Promised pics and videos

Here are a few pics to whet your appetite. The J-man enjoying some splash time with Mama.
Here's me and Emma all ready for school one day. We matched. Blech. And no, Ben (one of my former students), I am not pregnant AGAIN no matter how this dress makes me look. For anyone wondering, I did not immediately rip Ben's head off with my bare hands and grind it into a grease spot on the floor outside my classroom. I wanted to, but I did not. See - I have self restraint.
Here is one of my many failed attempts at getting a pic of the chompers. I like this one because his eyes look so awesome. (It took a lot for me not to use the word "pretty" but I restrained myself - I mean, he is a dude.)
Click here for more fun photos. Some of them were taken by Emma and some were taken by me. I was trying valiantly to get a pic of the new teeth but Jackson wasn't so enthused. If you look really closely in the bathtub pic above you can barely see them hanging out there on the bottom.

I've got such cute kids. Sorry, I do. This first video is just Emma and Jackson playing around. Sorry it's so blurry and nauseating. I was trying to catch the action. Check out the CRAWL position at the end of the video. He's ready!


I had another video of Jackson, just sitting but it wouldn't load. He's getting really good at it. He wants to crawl in a major way. He's getting there.


And the last video gives Miss E some screen time. She's really into dresses these days. We can't get her to wear shorts at all. She's just got lots going on these days: 4 Kindergarten and learning letters and all. It's difficult stuff. Pardon Jackson's contribution from the peanut gallery. Who would've thought she'd be the class-clown? Hmmm...

Happy Birthday, Mom #2.

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday. Just wanted to note it since I'm spending some downtime here appreciating the silence in my living room. I have pics and video of the kids to load but I don't have the energy. The weekend was draining for reasons I won't go into to avoid embarrassing myself and others but suffice it to say it was not very restful. Now it's back to the daily routine. I will say that Janet (mom-in-law) would be proud of me for my actions, or lack thereof, this very afternoon. When I got home from work/school, there were dishes in the sink, clothes to be folded, beds to be made and a floor to be swept. I did none of it. I sat on the floor and played with my adorable little boy while I waited for his father and sister to get home. It was just lovely. He had a grand time smacking me in the face with a babywipe while I willingly took the abuse because it made him laugh so hard that I could see his two itty teeth while he was laughing and dripping blobs of drool on the floor. I gladly mopped up the drool-trail and eventually put him in the playpen so I could vacuum. (The floor was a bit gross.) Then we hung out banging on the window as Emma and Andy pulled up in the driveway. It was a great afternoon and the floor got vacuumed after all. All of that to say this: Janet always tells me to play with my babies and worry about the rest later. I'd say she's got the right idea. Hope you had a great day, Mom #2. Love you. (I really will post the pics and videos tomorrow.)

When did that happen?

We have 2 teeth people! One day he's got one little nubbin and now he's got two teeth busting through. And now he's yelling. Bye.

We are alive!

Yes, we're back in the house. We moved back in last Wednesday. My coworkers and my new principal were kind enough to cover my classes all day so that I could stay at home, clean, and move all our junk back in from the hotel. My parents were here to help with the cleaning and moving back in. Andy's dad cut his vacation short over Labor Day to help Andy clean out the garage. We have been so blessed! So many of our coworkers and friends here in Tallahassee have offered to watch the kids, help clean up and given us food, gifts and money. I can't imagine how difficult this would have been without all their support. A couple at Lincoln who also have a son at Trojan Tots even gave us a stroller since ours was in the back of my car and was ruined. The insurance company came through on the car last week - it was totaled. Yeah! (Never thought I'd say that.) We got the check on Wednesday and had until Monday of this week to make a purchase before we had to start paying for the rental care ourselves. So, we spent last weekend marathon-car-shopping. We ended up buying a Honda C-RV and here are the pics of the new car.



There have also been some major milestones in the world o' Jackson in the past few weeks. He can sit up on his own now and he has the beginnings of a tooth. It's a tiny little nubbin that's finally poked through. There was only a day or so of crankiness so all in all it worked out well. I'll take a photo of the tooth when it's a little more than a crack in his gums. He is exactly 7 months old today. Whoa. How does it go by so fast? He's healthy and loves Emma. He wants to chase her so badly. He can army-crawl and will probably be crawling before we know it. He already likes to stand up so he might even walk before he crawls!
Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement during the last few weeks. We never could have gotten through it without all the support. And as a bonus we have a new car and a clean garage!