January.February.March. 2017

Wowza is it 2017 already!!!

It is crazy that in a few days we will begin the countdown for the Douglas's first birthday! That is just mind blowing. really mind blowing. I thought it went fat with Harrison but it really flying by with Douglas.

Harrison

- Harbear is fully into the twos. Man we are riding a roller coaster of emotion these days. There is so much fun that comes with the twos, but it also very exhausting. Harrison really says the darnedest things. I find him continuing to surprise me. Last night (1.17.17) Chris was dealing with a work email and I asked him if he was working. He said yes, and Harrison immediately said, "No you not daddy you at home!" We just had to look at each other and laugh. Come on dude you are two! But you have the comprehension and vocabulary of a 3 year old. I have learned and am continuing to learn a lot about myself as a person through Harrison. He is an amazing boy with his own set of challenges. I have learned in the past few months that he is just a balls to the wall rough and tumble kid. So rather than trying to change who he is, which is not possible and crazy, plus I love him so much just as he is, I am learning to embrace him for him. I am learning how to best support who he is while teaching him the correct ways to go about life. Like I said, I am learning a lot. haha!

- Harrison adores school and his teachers, he has made two very good friends in his class that we see often outside of school. It has been really fun finding mommy friends and kids that are in the same ages and stages as mine.

- Current favorite shows: Peppa Pig & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Occasionally Daniel Tiger. He starting to be able to watch movies and this is fun! Sort of stressful because I am always worrying he is gong to see something that is too rough or teach him something bad. But I guess it is just the start of it. haha!

- "I have good idea!" He just loves to say this! And then it will be something random, like: "I have good idea, tape!" (3.24). 

- Harrison has not been napping, so he has rest time. He got up from rest time on 3.27 and as I was carrying him out. I gave him a kiss and said, "I love you Harrison." He immediately said, "I love you mommy." Oh be still my heart. He has the kindest heart. He may be a bull in a china shop physically and very very loud, but he sure is sweet! 

- 3.29 we went to Harrison's open house at school. It was night of them showing off their most recent work and letting us bring it home. On the way there I asked H what kind of work we would see. He told me "a doll with an orjenge (how he says orange) shirt." I was thinking sure, okay, whatever! Well we walk in and sure enough there were all these dolls made by the kids, I immediately asked his teachers if the one with the orange shirt was his. They said its a guessing game, lets see! Turns out that little HarBear knew exactly what he was talking about. Harrison you continue to surprise me!  

Douglas

- This little cutie is a pretty cool cat! He really rolls with everything and could not be sweeter. He has a temper, but pretty much only pulls it out when he is hungry. He is also a tough cookies, his older brother who shall remain nameless is quiet rough. We are really working on being gentle and kind (Like Dex the Dragon), but sometimes he is far from it.

- Douglas's words: mama, daddy, puppy, uh-oh, ball, bubble, buh-bye, baseball, & then tons of other things we don't know what he is saying! 

- Signs: milk, more, eat, please

- He can blow his nose if you put a tissue there and say blow

- He has all 8 of the front teeth as well as his 1 year molars. I keep thinking the canines are coming, but who knows. 

- He loves blowing bubbles - meaning he sticks the bubble wand in his mouth and blows

- He is all over the place, doesn't seem to bother him that he isn't walking. He climbs ladders, steps, the wood chips, goes down slides, crawls all over the park. but. won't. walk.

Douglas turned one! What! When did that happen??? Probably sometime when I was slacking in my monthly posts really bad. Hahah! I have all of these organizational goals that I set out to do a little here and there so they don't pile up on me. But I can't seem to follow through with my little goals. I am going to try and make better use of my planner and assign myself jobs at times and see how that goes. Anywaysssss enough about me, on to the real reason you are here: these most amazing little boys of ours!!

February brought Mardi Gras and a trip back home. It was so fun and the boys loved it. Harrison enjoys the parades, but is more interested in having the freedom too move (as in stand on a step ladder rather than be locked into the seat of the leader). This was fine for day parades, but made me not as comfortable for night parades. Douglas however loved everything about Mardi Gras. He was sitting in the ladder clapping, dancing, flirting, smiling, and pointing at everything. Hands down my favorite part (aside from sharing the magic that is MG with my boys) was watching Douglas watch parades. It was just joy, so much joy!

On to my baby turning one!!! Time flew flew flew with Douglas's. I don't know if it is because time is cruel and going faster or maybe it is because it wasn't the first time foe everything so it wasn't so scary? Whatever the reason I love it and hate it. I get so excited for what the next day brings, but I hate that they go so fast. "The days are long and the years are short" is so so so true!

