Still Up Early

Ugh, all this early waking puts me in a grumpy mood. Today he started at 6:05 and was up for over an hour fussing on and off. I rocked him once and then went to take my shower. He was still whining on and off when I got out but after I got myself ready I peeked in and he was asleep. Whew! I was so worried about having to scrap our playgroup plans and all. Eek...he just made a peep. Guess this'll be short.

Yesterday E learned to do somersaults. He is such a daredevil. He did it all on his own. Click here for video from the park. He started them at home but did them at the park too. Woo hoo! Here is a picture of E balancing on J's nose at the park too. It is part of their circus act. Okay, so J is really just tossing E in the air but doesn't it look like E is simply standing?

Well, gonna go get E up now and we're off to play! Have a nice day!

Tooth #14

Well, I just noticed Easton's 14th tooth today but it feels like it popped through a few days ago. He's working on another right now. I'm hoping that's the reason for his restless mornings. I hate that even though I'm no longer nursing I'm still waking up for the day when he begins his moaning/fussing/whining. Yet, despite that he still slept in until after 8:30. Hopefully when he's done with these toofers he'll sleep quietly through. Anyway...I've been keeping a tooth chart for E. Who knows why really? It's just one of those things about me.

He is looking so cute today. We did go to Old Navy yesterday and I picked him out 2 pairs of shorts for $10 each. I have to take the jean shorts back as they are too big. I will have to find an even smaller size somewhere. He did get to keep these cute plaid ones...he looks like a mini golfer. Ha ha! Mini golf! See:

We have just hung around the house this morning. I s'pose we might go out later. Take back the Old Navy shorts and then we'll see. I wasn't able to find a light switchy thing for him. Maybe that's not "safe"? I dunno...I'm going to look online. I bought him his first bowl. It has a suction cup on the bottom which seems smart but then with the deep bowl it makes the thing too dang tall for my shorty. He's already sitting on a folded up towel for a "boost" in his highchair. There's not much else I can do other than learning bowl techniques when he's taller. *sigh*

Let's see...tomorrow we're heading to a playgroup and there should be a bunch of kiddos there. Yay! Susannah and Max invited us for lunch and to the park in the afternoon. They'll be at the playgroup so she's wanting to just make a day of it but with E and napping I'm not so sure. I'll keep an open mind. It's not like they're just down the street. It's about a half an hour away or so.

Oh, here's some video from last night. One is J swooping in to catch E falling off the toy box. He falls off it a lot. The other is Eastie doing a fake sneeze. Goober.

The Rambler (at first I called it "Busy Day" but read on and you'll see why I had to switch)

Well, wouldn't you know it...after yesterday morning's "ordeal" from 4:30-6:30 a.m. Easton then decided to sleep in till 9:30!!! Huh?! Then for the second day in a row he took a 3+ hour nap. That boy better be growing.

Today was slightly better. He woke up hourly and "stirred" (yes, this time even I would call it stirring) starting at 4:45 but kept going back to sleep on his own till he woke for the day at 8:30. Not bad. I'm sure his long napping streak is over. It just took him half an hour of intermittent screaming to fall asleep. Darn. He hasn't pulled that since I "fixed" him after The Alabamaws left. Oh well. I didn't resort to my old head rubbing ways or anything. I stuck with our plan and am proud of myself. When he is miserable my gut tells me to make it better, but routinely "helping" him fall asleep like that hurts us all in the long run. That's just our opinion, especially considering his age now and stuff. Moving on...

That is from just after breakfast, he's wearing his jammies on his head. Silly.

