To Blake, on your 1st birthday

Dear Blake Everett,

You will be ONE tomorrow! The last twelve months have flown by at a record pace, it seems. You entered this world quickly, so I guess it is only fitting. It is so hard to believe it has been an entire since you were born---but it is even harder to remember how life was before you joined our crew.

Our family of four is my greatest accomplishment and definitely my biggest blessings in life. It has been a trying year, and I am sure we will fill you in on all of it some day when you are much older. Without a doubt, you and your big brother have been our rays of sunshine through it all. We thank God for our healthy boys! 

You look so small in these pictures. It really is amazing to see how much babies grow in just one year!

You and Jameston started out and have remained the best of buds. It gives me such joy seeing you two interact and grow in your relationship so much already, even this early on. You do squabble over toys and books some, but it is normally short-lived, with one of you getting distracted by something else. 

Jameston is loving teaching you all about cars, sports, animals puzzles, etc. these days. You always try to get his attention, and he is your favorite person. I love how much you two love each other!

A close-second favorite of yours? Boomer. You love that dog and are always on the lookout for him when we are at home! You kick your feet when you hear his dog tags jingling and when you get close enough to pet him. And he is pretty smitten with you as well. SO glad you and Jameston have gotten to know our dog. He is getting up there in age, so I am very thankful he has been with us this long to meet our boys!

You are a Daddy's boy, indeed, and light up instantly when you hear his voice. He can makes you smile like no one else.

He is SO MUCH FUN, so there's no hard feelings from Mommy there :-) And the feeling is mutual, as Daddy can't get enough of his boys!

Your smile is infectious and the best in the world (I know I'm partial! I often thumb through my phone pictures when I am at work just to get a glimpse of those sweet dimples when I am away from you boys).

 Instant melting from me when I see it! Miight be hard for me to be a straight-faced disciplinarian when we get to that point :-)

And you have been making the CUTEST nose scrunch that I have been lucky enough to capture with the camera. Hilarious and so, so cute all in the same! You have just started to laugh when others do and try to get others to laugh alongwith you. And you will keep laughing and laughing until you are worn out. LOVE it!

Blakey,

It is impossible to sum up how much we love you and how much joy you bring us! CANNOT wait to see you grow and change over this next year! We are so blessed to be your parents. God is so good to us!  We love you THIS much (said little Nutbrown Hare, one of your big brother's favorite books to read you :-) 

Love,

Mommy, Daddy and your "Bubby" Jameston

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Blake at 11 months

"Baby Blake," as we have called little brother since we named him in utero, won't be a baby much longer! He turned 11 months old on Monday. Tear :-( Although it is sad that we are nearing the end of the baby stage, I love this age!

If I had to guess, I would say he is weighing in around 28 pounds, and I don't know how long he is (can't get him to be still long enough to measure!). He's wearing 18-24months, mostly for length. He and big brother are favoring more and more, in my opinion, although Blake has more hair and less teeth than JW did at this age.

Speaking of teeth, he has two more since last month: his top centrals. So he has been a drool machine as of late. This, along with separation anxiety, has caused for one clingier-than-usual baby boy. Makes it harder on this Mommy to leave him at daycare those days :-( 

Development:

• Started pointing last week, gives us "a five," and waves goodbye 

• Still babbling (and shrilling and shrieking) quite a bit! Don't know if the ear infections are the culprit or not, but he does not seem to say many words consistently yet. He knows our names and turns to each one of us when we say, "Where's so-and-so?" and he sure knows "Dada" when he sees Brett. He says "Daw-dey" for doggie (aka, Boomer, whom he LOVES). He mimics sounds (coughing, laughing, etc.), and I even heard him trying to mimic Jameston saying "Vroom" when they were playing with cars the other morning

As I said, B is obsessed with Boomer lately! Their morning greeting

His sign that he is "all done" when he's full (that, and he starts dropping food off of his tray...)

Sleeping: Blakey is sleeping about 12 hours straight most nights, even with allergies/resulting congestion and budding teeth. His naps are all over the place (1-3, depending on where we are that day), but mostly he naps twice a day, about 1-1 1/2 each. As I've said, he loves his lamb lovey

Eating: Well, the boy doesn't go without eating much as you can tell :-) He nurses/takes a bottle four times a day (no signs of slowing down any there) and eats three meals with a snack or two during the day. He loves blueberries, applesauce, home-made yogurt melts, spaghetti (or any noodles really :-), carrots, bread, peas and avocados. He usually eats what we're eating, except for breakfast. He is starting to master the sippy with two handles and the snack trap, surprisingly.

The boys is all over the place! Has learned to crawl on his knees now but still army crawls, and he has pulled up to his feet on tables/toys (so we lowered the crib this month) although it is hard for him to get that weight up I'd imagine! He has not started cruising yet, but I feel it is fairly imminent.

Blake's current loves are: finger puppet books, light switches and doorstoppers, taking the lids off markers, looking in the mirror, cars and balls. He LOVES to hold/pat/bang on books! I cannot read him/big brother a book unless he's got one in his hands

He is on his own in the bath tub now and loves it (far cry from his newborn days). He is all over the place like a little fish!

He can make a big mess in the blink of an eye and is very much like big bro was at this age :-) 

Blake loves to be in the kitchen "helping" Mommy make dinner:


He also prefers the outdoors like most boys! He could play in the backyard (and grass) all day. He will even let out a little cry when we head back inside!

Blake's ears: We were scheduled for tubes earlier this month, but his ears seemed to get better, until last weekend. We are going back and forth with his pediatrician and ENT regarding the treatment plan. His hearing is fine, so we are monitoring him for the time being...

Little brother has recently been introduced to some of Jameston's old toys since he is more confident on his feet:

Blake loves his Daddy and Jameston. I mean, he instantly smiles when he sees or hears them. I love my boys!

Melts my heart

Blake has the best expressions, and people comment all the time about his cheeky and gummy smile! Love. 

He has been scrunching his nose a lot lately, in one of the cutest facial expressions I've ever witnessed (I know, I may be partial :-) This is the best picture I have of it:

We love you, Blake-a-roo! Can't wait to celebrate your 1st birthday next month, sweet boy!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Jameston is 3-and-a-half!

Our sweet and silly oldest son turned 3 1/2 on the 20th. Really can't believe it! This is such a fun (and challenging) age, so I had to document what our buckaroo has been up to lately :-)

We love our big boy to pieces and all of his over-the-top expressions! 

I don't know where this funny face came from; it was early one morning before we headed off to work/school:

At this age, Jameston is such a joy! We have the best conversations daily about everything under the sun (seriously), and we are constantly amazed by his inquiring mind. He will ask the most unpredictable questions (analytical like Daddy and observant like Mommy I guess :-) to keep us on our toes! It really is so wonderful how much they are learning at this age.

Jameston is 42 1/4 inches tall about about 35 pounds (which he has been for while now). He is still rockin' a forward combover as he/his Daddy have decided to let his hair grow out :-) His gold locks are are getting wavier and a little darker with time.

His language skills continue to amaze us. Of course, we are partial and think he's a smarty-pants :-) He spouts off up to 15-17 word sentences (and not run-on) that make perfect sense. Because of Jameston I no longer believe the age-old statistic that says men/boys talk half as much as women/girls!
Some recent favorite "Jameston's Jargon" sentences:

"Did the sidewalk trip you?" after I hit a curb when making a turn in our car, "that's Q" (instead of "cute"), and "I need to wait for my tears to turn off," when I called for him when he was up in his room for a timeout. He also says the following many times during the day: "Thank you, sir"..."Hmmm, let me think"..."I mean, really really neat, (or strong, or yummy);" all statements he hears from m-whah, I guess. It's funny how you find out, as parents, what things you say a lot thanks to your little recorders, a.k.a. children!

