I woke up like this. 

He also started saying mommy instead of mama. :(  same with dada and bobba. 

I am a big proponent of using the right words for things but I see now why some parents don't correct their kids. For W, jack says, dubada and it's adorable. And he calls zebras zeebee. But even those he's starting to correct on his own. His language has exploded, like it's been in there all along... 

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Or so goes a tale of two jacks. He is an absolute trip. He makes me smile so much because he's so silly and sweet and he's pretty manageable, until he isn't. I know I've been saying it for months but he knows all his letters and will stop and read anything and everything. Now he knows lowercase too. And the alphabet song in order. He actually never shuts up. He call d and p all b but close enough. And this a, he calls a 6 because every other a he sees on books is just a circle and line. Speaking of six, he gets a huge kick out of turning books upside down and saying 6, 9, 6 and so on. Same with 8. 

I wanted to vent about his tamtrums because dear baby Jesus are they bad and completely irrational. But he's asleep now so I'll leave it at that. We've had a few good days or at least I have selective memory. 

We did turn the crib into a toddler bed so that saves him the trouble of climbing in and out at least. He really really fights nap and bedtime but the new bed has a little novelty to it for now at least. He falls asleep easily if I sit in the room with him but that's not always a luxury I have. He has also been waking up in the middle of the night for no reason but a cuddle. And he doesn't eat anything. So much for not bitching about him. 

School is going well for bobby. Sometimes are aren't enough hours in the day though. He is getting over a bad ear infection. Developed from a bad cold that he no doubt got at school. He has another loose tooth. He is really good at reading and calls me out if I try to paraphrase a book we're reading even of it's above his skill level, he seems to know. 

Reid is adorable and a good baby. That's about all to report on him. 

Mark it down.

Big kid now. 

First tooth fell out! 5y, 4m. He said the principal pulled it out. Someone did apparently. 

First Day of school was a success.  Didn't get much out of him but he seemed proud of the few things he did manage to share. We navigated carpool just fine and tomorrow we get to see if I remember how to tie a tie!

Jack was fine, we had a (much needed) lazy day at home after squeezing in pool, beach, chuck e cheese and uniform store all the last two days. After drop off we went to Trader Joes, and Jack climbed right into Bobbys seat.  Haha. He was my shadow today - happily reading books while i changed sheets and helping empty the dishwasher. Jacks sleeping is rough. He'll take three hour naps, not want to go to bed and just when you think you have him down, he pops right out and says giggles at you.  Pick up from school is at 2:50, so I'm going to try to move Jacks nap up to 12:30 at least but depending on the night before, who knows!

Jack was hanging out diaperless for whatever reason and he comes to me "wee wee" so I take off running down the hallway, get to the loo, only to find him not behind me. He had instead made a break for the backyard. 

That poor baby. About to get water dumped on his head. Or just squished S usual. 

Quick updates

Before we went to the beach, bobby spent the night with jake in his back yard tent. And last week, he spent the night with Troy and Liam. Did great. Didn't get the call in the middle of the night. Didn't miss us a bit. 

Jack has started climbing out of his crib. 25 months old. Doesn't want to be put to bed. Makes a very long process. Only I can seem to hug and sing him down. But that's still no guarantee he'll stay there. Naps are a little easier. Probably because he's so tired from his shortened overnights. Would like to get him into Bobby's bottom bunk but Reid isn't always down for the night so I can't lay with him. 

The mimicking of big by middle is hysterical 

We get _a lot_ of attention from the blue hairs at Costco. Seems like there are always a lot of them too. Everyone loves a redhead. So this time, bobby was getting quite bummed. "Why didn't she say anything to me?" "Why were they only talking to jack". :(

Jack is readjusting to the west coast but he had a rough spell on the plane for maybe ten minutes that felt like an hour. 

We had well checks and vaccines today. Everybody is good. Jack is a picky eater. Average talker. Good sleeper. toe walker. He counted 1,2,3,4.5,6,9 today. Can identify all numbers, letters, colors some times correctly and some shapes. He just doesn't talk on demand. Starting his toddler defiant phase. 

Reid is right on track. I'll have to check stats later. He's an easy baby for now. Smiley. 

School starts September 4. Phew. 

Today jack was getting dressed and we opened his shirt drawer and he said turtle. Then he said Grammy. And I dislike character shirts so I tried to point him elsewhere but he was adamant about his teenage mutant ninja turtle shirt. He's too young for that.

He also said ten to rick. Which we usually get as "one" and "oh". He knows his numbers 0-9 for sure and his letters really well. 

He also pointed to my medicine cabinet and said blue. Made me open it and got the blue nail polish out. I tried to not paint them but he can throw the biggest tantrums and it just wasn't worth it. And he thinks his nails are pretty now. 

Reid continues to be an easy baby. Eat and sleep. Easy to comfort if he fusses. 

Bobby is starting to read and doing fairly well if and when he focuses. It only makes apparent to me that I will never homeschool him. He has his sounds down but then sometimes annunciates them as a different word. It's a miracle he doesn't hate me. And vowel sounds are hard. And there's so many exceptions in this language. Good thing starter books keep it simple.

I am excited for the beach. Better start my fake tanner application soon. Send good thoughts for the airplane. That and iPad apps!

Jack is Two!

We went to Farrells for Jacks birthday dinner and sundae.  He was really into the song and dance number they do for you.  He was smiling so big. Dancing, Making sure Rick was watching, Clapping and literally jumping in his seat.  It was a blast to watch. And then, like Bobby at 3, he didn't touch his ice cream.

Reid is awesome.  Sleeps great. Eats great. Not much else to report.

Also, Before:

...

5 days

Took Reid to the doctors yesterday for his first check up. He's doing great. They want him to regain his birth weight in two weeks, at four days he was 8# 10 oz. just two ounces shy already. Which means he's eating like a champ. Also sleeping about twenty hours a day. Which is helping me recover. Thank goodness I'm not thrown into parenting all these boys alone just yet. 

Here is your daily dose of blonde. I hope it stays, and also that he gets some eyebrows. 

Bobby adores the baby. Wants to hold him all the time. Says it's not fair when he doesn't get a turn immediately. 

Jack is fairly indifferent. He doesn't want to share my lap it seems but gives Reid kisses. Better than what I was expecting but I'm also waiting for the honeymoon to be over. 

Jack is great though. Starting to talk on demand more, but doesn't have much to offer without being asked. He does know all his letters though and can say them when quizzed and point to them. We're starting on numbers too. He's probably six months behind on language but he's clever for sure.  

Hospital photos 

Getting Ready

One of the points of not finding out the gender was to prevent unnecessary stuff coming into our very little cramped, low storage space house. It will happen after but then if it's a boy, maybe not because the garage is overflowing with stuff already.

Lots of fun playtimes being had.  And wrapping up school in two weeks keeps us busy.

No beach needed

Mothers Day Tea at school

So anyway, the nice thing about having nice friends is that they will help you get ready for said baby and make you feel special by throwing sprinkles that make the birthing seem imminent and that we should probably start to address it.

Soooo, fires were burning not too far away so we got some refugees for a slumber party! Our buddies came to play and have dinner with us and everyone got along very well and slept well enough if not great.  Then Friday night, the ladies from the street threw me a little baby shower. I sort of down played their planning so there were no games or any of that, but lovely homemade decorations and some good salads and apps. But it was a good night to be kid free and catch up/gossip about the neighborhood.

Sleepover buds

Saturday, we got to host lunch for Rachels 6 day old baby and Mia and the three other boys that came along with those two friends. Rick worked 8-6 so missed all the fun, but came home in time for me to have a little girls night out dinner with my friends.

Sunday rolled around, Jake, Violet and Dexter came over early and somehow, I had managed to sneak back in bed for an hour so missed this playtime. But, we ran down to the playground to meet Troy and Liam then grab bagels with them.

Kids love sand. The end.

I was pooped from all this fun and then Bobby had no school on Monday so we got to extend the weekend!

Then Tuesday, my lovely friends again and the running club had a surprise baby shower for me after our run.  It was awesome. Nice spread, great food, even good decorations for a playground and I got lots of diapers.

I literally turned around when they yelled surprise.

Best donuts ever. And You know it's bad when brownies need an extra deep pan

And some healthy stuff. Really fresh actually.

So the stuff is coming in and I literally have nowhere to put anything.  Jacks room is set up for him. We have a portacrib/bassinet in the master and will have a changing pad on our dresser, but I have to rig some buckets for diapers and clothes or something.  A little dresser or shelves at least.

Not small.

Also I realized, as I've know for a while now, we really have all our eggs in one basket when it comes to special Vic times through the year.  My birthday, Mothers Day, Ricks Birthday, Bobbys birthday,  Petunias birthday, Fathers Day, Jacks Birthday. All within ten weeks or so, add in graduations in a few years and we'll be all partied out in May and June.

Unrelated but I took the long way home because it was so gorgeous out.
And unable to be captured on a camera phone.

Boys are doing well. Three 95-100 degree days with no air conditioning is not fun. Our house is on the end of the street and has no big trees or houses on one side, plus two high uncovered windows so half the house was at least 85 degrees, probably more. Is like to think keeping windows shaded in the bedrooms helped but they also got pm sun, so I don't know how any of us slept. Except Rick. That's his ideal weather. 

