Ok?!?

If you are around our house for very long you are sure to hear James ask you if you are ok - lately whenever anyone coughs, sneezes or even hiccups he'll ask "ok?" repeatedly until you tell him you are ok. We've all been a bit congested lately and had runny noses and coughs so I honestly hear this hundreds of times a day - but every time it still makes me smile.
He has also added to his list of helpful duties helping empty the dishwasher. He loves to hand all the dishes to us as we put them up and then he'll pull his stool over to the silverware drawer and help sort and put up all the forks and spoons. He is very polite and will say thank you everytime you take a dish from him - I'm trying to teach him you're welcome but so far we just like to say thank you - giving, receiving - it all comes with a thank you or "tank you". :)

James found daddy's shorts this morning and decided he wanted to wear them -

CHEESE!!

As I've posted before my boys are really starting to play more together. Nothing makes my heart smile more than the sound of the two of them laughing together. James loves to throw balls in the air and then have he and John-Mark "race" to see who gets it first - of course he always wins since he's running and John-Mark is crawling. It's funny to watch John-Mark because sometimes James will throw the ball, it will land and they will both just look at it, then John-Mark will look at James to see if he's going to start running but James always waits for John-Mark to make the first move - I guess to give him a little bit of hope he might be able to get it first - then they both take off and just crack up the whole way!A laundry basket always makes for great play time! (Side note - my poor James has his rash on his face back! It doesn't bother him in the least but it looks terrible! We have taken him off of dairy to see if that helps. So far it's improved some but not 100%. I'm praying we can get it figured out on our own before we have to take him to an allergist)

Trying to walk!

Well, john-mark is trying to walk a bit on his own but if things get a little wobbly he drops to his knees and takes off. He likes to walk back and forth to me and Jeremy (and James has to get in on the action as well - he also likes to show us how well he can walk back and forth and he likes us to clap for him just like we do for John-Mark - such a silly boy!)
We have all been enjoying this beautiful weather lately and actually being able to play outside for an extended amount of time without passing out!
It seems like James has hit a growth spurt lately. He has definitely gotten taller and some of his 18 month shorts are loose around the waist. We go next month for his 2 year check-up and we'll see where he lands on the charts. He's doing very well in his big boy bed. He hasn't gotten out of it at all without calling for me - which I appreciate but while he used to kind of entertain himself in his crib for a bit now, almost like clock work at 7 am I hear his sweet little voice calling "mommy!" Yesterday when I went in to get him after his nap he had gone to the the bookshelf at the end of the bed and grabbed a few books to "read" for a bit before calling me - daddy is so proud! He has actually gotten really in to his books lately. Several times a day we'll just go sit in his bed and read. Love it!!
We think (hope & pray) that John-Mark is teething right now (other wise we are in trouble because he has been one irritable baby lately!) We actually think he is getting several more teeth in from feeling around in his mouth so that would explain his crankiness - but boy I wish they would break through already. He's still sleeping through the night fine but his afternoon nap is a struggle and he wants to be held all the time when he is awake which is starting to take its toll on my back! Last week I borrowed a friends baby carrier and had him on my back half the day, then James wanted to be held - which meant I was really holding three babies at once! It's so hard to not hold your babies when they need you and they can't understand that mommy has a baby in her belly too!
Speaking of baby #3 everything is going great. He/She is pretty active and I feel movement most of the day. Many people have asked if I have a "feeling" of what it is? Well, I figure it's a boy because that's just what we do it seems but I really have no strong feeling for any other reason. I have had a quite a sweet tooth lately but that's really not super rare for me - I've always been a big ice cream fan! We also have no clear idea of names either way. We have several that we like but nothing we've committed to yet. We'll probably make the final decision when we meet him/her.
Thanks for checking in on us - here are some pics of the boys from the week:
We have moved John-Mark in to a forward facing car seat so the pumpkin seat was in the living room for a couple of days which made a for a great play toy for the boys!
Fishing Hat, check; Milk, check; grapes, check; comfy seat, check; Perfection!
James loves to "rock, rock" right now and John-Mark has a pretty good time too! Here of course we also have mommy's sun glasses and our football - must haves for every boy :)
Look where I found my little climber yesterday!
He was having a pretty good time until he wanted to get down - not so easy. I watched him for 5 minutes scoot to the edge of the chair and stick his little foot out and feel for some place to step down - too cute. Mommy finally had to come to the rescue :)
Standing up all by myself!
"Let me loose daddy - I'm heading for mommy!!"
James enjoying a morning of coloring. He has finally stopped trying to eat his crayons and actually color with them - now I just have to make sure John-Mark doesn't eat all the crayons!!

23 and 11 months!

I know I say it every month, but REALLY!?! It sometimes feels like I just did one of these monthly posts and it's time to do another one! One of the boys latest new favorite things to do is one of them sit in the "drivers" seat of the walker and the other stand on the ledge and be pulled around the house - or push each other.
Oh - and I was wrong about James not missing John-Mark while he was away. When I went to pick him up after he said "mommy!" he first thing he said was "John-Ma?" They were both excited to see each other! So sweet!!
How happy are these boys! I can't imagine what they would be like with out the other!

