March - beginning of May

Well, I've been MIA for months… Just so much going on and no motivation to upload pictures. :) This goes back to March, since that was my last post. This will be a quick summary of what's been going on with my little family!

We took Jace to Disneyland mid-March. He had so much fun and did very well. He loved meeting Goofy, the Dumbo ride, and the Carousel! 

We did a "Going on a Bear Hunt" unit! Here are just a few of the activities we did. We did others not shown, but I don't feel like finding them in my pictures. Haha. This unit took a while too because of interruptions in our daily schedule. But he loved it. 

We did sensory play with the events in the book… He liked the shaved iced (snow) the best.

Here's is a our themed lunch. Long wavy grass - Veggie straws. River - cheese stick. Thick gooey mud - pudding (Which he didn't want to eat. What???) Forest - Spinach leaves with some ranch (didn't want to eat that either… not surprised with that one though). Snow Storm - popcorn. And the Cave - Strawberries with a bear sandwich inside.

We did an obstacle course of all the events. Here is the grass… He LOVED this. We set this up for a couple days because he would come ask me to go on a bear hunt. 

Here is Easter! (31 weeks).We went to church that morning, then brunch at the Pagels, and then to my family's house for dinner. It was a busy day.

 Cousins. Can't figure out how to rotate this picture. Oh well. :) 

 April 6th we went to Starbucks like we have every year since being married. It is such a fun tradition that we are glad we do each year! 

I think I'm 32 weeks here. Jenn let me borrow her dress for the "Sprinkle" she through me, which was so sweet. She is so creative and did such a great job with all the details like she always does with parties. I need to get the pictures of it from her. :)

 This picture pretty much sums up the last 3 weeks in our house… we've been knocked down hard with sickness. I came down with the flu 3 weeks ago, Jace got it 3 days later for a couple days. We were healthy for 2 days, and then Jace spiked a super high fever that led me to take him to the doctor (pic) that lasted 3 days, the day he dropped his fever I started getting sick with something like bronchitis and am still getting over that 12 days later… Jace and Matt caught it as well during that time. All of this started after a Listeria scare in our house (We had some frozen fruit bars from the company that recalled ALL of their products due to Listeria. In case you don't know how that effects pregnancy, it results in still-birth in 25% of women who get it while pregnant). Thankfully I hadn't eaten those bars in a few months, but my stomach flu matched the exact symptoms of Listeria so I was a mess. I told Matt how we take our health for granted and how we take Jace's for granted and how truly dependent we are on God for protection and health. And then Jace got the flu the next day and then we've all be so sick since. Just a great reminder before all of that hit that God is in control of all things and we have so much to be thankful for. 

 Picture comparison. 35 weeks with Jace on the left, and 35 weeks with this baby boy on the right! 

That still leaves me a couple weeks behind with updates, but I don't have those pictures on my computer yet. Hahaha. But we haven't done much with being sick. :) 

Pregnancy update: I am busy nesting and trying to get everything ready for baby boy as I am 37 weeks.  I have no reason to think he will come early, but I just want to be prepared as much as I can. I tested positive for Group B Strep so will have to have the IV of medication for 4 hours before laboring. I was really praying I wouldn't have it but that was God's plan for me, so that's okay! I am still praying for a VBAC and praying I will go into labor naturally before June 1st at 9:00 AM when my C-section is scheduled for. I will likely cancel the C-section though if I make it to that date. My uterus has measured a week behind the last 4 weeks, so we assume baby boy has dropped already. My OB won't check for dilation/effacement until my appointment next week for my 38 week appointment. I'm praying we are at least progressing in the right direction. :) I've had a few painful Braxton Hicks contractions, but with how sick I've been, my OB and I aren't surprised. Other than that, not much new. :) 

My next post could be after baby… unless I feel highly motivated to update again. I just don't spend much time on the computer these days. :) 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

So this unit took us over a month… yep… a month. We started it and then mid-unit Jace decided he wanted to potty train, so away went Tot-School for a good 3-4 weeks, as we had more important things to focus on. ;) Jace already knows all of his upper case letters and points out letters he sees all of the time. So I decided to focus on lower-case letters as much as possible for this unit.

We started off doing this puzzle. I asked him about all of the lower-case letters and he knew all but 5-6 of them. So many look like the upper-case letter, so I figure that's why he knew many already.

I got Jace lower-case magnetic letters for Christmas and then put them away to save for this unit. Mom of the year, right? hahaha. We practiced recognizing the letters as we put them on the coconut tree.

Whenever we get to this page in the book, Jace sings the ABC's. It's really cute. I point to the lower case letters as we sing. 

We matched sticker baby letters to baby letters on a toilet paper roll (trunk of a coconut tree). We made it to "j" and he was done. Oh well. :)

We watched Chicka Chicka Boom Boom on YouTube. He LOVED this.

I hid his lower case letters around the room and he put them on the coconut tree and practiced telling me what each one was. We did this multiple times.

I decided I wanted to practice some pre-writing. None of this has anything to do with letters or coconut trees, but it's a skill I know he needs help with. OH BOY we have a long ways to go. Hahaha. He preferred to scribble. :)

We played with alphabet floor mats.

 Jace made a coconut tree and we practiced spelling his name.

He also made a letter coconut tree hat.

Organic alphabet cookies for a snack.

