1st Fat Lip

Well, as I mentioned we are working on "gentle touch," as in, no hitting. Instead of saying no hitting we tell Maxwell the type of behavior we want to see. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. He is usually very gentle with Isabelly, but last night things got a little owie. I think he forgets, or doesn't realize she is smaller and slightly more fragile then his other, bigger friends.

As she was crawling out of his "fort" made with balnkets and the dining room chairs, he pushed her forward and she busted her lip.

She cried a little, then was over it pretty quickly.  Maxwell had a timeout and apoligized. As an only child this kind of thing is new to me. Terry as the 4th of 5 children, experienced this stuff pretty regularly.

Here she is obviously not all that upset. A homemade grape juice popsicle as an ice bag makes all the difference.

 Still a sweet, if lop-sided smile and ready to play some more.

Getting loves from daddy.

It won't be the only one, I am sure. She wants so much to do what Maxwell is doing. Maybe we will increase her insurance!

Zoobies and Zootles

Thank you, thank you Nana C for the amazing gift subscription for Zoobies and Zootles.

"For me...all mine..read to me Momma!"

We have read through this magazine, designed just for babies, printed on thicker, rip resistant paper, nearly everyday. Sometimes multiple times a day. She has started to develope her own pace though. Speed reading we call it. We hold the book and read while she quickly, very quickly, like before your done reading, turns the pages.  

We can't wait for our next issue. This one has been thoroughly loved!

Thanks Nana C!! What a great gift!



A Month of Firsts

I have been meaning to post about what a great month August was for us. It was truly a month of firsts.

 Isabel has blossomed before our eyes. She began walking and feeding herself with a fork. She is quite the comedian and laughs her hinder off at most of the silly things that Maxwell and daddy do. Her laugh is so sweet and silly. Like Maxwell, she often can't quite catch her breath. She holds her hands to her head in an "oy vay" reaction and drools copiously all the while. What a deliciously sweet girl she is. 

The first time she walked she took 7 steps with daddy, then 5, then 2, then did not walk for over a week. Just a teaser!! Then when she started again she was really working it all out. A little wobbly at first, but she has gotten better every day and now regularly putters around the house, picking up stuff and moving it around.

This first video was about a week before she took off on her own. She loves pushing this thing around, way more then Maxwell ever did. I think it really fuels her sense of accomplishment.

This is one attempt. After taking out the camera to get some video footage, she decided she was pretty much done with the show.

Attempt #3, it was after this that we would have to wait or a week to see her try again. By the way, that little necklace, she found it one day and now puts it on every morning when she gets downstairs.

She has always been an amazing eater and throughout August she would look at Maxwell, with his fork and point and shriek. So what did we do...we gave her a fork of her own. She is obviously absorbing everything she sees her big brother doing.

Here she is feeding herself with both fork and hand. Much faster that way. Rice and noodles are her favorite to try with the fork. I could literally bathe her after every meal. She is quite the exhuberant eater.

She is growing us so fast, right before our eyes. I feel like any minute words and full sentences are going to come out of her sweet little mouth. What a joy she is!

Maxwell had a first of his own, his first day of school. He had been looking forward to it for weeks, Pre-K. He goes 3 mornings a week and loves it.

Wearing his new backpack he got for his birthday. He and Isabel both love a camelback.

In front of school waiting for the doors to open. He is doing soooooo well. I guess I shouldn't be shocked, but he knows and identifies all the letters of the alphabet and counts to 20 by himself. Handsome AND brilliant, what a combination! He is even a better big brother. Sharing is coming a little easier, now that he has to share at school and we are working on "gentle touches," so Isabel doesn't look like a punching bag. But, really he is doing so much better with his jealousy issues, I am happy to report

Maxwell is 4

Our big boy is 4!! He has grown up soooo much in the last year and I can't believe it is possible to love someone so much. He has really blossomed into a wonderful little man. He is sweet and sensitive and super loving. He is curious about everything, airplanes, trains, cars, engines, dinosaurs, he loves playing doctor, his favorite thing is reading stories.

