Miracle Children

I am off on Tuesdays & Thursdays now, and watching Oprah is my only break the entire day. Today, the episode was "Miracle Children". Children really & truly are a blessing, and we should cherish every accomplishment, defeat, tear, and smile while we can.

One story turned on the water works for me. If you didn't get a chance to watch, you can see the 6-minute video below. (Watch the video before continuing to read!)
http://www.oprah.com/media/20081001_tows_99balloons

They interviewed the parents on the show. They have now been blessed again, and they are due to have another baby in 2 more weeks. I have never seen two people with such a positive outlook on life. They have a way of looking at the glass half-full, and it's amazing to me how strong they are!

Now go give each of your children a kiss - even if they are asleep!

Good night!

State Fair!

The Rogers & Linders went to the Texas State Fair last Saturday.
We had a great time, and wore all 4 kids out. Jaydon & Ashleigh were so cute together. Those 2 get along so well, and I love seeing them together. The Dads seemed to have a lot of fun too.
I, unfortunately, didn't take any pictures, but please visit Andi's blog to see some great pictures and a VERY funny video: http://thelinderfamily-andi.blogspot.com/2008/10/fair-fun.html
The video really is a must see! :)

I will blog again soon - sorry to be M.I.A, but life is just getting in the way...

25-Week Exam

I went in today for a check-up & sono at the doctor's office, and everything was good! The baby weighed in at 2lbs. even. (She was 1lb. 15½oz. to be exact.) She's a growin'! I think this might be my heaviest child yet. Heavy=7lbs. in our family since both of our children have been 6½ pounders.
Mommy weighed in at...HA! Like I would really tell you that-come on now!!! I have weighed the same amount for the last 4 visits. I know they think that I don't eat when they see that. There are 4 doctors in the office, and I saw a new one today. She's completely new to the practice, so she was asking me about my eating habits. I nicely told her to go through my chart, and she would see that I never gain weight, but everything always ended up fine. She said to continue whatever I'm doing because my iron is great, (Doesn't that mean that I'm eating?) the baby is growing fine, and my stomach is measuring perfectly. NICE! Time to over indulge at the State Fair on Saturday...with only 3 lbs. total weight gain so far, I DESERVE it!!!

I took Jaydon to the mall to buy a new shirt for his school pictures. We went on Monday; his pictures were on Tuesday. I bought him a white button down from GAP. We went to the restroom and after I sat down, he says: "Mommy, I think if you pee-pee more, my baby sister will come out." Thank God there was nobody else in the bathroom - although anyone with a sense of humor would have laughed. How on Earth does that child know that babies come from DOWN THERE? The baby is in my stomach, and he gets that, but the rest?!?!?!? It was just comical, and also a comment that I completely ignored. Some people are comfortable speaking to their 5 year olds about that. I just don't think Jaydon fully comprehends, and the last thing I need is for him to go to school and repeat anything. Had he asked me a question, I might have answered, but since it was just a comment, I felt like I didn't have to elaborate on it. We can have that discussion when he's older. :)

So on Tuesday, we get to school. The DORK that I am...I carry his back pack for him because I don't want him to wrinkle his shirt that was JUST ironed. Somebody already told me that I was a "freak" for that. Yes, OCD/Anal/Paranoid - whatever you want to call it. I'm about to spend good money on pictures. My son will look perfect, darn it!
Anyway, I handed him his back pack when we got to his room, and he gave me a kiss. I turned to walk away when I hear, "Wooooooooooo-hoo! Man oh man Jaydon, don't you look nice today." So of course, I have to turn around and look in the room. Jaydon is just standing there smiling, and more children are coming up to him all smiling, admiring his clothes, and trying to touch his hair. NO-NOT THE GEL/HAIR SPRAYED HEAD I JUST SPENT 10 MINUTES ON!!!!!
I, of course, am beaming. Then that same little boy says, "My momma don't even dress me like that for Sunday school." At that point, I had to leave so I wouldn't crack up. Kids are great!!!

