Happy Halloween!

Bamm-Bamm's favorite toy. . . an iPhone!

Yep, that's me in a costume!!! I dressed up for work and then got to bring JJ into the office for an hour to trick or treat. I think we made a cute pair : )

JJ and his friends right before we left to trick or treat. Aren't they cute?!?!

Ok, so I realize that I haven't posted in weeks. Lots of excuses. . . busy, Brian came home, immense anxiety about moving, JJ is crazy! So I'll start with the most recent happenings and move back.

We went trick or treating last night with some of JJ's friends and had a good time. JJ didn't get too into getting the candy, but loved running around with his friends. He probably only went up to about 5 houses and half the time didn't even bring his pumpkin bucket so he didn't get any candy! Whenever he would get candy that he thought he would like he would immediately want to open it until he got more. We also went over to a little carnival which was fun until it got really crowded and we left. I think at the end of the night JJ only ended up with about 15 pieces of candy in his bucket which is more than enough and he already ate one sucker this morning! Luckily I don't think Halloween is one of his favorite holidays : )

Such a Toddler.

Riding on the tractor in the very hot sun.

JJ picking out a pumpkin.

Tristan helping him pick out a better one : )

JJ has been such a toddler lately. We are half-way done with Brian being gone for 4 weeks and it couldn't be going by any slower : ( Hopefully JJ and I make it through these next 2 weeks.

Last weekend Michael, Krista, and the boys came down to a fun "pumpkin weekend" at an organic farm in Valley Center that they get their produce from and then came down to our house for the weekend. We went up to meet them at the farm and had a great time. It was super hot, but we got to ride on a tractor around the farm which the boys really enjoyed. Randomly before we were about to leave, Batman (well, a guy dressed up like Batman) came wandering down through the field. JJ was pretty scared of him, but luckily was able to hide behind Uncle Michael's legs.

One hard part about having them here is that JJ starts biting! Honestly, the only person he really bites at this point is the Little One. I'm not sure if it's a problem of them not having a good enough vocabulary, or it's just a toddler thing, but it's really annoying! I spent almost all weekend say, "no JJ, don't bite (the Little One)." At one point JJ bit him so hard behind the ear that it made him bleed! One good thing though is that since the Little One has come around, JJ and Tristan have been getting along pretty well. At one point we even let them go upstairs to play by themselves and they did really well, which the Little One didn't appreciate since he was left downstairs crying! I really don't know how people have so many boys and stay sane.

My mom has always said that based on the minute that you see/meet JJ will determine what kind of child you think he is and this has been very evident lately. If you see him in the first 3 aisles of the grocery store you will think he and I are horrible, but if you see him later during shopping while he is greeting everyone, you will think that he's so cute! For some reason riding in the cart is always a huge fight which I almost always win.

I learned from my lifelong friend Tifani that bath time should be "learning time" and I've tried to do that more lately. We've been working on colors and numbers and also singing lots of songs. Last night we were singing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and after a few times I got tired of that song, so we moved on to the "ABC's." After we sang it the first time JJ looked at me and said "good job Mommy." It really melted my heart : ) It's the cute random sayings that make me get through the day.

Here's a recap of tonight at bed when JJ really showed his toddlerhood. I put him to bed and then before I even walked out the door he was saying, "Mommy, Mommy" and I asked what he needed and he said "hmmm, hmmm" so I said "goodnight, I love you." Then 5 minutes later -

JJ, "Mommy, Mommy"

Me after running back upstairs, "Yes sweetie, what do you need"

JJ, "I want Tylenol"

Me, "No baby, you're not sick, you don't need Tylenol. I love you, goodnight"

JJ, "Ok, goodnight"

5 minutes later -

JJ, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy"

Me after running back upstairs, "What do you need?"

JJ, "door open"

Me, "ok, I'll open the door"

2 minuts later -

JJ, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy"

Me yelling up the stairs "What do you need sweetie"

JJ, "light off"

Me after going back up the stairs and putting the nightlight in, "goodnight, I love you"

JJ, "night, night"

Ok, you get the picture, I then went back upstairs multiple times to open the door, close the door, turn on the nightlight, turn off the nightlight, put a blanket on, find Clifford, finally say "I'm not coming back up here again. Goodnight, I love you." And he's been quiet ever since. The ups and downs of toddlerhood really do keep life interesting.

Birthday Party in LA.

Playing "catch ball" as JJ calls it.

The ONLY naps that were had all weekend! JJ was pretending to snore like "ampa" : )

We went up to LA this past weekend for Michael and Krista's little ones birthday party and had a great time. The boys alway have fun playing/yelling/laughing/crying/fighting. On Sunday, the day of the party, the 2-year-old boys refused to take naps because they could hear each other, so they kept talking and would not go to sleep! After they got up from their fake naps, they both had lots of meltdowns. Once the party started though, they all had a great time. They played, ate cupcakes, ate pigs-in-a-blanket, and seemed to genuinely have a good time. Krista did an amazing job with all the awesome homemade decorations and food, so I was glad that we had JJ's party the weekend before with my semi-homemade food and Party City bought decorations! It's always fun to be in LA, but for some reason every day this week JJ has asked for "I want Tristan, I want (the little one), I want Krista, I want Michael" at which point I have to say that they're in LA and won't see them for a few weeks and JJ starts crying : ( It will be a long few weeks until we see them again.

New Stats.

That was actually pretending to sleep before he really fell asleep

JJ had his 2-year check-up this morning and it went well. When the doctor first came into the room he didn't believe that we were there for his 2-year appointment, he thought it must be his 2-and-a-half year check-up! JJ was of course talking up a storm during the whole appointment and the doctor quickly checked off "language development" as NOT a problem area! The doctor said that the fact that we've read to him since he was born has definitely influenced his language and said he has the language skills of a 3-year-old.

He had to get a couple of shots today to get him "up-to-date" and he didn't like that. Brian and JJ both cried : ( The nurse was really rough with giving the shots and it hurt me just watching it. The rest of the day JJ kept holding his leg and saying "leg hurts." The shots also made him tired tonight and he fell asleep on the couch watching his new movie, The Fox and the Hound (one of my favorites!). Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow because we're headed up to LA for the weekend for Michael and Krista's little one's birthday party which should be lots of fun!

So, here are his new stats -

Weight - 30 pounds, 6.4 oz, 77th percentile

Height - 3'1", 96th percentile

Head Circumference - 20.24", 97th percentile

Yep, still a tall skinny bobble head! The doctor said if he stays at this percentage rate then he will be 6'4"! We're going to get him started in beach volleyball sooner than later : )

Thursday Night.

After dinner tonight, JJ thought it would be fun if he and Brian put on their backpacks and I wore my purse and we walked around the house. Not sure why this was so much fun for him, but he thought it was very exciting : ) Then after he lost interest in that we played "ashes, ashes, we all fall down" for a very long time. Brian and I ending up sweating by the time it was time for JJ to go to bed! Sometimes a toddler really is a good workout. Tomorrow is JJ's 2-year check-up at the doctor, so we'll get to see just how tall he really is. I'll let you know is new "stats" tomorrow.

2nd Birthday Party.

The cake that Brian and I were able to decorate thanks to my dad watching JJ!

We had JJ's "whee-oo" party this last weekend and it was lots of fun. We only invited a few families, but the energy and noise level sure does multiply when there are lots of kids running around! JJ seemed to love being the center of attention and also took the whole "it's my party and I can cry/play/run/bite/laugh if I want to" very seriously!

He loved opening presents, bit Michael and Krista's little one so hard that it left a complete teeth impression in his leg, and ran around holding his hat in the air and screaming "whee-ooh party" thanks to Michael teaching him that (well, he looked at Michael like he was crazy when Michael did it, but then he wouldn't stop doing it.). He also ate a whole hot dog, a lot of fruit, lots of chips, a few juices, some cake, and lots of ice cream. It was a great day.

This morning when I dropped him off before work, one of the little girls that was at his party came out wearing a fireman hat that we gave out and JJ screamed "PARTY HAT!!!" Luckily I had one in the car so he could go in wearing a party hat too.

He loves all his new presents. He's already colored in all his new coloring books, read the new books, tried to do his new puzzle, played with the train set, screamed at the other kids (mainly Tristan) when they wanted to play with his new airplane, and wanted to bring his new Mr. Potato Head to bed with him. Tonight I had to compromise with him about the Mr. Potato Head and trade him for his shark to "cuddle with" in bed! I thought it would be really embarrassing if he choked on Mr. Potato Head's arm!

Thanks so much to everyone that came and made the day extra special for us. We love you all.

2 Years Old!

JJ turned two today and he was very happy about it. He started off the morning with a fit and ended it with another! This morning's fit happened because he wanted to carry his cupcakes down the stairs that I made for his birthday, which was fine until he dropped them down the stairs which made him lay down and start screaming and crying. Then tonight he had a fit because he really wanted to play with Brian's deodorant, not sure why, and when I took it away he laid down on the ground and started screaming and crying. I think that bookending the day with fits is doable as long as the middle time is enjoyable.

Breakdown of JJ at two-years-old -

Has "all" his teeth (before the older molars)

Wears size 8 shoes

Is growing out of his 2t clothing

Talks ALL the time

Loves to run and make other people run

Favorite word is "mine"

Favorite saying is "I want. . ."

Puts multiple word sentences together

Has started whining a lot

Loves giving hugs and kisses

Loves playing with cars and trains

Gets mad when the "wheeoo" trucks pass by us on the street and he can no longer see them

Gets mad when the "choo choo" does the same as the "wheeoo" trucks

I'm sure there's lots of stuff that I'm forgetting right now, but basically JJ is very active and talkative and we love him lots and can't believe he's already 2!!!