Circus Comes to Town

A couple years ago, we took Jameson to the circus, a big one indoors. Putting aside wrongs and rights, support or not of circus and circus goers, I’ll just say that I did enjoy the almost vintage feel of the smaller circus we went to a few weeks ago as opposed to the larger.

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Jameson didn’t want his picture taken here. We went with our neighbors and their kids, Lily and Peyton. Coraline was simply fascinated with everything that was going on.

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Coraline loved watching the animals. She pointed, she shouted “Oooo” and “Woww” numerous times. She was much more fully engaged than I expected her to be.

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During intermission, Jameson and I walked around the tent for a bit. They charged for riding the elephants and seeing the tigers up close, which we didn’t want to do. We did buy some peanuts (noted world’s worst peanuts on the front, haha). Inside some of the peanuts were winning tickets for extra large balloons. Jameson won one!

It’s so very.. nice.. that they filled the balloons with air so that the balloon is still intact and full, hanging out in our house for the past couple weeks.

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It was so hot that during the rest of intermission we stood in front of the big fans. Coraline was again thrilled. She’s easy to please right now!

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All in all, we did enjoy our experience, despite the heat and general mixed feelings about the animals. The acrobatics were good, as was the juggling performances. We even stopped for a family photo at the end.

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Playdate

Since a lot of our friends had children right around the time we had Jameson, he has had no shortage of playdates and playmates. Coraline, however, was born about a year to year and a half off from our friends’ second children. She hasn’t had nearly as many playdates as Jameson had.

The night Coraline was born, my friend also had her first baby, Adelyn. We’ve only gotten the kiddos together one other time, when they were we little. So we decided to get them together again for a little playdate a few weekends ago! Brian even got out the water bouncer for them, though they couldn’t appreciate the slide just yet.

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I also invited an old co-worker, Lauren, with her twin girls. They are just over 2 years old, so they were able to enjoy the slide. It must be nice to have a built in playmate!

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Jameson was great with the babies and younger toddlers. He was just excited to play in the water bouncer! We were all happy it was such a nice day out for it. We also filled up the water table which never seems to get old. Technically it’s a sand and water table, though we’ve never put anything in it but water.

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Coraline and Adelyn showed off their climbing skills, crawling all over the bouncer. Adelyn was already walking, and loved splashing in the water. Coraline enjoyed the water much more after she was a able to eat after her nap. She wasn’t quite walking yet, but happy to walk along the walls and climb over obstacles.

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It was nice for Coraline to have an opportunity to play with kiddos her age, though she never seems to be complaining about it. She adores her brother and watching big kids play too! It’s hard to believe so much time has passed though.

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16 Month Old Walker

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Coraline developed major attitude this month! From shaking her head yes and no, she moved just shaking her head no to everything! She also started pointing and yelling “no”, a development while we were visiting Meemaw (perhaps from yelling at the dog to leave her alone?). Coraline was hitting and pulling hair this month as well, finding this funny, because perhaps we laughed at her once. So we’re working on being “gentle”, and petting nicely (both humans and doggies).

Our “bye bye” now includes a wave as well, and we’ve actually seen a couple signs and spoken “more” and “all done” from her, though not consistently, since whining still gets her what she wants, usually. We’re working on that one as well.

Coraline even got her very first pedicure, from Aunt Melissa! (Jameson got his painted blue as well)

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A little pretend play from Coraline. She will make sucking noises for a baby doll, and woof woof from her dog stuffed animal. But these are still short but sweet episodes! She also learned how to blow the whistle (and somehow pulled the vent cover off the floor and put a bunch of the musical toys in it one day without us noticing)

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Whistle skills

The teacher who followed Jameson for most of his time at school from each room is taken to coming to Coraline’s room and doing her hair occasionally. She never sits still for us for more than a clip, if that, but I love these little pony tails on top of her head!

This month we really noticed that she wants everything that we or Jameson has, like snacks and cups. She still loves being chased, and she loved bouncing on Jameson’s bed at Meemaw’s house. Putting things back together or making them work brings her delight and I love her little laugh.

She enjoys bouncing on pillows, so we added one to her crib. She doesn’t sleep on it for very long, but she smiles happily when I lay her down on it.

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She’s very ticklish, under her arms and the bottoms of her feet. The tickling laugh cracks me up, and also sounds remarkably like Jameson did. However, she sure is hard to capture on camera smiling. When the camera comes out, her solemn face appears unless I can capture her on the move (which is just as difficult!).

Coraline is reasonably indiscriminate about what she eats, enjoying most meat and fruit. Vegetables and pasta are hit or miss depending on the day. This month we started her on Jameson’s “special yogurt” tubes, which she also likes, though she needs help to avoid squishing it all over her face and clothes. We also began putting her in the booster seat, and we all eat together for dinner. She still throws a lot of her food to Sasha.

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She’s only allowed the bottle morning and night, and we continue to try the sippy cup at daycare during the day. On weekends though we don’t tend to even offer the sippy with milk because she refuses consistently. Instead, we give her water all day long.

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For some reason, she has suddenly developed an intolerance for getting her head and hair wet. While she still loves water and bath time, she hates the part where we have to rinse her head. I’m hoping she gets through this phase quickly since she really seemed to love water! Our bedtime includes several books, and she always wants more. Her favorite is Jameson’s former favorite, Doggies by Sandra Boyton.

But the biggest change this month? We have a walker! In one week, we went from crawling to walking nearly all the time. Her first time walking on command was to Jameson, of course! He was delighted. She still a little uncertain on the grass and wants to hold hands, though.

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One week later, she’s kicking a ball around the room!

She is starting to do a lot more climbing as well, and showed how she could climb from chair foot stool against Jameson’s bed to being on TOP of Jameson’s bed (and then falling off it when we weren’t looking the very next day).

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Independence Weekend

As I mentioned, we had a great time all weekend in our backyard over the 4th of July. We did get out for a little while though on Saturday morning, when we went to Jameson’s swimming lessons and the Heritage Festival where we usually go to the farmer’s market.

Ice cream at the festival

We went early, but I couldn’t help but get a veggie Stromboli. The kiddos and daddy got ice cream (Coraline loved tasting daddy’s). Jameson was concerned about his ice cream cone and not a fan of getting messy (he said he wished he had a bowl after it started melting down his hands and face)

Snake, flag, balloon, suckered, sticker. Good day to be a little dude (all free but the snake, cause I still love sand animals)

There was a lot of free stuff being passed out, including flags, promo balloons and stickers, and a sucker. We bought him a little $3 sand-filled snake, because I love sand animals. He loved carrying that around and “ssssss”-ing loudly to frighten us.

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We saw old cars, fire engines and trucks too! It was a good time, but I’m always happy to go early and escape before the crowds and heat.

In the afternoon, we had our friends come over and the boys played together in the water bouncer. The neighbor kiddos and their cousins joined us as well, so we had a full bounce house!

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Baby Jack and Joshua are getting so big. Joshua enjoyed splashing in the water and Jack loved the baby tent sheltering him from the hot day. And it was hot! A great day to play in the water.

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Joshua loved the swing as well. Glad someone is getting use out of it, since Coraline still isn’t a fan.

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She loved splashing in the water though. Baby pool, water park, or splash table: all water is fun! She’s getting used to the cooler water as well, and didn’t mind the hose water at all (though the baby pool we did warm up some for all the babies around!)

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I remember last year when we had to coax the kids on the water bouncer at first. Now? They’re sliding down the wrong way, trying to climb up the slide, and otherwise making mischief.

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All the kids loved playing in the water bouncer, though the girls quit early to get dried off.

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We cooked out that evening and enjoyed burgers, hot dogs, pasta salads and more. A perfect end to a summer’s day!

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Sunday, we followed suit, though it was a bit cooler. Our neighbor’s had other cousins over, and I went shopping while they played on the bouncers. We had an early dinner that evening and we all went out to eat with all the kiddos. It was chaotic, but hilarious.

Lots of kids out to dinner. Just a heads up to anyone in the area

Good thing we went out to eat though because I was ready to stack up all the dishes in the sink and call it a day! All the same, it was wonderful hosting and not needing to travel over the holiday weekend. It was really like a vacation with the kids at home!

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Independence Day

Our 4th of July weekend was simply amazing; we were able to stay home to celebrate all weekend long. We didn’t see fireworks up close, but Brian and I got to see some from our front yard Saturday night. Those kids crashed out every evening!

Friday, I tried to get some photos of the kids together, though they were less than cooperative about that.

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Once I let Coraline do what she wanted, she was much happier.

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It was just a little cooler that day, though still plenty warm, we didn’t want to get out the water bouncer. Instead, we opened up a new one that we had in storage. It’s for kids slightly older, though Lily and Jameson enjoyed it plenty anyway!

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However, they were not fans when the other would jump while they were trying to climb!

Coraline really wanted to join in the fun, but this one was definitely too big for her. Later, we brought out the obstacle course bouncer and had more friends join us for the evening. We had a fajita night with margaritas and corn salsa sides. I could’ve had this dinner every night for a week!

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I even joined in and climbed up once. Only once, since I felt like I was going to topple the whole thing over!

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Love this funny face Coraline is making!

