Smiles and Coos

You may not find this as absolutely adorable as I do, but I just couldn't help myself.  Don't mind the insane baby talk, but the extra-excited voice and smile seems to be what evokes her at this point.  I'll take it!

Oh, sweet Hannah Bear, you are so darn cute:)  And how is it that you'll be seven weeks old on Sunday?

Not So Wordless Wednesday...Alternately Titled: Reunited

{Please Note: I do not always get to blog every day, although most days I want to.  I just may not get the opportunity.  So occasionally I back-blog.  I can tell my story and set the date and time for a date that has already passed.  It works for me and my OCD/anal-retentive ways.  So just be sure to scroll down so you don't miss anything if you're one of my dear readers who likes to keep up with what we've been doing.}

Turns out that my little man did, in fact, miss his lovey.  Very much.  After sleeping without him for two nights, Jack asked us where Skinny Bear was.  And he actually asked with a little bit of a smirk/grin which leads me to believe that he knew we'd done something to Skinny Bear.  When we told him we didn't know, he seemed okay with that, and agreed to sleep with his back-up Skinnies.

But then Grandma told us that Jack had told her how much he missed Skinny Bear, with his head hanging low and sad.  And yesterday in the car, as I brought Jack home from school, he reiterated how much he missed Skinny Bear.  In secret, I choked back sobs.

So last night, at bedtime, we reunited Jack with Skinny Bear.  And what a happy boy he was!  He even told us the story about telling Grandma how much he'd missed him.  And reenacted the head hanging low and sad he'd shown her as well.  He's nothing if not dramatic:)

See how happy Jack is to have Skinny Bear back?

{I'm so glad that era isn't over just yet.}

The Poop Turtle

Here is the video footage I promised of the turtle-feeding experience.  It's about six minutes long, but it's pretty cute if you're interested.  I like to listen to Jack and the crowd's (yes, there was a crowd, and yes, I scanned them so you could see) reaction to him.  Near the end of the video, Jack gets to hold a turtle.  Priceless, I tell you.  Especially the part where he exclaims, "I got a turtle in my hand.  I got a turtle!  I got a turtle!"  Enjoy!

A Crazy Full, Crazy Good Day

Yesterday Jack was finally feeling a lot better.  Thank goodness.  And while we had a lot to do (like grocery shopping, cleaning, and running other errands), we really wanted to just have a fun day with our kiddos.  So instead of dragging them around and doing things for us, we decided to make the day about them.  Or rather about Jack.  Since really all Hannah does at this point is eat, sleep, and go potty.  So we packed up our troops and headed to a nearby working farm.  The temperatures were actually much higher than what was forecast, so we were very hot, but Jack had a blast!

The chickens seemed to like being around our stroller

Ahoy matie!

Jack went for a ride on the cow train

He loves to collect rocks from everywhere we go

On his train ride

"Skipping" rocks

After the cow train ride, Jack and Daddy enjoyed the large slides while I nursed Hannah in the shade.  Then we headed out to go for a visit with Grandma and Grandpa.  We stopped and grabbed lunch on the way, and then when we got to their house we ate and visited.  Jack invited himself to stay and watch Spiderman They offered to keep Jack for awhile, so Brad and I went to run some errands with our sweet Hannah Bear.  We went to Home Depot and the grocery store, but it was fun because we don't really run errands together too much anymore and it was sort of like a mini-date since Hannah can't talk just yet!

We decided we'd go pick Jack up and that we'd all go see the poop turtle.  Let me explain.  A very large snapping turtle lives at a nearby nature preserve, and my hubby and my little boy love to go there and watch the turtles, look for the turtles, and feed the turtles.  We call the large snapping turtle the poop turtle because that is the name Jack gave the turtle all on his own the very first time he laid eyes on it.  I think it's because it's always covered in muck and mud, and well, it kinda looks like poop to Jack.  

