Firsts

Has it really been a week already?? I am so sorry...can you tell I started work last Monday? Last week was great...Kam got to stay with Aunt Jewel Mon-Wed, and Mrs. Nell Thurs and Fri. He was a fussy, hungry little fella every day except Thursday, it seems! He completely depleted my frozen stash. I began getting really worried that we'd have to start supplementing formula during the day...I was pumping a little under 2 bottles at school and one at home, and he was taking 4 during the day. However, I think maybe he was in his 3-4 month growth spurt and just plain comfortable at home and wanted to eat all the time!! Today was his first day at Mrs. Laurel's (his new sitter) and he only ate 3 full bottles and part of another...and that's with him not being with me from 6:45-4:15!! I think that is just fabulous! And I've started to be able to pump more, too. Guess the Lactation Consultant was right...just the stress of going back to work and all that junk! Anyway, Kam napped well for Mrs. Laurel, too...I am so very thankful that he had a good first day at a sitter!!

Today was also Ella's first day of Pre-K!!! Can you believe it??? How in the world is she almost 5 already?? Man. I talked to her this evening after school and she loved it!!! She loves her teacher, loves that she gets to play outside so much, and loves the "new" song she learned! (5 little monkeys swingin' in the trees...) We totally used to sing that all the time. I think they put music to it, though. And she pointed out that they sing "Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me" at the end of theirs! =) So funny. So she had a fabulous day as well...I hear she was quite the big girl. I am so proud of her!! And we miss her so much!!!

And, lastly, today was my first day back. It went about like I'd expected it to. I'm trying very, very hard to start this year with much more patience and understanding. We have a ton of new kids this year, and the old ones know what they can and cannot get away with, so it's always fun getting a new set and having to set this straight all over again! It's going to be a good year, though, I am sure of it!

No pictures, I know. I took one of Kam on his first day, and Rebecca sent us pictures of Ella on our phones...I just have to figure out how to get it from my phone to the computer! I think Kaleb's smartypants phone can do it. So I will post pics of both the lovely kiddos when that happens!

I think that's about it...it's 9:30 and my plan is to be in bed by 10 or 10:30 every night. With Kam waking up so often and my getting up at 5 to start pumping and getting ready, it gets really late really early!! I hope all of you have had a wonderful Monday as well!! What? Wonderful Monday? Did I really say that??

School Schmool

This weekend flew by! We went up to Many for a Lowe Family Reunion and then brought Ella back. Man, that was hard. We know that she is going to love school, though...and I think she'll be doing Dance, too!! She is CRAZY about taking Dance lessons like her Cay-Cay, so I can't wait to see what she learns! Speaking of Ella, I just have to share this picture of her dressing up in Caitlin's clothes the other night...

Haha!!! That is actually one of Caitlin's dresses that she wears now...our girl has graduated from regular old dress-up clothes!

The reunion was a lot of fun...we got a chance to see some people I hadn't seen in...well, I can't remember when...and this was Kaleb's first reunion on my side. I think he didn't think it was too, too bad. Ella really enjoyed herself...she got to play with "The Brown Kids"!!

I kind of just have some random pictures...after the reunion we rode over to Bossier and killed some time at Ellis Pottery. Did you ever wonder if two Breaux kids could fit into the FRONT part of a buggy?

Well, wonder no more. They stayed like this for a good 5 minutes...then Ella was quite over it=) It was a little cramped.

Today was my first day back to school, and it wasn't bad at all!! It helped that a) we had an interesting workshop on ESL this afternoon and b) I know that Kam was in very good hands! He and Aunt Jewel had a good day here...and I basically just spent the day (when I wasn't thinking about school) pumping every chance I got and just being excited to see him this afternoon!! Tomorrow we have a Math Workshop with the fabulous Kay Olds, so I'm not dreading that either. And the rest of the week I get to tackle organizing my classroom. I stocked up on binders and sheet protectors....oh, it's gonna be fun!!

