birthday party extravaganza...

Months ago, I was looking for a fun theme for CJ's party that wasn't character driven. And let's just say the boy choices were slim. Then I stumbled upon a picture of a candy buffet, and I knew that's what I wanted to do. A few weeks later, my friend Stephanie asked if I wanted to do CJ and Anna Grace's party together since they had so many friends in common. Split the work?? No brainer. But give up my theme, I wasn't so sure. And Stephanie prefaced the offer with the statement that she was pretty set on a theme. But guess what she wanted to do too...CANDY, and lots of it! Prefect!

We planned, decorated and I think we might have bought Columbus, GA out of candy. Friends are still telling us they have candy left over from the party (that was over a month ago!). Here is the buffet. Doesn't it make you want to eat your weight in candy?

And it that wasn't enough, Stephanie did a great job with the table decorations...

And here are some of the other decorations...

And party favors. We figured if we were going to rot kids' teeth out with candy, the least we could do is give them a toothbrush. teeheehee...

CJ and Anna Grace were a hoot. They ate and ate candy to their little heart's content. Stephanie and I were both of the attitude that since it was their birthday party, then they could, for this one day, eat whatever junk they wanted! Whenever CJ would get himself candy, he always got one for AG too. Such a gentleman already...

As we were heading out to decorate, I heard Scott's mom say, I see a little blond girl. The only little blond girls I know are my nieces from Florida. Scott's brother and his family drove up just for the day. Such a fun surprise! Here is CJ, Anna Grace and Jayden all looking with longing at the pool...

So we let them go for it! Anna Grace was content to sit on the side, until...

she decided she would jump to Scott, but only because he was holding CJ. Stephanie and I both agreed that it was a good thing we were going to Tennessee for 2 weeks after the party...these two were (and are) a little codependent!

If you kiddo doesn't like the water, get WATER WINGS!!! They are awesome! Before them CJ wouldn't let go of Scott, but when them he is fearless.

And don't worry, Will had lots of fun too.

And here are (most) of our friends. It was such a fun day to swim, eat and then pig out of candy!

After we swam, we all headed inside for real food (sorry, no pictures of that). And then cupcakes! I knew CJ had already eaten a lot of candy, when the prospect of a cupcake didn't thrill him.

He was a little unsure of what to do with the candle, but after watching Anna Grace...

he figured it out. :)

They were sparker candles, but once they started sparking, neither one of them liked it at all...

And just in case you were worried Will wasn't getting any attention, during all of this he got lots and lots of love from his Aunt Balenda. :)

Here he is showing her his new trick. It's really cute until he does it while you are feeding him squash...or applesauce...or carrots...

After all the food it was time to open presents. Aren't they cute in their matching chairs. :) I was a little worried they would go after each other's bags, but they did great at looking, but not taking.

I loved that CJ opened every card. It was so sweet. He would open the cards before the presents. Such a good little guy.

For those of y'all who got to be there with us, thanks for celebrating with us. For those of y'all who were out of town or lived too far away to make it, we missed you. But for all of you, thanks for loving CJ.

family pt...

Sorry for the lapse in posting... again. Our internet is CRAZY. Some pages were loading, others were not. Unfortunately blogger was one of the "not." Today it's working, for now at least.

So here is a quick update for now. Last Friday was family PT (physical training) day for Scott's Squadron. It was fun to see all the strollers and cute kiddos. CJ actually ran about 1/4 a mile. It was adorable. Notice his mini-me outfit. He really liked that he was dressed like daddy. And he keeps asking to "go daddy work."

6 months old...

I love my boys. Since the day I met Scott, I knew I would marry him. Really, it's true.

The moment I saw CJ, it was love at first sight. Even though I was exhausted after 60+ hours of labor, I couldn't wait to get my hands on him. The moment I did, I never wanted to let him go.

I wondered if the same would be true for Will; my heart was so full, I wondered if there would be room for more. Crazy, I know. I loved him in a abstract way in my belly, but I wondered how it would be when he was really here. I actually heard Will before I saw him. He came out making his presence known, and the sweet sound of his tiny (but loud) screams melted my heart in a way for which I wasn't ready. Every day I melt again when I see him.

I won't lie and tell you the last six months have been easy. Some moments are picture perfect. Others, I feel like Nero watching Rome burn. But even though we have our ups and downs, I wouldn't change one moment.

I love this little man so much that sometimes I feel like my heart might explode just from looking at him. He smiles and I feel like I might melt into a puddle. There are so many things that make Will, Will. He's simply a gift.

