Beautiful Morning

It was a rare cool, cloudy, beautiful morning yesterday. We took advantage of it until the rain rolled in.

Jacob using his stick to be a "blower man." I think he's going to be a landscape architect when he grows up.

Jenna kept finding stubs of sidewalk chalk. To keep her from trying to eat it, I would show her how to use it. Because it was so short, she had a hard time holding onto it to color. Then I remembered I still had half a box of big chalk! She had lots of fun scribbling!

Jenna figured out how to use the bubble gum machine toy. Here she is putting the gum ball in, the she pushes the lever and catches the ball as it comes out. Smart girl!

Her other new trick is pointing. She will point at something and blab, blab, blab. I think she is going to be a talker!

Jenna also got 3 new teeth this week. Yes, 3. That brings her total to 8. I am hoping she will stop waking up so much now that they are in.

Jacob starting using the potty again yesterday. He had been very anti-potty for the past month or two. He is sick (Jenna gave him a cold) right now so I'm not pushing him but he is doing pretty well. I'm just glad he'll sit on the toilet again! We even made a cake to celebrate!

We're Walking, We're Walking...

Yep, that's right. Jenna is officially a walker! This girl has been trying to keep up with her brother for months now! She is now one "step" closer!

I really can't believe how quickly she started walking. I remember the progression from cruising to standing to walking taking MUCH longer with Jacob. Jenna just started pushing her walker around about a week and a half ago!

Monday (June 22) when I got home from work I saw her take 4 steps. My mom had told me, "Hannah, I hate to bust your bubble but she took a couple steps SEVERAL times today." I was still in my "it's just a fluke" mind set. Right after she left, I saw Jenna walk and my denial came to a halt. Today, she has been working on her steering. You know, turning while you walk.

Other random tidbits: Jenna thinks every diaper change is a wrestling match. I have a little copper bell I keep handy to distract her. She is nuts. She will flip around as soon as you lay her down. And flipping OFF the couch doesn't phase her a bit. Great, another fearless kid! Are they all that way?

She is loving "real" food. She'll still take baby food but not as much as she used to. She knows the real stuff follows the mush so she has come to expect it! Last night she had diced peaches. Yum!

Jacob is my precious pumpkin. He loves playing with the water hose and he mows and weed eats every day. He's such a perfectionist!

When Jenna is bugging him he yells "NO Jenna! Go thata way!" He's usually very good and patient with her but he has his moments. I think he secretly likes having a playmate. He show Jenna how the toys work and will hand her stuff to play with.

I am STILL waiting for him to be "ready" for potty training. I think I should have ignored every one last year who told me he was too young. He was much more interested in the potty then than he is now. Oh well. Live and learn!

Smiles

SIDE NOTE: I actually wrote this a week ago but am just now posting...have been waiting for my camera to cooperate so I could post pics with it. Thought I had it fixed but obviously not so I'll post pics when I can.

My kids are so fun, and funny! I thought I'd share some of the funny stuff they have been up to.


Jacob has been doing this for a while but I guess I thought it was just one of those things 2 yr olds do. But because so many people have pointed it out, I guess it's just a Jacob thing. You see, he puts the person's name that he is speaking to at the end of EVERY sentence. He must say "Yes Mama" 2000 times a day. Not kidding.

For example, he will say "Look Mama" then "this alligator is hungry Mama." When I ask what he thinks the alligator needs he replies, "I think he needs some tylenol Mama." I ask if the alligator is sick and get "No Mama. He just needs some medicine Mama." Anyways you get the point. If it's not Mama it's Dada or Nana or Mimi or whoever. It's so cute and makes me smile : )

A few nights ago we were playing in Jacob's room getting ready for bed. Both kids were wallering on us (Brian and I were laying on the floor). Jacob then stood up and started pressing on Brian's hip (he was laying on his side). Brian immediately noticed that Jacob was being the chiropractor. Brian has been taking the kids with him to his chiropractor appointment on Wednesdays. Guess Jacob was paying attention.

Jenna has started doing this cheesy grin. It totally cracks me up. She started doing it randomly so I started doing it back to her. Now when I do, she'll do it back. She scrunches up her nose, squints her eyes and smiles where you can see all her teeth!

Every time I turn around she standing up in the middle of the room. She has even taken a couple of steps! At first I thought it might just be a fluke (or so I told myself) but she keeps doing it (darn it!). She loves to push around the old-school walker. She went from having no interest in it to loving it. That is, when she can get it away from her brother. She can walk across the room while holding onto only one of your fingers. Yikes!

She loves to imitate sounds as well as motions. If you nod your head, she nods. If you sway back and forth, she sways etc. Her and Jacob imitate each other so well sometimes I don't know who is who!

That's all for now. Will add pictures asap!

Florida

We're back! We had a wonderful time in the Clearwater region of Florida. It was beautiful. The prettiest beaches in the continental US if you ask me. Jenna and Dada building a sandcastle

Jacob and Brian playing putt-putt.

