Jack... potty training???

This is the first time I am posting from the Kindle... I hope it works! Jack has started telling us when he has a poopy diaper which i know is the beginning of potty training but after how horrible it was to potty train James, I don't want to touch potty training with a ten foot pole! Jack also loves to sit on the potty anytime James goes and in the middle of diaper changes, and has even learned how to use it as a delay tactic for going to bed! Ugh!!! When I notice him going, I ask if wants to use the potty but am always told no. At the cabin this weekend he finally said yes and went poppy in the potty with Papa!!! Then today as I was changing his diaper before nap, he ran into go and went poppy in the potty again!! I was so excited for him!!!! I guess we just wait to see what happens now!!!

Jack... wow!

I have so much to catch up on... and I'll get there... but first a quick story that just completely AMAZED me!  We were at the pediatrician's office last week (poor Jonathan had his circumcision) and I was trying to entertain James and Jack (plus distract myself from Jonathan's screaming) so I asked Jack to point to the E on the vision chart.  You can imagine my complete amazement when he turned around and pointed directly to the E!!!!  I figured it must have been a complete coincidence so I asked him to point to the O... and lo and behold but he pointed directly to the O!!!  Thinking that I must be completely insane, I asked Jack to point to the P.  Initially he pointed to the Z, so I said: "No, the P." so he pointed to the P!  The next 2 letters he couldn't find and he got bored with the game so we moved onto something else but I was so amazed that Jack was able to recognize a few letters!!!  I still don't know if it was complete luck but, regardless, I am completely amazed that Jack was able to identify those letters at just 21 months!!!
A little more Jack bragging... Jack has been talking up a storm this past month!  He is saying just about everything and loves to mimic anything he can (yikes!).  He is beginning to put 2-3 words together and can explain just about anything to you with his limited words.  I love being able to communicate with Jack so much more easily and love hearing what he has to say (most of the time!).
Off to bed for me but I had to take a few minutes to share that amazing story!  More to come soon! (Hopefully!)  :-)

Quick baby update

It's late and I need to get to sleep so here is a quick update on baby... I went to the OB today and I am 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced (better than the 1 cm dilated from last week!)  The OB scheduled me to be induced next Friday, Dec 20th at 6am but thinks that I will probably go into labor on my own before that.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I go into labor soon but it's nice to know that there is an end in sight!!!  I can't imagine those poor women who carry babies 1-2 weeks after their due date, yikes!  Baby is still moving lots, still having lots of contractions, still trying to get everything unpacked, and still trying to get ready for Christmas... and still waiting for baby!  I'll keep you all posted!  Love to all!  Jennifer

Snuggling in Bed

The sweetest little story from this morning... James came in the room around 5:45 asking for me to come lie down with him so I did.  Around 6am Jack came wandering into James' room and I told him that it was still night-night time and he needed to go back to his room which he did.  Around 6:15 I returned to my bed to get a few more minutes of sleep hopefully!  Shortly thereafter, Josh informed me that Jack was getting into James' bed... typically I would make the boys stay in their own rooms until it was time to wake up but I was too tired to get out of bed and I kind of wanted to see how it would turn out so I watched on the monitor... did I mention that I LOVE video monitors!  James helped Jack into his bed, they both laid down, and put their arms around each other.  It was so incredibly cute to watch!  They proceeded to play together and read books together until 6:45ish when James declared that the sun was up and it was time to get up!  I absolutely LOVED watching them interact together so nicely and just spend time together without fighting.  It gave me hope that maybe one day they could get along and be friends!  :-)

Dinner with the De Anda's

One of the greatest things about our new house is that we are much closer to a lot of friends... most importantly, the DeAnda's.  We love getting to spend time with Cousin Andrea, Mr. Santi, Cousin Grace, and Cousin Shelby.  They live on about 2 acres in Cameron Park and it's a great place for the kids to just play and get dirty!  We got to visit a few days after we moved in and they were kind enough to have us stay for dinner!  

Grace loves to drive her Big Wheels down the pathway and onto the bridge.  She did a great job but I was a little more nervous about James trying the same thing... Here's how the conversation went...

Mommy:  If you want go down the hill, you need a helmet.  (I went into the garage and found Grace's helmet.)  

James: Mommy, is that a girl helmet?  (Great question considering it was pink with ladybugs!)

Mommy: It's the helmet you are going to wear if you plan on going down that hill.  (Thankfully he agrees happily!)  

Jack decided to show miss muscles off by carrying the shopping card around.  :-)  

A new toy that James had never seen before... the sit and spin!  He and Grace played it for hours!!!

They even got on together for a little while, much to Jack's dismay!!!  

Thankfully Jack just let them play together this time thankfully!  :-)

Waiting for Daddy ad Uncle Santi to get home from grabbing a pizza and soda which took which took much  longer than expected.  Regardless, they were all thrilled to visit him!  :.)

Let's Get Some New Pictures

My computer is finally fixed!  The mouse on the laptop hasn't been working so it has been mighty challenging to use my laptop which means that I have just been using Josh's work computer instead.  Unfortunately, he doesn't like me doing non-work related stuff on it unless I really have to so downloading pictures and uploading the blog has been forgotten for a few weeks.  I finally got my laptop fixed (kind of...), I connected a wireless mouse.  Unfortunately, I haven't been taking as many pictures as I should since I have known that I can't upload them so I will try to take more in the coming weeks/months.  Here are a few from the last few months....