We have gotten so much done already today. Normally I opt for just a couple outings a day to make sure we get out of the house. But today E woke up and we had some breakfast. He asked for "pop pop" (he whispers it) which he came up with all on his own for Corn Pops. We have them leftover from The Alabamaws visit and Jason and I don't eat them so we load our kid up with sugar to start the day off right :) Chocolate milk and corn pops...could I be a better mother? Ugh! :( Anyhoo...after breakfast we made a quick stop at the regular grocery store for two things I can't get at Wal-Mart: flaxseed meal and muffin cups. I'm sure Wal-Mart has plain muffin cups, I'm just incapable of finding them and when I asked a lady in a blue Wal-Mart vest for help one day she told me she was on her lunch. Nice. Can't part with the vest there, can ya? Goodness I am straying from the topics at hand today...okay, focus...so we hit the regular grocery store. Then Sam's Club for diapers, detergent, and J's juices all the while I talked to my mom on the phone and worked really hard to make my wonky cart go straight. It was difficult but I am SuperMom. After those two stops we went to Circle Time. We all sang a song and each kid at Circle Time got a shout out in the song. Easton seemed to recognize everyone saying his name. Fun! At Circle Time I got 2 new books for myself. One is the latest Stephanie Plum novel YIPPEE!! Love those books. The other is a sleep book a friend recommended called, "Good Night, Sleep Tight". I think Easton is roughly as sleep "trained" as he's gonna be, but it won't hurt to check it out. Especially if we have another kid I want to get the whole sleeping thing off on the right foot, please God don't let us have another preemie that we have to wake at night. That and J's genetics certainly haven't helped E be a good sleeper. There's only so much "training" can do, right? Well, that and there's only so much I'm willing to do. Like, we'd never ever let him "cry it out". Not for us, thanks. 2 minutes is about all we'll let him cry and he usually pukes before his 2 minutes is up and it's still hard for me to hear my child cry. Could I be any more random today? Golly.

So, at Circle Time they had coloring afterwards and E made this to hang on his door:


After Circle Time we headed to do our regular weekly shopping at Wal-Mart. Easton was being SO loud. Not bad, just loud. As in excited. I love him even if he does make people stare. I wanted to tell them that I've heard him be even louder but I don't think they would have appreciated that. On the way home from Wal-Mart there is a Dairy Queen so I had to get myself a Moolatte. Just for fun. Yum. And our last stop before home was the bank to deposit my wad of cash from Baby John's parents. Eastie got a red sucker. Then he bit it and I had to rush to sweep my finger through his mouth to get the chokable bits out. Yowzers! I was temporarily afraid, good thing Mommy instincts make us such quick thinkers and acters. Whew! I also found some pieces of straw wrapper in there. I gave it to him in his carseat to play with (from my Moolatte) and apparently he decided to eat it. He doesn't usually eat non-food things anymore. Oops. Duh!

I think we may even head out again after naptime. Perhaps to Old Navy and maybe Babies R Us. We want to look for some kind of light switch adapter that can allow Eastie Boy to reach his own light switch. I had one as a kid and hope they still make 'em. He loves lights right now.

I'll leave you with a few things from last night. First, we had our Chick-fil-a for dinner as planned but since they use peanut oil on everything we don't let E have it yet. So he had my homemade hummus and some crackers with a spoon.

Then J had to fix a broken sprinkler that just wasn't working. Well it is now. He came in saying, "I got a little damp."

Yeah, I'll say...his jeans were soaked too. Tee hee!

Easton also signed, "Love" to Jason last night. I was so sad I missed it so J told me the story and then E did it for me too! Yay! Here's what happened: E was playing in his toy box and J came up close looking inside for some cars. Easton then took it upon himself to give his Daddy a kiss. Awwww! Jason told him he was such a sweet boy and said, "I love you!" while signing 'love' (crossing your arms across your chest, sort of making an 'x' over your heart) and E did the sign back. It's not one we typically do with him. Actually I never sign it. Just say it. Anyway, isn't that cool? Then he gave me a kiss after Jason told me the story and he signed, 'love' to me too! What a heart-melter. He's a sweetie-poo. Anyway, I'll be signing off now with this little movie from bedtime last night. He was laughing more hysterically before we thought to get the camera so he's winding down quite a bit here. We're playing, "E-screams-for-fun-and-we-shush-him-for-giggles". It's a new one. Check it out!

Mommy the Grouch

I have a feeling that's going to be me today as I have been up since 4:30 a.m. Let's just say Easton's sleeping today didn't go as well as yesterday. But I knew not to get my hopes up as that's how my child always is: unpredictable. Anyway, at 4:30 he started whining. I let him whine for 15 minutes before I went in, apparently the paci had hit the floor. So I gave it to him and went back to bed. He whined for 15 more minutes so at 5 I went and rocked him. He signed, "milk?" but I just told him, "Shhh, night-night" and he put his head back on my shoulder. He cried for a sec when I laid him down again but he was quiet after that for, like, 25 minutes. Just as I was about to fall back asleep myself I hear from him again. And again. So I just got up. He's still in there and has been quiet for 35 whole minutes now. Grrrr.

