Crazy Busy Week

The past week has been somewhat crazy for our family. On Tuesday, I got a phone call from Anniston's school saying that she had thrown up, but she wasn't running fever, and was acting fine--so I didn't have to pick her up. . . they just wanted to let me know. Well, 3 hours later they called back and said that she did it again, and I need to come get her. Fortunately it was 4:45, and I was all but done with my patient. So I scooted out of the office to get her. She threw up 5 more times that evening. She slept on her mattress in our room ( I was nervous that she'd throw up and choke in her sleep). That was my Happy Birthday evening in a nutshell! Mom and Dad drove up anyway, and brought me Chick-Fil-A...not exactly the Shogun's we were all saving up for, but definitely 2nd best!
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Here's a picture the morning of my birthday. Anniston and Jerry brought me pancakes in bed with a candle, of course. This has been a tradition my parents did for us growing up, and Jerry and I've done it for each other every year since we've been married. Excuse the crazy hair. . . and mine too! haha
I stayed home with Anniston on Wednesday, and it was like she was playing hookey. She watched cartoons, dressed up, danced, etc.--the norm. So she's ok. Well, maybe not. She was running a low grade fever in the evening. But still no other symptoms. She woke up Thursday as happy as could be and fever-less. So off to work and school we went. Thursday night was the "modeling" night (see previous post), and then went home and went to sleep.

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Here's Anniston on her sick day. In this picture she's wearing her "baseball" shoes and hat (she came up with this). And then we proceed to play soccer. She's got her baseball and soccer mixed up (the girl definitely knows her football, though).

Normally Friday is our "Mommy and Me" day (Anniston's...Treyson's is on Monday). But I had a CE course in Fayetteville. It started at 8:40. At 9:01, I got a phone call that Anniston was stuck on the potty (not literally, but if she got up she would "boo-boo"). So bless her heart, I left and got her. I let her wear a pull-up all day just in case. Well, she only had 1 "didn't make it in time" accident. I'm going to blame her height, because she went and got her step stool; carried it into her bathroom...turned on the first light, then carried it to the actual potty and turned on the light to that room. Then had the accident as she was trying to pull her pants and pull-up off. She was devastated. I would have helped, but she didn't tell me that's what she was going to do. I was doing laundry at the time. It's normal for her to walk off to her room to play...she didn't mention that she needed to go. And when you've got runny boo-boo's, there's not much time to be doing all of that carrying and turning on of lights!!haha

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So we skipped the Gymback meet (dad-gum-it...it was Georgia and they had 2 olympians on their team). Saturday, we went to her gymnastics and her friends' birthday party. But we got home and she had more upset stomach. So we decided to call it quits for the weekend. We were just going to skip church and do nothing on Saturday night/Sunday so that she could get to feeling better.

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This week was much better...until yesterday. Jerry started to run fever, and had an upset stomach all last night. I think Treyson and I are going to skip town so that we don't catch this bug. Jerry's feeling ok, but just keeps having to break his fevers.

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So, now to the part you really care about: our kids.

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Treyson has this new thing where he scratches--not like a man--but will scratch something with his right hand. If we're walking him on our shoulder, he'll put his hand on our backs and scratch our back. He scratches the tray on his high chair, and scratches his head while we're feeding him. It's hilarious. We start laughing at him, and then he laughs too. So cute.

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Here's some pics: (yes I realize he's wearing Anniston's bibs in these pics. We never take these "girly" bibs out in public. Jerry would never approve. . . )

Since I was taking so many pics of Treyson, "you know who" decided she needed her picture taken too.

Have a great weekend...I know ours will be much better assuming Jerry gets over his and I don't catch it!!

Our little models

A little children's boutique was asking for volunteers to model in their spring fashion show, and I happily volunteered our two little munchkins. The show was this evening. Anniston was so excited, and was telling EVERYBODY that she was going to model a beautiful dress, a beautiful bow, and high heels. Well, thank goodness we were given a dress to wear (we didn't know until we showed up). And there were no high heels. . . everybody was barefoot, but she was ok with that.

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Anniston wore a cute little easter dress and blue bow. She was so excited to "work the runway". She went with another little girl, and had a ball! She actually ended up going down 2 more times because she loved it so much. The picture of her moving is about the best one mom could get because she was moving so fast!

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Treyson was put in a little john-john that was really cute. Since he couldn't walk down the runway, yours truly got to walk him down. . . lovely. Anyway, he did great.

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Nanny and MaMa drove up to watch the kids model, and I think they enjoyed it. Anniston's always a ham, so this type of thing is right up her alley. I will definitely let her do it again, and we'll just have to see about Treyson.

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Here's a picture of our friends Natalie and Gage. They were both dressed in super cute outfits. Gage was wearing a MissTeeVus outfit, and Natalie had the cutest little swing top and long bloomers on.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day started on Friday with both kiddos having party's at their babysitter/preschool. Treyson took goody bags for his older friends and Gerber Puffs for his 2 other infant friends. Anniston took her Dora Valentine's to school with candy and then treat bags too. She was SOOOO excited about her party.


