the olin's

doctor updates

2012-02-02T17:54:00.000-05:00

This week has started with a dentist appointment for Jay. It's kind of one of those things you need to do to make sure your kids are healthy. I never know how he will react to different places, but our first time last July wasn't bad, so I didn't think this one would go too bad. I was right!!! Jay got the royal treatment and was able to go into a separate room from the rest of the kids since it was busy. He was able to watch a movie as the Hygentist cleaned his teeth. I don't even know if he knew someone was messing in his mouth. Jay came out with a clean bill of health and no cavities. Yay!!

While at the dentist, I asked if we should look out for anything with Mason. She informed me that sometimes Down Syndrome babies are slow to develop teeth. They also could have too many or too few teeth. News to us.

The second doctor's appointment was Mason's 4 month check-up. It's crazy how big he's getting and how he is growing.

To date:

Weight: 11 lbs 5 oz (3%, DS 40%)

Height: 23 inches (3%, DS 25%)

We also decided that it was time to contact the ear, nose and throat doctor about his ears. Hopefully we can get some tubes to drain the fluid. Look for those updates soon. As normal, this appointment came with two shots. The first he didn't make a peep, but smiled at me. The second, he screamed, but was quickly quiet afterward. All in all, Mason is doing well and there is nothing to worry about with him.

happiness in a box

2012-01-17T20:45:00.001-05:00

Has a box of Cheerios ever made you happy? I've never had Jay ask me for a box until now. If we go to the store, he'll ask for a box because he knows that some of the boxes house his Justice League comic book (aka batman books). This kid loves to look at the books in bed and make up his own story. So much so, he won't go to sleep and would rather stay up. This past weekend, Jay noticed that there is a batman mask on these boxes as well. Let me tell you, batman now lives at our house. All yesterday when we were at home together, Jay wore the mask. One little cardboard mask and a comic book out of a box had made him one happy boy.

Also, we are pleased to announce that we have a roller. Mason doesn't roll over all of the time, but did roll over from his belly to his back twice today at school. He did a couple of times at home as well, but I could never get it on video tape. The average down syndrome child rolls over at 6 months. Mason is only 3 1/2 months!! It's crazy how we celebrate the little things, especially with Mason. We expect him to be delayed, but I think he's going to prove us wrong and not be the average down syndrome child.

it's a new year

2012-01-10T21:34:00.001-05:00

it's a new year and so much has happened all ready. the biggest news in our household is that garrett found out on tuesday, january 3rd he passed his last two exams to be a registered architect. he started taking the first of his 7 exams on jay's birthday on august 10th and then finished his last one in the middle of december. he passed all on the first try and didn't have to retake it. now he is a registered architect in north carolina and is working on being one in virginia as well. i'm not lying now when i say he is an architect. garrett's also been coaching a team of 13-14 year olds at church in basketball with ned hurd. their first game wasn't so hot, but hopefully they will do better with their other games in the future.

as our year has started out, jay continues to be a typical 3 year old and choses to listen only when he wants to. this has gotten him in trouble more than once in the last week. yesterday, i picked him up at school and he was in the "think about it chair" (aka time out) with two of his other friends. they were just playing a friendly game of push'em down. in his mind, "what's so wrong with that?" someone was telling me this morning at work that boys just can't keep their hands to themselves. isn't that the truth? on another note, Jay is the slowest eater on the planet, but a year ago he wasn't eating near the foods he is now, so i shouldn't complain. tonight he actually asked to have tomatoes on his plate. my child likes something i don't. other than that, he continues to enjoy batman and every other superhero he can find on this planet along with their bad guys. he continues to let us know he doesn't have the penguin (this might be our next purchase at target) as well as superwoman (which i don't think they make yet). jay will definitely keep you on your toes and will talk your head off if you aren't careful. although he has his flaws, he is still the cutest 3 year old in our minds.

mason continues to amaze us everyday. he's started to smile a lot and cue. he's determined to turn over one day. i'm hoping by the end of the month. he just can't kick his leg over yet or tuck his arm under. i can't figure it out and neither can he. instead of turning over, he just does circles with his body on the floor or in his crib. yesterday, we let him go from 8:00 at night to 7:30 in the morning without a bottle. why wake a sleeping child? since he doesn't really make any noise in the mornings, garrett can hand him off to the daycare workers to feed him. today he even took an 8 oz bottle. in my mind, that's awesome for a 3 month old. we aren't complaining either because we are getting sleep. this boy is getting bigger each day. i can't wait to go and weigh and measure him next month. i'm always curious to see his stats each time.

as for me, i'm trying to do better with working out. aren't we all? i would love to run a 5k this year and just stay in shape. i'm not up for the marathons or 1/2 marathons, but a short run is just fine with me. also, i would love to get back to aerobics. they have a class at church on friday afternoons that i can attend and plan to starting this month. i can't wait to get back into it. i'm also trying to do my best with making dinner instead of always going out. so far this week, we've had pork chops, chicken tacos, soup and grill cheese. the rest of the week has bbq in store as well as leftovers. hopefully this will help to save some money and is most likely healthy for us. as for work, exams start this week. we are about to start a new semester with new students on the 24th of this month. it's always great to get a fresh new group of students.

i hope each of you has started off the year on a good note!! see you in 2012.

Easy Recipes

2012-01-10T21:01:00.001-05:00

BBQ
Buy a Boston Butt and the McCormick slow cooker packet. You will need brown sugar, ketchup and cider vinegar. Follow the directions on the packet and cook for at least 8 hours. It will fall apart and be some awesome BBQ.

Chicken Tacos
In a crockpot put 2-3 chicken breasts. Put a can of black beans, corn, rotel, and a taco packet with a little bit of water. Cook 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken with forks. Serve with lettuce, cheese, tortillas, chips and anything else you would like.

Homemade Mac and Cheese
Boil the desired amount of noodles. Shred some cheddar cheese (8oz). Put noodles, cheese, one cup milk along with an egg that had been beaten in a bowl and stir. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until no longer runny.

Potato Soup
Chop up a quarter to a half of a red onion. Sautée in butter and cayenne pepper in a pot. Chop up 3-4 large potatoes. Add the potatoes along with 2 cans of chicken broth. Boil until the potatoes are tender. Add a pint of whipping cream and fresh chopped parsley. Serve with cheese and bacon.

christmas 2011

2011-12-27T20:18:00.001-05:00

this was our first christmas as a family of 4. we switched up tradition and went to garrett's parents house on christmas eve. we spent some time with them during the day and then made our way to church for the 2nd annual christmas eve service. it's tricky with little kids to sit there for 45 minutes and listen, but we managed. at times, jay was singing the songs and it was too cute. we made our way back to garrett's parents house for dinner and to open presents.

here are some pictures with garrett's parents, chris and gloria, with mason. they are so in love with this little guy.

here are some of mason just hanging out with his friends. he really has been smiling more lately as well as becoming excited about things in front of him. it's great that he is becoming more alert lately.

if you can't tell it already, batman and his friends invaded our house this christmas. jay is really into superheroes. he racked up on the batman shirts as well as got a spiderman and superman shirt as well. new shoes made the list of christmas gifts as well as legos and other cool stuff to play with and the wear.

christmas day, after we opened all the superheroes from santa, we went to my parents house to open gifts with my grandmother. no pictures yet, but we'll have some soon.

the past two days we've tried to clean up from the gifts and put them all away, as well as exchange a few at the mall. it's been an exhausting, but awesome christmas.

we hope each of you had a very merry christmas.

ready or not...

2011-12-21T14:17:00.000-05:00

garrett and i at his office Christmas party this past Sunday

are you ready for CHRISTmas this year? are the presents wrapped? are the kids excited for santa? did you get your Christmas cards out? we sure didn't this year. maybe we can get something together to send out after the holidays. it's been a very busy time of year for us this year especially. jay wants all the superheroes he can get. in that list, he has now included wonderwoman which santa doesn't make yet. we'll see how this goes over on Christmas day. another thing is a panther jersey, but he wants cam newton, #1. he may be disappointed because again he will just have another substitute since santa doesn't make toddler size cam newton jersey's. as for mason, he can't ask santa for anything yet, so he won't be getting much. he'll be getting all the clothes, diapers and wipes throughout the year he really needs. it will be Christmas all year long for him with new diapers as presents every few hours each day.

i love my little brother!!!

i can't believe that this time of year is already here and will be gone in a blink of an eye. mason and jay are growing too fast and before we know it, mason will be all over the place. each day he becomes more and more wiggly. this is actually a good thing because hopefully he is building up muscle tone which many down syndrome kids lack. one day, he's going to figure out how to roll over, then jay won't have to roll him over himself because he thinks that mason wants to be on his tummy.

look what i found under the Christmas tree

jay, in school, is learning all about this time of year. he's celebrated Jesus' birthday several times in Sunday school and during the week at school. it is awesome to hear him talk about Jesus as well as that Herod was a bad king.

all in all, i think we are ready for Christmas. i'm excited to go to the Christmas Eve service on Saturday evening at the church. as well as, spend time with garrett's family on Christmas Eve and my family on Christmas. next week, the four of us will get to enjoy each others' company. garrett's taking the week off of work and since there is no daycare, we get a full week of playing with Christmas gifts. we hope each one of you has a great Christmas as well. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

we're back...

