Lake Gregory

This year we decided to not just let our anniversary pass without much attention but that we would take the family on a short trip.  We headed out to Lake Gregory for the weekend.  As kids we spent many summer days and winter nights up at Lake Gregory.  Its a special place in my memory.  The only place where my mom ever allowed us to buy sugar cereal.  Like I said - a special place :).

I was so happy to see how much my family loved it too.  Here are some of the highlights.

Going down the water slide over and over again.

My favorite fellows

Playing in the sand

Jack and Mom out on the lake.  I even let him steer us under the huge COLD fountains!  What a mom!

8 months pregnant!  Cooling off in the water with my big kid!

Jack and Zack had a blast climbing up and jumping off of the buoy in the middle of the lake

Buddies.  The life vest barely fit over my belly.

I took a long walk around most of the lake to try to get this stinker to fall asleep.  It was special because I remember taking long walks as a kid around this lake.  I even saw a bottle cap and remembered all of the sudden the year that Dani and I decided to start a bottle cap collection.  So many memories in this place. 

Swim lessons

Will has been in mommy and me swim lessons since he was 6 months old.  Recently he started going twice a week, once with me and once with Zack so we could try to get him ready for independent classes before the baby came. It backfired a bit because he loved his one on one time with Zack so much that he refused to go to his swim teacher, one of the necessary requirements before they graduate you to an independent class.  Finally last week his teacher essentially just gave up and told Zack that he has the skills, he just has to decide that he's willing to listen to the teacher.

This week I took Will to his first swim class without us in the water, totally prepared for him to spend the whole class in tears and to hide if necessary.  He walked right out to the pool, happily listened to his new teacher, and did everything she asked him to while keeping a smile on his face.

I think we named him correctly.  That kid has a very strong Will of his own!

I was so proud of him, and overwhelmed at that moment with how blessed I am to have my children. There I was, holding My newborn daughter while my big kid swam in the pool and I couldn't help but be transported back 2 years when I sat in that very spot holding my newborn baby while my first big boy swam in the pool.

Days pass so slowly and years pass so quickly.  I am so grateful for this chance to be a mom and watch these amazing kids grow up little by little and through leaps and bounds.

No (3/13)

One of Will's favorite words is No.  The problem is he doesn't know the word yes.  So he will answer no to any question he is asked.  I am now learning that the more adamant he is in his "No" the more likely he is to actually mean yes.   It makes finding out if he's hungry a super fun experience.

Hey Will, do you want some food?

No.

Are you sure you don't want this food?

NO!

It's fun at our house!

Jack

Jack is still my vomiter.  The kid vomits at the drop of a hat.  One weird thing to note, every time he eats a hot dog he throws up.  Hot dogs have been completely eliminated from his diet.

Throwing up sick on his 7th birthday.  Sad.

Our Thursday family movie nights have been a partial success in showing Jack that he's not terrified of every single movie ever made, and that he's brave enough to make it through some that he never thought he would be.  Ie, The Sound of Music.  Yep.  That's my Jack.

Jack forgets his shoes EVERYWHERE.   It is next to impossible to keep this kid in shoes.  I can't count the number of times we have ended up somewhere, the mall, the doctors office, the grocery store just to discover that he has no shoes.

Jack loves waking up early and sneaking downstairs to make cookies for us on his own in the morning.  He's not the best at following recipes (he's learning) so we have had to eat some massive flops.  The other thing hes not the best at?  Keeping the kitchen clean while he bakes.  We have had to institute a no making cookies on the weekdays before school rule in our house because the mess was just too much to handle on a weekday morning.

Jack loves to read.  He will just disappear into a book and resurface hours later once he's done

Jack just started piano lessons and loves them.  I dont have to force him to practice (yet) and the hardest thing is whatever I go ask him to do, he stops and plays a few pieces on the piano first.  I am trying very hard not to grump at him for this because I love that he loves it so.

Jack's favorite tv show is Wipe Out.  He loves watching other people fall.  Like father like son.  This summer when we went up to Lake Gregory they had a floating bouy that Jack was in heaven pretending he was on Wipe Out playing on.

Jack is an awesome swimmer and is on the swim team.  He knows all of his strokes.  So proud of all of his hard work!



Nearly two years after Will's birth and Jack still begs to be the first one in to get Will out of his crib every morning.  Love him for how great of a big brother he is.

Jack adores Will.  ADORES him.  So many hard days are saved when I walk in and see Jack and Will snuggling, or Jack reading to Will, or tickling him to try to get him to laugh.  They are my two biggest successes so far.

He hates mint.  Dessert, candy, toothpaste.  Hates it all.

Jack told Will as soon as he learns his ABCs he would buy him a twinkie with his own money.  What a guy.

Jack can go from 14 to 3 in a matter of seconds.

Jack claims that he often catches himself speaking in an English accent and how embarrassing it is.  I have yet to hear it for myself but when I ask him to demonstrate his accent it's pretty comical!

Right now Jack's two favorite foods are Tortillas with cheese and quesadillas.  Less you make a crucial error and believe them to be the same thing -  A tortilla with cheese is served rolled and not warm and a quesadilla is served flat in slices with a side of guacamole.  As you can see his diet is very varied.

Jack can't seem to eat without getting his food all over his mouth and cheeks.  He seems oblivious to this and comes home from school hours after lunch with whatever he had for lunch still on his face.

Will - Age 1

Things I don't want to forget about my William.

Will got his side top incisor in before any other tooth.  We called him snaggletooth for about a month before the bottom right one came in.  One thing I will say is be does things his own way!

Whereas Jack would always sit patiently in the stroller on walks even without being buckled in, Will from about 6 months on would try desperately to stand up and ride facing me holding on to the stroller shade.  We've had some near misses.

Zack doesn't tolerate my willy-nilly style of parenting and straps Will in on his watch!  I really can't say that I blame him!

William loves to tear boxes with his teeth.  Forgot snacks in grocery stores, just give him a box and he will happily rip it to shreds.  As a result Jack hates grocery shopping with us.  Between Will's taste for boxes and my willingness to open a bag of goldfish to stop the shouting really stresses him and his straight moral compass out.  I was the same way as a kid so I try to be understanding, but most of the time the loudest kid wins out.

Will finally learned how to say mama.  Problem is now Zack is mama too.  It's actually pretty funny to watch Will shouting mama at the top of his lungs throughout the house, walking right past me, to find Zack.  He's a ham and laughs when Zack tells him he's Papa.

If you ask Will who anyone is he will point to himself.  He is Mama, Papa, Jack, Grandma...  I guess that means he's very into himself at this stage.

Will will fold his arms and insist I say one prayer after the other at random times during the day.  I don't know what makes him decide I can be done offering prayers...maybe when in finally pray for the thing he felt needed praying for. :)

Will loves to hold something in his hand.  Ball, phone, floss.  He will spend hours walking around doing all sorts of things one handed just so he doesn't have to give up what's in the other hand. Generally this means naptime and bedtime end in tears as we have to pry it from his hands after failing at trying to coax it out.

Notice the ball tightly in his grasp?

When Will gets upset, he hangs his head low and holds his head in his hands.  It's as if at a year and a half life is just too hard.

Will has realized that if he asks someone for a hug they usually pick him up and give him a good hug.  So now instead of asking to get up, he asks for a hug and then refuses to be put back down.

When Will wakes up from his nap he will shout nonsense downstairs to see if Jack answers or is at school.  If he answers, Will wont stop shouting dack dack at the top of his lungs trying to keep the conversation going with Jack until I bring him down and he gets to see him.

Head between the staircase bars shouting to Jack

While I was at my sickest in bed with this pregnancy, Zack began taking Will with him to drop off Jack at school in the morning just to give me an extra 20 minutes to myself to try to convince myself I wasn't dying.  Now he absolutely refuses to let Zack take Jack to school without him.  One night there was an invention showcase at school and since Jack had an invention there Zack announced after dinner that he was taking Jack to school now.  Will ran to the door and started waving goodbye to grandma not realizing he wasn't on the invite list.   Some tears later and all my boys were off to school.

Will loves it when Zack comes home.  I take him outside most days and meet Zack's car at the corner. Will squeals with sheer delight and hops in for the last 10 feet of the drive and thinks its just about the coolest thing in the world to happen to him.

Will loves to lick things.  I mean everything goes into this kids mouth.  Most recently he licked a man hole.  And then went back for more.

Licking a big box of balls

Will insists on licking pictures of cats.  Not dogs, not monkeys, only cats.  I have no idea why.

Will's favorite place to go to the bathroom is in the tub.  We have decided to purchase large numbers of shares in bleach companies and suggest you do the same.

Will holds his arms to the square and pumps his arms back and forth before he takes off running.  It's like he thinks he has to pump himself up before he has enough energy to run.

Will has been a screamer since he turned about 9 months old.  I think he realized it got our attention - and fast.  Now after so many months of being told he was too loud, he still shrieks when he wants something, but then waits, makes eye contact, puts his finger to his mouth and goes, shhhh...  At least he's almost getting the idea.

Will is a human can/top opener.  Seriously this kid can get into anything.  Just ask Aunt Rachel who thought her plastic water bottles were safe at our house.  Will has no trouble ripping those water bottle caps right off and helping himself to whatever spoils are to be found.  Im sure his dentist is going to love us for putting his kids through college.

The last thing I don't want to forget is how crazy this kid is for baseball.  He carries a bat around the house for hours at a time and now brings us balls and has us throw the ball so he can swing the bat and try to hit it.  Things get a little precarious at times when he is lucky enough to locate a real bat and gets to see us react to him swinging a metal bat twice his height around the house. :)

Mama

Two weeks ago Will finally said Mama.  For those keeping score he made it 16 months without saying the word Mama.  

Words that came before Mama include, trash, and blah (the noise Mama makes when she finds you digging through trash). 

He's lucky he's so stinking cute.

Things I dont want to forget about my boys

Since the pace of life isnt slowing down, I want to record a few things about my boys that I would be sad to forget.

-If you ask Will a question from the time he was about 4 months old until 10 months old he would shake his head no.  Jack loved asking him ridiculous questions just to see him shake his head no like a bobblehead doll.

-Will was in love with the light in his room.  The look of pure adoration he gave this lamp was hilarious as it never failed to delight him.

 -Will kisses Jack's picture when he's at school.  He's just crazy about Jack.

-Jack has been trying to learn how to whistle for years.  He perfected the high pitched squeal that dogs would swear was a whistle, but was not.  It wasn't until he lost his two front teeth that he figured out to whistle.  The complete opposite of the Christmas song he likes to tell people.

-Will didn't learn how to stand on his own until he was about a year old.  I would find him sitting in rooms with one hand raised patiently waiting for some kind soul to help him to his feet.  Then he began forming the downward dog in an awkward attempt to stand.  All he succeeded in doing is making Jack laugh.  

-Will still won't crawl in any other form then a booty scootch.  It is fun to watch but brutal on dirty diapers and pant bottoms.


-Will was in love with my spice drawer.  When the time I got from having him play in the drawer was no longer greater then the time and effort it took me to clean up spices fifteen times a day, I had Zack babyproof the drawer.  Honestly he cried for 15 straight minutes when he realized how he had been betrayed.

-He took refuge in the pantry door, which we have yet to babyproof.

-Will's first "word" was All done.  Next came ball.   I swear he says ball all day long.  Its the first thing he says to me in the morning and the last thing he says at night.  He also says wa-wa for water, dack for Jack, up, down, more, na (for no) and dog.  He has said Deda, and box.  He can sign more, eat, and please.  He can find his head, nose and ears if asked.  He still wont even try to say mom. 

-Will pants like a puppy when he sees something he likes.  Open mouth and tongue and everything.

-Will's favorite thing at the park is the water fountain.  Forget the swings, slides, other kids.  He stands and cries until he can drink from the fountain.  This keeps going until I decide its time to go home.

-Jack has been trying really hard to figure out how to use the word succeed in all its forms.  Its lead to some really cute comments like "Hey mom I successed!"  I was a little bit sad when he finally figured it out.

-Will loves TV.  He enters a different meditative state whenever anything is on the TV.  I should be ashamed, but instead I will be honest and say its really really helpful during long car rides.

-Jack is obsessed with handball and tetherball.   In the 25 years since I was in grade school the rules have gone lax though.  You can now do double touches, and things called toilets.  I don't even want to go into that one.


-When Sean asked Jack if he was going to marry Claire (his best friend at school) he answered "That seems reasonable."  I love that kid.

-Will loves to play connect 4.  He's a lot better at those fine motor skills then I remember Jack being at this age.  

-Jack has greatly improved his soccer skills this year.  Last year, during his soccer class he would fall so much (just out of the sheer love of falling) that even the kids would call to him "Get up kid, get up."  We took a few months off and this season he stays on his feet 90% of the time (no kidding its probably up from the 40% from last season).  It still doesn't look like the right sport for his body, but I love seeing how he's learning.  His drop kick is actually pretty impressive.

