I promise...

... to post some pictures soon. I'm just exhausted right now. Wyatt passed his cold onto Garett and mommy (daddy's not showing signs yet). Poor Garett just sounds horrible since the gunk just sits in his throat and nose. But he's still been smiling, especially at daddy, so that's good. I've got the runny nose, sore throat, and pressure in the sinuses. But we are still determined to take Spiderman out for a little bit tonight - at least one road in the community! You can't deny the kid his candy!!!

300, Sick, and Moving

300...
Hooray for Jake, he got a perfect 300 on his PT test this morning!! I'm so proud of him. He's been working hard to improve his score and perfect is about as high as he can go!! His age bracket is the toughest one that he will be in for awhile and he's in it until he turns 31. So keep up the good work, honey, you rock!!!!

Sick...
Wyatt went to the doctor yesterday due to a fever. When I checked it in the afternoon, it was 102.8 rectally. Poor thing! You could just see it in his eyes that he was sick. He opted to lay on the couch watching me workout instead of going outside to play with bubbles... obviously sick! He's much better today, no fever and less coughing. So I'm thinking he will be able to go trick or treating this Friday night!

Moving...
Ok, Mr. Garett! One reason you might cry at night is because you move so much in your crib that you knock your head up against the posts. Ouchie! I've started to lay Garett more at the bottom and left side of his crib since he is determined to push himself up and to the right. And that's on his back! When he gets tummy time, he kicks so much that he ends up off of the blanket and turning at least 180 degrees. If this is any inkling to what I have ahead once he starts crawling and walking, it's a good thing I'm getting back in shape - two boys running two different directions, God help me!!


Oh yeah, I'm doing pretty well, too!

Just a Movie for Fun!

Knock on Wood...

Garett slept from 9 pm to 6:40 am last night!!!! Wowzers!! :) He woke up sometime around 5 while Jake was up getting ready for PT but it was the cry like "I will go back to sleep, just need to get this fart out!" So I didn't bother him. But at 6:40, it was definitely the hungry cry and for good reason: he'd gotten about 9 hours! After the morning feeding, he went back to bed for three more hours, ate again, and has been up playing under his play gym.
Wyatt's cough has gotten much worse and he had quite the hot head this morning (somewhere around 100 degrees). So obviously no preschool today. But we got some medicine in him and I think he's doing better. Definitely still into everything and still a bit stubborn-headed (hmm, which parent does he get that from?!?) but he's pretty good at the cuddles right now.

A Gift from Garett

Thanks to a comment from my friend Emily, I was reminded to post the news about Garett sleeping through the night. YES, the shots and Tylenol worked!! :)

Garett went to bed around 9 and did not wake me up for a feeding until sometime after 5 a.m. on Saturday. Wowzers!! Let's just say my pad, bra, and shirt were soaked! Lucky for me, that good fortune continued last night as well. It is already midnight (I've been up finishing my seventh Masters class... hooray! 7 down, 3 to go) and no sign of him waking up... for now. Last night, he woke at 3 and cried for a little but it was the "I need to fart/poop" crying that resides and he falls back to sleep for a bit longer. So we just let him work it out on his own... plus I'm not good at pumping his legs for help like Jake and HE'S not getting up just for that. I wouldn't either but I've got the boobs so...

Well, there's the good news! Definitely a gift from Garett! I promise to be better with the camera this week and then I can post some new pics of the boys -- oh yeah, and my new 'do! I am off to bed... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Garett's Doctor Appt

Today, we took Garett for his two month check-up. Granted, he's eight weeks old but I guess in the medical world, that is not 2 months EXACTLY! Nov. 2 would be two months. We were told he might not get the shots today and we would have to come back but they went ahead with it. Little boy received two shots, one per leg, and then one oral for this virus that either comes from or causes diarrhea. I forget! He did really well. He turned as red as Rudolph's nose (a little early holiday spirit) and screamed for a second but then let out this adorable sad cry like, "Mommy, why?? WHY??" But the crying receeded within seconds.
As for his wieght, he is at 12.5 lbs. (75th percentile) and 23 inches (90th percentile). The doctor did a physical and said everything looked good. Doc was pretty impressed with the circumcision, too - boosting his own ego! He checked out the bump on the back/bottom of Garett's head and said it is most likely from the extra neck muscles that boys have. Explains his strong neck holding that round noggin up!
He's been pretty sleepy the rest of the day, thank you Tylenol. Wyatt slept through the night for the first time when he got all of his shots at two months. We'll see if the same good fortune falls on us this time around!! Mommy would be VERY appreciative! :)

