new crawl

look who decided that he likes to crawl the "normal" way :) he still goes back to army man crawling when he wants to be super fast.

last day of swim lessons

he jumped off the side of the pool and got back to the side:)

today was jack's last swim lesson. i think he learned a whole lot in the past 2 weeks and i am super proud of him! he went from crying the whole time on the first day to jumping off the side of the pool on the last day. 

 mrs. laura

his swim buddy, james.

all the boys would sit on the stairs and practice their kicks and splash. they were all really cute!

second tooth

 today we went to get yet another donut and then went to the library...we have to drive around for charlie to take his nap and dunkin donuts was calling my name!!

charlie and jack had a lot of fun at the library!

 a drooly shirt = a new tooth :) charlie got his second tooth. it is his top right tooth. he has been working on getting this one for weeks!

this baby LOVES pete or as he calls "te"

day 9 of swim lessons

jack is getting more confident in the pool!!

look at him using his arms and legs!!

swim lesson treats

day 7 videos

i think he is doing great! can't wait to see how he does on the last day!

 at the end of week 1 of swim lessons we went and got a donut and went to the dollar store to let him get a few prizes!

 he picked a new water squirter (his other one broke), a safari hat, and a flute

 this is day 6. he decided that he was brave enough to sit on the stairs and make new friends and to jump off the side to the teacher

animals

 my boys!!

 jack wanted to eat the rainbow....so i made him a rainbow!

 today we went to see some animals with clara

 some sort of monkey..i can't remember the type. jack liked when it did flips and when it ate apples

 alligator...did you know that when you hold an alligator like this they don't move?

there was an african crow there too that jack thought was funny because it did a trick where it put garbage in a garbage can

 vulture

 porcupine...those needles are sharp!!

they also have a tail that rattles!

snake

jack was so cute because when he got a little nervous he would hide behind clara who loves all animals and reptiles

i saw clara sneak a few kisses on jack's cheek too!

day 3 of swim lessons

he did so good today! after i took this video he swam to the side of the pool by himself and pulled up! 

he didn't whine at all today. he still doesn't want to jump off the side to mrs. laura. he is holding his breath better and not getting choked up! this is only day 3...i can't wait to see how well he swims by day 10!

way to go jack!!

my "cry it out" experience

i was waiting to blog about this once charlie has slept through the night for atleast a week. well, he has done just that! we started on the 8th. 

night 1:

johnny went in there to put a pacie in his mouth, but it didn't work out that well because he thought that johnny was going to rescue him since he gets him out of the crib most mornings so that i could sleep a little more. but i thought that if i went in there that he would smell me and expect to eat. so night one was a failure!

night 2:

i went in at 11ish and put the pacie in. he slept until 1:30 and then cried off and on until 2:20. i went in after 2 minutes of crying, then 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 7 minutes, then 10 minutes. after that turn of going in he slept until 5:00. i nursed him then and he slept until 7:00

night 3:

went about the same way

night 4:

slept straight until 5:00

every other night has either been him waking up at 5:00 to nurse and going back down until 7:00 or sleeping straight until 7:00...either way i am ok with for now. i know that i will cut out the 5:00 feeding at some point too. he has had a cold so i am thinking that is why he woke up for a few nights in a row at 5:00. we'll see.

i am happy with how things turned out. it wasn't a terrible experience and i don't feel like he hates me for not feeding him or leaving him crying for a few minutes. it really had to be done! i needed a full night of sleep and he did too! he also needed to learn to put him back to sleep. 

he is nursing soooo much better during the day. i know that most people would think i am crazy for being excited about my almost 1 year old nursing better during the day since this is when most people want to wean their babies, but i want to wean him slowly and i think by taking away his night time feedings we are in the weaning process. he still nurses about 5 times a day, but now instead of nursing on one side he nurses on both. 

i am so proud of him for doing so well with crying it out and to be honest i am proud of myself for staying strong. it is hard to hear your baby cry and know that you could very easily do something about it and go back to sleep within 15 minutes. 

also, i am so glad he takes a pacie!! i know we will have a battle to face in a few years with that one, but for now i love it!!!

shoes, bieber, and day 2 of swim lessons

charlie already knows where shoes go...i put some of jack's old shoes on him yesterday and he didn't know exactly how he felt about it. i need to get him some soft robeez like shoes.

we watched justin bieber on the today show the other day and danced!

jack is doing better at swim lessons...and it is only day 2! he didn't cry today. he did whine when he had to get in the pool and would NOT jump off the side to the teacher. he ended up somewhat choking on his last turn and threw up on one of the chairs at the house we are at..i felt terrible about that. anyway, i was not expecting it because it didn't look like he was choking.

