got central heating and I'm alright

So much to say….

I realized if I didn’t post pictures of the last couple of weeks, Christmas and New Years would bring a whole new crop of thoughts and still-frames and these would never get posted. SO here are a LOT of pictures……

Thanksgiving brought the Seris family. The boys are a couple of weeks younger than Jake, don’t be fooled by my guy’s monster size.
An attempt at a Christmas picture of all four of the babies…

Jake waiting...

Jensen joins him.....

Jake eats Jensen.....
Jensen showing off his awesome hair, styled by Jake....

COUSINS.....

And we took Jenna to the Christmas Tree Lighting again this year.

with Jo Jo.... me, I want a huula hoop....

wait. what?

She was so much better with Santa! Had a quick meltdown (Literally. She fell to the ground in protest just when it was our turn to walk up.) but recovered nicely and smiled.

Kate had her Christmas Program at school. She spent TWO WEEKS walking around the house singing Jingle Bells and Jesus Loves Me. She told anyone who would listen that she was singing them in her Christmas Program.

Ready and singing her songs.

Still singing. Jingle Bells!

Won’t stop singing. Jesus Loves Me!


See her?

Look closer. She’s the one in the teacher’s lap. Not singing a single note. Not opening her mouth one time.

And possibly the funniest part about it? Neither Jingle Bells nor Jesus Loves Me were sung by anyone. They were not in the program. She made that up.

Because she performed so well - - She got to go to Yo Gabba Gabba Live!

Pregame -Enjoying a lollypop while Mom enjoys some wine...
Here they are...

This is her look of excitement.....

Souveneirs....

My favorite thing so far, and hopefully an annual tradition, was taking them on The Polar Express. My parents took us, which explains the first-class seating. And Landon didn’t go at the last minute, which explains why we have TWO tables all to ourselves.

You wear your pajamas, board the train and listen to the story while you ride to The North Pole. Then you pick up Santa and he rides back to the depot with you!

Waiting for the train...

"Hi Choo Choo Twain!"...

We were greeted with a brownie and hot chocolate. My kid couldn't eat fast enough...

(And she decided to stick with water)

It was magical.

Both kids loved every second of it. Jake was dancing, laughing, looking around in awe.

Pulling up to the North Pole...

Jenna was a little nervous to hear Santa had actually boarded the train. ......

Hates him!!!!....

Cool with him because he gave her a bell. ....

LOVED a waitress ….even left with her for awhile....

Brunch with Santa at Bentwater was awesome. No better way to do Santa than with mimosas and a bloody mary! Jenna was her best yet with the bearded man. No smiles or anything ridiculous like that. But she did walk straight up to him, got in his lap, and told him she wanted a baby doll. Then she just stared at him and then got down. No love, but moving towards some respect.

Pictures are blurry – my camera wasn’t charged and my iPhone is yuck.

Here are my kids last night – playing on our iPhones.

Except Jake. He prefers Sunday Night Football.

A penguin and a redhead

I have a Thanksgiving post ready to be loaded with really fun pictures. Will try to do over lunch.

I had to update this morning regarding 5:55 - 6:45 AM.
Jenna doesn't completely flip out very often. But when she does.....it is absolutely unbelievable.

I put Jake in a new little penguin hat this morning. He's cute (a little sleepy)....

Kate was sitting on the foot of the stairs, per her routine, waiting with the bags for me to get Jake dressed. I brought him over and she saw the hat......

And lost it.

I was really confused. She was suddenly Wailing that she needed a penguin hat.

"But you have on penguin leg warmers!!"

Her response:

Jake is a little concerned...

I somehow get her in the car....still absolutely HYSTERICAL!

The entire drive.

Gets to school...flips the switch...prances in and tells everyone to

"Yook at baby Jcup's hat!!"

Laughing, eating, normal.

Counseling?

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

- Marcel Proust

Bubba Jack
Bebe Jeke
Baby Jakey
Baby J-cup

AT 4 months old, Jacob Kyle:

Always….

Laughs when you nibble his chin

Laughs when you talk “baby-talk” to him

Laughs when Jenna sings to him

Laughs when you say “BOO!”

Sometimes….