I went into our bedroom as Jason was waking up this morning and he asked, "Were you able to go back to sleep after Easton was stirring?" He immediately regretted using the word "stirring" as from the look on my face or something that is clearly not how I thought things went. I know Easton is teething so it makes it hard to expect him to fly completely solo. He's always been a pretty easy teether so I'm not sure if he's waking for that or for other reasons. Sometimes I really wish he could tell me.

I wonder if there's such a thing as post-weaning hormonal surges. Like post-partum. I'm telling you, I'm in such a sensitive mood these last few days. People should be afraid to be around me ha ha ha. Yikes!

Well, yesterday with John went just fine. Easton even took a 3 hour nap! John showed up in a Colorado Rockies outfit so I dressed Easton in one too and then I took a ton of pictures of the boys.

I know that one is in the album, I just really like it.

Eastie giving John a coaster hat.

An of course, a self-portrait of me with my hands full. Well, John will be back today. I always feel like it should be Friday after my second day with John. I don't know why. We are getting Chick-fil-a tonight. I'm glad I won't have to cook tonight in my sure-to-be-grouchy mood.

Weaning Weenie

I think I was sort of "afraid" to wean Easton and that's why I'd go in at 5-6 in the morning when he'd wake up but not really cry. Since that was our one and only nursing session of the day I'd go right in to feed my cuddly sleepy head. I think I was convincing myself he wouldn't go back to sleep without it...or without me. But, alas, yesterday I tried simply staying in my own bed when I heard him and he went right back to sleep for a couple more hours all on his own. So, yesterday was the first day since he started nursing (at a couple weeks old) that I didn't nurse him. It makes me a little sad to think that we're done but there comes a time for everyone to stop. I guess this is our time since I was getting so tired of waking up at 5-6, even though it appears as if I was doing it to myself. Today it is already 7:15 and I haven't heard from him at all. I don't want to get my hopes up that he's already gotten used to not even stirring at 5-6, but that's how it went today.

I had only been nursing him on the right side...ever since we went down to just the one "half feeding" at 5-6 a.m. So, with not feeding him yesterday my right "milk maker" is so very noticeably larger than the left. I really hope it goes away some day soon. I look obviously ridiculous and it's a little worrisome that they might never look equal. Last night I had J take a picture. I joked that it was "you know...for my blog" ha ha ha. However, I'm not really going to share my lopsidedness with you, although my clothed mismatched chest would be slightly more appropriate than the time Jason accidentally emailed my nip to all our family. It was a picture of Easton while still in the NICU but, low and behold...what's that in the corner? My nip! He felt so bad and I've always thought it was funny. Like Elaine's Christmas picture on Seinfeld. Hee hee.

Well, lets see...Saturday afternoon we let E run around in his new sprinkler. He liked it but he gets so cold so quickly. He just stands there and shivers. Granted, it wasn't the hottest day ever but Jason (who had just finished mowing the lawn) thought it was plenty warm. Oh well. E still had fun and I made another movie montage. Click here to see it.

Saturday night we couldn't make it to the Railroad Museum...it's a bit of a drive, and they closed at 6. So, instead we went out to Red Robin for dinner...Thanks, G, for planting that little idea in J's head :)

Yesterday we hung around the house and took E for a walk after dinner. He started being bad at the park by not listening so we said we'd take him home and he threw a public tantrum (for the 1st time in public, I think!). He threw himself into limp ragdoll mode as I tried to put him in the stroller and screamed and cried. Ugh! I was embarassed because there was another family there. Oh well. Consistency is key, right?

Today we're expecting Baby John around 8. It's 7:30 and I just heard E call out, "Mama" so I gotta run. Toodles!

Life is a Bowl of Cherries

Well, maybe today is a bag of cherries. That's what we got from the Farmer's Market this morning. It was so very crowded but we enjoyed ourselves then went and sat along Boulder Creek and ate some cherries, Easton's first cherry experience. He liked them.


After our snack we walked along the creek path and stopped to watch a bunch of kids frolicking in the water. Easton had pants on so I didn't let him wade. He enjoyed watching but looking at this picture makes me wish I had let him in the water. He looks like he's feeling a little left out, doesn't it?

Oh well. He was fine after one or two of his famous "hand hugs".

He's so silly with those, he often does them at restaurants when he's in a highchair but feeling snuggly. He'll reach out for a hand, say, "Mama, awwwww!" and cradle my hand next to his face.

Speaking of feeling snuggly, ugh, this morning was bad again. He woke at 5:20 and had some milk, at 5:40 he was crying so I went in again, at 6:00 we could hear he was still awake. We left him though, since he wasn't sad. I think he eventually went back to sleep. Later I got him up and brought him to see Jason and Easton was being so clingy to me. If Jason would try to touch him or me he'd push him away. We had never really seen him like that. I wonder what is going on with him...maybe it has to do with Baby John or something? It could just have been a one time thing, too. I dunno...

So he didn't go down for his nap till 1:30. I wanted him to have some lunch before he went to sleep so I'm not sure if he'll wake in time to make it to the train museum. Usually I seem to put him down around noonish. But not today since we were out and about this morning and weren't even home till 1. Then we had mac and cheese with leftover taco meat and Eastie gobbled it up. Yay!

I guess that's all the latest. Tune in next time...

My Kid is a Fishy

I took him swimming today at the rec center up the street. It's where we took swimming lessons last year. He was a little tentative at first but warmed up quickly and we had a blast. He's a big splasher and very brave wanting to walk around in the shallow end by himself and wade out into chin deep water before I'd rein him back in. Or he'd jump off the side to me. I stabbed him under the chin with my thumbnail doing it one time. He hardly flinched but I left a scrape. Oops. Anyway, we were there for maybe an hour and a half having a grand ol' time. He shivered much of the time though and I'd ask if he'd want to go "bye bye" but he'd just sign "more" and splash away again. I wish he had some fat on him to keep him warm. The water wasn't cold to me. But, then again, I'm a little more "insulated".

This morning I still nursed him when he woke at 5:20 but thankfully he went back to sleep again. The real problem is that I can't go back to sleep after he does that. So, I'm going to need to figure something out. Hopefully weaning will work for keeping him asleep. I'm also looking to get rid of his pacifier as he's almost 18 months old and he's chewed through the last two and is currently working on eating this one. After that we're done. We don't have any more anyway. He only uses it at sleep time, really it's just to fall asleep. I tried not giving it to him tonight but he fussed so I caved. It was a spur of the moment decision anyway. Just to see what he'd do. Now that I'm thinking of really getting rid of it I guess I need a plan or strategy. He won't be happy about it but I'm so friggin' exhausted lately from all my early mornings that I need to take care of that first perhaps, or once he chews through the current pacifier. Whichever comes first, I s'pose. Maybe when it becomes a choking hazard from the piece he's biting off I'll just cut it with scissors and give it to him that way. Maybe he'd give it up on his own like that? Who knows...this parenting stuff is tough sometimes.

Well, I guess I'll go now. Jason's going to be working some overtime this weekend. Some from home and some at the office. While he's working tomorrow Easton and I are heading to the Boulder Farmer's Market. After his nap we think we all might go to the free day at the Railroad Museum. We shall see.

While I'm thinking of it, here's a picture of Easton being big-brothery to Baby John:

And here's a few movies from last night. Daddy taught Easton the fun game of bonking into the wall. They've been doing it for months now, this is just the first I really got videos of it. E loves it. Enjoy!

In Sync

Okay, Easton woke up FOR THE DAY at 5:45...I did my usual: nurse him, put him back down, but he never went back to sleep. Ugh. It looks like after this business I'm going to be cutting this feeding out (weaning completely) but we'll see...So anyway, I got him up and took him to see Daddy. Boy was he CRAAAAAAN-KEEEEEEEEY. (Easton, not Jason) I had J hang with him while I took my shower and I could hear him screaming and crying. It was a quick shower and once I got out he reached up his arms, called out "Mama", and then clung to me. He came around eventually. Whew! However, today ended up being a two nap day. And that's what I mean by "In Sync" as Baby John is here again today and both boys fell asleep at 9:25 and then both again at 3:25. How crazy! John had 2 more short naps in between but goodness! I like them both being asleep at the same time so I can 'pute.

Easton is being so sweet with Baby John today. I caught Easton trying to give John his pacifier so I helped him and then Easton told John, "Nigh nigh" and went and got his snuggle cloth for John. Awwwwww! He's going to make a great big brother some day. Later he was giving John his paci again (and did!) and then showed him a toy. He picked up Baby John's arm and then set the toy under his arm for him. What a sweetie, huh? Both yesterday and today Easton seemed to handle "sharing" me a lot better.

Oh, we got a fun package in the mail yesterday. Thanks, Alabamaws! Easton got a nifty sprinkler toy to hook up to the hose, plus some water squirters (like 7!), a new straw cup and a Goldfish container (for the crackers). It's overcast today, not to mention John is here, but I look forward to letting E play in the yard with his new Mt. Tiki-Soki...it looks fun! For now he's just using it as a step stool.

He did get to play with a couple squirters in the bath last night too. Mostly he wanted Daddy to squirt him and he'd try to catch it in his mouth. We should fill 'em with chocolate milk!

Well, I guess this is about it from me. John's dad should be here soon so I should wrap it up. Thank you to my commenters. I really do appreciate hearing from you...I think all bloggers are like that but I'm the only one who whines about it. My hubby left me his first comment. Well, he comments on my blog all the time--but it's just to me. Now he did one for all to see. Yay! And thanks! Bye bye!

It's Official: It's Summer!

Both boys are sleeping but neither of them really wanted to. I don't really wait for Easton's "cues" for sleep anymore I just decide when it's time (about 4-5 hours after he wakes for the day), but Baby John...well, he was falling asleep drinking his bottle and it had been over 2 hours since he woke up from his half hour nap (yes, that's it). So, I put him down and he talked and talked and talked in there until he finally fell asleep. Easton took awhile to fall asleep too. Neither of them was unhappy about being in their beds, just not sleeping right away either. This is different than the other days. Just a tiny bit harder. Tiny.

We did make it to Circle Time this morning. I was thinking we wouldn't because John went down for a nap half an hour before we needed to go. However, he also woke up after a mere half hour so we went. It went fine. We got there a little late so Easton missed his favorite patting song that she sings to kick off each Circle Time. Oh well. Then, the story steps were all crowded and he couldn't see very well. He had fun playing afterwards and we picked out some colorful board books to check out. We'll read them all together when the boys are up--which hopefully won't be for awhile. Yeah right, I'm not that lucky. Although, Eastie did take a 3 hour nap yesterday!!! Where did that come from? It was nice.

I don't have much else to say...I do have a picture I can share. It is Easton helping me vaccuum last night. He is always very interested in the vaccuum and this time helped me to hold the cord out of the way. Here ya go...

I guess that's all from me...adios!

This'll Be Quick

I expect Easton up any second. Well, no Baby John again today. His mama is still too sick so I'll be looking after him tomorrow and Thursday instead. I think that means I might try to take both little dudes to Circle Time tomorrow. I might use the stroller for John but I'll have to think on it some more.

So, with no John again today Easton and I headed up to the cool park for some fun. He met two other little guys there who were very interested in him. Easton was polite but a little busy for such youngsters (14 and 16 months). He's silly that way. He prefers much older kids. I don't think he realizes how small he really is. We spent much of our time on the swings as usual.

After the park we had to hit Wal-Mart again. I bought him some little jean shorts yesterday that were 6/9 month size. Guess what? They literally fell off him. Ugh!

So we had to go with Plan B outfit:

It's still cute and he's enjoying the hat. It's a little small to put on well by himself but he tries and then lets me do it right. Cutie pie.

Here's E inspecting the tag, "Uh, mama? Shouldn't I be, like, twice this size since I'm almost 18 months old and all?..."

*sigh*sigh*sigh*

Well, not much new to report. Easton is still fun. We're learning new signs via a new Signing Times DVD. I just love it. He actually likes watching them and then we learn so much. He'd never be able to say as many words as he signs. Mostly because he's stubborn (still calling J "mama") but oh well. Oh, he's been signing "cracker" for awhile. Here's video. One hand is "supposed" to conk the other elbow a couple of times to indicate breaking a cracker, I guess. He does his own version of "light" now too but I don't have video...yet. He signs hat without even knowing, simply because it's the natural thing to do when you see a hat: pat the top of your head.

Oh, speaking of heads...I forgot to mention that my boys got haircuts over the weekend. J buzzed E's head and he did much better than last time. He still clung to me at times but he didn't cry. Or need a brownie afterwards. I did J's head. It looks okay but I got a little close behind both ears somehow. Oops. He can't see it--it's not even that bad. He's just glad to hear it's symmetrical.

Before I go, I updated the "Same Time, Last Year" thing again. The picture is the very first time he sat up (6/23). I remember reading about other babies his age learning to sit unsupported and it had never even occured to me to try. So I did. And he could! The video is from 6/20. Sweet boy. It's nice having these as Easton is just over a year older than Baby John so I like having the "reminders" of potential stages that John will be in. How quickly we forget, eh?

