I am on time today!!! It was a good but very LONG week, really looking forward to the weekend :)
1. our turtle friend- we think he might live in our front yard
2. sleeping baby
3. Daddy and Jay checking out the turtles in the ditch behind the house
4. Daddy and Jay sliding at the park
5. Charlie and Piper hanging out while we played
6. a close up of our sweet, sweet sleeping baby
7. our little trouble maker- he closed the door so Jamie and I wouldn’t see him crawl into the crib (because he knows that he shouldn’t be in there). oh and don’t worry- I was holding Charlie, he wasn’t in the crib…
8. chins
9. one of Dolce’s usual perches
10. frosty art
11. funny eyes
12. Jay wearing Piper’s collar on his head
13. hanging outside while Jay and I decorated the driveway
12. trains, laundry and a pitiful puppy- typical day in this house
So I am better than I was last week but still not great. I should probably just stop calling it ‘friday phone dump’ and just call it ‘phone dump whenever I get to it’ instead…
1. birthday boy enjoying the icing
2. tornado Jay strikes
3. snoozin’
4. I have a tongue!
5. first bottle
6. sleeping on his back, like he is supposed to ;)
7. snuggles with Momma
8. watching big brother
9. cars! cars!
10. almost all of my boys
11. helping me stamp all of the cards we mailed
12. what you looking’ at?
13. we have movement- his head started on the frog
14. thumb sucker
15. zoned out
16. lunch
17. a duplicate- oops
18. rocket socks
19. cooping mechanism for a terrible friday- faking caffeine ;)
20. tears after getting in trouble for pulling all of the wipes out of the container
As I have said before Jay is obsessed with cars right now. He plays with them morning, noon and night and we always have at least a few with us. So what better theme than cars for Jay’s second party, right? Right! While not near as much time went into this party as it did for Jay’s 1st birthday bash, I still had fun coming up with (and finding) ideas for his party. Here’s a few of the details…
I have been playing around with a program called Artboard lately, it’s a design tool that allows me to make graphics etc. I am by no means great at it but I am really having fun and that is the most important part. The weekend that Jamie was in Jacksonville I put together this invite for his party.
I didn’t put up a whole lot of decorations for this party; however, earlier in the week I did let Jay paint some small wooden cars that we had out on the tables. He also painted and put stickers all over some paper cars that we had (and after the party I used the back of those cars as thank you notes- yay for double duty projects!).
Here’s our “Refueling Station”… we served pulled chicken sandwiches both BBQ and buffalo style from crockpots that we set up in the kitchen (this was super easy and I would recommend it to anyone who would like an easy party meal). Along with the sandwiches we had apple and grape cars, stoplight sugar cookies (this is the best sugar cookie recipe btw), chips, carrots and cake. I baked a vanilla bean cake, frosted it with this delicious buttercream icing recipe and then decorated it like a track. I considered putting some cars on the track but Jamie vetoed that idea and it probably wouldn’t have been a great idea since Jay was within arms reach of the cake.
drinks table- it shows a few of the hand painted car decorations
The only other thing that I did for his party was to make a masking tape racetrack on the office floor (although this wasn’t really done for his party but as rainy day entertainment from earlier in the week-we kept it up for the party) and I built him a cardboard box car. I had seen a Lightning McQueen cardboard box car on pintrest and decided to give it a whirl. I loved how it turned out and Jay has had fun playing with it too.
and yes, the lights really do work- they are tap lights ;)my favorite photo from the day :)this is pretty much how Jay looked as soon as his guests arrived... non- stop motion (btw- he is wearing his self decorated birthday hat)cake! or should I say frosting...
Since I have enjoyed having the opportunity to share all of those random phone photos that I take throughout the week here’s another Friday phone dump… I know it’s almost a week late but there are some really cute ones that I just had to share!
1. Jay checking in on Charlie during his nap
2. sleeping baby
3 & 4 painting decorations for his party
5. finished product
6. about half of the cars that I found in Jay’s bed after his nap
7. one of Jay’s new favorite “hiding” places
8. sleeping baby again
9. sweet boys- a favorite
10. happy boy
11. chubby kitty
12. giraffe lovey
13. tastes better when you wear it
14. thumb sucking success!
