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???

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!

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.  

Still growing!

Yes, Alice is still growing and we are growing as a family, learning how to do things with 2 kids.  It's incredible how long it takes us to leave the house.  It's kind of ridiculous actually.  And besides Alice's needs, Evan is in a phase where he wants to know why everything happens and he wants to recall ridiculous facts about previous conversations that might be related to what we are about to do (I'm not sure how many different parks he described to me or the mode of transportation we took to get to said parks when we told him we were going to Lake Harriet park last weekend).  We do eventually make it out the door, and typically come home exhausted but happy.  We'll see how long that trend continues (the happy part).

I've written before about how Evan likes to make up songs about what he is doing.  We'll hear him singing the narration of his play when we're out of the room (he seems embarrassed when he gets "caught" so he'll typically stop singing if we step into the room).  Recently, he started singing a song when he's getting dressed - specifically when he has his shirt off.  We like to refer to it as the "big belly button" song.  This video doesn't do it justice (thought we'd use one with his shirt on), but it's still pretty cute!  (In case you can't hear his lyrics, he's singing, "big belly, belly button")

Awake little Alice.

Evan trying to play with Alice.  Sometimes the toys might end up right in her face during these interactions....

based on Alice's response, I think this was likely one of those interactions.

Evan on climbing structure at Lake Harriet Park.  Not going to lie, I was super nervous about him being up there but he wanted to and he handled it like a pro.  This part of the park is not recommended for children under the age of 5 - parents of the year.

Family of 4

I always think there will be more time to post pictures and little stories and then I find myself trying to catch up.  It's been a great few weeks as we adjust to being a family of 4.  We had more family in town visiting which is always nice and celebrated 4th of July with a few tame fireworks (we're talking poppers and sparklers - but given the neighbor's show, we might have to step it up next year).  Evan just liked staying up late I think:)

Alice is growing like crazy!  She looks different every day and is gradually increasing the time between her feedings at night which is to mommy and daddy's benefit. We're all loving her, even her big brother.  Evan always looks for her when he comes up from nap, or when he comes home from daycare.  He'll bring her a pacifier and looks for toys that she won't choke on - he brought me a huge bear the other day and told me, "see mommy, she can't choke on this."  If it helps keep his lego pieces away from her, I"ll take it.  

Roasting marshmallows for s'mores on 4th of July

Licking marshmallow off his hands - he didn't end up eating the whole thing.....

most likely b/c he wanted to get back to playing construction site - he's been moving dirt and landscaping rock around the premises for a while

Wouldn't be the 4th of July if we didn't let Evan stay up past his bedtime and walk around with lit fireworks.  He loved the sparklers!  And no one got burned.

Little miss Alice, awake!

Eating her hands

And in her favorite position - some nights Jake holds her like this for hours (can you blame him?)

Evan received his first new Lego set this week - he LOVED it!  He was so serious about following the plans with daddy.

End result - a super awesome fire truck.  You can tell he's doing his best fire truck wail here.

Alice Caroline is here!

Yes, we had our second baby last week.  In a rather hasty fashion at that.  Alice Caroline arrived Tuesday June 25, 2013 at 4:25 pm.  Let's just say she'll have a story to tell about her birth.  One that involved a very short labor for mommy at work (and maybe some denial that she was even in labor), followed by some good luck having daddy close to home that day, and some fast first responders.  We needed some assistance getting to the hospital as things progressed extremely fast once we were in the car.  And even though I'm sure Jacob could have handled it, neither of us wanted to have him deliver the baby on the side of the road. In the end, she was delivered by an OB, at the hospital.  Just like we planned.

And she's perfect.  Born at 5 lb, 10 oz, she's over her birth weight already - girl likes to eat.  And Evan is taking well to her.  He responds to her crying by getting her blankets, pacifiers, or toys.  She's pretty boring to him yet, but they'll get there.

And we had some awesome help from family last week that allowed us to stay with Alice in the hospital and not worry about Evan.  So thank you to our wonderful families!  We couldn't have done it without you!

Here are a few pics (in no specific order) of our little girl and her proud big brother!

Snoozing at home.

Evan playing at the park with grandma and grandpa - he got to hit up the splash pad that day too.  He was in heaven!

It's hard to read, but Evan's wearing a "big brother" sticker he got in a card.

