Pile on

Let me interrupt the otherwise relatively quiet This Wood House to show you what's happened here today.

This is a typical moment when Daddy walks in the door. Baby squeals and shakes all over. Chey giggles and launches towards him with hugs. Lola goes absolutely berserk.

Let's pile on Daddy!!!

There's just too much cuteness around here these days. I just had to share. Poor Lola got stuck on the bottom of the pile for a while, but don't be fooled. She loved every minute of it.

Down goes the mattress

Hi my name is Jameson and I have NO idea that I'm only 6 months old. No. Idea.

___________

Tonight, one of the scariest moments of my adult being-a-momma-to-Jameson life happened. And let me just say first off, it happened WAY earlier than I ever dreamed it would. At the end of nap time while I was downstairs finishing up a quick project, I heard Little Man starting to stir and wake up. As is the norm, I gave him a few minutes to really wake up and start "talking" before I rushed up to get him. After a few minutes, I looked at the monitor to see what he was to up and my heart stopped. There he was, standing up in his crib hanging over his rails at his waist!! I ran faster than I've ever ran, taking two steps at a time upstairs praying the entire time that he wouldn't fall. I think I startled him when I threw the door open running to grab him because he started screaming immediately. He thankfully must have been stuck on the rail in the corner and didn't fall out but he came way too close. My heart pounded for about an hour afterwards and I think I gave him about 4,000 extra kisses before bed tonight. 

This boy is growing up way too fast, y'all. At 5 months, the first time he army crawled across the living room floor, I thought, "Come on Son, you're just a baby" but I was excited for him. He was so happy and excited to be mobile. He could catch up to his sister laying across the floor. He could chase Lola around the living room. He immediately knew crawling was the way to go. A few weeks later, he brought up both knees and hauled it into the kitchen from the living room and I thought "OK, so that was fast. This kid…" He's a determined boy that seems to be growing faster than I ever dreamed. But for the first time, I'm physically screaming inside "SLOW DOWN!" I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready for this next phase of babyhood. Its going by too fast. I love everything he does so much, but I so want him to just be a baby a little while longer. 

Ah this is so difficult! Needless to say, Little Man's crib mattress got lowered tonight before bedtime. We won't be having this issue again. But I think its safe to say that there is no slowing him down. All there is left to do is baby proof all things before he can get his hands on it. I want to cry.

Kid, you're killing me.

Life Lately

We have been staying pretty busy lately. I feel like I haven't updated in so long, I'm not sure where to even start.

We kicked off the summer with a weekend trip up north.

On our way back home to Virginia to see my family, we first stopped off to see the Giant's grandparents. They hadn't had a chance to meet J yet, and this trip meant a lot to them and Giant.

After a short visit, we headed on up to VA. My parents threw a party for people to come meet "the boys"- Tyson and Jameson while we were there. It was a rushed weekend but so much fun to see so many people that we love and don't get to see enough.

This picture below is the first of Nana and Skipper with all 4 of their g'kids. Love love love. Oh the outtakes.

Us sisters and our boys…

 

After a long ride home and swearing off any other future road trips, we got busy kicking off our summer. Chey was not ready to end her school, so I jumped on trips to the park, play dates, and luncheons with friends to keep her from getting bored. June was kind of blur now that I think about it.

We had many pool days in this sweltering heat. Days that it wasn't tooooooo hot, we had fun at the local parks. J had his first swing ride and loved it. 

We sadly said goodbye to our wonderful friends the Goodwillies as they moved bases. Chey (and I) were very sad to see them go.

June came and went, and we started traveling again once I got over our June trip. The weekend of the 4th, we headed north again to spend a long weekend with my sister and her family at Lake Yadkin. I still can't believe that I didn't take a single picture all weekend long. Fail. I'm stealing my sister's and her MILs here. These are my favorites. 

We had a blast on the water. 

Shortly after our return home, actually long enough for my to unpack, do laundry, and repack, the kids and I loaded up and headed to OBX for a week at the beach house with my family. We've enjoyed a lot of family time this summer, obviously. Going to OBX always feels like going home to me. So far, I have not found a better beach and I hope my kids grow up loving it as much as the Giant and I do. I will post on that trip separately so I'll use my favorite photo from the trip here.

After a week away, and another long car ride home, we are here in one piece and working on my swearing off all car rides in the future. I have a few weeks before we have another trip planned so I'm hoping that I get amnesia about how much my kids hate the car before I pack them up again. If anyone would like to send me money towards ear plugs, that would be appreciated. 

