... and more birthdays!

The fall is a very busy birthday time of year for our family. A few days ago was Pal's birthday, today is my sister's birthday, stay tuned more bday's coming next week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Aunt Kara!

Playful and Content

It's a nice part of the day when I get ready to make dinner and all is quiet on the home front. Typically Colby is thoroughly engaged in some play full of wonder and imagination, so I can sneak away and prep. PJ has just eaten and he too is enjoying some playtime, which in his case mostly involves taking in the sights and sounds of his new and changing world. Not only is it a beautiful time on our property because the sun sets right through the trees, but it is also a beautiful time typically where everyone is content, happy and soon to be ready for dinner and bed! Love it!

Quick Trick Block Stack

Colby loves his blocks.
We have small blocks, big blocks, soft blocks, wood blocks, legos, mega blocks ... blocks, blocks, blocks!

Just look at that concentration. Pretty tall block stack ehhh?

Upside Down and Backwards

I was working in the office the other day and knew I'd only be there a few minutes so when I put Parker down in the bouncer I didn't strap him in. No big deal, he was contained since this one has higher sides than the other bouncer we have downstairs. I nearly laughed myself off my chair when I turned and saw this...




... hahaha he had turned himself nearly upside down and backwards and was eating his feet! He was smiling away happy as a little bowl of clam chowdah. So I left him there! :)

Happy babies we don't disturb!

Ouch

Just for informational purposes; if ever you have to change the batteries on a smoke detector, perhaps at 2am, I advise NOT dropping it accidentally on your head as IT HURTS!!!!!!!!!

Leaves

Here are a few lot more pictures from our leaf jumping fun from last weekend. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Which is your favorite? Perhaps a few Christmas card possibilities?!!

To see all the photos (as if this wasn't enough) from our morning of fun in the leaves, go here!

more b-days!

Today is Pal's birthday... sorry no surprise trip to Disney again this year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAL!!!!! :)

Whistle --- no more

It appears that Doug was not fond of Colby's new whistle.


We went out yesterday afternoon all toys put away in their appropriate places, Thomas whistle currently resides on the coffee table... Upon returning home later that evening this was all that was left of Colby's new Thomas whistle. Now either Doug was attempting to blow it himself and was totally unsuccessful or has decided that he reeeeeeeeally did not like the little guy tooting it all the time. What a sad day. Now we're on the hunt for a new Thomas whistle... hopefully before Colby realizes it is missing!

Email or Message?

Twitter?
Facebook?
Email?
Text?
Message?
Skype?


Which?

Do you tweet?
Are you a facebook-er?
What happened to good ol email?


Do you Text the cell instead?
Direct message?
Put it on the "Wall"?
Post a comment to a blog?
Enter a change on a wiki?

Gasp... do you pick up the phone - god forbid it be a land line - and simply call someone?


Which?

Does anyone else find there's just not enough time in the day to keep up with all these means of communicating with people?

4 Month Check Up

Parker had his 4 month peds visit last week. He's a growin'!

Doing all the things he should be developmentally and checked out great with the doc.
Weighed in at 13 pounds 11 ounces.
24 3/4 inches
Both 50% - an average size boy.

You may recall Colby's 4 month visit.
(Side Note: Ultimately we determined the nurse measured him wrong for length so we don't really know how long he was.)

A little bit different. PJ is basically just a slight bit heavier than what Colby weighed (13 pounds 1 oz) at his 2 month visit! :) Colbster was just a big boy back then!

So I guess it's ok that Parker's still not sleeping through the night yet. He's basically, in our minds, living what we knew at 2 months old, not 4 months.

Guess every baby really is different!
So if you were wondering... that's our stats update for now.

Not seen often enough

I took the boys to the aquarium this afternoon since we definitely needed to get out of the house. With Scott being away so many days and nights over the last few weeks I've done my best to keep things fresh, get out when we can, create some random adventures and yet still keep a routine and schedule that works for the 3 of us. Still, despite anything I might be able to do by myself locally with 2 under 2 in tow life gets to be pretty monotonous, cumbersome, overwhelming and a bit lonely at times. So this afternoon I had to do something to keep from losing my sanity (not like the boys are bad, it's just a lot for so long and always the same so it was more because I needed something different today), thus we escaped to our "happy place", the local aquarium.

We love it there.

We're members so bonus, each time we go it's free. 7 minutes or 7 hours, still free. Yes we paid the membership fee, but boy is it worth its weight in gold ten times over at this point in our lives. We find ourselves there at least 1-2 times a month if not more. It's quaint, familiar and a place to "get away" for even just 30 minutes. Usually we're there about an hour/ hour and a half, see some fish, enjoy the belugas, and watch the sea lion show, we ALWAYS see the sea lion show, just long enough to feel refreshed and renewed and like you 'did' something that day that wasn't the same 'ol same 'ol.

