Blast Off

This week Jack is in Space Camp from 9 to 12 everyday. I love our county and its programs (in 3 weeks we're studying dinosaurs.)

Joy

Henry speaks. All the time. He uses baby-babble so it's not like he's telling me "Look, mommy a 747!" But he does say "AaahhPppptt" and "Jsssss" (juice) and "Ack" (Jack). Speaking of "Ack"- I've had my feelers out for a bicycle because although the tricycle was a great idea he outgrew it in about 30 seconds.

I ran across one when I was at a used toy store. That night when the Husband got home Jack said "Daddy, it's my new bicycle. It's the one I've always wanted." Where does he get this stuff?!

All he wants to do is ride. We rode for a few miles around the park this morning and then we rode from the house to the grocery store and back again this afternoon.

At one point he wanted to ride in the stroller. (During the up hill part of course). So I turned the stroller into a tow truck and Jack sat on the front at Henry's feet. I pushed and pushed and chugged and chugged, much in the spirit of the Little Engine That Could. But when I got to the top of my hill the little usurper got out and coasted down on his own.

I had to giggle.

Walking makes all the difference

Henry first walked on Mother's Day.

Jack suddenly saw him differently. He was an equal, a playmate, a buddy. Before Henry was walking Jack saw him as simply the baby. Now he refers to Henry as "My best friend" or "My brother."

It's amazing to me how one change in Henry can change everything for Jack.


p.s. Happy Birthday to me!

From Friday

with love.

This Momentous Occasion

Yesterday Jack and Henry went downstairs by themselves, and played. Alone, together.

I'm kinda beaming with pride- Henry can safely go down the stairs backwards by himself and the boys are playing well together more and more every day! (In case you're wondering, Henry still isn't walking. Troublemaker.)

The rest of our Easter awesome-ness

Instead of having a bunch of posts all week about our Easter Vacation (because we really did so much) I'm going to give you one monster blog with a bunch of pics of everything we did. The egg hunt in historic Berlin, MD is serious business. Just ask Jack.

Henry wanted in on the fun too.

Henry was a snuggle-monster the whole vacation. Stealing a snuggle from anyone or anything who'd stay still long enough.

On Sunday morning we hunted for eggs inside

and out.

Then we wandered down a country lane.

We took a family pic. (We missed you, Daddy!)

We marveled at our Easter egg creations (crayon shavings sprinkled over just hard boiled, and thus hot eggs).

Jack's egg close up. So cool!

Then we went to the beach.

Beach on Easter Sunday? Awesome!

It was warm enough for a sundress!

It's the little things

The hole punchers were quite the source of entertainment for Jack.

The window looking out at the fish pond and the river is a huge hit with Henry.

For the record- I would love to have balanced the colors a little better in these photos but I can't because my husband messed with my computer and now Photoshop is gone :-(. I didn't wait to edit them first because A. I have a strong need to be instantly gratified and B. I feel bad that my aforementioned husband is missing all the fun so I want him to feel included.

Hopefully I'll post again later today... we'll see.

My kids are cuter than your kids

I think we all believe our kids are the cutest. (It's gotta be good for the survival of the species.) But sometimes I look at a picture of my kids and I actually think my kids are the cutest kids ever.

I can't even take it!

Quadruple trouble.

Astronauts.

Moo-cow diapers.

Matching outfits are so fun!

We're going through a phase

Jack his hilarious and energetic and creative and loving. But right now he's killing my soul. And I mean that in the nicest way.

He's a great listener when I ask him to sit in his seat for a meal, put trash in the trash (or recycling in the recycling), he holds hands in parking lots, washes his own face and hands after meals and helps me cook by pouring and measuring. This is what makes it so frustrating. He's totally capable of following instruction and often does not need to be asked more than once or reminded.

But I feel like I'm constantly trying to pull him and Henry apart. I know Henry's mobile now and his development is really taking off and that must be really threatening for Jack because his toys are no longer 'safe' but I can't take it anymore!

A month ago Jack hardly heard the words "time out". Now I'm sneering them at him 20 times a day because for the millionth time in a row as soon as I say "Jack, please do not push/hit your brother" he does just that.

I'm not sure what to do. Part of me doesn't want to make excuses for him and let him bully his brother because I'm afraid of what it could mean down the line. But part of me wonders if I should be putting him in time out over and over and over because it's clearly not having the desired effect. Maybe he'd respond better to "Henry, are you okay? Did Jack push you? He did. That was not nice." Instead of "I just told you not to push your brother, GO. SIT. IN. TIME OUT."

