Luke in the Wind

While the older boys were riding their bikes on Friday, I had Luke out on the grass in his Bumpo chair. He was loving sitting up and looking around, but he wasn't quite sure what to make of the wind. I tried to get some pictures of him in the nice sun but his expressions were changing so quickly between "smiley" and "windblown" that it was pretty difficult. Here are just a few.

A Weekend with Corduroy

Since the beginning of school in August, Jackson's class bear, Corduroy, has gone home with a different student each weekend. Every Friday, one of the kids' names is randomly drawn, and they get to bring home a special bag containing Corduroy (complete with overalls adorned with only 1 button), 2 Corduroy books, and a journal to record the weekend's activities. Jackson has been SO patient about waiting his turn for this honor, although he has looked forward anxiously to "Corduroy day" every week. Each time, we cross our fingers that it will be his turn that week, and each Friday afternoon when Corduroy has gone home with someone else, Jackson has had the best attitude. He never once whined or cried about it not being fair, he just says, "I think it'll be my turn NEXT week!"

Well, this past weekend, it finally WAS his turn. :) On Friday afternoon, I got this email from Jacks' teacher:

Today must be Jackson's day. First he was chosen for star student. Then I let the star student draw (from a stack of names) the next person to take home Corduroy. Well....he drew his own name! So Corduroy will be spending the weekend with ya'll! Enjoy!

He was so excited when I picked him up, and Corduroy went with us everywhere over the weekend. Here is the entry we added to Corduroy's journal, complete with pictures.

On Friday, I was so excited when Jackson was the Star Student and picked his own name so I got to go home with him for the whole weekend. After school, we went for a bike ride. I tried to ride between Jackson’s handlebars, but I kept falling off. So I went to hang out with Jackson’s baby brother, Luke. I found a great place to sit, right on top of his head! Then we went to have BBQ for dinner with Jackson’s Daddy and we got to pick our very own ice cream flavor for dessert. Banana split is yummy!

Saturday morning we watched some cartoons and played a car racing game on the Xbox 360. Jackson taught me how to drive really fast! Later in the afternoon, we went to the park. Jackson and I had fun on the swings and going down the slide. Then we went to Fuddrucker’s for dinner and got some milkshakes. Lucky for me, Jackson’s family really seems to like ice cream! Jackson tucked me in snug as a bug in a rug at bedtime.

On Sunday morning, Jackson’s Mommy made pancakes for breakfast and I had one all to myself. Jackson made sure I didn’t get any sticky syrup on my paws. Then we went to the carwash. We rode in the car through a dark tunnel filled with soap and sponges and when we came out on the other side, the car was clean! I was so amazed. Back at home, we made heart crayons in the oven. We took the paper off of little crayon pieces, and then we cooked them up. Before bedtime, we watched American Gladiators. My favorite part was when the Gladiators went flying after the ball hit the bullseye. Jackson and I agree that Crush looks like our favorite teacher, Mrs. Murthy.

I’m so lucky that I got to spend an extra day with Jackson because we didn’t have to go to school on Monday. So we went to the book store and picked up some new books to read, and then we had a yummy lunch at McDonald's. In the afternoon, Jackson and I played outside with his Lego trains. We had to enjoy the weather before it started to rain!

I had a great time at Jackson's house. It was definitely worth the wait!

Ice Teeth

At dinner the other night, Cody deemed his food too hot to eat. So Anthony blew on a bite to cool it off for him. A few minutes later, Cody asked Daddy to do it again. Anthony suggested that the dinner was a perfect temperature for eating, but that if he did need to cool it off, he could just blow on it the way he'd watched Daddy do.

"I can't!" Cody replied. "I don't have ice teeth!"

Apparently it's impossible to adequately cool food without the proper dental accessories. Think I can get "ice teeth" implanted at my next cleaning? :P

Little Person...Big Kid

Jackson is such an interesting study in contradictions right now. He goes to "real" school, not preschool, and he is really making big strides with his reading and writing. He loves numbers and science and wants to know how everything works. We play endless games of Uno, Connect 4, and even Scrabble --with slightly altered rules, of course. He calls himself an "almost grown-up" and refers to people as "dude." (While helping Cody into his jammy shirt last night, he remarked, "You've got a big head, dude!")

But at the same time, he cried like I'd broken his heart the other day when I asked him to wait for me in the other room as I was laying Luke down. "But Mama," he lamented with big crocodile tears running down his face, "I want to be with YOU!"

He also refers to the uber-recognizable landmark in New York as the "Vampire" State Building.

I just love this time with him, because although it's hard to predict from one minute to the next whether he'll scoff at my hugs and kisses or demand more, I know that all too soon he really WILL be an "almost grown-up," and that fervent wish to simply be in the same room with me will be a thing of the past. So for right now I appreciate and admire his striving to become a real person, while cherishing every glimpse of the baby/kid that remains. :)

He's Got Next

Yesterday was actually a little warm (at least in the morning, before the wind did it's thing), so I refrained from putting Luke in a sleeper and he got to wear some cute little socks that Mara got for him. They look just like little sneakers, complete with laces! He looked adorable and was very proud of himself, obviously. He has them in a rainbow of colors, so he's ready for every outfit and occasion. If the Mavericks need a new point guard, Luke's got the footwear to make it happen.

It should be noted that the person getting Luke to smile and laugh in these pictures is Jackson. Luke loves his biggest bubba best. :)

Cody's New Haircut Before and After

Cody really doesn't enjoy having his hair cut. Who can blame the poor guy? He's had a lot of people mess with his head in a variety of unpleasant ways. So we've put off cutting his hair because he had a pretty cute shag going. Only it was getting messier every day. This morning Cody, Luke and I braved the freezing temperatures to head to Cool Cuts 4 Kids. He did a really great job, although he still hates the clippers. But he looks great.

Not Your Traditional Nursing Bra

So I've found that my favorite "nursing" bras are these Nike sports bras I've had forever...they're easy to pull up, super soft, hide the nursing pads, etc. I looked online and Nike doesn't sell them anymore (the new ones have a really thick elastic bottom part). I went to Academy and was SO excited because I found what I thought were almost the exact same ones.

Got them home and read the tag...they were in the GIRLS section (rather than women's) and say "Trainer."

I'm nursing in a training bra.