The Season is Changing

The start of fall is one of my favorite parts of the year. The weather cools down. Football is in full swing. The holiday season starts approaching. And sadly the countdown to Joey aging a year starts. This time of year just seems to go so much faster with Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas right around the corner. And to our dismay it seems that something else is approaching faster than we expected. The terrible twos. Joey delights in instigating little fights with Johnnie. Poking him while driving in the car (We plan to change the car seats around & put Jimmy in the middle for our sanity). Knocking down the blocks Johnnie has just finished building in to a building or tower. Taking his blanket & pacifier from him. Taking any toy or object in Johnnie's hand. And basically just being a little stinker. Looking at this face I would never think he would be like this but don't be fooled, he is. But when he's not being a little stinnkerbug he is playful & still loves all ball sports Loves to run around getting sweaty & D-I-R-T-Y & constantly trying to talk to us in a language we struggle to understand that intermixes words like OWL & ste-chee (string cheese). But eventhough he is a little bit hard to handle at times we can't get over how much he makes us laugh & it really is hard to get upset when he pouts those lips & looks up at you with those big brown eyes. We love you little guy. Happy 21 months.

Oh Happy Day

It's a big day for you Johnnie. You are 3 years old today. No longer a baby but rather a big boy as you like to tell us. You still love your pacifier & your blankie. You are such a sensitive, caring, happy & feisty little guy. You love reading books. You love to play outside & to watch tv. You are very talkative (still don't know where you get that) & very intelligent. You are such a boy, constantly tackling me & your daddy & sometimes just a little too rough. But you are always full of love & ready to give us hugs. I feel like it was just yesterday I held you in my arms for the first time but it's already been 3 years. I think a walk down memory lane over the past year is the best way to celebrate your 3rd year of life.

September 26,2008 Your 2nd BirthdayOctober 2008 Pumpkin PatchNovember 2008 Taking Christmas Card PhotoDecember 2008 Sledding with Daddy at Gramma's House January 2009 Helping Me Make Daddy's Birthday CakeFebruary 2009 Holding Your New Baby Brother JimmyMarch 2009 Playing Peek A Boo April 2009 Waiting to Play OutsideMay 2009 Blowing BubblesJune 2009 The way he watches tv. With his blankie & his my.July 2009 Loving his daily yogurt August 2009 Still trying to fit in the swingThis Morning getting ready to take your official birthday photo. You covered your eyes & said no photo mama. And then you tried hiding behind the crib & finally Your Official Photo at 9:47am You will never know how much we love you & I hope you always understand that no matter how old you get you will always be our baby boy! Happy 3rd Birthday!

7 Months & Counting

Jimmy is now 7 months old. Happy as can be & just such a good baby. He weighs 18 pounds 4 ounces & is 27" long. He is now crawling all over the living room. Sometimes on his hands & knees but mostly moving along like an inch worm. He goes to bed at 7pm & sleeps until morning between 6-7am. He loves food & will pretty much eat anything except for peas (don't blame him- they are gross.) His first tooth finally broke through without much of a fuss but is too small to get a picture of. He is wildly entertained by anyone who is willing to sing & dance for him. He can finally roll over from his back to his belly without thinking about it & can push himself up to a sitting position from his belly. He loves to be involved playing on the floor with his brothers even if it's just watching them play or reading a book with them. He makes some seriously crazy faces that always make us giggle. And he definitely still loves to put things in his mouth... toys his entire hand & basically anything he can get his hands on. You are just such a content baby & you smile with your entire face especially your eyes.
We love you big guy!

All is Right in the Bolander Household

now that daddy is back home. He was only gone for 40 hours but I must have heard "Where's Daddy?" a zillion times starting on Saturday morning when I went in to get the boys. I opened the door & saw this. And then Joey immediately asked "Daddy?" with raised shoulders. Even Jimmy seemed a little confused when he only saw me in the morning. But it wasn't long before daddy was home again. When he arrived the boys were in their bedroom playing so daddy went up to greet them. And within seconds he was being attacked & wrestled with. Within minutes I think he felt like he had never left. Jimmy was happy to see daddy when he woke up from his nap. I didn't capture a photo of them together so you will just have to trust me. But I did get a couple of photos to remember what he looked like the day before he turns 30 weeks old. He loves reading books (okay so he just looks at the books) but really intently. Gets as close to the book as he can & then talks to the book. Glad you're home Rick. I missed you too!

The Start to Our Weekend

Rick is having a boys weekend with some good friends from the Academy. He left for Palm Desert a few hours ago. It will be the 1st time I have spent 2 days alone with all of the boys. It will be a crazy, tiring weekend but full of fun times judging from these photos taken tonight. I think we will have lots of dancing. Lots of wrestling. Lots of attempts at crawling. Lots of chewing on toys because of teething. And of course lots of smiles. I'm hoping I will have enough time to pick up my camera this weekend to get a few shots to show daddy what he missed. Hope he has fun playing golf, drinking some beers, playing poker & getting some uninterrupted sleep. Lucky!!

Labor Day Weekend

1. How can it be September already? The official countdown to summer ending. The month my baby boy turns 3. It all seems to be going too quickly. Oh well better enjoy it while I can. We spent our weekend trying to nurse 3 sick boys back to health. Just a cough, some fevers & lots of steamy showers but it makes the long holiday weekend seem very long & not so exciting.

2. We did watch a lot of football & we had family & friends over for dinner every night making me realize that there will be some downsides to a big family... lots of dishes.

3. We did manage to make it to the beach one day though. When we left our house to head to Redondo Beach it was 88 degrees. It was an overcast 72 degrees when we arrived 20 minutes later but after a while the sun did make an appearance & stuck around the rest of our afternoon. Johnnie played in the water splashing around, kicking the water, looking for shells & he even found a live clam that we had to throw back in the ocean.4. Jimmy was still a little under the weather so he stayed up on the beach with Auntie Kayci & Jen enjoying some sun & just watching his surroundings.5. Joey was a little more brave running around near the water but he mostly just stayed close to Auntie Kim.6. I did manage to put the camera down & play for a little while, mostly trying to keep Joey from falling face first in to the sand. 7. Johnnie happily searching for shells while being carried around. 8. After Johnnie tired of the water (1.5 hours later) he spent some time digging in the sand & throwing water everywhere with his bucket.9. Then Joey got his daddy time before we packed up for the day to head home for a family dinner. Hope your weekend was just as fun & a lot more healthy.10. And Jimmy is back to his normal, healthy & happy 28 week old self.