Jack Update

For those of you who are still counting (aka me. although I think I am starting to finally lose count) Jack Bean is officially 27 months old. I'm totally #sorrynotsorry about this but I need to brag on my kid a little so that's what this post (entire blog? lol!) is all about.

He's so smart it scares me sometimes. Scares me because I worry I am not doing enough to foster his potential. I sound like a pretentious jerk I'm sure, but I also am just a parent who wants the best for her child. I worry sometimes that my lazy days where I park him in front of Little Einsteins on the iPad for an hour so I can get caught up on my most recent episode of iZombie could be causing some sort of delay. The mama guilt....

But really, I think it's fine. Or at least that is what I tell myself so I can sleep at night. lol. By the end of a couple several episodes of Team UmiZoomi or his most recent favorite: Little Einsteins aka "Rocket Ship Show,"  he is already talking about something new he's learned or some adventure he wants to go on. So then we go outside and pretend to hike to the stop of a pyramid to see the great sphinx or row our boat to the Golden Gate Bridge. It's pretty fun.

All in moderation, right?

iPad time :) 

Really, I just want to make sure I am helping Jack learn and I guess the best way to do that is through play. I mean, he's two. I just love watching him learn and grow. It's fascinating to see. I haven't really ever had the desire to become a professional educator, but being around a toddler with this giant sponge of a mind does make me think it is probably so cool for teachers to watch their students learn and master new concepts.

Mostly I just love this stage of the funny stuff he says. I post probably one funny thing everyday or so to Facebook to share with family and friends, but there are lots more I don't share because I am probably already way oversharing as it is, or what he says is completely inappropriate/gross (did you kids are gross?! LOL)

Plus, I also recognize I'm not the only parent out there who thinks her kid is the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Some of our recent conversations:

Me: "Do you really still need that paci, Jack?"
Jack: "Yes, mommy. I need my paci."
Me: "But big boys don't use paci's and you're a big boy now."
Jack:*Tosses his hands out to the side.* "Of course big boys need a paci's!"

There was definitely an implied "duh" and an eye roll that followed that statement. #toddlerattitude

Another one...

Me: "Jack, how far away is the moon?"
J: "It's way too far away. We need a rocket ship to get to that moon."
Me: "Oh? Where can we find a rocket ship?"
J: "We find one if we become astronauts. I be a tiny astronaut and you be a big astronaut, mommy!"

Problem solved.

And on Tuesday when it was #NationalBestFriendDay, I told Jack:

"Happy Best Friend's Day, Jack!"
Jack: "You my best friend too, mama! I WUV you!" *hug*

The sweetest...:)

And one gross one just because it was really funny.

Jack: "I pooped lots of them poops!" 

So proud, son.

He can count to 30 still and recognizes numbers all the way up to 20. He knows all his shapes, colors and animals like the back of his hand. He's really picking up on identifying letters now too. He's definitely always shown more of an interest in numbers and shapes than in comparison to letters though, which is interesting and the complete opposite of me. (probably a good thing. ha.) Maybe one day he'll become a mathematician. :)

Despite the fact that Jack is a little smartie pants, he is still just a two year old, which means we have our tough days too. He's generally in pretty good spirits and is mindful unless he's tired or hungry or teething or didn't get a good nap or woke up on the wrong side of the bed or someone told him no... You know, all the things that make toddlers angry. hahaha.

Potty training is not awesome. I We just really aren't in the mood. Sounds lazy? Yes, But we also have some major projects/travel going on right now and I am perfectly fine paying a little bit longer to buy diapers/wash cloth diapers until we are both ready to potty train. Jack is ready, but I'm sure not. lol.

I was going through my phone in anticipation of doing this blog post to see if I had any worthy pics of late, but I am taking fewer and fewer pics. It's just so difficult to catch him actually sitting. He's always going and going and playing and learning and it's awesome, but definitely tough to catch with the camera. Blurry photos are the name of the game for sure.

