Hello!

Rookie enjoying the sunlight until...

LJ, just out of his bath, sees him sitting still...poor Rookie!  Look at him run!

sweet face

Lj took a marathon nap today - 2 hours in his crib and an hour in my bed...

Rookie said, "If you can't beat him, join him!"

Well, we're just finishing up a fun day full of swimming, playing outside and even some grocery shopping.  I have a few pics and thought I'd share!  Praying that Gustav goes "left", as my mom would say!  Family and friends, we are thinking of you!!

ROLL TIDE!!!

Early morning cheering for Alabama - LJ enjoying his eggs and smoothie while looking at Roll Tide Magazine

The Alabma Cheerleaders are on T.V.!!

Lunch time - eating his mac n cheese, watching LSU play

Well, the game is on at 8 p.m. Eastern  - LJ and I started the day saying Roll Tide!  Welcome, Football Season, we are so glad you're here!  

Goodnight!

Well, we just watched our little shushybye show and said our prayers, so it's bedtime.  LJ is such a sweetie.  I had a great day with him today.  

He hit a milestone -- he had is first FULL day in underwear, no pull-ups!  He even napped in underwear, (I'm really asking for it, huh?), but I thought he was ready and the day was a good one for possible accidents.  I don't mind cleaning it up, and I wanted to see how he did.  He didn't have an accident until about 15 minutes ago - (7:20 a.m. until 9 p.m.) with no accidents!  I don't expect every day to be this good -- I was really attentive and he was up for it, but I think we are slowly making big progress.  He's so young that I'm not sure he knows when he's about to go all the time, but we're getting there.  I think the advantage to starting this early is that you really cut down on diapers and will finish early, although slowly.  The downside is that because they are so young, it takes a while.  With a three-year-old, for instance, they understand rewards, what you want them to do, and they can physically control things a bit more.  I'm happy we are on our way because I think we're almost done, but I can see where it's nice to wait as well.

We had a great play day today, too.  After breakfast, we went to work out for just a short while and then played until lunch.  It rained almost all day, so our playtime outside was restricted.  We did go for a good swim indoors at the gym this evening, though - I'm not sure how we filled the day otherwise.  I can tell you it included A LOT of hitting with the bat, A LOT of catching with the glove, some puzzles, a few books, some cleaning and some fetch/chasing with Rookie.  It was a good day.

I hope yours was a good one, too.  I'll post a few pics tomorrow!!!

To our family : please be safe as the hurricane nears.  Our home is open and ready should you need it!!!

Love,

Jamie

Bye, Daddy!

Well, Lance left for a road trip today, and we already miss him!  We had been together for over a week, and because we had been apart for so long before, it felt like a month!  We have become used to having him around, and it was wonderful.  Lance often got up with LJ in the mornings and hung out with me at night, so we are both going to miss our special time with him.  He is only gone for a week, though, and this awesome week has given us a glimpse into how wonderful this offseason will be!!!

Before bedtime, LJ and I watched Shushybye Baby on ONDemand cable.  It's a little ten minute show that prepares LJ for bedtime.  The theme revolves around the Shushybye residents, high above the clouds, who give out dreams at night - Just tell them what you want to dream about.  Fiction - yes, Faithful - no, but a nice little musical show to go to sleep with tonight. This episode was about Daddy's business trip, so it fit us well. She Shushybyes made sure to fill the little girl's dreams with scenes from her daddy's day - business meetings, people clapping after his wonderful presentation, hotels and planes.  It's cute, and if you don't overanalyze puppets giving you your dreams, it's good way to end the day together.  By the time I finished LJ's bedtime prayer, he was already asleep, so I think it worked for him!

I pray we all rest as well as he is right now!  Goodnight with love!!

What LJ wants to do all day...bat!

Throwing to Daddy

Just playing around on the warning track

This face means business

Little LJ and Lance in the big bullpen

The famous batter from my previous post...it's organic, yet aerosol?  

It is rare these days that there's not a ball in his hand

Taking Rookie's ice cube...

Giving Lance a bit of his own medicine :)

A look of true contentment

Because LJ still has a bit of the cold bug, I wanted to keep him away from other kids for at least one more day. I'm learning that sometimes that leaves him with a lot of energy (there's nothing like other kids to play with!), so Lance and I decided we'd let him spend some time at the baseball field, running hard, before lunch.  Then, we had lunch there before LJ and I biked home.  That way, he didn't sneeze on anyone else, but he got to run, hit and throw his hardest!  I hope you enjoy the pics...it was a great day.

pancakes, gumbo and m&m cookies!

