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...

To Disneyland!

As a last minute thing (as in, it was officially planned two days before we left), we finally took our trip to California and to Disneyland!

In the interest of time and pictures (you'd much rather look at pictures, right?), I'll just mention the basics.  We drove to California on a Thursday night, spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at either Disneyland or California Adventure, went to the beach on Monday before driving back home.

Needless to say, it was a busy, yet still fun and relaxing trip.  Only wishing that we'd had more time at the beach...it was the perfect way to end the trip!

A Chatty Little Jared

Rolling up on almost 18 months old (eep!), you're becoming quite the chatty little guy!  Even back when you were closer to a year old, you had the starts of conversations going on with us and the people at daycare.  You would say something resembling "whatssat?".  From there, you went into the "da-da", but not so much the ma-ma, even though you'd say that sometimes.

Now your vocabulary consists of not only daddy and mommy, but also Daniel!  Perfectly clear and enunciated!  You've also got the appropriate use of "uh oh" and "ta-da!" down.  Recently, you've also picked up "no" (and the head shake to go with it), even though you often say no when you really mean yes.  You tried to say "papa" (for Grandpa) and "gama" (for Grandpa) over the weekend too.  And, of course, kitty...we have three, so that makes sense, right?

Even what you don't say perfectly clear, you manage to get across what it is that you want.  Handing us your cup or bottle to get milk.  You LOVE yogurt, so often times you'll lead one of us to the fridge and wait until we open the door (and try to climb up to get at the yogurt).

You're growing by leaps and bounds!  You weren't a baby that long ago, and now you're really turning into a little boy, keeping up with your big brother without any problems!

Mobility

One of the major milestones in a baby's life is...drumroll...walking.  Mobility.  It isn't like you weren't mobile before, but now you're REALLY mobile.

Your history with being mobile seemed to start early...and we even figured that you might be an early(er) walker.  You rolled over earlier than Daniel (which isn't saying a whole lot, considering that he never cared to roll over).  You did an army crawl, you crawled fairly early and you sat up on your own earlier than your brother.

So your birthday rolled around in March, and no walking.  You could pull yourself up to standing and cruise a bit around the couch, but even that was limited just as you were turning 1.  We were patient though.  April rolls around, and you turn 13 months.  Still, no walking (as a side note, Daniel was walking, officially, a week or two after his first birthday, and definitely before he turned 13 months).  But, again, we were patient.

April 28th rolls around.  Maurice (friend from Reno) comes for a visit passing through.  The weekend prior, you were taking a step here and there, mostly stepping and falling into me or your dad.  But on that day, you were standing up, and taking a few more steps on your own (and not the falling kind!).  As Daddy takes Maurice back to the airport, you and I are playing on the floor in the living room and you take off on a voyage to the kitchen.  About 20 steps later, you look back and realize that I wasn't behind you...but you keep going until you hit the middle of the family room and sit down!  You're walking!

You keep practicing through the week, and on the following Saturday (May 5th), I manage to catch you walking down the hall.  After that, it's like you are walking like a pro!

Now that you've mastered the walking, they started really working with you to eat more table food at daycare, and now you're officially in the toddler room!  Such a big boy!  As I type, you're just over 15 months old...and on your way again up to Montana with us next week!

The latest and greatest of all things Jared...

I couldn't think of a good title, so I went with that.  I really couldn't think of a reason in particular to post today, other than I just wanted to.  So without anything in particular in mind, let's see where I go.

You turned 13 months on my birthday (April 11th), which puts you at 13 1/2 months right now.  I'm not sure if I've updated since your actual birthday, but you had your 1 year visit about a week after your birthday.  You were 18lbs, 8oz, which put you a bit on the smaller side of things (<5% for weight).  That earned you a re-check sometime next week (6 weeks out from the appointment).  Unfortunately, you also had hand-foot-and-mouth again at your appointment.  Ahh!  So your shots were scheduled for later.

Moving on...you're still working on walking.  You love to walk around while someone is holding your hand (you only require one!), and you can take a few steps on your own.  The walking will come, I'm sure, and then you'll be running everywhere!

They're working on transitioning you to the toddler room, and yesterday you were over there for about 3 hours, even taking a nap on the cots!  Walking, drinking out of a sippy, and eating "table" food 100% are the factors affecting your transition.

We went swimming last weekend (your first time in the pool!) and you LOVED the floatie that we got you.  You had a lot of fun sitting on the step and playing with rocks from the yard too.  We thought it might have been too cold for you, but you had no problems (you wanted to go in!).

And that's about all for now!  Getting so big, little buddy!

Happy Birthday!

I know it's almost the end of your birthday, but I wanted to make sure I snuck in a post to wish you a very, very happy first birthday!!!

I'll elaborate a little bit more later on, but you had a very busy weekend, culminating in your actual birthday today (complete with smash cake!)

I still can't believe you are ONE!  Love you, little dude!  And your daddy, big brother, grandmas and papa's love you too!!!

Coming up on 1 year!

