Jillian-isms

I think I have mentioned before how ravenous my kids are when I pick them up from school. Yesterday, Jillian was screaming for goldfish and I caved. I was trying to make dinner and they were both crying and I caved. So I sat them in front of the TV watching Jonah for the 500th time (Jonah was a profit...ooh ooh....He never really got it...sad but true!) with a cup of goldfish. They were happy as clams and I got to finish making dinner.

Interrupted because they needed water....had to have their matching cups.

Here are some funny things Jillian has been saying. I call them Jillian-isms!

Setting: Sunday before church. I am by myself getting the kids dressed and ready. I thought I could get away with dressing them in their last year's Kelly's kids outfits. Remember these?

Well first off, Jillian said, "Mommy, these are old." I responded, "Yes, but they are so beautiful and Mommy spent a lot of money on them and so let's wear them again." Then the fight followed. She did NOT want to wear the outfit. But I persisted and got it on her and she turned to me with a very angry face and said with a a very angry voice,

YOU MONGREL!!!!

I just about died laughing!!!! (For those of you that are wondering where she came up with that - in the Lady and the Tramp, Jacques calls Tramp a mongrel!!) I couldn't even discipline her for talking back to Mommy. I was laughing so hard!!

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Story #2

Bathtime is usually one of our best times. Lately, getting Jillian into the bath has been proving to be problematic! I ask her 100x to get in the bath tub and she always has an excuse like, "I am feeding my babies or I am taking sick baby to the doctor or I am grocery shopping." But finally on one particular evening I had already bathed Rocco and was very frusterated that Jillian would not get in and so I yelled and said, "If you do not get in the bathtub, you are going straight to timeout!" She came in the bathroom and said "Why are you yelling Mommy?" and I said, "Mommy is already done with Rocco and now it is your turn. Why won't you get into the tub?"

She replied with a straight face, "Mommy, it is complicated!!!"

Again, I died laughing!!!

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In other random news, does anybody want to take 17 five year olds to the zoo tomorrow??? Yeah, I didn't think so. The zoo has called us to inform us that there are over 3,000 kids registered for tomorrow. That does not include schools that just show up and also regular customers that show up as well. YIKES!!!! It is supposed to be 92 degrees tomorrow. Please say a prayer that I don't lose a kid and end up on the local news as the worst teacher of the year!!!!

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Finally, on Saturday, my family will be doing this

We are walking and celebrating that my Mom is cancer-free (along with approx. 30,000 other people)!!! If you are in the SA area and feel like thinking pink, join us on Saturday at the Alamo Dome!! See you there!!

Battle of Flowers and Its Getting Warm!!!

In South Texas, Friday was Battle of Flowers. Jillian had a parade at her school (Mommy had one at her school too) and she made a beautiful float. Here she is showing it off.


Then brother came by and ripped it into pieces but she is still smiling (actually she hasn't noticed yet).

It is really starting to get warm down here and Jillian wanted to play in the sprinkler. I put Rocco in a swim diaper and then turned to help Jillian with her bathing suit. She insisted that since Rocco did not have to wear a top then neither did she. I couldn't argue with that logic so she won!

Rocco did not like the sprinkler and stayed by my leg for the whole time.

So I turned off the sprinkler and just let the hose run and that was much more exciting!!! My pants-only pair!

Once he got control of the hose by himself, he thought it was great fun!

Then Saturday, Bryan had to work all weekend but we went again to the pooch parade. Both J & R thought the doggies were hilarious in their costumes!!

The dog divas even had their own floats!!!!

Made in the shade!!!

We got in the car and two seconds later, they were out! I enjoyed a very peaceful, quiet ride home!

The Art of the Wean

Rocco is done! My boobs can retire! I have successfully weaned baby #2.

I am going to talk about something that makes some people uncomfortable. ….breastfeeding. For me, it has always worked and worked easily. I have now successfully nursed two kids for 14 months and 15 months for a total of 29 months. Whew!! I am tired just thinking about it.

We all do so much for our kids and nursing is truly such a selfless gift. During my tenure as a nursing mom, I have been:
sucked
bit
bit HARD
chomped
chewed
pinched

This is where I have nursed either kid:
Home
My mom’s home
My MIL’s home
Numerous friend and family’s homes
My old lawyer office
My classroom
Church
airport
On an airplane
In the car
In numerous parking lots
On the side of the road
At many restaurants
On the beach
At the zoo

I have never had my picture taken while nursing for the cover of a magazine like this:

AND I don’t think I will nurse this many children like she did:

BUT I am proud of my accomplishment!!

I retired my Pump In Style to the closet. I have pumped for both children on a daily basis. With Jillian, I pumped morning, noon, and in the afternoon at my old lawyer office. I kept a cooler with all of the milk behind my desk. With Rocco, it got harder. Now I am in a classroom with windows. So at lunch, I would hide behind my desk, sit on the floor and pump with one hand holding the pumps and the other eating my quick lunch. I would haul the milk back home for Rocco to chug down and do it all over the next day. The lengths we will go to for our children!!!!!

Now Rocco has joined the ranks of many to enjoy his milk in a bottle or cup.

28 days left of school! Cuz I like sayin' it!!!

Who had more fun???

On Saturday, Jillian was invited to a birthday party at a local gym but the whole family tagged along for some fun! I am not sure who had more fun.

Here is Team P assessing the situation. Jillian looked ADORABLE and very much like a blond Mary Lou Retton in her gymnastics outfit that her friend Allison gave her.



Here is J & P in the "cheese pit." We serve Jillian those cheese cubes and she thought the foam in the pit looked just like cheese. Rocco was not a fan of the cheese pit.

