Jake - 2 1/2 Years

So, I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but wasn't able to finish it & post it. I knew I should have started it 2 months ago so it would be ready to post on his actual half birthday. He is changing so much! In italics are the things that have already changed since I started this post. So now, I just have to pretend like I actually posted it June 24...

Jake is 2 1/2 today. 30 months old. 130 weeks old. He is complete toddler. Sweet, hard headed, impressionable, laughable, moody, lovable. He is our little souvenir from Mexico & I can't imagine our life without him. There are moments when I want to beat my head against the wall, but there are so many more moments that I just cling to and want to hold on to forever. The way he talks, laughs, looks at me, looks at the world, learns, loves. I wish I could bottle it. I never want to forget the way it makes me feel. Since he is 30 months, here are 30 things about him...

1) He loves movies. Toy Story is his favorite. (It was his favorite 3 weeks ago.)

2) Granddad got him Cars the other day & he really enjoyed watching it too. He calls Lightening McQueen "Queen" & Mator "Lator". (He was obsessed with everything Cars related last week. But that was last week.)

3) Now he loves Gnomeo & Juliet this week. For some reason, he calls Gnomeo "Pinocchio" and Juliet "Julia". So he will always ask if he can watch "Pinocchio & Julia".

4) I swear our child is not a couch potato! A lot of times it will be on & he will start watching it, but then start playing. I think he really likes the music parts of the movies. I'd love it if he never watched TV, but it is a LIFE SAVER for car rides & conference calls!

5) He loves to play outside. He asks to go "outside" at least 20 times a day. He of course has outdoor time at school & then I try to take him out around 4:00 if work permits. Even at 4:00, he is still pouring sweat. Poor thing!

6) He loves to go to the park. His favorite are the swings.

7) He loves to color. He gets such look of concentration. I love to watch him color, but I hate the mess. Yes, crayons have created some of our biggest messes. Jake loves to dump them out of the box, so they always get stepped on. He also loves to color in the car. Which we always forget & then in return get a huge melted mess.

8) He loves for you to read to him. He loves to "read" his favorite books back to you.

9) His eating is okay. Sometimes he will not eat anything, other times he eats everything.

10) His new treat & favorite thing is popcorn. He also especially loves gummies & yogurt (which he calls "sogurt". He combined the words 'so good' & 'yogurt').

11) Sometimes he will still take a mid-day nap, but not usually. I don't fight him too hard on it, because he goes to bed so much better if he doesn't take a nap. I do make him lie down & rest though for at least an hour. (He stayed with my mom this week & she got him back on a nap schedule. Yea mom!!)

12) We stink at potty training. I'm actually going to break down & buy a advice book. I think that we are going with Potty Wise. I'm really not in panic mood yet, I feel like we have time. I'm just frustrated, because he shows all of the signs that he is ready. He just likes peeing in a diaper I guess. (Our sweet friends Gary & Summer let us borrow their potty training book 'Potty Wise'. I feel pretty comfortable using ANYthing they suggest because they have 2 of the sweetest kindest most well behaved kids! I've read the book, so we are going to start trying! We'll see how it goes!)

13) He is enjoying his new Mom's Day Out program. His favorite things are the playground & the buggy rides.

14) He loves the Bush's cat, named Tiger. Since the cat's name is Tiger, Jake feels like he needs to growl at Tiger (in a friendly way). Tiger & Jake have a love/hate relationship. Jake loves Tiger & Tiger hates Jake.

15) Jake is bossy. His favorite person to boss around is me. Throughout the day I hear "come on mommy", "stop it mommy", "over here mommy", "no mommy", etc...

16) Next favorite to boss are the Bush's 2 dogs, Champ & Bruiser. He is very bossy. They will be no where close & Jake will start bossing them.

17) He doesn't like to sing or dance too much. (Can't blame him, neither do I.) But I love it when I do catch him doing either one.

18) He loves for you to sing to him. But only the songs he requests. And he requests the same ones in the same order every time. Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children & Swing Low.

19) He usually wakes up around 4:00 AM & wants to get in bed with us. I don't fight it, because selfishly, I want the additional 2 hours of sleep & I know that he will fall back asleep.

20) We start getting ready for bed around 7:30 PM. We take a bath, read books & then lay down. Our sleeping arrangement is not ideal, but we are doing the best we can. Jake is upstairs in the huge bonus room, while we are all downstairs. I think that is why he has had so many sleeping problems since we moved in the Bush's. So for now, to get him to go to sleep, you just have to be upstairs. Usually, I'll just work on some work stuff out of his sight while he falls asleep. He can't see me, but he can hear me if I try to leave before he is asleep! We can't let him just cry it out, because he will climb out of his crib (which we need to bite the bullet & go ahead & turn it into a toddler bed). It think if he was in his own room, he would be fine. But he is in the big bonus room (which also houses my office & his playroom). So, we are just doing the best we can. (We broke down & converted the crib to a toddler bed. We are trying it out for the first time tonight.)