2011-12-12T20:57:00.002-05:00

i've been back to school for about a month now and we have started to get in the groove and juggle everything that needs to be done on a daily basis. the kids have to be picked up, along with bottles washed and labeled for the next day, dinner ready, and putting the kids to bed on time each night. every now and then there is a doctor's appointment that someone has to go to. it's been crazy and busy around here. not to mention, garrett's been trying to take his architecture exams. he has one more test tomorrow and has passed the first five exams he took. hopefully the last two will come back with passing scores in the next few weeks.

this past week, mason had his 2 month check up. the stats are in and he is just a peanut. not only is on a growth chart for regular kids, but he has his own chart for having down syndrome.

weight: 9 lbs 1 oz (3%, ds 50%)

height: 21 1/4 inches (3%, ds 25%)

he seems to be doing pretty well and is checking out in all areas. the cardiologist said that there are two small holes in a vessel, but it is nothing to worry about. they want to see him back in about 3 years. they must not be too worried at all then. we went to check mason's hearing as well last week, but fluid remains in both ears and there was no reason to repeat the tests we had done last time. there was one test she was able to do and believes that there is some hearing in mason's left ear. we confirmed last time he could hear out of his right ear.

mason is a great sleeper and normally sleeps about 8 hours straight until he wakes up. the other day, he lasted for about 10 hours until i woke him to eat so we could leave to go somewhere.

the other thursday, jay, mason, my dad and myself made our way to the annual tree lighting in mint hill. santa was there to see all of the kids. jay made sure to ask santa for a lot of superheroes.

take a look at these last two pictures. jay and mason look a lot alike at 2 months. it's so crazy how they resemble one another.

mason

jay

perfect

2011-11-12T06:41:00.001-05:00

my maternity leave is coming to an end and it's back to work on monday. i don't know what's in store for me and all the work that probably has to be done. a workday would have been great beforehand, but jay got sick on thursday and we all had to stay home. as i look back through these few weeks on my life and start to think, one word comes to mind PERFECT. back in may when we found out mason would have down syndrome, it was devastating. your dreams for your kids are to be the smartest, hit every milestone early and be the best they can be at all times felt like they had ended. at that time, it felt like we had been hit by a mack truck and those dreams were crushed. we excepted the fact that yes he would have delays and that there would be things he couldn't do or would take longer to do. there were many tears the day we found out for sure this would be the diagnosis. throughout the next few weeks/months, i know i thought about what he would look like and since all the hormones would be rushing through me after birth, what a basket case i would be once mason was here. i guess i was preparing myself for this the rest of a the time.

the day of his birth came rushing in and i mean this literally and all of a sudden he was here. i couldn't cry, but just look at him and smile. it's crazy how one kid can just make you forget about everything from before. the look on jay's eye when he saw him was priceless and still is. for the most part, he is very gentle with him and goes up to him holding his hand and saying how small it is. he's always interested in diaper changes and wants to watch. jay knows nothing except that mason is his baby brother just like everyone else has a baby brother or sister. he wouldn't treat him any differently than any other sibling. throughout my time with mason, it has been great. he isn't a fussy baby and just goes with the flow. i think this has helped me along the way. the feeling of being a basket case has not really come on.

one day, i think i was more tired than any other day because i was working on school work and just was exhausted from it. garrett looked at me at dinner and asked if i had been crying, and i just looked up and said yes. i started to explain and started crying again and said he's just PERFECT. it doesn't matter the doctors' appointments i have to attend to make sure everything is alright or the delays he may have later on. we will take this day by day, not looking too far into the future and thank God everyday for the blessing He has sent. my worries of what he looks like were tossed out the window, especially when people just walk by the stroller and say he is just beautiful without knowing his prognosis. and on monday when i go back to work, it is awesome to know that he is already loved by all of his teachers. they are so excited to get him and i know will take the best care of him.

growing up

2011-11-07T21:02:00.000-05:00

the past few weeks we've been having fun watching Mason grow little by little and Jay having fun being a big brother. it's really cool how jay reacts to mason and how he is really interested in him. jay wants to know if mason is going to pick him up at school. he's also interested in mason's little hands as well as where he is at a all times.

last week mason turned one month and i took him for his one month check up. his stats are:

7 lbs 13 ounces (10%)

19.5 inches long (3%)

at his appointment we found out that the hospital didn't measure mason's length correctly unless a baby can shrink. he measured there at 20.5 inches, so who knows how long he really was.

as for an update on his ears, he can hear perfectly in his right ear, but still has fluid in his left ear. he has mild to moderate hearing loss in that ear and we have to go back in december to check it again. most likely the fluid in his ears is causing his hearing loss. this is common for down syndrome babies because they have small ear canals as well as their eustachian tubes are small.

mason's still a very good baby. he only cries when he is tired or just irritated, which isn't much. most of the time is pretty content. he's started to wiggle a lot more and jolt his head back when you hold him. he's a very good sleeper at night. last night he went down around 8:00 and didn't wake back up until 3:30. as long as he can continue to do that when i go back to work next week, i'll be really happy.

it's been fun being out these last few weeks with him. i remember with jay, since he cried a lot more, i was stressed out and ready to go back to work. this time, it's been a more relaxed experience and i'm really going to miss him during the day. fortunately, next week we have the best teachers to take care of him at daycare. they can't wait to get him and already have a bed for him. he will definitely be in good hands.

every now and then mason will put his thumb in his mouth and suck it. i was able to catch a picture of it one day.

what's up??!!

since the beginning of october, garrett has been playing flag football. we were able to make it to one of the games the other night since it wasn't too cold outside. here is jay with his friend jake. they are football players in training.

halloween has come and gone, but the memories are still there. ever since mason came, jay has worn his batman costume almost everyday. this was probably the best $17 i've ever spent. the costume even started to come apart he wore it so much.

here he is with his friend jesse from school at the fall festival at church. i think jay had a blast. he quickly understood that if he played a game, he would get candy to put in his bucket.

we found some more friends at the fall festival

(from left to right) noah, jay, brady, cooper

halloween night we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

noah, seth (he went as himself), gavin, peyton, jay

(not pictured) owen and livvie

the kids went running from house to house. it was hilarious. the first house, gavin and jay thought they would walk on in and visit the people.

jay loves his little brother.

stylin' in mommy's sunglasses.

here's my boys.

some more lovin'.

sunday afternoon we celebrated noah's birthday. he turned 3 and had a huge bounce house for the kids to play in.

the adults joined in some of the fun as well.

here was my grandmother's position most of the time with mason.

for some reason he had to have the red cupcake. i think he definitely liked the icing.

more bounce house

piñata time!!

olin update

2011-10-18T00:34:00.000-04:00

as we reach mason being 18 days old, i found out what his hurry to come into this world was, TO FAIL TESTS!! he's not even in school yet, and he knows how to fail them. in the hospital, he failed his hearing test in both ears. yesterday, we went back for a recheck and he passed in the right ear, but failed in the left. he has fluid in the left ear which is causing him to not hear or react to the tests. unfortunately, we now have another appointment on the 27th this month for a 2 hour screening to see how the fluid is affecting his hearing and to see how he is hearing in the right ear. this is typical of down syndrome babies. i also got a call yesterday afternoon saying that he had failed his newborn screening test (heel prick test) when he was in the hospital. they send off the blood to the state and they test it. i'm not really sure what this test tests for, but anyway, he failed it.

as for jay, he loves his new brother. he'll kiss him on the forehead and put a blanket on him when it falls off. jay is basically just curious about his new brother. when is he going to talk and walk? eat big boy food? and so forth. he doesn't seem jealous of him yet. yesterday, he thought mason was hot so he had to take off his jacket. jay constantly says the phrase "when i was a baby..." and follows it with "i couldn't walk" or "i couldn't talk". it is really funny to hear him say this.

as for garrett and i, we are getting sleep. mason doesn't really cry and i've been setting my alarm to wake me up to feed him in the night every 3 to 4 hours. this is much different from jay who cried and kept us up through the night. mason hardly makes a sound and when he does, it really isn't that loud.

family of four

2011-10-05T07:09:00.003-04:00

we've changed from a family of 3 to a family of 4. so far so good. the last two nights mason has been really good. he hasn't cried yet and we've gotten more sleep than anticipated. we just wake to feed him and go back to sleep. that's about the same thing during the day as well. he will open his eyes and be awake for a while, but for the most part is motionless the rest of the day.

as for his health, mason is doing well. no major problems that we know of. in the hospital he did fail his hearing test, but that is not uncommon of babies. we go back in two weeks to check that out. he did have an echo done on his heart. it did show a place in his heart that had not closed up yet, but should soon after birth. it is nothing to worry about and they will just check it in about 2 months. when the nurse practitioners checked mason in the hospital they never heard a murmur on his heart which is good. he eats well at most feedings, but it makes it a little harder when he is asleep.

here's some pictures from the hospital that we want to share with you:

mason is assuming the position he's been in since he's arrived home.

here are the three of us minutes after mason was born.

uncle chip holding carson (6 days older than mason) and mason. all the cousins on the olin side of the family.

i think jay likes being an older brother.

the olin's and some of the wagoner's

peacefully sleeping. i'm a babydoll.

the wagoner side of the family.

cousins on the wagoner side.

we are a family of four now.

i had to throw this one in there because my dad is never in pictures. he's always on the other side of the camera.

one excited brother. notice he's wearing his panther jersey; his favorite.

tuesday afternoon. i'm ready to go home. he's so tiny.

