The Blog of Jake, Ben, and Caroline

Moving Down the Road

2010-07-25T07:51:00.002-05:00

We are moving! Scott has accepted a position as pastor at Peace Presbyterian Church in West Pearland, and so we have put our house on the market, got it under contract, found a house in Pearland, got it under contract, I have a job at the DAEP for Pearland ISD, and we are set to move on or around August 3rd.

The kids are handling it very differently, but as I expected: Jake is angry and anxious about moving away from his familiar school and friends and church. He regularly says he's not moving, but then at times seems to be interested in the idea. When we're in Pearland visiting, I can see him trying to find things about it to be excited about, which I appreciate. Luckily, there are plenty of things about Pearland that are enticing to my kids. There are two inflatable jumping places. The neighborhood that we're moving to has a giant park and pool just a couple blocks from our house, plus we have access to other parks, splash parks and pools within the larger neighborhood. The school that they will both go to is an exemplary school, and Ben has already had a tour of the school by the head principal, who I really liked, and who came to Pearland from Conroe ISD. There's lots of restaurants, retail (including Jake's and my favorite, Half Price Books). The Houston Zoo, Children's Museum, and Museum of Natural Science are all about 15 minutes away. Minute Maid Park is about 20 minutes away, and Reliant Stadium is about 15 minutes away. There are endless possibilities of things to do. Scott's mom only lives about 30 minutes away, and Donna is just about an hour away, which is no different than here. My parents will technically be further away, but the route to get to us is faster, and so the distance difference will essentially be erased. It's a good set up. Ben is cautiously excited. He'll miss his preschool and friends, but they were all headed to Kindergarten anyway, so it was the split up year already. We will certainly miss our dear neighbors here. Hopefully we'll quickly make new neighbor friends in Pearland. Scott senses that a master gardener lives next door, so he's hoping to get some lessons! Caroline, of course, doesn't know the difference between this house and another, and I know she's going to like having stairs to climb up and down (yikes!!). My only trepidation with her is that I really want her to like the Mother's Day Out that I have her in - St. Andrew's Episcopal. I hope that it is a place where she looks forward to going to each day, like the Presbyterian Day School has been for the boys. I'm nervous about the demands of my new job, but also excited about the opportunity. We're ready for this new adventure!

Sights from the Season

2010-01-07T13:12:00.004-06:00

I want to post some pictures from our Christmas season - no captions, just pictures, most of them have already been viewed on Facebook, but I wanted them here too. We had a WONDERFUL Christmas!

Happy Birthday to Me, early morning style!

2009-11-29T09:38:00.002-06:00

So today is my birthday and the third person to wish me a Happy Birthday (first Scott's sister Cay facebook'd me at 12am her time - East Coast - and then Scott kissed me goodnight just after midnight) was Caroline crying in her crib at 12:45 am. And gave me my first birthday present of the day - her first tooth! I totally understand why she was crying - and I'm so lucky - with her, there's always a reason, always! I'll try to get a picture of it, when it's a little more prominent. I'm so relieved we'll be going to her 9 mo. appt. with a tooth.

Ben's Thanksgiving Program

2009-11-19T20:28:00.001-06:00

Here's a link to the 5 minute video from Ben's Thanksgiving Program that was today. He was a Pilgrim, and they sang songs like "This Land is Your Land", "God Bless America", "Turkey in the Brown Straw", and "I'm Very Very Thankful". It was sweet. The video is on You Tube - it was too long to upload here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFUcLb30PaU

If you can't view it, let me know and I'll "invite" you. Here's a couple of pictures from the morning as well. Ben was VERY serious during the entire program, and barely cracked a smile at all......that's not like him at all, and I was stunned that he didn't try to charm the audience. But I think he gets shy in large crowds, and plus he was concentrating very hard on all of the words that he had to remember. It was a cute program. Afterwards, we ate a Thanksgiving feast with him, and it was delicious!

And She's Off!

2009-11-17T16:57:00.003-06:00

Caroline has been trying so hard to crawl for the last couple of weeks, and just over the weekend, she started putting all of the steps together, and today I was able to capture her most successful crawling yet. She wanted Mommy's hair clip which was strategically placed out of her reach. And she got it!

Playdate with Anna Vera

2009-11-01T20:28:00.003-06:00

On the morning of Halloween, Caroline and I headed down to The Woodlands to visit my friend Anna Klara and her baby girl Anna Vera, who was born two months after Caroline. Anna Klara was the high school math teacher at the Juvenile Justice Discipline program for Conroe ISD (a step above where I teach at the Discipline Alternative Education Program). She and I have enjoyed each other's company at professional development workshops, staff meetings, and were both pregnant during the same school year. We got together with the girls when I was still on maternity leave, and throughout the summer. She stays home with her daughter now, but we'd been trying to get together and let the babies see each other, and Saturday worked out perfectly. Anna Vera was born 6 weeks early, so she technically would have been over 3 mos. younger than Caroline, but she holds her own. These are some pictures from our play time together. It was looking very civilized and sweet, until Miss Dominator took matters into her own hands (or mouth!).

Enjoying the civilized activity of chewing on the same toys

Looking at the mommies making silly sounds to get their attention.

Caroline gives kisses now - with tongue - slimy!

Poor Anna Vera didn't know what she was getting into when she rolled forward.

A Package from Grandma

2009-10-27T19:55:00.003-05:00

These were waiting for the boys in a package from Grandma that arrived on our doorstep this afternoon via UPS. They loved all of their little treats (and Caroline loved her ruffled jeans and her new finger puppet book!). Caroline even got in on the glasses action, although she got so excited about them that she wouldn't sit still for the picture. But also, I had to include this video of Ben riding his little bike down the sidewalk - he gets going and I think the adrenaline starts pumping, and he just tunes us out. This video shows a "legal" version of that, whereas earlier this week, he proceeded to go down the driveway, INTO the street, and down the middle of the street, while Scott ran after him, chasing the Big Wheel and Ben while in flipflops. Needless to say, Ben spent some time in his room after that little escapade.

Crazy Halloween glasses from Grandma in the mail

Caroline wanted to try them on for size!

Catching a Break, I mean, Breath

2009-10-04T17:50:00.003-05:00

Well, we've had an eventful month! Well, actually a couple of months........the car was totaled at the beginning of August. We had a bout of lice on the two boys and Scott that resulted in a lot of work cleaning and combing, and treatments for the whole family. Four of the five of us just spent the last week with swine flu. Ben has bronchitis as a result of the flu. And now, Ben has lice again. At first, I thought, "Why can't we catch a break?". But that's not a very healthy attitude, nor is it really true. It may seem, at first, like we've been handed a string of nasty blows, but really, in the grand scheme of things, these events are little, and we have emerged from them virtually unscathed. I've been reading a lot of other families' blogs over the last several months, and am convinced that we have been blessed with, frankly, more than we deserve. Yes, we had a car accident that resulted in the temporary loss of a vehicle, but we survived an accident where we were hit by someone going 60mph, and we walked away with nary a bruise or scrape. How miraculous! Yes, we faced (and are facing!) head lice, and that is disgusting and frustrating and somewhat embarrassing, but it's a small little blip on the health radar, and could have been something much bigger and scarier for my kids. Same goes for swine flu. Despite its big, bad name, and the hysteria that has surrounded it for months, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Jake had pneumonia at 18 mos. that was much scarier. Ben had croup where we felt like he couldn't breathe - that was scary. The swine flu was inconvenient, at times uncomfortable for those of us with high fevers and bad coughs, but it has passed fairly quickly and without any residual damage. Families all over are going through and have gone through things that have altered the composition of their families, and are scarring, and have lasting emotional and mental impact. Swine flu, schwine flu, I say, compared to the alternatives. Thank God that he gave us a car wreck, lice, and swine flu. I'll take that anyday over the other things that are lurking out there. I've decided that it is selfish and in extremely poor taste to lament about how "bad" our luck has been lately. The opposite is quite true. These babies live in a blessed house!

Some Winners

2009-09-24T21:25:00.004-05:00

I had to share some really sweet pictures of Caroline that actually DO show her smiling!

Portraits and Fundraiser

2009-09-19T15:40:00.001-05:00

If anyone wants to see the 6 mo portraits we got taken of Caroline today, or a few of all three of them, visit my blog at:
http://threecummings.blogspot.com/

Also, I sent out emails today to those of you who have ordered in the past letting you know about Jake's school's fall fundraiser, so be sure not to delete that email from Great American if you would like to order. Thanks! I'll write a better post later!

6 Mo Portrait and Trio Proofs

2009-09-19T14:50:00.005-05:00

We had an OKAY photo session today. It was just Penneys - nothing fancy - and definitely you get what you pay for, but I think we got some decent shots. None that I'm in love with, but I was under the gun by my mother, and had to get them done where we could afford to. So, this is what we got:

6 Mo. Appt

2009-09-14T21:31:00.003-05:00

Caroline had her 6 mo. dr. appt. today and it went well. She was:

26.25 inches

16 lbs, 6 oz.

and her head is 85% in circumference.

She got 2 shots, and we talked about her sensitivity to food (broke out in a rash after being fed squash - which was her first non-rice cereal food). He prescribed a steroid cream for her eczema, and we're going to lay off the squash for a while. We'll try sweet potatoes next.

She's just been delightful lately - sleeping well at night (is ALWAYS down for the count by 7pm and usually sleeps until 8am the next morning, with one meal in the early morning). She's taking two naps per day....and still nurses 5-6 times and gets rice cereal 2-3 times.

She's sitting up really well, and rolling around a bunch. I think we're going to lower her crib, because I'm anticipating her being able to pull herself up into a sitting position pretty soon and I want to beat her to it!

She's just an angel baby, and we love her SO SO much! So do her brothers!

For Mom

2009-09-10T16:50:00.003-05:00

This is mainly for my mom who wanted to see these. This is Caroline in the little outfit with the kerchief hat that she bought for her, and then a picture of her with her first little ponytail, and a video. I'll post a more extensive update next week after her 6 mo. checkup.

First Swing

2009-09-05T20:35:00.003-05:00

Here is a video of Caroline at Candy Cane Park, swinging in a baby swing for the first time. Those of us that know her well wouldn't have expected any other reaction. She LOVES motion!

Here are a couple of pictures of her playing in her room - she has a purse with money and lipstick that she enjoys mouthing on. It's never too early for a girl to learn how to apply lipstick.

The end of summer!

2009-08-24T20:33:00.006-05:00

Well, I didn't blog much this summer.....didn't have as much spare time as I thought I would either! Caroline is growing right along - at her 4 mo. check up, she weighed 14 lbs, 4 oz, and was 25.5 inches long - just above average on both counts. I took her in a week ago, and she was up to 15 lbs, 5 oz, so she's gaining about a pound a month. She's just moving into 9 mo clothing (also known as 6-12 mo size). She's eating rice cereal once a day, in addition to about 6 other meals from the milk truck known as Mommy (she still licks her lips every time she sees me). We'll be moving up to 2 rice cereals a day in another week or so, and after that (once she's 6 mo.), we might start our branching out to the yellow foods (fruits, veggies). This is my least favorite phase of child food, but at least it's fairly brief. No teeth yet, but I expect to see them in the next month (if her drooling and her brothers' histories are any indication). She's starting to hold a sitting position for 10-15 seconds at a time, which she's very proud of. She's also FINALLY napping consistently during the day - about an hour for her morning nap and about 1.5-2 hours for the afternoon. And going to bed around 7-8pm.
Ben had his 4th birthday this summer, and he had ANOTHER water/train themed birthday. He requested the same train cake as last year (although I did try to make a better mountain - this time out of rice krispie treats, instead of last year's cupcakes). We rented a 3-in-1 inflatable (bouncer, wall climb, slide), and he loved having that on our driveway. He had LOTS of friends come, and they just played and played, and ate. He has wonderful friends, and teachers, and family! He also had his 4 year check up and got FOUR shots (he was really dreading it, but was actually very brave and got to go to Incredible Pizza afterwards with Daddy). He is 42 lbs, and 42 inches - which is very tall, but average weight. He eats all the time, but doesn't gain a lot - don't we all wish for that metabolism? He's really into pretend play right now - all last week he was pretending to have a Christmas Celebration; this week it's a Boat Show. It's always something, and he'll persuade ANYONE to play along with him, and actually gets quite bossy about it. He's enjoying books more and more, though he still claims to be uninterested in letters and reading, but at least he enjoys being read TO. That's the fun part for us anyway.
Jake is starting 2nd grade, and has lost 5 teeth. He's read the first two Harry Potter books this month alone, and is well into the 3rd. He went to Camp Cho-Yeh again this year and didn't want to leave. Lucy and our neighbor Taylor were there, and he met some new friends as well. He's exceptionally tall, and proportional weightwise, and is just a big kid. He and Ben fought quite a bit this summer, with Jake exercising his antagonizing muscle and Ben flexing his physical muscle back. But they survived!
We did quite a bit this summer - went to Lake LBJ for the annual retreat with Scott's family, drove to Plano for a visit with Mark and Hanna (who are expecting my first nephew in January!), went to Austin a few times, took a family trip to Colorado in August, participated in Vacation Bible School, and took swim lessons. And Caroline just grew and giggled and grew and giggled.
Here are some pictures from the summer:

Jake and his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Williams

Jake on the first day of school

Jake and Ben on Pikes Peak

Ben and I in Boulder at the Lazy Dog Grill

Scott and Jake at the Lazy Dog Grill

Caroline and I on her first flight

Family picture on the Georgetown Loop Train

Caroline napping on Papa

Jake is a Rock Band drumming fiend!

Picking up Jake at Cho Yeh

Jake and Lucy at Cho Yeh

Ben and his birthday tongue

All three grandmas at Ben's birthday

Singing Happy Birthday to Ben!

Sleeping Beauty

Playing au naturel

Faux hawk

Swimming at Granite Shoals

Jake, Ben, the 3 Davis boys, and Adam

Fun at Granite Shoals with glow in the dark sticks

Ben and Caroline's Well Checks

2009-07-21T18:48:00.002-05:00

Today was Caroline's 4 mo. well check and Ben's 4 yr. well check. Caroline was as follows:

Weight: 14 1/2 lbs (75% percentile)
Height: 25 inches (75% percentile)
Head: 16 1/2 inches (85-90 percentile)

He addressed her eczema and is going to write a prescription for a steroid cream that we can apply when she has a lot of redness. He gave us the green light for introducing solids, although we'll postpone that another few weeks, I think. He was delighted that she already rolls from back to front, and that she can reach and grab items from our hands or from a table. She's doing well. Still sleeping a total of 12-13 hours at night with one long stretch, a meal, and then a shorter stretch. I can't complain. She got two shots and an oral vaccination and did okay.

Ben is doing well also - Dr. Mac still isn't considered about the lack of "r"s or "th"s in his speech, because he understood everything that Ben said. He thinks those will materialize this school year, as will the interest in his ABCs. Ben's stats are as follows:

Weight: 42 lbs (90-95 percentile)
Height: 42 inches (85-90 percentile)

Ben got FOUR shots and was very brave. He even got a trip to Incredible Pizza Co. with Daddy as a treat for his good nature. He cried but was sweet to the nurses and didn't try to run (unlike his brother!!). We're going to try a different allergy medicine, in an asthma spacer, to see if we get less instances of wheezing/croup/coughing. Hopefully it will help his coughing spells be fewer and far between.

That's it - a birthday post for Ben's 4th birthday is coming....

Some More June Pictures

2009-06-30T18:57:00.003-05:00

There were more pictures that I wanted to add in the previous post (and now I know how to do more than 5 at a time!)

Here's Ben in an innertube.

Jake and Matt at Pappadeaux

Beba and Caroline at Pappadeaux

Caroline's after-bath fauxhawk.

