Newport Harbor

I feel a little bad bragging about this with all that happened to New Jersey, but damn, our weather is nice.  It was about 90 on Monday, so after preschool, we drove up the coast to Newport Beach and took a boat tour around the harbor.  It was very cool and mellow.  We saw the most ridiculous real estate, learned some interesting OC facts, saw some celebrity houses and Bobbys favorite part was seeing the sea lions. There were no crowds like there would have been on the weekend and it was a lovely little event for my guests and not too active to have the kids out for.

Cruising Baby

Finger sucking

The tubs didn't do much to stop them

Don't worry Jack was shaded every other second

He actually slept through most of it 

Richard Bransons catamaran for his submarine

Cracking up at his Grammy

Now you're all caught up (if you read in reverse order) Rick is a good bit bummed about the election, but he still has the World Series. Bobby was in fact on the cruise, he and Grandma just chose to stay downstairs.  

He has nailed counting and sorting though.  He has been counting forever, but now he can correctly count items.  Which means stopping when you reach the right number of things.  He also can say some of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Our Father. He counts backwards from 5. But you really have to catch him at the right time in a cooperative mood for him to exhibit any of these skills.

Jack loves watching Bobby and Bobby can make him laugh so much.

Baptism

What's Up Y'all?

November 4th - we baptised baby Jack at St. Edward just shy of him being four months old.  The Vanos' came down from Northern California, but godmother Colleen is on bedrest in Virginia at 7 months pregnant.

Both Grandmas were here again, and Bonus Grandma Judy came.  It was a quick ceremony with six other families or so and Father Mario performed it. Jack was a great little baby as usual. Once we went to the font, the priest said, "Remind me of her name again." Jack made a funny face when the water went on his head, a very shocked look, but no crying.  I had that stupid bib/burp cloth on him to protect us all from spit up, but now it's in all the photos. Oops. I guess I should do laundry more often and could have used one of the more white ones. The ceremony was very simple and nice then we came back to our house for some snacks and drinks and cake.  When their naps were over, Bobbys friends came over to play and have a little dinner.

Our party was not as large as some

Getting his stinky oil on

Fell asleep once his part was done

Bobby, Troy and Liam

Disneyland

Bobby is almost 3.5 so he has earned his trip to Disneyland from Grammy. YAY.  We had a lot of fun and as it's only about 20 miles away, were able to make a day trip without hotels, airfare or food costs! Just the crazy ticket prices and parking.  Since we went the day after Halloween (i.e. a late night) we had a casual morning and got there a bit before 11am (they open at 10).

We took it casually and luckily most of the rides are very chill and Jack could go on a lot of them.  It was also a great weather day for it and even better, there were no lines on pretty much everything. The worst wait was the jungle cruise, so I took that time to feed Jack and skip waiting in line.  

Bobby loved driving dumbo and the rocket ships up and down.  He spun the teacups fast. Liked the Pirates and Haunted House (even though those rides have changed so much!) But he went on the Buzz Lightyear one three times! in a row.  It was the gun shooting blaster part. He was one inch too short for Splash Mountain, which was fine b/c you have to sit in your own seat for that and I wasn't comfortable with that. It's a Small World was closed which was a bummer and they were putting up Christmas decorations on the castle.

Loved the Go Merry Round

Faster!

Had ZERO desire to get his picture taken with any characters.  Which is good because they were damn hard to find. We saw Goofy and Pluto in the front square, one when we came in and one on the way out when he was super tired. Aladdin and the genie were in a little hut and Bobby went nowhere near them.  We spied Mickey in a corner with a tiny line right before the nightly parade and Bobby was cranky by that point and adamant about not waiting, but Jack and I wanted a picture and by the time we got to the front of the line, Bobby decided to join us luckily.

From the ride in Tomorrowland

Shooting Zurg

On Mark Twains boat

All Bobby asked for all day was a balloon and it was right at the very end, but we kept on walking and he got sad about that. We left around 6:15 I think, so it was a full day but we definitely couldn't stretch it into the 7pm parade. 

THANK YOU GRAMMY. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! WE ARE SO LUCKY.

Halloween

Halloween was lots of fun.  He has committed to his T-Rex costume for months and never wavered.  We had a potluck on our cul de sac for dinner and mingling then paired up with some friends for walking our street and one other.  And with 4 three year olds, 3 one or two year olds, that was good for an hour or so and felt really late after that.  Grammy held down the fort and gave out our candy.  The party had a huge bounce house, so the kids were wiped out.

The little boys walked to the doors on their own and rang the bells/knocked. One kid just stuck his pumpkin out; Bobby was a bit more shy and wouldn't charge for the candy despite his crazy sweet tooth.

He had a few pieces that night - and is very partial to lollipops, but if it's out of sight (i.e Mommy isn't eating it) he doesn't ask for it.

