Milestones

Wow -

What an incredible year to date. We have survived the first two weeks of school and it has been amazing for us all. Jaadyn is adjusting to Kindergarten better than I expected and loves it. Carter and I are getting to have Doug all to ourselves and also figuring out what to do with out brother. Doug is taking the changes the hardest. But, is finally getting some one-on-one time with Carter - which is priceless.

Jaadyn has not cried yet at school or at the thought of going. He is making friends fast and oh boy, has girls hugging and kissing him already. What is in store for us in MS and HS? I only cried briefly as we left the classroom the first day - and I did not let Jaadyn see. I was not as overwhelmed as I thought I would be and was more proud than anything! This week on Wednesday I just started dropping him off in front of the school - can you believe it. My Kindergartener can go into the school all my himself.

Jaadyn also mastered tieing his shoes last weekend. I was getting tired of tieing them for him - after about 1 month of wearing tie shoes. Wow! My Kindergartener can tie his own shoes!

Now, turning attention to Carter - he is walking everywhere!!! He is at the point where he would rather walk than crawl. He has the cutest little duck waddle. And with a cloth diaper on it is even cuter! He is also getting more challenging everyday as we get closer to the terrible twos - what do they call difficult ones I wonder? But, he is mine and I would not give him up for the world. Oh, and can he pitch a fit! Jaadyn never threw tantrums like Carter. Crazy the differences between these two.

Growing Up

Time is flying by - my babies are growing up. So, I thought I should post. My baby is walking - rather attempting to walk - he much prefers to crawl. Today, he did take about 8 steps to me. Incredible! Carter is walking a whole 2 months sooner than Jaadyn did. So far he has done everything, but start solids before his big brother.
There is trouble in this one's eyes - can you see his mischievous look?

Jaadyn starts school so soon - September 3rd. I cannot believe he is going to be in Kindergarten already. We found out who his teacher is going to be and will meet her tomorrow night. J is going to go to a dual language school here in town and will learn Spanish through a 1/2 day immersion program. Pretty cool. We had to choice him into the school, but I think it will be worth it. Oh, and Jaadyn is reading!!! All the hard work teaching him words since last school year has paid off. He read Doug and I a new book all by himself the other day and did sooo good!

With only a few weeks left of summer I am feeling a bit frantic about where the time has gone. Wasn't Jaadyn just in diapers? What was I doing last year this time? Everything is a big fuzzy blur. But, I have had the time of my life up until now and cannot wait to see how Jaadyn develops in school. And for now am just hoping I don't get too many calls from the school saying my child has chosen not to participate because he already knows (whatever it is). And am going to focus on much needed one-on-one time with Carter. Who is unfortunately like I think all second children, just along for the ride.

Enjoy!

Sizzling Summer Update

Hey everyone - we just got back from a wonderful 2 week stay in Montana with my family. The weather was just right - compared to Wenatchee. While we were gone Doug had 100 degree weahter while in MT we had mid 80s and rain.

So, while we were there Jaadyn got to go fishing with Grandpa and cought 2 really nice rainbow trouts. He did not like the taste when Grandma cooked them up - so, Grandpa had to eat them. He also took another session of swimming lessons and did really great. At the Anaconda pool he could touch in the 3 feet part and he really got confident. So, confident in fact that he went too far out one day and could not touch and paniced - do I need to say more?

We also got to go golfing - first time for me in 2 years, since last year I was pregnant. I forgot our clubs, so Jaadyn hit around with a little plastic set we picked up and I borrowed my mom's clubs. We had a great time! And boy did we relax!!! I told Jaadyn this was my vacation and I was not going to fight with him - and I did not. I let my mom fight with him.

We also got to catch up with a lot of old friends and family while there. It is so nice to be able to go and not worry about anything. The boys did absolutely great in the car. Jaadyn is a great helper. I got him one of those gofer grabbers you see old people have so he could pick toys up off the floor when Carter threw them. Worked great!

Anyways, MT is not the only thing we have done this summer. Jaadyn took a month of swimming lessons here and we have worked on our garden. It is amazing. We have gotten to go to a local waterslide park several times and have had a blast. Other than that our summer has not been too busy.

Now, that we are home I started to watch a friends 9 month old 2 days a week all day. We have had fun. It is nice to have a play pal for Carter.

We are also gearing up for Jaadyn to head to Kindergarten this September. I am excited, but know that first week is going to be tough. Jaadyn is also going to be heading to Grandma Carol's for a few days on his own in a couple of weeks.

