1000 Thanks

Ok, so here's going to be my list of 1000 things I am thankful for this year. (Please feel free to give me some guidance here - I don't know that I can list 1000 things, although I DO have a lot to be thankful for in my life.)

1. Another day to be a wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter, boss, and all those other words.
2. Ben
3. Jackson
4. Parker
5. Our new house
6. Still having a job when so many don't
7. Healthy children
8. The new laptop Ben got for me yesterday - he must be sucking up for something, right? :)
9. Being so close to my family - both physically and emotionally
10. All my friends, even though I don't see them very often.
11. My online mommy friends
12. My fancy camera to capture all the memories we make.
13. Mr. Clean magic erasers
14. Jackson's preschool - he has learned so much there - both academically and socially.
15. Having a DVR - I thought I didn't need it, I thought wrong!
16. Coffee in the morning
17. Finding old friends on Facebook
18. Liking my job most of the time
19. Warm days in the fall
20. Medical insurance coverage that pays for every need we've had so far.
21. Living close enough to the city to still enjoy the fun stuff (zoo, ball games, museums) but to have the suburbs too
22. Kings Island
23. Growing enough to be able to ride roller coasters this past summer
24. Motrin for the kiddos fevers
25. Portable DVD players, even though I said they were a silly idea
26. Nintendo DS
27. The Wii
28. Cardboard boxes (did you see my Christmas tree post?)
29. The Microcenter
30. Hubby's computer games - they make him happy
31. Chutes and Ladders - Jackson's new fave
32. Elmo - Parker's trusted sidekick
33. An ice maker in the fridge - I eat a lot of ice
34. Left over Halloween candy
35. Target being 5 minutes from my house
36. eBay
37. Hand rolled pretzels from my work
38. The sweet lady at Subway the knows Jackson just wants pepperoni and cheese - no bread - and doesn't make a fuss about it.
39. The servers at Pizza Tower who know our order by heart
40. Moe's - they even have Tofu!!
41. Top of the line car seats for keeping my boys safe
42. The PedEgg
43. Purell hand sanitizer
44. NetFlix
45. Smart phones
46. My BFF, even though we NEED coffee time!
47. Working with people who will make fun of our silly situations with me
48. Always having a place to call home
49. In laws I actually like!
50. Singulair to keep Jackson's asthma under control
51. Xopenex for when it doesn't work so much!
52. Alimentum formula - both boys had to use it - it's hypoallergenic
53. Insurance that covers said pricey formula - it's $30 for a 3 day supply... my insurance covers it thru my prescriptions - so I pay $45 for 90 days
54. Playhouse Disney
55. Nickelodeon
56. House reruns on USA
57. Law and Order SVU
58. Our armed forces
59. The families of the troops who have to sacrifice so much for our safety
60. A president I agree with
61. Popcorn
62. Jackson' knock knock jokes
63. McDonald's playland
64. The new McDonald's they built by us that has 2 drive thru lines
65. Starbucks Mocha Frappaccino lights with whipped cream on very early staff meeting days!
66. Vinegar - I clean with it, it goes in my laundry, it works wonders!
67. iCarly
68. Sausage patties for Jackson's breakfast
69. Mamwich - the new fave dinner at our house
70. Getting paid mileage to go in for said early staff meetings
71. Popsicles
72. Christmas lights
73. Winter decorations - I have a million snow men
74. Parker's jumperoo
75. GeoTrax train sets
76. Video cameras to capture memories
77. Making craft projects with the kiddies
78. New gym shoes
79. A good bargain on holiday picture cards - hopefully the kids will cooperate for a pic soon!
80. Sparklers
81. The vacuum cleaner that sucks dirt from every thing!
82. Candy canes
83. Sunglasses on a sunny day
84. Gloves for my hands when I have to pump gas in the late night.
85. Jammy pants
86. Cuddling on the couch for Family Movie Night
87. The rocking chair
88. Organic, locally grown apples - yum
89. Bananas
90. Grapes
91. Apple Jacks cereal
92. Ziploc baggies
93. Gladware or ziploc reusable containers
94. The 1100+ people who have purchased Twilight New Moon tix in advance - now I know we'll be slammed this weekend - yay!
95. County mandated recycling
96. The big kid knowing that recycling makes the earth happy, and what we do recycle and why
97. Time to scrapbook (I get very little these days)
98. Opportunities for our children to try many new things and decide what they'd like to do
99. A school system that puts the kids first
100.A Wal-Mart being right across the street from my work - I can grocery shop on my way home, at 2 AM.
101. My favorite jeans
102. Successful parent teacher conferences with positive comments!
103. Jackson's emerging counting skills
104. Jackson's counting skills (he's just like his Momma.)
105. Ben's wheeling and dealing skills (or addiction?)
106. Having a husband who can fix my computer every time I break it!
107. Having a husband who talks me off the ledge when I call freaking out
108. Having co-workers I can freak out with and then talk each other of our respective ledges
109. Singing Christmas decorations
110. Christmas lights
111. Hot cocoa, even if the big kid likes his in a sippy cup still!
112. Seeing the leaves change color
113. The way my hardwood floors sparkle when they are freshly waxed
114. Caller ID
115. Call waiting
116. TV Guide info on my tv (channel guide)
117. Info button on my TV - I'd never know what things were about otherwise!
118. Our special ornaments on the tree
119. Bendaroos
120. Aveeno lotion
121. Target brand diapers


