I have failed this blog miserably! Nothing a ton of pictures can't fix.

I just noticed that I started this post on July 23rd but just now finished it today... August 4th.

So, all summer long I told myself that I would update this blog. Yet here I sit noticing that it has been 3 months since I have updated. I have excuses for the beginining. It was the ending of the school year and that is a really time consuming stressfull time. I was also trying to prepare for Anthony's 3rd birthday. Yup, that's right 3RD BIRTHDAY! Where has the time gone? I thought about just quitting the blog, afterall with Facebook mostly all can see updates immediately. But then I rememebered the real reason I started this blog. It wasn't just to update those 5 people who actually read this. It was, well, because I am terrible at writing down my everyday thoughts in a journal for Anthony. I told myself that I would keep a blog of what was happening in our life so that I could print it out and keep it and then Anthony could have something to look back to one day and read about how I was feeling and what was happening at certain times in his life. Time to catch him up on what has been going on this summer.

Anthony,
A little over 2 months ago you turned 3. You love Toy Story right now so you had an awesome Buzz Lightyear party. If you look back at videos (which due to your mother might have been lost because I didn't back up my files) you love to jump off of swings and anything else while yelling out " To Infinity and Beyond". Summer started and we took you to see Toy Story 3 the day it came out. You sat amazed the entire time! Since then you and I have spent the summer together. There have been good times and not so good times. I must admit that I am not sure how stay at home mom's do it because we have had our challenges. I have tried my best to find things for us to do. We have seen way more kid movies than I care for but I love how excited you are afterwards when you retell what happened in the movie to your dad. We have gone to storytimes, a ceramics class where you got to paint your own doggie and you started going to a gymnastics class where the teachers loved you. Sometimes we just sit around together and watch tv because neither one of us are motivated to venture out. You have played a lot with the new friends you made on the street. Go figure that there would be another little boy with your exact same birthday just two houses down from us. Not just that but there are 3 other boys around your age just a couple of houses down as well. Itshould be interesting in about 12 years or so to see what so many teenage boys are up to. We also got to go to the circus, spent a day at the beach, you stayed with your Grandma and Grandpa for a few days while Mommy and Daddy went on their own, much needed, vacation to celebrate Mommy turning the big 3-0. Overall we have had a good summer and I can't believe that in less than 2 weeks it will be over. Then the countdown will begin for the next summer. Oh and I forgot to mention one of the biggest accomplishments of the summer. On your 3rd birthday you finally decided that you were too old for pullups and traded them in for big boy underwear. So after many attempts and frustrating days of trying to potty train you, you proved the books right and did it all on your own.

So here are some pics of our summer since that is what everyone else really cares for. :)

Pics from your birthday.

New bike from Mia and Grandad!

Mommy and Daddy bought bikes to keep up with you.

Enjoying the waterslide you got as a gift from Grandma and Grandpa!

Fun with friends.

Built a fort and then watched movies in it. It was boys only and you needed the secret password to enter.

Sillyness

Hanging with your Cousin. I am pretty sure Bodie is somewhat scared of you and your sillyness.

At the circus.

Being silly by making smiley faces with a french fry.

Getting help from Daddy on the golf course. (This is one of your new favorite things to do.)

Making sand castles in Galveston.

Finally not scared of getting wet.

Running from the waves.

Crashing into the waves.

More running from waves.

National night out this week.

Got to sit in a real firetruck!

Learning all about being an EMT.

Parenting

There have been many times that I have felt that I should have worked better at certain things with Anthony. I feel guilty that he doesn't sleep as well as his younger cousin, guilty that he doesn't eat as well as he should or that it has taken him so gosh darn long to poop in that potty. Let me tell you, I read all the books and I did everything they told me to. I listened to Anthony cry it out for over an hour and it never worked. I read, The Happiest Toddler on the Block, from front to back and did what they told me to. That's right, I sat there and tried to show him that I felt his emotions whenever he was mad. Me: " Your are mad right? Mad, mad mad. Well I am mad also (while I show my mad face and stomping on the ground) but we can't go out right now, but we can play inside if you want." FAIL! I don't care what the author says, it doesn't work on every kid. I tried every hint to get him to potty, I even gave him a potty party that has never had a student not succeed. What does that mean? It means that I took a day off of work and we spent the entire day having a superhero party where we bought a baby doll for Anthony to train while I trained him. We danced and cheered every time the doll used the potty and every time Anthony peed or attempted it, we watched nothing but potty videos and read nothing but potty books. He did great that day and then NOTHING. Didn't matter what suggestions the book gave, Anthony didn't care to listen to them. FAIL, again. I have determined that my kid is just hard headed. He has always done his own thing and not cared what he is "supposed" to be able to do. Still, it doesn't feel great to have the kid who only wants to eat mac and cheese, apples, bananas and grapes. Or the only one in his class that refuses to use the potty. It really started making me feel bad about not being a good parent.

