Splish Splash...

... it's Jack in his bath!

Minnie Is Beautiful!

Conversation with Jack Jack as we were finishing his bath and getting his jammies on for bed:

Jack (looking at himself in the mirror as he's wearing his fireman towel): Oh, I'm Jack Jack, I look like a fireman!
Me: You do look like a fireman! You are too cute!
Jack: Argh!!! Momma, the fireman... um... the pirate says 'Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!'
Me: Ha ha, that's right! The pirate says 'Arrrrgh!' And he says 'Aye, Matey!'
Jack: Aye, Mane-y! Aye, Mane-y... Minnie! Oh! Aye, Minnie!
Me: Minnie?! You are so silly!
Jack: Aye, Minnie! Aye, Daisy!
Me: Daisy?! Ha ha! Do you like Daisy and Minnie?
Jack: I like Daisy and Minnie. Minnie is beautiful! Daisy has a basket!
Me: Oh she does, does she? What about Mickey?
Jack: Mickey is so pretty. He has a black nose!
Me: He does have a black nose!
Jack: Daisy does not have a black nose. Minnie has a black nose, too! And Goofy has a black nose! Goofy likes pineapples. He says (singing) "Pineapple underpants, pineapple underpants!"
Me: Pineapple underpants?!?!
Jack: Yes, he sing "Pineapple underpants!" Goofy is so silly!
Me: You are so silly!

Beach Bums

About a month ago, Jack Jack and I picked up grandma and headed to the beach to meet up with Ang and Austin for a playdate! Austin would be 10 months in 4 days, and we hadn't yet taken his 9 month photos, so we quickly squeezed in some shots...

like this...


and this...


and this.

Then, we got down and dirty and played in the sand!

Jack had so much fun building and breaking sand castles, and Austin was very occupied by trying to grab the toys without getting sand on his hands. He wasn't very fond of the sand. Aunt Ang found a sand crab, and Jack thought it was so cool! He even got to hold it for a second- before it crawled off his hand and fell and buried himself back in the sand.

And then we played in the water. It was crazy! The tide was much stronger than usual, and it was all I could do to keep my hands on Jack Jack! He had absolutely no fear, but I was terrified that he was going to get washed away! I've lived here all my life and I don't think I've ever seen the tide that strong! I almost lost my footing many times, and Jack Jack is not the most coordinated child even on dry, flat, firm ground so I did not even want to think of what would happen if I let him go to see how he'd do on his own. So, Jack played in the water, and I practically broke my pregnant back trying to keep him safe while still allowing him to have fun!

Austin wasn't sure what to make of the water. I'm pretty sure he liked it even less than he liked the sand!

Jack Jack just might turn out to be a little beach bum!

The Most Versatile Accessory

They go with a silly face...


A serious face...


And a face of intense concentration.

Mommy's Intuition

This past Wednesday, since Luke cooperated and was born the night before, Dave and I dropped Jack Jack off at my mom's house and headed to Santa Monica for an ultrasound! I was anxious and excited (and only slightly peeved that I had to drive to Santa-frickin'-Monica!) to get to check on this kid and see him (or her, I suppose) again.

I loved the setup in that office, as the u/s tech had her monitor in front of her (angled to where we couldn't see it, as usual), and there was an additional flatscreen up on the wall in front of Dave and me, where we got to see exactly what the u/s tech was seeing! She took some measurements, took some photos of specific parts of the baby, and mentioned that everything was looking good as she continued to inspect our kid.

Okay, I have to interrupt my story for a second to talk about my Mommy's Intuition. Ever since I first got pregnant, I've been feeling like this kid is a boy. So much so, in fact, that I've been telling Jack Jack that he's going to have a baby brother! Honestly, I would be perfectly over-the-moon happy if I were having a girl, but I just feel like it's a boy. Like 'girl' isn't even an option! It could be partly due to the fact that I so adore being the mommy of a boy, or even that the idea of having a teenage girl scares the crap out of me, but I've been referring to this kid as "he" and "him" and "son", "boy", and "brother" this whole time, with no real proof other than just a gut feeling. But hey, I'm the mommy, right? So a gut feeling is really all I need to declare something as fact, right? Mommy's Intuition is a seriously real thing! Seriously! Just ask my friend Nicolle, who continued to believe that she was having a boy even after the ultrasound told her that it was a girl. She was so sure, that she didn't even bat an eye when her sweet baby girl Maddie came out with a penis and turned out to be a Dylan! Mommy's Intuition= the best diagnostic tool ever!

