President's Day

President's Day isn't a "holiday" for us, and really is no different than any other Monday, except Davis didn't have MMO. As a SAHM, all days are really the same, yet when it's the weekend or a "holiday" it somehow feels different. Davis is a little too young and still in love with school to understand that a day off is supposed to be a good thing! So, we had a fun easy President's Day, just because. I'm including some good pics from the day.... Davis was in his jammies for most of the morning, until he became CAPTAIN NAKED (going along with his current passion for being a pirate). He finally got dressed for our outing to Trader Joe's. I convinced him this was necessary by asking him if he ever sees naked people when we go to stores. He definitely gave it some thought, and did eventually decide clothes were best. But, only if he could wear his pirate hat. That was fine with me and if was fun to watch him be a pirate at Trader Joe's! I told him he had to say things like "Ahoy Matey" and "Shiver Me Timbers" to people and he did. The TJ's staff was awesome and played along with him. Too funny. We had a great afternoon outside enjoying the warm sunshine. These boys love to laugh, and seem to need no reason to actually laugh except for the purpose of making each other laugh. Davis and I talk about how Jack is his best friend, and what does it mean to BE a best friend. He seems to understand what we're talking about, suprisingly enough. If they can be half as close as I am to my siblings, I would feel so blessed. It just makes me feel so good to think of the bond they are forming and that no matter what, they will always have each other.
This President's Day is one I will always remember- not because anything in particular or special happened... but mostly because nothing happened at all. It was just a great day spent with two of the three guys I love most in this world. A lot of love, a lot of laughing and an appreciation for the fact that I am in the midst of a wonderful and fleeting time of life.

Dad of the year made the bunkbeds into a pirate ship. Captain Davis has been sailing the seas for several days now, looking for lost treasure.

Jack is really into solid foods now and LOVES to eat. So far, he hasn't refused anything!! He has FOUR teeth now and that adorable baby toothless grin has turned into that funny toddler teeth grin!

Jack loves to swing almost as much as Davis! I was scrambling to get socks on the kids before we headed outside. Laundry needs to be done and you can see that the only two socks I could find don't match. Davis pointed this out to me immediately and called me a silly mom.

You can't tell, but these two are dying laughing at each other. I couldn't figure out what was making them laugh, but they had each other going to the point that I was laughing too.

How could you not LOVE this face??

Best friends.

Precious. Guess who he's smiling at...

This is what a 3 1/2 year old does when you say, "smile at the camera."

Single Mom

So many updates, so little time! I don't post when I have a moment because my photos aren't downloaded. And then, when I finally get pics downloaded, I forget to post! So, here's a post with no photos even though I've got tons of cute and/or funny pics on my phone. Some day I'll get it all together!
Update#1- Jack is gaining weight! Davis and I took him in at the end of last week for a check and he had gained almost a pound. The doctor had siad she wanted to see a whole pound, but it was close enough for her to feel like we could be confident it had been a supply issue. Based on her recommendations, Jack is still getting a combination of nursing and formula so that we can be sure he's getting the best benefits of both. As a side note, I love our pediatrician. We switched to a new doctor in our practice shortly after Jack was born and I'm so glad. Aunt B. and Uncle Patrick gave Davis a doctor's kit for Christmas, since he wants to be a Dinasour and a Doctor when he grows up. He loves playing with his kit, and we had told the pediatrician about it a few visits back. She gives Davis tongue depressors and latex gloves (what he asks for) for his kit at each visit. She even let him hold the stethescope and look through the thing that looks in the ear (when Jack had an ear infection). He is so well behaved at the doctor's office, and of all the errands we have to run, this is actually one of the easier ones! Anyways, it's super cute and I wonder if we have a doctor in the making.... we haven't started saving for medical school, so we might be in trouble. HA!

Update#2- I'm midway into week two of being a single mom. Barron is in Selma for work and we all miss him terribly!! I am so grateful that this is the only major travel he does every year. I certainly have friends whose husbands travel so much more, and I don't know how they handle it. The mornings and bedtime are clearly the hardest part of the day. When there are two of us here and we each take a child, it's totally manageable. But the 2 kids vs. 1 adult coverage can be exhausting! Plus, after juggling everything all day, it's nice to have dad come home to create new, positive energy and provide me with some rejuvenation to push through the evening! We'll make it til Friday, and then be thrilled to have Barron back. It's sort of like when people say, "It builds character" about something that's hard while you're doing it, but something you're grateful to have experienced....and would never go back and change!

