PreK-4 {aka "big boy school}

Today was big.  Huge.  I mean major as far as milestones go in life.  Griff started pre-k at the big school.  We have been talking this up and preparing him for this day.  He woke up and was ready for the challenge. Breakfast, dressed, pictures, and out the door by 7:30.  Good-bye lazy days of summer and hello new school year.  

The morning went off without a hitch.  Griff quickly ate a little breakfast and got dressed.  I could tell he was a little anxious.  The only hiccup of the morning was the tucking his shirt in his pants business.  Honestly I think this is probably the first time in his life that he actually tucked his shirt in.  I guess we aren't really tight tuck kind of folks.  He didn't like tucking it in and I can't say that I really blame him.  After we he got over that we grabbed backpacks (pak paks) and were out the door!     When I saw him all dressed in his uniform I got a little teary.  He just looked so big in those little clothes.  

How in the world is this baby child
already old enough for school?
Doesn't he look adorable in his
uniform?
Tight tuck and all!

Roman started nursery school
a few weeks ago, but I knew
he would want to take pics
just like his Be-Be.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to learn!

What ever Mom...
This is how we really feel.  :)

My big boy giving MiMi a hug before heading out the door.

My first time waiting in the carpool line.
I will log many hours throughout the years in this line.
Once in the line I started to feel a  little anxious.
I was about to drop off my 4 year old child with strangers. 

The teacher getting him out of the car.

When the carpool line teacher helped Griff out of the car he was so brave.  He started walking as if he knew where to go.  She had to stop him to get out another child before walking them together.  It wasn't until she stopped him and he looked back that I saw his lip quivering.  Broke my heart.  

Here he is when he looked back.
He looks so small to me in this picture
compared to the BIG school.

Thank Goodness for Roman.  He didn't give me much time to be sad.  He did it for me.  He was crying in the backseat because he wanted to go to "big cool" too like Be-Be.

"I wanna go to big cool like Be-Be."

Next bus stop was Miss Deb's.
Roman's back pack is 1/2 the size of his body!

 I can honestly say that I thought about Griff the entire day.  I prayed for his first day to go smoothly.  I prayed that he would enjoy his day and will be excited to go back.  I prayed that he would make friends and be excited to learn.  For some reason my biggest fear was Griff in the lunch room.  The thought of my little child without me navigating his way through the line with a tray just made me sad.  I watched the clock and said extra prayers at 12:30- lunch time.  Just as I was praying I received a text from Griff's speech therapist.  Her text to me, " Just saw my little man!! He is doing awesome!!"  Ever receive an encouraging message that comes at the perfect time?  I have...

I kept myself busy today picking up the perfect 1st day of school gifts.  I couldn't wait for the boys to get home to see their goodies.  I just knew that they would love them!

FINALLY 2:55 arrived.  I may have been the 2nd person in line waiting for my guy.  I had such a feeling of joy when I saw him walk out of the building.  I barely recognized my big boy!  Once in the car the first thing that he told me was that he saw Ms. Leah.  (his speech therapist)  He then followed that with "Mommy got a great day!"  So now I was grinning from ear to ear!  He told me that he made new friends, played on the playground, and had bread and milk for lunch.  He then asked if we could talk later.  My energizer bunny looked BEAT.  Griff was totally worn out and needed a little time to decompress.
 

1st day of school gifts waiting for the boys.

Griff was SO excited about Spiderman and his Spiderman book.  When I asked him yesterday what he wanted to be when he grew up he answered me, "Spiderman Mommy."  Keep dreaming BIG my boy...

2 new books.
Spiderman and Pete the Cat rocking in my school shoes.
My boys ADORE Pete the Cat and this book is precious.

I rewrapped the book for Roman to open.
I heart that he is hugging his Batman.

Roman's gift-
Batman and Batman book

Griff's first homework assignment.
Teacher's names followed by "I learned something and drew
with a green color at school today."

I am so very proud of my big boy.  He was so brave and faced the day with a smile and positive attitude.  I am so happy that today was the first of MANY happy school days...

