National Spelling Bee

I am currently watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee on TV (I like to watch weird things on TV like spelling bee's, pool competitions (my favorite being trick shots), competitive bowling, and strong man competitions) and I have to say that I am SO AMAZED by these kids!  I understand there is a sort of science to figuring out how these words are spelled, but seriously they are amazing!  Here is the one that just blew me away:

phthisiology

It is pronounced "fiziology" so I have no idea how he got the "phth" part, but he did.  This was the word for Gifton, a boy from Jamaica.  So excited to see who wins!!! (I'm such a dork...)

Life in Bullet Points

Jaden

• Walking everywhere!  He can now get up to standing without grabbing on to anything.  We go for walks every day around our complex - you should see how excited he gets when we pull out his shoes!  I hold his  hand and we walk wherever he wants to.
• Loving his new swing!  My mom graciously sent us a toddler swing (the plastic kind you can attach to trees or swingsets) and we hooked it on to our upper balcony so it hangs down into our back patio.  No matter what else is going on, as soon as you say, "Jaden, want to go swing?" he starts to practically hyperventilate with happiness.  
• Deciding he doesn't need his afternoon nap.  We are still battling over that.  When he doesn't take it, he is the grumpiest kiddo ever (except if you ask him if he wants to go swing or go for a walk).
• Complete list of words: ducky, daddy, doggie (all of those 3 sound the same to me), mama, uh oh, no, fishy, Jesus
• Complete list of signs: fan, please, drink/juice (made up sign), swing (made up sign)
• Tooth progress: he has a tiny one on the bottom that I'm not sure is 100% through yet and one HONKIN' HUGE one directly above it.  It's seriously like a beaver's tooth!  No more teeth on the horizon.
• Still tiny, but we haven't weighed him in awhile.  I would guess somewhere in the 17 pounds mark.  We have transitioned him onto cow's milk, so that is helping to put some meat on his bones.  He turned 16 months yesterday and we are thinking of starting to transition him into 6-9 month clothes soon.
• Favorite Foods: Cheerio's (the bland kind), goldfish, Nilla wafers (we call them cookies), pasta with pasta sauce that has been ground up in one of those baby food mushers, and of course, the age old favorite of Chicken and Apples!

Mari

• Trying desperately to hold on to my laptop.  Mentally it's fine, but physically it is falling apart.  The screen has broken off from the base on one side, but it's ok as long as I am really careful with it.  I couldn't bring myself to spend the $400+ on a new one, so we just got an external hardrive to backup all of my pictures and home movies.
• Still can't find my camera charger.  Blast it all!  I think I'll have to fork over the money for a new one.
• I got my hair highlighted and cut 12 inches off.  Only 2 people noticed that I had highlighted it (I think it's kind of obvious) and only 1 person noticed that I cut it (besides my family who knew I was getting a haircut).  Come on people!  I just chopped an entire foot of hair off my head, and no one can notice!?!  Sheesh
• Loving my new ward!  They are super friendly and I already feel really close to so many of them.  A group of us get together once a week for play group - last week we went to the zoo (Jaden's favorite animal - the duckies!!) and this week we're going to a splash pad!
• I went to the dentist for the first time in a L O N G time and...     no cavities!!!
• Throwing Jaden a "1 Year From the NICU" Party on Saturday!  It's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed, and he'll get his first cupcake complete with a tower of frosting!

Jake

• Playing Diablo every spare chance he can get!  He was so excited for it to come out that I decided to have a Devil themed dinner on the night of it's release!  We had deviled eggs, "Hot as Hell" buffalo wings, and Devils Food Cake cupcakes!
• Liking his new schedule.  He has started his top secret training, so I don't know what he is really studying, but he seems to like it.  He is home by 1:30pm every day and Jaden and I are loving the extra time with him!
• He has to get up super early now.  His new schedule means that on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday he has to be on base at 4am for physical training!  Yuck!  Tuesday and Friday he doesn't have to be there until 6am, which is when his classes start.  Good thing he is a morning person!
• He was super brave and let me cut his hair!  The military cut is pretty easy - super short all over - but I was still very nervous!  It felt like way too much power for me to have!  The hardest part was blending the different layers, but in the end we were both happy with the results.
• He was just called into the Elder's Quorum presidency (a position in our church) which keeps him super busy and super informed.  It'll be an adjustment for all of us with him gone more, but I know we will get many blessings out of it.

Sorry it took me so long to update, and I know this wasn't a "fun" post, but it's important for me to document everything since this is essentially my journal as well.  As soon as I get an operational camera, prepared to be sick with the mountains of photos I shove down your throat!

UPDATE:  I just ordered a new battery charger on Amazon and it will be here in 3-5 business days.  If I had known it would be less than $5, I would have done it weeks ago!!!

Poor Mr. Ducky

Jaden decided to try out his new teeth (yes - that is plural!  Jaden's top tooth has decided to make a fast appearance!) on poor Original Mr. Ducky.  He is now only allowed supervised visits with him.  So we went out and scoured the entire Walmart looking for actual Rubber Duckies that he couldn't tear apart testing out his new chompers.  It is really hard to find rubber duckies!  Luckily we found two and we are all happy about that!  It seems he can't go anywhere (bed, bath, in the car, church, etc...) without a ducky in his hand.

Jaden is getting to be a really good walker now!  But that's not the most exciting news: HE SAID MAMA TODAY!!!!  I seriously freaked out!  So now he can say ducky, possibly say daddy (it's awfully close to ducky), and mama!

I did get video evidence but only after I asked him to say it about a dozen times!  It comes at like 3 minutes into the video, so be patient...