Wyatt, the Performer

I've always thought that the silly boy on stage during a play or musical performance who's waving hi to mom, twirling around (not girly... just like he's bored and feels like doing what HE wants to do), singing loudly and probably off key, and just being that child that people notice would be ours.
Welp, my thoughts were RIGHT ON TARGET!!! Today, at my bible study, the little kiddos presented a song to all of us women. I had no idea this was happening (causing me to be very upset with myself for not having the camera in my purse) and had just finished nursing Garett in the choir room when I heard little voices in the back of the sanctuary. I came out and saw all of them sitting in the back pew, waiting to go up front. Wyatt suddenly notices me behind him and I worried that he would cause a scene and want to come stand by me. No, Anna, don't get too much of an ego that your son wants you that much!! :) He just turned in his seat and smiled at me! His eyes stayed locked on me for quite awhile and we just kept smiling, waving, and making faces at each other!
Then I took a seat and the kiddos headed to the front. Once they were up on stage (Wyatt in the back -- duh, he's an ogre like his mommy), a cute little girl said hi to her mom. WELL, Wyatt notices this and decides to start waving. Not to me at first but to the whole sanctuary. Then he starts adding in, "Hi mommy... mommy, hi. Hi!" I start to tear up, I'm laughing so hard! His teacher shared with us that they were going to sing a song but instead will just repeat the words, they hadn't had enough time to practice. Besides that, Wyatt only knows the tune to two songs: Thumbkin and Twinkle, Twinkle. As some of you know, Twinkle is his tune of choice for EVERYTHING!!!!
Anyhow, the teacher took a knee in front with the microphone and invited a shorter boy to the front to sit down. Wyatt took that as an invite for him to head to the front too and sit.... RIGHT in front of the microphone! Now, as for repeating, most of the kids did just that. My son repeated AFTER the teacher AND the other kiddos were done! AND right into the microphone!!!! After their second round, he returned to his spot in the back only to twirl around a bit, acting very uninterested in the rest of the production. At the end, they all filed out of the sanctuary. My wonderful little man stopped for a moment to hug his mommy... and, as he starts to walk away, realized he forgot his baby brother! He returned for a quick squeeze on Garett and then retreated to his classroom for a bit longer.
Wow!! Mommy has learned her lesson... NEVER EVER forget the camera!

**Luckily there was a woman attending today snapping pics of our bible study program and she snapped a few of Wyatt on request. So I will post those as soon as I get them! :)

I Okay, Mommy!

Ok, picture this! My son is jumping from couch to couch, having a blast! I let it keep going since he's having a blast (and, really, it's not that far of a jump... and he's a boy!). All of a sudden, something occurs in his mind that makes him think doing a somersault OFF of the couch is a good idea. Crash, boom, bang... my big boy lands hard on his butt bone! I rush to the rescue, worrying that the injury is a bad one. I'm rubbing his bum, hoping all will be okay, when Wyatt turns to me and shows me his tongue. Oh my! The fall has caused him to bite his tongue... not too bad, but bad enough that it's bleeding. No, I won't kiss that but he suddenly quits the tears when I offer him a piece of candy (not a normal parenting piece of mine but when it's needed, do it!).
Well, that evening (the previous story occurs around lunch time), I'm cooking dinner and notice that he is again jumping from couch to couch to floor. I say to my "leaping skyscrapers superhero" to be careful, please don't do this. He informs me, in a very grown-up, reassuring manner that "I OK, mommy. I won't bite my tongue! No."
All I have to say, besides the chuckle that comes over me each time I think of this, is I have an amazing little boy who can take on the world with such assurance that I look forward to seeing all that he can accomplish. No pain, no gain. I love you, Wyatt James!!!!

Videos on Youtube

Soooo... for the longest time now I've been trying to upload our Florida vacation video that my studdly husband put together. For some reason, it won't upload here - maybe it exceeds the size limit, I don't know. I went ahead and started a youtube acct. Our screen name is jawg4. Guess why??? :)
Anyhow, you can search for our video or just click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fmn5KyiO5U and it'll take you right to it. Hope you finally get to enjoy all of our pictures (ok, most of them... there are plenty more but that was enough for one video!)