Mason...you only hear this in movies

2011-10-03T09:45:00.001-04:00

It's weird to say this is our birth story of mason. His grand entrance was far from sweet and relaxing. On Saturday, contractions started around 5 or 6 in the morning erratic and spaced out probably 10 to 6 minutes apart. Nothing unusual since at the last appointments the doctor kept asking if I had been having any contractions through the weeks. I hadn't had any, so to me it could have been Braxton hicks. As the day progressed and Garrett worked outside at our house and then left to go to help at his brothers house. I was doing laundry and cleaning house and then the contractions started to get closer together. By 1:15 or so, I called Garrett to let him know that he needed to come home because the contractions were about 2 minutes apart and a little stronger. When he got home, we threw some things together with the help of my mom and were off to the hospital by 2:00. The contractions were definitely intense. At first I was saying I better be at least 5 cm, to I need an epidural immediately, to by the time we reached the parking deck, this baby is coming and coming now. Garrett got a wheel chair and rushed me into the hospital screaming. He called to the people in the elevator to hold the elevator. As we got in, I was having a huge contraction and screamed pretty loud. I think we pretty much scared the family of three with a little 3 or 4 year old looking to go to a big brother/big sister class. Once we reached the 8th floor, Garrett was running out of the elevator. We had a minor set back when a nurse was trying to help us through a door and by accident locked one of the wheels on the wheel chair. We reached the nurses station where 4 or 5 nurses were standing and we said that the baby is literally coming now. They rush us into a room and we thought it was about 2:25 at this time. With one push, the water sac was hanging out and they popped it at 2:28. Two more pushes Mason's head was out, and two more he was out at 2:31. Thanks to the nurses who delivered him and were so quick to respond. The doctor from another practice arrived a little later to finish everything up. Finally, a doctor from our practice made it. She had been biking on the booty loop and was the farthest from her car. Needless to say, if there is a next time and there are any contractions at all, we'll be heading to the hospital earlier.Mason Garrett was born Saturday, October 1st, 6 pounds 11 ounces, 20.5 inches long at 2:31 pm. Pictures to come later.

In a week...

2011-09-29T20:32:00.001-04:00

It's almost that time for Mason to arrive. A week from today, Thursday, October 6th, we are going into the hospital to be induced at 7:30 in the morning. I'm not looking forward to the whole waiting game all day though. The doctors are choosing to induce at 39 weeks because there is no benefit for Mason to be inside until 40 weeks. Plus, by going to 40 weeks, the risk of stillborn is higher, especially in Down Syndrome babies. Fortunately, everything looks good on my end and looks like inducing should be fine, although the average induction lasts 12 hours. No fun!!It's crazy to think that in a week or less we will be introducing our newest addition, Mason, into this world. Of course, I'm going crazy trying to get everything ready at school and making sure my lesson plans are in order and the sub has everything she needs. I think teaching is one of the only jobs that you just don't leave when you go on maternity leave. There is tons of work that goes into it and me being me, especially right now, wants it to be perfect. Knowing this, you would think I've packed and been ready for the hospital for a while. It's the complete opposite. No bags are packed, but the fridge is packed with food for when we get back home. I still need to clean my house this weekend, so hopefully Mason doesn't want to make his entrance too early.On the otherhand, Jay can't wait for Mason to get here because that's when we told him he could get his batman costume for Halloween. Telling him that Halloween was a month a way wasn't working and didn't make sense to him. To be three again and have no sense of time.Look for pictures this coming week after Mason is here.

hanging in there

2011-09-11T15:44:00.001-04:00

okay, so we are still here, just haven't given a lot of time to writing on here lately. our weekends and days have been pretty busy and full. between getting all my lesson plans done for geometry, doctors appointments, and preparing for a new little one to come in the next few weeks, time just slips away from us. plus, we all could use a nap here or there and we would rather do that then be on a computer all the time.

mason update:

(35 1/2 weeks)

as for mason, we went to the maternal/fetal doctor this past friday and everything seems to be looking good on his end. he is about 4 lbs 12 oz (23rd percentile) which is fine for down syndrome babies. the doctor felt that this was in normal range. he glanced over everything and thinks it all looks fine to his eyes. we will know more once he is here about his heart and everything. his profile pictures on the 3d and 4d ultrasounds really look like jay. it is so cool to see. i decided to ask the doctor what would he recommend to my ob about delivery. he said as long as my cervix is favorable, that he would probably induce at 39 weeks. if not, let me go an extra week and then see. so great news to us for now. we graduated and won't be seeing that doctor anymore. i'm glad because i'm tired of so many different appointments.

jay update:

(3 years old)

yeah, jay keeps us on our toes. being three just means he talks your ears off, climbs everywhere, and has a personality like no one else. we love that he is a happy kid and enjoys playing with his friends at school and sunday school. over the past month, we've really had fun with jay and watching him grow up. today when we got home from church, i quickly ran to the store to grab a few things and when i came home, garrett and jay had their panthers' jerseys on. i walked in the door and jay kept saying "mommy your panthers jersey is upstairs" as if i didn't know i had one. he is so particular about his clothes and what we wear and where we go. it is really funny. as for his eating these days, it has improved tremendously. he will eat about anything we eat and we don't take extra food with us out to resturants. he just eats off of our plates. we still refuse to buy him his own meal since he won't eat the whole thing. he can deal with what we have for now. jay also has been moved to a full bed instead of the toddler bed. we needed to transform it back into a crib for mason's room. he was so excited this week to get it. he no longer wants to sleep with his blanket or monkey, but the baseball and football pillows we bought for his bed. he thinks he's a big boy now.

as for the last month, here are a few pictures starting with some of the most recent to jay's birthday party in the middle of august.

jay can climb on the barstools to the counter and wash his own dishes, even after i said just put it in the sink and i'll get it.

we went to the stump town parade in matthews last weekend. jay wanted candy!! sorry, no good pictures were taken of jay during the parade. i just wanted to throw in one.

jay has gotten really good on his bike that uncle chip gave him for his birthday. we just make him wear the helmet, but he insisted the other day to wear the knee pads and wrist pads we bought to go with his scooter. i think he is pretty well covered.

here's jay's new bed. he took to it really well. he hasn't fallen out yet, but i'm guessing he might some time soon.

mason's crib made it into his room this week. we are ready for him.

garrett painted his room the other week and put his name on his wall. it looks great.

on friday, we went to qudoba to eat dinner with the williams'. afterward we went out to the fountain where jay was still hungry and i gave him the only rice krispie treat. livvie wanted one too, so they decided to share. livvie got the last bite though. that a girl!!

i was lazy and didn't post anything from jay's 3rd birthday party. you can see more pictures on my Facebook page, but here are a few pictures you can look at. thank goodness it didn't rain!

piñata time!! the kids loved hitting the piñata and getting all the candy afterward.

the kids eating cupcakes.

i think our child needs some body fat. he is so cold in this picture. we've been feeding him cookies lately to fatten him up. i don't think it's helping.

Movin' on up

2011-08-11T20:08:00.001-04:00

To add to yesterday's post, Jay went to the doctor today for his 3 year check up. He weighs 26 pounds (10th percentile, up from the 3rd) and is 3 feet tall (25th percentile) He's getting bigger.

Also, to add to Mason, he weighs about 3.4 pounds (30th percentile).

