Fall Fun

So many weekends have flown right on by and I am needing a weekend to recover from my weekends.  We went to Chicago the last weekend in September for Tom's G-ma's 90th Birthday.  Will did great in the car thanks to the I-Pad, snacks and juice.  We stayed with our good friends Rob and Katie and Will was in heaven exploring the many rooms and running around like it was his personal gym.

It was great to see the Jackovin extended side again and for Will to finally meet them all.  Will was sitting on Papa's lap which happened to be right next to the Birthday Girl and when everyone started singing Happy Birthday the kid lost it.  Scared out of his mind.  I can't blame him as this was the first time he had met the Jackovin extended side and he doesn't like all eyes on Will (definitely his father's son :)).
 

The next weekend we had Kelly and Nolan's wedding and what a fun wedding it was.  Kelly is my "kind of cousin" as we call it and also a sorority sister so it was fun to see family AND great friends.  Even the pregnant girl was out dancing to Bon Jovi (duh) and Flo Rida.  It was so fun to see all the Adpi girls, do our ADPi dances again and Kelly was a gorgeous Bride.
 

Roses to great friends and onions for not being able to simply walk down the hallway to gossip or borrow clolthes.  Pi Love!  :)

"Running just as fast as we can, holding onto one another hands . . ."

On Friday, 10/7 we found out that we are expecting another baby BOY and he is as healthy as can be.  I can't tell you how thankful we are that we have a healthy baby.  Tom and I would have been happy with either a girl or boy, after what we went through with Jack you certainly realize what's important.  We are definitely doing our part to ensure the Jackovin name gets passed down.

While I am very excited that we will get to reuse most of Will's clothes and Will will have a brother . . . I am also worn out thinking about raising another boy.  Will is 2 and has already dislocated his elbow and has bruises on his body at all times.  Pregnancy is going well - my stomach has definitely started to pop out, I feel good, but could really use some more energy.  This little guy is a mover and has been kicking and doing somersaults quite a bit which Tom can now see/feel.  25 weeks down, 15 more to go (but who's counting).

20.5 week belly

 

That weekend my sisters and Mom headed to North Siberia Ankeny for a slumber party at Tara's house as we were leaving bright and early for our shopping trip to MN on Saturday.  As the saying goes, we shopped till we dropped and got about 1/2 of our Christmas list done.  My sister's and Mom also bought the little guy so many cute clothes to get his wardrobe started!  I forgot how tiny 0-3 month clothes are.

The only picture we got (this was half way through out trip).

 

The next weekend we had Will's cousin/buddy Jenna over and those two had so much fun and play so well together.  Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch which of course was fun.  Will loved the fast slide and the tractor ride.  We then carved pumpkins and went to visit my parents at the hotel they were staying at so the kids could swim.

 

As most of you know, will has a extreme slight obsession with trains.  Particularly Thomas the Train.  One of my friends had the costume and let us borrow it.  Will was thrilled.  After his first house he had the hang of Trick or Treating and wouldn't let go of his pumpkin.  He said his knock - knock "joke", looked for suckers and then said thank you and often times stood there longer to see if they would give him more and it worked.  He was worn out by the end.

The first weekend in November we took a family trip to MN as Tom had to be there for work on Monday morning and then fly to Saint Louis.  We stayed at The Depot which was built on an old train depot . . . which also has a train themed water park.  Yes, will was once again in Heaven and you'll see why from the pics below.  The train would erupt every 15 - 20 minutes so Will has labeled the waterpark the "Magic Train".  We were able to do some shopping and then went to our friend Kelly and Nolan's house for lunch and to watch the hawkeye game.  Will took a 3.5 hour nap at their house and was ready to go that night at the waterpark. 

Work is going well for both of us.  Tom has been traveling quite a bit which definitely takes a toll on all of us.  I don't see how single parents do it.  Will isn't a hard child to take care of but it's so nice having team work when it comes to getting them ready in the AM, bath time, bed time, feeding, cleaning up, etc.  You catch my drift.  We usually go play with a cousin or friend so that certainly helps the time go by fast.

What's new with Will?

He's all boy.  Loves everything trains, planes, automobiles, trucks (especially the garbage truck), rough housing with Daddy, and the list goes on.  Will has been obsessed with airplanes for quite a while but now he is obsessed with trains.  I bought him a few Geo Trax sets for Christmas and broke down and let Tom give him one a few weekends ago.  He plays with them non-stop - I would say one of our best investments.  He also loves to watch any show/movie with trains.  I must admit that building the tracks is pretty fun!

Will is adding more and more words to his vocabulary and still make us laugh non-stop and also makes us want to pull our hair out at times.  We asked him the other day if was excited to have a baby brother and he said "No thank you".  He is polite, I'll give him that.

Next on our list is potty training.  Ugh.  I am SO not looking forward to this.

Take Me to the Zoo, Jerry.

I feel our life has been a zoo lately and how fitting that we took Will to the Omaha Zoo after Labor Day weekend!

Labor Day weekend- went to John and Melissa's house so they could watch the Sqawks.  I then met up with my good friend Lara and her hubby at Granite City.  Always great catching up with friends.  Sunday we were supposed to go to the pool with the Polking fam but it was way too chilly so we went over to the Frick's for a party.  After being at Sonya's all night, Will now calls Kayla's kitchen, "my kitchen" and when we went to pick them up the other day he got excited and said - "MY KITCHEN" when pulling in the driveway.  It's funny how kids remember things about houses.  For instance:

John and Melissa - trains
Jenna's house: Airplane (first thing he looks for) and now fish as they have adopted their neighbors fish.
Tara and Glen - fishie and crab, although both have gone to toilet bowl heaven - he'll be there next weekend so I am sure he will come up with something he loves there.
Mom and Dad's - cows, farm and tractor as my Dad took him there one time and hasn't forgotten.
Tom's Dad and Linda - every boat he sees it's "Papa's boat"? 
Mary - we drive by Mary house just about every day and he always says "Mary's house"!

We took Tuesday off after Labor Day and took will to the Omaha Zoo.  Do you want to know what he remembers out of the millions things he saw?  A banana - as in, a gorilla eating a banana.  He talked about the fishies and the sharks so many times before going to the zoo and he could have cared less about them.  He was more excited about the dump trucks/construction truck.  That crazy boy. 


The following weekend we went to a couples shower for our good friends Kelly and Nolan (who are getting married next weekend) and Saturday the Cyclones beat the Sqawks and for those of you that know my hubby, you know he is a obnoxious/trash talking big Hawk fan.  This honestly is the hardest day of the year on our marriage.  When I first met Tom he totally downplayed his love for the hawks which was smart on his part because after ISU beat IA, paired with a few drinks . . . that was bad news bears.  But anyway . . . let's discuss the Cyclone win some more.  My sister's hubby couldn't go to the game because of his back so she took me along with Ali and Ben.  We had a blast and what a great game to be at.  It sure did make me miss my college days.  Afterwards we celebrated at my families tailgate and then I got to go home to a bummed (perhaps that is putting it lightly) out hubby.  At least Will was happy.  :)

Last weekend we went to my parents house on Friday night to watch the Cyclones beat Ucon.  They had a big party at their house so Will and his cousin's had a blast.  The next morning we had bunkers dunkers of course and Will stayed with my parents so Tom and I could clean out the garage . . . which took forever!  My parents dropped Will off at Gary and Linda's house and when I went to pick him up he had them dancing to what sounded like Lawrence Welk songs.  If they tried to sit down he would grab Grammy's hand and then Papa's hand and say dance.  Can't say no to him.  He is so lucky to be so close to both set of grandparents! 

This week we got our house ready to put on the market and today it is officially on the market.  It's definitely bittersweet as we have made so many memories in the house and have great neighbors, but we need some more space, so it's time to try to sell our house.

This weekend we are headed to Chicago for Tom's Grandma's 90th birthday.  Wish us luck with the long drive and a toddler.  On the way home from Omaha we timed it with Will's nap, sure would have been great if Will actually napped!  What kid doesn't sleep in the car?

Have a great weekend!

Summer is Flying Right on By

A little bit of catch up here!  We have been fitting in some fun things the last part of the summer so here is a recap:

Hit up Jethros for their to die for Pulled Chicken Nachos . . . Will decided to just lick the cheese, no need for the tortilla chip.

A trip to Grays Lake which turned out to be way too hot and I wore THE ABSOLUTE worst shoes.

My good friend Ebban, hubby and little girl Emmie who now live in Switzerland stayed with us for a night.  Will and Emmie had a great time playing together and we loved being able to catch up with Phil and Ebban for an entire night!

Fit in a pool day with the entire Polking family on an extremely hot and HUMID day.

