getting back to the gym

So Jack was a member of the gym here, but never used the membership. He has to do PT with his squadron 3 days a week on base, so his motivation to go to the gym in the afternoon is nill. We decided to switch the membership to my name. I am really excited about getting into a workout routine. I'd like to firm up and lose about 5 pounds! Today was my first day. Tre was at school so I put William in the childcare at the gym. I had been running on the treadmill for about 10 minutes when they came to get me because William was crying uncontrollably and wouldn't stop! DARN! I wonder if it's because it was the first time I left him by himself and not with his brother. He went to children's church on Sunday and did fine, but Tre was with him. I am going to try again in the morning and bring Tre along so we'll see how that goes! I hope it gets better soon. William starts preschool MWF in the fall and Tre won't be in his class! Tre NEVER had separation and, although sometimes I wished he did just for my own ego boost, I was very thankful that he didn't. I totally know how William feels though. I never had to do anything alone as a kid because I always had Becky. I never realized how much I used her as a crutch until I married Jack, moved away, and had to make friends by myself. It's a scary thing. My poor William!

Busy, Busy

So we had such a busy weekend with our dinner party on Friday, two birthday celebrations on Saturday, and church and the circus on Sunday.

Tre had fun at his friend, Ray's, party. They had one of those huge blow up waterslides. Tre went down once, ran straight to us and begged to get dressed and never looked back. HAHA! He mostly wanted the cake and ice cream. He was the loudest "Happy Birthday" singer and it was hilarious! We went to Frankie's after to BBQ and celebrate her 29th birthday. By the end of the day, William crashed and slept until 9am the next morning! Tre slept till 8 and that is really late for him, so we were happy.

We went to church yesterday for the first time in a LONG LONG time. We are going to make it a priority now. It was hard with such young kiddos, but Tre is reaching the age that I really want him to learn about God. Going to church brings nothing but good things, so we are excited about it. I don't think we will go back to the church we went too. They only had babysitting for the kids and I really want Tre to go to a Children's church. It'll be fun to find all the beautiful churches in New Orleans and find our place.

The circus was really fun. Long, but fun! The kids lasted longer than I thought. We got there at 4 to meet and greet with the animals. Next time, I think we will skip that part. It was kind of a bust! The circus started at 5 and Tre was begging to leave at 6:45. I didn't think that was soo bad. I was kind of ready too becuase William was having trouble staying still on my lap. We left right after intermission so who knows how much longer it would have gone. It was really cool though. Tre was the most fascinated by the popcorn!

I NOT FRIENDLY!

Yesterday we went to the grocery store and Jack ran into get something while we waited in the car. We had the windows rolled down and a man passed and Tre yelled, "HI!!!" in his sweetest voice. I told him that he was so friendly and his response was, "NO! I'm Tre!" I told him that he WAS Tre but he was friendly too! His response was, "NO! I NOT FRIENDLY! I TRE!!!" His insistence made me laugh!

We had our supper club last night and it went really really well. I made Shephard's pie, someone brought wings for an appetizer, someone brought a salad and another brought homeade cheesecake. It made it much easier to only have to make one thing! We played Pictionary after and that was really fun. The boys won, but they cheated! HAHAHA!

Tonight we have a birthday party that Tre is really excited to go to and then we are going to Frankie's for dinner to celebrate her birthday. It should be a fun day. Tomorrow we are going to my and the kids first circus. I can't wait to see Tre's reactions!

Fun family times!

Today was good. Tre cracks me up! I picked him up from school today and he was so excited. For a while there he had kinda dreaded going, but lately, he's been all excited. The teacher said she has seen some major changes in him since he's been back in Summer school. She said that over the school year he kinda went with the flow and blended in. He hated art and only wanted to play. Since he's been back, though, she said he is LOVING art and now the leader of the class. She said he's really come out of his shell! :)

I love Tuesday and Thursdays myself! Those are the days Tre goes to school and I get some time with William. It makes me see why I had my kids so close together. When William plays at home by himself he is so quiet you hardly know he is there!! It makes me realize that the first time I really worked with William one on one with puzzles and shape sorters and all that jazz was about 3 weeks ago when summer school started. That makes me feel sad for him, but I guess it's just so much harder to do that when you have two.

