Halloween photos. In December!

Better late than never!

Lincoln the pirate and Batman Jack were adorable and had SO much fun!





Undecided

Yes, STILL.  Five days away from THE MOST IMPORTANT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF YOUR LIFETIME! I remain undecided between Mitt Romney and President Obama.  And I finally realized why.

I am a Christian, and I believe in love, compassion and helping others, especially "the least of these"--those on the fringes/at the bottom of society.  People who cannot, or don't know how to, help themselves.  Heck, look at my students.  I've been at SCORE for 9 years, and my students are the very definition.  I believe that love was and is Jesus' main lesson for us. 

But.

I am also a very independent person, a historian and a student of government.  I strongly believe in personal responsibility, self-sufficience and hard work.  I believe that states should maintain much power, and that our current federal government is much too large and wasteful.  The necessary and proper clause has been used to strip the states of almost all of their power over the last hundred years, and I don't think that's what the Founders intended.  Federalism means that the states have to have power, too!  And not just in name only.  Overly large federal governments always manage to collapse on themselves, and that does not bode well for us.

You could probably call me a "compassionate conservative."  Whatever happened to this idea, anyway?

These are the major facets of who I am, and they are contradictory.

President Obama is much more compassionate toward people who are hurting--the unemployed, the ill--and even though I definitely don't agree with everything he's done, I can see compassion at work in some of what he's done the last four years.

However, it seems that Obama's compassion comes with a blank check for any kind of sinful behavior.  I don't believe that love means allowing everyone to do anything they want.  That's called anarchy, people!  Jesus loved everyone unconditionally, but He did not excuse sin.  Every good parent knows that the unconditional love we feel for our children does not mean that we allow them to do anything they want:  they crave boundaries, even though they may not know it, and when we set boundaries, we show love.

Mitt Romney is much more independent, a believer in small government and personal responsibility.  Living within your means is an extremely important part of maintaining independence, and I think Romney can get the federal government under control (even though I don't agree with all of his proposals).

However, Romney's independence comes at the cost of compassion.  Sure, he can vow to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something else--but will the "replace" part ever happen?  What about the people who can now get insurance and healthcare as a direct result of that law?  I don't totally support the law--I disagree with the Supreme Court about the federal government's right to require citizens to purchase health insurance--but my compassionate side can certainly see the benefits of the most popular parts of the law, and putting something in place to replace it could take years, and very likely cost lives.

Is Romney compassionate? I believe he is, even though I'm not a fan of Mormonism, and we rarely hear about his softer side.  But there have been some mentions of it, and I believe he sees direct assistance as I do:  that it is a responsibility of individuals, churches, charities, even local and state governments--but not of the federal government.

I won't even get into the details of foreign policy, but in general, I've been surprised by many of President Obama's moves in this arena, and generally supportive of his choices.  Frankly, a Mitt Romney presidency scares me in regard to foreign policy.  He seems too belligerent, and I fear where that could lead us.

I DESPISE both sides' fearmongering.  Conservatives, President Obama is NOT the anti-Christ.  Deal with it.  Liberals, Mitt Romney does NOT hate women and anyone not worth $250 million.  Get over it.


Never in my life have I voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.  Of course, this is only my 4th presidential election, but still.  The fact that I am even considering voting for Obama now is a pretty big deal.

For a while, I was leaning toward Obama pretty hard.  In the last week or so, I've shifted more toward Romney.

But I remain undecided, and I probably will until they hand me the ballot on Tuesday.

Jack's first birthday

Jackson turned 1 on June 28th!

This photo is typical:  mouth wide open & smiling.  Although the sitting down part is NOT typical!

Jack is extremely healthy and very energetic.  He weighs 21 lbs 1 oz (25th percentile) and is 29.75 inches long (50th percentile), so he's not huge, but let me tell you--when I carry him, he FEELS huge!

We celebrated his birthday on the 30th with a family cookout.  Grandma Welch, Papa and Grandma Mac and Uncle Zack and Madison were all there.  So were friends Beth and Charlie and Great Aunt Donna--and Great-Aunt Judy and Great-Grandma Mac all the way from St. Louis!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives!  Everyone was so generous and Jack was spoiled with awesome gifts.  Thank you!

