a moment to remember

Several weeks ago, Jack was settling down for bed and we were rocking in our chair. Upon my finishing a song I kissed Jack on the forehead and here is what followed…

Me: I love you, Jack Jack. Do you love mommy, too?
Jack: (thoughtful silence)
Me: Do you like Mommy?
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: And do you like daddy?
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: Do you like your Grandmas?
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: Do you like your Grandpas?
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: Do you like Miss Kathy? (his teacher)
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: Do you know how many people love you?
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: Good, because so many people love you very much. And do you like doggie?
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: Is doggie your best friend?
Jack: (nodding yes)
Me: Does doggie have a name?
Jack: (after a moment) Dog!
Me: His name is dog?
Jack: Blue Dog
Mom: That’s a perfect name.

Oh, my Jack, you bring me so much joy. I can’t wait for all the conversations we’ll have!
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super duper catch up

Since it has been over 6 months since I’ve written any updates, I’m going to give the major highlights for each month that has passed in order to catch up and, hopefully, get better about keeping current…

February 2013
We found our favorite kid-friendly outing! We became members of Kidspace Children’s Museum and we love it. It’s fun indoors and out and Jack always has a ball. Here he is discovering their indoor early learning area…

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March 2013
Our favorite mode of transportation in March was via wagon ride! We took many walks around the neighborhood looking a lot like this…

chillin' in the wagon with a toothbrush

R had his birthday, which meant breakfast in bed…

happy birthday breakfast-in-bed for daddy

We also had fun on Easter! Kidspace hosted a huge egg hunt organized by age, which was awesome. Here is Jack finding eggs wearing his Easter best…

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April 2013
Jack took his first steps shortly after his first birthday, but he then continued cruising furniture and walking with his push toys until he was close to 15 months old. He would walk short steps here and there, but he didn’t really go full force into walking until early April. It was just in time to watch all the big trucks coming and going when they repaved our street…

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In April, he fell madly in love with his baseball hat and wouldn’t go anywhere without it, including breakfast in our kitchen…

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In non-motherhood news, I was selected to be one of 5 apprentices to my company’s founder, Sheila Kelley, and we had our kick-off dinner at her house in April. Here we are just before we realized we’d talked and talked and talked until 11pm. I’ve come to cherish my fellow apprentices so much…

apprentice dinner

And I got to have a night out on the town to celebrate the bachelorette party for my friend, Alexis, which was really fun…

out in hollywood bachelorette

May 2013
May was filled with fun and celebration! First, on the 1st, we celebrated our 3-year anniversary! Can’t you tell how much my hubs loves it when I make him pose for a photo? And look at the thoughtful gift he gave me: a leather (for 3 years) wrist wrap bracelet. Perfect…

Photo May 01, 9 42 34 PM

Jack was featured in a cute poster at his daycare which showed his focus and curiosity over how things work. They call him the little professor…

Photo May 01, 8 40 39 AM

As a Mother’s Day gift to myself, I painted our bedroom, which brought me so much joy…

Photo May 11, 8 25 50 PM Photo May 11, 10 33 03 PM

I got to go to Maui for another S Factor retreat, which was awesome. It was one of my favorite retreats to date. Here is the resort looking out to the water and a photo of all the teachers before the retreat started…

Photo May 17, 8 47 07 AM Photo May 17, 10 10 22 PM

On the last evening, some of my fellow retreat teachers and I jumped off the rock that you can see in the first photo, which was so fun and exhilarating…

Photo May 22, 6 14 11 PM Photo May 21, 10 13 50 PM

As if May wasn’t awesome enough already, I also got to celebrate my birthday! Some of my S friends planned a birthday dinner for me after a staff class. This turned out to be my favorite birthday celebration since moving to LA (which is 10 years ago now – what!?)…

Photo May 24, 8 23 58 PM Photo May 24, 8 24 01 PM
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And finally, May was the month that Jack first fell madly in love with pony rides…

Photo May 24, 10 45 50 AM

June 2013
June got us out and about to explore fun local things to do! We visited Travel Town, where there are awesome old trains to walk through and other fun old moving vehicles…

Photo Jun 02, 10 26 52 AM
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We rode more ponies…

Photo Jun 09, 10 15 37 AM

We hunted vintage car gatherings around town at which people are more than happy to let Jack sit in the driver’s seat…

Photo Jun 14, 6 22 30 PM

And I attended the launch party for my friend’s new country/folk album at the House of Blues…

Photo Jun 12, 9 35 41 PM Photo Jun 12, 9 18 12 PM
Photo Jun 12, 11 37 24 PM

Her name is Jenny Weaver and you should download her album on iTunes or via her website www.jennyweavermusic.com

And that brings this long, super duper catch up to an end for now because it’s midnight and we haven’t yet convinced Jack to sleep in.
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jack: one year old!