We were able to spend some time with just me, Brian and Jacob. It was nice to be able to give Jacob 100% of our attention. We spent one day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Jacob did so much better than I thought he would. It started off a little rough but once he realized WHY we were waiting in line, things got better. The lines weren't bad. 10-20 minutes mostly. I think Jacob liked the train the best. He also really enjoyed the Dumbo ride, It's A Small World, and the Country Bear Jamboree.

We also played putt-putt one day. That was fun. Jacob helped us get lots of hole-in-ones! But mainly he ran around and chased lizards.
Jenna absolutely loved the beach. That's my girl! I can almost HEAR her squealing in this picture! As soon as we arrived at the beach she would start kicking her legs and squealing. She ate lots of sand (ok, not lots but a good amount) and got plenty of sodium intake by gnawing on shells. She wasn't too sure about he water but would let me hold her and walk out into the water.

Jacob didn't go into the water until the very last day at the beach, go figure! But he still loved digging in the sand, throwing seashells "back to the ocean", chasing the seagulls, and yelling at all of us to "GET OUT THE WATER! GET OUT THE BEACH!" He didn't like for anyone to be in the water. It was funny.

This is me and Jenna standing on a sandbar out in the ocean. She was such a trooper! Lots of missed naps and staying up late. Plus, she got one new tooth the day before we left and another the day after we got there.

Me and Brian on the Pier at St. Petersburg.

The whole gang. Notice Jacob's stick. It went everywhere with us. As soon as we arrived at the condo, he found himself a big stick. That stick traveled to around 5 different beaches and numerous other places. He's such a funny guy!

LOOK MA! and FIRE!

NO HANDS!!! Jenna has been balancing more and more lately. She did stand up from a squat successfully on Sunday too.

She likes to try and stand up in the bath tub. I have to continually tell her "Jenna, you CANNOT stand up in the bath" to which she replies with a smile, "BAAA!" We repeat this over and over until the bath is finished.

Jacob has a new favorite toy. His sticks have kept him entertained for hours the past few weeks. He goes around "weed-eating" with them. Well, a friend of my mom got him this bubble gun. It doesn't work well for bubbles but it makes a cool sound (like a weed eater says Jacob) so he goes around "zapping" things like weeds, leafs, bugs, etc.

Jacob and one of his sticks.

Sunday was a big day for Jacob. He was playing in the backyard and Jenna was inside so I was going back and forth when I kept hearing this loud humming noise. I would hear it when I was outside and inside. Eventually I wondered to the front of the house and the noise was even louder. Finally, I opened the front door and parked right in front of our house was a fire truck!

I ran to the back yard and told Jacob, who of course immediately came running (now I know how to get him to come inside for dinner). We all went outside to check it out. Our neighbors informed us that our neighbor across the street had a close call with her refrigerator. The motor shorted out and started smoking. She ran outside and got our neighbor who grabbed their fire extinguisher and put out the "fire" before real flames erupted.

While we were talking, one of the fire fighters saw us admiring the truck and invited Jacob to come check it out. He was in HEAVEN! He must have spent 15 minutes or more in that truck. Eventually, the rest of the fire fighters came out of Ms. Patti's house. Jacob got to meet all of them. He wore their helmet, put on their earphones, shined their super bright flashlight, sat in their seat...Eventually several other neighbor kids came down to check it out, but they were in and out. Not my boy. I kept telling them they were going to have to kick him out or he'd stay all day!

Of course my camera was inside. If I had known that he would sit there that long I would have ran inside to get it but I didn't want to just dump my child on the fire fighters and take off! Oh well. He did get a full set of the Wylie Fire Rescue trading cards. The guys (and one girl) were so sweet to let my little Jacob's dreams come true!

9 Months

It's been a busy week! Jenna turned 9 months yesterday. I cannot believe 9 months have passed since I first saw her precious juicy face. I am so incredibly blessed and I love her more than I ever thought possible.

Jenna FINALLY learned how to clap. I worked with her on clapping a few months ago and she was NOT interested. But for some reason this week, she decided it was time and started clapping.

She has also been playing a new "arms up" game. The way it works is she will pull herself up on something, usually the door or the ottoman, then lift her arms above her head and see how long she can balance. Sometimes it's only a second, other times it's 5-10 seconds.

She is also starting to try to stand up from the squatting position.

Jacob enjoys playing leap frog over his sister. He loves to throw food on the floor for her. I have to be very careful with giving him snacks because he purposefully either gives Jenna his food or leaves it for her to find. This morning he got a lollipop for going potty. Jenna really enjoyed it. There was a puddle of drool on the floor and sticky drool all over her arm from sucking on it.

My sweet boy can tell you what street he lives on and both his parent's names. I guess address and phone number are next. He cracks me up non-stop...I need to start writing down the crazy stuff he says. He is VERY strong willed and VERY sensitive which is making the "2's" challenging. But from what I hear if it's not the terrible 2's it's the terrible 3's or 4's so I'm happy to get it out of the way.

Although we have enjoying playing in the rain, we are looking forward to a dry week. We have lots of errand running to do before vacation!

Jacob and Jenna at 9 months

Climber

Not only does Jenna know HOW to climb the stairs, she also knows where the stairs are. Her brother likes to sit on the landing and encourage her to climb up. Oh, kids! What am I going to do with you?