Update on School

Sawyer's school year is going GREAT so far! Each week, they are learning a letter in the alphabet. The week before last was "A". Most everything they did that week revolved around "A". They had show-and-tell one day and had to bring in something that started with the letter "A". Sawyer loves animals, so that was the obvious choice. At the end of the week, Sawyer was pointing out "A's" everywhere we went (signs, books, t-shirts)!!

I think we had one time-out that week for head-butting one of his buddy's (Dane) in music class. Ms. Jenica said she thought they were just playing, but regardless, he went to time-out (as he should have) and they were separated. Ms. Dawn said Sawyer and Dane have become big buddies and love to see who can break the crayon the fastest, who can karate chop the best, etc!! BOYS!!

Last week was "B". They had Tea-Party Tuesday where they had to bring a teddy bear and then on Thursday they had a bug hunt.

This week was "C". So, on Tuesday they had cap day...which of course he was representing the Crimson Tide!!

Along with the alphabet, they are counting, learning the days of the week and continuing to review colors and shapes.

A is for Alligator

Thursday (August 19), Matt left for an alligator hunt in Eufaula, AL. The way our days have been going around here, I was dreading him being gone but Thursday wasn't too bad. I think I had both the boys in the bed by 8:30. I had a relaxing night watching Project Runway.

That Friday was a fun but crazy day. We met Rachel (a friend of mine I used to work with) and her two kids, Claire and Nathan. She also invited a couple more moms and their kids. We met at Madison Square Mall and let the kids play in the play area and eat lunch. Sawyer had a great time. We got out of there without a major meltdown. I had to take something back to one of the stores and while I'm in there, Sutton gets hungry and Sawyer poops in his pull-up. So, off we go to the family station, where we spend about 30 minutes trying to get everyone's needs met. Then we had to make a stop at Sam's. This was only the second time I've gotten out with both the kids by myself for a long, length of time. It went good, just very tiring.

That night, we had a surprise anniversary dinner to attend, and then afterwards, made a stop at Mimi and Pops' house to get our prizes (as Sawyer says). Mimi and Pops have been on vacation the week before and were anxious to see their grandsons :) After we left Mimi and Pops', we decided to stay the night with Mom and Dad.

The next day, Mom, Courtney, Sara, Graysen, Sutton, Sawyer and myself all loaded up and went to Greenhills Mall in Nashville (main objective - Cheescake Factory)!! I finally got to try the Red Velvet Cheesecake....it is delicious!! Courtney and Sara got the Reese's Peanut Butter Cheescake. I tried it and it was good, just a too rich for me. We did some shopping and we were back home by 4:00pm. Mom and I watched "Date Night" and then off to bed!!

Sunday morning we were lazy (well, as lazy as you can be with 2 small kids). Sunday night was church and then Monday we headed back home.

As I said earlier, Matt had been gone all weekend on an alligator hunt. When I talked to him Monday morning, he gave me the good news that he was headed back home because he got his 'gator!! He got home late Monday evening. He had the alligator processed before he came home, but he kept the head (do we sound redneck yet?)!! Sawyer is obsessed with alligators (actually he's obsessed with ANY animal) so he thought it was "awesome" that his dad brought home an alligator head. He came running in the house "mom, it's awesome!!"!! He said "it has teeth like sawyer"! Matt is a huge believer in you eat what you kill. So, he found a recipe and Tuesday night, we ate alligator. It is white meat, so it taste similar to chicken, but I still prefer chicken.

Cereal and a Cowboy

Last night, I decided to give Sutton some cereal for the first time. As you will see from the pictures, he didn't really enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I think he wanted to like it, but it was just so foreign to him. We will keep trying it here and there and see if he acquires a taste for it. We still haven't started baby food (other than the cereal) and probably won't until he is 6 months. Our pediatrician is very strict about starting solid foods before they are 6 months, and I try to follow his advice, most of the time. I was so worried about starting solid foods with Sawyer that I made a chart and made sure we gave him veggies first and that he only had ONE food at a time to make sure he didn't have any allergies. Thankfully, so far, Sawyer hasn't shown any signs of food allergies, but because he did have skin allergies and asthma when he was a baby, the doctor said that he was more at risk for food allergies (another reason why I tried to be careful). Anyways, I don't think I'll be as paranoid with Sutton and will probably let him try more things at once (from the table) which is something I never let Sawyer do. I was terrified to let him eat from the table....i know, crazy. First time mom, what can I say?!?!

Oh, and I had to throw in a picture of our lil' cowboy....in the words of Sawyer "yee-haw towboy"!!

What a weekend!!

Saturday started out great with a trip to Harmony Park Safari (see previous post); however, not too long after we left, things started going downhill....in a hurry!! I made 3 trips to the grocery store while in the process of making 3 desserts for church the next morning. It was literally one mishap after the other. Sutton didn't rest good that night because he was getting a cold and was having a hard time breathing out of his nose. Sunday morning was the usual hustle and bustle getting out the door with food, 2 kids, etc. We finally get to church about 15 minutes late and it is BURNING up!! I had to go to the bathroom to cool off because i was miserable. Anyways, we get through church, eat dinner and get home for naps. We attempted to put both boys down for naps, but you will see how that ended. Sutton was actually sleeping, but I could hear Sawyer in his room playing....didn't think much of it though. As long as he's playing quietly, I don't push him to sleep. I'm trying to take a nap myself when I hear Sawyer calling for me. What I saw when I opened the door was one of the most disgusting things I have encountered since becoming a mom.....Sawyer had taken off ALL his clothes, pooped in the floor and literally PLAYED in it!! I was stunned at first and then I called for Matt. I got Sawyer cleaned up while poor Matt cleaned up the room. The smell was soooo offensive that Matt had to wrap a T-shirt around his nose....LOL!! Once we got everything cleaned up, Sutton wakes up sicker than before. Sutton did rest better Sunday night though and was feeling better the next morning.