Today went well, but I sure do miss my wonderful husband...he's in Austin for a work conference. I think it's the first time I've stayed here without him. I cannot WAIT for him to come home on Wednesday!!!

So how about a nice, feel good picture before we go...I don't know how you can look at this and not smile!

Ah, if only he can always love getting clean this much!!

Oh, and I almost forgot...Check this out!

School Days...

Okay, so I think I am officially the worst teacher ever. I haven't been up to the school a single day this summer to do anything for my classroom. Actually, I only went up once and that was to conference with parents whose kids failed the TAKS test. My room is a wreck. They painted the walls, so every single piece of furniture is in the middle of the room. Honestly I would love to get in there and get things together, but I've had an infant all summer and a 4 year old for half of it, and getting things anywhere but our house together is quite the feat=) I have been enjoying our kids, and I don't regret that...I just know that there is a ton of stuff for me to do before Open House next Thursday. Teachers go back to school on Monday, but apparently we will be in meetings and all that good stuff. So basically I need to get my room done this week. And basically that is pretty impossible without help. My mom is here through tomorrow, so I think we are going to head over to the school and try to get some things done in the morning. Ugh. It's really here, isn't it?

Let me fill you in on a little scare we had on Monday. I posted a few weeks ago about how excited we were about finding a sitter for Kam. She'd assured us she'd hold a spot for him for August 17th. No problem. So last week I e-mailed her, just to touch base. She never replied. So Sunday I texted her. No reply. Getting nervous. Monday I was about to call her when I checked my e-mail. Her mother-in-law, who lives with them, had been in the hospital and is sick and will need this lady to help take care of her during the day, so she couldn't take anymore kids Kam's age. Um, when we signed up with her, there were no more kids Kam's age. They were all school age except a 1 year old. So basically I am freaking out and praying and asking everyone I know to pray...and Kaleb reminded me that this sweet lady who keeps the nursery at our church lives in Bridge City and keeps kids. Hmm...I call her and wouldn't you know it she just got a call from a mom of an infant (she keeps 2 max) who decided to stay home this year and her one spot opened up! Tell me God didn't work that! It's in Bridge City, which is away from both our works but where we'll be living when the house thing comes through. And hopefully I can eventually get a teaching job in BCISD. Then there was the issue of where he would stay next week...Mrs. Laurel doesn't take kids until August 24th. I didn't even sweat that...I am finally starting to realize just how much God works things for us=) Well, one of my aunts messaged me saying she could come down and keep Kam. I thought she was joking. She wasn't! And Kaleb's mom said she could take off work a few days to keep him also! Wow. God is so good!!!

So that's what's happened these last couple of days. I know, I know, no pictures. Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Aren't they adorable??

Today we went to Ella's second and Kamden's first baseball game! In case you're wondering why Kam's eyes are so big, it's because we were thisclose to the field!!

I was more than a little nervous...and it didn't help that Kaleb kept saying, "Now, Jenni, you have to actually watch the game when we're sitting this close...okay, watch this guy...okay this guy can hit watch out..." So I spent the first couple innings paranoid that we were going to get smashed in the face by a baseball!

Luckily for all of us, that didn't happen! We did, however, get a really cute new family picture=)

Both kids fell asleep at some point during the game...

And Kam woke up in a much better mood! Ella wasn't in a bad mood to begin with.

And I added another location to my Weird Places I've Nursed list!

Hey, when a baby's gotta eat, a baby's gotta eat!! I am saving every drop of milk I've pumped for when school starts. So far I only have 3 5 oz bags!!! I have one week!!! That's not even enough for one day! I gotta get pumpin'...

I am dreading tomorrow because it's the beginning of my last week at home. It kind of hit me today and I started worrying not about how I will handle it but about how Kamden will. He seriously has not been away from me for more than 2-3 hours in his life. So now I'm worried...will he think I abandoned him? What will he do for 8 hours with a complete stranger?? Will the stranger ever e-mail or text me back confirming that she does, indeed, have a spot for him still? (I'm calling her tomorrow to check up on that.) Anyway, I can feel myself falling into the worry stages and I so hate to be there and I know that God so does not want me there...so please help me pray that I can just trust that He makes all things good, even going back to work after you have a new baby!

