Becoming Best Buddies

At first, Jackson was jealous of Kate. He couldn't stand that she was taking mom and dad away from spending time with him. Then he tolerated Kate. He realized she wasn't going away but didn't exert himself to play with her and if she didn't something he didn't like, he bopped her on the head or pinched her leg. Not nice. But, the last couple of weeks as Kate is starting to scoot and babble, he realizes that she's kind of fun to be around and is now very protective of her. For instance, she was crying while I was making lunch and so he found a big spoon to give her to calm her down. Also, he loves to make her laugh. He'll do all sorts of crazy antics to get her to smile and chuckle. I am so grateful this special bond is beginning to form between our kids and hope it continues forever.

Rice allergy

We thought Kate had caught Jackson's flu bug in June when she threw-up rice cereal a couple of times. Then, I tried to feed it to her again a week ago. Guess it wasn't the flu but a rice cereal allergy. Poor girl was sleeping then suddenly woke up and started vomiting. Jason hopes it's just an allergy to the flaky rice cereal and not a life-long allergy to rice. I mean what is life without sushi, right?

Better than average day

I had such a fun day with Jackson and Kate this past Thursday. It was finally cool enough here in Kansas City to actually enjoy being outside. We took advantage of the weather and went to the local park. Jackson loves to slide and swing, and apparently Kate likes it too! We also ventured to the grocery store where Jackson actually enjoyed helping me shop as he "drove" the grocery cart. Special day with two special kids...

Jackson at 21 months

Jackson is my comedian. He loves to make people laugh. He loves to explore: has a recent fascination with bugs, likes hiding in cabinets, and goes everywhere he's not supposed to. Swimming might be his all-time favorite activity right now followed closely by bike rides and throwing rocks into a nearby pond. While Jackson is very active, he's also sweet. He loves reading his books. He adores his baby sister Kate and is very protective of her though we're still helping him learn that hitting her leg or head isn't acceptable when he's trying to express frustration. Poor Kate! He loves his Daddy, he calls me Jami (how did that ever start?!), and he enjoys posing for pictures. He makes our home so fun. Love my little man Jax.

Kate at 5 months

What can I say about my sweet Kate? She just melts my heart. I am so grateful for her and the good baby girl she is. At 5 months she's starting to babble. She sounds like an owl and has recently learned to drum roll her lips. She loves to roll over and appears to be on the verge of starting to scoot across the carpet. She's happy! She loves to smile which, in turn, makes me smile. She loves to hold hands and be near someone. She finds Jackson fascinating and watches him with great interest. She loves to eat and has ventured into solid foods finding apples and rice cereal to be quite tasty. Her laugh is endearing and she's quite ticklish. She's more mellow than Jackson, but I can sense an inner strength, a confidence of sorts, with her. So grateful I am blessed to have a little girl.

A week of lasts

The last full week of May was busy for us as we prepared to leave our home of three years in Iowa City and relocate to the Kansas City area for Jason's fellowship. It was a walk down memory lane for me as I reflected upon how drastically our lives changed during those few years. When we moved to Iowa, Jason and I had been married less than two years. I was still in graduate school, working for Children's Miracle Network and traveling throughout the U.S. But, in one short year we added Jackson, then Kate and let's just say our lives are much different now. Busier? Maybe. The chaos is just different now with two little ones who make our lives so much more entertaining. Before we left Iowa I had to do a few things I had come to love there: walk through our neighborhood, relish time in our first home, bask in the views of never-ending corn fields and rolling hills, boating, and biking to Coralville Lake. It was, in essence, a week of "lasts" but also the beginning of a lot of "firsts" for us as we made our way to our new home, our new life in beautiful Kansas City.

Jason's Birthday

We celebrated Jason's 33rd birthday on May 25. Jason had to work that day but found time that evening to take Jackson on a bike ride to the Coralville Lake (Jax loved it) and then we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. We gave up birthday cake for these Italian doughnuts with raspberry and chocolate sauce. YUMMY! I think we'll be going back for more real soon...