Jake's 3rd birthday interview

Long overdue, but I've finally edited Jake's birthday interview that we filmed back in May. We shot this right after breakfast and he was pretty antsy to get done with all of our questions and get to the main event of the day--"pwaying" [playing]--but he humored us and let us fire questions at him. I so wish we'd thought to interview Jake on his first and second birthdays as well, but that's alright! We'll be sure to start the tradition earlier with Reid, and it'll be fun to see how they change and grow each year. Jake is such a goofball already and I hope that's one thing that won't change over the years. He sure keeps life fun.

Jake's 3rd birthday interview from Ashley Skinner on Vimeo.

these boys of mine

First, I have to say that it is SO weird to hear myself say "the boys" or "the kids" in conversation! Its this of all things that has been the weirdest adjustment since Reid came along and I'm still getting used to it.

This morning I caught glimpses of Reid's smile! Technically this is the second time he's smiled but the first time was July 5th--I bookmarked it in my mind for the baby book, but he hasn't smiled since then so I wondered if it was a fluke. Regardless, his little attempts at a smile today made my morning. I feel so impatient waiting for his smiles and more interactions to really get started!

This afternoon Jake was supposed to be napping but he wasn't showing signs of falling asleep so I let him play with his toy gears in his room. I could hear him playing over the monitor for an hour or so and then I noticed it was suddenly quiet. Since the video monitor only shows Jake's bed right now--we have yet to mount it on the wall--I crept down the hall to check on him. I laughed when I saw a bunch of his books out in the hallway and could imagine him sliding each book one by one out under the door.

And sure enough, he was asleep on the floor right next to his bed, with his blanket on him and everything! Learning to cover himself with his blanket has been a source of frustration for him at night--and a delay tactic to get us to come in his room--so it was funny to see that apparently he'd finally figured it out. Then later tonight as we were talking and getting ready for bed I mentioned that he'd taken a really late nap today and he told me he actually took two naps. I corrected him and he said "No, Mommy I took two! One in my room and one in the hallway!" I'm pretty sure he did, now that I think about it. I had woken him up via the monitor around 5pm from his little nap on the floor and I heard him wake up but he didn't come into the living room. So I called him again and asked what he was doing, and he replied "I'm just 'waying' down!" I bet he made it as far as the hallway before falling back asleep for a minute, what a tired kid!

The photo below is from the other day and another 5pm nap. Jake must be growing because he has taken some long and late naps for a few days now! On this particular day, I could not wake him up short of just picking him up out of bed. I opened his curtains and his door and went about my day as usual, making plenty of noise as I went. I changed Reid's diaper on the changing table, talked to Reid, put clothes away, etc. and Jake barely moved. I'm picturing a scene similar to this in about 13 years but without the cute frog pillow and his beloved penguin. ;) Probably the same amount of grumpy once he finally wakes up though!

a weekend getaway to Chattanooga!

Over the weekend of the Fourth, Jake spent a few days with Deric's parents and his cousins in Indiana so Deric, Reid and I also decided to skip town and have some fun! Chattanooga is only about an hour and a half from us and yet in the five years we've lived here, we've never visited the city. We figured this last weekend was the perfect opportunity to explore and we loved it so much that we're already planning another trip with Jake this fall. Chattanooga is incredibly family friendly and there are plenty of attractions that we want to experience with Jake, especially the Children's Discovery Museum and the Aquarium.

Deric and I didn't actually visit any of the attractions in the city this weekend, we mostly ate at a bunch of local restaurants and walked around the city to scout out fun things to do when we come back with Jake. Clumpies Ice Cream came highly recommended online and then by locals so we were sure to try it out on Friday night. We ordered probably the best fish tacos I've ever had at Big River Grille: they were wrapped in both a blue corn tortilla and a taco shell! I may have to try that at home to spiff up our next taco night.

The air conditioning in our van went out on Friday night so unfortunately, Deric spent Saturday morning at the mechanic in hopes that it would be a quick fix and we'd be back playing tourist by noon. At 6:00pm that night, we finally got our van--and its new air compressor--back. Whomp whomp. But of all the trips for car troubles to happen, the one without a toddler was the best timing. We didn't have any set plans for Saturday so while we waited for the van to be fixed, we explored more of the city, tried out a local burger place and spent a few hours reading (and napping, in Deric's case!) at Starbucks. It was nice to sit back and relax without worrying about keeping Jake entertained while we waited.

Instead of snapping pictures all weekend, I thought I'd try out a video to remember the trip. It was fun to put it all together so I think more videos will happen in the future!


Chattanooga from Ashley Skinner on Vimeo.