Now, I am also looking forward tomorrow because my mom's coming to visit for a few days!! It'll be her last trip down here before school starts for us both, and I am really excited about spending time with her! Plus, we'll get to show her "our new house??"! We are under contract...it's funny, we texted the seller to see what we were supposed to do next and he asked us the same thing. Oh, dear.

Love Grows Love

You have got to check out Genesis Costner's blog and see a few of the amazing pictures she posted of Ella and Kam's photo session with her last Saturday!!! If you are anywhere near Many, we highly recommend her fabulous skills!!!

Notice anything new? I got creative last night and realized I could make a new blog header myself! I used a background I found here, took it into Publisher, added some stuff, and poof! Use another blog backgroung from the same place and we've got a whole new blog that I love!!

The lyrics are from a Caedmon's Call song that we have kind of claimed as our theme...
You said to “put on a happy face”on a high school stage
But I read what you really meant
In your handwriting on a Bible page
You waited like you told me
Though we knew it right away,
It took eight and a half more years
To finally say

I fell in love with you
And that love became something new
It keeps getting stronger
Than we ever could have longed
Love keeps growing more love

When we got the news
We had to call our families
And start painting the room
A nice, bright blue
Our vows they started breathing
And they took on flesh and blood
And we held them in our arms
And tasted God was good

I fell in love with you
And that love became something new
It added a name and it added a smile
It keeps getting bigger every further mile
There on your bended knee
We sewed the seeds of our history
They’re coming up stronger
Than we ever could have longed
Love keeps growing more love

3 Months Old!

Somebody turned 3 months old this week! I figure I copy so much off of Kelly, who is a stranger whose blog I stalk, already that it won't matter if I copy just one more thing.

Kamden, you are 3 months old! What are you doing these days?

• You are sleeping so well! You normally go down after your bath between 9 and 10. If it's later, it doesn't matter...you almost always wake up between 3 and 4 in the morning and then you're good to go until 6 and 8!


• When you do wake up for good, you are in the best mood! (Once you've gotten your breakfast, anyway.) You smile and come so close to laughing. It makes my day!
  
• You sure do love your sister! She sweet-talks to you and you just jabber right back! She absolutely adores you, too!
  
• You smile and talk for your Daddy every single time he tries to get you to! You don't do this for anyone else, not even me!
  
• When you do smile and talk to me, it makes me feel like the most important person in the whole world!
  
• You scooted and rolled over for the first time this week! You pretty much refuse to do it on cue, though.
  
• You're pushing up all the time now, and you have officially perfected holding your head up! Sometimes I can even carry you on my hip!
  
• You love your Bumbo chair. In the kitchen, in the floor, on the bed...you are so happy in that thing! (This might embarrass you later, but it also puts you in the perfect position to poop! We are so happy about this...and that it's so easy to clean=) )
  
• You are just an all-around happy, good baby! You cry if you're hungry, tired, or have a tummy ache, but the happy times way outweigh the sad! We love you so much!

We did Kam's 3 month pictures today! He's getting so big! He's finally fitting into some really cute outfits...like this one with the hat!!! I'm sure his dad would say he hated it so he's flipping me off here...but he does that a lot=)

He would not take his fingers out of his mouth this morning! Even when he smiled!

We had our now-standing Thursday lunch date with Lauren, Paul, and Sara at Chik-Fil-A today, so we got all dressed to go.

Ella wanted to wear her pink Hello Kitty rainboots, so we planned the rest of her outfit around that. She insisted on wearing the scarf and mittens, but her hands started sweating before we left the house, so she took the winter attire off.

We had a fun lunch time...Ella and Paul got to play after they ate. They love Chik-Fil-A!