We are having less temper-tantrums in the "Terrific Threes" and more discussions on how to behave like a big kid. He has become a little quarrelsome (he has to be right, don't know where he gets that from, Mommy :-) and could argue with a wall! If he gets in trouble, we do not really have to resort to "the spanking spoon" nearly as much as, say, 6 months ago, and he will walk himself up to his room for a little bit of a "time-out" to think about what he did wrong. He is also a little bit dramatic, if you've witnessed it you'll agree! He recently spent quite a few nights away at "Cousin Camp" with his older (girl) cousins, and he has since had a little more attitude/bossiness :-)

Things I don't want to forget about JW at this age are that he:

• Now calls us "mom" and "dad" instead of "mommy/daddy," which makes me kinda sad
• Often gives a thumbs up to show you he's on board with whatever we have suggested
• Closes one eye (or both as in the pic below) when he's pointing at something

• Loves to read books (hard to name a favorite!), so much so that we had to start a timer at night (that usually only allots for one book) because he wanted to read 2-3. Plus his nighttime routine was getting outta hand. The time has worked well, but we are working on having him go to bed earlier...I digress, but the boy loves to be read to, that's for sure!

• Isn't as enthusiastic as he used to be to take a bath nightly. It's a battle some nights, but once he's in the tub, he had a grand ole time and sometimes acts his silliest!

Developmentally:

• Since he knows his letters pretty well and loves books, we are sounding out words as we read
• He brushes his teeth, goes to restroom, washes hands, and gets dressed fairly well on his own. Ever since little bro has arrived, he has regressed in his independent ways, but I guess that's to be expected
• He plays hard and naps hard, too! Still taking a 2-3 hour nap most days around 1:00 after lunch

• Loves soccer and baseball, any sport really! We are hoping he gets to play 6 t-ball games in the spring. He is very active and runs everywhere if he can, although he's got two left feet like his Mommy at some things

• Eating: the boy eats almost anything. He is great at eating his veggies and fruit, and his favorites would be avocado, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges and pineapple.  He still won't eat melon of any sort, but I cannot think of a main course that he has tried and not eaten. Thank goodness! If he could eat what he wanted for a day, it would include blueberry muffins in the morning, peanut butter crackers and handy-snacks for his two snacks during the day, a "wrap" aka turkey/cheese tortilla roll, Italian for dinner, and a pudding cup for dessert ;-) 

Favorites:

• Cars, or anything with wheels for that matter. Favorite movie would be Cars 2, which he got from Santa
• Just lately he has been inducted into the the obligatory "superhero" phase
• He could color  or paint ALL.DAY.LONG This is a fairly recent obsession (two months or so), and I feel like it is a healthy one, so I color along with him, even though I feel like my hand could fall off! 

• He loves to wrestle with Daddy. I think this is his favorite part of the day!
• Favorite games would be "Duck-Duck Goose" and "Chutes and Ladders"
• Loves to be outside. Duh! Although he has been going through a anti-playground funk...

• He loves to sing and dance and play instruments, and his favorite songs at the moment are "Five Little Speckled Frogs," "Martyr" by Rusted Root, "Never Going Back Again" by Fleetwood Mac and "Jesus You're My Firm Foundation," to name a few

• Although his behavior can more difficult some days, he does still manage to melt this Mommy's heart and thank the dear Lord for him every day

• He is also such a tender-hearted little boy who loves, loves, loves his little brother, family and friends. And I think he is one of the best and sweetest big brothers around! Blake adores Jameston and instantly lights up when big bro is around. I love watching these two and envision lots of antics to come!

Sure, we are having the daily sharing issues (I feel like I am going to be a referee for quite some time :-) but their brotherly love is such a joy to witness!

We love our big boy (and his silly antics and strong will) so, so much. There is never a dull moment because of our Jameston Wade!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone