August was another fun-filled month! It flew...and it was so busy! We went to the Balloon Classic parade and to the sponsor tent again this year to watch the balloons take off, went to Grandma Joyce's, to the Blank Park Zoo twice, started potty training, started Little Gym, and are in the process of switching Hanna over to formula! On top of all of this, I went back to work, and the kids started back to Bob and Vickie's. It's been crazy but fun around here!
National Balloon Classic parade
National Balloon Classic!
The sponsor tent gets us free food, drinks, and a close up seat to take-off! Stella and Jack loved it!
At the park!
Matching pig bracelets that Jack always insists on wearing with Hanna at the library!
Some 7 month pics of Hanna!
Grumpy Pants...Squirrel Hair...
Bbl! Baby Landon!
First time at Little Gym!! Justin and I take turns taking Jack to West Des Moines to Little Gym on Wednesdays. Jack LOVES doing gymplastics now! Yes, that is what he calls it!
Bob and Vickie!! (and Gordie) Our kids love them so much. So do we! 
Jack loved looking at his baby book with me.
Hanna, Emery, Bode, and Jack! Friends for life!
We love when Grandma Joyce comes to visit!
Ken and Carol are our neighbors. They are awesome. They take such good care of their garden and let Jack help sometimes!
Started potty training! 2 days before I went back to work! Yikes.
Sticker with a marshmallow, MM, or chocolate chip each time he went potty. After 5 stickers, he got to pick a part of a new bicycle for me to draw!
Always blowing bubbles and spitting everywhere! Mimics us doing it and thinks she's funny!
Got to go meet up with my buddy Katie and her family at the zoo!
The zoo!!!
Ducks
Prairie Dogs
Jack was mesmerized by the giraffe!
Poor baby...so sleepy
Jack's first merry-go-round!
I was spazzing. Jack was so brave!
I love how his arms are at his sides and he is so into it.
Jack stories
August, 2012
2 years 7 months old!
Jack goes to bed around 8.
We are trying to put him in bed at 7:30 or earlier since it’s taking him
awhile to wind down. He likes to milk
situations. One more books, 2 more
minutes, 1 more time, turn on lights, play more, other movie…etc. etc. He still takes a nap at about 1 until about 3
or even 4 on the weekends! He loves his
Happy Feet 1 and 2, and Lion King! His
favorite books are: Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site, Treasure Hunt book,
(staller book), Where Oh Where is Snuggle Buggle Bear, Hop on Pop, Silent
Night. He loves the songs Twinkle
Twinkle, and Jesus Loves Me. He actually
went down for nap today singing that song so loud. I love it!
His favorite foods are: mac n cheese, hard boiled eggs, cheese sitcks
(stiring cheese), strawberries, yogurt, milk, spaghetti, and Jimmy Johns. Tonight I asked him what we should have for
dinner, and he said, “grilled cheese.” I
told him no since we had that for lunch.
He sat and thought a bit, and got real excited and animated, looked at
me and said, “How bout Jimmy Johns!!!”
It was so cute, and a good idea, so tonight, he won. Here are some memories over the last month:
Watching Olympics….he LOVED watching the Olympics! He sure loves his sports.
Gymplastics. This is
his new name for gymnastics. He loves
watching it and doing it.
Library: We had such a great time going to the library this
summer. I miss it already. He was so proud marching up to the front door
with his backpack towing behind him! He
would put each book carefully away in the slot like he owned the place. The librarians just oooo’ed and aaaaa’ed over
him.
“I want to take those gewls unnawaes (underwear) and run and
say thank you!” (watching running on Olympics)
What a weirdo!!!
I was talking to Grandma Joyce, and Jack said, “Ya, she’s a lady. A old one.”
We went to the library to watch Cars 2. I had Mary come watch Hanna so I could spend
some time with my buddy. We went to the
library free movie and had movie theater popcorn while we watched. He was good for about 20 minutes, then go
restless. Started begging me to give him
a ponytail!!
DRUMS….all the time.
He loves parades and especially the drummers. Tonight he turned his snare drum to the side
and said, “Daddy, Mommy, dat guy pwayed his dwum like dis!” (turned it to the
side like a bass drum). He likes
switching it back and forth. Of course
Daddy had to play the trumpet (plastic wiffle ball bat), and I had to play
Hanna’s little toy piano while he pounded the drums ‘gentally’ as he promised
he would if we let him. Not so gentally
if you ask me!
Little Gym: Wednesdays at 6:10. We will take turns. Last week Justin took him to eat a picnic on
a choo choo train in Valley Junction, then took him to class. He loved it!
They blow bubbles, sing songs, play with balls, swing on uneven bars,
practice somersaults, and play other fun games.
This has been a good replacement of our Kindermusic.
Conversation with Justin before bed….”Dares no bird
poop. We don’t eat poop. It’s ucky.
We don’t eat ucks. We don’t eat
my ucks. We don’t eat your ucks.” Ucks has been the term that we are assuming
daycare uses to refer to ‘poopie’. We
just go with it. He tries to use this
word when he can. I’m guessing this
thinking started after reflecting on the bird poop he saw on our slide earlier
in the day which made him freak because he wanted it gone!
“Whoa daddy…that’s a lot of hair.”
I tried to play the cross your arms during dinner and ask
what your favorite part of the day was with Jack game. Jack usually loves this, but tonight he said,
“I don’t wanna play that.” I said you
don’t want me to ask you that? He said,
“You ask me what my favorite part was…you go STRAIGHT (with his little circular
neck motion with a jab forward right when he screams STRAIGHT) to timeout!” I told him that wasn’t very nice, but he
reminded me that I wouldn’t be listening.
Wow he’s good at turning things around!
