8 months!!

  

Do you see that snotty, drooly 8 MONTH OLD little boy up there??

I can't believe it!

My little Jack is becoming quite the charmer.  He smiles with his whole body.  He laughs and giggles all day.  He still isn't on a great schedule, but it's ok; I forgive him.  How can I not when I look at a face like this:

I mean, have you ever?

He is certainly smitten with his sister and as long as he's not stealing the one toy she just needs to be playing with right at that moment, she's smitten with him too!

{HUGS!}

It doesn't hurt that she apparently has irresistible hair.  Her cousin Noah thought so too.

Do you see that pinky toe?  I loooooove that pinky toe.  I really love all his toes.

Why are baby toes so adorable?

He's sitting up like a pro and army crawling like it's his job.  I imagine once he gets the hang of really crawling, I'll be exhausted at a level I cannot even imagine.

He's a pretty exhausting kiddo anyway.  Add mobility into that and Lord help us!

 
Do you see that middle picture?
My heart can't take his smiles sometimes.
AND.
Dimples.
No words.

In terms of development, not much has changed between 7 and 8 months.  Not crawling yet.  No more teeth.  No idea how much he weighs.  Still wearing the same size clothes.  9 months should be more interesting because we will at least go to the doctor and get an updated weight. 

I'm so thankful for my little boy and can't wait to see what next month brings!

Fun at the Fair!

Another fall activity: THE FAIR!!  

I have always loved the fair.  The food, rides, carnies...it def. has a place in my heart.  Now, I get to enjoy the fair through the eyes of a child and it is 10x better!!  My little peanut looooooved the fair.  Last year, Lauren and I took her and she loved the petting zoo.  This year she hated the petting zoo and loved the rides.  Who knew!? 

Behold, the petting zoo:

And my favorite...the dreaded llama {who gave her nightmares days later!}

HA...do you see her little hands up by her face?  Hilarious.

{I'm not a mean mommy. Promise.}

Jack Jack was there too!!

{Notice he's always in the stroller during our fun activities...I have to contain him while I can.  He's already army crawling and pulling up.  My stroller days are limited.}

Now.  Onto the rides.  Girl loved the rides.  We {naively} didn't buy the wristband.  Next year = wristband.

Yes.  Babs got in on the fun too.  I was worried she was going to get all pukey, considering she can't even play ring-around-the-rosie without feeling nauseous, BUT no pukeys!

 

And just so you can get the full effect of her love for the rides:

You hear that "weeeeeee" the whole time?  

Yep.  That's my girl!

Thank you FAIR for the memories!!

Thank you iPhone for capturing them!!

Pumpkin Patch!

This past weekend, we officially jumped into fall with our trip to the Pumpkin patch!!  We went to a new one that opened down the road from Nana and Paw's house.  It was so much fun!!  I'll let most of the pictures speak for themselves, but I have to tell you about this slide:

They took an old combine {?} and made it into a slide.  And they must have greased it down with baby oil first because Reese shot outta there so fast.  Please see the pictures below.  I laughed hysterically as she flew out and did a flip out of that slide.  Luckily, no tears were shed.

She also rode a horse for the first time!  Look at that cute little mini horse.  She then tried to feed it hay.  How did she know to do that?  Probably when Barney or Dora went to the farm.

Oh, Jack was there too.  He didn't get to do anything exciting, but he sure did have fun!

We attempted a family shot.  Christmas card material here, folks.  Ha.

One of my faves:

Reese also played in the "corn pit" which is ingenious, as long as you don't try to eat the corn kernels.  Which Reese may or may not have tried to do :)!

We ended our time with a ride on the tractor to go pick out our perfect pumpkin!  Here's where Jack and Paw stayed:

And then Reese got mad because she found so many "faborite punkins" but all the pumpkins were too "heaby" and then she cried.  Such is life.

Welcome fall!!  Please stick around and bring your cooler temperatures.  I'm ready for chili and pumpkin spice lattes and sweaters and scarves and boots.

P.S.  I figured out how to make collages to put more pictures on here.  I know you're all excited!

Dear Suave,

Why did no one tell me of your wonderful product before now? 

{source}

Do you know how many baths I give my babies?  Now, I love Johnsons and Johnsons as much as the next person, but unless I can find it on sale, that stuff ain't cheap.  Enter Suave Kids Head to Toe Wash.  Cheap? Yes. {The big bottle is around $2 at Target.}  Does it work?  Dare I say better than J&J!  Reese's hair is a lot less greasy and Jack's hair is a lot more fluffy.  WIN!  Oh and the lavender smell?  DIVINE! 

Speaking of divine smelling Suave products, invest in some of this:

{source}

Suave Rosemary + Mint shampoo and conditioner.

{each of those bottles is less than $2}

TRUST ME.  You won't be sorry!

2 1/2!

I have been wanting to do a post on the hilarity of raising a 2 year old.  Believe me, Reese is a character!  She talks constantly.  I am not exaggerating.  I don't believe that brain of hers EVER shuts off {which is why she talks to herself for a solid hour instead of napping}!!

{rocking her dinosaur}

She also talks to anyone and says exactly what she feels.  My little Peanut is not shy to express herself.  She speaks very clearly, but has a few things she still can't say, which I must say...I ADORE and will be so sad when she pronounces them correctly:

- She makes a W sound instead of an L sound: hewwo, yewwow, "that wight is bwinking."