Pulls my hair when I’m feeding him

Cries when he’s really, really tired

Sticks his bottom lip out if you pretend to cry

Never……

Turns down a bottle

Wants to fuss

Forgets to smile when you say his name

Makes me feel anything but blessed….

I've never met a happier baby; thus, I have never felt this truly happy.

Thank you, charming gardener.

.....stream of consciousness.....

I feel I shouldn’t write this all down, but I am.

I don’t think I’ll publish it.

But you know I will.

I woke up this morning conflicted, but then sorted it out in my head. I was afraid I was 2 completely different people. Let me admit here that I am certainly 3 or maybe even 4 completely different people….but I always thought I had religion and politics figured out. I am a Christian and I am a Republican. Last night, I got a little overheated on Facebook, talking about listening to the cries of the needy.

I was literally close to tears, almost begging this person to see my point of view. I was paraphrasing Daniel verses, I was trying to make them hear me that we have to Give. When I get introspective, I know I’m considered a sucker. I give any change I have to panhandlers. I have been known to give my entire bag of drive-thru food to people on the corner. I see people asleep on the beach and I cry. I really do. Isn’t that niave and childish? I know it is. I know some people are lazy and don’t work because they don’t want to. I know some people on the corner make a thousand dollars a day off people like me.

It’s not pity…it’s just sadness. I can’t explain it. I want to hear people’s cries.
SO last night, as I was lying in bed, I was realizing what a bleeding-heart I am for a Republican. SO then I started thinking, “am I really a republican?” I got very confused and had a ten minute identity crises before I fell asleep.

I woke up with a clear head. I know who I am. I believe in helping. I believe in having compassion and a giving heart. I believe that hard-working people should not have to pay for non-working people’s healthcare. Or their taxes.

I feel that I shouldn’t have to share anything at all because my government tells me to.

I feel that I should share anything I can because my God tells me to.

Okay – and so while I already have open my “annoying box” – can I please ask that you pray for the people of Haiti. This cholera outbreak is not getting any media attention. There is no redcross presence over there. People are sending supplies, but the Haitian government is taxing it 60% and the people can’t get to them. There is no good drainage system. There is sewage in the streets and the pigs are eating it. And the people are eating the pigs. Sorry to take everyone out of the comfort zone, but we need to pray for this situation. I know there are horrible situations all over the world, but this is what’s on my heart.

AAANNNNDD, I’m done.

To make you all still like me and think of me as a fun, normal Mom… I’m adding a post I wrote about a month ago. If you follow any other amateur blogs like this, people were all doing these “Always, Sometimes, Never” blogs. Most people (and by that I mean the only 2 I saw) just did their kids, but I made five of them. One for each kiddo, one for me and even one for Kev. I’ll save them to release one at a time in situations like this (you know – when I publish stream of conciousness that was typed at 4:30 AM?)

At 26 months, Jenna Kate……

Always….

Wants a bow in her hair for school

Wants to know where Gaga and Papa are

Wants medicine

Says, “what dat noise?” whenever there is ANY noise that is unexplained

Says, “you help me?” when she’s trying to climb up on something she’s not supposed to….to reach something she’s not supposed to

Wants to watch Yo gabba gabba, Barney, Satan Caillou, or Nemo. Again and again with the Nemo

Sometimes…..

Wants a binkie really badly

Sings to Bebey Jakey

Insists on wearing boots

Rolls her eyes like a teenager. And if I ignore it, yells “Yook at ME!” and then rolls them again

Never….

Wants to eat veggies

Wants to get out of bed in the mornings

Lets me load or unload the dishwasher alone

Likes the Wonderpets

Makes it easy for me to say No.

"A person should choose a costume that contrasts her own personality."

As promised, a blog full of pictures to make up for the last 2 or 3 blogs that have consisted of only my ramblings.

It should just be entitled “Jenna Kate” – but really, shouldn't most of them? She really understood Halloween this year. Thank you to Dora, Mickey, Caillou, and The Little Einsteins crew for really making it hit home for her. I’m not going to lie that I reinforced every repeated episode with, “what were they doing?...that’s right…getting CANDY!” and a little, “ghosts and skeletons are so FUN and SCARY!!”

