Day 29

I just got the kids down, and now I'm sitting here eating my cereal dinner that I enjoy most nights when Colin is at work. Just a few minutes ago, I was sitting with Jack, like I do every night from 7:25-7:30. We say our bedtime prayers and then just relax for a few minutes before he lays down. After we said our bedtime prayers tonight, he goes "God is good. God is great. Okay, now I can eat." Then he started pretending to put food in his mouth and chew. Such a character!

Having fun at Daddy's work

Having fun making a mess at Daddy's work

This is so blurry, but I love it when Jack takes Gracie's hand and walks around with her. It is the sweetest!

Fresh out of the bath, matching Purdue jammies

This morning I had to actually wake Jack up to get ready for school. I'm getting used to this sleeping in until 7 business!  My mornings run soooooo much smoother when I can shower and get ready in peace before anyone wakes up. It really is a small miracle! Anyway, when we went in to get him, he was no where to be found. He had buried himself in 3 pillow pets! I had put them at the bottom of his bed in case he fell out in the night.

Slowly making his way out of the pillow mound.

We just set up this bed yesterday. When he woke up he said, "Mommy, I stay home today and play in Jack's new big boy bed."

When we got home from school today, we walked to the grocery store to get a few things. It felt so great to get some exercise! I should make it a daily habit to take them on a walk. Pushing that stroller is a work out in itself!

After school snack of graham crackers, ready to stroll!

This was his pick at the grocery store. "I wanna try that cereal, mommy."

Bath time fun 

Again, these are blurry. I need to take some pictures with the camera in the near future. They were playing and laughing together a lot tonight.

Jack being a little too rough, but Grace not minding.
Just playing
Reading Elmo Goes Potty

Day 28

Taking the easy way out tonight, and just posting soccer pictures. We've had a busy night of rearranging cribs and furniture in preparations for new baby girl. Ready to crash!

And just for fun...on this day one year ago:

Day 27

Soccer 1
Soccer 2
Soccer 3
Soccer 4
Soccer 5

Grace Elizabeth isn't a fan of the car wash.

Pictures will be up tomorrow. Something sad happened tonight...I exceeded all of my free photo space on the blog. Now I have to pay a yearly fee. When I purchased the storage just now, it said it would take up to 24 hours to process. Currently, it isn't letting me upload any. I'll put all the pictures on facebook tonight though. Tomorrow I will post the soccer pictures. Jack had a blast at soccer, as did Grace. The coach led several different drills, games, and activities over the course of about an hour. Most of them kept his attention, but when he didn't feel like doing something he would run to the goal and play. He said he had a lot of fun, and on the way out he told Colin, "I did a good job, Daddy!" On Mondays that Colin is working, I'm either going to have to recruit someone to come with me or hire a babysitter to stay with Gracie. She was all over the place and had a great time, and Jack needed to be redirected quite a bit. Plus the parents are doing a lot of the interacting during the drills.

Day 26

It is nap time, and Jack is SCREAMING. Somehow we've gotten out of our usual routine at nap, and he is having a horrible time. We mentioned this concern at the doctor last week, and they advised us to put them down everyday at the same time, no matter what. Don't go in and get them no matter how long they are crying. We have always followed the part about putting them down at the same time, but we typically don't let them cry longer than 10-15 minutes. Grace didn't take long to sleep train. She fussed one day for almost 45 minutes, but today I laid her down and she barely made a peep before falling asleep. Jack has been screaming MOMMY, I WANNA CUDDLE at the top of his lungs for about 15 minutes now, and I'm shocked it hasn't woken Grace up. I need to get in the shower so we can go run around after "nap". Hopefully Jack gets used to his 1:00 nap SOON!!! Colin said last week that he cried himself to sleep and then fell asleep against his door. I know this sounds cruel, but these kids NEED their sleep. It makes or breaks a good day around here! Naps are crucial in so many ways for our kids. Jack's behavior is very reflective on how much sleep he is getting.

