Not a fan

Brayden is not in love with his rice cereal. He's not even in like with it. *Sigh*
I think he has ingested maybe 10 bites total in the 10 times we've tried the cereal. Some of it is my fault. I know consistency is key, but listen, it is no walk in the park being the only adult during the evenings. These boys may be cute, but they sure are needy!! :)

Tryin' it...


Not sure...


Realizing it's the same ol' stuff...


How could you do this to me Mommy?!?!

This was not the worst look he gave me, either.

Other pics from today...

Showin' off his Scooby Doo vitamins (he thinks they are Scooby Snacks!)


Hangin' out with Daddy


♥♥♥

Shhhh...

"Shhhhh Mommy, baby's sleepin"

Uh-huh. Like Mommy is the one bein' loud!!!

This is how the conversation went tonight as I was putting Jack to bed.
Me--I love you!
Jack--I wove ew
Me--Awww you melt my heart!
Jack--Have some chocolate?

The boy's a mess :)

Here's a recent picture of Brayden that I could stare at all day...


♥♥♥

Update

Well, we haven't been consistent due to illness and grouchy-ness, but there has been improvement!

He gets 8 out of 9 shapes right on the first try (the moon and half-circle get him every time!).





He can identify a few letters and we worked on spelling his name.



He can pick out colors other than green!! THANK GOD! He identified orange, black, yellow and grey.



He told me what sounds certain animals make...and he was doing good...but in his world the pig still says "moo". And when I asked what the kitty-cat says, his response was "please". Still some work to be done there!!



He is counting better too. Three is now included but two is still left out! Nine still comes at random.



And, of course he was perfectly still the entire time we played school. Yeah right!



See that?!??? It's a tooth! Woot woot!

Of course, along with this new development, we have lots of oragel, drool, mmmm-mmm sounds, hand-chewing and screeching. Bless his sweet lil heart.


Last night, Brayden and I went to have dinner with my Belle besties!! It's always good to hang with these girls.

My hair is in that yucky growing out stage. Please help!!!


Another thing I did this weekend is stock the freezer. I cooked and froze several meals so I don't have to scramble to get it done during the evenings. Because I'd rather snuggle these two cuties...


♥♥♥

He's baaaaaaack

Jackson is pretty much back to himself again!! Yay! Here's how I know...

*He does not cry/whine/get frustrated when I get him what he is asking for (milk, movie, etc). He says thank you (gasp!).

*He is playing. Over the last week, he has only wrecked his playroom maybe once a day (if he played at all). Normally we're looking at 3-4 times a day. I find some funny stuff when I'm cleaning up in there (we're working on him cleaning it). Today it was his sock monkey riding his big-boy fourwheeler.

*He is eating better. Today he ate...and ate...and ate. He has been asking for food constantly! He ate a good breakfast and lunch (and half of mine!).

*He is being nice. He told me good job when I put my pants on by myself. Apparently, in his eyes, this is something I should need help with.

*He is cooperating. Last night and today, I only had to say things once (!).

*He is being sweet. I've gotten countless hugs (last night five in a row!) and kisses. You just can't put a price on that!

I'm soooooo glad Jackson is feeling better. I think he was feeling sickly for awhile before it became strep throat, so he has been a fuss-bucket for a long time now!!!

Now, we'll see how long this stellar behavior lasts!

♥♥♥

The ups and the downs

It has been a rough couple of days. Jack is on the tail end of being sick, he's two and he has a new (ish) baby brother. These things (especially the first two) make for a very grouchy, limit-pushing, not listening toddler. Momma's tired.

So there has been alot of this the past 2 days...

Minus that snowman pj's and hat of course. That look is soooo 2009.

Despite the yucky behaviors we've been dealing with, there have been some funny-sweet-good moments. One such moment was when Jackson argued with me that 9 comes after 4, not 5. He was very adamant about this! Another was when he kept telling me "got to put my pants on, got to put my shoes on". This was right before bedtime so he obviously had some big plans for the night that I was not aware of! Makes me really curious about what goes on in his cute little head.

Hopefully, he will be back to his old self tomorrow. I miss my always-sweet boy!

This is my new favorite picture of B

Makes me want to scoop him right up!

