Category — Pictures of Jackson

Finley got her haircut last week and Jack decided he wanted “spikey hair,” but didn’t want it cut.  So we got him some hair gel and he decided to play around with it today.  First we put it on “purple bear,” his descriptively named teddy, and then on Jack.  Here’s his phohawk (that was an intentional misspelling for my friend, Mark!) from today:

I got home from an interview trip last night and Jack told me he was really mad and really sad, and that he didn’t want me to be having fun on airplanes.  I told him I really didn’t like going on airplanes without him, and that I understood why he would feel angry at me.  I apologized a kazillion times, and explained that I was looking at another city  we might move to and that I was off searching for the perfect school for him.  That’s usually what I tell him when I go on interviews, and it seems to appease him slightly.  Then he insisted I kiss Travis.  After that, he initiated a big group hug, pulling Fin and Shane in too.  It was sweet.  He let me hold him for a long time, and forgave me.  I told him I just have 1 more airplane to go on and then I’m all done traveling without him.  I didn’t tell him that there are 2 days of interviews in that one last location:(  I’m so ready to be done with interview season.  3 interviews to go, and then a waiting game until Match Week, which starts March 15th. 

We officially have a 3 year old.  He is so proud and has told everyone we’ve passed on the street that today is his birthday!  I don’t have a new slideshow for him this year (here’s the old one with his Adoption Day footage included, if you haven’t seen it already), but I wanted to post a few of my absolute favorite pictures from his last 2.5 years at home with us.  This little boy has blessed us beyond belief.  Everyday with him is different, challenging in some new way, and sweeter than the one before.  I can’t help but think of a woman in Vietnam today, and remind myself how very grateful I am to her. 

{Just as a note – the captions for each of my pictures is above them.  Sorry if that’s confusing; it makes the most sense to my strange mind}

Just after we left the orphanage with Jack in Vietnam- December, 2006

After arriving home to CO with him – January, 2007

Hiking in CO - Spring, 2007

My all-time favorite picture of Jack - Spring, 2007

Peru, where we spent 6 weeks with him (and where we celebrated his 1st birthday) – summer 2007

Fall, 2007

Looking out the window of our new house in CO – fall, 2008

Vietnam, waiting to bring Shanie home – winter, 2007

Hoi An beach, Vietnam – winter, 2008

Que Son orphanage, Vietnam – winter, 2008

Hotel room in Vietnam – winter, 2008

Sapa, Vietnam – winter 2008

Back in CO – spring, 2008

Just before Jack’s 1st haircut – spring, 2008

After Jack’s 1st haircut, before “soccer” – spring, 2008

Florida (Crit’s wedding) – May, 2008

St. Augustine – summer, 2008

Colorado – fall, 2008

Ft. Collins, CO – winter, 2009

Colorado – spring, 2009

Colorado – summer, 2009

Going through old flickr albums to find pictures of Jack at different ages was SO fun.  I just can’t believe how much he’s grown and changed.  I know you’re all sick of hearing how smart we think our kid is, yada yada, so this is a warning that a LOT more is coming (but it’s my blog and I like being able to look back and remember these things)!  Might want to skip the next paragraph if you find my bragging on Jack irritating…

Jack knew his colors and shapes by the time he was 18 months old, could rhyme at 20 months, knew his entire alphabet by 22 months, could count to 10 or beyond in English AND Spanish before he was 2, recognized gender before he was 2.5, learned the sounds all his letters make by 2.5, started learning to tell time at 2.5, began sounding out 3 letter words about several months ago, and started doing addition and subtraction of small numbers a few months ago too.  He loves to tell jokes, hike, color/paint/draw, read books, jump on the beds / couches, and can write most of his letters and draw most of his shapes.  He is still in diapers and, although he’ll reliably pee in the potty, he still doesn’t give a damn if he sits in poop all day long.  He is NOT interested in pooping in the potty or pausing playtime to have his diaper changed, ever. I know he’s a boy and all, but I REALLY hope the urge to potty train grabs hold of him soon because I am TIRED of changing 3 kids diapers day in and day out.  Good thing it’s Trav’s turn…I’m sure Jack will potty train Trav’s 1st full day on the job (which is next week).  That would just be typical!

