Friday night

Rick and Bobby played baseball
Archer and I made a cake
Grammy and Wiley went to church

I'd say 5/6 of us matched our personalities pretty well to the event.
(in addition, that's not fair to Archer, he's really not a fat kid with a sweet tooth, but he was a chubby baby and as a second child, he might as well be)

Saturday morning, we got had sausages and donuts for breakfast then packed off to the dinosaur exhibit at the Coliseum.  We could have used about 3 more adults.  Or sedatives for the kids.  It was comical trying to get a picture of the three of them as you can. But it was a cool exhibit. The bouncy houses and ride on dinos were $6  each in addition to the $9/kid entry. So we skipped them, duh. Plus the line was forever and it was full of 10 year olds (but somehow I think we could hold our own).

Next time, bright yellow matching shirts all around.

When kid3 decides he's done posing and walks away

Another typical attempt. 2 won't look, 3 won't turn around

Zoo

We went to NC Zoo on Saturday.  It's fairly close and the it was supposed to be sunny, so what the heck.  Bobby really enjoyed running down the paths and climbing in the mulch and jumping on the rocks.  I don't know how he wasn't more worn out; we brought the stroller, but he only really rode in it between North America and Africa.

Seals

 It wasn't too crowded when we got there at 11.  They opened at 9, but we wanted to give it a chance to warm up to see more animals (and let Rick sleep in) Most of the animals were indeed out, the polar bears were closed, and otherwise the North America part is pretty unremarkable.  Just bears really.

"Look at the elephant Bobby"

 We hiked over to Africa and the elephants, zebra, giraffe, ostriches and all were out. The rhinos were pretty far away, but the chimpanzees were very playful and near the glass.  Bobby enjoyed reading the map, or hiding behind it, I wasn't sure.

When we realized we hadn't taken any photos

It was a nice day, we spent a long time eating lunch of course, but were still in the car by 3, with a little nap on the way home. The worst part was that the ice cream stands were closed. Such a travesty.

Ice Skating

After two days over 60 degrees, it only seemed natural to go skating... I wondered what was the right age for it, but we just had to try.

Pretty excited at the prospect

 We got suited up in the smallest skates they had, which seemed to be the right size, but they were wobbly and only got worse on land.  But like an adult, the more you go around, the better you get.  They both got very comfortable and got going pretty fast.  Bobby would hang down to get more sliding on.  He would also run and pick up his skates.

Still excited, just wobbly

 We took a little snack break and then he decided he was done.  I thought he'd go for another round, but he said no. In the meantime they had blown some snow/crushed ice down a tiny hill for some sledders.  I thought they would have a little extra bit for little kids or those without sleds, but no.  Just the pathetic hill and hundreds of kids in line to go down it.  Not sure how long the snow lasted, but we were home before 7 probably, so we missed out on disco skate too.

Underway and getting faster

A very fun excursion.  $8 per person.  I would recommend it, but unless they can give adults spikes or special ice shoes, the ratio of stable adults to kids needs to be high. Or they could build in a handle bar at 3 feet tall.  If you can find double blade skates, I think a 5 year old could handle it on his own.  I got chatted up by a 6 year old and he was hugging the wall at first, but was pretty confident by the end (his Grandma was on the bleachers)

Future obstetrician

Help the baby, on Flickr.

I'd say he's ready for a litte brother, no problem

15 Weeks

How Far Along: about 15 weeks.  Baby 2 is sooo different.  I hardly know how far I am instead of knowing week, day, hour and everything about that stage.

Size of baby: 4", about an apple

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 6 pounds - so 5 pounds of thanksgiving and Christmas cookies and 1 pound of baby weight.  I'm told my face is that not that fat in real life.  Right.

Maternity Clothes: not yet, but I don't know what I'm waiting for.  I don't need them really, mostly because I spend a lot of the time in yoga/workout clothes, but by the end of the day when I wear jeans sometime I wish I had them.

Gender: I don't know and you're not going to either!

Movement: not yet, I didn't feel Bobby until 21.5 weeks

What I miss: Turkey sandwiches a bit. Diet Coke. 

Sleep: absolutely terrible.  

