Alice is taking her first nap in three days. The poor girl is teething hard and also really trying to figure out language and her verbal skills. Yesterday she talked to herself in her crib for two hours!! The kids have been so energetic and nonstop that I just made our second pot of coffee today. They were both up at 6am so after breakfast at 7 we set off for the zoo at 9 and waited a few minutes for it to open. The kids didn't mind the rain and romped around in the zoomasium. Little daredevil Alice likes to zoom down the slide on her stomach. We wandered through the tropical rainforest, ate a huge snack in the cafeteria and spent a long time outside and max showed shawn how he's mastered climbing a big rope spiderweb. Alice splashed through the mud puddles and ran all around. We got home at noon but it felt like we'd been out all day. I finally got Alice to sleep and made a nice lunch for shawn and I. Now i am starting in on making dinner for friends who have a three week old baby.
Max started a gymnastics class yesterday and had a splendid time, his eyes were bright with excitement. Alice was sad she couldn't participate in thus class. Next time she can take one, we just can't afford to enroll both of them at the same time. We are all adjusting to me working part time. I really am enjoying the change of pace, and still having lots of time at home with the kids. I love having Fridays off, the kids and I spent a long time at a playground with friends.
In two weeks I'll be taking an overnight solo trip to Portland! I'm looking forward to dinner with a friend on my drive down and an old friends baby shower. Hopefully shawn will take a trip by himself the following weekend.
I'm enjoying looking at the blossoms on the trees outside our living room window and watching shawn and max enjoy a samari cartoon that they picked up at the library yesterday. My two boys head to the library together every weekend and max looks forward to it all week.
A few notes about Alice:
She loves hummus and eats huge portions of it.
At the end of a meal she enjoys putting her bowl on her head like a hat.
She likes to say "hi".
She loves all trucks, and all books about trucks
Max :
Loves making up superhero games, assigning each family member a character and role to play.
He is totally into the here comes science TMBG album and watches the DVD of videos daily. His favorite song is The Bloodmobile.
He now prefers plain yogurt with fruit over sweetened yogurt. Hooray!.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Welcome Spring!
Yesterday we spent at least 4 1/2 hours outside with the kids. We all thoroughly enjoyed the weather. We spent a lovely morning wandering around the Locks and were delighted to see two salmon at the fish ladder. Max made up a really cute game pretending to be a salmon hatching out of his egg. Alice and Shawn spent tons of time practicing Alice's stair climbing. Alice must have been so revved up from all the activity that she refused to nap, so we fueled up with Lighthouse coffees and banana bread and headed out for an afternoon at the park. We had a great afternoon romping around the playground. We all came home tired, happy and hungry. We gobbled up dinner and the kids were asleep by 7:30pm! It was so refreshing to just be able to go to a playground and not have to spend a few loud crazy hours inside some indoor playground. I've gotten tired of those venues over the winter and can't wait to spend some more fun afternoons outside.
My first week of work went very well. The kids are adjusting to their sitters, and it felt so nice to do something different with my mornings. I'm looking forward to going to work this week and digging into some learning and challenges in my new job.
We will register Max for more swim lessons this week. He loves his swimming class and is really thriving. He can even swim for a bit with some flotation devices! Saturday he will start a morning gymnastics class. I'm also organizing a neighborhood soccer "league" to start next month. I think it will be great fun for all the kids to get together and kick a bunch of balls around. I played one on one soccer with Max yesterday, on an actual soccer field and he was asking me questions about how an actual game would be played. This is a huge change over last spring when we enrolled him in a sports class he had very little interest in. Alice is already pretty good at kicking the ball around. We're looking forward to lots of fun outside time!
Little Alice is sleeping off some kind of odd little stomach bug and I'm getting ready to prep some dinner. Shawn and Max are up at the library, one of their usual weekend outings. Tonight Shawn is meeting with his bookclub. We're just moving right along, and so glad spring is here!
