Thursday, April 30, 2009

Check Ups

Yesterday I took the boys for their check ups (Trent for his 4-year and Jack for his 9-month). Here are their stats:

Trent
42.8 pounds (90th percentile)
41 inches tall (75th percentile)

Jack
23.1 pounds (90th percentile)
29 inches tall (75th percentile)

When Dr. Ellis gave me these stats, I asked him to look back to see how Trent and Jack compared at the same age. Here is a pic of both of them at about 9 months old.

Jack

Trent

Well, at 9 months Trent was 28.5 inches tall and 26 pounds 13 ounces. That means he had nearly 4 pounds on Jack! I guess that explains why Jack is moving already. Trent had a lot more to move around!

Both boys were in great health, and Dr. Ellis said to keep doing what we're doing. Jack did get one shot and will have to go back in six weeks for a followup. BUT, he didn't even cry when the nurse gave him the shot! He's such a big boy!


In other news, Mr. Joey (the monster) has reared his ugly head again. Last night while Trent was taking his bath, he informed us that Mr. Joey threw his tennis shoes away. He said that the shoes were old. Well, first the shoes were NOT old, and second they are $40 New Balance tennis shoes. I just hope Oscar the Grouch or whoever hangs out at the landfill enjoys Trent's nice semi-new tennis shoes because we sure can't find them anywhere in our house!!!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Monsters, Teeth, Dirty Feet - All Things Little Boy

On Friday morning, Matt got up and saw Trent in the kitchen eating a frozen Eggo blueberry pancake. Matt asked Trent where he got it. His reply was, "A monster gave it to me." Matt questioned Trent some more. Here are some quotes from Trent about the monster.
"His name is Mr. Joey, and he lives here."
"He doesn't know where the microwave is so I have to eat my pancake cold."
"He doesn't eat kids. He's a giving and disappearing monster. He gives me pancakes and then disappears."
"He's a good monster. He doesn't get hungry because he's not an eating monster."
"Monsters don't wear no clothes."

Now Trent will swear that this monster is real. We cannot get him to admit that he doesn't exist, and Trent will defend him to the end! Pretty funny stuff.


Jack eating a rice puff. Even if his tongue isn't out, it looks like it is! :)

In other news, Jack got another tooth today. It is one of his top teeth. He has his 9-month check up this week, so I am looking forward to seeing where he is on the charts in comparison to Trent at this age. He is crawling like a crawfish - backwards. He is super cute. Brodie loves Jack now because food has started falling from the high chair area. Jack is eating puffs and crackers and Brodie is down with that food. :)

Brodie knows where his bread is buttered.

Today was a busy day. The Appling Community Fair was today, and Matt's BBQ team cooked and sold food at it. In my honest opinion, it was the best barbeque I have ever eaten. It melted in my mouth. Trent had fun at the community fair too. He got his face painted with a fish named Bob.

Meet Bob. :)
He played with some of the middle school kids, and some of Matt's teammates picked on him all day. He loved it.

This afternoon we took Trent to get a haircut and to find stuff to decorate his birthday cake. Then we grilled burgers for supper and spent the evening outside. It was awesome! I love Spring.

At the end of the day, you always have to clean dirty feet when you have boys.

And dirty faces.... And lots of other dirty places....

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Jack is reaching many milestones.....

Jack has been a busy boy lately. It's like he is doing something new every day. In the last week, he has started eating the little fruit puffs. He LOVES them. He cracks me up the way he stuffs them in his mouth.

Ready, Set, Open Mouth...


Next comes the puff....in it goes...



Finally, claps and cheers because he LOVES them!



Jack has also starting pre-crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Then he moves forward a little. Then he usually moves backwards alot.

Here he is up in the crawling position.


And here he is when he gets tired...

Monday, April 20, 2009

Turtles and Tattoos

Saturday, April 18th was Melasond's birthday. We talked all week about what we could do to celebrate, and we kept coming up with NOTHING. Diane, a fellow teacher, had a surprise party on Saturday night for her 60th birthday. I talked Mel into going, promising that we would do something good after the party.

