Time for safety latches on the cabinets

The snack cabinet was the only cabinet that the boys were generally interested in but their desire to get into other cabinets, the brooms and more importantly, the entertainment center with Michael's fully set-up chess set, has led both Michael and I to do some serious research relating to keeping the boys out. I was screaming NO to Jackson so loudly one day that I lost my voice for a couple of days. I recognize that they are trying to explore but it is absolutely amazing how much that they can get in to and how quickly that they can figure things out.

Who doesn't love an outie??

Jackson's belly button is an outie and it is the cutest. Whenever Connor sees it, he is super excited. We have been reading a book to the boys about numbers and for the #10, the book talks about 10 babies with 10 belly buttons each and 10 mouths soft as a peach. Besides teaching Connor where his belly button, mouth and hair (#9 for the well-loved soft dolly with 9 bows in her hair), it gives us a chance to check out Jackson's outie. Jackson is less than thrilled when we check his belly button out but it is so cute!

He's not cheating on his penguin but...

silly/creepy monkey is back and has been invited to the crib!!!



Connor and his penguin sharing a moment --

If you leave the cabinet open..

I can't help but reach in and get the marshmallows, especially if you leave me alone to get my older brother. And, in my defense, the smell of the marshmallows had me at hello and you haven't put a lock on the cabinet. XOXO Connor Patrick

It's not easy being Green

but it sure is a lot of fun to LOVE the color green, well, for Jackson, that is. Jackson is obsessed with the color green. It started out as preferring and has moved to full-blown obsessed.



He sorts through toys to find the items that are green to take them away from Connor and anybody else that he is playing with. Several examples include:

1)Ransacking the alphabet train for the letter X, which happens to be green. Michael and I didn't realize what was happening but quickly picked up that he would search and search through all 26 alphabet blocks until he found his coveted letter X. I hid the X to confirm what was going on and he was pacing in concern that it was lost and when he started to cry--I gave it to him.

2) Remove the green balls from his V Tech bus and airplane that sounds like it is landing in Kuwait (another story for another post) to the point of me having to be on a search almost every night trying to recover the balls.

3) Covet the green ring on his stacker and green ball from the ball popper to the point where he won't put them back in with the other colors.

4) Attempting to take green "roadie" toys with him as he leaves the basement.

5) Finding the green foam "K" in his alphabet/number toys for the bath and grunting at Connor if he dare try to take it from him.

While on a play date, he had tripped and fallen and started to whimper. The mother asked him what it was that he had and confirmed that he had pulled 2 green letter from their fridge phonics.

We have heard Kermit sing that it's not easy being green but all he has to do is ask Jackson and he feels very different about that color.

Brotherly Love

I'm sure that that this was one of those times when they were going after the same toy and happened to end up with their arms around each other. I was just lucky enough to have a camera available to capture it.

Loosing the battle with tomato sauce

On bath night, we have decided that it would be best to offer the boys ravioli for dinner. Michael can't even handle looking at the boys as they devour an entire can of Chef Boyardee mini beef ravioli. Even though their dad can't watch, the positive is that they love the raviolis and we get to use the bath to clean them up.





It's as if Jackson doesn't even remember the disaster that was our first trip to the zoo.

There's no crying at the Zoo

Well, generally, but Jackson didn't get that memo. Jackson had an incredibly emotional wake-up and we knew that it could be one of those days that you are just hoping to get to his nap without too many meltdowns. On this day, we planned to go to the zoo and Michael actually took the morning off to join us so not going wasn't an option. He didn't want to be held, he didn't want to walk and he didn't want to be in his stroller. But, we powered through and realized that the excitement of a 1st Trip to the Zoo was more for us. Since we have a membership, we will try again but with much lower expectations (ie: a good walk for mommy). Connor, on the other hand, was his normal laid-back self and enjoyed the polar bears. We told him that we were approaching the penguins and he squealed in delight. I'm not sure if he saw anything but, we will be back to catch his favorite bird.



I very rarely post on the big FB but I thought that I had to...

would like to apologize to everyone that heard someone crying almost the entire time we were at the zoo :(. I don't think that he even saw any of the animals!!! His brother loved what he saw and was squealing in delight as he saw the penguins. Hopefully, they will both enjoy it the next time. March 18 at 1:27pm via iPhone

Jen: are you keeping the names anonymous?
Lisa: Who is guilty of crying at the zoo?
Mary: I am very sure I know which one was happy and which one was unhappy.
Michele: Jackson is teething and sneezing and has a runny nose so in his defense,
he really wasn't up for a trip to the zoo. He was crying when I was
holding him, in the stroller or walking so he was a hot mess. Connor
was definitely a much better zoo partner. He didn't care if he was
being held or strolling. But, he just loves to be outside.
Christine: Hopefully it's better since I will be with u!!
John: Jackson? And here I thought you were talking about Michael the whole time.