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Castle
Max has been asking to visit this "castle" every time we drive by for at least three months. Tonight I finally googled it and learned it's the site of a Methodist Church. The church office is open tomorrow afternoon, so we are going to check it out! I love going on little outings that satisfy his curiosity. My first day at work went well. Working 4 hours in the morning felt like the perfect amount of time. I arrived home feeling refreshed, ready to make lunch for the kids, snuggle Alice down for a nap, and spend some time with Max, reading, playing superheroes, and some computer games on pbskids. I'm so happy they got along well with the sitter!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is my first day at my part time job. I'll be working 8am to noon Monday through Thursday Mornings until the end of June. I'm excited and nervous. Plenty nervous about leaving my kids with childcare providers who seem great, but I don't know how the kids will do, especially Max. He's been vacillating between clinging to me and being angry with me, saying things like: "You need to stay home forever! Dad makes the money. You stay home and make our food.". This will be my first stint working outside the home since he was born.
I've loved my time at home with him, and Alice, but it's time for me to spend a few hours a week doing something different, and the small amount of income I will net after childcare and parking will be helpful. I'm trying my best to assure him that he will be fine with his babysitters, and he'll probably have some fun too. I'll be home each day by 12:30, so there will be plenty of time for hanging out with Max one on one while Alice naps and then we'll have afternoons for outings.
I'm really looking forward to getting some balance back in my life. I've never been very good at that, balancing everything. Lately I've been overwhelmed and I hate to say it, but burned out from the amount of energy and attention Max has needed lately. He's so hungry to learn and interact. He knows all of his letters, can count to thirty without much help, is in the very early stages of reading, getting close to being fully toilet trained, and what else, he's interested in everything. He wants to talk about black holes, all of the scientific elements, every single super hero in existence, learn every computer game, and build everything possible out of legos, trios, and tinker toys. He wows me by how active and intelligent he is. We are constantly striving to find things to challenge and stimulate him. Just this week we've gone to the the UU church in West Seattle, visited friends and their 1 day old baby boy at the hospital, played at a friends house, had friends over to play, went to the Pacific Science Center, a birthday party at the Burke Museum where the kids got to see a huge mastodon skeleton and many dinosaur exhibits, a trip to the library, a 2 hour geologic program through our friends nature preschool, the seattle aquarium, registered for a gymnastics class, played play-doh, made molasses cookies, and I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting!
Right now Alice is asleep (after getting up at 5:28AM on day light savings day!), Shawn and Max are up at the library, and I've corned beef simmering for an early St. Pattys dinner with Alicia, Loren, and Katherine. I'm about to prep an Irish soda bread recipe so that Max can mix that up with me when he gets home. He loves hands on projects.
In continuing to count our blessings, I am remembering how fortunate we are to have all of the things that we do as I am feeling the strain of neccesseties such as gas and food eat up more of our budget as prices rise. I am remembering how much more we have than many others. And my heart just aches for the terrible tragedy in Japan. I think we can find a few dollars in our budget for MercyCorps.
Shawn's recovering from a cold and has been very busy and challenged at work with the course he is currently writing. We are fitting in little bits of fun where we can. Last sunday we got out for dinner and drinks while Alicia and Loren watched the kids. The other night we watched "The Social Network". Last night we sampled some Guinness ice cream a friend made. Yum! I'm making a cake to go with said ice cream at a St. Patty's party on Thursday at a friends house. Yesterday we took a brief family walk at sunset. It was delightful to show Max a rainbow and watch the sun setting behind the Olympics. Alice delighted in finding flower petals on the ground, and we are all delighted at the signs of spring.
I've loved my time at home with him, and Alice, but it's time for me to spend a few hours a week doing something different, and the small amount of income I will net after childcare and parking will be helpful. I'm trying my best to assure him that he will be fine with his babysitters, and he'll probably have some fun too. I'll be home each day by 12:30, so there will be plenty of time for hanging out with Max one on one while Alice naps and then we'll have afternoons for outings.
