Jason (some observations):

• has selective hearing - if he is playing and does not want to be bothered at that moment he will either ignore you or say "Not yet."
• is extremely polite - Me "Jason, would you like to go take a bath?" Him "No thank you Mommy."
  
• loves to play with puzzles.
• loves words that make make a noise, or onomatopoeia; he gets the biggest kick out of words like SPLASH, BOOM, CRASH, PLOP, BANG, KAPOW!
• has earned many nicknames: Monkey, Silly Goose, Bud, Buddy.
  
• will always smile if you say "Whatever you do don't smile!" when he has gotten kind of in a funk. He will put his hand over his mouth and try to cover it up, but he will smile, and chances are his funk is nearly over.
• really likes to do things by himself - put toothpaste on his toothbrush, screw the lid on his cup, press the buttons on the microwave, turn the TV off with the remote, shut the car door.
• would eat his weight in M&Ms if given the chance.
• was very brave when we went to take pictures with Santa this year, he started to get a little scared, but pulled it together to take a picture, get a candy cane and ask Santa for a firetruck.
• still has a voracious appetite for reading books, he will grab a stack and just flip through them, and always wants to read at least 2 stories before bed.
• likes to go to the doctor.
• is a very good eater, and will usually try new things if encouraged. his favorite thing to see after trying something new is "that's not so bad."
• loves asking his Papaw "Are you talkin' to me?" a la de Niro; this is one of the movie lines he and Papaw recite to each other.
• loves playing with Hot Wheels.
• is very concerned about traffic signals, he yells stop when he sees a red light, and does not believe us when we tell him it is legal to turn right on red in most instances as long as you stop first.
• likes to sing songs to himself, sometimes we recognize the songs, other times we're pretty sure he is making them up; he also likes to sing songs with me that I have made up. We have a couple that we sing after bath time most nights, its our own special little ritual to get ready for bed.
  
• has a very vivid imagination - he gives voices to his toys and has them interact with each other, sometimes they fight, other times they are friends, sometimes they are happy, sometimes they are sad, etc. It is so fun to watch him play.
• has a very inquisitive mind and is always asking what things are called, he is extremely talkative too.
  
• likes to play games - one of our favorite games in the car is to guess what cargo an 18-wheeler might be carrying. "What do you think might be in that truck Jason?" Some of his replies have been marshmallows, trash cans , Christmas trees, books, bubbles, purple crayons.
  

Jason really is such a happy child. I feel so blessed to have him as my own, and can hardly believe that it has already been over 3 years since his birth. As we get closer to adding another member to our family, I've really been spending a lot of time reflecting on the past 3 years, all the special memories we've made, and how much our life has changed for the better. I am really excited to enter into another stage of our journey and look forward to all the new and wonderful things to come. I know he is going to be a wonderful big brother!

Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger

This year for Halloween, we had Jason's costume picked out far in advance. He had been asking for the Buzz Lightyear toy every time we went to the store for a while. So when a Halloween catalog arrived in the mail and we showed him a picture of the costume, it was a pretty easy decision. It was a little pricey, but Jason got to wear it 3 times. His school had a fall festival, where all the kids dressed up and had carnival type games. He also got to wear his costume on the Friday before Halloween for his class party and the school costume parade. And then finally Halloween night. I think he will use pieces of it to play in for a couple of years. He likes to put the wings on almost daily and pretend that he is flying around the house with his Buzz Lightyear toy.

Halloween was a big success this year. Jason got to go trick-or-treating with our friends Aaron & Marisa's son Austin. The boys are about two months apart in age and play extremely well together. I think it made trick-or-treating more fun to have a same-age friend instead of just Mommy and Daddy. When we later asked Jason what he really liked about Halloween, he told me "Mommy, they all called me Buzz!" Our boy is not afraid of getting attention! Oh, but don't let him fool you, he really liked getting all the candy too. Happy Halloween from our Space Ranger, "To infinity and beyond!

