I'm back... again...

I'm so excited! I have my computer all decked out in the newest software update (Snow Leopard), I have a TON of hardrive space (212GB), a new backup system, and I am able to upload my pictures to MY computer instead of Kevin's computer so I have access to all my pictures all the time without depending on his computer. And I have the new version of iPhoto which has a sweet face recognition feature! I'm so excited can you tell! Why you ask? I'm going to start blogging again!! No, really! I am!

Do you know what my biggest reason is? I found an AWESOME easy way to make my blog into a book! Click here to check it out! I've always worried about losing my stories about Emma and Jackson. I'm so excited to be able to just print out my blog and have it in a story book. The first book I'm going to print out is going to be from my very first blog, Sunday, July 31st, 2005, to the end of 2006 (Friday, December 29th, 2006). It will be 118 pages, hardbound book, cool pink cover, for $60. My second book is going to be all of 2007. So, do you know what that means? I need to get caught up from my year off of blog making! I want to do a blog book every year! I'm just so excited. I figure if I can spend an hour on Facebook every night I can take 15 minutes of that hour and write a couple blog posts (a current one so I don't get behind and a old one to get caught up). That way it won't seem so unmanageable. Especially now that my computer is working great (thanks baby!)

So here goes!

Should I give up?

I'm annoyed with myself for not keeping my blog up and running. I've just spent the last 10 minutes going through older blog post and remembering things I've completely forgotten about Emma when she was just a baby and toddler. Now she is 4 and all grown up and I have hardly nothing about her or her brother for the last year! Booo!

The problem now is that my husband is telling me that the hard drive that stores all our pictures is failing so he unhooked it so that he can transfer the data off of it before it is completely lost. So I can't even down load what pictures I have on my camera! Booo! (Think Princess Bride when the witch is boooing Princess Buttercup in her dream!). So I think if I would have all my stuff working I could at least post a few pictures... maybe. I'm gonna have Kevin get a new hardrive soon, because I'm eager to get started again, no really, I am! So, I hope to see you soon!

Prayer

Last night this was Emma's prayer:

Dear God,
Please help mama have fun while she pays bills, be a good mama to me, and that she washes her hands everyday.
Amen


I just found it humorous. Oh, and by the way, I wash my hands more than once a day! =)

Long time no see...

Hello there! I know, I know. It's been forever since I've posted anything. I'm going to try to be better. Here's my problem, I hate the fact that I've missed about 5 months of my kids life by not posting. I want so bad to "catch up" but the farther I get behind the more overwhelming it gets. So, I just need to make up my mind to start from now and if I can I can post some pictures and videos from the last few months then I will. So here goes...

Biting

For those of you that have breastfed before you know there is a time when a baby gets their teeth and will think it's fun to bite your nipple. With Emma she did it about 3 times. I would stop breastfeeding, scold her, and then put her down on the floor. She would cry and acted like I had beaten her, but she learned! Emma only bit me a handful of times and that was it. Well, Jackson is a completely different baby. Jackson bit me one day and I scolded him and put him down, just like I did with Emma, he didn't seem phased by it. The next time he bit me I was in the car breastfeeding him so I couldn't really put him down, but I scolded him. Well, do you know what that little stinker did? He laughed! Hysterically. He thought it was so funny that I was scolding him. He laughed, can you believe it. I had a vision of him being 2 years old running through the house laughing with scissors in his hand with me chasing him saying "Come here Jackson, don't run!". I'm scared. I've tried scolding, putting him down, stopping the feeding, pinching his nose, spanking (yes, I know, but it didn't hurt, he has a soft fluffy diaper on and it was only two soft pats). So, I read online some tips because what I was doing wasn't working. Someone suggested that you pull the baby into your breast until they let go, basically you suffocate them with your breast. Nice huh? Well, I did it and it worked. The first time I did it I pulled him in until he started struggling and then I let him go. He gave this half hearted smile like "well, that was interesting, I don't think I liked it that much, but it was still fun ... a little." So the next several times he bit me I was consistent and pulled him closer. Needless to say, he eventually figured out that he didn't like that much, no more smiles after that first time. He was good for about a week. Just about the time I thought to myself that "great, I finally got him to stop biting", he started bitting again. Now it was time for desperate measures because he was biting harder and then when I pulled him in he would bit down harder instead of letting go! So I had to switch it up a bit. I would pull him in and scold him then I put him down on the ground away from me, on his stomach which he hated, and gave him two spanks on his bottom. After doing all that he actually cried, which was the first time since I started tryng to get him to stop. I only needed to do all this about 4 times before he figured it out that I didn't want him chewing on my nipples. Wheww, he's going to be a difficult one with discipline. Yippee.

