Brothers

Austin always asks to hold Jackson (Parker never does because he always wants to be able to see him). He loves cuddling him until he starts crying. Here we are at soccer. 

 I am soooo impressed by Austin's school pics. I can't believe how good they came out and even better, now I am off the hook to take him in to get some new professional pics done. But man do they charge a lot for these photos. Crazy! But worth it when it comes to convenience and quality.

 His class has two Austin's in it... out of only three boys. What are the chances? (Can't turn this darn photo!)

Sweet baby:) 

 The preschool had a fundraiser one night last week at a Little Gym. $5 for all the kids in the fam to come and play for 45 minutes. If it wasn't so expensive I would sign them up... they had a blast and I was so impressed by the girls who worked there.

 Austin has really come out of his shell in social situations since he started preschool. So proud of him!

 And this was Jackson the whole time we were there. Amazing.

 There's my baby holder again.

Sickies

We've all had this cold going through our house. Parker's cough hadn't gone away and was keeping him up at night, so I decided to keep him home from school and do the doctor thing (which I avoid at all costs!). Good thing I did because 3 1/2 hours later (regular check, in-office breathing treatment, chest xray, and waiting 1 1/2 hours at the pharmacy for meds) they determined he had a spot of pneumonia on his lung. Poor boy. Got him antibiotics and an inhaler. He's much better now. I, however, have not recovered from the doctors visit with all three children in tow. 

 This was some art Parker did on one of the first days of school. Now he reports that everyday he feels "less nervous."

 This chunk is so content and will randomly fall asleep on me. This never happened with previous babies so I'm eating it up. And I'm sooo loving our MWF mornings when both brothers are at school. Peaceful house= peaceful mom.

 I loved these twinners last weekend.

 Jackson really likes his baths. And I love Tubby Todd bath products. He smells like Lavender Heaven.

 There is plenty of chaos and frustrating moments in my life right now, but there's also moments of clarity... I am living the dream.

Superheroes

I live in a house full of superheroes. Seriously, they pretend to be superheroes with various powers all day long. I rarely communicate with them as their "normal self". It's all about the alter ego. 

Here's Austin and his pose while he shoots lightning. 

 PS... best chicken pot pie ever. Pillsbury recipe. So easy... so delicious. Make it today.

Jackson videos

Here is some video evidence of Jackson's cuteness. I just love this little angel. 

Here's Jackson talking during our layover a few weeks ago. 

More of Jackson talking at 10 weeks old. 

Oh brothers. I think it's hilarious how they interpret my attempts at getting him to smile. Do I really look that rough when I do it, Austin? Jackson sure does love his brothers, though. 

Singing with Mama. 

And this is how Austin walks to and from the car into school each day... I'm afraid his slow walking is going to get us kicked out!

My monkeys and some giraffes

One of our museum passes got us into the zoo this month, so we went to check out the new, baby giraffe. So cute!

2month stats

Jackson had his 2 month checkup on Monday. He's such a delight and charms everyone around him. He cried a little for his shots, but then quickly got over them. He still eats every three hours during the day but has been going to bed about 9pm and then wakes again between 1:00 and 4:00am. So awesome. Though I still wake up feeling like I haven't slept. Imagine that?

He's 13 lbs 8 oz, and 24 inches long (about a pound bigger than his brothers at this age). That's about 75% in both. Head is 15.75 inches. He wears 3 month or 3-6 month clothes. He is cooing back and forth and tries to sing along with me. It's the best and I love my one on one time with him whenever I can get it.

 Go Blue! Everyone's happy because it's college football season! And that means Pete's on laundry duty again (sitting on the couch all day means being assigned a sitting chore and folding clothes fits the bill:))

Kids say the cutest things

A few quotes to remember:

I was carrying Austin upstairs to bed and said, "Wow Austin, you're getting really heavy." "Yup Mama I am. I am almost a Dad!" (He also said he wants 5 kids... all boys!)

Parker says school is boring. "You have to raise your hand all the time."

"Austin, what is your favorite part of school?" "When I'm on the playground riding the horse... ALONE!" (He likes his alone time).

"Parker, how was the bus?" "Terrible. It was too bumpy."

Austin was repeatedly asking me for something, that I was already in the process of getting him. Then Parker said, "Austin, she's getting it. Mom's always listen'."

For pickup at preschool, you have the option of walking in to get your child or you can wait in a drive-thru pickup line. With Parker, driving through was always more convenient (and if you go inside you don't even have a chance to talk to the teacher anyway, so there's no big loss staying in your car). So I picked up Austin in the car for the first time today and it was a much different experience. What happens is they have a list of the children in order of the cars that are picking up, so as you get to the front of the line, your child comes walking out to the sidewalk to meet some teachers who get them in the car. But they walk independently from the building to the sidewalk to meet the adults. So I get to the front of the line and wait for Austin to emerge and ever soooo slowly, he comes sauntering out. He was literally moving so slowly I didn't even know it was possible. And I see every teacher beckoning and encouraging him with their arms to "come on!". It took so long for him to make it to the car. They may ban us from the pick up line at this rate.

We have had to wake Parker up in the morning since school started. Our typically early riser has decided that his body does not want to naturally wake before 7am anymore. Strange. Anyway, I was doing the waking and he would always get mad at me, so yesterday I sent Pete in. Pete gently nudged him and said, "Parker, are you ready to get up?" Parker rolls over and grumpily says, "You know I don't have a choice."