His teddy bear cake was all homemade and super-yummy! (if I say so myself)  It turned out a little crazy, partly because the icing I made was too soft, so I ended up smooshing it on instead of piping it on in stars, and partly because Lincoln put the eyes on, so it's a slightly demented bear. :)

Jack dug right in with his hands and got gloriously messy--he had it everywhere, including his hair.  Unfortunately, he also rubbed his eyes, poor guy, and of course started crying because it stung so bad.  But he'd had enough cake anyway, and was better after a quick bath.

Lincoln and the guests played a lot of "1 2 3 SHOOT!" with the balloons, a game that Link would NEVER tire of!

Jack is walking everywhere--he just took off one day almost two weeks ago--and is pretty much a walking disaster.  His favorite things are opening and closing drawers and cabinets over and over and over and OVER.  He also likes the toilet (go figure), the stairs (of course, because they're forbidden) and anything that he's not supposed to have.  He LOVES Lincoln and Llama.  Lincoln is doing more hitting & pushing than ever before because Jack follows him around and gets in his stuff.  Time to adjust to a new reality, Link!

Jack says many words, including but not only, dada, mama, cat, more, wa wa, book, tree, truck ("tuck"), and dino.  He doesn't repeat them as often as Lincoln did, so it can be hard to catch his words at times.

Since he turned one, Jack has suddenly become a picky eater.  All he wants are carbs and meat!  It's difficult to get him to eat anything else--unless it's super-sweet cake, treats, etc.  Guess he had a taste of the good life at his party and is having a hard time going back. :)

He still has just 6 teeth, and the top 4 are still only halfway through, with a big gap between the front two, giving him a lopsided look.  According to Dr. Griesemer, this is normal and temporary.  Let's hope so!

We love our baby boy so much--although I can't call him that much longer!!  Happy first birthday, Jackson!

POTTY TRAINED

Yes, that's right, Lincoln is FINALLY (mostly) potty trained!!!!!

Can you believe it??

I still can't--seems like a dream.  He's not 100% potty trained, in that he still wears diapers for naptime & at nighttime, and it's almost always me telling him it's time to pee pee every 1.5 hours or so--he doesn't ever consistently say he has to go.  But he is in big boy underpants (Star Wars Clone Wars; his choice.  Be proud, Uncle Z!) every day and rarely has an accident.  YES!!!

This has been for a week and a half, after I told him on June 2nd, "no more diapers" and had him try to pee every 30-45 minutes.  He got used to it (after a few accidents), and the time between peeing just stretched out longer and longer, until we're where we are now.

PRAISE GOD!!

11 months old!

Jack is 11 months old!

And he has been for a while, but since I rarely turn my computer on when school is out, this post is several weeks late.  Oops

As of his 11 month birthday on May 28th, Jack weighs 20 pounds!  Never did remember to measure him (oops), but he seems about normal length.

He is still a super-happy, super-smiley baby, but he is starting to cry/have tantrums when he doesn't get exactly what he wants.  It's actually pretty funny sometimes; he'll throw himself face-first on the ground and cry.  But it won't be funny if he keeps it up!

On his birthday, he took his first trip to Roaring River to celebrate his Great-Grandma Marbut's 80th birthday:

And here he is in his birthday shirt as I was trying to get a decent photo for his birthday invitations:



At 11 months, he had 5 teeth, 3 on top and 2 on bottom, although the 3 on top are taking their sweet time coming all the way in!

Jack says Dada, Mama, Daddy, Hi, Bye, Uh oh (he screeches it, it's hysterical), Cat and Down--he doesn't say all of these consistently (just the first three), but has said them at one point in time.  I swear the day after he turned 11 months, he said "uh oh Mama"!! 

He is starting to get VERY squirrely during diaper changes and tries to roll over/throw himself off the changing table/sit up--and it is really irritating!  He also grinds his teeth (now that he has upper teeth), and it's a bad, bad sound.

And let me tell you, when he and Lincoln get older, both George and I will have to get second jobs just to pay for groceries.  Jack is an eating machine!  He would eat as much as I do at meals if I'd let him--and he has before.  I'm trying to slow him down a bit because he's got QUITE the belly.

Jack is also finally drinking from a straw cup--yay!--and can stack one block on another.  He LOVES people, especially Lincoln, and Llama, but we have to keep him away from Llama so he doesn't rip the cat's ears/tail off.

Unfortunately, he tends to wake up between 6 and 6:30 AM still, although he sometimes will sleep until 7.  The day after Roaring River, he slept until 7:30!  Apparently the key is lots of outside time to totally exhaust him. :)  He is still nursing well, but I'll start weaning him a bit after he hits 1.

He bites/chews on everything all the time and is clearly trying to get more teeth.  Good times.

More to come when he hits one in a couple of weeks!

And Mama LOVES being home with her boys!

TEETH!

Jack is FINALLY getting more teeth!

The top left tooth started to break through Friday--the "one over from the top right" tooth started to break through Sunday--and the top right tooth started to break through yesterday! 

All at once, poor little guy.  But it's about time!

10 months old!

Jackson is 10 months old!

He had a great time hanging out in Papa's truck for the first time on his 10-month birthday.

Isn't he cute in his 2-piece firetruck jammies?

I haven't weighed or measured him since April 28th, but he LOVES to eat and is quite the big boy!  His legs are longer than Lincoln's were at this age, for sure.

Here are Daddy, Lincoln and Jack hanging out:

And here is Jack sitting in the bin of cars and trucks!

Jack and Lincoln both love to play with their kitchen stuff (aka old ketchup, honey, sour cream, etc., containers that I washed), and one day decided to play in the cabinet that houses the kitchen stuff:

And then Jack had to figure out how to get out of the cabinet:

10-month favorites

EATING!  The boy is a human trash compactor!

Lincoln.  It makes my heart melt to watch them play together and see the look of adoration on Jack's face.  Of course, that look quickly changes to wailing whenever Link smacks him on the head or pushes him over--but those are the knocks!

Reading books...

...on his own and being read to.

He loves to turn the pages (very rapidly), smack at and talk to the pictures.

Taking sips of water from a cup that I hold for him.  Actually, they're more like gulps and he chokes half the time, but when he sees the cup, Jack freaks out!

Opening and closing doors over and over and over

(although this is quite dangerous, as he smashes his fingers quite frequently)

Crawling everywhere SUPER FAST!

Climbing stairs.  He can climb from bottom to top all by himself! 

DANGER!!

Practicing walking with his new "lawn mower" (as Lincoln calls it):

Initiating peek-a-boo with the burp cloth while we change his diaper.

CUTEST. THING. I'VE. EVER. SEEN!

He pulls it up over his head, waits until I ask where he is, then yanks it down and laughs hysterically.  It is awesome!

10-month dislikes

Teething.  Jack STILL only has the 2 teeth that cut through when he was 6 months old!  His poor gums are so swollen, and I know he's just miserable, even though he's always smiley and happy.  He doesn't let his lack of teeth stop him from eating anything and everything, though!

Napping longer than 30 minutes to an hour.  This varies by day, but most days he still only sleeps 40 minutes for one or both naps, and then is exhausted by bedtime.  Sometimes he takes longer naps, but there's just no predicting it.  Urgh!

Having his face and hands wiped off or his nose picked.  He hates, hates, HATES it!

Really, that's it.  Jack may be an even smilier and happier baby than Lincoln was--which I didn't think was possible!

A little pat on the back

...for myself, even though it's not really because of me.

I now weigh the same as or just less than I did in college!!  I'm in shock.  I'm also fitting in clothes that I've kept for years thinking that someday I would fit into them again, although never actually expecting to.  And now I'm so glad they're still in my closet! (especially since my wardrobe is down to almost nothingness, which is a whole other post)

I worked my butt off after Jack was born to lose enough weight that I wouldn't have to buy a bunch of new clothes to go back to work, since we couldn't afford it--and I did.  But since then, the weight has just continued to come off and it's so freakin' awesome.