A few other Jackisms…

• Has taken on a funny mannerism of speech this week, saying “we musn’t do this, we must do that…”  No clue where he got that.
• He has not yet decided if he’s left or right handed, and considering he has excellent fine motor with both hands (can draw his letters with either), we are wondering if he might be truly ambidextrous.  Probably not, but ya never know. 
• One of his favorite things is to lay down on his tummy with his shirt up, and have me draw letters with my fingers on his back.  He’ll pay attention and guess what letter I traced on his skin.  He’s SHOCKINGLY good at this game! 
• Loves to play “I dee dee, I dee dee, I see something you don’t see…” Our version of “I spy,” and we play it ALL. THE. TIME. 
• Loves to sing about our day and/or narrate what we’re doing in a sing-song way.  We’ll pick the tune to a familiar song and substitute the words to make them reflective of what’s going on in our little world.
• Loves to hold his brother’s hand in the parking lot / street to make sure Shane is safe
• ALWAYS looks out for Shane and Fin – if he gets something (string cheese, etc.), he’ll make sure there’s some for them too, asks where they are if they’ve been napping awhile, is the first to hear anyone crying when they wake up, etc.
• Has been building Lego “trophies” for his dad lately to tell Travis he is the best dad!  He came up with that all on his own, which is so cute.
• Favorite books: Skippyjon Jones series
• Favorite movies: Cars (still!), Madagascar 1 & 2, Toy Story, Ice Age, Finding Nemo
• Favorite food: broccoli (seriously), mac & cheese (homemade), berries (any kind)
• Favorite place: lately it’s the pool!
• Loves Fin & Shane, but they are a pain in his rear quite often…especially when he’s building things.  He “asks” them to go away by saying “shoo fly!” and swatting his hand around. I always end up laughing too hard to tell him that’s not polite.
• Loves to sing “Down by the Bay” and insert his own funny rhymes
• Still struggles socially, but has been improving and has a few new friends we’ve been spending little bits of time with here and there. 
• Is going through a very irritating “phase” (I HOPE) of whining a lot.  Many of his sentences begin with “but I just wanted / needed…”  I tried to ban that phrase, but it hasn’t really worked out for me;)
• Has become a master manipulator!  He’ll say things like “I really want ice cream tonight.”  Then, 5 minutes later, he’ll follow it up with “I’m such a special boy, so I’m going to get a special treat tonight.”  He’s RELENTLESS, but we’ve tried not to give in to his manipulation!  It’s pretty cute though.
• Has added the ending “for sure” to many of his sentences.  Example: “It’s hot out, for sure.”
• Speaks in this oddly rhythmic pattern in which he takes long breaks between words and sentences.  He reminds us of the kid with asthma from Malcolm in the Middle!  LOL!  I think he’s just very thoughtful and careful before he speaks?!
• Is a HUGE wimp.  He nurses even the smallest of injuries and is not exactly the most persistent child when it comes to doing things that don’t come naturally…thankfully though, he has a ton of natural talent and innate gifts. 
• Has become really affectionate as he’s gotten older.  He’ll spontaneously walk up and kiss us, and will also spontaneously come up and say “I love you, mom / dad.” 
• Is obsessed with the mailman and loves getting letters. 
• Unlike Shane and Finley, is not really an animal lover!  He’ll notice a dog that walks up to lick his face, and then he just wants the thing out of his way.  Fin and Shane, meanwhile, go ballistic over dogs.
• Is very sweet and quick to apologize if he thinks we are the least bit disappointed in him for doing something wrong (like “coloring” all over stuff with the juice of his half-eaten nectarine…an example that just quickly came to mind;)
• Loves to help cook – his favorite thing to “help” with, though he loves sweeping too.
• Names EVERYTHING red “Lightning”
• Thinks his sunglasses give his eyes special vision powers;)

Happy 3rd birthday to our special boy, Jackson Quoc Bao!!  We love you more than we ever imagined we could love anything and are SO proud to be your mom and dad.

Ok, so you know how photographers always say you can grayscale a photo and immediately know if it’s meant to be a B&W picture or not?  Well, I don’t have that sixth sense…the one that tells me instantly which way a photo is supposed to go - B&W or color.  It’s right up there on the list of senses I’m missing, along with seeing dead people and hearing musical tones.  So I’m asking for some viewer input, or as Jack would request, “lil help please, lil help?”  For each picture, I’d love it if you’d tell me how it looks best, B&W or color.  And if they look better in B&W, but my conversion just sucks, I’d appreciate if you tell me that too.  Here they are:

