well, hello there....

eek! i just read my last post and it made me really sad i haven't kept this up. its been over 2 years since the last time i posted. 2 years! wow, SO much has changed and happened. my little family surely doesn't shy away from change, thats for sure!! so, here goes!

June 2012, we decided to move to mississippi. we needed a change and we really wanted to be around family for anderson. we decided to move january 2013. even though we were looking forward to the move, i do have to say that the last 6 months we were in austin were probably the best we'd had since first moving in 2007. jakob started his solo music career and for some reason we really started enjoying the city more. i guess because we knew it was coming to an end! we did sort of contemplate not going back home but since we'd made the plan and told family, we knew we'd have to follow through! so...our plan was to move to jackson for 2 years and after that, we would reevaluate and see where to go after that.

we moved home and lived with my mom for 5 months until we moved into a rental in june 2013. i started working at a methodist church daycare and anderson went with me. he had a rough couple of weeks because my room was right next to his and everytime he walked by he saw me. he would hold his arms out and say "MOOOMMY!" one of his teachers told me that at nap time, he slept by the wall that joined our rooms. she said he would point at the wall while laying there and say "mommys in there."broke my heart! after 2 weeks, he was completely fine and LOVED his teachers (miss doris and mrs sherry) and really loved going to school. his language blew up and thus, started his never ending talking. i was so worried about him not having a large vocabulary at 3. well, i can say today...he has NO issues with talking. its non stop. all.the.time.

andersons love for cars, trucks, or anything with wheels has definitely intensified! his favorite center all through school at galloway was the car/truck center. he made several great friends his last year. lorenzo, ainsley, james, senyo and charlie were his little "group." charlie and anderson really became 2 peas in a pod! they became so inseparable, they had to be separated in class! evidently, what they thought was fun and funny in class, their teachers didn't!! they had their own little inside jokes and loved each other so much!! anderson loves school but when he went into the 4 year old class and we had conferences, one thing he struggled with was doing things he didn't want to do. like, actually working! he loved playing and that is all he wanted to do! writing, computer time, story time....if it took him away from playing, he didn't really want to be a part of it. so, that is something he worked on. he got better but there's still room for improvement! since his language blew up after moving, he started saying a ton of funny stuff that of course made jakob and i laugh all the time! when his foot was asleep he would say it had been "sprinkled," lightening was the sky cracking and hugging was "pressing." around age 4 he started asking a ton of questions. a lot of "but, why" and he always wants an answer! if i didn't know he would say "just tell me!!" and i would try to make something up but now hes catching on and telling me my answer doesn't make sense! oops!!

hes definitely a little comedian. he loves making people laugh and saying things that are crazy just for a response. he is still SO stubborn. he has his own ideas of what he wants to do, wear and say! he went through a phase in 4k where he wore his fireman costume pants (from when he was 2) for about 2 weeks straight. he wore overalls from the week of his 5 birthday all the way until july of this year. he has my clothes issue where they can't be too tight or loose and most definitely cannot be itchy. his teachers learned to just go with whatever he came in wearing!

our time in mississippi was great. we reconnected with old friends. made new friends. and the help we had from my family was incredible. he spent every friday night with yia yia (my mom) and allie and audrie. seeing how much fun he had with my family was so incredible. with everyone wanting to spend so much time with him, jakob and i were able to do so much together! going out to eat, going to see bands or going to a friends house was no big deal because we knew he was with family and we didnt have to worry about him. and we knew he was having a blast so that made it even more stress free!!!

anderson was having a blast in jackson. jakob and i, however, were not. we had basically everyone we loved in one city. we had all the help we could handle. we had a wonderful house to live in and i had a great job. it just wasn't austin. and we never shook the feeling that "home" wasn't home anymore. austin became our home. so, we took a trip to austin in february 2014 and the minute we drove in, we knew. the trip was great. we were sad to leave. and we came home, discussed for a week or so and decided to come back home. it wasn't easy. we were leaving our families again. giving up all the help we could ever have or want. i was leaving my job i liked. and most importantly, we were taking anderson away from everyone he loved and everyone he loved were losing him. we didn't make the decision to move back very easily, but it was an easy decision for us. we knew giving up alot and moving away would be hard, but austin!! its amazing to live in a city you actually believe in and gives you butterflies. i love the fact i can be driving somewhere here and think " i can't believe i live here!" that has never gone away in the 6 years we've been together!

