Thanksgiving Weekend. . .

Playing on Thanksgiving morning at Michael and Krista's

JJ trying to play with the older boys before Thanksgiving dinner

"Helping" Krista wrap Christmas presents after a successful Black Friday shopping trip for the girls!

Bedtime books, some of the boys favorite : )

Fun with bubbles, until Tristan dumped the bubble mix out on the ground so that JJ wouldn't be able to play with them!

Eating a bubble wand, gross!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend up in LA. Tristan has been sick so he went through some funny stages all weekend; he tolerated JJ, and didn't want JJ to be around him, and also secretly played with him when he thought no one was watching! It's so fun to see the boys growing up together.

This was the first Thanksgiving that Brian and I have been apart since we got married and the first holiday for him to not be with JJ, so it was hard for all three of us. He also said "Dadda" about 3 million times this weekend which I think was emotional for all of us : ( We are very blessed though to have Michael and Krista live close, plus Tristan and JJ get into lots of trouble together, so that keeps me partially distracted! JJ also tortured Michael all weekend with touching the TV and standing on the heater vent. The best part was that JJ would just smile at him since he knew he wasn't supposed to be doing it!

After a weekend of JJ screaming and crying for every nap, he slept the whole way home this afternoon and is now sleeping soundly. He hasn't been better with nighttime sleeping, but my goal for the next month is to somehow "fix" the problem! We'll see how that goes. . .

Good Times. . .

One of his new favorite activities. . . standing on the stairs and turning on and off the lights, oh and apparently chewing on his dirty socks!

My only photo of the weekend : (

We got to Skype with Brian the last 2 nights while he's in Thailand. It was great for all 3 of us

JJ and I went over to Palm Desert this past weekend to visit some of my good friends from college. We had a great time and it was very relaxing-ish : ) Since the weather was nice, we went in the pool on Saturday which JJ really liked. He thought it was fun to stand up on a floaty raft and then jump up and down! He only took one real face dive into the pool which gave me a heart attack, but he thought was hilarious!

I did find one major downside of Brian being gone. . . there's no one to take pictures : ( Since I was in the pool with JJ and then chasing him around all weekend, I wasn't able to take pictures of all the fun we had! The theme of the weekend from people that aren't around him all the time was "wow, JJ is ALWAYS on the go"!!!

JJ has been up to his usual tricks lately, not sleeping, not eating, and doing really funny things! Yesterday, he spilled milk all over the ground in the dining room. I went into the kitchen to get a paper towel and I noticed JJ got very quiet. When I came back around the corner, he was laying on the ground licking the milk off the floor!!! He laughed and I did too which then made him keep doing it!!!

We're headed up to LA this weekend for Thanksgiving and we're both looking forward to it : ) JJ's daycare provider taught him today that turkey goes in your tummy and thinks this is very funny! When you ask him now about turkey, he lifts up his shirt and rubs his belly! Maybe more videos will be provided soon : )

Random videos. . .

JJ "using" a spoon

JJ Skyping with Grandma. They have very intelligent conversations : )

He loves animals : )

Brian sent a DVD of him reading books to JJ which we got today and have already watched 4 times! We both love it : )

Fun and food issues. . .

Attacking his chair

Reading in his chair

Attacking me while sitting in his chair. He really loves his chair : )

Ashley reading to JJ

And playing together

Renee and JJ, his older girlfriend : )

Sitting in his chair together, JJ sat on her lap : )

Reading together again

More reading together!

JJ reading his Bible Sunday morning! What a good boy!

After dinner tonight. . .

JJ and I had another great weekend. Our friends Chris and Renee and their almost 4-year-old Ashley came down from Poway (yes, if you know anything about San Diego you know that it's not really that far, but Chris thinks it is!) for the weekend. JJ and Ashley had a great time reading and playing together. They both love books, so it works out really well! At one point, they were each sitting in a chair and Ashley was reading to JJ. It was sooo cute and not even staged! Sunday morning, however, JJ only wanted to read and take the books that Ashley was reading. He probably has 30 books, but only wanted the ones she had which was making them both upset and not fun for the parents either : (

Sunday night, JJ and I went to our friends Erin and Andy's house for dinner with their 13-month-old Avery (see his Bumblebee Halloween girlfriend!). I always like seeing the two kids play together. Luckily they lived up to my expectations of getting a good laugh. . . During dinner, JJ was refusing to eat any pasta or vegetables and would only eat pear and Avery was eating all her pasta, but didn't want to eat her vegetables (asparagus and zucchini), but she found a solution. . . feeding them to JJ! I'm not joking! She would hold a vegetable off the edge of her highchair and JJ would go take it from her and eat it! He wouldn't eat it when I tried feeding it to him, but when Avery did, he ate every last bite! I think they were working together to clean her plate so she could get down to play!

So JJ has been crazy lately when it comes to eating, or a typical toddler : ) My friend Tifani pointed out that my previous theory of children being either eaters or sleepers is incorrect. They can also be either a sleeper and not an eater (i.e. Tristan), an eater and not a sleeper (i.e. prior JJ and Tifani's son Elijah), a sleeper and an eater (i.e. Ashley), or not a sleeper and not an eater (i.e. current JJ and Elijah)! JJ has recently decided that he is very picky about what he eats, which is very annoying!

The other night, I made mac-and-cheese for us to share for dinner and he refused to eat it and threw it all on the ground! This made me VERY upset! If you know me, and I'm assuming that since you're reading this you do, you know that I LOVE mac-and-cheese! During Brian's first deployment in our first year of marriage, I could be found multiple times a week sitting and eating mac-and-cheese straight out of the pot with the wooden spoon! So since JJ has refused to eat one of my staple "Brian Deployment" dinners (mac-and-cheese and frozen pizza), I am being forced to start actually cooking. Tonight, ground beef enchiladas with Spanish rice and. . . JJ ate almost a whole enchilada and a plate of rice! Three nights ago, he refused to eat plain brown rice, but apparently loves Spanish rice!

He has also become VERY picky when it comes to cheese. . . he only eats white, organic cheese! I bought him some non-organic yellow cheddar cheese and he refuses to eat it, however, he will eat lots of white organic cheddar cheese and tonight ate about 6 slices of organic monterey jack. He's so weird! I thought that maybe since he has become more finicky about his eating he would start sleeping better at night, but unfortunately Tifani is right and it was just wishful thinking : (

Washington!

Boys causing mischief!

Little baby Isaac

JJ and cousin Sawyer with Oma and Great Grandma

JJ's obviously a huge fan of Sawyer : )

JJ being a bad influence on his cousin. . .

Nana giving JJ a "nana"!!!

Katie and JJ playing a duet!

Katie NOT protecting JJ from her dog!

Katie showing off big Washington leaves : )

JJ trying to "ride" Katie's dog!

Great Aunt Rosalee teaching JJ about pine cones

JJ "walking" his penguin finally back at home

JJ and I went up to Washington for a long weekend this last week. The main purpose of the trip was to meet 2 new babies, but we also wanted to see friends and family. It was REALLY nice to be there and JJ and I both enjoyed it. We packed in lots of visits and were very busy.

Thursday - we went and met my friend Tifani's new baby, Isaac. He is very cute and such a "good" baby (not sure if there are any babies that aren't "good"!). He slept most of the time we were there, then ate a little, then was awake a little, then slept some more. I know JJ is only 14 months, but I truly can't remember him ever being that calm! Tifani has another son, Elijah, who turned 2 in September. JJ was playing with Elijah's toys which he didn't seem to appreciate, and they didn't seem to share very well until they both found something they weren't supposed to do. . . then they loved playing together and became the best of friends! Such typical boys : )

Later that day, we got to see Dana and Jon and meet JJ's new little cousin/my nephew, Sawyer! He is also very cute and a "good" baby! He also just sleeps, eats, and is then awake and happy. I don't think I ever heard him cry! Dana's dog seemed to love having JJ there and spilling snacks all over the ground for him to eat!

Thursday night - dinner out with Katie : ) I think this was maybe the 4th time I've left JJ at night and every time, grandparents have been babysitting him either while visiting here or when we're in Washington. I think I need to find some "stand in" grandparents that live in San Diego for babysitting!

Friday - we spent the whole day with Brian's family and JJ loved it and I think they did too : ) JJ helped to baby proof the house to get ready for when Sawyer is on the move. That night - dinner out with Katie and Dana. My mom took care of JJ and she said that she played the piano with JJ for about 40 minutes which is a long time in JJ's time! I unfortunately have no pictures of this since I wasn't there : (

Saturday - my mom, dad, JJ and I drove down to Vancouver to see Nana (JJ's great grandma). We also got to see the rest of my dad's family, including my cousin, his wife, and their 17 month old daughter. I don't really think of JJ as being that tall, but he was taller than his older cousin! They had a good time sharing snacks and toys.

Later that day, we went down to Portland to see our good friends Paul and Stacy. They just bought a new big beautiful house and JJ loved it. Since they just moved in, they don't have that much furniture or breakables yet, so he had free range to run around wherever he wanted.

Sunday - breakfast with Brian's family, lunch with friends and family, dinner with Great Aunt Rosalee, then on the plane home. Another great day of JJ entertaining everyone : )

All weekend, JJ was pretty fussy and didn't sleep very well even for his standards. I'm guessing the problem was. . . his fourth molar came through! The poor kid can't catch a break!

Now we're home and going to enjoy a few weeks of calm before the holidays, or as calm as it can get with JJ on the move ALL the time!