So today has been a pretty good day! No major meltdowns, just some good quality time with my two favorite kids ever! I so do not want this summer to end!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I will detail our day later on in this post, but at one point we stopped by Kaleb's work to go over some papers that I needed to sign. Ella had the camera and was taking pictures. We had no idea what she was taking pictures of...until we looked at them tonight. Here are just a few of the jewels she captured:

I have no idea who Ella's seen do this. Definitely not her step-mama. No way. Not me! We have laughed so hard at these!!! I especially love how big her eyes are in all of them. She is so funny!!

So, today was park day! Kam and I got up at 8 to get ready and let Ella sleep til 9. We made it to the park around 10:30...and stayed all of 30 minutes! It was ridiculously hot, but we still got some cute pictures!

Ella played and Kamden sat there...this was his first time out in the stroller and not in the carseat. It was just too hot and he was soaking through his clothes with the sweat. So, time for the front facing stroller rides! He is such a big boy!
Okay, so it's not much for head support...but it's gotta be much cooler!!

Kam is totally calling a Time-Out here. I just didn't catch it until I uploaded the pictures. Too little, too late.

At one point in the park excursion, I'd gone to the car to put up his carseat and left Kam and Ella at the park entrance. I turned around to see Ella quickly walking away from Kam with a duck very close behind. It had taken a special interest in our girl...and she was especially interested in getting away from it!=) I must say, it did get a little too close for comfort...

After half an hour of baking in the sun, Ella was ready to leave. I hated to just go home since I'd built up the park trip so much, so I suggested we go play at the mall instead of going back to the house. She liked that idea=) She had a blast there...and it felt oh-so-much better!

Did you know our girl is very close to perfecting Hop-scotch?

She had a great time playing...and Kam actually had a great time watching! At one point he was straightening out like he was trying to push himself off of me to get down and get at 'em! This was the first mall trip where he didn't scream. Yay!!!

As always, there are a ton more pictures from today on Facebook...hopefully we'll get around to 4 month pictures tomorrow. And we're meeting for our weekly Chik-Fil-A meal again, so I am going to try and remember to get pictures of that, too. Oh, and I will be singing the glories of the Bumbo seat. Wait for it...

Playing Picture Catch-Up & Conquering Motion

Alright! The Breauxs came over for dinner and to help us fill out our house contract tonight, so the camera is back! First, let's catch up from this weekend...

The whole family got into the pool before the volleyball began. Kamden seemed to enjoy it. It's cooler than his bath water, but he still seemed quite content. Do you know they don't make Little Swimmers for 3 month olds? Haha...maybe that's supposed to tell us something.

One of the highlights of this day was the fact that Pawpaw taught Ella how to swim! She is pretty terrified of putting her face in the water, but he bought her some goggles and now you can't get her to take her face out! She puts her head down and swims. I guess her main thing was having her nose in the water. Now we just need to perfect the art of kicking out instead of down in the water=)

Here she is in all her gear. Can you tell how much she loves this pool?

We finally got a picture of Mema with her grandkids! Once again, Kam is the only one not looking at the camera. Come on, kid, you are killin' me here!


We also were able to get a picture of Pawpaw with his kiddos! I think they were watching Willy Wonka. Can I just say that Kamden loves Willy Wonka? And yesterday we discovered he loves Chicken Little, too. He thought it was so funny!
Last picture of the day, Artsy Ella took this great Rule of Thirds picture! We haven't even sent her to photography school yet. A prodigy, I'm sure. =)

As always, there are many more pictures up on Facebook.

Now let's talk about today and the second half of my title. Conquering Motion. Today I put Kam down for some tummy time on his little play-mat. The kid scooted until his head was completely off it! More than once!! He was also trying realllly hard to turn over from his back to his belly. He'd get everything turned except for his top leg. It just wouldn't cooperate! Anyway, I was just thrilled that he scooted!!! So Kaleb comes home and Ella and I have been talking up this scooting business. He puts Kam on the floor on his tummy to see him scoot and the boy rolls over. This is the first time we've seen this. We were so excited!!! He did it again, so we got it on video, but it's on Hi-8 so I can't put it on here. Hopefully we will catch it again soon. I still have to share our sing-a-long video. Man, I've got a lot of bandwidth to burn!

