Go, Dog, Go!

Do you remember this book from your childhood?

Tonight, Jax "read" Go Dog Go to his MoMo. He did a wonderful job!! I was actually shocked: I have read the book to him only twice, and he basically told the story by looking at the pictures WORD FOR WORD to her tonight!!! She would confirm that he was "reading" the story correctly and he would comment "Wow, I wheel-wee can weed!"

I am so proud of him! And it was exciting to see his self-confidence boosting as he "read" more and more.

But, I have to throw this out there... all my Teacher Friends can tell me if I am crazy or not.... I am pretty sure that the word "good-bye" is misspelled multiple times throughout the book. It is "good-bye," and not "good-by" as the book states, right???? If I am correct, I have to say that I am sort of disappointed that such a classic could be teaching beginning readers incorrectly ("good-by"). There's no telling how many children learned to read through books like this one. Of course, most children would not notice and probably would not know the difference at this age, nor become traumatized even if they did notice. But, I guess you could say that this is another one of those things that I have been pondering over, and can't quite come to a firm conclusion on my own. So what's the opinion of my blog readers?

Optimism

I love this; too good not to share:

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl,
One was an optimistic soul;
But the other took the gloomy view,
"We will drown," he cried, without more ado.
So with a last despairing cry,
He flung up his legs and he said, "Good-bye."

Quoth the other frog with a merry grin,
"I can't get out, but I won't give in!
I'll just swim around till my strength is spent,
Then will I die the more content."

Bravely he swam till it would seem
His struggles began to churn the cream;
On the top of the butter at last he stopped,
And out of the bowl he happily hopped.
What's the moral? 'Tis easily found:
If you can't hop out, keep swimming 'round!

I should be sleeping

So, Jax is in bed; has been since 9pm.
And, Joy is in bed; has been since 10:30pm.
(well, she did wake up around midnight, but nothing the vibrating bassinet couldn't take care of for me!)
And, I just finished grading papers for my online classes....
So, I really should go to bed too, right?
Well, yeah, I should.
But I really wanted to blog tonight.
I did all of my little tasks and I just can't help that it is now almost 1am. I still want my reward! I've worked hard. So I am going to add ONE post to my blog, about something really important... well, it's actually a really important question. It's something that I've been pondering for a while, and just can't figure out on my own. Maybe some of you more experienced moms can help:
why do newborn-sized socks have the little gripper thingies on the bottom?
I mean, aren't those there to keep the wearer from slipping and falling down when they have only socks on? Do they really think that the gripper stripes and other cute gripper patterns are really necessary for newborn-sized socks? Has anyone ever had their newborn to slip down due to lack of grippers on their socks???

Now that I have that off of my chest, I believe I can sleep well tonight! thanks!

for the love of Felder

Most of you know Felder. Or at least know of him by now.
Felder is my 4-year-old little buddy who was diagnosed with ALL (a type of leukemia) last August. He's a little trooper - he's been taking treatments like a big guy for a while now.
Several events are going to be happening very soon to help Felder and his family and also to honor the little fella.


This Saturday, February 21st, there is going to be a 5k run/walk in Jackson to benefit the Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital. Yours truly will be participating. Do I know what it will be like? no. Have I ever done this before? no. Am I in shape? uh, NO, I just had a baby so that magnifies the out-of-shapeness. Have I been training for it? goodness, NO - when? But, nevertheless, I will be there, with my tennis shoes on and some sort of comfortable clothing. Thank goodness this is not a dress-up affair, as I still can't wear my "dressy" clothes. ha. So, anyway, all the proceeds from this race will go towards the Children's Hospital. It's a wonderful place that has been so important to Felder and his family since his diagnosis. And many other kids, too. Even my nephew has been a patient there. So, any of you up for a run? or walk? or 5k drag????? If you are going to be in the area this weekend, come on out and do it! It will probably be worth it just to see me with my tongue hanging out. LOL. Sign up here: http://www.southgroup.net/ Or, contact me and I'll help you get it all lined up.



Ok, and now the second upcoming event: a benefit for Felder and his family will be held Saturday, Feb. 28th at Bogue Chitto School gymnasium. It's from 6pm - 10pm. This event includes lots of gospel music and a live auction of all sorts of cool items. Also, there will be a concession stand, games and fun for the kids, and a cake walk. It's going to be lots of fun for the whole family! If you're in the area, come on out and join in on the fun!

As the Feb. 28th event gets closer, we are still looking for volunteers to help provide some of the items for the concession stand, prizes for the games, cakes for the cake walk, and cool items for the auction. I know all my blog readers are so talented - so get busy making your cakes and crafts and convincing your bosses to give gift certificates or wares or whatever!! It's for a great cause.


To see pictures of Felder and to keep up with his progress, click on his site to the left on my blog page, or go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/feldersartin Meanwhile, make plans to support and attend the benefit. It would mean a lot to the Sartins and you could win some pretty cool stuff too!!
Let me know if you need more info!!

This is how I Blog...

Just in case you are wondering, I type the journal portions of my blog posts as the events occur, or as soon as I get a chance... Then, I go back and add the pictures for several posts all at once. Having dial-up at our house makes it very difficult to upload photos. I usually take my digital pics to Walgreens to have them printed, and I order the photo CD as well. They always place a file of "low resolution" photos on the CD in addition to the regular photo files. (i haven't figured out how to save digital images as "low resolution" myself) Once I have the photos in "low resolution" they are no problem to upload... it is very quick and easy for us dial-up users in the boonies!
I thought I'd post my process so that you'd understand why a bunch of posts "appear" all at once, and also as advice for anyone else who is stuck with dial-up as the only option... maybe "low resolution" will save you a lot of time, too!

With that being said, check out the updates I made to my blog... I finally added photos and published several posts (8 to be exact; there are a couple in "january" too) tonight in between bathing and feeding all my children.

this is what a 3 year old boy looks like

Jax is three years old! I still find that so hard to believe. 3 seems to be a milestone age. If you don’t think so, just go to any toy store … almost every toy, book, or movie is suggested for only those that are “age 3 and up”. Restaurants and other public places recognize this milestone age also… many begin charging for kids at age three. Oh, yay! ha ha. Jax is 3, but he thinks that means he's grown. He's 3, going on 16.
Jax’s birthday is Jan. 9th. We celebrated with him on his actual birthday with an ice cream cake that he picked out all by himself. Later, we had a birthday party with all the family and several friends there to help sing “Happy Birthday to Jax”. I took these pictures a couple days after the party… to commemorate this milestone age even more formally, I suppose.

6+ weeks - 'portraits'

I planned to have Joy’s picture made professionally at 6 weeks, mainly because Jax’s first professional pics were taken at this age. Well, with all of the birthday party planning, I failed to research professional photographers to find one good enough to photograph my baby (just kiddin’! I mainly needed to research prices and availability). Anyway, at last minute, I mentioned it to a couple friends to get suggestions and opinions. Josh overheard and quickly (but unsolicited) threw out his opinion: I should do them myself. Hhhm. I had thought of this, but was just scared to try it, I suppose. As the party got closer, and other things unfolded which took my time, I ended up deciding to take some pics myself, mainly due to time. I decided to give it a shot myself first, and THEN find a professional if needed. Here’s a few of my attempts. I still think I would have liked a few professional photos but time ticked by so fast, she would have been well past the 6 week mark by the time I got around to booking a professional. So, I guess we’ll go with the professional at 3 months… I should probably start thinking about and planning that right now (being that she is already 8 weeks old now!).
These pics, by-the-way, were actually taken at 7 weeks. I had good intentions to get the 6-week pics, but… what can I say?! I’m not a professional. Ha.

sweet dreams

This one just makes you want to smile, huh? Joy was snoozing away, but apparently dreaming about something good!
Sweet baby girl!

Birthday Boy

Jax had a birthday party on Jan. 24th. We down-sized tremendously since we have a newborn in the house, now. I am still very nervous about getting Joy around too many children, because I certainly don’t want to have a sick newborn! Everything with the party worked out well – Joy slept the entire time and the kids all had a good time playing in the Play Room, as evidenced by every single toy so strategically placed in the middle of the floor rather than on the shelves and in the bins. We really didn’t do any sort of “entertainment” because 1) activities are tough for Winter birthdays and 2) we weren’t expecting a lot of guests this year. Josh and I did get Jax a swing set for his birthday, and we intended to have it up and ready for the kids to play on if the weather was nice…. But it didn’t arrive in time! Oh well, the play room was just as good, it seems. Jax was just happy to have his friends over to play with him.

we loved the cake - I think the lil cowboy looks like Jax! Thanks Ms Lisa! It was yummy, too!

Everyone wore their Cowboy attire to the party, including Joy, when she finally did wake up from her beauty sleep!

Priorities: honey-do's or hunting??

We got all of the nursery furniture put together except for the armoire. I finally convinced Josh to tackle this very last piece so that I could begin to organize all of Joy’s clothes and other items in her room. I was so excited when he disappeared in Joy’s room – he was finally going to finish it! Ten minutes later, he comes out of Joy’s room, and says, “Neisha, this thing has a million pieces! I’m not putting this together; I’m going hunting!!” And that was it. The armoire still lies in the floor, mere pieces, begging to be assembled for my sweet girl. I was a little perturbed that he had made the executive decision to go hunting instead of completing his task, but I was not surprised. And, just a couple hours later, this is what I saw:

I don’t generally like taking pictures of dead animals, but Josh was absolutely thrilled with his trophy and I was happy to preserve the moment for him. I was even happier that he finally got a big buck, so that I could plan his time more wisely for him, ha; specifically, get that armoire done!

not in the mood

I decided to take some photos of Joy before I loaded her up to tag along with Jax & I to his 3-year check-up appointment at the children's clinic. Well, Joy just wasn't interested... until Jax helped out by providing lots of kisses, and some silly faces!

1-19-2009