Jason's first trip to the zoo

For the holiday weekend we braved the crowds and headed to the zoo to check out the new elephant and rhino exhibit. It was a great day to go since it was raining early and then cleared up.



The exercise was needed and it was amazing to see the animals in their simulated natural habitats. I can't describe how vast it was. Of course, I loved the giraffes the best (as always). Ethan seemed to like the elephants and monkeys and Jason just took it all in with his usual style. The silent gawking type.

Here are some great pics of Jason and Jeff navigating our trail followed a few shots of the elephants. We could not get Ethan off of the baby elephant - he is such a ham! Both kids wanted to be picked up at all the good vantage points to get the best view so we got out workouts.








We stayed mostly on the African side and ate lunch late having hotdogs and fresh lemonade. I tried to take Jason on the carousel but he decided no way once we got on so E got to ride twice. All in all, it was a nice family day and made me remember all the times Mom and Dad took me to the petting zoos and farms in upstate NY. I loved those times. I hope the boys appreciate these moments as much as we do.













This was one of our favorite non animal items. Jeff loves anything that flies, drives etc and Ethan can't get enough of "driving". Notice Jeff and Jason watching from the other side as I took this pic of E in the helicopter. Jason was not as enthralled and was satisfied in his stroller with his snack.







So I tried to buy Jason a cool hat but he still insists that hats are for throwing. Jeff got one instead and then we bough some ice cream dots and ate them before the trip home.

First 3 wobbly steps

We were walking towards Mommy while holding her hands and I backed away slowly and carefully let go....he took a good two steps and the third was starting to tilt but we did it unassisted and before our first birthday. We still don't say much except Mama and Dada (and Duh for his rubber duck) but we are flying around the house now and at 28 pounds, his Mom is VERY relieved. Carrying him from place to place was building biceps but killing my back. Oh...and we have learned to shake our head "no". Nice! (sarcasm) It goes so well with the head throwing temper tantrums that are attributed to me since supposedly I did the same thing. Go figure that this is also one strong willed baby. In other news, we still are toothless on the top and gumming all our food. Quite successfully given his size but it makes for a lovely old man look since we are still mostly bald. And we had our 2nd trip to the emergency room for our first (and only) tumble down some stairs. I was blocking the steps on our back deck by siting across the opening and he was cruising on the furniture heading away from me and towards Daddy. I got distracted and turned for one sec, got up, started heading down the stairs to get Ethan, and Jason beat me to the bottom. My heart and stomach were interchangeable and I felt dizzy. He was totally unhurt if you can believe it. I feel we were blessed but the Doctor mentioned something to Jeff about "fat rolls", "lots of cushion" and "decent amount of padding". We took some great pictures this past weekend at Sears. If you are interested in perusing, check out my slide show on Kodak Gallery.

Spring pics

We had school pic proofs come back and they were adorable except that Jason was teary eyed. I felt so guilty since I had been away when the pics were taken and couldn't be there as I was for E's first school pictures. So this week we took them to Sears to get new ones. Jeff deserves a medal for humoring me but this was part of what I wanted for Mother's Day. Riding my horse and sleeping an extra hour were the others but that is a story for a different time. Here are some of my favorite shots.





For more, see my Kodak gallery.

Aunt Jean comes to visit

She took a last minute flight just to see the boys and to celebrate Mom and Dad's anniversary. We had a great visist and the boys just adored her. We took Mom and Dad out to dinner (with the kids) and did some shopping and visiting with family. I so love having her here and miss sharing all the little day to day items with her. I want my boys to feel about her the way I do and have her as an integral part of their lives. Visits like this really help. Here are some of the pics we took and there are more in my Kodak gallery if you want to peruse.







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10 months old today

And I am sad. I am not there to celebrate and do all of our normal daily things that may seem so boring to most yet mean everything to me. I miss watching him as he eats his cheerios, dumps his sippy cup just cause he can. I can't catch him as he starts to tumble, and help him as he cruises along the sofa. I can't laugh as we walk and walk and walk him around the house, with JT leading us and just stopping when he wants to go a different direction. Jeff and I have semi-permanent stoops since we are bent over him as he hangs onto our pointers and walks the floor. I miss watching him wave bye-bye or nod his head when he agrees and clap his hands when we sing, E does something funny or when we play.


Why am I not there? I am out of town on business and I miss my family. This is my first time away from Jason since he was born and it has been a long time since I couldn't be there to read E his goodnight story. We have been doing I am Bunny this week and we almost have it memorized. Jason likes to turn the pages.

The entire month of April will be so hard. I am away on 3 different trips and it is so funny to see how much my priorities have changed. What used to be seen as such a great opportunity to visit new and exciting places is now a huge impact to my beautiful family and a huge source of guilt. Here's to you my little man and know I am sending you butterfly kisses and our special rendition of Hush Little Baby to you both.

