Almost three years later but that's ok.

This blog has only had a following of about three people. So luckily not to many people have been checking in hoping that an update would happen in the last two years. I feel guilty that I have not been updating everyone on Abram like I did with Anthony. A quick update on my two favorite boys.

Anthony is 6, that's right 6! He has finished pre-k and kinder and started 1st grade. He is smart, athletic and handsome. Trust me he is, I am not biased at all, really. He is in the gifted and talented program at school, is an all-star baseball player, has mastered reading in both English and Spanish and is a great friend and even better big brother. His teacher even wrote on his report card that he was a natural leader that was a pleasure to have in class. We love him very much and makes us so proud. He is going to do amazing things.

Abram is 2. He makes us laugh everyday. I've been told that I give birth to little "men". He really is a little man. He will talk to you about anything. In depth. Seriously! Sit down and have a conversation with him, a real one that requires more than just a yes or no answer. Sometimes I think people sell him short because he gets so shy at first. But he will amaze you. He is creative. You can hand him any toy and he will turn it into a fascinating adventure. Sometimes we hear him in bed acting out different stories. His teachers think he the best kid around. They love him like he was their own. He is bilingual. He idolizes his big brother and wants to be just like him. Literally. If Anthony is upset he will lay right next to him and cry alongside with him, even if he doesn't know what he is crying about. He thinks we are amazing and we think he is too!

Randel and I are the luckiest people around and it's because of our amazing family and our two awesome boys.

The checkup!

On Friday July 15th we had to take Anthony to his 4 year checkup. I am writing out the date because from the day I made the appointment, about 6 weeks earlier, I dreaded it. Why? It required shots. Not one, not two but three! As any Mommy knows, shots are awful. From the first time your newborn gets pricked on his little heel. You crinch when they go from a happy baby to screaming out in pain. As hard as it is to deal with that, I have now learned that it's even harder to deal with the shots when your kiddo knows what is coming.
A 4 year old knows what shots are. Sorta.... we started to prepare Anthony a few weeks ago. At that time I heard him and Aliester having a conversation that started off with Anthony telling him that his brother had to go to the doctor and he got shots. This led to him talking about his impending appointment.

Anthony: " My brother had to get shots today at the doctors"
Aliester: " I don't like shots."
Anthony: " Well, we have to get them since we are 4."
Aliester: " I am not getting any"
Anthony: " You have to, so we don't get sick" ( This was said very matter of factly as if he is the guru of shots and should just be trusted on the matter.)
Aliester: " Are you getting some?"
Anthony: With head down shaking and a sad voice, : " Yeaaaahh, I have to also, we all have to."

It was a cute conversation between two 4 year olds discussing the troubles in their lives. Anthony, as usual, was trying to be the all knowing person who was advising his friend while he also was truly scared as well.

As the day came, we talked about it and we even saw a show about it. He was so ready for it that on the day he actually couldn't wait for it. He went to play at the gym early in the day then he got ice cream before we got to the doctors office. I tried to make it a good day for him. He actually wanted us to get there already so he could get his shot.

Finally, there we were, sitting in the office. All four of us, with Anthony excited, and Randel and I silently knowing what was really coming and Abram just happy it wasn't him again. The appointment with the Doctor was great. He is a healthy boy who still remains in the 90th percentile for his size. His Doctor was impressed with all the questions he asked and even told us that most 4 year olds don't handle it so well or ask such good questions. Eyes and ears were checked and then it was time for the shot. He happily laid down waiting. The nurse asked Randel to hold his legs down and BAM, three shots to the legs! In a matter of a second he went from one happy little boy to a crying kid that just brought tears to my eyes just like the day he first had his heel pricked at 3 days old.
He cried for a bit, then got to pick out stickers from the treasure box, which calmed him down. For the rest of the night he had to be carried since he felt he couldn't walk because his legs hurt so much. We had to give him "medicine" to take the pain away. If he did walk, it was with a limp. The next day he woke up and told me that it didn't hurt so much anymore and that is how the whole experience ended.

Overall, not too bad. Of course, now I fear the next round of shots. Afterall, now he REALLY knows what it feels like to get them. As he said, "Shots are NOT soft, they HURT!"

Welcome Abram James!

Even though you are about to be 3 months on Monday I still wanted to make an official announcement on your arrival. After almost 4 years with just your brother we finally decided that Anthony was right and it was time for him to have a sibling. You arrived on Monday, April 18th at 7:36 am, exactly one week early and weighed 7lbs 10ozs and were 21.5 inches long. Since your arrival we have adjusted pretty well to going from a family of 3 to a family of 4. We have been lucky that you have been a pretty mellow baby who is pretty content most of the day. Since it's already been three months you are already smiling and "talking" to us. You have also started to sit up better and have been scooting around a lot while on your tummy. It's amazing how quickly 3 months can fly by. You would think I would be used to it by now since your brother seems to have gone from a baby to a 4 year old in a blink of an eye. I guess parents never get used to their babies growing up so fast.

You are one lucky little boy who has tons of people who love you and want to spend plenty of time with you. The best thing is that you have an older brother who absolutely loves you! He already can't wait to get to teach you how to play baseball, football, basketball, you name it he will show you. Of course, you better believe that Daddy will be right there with him helping you learn it all as well.

We can't wait for all the new things you will learn and experience and are so happy to finally have you here!

Your 4!

Yay for you! It's been almost a year since I have updated. So many exciting things have happened for you this year and there are so many more things awaiting for you still! I will try to give a brief recap of the past year for you before it all leaves my mind and I find myself trying to remember things years from now.

You started a new school this year. We decided that to better prepare you for being able to attend Mommy's school the following year that we would put you in a spanish immersion school. You have done so amazingly well learning how to count. say your ABC's and speak in spanish and we are very proud of you. At then end of the year looked at me and told me you were more than ready to begin pre-k and how well you learn and pick up new things (this was after she had just finished telling another parent how she felt her daughter wasn't quite ready to move on). You better believe I had the biggest proud parent smile. I can't wait for you to impress your new teacher this coming year!

You had your first major accident when you banged your head on the bedpost and had to get 3 staples put in your head. You were such a tough guy and were rewarded with a cool jaguar for dealing with it so well.

Halloween rolled around and you decided this year was all about Captain America. Your proudly showed off your muscles as you and your friend Aliester strolled our neighborhood and then later with your cousin Bodie at his house.


We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrating with all of our family. You must have been extra good because Santa brought you a new playground as well as tons of new toys that lasted you a whole month. :)



In February it snowed! We got to stay home and play in it all day. You and Aliester had tons of fun sleding down the street.

In March you joined your first of many to come t-ball team. You were on The Dragons ( a name you picked out) and Daddy was your coach. As your Dad and I already knew, you were the all-star of the team. It was so much fun watching you and I can't wait for the many more games we will get to see you play.

For Easter everyone came to our house and you got to spend the day hunting eggs with your favorite people.

Of course, the biggest thing to happen to you this year was that you became a BIG Brother! You paiently waited for 9 LONG months for the arrival of your little Brother, Abram. You had been wanting a sibling for quite awhile so when you found out you were finally going to have one you were more than excited. Since he arrived you have been the best big brother ever! You love him so much and you constantly show him that. The first time you met him you constantly commented " he's so cute!". You give him hugs and kisses nonstop throughout the day. You talk to him in baby talk and when you are in the car you always hold his hand and sing to him. We couldn't be more proud of how much you love your Brother!

So, here we are. Many more exciting things will happen this year and I hope that I can do a better job this year at keeping this updated for you and your brother this year.

We love you very much, Anthony!

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