Some photo updates

It's been WAY too long since I've shared some kiddo stats and photos so here ya go!

Max, is into his 2nd month of 4 year old preschool and he's LOVING it! His class size is bigger than last year and he seems to enjoy the 3 days a week schedule!

Andy, is also into his 2nd month of 2 year old preschool and seems to also be loving his one morning a week away from us.  He sings like crazy when he comes home each week and he is excited each Wednesday morning when i announce that it's a school day for him. 

Both boys are getting super tall! Max is growing like a weed and Andy is now able to wear most size 3T pants and shirts!

Here are a few recent photos of the boys!  Check out a huge bounty of pumpkins!  We grew all of them (two of them are missing since they became ripe way early and had a few bites taken out of them and were since tossed.... )

just like that

And just like that, I think Andy might be done with his morning nap.... for the past month or so it's been something that depending on our schedule, I would put him down or we would continue to play or go on a playdate or hit the beach or whatever.... today, I asked him, "Andy, are you ready for a nap?" he said, "no." and ran away. he's happily playing and not really showing any signs of needing to sleep.... I'm sure there will still be the random occasion when he will need to rest in the morning... but I'm pretty sure those will end up being rare and exstinct very soon too.

I have about 3 planned blogs in my head... lake vacation wrap up, gardening (jumping on the bandwagon here), and a new recipe. hopefully, my photos will be rescued from never never land soon so that those posts can be written...

Beach Vacation and Language

We spent last week at the beach. This is the 3rd year in a row that we traveled there, it was the 2nd year that we spent the week with Chris's family. We travel to Lewes Beach DE and it's about a 7 hour drive including lunch stops and such. Chris's Aunt and Uncle from Denver travel there as well and they usually bring 2 grandchildren. This year they brought Elias and Andrew with them, both boys were 12 years old. My kids learned a LOT from the boys :) Max's language and sentence structure exploded while there. He's speaking in nearly full sentences and it's just hilarious. Andy also has had an explosion of sorts, his words currently consist of the following:
cup - which means cup and also water in terms of water in the bathtub and water in the ocean
help
up
off (he tells us to turn lights and ceiling fans off - however off also apparently means ON)
cat
puppy
hello
buh bye
bike
book
ball
uh huh
boo boo
sheep

He also understands everything! Including his brother. Max has started to instruct Andy during play, Andy sometimes listens. And this results in a lot of 10 minute play sessions where they are playing with the SAME toy (the fisher price farm for example). No one gets mad, screams or cries. i call that progress! Max is also really learning to share. This is a great change as well :)

Here are a few photos from vacation:


Max enjoying a banana ice cream cone - while eating this, he bit a whole in the cone and started to 'hoot', I asked him what he was doing and he replied, "Looking for an owl." Since the topic of ice cream flavors seems to be a popular one these days, banana might be a good one to try, this was outstanding!


This was taken the evening we got there, after dinner we headed to the beach in our regular clothes... I should have known better... I tried to keep the kids from getting completely soaked but slightly damp turned into wet pants, and wet pants turned into damp shirt and damp shirt turned into completely soaked. I threw in the towel at wet pants... LOL they had fun and so did we and frankly i'm pretty sure that is all that matters.

More photos can be seen here.

In crafty news, I knit a few more washrag's the circular ones from MDK, I just love those. And, I started a project requested by my cousin. She requested a beach bag. I had a hard time finding fabric that I loved... and that I knew SHE would love. Until Monday.... It's a large floral print. I've started sewing the Everything Tote from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. Examples can be found here. Photos to follow soon.

andy updates

i am fairly certain that by the time Maxwell was 14 months old that i had update after update on his new tricks and what he was doing on a rather weekly or biweekly basis... poor Andy, truly a second child....

So, to keep things fair, here's an OVERDUE Andrew update:
He's talking! He mostly says Mama quite repetitively and Dada too, but not as much as Mama ;), but on top of that in the past few weeks he's been making all sorts of animal noises which include but are not limited to, Moo, Baa, cockadoodledoo, woof, and on the rare occasion meow. He's also been saying CAT for quite some time. Also, shoes and socks. And, the affirmative Ahha after any and every question we ask him. Our conversations usually sound like this, me: Do you want a drink? him: Ahha! me: Are you poopy? him: Ahha! me: Do you want to sleep on the porch in the rain? him: Ahha!