It obviously was not funny while we were there and I actually couldn't stop myself from saying to Jackson that I didn't want to be "that" mother when trying to calm him down. He is definitely going to push the limits on my parenting abilities.

Our little pots of gold celebrating St. Patrick's Day

Playing with MEGA blocks

The MEGA blocks were a Christmas gift that I had put away since the boys received so many new things. I wanted something new to play with so I pulled them down from the attic. As expected, the boys initially started to enjoy them but really didn't understand what they could do and I was trying to avoid the walking hazard and put them away since dumping ALL the blocks on the floor was more fun for the dumpers than the one cleaning. I pulled them out today and Jackson was very intrigued about what they could do and Connor followed. Jackson was very proud of himself being able to attach to the base that I had already built. They won't be out every day but will make more appearances.

Bye Bye Dr. Browns

You have served us well since birth, but, it was time to part ways. The boys have been using the Nuk Active Cup with the learner cup nipple but we are working on this and since it holds 10 ounces, there really wasn't a need to keep their night time bottle. The boys are still willing to cuddle and our favorite of Jackson walking backwards into our laps is still present despite the method of milk delivery. Connor will actually start crying when he sees the milk cup when I mention that it is time. So, adios to Dr. Browns until Stanley Baby #3, which is not even an open topic for discussion until the boys are potty trained.

Connor is standing!!

The night before we took these pics, Connor was standing up in the bathtub. It was the 1st time that either one of us have seen him stand on his own EVER and obviously one of the least safest places to start. We always tell Connor and Jackson that they need to sit down if they try to stand up in the tub and on this particular night, he didn't need the help of the tub to stand up.

Connor has been playing with his big bouncy ball and apparently decided it was time to stand up. Not only did he stand up, he reached down to pick up his ball. Who knew?? Maybe he is closer to walking than what we thought. Connor always moves at his own speed so we never know what to expect from him but are happy that he is showing off his newly discovered talent.

Rain Rain Go Away

or don't so I can watch it and lick the door clean. Jackson has been licking the glass on the door whenever he can get a chance. EEWW.

When it is raining, which has been a lot lately, I make sure to put on Baby Neptune since it is all about water. We have had a lot of discussions about umbrellas as well. On this particular day, Michael actually came home with a new umbrella and the boys were super excited.

Sorting out circles

Jackson and I have been working on the shape sorter recently and he has quickly figured out how to get the circles in and out. He is so proud and has started clapping for himself when he gets one in. After he starts clapping, he immediately looks up for approval to make sure that someone saw it and can give him the kudos that he thinks he deserved. We are working on the other shapes and hope to have them mastered as well. The look of determination he has when trying to figure things out is priceless. He does really well putting the lid on the floor and can generally get all of the shapes in with a little pointing assistance.

The "hidden" plush have surfaced

In an effort to give Jackson enough room when he started walking, we had to rearrange some things. Before the holidays, I used a basket to house ALL of the excess plush other than Mickey and his friends. I had to organize again and pulled the basket out of hiding once the chair was moved. To say Connor was thrilled to discover his long lost plush would be an understatement.

Connor showing his love for the plush:

Connor reading books

In the past month or so, Connor has shown a more apparent desire to "read" books. He has been grabbing his touch and feel books and what I label as "Cookie" books, a/k/a Sesame Street books from the Tarjay $1 bin on his own. He maneuvers them around if they are upside down, nods as he scans the pages and turns pages back and forth.

Because of this interest, we have started showing them their night time books. This is something that we have never done but they are so thrilled to see the pictures of items that we have been reading to them since they were a couple months old. Both boys are starting to point to items that we have talked about or shown them when asked. It is amazing to see just how much that they do listen to us and are absorbing.

We have a climber!!!

It only took him 2 days to figure out how to get to the top!!

It's time to stack the storage units..

We ordered these storage units to help minimize the amount of toys on the floor. Neither Michael nor I wanted to stack the unit although we knew we had the option available. Jackson had made several attempts to stand on the storage bins but on this day--he actually accomplished his goal and made it to the top. As you can see, he has clear access to the steps which we knew was a no no for our adventurous Jackson, who is known as "Action" Jackson for a reason.



As soon as we got the boys to bed, the storage units were stacked!!!