Austin and Jason at their school Fall Festival.

Trick-or Treating

Trip to Baton Rouge

Justin, Jason and I finally made it down to Baton Rouge this year. It had been a couple of years since we had been to visit during football season, so we were really excited to take a road trip. Friday night we drove straight to a party being held for a bunch of old geezers we know. Just kidding, it was for a bunch of fabulous people we know that have been friends since they attended LSU, and just happen to be turning 60 this year. 2 of the honorees are of course my Mom and Dad (Mimi and Papaw to Jason), and it was fun to be there to help celebrate. It was also the first time some of my parent's friends heard the news of our expecting another baby, which was fun news to share. Jason also got a lot of attention and was very well behaved considering he had spent the previous 7 hours in the car.

After the party we headed on over to our good friends Emily and Drew's house, who were gracious enough to let us stay with them for the weekend. They have a very handsome almost 5 month old, William. Jason was very taken with the baby, and I think Emily and Drew got to see a little bit of what was in store for them when Will gets a few years older.

Saturday we got dressed up in our LSU Tiger gear and went out to LSU's campus for some tailgating. Good food, great fans, a lot of purple and gold, and multiple tailgating parties to attend = a great day of fun, albeit a long one. Our little tiger Jason was pretty worn out come game time. Emily and I took Jason back to the house and let the boys go to the game, where LSU soundly defeated Auburn. GEAUX TIGERS!

Sunday morning we went to brunch with a bunch of Baton Rouge friends and even managed to have a table of 14! It was really nice catching up with friends that we have not seen in a while. Then it was time to hit the road and head back to Texas, but not before stopping at CC's Coffee House (Community Coffee) for some to-go coffees.

The drive home was fairly uneventful, but as we made it back to the metroplex we got to drive through some pretty heavy rain. We managed to pull into our garage and quickly unload the car before it got really nasty. It's really fun to do road trips every once in a while, and this one was a success.

It's a BOY!

It's a GIRL BOY!

We were originally told at my 20 week ultrasound that we were having a girl, but found out at 28 weeks that they made a mistake, and the baby is a boy. Below were my thoughts after the 20 week appointment and what I originally wrote for this blog post.

On October 20th, we had our big ultrasound appointment. We had been eagerly anticipating this appointment, for we knew that we'd get to find out the sex of the baby. Some people like to wait until birth, but I would be a wreck if I didn't find out. In fact, I knew that I would not do a single thing to the new baby's room, which is currently kind of a junk room, until I found out boy or girl. Our doctor announced to us about halfway through the ultrasound that we were going to have a girl and I actually started crying, I was just so excited! How lucky are we to get a boy and a girl. We truly feel blessed. Jason is very excited that he is going to have a little sister, and says he will take good care of her and be nice to her. Although he has told us at least twice that he is going to want a little brother too. I think as we get closer to the due date he will start to get a better idea of what to expect as we begin to get the nursery ready and talk with him more about the baby's arrival. In the meantime, we are trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible. Everything is about to change, and we really want to enjoy this special time with him.



We have also decided on a name, she will be Jordan Lucy. Jordan was my paternal grandmother's maiden name, and Lucy is my maternal great-grandmother's name. We can hardly wait to meet our little girl.

At 28 weeks we went in for another ultrasound, both Justin and Jason came with me, and much to our surprise we found out that the baby was in fact a boy. Needless to say, we were surprised.

I've had a lot of people ask me if I was disappointed, but I can honestly say I was not, and remain very excited about now having a boy. In some ways having another boy will be easier, most of our baby gear is for a boy, we already have a stock-pile of boy clothes, and I've always wanted Jason to have a little brother. I also already had a boy name picked out, Jeffrey Michael. I think I've had it picked out since I was pregnant with Jason.

I also think I must have subconsciously known that this baby was NOT a girl. All before the 20 week ultrasound, I thought the baby was a boy. Even after being told at 20 weeks we were going to have a girl, I did not go out and buy anything pink! How weird is that? OK, I did buy one thing, it was a little bib that said "I Love Daddy" in pink with pink trim, but that was all I could commit to. The only other thing we bought, and this was a week before the 28 week ultrasound, was a bedding set, and that was only because I felt like we were running out of time and needed to get that room painted. Luckily, we were able to return the bedding, and I got to get the upholstered glider and ottoman I wanted. All in all, it hasn't been that hard a transition for me to go from having a daughter to now another son.

Jason on the other hand has had to adjust. We had worked so hard on getting him to understand that the baby was going to be his little sister, that I think he thought we were teasing him all of a sudden when we switched to boy. I think he is getting the hang of it now and is finally convinced that the doctor made a mistake and now he is having a little brother.

The other thing that really surprised me is that as I've been telling people "No, actually we found out that the baby is in fact a boy," I have had numerous people tell me that that the same thing happened to their sister or a friend. I had not really heard of this happening very often, but now I've heard so many stories now, and people finding out at delivery or right before their due date that the what they were originally told was wrong. It just goes to show that ultrasounds are not 100% accurate (just as advertised).

When it comes down to it, we really just want a happy and healthy baby, and everything looks good, so we are happy! We truly feel blessed.

Below is a picture from our 28 week ultrasound. I know its hard to tell, but I think he looks like Jason!

Jason's 3rd Birthday Party

We celebrated Jason's 3rd Birthday this year with a party at Let's Jump. Jason was able to invite a bunch of kids from his class at daycare, as well as his cousins and other close friends. They all had a blast jumping for an hour and then we finished the party with some cake. Jason really loved going down the big slide, but we think his favorite part was when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him. His face just lit up, and for weeks afterward he would talk about how everyone sang to him.

Nana came by the house after the party to enjoy some present opening. It was like a preview of this coming Christmas! Jason has enjoyed playing with all his new toys, and has a surprisingly good memory when it comes to who gave him which present.

We also got to have a special dinner at Mimi and Papaw's house with Aunt Sarah to celebrate the big 3, with of course another cake and singing of "Happy Birthday." Mimi and Aunt Sarah gave Jason some great Halloween themed presents as well, which has to be his 3rd favorite holiday (after his birthday and Christmas of course).

Finally on Jason's actual birthday, we had dinner at home, just the three of us (and 1/2 if you count the baby on the way), and Jason got his birthday present from us. He had been asking for it for a couple of months, so he was pretty excited to open the box and find Buzz Lightyear. We are so proud of our big boy and can hardly believe he is already three years-old.

Hot Wheels!

Jason's favorite toy right now is his Hot Wheel. Now that we've finally had a break from the rain, we've been able to let Jason ride his Hot Wheel every evening in front of the house. I hope this nice weather sticks around, because he really enjoys it. I think he would actually pass on cartoons and dinner if we'd let him, in order to ride. Now this is a much cooler bike that we had when we were kids, it has sounds! His favorite phrases, that he will repeat over and over are, "I want to Rock!" and, "Let's Roll!" He also likes to practice turning to the right, and then turning to the left. Here's our future biker!

At the playground with Mimi and Papaw

Last weekend Justin and I spent Saturday tailgating with a bunch of Justin's college buddies and went to the TX State v. TCU football game. We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone, and TCU is a great campus to go and see a game.

While Mommy and Daddy were away playing, Jason spent the day and night with Mimi and Papaw, and as you can see below, I think they had a lot of fun.

Little Easy II

Jason was a member of the Little Easy II crew this past labor day weekend. We didn't have a lot of wind, but Jason enjoyed his first outing on the sailboat. We motored over to where the Lowe Family were anchored and had lunch and later took a dip in the water. It was a very fun day, and we are looking forward to more sailing this fall. Thanks Mimi and Papaw!

Special Announcement!

