September Update

Just wanted to take a minute and write out a short update of our lives. First, I'll start with US. Reuben finally took the plunge after a year or so of debating and switched jobs. It has been different than expected, but we're trying to hang in there. Too bad he doesn't get paid hourly bc we'd be millionaires, ha ha. Let's just say I am really used to going to bed about 2am now. Anyway, we're hoping things get better down the road. As far as real estate, the beginning half of the year went fairly well for me...now I am in the process of doing some marketing in hopes for some referrals. I could use one right now. It's my Realtor income that helps keep us afloat in tough times!

Jase as "Dash." We did a photoshoot for his bday invites in his costume.  He is so cute! 

Do you love this? This is one of his super silly dance moves! LOL

Jase: He started preschool on September 6th. He goes for 2.5 hours, twice a week. So far it has been awesome. He seems to love it and so do I! I love that he's finally around children his age (he loves friends) and learning as well. I also love having a mini break while he's gone...hee hee. It's nice because it allows me one on one time with Ian, which I rarely get these days. Jase is growing like a weed! He's grown at least 3 inches so far just this year! He's about a size xs/4 in boys (tops and pants) and size 11 in shoes! He loves riding his bike (he wants to learn without training wheels) with us on our walks. He is a very busy child and likes to have things to do, so I'm trying to plan out more things to do with him so that they actually get done. I did manage to take the boys to this place called "Kangaroo Zoo" yesterday. It's a warehouse filled with inflatables bouncy houses, slides, etc. He loves it! He was quite the sweaty mess by the time we left, hahaha. Ian liked it as well, but ended up just pushing my stroller around like a car. Jase is a smart little guy...always surprising me with the things he can do! It's ridiculous! Ha ha. He is still obsessed with keys, locks, cars (the real ones)...basically, anything mechanical. I taught him to memorize my cell number because I am paranoid he is going to run off one day and get lost. We're working on our address as well. He loves to sing songs with daddy at night before bedtime, and loves to make people laugh. He will "fake laugh" once the real laughter dies out, just to keep everyone laughing--what a goon! His favorite "game" to play is to have me or Reuben run and try to catch him and tickle him. He is such a funny little dude. Oh and I forgot something else! He is obsessed with fleece footed onesie pajamas. The kid will wear them all day long, everyday, if I let him! Even in the summer! His birthday is coming up, so a Halloween-themed costume party is in the works! And this year he actually has little friends that he can invite! Before it was always family and/or my friends. Heh heh. So that is exciting! The problem is I might have too many friends on the invite list! I haven't figured out how to tackle this just yet.

Ian, taken Aug 20th. This pic is kind of old. I've noticed I take a LOT less pics of the 2nd child than I did of the first. Probably because I am MUCH busier now, hahaha. I'm slackin'!

Ian playing at the beach. He was having so much fun. I still can't get over the blond curls!

Ian: He's almost 18 months old. I can't even believe it! I meant to get his pictures taken at a year old but didn't (lame) so I'm hoping to schedule a session sometime in the next week before his hair gets too long again! He started walking at 15 months and now walks pretty well, though sometimes has a hard time keeping his balance, so I call him my little drunk man! He also has been "talking" a bit more lately. Let's see what some of his words are...he tries to say "there it is,", mama, dada, bopbop (that's his nickname), ow, oh yeah, wow, tries to say "book" and "ball"....He points at EVERYTHING and goes "ooooooh." It's pretty darn cute. He also makes what we call the "stinky face" if you fuss at him about anything. He's definitely good at throwing little fits, too. If he doesn't get his way he usually starts wailing and throws himself back onto the floor. One of these days he is going to crack his head open. He still likes his nunu (binky) but just since last night I am trying to take them away. He slept fine without it and he's napping right now without it, too, so this is a good sign! Update on the binky--I took it away and he's been doing GREAT without it. I think I took it away just in time before he became a full blown addict! Ian definitely seems to be a little momma's boy right now. He is pretty much always RIGHT next to me--which can be either endearing or annoying, depending on my mood. I was supposed to bring Ian into the doctor for a well visit at 15 months but it was about then that Reuben changed jobs (along with insurance carriers) so I had to give up my fabulous pediatrician and I still haven't made an appointment with a new one. It's all a bit of a pain...plus he is sick right now and I don't want him getting any shots until he is all healed up--so hopefully I can get him into a doc soon enough and then we can get some more stats on him posted! I'm assuming he's about average for his height/weight, but we'll see. For now, I will keep running my fingers through his blonde curls and wishing he'd stay young forever. My little sweet one.

