Small Steps

So, finally, walking for Luke may be just around the corner. After seeing him crawl and cruise at 6 months, I expected another early walker. But Luke had other ideas. He has shown no interest in walking until yesterday afternoon/evening. He took a tentative step or two a few times yesterday and several more times today. He often times does it with no prompting and sometimes won't do it for us. This shows me that whatever he is doing is all by his own choice, not to please us. We'll see how long until he actually walks...

Cars on Top

Jacob is obsessed with cars. Yes, I said it, obsessed. I know a lot of kids go through car phases, but he is way beyond a phase, it is his life and has been since Christmas 2007 when he received his first 5 cars. He hasn't looked back since. (and if you haven't been to our house, you know the cars in this picture don't even begin to scratch the surface of all the cars we have in our house)

When Luke takes his morning nap, Jacob gets a little peace and loves to "play with cars" without little hands grabbing, eating, or messing up his line of cars. Today, was a "cars on top" day.

He very meticulously lines up the tractor-trailers and then proceeds to move them one by one to a new destination.

He did all of this by himself, I promise.

After taking the pictures, I noticed the shirt he was wearing today. How appropriate! (Thanks for the new shirt, Mia, it is perfect)

it is a "cars on top" shirt, in case you can't tell

You turn your back for just a second...

...and this is what little guys with no fear will do.

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Rough Days

As a stay-at-home mom you sometimes have rough days with your kids where you feel like you are scolding or disciplining more than you are enjoying the precious reason(s) you do stay at home. But then I just take a look at a picture like this and it always brings a smile back to my face and helps turn those rough days around...at least until the next meltdown...

Gorgeous Weather - Come and Gone

Last week we had some absolutely gorgeous weather so we spent a lot of time outside. It will likely be the last "nice" week for several months, so I almost felt guilty when we spent any time inside. By the weekend, the weather turned hot again, but it was nice while it lasted.
We visited the zoo, played at the park and our yard, swam in the pool (our baby pool and the neighborhood pool) and went to a water playdate. Jacob also had his last day of school and Luke had a doctor's visit. We had another full week.

While sick for a week or so, Luke wasn't eating or drinking much, but he still managed to gain a pound in a month. But now that he is well again, I can't get him to drink formula or breastmilk from a sippee or bottle anymore. We have another month or so before we'll start cow's milk, so we need to figure out some way to get more in him again. I was really hoping we would be past a nighttime feeding by the time we hit the beach with family, but at this rate, it doesn't look promising.

Here are the rest of the week's pictures.

Last Day of School

Yesterday was the last day of school for Jacob for this year. I don't think he understands the concept of no school for the next several months. He has already mentioned wearing his swimsuit to school again soon (they had water fun day at school on Tuesday and the kids wore their swimsuits to school.)

Here is Jacob on his first day of 2 year old preschool:

He was 2 years, 2.5 months, 31lbs, 34" tall and wearing diapers.

Here is Jacob on his last day of 2 year old preschool:

He was 2 years, 10 months(exactly!), 32.5lbs and 37.5" tall and potty trained. (and I think he's wearing the same shorts.....)

Zoo Day

We made it to the zoo today, just as we planned. I wasn't going to let much of anything stop us, so it really was no surprise that we made the trip.

We got there just after it opened, and I'm glad we did....for more than one reason. The biggest reason, buses upon buses of school children. Unlike other zoo-goers, kids on field trips arrive early and leave around lunchtime, making the morning hours more crowded than usual. And since school will be out soon, it seems every school is using the month of May to fit in those field trips.

Thankfully, parking wasn't a problem and we got inside just ahead of a big crowd of kids. We made a beeline to the "main" attractions before it got too crowded and just meandered around the other exhibits later. Of course, our visits are only about 2 hours, so later is relative.

This trip, we decided to take the Herman Park Train. Jacob loved it - as did I.

After a stop for Chic-Fil-A for lunch on the way home, we made it home by naptime. A great day!

Swing-nap

Whenever I am in a time crunch and Luke needs to take a quick nap, I put him in the swing to cut down on the pre-nap crying to try and maximize the amount of sleep he gets before we have to leave. This morning, before taking Jacob to school, it was a swing-nap morning. As usual, Luke cried for about 5-7 minutes before falling asleep. When I went in to get him up about 40 min later so we could take Jacob to school, this is how I found him.

He was definitely tired, and like always, just had to fight it until he couldn't fight it any longer.

Another Sick Week

Unfortunately, another sick week around here. It always seems that the boys get sick within days of each other, and usually they aren't sick with the same thing.

Jacob spiked a fever on Monday which meant a visit to the pedi on Tuesday (no school for him.) He had a bad ear infection and the wheezing/bronchitis was back. He started feeling better within a day or two.

Wednesday night, Luke started coughing. He got into some terrible fits of coughing, wasn't eating much, and has spiked a fever a couple of times. To the pedi we went today. His appears to be viral and should run its course in the next day or two.

Jacob did have his end of year program at school...and to my surprise, he actually did sing. It was pretty darn cute. Next year, I need to make sure to get there early to get a better seat for pictures and video.

yes, I know it is blurry

Luke cut tooth #5 yesterday, his top left eye tooth. He also started waving this week, instead of just raising his arm up to say bye.

No more diapers at naptime for Jacob. His nights are still dry too, but we haven't made the leap to underwear just yet. We may try soon because he actually resists putting a pull up or diaper on when we put on his pjs at night. I might even call him potty trained now - yay!

Here are the rest of the week's pictures.

Mother's Day

My first mother's day as the mother of 2 was wonderful. I was brought breakfast in bed on Saturday by Jacob and Daddy. What a great start to the weekend.

Sunday we were a bit more rushed trying to get ready and out the door for church and brunch with my family, so no breakfast then.

Mommy and Luke at the restaurant.

When we returned home, the boys wrapped up a few gifts for me - including a new IPOD nano to replace my aging IPOD mini. It was a great day.

Beautiful Day

For those of you in the Houston area, you know what a beautiful day we were blessed with today. After weeks of hot and humid (or stormy) we had a day with a cool morning and a pleasant 80 degree afternoon. I had intended to take the boys to the zoo today, but after a much longer than anticipated doctor's visit for Luke, we had to scrap our plan and hang around the house.

That didn't stop us from playing in the backyard,

going for a walk,

and playing at the playground.

Hopefully we'll make that zoo trip on Wednesday, which should be another beautiful day.

Pictures from Last Week

So, I sent out the pictures a couple of days ago, but never got around to updating the blog. I had the intention of expanding on the blurb I included with the pictures, which is why I didn't post. Well, now it is Friday afternoon, and I still haven't done it, so I figured I would just post what I had....I can always make more posts, right?

We were pretty busy last week. We had a playdate, Mother's Tea at J's school, went to the downtown park, celebrated Mother's Day with the family, and of course, played in the pool. With activities winding down for the summer, we are having to come up with our own fun things to do. Honestly, I'll be glad to have a few months without having too much scheduled.

Jacob is doing great with potty training. I was dreading it, but now that we are just about there, I think it wasn't too bad. Getting rid of the pappy has been a process.. He only uses it at naptime now, so we are making progress.

Luke started clapping this week and says "yay" when doing it. He will stand unassisted a lot, (1 min straight yesterday), but no steps yet. He no longer eats much baby food and loves to eat anything he can feed himself.

A little progress with the bottle too, about 1oz with each meal/snack.

Go here for the rest of the pictures.