The boys loved having Uncle Doug live with us for a few weeks this fall.  I must admit I loved getting to spend extra time with my brother and loved having an extra set of adult eyes to help out around the house!  

 Uncle Doug was a great sport playing with the boys... Jack became especially infatuated with Doug while he was here!  :-)

Moving day... the boys loved the moving truck and being "helpers" in the truck.  Note that the pony tail belongs to Auntie Michellie, not me... I was a good listening and tried to do lots of sitting and directing!  :-)

James wanted to make sure that his car wasn't left behind.  After lots of patient waiting, he finally got to drive his car up the ramp to be loaded.

Waiting, waiting, waiting... And getting a little hydrated!  A very warm day to say the least!  :-)

Don't worry... we didn't forget Jack!  (Compliments of Papa!!!)  

Relaxing at the new house after a long day of moving!  See... me sitting with my feet up!  Unfortunately, this only happened because the men claimed that they were tired and no more work that night!  :-)

The sandbox in our new backyard.  James and Jack's favorite part of the new house.  The boys could play back there forever!  Sadly, James asked me a few weeks ago if we could switch back houses with Miss Carol (the woman who bought our house) because he missed our old house.  He did request that we load the sandbox up into a moving truck and take it back with us though!  

It appears I missed a month!

Yikes, it appears I have missed an entire month!!!  Time flies!!!  The quick wrap up from the past 6 weeks or so... we MOVED!  That pretty much sums up most of what we have been doing... let's just say that it takes a little longer to unpack from moving while being 7/8 months pregnant with 2 toddlers than being kid-free!  :-)  We are slowly getting used to our new house and enjoying having a little more space (especially with little one on it's way) and definitely enjoying the bigger backyard.  Let's just say that the boys basically LOVE the backyard and getting them inside is sometimes impossible!  They ESPECIALLY LOVE a 15 diameter sand pit that is in the backyard for some unknown reason.  The hope at this point is just being mostly unpacked and settled before the baby arrives in a few weeks!

That leads us to the baby update... Baby continues to grow and grow and grow!  At my OB appt 2.5 weeks ago, my stomach measured 2 weeks small.  My OB ordered an ultrasound to check on baby size (because of the gestational diabetes) and, the very next day, the baby measured about 2.5 weeks big!  At my OB appt a few days ago, I measured right on track.  I guess this shouldn't surprise me because I measured small with Jack until about this same time!  I continue with my gestational diabetes appointments once a week, I start non-stress tests 2x/week soon, and my OB appointments go to once a week after Thanksgiving.  My last day at work (before my maternity leave starts) will be the day before Thanksgiving, but I haven't been doing patient care for several weeks now.  I asked my OB for a 25 lb lifting restriction at work (due to all the pelvic pain I was having) and instead was placed on a 9lb lifting restriction.  This definitely took me off of all patient care and I have been doing all administrative work for the past few weeks.  It has been wonderful to be pain-free since stopping patient care (though I do miss working with patients a little too!)  At this point, my OB is hoping for a delivery between 37-39 weeks and will induce me at 39 weeks to prevent the baby from being too big!  Fingers crossed for the not too big part!  :-)

Now for a few cute stories over the past few weeks... (There are so many that I have been trying to remember that hopefully I can remember most of them now!)

James has had lots of questions about God and church lately... He notices all kind of play grounds wherever we are and noticed a fun one at a church we were driving by the other day.
James: "Can we go to that park Mommy?"
Me: "No honey, we can't go to that one because it's at a church."
James: "What's a church?"
Me: "It's a place that we go to talk to God. Or we can just talk to God whenever we want just by saying his name."
A week or two later we were making a craft for our friend Isa and James said we should make one for Joey and Colleen and Benny and their doggie, Bella too.  I explained that their doggie had died because she was very sick.  I then explained that Bella was in heaven with God now and that God was looking out for her.  James had a lot of questions that I did my best to answer.  When Josh got home after nap time, James came running out of his room and told Josh, "Bella died.  We need to thank God for taking care of her now."  So sweet of him!
The next day, we drove past the church he had noticed previously and James yelled out, "Mommy, we need to go there to call God and thank him for taking care of Bella!"  It was so sweet of him to remember and ask about stopping.
This morning as we were playing outside, James came over and asked me what college was.  I explained that it was where we went to learn and tried to explain a little more about schools.  Then he asked about church so I explained what that was again.  He was so cute because then he tried to say something about college and said, "Wait Mommy... I don't remember.  What did you say again?"  It's so amazing to see how curious little kiddos are!

Now one for Jack... Jack is learning more and more words every day!  And trying to use them as much as brother will let him get a word in!  I think my favorite word from Jack right now is when he talks about Auntie Miche... for some reason he starts her name with a "B" and let's just say that "Biche" doesn't sound the best!  :-)  But it is pretty darn funny!  :-)  His all time favorite word right now is "no"... if you get a simple "no" it typically means "yes" but if you get an emphatic "NO" then that really means NO!  It does get pretty challenging to figure out sometimes and this Mommy is definitely looking forward to the word "YES!"

Too many more cute stories to remember... I will try to remember to post more often again so I can remember more of the wonderful stories that are so hard to remember!  :-)