more pics from Pa

The Gilmore's in the pumpkin patch. Jackson was on a mission looking for the smallest pumpkin for Charlie to take home. We were all sportin' different shades of orange. Jackson's only concern was his pumpkin.
James' 29th (!!) birthday party at the market. Jackson wanted to blow the candles out so that's why he stuck close to the cake...or was it that he wanted the cake? Who knows.

FOUR generations picture! We have the exact same picture with Jackson as a baby. So cool! ps...I am willed that porch swing when Grandma kicks it. There's lots of memories on that swing. Plus, it's so comfortable!
mommy and Jackson...he would just sit on the mule at the market and when someone had to go somewhere on it he was ready to go...he didn't miss a beat.
Happy Baby Charlie. He had a fresh outfit on so there's no spitup on him yet...He's nicknamed "The Yoder"....rightfully named by Steph:)

what's new

sorry, I took a short hiatus from blogging. There's been so much going on and we got back home from Pa on Monday. I've been nonstop with the unpacking, laundry, putting clothes away and cleaning my nasty house. James is rather messy. You know it's really bad when he hires a cleaning lady to come clean my house on the day I come home from the airport and I didn't even notice anyone had been here to clean. I was like, "What did she clean? I can't tell a difference!" It must have been REALLY bad. So that's what I've been doing since I got home. Plus Lana is bringing home her new boyfriend this weekend for us all to meet. I'm anxious and excited! However, I must state that he is an Auburn fan (strike one) and Lana is taking him to the LSU/Auburn game tomorrow. I think she's also making him sit in the student section....poor guy, he doesn't stand a chance.

Moving on....so Jackson has this nervous hair twirling thing that he does. He mostly does it when he's in the car and Charlie is screaming his head off and we can't do anything about it. Anxiety anyone? Last night I had to cut a chunk of his hair out because he twirled it so much it got matted and too tangled to get out, even with a massive amount of hair conditioner. My aunt suggests we buzz his hair. I just don't think I'm up for that. However, I'd rather him not walk around with a bald spot on the top of his head either. More updates on that later....

My sweet (and messy) husband surprised me Monday night when he picked us up at the airport. We were walking out to the car in the parking garage and I said, "Where's the car parked?" He said, "Straight out there"....so I'm walking down the aisle or row or whatever it's called and I don't see my car...I walk past this beautiful Toyota Sequoia and the lights start flashing and the car is being unlocked from a remote control that is in the hands of James! I said, "James Gilmore. Did you buy me a new car?" His beaming smile was priceless and I'm the luckiest girl in the world. He's too good to me:) This car is massive! We can't wait to take it on a road trip next weekend to Montgomery!

That's all for now....I'm still trying to potty train Jackson. If I leave a diaper off him and let him just go naked, he will go in the potty all day long. As soon as I put that diaper on, he poos in it. Little Stinker!!! I guess I need to just buckle down and get more serious about it. Have a great weekend!!!
ps..pictures to follow. I can't get them to download. Something is wrong with the website

Greetings from PA!

We've been in Pennsylvania since last Wednesday. We came up for the Pumpkin Festival at the farm! The weather has been hot and we are looking forward to this weekend...it's supposed to be in the low 60's! James flew back home today. He came up to deer hunt but didn't have any luck. The kids and I will be here until next Monday. I've attached a lot of pictures. We've had lots of fun so far. Jackson loves his cousins and they've been wearing him out playing everyday. Yesterday he went to bed at 6:30pm! THAT was awesome :)

This is James being the human kid carrier in the airport. I was pushing an empty stroller. Lucky me! People just laughed when they looked at James.
Jackson loves tractors! He's been riding them all week all over the farm with Jason.
Nana and Charlie at the festival. The weather has been unseasonably warm.

The artist hard at work painting his pumpkin that he picked out in the pumpkin patch. He sat there for at least 45 minutes painting.

Any resemblance??

This is baby Jackson: less hair, bigger lips...
This is baby Charlie: more hair, possibly bigger belly...

I came across a picture of Jackson when he was Charlie's age doing the whole bathtime thing. The recent picture I took of Charlie in his bath reminded me of this picture of Jackson. They look a lot alike. I think Jackson is a little older in his picture. Check out those bellies! They certainly take after their father in the eating department :)

My favorite time of day...

NAPTIME! You guessed it. Usually it's naptime for all of us but I have allowed the laundry and dishes to pile up even beyond my tolerence so therefore, I sacrificed my nap today for cleaning (and blogging obviously.) I've got the whole naptime thing down finally with two kids. I feed Charlie and get him really full and happy (our little tick) and rock him to sleep right before lunch. I feed Jackson lunch and then him and I go off to his bed for some afternoon snoozing. I usually wake up before Jackson does so I sneak out of bed and get at least a half hour all to myself! And that's what I get everyday. A half hour to myself. At least until James gets home and I go take a really really long shower:) Charlie is still very unpredictable with his sleep patterns. We usually have one good night out of four. He sleeps in stretches anywhere from 2 to four hours long. Lately, closer to 2 hours. It's tough. And I say I want a third child??? How did my mother do it?



he's a ham in front of the camera
taking a nap on "nanna's bed" as Jackson would say. It's the bed we put in the nursery.
the cloth diaper is put down because Charlie has a MAJOR spit up problem.

This is Charlie's first bath! He wasn't happy the first time but now he loves his baths.
Trying to get all those creases and crevices.
See what I mean by our little "tick?" His belly is huge! Notice I accidentally scratched him with my wedding ring. Oops...
We moved the glider from the nursery to the living room for now. I call it the "magic chair" because after everyone bathes, Daddy gets to rock the boys to sleep and mommy gets to go take that long shower! I truly think the chair has magical qualities, it puts them to sleep in record time!
Charlie LOVES his swing...and so does Jackson. He likes to make Charlie "go fast"...I have to use close adult supervision when Charlie is in his swing!

First Day of School

Monday was Jackson's first day of preschool. James took him to school and he walked into his classroom and said "Daddy, I go play!" No tears or anything! Today Jackson told James that "Jesus loves me." How cool is that!?
His school bag is bigger than he is.

Nana, Charlie and Jackson rocking
first signs of affection...there is hope!
say cheese!
poor charlie, he got tossed around quite a bit
He loves his baby brother:)

We are all doing well. My mom left yesterday and I miss her terribly! She was the biggest help to me. But I guess it's time to get this having two kids thing down on my own. Charlie is doing so good with nursing and sleeping! What a relief.

We're home!

sleeping...
Jackson visiting us at the hospital. He's "playing" on daddy's phone.
The only picture you'll see of me for a while. This one is taken before the REAL pain set it.
He's so sweet...he's got those Gilmore lips!
The proud Daddy.

Getting ready to leave the hospital.

We are glad to be home! We got home on Saturday evening from the hospital. Jackson is warming up to "Baby Charlie" as he calls him, more every day. It still seems surreal that I have TWO children. But it's wonderful and I just love my boys:) Charlie is an eater (surprise) and I feel like all I do all day is feed him! He's got a huge appetite along with a huge temper. He just screams when I'm not ready when he is to eat. And Jackson stares at him when he does this. My mom is here and Lana left today to go back to Atlanta. They have been a tremendous help throughout and I don't know what I'd do without them! Thank you. And thank you everyone for your prayers! We are so blessed.