First, baby boy is doing great and growing, growing, growing. We still haven't decided on his name which is driving me crazy! I have some cute ideas for my "co-ed nursery" including some sweet name art for the walls but I need a name first! Part of the problem is all of kids have family names in them but we've used up all the boy names we like. I think we're pretty sure of the middle name which is a family name but the first name is still a puzzle! Plus, while there may be names I like they don't "go" with James, John-Mark, and Gracie. I have this need for all my names to "go" together. So, all that to say, we'll keep you posted :)
Next, Gracie belle, I think I say this every time my kids hit this age but 18 months to 2 years is my favorite! I love that she is starting to talk and we're really starting to get to see more of her personality, sweetness, fits and all. Being our only girl we have definitely seen the natural difference in the sexes. She's just as ruff and tumble as the boys but she also has this very sweet feminine side to her. She is never stingy with her hugs and kisses and with both Jeremy and I she will come over all through out the day and just lay her head on us and love on us. And just as often as she picks up a bat and ball she likes to carry her babies around and play mommy. Her hair is getting long enough to wear little bows to keep it out of her eyes which she keeps them in for about 10 minutes on a good day :) I also painted her toes for the first time last week and she LOVED it. She loves to show them off and if you say "look at you pretty girl" she'll give you this big grin then reach to her hair to show off her bows. All girl :)
On her ruff and tumble side she is practically running everywhere and has already fallen off the trampoline and the ladder because she wants to do everything her bubba's do. I feel like I need to put a helmet on her whenever she's outside!
We just recently had our first "fit" where she threw herself on the floor and told me no. She found out pretty quick that's not going to work :) Most of the time she is a happy girl with a big smile. She still loves her mommy and is pretty attached but I can already see her starting to get more independent and leave my side more when we're out and about. I can't believe my baby is a toddler! Oh, words, right now she mostly says "mommy, daddy (or dadden), apple, shoes, cup, thank you, nanna, please, more, and bubba". Just a couple of weeks ago she started doing the sign language for more at the same time she started saying it. Hmm, guess that was kind of pointless :)
John-Mark - as always he keeps us on our toes and laughing out loud. He is still pretty laid back and go with the flow. More than James he can entertain himself for quite a bit without needing to play with someone but he still adores his big brother and likes to know where he is at all times. There have been a few times James has gone somewhere without him and he looses it! If he wakes up and James is already out of bed he hops up immediately and comes out asking "where's James?" He continues to be obsessed with water! It's a running joke that if there is a puddle within a 20 mile radius he is going to find it and jump in! Whenever we are near water I have to repeat to him over and over "self control John-Mark, self control" to keep him from jumping in. With the warmer weather we've been back at our gym pool and he hasn't missed a beat since last summer. He loves to jump in and swim all day! He's even started to try and float on his back which is an improvement from last summer. We're still working on putting his head under when he swims so he can straighten out his body. Right now he still does this thing where his basically floating with just his eyes, nose, and mouth out of the water and he's kicking like a duck with his legs straight under him. He loves the water so much and keeps the biggest grin on his face the entire time he's in it's amazing he doesn't take in more water!
James - as always, James is talk, talk, talking. Whew, this boy is non stop. His latest obsessions to talk about are the sun and moon (lots of questions I can't answer like why can we see the moon when the sun is out), and street signs. In the car all the time he asks, "what does that green sign say, what does that yellow sign say" and on and on. He is also starting to tell me what letters words start with or ask me if it's a two letter start like, train, what two letters make the "tr" sound. We watch Word World a lot and I can see he is learning a ton from it. As I've said before with James being so inquisitive John-Mark doesn't really have too many questions to add. I think one day he is just going to bust out with all this knowledge that he has been soaking up listening to his brother every day! The two of them together absolutely crack me up. Just listen in on one of their conversations and I bust out laughing. Here's an example - yesterday, in the car on the way home from the gym:
John-Mark - mom, when we get home can we have a snack and watch Word World
Me- Sure bud
James - and drink water too
Me - sure
James - yay! it will be like a party!
John-Mark - no James, not like a party (in a very serious tone)
James - well, kind of like a party
Where they get this I have no idea! I guess John-Mark wanted cake and balloons for it to be a party but James was happy with goldfish, water, and Word World :)
I know there are tons more stories and things I am forgetting about but I think that's enough to help me remember these sweet (while sometimes hard) days in a few years :)
Here are some pics in no particular order:
Gracie girl loving on her babies!
Gracie girl loving on her babies!Oh, this picture is hysterical to me. The kids were outside "helping" Jeremy and James has some sort of tool or something in each hand and he's pretending the one in his right hand is a fingernail polish bottle and he's painting his toes with the one in his left hand. He sooo badly wanted me to paint his toes when he saw me painting Gracie's. When I told him boys don't paint there toe nails he asked me "well, what do boys get to do then?" umm, let me get back to you on that one :)
All of daddy's "helpers"
This was taken one night after we had gotten home from swimming. We had been home about 10 minutes and I was trying to get dinner ready and on the table and he was out!
Look who's sitting at the little kids table! Gracie loves it! In this pic James is trying to get John-Mark to turn towards me and say cheese to which John-Mark is obviously protesting and Sam thinks is hysterical.
Dinner with the boys :)
Buddies - these two LOVE each other! I was so glad I had my camera near by to catch this sweet moment with these two.
John-Mark smiling for mommy!
A few more funny James stories - we were watching the American Idol finale recently and we were letting the kids watch for a bit before bed (they love to watch people singing but we've been pretty careful since you never know what you're going to see on tv these days) Anyhoo, one of the final two was singing their song and they showed the audience standing up and clapping and James asked "is that their church" - ha, that tells you what kind of worship he's used to :)James smiling for mommy
Then, yesterday we were at our FAVORITE place - Chick-fil-A and the kids were playing in the play area and there was a little girl there dressed in a princess dress. So she and James started having this conversation and he asked if she was a princess and she said she was Repunzel and he asked her where her crown was since she was a princess. He told her she needed a crown like his Jesus. Love that kid, always one to find a way to share the gospel :)
And lastly, last week at the gym we walked by this rather tall woman and James looks at me and happy as can be says "look mommy, it's a giant!" Like he's so excited to finally see one in person! She just grinned and I just smiled back and didn't say anything. Goodness gracious. I hope he didn't give her a complex. I mean, I'm sure she knows she's tall but nothing like a kid calling you a giant to make you feel pretty :)
Well, that's all for now - I'll try to do better but can't make any promises - My new goal is once a month instead of weekly :)
