Updates on my little ones :)

In case you haven't heard yet, we are having a:

GIRL!

We are super excited.

As a side note, I would like to enumerate some things that make a woman who is 22 weeks pregnant with a toddler happy:

1. Pants that still button. Woot.
2. Frozen dinners.
3. Sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
4. Errand-less days, which means I can stay in my sweats.
5. Good food. Not cooked by me. (It just tastes better when someone else makes it. Am I right?)
6. Chick-fil-a.
7. Pregnancy workout videos that are longer than 7 minutes. (Seriously. What is up with all those youtube pregnancy videos that are 5 minutes long?)
8. When Jack gives his baby sister kisses.
9. Tums.
10. Jack man snuggle time. I'm going to miss our mommy and Jack time.
11. Pool time.
12. Naps. (of both the Jackson and Mommy variety).
13. Foot massages from an amazing husband.


Life is pretty awesome right now. I'm getting more and more excited about having a girl (by obsessively looking online at Target baby girl items) and am anxious to get our house in order for our new arrival :)

On the Jackson front:

Jack took this video all by himself today :) I laughed so hard when I found it :)

He has grown attached to Teddy.

Riding the Meijer horse for the first time!

Cake lover.

Playing in Grandpa Woods' car

Candy man.

Toddler bed problems.

Long day at the Louisville Zoo.

Look at that handsome man!!

1. This man is learning words left and right. I had my first taste of shameless toddler talk embarrassment yesterday. Jackson learned the word "die" because I was foolish enough to tell him that the computer had "died." At the grocery store we always stop by the fish tanks at the end of our trip. Unfortunately, a poor fish had met a sad end and was on the bottom of the tank being eaten by another fish. Jackson was very curious and I told him the fish had died. He then proceeded to yell (he is a loud talker) "die" every few seconds until we got to the checkout line. Every now and then he threw in the word "eat" just to make things interesting. My only hope is that he is still so young that people weren't quite sure what he was actually saying. sigh.
2. He loves to tell us "stories." He will recount previous days that he has enjoyed by stringing words together, like: "bank," "money," "nummy" (to tell us how we went to the bank where we keep our money and the lady gave him a sucker); or: "cow," "abby," "wawa" (to explain how he played at Grandpa's with the dog, Abby and watered the cows). It's really cute. I usually ask him about his dreams in the mornings and while I'm not really sure if he knows what I mean, he has no problem coming up with fun things to tell me about :) It's awfully nice to be able to hear his little thoughts.
3. Current favorite toy: His reuseable stickers that Pat got him at the beach (Thank you, Pat!!)
4. Current favorite food: This changes every day, but he devoured the spaghetti we had tonight and almost any pasta meal I make.
5. He has learned to negotiate. The 5-more-bites-in order-to-eat-a-treat trick actually works now!
6. He is getting closer and closer to potty training time. Our son is intensely motivated by chocolate, like a true Woods. He showed interest in using the potty a few months ago and so we let him sit on the toilet whenever he asked to (maybe once a day), but didn't really force it. That desire has faded until recently. I started giving him a chocolate chip if he sits on the toilet and goes "pee-pee" or "poo-poo." Now, he will go almost every time I ask him to. In the past few days, he has done his dirty business in the toilet every time but once (which was at the grocery store, so I won't count it ;) ). I'm pretty proud!! (and happy that I don't have to change as many diapers!)
7. He has hit the "No" stage. I knew his glorious yes to everything stage had to end some time. He knows how to say both words, but chooses to say no even when he means yes. Stinker.
8. He loves to roll around on the floor. Especially if I am folding laundry (which means he can take out the sheets or towels and roll around with them).
9. He remembers EVERYTHING. An amazing and slightly scary thought.
10. He thinks that the church building is a "temple" too. And one day he kept saying he wanted to go to the temple so we watched videos of temples for almost an hour. Cute.
11. His word for doggie sounds almost exactly like "car key."
12. He doesn't love to sit in his high chair anymore. He likes to sit at the "big boy table" and eat with us. And he usually does pretty well, I just have to wash the table cloth 5x more frequently.
13. He is fairly good at being "reverent." At lunch today, he even put down his fork and the piece of food he had in his hand in order to fold his arms when I asked him to pray. He likes to kneel with us when we say family prayers. Sometimes during the day he will kneel and fold his arms and I will ask him if he wants to pray and he says yes. It's awfully cute.
14. He is usually helpful (putting things away for me, getting his shoes in order to leave). He isn't so great at putting his toys away, but if we can't do anything else until they are cleaned up, that usually does the trick.
15. He is learning how to sleep in his toddler bed. Some days are rough and some are wonderful, but slowly he is learning to stay in bed and is getting back to his normal sleeping times.

Wow. This list could go on forever. I am fascinated at how fast his little brain learns and assimilates new knowledge. He is such a tender little guy. Usually I ask Jack to give me kisses or hugs and he does. For the first time today he came up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss without me asking for it. This is what makes being a mom the best job in the entire world: Love. Unconditional, unwavering love.