Bye Bye Ba!

I'm one of those people who used to say things like, I'll NEVER let my child have a paci! I'll never let my child watch a movie in the van. I'll never let my children get those crusty boogers under their noses. I'll never....whatever never is to you. You see what I'm saying. Well, then I had children and all those nevers came back to bite me in the bahonkus! So now I try to never say never (hee hee). You know the scripture...judge not lest you be judged with the same measure.

Man, I learned that the hard way. Both of my kids had pacis. Shoot, Josie had hers the first night we got home from the hospital. I think I had the Dr. sticking one in Jake's mouth before he laid him on my tummy to hold!

Then there's the dvd in the car thing. That lasted a while. I tried to hold out on that one. But, low and behold that treasured possession appears on every long road trip!

Ugh, and those boogers. You know the ones where it's like a white ashy snot puddle right under both nostrils. I was the worst judger of this one. When I saw children like this I'd think to myself, "Please woman, wipe that child's nose. That's disgusting!!!" Can't you hear the I know it all tone in my voice? NOW I know why she didn't. It's like a beaver's dam. It holds all the other runny stuff back. Genius, I tell you, sheer genius!

On to my blog title...Bye bye Ba. Jake has named his paci "ba." Oh, and does he ever love that ba! We were going to take it when he was one....but were too scared. Jake's very capable of some long long long long crying spells. We just weren't ready. Then it was 18 months. We did take it but gave it back because he got scheduled for his winkie surgery. What kind of mama would take his favorite thing before his other "thing" got wounded? Then it was next month or this weekend or tomorrow! So here we are with a boy who says, "Ba now" all the time. Tonight was the night. We pretty much took ourselves by surprise. It was the only way. We told the sweetie that he was a big boy now and had all those beautiful teeth. We didn't want the ba to make his teeth pokey outey and give him boo boos in his mouth. He was like unh-unh. Then, I got the idea to tell him we'd give it to baby Cooper. Josie was distraught when I said that. She says, "I don't want Cooper to get bad teeth and boo boos!" My quick thinking self said, "Girl, Coop won't get bad teeth or boo boos because he ain't got no teeth!" She was happy with that. We then drove to Coopers and Jake gave him his 2 ba's.

It was so sad. He didn't cry or anything. He didn't even cry when he went to bed tonight. He just told me "Ba Jake boo boo mouth" and I said yay (that's how Jake says his yes). We'll just see how tonight goes. I do pray he understands and doesn't even ask about his best friend ba.

I do love me some Jake Jake!!! I'm very proud of him.

This an oldie but a goodie. It's from Christmas time last year. He's got his teddy, blankie and ba.
*** Last night was a very hard night. It didn't start until the middle of the night. He really wants his ba. This morning's nap has been pretty tough, too. He'll have none of this nap business. Oh well. We gave it to him as a newborn. Time to suffer the consequences, I suppose! ***

Tidbits from the week!

I love these children God has given me! I just love them! Some days, especially lately, I wish they'd let me sleep just a wee bit more. But, that love is there so big inside of me that it makes my heart hurt.

Earlier this week Austin, my nephew, decided to make sweet tea. Josie and Jake were all about being A's helpers. They call him A. I don't know why. Both of my children can pronounce his name, still they choose to call the boy a letter! He doesn't mind at all. So...Austin makes this tea. That youngin used 2 CUPS of sugar. Yes, 2 cups! Christy uses 2 scoops...that doesn't mean 2 cups. I didn't know the difference. I am not a sweet tea maker. I'm not a tea maker of any kind, so I was like, "Go on ahead with yo bad self, boy!" Jake and Josie got to "tir,tir, tir" as Jake says. Notice the towel on the floor. Those 2 stirred their little hearts out all over my floor. It'll clean, right? I loved this picture of Princess whoever she was that day with the shirtless wonder. I was looking at the pictures of Jake and my son does wear a shirt, just not in the past few blogs! :)

The next two pics are walking pneumonia boy. Jake has had that for heaven only knows how long and I've been putting it off as allergies. Finally, I took him to the doctor. Joey pretty much made me. Ya'll know what that's like. Half the time you take them and it's the common cold. Didn't want to waste the energy. Turns out Jake-Jake has some p-neumonia. Poor fella. I've had him at Ethan's soccer practice, games, church, friends houses, even the beach! How sad is that? In his pictures he's using his breathing machine. He's blowing "bubbles" at the animals in the book. That only works some of the time. The other times he's screaming his fluffy blond head off. He's on all kinds of drugs! Lord love him!