Jason has a special announcement everyone:


That's right, we are increasing our household by one more! Jason is very excited about being a big brother, and loves his new T-shirt we bought to celebrate our good news.

Fauxhawk

Jason came home from daycare today sporting a fauxhawk. He loves his hair like this and will go look in the mirror continously. I think it might be time for a haircut though!

St. Kitts

We recently had our second family trip to St. Kitts. Our group this year was Mommy, Daddy, Jason, Mimi, Papaw, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Josh, and we were joined this year by Uncle Greg and Aunt Sandy. St. Kitts is such a beautiful island, and is still a bit on the undiscovered side, which makes it nice and not too crowded.

Unfortunately this year we had the terrible misfortune of being in an automobile accident, and had to send half of our group home early; Uncle Greg with a dislocated elbow and Aunt Sarah with a mouth injury that will require extensive oral surgery and braces. We are very fortunate, despite these injuries, that we all walked away, and are thankful that no one was hurt more seriously. We have been relieved to find out that Uncle Greg will not require surgery; and have been proud (but not really surprised) to witness Aunt Sarah's strength and positive attitude as she deals with a temporary liquid diet and multiple doctor's appointments.

After a couple of missteps, the resort staff was very helpful in assisting those of us that stayed for the remainder of the week, sort out things with the insurance company of the driver who caused the collision. We are very pleased that all medical expenses have thus far been reimbursed.

While Aunt Sarah and Uncle Greg have a long road to recovery ahead of them, we can look back now on the moments we did get to share on vacation together. We also look forward to future vacations together.

And now for some highlights (the good parts) from our vacation:

Dr. Seuss

The other day we had one of the XM Radio kids stations on in the car, and they played a reading of Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham." You should have seen you Jason reacted! We have read this book together so many times that he has memorized many of the parts, and was chanting in unison with the audio version. Now whenever we get in the car he asks for "Green Eggs and Ham", so I knew I had to track down this recording. I did not find the exact same version, but I think I may have found something better. iTunes has readings by famous actors and I found "Green Eggs and Ham" read by Jason Alexander as well as "The Cat in the Hat" read by Kelsey Grammer. These are both great recordings, and it is so much fun to sit together and look through the book while listening to such expressive readings. I would definitely recommend them to anyone with kids who love Dr. Seuss!

Mavs Game

On St. Patrick's Day, we got to sit courtside at the Mavericks game against the Detroit Pistons. No, we didn't get the tickets from an extremely rich relative, and we didn't follow a rainbow to find a pot of gold at the end. We simply won them in a drawing. We were very fortunate to get the tickets. It was a great way to relax after a long, busy day at the office and it was really cool to be right in the middle of all the action. We also got to see firsthand how truly athletic these players are and how physical the game of basketball can be.

This may rank as one of the coolest sports experience for me. After a little thought I came up with a list.

Justin's Top 10 personal sports experiences:

10. 2003 Cotton Bowl - The year LSU played Texas, the game was still being played in the morning of New Year's Day. It was quite a feat for folks in their mid-20s to make it there in time for kickoff. We're pretty fortunate to have a decent bowl game so close to home. It'll be even closer now that the game is being moved to Jonestown (aka. the New Cowboys Stadium), but it may lose a bit of it's sense of tradition.

9. Suite at the Texas Motor Speedway - While you lose a little bit of the experience by being shielded from the noise of the cars, it's definitely a cool, once in a lifetime experience.

8. Suite at Texas Stadium (Cowboys vs. Redskins) - Again tickets that we won in a drawing. Hopefully we'll get to go to a game in the new stadium next season.

7. Texas State defeating Georgia Southern in the 2005 Division I-AA Playoffs - I'm sure this would be viewed as the most controversial experience on this list. Though Texas State isn't known as a football powerhouse, you have to understand that a) Georgia Southern had been considered a top team at the level; and b) Texas State had never experienced at game of this magnitude at home. So the underdog Bobcats won, and people stormed the field. I think I even recall hearing Al Michaels somewhere saying, "Do you believe in miracles?"

