To my boys, this one's for your baby books...

I try jotting things down when I can so that you'll know all the adorable and awesome things you do as a toddler and baby. I do this because I want you to know how special you are to us, and to everyone around you. You bring us such joy in everything you do (even when you're a little badass Jasper), you are the two best things in our lives.

Jasper--in the mornings, on the way to school, you always comment on the sun, that "the sun is awake." And at night, you tell us that "the sun went to sleep and now, the moon is awake!" It's the way you say it--you have so much excitement and expression. Every weekday, when we bring you to school, you proudly sit on Daddy's shoulders from the car to your classroom. You are probably known as the kid that is always on his dad's shoulders, and I'm totally fine with that. Then, as we drop you off at your classroom, you give hugs and kisses, then make sure we give you a high five and "daps." Just so you know, Daddy and I really love that. In the car, you request that Mardi Gras music be played (daily). You say, "Put on the Mardi Gras bead song!" So we listen, dance and sing along to the second line. That and the "Gooba Gooba" song. It's positively one of my favorite songs because it makes me think of you. Oh, and how can I forget the "Three Little Birds." Daddy taught you one of his Bob Marley favorites at least a year ago. You know the words better than I do! At home, when Dad tries to throw the football to you, you lecture him, "No throwing balls in the house Daddy!" Good boy. You are constantly talking and I'm happy to say that we understand about 90% of what you're saying. You ask "why" all the time. When we tell you we love you, you simply reply, "yeah." Your manners are improving. You still love french fries and mac-n-cheese, and you will eat just about every flavor of pop tart there is. We took you to your first LSU game in Houston. Let's just say that it didn't quite go as planned. You were all over the place and you and I spent most of the game outside by the concessions. Don't be mad if we don't take you to another game til you're 13--just kidding. On the way home last week, we asked you about who you played with that day and you said, "Abigail," Then, when Daddy asked you if Abigail was your girlfriend, you said, "No! Felicity is my girlfriend." You and Felicity are really cute together. Halloween just passed and (because I'm sure you'll be mortified by the pictures when you're a teenager) you positively loved being a bubble gum snoball. And I have to say that you and Sam were the best looking snoballs I've ever seen. 

Jasper, I love the person you are becoming. You're happy, sweet and you have a good heart. On Halloween night, there was a man that answered the door and apologized because he had no candy. As we were walking away, you said, "We need to go get that man some candy!" You have so much energy and at times, I'd swear you have springs in your butt with the way you jump all over the place. You never sit still. Never. But you listen (pretty well) and your rapidly growing vocabulary impresses the heck out of us. You're eating better too, (even if it is because we threaten to put you to bed early). At only three years old, we are already so proud of you. I know you need to keep growing, but part of me wishes I could keep the little three year old version of you forever. Hope that didn't sound too creepy...

Sammy--you broke your first tooth today! You're cruising all over the house, chasing after Jasper from room to room on all fours as fast as you can. You laugh constantly, but particularly when Jasper is entertaining you and tickling you. You babble incessantly and loudly. About two weeks ago, you started pulling up on the furniture, so we've lowered your crib. Speaking of cribs, we walk in your room most mornings to find you sitting up and playing contently. And when we get your intention, you give the biggest smile and wave your arms up and down. You're such a morning person, not at all like me. We're about to celebrate your first birthday in less than a month and I just don't understand where the last year went. The older I get, the faster time flies by. Thank God I've taken so many pictures of you along the way. We took you to your first LSU tailgate last weekend. We visited the Zeta house, Granny's old dorm, and ate at the Chimes with Aunt Carol and Aunt Debbie. You didn't make it to the game but we beat Ole Miss 10-7, in case you wanted to know. You're becoming more independent, playing on the floor, and getting into things. You're now going into the dog bowl, grabbing Callie's food and splashing the water. You seem to like Callie's toys more than your own and unfortunately, sometimes we don't notice you have one til you've been chewing on it for some time. At least Callie doesn't seem to mind. You stuck yourself between the couch and the end table. It reminded me when Jasper got stuck behind the couch. Your godfather, Uncle Jonathan came to visit today and you showed him how excited you were to see him by projectile vomiting all over him. I was mortified, but he just laughed. Please apologize to him when you're older. He was really cool about it all...

Sam, I love getting to know you and watching you change. You're getting so big. No seriously, I buy clothes for you and you outgrow them a week later. You fit into 18 month clothes, and you're only 11 months. You give the best hugs. We can't wait to see you walking and talking!

And let me tell you about your dad. He is absolutely the best dad ever. He is always playing with you, making you laugh, challenging you, and happy to help you. He's learning Catholic prayers so that you can say them together. He loves being with us, his family, and when he's apart from you, he's missing you both. He is so proud to be your dad and everyone knows it. 

There are people that go thru life never realizing how good they have it. I'm telling you now, recognizing that this is just the beginning of our lives together, that I know exactly what I have and how lucky I am to have all three of you. I hope you both see what I see in him. And I hope you grow up to be just like him. 

Some pictures from the LSU game in Houston with Grammie and PawPaw.

Jasper learning to ride his new tricycle with Daddy.

Stopping to take a group picture with Mom and Sammy.

Jasper and Sam, about to "go to the moon" in their space ship.

Hugging on my boys and trying to get all three of us to smile at the same time. Virtually impossible.

Sammy at 10 months.

Sammy and Jasper trying out their snoball costumes.

Sammy's first haircut, 10/10/14.

Grammie and PawPaw with Sammy.

The boys in their matching skeleton pajamas.

Visiting the pumpkin patch, 10/18/24.

LSU Homecoming, 10/25/14

Visiting the Zeta house with the whole family.

Always happy in the mornings.

Happy Halloween from the Starr's. Loving our snoball costumes this year, 10/31/14.

Sammy starting to stand up on his own, 10/22/14.

Mommy's melt down and more...

It's been an eventful few months and I have plenty to tell so let's get to it!

Jasper started his new school last week. I'd like to say that everything was rainbows and butterflies but let's just say his first day was far from it. Well, for me anyway... We left a little later than usual, but that's because we wanted to get to his school a little closer to 8 a.m. (Oh, and when I say later, I'm talking 10 minutes.) Traffic was exceptionally slow, but we still got to Metairie Ridge to drop off Sammy with plenty of time to spare. After all, Jasper's new school is less than a mile down Metairie Rd. That was until we caught not one, but two trains. That's right. We caught the end of one train first, which took about 7 minutes, then sat impatiently in front of Langenstein's watching the train ever so sluggishly roll by from 7:51 til 8:01. You should've seen me. The utter impatience within my body literally had me shaking. I was a mess. But that's nothing compared to what happened when we finally arrived to his classroom. I open the door, start to follow him in, the teacher whisks him away, turns back to me and says, "Go get him a tardy slip from the office." There were no goodbye hugs or kisses, no meeting the teacher, no classroom visit. The camera never left its case. Not to mention, my kid got a tardy slip on the first day of school because of me. Then, the tears started. A mom stopped me and said, "Aww, are those tears?" I turned to her with my (very) ugly crying face and dramatically whined, "He got a tardy slip on his first day!" 

So we go to the office and Jeremy handles getting the slip because at this point I'm inconsolable, bitchy and still crying. We walk back to the classroom, open the door, and the teacher quickly grabs the slip and closes it on us, again. There I am. Standing outside of his classroom door, crying my eyes out, looking thru the window like a homeless person wanting to come in from the cold. Finally, I see Jasper. He's got a content grin on his face, not a care in the world. He sees me and walks up to the door, looking up at me. His teacher finally realizes what a hot mess I am and opens the door to let me say goodbye to him. 

I cried all the way to the office. And on the elevator. And a little at my desk. He was fine. He never cried. He liked his new teachers. In fact, when we picked him up yesterday he told us all the way home, "I don't want to go home. I want to stay at school!"

And if that wasn't enough, his "first day" pictures all came out blurry because of the condensation on the lens. Thus, this is technically his "second day" picture. Just call me "Mom of the Year."

He's such a big boy. He has the confidence at age three that I didn't develop til age 26. His smile makes us smile and the things he says are just incredible. The other day in the car, we asked him who his best friend was and he shouted "Daddy!"

He was sick a few weeks ago, and to get him to eat certain foods we'd tell him they would make him "feel better." Now, whenever he wants something, his reasoning is that it makes him feel better. I have something interesting to share... I bet you had no idea that cheeseballs, chocolate milk, pop tarts, playing with toys in bed and especially chocolate cookies all make him "feel better." Speaking of food, I think we go out to eat too much. Earlier this week on our way home, Jasper asked if we were going out to eat again. I think he's addicted to coffee too. It's not that we give him coffee (he's naturally that hyper), it's the "coffee experience." He knows he's going to get to visit with friends or family and he knows he's going to either get a cake pop or a turtle. And in case you're wondering, his favorite coffee place is Puccino's. Yup, he's totally spoiled.