Latest Pictures by Jase

While I was going over stuff with the babysitter, Jase was running around with my camera taking pictures. Had to post them (oh man, I accidentally deleted some! Oh well, here's the few I have left)!

View from our front porch.

Wow, very artistic shot! Right??

Destruction left behind by a 3 year old and a 15 month old. Sigh.

You Won't Believe!

Yesterday Jase had the cutest little bout of pretend play. He grabbed the hose attachment on the vaccum and told me to come and help him put "gas" in the "car" with it. The car was our loveseat sofa. Gas tank was a plastic bowl. So I started helping him and he was making gulping sounds. When I started to wiggle the hose he said, "No mom! Don't move it or the gas will spill out!" Uh, ok. So then he asks me to come sit down next to him in the "car." He asked me for the keys and started up the engine. Vroom, vroom. I turned to him and said, "Jase, where are we going?" and he said, "Mom, I am taking you to the greatest restaurant you won't believe!" "Oh where??," I said. "Chopsticks!," he replied proudly. (Chopsticks is a newer Chinese place out by us that we've been to 2 or 3 times but it's been a few months since we've gone there). This whole pretend thing was cracking me up! He was so into it. So then we have to take off our seatbelts and get out of the car. He then has me walk over to a small child's picnic table which ends up being our table at the restaurant. We got our "menus" (plastic candy wrappers) and ordered our food. I got lo mein noodles and he got some kind of roll (LOL). We started pretend eating and I asked for a taste of his. "Sure mom! It tastes kind of spicy. And salty," he says. So funny! Then he makes a quick "call" to our waiter to let them know we are done and we are leaving. Bwhahahah! I had to post this bc it was so cute to see him that imaginative. He doesn't do things like this very often.

New Orleans, May 2011 trip!

Jase chillin' on the plane, watching a movie on the iPod

I haven't been back home to visit in just over 2 years. Last time I was there, I was able to see one of my dear high school friends (Maria) get married! Yay! Seems like I am never there long enough, and I cry my eyes out when I leave. Reuben had too much work going on, so I took myself and the boys, along with my mom (big help to me on the plane!) down for about 7.5 days. I had to make a deal with my mom to get her to stay that extra day bc she works full time and it is hard on her to leave. I wanted to stay more like 10 days, but I was terrified of flying alone with the boys. Jase ended up being really good on the plane, but Ian, as expected, was very restless and fussy. This is mostly due to the fact that I don't rock my babies to sleep, so they are not used to being held while falling asleep. Works great for when you are home, but not so great on a plane! Ha! My mom finally pinned Ian down and he yelled for about 2 minutes, then went out like a light. Hee hee. Problem solved. Anyway, I digress!

Jase swimming for the 1st time using floaties at Ashley's in-laws' pool. He would not get out of the pool! Ha!

I stayed with my sister, Ashley, who just had a baby boy 2 months prior, and my mom stayed with her cousin Rodney. She ran around and did her own thing, and so did I. However, we did meet up a few times to visit with my grammy, who fell and broke her hip last November (more on that later). We also met up to take the kids to Storyland (cute play area in New Orleans City Park that I actually played in as a child myself), Audubon Zoo, and once to meet up with my Grandpa Lucien (mother's dad), my Uncle Lucien (mom's brother) and Aunt Colleen and 2 of their kids for lunch. We also got stinkin' L-U-C-K-Y with the weather! The first 2 days were fairly warm (80 degrees and lots of humidity) but then cold front came through and the weather was more like 65! What! It was actually cool and I was wearing cardigans! Nuts! But I was happy about it except that we didn't really get to go swimming much due to the cold!

Me and my sister, Ashley (she favors her mom and I look more like our dad!)

Cousins Jazz & Jase at the rehab facility visiting Grammy

Jaxon and big sister, Jazz--visiting Grammy

I had the chance to meet up with my old high school buddies at Maria's house. She got us takeout from a place called "Zea's" and I'll never be the same! It was delicious! We had a good time hanging out (also flew by) and letting our kids play. I love that we are still good friends after all these years. I just feel so sad that I don't get to see them more often. Thank goodness for Facebook, bc that helps me keep tabs on them a little bit better than in the past!

