HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSEPH!!

Okay, so I'm a little late (2 days) posting this particular entry...I hope I'll be forgiven.

I can't believe my baby baby is now 2 years old!! It seems like only yesterday that he was born.

I've included a couple of pictures that were taken a couple of weeks and then a month after his birth. I never got any pictures of him with my digital camera while he was still in the hospital. As he came 10 days early, I was a little unprepared. We did manage to purchase a disposable camera, so all was not lost. :)

Here a few pictures of the birthday boy on his big day....

We spent his birthday watching football with some good friends. The kids had a blast playing and the grown-ups got to watch some football and catch up. Joseph was playing with one of the balloons that was left over from the party we had thrown for him and his sister on Saturday. He kept releasing the balloons outside, saying "bye, bye boon." On Sunday, he proceeded to sit on the remaining balloons until they popped, to which he would reply, "boon pop."

The second picture shows how crafty the boy is. I walked into the office and found his standing on the computer desk. He hurriedly threw the camera down and acted like he wasn't doing anything. I checked the camera and could have sworn that it was off. Well, when I was downloading the pictures to the PC, I discovered about 10 or so of these "self-portraits" that Joseph had obviously taken of himself as he stood on top of the computer desk. This was the only one which captured his entire face, the rest are of his nose down! Ha!

For Anna Elise and Joseph's birthdays, we decided to have a party at our house. We invited gobs of children, rented a bouncy house, ordered pizza and ate cake. I think everyone had a blast! Joseph and Anna Elise (not to mention good ole' Mom & Dad and Jacq) were exhausted come Saturday night. But so worth it! Take a look....

I'll include some more snippets about Joseph in another post.

School Days

Well, Tuesday officially started the 2008 school year for the Polk Family. AE was sleepy, but excited about her first day. Joseph was a-okay with everything...picture taking, backpack wearing, walking into the building...until we ventured into his classroom. He lost it!! There were tears, clinging, a lot of drawn out "Mama"s. We walked around the room, I got him seated at his spot at the table, showed him his snack and then tried to leave. He wasn't having it! The teacher's aid finally had to pull him from my arms as I walked out with tears in my eyes. I then snuck a peek at him through a window and I got busted! So, the tears and Mama-calling started all over again. I ventured down the hall aways and waited a few more minutes. One of the other mommies from the classroom rounded the corner and let me know things had quietened down in the classroom. Whew! I could now breathe normally and leave the building. I didn't realize how much having my youngest away from me for even a short amount of time would affect me, but it has. Bittersweet!

I somehow managed to skip getting a picture of Anna Elise in her classroom (probably because Joseph was all over the place and I was trying to keep him from disrupting her room!). Sorry, babe!

So, I pick them up Tuesday afternoon and AE has had a wonderful day. Great! Joseph, on the other hand, refused to take a nap (which he LOVES doing) and is somewhat sleepy. No problem, he'll just go to bed early and I'll remember to tell the teachers about his pacy in his backpack. YES...I forgot to mention that he needs his pacy when he sleeps! Am I horrible mom or what?! All in all, though, the teachers said he did great. He ate well, played well, no problems. Terrific!

Fast forward to this evening for a recap of today's events, and well, there's not much to report. AE had another terrific day and was in great spirits when I arrived to get her. Joseph had received his pacy for nap time and had actually slept some (an improvement), but still appeared a little sleepy when I picked him up. So, I guess this Mother's Day Out is treating him okay (and as a bonus, I have some free time to get things done that would have been extremely more difficult to do with children in tow).

Hope everyone is having a great week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNA ELISE!!!!

I can't believe my firstborn is now four years old! As of 5:33am, September 4, my baby turned 4! Here are a couple of pictures from her first few days with us!




We really had a family day, as Jason was home sick with the Flu (yes, Flu, in September...imagine that!). We started the day by singing Happy Birthday to AE, letting her open a couple of presents, and then doing whatever she wanted the rest of the day.

Except....

She and Joseph had Open House at their school, so we had to visit with their new teachers, see their classrooms, and talk to other classmates and their parents. It was a little stressful for Joseph, but he warmed up as the time passed. We then went to the library, where the birthday girl checked out a couple of books, but no movies since we had met our quota on DVDs. After that, we went to Kroger to purchase cakes for their upcoming combined birthday party (as Joseph will turn 2 on September 14th), but then realized the cakes I wanted to purchase (Ariel and Thomas) were at Wal-Mart. Ugh!!! So, I get to Wally World, have the two kiddos in the back of the buggy, and proceed to order 2 cakes. They are bouncing up and down in the buggy and screaming at the top of their lungs as I'm trying to tell the very patient lady behind the counter which cakes I wanted to purchase and when I needed them. She looked at me and said we have a 24-hour turnover on our cakes, maybe you want to come back next week, when it's quieter? She wasn't being a smart-aleck, she was actually throwing me a bone, and I thank her dearly. So, I will go back to Wal-Mart either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of this next week, because as Jason has so eloquently said, time and time again..."the dream begins September 9th, 9am through 2pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...you're living the dream stay-at-home mom." But, as he also says, "it has been a four year, 24/7, pledeship."


Had a nice visit with Pawpaw and Nenie. Came home and had some cake (that AE had picked out earlier at our visit to Kroger), sang Happy Birthday again, and played around the house. It was a good day!!

We did something small on AE's actual birthday, because we are going to have a combined birthday party for both of them a week later. Not sure how many more years we'll be able to do that, but it's kind of nice not having to worry about two different parties!

Hope everyone has had a good week and will have a great weekend!!

Geaux Tigers!