I can't believe it has been almost two weeks since I posted last... it's cliche, but I can't believe how fast the time goes with these two little guys.

New in Josh's world --
He now has 6 teeth (4 up and 2 bottom) and enjoys using them to chomp real food. He has discovered that now that he can feed himself, that it's a lot more fun than having mommy feed him mush out of a jar with a spoon. He's eating the whole spectrum of foods now from bread and crackers to chicken and fruits/veggies.

Josh recently moved to the 'older infant' room at school. It's for 9-16 month olds. At 16 months, he moves to the toddler room until he's 2. He loves his new teachers and friends. The room is very crawl/walk friendly and he is having a blast cruising around. Speaking of cruising, boy is he mobile. He crawls up on his hands and knees like a pro and is pulling himself up to standing on just about anything he can find. Being so quick, you have to constantly keep an eye on him. (I told Paul that it's time to put the gate back up for the rec room so he is contained!) He is very busy and active like Jake was (well, and still is) and loves playing with someone down on the ground with him but is quite content finding things to play with on his own. He seems to have the same independent spirit that Jake has always had.

New in Jake's world --
Potty training continues to go well. Knowing me, I am not surprised that I am slightly disappointed that we aren't done already but it's only been two months :-) Jake is actually very consistent about going on the potty at school (no accidents) but he isn't as apt to go at home (or ask to go for that matter). I think Paul and I just need to step up our game. We did have a big breakthrough this past week with Jake going poo poo on the potty for the first time (at school)!

Jake's speech is fantastic and his rate of expanding his vocabulary is just amazing. This morning, I asked Jake where the remote to the TV was. Up to this point, he would normally respond with "Daddy" to let me know that Daddy had it. Today, he said "Daddy has it." Whole, complete sentence! And he's doing that in a lot of other situations too. It's also getting easier to understand what he is saying. I'd say I can get about 95% of it :-) But beyond speaking, just the things he has learned and understands in general is incredibly cool.

We are currently in a "tool phase". Jake is absolutely enamored with tools and fixing things. He has his own "play tools" but he would much rather have Paul's tools from the garage. He actually has a routine going on where every day when we get home from school, he goes directly to Paul's tool bench and picks out a new tool to bring upstairs and add to his collection. We just have to be careful about the tools that he picks! It's fun to watch him "pretend play" by "fixing" things like sawing and then screwing back together Josh's highchair.

In general --
Things are back to normal in the Gunning household after a nasty bout of the stomach flu. It started with Jake last Sunday and then Paul, Josh, and I all came down with it Monday night. By Wednesday we were all back to school and work but it was a rough couple of days!

Paul continues to dabble in real estate and seems to really be enjoying it. I am happy at my job, finally having two additional team members to spread around the wealth of work. I find myself NOT having to work at night and on the weekends which helps tremendously with work/life balance.

Next week we head to Vermont for a couple of days with Paul's family. Our first big family road trip! It will be a lot of fun to get away and spend some time together!!