We Survived Birthday Week

So, Jaadyn turned 5 on the 2nd and Cater turned 1 on the 5th. Boy did we celebrate and there is still one more party left. Jaadyn had his friends party on the 28th of June with 4 friends and tons of water. Great fun!

Parties!

We have had so many celebrations for these two over the past couple of weeks. One party with Grandma Okyo, one with friends, more celebrating with Grandpa Cory and Grandma Meme and when Grandpa Doug and Grandma Carol finally see them we will celebrate again. Is this how it will be every year? I sure hope not! Both boys had great fun, tried new things and got a lot of very nice presents and of course attention! Funny, Carter likes Jaadyn's toys and Jaadyn likes Carter's toys - who knew.

Food Frenzy

Since we did allergy testing on Carter I have been much more relaxed about what foods to introduce to him. Today he had some fresh baked sprouted quinoa bread and loved it! He also ate about 1/4- 1/3 cup of sweet potatoes at dinner time. He is becoming quite a little foodie. He loves bananas, mango, watermelon, cantelope, korean melons, carrots, sweet potatoes - anything that is kinda mooshy already or that when cooked is easy to gum. I don't have to puree anything for him - he likes chunks that he can grab, squish and force into his mouth.

-I was really dreading solids with him - thinking, planning, preparing, yikes. But now that I know what not to feed him - it seems like anything goes.

Oh, I almost forgot -he had sweet potato cupcakes at Jaadyn's birthday party and couldn't get enough. Funny story = I made these sweet potato cupcakes from scratch - homemade sweet potato butter and all. Well, when I read the ingredients for the sweet potato butter I mistakingly interpreted apple cider (not sweetened) as apple cider vinegar (not sweetened). Goat cheese and honey frosting with apple cider sweet potato cupcakes made for a tart treat. My family loved them - the other kids - not so much! Even Doug liked them! When we discovered my mistake - I laughed harder than I have in a long time - a real cleansing laugh!

A Summer Kick Off

You know that summer is here when travel begins! Our summer just officially kicked off with some vacation time spent here with Doug's mom from Florida. Okyo came in on Monday afternoon with her friend Mrs. Humphries and spent 2 days with us getting to know our family. It has been 4 years since she was here last; that was when Jaadyn turned 1. Now, she came to see the boys turn 5 and 1.

Jaadyn and Carter were both fantastic with grandma and Mrs. Humphries! It was really quite amazing to see how Carter reacted to he at 1 and how Jaadyn had at that same age - night and day. This time Jaadyn included grandma in everything and showed her all she could handle and of course, she loved every minute of it!

Highlights of her visiting are losts of great Korean food, lots of laughter, amazing boys and rest. Okyo is very passionate and has a wonderful spark about her. Mrs. Humphries is an amazingly generous person with a very big heart.

Boys

FINALLY! I am getting some pictures added of the boys.

The boys are playing together in the living room, while I quickly do this. Well, actually Carter is kind of attacking Jaadyn and Jaadyn watches Bob the Builder. Everything of brothers is so wonderful - including him!

So, here are the boys.

Jaadyn at Smallwoods

Carter being silly.

Updates

I really want to add some pictures, but they are still on my camera and Doug has to take them off and share them with my computer. So, I will post now and share pics later. So, much has gone on since I started the blog.

Carter had allergy testing done and finally we have some answers to his eczema. He is strongly allergic to peanuts and moderately allergic to 15 other things, including: celery, lettuce, almonds, wheat, spelt, oats... So, I am on a 4 day rotational diet and can only consume his moderate foods 1-2 x a week. It is hard, but so far the results are dramatic. His neck has not looked so good in 9 months. I still don't do dairy or eggs, but have added raw goats milk in 1-2 x a week.

Carter and Jaadyn both got really nice haircuts last weekend. Doug does such an amazing job. Carter is too cute with his bowl and Jaadyn decided to buzz it again to be like dad. It is so hard for me to call him by his name instead of Doug's when he gets it cut like that.

Explanation

I have gotten several responses so far about the blog and its lack of anything. Well, it is a work in progress and as I get pictures to share, I will share and as the kids do wonderful things, I will also share. So, check back often if you like and hopefully there will be more content than before.

Blogging

Well, this is my first ever blog! Can you believe it the kid who used to be all into this kind of technology stuff - just now getting on board. So, here it goes....