Picture time!

How can you resist a camo hat with candy cane striped pajamas?  It's an instant style hit!

ADORABLE.

Milk mouth.....always.

Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day to my boys!  We had a good day today.  Jack spent the night with Grammy, so our morning started with a cup of coffee.....that didn't get cold....and wasn't chased after by a toddler.  Perfect! 

And a little of this from my Valentine!
Love, love, love him! 

After picking up Jack and him not taking a nap....really...we took a family trip to Central Market, where it was CRAZY!  Lots of folks getting special valentine things. 

While Jack was not napping in the afternoon, 
I whipped up a little something that had a little of this
a lot of this....
even more of this....
in this! 
YUM!

Walked into find my  non napper like this....

who had grabbed a little light reading from his bed side table.  No wonder he couldn't sleep!  He was pondering salvation!

We played at the park, headed home to indluge in the gourmet mac and cheese and am anticipating a glass of wine with my husband any minute now.

Blessed Valentine's Day!

You know it's time for a haircut....


when you look like the latest Who in Whoville!

So BIG!

What's Jack Saying?

I feel like people ask me frequently what Jack's saying these days....and I fumble around and come up with Mama and Dada, which he's been saying forever, because I haven't really sat down and thought out what he's saying! 

So, you'll be my handy dandy notebook as I list off things I hear Jack say today. 

Mama = Mama
Dada = Dada
Jus = Juice
Thin = Think
Vava = Vincent
Nahnah = Nattie
An Tat = Aunt Kat
Ma = Milk
Chee = Cheese
Bye = Bye
Pha = Please
St = Stick
Ba = Ball
Tak = Truck
This = This
That = That
Lyla = Lyla
Ba = Balloon
Tee = Three
Aaal Da = All Done
Ma = More
Ha = Hat
Wawa = Water
Souside = Outside
Buh = Blue
Ba = Balloon
Poopie = Puppy


The list of things he can identify is super long...so I'll spare you most of the details.

He still loves to use his Look and Learn ABC book to point out all kinds of things!  We've been working on identifying the animals in there and I can't wait to take him to the zoo this spring.  It's going to be so much more fun than last year!  He'll actually care!  In his book, he knows the tiger and does the cutest little roar when he sees it.  I was teaching him the kangaroo, and said, "The kangaroo goes hop, hop, hop!" so now when he sees the kangaroo, he says, "Hop, hop, hop, hop!"  CUTE!  He also knows the zebra, elephant and the bunny.  I can't wait for zoo weather!

Another snow day....

so I'll entertain you with some recent pictures.

I walked in the kitchen the other day and saw this cute little number.

There are very few times we actually wake Jack up, so it's rare that we see him sleeping!  Yes, we check on him before we go to bed at night, but that's in the dark, and it's a struggle to differentiate between Monk's bottom and Jack's face....but here it is, sweet precious Jack, using Monk as a pillow!

My child won't TOUCH a veggie.  Yes, I've tried different spices,  yes, I've tried different ways of cooking, yes, I've tried peas, yes, I've tried carrots, yes, I've done it all.  I mix up carrots in his macaroni and cheese, feed him yogurt with green beans on the bottom, and toss a zucchini in a muffin, but other than than, he's veggie-less.  And I hate it. People, we've had a revolution!!  No longer am I a mom who doesn't feed her kid any vegetables.  For some reason, Jack will suck anything....ANYTHING out of one of these puree packs!!!  So, yesterday for lunch?  He had peas and spinach!  The angels sang Hallelujah!  And I win. 

SNOW!!!

Last week, when it was 70 degrees and sunny outside, Jack was sick so we stayed home.

This week, when it's 10 degrees and icy outside, Jack is well....and we've stayed home.

Bad planning, Jack. 
 Can you say, cabin fever?
CABIN FEVER!!!

Today it snowed to cover up all the ice, so after breakfast with Monk....

we bundled up with as many layers we could find and went to explore the snowy wonderland of the backyard! 



When we were about to freeze, we came in and stripped down our snowy clothes and indulged in the perfect winter lunch....grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup!

And last but not least, a little comparison.....
last year's February snow vs this year's February snow! 


A little freshing up...

Once I get going, it's hard to stop.

After I finished the table, I looked around....and saw my bathroom. 

