48/52 - A Portrait a Week

Here is one of those smiles I talk about that are hard to come by around here!

Another week = Another cheesy smile from James! :o)

My two handsome boys together!

And a rare picture of all 3 of us!

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013"

47/52 - A Portrait a Week

Starting to get caught up and have to look back a few weeks now to find my favorites from then!

My VERY serious faced baby making his usual face. His smiles aren't easy to come by but when they do come they are wonderful. Here he is getting used to being on his tummy, won't be long now before he's crawling! 

 James absolutely loved his swimming lessons! Here is in that week in the middle of his class just grinning away at me :)

And one of them together of course!

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Wow, 2 whole weeks with no blog post

I'd love to say that it was because I was super busy, but in reality, I was just being lazy and not spending much time at the computer. I've been obsessed with a show that I borrowed from my friend called Brothers and Sisters. It aired on ABC from 2006-2011 and I have to say I completely love it. I've stayed up way to late on way too many nights watching it and can say that I am actually almost done the series. I'm looking forward to being done but can truly say I've loved watching it. It will definitely be a series I will buy on DVD.

Anyways, lots of blog posts to catch up on. Jordan's 5 and 6 month photos (how the hell did that happen so quickly?!), and a bunch of Show & Tell and Portrait of the Week posts too! I may or may not get them done this weekend as we are going away to the Island. I haven't decided whether I am going to take the computer with me or not, but probably not so may not see anything until the middle or end of next week from me.

For now though, here's some adorable pics of the kids just because no post is really great without photos in it!

Staying Connected

We are about a third of the way through our second shift of Daddy being away and we are all coping. Some days I think I'm going to lose my mind completely or James has lost his mind completely, but each day we get through it and we are both still alive at bedtime, so I call that a win day. It's not easy by any means, but we are making it work.

Jim having an iPad and us having the iPhone has made our life still seem so connected with Daddy, even though he is away. This shift he is working nights which has been really nice for the boys and myself because we are able to talk to him twice a day instead of just once after he's worked a 15 hour day. He is staying closer to site this time too so his commute is at least a little bit less than it was when he was housed in Terrace and working in Kitimat. 

On Sunday, James had a busy day with a birthday party and I could tell he was tired and was likely to go into meltdown mode if he didn't have some quiet time. Unfortunately Jim didn't sleep much that day so was awake and killing time before leaving for work so I suggested that Daddy maybe could read a couple of stories to him to calm him down. I took some Robert Munsch treasury books to my parents where we were having Sunday dinner and Jim pulled out his little mini books and this is what happened. It was exactly what both James and I needed in that moment, and because of modern technology we were able to get it, which is amazing.

I love that every single time James starts talking to Jim his first question to him is "Daddy, do you want to see Jordan?" And Daddy always says sure so off he goes to find him. Here is an adorable photo of James showing Jordan their Daddy.

And here is the look on Jordan's face when he sees his Daddy! There is definitely no shyness or wondering about who his Daddy is! Every time Jim's face comes on the screen his face breaks into a smile, and it is absolutely adorable.

Thank you to the technology gods out there that have created products that are allowing our family to still be a family even with one key member not physically being here. We are making due and will continue to do so for as long as it is working for all of us.

46/52 - A Portrait a Week

On Saturday morning we were in a hurry but I took the few extra moments we had to let James do something fun...jump in my MONSTER pile of clean laundry. He had an absolute blast and seeing this look on his face, made it all totally worth it!

Now moving onto my little superstar Jordan! Look at the face on that kid! He is too cute in these photos.

And a new favourite photo of them together!

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013"

I miss the old days, but love who he is at the same time!

Early this morning James asked me if he and I could have a picnic today, complete with blanket and all. Of course I took this rare opportunity to take a few extra minutes and do something fun with James. He spent at least 5 minutes a few times this morning just laying out the blanket and asking if it was time yet for our picnic. Lately I'm feeling like not a great mom and that sometimes he definitely isn't getting the best out of me. I want to do fun stuff with just him, but it's hard with Jordan napping (or not napping) etc. I know it's just excuses and today was a perfect example of just making the time.

Anyways, got off topic there! Today we are sitting there eating our little snack picnic lunch and on comes the song that was huge the summer after James was born in 2010. The song is by Sugarland and it's called Stuck Like Glue. It's a faster tempo song and I have so many memories of dropping what I was doing, picking him up no matter where he was or what he was doing, and just singing and dancing with him to that song. I tell James every time it comes on that when he was a baby we danced and sang to the song. I'm waiting for the day that he recognizes the song too! It's one of those songs that no matter what, you know you will always have those memories of what you did when you hear it.

So today, as I sit there kinda bopping along to the song, and what does James say to me?

"Mooommmm, can you please stop doing that? You are really getting on my nerves!"

Yup, like I said, I miss the old days...but also really really love who he is today too! Definitely a memory for the record books.

Preschool Show & Tell - Week 10

We were rushing and in a huge hurry on Tuesday with it being Daddy's last day with us so I told James to run downstairs and pick something for S&T. I was shocked to see this truck was his choice because I have NEVER even seen this toy in my house, let alone him ever play with it. But oh well, it's what he wanted to take so off he went. I do wonder though what the heck he told them about it?!?! :o)

Preschool Show & Tell - Week 9

This week's item was his stethoscope. He loves to be a doctor and check on us, but it's so funny when he asks to listen to your heart and then lifts your shirt from the bottom and sticks that cold little thing straight into the middle of your belly! He had my mom crying so hard from laughing one night. 

Maybe when he's older he will become a doctor and put me and his Daddy up in a real nice old folks home (together preferably)!

I'm not sure why he looks so pissed off, but it's a cute picture anyways!

Family Photos - Fall 2013

This past weekend we went out and had some fun family photos taken by a friend of mine, Jen Parkin. I think they turned out great, especially considering Jordan was on a nap strike and James is in an extremely cheesy phase of life! 

Thanks so much Jen for taking our family photos this year. Family photos are some of my favourite yearly memories. I can't wait to decide on my favourite shots for the Christmas cards and the dining room wall :o)