Not that I'm a stick, by any means.  I'm still plenty mommy-ish, complete with wrinkles, sags and bulges where there didn't used to be any (tmi?), but overall, I'm thrilled.  It feels good to be healthy and (somewhat) strong and be able to keep up with both boys.

Again, I attribute this mostly to God, because without good genes and blessings from Him (what else could it be?), I wouldn't have lost any of it!

Of course, all of this might end if I don't stop treating myself to ice cream after the boys are in bed...but for now, I'm going to enjoy it.  And keep working out!

9 months and counting

Jack-Jack is 3/4 of a year old!

Where has the time gone?

As you can see, his favorite thing to do is pull up to standing on anything and anyone

(especially the train table, as here):

He makes some REALLY funny faces!

And he is quite agile:

His 9-month checkup was Friday, and he is perfectly healthy and happy! He is, can you believe it, even sleeping through the night again! SUCCESS! (now I've jinxed it and he'll wake up a bunch tonight...sigh) He's even sleeping at night in spite of teething so hard he can't hardly stand it.

Naps are a different story. He's starting fighting/refusing to take a morning nap, which is really, really unusual for him. However, yesterday after no morning nap, he took a t 2-hour afternoon nap! It was great.

Jack is such a happy baby and is always smiley:

9-month stats & loves:

-18.5 inches long

-19 pounds, 4 ounces
(same as Lincoln at this age!)

-Lincoln. The complete adoration in Jack's eyes when he watches Link run around or when Link plays with him is heart-melting.

-Eating. I've had Jack on table food for a while, and the kid cannot ever get enough! He is a human trash compactor!

-Crawling really fast!

-Pulling to standing at any chance

-Being outside. There's so much to see.

-Chewing on his fingers/fist/Mommy's toe/toys/ANYTHING.

-Toys that are meant for older kids--we've got to move some of them (magnetic refrigerator letters, your time is coming)

-Music. Bust a move!

-Books. He loves to turn pages (very rapidly) and soon as one is done, he's looking for the next.

-The activity table. We finally got it out after deciding the Exersaucer has served its time. Complete love.

-Clapping. It's so cute!

-Crawling after Mommy in the kitchen, grabbing my legs and laughing hysterically.

9-month dislikes:

-Teething. Come ON, teeth! Break through! Jack STILL only has 2 teeth!

-Having his face or hands washed/wiped. It's kind of funny how much he freaks out.

-Having anything taken away from him.

-Not being fed fast enough! Jack bashes both hands on the high chair tray and/or claps a lot when he's ready for the next bite & it's not in his mouth.

That's it. Many more likes than dislikes!

3/4 of a year

Jackson is 9 months old!

(as of two days ago)

Photos & update to follow.

Good times

Spring break has been a blast!

Lincoln got to meet the Cat in the Hat

and do some work outside with Daddy.

Jack is becoming a regular bookworm


and is trying to pull up on anything he can!

We love being outside!

Jack is 8 months old!

Jack turned 8 months old on February 28th!

He has been in his new "big boy" car seat for several weeks now:

And loves to play with Lincoln's stuff, like this sword:


Lincoln wasn't in the room at the time, or he would have freaked out!

Jack has been sleeping through the night MUCH better for several weeks--YES!! We discovered the key by accident one evening after going to the store. Jack fell asleep in the car on the way home around 7:45, so of course he didn't want to go to sleep after we got home. So we put him in the crib awake, he rolled around and talked to himself for a while, and then BAM! Fell asleep on his own and didn't wake up until 7 AM. HOLY COW!

Let me tell you, it's about time, after the hellish last 3 months we've had! 'Course, it's our own fault. We should have been putting him the crib awake to fall asleep on his own from day one. Sigh.

Of course, the last four nights he's been waking up at ridiculous times--5 AM, 4:30 AM, 3:50 AM--wide awake, not wanting to go back to sleep. This morning it was 2 AM and then again 3 AM. I let him fall asleep on me at 3 AM, but the second I put him in the crib, he woke up, so we all got to listen to him scream himself to sleep. And then not wake up until 7 AM. Poor kid is teething so hard now that he's miserable! Come on, top two teeth!