Donna visiting Caroline and Ben

June Happenings

2009-06-28T09:01:00.004-05:00

Well, June is coming to a close.....we've survived! The first couple weeks without school were a little rocky, but nothing that a new behavior chart and incentive program couldn't help with. So far so good....I've gotten to see some friends (Alicia, Anna Klara) for lunch, I got to go to Chocolate Soup before they closed its doors ( :( ), Scott and I went out on a date to the new Star Cinema Grill (Conroe's answer to Alamo Drafthouse), and we went on vacation to Austin and Kingsland. Caroline is growing right along (I think - she has her 4 mo checkup and shots next week). She recently discovered her feet and touches both sets of toes every chance she gets. She's got a horrible case of eczema that seems to be getting worse instead of better...I'll be talking to her pediatrician about that at the appointment. She's talking and blowing bubbles and drooling and shoving her whole fist in her mouth - definitely early teething. She's spitting up a lot more - which either means she's getting way too much to eat (I don't think that's it though) or she's having an upset tummy. She doesn't complain much if the second one is the case, but nevertheless, I have cut dairy out of my diet to see if that makes a difference. She is still a great night sleeper, and is doing better with naps during the day. She is officially losing her hair - the jury is still out if she'll lose all of it or just some. It looks pretty silly right now. But there's still some on top to put a bow in.

Ben is looking forward to his 4th birthday - Scott and I are finalizing his party plans (Scott's gone on a mission trip from July 11-19 and Ben's birthday is the 13th, so we're looking at a July 10th party). He's NOT looking forward to his 4 year well check, because they'll be the first shots he's had since his 2 year checkup. He keeps telling me that he'll skip his 4th birthday and go straight from 3 to 5 years old, since 5 is "the best numba eveh". He still doesn't say his "r"s and "th"s, which makes for a cute little voice, but we'll be addressing that in the fall. He's been very tentative in the water so far this year - we've already done one round of swim lessons - but he's starting to warm up to it a little more. I do remember when Jake was 3 1/2, he had some anxiety in the water and by the next summer he was swimming - maybe history will repeat itself.

Jake is leaving for Camp Cho-Yeh today. He is really looking forward to it - he'll get to spend every day with Lucy, his best friend, and go swimming 2-3 times a day. He likes camp food, and is looking forward to snack time each day where he can choose his own snack. They have lots of fun activities that he's looking forward to - martial arts, blobbing at the lake, horseback riding. He's been to the library twice a week so far this summer, loading up on chapter books and inhaling them like air.....he's hard to keep up with. He's also starting learning how to water ski - Scott lets him stand on his skis, and they've been working hard to get up on the skis and show Jake how it feels to be pulled by a boat.....he's pretty apprehensive about the whole business but does agree to try, and I'm proud of him for that. He's eating everything in sight, so I'm expecting another growth spurt. He already wears the same size shoe as his grandma, and he's getting closer and closer to 5 feet tall.

Everyone is growing and learning and testing boundaries - what childhood is all about, I suppose! Here are some pictures from the summer so far:

Jake with his cousins Austin and Connor Davis at the rapids

Daddy and Caroline at the pool

Mommy and Ben at the lodge

Caroline touching her toes

Caroline holding the silver cup at Austin Bryan Perry reunion

3 Months Old!

2009-06-08T21:48:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that I haven't blogged in three weeks - oh, that's right - I DID go back to work for two of those weeks, so I'm sure I'm excused from any harassment. Caroline turned 3 mos. old on Friday, and so I thought I would note some things about her at age 3 mos for posterity and for the baby book update that will happen at some point:

She weighs 12 lbs, 10 oz per a weight check at the pediatrician's office today. She's only gained one pound in the last month, but the doctor wasn't concerned, as she had been gaining steadily up until this month - it was bound to level off at some point.
She is sleeping well at night - once she finally GOES to sleep. She has developed this nasty habit of refusing to fall asleep for good until 10-11pm or later. Scott is totally frustrated by this - I have a little more patience with it, because part of it I think might be due to me going back to work, and now that I'm home for the summer, I think it'll take a while to break the habit, but I'm sure it'll get better. Heck, she still sleeps from whenever she falls asleep until 6-7 in the morning, and then eats, and goes back to sleep until 9-10am. I'll take it!
She has rolled a few times from tummy to back, but I haven't been regular about tummy time, so she hasn't had a lot of opportunity to keep practicing - I'll be better about that this month!
She has developed a moderate case of eczema on her elbows, backs of her knees, wrists, ankles and cheeks. We are slathering her with some really greasy cream twice a day in hopes of keeping her skin pretty and smooth. I bet it itches, so hopefully the cream provides some relief.
She can be a chatterbox - rattling off multi-syllabic gurgles and coos. She uses her eyebrows a lot when talking which makes her seem very expressive.
She loves her brothers - she scans the room for them when she hears them. They're both very sweet to her. Jake has a ritual of rubbing her forehead with his pointer finger whenever he comes up to her. Ben just comes up talking to her in the sweetest baby voice saying "there's my baby girl - it's your brother (bwaddah)!".
She is wearing 3-6 mo clothing not because of her weight, but she's very long, especially through the torso, just like her brothers were.
She loves her bath (it's her special time with Daddy), and so far likes the swimming pool.
She has a flat spot on the "favorite" side of her head, and so we're trying to keep her off that side of her head whenever we have control over the positioning.
She still eats 7 times a day - Mommy's ready for that to start slacking off, but since she's not gaining a lot right now, I'm not going to rush her to drop a feeding...yet.
She likes to be in the Baby Bjorn, up close against me and where she can get a good view of things. She also likes her Bumbo chair, where she's upright and sitting up like a big girl.
She got baptized last Sunday (June 7th), and wore a beautiful ivory silk gown and shoes. She had an ivory satin bow in her hair and wore a little pearl and crystal bracelet. She cried briefly when Pastor John sprinkled the water on her head, but recovered quickly and looked inquisitively around the sanctuary for the rest. She slept through lunch afterward.

That's it for now!

Zoo Trip and Other Happenings

2009-05-19T21:16:00.003-05:00

We have enjoying ourselves these last couple of weeks of my maternity leave. Caroline and I have had lots of quality time together at home. I've gotten some girlfriend time with my friends Alicia, and Karin, and Anna Klara. I've gotten to work out regularly and hopefully avoid the weight gain that has usually plagued me AFTER pregnancy. I've been able to work through my blood pressure and anxiety issues and get my medications weaned down back to normal. Ben and Jake have had Mommy at home to take them to school and pick them up. Laundry and dishes have been done promptly without stacking up. It's been my most favorite maternity leave to date - and it comes to an end this Friday. I'm okay though - I'm looking forward to my job, which I DO love, and I know it's only a short stint (10 school days to be exact). To celebrate the end of my maternity leave, we decided that everyone should play hooky on Monday and we all five headed down to the Houston Zoo. We had a great time - the boys were so surprised (we didn't tell them where we were going or even that they weren't going to school until the last minute), and Caroline was SO good in her baby carrier (the stroller is in "the shop" for repairs). I was able to feed her in the monkey exhibit, and she spent some of the time napping up against me while we walked around the zoo. A totally successful adventure. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Ben and Jake in a tank of piranhas

Riding the carousel

Daddy, Caroline, and the monkey on her head

Ben, Daddy, and giraffe

Caroline peeking out after a nap

Mother's Day Post

2009-05-10T14:49:00.003-05:00

I've had a fun Mother's Day today! I woke up to the boys and Scott presenting me with breakfast in bed. We went to church and got carnations from the church. I got myself a Panera panini for lunch on my way home. We opened presents - all very sweet ones from the boys and Caroline. They handpainted little white ceramic bud vases for me (Caroline had a little help from Daddy). Each boy made me a pair of cross earrings with little blue stones in them. Ben made me a little jewelry box that he painted royal blue from school. Jake made me a little kitchen towel with his handprints on it from school. And Scott got me the stainless steel apple corer I've been wanting from Williams Sonoma and a gorgeous blue and lime hydrangea. Now I'm stealing away for a little "me" time, but I'll be home soon to feed a baby and spend some quality time with my other "babies".

Here's our pretty girl in a repeat performance of her Easter dress

She's giving Donna a pretty smile.

Pretty ruffled bottom (and thighs).

I had pictured the guys surrounding ME with attention today but forgot about Little Miss Priss.

My three babies and me loving on them.

2 Month Checkup

2009-05-07T23:49:00.003-05:00

Caroline went to Dr. Mac today for her 2 month checkup. The boys were VERY eager to know that she would be getting 3 shots - that seemed like such a mean obsession of theirs - they love to hear about OTHER kids getting shots. She behaved herself very well at the dr. office. We were 10 minutes late - the waiting room was practically a no man's land, and we were in a room within 5 minutes of sitting down. It was great! The nurse took us back and she measured Caroline's head circumference and body length, and then we went out to weigh her - this was the 1st time that she DIDN'T poop or pee on the floor or scale while being weighed. She weighed 11 lbs, 12 oz, and she is 23.5 inches tall. I was so proud - she went from the 25% percentile for weight at 2 weeks to the 75% percentile for weight at 2 months. Her height went from 20 inches at 2 weeks (50% percentile) to the 90% percentile. And her little petite head went from the 50% percentile to the 75% percentile. So, she's slowly, at least so far, starting to follow more of her brothers' trends of being big. The only concern, and it's mild, is that she has a little bit of a flat spot on the side of her head, the side that she always sleeps on. He wasn't really worried - he didn't even notice it until I pointed it out to him - she has so much hair that it hides the little flat spot. He just wants us to be mindful of trying to get her to sleep with her head turned the opposite direction. He also reminded us that she'll start rolling soon and the boys will need to pick up their Legos off the floor soon. I already spoke with them about it. Anyway, it was a good visit overall. She handled her shots nicely - mostly slept the day away (the boys slept more after shots too - I guess the crying wore them out), but so far no fever or irritability. That would be great if she didn't have any adverse effects. Here's a new picture of Ben holding his sister - she was enjoying it, as you can see!

No News is Good News, Right?

2009-05-03T14:46:00.005-05:00

Okay, I haven't been very dedicated about posting, but I'm anticipating a good post after Caroline's 2 month checkup on Thursday as well as Jake's 1st grade musical on Friday. Jake is about to lose one of his top front teeth any day now - if he'd just have the courage to wiggle it a little harder, or maybe chew gum or bite into an apple. Ben is just Ben right now - cute as can be - although he's gotten in big trouble the last two days for saying "Shut up" to Jake.....he's actually gotten spankings for that, because that is just unacceptable. I blame that we aren't as vigilant with what Ben watches on TV, because whatever Jake is watching, Ben will watch too. I think we're going to be spending quite a bit more time with the TV off in the weeks to come. Caroline is sleeping really well at night - going down earlier (as opposed to her old preferred bedtime of midnight). She's usually in her bed by 9pm or so, and then sleeps until 5-6am, eats, and goes back to bed until 8-9am. Can't ask for much more than that from a nearly 2 month old. She does NOT, however, sleep well during the day.....just little catnaps and can leave her grumpy on certain days. It's not for lack of opportunity...she just fights it. But overall, I can't complain - she's a sweet baby and loves to coo at us and is starting to regard her brothers with a little bit of interest. I'll post a few pics and a cute video of Ben (I apologize to Facebook users who have already seen these - Grandma and a few others don't use Facebook and don't get to see them).

Wearing the duck outfit Grandma bought her

Sleeping on Mommy and Daddy's bed

Showing us her beautiful sock (wearing the dress Taryn gave her)

Doing some tummy time with her boyfriend Burke

Here is a video of Ben reciting a little ditty he has been practicing for a program at school:

Some Smiling and Cooing

2009-04-14T16:30:00.006-05:00

Today while she was nursing, Caroline suddenly stopped, and I looked down to figure out why. She was smiling at me and then started cooing. So, I got the camera and tried to get her to do it again, and she obliged. It was very cute. The best smiling and cooing is at the beginning of the video.

Easter Egg Hunt at Church on Saturday

2009-04-11T18:22:00.005-05:00

We did the obligatory churchwide/community-wide Easter Egg Hunt and activities at church this morning. It was fun - the boys did crafts, participated in the singing and dancing, and all three kids saw the Easter Bunny and egg-hunted. As you can see by the pictures, Caroline wasn't too fond of the Easter egg hunt. It was fun that our neighbors, the Tranthams, ended up coming too, so the boys enjoyed playing with their guys on the playground after the egg hunt. Tonight we're dying eggs, and thinking that the Easter Bunny might possibly hide eggs indoors tomorrow as we're supposed to have strong storms in the a.m. I'll post some pictures tomorrow from egg dying, church going, and egg hunting.

Buns, Baby Buns

2009-04-09T21:17:00.002-05:00

Just had to immortalize the adorable rolls and buns of my little girl. I thought Grandma would like to see what she looks like now without her diaper. She'll kill me one day for publishing this, but it is a private blog, so only close friends and family get to see.....the ones who'll tease her for it later.

4 Weeks Old!

2009-04-02T23:06:00.003-05:00

Caroline turned 4 weeks old today - and to celebrate, I took her in bright and early to the pediatrician's office to weigh her after dropping Jake off at school. You know, she didn't gain weight much at all in her first 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, so I braced myself for a number a little lower than I hoped for. At 2 1/2 weeks, she weighed 7 lbs, 11 oz at the dr. office, and when I took her in today, she weighed 9 lbs, 1 oz. Yea! I was so happy and Dr. Mac even popped his head in and said, "Wow - I calculate that's 1.5 oz a day - that's extraordinary!". That made me feel good. She's had a busy social schedule recently - visits from Uncle Mark and Aunt Hanna, a Conroe drive-through by Debbie, Gloria, Papa, and Grandma, a lunch date with baby Burke, Alicia, Karin, Erin, Stephanie and Wendy ( my poker group), and now tomorrow we head down to Houston (with Ben) to introduce her to Ganga (Scott's grandmother). She's a busy girl, but looks great from head to toe - see the picture below for her first miniskirt (thanks to Des!). I got four smiles today, and I think some were legitimate, so I was so excited. Ben had Cowboy Week at school this week, and so he wore all of his cowboy gear to school two of the three days. Scott took the boys to the Montgomery County Fair this afternoon/evening and they had a blast! Here are a few pictures from the week!

Week without Grandma

2009-03-25T22:07:00.003-05:00

Well, Grandma and Granddad are gone, as I mentioned previously, but we've gotten along pretty well. Kathleen got here on Tuesday and is staying until tomorrow, so I've had some help the middle part of this week. I had my postpartum visit with my OB and my followup with my internist on Tuesday and Wednesday, and those appointments went pretty well. Caroline and I also got a chance to follow up with my lactation consultant, and I got to see that she is gaining weight and getting a much better intake of milk, since her frenectomy. In fact, Christina, the LC, is thinking about using Caroline as a case study for a conference in May that she is presenting out about the difference before and after her frenulum was clipped. So, she may be a celebrity yet. Now that she's starting to fill out a little, I've gotten to dip into some of the different adorable outfits that I've had waiting for her. Here are a couple of my favorites from the week:

We're really looking forward to Mark and Hanna's visit this weekend! The boys are especially. It's always a good time!

We Love Grandma!

2009-03-21T21:43:00.004-05:00

Grandma (my mom) has stayed with us for 2 1/2 weeks - and she has been a god-send (and she leaves tomorrow :( ). She has kept me sane, cared for the baby when I was unable, loved on and spoiled the boys, supported Scott, helped the house and laundry stay under control, chauffered me to various places when I was not allowed to drive, bought the kids some spring clothes, took some night feedings so that we could get some desperately needed sleep, filed Caroline's talons and helped bathe her, planned a "Mud Day" with the boys, and NEVER complained once. She is a saint. And Granddad (my dad) is a saint for sharing her so long with us. He never complained to me about it, even though it was unexpectedly longer than it was supposed to be, and he went a long time without his wife. We will certainly have an adjustment to make when they leave tomorrow, but we're much better prepared for the future than we were a week ago - what a difference a week makes! We can't wait to see them again soon.

