Mommy & Me

Yesterday, Emily called and asked if I'd like to meet today at Party Central, AKA: the bouncy place, for Mommy & Me from 10-noon. Sounded like a great plan to us. Rhenda and Parker came too, so we had 4 kids, soon to be 5 with the impending arrival of Adalyn. All of the kids had a blast, but of course, I only got 2 pictures. I think we're going to do it again next week too. Yay!

She loves that huge slide.

The last time we were here for a birthday party, he wasn't walking yet. He loved it today and played really hard.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

These are just some random pictures that Travis took this morning. We have thoroughly enjoyed our summer, and I'm amazed at how fast it is going. School will start soon for my girl, and it is so sad to think about. I don't want my kids to grow up as fast as they inevitably are.

It was a mohawk day for Mr Cruiz. He's too cool for school.

Look at the front of his outfit...

and then the back. Gotta love that.

She is so pretty.

And he is soooo....rotten.

That's one of his favorite toys.

Another Nonni Visit

My mom made an unprecedented visit (for July) last week, and we were so glad to get to have her company again so soon. I shamefully took very few pictures, but if you were around Jaggar any length of time, you'd see that I need two hands ALL the time. This is a cute one though, and you can see how much fun the kids have when she's here.

Christmas in July

I have hated the nasty carpet that has been in our family room since we moved here. Not only was it stained horribly from kids and adults alike spilling food and drinks, but in my opinion, it was just plain ugly. I'd NEVER have picked it. My mom was so gracious enough to give us our Christmas present early: a NEW floor.

We had looked at samples of flooring until I just couldn't take it anymore. I was way too overwhelmed. After going back and forth from Lowes to Home Depot, I said, "Just go to another store (I had a dr's appointment for myself) and bring home some you like." So they did, and I chose 1 of the 3 that they brought home. Travis installed it himself, which was WAY more work than any of us thought. But he did it so that my mom could see the results of her generosity. It is absolutely gorgeous. It changed the room for the better 110%, and we ALL (particularly SAGE) love it. I told Sage, "This is your Christmas present from Nonni," only kidding, but she threw her arms around Mom and said, "THANK YOU!" What a sweet girl. Thank you so much, Mom! We LOVE it!

This was the morning after it was finished and the room was cleaned up. I don't think I could handle a remodel. I went slightly crazy during this transition of not being able to go in the family room or kitchen.This was the night it was finished. We were trying to clean up, but look how excited Sage was.

Also, we thought that we lost a family member during remodel '10: Goldie. Travis practically drained the tank to move it, and to fill it back up quickly, he put the WATER HOSE in there! The fish laid on its side like this. I thought for sure that he/she was a goner. Travis said that it was just stressed. I laughed hysterically. But....a miracle occurred and he began swimming everywhere again! I'm still not sure how.

Killer. Only not really because Goldie still lives.

Through Sage's Lens

For Sage's 4th birthday, my mom got her a Vtech Kidizoom Camera. It is really cute, and Sage is constantly snapping pictures. I am ashamed to say that when she received it that I had all intentions of putting some of her pictures on my blog, and I am JUST now doing that a year and a half later. I'd never figured out how to do it. Okay, I'd never TRIED to do it. It was a little more complex than I thought that it should be, but last week, I really set out to do it. It was so funny to see all the things that she'd captured since she got it over a year and a half ago. So, here's some pictures from her camera. It's definitely a stroll down memory lane.

She takes pictures of EVERYTHING. :)

Of courseYep, it's what you think it is: my pregnant belly. What was so funny is that when I uploaded these to the computer, Sage said, "What is that?" I said, "It's when I was pregnant with Jaggar." She said, "Oh, I thought it was Daddy's belly." :)

A brand new Jaggar, and I think that's Angelle holding him.

Postpartum. Wow, sure don't miss that.

LOVE this: her feet and Chanel's

My arms wrapped around a very new Jaggar

The camera also has THESE features. I'm almost 100% sure that Travis took this one.

I think she's got an eye for it if I say so myself.

This was the day that Jaggar learned how to stand. She was as proud of him as he was of himself.

This was in October of 2009: the day that Jaggar woke up with his hair sticking straight up. That was so awesome.

Nonni

Funny stuff. I'll try to do this more regularly because it's fun to see what is picture worthy to her. She's pretty creative.

Super Kid Tuesday

In the summer, our mall has 'super kid Tuesdays' with a bouncy, face painting, and an animal show. We went 2 weeks ago for the first time this summer and had a fun time. Sage wanted me to take a picture of her "cat face."

Buddies

Jaggar got this ride on/walker toy for Christmas. Since he already knows how to walk, we converted it into the ride on yesterday. Sage was such a good big sister because she was more than happy to help push him around. They were so cute and sweet playing together.

A "New" Favorite

One of the great gifts that my friends got me for my baby shower for Jaggar was the Graco Sweetpeace swing. It's like a cadillac for a baby. It plays sooo many different songs, nature sounds, the sound of the mother's heartbeat...You can even plug your ipod into it. It's great. My favorite feature of the swing is that you can plug it into the wall, rather than using the MANY C batteries it takes. Sadly, one day I tried to plug it in, and the cord wouldn't attach. The receiving end had come off of its track inside the base, and it was impossible to get out.

Last week, I really decided to figure out how to fix it. Jaggar never appreciated this swing as an infant, so it's basically brand new, and I wanted one of my expectant friends to be able to use it. So I found "replacement parts" on Graco's website. Unfortunately, the part that I needed was the motor, and it was $50. I emailed Graco about my problem asking if there was any way to fix it since it was such a silly problem. Before I heard a response from them, I called the next day, and the customer service girl flatly said, "No, there's no way to get it. You have to have a new motor." Oh. Thanks. Not.

So anyway, I wasn't about to pay $50 for it. I thought it was kind of ridiculous since it was a $200 swing in the first place, but whatever. Later that day, I checked my email and had a response to my initial email from a different girl saying they were sorry about my swing and had sent a replacement motor! Sweeet! So, we got that a few days later and turned the swing on for the first time in MONTHS. Well, Jaggar didn't appreciate the swing as an infant, but he certainly does now. It was hilarious. It must have been like a ride at the mall to him because he sat in it for 30 minutes...and then, the unthinkable happened, he went to SLEEP in it. Twice. In the same day. For over an hour. Thank you, sweet Jesus. Better late than never.

Look how big he's getting.

I took a shower, and my mom was downstairs with him. I came down, and this is what I saw. He had pulled the bear down, hugged it close to himself, and went to sleep.

Sweet, sweet

Poor Bubs

Yesterday evening, my in-laws came over to bring Sage home (FINALLY!) and to hang out for a bit. We were all out in the backyard, and Tim and Travis were working on the lawn mower. Tim asked if we had time to eat a watermelon, and since we always make time for food, we said, "Of course." Travis built a fire pit out of bricks a few years ago, and he put newspaper down on top of it to cut the watermelon up. We saw 2 wasps flying around the side of the fire pit, and I watched them climb into one of the bricks. I asked Travis if he wanted me to get the spray, and he told me, "Not while we are eating."

After we finished eating, I walked a few feet over with Sage and Travis to try to clean her dirty feet off with the hose. Jaggar wasn't too far from us, but I assumed Tim and Eletha were watching him (and they were). All of a sudden, I saw this blur out of the corner of my eyes and heard Jaggar screaming. It all happened so fast. He'd gotten too close to that fire pit...I don't know WHY it happened the way it did because I had just been much closer than he was when I was trying to inspect it, but tons of wasps came out and swarmed him.

Thank God, Thank God, Thank GOD, Tim grabbed him up immediately (it could have been bad...there were a LOT of them), but sweet Jaggar still got stung. I rushed him inside to get him AWAY, make sure there weren't any wasps inside his clothes, and to see how bad it was. Again, thank GOD, he didn't have any reactions because my dad is highly allergic to wasps. In those very few short seconds, he had 5 stings on his little legs. I put some benadryl cream on the stings. Poor, sweet baby. I loved on him, gave him some milk and a cookie, and he was as good as new after a few minutes. Here's a picture of his legs right after the attack. Hope those wasps enjoyed the gasoline they had as their last meal.

4 stings on the left leg and 1 on the right

The one near his ankle was the worst, as it even bled some.

Listening

When I was at the beach, Chrissie and I had a conversation about God showing you things and speaking to you in your everyday life and routine. He DOES do that, you know, and I said, "You know, I think He does it a lot more than we think, but we just have to be aware and listen." And I'd prayed that God would open my eyes and ears to that more because I get so busy sometimes with kids, phone calls, schedules, etc that I don't take the time to hear.

Well, this week I've had a little visitor. I've noticed this beautiful butterfly when I've been outside. And by that, I mean EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. The same one has flown up to us on a daily basis for over a week. I noticed how beautiful it was the first day when Sage was like, "WHAT is that?!" I said, "It's a butterfly. Look how pretty." It's not only pretty. It's gorgeous. It has some of my favorite colors in it.

Sage has been gone, so I've spent several days out by the pool alone, and I always see him. So, he likes the pool. Nice. But then....yesterday evening, Travis was building a table out behind the deck towards the woods, and guess who showed up? I had already been thinking, "Ok...God, what's up? I see you." Then when the butterfly came up next to us behind the deck, I said, "Travis, I've seen that butterfly everyday for over a week!" Funny thing is, he'd said he'd noticed it too.

So I went inside and looked up the significance of butterflies: transition, resurrection, new life...hmmm. I can definitely testify that this has been a time of that for us and even for those around me. I'm not exactly sure what all this means or what God is trying to say, but I know He is speaking. And I am listening. And what's even cooler to me is that I know He is here. He is not unaware of where we are or uncaring, but on the contrary, very involved and working for us. I asked Travis to get a picture of it last night, but he didn't succeed. But this morning, he came back inside with his camera and tons of photographs. The butterfly was outside with Travis making one of his daily appearances. He said that the butterfly had even landed on his shoulder. Makes me smile.

That is actually the butterfly drinking a drop of water. He had so many pictures back to back that you could see the entire drop go in its mouth.