Baby Brother's Shower

Mom's friend Molly threw a baby shower for my little brother.

It was a double shower with Mike and Amber.

It was a lot of fun.

Molly made these centerpieces for Mama and Amber.

(Mama's having a boy, Amber is having a girl.)

They were really cute.

Molly also made "Daddy toolbelts" for Daddy and Mike,

including masks, gloves, goggles, tongs, diaper cream, and colored duct tape.

Of course, they had to try everything out.

Much to Molly's dismay, they tried everything out on her.

After lots of eating, it was time for presents!

Mama and Daddy tried a few things on.

I don't think it's their size.

I had to try out some of the baby's new blankets.

Thanks, everybody!

At long last...the train room!

Once they were done with the baby's room, Mom and Dad redecorated my room.

This is what it used to look like...

And here it is now!

When I first walked in, I said "That's a really red wall, Mama!"

I got a train bedspread, and a Thomas the Tank Engine lamp.

And a train bulletin board.

And a train clock with my name on it.

And airplanes, trucks, and trains on the wall (I helped put those up!)

Here's my new name letters with trains and trucks.

And here's the train bulletin board again.

Mama designed it and Daddy painted it.

Pretty cool, huh???

Jackism

Warning...a gross moment to follow...

Jack has nearly mastered potty training. It's been ~2 weeks since our last accident (he's still in a diaper for naps and bedtime--"sleeping pants.") He has some of the largest poops we've ever seen. Tonight, this is how the conversation went...

Mom: Jack, where do these poops come from?!?!

Jack: From my butt, Mama.

Awesome. Perfect answer to a stupid question.

Baby Brother's Room

One night when Mama was on-call, Daddy got to work on Baby Brother's nursery.

Here's the room before...

Here's the room under construction...

Daddy put up slats to make the bottom half look like paneling.

There is also a chair rail shelf all the way around the room.

And a new ceiling fan.

Here's the finished beach-themed product...

(his name is going over the crib, as soon as Mama and Daddy can decide on one!)

(the palm tree is a lamp too)

Pretty cool, huh?

Wait until you see MY room...

Super Bowl Party

Well, that's what Grandma P called it anyway.

It was really just a good reason to get together for dinner.

After lots of chili, it was time to play.

Mikayla tried on her new bikini.

Austin and I wrestled with Daddy.

Mom got in on the action too.

She gave some pretty good piggy-back and pony-back rides for being 6 months pregnant!

HOCKEY!!!

Back in C-bus, my parents LOVED going to hockey games.

Here's me after my first one:

I look better in the picture than the event really went.

I cried every time they blew the horn for a goal.

It was really loud.

Now that I'm older, Mom and Dad decided we should try again.

It went waaaay better the second time.

This is what I looked like most of the game:

Mesmerized.

I'm still talking about the hockey players and pretending to skate in the basement.

Oh, and I really liked the "giraffe"

(the Missouri Maverick horse--it did have orange hair, which was a bit confusing.)

The whole family

It was really fun.

"Go to hockey again?"

Odd...

Mom had to tell this one...

Jack has been in a big boy bed (i.e. out of the crib) for about 2 months now.

In the morning, he usually gets up around 7:30 and plays quietly in his room until 8:30, or until he hears us moving around.

This particular Saturday was like any other.

Until we went in his room.

It looks ok.

But what's up with this one pair of pants spread out on the ottoman?

We opened the drawer to put it back, but the pants drawer was empty.

All of the pants were in his chair.

Not haphazardly as you would expect, but spread out flat and neatly stacked on each other.

Why, you ask?

No idea.

Jackisms

Our little man amazes us daily with the things that come out of his mouth. Here are a few examples...

"I don't want to talk about this preschool anymore, Mama."

--when asked what he did today at preschool

"I told my Miss Rebekah, I said, "I have no accidents today, Miss Rebekah."

--describing how potty training is going at preschool

"I am potty training today, Grandma. I have no accidents."

--laying out the plan for Grandma P as we drop him off in the morning

"Mama dropped cupcake on her potatoes."

--a dessert accident after dinner

"A train bed is here? Nope, not yet. Coming soon."

--about his new big boy bed arriving

"I need to go to Lowe's to find my Papa."

--as we pass Lowe's on the way to Grandma P's house

"Mama go pee-pee in the potty. You get an M&M, Mama."

--you can figure that one out

"I am so 'cited!"

--about anything that is exciting

"Want to go see Sesame Street Live again?"

"Elmo and Cookie Monster are dancing right here." (pointing to a spot on the floor)

--ever since he saw Sesame Street Live last weekend

"We are turning lept on Milk-and-Thompson."

--as we turn left on Milton Thompson

And about a trillion other comments. Aren't two year-olds suppose to say two word sentences? We seemed to have skipped that.

Higher, Daddy!

Check out this fun new game I play with Daddy...

First I stand on his belly,

Then he lifts me up and I get my balance,

Then we go all the way up!

