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.

Where Does the Time Go? (I'm pretty sure this has been the title to posts in the past)

It's amazing how many times I think during the week, "I need to blog about this," and then I get distracted by thoughts of choir, or football, or the loud crash I hear in Jack's room, and think "I'll get it it later." And later becomes the week of Christmas.

Jack has been really into letters lately. Whenever we are driving down the road he is shouting from the back seat "O!" "T!" "B!" as he points to the signs we pass by. The other night we caught Jack "reading" Josh's book.

He was making up words and he followed along with his finger.

Speaking of words it still amazes me when he says a word and I'm like "You didn't know that yesterday!" For example, tonight we were coloring Christmas cards and I asked if he wanted the red crayon and he said, "No. Yellow." Clear as day said yellow when that is a word he's never been able to master.

Jack has also developed a love for trains. We hear trains passing by several times a day and when they blow the whistle, his eyes widen and he shouts, "Mama! CHOO-CHOO!" Prior to this he called trains and trucks "buses." Now he's calling trucks "trains."

Jack is really into the "Christmas spirit" this year as he understands a little more what it is. He was such a good helper when we decorated the tree, although he did have a tendency to put all of the ornaments in one spot.

Our tree is rather small and pathetic now that we have such a large place with cathedral ceilings.

Jack has done a great job of understanding that he can't open his presents till Christmas. When I first put them under the tree he went straight for them and tried to open them, but I only had to explain the process to him once and he understood. For the first week he was still so excited by them that in the morning the first thing he'd do is run to the tree and line up each of the presents and look at them.

I made Jack an advent calendar with each day having a special thing we'd do that day. 

Jack really enjoys opening each card each day so I'm really glad that I took the time to do it. It sort of "spreads out" the Christmas season so it's not just one day of excitement and then it's done.

One of the days, the card read "Let's have a Christmas dance party tonight!" We put on Christmas music and spent the evening dancing like crazy in the living room.

I know I look a little goofy in this picture but I think it shows how much fun we had :)

Other cute Christmas things Jack does:
Calls Christmas Trees "Patrick" because of the star on top (for those who don't know, Patrick is the name of the starfish on Spongebob)
Says "Ooh! Ahh!" when we pass houses with Christmas lights.
Shouts "Ho! Ho! Ho!" whenever he hears sleigh bells on TV or in a song.

The past few days have been filled with family and friends. We've done more entertaining than I've ever done in my life! It was such a nice, warm, feeling to have so many people we love in our lives all in one weekend! Plus, to be honest, it was just nice to feel like we have friends. Lol. I apparently thought I was 21 again and went out til nearly 2am on both Friday and Saturday nights! And it's always so nice when Jack gets to see his bestie, Cara!

These pictures are from our last visit to Mt. Pleasant.

 Cara says Cheese!

Jack says cheese!

This weekend my mom came to visit to see my choir and see Jack in his Christmas pageant. But that deserves it's own post and pictures so I'll comment on that more, later.

For now I'll end with this: The reason I'm able to have time to write this is because my poor little baby is super sick and still sleeping. He threw up 7 times over the course of the night. He is such a brave little boy, though, and didn't cry once. Everyone please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as we hope for a speedy recovery!

Sports Fan

Jack LOVES watching Josh play Madden. Whenever I'm trying to get Jack to go to sleep at night and Josh is out in the living room, Jack repeats over and over, "Dada Ball?" He's always so worried that Josh is out there secretly playing Madden while Jack is stuck in bed.
Tonight he gathered all of his favorite stuffed animals so they could watch daddy play front and center. He was very concerned about "Mouse" being able to see. He kept making sure his head was facing the TV.
Apparently Pooh and Buzz like football the best. At least that's what Jack told me.
In this photo, he is telling Pooh to "Say Cheese!"

This photo is Jack's reaction to Josh scoring a touchdown. All you have to do is say the word "Touchdown" to Jack and he'll throw his arms up in the air.

Here Jack is clapping after the Packers (who Josh plays as) forced a fumble and recovered it. And I swear I heard him say "fumble."

I wish I would have had my video camera out for this. After Josh scored his second touchdown, Jack literally leaped out of the couch and started jumping up and down shouting "Yay! Yay!"

We are heading to Mt. Pleasant tomorrow and plan on taking Jack to O'Kelly's for lunch so we can see both the Packers and Lions games. We are fairly certain that Jack is going to go nuts with so many football games on the big screen and is going to be the center of attention.

Yesterday we went to the Silver Bells Parade and Capital Building Christmas tree lighting. I posted pics on FB so check them out!