Day care was all that was needed!

Last weekend Alex started taking a lot of steps, but wasn't comfortable in all the rooms of the house. Then he went to day care on Monday and when he came home he was walking every where!!


He was walking all over the house, and there were so many things new to him that he didn't know where to go with his new found skill. He was literally walking in circles! He would start walking toward something and just as he approached whatever he was walking to, he would turn in a completely different directions!

Now he loves to chase Dudley and Olivia. It is quite entertaining, and there is never a dull moment at our house.

Trouble is Brewing

After watching Olivia for the last 4 months, Alex has finally joined the ranks of fellow walkers! He took a few steps on his own about a month ago but the steps were really hit and miss. He didn't do it daily and we were lucky if he took a handful in a week.

Last night he took a ton of steps and since then he has not stopped trying to walk! He is so excited to do it and he is so proud of himself every time he does it!



Now that he is taking steps, he wants to do it all the time! You can tell that he really doesn't want to crawl anywhere any more, but he can't stand up with out holding on to something. So when he is not near anything to help pull himself up, he gets up on his knees and tries to walk on his knees instead of crawling. It is so cute!

His walking is much different from when Olivia started walking. Olivia would only walk straight, Alex knows how to turn. Olivia didn't realize her knees could bend, and Alex bends his knees. I think he will be running in no time! We are in trouble!

Baby Steps

Alex has been working on his walking. A few weeks ago he took 8 steps at day care. Since then he has taken a few steps on his own, here and there. But he loves walking...whether it be with his grocery cart that we have for him at home, or while holding one of our hands around the house. When he walks with us, he literally only holds on to one of our fingers and I am not sure it really provides that much support, but it gives him the confidence!

Olivia's Favorite Things

It seems the thousands of toys we have aren't really used that much anymore. The kids are so much more interested in the other things we have around the house....here are some of Olivia's favorites.....


mommy's sunglasses....I think that make her feel like nobody can see her because she gets a lot more giggly and outgoing with them on!
potholders.......
Dudley's bed......(Dudley is not such a fan!)
Any box......after a trip from Costco, Olivia always has fun with the empty boxes!
Mommy's blackberry has been a hit.....although she can't have it anymore since she chucked it (with force) on the floor!

And phones....any kind of phone. (Alex especially loves the phone!)And then there is always the Oxo Good Grips kitchen utensils....those are a big hit, especially with two teething toddlers. The rubber handles must feel great on the gums!

Meal time at the Jarboes

Ever since the kids have been off baby food, meal time has been a very interesting time at our house. Sometimes they gobble their food right off of their plates/trays, sometimes they throw it on the floor, sometimes they just play with it, and sometimes it ends up all over them!

As time passes we seem to be getting a better idea of what the kids like, when they want to eat, etc. It has been especially helpful that Olivia can say "eat" using sign language so it is pretty easy to understand when she is hungry as she will walk over to her high chair and sign "eat"....and Alex just gets fed at the same time!

I am in charge of breakfast in the morning as Ben has already left for work. Breakfast always seems to be a success, although when I am running late and Alex is eating slow (which happens often), I sometimes find myself taking food away from him! It doesn't help that he loves his milk and once he gets his sippy, he instantly forgets there is food on his tray!

Ben is a saint for taking care of dinner as dinner is probably the worst meal all day. Veggies are always a big hit, especially with Olivia. We also found that we were feeding the kids too early so I think a lot of the problem was they just weren't hungry. But a lot of food ends up in places other than their mouth at dinner.

Alex for the most party stays pretty clean....Olivia is a whole other story! Olivia's latest thing is sucking on her sippy cup, but instead of closing her mouth and swallowing the milk she leaves her mouth open and let it drip down her bib.

But just when we are completely stressed about meal time......the following happens......


and makes you stop stressing about the kids eating and enjoy them.....well until the chaos begins again!

Thank you to all of our friends who have kids who we have solicited advice from regarding meal time! It has all been very helpful!

Alex & Olivia's first wedding

This past weekend Ben and I took the kids to Pennsylvania to a wedding. My friend Laura was getting married and since she invited the kids to the wedding we figured we would make the trip. I think we were a little nervous about going, but I honestly was looking forward to the 4 hours in the car of peace and quiet with kids sleeping and no dishes to wash, high chairs to clean, or food to make for the next day. Perhaps Ben felt differently since he was driving!

The wedding was Saturday afternoon so we decided to drive down on Friday evening at the kids bedtime so that they would sleep in the car. The plan worked perfectly as they fell asleep within 20 minutes of being in the car and slept the whole way. We arrived at the hotel around 11 p.m., got into our room, set up the pack and plays and went to sleep. Actually it wasn't that easy as the kids were a little confused as to where they were so it took them a few minutes to fall asleep. Alex cried himself to sleep, which normally doesn't bother me, but being in the same room with him and knowing there were people in the rooms next to us I was a little concerned. Thankfully it didn't last very long.

Luckily, for us the kids slept in until 8:30 on Saturday morning. It was a little strange to all be in the same room. This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning:

Saturday was pretty crazy between trying to get the kids naps, getting the kids fed, and getting to the wedding on time. Here are some pictures from during the day....not the greatest pictures but it is hard to get them to stand/sit still since they like to move so much. Olivia has been a big fan of hats lately!

Here's Olivia all ready for the wedding and you can barely see Alex in the back dressed up too - - he was banging on the bathroom door since Ben was in there! (Thanks McClains for letting us borrow Lori's dress!)

We arrived to the wedding just in time, and the kids were great during the ceremony as they gobbled up goldfish and cherrios!

We only stayed through dinner as the kids were getting tired and all they wanted to do was walk/crawl around. Olivia walked around a lot and the minute anyone made eye contact or started to talk to her she froze! Alex wanted to crawl around everywhere but unfortunately it wasn't a good place for him to crawl! Here is them eating their dinner:
Boy, there was a lot of food on the floor around our table when the kids were done eating!!

I wish we would have taken more pictures but it was just too hard to think about taking pictures while keeping our eyes on two little ones!

The kids fell asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the reception and slept all the way back to Connecticut. It was a quick trip, but nice to get away!

Our budding muscian

Over the last couple of weeks we have noticed Olivia's head bobbing to music! Whenever something musical comes on she doesn't necessarily dance to it, but her head definintely starts to bob. It is like she turns into a little bobble-head. It is so cute!

We bought a little piano at Christmas time but had kept it in the basement since they weren't ready for it. When we noticed Olivia bobbing to music over her birthday weekend we thought it was time to pull it out.

Check her out in action!


And here is her "double-fisting" with the piano and the maraca! Looks like we need to get her in some music classes!