August Vacations

Jesse's Daddy and I did the unthinkable.  We went on a vacation without Jesse.  I'd been away from Jesse for a night a couple of times, but we decided to go on a 5 day cruise - but we'd drive down to Galveston and back.  That was a week away from my baby. 

It took a lot of time to prepare and plan.  Jesse would spend half of that week with my parents and the other half with Scott's - and Barry.  I knew we couldn't leave Jesse with anyone who loved him more.  He enjoyed himself and got lots of love from grandparents.  I also held onto what I heard from a few people:  the best thing you can do for you child is to take care of your marriage. 

It was very nice and relaxing.  This was our frequent view as we read on comfy, cushioned lounge chairs.  I devoured The Hunger Games series...awww the easy-read teen romance/action book...  :)

When we got back, we took Jesse back out to Bartlesville's Kiddie Park.  He enjoyed driving the blue car.  He looks like a serious cruiser.

Co-captain of the boat - it's a two-seater

He's letting us know that he's getting ready to drive that horsey.  He was very interested in the other kids going around and around. 

Jesse and Daddy went on the Little Dipper roller coaster together.  Jesse didn't enjoy it too much.  He had a pretty frightened face the whole time, but he didn't cry.  This picture is so funny to me, "You're gonna make me ride WHAT?!"

There they go!  Off on the Little Dipper!

See!  Jesse got a little vacation too.  :)

Hot August

My sweet Jesse is sleeping!  He is really napping it out today.  I've gotten jipped on the length of naps the last couple of days.  He tends to do that.  He'll take shorter ones here and there, then he'll CATCH UP.

So, while he catches up on napping.  I'll work on blogging.  :)

As the wind whips around, the temperature drops, and the sun is hidden by a sky full of clouds, I'll post these warm weather pictures.  :)

What's better than getting to play with WATER?!  My sweet sister-in-law Yvette found this pool for Jesse at a garage sale for $1!  I love garage sales!!

Let's see, there's a sprinkler, two crocs, a hose, and empty milk gallons in there with this boy.

Barry takes a drink...

...so Jesse takes a drink!

Best friends!!  Jesse LOVES his dog!

Poor dog!  This was the only shade he could find - about a foot's width by the fence.  He tollerates Jesse's love.

Whoo-eeee!!!  Mom's given me free reign of this hose!! 

I just love how happy this boy is!  Jesse also prefers to wear his 'sim soot' when he gets to pick out his clothes.  It doesn't really matter where he goes.  I don't blame him - they're sure exciting!  :)

"Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen"

I sprayed him, and he didn't want me to stop  :)

This is why you take pictures - to remember how much fun we had and how adorable he is.  And when he's napping, like now, I can enjoy him, while allowing him to rest, and letting myself recoup.

Happy boy!

August Review Part 1

Funny Jesse!  Here's a little picture story.  (With a lot of my commentary.)  Our family decided to pick up a Simple Simon's pizza - a large is $5 after 7 pm...or something reasonable like that.  Scott probably watered the yard when we got home, Jesse and I headed inside.  I set the pizza on the island in the kitchen and ran to the bathroom.  I hadn't bothered to even turn on the lights.  I came out and looked for Jesse - walking past the kitchen to his room.  He wasn't there.  I came back to the kitchen and saw him sitting at the table in the dark...turn on the light, and he's got a piece of pizza he's eating.  Jesse really likes pizza.

Wait a minute.  The box is still on the island - closed.

And every last piece of pizza is on table next to Jesse.

Oh, ok!  It's empty. 

My theory:  Jesse couldn't wait on Daddy and Mama, and helped himself.  He pulled the box off the island.  He either removed each piece from the box and put them on the table, or he picked them all up from the floor.  Then he put the box back on the island.  What a clever little goober!

Jesse absolutely loves that we have 'Moos' behind our house sometimes.  The first time we realized it, we even got him out of bed to come look.  We hold him up high to see.  Now he wants me to hold him up high to see the neighbor's dog in their backyard.  That's inappropriate, Jesse.  :)

Somewhere along the way, Jesse Blakemore fell in love with 'Bar-ee' (Barney).  It's SO nice to have that option.  I can fix dinner, and Jesse will be entertained by a singing dinosaur and friends.  I love that my boys were resting together.  This is NOT a normal thing for Jesse.  He's also brought a pillow from our bedroom into the living room...  Anything to haul stuff around, dump it, and make a mess. 

In August, we went to Enid for a party for 'She-she' (Sheri).  Jesse got to run around with his cousins Elyse and Ella.  Ella's such a cool big cousin!  Jesse ran around the whole place all night long - unless, or couse, he was eating. 