Checking out daddy in the hospital.

Evan giving Alice a blankie.

Evan checking out Alice for the first time - he was super quiet and unsure during this visit.

A very happy father's day

We had another great weekend and were able to celebrate father's day the whole weekend.  As long as Jacob thinks going to the garden center, planting more annuals, and mulching the gardens is fun:)  We were able to take advantage of some beautiful weather and got some decent beach time in.  Evan also has started to try to imitate our mechanic neighbor and wanted to set up "shop" with his cozy coupe and tricycle.  He actually initiated towing the tricycle with his cozy coupe by tying rope between the two.  We sadly didn't capture this with photos but you can probably guess how that looked.  Here's some of his good times this weekend.

Father's Day at the beach

Once we warmed up, the shirt came off and the smiles and giggles came out

Evan had some serious missions that included lots of trips into and out of the water

Then we came home and he set up his "shop", complete with pavers to keep his vehicles from moving

He moved on from the tricycle and brought all of his construction trucks to his shop

How we love our weekends

I actually started writing this post last Sunday.  If that's any indication of how busy things have been.... and now I'll try to post the pictures we took last weekend before we fall into another weekend.  And I'm not complaining about another weekend.  And this coming weekend promises to serve up a date night and possibly some sunshine, so no, I'm definitely not complaining. Evan asks every morning if it's the weekend.  He wants to know if he gets to stay in his pjs all morning and eat pancakes or waffles in the morning (this trend of big weekend breakfasts might have to come to a close after pregnancy, but for now he's loving it, and maybe mommy and daddy are loving it too!)

With limited engagements last weekend, we were able to spend a lot of time together and a lot of time outside.  Even though it was starting to feel like it would never stop raining this past week, we were able to make the most of every minute outside that we could last weekend.  And Evan was loving it!  We hit a few parks, played in the yard, he rode his tricycle, and he loved helping mom and dad plant more flowers in the yard. It's so cute to watch him because he wants so much to participate in every step.  And hearing him say the word "fertilizer" is a kill.  Maybe he'll be a gardner in the future?

And Evan got to go to a live version of the Choo Choo Bob Show Saturday.  It was a loud event and if you've met Evan, you know that he's not the most outgoing little guy at new events.  Once he warms up he can't stop talking and acting silly, but he can be shy to start.  This was no different, except at one point, he was sitting in my lap so he could see better, and he cuddled up (best he could - the belly gets in the way these days), and next thing I know, our friend leans over and says, "he's asleep."  It was so precious I couldn't interrupt.  There was a live band folks.  Hundreds of kids.  And Evan fell asleep.  It was only a 10-15 minute nap, and then he woke up and asked if we could go to the park, but it was priceless.   Wish I had a photo.

Not afraid to get his hands dirty.  

He wanted to keep digging.  He'd dig up the whole yard if we let him.

I wish I could remember what he calls the fertilizer.  

This was one of my favorite - he would grab a handful of mulch and just sort of toss it towards the beds.  

Hitching a ride back to the garage.  Typically he wants to pull the wagon everywhere but I think this load got just a little too heavy.

Long weekend

Evan is appreciating his long weekends more and more.  And despite mommy having to attend a conference for most of this holiday weekend, and the weather being less than desirable (what else can I complain about here), Evan had a great time this weekend too.    We spent as much time outside as we could and Evan shocked us with how much his tricycle riding skills have improved.  We'll be biking the lakes soon, I'm sure. Hope everyone had a great memorial day weekend!

He would scream "gooaalll!!!!" every time he kicked it even near the net.  

And of course we have to do ridiculous things with the basketball and cone.  

This one actually looks like a good goal, and with a soccer ball instead of a basketball.

Cruising the neighborhood.  I think he likes it so much more now that he can pedal and steer all by himself!

We Need to Blog!

Well, we've had a busy few weeks, and the blog has fallen behind. Here's a few photos of our last few weeks to catch everybody up...

First... Evan's new favorite music video... (and ours). It features "googly eyes."

One of Evan's construction sites

Evan is helping us turn his old bed back into a crib

Our little helper

We took down the letters from his room
and he put them together to spell his name.

Cousin Grayson came over.. and of course they played trains

Adrienne had some helpers, making cookies