Getting Older and Older

Jack--my huge boy who is basically not even a baby anymore--turned 8 months old recently.  Wow!!  That really just flew by.  I meant to savor every moment of it, but now that he is so close to turning one I fear that I have forgotten to more often than not.  Raising three little boys is busy work, and sometimes  I am guilty of letting the busyness of it overshadow the little moments where I should just enjoy.  I know these are the best times--these are my favorite times; having little ones to love and snuggle and raise has got to be the best part of being a parent.  I can't imagine any stage getting better than this.  And yet, I know it is going to end, and soon.  I wish I could go back and not worry about having a clean house, or folding the laundry, or ever playing a stupid game of scramble on my smartphone when my kids are around and ready for me to play.  I am constantly reminding myself of this.  And, sometimes (okay, maybe a lot of times) I yell at my kids.  I feel really bad about that.  I don't want my kids to be sitting around as young adults reminiscing about how much mom used to scream at them.   As of right now, I am pledging to be better:  no more stupid phone games when the kids are around (I was recently addicted to Scramble and Words with Friends), no more yelling (this one will be really tough since I swear my kids do not listen unless I shout, but I definitely need to work on toning it down a bit...), and A LOT more playing.  I want to play and play and play with my kids.  I don't want to miss this best part of being a parent--my baby is already 8 months old and I don't even know if I savored his infancy as much as I could have.   I feel like Sam and Max are suddenly huge, tall boys--not even little anymore, and I feel like I missed it somehow... 

Anyway, that is me being sad that my kids are growing up too fast...

Now, on to the pictures--I have included quite the montage of my handsome little guy.  In fact, the subtitle of this entry should be "All About Jack" since it is basically all about him.  

Our monthly photo session with the teddy bear:

It is getting increasingly more difficult to capture a photo of the two of them together, but I think these turned out pretty cute and definitely illustrate where Jack is developmentally.  Check out how much he has grown and changed since 4 months old:

 And even 5 months old:

Even though he is growing too fast for my liking, Jack really is so much fun.  He is very ticklish, especially his belly, but he LOVES to be tickled there.  Doing so will cause him to burst into laughter that is so sweet and playful--it is the epitome of precious.  He hates to have his diaper changed, and he will fight and complain the whole time.  He does enjoy his bath, but only when it is solo.  If time is short and we need to throw all three in the tub together, Jack gets quite upset.  He much prefers the relaxation of his own tub time (can't say I blame him there). He has a million age-appropriate toys, but instead of playing with any of them he would rather get into whatever the big brothers are trying to do, or chew on a shoe.  We have to be very careful at our house about leaving shoes out in the open.  He loves to go on rides in the stroller, and often this will allow him to drift off to a nice nap when mommy is not around with her special equipment (aka the boobs that Jack likes to sleep nestled into). 

Jack still loves meal time.  He eats breakfast, lunch and dinner with his big brothers (still baby food, however).  He opens his mouth so wide that sometimes it looks like he is yawning he is so eager for the food to get in there.

Jack loves to be outside.  He is content for the longest time just exploring the grass and the flowers and the dirt...   

 

Little JR is crawling everywhere, quickly.  He gets into everything and nothing is safe.  he can pull himself up using furniture and walls.  He will even let go and keep his balance for several seconds before falling over--I am pretty sure he will be walking within the next couple of months.

Aside from being completely filthy in these pictures (I am pretty sure Max and Sam never got this dirty at 8 months old), he is trying to stand up all on his own.  He has really been practicing this lately...

In the photo below notice the pool of pinkish-tinged spit-up.  I included this picture because it shows another facet of Jack--he spits up constantly.  All day long he throws up his food or his breast milk, and it doesn't even seem to matter how long it has been since he last ate.  His doctor calls him a "happy spitter" since it hasn't affected his weight gain at all and it doesn't appear to cause him any discomfort whatsoever.  So, we walk around cleaning spit up off the floor, or off ourselves, or off of him constantly.  Obviously, it does nothing to improve my overflowing laundry situation.  Max and Sam NEVER  spit up as babies--EVER.  So, I guess Jack is making up for them and then some...

