Monday, August 26, 2013

Feel the heat!

It is hot here.  Too hot.  Miserable hot.  I don't think we'll go back outside until it's dark hot.  But enough complaining.

I survived Jake's first out-of-town work trip last week with both kids.  And in classic fashion, Evan got sick the day before Jake left so he was home with Alice and I the entire time.  I can't complain because the kid didn't want to get off the couch the first day (I can't count how many Super Why episodes he watched) and I had friends over the 2nd day and several of them spent time just playing with him. So really, I have nothing to complain about.   Except the heat again.

Here are some shots from our week.

Of course we didn't think he would throw up and therefore didn't empty his bed of his gazillion stuffed animals.  They didn't all catch a direct hit, but I was still grossed out so they all received a thorough sanitizing and a morning in the sun.  Don't they look happy?
This is where he laid most of the first day.  Watching back-to-back episodes of a variety of kids shows.  


After we got back from the doctor to find out it wasn't strep throat.  
Luckily Alice and Evan napped at the same time that day so I could at least do the dishes.  Maybe take a shower....maybe not.


In other news, Alice is losing her hair.  She has a nice receding hair line going so I took some shots of it so we could prove she had adorable curls, in case they don't come back:(

And she's smiling folks!  This was the best I could do for a photo because every time I try to get one, she gets distracted by the phone and stops smiling.  

We tried a slip n slide - he's a little young for it so his fun included mommy pulling him on his knees or tummy down the slide and then just filling up his pool toys with the water.  We stayed cool though!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Summertime

We've had a great few weeks and I'm clearly slacking at updating the blog with our activities.  I'm on maternity leave, so I should have plenty of time to do this, right?  So why doesn't it seem to work out that way?  
We've been loving summer here - with temps in the 70s we've been able to be out and about all of the time.  I'm dreading the heat and humidity that is on its way.  We've had several weekend parties with friends, spent a day at the zoo, took in some new local restaurants, and of course some beach & pool time.  Alice has been a trooper and for the most part does well when we're out (she recently started to hate being in her carseat, which as an infant is a necessity not only in the car but also in her strollers, but she may (fingers crossed) be coming out of it).  And Evan has done awesome.  We're looking forward to squeezing in more activities while summer is still around!
We had a Saturday night cookout a few weeks ago.  Evan insisted on roasting hotdogs while mommy and daddy had pudgy pies.  I think we need to get longer roasting sticks:)

Beach play on a Sunday night - the little girl in the background joined Evan and he was very kind with his sharing.  He didn't talk to her of course, but no one is surprised by that, right?


We had brought his swim trunks along (we were going out to eat before the beach) but didn't think about a towel.  Thank goodness for baby sisters, and all of their baby blankets:)

Mommy and Alice hanging at the beach.

Checking out the Dinosaur exhibit at the zoo with our friends - twin girls his same age, Evan didn't know what to do with himself!

Evan loved the fish, but was clearly afraid when a big fish swam right up to him in the glass and kind of parked himself there (he's brought this up to me three or four times since that day).

Digging in the Mammoth bones park.  Thank goodness for the twins' older brother - Evan got plenty of boy time in that day too.
Evan took a swim with daddy over lunch on Friday.  It was a beautiful day!  Alice and I just lounged by the pool and then we were able to eat lunch on the pool deck before daddy had to go back to work.  Why haven't we been doing this every Friday all summer???

Saturday, August 3, 2013

When they are 2 and you are 1...

The title refers to being alone with both kids, which for many people is not a big deal, but we haven't practiced it much.  Evan has continued to keep his daycare routine most days and when he hasn't, Jake has taken off work so far.  And while yesterday wasn't the first time I've had them both by myself all day, the last time was when Alice was still in her i-was-born-early-and-i-want-to-sleep-all-day phase.  She's no longer there.  She's officially an infant.  So I was concerned.  But we made it.  And I think we actually had a good day!  Here are some shots of our day and our strategies for survival.

Alice is a white noise kind of girl.  She's sleeping in her basinet, right next to the vent fan in the kitchen so mommy could be outside on the patio with Evan (windows open so we could hear her of course).
We set up a huge little people meets matchbox town on the patio table.  Hours of fun for everyone!

We spent almost all of our home time outside so this one inevitably took some snoozes on the patio.

And we had to get out.  We got Evan a haircut (hence the sticker on his shirt) and checked out a new park that was close by.  Evan even made a few new friends while we were there!




Thursday, August 1, 2013

Who needs sleep?

Mommy and Daddy's sleep deprivation is coinciding nicely with Evan's desire to stay up later. He's quite good at negotiating and when one tactic no longer works, he thinks of a new one.  One night that he asked me to stay and cuddle way past the time that I should have left, I encouraged him to cuddle with all of his animals.  He countered with, "but I want to cuddle with someone who will talk to me."  How could I resist?  I think we've successfully avoided a later bedtime by encouraging him to look at books after we've left his room.  Last night he turned off his lamp on his own and was asleep relatively early so we'll see how that goes.  
Last weekend, Jake and Evan drew a massive road system on the driveway and rode their bikes on it for hours.  Lucky for Jake I didn't take video of both of them out there, but here's a video of Evan riding his trike on the road system: VIDEO.


Alice snoozes during a walk around the lake.  She loves the stroller rides!

Evan likes to play with Alice on the floor.  Here he's trying to calm her after mean mommy made her do tummy time.