Hang in There!

Hello! I'm so sorry I haven't blogged in over a week. I have a lot going on right now, and the entire family is sick. I have so many posts that are almost ready to go up, so just bare with me (ie MOM!). Thanks for your patience!

Caution: Men at Work!

This morning I got to wake up to Kevin's "Dad's Supreme Pancakes". He is such a better cook than I am so he made Jack and I his awesome pancakes. It's a secret recipe, or so he says, but I'm pretty sure he just read the directions on the box and added chocolate chips. Oooh! He knows the way to a girl's heart!

Afterwards the boys decided to do some "man work". Kevin needed to make some adjustments to his r/c car, and Jack just loves helping him. Now they are in the backyard mowing the lawn together. While Kevin mows, Jack stands on the patio screaming toddler profanities at the lawnmower and pointing at it. Good times at the Reese/Barnum home.

After Jack's nap today, we are going to the Humane Society to look at kitties. Despite my disapproval, the boys out voted me again 2 to 1. Somehow though, I think Kevin is cheating by holding Jack's hand up for him. Anyway, it doesn't hurt to look, and it makes Jack so happy to see the cats at the shelter. Tonight we'll go on our family walk and take Jack to the park and end our wonderful Saturday with season 9 episodes 14-18 of Stargate SG-1. Nerd Power!

Girl's Night!

Yesterday I decided it was time to take the Jack and Gadge on their first outing. I wanted to wait this long before I took Gadge out because I wanted him to be comfortable with me and trust me, especially in public. So, I took the boys to Story Time at the library. Gadge, who is usually a pain in my bottom, was perfect! He listened to me the entire time. During story time he sat quietly and listened. Then when it was time dance or wiggle he participated. He made friends with the other children (there were over 35 kids!). He was amazing and I was so happy to see how much progress I'm making with him. His mom was shocked at how well behaved he was and was so happy that he got to go. So once a week I'll be taking the two boys to the library for Story Time. Jack was good as well. He was a bit difficult getting him to leave the library, but other then that he was a doll.

Last night I got to have Girl's Night with my sister and sister-in-law. I haven't had a girl's night in forever! We went to Jessica's house and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic, which totally made me want to max out my credit cards on purses and shoes. We ate artichoke dip, humus, chips, and all sorts of goodies. Muffin even joined in on the Girl's Night fun! Thanks Jess and Laura for the awesome night and good laughs!

Today I am watching James with Jack. Both boys are napping so I am quickly getting my blogging and other internet activities done. James is the sweetest angel. I'll be taking him and Jack on a nice long walk in the red wagon this afternoon. My diet has had a few slips in it, but for the most part I'm staying on track... kinda. My jeans still fit well, so at least I'm not gaining weight!

Hair Cut Time

After months of growing Jack's hair out, we decided to finally cut it. I won't lie, I almost cried. I loved his long hair. It always smelled so good, and was as soft as can be! But Kevin needed his hair cut, so we figured we'd do Jack's hair, too. Those boys love to be twins! Jack was really mad that we did it, and I promised him we wouldn't do it again until he was ready. Poor baby, I hate it when he cries.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I also forgot to mention that this past week while we were with Aunt Jessica, we saw the Best in Show Dog Parade downtown. Jack loved seeing all of the dogs. My favorite was a Prince Charles Spaniel. We made eye contact and I knew we were meant for each other. It was a lot of fun to see all of the fancy breeds that we rarely get to see elsewhere. Because of that, it inspired us to go to the Humane Society to look at pets. The moment I walked into the dog section, I basically turned around and walked out. We are not getting a rescue dog. I'm no beauty queen, but those were some ugly and smelly dogs. Jack loves the cats more, anyway. The dogs make him pretty nervous. We spent at least an hour looking at cats. They let you take them out of their cages and into a big room to play with them. We tried out three different cats, but none of them seemed to be "the one". There was one cat Jack really wanted to take in there, an 18 pound orange cat, but it was under observation until the 15th. I promised Jack we would go back on the 15th to see him though. He loved looking in each of the cages (which were more like glass condos) and talking to the cats. He would meow at them, and then point at which ones he wanted to look at. It was so sweet. Kevin, on the other hand, blew up like a blow fish from all of the cat hair. He says he'll be fine with one cat, but that many cats just set his allergies off. Yeah, yeah, he says that now. I'm still not feeling like we are ready to commit to a cat, but I was outnumbered 2 to 1. Those darn boys always stick together!

Mommy, Wow! I'm a Big Boy Now!