♥♥&hearts

Then, and now

Dear Jackson,

When Brayden first came into this world, we were unsure about how you would react and adjust. You had been the absolute center of our world and that was about to change drastically. We were worried how you would handle sharing--although you share well at school, it's not quite the same as sharing 24/7--but also we were concerned that you would still feel loved and important. And, would you like or, dare we hope, love Brayden? Or would you throw toys at him when we weren't looking out of jealousy?

Well, it turns out that all that worry was for nothing. You LOVE Brayden. You want to hold him, hug him, kiss him. You bring Mommy diapers and toys for Brayden. You hold his hand and count his toes while Mommy nurses him. You want to play cars and read books together. You make a bee-line for Brayden most mornings. You love to lay on Brayden's playmat with him. You have learned how to say "best friend".

I love, love, love watching the two of you together. It makes my heart smile. Thank you for being an amazing big brother (and for only telling him to stop crying every once in awhile). He is already looking up to you, and I know you will always be there for him.

Love you to the moon and back a million times,
Mommy


Then


Now

♥♥♥

Pecking order

This is Jackson on Christmas Day, with his new Thomas, begging us to open it.



I asked him for a kiss this afternoon. He's still a little under the weather, and was pretty cuddly when he woke up from his nap, so I thought he'd give away kisses pretty easily.

He kissed Thomas instead.

And that is how I rank against Thomas the Train.

(but he did give me a hug for no reason ♥)

Well, I can't leave sweet Brayden out. Here is an equally cute picture of Brayden on Christmas Day.



♥♥♥

Sickly, Smiley, Sleepy

Jackson=Sickly
Brayden=Smiley
Us=Sleepy

Today ours was a divided house. We woke up at 6:45ish to Jackson crying and coughing. We did have big plans for today (Ryan had a session, birthday pedicure/mommy free time for me, Ryan's work dinner tonight) but all of that gets put on the back burner when your two year old wakes up as red as a tomato and hot as fire :(

So the division began...we were trying desperately to keep Jackson away from Brayden. This was hard because A. our house is not huge B. Jackson loves to hug/kiss/"play with" Brayden. But we managed and after awhile we were able to get an appointment at our doctor's Saturday clinic. So off went Ryan and Jack to town. About an hour later the verdict was in: strep throat. Ugh. So, we spent our day taking temps, dispensing meds and loungin'.


Bless his little heart! This was during a down moment. We kept having to remind him he was sick and that he needed to rest--even with a temp of 100+ he wanted to run around.

Brayden, on the other hand, was pretty happy and smiley all day.


I love the look of excitement on his face! He was very into his rattle and loved that he could shake it and make lots of noise :)

Hope everyone (all three of you that read this!) is having a good weekend!

♥♥♥

Learning, one day at a time

This morning Jackson and I started a new project. The goal is to spend at least five minutes a day on each of the following: letters, shapes, counting, colors and animals. Of course, as he gets older and more patient, we will be able to do it for longer (and expand the areas we learn about), but right now five minutes on each area is about as much as he will focus on! I really have no clue what is normal or expected for his age in terms of actually learning/retaining these things, but I figured if we can make it fun he will enjoy it AND benefit from it. I'm curious to see how much difference it will (or won't) make to consistently work on these things. Hopefully he will gain knowledge and have fun, and I will gain more patience :) So far so good!

We started with letters. In the past two months, he has gotten really good at singing the ABC's! He LOVES to sing the ABC's, and wants me to sing it to him at least twice before bed each night (along with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star).



He was able to pick out the letter A. He was in love with the letter G. He really just wanted to sing the ABC's and stack the blocks. *Reminding myself this is Day 1*

Next, we worked on shapes. He is really good at shapes and loves them! He can name almost all of them and could put several into the corresponding slot all on his own. Favorites are the moon and the triangle.





Then, we worked on animals. He loved the book we were using and enjoyed pointing out the animals he knew. He says "za-za" when he wants to know what something is (he has done this since he started talking), so he kept saying za-za and pointing. He pointed to the butterflies and said "Gonna get you!!!"





After animals, we started counting. He is really good at 5-10. Dislikes 4, and ignores 2 and 3 periodically. 9 gets thrown in randomly. Lately, I have caught him counting baby Brayden's toes and fingers *heart melts* and sometimes he will be within one number of getting 1-10 right!



