Category Archives: photos

Blocks!

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After the Epic Fail of the Trains and frustrated few weeks of no Interesting Toys (several of them were confiscated after they flew into the baby’s head/enclosure), I decided that it was time to try something new.

I dug around in the garage for the Big Box of Maple Blocks that Used to be Gavin’s, vacuumed out the pine needles, and we spent the afternoon building simple platforms with ramps to race trucks up and down.

So far, O has been good about keeping the blocks on the table (a requirement for them to stay out), and they kept him busy most of the afternoon. Continue reading →

A Pumpkin & A Star Trek Officer walk to the Park

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We spent much of today helping our friend Miss E celebrate her third birthday. Miss E had a costume party at Ragle Park, so I raided our costume bin for inspiration.

Patrick went as a little pumpkin, he fit Oliver’s pumpkin outfit from 2009 perfectly, so perfectly, I may have to cut the footies off for it to fit for Halloween this year. P was hailed as “adorable” and mistaken for a little girl a few times (pumpkins are nice and gender neutral).

Oliver, Gavin and I went as Star Trek officers (2010′s costume pick). I was unable to borrow Elizabeth’s sexy little red dress (it would make breastfeeding almost impossible), so I wore a red shirt and my LOTR elf ears (I was a Vulcan, and the pointy ears are nice and generic), most of the time P dozed in the Ergo. It didn’t really matter that I wasn’t wearing a Star Trek insignia pin, the ears, red shirt, and accompanying Star Trek Officers filled in the gaps.

The boys and I got compliments on our coordinated costumes, and inevitably people asked if we were Star Trek fans. Yes and no. Yes, we’ve watched all of TNG, but no, we’re not the types who go to conventions, or learn the languages, and I don’t know minute Star Trek trivia (although I think Gavin might know some). I like the costumes because they were simple (and inexpensive) to make, fairly unique among our circle of friends, and easy to spot across the room (or park, which can be really useful when there are lots of kids around).

We received a compliment from one of the other mothers, O was “playing so nicely” with her son – a 1 1/2 year old, holding his hand, helping him up the stairs to the slide, etc. O was being “very sweet” with him. It was very nice to hear.  Continue reading →

Almost

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We have had a few Almost-moments recently:

Oliver is almost putting on his own shoes – he got them on, his feet, just not the correct feet.

Patrick is almost rolling over with out assistance from Big Brother.

So close, and yet so far. I suspect it will be an interesting week.

Return of CAPTAIN ADORABLE!

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I must confess I have been looking forward to this day for a rather long time. 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days (give or take a week or two). Patrick is now firmly established in 6-month sized clothing, which means my favorite onesie has been put back into action.

Captain Adorable has made a come back.

Capt. A #2 is getting an earlier start. Baby O wore the same outfit from around 5 to 7 months. Baby P fits it at 2 1/2 months. He probably would’ve fit it earlier, but I am in denial about how quickly he’s blasting through the bins of baby clothing. I think he’s trying to hit 12-month sizes by Christmas so he’ll fit his winter layers (and adorable pea coat).

As one of my all-time-favorite onsies, this one will be included in my eventual attempt at a baby quilt. It is the onesie O wore when he waved the Spoon of Power and admonished the Rattlesnake.

Baby P’s newest features include a social smile, even more advanced head control, kicking his legs and making oh-so-cute baby noises. Like Big Brother O, Baby P is truly worthy of the Captain Adorable onesie.

And yes, if Baby P had been a girl, I’d make her wear this onesie as well. Women can be captains too.

Woa-way! Woa-way! Go! Go!

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Shortly after Patrick arrived, some well-meaning friends of the family sent us a gift card to Babies R Us. I loathe BRU (and sister store Toys R Us) and try to avoid it as much as possible and only shop there when I am bequeathed gift cards, even then, I prefer to shop online.

So far, I have managed to give the R Us Empire as little of my own money as possible. Memorable purchases from them include O’s booster seat (gift card), the pop-up Thomas and caboose (also gift card), and our diaper bag (gift).

After I’d written the requisite thank you note I turned to BRU online to see what I could find. I prefer not to pay shipping when at all possible, but the minimum “free-shipping” order was $50, which was more than I cared to spend. I investigated the ship-to-store option, but the items I wanted were not in stock at the local store (or at any store within 50 miles of me). This left me with two options: 1) re-gifting the card or 2) going to the local TRU.

I opted to go to the local TRU. Although we’re fairly set with things from Baby #1 there are occasionally items that we realize we need. I didn’t have a set idea of what I was looking for, but I was sure inspiration would strike once I got to the store.

So we went to TRU. With Baby & Toddler in tow I navigated the aisles of terrifying, over-stimulating plastic crap looking for something useful to spend the gift card on. O had some great ideas: a $150 Lightning McQueen car, a miniature grocery cart full of boxes of faux food, a $6 clearance pool. I had other ideas, a Cars-inspired potty seat for grandma’s (O said “no!” when I asked if he’d use it), a 5-stage booster seat (like O’s), a wagon. Guess what one ended up in our cart? Continue reading →

Wednesday in Sonoma

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This morning, after Gavin’s early morning conference call, we went to TrainTown in Sonoma. From their website:

Located just one mile south of the Plaza in Sonoma, TrainTown features a quarter scale railroad on 4 miles of track. Each train trip lasts 20-minutes and goes through tunnels, over bridges and makes a stop in Lakeview- our miniature town and petting zoo.

We drove out on Hwy 116, faced very little traffic, and got to TrainTown around eleven. Parking and admission were free (YAY!), then we walked around, looked at rides – Oliver was too short to go unaccompanied on any of them, and then went on the quarter scale railroad. Visiting earlier in the day mid-week meant crowds were at a minimum, which was nice.

After the train ride, it was rather hot and close to noon, so we went to the green space in Sonoma’s town center. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and Oliver enjoyed running around before we got back in the car and headed home.

We drove home along Hwy 12 and stopped at Screamin’ Mimi’s for ice cream (we like to support local businesses).

Don’t worry, Gavin isn’t slacking off at work, he swapped days off – he worked on Monday which was the 4th of July holiday. Todays outing went smoothly and we had quite a bit of fun. We’re hoping swap around days again so we can go on other fun mid-week outings.