Trip to the Zoo

Note to self...if you feed a roaming peacock Teddy Grahams, he will stalk you and your child until you give it more. Don't feed the animals!

Kaden

Kendall and her crazy hair!

Carson
Jake trying to feed the Ostrich a Teddy Graham...didn't he learn his lesson from the peacock incident?

How precious is this of the triplets going down the steps?

This is the "Rock Fortress." The kids had a lot of fun on it, but between watching Jake and the triplets, it was stressful! Why would you make a kid's play structure made of rocks and steep steps?

My sweet angel

Jake LOVED petting the goats...

...and the sheep (even though Mollie and I were extremely freaked out by the sheep...they keep biting each other, and I knew Jake was next!)

Today, Jake and I made our first trip to the Birmingham Zoo for 2010, and we had THE BEST TIME EVER! We met Mollie and the Thompson Triplets there and spent a good 3 hours walking around the Zoo, petting the animals in the Petting Zoo, playing on the "Rock Fortress" (as I call it), and riding the Merry-Go-Round. I am completely exhausted, but it was well worth it!

Jake's favorite animals are Zoo animals; if you ask him about the animals at the Zoo, he quickly rattles off "snakes, elephants, giraffes, lion, tigers, zebras, monkeys, camels." He is so funny how he remembers all of those animals and that they all belong at the Zoo. Anyways, he was in heaven today when he woke up from his nap and I told him we were going to the Zoo. He insisted on taking his Little People elephant with him! :) I have a feeling we are going to be making lots of trips to the Zoo this year!

Hair Dryer

I have a feeling I'll be getting this look a lot over the next 18 or so years!

"Daddy-a" (which is what Jake calls Tyson these days) is so silly!



Happy belated Valentine's Day! Sorry I don't have any cute V-Day pictures to share, but the Summers' family spent Valentine's sick...all 3 of us. We all had different symptoms, so I had no idea what in the world was going on with us. We ended up taking Jake to the pediatrician Sunday morning after thinking he had strep, but it turned out to be adenovirus. Apparently, that's what Tyson and I had, too, but in milder forms. Either way, it wasn't the most fun weekend ever, but then again, it was kind of nice being stuck at home just the 3 of us! Tyson and I are better now, and Jake is on the mend.

Jake's illness definitely put the big boy bed to the test, but I am proud to report that despite him waking several times at night with fever/pain, he stayed in his bed all night long without getting down at all! In fact, we have not had a single problem with the big boy bed at all (well...minus the first 2 days' naps); it was definitely an easier transition than I ever imagined...knock on wood! Oh, and for those who are curious, my conscience got the best of me and I took the safety lock off the door.


Moving on to the whole reason for this post, Jake loves getting his hair dried. We've only been drying his hair for the last couple of months when the weather got cooler, but he still thinks it's the greatest thing ever. I think he might just enjoy looking in the mirror at himself the most, though. Such a mess...such a narcissist. :) Anyways, you never know how long these phases will last with toddlers, so I had to document it as usual. I just love my little blondie, and I just love playing with his hair!

Snow Overload...

Helping Daddy shovel the snow!

"Here Daddy!"

In true Jake and Ryan fashion...fighting over the shovel.

Tyson and Mike and the massive snowman.

All it needs now is a UAB hat!

...and picture overload! It's just not that often that we get this much snow in the south, so I wanted to make sure it was well documented!

Jake got to make his first snowman! We teamed up with the Maddens to make one big, massive snowman, and massive it was! Mike worked hard during the boys' naps to put the finishing touches on it...good job, Mike! Jake loved it!

I realize as I look through these pictures that we are ill-prepared for snow; I just never imagined in my life that we would get as much snow as we've gotten this past winter! I did try to bust out some of my ski stuff, but for some reason, it didn't fit. :) My ski jacket only got about half way around my belly! Ha! By the way, Jake does own gloves, though, but he refused to wear them. Oh my stubborn little 2 year old!

We are having a blast in our Winter Wonderland! Have a great weekend!

Almost 30 Weeks

Tomorrow, I will be 30 weeks pregnant...only 9 more weeks (or less) to go!

I had a really quick check-up today. The snow had just started to fall and the city of Birmingham was going into hysteria, so I was shuffled through quickly as they shut down the office. Plus, my doctor was out of town, so I saw one of the other doctors in the practice. Anyways, Walker is doing well. He is still measuring a good 5 weeks ahead, and I even thought the doctor was being a little generous with that measurement! I guess only time will tell! I go back in 2 more weeks, so I'll let y'all know more then!

Have a great weekend! And stay warm for those of you getting snow! I have lots of cute pictures to post later of Jake and his 1st snowman! Fun fun!

Trike, Swing, and Casey Rae

Mine and Tyson's shadows (and Walker, too!)