Those are my funnies for the night!

Tootles...

Weekend

Hola!
I'm bummed the weekend is over. Mondays are such a drag. It seems like everybody is off from work/school today except for my family. Jaydon was off from school on the 3rd & 6th of this month, and Jeremy hardly gets any days off.

We had a double header on Saturday, and surprisingly, the kids did okay. We had a slight intermission while we waited for the 2nd team to arrive, (they were from the Boat Club YMCA, and all got stuck in traffic) but it all worked out well. During the intermission, we had story time so that the kids would stay seated and focused. It worked for a little while. The kids are cute when they are trying to come up with stories. Some told better stories than others; some didn't want to tell a story at all. It's amazing the different personalities that they have. Jaydon told "The Three Bears" and he used all of the "voices" that I use when I tell it. It was funny to listen to them, and I wish that I could have videotaped it!!

We spent the rest of Saturday at home, not doing much. We watched the Texas Tech game. WOW - what a scary ending! They pulled it off in OT with a 37-31 victory over Nebraska, but that's too close in my opinion. It just goes to show that most of these Division I schools are good enough to play each other. They are still ranked #7 in the polls which is AWESOME for them! (My Trinity Trojans also won on Friday night.)
The Texas/OU game was a good game to watch - even though we wanted OU to win. I CANNOT believe that they ranked Texas as #1 now. Those BCS polls are all a matter of opinion! I wish they would do it like the NFL - REAL playoffs and such.
After the Tech game, we went to Sam's. We bought formula, diapers, Jell-O, yogurt, and corn dogs. Too exciting, isn't it?

Jaydon decided that night that on Sunday, we would go to Pizza Garden for lunch, then go eat ice cream after that, (Jaydon does NOT like ice cream-funny story there) then go get Jacoby's haircut, then go to the park & play tennis, then go to Wal-Mart. Sounds like a good day to me, kiddo! Such a planner...
So on Sunday, Jeremy went to play golf. He left at 6:30 AM, and got home right at noon. I had the boys ready when he got there, and we went to Pizza Garden for lunch. All of us ate for $13 - sweet! Jaydon ate 5 slices (yes, 5!) of SPINACH pizza. He thought it was cheese. The spinach was hidden under the layers of cheese, and he didn't even taste it. Jeremy and I were just waiting for him to complain, but he never realized it. Then after that, we went to get ice cream at Sheridan's. They open at 1:00 on Sunday, so it worked out perfectly. We were their first customers that day. Jaydon wanted one scoop of "veRnilla" (so cute how he says it!) and he said that I had to get 1 scoop of chocolate and so did Daddy. So he ordered for us, and when he got his ice cream cone, he hands it to me. Yep - I knew that was happening! I MADE him lick it, and he about puked. He gagged, pretended to choke, and handed it back. This is the child who doesn't eat yogurt, Jell-O, applesauce, cake or popsicles either. What child doesn't like a scoop of ice cream? ARGH! We did get a VERY nice compliment for a lady there. She arrived right after we did with her 2 granddaughters. Jaydon walked over to me and I hear her say to her oldest granddaughter, "Wow, what a good-looking little boy." Then she comes over to me and says, "He is SO handsome. He is going to be a lady killer when he grows up." I thanked her then turned around to look at Jaydon and he DID look really handsome on Sunday in an all white shirt. It looked so good on his tan skin. So I decided that I need to get him a new white shirt for school pictures on Tuesday! :)