REAL TIME UPDATE: he's currently standing on his desk. He climbs EVERYTHING these days, so much so that i've had to start using the gate at the bottom of the steps again. he'll climb onto chairs and stand, he'll climb onto the couch and stand. He even climbed onto one of our new deck chairs, stood, then proceeded to try to climb up the back of the chair. yeah... good one....

He's started to be able to feed himself lately too, he uses a fork and his hand but it's a start. As a result, he's an absolute MESS after each meal... i can't wait for this skill to be honed a bit...

Tantrums are in full swing, initially they consisted of him throwing himself on the floor, arching his back and screaming for about 15 minutes... nothing helped him. These have now morphed into him standing, arching his back and doing what sounds like a fake cry, it's very repetitive sounding and i believe he has decided that standing is better because he doesn't bang his head on the floor and hurt himself if he's standing... he's a smart one!

He's also becoming VERY sneaky! He will take something of Max's and sorta wave it around in front of Max, then he runs away giggling!!! I don't know where he learned this trick but it's HILARIOUS to watch! He's constantly in motion, he barrels through anyone and anything to get what he wants and he doesn't care if he's steping on a cat, your face, his brother or off a set of stairs....

I can't wait to see what's in store for him this Spring and Summer - should be fun and VERY active!

a little less bah humbug than last time and some MILESTONES

ok, so some time has passed since my last post. i think we are both a little more into the holiday spirit now and we're able to deal with some of the stress that comes along with this time of the year. i'm done shopping. i do have to pick up a book that i ordered from a small local book store. but that's easy. i still have to wrap it all and bake. OOH, and finish knitting. i'm close. really close. and the pattern is way easy so it's going very smoothly, i just need some extra time to really bang it out.

i finished decorating the house today, the tree is up, and the lights are hung outside. it looks quite festive :) and the kids are really enjoying it. max especially.

on the home front.... let's see, max is learning to sing some christmas tunes! (talk about cute!) andy is also learning some sounds and they are sorta words too. right now he knows three "words" bottle, mama and dada. he still mixes up mama and dada but he's got "ba" down pat! AND!!!! he's walking and it's amazing! he's been cruising for quite some time now and in the past couple of weeks he's been taking one or two steps between chris and i during our "walking practice sessions". but this weekend he really took off! he's now taking a few steps between household objects and even from things into the middle of the room. he gets so excited about it too! it's adorable! he tries to follow max but can't keep up. and he definetly knows that crawling is his most efficient way to get from point A to point B. but he's becoming more and more brave by the minute and that is so much fun to watch. today was his big day and i know that by the end of the week he'll be in full walk mode :) the thought of this makes my cry!

OK, eyes are dry and i can see the computer screen again :)

i'm really looking forward to the next two weeks, i've got a bunch of playdates planned and i can't wait to spend time with my family and watch my kids enjoy the splendor of the holidays. i also have plans with some old friends and i'll get to meet my friend valerie's little girl who is 2 days older than andy. they'll be coming into town the 26th and will be having lunch at our house that day. then friends from ohio will be coming to spend the night on new year's eve. again, i'll be entertaining! i can't wait! i AM on the lookout for some recipe suggestions. anyone have any suggestions? i'm looking for things that are on the simple side. and i'll also take suggestions for sides and apps too ;)

gha! an overdue update.

i've been soooo out of the loop for the past two weeks. i had a bit of a meltdown with my laptop, it's been in the shop for a week and a half.... plus i was just super duper busy prior to that happening thus, no update for.... oh my god, almost a month.... so sorry!

well, gosh, since sept 17th, i really can't even remember what all we've been up to.... that's horrible. well, with a quick glance back at my calendar for the past few weeks i see that a whole lot of nothing interesting has been happening but a whole lot of working has been taking up a lot of our time. and really that's not going to stop for the next two weeks.