Symptoms: Again, no morning sickness.  I feel quite great.  What I am dealing with is some pain in my pelvis/back at my SI joint.  Pretty sharp pain if I lean back, lay wrong or want to roll over.

Cravings:   nothing, everything.  I do want a margarita though.

Best Moment this week: ?

What we are looking forward to: getting back on a good schedule in Greensboro; going to the Science center and seeing Dinosaur bones.  Regarding #2 - Napping?

January 6

Yesterday was the first day Bobby didn't ask about presents or Santa.  Until then, he would ask us what we wanted for Christmas. Or comment that there were no presents in the dining room anymore.  Or for the first several days after Christmas, that Santa was coming!

He is super funny theses days and it is cool to watch his personality and vocabulary continue to develop.  He says things like, I have a question,  or Nice to meet you.  He also puts his hand on your shoulder and cocks his head in sympathy and listening sometimes.

Spent the whole time avoiding eye contact

Spent the whole time avoiding eye contact, a photo by sld78 on Flickr.

But he did tell Santa that he was 2 and that he wanted "presents"

But while waiting in line, he told us he wanted balls and a fire truck. then he named all the reindeer.

But for Santa, he was near mute. But he did run up and sit on his lap promptly.

A few curiosities

• I literally have 2 diapers in my car.  We are going to have to risk it one of these overnights...
• Bobby had a night terror the other night.  I think it was b/c he didn't nap that day.  It pretty much sucked. He was wailing then would just flop back asleep, then wail again.  He was oblivious to me and didn't talk to me.  It didn't last long thankfully.
• Bobby has been talking about ghosts and monsters and such.  they hide under his bed, in his closet, are coming to get him and stuff like that.  he hides from them, and says 'protect me'.  not sure where this all came from.
• luckily, his defense to that, and a lot of other things is to shoot them with imaginary water. full of sound effects.  i think that came from a combination of playing with a toy gun and seeing a lot of firehoses.  
• he is also into wrestling and pushing me around.  i think i can attribute (not blame) that to his cousins.  And being a 2 year old boy.  

We are getting into Christmas.  I wasn't going to play it up b/c it just creates more hassle for the move, but I have a two year old, so sort of have to.  And Rick is into it too, so it's on.  My decoration stash is still paltry, but I can bake and craft with the best of them.

I am ridiculously proud of my advent calendar everytime I look at it.  Way more than last year for some reason.

We did Toys R Us and Michaels today. God help us, but there were good sales (that everyone knew about).  But Bobby really was a trooper (Rick too) and seemed to enjoy shopping a bit (in a toy store - you think?) Unfortunately, this was him during tree shopping...

But he did like the toy guitar, and the mini piano a lot at the store.  And naturally all cars and trucks, but we had to squash that quick.

Just wait until we get our inflatables blown up!  Now how to explain to him that we only pull one link off the chain a day, and only put up one ornament...

Wish lists continued

Bobby
- a starter lego set
- Cars 2 from Vietnam
- slippers he will actually wear
- Etch a Sketch

Me
- running sunglasses to replace the ones Bobby broke
- camera to replace the one Bobby broke (I did actually return it to Costco within 90 days, but I haven't replaced it b/c I didn't like their options)

Bobby counted to 15 yesterday.
But he also pooped on the floor, so he's no genius.
We have a 5 day underwear only challenge coming up. Cross your fingers for us.

BLACK FRIDAY IS COMING

ME

• lululemon jacket
• crock pot
• mad men season 1 dvd; season 2
• a nice ipad cover - to be found
• virginia sweatshirt
• real simple magazine
• iphone 4s
• shampoo/conditioner
• ONE nice ornament

RICK

• remote organizer
• a new job
• help packing boxes

BOBBY

• no train stuff
• no clothes
• his own chair
• ukulele (guitar)
• maybe Duplo set
• cool kids sheet for a full mattress
• race track for matchbox car stuff - i have to look more
• i dunno what else

Growing Up

• No one told me that getting the pee into the potty is the easy part.  We love the potty now and haven't had a wet diaper in days.  What is holding us back now is getting the undies and sometimes pants down and getting onto the seat or reaching over the rim.
• I feel like he is too young to be here already, but we can have a 3 hour nap and then a long bedtime before finally crashing at 9. Or no nap, a slightly short fused evening and bed at 7pm in 5 minutes.

