Fishes

Here are a few shots of the boys swimming with Shannan and Ramin, Nicholas and Claire. Christopher had more fun with all the little ones than I thought he would and we had a great time with pizza lunch and wonderful hosts. Ethan is jumping and diving in these days and Jason will just launch himself in as well given the chance. He is floating well and trying to kick and would probably be able to float on his own if he wasn't drinking the water.

I'm a walkin....

So for a while now we have been doing the cruising and taking 2 or 3 steps with encouragement. But this week, we all of a sudden got confidence and found our feet. We are walking across rooms, running into arms and just having a big time of it. And we are still eating Mom out of house and home. I compare him with our teenager Christopher and think they are on par for overall amount in a given day. CJA eats neater of course. But Jason is dangerous with a fork and spoon these days and he actually leaves his food in the bowl. Progress. Still no top teeth at 14 months but it does not seem to deter. I just am amazed how different the kids are. Jason is so much more easy going but not nearly as motivated to communicate or walk as E was. But he is incredible at puzzles, problem solving, and his sign language is quite good. He is also my climber although so far, the crib is still a safe holding place....phew.

Some of my favorites are how Jason says "more" and "all done", how he waves hi and bye and how he gives high five. He claps and dances to music and likes to point at what he wants and is very insistent if you get the wrong item or don't look and see what he sees. He loves to play with the cats and the dog and even tries to throw the ball for Tanner. I love his giggle and how he runs for me when I pick him up at daycare. I love how people stop me in restaurants to tell me how gorgeous he is and what a sweet baby I have. I love how he gives his stuffed Doggy a hug and kiss and rocks from side to side as he hugs. Mom took him shopping the other day and he just had to have this Bear on the shelf at the Hallmark store. He pointed and pointed and said uhh...uhhh and so she just had to buy it. When you ask him about it, he grabs it and hugs it tight and just grins! I love how he says uh uh uh oh when he drops something and how he does something anyway when you say no. Of course he has to look at you to see what you are going to do about it.

On another note, I gave JT his first haircut last week and tried to shorten the Mohawk. Not sure it helped but I have his first little blond cutting saved away. For what? I don't know but I have these cute little keepsake boxes that say "First Tooth" and "First Curl" so you go with the flow. I am sure I do enough to damage my children and want to avoid hearing "And I can't BELIEVE you didn't save my first tooth" the first time they storm out of the house at 16. :-)

Look-alike Meter - Jason

A friend used this on her blog and I found it hysterical so had to try it as well. The results are very interesting and not at all what I expected.

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Look-alike Meter - Ethan

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology - Family search

He speaks

Last weekend we went to Uncle Mikey's for a swim and Jason wouldn't get out of his raft much less out of the pool. He did have it quite nice with all his toys and
buckets and we practiced saying "turtle". Now to be honest it sounded a little more like "urtle" but he just kept repeating it and it was so cool. He hasn't said duck (duh) in a while so this was a breakthrough. He does babble more and more and it looks like he is about to get a new tooth as well if the drool measurements mean anything. I am getting very impatient with only two teeth...he seems not to mind so much.

In school news, Jason moved up on 6/10 to his new classroom and is sleeping on a mat instead of in a crib. The transition seemed to go well but drop offs are a little rough right now. I know he will bond again but it does pull on my heart. He is basically down to one nap a day at school and a brief snooze on the way in. My little boy is growing up. He is also riding forward facing and gets to hold Ethan's hand in the car. It was a rude awakening to me that he wasn't an infant anymore. I know Ms Alex misses him dearly but I love that he has Ethan's first teachers now. They told Jeff that when he wakes from his 3 hour nap and they are setting up snack, he crawls over to the table and gets in his chair and is ready to eat. Why doesn't that shock me? And why don't I get 3 hour naps when he is home on the weekend?

He is doing great with a few signs (more, all done and bye) and is also trying to say "down" when he is ready to get out of his highchair. He does have a very straightforward manner of communication. When he doesn't get something he wants, he points and if that doesn't work, he throws himself back and arches his back. I am constantly watching out for things behind him when he has a fit. Did I mention that he screams? When he does it at the daycare center, you can hear him in the other wing and everyone knows who it is. Yep, I got two of them.

Disney with the Duo

Be sure you check out Ethan's blog where we posted the pictures from our Disney trip with the boys. I have only one thing to add here. Everyone warned us on the difficulties of traveling there with an infant. They so missed the mark. Where are the posted disclaimers for parents having to travel with a 3 year old?

If you are interested in viewing more pics, we uploaded a huge amount from May and June to a Kodak album. See our gallery.

Jason's First Birthday

My baby turned 1 today. The year went too fast. Jeff reminds me of the sleepless nights and the crazy first few months but you never remember that. You remember the cute clothes, the little fingers, the nursing late nights when it is just the two of you. I miss that and he seems to have gone from a small 3 month baby to a woddler!




That being said, we did have a really nice day today. Jeff cooked out for everyone and the friends and family abounded. Our neighbors and their baby came, Mario, Shannon and Emerson, Tracey and Nina, and all the family on both sides. He was so spoiled with new clothes, pool toys, and a wagon for all his travels on the farm. We gave horse rides to the kids, played in the sand table, the turtle pool, and made monster drawings. Jason loved his first bit of cake (ok, ok, I know...what DOESN't he eat?) and looked adorable in his birthday hat. We had invitations and plates with jungle animals and I decorated the cakes. Anyone who knows me can confirm I am the most unartistic person around but I took great pleasure in making it an original anyway.

Here is a link to the pictures Mario took in addition to the ones I am posting here.

Memorial Day

We headed over to Michael's today for some hospitality and a swim in his pool....which was a bit cold still. BRRRRR! The kids loved it anyway and we all got to relax and enjoy the family and the day. Jason loved the water and the floats and was violently against coming out even when his lips were quivering with cold. Here are a few shots of him enjoying the water and following in his father's footsteps. Floating around the pool and having people bring him drinks. :-) Lucky for him, he had Aunt Marie.



Jeff and Grandma relaxing poolside:


Uncle Mikey and Ethan:

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.

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.

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.

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. :-)

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).

Merry Christmas!

We put posts of the happenings on E's blog for Christmas day and did Christmas eve here on JT's. However, here are a few embarrassing pics of Jason to show him when he is 16 or to his future wife later on. You have to have the obligatory 1st Christmas outfit and many thanks to Aunt Jean for the long johns!

Christmas eve

Uncle Mikey hosted us for Christmas eve and we had an antipasto tray and many different types of fish for dinner. We had a nice time and were going to go to mass at 8 but JT got very ill and we went right home. He is off his food and getting a bit dehydrated so we are giving him pediatric electrolytes and wanted to get him home. Here are some pics from our dinner:





Snuggling by the fire:



Notice my happening reindeer bib.


Wrapped up in 2 pairs of jammies and ready for Santa: