Brotherly solidarity in the form of timeouts together while wearing no pants!

About 6 hours earlier, on this particular morning, Jordan was being a total butthead before I went to work so I told him to go to timeout until he could be happy. We have just started introducing the idea of timeout to Jordan as we have found it an effective cool down time for James over the years and are 'hoping' it works for Jordan too, although if I've learned one thing about being a parent since having Jordan it's that not all things are the same with these two!

In the past few weeks Jordan has become very curious about our timeout spot near the back door. If he is misbehaving I will tell him to go there and sometimes he will and sometimes he won't. We started consistently using timeouts with James around the age of 2 and will do the same with Jordan, but introducing it now. I do think he gets the concept though as he has definitely seen his brother spend some time there in the past few months! :)

I came home from work for my lunch break this particular day and found both boys hanging out with no pants on, which I thought was funny for some reason as it's not something we typically do but with Daddy home all bets are off! Not 2 minutes later James threw a little hissy fit and found himself in timeout (but not before yelling at us "I can't have a timeout with no pants on!"). Oh yes my friend if you are going to be a butthead you most certainly can stand there for 4:45 minutes without your pants on!

He was standing somewhat quietly (which is rare for him) and Jordan and I were in the living room on the couch where James couldn't see us and Jordan couldn't see James (because he loves to walk up and poke him in the side while he's in timeout!). Jordan refused to sit on his bum on the couch as I was telling him so I put him on the floor and told him to go to timeout too....so off he went! I stood up and walked to where I could see them...and then quickly grabbed my phone to capture this picture!

I think the best part of this whole picture is the fact that they both aren't wearing pants!

Hahahahaha...I love having two boys! And I love that the door is clearly big enough for them to both have timeout together (as I'm very sure this definitely won't be the last time this happens in our house!)

Mommy’s Little Men – Week 2 – Jan 4 – 10

We're going to start off this weekly post with a new great photo of James and Nana. I wish it was taken on my camera though instead of my iPhone as it's one that I would definitely put on my wall if it wasn't so grainy looking!

This was him on the night that him and Daddy went to the evening King's game. He is usually in bed no later than 8 and this night they didn't get out of the game until after 10, this was taken just around 10:30. Even if he does fall asleep in the van, he rarely if ever will stay asleep when you take him out of his car seat!

I kept him up one night just for some snuggles and some Mommy/James Little Couple watching

Now moving on to Jordie's photo with Nana, again I wish it was from my camera instead 

of my phone.

hehehehehe....he loves to play with this magnifying glass at N&P's

And some morning Jordie/Mommy snuggles

Now for a couple of these two cuties together. Trying to get a good one of them both looking is near impossible these days!

2015 Mommy’s Little Men Photo Project
“I love watching them become little men right in front of my eyes”

Jersey night at the Powell River Kings game

It was $5 jersey night at the Kings game so we decided to go as a family. And the other great part was that this game was at 5pm which is much more kid friendly than the usual 7:15 start (although James and Jim did go to the Friday night game and they loved it). That's the difference between having an almost 5 year old and still a not quite 2 year old!

Here's our family selfie...even though it didn't need to be a selfie because my sister was sitting right beside me and easily could have taken a photo for us! 

Like I said, Ang and Bill came to the game too! 

James was loving his second game in two days!

Jordie didn't want to look at me, he was focused on the game

Cuteness

And these two are pretty handsome too!

Barrows brothers selfie

James's eye update...and new glasses!

Last week we took James back to see Dr. Cornock in Comox for his routine follow-up appointment and we're happy that she finally increased his prescription to +3 so we could go ahead and get him his new glasses. For awhile now I felt like his current frames were almost too small for his face and was hoping that with this appointment the Dr. would decide he had adjusted to wearing glasses enough that the prescription could be increased. She said this +3 prescription will most likely stay his prescription for as long as he wears glasses. I'm glad to hear that as I was also starting to feel that he wasn't seeing as well with the prescription he had.

We found out once and for all that James is far sighted which means that he can't see far away without his glasses. He also has an eye turn that causes him not to see well close up either, which is why he wears the glasses all the time. Nowadays when he doesn't have them on his good eye almost instantly turns in to compensate for how poorly his bad eye sees. He rarely, if ever, takes them off during the hours that he is awake. The only thing I notice he really wants to take them off for is when he is looking in the viewfinder part of my camera to take a picture.

Dr. Cornock said that we could start discussing contact lenses with James once he reaches teenage hood if he so chooses to want to touch his own eyeballs (I swear I will never tell James how much that grosses me out and how I could NEVER do it....I'll let him decide how he feels about it first!). She recommended that we get him some swimming goggles as he does love the pool, and that he wears his old pair for any sports like hockey or soccer to cut down on the risk of his good new glasses getting scratched or damaged. We've been really lucky over the past 10 months at how well the first pair held up, but you just never know as he gets older how long any further pairs will last.

As for surgery, Dr. Cornock said that with James's eye turn problem that the surgery that is available now to patients may not work well for him and that unfortunately there appears to be a high rate of regression in some cases. But, she did say that a lot can change and advance in technology in the many years between now and when she recommended he could have surgery at around age 21.

It's good to finally know what his actual vision problem is, as well as his prescription and how it will be treated. Since he got the glasses last March we have been a bit up in the air about these questions and feel better now knowing the plan for the next few years. For now Dr. Cornock will continue to monitor his eye growth and to follow whether the eye turn problem gets worse or stays the same but once she feels comfortable that he is growing properly then we will be turned over to our local optometrist here in town for further follow-ups. We already go to Westview Optometry on an almost weekly basis for glasses adjustments so I'm happy to know that in the coming years that it will be our only place we will need to take him.....although the free trips to the Island aren't bad either!!