Stats

Weight: approx. 19 pounds

Length: haven't done this yet. Oops.

Teeth: two, bottom middle. Had those for a couple of months now

Words: two, Dada and Mama. But he's not babbling nonstop yet.

Clothing size: 9-12 months

Jack's 8-month likes

Lincoln. Link will always be Jack's #1 like!

Food. Oh my goodness, this kid could eat a cow in one sitting!

Especially if that cow were made out of Cheerios.

Jack loves finger foods, but only if they're crunchy and relatively easy to

pick up. Banana, bits of cheese, mango--he likes them when I feed them

to him, but will ignore them if up to his own devices. Grrr.

Bouncing. Loves the Jumperoo, but will bounce and jump anytime

he's being held! My leg muscles get a good pounding when he stands on me.

Being outside, looking outside, anything to do with outside! Come on spring!

Toys that are meant for older kids

(although baby toys are OK too).

Crawling--but only in reverse! Apparently it's just easier.

When Jack can crawl forward, it will be the end of the world as we know it.

Kid will be unstoppable.

Squealing and laughing

Peek-a-boo. This will never get old.

Bath time & splashing. Cracks himself up.

Jack's 8-month dislikes

Getting stuck under things when he crawls backwards

(even though he looks pretty happy under the dishwasher in this photo)

Not yet being able to crawl forward!

Teething, of course. Ouch.

Not being given Cheerios the second he makes a sound indicating he wants more.

Hello, freakout!

Having his face washed or nose suctioned.

On his 8-month birthday, Jack attacked Lincoln:

But don't worry, Lincoln got him back later that evening!


Our boys are so much fun and are the lights of our lives!!

7 months old!

Jackson turned 7 months old on January 28th!

He is an uber-happy, uber-smiley guy when he is awake.

Hey! I'm really excited that it's my 7-month birthday!!

He weighs 16 lbs, 15 oz, so his growth is slowing down; he's only about the 50th percentile for weight. Length I keep forgetting to do, so let's say he's average length for a 7-month kiddo. :)

He's still sleeping in the swing and still not making it through the night most nights. And we thought Lincoln was a challenging baby!! Little did we know how easy we had it.

Three nights ago was GREAT. Jack slept from 8 PM to 5 AM, then went right back to sleep after I put the bubble (pacifier) back in his mouth and didn't wake again until 6:37 AM! WOW!

Two nights ago was the night from hell. He was up all the time, every 20 minutes to an hour, from the time we put him down until 1:30 AM--then we finally just had to let him scream himself to sleep. :( It was awful.

Last night was better in that he only woke up at 5 AM. The problem was that he was totally awake then, so G had to bring him to bed to get him to sleep again. Urgh.

Yes, he is totally pacifier-dependent. Ugh.

Although...the night of January 10-11, he slept 8 PM to 7 AM!! See, kid? YOU CAN DO IT!

Jack's 2nd tooth poked through on the bottom 4 days before 7 months, just to the left of tooth #1!

7-month dislikes

Teething. Poor kid's gums hurt so badly he can hardly stand it.

Bedtime snack nursing. He won't stay on me long enough to make my milk let down--pulls off & cries over and over and over. It's a nightmare. I've taken to pumping to get milk flowing and then nursing him. It is exhausting.

Tummy time. I feel awful because he doesn't get enough, and hasn't gotten enough, hence why he hates it so much! I'm afraid he will never crawl, and I feel so guilty because it's our fault for sitting him up so much.

Being sick. Jackson is still getting over his THIRD cold. Come on! He's not even a year old yet!!

Having his nose wiped/sucked. Both are 2-people jobs, the little monkey.


7-month likes


Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln!!
(except when he knocks Jack over or takes his toys away)

Llama, Llama, Llama!!

Eating. Almost anything and everything.
He doesn't care for the texture of meat, especially turkey,
but will eat it when I mix it with veggies.

