July 22nd 2009 our first wedding

July 22nd 2009

We had our first wedding to attend with our kids. Well, actually we didn’t attend the wedding, the kids were napping, so we dropped off grandma Karen and went straight to the hotel so the kids could rest up for the reception. Jase and Gabriella were amazed by the hotel, they have never stayed in one (Jase stayed in a condo last year). The kept looking up at how high the ceiling was, I think it was 9 floors, the sides of the hotel were mostly glass and we could see the airplanes really closely since the airport was nearby. The elevators were also glass so we could look down on the pool, restaurants, and lobby.

We stayed on the 8th floor, and as soon as we got off the elevator I read the sign that said “welcome to the quiet zone” “no children, marching bands, or circus animals on this floor” etc etc etc . EEK! They knew we had kids (babies, really) on this floor, so I was a little nervous, and hoping the other guests wouldn’t mind. Luckily we were at the end of the hall, but that just made it super fun for Jase to run down the entire hallway screaming! Oh well, no complaints were made on us! The kids slept well, Jase woke up once at 4 am and didn’t really know where he was, so it took a little bit to get him back to bed.
The reception was a blast for the kids. Once we got past the speeches where the kids had to “behave and be quiet”, Jase was the life of the party. He got out on the dance floor and shook his booty! He had so much fun, everyone was watching him dance and run around. However, when they played the first slow dance, he wasn’t quite sure what to do. There were a lot of couples out dancing on the dance floor, he spotted out one particular old couple dancing. The woman was wearing a long skirt with a big slit up the back, well, the only thing I can think of is that Jase thought it was a tent and decided to go right in! Rob, Gabby, my mom and myself were all watching as this happened and had no clue what to do! In the few seconds that we could all plainly see what he was about to do, we couldn’t get the words out, we were either laughing so hard or had our chins on the floor, mouths gaping open. We finally got ourselves together and yelled “JASE!” “NO!” as he was already halfway in. I don’t think the older couple noticed too much, or maybe they did, we ran off to tell everyone else! All in all it was a fun time.
Jase also had his first night in his big boy bed all by himself! We can take the crib down soon since he’s been doing really well. He doesn’t cry when it’s time for bed, he has been known to wander down the hallway, or into our room and start talking away. “Mom?” “Moooommmm?” “Hi.” “night night”
I usually say, “night night Jase, go back in your bed” he runs to his bed
And this usually repeats a few times before he stays in his bed for good
We’re LOVING the awesome weather, but have only been to the park once recently. Jase loves being around other kids, well, anyone for that matter. He’s really come out of his shyness phase. Also, another huge accomplishment for him was going down the slide by himself. He hasn’t done this in 5 months. He has been too scared. The last time he went down a slide, I had taken him to a park with Gabby by myself and I couldn’t help him at the top and bottom of the slide, so I stood at the top to help him down, and he hit his head on the slide when he stopped at the bottom. I’m so glad he isn’t afraid anymore! He also loves the rock wall and has started saying “hi” and other things to other kids, which is another huge accomplishment with him. Anytime we get a chance at a playdate, or other social activity we go, and I think it’s really helping him along with his shyness. He usually has been a little leery the first few minutes we’ve went anywhere and it takes him 10 or so minutes to warm up to everyone and then he’s fine. Not now! Any park, birthday party, or friend’s house, and he jumps right in.

July 15th....big boy bed!!!!!!!!!!!

July 15th 2009

Jase took his first nap in his big boy bed!!!! Yay!!!! He woke up and started clapping right away and saying “wahoo!” He was just as excited as I was to see him sleep in there all by himself! A couple of days ago he climbed up our four foot retaining wall in the front yard. His first trip up took him a few minutes, but after that, he kept climbing up and down over and over! He has been wearing his big boy underpants at home (we are still working on him keeping these on…he seems to think it is underwear – optional here at home, so most of the time he’s running around butt naked), but at the stores he wears his training pull ups and has been holding it until he comes home! He usually runs right over to the potty when we get home to go, we are SO proud of him!
Gabriella has started to point, not with her index finger always, but usually with her whole entire hand, and she likes to “point” at everything! She usually does this in the store by pointing at everyone she sees while talking as loudly as possible. I’m really curious to hear what she is going to have to say once she finds her words J She is also starting to cruise really well. She loves to walk behind her toys that she can pull herself up on and roll. She absolutely HATES the walker, but I guess it shouldn’t be a big surprise, she didn’t like the bouncer, swing, or any of that other stuff she didn’t have control of either. She would much rather push her little toys around and walk behind them throughout the entire house.

It's been awhile....I'll try to upload all of my blogs so I'm up to date!

July 9 2009

Little miss Gabriella has had a LOT of firsts this week. She crawled the steps all by herself (with us right behind her, of course), she says “mom” (dada is still her favorite word, though!), She puts a blanket over her head and pulls it off to play peek a boo with Jase, and she gave her first high 5! It’s amazing how many things she is learning at this stage…I think that’s why Jase is doing so well at potty training. He likes to look like the “big boy” and he gets lots of applause and cheers from everyone when he goes!
My mom and I took the kids to their first movie today. I found online that the movie cinemas do kids movies for free during the summer on certain days. It’s a really awesome program to have, no one gets upset if your kids are loud or walking around because they didn’t pay to get in! We chose the week for “Madagascar 2”, I figured that would have the best luck to hold Jastin’s attention! Gabby slept the entire time, which was great, and Jase love it! He took a 20 minute break in the middle to go play skeeball with my mom (he was getting a little bored).

We all had such a great time for 4th of July. The kids have been staying up until about 10pm every night. They have been watching fireworks all week! They even got to play in the neighbor’s huge 2 story bounce house, which Jase LOVED! Jase got to hold his first sparkler this 4th of July and loved the smoke bombs and snap pops also.








Now on our nightly walks, Jase prefers to have Gabriella in his old “cozy coupe” car to be pushed around while he pushes his pooh lawnmower around. The first night we did this it took an hour to take our walk (it usually takes 20 minutes). I can’t believe he actually did that much walking! He loved being able to stop and “smell the roses”, it was a nice leisurely stroll (except Rob doesn’t have the patience and he kept saying “JASE! Come on!!” Jase didn’t understand why there was such a big rush J)
The kids have been playing with their new kitchen Grandma & Grandpa Speis got them. It’s a great height for the both of them. Jase loves the phone. Everytime my cell rings and I answer it, he grabs “his phone” from the play kitchen & talks on it. He also likes to play cook, wash the dishes, & of course eat. Gabby loves to play with the dishes, especially the spoons (I had to take the forks and hide them since they were her favorite) she usually has a spoon in her mouth while she’s crawling around.

July 1st, 2009 Our 3rd wedding anniversary, and my first entry to our family journal!!! I’ve really been meaning to start this for months, so I’m very excited to finally be sitting down and actually doing it! My main reason for this journal was to be able to go back and read my entries and remember all the fun “littler” memories we get to share with the kids, not just the big moments I write about in their baby books. This also gives us a great opportunity to share our memories or any news as it happens with our family and friends.

Today was Gabriella’s 9 month doctors appt. She is doing wonderfully. She almost weighs 18 pounds, 28 inches long, and has 6 teeth! She has recently learned to wave, clap, and can cruise around the furniture a bit. She got one shot at the dr. today and had to get blood drawn (routine for 9 months for anemia and lead), so she’s had a pretty rough day poor thing. However, she didn’t go down without a fight! The nurses couldn’t believe how strong she is, I was practically laying on top of her while they drew her blood and she still managed to nearly make it off of the table! She says dada all of the time, and is constantly babbling to anyone that will listen. She has said good, car, ball…but those are only on occasion. She loves to wrestle with Jase, she gets this look in her eyes and just pounces him and laughs and laughs.

Jase is 25 months old now and learning something new everyday! He has been using the big boy potty, and hasn’t had ANY accidents since he started last week. I am just amazed at how easy it’s been so far. We pretty much let him run around “nakie” at the house and he knows when he has to go, runs to his potty, and it makes a fun song when he goes. He LOVES to take it to the big potty and flush it and wash his hands just like a big boy. He claps the whole time. He wears pull ups to bed and when we go out still. He is really making progress with his speech. Today, my mom watched him while I took Gabby to the dr. and when I came home, he rushed to the door with a huge smile, laughed, and clapped. “mommy!” I picked him up “hi, mommy” me: “hi, buddy” Jase: “ove you” me: “awe, buddy, I love you too!” He is and always has been such a sweetheart. When he wakes up he can not wait to get Gabby and give her a kissy. He’s always making sure I don’t forget her when we go outside/downstairs.

They both love to mimic each other, it's like having two little monkeys around the house :) Rob and I love to eat dinner as a family and then go for a walk every night. We've been staying outside after our walks and letting the kids play with the neighbors and they love it. There have been lots of fireworks going off this week, and they kids have done okay with it. Jase actually shot his own first little firework this week, it sprayed confetti everywhere.