Random pictures and update

Junior is becoming quite the character these days.

• He knows how to make us laugh when we are trying to discipline him
• He growls at us when we discipline him
• He thinks he's hilarious and will laugh at himself regularly
• He's in the process of fine tuning his fork and spoon eating ability
• He loves to run, but is still a little stiff legged
• He shrugs his shoulders when asked a question he doesn't know the answer to
  
• He has a limited, fairly understandable vocabulary which include:
• mama
• dada
• water
• more
• moon
• cook
• flower
• bubble
• ball
• cheese
• cracker
• yeah
• no

The first 4-generation picture I've taken. (Great-Grandma, Nana, me and Junior)


Great One and Junior playing "I'm gonna get you"!


My little cheese ball.


Great One was out of town one weekend and Junior went to spend the night with Nana to keep her company. This is the tent Nana bought Junior to play in at their house.

Good-bye old friend :(

Two weeks ago Nana and Great One were over at our house to watch Junior for the night while Daddy and I went out. I realized when we got home after Junior was already asleep that I forgot to mention where Junior's pacifier was. I couldn't believe that he went to sleep without it! Nana told me that it wasn't the first time that had happened. She then went on to tell me of other times Junior was at their house and she couldn't find the pacifier and he went to sleep without it.

For a while we have just been giving his pacifier to him for naps/bedtime, in the car (to get him asleep), and church. He had recently started asking for it at those specific times (but not needing it), knowing that we would give it to him.

So because of these events we realized it was time to say good-bye to our old friend. Two weeks ago we put all 3 of them away. (We have had the same two since Junior was born and just bought one more a few months ago when the other two were worn down. Amazing!) The first two nights he did ask for it before bed and cry louder and longer before falling asleep, but now it's a thing of the past. Unfortunately for us he wakes up earlier now. :(


Dear Pacifier,
Thanks for everything! Over the past 20 months you've calmed my fears, put me to sleep, comforted me, kept me quiet in church, made my car rides more enjoyable, and fixed my "boo-boos". Thanks for always being there friend!
Love, Junior

Thanks a million!!!

My aunt and uncle over the past couple of years have graciously given us bags and bags full of clothes for Junior. They adopted an amazing 1 year old boy from Russia a few years ago and don't need the clothes anymore after he out grows them. This last bunch we received was more than a bunch...it was a truck load! Daddy met my uncle after work last night to collect the load and when he arrived home it took him at least two trips to get it all inside. There were so many clothes, shoes, toys, puzzles, and books. (One book was the "Potty Book for Boys". Good thing we had just purchased a potty a couple days before...now we are set!) But the most loved "toy" was one that Daddy and I had been talking about wanting to get Junior the next time we were out and about. We took pictures of it as soon as we got it and also today when we used it for lunch. Junior was brought inside the house last night kicking and screaming because he didn't want to leave it. We are so thankful to have such wonderful family!!! Thanks again "B" family!!!


Last night when the picnic table arrived


So excited!


Today...nice weather and a great picnic table


Cheeeeese!

Mr. Fix-it...well, not quite

Daddy's brother learned of our unfortunate loss during the storm last week. He offered his handyman skills and construction equipment from his job to lend us a hand in fixing it ourselves. After 4 hours, Daddy, his brother, his parents and a few nephews, exhausted all resources and gave up on the project to let the professionals finish it up. They realized after getting further into it there was more work involved than they anticipated. They were not expecting the fence posts to be placed so far in the ground and surrounded by concrete. I managed to get a few great pictures of everyone hard at work...well almost everyone.

The equipment arrives


Junior taking it for a spin


Junior showing off


Junior, his uncle S and Daddy preparing the hole to pull the post out


More help arrives...Mimi and Daddy at the first post, Junior's two cousins at the second post, uncle S at the last post and Grandad "supervising"!


One of four...They had the most progress on this one and it still wouldn't budge if you leaned into it.

A day with Junior's cousins

Two Friday's ago we had the pleasure of watching two of our nephews and our niece while their parents went out of town for a family wedding. We had an exciting and fun-filled day, not to mention exhausting. There are not that many pictures to post because bottom line, with 4 kids to watch, I had no time!!! Junior was not awake when they arrived in the wee morning hours so they all entered his room when we heard him waking up to welcome him to the day! He sure did not know what to think at first but eventually he warmed right up to them. He LOVED having them here for the day! He followed them everywhere imitating every move they made. He did have time to give them random hugs through out the day which was so cute!


C and M kneading their dough (we were making pizzas for dinner)


P kneading his dough


And also tasting it


M and C spreading the sauce over the dough


C and M's pizza before it headed to the oven...(it may look a little crazy, but it tasted better than the one I helped P make


Junior woke up from his nap a few minutes before we were done making ours so he helped put the pepperonis on which allowed him to be apart of the "chef picture". So here is the one P made with a little help from me and Junior.


Daddy was only home for a little while with all 4 kids and he has a look on his face like he had them all day...if only he knew!!! They are just all too CUTE!!!

I'm feeling very vulnerable

We, along with many others, had a rude awakening at 4am this morning. I was fast asleep getting my beauty rest when Daddy startles me awake as he flies out of bed saying something about a train and electricity. (Later he tells me the storm sounded like a train coming we had no electricity.) With my heart racing we ran to get Junior out of bed and sat in the bathroom waiting for Daddy to get flashlights and a radio. We had no idea what was coming. Within a few minutes it was over, our electricity came back on and Daddy went outside to survey the damage.