Austin is a master manipulator. He is rarely his authentic self. He's either sickeningly sweet and complimentary or he's a pouty grump. When I picked him up from school he was carrying a great piece of art he'd made. I complimented him on it and he says with a fake grin, "I know it's so beautiful, just like you're so beautiful!"

And Jackson is cooing back and forth with us now (9 weeks old), so that's a quote I definitely want to remember. :)

First days of school

This has been a LONG summer. Parker got out of preschool on May 22. School didn't start until Sept 8th. Like I said, LONGGGGG!!!! But the day finally arrived. Parker started Kindergarten, and it's only half day here, so it's not that much more demanding than his preschool schedule. Our neighborhood is slotted for AM Kinder, so the bus is scheduled to pick him up about 7:15am and then it drops him off about 11:20am. It's so early. He's typically an early riser, but given that we are still somewhat on CA time, it's been rough getting up and at 'em in the morning. Plus, he was nervous to ride the bus, so I've been driving him to school, but he rides the bus home. The bus stop was supposed to be down the street, but when I saw that he was the only one getting off at that stop, I kindly asked if she wouldn't mind dropping him at our house just around the bend... she said she would and it has been awesome! Bless that lady. 

On the first day he was very nervous about being in a much bigger school. He was worried he wouldn't know where to go. I don't blame him. So I dropped him off in the cafeteria where the kids were congregating and introduced myself to his teacher (who wasn't quite as friendly back, eh hem), and then left with tears in my eyes. I was shocked to be emotional about this. Did I mention it was a LONGGG summer? And Parker loves school and is very social. School is a great thing for him and I both. We like each other a lot once we've been apart a few hours:) 

How cute is he?

 I just said a little prayer that he would like his teacher and that he wouldn't feel overwhelmed by the size of the school. He got off the bus happy that first day, though he said it was boring. But going from a developmental preschool focusing mostly on social skills and limited academics, this is a pretty big shift. But I think once he gets used to it, he'll like the higher expectations and the learning. It's going to be great!

And then there's Austin... Parker and Austin are very different. Parker is outgoing and friendly, and makes new friends everywhere he goes. Austin likes Parker, but that's about it. If he's not playing with Parker, he plays by himself. Which is fine, but let's just say we are excited to have him in a preschool setting (3 mornings a week):) He was not excited to be left there. He had picked out his snack, his lunchbox, his clothes... but as we loaded in the car, nothing was right and he started taking his clothes off and throwing his lunchbox. haha.

But just like nursery at church, I knew that once he settled in and got comfortable in this new environment, he'd be fine. And we had previously met his teacher Mrs. Noel, and she is wonderful! He was in good hands. So I managed to get him into the classroom and she helped him to separate.

 Then Parker came home and we headed to the preschool to get little brother. (Parker loves his new backpack).

 And this was the face I saw... he loved it. He was proud of his lunchbox, earned two stamps on his hand for good listening, pottied himself (halleluia... literally after 6 months of trying to potty train, he decided in San Diego that he was ready and he just did it. He told us when he needed to go (#1 and #2) and he has had one accident since. That's it! Miracle of miracles!).

 These boys love discussing their classes, though we have no idea what Austin is talking about most of the time. But they sure are cute.

 And I love that i get some quality time with this little nugget three mornings a week.

 Here he is waiting for Parker at the bus stop (before they came to our house).

 Austin made these crafts on 9/11. They celebrated America and sent a very nice note home to the parents who serve in the military. I found that very touching.

Looking forward to a GREAT school year!

13.1

Since he went to Naval Justice School in Rhode Island last summer, Pete has become a runner. He was in training with several guys who already ran and he joined them in their marathon training. This is funny to me, because Pete has never been a runner. He played golf in high school for heavens sake:) Just kidding, kind of. He has always been athletic, but it is really only recently that his athleticism has really risen to a new level. Before he left for military training, he knew he'd have to run 1 1/2 miles, so he started "training" and would go out for runs and come back about 8 minutes later, reporting that he had run to the end of our apartment complex and back. Oh how far he's come.

So he decided to train for a marathon coming up in November, but since he's at about the 10 mile mark on his training schedule, he decided to do a 1/2 marathon to mix up his routine a bit and make it more fun.

Unfortunately, he had to pick us up from the airport at 3:30am the morning of the race, but he had a smile on his face and did great. We were there at mile 10 to cheer him on. It was such a fun atmosphere and it is truly remarkable to see all ages, shapes, and sizes running this distance. So inspiring!

As we were waiting for Pete, I was worried we'd miss him. I had a window of time he expected to be at 10 miles but it's a long course and A LOT of people! But thankfully, we saw him right away.

Don't the boys look supportive? 3 hours of sleep they've had, mind you.

 Look at that smile!

 We decided not to go to the finish line for logistics reasons, but I felt so bad when I heard that after the race (13.1 miles) he had to walk another good distance to a shuttle to take him back to his car. While he did great running, it was the walking afterwards that nearly did him in! He thought he couldn't take another step. Poor guy. But he did it! Now onto the marathon in Richmond!

Thankfully he had off the next day for Labor day, which helped him to get his energy back. He earned a reward meal of Buffalo Wild Wings. Sauce Boss is a joke, because we went to BWW one night with some of Pete's work friends to watch the USA soccer game and one of the guys was wearing a Sauce Boss crown. We then referred to him as "Sauce Boss" and now the boys think that's his real name. Whenever we have people over for dinner they ask, "Is Sauce Boss coming?"

So proud of my runner!