First Haircut

Jace had his first haircut today. :)

The Before:
If you squint, you should be able to see a mohawk of oddly long hair.  (Sorry, I guess I could have cropped this one for you.)

 

During:
Gaga, giving me a cheesy mid-cut smile, since I was pestering her to look at the camera.  :)

 

The After:
Goodbye Dwight Schrute, hello Han Solo*. 

 

 

(*We've been watching a lot of "Star Wars" these days since Rylee is suddenly obsessed with them so I have Han Solo on the brain, but you can insert any handsome character you like.)

Just Jace

I haven't had a chance to blog about what Jace has been up to lately.   First off, he turned 6 months back on Nov 11!   Half a year down - already?!  :) 

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
I had to post the following pictures because they remind me of ones I have of Rylee, except she was kissing herself in the mirror!  (Pardon the clothes drying rack in the background - it was laundry day.)

 



 

This one looks like "they" are conspiring against me!

 

Baby Scootin' Boogie
I already mentioned that Jace is steamrolling all around. Well the past couple of weeks he's added scooting to his repertoire. He pushes with his legs (and occasionally his face) if he's after something really good - like a stray dog toy. You thought I was going to say Rylee's toy? Oh no, his sister doesn't even let him look at any of those!

Chewbacca
Jace gave me his first kiss the other day.  He grabbed my face in his hands and sort of chewed on my cheek.  Considering that is what I do to him most of the time, he was spot on!  (I can't help it, look at those chewable cheeks!)

Foodie
Last week, we decided to try him on cereal again.  I wasn't having any luck feeding him so we brought in the big gun...

 

 

Even though he doesn't look like he's enjoying the flavor, Jace actually ate best for Rylee!  (In honor of Thanksgiving, this week he gets to try sweet potatoes.) 

 

 

Just the Facts

Below are his stats from his 6 month appt today.

Height: 28 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 18 lbs 6 oz (66th percentile)

He was a trooper at his appt again.  He didn't cry for his first shot, made a face for his second, and let out a little wail for the third.  He had finished crying by the time I picked him up and even managed to give the nurse a smile before she left.  He didn't make a peep when I ripped off his three bandaids.  By comparison, Rylee got a little scratch on her leg today and she could barely walk.  Plus she screamed bloody murder when I even suggested we take the bandaid off!

 

Snuffleupagus

It looks like Jace has his first cold.  I've thought he was coming down with something before, but then nothing really materialized.  Today he's been sneezing and his nose has been running (that's a definite first).  He was also running a fever tonight, but that could be the result of his shots too.  Hopefully he'll be on the mend by the holiday.  :)

 

 

Gaga's Back in Town!

Sorry I haven't had a chance to post all week, we've been enjoying our time with my Mom.

Rylee and I picked Gaga up at the airport on Sunday afternoon.  The first thing Rylee said to me when she woke up that morning was: "we get to pick up Gaga today!"  Then she proceeded to ask me if it was time to go to the airport every ten minutes for about six hours.  While we were waiting at baggage claim, she complained: "I see a lot of Grandma's here, but none of them are my Gaga!"  When she finally saw my Mom, she started jumping up and down and ran to her.  My Mom had to throw her things down (including the dog) to catch Rylee in mid-air practically.  :)

Monday was Rylee's "Gaga day."  We went over before breakfast and hung out all day until her dance class.  Rylee demanded Gaga make her a "dipping egg" since Daddy and I don't make them right.  She's eaten at least one a day since to make up for her time without them!

We made Gaga come with us to Ooopsy on Tuesday.  And then later, Rylee decided she wanted to go home with Gaga so Jon, Jace and I had the dinner hour to ourselves.  We all agreed it was eerily quiet without Rylee around!

On Wednesday, Rylee decided we should all go to her favorite restaurant for breakfast: Ikea!  She can only eat the bacon there, plus orange juice and a little fruit.  What kid wouldn't love a breakfast of bacon?! - no wonder it's her favorite restaurant.  (3 meals for under $6 makes it my favorite too - even if I have to give up my bacon to my daughter.)

We didn't get to see Gaga on Thursday since it was her book club night, but we did get to babysit Angel so Rylee deemed that acceptable.

Today, my Mom played with the kids over here so I could clean my house.  It was delightful not to be interrupted every two minutes.  Rylee also got Gaga to make her homemade dumpling soup - which she ate for lunch and dinner.  (She also made Jon and I chicken spaghetti!) 

