"Mommy"

James drew this picture of me today while I was talking on the phone. I asked him what that was in the middle, and he said, "your tummy!" Hmmm....don't worry, I'm not pregnant, but apparently he sees something there! I still love it, though!

Bedtime Stalling

Me: James, you need to stay in bed.

James: I want to sleep in your bed!

Me: No, James. You need to sleep in your room.

James: (looking around the room) I want this to turn into a playroom!


A few minutes later...

James: I like sleeping with you... (awww)

Me: But that's only in the morning.

James: But I want to go there now.

Me: No, you need to sleep in your bed.

James: But people like it when I sleep with them!

14 Months!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jack. This is so typical of them, and such a joy to watch...James coming up to "get" Jack and Jack laughing and trying to get away as fast as he can...with that tongue sticking out! I'm so glad I caught this on camera (without it being blurry!). The expression on Jack's face is just so him!






Things that stand out to me about this month...

*Jack is getting to be on an energizer-bunny level of activity. He just keeps going and going. And he's into everything at all times. I'm amazed at the messes he makes in no time at all! He likes to dump things out, put things back in, throw things in the toilet (like my brand new iphone that cost $50 to buy and $150 to fix), etc, etc.

*He loves to climb. He used a toy to climb on top of our guest bed, he climbed to the top of the slide at the park (with me ready to catch him at any given moment), and he'll even climb on top of toys and carefully straighten up his back and stand tall!

*He's so adorable walking. He walks as fast and his chubby little legs will take him!

*He gives lost of open mouth kisses to me, Josh, and James, and sometimes Nana. :) They are the sweetest kisses in the world!! I actually have a little breakout on the side of my face that I think he caused, but it's worth it. He gives the sweetest hugs, too! They are very deliberate, sweet hugs.

*He likes to go "nigh-nigh" and said excitedly the other day when I gave him his toothbrush, "NIGH-NIGH!! NIGH-NIGH!! NIGH-NIGH!!" We're working on getting him to lay down without being asleep and falling asleep on his own. He'll get up, and I'll stroke his head back down, and he'll lay down and kick his legs. He's doing better about sleeping and will usually either sleep through the night now, or wake up once. About once a week, he'll have a rough night, though, and wake up and scream for a while.

*He's become enamored with his daddy and gets sooo excited when he gets home. He also calls me Daddy right now! When Josh is walking in, he lights up, walks as fast as he can to the door, and says, "Daddy!!! Daddy!!! Daddy!!!" He also snuggles with him in the morning now, sitting perfectly still in his arms.

*He's not afraid to voice his opinion. Maybe we'll call it passionate? If so, he will have come by it honestly (from his mama)! :)

*He's given up most baby food and is doing great eating people food. He's a great little eater, which I'm thankful for and hope he continues!

That's about all I can think of!

A Word from the Wise

Do not let a toddler pick up a bottle of finger nail polish. You might forget he has it in his hands and pick him up, and he might decide to throw it down while in your arms! Luckily, this did not get on my shoes or clothes, since we were walking out the door at this moment!

It Has Happened

Jack is officially not just my sweet, innocent, little baby anymore. He decided out of nowhere to have tantrums today, and he has just been in a funk all day (and last night)! I guess the honeymoon stage is over, and we've just had our first "fight". He looked at me with a furrowed brow today, picked up a toy, deliberately threw it down with a big scowl on his face, and looked at me with a face like, "What are you going to do about it?" I have NEVER seen this out of him! Just sweet smiles before this, when not tired, fussy, or sick. He was mad this morning that I closed the bathroom door, and he screamed out and threw himself down to the ground crying. He did this several times today. This boy has a TEMPER!! I've always known this was there. I remember seeing this even as a newborn, but he's still got the sweetest disposition, too, so we'll see how this all plays out. :)
"I'm growing up, Mom. What are you going to do about it?!"

Another one

More quotes that I don't want to forget...I make notes in my cell phone so I won't forget the things he says.

**I was making the bed this morning and felt a puzzle piece at the bottom of my duvet cover. I got so excited to find the state of Florida in there that we'd been missing. I pulled it out and said, "James! Look what I found!" He said in a dramatic, child-actor kind of way, "Florida!!! I missed you in Mom's bed! I knew you were in Mom's bed...I just knew you were in Mom's bed." (with his fake smile)

**We told James that if he slept all night in his bed, we'd go get a donut the next day. We got one a few weeks ago, and I discreetly took a bit before passing it back. James said, "When people sleep all night in their big boy bed, don't eat a bite of their donut! That's not nice! That's not perfect. That's not their chance!"

** "When I get bigger I'm going to make u a princess. You need white clothes and you will look like a princess."

** Me: James you'll be playing bball up here when you get bigger! (as we were pulling up to our church to watch Upward's Basketball)

James: No! I'm going to be a daddy!

The dreaded pink eye!!!!!! :)

Me, "James, I think you may be getting pink eye..."

James: (immediately welling up with tears) cries, "Will my blue eyes come back???"

