12 Months (a little late)

Dear Jack...

You are the happiest little guy I know. Always with a big smile on your face and very rarely are you sad. You are my funny man...making me laugh all the time with your infectious giggle and raspy little growl. You've learned so much in your first year of life that it sometimes amazes me that you are only one. Between walking at 11 months and starting to use a fork at only 12 months...you are quick to pick up on things. Your sweet and lovable but I know you have a little mischievous streak in you. Whenever I say no to something, you wait for me to leave the room and head straight back for whatever it is you shouldn't be doing. And when I catch you, you have the biggest smile on your face because you know you shouldn't be doing it. You are also very strong willed...if you don't want something, you will make that clear whether it be refusing to put a sippy cup of milk anywhere near your mouth (bottles only for this boy!) or demanding that we pay attention to you buy grabbing our legs and pulling us to where you want to go. You love your brother and enjoy being where ever he is. You are always on the go and I have no idea where you get the energy. There is never a moment of down time for you...if you aren't sleeping...you are on your feet and moving around. We couldn't have asked for a better little guy. Happy 1 year...onto many more fun years.

oops...and I almost forgot. You are weighing in at 24 lbs (70th percentile), you are 31 inches long (85th percentile) and your head is 19.69 inches. I just noticed that there is no percentile for your head...hmmm...I wonder if that means you are off the chart?

Oh..I'm not supposed to touch this? This plug right here? I can't just touch it a little?

Okay..how about the tree then?

What mess? I didn't make a mess.

Santa and Some Skating too...

It's that time of year again...time for pictures with Santa! We took the boys to see Santa today in the hopes they would actually sit on Santa's lap so I could get my picture. The entire wait in the line I was giving Will a pep talk about how nice Santa is and kept asking what he was going to tell Santa he wanted for Christmas. When it was our turn to see Santa, Eric and I made a big deal about how excited we were which I think helped a little bit. Will actually stood next to Santa instead of crying and grabbing at us to get him away. He still wouldn't sit on his lap but I'll take standing next to him as progress! Poor Jack then just got thrown into Santa's lap and he was not happy about it. I snapped as many pictures I could before we had to rescue Jack. Here are a few...

Yes..that is a shark you see hanging in the upper left hand corner of this picture. We were at the Bass Pro Shops where they do free pictures with Santa. However, we never got our free pictures because the boys didn't sit long enough for the girl to get a picture!

Will was skeptical from the start but going with it. Poor Jack didn't even know what had hit him. One minute he was having fun standing in line, the next minute he was getting thrown into a strange man's lap.


Uhh...Santa..what are you doing to my brother?



Well...I still didn't get my nice picture of the two boys sitting on Santa's lap, but I'll count today as a success. Maybe next year's picture will be Will sitting on Santa's lap with a smile and Jack standing next to him.

After our visit with Santa, we took Will ice skating. We thought it would be a fun activity to do with him but wasn't sure if he was going to love it or absolutely hate it. Turns out Will likes to ice skate! For the first time on ice skates, I was very impressed and proud of him! He had no problem walking around in the ice skates off the ice and did a good job on the ice for it being his first time. We couldn't really tell if he was enjoying himself but everytime we asked if he was having fun or did he want to stop, he said he was having fun. He lasted for about 30 minutes which was great. I might start looking into ice skating lessons for him because he did so well today! Here are some pictures and a video of our ice skating adventure (there are a lot!)....

Don't Touch Your Brother

Wow..I just realized my last post was right after Jack's birthday. It feels like just yesterday Jack turned 1 and now we are only a few days away from Christmas! The boys have been keeping us very busy to the point where we can't even enjoy a cup of coffee without one of us having to go to the rescue of someone crying because one boy touched/bite/pushed/stole a toy which then results in the other one crying. I was standing in my kitchen today telling one of the boys to stop doing something when I stopped and thought to myself...this is what it is going to be like for the next 15+ years. Them pushing each other's buttons and Eric and I trying to referee the situation. It just made me have to sigh and laugh at the same time. Also as I yelled not to touch your brother...I started thinking about how these words are becoming standard in our house along with the following:

1. Will put your pants back on. (weird yes..but he likes to run around without his pants on)
2. Will stop licking Jacks face. (yes...I have said this on more than one occassion)
3. Don't put Jack's hand in your mouth!
4. Jack..stop hitting Will in the head.
5. Will don't knock your brother over
6. Did you just bite him?
7. Don't touch the (insert anything they shouldn't be touching).

I am going to preface this video by saying I do not usually just let the boys continue to wrestle as I watch. I break it up so that no one gets hurt. Just didn't want anyone to think I was refereeing WWE Smackdown matches at my house on a regular basis!



But all wrestling aside, how can you resist these faces?

What Jack was really thinking....

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to

We celebrated Jack's actual birthday on a Wednesday with a family dinner and some cake. I wasn't expecting the reaction we got when we put the cake down in front of him. I think the pictures explain it all....