"Do again, Daddy? Need to go higher!"

Molly's pictures

From Mom:

My best friend Molly came over to take some pictures of us as a family for the shower invite and for keepsake. They were all AMAZING. Here are a few of my favorites:

Mail time!

"Here's mail, never fail. Make me wag the tail. MAIL!!!"

(for you non-Blue's Clues fans, that generally how the Mail Song goes,

at least when I sing it)

Mom and Dad let me open some of it.

I LOVE it.

I even pass it out so my friends Curly and Dona can join in.

MAIL!!!

Grandma Janice's Birthday Party

After nap today, Mom and Dad told me we were going to a party for Grandma.

I love a good party, especially a birthday party.

After dinner it was time to sing "Hap Bird-day" and blow out the candles.

Grandma let me help.

I'm getting really good at this!

Yes, those are tea candles on the cake.

Aunt Mandy got to know Fred.

And then we all retired to the living room for some hammering.

A good time.

It's never too early to start...

Daddy left out his razor this morning.

I thought I'd try it out.

I'm going for that babyface look.

DISASTER!!!

Perhaps I should preface this with the fact that our pipes had frozen in my bathroom and Mom and Dad's shower and toilet (they did last year too). But earlier in the night, water started flowing freely in all of them, so Dad turned them to a drip and felt like we were in the clear.

BUT...

Early this morning, while Mom was still on-call at the hospital and Dad was asleep on the couch, there was a sudden loud rushing sound in the house.

He jumped off the couch and ran around the house, but everything was dripping peacefully as he had left it.

Everything, that is, except the garage.

There was now a large waterfall in our garage.

So Dad turned off the water in the house, moved some stuff around in the garage and thought we were sooooo lucky it was only the garage.

Until the next morning...

When he and I came downstairs for breakfast, I started complaining my feet hurt as I walked across the dining room floor.

That's because the hardwood was now horribly buckled.

The water had run from the garage, under the dining room, and into the basement.

A few pics:

The dining room floor

The ceiling in the garage

A plummer came out that morning and fixed the pipe.

The smallest 1cm hole you have ever seen was in the pipe just above that spot in the garage.

Then the clean-up crew came.

They put the LOUDEST suction machines ever all over the floor, trying to soak up the water and get them to unbuckle.

But alas, at the end of 3 days, 20 dryers in the garage, basement, and dining room,

the floors were considered a total loss and they have to be replaced.

Did I mention they have to rip out the floor, replace it, sand the rest of the downstairs floors, and restain?

Oh, and replace the dry wall and ceiling in the garage and repaint?

(The basement dried nicely--thank goodness we hadn't finished it yet!)

All this requires we move out of the house for 2 weeks.

Fun, huh?

Thank goodness for insurance.

Some pics with the Big Boy Bed

This Big Boy Bed is really pretty cool.

My new favorite thing is to strip off my clothes before bath and hop into bed to "'nuggle" (snuggle).

First, all the Friends have to hop in.

Then me.

Then you have to "cuber up" (cover up).

"I lub my bi' boy bed!"

Snow Take 2

There are several things that I like better the second time around.

Snow seems to be one of them.

Daddy and I got all dressed up to head out into the snow for a second try.

"I'm so 'cited!"

Daddy tried to teach me about sledding, but I wasn't so sure.

And I really thought it was ridiculous when he laid down to make a snow angel.

But we had a really good time all the same.

The Big Boy Bed

From Mom...

We decided to move Jack to a toddler bed yesterday--well, actually, we took the front off his crib since it is one of those "forever beds" that becomes a toddler bed and then a full-sized bed.

The first attempt (Saturday nap) didn't go very well. We put him in bed and walked out. For about an hour, he continued to get out and play in his room (never leaving his room though). We could hear him happily playing with Elmo on the monitor. We put the side back on (much to his disappointment) and let him get his nap.

The second attempt (Saturday bedtime) went a bit better. Dad sat on the floor in the dark for 15 minutes to keep Jack in bed. You have never seen such testing of boundaries. After dropping Fred, Worm, and Fish out of bed multiple times and picking them up without leaving the bed (he did fall out on his head once and quickly scurried back in), all the Friends were taken away and he laid down with some tears. Once the Friends were given back 10 minutes later, tears subsided and he went to sleep. About 30 minutes of work. Not too shabby.

This morning, much to our surprise, there was no noise from his room and no little man at our bedside. At around 8:30, we heard him stirring so I went to his room. He was sitting happily in bed reading a book to Curly. He looked at me and whispered "Curly got it"--I'm assuming he meant the book that had previously been on his shelf. Hilarious.

As for nap and bedtime today? I sat on the floor for 15 minutes at naptime (one attempt to get out quickly stopped with a "get back in bed") followed by a 3 1/2 hour nap (he waited in bed for us to come get him). And bedtime, I sat on the floor 3 minutes (no attempts to get out), covered him up and he's been asleep ever since.

Could it really be this easy? How much trouble are we in for with Number Two???