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Playground babies

2/27/2013

One day last weekend, the weather was so nice, we bundled up the little ones and hopped in the car and over to the playground. Grandma and Grandpa were both there, which meant I could take some pictures! Riley could spend hours and hours at the playground. Jackson probably could too, but gets easily distracted by the bark and dirt and all the things he could potentially shove in his mouth. But he sure does enjoy a good swing!

Especially when he has a Grandpa to play with. My dad would pretend to get hit in the mouth by Jackson's foot and sent Jack and Riley into fits of hysterical laughter. See for yourself..

Then it was Riley's turn to "kick" Grandpa.

I am so so excited the weather is getting so good! My children are definitely outdoor babies, they just LOVE to be outside. Doing anything really, as long as it's outside! Play grounds, parks, swimming, walks, anything!

Riley has become quite the little climber these days... She plays on the "little kids" playground for a bit, then decides she wants to venture over to the big kid playground, where she climbs up on all the big girl stuff and gives her mama an anxiety attack, because she most certainly does NOT need any help!

Jack, on the other hand, still needs some assistance. :)

You may notice Jack has mismatched socks. I, instead, notice that YAY he is wearing socks! The boy always always pulls of his socks, so I think it's a huge accomplishment that he even has any on! We'll work on the matching part later...

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One day...

2/17/2013

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..I might feel all caught up. I might have an evening to just sit back, relax, and watch TV. But that day, is not today. :) My husband is out of town again for the next week, and he is pestering me about blog posts and pictures of his babies since he doesn't get to see them for a while, so I'm trying to oblige. :)

And also, I've done such a bad job at blogging lately, and it makes me sad because I love going back to my old posts and reading about all the things the little ones were doing or saying, and what I was thinking, and all about our adventures, even if they were seemingly boring daily activities. I mean I have tons of photos, and I have their yearly books, but I can't fit EVERYTHING in those (although I sure do try!). So I'm going to try and be better, for my own sake. :)

Jackson is turning into such a little boy, and he is getting to be easier and easier, and more go with the flow. I have sort of forced him into taking only one nap a day, so that he and Ri nap at the same time, and he now takes one big THREE HOUR nap!! Hooray!!

He's not walking, but boy oh boy can he climb! He can climb all the way up the slide, up steps, up onto things he shouldn't... He loves putting his cars up and down the slide, and up and down his car ramp we got him for his birthday.

Riley is still my little energetic crazy kid. And she is SUPER fun. I totally love getting to hang out with her all day and listening to all the cool things she has to say. I love listening to her ask WHY a million times a day. How she comes up with scenarios and answers, how she reasons, how just crazy goofy she is. I adore two year olds, tantrums and all. :)

She is missing her daddy a lot, and tells me every day "Mama I'm so sad because I lost my daddy." When I ask her where he is, she says, "In New Zealand, that's across the ocean" and I ask her how she would get there and she says, "I could row row row my boat or I can go in an airplane!!" She was NOT happy she didn't get to go on an airplane with her daddy!!

We implemented a sticker chart to encourage certain behaviors we'd like to see... if she gets 10 stickers, she gets prizes (like this Periwinkle toy from TinkerBell). So far, it has worked. like. a. charm. If only I had known that all I needed to get her to fall asleep on her own was a few stickers.... sheesh I would have done this ages ago!!

Riley, Jackson and I have a good routine in the mornings when daddy is away. We wake up, eat breakfast, and then play play play. We alternate between the lounge, the playroom, and then upstairs. And you know what has provided HOURS of fun lately?? THIS box.

Riley is so proud that she can draw circles and ovals and then count how many she has done. This was her "spaceship" that she decorated all by herself.

And Jackson? Well, he just tries to chew on the box (and the markers), and would actually much rather play with this shape sorter. He loves this thing, just like Riley used to!!!

I've got lots of super cute playground photos to share, but hopefully those will come tomorrow. Since I'm husband-less I need to get as much sleep as possible to keep up with these two monkeys!!!

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Jackson is ONE!

2/11/2013

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It has taken me forever to write this update! I still can't believe baby boy is ONE!! I had a lot of fun with his one year photos, that's for sure!

Okay here we go... this little guy has changed so much in the last month! He is a super speed crawler, and can get from A to B in no time at all, all he needs is the right motivation... things like computers, marbles that have been left out by his sister, remotes, etc... He pulls up to stand, cruises along the furniture, and has started letting go to stand on his own. He can walk pushing on to a walker, but doesn't have a lot of interest trying to walk holding our hands. We're totally okay with that, it's hard on our backs anyway. :)

Now he may not be a walker, but he is a total climber. He can almost climb all the way up Riley's big slide all by himself. He climbs onto and over anything he can. He climbed all the way our flight of stairs the very first time we let him even try, he didn't even look back. He is pretty fearless, that boy.

