Leavenworth - Day One

David and I decided to take a mini trip with the boys to Leavenworth, WA, so that our house can have anytime access for agents to show prospective buyers for 3 days. It's our first trip as a family of four. Here are some of today's highlights:

1. Lunch stop in Monroe; hey, they had a play area & it was quick. During this stop, Tyler had one of his every-couple-of-days poops that I struggled with in the BK restroom. Then, Vincent had a poop. I thought I'd save my child the future embarrassment by not photographing David changing his diaper across the parking lot on a patch of grass outside of a motel. 2. Once we got settled into our rental condo at Icicle Inn, we took a look around the "resort." We checked out the mini golf course and the arcade. Vincent was so excited to go on this car as soon as he saw it. Yeah, he has no pants on.

3. David gave in, and played this racing game with Vincent.

4. During our quick visit into town, Vincent got to pet a horse.

5. And, before dinner, David took Vincent for a swim.

Yes, Tyler and I were on this trip, too. I'll be sure to have David take pictures of us tomorrow.

We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, J.J. Hill, which was decent. They have a train that runs above the restaurant that our server turned on for Vincent. Before bedtime, Vincent and I played hide and seek in the condo.

As per Vincent's request, we are going back to the pool tomorrow...but only after the free breakfast buffet!

Like Being In College Again

A friend of ours plays in a local band called, Smile Brigade. Yesterday afternoon, they played a free show at UW, opening up for Built To Spill. Free Built To Spill show? We're there. Unfortunately, we missed Pete's band, due to a napping toddler. I almost felt hip (again??) with my cute husband and kids, wearing my new flashy sunglasses, walking across the UW campus, hanging out with bike riding, frisbee throwing, young college students, and listening to live music. Vincent loved it. The 2nd band had a violin, and he kept asking us where it went when they were done.

We are halfway through with David's paternity leave. It has been so wonderful having him home. I feel so spoiled. We are heading out to Leavenworth, WA tomorrow for a few days with the kids. I bought my first bathing suit in, oh, at least 8 years (yikes!) today. Yes, it's been that long. They are expensive & not fun to try on. But, this should last me another 5-10 years or so, given how little I need a suit in this part of the country.

We were at U Village, which meant Vincent had to play in the little frogs & turtle fountain. He was drentched. We then ate lunch at Blue C Sushi (converyor belt) for the first time. It's okay.

My friend gave us a Kelty backpack this week. David's been wanting one since we had Vincent, so he was so excited, he tried it on right away. Tyler seemed very comfortable.

Tyler is 3 Months Old

I was rushing this morning when I wrote the first posting, and did not get a good photo of Tyler to put up. Now that the kids are napping, I have a little moment.

I took this photo not long before Tyler fell asleep. At three months old, Tyler's hands have found his mouth. He has become much less interested in the pacifier, now that he has found his fists. He's starting to reach his arms out if you put something out in front of him. This "Skwish" toy was one of Vincent's first toys. It's an easy one for little hands to grab & explore.

Tyler has fast outgrown some of the clothing that Vincent was still wearing at this age, & is fitting into a few of the larger items as well.

Though sleep has improved, he still does wake up often in the night to nurse. He is no longer sleeping in bed with us, but during the daytime, he still needs a lot of closeness. Most of the time he naps in a carrier, and needs for the person carrying him to keep moving. He can fall asleep in the carseat or stroller, but once movement has ceased, he will wake up (maybe not immediately, but soon after).

Nursing has also improved. I think we've almost got it. Now that we've gotten better at it, the challenge is to keep him from being distracted, especially when we are out. He really enjoys stopping to smile and "chat" with me.

One major difference between Tyler and Vincent (at this age) is poop. Vincent pooped at just about every nursing. Tyler only poops every few days. The longest stretch so far has been 5 or 6 days. I won't describe the details of the actual poops, but those are different, too.

In the past few weeks, Tyler has developed a little cradle cap. It's not that bad, and I'm actually not worried about it.

Tyler's 6p-9p fussies aren't as rough now. He's still pretty particular about who comforts him during those hours, but he's coming around to David a little more.

It seems like Tyler is fond of the outdoors. He seems to perk up whenever we go outside. He also seems pretty fond of Vincent. We catch him looking at Vincent with an interested expression, and will smile at him, almost as if trying to get his attention.