-William will only go down the slide on his belly.  Starting him out on his bottom will only result in him twisting himself over to his belly mid slide causing circus like moves and injuries.

-Jack can't wait for Will to get up in the morning.  He likes to be the first one to go in and see him in his crib.  Jack also is very vocal about wanting another baby.  It makes me incredibly happy to see that Will's existence hasn't been the end of Jack's world.

-Jack is a hair twirler.   He twirls his hair so often that hes not even aware of when he's twirling it anymore.  Its made for some awesome duckbill hairdos lately.

 -Will loves drinking standing water.  At the park, in our backyard.  Off the street. 

-I am adored in my home.  I can't sit down without everyone piling on.  I try to remember how lucky I am to be this squashed and let the dishes wait.

and one last picture of Will just cause I can't help myself :)

Quirks

Will is a face sucker.  

When he turned about 4 months old, one day he just looked over at me and full on latched on to my cheek, and then promptly started cracking up laughing.   After that first time, it became his go to, "I'm looking for laughs" move.  Whenever people ask me to describe Will, my ready answer is he's a goofball.  Where Jack was always straight laced, Will likes to ham it up.  He will put ridiculous things on his head and wait for someone to notice him and laugh.  He's loud to Jack's quiet, a daredevil to Jack's prudence, chaos to Jack's order.  

He is a wildcard and is pure noisy, chaotic perfection.

Tackling

The boys at our house are obsessed with football. 

Jack loves it when Zack throws the ball to him, or when they play football games at the park.  But he's even happy just throwing the ball to himself at home while tackling the couch and calling out the play by play. 

All bite marks and holes in Jack's football are courtesy of crazy pants #2

Turns out this obsession must be genetic because Will is hooked too.  He will booty skootch himself all over the house chasing his little football.  And the shrieks of happiness when someone throws the ball to him are amazing.  

Ever since Will was a few weeks old, Jack has loved running into the room and yelling "tackle the baby!!" He used to carefully smother Will on the bed, but as he started to get older the game progressed and he now chases him around the house and gently tackles him to the floor, still yelling "tackle the baby!!"  Will adores this game and sometimes during the day will start running and looking behind him as if expecting Jack to show up out of nowhere. 

The other day, Will took it upon himself to initiate the tackling and all but threw himself out of my arms to tackle Jack to the floor.  The two of them were laughing hysterically.  I picked him up and he threw himself on Jack again.  It took me 10 tries before I managed to finagle us downstairs without him tackling Jack to the floor.   Now he tries to tackle him when we are at school, the grocery store, the mall...

The world is apparently just one big football field to my big guys!

Smash Cake

Someone special turned 1 and earned himself a smash cake!

Jack Zackrison - First Grader

This year Jack is in first grade.   He was a bit sad to be starting school again.  I guess after a summer filled with friends, fun and seemingly unlimited tv and video games, who could blame him.  The night before school started he broke down in the car home from dinner with my sister's family.   He and I snuggled on the couch for a little while and I told him it was okay to admit how he was feeling, and even helpful to.  I told him that sometimes just by sharing how we are feeling, and allowing ourselves to feel it, we start to feel better.  He asked me who my best friends were, grade by grade from Kindergarten through college.  Each time, he'd add, "and Adda" to my list.  Sweet boy to know that my list will always include "and Adda."  He also got a kick out of how many years Zack made the list too.  He woke up the next morning excited for school and happy for the day.  

I am so grateful I get to be a part of this little boy's life. 

He is every bit of extraordinary.

4 months of silence.

I blame Jack's summer vacation for complete eradication of anything resembling free time for me.  So many wonderful moments I want to record.  Moments I want my boys to know about when they are old enough to read this.  Proof to Will that his first year of life was full of love, and proof to Jack that we didn't forget him when Will was born.

This is me committing to putting these memories down in words (and pictures).

Soon.

Today there is homework to do (Jack's), a baby to convince he still need 2 naps (Will) and maybe cookies to bake as a reward for making it through the day.

Mother's Day

I had a perfect day. 

 I slept in till nearly 10 am. 

 It was pure BLISS. 

I got breakfast in bed.

 I love my husband 

and 

I love my kids.  

I felt completely taken care of and loved.

 

I love that Will finally gave up 

and looked away right when 

Jack decided

 to

 stop 

being 

a

 nutter-butter.

