Memorial Day weekend

While Daddy was away in Niagara Falls this weekend for a wedding, Auntie Pea came over and we had a weekend filled with child centered activities! Auntie Pea had to finish writing her thesis so we made sure to give her time alone to be forced to write. (Those of you that have written a thesis remember how difficult it is to push through the end and just get the @$#@& thing done.) We are all very excited for Auntie Pea, but sad for us...she accepted a job at the University of Maine at Augusta. Yes, Maine. I think that is the furthest she could possibly be away from us, but it was the best job available. The best part about her going to Maine is that it is a place we've always wanted to visit. The funny thing is, we just learned that the population for the whole state of Maine is less than Greater Seattle! Mmm, do you think they have direct flights from Seattle to Augusta? I didn't think so.

The forcast all weekend was for rain, rain, and more rain. Lucky for us, the weather man was wrong on all accounts. On Saturday, Nora, Nic and I went to two parks. The first we went to because it has a wonderful play area that takes quite a bit of thinking to manuver. The second has farm animals. We got there just as the farmer was going around and feeding everyone! Nora got to see two three week old calves drink 64 ounce bottles in about one minute flat. Then she was able to experience a calf suck on her hand just like I did in Monticello a couple of times! She was so excited and loved every minute of it. Nora is learning new expressive faces and she tried out many of them while the calf was sucking and slobbering all over her hand! We saw a pig that is expected to give birth any day, turkey, horses, chickens, rabbits, and goats. It is our new favorite park.

On Sunday we went to the zoo. Nora was a bit crabby all day because she was starting to come down with a cold. We were still able to enjoy the zoo, but we all left feeling pretty tired.

What? What'd I do? I think we'll see this face a lot in the next 18 years!

There always has to be a middle finger picture!

Nic discovers the exersaucer

We introduced Nic to the exersaucer this week. He is becoming much more curious about the world around him, reaching out to grab anything that holds his interest. He seems especially fascinated with hair. Nora and April have been very patient with him as he doesn't respond well to their cries of "let go!!!" He has also started putting his hands in his mouth. I think his first tooth will be here soon.

April took him in for his six-month checkup yesterday, and everything seems to be going well. The only advice the pediatrician gave us was to have him start eating real food...he is toward the bottom of the charts in weight. So tonight he was treated to a bowl full of green bean mush, which he devoured. We are using the food mill to make our own baby food, just like we did with Nora.

It is great to see him at this age, where he starts to become more interactive. One of the highlights of my day is getting to see his face light up when I come home from work.

A day of firsts

A day filled with firsts:

First swing set.

First taste of rice cereal.

First realization that there is more to life than formula!

Nic loves bath time!

Mermaid Fever

 
We have a new book about mermaids that Nora asks us to read to her just about every night before bed. Tonight, when Nora was asked to put her jammies on, she came slithering out on the floor telling us that she was a mermaid swimming in her lagoon. She told us she was going to drink seaweed tea and eat sponge cake. She also informed us that all mermaids sleep in oyster shells. These are all direct quotes from her favorite book, but it was hysterical to see her acting out the book on the kitchen floor!

More Fun Tub Pictures

 

 

Grandma reading with Nora & Nic

 

The Best Mother's Day Present Ever

Why is it that when you see little pre-school art projects made by other children you think they look stupid, but when it comes from your own child they are amazing and make you cry?

Giggling Caught on Tape!

Uncle John comes to visit

As a surprise for Amber, John flew out on Thursday from Vermont to attend the recital.

Musical weekend

On Sunday we went to Ellensburg for Amber's graduate horn recital. She played a wide variety of styles, ranging from classical to modern to jazz. She will be graduating from CWU this summer.

Auntie Pea's Recital

Happy spring

Last weekend, we flew kites at Gasworks park and got sunburns. It was a beautiful sunny day and the temperatures were around 80 degrees. Everyone thought spring had finally arrived, and we went out to the nursery to buy some flowers for the backyard.

It started snowing on Friday...so we covered up the flowers and are hoping they make it through this unscathed.

How do you spell tuna?

Nora: Mommy, how do you spell tuna?
Mommy: Well, the first sound is 't'. What letter says 't'?
Nora: T
Mommy: That's right! Great job! The second letter in tuna is U, but then you hear the sound 'n', what letter makes the sound 'n'?
Nora: N
Mommy: Wow Nora! The last sound is 'uh', what letter makes the sound 'uh'?
Nora: U
Mommy: Holy crap, you know the short vowel sound for U?

I said the sounds for dog and cat...she was able to say all the letters after I made the sounds. Shocked you ask, YES!

Good Morning

Nic is such a wonderful baby. We put him down around 7:00 each night and don't hear a peep from him until about 5:30. At 5:30 he starts talking to himself. We don't actually get up to go feed him for another thirty minutes or so. He simply lays there and coos. Sometimes he turns on the baby scape thingy that we have attached to his crib. It is the most amazing way to wake up in the morning. No alarm clock, no hysterical three year old, just the soothing sounds of a happy baby.

Ah, life is good.

Monster Spray

The newest invention in our house is Monster Spray (better known as Febreze to most consumers). Nora is on a roll of putting her self to sleep and staying in her own room. We haven't seen or heard from her after 8:00 for four nights in a row now. All thanks, I think, to Monster Spray.

I take the Spray into the room and Nora shows me where to spray the monsters. The typical locations are under the bed, in the closet, on the bean bag, and a few others that change nightly. What ever this does for her, at this point we don't care. Somehow it alleviates her fears and allows us to sleep through the night uninterrupted. Isn't that funny to think that we were being awakened by our three and a half year old and not our almost five month old!

It was a tiring day

 

Yesterday we enjoyed the 80 degree weather at Gas Works Park. Our unfortunate mistake was not even thinking about sun screen. Both Nic and Nora are sporting a sun kissed glow today (a little redder than sun kissed if you ask me).