Our Nice Afternoon

Tyler is 3 months old today! He woke up nice and early this morning, and was smiling away as soon as David took him out of his swaddling blankets. Here's David holding him at 10 minutes before 9am, after a nap. David's looking at the computer, and Tyler's looking at Vincent. Yesterday, we had the best afternoon! We went to the Columbia City Farmers' Market. But, first, we made a stop at Columbia City Cuts and got Vincent a much needed haircut. We didn't tell him until we were around the corner from the store. Since it's in the back of a toy store, we told him that he could pick out a toy after the cut. We expected him to scream, cry and object the whole thing, but that wasn't the case at all. He happily climbed into the car & played with a box of cars, and made no fuss at all. And, since the woman had no other appointments after Vincent's, I took advantage and got my hair cut, too. I cut off over 6 inches. My hair has been falling off for the past few weeks, and continues. And, it's so long now, it's just too much of a bother to me. So, I asked her to chop it off. Just in time for the warmer weather.

We met up with friends at the farmers' market, listened to some cool kids music, and let Vincent run around the grass. After the market, we had dinner at El Sombrero, Mexican food. It was super yummy. Just before our food arrived, Tyler gave out a HUGE poop! When we got home, we got Vincent in the bath, and he asked for Tyler to join him. By the time we were all done washing & dressing kids, it was late (nearly 9pm) and Tyler could hardly keep his eyes open. Both boys went to bed easily. Sweet.

Here's Vincent's new look (and the toy he picked out)! Matching hair dos.

Memorial Day Weekend

What a gorgeous weekend it was in Seattle! I don't remember it being this nice last year. We hung out in town, with little plans for the whole weekend, and had a really nice time.

Saturday, we took the boys down to Madison Park on Lake Washington first thing in the morning. It was warm out by 10am, but not crowded. Sunday afternoon, David took a bike ride with some friends out to Redhook Brewery in Woodinville. The kids and I met them out there after they finished their ride. They had a great deal on their kids meal, which included a pack on two Oreo cookies. Vincent has never had them, but must've been so intrigued (or really hungry) and chowed his meal down before getting the cookies. He was in heaven.

Today, we had kind of a rough start. But, the day ended up pretty good. My childhood friend, Pierre, was in town for the Sasquatch Festival, so he and his friend came over for lunch. Lucy (who knows Pierre, too) brought over lunch. After the kids' naps, David and I took them to the arboretum & we took a walk down to the water for Vincent to look at ducks & boats.

After dinner tonight, I had both boys in my lap, and Vincent wanted to give Tyler a hug. After the hugging, David and Vincent went to water the garden. I decided to give Tyler some naked time. He quite enjoyed it.

Lastly, while organizing photos tonight, I came across this one from a few weeks ago. It's so cute, I had to share!

What We Like

I thought it would be nice to keep track, once in a while, of what each of us are into these days (an idea I got from my friend, Robin's blog).

David: Doing stuff with Vincent, NBA playoffs, amazonfresh.com, Tyler, cereal

Vincent: Singing, puzzles, Daddy, Bob The Builder, asking "What's that?" for every sound he hears, lawn mowers, weedeaters & leaf blowers, laughing at things Tyler does

Tyler: Mommy, his hands, Tiny Love playmat, cooing & laughing

Anny: making books on blurb.com, chicken salad, my guys

Here's Tyler on the playmat:

Not so in love with it at the moment

This is better

This morning, I was hanging out with Tyler & turned away for a moment while he was on the playmat. When I turned back, he had pulled a green ring off the dangling thing above & was playing with it (I think. He knows how to grab, but not really how to let go, yet)

What the?

Friday mornings, Vincent and I go to co-op preschool. Daddy & Tyler came along, but didn't join us until the last 10 minutes. Depending on the weather, we will either go to the bakery or to the park afterwards. Today, Vincent couldn't understand the idea of being able to do both. What a lucky kid!

I had a short eye appointment after the park, so the guys all dropped me off. When I was done 30 minutes later, I called home to see if I could run to Walgreens to pick up some necessities, and heard screaming baby & inquisitive toddler in the background.