Okay, I guess that's it from me for today. Thanks for the comments and email to a few of you...you know who you are. Sorry for being a whiner about it, but thanks for playing along. Ta ta for now!

Dear Britten...

I'm back and I'm dedicating this post to you because you're such a sweetie to leave me comments like you do and to ask for me to "come back". Thank you! You're my most favoritest cousin-in-law.

Well, there is so much to cover from my hiatus. It's not that I'm particularly busy...not any busier than normal anyway, it's just that I'm not blogging just to hear myself talk, ya know? Or see myself type, I guess. I like a little feedback every once in awhile, peeps. That's all. Putting up the pictures and videos...and PhotoShopping them or making them if necessary takes time so I was feeling a little down that I was doing all this work for what felt like "nothing". I don't want to sound like a complete baby, but that's why I was "gone" for a bit. But I'm back with lots of pics and movies as Baby John and his mom are sick so he didn't come today and Easton is napping.

Okay, so here goes...well, last week Baby John's time here continued to go well. I was feeling like it was time to brave taking both boys out at once so we all hit the mall. I wore John in the Snugli and pushed E in the stroller. Not too bad. The two carseats in my smallish backseat were the toughest part. John fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. Even though he had just woken up from a nap. The sweet thing was that as Easton plays with toys in the back he likes to throw them off to the side when he's "done"...but he was conscious of the baby next to him and he'd toss the discarded toys to the other side, where John wasn't. Isn't that cute? He liked having a little neighbor back there with him, even if his little neighbor was a sleepy head. Easton and I shared a bagel at the mall, I got my free Clinique "gift with purchase", and then took E by the pet store. Just about every single animal was asleep with the exception of some kitties in the front display. Here is a video of E enjoying them. And here is a self-portrait of our mall experience...

What else what else? Oh yes, I also took Easton to the zoo again last week. They have a special indoor tropical-y place that doesn't allow strollers so we've bypassed it on every other visit. This time, I planned to only take him there. I carried him from the car all the way to Tropical Discovery and then he ran around awhile inside and I was mortified to find him patting strange children on the rear end. What was he thinking?!?! He reached up to spank some lady and I caught up with him saying, "No no Easton, we don't hit people on the butt." She turned around and laughed at us. It was funny to hear myself say that, but my goodness, what a strange boy I have. On the way out of Tropical Discovery we also stopped to watch the sea lions swimming which E enjoyed. He really liked being out of the stroller. Click here for more video. And then here is a picture from the trip...check out how big all the little goslings are getting...remember them tiny and yellow on one of my old posts? Awwww.

Last week I also let Easton run around in the sprinklers in the yard for the first time. It was so hot that day so even though it was 5 p.m. and breezy it still felt like a hair dryer blowing at us. I didn't bother even sunscreening him up (gasp!) as we were only out there for 15 minutes and he needs to get his vitamin D. I don't want my boy getting rickets. Okay, that's not the real reason. It's just that I wasn't really worried about it and wanted to let him play already. It all worked out just fine. He had fun...see:

Thursday night I headed to a semi-spur of the moment Mom's Night Out. Most of us ended up with parking tickets. Eek! But, we sat and had snacks and libations and chatted about our kids. Britten, I talked with a few of them about Montessori things as some of them have or considered putting their kids in Montessori schools. Anyway, because we were giving the bar so much money they gave us some complimentary gelato. I sampled the white kind: MMMMM coconut! Then the brown kind, yum again--caramel, then the green kind: Holy cow--is that basil? Yup, it was basil gelato. Yeah, no thanks. But the mom next to me loved it. She is quite fancy though. She plays the viola and drinks expensive wines. I preferred the coconut. I would have eaten all of it if I had known the other moms were only going to nibble it. It melted into a puddle that I wish I had wolfed down. Anyway, it was nice to get out and Easton was an angel for Jason, apparently. Lucky.