We are so happy to have my Mom back for a couple of months.  As Rylee said: "it's just better with Gaga here."  :)

Silly Snipit Saturday

Rylee:
Last night we had dinner rather late so Rylee complained to Jon: "My belly's going empty!"

To her brother during a moment of frustration: "Jace, I don't speak cry."

Rylee has discovered "The Secret of NIMH."  She has watched it three or four times recently even though she finds parts of it scary.  She curls up into a ball, holds her lamby doll and covers her face.  It's the same position I use for scary movies if you substitute a pillow for the lamby doll.  :)


Jace:
He is getting squirmy and strong.  If you're holding him and he sees something he wants, he practically lunges out of your arms.  He's starting to roll when you change his diaper so he ends up wearing the diaper thong.  I predict he's going to be a handful when he's mobile!  :)

His hair, which was once so cute and only stood straight up, has been going through an awkward phase.  He's basically rubbed it all of on the sides so he only has the really long top and then a patch at the back of his neck.  It usually parts and falls so that he looks like Dwight from "The Office."  I'm thinking Gaga might need to take her scissors to it.  :)

Rylee's Thankful

Rylee had a little pre-Thanksgiving assignment for her library class yesterday.  She had to write what she was thankful for.

(in her words): "I'm thankful for Jesus, the stars shining on us, Mommy making me delicious food and Daddy too."

Rio, Jace and Gaga were all honorable mentions, but didn't make the list (because there wasn't much room to write!).  Later, in the car, she talked about how she was thankful for the rest of her relatives and friends so if you're reading this you were probably included in that list.  It was looooong... it kept her busy our whole drive! 

Speaking of Jesus, I have to recount a funny tale from the dinner table last week.  Rylee is pretty familiar with our dinner-time prayer so she asked to say grace all by herself.  When she was finished and had said amen, she was so proud of herself that she reached over to Jon, gave him a fist bump and then they both blew it up.  I burst out laughing.  I've never seen an amen fist bump before!  I think it could become a thing.

Speaking of Gaga, she arrives in 4 days!  Rylee couldn't be more excited (and truthfully neither could I).  We have missed her so much this Fall.  See you soon, Mom!  I hope you're excited to see the kids, because I'm so dumping them with you as soon as you get settled.  You see, I've also been missing my babysitter!  :)

Trick-or-Treat

I never had the chance to post pictures of what we did with our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

Mr. "Pumpkin" Head

 



 

The classic "Charlie Brown" pumpkin

 

 

*Rylee has been enjoying "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" this Halloween season. She calls it the Snoopy show. 

 

Our favorite and hit with the neighborhood kids last night...

Mickey Mouse!

 

 

Speaking of last night, it was our best trick-or-treating experience yet.    Here we are before we left...

 

 

We went out a little early (around 6:45) and hit a few of our neighbors houses on our way to "the street" with the most Halloween decorations in our complex.  It was awesome!  Lots of people set up their tables and candy outside so you just went driveway to driveway.  One place had an elaborate table of skulls and creepy things.  Another place had a "scare person" dressed up in the "Scream" mask and costume.  Luckily he (or she) didn't scare the little kids, but as we were walking away, Jon tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned around - Ahhh!  It was the Scream person.  They got me good!  :)

We continued around the loop and then hustled back to our place (sometime around 7:45 or 8:00).  The kids and I sat outside and passed out candy for a few minutes so I could see some of my former students, but then the bugs and Jace's need for a bottle drove us inside so Jon took over.  He turned off the lights and came inside around 9:00 when our candy bucket was almost empty and Jace was asleep. The kids don't bother with houses that are dark so no one stopped after that. 

Jace was a real trooper.  He was all smiles during trick-or-treating.  Jon and I took turns carrying him because he couldn't wear his cowboy hat in the stroller (not the best costume planning on my part)!  But he wore the hat the entire time and didn't even fuss with it so he must have been at the perfect age for it.  He got to stay up late too so he was happy about that.  Unfortunately, he woke up at 5 this morning when he pooped.  Guess I shouldn't have given him all that "candy, candy, candy, candy, candy" (Garfield speak).  Just kidding!  Though many people gave Rylee extra candy "for her brother" while we were out.  :)

Rylee was ecstatic with her candy haul.  Her bucket was over 3/4ths full and even after we deducted all the milk-based treats, it was still over 1/2 full.  The third sentence out of her mouth this morning was "Can I have some more of my candy?"  She stayed up super late too - 9:30! - watching TV, eating candy and coloring (a new found passion - she stays in the lines and everything).  At least she had the decency to sleep in until 7:45. 

Hope your Halloween was filled with fun tricks and treats also!