Happy Valentine's Day!



my little stud muffin's Valentine's Day outfit



happy guy eating his breakfast on Valentine's Day (with awesome bed head!)

Jake's Valentine's Day bento box lunch for preschool

conversation heart brownies for a Moms Club V-Day party

Jake's special after dinner Valentine's treat

yum!

my Valentine's Day baby bump (almost 20 weeks)

 We had a great Valentine's Day! Jake woke up in a good mood and was a happy camper eating his "raisin tote and baneena" (raisin toast and banana) for breakfast! I made him a special Valentine's Day bento box lunch for preschool, complete with hearts made of fruit leather. His Valentine's Day festivities actually started yesterday at our Moms Club Valentine's Day party for the kids. I made conversation heart brownies for the party, and Jake handed out (ok, I did it for him) and received tons of Valentine's from his play group friends. Today at preschool they celebrated Valentine's Day, and he came home with a bag full of Valentine's from his preschool friends! Such a popular kiddo already! :) Joe, Jake and I went out to dinner with my parents tonight, and we gave Jake a special heart shaped sucker after dinner. It was ginormous, and he loved it! Of course he didn't finish it, but it was a great distraction for him while the rest of the grown ups finished dinner. Jake also received a bunch of V-Day presents from my parents and a few from us too. It was a fun family Valentine's Day. Hopefully, Joe and I will get a date night sometime soon - we are long overdue!

This weekend we went to Kyra Tipper's 2nd birthday party!  The theme was Paul Frank monkeys, and Jakey fit right in with his Paul Frank rocker monkey t-shirt:

the birthday girl!

Jackie and her adorable 2-year-old!

checking out the par-tay

Jakey and mommy on the train

What monkey themed birthday party is complete without bananas?

Kyra's adorable birthday cupcakes!

Jake devouring a cupcake

Kyra and Jake waiting for the train

Jake had a great time at Kyra's birthday party! Kyra is such a sweetie, and it was so much fun to help her celebrate her 2nd birthday! The party was at a huge park with train rides and pony rides (which Jake didn't do this time). Jake loved the train so much that we went on it twice! He had a hard time waiting for the train though! It took about 10 minutes or so for the train to make its way back to the station and unload and reload. Those were 10 long minutes for our impatient little man! But he had so much fun on the train that it was worth tne wait! From the train we saw ponds with lots of ducks, and even a peacock, but Jake's favorite part was the dark tunnel we went through! I think I see Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in our future! He is such an adrenaline junky already that I'm sure he will love it! Not sure when we will take him to Disneyland for the first time, or when he will be tall enough to ride it, but it is definitely something to look forward to. That was my favorite Disneyland ride as a kid, and I can't wait to share it with Jake! Jake's other favorite part of Kyra's party was the food! He ate almost a whole slice of pizza, along with other snacks, and then asked for a banana (which was part of the party decor and helping hold down the tablecloths in the wind), which he proceeded to wolf down! And somehow, he still had room for an entire cupcake. There were some cupcakes with blue frosting, and some with red frosting to go along with the party theme. Jake asked for a blue one, and as soon as he was finished he said "I need a red one!" :) Only one cupcake per party, little dude! The bummer was that he refused to nap on the way home. The party was a good hour and 45 minutes away, so we didn't get home until 3:30 which is the time that Jake normally wakes up from his nap. In the car we told him to go "night night", and he kept saying "no, go upstairs" because he wanted to nap in his room at home. When we got home we put him down for a late nap, and after he finally fell asleep at 4:15, he slept for about 40 minutes before we woke him up. Better than nothing. I guess it's something to think about for future nap time car rides. The other bummer was that we missed Jake's "girlfriend" Avery's 3rd birthday party, which happened to be the same day as Kyra's party. Jake and Avery are good buddies, and they have so much fun playing together! We used to be in 2 playgroups with Avery, but since both kids recently started going to preschool, they only get to see each other at our Monday group, with an occasional play date thrown in there. Happy Birthday Kyra and Avery!
 