The next morning...




P.S. Happy Birthday Aunt A and "Unckie" J

I guess you can say we've been busy

Over the past month or so we have been enjoying the nice weather by:

• taking walks around the neighborhood (sometimes just Junior and Mommy and on the weekends Daddy joins us)
• going to the park to swing, slide or feed ducks (Junior insists that the ducks eat the bread out of his hand and refuses to throw it to them. Mommy's just glad they will not eat it out of his hand because she can not deal with Junior's fingers going missing!)
  
• standing outside our house waving to the cars, the big trucks and Junior's favorite, the big yellow buses

On the flip side, rainy days move us inside to the mundane sights and sounds that lead Mommy and Junior to erratic behaviors! Mommy only get this way because many days at this age Junior is impossible to please. Trips to the grocery store and the library for story time are great anecdotes.

As stated earlier, Junior is impossible to please these days which lead to many tantrums and many minutes in "time-out". We are really having to set limits now and stick to them to the best of our ability. It is difficult for us sometimes to know if he does not understand what we are saying or if he has great selective hearing. We think the second one! This behavior has also over the past couple of months led us to force Junior into the nursery during mass. Daddy and I were not getting our fair share of mass time. We realized that we needed to also see how he would adjust to being left somewhere he was uncomfortable since he will be starting a 2-year old preschool program once a week in September at our church. The first month was torture!!! I think more for us than Junior. He knew as soon as he saw the room that we were leaving him and start wailing! :( Of course we were paged to come get him sometime in the middle of mass every week because they never could calm him down. The nursery workers told us that he just stood in the corner by the door crying and would not let anyone hold him. :( But alas, this past weekend we were never paged and when we went to pick him up after mass he was holding a truck and waving to a little boy getting his diaper changed. It was one of the most precious sights we had seen. Junior's little personality has emerged recently and he is very compassionate and loving. (We are happy to report there has been some improvement this week with his behavior. Most of the time we think it just depends what mood he is in.)

Easter 2008

Junior was busy the past couple of weeks with 4 Easter egg hunts. With each one he had a different technique. The first: leave the basket behind and run back and forth to it with eggs. The second: Make Mommy carry his basket and follow him. The third: He was all alone at our house so he had plenty of time to find one, open it, fit as much of the contents he could in his mouth and then find another. The fourth: take his basket with him because there were 6 other and older kids to compete with. We had a wonderful Easter weekend with family. Alleluia!!!


1st Easter Egg Hunt at our church


He always forgot to take his basket with him


Ready to start eating


2nd Easter Egg Hunt at my Grandparents


Going the long way to get the egg


Junior and mommy's cousin hunting for eggs




Easter morning!!! Too cold to hunt for eggs outside so we did it inside (#3)


Off to Easter morning mass we go


And Junior's 4th and last egg hunt at Daddy's parents' house


Counting them up


Junior's cousins (Yum! More candy!)

Snow in March...in Texas!!!

Well, believe it or not we had a major snow storm here a couple of days ago. (As major as you can get in Texas!) We had at least 6 inches in our area! When Junior walked around in it he sunk down to his knees. Needless to say he was not fond of that and whined almost the whole time we were outside.

The snow started coming down after Junior was down for the night so he was not able to enjoy it until the next morning. As I was getting Junior ready that morning, I realized that it would probably work out better if I ran my errands first and then came back to let him play outside. My plans were not the best. By the time we arrived back home half the snow had melted. There was however still plenty to sink into and make a "small" snowman. (I had never made one before, so no laughing!) The first picture below Daddy took before he went to work while we were still sleeping and before the sun had a chance at it. The rest were from after lunch before Junior's nap.

To top that all off, as of right now we are in the middle of another snow fall that is leaving us with just about 2 inches. Not nearly as much as the other day. However, this time it was falling after Junior's nap so we took advantage of the warm feeling you get when you stand outside and let the snow hit your face! Ahhh!



Stuck in the snow up to his knees...not too thrilled with it!


More interested in the melting snow coming down the rain gutters


Our "enormous" snowman...Daddy was not around to help :(


Snow #2...much colder that day


Junior and Mommy's footprints


Goodbye Junior and goodbye snow!!!

18 Months old

Junior's stats:
Weight - 25-1/2 lbs.
Height - 34-3/4 in.

Even though there were no shots at this appointment, as soon as we walked through the doors and Junior realized where he was, it was all downhill from there. I was able to calm him down for a moment while in the waiting room with some books and then we headed to the room and he couldn't even calmly sit on the table. He screamed through the measurements, the weight and all the questions the nurse had for me. The whole time he kept reaching for his clothes and saying "bye-bye" and "all done". Poor guy if only he knew that this was an easy checkup. He was finally calmed down once again and then the doctor appeared! At first Junior started into his wailing and then realized the doctor wasn't touching him but only talking to Mommy and asking her questions. Ok, Junior thought, maybe this was just a false alarm. But alas, it was time to put Junior on the dreaded table. Here we go again. Tears were streaming while he was poked and prodded. His least favorite part...the tongue depressor. When all was said and done, Junior was dressed, in my arms and giving the doctor "high fives" on the way out. Unfortunately the next trip will not be so lucky. There will be a shot involved with that one. :( He did receive a perfect bill of health though!