Dear Darling Douglas,

You my little boy are just a delightful guy. You came out smiling and happy. You ask for very little - food, snuggles, and a lot of love. You have always been a pretty decent sleeper and rarely get upset. As you grow older we have found you have a little temper on you and can get really loud really quick. But for the most part you just roll with the punches and do your own thing. You are definitely my little snuggler and very much a mama's boy. You have had begun to have some attachment things happening and cry when we leave you. But you have this amazing big brother who is always looking out for you. Speaking of him, you just adore Harrison. You want to be just like him (besides the walking part of course, you seem to be getting by just fine by crawling). You watch and mimic so much of what H does. Even down to the words he says you do your best to say them too! You are never far from Harrison and I think you both like it just like that. I cannot wait to see this amazing bond continue to grow and develop. It it my hope that by the end of 2017 y'all will be sharing a room. I hope that you always stay who you are my love. You have this infectious smile that sucks everyone in. There has not been anyone who has met you that you haven't charmed. I think we are going to have to keep an eye on you my little turkey. Mommy, Daddy, Harrison, & Puppy just adore you more than words and cannot wait to see what the future holds for you darling! 

Love love love, 

your people 

disclaimer: I half wrote each months post and never finished. As a result they were combo'd into one post and probably doesn't flow all that well. Here is to hoping my new weekly notes to myself help me stay on top of it! 

January Pictures 

February Pictures 

March Photos

I have more pictures to add, I just need to find them. I realize these are very Douglas heavy photos. 

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October 2016 & December 2016

Sooooo apparently I typed and never posted December or October's posts..... So here they are! My goal for 2017 is to keep on top of these monthly posts. Here is to hoping!

October

Goodness me, I keep finding myself faced with the end of the month and no blog post updates to show for it. I try to write things down in my phone as they come up, but it makes for a pretty pitiful post. Lets be real this mommy brained lady is not going to remember much if it is not written down as it happens. So bear with me as I attempt to summarized October 2016. If it counts for anything, I am finally in a good system of getting pictures off of my phone on to my external hard drive.... so at least I win there, right?

October in a nutshell....

- Harrison turned 2. Wow that is crazy! That pretty much seems like the bulk of our month. My biggest little turned a big old two. It was really fun to get to see him love his birthday. If that even makes sense. Like he really understood that this was all about him. A special day (lets be real dayssss) all about him. He loved to sing happy birthday. If you asked him about his birthday he would say, "I blew out candles!" He was showered with lots o love and happiness and that is truly all a mom could ask for.

- We flew to NOLA to surprise Cheech. Chong put together a "met you day" party to celebrate the day they met 40 years ago. It was great fun. Our sweetest friends Mr. & Mrs. Whelen watched the babies for us so we could celebrate. We are so lucky to have such great friends.

- October has been full of pumpkins, fests, patches, friends, and fun!

Harrison

- We celebrated his birthday by going to Storybook Ranch pumpkin farm and out to lunch after. Him and I went to the donut shop and he picked out a special donut (which he only ate the candy eyes and nose off of). We sang him happy birthday about a million times, and he got to celebrate the day with family and friends. We threw him a transportation themed party. There were snacks galore and a Mickey play land toddler bouncer that he adored.

- The things that he says these days are truly hysterical. He just puts these sentenced together that have us rolling in laughter and frankly take my breath away. I have no idea where he gets them, but man its great when he says them.  Some examples: 1) Kellie and I were talking while we loaded up our cars after a pumpkin patch adventure. Harrison goes, "Mommmyyy what chu talking bout mommy?" I was like whah, how do you know to ask that? 2) One morning I was putting pea crisps into his lunch and he was watching me. He then says, "How bout you put some of Harrisons plate mommy?" I of course obliged. I love that he ends everything with mommy! 3) The night of his birthday party Christopher and I were putting him to bed and he said, "get me out Harrison bed mommy. I want to watch football." Of course you do you little stinker.

December

Phew! 2016 seems to have flown by. I thought it was fast with Harrison, turns out it is even faster with Douglas!

I was pretty bad at "Keeping Up The Janes Krewe" for October & November.... So here is hoping December and next years monthly posts are better & more informative!

So far we are 16 days into December and just loving Christmas. I have always loved christmas, obviously, but this year is a whole new world of living christmas. I am getting to see the magic that is christmas through the sweet eyes of a two year old. The simple little things about Christmas that are often overlooked as we age are the things that matter the most to Harrison!

Some Christmas Magic we are loving this December:

-We have to drive in and out of of neighbor a certain way. There is one house that just brings so much joy to our drives. They did it big with inflatable things at Halloween, they did it just as big with Christmas! Harrison doesn't even know some of the "characters" that they have, but we still tell them "Hi" & "Good Morning" all the same! "Hi Mickey Trains, Hi Santa, HI Drago, HI Olaf, HI Pen-gin, Hi Santa, Hi Snowman, Hi!!"

