time to slow down (now with pics)

here's what we've been up to:

- drove to houston (5 hours + 2 kids = long night)
- gave our dog away
- shopping at american apparel
- cool houston hair cut
- wilco show (wow)
- refreshments with melissa and ryan
- candi drove the car off the driveway
- jeremy golf (won $21)
- baby grace's bday party (jared and jennifer's little one)
- pawpaw's birthday lunch at nene's
- drove back to the arklatex (what a weekend)
- candi bootcamp
- max came over to play
- candi bootcamp
- big meeting with company folks
- jeremy golf with company folks (won $20)
- candi bootcamp
- jeremy golf with ollie after work
- dinner with cassy and fred
- candi bootcamp
- fence building with fred (still sore)
- candi stalking the tennessee seays at chick-fil-a
- grilled out with the cult-de-sac
- church
- jeremy golf (lost $7)
- fight about jeremy playing too much golf
- baker brother's salads (could be the highlight of the week)

pictures we took (before the battery died)

Cool Cat

So the idea for this blog started when we moved to Texarkana. Ollie had said a few things, you know write this down in his baby book kind of things. The problem is I don't have a baby book and chose a blog as a forum for documenting our growing family. Pretty much my parents and sister, mother-in-law and best friend, Melissa (& Ryan), seem to enjoy my Ollie (& Otto) stories the most. So this post is for you guys and anyone else who wants to hear me go on and on about my kid.

A few things Ollie came up this week:
#1
Lil man has a hard time remembering to stop what he playing and run to the bathroom when he needs to go. Saturday when we were playing outside he made a habit of "relieving himself" in the grass when he needed to go. I would praise him for going b/c thankfully he remembered to stop playing and pee but he didn't have time to make it inside to a bathroom. When we got home and were showering I explained to him that his wee wee was private. His best playmate is our 5 year old neighbor girl and obviously Ollie doesn't understand boundaries older kids get. So, I told him he should tee-tee in private and no one needs to see him do that especially girls. He was quick to tell me "NO, my wee wee is a Cool Cat!" It was hard to hold back my grin...I really couldn't argue with the dude. I'll leave the rest up to dad to handle.
*I'd like to note that I have never referred to anything as a cool cat to my son. I have no clue where he heard this.
#2
Ollie's been talking about some kid in his class that has a fish. I'm not sure if this fish is at school or if this something they are talking about. My understanding of the 3 year old language varies day to day. I completely forgot about our fish "conversation" yesterday at the grocery store when I told him we were eating fish tonight. He completely freaked out "NO! Mommy NOT FISH". I instantly recalled our talk about the fish he's so fond of. He ended up being okay with fish and requested fish steaks(sticks). I felt like this issue was over until I played Nemo this morning and they said fish are friends, not food. Dang! I hope he didn't hear that :)
#3
Not that funny but still worth sharing. Jeremy has been known to give Ollie a dollar here and there for something random. Like Saturday, he held a the swinging "contest" on the duel tree swings in our neighbor's yard and paid the winners a dollar. Of course Ollie lost but he still got money. I didn't realize he gave the money back to his dad. As we were leaving the grocery store yesterday, he asked to get the candy "egg" out of those little red machines they put at eye-level for kids (gotta start that consumerism early). I told him to save his coins and dollars and he could use them at the store. He is obsessed with pockets and he thinks its fun to put stuff in there...so I'll put money in pocket for him give to his teacher for pizza on pizza day. Again, I forgot about the pizza money in the pocket thing...suddenly he began crying "But, Ms. Mandy has ALL my money". So so so sad he thinks the teacher is taking his money. I think I'm gonna need to hand deliver the pizza money I'm afraid Ollie will start keeping it all!

We're headed to Houston for a weekend of fun. We've got lots of plans and hopefully we'll take some pics and post. I may even come back with shorter hair.

Here are some pictures I snapped of them today.

we don't beat our kids (that much)

It seems like so many kids we know have gotten sick in the past couple of months. I've caught myself thinking wow Ollie hasn't been sick in a long time. Its inevitable the moment I think or dare say it out loud we'll all get it. This weekend we discovered Ollie has a case of Fifth Disease. I tried to ignore it for a couple of days and dismiss it as allergies, but Saturday morning it was clear that something was definitely abnormal. Perfect, a sick kid on the weekend. Luckily our neighbor is Abe is a doctor, who Misty refers to as "doc on the block," and was kind enough to diagnose our child. All that to say, I didn't slap Ollie on the face to make him smile for the camera, he just has a crazy rash.

bonus: baby otto looking cute and eating his shoe!

NeNe Update

Thanks for your prayers people. NeNe is doing great and recovering at home. She only spent a few days in the hosital...I'm very delayed on the update.

I love my NeNe...isn't she a cutie?! She is one stylish and hip grandma. I also think its cute that she has an iPod. Last summer she floated the Guadalupe River with her grandchildren (or was it the Comal, Leah). I was not one of the grandchildren floating the river, I was 7 months pregnant and not up for an adventure.

I must admit I've not taken advantage of learning from her. She cooks great food from scratch...Jeremy is always impressed with her. She paints, does all the needle arts and crafts, sews & quilts. I love her quilts the most. They are handmade and even hand stitched (some machine stitched). Everyone in the family gets a quilt. Babies always get a baby quilt. I got a quilt in high-school made out old denim she even used jeans that were once worn by my dad. After I graduated college I was given a quilt and again as a wedding gift. NeNe has stacks and stacks and stacks of quilts she's made just sitting her house. Over the years, we've talked about them, admired them and on occasion laid them out on the floor to get a better look. Last Christmas, after all the presents were opened, she let everyone pick out a quilt. It was quite a surprise, there were more quilts than people and choosing the right one was a task. Talk about hard decisions, each special in their own way and all special because she made them.

Anyway, just wanted to give a shout out to the cool lady I call NeNe.

Angel Baby

Otto is so cute these days. He is 6 months old and I can't believe how much he has grown. I have been enjoying every second of him. I really don't want him to hit anymore milestones...its going by too fast for me. I was just telling my best friend, Melissa, how laid back I am with Otto. With Ollie everything was so new...I anticipated every stage of his development. I'm so different with Otto. I don't read any emails about development, I don't wonder about what's next, I'm not concerned that we have no schedule and I don't follow the "rules". Otto just started sleeping in his bed. I've been nursing him so its so easy to keep him bed with us :) He is sleeping in his bed now and sleeps from 9ish to 7ish. Last night from 9ish to 6:4oish. He is pretty much a rock star. He's truly a good baby...he's been so easy from day 1.
I'm so thankful for him and often refer to him as "angel baby" (sometimes "that baby" but more frequently "angel baby").
Otto is also my firecracker, he'll let you know if he doesn't like something. He's already a social butterfly...he can be ready to sleep and then I take him out to see people and he beams. It seems like he may have more personality than Ollie, is that even possible? Ollie is like his dad, give him the stage and he'll put on a show for you.

Otto's big milestones these days: sitting up and moving up a class at sunday school! I was so sad when I found out he was no longer in the baby, baby class(that is my official name for it). He also decided to sit up early. Like I mentioned, I don't read the books but my doctor was very surprised that he was sitting up and commented he was early doing that. I'm pretty sure the old guy didn't believe me, so he sat Otto up on the table and gave him something to play with. Otto performs well under pressure and was up for impressing the doctor. I'm glad he is wanting to sit up but I'd rather him just need his mommy. for a little while longer.
Here is a picture of my sweet angel baby.

Not quite a cult-de-sac.

I wouldn't say we're a cult-de-sac like the Tennesse Seays , but we really like hanging out with our neighbors. Saturday afternoon Jeremy decided to grill out...amazing weather this weekend don't you Texans agree? Anyway, we invited everyone over from our street to come eat with us. Jeremy set up his laptop and projector and we played Ratatouille on our garage. We had steaks, sides, some amazing bread (Thanks Jennifer), beer and lots of fun. Here are some of our sweet neighbors below: Robin (holding Cannon), Siby, Misty, Cassy, Kelly (not a neighbor just my good friend) & me holding my precious angel.

Sunday after church everyone was back outside in the cul-de-sac doing some sidewalk chalk art and riding Cassy's old Spree scooter (remember those)? Oh and I got a iPhone this weekend. What a great weekend! Here are the pics:

Sweet baby Otto.

Fred driving Mady around...he was a little crazy on the spree so I wouldn't let Ollie ride.

Ollie upset b/c he can't ride the Spree.

NeNe

We are in Houston for the weekend. Candi's grandma (Roy's mom) went in for a heart cath on Friday that turned into to triple bypass. She is doing fine, and is expected to be out of ICU in the next couple of days. We love NeNe and are praying for a speedy and full recovery. We know she will be quilting and making her famous rolls (from scratch) before we know it. Please remember to say a prayer for her!

--JJ