So today when Colby and I took our regularly scheduled (see, still keeping the routine) afternoon potty break I noticed this sign taped to the ladies' room mirror...



... a sign not seen often enough.

What a kind gesture.

How appropriate for a place that clearly is aimed at families. I think the only other 2 places I can name off the top of my head that go out of their way to make sure a nursing mother has an appropriate place to feed her baby are 1. Babies R Us and 2. Walt Disney World.

Now I'm not exactly a breastfeeding crazy woman or anything like that. Heck, I'm pretty new to this whole "boob and spit rag are the only 2 things I need when I've got PJ with me" thing... after all Colby was a formula baby. Sure, I've gotten to the point of comfort and ease with feeding him fairly discretely that I don't really care where I am or who's around. If the kids gotta eat, the kids gotta eat. That's what these things are here for right? And if you have a problem with me feeding him here, then you leave, I'm just "doing my job" as a mother. But, it's unfortunately mostly an American thing to not have more acceptance and understanding for breastfeeding women. Any other place in the world and breasts are free for the viewing, sometimes baby or not! Ha! No stigma, no hub bub, just good 'ol "milky minutes". If only the rest of America would get a clue and realize that perhaps they aren't always a sexual thing, but have a purpose too.

Anyways, I digress majorly from my original thought.

Back to the aquarium this afternoon.

Given that we were also going to be adventuresome and go out to dinner tonight (gotta love Friendly's $1.99 kids meals every Wednesday night! Colby and I eat dinner and dessert - well, I have dessert for 2 nights since he doesn't like ice cream - for under $12. LOVE IT. And even better... didn't have to cook!), I knew PJ would need to eat before we were done at the aquarium in order for him to get through dinner without a fuss.

So we happily took advantage of the aquariums kind gesture and found the administrative offices. A nice woman there escorted Colby, PJ and I to what would have been the medical emergency room, she put a sign on the door that said "Room Occupied. Please Do Not Disturb.", locked it and let us be, only requesting that I let her know when we were through using the space. Nothing fancy. Just a 10' x 10' room with white walls and a cot, desk, chair and bunch of medical supplies. But it was enough.

Something not seen often enough.

It was a place where we could have some privacy and be "contained". Sure, I may not mind breastfeeding in public anymore, but it wouldn't exactly have been easy for me to feed PJ in the large open space of the aquarium, on a bench with no back, all while Colby wants to take off and go to the Shark Tank. Yeah... good luck with that one. He's a great kid and very patient with me when I have to feed PJ 96 times a day, but that's a little much to ask of a 2 year old - waaaay too tempting and more like taunting. Possibly a disaster waiting to happen.

Sure, I could have done my usual out and about feeding spot - the exciting front seat of my truck, but why should I have to? And trust me, that is definitely not all that fun for Colby.

Luckily, it appears that someone made a small request and our "happy place" responded - positively! THANK YOU AQUARIUM!!! This is why we love this place. This is why we pay the membership fee! This is why we come so often if even just for a little while.

It's because of the things not seen often enough! :)

To 10!

It's pretty neat when you are reading a book and realize that the things you say to your child are actually sinking in! Yeah for learning!

Colby and I were reading today and as I often like to do, I just randomly pick something in one of the pictures to start counting. And much like other days we counted from 1 to ..., in this case 10, the cars on the train in "The Little Red Caboose" book. I usually decide what to count based on something that Colby sees or points out in the book. Today it was him saying "cars hooked together". Yep, little buddy, the train cars are hooked together. I started with, hey let's count how many cars on the train are hooked together. 1... and pointing to the first car, pause and wait for a response, if not I'll fill in and point to 2, and so on.

After counting every stair in our house every time we go up and down. Counting every little animal critter that goes into the Noah's ark toy, counting all the racecars we have, counting how many cups of flour went into baking our "mommy's famous banana muffins" yesterday, after counting and counting and counting, something must have clicked today. Typically he'll count with me up to 4 or 5, oh and by the way, he loves the #3 and #4 but anyways, he then waits for me to finish up the rest. He'll point and count with me but not all on his own projecting the names of the numbers and demonstrating that he knows what comes next.