Jake and I have been taking a class through the Park & Rec on Monday mornings called "Wheels on the Bus." It is a transportation themed class, and each week we focus on a different type of transportation (planes, trains, boats, etc.) One week the focus was police cars, and they had a real police car come to class! Jake had so much fun sitting in the police car, and seeing the flashing lights. This week was all about buses, and Jake loved checking out the bus that visited the class. It was a school bus or "cool bus" as Jakey calls it.

checking out the bus at our class on Monday

And last, but not least, here is a photo from Jake's first time sitting in a booth (sans booster or high chair!) He insisted, and this place was casual enough, and the tables were low enough to actually give it a try. He did really good for his first time. We had to remind him a few times to turn around and face forward, but for the most part, he sat there and ate his lunch like a big boy!

Baby Boy Balice #2 update: I am 20 weeks tomorrow, and I can't believe I am already half-way done! BBB #2 has been kicking me like crazy lately (in fact, I'm feeling his jabs right now as I type this!) If he is already this active, something tells me he may have a personality similar to his older brother Jake! Guess we'll just have to wait and see...

It's another BOY!

This is the first thing that we saw when the ultrasound tech placed the wand on my belly today:

 Apparently, we do not make shy boys! Baby Boy Balice #2 was on display for us quite clearly! We already suspected it was going to be a boy. At our previous ultrasound, when I had just entered the second trimester, the tech thought she saw "something" and although it was early, we were preparing ourselves for the boy outcome...and she was indeed correct! So Jakey gets a little brother! And we get another Baby Boy Balice! The first one turned out pretty darn cute, so we can't wait to see what this one will be like!

 This is a profile shot from today's ultrasound. Today was the anatomy scan, where they check to make sure the organs are developing properly. Everything looked great, and Baby Boy Balice is healthy and developing right on track!

This is what the Baby Boy Balice Bump looks like at 19 1/2 weeks. I will hit the half-way mark next week, and if the second half of the pregnancy goes as fast as the first half, Baby Boy Balice will be here before we know it!! I'm due on the 4th of July, but I'm convinced that this baby will be here in June. I'm already measuring a few days ahead, and Jakey was a week early, so I have a feeling this baby will also make an early appearance!

Baby Boy Balice has been kicking up a storm lately! Joe was able to feel the baby kick tonight for the first time, and baby boy was doing some serious kicking during my ultrasound today too. Maybe he didn't like the ultrasound wand pressing down on him for that long? :) Since we "knew" we were having a boy, we were completely prepared for the boy result today. I'm actually really glad we had over a month to prepare! We are excited for Jake to have a brother, and happy that we will get to reuse many of the same clothes/toys. But if one more person says "you're going to save a ton of money" because we're having another boy, I think I'm gonna scream! I was so looking forward to spending money on girly stuff. Oh well, next time! :) We are so happy that the baby is healthy, and we already know what to do with a boy! The funny thing is, I'm picturing another little Jake - looks and personality - but this baby may (and probably will) be totally different! I can't wait to find out what he will be like! I just hope this baby is a good sleeper like Jake!!

We are excited to be able to finalize Baby Boy Balice #2's name (although I really like calling him Baby Boy Balice #2, can you tell?!) and figure out his nursery! Now that we know for sure that he's a boy, we can get the ball rolling on preparing for his arrival. I'm more relaxed about it this time, since we already have baby boy clothes/bedding, a crib, changing table, etc. The big decision will be what room to put him in, and what color(s) to paint his room...

A few recent pics of Jake from my new iphone:

watching his show

playing the "guitar" at Kyra & Dylan's house

smiley guy

close up!

Jake's first Jamba Juice

saying cheese outside of Buca di Beppo

 Our first Baby Boy Balice is such a funny little guy. He is loving preschool, and asking to go there more often! He loves "special treats" and he was so excited to go with mommy to get a "special drink" this week. He was so cracked out on the Jamba Juice, it was hilarious. He also earned some special treats when he went pee pee on the potty before bath the other night! He was rewarded with jelly beans, and we were hoping this would start a potty trend, but so far, it has not. He turns 2 1/2 next month, and I'm not going to get serious about potty training until then. I'm hoping he decides to go on his own before that, but we'll see what happens. He is talking so much, and having full on conversations with us! It's crazy how big he's getting! He's also growing taller, and is fitting into 4T size shirts already! I'm sure there's so much more to say about Jakey Jake, but my pregnancy brain can't think of it right now. And it's getting late, so time to sign off for the night and get some sleep. More Jakey and baby updates to come...