I love his smile. Even when I am at my worst, when he smiles that big toothless smile at me, I can't help but feel better. He has an endless supply of tickle spots...legs, knees, under his chin, belly. You name it, it's ticklish, and oh the belly laughs that come with it. He has also started laughing because he thinks things are funny, mostly at his brother. Will loves to watch CJ. The other day CJ ran circles around us for literally 8 minutes and Will only took his eyes off him when CJ would run behind us. It was hilarious.

While we were in Tennessee last week, Will had his half birthday. I thought nothing would be better than to take his pictures on a quit his great, great grandmother made. It's mostly made of fabric from scraps of clothes his great grandmother made for his grandmother and great aunt. Priceless...

And here is my handsome little man...

And this guy LOVES...

HIS...

FEET!

what cj's been up to...

I can't believe my little man is TWO! My mom just pointed out that is half-way to four, and that made me even sadder about how BIG he is getting. I confess, I was dreading the "terrible twos," but they really haven't been that bad so far.

Yes, he constantly challenges boundaries. But, that is his way of asking if we are going to keep him safe.

Yes, he never stops talking. But, after years of wondering what he is thinking it is fun to hear it (until it gets incessant and I want to bang my head into a wall!). No really, it is usually great. I love his exclamations. "Wow" when my mom gave him a ice cream sandwich. "Oh gosh, CJ fall" when he fell today. I love his questions (usually). "Daddy is?" and when you ask him he will tell you, "Daddy at work." I love when he can really tell you what he wants. "No go old gym. Go A Dace (Anna Grace) gym" when we recently changed gyms and I had to stop by the old one to pick up my metro pass. Or, "Will Baby ride on CJ" when he wanted Will to ride on his back while he crawled. It is funny to hear his commentary. Yesterday he was playing on the playground and said, "Chase Lilly!" ""Run Fast, Run Fast" as he tried to catch her."Mommy chase CJ please." "No ride that car...hot. Move car over there" as he moved a toy car into the shade to cool it off. It never stops, and every day he says things that just make me laugh... there is a really funny one at the end (a teaser to keep you reading!).

And with being two come a strong will. But like I have said before, I look at that as his future ability to stand for good and not fall victim to things that can easily distract him. I'm not saying it is all roses when we are working at shaping that will, but parenting is work. It is hard to do the day in, day out work that evolves into shaping character and helping a little person find his or her voice in the world. But, there is no vacation, big house, or car that would be worth me letting anyone else have that role in CJ and Will's life while I worked. But I digress.

Having a two year old is actually fun... most of the time! I love how he is growing, learning and becoming a real person. So here are some of the things CJ has been up to lately...

CJ's bestie is still Anna Grace (more on their super fun party in a later post). They really are a great example of what friends should be. They love each other, are always excited to see one another, but fight, get over it, fight some more and then get over it and keep right on playing and loving on one another. It is such a blessing to have her, and her whole family in our lives. The other day AG came over for a play date because they were both about to drive their mommies crazy begging to play with each other. When she got there, all the toys were put away. This literally took two minutes...

While I was fixing their lunch it suddenly got quiet. And any mama with little one's will tell you, it's not noisy play that makes you worry, it's the silence that send up alarm bells. I looked into the living room and didn't see them. I looked in the office and didn't see them. They weren't in the kitchen with me and the door to the back of the house was closed. So I panic. I check all the doors and they are still locked. I really panic. And then I see this... LOVE IT!

Earlier I mentioned CJ has developed quite a strong will. One of the things we are currently fighting is CJ wanting to sleep in our bed. We aren't giving in, but one night, he snuck out of his bed and this is what we found...

Two has also brought lots more boo-boos at our house. CJ is a go-getter and while he is really coordinated for his age, he's gotten some doosies! This was a double bandaid day!

CJ is also really good at sharing (for a two year old that is!). When we play with friends I try to make an effort to work with him on taking turns, but many times, he is just a good sharer (is that really a word?) If you notice in this picture, he is splitting his play dough into three parts... CJ's, some for mommy and some for Will baby. So sweet.

This is our new fun game. Don't judge my pants or the fact that we are all in pjs. Some days there is just too much fun to be had to change clothes. :) This game basically consists of CJ grabbing onto my legs and me shaking him around until he falls off. It's a great workout, and distracts him sometimes while I am feeding Will and he needs a little attention. And in case that didn't resonate, yes, we play this game while I am feeding Will. It's amazing what you can learn to do at the same time. :)

And look who is SO BIG that they can use a big boy cup. He calls cups without lids, "big cups."

