3 1/2 Years

My Sweet Aleck,

Where has the time gone?  I just want it to stand still sometimes so I can engrave each special moment in my memory.  I suppose that is really what blogging is all about, preserving special moments in time.  I was looking back at old blog posts last night and it made me smile, but at the same time made me a little sad that you are growing up so fast.

You moved to a new school in August, St. Vincent’s Cathedral School, a private school run by the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.  You attend Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.  Mrs. Libby Jordan is your teacher and you adore her.  She runs a tight ship, but she does it with love and you are thriving in that environment.  You start each day at school with chapel.  Now if we forget to say the blessing before a meal, you remind us, “Mommy, we have to say the blessing.”  You are learning the alphabet using a program called Zoophonics and it is working.  Every Friday you have a show and tell.  So far, every Friday you take a different train.  You are still insanely into trains!

Although your television time is limited, your favorite show continues to be Caillou, and has been for at least a year.  There are times when you quote Caillou word for word in a normal conversation.

You are strong willed, but are following instructions so much better.  Daddy says you and I butt heads because we are so much alike and I think he is right.

You love Ella Bella.  You hug and “tiss” her before she goes to bed.  Before bedtime, we all sit on the couch and read a book or two before Ella goes to bed.  After Ella is in bed, we read a long story from your favorite book, Walt Disney’s Classic Storybook.  Some of your favorite stories are Dumbo and Cinderella.

You love to kick the soccer ball in the front yard with Daddy.  You also love hanging out in the garage with Daddy while he works on the electric train that he is building.  While Daddy is working on the electric train, you play with your wooden trains on the table.

  You love to ride your bike.  Daddy takes you out for a bike ride while he runs beside you.  If you are going downhill, sometimes you get away from Dad.  Last month, I started jogging with Ella in the jogging stroller and Daddy running beside you on your bike.  These are some great times and I need to get back to jogging.

You still to play with playdoh.  You mix all the colors together, which makes me a little crazy, but it is your playdoh so I don’t sweat the small stuff.  You love bath time.  You especially like when the tub is full and you lay on your back in the water and smile from ear to ear.

You weight 37 pounds and wear 4T shirts and pants.  The pants have to be adjustable waist because you are skinny but tall.  You have gone through a picky eater phase where you would have little to do with many vegetables.  You don’t like any food that has more than one or two visible ingredients.  Soups and casseroles are out.  You say, “Mom, I want some clean food.”

You continue to nap for 1 1/2 hours, right after lunch.  Lately, I have gotten in the habit of taking a nap with you in my bed.  I love that moment right before you fall asleep when you are turned towards me and you smile so sweetly at me then you close your eyes and drift off to sleep.

Aleck, your Mommy loves you more than words can say and you will always be my little boy.

My Mommy!

Aleck wasn't feeling well yesterday.  I was holding him and loving on him.  For the first time ever, Ella became very jealous of Aleck and didn’t want to share my attention AT ALL.  She started whining and crawled over Aleck to position herself between her Mommy and Aleck, who she perceived as a rival for my attention.  She is normally so laid back so it was cute to see the jealous side. 

Little Ella Bella, Mommy has more than enough love to go around.

Happy 47th

We celebrated Tom’s 47th birthday this week.  Tom is not crazy about celebrating his birthday, so we kept it simple.  Eryn and Mason came over for ice cream cake.  Aleck thought the combination of ice cream with cake was awesome.

Tom is building a HO scale electric train and he spent his birthday money buying building supplies for his train.  When the train is finished, Tom and the kids are going to have such a great time.

Random thoughts about childhood memories

Every now and then we run across something in life that triggers a great childhood memory.  Today I ran across the muscadine, the origin of some grape varieties, while I shopped at a small farmer’s market.

Many people have probably never heard of muscadine, let alone tasted a muscadine.  To tell you the truth, it really is an ugly fruit with a thick and mottled skin. 

For those of you that have seen the animation Ratatouille, the muscadine brings back childhood memories for me much like the ratatouille dish did for the famous food critic, Anton Ego.  I grew up in the country on roughly 100 acres.  Muscadine vines grew in the wild on our land.  The vines would climb trees; therefore, we would climb trees in search of the sweet fruit.  Desiring instant gratification, we would begin eating our sweet finds before our feet even touched solid ground again.

It is so funny how in life we can take simple things for granted, but realize way down the road that it was those simple things that made life so rich, full and worth living.  I am so thankful for growing up in a simpler time. A time when we spent most days barefoot from late Spring to early Fall.  A time when we roamed the woods and neighborhoods from sun up to sun down.  A time when parents weren’t afraid to discipline children and teach them a strong work ethic.

Oh my gosh, I’ve got to go now and call my parents to tell them what a great job they did!

