Joshua: 6 Months

-Started sitting up a couple of weeks ago. It’s wonderful and has helped with his spitting up immensely!

-We cut out his 10 pm dream feed last weekend. Ah, finally! It’s so nice to feed him at around 8 and then put him down for the rest of the night. He sleeps through the night until 7:30 the next morning. (He sometimes needs a binky around 6:30, or a couple times in the night, but I have no complaints!)

-We started solids last week. I tried bananas and avocadoes first, but after several failed attempts with those, I tried rice cereal. He loves it! Now it’s hard to keep the food in his mouth, because he’s so excited about it that he smiles and talks the whole time. It’s adorable, but also a bit frustrating—and very messy!

-With the addition of solids, I’ve also worked at keeping him up a bit longer between each nap. This has helped his naps be longer. Something he’ll nap up to 2 to 2.5 hours—it’s magical! But sometimes, it’s still 45 minutes—not so magical.

-He went to his first Blazer game this week and did great. He spent the whole game staring at the 20-something guys sitting behind us. It was hilarious!

-I had (another) failed swaddle-weaning attempt this month. He has one arm out now. I’ll call that a slight victory.

-I’ve been able to start drinking decaf coffee again without it making Josh fussy. Praise the Lord! Six months without my favorite treat was far too long! I’ve also hit the milestone of 182 days of pumping. Half way there!

-He stills loves to smile at everyone, but isn’t doing great having anyone hold him except Ben and I.

Here’s some pictures of his first solids:

Okay, and now just for kicks: he’s a comparison of Josh, Seth, and Sam at 6 months:

I think S & S have squarer faces and more hair at this age. I also think Josh might have bigger eyes.

Definitely brothers, but maybe not as identical looking as we thought at first. Josh has his own little look, which I love.

Puddle Splashin’

The last few days have been rainy, to say the least. But thankfully, between absolute downpours, there have been periods of calm. It was during one of the times we quickly bundled up, put on old clothes and boots and went puddle splashing. I felt like such a seasoned mom, because I’ve learned how quickly the boys get cold and complainy after getting soaked—so we walked first (got a little bit of “stuck in the house” energy out), and then I let them splash their way home. We walked to the rec center and saw our little creek all the way up to the bridges and the small pond turned into a lake way beyond it’s boundaries. Crazy weather! Hoping for a dry spell soon!

I love this picture of Seth: pure joy (he was a bit more into it than Sammy)

Sam did get the biggest jump and splash of the day award, though.

Together now:

And Josh got the cutest baby of the day award:

This is his “I’m pouting because I’m in the stroller against my will” face

Alright, mom, a little half smile

Snow’pocalypse 2014

I have to be honest: this snow storm couldn’t have come at a worst time. It made my parents, who came to help while Ben was on a business trip to Germany, have to leave early (and in the middle of the storm!). It kept my sister from coming to visit this weekend (I haven’t seen her since Thanksgiving!). It made me cooped up inside with three kids on day 5 of no daddy. And it’s made Ben, who is on about 24 hours of travel, be driving in horrible weather home from the airport 5 hours later than anticipated. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I’m trying not to be bitter…

Yesterday, as the snow was coming down, Seth and Sam were SO excited. They kept asking and asking to go outside. I delayed it as long as possible: it was 20 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy. I knew we’d spend longer getting the gear on than playing in it. But they actually lasted outside about 15 minutes. When they came in, we had hot chocolate, popcorn and watched Frosty the Snowman. (A ver wintery thing to do.) Then when my plans of eating dinner at Chipotle that I had been dreaming about all day were foiled by bad roads, I made puffy German pancake with strawberries on it and bacon. Take that ill-timed snow storm.

Today the snow was actually pleasant. I think it warmed up to a balmy 28 and there was no wind. We carefully drove to Fred Meyers for groceries and Chipotle for lunch (more than anything—we got out of the house…woo hoo!) And then we bundled up and made it outside for a lot longer. I missed my husband so dearly, as all families were home together (because the wonderful city of Portland pretty much shuts down for snow) and I actually had to be the one outside playing in the snow (definitely Ben’s role). Although Freddy’s didn’t have any sleds left (seriously, Portland, you are so ridiculous) we were able to borrow one from our neighbors and the boys sledded for the first time.

So, snow’pocalypse 2014, although you arrived at the worst time EVER, we embraced you. Now, please stick around through Tuesday so that my husband can get that snow day off of work that he’s owed.     Sam, Seth     Seth, Sam

The look on Seth’s face above describes how I felt about the blizzard

They were so excited to eat snow!

My favorite view of the snow…from inside!!

Here’s so pictures from my camera phone from today:

Sam, Me, Seth…Love these boys!

Outside Despite the Cold…

It’s been freezing here as of late—but beautiful blue skies. Going outside is SO tempting; like the day we bundled up and went to the park. We honestly lasted maybe 5 minutes. But in those five minutes, I had enough time to snap a few pictures of Josh’s first time in the swing. He didn’t know what to think at first, but was smiling a little by the end:

I love how tiny he looks in the swing! Here’s S & S racing down the slides:

They are so darn handsome (Seth on left, Sam on right)

I’ve mentioned before our duck pond right behind our house. Our 70 year old neighbors LOVE feeding them corn, so on a given day we have 30-40 ducks behind our house. Most of the ducks are your standard mallard, but we do have one family of wood ducks, which are gorgeous. As of late we also have a new visitor, whom Joyce tells me is a Mandarin wood duck. We finally got outside yesterday to take some pictures of him. We’re wondering if it was raised by someone, because it’s so tame that it will eat right at your feet. Joyce has named him “Woody.”

Here’s the wood ducks:

And here’s Woody:

I’m really excited about that last picture. I want to frame it and give it to Frank and Joyce! Here’s Seth and Sam indulging me in picture taking. I sure love them! 

Seth, “Really, mom?”

“Ok, I’ll smile for you mommy.” I love these pictures of Seth. They are such typical looks from him.

Sweet, sweet Sammy