Baby Mum Mums:

Biting Mommy while nursing
(Mommy is NOT a fan of this)

Taking longer (1.5-2 hour) afternoon naps. YES!!

Cutting out evening cat nap and going to bed a smidge earlier

Wearing 9 month clothes

Splashing in the bath & squealing!

Smiling like mad

On to month 8! I cannot believe Jack is getting so old so fast! I can't think about it or I'll cry.

Come on, springtime!!

Christmas. Better late than never!

Christmas was SO much fun this year (I mean last year). Lincoln had a blast, and Jackson really enjoyed his first Christmas! Although both were a little overwhelmed with all the festivities. We had Christmas at my folks' on the 23rd, with George's mom on Christmas Eve, then family Christmas at home Christmas morning, church and Christmas in Monett Christmas afternoon. Whew!

We were supposed to go to St. Louis for Christmas over New Year's, but both boys were getting over colds and mind was still lingering so we didn't make it. :(

Here are a few photos.

What? You mean your husband doesn't put on your toddler's

Captain America mask for your family's Christmas photo?

FAIL!

Jack is really excited about his first Christmas!

Lincoln is stylin' the 1980s way, complete with popped collar and

"I'm a stud" stance.


My boys. :)

And a sort of, slightly better but yet slightly

more deranged Christmas family photo:

Lincoln is 3!

Happy 3rd birthday to my big boy!

Lincoln had a birthday party on Sunday the 22nd with mostly family and had a great time. We are so blessed with such loving and generous people in our lives!

Cousin Kelli made the most awesome T-rex cake ever seen:

and Lincoln adored it!

On the 23rd, his actual birthday, Lincoln got to choose where he wanted to eat, and he picked the mall so he could see the BIG GORILLA!


Which he didn't want his picture taken with once we actually got there. Of course.

The mall was mostly deserted, which was great, so we walked around some after we ate and let Lincoln play in the kids' playplace. We don't usually get a chance to because it's so crowded with kids snotting everywhere, but that night Link was the only kid playing. Woo hoo!

He also got to sit on the riding lawn mowers at Sears, another of his favorite places.

Unfortunately, he started getting a cold Saturday evening after getting back from Monett (we had gone down for the day to help with the cake), was worse Sunday and absolutely miserable on Monday. What a way to spend your birthday! He still had a good time running all over the mall. It take a lot to slow this kid down!

He ended the night by reading a book with Jackson:

At 3 years old, Lincoln...

-is close (sort of) to being potty trained. It's one day at a time,

with some days better than others.

-knows his colors, ABCs, basic shapes, some presidents

(thanks to his awesome placemat) and millions of animals & dinosaurs.

-can recognize many lettes and numbers

and is curious about words.

-also knows almost every single Star Wars character

(loves Chewbacca) and is familiar with much of

Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

-loves How to Train Your Dragon, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,

and pretty much any movie we'll let him watch.

-loves to sing: the Grinch, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,

Old MacDonald had a Farm, Knick Knack Paddywhack.

-dances to "Can't Touch This" every night at 6:45 when an alarm

goes off on Mommy's cell phone. He calls it "Tan Hox It" and

will mumble along with the words as he jumps around the room.

-is super happy, super friendly and has good manners (most of the time).

-LOVES Baby Jack and is always telling him, "You're so cute,"

and "it's OK, Jackson, I'll protect you."

-BUT. He has started randomly knocking Jack over since J now sits up

on his own. He will also grab Jack's toys and is having a tougher time sharing.

-is a major talker and says such funny things so many times a day

that we can barely keep up with writing them down.

He has been speaking in complex sentences for a while now

and has an amazing vocabulary.

-adores other kids, his age, older and younger. Doesn't matter.

He always wants to play with every kid we see.

-can undress himself on his own except for his shirt but has trouble

getting dressed on his own.

-loves to be outside to run around and ride in his Cozy Coupe, which he's

getting too big for! He should be able to reach the tricycle wheels

this spring.

-is in the "what?" and "why?" stage and asks those questions about

EVERYTHING, even if it is obvious to him/he already knows

the answer!

and a million other things which I will post as I think of them. :)