- Lights, oh that magic that is christmas lights. Take my breath away overtime and we haven't even seen any big Christmas event displays. Just neighborhood magic. Harrison love the christmas lights.

- Decorating the tree was one of my very favorite moments in parenting to date. He loved putting the ornaments on (only two were harmed in the trimming of the tree). Of course all of his ornaments were clumped together and one part of our tree is stunningly full. He loves to choose the lights that the tree will be on - boy after my own heart and pretty much always chooses white. Our lights can be white, colored, and flash between the two -- don't choose this option, it give you a major headache.

- Santa, oh my gosh, Santa. The kids loves him some Santa!! He has been so excited everytime we have seen santa, he just kicks his feet and smiles. This last visit he did tell him he wanted a ball for chrismtas and douglas wanted a cookie.

September 2016

I am just gonna go ahead and be honest, Septembers post got away from me. I started so well and then I did not keep up. So when I was writing Harrison's 2 year post I realized that I never did more with sept than what I jotted down int he first week. So you will have to settle for the very half assed post that this is. I am not even proofreading it. So take it or leave it. 

Harrison:

- Harrison started school! Cottonwood Creek Kid Care! He is in the toddler class with Ms. Mawy & Ms. Jewlie. They said he has been very easy going, always eats everything (shock), very busy, and very talkative. They send little report cards home each day. So far, as of three days in, we have: Day 1 --> no nap, ate everything, easy going & happy Day 2 --> fell asleep at 130 (the teacher apologized, I said no biggie and I thought it was an improvement), ate everything & happy Day 3 --> fell asleep at 110, ate everything, happy, and as a bonus he was busy anddddd they are working on screaming (face in palm.... I guess its a good sign that he is truly comfortable at school, right?) 

- We get these great little reminder texts at the end of the day that tell us a little summary and what we can look forward to learning the next day. Its been great because H tells me every day, "I play with friends and cars. Ms Mawy & Ms. Jewlie." So this lets me get more out of him. Yesterday they read Pete The Cat Wheels On The Bus. So when I asked him if they read that he said, "Doors open shut." And opened and closed his hands like a book. It was really cool to see because I could see the things that he was leaning at school. We read that same book at home, but I have never shown him "open shut" with his hands like that, we usually open and close out fingers (more like flashes). 

- y'all we are a month out from being 2 and I am already over the 2 year age. Goodness me, this kid is tiring. 2 year olds are still babies but very much independent babies.... great combo huh. I am loving watching the knowledge and growth, but having a very hard time loving the sassy-no saying-boundary pushing-little monster stage. I know we will get through and I am already learning a lot about myself as a mother. phew. 

Douglas:

- Poor guy is full on cutting the top 4 teeth. For as easy of a teether as Harrison was, douglas not seem to be. He isn't awful, but he is definitely affected. In his defense though, H never got 4 at once. D is so snotty and drooly, he has had a fever spike once and then it went down. But all he wants is to be held and warn. So mommy is obliging. 

Two Years Too Fast

October 14th, 2016

Today my baby turned two. Wow two years old! It truly has been such a fun journey. We have our amazing moments and crazy awful hard moments with a little of everything in between. I have come to realize that every age has its challenges. But with each challenge I have found that there are 5 amazing and incredible moments of growth and development and just plain awe. I find myself in so much awe at my sweet HarBear. I look at him sometimes and I just think "wow. you are mine. we made you. this incredible. stubborn. spunky. big hearted. sweet. loving. strong-willed. determined. little boy." I just cannot believe we could make something so perfect. I think that the age of two will be one that leaves me wanting to put my head through the wall many times. But I know that it is going to be one that continues to shape me as a mother. This little guy teaches me something everyday and is constantly challenging me to the very best person I could be. It is amazing how when it comes to being something for your children you can do it. You have to do it because it is for them and you do anything and everything for them. 

Harrison has shown me what it means to feel 12 emotions at one time. I look at him some nights as we read our 3 bedtime books and I think "man I truly did not like you today, like more than once today I wanted to shake you and be like whyyyy? But I sure do love you some kind of fierce. Like dude I f-ing love you to pieces." How one little person can brings so much out of me I do not know. I do  know that I just cannot wait to see what this next year of life brings for you Harrison. I just know you will face it head on with as much grace as your little solid body can manage. :) 

Some fun things that you did this year were:

- Start school: Cottonwood Creek Kid Care

- Become the very best big brother to ever exist. I truly have lost my breath on so many occasions watching you interact with Douglas. Even though you tackle and push him. Even though you take his binky. You shine with love for him. The way you look at him. The way he looks at you. It is an incredible bond that I will never understand and I am so humbled to watch. I thank god everyday for giving you this gift. A gift of brotherhood that I hope you always treasure and cherish and love the way you two year old self does. 

