"Baby Blue Eyes", as Grandma Nicholetts has dubbed him, is growing so fast. He has 6 teeth now, once again popping new ones during a trip to the lake. Unfortunately he also developed the stomach flu during our trip but he's on the mend now after passing it along to his brother and then his Dad.

Our little Conor. He's still cruising the furniture, keeps himself busy exploring, and has begun to "bug" his big brother by wanting to play with whatever he's playing with. This is only the beginning of many years of "Mom, he's bugging me!" being yelled from wherever they play. 

On one very windy morning at the lake last weekend, Jesson flew a kite for the first time. He was a little upset at first because he thought his kite was floating away like a helium balloon, but once I explained and let him fly it, he liked the idea. Even when it hit the ground, he held on and flew it himself once I threw it back up.  

Jesson's First Fishing Adventure! Last weekend Daddy and Jesson picked out Jesson's first fishing rod in preparation for May long weekend. At Grandma & Grandpa's cabin he tried it out for the first time and had a blast. During one outing Jesson caught a fish (with help, of course) and Daddy got skunked. Jesson felt pretty proud of himself. He's got a little practicing to do when it comes to casting and reeling but he enjoys trolling. He's shaping up to be an excellent fishing buddy for Daddy for years to come. 

He's a BIG BOY now!! Jesson has graduated to big boy gotch almost full time now, only wearing pull-ups for naps and at night. He's doing really well with the potty, we're so proud of him. He has started to realize that Conor likes to play with him. Although he's still quite rough and we have to remind him every 10 minutes not to jump on his brother, they are getting along quite well lately. Jesson LOVES to be outside! We can hardly wait to get the house ready for sale and start the camping season in the trailer. Jesson's going to have a blast this year. We hope to fish a bit too. It should be an interesting summer.

There's No Stoppin' Him Now!! In the last day or so Conor has begun to pull up at the couch and at the coffee table and is now taking steps to "cruise" along both. He feels awfully confident too because he'll let go of the table and stand with his arms in the air, Evil Knievel's going to get a lump on his noggin soon. Nevertheless he's thrilled with his new talents, so much so that he doesn't want to be in his highchair for very long and would rather not nap either. There are places to go and things to do, Mom! Oh, and he also says "Mama" as well. I guess it's my turn, Jesson said "Dada" for months.

Conor's becoming his own little person so quickly. He takes in his brother's antics like a sponge so I'm sure we'll see them re-enacted some day soon. He's almost got crawling mastered although it looks more like a military belly crawl of some sort most of the time. He's a happy baby and loves to laugh and giggle at almost anything. He's starting to retaliate against Jesson whenever he gets the chance. He reaches out and pulls Jesson's hair whenever he gets close enough and has scratched him a couple of times now, but Jesson doesn't deserve that at all ;-)!! He's a joy to have around and we love to watch him develop into his own little person. 

Jesson, well...he's growing fast! We couldn't keep up with his mind before and now we can't keep him in pants that are long enough. He still runs everywhere he goes and keeps us in stitches with the things he comes out with. He loves to pretend and create and he's in there like a dirty shirt whenever there's a job to be done. He's beginning to discover that his little brother is good for more than just a punching bag. He regularly entertains Conor when he's fussy by dancing to get a laugh or singing a lullaby to make him stop crying. We're still working on the "gentle" interaction though. Now that it's finally Spring, Jesson wants to be outside as much as possible in the dirt where a boy belongs. He's so much fun to watch. We can hardly wait to start this year's camping season with him, it's going to be a blast! 

Easter at our house was lots of fun this year. The "Easter Bunny" left a trail of eggs for Jesson to follow to his new basket of treats. Most of the trail was still intact by morning except for the pieces Vera played with overnight. Jesson and Conor enjoyed the morning playing with their new toys and Jesson flew through most of the day on a permanent sugar high. It was lots of fun. 

Easter weekend was spent at the farm. We had a blast visiting with everyone, playing bocce ball, riding everything with a motor, and of course eating until we couldn't move! Thanks to Uncle Pat & Auntie DeAnn for driving all the way to visit again. Thanks to Gramma McNally for the excellent meals too. 

Our Family lost Dude to Diabetes back in January. He was a great cat and we miss him. 

Goodbye Grandpa, We Miss You.

The Clock of Life

The clock of life is wound but once,

And no man has the power

To tell just when the hands will stop,

At late or early hour.

Now is the only time we own

So live, love, toil with a will,

Place no faith in tomorrow

For the hands may then be still.

