almost one year

here is my 11-month old baby boy. we had a mini photo shoot this morning in the backyard. i absolutely cannot believe he'll be one-year old in just a month!look at that sweet smile. does that not just melt your heart?!

at 11 months, casen:

• says dada, jacob, thank you, uh oh, hello, papa, and momma. and he said them in that order. how sad is that?!
• cruises along the furniture.
• stands for a second or two on his own.
• gets into everything!
• is a huge momma's boy.
• loves jacob...well, mainly his toys. =)
• still eats a ton.
• has the sweetest smile.
• has 4 teeth and at least 3 others coming in as we speak.
• finally has a pair of shoes...that he can actually wear.
• loves to play peek-a-boo.

things are so different with the second child. with jacob, i wanted him to advance so quickly. with casen, i'm just relishing in every stage. it goes so fast. soon my boys will be grown and wanting to move out.

i'm putting my foot down now...NOT gonna happen!

new bedroom decor

we finally got some decorations for our bedroom. it's only been a year! i don't see what the big deal is!
these are hanging over our bed. and i'm absolutely in love with these sticky wall words. these are actually from a company called uppercase living. i have an entire catalog if anyone is interested. they're amazing!

and shelves from hobby lobby, of course. along with the three things over the bed.

a day at the park

a couple of days ago, when it was somewhat warm, we decided to get out the boys' rides and go for a drive over to the school park.

obviously, some of us had more fun than others! =)

his newest skill...waving bye bye.

it's good to be loved.

my whole 5th period just sang me happy birthday!

you can bet i had the biggest smile on my face!

happy early birthday to me!

from my wonderful husband!

home sick

we're ALL here.

i think casen's getting over his stomach bug, but unfortunately not before myself and jerry caught it last night.

jacob's home because we're here and neither of us could get out of bed to take him this morning.

i woke up at 3 a.m. wide-eyed and ran to the bathroom. and that's all she wrote.

i had to call up some friends at school to help me out...thanks so much!!

so we're here, taking care of our boys. i guess you could call it that. i'm doing all i can to muster up this post. jerry's asleep on the couch. jacob's watching little mermaid, and casen's crying from the bathroom.

top-of-the-line care here.

not that you can tell, but...

one room down, too much to go.if you look at the top right corner of the pic, you can see the difference in the trim and the wall. they used to match.
and here are my boys. eventually, i'd like to have a couch or some other kind of furniture under these pictures.

man, i miss these boys!

i met my mom on saturday night, and they went home with her so i could paint for a few days.

thank you, Jesus!

i only have 3 hours left and i'm out for a week!

it's so close i can taste it!

making life interesting

casen is becoming alot more adventurous lately. he's so completely different from jacob. as i was making my grocery list, this is what i looked over to see.

he's been pulling up for a while, but it's usually on shorter things. he just hasn't had the strength to pull himself up on something higher. well, not today. looks like we'll be getting those bumpers soon. the fireplace makes me nervous.

a little later, i went into his room to see what he was doing. i found this.


he was not that amused when i left the room to go get the camera while he was stuck on this shelf.

seriously...

have you ever seen anything so cute?? some sick boys i have on my hands. =)



thanks for the spot, jenny.

home with my boys

all during the WONDERFUL retreat this weekend, i couldn't help but thinking how i'd have to come home on sunday and go straight back to work on monday for the rest of the week. i just wanted to spend time with my boys...all of them.

well, today, i am...two of them, at least. unfortunately it's not for a good reason.

casen and jacob are both sick.

jacob's had a fever, runny nose, and the worst cough ever.

casen's had about the same symptoms.

we made an appointment for jacob to see the doctor. i figured, why not get two for one, so we took casen in as well.

turns out, casen's worse than jacob. he has some sort of bronchial infection. jacob has a cold.

they're both on antibiotics, which is good.

unfortunately, for the second time, dr. w has mentioned the possibility of casen having asthma. it's never been a definite or even something that he wants to look into further, but it's still scary.

my sister has asthma...bad. i don't want that for my little boy.

he's taking a steroid thing right now to try to help with his breathing. the poor thing sounds just horrible. you can hear it all in his chest.

pray for him?

so, i got my time with my boys, i just wish it were under better circumstances.

on a side note, i came home more in love with my husband than ever. something was sparked in me at our little retreat. i asked for it, and He delivered.

my heroes

**unedited, straight from the camera pics...thanks to lack of time.

nine months

here's my nine month old baby boy.













i swear it was just yesterday that i posted his eight month stats!

at nine months he:

• weighs 20 lbs 15 oz (he's lost weight)
• still has an above average head =)
• sleeps through the night
• army crawls
• sits up from crawling
• pulls up on things on his knees
• smiles all the time
• eats alot
• love his momma
• and i guess, still loves his daddy and jacob

again, i can't believe yet another month has passed. in three short months, he'll be one.

i don't know if i can handle this.

to elaborate

the sickness:

• stuffy nose
• no wait, runny nose
• sore throat
• cough
• no, stuffy nose
• head congestion
• head ache
• major all-over face pain
• runny nose...again

i believe i have a sinus infection.

it's so bad that i couldn't even teach my last two classes today. i had my co-teacher teach 6th and my tutor teach 7th.

i'm not going in tomorrow.

what could be worse?

i had my appraisal this morning...first thing.

i could barely talk. it was a boring lesson. it was my ap. they know it all. they weren't raising their hands. again, they know it all.

but, i already got the paperwork back.

apparently i did quite well.

three out of the four categories scored so far received "exceeds".

it's over. the result was good. hallelujah.

but i'm still sick. i'll be getting much needed rest tomorrow...hopefully.

sick

so sick, in fact, i'm not sure i can make it through the day.

i definitely will not be working tomorrow!

in about 2.5 seconds...

i could have a horrible situation on my hands...

it's quite likely i could strangle someone!

happy eight months, baby!

eight months

it's hard to believe that eight months ago today, i was in my classroom telling my students that "tomorrow i'm having a baby."

he's not such a baby anymore.













at eight months he:

• sits
• scoots (believe me...that doesn't slow him down any!)
• has four teeth
• LOVES his daddy
• only wants jacob's toys
• sleeps through the night
• always wakes with a smile on his face
• is the happiest baby i've ever seen
• LOVES jacob
• hates to be confined in anything
• loves food...of any kind
• hates having his face wiped
• says "da da da" and "ba ba ba"
• and okay, maybe he loves his momma, too.

tomorrow, my baby will be eight months old. i can't believe how fast time has gone. in a few short months, i'll be posting about his first birthday.

i feel like i'm missing so much. i relish every moment i have with both my boys. i can't wait to make it through the day to get home to them again.

is it 4:00 yet?

the sweet sound of...

pencils?

the only thing i hear right now are pencils scraping paper and the occasional eraser.

my ap class is taking a test.

it's one of my favorite things. i love to just sit and listen and watch. they're all so intense. it makes me so proud to be their teacher when i can see their diligence. they stress over every question, every plus sign, every negative sign. (and they should. the test is over integers!)

sometimes, i'll look around and see a child with his hands on his head because he's so baffled by the present question. then, it's like there's literally a light bulb above his head. aha!

it's the greatest feeling to know that i had a part in that light.

so for the next few minutes, i'm going to enjoy the sweet sound of pencils.

and then back to reality when 5th period rolls around.

the grinch

tonight, i was putting jacob in his carseat.

the whole time he's saying, "look, momma. it's the grinch!"

the grinch?

i have no idea where he's seeing the grinch or even what brought it up.

he keeps saying it.

i get him buckled in, and he points to the ceiling of the truck.

i look up.

what is it?

the shadow of my head with my crazy hair!

apparently, it resembled the grinch.

do i need any words??

a date

jacob and i went on a date on thursday. we went to disney live: tigger and pooh. it was such a good time getting to hang out with my little boy. i don't get to do that very often.

here's how the date went.

you can tell my "date" is really into me, huh?!

this is how he was for the first 20-30 minutes. he wanted to either be in my lap or right beside me.

he eventually moved to the floor beside our chairs so he could see. naturally, i also had to move to the floor.

he's starting to get into it...
and what's this?? he's bouncin' around like tigger!
i love to see the smile on his face!

he definitely came out of his shell for the night.

this is when it was time to go. he was not thrilled.