After her first week of preschool, it suddenly occurred to Annabel that the world didn’t stop turning just because she was in school. The first time she asked me, “What did you do when I was at school?” I didn’t want to make her feel bad (as if “well, honey, I went to the gym, and then I took a shower” is something to be jealous of), so I said, “Well, James and I just sat on the couch and missed you.”
Annie laughed, but then she said, “No Mommy, don’t miss me, I’m having fun with my friends! You need to have fun with Jamesie!” The next time she asked me what James and I had done while she was at school, I was ready.
“Oh, James jumped on your trampoline.”
“WHAT? No he didn’t! He’s just a baby!”
But I had proof.
I wasn’t certain how Annie would react, but she cracked up. After her next day of school, the first thing she asked me when she got in the car was what James did while she was at preschool. I was prepared:
She absolutely howled with laughter over that one. “JAMESIE! YOU LOOK LIKE A PRINCESS!”
Of course, now I’ve set myself up to do this every time she’s at school.
Good thing James has fun with it, too.
Hopefully Annie will still think it’s funny when James is actually getting into her stuff while she’s at school!
Miriam says:
I sense a buzzfeed post
Annalisa says:
OMG, that’s funny!
Annie’s a good sport. My daughter would totally freak out if the answer wasn’t “We stayed home and missed you, of course!”.
sister says:
You guys have some of the cutest kids ever. I can just hear Annie laughing over finding out the stuff James did while she was away. Keep those pics coming…they soothe my almost-want-a-tiny-baby thoughts…without me actually having to have any
Katrina says:
YOU are so FUN! This is such cute idea. Seriously, is there a board book called, “While you were at preschool?” with cute little baby brother pictures on the pages? Because there should be. It could be a series. The next book could be, “While you were in First Grade” and then the last book could be, “When you finally went off to college…” and then the photos could be snippets of the parents, like hands clinking glasses together, or feet entwined at the bottom of the bed … things like that. I’m telling you, it could be cute. Okay, so if you don’t want to do that, at least take all of these “while you were at preschool” pictures that you do with “Jamesie” and make a Shutterfly book for Annabel to read. It can be a Christmas present.
Emily says:
Yes! Great ideas!!!!
I absolutely love the pictures!!!
Kitty @ LambAround: Life with my Sexy Nerd says:
I was going to comment that you should try to get this idea turned into a children’s book. It looks like I’m not the only one who thought of it though, so I second the idea!
Mijke says:
Oh wow, you really ARE the best mom ever!!
But oh boy, you must have at least a 100 more of those to go…
Maris says:
So cute! Fun idea!
Sue says:
Oh,,is this ever a fun idea. I really enjoyed it!! Keep it up!!
Maggie says:
SO cute! His face…I don’t have words! James seems to be always smiling! Glad Annie is laughing along too!
Kate says:
This series could make for another whole blog/tumblr or something! So stinkin’ cute!
Margie says:
BRILLIANT! I love those photos!
meg says:
hilarious!!!
Norma says:
Heather! You are so creative! Such a great idea.
Tam. says:
That is absolutely adorable!!
Paula says:
So funny! And I 2nd the book idea!
Mel says:
Heather I have to 3rd the book idea. You really are so creative. I think you should talk to Matt Logelin and have him get his publisher in touch with you.
Sue says:
I absolutely agree with Mel!!!!
Aimee says:
Hilarious!!!!!
Kelly says:
That is awesome. Pure awesome. I love it!!
Mary says:
LOL!! The kids will look at these photos for years to come, and treasure them always!! Excellent idea Heather, and so funny!!
Monica S. says:
OMG! Too funny! Love the photos! We do the same thing back and forth between my hubby and me…we take photos of what we are doing with one daughter while the other daughter is with the other spouse. Fun times! Thanks for sharing and the smiles
Robin Wyatt says:
That is absolutely fabulous and so funny! Memories for you and James and memories for Annie.
Nicole says:
This made me smile SO big!!! I definitely think it would be awesome as a book too!
TamaraL says:
HAHAHA!! What a great idea! And oh MY, that is one happy boy baby!!
Nanette says:
DAHAHA! Yes!
Kristin says:
This is the best!!! How cute!
Michelle says:
Brilliant idea! I wish I’d done something like this! Now that all of mine are at school, it would have to be “What Starbuck (the dog) did while you were at school today.” Hmmm…
LD's Mom says:
Hilarious. You might need to upload those all to Shutterfly and print out a book after a while. What a hoot!
