Summer Days

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of June. The past eight weeks since Hannah was born have flown by, and it looks as though the rest of the summer will be filled with busy weekends. We just survived a fun and exhausting weekend, filled with other kids for Kyle. On Friday, we went blackberry picking with friends Kevin, Maddie and Aiden - it wasn't until all four kids had their fill of berries that we were able to start accumulating any in our baskets to actually take home (no wonder they charge a $3 picking fee for anyone over 5 years old!) We were lucky they provided wagons so that we weren't chasing after four 2-year olds, Hannah was safely tucked in her pouch!

On Saturday, Kyle's friend Noah (4 years old) and his baby sister Lola (6 weeks older than Hannah) were visiting with their parents, Christian and Mark, from Fresno for a rugby tournament in Palo Alto, so we went to visit them for a little while in the morning. They came over to our house for dinner, so the two boys had a great time together , and we didn't get Kyle to bed until 9pm, probably the latest he has stayed up in a long time! Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a photo of the girls together, one was always sleeping when the other was awake - maybe we'll have better luck next time we get together, possibly in a couple of weeks.

Sunday morning was another trip to the zoo, with another reunion of our St Mary's group of friends, Christian, Sarah and Jen, along with all of the husbands and kids. It was a crazy day, with 8 parents and 7 kids, even though two of the little ones have a while to go (we hope) before they are walking. Kyle, of course, had to see his beloved gorillas eating breakfast, and we were able to compare how he measures up to a full grown gorilla (the most cooperation we had for a photo all day!)

Kyle's Birthday Adventure

Kyle started off his 2nd birthday by sleeping in this morning - I peeked in around 8:15 and he was still asleep, but it must have been lightly enough that he jumped up 30 seconds later. Hannah had a present to share with him first, and Kyle was delighted to unwrap a little gorilla!

After breakfast and getting all three of us dressed and a little nap for Hannah, we headed over to Toys R Us to spend the $3 gift card that the Birthday Club had sent to him. Kyle found a fork lift, garbage truck and fire truck Matchbox cars to add to his collection of trucks that Hannah had given to him when she was born.

Next it was back down to Menlo Park for lunch at Crepes Cafe so that we could watch the trains go by. Unfortunately, there was so much smoke in the air from the fires around the Bay Area, that I decided it would be better for us to eat inside, but we were still able to see the trains coming past, and Kyle was thoroughly thrilled.




We headed back home and had a little play time before I finally managed to talk Kyle into taking a nap to recharge. After waking up, I was supposed to have help making birthday cake, but instead he was distracted by more presents. He was quite excited to shake the presents to hear something rattling inside! Thank you for the book, puzzles and BIG truck book Auntie Laura and Uncle Scott. And thank you for "The Hungry Caterpillar" Maemo and Granpa :)

The big hit of the afternoon was something I actually ordered for Hannah's use at the park and beach - a tent to keep her out of the sun. But the package happened to arrive today, and Kyle's forklift managed to cut through the tape, so out it came. As the smoke had finally cleared from the area, we had some outside play time with the tent and the hose (hence the lost overalls in the next photo) while waiting for Daddy to get home from work.

After a quick dinner and more demands for cake, it was time to open the BIG present. Once Kyle saw his new tractor, all thoughts of cake were promptly forgotten! Somehow we managed to get Kyle torn away from his favorite new toy, and into the bath and bed without too many tears. With such an exciting day, I was happily surprised how easily Dave was able to get him to bed, especially since he has only wanted me to put him down lately. (I was exhausted too!)

Wow, what a fun 2 years it has been!

Say Cheese

Some more favorites from this weekend: Our happy, smiling Hannah!We're amazed at how much she is constantly changing, and interacting so much more with us each day. (And we're happy that the photos of her these days aren't all of her sleeping!)And we are constantly laughing at Kyle's goofy antics, he is turning into quite the clown!

Hot Weather

The Bay Area was hit by sweltering heat over the past few days, prompting a Sever Weather Advisory in the afternoons. I was concerned about both kids, especially since it is usually difficult to keep Kyle inside, but he must have felt the heat as well, because he didn't protest much about the confinement. Fortunately, Kyle's godfather, Mike, invited us over to his parent's house in Millbrae to escape to a cooler micro climate and at their pool! Kyle wasn't too excited about going swimming, but he loved helping to cool Daddy down (completely his idea, I didn't even have to suggest it!) Kyle had a great time playing with another little boy who was there, who is 6 months his senior. It was amazing to get a glimpse of what our little boy will be like by Christmas, no more 2 word sentences like we have today, but real communication!

Today is thankfully MUCH cooler, and we have been enjoying having all of the windows in the house open to get fresh air circulating. Dave took advantage of the manageable temperatures to wash the car, and Kyle was more than willing to help out with a handful of bubbles.

After the hard work, it was time for a little fun, which involved working on his tricycle with a socket and adjustable wrench, as well as a little riding too. We bought this as a Christmas present, but it is really starting to catch on now, and he's even beginning to try pedaling. Hopefully this "cool" weather holds, and we are able to enjoy a lot more outside time with walks and rides to the park.

7-weeks old

It's hard for us to believe how quickly the time has flown by - Hannah is already 7 weeks old. She is full of chatter and smiles these days, so I have to take advantage of the one-on-one time I have with her when Kyle is napping to truly appreciate it. Also, during this time, she can have some uninterrupted exercise, otherwise, Kyle likes to "help" with her tummy time, which involves laying next to her and trying to lift her or draping his arm over her in a cuddle.

