Thanksgiving

It was my baby's first Thanksgiving. We had a great evening. Our family has practically doubled in great grandkids since last thanksgiving. Jack and Nathan spent thier evening playing with the pool table balls, and the babies took turns napping. But at one point we did have them all awake for a quick pic. We sure missed having Kyle, Amy and the kiddos home.

Bedtime

Jack has always been really good about going to bed at night. Sleeps well, as long as he has his water and blankies. Lately our bedtime routine has been that while I am attending to Cole, Chris will take Jack up, pray, and tuck him in, then he comes to get Cole, and I got pray and say goodnight. Last night as Chris was getting Jack in bed, Jack sits up in bed. Not being defiant, but kind of dropping over with his arms resting on his legs and his cocked to one side and says, "I don't want to sleep, I already took one last night!" He says these things so cute you almost want to let him get out of bed...but then you remember that you have a childless date with the couch for a few minutes of R&R. At the end of my part of the bedtime routine, I always tell Jack sweet dreams as I walk to his door and he replies with "sweet dreams, you too mommy."

Santa Clause?

I bet there are a lot of parents who have memories made at McDonalds. As we ventured back to Chicago form Kansas City we stopped off at McDonalds for lunch. We picked this for 2 reasons: Convenience and the McRib is BACK BABY! We sat near the window that was closer to the construction next door. A Skid Steer was working away building a new KFC. Jack and his tractors. As we watched the building being built a pickup truck pulled up and parked.
The door opens and out comes and older gentleman with a belly and a pretty heavy white beard. Jack points out the window directly at the old man and yealls, "Santa Clause!" The excitement in his voice. He immediately identified this character (just some retiree getting lunch) from what I don't know. But one thing is for sure...this Christmas is going to be fun.

3 Months

My sweet baby, I can't believe that you are already 3 months old. You are forever changing and developing your unique personality every day. Things to remember when you were 3 months are:

-how you have this half laugh half cry thing
-how you love your blue swing out in the garage
-how when something really intrigues you, you stare at it and start cooing
-your smile that goes from ear to ear
-how you love to suck on your fists, but just can't seem to get that thumb in there
-how strong your little legs are and that you can stand up in my lap
-how chubby your little thighs are
-that you love it when daddy plays his guitar
-how nobody can quite calm you down like mommy can!

Goodbye KC, Hello Home!

Chris's family all lives in KC, so a couple times a year we make the trip down to visit. This past weekend was the first time was had been down since Cole was born. We were quite nervous about driving with Cole since he usually likes to cry, no scream, the whole time we are in the car. But both kiddos did very well on our trip down and back. We had a great time seeing lots of friends and family. Grandma Joyce took Jack to the santa land at Bass pro. He loved driving all the remote control race cars and trucks that they has set up all around. He even crashed the monster truck so hard it broke the rear wheels right off! Grandma Joyce even got Cole to fall asleep.



Of course Chick-fil-a was on the to do list for KC. They had, for a limited time only, peppermint chocolate chip shake! YUMMY! I am now in love with peppermint ice cream, sorry babe! :)
Friday night we got to visit with the Booz's (that a long o). The Booz family helped out the night that Chris and I got engaged and always makes time for a visit when we are in town. The guys were jammin' on the guitars, and Jack got to play drums with D.J. for the first time. He loved it so much, he pretty much ran back and forth to the drums all night. It was awesome, he actually had some rhythm.


Sunday we went to watch Chris run the Gobbler Grind marathon. Jack is such a good spectator. He claps and cheers on the runners and gets daddy's water ready to had to him. The runners always smile when they see him standing on the side. It really was adorable. Thanks to Grandpa Gerald for driving us around so we could see daddy about 8 or 9 times on the trail. Much more relaxing that Chicago marathons where you can only see his about 3 times and I think I am more exhausted from walking all around then Chris is from running!


Most of all Jack had a great time playing with his cousins, and loving on his grandpas and grandmas, as did Cole!



But as nice as it was to visit, it was wonderful to wake up my own bed this morning, know that the kids got a good nights rest, and not have to put them in the car today!

Best Friends

As Jack was eating his breakfast this morning, I was unloading the dishwasher and trying to clean up the kitchen a bit. He looks over at me and out of no where says "Momma, you are my best friend" then just smiles at me. I love this kid!

John Deere, it's the better tractor, John Deere....and un-potty training!

It's amazing how children's songs will stick in your head. Jack son has a few John Deere videos that play this goofy song and for some reason this morning I woke up with it in my head. I can't wait to sing it to Chris and get it stuck in his head as well. :)

More about John Deeres...We have resorted to bribing our son to try and get him potty trained. (by the way, it hasn't worked yet) Chris told Jack if he goes potty on the big boy potty he will take him down to Big R and pick out any tractor he wants. Now you would think that a boy who loves tractors as much as Jack does would take us up on this offer, not so much. He does however remind us several times a week that if he goes big boy potty he will get a tractor. The other night while driving to pick up our van after getting 4 new tires (ugh) Jack reminds us of the deal. (another note...my dad has started collecting some 1/16 tractors and just got a John Deere D that cost him over $100) Chris procedes to say, "that's right Jack, if you potty daddy will let you pick out any tractor you want, my wallet stands open for you." Jack thinks for a minute about what Chris just said and replies with this, "I want tractor like Grandpa's." We just about died laughing in the front seat. Chris was quick to add 'any plastic tractor'!