Being a family is never boring!

I am the luckiest.

Will Baby's Birth Story

I think seven months is enough time to have let pass that I can think about the experience and not hurt while not enough time for it to be hazy.

We went through a lot to bring William into our family.  I'll admit when I hold him in my arms I don't think about all it took, I just feel grateful.

I went into labor Sunday, October 2 at about noon.  Dani, Sean and Maddie came over about 4 for dinner.  I made dinner in between contractions, and then despite being the complete opposite of hungry, ate dinner at the urging of my sister who reminded me it might be a while before I would get the chance to eat again.  Zack drove me to the hospital about 6pm and I was admitted.  When I got to the hospital they asked if I wanted an epidural.  I told them absolutely but that I'd wait a while.  I was only at a 3 and remembering what I felt like to be in labor with Jack, I didn't think it hurt enough to warrant an epidural yet.  So I waited.

When I was about a 5 I decided it was time.  I still wasn't in as much pain and I remember having been, but I didn't want to end up like all those stories of women who waited too long to get their epidurals and couldn't get them in the end.  So the anesthesiologist came in and administered the epidural.  With Jack the relief of pain was so great that I would have thrown Zack overboard for my anesthesiologist, but this time no matter how high they turned the meds up I still felt each and every single contraction in the left side of my body.  The right side was totally numb, but the left side felt it all.  They gave me some morphine which made me feel totally drugged, but did nothing for the pain.  I waited another hour or so because I really didn't enjoy the epidural process, but by that time I really was in pain and not able to sleep at all between each left sided contraction.  So I asked for another one.  This one was worse.  For the first time ever I truly understood Annee's fear of needles.  I was practically hyperventilating and shaking while he was inserting the needle and was on the verge of throwing up.  It was horrendous.  And then it was over.  The first epidural took care of the right side and the second epidural took care of the left side.  I was finally able to get some sleep.  I won't go so far as saying if we ever have another child that I would opt out of the epidural, but I definitely wont ever be so callous to women who say their epidurals weren't sent from heaven above. 

It was a long night, and they left me alone for a while.  For some reason all of the equipment in my room kept running out of paper, or batteries or anything else they could run out of, resulting in things beeping incessantly throughout the night.  When they finally came to check on me after a few hours they realized that Will had had his first mecomium and I was covered in it.  This meant that although I was ready to push, I had to wait until the Level 1 nursing staff was available in case they had to incubate the baby.  I think after all the meds, I was numb.  I remember thinking how so much had gone wrong in conceiving, carrying and now delivering this baby.  They warned me to not be alarmed if they baby didn't cry because his lungs might be full of mecomium.  I don't even know why they would think I could possibly be anything but alarmed if he didn't cry.  Once the nursing staff arrived, a few pushes and all 9 pounds of William was born.  The nurses quickly scooped him up and started suctioning him.  I think it was 30 seconds before I heard a cry.  He was icky all over, but perfect.  Blue eyed, blonde haired baby.  How it is possible that I get two of these choice angels here on earth?

My mom brought Jack to the hospital a few hours later after he got out of school.  He brought my a present, and a birthday cake for William (he was more then willing to help William blow out the candle.  That's what big brothers are for right?).

He kept asking if he could stay at the hospital with us.  I think it was only the 2nd night he'd ever been away from us, so it was huge in his life and in ours.  I cried that night.  Not out of sadness or happiness either.   Just because I didn't know how I could possibly survive loving two children as much as I did.  Loving Jack had felt so full and complete, and now, adding a second child, somehow it felt like my heart was puckering at the seams.  All of my heart belonged to Jack.   All of my heart belonged to Will.  All of my heart will forever belong to Zack.  I think I cried that night as I grew an extra heart.

Months have past now.  I'm sitting here as Will naps upstairs and Jack is at school.  There have been moments with our new family of four of pure bliss where I have never felt closer to heaven.  There have been moments of pure chaos where Zack is lucky I didn't drive both kids to his work, drop them off and drive away.  There have been countless moments that held a little bit of each in them.  I had 6 years of parenting just one child.  Of being able to be there 200% for him each and every day.   It is taking time to figure out how to balance being there in the way that I need to for both of these little boys.  Jack is forgiving, and patient.  William is forgiving and patient (most of the time).  I just have to learn to be forgiving and patient with myself and to strive each day to be more deserving of these two miracles we're raising.