I can't believe that we're at the end of summer. The State Fair is here, the school buses are making their ways around the neighborhood, pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks, and I've started keeping the windows open again instead of running the air conditioning. I don't know when - or how - it happened. I find it funny that a month of pregnancy can feel like an eternity, but the minute the kid is on the outside, time doesn't seem to stop moving forward at warp speed. I can't believe that Baby Nora is going to be a month old on Sunday. I can't believe that Jack is in preschool. I see evidence of his learning every single day. I picked him up from school yesterday, asked him what he did and he told me, "Guess what, Mama? I do science with friends at school!" He just loves his new classroom and all his new friends and teachers. This makes me very happy and I'm glad we decided to keep him in school while I'm out on maternity leave.
Anyways, the other night Jack and I went on a "nature walk" around our neighborhood. Mostly, we just walked, looked for squirrels, talked about acorns and apples and looked for different colored flowers. He told me that his favorite color is yellow (his mama's favorite too!) and that his favorite animal is a monkey. His best friend is Johnny, and sometimes Cooper. I can't get over how cool it is to be communicating with him on a whole new level. He can tell me what he he wants (or rather what he doesn't want) and what he wants to do. I just love how he's starting to form his own opinions (rather strong ones) and developing his likes and dislikes.
As for Baby Nora, she likes eating, getting her diaper changed, the sound of the vacuum cleaner, being cuddled, a really good kick and stretch time, and sleeping in her car seat on the washing machine. She's really not difficult to please.
The one thing that makes me the most happy is that once their basic needs are met, their default mood is one of joy, love and happiness. Nora is starting to smile at me and always brightens up (in my opinion) when she hears my voice. Jack is just content to do his own thing and continues to bombard me with hugs and kisses. Last night, he put his head in my lap, smiled at me, and patted my cheek. Every morning when Jeff leaves for work, Jack tells him that he needs his hug and kiss and then directs him to give Mommy and Baby Nora a hug and kiss too. We must be doing something right.
Anyways, Jack has developed a fear of sea monsters. I'm not really sure where this came from since I don't even think he knows what a sea monster actually is. Goofy is scared of them in an episode of Mickey Mouse and there may be something about sea monsters on Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I'm not sure. But every once and a while, Jack will just start screaming about sea monsters. I'm not really sure what to do about this, exactly, since it doesn't happen with any regularity - like at bedtime, for example. I usually just tell him that there are no sea monsters and that I'll make sure they stay away. This has appeased him, so far.
We had yet another great week too. We stuck close to home on Friday and on Saturday, we went and met Aunt Lindsey and Friend Juliet at the State Fair. I'm just going to say that it was a lot of work. Fortunately, there weren't a lot of people there and it was fairly cool out, but still, it was busy. Jack and Juliet are cut from the same cloth - meaning that they both love to run around (or away) and are constantly busy together and trying to find the next bit of trouble. So, Aunt Lindsey is very pregnant, Jeff manned the double stroller and tried to control Jack while I took charge of Baby Nora. Needless to say, it never really felt like we were ever heading in the same direction. We were always chasing after the kids and I was trying to figure out how to feed my child discretely at the Great Minnesota Get Together.
Jack really liked eating his cheese curds and chocolate chip cookies. Jeff also took him down the giant slide. While he loved this, we had to basically drag him away from it because both he AND Juliet started screaming "AGAIN! AGAIN!" and at $5.00 a pop, there wasn't any way we were going to throw money down like that to appease the kids.
After the Fair, I took Nora to meet my Aunt and Uncle while Jeff attempted to put Jack down for a nap. However, I think that Jack might have had a little too much sugar, so there was no nap to be had. So, Jeff and Jack went to the gym and I stayed home with Baby Nora.
On Sunday, we went for breakfast and then I went to see my girlfriend, Jenny, and her new house. Uncle Alec came over and the boys went to work out. I picked up dinner and we spent the rest of the night watching Pitch Perfect and the Frozen Sing-Along. Watch out, we're exciting people.
Monday, we went to Grammy Camp. It was a pretty nice day and the boys went on a nature walk with my mom and sister while I stayed with the babies. Jack found some cattails and kept calling them hot dogs - I think that I used to do this too. We spent the morning playing out in the driveway and the boys always have so much fun together, although they usually end up fighting over the toys at Nana and Boppa's house!
Around lunchtime, I took the kids to get their passports because we're taking a family roadtrip to Winnipeg in October - Jeff loves Canada, but why Winnipeg? I couldn't tell you. This was a complete trial of patience since Jack was hungry, tired and the lady at the passport office was not very nice. Regardless, I got the deed done and we came home for naps. I really needed one. Probably more than Jack did.
Anyways, after nap time, we went outside to play in the pool. Jack loves his pool - I bought this tent contraption for Nora to lay in while we're outside. So, she just chilled in her tent while Jack played in the water and Blue babysat. As a side note, I swear if that dog had opposable thumbs, I would let him babysit.
And yesterday, Jack went to school and Nora and I spent some time around the house, cleaning, washing clothes, and doing the grocery shopping for the week. She was very helpful. Actually, I put her in the Moby sling most of the time I'm doing housework and she likes to stick close to me while I clean.
Anyways, at Target, I was standing in the diaper aisle, trying to figure out whether Nora still needed newborn diapers or if I should move her up to the next size. She's not really gaining weight like her brother did (who ate so much at every feeding that he threw up) but she's getting really long. She's already grown out of some of the newborn pajamas. Plus, she poops like a champ. Anyways, I decided to get the pack of 88 newborn diapers, and I figured I'd bequeath them to the next girlfriend with a newborn. But then, I forgot how quickly babies go through diapers and, like I said, Baby Girl poops like a champ. We're already almost a quarter of the way through the box. So, after we got the groceries put away, we went and picked up Jack from school, and then played outside with the other kids in the neighborhood.
Today, I am just relaxing - and enjoying the beautiful sunshine. I dropped Jack off at school and went to Starbucks for my first pumpkin latte of the season. Well, if I was being totally honest, I actually bought two because I figured I'd need one later! We came home and went for a walk. Seriously, it was the perfect morning.
Now we're sitting on the back deck. Nora is enjoying a good kick-and-stretch/nap and she's just happy to be hanging out.
This weekend is obviously Labor Day but we don't really have any plans. Actually, I think I'm going to put Jack in potty-training boot camp. He starts soccer in mid-September and he's going to be a Tiny Tussler (wrestling, duh!) come November and I'm pretty sure he needs to be potty-trained for that. I should note that the wrestling program is making an exception for Jack - apparently kids need to be four years old (I think) to wrestle, but the Wayzata Youth Program took one look at him and let him enroll. I think this may be a pattern over the years to come. My guess is that if he hasn't signed up for football by the time he hits high school, he'll be accosted and forced into the program by the coach. My man-child.
So, wish me luck on the potty-training front. Hopefully Jack will learn and get the hang of it as quickly as he picks things up in school!
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