15. outside weeding with Mom
16 & 17 duplo, duplo and more duplo
18. happy little boy
19. hiding in a box
20. squishy baby in my carrier
21. the result of captain destructo- I found this after his nap
22. all smiles for the birthday boy at breakfast
23. indoor race track side the weather was less than desirable outside
Two- two, you are two today!! Holy- Moly guacamole, I am in disbelief. Every day I stumble over the reality that you are mine… you light up my life and make each day better than the last.
You are a constant joy to be around little one and when I say constant I mean it! You talk constantly, you move constantly- you are ALWAYS on the go. Most frequently you are either playing cars or finding more cars to play with. To say that you like cars right now would quite possibly be the understatement of the century, my sweet little boy you are obsessed! Cars are you world; they are literally the first thing that you talk about in the morning and the last thing you think about before closing your eyes. They watch you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. You ask to get down from the table to play with them, we must have at least one of them with us at all times and they clutter every corner of your bed as you sleep. You play with them nonstop, making them go fast, flip, crash, jump, fly- you name it, they do it. I love watching you while you play; your imagination is immeasurable and man that is so, so wonderful! This is not to say that you don’t enjoy other things aside from cars, you do. You love to color, use stickers, work puzzles, play with your duplos and read stories. Your attention span is honestly quite amazing, you can sit through stories that some third graders would loose patience with- it’s a fact that constantly amazes your Daddy and me. It also makes your Daddy very proud…he LOVES to read with you and will read any story that you put in front of him, he even reads them multiple times in a row (which you do ask him to do).
Hugs and kisses are plentiful in our house, which I love. I am pretty sure that you are the sweetest boy that there is; sure, I know I am biased but it isn’t far from the truth. You greet everyone that walks through our door with a shy smile and usually by the time they leave you are hugging, kissing them and telling them that you will “see them tomorrow”. Frequently, for no reason you will walk up to me and plant a big wet (yup- they are usually wet) one on me and follow it will an “I love you, Mommy”- melt.my.heart kiddo, melt my heart! Just yesterday I was playing with Charlie on the floor while you played with your cars and for no reason at all you stopped what you were doing walked over to Charlie kissed him on the head and told him you loved him. And you do, you love your little brother in such a way it makes me burst at the seams with pride. You are always wanting to know what he is doing, you frequently bring him your blanket to use and not just any blanket your favorite I-can’t-sleep-without-this-blanket and when he is crying you will look at me and say “Charlie isn’t very happy” then look at him and tell him it will be okay. I can’t wait to see your relationship grow as the two of you grow.. how wonderful it will be.
This isn’t to say that our time together is all rainbows and roses kiddo, we have our moments. You drive me up the wall, I threaten to sell you to the highest bidder before your Dad gets home and when he does get home I say- “take him, he’s your son tonight”. But honestly, those moments and those bad days are far out-numbered by the good. I frequently have a hard time believing that two years has already passed since you made me a Mama. My sweet little Jay Bird, it feels as though you were just born yesterday and yet have always been a part of my life- and maybe you have been, you just resided in my heart until two years ago today. And what a wonderful day that was- I fell in love with you the very moment I saw you and that love continues to grow with each passing day. Every night when we put you to bed I stand in awe of you kiddo… amazed that you are mine, grateful for all the time we get together and looking forward to all that is to come.
I love you sweet boy, happy birthday- here’s to many, many more.
Love,
Mommy
and since we aren’t heading out to take your two year photos until Sunday and because every post is better with a photo here is recent one of you and Dad driving that makes me smile
We have always known that we have a sweet puppy; however, it just keeps getting reinforced with each little boy that we have. After Jay was born Piper didn’t leave my side. She would follow me from room to room when I paced with Jay, she would camp out at my feet or on the side of the bed when he actually passed out and we were able to catch some sleep, she would lie down on his playmat and let him crawl over her whenever he wanted to. Even now she lets him roll cars up and down her back and bounce on her without so much as a big sigh. Now that we have Charlie she follows the two of us around like she did with Jay. She lies on his playmats, camps out on the side of the crib when he naps, follows me around with him when I am trying to get him to sleep and kisses his cheeks when he is fussy and within reach. I can’t wait until the boys are actually old enough to really play with her; I know that they will love her just as much as she has always loved them.
These are just a few of the times that I have actually caught Piper snoozin’ with Charlie although it happens daily :)
I tried to have this post ready ahead of time so that it could be up early this morning; however I baked a cake, hooked a ton of cars for Jay and had some really good cuddle time with Charlie while Jay was napping so I don’t feel that bad about this posting so late ;) Also, I don’t have his statistics yet since we haven’t gone to his doctor appointment yet but I will post those when I get them.
Things of note-
Sleeping- Charlie is sleeping anywhere from 3.5-5 hours a night for about the last week (the 5hours is new). However, we didn’t start his nighttime routine until just recently and I think that has really helped his sleeping patterns. His nighttime routine consists of a bath, nursing and cuddling with Mommy, being wrapped (like a swaddle but with his arms out), Good Night Moon and then being tucked in with Jenny playing (his sound machine giraffe). During the day he takes a few naps; his best nap is usually in the morning and he really likes to sleep on his tummy (shh, don’t tell the doctor).
*He snores and snores loudly!
*As far as eating is concerned- things are going fabulously! He eats really well, usually every 2.5-3 hours during the day. He is very quick and efficient and usually doesn’t dawdle when he nurses- this little one means business when he eats! I am anxious to see how much he weighs when we take him to the doctor since he seems to really be packing on the pounds and chins :)
*He has been smiling and cooing frequently lately. It’s enough to make your heart puddle right then and there- I swear. He is usually happiest right after he has eaten and we are playing but he also smiles frequently during other times of the day. Usually I can rub my finger on his cheek when we are playing and he will give me a huge grin. He also smiles when I kiss his cheeks- I love it!
Likes:
*Facing out. Unless he is sleepy and wants to nap he likes to be held out so that he can see what is going on. He has really started to be aware of his surroundings and has taken notice of things a lot more lately. He prefers to be sitting up instead of reclining and if you will walk while holding him that is a plus too.
*Holding hands- Frequently, if he is upset you can calm him down by holding his hand. I don’t know if it makes him feel more secure or what but whether we are walking, riding in the car or just sitting holding him, grabbing and holding on to his hand calms him down when he us upset.
*The morning. The morning after his first feeding is usually his happiest time. He is the most alert at this point and will play with me for quite awhile.
*The fan- Charlie loves looking at the fan and lights just like Jay did- the fan is his buddy, his pal.
*Books- The colors book is one that we frequently “read” during play time and he loves the black and white zebra page or the monkey page in another black and white line drawing book that we have. He will smile and kick when we turn to those pages.
*Being outside. Just like with Jay you can walk outside while Charlie is fussy and he usually calms down pretty quickly. He just loves to be out there enjoying the sun. He also likes to sit in the sun coming in through the window in his bouncy chair- it’s almost as good as being outside.
Dislikes:
*Turning off the lights or walking into a dark room. I honestly can’t think of many things that he dislikes (he’s a pretty easy baby and we are really lucky) but the one thing he really doesn’t like is to walk into a dark room or when you turn the lights off in a room. Almost immediately he will start fussing but as soon as you go into a room with lights he is all better.
I think that pretty much sums up Charlie at this point. We are still adjusting to our new family of four and Jay has gotten much better about him being around- guess he figured out that he was going to stick around. We are still working on being gentle, which is really tough for his two year old self, but we are making progress. He really likes to hug and kiss Charlie which translates to slobber and squish Charlie but again we are making progress and at this point I am really just happy that he isn’t ignoring him anymore. Jay also really likes to help with Charlie. He will carry my nursing pillow around the house when my hands are full, he notifies us when Charlie is crying (as if we can’t hear it ourselves), usually tells him it’s okay when he is crying and if Charlie is within reach he will put his or Charlie’s paci (whichever is closer) in his mouth when he is crying. It’s really sweet to watch them together and I can’t wait to see where their relationship will take them.
Here’s some more photos from our “shoot”. As you can tell he is really a very happy little boy :)
Auntie Frannie sure got to log a bunch of snuggle time with Charlie over the holidays. Wish they lived closer so we could see her more but we are looking forward to her being in Orlando for her internship soon :)
cuddling at Mom's on our baking dayat Mom's on boxing day
the perreault family 