Dear Jack, add this monstrosity to your list of middle child grievances. But, after 2.5 months of 5 birthdays, 2 holidays, mothers and Father's Day, your mother is tired. Luckily, you're a freaking awesome fun kid. 

Happy birthday big boy. We'll have a fun few days. 

Very reluctantly, I did it. I sent jack to school. He's been asking for months so when preschool offered a camp and he got potty trained, I couldn't avoid it. He was so happy. Wanting to wear his uniform even. He loves his backpack and is such a big boy. 

Jumped right into playing. It's a small group. Maybe 15/20 max. Several kids seem older. But I think he is just fine. The only report I got from the teacher was he is very athletic and played basketball well. (Duh. And fist pump) 

While he was at school, the rest of us went for a run. I made bobby sit in the stroller even because he no way would bike six miles. Then we grabbed jack from school and went back to the beach.  Reid loves the sand and water. I didn't pack a suit for jack but who cares. 

The water is still cold. Kids don't notice but it is. Bobby decided to pick up rocks from the sea floor. 

Of course I jinxed it. Should have known better. I didn't even say he slept well. One good night leads to a pretty rough one with many wake ups. Oh well. Enjoys his morning stroll for sure. 

He hates shoes as much as his brothers  have. 

Last Thursday pick up. (We are parked here)! Full house as it was a half day and we went to uniform exchange first. Speaking of...

He is absolutely too young for this. :(  but he did enjoy trying on his new duds. Especially since the pants have pockets

 He likes those. What he also likes - the nice pocket in the front of his underwear...

Bobby wears a tie on Fridays. He asked me last week for a Windsor knot. Rick has a heavy hand in influencing this young one. Let's hope it's used for good. He was also getting buckled up in the car one day, and said it's a race. someone said, it's not a race. Bobby came back with,  that's what losers say. Oy. 

Daydreaming: if I had a thousand extra dollars,

New to me road bike

Stand up paddle board 

Fancy camera 

Six months of house cleaning 

Big couple of weeks for us! Today was Kindergarden graduation. Finally. I feel like everyone else has been out of school forever and I am so sick of packing lunches! They had a little ceremony and sang and did a 'when i grow up' thing. It was adorable. Like I should have recorded it. Bobby is not a performer but he did the motions and quietly sang. Everyone did really well and they all look like such big kids. Then they got their diploma from the principal.  I think it's a really wonderful school and the community is excellent. I just won't think about tuition for a while. 

My first baby turned six finally too. He is one of the youngest in his class and between a year full of other kids parties and a busy May, I was done. So no party for this kid this year. He got to open a few books and a new stuffy from his brothers over his birthday breakfast cake. I didnt even bring in treats to school because I don't know the rules, so I dropped the ball there too. Luckily, Grandma was here and made it a very good birthday.  We did our normal Farrells night out for an ice cream sundae, and threw in Reids birthday too while we were there. Bobby was able to pick out a very nice set or two from Lego store and promptly spent the next three days working on them. In lieu of a party, we grabbed Dexter and Jake from our street and headed to Chuck E Cheese. It gets a bad rap but ours is nice and big and clean and the kids love it. And they serve beer! My and Jacks (and everyones) friends Ethan and Eleanor met us there and we played for a long time and got lots of tickets which we could trade in for super crappy toys! We followed it up with a Trip to Ritas Italian/Water Ice - who needs cake! Bobbys birthday extravaganza finished just in time for it to be Reids day!

This guy had his birthday and he is an awesome kid. We had a little smash cake and a few friends over for the typical Vic ice cream cake party.   Last night he slept until 3:30 and when he woke up, I was literally so confused, as I hadn't been in that deep of a sleep for oh, a year.  He is not quite running, but he walks well on sand and wood chips and is trying to jump. seriously. He had his well check and is right on track at 22 pounds. No words, A lot of chatter and pointing. He just wants to move and not be in a stroller or car seat. 

I don't have many pictures of Jack, probably because he is always moving too. He is nicely potty trained, no accidents really either. He is going to camp at his fall preschool next week and I think that's a huge mistake. He has literally been by my side for 3 years. He asks every day to go to school but I can't think of him like a big boy. He's really fun and snuggly and earnestly a happy little kid.  He runs everywhere. He throws his hands up in celebration all the time. He's a bit of a smarty pants too in a different way than Bobby but we'll see what shapes up later.

I'm trying not to give up on blogging do hopefully I can throw in a few sentences from the app instead of trying to get big summaries up. 

Reid is walking. 10.5 months. I ignored it as long as I could but he did it anyway. 

Jack is insistent on his big boy underwear and no diapers. He will not be put on the potty and will only go when he needs to and tells you. He was dry overnight last night and for his naps so if this keeps up, that was super easy. Jinxed it. He is super proud of himself when he does go. We started with m and m rewards but he forget about them by day two. When he poops, he will tell you he gets three mnm's but he never actually does get them. 

Reid is a horrendous sleeper. 

A weekend timeline in photos

Out with mommy Friday night. 

Mommy goes to christmas party. Out with daddy Saturday night

Sunday

Monday at playground

Monday at dentist 

Monday picking up bobby and jake 

This guy is still perfect 

Except when he's not

Look at these cuties:

And this guy:

Life is good:

Well on Saturday, Reid and I went to Palm Springs area for, literally, 12 hours. And this happened:

I guess he knew nagging wasn't enough and had to do it himself.  Well, Rick sure got his $30 worth out of her scissors. Bobby LOVES his tiny little mohawk.  He doesn't actually have enough hair or any product but he loves to stick it up.  

I got over my shock by Sunday. They're still cute. Reid is still mine!

School does teach one stuff

Like trick or treat smell my feet. Eenie meenie miny mo. And a couple other things along those lines. He also asked me what OMG meant. 

I recommend if you like peace and quiet. Or just a little bit of quiet, that you not have three sons.  Oh my gosh, it is not non stop noise, chatter, singing, yelling, the whole day.

Bobby has reached his creative stage (finally) and really likes to draw.  Jack also likes to draw, on himself.  (Also: walls and chairs) He knows the rules, remembers what he's told but is unable to stick to them just yet.

Reid is getting so big. Or I shrink all his clothes.  Bit of both. He loves the bath. He is super grabby and squirmy. And strong. He has a big radius with his arms - nothing is safe. He's close to sitting, rolls over occasionally and has two little bottom teeth.

And I have forgotten all the notes I had in my head. So onto the selfish stuff.

Rick
running shoes
sleep shirts
pajamas
universal remote
king sheets
king mattress pad

Me
external hard drive for mac
dyson handheld
garmin watch

Bobby
I don't really know. usually he has stuff picked out
a heavy chess set with storage box
slippers or lined crocs or fake ugg boots
sleeping bag

Jack
scooter
octonauts playsets

Reid
absolutely nothing. he's 6 months. diapers perhaps.

eBaby Booking

Tooth #2 out! Must have been wobbly during soccer warm ups because he came over to me with his jaw stuck out. I asked if he wanted me to pull it, so I did. He was pretty excited and made sure to tell everyone. 

I noticed Reid had a tooth break through. He has been gumming his hands and toes and my hands and has had a tiny bit of drool but no big problem luckily. 

I am running my first post partum 10k tomorrow. This same weekend two years ago, I ran a half marathon and jack was born a month later than Reid. And I'm no shape to race 5 miles even but the company will make it worth it.  Then the Halloween week of decadence begins and the election is ten days away. Bring it on.  

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:

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