SNOW!!! ❄️❄️❄️

Today we woke up to a FOOT of snow!  No school today or tomorrow and basically the whole town is shut down. The most snow I can remember in at least 15 years I'd say!

Yep I almost lost my ruler!

I'm not salaried like contract teachers are so unfortunately these days off are unpaid. While a couple is okay, I'm hoping to be able to be back at work next week. In the meantime I am loving spending the day with my favorite little man! 

(Learning to cut!)

Well I'm off to sleep now since that certain little boy will no doubt be up around 7 as usual! 😜

Thinking of those without power/heat this evening and all those out working to restore power and emergency and state road workers out on the roads. I'm very thankful to be snuggled up in my warm bed with my hubby (and before the nights over I'm sure I'll have a little boy snuggled in too)

First (real) post of 2015 (I know it's about time!)

Well it's been a while since I last posted so I'm back with a little update of what's been going on....

First of all I did make a Christmas post and Valentine's post (but I past-dated it...is that a word? well it is now!) so I'm actually going to cover from Jackson's birthday (Nov 20) til now (Feb 16)

So Jackson is doing fabulous!  Since he turned two we moved him out of his crib (which let's be honest he never slept in it more than 4hrs a night-- most of the time was spent in our bed) and into a twin bed, or his "new bed" as he calls it.  He's been sleeping much better in it and seems to like it (although he does find his way into our bed by 4am or so)  Another "big" thing for him is that he is weaning!  Or rather, I'm weaning him.  In the past month he has gone from nursing 3-5 times in a 24 hour period to ONE time.  Bedtime.  Hurray!  So now that he is night weaned he does sleep better through the night and I'm sleeping better too.  He didn't do this on his own, I definitely encouraged it because I was ready.  Now we are down to just bedtime and are kind of chilling out here for a bit.  I'm going to wait and see what happens over the next month or so- and if he doesn't give it up on his own then I'll initiate it.  The whole thing has been definitely bittersweet.  My goal is to have him 100% done by the time he turns 2 and a half and I'm confident we will reach that goal.  In other Jackson news... we've looked into some 2-year-old preschool programs in the area and I think we have decided on one.  I know, 2 seems young to be sending him to school BUT first of all... it's more for social reasons that I'm sending him.  I can teach him shapes, colors, letters, and numbers at home (heck he already knows most of them!).  But I want to give him the opportunity to spend time with other kiddos his age and to be away from Mommy & Daddy and grandma.  Plus with his late Fall birthday he will be older than most of his peers in the same grade so I think it'll be good for him.

In sad news... on December 16 I lost my grandma.  She went into the hospital here right before Thanksgiving, we almost lost her then, but then she improved somewhat, they discovered she had a rare genetic blood disorder (that likely has contributed to her health issues her whole life), they transferred her to Ohio State Hospital to start this new treatment-- but unfortunately her organs had just been too badly damaged and she couldn't fight any longer.  While I know she is in heaven, I still miss her sooo much.  Then just a week ago my husband lost HIS grandmother.  Although she had health issues (has had multiple strokes, including bleeding strokes) this was a very sudden thing as she had a brain bleed into her brain stem.  We will really miss her a lot too.  Between my husband and I we only have one grandparent left.  My grandpa (husband of my grandma we just lost), and thankfully he is in excellent health- though I'm sure losing your wife of 59 and a half years will take its toll.  But I'm glad to still have "Papaw Tom" as Jackson calls him, in our life.  I told my husband I really hope we are DONE with funerals for a long while!

As far as anything else goes... we've still been trying for baby #2 (with no luck just yet).  It's been a while now, we haven't prevented pregnancy since April of 2014.  It took us a year with Jackson though so I'm figuring on it taking a while longer.  We will see, I'm not the most patient person!

Well Jackson just woke up from his nap so duty calls.  (We are home enjoying a snowday today!)  I'll write again soon :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I had to bribe him with Mickey Mouse and a sucker this year to get him to sit still and (somewhat) smile for a picture lol. And just for fun-- here's a collage of

Jackson's first, second, and third Valentine's. 

Sniff. Can't believe how fast he's growing up!  Hope you all had a fun day with the people you love! 

Merry Christmas from the Deans!

We hope you had a great holiday and that you have a wonderful New Year!

Here are some highlights of our Christmas festivities!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jackson!

I can't believe it-- my baby boy is 2 today!!!!

It seems like just yesterday I first held that 7lb 9oz baby boy in my arms-- and now he's two years old!

Here's the 411 on my sweet guy!

• Height/Weight-  32 inches; 26lbs
• Clothing Size- 18-24mo & 2T (depending on the brand) and he's in size 5 shoes
• Potty Training?  No not yet, we have introduced the potty but he's not overly interested so we aren't pushing it.  He's still in diapers (size 4)
• Milestones- He is meeting and exceeding ALL 2 year milestones.  He is walking, running, climbing stairs, using proper pencil/utensil grasp (though still switching between left and right hands), talking in sentences, getting into pretend play.  He knows several colors & shapes and all body parts.  He has 14 teeth, one on its way in, and then after that 5 more to go!
• Sleep- He takes one 2-3 hour nap a day (usually from noonish to 3ish).  He goes to bed between 8 and 9.  He still doesn't sleep completely through the night.  He usually wakes once sometime between 11 and 1 and comes into our bed to sleep the rest of the night.  He wakes up around 7.
• Favorite Toys- cars, trains, and tractors (pretty much anything with wheels!)  He also loves to play outside, and "pretend play" especially with the play kitchen at church.
• Favorite Foods- any fruit, green beans, hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, chicken nuggets, goldfish, pretzels, applesauce pouches
• Favorite TV show- Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse
• Yes, we are still breastfeeding- Never in a million years did I think I would still be nursing at this point but it's happening lol.  I only let him nurse before bed and then once at night when he wakes up and occasionally before naptime (that's only when he's with me at naptime so really only 2-3 times a week does that happen).  So most days it's only twice.  I will do a whole separate post on this later though- with how the weaning process is going and our plans...
• Comfort items- He still uses a pacifier, but now that he's two we are limiting its use to naptime and bedtime.  Or in case of an emergency (aka the rare complete total public toddler meltdown).  He also has his little monkey (Kiki as he calls it) that he loves and must have to sleep or when he's upset.  No restrictions on Mr. Monkey though, he can have him as much as he needs :)