I was hoping the weekend wouldn't be any indication of how our week would go, but it seems as if our Monday was following our weekend trend. Sawyer is still not pooping in the potty, and my patience is running thin. I'm so tired of it!! I read yesterday that the #1 reason kids don't poop on the potty is because they are afraid. I asked Sawyer if he was afraid, and he said that he was scared of the bugs (when we find a bug in the house, he likes to flush them down the toilet). I told him we would get some special bug spray a/k/a Windex, spray it in the toilet and the bugs would go away. In case you are wondering, it didn't work. Mom bought him a "potty toy" that he can only play with while sitting on the potty. It does help him to stay on the potty longer, but he still hasn't pooped on the potty. We are pulling at straws at this point and if you have any suggestions or advice.....PLEASE let me know!!

Harmony Park Safari

This morning Matt mentioned taking Sawyer to the Harmony Park Safari ("HPC"), so that's just what we did. HPC is a drive-thru animal park in Clouds Cove. They have ALL kinds of animals including deer, rams, a hog, a camel, a zebra, miniature horses, ducks, emus, ostriches (or something like), bulls (they had an albino bull which is VERY rare here in the U.S.), and a buffalo. At the entrance, you can buy "treats" to feed the animals. You are suppose to keep your windows half-way up because the animals will come right up to your window, especially when you are feeding them. Sawyer got in the front seat while I got in the back to feed Sutton. Let me just say that child has NO fear of animals. He loved them coming right up to the window. He was sticking his head out the window, which he was not suppose to do. He also petted the zebra, which he was not suppose to do. I kept telling him to get back and he said "mom, they not hurt you". That was probably about the coolest thing we could do with him at this point. He and dad LOVE animals, so they were in their element....me, not so much, but I loved seeing Sawyer have fun. They also had a reptile exhibit with snakes, fish, turtles,alligators, etc. Also, they had African Tortoises which were huge. We got some lettuce to feed them, and Sawyer enjoyed that as well. Oh, they had monkeys too!! It really was a lot of fun.

A,B,C's

When we (meaning my brother and I) were little, mom bought us a set of ABC books. Each letter has it's own book, for example, "My a Book" and so on and so on. I LOVED these books. I had the thought the other day to get these from mom to read to Sawyer. These books just take me back :) I especially loved the "My d Book" because it was all about dolls and dollhouses. I don't think that will be Sawyer's favorite though.

First day in the three year old class

(Excuse the foggy pics. My lens fogged up when we went outside.)

Today was Sawyer's first day in the three year old class. This is his second year at Happy Days, so he's pretty much used to the whole "school thing". He was very excited about going to school today. Yesterday he was asking me if certain kids (from his old class) were going to be there. He LOVES his friends. He's quite the social butterfly. When I went to pick him up, Ms. Dawn said they had a GREAT day and no time-outs!!! She said Sawyer was quite the show-off. He kept saying "watch this"! They did a test today to see what the kids know. Right now, we need to work on the colors orange, pink and black and rectangle and heart shapes. They talked about germs and how they make you sick and went over the class rules. We are looking forward to a GREAT year with Ms. Dawn!!

4 1/2 Months

Sutton, you are now 4 1/2 months old. You are growing waaay too fast!! You are mommy's little chunky monkey. You are eating 8 ozs., 5 times a day. You LOVE to eat!! I'm excited to see how you like solid foods since you are such the eater. You are going to bed about 8:00 at night and sleeping until about 6:00 the next morning. You eat and then go back to sleep until 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning and nap here and there throughout the day. You are SO ticklish. You have the sweetest, most pleasant smile. Everyone always comments about how happy you are. You love to be talked to. You are taking your paci more than before. You have outgrown your swing, but still love your bouncy seat. I'm trying to get dad to get your excersaucer down from the attic, because I know you will love it. I love you, Mom

Brothers

This and That

Tuesday, we went back to the pool. Maycee and Sage were there, so they had a lot of fun playing together. Tuesday night, we had orientation at school and we found out Sawyer has Ms. Dawn!!! I'm so excited. She is just what Sawyer needs. She is stern, yet soooo loving. She said by the end of the year they will be writing their names. I know he's going to learn so much this year, which is so exciting!! He'll start the new school year on Tuesday. On a sad note, Ms. Debbie will not be back this year (music teacher). She was so great with ALL the kids and we'll miss her dearly!

Wednesday, Cayden came over to play!! They had so much fun, as you can see :) They are BEST buddies. They play really good together. They love to jump on the bed and wrestle, until dad comes in and tells them they can't jump anymore :( (that's why they are pouting in the picture).

Thursday, sawyer was suppose to be taking a nap and i hear a knock on his door..."mommy, i took off my clothes." I open the door and sure enough, he is standing there butt naked with his arms spread wide saying "TA-DA"!!!! Are all 3 yr. olds obsessed with taking off their clothes and underwear?!?! I hope this is normal.

Friday night we had a birthday dinner at mom's for my BIL's birthday, and Saturday, we were back at the pool!! Saturday evening, mom, aunt jane, sutton and me went to Bridgestreet for dessert at the Melting Pot and of course, had to do a little shopping.....HELLO, tax free weekend people!! Matt and I took Sawyer back to the pool on Sunday after church, because Matt hasn't seen Sawyer in the pool yet this summer. If I would have known he would have loved the water so much this summer, I probably would have put him in swimming lessons. Oh well, there is always next year :)