Easter Sunday 2011

What a beautiful Easter Sunday it has been! Here are a few pictures from our morning at church. Anne Morgan's dress is one of my dresses from the same age. I love that she was able to wear it. I hope each and every one of you was able to enjoy this wonderful day celebrating the miracle of Easter.

(she was very interested in the purple fountain as you can see here)

Grandmommie (Trey's mom) joined us for church this morning.

Have a great week!

Hunting for a Name!

Well we've had 2 Easter egg hunt's today. First, we went to the Auburn Egg Hunt at Kiesel Park. It was madness. I thought there would be more kids AM's age there but apparently they must have all gone to the Parkway Baptist one. Guess we should have done that too, we will know for next year. We had fun though, got a couple of pictures.

THEN, when we got home, we decided that it was time to make a final decision on baby boy's name. We've known the first name, in fact I've known that for many years and Trey agreed long ago. We just couldn't decide on a middle name. There were several that we really liked but couldn't commit. So we decided to leave it up to big sister and her egg hunting skills.

We wrote down our final two names four times each and put the names in plastic eggs. Then it was her turn to pick up eggs, we stopped her at five and the decision was made. In a 3-2 count baby boy now has a name!

Jason Davis Howell

We are very happy and excited to finally have it decided. As most of you probably know, Jason was my oldest brother's name. He actually gave me my name. I always wanted to name my son after him, hoping my brother or sister didn't take the name first. :)

Now I feel like we have the ball rolling. He has his first outfit with his name on it now too.

I ordered some fabric samples and they came in yesterday. Some I really liked and some I did not at all. Now I just have to decide on something but at least we're making progress!

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

So AM has been full of funny peculiarities lately. She is SO particular, and bossy. And she definitely exemplifies "monkey see, monkey do." You better be careful b/c she noticesEVERYTHING that you do. I don't have a whole lot of time, but I've been dying to write some of these down so that I can remember them. I jot notes down on my phone so I can remember them for this, here are some of our favorites: (most of these pictures have nothing to do with this post, just thought I'd throw some in there for fun)

There was no sharing of this Icee!

-a few days ago she was playing kitchen and dropped everything to go into my purse, grab a wet wipe and then wiped down her shopping cart! I just stood there and tried to keep it together. I am obsessive about wiping down the shopping cart with Clorox wipes so I guess she has noticed!

-For a while now she has to be involved with my after-shower routine and copies everything I do. I never really paid attention to how routine I do everything and am so particular about the way I even put on my face lotion. Well she wants to put it on the exact same way. She knows. She dabs one cheek and then the other and you MUST let her do it! One day she (the first time she did this) caught me so off guard b/c the first thing I do after getting out and drying off is grabbing Q-tips and then I turn around and throw them in the trash can. Well she immediately pointed me to the Q-tips when I got out and then took me to the trash can to throw them away!! She also loves holding the deodorant and acting like she is putting it on. In fact she loves this part so much that I have to keep it on the counter now instead of in the drawer where she can get to it.

-A few days ago when it was time to get out of bed, Trey got up to get ready for work and we go into the kitchen to get coffee and breakfast ready to send him off. Well, right when he sat up, she told him to go "tee-tee" b/c she knows he/we always go right when we get up! Too funny!

-She has had an awful cough at night for a couple of months now. It's due to allergies. So at night when she gets into bed, I grab the Vicks VapoRub and put some on her chest and it really helps her sleep better. Lately, I have to try to hold it together b/c by the time that I turn around to put it on her chest, she is already pulling the neck of her shirt down. Y'all, I just wish you could see this. Once she gets into bed she immediately pulls the neck down and she waitsso patiently. It makes me laugh every night.

-She likes to copy Mommy with arm weights. Whatever I do, she does. And she gets the biggest kick out of herself when she does it.

-Our favorite right now is saying the blessing. Right when we sit down she immediately has to hold hands, bows her head and waits for the blessing. She has even said "Amen" lately. Often, she wants to say it several times throughout the meal too...and you better do it!

"CHEESE, PLEASE!!!!!!!"

-A couple of weeks ago she started freaking out in the car when Trey was driving. We realized that she was telling him to put his seatbelt on! Once he did, she clapped and was so happy. She gets him every time. This makes Mommy happy, I don't like it when Daddy doesn't wear his seatbelt. Lately she tells me to put mine on too before I even try to back out of the driveway. She doesn't like it if I sit in the driveway and make my list before putting it on. I just thought this was so amazing since the motion of putting on a seatbelt is really not visible to her since she is directly behind the driver seat. That's my girl though, I've always been a seatbelt stickler!