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...Let me back up by saying that I thought it would be a neat thing for Jerry and Anniston to shop for her Valentine's and treat bag items together at Wal-Mart. I'm always getting out with Anniston while the boys stay home, so I figured it was Jerry's turn. Here were my instructions (ha): We have to make 15 treat bags, she needs Valentine's cards, and then we need 3 bags of chocolates to fill up our teacher gift boxes. $47 later, Jerry and Anniston return home. What??? $47!!! You did read that correctly. Oh my goodness....Anniston's never going to want to shop with me again. . . Dadoo is such a sucker!!

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I had to have some computer training for a new system our office converted to on Friday. I left training just in time to make it to Anniston's party Friday afternoon. She was ecstatic! They played a little game and then made Ice Cream Sundaes...yumm!! So during this little Valentine's game, one little boy in particular was being a little lump on a log. He didn't want to participate, and stood there with his arms crossed and a pouty look on his face. So Anniston and the rest of the class are participating, and she accidentally (I was watching--it was an accident) bumped into him. She didn't really notice (this is the same boy she danced practically off of the bleachers at the Christmas program), but he got so mad. He leaned over --with his arms still crossed-- and said, "watch out Snow White!" quite rudely. Wait a minute. . . did he just call Anniston "Snow White"? Surely not. . . oh, surely---yes, Anniston has her entire class calling her Snow White--not Anniston!! ARe you kidding me? Do you know she is the 2nd to youngest in her class? Most of the other kids have turned 3, which I worry at times will make her want to "follow" versus take on a leadership role. I guess I don't have to worry about that. I knew at home she would have us refer to her as Snow White, but I can't believe she's got all her friends calling her this at school too--and not just during "dramatic Play time". CRAZY!

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Anyway, Anniston got more candy than Jerry and I could imagine helping her eat. So her Valentine's day was a success! Here she is in her classroom playing the game (similar to a cake walk), and then eating her sundae.

On Saturday, Jerry and Anniston brought home some beautiful hot pink roses for me. Anniston was very proud of them. She wanted pink, Jerry wanted red--so they compromised and got the dark hot pink. I'm sure this was difficult for Jerry, seeing that I've gotten red roses for the past 14 Valentine's days--yes, 14 (we figured it out on Saturday evening...this year made 15). But Anniston has a way of winning!!

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Saturday evening, Jerry grilled shrimp, steak, and lobster tails. They were SOOOOO good. This is another tradition we started when we got married. If there's one thing Jerry and I can't stand, it's to go out to eat and wait for more than 30-45 minutes--totally not worth it to either of us. So we just stay in on Valentine's day, and I love it.

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I hope everybody had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Swimming Reward

When the ice storm hit, we were stuck inside without power for 2 days. During that time, we told Anniston that if she was a good girl and played quietly during Treyson's naps then she'd get a prize. Well, fortunately for us, Anniston still hasn't hit the terrible twos. She listens to us most of the time. If Treyson's sleeping, she whispers. In the car, Anniston sings herself from location to location. But if Treyson's sleeping, I'll ask her to stay quiet, and she does. So, we didn't figure asking her to be good would be a stretch. . .

. . . so we had to come up with a reward. Chuck E. Cheese? Dollar spot at Target? Nah, we decided to go swimming when it was 35 degrees outside!! (of course we were inside!!) We went to the Jones Center in Springdale, and it's free. We were practically the only ones there. The water was a little more chilly than we liked, but Anniston and Jerry didn't seem to mind. They went down the big slide about 5 or 6 times. We will definitely do it again. For those of you who don't know, our little Anniston is part fish. She LOVES the water. She does so well with her swim lessons in the summer, and LOVES all forms of water that she can get her little body into. So she was in heaven!

And terrible Mommy was holding Treyson while I took all of these pictures. Jerry was wet (obviously) so he couldn't take the pictures. About the time we were wrapping things up (and when I was planning on taking a picture of Treyson), there was a major poo-plosion. No pictures this time. But let me just tell you. . . he looked stinkin cute in his little swim trunks. His little milk gut stuck out, and the shorts were practically to his ankles. I PROMISE to take pictures when we first put his swimming suit next time so that the poo-plosion doesn't defeat me again!!!

Big Boy Bath

It's definitely time for Treyson to slow down growing! He loved his bath being in the "big boy seat". He splashed the entire time, and was quite entertained by his big sister (who's always singing or laughing about something--she tells us that she cracks herself up!).

Fun Friday

Fridays are usually set aside for Anniston and I to spend time together, and we sometimes go on lunch dates with Dadoo. This past Friday, we did some birthday present shopping for some upcoming birthday parties, ran a couple of errands, then came home to play. First, we made Anniston's Valentine's box to take to school next Friday for the party. She was SOOOO proud of it. She painted the outside of a wipey box pink. Then I used the hot glue gun to put some fun ribbon around the container. Anniston then added about 7 or 8 valentine's stickers. After that we glued on the pink rhinestone hearts. I bought a bag of 20 from Hobby Lobby, thinking we'd use 5-10 of them. Oh no, she wanted the WHOLE bag of hearts glued on. Her Valentine's box definitely looks "be-dazzled"!!