18 weeks and counting...

I'm now 18 weeks pregnant and just 2 weeks away from being half-way done! Holy crap, how did that happen so fast!? I guess chasing after a rambunctious toddler makes the time fly by :) Next week is our BIG appointment where we find out the gender of Baby Balice #2...I'm actually enjoying my last week of not knowing! But at the same time, it will be nice to know for sure and start planning accordingly. If it is a boy, we won't need much in the way of clothing. Since our little man is well adjusted to his big boy bed, we will be using Jake's crib for #2 regardless of the baby's gender. We'll most likely use the same bedding if it's another boy. I have several friends who are also currently pregnant - they all have one boy already, and are all pregnant with boys again (one of them is having twin boys!) It seems to be really hard to break out of the same-gender-sibling cycle...most moms I know have either all girls or all boys. I am determined to break this cycle one day!

Jakey's latest preschool lunch: raisins, honey wheat pretzel rods, ham, cheese, baked peapod crunchies, and strawberries. I'm having so much fun making his bento box style lunches, and he seems to enjoy them as well! He's not really into sandwiches (he completely refuses PB&J, and will pull apart other varieties) so this makes the most sense for him. This way he gets a variety, and it's colorful and fun! I love the reusable silicone cupcake liners, and Jakey likes them too!

Speaking of preschool, Jake has been loving it! He only cried a couple times when I dropped him off - I think it was his second week - and according to his teacher, he stopped crying right after I left. Now he walks right in and starts playing right away, and I have to ask him for a hug and kiss goodbye! Guess he has adjusted! I knew he would. He loves playing with other kids and every time I pick him up, he is in a great mood! On Tuesday, while we were driving to school, he was chanting "it's preschool time!" We're so happy that he likes it and is having tons of fun and hopefully learning a thing or two as well! He talks about playing with his friends and even lists them by name :) We're planning to increase his schedule to 3 half days per week (instead of 2) over the summer when he's closer to age 3. This will give me 3 mornings alone with Baby Balice #2, and hopefully help all of us with the transition from one child to two! It was really hard to wrap our brains around having one baby (until he arrived), and now it is really hard for us to think about the logistics of having 2 kids...I think it is just a "figure it out as you go" kind of thing!

Jakey-isms

Jake has become quite the conversationalist, so before we start to forget the hilarity that comes out of his mouth, I thought I'd better start documenting some of his latest and greatest phrases:

"I need ALL DONE!" when he is finished with a meal.

He likes to sing "Moo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooves like Jagger!" with mommy :)

When Joe asked Jake if he got to sit in a police car at his class, Jake replied "It was amazing!"

"I don't see ______ ANYWHERE!" (The blank can be a toy or a person, even one of his buddies that is sitting right next to him!)

"PaPaGran" (one word) for my parents

"KyraDylan" (one word) for his twin friends Kyra & Dylan

"I want to play with mine train set."

"I need ABCDEFG!" when he wants to go on his favorite ABC web site

He says "I need muffins!" when he sees Jimmy, our favorite waiter when we go out to dinner with Gran once a week (they always bring muffins and soda bread to the table)

"I need olives (sounds like ah-yivs)" to the waitress when we go to a local Italian restaurant that we frequent

"I have an idea." What is your idea, Jake? He usually doesn't have an answer for that :)

When I told him we were out of his blueberry waffles and needed to go get more he said "go to Trader Joe's!"

"Take a bite" when he wants to feed you his food.

"Pa Pa/Gran/Dada/Mama a road" when he wants to drive his cars on one of us

"I can't wait!"

"I need oatmeal with raisins on it."

"It's raisin toast time!" Can you tell the kid likes raisins? :)

"I don't know!"