Friday was a very full day. First things first though, in the morning we headed out to the Berry Patch Farms which is actually quite near our house to meet a few mommy friends and pick our own strawberries. I was a little worried how Easton would do but he had a blast and there wasn't much trouble for him to get into so he roamed around picking and eating berries right off the plant. How awesome is that? He had a tendency to pick the not quite ripe ones so I'd trade him for a red one from my bucket. He gobbled them up almost as quickly as I could pick them. But, boy were they yummy and I was happy to see him eating so much. After we were done picking we sat for some snacks with our pals and Easton had some crackers and some pear. I guess he felt like he needed even more servings of fruit. He loved being on the farm and seeing the turkeys roaming freely and wanting to put his fingers into the chicken coop. Yikes! I was afraid of the Toms even if he wasn't. They'd get SOOOOO close. Our friend took a picture...I'll have to see if she has it to share. Turkeys are very unattractive, even if they are delicious. What a fun morning.


Alright, so after our berry filled morning we needed to head down to Aurora to pick up Lauren from summer school (at my old high school--crazy!). So, Easton napped in the car as I hoped he would and we drove to get Auntie Norie (that's still the same person as Lauren, she has many nicknames). As soon as I stopped the car, E woke up. Not in the best of moods either. Shoot. Oh well...Lauren and I hit Good Times for some lunch on the run and headed back up to our house where she was going to spend the night with us. I tried and tried to get my Easser Bunny down for a real nap but he was all done for the day. Poop on a log. We opted to keep him as busy as we could so we made a trip to the "cool" park and were there for quite awhile. He was happy at the park. So were we.


Once Jason got home from work none of us were all that hungry for a real meal so we ate some fresh picked berries, string cheese, and then went out for ice cream. That's what I call dinner. Yum. Then, look what we came home to (I swear it's not a Photoshop trick):

That night we had fun with Easton, he likes having Lauren around (there are 3 videos to click in this paragraph). So we tickled him. He enjoyed my Donald Duck impression. And then in the bath Daddy invented this game. I like Easton's unsure face when the lights come back on...

Breakfast the next morning was Starbucks and I made pancakes with our berry patch berries and whipped cream. Yum!

For lunch that day I went out with Baby John's mom. When she first emailed to invite me I thought I might be in trouble ha ha ha. I wasn't. She was just wanting to hang out because, like me, she doesn't have many girl friends in the same stage of life as we are: happily married, house, kids. That sort of thing. We had a good time over Mexican and margaritas and 2 whole hours flew by while I left Jason, Lauren, and Eastie Boy to fend for themselves.

Then, that evening when my mom came to pick Lauren up she and I prepared sloppy joes for dinner. Lauren doesn't have much cooking experience so I try to teach her the limited stuff I can do from time to time. Lauren has always liked "my" sloppy joes so I taught her to make them (even taught her how to use a manual can opener)! Easton gobbled up some Joes too. Yay for everyone!

As everyone knows, yesterday was Father's Day and all my secret surprise "plans" were thwarted. First, I had planned months ago for Jason (who is a Cubs fan) to take Easton (and me) to E's first Cubs game when they come to play the Rockies. Well, then Jason's friend from New Mexico came up with a plan to come to town for all those games and invited J...so I had to tell him my plans (which he LOVED) weeks ago. Then, he wanted some recent Easton pictures for the frames he keeps at work. Well, I got some and threw the box in the trash. Then he saw the box and figured it out again. THEN, the day before when I was heading to have lunch with Baby John's mom, J came in while I was showering to say, "Someone left you a message, I think it was John's mom." So, I had him listen to the message for me since I was in the shower and it was the portrait studio confirming our appointment for Father's Day! This is me feeling like a blockhead: D'oh! Oh well. We had a nice day. I made Jason the breakfast he requested: my gourmet breakfast tates and smoothies. Then he picked Texas Roadhouse for an early dinner. Easton was SO well behaved. He ate quite a bit too. Then we came home and the boys were so cute and fun together. It was a lovely yet restful day. Here is video of Easton being not so restful.


Today we got the call that John wasn't coming so we made a grocery and shopping list and headed out. Easton eventually got quite cranky where I was a little embarassed. I only cared because the checker at Wal-Mart said something about it. Grrrr. He wasn't that bad. But, he looks cute today. We bought him a new shirt yesterday. It's that one we were talking about, "I do all my own stunts" ha ha ha. Here it is:

I guess that about wraps it up for now. I'll try not to be gone for so long again. Oh yeah, and I put in a ton of pictures into E's album last night. Like 30+. Since it's been awhile and all. Okay, chat with everyone later. Maybe.

