at the grocery store last week and proceeded to wear it the rest of the shopping trip..... this, from the kid who won't keep a hat on his head, ever. He held very still, so as not to lose it and grinned from ear to ear. He doesn't consistently keep in on anymore, but this particular story-time called for it!

Weekend Update

2008-10-07T12:31:00.005-04:00

It was another great weekend that went all too fast. Jaydan and I ran errands Saturday morning while Daddy was at work and then we all loaded up that evening and went to spend the night with Jeff's parents. His cousin and his girlfriend were there so it was fun to meet some new family.
We took a boat ride around the lake Sunday morning and enjoyed the beautiful scenary. Jeff spent some time fishing and we watched some football. Then it was time to go back home and.....oh, did I forget to mention that my husband sold his car? Maybe thats because it was a surprise to me, too...... I mean, we had talked about it, but I though we'd decided to wait. I didn't kill him, because the fact of the matter is that its over 10 years old, has 175,000 miles on it and was coming close to needing some pretty extensive work done on it. So now, he's driving Pop's truck while he looks for something new. We haven't yet reached an agreement on what to get.....he wants to get a used BMW, I'm pulling for something more practical, like a minivan or small SUV (am I REALLY pulling for a minivan?!?). Stay tuned to find out what happens next.....

Got Gas?

2008-09-30T08:00:00.002-04:00

Its still pretty still on the homefront......except for a gas shortage that is making life in Metro Atlanta very unpleasant. Winder, the town we live in has literally been without gas for a week and a half now. I learned my lesson the hard way, (i.e. driving around for an hour with a tired, hungry, cranky kid) and have been filling up anywhere I can find it since almost two weeks ago, sometimes to the tune of nearly $5 a gallon. Needless to say, with a three hour a day commute....... this is cause for concern. Our local government keeps promising relief "in a few days", which is now going on three weeks. We are all praying to catch a break and who knows......if it gets bad enough, rumor has it the Governor is thinking about granting a state-wide paid-day-off!

Tagged - Thank you Sunny!

2008-09-26T19:41:00.002-04:00

1. I'm in bed EVERY night by 9:30. Period.
2. I work under the first African American, FEMALE Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
3. I LOVE McDonalds. Really.
4. My best friend (south of the Mason-Dixon line) is moving to Japan next month......for 4 years.
5. I secretly miss Idaho.
6. I can burp like a truck driver.
7. I LOVE Jack Daniels.

I don't think I have any friends that haven't already been tagged!

Our Little Gator

2008-09-25T07:50:00.012-04:00

Things have been pretty quiet at the Little house this week...... oh, do you ever get the feeling you just jinxed yourself? Basically I have nothing major to report...... Jaydan got his first time-out at daycare yesterday, but the only thing that surprised me about that was that it was his first?!? Basically I'm adding this post so I can have an excuse to add these pictures of our Little man in his Gator Gear. For those of you who aren't from the South...... college football here is like a religion and the fans are rabid.We began the brainwashing before he was ever born by painting his room in Florida's orange and blue..... and, as you can see, its paying off! Go Gators!

Hallelujah

2008-09-22T12:21:00.006-04:00

As the Mom of an almost-16-month-old, I'm only just beginning to realize the meaning of "out of the mouthes of babes". Tuesday, when I picked Jaydan up from daycare our beloved Ms. Kate said, "Jaydan, show Mama what you learned today" and raised her arms above her head. My sweet baby boy threw his little arms up and said, "Halalalauah"...... it wasn't perfect, but it was a very close (and oh-so-cute) imitation of her "Hallelujah". It melted my heart and made me think..... we really probably should get this kid in a church somewhere.
The other significant thing that happened this weekend, was that my husband lost my cell phone. Technically, he put it on top of my car (don't ask) and I drove off with it up here, so, as he informs me, it was a joint effort. I spent 2 1/2 hours on Saturday beating the bush on the side of the highway looking for it. I prayed.....literally, "God, if you'll let me find my phone, I promise I will get into a church". Viola..... next morning I called my phone and the neighbor answered. He had found it on his morning walk.
These two forces combined and resulted in Jaydan and I heading into Winder for church. Jeff was raised Methodist, which is somewhat important to him so we found a Methodist Church with a contemporary service......more my speed. I enjoyed it, Jaydan enjoyed it and we'll be back...... Hallelujah.

Jaydan's Rough Week

2008-09-18T08:00:00.004-04:00

So Jaydan's week got off to a rough start, in the form of shots on Monday. He's getting to an age now where he's retaining some stuff, so....... the first shot surprised him and protested by screaming bloody murder. He was so busy screaming about the first one that the second one snuck up on him. She came back a third time, to put bandages on and he was like "Oh, Hell No" and put up a fight, shoving her hands away. I'm pretty sure that two shots in our new limit. He also fought poor Dr. Schlossberg, biting the tongue compressor when he tried to look in his mouth. Doc decided it wasn't THAT important to see those new teeth..... I THINK he has a new big tooth in the back this week, but I'm not sure because he's decided that people looking in his mouth is a very bad thing.
That same night I grilled out and let him play in the back yard while I was cooking. A mosquito bit his forehead...... I put some cortizone cream on it and didn't think too much of it. Jeff commented that it was a nasty bite the next morning after he dropped him off. When I picked him up that night he looked like a fetal alcohol syndrome baby. He had a huge goose egg on his forehead, the bridge of his nose was swollen almost flat and his right eye was all puffed up. Naturally, I called Doc and he said give him some benadryl and keep doing the cortizone cream and it should look better in a few days! It DID look better yesterday but the swelling is moving to the other side. All of this, AND the mystery tooth and no one is sure exists...... its not easy being the Fatty Pigger this week.

Weekend fun

2008-09-16T07:08:00.002-04:00

We had a wonderful, but busy weekend. Our Super-Daddy bought us all tickets to see "Elmo Live" at Philips Arena on Saturday. We had been talking about going, but weren't sure if Jaydan was old enough to enjoy it (and justify the money) yet. On Friday, Jeff took the plunge and got tickets and I have to say it was money well spent. Jaydan had his own seat and we pushed it up, so he had his own little dance floor and boy did he work it. I would say for the first half hour or so he stood there, hanging on to the seat in front of him and CUT A RUG. He danced and sang, clapped and shouted with joy! It was sooooo too cute. Even after he kind of lost interest in the show, he was fascinated with all of the kids. There is no price tag you can put on seeing your kids face light up like that.
Sunday, we went to Jeff's parents house. Nana has been feeding some ducks in her back yard so they are pretty tame and come right up to you when you feed them (they take food from her hand). So, Jaydan got to feed the ducks. Again with the cuteness, he would stand there with a chip in his little hand and look at the duck and say "heeth, heeth,", which translates to "please, please". At one point they got a little close for comfort and one even pecked his fat little foot a couple of times. After a few initial howls of indignation he was right back at it. "Heeth, heeth".