Taking a blogging break!

I'm taking a break.
There's just so many people here, and the internet is too slow to post pictures.
I'm leaving for a few days for a vacation to Berlin and Rome. Jake will spend the week with my parents.

I'll be back at the end of May! :)

Gymnastics!

I have more pictures than this, but once again, the internet is proving to be impossible.

Jake has been a very busy boy! We had a party at our place on Thursday night, and he was a total ham. He loves being around people and showing off. It's pretty funny.
Then Friday, we went to a BBQ at my mom's work. It was really busy and Jake had fun, but he sure is active. It was at the gym and I've deduced that an empty gym+a ball=paradise for a toddler. He just runs, runs, and runs.

Today, I was a little bit of a mom fail. We went to the park, Jake was dressed in short and a t-shirt. But once we got to the park, it got quite a bit cooler, and the wind was chilly. All the other kids were in pants and a sweater. Not Jake, he was in shorts and a t-shirt. Oopps. He had fun anyways, and we stayed for almost an hour.

More randoms!

This is a quick post since I have a ton of stuff to do.

Jake loves to help out. Today, he was taking the clean utensils out of the dishwasher one by one and handing them to me.
He was helping me clean windows...except he was leaving more finger prints than cleaning.
He loves to play with chalk. Unfortunately, he also loves to eat it.




Need a nap? Bring the car seat in the house and strap your kid in! Just kidding, we were switching cars and I wanted to fix a strap that was twisted. Jake decided to climb in and was trying to strap himself in. It was funny.

Brush brush your teeth!

Jake loves to brush his teeth and does it several times a day. But he hates getting help! He'll get his toothbrush, let me put the toothpaste, then he'll brush, put his toothbrush away, then dry his hands on the towel, and turn off the lights.
Trying to get into the backyard! (The door was locked though.)
Jake randomly goes up to where our phone is (but he can't reach it) and pretends to answer the phone, has an entire conversation, says bye, then hangs up the phone. Hilarious. (See his hand up to his ear, that's his phone.)
Teddy Bear and Youppi are friends now. They were actually kissing right before I took the picture.
Jake found his bathing suit and was trying to put it on. Except we weren't going swimming today! We were going to playgroup.

Mother's Day!

It was a Happy Mother's Day for me this year.

Jake made me a card at Daycare on Friday and also gave me a rose. It was really sweet.

Then today (via my parents), I got a frame, a book and several magazines highlighting the Royal Wedding. I was very happy!

Plus, he had an almost 4 hour nap, so I was also able to have a great nap this afternoon.

All in all, a fantastic day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's and mom's to be!

A bunch of randoms

Sorry I've been absent. The internet has been wonky and I've had trouble uploading pictures. By the time I give up, it's really late and I just end up going to bed!

- Jake is doing really well at daycare like always. His favorite toy there is a table that has a bunch of blocks in the middle. He loves to build. Unfortunately, he's been pinching and pushing. :( They are consistently giving him time-out, I hope he'll grow out of that phase fast!

- Jake's skin is doing much, much better. He wore pants a few times this week, and I avoided sunscreen. I guess he really is allergic to the Aveeno Baby sunscreen.

- Jake can now officially open the back and front door. I learned this the hard way. Normally, the entire front entrance is blocked by a gate, but I had just put his shoes on and I ran into the kitchen to get his lunch box. My heart pretty much stopped when I saw the open door and Jake running towards the ROAD!!!! Luckily, he stopped when I screamed his name and I was able to run and catch up. He also got into the backyard when I was in the kitchen making his supper. That door is normally locked, but anyways, much less worrisome since it's fenced. All in all, constant vigilance!

- He's been funny about food lately. He won't eat blueberries anymore. Plus, the other night, he didn't even want his pasta. He ended up eating three things of applesauce for supper. Weird.

- He likes to get naked. And to scratch his butt. Onesies are my friend, especially at bedtime.

- Bad mother moment of the week-end? I let Jake take a sip of my Coke Zero since he wouldn't stop bugging me. I was sure he was going to hate it, then leave me alone. Wrong. He loved it and wouldn't stop. But there's a silver lining, now I only drink water around him. He also goes after ice tea, Gatorade and sparkling water. The only thing he really hates is the sparkling water. Oh, but the kid still won't drink apple juice.

- Jake loves when I kiss his owies all better. So much, that he goes back and either fakes them, or purposely inflicts them. Consequently, he's covered in scraps and some bruises.

