wordless wednesday

love fall.

wooo pig sooie!

i've lived in arkansas for 9 years now (woah) so i figured it was about time to embrace this hog loving area.  i've been posting game day photos on facebook every saturday and wanted to share a few on the blog (arkansas is undefeated so far!)  wps!!

cookies, cupcakes & petit fours courtesy of the pinnacle white oak gas station :)

paxman and me

sweet brothers

love.

redshirting kindergarten

parker just finished his first week of kids day out (with style):

my work is usually flexible and i often pick parks and pax up at 1pm and work from home while they both nap (until 4pm this week!).  parker's sweet teachers commented both days about how smart he is and how they are impressed he already knows his colors and can count.  of course i smiled with glee and a little pride in myself for diligently working on these things with him.

last year parker's teachers never commented about him being smart.  he was still learning to talk (did not turn 2 until the last month of kdo) and was 5-8 months younger than all of the other kids (he was in the older 1 yr old class).  i even heard one teacher tell the other "you can really tell whose parents read to their kid" and i wanted to tell her to shut up--parker is a boy and he is by far the youngest kid in the class!

so hearing parker's teachers comment on his intellect this year makes me excited.  he is now in the younger 2's class (the 2nd half of the school year birthdays) and so all of the kids are within a month or two of his age and i've realized it is all about who you compare him to.  the same thing happened at church--one day his teachers raved about how he knew all of his animals, sounds, etc., and it was because he was in a class with kids younger than him.

so what does this social observation want to do?  redshirt him for kindergarten! after reading this ny times article and malcolm gladwell's book, outliers, this summer, i was seriously contemplating trying to give parker a competitive advantage by not putting him in kindergarten until he turned 6.  i still haven't completely made up my mind, but i'm leaning toward not doing it because he is in the 95% for height and weight and would just troll above the other kids if he was a year older than most, even with a late birthday.

through observing his school and social interactions, i know parks can hang with other kids who are a little older.  his pediatrician said she thought he would be just fine, but i don't want him to be just fine or hang in there--i want him to excel and be at the top.  maybe i just need to give that up...or i can use those desires for him to be the best and brightest to motivate me to work with him every day when we are home.

even though it is so easy to turn on the tv or get on the computer to "relax" when i come home from work, i am doing everything i can to keep both of them off until the kids are in bed.  when i give parker direct attention through playing together on the floor or reading cuddled up with him, he is much better behaved.  so for now i will keep watching and working with him on developing new skills and knowledge.  we will press on with shapes, numbers, letters, etc. and hopefully he will be more than ready for kindergarten in 3 more years!

are you going to try for a girl?

i can't tell you the number of times i have been asked if james and i are going to try for a girl.  i have always wanted a big family.  with james and i each having only one sibling, our extended family is pretty small (parker and pax have no cousins).  i've always loved getting together with my tens of cousins for holidays and love being around other large families.  i'd like to think that i am a pretty decent mom and could give many children love and opportunities.  so do i want more kids?  definitely.

james on the other hand isn't quite as eager.  it took a lot of convincing to give parker a lil' brother.  i honestly think james would have been perfecty content with just one child.  parker was an ideal baby and one of our biggest fears before pax was having a difficult child.  during my pregnancy with pax, everyone shared a story of how their kids were so different and if one was an easy baby, the next would be hard.

thankfully, we've had two very easy going babies who are very similar.  they look alike, act alike and are both extremely chill.  every day i am thankful for the blessings of the two healthy boys and the smooth pregnancies and deliveries.  virtually none of my biggest fears materialized and i thank God for having his hand in everything.  before having pax, i feared:

1. he would have colic (no)
2. breastfeeding would be difficult (actually much easier than with parker and in 3 months of life, pax's had zero formula and i have 10 extra bottles pumped and frozen!  love breastfeeding)
3. i would have to have a c-section (although pax's breach presentation threatened this, the ecv worked and no c-section [or pressure to have pitocin or induce!])
4. something would go wrong during labor (nothing besides an episiotomy and the labor was only 6 hours instead of the 18 with parks!)
5. he would have a serious developmental issue (none that i know of yet)

is pax a perfect baby?  no.  he doesn't love his carseat most of the time (although he did much better than expected on the 13 hour drive to wisconsin) and spits up a lot, but if those are the biggest issues, i cannot complain.

who knows if we will have more kids.  if we do, i'd like to be in a place where i could stay home with all of the kids.  having two parents at home makes such a difference and i don't think we could handle 3 with both of us working full-time.  for now i will continue to work and we will work to pay off our home even faster than planned (one of my friends just told me she paid hers off this summer and it was so inspiring to know that someone my age did it...we can do it, too!).  if we do have more kids, it will probably be a few years down the road. 
so are we going to try for a girl? my husband says absolutely not.  if we have more, he only wants boys (and keeps saying he is incapable of producing girls).  as much as i want to buy big bows and zebra print outfits for a little girl, i feel much more confident raising boys and am not sure i would have the patience to put up with girly screams and drama.  for now, i'll just keep loving on these little guys and enjoying every minute of their youth...

love yall.