My bathroom is small, but plenty big.  It's the one room in the house that has baffled me.  The color of the tile was stumping me as to what to do, but I've always hated the color.  I made due with this floral curtain from Target, but I never really liked it and it was time for a change.

And so I got started!
I used the same color paint as I used on the table, made a new curtain from drapery fabric 75% off at Handcock's and re-covered my stool to match. A peony to replace the Lilly on the shelf, and we're good to go!

And look!  It even all matches Jack's stool he got for Christmas! 

At this point, nothing is safe.  Wonder what will be next...

Car-ting

This is Jack's treasure keeper.  Yep, it's a golf set that he got for his birthday and he is a huge fan of carting all kinds of things around in it!  I've found many snack traps, sippy cups, his paci, favorite toys....all of the best go in this cart!  When it's time for a nap or bed, he hurries off to get his cart to pull behind him to his room...to make sure it stays safe, you know!


Jack's been super into his cars and trucks lately....although every car is a truck......there's no distinction.  He loves pushing them around the house, making the most precious little rumbling noise!

They also like to dive off the table onto the floor to squeals of glee.

And sometimes the cars like to go carting. 

Weekend Re-cap....it was pretty exciting!

So, you know how I lamented on how I just wanted time to slow down the other day?  God has a funny sense of humor.

It all started with Parent's Day Out.  After Jack's first day, he got a cold.  That's to be expected, honestly.  A cold, I can handle.  Last Wednesday, he started coughing and had a low grade fever, so I took him to the doctor.  Totally a first time mom visit, he was fine, the doctor said give him Mucinex and Tylenol and commented that he was the healthiest kid he'd seen that day, and be careful...."If you weren't sick when you got here, you'll be sick when you leave!"

The rest of the week was ok....not great, but ok.  And Saturday was just not good.  His fever rose a bit and he was just not happy.  I hate not happy Jack.  The hardest thing about sick toddlers is that they won't.........sit..........still!  Jack will not sit still to save his life.  And being sick didn't change that.  So Saturday was a battle.

Jeff and I put him to be like normal on Saturday night.  Little did we know what was in store.  Midnight, he woke up, so I refreshed his Tylenol fill and headed back to bed expecting him to lay down and fall asleep, just like normal.  But he didn't. 

Now, Jack's been sleep trained since like 6 months or something.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's a great sleeper!  The few days of sleep training wasn't fun, but now, it's absolutely fabulous.  We don't need to rock him, stay with him until he goes to sleep....we say bedtime prayers, give him kisses and hugs, turn on the sound machine, make sure paci and Monk are in place, walk out and he's out! 

When you have a newborn, you know what to expect.  You're going to be up all night.  Bottom line.  When you have a toddler, that's not what you expect. 

But that's what happened Saturday night.

Starting a little after midnight, the only way Jack would fall asleep is if he was being rocked.  Many, many times, I tried to transfer him, asleep, from my shoulder to the bed.  The result?  Screaming like a banshee. 

His temp rose to 103 and I could tell he was just feeling terrible.  It was terrible!!  He finally fell asleep at 7am.  Yep, 7am. 

Lord, help me. 

As I sat there rocking him for what seemed like FOREVER, I couldn't help but think about my "Stop" post.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I wanted that night to last forever.  I didn't.  But, what I couldn't help but love was holding my sweet son, listening to his congested breathing, dripping all kinds of snot and nastiness all over my shoulder, and knowing that this wouldn't last forever. 

There's two ways to take the whole "this won't last forever" thing.  There's the "Thank God this won't last forever!" The kind that comes in the middle of the night, weather it's a newborn or a toddler, being beyond thankful that what you're going through will eventually HAVE to get better!  And there's the, "I can't believe this won't last forever."  The kind you just know you need to savor, to breathe it in, take a mental picture to hang in your life's museum.  The kind you'll treasure and remember back and long for. 

Saturday night, I took part of both. 

When he finally decided to nap at 7am, I napped, too.  Sunday his fever wasn't as high, and I planned to bring him back to the doctor on Monday morning.  But by then, his fever was gone, and I was dealing more with an over-tired child than a sick one.  Over tired and sick aren't too different when dealing with a toddler, so Monday was challenging in his own way.  Monday was overcoming the idea that since Mommy rocked me to sleep Saturday, she should rock me to sleep forever.  Um, no, sweet child.  So if you wonder where I am this week, I'll be over here, re-sleep training and hoping today is a better day!