Today I had one of those 'mommy moments' where it sinks in that you are definitely influencing your child and teaching them something and realize that they have been listening. You aren't just talking to yourself or translating toddler speak for nothing. Colby, for the very first time, counted from 1 to 11 all by himself. He counted 1 to 10 for the train cars in "The Little Red Caboose" book and then again 1 to 11, counting rabbits in one of our favorites "Tom Rabbit". Not too bad for 2 years and 4 months old. Pretty neat!

Shall I ask him to count all the leaves?

Day Out with Thomas

On Saturday we had the best family fun day ever! Well, maybe not ever since we do have a lot of family fun days, but it too ranked waaay high on the list.

Colby is really into 'hooo, hoo hains' aka Choo Choo Trains these days so what better way to treat your toddler train loving son then to meet Thomas the Tank himself - in person! Colby isn't exactly a "Thomas" watcher, I think he may have seen 1 episode of a Thomas show in his lifetime, AND isn't exactly a tv watcher at all so isn't really influenced by media and advertising. But, of course, every little boy knows who Thomas is. Not really sure how, but they do! Yes, we've seen him in the stores and my nephew has a few trains, and we have some matching cards with Thomas characters, but for the most part I think it's pretty innate - a boy thing :) Regardless of whether before this particular day he knew who Thomas actually was... after Saturday he DEFINITELY knows who Thomas is!!

So we spent the "Day Out with Thomas"!!

Colby got 1 glimpse of the trains and took off running!!

It was a much bigger event than I'd known about. There probably was close to a full days worth of activities, but we opted for just a few hours and then headed out to lunch and home for naps. Gotta lock in the naps! :0) So along with the train ride, there were clowns...

... and carnival rides...

...professional pictures with Thomas. We opted for the home made version because the line was so long and I wasn't going to spend $20 on 1 photo anyways.

The first thing we did when we got there was our scheduled train ride time. It was great. About a 30 minute ride roundtrip down the track and back through the scenic area. All while being narrated by the conductor.



Parker seemed to enjoy the ride.

(click on the photo to enlarge it and get a real glimpse of those baby blues!)

Or if you like that photo, my personal preference happens to be the Black and White version!
A classic!

Colby was just so engulfed in the whole thing. The ride, the views, the idea that we were there.

And because it is a character themed event, of course they make a big deal out of creating it into a story. The tracks were slippery and so we all got to cheer Thomas on so he had enough energy to go so we could make it back home!

GO, THOMAS, GO!!!!!

And because we cheered and helped Thomas, each of the kids on the train received a Jr. Engineer Certificate!

PJ just chillin out with dad excited about being a Jr. Engineer!

Colby was a little tired of pictures and just wanted to enjoy his train ride.

My attempt at some "different" photo ops.

And because we are old school dorky parents, we didn't buy the latest and greatest new train or track or tshirt souvenir, instead we bought the classic wooden train whistle. Colby wasn't sure what to do at first, but after a few blows and a lot of practice with lots of hot air he got it! Now we have a train whistling in our house all day long :)

There were big trains and small trains and all types of things to climb on.

Model trains and pictures of trains.

Trains to color...

and tattoos of trains. (Not permanent of course!)

It was a train - ful day!
We went on a treasure hunt around the event asking for stamps at the appropriate places. If you found all the stamps you received a prize - a 3D picture (complete with glasses) of Thomas! Woooahhhh, sooo cool. I hung it up on the wall in the playroom when we got home. Cman can now be found sitting and staring at the picture for the last 3 days! haha the little things in life.

He was in absolute awe looking around.

We even got our picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt!

And last but not least, we couldn't go home without letting the little guy drive a "racecar". He was in his glory! Didn't even care that he got the back seat!

A great way to start a great weekend!
More leaf jumping pics coming up next.

Beeeeeeeeeep, BEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Why?
Why oh why?
WHY OH WHY OH WHY... PLEASE TELL ME WHY...

Why do smoke detector batteries only die at 2 am????
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Why not at 2 in the afternoon? 7am? noon?

But, NOOOOOOO. Of course not.
Our smoke detector batteries only crap out and go beeeeeep
2 minute pause
beeep
2 minute pause
beeeeeeeeeeeep, and on and on and on and only at 2 am!!!!


And of course we have an extremely overprotective dog who enjoys alerting us each and every time the silly thing beeps. Thus creating an even more joyous night of activity that would sound like this:

Beeep.
Woof.
Silence.
Woof.
BEEEP.
WOOF.
Silence.
Woof. Woof.
BEEEEEEEEEPPPP.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOF. WOOOOOOOOOOF.
Silence.
WOOOOF. Wooof. Wooof. woof.
BeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.
Woof. Woof. Woof. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFF!!!


HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!

When Sharks Attack

They are very cute sharks.