Mom turns 34!

I often marvel at how quickly the boys grow but while I am distracted I seem to continue aging as well. For my 34th birthday, I awoke to dad juggling the two boys and successfully making breakfast for twelve although it was just us! I did my best to eat my way through the feast of pancakes, berries, bacon, sausage and orange juice and then I was told that I would be spending much of the day by myself at the Salish Spa, a beautiful resort next to Snoqualamie Falls.

 The Falls are a favorite of mine as Michael took me there on our first Valentine's Day and packed us a picnic of what I thought were fancy cheeses (smoked gouda, brie, havarti), but the northwest in February gave us lows clouds, misty rain and fog so we picnicked in my car. Totally romantic.

My spa day was very relaxing and I definitely felt pampered. Shortly after my return home, grandmama came to watch the kids while we went to dinner at "Charles at Smuggler's Cove," a french restaurant in Mukilteo on a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound with views of Whidbey Island and eagles floating on the breeze. We enjoyed our dinner next to a window so we didn't miss out on the view.

The next day (Sunday) was my actual birthday and we drove to downtown Seattle for Harrison's Little Gym "Show Team" performance at the Seattle Center. While there was a good chance he might freeze up on a stage in front of a group of strangers without mom or dad next to his side, he did not suffer from any stage fright and did his part.

We were very proud of his hard work. In this video, he is doing cartwheels which he struggles with; I won't lie, his are the worst of the group (the teachers are a bit confounded as he can't decide which foot he favors to lead with, he switches back and forth so it's hard to hone the skill). But I love the way he tackles them the best he can. By the way, he is one of only two boys are the team right now.

Tucker at 8 Months

I love these monthly stickers I found for Tucker. Obviously it is a great way to identify his age in a photo but it has motivated me to diligently take his photo on the 21st of each month. I recently put everything I have in a frame it it looks super cool, I can't wait to finish it off when he turns one.

Little dude isn't crawling yet but he will shortly. He is getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. He has also learned to start grabbing things (hands, the ottoman, his crib railings) and trying to pull himself up; he can get to his knees often but can't pull up to his feet without help... yet. Dad will be lowering his crib mattress this weekend just in case. If we stand him up he will hold on to the ottoman, lock his knees and stand and play there for awhile before either tipping back or crumpling to the floor. Life is going to change dramatically once he is mobile.

This also marks the first time I put a baseball hat on his head rather than a beanie or looser fitting sun hat and he didn't seem to mind at all. Harrison was always a great hat wearer, never batting it away or complaining like all the other kids his age did. Hopefully Tucker will continue to enjoy them, he looks so darn adorable and more and more like a little man wearing them!

This week I have also been trying to move him to a two-naps-a-day schedule which has been pretty successful. Looking back to a few months ago when he took 4-5 naps a days I am astonished at how this is even possible, that he can have grown so much to accomplish this.

In conjunction he is eating a lot more. Three meals a day of pureed foods, his favorites being sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and any fruit offered. This far the only green veggie he will consider eating is green beans and that is only mildly successful at best. We'll keep at it though. He will eat baby crackers that melt quickly in his mouth although half of it falls out of his mouth and ends up on him or the floor (Winston likes this kid more and more every day).

I introduced him to a sippy cup mid April and he loved using it, you could honestly see the pride in his face when he drinks from it. At the same time, within a seven day period he suddenly cut his bottled milk intake in half (he was barely meeting minimum recommendations). Worried about his nutrition I called the nurses line and ended up taking him in for a visit as they were sure he must have an ear infection or some other illness which would make sucking painful. Nope, nothing wrong with him at all. They told me to cut back his food so he would drink more milk ... as if I hadn't tried that already. Suddenly it dawned on me that maybe he was getting lazy, that sucking from the bottle just wasn't worth the effort past immediate hunger gratification so I got faster flow nipples and the problem resolved itself. Crisis averted.

Tucker is still the sweetest boy ever. He LOVES his brother, loves his parents and loves Winston, trying to pet him whenever he is within reach. We love you Tucker-Pie!

One lip, Tulips

Lately Harrison has been trying to hone his comedic skills. For example, he will quickly rattle off something that resembles a story but it doesn't make any sense in which silly things happen and at the end he will say "that's a funny joke." Today I tried to teach him knock knock jokes but the ones I knew were only mildly funny to begin with and he didn't understand the puns to really find it funny.

On Monday, I spontaneously took the kids to Skagit Valley for the Tulip Festival. On the 50 minute drive north I tried to make him laugh by talking about "tulips, three-lips, four-lips" and found that the humor was lost on him. Actually, I think he gave me a sympathy laugh. That aside, Harrison is acquainted with a photo of him and me at the tulip festival when he was a couple months old and he was excited to go. He caught sight of fields of daffodils while in the car and awed with delight. Once he set foot in the dirt and mud outside of the car and gazed upon the actual rainbow of tulip fields he squealed and began jumping up and down in anticipation.

As walked the fields, Harrison noticed that the tulips are planted in rows with troughs in between the rows I presume to let water flow through without the flowers becoming waterlogged. He began jumping from row to row as we moved along the field with many passersby smiling and commenting on his enthusiasm and skill. In fact he pretty near hopped around the entire main field, but 1/3 of the way through he eventually misstepped; although he does not like to be dirty in a wet way (such as muddy), the boy in him enjoyed the mud while the mom in me kicked myself for forgetting to bring his rain boots.

 

Easter 2013

Easter was a very busy time at our house, specifically for mom. After last year's successful neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, the HOA asked us to make it an annual affair so my dining room table was filled with plastic eggs, candy, sidewalk chalk and bubbles for weeks leading up to Easter. The HOA even invested in an inflatable bounce house and a bunny costume, which Michael was spared from wearing this year.

Later than night Harrison reminded me that we needed to dye his eggs. He had been itching all week to use the Star Wars decorating kit but I thought the "regular" dyed egg creations were his best work. He made likenesses of several family members, notably Zaidy as evidenced by the mustachioed egg.

Sunday morning, Harrison awoke to find his eggs all hidden out on the deck but the big surprise was that the Easter Bunny had also hidden his Easter basket and left scavenger hunt clues inside plastic eggs. His hunt took him all over the house including in the bath tub and in the refrigerator until he ultimately found baskets for Tucker and him on the balcony.

 Later that morning we went to Grandmama's house for brunch which included another egg hunt indoors. After afternoon naps we went back for Easter dinner and Harrison got to hunt yet again outdoors which included his first time searching "up" in places like trees and in bird houses (with some help from Zaidy). Tucker did a fine job watching the fun.

To round out the post, here are my two favorite Easter photos of my two favorite little boys: