Oh The Places You'll Go!

Two weeks ago on the Monday after Mother's Day, the last born of my parent's household graduated from college! It was a very exciting time as all the siblings were present to celebrate this epic moment in our family. 

Annette graduated from Emory University in Georgia with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics. Allow me to add that she graduated with high honors!! Annie I know you're going to read this so here's to you...

I am so proud of you and I really mean it when I say that. You've always been a very focused and pretty determined young lady. You know exactly what you want and you go for it. When you were in high school, I always made fun of you because your book bag was heavy with so many books. I would even get mad when the light in your room was still on at 3AM. You studied so much, one would have though you were already working on your Doctorate degree. And it paid off... I will never forget the day we were home and you received the letter about getting the Bill Gates Scholarship. I was so happy for you because I knew it was very competitive and a tedious process. You got to college and with all the distractions today, you didn't let any of that get in your way. You worked, you tutored, you were part of organizations and committees and still some how had to time to study and ace all your classes graduating yet again with high honors!! Upon all of this, somehow you manage to remain current with high fashion, TV shows, and music artist that I've never even heard of! Oh! And you blow my mind with all the hoodrat rappers and their songs you keep up with! How do you do it?! LOL. Annie you've thought me a few lessons in life that you may be unaware of but I thank you for it. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you the best because you deserve it. I hope you have the best of times this summer with your internship in New York and there is no doubt in my mind that you will graduate at the top of your class at NYU. God's Grace will keep you, like Esther, His favor will surround you. He will grant you strength you need and wisdom beyond your years. He will take you to places you didn't  even have the capacity of dreaming to go. His hands will forever be upon you and you will forever dwell in His secret place. You rock boo boo!!

Pre photo shoot...

These two...

CONGRATULATIONS ANNIE!!!

Not so Jittery

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the dance performance of one of the kids in my Sunday School Class. As I sat there and watched how wonderful the kids were doing, I imagined the excitement and pride their parents felt. Unknown to me, I would be sitting to watch one with my own baby performing in the coming weeks!

Sometime last year, hubby signed Morayo for a dance class called "Jitter Bugs" at her daycare. I was actually apprehensive because I wanted to enroll her in an actual school of dance which she wouldn't start until she turned 3 but hubby was persistent. I totally forgot about the class until I noticed a sign at her daycare that said they will have a performance May 16th at 2PM. I saw that sign almost every day I walked into the daycare but in my mind, May 16th was ages away until I had a conversation with hubby Thursday morning last week and he pointed out to me that it was in two days! When I dropped her off that morning, you bet I got all the info I needed. Mo was supposed to show up 15mins before the performance wearing all black. Their costumes would go over the black outfits. 

Finding a black leotard that fit Mo was an adventure. I will soon blog about my issues with clothing when it comes to Mo. Let us just say I eventually found something, but safety pins saved the day. LOL!!!

On Saturday, we were all excited! We got to the location very early. I got out with the kids and hubby went to get Mo flowers. I grabbed sitting on the second row and in a short while, Mo's teacher came for her. Less than 5 minutes later, they both came back and the teacher said Mo didn't want to perform anymore. I had to beg her, and even make some promises and threats. LOL. She eventually agreed and left with her teacher. Hubby got back in good time and the performance began. They did three songs and when I tell you my child was the only one that had to be carried out every single performance I mean it!

For the first song, Mo just stood on the stage like a statue. She did not move at all. She just stood there and stared! I was low-key upset! Hubby was taking pictures and recording and I wondered why a few seconds into the first song. Lol. He did that for all three songs. After the first song, I went back to the dressing room and had another conversation with Mo. She did better with the second song and a little better with the third song, but really didn't perform much. Surprisingly, the teacher said she is one of the best and is always really excited when they practice.

I guess I'm learning more about Mo each day. One thing for sure, she doesn't do well around focused attention from a crowd. If there are people around she doesn't mind running around screaming and playing as long as the attention is not on her. At my sister's wedding last year, she was one of the little bridesmaid. Hubby had to carry her and walk down the aisle with her because she froze. This past year at church when the kids had their Christmas performance, she wanted me to carry her while I stood up there and coordinated them! Funny thing is once the performance was done on Saturday and hubby gave her her flowers, she looked at him and says, "Daddy, I'm so excited! I'm happy daddy!" I couldn't even laugh. We told her she did a really great job though. We have to encourage her regardless. Lol

Meanwhile, Demi is the total opposite! He loves attention! Matter of fact, he broke away from his dad and wanted to get on the stage with Mo.  He has no issues running around and having people watch him and tell him how cute he is. Lol. He LOVES it!

