The Mama is a HORRIBLE Blogger

It's been nearly TWO months since I last sat down and wrote about how cute Jackson is.  It's not that he got any less cute.  The month of March was an absolute DISASTER in the Elsass house.  I had been gone for two weeks and just went I got back, I decided to get sick... really sick.  It seems I spent the entire month of March trying to cough up a lung.  My appetite was WAY down and I even lost 6 pounds.  Not such a great diet plan if you ask me.  And to top all that off, Grandma Elsass passed away too.  She went in her sleep and that was good news.  I don't think anyone in the Elsass Family was ready for another funeral, but it was really nice to see the Elsass clan from Texas and DC again, since we don't get to see them very often (maybe once a year if we are lucky.)

So here are some stories from the last two months (and maybe some that I didn't get to post before that)...

A New Fonner Baby is Born
Since I didn't get to blog about this before, here are some cute pics of the kiddos meeting Mackenzie Ryan for the first time.  Jackson was so excited to get to go visit with Ayden.  I am not sure he was really excited about Mackenzie until we got there.  He was just happy get to see A-man.  On the way to the Huebschman house, he kept saying "Uncle Brandon and Aunt Kelly call me J-man.  I guess that makes Ayden A-man and Lily gets to be L-man."  (Apparently Tyler and Mackenzie are too little to be T-man and M-Man!)  He couldn't wait to get to Ayden's.  There were several times after the last couple of months where Jackson would just start crying.  When I would ask him why, he would say that he missed Ayden and he wanted to go to Ayden's house. 

Mackenzie already loves the number of pictures Aunt Jenny has taken of her.  And we were only there for two days!  It's CRAZY how much she looks like Ayden when he was a baby.  I think every now and then Ayden actually makes that face.

The four oldest Fonner grandbabies playing together.  Even Tyler was getting in on the action at 5 months old.  He is the cutest baby (of course besides Jackson!!).  He is so happy and he reminds this mama of Jackson when he was a baby.  Hard to believe he is already five months old (well, now, he's almost 8 months old!)  And I think Lily is getting bigger than Ayden.  Soon, she will probably pass up Jackson!

The big boys were LOVING the chance to get to play together.  Jackson was so happy to be at Ayden's house... FINALLY.  Even if it was a short visit, it was nice to get to watch them play together.   Jackson's attention span seems a little longer than Ayden's.  And Jackson is a complete follower at this age.  He will do whatever everyone else is doing.  Hopefully, he becomes a little more of a leader as he grows up. That's more his mama's style.

And THIS picture.  I can NOT believe we actually got this picture.  All five babies - not crying - at the SAME time.  Unbelievable.  I think it's the first time that has ever happened. Hopefully it won't be the last.  Jackson was cheesin' pretty hard.  He was so excited to get to hold a baby.  I am not sure it mattered if it was Tyler or Mackenzie, as long as he got one of them.  He's going to make a good big brother some day.  Personally, I think these are the five cutest babies I have ever seen.  Mackenzie might even pass for a doll in the photo, but she's not and I am sure Kate would attest to that!

 

Papaw Must Be Hiding

When Grandma Elsass passed away, we had to take a road trip to Dayton for the funeral.  This was only the second time Jackson has stayed in a hotel.  He did okay.  We got a room with two double beds and he slept with me most of the night.  At some point, he actually fell off the bed and he hit his ear on the chair next to the bed.  He was crying, but only for a minute.  He was holding his ear telling Josh and I that it hurt.  Then while I was holding him to calm him down, he said he was okay and he wanted to go back to sleep and crawled out of my arms and back under the covers. Out he was. Earlier that day, we had a visitation at the church Grandma and Grandpa Elsass attended when they were living in Dayton.  The visitation was about two hours long and a few unexpected guests came, which was a nice surprise for us.  Two of Mark's college buddies showed it.  It was nice seeing them again. 

 

Jackson, curious little boy, saw Jesus hanging on the cross at the front of the church.  I believe he thought this church might be heaven, since Jesus was there.  He asked shortly after he saw Jesus, "Where is Papaw?  Is he hiding in the closet?  And Papaw Dan and Grandma Fonner?  And Sadie too?? (The dog.)  Where are they?"  Since they weren't there, Jackson things Grandma Elsass is in a different heaven than everybody else.  I think this was really confusing to him.  We tried to explain that THIS wasn't heaven, but it was church and Grandma Elsass would see Papaw and everyone else when she got to heaven.  Sometimes, he is too smart for his own good.

This picture is from after the burial service and a nice lunch at the church in Wapakaneta.  I think the boy was exhausted.  He did managed to get some very pretty flowers from the casket spray before we left the grave.  He was such a good boy and really brought a lot of smiles to the family over these couple of days.  LOVE HIM.

Missing Ayden's Birthday

I got sick right after we got back from Grandma's funeral.  And boy did it hit me hard.  We were so sad to miss Ayden's birthday party.  Jackson had been talking about going to see Ayden again and we were going to sing to him and everything.  And there was going to be cake.  When I got sick and realized that there was no way I was going to make it 6 hours in the car to the Huebschman house, I was devasted.  We didn't even tell Jackson that we weren't going.  I knew he would be so upset.  The weekend came and went and I don't think Jackson realized that we were supposed to have gone.  I felt bad for not telling him, but I just didn't feel well enough to deal with his devastation.  And trying to explain to him that he would have to wait a LONG time for birthday cake now.

 

Easter Sunday = Bad Mom

I still wasn't feeling so great Easter weekend, but I did manage the trip to Cincinnati to have Easter with Josh's family.  It was brutal.  On the way there, I realized that we didn't bring the video camera OR THE CAMERA.  I was devastated.  How could I forget to take my camera so I could take pictures of my kid easter egg hunting.  Josh told me not to panic.  Caitlin, the photographer, probably will have her camera.  Whew.  Maybe I am not SUCH a bad mom. 

 

Then it was a really crappy Easter that we didn't even get to do the Easter egg hunt.  It was pretty yuck outside.  At least Jackson isn't at the age where he knows he was supposed to get to go outside and hunt for eggs.

 

Car Goes 100,000

I realize this has NOTHING to do with my awesome kid, or maybe it does.  My car hit 100,000 miles this month.  UNBELIEVABLE.  It's only been 4 years and 4 months since we got the car.  That's an average of 1,923 miles / month. I must drive WAY too much.    It must be the 920 mile round trip to Evansville and the 440 mile round trip to Cincinnati that we make a LOT each year.  I figure we average going to each place 8 times a year (roughly 11,000 a year), and that doesn't count the occassional trip to just Santa Claus, Columbus, IN or Columbus, OH or my work travel.  I drive too much which could be partially related to being a CONTROL FREAK.  I have a really hard time with the way other people drive and if I am in the passenger seat, I just want to sleep.  I can't really do anything else, since I manage to get car sick (even in the front)!  At least this is a great car and she just keeps on going (and going and going and going!)