Ok, so I suck, big time. The important thing to note - I have an amazing life that I am honored to live. I have a wonderful husband, awesome children, and the most fabulous friends I could wish for. I have a nice house that keeps us warm, a job that I can go to every day and not dread, and most of our needs get met everyday. Do I wish there were more hours in my day? Of course I do. But, I'm thankful to get to spend the hours I DO have the exact way I spend them... being happy in my crazy life!! (PS - thanks for being a part of it!)
(Yep, I know I'm going to 1000. I got bored of typing.)

It's almost Christmas!!

Now, I'm not forgetting Thanksgiving, please see my posts about being thankful!

Since Parker's birthday is the day after Christmas, it is my plan to have all the Christmas stuff packed up at close of business on December 25. I don't want all the clutter when I'm trying to fit 40 people in here for a party, nor do I want Christmas trees in all his birthday pictures!

So, in true "me" fashion, the tree is up! And, we discovered the best thing ever for the boys - cardboard boxes. They've been playing in them for a week!

Jackson also discovered bubble wrap is really cool too - thanks Evan and Aubrey!

And, the boys each have tiny trees in their rooms (hello, Target Dollar spot!), but I'll have to post pictures of them later - never interrupt nap time!

Preschoolers know how to Par--tay!

Jackson's preschool Halloween party this year was so laid back and relaxed - I got there at 9:30 when the kids were getting ready to go upstairs to trick or treat to the school administrators.

(That's Jackson in the black Ninja outfit, and my niece Darby as Sharpay. They walked in a neat, orderly line up the stairs, all calm and quiet!)

Of course, there was snack time. They had chips, juice boxes, rice krispie treats, so exciting!

They made a craft - they painted their hand prints to be bat wings then glued on a bat body and googley eyes, and drew on mouths and noses.



Then, the teachers were so nice - they let the kids wrap them up like mummies!

(That's Mrs. Kane, the teacher's aide - she's so sweet!)

(Jackson is getting ready to wrap up Mrs. Crawford!)

Then, the kids sang their versions of some songs they've learned in class...

And, because it's cute, this is outside Jackson's classroom:

Trick or Treat

I know it's shocking that I am posting Halloween stuff before Christmas, huh?

Halloween was fun, as always. It's one of my favorite holidays ever. This year, Jackson was supposed to be the Incredible Hulk, but changed his mind, then changed it again, then again. In the end, he went with being a ninja. Parker is too young to vocalize his opinions, so I got to choose his costume, he was Dumbo, and he was adorable!!

(Sorry the picture is blurry, you know Jackson, always moving.)

