Quade's Photo Shoot

  I did just post, but I wanted to share some photos of Quade and didn't want to rain in on Austyn's Birthday Blog. I was kindly informed that no one has any pictures of Quade. So with that brought to my attention I had to do a photo shoot of him. I think these are the best pictures I've taken so far. He is the best picture taker. We couldn't get him to stop smiling to get a serious picture. Total difference between him and Austyn. We had a 5 to 10 minute time frame to get the photo shoot done with her. And on top of her short attention span and patients we had to work our butts off to get her to smile. I could take pictures of Quade all day. He's a dream!

  Austyn had a random outer ear infection pop up that we've been dealing with. It was so painful to her that she couldn't eat solid foods. It was so miserable. I felt terrible for the poor girl. But she powered right through it. Still no clue as to how she got it. Weird. Quade is doing great too. Still growing like crazy.He's 7 months now and is over 20 pounds. I keep wishing he would crawl or scoot or walk while holding my hands just for my poor backs sake. I keep thinking about how much weight he's going to gain before he starts walking. :( So he pretty much lives in the stroller if we are out and about anywhere.

  Jordan is hot and heavy into the Corn Maze stuff now. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from here on out (until November) he is working over at Lone Pine. He's very busy. He is still working one Overtime shift per weeks, so with that Lone Pine and his regular working days we don't see too much of him. But we try to go to Lone Pine for lunch time and dinner time to see him if we can. Good thing we like going to Lone Pine too, or it would be a long two months. He's started to organize his side of the garage. It's his temporary shop, so he's built shelves and hung up peg board for his tools. It's looking really nice.
 
  As for me, same ol same ol. I'm getting the hang of our new schedule with Austyn's preschool. I think with her gone, it's made me think more about how fast Quade is growing up. :( So sad. I keep going back and forth about having another baby. But I think that with our life style, two kids is just perfect for us. I feel like I might be too busy to enjoy the little things if we had any more. But I don't think we will be certain in either direction for awhile.

 

Happy Birthday to Austyn . . .

  I can't believe my baby girl is THREE years old. It doesn't seem possible. Makes me feel old too. I don't even know where to begin with this blog. She is the most incredible three year old you'll ever meet. One recent happening that blew my mind was when we were leaving my Grandmas (GG's) house from getting ice cream one night. We were all loaded up in the Bronco and she was sitting on Jordan's lap "driving", when she actually was steering the Bronco all by herself. We backed up and with no guidance turned the wheel the right way and when we started going forward drove all the way home. I couldn't believe that at three years old she could get the concept of turning the wrong way when backing up and let alone steering a rig correctly (with a river on one side). I have to thank my dad for this, because he will just take her and go get in his pick-up and practice with her. The kind of patience this mother just doesn't have. I'm amazed at the concepts she can get at this age. If she is interested or in the mood to listen, she really can understand and catch on to almost anything. And she never forgets a thing. She has started to notice the Corn Maze ramp back up and randomly started to talk about everything that happened last year at the Corn Maze. She is so excited for all the fun at Lone Pine in October.
  She started Preschool this year and she is actually loving it. The first day when I was walking up to her school, I was anticipating a melt down when I left her, but she looked up at me and said "It's o.k. Mommy, you can yeave (she has a hard time pronouncing her "L's") me. I won't cry." I about busted down crying right there. And she was right. She didn't blink and eye when I left. I about lost it walking back to my car, but at least she was fine. I didn't realize how bad I would miss my buddy for just 3 1/2 hours a day. It's still the saddest part of my day when I eat lunch by myself. Even though Quade is there, it's not the same. She definitely puts a spark in our lives. I do get a lot done when she's at school though ;) I can now appreciate how maddening it was for my parents when they would ask me what I learned or did in school that day, and I would say "Nothing". I get so frustrated with Austyn when she won't talk about school at all. I want to know so badly what she's doing in school, who her friends are, who she sat by at lunch, etc. But she won't elaborate what so ever. Oh it pisses me off! At least I'm good friends with the assistant in her class so I can get my information that way. She's so stubborn. Must get it from Jordan. :)
  She loves to sing. She will sing all the time. I especially love it when she's singing what she is doing at the time. Or when she sings through a conversation with me. I used to do that all the time to her when she was little. I guess they do soak everything up! She loves to dance, and is now into rough housing. Holy cow, she can get rough. I have to remind myself that I'm wrestling with a three year old. She also still gets a kick out of getting dirty which warms Jordan and my hearts. I don't know why, but I love watching her get dirty. And she does a good job at it. She leaves a ring around the tub most nights. Her excitement level right now is so impressive. Anything new is so much fun to watch her light up when she's introduced to it. Just the other day, we went to a furniture store and it had stuffed animals (real animals), cars, old house fronts, it was kind of like a town inside a building, she ran around there amazed at everything new she was seeing. I can't wait to take her to Disney Land if she gets that excited about a furniture store.
  At the moment she is exploring the level of attitude and sassyness she can get away with. And let me tell you, she would be a handful in a hurry if I gave her an inch. It's so hard right now to know what to let her get away with and what to shut down. I know she is just testing the waters and growing up, but sometimes I feel like such a bad mom because it seems like all I do is give her spankens or am getting her in trouble. I just wish I had one more notch of respect/control over her. It makes me so mad when Jordan comes home and all he has to do is look at her or just say her name and she straightens up. She use to mind me like that, but I don't know if I've gotten easier or she's gotten harder. I think a little of both. Trial and error I guess. She keeps me on my toes all the time. But I think I'm getting a little of what I deserve by the way I was when I was little. My family tells me she is the spitting image of me when I was her age. So I should stop worrying I guess. If that's the case, she'll end up perfect :)
  Her Birthday party at Lone Pine Farms was another hit.She had so much fun with all her buddies. And it was a huge turn out. The weather held perfectly. It was a success. On her actual Birthday, Jordan and I went to her school and ate lunch with her. It was so cute. Then we took my parents to town, and the girls got a pedicure and the boys went to Cabela's. Austyn was so stinking cute when she was getting her pedicure. She sat the whole time and did a better job understanding the ladies than my mom and I did. She talked to them the whole time. After that we went to Chuck-E-Cheese and spent a couples hours of straight game playing to end up with a slinky, a straw, a box of Nerds and a car. But we all had an amazing time.

All of Austyn's Buddies. I think I counted 22 including babies. 

Austyn is in to everything Hello Kitty. So she got

a Hello Kitty Birthday cake.

Best Buddies

Just when I thought that my little girl was growing up,

I find her like this in the morning. How cute.

  To sum it all up, she is my best little buddy and I couldn't imagine my life without her. I hope and pray that we have the kind of relationship that my mom and I do. I have watched our lives go by so fast and I just try and treasure every day with her. She won't want to sleep with me, or have me rock her, or read her books for long. And that breaks my heart. But hopefully when she stops wanting me to do those things, she'll start needing me in new ways to help me feel needed and close to her. I'm so happy that she is enjoying school, but I can't help but to watch the clock the whole time she's gone. She truly is my heart and sole. I've said it before, but I feel like the luckiest person in the world to get to stay at home with the kids. I couldn't imagine my life any other way.