If this kid turns out to be a girl... well, we just won't think about that, okay?

Anyway, back to the ultrasound. The u/s tech showed us the head, then the arms, and then the belly. Then, as she was showing us the legs... I swear I know that I saw some 'boy parts' in there! I mean, I have stared at enough ultrasounds to know exactly what I'm looking at, even when the tech moves the wand really quickly, so I think I'm pretty confident in my ability to determine a hot dog from a hamburger. But just to be sure, I asked the u/s tech if she could perhaps determine a gender. She smiled and said "It's too early!" But then she paused. "Well, I could make a guess..."

I jumped all over that! "I'll take a guess!!!"

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say that it looks like a boy!"

Yessssssssss! Score another point for Mommy's intuition! Okay, okay, I know it's really early still, since I'm 13 weeks (or was at the time of the appointment... I'll be 14 weeks tomorrow), but it is still possible to see it... it's just really small and easy to miss at this point. So, I'm just going to continue on like I've been doing, and refer to this baby as a "he", a "him" and a "son", "boy" and "brother", and then I'll wait to make any major announcements until we find out for sure (which, if this little man cooperates, will be September 22!).

And now, pics of our littlest one!

Visiting Baby Luke

The day after Luke was born, the three of us hopped in the car and went to the hospital to visit Scott, Amy and Luke. We had perfect timing and made it down there exactly as visiting hours started! I was really excited to get to see the baby again, and even more excited to introduce him to Jack Jack. I knew that Jack would love him and be great with him, and I wanted to show Dave how good Jack was with babies, since we are expecting one of our own in February.

Luke was sleeping when we got there, and he slept the whole time!

Jack was so excited to be able to hold Luke! He kept saying adorable things, as usual, like "Oh, momma he so cute! He is a good boy, he not crying!" And "He not go in the crib, I hold him!"

He gave him kisses...


and hugs...


And just generally stared at him the whole time.


Of course, that's all I could do, too!

Whenever we asked Jack if we could hold Luke he'd hold him protectively and say "No no! He's not done yet!" We finally managed to pry him away by telling him that he needed to share and it was grandma's turn. Luckily Jack Jack likes to share! Of course, it probably helped that Amy let him play with her little breathing machine thingy!

But once he was done with that he was right back to sitting next to Luke!


Can you blame him?

Introducing Luke William!

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but a lot has been going on! If I ever get around to editing my photos then I'll share what we've been up to soon, but for now all those photos have taken a backseat to the biggest news that's happened... NJ is here!!!

Introducing my new nephew, Luke William!

He's freaking adorable, isn't he?! Luke made his grand appearance on August 18, 2009, at 9:00pm. He was 8 lbs and 21 inches long at birth, and he is just perfect! He looks so much like his mommy, my sister Amy!

Here she is waiting for him to arrive. She had just gotten the epidural and as soon as I walked in the door I could tell that she was feeling good as she immediately said "Bec, you should have gotten one of these!"

Scott was pretty excited and anxious for their little boy to arrive

Amy ended up going in for a c-section after a while, and luckily it wasn't an emergency so Scott could go in with her! We all waited for them in the waiting room, taking bets as to what time the baby would actually be born, and wondering what they would name him.

We waited...

and waited...


and waited some more.

Finally, my dad found a friend of his in the OR (pays to have a dad that works at the hospital!), and he popped his head in the room. Scott tossed him his cell phone, on which he had taken pics of the baby, and dad came back victorious and we all oohed and aahed over the pictures! Then Scott came out with him laptop, on which he had uploaded a bunch of pictures, and we went through all of those twice, while he went back to have some family time with Amy and their newest addition. Right before he headed back there he said, "Oh yeah, and his name is Luke William!"