- He loves to go into Andrew's room and shut off Andrew's Xbox. Andrew, on the other hand, does NOT like this.

- He was playing with his puzzles today and clapping after putting each piece in the proper place. Then he grabbed my hands and forced them into a clap. It was so hilarious!

Fun morning!

We went back to the indoor playground this morning. It was a blast, we were the only people there. It was a pretty impromptu trip. We were having a bit of an off morning, so I loaded Jake up in the car and off we went. We spent two hours playing and the time just flew by!
I'm just amazed at how fast Jake is learning and growing. We haven't been here in a month, and today he was doing 95% of everything on his own. There's a few things that he can't quite climb yet, and he can't get himself out of the ball pit. But that's it. Otherwise, he just runs around, plays, climbs, slides, all on his own.
We had a blast!




They had a stack of puzzles and Jake spent at least 20 minutes doing this one over and over again. He got really good at it too!

Naked boy!

Jake's eczema looked a little tiny bit better today, and it didn't seem to bug him as much. We went for a really long walk this morning which ended with a trip to the park. Unfortunately, Jake was undressed, so we didn't stay very long. It was nice and hot in the sun, but the park was in shade and it was windy. Poor kid was shivering!
After his nap, he was crabby! It was almost funny, he was just whiny, crying and crabby and I have no idea why. Thankfully, it didn't last too long. He perked up once he took off his shorts. Don't ask me why, he was determined to strip. After redressing him a few times, I finally let him stay in his diaper, ran upstairs to get him a onesie, and came back to a naked baby on the couch!!
Silly boy!

Eczema

Jake has always had eczema, but normally it stays under control with a lot of lotion and periodically a prescribed lotion.
In the past couple weeks, his eczema has really flared up. It's terrible. I think he had a reaction to his sunscreen since he also had a flare up on the back of his neck. He's never had eczema there until now.
Today, it was just worst than ever and he was really bothered by it. Jake was actually fussy most of the day. We ended up staying inside today despite the nice weather. I just wanted to see if one day without the "elements" and sunscreen would make a difference. I guess I'll see tomorrow.
I put a ton of lotion, both the prescription and the regular cream. And I also gave him Benadryl since he was scratching so much. It did seem to help a little.
Basically, it was a bit of a long day, but Jake had a long nap. So that helped. But there were a lot of tantrums, which weren't so great.
Hopefully it all clears up soon. The back of his legs. :( The front of his legs and arms are just as bad. The only place unaffected are his torso.
In the middle of a tantrum, but still reading his book. Silly boy.

Playing with Uncle Andrew. Jake loves to steal his hats.

Eskimo kisses.

Happy 22 months!

I cannot believe how fast time is going by! I really can't. My little baby is 22 months old today. He's growing up so much, he's not even a baby anymore, he's definitely a rambunctious toddler.

Now, Jake has been growing! All that eating is catching up. :)

He's 25.4 lbs
Jake is 33 inches tall (much to my chagrin, it's great he's growing and all, but it's getting harder to keep stuff away!)
Jake doesn't talk much, but he's recently actually started using his words. Though not first words, he's consistently using: "bubba" "dodo" "more" "up" and it almost sounds like he's saying goodnight.
His favorite activities are climbing and slides at the park.
His favorites toys are his little nerf balls, and his puzzles.
Oh, and knock on wood. But he's finally consistently sleeping through the night again! From about 7pm to 7am. :)
We went swimming today. I snapped this picture quickly before we went into the pool.
He was playing with his ball, but scratching his butt too. His diaper was clean, so I don't know why, but it was funny.





And like I always do, here are pictures from one year ago.

Wedding Day!

Unless you live under a rock (then how would you have internet to read this?), then you know it was the Royal Wedding Today! And I love it, and indulged and watched the entire thing.
And no. I did not ignore my child for the day. It just happens he goes to daycare anyways on Friday's. Talk about win-win.
He had fun today. Got so messy during lunch, that he needed to change his shirt. He napped well. And played well.
When we got home, we had supper, dessert, bath time, bottle, then bed. He was sure tired!

This is what he's getting into time-out for lately. He climbs on the base of the lamp for a little boost, then wiggles onto the table and stands up.
Then he proceeds to stand on the arm of the couch, then jumps on to the couch head first.
He's a silly boy.
Wrestling with his teddy bear.
After his bottle, he seemed to be looking for someone to say goodnight too. But settled for the Beaver, and brought both of the stuffed animals to bed with him.