He's Back!

Aubie made his grand appearance back in our front yard yesterday afternoon. This year we invited the neighbors, had Auburn rice Krispy treats, and made it a big redneck deal :) The kids had a blast even though it was SO humid after the rain!!! Aubie has already been turned on this morning and blinds are up in Will's room so he can look at it whenever he wants. We are SO happy football season is here!!

I am SUCH a good wife....sporting a "gift" from my husband! Will was SO proud that his mama had an Auburn jersey. This is my life now....surrounded my three boys who are (and will be) die hard Auburn fans...might as well join in on the fun!

Big Boy Haircut

 Alex received his first legit hair cut last Friday. He did great. I wouldn't say he was a fan, but a sucker, paci, and iPhone kept him distracted at least for the girl to be able to do what she needed to do. We didn't get very much cut off, but it definitely made a difference!

The Big Day...

I have been dreading today since May 25th (my last work day). While I was anticipating all of the fun I would have with my boys over the summer, I was also very aware that come August, Kiki would be once again into retirement, and Alex was off to school! In case you need a reminder of Will's transition to school, you can go here, here, here, here, and here. In a nutshell, it wasn't pretty. I couldn't imagine my baby having to go through what Will did. Nor did I think I could go through that again. Today was the big day....the verdict....we survived!
I can't believe Will is starting his third year at "school." Look at how much he has changed in two years...                                                            August 2010

 August 2012

My sister in law has taken backpack pictures of the kids on their first day of school for as long as I can remember and I thought it was a fun tradition to do with my boys. So I snapped a few pics of my boys this mornings getting ready for their first day in their new classes!

Sweet boys ready to go!

 Alex has no clue what is going on...he was just excited about his back pack :)

 Are we actually going somewhere?? Or just parading around the driveway with our backpacks on..??!!

 Will was so precious and encouraging this morning....I think he helped me more than Alex...ha!

 I'm not so sure about this Mom...

 "It will be okay Alex. School is fun and if you are sad and cry I will come hug you and give you a kiss." -Will to Alex in the backseat on the way to school this morning...melt my heart!

 This backpack is bigger than me!!

When I dropped Alex off, he didn't cry! He did reach for me once after his teacher had taken him and looked a little teary, so I gave him one more big hug and off he went to the rug to play. I called to check in on him about 10 and they said he had just finished snack and was playing with his new friends. I picked both boys up about 2:45. I was SO happy to grab Alex and squeeze him....and to find him tear free. When I peeked in the window before opening the door, he was sitting at the table waiting for his snack. His paci was in his mouth going 90 to nothing and he had a tight grip on his lovey. His teacher said, "he sure does love his lovey. We couldn't get it away from him today!" :) Yes...he does. He probably clung to it because it was the only familiar part of his day!! He didn't nap...I expected that. I imagine it will take a few weeks for him to get used to the whole nap mat on a cot deal...he is used to being comfy cozy in his crib. Overall, I would say today was a million times better than Will's first day. I don't know if maybe because it was just I had prepared myself for the worst or if I just knew what to expect...Tomorrow will probably be rough. Alex will know when we enter his classroom that I am leaving. I am preparing myself for tears. I hope I am pleasantly surprised!! Here's to hoping each day is better than the last!

First Catch

Will was desperately wanting a bug net around Easter. He received one in his basket and pretty much up until now he has just used it to collect miscellaneous things around the house. That is until last Friday. John and Will were in the backyard playing when all of a sudden I heard a very excited three year old shouting, "Mama, Mama, Come LOOK!!!" John had helped him catch a frog in his net that was on our fence. He was so proud....and I was so proud he was actually using his net as it was intended :) Quickly after these pics, we released Froggy back into the wild...

Goodbye Twos....Hello Threes....

 It is hard to believe that Will is finishing up his second year at "school." For half of the first year, I wasn't sure he/I was going to make it. Now, he loves it and asks to go....even on the days I tell him he gets to stay home and play with me and Alex :) He has made precious friends there. We were blessed with great teachers again this year that loved on Will and helped him grow. He is super excited to have Ms. Jona (as in this Jona) for his teacher next year. I cannot believe that we are halfway done. Will only has 2 more years there and then he will start kindergarten. I know it will be here in a blink! Today is officially his last day since he isn't going to school tomorrow, but last week was their end of the year party. The pictures are not the greatest....my camera is broken. I have called around and the only answer I get is that I have to send it off. It costs $229 just to send it off. That may not even fix the problem. If anyone knows anyone locally that repairs Nikons, please email me! I am just getting an error message saying to release the shutter again.