Married Over 2 Years Now

Okay, since the anniversary was yesterday, today I can say we've been married for over two years. It feels like longer, we've sure packed a TON into this short amount of time. It feels more like Jason joked to the waiter yesterday that it's only been two years to each other, but really we've been married more like 10 years if you combine it all. Ha ha ha.

You can click on this thumbnail for a long song-length photo montage of our wedding set to our "wedding song". I made it this weekend for J.

It was J's year to plan our anniversary celebration and he came home Friday afternoon with a bottle of pineapple wine from Maui and a beautiful bouquet of white roses. It was a very sweet way to kick off our 'versary weekend. Literally it was sweet...that pineapple wine tasted like dessert.

On Sunday, our actual anniversary, we headed out to breakfast as a family. Easton's gift to us was to sleep in sooooo long that we had to wake him because we were too hungry to wait any longer. However it did give us some time to just ourselves to lay around and reminisce which was ever so nice. Sunday afternoon Easton and I both took naps, not together though. And Sunday evening my mom and sister came up to babysit The E. It was the very first time that he knew we'd be leaving and he cried and cried. I thought it was so sad. They brought some new sign language DVDs for him and turned one of those on after we left and he forgot all about being sad. Whew! I had to call 5 minutes into our journey just to make sure he was okay. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy myself fully on our evening out if I didn't know he was fine. I'm crazy that way. But, anyway, because I did call I was all better and we had a lovely dinner at La Fondue...similar to my favorite restaurant: The Melting Pot. We shared a bottle of Riesling and a delicious and filling 4 course meal. We even made it home in time for E's bedtime routine. Here are some pictures from before we left:



Today I have Baby John here again. He's been a sleepy-head today. I guess he was up late with an upset tummy from starting on pears or something. Poor guy. Easton is now down for his nap too. I'm so pleased to say that he's pretty much "fixed" sleep-wise. He's been so great: going down without a fuss and staying down for longer. He still gets up for his 6 o'clock milking but has been going back to sleep which I love. He's being a pretty good eater lately too. He's still got a yucky cough which I might have to call the doc on later this week but otherwise things are just great in the E department. In all the departments really. No complaints today.

So, to finish up, I changed my sidebar again. I finished up my teen girl book on Saturday and switched to The Nanny Diaries. I saw they're making a movie of it and I always want to read the book first. I also changed my profile picture again to one that made me feel less round. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends! I'll be back before you know it!

Visual Treat Day

Well, since yesterday's post was a mile long I thought I'd keep it as short as I can be for today and just put in some pictures and maybe a video or two. However, I first have to update about E's sleeping. I started getting serious with yesterday's nap. It took about an hour for him to fall asleep without me rubbing his head or anything. He didn't cry for an hour, he just stood up a lot and eventually fell asleep like this...

Last night at bedtime was a little shorter but more of the same. 45 minutes including one episode of puking. I almost wonder if he "lets" himself puke so he'll get attention. He was always refluxy so yakking comes easy to him, I guess. Then, he slept all the way until 6:30 at which point I nursed him and he went back to sleep all on his own till 8:30. Yay! We're making progress. Even more so when you consider his nap: he crashed in the car just as soon as we got in to come home from Field Day. 40 minutes sleeping in the car and then I put him in his crib. He didn't go back to sleep right away but he laid there quietly for a bit and then fell asleep. Woo hoo!

Field Day was fun enough. Easton got a tatoo on his cheek to show some American spirit. He was so tentative and quiet when we first got to the school. I don't know what was up with him. Eventually he warmed up to everyone again and had fun.

He obviously wore himself out as he's now in his 2nd hour of napping. Crazy.

Okay, just a couple more pictures to share and then I'm done for the day. This is my window garden I planted on Mother's Day...it's doing quite well. Basil, oregano, chives, parsely and something else I'm forgetting. My lavender didn't even sprout :( Darn.

Then, this is our front yard. Pretty colorful, huh?

Okay, well I'm going to leave you with this movie. It is that cheese/truck "game" Jason invented when he was E-sitting one day. They demonstrated it for us all on night 1 of The Alabamaws visit. I hadn't seen it before so that explains my annoying laughter.

Well, I guess that's all from me today. And for those of you that check, I just added a very large amount of photos to E's album. Thanks for tuning in! Sayonara!

ETA (edited to add): Oh, I forgot to put in this short silly slideshow of Easton and his grandmother being fone friends. Yes, I spelled that wrong on purpose. Click the thumbnail for the clip.