Glimpses of me . . .

It's funny how sometimes looking at you two, I can see glimpses of who I am staring right back at me.  The good, bad and the ugly.  It's a good reminder to try to be more mindful of my actions!  But today, Aidan reminded me of me when I was a little girl.  I used to loooooove pretending to be a teacher!  When I was a little girl, I would line up my Care Bears, Cabbage Patch Kids and baby dolls down the hall and fuss at them like I was their teacher.  I wrote lesson plans and had 2 big chalkboards in my room on which I taught my class.  I had a whistle for when I took them out to recess- I'm talking the whole nine yards!  Because my mom, your Grammy, was a teacher she gave me old teacher manuals and books.  I loved it!  I loved school!


Aidan, you love school so much right now!  You love to color the letter booklets and sing the songs.  At the book fair right before Christmas you wanted the teacher's pointer and Daddy bought it for you!  Tonight, you started trying to teach Andrew and he was wanting no part of it!! Your feelings were really hurt because I think you really want to be able to boss someone around!  I suggested that you go to your room and teach your Toy Story characters.  You loved that idea and spent the next hour teaching your class with only one short break to ask us to get down your chalkboard from upstairs!  You said, "Of course I need my chalkboard!  What kind of teacher doesn't have a chalkboard?"  Gosh- you remind me of me so much tonight!  I hope you follow your dreams and they all come true!  Love you little man!

Jessie looking out the window to give the weather report!

Caught ya!  Your face when I interrupted your class!

Counting the days of the month

Nap time!  You covered them up with your uniform!Too funny!

Happy tubes!!

Andrew, this morning you had surgery to place tubes in your ears. Dr. Will Watkins did the surgery at The Shreveport Surgery Center & it only took about 10 minutes! The hardest part was the fact that you weren't allowed to drink your milk before the surgery. It was so hard having to tell you no, especially when you kept giving us the baby sign for milk & saying milk in your silly German sounding way. But thanks to mommy's new iPad we were able to keep you occupied with Mickey Mouse! You were slightly hysterical when the nurses took you from me and disoriented when they gave you back to us! After a few minutes, you realized who we were & drank all of your milk. Then you really wanted your daddy & he held you till we got in the car!

Big lip b/c my baby is thirsty and I can't do anything about it!

For the rest of the day, you have been, dare I say it? Happy!! You didn't even fight me tonight when I had to put in your ear drops! You ate 1.5 hotcakes & the entire sausage patty & a few bites of eggs when you got home!! I think you were hungry! Then you just played and laughed until you started yawning. You slept for ab 3 hours for your nap which is almost double your usual. You had a big lunch & ate 2 bowls of broccoli for dinner with your chicken! The doctor called to check on you while we were eating dinner & I told him the tubes must be miracle workers bc you just ate one bowl of broccoli & asked for more! Daddy & I were impressed that the doctor called to check on us like that!

We are so thankful that God blessed us with a successful surgery & truly hope this makes you feel so much better! Mommy wants her little man to be on top of his game!

Daily Smiles

So many times throughout the day, y'all will say or do something that just makes me heart smile and I wish I could savor it forever!  On Monday, when I picked Aidan up from school, we were talking about  his first day back at school.  I asked him if he had the opportunity to tell his teachers and friends about his Christmas break.  He said, "Yes, I told Mrs. Paga that we went to Dallas for Christmas and that my grandfather is a real cowboy!"  I love it!  I guess we need to work on your geography b/c we were in Gonzales but it does sound an awful lot like Dallas!  I must annunciate better around you!  But how my heart smiled to hear you talk about Pops as a real cowboy.  Your mule riding adventure must have really made an impression on you!

2011!

Today is the first day of 2011. My New Year Resolution is to begin this blog as a way to virtually scrapbook your little lives! You are both growing up so fast and amaze me everyday. I want to remember it all! So today, I begin . . .

Dear Aidan,

Today you are 5 years, 4.5 months old. You just recently had your well visit (mom was a little late getting you in) and you weighed 42 pounds and were 46" tall! The doctor says you are tall and lean! 5oth percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. You also had your vision checked and it was 20/20! You have made me smile the last few weeks when I've overheard you tell people that, "The doctor said both my eyes are 20!" We are going to see a speech therapist soon to help you with your "th" sounds because you are having a hard time saying them! No worries, you are still just a wonderful little boy who truly amazes us daily with your intelligence and kind, sweet soul.

You really love drawing right now and you told me yesterday that you want to grow up to be an artist! You really are talented at such a young age, especially your attention to detail. I hope that you continue to love drawing and maybe someday your dreams will come true! Your grandmother, Gree, is also an artist and she hopes to teach you a thing or two!

You are also a really great big brother to Andrew! I know God chose you specifically for that job because it takes a special kiddo to be such a good big brother! Andrew wants to do everything that you do and you handle it fairly well, all things considered!

You will start the 2nd half of Pre-k4 on Monday. You are really interested in reading & have started asking so many questions about it that you are really reading on your own now! But, your favorite thing about school is the letter songs you learn with each letter of the week!  We can sing "Marvin the Monkey" in our sleep!

Over the break, you expressed interest in t-ball again and gymnastics!  You decided not to play soccer again this spring.  So, I have signed you up for Shreveport Little League and will soon sign you up for the boys gymnastic class!  Also on the break, you and I got to spend some one on one time!  I loved seeing you smile and your little love tank fill up by taking you to the Jump Zone with some of your friends and to see "Tangled" at the movie theatre!  How I treasure those experiences!

Your favorite things besides art right now is Toy Story 3 toys and watching movies, when we let you!  Daddy and I (okay, really daddy) bought you your first BB gun for Christmas and you really enjoyed your first target practice with Daddy, Pops, Brady and Seth at the Robert Farm in Wallace, LA.

We love you very much Aidan and are so incredibly thankful that God has placed you in our lives.  You are surely teaching us more and more about ourselves and what it really means to be a grown up and a parent.  We know God has great plans in store for you!  Bear with us too because we are really trying to figure it out along the way as well!  Here's to 2011!

Love,
Mom