Jonas - 11 months

So I'm about 2 weeks late on this post.  Jonas turned 11 months the day Charly turned 3 so I put off his post so as to not take away from her.  I didn't mean to let almost 2 weeks get away from us.  Not much has changed since 10-months.  He's still busy.  He has however switched over to one nap (as of this week).  It has made all the difference for this little guy.  For some reason 2 naps just weren't working for him.  He would wake up from both of them just crying and grumpy.  I would have to hold him for at least 30-40 minutes after he would wake up, and it wasn't sweet, snuggly holding.  It was fussy, mom can't sit down, squirmy but don't you dare put me down holding.  He was also waking up earlier and earlier each day...like 5:15 am.  Now he takes one nap in the afternoon for about 2 hours, and he is the happiest little guy.

Also, if you missed my last post, our little boy is walking now.  He grew this past week (okay, it seems like 11 1/2 months is a busy week for him).  I had to bump him up to the 18 month clothes.  Sigh...they grow SO fast.  Poor big sister is having to learn the hard way.  Jonas has started trying to "play" with her, but since he's so clumsy and so close to her size (there's only a 5 lb. difference between them), he's always knocking her over.  He's also quick to volunteer her to share snack with him.

He's also been real interested in books lately.  Sometimes I'll hear him just giggling, and when I walk over to see what's so funny...it's always a book.  It reminds me of my brothers Dario and Josh.  I always remember them giggling when they were reading, and it makes me happy.  And a little bit homesick for my brothers.

Borracho

We now have a little drunk walker at our house!

The Good Stuff

I don't ever buy sugary cereals.  The most sugary cereal we have is Multigrain Cheerios.  We do however have very generous neighbors.  They give us food all the time as gifts for the kids.  Recently they gave us some Cocoa Puffs.  Saturday morning Adam pulled it out, and I said, "Oh, the good stuff."  Now C refers to it at "The Good Stuff."  She does't even know it's real name.

Charly-Bean is Three!

Saturday our little lady had her 3rd birthday.  It seems so strange to me that I have a three-year-old.  I came across a great deal at a yard sale on a play kitchen that I just couldn't pass up.  It was a big hit...she's been playing with it non-stop for the past 2 days.  She was so excited to open all her presents in the morning.  Gotta love that hair in her face!

A couple months ago I asked C what kind of birthday party she wanted.  After a little thought, she informed me that she wanted a strawberry party.  I thought it was just a whim, but when I asked her a few weeks later what kind of party she wanted (I thought for sure I would get a differet response.), she replied, "Ugh, I already told you Mom, I want a strawberry party. "  Well, I guess that settles it then!  Oh, and when did the attitude show up?

We were looking through some old pictures a while ago, and she saw a picture of her going to another birthday party in a tutu that we borrowed from a friend.  She excitedly asked me if she could wear a tutu to her birthday party, and I just couldn't resist.  So, I made her one.  She was feeling pretty silly when I tried to get a picture of her.  She was pretty excited about it being her birthday...



 She had four of her little friends come over to help celebrate.  She was in heaven!



Spider-baby

This little guy seems to think he's Spider-Man.  Lately, I've found him climbing all sorts of things.  All of which he's unable to get himself down from...like this chair and our shoe shelf.

And he looks like Spider-Man scaling a wall when he crawls, only he goes horizontally.

I saw him playing with a spider about a month ago.  I wonder if it bit him...

Family Pictures 2011

Remember Jonas' newborn pictures?  The same talented friend of mine, Jenny Gildea, is about to have her own little newborn to snuggle.  I really wanted her to take our family pictures this year, so we took them a little earlier than usual.  So, we're all going to be six months older by the time we send them out with Christmas cards, but it was so worth it.  Love her work!
Here are a few of my favorites.

For years Adam has complained when it was time to take family pictures because I always chose where they were taken, what we wore, etc.  So, this year it was his turn to choose the details.  He really wanted a mud fight.  Yep, you read that correctly.  So we put on our white t-shirts and headed out to our muddy field, only to find it taken over by cricket players.  We had to settle for the dirty pond mud.  Adam saw the whole thing going differently in his head, but the kids hated it.  There was lots of crying and screaming.

Bring it!

Don 't hate us or think we're awful parents.  I promise we made up with the kiddos!

See...

Our Sandy Saturday

Yesterday we went to the beach as a family to play in the sand and the water.  We were lucky enough to have Daddy join us without getting called away to work!  He has been working long hours, and his moments of leisure have been few since the beginning of the month.

Jonas loved picking up rocks and putting them in his sister's bucket.  Maybe I should get him his own...in a more manly color.

Does anyone else think these two look like they're the same size except for the length of their arms and legs?

Little Lady LOVES the beach.  She is working up the courage to put her ears under the water so she can learn to swim.  She practices in the bath tub.  Her sand castles are more like sand shacks right now, but hey, every artist has to begin somewhere!

Jonas - 10 months

My little 10-month-old is busy!  Really, he's usually too busy for me.  Mr. Independent has things to do that don't involve mom.  Some of the items on his agenda are: pull all the books of the shelf and throw Charlotte's papers on the floor (please see pictures below),



roll the toilet paper off the roll, and play in the toilet when sister forgets to put the seat down (we've had to start keeping the bathroom door closed), throw the shoes by the door, throw toys, pull sister's hair whenever she's laying on the floor, bite sock-less toes and any nose (we're trying to curb the biting), climb the stairs, push the buttons on the Xbox and Wii remote, cruise along the couches, pull cans off the shelf in the pantry, climb into the laundry basket and throw out all the folded clothes, eat dirt, grass and anything else he can get in his mouth, attempt to climb into the dishwasher when mom is loading it, play with the door stops on the back of the doors, spin the wheels on sister's baby stroller or toy vacuum, etc.

So, he's not super interested in playing with me when I try to sit down and do something with him.  It's a little strange since Charlotte was always clamouring for attention.  Little brother has been pretty good about entertaining himself.  I thought it would be bliss, but it's not because I really don't have anymore time now than before to do something I want to do.  Instead the time once spent entertaining is now spent picking up the aftermath of Tornado Jonas.  And I love him.  And I love to organize.  So really, I am really in a win-win situation here!

No weight or height stats this month.  I don't think he's grown too much because he's still in 12 month clothing.  He gave up his pacifier this month,  by his own will.  His naps are becoming more consistent...finally!  He is tons of fun to have around.  A happy, happy boy despite being on the serious side. Yadda, yadda, yadda...here are some cute pictures.