An Ode To Jaggar

In order to distract from the day from hell I've had and to shine some overdue spotlight on Jaggar, I wanted to put some pictures up that are beyond overdue. We've been swimming in all this other stuff lately that I haven't had time to do...much of anything, it feels. But Jaggar is still himself in all of his glory. He is such a BOY. His favorite word for months has been one I'd hoped would go away but, alas, it has not...it is..."butt." And I hear it a LOT. I expect these things from like a 7 year old boy...not a 3 year old. He says it 24/7. I've threatened him for it. Carried out the threat by spanking him for it. Raised my voice (yelled) at him for it. It doesn't matter. Some days, I just give up. Like at night when Travis says, "Good night, Jaggar." And Jaggar smiles and says, "Good night...butt." I can't help but laugh out loud. One day at dinner, he kept saying it, and I said, 'If you say that again, I'm going to wear you out." Well...he said it again, naturally. And I did what I said I'd do. He said, "But I didn't say BUTT!" I said, "What'd you say then?" He goes, "Um...I said....dinosaur." Sigh. Yes, so close.

He's a lot of fun, and even though he's a tough boy, he is very loving. I don't know if he's still oblivious or in denial about the baby...or both, but we are NOT having a baby, according to him. There is no baby in my belly. He told me tonight, "We just have to buy a baby in your belly." I said, "Well what's in there?" He said, 'Well...nothing....um I think I'm going to get a doggy in my belly." He has said that for months, and I truly believe he will be disappointed when we don't have a new puppy soon.

He loves his animals. This picture is truly worth a thousand words. He has to make sure that they are "all closing their eyes" and will ask me about each individual one and if they are following the protocol of closing their eyes. They cannot be laying down in the wrong direction and DEFINITELY cannot fall off the bed. That is devastation. They also cannot be overlapping one another. I don't know how he sleeps, but he can't seem to do it any other way than this.

This is older and at the beginning of summer. The good ole days, if you will. I feel sure that my best days ARE ahead and I won't long for times past like I do now...today is just not that day. Life was so SIMPLE here. Sage thought it was awesome to dress Jaggar like a girl, and I realized that I never got the pictures off my ipad. He looks embarrassed here, but he actually...

thought that it was hilarious and great. Sage took these as she was thrilled with her work.

When I took Sage to her pediatrician that Tuesday in July and ended up being sent to Children's, Jaggar was with us. But then Travis took him home, and Sage and I didn't come home from the hospital until Friday. I think that traumatized Jaggar somewhat. He was with a different babysitter every day that week, and he was too little to understand what was going on. Travis would work as much as he could before driving back to Birmingham. One evening, he brought Jaggar with him. Travis called and said that it took him longer to get on the road to the hospital. He was getting ready to walk out the door, and he couldn't find Jaggar. Where was he? Naked with sunscreen on himself ready to hit the pool. :) He had better plans than a hospital visit.