so here we are. back home. and LOVING it.

anderson and i will start school next week. we will be going to st. davids episcopal dayschool. he will be starting kindergarten! omg. i can't believe it. he is looking so forward to it. the week after we moved back i put him in the summer camp at st. davids. i, of course, was so nervous he would be shy and wouldn't want to go back after the first day. but he loved it. he definitely isn't shy! he walked right in every day with no hesitations. i am looking forward to starting my job and seeing what all anderson will learn this year!!

here is anderson at 5:
he's still very stubborn. very. he loves babies. he's gentle with younger kids than him. he's rough and tough at home but outside of home, he's usually on his best behavior! he's sensitive to others feelings, he loves his mom and dad (randomly all the time he tells us he loves us. his thing now is to tell me "im breaking his heart" and when i ask why he says "because i love you so much"), he hates hearing the word no and doesn't like to be told he can't do something (i MAY has passed that one down to him!), he is very observant and knows if you are wearing something new! he doesn't hesitate to tell us we look "beautiful" or "handsome" which is the sweetest thing ever, he gets frustrated if he can't do something, he talks non stop, he's funny and loves to try to make you laugh with things he says, he's had an imaginary friend "pootie" for a year or so and makes up stories as to where pootie is or what he's doing, he hates getting water in his face, he loves being around people and isn't shy at all (jakob passed that one down!) he still loves cars, trucks or anything with wheels!! he's just a super sweet, funny little guy and jakob and i just love him so much!!

well, there you go! 2 years in a nutshell. i hate that i haven't written all of this as it happened. oh well, maybe i will do better?!?!!!

silly face 2014

matching tats 2014

at the park 2013

cut his bangs 2013

prek 4 2013

funny face 2013

watching the garbage men june 2012

birthday ice cream may 2012

first pedicab ride june 2012

2012

3 year check up 2012

wore this to school for weeks 2013

5th birthday!

christmas school party 2013

2013

family birthday party december 2013

haircut 2013

wow. i really suck at this.

as you can obviously tell, i haven't been keeping up with this whole thing. for 2 years. that's unreal. time really does go by so fast.

i've looked through this blog several times over the past couple of years and intended to get around to writing about what has been going on. i've put it off every time thinking i would find the perfect day to sit down and fill in the years i've let go by. i guess this is my perfect day. so.....

anderson just turned 3 a week ago! i honestly cannot believe he's already 3. i can't even say that enough. last year was full of getting to know this little guy! he really started developing his personality, likes, and dislikes at 2. he definitely had a bout with the terrible two's! wow. the fits this child can throw! he knows what he wants and if he doesn't get it, he will put up a fight for it! that is something that we dealt with a lot last year. he was testing the limits. all the time. he really developed his love (um, more like, OBSESSION) with trucks too. the boy loves anything with wheels. in august, i got a part time teaching job at an episcopal preschool. the awesome part is that anderson went with me. i was in a different class (thank goodness!) but i could spy on him whenever i wanted and i actually got to see him a lot during the day. i loved still being with him all day, but not really being with him! he did really well at school. he ate lunch at school (prepared by a cook) and actually started eating a few more foods because of that. he's been a pretty picky eater (not many vegetables, no potatoes or mushy foods) so it was nice seeing him eating things that he would've normally never touched had i made them at home! he liked music class. he was coming home and "singing" some of the songs, which i couldn't understand, but he seemed to really know what he was singing! he really loved his teachers, jessica and laura. he made a couple of friends, theo and nicholas. they weren't in his class but he played with them at recess. he really didn't play with any of his friends in his own class. unfortunately, i had to quit my job in april and anderson and i have been at home ever since. i know he really liked the structure and routine, but every time we've passed the school's street on the way somewhere he tells me "no 'cool', mommy." he does it when we get dressed in the mornings too. so, i don't think he's that heartbroken over having to stay at home with me!!