For dinner tonight I made baked chicken and roasted vegetables. I knew Tre would NOT like that, but o'well. He doesn't like anything. Our deal is to get him to say grace and at least sit at the table and talk to us for a bit. We did that and he said he was done and didn't have a bite. Jack, WIlliam and I finished up and I cleaned up dinner. Tre came into the kitchen and broke down in tears when he realized dinner was gone. Usually it wouldn't bother me that much since he normally comes in begging for something else, but this time he was begging for the chicken and vegetables, so I felt so bad for him! Poor guy was hungry. We took the left overs out and and he had a bite of chicken and then asked for ice cream. We told him he could have one scoop if he ate all the chicken (he doesn't normally like baked chicken, so it would have been a big deal). He ate it ALL! We couldn't believe it! Then he asked to go to the ice cream store, but we said the only way we would do that is if he ate the zucchini. HE DID! We couldn't believe it! Then I held out the squash, totally not expecting him to eat it, especially cause he knew that eating the zuchinni already got him a ticket to the ice cream store, but HE ATE THE SQUASH!!! He gagged, but still finished it! We were soooooo proud!

We took him to get ice cream before swimming lessons and he was soo happy. The first thing he told his teacher at swimming lessons was, "I ate dinner and I got ice cream!" If only she knew what a big deal it was that he actually ate!!!!

He is doing so well at swimming lessons. He is holding his breath and listening to his teachers so well. It is a blast to watch him! He's so funny. After he does his little lap, he'll come to us and say, "I DID A GOOD JOB MOMMY! I DID A GOOD JOB DADDY!" It's good to know he's humble too!

Lovin' New Orleans

Today is just a regular day, nothing special going on, but I am having a day where I am overwhelmed by how happy I am to be living in New Orleans. I spent a lot of the morning running errands and getting a few things done and it makes me realize it's the small things that make me like this place.

I have found so many places that I love. I love that I have found a great and affordable lawn man. I love that I have found a talented tailor to shorten all of my pants. I love that I have found a great hair stylist. I love that I have found a great preschool that Tre loves. I love that we have found an awesome place for Tre to take swimming lessons. I love our family dentist. I love the kids doctor! I love that we have found all these things here.

I love that there are so many things for the kids to do. We have the park, the Aquarium, the Insectarium, the Zoo, and the Children's Museum. It's a big enough city that we have fun things come like the circus! It's nice to have these options.

I am so thankful for all the friends I have made. I put together a Supper Club and 3other couples are coming over here for dinner tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. I also have my college friends here and get to go out with them once a month!

I love that my family is only a couple hours away. It's been awesome being able to go see them when Jack is out of town or just to go in for nothing or for a freinds wedding. It's been such a luxury.

I really hated living in Kingsville, and I realize that more now than ever. There wasn't much to do. I never found my niche there. Having gone through that experience it really makes me appreciate this one. I won't mind moving next time, I just hope we can find what we have found here!

I want my hat!

Tre has been pretend playing a lot more and it is so funny to watch. In this video, he was pretending to be Woody, from Toy Story, and asking for his hat. He used to just come up and ask me to help him find his hat, but, I must admit, it's much easier for me to help him find Woody's hat when he is asking me in his best Woody voice.

GO LSU!

Our living room was full of excitment yesterday as we watched LSU win the first game of the National Championship Series after 11 innings. It was very exciting. Before I took this video, Tre was chanting for LSU without us coaxing him! I was so proud. Of course, after I turned on the camera, he got a little camera shy, but you get the point! We are very proud of our tigers! GO LSU!

Swimming Lessons

Tre's been going to swimming lessons for a week now. He really likes it and begs to go, so that is good. Jack took him last week since I was out of commission and he said he never cried once. I have taken him twice now and he has cried both times, but not for long. He hates when they make him swim on his stomach with his head under water. He really likes to float on his back and makes sure to tell me what a good job he did afterward!

Father's day

I wasn't sure we were going to be able to celebrate Father's day today since I've been kinda out of commission, but I woke up this morning and looked semi-human and decided that I could give Jack a little special treatment. I treated him to sleeping in and breakfast, and then when he woke up we decided to take a last minute trip to Lafayette. We played in the pool all day long, which Tre LOVED, and I think my poison ivy enjoyed the salt water! After Tre and William got to play and eat with their cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and grandparents, we went to get ice cream and came home. It was a fun day trip and, I think, worth the drive to spend the day with the whole fam.

Funny enough, my poison ivy is looking so much better...in my opinion anyway. We went to Baskin Robbins, though, and I got a milkshake. I ordered it and the three workers looked at me, looked at each other and kind of smirked like, "who's going to make this girl's shake!?" I thought it was weird but didn't think anything of it. I just thought they didn't want to make a shake. I told Jack and my Brother-in-law and they just busted out laughing and reminded me what I looked like. Since it isn't hard to open my eyes and the itching isn't that bad, I almost forgot for a minute that I look like an Ogre. The workers were still staring at me, so I told them I had a bad case of poison ivy and they were all like, "OOOOOHH!!!" So then I knew for sure they thought I looked funny! If only they would have seen me the last few days they would understand why I felt so confident in my newest "ogre" look. Jack says if we are going to compare me today from the last couple of days, I look like Ms. America!