I'm really looking forward to getting some balance back in my life. I've never been very good at that, balancing everything. Lately I've been overwhelmed and I hate to say it, but burned out from the amount of energy and attention Max has needed lately. He's so hungry to learn and interact. He knows all of his letters, can count to thirty without much help, is in the very early stages of reading, getting close to being fully toilet trained, and what else, he's interested in everything. He wants to talk about black holes, all of the scientific elements, every single super hero in existence, learn every computer game, and build everything possible out of legos, trios, and tinker toys. He wows me by how active and intelligent he is. We are constantly striving to find things to challenge and stimulate him. Just this week we've gone to the the UU church in West Seattle, visited friends and their 1 day old baby boy at the hospital, played at a friends house, had friends over to play, went to the Pacific Science Center, a birthday party at the Burke Museum where the kids got to see a huge mastodon skeleton and many dinosaur exhibits, a trip to the library, a 2 hour geologic program through our friends nature preschool, the seattle aquarium, registered for a gymnastics class, played play-doh, made molasses cookies, and I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting!
Right now Alice is asleep (after getting up at 5:28AM on day light savings day!), Shawn and Max are up at the library, and I've corned beef simmering for an early St. Pattys dinner with Alicia, Loren, and Katherine. I'm about to prep an Irish soda bread recipe so that Max can mix that up with me when he gets home. He loves hands on projects.
In continuing to count our blessings, I am remembering how fortunate we are to have all of the things that we do as I am feeling the strain of neccesseties such as gas and food eat up more of our budget as prices rise. I am remembering how much more we have than many others. And my heart just aches for the terrible tragedy in Japan. I think we can find a few dollars in our budget for MercyCorps.
Shawn's recovering from a cold and has been very busy and challenged at work with the course he is currently writing. We are fitting in little bits of fun where we can. Last sunday we got out for dinner and drinks while Alicia and Loren watched the kids. The other night we watched "The Social Network". Last night we sampled some Guinness ice cream a friend made. Yum! I'm making a cake to go with said ice cream at a St. Patty's party on Thursday at a friends house. Yesterday we took a brief family walk at sunset. It was delightful to show Max a rainbow and watch the sun setting behind the Olympics. Alice delighted in finding flower petals on the ground, and we are all delighted at the signs of spring.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Word names and word play
Lately Max has been playing a lot with language. I had to share what shawn tweeted today:
Max called me paint. I called him a paintbrush. Then he said he painted me on the wall. This meant a big hug. Sweetie.
We love how unique Max is!
Max called me paint. I called him a paintbrush. Then he said he painted me on the wall. This meant a big hug. Sweetie.
We love how unique Max is!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Alice at 18 months
My little girl is 18 months old today.
Alice, at 18 months you love to stand on the couch keeping watch at the big living room window watching for garbage trucks. You know their sound and when you hear one you drop whatever you are doing and hurry over to the window.
You love watching animals, especially ducks, dogs, and cats. Yesterday you delighted in petting an 11 week old black lab puppy at the playground.
You love flavorful foods and recently have enjoyed soy chorizo with salsa, veggie tiki masala, salami, steamed chard with basalmic vinegar
baked beans, fried eggs, Rosemary bread with caramelized onion hummus, and yams stir fried in soy sauce.
You now play with playdoh without eating it and enjoy kneeling on a regular kitchen chair rather than sitting in your high chair.
You love playing peek a boo and chase with your brother.
You are a delight. We love you, Alice Wren.
Alice, at 18 months you love to stand on the couch keeping watch at the big living room window watching for garbage trucks. You know their sound and when you hear one you drop whatever you are doing and hurry over to the window.
You love watching animals, especially ducks, dogs, and cats. Yesterday you delighted in petting an 11 week old black lab puppy at the playground.
You love flavorful foods and recently have enjoyed soy chorizo with salsa, veggie tiki masala, salami, steamed chard with basalmic vinegar
baked beans, fried eggs, Rosemary bread with caramelized onion hummus, and yams stir fried in soy sauce.
You now play with playdoh without eating it and enjoy kneeling on a regular kitchen chair rather than sitting in your high chair.
You love playing peek a boo and chase with your brother.
You are a delight. We love you, Alice Wren.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
In the middle of the night in our house
I got up at 4:30AM to give a crying Alice a binky and get her back to sleep. As I walked out of our room I was blinded by every single light in the kitchen, living room, and hallway being turned on. I looked into the living room to see Max asleep on the couch. At least the light in the kids room was off. Alice never really did go back to sleep and ended up in our bed. Last night at dinner we
told Max that if he came into our room in the night (he's been doing this for over a week) we'd take him back to his room. So I guess he decided to try out the couch. When I asked him this morning why he'd come out to the couch he said he needed his privacy from Alice. Already?!
told Max that if he came into our room in the night (he's been doing this for over a week) we'd take him back to his room. So I guess he decided to try out the couch. When I asked him this morning why he'd come out to the couch he said he needed his privacy from Alice. Already?!
