I know, I know......

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!!

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

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!!

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

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

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

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!!