This post is almost 2 months overdue. It’s been busy, but I’m finally playing catch up.

Here is Jack at 1 year old!
(January 26, 2013)

52 weeks old - 1 year!

Here is Jack on the morning of his big day…

first photo on first birthday

For Jack’s birthday, we invited many people over to our house to celebrate. We had family, adult friends and kid friends. It was fun and wild! Here are some photos.

Birthday house…

birthday house

Homemade monkey cupcakes…

home made monkey cupcakes

We invited all the friends from Mommy & Me, who started off playing in Jack’s room before moving outside…

room full of friends

Admittedly, having so many other kids playing in his room and with his toys seemed to really overwhelm Jack. And later, I boxed up all the toys that had been touched and washed them down to ensure no germs were lingering. Crazy mom!

We had tried to time Jack’s short party around his nap schedule, but of course the nap schedule broke down that day and so Jack was very tired by the time we got to candles and cupcakes. Here is Jack enjoying a little stressed out by his first birthday song…

i'm a little too tired for this, guys happy birthday to you! Untitled

Here he is tasting his first chocolate…

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We think he actually liked the cupcake, but was hating the borrowed high chair and disconcerted by all the people staring and singing at him.

Two of our friends from Mommy & Me share Jack’s birthday, so we sang and celebrated Nicolas & Lucky with their own hats, cupcakes and candles…

nicolas turns 1 also! lucky turns 1, also!

After cupcakes, Jack headed into happy delirium and yukked it up with family…

Untitled with grandpa larry

All in all it was a fun party, but I will probably not host a kid’s birthday party that large any time again soon. I learned my lesson.

In the week leading up to Jack’s 52 week anniversary, we had a lot of fun playing with musical instruments and garden supplies…

mr. music maker Untitled

As parents know, the first year is a challenging whirlwind, but our Jack is well worth it…

birthday boy!

We love you, our sweet, hilarious, intensely curious boy!
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jack: fifty-one week old

Here is Jack at 51 weeks old…
(January 17, 2013)

51 weeks old!

It got very cold for Los Angeles this week and so we spent a lot of time bundled up. Jack’s cousin Sierra made him a warm hat when he was born with his initials on it. It finally fits and helped keep his ears warm.

After just over a week of great sleep, we reverted back to night wakings. I hope it’s because he’s so excited to be turning one?

Jack is a pretty good eater. For breakfast he loves scrambled eggs and bananas. For lunch, a pouch is his favorite. I feel like he is getting bored with the limited options he gets. If any of you fellow moms would like to share your kids’ favorite foods and snacks I would be grateful, especially things that are simple to pack for daycare.

Jack now has 6 teeth. Four on the top and the two on the bottom. The fourth tooth on the top right is showing through, but hasn’t fully dropped into place yet. Jack is drooling so much that sometimes I put a bib on all day so he doesn’t go around all wet.

Jack is still practicing his walking skills with his favorite walker toy. It makes him so happy.
Baby+walker+beanie hat+hooded sweatshirt:

Hobo Baby: a photo series…

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One more week and he’ll be a toddler.
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jack: fifty weeks old

Here is Jack at 50 weeks old…
(January 10, 2013)

50 weeks old!

Jack’s photo this week captures the exact moment when Jack tasted toilet paper for the first time. He had a splendid time playing with the roll…

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Jack is learning some fun new things. He is attempting to learn to use a spoon, which as you can see leads to yogurt landing in his hair in large dollops…

spoon practice 2 spoon practice

He has also learned to clap…

Untitled Untitled hooray clap, clap, clap

The funniest thing is that Jack hasn’t totally figured out that we clap as celebration, though he does know it’s a good thing because his eyes light up and he grins. It’s adorable how often he claps now. My favorite clap is the one he gives when he’d like you to give him something. Clapping is his favorite gesture.

Jack has some very clear phrases of communication, like “What’s that?” followed by a point in some direction. This phrase actually sounds like “Uht dat?” We hear this question a lot and find ourselves wandering the house answering like this: “That’s a curtain. That’s a receipt. That’s a lemon. That’s a wine aerator. That’s a napkin..” It’s actually kind of fun. We have a very, very curious boy.

We love you our almost-1-year-old…

handsome face

Just 2 weeks until his big day. What!?
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