Happy Birthday to Nick!

Happy Birthday to my favorite person, my husband, my best friend, my love, Nick!

My little monkey

Jack is definitely a boy. He is in and on everything. From going into the dryer, to launching himself off chairs, to pulling the screws out of the door frame. Now that Jack is walking, it's been a little crazy. I didn't have to 'baby' proof a lot with Ellie, but Jack is a whole different species. Luckily, the other day when I was cleaning up, I saw him throw his ball into the dryer and then dive right in. If he got in, I don't think he could get out. That very next day, I went and bought a baby proof dryer lock. He also loves to go into our bathroom and play around in the toilet. Gross! We now lock our door to our bedroom and the bathroom. He was not happy about that. Last night tipped it off. When I got home from work, my mom handed me a couple of screws and said the door was loose. The door from our house into our mudroom was falling off the frame. It's not a cheap door and it's super heavy, I can barely move it. Jack hangs and pulls on the door knob. He's been doing it for a couple of weeks now and I've tightened the screws, but yesterday he must have hung on it too long. We had to get longer, stronger screws and redo all of them. While Nick and I were doing this, Jack was taking items, like the remote, his shoes and anything else and throwing them through the gate downstairs. AAAAAAAAH! He's so cute about it though. He just looks at you and smiles and thinks it's so funny, which it is.

Here's a video of Jack walking and Ellie and I watching:

Milestone weekend

This little girl is the best. I think we finally broke through the potty thing. (knock on wood). On Friday, I decided "this is it, let's do it!" Everyone kept saying, don't push it if she isn't ready, so I haven't. This weekend I decided to push it. I know she's smart enough and capable. Parents are suppose to push their kids a little, right? I mean, I'm not as bad as Nick. He always says "Ellie's going to be a Thoracic Surgeon". Now, I think that's a lot of pressure if you ask me. LOL. So, I decided that Ellie was going to wear her Hello Kitty undies all weekend (except at night). She did so well, even going to BuyBuy Baby, grocery store, Costco she wore her "undies". I had back up clothes just in case, but didn't need to use them. She is even good at #2. I mean she went twice yesterday! Sorry if that is TMI, but I was so proud of her. She did have 2 accidents at home, but one was my fault because I couldn't get to her on time. She was locked out by the gate in the basement and I was changing Jack's poopy diaper. 

Going in public will be really interesting. Last week, I braved it and went to Target by myself with Ellie and Jack. I had to use the bathroom and brought the whole cart in the handicap stall with me. Ellie was very loud and says "Mama, poo-poo!?" I could have died. 

After her successful day yesterday, Wendi and I took her to Target and Kohl's. She got a Hello Kitty coloring book and some cute socks. I hope she continues this. Last night as I was getting Jack dressed after their bath, Ellie stands up in the tub and says "Mama, pee-pee!" I took her out set her on the toilet and she went! I couldn't believe she held it and told me she had to go. I mean, most adults pee in the shower, let's be real. I can't tell you how proud of her I am. So, so proud!!

It's official

I think I can officially say that Jack is walking. He's been taking 6-7 steps at a time, but now is doing it more consistently and he'll stand up from sitting on his butt. I tried to capture it on video, but it's hard because both of these kids are monkeys. This is a video of our nightly routine after bath time. You'll notice Jack has his green toothbrush. He LOVES to chew on it. If he sees me get it out he immediately starts whining because he wants it. Ellie is being a busy bee like usual. She's 'organizing' her books.

Weekend recap part 2

I forgot to mention that I went with Wendi and Nick to Powder Hill over the weekend. We each had a kid and climbed the hill and then the tower. Ellie was being a baby and wanted to be carried most of the time, probably because Jack and Silas were getting rides and we past a few dogs on the way up and she didn't like them. I'm not sure why she is scared of dogs. We have a dog and she always points at dogs when we are in the car or if she sees one on tv. It was such a nice day out and the leaves were awesome. I think the brightest and reddest I've ever seen. Ahhh, how I love Fall.

Nick has Jack on his back and Wendi has Silas on the front.

Me and Ellie with her crazy Hello Kitty hat.

Weekend recap

I love the weekends and Fall is officially here now that we went to the pumpkin farm. We headed to Basse's  on HWY Q on Friday with Wendi and Silas and Kim and Avery. They didn't have the whole place open, just the pumpkin area, raspberry picking and the playset in the front. I got 4 little orange pumpkins and 2 white pumpkins for our front door area. I'll have to post some pictures of those soon. We will definitely be heading to more pumpkin farms to get more pumpkins to carve. October is my favorite, favorite month!! The leaves are so pretty, the air is crisp and the smell of apples and fall harvest is yummy.

Me and baby Jack

Ellie!

Kim and Avery going up the stairs

Kim and Wendi with their babies.

Jack trying to go up the slide

Ellie and We-we on our swingset

Jack grabbed a bun to munch on.

Jack loves food!

Jack

1. Crawls. Fast and hard.
2. Stands. All the time.
3. Walks about 15-20 steps. He especially likes to do it when no one is watching - he's sneaky that way.
4. We don't put him in the walker much, except if we are outside on the driveway.
5. He's been eating table food now too. (bananas, strawberries, mashed potatoes, toast)
6. Drinks whole milk from both a sippy and bottle. Prefers the bottle :(
7. Still goes to bed around 8:30-9 pm and sleeps until about 7-8 am.
8. Really, really likes his nukie.
9. Likes to take his shoes off when we are in the mall and throw them out of the stroller when no one is looking.
10. Definitely has 'stranger danger' if someone he doesn't know very well try to hold him.

And his latest nickname is baby-ana; which is a mix of Elliana and Baby. He still thinks his name is baby though.