Partners in Crime

The "partners in crime" thing is starting since Jack is now highly mobile.  Jack has been stashing objects all over the house.  Pacifers?   Yup.  Putting on my shoes in the morning and there's not one but two pacifiers tucked inside my shoe.  Food?  Yup.  Opened his brother's toy box only to find a half eaten pop tart and some fruit loops.  Cameron's toys?  Of course.  His hiding place for those is in my kitchen cabinets. 

Cameron, though limited in his speech, has been teaching Jack a word or two.  When we're stopped in the car Cameron will say, "ready, set, go!"  Jack has joined in by shouting out, "Go!"  Cameron is still making tremendous progress with his speech and vocabulary.  We have speech twice a week, and we'll start working on enunciation soon.

It's always fun and games until someone gets hurt.  Both boys were playing in Cameron's room and just giggling away.  I took this to mean a two year old and a one year old don't need adult supervision.  The next thing I know I hear "Bam!  Whhhaaaaaaa!!!"  Picking Jack up he has a purple ping pong ball sized knot sticking out of his forehead and Cameron just sits there laughing.  Suspicious?

Jack's 1st birthday - Monster Mash

Straws with monster mouths attached.  I had a whole bunch of formula cans that I wrapped in wrapping paper and decorated.

Cake from Cal's Bakery in Gonzales.  The poor man or woman who piped this entire thing probably needs carpal tunnel surgery now.

Tissue boxes for utensil holders.

Google eye headbands. 

The birthday boy. 

Adele modeling the monster straws

An assortment of food: Monster toes (corndogs), monster fingers (chicken fries), monster brains (bagel bites) and cheese puffs (my little monster's favorite).  There was fruit too.

It was chilly, but he really is that big.

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to.

Did someone say, "Cake?"  Yes, please.

Full belly

Closest thing to all looking.

Pinterest made me do it.  I searched for "monster party," and then the crafty side of me took off.  Jack was actually pretty excited about his party.  He loved playing outside with all his cousins, and he doesn't usually pass up food.  He didn't really care for cake, which I figured since it wasn't made of cheese puffs.  Cameron just grabbed his entire piece of cake and ate it by the handful. We spent an hour in the tub playing with his new Cailou toys and just trying to scrub orange icing out of his hair.

Jack's 1 year pictures

This photo shoot was so much fun.  My cousin Leslie at Timeless Treasures in Gonzales out did herself with these pictures. 

Getting caught up

Loves this fall weather

Boots, no pants, and oreos on his face.  I'd say this was a good day.

I almost forgot I had a blog.  Goodness.  Here's the run down:

Jack is getting more mobile.  He takes a few steps and then falls into your arms.  The only problem is that he thinks the "trust fall" works on inanimate objects too.  No, Jack, the window sill will not catch you.  He is a scavenger.  Anything Cameron leaves within reach, Jack will eat.  I've caught him with an entire pizza, a bag of oreos, a half eaten bagel and a bowl of popcorn.  (Some of that was nutritious.) 

Cameron is learning more and more words.  He has made such huge strides, and I can understand a huge portion of what he says or is trying to say.  He will have another evaluation for Early Steps at the end of the month, but he probably won't qualify again since you now need two areas (not just speech).  His therapist, Danielle, has agreed to stay on board with us until Cameron gets to where he needs to be.  She's amazing.   

I've started teaching again.  I took a Biology teacher's maternity leave, and I love it so far.  I get to teach, which I love, but I don't stress about all that other nonsense.  If you teach in the public schools, you know what I'm taking about.  I'll be there until the 2nd semester ends which is December 23rd.  I've already had a student ask if I was going to teach them about how babies are made.  Here we go...

Double trouble

Cameron at 10 months

Jack at 10 months

Halloween is here!

This is payback for not being prepared for his early arrival last year.  Wait until you see the WIG!