I love Halloween. I miss the pre-babies-Halloweens of Creep up to El Campo. Our wild, annual party in Fort Worth. Cristie and I would spend all year buying decorations. Kevin and Fred would spend 3 days covering the house in tarp and webs. It would take us at least 3-4 days to recover from the ridiculous amount of jello-shots consumed.

I’ve really always loved Halloween. The contemplation of costume, the feel of parties at school at work, the complete delirium in knowing you’re going to get a bunch of candy and you’re going to eat it!, and (my personal favorite) the thrill of being scared. I love haunted houses and scary movies. I love when Kevin jumps out at me with a scary mask on – even though I scream and start swinging at him with intent to seriously injure.

I have officially decided, as with most things I have ever loved…I love Halloween more with little people.

Landon has gotten older and hit that stretch of time where, really, all that matters is candy. How much? How much? And How much? The costume is still important, but not as important as the pillowcase used to collect the candy.
But Jenna. She is at the age that makes you step back on Halloween night and say “this is one of those things that makes having kids So. Much. Fun.” She loved every second of it….from the pumpkin carving with her daddy that morning, to the baby-pre-party with her little BF, Milla. I couldn’t even keep up with her at the Trunk or Treat party – she was running up to any and everyone that looked like they had candy and saying Trick or Treat. She would go up to really scary costumes and laugh and say “oooo- ‘cary!!!” A man dressed as some slasher’s victim asked if he could put her in the back of his truck – decorated in skulls and webs and such- to take a picture of the pink little ballerina that was not afraid of anything!

Jenna and Daddy and Elmo - Carving.....

Unexpected photoshoot while Jake was tanning....

Gaga and Papa...

Getting ready with Milla...

My football player....

Trunk or Treat.....

The very first piece:

And she's off:

The Outcome.....

And here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch....but no pics with pumpkins?…..

Sic 'em, Bears!

n. (ŭp'dāt')

I have always been a reader.

When I was young, I’d spend hours reading Sweet Valley Twins and Babysitters Club.
I have read all the classics to seem “well-read”.
I now read biographies, true crime stories, Oprah’s book-club-books. I have read Love in the Time of Cholera at least 7 times and I have read Love Story at least 27 times. I read anything written by Augustan Burroughs. I read whatever bestseller is in the check-out aisle of Kroger.
I’ll read just about any book I can get my hands on. It’s such an escape for me.

Because I have spent my life reading, I have become an insanely fast reader. I can finish a good book in 3 hours. Sometimes, I’ll put the book down and walk away because I want to make it last. I’ll be doing something productive and I’ll have that flash of a bad feeling that signals “you’re forgetting something!” I race through my 15 second list ‘Leave the baby in the car? Leave the Chi plugged in? Forget to logoff my work computer?’ and then I realize, “I left my book.”

Kevin has come to hate books like a lot of wives hate Playstation. I find myself not really hiding - - but totally hiding--- books from him.

All that this boils down to is – I think in "Story". I’m constantly narrating my life. It is literally as though my life is a novel and I’m thinking in phrases for someone to read one day.
Back in high school, I was narrating such a dramatic existence that I knew I was actually going to write a novel one day. It would just be my life; barely sensationalized one bit. I never thought “no one will want to read it”…..I thought every teenager in America would want to read it.

As you can imagine, things like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. have the potential to be dangerous for me. I am kinda busy. I have 3 kids… one is a newborn and still rather dependant on me for life… a husband, a dog, a home, a demanding job.
Do I want to write a new blog entry every week? Yes. Do I want to open a Twitter account? Yes. Do I want to update my Facebook status 26 times a day? Yes. Because even though I’m busy, how fun and easy to transcribe my thoughts all day.

Kevin was out of town this weekend and I was alone with kids. And Facebook. I literally wanted to update my status every half-hour. It continued even after Kevin got home. Sunday afternoon, I realized I was about to become an Over-Facebooker! Crap. I needed to reign it back in. To ease the initial withdrawal symptoms, every time I would pick up my phone to update my status, I would go to my Notepad and write my thought there.

Now, because you’re a lucky blog reader, you get to read my secret status updates. Do you feel lucky? Or are you kinda annoyed at this point? Did you just now realize this was going to be a Jaime Post and there were not kid pics? Chin up! Halloween is this weekend. You know that will result in a kid-loving post at least 10 pictures long!
I am 100% serious that this is what WOULD have been on Facebook if I hadn’t gotten a grip:

Sunday
2:00 PM – So. Much. Laundry.