(Parker was looking for the treats, but we hadn't started yet!)

Pray for Baby Stellan

For those of you who spend less time on the internet a day than I do, you may not be familiar with Baby Stellan. Basically, he's a baby about 2 months older than Parker. The majority of his life has been spent in the hospital with something called SVT - supraventricular tachacardia. His mom has kept a blog (and she's far better at keep it updated than I am about this one!) about the entire ordeal - www.mckmama.com

I don't know if it's because he's close to Parker's age or if it's because my oldest nephew PJ also has SVT, but something about this little boy's story just tugs at my heart.

Yesterday, Baby Stellan underwent a cardiac ablation surgery - basically a last ditch effort to save his little life. The doctors told Stellan's mom it had about a 20% chance of working...

While Baby Stellan was in surgery and his mom was wondering all kinds of what-ifs, I was wrangling a 4 1/2 year old who no longer sees the need for a nap. Baby Parker is teething and he has a terrible cold and a fever. I thought I was on the verge of going nuts, then I read MCKmamas blog and realized just how lucky I was.

And, for those of you who can't wait for the update, Baby Stellan's surgery was, according to his surgeons, "A home run." It was a success! There have been some complications after the surgery, but they appear to be manageable in comparison.

I am thankful

Today, on my Facebook page, a friend of mine had this as her status: "Let's see how many people can do this. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status. "Today I am thankful for.". The longer you do it, the harder it gets! Now, if you think you can do it, then repost this message as your status to invite others to take... the challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today!"

Another friend of mine likes to circulate a list and we all try to compile 1000 things we are thankful for. (We get it, or very close every year.)

So, every day from now until Thanksgiving, I will be posting things I'm thankful for. What are you thankful for?

Take me out to the ball game...

My boss and former boss (they're BFFs) gave us some tickets to the second to last Reds game of the season. We're not particularly fond of the Reds, but our little boy loves baseball (see my post about the t-ball and the world series) so that's all that mattered! We had really great seats, in fact someone a few rows up and one section over from us caught a foul ball.

Normally, as a family, we eat pretty healthily. This night, that went out the window! Jackson had so much junk food, I'm not sure how he wasn't sick! He had soda, cotton candy (first time), peanuts - yep, the kind in the shells - a pretzel with cheese, Twizzlers... But, I figure this was a special occasion, so we went with it!

The beginning of the cotton candy:

and the end result:

We had an awesome time and Jackson was on top of the world... thanks again to Jamie and Shaad for the tickets!

Time flies... 9 months already?

I cannot believe my baby boy is already 9 months old. He is getting so big! He weighs 22 pounds, 4 ounces and is 28.5 inches long. He's pretty much the exact same size as Jackson at this age!

So far, Parker says Dada a lot, Bub bub, Mom mom (but that's rare, and usually while he's crying.) He also says bite and Jackson!! He plays patty cake, peek a boo, and loves to crawl around and chase Jackson all over the house.

School is back in session!!

Jackson loves 4 year old pre-school. He LOVES it! His teacher is so awesome, he brings home a craft every day, he has a lot of the same kids from last year in his class... He is learning so much. It's awesome.

Here are some pictures from his meet the teacher night and first day of school.

The first day of school - yep, that's Gymboree with light up shoes - he chose it and loved it!

Here he is coming out of school...

Look Ma', no training wheels!

I cannot believe I am writing this... my 4 year old can ride his bike without training wheels! Yep, amazing, isn't it? He's been wanting to try it for months now and I kept saying no. There was a bike at my parents' house that had on training wheel broken, so my dad took the other one off. Jackson picked it up and took off!! I was so shocked, and proud, and nervous... but I just did what any other good Momma would do and said, "Great job, buddy, Momma is so proud of you!" Inside, I was thinking please don't wreck, please be careful, please watch out...

