Second Day of the Year!

It's January 2nd and everything is humming right along!  Tomorrow you and Daniel go back to school and so today was a day of rest and relaxation (sort of).  You played some computer games, watched TV, played Plants vs Zombies on the tablets (your newest, favorite game to play!).  We took a little trip out to the pet store and to Target and then home again.  It went by pretty fast!

Hope your first day back tomorrow is great!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of 2017...and, you are 2,123 days old!  OK...you're 5 and a half, and as you like to remind everyone...it will be your birthday soon.

Happy 2017!

The Two Day Catch-Up Post!

Slacker mom spaces out on doing a post yesterday...so here's the catch-up for yesterday combined with today.  I'll start with a picture:

Yesterday we moved the pool outside (it was in the living room, just for fun) and filled it up with water.  You, Daniel and Kaitlyn could hardly wait to jump right in (which you did as it filled).  There was a little bit of bickering between you and Kaitlyn, especially since she was a little tired and cranky.  To wind everyone down, we did our usual going out for a car ride.

On the way back, we called grandma and grandpa, and you were VERY chatty with papa on the phone!

Onto today, Monday.  You got to go swimming TWICE (once with Daddy around lunch, and again once the girls were back in the afternoon).  We also set up the slip-n-slide...sort of.  It needs to be inflated a bit more, but it didn't seem to phase you guys.

Well, tomorrow should be fun...planning on going to a movie!  Happy Monday!

Saturday

Sort of a typical Saturday for the family, so I'm not sure how long this blog post is going to be.  We all went to Target today to get a few things...namely new swimsuits!  You picked out a TNMT suit, even though I'm not entirely sure you know what they are.  It was a pretty quick decision, as it was the first one you saw...and even with other options presented, you held your position on that one.

Also managed to snag another pair of crocs (aka water shoes!) for you.  The ones we got for you to wear at your class water party were a bit too big (even though it was the size shoe you wear!)...but they fit Daniel, so score!

We went for a drive up South Mountain, passing by the "awful towers" (sounds like Eiffel tower...but they're really just TV and radio towers up on top of the mountain).  It's still cute to hear you say that though!

Also at Target, we had bought a pool for you guys, and I let you inflate it in the living room and sit and watch a movie in it (not filled with water, of course).  You guys were so excited though, there wasn't a whole lot of movie watching done.

Well...that's about all for the day!  We'll see what things we have going on tomorrow!

Kindergarten, Here we come!

You're FIVE now!  Holy moly, has it been THAT long!  I didn't go back and read the last blog post I made for you, but it was titled Happy Third Birthday!

In any case, today is the first day of summer vacation, with yesterday being your last day of preschool at the ELC at Milenio (the school Daniel goes to!).  You are officially registered for kindergarten and will start on the first of August!  I'm sure this summer will go by fast!

So what have you been up to?  You did really well at ELC this past year...everyone was so impressed with your spelling skills!  You made a lot of new friends, and even kept some of your old friends from daycare when they started at the ELC too.  You were SO excited to start at Daniel's school, and I think you are even MORE excited to be riding the bus next year together with Daniel.

In the past year, aside from turning five, being 100% potty trained, and so on, you also became a big brother AGAIN in February.  You're a big help, even if you are a bit shy with offering it.  When Daniel and Kaitlyn aren't around, you step right up and take good care of Laurel.

Well, we have BIG plans for the summer...it'll be fun to see if you guys enjoy the surprise coming your way!

Happy Friday!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

So I know it had been a while, but I didn't realize that it had been THAT long since I did a Jared-specific blog!  Oh my!

Three years ago today you came into this world in grand style and have been amazing us ever since.  We've all heard the Jared birth story (how fast it was...how goofy your mommy was...etc), but every birthday I look back and laugh and smile, remembering the day you were born.

Well...since the last post, you've become a big brother!  You're practically old hat at this, since your baby sister, Kaitlyn, just turned 7 months last week.  So I guess moving backwards, here's what you've been up to...