Both look great and are right on track.

jay and mason

2011-08-10T21:39:00.001-04:00

4 weeks later and we're back with another update on mason. there is not anything new to say this week, except that the doctor thinks everything looks good. the ventricles in the brain look normal. as far as he can tell, the heart looks good and everything looks to be on track for a 31 week baby. of course, more will be told when he is born and has an echocardiogram done. this was a pretty short doctor's visit and we go back in 4 more weeks for probably the last ultrasound at 35 weeks. we wanted to leave you with 2 3-d photos from the visit today.

today was also jay's birthday!! he turned 3 today. this morning we don't think it had set in that it was his birthday. he just knew it was water day at school and that was what he was looking forward to. when he got to school, his teacher, Ms. Sue, from when he was an infant was ready for him to come into her room so she could give him balloons, a cake and a card. she always does something special for him on his birthday. we sent cookies and capri suns for the afternoon snack at school and we believe he liked that. when i picked him up from school, his teacher, Ms. Mary really wanted him to open his gift from her. she had bought him a watch. he's been wearing that watch all night and is even sleeping with it on. jay and i made our way to the kitchen so my mom could see him and the all the ladies were ready to sing happy birthday and give him a brownie with candles to blow out. i think jay really got the special treatment today!! by the time he went to bed, he knew it was his birthday.

here's Ms. Sue's cake.

jay's ready to blow out the candles.

uncle chip and aunt kim gave jay a bike for his birthday. he's getting good at it. don't worry, he has a helmet coming from someone else for his birthday.

mason update

2011-07-14T20:22:00.000-04:00

Six weeks later and we are back at the 'baby doctor' to check on mason and to make sure everything is going okay with him. Again the doctor looks at the typical places in mason that could be problems with kids born with down syndrome. The doctor glanced at his brain and said one side looks 'perfect' while the other side is borderline enlarged, but nothing to worry about since this is typical. On to his heart, the doctor was looking for abnormalities that could pose a problem at birth. Again, this time, his heart seems to be in good order and should be fine from what he can see. The doctor informed us that out of down syndrome children that 40% or more are born with heart problems. He feels no reason for us to see a cardiologist right now. At birth, mason will have an echo cardiogram (in short look at his heart) more extensively to make sure there are no problems that were not able to be seen from the ultrasounds. The third thing that the doctor looked at was mason's intestines. Your intestines are made in three parts; in downs children, many times the first part of the intestines does not develop. This can be easily corrected with surgery. Oddly enough, this could also cause problems with delivery and could cause preterm labor because of excess amniotic fluid. We are fortunate that mason is not showing signs of this problem with his intestines. All in all, everything is looking great with mason. The doctor believes that the delivery should be normal and looks to not have any major problems. Thanks for those who have been praying and thinking of us these past few weeks. We will have another update in 4 weeks when we go for another ultrasound.

updates all around

2011-06-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

so much has been going on the past month and a half since we last blogged and also finding out our unexpected news about our future son "mason garrett". we've found ourselves at birthday parties, playing at the park, baby showers, doctors appointments, family beach vacation (just the 3 of us) and tons of sprinkler fun. since we last blogged the school year closed and was pretty busy with exams and last minute things that had to be done. then a new summer school session started this week at providence day. one week is now down (with only 5 kids), and 4 more to go. garrett was able to stain the deck and keep up with the yard as it continues to grow after all the rain we keep getting from the pop up thunderstorms.

as for an update on mason, we went back to the specialist at 21 weeks (i'm 24 weeks now) and they did an ultrasound with tons of pictures and measurements. the doctor came in and looked as well and analyzed all the pictures and was mainly concerned with mason's heart and ventricles in the brain. As for his heart, it looks good for right now. many down syndrome children have holes in their hearts, but for right now, what the doctor can tell, there is no visible problems; not to say that one won't show up when we go back later. as for the ventricles in the brain, they will continue to monitor these to see if he will need shunts put in to drain the spinal fluid. when we went in originally at 18 weeks, they were measuring around 11 to 12. normally the doctor's like to see it less than 10. at 21 weeks, when the doctor measured them, they measured at 8. something. the doctor said that looks good as well. we go back to the specialist in about 3 weeks for another ultrasound as they continue to monitor mason and his progress. we can only hope for more good news.

and now for some pictures from the last month and a half:

tons of fun at tucker long's birthday party

jake, jay and noah blowing bubbles

for some reason jay doesn't like to pick up his cupcake

birthday boy tucker with his parents julie and trey

a day at the park with mom and dad

sprinkler time at grandma and grandpa's house on memorial day

family vacation at the beach

jay loved the water

soaking up some rays

mommy look!!

fun times in the sand with dad

kristen walters' baby shower

hailey johnson's birthday party at monkey joes

we still haven't learned how to eat cake with a fork or with our hands

fun times at monkey joes on the slide. jay loves this place.

expect the unexpected

2011-05-18T20:33:00.000-04:00

In the past year, we have come to expect the unexpected. One can have their life planned out, but there will always be obstacles to overcome and your plan may not be God's plan. Last year we didn't expect to have an ectopic pregnancy in April which resulted in a surgery. And a couple of months later a miscarriage. One could only hope to get pregnant again and that's what happened this past February. We found out we were pregnant again. Doctors' appointments went well and the day to find out what we were having came this past Friday. We were very anxious and had our own guesses as to what the sex was. Well we found out it was another boy, but also that he had extra spinal fluid in his brain. The doctor wanted us see a specialist which happened to have an appointment right away. We had another ultrasound and the doctor started to name a few things that concerned him and that our baby was showing signs of Down Syndrome. We could not know for sure except if we did an amneocentesis. The risk for miscarriage was minimal, but was still there. For us, the risk outweighed the agony we would we would be put through the next few months of not knowing. The worst weekend was ahead of us because we would not know the results until Monday. Monday finally arrived and we found out that the test was positive for Down Syndrome. At this point, there was a lot of sadness and crying, but relief at the same time because we knew.

We want to let each of you know that we are doing fine and are excepting the reality of the situation. We are not looking at this as a punishment, but a gift from God. For some reason, God is giving us this child and we are excepting His challenge. We don't ask for your sympathy and pity on us, but your support through these next few months and years to come. We still have questions and fears of our future and what is to come, but we are going to take it one day at a time. Thanks for taking time to read.

Garrett and Morgan

mother's day interview

2011-05-08T15:30:00.001-04:00

Of course happy mother's day to all you mothers out there. on the friday before mothers day it is always the anticipation if what is your child going to bring home for you. a card, flower or some other handmade gift. this year with all that, jay brought home a piece of paper that had an interview about his mommmy. his teacher pulled each of his classmates and him aside to answer the questions about their moms. of course it is hilarious and i want to share it all with you.

Mommys name is mommy.
Mommys hair is black.
Mommys eyes are white.
Mommy likes to stand and jump.
Mommy is 3 years old.
Mommys job is to take money out of my piggy bank.
Mommys favorite food is carrots.
Mommy carries money, just money in her purse.
I love mommy because I love my mommy.

of course if you ask him today, his answers have changed. both my eyes and hair are brown and I teach kids. I hope each of you had a wonderful day!!

milestones

2011-04-30T16:09:00.000-04:00

it is kind of hard to believe, but we have made it past one of the most dreaded and difficult milestones with jay this week. as most people know, he is/was the most pickiest eater. he didn't really eat any food that we ate. when we went anywhere, we would have to bring his food with us. the bag got pretty full on the weekends when we wanted to go anywhere. we even stopped the baby food at two years just because i got tired of buying it. a normal day would consist of

breakfast: oatmeal

snack: kix, raisons, fruit loops or something we brought from the house to school

lunch: applesauce and more kix

snack: poptart, mandarin oranges, or something else we brought from the house

dinner: more fruit loops

no meat was in his diet at all. garrett convinced jay that on easter, the easter bunny would bring him a present and take his "baby food" away. in turn, jay would have to eat big boy food. it has not been too bad except that jay takes forever to eat dinner or any other meal. he tries to make excuses like he has to go potty in the middle or he is still chewing a piece after of about 3 or 4 minutes. as of this week, he has added about 20 foods to his diet, including meat. there has been some threatening that the easter bunny would come back and take his gift, but jay will quickly eat something to keep it.

another milestone that jay has reached is being potty trained. he wears big boy underwear all the time now (even at night!!). this isn't to say that he doesn't have an occasional accident here and there. for the most part, he tells us when he has to poop and if you just take him to the potty every 1 to 2 hours or so to pee, he will be fine and dry. if he gets too busy or excited about doing something, jay won't tell you he has to go. i dread going to school to see the bag of clothes tied to his bookbag every so often. the worst are the accidents that he has pooped in and i have to clean them out. i guess it just goes with the territory of potty training. i'd rather do that then keep spending money on diapers and pull ups all the time.

last week i was out for spring break and kept jay out on that thursday. we had a little fun of our own at the house.