Ian, Amiee, Laci & Maria (High School friends), Max

Overall it was a GREAT trip, except for the fact that Jase and his cousin Jazzmyn fought like cats and dogs. Oh my goodness. My sister and I were at our wits end with it all. They would purposefully tease and torment each other with a few shining moments of getting along...Oh and I forgot to mention it took about 2 full days to get Ian to adjust. He would not sleep well for naps at first and then just cry and cry. But after the 3rd day he was fine! Phew!

Ian playing on Aunt Ashley's porch

The other thing that is hard for me when I go back to Louisiana is trying to see everyone and do everything and fit it all in. It's nuts. I feel crazy. I cry a lot. I feel like I am hurting people's feelings all the time bc I can't see everyone when I am there (still have plenty of family in the area). My sister lives a good hour's drive from New Orleans (which is mainly where everyone is at except my dad, thank goodness), so it makes it more difficult with the drive time, traffic, and not to mention two 3 year olds (Jase and Jazzmyn), a 1 yr old (Ian), and her 2.5 month old baby (Jaxon). Coo-coo town!!!! I get so wrapped up with making everyone happy that I just break down. And my poor sister is like Amiee's Shuttle Service! It's like I just want a normal day where I can just chill and do nothing. Or have nothing scheduled to do. But then again, I do like seeing people and visiting! I think my main problem was that in order to prevent us from having the long drive into the city, I would schedule as much as I could with family/friends during the day and that is what made it tough. I felt rushed from thing to thing to thing, instead of being able to just relax and thoroughly enjoy my time. I will try to remember this for next time I come down. I will probably need to rent a car and stay for a month! LOL!

My mom with Ian in front of the Little Pigs' House at Storyland in City Park, NOLA

Jasey with one of the 3 Little Pigs at Storyland, hee hee

My sweetie niece with Snow White!

So I mentioned my grammy earlier in this post. She fell and broke her hip last Nov. and is 89 years old. Since then, she has been in and out of a rehab facility and the hospital. She'll be doing just fine, but then all of a sudden something will happen and she'll be whisked back to the hospital. Recently while at the rehab place, she fell AGAIN, which has hindered all the progress she had been making. It was so good to see her, but tough emotionally at the same time. I hated seeing her in that lonely rehab place. I hoped the staff was treating her well. I am really close to her and I have never seen her this weak and frail, wheelchair bound. The great thing is that she is still of sound mind, so you can still talk to her just like normal.  She had also never met Ian, so this was a big deal for me as well. Although she had a hard time seeing him due to her cataracts--so I held him up to her face really close, LOL, so she could get a good look at him :) I visited her as much as I could while I was there (she was also in the big city), so that was difficult as well with 4 children.

Hopefully learning some wisdom from his Great Grammy!

A couple days before we left she started complaining of not feeling well. Back to the hospital. My sister sat in the car with the children while mom and I went up. I was not prepared for the emotions that followed. She looked just miserable. I thought surely she was going to die that very night. I did. She was hard to understand bc she had an oxygen mask on due to not being able to breathe very well. Turns out she had pnemonia (sp?). I tried to find the words to say since I thought it was very likely that this would be the last time I'd see her on this earth, since who knows when I could come back? I think I sputtered out something about how much I love her, and I'm sorry she was feeling so badly, and I'm so glad I got to see her...then the tears came. I couldn't stop crying. Ugh. I left feeling just, well, sad. I left the day after that, and she was eating well, in good spirits, and had come through the whole sickness thing! What! I couldn't believe it. But my dad and sis tell me that she has been there many times, and always bounces right back! Guess the Good Lord isn't ready to take her just yet! I'm glad I got to see her and get some much needed pictures with her and also with my boys! I have so many more pictures to post...and some of the best shots are on my mom's camera and Ashley's camera! One day I will get them! Oh and I am missing pictures with so many people! What is wrong with my brain? Dad! Did we take any pictures with you??? OMG so dumb! Ha ha ha! 

Easter 2011

Jase & Ian with the Easter Bunny!

