Goodbye Tape Deck

Will loved my old pathfinder.  He loved to climb from the front seat all the way to the back, turn on the windshield wipers, eject CDs and most of all, he loved putting tapes in the tape deck.  We did this a lot and often. 

After 9 years and 90,000 miles, it was time to trade the pathfinder in.  This meant saying goodbye to the tape deck.  Luckily there are plenty of new gadgets for him to discover.  When I brought the new car home, Will had his best friend Armando over to play.  With the car being new with only 12 miles on it, I had them remove their shoes before they did their test driving.  I wonder how long that will last...

Will now says "Mommy's old car is gone!" and asks to go play in the new car.  After some extended play time in the car last night, we had to reset the multi medi console to the factory settings.  He hit some sequence of buttons that caused things not to work like they should.  We have no idea what he did, but sadly, we may have to find an old walkman or something for him so he can go back to enjoying the tapes instead!

checking out the console

finding the wipers

I love this one where he is pushing Armando out of the way!

he seems to love it!

the most adorable picture of Armando

Missing Grandpa John

On St Patrick's day, we said goodbye to Chad's grandfather, Grandpa John.  John was an incredible man and strong influence on Chad's life who I was so lucky to get to know and instantly love over the past 5 years.  He always welcomed us with a big, strong hug and contagious smile.  He seemed to always have a sparkle in his eye.  He had genuine interest and concern for every one in his life even up to his last days.

One of the most touching things for me was to see the strong love that he and Grandma Jo Ann have for each other.  While we saw it often when they were together, there was nothing as touching as seeing them together in the last weeks of Grandpa John's life.  Their love is really indescribeable and will forever leave an inprint on my heart.

We look forward to sharing the things we learned from Grandpa John with our kids.  We are so glad Grandpa John got to meet Will and Katie, and I am thrilled that my kids got to meet their fabulous great grandfather. 

We will miss you Grandpa John!

At our wedding in 2008

Grandpa John holds Will - 1 day old

With Grandma Jo, Becky and Will

With Will (5 months) and Chad

With Jessica and Katie (4 weeks old)

Will comforts Chad with a hug

Tootsie Pops

Will is obsessed with Tootsie Pops.  I think obsessed is not too strong a word.  I decided early on that I would never be the giver of Tootsie Pops in our house as he would ask for them constantly.  Instead, Loli takes them to the park and Aunt Leen brings them over when she visits.  Will asks for Tootsie Pops for him and his friends when they are at the park, and he investigates Aunt Leen's pockets and purse when she arrives every time. 

The mailman puts them in the mailbox in the afternoon.  So every day after his nap, he talks about the mailman and the mail box and his tootsie pops.  We talk about what color Tootsie Pop might be waiting for him and how many might be in there - either 1 or 2.  The idea of 2 was so I would have one as well, and while Will does share them occassionally, he typically winds up with both of them. 

St Patricks Day

I got the best shots of Will and Katie in their St Pattys outfits!  Will was smiling.  Katie was bright eyed and happy.  I was so thrilled and then I went to preview them on my camera and realized I didn't have a memory card in the camera.

This second attempt wasn't nearly as good but I still love it.

Little Hearts

Sweet baby Katie has the cutest little heart shaped nostrils.  They are a little hard to capture in a picture, but I think you can see the hearts in this photo.  I find myself looking at her nose all the time.  I'm curious if her nostrils will always be heart shaped.  Before this, I never noticed or talked about anyones nostrils - let alone thought they were cute!

She still continues to amaze us with her sleeping!  She went 9.5 hours when we let her sleep in her room!  She is now 6 weeks old, so I am curious if she will continue to sleep like this as this is the week she will likely hit a growth spurt.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I also wouldn't mind getting up with her in the night.  There is something so sweet, peaceful and calming about the middle of the night feedings.

How did we get this lucky?

I am not sure how we got this lucky, but Katie is an absolute dream baby.  I have been hesitant to say that out loud or blog about it as I figure once I put it out there, things would change.  However, she continues to amaze me and I have to write about her at 5 weeks old before she gets older and before I forget!

At 5 weeks old, Katie is sleeping 7-8 hours a night.  She eats around 10 or 10:30pm and then she is out until 6am or so.  The only reason I get her up at 6am is because she is so loud that I cannot fall back asleep!  When I get her in the morning, her eyes are always shut so she is still sleeping and would likely even sleep longer!  We have her in our room sleeping in a swing, and we are moving her back to her room tonight to see how long she will sleep. 

When Katie is awake and hungry, she eats for about 10-20 minutes and then is content to be held and just look around.  The only exception is in the evening when she really tanks up and eats every hour or so - I guess in preparation for her long sleep at night.

She doesn't mind tummy time and I have been letting her sleep on her tummy when I am with her.  We spend most mornings upstairs and wait for Will and Loli to leave for the park before coming downstairs.  We usually step out of the house for an afternoon errand or walk.  She then spends most of the late afternoon in her car seat so I can take her outside when Will is awake and she just goes with the flow. 

I keep waiting for this to change, but it doesn't!  Even if it does, I am totally okay with it.  This time around I realize how quickly this newborn phase passes so I am soaking up every minute.

I am a lucky mama! I am getting lots of rest which is making this maternity leave way too fun! It will be hard to go back to work!

Topless Mopper, Bottomless Sweeper

Will loves to use his mop and broom.  With the warm weather we had today, he didn't feel obligated to clean fully dressed!

Announcements

My friend Meagan took these awesome pictures of Katie when she was just 8 days old!  I just added her info and these were some of our annoucements.  The tutu shot is my favorite!

Meagan has been doing a lot of newborn photo shoots and she is so good with babies!  Check out her stuff at http://www.meaganmusing.com/! 

Sesame Street Live!

Today I took Will to see Sesame Street Live with a bunch of girls from my mom's group. I was really skeptical of how this would work out as Will has never been to anything like this and the idea of sitting still for any period of time is not in his list of things he does. I was so pleasantly surprised that we made it through the first half (45 minutes) without needing to go for a walk, etc. He sat for most of it with a brief incident where his legs got stuck when they slid behind a chair. I think the Tootsie Pop definitely helped him make it through the first half! We didn't stay for the second half - I didn't want to push my luck!



 

At the show with a Tootise Pop

Will loved that his tongue turned blue from the Tootsie Pop

Post-Sesame Street sidewalk chalk

Will is 23 Months Old!

 Will is 23 months old!  He has had a great first month as a big brother.  He is sweet to Katie and it looks like he will be a great big brother!

This month Will:
* is saying more words in Spanish.  He speaks more Spanish to Loli, and he occassionally speaks it to me and Chad.  He recently asked us for a manzana (apple) and luckily I knew what it was!

* discoved sidewalk chalk.  We did it almost everyday. 

* spent many afternoons in a dirt pile.

* started repeating everything that we say.

* started to call Loli "Loli" instead of "Ne Ne".  This is bittersweet as we are excited to watch him grow but sad it is happening so fast!

*  has a new favorite food - Mini Nilla Wafers which he calls "Loli's cookies"

Sitting on the monkey...

With the monkey

Katie is 1 Month Old!

 Katie is 1 month old today!  This past month has flown by quickly!  Katie is a great little baby.  This month Katie...

* can hold her head steady.

* enjoys her tummy time.

* went as long as 5 hours between feedings.

* only cries when we wait too long to feed her.

* got some new nicknames (Katie-Boo, Princess, Sweetie P, Little Miss)

* made our family complete!