sunshine!!!

We are LOVING this weather we've been having! The kiddos got their Gator from Santa, and it's had to sit in the garage for most of the past 4 months. We've had that "truck" (as treyson calls it) out and about every nice day that we've had the past 2 weeks. Anniston does most of the driving now. She's very good at steering and reversing too. The kids are so cute together on this. They'll drive from the garage out to the backyard, and make pit stops along the way (ie: get out to order ice cream, make stops at school, go to the library). I just love the imagination!! And then they'll drive over to me to give me hugs and kisses, then drive off! I have to be careful not to squeeze them too much!! So sweet!

Treyson gets in the drivers seat every once in awhile, but Anniston has to lean over to steer (which she'll do), but she really just prefers to drive!

By the way, after dropping close to $100 on weed/grass killer concentrate and 3 hours of Jerry's time, the yard (thankfully) does not look like this anymore!! haha

Happy Birthday....

I find myself pouring over pictures trying to find just the right picture to put out here today. I took about a bazillion (seriously) pictures while Jerry played football his senior year. But this picture entails pure happiness with our entire family. Football took our family all over the SEC every weekend, and the memories we have from that time are so precious to us all. It doesn't hurt that this picture was taken after a win, too!! Today is Leah's birthday....the 5th birthday that we have not been able to celebrate with her here on earth. You know, you find yourself always thinking about loved ones that are no longer with you....but times like holidays are always so tough, but you just try and figure out a way to think positively on the situation. I think that the time surrounding Leah's birthday is hardest holiday for me personally, because birthdays for her was what she lived for. When Jerry and I first started dating, I thought it was hilarious how the entire day better revolve around Leah on her birthday, or somebody was gonna pay. And she was funny about it, but seriously....it was all about her! As Jerry and I continued to date, get engaged, get married, Leah's birthday's moved from BirthDAYS, to Birthday weekends, to Birthday WEEKS. I can't help but laugh through tears right now thinking about it, and then of course I tried it out because if she could convince everybody to treat her like a princess for an entire week, why can't I? I never was able to pull it off the way she did, but I sure gave it a good try!



One year, Jerry's parents were at a baseball tournament for Matt in Conway. It fell over Leah's birthday. Jerry and I were building our house that year, and we worked every weekend at the house. Mark and Leah drove out to see us that morning. As soon as they walked up to the house, I yelled out "Happy Birthday" to her (knowing full well that it was the first thing she wanted to hear out of our mouths), and she crossed her arms and looked at Mark and said, "That's 7". I asked what that meant, and she said, "You're the 7th person to wish me a happy birthday, and I still haven't heard from my parents." By mid-afternoon, she was getting so irate that she called her parents' house singing "Happy Birthday" to herself on their answering maching.....just trying to pour on the guilt. That was the Leah we loved.



We talk about Leah alot to the kids. We feel that it's important for us to be able to say her name, and Anniston and Treyson to know exactly who she is and where she is. During our "God Bless" list at night, Anniston always includes "God, Aunt Leah, and PePaPa in heaven" in her list. (PePaPa is my mom's dad who passed away just weeks after Anniston was born)



So, to Leah. CHEERS! I know that you're getting toasted by all of the angels today in honor of your birthday. And we are here toasting you (with our box of wine--inside joke). We love you, miss you, and we're living each day to the fullest knowing that we are nearing our day when we will see you again in heaven!

Love,
Jerry, Amy, Anniston and Treyson

18 Month Stats/Pics/Video

Treyson had his 18 month well-child checkup today. He did very well. He weighed in at 29.13 pounds (80th percentile), measured 33.98 inches long (85th percentile), and measured 19.61 inches around his brainy head (90th percentile). He checked out well all around.

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Here he was when Dadoo pulled up next to us at the doctor's office. He FREAKS OUT whenever Dadoo comes home, walks out of work, etc. He LOVES his Dadoo!! (You can't tell he's slightly spastic with his moves because I just took my point-and-shoot, but it was all out excitement!)

Dadoo carried him into the office (Treyson loves to be snuggled into his coat like this).

Playing with the "nakey" boy while waiting on the doctor to walk in.