I made Mel a cake, chocolate with white icing. I tried to decorate it too. It looked like a 3 year old did it, but it did taste good.

Mel and Floyd came over early, and we ate her birthday cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream for supper. Healthy, I know. Then we headed to Diane's party.

We enjoyed watching Diane's surprise, and we enjoyed some food and beverages at the party. We even got our men on the dance floor for a couple of songs. It was lots of fun.

Then we said our goodbyes to everyone at the party and loaded up in the Yukon. We started brainstorming about what we could do... bowling? no
Then Floyd said, "Let's go to the tattoo parlor." Mel and I agreed, just thinking it was a good way to waste some time (at least that's what I thought at that time).

When we got there, we started browsing. I have thought about getting a tattoo for years, and I always knew that if I did it, I would get a turtle. We looked and looked and looked. I found several turtles that I did not like. Then Mel found an area that had tattoos we both liked. Right then, we both decided to do it! We filled out the paperwork and sat in the chairs. I don't know about Mel, but I was super nervous.

I decided to get my tattoo on my foot. Mel got hers on her neck.

My tattoo artist was very detailed. He wanted the coloring to be just right.

I was super nervous.... Can you tell?

Mel was super quiet while that needle was on her neck...

Here's my little friend. Got any suggestions for a name?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter

Nana and Pop (Matt's parents) came up to spend Easter with us. We laid low and enjoyed some time with the boys. They slept a little later than normal, but once they were up they had a ball with the stuff that the Easter bunny brought them. Here are a few pictures of them playing together this morning.



Jack has starting smiling bigger and showing his teeth. Here is a good picture showing his teeth. (Hint: If you click on the picture it will make it bigger, so you can see those sweet baby teeth.)


Matt and I cooked a ham, green beans wrapped in bacon, homemade macaroni and cheese, and deviled eggs for Easter dinner. After we ate a late lunch, Trent and his Nana made a bunny cake. Trent had a ball doing it.


We took some pictures with the cake because Fran has a picture of baby Matt with a bunny cake she made for him.

Here is a picture of all of the Gatewood boys.


We took lots of pictures, and my favorites are the ones that don't turn out the way we would like. Take a look at this one. Fran is talking, Larry is looking at the camera but not smiling, Jack is interested in the cake, and Trent is showing off his Spiderman tattoos. Priceless!


We hope that everyone has a blessed Easter!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Easter Egg Hunt

Our Easter plans were up in the air for awhile, but as soon as we knew we would be staying in Lakeland, we decided to host an Easter Egg Hunt. We invited some of our closest friends (with kids) and planned an egg hunt and cookout.

The Manthes, the Nannies, the Trustys, David Shaidnagle and Braiden, and the Hurts all joined us for the fun day! We had lots of babies at our house. Noah Manthe was still too small to play, but Jack, Caroline, and Cash had a ball together. Well, they actually played independently on the same blanket, but it made for some cute pictures.


We all visited for a little while we let the kids enjoy "visiting."


Melissa and Cash

Then the men hid the eggs, and the hunt was on. They had a ball running around the yard finding eggs.


Parker Nannie was by far the big winner. He was a man on a mission to get all the eggs he could. Look at his basket!


Matt also hid some confetti eggs. Trent's Nana brought them up. They are real egg shells filled with confetti. The boys had a ball cracking them. Here is Trent cracking one on Matt's head...


The kids had a ball. We couldn't even get a good picture because the kids were having too much fun to sit still for that long.


Poor Reese was the only girl old enough to actually hunt eggs, but she definitely did it in style. She is always dressed like a princess.


After a long day, everyone was tired and ready for a good night's sleep...


This isn't really from that day, but it is too cute not to post.

Funny side note:
Robin called last night to tell me a funny story. She was giving Parker his bath when Parker said, "Mommy, I want you to marry Trent's daddy."
Of course, Robin's reply was, "Why?"
Parker, "Because he's fabulous!"
Mark says, "You don't want me to be your daddy anymore?"
Parker replies, "Mommy can have two!"

