If He Weren't So Cute...

With a toddler you cannot show any signs of weakness. They pick up on that right away and totally use it to their advantage. They prey on the weak and can eat you alive. Jack is what my mother calls a "spirited" child. This just means that sometimes he can be a real jerk.

This past Friday was one of those times.

Weakness #1 Jack had been up in the night several times Wednesday and Thursday so I was tired. After work I decided to take him to Khol's because I was in desperate need of some new bras. I put him in the stroller/cart and off we went to the women's undies. While I was searching for my size, he managed to climb out of the stroller and remove an entire rack of bras. I stuffed him into the cart part and frantically picked up the bras. While I was doing this he was shoving who knows what from the bottom of the cart into his mouth. I fished that out of this mouth, grabbed my bras, and went to check out where I then got the evil eye from another mom in line in front of me like "why can't you control your child?" I held him the entire time we checked out and headed for the car.

Jack's car seat is positioned in the middle of the backseat rear facing. I have been meaning to turn it around, but was stalling as long as humanly possible. Also, my car is a Saturn Ion and the backseat, although a four door, is microscopic. I have to get into the car to put him in the seat and frankly the bigger my belly gets the harder it is to maneuver around back there.

Weakness #2. Because Jack is so "spirited" he doesn't always like getting into his car seat. This day was no exception. With his superhuman toddler strength and wiggling accompanied by loud screaming he managed to get away from me. I chased him around the car for 20 minutes with him staying just out of my reach. What a sight we must have been. Me sitting in the backseat sobbing in frustration and him smiling away in the driver's seat "steering" and occasionally leaning to sip from the straw of my McDonald's coke in the cupholder. At this point I called Spiderman to keep me from either murdering him or leaving him in the parking lot of Khol's altogether. Total Mommy fail. I eventually gathered myself, turned his car seat around, scooped him up, and flung my entire body over him and strapped him into the seat chanting you will get in this seat over and over again.

He has been acting out more and more lately and I know part if it is normal toddler boundary testing, but also part of it is me. I used to play with him more. Lately, I've been so tired or physically cannot get down on the floor for long periods of time to play with him like I used to. This leaves a very busy, curious child to entertain himself more...by climbing on things and getting into anything he possibly can. I feel like all I do is yell at him. He's going to think his name is Jackson No by the time he's two. If I can't handle him now what is it going to be like when Baby X gets here?

I know some of you mom's out there have been though this. Even you non-mom's can offer suggestions! I will try anything at this point! What would you do in my situation?

The Big O-N-E!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in forever but I've been busy at work and chasing around a BIG/little boy while planning his First Birthday Party.
For his actual Birthday on Tuesday, Spiderman and I took him to Schoops for dinner. He had chicken strips, fries, some of my burger, and his favorite....chocolate milkshake! He had an awesome time, loved everything he ate and flirted with the waitresses.

On Saturday we had a party at the house. Here's a pic of the birthday boy.
So serious.
We opted for cupcakes instead of a whole cake. I thought it was a better idea since we had several kids at the party and this way everyone had their own "cake". Jackson liked the singing but I don't think he was sure what was going on. We put his high chair in the garage where we had set up tables. This made for easier clean up.This was his first taste of cake but not his first of frosting. I have given him little tastes in the past. I can't help it, I have a sweet tooth too!
Such a messy boy! He even had cake up his nose! My aunt snuck him a second cupcake and he was up and wired until after 9pm from that.
When he was done with his cake Spiderman rinsed him off with the hose. He loved that part almost even more than the cake. It was entertaining for at least 25 minutes as he ran through the spray of water giggling and squealing.

He was also VERY into opening his presents.
Once he caught on he ripped each one open with the glee that only a child can have. Spiderman was very good at moving the opened present out of the way while I got him ready for the next one. The gift opening went smoothly without a single fit over wanting to play with his toy instead of continuing on.

The last present was from Mommy and Daddy and caused quite a stir among the guests....

11 months!

I'm 11 months old today!

The Cutest Little Business Man EVER!

Jack at his baptism.

Silly Daddy

Can you tell who dressed me this morning? Notice the red Christmas socks? Too funny!

I have a real post planned about work, I just need to find the time to write it so stay tuned...