You've picked up on things so quickly...you learn so many things from your brother, and figure others out yourself.  You use our computers like a pro, navigate tablets (the iPad and Nexus tablets) easily, and you are decisive about the things you want to do.  You know all of your ABCs (have for a while!), identify numbers, can count to 20, all colors and shapes (again, that's been for a lonnnnnng while).  You love to play ball, whether it be basketball or soccer, or even throwing a baseball.  You love to sing songs, and you do a pretty good job of repeating what you hear.  You ask for what you want, and you do a good job of listening to what we ask of you.  You're getting the hang of potty training (even though you don't want to wear real underwear...you keep saying "no, it's Daniel's...it's Daniel's!".  And you still love Mickey Mouse, although you will switch to anything on Disney or PBS.  You're afraid of haircuts, but not much else.  You sleep in the bottom bunk of a set of bunk beds that you share with your brother, switching pretty effortlessly to a twin sized bed.  You get up in the middle of the night sometimes and show up in our room...you've fallen asleep on the floor on occasion, and other times woken up Daddy to bring him to your room to help you get back to sleep again.

Quirky things as of late...you love to hold the door open to the infant room for me and Kaitlyn at daycare.  You love to wave to everyone at daycare, and you ask to have your window down in the car.  You still need to nap, and you still need to cuddle.

You've traveled a bit since the last time we did a catch-up.  Over Christmas time, we drove all the way up to Reno (your first time there!).  You got to play in the snow a little bit and meet a bunch of people!  Before that, in October, we flew up to Montana.  And before that, while there was no massive distance traveled, but there was quite a bit of time spent in hospitals before Kaitlyn was born.

Coming up I'm sure there's going to be more exciting times!  Summer is coming quickly, and hopefully you'll get plenty of swimming time in as it starts to warm up.  I can see you picking up more and more things, and I can tell that you might be reading soon!  Potty training is coming along, as I mentioned before, and you're learning things so fast!

Well...here's hoping that it's not another big gap in time before the next update!  Happy Birthday, kiddo! :)

Jared's Adventures in Catching-up!

It's your turn little buddy...it was so long since I blogged in general, and I figured it's time to dedicate a little time to my cuddle-buddy!

The last entries were around the time we went to Disneyland!  So much has happened, importantly your birthday!  So let's see here...

The holidays were good, Thanksgiving and Christmas were low key and fun.  You got sick and ended up at the doctor on Christmas Eve, but luckily with nothing major, just the fever and ear infection.  It was a little scary for a while because when the nurse put the pulse-ox meter on, you freaked out a little bit and your oxygen levels plummeted.

The other big news around Christmas was that you're going to be a big brother!  I'm sure you're going to be a great one, just like Daniel was for you...and you'll have Daniel to lean on whenever the going gets rough :).

March came along, and it was your 2nd birthday!  Even as it stands today (the 22nd of May!), you haven't had your 2-year well check at the doctor (reprieve on shots, right?!) since you've been sick on and off with something.  Right after your birthday, you had pneumonia to go along with your ear infection (Daniel's ear drum burst the same day, so you guys had tandem appointments).  After that was clear for a bit, Daniel came down with strep/Scarlet Fever and managed to pass that on to you before weeks end!  Just now are things settling down.

So in other things, you are in a learning and language explosion time!  You are so talkative!  You know all of your basic colors, identify all of the numbers up to 10 (and you can count), and you know a few of the A, B, Cs.  You love to play on mommy's iPad (Elmo Sesame Street games) and you still love Mickey Mouse.  You want to do a lot of the things that Daniel does, and you guys do share pretty well, most of the time.

Right now, the phase you are in is saying NO a lot.  You do get your feelings hurt, and tend to pout a bit more than usual.  It's hard to remember these things with Daniel, but it is a phase you'll get through.  You started in the 2 year old room right after your birthday, which took a little while to get used to going there, versus the toddler/1 year old room.

And...most recently...you love swimming!  You can float around pretty well on the steps of the pool, and you love having either me or your dad whoosh you around the pool.  You don't want to go into the little mesh boat thing from last year too often, and the floats we have for you are a bit of a pain to get on...but I think once we figure out something to get you a little more independent, you'll be free floating around the pool!

So last, but not least...your most adorable school pictures.  Daniel was absent that day, so it was all about you...