Thanks, Jake, for putting it all together and choosing some good tunes to go along with it. I look forward to swimming in the ocean with you again soon, pookie! :)

Smiling Baby

I can't believe how quickly time is flying! Garett is getting bigger every day and showing more of a personality... and not just crabbiness! :) He has started to smile. It is so cute! I've been able to capture a few of them. It's so funny - it starts on one side and then moves across his face and finally ends with an open mouth! At first, it was just gas but now he's responding to our smiles. Wyatt is trying soooo hard to make Garett smile at his big brother. Soon, my child, soon!

The other day, Garett rolled over too. Okay, so it was a fluke. But we still put it in his memory calendar so we remember it. I had laid him on his tummy but one arm was still under him. With all his kicking mixed with some crabbiness, he managed to roll over. I was shocked!

Garett is starting to do pretty well at night time. Sometimes we put him down at the same time as Wyatt -- 8 o' clock. But then he usually is up around midnight for another feeding. If he stays up with us, then he will sleep till about 4, eat, and go back down till about 7. I'm feeling like I finally have some more energy. But I do enjoy a nap every other day or so just to recharge.

Brothers and Bath Time!

The boys took their first bath together the other night. Of course, it was heavily chaperoned and didn't last very long with very little water in the bottom of the tub. I think Wyatt enjoyed it more than Garett for now!

Semi-Homemade Cooking with Anna Christine

Some of you may have heard of the Food Network show, "Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee". I love it!!! She makes some yummy goodies that are simple and fast. I've made a few things from her shows already. But the other day, I became a semi-homemade pro! While we were in Florida, we had high hopes of going to Cinnabon - we've found that many air force installations seem to have Cinnabon in their shopping area. Unfortunately, Tyndall let us down. So I got the idea of making them at home. I made candied pecans (we ate them by the handfuls!) to put on top of a Pillsbury cinnamon roll along with a drizzle of caramel - Jake and I prefer that version of the cinnamon roll. It was a hit!! Sooo tasty and the caramel and pecans really made it taste like the real thing. For those of you who don't know this, I started a blog for recipes. I'm going to put this one up there for you if you ever want to try it at home. You'll be glad you did!

Movin' and a Grovin'

Garett seems to be showing some signs of stubborn-headedness! If he doesn't want to stay in one place, he won't!! When we lay him on his belly just for some good ol' tummy time, if he's not liking it, don't expect him to be in the same place where you left him! I know this sounds crazy since he's only 1 1/2 months old. But he kicks his feet so much, it finally scoots him around. The picture below is proof! He started in the middle of the blanket and started fussing. By the time he'd stopped fussing and fell asleep, this is where he was. Silly little crabber! :)

~~Pic will be put up later... can't find the cord to attach to computer!! D'oh!

What a Trip!

For the past few days, we had fun in the sun down in Florida! We stayed in lodging on Tyndal AFB and enjoyed trips to Panama City Beach and Mexico Beach. Tyndal has a private beach so we used that a few times. You have to walk about 1/2 a mile down a walkway to get there but we didn't complain about the exercise... plus, it was all worth it when we came over the hill and saw the sun shining on the ocean! We saw a few crabs, fish, and sting rays. Some guys were fishing off the shore and were catching tons of fish (don't know what kind for sure). The beach had beautiful white sand and nice calm waters for Wyatt to wade in. Garett even touched the water with his little toes but let his crabbiness shine through - so he returned to the safety of the blanket under the umbrella!

We can see how Panama City Beach is a hot spot for Spring Breakers! Lots to do down there. We're hoping to go down sometime without the boys and play around -- they had some awesome putt-putt/go cart places (or we'll just wait till they are older and can join us). Mexico Beach was the opposite way and we went there one afternoon for some swimming. We found a public pier that would be great to crab off of - maybe next time! The town was a beautiful, little quaint town -- some really cute little homes on the beach.

We decided to check out the local restaurants. One night, we went to an oyster bar (the parking lot was nothing but old oyster shells!). The seafood was wonderful... I can't say the same for the oysters but I ate 4 or 5 of them! I preferred the alligator and key lime pie! Our last night there, we went to a pizza joint called the Red Elephant. That was some mighty fine pizza and dessert - elephant ears!! We also found a nice breakfast joint where the biscuits and gravy were only $2.45 for a full order and that was a lot of food! Wow... talk about reasonable!

Wyatt really enjoyed the beach - swimming, playing with the frisbee and football, and of course playing in the sand! Garett really seemed to enjoy all of his naps. And Jake and I really enjoyed our family time together! Our first family vacation was a hit! Can't wait to do it again. Enjoy our video!

~~Having troubles with movie... will try again soon! Here's just some pics to show you a bit of our trip. Check back soon for the movie.