6. Rangers Ballpark (aka Ameriquest Field, Ballpark in Arlington) - I think sometimes we take the Ballpark for granted, but remember Arlington Stadium? Sure, the Ballpark could have used a retractable roof, but they have the Home Run Porch, a museum, and an overall cool look that includes architectural features of various, now-defunct ballparks. (Note that this sports experience ranks below the Fort Worth Cats.)

5. Fort Worth Cats at LaGrave Field - We sat along the third base line, first row. With downtown Fort Worth in the background, the scene just had a really good vibe.

4. Stars vs. Edmonton Oilers playoff game - The Stars won, the place went nuts, and I didn't feel so well the next day.

3. Fenway Park - Sitting in center field, right by the Green Monster. With so many stadiums being replaced over the years, Fenway is one of the last historical ballparks still in use. I couldn't quite figure out why the Red Sox fans were heckling the Yankees while their team was playing the Twins. It was quite amusing.

2. Sitting courtside at a Mavs game - (see below)

1. Tiger Stadium, any night game at LSU - The game that really comes to mind is when LSU beat Auburn on a last second TD pass. If you were there and weren't either in a fit of joy (LSU fans) or completely devastated (Auburn fans), then you have no soul or may possibly be some sort of undead zombie.

Honorable mentions: UT/A&M game at Kyle Field, UT/A&M game at Memorial Stadium, Fort Worth Fire Hockey, a at day at the Colonial PGA tournament.


On my "to do" list are:
Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, Indy 500, Daytona 500, Augusta National, (this list will most likely continue to change and grow).


Courtside!

Bye-Bye High Chair

Jason has decided that since he is such a big boy now, that he is too old to sit in his high chair. He has graduated to having a seat at the dinner table. Unfortunately, Mommy, in her infinite wisdom, had shown Jason how to swing his legs and bounce in the chair in addition to showing him how to slide down in the seat (just like she did when she was a little girl) a couple of weeks ago. Yes, this is the same butcher block table Mommy used to sit at growing up! We're pretty sure he would have figured out how to do all of these things by himself, but we now realize that a prep course was not a good idea. So now, dinner is accompanied by a chorus of: "Jason, sit up!", "Jason, sit still!", "Jason, turn around!", "Jason, stop bouncing." It is a really nice change to be sitting at the table all together, squirming aside. Besides, kids can't help being kind of squirmy. Isn't he cute?

Sazeracs! Need I say more?

LSU License Plate Day!!!

Jill's brand new license plates arrived and we had to put them on as soon as we got home. For those of you who don't already know, LSU is the first out of state school to have official plates made in Texas. We can already tell Greg is jealous and wants some LSU plates of his own. Actually, we hear that the University of Arkansas may not be far behind with their own Texas plate, so if he must, we'll let him have a set (ewww pigs....).

Jason's Room v2.0

Wow! We can't believe it's already March. Well, we have a little catching up to do for our entries. A few months ago, Jason upgraded to a "big boy" bed. Along with that, we had some decorating to change his room from a nursery to a boy's room. Take a peek!

Jason's New Talent

Well, it looks like Jason's signing career is now set to begin.  Take a look!  It's hard to believe how fast he has grown.  He sure enjoys the spotlight.  When we try singing along with him, he says, "No Mommy" or "No Daddy" because like many things, he wants to do it himself.

Happy Holidays!

Well, it's been a while since we've posted, so this might be a long post. First, we hope that everyone had a nice Christmas holiday, and that the New Year brings everyone health, wealth and much prosperity. And now for some updates and pics from the last couple of months, which have been a whirlwind of activity.

Here is a picture from Jason's 50s dress up day to celebrate his daycare's 50th year since its founding. We thought he looked pretty cool!




Here are some pictures from Jason's Thanksgiving Feast his class had up at school. He was the only child in his class with both parents there. It was fun to sit and have lunch with him, and to see him interact with his teachers and classmates.



