Cruisin’

Seatbelts on? Check. Radio blasting? Check. Whiplash yet? Working on it.

At what age will Jacob realize that it is so not cool to let your little brother ride shotgun?

Yes, please.

Because how else were we supposed to spend a 60+ day?

Water rat. Officially.

Jacob took his first swimming lesson class today. I’m not sure that he really needs lessons, as he spent this morning swimming underwater at my Grandpa’s house with hardly any flotation devices. But he could definitely fine tune his skills. So lessons it is. And he—literally—jumped right in. And I had to forcefully coax gently fish him out when class was over. He kicked. He paddled. He jumped. And he never hesitated to try anything. This class brought me back to my youth when I would cry the whole time I was in the water because it was too cold. But not Jacob. Although he did tell me when we were in the locker room post swimming: Mommy, it got kind of cold for me at the end.

What a trooper. And, yes, he will—unlike me at his age—voluntarily be going back for more!

[Always keeping me in sight, Jacob yelled “Hi, Mommy” and waved to me at least once every 3o seconds throughout the 35 minute class!]

 

Sign Crazy

My sister-in-law who lives 200 miles away, introduced me to a store that is less than 10 minutes from my house (go figure), and now I am hooked. It’s basically a wood scrapbooking heaven. You pick your sign, your letters, your embellishments, your ribbon. Then you design how you want it to look and they glue it down for you while you wait. This could get dangerous quickly. Spoiler alert: If you are having a baby or getting married, then you should expect to receive one of these from me. Perfect gift!

Said Jacob

 

“Mom, when you dropped me off at school today I only cried a little bit. And I did it very quietly.” Break my heart. Sweetheart.

As I tried to rest my head in Jacob’s lap while we were watching cartoons: “Mom, get off of me. I’m not a pillow.” Only “pillow” sounds more like “piwwoah” making it all the more perfect.

At bedtime when we were fumbling with his clock: “Mom, let’s go downstairs and look for the instructions. I bet I can find them. I have a very sharp eye.” What?!

Confession: I’m not-so-secretly in love with this kid.

Firsts

Today was Mason’s first official first day of school. He went for a couple of hours last week, and rocked the scene. No tears. Not even a good-bye whimper. Makes it a whole lot easier on Mom!

Today was Jacob’s first day of school in his new classroom. He rocked it. Although I could tell he really wanted to cry by the way he refused to make eye contact with me (or anyone) and how he continuously bit his bottom lip, which spiraled me into a big, fat, blubbering mess. I will never be a poker player. And I will be calling the school in about ten minutes to check up on my babes. I am that mom. Today.

Happy.

 Happy Birthday.

[To my dad. In case you can’t tell, the candles say 61. Yikes! Jacob loves birthdays. Especially the ones where he can open up presents and blow out candles… even if they aren’t for him!]

Happy Holidays.

[Jacob bonding with Joe Pa over trains. While watching TV yesterday, Jacob told me we needed to have another Christmas so that Santa could bring him a truck. Fat chance, kid. You will just have to hold all requests until next time!]

Happy Family.

 

[Jacob with new cousin, Averie. I’ve said it a million times: Jacob is A-MA-ZING around every baby except Mason. Averie was no exception. He was glued to her side. Covered her up with blankets. Rocked her. And tried really hard to invade her face space for nearly two hours. Sweetly annoying.]

Happy New Year!

 

[Mason was there, too. ]