Rocco loved the exercise balls.

Daddy loved flipping into the cheese pit.

Jillian loved swinging into the cheese pit.

R loved the balance beam.

Daddy was showing off on the rings.

I am not sure who had the most fun....but I bet you can take a guess? I bet you can also guess who was very sore on Sunday!!!

15 months old

The rock star is 15 months old today. He has blossomed so much in the last three months. He is talking more. He is climbing more. He is eating more (didn't know that was possible). He is becoming a toddler (sniff, sniff).

The funniest thing of the last three months is his Michael Jackson syndrome. My child is getting lighter and lighter. I didn't know that could happen. His hair is so blond and with summer around the corner, you know it will be getting even lighter! We get comments all of the time. Very peculiar!

Things Rocco says:
Mama
DaDa
Jill-ee-n
uppy (aka "Somebody pick me up!")
again
Dat? (aka "What's that?)

Favorite foods:
chicken
ham
green beans (will eat an entire can)
avacado (will eat an entire avacado or more)
apples (will eat a whole apple)

He got teeth #13 and #14 (the top two incisors). There has been a ton of drool and discomfort!

He can point to his nose, his hair and ears. He also loves playing the stinky feet game with Jillian and he knows exactly where his feet are.

He now has an interest in books and loves pointing to different things in books so you can tell him the name.

Here he is looking so handsome!!!



Sign language has taken off! He can do:
more
drink
done
cereal (aka Cheerios b/c that is the only cereal I give them)
milk

This is his favorite "sign" - the double point which means "I want you!"


This is his second favorite "sign" along with the word "uppy."


He has also started the crinkle face. Jillian loved making the crinkle face!! So cute!!

Now here are some comparison shots! Poor Bryan is sorely neglected on this blog so this is for him!

This is B at 15 months. He looks smaller than Rocco and does not have nearly as much hair as the Rocc-ster! But I do see similarities!


This picture is B at 2 years old and that looks A LOT like my R-man. Honestly this looks like Bill to me but the date clearly says 1979 so it has to be Bryan. I love that his lovely locks match Rocco's!!!


This is also Bryan at 2 1/2 years old with the best smile ever! He had just gotten in trouble for dumping the shampoo. (You can see it in the background.) Obviously, he was pretty happy about it!! Again the hair looks like Rocco's now!


Finally, this is one of my fav Bryan pictures. Again he is around 2 1/2 and look at that smile! So cute! Definitely starting to see the olive complexion starting to come out!


I'll leave with a funny story. On Tuesday, Bryan had the kids up at school with me so that we could eat dinner together b/c I had a function up at school Tuesday night. One of my students saw me holding Rocco and he said, "He looks just like you Mrs. P." I said, "You don't think he looks like his Daddy?" He said, "No, the Daddy is too brown." LOL!! He said it, not me!!!

My Happy Place

I am not even going to waste my words describing another difficult morning with Princess J. This whole turning 3 thing is for the birds!!!! Nobody tells you that in the parenting instruction book.

I did drug her with Benedryl last night so she had a decent night of sleep. I plan to drug her again tonight to continue the trend. hee hee!

So I will focus my mind on a "happy place." Maybe a cottage in the woods? Maybe a lodge up on a snowtop mountain? Or how about a beach? Yes, definitely a beach!!! Actually, let's just go!!

I am heading to Port A after school today with the kids by myself!! That's right, by myself! It is Sandfest and hopefully we will have a fun time......I am praying we will have a fun time.....really, really praying :-)

I leave ya'll with picture proof of how fast a year goes.....

J&R - April 2009


J&R - April 2010

Easter - 2009
Easter - 2010

How come Bryan is getting smaller and I am getting bigger??? Don't answer that!!! I am going to work on that!!!

Happy Friday! See ya next week!

Confession

Jillian has not had a fever since Monday. But she has not returned to her normal self. She has major fits, throws tantrums, cries and whines constantly.

She has not slept well in days. She goes down easy at 8:00 but is quickly in our bed by 11:00. She tosses and turns and wakes up frequently. When she wakes up, she is crying or screaming. I mean, it is a little scary. Is she wrestling a demon?

Mommy and Daddy (and even Grammie and Poppy) are drained. When is our sweet charming little girl going to return?

So I have a confession to make. This morning, I was on my own. Rocco has been waking up early around 5:30 or 5:45. So I was giving him a bottle and trying to quietly get ready while Jillian slept. BUT then she woke up and started the day with her crying fit. She wanted to make muffins. I calmly explained that we did not have time to make muffins today because Mommy had to work and she had to go to school. Another crying fit started with “I don’t want to go to school.” Mommy is starting to panic. But then it struck me – Ashley, do what you have to do to have a pleasant morning and get the day started with positivity. So I said,

Jillian we don’t have muffins but you can have a bar. AKA one of these……

This instantly made her happy. Then I said she could get it out of the pantry herself. She was more happy. And then I said she could get one out for Rocco. More happiness.

So there is my confession…..I am a terrible mother. I cannot control my daughter and I used chocolate granola bars to get some peace and quiet in my house.

So we were good for about 10 minutes. I finished getting dressed and ready for work and then I got Rocco dressed. And then I tried to get Jillian ready. Let another tantrum start! She did not like the outfit I picked. She repeated she did not want to go to school and basically cried the whole way to school. Fighting me to put her shoes on. Fighting me to get in the carseat. Fighting me dragging her in the school. And crying when I dropped her off in her classroom.

Pleasant, pleasant morning!!! God bless the bar that gave me 10 minutes of peace this morning. I really hope she snaps out of this soon!! We can only take so much.