Baby Weight Watchers

As you can tell by the title…Josie is on a "diet" of sorts. She weighed in at 18.2lbs!!! Which is above the 97th percentile for other babies her age. The doc was not impressed. Since she is breastfed - there is no way to measure how much she's eating and when I told him her daily eating schedule he thought it was perfect. Which can only mean one thing…I make a lot of milk. He said no more cereal/oatmeal until she's 6 months old…and if she is fussy - I can give her water. Water = a meal replacement shake. Jos thinks this plan is terrible. She had some water earlier and she looked at me like WHAT.THE.HECK?!?

In better news - she was in the 60th percentile for height! So no more "bowling ball" comments! I have a feeling she will slim down as she starts moving. Regardless, we are so happy and blessed to have our sweet, healthy girl!

Sidenote: I opted for the Treasure Hunt Snack Mix with Mr. Jack! It didn't fail me. He looked like the perfect toddler…until we left the office and he tried to run the halls of the hospital.

Jobs to Do...

Jack is going through a stage - and he enjoys "helping." Sometimes his help is actually helpful…and other times it isn't. His help in the cleaning department is quite nice.

 We take a Swifter to our floors at least once a day…no thanks to Cooper the Super Shedder.

Jack helped Tyson in the yard on Saturday. If the glove fits...

Dusting is actually one area that is excels in. Can you tell we love P&G products? He will stick to dusting a room for at least 3-5 minutes… Helpful!

Josie's job was to model the new patio furniture we got for our deck. Good job, Jos!

Today I am braving a Wellness visit at the pediatrician…with BOTH kids, by myself. I know it doesn't seem like it should be hard…but 11:30 is hit or miss for the "tantrum red zone" and Jack was up at 6:50. Think the Dr. will judge me if Jack is on the iPad the whole time? Or perhaps searching for marshmallows in his Treasure Hunt Snack Mix?? Wish us luck!

And - Not to take away from Tyson's incredibly important poll - but if you have a second take a guess on Josie's weight. I know she'll appreciate this when she's 16!

Serious problem - need your help

By now I think it's established this is Kady's blog and I am just along for the ride. However, when the blog was created Kady gave me author status so I could write updates when there are events in our life (birth of child) that need documented or solved ASAP. My fellow readers, we are at one of those moments and I need your help. Some of you may remember Jack received a Buzz Lightyear Power Wheel for Christmas.

Jack, going against character, was oddly afraid of this machine and would not press the power button to make it go forward when he was on it. It quickly gathered dust at the Becker household and was all but a lost cause until last week when Grandma Shirlee reintroduced Jack to Buzz the Car (I believe Kady documented this on the blog) and Jack took to it like it was the best toy he has and will ever own. After riding it non-stop for a few days mostly in the house Buzz ran out of juice. Now because Jack had disowned this thing the charger was not at the top of our list on things to keep track of in the move and sadly it's been lost. I took a look at the charging point and of course, it is some proprietary charger that I have no answer for and I was left with either the option to buy a new charger or upgrade Buzz.

I am choosing to upgrade Buzz (choosing upgrade route always a common theme in my life, take after my Dad) and now that I know he loves riding machines I am entering the big leagues and looking at a few 12 volt options with forward AND reverse and two speed settings (seriously, where were these options when I was a kid) but I am torn on which one to purchase. That's where you come in - soon, if not already there will be a survey on the right side of the blog to help me choose the best Super Power Wheel for Jack.  Please vote for the one you like best and that best fits Jack.  He will primarily be using this at the Lake.

Here are the options

Option 1: Red 4-Wheeler

This has "rebel" written all over it and would put Jack in elite status at the lake as he could easily impress all the new ladies around his age down at Brown's Point. It says "I don't care what you think of me" and also "I push it to the limit...always" which may or may not already be Jack's life motto.

Option 2 - John Deere Tractor

Where the red 4-wheeler says "rebel" this baby screams "I'm a practical man" and also "Let me move something for you".  Make no mistake, Jack loves himself some tractors. Most nights he chooses the Tractor pop up book over many other amazing choices such as Mama Mama Mad at Llama and the no word Boy in the Window book which has me racking my brain for a new story each time I read it. Jack even watches a "How are Tractor's Made" poorly produced show on Netflix occasionally so no doubt he would be happy with this guy. The added bonus is this thing comes with a trailer for all of Jack's toys and could be used at the lake/Brown's Point to deliver the parents the adult beverages that are needed when 6 or 7 children are running around here in the next few years.  I also must mention, to be fair to the decision you are about to scrutinize over, this tractor is $50 more the the dare-devil 4 wheeler above so please keep that in mind if you like it better.

Please help me choose and vote now!  I, along with Jack, but maybe not Kady, thank you in advance.