T-Ball, might as well be the World Series to Jackson

We are so busy having fun this summer! It's hard to believe school starts back in less than a month! Jackson is ready, though - he wants to see his friends and his teachers. We signed him up for t-ball thru the YMCA and he is LOVING it, especially his coach, Coach Damon. Apparently Coach Damon is the bees knees because what he says goes! Here is Jackson - his very first time up to bat. Yep that's Coach Damon -

Here he is after he ran home!

Here's what Parker does while Jackson plays t-ball (and then my Mom usually grabs him out of the stroller because you cannot resist those cheeks! And those kisses!!) *notice Parker has on the team colors? I also have a blue and white shirt - yes, I'm a dork!!

A little bit of Kentucky

We decided to go for a visit to Kentucky - where I'm from. The house I grew up in was in need of some repair and my whole family has been down there all week getting it done. My dad had to remove 3 rooms, he built a new porch, put on a roof - a lot of work. It looks awesome!

On the new porch

Parker loves his Granny!

Jackson at Natural Bridge

Parker and Ben at Natural Bridge

My husband, the rock star, on the way home...

Summer at Our New House

We love our new house. We love our yard. We love our bedrooms. We love the hardwood floors - we love all of it! The boys love playing outside and we love watching them.

Robbins Family Reunion

Ben's family has a reunion every year - we go out to Aunt Donna's farm, fish, eat tons of food and catch up. This year was no different except Jackson is now old enough to know what fishing is, and requires that we do it the whole time!! Luckily, we ran out of worms early, so that worked well for us!

Aren't they the cutest things you ever did see??

Hug your babies

I try to only put positive things on the blog because I want this to be something fun and cheery. Today, though, I have to just briefly make a comment - Kayleigh Anne Freeman has passed away - she's a baby who was born 11 months ago at just one pound and has been fighting an uphill battle ever since. She lost her battle on May 11. Please keep her family in your thoughts as she has an older brother and sister and many, many people who love her deeply.

Since becoming a parent, hearing stories like these just tug a little harder. Every time I hear a story like this, it reminds me how lucky I am and that I need to hug my babies just one extra time... and then again!

Kayleigh's story will be featured on "The Doctor's" next week, I believe. Here's a link to her family blog if you'd like to check it out.

http://www.kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/

Parent Teacher Conferences

Our preschool is amazing. Jackson has flourished there - he has grown by leaps and bounds and enrolling him there was one of the best decisions we've made for him and his developmental needs. The teacher (who, by the way, should be a saint, she's amazing!) holds conferences but doesn't require you to come - if there's a concern, they call you to set one up, otherwise, they tell you to schedule one if you'd like.

They didn't request a conference (yay!!) but we wanted to see where Jackson stands, how he's progressed this year, and what he needs help with to be ready for 4 year old preschool.

They have an assessment sheet and grade with an M, E, N structure - M means mastered, E means it's an emerging skill, and N means it needs improvement. I'm ok with him having areas that need improvement, I'm totally aware that not every kid develops at the same rate. The most frustrating part of the entire conference for me was that things he told her he doesn't know, he does know - he knows it, I know he knows it, and SHE knows he knows it. For example, they count the days on the calendar each day. So, logically I reason he can count to 31, right? When tested, he only counted to 7. WHAT?! She asked him to count as high as he could and he stopped at 7. She said, "Then what?" and he said, "I don't know." She showed him shapes, he named them all except a rectangle. He knows what it is, he told her later that same day! He just didn't want to do it at the time.

The main things he needs to work on was matching sounds that are the same (that was his only N.) Basically, they say, "Today is Wednesday, what else sounds the same as Wednesday?" The correct answer is stuff starting with W - usually they do the names of kids in the class, so Will and Whitney. Jackson knows all his letter sounds, but just decided not to answer... He also needs to work on his grasp with the pencil and his scissor skills. But, on the upside, there is SO much he has mastered. He knows all his colors, can sort items into categories, he can identify his name in print, he knows what letters are in his name, has excellent motor skills - running, hopping, coordination. He follows directions, is easy to understand when he speaks, can sit for stories and participates in group activities. He knows his full name, can separate from his parents (he can - the paper even says so!!), plays well with his peers, asks for help when needed, and takes care of his potty issues himself.

