She'll Either Save My Sanity...

...or we'll both lose our minds!!

Aaron is traveling for work this week (Happy Birthday Honey!), so Mom came down to stay with us while he's gone. Whew!! Last week was a train wreck, so I'm glad she's here. I just might have ended up going stark-raving mad had she not!!!!!

I babysat a little 1 yr. old boy for a couple days last week. The added body and energy was tiring (he's a really good kid just has a lot of energy!! :)). One evening I corralled Jacob in the Pack-N-Play. Then Anna got in and they thought it was great fun! Even decided to "nap"!

Jacob...he's officially TERRIBLE TWO!! Wow. He is going to test every single boundary! It's so tiring. But I KNOW if I'm not totally 100% consistent with him he'll take complete advantage and we'll have to start from square one again. It's like the book "If You Give a Mouse a Muffin" (or is it Moose?). Give an inch, he'll take a mile!!

Climbing on top of the table is a battle I've decided not to fight, though! I might regret it later, but oh well!!

This day...this was a bad day. He was a mess. Anna was a mess. I was a mess!!

But hey, they're coloring nicely with each other. At this particular second, anyway.

I'm afraid Jacob is a combination of Jamie and my cousin Seth. Grant it, if Jacob turns out even close to what these two guys have--he'll be great. But it's the getting there that causes stress and heartache and NIGHTMARES OF MY SON DESTROYING MY HOUSE...oh wait, those aren't nightmares! It really happens!!!! I love Jacob more than life itself, but heavens to Betsy does he ever test me every minute of the day! I think the Lord is sitting in heaven saying "Daughter, I'm trying to teach you patience...aren't you getting it yet???" :) Today, Mom had the air mattress rolled up sitting in front of the TV cabinet. Jacob is fascinated with the DVD/VCR and we're constantly after him not to touch it (he's already gotten one DVD stuck in the VCR part!). So anyway, he kept climbing up on the mattress and trying to mess with the VCR. The first time, Mom told him "No. Don't climb up there." He did it again. The second she stopped talking. She took him down, swatted him, and said "No. Don't climb up there." He did it again. The second she stopped talking. She took him down, swatted him, and said "No. I said don't climb up there." He did it again...............are you getting the picture?! This had to have happened at least 6 times. And then it was like he thought Okay...she's really serious about this. I'd rather go play with my tractor than test Binga. Well, that was the morning. He decided he wanted to try again this afternoon...see if maybe Binga had forgotten about the whole air mattress thing during naptime. No such luck for him, but he still kept trying at least 6 more times!!! Whew. What a stinker. I pray that persistence will one day help him in doing something GOOD!!! :)

Saturday was Warrior Fest...a fun celebration the weekend of the College's first home game. It was fun. All the sports teams were out, there were bouncy things, food, booths. And the weather was PERFECT! Jacob loved playing with the soccer boys! He had a lot of fun kicking the ball. Not always in (or even toward!) the goal, but fun no less! :)

That tongue! We can't help it!!!

One bouncy house was only for preschool kids, so it was nice not worrying about Anna getting plowed over by the big kids! They got pretty crazy on the slide! This little boy was actually balancing himself on either side, not catching air:)

Anna went down all kinds of ways!

And JAKE even showed up!!! Anna Mae too:) Those 3 were more than excited to see each other!

Jake going head first!

Wheee!

Anna going headfirst backward!

Alright, I better get to bed! We're going to visit the new baby tomorrow!!!