I died laughing, and he said, "It's not funny!!!" and did not understand my several tries after that to explain what pink eye was. I finally just had to make a big deal about something else so he'd stop talking about it!

(he ended up not having it afterall...thank goodness.:))

Jack at 13 months

*Jack is walking so well now, walking most of the time, and is now trying to master walking as fast as he can! He is SO proud of himself when he walks. He'll look at us and get the biggest grin when we acknowledge him. He'll also stop and clap for himself periodically while walking. It's so sweet watching him!
Pics of him walking:

*Jack is getting his 4 canine teeth, and that has not been easy!! He spent much of one night screaming and wailing non-stop. That was just the coming down/making room for them part. Now they're starting to pop through, and it's tears and just overall not feeling well again.

*Jack is about 90% weaned. This has been a hard transition, more for me, but we're getting through it! He was still nursing about 6-7 times a day a month ago, and I've slowly gotten him down to now just once a day (as of two days ago). It was really hard for me at first; much harder than I thought and much harder than with James. He just loved it, I loved that time with him, and I didn't want to see that last little bit of babyness go! It also made me very emotional from the change in hormones, which didn't help. Jack really did pretty well. At first, he'd come up to me and say, "Mil-mil?" in that sweet, raspy voice, and it just physically hurt to turn him away, but he actually adjusted very quickly! I bought some bottles to help him adjust, but he wanted nothing to do with them. I gave him James' sippy cups with straws, and he got that down like a pro! It took him a couple of days and he was drinking so well from them. So, now I'm feeling MUCH more at peace about it, and I'm surprisingly enjoying this new phase in our relationship. I guess I'd forgotten how sweet this stage could be too! He has started doing some really sweet things, like putting both hands on my face, putting his face up to mine, and saying, "Ohhhhhh". It is the sweetest thing in the world! He keeps coming up to me to kiss me, too. I'm realizing that it's actually made him a little more independent, and his relationships are growing more with other people too! That is really neat to watch. Next week, I'm going to completely stop the first morning feed, and I'm okay (mostly) with that! :)

*Jack's new funny thing is, when you ask him most any question right now, he'll say, "No?" Like, "Jack, do you want to read this book?" Jack: "No?" "Jack, do you want to brush your teeth?" Jack: "No?" It's so cute the way he says it. I'm guessing he learned that from his big brother!

*Jack is speaking the funniest jargon now. His voice is SO cute!! He just jabbers and jabbers, especially in the car, and it's mostly adorable up-talking, like, "dee-go?" "nih-yah?" "de-buh-doo?" "de-gah-de-gah?"

*He is crazy about doggies right now! He'll scream "do-geee!!" and bark in a screaming way. Anytime he hears the dog behind us barking, he'll stop dead in his tracks and starting scream-barking back.

*He and his brother are just getting sweeter and sweeter together as playmates. I don't know much that makes me as happy as watching them play together. They just giggle like crazy at each other, love to chase each other, play peekaboo together, hug and kiss each other, and James just can't wait to see him anytime he has been away. I think my job as a stay-at-home mom is seriously a lot easier now than when I just had James. James was meant to have a little brother.

*Jack continues to grow more and more independent and loves to figure things out right now. He is a curious explorer and everything is a toy for him right now. (I'm sure that won't stop anytime soon, since James is still that way.)

*Jack has picked up on the routine of Josh leaving in the morning and now participates. Josh will stop in the driveway while James waves at the window every morning. James will tell him all kinds of things that make me laugh (since Josh can't even hear him from in his car) and then James will sprint outside (except lately since it's been so cold) and give him the paper and continue to tell him to be careful, have a good day, and much more. Jack now will wait by the window, even if James isn't around, when Josh walks out the door, and he'll say "bye" to any car that drives up or down the driveway.

*He is a little ham for the camera (very unlike his brother!). I will hold up the camera, and he'll actually smile and say, "teeee!" I'm amazed, since James has always been so hard to take pictures of, and I'm hoping this keeps up!

*Jack is doing great most nights with sleeping now. He goes to bed around 8 and gets up around 5:30-6am for his feeding. Sometimes he'll go back down, but lately he won't.

I can't believe we're already a month away from his 1st birthday! I'm very much looking forward to a normal (Lord willing) year with my boys and no pregnancy for a while. :)

Jack is Walking!

Jack has been taking a cautious 1, 2, 3, and 4 steps here or there for the past few weeks. Last night, right before dinner, he started just walking on his own! Josh caught it out of the corner of his eye and yelled, "Look, look, look!!" I stopped what I was doing and saw him taking about 8 or so steps to the dinner table! Maybe this is a glimpse of what is to come in my future! He was so proud and probably would have walked more, but plopped down when we cheered. He has been practicing his new found skill a lot since then and looks so adorable tottering around! Here are some pics I tried to take of him walking...

Jack accidently dropped this marker, picked it up, and then dropped it again just so he could pick it up again. He makes me laugh!

James "helping" his brother.

Protective/bossy brother telling him not to go into the street.

Unless of course, he's taking him out to the street.

Funny boy!

James, after winning a game of Mouse Match: "Guationations!" (Congratulations)