It's all about the feet...

Well, we have had an exciting week. First, Maggie found her feet this week and I'm sure they'll be her new favorite toy. Yay Maggie!Secondly, Brent fractured his ankle on Friday during a faculty-student basketball game at school. I guess I need to remind him of his age... But seriously, we're thankful that he wasn't injured more. He has to wear a boot for a while and will need some therapy. We're just glad that no surgery was required.Here's Maggie showing off her beautiful smile for mommy... And here is Jacob showing off his beautiful eyes. He was in the middle of eating his "oatmealt" and watching his morning shows...

7 Random Things

Okay, so my friend Nicola "tagged" me with what is basically a chain letter for blogs...but just a little cooler since I am to post 7 weird or unusual things about me that folks may or may not already know. So, here goes...

1. Unlike the trombone (which was Nicola's instrument of choice...ha!), I played the drums from 7th grade all the way through high school. I didn't start out being the only girl drummer but by the time I reached high school the other girl (named Robbie, who also ate her fingernail polish right off her nails) had given up the pursuit of percussion. So, I marched right along with the boys and basically endured 6 years of harassment from them. Needless to say, I learned a lot in those years, most of which I cannot discuss in mixed company.

2. I'm slowly turning into my parents, which isn't all that bad once you consider what wonderful people they are. What I really mean is that my tastes in entertainment and topics of conversation are taking a turn to what my parents enjoy. For example, while most of my girlfriends are watching Desperate Housewives on Sunday evenings, I'm cruising to NPT (Nashville Public Television) to see what Masterpiece Theatre is playing. Ha! I used to think my parents watched the most boring shows on there and now I can't get enough...I've even borrowed their dvd sets of Foyle's War (a British detective show set during WWII)...most interesting.

3. While I don't watch Desperate Housewives on Sunday evenings, I will most likely watch it on Mondays after I go to abc.com to catch up on any shows I've missed...so maybe I'm not as much like my parents as I thought...(I also watch Samantha Who?, Lost, Eli Stone and any other shows that pique my interest)

4. I'll also list my pet peeve since Nic listed hers (hey, it's 9:00 p.m. and I'm tired and I can't think of my own topics so I'm "borrowing" from others...) My biggest pet peeve is when people use the Exit door as an entrance instead of walking 5 feet more to the Entrance door. This happens most at your local Wal-Mart and Kroger stores, which just happen to be the only stores I go in these days. I don't think I should have to yield with my buggy of groceries for some moron who thinks he/she has the right of way as they enter the building through the door I'm trying to exit, which is clearly marked EXIT on the outside! Enough of that...I'm getting fired up.

5. I really love music...that is singing and playing the piano. I've been singing in some form of choir since I was 12 years old and even sang in the UAB honor choir my freshman year of college. During that year we backed up Crystal Gayle (the one with the long hair) in concert...neat, huh? Yeah, I know, it's not that neat after all... I also got to sing in the chapel on Duke's campus with my concert choir from Trevecca.

6. My husband and I owned a snake during the early years of our marriage. He was a red tailed boa constrictor and his name was "Bo." Yep, very inventive on the name.

7. My daughter's middle name (Linley) is after my great grandmother...Mary Linley Perry. Linley was her maiden name.

Okay, since I don't know how to link someone in my blog I will just say that the next person I'm tagging is Amy J.

Amy you should post the rules at the top of your message and then list who you're tagging after you've told us 7 interesting things about yourself. No, I don't remember what the rules are.

Like father like son...

After some careful editing, I'm finally able to post this most funny picture of Jacob on the potty. He was just having some leisurely reading time and not making any real potty progress, if you know what I mean...enjoy!

Many firsts for Maggie

This past week has had many new things for Maggie. For example, the first time she sat in her Bumbo...she does really well, especially for a baby her age.It was also the first time she wore her pretty pink sweater. It is still fairly big on her but I wanted to make sure she got some time in it before Spring finally decides to show up around here...She also had her first adventure in the exersaucer. While she did very well, she still doesn't have enough torso strength to keep herself upright. We'll have to wait another month or so on this one...This picture shows Maggie flapping around her new tongue (since she just had it clipped last week)...ha! She was cooing to Brent last night and I snapped a few pictures. You can see that it is free to roam about in her mouth now : ) And here is just one of her smiling at Daddy...too cute.

I've found that Maggie likes to have her blanket up around her face while she sleeps. She roused at 5:30 this morning but I didn't go get her so when I went to check on her at 7:00 she had pulled both of her blankets up to her face and was sleeping with them surrounding her head. (Talk about a smothering trap...) I was able to pull them away from her face without waking her up. I'll have to keep my eye on this girl so she doesn't smother during her sleep!

A week in our lives...

Sorry for the delay in posting folks...I don't have any great excuses. So, the first picture is of Brent "smiling" since I was fussing at him for not smiling in the pictures I was taking...scary. Here's little Maggie after her bath (please ignore my oily face...yuck).
Jacob got the privilege (sp?) of sleeping in his Crocs the other night (on accident). When I went to get him out of his crib he said "mommy shoes on" and I thought he wanted to put a pair on. Then I realized that he had a pair on already...it's a wonder he was even able to get to sleep. Am I the only one jealous of those eye lashes???
Jacob was a good boy at Kroger so he got about a million stickers and he quickly applied them to his sexy legs...

Worms and more...

I am constantly surprised by Jacob's behavior. He is quite fond of "girly" things at times and then is very "boyish" at other times. I've captured some of these moments in the pictures below.
We begin with his flare for women's shoes as noted in a pair of Maggie's glitter shoes...worn in the buff Then we move on to picking up worms in the yard and letting them crawl on his arms. Oh yes, and sometimes they "broke", meaning he tore them in half.
He also enjoys jumping in puddles and getting dirty. Maybe he'll be very boyish but with a good sense of style : )
And here is our little Maggie-lu as Brent has started calling her. I bought some new clips for her hair and while they are cute, they fall right out if you touch them since her hair is still so fine.

And here she is on her way to church this past Sunday morning.

Oh the differences...

Since Maggie was born we've commented over and over (as well as others) on how similar she is to Jacob. I got curious about comparing the two last night as I was going through some older pictures of Jacob. At 12 weeks they seem to be very different. You can see in the first picture how much bigger Jacob was than Maggie. People are always telling me that she is small, but I guess it is just hard to realize how much smaller she is than other 12 week old babies. Another difference is that Jacob was beginning to lose his hair by 12 weeks and Maggie's is hanging in there...yay! However, I do think they look the most alike when they are asleep. Anyway, enjoy the throwback to Jacob's baby days.

Pooptastrophe

While I've had this blog for over 2 years I've never actually "blogged" anything other than pictures. However, the time has come. Reader beware: if you have a queasy stomach or just don't like poop stories then this is NOT the story for you.

As those of you reading know, my son Jacob is 2 years old. On Tuesday of this week I heard him wake up from his nap with his usual calls for me. As I was in the middle of something, I decided that he could stay in his crib for a few more minutes while I finished what I was doing (which was watching an episode of Samantha Who on abc.com...yes, I'm a bad mom). After about 10 minutes I went up to get him. As I opened the door to his room, I noticed that he was holding something out to me. I thought, 'surely not'. But, you guessed it...it was poop. I guess he got bored sitting in his bed for the extra few minutes and decided to take his diaper off and play with his poop. It was truly a pooptastrophe! His hands were covered in it, it was on the cuffs of his sweater, it was on the sheets, it was on the rail to the crib...needless to say, it was everywhere!!! I didn't even know where to begin the clean up process. I finially got my wits about me and threw him in the tub and then proceeded to wash everything remotely near the poop disaster.

While I have dealt with many a poopy diaper in my parenting days (okay so I've only been parenting for 2 years, but those have been some poop-filled years) this was by far the worst. Oh well, I plan to write it down in his baby book and will also embarass him with this story at his engagement party or some other high-attendance event. Kids, you gotta love 'em.

Easter

We were able to spend some time down in Alabama during the week leading up to Easter. Below are some pictures...
Here is Emma holding cousin Maggie
Aunt Lauren and Maggie
Maggie giving Uncle John her signature smile (sorry for the red-eye)
John and Emily with Maggie
Me and Jacob getting ready for his first Easter egg hunt
Jacob soon figured out that the Easter eggs had candy inside them. Thus, he only picked up one and spent the rest of the time trying to eat the candy. All other eggs found in his basket were put there by us so he would have more than one. We're cheaters!

His favorite phrase for the day was "more candy", usually spoken with a mouth full of candy.

Here we are on Easter morning getting ready to head to church.

Snow Day!

We had snow a few weekends ago and below are some pictures of Jacob having fun in the backyard. He was a trooper! He stayed outside for quite a while, that is, until he got a "boo-boo face" which meant that his face hurt from the cold.

Pics by Stacey Shelton

Below are some of the precious photos Stacey took of Maggie this morning. Stacey is going to do some cropping, etc. on the pictures and then I'll be sending them out to family members for printing. Thanks, Stacey!!

Jump Balloonies

A group of friends met at Pump It Up today to let our kids play. Below are a few pics of Jacob "jump balloonies" as he called it. He had a great time.

Here's a shot of Maggie on her 8 week birthday. She is getting soooo big...this outfit used to swallow her whole!
Who knew you could be addicted to junk food at 8 weeks????

Playing Around

We recently cleaned out our garage and Brent rigged a tennis ball for me to use when I park in the garage...however, Jacob really likes trying to hit it with a bat. Here's Jacob posing with his sippy cup...

And coming down his slide in an interesting way. We had a few warm days recently but nothing but cold predicted for the next week or so.

Here's is an example of Maggie's wild hair...

And my attempt at helping it with a bow...which didn't work!

Cutie Kids

Jacob is ready to go outside in his camo hat. I think the hat stayed on for a record time of 5 minutes...
Maggie is showing off her sexy legs...don't be jealous!
Maggie has started to smile and it is the most precious thing you could ever see!