As we were going through the pictures a third time, they wheeled Amy and Luke by the window for us to see! Amy looked great, and we were amazed at how quickly she seemed to be bouncing back from her major surgery!

Luke definitely looks so much like his mommy! He has her eyes and lips, and Scott's hairline. The jury is still out as to which parent contributed his nose. He has a cute little flip nose, which Amy had when she was a baby, but looks more like Scott's nose now.

After they got settled in their post-partum room, we all got to go back to see them and hold the baby for a few minutes. Then we let them get their rest, with promises to return during visiting hours the next day!

Jellyfish, Turtles and Sharks! Oh my!

Last week, Jack and I met up with a bunch of our friends at the Long Beach Aquarium! Dave and I had taken Jack there a year ago, and it was so fun, so we were thrilled that we had the opportunity to go again-and thanks to Deanne, for free! Jack and I picked up Ang and Austin, and after a quick stop we hopped on the freeway and made it to the Aquarium!

The boys were very excited! They love sitting next to each other in the backseat!

Waiting for us there were Samantha and her girls, Abby and Hannah, and on their way were Nicole with Sofie and Micah, and Rachel with Penelope. I decided that Jack was old enough that I didn't need to bring the stroller, and I was so happy with my decision! He did such a good job! He'd hold my hand as we walked towards an exhibit, and then I'd let him go up to the front and look at the fishies (or whatever was in that particular exhibit).

Note the Giant Sea Bass swimming beneath Jack's notice

Then when he decided that he was done he'd turn around and look for me, I'd wave, and he'd come back and hold my hand as we walked to the next exhibit. Not one single meltdown about wanting to go one way when momma wanted to go another! He was such a good boy and listened so well, that I didn't even once regret my decision not to take the stroller!

I did get a little nervous how he would react when I said it was time to leave the little splash park that was in the outdoor portion of the Aquarium. Jack is a little water bug, and he LOVES water that he can play and splash around in. I think my salvation there was that he was playing there a little while before the other little kids came and started getting him wet, so he didn't realize that it was a splashground at first!

He was playing with the shark, and all the sudden noticed that something was splashing his feet!


Then he realized the source of the splashing


And, as usual, tried to catch the stream of water in his mouth!

Or perhaps the reason he didn't mind when I told him it was time to leave the splashground, was because of what he got to do next!

We also had a lot of fun in the Obnoxious Bird exhibit (aka, the Lorakeets). Those birds are so loud, and poopie! They're pretty, though, and the kids enjoyed it. They were expecially thrilled when Ang held a bird out for them to pet! Jack was so excited that he got to touch the bird!

Then, as we waited for our friends to wash their hands after seeing the birds, Jack and I checked out the precipitation exhibit, as he cannot resist anything that has falling/spraying/sprinkling/standing water! Have I mentioned he loves water?

After that, we headed back inside, because Jack kept asking to see a yellow fish. We tried to cut short our time in the Ocean Of The Pacific exhibit, since the whirling swirling wave-y water in that exhibit was so not helpful in combating my first trimester nausea, and headed to the tropical fish exhibit, where we saw a ton of yellow, purple, blue, orange and green fish. Jack was thrilled to see a yellow fish, finally, and I even managed to get a picture of Jack actually posing for a picture for a change!!!

And then, of course, he turned his back to the camera immediately. I get a lot of pictures of the back of his head.

Okay, last ones, just because it cracked me up in the moment...

This is Jack...


Trying to figure out how in the heck mommy sees a turtle in this picture...

He kept saying "Where is the turtle? I don't see it? There is not a turtle! I think it's not a turtle. What do you see, momma?" I don't know if it was the massive size of the turtle that made it hard for him to 'see' it, or if it was because the turtle was hiding in a hole, but I was cracking up at his confusion. Aren't you? No? Just me then. Okay...