Duet

Brady got to try out the piano seat/ spin/ thing this afternoon.  He seemed to really like it.  No laughing- or smiling, really- but he was very alert and content the whole time he was in it.  

Anderson's love for his old piano seat (I don't know what to call it) was suddenly rekindled.  At first he was so cute playing with it with Brady.  Then he decided he wanted in the seat instead of his brother.  This was the first time I felt like my two boys had to really share something-  which was a learning experience for all 3 of us.  One time out was involved, but over all we were able to take turns pretty well.  

I wouldn't put Anderson in the seat because I told him it was for babies.  But he got himself into it and was happy as could be.  He was very cute squeezed into the little seat.  Hopefully he'll get over it soon.  Brady will be happy to have it all to himself.  :)

April and May

It's 9:00, and currently both boys are peacefully asleep.  It's Saturday, so I've had a chance to catch up on some laundry and get the dishwasher running.  Also, Saturday means I got to "sleep in" until 7:30, so I'm not especially tired.  Lauren visited this week, and I keep expecting the woman from whom we bought this house to swing by for some mail, so my house is actually fairly clean (okay, just downstairs, but still).  Thus, the perfect conditions for blogging :).  

I will add that I'm watching sweet Brady in the baby monitor, and his little hand has worked its way out of his swaddle, so I'm pretty sure he'll be up for a little more eating and snuggling before he's actually down for the night.  But you never know, he is growing up and one of these days won't have to be swaddled so tightly to sleep.  So maybe this post will be finished tonight, but maybe not.  Most nights lately it's been "maybe not."

Things I'm really excited about:
- 4 more weeks and I am finished with the school year, which means I'm finished with full-time work for the foreseeable future.  I am so ready to be home with my boys.  I will also be tutoring and working part-time for my mom.  So I will still be busy- but there's nothing like working full-time and being mom full-time.  I have all of the respect in the world for the Mommas who are able to keep up with both!

-Brady is smiling a lot, and he is laughing some.  He has the sweetest little smile, and we've entered the "happy" 3-month-old phase in which he smiles a lot more than he cries.  He had the dinnertime-fussy-time that a lot of babies do the first few months of life, and it seems like we've gotten through it.  I heard him laugh for the very first time when I was getting him to smile (using a stuffed giraffe from Aunt Mollie) for a picture.  Then a few days later, his Papa got him to really laugh when we were all out to eat.  Funny faces/ noises and tickling are our best chances at getting giggles from cutie Brady.  It doesn't get any better than hearing your baby laugh.

-Anderson said "bwue" and "re" (blue and red) yesterday morning.  He is learning so much everyday and recognizes/ identifies a ton of words.  He's still saying new words on a pretty slow and steady basis; most of the words he says are still letters and numbers.  So breaking through with some color words was a very happy way to start my Friday morning.

And here are some of my favorite pictures from the last month or so...

Anderson helped Daddy with the mulch.  By "help", I mean he followed Daddy around and then brought the mulch from the backyard back to the big pile in the driveway one handful at a time.  He was very content, but more serious than smiley about his yard work (Anderson, that is :) )

With the warmer weather, the boys and I have loved playing in the backyard after school.  Anderson likes the independence and says, "Bye!" when he walks across the yard from us.  Sadie loves it, too, and she and Anderson have become good buddies.  She's still a big (hyper) puppy!

Thanks to my mom, we have a family membership to the Children's Museum of Richmond.  We love it!  Anderson gets to wander around and play, and Brady loves to snuggle and watch.  There's even a nursing room available, so I can feed Brady while Anderson plays with Grandma or Dad.

And Mother's Day weekend... it was perfect!  Saturday afternoon with the Ives, Saturday evening, Anderson and I attended a 2-year old birthday party for Fiona (a new friend from our neighborhood.)  Sunday afternoon at my Mom and Dad's house....

Thirteen Ives this year!  And last Mother's Day, none of us had any idea that the newest 3 Ives would be joining us.  Thank God for surprises!!  :)

Romp N Roll for Fiona's second birthday

Bubble machine

Sandbox with Grandma

All I wanted was a family photo!  No smiles from Brady this time, but I still love the pictures we got :)

My happy place!  Happy Mother's Day to me :)

Whew!  I did it- boys still fast asleep, and I'll be on my way soon.  :)

Easter

Quick family photos before church:

Favorite pictures of my boys so far... these will be hard to beat :)

The boys were very kind to let us take so many pictures.  They were growing tired of the whole thing, and we needed to leave for church, so we didn't manage a photo of the 4 of us.  The boys outfits didn't survive breakfast after church, so a picture of our whole family just didn't happen.  No complaints.  I love the ones we got.

After church and breakfast (cinnabunny rolls and bacon), Anderson hunted for the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid at our house, and he checked out his basket.  Anderson was really into his eggs as soon as he figured out there were goldfish, Oreos, and chocolate-covered pretzels inside.  

After naptime, we headed out to my parents' house for an Easter party.  It was a rainy day, so we spent the first couple of hours inside.

Toby checking out Flip.  Looks like Flip is checking out Toby, too.