My main concern was that he was not on target with other 3 year olds but it seems he is, if he can just get past the stubbornness. I don't know how much is him being stubborn, how much is his SPD, how much is typical... Apparently, he's doing well, he just needs a little work in a few areas. So, we'll practice things that need practice. She stressed that we shouldn't stress about it and don't stress him out about it. So, I feel better about it, but frustrated at the same time...

Earth Day 2009

At our house, we discuss things like recycling - we put our "monkey juice" containers in the red box and we give our old toys to kids who don't have toys. We work on not letting the water run while we brush our teeth, turning off lights when we leave the room, and not flushing the toilet 1000 times just to get the pee to go away!

I wanted to do something really important and memorable for Earth Day since Jackson learned about it at school and because it's just one day. As it turns out, the universe apparently had different plans. We started the day with a picnic at the park followed by feeding the ducks and going for a Nature Walk. Then, the rain started!! So, there went our plans, but we had good intentions. (We did have the lights off for hours today using just the sunlight to light the house.)

Sick Babies are No Fun!

Parker has been sick for a week now... poor little guy! Jackson picked up some sort of tummy bug last Tuesday and so graciously shared it with his brother. Parker was only sick for about 6 hours last Wednesday, but his appetite hasn't been the same since. He is not eating very much - he usually eats 36-42 oz. and now he is eating 16 oz. at most. He is not feeling well in general.

We went to the doctor yesterday and they pretty much said there's nothing they can do, it's still the virus. He's pretty little - how long can a virus last?!!

We're hoping he's on the mend soon - send us good thoughts!

Parker is a Little Piggy!!

Parker had his one month appointment today (yes, I know he's 6 weeks old - that's when they scheduled it.) My dad and I were making bets this morning about how big he is - my dad voted 8.5 pounds, I said 10 pounds. Yeah, he weighs 11 pounds, 5 oz.! And, he's 23 inches long. I can't believe how fast he's growing!

And, before anyone criticizes me, I promise I won't let him get a complex from the name Little Piggy - we called Jackson "Chunky Monkey" for years and he's ok. Parker is "Little Piggy" because he makes a snorting sound when he's trying to eat but is too overly enthusiastic - it's really rather cute. Add to that the fact that he's growing like a weed and there you have a nick name!!

I will post some new pictures later, hopefully tonight.

A Brother's Love is... a Brother's Love

(Can you name the movie that quote came from??)

Anyway, Jackson has adapted really well to being a big brother - he helps change diapers and Parker has yet to pee in Jackson's big brown eyes. (That was a source of major worry before Parker was born.) Jackson gets a little worried that people are going to keep "his" baby because people always say, "Can I just keep him?" We've been working on that and now Jackson says, "They're going to give him back, right, Mom?" It's a 2 way street with the affection already - Parker adores Jackson, too, he always smiles when Jackson talks to him.

Here are some new pictures from this past week...

March for Babies

So, it's that time of year again - the March for Babies is coming up and we're participating for the second time. We really look forward to raising money to help the March of Dimes research prematurity and hopefully one day, all babies will be born healthy.

For those that don't know, my nephew Hunter was born 10 weeks early and thanks to the amazing work of the March of Dimes and all the research they've done, Hunter is now almost 2 years old and had no ill effects from being born so early. The March of Dimes saves babies every day and I'm so glad they're around...

Everyday, I am glad that my boys were born healthy. I am thankful that I never needed the March of Dimes. So, for that, we'll be walking this year, and next year, and the next...

If you'd like to help, please make a donation today!

Parker Liam Anderson

He's here, he's here, Baby Parker is finally here!! Here are the basics - born Friday, December 26 at 1:28 PM by repeat c-section. He came out screaming and has been amazing ever since! He weighed 7 pounds, 7 oz., was 21.5 inches long.

Jackson is in love, he has never been more proud or more excited about anything in his life!!! So far, we're doing pretty well adjusting to life with 2 boys.

And, now for the good stuff... the pictures!