Feed the Ducks

I took Jonathan and Samuel to feed the ducks at City Park this weekend. We had old bread, pretty weather, and a 21 month old that needed to get out of the house, so we took this random trip to the park. I told Jonathan before he took his nap that when he woke up we would go to the park to feed the ducks. He of course wanted to go then, and cried when we didn't. :) But I was surprised when he woke up from his nap saying "ducks!" over and over. He remembered and was so excited! He carried our bag of old bread out to the car and talked about ducks the whole way.
I called my mom on the way and told her where we were going. I told her about how excited Jonathan was and how much he was talking about the ducks. She said, "That's so sweet! One day he won't be so excited to go feed the ducks" She wasn't trying to be hurtful at all, but as I got a lump in my throat, I realized she was right. They might be too busy or cool or uninterested to go to the park with mom to feed the ducks one day. My little boys are growing up more and more everyday, and these sweet moments of pure excitement over feeding ducks will not last forever.
That is why I love spending every minute possible with my kids. We've had to make lots of sacrifices in these past few years, but being able to watch my boys grow and learn is well worth the lost sleep, free time, money, or other things we do without. Every mother is different, but to me, being able to spend as much time as possible with my kids is priceless.
So as we sat on the grass and threw bread to the ducks I thought about how blessed I am, and how thankful I am for this sweet memory with my boys. They're not grown up yet, so I'm storing up all the memories I can! I hope that this Thanksgiving you can remember and treasure all of your "feed the ducks" moments in your life, and thank God for giving them to you!

1 Month of Samuel Love

I can't believe that Samuel is already 1 month old! We're all slowly adjusting to our new life together, and so far everything has been great! It's such a blessing to be the mother of these two boys! Samuel is growing (a lot!) quickly! For his 1 month visit he weighed 12 lbs 8.5 ozs! That's 4 pounds heavier than his birth weight and over 1 pound heavier than Jonathan at this age! Guess he's just in a hurry to get big so he can play with Jonathan sooner. :-) He's definitely a better sleeper than Jonathan was at this age. He usually has one 4-5 hr stretch and 3 hr stretches, which isn't too bad since most of the time he just wakes up, eats, and goes back to sleep.

For the most part things have gone relatively smooth this first month. We've gotten out to the library, grocery store, restaurants, and other places way faster than we did with Jonathan. I'm way more relaxed with Samuel too. The hardest part has been doing bed/bath time by myself when JP has to go to the library at night. Samuel never seems to be able to hang out in the swing while I bathe and do the whole bedtime routine with Jonathan. It's interesting juggling an infant while chasing a naked toddler around the house trying to get pj's on! (Yes, your mental image is probably pretty accurate!) However, Jonathan (my routine-loving, type-A, just-like-his-mother child) has been so flexible, and JP's end of the semester 40 page paper is due next week so the chaos will be better for awhile! Samuel will be older by the time classes start back so hopefully it will be a little easier then. I sure hope so for JP's sake since I unfortunately have to go back to work in January! :(

Here are some pictures of our sweet Samuel. The first ones were taken in the hospital the day we brought him home, and the last one was taken at 1 month old. He definitely has his own look and has already changed so much!

"Beep-Beep" the pump-pump

Samuel was 2 weeks old on Halloween but we decided to brave the festivities anyway! (We didn't get out with Jonathan until he was 1 month old- things really are different with the second child!) We took an adorable elephant and tiger to the Trunk or Treat at church on Wednesday night. As I told MANY people, Samuel was a jungle tiger and not an Auburn or LSU one! Jonathan had a good time running around, playing with a balloon, and just being glad to be out of the house I'm pretty sure! Samuel slept in the stroller the whole time. :)

Friday night we spontaneously decided to carve the "pump-pump" (Jonathan's version of "pumpkin" - so cute!) we got at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. Jonathan didn't help a ton, but he did pick up the seeds on the sidewalk and throw them in the bushes to help his daddy! I asked him what he wanted to name the pump-pump, and since he was riding around on a car at the time, the pumpkin was named "beep-beep". :) We talked about fall, and how leaves change colors where other people live, and had some fun family time. And in case you were wondering, Samuel slept the whole time!

Our tiger and elephant

Daddy's big helper

Why our pumpkin was named "Beep-beep"

The finished product!