-Oh, back to the bathroom, now she is obsessed with "washing" her face. She wants to stand up at the sink or sit on the stool in our bathroom and splash water on her face like Mommy and Daddy do when they wash their faces. You have to make her stop. She has a little too much fun with it. :)

-Not that this is something she copies, but it's so cute. She has to say bye to everything in the car when we get out or when she is headed to bed. She says "bye juice, bye baby, bye shoes, bye "B" (that's her life size golden retriever she is completely and utterly obsessed with), bye "whatever you insert here"...I laugh at the things she thinks to say bye to. When it's time to go to bed she'll either say "bye" or "nite nite" to these things.

Baby HAD to come to swimming lessons with us this morning.

I always let AM press the button to open the doors on the way in,

well this morning Baby pushed all of the buttons! :)

-She sometimes "struggles" to get her baby dolls to cooperate and sit still in the stroller. haha! I'm NOT kidding! She'll put them in there, huff and puff, pick them up and tell them to sit still! Then she will put them back in a strap them in. If they aren't ready to sit still, she'll pick them up and pat them on the back or rock them and try again. Last night she strolled one of the babies into the living room where we were watching the Auburn baseball game and had her watch the game with her. When the crowd cheered, she would clap the baby's hands and cheer!

Needless to say, this girl is always entertaining. She is finally watching something other than Praise Baby DVD's. That is only in the last week or two. She LOVES Clifford! This makes me so happy. Not that Praise Baby isn't a wonderful thing to watch and listen to, but after almost 2 years, it's nice to have something different and she will actually watch a cartoon these days.

Finally, here is a picture of her new storage in the playroom. She has done surprisingly well at keeping it neat. She understands most of the time about putting her toys away.

I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful Easter weekend. We are planning on going to the city Easter Egg Hunt at Kiesel Park tomorrow, we should get some good pictures. I'm really looking forward to the service at church on Sunday! Have a great one!

*I hope you didn't get too lost in this post that was all over the place! :)

Time to Brag

I woke up this morning to a clean house! And I am not the one who cleaned it!! :) Yep, After I went to bed last night Trey stayed up and picked up all of the toys and decluttered around the house! It was so nice to wake up this morning to a straight house! Sure made mopping this morning much easier and I couldn't complain one bit. Thanks Trey, that was so awesome!

We took a trip to Atlanta on Saturday to IKEA (turned into a fiasco of a trip due to road construction...you DONT even want to know!!) to pick up some storage solutions so once they were assembled yesterday and I put some of the stuff away, I had no more energy to tackle all of the stuff that was already lying around and driving me crazy. Our mission this weekend (since we didn't make it to the beach) was to get the house in order. Well by the time I sat down last night, I didn't feel like even thinking about it and mentioned that we never even accomplished what we planned to this weekend. We did get a lot done but time runs out. Well, he stayed up after I went to bed and took care of it on his own. Let me tell you, that is one heck of a way to wake up on a Monday! :)

I also have to brag on my little girl. She is a pro in the pool. I can't wait to show you videos of her swimming. This is one proud mama. My parents came over on Friday and went to her lesson but she was a little thrown off by them being there and I got in the water with her (b/c I though we were going swimming at the beach this weekend). I wish they could have really seen her in action. She was more than excited today to get in the water, she tried to get in the pool before we were ready and then wanted to get back in when she was done. I can't wait for the water to warm up outside so we can swim.

I can't remember if I've told you about AM and the rock wall on her swing set, but she's crazy! She climbs up that thing so fast, it's unbelievable! There is a picture below, I really need to get a video though.

In baby news, I'm 6 months pregnant now and he is definitely an active one! He moves and kicks all of the time. He really seems to be on a schedule though, I don't remember AM being that way but maybe I didn't really pay attention. He does seem to wake up about 10 pm every night which gets me a little nervous...Mama doesn't stay up late! :) I'm hoping to get started on his room soon. We still haven't decided on a middle name yet, hopefully soon.

Here are some photos of what we've been up to lately...

Enjoying lots of time outside...having afternoon snacks on the deck...

watering the plants...yes that's a topsy turvy, thought I'd give strawberries another try using it

planting new trees...

enjoying the most beautiful flowers, particularly from the pink rose bush...

watching the veggies grow...(this pic was supposed to rotate, sorry)

waiting to plant MORE hydrangeas...

swinging...LOTS of swinging

(I don't think I've told you about how BOSSY this girl is, especially with swinging. BOTH swings must be moving! Often she puts a doll or stuffed animal in the 2nd swing, either way, you have to push both. And when she gets down and wants to push, she pushes both!)

and climbing...

and of course enjoying Buddy Fruits...

The child is addicted to those things. She won't eat much at all, but she LOVES Buddy Fruits! It's either that, cheese, milk or fruit/veggie juice. Oh well!

I hope you're having a wonderful Monday. It sure is beautiful!!

Happy Monday!

So, as usual, this is going to be all over the place. I don't find much time for blogging so when I do I just have to put it all out there.