playing with blocks

playing with tools

dying some easter eggs

the saturday of easter weekend, we went up to my grandmother's house to visit. here's my favorite picture of jay playing with a car he got.

so nana doesn't know about jay riding on the back of noah's tricycle.

for some reason they had to put on their swimsuits from grammy.

easter sunday we got dressed and went to church. here is my attempt at getting a picture, but he was too wiggly.

finally after church, jay opened his present from the easter bunny. bye bye baby food, hello big boy food.

opening easter baskets from aunt kim and uncle chip as well as from grandma and grandpa on easter.

grandma and grandpa planned an easter egg hunt. there was money involved. jay loves money and even tells cashiers he needs money to put in his piggy bank.

last week jay made some binocular's at school in mrs. mary's class to look at the birds. you never knew two toilet paper rolls stuck together and a string to put around his neck would make him so happy.

today we went out to the park for a baby shower for nicolette and jeremy davis. they flew in from florida this weekend. jay enjoyed the slide until he peed in his pants and we had to change his shorts. sorry for anyone else that goes on that playground.

here's the happy couple opening some presents. they are expecting a boy in August.

now stay tuned in because in two weeks we find out what our little bundle of joy is. will it be a girl?? or a boy?? who knows. i'm 16 weeks right now, not wearing maternity clothes and not really showing. i guess one day i'll pop out.

and 2 1/2 months later...

2011-04-21T14:20:00.000-04:00

i know it has been a while and we have some catching up to do. it's been hectic around here as well as pretty busy. through the month of february, garrett finished up the basketball season with his boys and even had them over for a sleepover in march. surprisingly, nothing was tore up and i don't think they moved from their positions in the floor of playing video games. fortunately, jay and i were able to stay at my parents' house for the night. the boys had the house to themselves; 6 boys and garrett with lots of food and video games.

the weekend of the superbowl, garrett and i found out we were pregnant with baby #2 (or #4 however you want to look at it). we didn't say anything until the end of march, but everything looks healthy so far. we are looking for a fall baby that is due october 13th. i'm not looking forward to writing all the lesson plans though while i'm out. that's the only bad part about my job, i can't just leave for sick leave, i have to really be prepared. right now i'm currently 15 weeks along, no maternity clothes needed right now and hardly showing. is this right about now? i can't remember from jay. i go for another doctor's appointment next friday and then we go on may 13th for an ultrasound. hopefully we will be able to tell what we are having by then. if you ask jay if he wants a baby brother or sister, he'll say sister. so i guess we will be to wait and see. not only are we expecting, but garrett's brother chip and his wife kim are expecting as well in september. this should make it very interesting in the olin household come fall.

through the month of march, garrett also lost his grandma olin. she had been sick for a while and lost the battle. although it was a sad time, it was a burden lifted off of his parents. they were going down there every other weekend to care for her. now there are still some loose ends to tie up with assets and everything, but hopefully that will go smoothly.

garrett and i have both been pretty busy at work. garrett's also starting to study for his exams he has to take to be a certified architect. wish him luck!! i think he said that there are 9 exams in all. not fun!!

garrett turned 29 on april 5th and was treated to going to the Master's in augusta, georgia on his birthday. my dad had gotten the tickets and took jeremy, garrett, and chip. i think overall, they had a great time. unfortunately, they didn't get to see too many golfers since it had rained the night before and they didn't want to come out for the practice round.

this past weekend, we had a sunday school easter egg hunt and picnic with almost everyone in our class. it was suppose to be at my parents' house, but with all the torrential rain that we've gotten in the past few weeks, we were unable to have it there. it was just too wet even though it did end up being a beautiful afternoon. fortunately, the church gym was open to house everyone. there were kids galore with tons of balls and toys. it ended up really fun and i think everyone had a blast. there was no hiding eggs, but just eggs scattered everywhere on the floor. but when you are two or three, you really don't care about finding hidden eggs, but finding what is inside those eggs. jay loves candy and would eat it all day long if you let him. here's some pictures from the event:

if you look closely, you can see kids playing in the background

jay gathering his eggs

jay spent most of his time trying to figure out how to ride the scooter

jay having fun with gavin and some of his friends

and yes jay is pushing noah on a bike

little olivia puttering along with her basket

this week has been too short. it is already thursday and my spring break is almost over. i spent monday and tuesday cleaning the house and making meals for the families who have had babies recently. yesterday, i picked jay up from school early and went to garrett's office to each lunch. today, i ran some errands and kept jay home. he's been a bit of a wild child today though. it took 1 1/2 hours and some harsh convincing to finally fall asleep in bed for his nap. who knows what we have in store this weekend, but we will soon see.

weekend round up

2011-02-06T14:46:00.000-05:00

maybe the title is a little misleading, because i want to recap the past few weeks and weekends that we've had since the beginning of january. we've been a pretty busy family with work and everything else, it's hard to make it to the computer all the time.

the past few weekends we have enjoyed watching garrett and ned hurd coach a group of boys (13-14 years old) in basketball. i didn't know how much jay really enjoyed it until this past thursday when garrett was going to practice, jay had a total meltdown and thought he was going to a game. so far the team has won three and lost two. not too bad!!! they've got a good little team and hopefully they can win the rest of their games. can't wait until this thursday night when they have another game. i think it is exciting for both me and nicole (ned's wife) to just go out and cheer for these guys.

on occasion, i've picked up a bundle of three at daycare when olivia's and owen's parents have to work late. this past time i found out livvie really on likes her parents to pick up, but by the time we reached the house everyone was okay and ready to play. i managed to take care of three little ones and cook homemade potato soup at the same time.

last weekend peyton king celebrated her 2nd birthday at her house. who knew that it would be such a wonderful weekend and we could even enjoy a little time outside.

jay's king of this castle.

peyton digging into her cake.

everyone helping peyton open her presents. noah's waiting on the woody doll.

she got her jessie!! and bullseye. don't touch jessie or she'll have a meltdown.

look what jay got!! i think anything in a bag is exciting at this age.

recently this week, we've pulled out the playdoh to play with it. jay loves to cut it with his scissors. playdoh only comes out on rare occasions and only at the kitchen table.

and lastly, we celebrated olivia's 2nd birthday yesterday at mcdonalds. one of the mcdonalds in matthews has a play place for kids 3 and under. it is such a perfect place to have a party and you don't have to worry about cleaning up your own house.

noah belote

jay, noah, lyla and sage walters

chandler jenkins

olivia eating her yummy cupcake.

courtney and pressley tucker

well the birthday girl didn't want to join the fun.

olivia opening some of her gifts.

jay and daddy

icy dayz

2011-01-11T13:46:00.001-05:00

yesterday was a snow day, today is an icy day; and i mean ice!!! yesterday the snow was powdery and easy to walk in, but today was a disaster because freezing rain came down last night. there is an inch of ice on top of all of the snow on the ground. jay and i ventured out in it today anyway. he enjoyed it and maybe more than yesterday when it was the fluffy white stuff. we would slip and slide and both fell down in the middle of the road and as i was getting up heard him say "let's do it again". that's my boy. never gets hurt and always wants to do it again. jay would walk around the porch in the back picking up big ice sheets and throwing them to the ground and watch them hit and shatter. he would say "that's a big one". nothing outside can get jay down and he wants to go out again this afternoon. sorry no pictures because the camera is dead. you can enjoy the ones from yesterday. they look the same except jay had red pants on today.

oh and how to dress a two year old in the snow. i keep hearing we don't have anything to go out in the snow. jay is probably the most well dressed kid on the planet in the snow. After the snow after Christmas, we had gone out shopping to return a couple of things. we stopped into children's place and garrett and jay found a pair of boats. we bought them way too big so he can wear them next year. the rest of the clothes we had. we layered jay in a pair of sweatpants that we stuffed in his boats with a pair of windpants over top. on the top half of his body he has a long sleeve thermal, shortsleeve t-shirt of some sort, a hoodie and a puffy jacket. on his head we put his most favorite carolina hat with both hoods. and of course we can't forget the gloves or "mittens" as he calls them. he's all decked out and ready to play in the snow or ice. he could play for hours like this.

i think i'm over these snow days. we are suppose to be starting exams and my first one is to be an eoc for my algebra II honors folks. yikes!! they will probably do well, but i need one more review day to make sure they are ready. i'm afraid we will be out tomorrow again, i hope not because we already have two make up days to do already. that's a bummer, but i'm had some great days with jay and yesterday with garrett as well.

snow dayz

2011-01-10T16:51:00.000-05:00

today was a monday, turn snow day. garrett worked from home for a little while so i got the chance to take jay outside for an hour and a half. if he had his choice, it would have been much longer. we did make it back outside for another hour in the afternoon, but it was much colder.

jay and mommy

sand shovels and buckets turned into snow buckets and shovels. jay would take a few steps and take and scoop and put it in his bucket and then would do it again. he had no interest in using the neighbors sled.

noah came out for a little while to join the fun, but he hated to fall in the snow.

peyton and sara king also made their way out for a little fun.

garrett preparing to throw snowballs at the king's house.

jay and peyton making snow castles!!

it's a wrap!!

