"Snowball"

Jake trying to eat the snow!

About to snow plow!

"JUMP!"

Stick it, Jake!

Brrrr! It's freezing in Birmingham! For the past 2-3 days (at least at our house), we've gotten some snow flurries in the morning. Jake has had a blast playing in the snow, but unfortunately for him, the snow isn't sticking. Poor baby is dieing to make a snowball, and it just isn't happening. Every morning he looks out of the window and says "snowball?" and I have to break his heart and tell him there isn't enough snow to make one. Oh well, maybe it will accumulate enough one of these days to fulfill his dream of making a snowball. By the way, I asked him what he was planning on doing with the snowball, and he said, "tackle Daddy." Ha! The kid has a good memory...he definitely owes Tyson a snowball or 2 in the face from our last round of snow!

Sorry for picture overload, but I just couldn't decide between these. He just looks so darn cute, and he's actually smiling for the camera! I hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying the weekend!

24 Week Appointment

Baby Walker and I had a 24 week check-up today, and everything is looking good so far! My blood pressure and hemoglobin (13.0) are perfect and my weight gain (25 lbs) is alright...I guess. "Normal" pregnancy weight gain is 25-35 lbs, but considering I gained almost 60 lbs with Jake (and lost every pound of it thank goodness), I'm far from the norm. I'm just hoping to keep it under 40 lbs this time, so we'll see what happens! I'm not too worried about that, though, and neither is my doctor; he just told me it was time for some bigger pants. Ha! I should've known my jeans were a little snug when Jake looked at my jeans this morning and said, "tight Mama!" Oh well.

Walker's heartbeat was 138 today, which is the lowest it's been, but he was good and asleep at that time. I'm already measuring 28 weeks along, so the doctor said it's still lookin' like he's gonna be a big one! My OB said we might even get to do a c-section at 38 weeks if all is still going well with Walker's size and so forth; I'm really excited about this because I'm still having some complications and I'm ready for my little boy to be here! I know...I still have a long ways to go. Yuck.

The other big news is that I passed my glucose tolerance test with 119...yay! My doctor thought I was gonna fail it (I guess since my boys are so big), but I passed with flying colors! Such a relief! I'm going back to the OB in 3 weeks, so I'll be sure to update more then. I wish I could post a picture for my 24th week, but I don't think I'd fit on the screen. Ha! Have a great weekend!

Sneak Peak at Jake's B-Day Party

He couldn't get his hands on the cake fast enough!

Best idea ever!

Like I said in the previous post, I am borrowing a friend's computer, so I can't download all of my pictures from Jake's party. I promise as soon as I get my computer back, I'll post all of the pictures. For now, here you go...a sneak peak at Jake's 2nd Birthday Party!

We had Jake's birthday party this past Saturday at our house. My mom and her parents were able to come to the party, along with some of our neighbors and Jake's friends.

We gave Jake a bouncy house for his birthday, and it was a huge hit at the party! (In fact, we are still enjoying having it up in our garage!...best purchase EVER!). Jake got lots of good presents and really enjoyed his cake and playing with his friends...doesn't get much better than that! Thanks to everyone who came and made Jake's 2nd birthday so wonderful!

More pictures later!! For now, Happy Birthday to my 2 year old! We love you, Jake!

Potty Training...Take 1

Jake doing his "down...set...hut" pose for y'all!

Our computer is still away being "fixed," but I know that certain grandparents are going into Jake-withdrawal, so I thought I'd give y'all a few updates. I wish I could post more pictures, but I'm borrowing a friend's computer and just couldn't download the hundred-something pictures I've taken the last few days. More pictures later, though, I promise (especially more from Jake's birthday party).

So as the title implies, I tried potty training Jake this week...key word there being tried. I've been reading these books all about potty training and felt really good about it, but I went into it knowing that potty training might not work right now (boys' bladders can take up to 36 months to fully develop). It was worth a shot anyway with baby brother coming in April. Anyways, on Sunday, we put one of Jake's favorite animals "Baby" into big-boy wear and let him roll-play potty training with Baby. He did great, so I felt good about moving on. On Monday, I fed Jake breakfast and put him in big-boy underwear. Every 15-30 minutes, we checked for dryness and rewarded Jake accordingly; I put him on the potty every hour or sooner if needed. He did great that morning and peed in the potty several times and only had 1 accident. That afternoon was a different story, though; he had tons of accidents and only peed in the potty a few times. He did ask to poop, though, and actually did it!

On Tuesday, the same thing; the morning was great with only a few accidents and he actually asked to go "tee tee potty" AND DID. Again, the afternoon was a different story. He was having accidents every 30 minutes; I just couldn't figure it out. I was trying not to show my frustration, but I hadn't slept well the night before (thanks to baby brother) and my back was killing me. Eitherway, Jake could totally read my face and picked up on my frustration. After one of his accidents, he actually apologized and gave me a "big hug." I knew we just needed to give it a rest after that...it just broke my heart seeing him upset for me. So I put a diaper on him called it a day. His bladder is obviously not ready, so we'll try again later. Well, much to my surprise today, Jake asked me to go "tee tee potty" before going to bed, and HE DID IT! I was shocked! I don't think his bladder is mature enough, but he definitely understands the process.

With all this being said, I'm gonna take it slow for a while and let him lead the way. But he sure is cute in the big-boy underwear, isn't he?

A Break....

Our laptop is away visiting the computer doctor, so unfortunately, there won't be any blog updates for a while. I hope to have it back soon because I have lots to blog about! For now, though, in case you're missin' us, here is what's been goin' on with us:

• Yesterday (Dec. 30th) was our 3rd anniversary...Happy Anniversary to us! We already celebrated it when we celebrated my birthday, so it was kind of low-key. As a matter of fact, I worked on our anniversary, but the sweet girls that I worked with surprised me with a "Happy Anniversary!" cake to cheer me up. It was so sweet of them! (In case you didn't know this about nurses, we look for reasons to have a party sometimes!)

