Day 165 | It's Not Goodbye...

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It's see you soon!

We said goodbye to Mary Catherine this morning. I'm not going to lie, there were some tears (the toddler variety), but the good news is we'll see her in just three sleeps. Goodbyes are so much easier when there's another visit on the horizon.

Can't wait to see you and your puppy at your house in a few days, MC. Woo hoo!

Day 163 | A Rainy, Lazy Day

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I don't mind the rain. I actually kind of like it. It's nature's way of telling you to slow down and that it's ok to not be going all the time.

We took that cue this morning. Even though it was our one morning with Mary Catherine, she and I stayed in with Robbe for his morning nap while Chris took Chase to swimming lessons. It nearly killed me to not be "doing something" but the morning in was actually really lovely. We had a lazy breakfast, chatted up a storm during the nap, played some serious choo choos after lunch, and just enjoyed each other's company. Sounds wonderful, right?

With visitors, it's hard not to want to constantly entertain but I love the idea of them getting a glimpse of what our real life looks like with these two babies. 

Day 162 | National Building Museum

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The weather has turned a bit cool and dreary today so we brainstormed an indoor activity with Caia and John: to the National Building Museum!

The boys had a great time playing in the Building Zone. Robbe took a snooze on the go (top-right photo is how we accomplish this) and woke up in time to get in some play time of his own.

And we arrived back home just as the rain started. Perfect.


Day 161 | The Month of Visitors is Here!

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 And we couldn't be more excited!

After a lunch watching airplanes land and take off, we picked up Mary Catherine. Woo hoo! When I told Chase that she landed, he said, "hip hip hooray!" Exactly how I felt. 

Not sure what our plans will end up being but Chase has outlined the following activities for Mary Catherine to do with him:
  1. Read books (check!)
  2. Play choo choos (check!)
  3. Go to Tree Park (check!)
  4. Tell a story about Marshall and Thomas (the train, that is) going to Cape Cod 
We're making good progress...and it's only been eight hours.

Day 160 | Apple Stampin'

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Are you on the edge of your seat wondering what fantastic craft we made at Whole Foods this week? The suspense is over...

Chase used apples as a stamp on a little tote bag. He really liked this activity and kept himself very entertained with the apple and paint (as you can tell by his shirt). I did help a bit with the tote bag (I can't relinquish control completely), but I was really happy he jumped right in. 

Day 159 | Growing Boys

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Chase is 2.5 years old today! Such a big guy.

I did manage to finish my growth pole project in time for the inaugural hash mark. Chase is 35.5 inches tall according to our new birch bark tree growth chart. I hope you can tell what it's supposed to be!

And, to celebrate Robbe's latest accomplishment (he pulled himself to standing today), we measured him, too. Unofficially, of course. He's measuring in at 28 inches.

Hooray for growing boys.

Day 158 | Playgroup Pandemonium

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Can you spot my boys? They are in there somewhere.
We ventured out on this beautiful fall day to try out a new playgroup in our area.

The group meets at Heffner Park Community Center and was pure madness (see photo above). It was 20 toddlers squished onto a 10x10 rug all fighting over (I mean, sharing) the same toys. My boys seemed to totally rise above the madness...better than me for that matter. Robbe's ability, in particular, to be enveloped by the kids and noise without being the least bit phased was shocking to me. 

Having said that, the playgroup was more organized than some I've been to in the past. It had an agenda: free play, then storytime/singing, then outdoor play. I can get behind that. It's also super flexible and relaxed so a late arrival (perfect because of Robbe's nap) is no problem. 

The verdict is still out about whether we'll return. I liked a lot about it but the shear number of people in that little room might be enough to dissuade me. That, and the fact that I have to drive (I need more walkable activities!), make me lean towards no, at least not on a weekly basis. Luckily, we can drop in whenever we want without making any sort of commitment (and it's free!). 

Day 157 | Takoma Park Street Festival

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Our new neighborhood has their very own street festival. Fun, right? We explored booth after booth of unique crafts, activist sign-ups, nursery schools (Chase's favorite), and lots more. The nursery school booths had fun activities for the kiddos so we took advantage of a lot of projects. Chase made bubbles with a wand, decorated a "thumb-body special" picture frame (using his thumb print), drew a fun picture (kind of a big deal because he's not into coloring right now), and even got a blue balloon dog. Big day for that guy!

Day 156 | It's So Nice To See...

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I've realized that I don't give the appropriate number of shout-outs to my husband on this blog. I could never list everything he does for our family in one post but the most impressive thing about this man, to me, is his desire and ability to put his family first no matter how exhausted/overwhelmed/drained he is. Chris always has energy for the boys, sometimes I honestly can't figure out how he does it.

He asked me yesterday if it bothers me that strangers come up to him (not infrequently) and make a comment like, "It's so nice to see a father spending time with his children." Kind of an odd statement in my opinion and I have never, no surprise, had anyone say something similar to me as a mother. I could honestly say that it doesn't bother me in the least. 

Instead, it just makes me feel even luckier that I call this man my husband and that our boys call him dad. Not everyone plays the role he does and not everyone can rock at it the way he does. 

Enough sappiness for one post. Hope you don't mind the love note. And, with that...Go Badgers!

Day 155 | The Zoo!

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I woke up with a great idea: we should spend the morning at the National Zoo. So that's just what we did. Our goal was to get out of the house at 9am (rarely happens) and we locked the door at 8:55am. Why thank you, I will take a pat on the back for that.

It was the perfect perfect activity this morning. The weather felt very fall-like, the crowds hadn't descended yet, Chase really got into seeing the animals, we splurged and got coffee on the way in (thanks, Mom!), and Robbe even slept in the stroller (usually I put him in the carrier to sleep). See? Perfect.

A couple of long naps and an evening with dear friends will round out the day. I'm feeling very lucky.

Side note: You'll notice Chase is holding his toy Thomas train in the photo above. We've been telling lots of stories lately about the adventures of Chase and Thomas (even though he's a train, he enjoys doing the same things as Chase). We just told him the story of "Chase and Thomas Go to the Zoo" earlier this week so it seemed necessary to take Thomas with on this field trip today. He enjoyed seeing the animals, for the record.

Day 154 | Putting on a Happy Face

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*Not every day is a dream.

It's been a rough day around our house. Robbe was up early: 6am...what's that about? Usually he sleeps until closer to 8am. Hopefully it was a one-time fluke or this girl is going to lose it.

That got the whole day off on the wrong foot. The boys have been fine, really, I just can't seem to shake my negative attitude. I pulled it together for the selfie above.Why isn't it that easy to change the trajectory of the day...one quick smile and all the crankiness slides away.

Fingers crossed for good naps this afternoon to turn the day around. Naps solve all problems.

Day 153 | Happy October!

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It's October! I love October....and this October, specifically: my good friend Mary Catherine is visiting, we're taking a family trip to Cape Cod with Chris's parents, and my mom's coming over Halloween. Could I (we, I mean) be any luckier? 

Because of all this anticipation, I was in the fall spirit a little early this year. I got the boys involved in the festivities, too. 

Chase used a potato to stamp "pumpkins" on the card pictured on top (idea from one of his favorite magazines) and I traced both boys' hands for the bats (idea from this catalog). As it turned out, the crafts turned into more of a solo project for me than a bonding time with them (no surprise!). 

Hope the grandparents like the seasonal fridge decorations.

*Update: we now have another visitor booked! My brother is coming in October as well. The good luck streak continues.

Day 152 | Sleeping Forward Fold

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I had to wake Robbe up from his nap this morning (the worst!) to pick Chase up from school and this is how I found him.

As I daydream about my old yoga-going lifestyle, I call this pose "Sleeping Forward Fold." You can't really tell from the photos (which is why I included so many), but he's actually in a seated position, leaning all the way forward with his head on the mattress. Impressive flexibility! 

On a side note, after making such an effort to include Robbe in posts awhile back, I'm starting to feel like Chase is being underrepresented. I'll try to remedy that tomorrow. 

Day 151 | A Small Deal

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If the thumb-sucking wasn't adorable, I would be a lot more concerned about it.
I'm happy to report that Robbe's crazy growth has plateaued. You've got to celebrate the little things, right? At *almost* seven months old, he's still wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes.

That probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal except that he's been wearing this size since he was three and half months old (shout out to Krissy and Caia for lending us some much needed clothing staples!). He never fit into newborn size clothes, he was in 0-3 month clothes for one month and grew out of 3-6 almost as quickly. 

He's definitely inching toward the next size (and has been wearing that size in some items for months already), but I'm just glad that he's not wearing size 3T at this point...that was the trajectory for awhile!

Day 150 | Goodbye for the Season, Friend

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Chris had the brilliant idea of heading back to the Wheaton Regional Park today to ride the miniature train and carousel. When we arrived, we found out this is the last open weekend until the spring. What amazing timing!

The park didn't disappoint again (as if it were a question). Chase was running from one attraction to another. In fact, when we arrived, he exclaimed, "carousel...hip hip hooray!" That's my boy. Which reminds me, I don't think I've mentioned Chase's new favorite phrase: almost every time we leave the house, he starts our adventure with, "What a beautiful day." Just the optimism we need to get our day off on the right foot. 

*A special shout out to Eli and Lily for making Chase's amazing tie-dye t-shirt. Thanks, guys!

Day 149 | At Long, Long Last

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After 12 (twelve!) long weeks of waiting, our loveseats were delivered today. When we purchased them, the sales manager said it could be 8-10 weeks but more likely 6-8. Here we are 12 weeks and probably 10 phone calls later. Finally. 

To put it in perspective, here's what Robbe has managed to accomplish in the same amount of time: 
  -Mastered rolling over
  -Unleashed his belly laugh
  -Went from hating tummy time to loving it
  -Started sitting up
  -Started crawling
  -Became a clapper
  -Expanded his diet to solids
  -Was sleep trained
  -Went through a sleep regression
  -Was sleep trained again (maybe it'll stick this time!)
  -Grew an inch and a quarter
  -Gained two pounds

I'm happy to say it was worth the wait. We love the new addition to our living room (we were starting to forget what we picked out!) and now we can start finalizing furniture and art placement. Have I mentioned...finally!

Day 148 | Zucchini Pancakes

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We had two proud members of the clean plate club today at lunch. Chase gobbled up his zucchini pancakes so quickly I decided that I should share another recipe with today's post. This is a good one!

Unfortunately, Robbe didn't get to test the pancakes, but he had no complaints about his avocado and squash combination.

Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Pancakes
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons green onion, chopped
  • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup flax seed
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 pinch dried oregano
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, or as needed
Directions
  • Blot grated zucchini with paper towel to remove moisture. Stir zucchini, eggs, and onion in a large bowl. Mix in flour, cheese, baking powder, and oregano (right in the same bowl, is fine).
  • Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Drop spoonfuls of batter into hot oil and pan fry until browned, 2-3 minutes per side. Drain pancakes on a paper towel-lined plate.
*Recipe modified from this website.