Kissy marks

For Valentines, we gave Jackson a stuffed monkey that happened to have pink lipstick marks embroidered on its cheeks...don't ask. {CVS last-minute purchase}
Ever since, Jackson has been obsessed with getting "kissy marks" on his cheeks.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lots of Family in February

By the 3rd weekend of this month, we will have seen each set of grandparents at least once, as well as Uncle Mikey. We love to spend time with our fam and love how the boys are growing up knowing & loving their extended family.
Early in the month, I went to Hickory for a night to drop Jackson off with Bebe & PopPaw. They we're taking him to the circus that weekend and he was beyond excited. We played with all of Bebe's fun toys & even got to ride the golf cart.



Weston & I headed back home the next day because Oma & Opa were passing through Greenville & were going to stay for a couple days to see us & the grand babies. They didn't want to take their hands off sweet little chunky Weston.





Jackson returned on Saturday afternoon & was thrilled to see Oma & Opa. Opa played & played on the floor with Jackson and I they both had a balll!



This week, after I picked J up from his Valentines party at school, we headed back up to Hickory. Thankfully it's less than a 2 hr drive!! Ben's traveling for work this week so I figured I could head home and get some much needed help with these two rather than manage them solo and hope for the best.





After a night at Bebe's, we headed to Poppy & Nanny's for a couple nights. The weather was gorgeous & Jackson found a "big boy bike" in the garage & loved riding circles around baby boy.



And Baby Boy got his first sink bath & Jackson got to have a sleepover with Parker, his idol. Plus a quick ride on Poppy's 4-wheeler.







We got to see my precious Mawmaw, then capped off the week with a trip to Chucky Cheese.





{Note to self: Avoid Chucky Cheese on nights or weekends. Every local was there & it was a madhouse.}

This weekend, Michael came to Greenville & both boys were excited to see their uncle.



Now after such a full week & weekend, the boys & I are heading to Columbia to visit my dear friend Sally for a couple days. Jackson is super excited to see his buddies Jay & Betsy, too!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Do it once, shame on you. Do it twice, shame on me.

We are struggling with lots of things with our preschooler. His defiance, temper tantrums, stubborness, resisting bedtime & the list goes on.
But he is also trying to drop his nap. O.M.G.
Since he won't nap, I make him stay in his room for quiet time for at least an hour after lunch. For the second time in a week, this is what I've come in to find:




After the first incident, I scolded him but apparently didn't make myself clear. After this second occurence, I made it extremely clear that if he pulled his clothes out of the drawer again, he'd get a spanking.

So the following day, I go in post-nap to find the floor relatively clean except for a few toys. However, when I went to get his jammies later that night, I opened the drawer to find all of the clothes wadded up and rearranged in each of the drawers. But hey, at least he kept them in the drawers as I had asked.
Shame on me for being too general with my expectations. Who knew?

Potty Training, Round 2

So after semi-potty training for the past several months, I finally ran out of pull-ups this week and declared Wednesday Day 1 of Potty Training.  Jackson was on board and promptly tee-teed in his potty first thing.  We put on his Lightening McQueen underwear along with a pair of comfy pants, ready to head out to the art studio for a morning playdate.  I am not one to cancel plans unless absolutely necessary, so I loaded my bag with 3 changes of clothes and we were on our way.  Well, on our way after 2 stops by the potty for microscopic but equally deserving teensy tinkles in the potty.

{The way our system works is that he gets 2 tic-tacs for a pee + a "dry diaper bonus" tic-tac if his diaper was still dry.  So a potential for 3 tic-tacs each & every time he has to pee.  Pooping on the potty is totally different story...he knows its "nasty" and is rather scared of it so he has yet to poop anywhere other than his diaper or in the yard (thanks, Ben!).  But, a successful poop yields 4 tic-tacs, a surprise and a sticker.}

We arrived at the art studio and started our masterpieces.

Jackson tee-teed in the potty successfully 2 times, but also has 2 accidents, the first of which was a puddle maker.  Whoa nelly.  The 2nd one only made it down his legs before he realized what was happening.  We headed home after our third & final change of clothes was being worn.

Once home, Jackson had a Caprisun and in no time at all had puddled again.
We strip, potty {yes, more tinkle}, new undies & dry pants.

Sit down for lunch, just as Jackson tells me his pants are wet.
We strip, potty -- again more tee-tee, new undies & dry pants.

After lunch, Jackson insists on helping me make our smoothie.  Standing on a chair in front of the kitchen sink, Jackson puddles.
We strip, potty {yes, there was more}, then I let him go naked for a few.

Ten minutes pass, Jackson comes to tell me that he pee-peed in the office, on the chair.
We go directly to the potty & again, he pees a lot.  Dry undies & panties and we are off again to the next activity.

This madness goes on until I ran completely out of dry underwear & comfy pants for him to wear.  Not to mention it was nap time and I was exhausted.  I was so thankful for Julie bringing over a few back-up diapers.  I've never been so eager to strap that puppy around him in my entire life.

Post nap, we went to Target to get more pullups and it was Weston's turn to have a blowout.  If its not one, its the next.  Jackson got to pick out some big boy underwear and l got him some of those ultra absorbent training pants that apparently get super uncomfortable when wet.  I was physically & emotionally drained by late afternoon so I didn't have it in me to put him back in the big boys and deal with pee puddles, wet clothes & stubbornness.

There's always next week, right?

Road kill

Text from Me to Ben:

3:26 pm: By the way, my car smells like rotten meat...I think the squirrel we hit on the way to church is partially still under the car. Yuck.

3:48 pm: Scratch my squirrel hypothesis...turns out Weston just had a blow-out that smelt lke rotten animal. Of course on the same day I gave him a bath.

Chatty Cathy

Jackson's speech has really taken off in the past few weeks and he's been cracking us up.

When getting undressed for bath, Jackson pointed out his "little boobies" & then told Ben that he had boobies too and that mommy had biiiiiig boobies (spreading his arms wide).

When Jackson accidentally toots, he knows he is supposed to say "excuse me". However, lately he'll toot, then look around questioningly, palms up, and say, "What was that?". Totally trying to play it off. I wonder who he picked up that trick from? Ben

Before we eat, we always ask J what he wants to thank God for and we say the blessing accordingly. His response has ranged from "my food" to "bounce houses". He recently, however, has been wanting to thank God for "my baby boy". So precious how he absolutely adores his brother.

Sent from my iPad

Brotherly Love

One of the best things about being a mom of 2 is getting to watch my children love each other. Nothing lights up Weston's eyes more than his brother's attention. And Jackson is so sweet and gentle with "Baby Boy". The laugh together and are starting to play together. It melts my heart!

One morning, J wanted Baby Boy to come play with him in his fort. I set Weston in the fort & Jackson was so excited & snuggled up to Weston and put his arm around him. LOVE this!

Shortly after, he wanted Baby Boy to have his own room in the fort so they could be neighbors.

Last weekend, the boys took their first wagon ride together. I think Jackson was more excited to have Weston ride with him than he was about anything else all weekend.

Westie was playing in his jumperoo & Jackson pulled his rocking chair from the playroom all the way over to Baby Boy so they could both play together. He was chit-chatting the whole time, telling him all about the toys and periodically telling him he was a "good baby boy".  And J thinks its the coolest thing  ever when they are wearing matching jammies :)

And every single morning, the first words out of Jackson's mouth are "Where's my baby boy?", followed by "Good Morning Baby Boy!! I love you!"

I love having two boys and nothing is sweeter than watching these two grow up loving each other so much.