Birthday Fun Begins–Coco Key

This year, Jack requested his birthday party at Coco Key again with his best buddies Ben and Sam. We went last Thursday and all of the boys declared it was “the best day ever.” Here are Nathan and the boys getting ready to get in the water.

Jack’s favorite thing this year was the “raging river,” which is really the lazy river. The water was just shallow enough that the boys could touch easily and the current pushed them along pretty quickly. They did many, many laps of the raging river and could have gone on much longer.

The waterslides were a hit again. They are now big enough to go by themselves and we could stand at the bottom and watch. Every once in a while Jack would ask me to go with him, but I had to run to keep up with him and then he would launch himself into the waterslide without a second thought for Mommy. This is a picture on one of the baby slides. We didn’t get any pictures on the big slides.

He has been requesting a moose themed party for a couple of months now, so the moose fun began at Coco Key and will continue at his family party. We made moose cupcakes and moose munch for treats.

What a fun, and tiring, afternoon! Jack slept two hours later than usual the next morning. Birthday fun continues this week, including his real big day on Wednesday, his party at school on Thursday and his family party on Saturday.

It’s Finally March

Jack is very excited it is finally March – his birthday month! We had a lot of fun yesterday changing his calendar in his room. We added special markers on the calendar for his birthday parties, and also for his swimming lessons and soccer practice. He had his first swimming lesson today and really liked it. He put his head all the way in the way (with a bit of encouragement from Nathan) and used a kickboard for the first time.

Henry tried corn on the cob for the first time today. He was loving it until we saw some blood on the corn. He must have scratched the inside of his mouth somehow. So that was the end of his corn on the cob.

Learning to Smile

Henry learned how to smile for the camera this week. We also discovered Jack’s old overalls now fit him.

Jack is regressing in his smiling techniques. So we worked on his smile in the mirror for awhile and made some progress.

We also made them a reading “couch” in the dining room this week out of extra pillows. We spend a lot of time there. Henry prefers to read books when he drinks his sippy cup of milk, so 5 times a day we’re sitting on the couch reading. He knows lots of animal sounds now, and also points to all kinds of objects in his books when you ask them where they are. He is very opinionated when it comes to which books we read. He has his favorites and he is faithful to them.

Driving Around and the Dishwasher

Henry learned how to make his Lightning McQueen car go forwards and backwards this week, quite an accomplishment. So he drives around a lot right now. Or pushes Jack around.

He also loves the dishwasher and discovered he can climb on the door when it’s down.

Look at his face. He knows he’s not supposed to be up there.

Valentine’s Day

The boys woke up to a Valentine’s treasure hunt. Nathan drew clues for Jack that showed him where to go next… he loved it and Henry thought it was fun to go to the basement first thing in the morning.

The first clue took Jack to the basement and the ball cave.

Next he headed to the laundry room.

And he finally found their treasures (new paints for Jack and a Mickey Mouse for Henry) in the living room.

Next was a breakfast of strawberry milk and cinnamon rolls, and then Jack was off to his party at school, which he loved. He also got to ride home with his friend which was also very exciting.

Snow Day

It finally snowed today! Jack had a great time playing outside. He made two snowmen, one with the neighbors and one with me. He also went down our sledding hill lots and lots of times and helped me shovel the driveway. He bundled up four different times to go outside. And he also discovered he really likes eating snow.

 

Henry was not so sure about the snow. I think he enjoyed standing at the front windows and pointing at it more than being out in it.

Overheard

This afternoon, Jack and Henry were playing in the living room. Nathan and I were in the kitchen, at least during the beginning of the conversation.

Henry: Screaming and yelling

Jack: “Henry, you made a bad choice and now this is your consequence.”

Henry: More screaming and yelling

Nathan: “What is going on?”

Jack: “Henry was banging his maraca on the window. I told him that was a bad choice and I had to take it away for his consequence.”

Needless to say, Henry got the maraca back and Nathan informed Jack (again) that he is not in charge of Henry.

My blogging app on the iPad isn’t working, so I’m a little behind on posts. Here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to lately.

We had an indoor picnic for lunch one Sunday after church.

 

Henry’s love for hats grew.

Jack had pajama day at school.

We created a “ball cave” underneath the stairs in the basement.

Jack got to feed Henry his oatmeal.

And the boys got even cuter.

Day in the Life

I thought it would be fun to record what a normal day at home is like for us right now, when Henry is 1 and Jack is almost 4. A week ago Henry started walking everywhere, so that changed our days a fair amount. Henry is a man on the move that is for sure.

