A bit early, but I'll take it

Today was a great day!  Very relaxed.  Lots of fun.  Hubs got to sleep in while I took the boys downstairs around 5am to eat and watch tv.  We relaxed and had fun.  I had this glimpse of the future when little man isn't a baby anymore and the three of us are hanging out on weekend mornings watching cartoons all snuggled on the couch.  It was a really fun glimpse!

After hubs came down around 7ish, I put little man on his gym mat to swat at some stuff and kick around.  He's very kicky.  Then I plopped him on his belly after 15 minutes or so to do some tummy time.  And I walked away to get a drink and look back and he's on his back.  Hubs and I started cheering and saying, "yay!"  Much to his delight.  I thought, ok, maybe I put him a little on his side.  So, I put him back firmly on the belly.  Within seconds, and this time I was watching, he rolled himself onto his back.  I did it three more times just to be sure and he rolled over three more times!  Hubs was so excited and of course looked up online to see the average age that babies roll over- 4 months is when they usually start.  He was all excited and was I.  Of course he didn't do it the rest of the day.  Probably won't for a while, but it was really cool.

Following all the excitement, big guy, little man, and I went to get bagels for breakfast.  Then the rest of the day was spent eating, watching tv, hanging out, practicing writing letters.  We had a late snack at our favorite pizza place before more relaxing.  It was a really nice day.  Which we all needed and appreciated!!

baby clothes

This morning one of my friends came over to collect little man's baby clothes- newborn to 3 months.  It was a mixture of big guy and newly acquired clothing.  As I watched her load them into a bag, I panicked.  Should I keep some of them as mementos? Logic said no.  Our house is small and I've no use for them now that little man is wearing 6 month clothing. I think I feel sad that my boys have no use for them anymore.  Not that I'm sad the newborn age is done.  I'm definitely glad about that.  I guess I cant describe it but to say that I will miss those adorable clothes.  Rompers with cute nautical themes.  My penchant for horizontal stripes.  Little onesies.  Maybe it's knowing that I won't have another baby.  But then I think, I'm so lucky to get to watch little man become older. How wonderful that I get to do this all again while watching big guy continue to develop and grow. And that's way better than any cute clothing!

New Hampshire Trip

Tomorrow we are embarking on our trip to New Hampshire.  Different this year- hubs and little man are in attendance.  Traveling with two should be an adventure.  Am I brave?  Am I insane?  Perhaps a bit of both!!!  I'm hoping the trip will be as rejuvenating as it was last year.  We went to breastfeeding group today and little man weighed in at 14 lbs 9.5 oz.  An almost 1/2 pound gain!  Lactation consultant said good luck!  And have fun of course.  first, I have to finish packing!!!!

First visits

First visits that little man has slept through so far...

Philly zoo
Ikea
Supermarket
Poppi's pizza
Babies R Us
BJ's
Big guy's preschool graduation
Big guy's first friend visiting our house

Leaves, glorious leaves!

Water tank

Yesterday, we went to the petco to get some stuff for the cats.  Hubs had come home early, so we all went to pick up big guy from school.  And dropped off the huge box- 179 to be exact- of ice pops we had bought at bj's for his class.  We then went over to petco and quickly got what we needed.  But little man was up, so I took him back to see the fish.  Wow! His eyes were wide open and he was following them all around the tanks.  It was really cool! Which means that when gmom dino comes to visit in october, big guy can play hooky and we can all go to the aquarium!  Anywho, big guy and hubs come back to see and big guy gets all excited about the different fish.  Then, he looks at me and asks if he can get a water tank.  Which, as a good mother, I immediately say NO! He turns to hubs and asks again.  And hubs says, "you'll have to ask Santa!"  Cue dramatic yelling towards ceiling- Nooooooo! Then big guy starts this whole conversation about santa, getting an x-mas tree, etc.

Has hubs forgotten our house is the size of a thimble? We need to de-clutter bc we want to put it on the market in the spring? We can't even keep the humidifier clean/functioning in big guy's room? (seriously, I've killed 7 of them!) And most importantly, when we fish-sat three years ago and killed half the fish off? Apparently, the answer is yes!!!

Anywho, seeing as big guy remembers everything- I might be in the market for some fish soon.  Help!

Fall!

I absolutely love the fall.  It's my favorite season, besides summer. Ok, it might be a tie! Anyway, last fall had glorious weather.  Something about cooler weather, leaves crunching, school starting, and pumpkins! We had a lot of fall festive fun.  Mostly revolving around visits to linvilla orchards. We went apple picking, pumpkin buying, apple launching (where they let you slingshot yucky apples into a field), hayrides, and lots of playground time.

I absolutely adore this picture. Look at that face! 

Hayride! We went like three times a visit. 

Sometimes I just want to eat the cuteness!

Old and new

Here's the plan- I have to back track through this past year but simultaneously give updates about current days.  So, that's my plan!

School

I know I've posted before about big guy's rocky experience with school.  However, this year he has hit his stride.  And it is all thanks to his amazing, loving, supportive teacher this year. Really, the adjectives could go on and on.  No joke, I love her! I will be epically sad in a month when she is no longer his teacher.

The beginning of school was tough, as always, but Ms. C actually got who big guy was as a child.  She figured out the way to work with him and to support and encourage him to work with her and his classmates. Like playing, calling people by their names not 'you people,' wanting to learn to write, talking a lot, actually showing his skills instead of pretending he doesn't know them. Like counting. Like knowing left from right. Like washing his hands.  She embraces his wackiness and yet harnesses the wildness. She gets him to try new things- oranges, nori rolls, chicken fingers! And she has helped me figure out how to help him and support him at home.  I'm getting misty just writing this!

Additionally, she has a great sense of humor and can see that in my child and life in general. And she loves to throw themed parties!  Every holiday is so much fun!  The best was the easter/pirate/princess party where my mom and I hid literally 400 easter eggs at the local park! more on that late.

And the true testament to how much big guy loves school- he always asks if it's a school day and he never is ready to go home.  In the spring, he never wanted to leave.  Like I would be sitting in class for an hour playing, talking and doing activities before I could cajole him from the room.  Finally, the love of school he deserves!

First week of school

So, it's been awhile...

Hello world! I'm back.  There is a lot to cover about my almost year hiatus with blogging.  The biggest being that I was pregnant with child #2! Yes, and he was born on May 27th!  We are officially 9 weeks old now and chugging along.  This time has been such a different and yet similar experience... it's strange.  Anyway, the reason for not blogging mostly started because I was so exhausted this pregnancy.  First time around, I was able to relax and nap all the time.  Second time around, I was working and taking care of big guy.  Then it morphed into being very personal and not wanting to share too much, even with close friends.  and then it was just too much to get started again.  Interestingly, what got me motivated again was reading about big guy when he was just about little man's age.  And I realized that I gave myself such a gift by writing about his life!  So, I'm slowly going to get back into the flow.  Catching up on big guy's life.  He turned 4! And introducing the little man. Stay tuned and check in :) In the meantime, feast on this cuteness: