We are so excited to have my mom and step dad visiting us for the next week! On our first full day we went to the Lagoons in Ko Olina. My step dad is very excited to snorkel and the area was a great place to start. We are heading to a beautiful snorkeling location on Friday.
Below are pictures of Pete's first time in the ocean. Jayden did not want to be put down :)
Grandpa & Jayden in the waves...
That is my mom walking in the distance...
Building a sand castle
Pictures from our walk to the sea turtle beach
A beautiful wedding chapel.
Sea Turtles!
Picture before dinner
Dinner at the beach..we were trying to see the sunset but it was a cloudy. We will try again next week.
Jayden's Birthday has stretched much longer than anyone else in the family but no one is complaining. This last week, we received a large box from Aunt Sarah &Uncle Casey and Grandma & Grandpa Royer.....
Jayden got the Leap Frog Tag Pen from Sarah & Casey. He also got a Nemo book to go with it. He loves it and asks for it almost every morning when he wakes up.
Jayden got a leap frog letter toy from Grandma & Grandpa Royer. He also got a book and a Packer pumpkin. As you can see in the first video that he did not want to let the letter toy go....
Thank you so much for the wonderful presents! Jayden is thrilled.
We had fun on Saturday night, we went to the Cool Kailua Nights Block Party in the town of Kailua. It was so much fun. We met the Brenda, Ryan and Conrad at the festival. It was fun to see local artist booths and eat some yummy local food. Jayden also had a great time jumping in the bounce house. The guys taking the tickets cleared out the big kids so Jayden and another little girl could jump for a couple mins. I thought that was really nice. Then Jayden rode the swing. Below are some pictures.
When the swing ride was done he said "more, more...more"
Monday we had fun with letters...a lot. He just loves them. We also opened the one remaining set of blocks from Grandma & Grandpa Teska....the Zoo ones. He loves all of the animals. Jayden made animal noises all morning.
Below is video of Jayden with his letter and the sounds they make. He amazes me every day.
As Jayden continues to be potty-trained, he has learned to take off his own diaper. Scary sometimes because I am not sure when it will happen. Yesterday morning he was just in a t-shirt & diaper and all of sudden I see a naked little butt running down the hall. My fear of course is that he went to the bathroom somewhere but he didn't. That was just his way of telling me he had to go.....I am so proud of him!
At lunch time, Jayden was just sitting eating his chicken nuggets....he hooked his arm around mine, leaned over, looked up and said "hug". I leaned in for a hug and then he just continued to hold my hand as he ate. Love him, love him, love him.
At our playdate in the afternoon, Jayden was the only boy....he didn't even notice...he played so well with all of the pink toys :) Below is the best picture I got of him playing with the cute handbag...it had lipstick inside...sorry Jayden but I have to share. Thanks ladies for a fun afternoon.
Last night we were able to spend some time with our neighbor Sophia. They play really well together. Jayden was sad when two boys had to leave and take back their Thomas the Train Toys they had been sharing with him. So we ended up bringing two of his cars to the park. A white one and a red one that he shared with Sophia...He now refers to Sophia as Red...because she was playing with the red car....It was very sweet.
We are off to the North Shore for a nice drive. We missed the huge waves this past week but it will still be a beautiful drive. Then we are heading over to Kailua for a block party in the town.
Enjoy your weekend!
Has any other stay at home mom noticed that you really don't have a "Friday", the day when you get really excited for the weekend? I notice it is Friday, if I remember the day of the week. I was trying to get Joe excited for his "Friday" last night and he said "it is your Friday too" ....I responded with "not really, I don't get a Friday anymore". Which is very true. I am not complaining, I don't have a Monday either. That is probably the best part. I hated Monday, actually the prep on Sunday for my Monday meeting.....ahhh....no more meetings.
I still do have weekends but they actually seem more crazy than the weekdays do. We change up the routine a little bit. We have a big breakfast (even though Jayden gets pancakes almost everyday :) we skype with Family, we try to accomplish some things around the house and then we always try to do something new if we can...if not, we at least go outside. As I write it, it sounds pretty much like every other day, so maybe I don't have weekends :)
I wouldn't change my new schedule and my new boss but I just thought it was interesting. You don't really think about it as a working mom, or at least I didn't.