Tom and Bryce were gone one Saturday so Tara invited us over to her house and we had a blast.  Pools, trampoline, tractor rides with Uncle Glen, huge park, neighbors swing set, good eats = great time and worn out Will.
 

We made a trip to Altoona to check out the aquarium at Bass Bro Shops.  Will FREAKED out with excitement when he saw the fishies and shark (a huge catfish, hey, it kind of looked like shark).  He then freaked out again when he saw all the boats and 4 wheelers.  He sat and "drove" every one of them.

 

We had Polking family pictures in J-town (in which Will wanted no part of) so we made a day/night of it.  We ate lunch and then the guys went golfing (for 7 hours, no joke - they played 27 holes).  The ladies had drinks (Mom was all over the strawberry daiquiris), kids played in the pool, ate some apps, talked and watched after the 6 crazies.  My parents made a great dinner and of course Bunkers Dunkers was for breakfast the next morning.  SO GOOD!

This past weekend we had Mary and Brad over for dinner and of course broke out the singstar.  Bon Jovi and Billy Joel were definitely calling my name!  Saturday we went to Walker Johnson Park - if you haven't been there with your kids, you need to go.  They have a pond that has geese (that are almost too friendly), fish and frogs.  Will also talks about fishies non stop so he was very excited to feed the hungry fish.  They have a different kind of play gym that Will loves as well.

On Sunday we went to "Papa's Boat" with the Jackovin family and Will loved EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE.  He talks about Papa's Boat just about every day so imagine how excited he was when he got to go on it again.  He pretty much takes over the captain's chair and makes those with weak stomachs sick, with his driving in circles.

This week Tom was in Maryland so Sonya and Kayla came over one night and Krista, Cole and Jenna came over the next night.  Will loved having his cousin come over to play!  Made our week go by very fast!

And  here are a few random photos . . .

Will thinks he is pretty awesome sitting in a big chair!

He puts his hat and shades on and then puts the keys in the ignition

No need for a description . . .

2 Years Have Flown Right on By

What a fun couple weekends it has been!  My birthday was 2 weeks ago which we celebrated by Tom making dinner and unveiling Will's new bed.  Will was a little hesitant at first, but then decided he loved it.  A HUGE thanks to Gary (Tom's Dad) for making it.  Yes, you heard that right, Gary made his bed!  He is very talented and I have already told Gary that I am sending Will over to his house when he is old enough so he can teach Will his skills.

Ladies and gentleman THE bed . . .

 

Eventually we will loft it like below picture.  I must say, Gary's version is way better.  He even matched the dresser we bought. Seriously, he rocks.

On Saturday John and Melissa watched Will so we could go out to eat for dinner. We went to our favorite restaurant Trostels, followed by dessert at our new favorite place Yo2Go, which is conveniently located right by my office AND home.  Great.  Sunday was Will's birthday party at Lake Panorama and everyone had a blast.  Perfect place for 10 kids and a very hot/muggy day.  Will loved playing in the lake, sand, eating all the frosting he wanted, opening gifts and the attention.  

His actual birthday was on July 13th. We got him a doughnut for breakfast which he only ate the frosting.  The kid loves frosting.  After work my friend Sarah stopped over and had pizza with us and Will instantly grabbed her hand and wanted her to read him a book.  Can't turn down the hand.  :)  My good friend Kristina gave Will a cupcake so he got to eat more frosting and blow out his candle - 3rd times a charm, he finally figured out how to blow out the candle.  :) 


We then opened the rest of the gifts from Mommy and Daddy which were books, boats AND . . . . 

 

Will's new wheels.  Pretty awesome, right?  He thinks so as well.

That following weekend we went to our first I-Cubs game with Will, went to the pool with my family, relaxed on Saturday night and played in the pool at home on Sunday.  So it's been a fun couple weekends!


 

I feel like a broken record saying this, but I can't believe how fast these two years have gone.  We have definitely had some ups as well as well as some major downs, but thankfully we had Will to get us through those downs.  During Will's first year we both lost our jobs . . . AT THE SAME time with no severance, no insurance, NADA, Will was only 10 weeks old and during Will's 2nd year we went through 5 weeks of hell not knowing what was going to happen to our precious baby Jack and then losing him at 17 weeks.  I am hopeful that this year will have no downs, I think we deserve one year that is not stressful.  :)

Hope you all are having a great summer!  A Will update will come soon!  :)

Love, the Jackovin's