Keeping busy

Daddy is gone for FOUR very long days, so Jayden and I have been trying to keep ourselves busy


Playing with sidewalk chalk


Playing in the backyard

Bathtime Medley

Singing and jammin' with Daddy

Jayden LOVES music--loves to sing, dance, and play his guitar and drums. I love that he is so musical because I am completely 100% tone deaf. Jeremy and Jayden sing and play the guitar and drums every night and recently Jayden started to sing the words to the songs all on his own. He now knows the words to: ABC's, Mary had a little lamb, twinkle twinkle, the wheels on the bus, Frère Jacques, Bingo, and Old McDonald. It's so crazy to hear him start singing one of these songs. He also can hum these songs, and when Jeremy starts to whistle the song, he immediately know which song Jer is whistling and starts to either hum or sing the song.

In addition to knowing the words to all these songs, Jayden now can "read" almost all of his favorite books. His favorites are Goodnight Moon, In the Night Kitchen, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. He has an incredible memory and will memorize most of a book after having heard it only a few times (again, NOT from his mommy).

J's vocabulary is exploding and he's almost saying complete sentences (he just puts things in the wrong order). It's insane how quickly things are happening. Where did my little baby go?!

Rain, rain, go away...

It's been raining pretty much non-stop for 5 days straight, which is madness for San Diego. There's been crazy flooding, lots of accidents, and, of course, our roof leaked (just add that to the list of fun home repairs we have to do...gotta love being a homeowner!). Jayden didn't have a great week at school and has been super clingy all week long...I think he's finally realizing that I can leave him and he's not too happy about that. Not even grandma and grandpa can make him happy these days. Hopefully this "fun" phase is rather short because I am going a little insane listening to Jayden whining "MOMMMMMMYYYYYY" whenever I am more than 1 foot away from him.

We didn't do really do anything exciting this week- art projects, playdough, and lots of indoor soccer in our empty living room (J's new favorite thing to do). Jayden runs around that room kicking, throwing, catching, rolling, jumping, sliding, diving, galloping...it's so fun to watch him in motion- he's so incredibly happy when he's on the move! I cannot wait to see what sports he's going to do when he gets older!


Jeremy and Brad up on the roof putting a tarp over our leak...only lasted to day 2


Double rainbows


Playing in the puddles


What's better than Starbucks hot cocoa on a cold, rainy day!


Playing in the water at Mission Bay...finally a day without rain, so we had to had to head to the beach


Checking out the ATV


Biking at mission bay (Jayden now is able to put his feet up and balance for 20-30 seconds, it's crazy!)

Jayden is officially in preschool

Well, we just found out today that our little man is officially in preschool. They give each kid a 2 week trial period to see if they're ready, and the teacher had some concerns in the beginning, but as of today, he's doing much better and they are happy with the progress he's making, so we're in!!!! We are so excited for Jayden as we couldn't have found a more perfect school for him. It's a very small preschool (which we love) and all the teachers already know him and are so warm and friendly to both him and to us. It is such a happy/nurturing/welcoming environment and we are beyond thrilled that this is where our little man will be growing and learning over the next couple of years. He has already changed so much in these past few weeks-- he's talking so much more (and now says 5-6 word sentences), plays independently, and just seems so much happier. Oh, and mommy is definitely happier too and, although I do miss him when he's gone, it's nice to be able to get work done, and have some "jayden-free" time. My favorite part of the school day, however, is when we pick him up and he runs to me saying "mamamamamama!!!" Man I love that kid!

Adventures before the rain

It's been raining non-stop for 2 days, and isn't supposed to let up until Friday. We knew the rain was coming, so we made sure we took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend and went on some outdoor adventures.

On Saturday we headed to our backyard and took a hike in "our" canyon for the 1st time. It was a lot of fun, except Jayden was exhausted so he whined for most of the hike and ended up passing out almost 2 hrs before his normal nap time. We hope to do this more often, except I was a little freaked out by all the coyote tracks we saw.


Checking out our house from the bottom of the canyon


There were coyote tracks everywhere


Hiking our canyon

On Sunday we took Julie and Jayden to Torrey Pines. We were planning on taking the kids on another hike, but the parking lot was full and it was packed, so we just took the kids to the beach. It was the 1st time any of us had been there and we had a blast. The entire beach is covered with these amazing smooth rocks and the kids loved throwing them and building stuff with them.


Drumming


Dancing on Daddy's feet


Jayden driving with his rock "car" in the sand...this kid will make anything into a car


J & J hard at work making a rock choo choo train


Running


King of the mountain


Silly kids crawling in the sand



Running through the Daddy tunnel


Having a snack on the way home from the beach...I can't believe how old he looks here!

Monday was one of the coolest days we've had in a LONG time. We drove to Laguna (in the rain) and met up with Merrel, Jeremy's "big brother" from when he was a little boy. We had hung out with Merrel's son Jordan a few times, but this was the 1st time Jeremy had seen Merrel since Jer was a kid. It was so moving to finally meet this man after hearing so much about him, and I loved just sitting back and watching the two of them interacting...what a special gift to be able to reconnect with someone that was such an important part of jer's childhood (thank you facebook!!!!). Jayden had a great time playing with Jordan's 2 kids and was not a happy camper when it was time to go. He kept saying "no home, more play Hasha toys" over and over again. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures =(

The rain is supposed to stop on Friday, so hopefully we'll be able to get out and go on more adventures this weekend!

Big week for the J man

Jayden started preschool this week! I cannot believe my little boy is growing up so quickly. I took him on Wednesday, and we were asked to leave after about 20 minutes (Jayden had about 6 breakdowns in the short time we were there), so the next day Jeremy took him and he was WAY better. Jer stayed with him for 15 minutes, then left and hung out around school for a while-- they told him to come get Jayden at 10, and when he came back the teacher said he was doing great and to let him stay longer. Jer came home and we both sat by the phone anxiously waiting for the school to call...but he did great, and ended up staying the entire time. The teacher said he had a few breakdowns during the transitions, but overall, she was happy with his progress, and we're going to keep trying this week...hopefully he won't regress and he'll be ready for school.

I knew this was a hard week for Jayden, so I made sure to do lots of fun things with him this week. It's been insanely beautiful out (like shorts and t-shirt weather every day...and it's January), so we've been hanging out outside, going to Balboa Park and the beach, walking around the lake, going on hikes, and spending lots of time in our backyard.


Balboa Park



On the train at Balboa Park


Off-roading



Throwing rocks into Lake Murray


Playing at the secret beach (it was 82 out and he refused to take off his sweatshirt)






Playing with Daddy at the secret beach




Mexican food...yummy!!!


Being silly wearing Daddy's Yankees hat


Climbing up to the lookout point at Mission Trails


Hiking with Daddy


Lunch break


Daddy's little man


Throwing rocks


Daddy helping J cross the river



Saying hi to Daddy




Checking out the old dam

New Years Eve 2009

We had the best New Years Eve we've ever had, and the sad/funny thing is we were both in bed by 9:30pm!!! We met up with Brad, Helle & Julie and took the train to Old Town. We decided to make it a New Years Day celebration instead, since we can't go out late with the kids. We left around 10:30, since our original plan was to drink margaritas and hang out before nap time, but we ended up staying there the whole day since we were all having such a great time (and the kids were awesome!). We had several pitchers of margaritas and I've probably only been that drunk a handful of times (since I don't usually drink). We had a blast- laughed a lot, ate a lot, drank a lot, and just played with the kids and had fun celebrating the new year.


On the train headed to Old Town


Exploring Old Town


Checking out the cannon


Playing with playdough (we each brought a full bag of stuff to entertain the kids)


Helle, Brad & Julie


Jayden enjoying some of Helle's Danish candy




Help from daddies + Margaritas = Happy Mamas


More candy please...Jayden is definitely my kid!


Drawing!


The 4 crazy parents...I think the kids actually liked us better when we were drunk!


Jayden and Julie doing the candy dance


Being silly on the stage with the daddies



Passed out on the train ride home