Car Seats and Doctor Visits

Noah had his 4 month check-up, and Braiden his 18 month check-up this morning. A little late for both of them, but that's how it worked out. Both boys look excellent! Noah is 17lbs 8oz (6,010g) and 27 inches (69cm), which puts him in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. Braiden is 23lbs 6oz (7,995g) and 33 inches (84cm) - 25th percentile for height and 75th percentile for height. Both got some shots; thankfully we had Daddy there as a reinforcement! We got the go-ahead to start solids with Noah, but are planning on waiting until he is six months.


Cell phone images of Braiden and Noah at the doctor's office.

This morning, Braiden came out to the car to find two surprises - he got to ride in Daddy's Jeep, and his car seat was switched to forward facing! Here and here are videos of him. He loved seeing more out the windows, and even tonight kept asking for "drive" and "more". :)


More cell phone pictures of Braiden in his car seat.

P.S. We've been busy packing and getting ready for the move... Blog posts will probably be infrequent from now until... who knows when. :)

Driving!

Braiden got a real treat today: on our quick trip to the grocery store, he got to drive the "shopping car"! It was his first time behind the wheel, and boy, did he enjoy it! He was steering furiously and making sure mama didn't make any unnecessary stops. Here are some cell phone pictures.


C'mon mama! Stop taking pictures and come power the engine!


Drinking and driving... in a police car, no less.


Checking out other cars in the parking lot.


I guess we're done... I'm stepping on the gas but nothing's moving.

Funny Boys

Awww! Hugs for Noah!


Strong legs! All Noah wants to do is stand.

Both boys were being very giggly again tonight! Click here to see them laughing at each other.

Braiden has been honing his gibberish a lot lately. Click here for a video. Noah, as well, has been talking up a storm. Click here for his video.

Braiden is so funny in the mornings. Even if he is calling for us from his room, when we get there, he usually wants to lounge in his crib for a little while longer. He has 8 binkies in his bed (we count them!), and he'll put one in, keep it in for a couple of seconds, and then switch. This sometimes goes on for a looooong time. Here is a video of him this morning.

We went to our favorite mall in the morning. Braiden loves the play area there!

Victoria's Gardens

Our playgroup outing today was to Victoria's Gardens. It was an amazing little place, full of wonderful things to do, like a petting zoo, bounce houses, different rides to go on, and U Pick strawberry field. We had so much fun, we are hoping to again this weekend with Daddy!


Braiden in the inflatable obstacle course.


Chasing the duckies in the petting zoo... Wonder why they were hiding?


Noah was sleeping in the carrier, so Emery's aunt Kelly went down the Giant Slide with Braiden - over and over again...!


Braiden's first pony ride! He liked it... for about 30 seconds.


We had a picnic lunch with our friends, and then to wrap up the day, we went on a hay ride and picked our strawberries. So much fun! Click here to see a slideshow from our adventures today and more of Balboa Park pictures from Tuesday.

Here is a small sample of what has started going on in the house. Braiden and Noah are really starting to amuse each other. Braiden will make Noah laugh, or vice versa, and they both end up giggling hysterically. :)

Museum Fun and "Thank You!"

It's Tuesday, so in the morning again, we headed to Balboa Park! First we visited the Air and Space Museum.


Admiring a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis.


They had a wonderful area set up for kids! He really is having fun, despite the serious look. :)


Pilot Braiden - Noah is his wing man!


This one was Braiden's favorite! Lots of controls. Here and here are short videos of Braiden playing (in the first one he finally responds to me and signs "airplane" by waving his hand back and forth).


Next stop: the Automotive Museum.


After admiring all the old cars, we spent quite a while at their kids' area.


Wow!


Fixing. This car has some issues.


Halfway through, Noah fell asleep in the front carrier.


Happy Braiden in the middle of of our picnic lunch. :)

And for some "thank you" stories...

Braiden has been signing "thank you" a lot. He will put something in the trash, and will let me know he did it by signing thank you. As in, "thank me for putting your socks in the trash, mommy." To which I, of course, have to respond by saying thank you.
We have been instructing him to say thank you after meals. He has always needed to be prompted, until the other day; he was anxious to be excused, and after furiously signing all done and not getting the desired response out of us, it was as if a light bulb went off in his head... He signed "all done" and then "thank you" - trying to win us over with manners! He succeeded. :)
And then today, the two of us went to the grocery store for a few things after Michael came home. As we were leaving and the bagger finished putting the bags into our cart, Braiden looked at her and signed "thank you"! I was so proud of our polite little boy!

Here is a video of Braiden and Noah. During dinner, Braiden thought it was so funny when Noah was kicking in the high chair. So after he was done, he had to go check out what it felt like... on his head.

Vroom! Vroom!