We decided this past weekend to watch a movie about a pig that could talk called "Gordy". Not the greatest movie but Jayden loved it. I found it on Netflix. Well, we learned very quickly that Jayden now understands sadness in a movie. He always seemed to get excited when the tempo of the music picked up but this was different. The little boy falls into the pool and can't swim...he was screaming for help and the pig came to the rescue (off course). As he was flapping his arms in the water...Jayden began to cry uncontrollably with tears falling down his face. I thought at first he pinched something or hurt something. He began to say "Boy, Boy, Boy" Joe and I just looked at each other and I hugged Jayden and began to tell him the little boy was going to be okay....He talked about the boy and the Pig for the rest of the day.
As the week goes on, I have continued to notice it. Just now....Nemo was taken on the boat and Jayden began to say..."No boat, No boat" with panic in his voice . He also watched the Lion King yesterday and when Simba's dad dies, Jayden stood up and kept saying "Bird, Bird, Bird" with concern....because the bird tries to help.
Yesterday was a great day with Jayden. We decided last week that would we start trying to potty train Jayden. We didn't push it too much but he was really excited about it....or maybe the M&Ms he got for going. Yesterday was a big day....I only changed two diapers...and that is only because they had poop in them (sorry if this is an over share) He stayed dry for the rest of the day and used the potty. We clap a lot, give high fives and make each time a celebration. I am so proud of him!
Also something cute that I am writing here to remember. When Jayden goes, he gets 4 M&Ms. Why four? Well Jayden is very picky and has to have something in each hand. We tried two and he grabbed with one hand and needed something for the other, 3 won't work because they would not be even in each hand, so we landed on 4 and he loves it. That is my Jayden!
We also had a lot of fun just staying around the house....no nap yesterday though. Jayden wanted to build words. He now knows the sounds that each letter makes and we are going to try building words. Who knows how far we will get but we will keep trying.
We also play a lot with our numbers. Below is a video of Jayden playing with his number puzzle.
Today we headed downtown to try to get a Hawaii ID but the wait was just too long and it was way too hot out side. We will try another day. I am trying to avoid taking the written drivers license test, so I just want an ID,
We had a lot of fun the past two weeks. I tried not to plan too much, so we just could get back into some type of napping routine. Jayden had been sleeping in the car a lot as we traveled to events or appts but was starting to not want to sleep in his own bed. No worries, we are back to our somewhat of a routine and Jayden is back in his bed.
Jayden had his 2 year appt. No shots (Yay!) but he was not happy to be there anyway. His weight is now in the 80th percentile and his height is off the charts (not sure where that came from).
We had a visit from Conrad last week and the boys played on the playground and then they played with JJ's toys in the house. It is always fun to see Brenda and Conrad. On Friday we walked over to Kai's house to play on the playground across the street. The boys had so much fun...Jayden took a great nap that day!
Saturday morning was a lot of fun. We went to the daily fish feed at one of the Lagoons in Ko Olina. Jayden had so much fun feeding the fish. He smiled and laughed the whole time. Then we walked to a secret beach (that everyone knows about) which is known for sea turtles. We climbed on the rocks but did not have the snorkel gear which was needed to see the turtles but we did see a lot of crabs.
A little video from the "secret beach"
Jayden also got some more birthday cards last week. Thank you Becky & Tim, Steve, Sarah & Casey. Below are some pictures of Jayden reading them. He loves cards!
Also a little video for Aunt Becky and Uncle Tim
Last Sunday we were very lucky spend the day with a special 1 year old Laela. We went to her birthday party and Jayden had a blast and was so good, even without his nap. He very much enjoyed the cupcakes. They sang happy birthday to him as well, very sweet.
Below is a picture of Jayden enjoying his 2nd cupcake right when we got home.
Happy 1st Birthday Laela!
Thanks Brianne, Scott and Laela for including us in your celebration!
Can't wait for Thanksgiving!
Jayden and I have been cooking and baking a lot lately. Potato soup, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (awesome), zucchini bread and this week it is mustard maple glazed chicken and a yummy mac & cheese with squash (thanks Rachael Ray).
Jayden is focused on learning his letter sounds and numbers right now. Soon I hope to work on building words...but I think it might be a little while. He is just a sponge, so I a try to make it fun each day.
We are very excited because Grandma and Grandpa Geniesse (My mom & Step Dad) are coming at the end of the month and staying until after Halloween. We met one of our neighbors and she said Halloween is a lot of fun in neighborhood. We are excited to meet more people.
We miss everyone! Some times I get really homesick but I know when I look back at this experience it will seem so short. So I am trying to enjoy every min. We have almost been here for 2 months...crazy!