Friday, March 4, 2011
A few notes
Me and Alice's new favorite breakfast: Medium grain brown rice with soy sauce and earth balance margarine. :)
Max's new favorite game: Making all of his toys into transformers
His wish for the weekend: for us to take a family ride on the monorail.
Our plan for today: staying home and making muffins.
I think all of us are ready for a more mellow day.
We're listening to Billie Holiday and hanging out. I'm on my 4th cup of coffee. It's nice.
Max's new favorite game: Making all of his toys into transformers
His wish for the weekend: for us to take a family ride on the monorail.
Our plan for today: staying home and making muffins.
I think all of us are ready for a more mellow day.
We're listening to Billie Holiday and hanging out. I'm on my 4th cup of coffee. It's nice.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Today
Today was a crazy string of events and I wanted to jot them down for memories sake:
3am. Max crawls in to our bed. He's been doing this almost nightly since I've started talking seriously about working part time.
5:50am. Alice wakes. She won't go back to sleep it takes me 45 minutes to realize she has a massive dirty diaper.
8:45am. Delve into construction paper project with kids. Max has been asking me to cut out paper boats, fish, pirates, etc for him to make a collage with.
9:15am. Drop kids off at friends house. Drive to new job to fill out paperwork. Enjoy seeing old boss and coworkers again.
10:30am. Pick up kids, drive to preschool to drop off max. He does not want to be there and bursts into tears. I go against my gut and leave him there, finally departing at 11:30 with a seemingly tired Alice.
Noon: change another huge dirty diaper of alice's. Feed her lunch. Call max's school - he is still sad, we rush off to pick him up - wish i had listened to my gut.
12:30. Arrive to find a very sad max. Lovingly whisk him into car and he finally eats his lunch, his face splotchy with tears.
1pm. Get alice a story, bottle, and in to crib. She talks to herself for an entire hour.
2pm. Alice gets really fussy, I go into her room to find another huge dirty diaper. She is, of course, wide awake and in no mood for a nap.
2:30. Kids chase each other all over house and start driving me nuts.
3pm. Head out in the rain to drive over to our friends p-patch garden to play. It starts raining hard but we persist. On the walk down the hill to the garden I slip in the mud and fall flat on my butt, with a scared Alice in my arms.
3:30pm. Max wanders off and empties his drawers. I change him on the cement floor of the tool barn. We are grateful for this shelter from the rain and the kids play with a few tools and eat snacks.
4:30. We start walking back to our cars. I slipped and fell three times with alice in the mud trying to make it uphill. Thankfully Sara is more spry than i am and carries alice up the hill while I climb up, with max patiently waiting by the car, asking me if I am ok. I am so covered in mud that I have to remove my skirt and sweatshirt in front of passing cars, and drive home in tights and a t-shirt. I peel off alice's wet rain jacket and muddy shoes and thankfully she is happy again, but still no nap!
5:00. Arrive home, all three of us get in to warm bath. Kids play contently in tub while i rinse mud out of clothes in sink.
5:30. Get kids out of tub and into jammies. Start their dinner.
5:50. Shawn finally home. Try to leave for my 6:00 haircut, max cries and clings to me, wanting to come along. I manage to get out the door and quickly start a load of laundry as I hear his cries coming from our apartment.
6:05. Arrive at hair appointment only 5 minutes late.
6:30. Walk over to grocery store with new spunky haircut and self medicate with a deep fried deli burrito.
6:45. Arrive home to two very tired kids. Delight max with a package of animal crackers. Alice of course wants some. As I pick her up to put her in the highchair I notice she needs a change. Again. 4th dirty diaper of the day, and even her clothes are soiled. Poor kid!
7:35. Both kids finally asleep.