And of course, Shane was asleep during most of this little photo shoot, but I did get a few pictures of him cheesing it up for the camera (which is RARE - usually he HATES my camera!) later in the day.  I don’t think I’ve ever taken a picture of Shane that I liked in B&W more than color, so these are all color:

My boy LOVES his binky!!  I’ll post a video of Finley tormenting him with it.  It’s awful; she runs by, snatches it out of his mouth, he screams, she keeps running.  Then, inevitably, she’ll turn back around to run by him again while holding the binky out, as if she’s going to give it back, get really close to him so that he’ll open his mouth for it to be replaced, then she’ll keep running.  He’ll scream some more and I’ll have to step in and tell her to knock it off and give the binky back to Shane.  She’s gotta be Shane’s worst nightmare of a little sister!

And then there are a couple pictures I’m sure I like, decisively, in either B&W or color, but not both:

Finley was playing peek-a-boo with the camera and it’s a damn shame this chair leg got in the way of the picture.  Still, I LOVE this one in B&W:

This is just a picture of Jack and Fin playing hide-and-seek:

This next one is totally my favorite shot of Jack.  If only I could pimp him out to the modeling world, make enough $ to send him to the school we want him in regardless of scholarship, then retire him WITHOUT being the parent who pimps her kid out to the modeling world…hmm.  Thoughts?  My photo magician friend, Kell, edited this photo to make it just perfect:

Thanks for all the encouragement on the death and carnage post.  You all are a morbid bunch;)  So, we went 0 for 4 today!  I know the saga isn’t over though.  I went through the garage today and was almost knocked down by the smell of urine.  I think those F&*$ers just realized the war. is. on.  They’re living up their last days of life and they’ve turned our garage into a freakin mouse frat house.  They’re probably out there right now drinking our beer (whatever has dripped from the kegerator faucet onto the floor), partying in the clothes we used to wear (which are in boxes that have become mouse houses), pissing all over the floor, and making disgusting little pink babies all over the furniture our house doesn’t currently have room for.  We WILL be victorious; I assure you, we will not stop until every last little squeaker is dead or maimed. 

Ok, on a happier note, I need to post some pictures of my munchkins before these photos get lost in the shuffle.  Shane-bug isn’t in many of them because, well, it’s hard to get the camera out when all 3 kids are hanging on me.  Since he’s the only reliable napper, it seems he misses out on a lot of photo shoots.  Plus, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that he hates the camera and pretty much charges me with his palm to cover the lens every time it comes out.  There are hams like Jack and Fin, and then there are the more modest types like Shane-bug…every bit as adorable, they just don’t care if it’s captured on film.

Mimi Lam, a very awesome, very loyal reader sent us the cutest handmade crochet hats.  Jack LOVES his because it has a dinosaur on it!  Thank you Mimi!!

In spite of how much he hates the camera to capture it, his cuteness can’t be hidden.  Shanie’s plump, red lips are just the best!

And here’s the most innocent looking monster in the world:

Here’s my ham…maybe I’m biased, but I think Jack could have a very successful modeling career.  Plus, he’s probably our best shot at paying down our debt;)  Just kidding, of course.  But he’s totally cute enough.

And here’s one from a hike we went on last weekend with the kids (Shane and I were trailing behind):

Jackson LOVES wearing this yellow hoodie because Travis has one that looks just like it.  Every time we go out as a family, Jack insists that the 2 of them wear their yellow zip-ups.  Cute.

If you’ve asked me for my password and I still haven’t responded to your request, please drop a comment on THIS post.  I’m having a hard time keeping track of who I’ve already sent it to and I’m sure I’ve missed a few people unintentionally.  Also, I CANNOT get it to you if you mistype or leave me a wrong email address in your comment.

Guess who took her first steps tonight?!  Finley has been flirting with the idea for awhile, but always face planted before she actually got her feet into forward motion while freestanding.  Tonight she did it though.  Just 2 steps, but she was SO pleased with herself that it threw her into this crazy manic state and she was OBSESSED with trying to walk.  It was past her bedtime and she eventually got so crazy and gutsy we had to just put her to bed before she hurt herself.  Seriously.  I can’t wait until she wakes up tomorrow because she’s a very determined kind of kid, so I know she’ll be at it again and will be probably be walking all over in no time…although I’m also sure MANY bloody lips separate now from then. 