Sam is doing some cool new stuff too. He turned nine months yesterday. He's holding his bottle on his own more, babbling dada, mama and baba a lot, grabbing and reaching, clapping, laughing at Jasper, standing up for longer periods of time and crawling backwards (but still crawling).  I'm a little surprised at how much longer it has taken him to crawl. I think Jasper crawled at around six months. Then again, Jasper wasn't built like a linebacker. Sam's a beast! I can't say I mind though. It's been nice not having to keep up with a creepy crawler. But, all things must come to an end. Last weekend, Sammy somehow backwards crawled his way under the entertainment center. By the time we got to him, his body was under it and only his head was sticking out. Can you imagine the amount of dog hair he had on him?!

Sam absolutely loves being held. In fact, he demands it. Holding him can get pretty exhausting, but lately it's that or hearing him fuss. I'm hoping this is just a phase. I think he's spoiled by Jasper. He's always entertaining him and making him laugh. So whenever Jasper's not right next to him keeping him company, I think he just gets lonely.

He loves to jump on my knee as if he's riding a horse. In fact, the other morning, he jumped right off! Good thing I had his hands--he just laughed. He loves making raspberries. Tonight, we took turns making raspberries at each other. He loved it and so did I. And his hugs. There's nothing quite like Sam's hugs. I think it's the way he wraps his arms around my shoulders and neck and squeezes. His hugs are positively one of the best parts about being a mom. The added bonus is when he rests his head on my shoulder. I just love when he does that.

Aside from the wanting to be held 24/7, he really is an awesome baby, still sleeping thru the night and very good about going with the flow. Whether we're out at the park for several hours in the sun or eating at a restaurant, he's always just taking things in. He's like a tiny adult. And he's so stinkin' cuddly!

Now, let's catch up on our busy summer.

We visited Gatlinburg with the Starr family back in July. PawPaw and Grammie got us a cabin and Uncle Timmy, Nannan, Cristi Jo and Brittney joined us along with Uncle Neil and Aunt Tia. Jasper saw his first real bear, a waterfall and a lot more.

Jeremy played the ultimate prank on Grammie. I'm sure you're all familiar with the auto correct on iphones, and how annoying they can be. What you may not know is that you can manually set words to auto correct. Just for fun, Jeremy "borrowed" Grammie's phone when she wasn't looking and changed a few of the words. In particular, he changed "the" to "penis," then "are" to "butthole," and finally "you" to "vagina." Her first few texts were pretty amusing. Something about seeing penis bear and did I need her to bring penis bottle for Sam. Another pretty funny one was the group text to all of us asking "What butthole we doing?" But the best part was when she took a picture of a (dead, stuffed) possum and posted it to facebook saying, "This made me think of vagina, Lana." (She and Lana have some kind of long running joke about possums...)  We laughed for hours. No really. Hours. People just kept staring at all of us as we laughed and laughed. The best part was when she finally discovered it. She left her phone in the car, so she couldn't take down the post. Priceless. I'm so proud of my husband. He's one funny guy.

Here are some highlights from the trip...

We celebrated CiCi's birthday on July 19th at R&O's with CiCi, Grandpa, Jenny, David, Rebecca and Christian. CiCi was thrilled to have all of us together in one place, and the food was great! Happy Birthday CiCi!

Jasper wrapped up swim lessons at Elmwood about a month ago. He seemed to really enjoy them. And we enjoyed taking advantage of the big outdoor pools. We're going to miss that place. He learned to blow bubbles, kick and float. He's not quite swimming yet, but he certainly got more and more comfortable week after week. I have a feeling that by next year, he'll be swimming like a fish!

We visited City Park's Storyland and Amusement park several times throughout the summer, as it got hotter and hotter. It never got old. Just hot. 

Uncle Neil and Aunt Tia are expecting Baby Starr in December 2014. We had a gender reveal party to find out whether they were having a boy or a girl, and Jasper and Sam are relieved to announce, it's a BOY! Sammy can't wait to meet his future best friend. And Jeremy was thrilled to find out he is going to be the godfather!

Jasper had his first dentist appointment. We're happy to report no cavities and healthy teeth. It turns out that he is missing a tooth though, in the same spot that Jeremy is missing one. Weird.

So we went a little overboard on Jasper's third birthday. But damn, it was a fun party! I took a half day off of work just to clean the house, and called for backup, Carol and Debbie-- a.k.a. my lean, mean cleaning team! Jeremy and I spent way too much money buying water toys and decorations, and renting a train, but it was such a blast for everyone. The cake was amazing as always, thanks to Aunt Jessica. We even had a fun photo prop that Grandpa built for us! 

Ahh, it was an eventful summer but I know Daddy is looking forward to some football! Thanks for reading and GEAUX TIGERS!