Jack and Maya, Sitting in a Tree...

A few weekends ago, we took a little trip to Nana and Papa's house in Wintergreen and brought along our friends Mary Grace and Maya. In case you didn't know, Maya is Jack's girlfriend. They love each other."Can you hear my heart beating for you?"

"I got you!"


While the grown up boys played golf, the ladies plus Jack decided to spend the morning at Veritas Vineyards. The mommies drank wine and ate cheese while the rugrats got all their energy out. Jack managed to stand still for a brief second for Mommy to take a picture.
Jack is learning to play ball. He is really good at throwing but hasn't quite mastered catching. He just stands there and lets the ball hit him in the head and then bursts out laughing!

The Sand Between Our Toes...

We are loving being back at the beach. Jack asks us to take him on a daily basis and he hasn't even had an opportunity to go in the water. He simply loves the sand between his toes and the freedom to run and play.

In his mommy's opinion, there is nothing cuter than this little boy and his shadow :)Of course we bring Wrigley along for the adventure. She LOVES playing fetch with Daddy and getting all her puppy energy out!
Wrigley is getting so big! She is only 6 months old and already towers over Jack. He still loves her though, especially when he gets to hold her leash.

Such a Little Man!

Sometimes Jack looks like such a little man. This was especially true on Easter morning when he was wearing his plaid blazer :)

Happy Easter!

We know we are a little late in posting but we have been having loads of fun. We were so excited to finally have an Easter where we weren't completely bundled up in our parkas. YAY for Virginia weather! Last Friday we colored Easter eggs on our back deck with Nana.On Saturday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Spillman's for Easter dinner. There was even an egg hunt but Jack had to enlist the help of Daddy to reach some of them!
Jack and his cousin Caroline loved looking for eggs and then showing each other what they found. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
Jack woke up on Easter morning and discovered that the Easter Bunny hid eggs all over the living room! They were even Dora and Diego themed!!!!
Finally Jack found his Easter basket and was so excited to see all the great things that big bunny left behind!

Little Devil

Uncle Dave and his girlfriend Lea came to visit last week from Dubai. Jack hadn't seen his Uncle Dave in 15 months but they were instant best friends. They actually have very similar personalities, as you will see in this video. They both are pranksters who love to make people laugh. Uncle Dave bought Jack an motorized water gun (what was he thinking???) and they decided to ambush Daddy as he walked in from the garage. What we didn't know is that Jack would turn the gun on the rest of us and go crazy! The entire length of this video he is spraying water out of the gun! Thanks Uncle Dave!!!

Whose Child Is This and What Did You Do with My Sweet Boy?

Allison here. Things have been rough in Casa Spillman recently and I am not sure what happened. Jack has been awful. Absolutely awful. He doesn't listen. He throws massive fits for no reason. He kicks. He screams (at the top of his lungs). He throws things. He won't stay in time out. He argues. He whines. Did I mention he doesn't listen?

We are frustrated and confused. Jack was, by no means, a previously perfect child but we were frequently complimented on how well behaved he was. We went out to eat all the time in Chicago and he would sit at the table, eat his food, interact with people around him and was generally a delight. Not anymore! He gets out of his seat, doesn't eat his food, and prevents us from having a nice meal. Grrr.

Prior to a few weeks ago, Jack understood that timeout was a time and place to collect himself and think about what he was doing wrong. Honestly, he would send himself to timeout if he felt like he was out of control. Now he fights us the whole way to timeout, kicking and screaming. He doesn't stay in timeout and he thinks its funny. If we stand next to him to make sure he stays there, he pushes us and says "move mommy, move."

He seems to be struggling with wanting to be independent (maybe too independent) and then also wanting to be coddled and taken care of. He wants to do things on his own that he can't and when we try to help, he flips out. On the other side, he wants us to carry him and will just sit down, no matter where we are, if we refuse to pick him up. To say we are frustrated is an understatement.

What is probably most frustrating is that this behavior really came out of nowhere a few weeks ago. We tried really hard to keep things as normal as possible for Jack during the move and have kept him on the exact same schedule. Inevitably though, some things changed. He's in a new house and a new school and is going to school 3 days a week instead of 2. On top of that, Chris and I have been really busy and STRESSED at work and even though we try not to let it affect us at home, we know that kids are preceptive and pick up on those things.

Of couse, I am feeling incredibly guilty. Before moving back to Virginia, I worked part time from home for my family business but now I am in the office with a lot more responsibility. When I am at work, I am thinking and worrying about Jack. When I am with Jack I feel like I am constantly yelling at him and sending him to timeout. It is not easy and I have come to realize that being a mom is a guilt-ridden job.

I went to a ladies night dinner last night and I was talking about Jack and his behavior. All the moms reassured me that it will get better. Their little ones are all 3+ years old and they said that they have all been here. I hope they are right. I hope my sweet boy comes back and leaves this monster behind.

Ah, the Beach!

Oh the beach, how we have missed thee. The warmth of the sun and feeling of sand in our toes. It sure does beat snow boots and parkas! While the weather hasn't been fantastic since we moved back to Virginia, there were a few days of fantastic weather so we headed to the oceanfront. Jack didn't quite no what to do with himself because he was so excited to just run and roll around.
This playground definitely was not here when Daddy and Mommy were growing up in Virginia Beach. What a great idea!!! We thought Jack would be so excited to go down the slide but he became intrigued by older kids burying their friend. He just stared and looked quizzically.
He eventually decided to join in and help out the big kids :)

He Struck Again!

Just when you thought Mischievous Jack had disappeared, he struck again!!! Take a close look. What does this look like? Yep, that's right! Our super adorable, oh so well-behaved 2 1/2 year old colored the bottom step in our NEW house with RED PERMANENT Sharpie!!! AHHHHH!! I thought we had gotten rid of all those but Jack found one in a box that had yet to be unpacked!
I guess replacing the carpets (or adding all new hardwood floors) just got bumped to the top of the to-do list!!!!

New Virginia Beach Friends

Mommy's high school friend Meg invited us to a playgroup last Friday and we had a blast. Jack had his first trip in a Hummer with his new buddy Diego. Diego is quite the thrill-seeker, can't you tell??!!Eventually Jack took over the wheel and Mommy had a hard time tearing him away.

Thanks Meg and Cole for inviting us and introducing us to all of your fun friends. We can't wait to hang out again!

We're Alive!

We know, we know! We've been gone for almost a month and you were starting to go through Jack-Jack withdrawal, right? No? Well in any case, we survived our move to Virginia and are slowly getting settled and unpacked. It is so great being back in the good ol' Commonwealth but we sure do miss Chicago too! As our house was being packed in Chicago, we stayed in a hotel downtown and this was the view from our room! Such an amazing city that was so good to us.The hotel was super nice but Jack didn't care. He ate his room service spaghetti as if he were sitting in our kitchen. Sorry for the sauce on the chair and carpet Mr. Trump!