According to my mom, Finley is a lot like I was as a baby - feisty, a pain in the ass (I mean that endearingly with regards to Fin of course;), and determined (ok, call it obsessive if you want).  I was also freakishly small, and walked at 9 months.  Because of the freakishly small part, it just looked like I had NO BUSINESS walking or talking when I did.  Well, Finley is seriously tenacious and a little scary with her intensity level sometimes (and also freakishly small - I know that’s so not PC, so my apologies to Little People all over the world).  If she were a zoo animal, someone would DEFINITELY have shot her in the ass with a tranquilizer by now.  Poor kid, she gets the obsessively intense tendencies double time because, go figure, according to Travis’ mom, he was also a very, ahem, “challenging” baby / toddler / kid / teenager / adult.  

Anyway, we had the BEST day today.  It was my idea of a perfect day, and I’m pretty sure Trav’s too…especially since it revolved around him accumulating more mini kegs for his kegerator, this time direct from his favorite microbrewery.  We drove ~1:20 to a Ft. Collins, a town that claims 2 of Colorado’s best microbrews, New Belgium and Odell.  It’s in the foothills and was rated the best place to live a few years ago, so there’s lots of family stuff to do up there too (in addition to touring the microbreweries;).  We found this little farm that has a gorgeous mountain backdrop and lots of animals the kids could get close to and feed.  They LOVED it. 

We walked around the cute downtown and tried to convince Jack to go ice skating, but he refused.  {He took a spill on ice in our driveway a few weeks ago and apparently that has permanently scarred his impressionable mind!}  We left town with 2 Odell’s kegs (the little 2.5 gallon ones) the IPA and the Easy Street wheat.  Don’t worry, we’re not drinking these all alone…we’ve got some friends to help us out…our friends, Jon and Holly, and their 3yo and 6mo came over on Friday and we had a great time!  Jon is in school with Travis, and Holly has become one of my closest friends as we move through the endless challenges of juggling stay-at-home motherhood, career aspirations we’ve put on hold for our kids, and supporting our spouses through medical school.  I’ve learned a ton from watching Holly parent her kids, and have been so grateful to have her, as well as our friend Rebecca, with whom to share those daily SAHM struggles.  I honestly have no clue how I would be surviving without those friendships right now.  I like to think most people’s assumptions/judgments/prejudices about stay-at-home moms would be blown to crap if they hung around the 3 of us on a regular basis.  It’s funny because I used to harbor a lot of biases until I decided to stay-at-home and be a full-time mommy these past 2+ years (can you believe it’s been that long?!).  I can’t believe how wrong I had it, how much my perspective on that stuff has changed, and the level of respect I now have for moms who are devoted to the care of their children all day everyday.  Because this shit is HARD.  And incredibly rewarding.  Simultaneously hard AND rewarding, to a greater extreme than anything else I’ve ever done in my life.  And I truly do not believe there is any more noble or worthwhile job than raising your kids, not medicine or anything else…hence my struggle.  But that’s for another post. 

I’m starting to get the hang of using our new portrait lens and I love it.  This one of Jack is my favorite photo so far:

We’ve had some funny conversations around here that I thought I’d write down because they’re sure to give me a chuckle again in the future when I re-read them!  I hope someone else out there is amused by these too:

Me: “Oh. My. God.  Finley just took a huge dump.  It smells like a MAN TURD.”

Travis: “As opposed to a woman turd?  It’s amazing, you only want equality when it’s convenient and apparently there’s no equality when it comes to turds.”

————————————-

Jack: “Daddy, look at the porcupine!!”

Travis: “Jack, that’s a squirrel…geez, we really need to get outside more!”

————————————-

Jack and I were singing his favorite song, Old MacDonald, and I eventually ran out of the major farm animals.  Unable to think of anything more likely to live on a farm, I turned to the monkey, “with an oo oo here, and an ah ah there, here an oo, there an ah, everywhere an oo oo ah ah!” Jack did NOT sing along, but waited patiently for me to be done with the verse, at which point he shot me a look that screamed “MORON” and very matter-of-factly informed me, “mom, monkeys don’t live on a farm.  They live in the jungle and the zoo.”  He then re-sang the verse like this: “Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.  And on that farm he don’t have a monkey, E-I-E-I-O.”  I had to laugh my ass off at that; the kid is a riot. 

Sorry to psych you all out with a pseudo update.  No Belly Baby yet, although I am contracting a bit.  I’m pretty sure it’s not true labor - I have my doubts these contractions will go anywhere, but we can hope!  If nothing happens by tomorrow, we’re going out to the mountains with my family.  No, I won’t be snowboarding this baby out of me, but I will be hiking around the base, at high altitude, in hopes that stirs things up.  We’ll only be 1 hour away from home, so it’s not like I’ll be stranded somewhere in labor…if that plan did work, that is. 

