Since it's been a while - a 2 part entry

Lately I've been doing some things outside of the family - some work stuff, and some fun "me time" things, including some dance classes. :) The unfortunate side effect of these activities is less time with Jer and Jonathan.

I think of our lives now as a difficult balance between four things -
- work
- nuclear family
- extended family and friends
- me time

I do believe that we can truly have it all. Just not all in one day, one week or even, sometimes in one month. Now I'm ready to spend some more quality J&J time for the next little while.

On to cute things Jonathan has done lately -

- He has started "giving kisses" which really just consists of him making a kissy face, smacking sounds and leaning distractedly in the general direction of the kissee.

- He adores bubbles in any form and we've started to give him bubble baths. In the evening, when I mention off-hand to Jeremy that it is his bathtime, Jonathan perks up, screams "Bubbooooooooo!!" and races for the stairs. When we get upstairs, he runs to the bath as I start it, repeats "Bubboooo, bubboooo" and fully clothed, hoists his leg up to try to get into the tub.

- Jonathan has a little blankie with a dog head that he snuggles with every night in his crib. The last couple of nights when it was time for him to go to sleep, we've handed him the doggie and he has immediately walked over to his crib, pointed at it and looked up at us, as if to say "ok, put me in there already." He's a good little sleeper.

- He has finally started saying "mommy." Jeremy usually gets him dressed in the mornings while I get the car packed up. When the boys come downstairs, right before they turn the corner into the kitchen, Jer asks, "Jonathan, can you say 'mommy?'" When I hear that sweet little voice say "mommy" and then see that toothy smile grow bigger when we make eye contact, it's the sweetest moment of my day.

Clowning around

Jonathan discovered a bunch of 100 calorie packs of cookies in our pantry.
Fun ensued.

It's been a while

Right after stating that I would be a better blogger, I took a bit of a break, huh? Hmm. I think I've decided that if I don't feel inspired, I am not going to write. I get enough of "have to" with work, so at home and in our limited free time, I will only partake of "want to" activities.

Of course, that's not to say that Jonathan doesn't inspire me to write, unfortunately, I always think of cute things to talk about while I'm at work or not near the computer.

But tonight, while we were getting him ready for bed and reading his favorite book, "In the Jungle," Jonathan was chock full of fun new things, so I have to chronicle them.

Up until recently, Jonathan's go-to animal noise has been "Ah-ah." Dogs? "Ah-ah." Cows? "Ah-ah." Horses, pigs, cats and elephants, "Ah-ah" too. But while reading his animal book tonight, Jer and I were blown away by an animal noise explosion!

"Jonathan, what does the monkey say?"
"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" complete with rounded lips and bobbing head.

"What does the lion say?"
"AAAAAUUUGHGHGHGHG!!"

"What about the dog?"
"Uf, uf, uf!"

"The cow?"
"Oooooooooooooo"

WHAAAAAT??? Where did he learn all this stuff all in one day? Score one for daycare!

Proof that he is my son

Jonathan is quite the talker. He doesn't have some astronomical number of actual words. He isn't saying, "Mother dear, may I please have a glass of water" or anything, but he just never stops talking! For the most part, in his own little language.

"Daddeee!! Buttball, boysha boysha nabalada ah-ah. Ball."

But he does have a pretty good number of actual words under his belt at this point, so I thought I would chronicle them here:

Ball
Football ("buttball")
Bird
Dog
"Ah-ah" - the sound every animal makes
Daddy - useful for describing actual daddy, plus mommy and any other person in the vicinity
What's This? (which is an embarrassing one because it sounds like "Oh Sh*t")
Get down / sit down ("Dit Dee")
Eyes
Nose
Shoe ("Sssssss")
Hi
Uh-oh
Throw it ("Ba-doh it!")

Just today he started saying "No-no-no-no-no" a bunch. I don't think he meant it to mean "no" but maybe I'm wrong and this is the start of true toddlerhood. In the words of Jonathan, "Oh Sh*t."

We thought our kid was a genius

And of course, he is a genius.

But not in exactly the way we thought.

A bunch of different times recently, Jonathan has looked up at the TV and correctly pointed out that there is a football game on. "BUTTball! BUTTball!"

"Wow," we thought, "he can tell a football game from other stuff on TV!"

Or so we thought - until a few days ago when we had the news or something on in the background and Jonathan walked up and insisted we were watching football. It's happened another time recently too.

Guess that's what happens when football constitutes 94% of your TV schedule for five months out of the year.

Snow Day

Today was a snow day! 5 inches of snow, one of the largest snowfalls in my memory in Atlanta. The beautiful fluffy snow of this morning turned treacherous with sleet and freezing rain falling all day so of course the entire city was shut down and will continue to be shut down through tomorrow.

If Jonathan were 3 or 4 and if Jer and I didn't have the kind of jobs that don't care if it's a snow day, maybe it would have been a little more exciting. However, a 15-month-old + two parents attempting to get work done is not the formula for a fun snow day.

Jonathan was not a fan.





In parental silliness news, Jer went outside all excited to make his first snowman (a Florida boy, after all) but unfortunately it was late in the day after the icy layer had solidified over the snow and his efforts were thwarted. And both Jer and I enjoyed one quick slide down the neighbor's driveway on our plastic ironing board cover. I could have done that all day!

Catching up

So as the young people say these days - "It's been a minute" since the last time I posted. OOPS!

The holidays are so crazy and fun and I just haven't felt the urge or motivation, but it's January, that resolution-y time of year and one of my resolutions is to be better about blogging. Here are a few others -

- Do some things around our house - decorating-wise. I am not thrilled with our house's decor, but I have trouble figuring out exactly what changes I need to make to get to where I want to be. I think I'll start small - switch out the drapes in the family room for something lighter for example. And see what happens from there.

- Watch my portion sizes. I truly believe in all things in moderation - I don't want to go on some silly fad diet that fails immediately because I am so deprived. But it's so easy to just put a little less on my plate. Fewer calories = fewer pounds. I don't need to lose, I just need to maintain and with my lack of exercise, diet's gonna have to carry the weight of that goal (no pun intended).

So, a quick catch-up on the holidays. We hosted Christmas Eve for my family and had a wonderful time. Jer and I worked like crazy around the house all day and got the house in decent shape so that by the time people came over I felt relaxed and just had fun - yay!! I think I like this hosting parties business.

Christmas day was really fun over at Jim and Jo's house. Lots of little nieces and nephews and cousins and such made it a great time, as always. And of course the most amazing thing was the SNOW!! It came down all day in beautiful big flakes and made the perfect backdrop to a relaxing and fun Christmas.

The next day we went down to Amelia Island and spent a fabulous week with my parents, Aunt Lisa, four sweet babysitters (I mean cousins) Ava, Ellie, Abby and Logan and of course, Cricket the wonder dog. We had a fantastic week including walks on the beach, a trip to the zoo and even some pool swimming! Thanks to grandma and grandpa for crankin' the heat up to 90.

Below are some pics to illustrate the fun happenings.
Happy New Year everyone!