I love the opportunity to dress my kids up.  Yippee for Halloween!!  Okay so these pictures aren't the official Halloween costumes, but it's pretty close.  Jack has a hideous Elvis wig, but I couldn't get him to stop screaming long enough to take a picture with it on.  Cameron is actually supposed to be Buzz Lightyear, but he wouldn't take off his Woody pajamas.  Where to find some boots?

My boys

The last 10 minutes of Toy Story 3 always captivates them.

It would be nice if he made these faces when he wakes up at 2am.

People say he looks like Brian.

Cameron is getting so grown up

I'm pretty sure bullying starts on the playground.  It appears the bully in this situation can't even walk yet.  Oh Jack.

During the credits of Toy Story 3 there is a scene where Barbie comes out of the dream house in a gold glitter dress with her hair down.  Cameron points to Barbie and says, "Mama."  This speech thing sure is working out.

Such a ham

He wanted to wear my glasses so I got him his own pair.  He looks like Harry Carey.

Bath time is always interesting

Disregard the fact that he is dancing on my table and just enjoy.

Who needs pants to cut the grass?  Brian gets a riding lawn mower, but Cameron still has to push.

Back to work

I finally decided to go back to work as a substitute.  Wouldn't you know I got a call on the first day of school?  I subbed five days for an English teacher that quit after one day on the job.  (I cannot say anything about that.  I quit my job with Pinnacle in Indiana after two days.  It happens.)  I was a little too confident with my English skills or too clueless to teach anything.  When did high school English become strictly literature?  Where is the grammar, people?  Surely we aren't going to rely solely on spell check for the rest of our lives.  If that's the case, get rid of the math classes because I'll be damned if I'm doing calculations without a calculator.  I digress.  Here is where my concern comes in.  I printed out a grammar worksheet for these kids to do, and I was baffled at the speed at which they finished.  Looking closer at it I realized they didn't seem to think there was a problem with the sentences.  Allow me to elaborate...The first section was picking out the correct spelling of some tricky words - their vs. there, chief vs. cheif, etc.  I emphasized the rule "i before e except after c" and of course one smart ass said, "Well neighbor doesn't have a 'c' so how should I know."  Of course.  The section section required students to put apostrophes in the right place.  Lots of puzzled looks.  "What is this word (apostrophe)?"  Me: "It shows possession of something."  Student: "What does that mean?"  Wait for it... another student, "It's a comma you put at the top."  Oh boy.  "So you just put it on the words that end in 's?'"  I kid you not he had an apostrophe on the word "shoes."  It was the last word in the sentence.  My favorite part of this whole worksheet was the part about putting the words in the right tense.  Present. Past. Future.  One student couldn't wrap his brains around the future thing.  "So if it has an "s" on it, it's future tense."  (The word in question was "suggests.")  My mind was blown.  Maybe tenses aren't covered until junior year.  I'm not sure what would have happened had I asked him to diagram the sentence.  (Shout out to Mrs. Walton for that one!) 
 

Jack is on the move

Such a happy boy to be on the move

Playing with brother's toy - And now the fights begin

Slim

Nine months and on the move.  Now my cleaning workload increases.  I picked the kid up and thought, "I don't remember putting black socks on you."  Then the realization of, "I didn't put any socks on you today."  Is is possible to make an outfit out of Swiffers and just let him go to town.  It's a cheap version of a Roomba.  I also am back to, "What is in your mouth?"  He hasn't eaten anything too crazy...yet. 


Jack's official weigh in was 23.5 pounds and 29.5 inches.  What a shrimp!  No, really.  He's a good 2 pounds lighter than Cameron was at this age. 

Cameron dancing

He will be so ticked when I show this to his girlfriend one day, but I couldn't help myself.  His favorite song is Surfin' Bird, and my mom had that song as background music on a Smilebox she made.  This is his reaction.  It's nice to know he gets his dance moves from his Mama.

Happy 2nd birthday, Cameron!

It was a baseball themed party

Dancing to "I Got a Feeling" before the party

He loved playing with this little truck!