The kids have really been enjoying the hammock that we got for Brian last year. I jumped in with a few of the kids climbing on top which was hilarious. Jameson liked to “climb” to the top of the hammock. He wasn’t a big fan of being wrapped up in it though!

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Surprisingly, by Sunday, I was exhausted from hosting! Friday and Saturday we had friends over, and Sunday the neighbors had family over. By the end of the weekend, I didn’t want to do dishes or clean up. Here I thought being able to stay home meant it would be more relaxing!

We did have blast though, and it’s always a nice change of pace to stay home for a 3 day weekend.

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Visit to Grampi’s (Part 2)

On Tuesday, Coraline and I left Jameson with Meemaw and Grandpa. After lunch, they went to the Children’s Museum, where Grandpa got to be a big kid again himself.

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Wednesday, Jameson was up earlier! After walking the dogs and watching the neighbor’s yard getting cut, they went to see the airplanes at the Air Force Museum. Jameson has been there before; he’s all boy and loves seeing the airplanes.

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Thursday, they went to another park, but only for a short while since Jameson was exhausted. He was on the go the entire time he was there!

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On Friday, his last day there, they went back to the splash park we went to with Marky. Mostly, Jameson just wanted to play on that playground there. In particular, he loves the rolling slide.

Jameson ran through the sprinkler, watered gardens, and took the dogs on a walk almost every day. We also got to speak with him each night on Facetime, though he got shier as the days went on and stopped talking as much. I think he was exhausted!

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But the best part of every day was probably the squirt guns they bought. Everyday, there was a water fight! Jameson even got to bring them home, which was thrilling. Jameson stole Meemaw’s gun while she was taking photos and got Grandpa with two at once!

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Meemaw brought Jameson home Friday evening, and Saturday she stayed with us to go to the farmers market and swimming lessons. We’ve had such a fun filled summer that Jameson asks nearly everyday if someone is “coming over”. He’s a lucky little boy to have so much family and friends surrounding him.

Now, maybe next year, we can arrange to make this a longer visit and trade off another kid too!? Haha!

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Visit to Grampi’s

A couple weeks ago, Jameson was able to spend nearly a week with his Meemaw and Grandpa. Coraline and I joined for a few days, and then left Jameson for his first visit by himself. He did great, and we were able to Facetime with him every night. He was so shy talking with us by the end, which was funny.

My friend whose father recently passed away was in town, and we were able to get together with her Saturday night after arriving. I brought the kiddos over for dinner, and then returned after bedtime to spend some more time with everyone.

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Coraline is the only one of 3 similarly aged little girls who isn’t walking, but they were all so cute together. She devoured her meal including pizza and hot dog!

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Jameson loved seeing his friend Marky again. He remembered him from his last visit home, so they were on familiar territory right away. There were other children there he didn’t really know yet, so after Marky left to spend the night at his grandma’s, Jameson occupied himself for the most part with Marky’s toys.

After I returned sans children, we walked over from Katie’s house to Tracy’s new house, very close by. I saw my chinchilla’s (the late Sir Chewy’s) parents, both alive and well! Carl and Chloe.

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We spent a lot of time outdoors, and it was nice this visit that Coraline was not sick. It seemed as if she was always dealing with a cold, earache or illness when we visited! Coraline loved hanging out on the deck in the shade, playing with the balls. Jameson loved the little ball we brought too, which was small enough to also play on the deck.

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Jameson got to help participate in daily activities like walking the dogs, watering the garden…

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…And also finding toads stuck in the window wells. He and Grandpa saved 4 toads in one day!

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Our visit included a trip to the local splash park on Monday, new since I was a kid. Jameson was very uncertain at first, preferring the traditional playground there instead. Marky helped convince him to play in the water.

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Boys will be boys!

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We enjoyed more playground visits, walking dogs and racing while I visited! But I will save more of that for a follow up post on Jameson’s activities at Meemaw and Grandpa’s house by himself.

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Coraline decided she likes drinking from cups (or really just doing anything that we’re doing)! Alas, still only water from said cups. Anti-juice, anti-milk. This girl is picky!

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She tried to get into trouble, as she has recently learned how to climb, stairs and boxes. She wasn’t too happy once she was stuck on top of the box, though!

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She also loved feeding the dogs. She likes to try and feed Sasha at home, though mostly from her highchair where Sasha is ready to eat what she drops. The dogs at Meemaw’s house are at eye-level though, and Coraline just wanted to feed Shiloh like crazy.

Her big word of the week was “no” as she repeated what she heard over and over again (said to the dogs and to herself!) I loved how she stretches the nnnnnnnn for nnnnnnnnno.

