Adam's 9 Month Video - A Twofer

Happy Birthday Adam!

I will post my usual numbers on his shirt photo and recap of the month, but today we took a video of his new "trick."  It looks like he is clapping at the end, but he's really asking for "more." Two skills in one short video! 

Magic Trees & Snowy Magic Trees

I steamed a while family size bag of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots tonight to try and give Adam some soft cooked carrots to try as finger food.  As usual, they came out tough and rubbery (why can't I cook soft carrots?!?!?)  So I was about to throw away the entire bag when I decided to plop a piece of broccoli in front of Owen just to watch his usual rejection.  To my surprise and delight, he ate the whole thing and asked for another one.  He ate about four pieces when I decided to try the cauliflower...I told him broccoli was a magic tree and these white ones were snowy magic trees, also called "cauliflower."  Fast forward to I now have an empty bag of broccoli and cauliflower. 

Yipeee!

Baby Signs

Here we are, a week away from Adam turning 9 months and he has officially started signing.  We really haven't been working much on this with him so I give him all the credit for this one!

Is Adam pushing this fire truck toy all over the living room by himself?  Uh, yeah he is!

Official First Day Of Preschool

Owen is officially a preschooler!  Today was kind of traumatic, I'm not going to lie.  Lots of crying before we even left for school...I sort of knew that last week's accidental dry run would have set the anxiety wheels in motion, but I suppose it's to be expected.

Once we got there, he actually did better than I thought.  He was very nervous, but he was holding it together.  Steve and I stayed for a while and he was engaging in some of the toys and activities but you could tell by his face he was on edge.  Then, one of his classmates lost it big time.  His mom left and the little boy started screaming like she was leaving him forever.  This really unnerved Owen so when we left, he lost it too.  I felt so sorry for him and it was so hard to leave him there knowing that he didn't know the teachers at all (they weren't with him during the orientation last week.)  I must have made Steve reassure me that we were doing the right thing at least 100 times.  We stayed outside the classroom listening to him cry for about 10 minutes (along with the mom of the other screaming child) but then we were scared he might come out into the hall to get his bunny which was in his backpack in the hall cubbies for just such an emergency, so we left.  I cried all the way home. 

About 5 minutes after we got home, my phone rang and it was his teacher...my heart dropped thinking that she was calling me to say that he hadn't calmed down and we should probably come pick him up.  But, she was calling to say he was doing fine!  She said he was really upset for a while, but asked the adults to leave him alone and so they did.  She said as soon as they gave him some space, he calmed right down and started joining the rest of the kids.  I was so relieved!

When we arrived to pick him up, we peeked in the window and he was doing fine on some task with the teachers, but when he looked up and saw us outside the window he lost it.  My instincts are telling me that the teachers may have told him after he saw us that he could come out when he finished whatever he was doing and that's why he lost it.  I tried to ask him, but he couldn't tell me what exactly happened in those moments.

Anyway, I was feeling pretty defeated at that point, but when we walked outside 3 of his classmates were playing in a small tree in the front of the school.  Owen suddenly became happy again and wanted to join his friends so we did that for a while in order to cap the day off with something positive.  After his friends left, we stayed for a bit and played some more on the school grounds.  I was able to ask him questions about school while he was distracted by the tree so this is what I learned about his first day of school:

• He got sad.
• Some boy name Jack kicked him.
• He had crackers for snack.
• He made a placemat with pictures...there were no pictures of Charlie on his placemat but there were pictures of Mom, Dad, Bubba and Adam.
• He played outside in the sand.
• His favorite person to play with was Sam.
• The teacher got Bunny out of his backpack for him when he was sad, but he told her he didn't want it.

After our little play session, we headed out of the parking lot and he was happy as a clam.  He even started singing "open shut them" and when I sang along, he corrected me on how his teacher sings it.  So I'm taking the fact that he seemed to enjoy some of the memories of school and wanted to continue playing with his friends as a good sign that he really did have fun there.  I am going to blame the crying on some massive separation anxiety which I will grant him because A: I've never left him anywhere like that before and B: I had it too.