So, today was an absolutely gorgeous, clear, classic Colorado day.  My mom, Angela, Travis, Shane, Jackson, and I enjoyed a fun day at the park.  Travis and I walked about 5 miles roundtrip, which was SO nice.  I contracted nearly the whole way there and back, but things subsided as soon as we got home.  Darn it!  We didn’t get Jack’s haircut YET, because Travis got cold feet and used stall tactics all day.

Possibly the last pictures of Jackson’s rockstar hair:(

Hopefully these are the last pictures I’ll have to post of ‘the shelf’:

My brothers were talking about going to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse tonight for dinner.  When I said I’d stay home with the babies so Trav could go with them, my brother, Alex, said “Whaaaat?  Oh, we’re bringing you too; you’re our BIG hitter!  We’re counting on you to get our money’s worth out of that place!”  But then we decided no one, except Alex (my brother who works as an oil engineer in Siberia), could afford Texas de Brazil, since “money doesn’t grow on trees.”  Alex’s response was “yeah, but it grows in oil wells.”  Smart ass.  So then we were debating what we wanted to eat for dinner at home.  It was between hotdogs, baked beans, and coleslaw, or tuna melts on English muffins with broccoli and sweet potatoes.  I had a “no hot dog” preference (logic similar to my reasons for abstaining from Mexican food), and there was a big uproar when my mom said “the pregnant lady gets the pick.”  Travis yelled out “are you kidding me?  She ate half a plastic spoon with her ice cream and didn’t notice until I pointed out the spoon was chipped!  She’s totally indiscriminating in her eating.  You could smush a hot dog, coleslaw, and beans on an English muffin, stuff tuna on top, and she’d still eat more than she should!!”  While that may be true, I resent that comment!

Also, in case anyone didn’t know, my good friend, Karin, FINALLY got her I-600 approval.  Karin is one of the most incredible people I know and is going to be a fantastic mom to her little girl, Caroline.  She’s waited something like 7 months to travel!  The DoS recently pulling that really crappy move of changing “60 days from I-600 submission to determination” to “oh, we meant 60 business days” further prolonged Caroline’s orphanage stay.  We had the pleasure of getting to know Caroline pretty well while we were in Vietnam, as she was Shane’s orphanage buddy.  I am SO excited for her to come home and be with her mommy!   I can’t wait to see the 2 of them united, FINALLY.  Karin just emailed me from Vietnam and she will be meeting Caroline Friday, which is Thursday night, our time.

Ok, sorry to all of you who gave me hope and guessed an early due date for me.  Apparently, Belly Baby wants to make a grand entrance, probably because s/he felt gypped with the lack of attention his/her pregnancy got early on.  Plus, if I were inside a cozy womb and heard the crazy, circus-like commotion going on outside in the world around me, I think I’d hideaway as long as possible too!!  I swear, we’re trying everything - primrose oil, pineapples, walking, Holly’s frothy beer suggestion, seriously testing Katie’s “what got it in there will get it out” theory, etc.  I haven’t had Mexican food yet, but I think it might be wise to avoid that in case there is any association with labor.  You see, I’m lactose intolerant.  I can’t imagine anything more horrifying than me eating a ton of melted cheese, then going into labor.  How’s that for a mental picture?!  Ok, ‘nuf said. 

On other news, we’ve been having a lot of fun with my family, and more arrives today.  My dad, 2 more brothers, and another sister.  Add that to my mom, littlest sister, and 2 adult brothers.  They’re all staying in a hotel not far from us, but there’ll still be lots of action around here and I’m looking forward to it.  I just HOPE this baby arrives before they leave next Wednesday.  Crazy to think it’s even a possibility that I’ll still be pregnant then!  Yikes.  Oh, and a piece of advise for others…I don’t recommend sharing your ideas for baby names with people if you’re not ok hearing criticism.  We’ve been questioning ourselves now and I think, at this point, the baby’s name will be a surprise even to us!  We’ll just wing it and name the baby when s/he is born I guess! 

Oh, and a few other great quotes I’ve heard this week:

In response to me asking for a frothy beer to induce labor, “with a gut like that, you look like someone who should have a large beer in hand!”  Watching me get into the driver’s seat of the minivan, “wow, I’m really surprised you still fit behind the wheel!”  Umm, thanks?!