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Mayzie though is more mellow in her old age, going a little deaf and blind. She mostly stayed out of the way for the new almost-toddler.

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One of the most entertaining events was Jameson’s introduction of calling Grandpa “Grampi” once, which quickly evolved into a running joke about Grampi being Grampi (like Grumpy, but better). Jameson assured us that we should actually be calling him Grandpa, but I think Jameson is now fighting a losing battle. Grampi is here to stay.

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After having been there a few days and getting reacclimated to the house, Jameson was great when I went to leave. He insisted on helping or watching the final packing (I did as much as I could the night before and just had to load the car) and transferring his car seat.

Helpfully, he’s had a few sleepovers at Aunt Melissa’s house recently, and his friend Lily just spent a week at her grandma’s house, so we talked about those things a little and focused on all the fun things he was going to do. It turned out quite anticlimactic when I actually left. I did love his unprompted “I love you Mommy” during our goodbyes, and the “I’m going to miss you Mommy” he said a couple days beforehand. Such a sweet little man!

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Happy 3rd of July!

I won’t be posting on the 4th of July, so here’s some early wishes for a Happy and fun 4th of July!

The kids had a parade at school today that Brian was able to go to. It was supposed to be outside, but started raining. He still got some great photos of the kiddos. They made t-shirts!

 

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Father’s Day

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For Father’s Day this year, after strawberry picking in the morning, we had a Father’s Day cookout (which seems to be our usual get together). We ate inside though because it was so hot out!

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We invited Brian’s parents and sister over and put up a bouncer for the kids.

We had a few “races” through the bouncer, and Jameson had to help Aunt Melissa get out.

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Jameson threw a few water balloons, though we opted not to get drenched with the water bouncer or sprinkler that day. This is his sly grin face, as he’s approaching me to get my feet. (Luckily, just my feet)

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Coraline enjoyed splashing in the pool, though we didn’t put her all the way in.

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The men put a tarp over the bouncer to help prevent it from getting too hot. It worked pretty well!

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Coraline loved the obstacle course bouncer and can crawl through the entire thing (going around the sides of things she can’t yet get over). Her favorite  part is the slide!

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She was so proud of herself, every single time, with her wide wrinkly nose grins. It was a great day spent with family, the kind you wish you could have every weekend. But summer is in full swing and there is more fun to come!

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15.5 Months

Coraline is well into 15 months, and while I’d love to talk about her at 15 months, I’m afraid this will be a little mixed in with some current drama from this trouble maker.

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The big question is, is Coraline walking yet?! The answer is no, though she did take her first step this month on June 3. She definitely can though: she can walk fine holding on to just one hand, and walks along walls and with her walking behind toys. She’s there, she’s just not confident enough to make the big move!

Got my hair did at school today!

Coraline has developed a bit of an attitude this month, though at 15 months it was more cutesy. She loves to shake her head yes and no, though she doesn’t understand what they mean. When she’s frustrated, she stretches herself out on the floor and kicks her feet! This is a bit earlier than I remember Jameson exhibiting this kind of tantrum behavior, but it’s short and funny, and involves no head-banging, at least.

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She's doing this thing now where she stretches out on the floor and kicks her feet when she's angry or frustrated. She's only 14 months, so I'm starting to get concerned about the terrible twos that we kind of skipped over with Jameson!

She is still drinking from the bottle. We didn’t try the sippy again, since she continued to refuse the sippy cups where she couldn’t see what was inside. Apparently, trying cold turkey really made an impression on her! However, at her doctor visit, he told us that in a couple months we could just remove the bottle entirely and supplement with vitamins. We may not wait the full two months to do that, because she really likes her “botteh” and I’d like to cut the habit soon. This also sounds very similar to water, and so Coraline asking for a drink sounds all the same.

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Other words this month include “woof woof”, and her first sentence “daghdagh woof woof” (Sasha and doggy have merged to sound one and the same). The woof woof was non stop for a few weeks, and was my favorite! She also got in her other two molars on bottom (she now has all four) and one more tooth in the bottom front. That’s a lot of teeth in one month!

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Coraline really found her element enjoying water play outside, as well as the slide. She’s now tolerating the swing for a minute (of very very slow pushing) before wailing to get out. She also loves water play inside, in the bath tub, and even blows bubbles in the water (after a bit of practice and realizing that you cannot inhale the water).

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Slide lovr

What we really started noticing this month is her independence and trying to get into things (like toilets and toilet paper), as well as crawling through and under the chairs. While we didn’t see a big word explosion this month, we saw huge progression in her walking and physical abilities. Just last month she was standing.

Trouble

Coraline is just under 20 pounds, and in the 25th percentile across the board. Our small fry is getting so big!

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