The rain cleared up long enough for us to get outside for the Easter egg hunt.  Everyone under 30 participated.  As my mom pointed out, this made me the oldest egg-hunter.  Fellow participants included: The Solas boys (my mom's clients and friends from Argentina), Michael and Amanda, Casey, Daniel, Sarah, Katelynn, Ryan, Anderson, Brady (well he rooted us on from inside), Augy, and Tobias.

Our hunt from this morning had worked- Anderson was READY TO GO get those eggs.  I literally had to hold him back- haha :)

Ryan found the golden egg!  He won a 1 lbs. chocolate bunny and these special Easter bunny ears.  They looked good on him and all, but they looked REALLY good on this guy:

Nannie and 3 of 6 grandbabies

Casey and 3 of  5 nephews (not counting Charlotte, Casey and my niece.)
Please notice that Tobias is just about to snag Anderson's ears.  Anderson was NOT having it.  Oh boys. :)

One more sweet photo from the day (Brady had changed into PJs for the ride home):

Quick Brady update

It is hard to believe that Brady is 7 weeks old today!!  Here is a quick Brady update.

He is smiling some, and those smiles are so sweet.  I've tried to get a good smile photo, but none of the photos I've snapped do the smile justice.  I'll keep trying!

Sometimes when he gets ready to cry, his little pout is just pitiful- like his feelings are genuinely hurt.  So cute.

He has rolled to his side twice.  He seems to really like to lay on his back to stretch out.  Some evenings when we've entered his "fussy time" (typically between dinner and bedtime) letting him stretch out, looking at him, and talking to him is all that will make him happy.

Some days I think I see a schedule emerging, and some days he still takes a good 3 hour nap.  But most days he still likes to "cluster feed" some, and he will snooze for 30 minutes or less but then wake up.  He's usually awake and happy for 1-2 hours after he wakes up and eats first thing in the morning (around 7:30/ 8:00.)  After that, he hasn't let me know what his nap schedule is going to look like.

He's taken a bottle every other day or so for a couple of weeks now.  He hasn't had any trouble with it, and drinks 4-5 ounces at a time.  I'm a little nervous about being gone for school all day; it seems he is going to maybe need 3 bottles while I'm gone, and Anderson only ever needed two.  Fingers crossed that I can keep up!

He is good and chubby. I weighed him tonight and came up with 13.5 pounds.  His tummy and cheeks are certainly chubby.  His legs haven't quite chubbed up yet, like I know they will.

5 weeks old

6 weeks old- love the chins!!

Two of a kind

Anderson is really into pairing things these days.  For weeks now, he gets excited if he sees two of the same letter, shape, color, etc.  Lately he's expanded to pairing things that are similar and not just identical.

He points to the first one and says "Wuu..." and then he points to its match.  He's started saying "Ooo" for the second one, but often he just smiles and let's you say "two ___".  

For example, he was playing with his nativity scene one morning.  Ryan came in to tell us goodbye on his way to work.  Anderson was playing with Mary and Joseph, and I said "that's the mommy and daddy."  So Anderson pointed to Joseph and said, "Wuu" and then pointed to Ryan, all excited. :)

A couple of my other favorite pairs Anderson has come up with:

One baby, two babies!
(Anderson is very sweet with"Glow Baby" and gives it kisses, like his own baby gets.)

One Papa (seen here with my nephew, Tobias)

Two Papa!
AKA the dog whisperer... but Anderson is adamant that this is his Papa.
 Hahaha- cracks me up!  :)

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Kyle visit!

The first weekend in March, Auntie Lauren and Uncle Kyle flew in to meet Brady.  In just a few months, they'll be living in the DC area, so we are looking forward to seeing those cute Kinderknechts more than just 2 or 3 times a year.  :)

Anderson likes to show off some when we have company, and he was happy to see Lauren and Kyle. Anderson's latest favorite thing to do is "drawing."  By this, I mean he wants you to write letters and numbers as he says them... over and over and over.  He does like to take a crayon or marker and scribble some (maybe 10 %) of the time, too.  Kyle was kind and patient and wrote the numbers one through nine... fifty million times.

This is how Anderson counts:
"Wuu, Ooh, Eee, (stares at you until you say four), bye, (stares- you fill in six, seven), Eee, Nine (his best one ;))" and then he's finished.

And he knows quite a few letters and LOVES to recite the alphabet duet style as follows:
"A (he always sticks his tongue out a little to say A, so it doesn't exactly sound like A, and we don't know why...)
B... D, E, ......... I...ku.....nu, O, P...R...U.... Y..."

This is what he looks like at his drawing seat:

So just picture Kyle there for 30+ minutes as Anderson's lovely assistant. :)

Back to the point, once Brady woke up from a morning nap (by the way, good daytime naps are much more precious and few these days!), Lauren and Kyle got good quality time with our chubby little guy.  I love the pictures we got!

After Anderson's nap, and once Ryan got home from Saturday work, we all headed to the zoo:
(My mom and dad, Ryan, Brady, and I were all there, too.  But it looks like only L, K, Anderson, and the animals made it into photos.)

We had a family dinner at the Boathouse at Brandermill after the zoo, which we all really enjoyed. :)