He LOVES music, and he loves to dance. He will stand up and shake his booty, and bob his head, and rock side to side. He loves when Riley sings to him, and if he's crying, it almost always makes him stop when Riley starts to sing. He doesn't ever really watch much TV, but he has recently decided he loves Mickey Mouse (thanks to his sister), and he loves Baby Einstein on the ipad. In fact, he also recently decided that he does NOT like being in his car seat, so we hooked up the car DVD player so he can watch Mickey Mouse in the car, and VOILA, now he's happy in the car. THANK. GOODNESS.

He loves opening and closing doors, he loves balls and balloons, puzzles, and banging objects together. He loves trains and cars, and he loves his sister's old favorite toy, the shape sorter! He tries really really hard to get the shapes in the right spots, and he can get the square and the triangle in almost all by himself.

He FINALLY has started eating more "real" food. As in, not pureed foods. He of course still loves his pureed sweet potatoes and carrots, but he also loves pasta (gluten free), sausages, bananas, hamburger, sweet potato fries, and whatever else we are having for dinner! Hooray for graduating from pureed fruits and veggies!! if he sees a banana anywhere, he goes nuts and crawls over towards it and cries until he gets it! He gets MAD when he sees us eating something that he doesn't get to have.

He still only has his two bottom teeth, although one of his top ones can be seen through the gums, but it hasn't broken through yet. I don't see signs of any other teeth!! Which is good because he's already a little biter, he tries to bite Riley all the time, that little monkey!

This boy loves to be outside! He loves the trampoline and loves going for walks/runs in the stroller. If he sees the front or back door open, and then he doesn't get to go outside, he throws a big fit! He loves to clap all the time, he says "mama" and "dada" and "hi!" and he is just super loud and vocal. The funniest is when he and Ri Ri squeal back and forth. Riley will do a high-pitched squeal, and then Jack will, and then back and forth... sometimes it's hard to tell which child is squealing!!

He loves to give kisses, and if anyone is laying on the ground (normally it's Riley) he will crawl over and plant a big wet one on her face. He loves to be tossed in the air, and he's SUPER ticklish. He loves to play baby chase, and if you say "I'm gonna get you!" he takes off crawling and laughing. He loves when we pick him up and round round the house chasing Riley. He loves when we make him jump all over the house, and he is determined to race off and get into the kitchen because he knows he's not allowed in there.

He adores bath time, but he is one crazy little boy. He is constantly trying to stand up and crawl around and dunk his face under the water and splash and just get into trouble! He knows the sound of the bath water and as soon as we say it's bath time he heads straight down the hall and right towards to the tub. And he is NOT happy to have to get out!

His allergies are currently under control, we haven't had any more incidents lately. His skin is still itchy and red, so something is still bothering him, but we're working hard trying to figure it all out. We go see the allergist again this week so maybe we can get some more answers!

At his one year check-up he was something like 21 pounds (30%), 29 inches (50%) with a head circumference in the 70th percentile. This surprises me because I always think of him a such a big boy, so I couldn't believe he was only in the 30th percentile for weight! But I do think he's lost a little bit of weight and slimmed down recently, probably a combination of how active he is and all his dietary restrictions.

I'm still breastfeeding him, but he will also take bottles of rice milk, which is so nice! He has no problem taking bottles as long as the milk is nice and toasty warm! He's not that awesome with a sippy cup, but we're working on it.

Weirdest thing... this boy does NOT love books. Riley was such a book worm, and still is. At this age, she would sit and read books forever! Jack? No way. He has one or two books he likes, and that's it. You try and read him a story and he either (1) crawls away (2) grabs the book and shoves it in his mouth or (3) tries to rip the pages. He's just so different than his sister! It makes it so much harder to actually read to him, since he just won't stand for it! Oh well, we'll get there eventually

What am I forgetting... he hates having his diaper changed, or basically anything that involves staying still against his will. He's not a fan of strangers and will play "shy" when meeting new people by buring/hiding his head in my chest. He always pulls his socks off, and he's not really a big fan of hats. He takes two naps a day, usually 1.5-2 hours each, and still wakes up around 3 times at night. He's super fun, super cute, and just the cutest, best little one year old we know!

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Playground babies

One day...

Jackson is ONE!

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