Check out Ian's face--this is the picture I took first, so I had just put him there, heh heh

We took the boys to both of their first official easter egg hunts. We (Reuben would like to point out that it was my fault we were late) missed the first one by a few seconds...so luckily the next town over was having theirs in just a few more minutes. We hopped (no pun intended!) into the car and drove over there asap! I learned quite a lot about community easter egg hunts (I have no memory of them from my childhood). There are like 5 billion people and children there. They have plenty of eggs that just sit in the grass (in plain view--for some reason I was thinking that these eggs would be a bit more hidden), they section off areas of the grass by  age groups which is nice (until you get the crazy parents that are running around picking up eggs FOR the kids that are old enough to pick up their own eggs, grrr), from the time they say "go" till all the eggs are picked up is literally about 60 seconds. No joke. You blink and it's over! But it's lots of fun and the Easter bunny was there. Ian was very wary of him, as was Jase. But at least I was able to snap a couple pics! 

The Loot!

 We had an interesting thing happen during the hunt. This place had a few golden eggs that contained $5. Before the hunt began, we spotted one and showed Jase where it was and told him to try and get it--but if he didn't that was ok, too. Good thing I said that because this one crazy mom RUNS over to the golden egg and literally hovers over it, yelling for her kid to come and get it. She got there like 2 seconds before Jase did (and was using her body to keep Jase away--the nerve!) and of course Jase totally loses it (bawling) bc that is the egg he wanted. Oh my goodness. I was recording at the time and can't post it bc my hubby said some non-kid friendly words! LOL. I felt so bad for Jasey and I was irritated that that lady would do such a thing and keep other kids from getting the eggs. The easter egg hunt is for KIDS, not their parents. Anyway, we got over it quickly without any confrontations happening, hahaha. It was still a fun day!

Bah! Sunshine in my face! Hat was a bit too small :)

Ian's 1 year Stats

Technically now Ian is almost 14 months old! But I took him in for his 1 yr well visit at 12.5 months. Here's the lowdown:

Ian about 13 months old

Head Size: 18.1 inches, 34th percentile
Weight: 22.7 lbs, 44th percentile
Height: 30.4 inches, 64th percentile

So our little guy is roughly average sized for his height & weight! I think Jase was much bigger than Ian at this age (I'll have to look back and double check but I'm pretty sure). Even though he's now almost 14 months, here's some things he's been doing lately...

He is awesome fast at crawling around (used to be army crawling but just recently during our trip to New Orleans started "regular" crawling). He can also pull himself to standing on anything...and he can hold onto stuff and walk around the edges of furniture. He will also balance standing up for a few seconds before falling. He will take steps if you hold both of his hands and walk with him, but he has yet to try walking on his own (without holding onto anything).  He loves to crawl over and through objects, like chairs, boxes, etc--almost like an obstacle course, LOL! I have a really funny picture of him stuck hanging  from the rungs underneath our kitchen chair--I need to look for that! He says "mama, dada, yaya (he says yaya so much that I started calling him Yaya), uh-oh (he says this sooo cute), and just the other day he said "nana" for banana (his most favorite thing to eat).

He's making a funny face here! But you can kind of see his gap between his teeth.

He is in that super dooper picky stage of eating. Oh my goodness he won't eat hardly anything! And he has to put it in his own mouth (doesn't like to be spoon fed much). Sometimes I have to "force feed" him something I know he'll like just so he'll get the taste of it, and THEN he will eat it. Stubborn boy! Besides bananas, he loves Goldfish cheese crackers or those Annie's bunny crackers. His new thing to eat is peeled apple slices. Also yogurt.


His hair is blonde (def gets this from Roob), the top is straight and wispy and the sides are super curly. It is getting long but Reuben will NOT allow me to cut it! His eyes are still blue, but a deeper/greenish gray blue than Jase's ice blue color. I think they might turn officially hazel. His little teeth are still coming in. Right now he has 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. Some molars are already cutting through as well (probably helps with the eating of apples). We found out that his frenulum (sp?) (skin that connects upper lip to gums) is rather long, so that is probably what is causing the gap in between his front teeth. According to the dentist, most likely he'll fall and tear this skin himself, but if not, by 2 years old they can snip it if they need to (ouch! poor baby). We shall see.

Ian's New Tricks

Glad I caught this on camera, it's too cute! He had done better "waving" before, though. But at least you get the idea. My favorite is "touchdown!" Hee hee.

Easter Eggs

I bought a couple of Easter egg dying kits and Jase has been begging me to let us dye them. Well he snuck into the packaging yesterday and took out the dye tablets thinking they were candy--and ate one! Lovely. So his teeth, tongue and lips were hot pink! Why I didn't think to take a picture is beyond me. Anyway, I finally hard boiled a bunch of eggs so we could dye them. I was able to show Jase the right way to use those dye tablets (haha) and let me tell you, he LOVED doing it. I wish we had more eggs to do! He was so good and so into it! Here's some pics of the experience...and I'm happy to have hard boiled eggs for snackin' and tuna fish! Mmm.

 Aren't these so cute? We used a wax crayon to draw words and pics on the eggs before dipping them in the dye.

 Master egg dipper right here.

Ian's Curls

I wasn't sure who Ian really looked like but now I am definitely leaning more towards Reuben/his side of the family (with a splash of Amiee). I have really been slacking with picture-taking, so last night I grabbed my camera after Ian's bath because when his hair is wet it gets super curly (normally fairly straight when dry) and so stinkin' cute. Reuben has really curly hair (no one would ever know since he shaves it) and it looks like Ian may be inheriting this as well. But I think if it does go the curly route, it'll be more wavy than curly. Oddly enough, my hair was always straight growing up but if I let it dry naturally, it's SUPER wavy underneath. My top layer is pretty straight, though, due to all the processing/coloring/highlighting over the years. Anyway, here is some pics of my baby with his damp hair...

Happy 1st Birthday Boppers!

Ian is ONE! I can't believe it! I started planning his party months out...and I was hoping for a gorgeous day so I could do the party outside and better accommodate the guests. As luck would have it, the weather forecast predicted snow and cold--so in a panic I started trying to talk people out of coming! Then the night before the party, at least four people canceled last minute due to getting sick. Needless to say I was devastated. I had over-prepared and the weather was ruining my plans! But all in all it really turned out great! I gave away all the extra food we had and I did have a few guests show up, so everything went well! My mom came up to help me with last minute party stuff and decor. Couldn't have done it without her help. Here's a bunch of pictures of the party! I decided on a fish theme because of the "fish-like" movements Ian used to make while trying to get around on the floor. Hee hee. This is his smash cake!

Party treat table! I got his banner, favor tags, cupcake tags on etsy.com. I thought they were sooo cute! Saved me lots of time, as well.

 Favor bags had a little fishy water game, fish stickers, bubbles, and fish tatoos inside...I have a ton of that stuff left, so I'm sure it'll be making an appearance at the next bday party! Ha ha.

The birthday boy!!! That's about all he wanted of the cake.

Opening presents...isn't his expression so cute in this picture? I think I had squeezed the lion's foot and he was making a "roaring" sound.

 Cute outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Erickson.

 Playing with a wooden snail pull-a-long toy from Grandma Jenith.

 My brother Nathan and his pregnant wife, Meredith! New baby niece due soon! Yay!

 Ian showing off his cute birthday tee. I made it on the computer and printed it out onto a T-shirt transfer sheet. That was way cheaper than ordering one and it came out super cute!

Grandma Jenith with her grandsons!

  Another present that sings and waves its arms!

We did a little fishing game at the party. Good thing Jase and his cousin were there to play it! My mom found the magnetic fishing poles on amazon.

 Another picture of the table set up. Those are goldfish crackers in the little cups. I also got the idea online to frame Ian's party invite (on the top right-handed side).

 Finding Nemo DVD has a "virtual aquarium" feature on it so I turned my TV into a little fish tank for the day.

Fish pinata (which is STILL hanging up in my house) that we never used due to not being able to go outside. Bummer.

 Ha ha ha this was my favorite thing. Photo ops with a shark. Here's Jase...

 Me...LOL.

 My mom! Ha ha ha.

 My brother, Nathan--he looks kind of happy to see the shark if ya ask me.

 OH more cupcakes I guess.

 Ian, aka eBopps or Boppers. He is such a sweetie pie.

Rice Krispy treat fish swimming in blue licorice water. I piped on the eyes with frosting and cut them out with a fish cookie cutter. Loved this.

 Jasey and his cousin!!!!! Too cute.