Bloops and Blunders of Picture Taking

Trying to get a picture for our Christmas card gets more challenging every year. Neither kid looks at the camera or smiles at the same time and inevitably someone is crying. We took about 300 photos and got a lot of duds! These are just a few of the "attempts".

This was the best one of Jack and pretty good overall, so it was the "chosen one". :)

Joe Learning To Sign

We were feeding Joe his 3rd solid food today (sweet potatoes) and I decided to model the sign for "more" for Joe and put his hands together to show him how to do it while saying "more". After a few times I stopped because I didn't think he was really absorbing it and he was probably too young. I called Brent in to video us because we had not taken any photos or anything of Joe's first solids yet. You know how it is with the second child - poor kid. When Brent started video taping, our miraculously smart baby Joe signed for "more" over and over again all by himself to my utter amazement! It was no fluke. We were stunned and very excited to say the least. You all know how long we've waited to have a child communicate with us in any way, shape or form. He is not babbling consonants yet but this is a nice start at communicating and we will take it!

Halloween 2007

Sweet Dreams

This is actually a picture from our September trip to Indiana (other pictures on earlier post) but I found it on our older camera and I couldn't help but post such a sweet moment caught on film. Jack and Boppo really got to spend a lot of time together on this trip and this picture is priceless.

Whitt, Texas

Daddy and Jack exploring

We went to Grammy and Grandpap's land in Whitt, TX (1 hour, 20 minutes west of Arlington) on Saturday to just have kick around and be together. Grandpap was there with his friend Dick and they were "running their bird dogs" which means they were letting the dogs "stretch their legs" in translation. There are 80 some odd acres and Grandpap is slowly acquiring enough animals for a small wildlife preserve. :) He has 40-50 goats, a donkey, 2 longhorns and about 1,000 fish in his stock tank. There are 2 barns being built right now, one for humans equipped with a bathroom and one for the animals so they have shelter in those crazy Texas storms. They are also eventually going to build a weekend home somewhere on the land after they finish building the new home they are currently building down the road from us in Arlington. We had a blast in Whitt and Jack really enjoyed stretching his legs just as much as the dogs did.

Mommy and her boys Daddy feeding Joe on the Barn Deck

Daddy hangin' with the boys on the Barn Deck

Jenny the Donkey

A few of the Bird Dogs (Grandpap's - Ross, Betty & Bob and Dick's - Grits & dont' know the other dog's name?) FYI...the black dots you see all over the ground in this picture are goat poop pellets!!!!! YUCK!

The Goats

The Barn (human barn where the bathroom will be)

Mommy and boys on Polaris cart (I actually drove everyone around with Jack in between Mommy and Daddy up front, Joe securely on Daddy's lap and Grandpap and Dick in the back directing me)

Jack pretending to drive (he actually initiated this on his own which is rare)

Jack doing some more driving and Grandpap and Dick fillin' us up with gas

All the boys checkin' out the tank and looking for fish

Jack beaming at his Grandpap and lovin' life

Jack relaxing after all the fun - laying in the trunk eating pretzels

Fall Evening Walks

We started taking nightly walks every evening after dinner since the weather cooled off. At first Jack wasn't too keen to sit next to Joe though Joe LOVED looking over to see Jack sitting next to him. After about the first two nights of this Jack warmed up to the concept of sitting next to and sharing a stroller ride with his baby brother, or at least he "tolerates" it. Brent and I are LOVING our nightly walks as the weather is so uncharacteristically beautiful right now - our temp in the evenings has been in the 60's.

Joe Catching zzzzz's Anywhere He Can

Kissable Baby Voting Page

Hi Folks! The contest has been going on for a few days and we have gotten responses from MANY of you that you have been voting for Joe. If you could kindly keep it up, we would appreciate it. Once a day, each day until Friday the 26th at midnight, please just click on the link below, type in your email address at the bottom of the voting page, click "vote" and viola, you've voted for Baby Joe!

http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/vote_group_11.html

Most Kissable Baby Contest

Okay everyone, we have a favor/job for you all. We entered Joe in a "Most Kissable Baby Contest" for a local radio station here 106.1 Kiss FM. The baby with the most votes wins $5,000.00!!!!!!! We will be posting and sending by email the link to the voting page. The hard part is that we need everyone to vote from their personal email once a day during each round and there are 5 rounds. We'll send out reminders but we really need everyone's help so Joe can win. Of course he IS the most kissable baby in the contest and should by all fairness win on his own merits but, I think it would not hurt to get bunches and bunches of votes from all our friends and family. We'll post the link to vote tomorrow. Thanks in advance for your help!

Move Over Shiloh Jolie-Pitt! There's A Cuter Baby In Town Now!