Aside from that, Jack's behavior has been phenomenal today, thankfully! He's been really sweet to Grace and no tantrums. A huge step up from yesterday.

Trying out a spoon for my oranges.

Playing together

Watching TV and playing with their babies.

Relaxing...something you don't see often with this one

Headed to the park in my new shades

Lovin' the weather

Jack and I were saying "GRAAAAAAAACE" because she was pulling something out of the drawer. She was cracking up!

Feeding her brother a piece of cheese

A funny Jack conversation again: We were hanging out in my bed together this morning. Grace hadn't woken up yet (they both slept in again, hooray!!). He left for a second and came back with an envelope and a stapler. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I'm just cuttin' somethin', sweetie."

We went to the park this morning, but we were the only ones there and I had just read that it was alligator mating season. I felt vulnerable back in the area where our neighborhood park is. We are surrounded by big lakes, plus there is a small pond right there. Needless to say, we were only there for a few minutes before leaving to come home to play with Play-Doh.
Play-Doh 1
Play-Doh 2
Play-Doh 3

Day 25

First let me say, Bulldogs all the way!!! That was a great game tonight. I only caught bits and pieces since it was right at dinner/bath/bed time, but way to go Butler!

Today we all had the day off together. We ventured over to the Florida Mall for lunch and to pick up some soccer shoes for Jack. Nothing exciting, just a day of errands and spending time together. The greatest thing happened this morning - both of them slept in until almost 7. Unheard of!!! It was fabulous! I told them at dinner that it would be fantastic if they could repeat that again tomorrow.

Here they are opening up their special mail from Aunt Court this morning:

Here they are watching Monster's Inc. this morning. Jack can be the absolute sweetest big brother, but that can change in an instant. Grace loves him so much and pretty much follows him everywhere he goes. When he is in time-out, she is typically right at his closed door, just waiting saying "Ja, Ja, Ja".

I wanted her to wear this outfit from Great Aunt Judy today since the weather is heating up quickly. It was still too big, but so adorable!

 Hanging out together - posting them both because one is good of Jack and the other is good of Gracie. :)

I pulled my bows out... What are you going to do about it?

I was trying to get a picture of his soccer shoes, but that didn't happen. He was just hanging out in the van watching...of course...Monsters Inc.

I have to admit I was a little frustrated when I saw that he was holding my flip, but I couldn't delete Jack's video because in the middle of it I heard him say, "You wook pwetty, mommy." Also there is a split second where you see me sitting there in my pajamas, but oh well!

ABCs Take 1. ABCs Take 2. And you'll see a lot of these end abruptly with a tantrum. Again, oh well! We're working our way through the "terrible twos" the best we can. :)

Playing with tools.

Day 24

Well, today has been EXCITING! After months of being convinced I was carrying a boy, we found out we are having another baby girl. I didn't have an inkling of a preference either way, but this will be so fun having 2 girls close in age! Plus big brother to protect them for life! All looked healthy with the ultrasound, and we are feeling incredibly blessed. :) She was breech and in a weird position, so the sonographer couldn't get a good view of her heart chambers. She was sound asleep and not moving at all. I got up and drank some pop and ate some chocolate to see if that would wake her up so she could see the heart. Right when she put the wand on my belly during round 2, we saw her let out this huuuuuge yawn, like saying, "Why are you waking me up!?" Then she wouldn't stop moving after all that sugar! Thanks to Kelly, Devin & family for keeping the babies so we could enjoy seeing our baby girl in peace!

These are horrible quality pictures, but funny! These first ones were this morning while we were waiting on Colin to get home from work. Jack was watching Imagination Movers, and Grace was playing with her stroller and baby doll. She took a time out from playing to give her brother some love. Then right back to playing.

 Colin is outside trying to set up something in his truck, and we were hanging out in the garage. Grace was playing in the car, and Jack decided to join her.