Friday, September 26, 2008

Going Home

I will be brief as I am trying to pack and watch the debate. We are so excited about going to KY. Sam is very much looking forward to riding in an airplane and even more excited about seeing Gram.

I am going to attempt to post some pics but it may not work as our camera is not communicating with out laptop.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

In our neck of the woods

Our big activity for tomorrow is to attempt to be on the Today Show. Matt and the gang will be here in Williamsburg so I thought we would head on down and watch the show! Getting there early will not be a problem but staying there in one spot may prove to be the real challenge.

Owen was such a cutie today. We speant a long time making eyes at each other. He has the sweetest smile and most adorable voice when he "talks" to me. He loves his big brother as well. When Sam talks to him he lights up and flashes a big smile. Sam always says to Owen, "Hi precious, your my best friend." Those are his exact words, it melts my heart. He shows so much love for Owen, he has never once said an unkind word or done anything that may hurt Owen.

I need to remind everyone that it really does take me forever to get pictures on here so please be patient. Speaking of pictures, there was an opportunity for a hilarious picture tonight but I thought for Sam's sake I better resist the temptation. I will give you a mental image instead. I am rocking Owen to sleep and I hear John tell Sam to take off his clothes and he would be in to help with the PJs in a minute. I hear the sounds of Sam's kitchen so I sneak in to take a peak. I see my sweet Sam "cooking" wearing NOTHING but his socks and shoes along with his pilot helmet and my sunglasses. He did what he was told but he has trouble with his socks and shoes. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

We took a family trip to Ben and Jerry's for some dessert tonight. We usually get Sam sorbet. He never realizes that he is not getting the real thing. Tonight he asked John and I both for bites of our ice cream. After that he looked at his sorbet with a turned up nose. I think the days of ordering Sam fruity sorbet while we indulge in Half Baked are over, he's on to us!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Where does the weekend go?

We had a very busy weekend as anticipated. Saturday John had the kids while I had some time out with a friend. Boy, did I need that! That evening we had dinner with friends. They have two boys as well so it's nice that they can all play.

Sunday we headed up to Richmond where John and Craig met up for the Redskins game. Sam, Owen, and I had a great time spending the day with Jen and Lily. Sam especially loved throwing rocks in the creek and getting all muddy. He also enjoyed cheering on Lily as she continues to take steps. We couldn't go to Richmond without a visit to Nadine's. I enjoyed visiting with Kristen and Sam and Nadine enjoyed the water table, which meant yet another change of clothes for the day. When Sam and Nadine see each other they actually squeal with excitement. They truly are best friends.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired after all the running around. Luckily, the stars were aligned and both boys napped at the same time today. I finally got a nap! It's amazing what extra sleep can do. This morning I took the boys to story time at the library. Sam can sit for 2-3 stories and then off to the train table. After the train table we went to look at the fountain outside and yep, you guessed it, another change of clothes. By the way, Owen is sleeping through all of this.
Once John was home and Sam was up from his nap I decided Sam needed some mommy only time. I know it sounds like we do a lot but I usually always have Owen attached to me which really hinders my ability to play with Sam like he's used to. Not that I mind having Owen attached to me of course, but Sam could take it or leave it. So after dinner Sam and I went to the park. This also gave John and Owen some time alone. Now both kids and daddy are all in bed. I should probably hit the sack as well, next shift starts in 1 hour!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Big Night Out

I decided that it was time we attempted dinner out with both kids at a restaurant other than chick-fil-a. We really talked it up to Sam- we brought a few m&ms, a lollipop, two books, and play dough. As you know, Sam rarely gets candy so we were sure that would work. We even told him if he would stay at the table he would get ice cream after dinner. We didn't even ask him to stay in his seat, all he had to do was stay at the table. As for Owen, we knew if we could just get him to fall asleep he would fine. We dined outside thinking that would be less disturbing to the other patrons. He probably would have stayed at the table except all the tables had candles on them so of course he really wanted to go and blow them all out. Overall, I think all of the incentives worked fairly well. Owen did fine until right before the food came. So, of course I had to nurse him as my food sat getting cold. One might think that nursing in public might be the embarrassing part. No, that would have to be when the server brought me a drink. Sam said "Mommy, what is that?" I was thinking that I should be honest so I replied, "it's a beer Sam". Then he YELLS "I love beer!" I don't know if the glares were because my two year old was announcing his passion for beer or because I was nursing a baby and drinking a beer. I wanted to yell, "everyone knows it perfectly safe to nurse a baby and drink one drink! As a matter of fact, my lactation consultant says it safe to have TWO drinks and nurse a baby!" Maybe I was just being paranoid. Finally, one of the ladies came over to the table and commented on how adorable Sam is and then makes a joke about how well he must sleep since he loves beer.