We haven't had too many warm days around here lately, but as soon as the sun comes out, so do we! Jake has really been trying to get the swing of riding his tricycle lately. He can only peddle a couple of times before wearing out because his feet aren't quite long enough to really reach them to peddle effectively. Bless his heart, though, he tries! And how funny is he in the helmet? Tyson can't stand how it looks, but I am a stickler for him wearing the helmet, so I win. :)

**Oh, and if Jake's hair looks greasy in these pictures, it's because my little smarty pants thought it was a good idea to put butter in his hair!

How sweet are these pictures? Tyson and Jake were playing on the neighbors' swing, and I just couldn't resist snapping these precious faces Jake was making. I just love this little boy so much!

This is Casey Rae, the best friend, babysitter, and nurse...I love her to death. She came and kept Jake last night so that Tyson and I could go on a date, so I forced her into taking this picture. I feel like I talk about her a lot on here, so now you can put a name with a face. Anyways, Jake loves Casey Rae to death too; in fact, the first thing he said this morning was, "Miss Casey?" Too cute! Thanks, Casey Rae (as usual) for being so kind and helping us out! Love you!

Jake's New Room

This is Jake waking up from his first nap in his big boy bed!
He was a little cranky when he first woke up!

Well, we're only a couple of days into Jake sleeping in his big boy bed, but so far so good! Gosh, I hope I didn't just jiinx it! Anyways, we have not had a single problem at night with him in the bed...knock on wood. We've been going about our normal bedtime routine, which includes reading a book, saying our prayers, and then singing "Jesus Loves Me" as I rock him, and then he gets into his bed and goes right to sleep. He hasn't gotten down a single time, and when he wakes up in the morning, he just calls for us to come get him. Nap time, however, has been a different story.

The first 2 days of sleeping in the big boy bed for naps was a struggle; in fact, I don't think he even napped at all on Friday. School days are hard on Jake anyways and naps are always very difficult because he's usually so wound up, so I should have known better. Long story short, he played in his room the entire length of his nap and somehow got into some ointment for his eczema and made a huge mess with that. Thankfully though, he has done much better napping this weekend in his bed for Tyson.

We ended up going ahead and taking down his crib because he refuses to get in it now; it worked out well, though, because we were able to completely finish decorating his big boy room (minus hanging pictures). It's amazing how much more room there is now that that big crib is gone! And no, we are not using Jake's crib for Walker. Jake's crib had some parts recalled, and I just didn't feel good about it, so we bought a new, inexpensive crib for Walker. Here is a picture of Walker's new crib and bedding:

We are slowly putting Walker's room together, so I don't have any more pictures of it right now to post. We are not painting his room, so it will remain the same boring khaki that is in the rest of the house. Poor Walker, he isn't even born and is already getting the shaft...cheap crib, leftover mis-match furniture, boring wall color, hand-me downs for clothes. Oh well, such is life for the 2nd born, right? Thank goodness he has this awesome new bedding all for himself, though! I have an amazing friend who bought all of this for baby Walker so he can have something new all for himself! I LOVE IT!!! Thanks friend!

Here are some pictures of Jake's big boy room. Keep in mind we haven't hung anything on the walls yet, so it isn't completely done. I am probably going to leave the "J-A-K-E" letters hanging above his bookshelf, but I'm going to rearrange those football pictures of my dad, Tyson, and Tyson's dad. I also have a really cute baseball bat lamp and some mini-football helmets from all of the schools that Tyson has worked at (Presbyterian, Troy, Georgia, Georgia Southern, and UAB) that I am eventually going to get around to putting out. Anyways, here it is!

Jake's closet...aren't you impressed, Mom?

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I hope to have some pictures to post soon of Jake and Tyson's adventure to the McWane Science center this weekend, so be on the look out for those! I worked all weekend so I couldn't go with them, but I had a good weekend at the hospital and had some eye-opening experiences. Here is one little story from the weekend:

I was taking care of a 14 year-old newly diagnosed cancer patient who was one of the cutest and sweetest kids I have ever taken care of in my 8 years of nursing. Anyways, he was there for his first round of chemo but he was having lots of complications. I was in his room assessing him when the care assistant (nursing assistant, tech, whatever you want to call it) came in to take his vitals...his blood pressure was elevated and his heart rate was high, so the care assistant asked if he was in any pain. He looked at her with the sweetest little face and said, "No, I feel like a million bucks." I almost started crying...it was the cutest thing I've ever heard a patient say...especially knowing his situation. What an amazing attitude to have; it definitely helps put things in perspective!