Oh, and I almost forgot! I have proof for the future when Jason tries to tell us that he does not like vegetables. Here he is eating (and enjoying) brussel sprouts!


We celebrated Thanksgiving this year up at Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah's house. Nana, Justin, Jason and I traveled together all the way to Collin county for the feast. Sarah and Josh did a wonderful job putting everything together and Sarah even saved the boudin ball/loaf. Justin, Josh and Jason even got to enjoy some playtime in the backyard (although I think it made them miss some of the Cowboys game.) Once Jason decided it was time to go, by throwing a fit, we trekked back over to Tarrant County and dropped by Matt and Erin's house (our Aunt Lindsay's sister) for a visit. There, Jason was able to play with his two cousins, Kassidy and Mckinley, and their cousin Ella.
Jason had a Christmas Program the next week, and we made sure we had good seats in order to watch his class perform "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" Unfortunately we did not get to see him on stage because he insisted on being held by the teacher during both songs. Oh well, maybe next year.

Mimi's birthday was next, and we went to church and had lunch at Christina's to celebrate. Jason was a little cranky, so Justin and I had to eat in shifts.

You may have noticed a recurring theme so far with Jason being fussy and having tantrums. He is still our wonderful happy little boy, but we have entered the much talked about terrible 2's, so sometimes Jason is a bit of a short fuse. In his defense, we have introduced a lot of new things to him recently, including moving to a big boy bed and beginning potty training. We feel he is adjusting well, but he is also continuously testing his limits and boundaries, and we are all learning together.

After Mimi's birthday we met up with Rebecca, Vince and Jacob to take pictures at our neighborhood clubhouse. Which reminds me, we still need to pick up those pictures. It was a memorable experience, as Jason cried the minute I put him in Santa's lap. I bet the pictures will be funny.

Next, we had a Christmas celebration over at Nana's house. It was a lot of fun to have 3 toddlers (Jason, Kassidy and Mckinley) all opening presents up in the same room at the same time. The kiddos also got to decorate pine cones and frost and decorate cookies. Jason's technique was superb - frost then eat. Then we all got to go and enjoy Kathie's choir perform their Christmas program which included dancing, singing, and even an appearance by 3 live camels. Jason really enjoyed all the music and lights.




Oh, and here was the wonderful Christmas card we sent out this year. Jason's frowny face cracked us up.
Jason has been obsessed with happy faces and sad faces lately, as I think they represent the two main emotions he identifies with right now. He has us draw them repeatedly on his Doodle Pro and Aquadoodle, and he likes to act out his own happy and sad faces. He also wants to make us happy, so if he does something he thinks we'll be proud of, like eating his vegetables, or putting his head on his pillow at bedtime he'll ask "Mama/Daddy happy?"

Here he is sporting one of his happy faces and his Santa hat, which he loved wearing.


We had two really fun events over at Deborah and John's house this year, a vocal recital of Sarah's voice students and a Christmas dinner party. Both were really fun. We even got to sing the 12 days of Christmas song at the dinner party because we had 12 adults at the table, and each of us had our own line from the song!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun too, as Jason loves opening presents and tearing tissue paper. He even enjoys picking up all the discarded paper. We also had wonderful celebrations at Mimi and Papaw's house on Christmas Day and the Saturday after Christmas.



We brought in the New Year with Rebecca, Vince and Jacob and we all decided to stick close to home this year and spend time with our kiddos. It has become a tradition to celebrate this holiday together, and one which I hope we will continue for many years. Here are some pictures of Jason and Jacob.

We were also very excited for Mimi and Papaw who traveled to Atlanta to watch the Tigers play in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. They had instructions to cheer loudly for us too, and it must have worked because the Tigers played a great game, beating Georgia Tech with a final score of 38-3. Here's a picture of Mimi and Papaw at the game.


Hope everyone has Happy New Year and GEAUX TIGERS!