Put it in the baby book

10/28/11 First poop on the potty.  Finally.  He was naked butt and wanted a diaper but I plopped him on the toilet and he had no choice.

Myrtle Beach

 We took a little trip down the coast to Myrtle Beach since it's only 1.5 hours away.  It was a gorgeous and warm weekend.  We got a hotel room on the beach.  A one bedroom too so we didn't all have to go to bed at 8pm. They have a nice 'newish' boardwalk and promenade there, but it's still basically grody drunk college kid town during the summers.  I did get to see more of it than the strip which was nice because they have a nice mall and a big outlet center.

I wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel

 There was a cold lazy river and warm kid pool and regular pool and a hot tub.  We went in all of them and Bobby didn't skip a beat picking up where he left off jumping into the pool and kicking and paddling.

So while we were there, I ran a little half marathon.  We then had a good walk, which included icing off in the ocean, and a nice lunch and called it a day.

Biggest fan

We love fall

It got really cold, like 60, all of a sudden and we headed to the pumpkin patch for a quick morning school field trip.

Can you see his expression?

He totally dressed the part.  Saving his orange for when we go as a family.

We owned this game, even when I made him back up

Running

Bubble catching

Such a flirt

Also dominated the relay race

 Of course, they didn't keep relay order, but Bobby was the one who at the end decided to carry three pumpkins at a time.  Cheater or clever?

This kid is in Bobbys class

More classmates

I can't get over it.  He's huge (Dec. birthday)

Warts

A few more errands, and wiped out

Nice weekend

We had a practice pumpkin carving here too.  I was glad I did, sort of.  For the first half, Bobby was totally uninterested in it, especially cleaning out the guts, but once he saw he could pop the eyes in and out, he loved the jack o lantern.  Still, I think that might be our only carving session.
 
Ricks work puts on these great events, like the one for Easter.  This was a fall fest/chili cookoff/ beer tent thing. But mostly, free inflatables, pony rides, petting zoo.  So we were sold.  Plus decorating a mini pumpkin.   There is a lot of stuff going on in the next couple weeks and we are just getting started!  Although, it's hard to beat the free one.  Thank you Marine services.

15K in 1:10, 3rd place 30 year old girl

Ran a little race, we all caught up on sleep today, baked some cookies and had a nice family day!

Not the intended place for pumpkins, but he calls them his pumpkins and so they are like a toy.

Needless to say, my mums have been 'pinched' a little earlier than necessary.

Sleeping is going poorly, but everything else is going great.  Going to sleep is the tough part - I have been laying down with him.  Takes about an hour.  I don't really mind, dinner is ready for Rick before (usually) and we can DVR the good tv, but it's still not something I want to be doing at all.  But I do get to hear him talk about the trains and sing songs to himself.  Adoroable.

He really likes school and talks about his buddies and teachers sometimes.  He runs into the classroom by himself.  Teacher says he has a lot of fun and is very smart.  BUT, there is a case of lice in the 3 year old class. Gross.

Kid is a North Carolinian now,  He loves some homemade chips.

He is slowly losing the third person dialect.  About 75% Bobby and 25% me, mine and I.

Halloweeen costume will again wait until the very last minute.  Choices are pirate, fireman, cowboy, spider, bee, and he mentioned rabbit this morning - not that he knows what halloween is, but he'll get several chances.

"Mommy, make a trade"  when he wants a toy (or ipod) that I have. Better than, Bobby want that.  Or just taking it.  Something he picked up from the cousins no doubt.

"Where's my bless you?"  he said after a sneeze that I failed to acknowledge.

So happy for little Jubilee to bring a female touch to the boys team. But I still think there could be a mistake.

First Day Preschool

Not into posing for me

Did get a smile though

He's too young :(

Drop off was almost too easy. No tears - from either of us.  Now the four longest hours of my life.  Wondering if he will poop, or eat anything, or play nicely. or miss me at all.