So after that, Jacoby was restless, so we had to go home. Jaydon & Jeremy went to the park and played tennis for a whole hour. Jeremy says that Jaydon is getting so good - they can actually go back & forth over the net a few times now. Jaydon does SO well at individual sports like golf & tennis.
So the goal after that was to get Jacoby his 1st hair cut. Well, that didn't happen. You see, that morning, Jacoby was crawling around the house and he decided to try and stand ON the window sill. Yes, on TOP of it! He had one leg on it...well, he obviously didn't make it up there since he's only 28inches long, but his eye sure found the corner of the ledge. He has a nice goose egg on the corner. Poor baby! What's sad is that I was watching the ENTIRE thing and just couldn't get there in time to stop it. I feel badly for him because he is in a play pen or exersaucer at my Mom's pretty much all day long, so during the weekend, I like to give him free rein of the house. We have put away all of the breakables, and child covered all of the plugs, so we thought we were safe. Lesson learned, huh? Since Jaydon never crawled, this is all new to us!
Okay - so I didn't want to have his first haircut picture with that mess on his eye, so we'll save that for next weekend. He is in DESPERATE need of a haircut. Then we went to Wal-Mart, came home, and called it a night.
My Dolphins lost in the last seconds of the game to the stupid Texans. That was my only football loss this weekend. :(

Oh - after the Cowboys game yesterday, Jaydon says, "Dad, I think that blue team needs a little more practice." LOL! It was TOO funny! That little stinker...it IS the truth though!

That's enough writing from me...

Have a good week!

Aba's Birthday

Today is Aba's birthday.
She drives me nuts with the way she is about not wanting ANYONE to know her real age! Here's the scoop...SHE IS 51! She tells some people that she's 45, some that she's 46, and some that she's 42. I don't know how she keeps up. What cracks me up is that I'm 29. Ya - you do the math. So Mom, would you rather somebody think that you had me when you were 13?!? My assumption is that she tells all of her friends that I'm also younger, which isn't good since I have a 5 (almost 6) year old! You just can't win with that woman!
What's sad is that she does NOT look 51, so why lie about it? Maybe it's because I'm not even 30 yet, but I just never understood that whole not wanting people to know your age thing.

We went over to her house tonight and had pizza, buffalo wings, and a pineapple-upside cake that I baked last night which is her fav. We bought her a new cordless phone for her house. She was tired of her old one. For once, she actually liked her gift!!! She is SO picky and never likes anything, so we were glad to see a HAPPY expression for once when she saw what she got. Of course, she didn't want us taking any pictures because she didn't have any make-up on. That's my Mother - the fashion diva!!! God forbid you don't catch her looking 100%!

Jaydon LOVES birthdays. When we were singing 'Happy Birthday", my Mom started singing and Jaydon says to her, "Not you, you don't sing!" Then my Mom told him that he could blow out the candles and he said, "It's not my birthday." He almost looked confused. It was so cute!

Happy Birthday, Aba!
Felicidades, Abuelo Farito! (Abuelo Farito is Aba's Dad-my grandpa. He turned 78-I think. I used to keep up with everyone's age, and I just can't anymore. There are too many people in the family now! Pretty cool that they both have the same birthday though.)

The Train

I haven't been blogging much because I don't have much to share. Such a boring, monotonous life that I lead!

I'm trying to get over a cold - I'm almost there. Jaydon is back to 100%-no more sickness for him. He usually recovers pretty quickly, thank goodness!

Things I'd Like To Do In the NEAR Future:
1. Get a mani & pedi.
2. Get my brows waxed.
3. Buy J5 a crib.
4. Buy J4 & J5 coordinating bedding for their cribs.
5. Eat tons of junk food at the State Fair!
6. Go shopping for a new SUV.
7. Have a night out with J1 to do whatever we want.
8. Teach Jaydon how to go across the monkey bars alone. He's "scared" - or so he claims.
9. Send a letter out to all of the residents in our sub-division to encourage them to decorate for Christmas so that I can call the news stations and have them come out here and do a news broadcast. I'd like to have different volunteers stand out there beginning in December every night with a donation bucket, and see if we can raise money for some sort of children's fund from the people who come look at our lights/decorations. I've been wanting to do this for 3 years, so why don't I???

