One Step Closer

I took one step closer to weaning Luke today. We have now dropped the midday feeding and have just two left, morning and night. This morning was a big 'milestone' too in that regard. Luke didn't wake until 6am, and he woke up pleasantly...not screaming and crying. So, I got him out of bed and brought him to the family room to play with Jacob and me. He didn't nurse for over an hour after he woke up. That is huge.... I have 2 months to completely wean him before our no-kids trip. As much as I'm looking forward to the trip, I'm also sad to think that I'll be done nursing my baby very soon.

Low-Key Week

I finally sent out the pictures from two weeks ago, which is why I am just now updating the blog from our activities of 2 weeks ago. Someday I'll have more time for this, right? :)

After a busy week of a few days at home and a few days in Cincinnati with several late nights, I decided that we would spend a week staying close to home, resting, and getting back on schedule. So, except for trips to the gym everyday and a playdate and birthday party on Friday, we had an extremely low-key week (as far as outside activities were concerned).

I did learn something from this little "low-key" experiment. My boys do not do well with doing "nothing." Of course, we didn't really do "nothing" as we did play at the house, but it seemed they wanted more structure and activity, which is our norm. Unfortunately, with it being so hot (over 102 everyday!) we didn't play outside much so that added to the cabin fever. The boys were wild and naughty much of the week, so I don't think we'll be trying a low-key week again for awhile. But with school and bible study starting soon, that shouldn't be a problem.

Luke is really changing and growing right now. It is such a neat age to see the wheels turning. He started repeating words and actions we do in addition to babbling and 'talking' all the time. He loves my cell phone and will whine and reach for it everytime I am using it. I found one of my old cell phones for him to play with and he loves it. One day, he turned it on (I didn't know it had any juice left) and he was thrilled. You should have heard him cry though when the battery died and it was off once again. So funny how much kids want to play with our stuff instead of toys.

A few weeks ago I also noticed Luke would give kisses and would make the "muwah" sound while doing it. He then will give you a great big grin.

Here are the rest of the pictures from 2 weeks ago.

Shiner

Jacob got his first true shiner on Friday. I picked him up from the childcare at the YMCA looking like this:

I asked him what happened, and he said "I'm ok, Mommy. I'm ok." Ok.... After a couple of days, this is what it looks like.

(turns out, he fell and hit his face on the slide)

Shoes

In the past few weeks Luke has finally started saying some words with purpose. He's babbled for awhile and even says some real words while babbling, but most of the time it isn't with purpose (sadly, even mama and dada are still just babble, not directed at David or me).

One of the first ones I heard from him a couple of months ago was "fe" while doing the sign for fan. Ok, got that one. Since then, we've been waiting, but haven't heard much. He went through a "wassat" (what's that) and "wassis" (what's this) phase while pointing at everything a month ago too (here he is pointing at the bus and calling it bus)

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, we heard "shus" (shoes). He LOVES his shoes. He'll pick them up, hand them to you, say "shus" and sit down ready for us to put on his shoes. I think he equates wearing shoes to going outside, which is one of his very favorite things to do.

And in the last few days, I've heard "trut" (truck) A LOT and even "ca" (car) and bus, which in this house is absolutely no surprise considering how many there are and how often those words are spoken.

Sharing

Sharing his toys is not something Jacob is very good at. As much as we talk about sharing with our friends or our brother, he just doesn't seem to be able to do it. So, imagine my surprise this morning when I said "your friends are coming over to play this morning" and he responded with "I will share my toys." I smiled really big and nodded my head and said "yes, they will love to play with your toys with you." In just a couple of hours we'll see if he follows through...

**UPDATE: Unfortunately, we still had major sharing issues. I sure hope this is just a phase...

Independence

Last week we began really working on Jacob exhibiting more independence when it came to his clothes and the bathroom. In just a few weeks he'll be heading back to preschool and going to the bathroom by himself and coming back out with all his clothes on is a must in my book. We've worked on the dressing and undressing ourselves for awhile, but honestly, I haven't forced it, even though it is a skill he probably should have learned a year ago. He often says "I can't" and gets very angry and frustrated, so I just do it to save myself from dealing with yet another meltdown. Except for the shirt (which I cannot figure out how to teach him to do), I know he can put on and take off his clothes and shoes (socks are another story), but he gets frustrated so easily and often and just won't try. So although learning the skill is important, instilling the confidence and desire to do it everytime is even more important for Jacob. Any suggestions for how to do just that are very welcomed!