jack's first swim lesson

 the first time going under

( i was the only mom that had my camera out...is that weird?) 

he cried everytime he had to get in the pool. it was hard to force him to get in. i know it is good for him to learn and it will make me feel more comfortable when we are at pools. so that is why i kept forcing him to get in. he screamed when he was in the pool that he wanted to get out. by the end of the first day i noticed a difference in him. he still cried, but he held his breath better. 

he choked at some point on the water and when we went to sit down he said that he doesn't want to get back in because he is allergic to the water! :) haha! 

 he made a new friend, james. they stayed by each other the whole time and encouraged each other.

jack's reward for doing well his first day of swim lessons...a mustache, earring, an eye patch. he also got an airhead. i might have to make a trip to the $1 store tonight for more bribes and rewards!

father's day weekend

 friday night we had a family movie night. we have had movie nights before, but we changed it up this time. we got the idea from my friend melissa. we blew up the air mattress and watched a movie "in bed". it was so much fun and jack was so excited about it!! we watched cars 2.

 saturday johnny was on call so jack and i washed our car while charlie took his morning nap. i brought charlie's little pool to the front yard for jack to play in while i washed most of the car. he looks like a giant next to it :)

 on father's day we went to botanical gardens for a picnic. charlie has a cold so we didn't want to leave him in the nursery at church so we skipped. 

johnny is the best daddy for my boys! one of jack's answers on the about dad question sheet that i did he answered i am happy when my dad hugs me :) how sweet is that?!

 charlie's cough woke him up from his nap yesterday after only sleeping for like 10 minutes so he was exhausted by 5:30. he fell asleep nursing and i put him down on the blankets so i could get dinner started. he slept through us going in and out of the door, chopping, and talking.

 jack and charlie got to play in the big pool together. i don't have a pic of both of them in there.

 we grilled steaks and corn...we haven't grilled a steak in years. it was yummy!

our biggest tomato...we have another one next to this one and one more up top...maybe more today!

photoshoot wth charlie

 i took a bunch of pictures of charlie for his invitations...these are my favorites.

(this one was the runner up)

 this one was the winner :)

i had fun, but was sweating like a dog at the botanical gardens trying to get him to smile at me or jack and not eat the grass :)

jack did soooo good trying to get charlie to smile at the camera. he is such a good big brother and helper!

charlie's 2nd haircut

 i put pete on the couch during naptime because he will bark at cars if i don't and wake up the boys. i came in from taking a shower and i found him like this :)

 jack made a marshmallow snowman 

 andrea took a picture of joseph eating so i decided to take one of charlie. he LOVES his food. and he is really loving to nurse lately now that he is sleeping better. last night was the 5th night of me letting him "cry it out", but he never cried from 8:00-5:00! i fed him at 5:00 and then he went back to sleep until 7:00. yay charlie! anyway, now that i have taken away the 2-3 night feedings he has been nursing really well during the day. he even somewhat says hungry..."hu hu"

 jack's garden! we have one tomato on the plant :)

 charlie's new haircut

 the back of his haircut and he has figured out how to open the cabinet. he also has figured out how to play in the toilet!!! yuck! jack never did that as a baby.

 we did a little photo shoot at botanical gardens today to try to get a picture to put on charlie's invitations. i know he isn't smiling in this picture but i think he looks like a little angel!

 jack's reward for being such a good boy during charlie's photo shoot

jack still twirls his hair...this makes me smile :)

past few days

 charlie got to ride in the car cart for the first time 2 days ago :) it was fun while it lasted, but i ended up holding him for half of the trip because big brother couldn't stop hugging him...y'all it is a problem that i love...i love the fact that jack wants to hug his baby brother so much, but charlie just doesn't like it after the 50th time!

 jack has been building a tent and he got his and charlie's glow worms and matched up the songs with eachother

 yesterday morning jack built an awesome train track, a tent, and a underwater garbage truck out of legos...charlie watched!

jack got sick yesterday evening though :( yesterday morning we went to ijump and as jack was going up one of the slides for the 100th time he stopped on the stairs and came back down...i knew something was up. i thought maybe he was hungry, but that wasn't it. so we left and came home to nap. i checked his temp when we got home and sure enough he had a fever. when i asked him what he felt like at i jump (trying to figure out what was wrong he said "i feel like humpty dumpty") at 6:00 he got sick, but my big boy threw up into the trashcan that i had next to him. sorry if this is TMI. anyway, he hasn't had a fever at all today, but we are taking it easy.

 jack made a paint roller with a paper towel roll

 we made paper bag puppets

 charlie loved on pete some more

any time i see charlie by the train set i think of godzilla :)