He's still my skinny man with only 27 pounds on him. I actually just found a picture from his nine month well check and he was 19 pounds! He's only gained 8 pounds in the past 18 months!! What?! He is eating better though so that is nice. He's almost weaned from nursing entirely as well. He's finally fitting better into his 2T clothes, but still wears a lot of 24 months. The length on the 2T stuff fits great, it's just too big around the waist. He's about 37 ish inches? I need to double check. ha.

Favorite foods:

*Chicken
*Popcorn
*Celery and peanut butter
*Most fruits
*Watermelon being the most favorite right now.
*Carrots
*Bell peppers
*And Ramen noodles....(we don't do that one much, but he still loves it.)

He has not yet weaned from that paci though (see above mentioned convo)... I know. I need to be more firm, but right now it's not causing a lot of issues, so I am not too worried about it. I think after our trip coming up, I am going to get more serious about it. lol.

A friend and I were just talking the other day about how it is so easy to see a child's personality from a young age and Jack's personality is definitely out there already. I'm interested to see how it changes as he gets older, or if he stays similar to how he is now.

*He's loyal, loves his friends and family. Has his "favorites" for sure.

*He is inquisitive. Always asking me questions about how things work, why things happen the way they do, etc.

*He's all about problem solving. "We have a big problem! I need ___ to fix ___" is a statement I hear A LOT.

*He is sweet. He knows when he hurts me (intentionally or accidentally) and is quick to apologize. He constantly tells people thank you and please without me having to prompt him. He's also started asking me if I'm okay. "You okay, mommy? You sad? You happy?" It's really cute.

*He is sensitive. He gets his feelings hurt really easily.

*He's bossy. Oh boy, is he bossy. "Sit right there, mommy! Not there! There!" omg....

*But at the same time he is pretty laid back. He goes with the flow. He might really think we need to go to the park, but if we can't for whatever reason, he's usually pretty good about accepting a walk around the block or playing in the backyard as a substitute activity.

*He doesn't like being upset. If he gets mad or angry or hurt for whatever reason, he has a small cry about it and then gets over it. He's been like that since he was a baby. One time I remember he hit his head really hard on this trunk I have and he only cried for a few minutes so I didn't think he bonked very hard but a day or so later, there was a huge bump and bruise!

*He's funny. He loves making jokes. He thinks the most random things are funny and loves to giggle. I'll have to post a video of that giggle. Cracks me up.

*He's finally sleeping through the night all of the time... there is occasionally like one night a week maybe that he will wake once, but it's brief and he goes right back to sleep. (out of the times that he awakes enough for me to notice I guess. I think we all tend to wake slightly during our sleep cycles.) He's still in our bed though, so once we get past certain major life events coming up, we are planning on doing the full on transition into his own bed. Getting there...baby toddler steps! haha. He's doing so much better with naps! He will actually ask to go "nigh night" during the day once he's tired. Yay!

This is my wake up view <3

Napping like a boss.

Everyone keeps asking me if we are experiencing the "terrible twos" yes? and like I mentioned above, there are definitely some days that are filled with more whining and crying than I'd like.

All the pouts.

But for the most part Jack is so good. He really is a good soul and I am so lucky to be his mama. (Please remind me I said all this when he turns 3...I hear that is the real struggle age.)

Hope you all are enjoying these updates. I really do appreciate having such awesome family and friends that are supportive of my family and encourage my constant over share of my kid. ha!

It's mostly just fun to get to share this learning journey about parenthood with all of you, and to have a fun way to be able to look back on all of this later. I just know that I am one lucky mama. :)

Summertime Bucket List

I'm not even going to lie, this post is a total rip off idea of another blogger I follow, but if anyone reading this knows me, they probably also know that I totes lurve to make me a list. I also LOVE summer and love participating in summertime activities. Plus, there is a lot going on for us this summer. Some pretty big MOVES on the horizon, which I'm super excited about.

So here ya go, my bucket list of things I really want to do this summer:

Go camping and adventuring in the outdoors (Yellowstone, here we come!)

Swim, swim and swim some more.

Avoid sunburns at all cost (for the whole family. Looking at you, Daniel)

Organize my house!

Landscape our yard. 

