Fun-loving FIVE!

Wait...what?!  Jayson's FIVE??!!

Oh. My. Gosh.  I have a five year old.  He's the spitting image of his father at this age and acts just like him too!  I'm in for it when he hits his teens.  Heck, I'm in for it now.   You've converted to the dark side, you're a daddy's boy.  I get it though, mommy is frequently busy with Alexis but that doesn't mean that I don't still crave cuddles with my little dude.  I'm also the "disciplinarian" while daddy's your bff, so I get that too.  I cannot begin to describe how immensely proud I am of you though at this point in your little life.  You are a dynamite big brother (I just love how sweet you are to Lexi) and you are rocking pre-k.  This year has been a big one for you.  You started school like a champ, you ride the bus (complete with transfers!), and now you're playing tee ball.  We completed Kindergarten registration (so surreal) and now we're counting down to summer after a month of birthday activities.  Yes, a month.  You had your kiddie party on the 6th with your closest friends at the local roller rink and our family party is the 20th.  So when it's all said and done, let's recap what five looks like for you Jayson:

A month of fours

May 2017 was truly a month of fours.  Alexis turned four months on 5/4/17 and Jayson turned four years on 5/9/14.  I will say that turning thirty never bothered me nor did the subsequent years thereafter, however, Jayson turning four has hit me hard.  I think it's the fact that I've submitted his application for pre-k that has really solidified he's no longer a baby.  He's transitioned out of toddlerhood so-to-speak and into school aged oblivion.  With that being said, let's get on to the updates.  They'll have a shared blog post this month only because mama's behind on both of them.  #workingmomproblems

Twerking

Yes, you read that correctly. Today's blog post is entitled "Twerking."  My son has some serious toddler dance skills, but he's a little late to the game with twerking.  It is his latest move he's perfected along side this singing and dancing monkey his grandparents gifted him.  I seriously need to capture the two of them on video, but that will have to be another day's post.  Today's will focus on this book and how he believes it relates to twerking.  Then we'll brainstorm where I took a wrong turn in this journey called parenting.

THE BOOK:
The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day

THE PAGE:

Do you see the little cub with the yellow shirt seemingly bent over in an innocent game of leap frog?  My son informed me last night, as we read this for his bedtime story, that this very bear cub was twerking just like him.  "Like a stripper."  His words, not mine.

I admit I laughed despite being slightly concerned.  I'm not sure where or how he learned twerking or that twerking could be related to strippers.  I'll have to ask his father, his aunts, or daycare, but you cannot make this stuff up.

I call this "A day in the life of parenting."  If you got a chuckle out of this, you're welcome.  

35 Weeks

 

Let's just say at 35 weeks, this mama is slowing down.  There's still so many "nesting" things I want to do when I get home, plus all the Amazon.com goodies arriving at my house to go through for Christmas, but there's never enough time (or energy) in the day.  Plus, I'm caffeine free for three weeks now.  It sucks.

It's a... GIRL!!!

Can't say I saw this coming.  At our 21 week appointment on 8/30 we were scheduled for our anatomy scan.  We brought Jayson with us thinking it was going to be a good experience for him to see the ultrasound and hear first hand whether his sibling was a boy or a girl.  We were fully prepared to make the announcement that day following the appointment, except our little peanut (much like her older brother) had other ideas and refused to cooperate.  So we left that day a little disappointed and were scheduled to come back on 9/14 to get some additional measurements and help our awesome ultrasound tech Leslie hone in her new machine. Within the first five minutes, despite criss-crossed little legs, we were able to determine the gender and it was a girl.  Justin and I were actually shocked.  I felt like I was carrying very similar to our prior pregnancy, but hey, one of each is not bad.

I blinked...

Kenny Chesney was really onto something with his song "Don't Blink."   It's lyrics fully encompass how I feel about life, and Jayson's life in particular.