Then, this Friday morning in class I had a conversation with a student who had told me he hadn't done his homework. This was unlike him so I asked him what happened. He told me that his Dad helps him and if his Dad can't then his Uncle helps him. He went on to say that his parents went out and his Uncle didn't get to their apartment early enough to help him. I asked him where his Mom and Dad went and he didn't want to tell me. Another student asked him if his parents had gone out dancing and he just looked down and shook his head yes. He then told me that he had asked them to please not go because he and his little brother were scared but that they did anyway. I asked him if his Uncle ever got there and he said yes but he was already asleep and he was very scared when he got there because it was very late and he didn't know who was coming in. I asked him when his parents got there and he said when it was almost time for him to go to school. I went and sat down and he came up to me and asked me to please not tell anyone because his Mom told him if he did then she could get in trouble. I tried not to show him how upset I felt at hearing this. What parent does this?

Sadly, these are the type of students I have. Not all have parents like this but almost all have parents who struggle as low income parents or want to help but don't have the education or understand English enough to help.

So it made me realize. Yeah, my kid doesn't go to bed at 8 on the dot. But he has a Mom and Dad who always lay and tell stories or read to him before he does go to bed. Our latest story involved Prince Anthony saving Princess lily from fire breathing dragons who wanted to eat her castle full of candy and toys. He has parents who care enough to read up on ways to get him to cope with tantrums without feeling like we don't care. He has parents who play ball with him everyday, who talk to him about his day everyday and who listen to everything he has to say. He has parents who jumped up and down ,danced, hooped and hollered when he finally pooped in that no good potty. Even a Mom who started to cry when she saw how happy and excited he was to have finally pushed that poop out. That's right! I cried when he finally did it.

He will never have to tell his teacher that his parents left him home alone when he begged them not to. Parenting isn't easy but I don't think we have done to bad on it.

Pics from April:

Driving around the neighborhood.

Easter
Hmmmmm...... who can I get next.
Loved his new baseball helmet.

Getting Bodie.

Sweetness

March Madness

Not just in basketball but as far as how this month has been so far. Each weekend so far has been fun filled so a brief recap is in order.

The first weekend in March was The Edwards' annual father/son weekend. Jud, Randel and Anthony set out on their yearly trip to Waco to watch the bears play some ball. I ended up spending my Friday night in my classroom working so it wasn't as fun filled as theirs was but the next day I got to hang out with Sherry and Stacy for mani/pedi's and a tasty lunch.

Some pics of the boys weekend:

The following weekend we set out to Mickeys house, DISNEYWORLD!! We drove for almost 20 hours with a couple of really long breaks to let Anthony get some energy out. Lots of kudos to him for being able to sit in a carseat for so long with only one fit towards the end. We got to Disney a day earlier than planned so instead of still driving on Sunday we got to go to visit Mickey sooner. Seeing Anthonys reaction when we were driving up to Disneyworld was just priceless. I started tearing up to see how happy he was to be there. Overall the trip was awesome. We visited all the parks for 6 days. Anthony loved taking his autograph book up to all the different characters and taking pictures with them. He had rides he thought were great and some where when it was over he said "that was fun, but not so fun."

Some pics of Disney:

The third March weekend was spent driving back home. We did get to make a pit stop in New Orleans where Randel got to see the Baylor bears beat old dominion to make it into the sweet 16. In the meantime Anthony and I wandered about New Orleans and we determined that it's really not that great of a city and don't see any reason for visiting it again. We finally got home at 8 Sunday night. Our vacation went from the time we got out of work until the evening before we had to be back at work. Exhausting but fun.

This next weekend we will be heading back to Houston to watch Baylor take on St. Marys Friday night and if things go well we see them playing Sunday as well.

There you have it. Our March Madness. Can't wait for April.

Hello again!

It's been awhile since I posted anything, sorry to the few family members that actually read this. Anthony has kept us busy and exhausted every day and night but it's always fun to just watch him do his thing. We did make our way to see Sesame street live last week. He loved the show as much as he did last year. This time though he was aware of all the toys being sold for a ridiculous amount of money. I hoped that the toy he had spotted would be forgotten by the time the show ended but it wasn't. Then we walked around afterwards while I told him that I didn't think they had anymore. Finally, I gave in and bought him the light up elmo spinner thingy that if found at walmart would cost 5 bucks but here I dished out 15 dollars. He was so happy to get it and looked up at me and said "see, I told you I wanted it." as if I had been doubting it the entire time. Best part though was as we walked to the car holding hands and he said "Thanks mom, that was a lot of fun!"

I took a picture of him in the exact same spot he took one last year. I figure as long as he still is into elmo that I will take one every year. Whidh probably means that next year will be his last year going to it.

This past weekend we made our way to the great Rio Grande Valley for my cousins baby shower. It was a quick and short trip but I enjoyed getting to spend time with my family. Anthony had a blast playing with his cousin. I wish she lived here so she could wear him out as much as she did this weekend. They played nonstop all day. He had so much fun playing hide and seek, tag, and pretending to be everything imaginable like taking turns being fire breathing dragons.

Hanging out with a little girl he met at the shower. I felt like it looked like I could see this exact same thing in 14 years. Him trying to sweet talk a girl he just met.

Are you sure this is a baby shower cake????

Cheesing with his cousin.

A couple of random pics.

Him celebrating the new year.

This is what happens when we let his hair get to long.