... me now!

Uncle Bruce... this one is for you. Jack's language skills have taken off like crazy in the past 2 months and he is saying everything it seems. His favorite little phrase is "... me now!" which seems to appear everywhere. "Gate open me now", "with me now", "milk me now"... and on and on and on! I can't help but think of Uncle Bruce who spent all of his 20's trying to convince me that the "magic word" when I was asking my parents for something was "now"! :-)

Ladybug

Cute story... James has a ladybug pillow pet that G.G. got him when he was 13 months old. His ladybug has become his special "bug" that he sleeps with every night. He got Jack a small ladybug pillow pet last year that Jack always slept with but now Jack has switched to a medium sized penguin pillow pet that he found in James' room. James' ladybug stunk so horribly (even after washing) that we just got him a new one (shhh... don't tell him... he doesn't know that a switch was done in the middle of the night!). I decided that Jack was big enough to get his own big pillow pet too so we have been looking at the choices on Amazon. Well, James has decided that he wants a new one and is now walking around the house trying to convince Jack of how awesome his ladybug is and how Jack should take James' ladybug so he can get the new pillow pet. My little lawyer in the making! :-)

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!  :.)