- She makes a B or an F sound instead of a TH or V sound: baf {bath}, fan {van}, binking {thinking}, begetables {vegetables}

A couple more things I don't want to forget:

- She has begun negotiations: "Time to go to bed"..."I need to pway wif my barn for 2 minutes."

- She has started asking WHY?!?!

- When I say something she likes, she says "good binking, mama."

- She describes things as "awesome", "amazing", "beautiful".  Such a girl!

- She has recently become OBSESSED with  the movie, Rio.  I have to admit, it's a cute movie!
- She calls a restaurant a "westernaut".

- She claims a lot of things {mostly food-things} with "make me feel better."  She is a stinker!

She has had some tummy issues recently and we took her to get allergy testing.  My suspicions were confirmed when we found out she is highly allergic to dairy and tomatoes.  It appears that she can have these things when they are cooked, as it changes the protein she is allergic to.  So, she's good to have spaghetti, mac & cheese, etc.  She is not supposed to even eat those things more than twice a week.  It has been a bit of an adjustment {mainly on cheese and ice cream}, but she has not even noticed a difference in the soy milk or yogurt.  We are praying she will grow out of this, but that is not guaranteed.

She is HIGHLY attractive to mosquitoes.  They love her and bite her and leave terrible whelps. SO annoying.  It seems like mosquito "season" has been worse this year.  Agreed?

We have been dealing with our fair share of break downs.  I tell people the 2 is coming out in her!  She  fake cries easily and gets mad when she doesn't get her way.

Oh man, she has gotten so affectionate.  I don't think my heart can handle it when she runs up to me and says "MOMMY!  Come 'ere.  You're my faborite girl and I wub you soooo much!"
AHHHH.  I love her.

Not potty trained.  Not attempting. :)

If you ask her what she wants to eat for dinner, she will almost always respond with "rice, chicken and brocowi".  She eats her weight in rice.  There is not a single food I have ever found that she won't eat.  Now, there might have been times when she didn't want to eat it, but I don't ever push the issue, and she seems to come around.  She's not withering away. :)

She still loves Pugwits {Publix} and Walgreens.  She loves to dance and play with her blocks.  I love to hear the things that come out of her mouth and laugh all the time at what she says. 

This little girl holds my heart!

7 months!

I have not updated on my little man recently.  I have to say that this past month has been my absolute favorite!  {Do I say that every month?}  Anyways, Jack has really come alive this past month.  He has gotten on much more of a schedule and I kinda like it. :)

He has been sitting really well the past month and is thisclose to crawling!  He gets on all fours and rocks.  He also army crawls and stands on his toes, channeling some sort of yoga pose.  Downward dog maybe?

Just this morning {kinda glad I waited till now to post}, his first tooth broke through the surface!  Tooth #2 is right there too.  Isn't it just like motherhood to want something for your child and then when it happens, it's kinda sad.  For instance, I won't get to see that gummy smile for too much longer.  SAD.  He seems to be following his sister's developmental path, almost exactly.  Sitting at the same time, teeth at the same time, and I assume crawling will be at the same time as Reese too.

He has become much more vocal this past month.  He says "mama", "dada", "didi".  I happen to ADORE baby talk.  It's my favorite.  Jack-man doesn't like to be left alone.  He would actually be pretty happy to just sit about 2 feet away from someone and stare into their face.  Or, at least make sure they are staring into his. He's all about some human contact these days.

He jumps all the time.  In the jumper, the bouncer, on your tummy, in your arms, etc.  It's becoming a challenge to hold him still.

{where's Waldo Jack?}

He wears 6-9 month clothes.  He can still wear 3 month short sleeve onesies, but his arms need the 9 month size.  He's gonna be tall, I just know it.

ON A GOOD DAY, {notice that's a theme from my previous "monthly" posts} he takes two 2 hour naps a day and then a 45 min - 1 hour nap during dinner.  He goes down around 8 and usually wakes up around 7:30 or 8.  USUALLY.  There are mornings he wakes up sometime between 5-7 and takes a bottle then goes right back to sleep.  I'm hoping sure one of these months, I will be able to type something like, "this is what Jack does every day/night."  But so far, I cannot type that.

{Do you see the height on that hair?  People pay good money for that kind of volume. :)}

He loves to grab anything.  Hair, jewelry, clothes, toys, etc.  He's a grabbing machine.  I guess he's just at that tactile stage where he needs to feel everything and then promptly put it in his mouth! :)

Reese is loving Jack.  She wants to give him hugs and tell him good morning/night.  She calls him her "best boy" and tells him how cute he is all the time.  I can't wait to see this relationship develop.

My boy loves to ride in the stroller more than anything.  He hates the car and tolerates anywhere else besides the stroller or your arms.  He's not spoiled or anything. ;)  Thankfully, now that he's slithering on the ground, he does like to be put down.  But please don't leave the room.  Don't even think about leaving the room.

He likes most foods, and is even eating veggies again!  He drinks soy formula, which is good because Reese drinks soy milk, he will also be drinking/eating all things soy.

{Yes, that's frosting.}

He has an incredible little laugh and I cannot handle his scrunchy nose.  His hair is amazing and I couldn't have imagined more beautiful eyes.  He is my favorite little boy and I can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

{GAH.  Love him.}