PJs and Cowboy Boots

We were getting Fenn ready for bed tonight and he decided he wanted to put on his cowboy boots and go outside.  Boone was already down for the night.  And Fenn ran around in the frontyard in his PJs and cowboy boots for a few minutes.  Oh, to be 2 years old again and not care about what anyone thinks! 

*** BLOG ALERT! *** February and March are caught up!

Yes, I know it is the end of April.  And Yes, I know I'm way, way behind on my blog.  And Yes, we've been extremely busy around here over the last few months with a very active 2 year old, a very active 11 month old, and a daddy who has been working 6 and 7 days a week because of tax season.  So, I have had very little time to work on my blog because, in addition to trying to keep this household going and take care of the boys, I also have a full time job.  So I'm frantically trying to get this blog caught up before Boone's 1st birthday party.  I have tons to blog about for the month of April, including Boone's first haircut, Easter, and our trip to the zoo.  So be on the lookout for those posts... hopefully soon!  {And shhhhh!!!!... I also still have some posts to go back and do in December!  I'm so embarrassed.}

In the meantime, if you'd like to see the posts I just added to February, click on this link and it will give you just the February posts.  The first 2 you see are the new ones (one from 02/28 and one from 02/21).

And if you'd like to see the posts I added to March, click on this link and it will give you just the March posts.  There are 3 new posts interspersed throughout the month, so you'll have to scroll down to find them.  They're titled:  Springtime Fun, Boone Discovers the Pots & Pans, and Making Easter Cookies with Fenn.

And since I don't like doing a post without a photo, here's a cute photo of Boone from early March.

*** UPDATE:  I did manage to get a couple more posts done for April.  Just scroll down a little to see those.  There's one about Boone moving to the big bathtub and one about Boone's first haircut.

Why Do I Even Try???

These are some of my failed attempts at trying to get a decent photo of Fenn and Boone together.  I don't even know why I bother, other than the fact that it would be nice to have at least one good photo.  One where they're both actually looking at the camera... one where Fenn doesn't have a 'strained' expression on his face... one where the lighting is good... one where I actually have my camera settings right... one that is actually in focus.  But so far that hasn't happened.  But I'll keep trying.  In the meantime, here's what I have been able to get.

:: This one is from mid-February.  Those are their cute Christmas outfits they got from their Aunt Tanya and Uncle Greg.  I had been waiting on a nice, somewhat warm winter day so we could go outside and get a good photo in good lighting.  Not so much...  It was cold and Boone wasn't happy about being put down.

:: This one is from late-February.  They're in their jeans, plaid 'cowboy' shirts, and Fenn's cowboy boots from their Aunt Angie and Uncle Todd.  Once again, I had been waiting on a nice, somewhat warm and sunny winter day so we could get a nice shot outside.  We just didn't get very many nice days this winter.  Again, not so much...  Fenn just would not look at the camera.

:: Yet another attempt, but this time by our sugar maple tree.  Fenn was shaking the tree and right after this, he shook something out of the tree and into his eye.  He was even less cooperative after that.  Boone on the other hand was being an angel, standing there very patiently.

:: And the next 3 were taken in late March.  It is a cute series and they're being really sweet to each other.  Unfortunately, I had to pick up my camera pretty quickly to catch the action and didn't have time to get my camera settings right.  But I still love the photos. 

Boone is Officially a Walker Now

Boone recently started taking a few steps at a time.  But now I would say he is officially a walker.  He now takes as many as 8 to 10 steps (or possibly more) at a time.  Here he is from earlier today.  Daddy used a teddy bear as a little extra enticement.

One Spoiled Dog

After a rough night and a busy morning, Dan was wiped out.  The boys were napping, so Dan decided to take a nap, too.  And Petey joined him.

The Promised Trip to Chuck E. Cheese's

To help with the transition, we promised Fenn we would take him to Chuck E. Cheese's after his first day at the new school yesterday.  I think he was hungry from all the stress of the day, because he ate 3 1/2 pieces of pizza!

Offering some pizza to Chuck E. Cheese.

Boone enjoying his first ride.  Last time we were here, he was too young. 