2011-01-01T13:42:00.004-05:00

2010 has ended and 2011 has begun. we ended the year off on a good note this last month. we convinced jay to give his pacifier to santa in return he would get presents. to our surprise, it worked like a charm. we haven't had any problems with it since. the key is, actually have a present ready at the house when they give it away.

we want to leave you with a couple of photos of this last month. it has been pretty busy visiting family and finishing up work for the month that i haven't had time to post anything since thanksgiving. that's what working full time will do to you.

christmas night and the day after snow started to fall and really accumulated. i think we had about 4 inches around our house or so. jay really liked walking in the snow, but we soon found out tennis shoes is not the way to go. his shoes and socks were all soaking wet. he definitely had a warm bath afterward.

at the beginning of the month, my dad and i took jay to the tree lighting in mint hill. garrett had practice with his basketball team and my mom had to work so dad and i thought it would be cool to go. we wanted cookies and hot chocolate, but there was way to many people there and jay was not going to wait on it.

christmas was great and full of presents. jay has most of the toy story gang and all three movies now. one night he even had to sleep with all the gang.

santa brought jay a tool set. he loves it and loves playing with the drill especially. one of the drills is from my grandmother that he got the night before.

as you can see, jay and noah enjoyed playing and "fixing" things in their new wagons. i think this was the highlight of christmas.

jay has power now!! (the batteries have already gone out once)

christmas eve, jay and noah helped make a mess and clean it up too at my parents house.

uncle chip and aunt kim gave a cool toy story car to jay. steering is a bit of a problem so he just goes around in circles in the yard.

also this month jay has grown fond of his jacket and "mittens". no it isn't cold in our house, this is just how he likes to play.

we hope your month has been great. we look forward to a great 2011 and hopefully will have some great things come our way this new year.

what we've been up to

2010-11-30T19:33:00.004-05:00

thanksgiving went off with a bang. noah and jay love to play with one another and the boys know what to do with leaves all piled up.

here are all the grandkids on the wagoner side of the family. jay is holding the newest addition, seth, noah's little brother. noah didn't want anything to do with him, but jay didn't have a problem holding seth on his own.

here's my sister and my families.

jay's really gotten good at throwing balls, including footballs. i think he'll be a good little ballplayer.

here's a picture of gramps with two of his grandkids reading books. i think they all had fun.

sundays have been reserved to cheering on the panthers. maybe they will get another win some time soon. jay loves to wear his panther jersey also known as his "football player".

on november 20th, we went with our sunday school class to the lazy 5 ranch. we had a great time and got to feed and pet all sorts of animals. at one time, jay was chasing a pig with a few of the girls. here's a glimpse of our trip to mooresville.

somehow jay made it in a picture with all girls. he's our ladies man.

our little monkey

2010-10-31T20:28:00.003-04:00

i wanted to share a glimpse of our weekend starting from sunday night and going backward. we gathered the kids together to go a little trick-or-treating around the neighborhood before it got dark. i know it is better in the dark, but with little ones, when it's light outside is way better. jay was a little taker of candy. he doesn't know when to stop. one of our neighbors just let him keep taking it. jay finally grew comfortable enough to wear is monkey costume. earlier in the week i thought it was going to be impossible to get it on him.

here's a picture of all the trick-or-treating buddies

peyton king, olivia williams, natalie rhyne (olivia's cousin), jay, noah belote

saturday night we helped to celebrate jake trent's birthday. he turned two a couple of weeks ago. he got all sorts of cool toys and even had a little fire to roast marshmallows. i was surprised they weren't in the fire themselves.

saturday afternoon we went to our church's fall festival. there were so many people and so much fun. jay couldn't get enough of his candy and putting it in his bucket. we kept running into all sorts of people we knew.

here's one of jay's friends we ran into from daycare, alana. jay always talks about her and from the sounds of it, his name is common around their house too.

early saturday morning i took jay to the grocery store where they had pumpkins to paint for free. it was a cool idea and jay enjoyed it, even the cookie and juice he got.

we will just have to wait until next year to get more candy and to paint more pumpkins.

firetrucks and pumpkins

2010-10-26T20:22:00.005-04:00

tonight, jay and garrett were busy carving the pumpkin. since jay is really into monkey's, why should the pumpkin be any different. take a look at the finished product.

here's jay manhandling his piece of pumpkin with his own carver.

jay didn't want to help garrett clean out the pumpkin. that would be too yucky!!

on sunday we went to noah's first birthday. the theme was firetrucks and even had his own firetruck at his party.

this is as close jay gets to eating cake; dipping his fingers in the icing and licking it off. well, this is a start since he didn't want to touch his own first and second birthday cakes.

jay and kayla hurd on the firetruck.

my turn to get on with my hat.

jay with his raisons that he has come to love.

september and october all mushed together

2010-10-13T19:52:00.004-04:00

it has truly been a while since i've updated the blog, but here is a quick look at what we've been up to lately. between parades, birthday parties, going to the mountains and work ourselves, we have found a few down times, but not many. for me, work has been all about the P's (PLC's, PEP's, PDP's). these only make sense if you are a public school teacher, or maybe they still won't because i think i'm still confused. we've really been on the go.

here's jay and mommy at the labor day parade at matthews alive

noah, jay and livvie all ready to get their candy at the mint hill madness parade (sept. 25th)

jay has really come to love blowup bouncy things. here he is with hayley and calon at calon's birthday party.

another bouncy slide at lyla and sage's birthday party, (oct. 2nd)

yes, he's king of this castle

the next few pictures are from this past weekend when we took a trip to the mountains with our friends matt, bethany and jake trent. we visited grandfather mountain while we were there and had a blast.

we didn't know we would see any animals, but got a glimpse of a few bears on the way.

here's matt on the bridge. the first time he made it halfway and turned around. he did make it to the end the second go around.

jay wasn't scared though. he wanted daddy to take him everywhere on the mountain and didn't seem to mind the bridge at all.

here's the gang!!

daddy and jay posing for the camera.

school's back in session

2010-09-07T20:24:00.002-04:00

school's back in session and i'm back to work. it's been pretty busy trying to get use to new kids, large classes, and waking up at 5:10 each morning. jay also moved up in rooms at "school" as well. we didn't know what would be in store when jay moved to the 2-year-old class with his new teacher mrs. mary. i'm so excited to see what he does each day. last week, the class started with a letter and number of the week. A and zero. this week it is B and 1. jay comes home with so many projects in his folder each day, we really don't have room for them all. jay's also starting to be the copycat around the house. anything we say, he tells us right back. kind of funny at times when you can get him to say big words. jay really has increased his vocabulary in the last few weeks. he can be one little chatter box. jay loves to sing as well now. wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, abc's just to name a few. i think garrett sings most of these on the way to school each morning.

i wanted to leave you with a glimpse of a photo shoot we had the other weekend with cara justus of Cara Justus Photography.

jay's 2!!

2010-08-10T08:05:00.004-04:00

today, jay turns 2. you never believe when people say the years will go by fast until you have a little one of your own. these last 2 years have gone by so quickly. it feels like yesterday that we were helping him walk and crawl and now he just does so much on his own. here is a glimpse of his party from saturday. there would have been more pictures, but they wouldn't upload, but hopefully you will get the idea of the good time we all had. we could not have asked for a better day with such good weather. i think it got cooler outside just for us.

the theme of jay's party was toy story. jay had his own cake in hopes of maybe eating it unlike last year, but that didn't happen. he just put his finger in it and took buzz off the top. at least he didn't scream and cry this year with the cake. he's making progress.

here is kayla hurd and noah belote playing in the water.

jay's cake quickly turned into a cake for the rest of the kids.

the summer continues...

