Category Archives: update

Technical Issues

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I haven’t updated in a while as we’ve been having technical issues: for a time the blog was down entirely, and now it won’t let me post photos, so instead I’ll direct you to our Picasa Albums where you can see what we’ve been up to!

Since I last posted, the boys have been busy playing with their trains, we took a day trip to “Oma Beach” (aka Drake’s Beach), and have spent a good deal of time prepping for Oliver’s fourth birthday party – it has a train theme (again).

A family friend was kind enough to send us a gingerbread train and train station, and a rice krispy treat train as well. Oliver and Patrick have enjoyed decorating these hyper-sugary creations, and they will adorn one of the tables at his party!

In other news, we have the LEAST energy-efficient furnace allowed to be sold in California. On a scale of 78-96 (78 being the least efficient), ours is an 80, so the thermal curtains have been taken from the playroom and are currently hanging over the two main windows in our living room. Not the greatest look, but it makes a noticeable difference.

Happy 2013

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We had some technical issues over the holidays so the blog was down, but everything appears to be back up and running. We had a low-key holiday season, spent Christmas at home with family, did nothing exciting for New Years, and are looking forward to regularly scheduled activities to start up again this week.

To celebrate the new year (and the addition of a second bridge), the trains have come back to the living room (as long as they’re not being fought over and stay off the floor/on the table, they’re allowed to stay).

I was going to put a really cute photo of the boys playing with their trains here, but the media uploader isn’t working. I will try again later.

still alive!

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The blog was fairly silent this past week because I was busy being a mom of boys. Gavin was off in Palo Alto and Santa-Somewhere-or-other for work and conferences so it was up to me to hold down the fort.

We had a few ups and downs over the week, but over all things went fairly smoothly. We had some semblance of routine, even if we did have dinner at four-thirty some afternoons followed by bath time at five.

Highlights from the week:

We got to Skype with Gavin on Wednesday evening. Oliver threw a colossal fit because I insisted he wear a diaper before he could video chat.

Our new mattress arrived Thursday morning. We finally decided on a 9″ talalay latex mattress with an organic wool mattress topper and an organic wool mattress pad on top of that. The wool comes from New Zealand so apparently the sheep are not eaten when they get old.

We watched Wall-E one too many times.

Oliver hit re-dial on our phone and called Gavin to order pizza, he had the take-out menu in hand and was pointing to the ones he wanted and quite firmly insisting that “pee-za” come soon. I didn’t realize he’d made a call so I was quite surprised when Gavin called back.

See how They Grow

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For the last 33 months I have taken (or tried very hard to take) a photo of Oliver on the 20th of every month so I can watch how he changes month-to-month. There isn’t always a dramatic change, but over time, the changes start to get very noticeable. I’ve been doing the same thing for Patrick as well.

Today, as I was updating P’s four month photo, I realized there was no quick-and-simple way to find all the monthly updates so I have created two new categories, O-monthly-update and P-monthly-update so they’d be easily distinguishable from the rest of the posts.

More photos of the boys can be found at Kindil’s Picasa albums, linked on the right.

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.

P Baby at 2 months

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Patrick has been very busy. So far, he has out grown all of his newborn clothing, has made a big dent in the pile of three-month sized clothing, and is working his way into some of the six-month sized outfits. He has also outgrown his Moses basket.

What is new about Baby P at 2 months? He has drastically improved head control: he can now aim for your face more efficiently when he swings his head around as he wiggles in your arms. He sleeps, he was sleeping before, but he’s sleeping better now (4-5 hours in a row). He weighs a ton, not literally, but he’s almost doubled his birth weight and is now a whopping 12+ pounds (assuming our bathroom scale is right).

Baby P still punches himself in the face when he gets upset, thankfully, he’s got well padded fingers.

You can see more photos of Baby P and Toddlerist O’s July adventures in our July photo album.

July 20 – Oliver’s monthly photo

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Getting covert action photos of Oliver around the house has gotten trickier. He sees the camera and comes for it, getting too close too quickly for a decent shot.

Yesterday, Mommy and Oliver went to Barnes & Nobel to use a gift card. Baby Patrick stayed at home napping (Daddy was home too). Oliver picked out a Cars activity book, and a book for Baby Patrick. When we got home, he proudly presented Baby P with Richard Scarry’s Best First Book Ever! (we now we have it in English as well as German).

We spent a good chunk of our afternoon alternating between Busytown and the different race tracks on the Cars play mat.

He knows Mater goes “slowy” (but he goes “fas-fas” when he’s going backwards) and Lightning McQueen goes “fas-fas” and occasionally spins out into the “wa-way” (water).

The Cat Family in Busytown left the door to their car open, and there are many trucks on their streets. There is a baby cat in a stroller, and it is all very exciting. Although Baby P sits in my lap as we discuss Busytown life, but I suspect it will be a few more months before Baby P gets to enjoy “his” new book all on his own.

lining up the cars (Tuesday afternoon)

 

Sneaky Baby Grows

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Patrick is a sneaky baby.

In the short time he’s been living with us, he has been growing, and growing, and growing.

This is a good thing, but occasionally it catches us off guard, like when he was suddenly too long for the 3-month sized snap-up footie pajamas, and the 3-month sized night shirts fit more like mini-dresses. Thankfully, for now, the 3-month sized onesies still fit (mostly).

Yesterday, or was it the day before, I realized he was getting too big for the basket.

We got the basket when I was about 10 weeks pregnant with Oliver. It is made by some American company (I’d have to look and see which one) specifically for sleeping babies (it is called a Moses Basket, although it is not remotely water-tight and would likely sink if we ever tried to leave it in a river), and I found it on Craigslist for a reasonable price (about 1/3 of what they originally paid for it).

Oliver slept in the basket for what seemed like forever, both in his room (in his crib), and our room (on the trunk). Once Oliver finally out grew it, the bedding was washed, and the basket and bedding were stashed in the guest room closet.

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