When I tell him we're going to preschool he says "go see mine friends."

"I don't see Sharky & Bones!" and "Where's Cubby?" when he's watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates

"Follow me!"

"It's CHOCOLATE!" when he sees anything that resembles chocolate

 "Chloe/Sophie (our cats) is being naughty!"

he likes to shout "ALVIN!" (from Alvin and the Chipmunks)

"It's bath time!"

"Big-uh Boy-uh Bed!"

"Na-no Keen" for Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie

"I Jakey Jake."

When I told him the other day that we were going to the mall he says to me "Go see Santa!"

"I fall down and go boom!" after falling on purpose

"Aw coconuts!" which he learned from Jake and the Neverland Pirates

"I need cake!" at random times

"I goin' crazy!" while he's running in a zig-zag pattern all around the house!

I'm sure there are many, many more that my pregnancy brain cannot think of right now. But, as you can tell, he's pretty entertaining!

Our little smarty pants now knows all of his letters and numbers and can sing his ABCs. He knows many colors and tons of shapes (he loves shapes!) including squares, circles, rectangles, triangles, ovals, diamonds, hearts, stars, crescents and hexagons! He loves to sing Jingle Bells, Ring Around the Rosie, ABCs, and the theme song from Jake and the Neverland Pirates!

He "kind of" knows about Baby Balice #2. The first day that we told him there was a baby in mommy's belly he said "uh oh!" and then later on that day when we asked him what was in mommy's belly he said "a frog." Now when we ask, he says "a baby." But when we ask him if he's going to be a big brother he replies "no." I showed him the new BOB stroller and he can now point out which side he will sit on and which side the baby will occupy. That's about the extent of his baby knowledge/acceptance so far. When we see other babies out and about he could care less, so we'll see what happens when this baby comes along :)

my attempt at taking my own baby bump pic at 16 weeks

16 and a half week baby bump (look how tall my first baby is now!)

I am now almost 17 weeks pregnant and have started to feel quite a bit of movement. No real kicks yet, but lots of "flutters" :) I have been really hungry lately and eating a ton. The nausea is all but completely gone! Yay! I occasionally gag when I'm brushing my teeth, but that's nothing compared to how I was feeling a month or so ago. Lately, my cravings have been for chocolate milk, raw carrots with ranch dressing, Little Caesars pizza and crazy bread, baked Doritos, regular coke (which I drink sparingly because of the sugar and caffeine - when I'm not pregnant I am a diet coke girl and can't stand regular soda!) and whole grain goldfish crackers. And I curse the person who decided to put Flamin' Hot Fritos in a Taco Bell burrito and play these commercials over and over during my pregnancy. Those darn things are delicious! And I have to have them once a week (sub beans for the meat, of course). Oh, and I can't get enough Chinese food! Especially fried rice. My non-preggo self has to really be in the mood for Chinese food and I can go 6 months without eating it. I don't remember craving it with Jake, but Baby Balice #2 wants it all.the.time. Maybe because it's the Chinese year of the Dragon? "Dragon Babies" are said to be blessed with luck and strength! This baby is going to come out with chopsticks in hand :)

Preschool!!!

saying "cheese" at breakfast before school!

Jake's first preschool "bento box" style lunch

Jakey's awesome lunch bag!

posing before we leave

smiley guy

holding his lunch bag

it's time to go!

riding in the car on the way to school

playing right away!

he's part of the class already!

Jake's cubby!

Jake started preschool last week and it went really well! He went on Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30am to 12pm. Joe worked from home on Tuesday so he could come with me to drop off Jake for the first time. Jake was really excited to go, and as soon as we got there he started playing with the toys. We stayed for a little while, and then hugged and kissed him goodbye, and then left. I was way more emotional than I thought I'd be (darn pregnancy hormones!) but made it through the day without him! Actually, by the time I went for a walk, showered and got ready for the day, and ate a quick lunch it was time to go pick him up! The mornings go way faster than I thought they would! When we picked him up at noon, he was all smiles and happy to see us. His teachers said he had a great day and the only thing he wasn't happy about was when they tried to change his diaper. I guess the combination of the new teachers and the changing table (he likes being changed on the floor) were too much for him. But they were able to change him on Thursday despite his protests, so that was good!