I tell him he is my best friend all the time. When I ask him who his is, he says,
“Me!” I try to explain that he should
say you to refer to me, but he gets mad because he knows that he is mine. He’ll get it soon!
I love you toooo much!
To the Mooon and back! We still
say this to each other each night before bed.
Calls Hanna his baby.
I wanna see my baby.
I showed him my ring, and told him that Daddy got it for me
and that we were married. I asked him if
he was going to get married one day? He
said yah. I asked to who? He said I gewl. I said Jordie or Claire? He said “no, …you!” Awwwwww
Potty training: Jack
now goes potty in the potty 95% of the time!
Sometimes he goes during nap or at night, but never in his big boy
underwear! We are still working on
#2. He has gone a couple of times, but
now is not having it. Ugh. We are sooooo proud of him though! And he sure loves to be a big boy in his
underwear!!
Jackie, I love you so much my baby boy. Even though you get so mad when I call you a
baby! I love how you get so mad when you
have sand on your feet. I love how you
don’t let me or Daddy sit down, you want us to stand up…all the time. I love how you like to do puzzles and how
patient you are with them! I love how
much you love your baby sister. You are
so protective. Although the other day, I
picked you up from daycare, and Vickie told me that Hanna had a booboo because
you leaned over to kiss her, and she fell over and hit her head. You said, “No I dint kiss her!” “I push her down!” Gotta love brother/sister love. You really are so gentle and protective of
her. In the car or if she is crying you
are always saying, “It’s okay Hanna, it’s okay.” I love how you love your Daddy and look up to
him so much. I love how social you are
and how much you love to read books and sing songs, and DANCE! I love your moves. Your little feet move soooo fast during Happy
Feet, I can’t get enough! I just love
you so much little buddy! Keep making us
so happy and proud!
We love you!
Mommy and Daddy
8-28-12
Dear Hanna,
You are 8
months old baby girlie!!! I love you so
much. You smile constantly, kick and
jerk your body constantly when I get close to you, you cry or whine when we
leave the room, you smile non-stop at your brother …even if he is up in your
face, and you love to hear yourself screech, squeak and talk!! You say gagaga, blow bubbles, and twist your
wrists around and around. It is so
sweet.
I love the
little dimples in your knuckles, the rolls in your thighs, your chubby feet,
your big cheeks that I can’t stop kissing, and the way your lips stay so
pink! You look like a baby angel, and
are just the sweetest baby ever! The
only time you cry is when we are not fast enough with the baby food, or after
bath when we put you in pajamas and you are just wanting to eat from
Mommy!! You like to eat sweet potatoes,
any mixes like squash and corn, or blueberries and apple mixes! We have given you carrots a couple of times,
but you get a little rash so we haven’t tried again for awhile. You also like to suck on ice cubes in your
mesh net.
You have
had quite a few changes this month. We
have tried to switch you over to formula using the same kind we did with
Jack. Since I forgot how that went,
Daddy and I thought we could just send you to daycare Day 1 with ½ and ½
breastmilk and Similac Sensitive. Well,
looks like that was too much for you to handle, and you ended up throwing up
twice. We backed off and tried 1 oz.
formula to 5 oz. milk, and that was much better. We started working you up again and then the
weekend came, which meant I nursed you.
The next Monday, we tried to have you do 2 oz. and 4 oz. and your tummy
couldn’t handle it. You threw up
again. We were so sad. The next day we backed off again at daycare,
you came home after being fine all day, then threw up so many times over and
over again. It was very scary so we
started heading to the ER. After talking
to the nurse (who swore you had the flu), she sent us home. We knew it was the formula. Since you went
down at 10:00 that night without getting sick all night. You haven’t been sick since. We have switched you to soy formula and it
seems to be great for you. We aren’t
sure if you’re lactose intolerant or allergic or what it is, but for now, we
are so happy you aren’t getting sick!
This was a scary time to see our cheery baby not feeling good.
You have
been taking about a one hour nap at 9, and sometimes up to a 2 hour nap at
1! You take about 3 bottles a day at
daycare, and I nurse you before daycare and before bed. I absolutely LOVE that time we get to spend
just the two of us!! I will miss it so
much! In the morning, you are a bit more
distracted while nursing because you hear Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the
background in our room while Jack giggles next to us! After I shower, I get to feed you and sit
next to your brother and snuggle with you both before work. I love this time.
You eat a
little baby food after daycare and then get into your bath at around 5:15 or
5:30. You splash and kick like crazy and
then get antsy. You then cannot get into
your jammies fast enough! You still wear
those sleep sacks that I think are about too small for you. We then try to stall so we aren’t putting you
to bed at 5:30, but you usually just want Mommy time in your room. I usually nurse you for 45 minutes or so then
lay you down. You sleep until 5:45 the
next morning. Daddy gets you ready in
the morning, and you are so happy to see whoever gets you out of your
crib. You spin around and around like, ‘Do
I get to get out?’…peaking through the crib spokes. You are happy as can be when Daddy carries
you into our room where I am getting ready.
The second you see me or hear my voice you smile huge, start grunting,
and kicking like a seal! It is so cute,
but gosh you make me move fast! I start
to nurse you for about 3-4 minutes until you pop off because you hear something
on Clubhouse that you want to see. Your
focus isn’t as good in the morning as it is at night when you fall slowly
asleep while you nurse. Gosh I love
that. You try so hard to keep your eyes
open and you just can’t. I will ALWAYS
love my Mommy/Hanna time.
You are just so happy, and I want
you to know how very happy you make your mommy.
I love you baby girl. Keep
smiling, cheering me up, and making your brother feel funny by laughing at
everything he does!
I love you baby
angel,
Mommy