Robot Wars

Jeff and his friends all went to the Durham Museum of Life and Science this weekend to see some robotics exhibit and to watch some robot wars. It was pretty cool and we packed up the kids and made a day of it with a picnic lunch, Dad and Joyce and all 3 boys in tow. We had a great time and toured the animals outside, did the nature walk and played some instruments before running wild on the playground and in the sandbox. They have some great things for kids and Jeff's friends brought their kids as well. E had a great time with Max and was so bummed to have to leave.

We have a tooth!!

Need I say more? There is good and bad items that come along with this developmental milestone. He will soon be able to eat more foods and his smile will have additional character. In the interim, we get drooling, crankiness, biting on everything like he is a 8 week old puppy...even the furniture is not safe.

And we have a very old fashioned tradition in my family. Whomever spots the first tooth gets to buy the first pair of shoes. Don't even ask where it came from since I have no clue. Somethings just live on because we are fond of them and propagate the ideal. For E, my Mom had the honor. Dumb me has been looking for JT's and now has to shell out $45. Poor planning on my part. I am the kind of person who begs to know what I am getting for my b-day too so this should not be a shock.

Come on dude!

Ethan's latest expression....and some nice pics to show the "bad" image that goes with that.




And then the sweeter side.....

Jason goes mobile

Today at school, Jason got up with one of the push walkers and made it half way around the room. According to Miss Alex, he was VERY proud of himself. Tonight he continued to cruise along the couch before passing out.

Yesterday we also had a first. Jason had his first waffle...compliments of Daddy.


We also took the kids to Pullen Park for a day out. Here is a cute pic of the boys on their swings. Ethan is giving JT instructions in between demanding we push him.

Delinquency

Yep, that's me. But I finally have some time to post and have lots of great pics so maybe I will be forgiven. Jason is growing and growing...more out than up and he is not too mobile but he is definitely fun! He says Mama and Dada and can clap, wave hi and bye (as of 2/19) and nods yes with this incredibly devious look. He loves seeing our reaction when he takes finger food and dumps them off his tray. He can roll over both ways like nobody's business and can sit up and stand unassisted for long periods. When he is on his tummy, he can move himself backwards and in a circle. He is like a big weeble. Mostly he loves to stand and Daddy spends many hours each evening walking him around.






Here is the one good pic from Valentine's Day. I bought them both some Valentine Day jammies (or onesie) and it has been hard to get them both in them for any length of time given spit up etc. I love watching the boys play together and E is just so incredible with his little brother.



We took JT for his 9 month checkup today. No teeth but developmentally doing well and off the charts for head size and weight at 25.4 pounds and 97%. Height was at 80% and he was 24 inches long. He is LOVING daycare finally. It was so hard the first week with him hysterical at drop-off and when he saw us at pickup. We had to go feed him the first 3 days because he wouldn't take a bottle. He barely napped and was wiped out each evening but they assured us he had a blast during the day. Now he waves goodbye and is eating nearly everything on their menu. He takes 2 good naps and is having a blast. He is great at reaching for objects, watching the effects of dropping them and using his pincher grip to grab small items. Still no real movement from the weeble though at school either. :-)

It's almost spring time...

Not much of a winter here but we did run outside to catch snowflakes once. I would have loved to take him to see snow but we are going to wait until next year when Jason can play in it too.



And Ethan came home last night saying he wanted to eat dinner on the porch. He is so funny how he gets an idea in his head and just executes. Or how he get fixated on something. For example, there are just certain rules that have to be followed.

1. If you have belt loops, you need a belt
2. You cannot possibly leave the house without sunglasses, a car/truck and one of his babies
3. Mom needs to do laundry more frequently cause he actually picks his clothes and picks the SAME clothes that he just has to have....including his basketball shirt and Valentines Jammies. And he is not even 3. Imagine as a teenager.
   

Some other things that amaze me are his ability to negotiate. He has been having some issues sleeping lately and wants me to lay down and sleep with him. Of course that would be easy enough to do and would get him to sleep but it wouldn't teach him to go asleep on his own and have confidence in himself. And if he wakes and I am not there, he would just melt down. So we we tuck him in and love on him and tell him he gets to sleep like a big boy. We have a wonderful nighttime ritual. Bath, teeth, books, bed and we chat a few minutes about his day, give eskimo kisses and snuggle. Then the lawyer comes out. "Mommy, you come sleep with me two minutes? Then you can go do my laundry." Humph. Another funny thing is if the phone rings during our ritual. Aunt Jean called and he told her "it is late and we are done for the day. Good bye" and I nearly fell over. Our most recent books have been Cars and Trucks and Things That Go where we find Goldbug and Our World. He is able to recite the latter after just having it read to him for a few days.

Here is a pic of Daddy reading to the boys:

Kids really do say the darndest things...

And I want to file them all away with how good they make me feel. I love when we go to sleep at night...

"Can we go shopping?"

"Ladies and gentlemen..."

"For goodness sake! Can I say that?"

"Wait a minute!"

"Daddy, Mommy and I are talking to ourselves"

"I know I am small now but when I am bigger, I am going to drive a dump truck. And Jason is going to drive his own dump truck. His is white"

"I am a good boy today. I did not hit, I did not punch, I did not push or kick any of my friends at school. I'll try again tomorrow." Now would that be he will try to kick them tomorrow or he will try again to be good tomorrow? Judging by the amount of time he spends in time out, I am thinking the former.

