June Bug

There's always a lot to love about summer.  Since our little June Bug came along, there's even more.  Our Flag Day boy turned two last month.  We got a big surprise one morning the weekend before his birthday.  Giggie and Bop were on their way!

Caring for Mamma's plants with water from the pool

Loving on Giggie

Airplane!

We had a very nice visit and then celebrated one evening in the middle of the week with adult friends who shared Jonathan's birthday week.  Almost everyone had a present to open!

Two Years Old

Thomas the Tank Engine

We spent the weekend after Jonathan's birthday with Grammy and Papa Jack.  All in all, it was a great birthday week!  We got to spend time with friends and BOTH sets of grandparents.  It couldn't get any better than that.  Mommy decided against Mother's Day Out after only two weeks.  His last day was on his birthday.  That's a long story.  The biggest issue -- Mamma just couldn't be without her boy that much.  

Opening gifts at Grammy and Papa Jack's

Reading a birthday story with Grammy

Big Pappa Jack hugs

Dirt and Dump Trucks

Snuggle time with Grammy

Hanging out next to the new fence at home

We have had a busy summer.  We've enjoyed entertaining family and friends and visiting family as well.  I was laid up for about a week after a small diagnostic laparoscopic surgery.  No worries.  All is well.  We've had a big birthday, worked on potty training, had a fence installed and a new walk poured, worked on our numbers, our alphabet and somehow learned almost all our colors by the time we started talking.  One of our favorite visits was with cousin Nora and Aunt Cyndi. We also discovered another great place to play up in Boerne.  Boerne City Lake has a playground with a nice cover... our new favorite playground for the hot summer months.

Racing Daddy down the slide

Gotta find the biggest rocks to throw

Nora(h) "Jones" Womack

Darling Duet


We also bought a travel trailer!

There's not a lot of sleeping going on at the Allen abode lately.  We haven't figured out if we're dealing with two-year molars, anxiety or nightmares.  Last night was our worst night in many months.  So, to try and turn our rotten moods around, we went to the zoo this morning and rode the train for the first time, got a bear stamp on our arm and got up close and personal with a crocodile.  It turned out to be a very special morning.  Jonathan has been napping three hours now.  I sincerely hope we all get some sleep tonight.  

I thought we had managed to get through our violent phase.  All of the reports from the church nursery have been good lately and I've noticed very little of that kind of behavior during play dates in the last few months.  We visited a little friend on Tuesday though, and Jonathan did a lot of bulldozing over her.  All I can figure out is that Jonathan has a crush on his beautiful little friend.  At one point, her little hand was taken by force and she was led all the way down the length of her yard until she managed to get away.  Smile.  Looks like we have more work to do. 

Riding the train

Choo - Choooooo!

Riding the lion cub

Mother's Day Out Update

Jonathan's teacher is a sweet older lady that somehow managed to get Jonathan to nap OVER AN HOUR on a mat on the floor.  She asked me all the questions when I walked in as she went through his bag to make sure she had everything she'd need to watch my son.  I was instantly at ease. I did cry as I left and was kind of a mess all day (staring at my cell phone every five seconds to check the time and make sure the church hadn't called) but when Jonathan went in, he, as usual, completely forgot I was there.  They told me he had a blast and the most whimpering they'd heard out of him was the bit he did as I carried him out the door.  

I carried two fire extinguishers downtown to have them inspected, spent a good hour at Wal Mart looking for birthday party items, ate lunch with Jason at home, cleaned that up and cleaned a bathroom.  Tomorrow's list - quick trip to the grocery store, homemade deodorant and more birthday planning.

Not only did he have his first day at "play school" (I call it that because Caillou goes to play school and I thought he'd be more open to the idea if his favorite cartoon character did it too.  :o)) yesterday, he spent over an hour at a base function with his Daddy.  He is such an extrovert!  He was really tired when he got home, but he still managed to destroy the living room again before bed.  Boys!  :o)

We're in the thick of potty training for the second time.  That's a long story, but I will say, this is much harder at age two than it was at age one.  Wish I'd just gone with my gut and stuck it out at age one.  I think the cloth diapers are the difference.  Now that I've got him in those almost exclusively again, we're meeting with more success.  We have a stack of big boy undies waiting until Jonathan gets a bit better about telling us when he needs to go, but we're seeing improvement every day.  A good friend told me that, next to the newborn stage, potty training is the hardest.  I can attest to that.  I have been on the bathroom floor reading books for at least two hours this morning at Jonathan's insistence.  He does not like to go in there without leaving something and, by golly, if we have to wait all day, he's going to leave something!  He's determined.  I still need to change out of my pjs, wash my face, brush my teeth, etc... etc... and it's 1:30 in the afternoon, much like what I remember from the newborn phase.  Time to hit the shower!  

Help!

Jonathan starts Mother's Day Out tomorrow.  I am undone.  An internal war has waged inside me since this solution first entered my head several months ago.  I really don't want to do this, but then again, I really do.  

Our son is a social butterfly.  He is a VERY active, bright and affectionate almost two-year-old boy.  As soon as Jonathan walks through the doors of the nursery at church, we don't exist.  The same scene plays out on Bible Study days.  At times, although he's so happy to see me at the end of play time, he'd prefer that I step into his domain, meet his friends and watch him play, oh, let's say, another hour or two?  

Mom's shoes on the wrong feet, Daddy's awesome turtle quilt, shorts probably somewhere in the kitchen or living room floor, trying to call Giggie, Grammy, Pappa Jack, Bop or Daddy

Tomorrow, Jonathan will most likely be fine and I will be a wreck.  Jonathan will have a ball playing with kiddos his own age and I'll be staring at my cell phone.  Jonathan will get home and crash.  He will wake to the arrival of his favorite person in the universe -- Daddy!  And all will be right with his world.  There's no end to the "what ifs" that are circulating through my mind as I write.  But, this is where we are.  

Wheels and animals - my favorite things

And so, It's time to thank God that there's a little church just up the way that offers a well-established Mother's Day Out in the summer months.   It's time to thank Him again that I've got quite a store in my little miscellaneous account for just such an expense.  It's time to lose the guilt and let our little fellow enjoy people and practice some of the skills he's learned from his Daddy and me.   

Bread baking day

Here is an article that is helping with my resolve by one of my new favorite authors.  

More bread baking

Her little book, Loving the Little Years (and the Bible), is helping to sustain me day after day.  I am halfway through my second reading.  By the way, the author's name is Rachel Jankovic. 

Here is another article about some issues that I have encountered as a new mom (Some of these are issues in my own heart.).  It spoke to me.  Hopefully it will speak to you too. 

First ice cream cone - Melissa's amazing home made strawberry ice cream recipe.  YUM!

There is a huge part of me that wants to hang on to my boy for dear life.  He still naps in my arms at least twice a week.  I prize those moments.  He's my one and only right now, and may be my one and only forever.  And he's just getting so big!  But I often wonder if I would squelch this precious little extrovert with my introverted self if I kept him with me constantly.  He can't let a neighbor pass without going out to them and shaking a hand or giving a hug. I realize that, although I want all control of this little life, most of the control I think I have is imaginary.  And so - I'm loosening a knot in the apron string and feeling a tremendous tug at the heartstrings.  

  

If this works out, I might actually be able to unpack a pile of boxes that have remained unopened since our move over a year ago.  Some very big projects that have been left with very scraggly ends will get some attention.  I might be able to go to a doctor's appointment or two without asking Jason to take time off from an overwhelming and stressful new job.  I might get the opportunity to mow the lawn or get the vehicles serviced and buy more time for our family in the evenings and on weekends.  Those cheap, old chairs that I really can't believe we still have in our possession might finally end up at Goodwill.  I might just be refreshed enough to enjoy our little "Jonathan-gift" more than ever before.   

And...

 I'll be praying hard every moment and listening for my phone.  

Giggie & Bop

Giggie and Bop came down for a visit over the weekend.  We always enjoy having them and Jonathan is still talking about them.  We didn't get out too much, but we did take Giggie and Bop to the Cibolo Nature Center.  Jonathan did some more wading, we did a little hiking in the wild flowers and we even chased a road runner down the trail.

This kid loves spicy food.  That is some very hot dip on that chip, and he ate and ate and ate it.  He wanted to make sure Bop got to enjoy some of it.   

Ooooo!  Fried Pickles with Giggie!  

Gathering

Last weekend, I decided to take Jonathan on a quick trip to Ft. Worth.  Grammy was heading that way from Amarillo and Jonathan hadn't visited with his Great Granny, his uncles, aunts and cousins in quite some time.  We take a route almost all the way up the edge of the Texas Hill Country.  It is a beautiful drive, made especially so by the proliferation of wild flowers along the way.  

We got to spend a good deal of time with Aunt Donna, Aunt Cyndi, and little Nora.  Nora stayed with us one day while Uncle Josh and Aunt Cyndi had a date.  We sure enjoyed it!  Nora is such a darling baby.  

Jonathan suffered from spending a little too much time in a place where he literally cannot touch anything.  The poor guy heard the word "No!" more times in one weekend than he's heard it in his entire 23 months on earth.  Mommy was completely frazzled by the second morning (This is when we discovered that the pack and play will no longer be serviceable for Jonathan.).  It was all worth it though. It was so good to see everyone.  

At some point we will come up and just visit with friends.  We see our families so little that almost our entire visit is with them.  I am certainly not complaining about that, but I always feel terrible that we've not had the opportunity to visit with friends.  

Reading with Aunt CeCe and Haley

Handing Nora her toys

Great Granny and Nora

Aunt Donna, Grammy and the little princess

Hey!

Awwwwwwwwww.

Visiting Papa's grave

Running through the roses

Firsts

We found out last week that Jonathan is really too big for the pack and play, and the high chair is just in the way.  He's getting big way too fast.  We've been blessed with amazing friends everywhere we've moved.  One new set of amazing friends lives just down the hill from us.  A couple of weeks ago, Jason had to travel at the last minute and I was already scheduled to attend a class on one of those nights.  Our friend, Heather, had an excellent idea.  She would take off early that day, we'd wear Jonathan out at the zoo that afternoon and she'd keep Jonathan while I attended class.  We've never left Jonathan at night before, so although I wasn't really worried (Heather is a trusted friend.), I didn't really know how it would go.  It went without a hitch.  Jonathan went down at his usual time and slept all night.  I checked on him when I returned home that night and he was "snug as a bug in a rug."  Here are some pictures Heather took on our outing.

Daddy Time

Jonathan and I have been to a lot of neat places together, but we always miss Daddy while he's at work.  Recently though, Daddy got to experience a couple of those places with us!  

Skipping rocks at Cibolo Nature Center

Wading among the cypress at the nature center

Wildseed Farms near Fredericksburg

Lady Bird Meadow at Wildseed Farms

Under that great "Lone Star"

One speed

Reading the paper

Butterfly habitat at Wildseed Farms

Cibolo Creek