2010-07-22T14:03:00.000-04:00

we've been enjoying our summer and of course all of this hot weather. to bad it's not going away any time soon, but today we beat the heat and went with lori beth epley over to her parents house for a swim. since i'm now out of summer school and have a few weeks until butler starts back, i have a few days i can spend with jay. it was a nice start to the day and jay loved every minute of it. it took him a little bit to warm up to lori beth and the water, but after he did, he was everywhere. it made me a little nervous around the deep end when he was walking around, but most of the time he stayed near the shallow end and on the stairs. by the end of the morning, he was running and jumping into the pool and was definitely not scared of getting water in his face.

this past tuesday night, garrett was out of town, megan was working, and jeremy had a game and noah was left in limbo. knowing that jay and noah play well together i suggested that he come over the house and play. i didn't know about the weather and the pop up showers that keep coming around, so we didn't venture out to the fields, but stayed home instead. they played, ate dinner, played some more, took a bath together, and played a little more. they had a great time, but really gets me thinking how did my parents do it with twins? they can be a handful and really act like boys when they are around one another.

over the weekend, garrett changed jay's crib into a toddler bed (or shall we say his own "big boy bed"). so far so good and not too many bumps and bruises. he some how got out of the bed on saturday night (i think he slept walked) and fell out of it on sunday night. other than that, jay stays in the bed and doesn't even get out when he wakes up in the morning. he just lays there waiting for me or garrett to get him out of bed. lets see how long this lasts.

another thing jay loves to do is color. normally we give him crayons, but i gave him markers one day. not a good idea because they can get everywhere. and when it says washable, it doesn't mean off of skin right away. it needs to wear off or you need to be put in the pool for a while for it to come off. he really has gotten really good at coloring. i've been really impressed, but of course it's not in the lines. if you look closely you can see his dirty, little hands.

we hope your summer is going as good as ours!!!

summer so far...

2010-07-04T13:59:00.000-04:00

we've really had an uneventful summer so far. yesterday, july 4th, after church, we went to jason's dad's farm and just hung out and went back to their house for a movie. garrett decided he would fish a little and just look at what he caught. jay didn't want to touch the fish, but was interested in looking at it. we didn't sit and watch any fireworks, but did catch some on the way home as pine lake was shooting them off. we made our way down lebanon road through the crowd of cars so jay could see some fireworks go off, but i think being so tired, he was not too impressed.

where'd the fish go???

jay was sitting for this picture, but got away before i could snap the shot

in june the middle of june, we went to the beach with my family. we had a pretty good time and jay and noah seemed to have fun together.

such a good picture of jay

he has too much energy

the little pool hardly held both of them, but they managed too have loads of fun

sunscreen time!!! look at those little muscles!!!

and when it's hot....

2010-06-14T19:23:00.000-04:00

we go outside!!!! tuesday night, garrett's softball team had their first practice followed by their first game on thursday. at practice jay made it a point to point out when garrett failed to hit a ball by saying "missed it" to garrett. that was the highlight of the night at practice

on saturday, we continued to stay outside and play in the sprinkler and drink juice. capri suns are better for jay. he always squeezes juice boxes all over the place. normally we would give him milk, but with how hot it's been, you can't drink milk outside.

sunday afternoon, we made our way to matt and bethany trent's house. we were going to play in their pool, but after traveling all the way down to the pool we were interrupted with thunder and made it back to the house, where for some reason we let them play in the sprinkler out back their house. jay had more fun in the sprinkler, he hated the pool. hope he grows to like it before we go the beach. here's two photos of jake, noah, and jay playing in the sprinkler. they had loads of fun.

what a weekend and more

2010-05-31T20:25:00.000-04:00

everything is still going great here and i just wanted to share a few photos with you. jay's doing great and really talking. monday morning he woke up and his first words were "outside" and "noah". go figure, we didn't see noah and we weren't able to go outside because of the rain. therefore, garrett brought the slide inside and jay had a little fun with that.

here's jay with garrett's iphone. in this picture, it looks a little more like the phone is jay's. he loves his music; especially toy story music.

livvie and jay taking a bath together. they had picture day the next day and we wanted them clean.

these next few pictures are from sunday. megan and jeremy had a few of us over at their house in celebration of memorial day. glad we did it on sunday and not monday because the rain came pouring in.

jay and livvie splashing in the water.

livvie not certain of what to do next.

hailey johnson (next door neighbor), sara king and peyton king.

having fun with the water.

sage walters going down the slip'n slide.

hanging out.

jay finally decided he would go down the slide instead of being the cheerleader the whole time.

of course these two had to get into some trouble pouring apple juice everywhere.

a whirlwind...

2010-05-29T12:40:00.001-04:00

wow i know it's been a while and even from the last post things have changed drastically. we no longer are expecting as jay's shirt read at easter. 5 weeks ago, april 23rd, there was a huge change of events when i went to the doctor having complications. the ultrasound showed that the baby was growing, but in the wrong place and had to be removed. after waiting all day at the hospital, i finally had surgery that night where they removed the baby and my right fallopian tube. all is well now though. and for those wondering about jay and his fall out from the same week, his eeg came back normal. we guess it was just a fainting incident.

it's been crazy the past few weeks with all of this and school coming close to an end. we are all getting ready for exams next week and trying to survive what prank the seniors will pull next at the school. yesterday it was baby oil, beads, silly string, and anything else the students could muster up to put all over the halls. at least i wasn't in the middle of it, but boy, will i be glad when it's over.

providence day is just around the corner and hopefully they will have enough students to house a class of algebra ii. last year i had a whole whooping 4 students. years past it has been about 10 or 12, but i guess the economy really hit hard last year. i'm hoping for a larger group this time.

i was going to post some of jay's new pictures from school, but the computer isn't allowing me. oh well!! hopefully i'll take some pictures from this weekend and get them up some time.

easter weekend

2010-04-09T10:15:00.000-04:00

easter weekend was pretty eventful with traveling to garrett's grandmothers' at the beach and back within two days then to travel to nana's house at the lake on sunday afternoon. there was a lot of riding in cars and we found out jay can't really sleep in cars even if it is his nap time or time to go to bed. here's a glimpse of our weekend:

jay and noah...always looking as if they are going to get in trouble

playing around with the football

can you read it??!!! jay's going to be a big brother this coming november!

this is how we told our parents. we put jay in a t-shirt that read

"i'm going to be a big brother.....

...in november"

(on the back)

it was a pretty big surprise for both sides of the family. now if we could just have some more cousins come around.

jay and daddy...what a cute picture

long time

2010-02-27T14:12:00.001-05:00

it's been a while since we've written anything. since thanksgiving, we've had a fun christmas, enjoyed a few friends' (jay's friends) birthdays, and just been plain busy. jay's still eating the same old baby food, but is doing it himself with a spoon. he loves to talk, but if we could just figure out what he is saying would be good. it's frustrating on our end and i know on his as well. just recently jay moved to a new classroom with new friends a daycare. here's a glimpse of his classroom having snack. poor kayla is the only girl in the class, but she keeps all the guys in line.

here's my valentine's gift from garrett. we seriously needed a new computer. we've never bought one since we've been married.

valentine's day snow

jay hates the snow. he doesn't mind walking in it, but he doesn't want it on his gloves or to lay down in it.

megan, noah, jay and morgan

garrett's creation in the snow.

spittin image of dad

2009-11-29T20:18:00.001-05:00

another month has gone by and another holiday. we celebrated thanksgiving this past thursday and decided to take a few photos in hopes in finding one for our christmas card. here are a few photos that we took. as you can see, jay is looking more and more like his dad. don't you agree?

trick or treat

2009-11-01T12:22:00.000-05:00

halloween has come and gone and our little dragon came home with lots of candy. (enough for him that is) what a fun evening taking him from house to house. we kept getting "isn't he so cute" and "where did you get the costume". "yep he's cute" and "we got it at toys r us". jay didn't like taking candy from people, but sure did like it when people left a bucket on their front porch. that just means he can keep going back for more and he did.

this thing would be better off my head

elmo's going with me

jay and our next door neighbor hailey

can i get some more m&m's? skittles?

which pumpkin should i pick??

2009-10-25T20:54:00.000-04:00

saturday, we made our way to a pumpkin patch way out in monroe, nc. (we think that's where we were). unfortunately, we couldn't stay long because garrett had a football game in concord, but 15 minutes was all we needed to get jay a little messy and find a little pumpkin. jay wanted to throw the pumpkins all over the patch and even pulled the stem off of one of the big pumpkins. leave it to kids to mess up things. it was a very nice day, hence the shorts and t-shirt jay was wearing.

there is one underneath these green things.

this one is easier to get to.

mommy, this one i think works for me.

nope, these will be better.

where am i suppose to be?