Well, today was a day spent mostly inside.  LJ and I both fell to the cold, but Lance is still running strong.  We made pancakes (Lance did) for breakfast.  If I have ever seen a Lance invention, it is the pancake batter I bought in the store.  It's like a whipped cream container and you just shoot it in the frying pan.  Amazing.  The pancakes were pretty good, (not the best, but it could be our pans).  I'll post a picture of it.  Lance needs a breakfast tool belt with a loop for the batter, a loop for the egg beaters and pockets for fresh fruit and omelet fixins'....he'd be like the Tim Taylor of the breakfast kitchen!

We had a gumbo for dinner and some M&M cookies for dessert, (even an ice cream sandwich with two of them for Lance's dessert), so that's our day...totally revolving around food!!  I wanted LJ and I to stay in, and we just cleaned, cooked and played...it was a nice day!!

I hope you had a nice day, too!  I'll post pics of that cool batter soon :)

Love,

Jamie 

Some pictures!

Here are some fun pics from before we went to the game the other night.  It was probably LJ's last time wearing this shirt that I think is so cute, so I wanted a few pictures of him in it.  It's getting tight, but maybe I can get him in it one more time!

The other pics are of tonight - LJ's nose is runny so he ate almost an entire saucepan of chicken noodle soup.  He wanted to eat it on his own, but he hates to get wet...thus, the towel.  

I hope you are doing great !  

Love,

Jamie

sweet little hand

mmmmm...he just about ate his weight in this stuff!

His male model pose :)

sweet face

A few more pics tomorrow!

Sorry I haven't written, but with our late night last night, church and a long game today, I didn't get the chance.  I have some cute pictures of LJ that I'll upload tomorrow!  Hope your weekend was great!

Love,

Jamie

Great Day...

Well, today was probably MY laziest day in recent memory.  Lance let me sleep in, he got me a coffee from Starbucks, (I"m out of coffee at home!), and then did most of the playing with LJ this morning at the pool.  After LJ's nap, I played with him, fed him then took him to child care so that I could enjoy "date night" on my own, (eating at a local restaurant and reading my book).  Was I indulgent, or what?!!  I gotta say, at the end of the day, I felt a little guilty, but it sure was nice to have such an amazingly easy day!  

I hope your day was good...enjoy some of the pics of our off day below.

Love,

Jamie

1, 2, 3...!

The loving look of a father...

Newfound freedom is fun!

The boys taking an off-day snooze

My little angel taking a marathon nap after a long day at the pool!

We had a great off day!  We made sandwiches, snacks and packed them all in a bag to spend the day at the pool. When we finally came in around 2, everyone was tired.  LJ, Rookie and Lance took a good nap while I watched The Land Before Time and Meet the Robinsons.  After LJ's dinner, his friend Andrew came over to keep him for an hour or so so Lance and I could go grab a roll of sushi nextdoor.  What a day!!!  :)

will post more tomorrow!

What a great day, and I have pictures!!  I'll post them tomorrow -- I hope your day was great, too!

Love,

Jamie

Ahhhh...

Well, LJ and I have finally found our chair.  It's our night-time ritual to unwind, cuddling in our little armchair, and we got here a little late tonight.  He's drinking his milk next to me, and my burrito from whole foods is warming in the oven for dinner.  We went to work out tonight and I did this awesome class.  It is called H.I.T. (High Intensity Training) - serious cardio to warm up with , (sprints, mountain climbers, high kicks, frog jumps, quick walking lunges, shuffling), then a strength/cardio circuit for 40 minutes.  It was "intense", as the class describes, and afterward, my wobbly legs carried LJ and I to Barnes and Noble to get a book.  I have books I'm enjoying for my quiet time, but I needed a night-time novel.  I love Barnes and Noble, and so does LJ -- he's sold on the train set, I'm sold on books as far as the eye can see!!  

We had a great morning with Lance here.  It's still a little surprising to wake up and him be here, and we are loving it!  We ate breakfast together - smoothies, sausage and cereal, (weird combo), then went to the pool till lunch.  LJ got some "water wings" and enjoyed some freedom in the pool for the first time.  It was a great day -- not too hot, beautiful skies...one to remember.  Tomorrow, Lance has an off day, (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), so we're looking forward to a day like that again!  LJ's "buddy", Andrew, is coming to keep him for an hour around bedtime so Lance and I can share a shushi roll at Ra Sushi downstairs. It's a little birthday celebration for Lance.

Sorry about the lack of pictures today - maybe I'll have some tomorrow :)  I hope you get a great night's sleep!

Love,

Jamie

Happy Birthday, Lance!!

feeding the ducks with dad

Happy Birthday 28th Birthday, Lance!

mmmm...cake!

Such a sad face...he's looking at Lance get his bag ready to leave

...but he quickly decided he was o.k., gave him a kiss goodbye and said, "bye, daddy!"