Jack had his 2 year check-up with Dr. Stiener on Tuesday. We arrived to the doctor's office and the first thing we needed to do was get his weight. Jack refused to stand on the normal scale, so we had to place him in the baby scale lying down. He was screaming his lungs out and crying; it really broke my heart. The nurse said he was 33 pounds, which I think she is completely wrong. He is at least 45 pounds if you ask me! So, I'm going to weigh him the next time I'm somewhere with a scale. Anyway, after weighing him, she measured him and he is 2' 9"! He is in the 95th percentile in height, and 90th percentile in weight. Doc says he's proportionate so not to worry about his sturdy size. Everything else with him checked out great. Unfortunately, he threw quite the temper tantrum while she was checking him out. He threw his fish crackers on the floor, screamed and just had a total melt down. Dr. Stiener said he was just expressing his independence and how wonderful it was. She's really good at putting a positive spin to things. She left and sent in two nurses so he could get his shots. I had to pin his upper body down, one nurse took his legs and pinned those down, and the other nurse gave him his shots. He was not a happy boy! Afterwards though as we were leaving, he saw the two nurses down the hall, smiled & waved, and told them "Buh-bye!". At least he wasn't completely traumatized by the event.

On Saturday we went over to Aunt Jessica's house. We went to a cute little boutique, and then took Jack to "Pirate Park". It's actually called Drake Park, but it has this awesome boat in it so it's nick-named Pirate Park. Jack had a blast there and played really hard. Aunt Jessica really wore him out for me! By the time we got home, we both had to take naps.

Today Kevin and Jack are watching football together. Kevin is explaining the rules to Jack and they are tossing the football back and forth with each other. The only reason I'm watching it is because there are some really cute guys on the Brown's. Brady Quinn = Ooh lala!

Blue Bunny & The High Desert Museum

Jack's best friend (besides me, Kevin, Jessica, Pippa, well, ya know, everyone!) is his Blue Bunny. Blue Bon, as I like to call him, goes through the wash and dryer a lot! He's lost an ear which Kevin has sewn back on. We've had to cut off the tips of his ears because Jack ate all of the fur off of them (ewww, I know) and then sew them closed. Every day I find a new piece of sticky food imbedded in Blue Bon's fur which grosses me completely out, so I keep washing him and he keeps getting a little bit more like the Velveteen Rabbit, if ya know what I mean! Still, Jack loves his Blue Bon.

In other news, last Sunday we took Jack to the High Desert Museum. Kevin gets free tickets from his work so we thought it would make for a fun family adventure. Jack got to go face to face with a bobcat (with 5 inches of glass between them)! He saw a Canadian Lynx, and many other animals. We walked around and learned about the Paiute Indians, the Old West and cowboys, and many other things. Here's Jack inspecting the fish outside of the museum:

Lastly, Jack is having a blast with having James and Gadge coming over almost daily. I'm personally exhausted from Gadge. James, on the other hand, is a complete angel and I want to adopt him! Too bad he has amazing and loving parents who are just about the raddest people ever. Anyway, here's a great photo of the boys hamming it up. Notice that Jack likes to distribute the toys to the boys. He doesn't mind sharing as long as he gets to pick which toys go to which boy.

Pajama Party!

Last Saturday we had James over for the afternoon and evening while his parents were at a wedding. It just so happens that is the same day I agreed to dog sit Jessica's friend, Valerie's, dog named Lady. Now, when you hear the name Lady, don't think of a cute fluffy spaniel, or something you can fit in your purse and use as an accessory? Well, I did, until I met her! She's a beautiful dog, don't get me wrong, but she is the size of a horse! Standing on four legs she was higher then or dining room table and standing up she and Kevin were about the same height! But don't let her big size fool you... she was the most amazing dog ever! She cuddled and played, and she was so good with James and Jack!

Jack pretty much avoided Lady. He would pet her back and say, "Nice..." but if her face got too close to him he would run. James on the other hand lives with two enormous dogs so he's used to the licks and stuff. He would lay on Lady, cuddle her, everything. They were like two peas in a pod!

That night I got the two boys in their pajamas. Grandma Tutu bought Jack an awesome pair of pirate pajamas made of organic cotton (oh la la!) so he wore those to the pajama party. The boys played hard, ate tons of food, and had an overall awesome night together.

Jack doing the "Running Man" dance. He's a maniac! Maniac! Ok, that was so 1986 of me.

Jack is usually a good sharer. But he was not about to share his birthday truck from Great Grandma Elaine!

Getting sleepy...

And he's out!

So Behind... So Sorry!

I have been such a bad blogging mama lately, especially since I have so many new photos to post and so many new adventures to talk about! So, I'm sorting through the latest pictures I've taken and organizing them so I can blog about each of Jack's new experiences. I'll have a really awesome new one up tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Above: Babycakes reading his new Disney's Car book with sketching pad. Below: When Jack misbehaves and he knows he is heading to the "naughty spot", he'll try to hide from us under the dining table or hide under my desk/drawer thing... But in the end, we always catch our tot!

James, one of the tots I babysit, and Jack, enjoying the sunshine and drawing.