Garett as the Leaning Tower of Pisa

The other night, Jake proved to me how Garett can sit up on his own! Ha - with the help of a shoe and a soft chair. But within seconds, our sitting up boy becomes tilted, falling falling falling down!!!!! For a second, he tries to hold on to the blanket but the weight of his head is too much and he falls! :)

So, maybe we were having a bit too much fun at our baby's expense! But he seemed to enjoy the adventure as well!

Here in a few minutes, the boys and I are headed to post to pick up daddy and head to the coast. We are so excited for a long weekend in the sun, changing the scenery, and playing hard with the family! It will be fun and we will make sure to takes lots of pictures for you all. Have a great Columbus Day!

Desserts Galore!

After all my cooking in the kitchen lately of sweets, I am delighted to say I have laid off of the "hard stuff"! I now stick to the strawberry shortcake, chocolate mouse, boston creme pie, lemon creme pie, and even some raspberry cheesecake! Luckily, I'm talking about those Yoplait Light yogurts!!! :) Jake usually has yogurt with his breakfast on his PT mornings when he eats at work. So I picked him up some on my latest grocery shopping trip. But I saw all these other ones and, turns out, they're better for you than the ones I usually buy him - less fat, calories, and more protein. Huh - who would have guessed?!?! So I can continue to indulge myself in a smart way!

I applied for a position today on post - Curriculum Training Specialist (I think that's the title). It pays real well and I'm directly qualified. I'd be working with adults more than kiddos but it's still in the educational setting. I'm excited and nervous. Either way, I'm looking forward to getting back to work and into a schedule again.

Wyatt went to school today but not willingly. He's been going to time-out a lot lately. Jake and I have been talking about this a lot since we don't want to raise a kid who causes problems but is he being redirected first? I'm going to talk to his room teacher today and see what's going on. My little guy LOVED going to school up until the last few days. So we'll figure this out and make changes as necessary.

Garett slept for six hours last night. I felt so rested when he woke me up at 2 for a feeding. I actually remember walking to his room from our bed! :) The evenings have been going pretty tough though - lots of crying, screaming. The doc said he may be a little colicy. Atleast it seems that the more he screams in the evening, the more he sleeps at night. There's always a silver lining! :)

We leave for Florida tomorrow night. Jake gets Friday and Monday off so we are spending the long weekend at the beach. With our military connection, we were able to reserve a HOUSE on Tyndall AFB for only $52/night. And there's a private beach there as well. We're hoping to do some crabbing and, of course, build sand castles! I'm not overly enthused about the idea of a swimsuit on right now (I'm talking about me, not Jake!) but maybe we will be the only ones on the beach. Either way, I'm looking forward to getting out of the house for a little bit and changing up the scenery.

Baking for Tori and the Soldier's Show

A few weeks ago, we received a note in our mailbox asking us to help raise money for Tori, a young baby girl the same age as Garett, who is having some major health issues. The family has many bills to pay right now and hospital costs are adding up. We sold or gave away most of our extra stuff right before the move so I decided to help out by donating baked goods. On Friday, I was a cooking queen - and got an upset stomach from it with all the sweets! I made Damn Good Lemon Pies, Puppy Chow, White Trash popcorn balls, and Drop Brickle Cookies. I had bought supplies to also make rice krispies and No Bake cookies but ran out of steam! The bake/yard sale went really well on Saturday, bringing in over $1,100!!

On Saturday night, our family went to Post to watch the Soldier's Show, a broadway-type presentation put on by Fort Benning's MWR (morale, welfare, and recreation). They sing lots of current songs with dancing. It lasted about two hours. It was fun to watch Wyatt dance, showing off his signature move - spin, spin, spin, fall down! What I enjoyed the most though was seeing a field FULL of Infantry Soldiers taking in the show, Domino's Pizza, and funnel cakes. Many of them looked fresh out of high school all decked out in their ACU's. They've been out in the field for about 11 weeks now, training. They have one week left. As we were leaving, we saw them get in formation. We stayed in our car with the windows down, listening to them march by with the drill sergeants leading the chants. I asked Jake if the Drill SGT gets to create his own call since some of them were pretty funny - "Five days left till I'm out of this place... Then I won't have to see your ugly face!" Watching them march back to the barracks, I told Jake how awesome that was and how much I appreciate those boys (yes, all boys/males - no girls/females in the Infanty). They are training to go overseas and fight our enemies. I wish everyone could have seen what we saw last night and then be grateful for every single person who has made a commitment to serving our country whether they agree with everything or not. Thank you, Soldiers!