In the potty department, he is doing fantastic! In fact, he doesn't even want us to be in the room (or stall when out and about) when he is going to the bathroom now (except to help clean up occasionally.) He says "I do it myself!" I'm thrilled that he not only wants to do it, but he does. He only rarely comes out from the bathroom without his pants pulled up, so that is a big step forward. Next and hopefully final step with the potty training - staying dry at night...

Sharing a Few Pictures

*This update and pictures are from 2 weeks ago, I'm a week behind on my picture sharing.

Jacob had his 2nd (and final) week of swim lessons at the YMCA this week. He loved them. I was hesitent to sign him up for a class that required him to go everyday for 2 weeks thinking he would refuse to go back after a few days, but I was proven wrong. He loved his instructor and loved to swim each day. Although he didn't learn much, he had fun, which is more important.

Then on Thursday afternoon we headed to Middletown, Ohio for Uncle Jeff and Amy's wedding. It was a long few days with lots of activity and late nights, but it was a good trip. We were happy to see Mia and Papa

and had a lot of fun at the rehearsal dinner

and wedding reception.

The boys even behaved fairly well at the ceremony, though it wasn't easy. The plane flights were pretty good too, which is always a plus.

Here are the rest of the pictures from the week (you'll likely see more 'featured' in other posts)

Luke talks

Although Luke doesn't have too many meaningful words yet, that doesn't stop him from talking....




and yes, my house is a disaster...and that is just from the 2 hours we have been home today...

The Houston Zoo in August

Even though it was ridiculously hot (81 degrees and probably 80% humidity and climbing as we left our house at 8AM) the boys and I decided to make a trip to the zoo this morning. We hadn't been in almost a month so we decided it was time to make a quick visit. Plus, we wanted to check out the new baby giraffe born a week ago.

That is the joy of having a membership, we can make a short trip and not feel as if we spent too much money for just an hour or two there. The neat thing about this visit was that Luke finally seemed to notice the animals and enjoyed watching them.

He wasn't too thrilled with the petting zoo goat when it got up in his face, but otherwise, he was very interested in checking things out.

Of course, the highlight of any zoo trip for the boys is the snacks. The moment we step foot in the zoo, Jacob is asking for snacks, even if he just ate 5 min before. Luke happily ate his snacks during the entire visit too. If things work out, we may be back at the zoo later this week with my friend Lisa and her brood. Better make sure I have enough snacks to pack...

Positive Attitude

Oh wow, how did this post end up more than a week late! Yikes. I'll blame it on....nothing. I can't blame it on anything except me not posting. I had it written, just didn't take the time to upload pictures. So, as you read, pretend you were reading this a week ago so the wording like "last week" is actually true...

Last week I worked really hard to wake up with a positive attitude and keep it all day long. It wasn't always easy, but I did it most of the time (I did slip up and lose it with Jacob a couple of times.) I have to say, having a positive attitude really helped me feel better and it made the kids act so much better too (or it seemed that way to me.) We had a great week.

We had a family birthday party to celebrate the end-of-July birthdays (my brother Jon, David, and Jacob),

the boys and I met up with an old high school friend and her kids, Jacob had swim lessons everyday, and we shopped for and bought a new bed! We had a long morning of shopping on Saturday followed by lunch and the boys were relatively well behaved, which we were not expecting. A nice surprise.

I finally captured Luke's "cheese" face this week. Not sure where he picked this up...

He's learning so much and is really showing so much personality.

Jacob's little potty is gone at our house now. Yay! Now if we could only get him to dress himself, we'll be in great shape. That is on our "learning" agenda for next week.

Here are the pictures from the week.

Cousins

The boys are so blessed to have their cousins so close. We see them almost daily at the gym, every week at church and Bible Study, preschool, and of course, at all family events. I'm excited for them to grow up together.

Leah-18 months, Luke-12 months

Caroline-almost 4, Jacob-3

(David-6, not pictured)

Jacob's Idea of Packing

Today I mentioned to Jacob that we needed to think about packing. He immediately ran to his closet and pulled out his "suiscase," as he calls it. He said "Mommy, we need to put in 'jamas, underwear, socks, and cars." And that is exactly what he did. 5 pair of underwear, 2 pairs of socks, 1 set of pajamas, and about 75 cars (literally.) He then zipped it up, and said "Let's go now, Mommy." Sure would make for an interesting trip.