Learning New Skills

James has been taking swim lessons 2x/week for 6 weeks now. He was SO scared to go to his 1st lesson. But after that lesson, he couldn't wait to go back! He refuses to put his head under water for more than a couple of seconds. But today the instructor discovered James has a VERY strong doggy paddle and it was the 1st time he swam without ANY assistance from the instructor!!! He swam several times across the pool!!! I'm thrilled with his sudden progress! And James is SO proud. He kept asking me on the way home, "how did I do THAT?!?....was there magic inside of me?" We have two more weeks in this session. We may have to sign up for another session to keep it up!!! :) Here's a video.

Yesterday, Jason had a short day so we picked James up from school and headed to the mall for some ice skating. I've only ice skated one time in my life. Jason a few times. The boys have never been. Jack fell early on and was intimidated to try again. But once he tried again, he enjoyed himself and became more confident. James loved it! Again, he felt so proud!

What's New...

Jude now has two little teeth! I'm already missing his purely gummy mouth...and this is a first step to toddler-hood, already!!! Still no solids for him. I'm kind of enjoying the simplicity of just breast milk right now. But, our big guy is getting more and more interested in food, so it won't be long before we cave to solids. We took a few 5 month old pics:












Jude loves his diaper changes. He celebrates a bare butt by kicking his legs, smiling, and wiggling around. It's the cutest! Though he's not sitting on his own yet, he is doing really well sitting with support.
We still don't have an assignment yet, but expect to hear something any day now. I have compared waiting to hear on an assignment as expecting a baby in the 40th week of pregnancy. You never know when it'll come and the wait gets more and more excruciating as each day comes and goes.
One of the possibilities for us is to stay here in Montgomery. Jason would become an instructor of the program he is currently a student of. Just incase that happens, I had Jack tested for the academic magnet school here for next year. Acceptance is based on good grades and good conduct. Students at Forest Avenue Magnet School are taught a grade level above their grade level. I know this school would be a good fit for Jack. I've heard GREAT things about the school. Some even claim it's the best elementary school in AL!
We found out yesterday that Jack got accepted!!! So, we'll see if he'll get to attend next year or not once we get our assignment.




Jack is so obsessed with Jude still. I hope he always is so good with Jude.
James! Oh, my spirited James! Our house is never quite during James' waking hours. He LOVES to talk. When we drive to school, he always says, "Can we talk about (fill-in-the-blank)?" He loves singing too. The song he sings most is the National Anthem! They learned it in school and I hear him singing it while playing all of the time. He also sings adorable little church songs from school. Some are songs I sang when I was little and am reminded of them as he sings them.




Jason and I are good. We're enjoying these boys, but have realized we lack time for each other. We're going to make an attempt to find a babysitter here so we can have time together. We need it.
Until next time....

2011 Photobook...DONE!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly photo books offer a variety of layouts and cover options to choose from.

Pictures!!!

Jude's 1st Mardi Gras! He was sad because daddy wasn't putting him on his shoulders!!!


This picture is of the boys writing a "love" letter to a girl....the SAME girl! Jack received a letter from his 'girlfriend,' Emma. In it, she asked if Jack likes Star Wars (because she does, she said). When James heard Jack read that, his eyes lit up and he said, "I want to write a letter to Emma too!"


Jack is showing Jude Angry Birds on the iPad.


Our sweet boy sleeping with his monkey blanket (notice how long his Mohawk is).


Jack took this picture of me, James, and Jude.


Cousins meeting for the first time!!! Jude and Lucas are 4 months apart!


Jude was trying to taste his foot.


Playtime before swim lessons.


James is loving swim lessons. So much so, I have signed him up for another month of lessons!


Jude watching the boys play in the pool.


Mommy, can we go swim???


Hmmmm, I really need to learn how to crawl!


Jack and James choice of toy over the last year and a half or so has been LEGOS. Honestly, they spend 80% of playtime with LEGOS!


James can build following the instructions extremely well! It surprises me how well he can build!


Jack and James reading together. Jack's favorite chapter books lately are Roald Dahl books. James is doing great finding and reading "popcorn words" (sight words they are learning in school).


Jude wearing the tie dye shirt his big brothers made for him last summer.


My baby is getting so long!


We tried a little bit of solids last weekend. He gobbled it up! But the next day his booty was a little red, so we'll wait a week or two before trying again.


He was ready to feed himself! Although, he obviously needs some more practice with the spoon to mouth action! :)


I LOVE when babies grab their feet! It just is adorable to me. Jude is all about playing with his feet during diaper changes.


We spent some time out at the neighborhood field this afternoon. James brought his bow and arrows.


Who can shoot the farthest? James can, just about every time! Here's Jack practicing his shot.


Jude was checking out the weird looking 'hair' on the ground. His first time to lay on the ground outside.


See the Mohawk action he has going on? It's half as long as it was because I trimmed it a few days ago.


The big boys are both signed up for spring soccer. So, they wanted to practice before the season begins.


James' skills have improved since last year.





Jude wanted to play with the ball too.


The sun peeked out, so I snapped a few pics of Jude laying on the blanket.


My heart!


I love you little baby!

Life Is Good

Another sign that my little baby is getting closer to becoming a toddler!!! He got a TOOTH last Saturday! I still haven't introduced any solids yet. But I may try soon.

Jude has lost a ton of hair over the last few weeks. And the new hair coming in looks a lot like how James' hair looked when he was a baby (blonde). Most of his hair loss has been the hair on his sides...leaving him with a baby mohawk! And the hair on top is SOOO long...until last night, that is. We gave Jude his first haircut. We shortened his mohawk hair so that it doesn't resemble a comb-over anymore.

Homeschool is going well still. We enjoyed a long weekend over President's weekend. Jack is so easy to homeschool. I'm thankful for that. I think we're both enjoying it more than we thought we would!

Jude is settling into more of a day time schedule now with his naps. The last several days he's been taking a two hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon...with a catnap or two mixed in there. It's SO nice to have a bit more of a schedule with him. He's still rocking night time too! He sleeps around 12 hours with one feeding in the early morning hours. I'm thankful for his consistency with this, but I do look forward to when he skips that feeding all together. My other boys started skipping it around 7 months...so we still have some time to go.

James is great. Today when I picked him up from school, he was showing me a picture he drew of a person. He told me, "I didn't draw a butt because Mrs. Arrighi would freak out if I drew a butt." Not a single day goes by that he doesn't say something funny. He's full of spirit and silliness! He's a good kid.

Still waiting on our assignment. I'm getting a bit more anxious now. But I don't really care where it is...I just want to know where so we can start figuring out school stuff for the boys.

Life is good though. :)

Love This!

I always love finding clever ideas to help with organization or to make life a little more simple. I saw this idea the other day and it works GREAT for bags that you can pour from...for example, rice! I'm sure it would work for plastic bags of sugar, nuts, coconut, etc also.



Just cut the top off of an empty plastic drink container.


Slide the bag through the opening.


Fold the bag over the plastic top.


And seal with the lid! It's kind of cute too! :)