The house of brotherly love

Have I said how much I love the gym?

Joe is off fishing today, and the boys and I have had a great morning! Pancakes for breakfast (plus jonah also had 2 clementines and a granola bar), then to the gym. First we spent about 30 minutes chasing balls in the indoor field, then had a yogurt, banana, and mango smoothie, then the boys played in the child center while I had a cup of tea, then Trey and I came to the pool for his swim lesson. It's a nice day so after this we are headed to the big playground. An active morning leads to worn out boys and a nice long nap. :)

Jonah's new words

Cheese (a boy of my own heart)

Water = wah wah

Ashes = AAAAA sha (from ring around the rosie)

Trey = TEY!!!!!!!

How sweet! I have turn down service at Dad and Anne's!

Jonah's new word!

Ummmmm.  (gum)

Wish me luck!

I have a really big presentation at work tomorrow.  I've been working on this thing for the past 2 months - including many days after the kids were in bed and at least a few hours each weekend.  I will be ready to get this over with and have work go back to normal!  :)

Out of touch

I've been out of touch, and will continue to be for the rest of this week.  I took the boys to Austin for 4 days and now I am in Boston in all day meetings (literally all day - 8am - 5pm). 

On a good note some very exciting things are happening at work!  More details later...

Here's a pic that Joe took to tide you over.

he certainly is honest!

I'm in Austin with the boys this weekend, and Trey and I are staying at the hotel with Mimi.  Gigi has Jonah at the house, along with Aunt Mari, Ryan, and Erin.  Tonight Trey and I were having dinner with Mimi at the hotel, and of course Trey ate just about 1 morsel of food and was ready to go back to the room.  Mimi said "I'm not finished yet.  I eat kindof slow."  Trey replied "and you walk really slow because you are an old woman." 

Check me out!

I attempted some hand stamped silver jewelry tonight. It didn't turn out too bad for my first try!

A good shiner

Tonight in karate, all the kids were running around, and Trey took a hard head to the eye. I'm thinking this shiner will be immortalized at our Picture People appointment on Saturday. He looks like a child thug.

Candy!!!

Trey came home with a bag full of Valentine's Day candy, and from the looks of it, he loved the fun dip and Jonah drooled a bunch. 

Joe's pic of the day

Mr. Grumpy!

This is just about the coolest thing ever

Look how amazing this little kid's nook is!  Tons of storage, happy colors, an area to snuggle up and read a book by a window, or move the cushion and it is a homework table.  I'm so jealous. 

Right there!

This morning we were playing hide and go seek with Trey, and Jonah wanted to show me where he was hiding. So his little body toddled to where Trey was hiding and he said "there!" I said "where?" And Jonah yelled "right there!" I wouldn't have understood his words out of context, but he definitely said it.

Jonah - 18 months old

Jonah, oh Jonah. How can I describe you to our readers? I'll try...

Let's see - words to describe Jonah: daredevil, insatiable appetite, water baby, music lover, fake crier, champion baller. He has the most adorable baby laugh in the world...sometimes we even get a little snort thrown in there, which is all the more funny.

Jonah's favorite trick right now is to climb up on the sofa or leather chair, sit on the back, and slide face forward off. Keep in mind these are 3 feet off the ground. Sometimes he hands on his feet, sometimes on his hands and knees, but he laughs and climbs back up.

He LOVES the bath. And LOVES playing with any kid of ball. He's just learned to put his finger up his nose, and he does it absentmindedly.

Just like Forrest Gump, when Jonah is going somewhere, HE IS RUNNING! Every step is a run. Sometimes he doesn't turn fast enough and bounces off the wall when going around a corner.

He's a small guy with cotton white hair. And a huge belly (seems to run in the family). At his 18 month checkup he weighed 21 lbs 12 oz (10th percentile) and was 32 in. tall (40th percentile). His most common expression is the blank stare, and his whole face changes when he smiles. I love his goofy smile.

The words are starting to emerge. Slowly. He has ball covered. And sortof basketball (bah bah ball). I've heard something close to all done (ahhh dah!), again (ah gah), i did it (uh duh uh). He definitely knows what the words are. When he's trying to say something he has the right number of syllables.

He's not a pleasure all the time, of course. He's a champion whiner, although since he learned the sign for help he is better. He can fake cry better than any Hollywood actress - tears - the whole works. The when you give him what he wants he laughs. I have to say he's very convincing, but we've caught onto his game.

We have a very sweet nightime routine. He does the sign for night-night, then I remind him to go kiss daddy. He goes over and offers his face up to Joe. Then we go upstairs and read a few books. He has his favorites. Sometimes he thinks it is playtime and he runs and hides from me in the barn in his room. When books are done, I get him excited to "go see what is waiting for him in his bed." I pick up a binkie and say "Mommy's binkie!" He laughs, says nah-nah nah-nah (mommy's binkie), and grabs the binkie. We turn out the light, then he lays his head down on my shoulder. I ask what song I should sing and he says nah nah. That means twinkle. I since twinkle twinkle little star and 1 or 2 more classics (I count 1 round of If I had a hammer as 1 song). In between each song he pops his head up and claps. Lately he's been giggling through my lullabies. I hope he hasn't figured out that I'm off key. Then I give lots of kisses and put him into the crib. I hate leaving his room. I love our nighttime routine.

Later I hear him signing twinkle twinkle little star in the baby monitor, all words being "uh."

I love this story

one day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. he was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

about that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. he noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family. “you aren’t going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman to the fisherman. “you should be working rather than lying on the beach!”

the fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, “and what will my reward be?” “well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer. “and then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling. the businessman replied, “you will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!” “and then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again. the businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “you can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!” he said.

“and then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman. the businessman was getting angry. “don’t you understand? you can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!” once again the fisherman asked, “and then what will my reward be?” the businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! you can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. you won’t have a care in the world!”

the fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “and what do you think i’m doing right now?”

Flashback Friday

1 year ago...

Tiny Tales hits the big time at Baby Gap, I cuddle with Trey, we welcome a new family member, and Jonah is 7 months old.

2 years ago...

Trey loves fire trucks, and foul language, and gets a little too inquisitive.

3 years ago...

Trey starts talking and talking. Keep in mind that he was 12 months old. Apparently a hint of what was to come with our little motormouth.

Help me identify careers!

I have 12 years of project management experience, but I don't want to manage technology projects forever.  I'm hitting a wall in trying to figure out what other careers might be a good fit.  I am really good at planning things out, keeping projects on track, dealing with crisis, partnering with the right people to get things done, figuring stuff out.  I like project management, I just would love to use my experience towards something more meaningful and fun.  Any ideas?  I'd love to hear your off the wall ideas! 

Swim lessons!

phone skills

Have you ever heard a phone conversation between just-turned-4 and almost 4 year old cousins? OMG it is hysterical! Cousin Erin called Trey yesterday. This is what I heard from Trey's side.

Hello?
Who is this?
Hi erin how are you?
Yea.
Yea.
I'm 4. How old are you?
Yea I'm 4 now. Are you 4? I'm 4.
(He's shouting by the way)
Here mom she wants to talk to you.

(I get on the phone)
Hi erin! How was school today?
Did you learn anything new?
Oh you colored! What colors did you pick?

(Trey tells me he wants to talk again so I hand the phone back to him.)

Hi erin!
What color did you pick?
Did you pick yellow?
Purple?
Pink?
Blue?
Green?
Red?
Ok. Bye. I love you Erin.