Freedom

Conversation during our prayers, this evening:

Mommy: Let's pray that everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July
Mommy: Jack, do you know what we celebrate on the 4th of July
Jack: What?
Mommy: Our freedom
Jack: What is it mommy?
Mommy: Well, it's not "something", but it means we are free to do what we want
Jack: We need a telescope to look for freedom's house

Then, it took me a few minutes to figure out he was talking about getting the binoculars back from Fionnuala's house

The Grabber

When we were in Huntsville, my dad introduced Jack to "the grabber". A long time ago (probably 15 years), when my grandfather was in rehabilitation from a heart attack, my dad bought him a tool to pick things up. Well, my dad still has it and he let Jack play with it. Jack loves it! My dad even told Jack that he could bring it back to Birmingham. He plays with it all of the time. He picks everything up, with it. Actually, it can be a little annoying. However, when Jack is misbehaving, all I have to do is threaten to take away "the grabber" and he stops.

Here is a picture of Jack sleeping with it...

Happy

Home Sweet Home

Jack, Holden and I had a wonderful visit to Huntsville. I feel like every second of my day is spent taking care of someone else. It was nice to have my parents take care of me. There is just something comfortable about being at "home". It's fun to look through old picture albums, watch movies, and eat a bunch of food that I didn't have to buy. =)

Now, what really happened:
1. Holden was wide awake by 6am, every morning
2. Holden spit up, at least twice an hour on their floors
3. Jack put a bunch of stuff off of my dad's desk into the paper shredder, when we weren't looking
4. We arrived on Sunday and already had a load of laundry by Monday night
5. Jack threw at least 10 good tantrums
6. Jack and Grandad spent hours, in the extreme heat, "fixing sprinkler heads" (Big J knows all about that, too)
7. Jack received a nasty rug burn on his back from playing "sidewinder" with Kiki
8. We experienced a new side of Jack, after eating popcorn and drinking coke for 2 hours at the movie theater. I'm not sure whether to describe his behavior as a wild animal, a cyclone, or the Tasmanian devil.
9. We left Kiki and Gdad with a sufficiently trashed house
10. But, it was a lot of fun!

A little late...

Happy Father's Day to everyone!

Also, we are thinking about Aunt Jennifer and hope she has an easy recovery from her gallbladder removal.

The boys and I arrived in Huntsville, yesterday. We are spending the week, here.

This is Jack's birthday present from Uncle David, Aunt Sarah, Uncle James, and Aunt Jennifer. There are two of them.

TUTOR

Dugan likes to quiz me...


Note: I know it looks like I never make my bed, but currently it serves as a changing table, study hall, trampoline, and, on occasion, Jack's napping place. None of that would be fun on a scratchy comforter.

Ways to stay cool

Go naked...



Play in the rain...


Even though it is hot, I remember how miserable it was the summer that Jack was born. That was the August when we had at least 10 straight days of 100 degree weather.

A little bit of everything

Here is what we have been up to:

1. BIRTHDAY PARTY: Jack's birthday weekend was a lot of fun. He was lucky to have so many people there. A lot of people could not come because they were at the beach. We are fortunate to have great family and friends. We loved getting to see everyone, but, I was especially happy to see my brothers and their families. It has been almost a year since I had seen my nephew.

2. DENTIST: Jack went to the dentist on Monday. I thought it went well. The hygienist was very good. She was going to clean his teeth, but he wasn't interested. =) She did get to brush his teeth and use fluoride. I was kind of amazed when she started spraying the water around the room. It got him to let her put it in his mouth. Anyway, the dentist came in the room and Jack got under my chair. Oh, well.

3. DOCTOR: Today, Jack had his 3 year check-up. I was worried because Jason couldn't go with me. If I had known that, I would have gotten a babysitter for Holden. We did okay. Jack almost weighs 30 lbs. It was weird to see him as such a big boy. The nurse did a lot of the stats out in the hallway. He stood on the scale, had his vision checked, and she even took his blood pressure. Everything went well. I expressed my concern about Jack's snoring (every time he sleeps). The doctor wants us to go back to Jack's ENT and let him check it out. I see a tonsillectomy, in his future. I had sleep apnea, when I was little, and that makes me worry about Jack's breathing, at night.

4. GRAD SCHOOL: I made A's on my first 3 assignments! Actually, they were fairly easy. It's about to get hectic.

5. POTTY TRAINING: I didn't care one bit about potty training, when I was pregnant. I decided that I would worry about it, after Holden was born. Then, I found myself working, with a newborn, at home. All of a sudden, I cared even less about potty training. So, I decided to wait until I was off on summer vacation. So, Memorial Day weekend we quit wearing diapers, during the day. It has gone great so far. He had already been peeing in the potty some, so he knew what that was all about. The pooping took a little bit longer to get used to. But, when we don't have company (no offense), he does great with both. We haven't had any accidents, lately. I've decided that when these diapers run out, we are going to switch to my small package of pull-ups, and then go for only underwear, at night!

Glasses

I'm going on 3 weeks of wearing my glasses (with the exception of 3-4 days). I haven't worn my glasses more than 24 hours, since I got contacts in 6th grade. I guess it is kind of scary to think that I've stuck something to my eyes everyday for 20 years. My mom has been telling me for 10 years that she would pay for Lasik surgery, but I'm not ready. Besides, my vision keeps changing. I got a new glasses prescription, last November, and when I went last week, my right eye was even worse. Apparently, I have allergies because my eyes are not re-wetting like they should and it is causing something similar to callouses on my eyes.

I don't think about how bad my vision is until I have to wear glasses. If it means anything to you, my eyes have lapsed into my left being 4.25 and right eye being 3.75. I have my dad to thank for my vision. My brother, James, and I both inherited his poor eye sight. I hate to complain too much because I could always post you pictures of James' cornea transplant.

Attempts...

At getting a picture of both my boys.

CHAOS

No one ever said parenting was easy. This is my 5th day off of work and I feel like I'm going crazy. I love every minute that I get to spend with my boys, but it is not all smiles and laughs. Actually, we have a lot of tears and arguments. Anyway, I was about to lose my mind, this morning, when I said, "Jack, today, I am going to introduce you to Sesame Street." He looked at me with a big smile and said, "That is my favorite Street." I love him.




Here is a picture that I forgot to post from the other day. I didn't realize I left it off until my mom asked me why I didn't post a picture of Joshua. Holden kept trying to roll on top of him.

Summer Nights

Last Saturday, we went to visit some friends of ours. Their little girl is Jack's age and their son is Holden's age. Jack and Marina had a fun time together. They spent time throwing the ball for Marley, watching movies, and jumping on the bed.

Jack loves the beach!

It was such a joy to watch Jack play on the beach. He was still a little timid, last year. This year, he couldn't get enough.
















My posts might slow down a little bit, this summer. Actually, I can't believe that I found time to post all of these pictures. I started Graduate School, yesterday!! I am getting my Ed.S. in Library Media. That is a degree between your Masters and you Doctorate. I'm very excited about it, but it is going to be a lot of work. Lots of Reading and Writing!