And the Big One…

Is a miniature man.

He says “Yes Ma’am” and “Yes sir” and “May I please have ___” and “Thank you”.  Usually.

And my personal favorite:  “Mommy, you’re an ANGEL!!!!”  and “you’re always gonna be an angel, because you’re SOOOO sweet!”.

::swoon::

He counts to 100.

He can add some stuff.

He can read some words, like “lake” and “let’s” and “stop”.

He’s making a conscious effort to enunciate his “L” sounds, instead of resorting to the “W” sound (like “Wogan” and “Wittle” and Siwwy”) and he’s so so proud of himself when he gets it right.

He knows that satellite dishes listen to signals from outer space, and bring them to our tv’s.  And he knows that city engineers build our roads and bridges, and they do it using MATH.  Because MATH is everywhere!

He knows the term “figure of speech” and can tell what is and is not a figure of speech, usually.

His favorite number is 5, and his favorite letter is L.  And his favorite color is not green anymore.  It’s red now.  Because he’s 4 now.  (??)

He’s learning to play the piano and is doing REALLY great at it, and really enjoys practicing.  He can find the keys for C, D and E on the keyboard.  He knows the difference between quarter, half and whole notes, and how many counts each one is.  He knows quarter and half rests, and repeat, and piano (quietly) and forte (loudly).

He’s smart, man.

Super smart.

He’s 4, you know.

Did you know that flies have a million eyes?

Did you know that the desert is hot during the day and cold at night?

Did you know that the Spanish word for butterfly is “mariposa”?

Did you know that yellow and blue make green?

What does red and brown make?

I don’t know either.

::shrug::

 

Our standing Thursday afternoon, Mommy-Logan-After-Piano-Class date is at Cherry Berry Frozen Yogurt. It’s our special bonding time 🙂

Let’s Change Gears Here A Little Bit, Shall We?

So. I’ve been thinking in my head all this time, that I need to get caught up…

“gotta catch up!”

“Gotta save this new stuff till I finally get caught up on the old stuff”.

“Oh man, that was so ADORABLE – that thing my TEN MONTH OLD BABY just did!

(Yes. 10 months old. Today.

W….T….H……???
(since this is a family blog, I’m sure you realize that means “What the Heck”, right?))

My neurotic, has-to-be-uber-organized-and-by-the-book-and-not-do-anything-out-of-the-proper-chronological-order-Virgo brain has had me quite convinced for months that I need to blog the cuteness in order of occurrence.

That even though this sweet baby

has grown a whole five months since you’ve last seen him ’round these parts, I can’t show you him –

– or his big brother –

– yet, until I show you what they did four months ago.

6 months old, and still best palz with the cat.

Then three months ago.

7 Months old and getting “SOOOOOO Big!!”

Then two months ago.

8 months old, and mommy needs to clean this window… Sheesh!!

Then last month.

9 Months old and I’m a climbing, cruising, fixing-to-walk, fool!

Then last week.

We’re happy and sad to be at the pumpkin patch on a chilly Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, never the same emotion at the same time…

Clearly, my neuroses is not working out to well for me. Or for you, for that matter.

Maybe if I distract you with a rare*, beautiful shot of the first born…

We may occasionally call Dawson “Punkin”, but Logan is our original Punkin’. Love him.

*When I say “rare” I mean that it’s almost never that I get a genuine, candid smile out of him for a picture.  Usually it’s a little more like this:

Sheeeze?

So with this post, I’m starting something that makes the very core of my being cringe. I’m gonna say “to heck with it all! I’ll catch up when I catch up. But in the meantime, theres no possible way you should have to wait to see this heart-melting, giggle-in-spite-of-yourself, simply adorable, sheer sibling love:

Swimming Fun

This summer, we spent a lot of time in the water. In addition to swimming twice a week at preschool, we swam at our house, friends’ houses, the beach, hotels we stayed at, and the City Recreation Center’s Splash Pool. Logan loves the water, and was a regular fish all summer, so long as he had a flotation device wrapped around him…

Sometime after we came back from our beach vacation in July, we were in the pool and Logan said, “Mommy, watch this!”. And he swam. Without a floatie. About 5 feet! Then 8 feet! Then clear across the pool!!! Once he started, and realized he COULD do it – there was no stopping him! So, four years and zero swimming lessons, and we now have a swimmer. Go figure.

And the little one? Well, he simply loves the water. He’s not swimming sans floatie, but he sure loves being in the water. Except when the pesky bees are around, and land on his lip and sting him!! Poor baby.

Here are some cute ones of my cute ones, having fun in the sun and the water.

Who can resist baby feet in baby Crocs? Not me, that’s for sure!

The traditional post-swim chill session on the deck chairs. Love.

Everyday Cuteness, Part 1

Every now and then, I realize just how many pictures I take with my phone. Pictures that I may or may not have uploaded to FaceBook at the time I took them, but after that I pretty much forget about. Until I take some time to scroll through them on my phone. Of course I enjoy scrolling through them, but they don’t do you all very much good, just sitting there on my phone, especially if you don’t FaceBook! Plus, FaceBook has gotten so goofy about timelines eating posts and pictures, and half the time stuff that I put on my page disappears. So in order to preserve these memories for all of posterity, I shall now post them here. Because really, that’s what this blog is for, isn’t it?