Let's catch up...it's been a while

2009-10-18T20:15:00.001-04:00

it's been about 2 months since we've written about anything. since then, i've started work and haven't stopped yet. neither has jay, he keeps going and going until we put him in bed. he seems to enjoy being in his pack-in-play and playing with my wooden spoons from the kitchen. go figure, he could care less about his toys. he has started to climb on furniture and putting his mega blocks (like legos) together. it's amazing what he's started to do in the last few months. fortunately, he has begun eatting and picking up a few more things. jay's managed to eat granola bars, nutragrain bars, bananas, puffs, some pears at daycare, and just a few more things. its a celebration when he eats something new. this has been one of the hardest things.

i thought i'd hang out here with my spoon for a while.

jake's first birthday. he managed to get it in his hair.

jay having fun at jake's party. playing frisbee with a paper plate.

why buy toys when you can just use things in your cabinets?

i'll get up here soon enough.

yep, i'm cute, even when i'm sick.

here he was home sick with mom with a fever and ear infection.

wanna be like dad.

back in august we went to the park for hannah smith's birthday. jay tried some parts of the playground, but didn't particularly like the swings. the horse was a little better.

birthday boy

2009-08-12T11:31:00.000-04:00

on sunday we celebrated jay's 1st birthday. i can't believe he is already 1 year old. time flies. here are a few pictures from his party. the cakes were made by sams (they do an awesome job). unfortunately, jay didn't care much for the cake. he ended up with it on his hands and just kept rubbing them together and crying. we'll just stick with yogurt his favorite sweet treat.

noah belote and jay in the pool.

this is a glimpse of the party. i had problems downloading some of the other pictures, but feel free to see them on facebook along with jay's video of eatting cake.

fun times between daddy and jay

2009-07-29T13:23:00.000-04:00

jay's getting bigger and is really getting a personality. in a couple of days, he will soon be 1 and we'll be having his first birthday party. it is crazy to think that last year at this time, i was pregnant with him. last week we saw a couple of new babies from our sunday school class. it's hard to think that he was once that tiny.

last night, jay and daddy were having fun with his tonka truck. as you can see, he really liked it.

4th of july

2009-07-05T21:29:00.000-04:00

here is just a snip of what we experienced this weekend. we had a few friends over for a cookout and we put the kids in the pool. jay, his cousin noah belote, and friend olivia williams joined him on saturday in the pool. jay loved splashing, noah couldn't figure out how to get the ball, and olivia just wanted to stay afloat in the bumbo. who knew the bumbo could float? (maybe you did, but i didn't.)

beach bums

2009-06-28T12:59:00.000-04:00

last week we went to myrtle beach for vacation. check out some of our pictures from our trip.

if you didn't know...

2009-06-10T13:02:00.000-04:00

garrett (with some help from my dad) has been building a deck in our back yard. he designed it himself. he began april or may of last year and is almost complete. having jay has delayed the work as well as the cold weather this past winter. in the beginning when garrett had this idea, i thought that it was only going to cost about $100 to $200 and may take 3 or 4 saturdays. boy was i wrong. this shows how much i know. it cost much more than that and took a lot more time than that.

Look Ma... I'm on tv!

2009-06-04T20:09:00.000-04:00

walky walky.... blah! blah! blah!

hanging out in my high chair...

getting bigger and growing up

2009-06-03T20:10:00.000-04:00

it's amazing how fast babies grow. soon jay will be one year old this coming august. where has the time gone? jay is already taking steps; only a few though until he tumbles over.

jay's daycare teacher, ms. sue, left last thursday and friday to go on a trip and said that she can't ever leave again. when she got back on monday, jay had learned to take a few steps, daddy had bought him some 'Nike Shox' because he had outgrown his other shoes, and had his hair spiked. i think this was too much change over a couple of days for her.

(sorry, his new shoes aren't pictured in this post, but you'll see them soon.)

as we found out this weekend, jay really doesn't care to be in pools. he didn't really enjoy his swim over at matt and bethany trent's house. jake loved it, but jay, not so much.

also this weekend, we said bye to joey, lindsay, and hannah smith who are moving to kansas city, kansas. we wish you guys the best. although hannah looks bigger than jay in this picture, he really is about a month and a half older than her. jay's just a little squirt.

lets just say everything he picks up goes in his mouth. from straws to toys...well that is about it. ever since he got sick a couple weeks ago he hasn't picked up any food to eat on his own. jay just likes to be fed with a spoon, but seems to be doing pretty good with some of the solid food we've given him as well as his sippy cup.

here are some photos from memorial day at my parents house. in one of the pictures, is jay's cousin noah. jay just liked to crawl all over noah that day. it's funny to watch him play with other kids.

if you want to borrow jay for a day...

2009-05-16T16:10:00.001-04:00

... he'll definitely help you baby proof your house. From crawling to opening up cabinets (with this he broke a bowl...oops!) to trying to walk, we're having to protect everything and put locks and gates on things in the house. Jay also has two new teeth coming in at the top, but soon he'll look like a vampire. They aren't the ones in the middle, but the two on either side of those.

This is Jay's new toy. His own Tonka Truck. We thought he needed something to push around and walk around the house with.

Daddy and Jay messing around.

"I thought I'd help mommy in the kitchen. Isn't this what I'm suppose to do?"

Gotcha!!
Jay's friend Jake (Matt and Bethany Trent's little boy). We went out to eat the other weekend and then came back to our house to hang out a bit.

i'm mobile!!!

2009-04-26T20:26:00.000-04:00

Jay's been busy in the last couple of weeks. He is now crawling really good and pulling up on every piece of furniture. Unfortunately, he has received some bruises because he keeps bumping his head on everything and the little boy in is daycare class gets bored and likes to hit him with toys. Jay's already causing trouble and he's only 8 months old.

spring break with mommy

2009-04-07T20:39:00.001-04:00

Jay was going to go to daycare today, but our plans changed when we had to go to the doctor. He tried to be mommy's little helper with the laundry.

Check out the way he took his nap this morning. Would you be comfortable sleeping on your foot?

what a kid can learn in a week

2009-04-06T12:48:00.000-04:00

Mom and Jay were doing a little videotaping on Tuesday, March 31st when Dad went out of town . We wanted to show Dad that Jay was about to crawl.

A couple days later, (Saturday, April 4th) Jay was more than just crawling once and diving, he figured out how to crawl after anything he wants. Forget the toys that we have, his favorite things to go after are the door stopper, video camera, keys, television changer, and any other metal object.

It's all over now. We'll never catch him since he is on the move. Next to come is pulling up and walking.

never underestimate a 7 month old

2009-03-21T16:05:00.000-04:00

Here's Jays accomplishments in the last month:

1. two bottom teeth

2. sitting up without support (still waiting for him to sit himself up)

3. scooting around the place (not crawling yet, but give him another week and we won't be able to catch him)

4. eatting anything in a baby food jar in his new fancy high chair (peas are his least favorite)

5. reached over 15 lbs

6. got his 4th ear infection (the last 3 were in the past month and a half)

7. knows how to take his socks off, especially when you change his diaper

8. says "da, da, da" for everything

9. moves all over the place in his walker

10. never stops squirming unless he's really tired or sick

11. has drank out of a sippy cup (only for Mrs. Sue his daycare teacher, not mommy)

12. ate some cherrios and goldfish

13. has managed to escape from his crib (he's okay though)

Here's some pictures of how we think he escaped. These are pictures after his big drop and since then, we've dropped his mattress down lower.

"Look at me!! I've only got a diaper, socks and shoes on." This was yesterday after mommy was changing his diaper and by accident made him pee on himself. Needless to say, his clothes needed to be changed.

Check out Jay in his walker.

Jay's first babysitter, Natalie. This is Emily and Jason's niece.

Jay doing a 360

movie star

2009-02-14T11:13:00.000-05:00

We thought we would share a couple of videos of Jay with you. Enjoy!!!

Jay's first Christmas.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Jay loves bathtime.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Garrett and Jay playing around with the video camera as mom took a nap. (Turn up the sound on this one.)

Friday, February 6, 2009

As we were eatting dinner, Jay seemed very tired. I guess turning 6 months old is hard work.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

rosebud dedication

2009-02-08T11:33:00.001-05:00

The other Sunday, February 1st, we dedicated Jay and Noah at church. Although, everything looks great on the outside, both children messed up their clothes in the nursery before going on stage. As you can see, the soiled clothes just stayed on them. Afterwards, we went to Megan and Jeremy's house for lunch with our families.

By the end, Jay was all tuckered out!!

snow day

2009-01-23T05:59:00.000-05:00

School was out on Tuesday due to it snowing so we went over to Aunt Megan's to take some pictures of Jay's first snow. Mom couldn't get the camera to work because the battery was dead, then she was really dumb and plugged the battery in wrong so we didn't get any pictures on our camera. Jay wasn't too happy when mom just ploped him in the snow. He fell backwards and started crying as you can see.

the beginning...or 5 months later

2009-01-19T20:11:00.000-05:00

Since everyone else is showing off their kids on the internet, we thought we would share our little bundle of joy with you too!!!

chillin' in my first pumpkin ...
2 1/2 months old

(yes, jay's really inside)

Jay in action at 5 months old:

eating is a messy job
jay started eatting in january, don't worry for all you parents and future parents, it isn't this messy all the time

superbaby!

jay attacking cousin noah

i found my feet!!!

yes, i'm cute even taking a bath

ever since jay started to roll over, he has slept on his stomach with his butt in the air