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!

Being a parent

Between all of the mommy blogs out there, mixed with my own day-to-day mommy life, I can't help but think about the important roll I have. 

The older I get, the more purpose I find in my life. I remember a few years back (after a quick stint living away), realizing that a big part of my purpose in life was to be a good daughter to my mom. Since then, I like to think I stepped up my game a bit. I had a talk with God and he assured me that my mom's grandkids would be extra cute and extremely huggable. Sure enough, he didn't disappoint.

Now I have a new role, another purpose. To raise two good and loving gentlemen. To teach my boys to know that they can become anything they want to be through hard work and perseverance. To not only give them morals and values, but to mold them to be polite, conscientious of others, confident and independent, selfless and kind. To remind them, if there's ever any doubt, that they're good, and that they make me proud. When they make mistakes I want them to learn from them, and to know that making mistakes makes you wiser so we shouldn't regret them. When they hurt someone, they should try to make it right. And when someone hurts them, they should forgive. I could go on, but I'd be here for months... From learning to tie a shoe to being a good husband and father, I have so much that I want to teach them. But it starts with me. 

Being a parent means being the foundation for my children. I have to be their ever present, constant, strong, sustainable figure in their lives. I want them to always know that they can count on me, and that I'm always on their side, no matter what kind of mess they get into. I have to be their cheerleader, whether they win or lose, especially when they lose. And I don't want them to worry about me or my problems because I want them to focus on making their own lives happy and complete. And when things go wrong, and they need my help, I want to make sure they know I'm there for them, no questions asked. (Well, maybe a few questions.) I have to be selfless so that I can teach them to be selfless. I have to be reliable. That one is key. Reliability goes hand in hand with trust. I want to show them that they can trust that I will always follow through for them. After 33 years of having the best coach around, this is what I've learned.

This blog is slowly turning into a baby book for Jasper and Sam. And with that in mind, I want them to know that, and to never doubt that Jeremy and I will try every day to be that foundation, that rock for them. I'm not perfect. I still curse around them way too much. And I certainly lose my temper. But I say "I love you" as often as I possibly can. I kiss a lot of boo-boos and I work hard at providing them with a good balance of both fun and discipline every day. Being a parent is a privilege and a one-time opportunity to create someone better than yourself. I just hope I never, ever let them down.

Thanking God

I'm proud to say that we are finally going back to church! I know, I know, if PawPaw and Granny were alive, they'd be giving me a heck of a time about missing so much church. But unfortunately, they never met Jasper the Disaster! I'm happy to report that he did pretty well. Just some quiet talking and dropping his Thomas the Train only 17 times or so. Jasper starts his new school in just a few short months, so we decided to start regularly going to mass at St. Francis Xavier. On our way to mass the other day, I was trying to prepare him by talking about what goes on when we're at church. I explained how it's a quiet time to sit and thank God for everything in our lives. Here's how the conversation went...

Me:  Jasper, who do you want to thank God for? Do you want to thank God for Daddy?  

Jasper: Yes.

Me: Who else do you want to thank God for? Do you want to thank God for Mommy?

Jasper: Yes. And Sammy. 

I have to admit, I'm pleasantly surprised at how much he likes Sam. He's always including him, checking on him when he's crying... The other morning while we were getting ready, we had put Sam in the car seat, but weren't quite ready to go. He was crying and then the crying stopped. I walked in to see if something had happened and there was Jasper, standing next to the car seat, watching cartoons, rocking Sam. It makes me really happy to know how caring he is, that I don't have to tell him to do nice things, that a lot of times, he's going to already know to be helpful and kind. When we're in the car, if Sam is crying, Jasper will talk to him saying, "It's OK Sammy, don't cry." And when I glance back, I see him holding Sam's hand. He'll hold his bottle for him too. I guess I have to really appreciate this short time of happy, caring love between brothers, as I've been warned it will quickly pass. I hear that everything goes to hell once the little one starts grabbing for the bigger one's toys...

Some boasting... Jasper has really excelled over the past few months with his vocabulary. We're having actual conversations. And he's understanding words like inside/outside and tomorrow/yesterday. Daddy has been working with him on the days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Hump Day, Thursday and Donut Friday! He's copying a lot of our words--Several times, he's gone into my makeup drawer, pulling out anything from eye shadow brushes and lipsticks to tweezers. I would correct him every time, saying "This is not a toy." Well, now he walks up and grabs things saying, "This is not a toy." He repeats this phrase over and over again, to make sure I know that all 100 items in my drawer and on the vanity are "not a toy." 