Treyson also has been cleared with his toes. Some of you knew that Treyson was born with bilateral syndactyly. That's a fancy way of saying that his 2nd and 3rd toe on each foot was webbed. So he had that surgically repaired February 1. He did really well with his recovery, and his orthopaedic surgeon was very pleased with the result and the very minor amount of scar tissue present. We noticed it when we got home from the hospital right after he was born, but it was advised to wait on surgery until after he was 1 year old due to the anesthesia. Nobody in our family has it, so we thought it was rather strange that he had it, but nonetheless....he doesn't anymore!

Here's the before:

And after:

Jerry teased that I was taking away his dream of being the next Michael Phelps (can't hurt to have webbed toes to make you go faster, right?), but I seriously doubt that with his structure he would be an olympian. So now Jerry has changed focus and is trying to prep Treyson to be a quarterback. He'll be a very LARGE quarterback, but he does have quite the arm! Jerry says that if he plays football, we're going for the glory this time (hmmmm.....sounds like somebody doesn't think the offensive line gets enough recognition? haha)

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Now, to the video. Treyson has a favorite word.....well, maybe it's because it happens to be a word he hears ALL.THE.TIME!!!! We like to tease with him. Here is an example when we were playing in his room earlier.

Time-out

Somebody hit his sister on the head with a princess mirror. The time-out spot (bottom of the stairs) was piled up with luggage from our weekend vacation. So time-out was moved to the corner. He stood there his entire minute, and I just couldn't resist taking a picture. Have I ever mentioned how much he loves shoes? .....and he loves EVERYBODY'S shoes (especially mine and Anniston's because they're so pretty!! haha)

Naughty, naughty kids

My two little angels tested me on Monday. I emailed Jerry as they were napping to tell him how wonderful they had been that morning. It's days like those that make me think I would LOVE to be a stay-at-home mom. They woke up from nap time, had snacks, and were playing really well together. I told the kids I was going to fold a load of laundry, and that I'll be done in a few minutes.

Laughter was coming out of the kids' hallway, so I wanted to sneak up on them playing or doing whatever they were doing so I could film it. I got down and crawled into Treyson's room....not there. So I crawled down the hall to the bathroom, and I found them in there. You'll be able to figure this out, but Treyson is getting the little pieces of foam that stick to the tub wall when wet, dipping them into the toilet water, then putting them back into the tub.

As you can see, Anniston is laughing/encouraging this. However, she then realizes this is a big no-no at our house and she's thinking she'll come rat him out so she doesn't get in trouble. There is a rule at our house....lids always go completely down when you're done going potty (everybody follows this at our house). It's for Treyson's own good. He hasn't figured out yet how to lift a lid. I figure by the time he does, he'll be old enough to get in trouble for it and not do it. (I do realize there are potty locks...if at all possible, Jerry and I try to do more teaching to not get into things versus putting everything up and away and locked--just our preference). Anyhow, after I was done filming, the kids weren't in trouble. But I did tell Anniston that she needs to make sure the lid is always down so that bubby doesn't play in the potty. Then I walked further into the bathroom so that I could clean up the mess they'd made.

OH

MY

GOODNESS

"What on earth? Anniston, did you just tee-tee in the potty and not flush it and THEN let Treyson PLAY IN YOUR TEE-TEE? This is disgusting! Both of you, time-out spots NOW!" ( I then exited the room and counted/breathed to 10 before I did something that SCAN might frown upon).

So, my lesson: If you hear lots of laughing.....there's a good chance they're up to no good!

Mommy, come see....

This morning Jerry and I were in our room finishing getting everything gathered up to get the kids loaded and on their way to the babysitter/school. Kids were up, dressed, teeth brushed, hair brushed/fixed.

Anniston ran into our room and said, "Mommy you have to come see Treyson's teeth. They are so squeaky clean!" So I walk into their bathroom (with the flip video in hand) and she is brushing his teeth (again) for him and he thinks it's just hilarious. I caught the tail end of it for you to see!

18 Months!

My goodness....1 1/2 already? I still can't believe we're closer to 2 than 1!! It is so sad that my days of having a sweet baby boy are over and the days of having a rambunctious, lively, happy toddler are here! It's also very exciting too. Treyson is TOTAL OPPOSITE of Anniston in more ways than I can count. But one thing is for sure, he is definitely HAPPY just like his sister....and that's a resemblence that we love!

Ok, so here's all about Treyson right now! (this is long, but I just don't want to forget!)

~Goes to bed at 7:30 P.M. We wake him at 6:45 on "school days", and he'll sleep anywhere between 8-9 A.M. on "lazy days".

~Loves, loves, loves MILK (vitamin D). He has a sensitivity to juice, which means milk and water only for this sweet boy. Doesn't bother this Mommy though; I'm not a big fan of juice anyway!

~Loves to dance. He literally freaks out when "Party in the USA" comes on the CD player in the car (Anniston's favorite). He starts squealing and dancing like it's nobody's business.

~Doesn't cry when we drop him off at the babysitter's house or whenever he goes to the child care at the gym

~Likes to unroll the toilet paper....time-outs are helping this situation!

~Loves his car seat. He's back there talking non-stop....

~Jibber-jabbers. We sure don't understand much of it, but that's ok....we'll start figuring it out sooner or later!

~Not a big talker (as in real words). The words he knows now are : Dadoo, Mommy, MaMa, PaPa (and PawPaw), Sissy, key-ka (kitty kat), dogdog, brush (hair and teeth), No, Uh huh, Iduhno (I don't know), pease (please), byebye, ball, fewball (football), book, qackqack (duck), baby, moe (more), cu (cup), me (milk), sock, shoes, eyes, ears, nose, beep (belly), ha (hot), catch, nana (banana), cheese, tee-tee

~Loves to brush his teeth (actually cries if he sees it and it's not time to brush). He has to sit on the rug when he wants to brush by himself. He will sit and brush the length of time it takes me to do most of my make-up!

~Still doesn't like diaper changes (there is either whining or crying involved 70% of the time!)

~Loves shoes

~Points to/says: Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Nose, Beep (belly button)

~Gives "high fives" alot

~Loves to be startled (ie: we hide behind the wall and jump out to scare him--he LOVES it!)

~Grabs himself and says "tee-tee" when he's made a stinky diaper

~Has all 16 teeth that he needs right now! (next up....2 year molars, but that should be awhile)

~Definitely learning his boundaries (things that are "hot", no gate on stairs and he doesn't even care about the stairs anymore)

~Usually sits in the time-out spot (bottom step of the stairs) 1 x per day. Most of the time it's for hitting Anniston or throwing something (not a ball). Usually 1 x in time-out does the trick for the day (and that is an improvement).

~Loves to play catch

~Starting to like to be read to. His favorite book right now is "Hello Big Red"

~So good at giving kisses and "Luvens" (lays his head down and snuggles)

~Loves bath time, and helps me clean my tile floor all at the same time --ha.ha.ha-->insert sarcasm

~When it's time to go to bed, we say "Let's go Night,night", and he runs to his room. We grab his blanket and lovey, he lays his head on our shoulder (sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes 5 seconds), then lays down and goes to bed.

~Finally wakes up and plays in bed or talks to himself (versus immediately crying for us)

~Uses fork and spoon very well

~Favorite foods are pasta with sauce, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, bananas, yogurt, steamed veggies, nilla wafers (mini), fruit loops, scrambled eggs, cheese

~Can roll his lip faster than anything!

~Knows how to test his Momma! I say "no, no" and he looks at me and smiles and starts creeping towards whatever it is he's not supposed to do/be in. With him, there are several "No, no's" until I'm confident it won't happen. Ugghh...however, this is getting better too (less "No,No's" than before!)

~Busy Body....wants to be in on the action....not much of an observer

~Loves Baby Bookworms at the library. However he runs around through most of the cute little songs that are supposed to be sung by the Mommy's with baby in lap!

~Loves Anniston. He loves to chase her, he loves to play in her room with her. She pretends to be a horse and then play together. They crack each other up in the car. They act silly at the dinner table. They have a blast in the bath tub together....it melts my heart!

Treyson, we love you SO much! You are a burst of energy that we laugh at constantly. We love how you crack yourself up. We love how you are so curious! We love how you are your own little self! You are so wonderful, and we thank God for you EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!!!!

Love, Mommy and Dadoo