8:00. Enjoy tasty quiet dinner with Shawn. He went vegetarian about a month ago, so lately and we've been having some delightful meals. Tonight was simple. Golden chard steamed and tossed with balsamic vinegar and myzthra cheese, and rosemary bread with caramelized onion hummus.
8:30. Take 2 vicodin pills for my aching neck and shoulder (maybe later I'll blog about how friday afternoon max ran out behind a car that was backing up and while trying to catch him I fell while carrying alice, dropping her on the pavement, and injuring myself).
9:00. Shawn heads out to visit with a friend. The quiet of the house finally settles around me. What a day!!!!
PS: Max got a mullet haircut yesterday. It was just what he asked for and it's downright adorable.
3am. Max crawls in to our bed. He's been doing this almost nightly since I've started talking seriously about working part time.
5:50am. Alice wakes. She won't go back to sleep it takes me 45 minutes to realize she has a massive dirty diaper.
8:45am. Delve into construction paper project with kids. Max has been asking me to cut out paper boats, fish, pirates, etc for him to make a collage with.
9:15am. Drop kids off at friends house. Drive to new job to fill out paperwork. Enjoy seeing old boss and coworkers again.
10:30am. Pick up kids, drive to preschool to drop off max. He does not want to be there and bursts into tears. I go against my gut and leave him there, finally departing at 11:30 with a seemingly tired Alice.
Noon: change another huge dirty diaper of alice's. Feed her lunch. Call max's school - he is still sad, we rush off to pick him up - wish i had listened to my gut.
12:30. Arrive to find a very sad max. Lovingly whisk him into car and he finally eats his lunch, his face splotchy with tears.
1pm. Get alice a story, bottle, and in to crib. She talks to herself for an entire hour.
2pm. Alice gets really fussy, I go into her room to find another huge dirty diaper. She is, of course, wide awake and in no mood for a nap.
2:30. Kids chase each other all over house and start driving me nuts.
3pm. Head out in the rain to drive over to our friends p-patch garden to play. It starts raining hard but we persist. On the walk down the hill to the garden I slip in the mud and fall flat on my butt, with a scared Alice in my arms.
3:30pm. Max wanders off and empties his drawers. I change him on the cement floor of the tool barn. We are grateful for this shelter from the rain and the kids play with a few tools and eat snacks.
4:30. We start walking back to our cars. I slipped and fell three times with alice in the mud trying to make it uphill. Thankfully Sara is more spry than i am and carries alice up the hill while I climb up, with max patiently waiting by the car, asking me if I am ok. I am so covered in mud that I have to remove my skirt and sweatshirt in front of passing cars, and drive home in tights and a t-shirt. I peel off alice's wet rain jacket and muddy shoes and thankfully she is happy again, but still no nap!
5:00. Arrive home, all three of us get in to warm bath. Kids play contently in tub while i rinse mud out of clothes in sink.
5:30. Get kids out of tub and into jammies. Start their dinner.
5:50. Shawn finally home. Try to leave for my 6:00 haircut, max cries and clings to me, wanting to come along. I manage to get out the door and quickly start a load of laundry as I hear his cries coming from our apartment.
6:05. Arrive at hair appointment only 5 minutes late.
6:30. Walk over to grocery store with new spunky haircut and self medicate with a deep fried deli burrito.
6:45. Arrive home to two very tired kids. Delight max with a package of animal crackers. Alice of course wants some. As I pick her up to put her in the highchair I notice she needs a change. Again. 4th dirty diaper of the day, and even her clothes are soiled. Poor kid!
7:35. Both kids finally asleep.
8:00. Enjoy tasty quiet dinner with Shawn. He went vegetarian about a month ago, so lately and we've been having some delightful meals. Tonight was simple. Golden chard steamed and tossed with balsamic vinegar and myzthra cheese, and rosemary bread with caramelized onion hummus.
8:30. Take 2 vicodin pills for my aching neck and shoulder (maybe later I'll blog about how friday afternoon max ran out behind a car that was backing up and while trying to catch him I fell while carrying alice, dropping her on the pavement, and injuring myself).
9:00. Shawn heads out to visit with a friend. The quiet of the house finally settles around me. What a day!!!!
PS: Max got a mullet haircut yesterday. It was just what he asked for and it's downright adorable.
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