Tomorrow morning we are going to take our first trip to the park! Hopefully, everyone complies. Ella asked about going to the park today, so I was toying with the idea of going tomorrow. Then, she had a major, and I do mean major meltdown because she wanted to go home with Mema, Pawpaw, and Cay-Cay. Before you start thinking we are awful parents, the plan was for her to stay the night with them Friday and Saturday night...they're driving to Houston for an Astros game Saturday evening and then we are meeting them for the Astros game on Sunday. I have never seen her fight as hard as she did tonight...it didn't help that she was tired and it was 10:30. Anyway, I decided the park would be an excellent distractor...only it wasn't...but I still want to go.

I haven't talked about this on here, but this is our last visit with Ella before she starts school. We've avoided it as long as we could, but it's here, and it hurts. I had a mini-meltdown myself last night when she told me she wouldn't be able to see us as long when she started school. I guess I didn't realize she knew. I just cannot begin to think what we are going to do without her here. We don't know when we will get her or anything...and that's probably what's bothering me the most. The fact that after we bring her back this time, we don't know how long it'll be before we see her again. I should probably stop talking about it because I'll be a blubbery mess again...I just want to do everything possible to make this last time a fun one for her. Please pray for all of us...it's going to be a very big, very hard adjustment for us all. We really do feel that the Lord has called us to stay here for a while. I know He must know what He's doing. We just have to trust that he is going to work it all out. You know, like that Tom Petty song? It'll all work out...

(No) More Than Words

Sunday turned out to be SO much fun!!! I was able to enjoy the pool without completely embarrassing myself at pool volleyball=)

This is going to be a boring post, I'll just warn y'all now! I got some wonderful pictures yesterday, but (and it's a big but) I left the camera at the Breauxs' house!!! I got a sinking feeling halfway home last night, but it was way too late to turn around. You know that feeling when you don't have a cell phone? That is suddenly how I've become without a camera. I mean, what if some amazing photo opportunity presents itself? What if Kam rolls over?? What if Ella starts talking to him and he actually starts jabbering back to her??? Nothing to capture it with. And what makes it worse is that tomorrow Kam will officially be 4 months! And how in the world can we set up a cute little photo set in the crib with the little sign with nothing to capture it with?! If I've learned anything it's just how much I rely on that thing. To be perfectly honest, I'd planned to postpone all blogging until we got it back, but I just can't do that. So I've been told=)

Just be ready when it is back...you are gonna get more pictures than you ever thought you wanted to see!

Today was a pretty good one...the kiddos were fabulous this morning...I was able to get some laundry folded, the dishwasher unloaded, breakfast dishes actually washed before lunch, straightened and vaccuumed the house...and we still had time to get groceries before meeting Kaleb to meet with our seller. Ella has been absolutely perfect all day. Our dear Kamden...well, let's just say he has, ah, voiced his opinion a lot. I sing the praises of the sling and its inventors...it saves all our lives on grocery day. He usually sleeps the whole trip. But today was just plain bad timing. I'd fed him at 1, then I had to get ready and get Ella ready and by the time we left the house it was already 2:30. Mistake #1. I knew that he'd be hungry around 3, which was also right around the time I'd be grocery shopping, but there was no alternative. So, off we went. He did sleep in the sling for the shopping part of the trip...then the checking-out time came at 3:25 and he woke up with the hunger of a lion and the voice of one. I guess. He let the entire store know how he felt...he somehow finagled himself half out of the sling...the sweet check-out lady actually unloaded my buggy for me! That was a huge lifesaver. He finally calmed down enough to get back in the sling facing out...and we made it to the car before the screams started again. Our sweet Ella, on the other hand, was an absolute angel!!! She didn't even ask to get a toy or anything! This is a first. She packed her "fancy toys" in her "fancy purse" for the trip.