Catching Up Attempt...from July

I'm not a faithful blogger.  (I realize this is an unnecessary statement - it's obvious.)  But I am a faithful mother.  I keep up with Jesse.  He always eats - usually pretty good food.  I'm a faithful launderer.  We always have the option of clean clothes to wear.  I'm NOT the best stain remover - that title goes jointly to my Mother- and Father-in-law.  They are the world's best at that.  Jesse's Memaw Blakemore once got permanent marker out of my favorite pair of teaching khaki pants.  PERMANENT marker - gone!  That was back before she was Jesse's Memaw or I was even a Blakemore.

Anyhow.  I've been busy with other things.  :)  But I thought I'd try catching up - so I, at least, can look back and remember some fun Jesse stories.  I'm sure all of my readers are long gone.  :)

In July, Jesse got to spend some time with his cousins in Enid.  I'll be so thankful when we can get a good picture of them all smiling.  After this shot, in which Jesse seems to be thrilled, we started losing our subjects, Jesse even stuck his finger up his nose...  It went down hill from here.  :)  But they're precious - Jesse, Elyse, and Erin.  :)

 Next, we have a shot of Jesse being a big boy and getting hair cut at Kidooz.  He gets to ride in a car and watch a video while scissors and clippers are all around his head.  He does a great job - as does the stylist. 

Warning:  this is a very sad picture coming up!  Praise Jesus my boy didn't have to get stitches!  He was running in my bedroom, thrilled to have snagged my chapstick, when he took a tumble.  It happened in the amount of time it took me to take his dirty diaper to the garage.  He tripped and fell head first into the corner of my bedroom door.  It sure looked sad for a while!  :(

One weekend, Daddy, Jesse, and I went to check out the Wildlife Safari in Caney, KS.  It was SO neat!  Jesse thought this bear was a 'doggy'. 

Daddy had a truckful (a VERY big dumptruck full) of dirt delivered to our driveway so we could level out our backyard.  It was terribly rutted from the trucks driven back there to install the fence, then the digging for the spinkler system.  That wouldn't have been much of a problem if it had all taken place in the mid- to late-summer when the ground was as hard as cement.  But this all seemed to take place while the ground was nice, wet, and smooshy.  Jesse pitched into help carry dirt in his wheelbarrow.  We also owe both Memaws and Papas for their blood, sweat, and efforts as well!!

July was the hottest month on record in OK.  We tried staying indoors most of the time.  Execpt for that whole truck load of dirt we shoveled, wheeled, and raked into our backyard.  Like Jesse's Papa Blakemore said, Jesse shouldn't roll an ankle playing football or soccer in the backyard now.  :)  

Whoo hooo!!!! Fun!

Jesse got to experience the Kiddie Park. I've heard about Bartlesville's Kiddie Park may times, but I'd never been. We went one night with Papa and Mamaw Blakemore. WHAT FUN!!!! :)

Jesse first loved the opportunity of getting to hold onto and turn a steering wheel. Then he wasn't so sure about his car moving around. After a couple turns of his first ride, he got into it and LOVED it. :) What a joy - watching him ride his first rides. :)

Checking out the first ride of the night.
Jesse saw some cars and was very interested.


Strap him in tight, Papa


Oh, what fun! I can spin this steering wheel!

I love it, I love it, I LOVE it!!

Oh man! You, back there!
Did YOU know this thing was gonna move?!

Oh no, oooooooh no!
I'm NOT liking this!

I just saw my family, and they were smiling.
They didn' send me off on this forever...

My Dad and Papa think I should be having fun...

It's not so bad - I like driving this car in a circle!

Not a care in the world...

Watch me dominate this Big Rig

" Toot! Toot!" We're on a train ride!
Jesse knows what trains say, but he thinks they're 'cars'...

What's up ahead, Jesse??

Oh man! We're in a dark tunnel, and he doesn't know what to think.

Dad posed with Jesse before the carousel started moving.
Scott didn't ride, but Jesse liked riding the horse. 'Neigh!!!'

Oh, Jesse! Don't jump out of the boat.
Don't stick your hand over the side -
we don't want it to get smashed!

Oh no! My baby is way over on that side in the water!
He was terrific boat captain.
Or co-captain to that girl who got to the front first. :)

Jesse wanted to ride these cars again.
This is a tractor, but Jesse calls everything that makes a motor sound a 'Car'.
We double checked his straps, since it looked like he could jump off the ride.

Jesse loved the tractor ride!

This was Jesse's last ride of the night.
Again, we were nervous about this ride.
Jesse was rushed to the orange plane, and fastened in by me,
Scott, and the ride supervisor.
It goes around and up and down. Jesse did great! :)

**Just a little plug for anyone in this area - you should come check out the Kiddie Park! Each ride is or two tickets - mostly one. Each ticket is a quarter. It's such a blast!! And you can stay with us!