"When we get home, I want to go outside and play with Daddy. We want to play football outside before dinner." Substitute golf, basketball, etc as the mood suits him and the season allows.

"May I want some ice cream please"

"Can we watch a movie? And make popcorn?"

"Sing Hush Little Baby, Mommy". We have our own version. I bought this great book that uses that lullaby with different words. Things like Mama's going to show you the evening sky instead of buying stuff to make their baby happy. We love it and sing it every night as we read the book.

"You want to sleep with me?" We snuggle together at night for a while and he always asks me. We make tunnels with the covers and I pretend to eat his ears and neck and nibble his toes like a monster and he just giggles.

Much needed sleep

We have had a horrid week. My poor Mom came down with Shingles and couldn't be around JT so we scrambled for some temporary care. Jeff and I took a few days off and worked at home and then leveraged Mary Molly for this week. Friends come in handy when they are in between assignments. Phew. She has been great with him and we are able to work this week.

However, if that wasn't bad enough....in the midst of all this, we all got colds. Now at least I can take Nyquil. JT and Ethan were miserable and were up multiple time at night with coughing fits, temperatures and overall malaise. We have all been holding it together on a shoe string. JT wasn't able to eat at all and his bottle intake went down to 2 ounces a shot. Yes...I know...he could use the diet....he is wearing at least 12 month clothes right now. But the problem is that if they don't eat more, they wake more. And he is totally off his solids too. He had been doing so great with his finger foods....sweet potato puffs, cheerios, bananas, cheese, etc and he loves his cereal, yogurt and baby food. He does feel he could live without veggies. Then again, so does E and Jeff and that gets them nowhere either.


So then there was last night. Jason got a spot at E's daycare and starts Feb 1st. So we took him to visit yesterday. He had such a blast watching all the other kids scrambling around and they would bring him toys to chew on and then take them away and bring him others. He just wore himself out with everything there was to do. He loved Miss Sandra and Miss Mary and came home and ate a 6 ounce bottle and crashed by 7:30. We only heard from him once between that and 7 am. Amazing. It is like I have my good child back again.

Still no teeth and no crawling. But he can sit for hours, reach everything within a 2 foot radius, and walk assisted. He just coos and babbles all the time and says Da-da for Jeff and Ba-Ba for Ethan. I just get the screaming when he is hungry or dirty. No respect. Last night he was doing some major laughing and splashing in his tub and just giggling at Ethan or when I would play with his toes. He has such an incredible smile and laugh and I love the dimples.

Milestones

The past week has been full of progress...and a flu shot booster.

• We can say Dada and can now wave bye bye if in the mood. Probably only to Dada with my luck. :-)
• Jason is sitting up for ages on his own and scooting if you give him something to push against. Everything still goes in the mouth but he is really interested in all his toys and exploring.
• Can pick up those little puffs and feed himself...and no longer spits them out and gags. You have to give him about 20 as 5 end up on the floor, 10 on the high chair and stuck to him in various locations, and 5 do indeed do make it in the mouth. No teeth yet though.
• Will eat an entire biter biscuit and then SCREAM if you take it away or try and clean him up. Have you seen what they look like after eating one of those? Mess!
• Gets excited when he sees you and even reaches for you. This also translates to: if you don't respond to his satisfaction, he SCREAMS. I can not even tell you how loud he can be.
• Sleeping 6 - 7 hours at a clip again....FINALLY. We regressed big time in the last few weeks on that end. But beware if he is hungry...five alarm when he sees you coming.
• Established our temper and authority. Meals need to be on time, toys cannot be removed unless he throws them, you can not sit down between 7:30 and 9 pm (you must walk him).

Happy New Year

We finally had some rain around here but today was beautiful and about 48 or so. I took Ethan out to play and blow off some steam before we went over to celebrate New Years with the family. We had a great time but Ethan didn't want to go down the slide after the first run since it was too cold on his bottom. Hello? Aren't you like a 2 year old boy? It actually is par for the course. Last night we toasted with hot chocolate and watched a DVD and he was all worried about wiping the table from where his cocoa had dripped. He is too funny. He does love the swing set and takes such pride in remembering that Daddy and Grandpa built it for him and he helped measure. For such a neatnick, he does love his tools. This past weekend he got to use his new drill from Santa to help Jeff build a stool for the garage workbench. He was thrilled. He and Jeff spent the entire afternoon together on Saturday doing projects, playing basketball, swinging on the glider and it is now all E can talk about. He still likes me to tuck him in and sing him songs so I think my job is secure for now.





We spent the rest of the day today over at the Becker Grandparents having more food....yep, appetizers, pasta dinner, and dessert once again. Ethan grazed all day and Jason just tried to grab at anything that wasn't nailed down. All he got was organic baby food - peas and bananas to be exact. He was less than thrilled. Here is a pic of the boys playing together: