22 months!

Another month has gone by?? Oh my... another month has gone by. People, in just TWO short months, my baby will be TWO! As in YEARS OLD!! Can someone please tell me how this has happened? And why on earth does time seem to go faster every day? :) Probably because the days get more fun and more awesome by the day.

Jake, on December 6, 2010

On this very day, one year ago, Jake went from toddling 10-15 steps to being a full time walker. On this day last year, it was like Jake just woke up and took off. After that day, he very rarely crawled again. So, today marks the day of toddlerhood for Jake. He became a full-time toddler one year ago, today. :)

Jake at 22 months...
Still weighs 28 pounds
Is 37 inches tall
Talks in full sentences and ideas
LOVES "Bickey House" and Minnie
Obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba...still
Loves trucks (and things that go) and making the appropriate truck noises.
Favorite people to play with - Braxton, Kale, Bop, and of course.. Dada.
Remembers people's names better than I do, sometimes
LOVES to sing and dance
Can sing a large majority of the ABC's (some are jumbled, but he's getting pretty good)
Can count to 10 on his own (I will actually hear him spontaneously doing this on his own a lot of the time)
Can identify green, brown, yellow, and red
Can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" in its entirety on his own
Loves to read books
Most requested song by Jake - "Jesus Loves Me"
Loves to play pretend, i.e.: talking on phone, building forts and pretending to knock on the door, eating, etc. It's cute.
Still sleeps like a champ. Goes to bed around 9:30 and gets up 7:45-8:30. Naps 3-4 hours in the afternoon--it is a glorious thing, that I do NOT take for granted!
You REFUSE to discuss or have anything to do with the potty.
You wear mostly size 2T in clothes, and size 6 in shoes.

Jake Pickle, you are becoming one of the coolest kids I've ever met! You are so smart, so fun, so sweet, and so loving. Your Daddy and I are so proud of the kid you are! You make us happier than we ever thought possible!


Well, guys that's it for us for today! Happy Tuesday! We are going to see (the best) Santa tonight...exciting!!

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Twinkle, Twinkle

I can not even believe how quickly little toddler people learn things! It is seriously overnight. Sometimes even over-nap! Since Jake was a tiny little thing, I have sung "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to him each night. I know he has recognized it for many months now. He would request "Uppa, Uppa" (Up above) and then it changed to asking for "Tinkle, Tinkle". The video below was taken a few weeks ago. I happened to have my phone in hand while we were reading, singing and saying bedtime prayers. Most nights I don't take it in there because he will try to play on it, but I think we had just finished FaceTime with his my parents. I don't know how or why I happened to get this on video, but I'm so glad I did!! This is Jake (and me, so please don't judge my terrible singing!!) singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". Focus on the ridiculously cute 20 month old.

Shutter Time in My Free Time

I've been a bit busy with picture taking lately! I thought I'd add a little taste of what I've been up to. I do photography on the side. On the very side. lol I'm a wife and mom first, nurse second, and third... if I have time, photographer. :) I am extremely cheap compared to other on location photographers. I only charge enough to pay for my time and effort, basically. I love to take pictures. It is a HUGE stress reliever for me. An outlet of sorts for a lot of things. Not to mention, I get to meet really neat people!

I totally got this idea from Pinterest. :) Isn't it awesome?!

Such a natural!

Beautiful family with extremely photogenic girls!

Jake's best friend :)

of course I had to add some of my little guy!

He definitely has his fair share of camera time. lol

There ya have it! A few of my favorites from my recent work. Hope you liked!!

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Jake's Favorite Books

There is kind of an obsession with books in our house in this stage of toddler-hood. It has been going on for quite some time. I LOVE it so much, most the time. I used to long for the day Jake would bring me a book and ask to have it read. And at first, I enjoyed every time he'd do it. And I hate to say this... but there are so many times where I'm like, "kid, we read that book 5 times in a row... five minutes ago!" I know they like repetition and to hear momma's voice, etc, but sometimes it is a bit much. :) I'm sure one day I'll give anything to go back and do it over, so I try my hardest to enjoy it, even if we are rereading it for the 10th time that day.

Jake loves all books. But there are 4 books that he is just crazy about. And he has a special name for each book. He will randomly ask for these books, even when they are not in sight; especially at night time. :)

This book is called "cocoon".

Because of this page. And it is hilarious to hear him say it.

This sweet, sweet book is called, "Honey".

This book, that we have read at bedtime since he was teeny tiny, is called... "Moon".

And this book is called "BOOK". When he asks for Book, this is what he wants. And he knows every thing inside this book (besides the emotions page, I don't like it, so we always skip it ha!)

Of course he loves to turn the pages. And at the end of every book, he loves to close it and say, "THE END". So stinkin' cute.

Tonight we are trick-or-treating with Jake's buddies. Pictures to come soon of my handy costume making in action.


Happy Halloween Monday, friends!!