We've survived car rides, teething, sleep and the lack of, crawling, bumps and bruises, almost a dead dog, home construction, starting solids, starting eating meats (woot Chey Chey), successful potty training (double woot) and much more.

Hope you are having a great summer. We sure are!

I'll leave you with a picture from tonight.

Life is never boring.

6 Months

I find it so hard to believe that I have a 6 month baby boy. sometimes when people ask me how old you are, I have to count on my fingers "January, February, March" etc and it always shocks me when I get to the second hand. Ricidulous.

As for stats, he's a biggin'. He's in the 99th percentile in height at 28 1/2 in and a shrimp in weight at 96th%- 19lb7oz. HA, he's my big baby boy. Measuring exactly like his daddy did at the same age.

Six months has been one of my favorites with Little Man. His personality is coming out so strong these days. He is my little lover. He's a snuggler that loves attention and smiles all day long. He's a flirt and its one of my favorites of his qualities. Remind me of that when he's in high school please.

His best friends are his sister and his dog. He is obsessed with both of them. He beams when he sees either of them. He cracks up at pretty much everything his sister does, whether she is aware of it or not. She knows how to get him going though and when she starts cuttin' up for him, its quite a laughing fest.   He adores our pup Lola too. He will get himself to her any ways necessary for a snuggle. She is so great with him. Gentle and loving, they are pretty cute.

Its been a big month for J. Not only has he been a traveling boy, seeing lots of family members that we don't see often, he's had some new experiences and learned some exciting new skills. His 6 months has been a nonstop adventure, one new thing after another. I think it might just be easier to list the main ones.
-crawling. That's the biggest one by far. The army crawl started last month but the actual mobile at warp speed crawling started this month. He's a quick learner and an even more determined one at that.
-talking. He says "dada" all the time. He says it to everything so I know its not his first "word" but its a recognizable sound so it counts. "baba" and "bla" and "bra" are all other sounds we hear a lot too right now. I love the early stages of babbling.
-Daddy obsessed. I feel like the word obsessed doesn't do it justice. Jameson is ob.sess.ed with his Daddy. He wiggles and squirms right out of my arms to get to him when he is reachable. Mommy's sloppy seconds when Daddy is around.
-Starting solid foods. I just started him on any solid foods. He's still a momma's milk kind of kid which I love. I don't rush the solids on my kids because let's face it, I thankfully have healthy fast growing babies that seem to thrive on whatever liquid gold I seem to produce for them. And really, food is so much more difficult than breastmilk.

Potty what??

If you've visited with us recently then you know our potty song. Most likely you have it memorized just like we do because of how much C sings it.

"PEE PEE ON THE POTTY. PEE PEE ON THE POTTY. PEE PEE ON THE POTTY. NO PEE PEE ON THE FLOOR." sung to the tune of the conga? I don't know. I made it up. I think of a conga line when we sing it. It worked, that's all I know.

I think it is safe to say now that we are a one diaper household! WHAT WHAT?!! Man, how can I type this and you get the full affect of my excitement? After months-and months-and months of working on the potty routine, Chey's got it. She's been diaper free for weeks now with only 1 accident so far (I'm still not sure how it happened- she was in the bathroom by herself). Even though I have her in a cloth wrap at night because I'm not 100% trusting of her yet, she is in big girl undies all day.

To our surprise, she still will not get out of her bed by herself until we go in there with her. Because of this, I'm not willing to put her in undies at night yet until she realizes that she is actually allowed to get down alone. I have no idea why she hasn't challenged it yet, but she seriously will stay in bed all day until someone finally comes and gets her. That doesn't mean quietly, but she will not get down. And so you know, she's in a full size bed and has been for over a year now, not the flippin' eiffel tower, so she is completely physically capable of getting down but just won't. Once she is willing to get out of bed on her own, I'll be more willing to put her in undies at night. Then at least if she has to go, she'll get down and go. She wakes up dry in the mornings, but the cloth wraps makes me feel better in case she does actually have an accident.

POTTY POTTY POTTY!!! Woohoo! Momma and Daddy are so proud of you big girl. You are growing up so fast. Sometimes you act so much older than 2 that I have to remind myself that yes you are still technically two and a toddler. Ah, I'm so proud of you I could explode.  Good job baby girl!!