Update#3- It's been a long enough stretch that I feel confident in saying we finally have Jack "sleeping through the night." He does have a very early wake up call of 5:30 a.m., and I can only hope that will change as time goes on. At this point, I'm beyond grateful to get 6 hours of (mostly) uninterrupted sleep. It's been over 10 months since I've been able to say that. Lack of sleep has definitely had a negative impact on my patience level and energy level, and I can slowly feel both starting to be restored. I can only assume that his weight gain, increase in table food intake as well as supplementing with formula have allowed him to have a full tummy all night. Whatever it is, I'm thrilled.

Update#4- In my last post, I forgot to include the news that Jack's first teeth finally came through! (You don't forget that when it's the first child.) He's got these two bottom teeth sticking out and it's pretty cute. The top two teeth are about to break through as well. He's eating tons of table food in addition to the standard baby food. He's a great eater and has pretty much eaten anything he's been offered. He is crawling all over the house now, and is a very confident "cruiser." I think he thinks he can walk by himself, but he can't. He has just started to be able to get himself into standing position without pulling up on an object... not sure if that makes sense, but I recognize that move from Davis when he was getting ready to walk. Jack has also just started to get upset if something is taken away from him... He still has the best smile in the whole world and I can not get enough of it!!

Update#5- We've been in a bit of a challenging stage with Davis lately. I think it's largely because he's 3 1/2 and he's really good at it. I have my own other theories on which I won't expand on at the moment. All this to say, he surprises me EVERY DAY with some of the stuff he comes up with. We can be in a very frustrating moment, and the excuse he creates out of thin air for why he can't do something is so genius or thoughtfully hilarious, I have to smile. Even though smiling on the outside is the WORST thing you can do when you're in a word battle with a 3 year old and you're trying to make a point. So yes, we have our moments that I would not want to be caught on tape. But when they are over, he will be the sweetest most wonderful smiling child and my heart is constantly melting over him. When he comes and sits in my lap and says, " Mom, I love you" for no reason at all... I'm totally head over heels.

Catching Up

my loves.
jan 2012.

I've been so bad about posting and rather than trying to cover everything I've missed, I'll just catch up on what's going on these days! We had a fabulous Christmas season. Having a three-year old around makes everything a little more fun and a lot more magical! Sometime between Christmas and the New Year, we started to experience a lot of changes with Jack... mainly, he started crawling!! Of course, this is a big deal with your first child. You are so excited and proud and all that. With Jack, I was totally fine that he wasn't crawling as he neared the 9 month mark. I knew it would drastically change our routines, and disrupt Davis. Though, I was starting to have that little bit of mommy worry that he hadn't yet (Davis didn't crawl til he was 10 months, but everyone SAYS the 2nd baby crawls/walks earlier!). And then one day, he just started crawling and pulling to stand up! And, boy was I right... poor Davis is thrown for a loop now that his little brother can crawl after him and play with HIS toys. Davis has had a hard time sharing his toys, but no problem sharing Jack's toys. I can't leave Jack alone for even a second right now, until he gets a little more accustomed to all he can do. Plus, Davis doesn't quite understand that Jack is still fragile. It's been hilarious, cute and sometimes a challenge to see these two playing together now.
Looks cute, right? You can't hear Davis screaming, "That's mine! Top!" and Jack squealing with laughter because he thinks it's funny to put all of Davis's toys in his mouth.



I've had to start supplementing Jack's diet with formula. He had not gained any weight between his 6 month and 9 month appointments. Our pediatrician is wonderful.... and we talked through all the options and decided to supplement two of his feedings every day for a month and then see where we are. If the issue is a supply issue on my part, the supplementing will help. If not, they will want to test him for other things. My gut feeling is that it's a supply issue. He just may need to be weaned to formula completely before weaning to milk when he's one. I've made my peace with that because I want whatever is best for my little guy. Thank goodness he took to the formula and the bottle so well.... and doesn't seem to have any problem with nursing and bottle feeding. He's a good little eater- loves all the baby food too. There isn't anything he's tried that he won't eat.

Davis has started a new phase that happens to 3 year olds.... he's starting to have fears of things like monsters and worry about things in life. His imagination keeps growing and growing. He's got a funny sense of humor that's really emerging and I love it!!

I'm still having trouble with Jack sleeping through the night. He's gotten a little better since recovering from his ear infection last month. He'll do good one night, then we'll have two awful nights, etc. There seems to be no rhyme or reason, and we've tried everything I know to try. We thought that maybe the supplementing would help, but it hasn't made a consistent difference. Fortunately, he's a GREAT napper, so I'll take what I can get in that area.

Good thing he's so stinking adorable! It's hard to be upset with this little face in the middle of the night. You can't help but smile back and snuggle up with this little lamb.

Overall, we're doing great. Just dealing with the daily challenges of having a couple of kids, a big beautiful and gassy dog, a household to run, tax season approaching, ironman training, stella & dotting, house planning, etc. I wouldn't have it any other way!