It's true! Our busy Braiden can sit still! Often when it's quiet, I think "uh-oh", but when I go investigate, Braiden is in his room, reading books quietly. He has amazing concentration skills, when he chooses to use them. :)

Last week he started another quiet activity: playing with his cars! He has played with them before, but now he has started taking them out of the car bin one by one and placing them on the floor. When all are out, he puts them back in, and starts all over. Here's a video I took of him this morning. Immediately after getting out of bed he went to work and started playing! Here's another cell phone clip of him "driving" at the playground today.

Noah has been very cute and tickly. He laughs uncontrollably when we take his shirt off - some tickly spot is right under his arm, but we can't seem to find it without the shirt being involved. It's adorable! Gotta love those belly laughs. Here's a video of him from a few weeks back.

So I'm finally getting closer to pre-pregnancy weight, and I was thinking of shopping for one or two casual dresses for this summer. All fine? Listen to this. A week before we found out we were pregnant with Braiden, I went and got some new clothes from Old Navy, including a pair of jeans. And then, a week before we found out about Noah, I got a pair of new jeans (Old Navy again), as I had just gotten back to my pre-pregnancy weight. And this might not be so co-incidental, but the thing is that I go shopping for myself very, very rarely (especially since my shopping buddy, my sister, lives 3,000 miles away).

So I'm thinking that I might not want to go shopping again in the next few years. At least not Old Navy. And no new jeans. Although... do you think shopping online might be safe?

Pictures from the Park and Other Ramblings

Our weekend was nice and quiet. We did some things to get ready for the move, but mostly just took it easy. We spent at least two hours at the park today, which was great. Below are pictures that Michael took.





Does anyone else experience the "weekend" children phenomenon? Braiden, on the weekends, is more than happy to play alone and around us, while Michael and I lounge on the couch / do something on the computer / do stuff around the house / fill in the blank. He doesn't get into trouble, doesn't seek negative attention... But this never happens during the week while Michael is at work. I can barely eat my breakfast in peace, let alone check my email. The funny thing is that he is fine if I am doing something, e.g. cleaning, doing laundry, even feeding Noah - but he just doesn't like me sitting still! Braiden himself won't sit and watch 15 minutes of Bob the Builder during the week, but on the weekend we can have 3 hrs of baseball on!

And Noah, dear Noah, who refuses to nap for more than 45 minutes at a time during the week, has this weekend taken 2 hrs + naps! Huh? I guess there's just something about having Daddy home.

Another odd phenomenon is Noah's night time sleep. Every night this week, he has alternated good nights (6-7 hr stretches of sleep) and bad nights (waking up 2-3 times). Braiden at this point was sleeping much better, especially during the day, but we have hesitated to lay down the law with Noah, with his stomach issues. He is still experiencing some discomfort and lots of spitting up. So while the reflux isn't bad enough to need medication (he is certainly gaining weight just fine!), it does seem to affect his sleep. So anyway, if he is true to his pattern, we are due for a good night tonight (I'm sure I just jinxed myself).

Braiden has been quite the dancer recently. Here are (several) videos of him dancing, while watching the Wiggles. If you only have time for one, check out part II. It's the shortest and cutest. :) Here are part I, part II, part III and part IV. Here's also a video of Noah singing and playing (it's about 70 seconds long, but if you watch the first 5, you pretty much know what will happen next). Oh, and one more - my sister should get a kick out of this - guess who Braiden learned this from?

Enjoying the Weekend

We've had a quiet day at home today - very nice! Braiden has been very helpful all day. He helped Daddy make pancakes this morning (our Saturday morning tradition), then helped me clean the kitchen after dinner! And as always, he likes to put things in the trash and rearrange. :) We spent a lot of time in the backyard, watched some Braves baseball and just enjoyed being together.





Braiden loves nooks and crannies; he found a new hiding place in the kitchen this morning!


Braiden and Noah in the morning.

Here is a video of Braiden's silly jumping game today.

Beachy Kind of Day

Braiden, Noah and I spent the morning at the Coronado Ferry Landing. We had a great time! We walked on the boardwalk, watched birds, played on the beach, and had lunch there.


Braiden playing on the beach.


The boys at the Coronado Ferry Landing Dock.

You can click here to see the rest of the pictures from our little trip. Also included are more pictures from this evening.


Noah's favorite taggie blanket (from Cocoa Dreams)!


Braiden drawing before dinner.

Playing at Kidsville

The boys and I spent the morning at Kidsville Playland.


Pumpkin head!


Going through the car wash.


School house.


Police station / fire department.


Chef Braidén hard at work.

Does anyone see a recurring object in all of the pictures above?! Braiden is in love.


Ready to go home! Noah spent the morning in the carrier, napping and cooing. :)

We also went to the playground in the afternoon. As usual, Noah was in the Bjorn carrier, spending time close to mama. Here is a video of Braiden playing and towards the end of the clip, Noah having a conversation with mama.