SELL our house! (Yup! Any local buyers interested? ;)) 

Soak up the summer heat. 

Go to the beach. (Hello, GR!) 

Make lots of lemonade. 

BBQ!! 

Have lots of picnics

Play at the splash pad

Drink lots of water - stay hydrated!!

Teach Jack to swim.

Visit the Dinosaur Tracks museum.

Tackle a life-changing adventure head on. 

Stay up too late. 

Wake up too early. 

Enjoy something about every single day.

Choose happiness. 

There is so much AMAZINGness that is happening in my life right now. I keep having to pinch myself. I constantly catch myself wondering when the shoe is going to drop. When the next downhill slide is going to happen. I just try and remind myself that it's best to enjoy these best days because it's this good feeling that gets you through the rougher times.

Happy Summertime fun, everyone!

Balance

If I had one million dollars to bet, I would bet that every single parent has dealt with the issue of balance at one point in time always during their time in parenthood.

I'm struggling. I am struggling to make sure I can do all that I have to do. Often, I get everything done with the sacrifice of myself and my own personal time. I make time for work. I make time for Jack. I make time for my husband (at least I try), but rarely do I take time for me.

There are times when I have seriously felt guilty over taking a shower every day. Seriously. True story. How does that even make sense?! Since when is personal hygiene a luxury?? But I bet there are some of you out there who can relate.

I feel guilty for working out. Exercise, people! That gets pushed so far down on my list of priorities. It's really disheartening.

There are some nights when I get home from work and all I want to do is curl up with a book or watch the latest episode of the Bachelorette (hello, guilty pleasure!) but normally those desires are pushed to the wayside in order to accommodate keeping a clean house, feeding animals, and taking care of a needy toddler.

I'm tired. Hell, I'm beyond tired. Tired is what I used to think I was after I would stay up too late at night reading when I had school the next day.

I'm freaking exhausted. And I only have ONE kid! How do you people do it, fellow parents? I'd love to hear your words of wisdom here. I'm so burnt out.

Thankfully we are going on a short trip next weekend and I am beyond excited. It'll be a lot of work still, but so fun to get away and go on an adventure for a few days.

In the meantime I am going to keep going to bed early and drinking copious amounts of coffee.

Saw this on FB yesterday and it fit me perfectly :)

Weekend recap!

Never mind the fact that it is now Tursday and I'm just barely recapping my weekend :)

Do you ever have those weekends that are just super relaxing and productive all at once? Well, I had one of those and it was UH-Mazing. Saturday we went over to my in-law's house to play in their new pool.

Jack is such a water baby! My goal is to have him swimming by the end of the summer. I am looking to get him in swim classes now. I actually have a pretty significant fear of the water and of drowning. I love to swim, but had a close call in a lake as a teen and I want to be really careful not to push that anxiety on to Jack. So I feel like if I know he has a good grasp of water safety, then I will feel less anxious the entire time he's in the pool.

The sun was in his eyes. Lol. 

It was really fun though! Lots of family including the newest addition - our brother in law and his wife's new baby Kinley. She's such a doll. I didn't get pics of this because my stupid phone died but Jack wanted to give her kisses and kept being astonished at how tiny she was! "Mommy her fingers are tiny!" Melted my heart!

Jack and his cousin Carter, 5. He was so good to Jack. :) 

Austin, Jack and Carter.

Sunday was fun too, but more productive in terms of cleaning house, doing laundry and grocery shopping.

We had a brief scare at the store when we realized 3/4s of the way home that someone *cough...Daniel...cough* forgot my new Coach bag and ALL of the my life tools in the shopping cart. Thank GOD there are still honest people out there though because someone returned it to the lost and found. Whew!

On the way back to the store Jack says, "We have to save mommy's purse!" LOL.

All in all it worked out.

Oh, and we are also starting potty training. Jack is ready. I'm not. At all. But here we go! More posts on that to come! 

How was your weekend? Hope it was just as good/eventful as mine. Hope you all have a great week!

Car Seat Safety

I am going to preface this post with the caveat that I am NOT a car seat technician or expert or even someone who has done a ton of research on the expert. But I am starting to do more and more because the topic of safety for my child is of the utmost importance for me, as it is for most parents.