LD's Mom says:
Just saw the other comments, so I agree.
Jesabes says:
This is awesome. You should make a Tumblr so we can follow what James is doing:)
Steph says:
The adorable picture of James surfing the net reminds me of the adorable picture of Maddie using your laptop. Great pix!
Mommy says:
Too cute for words! I love it!!!!
Glenda says:
Love it! love all of the pictures… James is a cutie!!
Jess says:
Seriously the best thing ever. Made my whole day. Thank you.
Rah says:
Just an echo of turning this into a children’s book.
Jenn says:
OMG!!! I LOOOVVVEEEE THIS!!!! IT’S SO CREATIVE!!!! Have you ever thought of writing a children’s book??? I’m so serious!!! THIS WOULD BE A GREAT PREMISE!!!! (and once you make it BIG – you can dedicate a book to me for coming up with the idea!!! Ha ha I kid!!).
Jenn says:
AAAhhh MAN!!! I just read some of the other comments….looks like I wasn’t the first one to think you should write a book!!! DANG!!! THERE GOES MY SHOUT OUT!!!! Ha ha – Seriously though…YOU SHOULD WRITE OUT!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!
Susan says:
How did you stay out of the trampoline photo???
Gretchen says:
That is adorable!
Margaret says:
I have T2 diabetes and I am VERY overweight. I probably weigh two of you. However, I have been losing weight and eating well (no carbs for me). I’ve been losing inches, too. I’d lost about 50lbs and I was so thrilled. Two days later, I stepped on the scale and it went up by 10lbs. Now you KNOW there is no way that is fat, or frankly even muscle gain. But still seeing the number fluctuate like that made my eyes bug out. That’s 1/5th of my progress! Ugh, so annoying. But I remain undeterred.
Heather says:
oh MAN! But, WOW to 50 pounds! Congrats on that, Margaret!
Jenn says:
Those Skechers are too cute!
TonyaM says:
That’s adorable! He’s like a living elf on the shelf! Haha!
jill (mrschaos) says:
Freaking hilarious. And adorable. Love it.
Alexandria says:
OMG soooo cute!! I am with everyone else. Get into childrens books, your amazing. I truly laughed out loud. Thanks Heather.
AmyG says:
I love this!! Great job! And I love Annie’s reaction to it all. What a great big sister!
Paula says:
James has the cutest chub on his legs. I loved it when my boys were in onesies and their chub was vulnerable to my raspberries.
I love this idea. My youngest cried when he started Kindy and when I asked why he said “You’ll be so lonely without me.” I swallowed the cry ball in my throat and reminded him that I had his Sass (our Sheltie) to keep me company and we’d both walk up and pick him up. He made it through the day with no more tears. Me? I bawled all the way home.
Kris says:
I also love the book idea.
I will say that the one of him surfing the net actually looks like he is doing just that. I’m thinking he’s updating his FB status for all of his adoring fans.
edenland says:
Oh my god Heather I love you.
The other night I had a dream that you and I wrote “Heather and Eden were here!” on the inside cupboard of Australia’s Parliament House. (Kinda like your White House.)
Don’t know what it means but it was cool.
XXXXXXX
Heather says:
REALLY?! That is amazing. And totally something I would do, so I think your dream means that we have to go visit your Parliament House.
xoxo
Amanda says:
That is so amazingly adorably awesome!! What a great idea and such great pictures for them both to look at when they are grown.
H. says:
I wish I was half as creative as you!
Shelly says:
Once again, hats off to you for your amazing & creative parenting ideas! Your kids are so lucky to have you & Mike. And I’m definitely stealing this idea if I have another baby some day!
Gabby says:
This is SO cute!
I agree with the book idea. You should do it! (And maybe it could be illustrated?)
rc says:
OMG, totally awesome! I can’t wait to see what James does next!
Lara K says:
These are AMAZING – I would totally buy the book. I especially love it because so many people say the second/third child is deprived, doesn’t get photographed as much, etc. Not the case with your little guy! Love these pics.
amy k says:
Oh god I LOVE this! And my older was this way with my younger, too. Just full of love and excitement. Let’s have a play date!
Nicole says:
This is hilarious! I bet your daughter looks forward to seeing what you two have been up to every day now!
Thanks for the laugh!