On other news, Shane got his first tooth.  Actually, his 2 bottom middle ones came together, so he got his first 2 teeth.  Otherwise, he’s doing great!  Cute as can be, and the sweetest little snuggle bug ever.

On a shocking note, Jackson MIGHT get a haircut.  My mom has been ragging on Travis, and today Travis was playing around with Jackson’s hair and realized how gorgeous his face is.   

I promise to post when something happens.  Hopefully that’ll be SOON!

First, I just want to say thank you for the outpouring of support.  Support from friends, family, and, of course, my blogging buddies.  That post really helped me collect myself, organize my thoughts, and then recognize what it is that’s made me feel a little fragmented lately.  It made me feel a million times better just to write it all down, but then, reading all the comments and the tons of emails that came flooding in from people sympathizing, cheering me on, and reassuring me that I am NORMAL, just really picked me up.  I had considered not posting that, since I totally dread/fear the “I told ya so” from the people who’ve been telling us we’re crazy from the day we found out we were pregnant and decided to continue with a 2nd adoption.  I never want to give anyone license to say that, since my feelings are NOT those of regret.  Not. At. All.  Thank you all for understanding that.  I especially appreciated this comment from Tracey:  have you ever heard anyone say “I sure wish I had worked more when my kids were small!”  It reminds me of something my friend, Emilie, said in an email when I posted last year about my decision to defer residency to stay home with Jackson -  it was something like “I’ve never heard anyone say they regretted taking some time away from medicine to be with their family!”  Those are the words that stick with me and the reasons I find truly reassuring.  I’ve never heard anyone say those things either.  But I’ve definitely heard the opposite, all too often.  Ok, one last note before I move on to some fun stuff.  There’s a Woman’s Round Table that Crafty Mommy is hosting - it’s an opportunity to write and talk about the challenging stuff we face as women, mommies, professionals, etc., on a monthly basis.  If you’re interested in contributing to those types of discussions with other moms, go check it out!

Ok, so here’s what we’ve been up to lately…you know, aside from nearly pulling our hair out, cleaning up bathtub turds, mistiming naps, and so on;) 

Jackson is doing really well.  He VERY easily transitioned into his toddler (aka “big boy”) bed and has been sleeping there through the night, alone!!  He gets up in the morning, gets himself out of bed (safely), opens his bedroom door, walks down the hall into our room, and climbs in bed with us to snuggle.  I’m LOVING it!  Also, his newest words are “hole” and “hand.”  It’s hysterical because he’ll say “hand” and it just means he wants to hold yours.  He also now knows all the letters in his name, and all the letters in Shane’s name…thanks to our awesome carved puzzle stools with their names in them (thanks Dom!).  I think he’s a really smart kid, but that combined with his obsession for books has really accelerated his interest in stuff like the alphabet.  He loves to read books and point out all the letters.  I’d say we probably spend 1-2 hours a day going through book after book from his “book box!”  It pushes MY attention span, but he doesn’t seem to get sick of it.  Jackson now has ALL his molars, top and bottom!  Yeah, they all sort joined in the fun at once.  Here he is pointing out his teeth for us:

And for all those about to tell me to cut my kid’s hair, DON’T!  Especially if you’re an anonymous reader and are inclined to leave a nasty comment about it.  You see, if we cut his gorgeous hair with the most incredible, natural, reddish and light brown highlights, he wouldn’t be able to do this when he’s pretending to be a rock star (an action shot of Jack flinging his hair around):

Mommy’s littlest hard rocker has been exploring his artistic side through fingerpainting as well.  He’s quite good, actually.  Oh, and guess what?  Although you can’t tell it from this picture, he’s a LEFTIE!!  We’re so proud of our little Southpaw. 

Shane is cute as can be and is just so attentive to facial expressions and tones of speech.  He’s just such a cute little guy with an adorable little personality.  Isn’t it amazing how much he’s changed - face shape and everything! 

Still not so into the solids, but we’ll keep trying.  With Jackson, we were so grossed out by that mush we just skipped right to the real stuff.  We’re considering doing that again!

Here are the boys enjoying some good, wholesome fun with bubbles:

And then there’s me…still large and in charge…still eating like there’s no tomorrow (that would be the last brownie in the batch hanging half way out of my mouth - thank my husband for capturing the moment)…still swollen…still not fitting into my clothes, even the maternity ones, wearing my husband’s shorts in this picture…and still pregnant!  But still loving it too.