"Don't blink, just like that you're six years old and you take a nap, you 

wake up and you're 25 and your highschool sweetheart becomes your wife"

Unfortunately, I blinked and another whole year has passed.  Jayson is turning three.  How is that even possible?  Don't get me wrong, some days feel longer than others.  Many days I can fully relate to "Toddlers are A**holes: It's not your fault" by Bunmi Laditan.  However, when I sit down to write a recap post on yet another year of Jayson's life, I find myself a little sad that it's going oh so fast.

Happy New Year! Let's catch up.

So now that it is officially 2015, I realize that I have slacked quite a bit in the blog department.  Jayson has been more active than ever and adding a puppy to the mix has certainly cut down on any free time I've had.  So let's catch up on items I forgot to share with you so that we can start the New Year off with a clean slate... mmmkay?  (Did you just picture Lumbergh from Office Space when I said that?)

Meet Ace Bolivar

November 3, 2014 I received a text confirming the availability of a dapple wirehaired dachshund pup in Ohio.  A dance party ensues in my son's room.  Jayson doesn't quite understand it, but he's happy enough to rock his signature "happy feet" moves while mommy and daddy excitedly talk about the prospect of adopting another dog and all the logistics that go along with it.  

Justin and I had just started searching online for wirehaired dachshund puppies in the tri-state area, reaching out to a few breeders and fully expecting to be on a wait-list until the Spring or even next fall.  We weren't having much luck.  Wirehaired dachshunds aren't that common to begin with, let alone a dapple.  We both really liked the look of dapple dachshunds but for allergy purposes, a wirehaired dachshund is the way to go. As soon as we got the text, we decided right then and there we were going to adopt this little dude with one blue eye.  The best part?  We didn't have to wait long to meet him.  He was ready to go that Wednesday following his check up at the vet.  So we drove eight hours out Thursday night to Bolivar (pronounced oliver with a "b"), brainstormed names the whole way, picked him up Friday morning and then drove eight hours home to introduce him to his new BFF Jayson.  The name we finally decided on was Ace Bolivar.  Ace was easy enough for Jayson to pronounce and Bolivar to pay homage to his hometown.

We're only on day four of his addition to our family, but Ace and Jayson have gotten along fairly well.  Ace wants to follow Jayson everywhere and Jayson wants to give him kisses all the time.  It warms my heart to think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship for them.

Welcome to our little family Ace Bolivar Krueger.  We love you already.

Jayson The Tornado

Things he's saying: 

Jayson talks constantly, not much coherent yet.  He tries to say strawberry, but gets tripped up on the extra syllables. He's been using the word "mine" a lot.  We catch occasional words/phrases like "whoah buddy," hi, bye, car, cat, hat, hot, Laura, Dora, dad (not da-da, not daddy), nana (banana), and of course "No!"

Furry Friday: Pretty Boy Snacking

It's no secret that Riley loves to eat, or hang out in Jayson's room, or do both at the same time.  We do limit snacks in the baby's room however, we're not a huge fan of food upstairs on the carpet.  With that being said, here are some recent shots of Riley sitting pretty in Jayson's room, drawn to something out the window.  I'm also sharing a video of Riley and his best bud sharing snacks after daycare.   It started when Jayson was using a walker. Jayson would purposely drop food down for Riley and Riley, stupidly, would be willing to risk being run over for the snack.  It progressed to feeding him from his high chair (Riley puts his front paws on the bottom rung to reach whatever treat Jayson is dangling over the side).  Now that Jayson is walking, Jayson realizes Riley will follow him all over the house for a treat and will occasionally stop to sit down and hand feed him whatever goodies are in his snack cup. This has become a daily ritual. Too cute.