I didn't get any "here we are before our first day of school" pictures because there was far too many tears, but Steve was able to get a cell phone photo of Owen after school (after our play session) when he wanted to wear his new backpack and go look at police cars.  How cool is it that the preschool is located at City Hall where there is a parking lot for police cars?  He kind of appreciates it now...I'm sure once he stops crying at school he is going to LOVE it.

Sniff.

Big Boy Bed x Two

The bedtime stories continue...Owen's bedding arrived yesterday and it is so cute.  However, once I had his bed all made up with the expensive (but made reasonable by a generous discount thanks to Steve's cousin) quilt and shams...I realized that until Owen is basically potty trained, I would probably not be using it.  It's easy to wash sheets and a blanket -- I really don't want to try and wash the quilt on a weekly basis.  So the quilt is safely stored in the closet for a few more months.

And tonight, Adam went to bed in his crib for the first time in his life.  He has been sleeping in the pack and play but tonight seemed like as good of night as any to make the switch.  There were no peeps going down...I'm hoping the night ends as good as it began!

And I have been wanting a picture of Owen in his big boy bed.  I was actually going to try and take a picture of both boys in each of their "new" beds, but I chickened out with Adam.  This one of Owen turned out a little blurrier than I wanted (well, the blanket is in focus!) but it's still cute...Using his pillows and cuddling Bunny.  He still hasn't figure out how to sleep under a blanket!
 

The View From Up Here

Adam has figured out how to pull himself up on things. And by "things" I mean "everything." The couch, the coffee table, the jumparoo, toys, my leg, the dog, drawer handles, just a wall like Spider Man...He's super proud of himself too.

Number Two

I'm trying to figure out how to start this post.  I wanted to say "Owen is not a big fan of books."  But that isn't true because he LOVES his bedtime stories.  He will read 900 books before bed if we let him.  But he refuses to read a book during the day.  I don't know why?  Sometimes I wonder if he thinks a book means it's bedtime?  Or he just prefers his toys when he's downstairs where they all are (he has no toys in his room.)  I don't know.  But today, he found a book and immediately wanted to read it.  The first one ever that I can remember he's wanted to read during the day.  Guess which one it was?

Accidental First Day Of Preschool

Owen had an accidental first day of preschool today.  I was told that today was orientation and that "you will accompany your child to meet new friends and have some fun."  So I told Owen that today we were going to his new school and that I would stay with him but next week, he would go by himself (just like Caillou!) 

So we arrived and after about 2 minutes of playing with some fun new toys, the teacher came over and said "so when you think your child is ready, go ahead and follow me to the parent room where we will go over the information for the year."  Uh...ok?  So I told Owen I was going away for a second and he acted like he could care less.

TWO HOURS LATER we returned to our children.  There were no tears, but a little bit of whining and mouthiness...probably because he was mad at me for leaving him for so long!  The teacher said he did great.  Owen told me, "I pretended to cry but the lady told me 'Your Mommy is in her classroom and she'll be back soon!'"  But then proceeded to tell me how he didn't want to come back to school.  Hopefully he'll change his mind next week for the official first day of school.

Here are the unofficial first art projects of preschool.  A ladybug and two bees.  But one of the bees has a smiley face on it.  He's been practicing these a lot and he's getting pretty darn good (I think!) 

Big Boy Bed

This morning when I was thinking about our "to do" list for the day, I told Steve that he might want to disassemble Owen's crib to make room for the new mattress and box springs that were being delivered today.  When I saw him with the screwdriver, I immediately had this realization that last night was the last time Owen would ever sleep in a crib!  Yes, I know I purchased the mattress on Saturday and arranged for delivery today so in theory, I knew that Sunday night would be the last time -- but for some reason, it didn't "click" last night and now I regret not having more of a ceremonial goodbye.  I have a hard time letting go to things that I associate with Owen being my "little boy" so when I have to, I like to send them off with a tip of my imaginary cap.  The poor crib was in pieces before I realized what was really happening so I was a little unnerved facing the rest of the day.