How great is that? I guess that I need to watch out because Parker is a man on a mission... :)

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Family Fun :)

I finally got my new camera. In the end, it was delivered to our old house, and Matt had to go and get it from the new owner. It is in my possession now, so I am going to leave the rest of the story out...

Yesterday I had a full day of fun planned for Trent...

First, Trent and I went to a birthday party at Pump It Up. He had lots of fun as he always does at PIU. We left there and picked up a Happy Meal for lunch. Trent ate his lunch and went down for a nap pretty well. (Actually, I don't think he slept, but he did stay upstairs quiet for a little while.)

Once Trent and Jack were up, we headed to Hernando, Mississippi, to a farm. The Nannies were meeting us there to enjoy the day together. We made it a little earlier than them, so we had the boys' picture made with a live bunny while we waited. I can't wait to get them back, so I can post them on here. Trent was really good, but Jack just wouldn't smile. It took a little while, but we finally got a good one of the both of them. I will post them as soon as I can!

Then we headed to the playground. The Nannies got delayed due to a wreck on Hwy. 51. We passed it right as the emergency crews got there, but by the time they arrived the whole highway was blocked.

Jack and Trent enjoyed swinging on the playground...

Jack leaned forward in the swing the whole time. I guess he liked watching the ground :)

I guess he just wasn't in a smiling mood

Then Matt and David took the boys on the hayride to hunt eggs while Caroline had her picture made with the live bunny.



"Look what was in my egg!"

Then we headed to the petting zoo. Trent decided to be a pig...


We headed to see the Easter Bunny and take some more pictures. On the way to the farm we talked to Trent about seeing the Easter bunny, and he told us that he was going to hug the Easter bunny and sit in its lap. Well, this is as close as Trent got to the Easter bunny...


So Nicole and I took Jack and Caroline down to take some pictures. Jack was still in no mood to smile, so we got more pictures of a smiling Caroline with a pouting Jack...



Jack just didn't know what to think about that big bunny...


Then we headed to take Trent for his pony ride. On the way the boys wanted to play on the train.


Then after a few arguments, Trent finally rode on the pony. He ended up enjoying it.




On the way out of the farm, Matt had to show what Trent thinks the Easter bunny looks like...


Here is what other kids see...


We left the farm and went to one of our favorite restaurants - Olive Branch Catfish Company.

We enjoyed our day at the farm!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Frustration or Depression? I don't know....

Well, I have been putting off blogging until my new camera came in, but here I am AGAIN - without a single picture to share.

Matt ordered my camera last week and said he expected it to be here on Monday. Well, today is Wednesday and still NO CAMERA. And, of course, I asked Matt to give me the tracking number or some kind of information so I can see where it is, but he either doesn't have the info or just refuses to give it to me!

Anyway, to change the subject. It has been a busy week so far. We are on the countdown for TCAP. Testing starts the Tuesday after Easter, and I am trying to cram as much knowledge into my students' brains as possible. I don't think it is working either...

Matt's brother Scott came down from Illinois yesterday. He and Matt left this morning to go to Nashville for a UFC event. That leaves me at home alone with the kids and the dog. Overall, today hasn't been too bad. I had to stay after at school for our vice principal's surprise wedding shower. Then I went to Toys R Us. They had all of their Little Tikes stuff (29.99 or less) on a buy one get one free sale. I got 6 new things for the boys.

That was good too because Trent is always better with a new toy. I gave him the bathtub basketball goal that came with 3 basketballs. He was so excited! When we got home he went to the bathroom and took his shoes off and got into the tub. He played in the tub for about 30 minutes, and he was so happy. I gave Jack drums and he LOVES them as well. He patted on those drums for the longest time.

The other good part about giving Trent a bathroom toy is that he wanted to take his bath early. He started asking to take his bath st 5:30. I finally let him take his bath at about 7. He stayed in the tub until he started turning into a prune. :)

Now both boys are in bed, dishes are washed, lunch is packed. diaper bag is ready, and I am about to hit the hay! I still have a lot going on the rest of the week, and I need my sleep while I can get it!