A few weeks ago, while I took Hannah with me to work on the day my teammates returned from summer break, Brad stayed home with Jack, and one of the things they did together that day was to feed the poop turtle.  When I take Jack to see the turtles, we feed them bread, crackers, or bologna.  But not Brad.  Brad took Jack to the grocery store, bought chicken quarters, tied twine to the chicken, and proceeded to feed the turtles that way.  

And so that's what we did next.

One of the turtles held onto that chicken so tightly, we were Brad was able to pull him up to get a better look.

See?

And then Brad let him scamper back to the water

Jack and a friend he made at the preserve watching Daddy feed the turtles

Jack thoroughly enjoyed feeding the poop turtle.  In fact, come back tomorrow to see the video footage.  It's adorably funny, if you ask me.  

We stayed at the nature preserve until the sun was going down, and then we headed off to Red Robin to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.  Jack was super-excited and loud and Miss Hannah Bear was just as sleepy as ever.  She's so easy to take along wherever we go - it's so nice.

When we got home, we got the babies bathed and in bed, super-late.  But totally worth our extra good day:)

Brad was so cute.  He works so hard.   A long commute, long hours, gets home late at night.  But yesterday- yesterday he was totally relaxed and had such a good time.  He said it was the best day he could remember in awhile.  Us too, Baby.  We're glad you had so much fun:)

Silent Sunday

{this is how Jack plans to adapt to chillier temperatures as Spectacular Spiderman}

{so squishy}

The End of an Era...and Something New

Well, today was the second day in a row that Jack was home sick from school.  I mentioned how he's been a little congested.  Wednesday night his stuffy nose got worse, and Thursday morning he woke up absolutely miserable, requesting to go to the doctor's office.  While I knew they wouldn't prescribe anything and it was probably just a cold or mild allergies, off we went.  I was right - no prescriptions, but they did give me some suggestions as to what he could take.  They said his ears, lungs, and throat looked good, but sure enough, last night he developed the horrible, hacking cough he seems rather prone to.

We've been to an allergist because of his tendency to wheeze.  He uses an inhaler twice a day.  Because of his age, they can't be sure if it's asthma or true allergies.  The allergist determined that while Jack is allergic to horses (I know, seriously?), he only mildly reacted to indoor and outdoor allergens.  In other words, he may have dog, dust, and seasonal allergies.

It seems that as soon as there is an outdoor temperature change, Jack gets sick.  But we also wonder if his dear lovey, Skinny Bear, may be causing Jack's illnesses as well.  I wash him frequently, but he's VERY loved and often a tad bit on the stinky side, I'm not gonna lie.  While the doctor's don't seem that concerned about Skinny Bear, Brad and I aren't convinced.

So today, I did something that felt so horrible.

While Jack wasn't looking, I took him and put him away.  I've washed him in the washing machine, and he's currently residing in our freezer.  I'm planning on running him through a sanitizing cycle after that.  Maybe with some bleach.

And while my heart is breaking that Jack is sick and doesn't have his lovey to cling to, our boy hasn't even noticed.  Not even at naptime.  Or even at bedtime.  How is it possible that I'm more upset than he is?

I do seem to recall that while Jack is particular about things and likes everything in its place (I wonder where he gets that from...), he did give up the bottle all on his own before his first birthday.  And he also gave up Milo Monkey (his pacifier) all on his own one night before bedtime somewhere around 18 months.  I cried when both of those things happened too...

They mean my little man is growing up.  Maybe this is the end of our Skinny Bear era.  Oh, how I'll miss you, Skinny Bear.

*****

Oh yeah - and the something new?  It is HARD to take care of a newborn and a sick toddler all day.  Thank goodness only one of them is sick this time because if they were both sick...I may have had to call in the troops.  My goodness...this mama is TIRED.

Jack's Latest Photo Shoot

The week that I took Hannah's newborn pictures, I was very much into using my portrait lens and doing mini-photo shoots with my kiddos.  One afternoon while Jack and I were out on the deck, I grabbed my camera and went to town.  Here's what we came up with:

I could just eat him up.