(I’ll try to remember how old Dawson is in each picture, but I’m not promising anything…)

Rockstar (5 months)

Sock Monkey Tuffy! (4 months, I think)

Oh, Hi. I’m just sitting here, chilling out… (3 months, maybe?)

These guys just LOVE to play together. Makes my heart happy.

He sure loves that Sock Monkey Tuffy

It’s his pal…

Gotta find fun ways of passing the time, while waiting to see the doc!

Big boy playing in his big “contraption” for the first time! (4 months)

Logan and I were shopping at Party City for his birthday party supplies. He found this hat and said, “Ohh! Ice Cream Hat – my favorite!!” Ok, buddy… you keep thinking that’s an ice cream!

Not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but Latty and Dawson are thick as thieves. That kitty sure loves that baby., he’s always got to be near him.. and the feeling is mutual!

Big, big boy trying to pull himself up! (6.5 months)

Logan has started taking grooming really seriously!

Daddy spent Father’s Day cleaning up the garage… Finally we had room to park the cars in there!!

Where’d he get his computer-nerdiness from…?

See? I told ya the feeling is mutual! (6.5 months)

“Why hello, kind sir. I do hope you have a lovely day!”
–Signed, Fancy Dawson

Eeewwww! Logan went to a Reptile Birthday Party, and the kids got to hold a huge boa constrictor!

Logan and his buddy Michael having a blast at the Round Rock Express Game and Baby and Kid Expo!

I’m sure I’ll be dumping some more phone photos here in another 6 months or so!

Aunt Rachel Got Married

Remember Rachel, Logan’s Godmother?

Somehow, she grew up and got married!  We traveled to Denton for the wedding this weekend, and had a really great time.  Logan still adores his Aunt Rachel, and Dawson got to meet her, and the rest of the M family, for the first time.  And, we are honored that Rachel and her new husband Riley have agreed to be Dawson’s Godparents, too!

Handsome boy, ready for the marrying

Two handsome boyz

Beautiful bride

Proud Papa

Since Denton is about as close as we’ve ever been to where Brandon lives, I took the boys up to visit Brandon and his family on Sunday, while James and Jim enjoyed a round of golf.  Those boys had a blast together!  (the little ones, I mean. Actually, I’m sure the big ones did too…)

L.O.V.E. this.

Cousin fun

Yeah, this one’s pretty cute, too…

In other news, this weekend Dawson turned 5 months old.  But that’s a rant for a whole ‘nother post.

Mini May Vacay

Last week, James had a business trip in San Antonio.  Because I had a few days off, the boys and I drove down with him and spent a few days.  Also because his conference was being held at the ultra swanky and heavenly JW Marriott Hill Country Resort and Spa, and we were able to stay with him there.  It was tres lovely and the food was phenomenal.

We took the boys to Sea World one afternoon, and had a great time!  I hadn’t been there in decades, and I don’t think James had ever been.  It was Logan and Dawson’s first time too.  The Sesame Street Bay of Play area was the biggest hit with the under 4 crowd, while the Cannery Row Caper show earned plenty of laughs from the whole family.  And Shamu and friends amazed and and awed, as usual.

Ready for Sea-Worlding!

Mommy and Logan waiting to board the Shamu roller coaster

Wheeeee!

Sesame Street Bay of Play

Sprinkler Fun!

Cannery Row Caper show

A waving walrus. How much more fun could it get?!

Penguin Palz

Shamu steals the show

Back at the ranch resort…

Not quite tall enough for the water slide. 😦

Hi Mom! Hi Dawson!

But he was big enough for the kid water slide!

Dawson’s first swim!!

And now, because I’m lazy and don’t have time to sit here and wait on the computer to load each of these separately, and I can’t stand to eliminate any of them…  Enjoy our slideshow of all the dozens of photos from our weekend, if you’d like.

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I skipped my workout for this…

I’ll have you know that I’ve been doing really great the past week, with working out and eating healthy(er), and have already lost 3 pounds! I made a commitment to myself to do the entire P90X workout system. Day 8, and I already blew it.

But, this is why. I think you’ll agree: totally and completely worth it. I started playing around with editing these and just couldn’t tear myself away.

Happy Springtime from Texas, everyone!

Just a Quick Boast…

Check this out:

Logan had a perfect month in March!  He has been so so so good, and we’re so proud of him!  He’s so proud of himself too, and totally understands about the months and what it means to have so many green smileys.  He requested the Bubble Guppies game for his Leapster Explorer, which turned out to be not so much a game, as a video.  So as a bonus, I also downloaded the “cheese game“, as he calls it.  It’s got a picture of a big smiling mouth, which I suppose he thinks is saying “Cheeeeeese” – but it’s really called “Sugar Bugs”, and it’s a game that teaches about brushing and flossing your teeth.

He’s always learning, that one…  I hope he never wants to stop.

Speaking of sugary treats (weren’t we?), he helped me make these Cake Pops for his class for their Easter feast.  We had so much fun and he did a great job!