The Boys' Last Day at Their Old School

Yesterday was the boys' last day at their old school.  It was both a happy and a sad day.  Happy, because it was so fun to see the bonds Fenn had formed with his teachers and friends.  I am so happy I was able to capture some of that in photos.  Sad, because Fenn was having to leave all of those first friends and teachers he has grown to love.  Believe me when I say that a 2 1/2 year old definitely has the ability to develop friendships.  He has been at that school since he was 6 1/2 months old.  But due to something that happened with Boone {which I won't get into here}, we felt it was best to change schools.  We hated to put Fenn through that and make him leave his friends, but we know he'll adjust pretty quickly.  Hopefully, we can keep in touch with a few of his friends and teachers there.  We know he'll continue to see his friend, Ella Kate.  It was also sad for me because I have become very attached to seeing those kids every day when I pick up the boys.  I have enjoyed watching many of them go from little babies just starting to sit up to full-fledged pre-schoolers.  I miss them already.

Anyway, we're not worried about how Boone will adjust.  He's still young enough to have not developed any real attachments to anyone there.  Yes, we could tell he really liked certain teachers.  But as far as developing friendships, he's just too young at this point. 

Here are some of my favorites from the day.  Most of the pictures are of Fenn with his friends and teachers.  [In the group photo above:  Back row (L to R):  'Regular' Amy, Amber, Krazy Amy.  Middle Row:  Kassidy, Ariyanna, Hattie, Kathryn, Seth, Fulton.  Front Row:  Fenn, Audree, Charlotte, Anabelle, Sydney, Ella Kate.  {Missing:  Mary Frances and Claire).]

:: With Miss Ashley, his teacher in both the Creepers room and the Toddler 1 room.

:: With Mrs. Amy (aka 'Regular Amy'), his teacher in the Toddler 2 room.

:: With Audree, Noah, and Sydney.

:: Getting a hug from 'his' Ella Kate.

:: You might remember Anabelle and the 'One Last Kiss' post from August 2009.  {Click 'here' if you want to see that post.}

:: Getting a hug from Anabelle with sweet Kassidy waiting for her hug.

:: Another hug from Ella Kate.  Ariyanna looks like she's thinking, "You better step away from my man!"

:: I just like this one of Fenn.  That's my little man.

:: A fun photo of pretty little Ella Kate.

:: With Mrs. Bettina, his teacher in the Creepers room.

And, I did get a few pictures of Boone with some of his very first teachers.

:: With Miss Kristina, his teacher in the Infant room.  She was relatively new to the school, so was only with him for a few weeks before he moved to Creepers.  But she fell in love with him pretty quickly.

::  With Mrs. Tasha, his teacher in the Creepers room.  He was only in there a few weeks, but she was so sweet to him.

:: With Miss Pam, one of the 'floater' teachers who only spent a little time with him.  But I'm grateful to her for something she did.

Thank you to the teachers who loved our kids.  We enjoyed our time there and really wish we didn't have to leave.  But we felt it was in Boone's best interest.  I don't have photos of every teacher posted here due to how big this post already is.  And I didn't get a photo of Boone with Miss Kayla because she was already gone for the day.  When she first met Boone while we were visiting Fenn's class one day during my maternity leave, she fell in love with him and claimed him immediately.  {Check out 'More Photos of Fenn & Boone in the right-hand column of the blog for a link to an album with all the photos from the day."}

Today, they went for a 'visit' at their new school and will start full time on Monday.  Normally, Dan takes the kids to school by himself, but today we both went.  Boone's drop off was easy, just as we thought it would be.  But Fenn's drop off was much more difficult.  It was hard to see him so upset, but we know he'll be fine.  It is just going to take a little time.  To give him something to look forward to, we have promised him we'll go to Chuck E. Cheese's tonight.

:: Getting ready to go to the new school.
 

It's Fenn.... Again! {Or should I say 'Finally Fenn'???'}

So I was looking back at my posts from the last couple of months, and realized the last time I did a post about 'just Fenn' was a couple of months ago when I wrote about his Little Gym graduation.  And honestly, I've been working on this post for a while now.  I've been making mental notes about things he's been doing.  And I had even started a draft of this post with bullet points of things that came to mind over a month ago.  So, I'm finally going to get this post done.  And I'll select some photos from the last few months to intersperse throughout the post.  This will probably be a long post!

This photo and the photo above were taken in early December '09. I was trying to get some photos for his birthday party invitation. And he was smiling so much because one of his favorite teachers, Miss Amy, (or as Fenn calls her 'regular Amy' - see explanation down below), was hiding behind my back and playing peek-a-boo with him.