2:30 PM – I just got a Sephora Insider email announcing they have an App. Really? Stupid.

3:00 PM – I love 30 Rock so much. I know everyone thinks it’s overrated, but I giggle the entire 30 minutes. Every single week.

4:00 PM – I heart the Sephora app.

Monday

2:00 AM – It kinda bugs me when people post all week long about wanting the weekend to get here faster. Every once in awhile is one thing, but every day is another. Slow down, people. Life goes by really fast. Live in the moment.

5:00 AM – Did they really just do a news story on Drunkorexia? Why don’t you people mind your own business and not be so worried about how I intake calories?

5:15 AM – I don’t want time to go any faster at all. At all. But if Jake could start holding his own bottle, I’d have SUCH a better grip on my mornings.

5:30 AM – If I get one more lecture on losing my house key, I’m running away. Mark my words. Running away from home.

6:45 AM- Nickleback reminds me why I HATE the radio.

12:30 PM – I read a blog written by a Mormon and she was asked to defend her religion’s stance on gay marriages. She didn’t do a great job and now everyone’s attacking her. Now I want to blog about my feelings on that. But why the hell would I ever do that?

3:30 PM – Just saw a kiddo for ototoxicity monitoring that is done with her last, unsuccessful, round of chemotherapy. I will hold Jake’s bottle for him forever.

6:10 PM – My children’s school is less than 3 miles from my work yet it takes me 30 minutes to get to them at the end of the day. Thank you 242 for your AWESHUM traffic light system.

6:30 PM - Wow. The 20 mile ride home with tired, hungry, whiney, cry-ey babies is amazing. I really get to challenge the outer hair cells of my cochlea by turning the music up to a completely inappropriate level.

7:00 PM – Calliou Sucks.

8:30 PM – I dislike Jerry Jones.

10:30 PM – If you’re a true sports fan, I don’t think you want players to be injured. I am a passionate football fan, there are a lot of teams that I want to have terrible seasons, but I never rejoice at injuries. Anyone happy Romo just broke his collarbone doesn’t love Football. They love points and wins.

Tuesday

3:00 AM – Jake is up and wants to play in the living room. If I lay him back in his crib, he cries. My alarm goes off in one hour. Guess I’m up for the day.

4:30 AM – I just made sugar cookies and frosted/decorated them. Making and decorating cookies is so not my style. I need more sleep.

5:00 AM – I just Clorox-wiped an ant off my counter and he lived for a very long time on the wipe. Ants are so resilient but a clavicle can break just like that. Snap.

5:30 AM – Do you think my feet hurt because I’m not used to wearing heels? It has nothing to do with getting old, right? Just that I was very pregnant and then on maternity leave and thus in flip-flops every single day for months. Being back in heels is just an adjustment, right?

6:45 AM – I hate that I’m going to vote straight Republican when there are so many Jackasses on the ticket. (Yes – I’m talking to you, mofo.)

7:00 AM – I told Jenna that I had to put her bow in before we walked in the school and she said “Duh!”

8:45 AM – White lab coats and I have a love-hate relationship. I think they terrify children and give parents an unsubstantiated level of trust. But I will say I love them when you realize you’ve made an inappropriate outfit choice for work. Because you were icing cookies at 4 AM.

9:15 AM – I wish I had more Blog followers and I could charge for Ad space.

Guys, I’m serious. Could you imagine? Could you even fathom if I actually posted on Facebook every time I went into my notepad? I’ll be honest and say that 2 times on Sunday, 4 times yesterday, and once this morning I posted song lyrics. I just didn’t include them in this mad blog entry.

I decided around 9 that I was going to copy this all onto here.
What I have realized in doing this is that if I were writing a novel of my life now,
no one would want to read it. It’s so boring. It’s what everyone else is doing and thinking. I think I’m supposed to be happy about that. Who wants the drama of a 16 year-old's life?

Okay, fine. Me.

I will return to a healthy amount of status updating…with maybe a few too many mobile uploads….and I will try to find something to add a little more excitement and original thought into my life.


Wish me luck.