Where did Month 3 go?

Oh, that’s right – I explained that in the last post…So Dawson is a big THREE MONTHS old now!  I’m trying not to be sad about how fast it’s all going, and trying instead to just relish in our big, happy boy.  And boy, is he big!  He looks JUST like Logan did as a baby (in case you couldn’t tell!), but possibly with just a tad more meat on his bones.  However, he’s still not pudgy, by any means.  He is super long, though.

At three months, Dawson can do all this stuff:

Child’s Age	Mastered Skills (most kids can do)	Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)	Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
3 months	Recognizes your face and scent –YES Holds head steady – YES Visually tracks moving objects – YES	Squeals, gurgles, coos – YES Blows bubbles – YES Recognizes your voice – YES Does mini-pushup – YES	Rolls over, from tummy to back – NO Turns toward loud sounds – YES Can bring hands together, bats at toys – YES

…except rolling over – he’s not doing that yet.  He looks like he’s about to, though, from his back to belly.  When he’s lying on his back, he gets his feet under him with some leverage and pushes, and twists at the waist, and it really looks like if he just pushed a little bit harder he could flip himself right over!  He also loves to bear weight on his legs.  He’s a super happy boy and has the biggest, most heart-melting grin.

And now, a pitiful few photos because I suck and barely picked up my camera at all this past month.

Happy boy!

Family Fun

So the past 2 weeksmonth has been crazy busy for us.  I started back to work the last week in February.  My shift is assigned to night shift right now, and as you can imagine, I was pretty much dreading going back to work on nightshift.  I ended up starting back part-time, though, so it wasn’t too bad – I only worked half shifts (6pm-midnight) for the first two weeks.

Then, I was in training classes for the next two weeks, which meant my schedule was 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday (except that it was really more like 8am-6, or 6:30pm, plus homework!).  That was an eye opener.  I had been so dreading working nightshift, and I was convinced that an 8-5 Monday-Friday schedule would be the best and easiest way to spend as much time as possible with my family.  I was wrong.  It was HARD, y’all, and I give kudos to families with more than 1 kid who have both parents working the 8-5 schedule.  By the time we got home, picked up the kids from their respective daycares/preschool, fixed and served dinner, fed the baby, washed the bottles and prepared them again for the next day, bathed the boys, did their respective bedtime routines, etc, etc, etc…  it was after 9pm before I could even catch my breath and THEN I had to start on my homework!  Usually, while James cleaned up the kitchen and made Logan’s lunch for the next day.  I’d pretty much do homework until midnight or 12:30, or until whenever I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore, then shuffle off to bed, only to wake at 05:30 and do it all over again.

Lesson learned:  the grass is really not greener anywhere, and the only way to spend the most time with all my boyz is to not work.  But, that’s not in the cards for us right now since I’m so darn close to retirement from the City that I can taste it.  It would be just plain dumb to give up now.

Which brings me to:  the training classes I was in.  Thankfully, they seem to have somewhat renewed my spirit and my enthusiasm for my job, and hopefully will continue to do so until I reach that 20-year mark (in just three short years) and beyond.  I am now certified to be an instructor, and can now teach any number of law enforcement training classes and continuing education classes.  In addition, I was certified to instruct the Alive at 25 Defensive Driving program, which I L-O-V-E.  Love, love, love, and any of you with teenaged drivers, and teenaged about-to-be drivers, I CANNOT recommend this program enough for your young driver.  Look it up, find a class near you, or request a class be offered, and send your kid to it.  It will more than likely save their life.  I’m serious.  Do it.

So anyway.  The past two weeks have been intense and exhausting, but the good news is that we’ve had lots of fun together on the weekends!  One rainy weekend, we decided to go bowling.  We’d never taken Logan bowling before, and even though it ended up being lunch/naptime by the time we even started, he was a great sport and we all had a great time!  And Dawson was lulled to sleep by the hustle and bustle of the bowling alley noise.

Here’s a little play-by-play:

This is my favorite!

That same weekend we took both boyz to the “fancy” movies and saw The Lorax in 3D.  The fancy movies is Flix Brewhouse – a movie theater-slash-brewery, with a full-service menu and dozens of beers on tap and in bottles.  Since we went to the first matinee, Logan got to have pancakes with his movie!  It was plenty of fun and we thought the movie was super cute!   Oh and Dawson did great through the movie, too – he mostly slept.

This past weekend was flat out GORGEOUS here in Central Texas.  We took advantage and road-tripped North about an hour and spent the day at the Cameron Park Zoo, and exploring Cameron Park itself in Waco.  What a great time we had, and we were all thoroughly impressed by the zoo!  It was beautiful, clean, the animals seemed happy and healthy and we were all on our best behavior and having the time of our lives!

Say Cheese, Mr. Tortouise

Flamingos

Rhino

Still hungry

All done, time to go!

Oh, there were tons more animals, these are just the highlights (I only have so much time, people!!).  That about wrapped up our fun weekend.  On Sunday we went to church and did our errands and chores and life pretty much got back to normal for the week.  So that’s it, until next time!