Jack is quickly approaching 2 (check back soon for 23 month update!) and according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is safest to keep your child rear facing in their car seat until they are 2. However, you can continue with extended rear facing until you meet the height and weight requirement. I am contemplating doing this with Jack, but I'll admit, I look forward to being able to actually look at him in my rear view mirror while I am driving.

We use this car seat, which makes it possible for him to stay rear facing for while yet.

According to most of the research I've done, rear facing as long as you can is the safest for your child, and despite Jack being tall for his age, he's been perfectly content still rear facing.

Plus, reading this article and watching the videos in this article makes it pretty convincing to keep him rear facing.

What do you do with your child? Any recommendations either way and why? I'd love to get your thoughts!

20 Month Update

I know I promised a next-day post on Tuesday, but this week seriously got away from me. Even still, here I am only five days after the fact, getting Jack's 20 month update here on the blog. And just an FYI, once he hits two I'll probably stop doing monthly updates. But for now, he still is developing so much month to month so I like being able to talk about what new stuff he's doing and learning.

Here's what 20 months looks like in the life of Jack Finn:

Weight: around 25 lbs - ish

Length: no idea, ha! Tall?

Other updates:

Jack got his first real full-on big boy hair cut this last month. And now, he looks a LOT less like my baby. I kinda like that he still uses a pacifier and wears diapers because it reminds me he's not a BIG, big boy yet. 

But based on his vocabulary skills and other smarts, it's tough to tell. He's speaking in full-on sentences now. Even with his paci in his mouth, he gets the words out. 

Just a few tidbits from the past couple weeks:

The other day I was getting dressed and I put on this shirt and Jack says: 

"Nice shirt! Mommy is cute." bahaha

Then yesterday I am doing the dishes - obviously not paying well-enough attention to Jack, so he tells me, "Mommy, back here, right now! Pwease." hahah. At least he was polite in his demands. 

He talks in third-person a lot calling him self Jack Bean, which has been my nickname for him since he was itty bitty. Yesterday my parents arrived for their visit and he was so excited to see them that when they were coming to the door he ran from the kitchen to the living room and told himself, "Go, Jack Bean!" It was super cute and funny. 

His ability to form sentences is just astounding to me for his age. I know, this has seriously turned into a blog where I brag about my son's language skills, but I am a proud mama and I have to share.

The other day we were watching Dora the Explorer and he says, "Look! Dora is going to wake up the sleepy sun." 

Not even kidding, he said that. 

Counting... he used to be really into counting. I think I mentioned last time he was counting up to 15. But lately he really only wants to count to 4. I know he can go higher, but I don't push it. He's been like this with words too. In fact, one of his first words was Newton - the name of our dog. But now he calls him Tuny. lol, I have no idea why especially since he used to say it correctly. But that's fine. I just love watching him learn and progress at his own rate. 

Other cutes:

Loves calling Grammy on the phone. "Hello (sounds like Hey-o), Grammy. It's Jack Bean." LOL.

Anytime he picks up a pen or something kind of long he points it at you and says, "presto!" 

He's pretty bossy with the animals. Yesterday we were outside and he kept yelling at Newton: "tuny, back here! Come here!" 

He LOVES building forts with daddy. 

He dances to all the songs. Loves Itsy Bitsy Spider. 

His favorite outside game is "bisbee" aka Frisbee. 

He loves going on walks sans stroller. I blame Halloween. 

He's obsessed with anything flying in the sky. "Copter! Flying in the sky!"

Watching "Pwanes" (planes.)

He is getting pretty good at jumping.

He likes to "help" with laundry. Lol

 

He also is very interactive with shows and games. He loves playing the "melmo game" on my iPad. I have two Sesame Street, Elmo games. They are so perfect for him. 

Melmo time. Lol

He really only likes shows that are interactive - asks the kids to help find something or how much or something. 

If the show's characters ask for help, Jack always says, "of course!" It's so funny.