Stay still goofy kid

His contribution to the party: plates and candy corn

(who says the iphone takes good photos? must be user error)

November Already

Halloween was great. More later, or maybe just flickr captions.

Dino dragons (make up your mind costume makers)

What they're up to

• Bobby - fascinated by storm coverage, asking good questions, not scared or anything
• Jack - is only pooping once a day so that means he basically ruins an outfit every day; and sometimes my outfit too
• Us - looking forward to thanksgiving and starting to make some plans

What we've been up to

Mostlly just trudging along as usual.  Some days are normal, some days I feel totally underwater.  It's really not that bad, but my temperament/personality does not lend itself to being a super go getter when the things that have to be gotten are laundry, cleaning and organizing. It's way easier to watch Real Housewives and hold my baby until we both fall asleep.

The sleep deprivation is catching up to me a bit finally. And strangely enough, it's because Bobby has been getting up in the middle of the night.  Either to pee, or blow his nose, or for no reason, but he doesn't go back to sleep easily, or if it's after 4am, sometimes at all. He also wants the hall light on and his door wide open when he goes to bed, so sometimes he takes longer to fall asleep. (although sometimes he can konk out quickly when it is bright and noisy)  He always goes to bed around 7:30 but the other day he didn't fall asleep until after 9 and was up at 5. And yesterday he took a 4 hour nap, so I think he's tired but it messes him up too.

Jack sleeps like a 3 month old.  Gets up 2-3 times in the middle of the night, nurses back to sleep. His days are usually awake for an hour, asleep for an hour. Although the last 3 days, he has had 3 hour naps which is nice. But then again, I don't take advantage of that time well enough.  Obviously he's sleeping now, which is why you get the stream of consciousness blogging. 

I have no idea what I've already put on flickr and I feel like I'm on borrowed time with this long nap, so  it's time to wrap it up in pictures.

LOVES his cape

It's birthday party season

A dad had to break it open, Bobby collected 8 bags of mini pretzels.  WTF.

California Style

So warm here

Late October

Little Dude was not pleased his sunbathing was interrupted 

He made me take a picture in all 20 of these things

Mummy Obsessed

The train was the best part

Angel baby

Also been giving all our crappy plastic toys a facelift

Todays Accomplishments

Bobby mastered jumping from his feet to his butt to his feet on the trampoline.
And Jack stuck seven fingers in his mouth.

• It's a good thing Bobby can't tell time, because then he would know he went to bed before 7 tonight.   
• You know it's been a good day when I have to wash the bathtub after a bath.
• The Giants hit a home run the other day. Bobby: "That's what I'm talking about" He misses nothing and remembers everything.
• I was trying to get him to pick up his bike but he said he couldn't , "I don't have six arms"
• He will always call you out if you try to skip pages in a book, but now he tells me when I mess up sentences or words.
• I said to no one in particular that I could really use a diet coke. He answered, "but that won't make you healthy and strong." At least one of us listens to me.
• We must have been talking about junk food another time and he told me "my tummy isn't crying.  I didn't eat bad food so it's not crying" Because, you know, you cry when you're upset.
• It's picture day tomorrow so naturally Bobby hit his head on something and has a mark.

• I've created a monster in jack like I did with Bobby.  So spoiled and can't put himself to sleep without nursing or a lot of cuddling.  He's only three months and I'm resolved to do better, but he's a needy little baby as they all are I guess.  
• He's so happy though and his laugh is the best.
• He's a lot like Bobby was.  When I try to lay him down in a bouncy seat or even flat, all he does is curl up and lift his head.  Dude does not want to lay down flat.  He is getting pretty stable and less suicidal when I hold him.  His gyrations are a lot less these days and I can almost hold him with one hand without risking a serious back flip.  
• He has perfected the movie vomit scene with his spit up and always manages to turn his head just right at the last minute to completely spit all on me.

Happy little dude

 Jack slept from 11-5 last night. Woo hoo! Now if only that were in a crib. Of course, he was just going back down when Bobby woke up to pee at 5:55am. Up for the day, ugh.

"I'm a good big brother"

 Bobby has been asking to go the tire swing, so we went after school today for a picnic lunch, but as soon as he got on the swing, he wanted to get off.  I guess the spinning is more fun in his mind than in reality.  He does like getting dizzy and going fast though.

Cranking the gondola

 We picked up a Legoland map and he kept on looking for the treasure.  He's a trip these days.  He doesn't miss a thing and is really fun to talk to.  We are working on his phonics a bit, but he doesn't seem too interested unless you catch him at a good time. We're also working on telling time, or at least getting the concept down, but both of those ideas are months-years away.

