The Archie Archives: 4 and 19 months old

Written mid July:

I rarely ever get the chance to blog these days...hold on, Ella just woke up. I'm back. Poor girl has her first cold. Not a bad one. No fever. Just a little bit of a runny nose. She's trying to sleep right now and she gets scared not able to breathe. Poor baby. I got the nose sucker out after her earlier, her first introduction. She was not happy to meet it.

Things have been very busy around the house. They both went for check ups last week. They both did great with shots. I don't remember any weights or percentiles off the top of my head. Isn't that terrible. Except for Jack, he finally broke 30 pounds. He's 31. That stuck out to me since he's gotten so heavy lately. Ella is such a little chunker too. In the last two weeks, she has totally changed. She is awake almost all day with the exception of 2 or 3 30 minute naps (she has the 30 minute monster, like Jack did) and she is reaching for everything. We took Katie to dinner at Moes the night before she left for Turkey. Ella was infatuated by the tin foil on my burrito. She was grabbing at it, her eyes were so big and excited. Ella keeps here hands open all the time now. She'll grab anything I'm holding. I try to txt or eat and she's got her hands all on it. It's so cute. I can't believe she's old enough to be doing all these things. Not to mention she is so close to rolling over it isn't funny. She can go from her side to her tummy, which is a big deal to me, since you have to lift up over the shoulder. She is great with tummy time, her head control is so great. And she sits almost completely unassisted. She is developing so much quicker than I expected.

Jack is doing lots of fun things too. He likes for me to kiss his boo-boos. That's new and so fun. The smallest little thing will need kisses. He'll go from crying to smiling in a second when I kiss that boo-boo. And he started blowing on our skin. He first did it to Justin when they were wrestlings. Jack lifted up Justin's shirt and blew on his back. It was so funny! He'll pretend like he's reading and he jabbers away! It amazes us, just how quick he is to learn things. The other day, we were on the back porch and he was trying to open the screen door. Justin started to get up out of his chair to get Jack and I said, "He can't open it." Just then, Jack pushes the handle, swings it open far enough to catch it when it comes back on him, and runs out the door. Laughing, I said, "Oh, never mind. I guess he can!" Jack would stay outside all day, every day if I let him. He's always putting his shoes on (sometimes the right feet) and pointing to the doors. He loves to ride his little blue car that we push him in, or get in his wagon. He's getting such good control of his body now. He can climb into and out of his wagon, he can climb on the couch. We have a climber on our hands. Heaven help us!

My first month back at work has gone well. Jack and Ella seem to be doing great with Kim. I've been able to keep my mommy anxiety at bay for the most part. Having Katie here this summer has been a life saver. She's so amazing! Jack adores her. He squeals and runs to the door when he sees her coming. And from the time she walks in the door in the evenings to the time we put him in the crib, he is her little shadow. He prefers her over Justin, me, or Kim. He'll be heartbroken when she goes back to school. We all will, but I've loved seeing him bond with her. Now that Ella has woken up, so to speak, Ella and Katie are really getting to know one another too. Of course, Ella is still very much so a Mama's girl. Which is fine by me :)

Jack has had so much fun with his Aunt Katie. He is going to miss her terribly when she goes back to school in August.

Sitting with Aunt Katie and helping her put on makeup.

We got a water splash pad. Jack has really enjoyed it. Ella's gotten in on the fun a few times too.

He's trying to drown her already! :)

I have enjoyed watching Jack and Ella play together and them engage one another more than I expected. In the mornings, Ella will look around to see Jack and give him a big smile. Often times, he will go up to her when she's playing and play with her, give her her paci, give her kisses. It's too sweet.

Jack loves to read, he will point to words and ~~babble~~ read to himself.

Below, Jack didn't want to get out of Sadie's kennel and she didn't want to get in. Cheese is kryptonite to both of them. Got him out and her in :)

We ordered a table from Wayfair to hold diapers and wipes. Jack played for hours in the box. Mom was in town and showed me how to cut windows in the box. We had lots of fun.

Jack wanted to give Ella horsey rides. She laughed and laughed. He crawled so quickly, we had a hard time keeping up with him!

Below, Jack is riding the train at the mall. He absolutely LOVES the train. He pumps his fist up and down to say train. Anytime you ask him what he wants to do today, he "says" train!

Playing at the play yard in the mall...

Below are pictures of my beautiful girl. She loves to chat!

Jack saw a puddle on a walk. So naturally he threw a rock in the puddle and stomped in it. Such a boy!

Playing together....

And, my most favorite thing...Jack has fallen in love with the movie Frozen. We must have watched in five times the first weekend. Mom sent it via Katie. Jack loved Frosty the Snowman from the very first time he watched it last winter, so I think the snowman on this got his interest. The songs and visuals kept him watching. Below he is standing between my knees watching...just like John did with Dad at the Lion King. Now, we sing all the big songs and dance. He does the same hand gestures. So cute!

Ella is almost sitting without any assistance. She gets stronger everyday and people are always surprised to learn she's only four months old! She's developing so quickly.