You can't really tell here, but this is the first day I noticed Jackson's bottom two teeth, around 6 months old. This week he got his top teeth too. I'm glad that I got the biting thing under control now.

Last day of 29...

So here is a picture of the last day I was 29. =( Where has the time gone? I can't believe I'm 30! Oh, wait, what did you say? What am I wearing? That would be my hospital scrubs! Yeah, I didn't notice that my 30th birthday fell on a Sunday and I forgot to request off. So, needless to day I worked on my 30th birthday! Yuck!

Jackson sleeping and playing

Jackson fell asleep in his car seat while he was playing with his toys. It was so cute that he still had a hold of the toy.

Best Mama

To start I promise I'm going to update my blog soon with some pictures of Christmas. One of my resolutions this year is to be better about keeping up with my blog. I so enjoy doing it and it frustrates me that I get behind. Anyways, here is the sweetest story I just had to get it in tonight so that I don't forget it.

Emma was doing the "pee pee dance". Come on now, you all know what it looks like. A little shake here, a little wiggle there. Anyways, I made her go to the potty even though she professed that she didn't need to go, well, interestngly enough she didn't go, which just annoyed me. I told her to stop doing the pee pee dance if she didn't need to go potty and she told me "I was just getting comfortable". Well, that isn't the cute part. About 5 minutes after I had fussed at her she said, "mama, I love you." And I said, "you do? why?" She said, without hesitation, "because your the best mama in the whole wide world", and then she proceded to give me the best and longest hug ever. I of course teared up a little and squeezed her so hard, knowing that some day, some day soon, she is going to think I'm stupid and I don't know anything at all. Man, I love her.

Being Silly

We were getting gas and Kevin was being so silly. He had me laughing so hard before I thought to get my camera out. He will probably be embarrassed that I am posting this on my blog, but I love showing his silly side.

Mema and Papa Presents

Mema and Papa came over and brought the kids presents. Emma got a bike for Christmas. We've since exchanged it for a bigger bike that fits her better. She really likes it but she's not very good at it. We need some nice weather to practice. And as a Christmas present Emma got all her grandparents and great- grandparents a calendar of her art work!

Merry Christmas! 2008

Christmas is so much fun with kids. Emma got a kitchen and a real digital kids camera from Santa. Although she saw the kids nativity scene first and she played with it for 10 minutes before we convinced her to open her other presents. I'm glad she liked it. So last year I learned a lesson about Christmas, take all the toys out of packaging before Christmas morning, which I did this year and it was great!! Emma could play with her toys immediately and I didn't have to fight with packaging. Well, this year I've learned another lesson for next year, wrap the presents before Christmas Eve. I think Kevin and I crawled into bed at 3am! Uggg. Luckily our kids aren't old enough to wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas, I think we got up at 9am, which was great. Of course Jackson didn't care if he had presents or not. He just liked chewing on the bows and wrapping paper.

Christmas Eve '08

Getting ready for Santa. Reindeer food. Cookies and milk for Santa. Reading The Night Before Christmas, Cranky baby ready for bed.

Gaylord Texan Resort

The Gaylord does an amazing job at Christmas time. We only drove around looking at the lights but I hear that the inside is amazing. Next time we'll take the time to go inside.

Christmas at the Bass Pro Shop

The Bass Pro Shop does all sorts of fun things for the kids at Christmas. They even have free pictures with Santa. I know I had some professional pictures done but I wanted individual pictures of the kids with Santa, particularly Jackson since it is his first Christmas.

Cookie Making Take 2

My friend Amy invited us over to make cookies. Emma got into adding the sprinkles. Mmmm, sugar overload!

A Mothers Love

I absolutely love this photo! Jackson had fallen asleep on me after nursing. I was holding him and was thanking God for this moment of holding him. I was thinking about the future and sitting at Jackson's wedding and wanting to remember this very exact moment of holding him as a baby during his wedding. I know my self well enough that I would forget so I called for Kevin to take a picture. I'm so glad I did. My husband is such a talented photographer. Thank you baby!

Santa Picture 2008

This year I had the kids picture done with Santa at a photography studio. On one of my forums someone mentioned that they had gone and had their kids pictures done and loved them and the prices were reasonable. So I thought, what the heck, I'll go too. I did get more choices to choose from and I didn't have to stand in any long lines, which was nice. We didn't have much luck getting Jackson to smile but at least both of the kids are looking at the camera and they aren't crying.

Santa, I'm three..

Ummm, I'd like a camera that takes real pictures and a big kitchen.

At least this year she smiled.

Jackson: Ummm, who are you? Can I chew on that white ball?