How she made her entrance for ever song.

First Song (Something about dinosaurs).

Second Song (Beach theme).

Third performance (Magician theme).

First of many I pray!

Demi is 21 Months!

It seems not too long ago I cuddled you in my arms, and you depended on me for just about everything… but now you are becoming a big boy and learning to explore the world all by yourself. 21 months already! So, what have you been up to?

Busy, Busy, Busy…

 You love cars and trucks! You take your toys and push them on the floor or on the wall. You have a Thomas the Train toy that you love to push around.

Speaking of Thomas, you are in DEEP LOVE with Thomas. You love the TV shows and daddy has started buying you a lot of the train characters. You own several now and you love them. Whenever you want to watch your show you say “Choo Choo mummy, mummy Choo Choo”.

You love your food of course. I can’t say you have a favorite because you eat just about everything.  You will try anything once. Lol. You may not like it after it goes in your mouth but you give everything a try.

You love to sing! You go around the house singing tunes and it’s the funniest and cutest thing ever.

You can now say a lot of words. You know your foods like bread, rice, juice, milk e.t.c You say daddy and mummy. You call your sis Rayo. I guess three syllables is a mouth full for you. You also know other words like ball, car, toy, cup e.t.c.

You love playing with my IPad. You enjoy watching Thomas videos on Youtube. Whenever you want my IPad, you say.. “mummy Papad, Papad mummy”. Lol. And yes, once I give you the Papad, you know how to stop, start, and choose the videos you want to watch! Blows my mind.

You are so sweet and POLITE. You say please when you want something, you say thank you, and the other day I sneezed, you actually told me BLESS YOU!!! I almost cried!!!

You know the tune to your abc’s! Your favorite part is L,M,N,O,P. You always scream P!!! It’s pretty funny. Yesterday night I was singing “Jesus Loves Me” to you and when I got to “Yes Jesus Loves Me, Yes Jesus Loves me…” You started singing that part with me. Totally caught me off guard!!! I plan to sing it again tonight and record it so I can have that for keeps. Hopefully you cooperate.

You love being outside. There are days we get back home and we have to make sure the garage door is down first before we take you out of the car. Whenever you hear let’s go outside, you get so excited and run to the door!

During the day, you stay with your nanny whom you love oh so much! Once you turn 2 in August, you and Mo will start going to a new school together.

You love books. You normally grab one off the bookshelf in your play room, run to sit on the couch and act like your reading. Good job!

You enjoy brushing your teeth which is quite surprising to me. And of course, you absolutely love bath time!

You wear size 2T and you’re in size 5 diapers. I honestly can’t wait until you’re potty trained! Your nanny is trying to make it happen. The other day, she sent me a pic of your #2 for the first time in the potty! I was thrilled! I still have Mo’s first #2 in a potty saved. The pic that is!! Don’t ask me why.

You still enjoy drinking milk from your sippy cup but these days when you do, you want to hold your PP while drinking. It has become a little issue so I have you back in onesies now so you can’t get to it! You also where full onesies to bed because you were doing the same thing and wetting your sheets every night because your PP made its way out of your diaper at night. Constantly washing your clothes and sheets is not my idea of fun baby boy!

After only having 8 teeth for forever, you’re now getting a full mouth of teeth. Molars and all! Yay!!!

You are not a loud baby at all. You are quiet but very mischievous. We have to really pay attention to catch your naughty ways and boy… you can be very naughty!

You started climbing out of your crib, so daddy took the front part off and now you can get in and out on your own. We actually have you coming out of your crib on video! It’s pretty awesome!!!

You fight with your big sis A LOT!!! You two are constantly at it and I feel like this is just the beginning!!! When you guys love on each other though, it’s the sweetest, sweetest thing EVER!!!

You love you some daddy. There are days when you’d rather have him carry you instead. You always love to jump on him when he’s in bed. And nights you make it to our room, you sometimes want him to put you on his chest. It’s really sweet to watch.

You love to kiss mummy… and I mean KISS mummy. You pull my mouth to your face and you literally try to eat my face. LOL! You think it’s hilarious.

Last but not the least, when we pray at night, I always look forward to hear your Amen! I can’t emphasize enough just how cute and precious it is!

There’s a lot I’m leaving out on the wonderful little man you’re growing up to be, but these will have to do for now. We love you Demi.

Happy 21 Months!!!