I wasn't sure how this week would go, since there were 5 non preschool days in between (from last Thursday to this Tuesday). I wasn't really surprised when he was extra clingy this Tuesday when I dropped him off. He did cry for the first time, which upset me, but by the time I got back home his teacher was calling to tell me that Jake was happily playing and had stopped crying right after I left. So that made me feel much better! Let's hope there are no tears tomorrow! He hugs his teacher every time before he leaves, and he talks about his favorite parts of school (usually snack time!), so I know he is having fun! He has a lot of buddies who are in his class (we already know half the class from playgroups) so that makes it nice. Familiar faces are great!

14 and a half weeks and feeling huge!

I'm 15 weeks pregnant today and feeling quite large already! They say you show faster with your second pregnancy and they are right!! But I'm feeling so much better than I did in the first trimester, and actually getting some energy back which is great! I'm keeping up with my morning walks, although now I'm down to 4 walks a week or so, so that helps me feel a little better about the large quantities of food I'm consuming! I'm hoping to keep up the walks throughout the pregnancy, so we'll see how that goes...

We bought our first baby purchase over the weekend - a double BOB stroller! Gotta love craigslist. I was even able to find the color I wanted (orange)! You know how much I love our single BOB, and I can't believe I will be pushing 2 kids around this summer in our duallie!! All we have to buy is the carseat adaptor, and we will be ready to go! I'm keeping the single so that I don't have to push around the double stroller when Jake is in preschool, so we will have a garage full of BOBs! :)

We are looking forward to our anatomy scan on February 10th where (as long as the baby is cooperating) they will be able to tell us the gender of Baby Balice #2! For those who know how much I want a girl, this will be a big appointment for us! TMI warning...we were actually trying for a girl this time (using the Shettles method: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shettles_Method ) but things don't always work out as planned, and the particular month we conceived I had a really wacky cycle and, long story short, the girly planning didn't work out quite right...so...it could go either way! Of course I selfishly want a girl (have you SEEN the adorable clothes they make for little girls?!) but it would be great for Jake to have a little brother. The most important thing is to have a healthy baby, but would I be disappointed if Baby Balice #2 is another boy? A little bit. I'm not gonna lie. But that just means we will have to have a third and make sure we "Shettles it up" correctly next time! :) As I'm writing this I am feeling some movement so maybe the baby is trying to tell me something? We'll see what he or she has to tell us next month!

Baby Balice #2!!!

Baby Balice #2 at 13 weeks, 6 days

12 week baby bump

13 week baby bump

The Balice Palace is going to have one more occupant - Jake is going to be a big brother!!! Our little firecracker is due on the 4th of July! I will be 14 weeks tomorrow, and I'm feeling much better. The first 3 months were full of nausea and exhaustion, but in the last couple of weeks I have started to feel less queasy and I have a little more energy. Our first 2 ultrasounds have shown a healthy baby developing right on track, and we will find out next month if Baby Balice #2 is Team Pink or Team Blue!

Christmas vacation!

our future football star!



Hanging with Kyra T. at Jackie's birthday dinner a few weeks ago!

I have been such a bad blogger lately. But Christmastime is the busiest time of the year, right? And Joe took this week off of work so we have been goofing off on our Christmas vacation! Here is what we have been up to...



 Our Christmas festivities started early...last Monday the Moms Club had a Christmas party for the kiddos complete with a visit from Santa! This photo shows Jake (kind of) hugging Santa :)

On Friday we went to Joe's work for a Christmas luncheon. Jake loved running up and down the hallways and climbing in and out of Joe's office chairs. He had a great time and acted like he owned the place (as per usual!) Friday night we took Jake to look at Christmas lights along with Gran, Pa Pa, and our friends Janice, Erik and Jake's buddies Kyra and Dylan. Jakey had so much fun looking at the lights, and surprised us by walking the entire time! Guess the view is better on foot than in the stroller?!

bundled up to check out the Christmas lights!