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Conor...Well, where do I start! In the past few weeks he has learned to shake his Excersaucer to pieces by jumping, he's started rolling from his back to his tummy regularly, he takes shaky little steps when you stand him up and hold his hands, he loves to scoot with his heels (gliding on his head) across the kitchen and back, he prefers solids to his bottle now, he's happy all the time and ready for anything. He's a very easy going baby which is nice, at least one out of two turned out that way. Physically he's a close to where Jesson was at this age, over 20 pounds now and 27+" tall. Conor has his brother to learn motor skills from so due to Jesson's all-day example setting he's moving around a little better than Jesson was at this age, he wants so badly to run around full-tilt with Jesson but he just can't yet. His version of a smile is his mouth gaping open and Scott has decided he looks like Binoo from Treehouse TV's Toopy & Binoo cartoon, I have to agree. He's a joy to have around and has a way of warming the hearts of all who meet him.

Mr. Bossy Pants! He still insists that he's the boss, although his Dad and I struggle to teach him otherwise. He's infinitely BUSY to the point of wearing us out daily, he's too smart for his own good (and ours), and he's growing too tall for most of his pants. He's a loving little creature when he wants to be, giving hugs and kisses to make people smile. He's a bossy social butterfly not afraid to boss around complete strangers, but this gets him in trouble of course, we're working on his manners in public. He's getting better with his brother and hasn't bit him lately which is a plus. He's a great kid most of the time and we're enjoying watching his little mind sponge then regurgitate things we never should have exposed him to. It's comical to hear the things he comes up with all on his own, like telling me I should calm down and take a deep breath after giving him heck for something he'd done, or punting the cat in the behind just to hear her quack (so tough not to crack a smile, but we try). He's turning into a little man instead of my oldest baby, it's scary how fast kids grow up!

On Monday night we stayed over at the Travel Lodge. Jesson had a specialist appointment Monday afternoon and Daddy and Grandpa wanted to attend the Princess Auto grand opening on Tuesday morning. Jesson had a blast on the water slides and loved the pool. Without an ounce of fear he would jump into the pool from the side and he's quite good at dog paddling. Conor had fun floating too. The pools were quite warm and he kicked a little but mostly relaxed because he couldn't move much in his lifejacket. Grandpa stayed accross the hall from us and we visited with him quite a bit too. Jesson wondered where Grandma was because he usually sees them together, but she had to work and couldn't come. We all had a lot of fun, it was a nice little get-away. 

Conor has finally started foods other than rice cereal. His first was squash and he's tried peas too. He LOVES food with flavour. I think if given the chance he'd eat the whole jar. Since switching from BF to formula a while ago he's much more content and is sleeping a bit better now too. He still hasn't made any strides to roll, but he sure wants to get up on his knees and crawl. Tummy time is quite amusing because the closest toy isn't challenging enough for him, he has to go for the ones that require a struggle. He had his 6 month checkup yesterday (a little early) and he's big for his age, big surprise, at 27" tall and 19lb 4.5oz. He's a happy little guy and a joy to have around. 

Jesson saw the ENT specialist on Monday who said that for now we don't have to put tubes in his ears to relieve the recurring infections as they seem to be getting better on their own. That was welcome news. Jesson seems to be getting better with his brother too. First thing in the morning, he wants to hold him and has on occasion given him a toy nicely. Conor is ever-so-slowly growing on him I guess. Jesson's latest obsession is stacking and arranging things as you can tell from a couple of the photos. He's a great helper, especially in the kitchen. He's also started pretending. Lately there have been tree frogs everywhere in the house that he "rescues". No he's not nuts, he saw it on "Go, Diego, Go" on Treehouse TV a while back and we've been saving frogs ever since. There's never a dull moment with Jesson around.  

Conor - JJ Wanna-Be

Conor is still growing at a blistering pace. He's wearing jammies that Jesson wore at 8 months and they are fitting about the same. The chiropractor thinks he's gained 3 pounds since last week's visit (not really). He enjoys tummy time and had started to try getting his knees under him to crawl, which I think is WAY too early, but who am I. He loves to stand and is getting really good at sitting up by himself. He enjoys watching Jesson and you can tell he wants to join in the fast-paced play but just can't yet. He concentrates really hard when he wants something and purses his lips to help with his concentration, kind of like Grampa Gary with his tongue out doing woodworking. When he's had it, he screeches at the top of his lungs so everyone knows it. He's a joy to have around because he's usually quite happy.

JJ - Bossy Boy!

Jesson has become the boss of the house...or so he thinks. No matter what we say, he answers us with "don't say that" or "no it's not" which generally lands him in time-out. I guess he's just "terribly two" but Daddy and I are getting frustrated with his attitude toward the world. Let's hope this is just a stage and he'll get over it soon. Aside from that he's busy as ever, loves to play trucks, can run faster than me, enjoys craft time, loves to be outside in the snow, and keeps us on our toes with his imagination. Potty training is still going very slowly but we'll get there eventually, we had out first #2 on the potty recently so that's a big step in the right direction.

Well...I don't know who had more fun with tonight's tub time, the boys or me? Jesson got a couple of shaving kits for Christmas and we tried one out tonight. Jesson took the job of shaving quite seriously at first, I couldn't even get him to crack a smile. Once he figured he was good and shaved, he smiled for the camera. When he was done, it was MY turn to play with the cream! I had fun too!