Bobby is in a good place. Getting more mature, listening decently, able to be reasoned with. His fascination with card games then rock, paper, scissors continues with board games and mazes and connect the dots. Much to ricks chagrin, he loves his sleeveless shirts. (We don't need more) it's usually not warm enough here even in summer to wear them, but he has gotten such a kick out of them; with his pale skinny arms, it's pretty funny. 

Jacks lack of language causes some outbursts. Luckily I can usually decipher what he wants though. He is doing this weird thing where when he gets mad, and he hits himself in the head or bits the skin on his hand. Hmmm...

37 week appointment today. Nothing happening. Hope to make it past Bobby's birthday. But I guess it's not up to me!

There are a bunch (like 8!) fires burning south of us on the base and in San Diego county. With the heat and winds, it's been rough. Some of them are big brush fires and one or two in more populated areas. Scary stuff, but far from us luckily. 

Bobby has apparently mastered War and other card games because he's now onto Rock, Paper, Scissors and he loves it.

He can also do a forward flip in the air on the trampoline. I've only seen him land it on his butt, but he's close to standing.

I'm thinking about speech therapy with Jack. I know its' not a big deal yet, but he really should have more of a vocabulary. He is very expressive and knows what he wants, but he's getting frustrated I think. He's getting more out, sort of an alphabet song and he knows that please (pees) is a magic word. If he 'eh eh eh' wants something, and you look at him, he'll shout out a please expecting to get it. He is in there though man. He is sooo good at matching pictures in books or puzzle pieces and can point out shapes.

And I can only hope everyone remembers what goes around comes around and how I support all these little people on the street and their school fundraising and lemonade stands.  I can't say no, but I could sure spend my discretionary funds much better.

April

What's new.
Jack is the best. I mean he's a total pain sometimes, but he's still great.

• We have this wheels on the bus book and I don't know why but it's illustrated in like 1950s Czechoslovakia or something like that. So the people are waiting in line for the bus, Jack insists on kissing the pages. 
• He notices the most amazing things in books.  If there's a picture on the inside that's also on the outside, he'll flip to the cover and point it out to you.
• And then in the Are you my Mother? book, when the big snort (construction machine) comes on the page, he will flip back to the page where the bird falls out of the nest.
• He's pretty good at recognizing shapes. And of course animals, adding to his repertoire daily. Fox, bull, donkey, puffin, etc - way past the farm animals.
• He can play memory / do matching decently.
• He is a creature of habit. He must have his clothes and diapers put on, and if you don't, he'll go to his room and get them for you. He doesn't like our new trashcan and keeps moving it away and pulling the old one back into its place.
• He is getting a lot more vocal and trying more words when you ask him. Still mainly grunts though. 
• He is crazy clingy and always wants to sit on my lap or drag me places.  He's fine once I'm totally out of the house, but if I'm here, he's at my side. 

Bobby is pretty great.  Doing well, playing hard, learning and using new words. He has gotten into baseball watching, not just playing it. He needs some activities but I've delayed too much and I don't know how to schedule it with #3 coming.  I think he would like karate and gymnastics, maybe even music, but he says he doesn't want to go anywhere.  What he has started doing is dressing like Daddy,  if daddy sleeps in boxers and a long sleeve, that's what Bobby wants to wear.  If Rick wears a short sleeve over a long sleeve, so will Bobby.  Bobby is crazy into card games.  Judy gave him a set of Rummy/War (dollar store) then Grandma got him a similar set totally without knowing, with Crazy 8s and Go Spidey (Fish) and brought some regular ones and man have we all had to play A LOT!

Easter was a good weekend.  We had a Stroller Warriors egg hunt on Friday. Jack helped hide eggs with me, which meant he spent the whole time picking them and handing them to me. But when it was time to hunt for them, he had no interest.  Saturday, we and the four young neighbor families went to the city hunt. It was a good time, we saw the bunny, there was a petting zoo. and Bobby did nicely at the hunt.  Again, Jack had no interest.  He got to a lollipop and quit.  It was the kind of nutty thing where some parents get really ugly and do the hunting for their kid, all for the sake of five bucks worth of free candy.  We let them go and did fine.  Sunday, we hid about 15 eggs in the backyard and they went after them together and shared really nicely.  Grandma helped stock our baskets and it was a nice weekend topped off with our return to soda pop at the Outback!