chris has a photographer/friend coming to stay with us this saturday through thursday, he's going to be doing some presentations and will have an photo exhibit while here. this all means that we'll have a house guest, first one since my good friend valerie stayed with us when i had my baby shower (while pregnant with max)! so i need to get some things done around the house before he gets here saturday, we still aren't sure of his arrival time.... he then will be staying with us until the following thursday, which coincidentally is the same day that chris and i leave for our little 3 day vacation without the boys!

we're headed to hocking hills ohio to stay in a little cabin in the woods. we'll be relaxing, hiking, eating, relaxing hot tub style, relaxing, sleeping, eating... and basically just getting some much needed couple time. we can't wait and have been counting down the days since the beginning of october. (full review to follow)

as for knitting, FLS is in a bag in the corner... i have a small mistake that i need to fix on the 1st arm, it's not hard, but i need brain power to fix it, and that's something i'm laking these days. i really want to take it to ohio with me, finished... i need to get going on this. i also bought an extra ball of yarn for her, the arms would have been a bit too short without it.

i also attended a workshop provided by Yarns Unlimited, Jared Flood was the presenter. it was really fun and very inspiring. it was also great fun to get together with two good friends and have some good greek food for lunch too! i plan on using the techniques that he discussed on a sweater for chris. although i will probably not be starting that until after the holiday season. maybe a bit before if he's lucky.

for the past few weeks, little things will happen with the kids and i'll think, 'ooh i have to blog about that' or 'this'. i never kept a running list (must start listing these thoughts) and now i can't remember most of them.

one of them is that max has started to sing, he's always sorta singsonged a bit but he has recently started to sing the theme song to bob the builder, it's super cute. he also sings his abc's, but it sounds more like "bee dee dee" lol, it's funny. he's very interested in letters and numbers and writing too. he has a small doodle pro and his drawings recently went from be swirly curly circles to little symbol-like/letter-like scribbles. he knows that letters make words and is really into the tv show Super Why! on pbs. in fact it's actually slowly taking over his love for curious george, george is his old stand by and good buddy and he still asks to watch that show but there is so much more to learn in super why so i've been suggesting that in place of george and he is happy to watch.

andy, well, let's see, teeth 5 & 6 have emerged. number 6 is actually still emerging but i think that it's broken the skin but i just can't quite feel it. i expect to be able to tomorrow or friday. he's been a biting fool. shoulders, knee caps, fingers, legs, noses, cheeks, really anything that he can! it's pretty funny. he's also cruising.

the weather has been perfect, fall is upon us! i just love all the color outside and the kids love to watch the leaves fall to the ground. max exclaims, "uhno!" and andy watches in wonder. this is an amazing time!

this is going to be a long one

ok, cleaning house a bit, a few lists:

andy stats:
he's sitting unassisted for a minute or so at a time.
he's up on all fours doing that thing where they sway back and forth and he sometimes does a little crawling in the backwards direction.
he's eating a load of cereal.
he had fresh zucchini from my cousin's garden while on vacation and fresh picked blueberries and some banana.
he will go down for a nap or to sleep at night without being asleep, i can put him in his crib and if he's sleepy enough he'll fall asleep in about 10 minutes. if he's not, he lets you know by screaming, i go get him we play for another 20-30 minutes then try again and he usually goes down the 2nd time.
he has become baptized to the religion of the lake goers.

max stats:
he is feeding himself really well with utensils. he has mastered the spoon for cereal and ice cream and other spoon friendly foods.
he is potty training himself.

yes, i said potty training himself. he's been peeing on the potty for quite some time. not at any really regular intervals during the day but before and after naps and bedtime and any other time we change a diaper (he doesn't always go when we put him on there but he understands that if he goes, he gets to flush! big fun!) so while on vacation we were eating a late dinner and he was giving us a hell of a time basically he didn't want to eat. we didn't fight it. we let him get down from his chair, he went to the other room to be private then quickly came back to let chris know that he had pooed.