And here’s the greatest Daddy and husband in the world, reading a book to his enthusiastic son, and once again sporting “backburners,” and arguably, a mullet…but hey, a haircut is just not in the budget right now:

Wow - where has it gone??  I can’t believe our little guy is growing up so fast.  Here are a few tidbits about Jackson and some really fun videos:

LANGUAGE

• VERBAL (excluding names of people): bubble, ball, bat, beak, box, bowel, bell, bow, bath, bike, book, beach, bean, belly, baby, backpack, bug, bus, cheese, duck, done, “Melmo” (Elmo), hot, milk, mouse, NO, peas, pie, play, Pooh (as in Winnie), pizza, pasta (sounds just like pizza), rock, smoke, snowman, star, teeth, train, truck, water, yes, zebra
• SIGNS: airplane, again, alligator, bath, bike, bear, book, baby, bird, brush teeth, cheese, cat, cookie, cold, done, dog, fish, hat, help, hot, hungry, milk, mouse, monkey, more, music, play, please, rabbit, sit, sleep, shoes, spider, sorry, thirsty, train, truck, turtle, water, wash hands, walking 
• Animal Noises: lion/tiger/puma, dog, cat, snake, cow, pig, horse, rooster (this one is my favorite - “doodle-do”), owl, monkey
• He uses the word “done” very often.  It can mean “finished,” “stop,” “get me out NOW,” “change my environment immediately,” “please remove Shane from my play area,” “stop singing that song RIGHT NOW,” “I no longer want to read this book,” “don’t do that,” etc.  You may not have known what a versatile word “done” can be, but it’s the most powerful word in his vocabulary!  Still, his very favorite word is, of course, “NO!”

FAVORITE BOOKS

• TAILS - he especially loves the scratch and sniff page with the stinky skunk’s tail.  Thanks Gramma and Heather!
• The Sweet Smell of Christmas - yup, still into Christmas books.  He loves this one b/c it’s scratch and sniff.  Thanks Yiayia and Papa!  We’ve read this book at least a thousand times; it even came to Vietnam.
• Spot’s First Easter - he’s loved this book since LAST Easter - he loves all the peek-a-boo flap books, and really enjoys the part in this one where the Easter Bunny says “shhhhh.”
• Do Frogs Fly? - he loves this book because he gets to say “no” with each turn of the page.  I think he thinks the title of this book is, in fact NO!  It’s hilarious to read with him - check out the video of it.  Thanks Sarah, Dave, and Bryson!

LIKES

• Coloring, bath time, books (still obsessed with reading books), trains, music, soccer, trucks, puzzles, hide-and-seek, Elmo from Sesame, brushing teeth, climbing, being chased, Laurie Berkner (kids’ singer)
• Has 2 stuffed animals that he LOVES - “Manchu,” which is a beanie baby panda we got in Hong Kong, and his beanie baby lion that he pushes along the floor while making a “roaring” sound.
• Loves to look at pictures of watch videos of himself.  He watches his 10 month Adoption Day slideshow quite often!
• Got some SWEEEEET new things for “Christmas in February!”  He’s still a little afraid of his Ride-On Thomas Train, but I think he’ll come around:

DISLIKES

• Diaper changes - I have to seriously wrestle the kid down to change his diaper.  Since he poops ~4x per day, this is quite exhausting.  The only thing that makes a diaper change possible is the monkeys hanging from his nursery ceiling.  Usually they buy me 1-2 minutes because I have him point out the Mama, Dada, and baby monkeys, then I tell a little story about them. 

FOOD

• Favorites - waffles (my parents gave us a Mickey Mouse waffle maker - every morning now, Jackson wakes up and says and signs “mouse” repeatedly until we say “no mouse today,” or we go make the darn waffles!), strawberries, cheese, tomatoes, oranges, peas, carrots, grapes, beans, tofu dogs, anything with ketchup, eggs, fish, giant prawns (ate them almost everyday in Vietnam), pasta, pho ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup)

RANDOM THINGS

• He knows 2 letters that he picks out constantly in every book we read - S, and O.  He knows S is for “snake,” O is for “owl.”  Sometimes he recognizes “Z” for zebra and “J” for Jack.