When I was little and we went out to eat, Mom would always be sure to take the knife away so that I didn't play with it. She loves to tell this story... One day, as soon as we sat down, I handed her the knife. She had done it so many times before, I finally caught on and must've decided to help her out. Jasper now does the same thing. He pulls the knife out of the napkin and as he hands it over to me, he happily says, "Here ya go Mommy!"

His behavior is improving and he's becoming more independent. He likes to be helpful by opening and closing the back gate for us. And we've taught him how important it is to close the door so that the mosquitoes (and termites) don't come in the house. I try (when I remember) to teach him to do things for himself, like throw away his paper plate or put his spoon in the sink. We remind him to throw his clothes in the dirty clothes basket. We still have some trouble with picking up toys, but with as many as he has, I can understand why that task is a bit overwhelming! Potty training is still a work in progress, but we're seeing slow improvements. Every once in a while we venture out without the diaper on, and so far, no accidents. 

He loves the word, "castle." Every time we're on the I-10 driving home, he fondly refers to the Galleria as "THE CASTLE!" That along with every other building that is more than two stories... Speaking of stories, I have one that Jeremy will be telling for a while. On Memorial Day, we met up with some of Jasper's friends from daycare, and their parents at City Park. Jeremy and Jasper were waiting on me by the pond in front of the amusement park while I was buying tickets. Jeremy looked away "for a second" and when he turned back around Jasper was on his knees, face down, drinking the water out of the pond, like a dog. I swear, it will be a miracle if he doesn't grow an extra toe. Here are some pictures from our day off at City Park's amusement park. SO FUN.

As for Sammy, he's awesome! Sam is almost seven months. He's constantly babbling and laughing, mostly at Jasper. When he babbles, he sounds just like Donald Duck. I had the opportunity to take off work and bring him to his six-month check-up, and of course, the doctor said he's doing great! As of May 30th, he weighs 19.6 lbs and he's 27 1/2 in. long. He's sitting up on his own and we're giving him some extra tummy time so that he can work on his crawling endeavors. He's eating solid food like a champ and going to sleep around 8:30 (give or take) each night. He loves my sweet potatoes and squash and I love that in his eyes, I'm the best cook ever! 

He's definitely our more laid back child--as long as we have his bottle ready when he wants it, he pretty much goes with the flow. In fact, both boys lasted the entire Zephyrs game a few weeks ago! I couldn't believe it. 

Swimming! Jasper started swimming lessons at Elmwood. The first two classes have been uneventful and he's a bit disinterested. But we'll keep trying and hopefully, he'll get more enthusiastic about it as we go. He has much more fun after swim lessons at the outside pool with his friend Kate. Aside from me having to be in a swim suit in front of people, we're really enjoying our Saturday swim days.

Sam took his first "dip" in the pool at Granny's house (6/9/14). I think he likes the water more than Jasper. No crying, no fussing. And he was kicking his legs like a pro!

Finally, I can't go without mentioning two big events that took place this month. On May 22nd, we welcomed Baby Cole Hammond. Jasper and Mason had their first sleepover at our house so that Audrey, Josh and Cole could visit. Cole was almost the exact same size and length as Sam! Congrats to Audrey, Josh and Mason!

Aimee and John FINALLY tied the knot! The wedding and festivities were a blast and Aimee was a beautiful bride. And believe it or not, I must mention that this may very well be my last wedding. That's right folks. No more bridesmaid dresses for me. According to both my mom and Jeremy, I'm no longer allowed to become good friends with single people. The dresses and party planning are just too expensive. I have to admit, however, Aimee's wedding was wonderful and I was more than thrilled to be a part of it all. And I really will wear the dress again.

We celebrated Father's Day last weekend. Wow. Talk about a busy day. Breakfast with Grandpa and CiCi, a visit to the lakefront, lunch with Grammie and PawPaw, time spent with Uncle Neil, Tia and Nova, a last minute trip to City Park's amusement park and finally, dinner at Morning Call. That's right. There's no better Father's Day dinner than beignets and a frozen cafe au lait. And if that wasn't enough, Sam gave Daddy an extra special Father's Day gift by projectile vomiting ALL OVER him. It was certainly a Father's Day he'll never forget.

Our boys certainly keep us busy. It's been exciting to see the recent changes in Jasper. Between the use of bigger words, more conversations, understanding us and listening to us better, he has really impressed us. I'm really proud of him. And Sam is just so much fun--the best cuddle buddy ever! His smiles make us smile. It's incredible how two little boys have made our family so perfectly complete. 

And in case anyone is wondering, Granny is absolutely in love with both of her boys.

Happy Summer. We love you!