At his doctors appointment he weighed in at 30 pounds and 6.4 ounces and he is 39 inches tall.

This year we went back to the bowling alley for his party. He had such a good time last year and he actually asked to go back for his party this year. We tried to keep it low key, but it never really works out. Lots of friends and even a couple of cousins came.

He asked for only a couple of things for his birthday so of course we obliged. The first thing was, a "gunner." We have debated it for a while and finally decided that we would do it with some rules.

He was soooooo happy when he unwrapped it on his actual birthday. He played with it for 3 days straight. Even took it to bed with him and tucked it in. Since then he hasn't asked for it. His rules are, no pointing it at anyone and only using it on the targets. We are teaching him basic rules about gun safety, no looking in the barrel and finger off the trigger. It gets put away on top of the gun safe also. Scary stuff but with a boy and having guns locked up in the house, it has to be done. And like I said, he hasn't asked for it in over 2 weeks.

Flash forward to the day of the party. Our buddy Jake and mama Bridget came to join in the festivities. Jake even wore a shirt he knew Maxwell would like. It had diggers on it. Jake told me special.

Maxwell hefting the ball toward the ramp.

A 5 pound ball gets pretty heavy after carrying it down the lane.

Aimng for his target. So glad the bowling alley has these helpers for the little ones.

Maxwell and Jake checking out the goodie bags.

Maxwell loves party blowers.

Maxwell and Jake having a blower contest.

The theme of his party was Transformers. His cake was chocolate with chocolate frosting with Maximus Prime and Megatron on it.

All the party goers, Maxwell, Kirill, Oisin, Ronan, Aoife, cousin Claire, Isabel and Jake. He had to go early before the cake, but as Bridget and I discussed, frosting is a beast with both of our kids.

I think everyone had a great time. I know Maxwell sure did. He is already talking about having another birthday party. Not sure he completely understands the idea behind birthdays. Our big boy starts school in a couple of days, 3 days a week this year. getting bigger everyday. Sometimes I want to stop it! I want to snuggle him just like he is now. My sweet, handsome boy.



Isabel is 1

Can you believe it?? Isabel is 1! Our beautiful girl turned 1 on July 23rd. She is nothing like her brother and has a personality that overflows with happiness. She is usually smiling and laughing her head off, or she is screaming her head off like a Pterydactyl!  She looks up to her brother and wants to do everything he does. She is already trying to do big girl things. She is starting to use a fork, she can walk behind her walker and she loves being in the water. She even dives into Pine Lake head first from the steps. It is amazing how fearless she is.

Our little one weighs in at 17 pounds 2.4 ounces and is 28.66 inches tall.

The birthday girl! 

Sitting pretty, waiting for the party to begin. 

We celebrated by having a party at my friend Hailey's house. She has a huge yard and great house. We had a few friends and some family join us for the festivities. It was a little more low key then Maxwell's 1st, and that suited us just fine.

"I have the crown, the cake...where are my presents?!?" 

 Pretty birthday princess.

"Oh, birthday candle, I get it!" 

 "Singing... for me... awwwww thanks!"

 Carrot cake with pineapple, chocolate chips and cream cheese frosting.

"Hey, when is my birthday party?"  

 Baby Daddy! Isabelly says, "Hey, that's my binky!"

"Nobody said anything about presents. Wait, what are presents?"

Isabel's friend Elliott, came and helped with presents. He received this same gift for Christmas so he was eager to help Isabel figure it all out. Thanks Aunty Judy and Uncle Dave for coming all the way from Bellingham and bringing presents.

Amazingly these kids were born only 9 days apart. Elliott towers over her.

We had a great day and she slept that afternoon for 3 hours. Quite the party girl!! Here is to another amazing year with our sweet girl and all the wonderful discoveries she is going to make.

Day Out With Thomas

We decided to do the Day Out with Thomas again this year. Maxwell isn't as excited with Thomas as he used to be, but he was stoked to get on the train and "ride" Thomas. He had been talking about it as soon as he saw the gates go up around the train station. He does love a train ride.

How do you saw no to that face?

Checking out the other trains along the way.