checking out lights with Pa Pa and Gran

my favorite house! :)

On Christmas Eve we took Jake to church in the afternoon, and we got there too late to get seats.  The problem is you have to get there half an hour early on holidays to get seats, and we can't expect Jake to sit there for that long, and then sit through the entire Mass as well. We had to stand off to the side and Jake lasted about 20 minutes before  we had to go. He was being pretty loud and while they were singing about Jesus, Jake was saying "Jedung!" which apparently is his word for Jesus! While they were singing another song, Jake piped up singing his ABCs. When shushing didn't work, and he got louder and starting trying to escape our clutches, we decided it was time to go :) After we got back from church, Uncle Mike came over and Jake had a good time playing with him and with his new Cookie Monster that eats cookies! Jake had already opened a few presents earlier in the day from neighbors (we have awesome neighbors!) so he was ready to get "more presents!" When I say he "opened" presents, this isn't exactly accurate. He doesn't like to actually open them or even help open them. He prefers to watch while we open them and then grab the gift once it has been opened! We all headed over to my parents house for Christmas Eve dinner and Jake got to open another present from my parents. After dinner, we went on a walk to look at Christmas lights. We saw a few nativity scenes and told Jake to look at Baby Jesus and again there were shouts of "Jedung!" Once we got home and put Jake to bed, Joe had a few hours of work ahead of him :) Too bad Santa doesn't put together the presents he brings! Joe did a great job though, and Jake's train table looked great for Christmas morning!

On Jedung's Birthday, Jake came downstairs and was a little overwhelmed! At first he said "I don't like it" which is his new phrase for "I don't want to do it"...but once we brought him over to the train table, he got over that and decided that Christmas morning was so much fun! He loved opening up his stocking and pulling out the presents (which he liked because they were unwrapped) and kept asking for "another one." He had such a great time playing with his new toys and then later on my parents and Nana came over and we had Christmas all over again! Jake got another stocking and many more presents from my parents, and of course, loved every second of it! In the days since Christmas he has asked many times for "more presents!" and we tell him he has to wait until his birthday in September :) Jake thoroughly enjoyed the Spumoni ice cream we gave him for dessert after Christmas dinner, and he also tried his first piece of homemade fudge - which he loved!

fun with Uncle Mike!

check me out!

family photo (we had to bribe Jake to sit still for this photo!)

goofing off with Pa Pa...

and Gran!

Joe's masterpiece

after Santa's arrival!




look at this!


Jake's new ATV from Uncle Tony!

man on the move!

Big Boy Bed!

Jake has become quite the big boy this week! On Monday, we switched him to his "big boy bed" which for now, is just a twin mattress on the floor. We were expecting the worst with this change, but he loved it! He loves his Cars sheets and pillows, and doesn't even try to climb out or open his bedroom door. He has been in a sleep sack since he was tiny, and we are keeping him in one (he is in the largest size right now!) to make the transition to a bed easier. He can still move around and walk in the sleep sack, but I think it helps him stay put on the bed. Once we get rid of the sleep sack, we will introduce Jake to sheets and blankets. One step at a time! :) We also had an appointment this week with the Fire Department to get Jake's carseat turned around. Now he is facing forward and loving it! I'm so glad we waited until he was 2 and almost to the weight limit for rear facing, but now it is so much fun for him to face forward and see the world! Big boy bed, and big boy carseat in one week! We can't believe our little baby boy has grown up so quickly...and is starting preschool next week! We visited the preschool last week and Jake had such a great time - his favorite parts were playing with a shapes puzzle, snack time (he loved drinking from the little dixie cups they provide) and recess! We can't wait to find out how he does when I am not there with him. I have a feeling he will be fine. It may be much harder on me than it is on him!

This week we have had a lot of fun while Daddy has been on vacation. We took Jake to the movies to see Chipwrecked, we had lunch at the airport and watched the planes take off and land, we played with his new ATV (a Christmas present from Uncle Tony!), we went to the park, etc.

Can't wait to report on how Jakey does next week at his first week of preschool. He will be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 12, and will be eating lunch there :) Stay tuned!