Here is James in his big boy bed for the first time. He loved pointing out the baseball, basketball, football, and glove. Today he took his first nap in it and after one little disciplining to get him to STAY in the bed he went right to sleep and took a 3 hour nap! We may try to let him sleep in it tonight and see how he does!

While Big Brother is away, Little Brother will play (with all his toys!!)

So James has been with his Mom-Mom and Papa Steve for the past couple of days and John-Mark has had the house and mommy and daddy all to himself! While I think he misses James he has greatly enjoyed having free range of everything in the house without someone coming along and snatching it up :) I don't think James is missing John-Mark or us very much for that matter - he has had a blast playing with my mom's dogs, going swimming with Papa Steve and doing whatever else his little heart desires! Everday when we call to talk to him he gets on the phone for about 1 minute and says "mommy, ben, shatzi (the dogs), wati (for swimming), I mommy, I daddy (I love you), byeee, and then gives us a big smooch sound as he kisses in to the phone and then he's off giggling down the hall with the dogs. I'm so thankful my boys have grandparents close so that they can spend lots of time with them. Some of my most favorite memories as a child are of spending weekends with my grandma and grandpa.
While James has been away we put up his big boy bed and rearranged his room to make room for when John-Mark joins him in a couple of months. My plan is to get James adjusted to sleeping in his big boy bed for a few months and then move John-Mark into the room around mid September to give them a couple of months to get them adjusted to sleeping together before the new baby arrives! Shooh - lots of changes coming for the Allen household! I pray everyone adjusts easily! I think James will do fine moving out of the crib but I'm a little worried about them sleeping in the same room together and waking each other up! Thankfully they both sleep like rocks at night so hopefully it won't be a big deal.
Here are some pics of the new room:
James' new bed and super cute bedding (thanks to Mom-Mom and Papa Steve!! - and our good friends the Latham's let us borrow this day bed - what would we do with out friends and family!!!)John-Mark's new bed in a couple of months - I'll add his bedding to it once he's actually sleeping in it.
Here is what John-Mark has been doing while James is away - climbing ALL over his toys!! This boy is a climber - and he's really good at it - he rarely falls. He's very aware of himself and how to keep his balance - he will climb in the Cozy Coupe through the window and out the back - it's pretty crazy!! We've noticed that James was/is not nearly as cautious as John-Mark in that he'll just try to do something and if he falls he falls - he doesn't care but John-Mark is much more careful; takes his time to make sure he doesn't fall - we think this is why he's not walking on his own yet - he wants to be 100% sure he can do it with out falling!He loves climbing on this chair! Does he think he's cute or what? He has also started climbing in to his walker all by himself! Crazy- yesterday I was in the living room doing something and I heard the wheels on the walker moving so I assumed he was pushing it and the next thing I know he comes running in to the living room with this big grin on his face - sitting in his walker! Jeremy didn't believe me so when he got home he did it several more times.

These are pics from last week that I meant to post but totally forgot!
My bruiser boys! We have been super blessed that up to this point we have had very little trauma at our house and the boys have never hurt themselves too bad. Two Sundays ago with in a couple of hours they had both taken tumbles that left James with a bloody/bruised nose and John-Mark had a little gash on his head! Nothing too serious but for those couple of hours it was pretty crazy around here!"scoot over brother - I'm coming in too!""I've got this!"

We finally did it

Get James first haircut that is (snif snif). My baby now looks like a little boy. We've been talking about needing to do it for a while and his hair was getting so long it was no longer holding the cute little curls in the back so today Jeremy said, "today's the day - let's get it cut". He did great and I think was more curious than anything. I saved all his little curls because I don't think they are going to be coming back :( But even though he doesn't look like a baby anymore - he sure is a handsome little boy :)!!

Ready for the first snip - cheese! (Do you see how long it is in the back?)Sitting very still like a good little boy"Look mommy, she's cutting my hair!"Bye Bye Curls!All done - which he told us when she was finished - so handsome!"Am I next mommy?"
Not yet baby, not yet

IT'S A

BABY!! Yay! A happy and healthy one - whew hoo! For the few of you that don't know we have decided to wait to find out the gender of this baby until its big arrival! We found out with both the boys but I have always thought it would be fun to wait and we decided we could actually do it this time. So, yesterday we got to check in our little peanut and get a sneak peak - minus the "money shot" :) Everything looked great - baby is growing right on track to be almost 21 weeks. It was lounging with it's arms up behind it's head most of the time which cracked us up because this is how both our boys sleep half the time - as well as their daddy :)
For the record, I saw nothing that would give me any indication if it was a boy or girl and Jeremy now thinks it is a girl, because he didn't "see" anything. I still think it's a boy just because this pregnancy has been pretty similar to my first two and I think boys is what we do :)
I'm feeling good and starting to look more pregnant. I've only gained 2 pounds so far but I still carry about 20 from James so I don't really need to gain anymore :) I can't believe I am half way through this pregnancy! Crazy to think that we will be a family of 5 by the end of the year! CRAZY!