The most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas was a whirlwind of activity with lots of fun and very few naps. Jack and Molly were spoiled and it's fun to watch how they interact with all the new toys around the house now.

Jack (20 months):

*26 lbs. 9 oz. and 33 in. tall

* jabbers constantly and throws words around but is stubborn and often won't say words when we ask, even though we know he knows them
*climbs EVERYTHING (I found him standing on top of the table...)

*gets jealous when we give Molly a sippy cup

*insists on calling Molly "Mo Mo"

*loves to dance and sing and jump and run and never stops moving from morning until night

Molly (10 months):

*21 lbs. and 10 oz. and 28 1/2 in. long

*now crawls

*said her first word "DaDa" and associated it with Andy

* drinks real milk with one bottle of formula before bed

*is transitioning to all table food

*claps her hands when we cheer for her

*loves to be thrown in the air (what a little daredevil!)

What I'm Thankful For...

Jack is intensely concentrating on Sesame Street

Molly at 8 months (it's hard to believe she was once as little as that baby doll)

Jack dressed as Fonzie for Halloween
Molly dressed as Joni (as in Jonie loves Chachi)

Molly really hates having pigtails in her hair

Jack's favorite hobby... making messes!

My sweet baby girl's sweet smile

***

Jackson (18 months):

• favorite foods are bananas and raisins
• tries to get in the onion drawer for the "apfels"
• plays "hat" with Molly
• loves his "shooshs" (shoes)
• constantly wants to "brush teesh"
• wears a size four diaper
• tries to plug everything in (thank God for baby proofing)
• is still scared of the vacuum, but doesn't cry anymore when he sees it
• favorite TV show is Sesame Street
• still loves his Blue Puppy and takes it everywhere (if you ever see a Blue Puppy at Target that is made by Carter's Just One Year let me know... we need a replacement puppy)
• LOVES Mommy and Daddy's room and the Bathroom
• takes one two hour nap in the afternoon but sleeps from 730 - 7 at night
• sings Old McDonald, 5 Little Ducks, Happy and shakes his little butt to the beat
• melts Mommy's heart because he still loves to cuddle

Molly (8 months):

• is currently getting four new teeth, but you would hardly know she's teething
• loves baby yogurt, cinnamon raisin granola, and corn cassrole
• always wants a spoon to chew on
• cracks up at Jack when he throws a fit
• just started playing "hat"
• doesn't crawl yet but still manages to get all over the room
• pulls books off the shelf
• wears a size three diaper
• takes two naps (but is a cat napper)
• sleeps from 7 ish to 7 ish at night
• belly laughs when I wipe under her chin
• is very ticklish
• has the sweetest disposition and is such a content baby
  
  
  

Long Overdue

Here's what's been going on in the past month:

• Molly got her first and second tooth and loves to show them off.
• Jackson got tooth #13, 14, 15, and 16 and managed to fall and cut his lip twice in three days
• school, school, school, school, and repeat
• Andy started his new schedule of T-S 7-5... we are loving this!
• My sister-in-law and brother-in-law had their pretty baby girl
• I got rear-ended and broke my nose and got a couple stitches... the Vitara is totaled and the other guy wasn't hurt
• we're car shopping (SUV with 4 wheel drive-- if you know of one for sale!)
• Molly sits all by herself and has graduated to three meals a day. She also loves playing peek-a-boo and to "dangle" upside down
• both Jack and Molly are doing great at their new sitter and they love going to her house to play
• Jack fed Molly a goldfish cracker... she gagged and threw it up and I retrieved the rest of it. She's fine and Jack was scolded! But, he just loves to share everything with his little sister.
• Jack now says "my pretty, pretty baby" to Molly (he's probably heard me say it a time or two)
• Jack sings several songs including New Kids on the Block, E-I-E-I-O, and the pancake song

That's about it for our little family!

Bye Bye Summertime!

How big is JackJack? So big! Fun at the Columbus Zoo... Jack liked the stinky penguins and Molly like sleeping.

Bare butt fun in the kitchen...

Molly is getting sooo big and is rolling in circles these days.

Snuggle time!

Many good hours have been spent in the pool this summer!

Playtime on the porch

Sleeping in the van with best friend Blue Puppy

Jack goes up and down the slide all by himself!

My precious girl and her adorable smile!

Definitely not...

I definitely did not feel tempted to turn the hose on when Jackson was chewing on the end while playing in the kiddie pool. I am a responsible, loving mother who would never give in to temptation just for a good laugh.

I definitely did not ignore my crying children so I could check Facebook. I always jump up at the first sound they make to get them up from their naps.

I definitely did not pick up an already-been-through-the-digestive-system raisin off the floor. My son's waste always stays in the diaper and I always change him immediately after he goes.

I definitely did not get up to feed my daughter at 2 am and then get sucked into a Rolling Stones special on PBS. I always put my daughter back to bed immediately so she does not get used to being up in the middle of the night. I never just sit there holding her, watching her sleep.

I definitely did not boycott mopping my kitchen floor until my new steam mop gets here. I always mop and sanitize my floor daily. See "raisin" above.

I definitely did not feed Jackson the rest of Molly's cereal when he was throwing a fit yesterday. I thoroughly believe in teaching my children that throwing fits does not get them their own way.

I definitely did not hug my children enough this week... that I definitely did not do.

The Best Four Years

The First Year

The Second Year

The Third Year

If year number four is as exciting as the previous three, we're in for an adventurous ride!

