Senior Picture Photoshoot

Jack and I posed for "senior pictures" yesterday (Only 2 years old and I'm already subjecting him to my posed picture shenanigans).

The one above is my favorite. One of Jack's favorite things to do right now is imitate those around him, so getting him to do this stuff with me was easy. Jack's knack for imitating others really shines when playing the Kinect for 360. Josh is working a video that we took of Jack dancing to Dance Central and as soon as he has that done I"ll be sure to upload it.

We are also at the stage where Jack repeats everything he hears, so now we have to be much more careful about what we say around him. Josh is using this to advantage though by getting Jack to say ridiculous things like, "Booya!" and "Hiyo!"

Jack's favorite "game" to play is taking turns pretending we are Robots or "Bobots" as Jack calls them and chasing each other around the house saying, "I am a robot! I am robot! I am coming to get you!" He particularly loves torturing the cat by chasing him around the house like a robot. We keep trying to explain that Odin doesn't think it's funny and it really scares him but Jack doesn't seem to care and keeps doing it anyway. Regardless, Jack and Odin still have a great relationship. Jack is "responsible" for making sure Odin has food every day and filling his bowl if it's empty. He calls it "Meow Cereal" and gets excited when he notices on his own that Odin is out of food and he gets to feed him.

For the past few months, Jack had been terrible about sleeping through the night in his own bed. He would always wake up and cry several times through the night. Then he just stopped the crying bit all together and when he'd wake up he'd literally sneak into bed with us and when Josh and I woke up in the morning we'd be like, "How'd he get here?" None of us were sleeping well with this arrangement, as Jack is a total bed hog (and morning I woke up both Jack and Odin and weaseled their way between Josh and I). We came to the eventual conclusion that the reason Jack kept waking up was because his toddler bed was too small. As I said, Jack is a total bed hog and rolls around a lot and I think he kept hitting the sides of the bed. Therefore, we packed up his toddler bed for good and now Jack is sleeping on a twin bed and Hallelujah! It worked! We are all sleeping MUCH better and getting Jack to go to bed at night is much easier, too. Double win!

Ok. Enough typing. Here's more pictures. Enjoy!

Jack calls the jacket he's wearing his "Hotdog Mouse coat." He calls Mickey Mouse "Hotdog Mouse" because of the "Hotdog Song" on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Jack LOVES his very own "Vroom Vroom Car" and was super pumped that it's been warm enough that he could use it outside rather than just in the house.

Intentions Not Realized

When I created this blog, I had every intention of updating it on a daily basis. More importantly, I created it to have an outlet where I could get out all of my thoughts and experiences about motherhood, good and bad. That's why my "tag-line" is "always honest and sometime humorous." Unfortuantly, I don't feel like I've done this at all. I've occasionally griped about how Jack annoys me or about how I have no time, but really this blog as become more of an electronic baby book with photos, highlights, and milestone updates more than anything else. Therefore, at this moment, right now, I'm going to use this post to exclaim:
"Sometimes I just wish Jack would leave me the F*uck alone!"
There! That feels better.
But in all seriousness, I feel like I have this thought at least once a day. And then I feel terrible about myself. I truly feel like I'm a bad parent. Or at least not as great of a parent as I always thought I'd be. Growing up, I always knew I wanted a family. I thought being the "best mom in the world" would come naturally to me. Let me tell you, it does not. Not always anyway. My first instinct is not always to put Jack first. Sometimes (Ok. Let's be honest, often times) I have to seriously put effort into spending time with Jack and not completely ignoring him. I have to remind myself that it's a good thing that Jack has such a fondness for reading and wants me to read him 15 books a day and I shouldn't discourage him by saying, "No! I don't want to read you that book. We've read it 3 times today and I really want to watch Jeopardy!"
Does this make me a bad mother? Maybe some people would think so. I know I have a tendency to think so. I expect more from myself. I feel like being completely selfless should come naturally, and the fact that it doesn't must make me a mediocre parent. But you know what I'm really thankful for? The fact that when I might be "slipping" on my motherly duties, I have people in my life who pick up the slack for me. You know the saying, "It' takes a village to raise a child?" Well I really believe that. And of course my number one man who is there to take over for me is Josh. Josh has the uncanny ability to realize when I'm at a point where I need Jack to quit hanging on me and need some alone time. The perfect example being right now. I've had to stop three times now while writing this post to do the exact same puzzle with Jack (a puzzle that before dinner we had already done 3 times). As soon as I sat down to type again, Jack was at my side begging to me, "One more! One more!" as he shoved the puzzle in my lap. Josh came to the rescue and scooped Jack away without me even having to ask and they are now playing in his room.
But it's not just Josh. It's the other people that care for him too. I can say with 100% honesty that I'm happy Jack has to go to daycare. I've been so fortunate in having Stephanie and Sara in our lives. Both Sara, and Stephanie when Jack was with her, care so much about Jack and his well-being, growth, and development. So I know that on those days where I come home from work and I'm really selfish and I maybe forget to be super-mom that night, that at least earlier that day, someone picked up the slack for me and was an awesome "mommy" to Jack.
Am I proud to admit all of this? Not really. Do I wish it were different? Yeah. And I've been working really hard on becoming a better mother (and wife for that matter but that's for a different blog ;)) and trying not to instinctively always think of myself first. But at the same time, I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that I'm not the perfect mother I always thought I would be. That it's ok that it doesn't come as naturally to me as I thought it would. I don't have to be a Super-Mom to be a good mom. And to those super-moms out there who are actually able to give themselves 100%, 100% of the time to their kids, then I salute you. Because that's not me. And I guess that's ok. :)

I have so so much to update...

...it will take several posts.

For now, a conversation Jack and I had this afternoon as we were about to watch TS3 (for the 50 billionth time):

Jack: (in a sad voice) Buzz Bear (as he points to Lots-o on the cover)
Me: The bear in Toy Story is sort of mean, isn't he?
Jack: No....no mean.
Me: Is he just misunderstood?
Jack: No....
Me: Than what's his deal?
Jack: His tail.
Me: What? He's mean because he has a tail?
Jack: Uh-huh.

Conversations with 2 year olds are awesome because they rarely make sense.