6:15 – Henry wakes up.

7:15 – Jack wakes up.

8 – We eat breakfast and then Henry looks for birds and squirrels on the back deck. For breakfast, Henry eats a bowl of baby oatmeal and about a million Kix. Jack’s breakfast favorites include waffles with peanut butter and syrup, egg muffins, cereal, smoothies and oatmeal.

After breakfast on Tuesdays and Thursdays we get ready to take Jack to school. This consists of Henry trying to escape while I try to put his hat and coat on. Jack does a great job of putting his shoes and coat on by himself and getting his backpack. On non-school days we usually read books until naptime for Henry.

9 – Naptime for Henry and playtime for Jack and Mommy.

10:30 – Henry wakes up and they play until lunch. Lately, they walk around constantly, especially Henry. He is not still very often anymore and Jack will walk around with him for awhile before he gets bored.

11:30 – Lunch and then more playtime. It takes Henry about an hour to eat it seems. They love getting everything out of the cabinets in the kitchen of course. On school days we pick Jack up at 12.

1:30 or 2 – Naptime. Henry doesn’t always take an afternoon nap if he has taken a long morning nap but he still stays in his crib awhile. And Jack never sleeps anymore; he “rests” in his room for a couple of hours. Lately, resting means playing with Legos. He is all about Legos right now and this morning we put his little table in his room so he could have a special Lego table. I’m hoping this will keep them off the floor but it probably won’t work.

3:30 or 4 – Playtime until Daddy gets home. And snacks. Henry decided he needed to start having an afternoon snack this week because he Jack has one.

5:30 – Henry starts eating his supper because he takes such a long time to eat. That way he is almost done when we eat, so I can eat too.

6 – Supper time.

6:30 – Bathtime for Henry – one of his favorite parts of the day because he loves the bath and because he gets to be with Nathan by himself.

7 – Henry’s bedtime and Jack gets to play with Nathan.

8 – Jack’s bedtime. Aunt Regina got him his first chapter book for Christmas, the 1st of three in a series. We are already on the 3rd one. We’ve also been reading the Jesus Storybook Bible lately. Nathan and I agree it is quite an amazing Bible and that maybe we should read it everyday without Jack it is so good. We also pray and sing 2 songs at bedtime.

Snack Cup

Henry discovered the wonder and joy of a snack cup today. Jack had one this morning before breakfast filled with Cheerios and Henry very quickly decided he wanted some. So he chased Jack around for awhile until we realized what was happening and made Jack share. Then at lunch Henry spotted the cup on the counter and refused to eat any more food until he had it. Then he put his peas and pears in the cup and ate them that way. After lunch the obsession continued until I finally gave him more Cheerios to eat on the floor.


Jack wanted his picture taken too. When I told him to look at the camera and smile, this is what he did. Oh, and Henry is officially a walker now. He is doing it on his own and choosing walking instead of crawling. It's pretty cute.

1 Year Old

My baby boy is 1 year old. This year has flown by and I know that all too soon he will be running around and talking nonstop. He is growing up so fast and just gets cuter everyday. At 1 year-old, he:

- has 7 teeth

- loves blueberries, mandarin oranges and peas

- says da-da, Jack, uh-oh, dog, and the occasional Ma-ma.

- roars when he sees pretty much any animal -- alive, stuffed or in a book

- can walk when he wants to, but prefers crawling when he needs to get somewhere fast

- loves bath time and cries every night when Nathan gets him out

- loves to swing and ride Jack’s tractor

- still takes 2 naps, despite trying to go to 1 a few weeks ago

- plays peek-a-boo in his crib at bedtime and cracks up every time

- gives hugs at bedtime

- sometimes will blow kisses

- isn’t afraid to go to other people, but lots of times prefers Daddy over everyone else

And last but not least… we’ve been waiting for him to start defending himself against his big brother. The other day Jack was bugging him while Henry was standing up holding onto our bed. So Henry just looked at Jack and started kicking him. Very much on purpose.

This week he has a cold, so he has been waking up at night and wanting me to rock him back to sleep. At 2 in the morning it is not at the top of my list of things to do, but there is not much of anything better than a snuggly little boy asleep on my shoulder. He is precious and truly a gift from God, given to us at just the right time. We are so thankful for him and pray he will grow up to know the Lord and follow Him. We love you Henry.