The last picture is too sweet. That one truly makes me melt. It's Josie and her Manny. She's been wanting my Mama to sleep over with her. Josie told mom that she's got a bed under her bed she could sleep on. "It'll be so much fun, Manny!" I know you can hear her say it in her Josie voice. So, there they sleep! I love my mom for doing that. I just hope they both get some sleep tonight. :)

Finally, yes finally! I want you to pray for my babies. There's all kinds of stuff going on with their bodies. I'm ready for them to be better! Thank you! I'm so glad you've taken the time to read this!

Jake's World!

Do you see my Jaker's with his Pa's ear cover thingy's, Pa's sunglasses, and toy chainsaw in hand? Let me tell you what, that boy is crazy about Pa and all things surrounding Pa. Mr. Randy was cutting down a tree the other day. Jake had to get in on the action. He was all up in Pa's mix. So, Mr. Randy, being the good man that he is, gave Jake those ear covers and sunglasses. I don't know who got him the chainsaw. It came from Nana's playroom. Anywho, Jake got right down to business. He was sawing things and trying to push that big wheel barrel full of leaves. I know it's not a wheel barrel, it's a wheel burrow or some craziness, but some things I simply can't change.

Jake got to bring the ear covers and chainsaw home. He's such a little hoot walking around the house in his "dress up" attire. I wish I had a picture, but a few days ago, Josie was having a girly girl meltdown. Jake went and got his ear covers and ba (paci). He crawled up on the couch right beside little miss freakin out. That made her yell even more. Jake just laid against a pillow with those ear covers on. Joey recorded it. We could probably win $10,000 from the Funny Show off that little puppy!

He loves to be outside. His face will be beet red and I'll be dying from heat exhaustion, but he will not want to come in. He's all boy. I've heard that saying so much in my life, but it's the darn-tootin truth. I've never seen anything like it.

The next few are him playing ball. He's not picky. He'll play baseball, football, basketball, soccer! It makes no never mind to him. We were having family night at Joey's folks when the ball pics were taken. My little man was in hog heaven. I'm so very thankful for Jake Landon. Where would all my hard laughing joy and near heart attacks come from? Love him to pieces!

Wednesday's not here anymore!

Well, as some of you know, Josie is no longer in preschool! We tried it. She liked it, just not enough to stay there without me! The candy box at the end of the day was almost enough to win her over! We'll always have her pink and gold glitter princess back pack and a closet full of new school clothes to show for it!

Have you guys heard of the Five Love Languages??? Well my top 2 are a tie for physical touch and quality time! I'm all about being with the people I love. If you ask Joey he'll tell you I spend that time practically in their laps (and I'm 31.) So, I'm sure in time my clingy girl will branch out from me some and it'll be bitter sweet. Until then, I'll enjoy having her close.

In place of 3 year old preschool, we've started dance and Kindermusik. Josie totally loves them both. You'll see her adorable self in her dance outfit with Pa's boots on! In music class, there was a part when the kids were supposed to roll on the floor. Josie wasn't about to have that. She says, "It'll mess my hair up, Mommy." Such a girl! Jake gets to do the Kindermusik class, too! Ohhhh, you should see that cute little codger in there. He is such a nut! See him practicing on the Dora potty. No, he's not practicing how to use the potty. He's playing his conga!

I "heart" New York!

I love New York! I do need one of those stank white shirts that say I "heart" NY! Never could bring myself to buy one, though.

These pictures are only a few of my favorites. My sweetest sister and I are at a yummy Italian restauant (Carmine's) in the first picture. The next pic is Broadway where we watched Grease. We love us some Grease! Um, um, um! Taylor Hicks (Idol winner from 2 seasons ago) was the beauty school drop out guy! I didn't really think I'd like Broadway. All those overly dramatic faces and all, but I was way wrong. It's one of my best memories! :) Joey was tickled pink that we got that out of our system before he came with us in August.