Grandma had a rough visit that started with Bobby puking the first night she was here.  Almost 5, his first time ever. He got the stomach bug from our ever sickly neighbors. He was up for about 3 hours then we had a quiet next day. Thursday - Jack pukes during his nap. All over the place. Then he finished his nap sleeping on me. But then he was totally fine after that. Thursday night, my turn.  I had what felt like morning sickness and just queasiness. Puke, then not really able to rest.  Grandma got the nausea all day Friday and basically lost that day to bed. Hopefully got some rest, although Bobby kept running in there asking if she was doing any better.  Friday night, Rick got really sick. So we were all sort of useless as it lingered a lot longer in adults than kids and presented as more flu like too.

Then we got better, spring break was over.  I went out to a lovely birthday breakfast with my girlfriends and dinner with Rick. Nice to have a babysitter in the house! Tuesday it got up over 90 degrees, so Bobby and Grandma went to the pool during Jacks nap time, and Grandma fell and fractured a bone in her foot.  Ever the trooper, she flew home, but then went right to the doctor and is now on crutches.

So May should be pretty fun and Grandma will have a chance at redemption and we'll do a pretend party for Bobby since his birthday week may be busy….

I truly understand now that toddlers experience things through all five senses. Taste included. This one loves to taste things.  It's more than just putting things in his mouth. He wants to eat/lick markers, bubble wands, and pretty much everything else he shouldn't. 

We are by no means potty training, but he does sit on the toilet whenever he doesn't have a diaper on. The problem with this and his particular anatomy is that he can hold on with one hand and now takes the other hand and sticks it right into the stream. 

Jack loves basketball, he has a really good jump shot and solid one handed form, but he also likes to watch it on tv now and claps whenever someone makes a shot. It's pretty adorable.

He is getting pretty good at the chunky puzzles and matching what should go where. His animal sounds and gestures are quite extensive as you saw and we've added in alligator too! He knows a lot of body parts too.  Don't ask him to say any words though. Thats on his own terms.

I have found the least gratifying activities of playing with your children.

1. Filling up water balloons
2. Building sand castles
3. Setting up kiddie bowling pins

 The set up to take down time ratio is so lopsided.

It was fairly early and DST

Must stop making impromptu trips to the beach, or at least put a towel in the car. It was 80-85 all weekend so we went both mornings after our walk and it was so nice. Jack is a little shy of crashing waves, but he warms up to it.

Loves the cold water

Loves the sand

Jacks dog bark is evolving. It used to sound like he was blowing bubbles but now he's getting a little more woof in there. I have to capture his oink and meow on video. It kills me. Still not so many other words but dang, if he isn't super bossy with his grunts and pushes. 

My favorite sight

After the beach Sunday, we went straight outside to ride bikes and other items, then the ice cream truck comes by (always right before lunch) more scooting over the ramp, someone got out a sprinkler, trampoline jumping and so on. 

Needless to say, they slept well that night. 

Circled up totally on their own (around the hamster)

Knees like his mommas

I don't want to be all stereotypical, but this one is all boy. I still have scars on my knees from skinning them, but you could attribute that to clumsiness rather than risky and fast moves like Bobby.

Practicing

I'd love to say he was loving on his baby doll and all that, when really, he was just stopping to take him out and put him on the floor, preferring to push an empty stroller.  He will give the baby kisses but regards it cautiously.  Jack doesn't even like when Bobby and I snuggle, so June will be very very interesting. Three years apart might have been a good separation after all, two is pushing it with a jealous/protective kid like Jack.

A little pat on the back tonight. We were outside all afternoon and when we finally came in it was six o'clock. Oops. And we had some followers.  So bag of meatballs and a bag of broccoli, and I fed six kids! And it was calm and everyone had good manners. And I was the only adult there. 

Jack got up at 5 today but we pushed through on a walk to the beach then to the playground and lunch out even, then he napped from 1 until  4. That's like the schedule bobby had at this age so I'm going to try to get to that. But I will be the first to admit, I love my Mondays and/or Wednesdays when bobby is at school and jack naps at 9 or 10am. But maybe that is too much afternoon time awake and it's affecting his overnights. I don't feel the need to have my mornings free to clean and plan and whatnot when I'm so pooped and cooking this bun. 

For as bad as the rest of the country had an eternal winter with record low temps and snowfall, we didn't have a winter at all. Last year, there were 50s ad maybe even some days in the 40s, but nothing this year. Just Christmas Eve on the beach. Huh. 

You know I thought 5:30 was bad, but I would give anything for those days. And I also thought he was getting up because he was hungry but nope. 4:30, or earlier, wake ups seem to be out of spite and he wants me to look and feel terrible. Mission accomplished. And I need everyone to know because my whining seems to fall on a deaf ear at this hour.

 

No one will ever enjoy those long lashes (without mascara at least)