Dress Up Time!

2009-03-18T12:07:00.003-05:00

We got Caroline dolled up in her first dress today - and she stayed awake the whole time and even smiled at me twice (although she was on the way to dreamland, so it was more of a fluke!). Here are some pictures of her in pretty bows and dresses.

Weekend at Home

2009-03-15T19:27:00.002-05:00

Well, our weekend is almost over, and Caroline is 1 1/2 weeks old already! She's still a great night time sleeper, and pretty sweet all the way around. My blood pressure is still bad, and the anxiety isn't great either, but I'm hoping this week will bring relief for both. Here are some pictures from our weekend, including the much-anticipated visit from Kelley and Matt. Tomorrow is her first pediatrician visit, so we'll be praying for a rave review from Dr. Mac!

At Home and Prayers

2009-03-10T10:14:00.004-05:00

Well, we are two days into being home, and Caroline herself is doing great. She is eating well, sleeping well, pooping well, all of the things that a baby is supposed to do. The boys are loving having her here. Last night was the first night that she had a little bit of fussiness, but we are SURE it's because she's been taking in a little bit of my blood when nursing, as she doesn't quite have her latch down, but we're working on that. Her tummy was pretty upset last night and she wanted all of us to know that. Other than that little bump in the road, she is a pretty easy baby....so far. We feel so blessed to have her in our family and in our lives.

I have been struggling though, with my "normal" post partum issues. Normal as in, I've had some degree of post partum blood pressure struggles and severe anxiety with all three babies. As far as the blood pressure, this one has been the worst. The numbers that I got on my monitor at home yesterday are higher than the ones that got me readmitted to the hospital last time. I called my internist, and he told me to take another round of my medication and he would see me today - I don't think that he was as alarmed as I was, and he's the professional, so I trust him. The numbers are down a bit today, which is encouraging, so we'll see what the dr. says. I'm SO hoping to avoid rehospitalization. UPDATE: Just got back from the doctor, and he wants to give the upped dosage of medication another day, so he sent me home with a monitor that stays on my arm and takes my pressure at different times, and then I'll go back tomorrow and re-evaluate. If that doesn't work, he wants to put me on a diuretic, but then I would have to stop breastfeeding, and I DON'T want that. So please pray for me that the medicine will kick in, and that my anxiety would stay at bay for the sake of my whole family. Mom just felt like she couldn't leave me yesterday, as planned, and so now she's here for the long haul (this week and all of next week). I love her for so many reasons, but she's so sacrificial with her time and energy, and that is something I admire so much.

We did decide to get out a bit yesterday, hoping to improve my mood and maybe my blood pressure (didn't work, but it was fun). We took them all to the park, and the boys flew a kite and rode bikes, while Caroline and I hung out and watched. Here are a couple of pictures from this first part of the week:

She's Here!

2009-03-05T15:00:00.004-06:00

Caroline Laura Cummings was born today on Thursday, March 5th, at 1:11 pm. She was 7 lbs, 10 oz, and 19 inches long. She has dark brown wavy hair and blue eyes. She is doing great, and I am too. Thanks for all of your prayers! We'll post more pictures later.

Last Pregnant Pose - 40 weeks!

2009-03-03T20:57:00.002-06:00

Being my last pregnancy (right?), I did feel an itch to preserve the memory of my largesse for my children to see, and for Scott and I to reminisce about, because after all, I have always loved being pregnant, and I'm going to miss it! But, this belly is one for the books - not necessarily because of its size, but its weird pointy shape.....kind of gives me the creeps - but nevertheless, I needed to freeze the picture for posterity. I did do everyone the kindness of keeping it under wraps, but here it is, in all of its blue and white toile glory.......

Last Nursery Shots before Arrival Day

2009-02-28T22:07:00.003-06:00

Here are the last pictures that I will post of her nursery, I promise - but we added the nightstand, the bookcase, the mobile, the window hardware (the panel is still on back order!), and the mobile. Jake put in a little bit of elbow grease too - I told him that it would be fun for him to tell Caroline that he helped put it together. Ben helped set up her swing today, and while we were getting all the pieces out, he told me totally out of the blue "Mommy, I will NOT smack Caroline, because that would be so sad, and would make her so sad." I said, "No, you wouldn't do that, Ben, because you're just so sweet." He responded "well, I appreciate it".

Additional Pictures of the Nursery - Wall Decor Up!

2009-02-17T21:53:00.004-06:00

Here are the pictures of the rest of the nursery with the wall decor up - we made her wall letters ourselves, and then we put up a mirror (laced with pink ribbon), the flower wall pegs, and the little white ledge. I will be hanging up her quilt with quilt clips, but I don't have them yet. The only thing left missing in her room is a bookcase and/or small little bedside table to have near the glider. The glider doesn't go in the room at all, but I couldn't justify replacing it when it's fairly new to begin with and so comfortable, so room snobs - just deal!

Her infamous wall letters!

Her dresser with its legs finally!

Her crib in its final resting place.

The glider with the mirror

The wall ledge with the flower pegs

Nursery Decorating

2009-02-01T22:49:00.003-06:00

Well, we spent several weekends gutting the old nursery (aka Ben's room) and girlifying it for Caroline. I wish we could replace the hideous carpet, but we've dealt with it for 7 years, and I don't think that's going to change any time soon. We painted the room Behr's Lemon Pound Cake and it turned out a little brighter and citrusier than I had expected, but it is growing on me and will be just fine. We painted the trim around the window, doors and floorboards a pure white (it was sort of a blah-cream). We put together the crib and the dresser arrived just in time (I supervised the putting together of the crib - I should give Scott the manual labor credit). I washed a bunch of baby clothes (three full loads of 0-6 mo little girl clothes!), and put them away in the dresser, and we began the process of accessorizing the room. We still have several major things to do - hang a mirror, hang wall letters that will be hung from ribbon over the dresser, install a white ledge, change out the wall outlets and switches to stark white ones, and change out ceiling fans as we have a pure white one in the boys' room and the one in here currently is a honey wood (which will work perfectly in THEIR room). We also need one more piece of storage - probably like a short 2 shelf bookcase or a little nightstand to set between the crib and the glider that I can plug in the monitor and adorable little pink CD player/radio that Kelley and her parents gifted me with. Here's some pictures of our progress. Speaking of progress, none made in the month-away arrival of Caroline. I had my 35 week appt last week and I'm still measuring right on track, although I did manage to gain a whole 3 lbs in 2 weeks....which was discouraging to me, but still under my starting weight when I got pregnant to begin with. My blood pressure and ankle swelling were a little above average, but not bad or worrisome, and totally explainable as it was the end of a LONG day of work. She still doesn't want me doing weekly appts so I'll have one last two week break - go to my 37 week appt, and do weekly ones from there. March will be here before we know it!

Her bed with her polka dot/striped/toile bedding from PBK (I finally found all the pieces!)

The glider where we will spend a lot of nights in - with the Boppy!

One of the diaper caddys, currently filled with burp cloths and pacifiers

The other diaper caddy filled with socks and hair accessories.

The dresser - it is so huge, and so wonderful!

Happy 7th Birthday, Jake!

2009-01-25T09:11:00.002-06:00

Jake is 7 today, and is really enjoying his birthday weekend. First he had a party with his class at school on Friday, complete with a chocolate cake and a little Cha-Cha slide dancing at the end of the party, courtesy of Mrs. Fayle's DDR CD. He was really tickled that the whole class decided to indulge in a little dancing for his party. On Friday night, Grandma and Granddad came into town and all day Saturday were birthday festivities. First we had lunch with the four of us, Grandma and Granddad, and Donna and Corey. We cooked out hot dogs, burgers, made yummy bean dip and had fruit and chips, and then Chocolate Chip Cookie cake for dessert. Then he opened presents, and he loved ALL of them. He made it a goal to play with ALL of them before the end of the day. Matt and Kelley got here from Austin around 4:00pm, and he got to open another present (from them and Mark and Hanna), and then we went to his choice for dinner: Denny's (?). We came home and played Hit or Miss, and then after a long day, he was ready for bed. Today, we have church and then we're picking up his 3 closest friends for a little afternoon celebration - first stop is McDonalds for lunch, then the movie theatre to see "Hotel for Dogs" and then ice cream cake and presents at our house. Finally then the birthday will be over. But he made it last a whole weekend. I'll post birthday party pictures later!

My C-section has been rescheduled and then rescheduled again, so officially now, the date is set for 12:30pm on March 5th (one day before my due date), but the dr. office feels pretty confident that there will be cancellations between now and then, and I'll get moved back to the first half of the week. I hope so - I've never been pregnant for one day short of 40 weeks. That would be a record, and not one that I really want to achieve with the large babies I seem to have (although my dr. thinks that she will not be as big as the boys were - maybe somewhere in the 8lb - 8.5 lb range). Only time will tell!

33 Weeks

2009-01-15T18:57:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone! I thought I would make a little appearance on the blog to share the latest and greatest about Miss Caroline, as I had a big, important ultrasound today. First and foremost, she looks great - she's very healthy - her head and abdomen measure exactly where they should be for 33 weeks (they measure just a little big, but not hugely big like Jake and Ben did!). She has perfect toes, a perfect nose, beautiful lips, LOTS of hair, and chubby cheeks. They estimated that she is about 4lbs, 14 oz, and is in about the 60% percentile for height and weight. She's not head down or breech but rather transverse, which means her head is on the left and her rear is on the right. She sucked her thumb during part of the sonogram and yawned once too. What really blew us away were the images that we were able to see of her using a 4D machine. We can see that she looks remarkably like a Scott and Carrie Cummings baby - a little more like Jake than like Ben, but favors either given a certain angle. She has a nose like Jake's, that turns up at the end, and luscious lips like Jake and Ben (and I) have. It brought tears to my eyes, and that doesn't happen very often. We are so excited to meet her, and we know that we will, barring any surprises, on Tuesday, March 3. My blood pressure was great, my blood sugars were great, and I managed to lose 2 more lbs (?). I am being very brave, but for posterity's sake, I have decided to take the dreaded belly pic - I will only take one more - the day before she's born. It'll be fun to compare. Ignore the nasty stretch marks. And then I'm also posting the ultrasound pictures from today that I scanned.

27-28 weeks

2008-12-09T22:27:00.004-06:00

Well, I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks - but between Thanksgiving, my birthday, and a little trip to NYC - I haven't had time! But I'm happy to report that I'm having a huge surge of energy which served me very well in NYC, as I was happy to go, go, go as long as I wanted without any real sense of handicap or need to slow down. That was wonderful - that cold weather always does me good. I was at Ben's Christmas program tonight for school (his class sang "This Little Light of Mine" and "Frosty the Snowman") and several women commented that I looked so glowy and good. I did have to confess that the glowy look was more due to the windburn from the harsh NYC wind than my hormones, but it was still nice to hear a compliment! We had a great Thanksgiving and I had a fun birthday (32 - almost in my mid-thirties already!). I went to Dr. Laden on December 2, which I was complaining about - right after Thanksgiving and birthday festivities and before my trip. But it turned out not to be so bad. She's already reduced the number of times I have to test my blood from 4 times a day to 2 times a day - so that was welcome news. I did gain 2 pounds, but I expected that, and I'm still at -4 pounds for the whole pregnancy. She also gave me the great news that my hemoglobin A1C levels were lower at my 24 week blood test, than they were at my 8 week blood test, which is rare in pregnancy to lower, especially from someone who is known to be gestationally diabetic. I was proud of myself in NYC - I ate pretty reasonably - only treated myself to pizza one time and dessert one time - everything else was pretty much salads or sandwiches. Plus I got a ton of exercise walking the streets of Times Square! Here are a few pictures from the last two weeks:

Ben and I at church together after his school Christmas program

The NYC ladies in front of Rock Center Cafe

Me posing with the Muppet I made for Jake at FAO Schwarz

The boys and I on my birthday morning

My three guys swinging in the backyard of my parents' house during Thanksgiving.

25 weeks!

2008-11-17T21:07:00.002-06:00

This last week I had my 24 week checkup and now we're to 25 weeks. Still no weight gain - which is fine, considering my fighting beginning weight was PLENTY large to begin with! I've been trying to be really faithful to a lower carb diet, which is probably what I attribute to a negative weight gain. Miss Caroline is moving around a whole lot, and Jake and Ben are finally able to feel her wiggling and bumping around. Her bedding came in from Pottery Barn Kids - I'm still not totally sold on it, but it is cute. It's mostly white and pink - the crib sheets are white with pink toile, the bumper is white with pink polka dots on one side, and pink stripes on the other side. The quilt is a two tone voile (which is really lightweight). The collection is called Isabelle, and it was on clearance at PBK. We've decided to move Ben into Jake's room and have both beds and dressers in there, and sharing a closet, but then move bookshelves and some toys into the guest bedroom so that they won't be quite as cramped. That way, the "baby" room can stay the baby room, and we'll still have a dedicated guest room when family and friends come into town. I'm crossing my fingers that the boys will be able to sleep in the same room - that hasn't always been successful, but has gotten better in recent months for things like camping, hotel stays, etc.
At my last dr. appt, Dr. Laden did indicate that she would not be making me take the 1 or 3 hour gestational diabetes tests, as it is fairly safe to assume that I would have it again. She did order the Hemoglobin A1C blood test, which gives doctors an indicator of what my blood sugars have averaged over the previous 3 months. She told me to begin testing my blood sugars 4x per day (yikes!!), and keeping a log of it for a week, and then to fax her the log after a week, and that, coupled with my score on the blood test, would determine for her how to proceed. Well, my blood test results came back "Great" in her words, and since I've bought the food I need to stay faithful to my diet, my blood sugar readings have been outstanding, so I'm hoping that she'll at least decrease the number of times per day that I have to test. Four holes in my hand per day gets old, believe me! This faithfulness to the diet should also keep my weight in check, so that will be good too.

That's all the baby news for now! I'm thinking that I'm going to start posting some belly pictures next time. I never have done that, and since this is most likely my last pregnancy, I do want some documentation of me pregnant - we've noticed in the past that we have neglected to photograph me pregnant. I have two pictures of my pregnancy with Jake, a few with Ben, and very few with Caroline, so I've got to seize the day....and soon - only two more weeks 'til my third trimester.

His Loss, His Gain

2008-11-17T21:01:00.002-06:00

Jake lost his 2nd tooth in one month - so his grand total is 2 lost teeth now - both on the bottom front row! He is very proud because this one, he intentionally pulled it (the first one was lost in the middle of an apple bobbing contest). He was very brave and was determined to pull it before bedtime because it was just going to drive him crazy. It was very cute to watch!

Halloween and Football

2008-10-28T20:29:00.003-05:00

We had a great Saturday last week - Scott and I took off for Austin, sans children (who were being watched by the ever gracious Donna, and our favorite babysitter, Maggie). Our mission: to attend the UT/OK State football game at DKR Memorial Stadium. We LOVED the peaceful car ride to Austin, where we could talk without being interrupted. We got great parking at the Seminary, and walked over to the Alumni Center where I got to see a couple of old friends before heading over to the stadium. The game was great - our seats were fine, and the football was better, even the Band was great. Afterwards, we each picked up food from our favorite places, me - DoubleDaves, Scott - the Wendy's Baconator, and we made our way back to Conroe (we left Conroe at 10:30am and got back to Conroe at 10:15 pm). It was a full day - but the boys had a great time with their keepers, and we got a whole date day!

Kim and I (both at 21 weeks - my 3rd pregnancy and her TWIN pregnancy)

Caroline's first UT football game

This week is Halloween, and the boys are both in high gear. Jake has decided to recycle last year's UT football costume, that barely got used, as he ran home screaming from a scary zombie adult who freaked him out big time. Ben chose to be Donald Duck this year, and is cute as a button. His preschool class had a little party today and they all dressed in their outfits. He just loved all of the attention his puffy little duck outfit got him. He's at a fun age for Halloween this year.

Jake and his friend Colton at our church's Fall Festival

Ben's Tuesday preschool class in costumes

Donald Duck in jeans!

It's a....

2008-10-22T07:15:00.002-05:00

GIRL!

We found out last Tuesday that we are having a daughter! Jake and Ben will have a sister, and they are both getting more and more excited about it. At first, they were a little disappointed not to have another wrestling buddy, but Ben announces about his baby sister at every opportunity.

Everything appears to be happy and healthy! So stay tuned!

Long Overdue Update

2008-10-12T09:21:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been almost two years since I last blogged. I can't believe that I let it get away from me for THAT LONG! I mean, I've always been a procrastinator, but this one takes the cake! Anyway, as you can see by my blog title, and the counter on the side, we're having one more baby, due at the beginning of March, and this Tuesday, October 14th (which also happens to be Scott's 32nd birthday), we will get to see a bigger, better picture of the baby, and hopefully find out whether it's a sister or a brother for Ben and Jake. Both boys would like a boy, so they can name him Dude. Hopefully they'll be amenable to a sister named Caroline, or a brother named something a little more traditional than Dude (in other words, we don't have a boy name yet!). So stay tuned for Tuesday's news - hopefully everything will be healthy and bouncing - which I'm more and more confident about as this week has definitely been a turning point week with regards to the amount of moving and shaking going on down there! My mom will be here and she's excited to see the baby, and if we need girl clothes after all, she's prepared to do some shopping immediately following the appointment!

Who Let Me Do This To My Child?

2006-10-17T22:29:00.000-05:00

Who conspired to let the hair get THIS BAD? Granted, this picture is about 9-10 months old - but really. I just happened upon this picture in my pictures folder, and was horrified to discover my precious baby had a bouffant!

I'm just so mortified - if I saw a baby like this in public, I would there was something wrong with him....or his parents.

Caught Trying to Break and Enter

2006-10-17T18:20:00.000-05:00

Here is a new picture of Ben - who has discovered how to open doors around the house - as he tries to break into Jake's room, using all sorts of tricks, including the bathroom stool.

Old MacDonald

2006-10-02T22:18:00.000-05:00

We're pretty sure that Ben has learned how to sing. All evening, he had a cute little tune that he was singing (with a mishmash of gibberish words of course), but we all distinctly heard something that sounded suspiciously like "Ee-I-Ee-I-O", and when we started singing Old MacDonald, Ben got a huge grin on his face and kept singing, and then stood up and started spinning in circles, which made him dizzy and he fell over on top of his silver saxophone, which even through the diaper padding had to have hurt, and so just like that the game was over and the comforting began. But he kept on throughout the night singing that cute little melody, and smiling and spinning (they must spin to this song at school - unless he's just being creative).

It was so cute - we caught just a little bit of it on video, because, of course, whenever we break out the video camera, he and Jake both stop performing, and either just stare or come up to the camera to talk to it. What's really hard is that we get out the camera to film Ben, and Jake just naturally gravitates toward the camera and hams it up, and we tell him to scoot back. Then he gets back in front of the camera, and Ben is doing his "trick" and we miss it because Jake's whooping and hollering in front of the camera, and finally we end up getting frustrated and saying "Go away" or "Go to your room". Kind of sad, considering how up until a little over a year ago, we WERE expecting him to perform for that very same camera, and now we scold him for doing it! Oh well, we're not perfect.....and neither is he!

Name Change Alert

2006-10-02T22:14:00.000-05:00

Jacob Stephen Cummings has decided that he doesn't care much for his given name, and so he has changed it....to Jackson. He has even gone so far as to inscribe it on the inside of a few books. He's really in love with that name, and I can't quite figure out how or why. I think it must be a phase - I remember going through a similar phase in Pre-K (probably also four years old or so) when I kept lying to my preschool teacher, Mrs. Cole, that my name was really short for Caroline. So I guess it proves that I've always been in love with that name, as everyone knows that if we ever have a girl, it would be a Caroline. So I guess maybe it means Jake is destined to have a son named Jackson. Who knows? But he didn't mention his alternate name today, so maybe it was a fleeting phase - I hope so - I can see it getting really obnoxious!

UPDATE: As of 10/9/06, Jackson changed his name back to Jacob. Thank Goodness!

Long Time Coming!

2006-09-28T15:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been two weeks plus since I last wrote an entry - I'll tell you what the real culprit is - we don't have a functioning digital camera, and it's just not the same kind of blog when I can't accompany an entry with a cute or telling Jake/Ben shot.

I will say that we're over a month into the school year and (knock on wood!), we're still all healthy! It's a miracle! And mark my words, because I've written and celebrated this, within the next two weeks, we'll ALL be sick.

Jake is enjoying his class - every week they study and practice writing different letters - first c, then o, then g, and now q. Each week, they bring to school on Wednesday pictures that they cut out that begin with each letter. This week's letter "Q" was going to be difficult, or so I thought. I figured that Jake would have a very limited vocabulary of "Q" words, and despite my usual competitive nature, I don't like to help him brainstorm too much on these, because I want him to do his own work, not me doing it FOR HIM, like some of the other moms in his classroom. However, I was most impressed at the words that he was coming up with. He started with the easy ones like quilt, quarter, and queen. And then he really got going with quill, quail, and quintet. He and Scott found a picture online of his aunt Cay in her brass quintet and printed it and cut it out, so he could show a picture of his aunt when he was sharing his project with the class. He also ended up adding a picture of quadruplets, Quasimoto (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and question. He made me proud.

Ben is so funny. He is walking and running all over the place, but despite his zest for physical activity, which usually translates into daredevilism, he's actually quite careful. When he climbs onto the couch and does whatever he does up there (usually emptying my purse and wallet), he always makes sure to turn around and back down, feet first, until they touch the ground. When he's walking and sees or senses a change in elevation, be it steps, a ledge, or just a graduated ramp, he turns himself around and backs down it. Which is really funny when we're at a sports field, in the bleachers, and we begin walking toward the handicap ramp, and he feels or sees the gradual decline in the ramp, and turns around, puts his hands on the ground, and starts scooting backwards down the ramp. It's so cute to watch - I"ll have to get video of it at some point.

That's all for now - hopefully next time I post, I'll have a picture too!

New Portraits of the Guys!~

2006-09-07T22:28:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone - on Labor Day, Scott and I took Ben to the mall (with Jake) to get his 1 Year portraits made (about a month late, poor second child!). Jake, who as we all know, loves a camera, was all too willing to be a part of the photo shoot, and had so many "ideas" that I finally had to find a polite way to break it to him that this wasn't really for or about him, and that the photographer and Mommy and Daddy were in charge. Ben wasn't NEARLY as cooperative as his older brother in front of a camera - he bolted for the curtain (that separated our photo shoot from the rest of the store) every time he had a moment of freedom. He climbed out of the photo props (i.e. airplane, crescent moon, fire engine, rocking chair) - which gave us very little lead time to snap a picture where he doesn't have a strained look on his face. But we did manage a few keepers, and Jake was a great big brother to help us corral Ben - what a wonderful brother he is! It's amazing how in love he is with his baby brother - there's never been any jealousy, or animosity, or bitterness - oh yeah, except for that one day Jake claimed I loved Ben more than him because I never punished Ben. But that will all change soon - I predict lots of time-outs for Ben, if he'll stay there. We've already found Ben standing on the couch, sitting on the coffee table, standing on Jake's stool in the bathroom, and Jake's timeout stool in the hallway, and he can open the front door. Scary!! Here are some of the pictures!

We're "Over the Moon" for our boys!
They love each other so much!

I told the photographer the tower of blocks wouldn't last!

Church Rebellions and Hijinks

2006-09-04T07:41:00.000-05:00

It must be hard being a pastor's son - of course, that's no surprise, but I'm just starting to see some of Jake's "acting-out" instances. He went to his first Sunday School lesson yesterday (as a Pre-K student, he's now eligible to attend Sunday School). His teacher (who's a good friend of mine) said that he was really good and participated and liked answering questions----until the end when it was time to pray. He was quick to offer up a prayer request for Linus, who's my old family dog that died about three years ago - so random. Then he absolutely refused to participate in the prayer, which basically meant he needed to not be playing with the toys, and sitting with the rest of the class for about one minute. He refused.

Then we get to church and Jake is well-behaved. We went over the basic rules of the children's sermon, where all the kids come up to the front during worship during a designated period of time, and participate in a little "mini-sermon" which is very interactive and fun for them. Jake has a history of dominating conversation, which the congregation finds cute, and which Scott and I find slightly annoying. He also has a history of moving up and down the steps on his rear, usually accompanying by one or two of his apprentices. It's just distracting to watch. We always go over what he should do (which is listen, and sit as still as he can, and to raise his hand before speaking) and what he shouldn't do (listed above). Well, this Sunday, he did pretty well on the rule about not going up and down the steps on his rear - he did sit in place, although occasionally would spin around 360 degrees on his rear (!). And he did raise his hand before speaking, and waited to be called on, but the third thing I think I'll have to address is making sure that what comes out of his mouth is related to the discussion. Because what he said yesterday was totally out of left field. Scott was asking them something and Jake was the only one to raise his hand, so Scott called on him, and Jake announced something to the effect of "I'm pretty sure Jesus played the accordion".

Hmmmm....so that's where polka originated.

Shots for everyone!

2006-09-02T22:08:00.000-05:00

Scott got the privilege of taking both boys to the doctor on Friday to get their Hepatitis A immunizations (a new state requirement for any children in preschools and daycares). Ben, of course, still has no concept of "shots" and probably no memory of the ones he's had. Jake, however, has a vivid memory, and especially of the last episode at his 4 yr checkup, where he refused to let the nurse pull down his pants, and then screamed bloody murder,"I'm never getting shots again, NEVER EVER." So, when Scott informed him on Friday morning that they were going to have to go get shots, Jake convinced himself and tried to convince Scott that Ben was the only one who was getting a shot (I even heard Jake say this to Scott when I called that morning to check in - the boy was in TOTAL denial). When I talked to Scott later that afternoon, he said that he thought it had gone better than he had expected, that Ben cried briefly but quickly recovered, and that Jake hid in a corner and they had to extricate him from that corner. He didn't handle it as well as Ben, but eventually got over it, and we went to The Incredible Pizza Company for dinner and bowling to celebrate. You know you're a horrible bowler when your 4 yr old almost beats you.

Gifts for Baby Jesus Aren't Good Enough for Jake

2006-08-30T14:14:00.000-05:00

Jake went to his first day of Pre-K today. Apparently he was a little mopey and out of sorts. However, what really threw him off, and subsequently caused him to throw a fit was the chariot that awaited him outside the house - the RAV-4. He told Scott that he couldn't travel in that car because it stunk of frankencense and myrrh.

At first I thought, "where on EARTH did he come up with those two scents, seeing as though I only hear about them when referring to the Three Wise Kings and the gifts they brought to lay at baby Jesus's manger?". However, I forgot that the motion sickness ointment that Scott put behind Jake's ears during the Colorado trip actually does CONTAIN frankencense and myrrh. Funny.

The Nightmare is Over

2006-08-26T08:45:00.000-05:00

I feel it is safe to say, after two weeks of adjusting, that Benjamin John Cummings now is back to sleeping peacefully through the night, and Scott and I praise God for that! I'm only saying this because it has happened for five nights consecutively now, so I think we're in the clear!

The Lad and Dad Colorado Trip Pictures

2006-08-25T20:48:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of Scott and Jake on their ill-fated Colorado trip.....well, not really ill-fated. I just thought it sounded better that way. They actually had a fine time, camping at night in their tent (well, once in the RAV-4 when it rained all night) and hiking and exploring during the day.

They drove from Conroe to Trinidad, CO in one day (about 14 hours), spent one night there, drove to Chapman, CO the next day, attended cousin Will Brandes's rehearsal dinner and then spent the night, spent the next day at rest and exploring, went to Will's wedding that afternoon, and spent the night, then drove back to Trinidad, spent the night (that was the rainy night), and then drove the 14 hours or so home. It was a quick trip, but lots of memories were made, and I think Scott would like to repeat the trip again some time, as his love affair with Colorado grew to new depths.

As most of you know, Jake did battle motion sickness issues on this trip, particularly in the higher altitudes, and the winding mountain roads, but he was a trooper, and despite the throwing up, didn't have much bad to say

about the trip. He even found himself yet another girlfriend along the way, in the form of the flower girl at Will and Becky's wedding. I'm afraid we've inadvertently raised a Lothario.

Ben and I enjoyed the quality time together also (this was the week that I started back at school, but in the afternoons and evenings, it was just the two of us against the world!).

Summer School

2006-08-23T22:32:00.000-05:00

Jake and Ben went to school this summer for one week - the week of Ben's 1st birthday. They went all five days and really had a lot of fun. This picture shows them standing outside the buildling before we went in. Ben has a little backpack now too, but didn't have it for the picture. They start school for real a week from tomorrow (Thursday the 31st), and I know they'll both really enjoy the change, although Aunt Corey and Donna are spoiling them rotten right now!

Breakin' All Da Rules

2006-08-22T19:45:00.000-05:00

Somebody has learned how to stand up on top of his car, despite being told "NO" every time he does it. I thought it would be good for posterity to capture the rule breaking on camera, not only to laugh at behind his back, and also good for when he has children, and can see what kinds of trouble he got into. He's pointing at the TV, while Jake and I were watching the newest version of The Shaggy Dog. I guess he was trying to get attention in his own little way, and, well, mission accomplished.

However, upon second glance, what's even more disturbing than Ben's casual disregard for safety and our household rules and regulations are the frightening green eyes of one Eli Cummings. In the words of Brian Fellow from SNL, "That dog's got DEVIL eyes."

Somebody has a BAD attitude

2006-08-21T19:54:00.000-05:00

Ben rolled along quite pleasantly all summer. Save one bout of croup and one bout of "Hand, Foot, Mouth" disease, he has been healthy, and so sweet and fun. BUT......this week and last week, he has not been particularly pleasant. As a matter of fact, I venture to say that he's been downright SURLY. To what can we attribute this Mr. Hyde persona? Perhaps Mom going back to work and abandoning him to his aunt Corey who dotes to a fault? Perhaps Jake and Dad having gone on a Colorado wilderness adventure without him, and leaving him in their dust? Maybe some new molars or incisors coming in? Maybe it's reading literally off the T-shirt "I could use some Grandma Therapy" when one grandma is bedridden in Austin with knee replacement surgery recovery and the other one is jetsetting to the tropical locale of Hawaii......You know, at this point, I don't even know if I care - I just want him to snap out of it - he has screamed at us through the baby monitor in the middle of the night for over a week now. Almost to the point that we have taught ourselves how to sleep through it. Personally, I vote for reason A, because it makes me feel important :). However, that's the hardest one to overcome, since it's a permanent change (at least until Christmas!). But school starts for Jake and Ben next week, and I know they'll both be thrilled to be around their peers and their beloved teachers.

By the way, as I'm writing this, both boys are in bed, and I'm waiting for my husband to return from a Monday evening water skiing jaunt - doesn't that make you sick? Well, at least someone's having fun (and getting some exercise!)

We're Here, We're Near, Get Used to It!

2006-08-20T22:24:00.000-05:00

Jake and Ben at Easter with (awwww)

their matching outfits and baskets!

Welcome to the first post of the family blog - and the blog that will showcase the amazing talents, photogenicism, and craziness of Jake and Ben! I'll try to include pictures, where applicable, or just if I feel like it. You never know what these boys will be up to, on any given day. Please take any parental pride or braggadocio with a grain of salt - after all, it is our blog! And we're in love with our boys (even Eli, our dog, is included in that!).

Please keep your comments friendly - we always will be too!