I seriously love this new picture of James, and his new glasses are awesome. I love that I can finally see his eyes again. I have felt for awhile now that most of the time when I took pictures of him that I was always seeing the top of the rims instead of his beautiful blue eyes. I think these new bigger frames are going to help with that, plus they just make him look even more grown up!!

I love this kid when he smiles at me like this. I see such a light and love in his eyes and he makes me so very proud of the little man that he is already.

And here is one of me and James tonight too.

Preschool Show & Tell – Year 2 – Week 16

James decided to take his new Minion shirt that he got from Nana and Papa for Christmas. The funny thing is that he hadn't even worn it yet and when I asked him if he wanted to wear the shirt to school that day he said "no thanks, I just want to take it to show to my friends".

I finally got him to wear the shirt so I could take these pictures...and the sad thing is that he has already grown so much that it's almost too small for him. It may become a wall hanging in his room before too long!

Mommy’s Little Men – Week 1 – Dec 28 – Jan 3

Starting off this week with photos of the boys together, and one of me with both of them. It's blurry, and we were all tired, but it's a cute picture anyways!

Here's a couple of them from our weekend in Nanaimo

And some fun laughing at Daddy during dinner time photos

And the boys group shot on New Years Day

Now my favorites this week of James...such a good picture of James and his buddy Dane-O

And the next day on the tugboat on the trail

Such a cute little man he is becoming

Great photo of all 3 of these guys! 

Looking at Grandpa's photo book

And next up is Jordie! Here he is still in good humor at the ER after waiting almost 2 hours

About 15 minutes after the first picture this one was taken. He did so well until he just had to go to sleep. He was so hot but this was so sweet at the same time. Poor guy! 

On our way to our New Years Day walk

Two new favorite photos of him

2015 Mommy’s Little Men Photo Project

“I love watching them become little men right in front of my eyes”

2015 Mommy’s Little Men Photo Project - The Introduction

A few months ago I was sitting here thinking about whether I wanted to do these weekly pictures again in 2015 and wondered if I did do them, what would I call the project? Then I started to look through last years photos and I realized just how much I have loved seeing them grow into little men right in front of my eyes....and the name of the 2015 series was born!

2015 Mommy's Little Men Photo Project

“I love watching them become little men right in front of my eyes”

My goal this year is to keep the photos to no more than 5 of each boy, and to just blog more of the other good photos. I also really want to do a monthly blog post with my favorite photos so when it comes time to make our family's 2015 Memory Calendar it is really easy. This year's 2014 one isn't even started yet! I feel so behind the eight ball this year! 

Jordan and Harris – 1.5 years – November 23, 2014

Happy 18 Months to our Jordie Boy!

Well little man, you've hit the 18 month mark....and we weren't even here to see it! Daddy, James and I were in Mexico on vacation but of course you were the center of Nana and Papa's world so were happy and well loved and clearly didn't even realize we weren't there!

You've grown up and changed so much in the past 6 months and I can't believe we are already on the downhill slope to turning 2!

You are now almost 20 months and Mommy is way behind on writing this blog post so here it goes!

At 18 months you were just about 30 lbs and easily the size your brother was at 2 years old. You are a big, happy, and funny little character that still refuses to say even a single word. Once in awhile you will mumble out a mamamama but other than that you just grunt, giggle and point at what you want. Or, you will just go and get what you want. You are very resourceful, independent and stubborn too. You want what you want and when you want it, and if you don't get it, you will let us know you aren't happy. You have now started to make this funny little face at us along with a grunt that shows you are unhappy about something. 

You are still an excellent sleeper, an incredible eater and you are starting to get over your shyness a little bit. You are still reserved around strangers and take a little bit to warm up to people but you are starting to show affection to us more by laying your head down on us and patting our heads. This started after you stayed with Nana and Papa while we were in Mexico and it is still super cute almost 2 months later. You like to kiss our heads but will rarely give kisses or hugs when asked. It's very much on your terms when and how you show your love and affection for someone.

Your favorite person is definitely your Papa these days. James seems to just bug you and you rarely want him anywhere near you. And if James tries to hug Mommy while you are then you have been known to screech at him and push him away. You clearly want your space and James doesn't know how to take that sometimes. He stills thinks of you as his best friend and I hope that as you grow up a bit more you will realize just how lucky you are to have such a great big brother.

You have started to play a lot more on your own, and with James when it suits you. The two of you have even started to play downstairs in the playroom for short periods of time and Mommy both loves it so she can get stuff done but hates that you are growing up so fast at the same time! 

You LOVE to play with cars and trucks and love being read to as well. You also do like your morning cartoons of Bubble Guppies and Paw Patrol and will bring us the TV remote if you feel that it's time to watch something. You have an excellent attention span and can easily watch more TV or a movie than your brother can, if we let you.

Overall you are just a super cute and adorable little guy and Daddy and I are so proud of you and how much you've grown and changed in the last 6 months (well really 8 months). We can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring and as you get closer to 2 we really hope that you will start to show us your voice and start to talk. We both can't wait to hear what your voice will sound like.

We all love you so much Jordie boy!

And lastly we are going to go all the way back to the very beginning,

from the very first day of his life, May 23, 2013.

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

18 months

P.S. In looking back at James's 18 month photos we realize that Nana dressed you in the exact same shirt that James was wearing in his 18 month photo (that comparison will be in a new blog post soon)