... and I like to make drawrings...

Jake LOVES his art table. And he is very serious about it. He's a regular Picasso and wakes up half the mornings asking to draw. If you listen closely he is saying most of the colors he is using (new skill this week!).

20 months old

You know your colors- all of them... it is freaky-cool.
You love drawing.

You had two weeks of mood swing hell, then we had 3 weeks of adorable bliss...
and then you learned the word MINE...

You are so sweet with kisses and hugs.

You are so cautious on stairs that we know you won't go with out us and we have to encourage you to climb and be daring.

You love standing on a chair to watch us cook

There's a spot of white paint in the corner of our kitchen near the ceiling, on the wood molding. One day you noticed it and said "Eee-u-www."
Then the next day, you were looking for your shoes: "Shoes? mama? mommy? Shoes?" then you walked into the kitchen where they were... you pointed at your shoes and said, "Shoes." Then you pointed at the clock and said, "clock". Then you pointed at the tiny scar of paint and named it, "Eee-u-ww."

You will stop what you are doing to point to that splosh of paint, like you are saying hi to a family pet whose was named after the noise you make when you encounter something disgusting "Eee-u-ww."

You have some kind of strange accent (that is adorable): pen... paper (sounds like peen, paypurr)
You count to 10- no problem and sometimes go a little higher

You have memorized the months of the year... I learned this when I was bragging that your cousin, Cameron knew them, and when I was trying to show her off, you piped in and named them too.

You officially eat everything - We let you eat whatever we eat except we have avoided giving you bacon and hot dogs. (You'll probably hate us for holding out on you in this department, but trust us once you have bacon, all other healthier foods will be ruined.)

You have the ability to literally bring grand parents to tears with your patented "2-handed-kiss" Where you put both your little hands on either side of their face and pull them toward you for a wet smooch on the lips...

You are a doll! and we love you,
Mommy and Mama

Overheard at the community health center

I'm walking through the lobby at my job, on the way from one side of the center to the other. I'm wearing my "business casual" with my ID around my neck, and a patient waiting in line locks eyes with me. She seems very excited to see me, though I'm pretty sure that we've never spoken to each other before...

Lady: HI!!!!
Me: How are you doing?

I keep walking as my rhetorical question has gone unanswered.

"HEY!" She has shouted this in an apparent attempt to stop me. I turn toward her and she pauses for a second as if she is not sure what she wants to say to me. "When is father's day?" She inquires innocently.

I stop, a little confused by the question, "Um..."

"The 6th of June? The 12th? Something like that, right?"

"Yeah, around there, probably the second Sunday..." I've slowed down my pace, but am still about to pass her on my way out of the waiting room.

"I'm just here getting condoms." she shouts to my back

"Oh..." I reply weakly, twisting around toward her b/c I didn't realize until this second that our conversation was continuing. "Good..."

She pauses long enough so that I start again to walk away and she sort of yells after me, "I come every month..."

I stop, turn, and am standing, looking at her from about 6 or 7 feet away.

"THEY'RE for my sons..." she continues, "15 and 17 years old... and they use them too..."

Pause. Pause. Pause

I reply, "Well that's good." She says nothing else.

I nod at her. She nods at me. Once again, I assume the conversation is over and turn to go. When I am another 10 feet away, she calls after me...

"SAFE SEX, RIGHT?!?" I turn back. She stage whispers this next part for no apparent reason, "SAAAAAFE SEX."

I nod. Then she retells the story to the person in line behind her.
I walk away having no idea what just happened.

This Kid is definitely related to me...

I hate when my feet are under covers too.
Adorable.

My morning view

23 weeks, and 4 days

Our growing bookworm

JB's becoming quite the word-smith (and lover of books)... This is how he fell asleep last night. He wanted the books in the bed with him. And in the morning, resisted the normal "cuddling ritual" to sit in there with his books a while longer. He knows a LOT of words... Katy and i estimate 150: lots of body parts, lots of animals, lots of totally random nouns pictured in all these children's books we own.

On the way home from school today, it was like he couldn't contain all the words inside himself. He was just ooohing and aaahhing and pointing and bubbling over with excitment: truck, bus, green, go, shoe, tree, hoop, car, another one, two, three, more, digger, hair, bird, another one, puppy, nana, mama, chin, foot, thumb, pointer, pinkie, 'Kenzie, Cammy, TT, papa, nana, home, stop, wow, sky, up, trees, two, flower. red. stop, nose...

On and on and on. It brought out in me a speechlessness that I could hardly recognize and an utter lack of creative response. I mainly said, "Yeah" to him and/or repeated the word he just said.

I can't believe how quickly he is learning. His verbal pattern in the car had a lot to do with all that he was seeing out of the windows, but also you could just tell the words- the names we have taught him for things that he sees and wears and recognizes just kept "popping" into his head. As if he saw his shoe and then he saw a bird and then he saw his thumb, and with every twitch of his eye, his vocal chords could not contain the impulse his mind was sending to them. He was not performing, he was discussing, conversing, communicating to me all that he was observing.

It was wild and filled me with light.

Our Growing Bean

This shot is from about a month ago... we are behind on belly shots for you Internet lurkers, but KT is growing. The boy bean is kicking and squirming and I can feel him "bump" now. His Mama is getting used to it, but still not quite "comfortable" with all of this internal movement. She is having some rib pain, some round ligament pain, and some GI symptoms (occasional nausea, constipation, and frequent heartburn). Other than that, she feels good and is eating well. JB knows the "baby" or "brother" is in there, but today he pointed to my right tittie and said, "brother," so it might not be all that clear in his mind what-the-cluck we are trying to say to him...

It is starting to get real for the mommies. I realized today that we are four months away, and I was like, "hmmm... okay... yikes!!!" We are trying to start to get serious about moving and lowered the asking price on our estate. Please people, just make us an offer... we're starting to panic over here and the "timeline" just got all up in katy's grill ribcage...

At the womb whisperer's request...

A lot of f%&#ing batshittery has happened in the last 7 days...

We have not posted b/c we have been trying to keep our heads above water. It's nothing earth shattering or devastating- if you sprint back 30 yards and look at it from a slight distance.

I have a lot to say about some of it, but here's the bulleted quick-notes version:

Monday: just another manic monday

Tuesday: IBO has her baby, 2 days shy of 26 weeks

Wednesday: I fly to St. Louis, spend 5 hours in airports and planes and 4+ hours in a minivan on Missouri highways accompanied by a quorum of geeks and rednecks; meanwhile at home, Katy gets a call from day care that JB is projectile vomiting

Thursday: I work a 14 hour day, including a 4 hour drive on MO highways, and lose my cell phone somewhere in St. Louis... JB has stopped puking.

Friday: I take a "nonstop" flight home that has me breathing air in 4 cities, and experiencing 3 take offs and 3 landings in 5 hours... (Feeling naked without my cell and wondering the entire time if I will ever see that totally-unimpressive-to-begin-with cell phone again.) Katy is called by day care in the late morning b/c even though JB spent all of Thursday without any vomiting and seemingly healthy, he is now squirting liquid out the other end. Katy is told that she needs to pick him up before his dysentery-esque symptoms spread to any of the other rug rats and a diarrhea-thon commences. I get home at about 3pm and experience the glorious surprise of having my family home waiting for me. Katy is sweet and JB is asleep. It might have been a kinky lazy afternoon if I didn't have to do a few hours of cell phone recon. Oh well...

Today, I got a new cell phone... oh, it's an iphone... And IBO's baby is hanging tough, impressing his medical team and so far, beating all odds!