I think that's about all on my little guy.  Overall his personality is just ornery and loving.  He is the BIGGEST cuddler and gives the most awesome hugs and kisses :)  He is sooo much fun at this age (though toddlerhood DOES have it's moments!)  He has just been the biggest blessing in our lives and we are so happy to have him as our little boy!

Here is Jackson's 2 year update video and also a "day in the life" from today!

Catching You Up-- Fall Recap

Well I've been majorly neglecting this blog lately!  (sorry!)

Fall is nearing its end (or at least the fall weather is!).  Jackson's birthday is in just a few days and Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away.  Crazy!  So I thought it would be a good time to do a quick recap of our Fall so far... sooo here comes the bulleted list!

• Jackson gets his first haircut!!! We took him at the very end of August sooo I guess it was still summertime but oh well. He was NOT a fan (cried the whole time)- but he stayed really still and looked adorable (and all grown up!) afterwards!
  
  
   

•   In September we visited not one but TWO pumpkin patches!  We went to one as a family (on a super cold day in September!), then Jackson came along again to another when I took my preschool kiddos there for a field trip.  He had sooo much fun at BOTH!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We had family pictures done in October.  We had them done with my parents in law, sister in law and her family.  I was really happy with them... here's the ones with our family in this slideshow/video:
                                             [[[[ I'm still editing this video... check back soon ]]]]

• Halloween was fun!  Jackson went Trick-or-Treating (for real) for the first time.  My neices came over to trick or treat too.  He had so much fun, though I'm fairly certain he would've been just as satisfied dressing up and going on a wagon ride.  The first half of the neighborhood he didn't want to get out of it. lol!  I was impressed though because he pretty much walked the entire second half of our neighborhood-- had to be still pushing his "waggy" aka wagon though!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
• And then on November 4, I got the biggest suprise of my LIFE!  My cousin Stefani (who lives in Europe) came to visit!  Her hubby Bas had to go on a business trip in Chicago and Stefani and the kids came along.  She totally surprised everyone though.  We were supposed to FaceTime that afternoon and she showed up on my doorstep!  It was too short, but we had a great visit.  Now just counting down the ten months before they move back to the states!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

 And now here we are with November half over.  I cannot believe that my baby boy will be two years old in five days.  We've got a lot of exciting things coming up-- his actual birthday, then the Saturday afterwards we are taking him to see Sesame Street Live!  (He will flip lol), then Sunday the 23 is his party!  I'll be vlogging all of these things for sure- and I'll try to blog them as well :)

Hope everyone is doing well (all two of my readers, right? lol-- seriously if you read this regularly leave a comment below! :)).  I'm hoping to be better at updating more often on here!

21 Months Old!!!

Seriously?

I have a 21 month old!

It doesn't seem possible that in just THREE months (well, less than three as I'm writing this) I will have a 2 YEAR OLD!

Jackson has changed sooo much since his last "update" at 18 months.  He is now RUNNING, and he's talking even more.  He says way more words than I can count (learns new words everyday), and also says several phrases.

He is the funniest kid.  So much personality.  He is super sweet and cuddly too.  He never meets a stranger (aka he's a flirt!).  He can be strong willed at times but for the most part is pretty laid back.  He loves playing outside, playing with cars/trucks/whatever has wheels, sesame street (in particular- Elmo), books, coloring, and he's really getting into "pretend play".  He knows all of his body parts and we are working on teaching him his colors.  He is still nursing at this point- (weaning hasn't been going so well- more like not at all lol but that is for another post!).

coloring!

I don't know his exact "stats" on physical size, but he's around 25lbs and 32in.  Wearing mostly 18mo clothes still; some 24mo & 2T depending on the brand.  He just recently outgrew his size 4 shoes so he's sporting 5s now.  And he is still in size 4 diapers.

One minute, I need to take this call... lol

He used the potty TWICE now!  We just introduced it and are starting with a super laid back approach.  He's not totally ready I don't think (and I wouldn't expect him to be- he's not even 2 yet), but he has shown some signs of readiness and plus he thinks the toilet is this really cool toy (aka we have to keep the bathroom door shut to keep him out of it!).  So we bought him an Elmo potty and let him sit on it whenever he's interested in it.  

Uh don't think that's how that works lol!

He's such a little stinker and I love this little boy to the moon and back.  Every day he amazes me with something new he has learned or picked up; and he brings so much joy to my life.  I love being his mama!

 Here is his video update I recorded on the 20th (day he actually turned 21 months!) and also a video composition of random clips of him taken throughout his 21st month (when he was 20mo old).