And CJ's favorite place to eat is 100% Waffle House. Don't hate on the awful waffle... it's awesome. If you ask CJ what he eats there he will tell you, "sup" or translated, syrup. We just got family pictures taken, and when CJ told our photographer he liked the Waffle House, her eyes lit up with an idea. Yes, we did take part of our family pictures at the Waffle House, but like Jessica said, "black and white makes everything more classy." We haven't gotten them back yet, but I promise to share. Here is CJ enjoying his syrup and waffles.

And here is a big brag on my big boy and another funny CJism. Notice his two pacifiers or nooks as we call them? He's a mess.

But he totally understands the concept of one, and then one and one more is two. This is the first time he told us, "one nook (holding out the blue one), one nook (holding out the yellow one), two nooks (holding them both out)." If you can read this then you obviously understand one-to-one correspondence so the fact that this is amazing for a two year old probably passes you by unless you are a math teacher. Usually kids don't get this until they are three or older. I see genuis in his future!

But enough bragging, here is a funny. The day before CJ's birthday party we were driving to the gym talking about what we were going to do that day. I told him, we were going to the gym, going to the store, eating lunch with daddy, and then taking a nap. But after the nap Gran would be there and then after that Nannie and Papa would be there. Without missing a beat he held up two little fingers and did a happy little wiggle in his car seat while chanting "two nannies, two nannies." I laughed so hard I woke Will up.

If you made it this far, know that now party planning, buying a new car (more on that later), and traveling (more on that later too!) are all almost done, I promise to be a better blogger. That way you can read a few short posts insead of a novel like this one!

everybody eats at nanny's house...

We are visiting my mom and nanny. The first time Scott's mom came to visit, she was sick from eating so much that she couldn't go to church Sunday morning. The summers we lived here while my mom was in school, ice cream and cake were a typical snack. There are always at least two desserts to choose from and every meal has a meat, bread and two or three veggies.

For those of you who don't know, Nanny broke her hip and is in rehab (she's doing great by the way). But don't worry, even though she isn't at the house to feed us, we are ALL still eating well!

Most importantly Will got to eat his first "real" food. He dined on some applesauce. I was going to wait until we got back home, but this little guy was hungry! The applesauce was a little tart for now, and he is enjoying his rice cereal more now. Can you tell he likes eating?

And there are always goodies to eat at Nanny's house. CJ and Nanny share a common passion for honey buns or "hun buns" as CJ calls them. We had pot pie for dinner the other night, and CJ wasn't a huge fan at first. But, when Gran got out the "hun buns" to take one to Nanny, CJ suddenly had incentive to eat. He was all ready for a bath with the exception of taking off his diaper, but when he was willing to sit back down and eat some pot pie to get a "hun bun."

what will's been up to...

It's been a little crazy around our house lately. Sorry I haven't been great about updating the blog. This post will be all about Will, but stay tuned for a catch up post about CJ, a post about CJ's fun birthday party and Will's 6 month pictures I will take next week.

First off, Will is now a bottle baby. :( Turns out, he is way too concerned with what CJ is doing to face me while he eats. For awhile, I pumped. I was a pain. But we made it work. Long story short, after my pumped milk sat for more that two hours, it started to taste soapy. So, one sad night, here is what I put down the drain... 50+ bags full... He is doing well with the bottle. He is still on the little side, but growing consistently on that curve, so we aren't worried.

We all play "look" a lot. We have an big window in our office and can see down the street. CJ will go in there and look, but he likes to have us with him. He will say, "Mommy look. Will baby look. Connor baby girl look." And we spend lots of time talking about what we see. Will really likes it because he can get a good look at Connor and he can stand up and lean against the glass and look around. Pretty much, if CJ is doing it, Will is ok doing it too.

Will is also really starting to play. He has ideas about what he wants to play with too. He really likes CJ's green truck! While CJ is awake, Will has to take turns with it, but while CJ is napping, Will gets to play with the truck as long as he wants. When I push the truck against one of the chairs Will can even lean against it and play without me holding him up.

And the biggest development for Will is that he has outgrown his cradle in our room. The night we found him like this, we decided the next day he was moving out of our room and into the crib in the boys room. I thought them sharing a room was going to be hard, but so far it hasn't been too bad. The only glitch is during CJ's nap. We are still figuring that one out, but it will work out in time.

Like I always say about him though, the one thing that remains consistent is that he is soooo happy. CJ kept trying to give Will his pacifier when Will was fine, and I would tell him, Will didn't need it, he was happy. Now when Will is smiling and playing, CJ says, "Will happ." He kicks his feet and talks while he plays on the floor and when you talk to him me smiles so big I can't imagine how his mouth could open any further.

Oh how I love this little guy. I just look at him and melt.