Reading the map

October so far

October 7: Washed the car, got a popsicle from the ice cream truck. It's really quite nice here.  Except for the ridiculous regulations the crazy government has imposed and created a nightmare for small businesses and the general driving population. So if you don't mind $4.80/gallon gas, California is lovely.  

Jack is three months! He is fantastic and happy and laughs.  It's the best.  He wakes up every two hours or more frequently at night.

just sitting while we played outside

 Bobby loves to hike and ride his bike.  He finally had a spill off of it and scraped his elbow.  School is going great, although I'm pretty sure he doesn't learn anything or do anything.  I've only gotten one art project in four weeks.

We are really liking our neighborhood and street in particular.  Everyone has their halloween decorations out and we frequently have bike riding parties and even bbqs.  We are looking forward to our visitors at the end of the month and Jacks christening.  We are doing our research for Cars Land and the Zoo's Safari Park.

Weekend

Nice weekend.  Went to San Diego for the Giants game.  Got to wear some of the orange and black kit that Grandma gets us.  Rick probably wouldn't be too pleased to know that Bobby requested to watch Mary Poppins on my phone instead of watching the game.  In his defense, it was naptime, he couldn't really see, but most of all, who doesn't love Step In Time!

Bobby

"How do you get so much wax in your ears?" Without missing a beat, "Honey Bees"

He was pointing a picture from his baptism, "Theres Auntie Carolyn, you, the King holding me, daddy and Uncle Chandler" so two for five.  That would be Monsignor and his godparents, but close.

I'm so afraid he's done with his naps. He says he doesn't want to take a nap and once we eventually get him in his room and read to, he will flip and chatter and who knows what with the lights out.  There are no toys in there and he doesn't play with books, so last week he took his pillowcases off, yesterday he got a new shirt from his drawer and put it on.

He is very particular about his clothes, he likes to pick them out and only has a rotation of about 4 shirts.  Also he now needs to match his pajamas.  His father has made him a square too. He is the same with his shoes.  He was to wear sneakers if his dad is.  If he is in flip flops and his friend is wearing sneakers, Bobby has to too now.  He is really good at riding his strider bike fast, so that is tough on his shoes and I have to find some new ones for him now!

What a night

So it's incredibly hot here (upper 90s) and we have no air conditioning, so by early afternoon I am super crabby and everyone is hot and cranky and bored at the same time b/c we don't want to go to the playground or ride bikes, so we decided to go see Finding Nemo in the theater.  It went well, Bobby was only a little antsy at the end, Jack was great and mostly slept through the whole thing.

We got out around 5:30 and started to go out to dinner for more AC.  In the 15 minute car ride, Bobby falls asleep.  We go in anyway since it's too late for a nap. But then it turns out he's peed his pants.  Jack is over stimulated and a bit fussy and to top it all off, our gift card doesn't work! Which is the reason we went out there in the first place.  Pretty sure I wasn't going to cook, but in trying to be frugal, we picked the place we wouldn't have to pay in cash!

 It wasn't exactly the fun family time/date night I had pictured.  Luckily I had a whole spare outfit in the car, so I took off Bobbys wet shorts thinking he'd wake up so we could feed him, but no.  So we had that towel in the car and he slept all through dinner like that.  Feet in my lap.  I put his shorts on him and he still didn't wake up, loaded him up back into the car, he woke up for a split second, said something about Handy Mandy, and went back to sleep and now's he in his bed. Here's hoping we make it until 6:30am.

These guys are great

Being Three

I was trying to load Bobby up in the stroller to go to the store and get some milk.  he said no, because he doesn't have boobies.

He asked me where my ribbon cage was the other day.

His favorite exclamation is currently Holy Guacamole.

We got baby Jacks blanket from Aunt Judy.  Just in time for tummy time.  He was 12 pounds, 2 ounces at his 2month appointment.  Light and long. Didn't like the shots, but who does. Cried more than I think Bobby did.

School is going very well. Haven't gotten any details from him but no complaints either.

2 months

2 months a video by sld78 on Flickr.

We went out

This is a big deal since I didn't get away from Bobby for at least a year and half, so this time I am hoping it will be a little different - more balance, independence, etc.  Anyway, it was only for school orientation and less than 1.5 hours, but still.

Judy babysat and I left a bottle and everyone did great. Bobby was fed and bathed already.  I know she is more than capable, but it can be overwhelming and I don't want to sic my kids on anyone just in case.

She actually got Bobby to bed easily and Jack only took about 2 ounces of milk, but everyone was happy. And now, I think we should have grabbed some ice cream.  Bobby woke up this morning and asked where BG was sleeping.

So proud of his tower

I know this is a lot of post about nothing, but Bobby has really never stayed with anyone who wasn't family, or when we weren't really close by. It's not that I can't leave my children, or don't trust others, I just don't want to impose if they are difficult or cry. (so I guess that's sort of a lack of trust), Either way, progess!