A Jake Kind of Day

We have hit the terrible-twos as if we were running full force and hit a brick wall. I knew my day was coming, and maybe all moms feel this way, but I feel as if I've done something wrong! Did I not spend enough time with him reading, playing outside, working on words and skills? Did I let him watch too much TV? Do I have his schedule too flexible? Do we need to go back to the very rigid scheduling? Why is he acting out like this? And WHO is this child?!

Deep down, I know that it's nothing I've done (right?!). But I still ask myself all these questions.

So, I decided, for the sake of all things Jake... that we would just have ourselves a Jake kind of day this afternoon. So, when we got home from Mops, we did whatever he wanted to do. Because, truthfully, we never do that. We do what mommy wants. I get little to no opposition, but I thought, what the heck... his attitude is not in tip-top shape and, honestly, I need some time to enjoy him rather than feel like I'm constantly in "no" mode or redirection mode. So, this is how we spent our afternoon. :)

Outside. It is his favorite place. Isn't it every little boy's? So much to explore! I wish I'd started taking pictures earlier than this. When we first went outside, we had a picnic. Then he took his chips and put them on his little lawn mower and pushed the chips all over the backyard until they fell off the mower. And then he ate them off the ground, in perfect little boy fashion.

Of COURSE we colored.

We played ball.

We looked at bugs.

We swung in the swing (notice chalk still in hand).

Shoved every piece of chalk inside of the dump truck's cab.

pushed the dump truck around with chalk in cab and lawn sign in back.

Pushed the ball in the dump truck.
FYI our big outside truck came from the Goodwill--love that place!!

Now, don't get me wrong... we go outside frequently. But today we spent literally hours outside. Like, we postponed nap time just to be doing what Jake wanted. This was quite a feat for me. In fact, I spoke with both my parents during this time, both of which were very shocked I'd let Jake stay "up" for so long. Haha. I don't feel like I'm that rigid. Maybe I'm more rigid than I thought! Anyway, we enjoyed our little fun time. And I enjoyed be able to enjoy my little boy during this crazy time of terrible twos.

Accidental and on Purpose

I was inspired by Pinterest today after "pinning" this.

I followed the link it provided and it took me to a blog and then to flickr.com. At first, I didn't really care for a lot of the letters it had shown, because I really prefer the "accidental letters and numbers" and the ones I had linked to were less accidental and more on purpose. So, my example will be mixed with accidentals and purposeful letters and numbers. Go here for accidental numbers and letters. You can really just search flickr for just about any of the letters or numbers. Some are easier to find than others. It took me a good 2 hours (yes, ashamedly, I burned away two hours of my day doing this... but wait till you see it!!!) to get mine just how I wanted it. Well, between that and all my other social media catching-up I had to do.

Here's mine!! I plan to blow it up and put it on the wall above the couch.

Ooooh, I LOVE it!!!!

Happy Monday, friends!

DJ Lance Rock

Halloween is fast approaching!! It really caught me off guard a few days ago while I was looking at costumes online with a friend. I have really loved the idea of making Jake's costumes just because I can. Last year, Jake was very bald and chubby and naturally made a great little Charlie Brown. 

See...

Last year, he had no favorite shows, or special things yet. Boy, what a difference a year makes!!! There are tons of things he loves and could be for halloween, but there IS one thing he could not live without. And if you know Jake very well, you know that thing is Yo Gabba Gabba!! I had decided he would be DJ Lance Rock. Allow me to jog your memory, or perhaps introduce you to DJ Lance.

I am fully aware that DJ Lance, along with all the other Gabbaland friends, are way creepy, but Jake LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba, so I do too!!

I have never made a full outfit before. I am crafty, sure. But I've never made real clothes before. So, I decided I'd just use a pre-made costume, as much as I really didn't want to. I actually even borrowed one from a friend. This is the costume I'd borrowed. 

It's a really cute costume and I totally would have used it, if I hadn't made THIS!...

Now trust me, up close, it is nothing special. BUT I did complete the goal of making his costume! The glue hasn't dried yet, so the ROCK is a little light still, but I LOVE how it turned out! All we need is a turtleneck to go underneath and white shoes. I used the borrowed costume as my prototype. 

See!...

Ok, the best part... I made this costume out of two women's long-sleeved shirts from Goodwill. Not kidding!! I just used my favorite pair of Jake's pants and one of his shirts that fits really well as my "pattern". It took me all morning to complete. I worked on it from 9:00-1:00. My favorite part, other than I made it, is that it was upcycled from the ugliest Halloween shirts you've ever seen!

I wish I'd have taken a picture of the shirts from before, but this is all I have... the leftovers.

Ok so I had seen this little homemade costume and I loved how the sleeves and the pants did not gather at the bottom. So, it kind of was my inspiration. Isn't this little guy cute!?

I still have to make a boombox, but that ought to be a piece of cake, comparatively. 

I'm sure there is no way I could recreate it, I'm happy I'm done with it. It was quite a challenge with the little mess running around trying to help me make his costume. I can't wait to see it on him!!

Happy Tuesday, friends!