Backyard (Near) Flood

It is always fun to play in the rain during the monsoon season. There is always the one storm that just dumps too much water at one time, causing water issues. We got a good one at the the end of July, and it happened on a Sunday, so we played until we were soaked.

What is not in this picture is the flood by the chicken coop. We have to raise the coop on some pavers to keep it out of the water. The chickens, being sooo smart, were huddled under the tree getting wet, instead of in the coop staying dry. That is the difference between dogs and chickens, I think.

Walking

I had to post this video. Who wouldn't start walking at 11 months with this kind of encouragement from an older sister. Kiwi loves her baby brother.

J-dub Turns One

This is my belated Happy Birthday post for my baby. G-man seemed so much older when he reached a year. Jared doesn't seem nearly big enough to be one. But he started walking three weeks before his birthday and has four teeth. G-man was toothless at a year and still not walking despite the diligent attempts by Chad and I to make him do so. Crazy first time parents...

I had a lot of fun getting ready for this birthday. We had balloons...

Which he loved!

We had presents...

Which we forgot to open until the next day.
They consisted of food and a ball.
He's lucky he didn't just get something cleaned up from the shed.

We had a homemade cake...

I got lazy at the end, so the face isn't the best.
But isn't it cute?
I've been having a lot of fun with my new decorating tips.

Finally, we had a mess...

Jare eating the Bear...the beginning...
The end.

Here's a rundown of our little J-dub at 12 months.
He can walk
He says mama, dada, and ball
He flirts
He points
He climbs
He has four teeth
He throws tantrums
He hits

but, he still loves mama best

Summer Swimming

We had another great summer of swimming fun with our good friends the Lottis.

Gregory had a lot of fun, he learned the breast stroke and how to dive.



Kiwi made a ton of progress this summer. She started out still terrified of jumping in the pool (even to mom), progressed to jumping in with floaties on, to floaty free belly flops off the diving board. My experience with her swimming has reinforced what I know about her. She will not be pushed. The harder we try to convince, persuade, or force, the harder she will resist.
Seth didn't make much progress. In fact he backpedaled. He would jump off the side last year with floaties on. This year he wouldn't even put his face in the water. He started pushing off me to the steps, without floaties on. But I learned from my last one. He will learn eventually if we keep exposing him to it.
JW loves water, but the sun was a little bright. The first day he fell asleep because he was tired and had to keep his eyes closed. We remedied that with some super styling sunglasses. He was really brave in the water and I hope I can keep him from developing the extreme fear of water Kiwi and Seth have had to work through.