We have had great luck with her sleeping lately, she is usually asleep by 9:30 or so and then awake at 2:30 and again at 5:30 and will then snooze until 7am. Last night we had a little struggle getting down before 10, but after that, she was either exhausted or well swaddled because she slept until 4:30, and even then she may not have needed to wake because she only nursed for 5 minutes before falling soundly back to sleep! We will see what tonight brings.


Here are a couple more of my favorites from today.

Thinking about smiling...





...and smiling
(hidden behind her hand of course, but look at those eyes sparkle!)

Kangaroos

Because I am running around after a very active toddler, I anticipated the best thing for Hannah would be for me to have a baby sling. Since she loves to be held all day long, this was a very good bet on my part. She loves sleeping in the Kangaroo Korner pouch that I have, and will nap much longer than if I try to put her down. Which is funny, because she doesn't have a problem sleeping on her own at night, but I can't complain too much because I love cuddling with her of course (just makes it hard to get other things done around the house!)





Hannah must look so comfortable in her pouch, that Kyle has decided that Baby and Teddy both want to ride around in one too! He is so observant that it only takes his seeing it once to know how something works, so it isn't a surprise that after seeing me wearing Hannah for weeks that he decided to give it a go.








We might have to ask Maemo to make one for him to wear because after ordering a second pouch for Hannah (the first one I have is too hot for the approaching summer heat, and unfortunately has stretched out more than I anticipated) I don't think that we can afford one of the child-sized slings that they also sell.

15 Minutes of Fame

OK, it was probably closer to 15 seconds, but our photo was on the Reuters billboard in Times Square!!!
(click on it to see it enlarged) Submitted courtesy of Auntie Laura, somehow the one that I submitted was lost, I'll try again. Submit your own smile at reuters.com/smiles

Wallflower photos

We received our photos from Auntie Laura a couple of weeks ago, and I am finally sitting down to share them with everyone now. If prompted, the password is "walker" (without the quotation marks). Click on "2 weeks old" to view the thumbnails, click on a thumbnail to view it larger, and from there you can scroll through all of the photos.

Wallflower photos

You can also see some of Laura's favorites (which happen to be some of my favorites too!) on their blog

Wallflower Photography Blog


The only elusive shot for Laura was Hannah's smile, which at 2 1/2 weeks was just beginning to appear. She is all laughs and giggles these days, so it is getting much easier to capture it on film. Here's a photo from yesterday of both of our happy kiddos. Here, Kyle wanted to be wrapped up in a crib sheet with Hannah, and instead was giggling at the term "cheesy macaroni????" (Thanks to Laura for the fix!)

Daddy's Girl

With Dave home for the weekend, I didn't have any problem getting a smiling photos of our little girl. She was all grins for her daddy this morning, so I was able to get this photo!

We went to a birthday party for one of Kyle's friend's at a park this morning - amazing that it is already time for all of the two-year birthday parties! Kyle had a great time on the playground and then playing with the play dough tools (mostly scissors) and Hannah happily slept in the sling most of the time - it won't be long before she's running around at birthday parties soon and we'll have trouble keeping track of both of them!

And of course, because it is the weekend, it is time to take care of the lawn mowing again, and Kyle was there to help! This one was taken en route from the back yard to the front yard, although Kyle managed to get distracted by Hannah and my presence on the back steps, so he played with us while Dave finished (Dave was probably thankful, as progress is much quicker without having to worry about Kyle!)

One-month old

We can't believe how quickly the time has flown by and how quickly our little girl is growing! Kyle is still very excited about showing Hannah how to crawl, but we're warning him he will have to wait a little longer. In the meantime, he's asking her to "help" by holding his nail or screwdriver while he is working with his toolbox. He's always very concerned about her, running to give her a kiss if he hears her crying, or asking where she is if he can't see her. His latest favorite is having her lie next to him in his crib. She seems to be all smile lately, especially when we complement her on her eyes, and I'm trying to catch a smile in our latest photos, but I think that she is a little afraid of the camera, so it will have to be a group effort when Dave is home at the weekend!

Kyle and I took Hannah to the doctor today for her check-up. She weighed 10 pounds 9 ounces, which is smaller than the 11 pounds I expected from the ache in my back! We had to experience her 2nd HBV vaccination while we were there (I missed the first one since they did it immediately after birth) so she's been even more cuddly this afternoon, trying to recover. I'm not looking forward to the next visit when she will have 4 shots (maybe Daddy will be able to come with us that time) we're also going to be combining it with Kyle's 2 year check up - what happened to those two years?!

While at the doctor's office today, Kyle fell in love with her stethoscope, so we had to find ours once we were home. He can now put it in his ears all by himself, and loves listening to everything (inanimate objects included)

Daddy's little helper

We all look forward to the weekends when Daddy is home to play. Dave used to be able to get a lot more accomplished on the weekends in the yard, but it was never as much fun as now, when he has a toddler to chase around and keep out of trouble. This past weekend, Dave was finishing up some irrigation and he had Kyle outside with him so that I could get some things taken care of in the house with Hannah. In the end, Hannah and I ended up going outside to help supervise Kyle so that Dave could actually finish without Kyle being completely covered in mud from the large holes that were being dug. In the end, Kyle was very helpful in the cleaning up department, showing us how it was to be done and then making sure that both Daddy and I had our own brooms to sweep up all of the mess!