The miniature man in our house

  Things he's saying:

• I got it
• I did it
• Look at that / "lookit"
• oooh (like an owl)
• Ow/ouch 
• Mom/mama
• Daddy/dada
• No
• Yes / "Yesh"
• bye
• "Uh-oh" is a new favorite
• A whole lot of other gibberish from the minute he wakes up

enligh-TEN-ed

Holy moly!!  Jayson woke up another month older today.   Ten whole months.  Not to sound all cliche on you, but I am not quite sure where the time has gone.  I find myself scrolling through the photos I've taken over the last month to remind myself of all the changes that have occurred.  The memory isn't what it used to be (post-pregnancy brain).  I am so glad for technology so I can capture all his little moments.  Maybe one day I'll even print out each of these little updates and make a scrap book.  Ok, maybe not... that sounds a little over ambitious.  Without further ado, this is what the little stinker has accomplished to date:

Watch it Wednesday: Crush

I was having a work related conversation with a coworker the other day and of course our talks quickly detoured to our kids.  I had commented that Jayson's current age is my favorite, and in retrospect I think I've said this with every age he's hit so far.  She had a great way to describe this.  She said that with each stage whether it be crawling, walking, talking, etc., it's like you have a crush on your kid.  Everything they do is so precious and you can't help but stare at them in wonderment.  It's so true!  Jayson could fart and I'd brag about it.  As a matter of fact I have because when he does "let wind" (to quote Justin's Grandma Kelly) I'll say to him "are you making stinky man farts?" and he'll laugh.  He thinks it's hilarious.  Such a typical man to think getting caught farting is hilarious.  It's safe to say I have a crush on my kid.  I have drank the kool-aid and am wearing a permanent pair of rose colored glasses.  How could I not??  Just look at this kid!

Number Nine

Nine has always been my lucky number.  It was my varsity soccer jersey number, Justin and I started dating on the ninth of February in 1999, my first dorm room was 309, and Justin and I got married in 2009.  It also just so happens that Jayson was born on the ninth of May, which means that this past Sunday (the ninth of February) he became 9 months old.  Yeah... nine whole months.  Which means I have three months until his first birthday.  I don't know whether to be happy about that fact or if I should start bawling.  What I do know is that month nine for Jayson has brought a lot of changes and this by far has become my favorite age of his.  He's just so much fun right now!

Furry Friday: A Boy & His Dog

It's been way too long since I've done a Furry Friday post.  Since becoming a mother, my posts have been more infrequent to begin with but I don't want you to think that Riley has been forgotten about altogether.  We still have plenty of snuggle time.  He still sleeps by me.  We snuggle on the couch after Jayson's gone to bed.  He is always within arms length.

The Number Eight

1. Jayson is officially sitting, unassisted, like a champ.  He's still not crawling yet, but will inch along on his back like a worm.

Jayson: 7 Months

Weight: Last weigh in was 10/28 and he was 16lb 3oz.  I'm guessing he's somewhere around 17 or more now. 

Height: At his last appointment he was 26.75in.  Judging from the high waters he's been sporting lately, I'd say he has easily gained an inch in the last month. 

Doctor appointment:  He's due for his second flu shot today.  Daddy gets to take him this time. 

Nicknames: Jay, Jay Jay, Jase, Buddy, Baby Jayson

Today's Tangents

• I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  We had 28 family members over for supper and an additional six for dessert bringing our Thanksgiving attendance an all time record high of 34!  It was a little nuts at times but the wonderful thing about it was that we were surrounded by family.  Jayson was also in rare form, as you can see from the above photos, so our families thoroughly enjoyed their time with him.

Sick!

The theory that breast fed babies don't get sick isn't entirely accurate.  Poor Jayson spiked a fever Saturday which which kept both of us out of work and daycare into Monday and Tuesday.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind the extra snuggle time with my little guy but he was down right miserable for the majority of our time together.  Either that or he was sleeping the rest of the time, which I guess did his body good. 

Half a year...

Today Jayson is six months old.  He is looking more and more like a toddler with each passing day. Thankfully he has kept his happy-go-lucky disposition and continues to be a fairly easy baby.

At six months Jayson is doing the following:

★ Screeching at the top of his lungs. This is his happy, hyper self.

★ Raspberrying and I love it. I have yet to catch it on video but I will.