21) He calls DVDs 'DDDs'. He is every DVD's nightmare. I don't know how many DVD's he has ruined. He is obsessed with carrying them around. I don't think we have 1 DVD that still works without skipping.

22) He can say his whole name. He'll either tell you his name is Jake Bush or Jacob William. He'll also tell you how old he is.

23) He can say his ABCs & pick out all of the letters & numbers. He will spell out STOP, Netflix, etc...

24) He LOVES trains. He would rather watch Chuggington then Thomas, but he loves playing with the Thomas trains. He gets so excited if he sees any kind of train & you read him a book about trains. He loves when we pass railroad tracks. How come before I had him, it seemed like I would get stopped by trains ALL the time. I've been so hoping to get stopped by a train with Jake with me, and of course it hasn't happened. I guess Birmingham doesn't have as many train tracks as Chattanooga.

25) His love of garbage trucks comes a close second to trains.

26) He repeats everything. Usually it is pretty funny. Sometimes it is kind of embarrassing.

27) I love watching him in the mornings when Robbie leaves. He has to hug him, then chest bump him, then hand blow it up. Next he has to tell him he loves him & lastly tell him 'have a good day!'. I love it!

28) He gets things easily confused. Like if he wants you to hold him, he says 'hold you'. And if we are upstairs, he'll tell me 'go upstairs'.

29) My very favorite thing he says is "Hey MOMMY!" in a high pitch voice whenever he sees me. It doesn't matter if he hasn't seen me in a few days or in a few seconds. You still get the excited face, hug & welcome.

30) He makes us laugh, he makes us worry, he makes us feel loved. And we sure do love that sweet little boy back.

Addie comes to visit!

Jake's good ole pal Addie (& our good ole friends, her parents) come to visit us in Birmingham from Chattanooga over the weekend. Jake & Addie had such much fun being reunited (& us parents had a pretty good time ourselves!).

As soon as Addie got into town Friday night, her & Jake picked right up where they left off. Running, laughing, screaming... They kept running up & down the Bush's front hallway.

Getting ready to go to bed Friday night. They were hugging & of course I was either a second too early with the picture or a second too late. On Saturday, the boys went to play golf & us girls (& Jake) went to the McWane Center. The kids had such a great time!

Jake's favorite... the water

New exhibit: Bubbles. It was really neat & the kids loved it.Huge body bubble (that you can't see!)

Exhibit that is way too old for the kids, but they don't care. They just liked that they could see themselves on the big TV.

Digging for fossilsJake loved the train display

Huge lite bright

Playing the piano

Jake got to go down the huge slide from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor (last time we were there it was closed).After we got home, ate lunch & took naps, the real fun began. Jake & Addie played outside all afternoon. They were having the best time.

Cooling off with PopsiclesSo tired they had to take "naps" on the cement!

The Bush's were nice enough to watch the kids so us adults could go out to dinner Saturday night. Good thing the kids were so wiped out! Addie was asleep before we even left & Jake wasn't too far behind!

We were so happy that the S family came to visit us! 2 weekends with 2 visits from our Chattanooga friends in a row! We made such special friends while we were in Chattanooga. I know that we live in a different city now & won't see each other as often, but I hope that we always stay close & are always able to pick right up where we left off. Thank you Zach, Kimberly & Addie for the visit! We had such a great time!!

Happy Father's Day

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society." -Billy Graham

Happy Father's Day!

Robbie & his dadRobbie & his grandfather Jake & Granddad

Jake & Granddad JakeThe Bush men

My dad & me

Gran & Jake

Daddy & Jake

Oh how wonderful these men are. Robbie & I have been so blessed to have been raised by such strong Christian men and Jake & I are very lucky that Robbie seems to be following in their footsteps.

Monogrammed Items for Sale

This post breaks my heart to write. I've gone back & forth what to do with Jake's monogrammed clothes. I know it sounds crazy, but I just love things monogrammed. Many of the items were gifts, so they are just very special to me. But what am I seriously going to do with them? It's not like our next child will be named Jake. And am I seriously going to hold on to them until Jake has a child & hopes he names it Jake? They will just sit in a box in the attic until I take them out to see yellow stains all over them. So I figure I should give them to a good home (and at least try to re-coop a small portion of all the money I've spent!). So... if you know anyone with a child named Jake, let me know & make an offer!

1) Airplane long sleeve tee (size 24M) (Matches red check pants below)
2) Reindeer long sleeve tee (size 24 M) & Red/White check pants
3) Green check jon jon (size 9M)
4) Brown corduroy long jon jon (handmade, probably around size 12M)
Gerber stripe onesie (size 0-3M), Brown short sleeve shirt (size 18M), Red long sleeve tee (size 12M), Christmas pajamas (size 2T), 2 bibs, burp cloth & hat

I also have things that are monogrammed with his initials. JWB & jBw. Light blue corduroy overalls (size 0-3M), Navy overalls (size 3-6M) & Red/Brown long sleeve tee & corduroy pants (size 18-24M). Also a bib & burp cloth.