Someone else had a big birthday recently...

May is such a great month.  Not because it is the month of my birthday--having those is definitely not so fun anymore.  I think I mostly like it for the weather.  It is so mild, it rains a little, gets a little hot and sunny other times, and everything is so green and new.  Plus, the whole fun summer is ahead of us.   But, my birthday was pretty great thanks to my wonderful husband who made it extra special since I turned 35 on Mother's Day this year.  The boys were extra sweet to me also; they both wanted to wear red shirts on my birthday since it is my favorite color!

We celebrated the night before with my good friend Sara and her husband at Morton's (my second favorite restaurant).   Then, we went dancing!! 

These "driving in the car shots" seem to be the only pics of Paul and I together anymore... 

On my actual birthday/Mother's Day I slept in, enjoyed a yummy breakfast that I didn't have to prepare, went out to lunch with my four favorite men, got a pedicure, enjoyed great sushi for dinner, and I didn't lift a finger or do a dish all day!  It was a wonderful birthday even though I just keep getting older and older.

All About Max

My Max.  Such a sweetie.  And a smartie.  He is getting SOOO big.  When I sneak into his room at night to give him one more good night kiss before I go to bed, I am always astounded by how tall he looks, especially when he is asleep and still.  He is so precious.  It saddens me a little (okay, a lot) that he is growing up so fast.   His second year of preschool is coming to an end in a couple more weeks, and I had to submit a photo of him to be made into a book as a gift for his teacher.  I was going through my pictures from the last couple of months and found several that were so super cute--I just had to include them on my blog...

They are all so very handsome, but the one I ended up using is this last one:

One of my favorites!  I still get dandelions picked for me by both Max and Sam, and it is just so special.

Paul and I just had parent-teacher conferences with Max's teacher, and she said that he is the nicest, sweetest boy; we agree!!  He and Sam can definitely get into arguments and tussles, but Max is a genuinely sweet kid.  He is caring and gentle, and he really feels bad when he gets in trouble.  He strives to be good, and makes his daddy and I super proud.

Jack at 7 Months

For all but months 2 and 3 (when I was too sleep deprived to remember), I have taken Jack's picture next to this little teddy bear on the 12th of every month.  I typically prop him up on the chair and sit the bear either in his lap or next to him  However, at 7 months he turned into a little busy body and had absolutely no interest in posing with the teddy...

So, I tried sitting him and teddy on the floor, and  this is as good of a shot as I could get...

About a week after his 7 month birthday, little JR started crawling.  Or creeping, I should say.  He does the military crawl, and he can go pretty fast dragging himself--belly on the floor--all around the house.  It is quite precious.  My other boys never did this--they just did a regular crawl, but not nearly as early as cute little Jack.  This guy does have a lot of motivation--he is so determined to try and keep up with those big brothers!!

Rub-a-dub, three little boys in a tub!  I thought it might save a little time to combine Jack's bath with the big brothers' now that he can sit up on his own.  It was actually a lot more work.   Those brothers sometimes forget how little he is and can be a little rough.  Let's just say it wasn't a very relaxing bath for JR.  Max and Sam thought it was pretty cool, though...

Jack never wants to miss out on any of the action, whether it involves playing with the brothers, or something as boring as making dinner.  He often insists on being right in the middle of the meal preparation--so he gets a front row seat.  Unfortunately, his days in the Bumbo seat are limited--he can practically wriggle himself out of that thing and reaches for everything in sight, knocking over glasses and spilling bowls...

Fun with bubbles...  

Max started playing T-ball this spring.  He actually really enjoys it, much to my surprise.  When we play outside with our plastic bat and ball he refuses to hit off the tee, so I thought he would be a little resistant when I signed him up.  But, he is actually quite good...