Still Catching Up.

Right before JJ kicked him off the water fountain and bit him : (

Ok, here's the last post for October : ) We went up to LA at the beginning of the month to see my good friend Mary's new adorable baby, Peyton. He is super cute and it was interesting to see JJ react to me holding a little baby. . . he did not like it! When I was holding the baby he just kept saying, "put baby down, hold baby JJ." When I finally did put the baby down JJ climbed up into my lap and sat like a baby for a long time! It will be interesting if we ever have another baby to see how he reacts.

After visiting with the new baby, we headed over to Michael and Krista's where the boys had lots of fun playing together. They were babysitting their friends 4-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter and JJ played well with both of them. He seems to be fine with older and younger kids, it's just the boys that are his own age that he sometimes has a problem with!

So I'll post some more recent pictures later, but here are some of the new developments. JJ's still crazy and talking all the time! At this very moment he has built a "fort" out of the couch cushions and he's throwing his cars from the top to the ground and saying "in a minute" when he goes to pick them up! He just moved a side table and told me, "mommy, I set it right there so race cars." The re-decorating by a two-year-old seems to have a different purpose : )

We've been telling JJ that Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Michael, Aunt Krista, and Tristan will be here this week and he's getting very excited. Today JJ and I were "hiding" under the covers in my bed while Brian was in the kitchen making breakfast. JJ told me that he I and were hiding and that Tristan and Uncle Michael were going to find us and that Daddy was hiding in the kitchen and Grandpa was going to find him. It looks like we will be hiding for a few days! We can't wait to have our family here : )

Arizona Part Two

He kept picking the green pumpkins : )

Ok, so I know it took awhile, but here's more of Arizona from last month. As you can tell from the photos, we went to another pumpkin patch and it was very hot! We saw the pigs, went on a hay ride, decorated pumpkins, and the kids went in the bounce house until they were sweating so much we had to pull them out.

JJ's girlfriend Avery and her parents moved over to Arizona a few months ago so we got to hang out with them too, which was great. It was so cute when they saw each other, they were so excited and it was like they were never apart : ) JJ and her play together so well, no biting or hitting, just playing. The only "aggressive" behavior was when JJ came up behind Avery and kind of back/chest bumped her. We weren't even sure if he was trying to dance with her, be mean to her, or just show her he missed her! It was a great weekend and we were soooo glad to see our friends and my parents.

One major development when we got back. . . . we changed JJ's crib into a toddler bed and he loves it! He hasn't even climbed out once which is amazing. He won't even get out of bed when he drops something out of bed and wants it back, which is semi-annoying!!! It's nice to be able to sit next to him and sing lullaby's like I remember my dad doing with me until I was about 21-years-old : ) Brian's mom and dad got him some new train "toddler sheets" for his birthday and they helped make the transition easier. He's getting to be such a big boy, it's crazy!

Arizona Part One

Ok, so I know it's blurry, but it's soooo JJ!!!

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to Phoenix to visit my parents and our good friends that moved over there. JJ did really well on the drive and we had a great time. It was VERY hot, but were able to get in some good pool time. The pool isn't heated and was in the shade so when you got in, the extreme temperature change made it feel like the water was freezing! We stayed in until JJ started shaking from being cold. How can you be cold when it's 100 degrees outside!?!?

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 : )