Tomorrow I am finally going to be able to take Tre to swimming lessons. Jack had to bring him all last week and it made me sad! I am going to take the camera and get some video to post on here.

Not much going on with William. He started teething again yesterday. I guess his eye teeth are next? I am not sure, but he's a mad man for ice or for anything to chew on!

poison Ivy update

So... today marks one week since I touched that darn poison ivy. I can open my eyes, but I still look like an ogre. My noise, eyes, and lower cheeks have humungous red spots that are raised and have red moley looking things poking out of them. I have never felt so ugly in my life. Okay, maybe I felt more ugly yesterday. I do see signs of improvement, but not much. Here's to hoping for tomorrow. The other problem is that it isn't just on my face. It's pretty much everywhere. I could really care less about those spots right now, I am more concerned about my face.

It's been really hard not to get really down about this. Thankfully, Jack has been great and hasn't complained a bit. He's taken the kids out to get them out of my hair (or rash), he's drawn me SEVERAL baths and set up the computer so I can watch shows while I soak, he's done dinner and grocery shopping and swimming lessons and everything else. I semi-laugh because I've been telling Jack for a while now that I need a break. This really wasn't what I had in mind. I was thinking more about a shopping trip or something. Ah well...at least I am getting rest.

We were supposed to go to see Fleetwood mac tonight, but now can't go. We are both so disappointed. :( I wish we could have found someone to buy our tickets, but we didn't. Poop!

Poison Ivy

So i have poison ivy EVERYWHERE! I knew exactly when I pulled it from the yard and came right in to wash my whole arms. Lo and behold, it still shows up! DARN IT! I used to be soooooooooo allergic to it as a kid, but haven't had it for years, so I guess I was hopeful I grew out of that allergy. WRONG! My left eye is swollen, it's all over the left side of my face and nose, I have it all over the left side of my abs, all up my left arm, all over the back of my neck and some on my left inner thigh! SHOOT YOURSELF! Thankfully, my best friend is a dermatologist and I got a steroid prescription. Jack is on his way to the drug store as I type this to get me some short term itch relief. I plan to take a long bath in oatmeal and pray that it looks slightly better tomorrow. Becky, my twin sister, had it couple months ago and both her eyes were swollen shut by day 3 (that's tomorrow for me) and it took a total of 5 weeks to go away! I'll die!!!

1st Baseball Game

We took the kids to their first baseball game. The team was the Zephyr's in New Orleans. Their mascot is the Nutria! GROSS! Anyway, it was sooo hot, but Tre had a blast. William did too, but it was past his bed time, so he was ready to go by the fifth inning. It was funny to see the kids respond to the heat. William sweat like Jack...BUCKETS! Tre stayed totally dry like me. :) In the end we decided to have Jack take Tre back just father and son because I don't think Tre really wanted to leave. William needs to be a little older to truly enjoy it and I certainly don't mind staying home in the air conditioner with him! Here is a video of Tre rooting for the home team!

Well, we survived Jack being gone for about a month. Whew! I can't say I am sad that it's over. The kids did well, though, and we stayed entertained with April, a wife of a guy Jack works with, and her two kiddos, Mason and Riley. They have become the best of friends and April and I get along great, and since our husbands are on the same schedule it works out perfectly. We're so happy Jack is back, though. We have a babysitter tonight to go on a "date night" so that should be fun for us.

I am attaching a video of William. He learned how to blow the train whistle about 30 seconds before this and he was really proud of himself. He is growing too fast, but is such a sweet boy!

Tre has started summer school and the teacher said he jumps at the chance to do art! That was a BIG surprise to me AND his teacher. All year, last year, he hated it, he was off for three weeks and then he went back and now loves it?! I am certainly not complaining! Anyway, school is until 2 so William and I are really enjoying some one on one time, and my house is enjoying it too since I have a little more time to clean it!

Well Baby Check ups!

Well, I took the kids to thier well baby check ups this morning and both were healthy. Tre was 39.5 inches and 31 pounds. He's 20% for weight and 90% for height. I asked the doc about his lack of eating and he said it was a stage and he'll grow out of it. I've talked to him about this before and said as long as he has his vitamins and drinks milk, he'll live! Now, Grandparents, you can rest from your worry. He's going to live.

William, surprisingly enough, was also in the 20% in weight! He looks chubbier to me and eats like a pig!!! Ah well...I just have skinnier kids. He was also almost 50% for height! I was so surprised too because our friends son is the same age as William and William TOWERS over him!

Jack's getting home from a 3 week trip today!!! YAY!!!! I survived!