Neglecting and New Things

If there's anything in my life that can be safely neglected, it's this blog. :) I've started a few posts, but they go unfinished. Better this blog going to the wayside than so many other things: my husband, my son, my dog, the cooking, cleaning.........

We're getting settled into Bville very nicely. Slowly but surely, we're making this house work for us.

Instead of writing for days, I'm going to list information on my Jesse. :)

New things Jesse is doing and things he loves:

Talking - Jesse is talking a lot more than he was the last time I posted. Some words Jesse has...or at least he has a VERSION of these words:
Papa, Mamaw, Dada, Mama, Car, Shoe, Barry, See ya, Bye bye, milk, juice, snack, Dosh (for my brother Josh), Raura (for Scott's sister Laura), dog, bird, mail, hi, please, Wuv yew (love you), No way, Uh oh, Oh no, Melmo (for Elmo), BUUU (for bug), Haley, Mike, cookie, tree, Wawa (anytime he sees water)...

He can name lots of things in books. He has mastered MANY animal sounds and body parts. Such a smart little booger. :) He tries to say almost anything we ask him to say - it just sometimes may sound like 'Awaaaa'

Parks and Playgrounds - Jesse really enjoys going to the playground in our neighborhood. He learned to love to slide - even daring the really, really tall spiral slide that makes me so nervous. I have to follow him up the steep stairs to make sure he doesn't fall. Uuf! He loves swinging, and he really likes for me to either swing beside him or pretend like it hurts SO badly when he 'runs' into me with his swing. We enjoy watching, pointing out, naming, and sometimes running after the birds and bunnies ("Hop! Hop!") that play around the playground.

Watering and Yardwork - Jesse loves to help me water. I'm super classy and use old milk containers to water my plants. (Scott's in the process of deciding on a long hose for the big backyard. 100 ft? 130 ft? Commercial grade? Heavy duty?) Jesse takes one old milk gallon filled only a little bit, and I take the other to water the plants. He often waters himself more then the plants.

When I pull weeds, I sometimes chunk them over our fence - it's the wild blue yonder out there - not maintained by an HOA or the city, just wildlife. (My Katy friends will not understand this.) I also pick up rocks (dug up from our extremely rocky ground by the spinkler people) and chunk them over the fence as well. Jesse likes to help pick weeds - or grass, whatever - and rocks. I pick him up to let him throw them over the fence. He could go and go and go on that! :)

Bathtime - Jesse's such a great helper at bathtime. At the mention of bathtime, Jesse will run into the bathroom. He can take his shorts off, and even start on his diaper. Shirts are still too tricky for him, but I still need a job in this process. He can turn the water on and sometimes prefers it to be on throughout the entirety of the bath. I turn it off, he turns it on... And so we go. :) He often insists on 'Bubbles'. Bathtime is a fun time around here.

Laundry - Jesse is a helper with laundry. He's super when it somes to switching clothes from the washer to the dryer. He opens the dryer door. I hand him wet clothes, and he puts them in the dryer. When they're all in, the closes the door. I set the time, and he starts her up. He helps me unload the dry clothes into the laundry basket and even helps carry his end of the basket into the bedroom or living room - wherever we're planning to fold.

Most recently, and unfortunately for me, Jesse has discovered and become very much aware of the lint catcher. He pulls it out and pulls it out and pulls it out. Sometimes he gets fired from his job with the laundry. He also likes to check to see if the clothes are dry yet. He'll open the door - stopping the drying process. I've put a lock on the top of the laundry room door to keep the dryer going.

Doors - If you haven't spoken with me since we've moved, you may not know how door handles (rather than door knobs) have been an enemy of mine in this new house. Jesse can open EVERY SINGLE door in this house, because they all have door HANDLES. Aaaaarrrrrggggg. Grrrrrrrrrrr. It's nice to be able to shut a kid in or out of rooms in the house. I've discovered Safety First locks that are super easy to install, no drilling, and you can put them up high and out of the reach of your Little Door Handle Expert. Scott thought I was a little hateful the first time Jesse tried to get into the pantry and got 'DENIED!!!' by the door lock. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!! (A little bit of an evil laugh.)

Oh mercy! It was very tough for me when Scott was in Canada off and on for 6 weeks when we first moved here. Jesse loved the pantry and pulling lots of things out of there. This was the first lock I put on, followed by my bathroom. Jesse has free access to the contents of my bathroom. One of his most favorites is finding my deodorant, taking the lid off, and taking a bite. He gags and gets very upset about the results, then tries again at the next possible chance. No longer! Thanks to my handle door lock up high! :)


Jesse is a very busy boy. He's sweet and gives the best kisses: on the lips, Eskimo, and butterfly kisses. He's learned to say 'Please', and we're working on using it on his own. He's a bit demanding, and we've probably condoned that along with some hefty contribution due to his age and developmental state. He can show you his smile - it's pretty fake at this point with a very wrinkled-up nose, squinty eyes, and a very 'bare your teeth' grin. When you ask him to laugh, he has the sweetest laugh along with a super sweet smile. He'll share a lot of times when you ask him to. He has the sweetest little kitty and owl noise you ever did hear. He waves at cars going by.