It is officially time to start planning your first birthday party!  You turned 11 months old last Saturday, to be exact, and it seemed to happen so suddenly!

You continue to grow by leaps and bounds.  You want to walk everywhere, holding our hands still, of course, or when that doesn't work, you can crawl with amazing speed.  You try to do all of the things that your big brother does (even though he still hasn't fully mastered that whole sharing concept yet).

So far this past month, we've kept fairly healthy, aside from keeping the ear goo at bay with daily ear drops.  It doesn't help that in the past week that you've sprouted more teeth than you had to begin with!  The two on the bottom have been there for a bit, but the top two are fully in, as is one more on the bottom.  But to fill things in, two more are sprouting on the top and a 4th is almost through on the bottom.  8 teeth!

OK...on to the party.  Your grandma and grandpa Stone are coming from Montana the day of your party.  We've already put out the invites to some people that we know from work...so it looks like it will be a good showing!  Mickey Mouse is the theme, and your mommy is super excited to try out all sorts of treats...as much as I'm sure you and your brother will love to try them out!

And of course, it will be time to get your 1 year pics done....so excited!!!  And with that...I'll end things...may more to come as your party planning progresses!

Speeding Through the 10 Month Mark

The Christmas tree has come down, we've moved into a new house and life as we know it is getting back to normal. Mostly.

It's getting closer than I can fathom to your birthday already...less than 2 months away! So here's a quick update on how things are going!

The speed at which you crawl is really...fast. You've definitely come a long way from the army crawl! You are pulling yourself up on everything, and while we don't have a lot of things that are good for hanging on to, you still manage to do alright. In the walking department, you want to hold our hands and walk around, but that might be compromising your "balance" practice trying to stand.

I can remember your brother wanting to push one of the little cars around to help him walk, but you haven't really done much of that. You'd much rather play with the musical instruments on your car instead...it's still very cute!

You are very vocal though! Most of the time, you clearly say "mama" and "da-da" and it's towards the intended parent. We've tried to get you to say "baba" too, but that isn't quite there. You respond to your name, and definitely when we say "Jared...no!" it gets your attention. You started going towards the outlets (which we quickly remedied by buying the covers) and would pause in your tracks when we'd tell you to stop.

Playing with your brother...both of you love Legos! You love cars as well, and you grab one of the cars that you shake (shaped like Mater), shake him and put him on the ground to watch him speed away. Daniel does try to take the cars away (we're working on sharing with him!), but you usually take it pretty well.

Daycare is going pretty well, and you're one of the "older" ones in the room. It'll be interesting (yet a bit sad!) when you get to move up to the next room...that will confirm that you're no longer a baby! But we won't rush that for now :)

Teeth...you've got the two on the bottom still, and you've got one on the top that has erupted, but you also have another that is coming in a little further upwards of where it will probably end up. It doesn't stop you gumming and eating everything you can get your hands on!

And with that...changes abound in the coming months! We're looking forward to it!

9 months and counting!

It seems like, once again, so long since the last post! So here's a quick recap on some things that (I think...at least), have happened since then.

1. Crawling! This happened in the past week, but you finally got up on your knees and started crawling. Now, you'd been doing the army crawl since before Halloween, and you still do that from time to time. You're sitting up like a champ as well, and you want to stand badly on your own!

2. Teeth. Not sure if I posted about that, but you have two, shiny, white little teeth on the bottom. Still waiting for more!

3. Sickness. On our fourth round of antibiotics (2 amoxicillin, 2 augmentin), the pediatrician suggested you go see the ENT, and tubes it was! You had the tubes put in on December 6th, and this past weekend another ear infection. Ugh! Before that, right after Thanksgiving, it was hand-foot-mouth.

4. Your own bed! We got and put together your crib, and put it in your own room. Not quite ready to room with your big brother, but that will come soon!

5. Moving. We're moving to a new house...and you'll get your own room once again, but as soon as we're sure both you and Daniel can handle it, you'll get to share!

Well, that's about all of the updates for now! Here's to your first Christmas as well!

More Updates

Slowly but surely I'm making updates to all blogs...not all at once, but getting around to each eventually.

So where are we...it's been more than a month, and nowadays it seems like if I turn around for more than a minute, you are doing something new! Last entry, you were just over 6 months old. Your first ear infection came about, delaying your well check. Your ears DID clear up by the time of your well check, and you were over 17 lbs (something which I'll mention more about later).

It was only a few weeks later that yet another ear infection came on. Weight was down to 15lbs, 5.5oz...which seems like a pretty significant weight loss. More antibiotics...and today you went I to get ears re-checked and a flu shot booster...16lbs, 1.5oz...and ear infection in both ears still. So next level of antibiotics it is!

So, all medical things aside, you've learned to do so many things already too! You do the "army crawl" now, and can get pretty far across a room pretty quickly. Sitting up...you're pretty steady sitting up on your own, and you can sit yourself up too.

And with that, you'll be 8 months next month...and as I've said before...slow down, my baby :)

6 Months...and an Ear Infection!

This past Sunday (the 11th) was your half birthday! You are six months old!

You've managed to be fairly free of illness up until this point, but that perfect record came crashing down last Thursday when you got your first fever, and had to be taken out of daycare for the day.

As a bit of a background, you've had a bit of a persistent cough since a little before your four month check-up. There really isn't a whole lot that anyone can do for little guys with a cough, unless there's an underlying cause, other than keep your nose suctioned out, maybe some saline, and running the humidifier. Also a recent development is teething. Gnawing on everything in sight, although there are no teeth sprouted yet!

In the days leading up to your temporary banishment from daycare, you were extra fussy and grabbing a bit at your left ear. When your temperature hit almost 102 on Thursday, that sort of solidified our suspicions about your ear. So on Friday we took a trip to the doctor and it was confirmed! Your first ear infection! We were armed with prescriptions for Amoxicillin and Singulair and off we went. Luckily, the medications seem to be working, and your ear and your cough seem to be improving.

Now if you re-master that whole sleeping through the night thing again...

Anyway, your "well" check-up is postponed for two weeks, and we've got your first airplane trip to Montana coming up on Friday! Very exciting!

The Things You Are Doing

Once again, time to play catch up!

You're almost 5 months old (well, I won't get ahead of myself too much here...still another 10 days!).

At your four month check-up (coinciding with your brother's 3 year check-up!) you weighed about 13lbs, 6oz and were 25 inches. Weight was a little on the low side, so the doctor suggested feeding you some extra formula. You got four shots (ouch!) and slept things off the rest of the day.

Backing up a little bit, the week before, we tried you out with your first solid foods! On the 4th of July, you got your first bowl of cereal (oatmeal!). You did pretty well...you ate most of the bowl and you didn't spit things out too much! The next day...you were doing well and they started trying it with you at daycare. You ate pretty well for them there too!

After mastering just oatmeal alone, we had daddy go out and get you some other foods to try. First thing...peaches! You winced a little bit just eating peaches alone, but we figured out that mixing peaches with the cereal made them super yummy! After that...carrots. Again, tried those with cereal, since they aren't nearly as sweet as peaches. After a day or two with that, you got your third food, which was pears. You LOVED pears, and couldn't get enough. You ate the entire tub (half mixed with cereal, half plain) in one sitting. We alternated pears with carrots. And now we're on food number four...apples. So far, you're doing pretty well with it...and you get one bowl of cereal in the morning, and cereal with something mixed in the evening.

Your other new trick is rolling over! You started to try this before your grandparents came for Daniel's birthday, but it wasn't until after they left that we saw you go all the way! Now you easily go from back to front and then to your back again. It's so much fun to watch!

Lastly, pictures! I posted a few on your brother's blog, but here are a few of you too.

12+ Weeks and Counting!

Once again, I marvel at how fast you are growing! Slow down! :)

Since the last post, you and your brother's pictures came back from daycare! So very cute (as if we thought they'd be anything but!). Here's a couple little thumbnails for good measure:

Your grandparents (Stone) came from Montana, allowing them the chance to meet you on the outside finally! It was a good trip, overall, and they'll be back to visit for Daniel's 3rd birthday.

In other news, you are still as smiley and cheery as ever. Still sleeping well at night (nodding off around the time your brother goes to bed) and sleeping until around 5 or sometimes even 6am! You're starting to eat quite a bit more too at a single sitting...sometimes I've witnessed you eating 6oz within an hour!

Well, that's about all for now! Keep growing...but not too fast! :)

9 Weeks Old...

With all of the things going on, I figured it was time for another post! You are 9 weeks old already! (Actually, 9 weeks and 1 day old). So much has happened, it's hard to remember where I left off last time...but I'll try!

This week you turned 2 months old on the 11th of May. You had your 2 month check-up at the doctor the same day. 11lbs 11.5oz and 23 3/4 inches tall. You're growing so fast and you're even overtaking your brother at that age. The bad part of the doctor's appointment was getting four shots, which you handled pretty well, all things considered.

You're changing so much too. One of the sweetest things to happen is you smiling more often. Right around 6 weeks is when the real smiles started to come out (we'd catch them once in a

while before then, but they were short lived). Now we see you smile at us, or at your brother when he comes to get you at daycare and so on. In fact, today I caught a few pictures of you smiling!

If I hadn't mentioned before, you started daycare right after you turned 6 weeks old. You've taken to it pretty well so far, and your big brother is right down the hall from you. You are the littlest one in there right now, but I'm sure you'll be crawling around with the rest of them soon! Already in daycare you got your first "school" pictures taken. We can't wait to see how things turn out!

Also around 6 weeks old you started sleeping so much better at night! You are going to sleep around 10pm, and sleep until 3 or 4am and go back to sleep again after having a quick bite to eat. So that means you just get up once at night!

And last but not least, you got to meet and spend some time with your uncle Gary when he came to visit at Easter. It was so much fun to see him get to meet you for the first time and get to know you!

Growing fast little dude...growing fast!