We have been doing a lot of Easter egg hunting around the house lately. AM loves it! Sorry the picture is blurry, it was taken with my phone this morning and she was too busy to sit still.

Here she is at her swimming lesson this morning floating all alone on her back. I am so proud of her. I didn't want to get too close and stand over her and mess her up so I just took this from my seat. By the end of the week I will get a better one for you.

Saturday we all headed over to my parents house to visit with my Grandpa. He is my mom's dad and lives in North Carolina. While we were growing up he and my Grandma lived in Chicago so they have never been close to us. That makes each visit super special since we don't get to see each other often. This was the first time that he has met AM. I was really surprised and impressed with how well she did with him. She usually takes a really long time to warm up to people but she really did well with him.

Grandpa is an artist/painter. He does amazing watercolors. He paints with other mediums too, but watercolors are his favorite and most common. Growing up when we would visit, we would love to paint with him or just do any artwork we could. That is why it was so special when (AM decided not to nap) he brought out a package of kids paint and paper that he brought from home to paint with her. Of course she didn't want anything to do with it though. She was warm with him, but not that warm! haha!

This is how she preferred to watch the painting...

Oh well. That was so sweet of him to think of that. I really wish she had done it though. While working in the yard yesterday afternoon, I realized that we should have had her dig in the garden with him while we were there. She loves doing that and so does he. You would be amazed at what this 89 year old can do! It's truly incredible. When we got there on Saturday, he was digging, rearranging pine straw and had already painted a trellis the day before. There is no time to sit still for that man! I just hope that I am like him when I'm that age. Shoot! When I'm 75 I hope I'm like that!

Here is the best attempt we could get at a picture. AM did NOT want to nap on Saturday. After a looooong boat ride, she finally fell asleep 5 minutes before we got home. She napped for an hour or so and then it was time to leave. Needless to say, she was a little unhappy when she woke up so taking a picture was difficult. And I must say that yes, I do realize that my face looks extremely round! Ugh! Not to mention my hair and lack of any makeup. Oh well, it's better than nothing.

One more thing, I need some advice. I never thought that potty training would be a topic of discussion at this point. But I think that AM is really interested in it. I don't know that she is "ready" though. I just can't imagine that she is capable of that kind of bladder control at this point. It seems so young. She always wants to sit on the potty, she asks to. She doesn't go though, she doesn't know what it's for. She knows when she makes a dirty diaper though. Sometimes she will bring me a diaper and tell me "di-de" (that's what we call it). Sometimes, like this morning, she will pull on it, say "di-de" and take me back to her room, lay the blanket out on her bed, get out the wipes and a diaper and lay down. So she is totally aware when she goes. I don't know that she knows ahead of time though. As far as tee-teeing goes, I talk about it all of the time but she has never really known what it is. Last night she was playing in her baby pool in the back yard, and we decided to just bathe her out there so she was naked. When she got out, she tee-teed. So I said "oh! you just tee-teed!" Well a few minutes later when we came inside to get her diaper and clothes on, she tee-teed on the floor and without me saying anything, or even noticing at that point, she said "tee-tee"! I couldn't believe it! I know this is a bit of rambling, but I want you to understand her level of understanding and give me some feedback. I seriously never thought it would happen this soon. And I worry about trying it too soon b/c I know that can be detrimental, just like trying to potty train when learning something else...like swimming! Please help! I don't want to pass this window of opportunity but I don't want to stress her or myself out about it either. I am SOOO not pushing it right now, but what do you think? Thanks!!!

Week 2

Well I fully intended to do another post this week but for some reason I haven't found the time to sit down with the computer all week. I can't believe it's already Friday!

We finished week 2 of ISR lessons today. I am so proud of Anne Morgan! She is able to float on her back now! She still has work to do on it but she is able to do it nonetheless. She talks about her teacher Miss Ashley ("Ash-ee") all of the time. So cute! For those of you interested in the specifics of the class b/c you are thinking about it too, she IS still crying. She gets excited to go there and even when she sees Miss Ashley and I know she enjoys her time in the water. A couple of days this week she didn't cry at all. Today she did but she was still able to perform. I'm not worried about the tears though. It's actually kind of funny. Not "funny funny" but funny b/c I know she is having fun and she really likes her teacher now that she knows her, I don't know if SHE knows why she is crying.

She is doing SO well and I am so glad we are doing this class. I asked her teacher this week about this class versus a traditional private swimming lesson b/c I have had people ask. I knew how to explain this one but didn't know what they would learn in a typical class. She said that in a typical class before the age of 3 it is really just getting them familiar with the water. Before age 3 you can't really teach them anything as far as swimming goes. You could get them to kick their legs, but they aren't able to hold their head or body up to be able to swim before that age. And they can learn to float on their back, potentially, but since they don't go every single day for a few minutes like they do with ISR the results aren't as drastic. She said it could take 2-3 years to teach a child to swim with those methods. And she teaches regular swimming classes too. That's why I asked her. While this is more expensive and time consuming up front it is more effective in the long run. Not to mention life saving.

