Beware...Lots of photos

Johnnie is one month away from turning 3 & Joey is now 20 months old. These 2 spend a lot of time together...watching movies, coloringwrestling, reading making daddy totem poles & just enjoying being so close in age.

But they also spend time doing things on their own. Joey has been perfecting his technique for walking down the stairs instead of sliding down on his bottom & he's getting pretty good at it. We often find him in his bedroom on Johnnie's bed reading books to himself. He learns new words everyday & he is always following Johnnie around wherever he goes. His favorite food is still yogurt. He still has a very short temper & my absolute favorite thing about Jojo is how happy he is. That infectious smile he flashes me can make everything seem okay. Johnnie is our most serious child. He likes to have fun but he is very sensitive & takes a little time to warm up to people. But lately he has been turning in to a little ham (Reminds me of his daddy). When the boys play outside they get really dirty. Probably because they climb in to the firepit & rub charcoal all over their hands but I'm trying to learn to just let boys be boys & then of course we bathe right after. Here are some playful shots of him playing basketball or just simply posing for my camera. I can't slow down how quickly he's growing either so I'm just trying to enjoy every minute I can with him. I love you my baby boy (I know you are no longer a baby but in my heart you will always be.)

Jimmy's 1/2 Year Birthday

6 months old. 1/2 a year. I can't believe it. My littlest love time is moving too quickly. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was feeding you every 3 hours... wait it was. You are such a joy. You nurse or have a bottle every 3 hours from 6am-10pm. And now you eat veggies, cereal & fruit 3 times a day. You definitely have a sweet tooth because your favorites are sweet potatoes, bananas, apples & mangos. You are 17 pounds 8 ounces (50%) & 26 3/4 inches tall (65%). You talk nonstop. Constantly oohing & aahing at us. Your caregivers at daycare love you & you love them especially when they sing to you. You look like you can't wait to get down on the floor & crawl around with your brothers so you can play. I can't wait to see you play with them either but I still wish I could slow time down. I love this 6 month phase. You discovering food you like/dislike. You learning to sit. Finally learning to roll over especially your back to your belly. This usually happens because you are sucking on your feet & tip over. Watching the smile you bring to everyone's face just by looking at them. I love you so baby boy & for now I'm grasping on to each day you remain a mama's boy because in the Bolander house all boys eventually turn in to daddy's boys.

10 on Tuesday- LA Zoo

1. We went to the LA Zoo on Sunday. It's been awhile. The last time we were here we looked like this. (March 2008).2. Now we look like this.3. We got there at 3pm & they start putting away the big animals at 4pm so our 1st hour there was a mad rush to see the gorillas, lions, tigers & last but not least the giraffes.4. Johnnie was a mad man & was constantly running ahead of us to get to the next animal, so again my camera was too slow to get him.

5. Luckily the "aunties" came along for the day because an extra pair of hands are always helpful. Kayci & Christian were in charge of the map & kept us on track. 6. Auntie Kim kept Joey happy for the day which wasn't very easy since he was feeling a little under the weather. 7. Joey was happy to see the zoo from this vantage point & it was hard to tell if daddy enjoyed it or not. 8. I really wanted a pic with Jimmy on his 1st trip to the zoo so I gave him a little pep talk.9. He was more interested in my earrings at first.10. And then yay! he smiled for the camera.

One of the Many Reasons

There are a lot of reasons I love being a "mom", "mommy", "mommeeeee" & my favorite "mama". Sometimes in the everyday chaos that is my life I forget to reflect on these moments. Last night I was woken up at 12:50am because Joey is sick. Then again at 2:45am, 3:40am & 4:20am because Jimmy keeps rolling over from his back to his belly & then can't figure out how to get back over to his back. So this morning as I was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast & just going through the motions of what moms do I was reminded of just one of the reasons I LOVE being a mama. Johnnie came over to me & hugged my legs & said thank you. When I asked what for? He replied "I don't know." (His favorite phrase of late). So I bent down to talk to him & he hugged me & said "I love you mama." I love you more baby boy! Thanks for the reminder.

Catching Up

It's been a busy week around here so not a lot of blogging going on. I have basically been trying to keep up with the house, catching up on scrapbooking & trying to finish Joey's blanket so there hasn't been a lot of picture taking. The photos I have managed to take have mostly been of Jimmy since he' the only one who is immobile (for now anyway). They are repaving the street in front of our house so Johnnie & Joey have been thoroughly happy walking around the block checking out all the trucks. And they have been moving too quickly for me to capture them in action but I got a few.

All 3 boys playing together. Johnnie still thinking he should be able to play in the exersaucer even if his legs are splayed all over. Jimmy turned 24 weeks old this week. His personality is really starting to shine through even when he's just sitting in his swing. He always looks like he's thinking of something that makes him smile. Oscar loves the swing & as you can see he's a very BIG cat. He also basically loves to be anywhere the baby was. While I was trying to capture his weekly photo I instead captured him spitting up. The photo is a little graphic & looks like I edited the spit up in but I didn't. I'm not really sure how he continues to grow because he is constantly spitting up,but it doesn't seem to bother him. Right after I cleaned him up he went back to pushing this ball around. He is sleeping through the night from 10pm-6:30am in his crib & has even started taking his naps in them. He starts on his back & then rolls to his side & cuddles his lovey. He can sit up with a little support & really enjoys sitting in our laps to be a part of things. And it looks like he is going to love my desk too. I promise to post again next week & will work very hard to capture the older boys in action. Until then... happy Saturday!

10 on Tuesday

1. On Friday I took the afternoon off to go to lunch, see a movie & golf with Rick & my sister Kim. We originally planned on seeing the Hangover but ended UP seeing the Collector instead because of my misread on movie times. The movie was suspenseful but didn't earn the "Go see this movie" recommendation. On the upside there was something wrong with the speakers so we were each given a free movie ticket so no big loss & we got to see a movie meant for adults.

2. Golf was fun. It was my 1st time back in over a year so it was a little rough. And it was Kim's 1st time ever. We had fun & were just happy to be outside enjoying the sunshine.

3. Sunday afternoon. Enjoying alone time with mommy & daddy while your brothers nap. 4. Sometimes you don't like being put in your swing. So Sunday morning after breakfast daddy put you in your swing & when you started fussing he started singing to you & you loved it.5. And of course your brothers had to join in. 6. Then later I heard Johnnie singing Rock-A-Bye-Baby & when I came around the corner I saw this. And a little while later I caught Joey humming to Jimmy pushing him back & forth. It made me so happy to know you boys just wanted to make your brother happy!7. When the weather warms up around here the Bolander boys like to run around with NO clothes on. That includes playing basketball of course.8. We turned the sprinklers on & let the boys run around the yard. Johnnie loved it right away. Joey had to warm up to the idea. The water was very cold & shocking when it hit your body but he finally got used to it. And he mostly enjoyed just chasing after Johnnie who was screaming "It's not cold. It's fun." 9. Afterwards we went inside & Johnnie put on his new Superman underroos. The bad part was that I think he felt wearing the clothes made him Superman so he would dive off Rick's shoulders & luckily would usually land on the couch. And the BIG news in our house for our big boy. He started potty training yesterday at school. He wore "underwears" as he calls it all day & only had one accident. So good! 10. 23 Weeks Old. I think you spend most of your awake hours eating. This week we have added blueberries, oranges & bananas. And you love holding on to your feet. You are constantly grabbing them & just happily holding on.