John is quite excited today. Craig's company scored box seats on the 50 yd line to the Redskins game. When Craig told him that the only caveat was that they had to listen to a proposal from another company. The other company is Lear, as in Lear Jet. So there you have- John's two favorite things the Redskins and private jets. He's stoked. So when he goes to the game on Sunday the boys and I will go hang out with Jen and Lily and possibly make a trip to see Sam's best friend, Nadine, while we are in Richmond. Thanks Craig!!
We'll probably hit the farmer's market tomorrow in the morning and then I have a movie date with a friend. It will be the longest I have been away from Owen, hope he doesn't starve. Tomorrow night we plan to hang out with the Federico's and their two boys. Should be a great weekend!

Thursday, September 18, 2008



Picture Day

As I am writing this Sam is having a major meltdown because he wanted to turn off the TV . He was given many opportunities to turn it off but chose not to until John turns it off. Funny thing is, he had the exact same meltdown this morning. Who knew turning off the TV was so great. These days Sam has to do EVERYTHING on his own. Toddlers do love their new found independence!

Today was picture day at school. Today is not his regular day to go but they told the parents we could bring our kids anyway and they could stay the rest of the day. An extra day of school for free? Yes, I will take that any day. They are so laid back at his new school. I think it's because the classes are so small that they really have a great deal of flexibility. I just love that he can stay for aftercare once his little 9-12 school session is over. They ask that you give them a days notice if you can and then they just bill us at the end of the month for any aftercare hours. Easy!! However, Mrs. Shay said Sam had to go to time out today for throwing materials and spitting on the slide. I was not surprised about the throwing but the spitting caught me off guard. When I told Sam that spitting anywhere outside of the bathroom sink is rude and that he needs to stop he replied, "No mommy, you need to stop spitting!" Of course he also attempted to put me in time out today too.

Owen and I went for a walk with a friend. Owen already loves being outside. He is such a sweet baby. John and Sam went to the park today, it was a beautiful day here in Virginia! We are looking forward to a nice weekend.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Speaking of sleep...

Haven't had much of that lately. Owen is back to waking every two hours at night. Let me just give a disclaimer while I am thinking of it. Since I am a bit sleep deprived be prepared to forgive any misspellings, grammatical, or punctuation mistakes. Sometimes I may even be typing with one hand while nursing.

Tuesday is usually the long day b/c John is in class until 8ish. After a couple of really long Tuesdays I decided it was in everyone's best interest, especially Sam's, if Sam went to school on Tuesdays for a couple of hours. He now goes t-w-f instead of m-w-f. Tomorrow is picture day so he will be going for that as well. I have really enjoyed having that time with Owen. When I have them both it is very hard to give them both quality attention. Sam is so active and playful that sometimes I feel as though I am merely meeting Owen's basic needs while giving most of my attention to Sam. Now, I have time to really spend some time with Owen. He is so cute, very happy baby. He smiles and coos so much right now.

The big highlights:
Mommy got Sam got a new helicopter
Daddy got Sam got a new kitchen set (stove, fridge, fake food, etc)
Sam can pretty much dress himself now
I started my Yoga class
Owen FINALLY likes to sit in his swing
oh, yes and we are potty training!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sleep begets sleep

For some reason Owen could not sleep today. It instantly brought back memories of Sam going hours without a nap during the day. I ended up driving Owen around for an hour and when that didn't do the trick I knew we were in trouble. Maybe this means he will sleep for a long stretch tonight, but probably not.

We still had a fairly productive day. Sam and John went canoeing and I made my first loaf of homemade bread. I rarely make anything from scratch but it turned out pretty good. I plan to expand my repertoire as I become more comfortable. I never realized it took 3 hours to make a loaf of bread. Thank God for the baby carrier! Sam is getting into nursery rhymes so I pulled out my Mother Goose Book of Nursery Rhymes and Sam loved seeing some of the pictures that accompanied the rhymes. It was nice for him to enjoy a book that I had as a child. The inscription reads "Merry Christmas Amy, love Mom, 1982"

When we put Sam to bed tonight we each said "I love you Sam" and he replied with "I love you guys" which I thought was pretty funny for some reason. "You guys" seems like a funny thing for a 2 year old to say.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

This might just work

Now that I see how to navigate myself a little more around the world of blogging I will add a bit more about our day. Today we went to Lily's birthday party- hard to believe she is 1. It was a great place to have a party! Unfortunately, John was not feeling well so we had to leave early. Since Sam was upset about not getting to stay at the party and play on all the great toys, I took him to Jumping Joey's, which is basically this huge place with all of those inflatable things they can run, slide, and bounce in. He was content after that. I am however bummed we had to miss the rest of the party. Well, Owen is down for at least a couple of hours and John is reading stories to Sam so our night is winding down with very few complications. I like this time of day but lately mornings are my favorite. Owen ends up in our bed around 5ish, Sam usually makes his way in there around 6ish and we all have a good snuggle before the day begins

We have to start somewhere


I have decided to have a blog for Sam and Owen. This will not only give me something to do as a stay at home mom, but also be a great way for the grandparents and other relatives to keep tabs on the boys. This is my first post so this is just a test. I hope to be able to keep this up. It will be a great way to share photos and pictures without emailing them.