Jackson found both feet!

Yesterday, my sweet Jackson held BOTH feet all on his own! I just love those juicy legs!! My how my sweet boy is growing!

Our most memorable and traumatic family photo session

This last weekend, we headed out to Hide-Away-Lake, as they have a small, but cute "beach" area. "Beach," in that there is sand and water. Not like real beach, but we take what we can get, right? Let's see. We were all dressed in white...me in a white dress, and the boys all in white shirts with khaki pants/shorts. It had the potential to be lovely. POTENTIAL, but not in our current state of reality. First Noah refused to take pictures at all. He is going through a TERRIBLE picture-taking phase. My once, poseable son is now instantenously morphed into an authority-problem-hellian when we try to take pictures. Michael was having to take him to time out...the whole thing. We quickly decided that posing for pics was out... that we'd try to take some action photos in the sand and walking by (slightly in) the water. That was still a beating, but better. We then saw a dock and tried that. No problems there. I thought maybe there was potential we could get a picture all together yet. As we left the dock, Noah began running toward the water. Michael didn't over-react because he was nearby, and Noah had done well in the shallow water earlier. Well, times change. Noah took off for the water, and fell over. We waited for him to get up. One one thousand....two one thousand....and he was not up. Michael sprinted to the water, jumped in...nice white clothes and all, and pulled Noah out...who was fine, but was spitting up water. We were all a bit shaken, but my photographer, Rose, was completely traumatized! So, that's how our nice family picture went. Literally half the family was covered in water and sand. It takes SO much work to do a family picture...you just hate for it to be a wash. Literally. Dearest Jackson, Please know that I love you just as I love Noah. It's not your fault that we have less family pictures together. It's not that I'm not trying. I am. I promise. Our life is just a bit chaotic right now, and the forces (including your brother, Noah) are not working in my favor! Thank you for your patience and being so sweet through it all! I Love You! Dearest Noah, Please know that I love you just as I love Jackson. I have tons of embarassing pictures of you that I will share with your future girlfriends if you don't start returning to your picture-posing self! At the same time, I love your adventursome spirit and the way you plunge...often quite literally...into life. I Love You!

ETMC Relay for Life Team Photo

ETMC's 2011 Relay for Life group photo.

from my iPhone

Luminaries for 2011 Relay for Life

This year I did something new---hand-decorated the luminaries I ordered. (Not all of them are pictured, but here are most of them!) I found it incredibly emotional and therapeutic to make these. As I stamped the handprints of my boys' onto the luminary, I became sad that my sweet mother has never held the hands of these sweet boys. It's easy to think of the loss and what we DON'T have with her being gone. But she gave us so much. She taught me how to love. She taught me about giving and the importance of traditions. I'm going to keep up this tradition, and will start being able to use this tradition as a way to remember these precious family members and friends...and all that they have given us. I hope that in this process, I will teach my boys, too, as my mother taught me.

Relay For Life 2011

Relay for Life 2011-Synopsis-

-Tonight was Jackson's 1st Relay- He was cute and did great. We didn't get to stay as long as usual, though, due to me still breastfeeding and early bedtimes. Oh well. We still had fun.

-Christine headed up as captain for ETMC's team...and she did an incredible job.

-Linda Whittington captained once again for our team and she did an incredible job as well.

-The boys helped me decorate luminaries this year. We just did it last minute, but it's a good new tradition. I've always just paid my money before and let ACS write the name. But, after doing it this new way, I realized that it was therapeutic for me to personalize the luminaries. And, I also think it'll be a great learning/reflecting experience for the boys as they grow.

-It's not official, but it looks like my support group raised more money than any other team again. That always just amazes me. This group of survivors...most of which are on Medicare, doing such a big effort. It's definitely personal for us, though.

-Noah had a blast and really enjoyed seeing Miss Linda and all our friends.

Jackson's 1st Sit Up

Jackson sat up by himself today for the 1st time! It was SO cute! I'd prop him into position and he'd sit for a few seconds...then he'd slowly lean in one direction headed for the floor. Noah laughed and laughed. We all did! Even Baby Jackson! My baby is getting so big!

Happy 5 months Jackson

Today my sweet Jackson is 5 months old. He is just the sweetest, sweetest soul. I just adore him. I love you dearly, Jackson! Love, Mommy - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone