Happy Halloween and 14 Months!

Morning reading on the ground!

Looking for Brian, JJ seems to think he's just hiding from him behind every door : (

JJ's bumblebee girlfriend

I swear he was happier than he looks in this photo!

Dragon on the move . . .

Mr. Dinosaur, meet Mr. Dragon

Shirtless Dragon showing off his upper body for his Bumblebee girlfriend (actually, his costume didn't fit in the stroller!)

JJ seemed to enjoy Halloween yesterday. We went to a carnival put on by our friend's church. Their daughter is JJ's age and it's always fun to get together with them and watch the kids interact. When they first saw each other, JJ just kept trying to hug/tackle her! I guess JJ is just like his Daddy, wanting to be around the pretty girl ; ) There were LOTS of people at the carnival, so it was fun to see all the kids in costumes, but a nightmare to keep our two kids wrangled! There weren't really that many "age appropriate" things for our kids to do, but they were able to go in the petting zoo and JJ loved it! He literally made the round of petting each animal, harassing a few, then went to the gate and let himself out! One of the animals he harassed . . . the sheep! He likes to make the sheep noise, aka "baaaaa" but he can't make the "b" sound, so instead he kept going up to the poor sheep and yelling "aaaaaaaaaaa" in her face!!!!! After the petting zoo, the kids had dinner, ran around for awhile, then when Bumblebee and Dragon started on complete meltdown, we left. All in all, a good start to the holiday season.

JJ turned 14 months today. This might not seem like a big milestone to you, but for me, it has caused much anxiety. According to JJ's pediatrician, he needed to be "off the bottle" by 14 months, and . . . we made it! About 2 weeks ago, I decided we were done. I knew that he could physically drink out of both a sippy cup and a straw but was just choosing not to. He will still only drink water out of one type of cup and milk out of another, but at least he's still getting liquids : ) My dad pointed out that the sippy cup JJ drinks his milk out of does look an awful lot like a bottle, but at least it's blue and has handles!

On JJ's side, not a lot has really changed in the last month. He has a million teeth now and "talks" all the time. He still doesn't sleep and has now become a "European" eater with a medium size breakfast, HUGE lunch, big afternoon snack, then small dinner. He's been "saying" lots of words that I'm sure I'm the only one that understands them, here is the list . . .

ball

book

nana, aka banana

JJ

momma

dadda

milk

mwow, aka cat

crrgr, aka Charger, his daycare lady's dog

trnstn, aka Tristan

night, night

There might be more, but I can't think right now! I'm sure his verbal development will be huge in the next few months and I'm really looking forwarding to him not having to just point and say "awww" at stuff that he wants! He is also doing lots of animal noises and I will post a video of his funny noises soon.

Lazy day. . .

Today was JJ and my first Saturday home together since Brian left and we decided to take it easy : ) After getting up this morning, I let JJ eat his breakfast while watching Curious George. Now I know he's not "supposed to" watch TV until he's 2, but he really likes the little monkey! And it's on PBS so it can't be that bad, right?!?!

After breakfast, we hung out, read some books, played, and finally after fighting it and crying for about an hour (him, not me!), we got to take a morning nap. After our nap, we at lunch. I let JJ try using a spoon to eat the apple sauce on his own and he thought it was really fun! He ended up in the bath afterwards. At this point, JJ got out of his pajamas.

It was then time for an afternoon nap after which I finally got out of my pajamas! We just went to the grocery store this evening, but it was nice to be out in "society" for a little while.

We had a great relaxing day together, besides him fighting sleeping. Next weekend, however, I know we'll have to get out of our pajamas earlier since we'll be in Washington and have lots of people to see : )

Defeated. . .

Why did you take the iphone away from me : (

Brian's been gone almost a week now and JJ has officially won. He's been sick this week and only woke up a few times each night on Monday and Tuesday night, however, he's been starting to feel a little better and showing it! Last night he woke up at 8:30, 9:30, and when he woke up at 10:30, I brought him to be with me. Then. . . at 2:30 am, he thought it would be a good time to wake up and play! For the next two hours he was playing, scratching his skin (his eczema has flared up since he's sick), pushing at his teeth (another top tooth is coming in), "chomping" his teeth which he seems to think it's hilarious that his teeth make noise, and crying/screaming when I would leave him by himself. I put him back in his crib, took him out of his crib, put him back in his crib, took him out of his crib and back to bed with me. He/we finally were able to go back to sleep at 4:30 am. When he woke up happy at 7:15 as if nothing ever happened, it was a little hard on me.

As I was getting ready for work this morning and completely exhausted, he got a pack of gum out of my purse. I was off my game so just smiled at him since it was making him happy to play with it. Then, I noticed he was playing with a stick of gum. Still off my game, I let him. About a minute later, he was smiling and laughing which was a sign that he was doing something he wasn't supposed too. . . he had bit off a piece of the gum and paper and was "chewing" it! I took the gum away and he started throwing a fit, throwing his head back, crying, and laying down on the ground. It was at this point I heard a gulp! He swallowed the gum! We are now doing a science experiment to see how long gum really lasts in your system!

JJ and I both ended up in tears after he swallowed the gum : ( After the last few days of craziness, I'm completely defeated : ( JJ wins every time!

Brian leaves : (

Bubble boy!

Brian's clean, white hat that JJ kept taking off him and throwing on the ground!

Inappropriate or loving?!?!?!!?!?

Right before he got stopped by a sailor in camis with a HUGE gun!

Chasing a bird. . .

Find Brian. . .

In case you don't know, Brian left on Friday for a 6 month deployment. It was really sad with LOTS of tears by all three of us. We were hanging out on the pier for about 2 hours before he left and JJ, of course, only wanting to run around and not sit in his stroller. To add to the sad day, it was overcast and sprinkling for the first time in the long time.

Right after the ship left, JJ and I headed up to LA. JJ slept the whole way there which was good for him and way too quiet for me! We spent Friday night with my good friends Mary, Dave, and their 7 month old Riley. JJ only "tackled" Riley once and broke 2 things, so it was a successful visit!

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Michael, Krista, and Tristan's house. The boys played together pretty well and we had a nice few days with them. We decided to go out Saturday evening for a treat for all of us - yummy churros! Before we left, Michael and I were moving the car seats around while Krista was wrangling the two boys on the sidewalk and trying to not let them run out into the road. At this point, we were completely outnumbered by the busy boys! By the time we got home from the exhausting trip for goodies, it was evident that Brian being gone will be very painful for all of us! It's easy to take for granted an extra set of hands until that VERY helpful set of hands is gone : (

Besides exhausting us, the other collateral damage from the weekend is that both Tristan and JJ ended up with colds. Hopefully they'll both get better soon.

PS - In regards to the previous post, if you're wanting your own family matching Christmas, just Google "matching family pajamas" and you'll be amazed how many options are out there!!!!

Holidays!

This past weekend we celebrated 3 holidays! First up, my birthday! Brian got me an amazing new camera which I'm really excited about, now I just have to learn how to use it! All the pictures taken above are from the new camera and I think they're more clear. I will definitely be getting more close-up and clear shots of JJ's cute expressions now. Michael, Krista, and Tristan came down in the evening for my birthday. JJ still loves to follow Tristan around and wants every toy Tristan is playing with, which is typically JJ's toy in the first place. When they were getting ready to leave on Sunday, Tristan was sitting in JJ's chair putting his shoes on and JJ started whining about it. At first it looked like JJ wanted to sit with Tristan, but then it was evident that JJ just didn't want him sitting in his chair! It is becoming a long lesson for both of them in sharing : )

Second holiday of the weekend, Christmas!!! I ordered us all matching pajamas online and got some small Christmas presents for us all, and my mom and dad sent us each one also. It was a surprise for Brian and made him very happy since he won't be hear for "real" Christmas : ( It was a nice morning, but wearing footy fleece pajamas in 65 degree weather is very hot and we all had to change into "normal" clothes right after presents were opened!

Third holiday of the weekend, Halloween! We went to the pumpkin patch and I think JJ really had a good time. He was walking all around and since there weren't very many people there, he was free to roam wherever he wanted. There were some goats, a sheep, and a chicken there also. JJ first seemed to be a little weary of them, but then warmed up to them and was trying to pet the goat through the fence. At the end of it, he ended up choosing 2 nice looking gourds to bring home.

The last few days JJ has been VERY fussy and unhappy, and doing LOTS of drooling. We weren't too sure what the problem was, but then Brian did some "investigating" in JJ's mouth and found that he had 2 new molars break through and the other bottom tooth next to the front one is about to break through. I guess this is a good reason to be fussy and drooling! He had been waking up in the middle of the night screaming for about 3 days, but luckily last night he slept better, all the way until 2:30 am with no crying! When will this teething be OVER?!?!?!?!?