He's getting sooo good at his colors. He's right probably about 65 percent of the time. He also knows pretty much all your basic, farm, domestic and jungle animals. lol. He still has his shapes memorized.

He's also started memorizing books and will recite the words as I am saying them. That really took me by surprise. It started with "Chick Chicka Boom Boom," but we also have this bug book he loves. The last line is "Do you see me?" and as I was reading it, he totally said it almost before I even read it. Crazy kid. 

He's starting to show an interest in the potty, but I'm not pushing that. I got him his own, but just so he can use the next few months to get used to the idea. I'm really not looking forward to potty training. Oiy. Paci use is still high these days. No idea how I'm going to tackle that. The more I think about doing it, the more attached he seems. 

He's sleeping about half the night in his bed and half the night in ours. It works for us for now. I'm terribly sad about it, but he's really not into babywearing anymore. I am so bummed because I loved it, but he's just getting to independent. Guess I'll pack them away for baby #2 for now. No, not pregnant. lol. 

Anyway, I guess that is enough bragging on my kid for today. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!

P.S. I didn't promote my last post, but seriously if you ladies out there are as obsessed as I am about the dark lip colors this season, check out this post. 

Fall Lipstick Review

Hey everyone!

So I know I mostly only ever talk about Jack here and the on-goings of our family life, but I am interrupting my usual coverage for a topic I'm highly interested in right now and that is LIPSTICK.

I know. Hard-hitting news. A VERY important topic, obviously. But seriously, I am in LOVE with the new dark colors that are becoming so popular for fall and winter.

As a pre-teen I was a big fan of lip gloss. But once I started kissing boys it wasn't worth the hassle to use it, so I pretty much only stuck to chapstick (which Daniel STILL hates.) haha. (Imagine how much he loves my new lipstick obsession. ;))

So I gathered up my top six fall lipstick shades, some are glosses, to share with you all. If you really don't care about makeup, I suggest you stop reading now and check back tomorrow when I have Jack's 20-month-update completed.

If you're still here. Let me tell you about my fave new lip shades for fall. (Also pardon all the selfies. thx.)

#1. NYX Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee

This one isn't dark, but I still feel like it has a great neutral fall tone to it. Plus, if you've used any of the butter gloss from NYX, you'll note it isn't sticky like a lot lip glosses, but it goes on really smooth but still adds a lot of color. I love it.

#2. Revlon Color Burst in Adorned

This one is BRIGHT. Even brighter than you can tell in the pics. I love it though. Daniel says it looks like I murdered a pomegranate with my mouth. HAHA. It goes on smooth. Wears off quickly, like most glosses, but does stain the lips a little pink, which I kinda like.

#3. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Violet Frenzy 

This lipstick is an actual stick. It goes on smooth and is shiny, not matte. I love the feel of this. Very moisturizing. It's also pretty purple-y, so if you like that, you'll love this color.

#4. Julep Maven Lip Gloss in Posh

I recently joined Maven by Julep and get a mystery beauty box every month. Usually contains nail polish and gloss or some combination depending on your likes. You can even customize it. I'm not sure I'll keep it going just because it's kinda spendy, but I got this amazingly pretty gloss in my last box. Beautiful color. Goes on lighter than the rest of the shades I'm featuring here today, but it's kinda nice to have a lighter option when I am not wanting something so dramatic.

#5. NYX Butter Gloss in Devil's Food Cake

Out of all of the glosses, this one is my favorite. Feels amazing on my lips and I LOVE the color. It's exactly what I was looking for. Plus, I think it was like $5 or something at Ulta. Really affordable.

#6. Too Faced Melted in Melted Berry 

This is melted liquefied, long-lasting lip color.  It's gorgeous and it's INTENSE. If you want bold, here ya go! Just don't kiss anyone. It's probably the most FUN I've purchased lately. Goes on really strong so be careful during application and I'd also recommend using a lip liner because it totally bled when I wore it after trying it on in the store the other day. It took a lot of effort to get it off the skin. lol.

So thanks for checking out my brief appearance as a beauty blogger today, folks. Again, check back tomorrow to learn more about my little Smarty Pants Jack Bean.