Joe and I were out in the backyard today enjoying the beautiful Fall day and I was able to capture some great snapshots of my beautiful boy. He LOVED checking out the leaves and the grass - he was completely engrossed and I could hardly get a glance my way. I had to lay him down to make him look away from the grass and the leaves. If the above photo were closer up you would notice his two bottom teeth. He's growing up so fast - too fast! I had to include this hilarious face. Doesn't it just go with the outfit perfectly?

Jack's Tonsil and Adenoidectomy

Jack had his tonsils and adenoids removed last Friday, October 5th, 2007 at noon. He has had multiple strep infections - last one was 2 weeks ago (he also was the youngest case of strep at his pediatrician's office ever at the tender age of 12 months), his tonsils were HUGE, he snored and woke frequently at night so we and his doctor decided it was best to take those suckers out! We were SO worried about the anesthesia and surgery to the point of nausea and sleepless nights but once again, Jack surprised us with his bravery and his ability to come out on top seemingly unscathed. He is resilient if nothing else. He also knows how to milk it but more on that later. :) Brent's mom (Great Momma) came in from Indiana just for Jack's surgery and to help out with Joe. Thank goodness she did because her help was so needed and invaluable. She took over with Joe so we could concentrate on Jack for a couple of nights following his surgery. He slept with us so we could keep a check on his fever and Great Momma took such tender loving care of Joe which he LOVED! We also loved having her here and wish she could come more often. It was also her Bday on Sunday the 7th so we had a mini-celebration with cake. Jack was awesome about not getting to eat or even take a sip of water for about 7 hours before surgery. He was scheduled at noon because they apparently take the youngest first at 7 am. If his surgery was at noon that tells you how many kids younger than him went first. He wasn't even considered young at 2 1/2 yrs old! He played in the surgery waiting/play room until it was time for his anesthesia. He cruised around inspecting everything and seemed to enjoy wearing a "dress" -LOL! They gave him a nose spray that was an anti-anxiety med and it was supposed to make him feel something like an adult would feel after 3-4 cocktails. He got really relaxed and happy. The anesthesiologist came to get him and Jack went with him willingly - I started to cry like a baby. We went to the waiting room to meet up with my mom and Vaughan (stepdad) then they and Brent went down to get lunch and coffee. I stayed in the waiting room not willing to budge an inch for fear Jack might need me. Literally, 5 minutes later Jack's doctor, Dr. Palmer came out to find us and my heart stopped. I thought something had gone wrong and he was coming to find me. I asked breathlessly, "what's wrong?" and he replied, "nothing, we're done and Jack did great!" Wow! The surgery was supposed to last 7 minutes, was scheduled for 15 not counting the time for anesthesia and here the doctor was 5 minutes later! We went in to see Jack in recovery within 15 minutes and once again my heart was pounding. I walked through the recovery room full of kids and scanned each bed not seeing Jack. Finally, as we approached the back of the room I saw a nurse standing holding a sweet little boy curled up in her arms stroking her hair. That was my Jack and that was how I knew he was okay - he loves to cuddle on me and play with my hair. The nurse said he never cried when he woke up, he just looked at her and reached up for her to pick him up. Awwwwww! She didn't want to hand him over to me but I was so anxious to hold him in my arms. He slept on me for about 20 minutes then he started to come to and he stood up, we put his clothes on and drank some water. He was cleared to go home, they loaded him up in the Red Wagon and gave him a ride downstairs to our waiting car. Once we got in the car Jack got a Get Well Wish from Miss Teen Hunt County, an autographed photo and a card handmade from a little boy named Daryl. Once home, within 2 hours of surgery Jack wanted to eat, he played outside in his baby pool and played on his swing set. He seemed remarkably well considering. Then, that night after all the drugs wore off he began to decline and start feeling pretty puny and running a fever. We let Jack keep his paci which otherwise is for "night night" only and it proved to be magical. As long as he has had his paci over the last few days, all is good. Now, 6 days later, he is doing great! He is eating pretty darn well, drinking well, sleeping well, no fever and I took him to speech therapy today. He does have this awful stink associated with the adenoid removal that is supposed to last for a couple of weeks and it is potent. We are glad the surgery is behind us and we have our sweet little boy back. Jack checking things out The cute yellow duck socks they gave him to wear

Jack showing off his cute bum

Jack and Daddy canoodling

Jack figuring out he likes the breeziness of a skirt - maybe a kilt is in his future

"I've got you now Dad"

Cool Man Jack

Jack right after his "anti-anxiety" nose spray

Grammy and Grandpap in the waiting area

Jack being discharged in the Red Wagon

Miss Teen Hunt County wishing Jack a speedy recovery

Jack playing in the yard 2 hours after surgery

Still lovin' that water, surgery or not Awwww....Life is good (still on drugs!)

A special delivery from Auntie Samantha for Jack

Jack lovin' on his zebra

Jack starting to feel a little puny

Jack DEFINITELY feeling puny now! He crashed on the living room floor

We had to celebrate Great Momma's Bday without Jack since he was passed out on the floor - he just could not stay up a moment later