***

Look how big Molly is getting! It's hard to believe she was only as big as the baby doll three months ago!

Molly is busy smiling super-sunny smiles, rolling over belly to back and cooing! She seems to have caught up physically and developmentally to babies her age!

Jack is busy saying lots of words (most of them one-year-old jabberings), walking all by himself, climbing on furniture, trying to blow kisses, and burping Molly!

Life is never boring at our house!

Shots, Snuggles, and Slobber Kisses

Welp, I'm back to work and Andy has been holding down the fort this past week. He's doing an amazing job (not that I ever thought he wouldn't). He even took both kids to get their immunizations on Tuesday, waited in line with both babies for over an hour, handled fussies all afternoon, and the house was still clean when I got home from work!

Molly went to the doc on Friday and weighs over 10 lbs. now! She is actually sleeping decently at night in 5-6 hour increments which we think is awesome. Jack was a super good sleeper, but Molly might just be the best yet!

Jack went to the doc yesterday and weighs over 22 lbs. He is right in the fiftieth percentile for height, length, and weight. He is refusing to let us feed him any food except yogurt. He wants to feed himself everything, so he gets several baths everyday and has several clothes changes, too. He is super snuggly when I get home from work, but is oddly attracted to my feet. He pops his thumb in his mouth, grabs my big toe, and rubs his cheek on my instep. It tickles like crazy and I have to fight the instinct to kick him, but it's so cute that it melts my heart. He has also started to give kisses at random now. We used to have to coax him, but now he kisses when he's happy with us. His words now include: mama, dada, all done, and nana. He will say nanananananananana whenever he's in his highchair and the kid would eat four bananas everyday if we let him. Andy and I just keep saying how fun this age is! He also loves his little sister and wants to grab her all the time. He is also a binky thief... crawls over to her in the bouncy seat and *schnoink* grabs it out of her mouth and pops it in his...he thinks this is hilarious!

My students were glad to have me back and I'm happy to talk to adults again during the day. But, I'm still glad that I only have three more weeks of work until summer!

Jackson is One!

***

It’s been one year since this little man has entered our lives and turned our world upside-down and inside-out in the most gloriously beautiful way. When Molly came, we were already parents. We knew how to do the mother-father thing. Jackson was the one that patiently made us into the people we are now. He brings us the simple pleasures of raspberry kisses and splashing in the bathwater, jumping on the bed and playing peek-a-boo. He is constantly observant, inquisitive, curious. He is the best snuggler, slobberiest kisser, and most joyful giggler. He is stubborn, protective, insistent. With his inane sense of rhythm, fierce blue eyes, meatball hands, bullheadedness, tenderness, he is his father’s son. With his sensitivity, fidgetiness, determination, he is his mommy’s boy. He taught us to laugh more and love more.

Happy first birthday, Bubby! We love you so much!

Molly's First Easter and Jack's, too!

Our little family

Yep, he's trying to bite her (out of love, of course!)

Holidays are soooo much fun with little kids! Jack and Molly acted wonderfully all day on Easter (only little bits of fussies) and tolerated leaving home at 7 am and not getting home until 7 pm extremely well!

In other news, Molly is now 8 lbs (7 lbs and 15 oz. on Tuesday) and waking us during the night so she can eat. No more setting the alarm to wake her up!

Jackson's birthday is coming up next week so I'm doing all the planning and stuff which is good for me because I needed a project. I'm officially bored with maternity leave and excited to go back to work in a couple weeks. I'm really glad Andy will be home with the kids so I don't have to worry while I'm at work and that I only have to work for four weeks and then I have all summer with my little kiddos!

You are 38 weeks pregnant...

Nope, I don't think so. The magic email telling me how far along I am in pregnancy is wrong. They apparently don't know that I had my baby...

Anyway, according to that email, the baby should be 6.8 lbs and 19 inches long.

According to Molly's one month checkup, she is 7 lbs and 19 1/4 inches long.

Mom got Molly a baby doll that was roughly her size when she was born, and we are using that to gauge Molly's growth.

One month old

Two weeks old

I promised Molly that someday we will be less focused on her weight... don't want to give her a complex just yet:)

***

In other news, we gave Jackson some whole milk on Tuesday afternoon. He then threw up in his crib Tuesday night and then on Mommy, and then in his crib again... He got three real baths and a hillbilly bath... Mommy just got to smell like vomit for a couple hours...

A Day

Wakey wakey! I love how he sleeps with his butt in the air. Miss Molly looking like a baby doll

Big breakfast bottle and snuggle time with Mommy

Naptime for Jack and showertime/cleaning time/breakfast time/ laundry time, etc for Mommy

This is basically all Molly does all day other than eat and poo

Playing peek-a-boo at the front door

Yummy yummy spaghetti for lunch

Auntie Ann is here to play with Jack Jack while Mommy goes to the store!

Celebrating Grandpa's birthday and playing "hat"

Ready for bed... Night night!

***

Jackson turned eleven months old and Molly turned one month old the next day. Molly goes to the doctor on Wednesday so we will see how much weight she has gained. She is getting bigger and filling out her newborn clothes. I was only too happy to pack away the preemie stuff. Someday I'll pull it out and be amazed that she was ever that little!

I'll be going back to work at the beginning of May because Andy is able to be home every weekday with the kids. I'm really happy that they'll be with Daddy seeing as Molly will only be 2 weeks in adjusted age by then.

Other than that, life has been pretty quiet. Andy is finishing up a stretch of working nine days in a row and we are sooooo excited to have him home!