Jack

Just call him Conan O'Brien!

Things You Say and Do

This is usually the face you make when you say in an impatient tone to me, "OK, Jen". You call us Mark and Jen a lot.

You tell Papa, "Oh, Johnny."

The way you say peoples' names is funny, too. You call Scott and Maddie, "Sock and Mat-tie". You have called Hanna and Ryan, "Hanta and Ry-we", "Hann-o and Ry-we", but I think we have finally landed on "Han-na and Ry-nan". You still tell us that Jack's name is Jack Dylan. You can't accept the fact that his middle name is Ryan.

You can say almost anything! Well, except banana. You say "ba-no-na". And ice cream will always we "i-me-ceem".

You always wow us with things that come out of your mouth. Like when I asked you last month if you gave Papa his Valentine you made him, you said, "Sure did!".

Or when I say, "Kate, you know what?" and then tell you something exciting, you say "No waaaay" just to share in the excitement. If I show you how to do something new, you say, "Oh, I see."

You like to do "skoo wuk" (school work). You could draw and paint for HOURS!!

You love for us ALL to do things together. You say, "Mommy, Daddy, Kate, Jack All go Pasee House" (Pasta House... one of your favorite restaurants). You make a big rainbow motion with your arms when you say "ALL".

Music speaks your language. You can often be heard singing to yourself while playing. Your favorite songs are "Toes in the Wa-Wa" and "Hands Up". You live for hearing those songs on the radio. You are always saying, "Mommy, like this song?"

Jack was crying in the car the other day. The conversation went like this:
Mommy: "Kate, should we sing Jack a song?"
You: "Uh-huh"
Mommy: (Thinking you would suggest Jesus Loves Me, or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
"What song should we sing to him?"
You: "Lady Ga Ga"

You are always singing, "I lu-juu, you lu-me, we a happy fam-lee, big hug, kiss me to you, lu-me tooooooo" (Barney theme song). That is your go-to song. You sing it when you are riding in the car or laying in bed, you sing it when you are happy, you sing it to Jack,and you even sing it in time out.

Speaking of time out, all of your dolls and our two Willow tree figures from the living room have been in time out. I always find them in a corner facing the wall. When I ask you why they are in time out, you usually reply, "Hit me". Shame on those dolls and wooden figures for hitting my girl! :)

You love to surprise us. You say, "Close eyes". Then, you'll say, "No ready yet!", and finally, "Op-own!" (open)

The words you say are hilarious!! Like when something doesn't quite work out, you say "Bumma" (bummer) or "Shoot!". Or when I tell you a good idea, and you say "Perfect!".

Or how you say, "la-morning" to mean "the other day". Or how you say the word tickle... "tee lay". By the way, you are very demanding with your "tee lays". You will say in a very serious tone, "Tee lay my belly" or "tee lay my leg". If I tell you to do something, and you say,"A-jick" (actually)... and then tell me a totally different plan. How you learned to use the word "actually", I will never know.

You have this crazy Southern accent. Like when you flush the toilet and say, "Baaaa, poo" (bye, poo). Or when you say, "Pate maaa finner nay-als" (paint my finger nails). Or when you say, "I mess maaa ha-ya (hair) up." Sometimes, it's a British accent, too. Like when you say "I want some wat-ta" (water).

And, you love to hear yourself talk. I swear you talk jibberish just to hear the sound of your voice.

You have an awesome sense of humor. You know when we are making jokes with you. You talk in these funny voices just to make us laugh. And, you HAVE to be the center of attention!! Like when Mimi was opening her birthday cards and presents, you put one of the gift bags on your head and yelled something goofy at the top of your lungs to steal the show. You are going to drive some teacher crazy one day.

You are always asking me, "I crazy??" Yes,you are CRAZY!! In a good way, I promise. Except when you take your shoes and socks off in the car and start biting your toenails. That's just weird.

But, girl, let me tell you. You are FUNNY!! You change words in songs to make them funnier. You use dramatic pauses in conversation when you are about to say something goofy.

You are a worrier. You have started biting your nails, and we can't seem to break you of it.

You fret over Poppy and Samsom, the dog. You tell Daddy, "no hit deer" when he's driving.

You have to know the plan. Then, you repeat it back to us, like "Go bank first, nan (then) go Ta-get (Target)"... complete with hand motions. You will ask, "Where Daddy?" and then when you hear the answer, you say, "kay" (ok). Then, you repeat it back to me like five minutes later. "Daddy go wuk?" (work) or "Daddy go chuch?" (church). You just have to know what's going on.

I think you could live outside and be totally fine. Except that you are terrified of worms, alive or dead. You yell, "Help, help" when you have to walk past a dead worm in the driveway.

You string together these great sentences. You can pretty much clearly tell us whatever you want. Which makes it easy when you are sick. You say, "My fwoat huts" or "my ee-ya huts". Lately, every time you cough, you proclaim, "I sick. I take med-cine. Bubbu-gum kind".

You are so smart! You amaze us with what you know. You know lots of shapes like circle, square, triangle (you call it a tri-ga-angle), star, heart. You say, "I draw half circle". When we took you to Disney on Ice downtown, you saw the arch and called it a rainbow.

You can count to twenty. Correction: you know the numbers up to twenty, but after ten, it's pretty much a free-for-all. "Sixteen, nineteen, fo-teen", 'leven".

You know all of your colors. You called the silver slide at the park "gray". "I go down gway slide."

You are a little sponge. We are amazed at the information you retain!

And, let me tell you... you LOVE this little guy! (Most of the time)

You are a good big sister. You are a great helper (most of the time).

You say, "Hi Mr. Jack." You make him smile.

You ask me,
"Jack, eat?"
"Yes, Kate, Jack needs to eat?"
"Eat fom-la?" (formula)
"No"
"Eat booby?"
Nice, Kate... real nice.

You report to me how Jack does at Miss Mary's. "Jack cwy little bit". When I asked you why he cried, you said (without missing a beat), "No ju dare" (No you there).

We love you at two. Even with all the tantrums, stubborness, and whining.

You are full of spice, but lots of sugar too. You say you love us "all way to moon, all way to back".

We love you all the way to the moon and all the way back, too, baby girl!!

My Little Lennie

You all know the story Of Mice and Men, right? Remember Lennie and his love of soft things? Remember how things start off so nice with Lennie being all gentle and then he starts to "love a little too much" and things go horribly awry?

That's Kate. I've nicknamed her Lennie.

It starts out really sweet. Kate talks softly, rubbing his little hand. Then, the rubbing turns to squeezing and soon, she's in his face, pinching his cheeks and gritting her teeth. It's like she just can't stand how much she loves him. It's pretty crazy.

Seriously, Jack is going to be one tough cookie.

No lie, the kid flinches when she comes around.

St. Patrick's Day

We had an uneventful St. Patrick's Day at home, but we still wore our green!

Kate is in love with "holding" Jack.

Until he cries. Minutes after this picture was taken, Jack decided he had had enough of his sister's hair in his face, the pinches on the cheek, the squeezing of the feet, and the crazy pats on his belly.

He let out a "rescue me please, mom" cry. To which Kate pointed her finger at him and said in her stern voice, "YOU BE NICE!" When that didn't work, she slammed her hand down on the Boppy pillow he was laying on and yelled, "Stop cry-ning Jack!"

And when that didn't work, she just shook her head in defeat and stared at him, saying "Oh, Jack".

Weighing In- One Month

Jack had his one month well visit today. He's actually five weeks old, now.

Here are his stats:

Length- 23 in. (90th percentile)
Weight- 10 lbs., 9 oz. (50th percentile)
Head circumference- 15.5 in. (60th percentile)

He is a growing boy!!

First Haircut

Kate got her first haircut last Monday. I made her an appointment at The Hairy Elephant and Daddy planned to meet us there after work. She was SO excited all day. She kept talking about going to get her "hay-cut".

When we pulled up and saw Daddy waiting for us, she put her little fists up to her mouth like she does when she's excited.

We walked in and could just tell that Kate felt all "big". Her shyness kicked in right away, though. I don't think she spoke a word the whole time.

Notice the before picture. Yes, I know, we were in desperate need of a trim.

She first got to pick out the flavor of shampoo that "Miss Andrea" would use to wash her hair.

Then, it was off to the sink.

Then, she got to pick out a movie (BIG surprise... she picked Barney) and pick out the chair she would sit in (she picked a cute yellow car).

Watch her tongue in these pictures. The tongue AlWAYS comes out when she is feeling shy.

Let the cutting begin!!

Then, a little blow dry.

ALL DONE!!

Then, she got to pick out two butterfly clips (she picked pink, of course) and Miss Andrea gave her a cute little "do", which we didn't get a picture of.

They took her picture and put it on a certificate with a little locket of her hair.

We went back to Mimi and Papa's for our Monday routine. We walked in and she demanded that everyone "close eyes". When she was all ready, she said "Open!" and everyone just made a big fuss over her.

Little Miss is getting to be so grown up.

And, this little man will probably be getting his first haircut within the next month. Kidding... but man, that boy's got a lot of hair! See the mohawk in the back??