Spring Break Trip to DC

When the opportunity for a spontaneous trip with the boys to Washington DC came up, (there was a conference there for Drew’s work) we couldn’t pass it up! We were there from Sunday until Thursday (which I found out was quite a long time to stay in one hotel room with two little onesJ) and had a great time!

When we got there, everyone was exhausted from the drive, so we grabbed a quick dinner and just relaxed in the hotel room. That would be the last time I relaxed for the rest of the trip!Finn and Mitch slept pretty well, but then Mitch woke up earlier and earlier every morning (between 5:00 and 5:30am). After that, there was no sleeping for anyone else, since Mitch has found his new favorite noise to make. It sounds like some kind of wild animal. The loudest, most blood curdling shrieking noise you’ve ever heard. I’m sure the other hotel guests were thrilled. We also walked about 5 miles every day, so we were all exhausted by the end of each day.

On Monday, I set out with the boys to walk around the city and to explore the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. First, we made a quick stop to say hi to the Obama’s. They weren’t taking visitors, but we liked looking at their house anyway (Mitch wasn't as impressed as Finn - see below). Then on to the museum. The boys LOVED it there! The highlights were definitely the giant elephant and the dinosaur skeletons, of course.

Finn checking out the White House

Finn telling me that this is a "little dog" skeleton.

Mitch laughing at the fish tank

Finn taking some down time, watching his show on the computer

Finn and Mitch playing "neighbors in houses" (Finn's invented game) in their pack and plays. They did this for an hour - standing up and looking at each other and then falling down into their beds and laughing. It was hilarious.

That evening, we met up with Paul, Marla, Blair and Faith for a fun dinner. They were so sweet to make the drive into the city to meet us and it was great to catch up with them (even with the distractions of a crabby two-year-old and a surprise projectile vomit episode from Mitch).

Blair, Mitch and Drew - Mitch tried his first bite of ice cream (and, no surprise...loved it!)

Finn trying on my sunglasses in the hotel room after dinner

The next day, we walked over to the zoo (our hotel was about a mile and a half from the zoo and about two miles from the National Mall so we left the car parked the whole time and walked everywhere). Marla made the trip to see some animals and have lunch with us, which was so much fun! Finn’s favorites at the zoo were the lions (a family with lots of new cubs, playing and pouncing all over each other), the gorillas sleeping in hammocks, and a sting ray in the aquarium that splashed water out of the tank right near Finn’s face. He’s still talking about that one! J

It's hard to see, but there's a monkey's face pressed up against the window. :)

Finn looking at the lion cubs

Marla and Mitch checking out the lion mom and dad

The sting ray that splashed Finn

That afternoon, we met Drew to wander around and see some of the monuments. We checked out the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and (very very quickly because Mitch was making that shrieking sound again) the Vietnam Memorial. I don’t know what it is, but I could wander around those places for hours. I just love being there. It’s so beautiful and so meaningful and I loved having the kids there too, even if they didn’t really understand what they were seeing.

On our last day, I took the boys to the Air and Space Museum and on our way, we stumbled upon the National Aquarium. Mitch had loved the fish tanks at the zoo so much that I felt like we had to go in. They loved it there! Mitch was so excited to see the fish and Finn got to see yet another sting ray. This one was burying itself in the rocks at the bottom of the tank and Finn was fascinated! The Air and Space Museum was awesome too. We didn’t stay too long because Finn was having a hard time understanding that he couldn’t get IN all of the airplanes hanging from the ceiling. But he did get to sit in one and pretend to fly it, so mission accomplished!

Mitchie excited to see more fish!

Finn with Mr. Potato Head's tongue

It was so great to spend some time with the boys away from home. For four full days, all there was to do was walk, play, and focus on sharing new experiences with them. I realized how hard it is to give them my undivided attention when we’re at home because I get sidetracked by a work email or call, a sink full of dishes, or a basket full of laundry that needs to be folded. I think sometimes my control-freak nature causes me to miss out on the beauty of the everyday things we do together. It was nice to let go a little bit of the routine and be a little more spontaneous too (not one of my strengths). I’m already finding that some of this is carrying over since we’ve been home too, which might just be the best part of the trip.

Finn rocking out

Wow! Didn't know putting video from my phone onto the blog could be so easy...so here's one more:

February Fun

In the last two days, Mitch has learned to totally pull himself up to stand and can go up a few stairs. Now, putting him down for naps or bedtime takes twice as long, as he pulls himself up on the bars of the crib and then gets stuck there (screaming bloody murder) until someone comes up and puts him back down. This happens several times at each bedtime. I feel so bad for him because sometimes he's really scared he's going to fall and will be holding on with both hands AND his mouth. Poor little guy. I'm hoping this resolves itself in the next few days as he learns how to get down from standing. Mitch also has pink eye again (2nd time) and so do I. We have basically had pink eye for the entire month of February despite me bleaching every surface/toy in the house, changing and washing every sheet/pillowcase in hot water, and dousing everyone in antibiotics. SO FRUSTRATING! Mitch is his usual happy self (maybe a little whiny) and still eating like a champ. In fact, this weekend, he's started with some more finger foods (veggie burger, bread, cheese today) and is loving every bite!

Drew took Finn skating at Halloran Ice Rink last night and Grandma, Mitch, and I got front row seats. It was so fun! The rink is adorable and a lot less crowded than the indoor rink at the rec center. Finn loved every minute, of course! We also had another snow day on Friday, which allowed for a fun afternoon of playing in the snow and some sled riding!

Mitch was not so sure about the sled...

Mitch very pleased with himself for pulling up to the coffee table

Finn and Mitch Feb 2011

I'm just practicing uploading video from my phone...here's a little glimpse of the boys playing with the train session...

February 2011

February has been a SLOW month around here. I don't know what I was thinking, but right around the beginning of the month, I said to Drew "I can't believe how healthy we've been this winter! The kids haven't been sick since before Christmas!" I was so smug, thinking that somehow we had beaten the odds and avoided the virus-filled winter we have had every other year. I totally jinxed us. The kids have now been sick for 3 weeks. Luckily, they haven't anything too serious. Just enough to keep us relatively quarantined for the entire month and enough to make me feel like I'm losing my mind. We started with pink eye (everyone but Drew), then moved on to Mitch's bout with a nasty ear infection and raging fever for a few days. In the midst of this, Finn seems to have acquired some kind of stomach bug resulting in the WORST diaper rash I've ever seen. Then, just to spice things up...Finn got pink eye again! And now, it seems that I have it again too - or just never got rid of it in the first place. Everyone seems to finally be on the mend now thank goodness. Again, things could have been much worse and we're lucky, considering some of the other sick kid horror stories I've been hearing lately.

Despite being holed up in our virus-ridden house, the boys have continued to come up with new tricks and funny little sayings. Mitch is now doing great with pulling himself up on things (especially things that are lower to the ground - his favorite place to hang out is the bottom step so he can practice). I posted some pictures of him exploring the dishwasher too. :) He is really into imitating the intonation in people's voices when he's babbling (e.g. whispering, high pitches, sing-song). It's fun to hear him mimicking us. He's still not the greatest with sitting up - he just clunks right over and would much rather crawl or scoot or roll around. He's learning to pick up puffs and pieces of banana, but prefers me to feed them to him since it's quicker that way! He's still the sweetest smiliest little character I've ever met. He's a cuddler too, which is just the best thing in the world.

Finn is as busy as ever. Still talking up a storm. His favorite words lately are "escalator" and "conversation". He also tells me when he thinks a character in one of his books is "nervous". Tonight when we started his Curious George book before bed, I said "George was a good little monkey" and Finn said "and always very curious". I asked if he knew what curious meant and he said no, so I explained it to him ("it's when you ask a lot of questions and you want to know a lot of things and you like to learn new things"). He said "why?" I guess he's curious.

His toenails are his "tiny nails" or "toe needles" depending on the day. A granola bar is a "boba bar". The other day as he was leaving time out, he said, "Bye time out! See you soon!" - anticipating a swift return there for the typical offense: throwing toys. He is into playing with his "animal families" - plastic animals of different sizes (moms, dads, kids, babies), playing basketball, playing with stickers, and crawling around with Mitch ("come on Mitch! Get me!". He has started sleeping in his big boy bed for most naps and at night. The other night, at 2:30 in the morning, I woke out of a dead sleep to see a small shadowy figure run at full speed by our door slamming into the baby's door and running into the baby's room. I bolted out of bed, thinking that he was sleep walking or having a nightmare. When I came into Mitch's room Finn said "The baby's awake!"(pretty sure he thought it was the morning). I took him back into his room, and realized that he was fully coherent and awake. He was just chatting away like it was the middle of the afternoon: "Mom! Count the stripes on my jammies! Let's read books! Mom, scratch my back please!" Needless to say 1)we are all adjusting to Finn sleeping in his big boy bed and 2)there is now a gate on Finn's door.

Mitch checking out the dishwasher up close

Mitch pulling up to peruse the book selection (he usually only pulls up to his knees like this and likes to sit and play in this position - it's the cutest :)

Mallie stopped by one morning for a visit and helped me feed Mitch his breakfast

Evening jam session with dad (a little blurry)

Finn's "hockey face" - not sure if I already posted this picture but it's one of my favorites.

Finn and Mitch helping Drew fix the baseboards in the bathroom. This ended in Drew, Finn, AND Mitch having simultaneous temper tantrums. No joke.

Winter Fun

It seems like a lot has happened in the last month! Especially with Mitch...he's growing up so fast I can't keep up with him! I can't believe how quickly the newborn/infant stage flies by. In the last month, he has become the fastest crawler in town. He is now pulling himself up onto the first step (I'm sure I'll find him upstairs sometime soon!) and I find him playing up on the concrete step in front of the fireplace almost every time I turn my back. Even though he seems to be an expert crawler, he's not so great at sitting up by himself. It seems like he is always wanting to move, so if I sit him up, he just dives sideways (usually ending in a face plant on the floor) or backwards and crawls away.

In the last week he has sprouted 2 teeth (one I just discovered today at lunch!). His little face is changing so much but his sweet and funny demeanor has remained. He wakes up smiling and laughing and pretty much doesn't make a peep unless he is tired, hungry, or shrieking with delight! He is eating mostly baby food these days, just nursing in the early morning and before bed (he also gets one formula or pumped bottle during the day). He's not interested in feeding himself puffs or pieces of banana - gags and spits them out. But he will put almost any other non-food object into his mouth no matter how big or small. :)

Finn continues to keep us laughing with his 2-year-old wisdom. Today when we were out playing in the snow, he fell and told me "it's okay mom, I just lost my balance." As we were walking down the street, he noticed that the neighbor had left out her witch decoration from Halloween (which has been partly interesting/partly horrifying him since October). He said, "don't worry mom, it's not scary, right? Hahahaha! (maniacal fake laughter) Right? Hahahaha! (more maniacal laughter) Right?" It was like he was trying to convince himself that it was the funniest thing he had ever seen so it couldn't possibly be scary.

The other day he told me, as he was angrily wrenching the nerf baseball bat out of the baby's hands "I taking it! He choking on it!" Apparently Mitch is an anaconda and able to swallow objects twice his size. Thank goodness he has Finn to look out for him. One final Finn-ism: as I was trying to bundle him up to get out the door (he was running around in circles in the living room): "Stop talking at me mommy! I exercising!" Never a dull moment with that one.

Outside enjoying a rare sunny day

At the botanical gardens on Drew's day off

Mitch checking out the waterfall

Inspecting some animal tracks

At the boat show with Papa and dad (the highlight of Finn's childhood - talked about it for three months before it and will be talking about it for the next year I'm sure)