Well, what a great day!  LJ wanted to stay up late and wait on Lance last night - I don't think he believed me that he was coming home, so we all laid in bed together until 11:30.  Because of that, LJ slept in, (YAY!), and Lance and I were able to get some good rest as well.  

After waking up, we went to walk Rookie with some bread to feed the ducks.  Well, the ducks must have known that it was Lance's birthday because there were 22 of them!  They came to wish him well, and I think they were a little upset because we only had 3 slices of bread!  

After the ducks, we came in, had breakfast and Lance opened up his birthday gifts then headed to the pool.  LJ swam better than he ever has today.  Between Lance and I, there was like 6+ feet of pool, and he swam back and forth with no problem.  So fun! 

 

When LJ was tired and saying, "home...home", we headed back, gave him a bath then walked to the local Mexican place to grab lunch.  It was a great lunch, but we made sure to save some room for birthday cake.  It is from Safeway, but it is so good!  We have to get this thing out of our house so we don't go after it with just a fork!  Tell me LJ isn't my kid...we were in the middle of eating cake and LJ decided to stop, clasp his hands and pray to bless the cake, all on his own.  We all stopped and said our thanks - If you can't bless cake, you've got a problem!  :)

After Lance left, LJ took a bit of a late nap.  When he woke, we walked Rookie then played inside before dinner.  He had some pasta with chicken and apple sauce on the side.  Then, we went to work out -- LJ is usually the only one there at night (like private babysitting for an hour!), so we went there for a bit.  He is totally over his stomach bug, but I would like to wait just a bit longer before letting him hug on other little people - stomach bugs are no fun!  He had a blast, and I got a good work out in.

So, now it's the end of the day.  We got to watch Lance throw, and LJ is infatuated with seeing his face.  He goes and grabs a glove and ball, mimicking him, then sitting in my lap and singing, "charge, daddy!".  We'll head to a game later this week -- he enjoys it a lot, but I think he enjoys watching it in the chair with me even more.

I hope your day was great -- we miss and love you lots!

Love,

Jamie

We made it!

So sorry I haven't posted...our internet connection was down.  I just wanted to let y'all know we made it safe and sound to Baltimore.  It was a long day, but went relatively smoothly.  It's Lance's birthday today, so expect a few birthday pics later.  I hope you are well!!

Love,

Jamie

A home visit winding down

Well, it's just two days before LJ, Rookie and I head back north, and I wanted to take a break from the cleaning and organizing to type a quick entry in case I forget.  It's so fun to go through each room, rummage through each drawer and set these little places up for our long-awaited arrival home.  The t.v. trays are easily accessible, right by the laundry-room door.  Lance and I love to have a late grilled chicken or steak and watch a tivo'd show after LJ goes down.  All of my vases are stacked and cleaned neatly, waiting for their chance to hold flowers all over the house.  The little pilgrims and santa salt shakers are cleaned and ready for fun holiday meals, as is the Santa Claus face ice cream tray.   With about five weeks left in the season, we will be headed home to these "creature comforts" soon, and I want them readily available for us.  We wait anxiously each year for this time, and though we are so thankful for baseball and its blessing to our lives, the fall is by far our favorite time of year!  

LJ and I just sat on the kitchen floor and colored a piece of unfinished wood.  I'm thinking I will seal that side so that I can always have it.  We are both suffering with a little stomach problem, so we've been slow-moving like this all day.  It's kind of nice.  

I hope your day has been as wonderful as ours, (minus the icky stuff we are battling - yuck)!  We are feeling well enough to look at each other, laugh and enjoy this time, though.  Soon enough, we'll be here for a few months and can enjoy special times in our home every day!!!

Have a great night!

Love,

Jamie

These are a few of my favorite things

The walkway to the football stadium with plaques for every SEC and national championship

Hallowed ground :)

Denny Chimes

LJ placing his hand in one of the handprints of a former team captain at the walk of fame on the base of Denny Chimes

Standing at the foot of Denny Chimes looking at the President's Mansion

Well, these are just a FEW of the many pictures LJ and I took during our beautiful evening walk around the university.  I'm sure I will post more later.  From 6-7 p.m., Denny Chimes was playing beautiful music as we walked.  What a wonderful evening!!!  Lance, we missed you!

Love,

Jamie

snack time with a new friend

LJ and his bird tatoo 

quiet time with the crepe myrtles

he shoots..he scores!

What a wonderful visit!  for the past two days, my friend Rachel Allen and her son, Jackson have been here.  Her son is just three months younger than LJ and they had a blast!!!!  It was a short visit, but a wonderful one!  I hope you enjoy the pics :)