it was just a little bit so chris put him on the potty to finish. he went some more and exclaimed that he was "all done!"
the next day the same thing happened except all of the poo ended up in the potty.
this was a few days ago, we haven't changed a poopy diaper since.
fastforward to today, we had lunch he started to play, i was cleaning up and he runs in and says, "mama, this!" and grabbed his crotch. so we went to the potty, his diaper was wet but not warm so i know he hadn't peed lately in it. i put him on the pot and leave the room (he won't do anything in there if you're in there with him). at this point i hear him trying to go. wouldn't you know it, i then had to go too.... so i leave him there and run to the basement. i go. (i know tmi) then run back upstairs to find him still going... so i stand outside the door and listen. then i hear a plop and he starts to whine so i go back in to find that he went a TON! i gave him a big kiss, cleaned him up and let him flush the toilet! big excitement! we aren't close to getting rid of diapers all together because he still pees there quite often. i'm fairly certain that i could train him if i took the time but i need chris to be here on a somewhat normal schedule and frankly that's not going to be the case until the end of august. so maybe we'll attempt it the week of his birthday.

vacation wrap up:
ahhhh the lake! we had some crappy weather, especially early in the week. it would be sorta clear in the mornings but by 10 or so it would cloud up and rain off and on for the rest of the day only to clear around 7 pm or so... then mid week there was one day it rained all day. then thursday and friday it was pretty nice and then saturday it was sunny until about 1 then got cloudy again just in time for us to pack up and leave. regardless of the weather we still had fun. and got a good amount of swimming and lake lounging done too.

andy make his lake debut!
here he is with papa! both look pretty happy to be there!

max played with his bucket and rocks! this is my favorite photo of the entire week!




i relaxed in a chair in the water....


we had a great time not doing a whole lot. my mom and i did manage to go shopping in a small town one afternoon, i found some great antique buttons. three pearly white ones that are square and are angular and 9 dark blue ones that are pearly. i also got some super cool antique post cards from around 1906 for chris. one is of the intersection of 4th and wood downtown (right where he works) and the other is a view of 1st ave taken from station square. both are pretty neat.

another day my mom and i also went to pick blue berries! we got there kinda late and they were going to close in about 20 minutes. but between the two of us we each filled a 1 gallon ziplock bag! we had enough blue berries for the week and we both got to take home about half a bag each! we're still eating fresh blueberries! for those two large bags, we paid $8! can't beat that! i can't wait to do that again next year!

i also made a lot of progress on my FLS. not quite done with the body yet. i did have to fix a mistake (thanks amanda for that technique! i did it all by myself! yay!) i am starting to worry that i need to buy two more balls of yarn...

as for traveling with this kids. this trip was a little easier. we left the house about 5 on our way up. we stopped around 7 for breakfast then again about 2 hours later so that could feed andy again and so that max could run around a bit.
then about 30 minutes after that the kids were both having fits... so i crawled into the back seat and proceeded to read to them... all the while i felt like i could have yacked....

as for the ride home.... we were supposed to leave early sunday morning. chris has a job scheduled for about 3 pm that day so we had to hustle. we then decided late afternoon on saturday that we would just scrap that and instead pack up the car and the kids that evening and leave around 8 pm (aka bedtime). so i cleaned, chris packed the car, max helped us both ;) then we left! my parents stayed until the morning then traveled early. we got home about 2 am... we were very groggy. the kids slept through the whole thing. it was awesome! we didn't have to even stop to pee, we only made a quick stop at a T & A for a caffeinated drink for chris. then we kept going just like the old days b.c. (before children).

major connection made today

max made a major connection :) he peed in the potty for the first time today and he did it TWICE! we did a happy pee in the potty dance for him both times and made him feel really good about it :) he was happy and very proud. the plan at the moment is to just put him on the potty each time we get him up from napping or sleeping or if it's time to change his diaper or what not since he's not really communicating that he has to go just yet. i know that will happen soon though!

in other news, andrew is HUGE! i swear that he has doubled in size and is about to round out his first month! i can't believe that he'll be a month old in a few days! it's just amazing!

as for chris and i, we're surviving, adjusting to being parents of two.... it's rough. basically, we do for them, then we sleep. then we do for them... and sleep... same cycle... over and over... i know it will become less strict soon but in the meantime we just want some us time. so since we know that it will come soon enough we decided to book a little weekend getaway this fall to celebrate our 5 years of marriage! we've decided to go to deep creek md and stay here for three nights! the grandparents have already said go for it! so today we counted our change that we have been saving for a few years and low and behold we have enough money in change alone to pay for the three night stay! whoo hoo!

we can't wait and are looking forward to the time along :) yay!