We have a ritual every morning when the kids are about to leave for school.  We strap them in their carseats and give hugs and kisses.  But then right before Dan starts to back out of the garage, I knock on Fenn's window, mouth the words 'I love you', and then blow him a kiss.  He reads my lips and says "I Love You, Mommy" back to me and then blows me a kiss.  Talk about making my heart melt.  And it always makes me feel better knowing that's the last thing we said to each other before he leaves.

This photo was taken during late December '09 during my own "2-year photo session" with Fenn.

The little stinker is smart as a whip, too.  I know he's not any smarter than any other child his age.  But I continue to be amazed at the things he knows and comprehends.  For instance, he tells me which way to turn each Wednesday night as we're driving to Little Gym.  And he also knows which road his daddy's office is on.  We pass it coming home from school in the afternoons, and he'll point toward the road and say "daddy's office down that hill".  He's been doing this for several months now, too.  He also knows where Waffle House is located.  As we're coming down Kingston Pike from school and we pass where Papermill Rd. intersects with it, he'll say something like "Waffle House down there" or "I want to go to Waffle House".  And you can't even see Waffle House from that point.  It's a ways down that road, but he just remembers from going there months ago, probably from back before Boone was born.  Oh, and as of today, I can count on one hand how many times he has been to Waffle House since he was a year old (or since he could possibly remember going there).

I took these 2 photos in late December '09 during lunch one day. Just an example of the many faces of Fenn.

A few weeks ago, he had his first real stomach virus that kept us up all night long.  And to top things off and make it even more difficult, Boone decided to wake up and wouldn't go back to sleep in his crib.  So that meant one of us had to stay up with Fenn {daddy} and the other one had to try and sleep with Boone {mommy}.  Dan put the crib mattress on the floor and laid beside Fenn for most of the night.  Of course, they were up every 20 to 30 minutes running to the bathroom.  But what amazed both of us was how quickly Fenn learned that he needed to run to the bathroom whenever he started feeling sick.  We made it through the night, but it is so heartbreaking to watch how scared they are when they're about to throw up and don't know what's going on.  Oh, and I think we both experienced the joy of having our child vomit all over us.

Cowboy Fenn... photo taken in February '10. The cowboy hat was a gift from his Aunt Angie and Uncle Todd.

On Saturday, March 20th, Fenn peed in the big potty for the very first time... while standing up.  He hasn't even done that sitting down yet.  But he's been watching his daddy and wants to do it like big boys do it.  And on Tuesday night, April 13th, he poopied in the little potty for the very first time.  Mostly, we think both are flukes.  And the poopy incident can also be attributed to good timing we think.  But it's a start.  We haven't gotten serious about potty training yet.  But now that tax season is over, we're going to start working on it.

At the park in February '10 on one of those rare nice days we had during this winter.

One of Fenn's favorite things to say right now is "Come on everybody.  Let's go!"  He says this when he's talking about wanting his friends from school to come and play at his house.  We think he picked up the phrase from listening to his teachers try to round up all the kids at various times during the day.

And speaking of vocabulary, he has a HUGE one!  He says some of the most surprising things now.  He talks non-stop.  He uses what I would call complex sentences for his age.  He says too many things for me to list here.  If you've never noticed over in the right-hand column of the blog, I have a place that says 'And the other day Fenn said this...'.  I haven't been great about doing it so far, but that's where I plan to post funny little comments that he makes.  So if you're a grandparent or family member, you might want to check that out from time to time.  My friend next door posts all the great stuff her 4 (almost 5) year old says and it is hysterical to read.

Another one taken at the park in February '10. Fenn has mastered the rock wall at the school playground.  His daddy is holding his hand underneath him just in case, but Fenn climbed it all by himself.

We're definitely seeing some signs of jealousy towards Boone.  Fenn has started mimicking Boone to get the same attention Boone is getting from us.  From crawling to jabbering to banging pots and pans together, if Boone gets the slighest bit of attention from us for doing those things, Fenn will follow suit.  One example is from a recent Monday morning while running around trying to get the boys ready for school.  Boone fell down and Dan ran to pick him up and love on him.  A few minutes later, Fenn was lying in the same spot on the family room floor and calling out "I fell down!" and doing the fake cry.  So I ran over to him and picked him up and hugged on him.  That seemed to make him happy.