- You have grown quite a great group of little friends. I am so happy to see these friendships develop. Some come and go and some stick around. But it sure is fun to watch you find love in so many forms. 

- You have taken a few trips to NOLA and to the Lake. But you also got to take your first beach trip! We went with Raine and Papa to Destin and you loved everything about being a beach babe. 

- Your vocabulary is just mind blowing. You have this incredible comprehension and communication that I find to be brilliant. You really can communicate on so many levels and I love seeing peoples surprise when you speak to them.

(I know I am missing so much. But I truly cannot remember... I need to update more). 

October 15th, 2016

Today we continued to celebrate Harrison. We had a party full of food, friends, and a giant Mickey Playland bounce house play yard thing. It was a great day. Harrison probably had 25 juice boxes, 17 cheese balls and 8 packs of gummies. Who knows what else. Actually I have no idea what he ate at all because I don't keep track when we party. He had a great day and that is all that matters. I am so proud of this sweet life we have made here. We truly are very blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people. I thank God everyday for placing this path (the good and bad) in front of us. Tonight when we put H to bed we asked him if he had a great party. He said, "blew out candles." And then put his arms up and said "Hold Ju." So I gave him a hug and he said, "watch football." As in he does not want to go to bed he wants to go out in the family room and watch football with his peeps. Ha! I admire his style!

Here are a few pictures of his big bday weekend!

The face of the very sweetest 2 year old!

He did not like the pony ride, he did it, but he made sure to let me know he was not cool with it. 

Big brave boy loved the huge slide!

It may have taken be 20 minutes to climb up, but he did it!

A little smooth face picture with my guy!

The face of a very happy 2 year old on his party day!

Cupcake icing rules 

Always a kind sweet boy sharing with his brother. He tackles him plenty, so he at least makes up for it some...

August 2016

I did so good at keeping up with August as we went, but never posted.... Oops. Well here is what I have got! Bonus I found my font cheat sheet!

Douglas:
- 8.2 officially rolling over. He will only go to his right side. He took his first belly nap and side nap today. He doesn't not know how to get from belly to he back or side though.
- 8.3 adorable selfie talking video (see below). Uncle Oosche pointed out that he does not blink at all during the video.
- We noticed that he was starting to be too much of a busy body to take carseat naps. So we started a schedule of sorts. He seems to be a 145-2.5hr wake time guy. I aim for 2hr from wake up to first nap, and then 2.5 for the next nap (this is our window to leave the house. man i don't miss this. I was so happy when H went to one nap for this reason). and then he takes a third cat nap in the afternoon and that is 2-2.5 hr wake time. So right now his schedule is roughly:
       7: wake 9-10: nap 1 12-1/130/145: nap 2 330/4: cat nap all naps are had in his crib if I can control it, sometimes he falls asleep in his carseat for nap 2's start, and sometimes his catnap is during evening errands. He puts himself to sleep. We read a book, sing our 2 songs and then I lay him down. sometimes he fusses other times not.
- He is pretty solid on nursing every 3hrs, sometimes I can get 4 out of him, but this kids is clearly starving.
- He is seeming to try and transition from 3 to 2 naps. The last few days that he has taken 2 naps, but gotten up early where it would be a lot of awake time before bed, we put him down for a 3rd nap. But he just played in his crib. Today (8.21) he got up at 6, and we went to 8am church so he fell asleep at 9 on the way home. I moved him to his crib and he slept till 10. Then his second nap started at 1 and is currently, at 3:11, still going. This has never happened.
- 8.8 was the first night we did not night nurse and it was also the first night that he got a bedtime book. He pretty much sleeps through them, but they are there. We have gone back and forth and tried different things to find the best routine for D. Whether it is independent of Hs or with him. Ideally we would like them to be together. But Douglas has been waking up at 530 and thats not cool. Anyways we haven't found his perfect timing yet. Keep you posted. One thing is that he goes right to sleep, he doesn't fart around like Harrison does.
- We started solids on Friday August 19th. We did sweet potato, cauliflower, and avocado. He took to it pretty quickly. He is however obsessed with the utensils and plates and cups involved with food. So he will get fits of anger until he gets one. And then ignores food. He is a weirdo. We have done all sorts of veggies, a few fruits, ground turkey, eggs, greek yogurt and cottage cheese. Maybe more, t is hard to remember with this second kids. Things are not documented as well. I can only imagine what it was like for the 8th kid in families. hahahahah


Harrison:
- 8.4 "I talk daddy" on the way to target (of course). I was blown away, and of course we called daddy.
- He is so obsessed (as of 8.4) with this one episode of Dora. He gets to have special time and pick something to watch while I put Douglas down for his naps. He has always been choosing "Dora Soccer" and loves it. He says, "kick it" "block it" "goal!" "We did it!"
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