After we got Kamden fed, we headed to Bridge City to let Ella see the house and to go over the contract with the seller. Ella loved the house! She ran laps around the living room while the grownups quickly came to the realization that none of us had a clue about contracts and reading them and filling them out. Luckily, we've got friends in...I can't think of anything witty to insert here that'd let you know I was singing "I've Got Friends in Low Places"...anyway, Kaleb works with a couple ladies who are going to take a look at it for us tomorrow! So, contract should be done tomorrow, take it to the seller Wednesday, turn it over to the Title company, and get this thing going! It is so very exciting to think about being in our own home! I am trying really hard not to get my hopes up in case something falls through....but, man, it sure is hard!

Tomorrow I have a goal...and that goal is to have clean bathrooms! So, hopefully the kiddos (namely, Kam) will comply and let me do my thang.

Note: The song alluded to in the title of this post is my all-time favorite Monster Ballad. EVER.

VBS, Trips, Sing-a-Longs, and Apparating

VBS was a lot of fun, but I am glad it's over! It threw Kam off our evening schedule, which also threw off his day schedule, and we were busy trying to get things moving on the house I posted about before. We've talked to our lender and to the seller and we think we've come up with a number we're all happy with...it seems like God is totally taking control of the situation, which is exactly what we were praying He'd do! He's pretty awesome like that=)

So during VBS I mentioned I had the babies...we all had a blast! Remember how I was trying to explain that little thing Kam was so content sitting in?



There it is! Can any of you tell me what it's real name is? We have a Babies R Us gift card to use, and I am pretty positive this is what it'll go for! He sure did love that thing.

After VBS Friday night, we headed off to Many. We got Ella at 10:30 Saturday morning and a friend from high school who takes amazing pictures came to do Ella & Kam's pictures!!! I was sooooooo excited that we were able to get her. You have got to check out her stuff!! We cannot wait to see the pictures!! (But we will wait patiently, Gen, while you work your extra magic=) )

After the pictures, my dad boiled some delicious shrimp...then Ella wanted to have a Disney Sing-along (I have been debating about whether it's sing-along or sing-a-long. I think on videos we have it's Sing-a-long, but why? Along is a word. Sing along. Sing-along. Anyway, I don't like the way Sing-along looks, so I compromised and used both hyphenations, one in the title and one here. and now you know just how much I dwell on grammar.).
I would've taken a video of that, but we were all singing and...well...you know. She wanted to revisit Disney songs on the ride home, though, and I DID get a couple videos of that. I'm working on getting them uploaded but that seems to be a major feat so just be patient with me as I try to be patient with my computer!

After Many, we headed down to Starks to visit with the Breauxs, Renfrows, an Edgar, and a couple Colemans. We also got to see some of Kaleb's dad's family that we hadn't seen in forever, so that was nice! We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time at the Breauxs' house, so tomorrow after church we are heading back for an afternoon filled with great company, great food, and a great pool=) I know there will be pool volleyball...y'all pray for a sista! I am so athletically challenged, yes, even in the pool. I hate to embarrass my family! I guarantee that I will always cause my team to lose, though. Sigh. Maybe one day I'll get some coordination! =)

On that note, it is 1:14 a.m. and we have to be up at 7:30 to get ourselves and our wonderful children ready for Sunday School by 9:45! Sunday mornings growing up were always hectic, and I am very quickly realizing why. I leave you with a beautiful picture of a beautiful girl with a beautiful flower...

I sure do love this girl!

Oh, one more thing. On the way home tonight, 2 street lights went out as we were driving by, and I spent the rest of the ride home trying to figure out why in the world anyone would want to apparate to Port Arthur, TX!!! (If any of you are Harry Potter fans, you will get this.)