Now on to other things, This picture below makes me laugh. I think AM has been looking at her cousin Sophie's fashion sense a little too much lately. A few nights ago when she got out of the bathtub and we were putting her pi's on, she grab these two socks and this pair of shoes. She HAD to put them on with her nightgown.

And she wanted a yellow bow. She is really into bows these days. So here she is dancing to American Idol in all of her stylishness. She LOVES American Idol. She gets so excited when she hears the intro music

She has been a handful this week. If you are on Facebook, you know that we had a few rough days and nights when it came time to take a nap or go to bed. Anne Morgan has been the MOST AMAZING child I have EVER seen or heard of about going to bed up to this point. A week or so ago things changed. She started refusing and pitching a fit when it was time. She has gotten now to where when we tell her it's time to go "night-night" she will run to the couch, grab a blanket and want to cuddle. We of course love this b/c she has never done this, but we also know it's just a technique to stay up. We stopped that right away. The past several nights I decided that we would tell her it was time to put her nighttime diaper on and then for about 20 minutes we could cuddle on the couch. Once the words "night-night" were said though, it was time to go to bed. Well, I must say that last night it worked like a charm! We were both in shock. So now it's our favorite time of the day, at least if it stays that way. The past 2 days she has napped well too. And when I say napped well I mean went to take her nap well. She always sleeps well, it was just a matter of getting her to that point. I had to turn her doorknob around and lock her in her room. I HATE doing that. But it really only took a few days. I think we are back on track now and that makes Mommy super happy.

In baby news, things are still going well. He is measuring right on track and my doctor still says I'm the healthiest pregnant patient he has. I don't know how many mommies he says that too, but I'll take it. When I go for my next appointment I have the diabetes test...yippee! If I remember correctly though, it wasn't as bad (the drink) as I expected it to be. I just hope I pass. I've been pretty bad this pregnancy as of late with my eating habits. I started out so well, but I've been giving in a lot more lately. Not a good thing. I'm still working out 4-5 days per week and feel good. The past week or so I've been having some contractions though so my doctor just said to drink more water and listen to my body. We haven't even begun on the nursery. We still have to clear out that bedroom which I hope to do soon and then I can get started on it. We're still working on the name too. As I mentioned before, we just have to decide on the middle name. We're tossing several around but haven't come close to deciding on it.

Sorry this ended up being so long...and without any good pictures. I didn't mean for it to. And I don't have any pictures to share either. Gotta work on that. Hopefully we will take some tomorrow. We are headed over to my parents house to visit with my Grandpa, my mom's dad. He lives in North Carolina. We haven't seen him since our wedding and I am so excited to introduce he and Anne Morgan. I hope to get some pictures. Have a great weekend.

Week 2

Week 1= In the Books

So we have successfully completed week 1 of ISR. Anne Morgan did great. There were PLENTY of tears, don't get me wrong, but as far as her swimming goes she is amazing! She'll get used to the teacher and the tears will subside. In fact, she stopped crying for the last half of today's session. She is doing so well at holding her breath under the water, reaching for the edge of the pool to pull herself up and swimming/reaching for the teacher's hands from under water. She doesn't shy away from putting her face in the water either. There are many times she goes for it before the teacher even does it! Her teacher said that next week they will start on learning to float on her back. I pulled my phone out one day to take a video and a couple of pictures but was quickly asked not to video. The teacher said that she could get in a lot of trouble. I didn't really get any pictures either, as they do more I'll be sure to. Hopefully she will let me get a video at the end.

So since I can't share any "action shots" with you, I thought I'd show you some of her that I took before her lesson each day. I love little girl's swimsuits. I started taking pictures everyday before but then I realized I never took one today. And the ones I did take yesterday were before we left the house. It hit me that I probably shouldn't be taking pictures in the locker room.

Speaking of the locker room, this picture says it all..."Mommy! Do you see that naked old woman?" hahaaaha! She couldn't quit staring.

I am not kidding you, it was a bit of a shock to me too. I can't get over the number of people that shower at the gym. (and the showers look so gross! ugh!) The locker room stays packed with ladies who shower and get ready at the gym after their workout. And it is a lot of larger, old ladies. And they don't care that the towels don't cover them much at all. OK, I know, TMI, but I had to get that off of my chest.

I think it's wonderful that so many senior citizens are working out, men and women. But I must say that I think 95% of those who are exercising are at this gym!

I can't fix the red eye, sorry. These were all taken with my phone.

Don't you just love this cover up? It has a matching swimsuit underneath but I forgot to take a picture. And notice the ponytail? That never happens, she hates them, I think it's cute though!

Anyways, I know this isn't a great post, but I really just wanted to document her progress after one week of the class.