Fort Wars, Atlanta, Jack Being Crazy

Two weeks ago our nanny, Jennie, was sick so I had to stay home from work to care for Jack. It was a rainy day, and I had a lot of energy for some reason, so I decided to build a fort for Jack. This plan was actually mentioned in our last posting. Little did I know that the construction of one little for would turn into a John vs. Erin Fort Building Competition. No. Make that WAR!!!

The first fort pictured is my puny, novice effort on Day 1 of Fort Wars. I was so proud of it! Jack loved it, too. He liked reading his books with his Daddy's camping head lamps on!

The fort below is what I came home to on Friday morning after going into work for a few hours. Jennie was still ill so John stayed with Jack for a couple of hours. When I walked in the house, I could tell I had been outdone. John's fort had two entrances to my one, more square footage, and better use of materials overall.



But I can't lose. Well...I can lose, but not without putting up a decent fight. So, GAME ON!!!

This is what happened:


After a trip to Lowe's ( to buy the tarp/fort roof), a trip to KayBee Toys (to buy the tunnel/Entrance #1), and forty minutes of hard work, I had constructed the Mother Ship of all forts, ever. And Jack clearly preferred it above anything he had ever seen in his life including Elmo. We kept the fort up for about a week until we realized we would actually like a place to sit while we ate. All of our kitchen table chairs were used in the fort process. It was fun, but I'm afraid that I will come home one day and my fort will have been outdone. Again. But for now, I have the bragging rights for sure. And I'm obviously using them as I write almost an entire blog about it.


Jack fell asleep one day at Target. I think we go there so much for diapers and other baby stuff that he feels like it's his second home. Obviously he's comfortable there! The duck under his head was a toy I pulled off the shelf to occupy him while we wheeled around the store, but then he fell asleep on it, and I ended up having to buy it!

Two weekends ago we went to Atlanta! Jordan and Trevor had flown in from Boston to celebrate Gigi's birthday with the entire family. Jeffrey had 3 games against Virginia Tech, so Jack experienced some baseball. He enjoyed climbing on the bleachers, pushing his wagon around with Jordan and Trevor and looking out for Buzz, the Georgia Tech mascot. At first Buzz was a little creepy, but then Jack warmed up to him and couldn't stop asking for him. It was great to have the family all together!

Jack got another haircut on Saturday. We went to a different place this time because we heard the kid's chair was really cool. And the rumor was true! Isn't this the coolest hair cutting chair you've ever seen?

Jack's newest trick is sliding head first off of the ottoman. We don't like this new trick. It's scary.

This is one of those pictures where I look at Jack, and I'm amazed at how big he's getting! I had to buy him a new pair of tennis shoes today because he had outgrown all of his others. The shoes look so HUGE!

And as for other exciting news, Jack is going to be a BIG BROTHER in September!!! We're all very excited about another baby! That will probably mean even fewer blog posts than we can post now with the little amount of time we seem to have, but it'll be twice the entertainment!

Hope everyone is having a great afternoon!

GO HEELS!!!!! GO HEELS!!!!! GO HEELS!!!!!

18 Months

Jack turned 18 months old last Friday! I can't believe that he's a year and a half old now. Time is flying, Jack is growing, and we're having so much fun with him. He had his 18 month check up on Tuesday, and he was healthy. He's still tall, skinny and his head is giant. That's what happens though when you're abnormally smart and your cranium has to expand to hold all of that excessive knowledge. Or that's what happens when your parents are blessed with super skull size. We're betting on the former.

Along with the growth in physical size, Jack's growth in attitude has been astronomical. He's having tantrums now, and despite how aggravating and outright maddening they can be, John and I cannot help but to laugh (in secret of course) at how funny Jack expresses his emotions. We've been trying time out with Jack, which we think is working somewhat. We'll make him sit in the corner away from all of his toys and away from us. He'll sit there and look at us and then scream, then hit the wall, then shake his head, hit the wall again and say "AHHH!!!". It's just funny to think that in his mind, all of those things sound like good options, like "This will show them!!!" If I could install a hidden video and record one of these episodes, I would, and then I'd put it on You Tube so everyone could enjoy it. All in all, though, Jack continues to be well behaved. He's great at saying please ("peez") for anything he wants, and he's getting better at saying thank you ("ay-ooh") in return. Very cute.

Here's what the little guy has been up to lately.



This is the ball pit that we got Jack for Valentine's Day, because we all know that you can only show your love to a child by getting him more toys. Especially when they're toy deprived like Jack. Ha! John and Scout decided to join in the fun. The balls in the pit are red, green, blue and yellow. I reasoned this purchased by saying it would help him learn his colors, which it has. He's pretty good at recognizing blue. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't buy the ball pit because it reminded me of my childhood joys spent at the Burger King playground on Summit Ave. Matt, you know you loved it, too.

Jack enjoys the playground at Belfair so much! It is a pretty awesome playground afterall. He likes to climb the stairs by himself and slide down the slide without any assistance. Jack prefers belly-down, feet first. This picture was taken at the chain ladder part of the playground, which time and time again proves to be the greatest physical challenge to Jack. He'll steady himself on one chain rung of the ladder, but when he picks one foot up to move upward, the stationary legs starts wobbling, he ends up straddling the lower rung and his legs are too short to get him off. I wonder when we pull up to the playground and Jack realizes where we are if part of him dreads the chain ladder attempt of the day. Probably. It does look painful.


Jack tried to kiss Shelby yesterday at One Hot Mama's. He didn't quite hit the target, but the both laughed and thought it was funny. By the way, Shelby is a new big sister! Her brother, JP, was born on January 13th, and he's such a cutie. I'll post a picture of JP soon.

This is the face John and I get right after we repremand Jack for doing something he's not supposed to be doing. This is pre time out face.

Jack is pretty much self sufficient at the dinner table now. It gets messy, especially when it's ravioli night as pictured above, but he's learning.

A few Saturdays ago, we went to the beach for an hour or so with Jason and Lauren. Jack was a maniac trying to get to the ocean! He made a beeline as soon as we got there and our attempts at distraction failed miserably. "Jack, no, no...you're mistaken. There's no water here. What?? That big body of blue that we're letting Scout play in? Only a mirage, buddy. Here's a shovel. Go play in the sand that just been replinished by the beach anti-erosion committee that's really not sand, but more mud with dog poop mixed in. That sounds like fun, now doesn't it?" He just wouldn't buy it.

Jack is proving to have the skills of an artist! He scribbles and eats the crayons with the best of them! Thanks to nanny Jennie, Jack has made some beautiful artwork that is displayed on our refrigerator door! Turns out he likes abstract!

Hope everyone is doing well. If you're reading this today, please pray for our nanny's health! She's got the yucky stomach bug that's been going around. And pray for Jack. He has a fever, but it's not slowing him down! I'm at home from work today. It's raining outside, so we're going to build a fort. More for me than for him.
And cheer hard for the HEELS tonight! They're playing GT at GT.