The next two are us in Central Park. That is the prettiest place. It's funny how drawn I was there. I go to the city that never sleeps to stroll through the peace and quiet. Don't tell anybody, but Christy took those pictures. Yes, my sister, who had surgery not even 24 hours before these shots were taken! My mom would whoop my hine if she knew I wasn't the best babysitter! But, you can't make that girl rest. If she doesn't want to, she won't!!!! That bridge is the one you see in all the movies. It's in "Enchanted." Josie loves that one. Surprise surprise! My princess enjoying a princess movie!

I did save the best for last. You'll notice it's the Hershey store on Times Square. Oh yes, the Hershey store! That place was almost too much for my little heart to bear. You know that saying, "Like a kid in the candy store!" Well, that was me. It was heaven on earth. I'm 100% my heaven is gonna include the biggest chilled hershey bar ever with a side of peanut butter! Some people appreciate a good meal....I appreciate a good piece of candy, or two, or three! :)

We had so much fun. We went everywhere that counts! Lots of Law and Order watching went on! It's pretty cool and scary to watch that show in New York. We had our fair share of Michael Phelps and the young gymnastic girls,too! I've also never walked so much in my life. You just feel so healthy there! Minus the bad smog and fumes you're breathing in :) Ok there's New York in a very little nutshell!

Wednesday is here!

Wednesday! I've been wanting to tell you all about this! Everything that's anything happens on Wednesday for Jos! She's all about Wednesday. Things don't really happen then. That's just the day she picks and believes everything wonderful happens on. For instance, "We will go to Sea World on Wednesday. We will bake cookies with Aunt Cheryl on Wednesday. I will spend the night with Gigi on Wednesday. I will see (any number of children that she LOVES) on Wednesday. " She even puts off naps until Wednesday. She says, "Mommy, I don't want to take a nap right now, but I will do it on Wednesday." It's the cutest thing. So, when I was praying about preschool...Josie busts out with I will be a big girl and I will go on Wednesday. And that's today. Wednesday! It's here!

My best little girl in all the land! The sweet gift that I can still remember talking to in my tummy! The baby that I held in that brown chair all the time for at least the first 6 weeks of her life. I simply couldn't bring myself to put her down. :) Now, off she goes to be a big girl. Last night she wanted to go to sleep at 7:30 because she couldn't wait until it was a "big sunshine day" outside. She kept saying, "I will go to sleep and go to school NOW!" I'd tell her she'd go tomorrow morning and she'd say, "No, not tomorrow. NOW!!" Finally, I said, "Yes, NOW you will go to school."

She's been very excited to go with very few hesitations. We prayed this morning and Jake clapped (as he always does when we finish a prayer). On the way there she tells me, in that quivery voice, "I don't want to go to school. I'm scared." On the inside I was crying, "Baby, I'll turn this car around right now and we will play Dora, and Little People, and Princess, and do all the puzzles you want, and watch as many Hi-5's as your little heart desires." But, on the outside, I said, "I bet your friends are scared too! But, when you all get there you will be so happy." There was some converstation about what her friends Mommies were saying to them! Josie smiles at me in the rear view mirrow and says, "OK I will just sing then." She starts singing "All night, all day, angels watching over me my Lord! All night, all day, angels watching over me." I did cry then. She didn't see me.

When we got to school her little friends were there. I'm sure she's made even more new friends. She asked me why I wasn't going to stay with her for a little while and I told her Mommies couldn't stay anymore! She seemed fine with that. Mrs. Leigh Ann came over and asked Josie to pick a book for her to read to the kids. (Not for Josie to read, for Leigh Ann)! :) That was that! It's all I know so far. I'll chat more later after I pick her up!

Juicy!

Hey everybody! I haven't even blogged about our pet bird, Juicy! He's a yellow canary, but we call him a she and she's orange. We don't mean to call him a her. It just sort of happened that way. And she's orange because our Uncle Mike fed her sweet potato baby food to make her that way. So, I'm trying to keep that up! I'm not quite as good of a birdkeeper as he is. Our Juicy bird gets only the very best paper products to poo on! Mike used newspaper. However, Jeanne MacDonald's is no newspaper reader. Therefore, Juicy gets premium Dora and Diego already colored on coloring sheets to do her business. Jake and Josie LOVE this bird! Jake about freaked out when Mama put that bird on him! I'll say no more. I'm going to let the footage tell you everything. Poor bird!