Catching Up

Where to begin?  I have a list of things I need to write about!  So much happens in a few months with three and a half kids.  I guess I will just have to jump in.

Jacob
When I went to South Carolina back in August, Jacob really missed me.  I'm sure all the kids missed me, but Jacob REALLY missed me.  The first night I was away, Brandon called and said Jacob wanted to talk to me.  When he got on the phone, he was crying and said, "Mommy, where ARE you?  I need you!"  How do you respond to this?  I wanted to somehow jump through the phone and snuggle him.  Brandon made a compromise with Jacob after we got off the phone.  Jacob got to sleep with Daddy in Mommy and Daddy's bed while I was gone.  That dried his tears immediately.  The only problem with this compromise is, when I got home, he still wanted to sleep in our bed.  No need to fear, we got him back into his bed and all was well...so we thought.  The next morning Brandon almost stepped on Jacob when he got up for work.  At some point in the middle of the night, Jacob dragged his quilt, pillow and teddy into our room and made a pallet on the floor.  I thought this was so sweet, until he continued to do it.  School was going to be starting soon and I wanted to make sure he was getting enough sleep.  He couldn't be sleeping well if he was sneaking into our room.  Luckily, after catching him once at two in the morning, he didn't do it again.  Now, to make sure the kids get enough snuggle time, we snuggle every night before bed.  They beg me to plant a garden on their backs, (just like my grandaddy did to me) and Zoe plants one on my back.  I know there will come a day that they won't want to snuggle with their mother, but I will be there until that day comes!

Jacob started Kindergarden the last week of August and is loving it.  At least, I'm pretty sure he is loving it.  Jacob doesn't like to talk a lot about his day.  I want to hear about every little thing but when I ask him what he did at school, he says, "we played."  That's it, that's all I get.  I got a little frustrated with this and decided we needed a new plan.  Now, every day he has to tell me one thing about school.  Just one.  I write this lonely statement down in a journal for him so that one day he will understand how difficult life was for me.

He is very proud of his Transformers backpack and Star Wars lunch box!

Zoe
Zoe misses Jacob!  Every morning Zoe wakes up and asks, "Is Jacob at school?"  She looks forward to walking to the school every afternoon to pick him up.  In Jacob's absence, Zoe is finally accepting Peyton as a playmate...kind of.  She will share with anyone, including Charlie (our dog), but not Peyton.  If Peyton starts to crawl toward her "girls" (polly pocket princesses), she screams.  In her defense, Peyton does put them in his mouth and slobber all over them.  During the day, Zoe spends her time playing dress up, singing and dancing, and coloring.  If she gets a new coloring book she will sit for an hour coloring.  Needless to say, I love coloring books.  Zoe enjoys snuggling every night too, but her definition is a bit different than Jacob's.  Where Jacob basically lays on you and puts his face in your neck, Zoe just wants to lay in the same bed.  She wants her own pillow and space.  She will lay near me so I can put one arm on her, but that is the extent of her snuggling.

Peyton
He is walking.  That is enough.  I shouldn't have to say more but I will.  Peyton took his first step in early August but has recently taken up to ten steps.  Not only is he walking, but he climbs the stairs in 3 seconds flat.  This child keeps me on my toes.  Usually I can tell where he is in the house at any given moment because of Zoe's screams.  It just makes me nervous when things get too quiet.  For some reason, Peyton likes to play in the toilet and Charlie's water bowl.  I know, gross!  Understandably, we keep the door to the bathroom and baby gate to the kitchen closed at all times.  If for some reason we forget, I hear Jacob yell, "Peyton's in the potty!"  Trust me, that is not something any Mom wants to hear.

He had just started climbing the stairs at this point and would get  tired very easily.

Baby
I have a baby bump now and have started feeling the baby kick.  I look forward to my doctor's appointments every month to hear the heartbeat.  We have our anatomy ultra sound on October 4th and are really looking forward to finding out what we are having.  Everyone asks if I want a boy or a girl.  The answer is, just like every other parent, I want healthy.  But, if I got to choose, I really don't know which I would prefer.  A girl to keep things even and dress up in all the cute stuff again.  A boy would make it easy for him and Peyton to share a room and be best buds.

Brandon and I
Brandon finally got his official orders to Hawaii.  Just like my Dad used to say to me, "What did the monkey say when he got his tail caught in the fan?  IT WON'T BE LONG NOW!"

One more random picture.

Our neighbor's had the Fire Dept over for some reason.  Don't worry, nothing serious.  Jacob and Zoe got their own personal tour.  It was great!