Owen left with Steve to go bike riding with Michael and Audrey, so I was able to welcome the new bed into our home when it arrived.  However, I had to run out to buy bedding so I missed Owen's introduction.  I hear from Steve that he was VERY excited when he saw it, which was a major relief for me because I had a slight fear that he would cry for his crib once he saw it wasn't a "bonk-bed" (bunk bed) like he wanted.  For now, it's just a box spring and mattress on the floor of his room until I'm confident in his ability not to fall out.  And just a fitted sheet with his usual crib accessories until he learns how to sleep under a blanket (and it cools down enough to NEED a blanket!)

When I got home, he told me that a big boy bed was upstairs in his room and he held my hand and led me up the stairs to look at it.  The test drives this afternoon were all about how high you can jump on a big boy bed.  Also making me a little nervous for this evening.  But he was extremely happy and never once mentioned the crib.

This evening, I had talked up how excited I was to be able to read his bedtime book in HIS bed (he has been liking reading books in our bed and the guest bed instead of his rocking chair, so I thought this was a perfect transition for when we move the rocker into Adam's room.)  When we headed up to his room, he hopped right into his bed and pulled out one of his favorite stories, No, David! and proceeded to read it to Bunny while I took a couple ceremonial photos.  Then I gave him a few "pointers."

Me: If you fall out of bed tonight, just get back up into bed, okay? 

O: Okay.

Me: I put a lock on the inside of your door, see?  BUT, when it's morning and it's time to get up, it will be gone and you can come wake me up!  Okay?

O:  But I don't WANT a lock on my door.  The lock is on the knob and I can't open it.

Me:  I know, but it's only on there at night when it's not time to come out.  In the morning, when it's time to come out it will be off the knob and you can open the door and come wake me up!

O:  In the morning it will be off?

Me:  Yep!

O:  Okay.

Then I snuggled in next to him and read him his book, sang him his song and turned off the lights.  He was super snuggly and sweet and didn't bat an eye when I closed the door.  I heard footsteps in his room from downstairs and over the monitor, I heard him playing with his white noise.  But after about 5 minutes, I pretended like I forgot something in his room and quietly opened the door and he was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling.  There hasn't been a peep since. 

Again, another huge transition that I worry and worry about and he handles it like a pro.  I'm still a little nervous to see what happens tonight if he wakes up disoriented or does fall out, but it seems like it's going to be a pretty quick learning curve.

Another milestone in the books.  Another day I'm so proud of my Bubbie.

Addicted To Carmex

I'm a Carmex Addict.  Today, Owen got a hold of one of my tins...Oops.

Eight Months Old

Adam turned eight whole months old today!  Well, actually, two days ago.  Sometimes it's hard to get a picture on the actual exact day...but we're within 48 hours, so I think we're good.  I posted the picture at the bottom of this post on my Facebook page because he's smiling, but the picture to the left is really my favorite.  Adam smiles so much, those are the photos I usually share - but he is also quietly sweet so much and that is hard to capture in a photo.  But the photo to the left seemed to capture it really well.  Just content, sweet and cute.

Adam is 8 months going on about 5 years...He wants to do everything he's not technically ready to do yet.  He'd prefer to eat lasagna over pureed apples...He would rather play with Owen's toys than his...He would rather run than crawl...He wants what he wants when he wants it! 

He is teething like crazy and it seems to bother him a lot more than it bothered Owen.  Tylenol has become his best friend.  His bottom front tooth came in about a week ago and you can see the white of one of his top teeth coming in too.  I can only assume that since one of each (top and bottom) is coming in, the matching two aren't far behind.  That has been causing him to be pretty darn fussy during the day and waking up at least twice a night. 

He is crawling like a madman, but isn't pulling his tummy up off the floor.  I think he looks like one of those baby turtles that are making a mad dash to the ocean...he's all elbows and knees!  But even doing an army crawl, he is really fast.  It only takes him a second to get from one room to the other.
Since he's mobile, he's into everything he can reach.  Trying to get behind the TV is a favorite game.  It used to be his brother's favorite game too!  The only thing that can keep him sitting in the same spot for very long is a bath...he loves his baths.  Loves to splash, splash, splash...and suck on washcloths.

He loves his Mama...I can't be in the room without him trying to get to me.  He actually only says "ma-ma-ma-ma" when I'm around but it's the noise he makes only when he wants something.  I'm not counting it as "mama" yet until he says it only about me and when asked! 

He is eating all the food Nana has been making for him.  He's tried peas, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, peaches, spinach & sweet potatoes, green beans & onion and he eats at least 2-3 servings of this "baby food" every day.  He has also had a few Baby Mum Mum crackers but those have been a little problematic.  He's gagged a couple times and they are really messy.  His favorite though, is oatmeal cereal.  He loves it and gets annoyed when we mix it with anything.  But his absolute favorite is adult food.  He has eaten hot dog buns, Kentucky Fried Chicken (chicken and mashed potatoes/gravy) and lasagna.  If you give him a tiny bite of anything you are eating, he starts bouncing up and down and begging for more.  If he could just chew and not gag, we'd be just giving him everything we ate!

The other day, we gave him a sippy cup full of water and in no time, he was drinking out of it.  He drank at least half of the water we gave him.  This was pretty cool because it took Owen a long time to figure out how to drink from a sippy.  Hopefully Adam's transition will be much faster!

And sleeping is going well.  He is going down between 7:30 and 8pm and on a normal/good night, waking up around 3am for a bottle then returning to sleep until 8am.  I bounce him on the ball and sing "You Are My Sunshine" until his eyes get heavy and then put him in his crib.  No crying at all!  Oh, bootcamp...You are so worth it.   On a good day, he takes two 1.5 - 2 hour naps during the day.  On an off day, he takes 3 shorter naps.  These days are split pretty even right now but nighttime has remained pretty consistent.

Other than that, he's just the sweetest little boy.  He definitely is in love with his big brother. Lucky for him (and us) Owen loves him just as much.  He is starting to annoy Owen a tad now that he can crawl over to whatever Owen is playing with and try to grab it, but overall Owen is just sugar sweet to Adam.  Owen insists on being the one to open the door when Adam wakes up and it melts my heart to hear "Good Morning, Mister!" coming out of Owen's mouth.  He also showers Adam with hugs all day long and loves to make him laugh.  It's so great to see that they enjoy each other.

Happy 8th Month Birthday Adam - We love you!

Bathtime Buddies

I have been bathing the boys together for about a month now...Ever since Adam was able to sit up without support for an extended length of time.  It definitely speeds up bath time doing it this way...and to be honest, Adam is now getting baths more than once a week since I can knock them out at the same time. 

But for the last month, when I see them in the tub I think to myself, "this is so cute, I should take a picture."  But because I'm usually bathing them both together when Steve isn't home (he usually takes bath duty) I never think to bring my camera upstairs during the mad rush to get them both upstairs, undressed, locked in the bathroom and into the tub.

But tonight, Steve was home and he was able to provide me with my camera once they were happily playing away.  And fortunately, I was able to capture the first time Owen shampooed Adam's hair.  You can see in Adam's face how much he loves his big brother.  And lucky for him (and us) the feeling is completely mutual.  Owen loves his little brother too.

A Dog Only A Bubba Can Love

It's no secret that our dog drives us crazy.  She barks constantly, she can't walk on a leash, she's so wild that the boarding place we left her at had to give her a sedative in order to take her on walks, she sheds like crazy, she jumps on anyone new who walks in the room, and she stinks. 

But Owen loves her.

Three, Three, Three - Owen is THREE

It's official.  Owen turned three today.  I have a three year old.  Owen is three.  I know when he turns 18, I'll look back on this day and reminisce on how little he was.  But right now, my only frame of reference is the last 3 years and today, he's the oldest he's ever been.  It's amazing to watch him grow into this little smart, funny, fun, opinionated, sensitive, loving, caring little boy.  He's perfection.

So like every year, we did a family celebration on his actual birthday and then the big party will be this weekend.  This year though, Uncle Michael - Owen's birthday buddy - was here to share in the celebration! 

So maybe we should start with the differences between this year and past years.  This year, Owen has started understanding what a "birthday" is and was looking forward to his.  However, he only associates birthdays with "cake" so really he was just looking forward to cake.  But we've been talking about his birthday and what day it would be and what we'd be doing for the past few weeks! 

So past birthdays, I decided on what the cake would be.  His first birthday, it was a purchased big cake with a lovely number "1" on top and Owen got his own personal Elmo smash cake.  Last year, I decided to attempt a choo-choo cake and it actually turned out pretty cool.  With last year's cake success, I decided to offer Owen a few choices of what he could have this year and he chose a garbage truck cake.  I found a Wilton Cake Pan in the shape of an 18 wheeler on eBay (they stopped making it in the 80's) so I figured I could use that as my base shape and just cut off pieces of it in order for it to resemble a garbage truck.  So that's what I did and it seemed to turn out ok - Owen immediately recognized it as a garbage truck and that's all I'm really going for.

The morning of Owen's birthday, we opened presents.  I had Steve videotape it but I did a terrible job taking pictures because I was helping Owen open while also entertaining Adam.  Sometimes pictures just don't get taken.  But afterwards, I was able to take this cute one of Owen playing with his new fireman dress up outfit (no pants.)  In this picture he is trying to put out a fire in the fireplace using a fire extinguisher.  One of the main reasons we got him this outfit is because he had a cheap plastic fireman hat that was broken AND he has a new fascination with fire extinguishers.  This set came with a hard plastic hat and a pretend extinguisher.  Perfect!

Another difference from past years was that I chose our "birthday fun activity" which was the Woodland Park Zoo for his 1st birthday and Remlinger Farms for his 2nd.  This year, we left it up to Owen.  However, since present opening was first thing in the morning, he decided for the majority of the day that he didn't want to go ANYWHERE and he'd prefer to stay at home and play with his new toys.  Since it was his birthday, it wasn't like we could really argue with him much about it.  At least not to the point of forcing him into the car?!?!  Luckily around 2pm, he got bored enough with the toys that he was ready to leave.  So we got ready and since Owen is now officially three, it seemed like the appropriate time to start shaving.  I have cuter pics of Steve actually "shaving" with Owen but both boys are shirtless and I just feel bad about posting shirtless pictures of Steve to the blog.  So this one will have to do.

Owen was told in the morning that he could choose anything he wanted for his special day.  My suggestion was Northwest Trek which none of us have ever been to, but I hear there is a "tram" that you ride through the park.  I figured it was train-ish enough to be cool for Owen, plus the animal thing.  Owen had said the night before he wanted to do Remlinger Farms (steam train.)  But since he took so long playing with his toys, by the time we were ready to go I had to provide some local options that would give us enough time to be back for the birthday dinner.  He chose to ride go-karts at Pt. Defiance.  Since it was a hot day, we decided to stop on the way down and get Frappuccinos at Starbucks.  This was also a first for all of us (seriously, I've never had one) and Owen was pretty excited at first but really only took about 3 sips.  Not his favorite (I feel like I should mention here that he did not have coffee in his -- this should be assumed, but I'll clarify just in case.)  This was also Owen's first time drinking a frozen beverage in the car.  I was a little nervous, but he did a great job!  After the smoothie, both boys had a sugar crash.  You would think this photo was taken after the go-karts, but nope - it was on the way down.  I almost wanted to just skip them altogether and drive around for an hour to give Owen his first nap in months.  But it's his birthday - and karts must be driven.

Steve took Owen here one time before today, so when we arrived I was ready to sit and watch them in action.  They had lovely little benches right next to the track that seemed perfect to sit in the sun and smell the fumes of the go-karts.  We asked Owen who he wanted to drive with first and to my surprise he said, "Mama!"  I'm not a huge go-kart fan and I'm definitely not the best go-kart driver, but I took one for the team in the name of Owen's birthday.  My overprotectiveness was a little disappointed when I saw that they did not provide helmets?! But maybe these cars are un-flippable. Who knows.  I was driving slowly and safely enough that my car would have never flipped.  But also kind of fast.  Fast enough that Owen thought we were going fast and isn't that really the point?

I like how every picture Steve took of me, I'm screaming.  I think it helped me drive.  I also like to think that Owen thought I was saying "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"  instead of what I was really saying.  Steve did a much better job at not getting lapped by the other drivers and Owen did two turns with him back to back, so I think the trophy goes to Steve.

Once Owen had enough fun, we headed back home for the birthday boys dinner.  The fun part about having a baby is that you get to opt-out of most things that require extra effort.  So Michael, Kelly and Audrey and Nana came over to our house and brought food with them to grill on the BBQ for all of us.  Nana found some special pickles called "Bubbies" for Bubby.  He loves pickles so it was very appropriate.

Then Owen opened his gifts from Nana and the Steffen family.  He got some really cool stuff (as usual!)  Here he is trying out his brand new sleeping bag that he received from Michael, Kelly and Audrey.  Audrey had to show him how a sleeping bag works...we aren't what you would call "outdoorsy."  Or "sleepy in any beddy that isn't yoursy."  Owen is getting a big boy bed for his birthday in a couple weeks...Should be interesting!

And Nana gave him the COOLEST garbage truck.  Yes, he now has five garbage trucks...but this one is the BIGGEST and therefore it's the COOLEST.  I can't explain his obsession with garbage trucks and trains...but it borders on OCD.  Every night I put away his trucks and I move a couple of the five into a separate room thinking that if they are out of sight, maybe they will be out of mind.  Every morning, he pulls out every garbage truck he has and finds any of them I have hidden.  If by chance, he stops playing with one for a few days - garbage day is on Tuesday and on Tuesday, he pulls out his entire fleet.  The kid is garbage truck crazy.

After presents was dinner and after dinner was CAKE TIME!  Cake time is the best time.  It's what Owen had been waiting for all month.  This year, I let Michael replace me as the assistant candle blower outer...it is, after all, his birthday too.  Bet he never thought he'd get a garbage truck cake for his thirty second birthday!  He seemed pretty stoked though!  Also, I should probably note that we are all wearing birthday hats because Owen loves them.  In this buildup to birthday, he had been pretending like it was his birthday and singing himself the happy birthday song and every time, he found something that could be used as a birthday hat.  So I made sure they were part of the real deal day!

Happy Birthday Owen!

Double The Cute

Most of the time, I feel like juggling two kids is kind of...tough.  A lot of divided attention, focus, effort, etc. etc. etc.  A few months ago, I posted a video to illustrate the "rough" times of having two children. 

Tonight was a lesson in how two kids can double the cuteness.  Enjoy!

PS: You'll also get to see Adam's new fascination with his finger up his nose.  He does that when he's about to fall asleep too.  I think he's picking up bad habits from his big brother...

You've Got Sand

About a year later and we've finally completed the kids' playset.  Meaning: we added sand to the sandbox.  Owen may never swing again.  Adam hasn't tried it out yet because as I told Owen, "he'll eat it."

Race Car Rear Ends

Some of you may remember this video of Owen we took when he was six months old. This was pre-blog time, but I did post it to Facebook because I thought it was HILARIOUS (as you can hear from the video.) It's probably one of our most favorite family videos...



So, tonight we decided to recreate the moment with Adam. He didn't seem to enjoy it *quite* as much as Owen, but I think it was circumstantial...It was right after I got home from work, so he wanted Mama to play with him and not laugh at him.



And we couldn't recreate the moment with Adam without trying to recreate it with Owen once again...He definitely seemed to enjoy it just as much as the first time! I know I sure did.

Test Drivin' The Trailer

Michael and Kelly came over today to test drive the Burley Bike Trailer...Audrey was STOKED.  Owen was less than impressed...

Broccoli Recall

Adam has been enjoying his veggies the last few days.  Still acts like fruit tastes like lemon juice (SOUR FACE!) but loves his carrots and sweet potatoes.  Uncle Michael and Aunt Kelly told me they had Audrey eating steamed broccoli at this age and since she is the poster child for non-finicky eaters, I thought Adam could give it a try too. 

Here are the photos from his first steamed broccoli attempt.  It basically went: bite -- gag.  And I have the photos to prove it.

We'll try again in a couple weeks...