• Tyson is the most amazing father! Yesterday while I slept off the night-shift, Tyson took Jake to get his haircut, then took him to a birthday party at Pump-It-Up, and then he took Jake to watch South Carolina practice for the Papa John's Bowl. How many men do you know could handle all that? Jake and I are so lucky.

• Speaking of watching South Carolina practice, I was really nervous when Tyson told me he was going to take Jake to the practice. I could just see Jake being his usual wild self and causing a big scene and getting them kicked out of practice. (Couldn't you just see Spurrier getting mad about it and throwing down his visor? Ha!) Jake, however, was apparently a really big boy and just stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets and behaved for the most part. Thank goodness for no visors being thrown at my child!

• A certain little boy is going to be celebrating his 2nd birthday this Monday! We have a little party planned for the weekend, so I will post pics as soon as I'm able to.

• I'm finally finishing up my crazy December work marathon; I'm looking forward to being back to my normal 1 shift-a-week schedule in January....FINALLY. I've really missed my boys these last few weeks!

• Baby Walker is doing well. I'm making sure he is very well fed, and it is pretty evident! :) I don't mind, though....like my doctor says, chunky babies are happy babies! I go to the doctor next week for a check-up and my glucose tolerance test; I can't wait to hear his little heartbeat and see how he's measuring!

• January = Recruiting. Yuck.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Cochran Christmas

All the great grandkids-

Jake (2), Ryleigh Kate (3), Spenser (2), Connor (9), Jace (6 mo), Carson (3), and Chase (7)
Carson and RK after saying the blessing...4 times!

Jake feeding Pa Pa

Just a glimpse of the craziness that occurs when you have 6 little boys in one room!

Jake telling Christy "thank you"

Pure madness!

Renee and her 3 boys!

2 bashful cousins!

After a quick trip to my parents' house, we headed over to my mom's parents' house in Cochran, Ga for the next leg of our trip. We weren't able to stay too long because we had to hit the road to Tifton to see Tyson's mom, but we definitely had a blast for the short time that we were there.

Tyson hasn't been around this crowd since the summer (or maybe even spring), so I don't think he really knew what to expect from Jake with all the rough-housing that goes on when we all get together. For the most part, Jake held his own, and you could tell that Tyson was proud of that. The older kids are really good with Jake and try to include him without being too rough, and I love it. Jake is so blessed to have such great cousins!

So we left Cochran in one piece and with a car full of toys. I don't think it gets much better than Cochran Christmas! Thanks for putting up with all the chaos, MaMa and Granddaddy! We love you!

Thomaston Christmas

King blood: Jace, Amy, Dad, Jake, and me

(my mom had already left to go to my grandma's to help cook)

The Summers

(plus the extra 10 lbs I've put on in the last few weeks) Ha!

The Howells

Jake and Jace are already such good buddies! Opening presents

My first scooter!

He LOVED it!

Too bad he couldn't figure out how to push himself!

Oh well, that's what grandmas are for!

It wouldn't have been a King get-together if Jill wasn't there!

Tyson, Jake, and I are finishing up a marathon Christmas trip through Georgia visiting our families. As always, I have a ton of pictures, so I'll try to space it out.

Our first stop was in Thomaston to visit my parents; my sister Amy, Courtney, and Jace met us there, so we had a great Christmas all together for the first time! Jake really enjoyed seeing "Mayme, King Cole (Courtney), Jace, Da (my Dad), and Pa Pa (my mom)" and being the center of attention! He's such a mess these days! And can you tell that he LOVED the scooter my parents gave him?

Such a fun time! Thanks Mom and Dad for everything! We love y'all!

Christmas Day

Can you say sleepy face?
"What dis?"

Checking out his firetruck

He loved his new "hat!"

"Yay choo choo!"

"CHOO CHOO!"

Santa brought Jake a helmet for the tricycle he is getting for his birthday, but Jake thought he was supposed to wear it while he drives his jeep. Too funny! At least we won't have any head injuries while driving the jeep!

"What dis?"

So not interested in the big boy underwear!

"Got my helmet on, Teddy to my right...I'm good to go. Now how do I work this thing?"

Yay for Santa...you did a good job!

Merry Christmas from the Summers' family! Jake had a great 2nd Christmas! Tyson and I woke up bright and early expecting Jake to wake up soon after, but by 7:20, he was still asleep. We couldn't stand the anticipation any longer so we woke him up and told him "Ho Ho" had come...I thought he was going to jump out of his crib he was so excited! Tyson and I had been talking about how we thought Jake would react when he first walked into the room, and of course, Mama knows best. My very mellow child walked into the room like nothing was going on and walked right up to the train set. I knew that would be the first thing he went to, but I did at least expect him to spot the Power Wheels next. Instead, he bypasses the big jeep and goes straight for the "new DVDs!" He pretty much played with everything else and then finally payed some attention to the jeep last.

The train was the biggest hit by far! Jake, surprisingly, will sit very still for a long time and just watch the train. He is fascinated by it! He eventually warmed up to the jeep and wanted to ride it around, but unfortunately it was wet outside and the jeep was too big to ride around our house. Jake did enjoy ramming the jeep into the sofa as he learned to go in forward and reverse as Tyson and I were busy getting ready. Ha!

Seeing the excitement in your child's eyes on Christmas Day is one of the most thrilling parts of being a parent. So much fun! I hope you all had a great day, too!