Jack got to watch a real John Deere combine harvesting corn

Orange Juice

My mom has a juicer, and Jack loves to make fresh juice. But it's been a while. So yesterday when we went grocerie shopping I picked up apples, oranges, and grapes to make fresh juice. Well Jack woke up this morning wanting orange juice, so we got it all out and started peeling the oranges and Jack says "lets make juice in the washing machine!"

So Sweet!

Working

Somehow my son likes to work. He always wants to do projects, fix things, help in the yard...and the list can go on and on. One such instance was labor day weekend when my nieces and nephew were up visiting and they were all playing the leaves. Well, Jack didn't think they should mess up the leaves and play, he thought they needed to be taken to the burn pile. We seriously had to tell him to play and we will work later. I just love what a hard little worker he is. When we were working on trimming down bushes this summer and splitting plants, Jack would have his little john deere with the wagon hooked up and made trip after trip to take weeds and trimmings to the burn pile.

A couple of nights we were out in the garage getting ready to paint his last picture for his room and he was playing on the workbench. I was trying to get a picture of him with his tools and asked him to please smile for me. His response, "Can't smile mommy, too busy working!"





Pictures mommy and Jack painted


Picture Jack painted all by himself! (and a little from daddy)

Short-Term Memory

Pretty simple life. Wake up. Go to work. Come home. See Family. A lot happens in bewtween but you get the point. The best part is every night when I get home I hear "HEY DADDY!"
I remember one of my favorite snl hosts of all time (Tom Hanks) had a character called Mr. Short Term Memory Guy. Playing on a game show they would introduce him first. He would say hello and look to his left. He realized he was standing next to a TV Star and he would say "WOW! Aren't you..."(so and so)? The the host moves on to introduce the TV Star and when he says his name, Tom Hanks freaks out again and says "WOW! It's..."(so and so)! This continues throughout the skit. Take my word for it. Very funny.
It doesn't matter if its been 2 hours or a whole day, when you walk in the door Jack gives a greeting to you as though it has been weeks and he has waited...impatiently...to see you again. Nothing makes you feel more loved/accepted/right and like a GOOD parent than that greeting.

Unsolicited Wake Up Call

While trying to find my things and get out of the house this morning I hear a little voice; "Daaaaaaaaaddy......Daaaaaaddy." Jack is up. 4:55 in the morning my Son is ready to start his day. I rush upstairs and have it in my head that I will get him back to sleep so my wife can stay in bed for a while longer before starting her day. My eyes have already adjusted to the light so when I open his door I cannot see a thing. I begin my approach to the bed, arms out in front as not to start my day with a stubbed toe or knee. As I near the bed I hear a little voice whisper: "I got out of my bed Daddy. I got out of my bed." It is coming form the head of the bed but on the floor. There my Son sits on his knees ready to start his day.

In my head I feel that I will be successful using logic to explain to Jack why it is still bed time. I pick him up (noticing he is wet through his jammies) and proceed to take him over to the window. I open it up and show him that it is still dark outside. With the moonlight shining, the ground was glowing white. This gets Jack even more excited as he tells me "It's snowing Daddy! It's snowing!" He did not go back to bed. I got him even more excited to stay up.

On my way to work I reflect on the day before but this morning I thought about Jack and our encounter. What a zest for life he has. Sleep means nothing to him because there is so much to experience. I think there is a lesson there. I don't like waking up at 4:55 on Saturday but my Son is creating more time for us to spend together. What could be better than that?

The Moon

Jack's favorite book when he was younger was Goodnight Moon. Every night this summer Chris would take him outside to see the moon before he went to bed, and when we are driving at night it's always a game to see who can find the moon. So this morning at5:30 when I saw that Chris left his shirt at home, Jack and I hopped into the van and headed to meet him. The moon was still so bright and high in the sky, and Jack pointed that out. As we were pulling back into the subdivision, Jack said "Look mommy, the moon followed us home. Moons gonna sleep in the grass soon." It was so cute! I just love how big little things are to him.

Big Boy

Loving the bumbo


and...ready to eat!

Cole sat in his bumbo seat for the first time on Saturday. He did so well in it. I can't believe he is already big enough to sit in that chair. Seems like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. He has changed so much in 10 weeks.
Some things I want to remember about Cole at 2 months are:
*how he smiles after every feeding
*how he watches Jack intently when he is dancing around and being goofy
*how sweet he looks when sleeping in his swing by dining room windows, and that he loves to look out those windows and watch what's going on outside. (I think he will be an outdoors boy just like his brother)
*how well he sleeps at night(all night long)!!!
*how he tries to suck on his fist now and every once in a while gets his thumb
*how he likes to be cradled in the crook of my left arm with his pacifier and blankie

Trick or Treat

I have to say Halloween wasn't what I quite expected this year. We bought our costumes about a month ago...for Jack a cowboy riding a horse, and for Cole a pumpkin. Cole pretty much outgrew his little pumpkin by this weekend. But you forget how much more difficult it is to get out with a 2 month old baby when it's freezing and it's their nap time. We took all the kids down to my grandparent's house to trick or treat around their neighborhood. However, once we got there, Cole was sleeping, and Jack just wasted to play with all of grandpa's tractors. Needless to say, he didn't go to any other houses! Probably a good thing not to have all that candy around, cause I certainly don't need to be munching on it. I look forward to next year when the boys can be walking together and both enjoying the day. Here are some pics of the day.

Jack walking up to Great Grandma Marge and Great Grandpa Ronnie's house





Tessa, Cole, and Even enjoying the day better without their costumes on!