Big Boy Bed

We have had lots going on this week at the Summers' house, but unfortunately, I don't have many photographs to share. I'll try harder on that, Grandparents! For now, here is this week in bullets:

• I can't remember what happened Monday, so let's start with Tuesday...
• Tuesday, Jake and I woke up and headed downtown to my OB's office for a quick visit. While we were in the area, we decided to pay a little visit to Tyson's office; unfortunately, Tyson was in a meeting, so Jake and I had to find a way to kill some time. We'll just play on the football fields...
• We get to the practice fields, but they are locked. Easy...we'll just "jump" the fence. Ok, easier said than done when you're 7 months pregnant, but we both made it over without breaking my water. I'm sure we were quite the site to see on University Blvd!
• We played on the practice field for about an hour and decided it was time to head in. At this point, however, I wasn't feeling as well I was when I originally jumped the fence, so I sent Tyson a desperate plea for help. He can't leave the meeting.
• I spot one of the new GA's (graduate assistant) and ask for help jumping back over the fence; he looked at me like I was crazy. I asked him to just help Jake over and then turn his head so he couldn't see me and my big pregnant-self jump the fence. We both made it over safely, but it wasn't pretty by any means!
• As we walk into the office, I tell Jake he has to be quiet because Daddy is in a meeting...he enters the front door and yells "DADDY!!!!" at the top of his lungs. He then precedes to run as fast as he can toward our head coaches' office.
• I eventually catch up with my quick child and find him stealing candy from Coach Callaway's personal stash...nice. We bolt before anyone notices.
• We decided to hide out in Tyson's office while the meeting wraps up. At this point, I'm exhausted and doing everything in my power to rest as much as I can (or as much as a 2 year old will let you) so Walker doesn't make an early entrance. I know...shouldn't have jumped that fence!
• While I'm "resting," Jake precedes to draw all over Tyson's walls in red marker, draw all over Tyson's recruiting paper work, and then he destroys some poor high school players recruiting DVD. Tyson's office looked like a tornado had just been through it! Again, we bolt before anyone notices.
• Tuesday afternoon ended up being a beautiful, so after the little tornado awoke from his nap, we played outside for a while. Jake has finally grasped the concept of riding his trike and scooter, so we did that for a while. I wish I had had my camera, Jake was so cute riding his trike!
• Wednesday=SIGNING DAY! Jake went to school on Wednesday and missed out on the festivities, but after I went to the dermatologist that morning, I joined Tyson and the rest of the UAB staff and their families for our annual Signing Day lunch. It was so much fun...again, no pictures.
• Did I mention that I went to the dermatologist? I had this mole cut out on my head, which I was very excited about until after the procedure when they drop the bomb...no pain meds except Tylenol because I'm pregnant. I walked around all day with a splitting headache!
• Signing Day is capped off with a Social that night to announce our new signees; for the first time in 4 years, I wasn't able to go. It's just getting to hard to keep up with Jake all by myself being this big and pregnant, so I made the tough call not to go. Tyson said it was the best yet- big crowd and lots of excited fans! Yay! Go Blazers! And like last year but unlike the year before that, Tyson said his speech went well! :)
• And that brings us to today...oh yeah, I skipped Sunday. As you know from my previous post, we went to the circus on Sunday. I don't think I mentioned, though, that I worked Saturday night, so Tyson had Jake for most of Sunday while I slept. I also haven't mentioned that poor Tyson has had to drag poor Jake to all the recruiting events for the past few weekends while I worked...that's a whole 'nother post in itself. But here is a cute story...Coach Callaway called a staff meeting on Sunday morning, so Tyson lined up a babysitter to watch Jake during the meeting. Well, the meeting got pushed up at the last minute, so Coach Callaway told Tyson to just bring Jake in the meeting. Umm, I haven't been in this business long, but there are parts of college football that are kid-friendly and parts that aren't (ie. staff meetings). Tyson didn't have any other choice, so Jake attended the staff meeting. Things went well for the most part except when Jake decided he wanted to sit in Coach Callaway's lap and DRAW ALL OVER HIS PAPERWORK! Tyson said he almost died, but Coach Callaway was really good about it all. :)
• So Tyson has today and tomorrow off, and we have lots planned for his time off. We took Jake to school today (Thursday) and got a lot accomplished in a short period of time. We are turning Jake's room into his big boy room, moving the guest room furniture to our bonus room, and turning the guest room into the nursery. Trust me, I'm not doing much of anything but telling Tyson what to do, which is what I'm really good at. :)
• One thing that we got accomplished is that we got Jake's big boy bed put together, which leads to another story...

Tyson and I had agreed that we would put Jake's big boy bed up but still leave his crib in his room until we decide "it's time." We've got a lot going on the next couple of days (including more working for me), so right now isn't the best time for this new adventure. Well, we picked Jake up from school and brought him in for his nap, and wouldn't you know that Jake insisted on sleeping in the bed for his nap. I wasn't prepared at all, but he kept climbing out of the crib whenever I would put him in there. (Up until now, Jake has just threatened us with climbing out by throwing a leg over the side or something, but he never physically climbed out...until now.) So I had no choice but to let him try the big boy bed.

He was so excited when I put him in it, that he couldn't stop smiling. I tucked him in, took my chances, and walked out of the room. Soon after, Jake followed me right out of the room. It took 2 more times of him gettin' up and opening the door before I called for reinforcement...the child safety lock door knob. It worked like a charm. He definitely talked for a little while, but he didn't get out of bed after that. He slept for about an hour (which is normal for a school day), and then he yelled "Mama, wake up!" :) So proud of my big boy...we'll see how it goes tonight!