I think Terry likes train rides too.

Isabel could care less!

A picture with Thomas. Maxwell was excited to be so close.

We tried to get an official family picture with Thomas, but they stopped taking them right as we reached the end of the line. Thomas has a schedule to keep.

This year they had a puppet show in the play area. Totally old school, Punch and Judy. Isabel seemed pretty interested.

A little to much excitement for Maxwell.

Not sure if we will do it again next year. Hard to say when we live in the town that hosts the event. We will see, Maxwell seems to have moved on to Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Transformers and Rescuebots.

Who knows what the future brings, as long as he is happy!



Camping at Shi Shi Beach

So it has been awhile since we actually went camping on Shi Shi Beach, but I don't have much time these days, so my posts accumulate and I do them all at once. That being said, we had an amazing time.

Shi Shi Beach is on the Olympic Peninsula at Neah Bay, on the Makah Indian reservation. The drive out there was a journey enough, car, ferry, more car, long windy road... we were delighted to get out of the car.  Isabel especially. She is not a good car traveller.

Once at the trailhead, we loaded up our very overweight backpacks and prepared for a 2.6 mile hike into the woods to emerge on the beach. Maxwell did pretty well. He lost it when his feet got covered in mud, but we pushed on and finally made to the narrow switchback down to the beach. After that it was another mile of hiking down the beach to the perfect spot, right next to 1 of 2 fresh water sources on the beach. I, Maxwell and Isabel were exhausted. She didn't walk, I carried her in my pouch. At least she kept me from falling backward from the weight of my pack.

 This is the sight that met us when we got down to the beach. STUNNING!!

It got more beautiful as we walked down the beach.

Just simply stunning!

Our humble camp site. That is us on the right. I have never slept on the beach before and it was great. We went with some great friends and their little boy. He is a little older then Maxwell and they get on great.  The area where we are all congregating is our communal kitchen area.

 Our tent and surrounding area.

The boys playing near our shady area, on the left.

 Maxwell was in Heaven! He loved the beach and sand and water and camping and...

 ...we set off looking for the tidepools. We hiked down the beach another mile and half or so to the large rock islands in the first few pictures.

 I lubed him up with a gallon on sunscreen and hoped for the best.

The tidepools did not disappoint. Lots of starfish, hermit crabs, barnacles and sea anemones.

Brilliant orange and purple starfish. 

Maxwell and Kirill investigated the underside of the starfish.

Both boys were so very gentle with all of the animals we encountered.

Isabel doesn't look thrilled, but she was enthralled with the ocean. The first day we got there she was entranced and kept pointing the way she does.

Getting closer to the tidepools. The signature pointy finger.

Maxwell with Aunty Brandy, one of Kirills moms. She goes to school with Terry and they are great friends. Maxwell loves her, not just because of the marshmallows!

The sunset on our 2nd night. It was glorious!

The whole crew, Brandy, Kirill, Alex, Alex's mom Lara, me and Isabel, Maxwell and Terry.

It was an eye opening experience for me, backpack camping for the first time. I think we did great. Isabel decided to cut her top 2 teeth on the first night and screamed off and on for the majority of the night. Luckily Maxwell was so tired he slept through the whole thing. Not so much for mommy and daddy. Other then that it was not bad eating camping food and sleeping on the sand.

The journey back was more challenging. We were considerably lighter but Maxwell did not want to leave. He cried the whole way down the beach. It turned around a little as Alex helped him climb like a monkey up the switch back trail. He hiked the entire way back only being carried around the mud puddles. When we finally made it back to the trailhead and in the car, it took all of 2 minutes for Maxwell to pass out! Isabel slept the entire hike in my pouch, so sleeping in the car was a no go! I am sure when she gets to face forward in a carseat it will get a little better, I hope.

It was breathtakingly beautiful and I did enjoy it, I think we will scale down next time and Maxwell will have to learn to eat what we bring. I won't say, "I can't wait until we do it again," because it was also very challenging. Maybe when we can put Isabel down and not be worried about her eating sand, we will try it again. Until then, car camping it is!!