Nine Months

Jackson,

I cannot believe you're already nine months! You're such a big boy and you think you're even bigger than you are. Your BFF is a 6 year old and I know that you think that you are peers.
You're the most nosy, curious little guy and get into absolutely EVERYTHING.
And everything goes into your mouth. Sometimes you bite, but we're working on that. Right now you have 4 teeth and working on 3 more which makes you really crabby at times. Speaking of crabby...you're "baby mood swing". One minute you're happy and giggly and the next you're screaming your little head off. Every night it's a huge surprise that you have to put on pajamas. We argue and you cry. We argue a lot. You very much have your own opinions and ideas about what you're going to do. Like standing in the bathtub. And standing in your carseat. You'd be a lot happier if you could ride standing in the backseat of the car with your head hanging out the window to let the wind blow your little hair.

You love to stand.

You pull yourself up on everything and walk all along the furniture and coffee table. I don't think it will be too much longer until you take off on your own. Then we're really screwed.

Because you're fast

I wish I could tell you your favorite food, but you are such a good eater there is very little you don't love. You kick your little legs and grunt for more at most every meal. We've been giving you bits of real food to try instead of just baby food. Like cooked carrots, fruit, pieces of bread, and cheese. You do seem to REALLY love cheese though. That's how I know you're my kid because you look a LOT like your Daddy.

You love playing with your toys now and especially love anything that has wheels that you can push back and forth. Cars, trucks, the bottom rack of the dishwasher...you love to push them around for hours. You're also fascinated by the vacuum cleaner. You chase me all over the house while I vacuum. For some reason it fascinates you instead of scares you. In fact very little scares my fearless guy. Except the car wash. I'm not sure why.

Everywhere we go everyone loves you and you love to turn on the charm. Giggling, smiling, and flirting. You're definitely a charmer.

Jack-in-a-box

And we love you.

Love,
Mommy

Trouble and a Half

So what's new with me? I've been reading my Kindle like crazy. I discovered The Hunger Games and obsessively read them all one right after the other. Seriously good books! Now I'm trying to deal with the depression and withdrawl that comes with finishing a good series. Those of you readers know what I'm talking about.

Also? As of tonight Spiderman and I are officially in trouble.

Proud Mama

Partially because I'm lazy and partially because I want to have a nice, happy, not-about-me-being-sick post I'm going to talk about Jackson.
He's gotten SO big and such a little personality. He sits up really well now and is *this* close to crawling. He gets up on all fours and rocks, eventually pushing himself into a sitting position. He still rolls everywhere though and gets into Everything. And everything goes into his mouth.
Isn't he the cutest almost 7 month old ever? He's always chattering away and he's very "busy". Always moving and looking around. Once he figures out the crawling thing we're in trouble. He's very smiley and giggly and loves his jumperoo. I call it maniacal jumping. Today he jumped for 45 minutes straight flailing his arms and squealing the whole time.

He is Spiderman's and my joy. How can you have a bad day when you see this happy little guy?

My Big Boy

Let's start the new year right shall we? With some gratuitous Jackson pics. Here's my big boy in his bib overalls that were a gift from a friend of the family. Thanks Lora!

Here he's just chillaxin' in his room. He looks older than 4 months in this picture doesn't he?

Exercise is good

Since I'm off today, I decided to assemble Jack's exersaucer. He loves to stand and would do it all day if he could. Which makes it hard to get anything done, so I dug it out of the crawl space and decided to see if he likes it.

So far, so good. There is plenty there to keep him occupied and he liked the bouncy-ness of it.

But mostly?

He just wants to suck on it. Apparently it's yummy too.

Spiderbaby

Daddy is so proud!

2 Months

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Turns out babies are a huge time suck. Especially mine. He's the most curious little boy. He's so nosy and is always looking around. He will NOT nap during the day. He actually fights it. I think he's afraid he will miss something. I can't really blame him cuz he's so stinkin' cute. And the nosiness? He gets from me. He loves to play with his exercise mat. It can occupy him for almost an hour. He's even started to grab at the things hanging. He does NOT, however, like tummy time. He gets so frustrated and the time usually ends in screaming and tears. I've never seen a baby more pissed off that he's a baby before. He wants to go go go and he can't. He's the happiest when he's standing up like a big boy looking around. Go figure.

He rolled over from his front to his back on Friday. We were both pretty excited, but I haven't been able to get him to do it again. You'd think he'd cured cancer the way I was applauding and carrying on. I'm just so happy that he's actually doing things. He's also very chatty like his mom. He's always cooing away even when he's by himself. It's super cute. The only way we can get him to nap is lying on one of us which is not very convenient if you want to actually DO anything with your day. But how can you get mad at this sweet little face? And those smoochin lips and cheeks? I'm surprised they're not chapped from the many kisses I give him.

Needless to say, I'm really dreading going back to work!

Wordless Wednesday-My Cutie