Needless to say, I rushed home. I got in the house, took the screaming baby, nursed, swaddled, rocked for a few minutes, and set him down in the crib, expecting him to wake back up in minutes. It's now over 2 HOURS later, and he's still sleeping...out of my arms! I guess that's what happens after he screams at his daddy for half an hour. And, here's the sweetest part, Vincent's napping right now, too. It's so quiet. That has only happened 3 other times (though shorter stretches of sleep) since Tyler's birth, so I'm not expecting it all the time, but it sure is nice. Um, no offense kids.

Daddy

Yesterday morning I had a doctor's appointment, so I left both kids with David. When I came home, I found them in our bedroom like this:
Okay, it's hard to tell how cute they were from this picture, but they really were. Vincent had his little 'NuNus' under the covers & propped up on the pillow with him, and Tyler was cooing at his Daddy. They all looked so happy.

Later in the day, David took both boys out to the park. It was his first outing with the kids on his own, and they all did great!

Paternity Leave!!!!

Tyler is 11 weeks old today, David started his paternity leave, and the sun is shining in Seattle. Nice. Here are my guys this morning.At 11 weeks, Tyler and I are still figuring out the breastfeeding thing. Yeah, seems kind of odd to me, too. It's getting better, and he's growing very well, so that's all that matters. Tyler is a happy, sweet baby. He loves to coo and make faces at us. Today, during Vincent's naptime, Tyler and Daddy were having some tummy time. Tyler lifted himself up so tall, and suddenly, he rolled over! We couldn't believe it. I actually captured it on video, too. If I have some extra time, I'll upload it.

Matching Jammies

I had this long story to go with these pictures, but decided not to bore you with it. Instead, just enjoy the cuteness!

Jell-O

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" has a page where there's a huge Jell-O sunset. While reading it to Vincent the other day, I remembered that we had a box of Jell-O in the cupboard. I'm not sure why we had it. I must've had a pregnancy craving while shopping one day. But, what luck! It made for a fun little post-nap activity.

Vincent had never made it, nor did he even really know what it was. He wanted to eat it right away, but I told him we needed to wait 4 hours for it to cool. Surprisingly, he didn't argue about it. We went out to dinner with some friends that evening, and when we walked up our door after dinner, he bursted out, "Jell-O!" Talk about selective memory.

Mother's Day

Pretty much a typical Sunday for the Hunt party of 4 + 2 cats. Although, Vincent did wake up extra early this morning, crying, which then caused Tyler to cry, which caused Vincent to cry some more, etc. I managed to keep Tyler in bed until after 7 am. We went to brunch at La Medusa (YUM) & played at Powell Barnett Park afterwards.

So, some updates on our life.

Have I mentioned we're selling our house? Yup, we put it on the market last week. We've had 3 open houses, and no offers so far. We opted out of an open house this weekend, cuz quite frankly, it's a bit exhausting. Since we're still living in the house, we've gotta clean it up, put a bunch of stuff away, and then be out of the house during naptime. It's not too bad, but like I said, it's exhausting.

The other day, Tyler wore little shoes when we went out. He typically just has a footed sleeper on all day, but on this day, I put him in footless pants with socks and shoes to keep the socks on instead. When we got home, Vincent took his own shoes off while I took Tyler's off. I just sort of threw them aside on the floor, and got the kids down for naps. Once the house was quiet, I was looking around to straighten up and saw this:
...Yes, Vincent did this. He has been doing it with his shoes lately, but I was floored.

Vincent wanted to sit inside his cars box and eat a snack last week. I thought it would be funny to stack all the cars on him. He thought it was funny, too.

While our house was being opened last week for viewing, we took a drive to Pt. Defiance Zoo, thinking Vincent could take a nap in the car on the way down. Well, we forgot how to get there, and never found it. After much driving up and down the 5 freeway, we finally decided to call it quits and headed to Family Fun Center. At least he did sleep.

At FFC, they have a tots section, where you pay $10 for a wristband, allowing the child to go on unlimited rides for 3 hours. Vincent rode all the rides, except the swings, but LOVED the train and the carousel. He kept going back and forth between those two. He even got to ring the bell on the train.

This is what Tyler did...he tested out the "lying down flat" option on our new Phil & Teds stroller. We took it out for the first time that day.

The last ride of the day. This wasn't part of the tots area, and cost almost just as much for one ride as the wristband did.

Vincent loved FFC and talked about it for several days after.

Who's Who?

One fun thing about having two boys is repeating clothing - it saves money, too. I see Tyler in an outfit Vincent used to wear, and it's like deja vu.