Then we worked on puzzles, played dress-up, made pretend snacks in her kitchen, played "Hungry,hungry hippos", and then she saw THE BOX. We had tucked it up on the top of her closet for a rainy day. . . but she recognized the princesses, so I had to get it down. It was a pop-up tent that our VERY SWEET UNCLE TODD picked out for us!!! We did some re-arranging in her room, and she loves the new addition. She has played in there, pretended to take a nap, made her dolls nap in there. . . she LOVES IT!!

Later that evening we had our monthly supper club gathering at Abuelos in Rogers (yummmm). Anniston and Treyson did great, and Anniston even finished the night off with some entertainment. She stood by our table and danced for us all, and sang several songs. I just love when she sings...her little voice is so cute!

Hope everybody has a great weekend!

5 months old

Our sweet angel is 5 months old today! So hard to believe. . . I keep telling him to stop growing so fast, and he's already ignoring me-ha!

Treyson has now started on veggies from a jar. So far so good. . . as long as the jar doesn't have anything "green" inside (sweet peas, green beans, etc.). The foods he does like: squash, sweet potatoes, carrots. He eats cereal 2 x day, mixed with apple/prune juice and water--yummmm! (Not my first choice, but definitely Treyson's favorite!!) We've also started to introduce his little Avent bottles with a sippy cup handle added to it in the afternoons. He's not doing too much drinking out of it yet. We're just getting him used to the idea. We put water in it, and he is playing with it for the most part.

Treyson can roll over from back to belly, and belly to back. He doesn't do it very often, so it's extremely exciting when he does!

He is a much happier camper in the car now. He jabbers and plays (especially towards Anniston--he loves staring at her in the car). We are so grateful that he got over his "I love to scream in the car" phase!

Treyson is a bubble blower. He is constantly doing this. And he's a drooler on top of that. He will blow bubbles during mealtimes, when he's sleepy, when he's playing. . . basically whenever--I think he thinks he's funny! You know, I've really found myself shopping for him alot at Gymboree. Really cute outfits, with mix and match options. They also have matching bibs. Before Treyson, I never really understood the point in matching bibs. With Anniston, we took the bib out to feed her then put it away. Since having Treyson, I totally understand the point of matching bibs. He really should wear one ALL DAY LONG. So, long story short--I buy outfits with coordinating bibs now!!

Treyson has really taken to reading. He especially likes the books where you can feel fur or texture. It's been alot of fun getting to read to both he and Anniston.

Note from the Mommy: This outfit was not picked out by me. This was Anniston's choice for the afternoon. I would have definitely steered her another direction. But this was a day that our Fancy Nanny (jerry's mom) drove up to watch the kids so that we could go to a Razorback game. Long story short, Fancy Nanny didn't have the heart to tell Anniston she didn't match, and we didn't care because we were just grateful that she came up to babysit!!ha

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Treyson is an exersaucer champ! He can swirl and twirl in that thing like it's nobody's business. He pushes the buttons, grabs things to chew on, and dances too! He also sees some action in a jumparoo. It's upstairs with the Wii and Jerry's new shuffleboard table, so I'm going to assume that we'll head up there more often to play with our toys!

Treyson is napping without a swaddle. At the babysitters house, he lays down and clunks out without a fuss. When we're at home, he still fusses a bit. . . but I'm going to get a little toy to attach to the crib similar to the one at Ms. Ambers, and hopefully he'll do better here. He still sleeps at night in a swaddle. . .

. . . speaking of night time, he's still doing very well with his sleep. He sleeps for 11-13 hours. Usually more in the 11 range when it's a night that we've worked and he has to wake up early to go to the babysitters house. Because we wake him at 6:30, I just can't justify putting him to bed at 6:30 at night. That would mean I get a total of 1 hour with him, and Jerry might get 30 minutes. We try and hold him out until 7:30 (and he's very ready for bed by then).

Treyson is 90% formula baby now. I loved that I was able to nurse him for so long, yet I'm really enjoying my newfound freedom in bottle feeding with formula! He's taken to it very well, and we are thankful for that!

Treyson and Anniston are just the best of friends right now. She's such a helper when it comes to him. If he's crying in the car, she'll sing him a song and he immediately quits crying. Then she's so proud of herself for making her bubby happy. She's such a little mommy. When Treyson's eating, she helps spoon feed him, and if he starts spitting, she'll say, "Treyson, that's naughty. We don't spit our food. . . right Mommy?" It's kind of hard explaining how he can get away with it right now, and there's no way in heck she could (although we have definitely started saying "no-no" to the spitting while food is in his mouth...he doesn't care though. He just smiles and keeps on spitting--he knows he's too dang cute!)

Anniston's new thing is asking us daily if we are her friend (they must be discussing friends at school). So anyway, she told Treyson in the car yesterday that he was her baby friend. I thought that was so sweet. I hope she still thinks that in 5 more months when he's crawling into her room and touching her things!!

We are so blessed with the 2 wonderful children we have. I love my life! It still amazes me how much you can love your babies. Jerry and I were blessed to have eachother for so many years, and now we are in shock with how much more fulfilling our lives are with our kids. . . and definitely no dull moments these days!