Is he the perfect kid who never does anything wrong?  No.  He's pretty much a typical 2 year old.  We've started seeing more tantrums over the last few months.  Nothing huge yet (like a total meltdown in a public place), but we fear that's coming eventually.  Hopefully, we'll handle it well and just try to ignore it so he doesn't learn that's how to get our attention.  And we're definitely seeing more stubbornness and more acts of defiance.  And when he doesn't want to do something, he's got that whole "drop to the ground and go limp" thing down pat!  But overall, I would say he's a well-behaved 2 year old.

Sitting on his chair after a big day at the park in February '10.

We're about to go through a lot of changes around here.  Now that tax season is over and Dan will be home earlier each night, we're getting serious about sitting down to eat dinner as a family and making Fenn eat what we're eating as opposed to us being short order cooks for him.  We've been feeding Boone and Fenn right after coming home from school, doing baths, and getting them to bed before we actually eat our dinner.  That is just what has been the easiest thing to do.  Now it's time for Fenn to learn to like a broader variety of foods {or something other than chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs, fish sticks, and grilled cheese sandwiches}.

We also ordered Fenn's big boy furniture last week, so we'll be making the transition from the crib to the big boy bed once the furniture comes in.  But that won't be for another 4 to 6 weeks.

Making a silly fish face during lunch one day in late February '10.

And on Monday, the boys will start a new school.  They'll actually do a free visit on Friday as a test run.  I won't get into why we're changing schools, but for several reasons, we decided it would be best to move them.  I'm kind of sad about it because Fenn has been really happy at his current school.  I know kids are highly adaptable and he'll be fine in a couple of weeks.  But I know he's going to be sad and will talk about his friends and his teachers for a while.  He's going to miss all of them terribly.  And mommy is going to miss them, too.  Fenn actually has two teachers named Amy.  His current teacher is known as 'Krazy Amy' to all the kids.  And Fenn's teacher from the last classroom is also named Amy.  He still sees her everyday because the two classroooms are frequently merged together and play on the playground together.  We had to differentiate between the two Amy's and probably started referring to his former teacher as 'regular Amy'.  Well, Fenn picked up on that and now calls her 'regular Amy' whenever talking about her.  But at least we know which Amy he's talking about.

So that pretty much catches you up on Fenn.  There's probably tons of things I'm forgetting since I've been wanting to write this post for so long.  But I can always do another post later.

2nd Annual Post-Tax Season Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday was our 2nd annual post-tax season trip to the zoo.  Dan's office always closes the day after April 15th for a day of much needed and much deserved rest.  And we look at it as a day to spend as a family and catch up on some of the time Dan has missed with the boys while working 7 days a week for the past couple of months.  We didn't really plan for this to be our 'day after' tradition, but it looks like that's what it is going to be, at least as long as the boys want to go to the zoo.  Click 'here' if you want to see the post about last year's trip to the zoo.  I was 8 months pregnant with Boone.

We started off the day with breakfast at Waffle House (at Fenn's request).  We had the sweetest waitress, Joy, who just fell in love with the boys.  She gave them Waffle House hats and even made a real employee name tag for Fenn.  {I snapped these 2 photos with my phone.}

Here's our future Waffle House manager.

And his trainee.

Fenn and daddy feeding the camels.

Getting ready to ride a camel with mommy.

"Hi Daddy!  Look at me!  I riding a camel with mommy!"

Boone checking out the giraffes with mommy.

Punch-drunk Fenn during lunch.  Look at his eyes.  You can see how tired he already was, and it was only lunch time.  But that's about when he normally goes down for a nap.

Fenn riding the carousel with mommy.

Boone riding the carousel for the very first time with daddy.  He wasn't all smiles and giggles like Fenn was last year.  But he's a little younger than Fenn was for his first ride.  I think he was mostly just amazed.  He was looking around all over the place taking it all in.

A big toothless smile from Boone.  He still only has those first 2 bottom teeth that came in way back in January.

After touring the whole zoo, brushing the goats, and climbing and playing in the children's area, it was time for some ice cream.

On the way out, we checked one more time to see if the bears were out.  You can see one in the background.

Fenn was asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car.  And Boone wasn't far behind him.  It was another fun day at the zoo.