anderson has started trying to make me and jakob laugh. he thinks pooting is funny. he laughs at "funny" things when he watches a movie or cartoon. he's really into saying "watch this mommy," and he'll twirl around or jump or fall down. he's still very much in love with trucks. i think we may have 88 trucks, of all kinds (he doesn't discriminate), at home. he loves watching bob the builder and old spiderman cartoons. we have to limit how much kung fu panda he watches because after one episode, he thinks he knows karate. i'm usually on the receiving end of that one. he LOVES his daddy. he's just started asking me "daddy on way" near the end of the day. he runs to the door when he hears jakob come in from work. he's super sweet when he wants to be. he loves to rub your arm when he gets tired. he'll look up at me and know he's tired but he's trying not to be and he looks at me goes "hey, mommy." it melts my heart. he's very gentle with children. especially with younger kids. he loves babies. he is a very easy child for other kids to get along with. he's not aggressive at all. in fact, when he was in school, that was something we kind of had an issue with! he wouldn't take up for himself. he's working on that now. he loves artie and inri. he likes to ride artie like a horse, pull his ears like reigns and say "EEEEaaaaah." of course, artie doesn't mind. he lets anderson do whatever to him, just as long as he gets attention from him!!! he's starting to like to be read to. he's never been into books but recently, it's one of his favorite things.

we've been to MS several times. he's flown on a plane twice in the past year. the last trip, it blew his mind. he was so excited to be riding on the plane and soaked up the whole experience. he loves his cousins and yiayia. it's been the past year that he really has started to "know" family members. he talks about yiayia a lot and the past couple of times he has talked about allie and audrie after we get home. now, he totally gets it and knows who they are and asks about them all the time. it makes me really sad when he asks about everyone back home and thinks they can just come over and play with him. he gets disappointed when i tell him they can't come over. i feel my heart break every time that happens. he's starting to want to be around everyone back home a lot more.

there are so many things i want to write about anderson. funny things he says that i don't want to forget. fun things we've done together or things he's excited about. there are so many things that i'm afraid as time goes by i will forget. but i think the most important thing that i can remember is what a fantastic child i have. he's sweet and mindful of others. he's very strong willed and funny and so stubborn. he's such a wild little spirit. i still look at him and cannot believe he's mine. he's such a beautiful kid and all i want is for him to be happy in life. whatever he does, whoever he becomes..that's all i'll ever want for him.

so...happy 3rd birthday, anderson. i look forward to celebrating many more years with my boy. you're the light of my life.

i'm going to really try to post more. i'm sure no one is reading this! but it will be nice to go back and be able to read this years from now. i'm going to end this with some pics of A!!!

                 anderson's 2nd birthday 

(he had a fever virus, so we didn't have him a party that year)

going to the school thanksgiving lunch!

                                         

      at a birthday party in jan 2012. 

     he loves a bouncy house!

meeting eloise for the 1st time april 2012 (he calls her "weeze")

his 3rd birthday present from mom and dad! best day of his life!!

birthday boy!! such a little dude!

long time!

needless to say, i guess i'm pretty bad at this whole blogging thing!! almost 6 months without a post...anders has definitely grown and changed a bit! i will write a longer post complete with updated monthly pics of anders soon.

there's so much to tell! until then, here's a pic of 10 month old anders...who is now 11.5 months old. his birthday is in a couple of weeks! WOW! cannot believe it!!

sweet baby

                                                   reading!

                             waiting for breakfast! 6 months old! 

pumpkins and halloween

we thought we'd get some really cute "fall" (and free) pictures of anders outside of whole foods, but he wasn't having it...he could've cared less to have his picture taken. he was too busy chewing on his clothes.

now more interested in his finger..
pod of peas! this lasted a total of 10 minutes before he got hot and started screaming.

5 months old and first trip to MS

we had our first trip to jackson on the 7th. anders was PERFECT on the trip there and back. he slept most of the time and just woke up to play or eat for a minute. we had such a wonderful, awesome trip home. anders met g-mama and papou, ginger got married, and we got to visit with family and a lot friends we haven't seen in a while. we also had a HUGE baby party at our friends jay and jackie's house. the picture above is us attempting to get a picture of all the babies. that's the best photo we got. they were all over the place!! i was pretty busy with gin's wedding preparations (FUN!!) so, we didn't get alot of visits in to some people..but we'll hit them up our second round home in november for thanksgiving!!! we can't wait to some back and see everyone...again! it was a fun, successful trip and anders did so well, we were impressed!!