Counting his own toes :)

Last, we worked on colors. *Sigh* Y'all he is obsessed with green (greng as he says). EVERYTHING is green! I worried that he was color-blind for a few weeks, but I think I was being over-dramatic. He just likes green. Alot. So, everything I pointed out was green! Oh, well. We'll keep workin' on it :)

All in all, day #1 was a success!!

Some pics from this evening...



We've let Jack's hair grow out some after keeping it shaved short for a couple of months. Just look at those eyes. Mischievous as all get out.



My sweet baby.



And his ginormous feet.



Brothers :) It is so neat to watch them bond. Tonight Brayden was just staring at Jackson, and when Jackson looked over at Brayden, Brayden just cooed and cooed. It was precious!!

♥♥♥

ahhhh

Ignore the dirty hair and no make-up (because that's how I roll these days) and look.at.those.hands! Sweet, little, chubby baby hands. He loves to play with my face lately, and painful as it may be with his little baby nails, I love it too :)



♥♥♥

I need to eat somethin'...

So, as two year olds do, Jackson is often saying very random (but hilarious) things. Recently, he has been telling me "I need to eat somethin". I promise I do feed the poor child. This usually is riiiiiight before bedtime. I believe he has learned the fine art of stalling. So today I am on the couch tryin' and tryin' to pacify baby Brayden, and Jackson walks up to me and says "I need to eat somethin"...I asked him to wait a few minutes since I was holding Brayden. If you know my child, you know he kept asking for something to eat...and kept asking...and so on. He was quiet for a minute, and then he looked at me and said "I need to eat poo-poo" Whaaaaatttttt!!! I have no idea what his thing with poop is lately! I promise we are normal! I told him we most definitely DO NOT EAT POO-POO!! Then he said "I need to eat powder"...there is a story behind that one though!


Today Jack had a hard time when I dropped him off at MDO. I think he is having a hard time getting back into the swing of things after all the Christmas craziness. Anyway, when I picked him up from MDO, his teacher told me that he sassed her about taking his boots off! He did not want to take them off for nap time and he told her so! Along with poop, my child has a interest/obsession with shoes!
Here is my big boy after MDO, carryin' his Lightning backpack and his guitar lunchbox!


Here is a pic of Brayden, just because he is ADORABLE!


In other areas of cuteness, lately Jackson will come up to Ryan and I, stand between us, look up and say "Hi Guys!" :) He is the funniest kid ever, I swear.

♥♥♥

Birthday

Soooo as you get older birthdays just aren't as big of a deal. When you're a little kid, it's SUCH an exciting day! Now, I want to just skip right over it!! Either way, it is nice for family and friends to take time out to make you feel special on your day. Last night Jenny, Cas (and Jadon) brought over a cookie cake (my fav!!) and lots of DP (my crack!!). Heather stopped by for a bit and dropped off a sweet gift and we sent her off to celebrate her hubby's birthday with a plate of brownies. We had a great, laid-back night! I ♥ my friends so much!
This morning, Ryan and Jackson woke me (and Brayden) up with a yummy breakfast and birthday candles!! I wanted Jack to stay home from MDO so we could snuggle and snuggle we did! We had a laaaazy morning and a great lunch. Of course, Ryan insisted that I open my birthday present like 10 days ago, so the only presents I opened today were in the form of dirty diapers. Hahaha!

Here are some pics from last night...


Disregard the hideous tablecloth in the background; it's temporary!!


Jackson and Jadon enjoying some yummy cookie cake!


Cas and Brayden watchin' the big boys play/fight. Notice her shirt says "I'm Difficult" hahahaa

And some pics from today...


loungin'


playin'

And a couple of pics of my most favorite birthday presents...


We found out about Jackson January 12, 2007 ♥


We found out about Brayden January 15, 2009 ♥

One last thing--tonight Jackson became entranced with Yo Gabba Gabba. It's a children's show with lots of brightly colored, crazy looking characters that teach good behavior. Today's lesson: not biting your friends and teamwork. This is how the conversation went after...Jackson: "I not bite my friends." Me: "That's right! Good job buddy." Jackson: "I not touch my poop." Me: "Ummmm, no we don't touch our poop!" Not sure where it came from but he was very firm on that!

♥♥♥

Well, I finally did it y'all!

I have wanted to create a blog for awhile now to--what else--show off my babies! And, to keep in touch with family and friends. Hopefully, if you fit into one of those categories, you'll check us out for your daily dose of cute :)