Cohen Jacob 2 months

I will be totally honest.  Last month was a rough one.  I noticed you to be a little "fussy" the day that I wrote your 1 month update.  It was only one day so I didn't think much of it.  Well that one day was the beginning of a rough patch.  We had some really good days and also some really bad ones too.  You just didn't seem content. I pretty much held you your every waking moment.  Luckily MiMi was with us so I had an extra set of hands to help out with Griff and Roman.

About a week ago Daddy was holding you in the middle of an all out scream fest when he said "something just isn't right here."  At that point I immediately called the pharmacy to have your Zantac prescription filled.  Now you see, I had this script in my possession from your 1 week visit to see Dr. C.  I tried to have it filled but our insurance was being difficult so I just let it go.  I also really didn't want to needlessly give you medication.  I was on the verge of doing an elimination diet to see if dairy or other foods that I consume was upsetting your stomach until I gave you one dose of Zantac and...

        
Woke up to your  beautiful smiling face.  OH MY GOOENESS!  You were smiling and actually giggling.  You were finally happy and this moment brought me such joy!  It hurt to know that you had truly been in pain, but I was so happy that you had finally received some relief.

Since then we have still had some good and bad days, but I will say that the good defiantly outweighs the bad.  The bad is now moments rather than days.

You are growing so quickly!  Folks don't believe me when I tell them that you are only 8 weeks old.  You are quite tall and very strong.  You are pretty stingy with the smiles, but I melt every time you flash me your gummy grill.  You are typically happier in the morning so I take full advantage of your smiles, coos, and giggles.  Your dimple is more than adorable and your blue eyes are sure to be lady killers.

I love you more than you will ever know.  You bring joy to all of us.  Your brothers are still quite smitten.  Griff is very gentle with you.  Roman on the other hand...  I keep a constant eye on the two of you.  The other day I had you on the floor and he did some sort of "wrestling move" and rolled you on top of him saying, "I hold you baby!" Roman started calling you Buddy and I have a feeling it will stick.

Stat update:
6/13/12 birth weight- 9.2
6/16/12 left hospital- 8.7
6/20/12 1st dr appt- 9.0
7/12/12 1 month (home scale) 12.2

8/11/12 2 months (home scale) 14.8 

I'm not exactly sure how you have gained 2 pounds with the reflux and all of the spitting up?!?  Must be that heavy cream that you are drinking!

You eat about every 2 hours as if you had an alarm clock set.  You are already in a size 2 diaper.  I can't complain about your sleeping patterns.  I put you down for the night with your last feeding about 10pm.  You wake up anywhere between 3:30-6:30.  This morning you slept until 7:30.  Thank you for that.  I had the best night of sleep that I can remember for months.  Oh the little things in life!

Keep growing big and strong.  Continue to flash me your gummy smile and the world is yours.  I am so in love with you and I am proud to be your Momma.

All my love,
Mommy

Check out the length on this baby!
(size comparison shot to giraffe)

I love those tiny toes...

Found it!

Hilarious!
Welcome to our "real world!"

Reasons that I smile...

This evening I have been feeling an overwhelming sense of peace.

My life is slightly chaotic with a 4 year old, 2 year old, and a newborn.

My children each take turns throughout the day to make me coo-coo CRAZY.

I am often frazzled and have to remind myself by the minute, "slow to anger and rich in love."

With all of this said there is absolutely no other place that I would rather be.

My husband treats me like a queen and takes such good care of me.

My boys bring such joy to  my world.

And for that  I am one lucky girl...

I caught my boys in a moment on vacation watching Mickey Mouse.

My big boys were playing so well together.
At one point on vacation Kenton and I were both lounging
poolside while the bigs boys were playing in the pool and the
baby was sleeping.  Kenton looked at me and said,
"pinch me if I am dreaming.  Are we really relaxing
while on vacation?!?"

OMGoodness.... Can't get enough of this picture.
Makes me smile every time I look at it.

Danger! Danger! Trouble lurking in the background.

New party trick~ make "punny" faces for the camera

Each day the boys gathered all of the pillows on the floor
and jumped from the chair.
This brought on BIG belly laughs.

Hilarious.

Give this guy a lawnmower and he starts talking like a
trucker and develops quite the 'tude.

Griff was so excited the other night about the "fish" that he caught.
He went on and on about catching his first fish.
I just didn't have the heart to tell him that it was his bait.  :)

The boys were golfing and I was swinging the baby.
After they finished Griff ran up to tell me,
"Mommy we went golfing and Daddy is not very good."

The other day I saw Roman picking his nose.

Me- "What are you doing?"

Roman- "Pickin' nose."

Me- "What?!?"

Roman- "roggin'" (froggin")

Words that crack me up:

Roman:  pancakes- can cakes

Roman and Griffin:  back pack- pak pak

Griffin:  hotel- ho in tell

Griffin:  Chick-fil-a- Chick a lay

According to Griffin a place where you get a donut - donut house.  A place where you get pizza - pizza house.  I asked him where you get a hamburger expecting him to say a hamburger house.  His response?  Duh... Old McDonalds!

When we were leaving the French Quarter from our mini-vacation Griff started asking, "are we there yet?"  On our 20 minute trip home he continued to ask this question.  After we answered no 20 times he finally said, "you can't say no every time Mommy!"

Who teaches every kid to ask the question, "are we there yet" anyway?!?  I guess they all go to the same school...

The other morning I was standing outside of the boys bedroom while they were still in bed chatting.  I could hear Roman saying, "Grippin come and get in my bed."  Melt my heart!

As we were leaving the Aquarium Griff had a case of overstimulation over tired, not enough sleep major melt down while walking to the car.  He stopped in the middle of the grass and said, "why do we have to leave I just came here to dance."  Hard to be upset with a kid who had ants in his pants because he came here to dance! :)

I over heard Satch dealing with Roman wanting to pick up New Baby.  "Roman don't pick him up or sit on his face either."  :)

The boys woke up on Sunday morning (the day we were leaving for vacation)  We were still in bed and could hear them yelling from their beds, "Mommy, Daddy ready to go!"

Every time Roman approaches New Baby and says "hey Buddy" it makes me smile AND cringe.  Must keep a constant eye on those 2!  Speaking of- the other morning Co-Co was in his swing I turned to look at him and his tiny body was leaning forward.  I let out a yell and saved him from Roman who was trying to carry him.  

I was laying with Griff during quiet time.  He started calling me "Sleeping Judy."  I will take that as a compliment and assume that Sleeping Judy is Sleeping Beauty's older sister.  

Roman talks to "Joshua" all the time.  Kinda thinking that Joshua may be his imaginary friend.  

Griffin love

Dear Griff,

You are on my heart tonight.  I need for you to know how proud I am of you.  I hope that I tell you enough.  

You have such a kind heart and desire to please others.  You are so gentle with Cohen and are beginning to play really well with Roman.  You are the best big brother.  You are the oldest and have little eyes studying your ever move.  Teach the little ones well.

You will begin Pre-K4 at the big school next week.  I pray that you go into the school and be a light.  Keep your kind heart when you are exposed to the big world out there.  I am sad to say that it can be a very cruel place.

You ask me several times a day, "Mommy are you happy?"  The answer is yes I am.  You make me happy and I am so very proud to be your Momma.  I love you more then you will ever know.  Always know that, "you are a good boy and will do great things in this world!"

All my love,
Mommy

I received this sweet note on Griff's last day with Miss Deb.
This truly makes my heart sing...

Weekend in NOLA- Day 2

The boys woke up at the crack of dawn bright and early and were ready to go out and explore our city.

Actually it wasn't exactly bright out yet, but it sure was early!

Good morning NOLA.

I was having flash backs of Spring Break 1995.  

One kid was in a bed, another was on the floor, and the other was sleeping in a chair.  

Co-Co sleeping in his bed
on a chair pushed up to our bed.

Our first stop of the morning was The Doughnut House Cafe Du Monde.

Nothing like a little sugary goodness to kick start your day.

Oh how I love those sweet eyes.

Sorry Co-Co about the powdered sugar on your head. :)

Going, Going, GONE...

We then headed out for a ride down Canal Street on the street car.

Big FUN for little boys!

We jumped off the street car and went to the Aquarium.

Believe it or not this is the first time that the boys visited the Aquarium.

After 2 days of jam packed fun it was time to make the 20 minute trek home

We had a ball spending the night in a hotel and taking advantage of all of the things that our 

great city has to offer.

NOLA proud to call it home!

Before we got out of the parking lot