 Little brother came to the party too :)

 Sweet, sweet teachers!

Botta Getta....Will's Rendition

Are you ready, Mama?
Count off
1, 2, 3
Botta Getta, Botta Getta
Botta Getta, Bah
Sis Toom Rah
Weagle, Weagle
WAR EAGLE
Kick em in the big butt blue (my favorite part....if you don't know....the line is "kick em in the butt big blue)

Had to get it down for posterity sake. He started chanting this last week after John had picked him up from school one day. John has 2 shakers in the back of his car and anytime he picks Will up from school they do Auburn cheers (with shakers) all the way home. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall (or the car next to them)??!! Anyways, last week Will informed me that it was okay to say butt as long as you were singing Botta Getta. I asked him how he came up with that? His reply...Daddy said so.

14 Months Today!

I can't believe that I am actually posting on the actual day.....normally I mark these month milestones at least a week late! Little man is changing every single day. He has "grown up" right before our eyes since his first birthday. Today he wore khaki shorts and a t-shirt and he looked even older than he normally does....back to bubbles/jon jons we go tomorrow :)

Alex started walking on July 9th. He had taken steps obviously before that, but on this day he made it about half way across the room. I would say by July 12th he was full blown walking. I love toddlers strutting the "new" walk. My mom says he reminds her of a spider monkey, the way he walks kind of with his hands in the air. Will unfortunately took advantage of his "wobblyness" and stiff armed him a few times. Maybe that is how he learned pretty quickly that he needed to get the walking business down, and fast :)

A few things we hope to remember about Alex at this stage:
-If you grin at him with your nose squinched, he will give you the cutest, nose scrunched, toothy grin you have ever seen. And he knows he is cute. Every time he sees himself in the mirror, he gives himself the same smile :)
-Just over the past few weeks he has really shown interest in books. Before, he just pulled them off shelves or threw them over his shoulder. Now, he will carefully make a selection and walk over to you and hand it to you and then turn around and wait for you to plop him in your lap. And if you don't stop whatever you are doing immediately to read to him, he lets you know loud and clear that he is there and waiting. His favorites right now are Brown Bear, Polar Bear (basically same as Brown Bear just with sounds instead of sights), Elmo Says (this one cracks him up), Moo Baa La La La (one of my all time favs).
-He still gets the hiccups if he starts laughing really hard.
-He LOVES Will and wants to be right where he is, doing exactly what he is doing. Will has been so great to share and involve Alex.

-If he hears the words milk or snack, he drops whatever he is doing and his paci drops out of his mouth.
-He loves his lovey. Like wants to take it everywhere. After dropping it in Target,  and me almost having a panic attack until it was recovered, we don't take it in stores anymore. We call him Linus sometimes because he will just walk randomly through the house, lovey in tow. When I put it in his crib he will just go stand by the crib and reach until I get it back out.
-He isn't saying anything right now. He has said Mama and Dada before, but currently is using no words. Awesome. He does like to yell random sounds!

-He still hasn't had an official hair cut. I would have never let Will's hair get so long, but I just can't bring myself to cut it yet. I know he will look even bigger once those sweet curls are gone.

-He is a much pickier eater than Will was at this stage. I think it is safe to say that textures freak him out. His favorite foods at the moment are yogurt, grilled cheese, pb&j, waffles, most any fruit, peas, corn, any kind of cracker, Apple Cinnamon Chex, Cheerios, Baby Goldfish......He loves snack food and would probably prefer to snack all day rather than eat meals.

-He is mesmerized by Praise Baby DVDs.

 -He busted his lip last week. It bled...and bled....and bled. Why do mouth injuries bleed so much? Scared me to death. I wiggled all his teeth, but it was only a little cut on his lip. It was back to normal by the end of the next day! BOYS!

 My baby starts daycare on Monday. I'm not even going to talk about it. That is another post for another day. For now, I am savoring each sweet moment with my precious boys. Summer is a gift and one I am trying to be super grateful for instead of wallowing in the fact that it is almost over.