The last day I had him match lower case letters to upper case letters. He did so well! He needed help with the "b" because he get's "b" and "d" confused. But other than that he did well. He made it through most of the letters. He really enjoyed this activity. It lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. 

We attempted coconut bowling… 2nd throw and Jace broke the coconut. Sometimes activities just don't end up the way I think they will. ;) 

We made a coconut tree with a banana, dried apricots, and Alphabits. 

This was a fun unit. He still mixes up "b" and "d", and he will sometimes turn the "z" sideways and call it an "N", an "l" would be an "I" at times, and he would call a "q" an "a" or a "9" (he still loves his numbers and points those out whenever he sees them too). He would call a "g" a "9" too at times. Sometimes he would get those letters correct, but others times he would see a different letter or a number instead. Over all, he did better with his lower case letters than I thought he would! On to the next unit, which will likely be "Going on a Bear Hunt". It's currently his favorite book already, so he will be stoked to do activities with it in a couple weeks.

Jace is 2!

I can't believe I have a 2 year old! I couldn't have asked for a more animated kid who makes me laugh every day. He is talking so much now, and like Matt and I predicted, once he started talking, he hasn't stopped. His communication is getting so great, which has lessened the whining and has made discipline so much more effective. It's been a blessing. Jace weighs around 28 lbs (65%) and is 34 inches tall (31%). He is finally growing into his belly, but still has a tiny waste and small legs. We are up to 24 month/2T shirts (depending on brand) and still in 18 month pants. He LOVES singing and dancing, and if a song comes on, he will dance for anyone who will watch. He currently loves farm animals and sings "Old McDonald Had a Farm" most of the time he plays with his farm animals, which is every day. He got a farm play set for Christmas from his Grammy and Papi and he has grown to love it! I hear him sing his version..."On the farm, e i e i o, moo moo here, moo moo there, on the farm, e i e i o…" all day. He also got a cape for Christmas, which is now the first thing he wants to put on every morning. His first words will be "Tape on" or "Cake On" (his words for cape) when he gets up in the morning. He also got a stuffed animal Mickey (Icky), Mini (Mimi), Donald (Onald), Goofy (Dukey), and Pluto (Upo) from my parents for his birthday. He opened them early, and they have to go everywhere with us. Walks, the store, nap time, etc. I will hear him say "Icky's turn"… "Mimi's turn too"…. and he will be giving them turns doing whatever he is doing. (We've been working on sharing lately… it's a new concept as it never used to be an issue! Glad to see he at least is understanding the concept of turns!") He loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he plays along with whatever they ask him to do! ("Say Toodles!" and Jace yells "Toodles!!!!"). He is at such a fun age right now. He has a huge personality and loves to be center of attention and make people laugh. He is quite the character. :)

For Jace's Birthday, we went to Dutch Bros and he got a free smoothie.

 And we went to Firehouse Subs and got a free sub (which Matt and I ate. Haha).

 He got a new hat from Mom and Dad because he loves wearing hats, and a toddler bedding set which we will be hopefully using in the next couple months.

 We took Jace to the Zoo, which he absolutely loved. I thought Jace would enjoy it, but I didn't know he would enjoy it as much as he did. He had to bring Goofy with him, and he would show Goofy the animals we were looking at.

Jace loved the Giraffes. He asked about them all day while we were there.

 He really enjoyed the petting zoo. He was scared at first, but then he wanted to brush every.single.goat.we.saw. He would go from one to the next to the next without stopping. It was really cute.

We came home from the zoo so Jace could nap. We then picked up free Joe's BBQ and brought it to Liberty Market where we used his discount too and ate dinner. We ordered an ice cream sandwich for a special birthday treat. 

This was such a fun family day for us. It was just the 3 of us all day, which I intentionally wanted it to be. It's not very often that we have a day filled with fun events that only includes me, Matt, and Jace. These were such sweet memories.

We also want to take Jace back to the zoo soon. He keeps talking about the Camels, tigers, and giraffes that he saw. When I ask him if he fed the giraffes, he says, "yah… " and then makes a big chomping noise like he is eating. So before it gets too hot, we will try to go one more time! :) 

Good Night Gorilla

The first Tot School unit of the year was Good Night Gorilla, which we did the week of Jace's Birthday. I pretty much just took all my ideas from Kristin's blog, because they were so fun! Jace absolutely LOVES this book. He has read it every day for the past 2 weeks and I don't see an end in sight. Now that he is talking up a storm, HE reads it to Matt and I. He makes up his own story, but it is the cutest thing to listen to. We did a couple days of tot-school at night with Matt because we were busy during the day. It was fun to watch Matt join in on the fun!

 Jace practiced matching objects with their shadows. 

He also matched the colored key to the same colored cage to unlock the animals.

Reading the book with dad.

Practicing unlocking the lock with a key. He struggled with this the first day, but he would ask for "Jace's Key" during the week and he eventually got it by the end of the week.

We watched the animated version of the book on you-tube. He asked for "Ew Ew Ah Ah" (that's what he would call the Gorilla, even though he can say Gorilla) all week. We watched this many times.

We colored a Coloring sheet of the zoo keeper and monkey. 

Here is our edible zoo. Green jello, cheerios, shredded coconut, mini chocolate chips in smashed Annie's chocolate cookies. All things we had in the pantry minus the jello. :) 

We ended the week at the zoo (his birthday!). He LOVED the zoo. I'll write more about it in another post. 

This was such a fun unit! Next week we will be starting Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!