Voted 1st gift to get thrown away...but I cannot.  He LOVES his drum.

The babies...Jack, Adrienne and Alex

The buddies Cy and Cameron

Daddy helping Cameron make a wish

Thank you Captain Obvious

I understand that children attract attention.  My children usually draw a lot of attention just based on their volume and antics alone.  Here are a few of my favorite comments that we get almost everywhere.

Cameron has an internal step counter that doesn't allow him to take fewer than 20,000 steps in a given day.  The phrase, "Son, get over here and stand still," cannot overtake "Who Let the Dogs Out" which must be playing in his mind.  Ah yes, the doctor's office.  My most favorite place to take a child.  I swear next time I'm going to wear a SARS mask and hopefully people get the picture.  While we were waiting for the allergist, Cameron runs from one wall to the next screaming at the top of his lungs...for fifteen minutes.  "Wow, that kid doesn't stop does he?"  That's the parenting vernacular of, "Your child is annoying the piss out of us and he's obviously a candidate for ADHD medicine."  What I would like to say is, "No lady, he's the youngest IronMan participant and this appointment is interfering with his training."

Jack can always draw up the fat comment.  "Wow, that is a big baby!"  Do you approach your adult friends with, "Damn, you're big!"  Nope, didn't think so.  One of the only times in your life you can be fat and it should be acceptable is when you're a baby.  He's cute and healthy.  His ankle rolls are a sign that he's getting fed.  Deal with it.

"Looks like you got your hands full."  I sure as hell do.  Now open the damn door for me instead of lounging on the rockers in front of Cracker Barrell.

"I can't understand anything he's saying."  No shit.  He's two and he's in speech for his delay.  I should start telling people, "Yeah we taught him Vietnamese as a second language, and he really just took to it."

"Are they both yours?"  One day I will get the balls to say, "No, I picked up the little one by the curb.  You want him?"

"Can I hold him (Jack)?"  My thought is always, "You'll be sorry."  They give him back within minutes after the screaming.  

Two hams

These two little boys are a trip.  The one on the left is Alex, who is Tom and Maranda's youngest boy.  Jack is on the right.  I haven't posted in a while so I'm trying to refresh your memory.  Alex will be 1 in August and Jack will be right behind him turning 1 in October.  The two of them combined weigh right at 50 pounds (possibly more since my son has more rolls than a bakery).    Alex can commando crawl, but Jack is still pretty immobile (and I am not at all upset by that).   These two little boys have smiles that light up rooms, but boy can they duke it out.  Try putting a cheerio in front of the two of them and see what happens...it could get out of hand.  The middle picture is them fighting over a toy.  Neither one really wants the bucket.  Neither wants the other one to have the bucket

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Trouble 1 and Trouble 2

He does not look happy about this picture.

He dumped the pot of dirt on himself shortly after this.

Swing set

Okay so I get they are both hanging off the edge.  I promise I was close enough to catch.

We finally picked out a swing set!!!  Nothing says, "I love the summer," more than assembling a 2,000 piece swing set outside in the heat.  I knew it would be bad when I couldn't even help Brian lift the boxes.  It was even worse when we opened the boxes.  Not even a swing was put together.  My first thought was actually pretty selfish.  It was something along the lines of, "I am going to owe Brian big time for this one."

After the swing set was assembled, it was hard to keep Cameron off of it...until someone let me supervise him.  One morning I forgot to wipe off the "super speedy" slide.  No big deal.  Ha!  The combination of silky nylon shorts and a super speedy surface proved detrimental to the future enjoyment of our slide.  Cameron picked up enough speed to go airborne after his tush left the bottom of the slide.  Kids are not cats...they do not always land on their feet.  The child hit butt, back, then head before finally skidding to a hault about 2 feet away from the slide.  He hasn't been down the slide again. 

In case you were wondering Jack hates the swing set.  Hate is too strong of a word.  He strongly dislikes being put in the swing.  Big boys apparently like their center of gravity and their lunch to stay put.