He loves both of his Papas and Mamaws. He LOVES dogs, and he makes himself at home anywhere he goes.


He loves to bring me his suggestion of shoes I should wear. He does not have good fashion sense just yet, trying to pair his navy and orange striped dress shirt with his brightly flowered swim shorts. He doesn't mind mis-matching socks or wearing dress socks with an atheletic outfit and crocks.

He shows me everyday that I need to grow in the Fruits of the Spirit. And everyday he steals my heart. His random kisses could bring me to tears. And when he lays his head on my shoulder, I want to not do anything else.

I'm so blessed with this tornado-of-a-kid, my precious Big Boy, Baby Jesse David Blakemore!!

Processing...

I started this blog to help document what's doing on with Jesse and to keep friends and family in the loop. I try to not make it too much about me - I sometimes wonder if I should just start an indulgent Bethany Blog. Maybe I will one day.

People express themselves in lots of ways, and it's actually nice to write out your thoughts. It feels like you can confirm them once they've been written out - your thoughts and feelings are validated, or sometime like that. So, this blog is me processing what's going on in my heart and my head. Feel free to quit reading. ;)

We're moving in about two weeks. Two weeks from now, our home will be packed up and empty. We're heading 'home' to Oklahoma. I've missed Oklahoma the nearly 4 years I've lived in the Houston area. I've always referred to Oklahoma as 'home', and Scott would sometimes teasingly question me about that. The truth is, I have a new home. This has become home.

What a mess of emotions it is to move. REALLY, it's more of a mess of hectic craziness. There's so much to do that I haven't felt like I've had a chance to do any emotional processing or letting it sink in that all these changes are coming.

Maybe it's that tonight was our last official Community Group. Maybe it's that 'my school' that I haven't even taught at for the 16 months that Jesse has been out and about is having a going away party for me tomorrow night. Maybe it's that it's 12:20 am, but I started feeling. I started getting sad, and it feels good to actually get to process how I feel. Our time here has been incredibly blessed!!! God had such amazing things in store for us, and I just love it when God has precious plans for us that far exceed any we could have planned on our own.

I taught two years of first grade in OK before moving to TX to teach 2nd grade at Griffin Elementary. That's where I learned that I LOVED teaching 2nd grade. Second grade was my niche. I had taught at three different schools in the first three years I taught, and it was such a joy to get to return to Griffin for a second and third year. The teachers and admin at Griffin supported me through my stupid broken arm... The girls I taught with were the first outside of family that knew I was pregnant. I will never forget feeling so sick one day, then being asked if I was pregnant. I started crying - I was so happy to be pregnant but probably more nervous and afraid. Their support and secret-keeping skills helped me out so much and endeared them to me even more.

The camaraderie that teachers have when they work together is sometime you can only understand if you've taught. You need those teachers to listen to you when you're frustrated or discouraged or bewildered. And they get it. They've been there. I love my Griffin Grizzlies. How amazing is it that any of them even care to help see me off with a going away party? I'm so blessed.

I can not say enough about the community, family, and support we've received from our church home, WordServe. We moved hours from family members, but God decided to go ahead and give us an amazing church family. It was through WordServe and our 'blessings in the disguise of Texas residents' that Scott and I were able to be a part of a church plant. No other church experience will be able to compare to this unique opportunity we've had in helping plant and grow God's church.

It's where we went on our first mission trip together, and what a doozy of a trip it was. It's where we worked hard together as the blind leading probably the 'not-so-blind' in building a children's ministry. It wasn't always pretty, but we had children's ministry every week. And the children of WordServe are learning to love to worship and pray and learn about God. It was our WordServe friends who came to our home at 5 am the Monday morning we were heading to the hospital for our C-section to cover us in prayer. They were among the first to welcome Jesse to the world. They celebrated along with us. My heart overflows with joy, love, and already the saddness in not getting to see them multiple times every week.

I'll miss this home. This is where we brought Jesse home. This is the house I'd navigate at all hours of the night, where's I'd walk, bouncing, bouncing, bouncing my boy to sleep. It's where he first learned to roll his way around then eventually army crawl. It's where my boy and dog loved playing in the backyard together and just wandering around the cul de sac. The park down the street is where Jesse first learned that the loved to swing.

This will always be a precious place to me. I mourn the loss of it but know that God is so GOOD. He has great things in store. I'm happy to get to be closer to family. I'm happy to be near my OK friends. Praise God for His faithfulness in blessing us again and again.