Things I'd Like To Do In The Future:
1. Take a family trip for an entire week to somewhere that we've never been.
2. Start baking a cake from scratch every month to try new recipes. (I've been wanting to do this FOREVER.)
3. Donate time to a children's organization, and be a child advocate.
4. Stack our washer/dryer and build floor-to-ceiling shelves in our laundry room to de-clutter.
5. Just stop living and "smell the roses" for one entire day!

==============================================

We went on a train ride on Saturday from Grapevine to the Ft. Worth Stockyards and back. Jaydon had a lot of fun, and we (Jeremy & I) enjoyed it too. We think that Jacoby also enjoyed the ride. It took nearly 2 hours to get there due to "train traffic" (Yes - train traffic!) and Jacoby didn't fuss at all. I didn't realize how many cool outdoor things there were to do at the Stockyards. We were at the Stockyards for 2 hours, and enjoyed every minute of it. There are a few pictures of our adventure below - none at the Stockyards because we were having too much fun to stop and take pictures. We did get a cute family picture that cost us $10, but it was worth it and I have it here at home.

Have a great week...

Puffy the Train

Here we go...

SO cool...

The Boys

Jacoby NOT interested...STILL not interested...
The bag wins!
FREEZE - You've been CAUGHT!

Jacoby Cade Rogers: 9-Months & Counting...

Wow, big boy - you are 9-months old today...

You weigh:
20 lbs.
(Maybe it's being pregnant, but you sure feel like you weigh more than this!)

You measure:
28 inches

At 9-months, Jaydon weighed 19lbs. 2oz. and was 28½ inches long. Again, Jacoby is just a bit shorter, and a bit heavier.
The similarities end there...

In the past week or so, you have started standing up. You kneel in the bathtub (in your little tub) and then grab the side of the tub and anchor yourself up. I cannot take my hands off of you or you will slip and fall! You are starting to stand in your crib, too. We lowered the mattress down to the bottom rung a few weeks back, so it sits really low. You push your bumper down so that you have an extra 2ish inches of cushion, and then you stand. Standing is about all you'll do though, and you don't want to take steps on your own at all.

You will not sit still, either! We can't even cuddle with you when you are tired anymore! You just want to move, move, move. Amazing how adventurous you are at this age! You crawl everywhere and I have to be so careful. Your favorite place to crawl to is the A/C vent. You run your fingers across the grill and laugh at the "music" it creates. Your brother, on the other hand, had NO interest in crawling, and was walking alone at 10-months!

Aba has a little car that you love to sit on. You can't quite reach the floor yet to push yourself on it, but you will be doing that soon, and I can't wait to hear you chuckle when you get that thing going.

Oh - and you follow Jaydon EVERYWHERE! We will pull out a million baby toys and you want NOTHING to do with them. You only want to play with the trains or cars that "brother" is playing with. Poor Jaydon gets frustrated. I mean - he WAS an only child for over 5 years! He shares with you Jacoby, but then he gets his toys back with drool on them, and I feel bad for him. Do you know what you do Jacoby, when Jaydon says, "Ewww - that's gross!"? You laugh at your brother like you understand him. Oh dear...do we have our hands full or what?!?

You only have 4 teeth still. I'm not sure why the teeth have stopped coming in, but the drool hasn't ceased!

You have these caramel/honey colored highlights in your hair. They are SO precious and every woman who colors her hair would be SO jealous!!! Your hair is definitely not black. To us, it looks like it is getting lighter by the day!

You have now decided to throw a fit every time we put you down to sleep. The second we walk away, the waterworks show begins! You cry for about 3 minutes, and then you just lay down and go to sleep. I know you are just trying to remind us that even though you don't have a voice, you still have an opinion!

I always feel like I'm forgetting something...
We are so proud of everything that you are doing, little man! You have a contagious laugh that I can never seem to capture on video, but the memory of it will remain in my heart forever.

We love you, Coby Co-Co.
Happy 9-month birthday!