so anders is 5 months old now! he's rolling over from his back to tummy now. he actually started it the day he turned 5 months old. he also is babbling and cooing like crazy! it's SO cute and makes me laugh all the time now. he's such a source of entertainment..i can sit and watch him all day!!! he's reaching and grabbing for everything! and everything he gets goes into his mouth. he focuses so well on things and loves to touch things. he's started a cute little game where he stares at you until you look at him and then he looks away and squeals, then he looks back at you to see if you're still looking at him! it is adorable! he's starting to sit up by himself now...sort of. he can for a few seconds by himself. by thanksgiving he will be sitting up! he is absolutely the best baby ever!!

happy baby!

4.5 months old!

anders had his 4 month check up a couple of weeks ago. he's in the 50th percentile in height (25 inches) & weight (14.6lbs) and his head is of normal size! yay! the doctor said he's perfect. he is still having issues with his eyes, the doctor said it is his tear ducts and if they do not clear up by 9 months old, he will have surgery. hopefully we will not need it.

he is reaching for everything now and putting whatever he gets into his mouth! hearing him laugh is the cutest thing! he gets really teased and will laugh and hide his face and then look at me out of the corner of his eye! he loves to be held but now he's getting to where he likes to be put down on his stomach and patted on the back to go to sleep. he is rolling over from his tummy to his back but hasn't quite figured out how to get from his back to his tummy..he's trying though! i have seen a temper starting to develop over the last week too! he's getting to where he is screaming out really loud if he doesn't like something. he fights sleep now, which is no fun...he usually does not go to sleep without a fight. he just wants to stay awake as long as jakob or i are awake. i think he's scared he's going to miss something. we started on cereal a couple of days ago. he's doing great. i mix in a little applesauce or pears with it and he eats the heck out of it!! i'm getting anxious about when to start weaning him to the bottle. my goal was 6 months old, which is 6 weeks away (whoa!)...but we will see. if he's not ready, i'm not going to push it, but i'm getting kind of ready. i'm not too comfortable with the idea of breastfeeding a child with teeth or that is going to be teething, so i'm guessing we will start the weaning process sometime in november. i'm also ready to start back working and don't want to still be exclusively breastfeeding while i'm working full time. sooooo...wish us luck...i think he may have a hard time giving this one thing up!!!!

time is really going by extremely fast. and because of this, i hold anders whenever/for however long i want, don't let him cry for very long when he wants to be picked up, kiss him and squeeze him....i don't think you can "spoil" a 4 month old and even if you can, i don't care...he's only a certain age once and i will never get any of these moments back. sometimes i pick him up in the middle of him napping just to hold him and i don't care if he wakes up, i just want to hold him because i won't be able to when he's not a baby anymore. jakob walked up to him the other night when he was asleep after getting home late and anders had already gone to bed. he looked at me and said that he wanted to hold him so bad...so, i told him just to pick him up and hold him. there's no rule that he can't. and yes, as exhausted as i am, i told him if he woke up, i'd deal with him and stay up to put him back down. i'm just so glad that he's here, healthy and happy, i'll take an hour less of sleep just to have him smiling at me and cooing at 12 at night.

oh, i've noticed i haven't updated on our house in a while. it's made progress! as of last monday, the insulation has been put in. they should be sheetrocking it this weekend. i'm thinking it may be finished end of october!! we're so excited. this has been a stressful year long process that jakob and i are ready to put to and end! i will post about the process of this ordeal later. but, we've made it through and hopefully will be in our new house in a little over a month!!

my cousin cameron is leaving for iraq as we speak, so please keep him in your thoughts.
oh, and today is my sister's birthday..i forgot to call (mom brain is like having mashed potatoes for brains)...so, i'm sending her a happy birthday across the world wide web! also, my mom (yia yia) came for a visit this past week! we had a fun visit...i don't think i've ever heard anders laugh so much. i was sad to see her go..but we will be in jackson in a couple of weeks for ginger's wedding and anders will get to finally meet a lot of family! i'm so excited about him meeting his g-mama for the first time. it's his only living great-grandparent! i will have a lot of pics to post after his first trip to mississippi!!!!