Kiddos

Here's some more photos of our boys. It's fun to see what Wyatt chooses to put on for school. I helped him dress this day since it was a bit chilly outside. That might not make sense since we live in Alabama but when the temp drops, the humidity in the air makes it feel chilly - that's what Jake tells me atleast! Wyatt thought it necessary to put on his ski hat too!

Garett had a bath in the bath tub the other day after Wyatt's bath. Daddy did a great job cleaning him up! And if you look real close in this other picture, you can see how his tongue is up, touching the roof of his mouth. This is his signature move! I don't know why he does it, but whenever he's awake looking around and his mouth is open, there's a good chance his tongue is flipped up! :)

My Little Picasso

Three days a week, Wyatt goes to childcare/preschool. He loves it! So on Tuesday and Thursday, I have him at home with me and Garett. Thursdays, we go to a bible study on post and Wyatt gets to play with other kids there. Yesterday, I went to Wal-Mart and saw finger paints and a preschool activity book so I picked them up to give us something to do on our Tuesdays. We've also been doing bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and lots of cooking together!

I read somewhere an idea to reuse paper bags from the grocery store as art paper. So once we got home, I chopped up a bag and gave him room for some artistic creativity! He didn't know what to do at first so I shoved his hands in it. He got the idea real fast after that.

Here's some of his work. Both pieces are being sold, proceeds going to a local charity. There will be an art show at the local daycare next Friday night with snacks and hobnobbing with the artist. He has put his signature on them and they are truly one of a kind!! :)

PS - Mom, I'm joking about the art show and selling the paintings! They're priceless so I think I'll hold on to them!!

Spiderman

For those of you that don't know, our son is obsessed with a few things: balls, cars, butt keekees, his brother, and Spiderman. Recently, we received a package in the mail from my mom. Lo and behold, it was a Spiderman outfit!! Wyatt freaked out and couldn't wait to put it on. I asked him if he could climb walls now. You should have seen his efforts! :)

So here's a few pics of our very own Man Man (what Spiderman is called by a three year old!). He'll most likely be him for Halloween too. If we all get dressed up, Wyatt will be Spiderman, Anna will be Wonder Woman, Jake will be the Hulk, and Garett will be ??? I forget! I told Jake it's too bad we don't do a Batman theme... Jake and Wyatt can be Batman and Robin, I'll be Cat Woman, and Garett can be the Joker - not the scary Heath Ledger Joker, the Jack Nicholson one! Or he could be the Penguin! :)

This picture is of Wyatt, aka Man Man, watching Spiderman 2 on TV. It's been playing the last couple of nights and he is obsessed with it!

Fun at the Fair

This weekend, the fair was in town. We decided to pay the ridiculous cost to go to it - funnel cake was calling our name (I know, I know... we could make it for pennies at home but it's just not the same). As we were walking around, it occurs to us that there are very few rides Wyatt can ride based on height. We finally found a couple for him so we paid for some tickets (again, ridiculously expensive!) and let him choose which ones to ride. He rode a motorcycle merry-go-round, a dragon rollercoaster, a truck merry-go-round, and a clown train. He loved the motorcycle one and wouldn't stop honking the horn! The dragon one started off alright but he was the only kid on the ride... it made us said that he was alone. He sat in the very front and seemed to be okay at first but by the third or fourth time around, his smile had faded and you could read this look on his face like "Hey mister, why haven't you stopped this ride yet???" He actually started to cry right as it was stopping. I never saw a kid move so fast to LEAVE the ride area than Wyatt did! :) The other two rides went fine. I enjoyed some freshly squeezed lemonade. Actually, I don't know if it was really squeezed or just powder with two lemon halves at the bottom of the cup but it was still refreshing. Jake got his funnel cake!!! And Wyatt really wanted to play one of those carnival games so we gave in. He ended up doing the one where you throw the dart at a balloon. Well, our son wanted to balloon more than the toy he won so the man gave him a balloon too! What a dork... got to love him!! :)

Entry fees to local fair: $14

Tickets for carnival rides with questionable set-up: $10

One fresh-squeezed/powder lemonade drink: $5

One tasty funnel cake: $6

One stuffed animal and balloon: $2

Watching my son's beaming smile as he enjoys the rides: PRICELESS!!!

PS - Garett had a blast too! All the walking around made for a WONDERFUL nap in the stroller. No complaints!