• He can identify red, blue, yellow, and sometimes green
• He sort of knows what’s in my belly…at least enough to answer the question appropriately (see video at the end of this post).  I don’t think he actually has any clue what it means that there’s a “baby in mommy’s belly,” but I guess he’ll find out soon! 
• He’s very quick to make associations.  For example, ever since he went with Travis to buy me flowers for Valentine’s Day, each time we see a bouquet of flowers now he starts pointing to them and saying “Mama!  Mama!”  Another example is after being gone from our local grocery store for nearly 2 months (while in Vietnam), we pulled up and he recognized the landmarks in the parking lot and started making his horse noise
  ; there’s a ride-on horse inside that he goes on for a penny every time we visit the supermarket!
• He’s mastered the head shake, meaning “NO!”  He flings his hair around like a super model when he does this.

SLEEP

• Just when I thought we’d NEVER achieve a routine with Jack, he has begun to nap consistently in the afternoon for 1.5-2 hours!!!  He’s always slept through the night.  We just converted his crib into a toddler bed, because even on its lowest setting, he was capable of climbing out.  He still hasn’t slept in his own bed since before Vietnam (it’s been 3 months now of co-sleeping every single night with us) - this will be a tough thing for us.  Mostly because Travis and I love snuggling with him in our bed. 
• Occasionally, our naptime routine gets screwed up and this happens (I’ll post the video of this happening later - it’ll crack you up!):

PERSONALITY

• He’s a total 2 year old in terms of tantrums and the “no” word!  He’s so stubborn, and so hilarious.  We have a really hard time disciplining him with a straight face.  We’ve implemented time-outs, which he doesn’t fully grasp just yet.  He just keeps saying and signing “done, done, done.” 
• Does this hilarious fake laugh thing when he and Travis are goofing around.
• Is still wildly energetic
• Has such a fun sense of humor
• Has become a bit of a snuggle bug!  We LOVE it!  Every morning when he wakes up in our bed, he rolls over and plants a big one on my lips!  There’s no better way for a mommy to wake up in the morning - it’s so adorable I almost forget we’re still hours from sunrise;)

PHYSICAL

• Much to our surprise, he’s now in the 50% for height, 35% for weight (24lbs), and 50% for head circumference!  This is the kid who was formerly in the 5-10% for all 3 measurements, and whose head circumference was such a concern for us on his referral medical - good thing we just decided to take a leap of faith and ignore that!
• The kid is like a solid block of muscle, seriously!  He’s like a mini-hulk - you should see how all his little muscles flex when he’s running and climbing.  He actually has a little 6 pack!
• He wears 18-24 month clothes, which is amazing considering he was still wearing 6-9 month clothing at a year old!
• He’s just about totally grown out of his eczema - he has a little spot by the corner of his eye that flares when he’s really overtired, and a patch behind his left knee that we still lube up.
• He has his bottom molars, 4 teeth on top, and the 4 front rowers on the bottom.

I wrote all about it last year, so you can read our little love story here (with pictures from high school), but today marks 13 years that I’ve been in love with my high school sweetheart.  It’s our “datingversary,” if you can call our high school romance “dating.”  So in case you didn’t think a 14 or 15 year old could know what h/she wants with regards to a lifetime partner, think again:)  Our parents gave us the talking to plenty of times, reminding us “You may think you love him/her, but you’re still really young.  There are a lot of people to choose from out there.  These things don’t last.  You’ll see…”  We just nodded along, thinking, “no, you’ll see!”  And now they do. 

I don’t think we could have imagined where things would end up 13 years later.  I knew we’d have a family, just didn’t envision it happening all at once, as in, the addition of 3 babies over the course of 18 months.   And I don’t think I could have known then how thrilled we’d be to share this life together either!

Travis keeps telling me we have to stop celebrating this anniversary and start really celebrating July 5th, our wedding day, but I can’t help this day being my favorite to reminisce over .  It’s just fun to think about what little kids we were back then, and how drastically we’ve both grown and changed together over the past 13 years.  Happy Datingversary Travis!  And not to quote my yearbook message to you from way back when, but thank you for all the memories so far, and all those we have to look forward to!

Here’s a little video from today of Jackson talking:

And here are some pictures of our littlest man, who is already sitting up on his own!!  For the first few weeks we knew him, he was a floppy baby with little head control.  Now he’s actually pretty strong.  We had his visit to the pediatrician a few days ago - he’s 45% for height, 50% for head circumference, and 3rd% for weight.  So, he’s a little string bean, but we’ll fix that!