-Tyson

Friday Flashback

This flashback is from 2006 when I was living in Indy getting my Masters and Tyson was living in Bloomington getting his MBA. Cooper lived with me in an apartment downtown and one day I returned home from a long day of class to this…my rescued "street dog" from Cleveland had gone dumpster diving in my trash. Look at him. He was ashamed of himself for going back to his old ways.

Treasure Hunt Snack Mix

Before Josie was born - I stressed about how I would take TWO kids out in public without losing one of them and/or my mind. As everyone knows Jack is a runner. He's an active boy and sitting in a cart while I decide if I want Gala or Macintosh apples - well, he doesn't have the patience for that. So I devised a plan and I've been using it for a few weeks now - successfully, I might add.

I give credit for this idea to my friend, Julia (she has no idea she gave me this idea - thanks, Julia!).  Anyway - one day I saw her give her boys a mix of items in a bag for a snack…and the lightbulb went off. If I go shopping during snack time - he'll sit and eat. BUT - if I make his snack interesting, then it will take him longer to eat it.

So basically, I make a "Treasure Hunt Snack Mix" for him and he LOVES it! I mix a handful of 4-5 of the items below into a bag or bowl.

Here are some of the basic foods I've used:
- cereals (whatever we have: cheerios, life, chex)
- nuts
- raisins (regular & yogurt covered)
- popcorn
- goldfish
- oyster crackers
- craisens

Then I always add some "Bonus" treats like:
- chocolate chips
- M&Ms
- marshmallows
- jelly beans

He loves looking for his favorite foods first (usually the chocolate, because he is his mama's son), then he moves on to the other snacks. It's quick, easy, and it definitely holds his attention for a shopping trip. Try it out…and let me know if you have other snacks that would work well for this!

Parks & Rec

I guess you could call Jack & me "park connoisseurs." Okay, maybe not. Whatever. We visited one of Fort Wayne's finest parks yesterday and Jack had a blast! I call it "that park over there on Bass Road" - but I think it's legal name is Buckner Park. Anyway - very fun. Lots of things to climb up and slide down. There is a "spray ground" - which will be fun in the summer and tons of open grassy space! Two thumbs up!

This is Jack's "over it, MOM" look. I get it a lot.

Josie was entertained by an upside-down seahorse from Denmark. Ummm, tell me another 5 month old you know that has this hanging from their carseat. Jos, you are one lucky lady.

Let me explain. No, he is surprisingly NOT in time-out…(or jail). He just decided to look dejected for no reason. A future in acting? Perhaps he should look into it. I think he was just bored playing by himself…

But right after this picture was taken a new friend arrived and Jack was off playing again. He's very social. I, on the other hand, was too busy trying to steal the "new friend's" nanny. Are there laws against that? I really wanted to steal her. I just about said, "listen, I have no idea what these people are paying you - but I will pay you more…once I have a job…" Do you think she would have gone for it?

Only if she knew she could look at this every day:

Five months old

Yesterday Miss Josie turned five months old. And though the past five months have been almost a complete blur - I am so thankful for my beautiful, laid-back girl.  She is patient and sweet. Always willing to share her big smile with anyone willing to stop and have a chat with her.

Tincaps

Our neighbors have season tickets to the Tincaps and they let us have their tickets for yesterday's game. Jack was pretty excited to see a live baseball game!

A large bowl of popcorn was also pretty exciting. Notice he ate with both hands. That's how excited he was about the popcorn.

Josie…not as much. She spent about 90% of the game sleeping. She was pretty cozy in her carrier.

 The other 10% of the time she looked like this…. "Baseball is so boring. Can we go home now?"

Jack was even more excited about the game when he discovered his buddies Maddox and Jace were there, too! He joined them for TWO sessions of Bounce House jumping. He LOVED it (of course). And when his time was up - he didn't want to get out. Never good. I definitely had to climb in to get him…which lead to an all-out tantrum (complete with kicking, crying, and me carrying him away). Thank goodness they serve alcohol.

Then the boys spent some time running & jumping behind center field. I will say - that while the Tincaps are not the Tigers…and the caliber of baseball isn't the same - Parkview Field is an AWESOME ball park! It was laid back, tons of families, and overall a great way to spend an afternoon. We look forward to many more games this summer!

Wee Bear Soccer

A few weekends ago Grandpa Denny (over Spyros breakfast) announced that The Plex would be having Wee Bear Soccer for two year olds this summer. He believed Jack needed to participate. Tyson & I agreed, so we signed him up last week. Stay tuned for some updates on his future as a Wee Bear and his quest to be the next Ronaldo. I'm just hoping he doesn't get any red cards…

Ponderosa anyone?

Josie has been enjoying some oatmeal - sometimes with applesauce and sometimes with banana. I think she likes food. And I'm not just saying that because she eats every single bite. She looks longingly at all of us while we eat meals. It makes me feel bad.

On this particular night I accused her of sneaking off to Ponderosa for an all-you-can-eat buffet. She then left in her Hoveround (aka: high chair with wheels).