Ella’s first day at Mother’s Day Out

Ella started Mother’s Day Out today.  She was not a happy girl, but I hung around in the kitchen to see how long she would cry and it only lasted a few minutes.  I so hope she has a good day and is all smiles when I pick her up.  Mommy hasn’t cried yet, which is better than I thought I would be doing at this point.

Off to start my first day without little feet up under me in 14 months.  My To Do List is a mile long!

mixed emotions

I am packing Ella’s bag preparing for her first day at Mother’s Day Out tomorrow.  Although I am looking forward to being able to work a little and get some things done around the house, I am sad thinking about how fast my babies are growing up.  I am comforted by the fact that Ella will have Mrs. Alex, Aleck’s teacher from last year.  I pray that Ella remembers how Mrs. Alex would love on her when I picked Aleck up from school.  I have a feeling I’m going to shed some tears tomorrow. 

Ratatouille Bake

 

My new favorite recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups peeled and diced eggplant
• 2 cups chopped zucchini
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) package frozen cheese ravioli
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C); spray a 2 1/2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the garlic, onion, and eggplant with the garlic until the vegetables have begun to soften, about 8 minutes. Stir in the zucchini, bell pepper, tomatoes, basil, parsley, salt, and black pepper; bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Cook the frozen ravioli as directed on the package; drain. Spread the cooked ravioli in a layer into the bottom of the prepared baking dish; spoon the hot vegetables over the ravioli. Sprinkle with the cheese.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the casserole is bubbling and the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.

Nutritional Information

• Amount Per Serving
• calories: 188
• Total Fat: 7.6g
• Cholesterol: 24mg
• Sodium: 449mg
• Total Carbs: 22g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.1g
• Protein: 9.7g
• Servings per Recipe:  6

14 months

My sweet Ella,

What a joy you are to be around.  You adore your big brother and follow him like a little puppy dog.  He enjoys his “baby sista, Ella” the majority of the time, but sometimes closes the door in his room so he can play with his trains without interruption.  On the days that Aleck goes to Mother’s Day Out, you miss him and want me to play with you all day long.

You can say “Ma” and “Da”, for Mommy and Daddy.  When I’m holding you and I say, “Ella, love Mommy” you lay your head in the crook of my neck and coo.  It is absolutely adorable.  You also do this with your favorite toy, your baby doll.

Over the last month, you have been weaning from breastfeeding.  You now only nurse first thing in the morning.  You love your bottles and don’t really seem to be upset by the transition.  Overall, you are a good eater, but not as good as Aleck was at this age.  At this age, Aleck ate everything I put on his plate.  Like Aleck, you love all fruits, a few vegetables and most breads and meats.  You don’t care much for breakfast so I just give you a good mid-morning snack.

You are sleeping through the night again, hallelujah!  Dr. Sakseena said you would probably start sleeping better when you weaned and I think she was right.

You wear 12 month clothes, size 4 diaper, and size four shoes.  You have 8 teeth, with your most recent being the lower left back molar.

You love to climb on everything, and jump on the bed.  You climbed to the top of Aunt Glenda’s staircase back in June.  You can go up and down a 4 inch step without holding onto anything.

You continue to love bath time.  You will throw yourself backwards and float on your back with a smile on your face.

You love music.  Aunt Glenda gave Aleck an electronic drum machine and you like to play with it as much as Aleck does.  After we got the drum machine home, I realized the reason Aunt Glenda was so happy to get the toy out of her house.  When Daddy is practicing drums in the garage, you run to the door in the kitchen and dance and bounce around.  You love it when Daddy practices drums!

You surprise me with how well you mind and follow instructions.  You haven’t really started exhibiting an independent will, yet.

You love books, especially books that have a texture on the page.

I am sad that you are too interested in the world around you to spend much time snuggling these days.  You will let me rock you when you drink your bedtime bottle, but most other times you are too busy to sit still for very long.

You are so curious about everything!  I love seeing the world through the curious eyes of a toddler.

I am so thankful for you, my sweet Ella Bella.

Happy Birthday, Pappaw!

 

We made a last minute trip to Mississippi to celebrate my Dad’s 80th birthday.  Since Eryn’s due date was September 7th, I wasn’t planning on going, but Mason surprised us 3 weeks early so I was able to make the trip.

With the exception of Gary, all my siblings were able to make it.  Donny and John came from Arkansas, Darryl came from Columbus, MS.  Glenda and Brian live in Starkville, my hometown,  and I drove from Texas.  With seven children, 14 grandchildren, and multiple great grandchildren, we have been blessed with a HUGE family.  It is rare that so many of us can get together at the same time, so these memories are precious. 

Happy Birthday, Daddy.  In case you can’t tell by the gathering, your kids adore you!

Sunset walks with Aunt Glenda

Life is so good when your aunt lives in the middle of the country with dogs, two chickens, a rooster, a pond with turtles, and a long driveway to run up and down.