Most of what I've read online talks about praising them when they're playing together well, and I do quite a lot of that. Please tell me it's going to get better. I don't expect them not to fight, I just would like to be done with the disciplinging Jack at least once an hour every waking hour of the day.

I'm open to any suggestions or pep-talks about how it will get better!

At The Park

My crocus are starting to bloom. The rose bush is coming alive agaon. The cherry tree... well it's showing early signs of spring. This Sunday was a grey and totally overcast day. But it was 60 degrees! So we went to the park to go for a walk around the lake and have some fun on the playground.Jack insisted that he wear his helmet in the car on the way to the park. Henry enjoyed a snuggly and relaxing walk from the comfort of the stroller.

Jack loved the hills. Even the few times he crashed and burned he was laughing the whole way. (Maybe it helped because the one time he fell we were laughing at him so hard, his feet flew right over his head- you'd laugh too!) At the playground Jack enjoyed playing spaceships with Daddy. While Henry and I discussed the finer qualities of mulch.

How Eric Carle and Vincent van Gogh teach recycling

I was going to save this till Monday, but I just couldn't wait!

Friday was a busy day! I'm finally feeling pretty much better from my earlier hernia surgery. So to celebrate in typical Emily fashion I took on entirely too much at once.

I saw a "Make art like Eric Carle" blog somewhere in the vastness of the web, but I don't remember where I saw it so my apologies. But since I don't remember where I found it other than the inspiration to do the project and to use an Exacto to cut the shapes out the ideas are entirely my own so that's something I suppose. (If you've done an Eric Carle project feel free to link it up.) First, I took down the reigning space painting from Jack's room and decided to reuse the canvas. I do this ALL THE TIME. 1. because artists have been reusing canvas for centuries and 2. because a good canvas is not cheap! You should sand down excess paint and rough the surface before 'clearing' the canvas. (Photo credit, Jack)

Second, you recruit some slave labor... I mean... a helper to paint over the original work in Gesso.

Then you celebrate your artistic victory.

Streak some paper (Eric Carle uses high quality tissue paper but you should really see how he does it- trust me, you WANT to click that link!) Construction paper with acrylic paint was what I chose because it's sturdy, easy to cut and easy for my pint-sized assistant to work with.

Then take a breather while you watch 'the boys' work together to saw off the legs of your bar stools. (Because I asked, not because they're trying to destroy my barstools or anything).

Then you watch Jack finish painting his dragon and help him glue the fire in its mouth. This was a great project- but if you don't want to do some of the mache yourself don't try it with a 3 year old! Hah! We had a blast with this one! Jack asked me to make Night Fury from How to Train Your Dragon. He loved this project from start to finish.

After putting the kids to bed I busted out my brand new Exacto and new fangled cutting board thingy and got to work. I free-handed my cuts but what makes this brilliant is you could pretty easily print a coloring book page and cut the shapes and then trace them on your painted paper.

After a great debate on facebook about the color the background should be, a Starry Night inspired background won over the white and black options I had thrown out there. So I got to work with some watered down blues, greys and a black.

I 'glued' the shapes on to the canvas using a matte medium, which is basically paint that is clear so it was the perfect glue and top coat for this project. Then I added some crayon to create atmosphere around the planets. The final photo is the best we could do but really does not do the thing justice at all.

I need a better camera... I think I'm one of the last hold-outs to get a D-SLR. Tell me I'm not alone!!

And If you're thinking to yourself "She never added Henry's 11 month picture, you're right! But it was not for lack of trying. Every. Single. Photo. I took was total crap, bad light, out of focus, so frustrating! (See my earlier comment about a new camera.)

The Doctor

When you're a brand new parent, going to the doctor is a much-welcome performance review. You're anxious about baby's size and you have questions about cradle cap (or maybe torticollis). A visit to the doctor is an outing, but you pack like you're going to move in there. You never know what you're going to need!

My first appointments with Jack felt like a lifeline. We were worried about weight gain because my milk didn't come in for 5 days. I was reeling from the birth experience and I was so worried that everything was going to be okay (for both of us).

After the first appointment the day after our release from the hospital (5 days pp) the doctors were worried about his weight but still optimistic about breastfeeding, his weight loss was still a concern. They wanted us to come back. When we came back he had gained weight, my milk had come in- boobs swollen up to my chin. They told us everything was going to be fine. I was so relieved that as we were walking back to the car I burst into tears. I cried on the phone with my mom when I told her, I tried to pretend I wasn't crying but I'm pretty sure she knew... she always knows.

Going to the doctor is no longer life or death for me. I don't need reassurance that my little astronaut is doing fine but I love finding out his stats! How cute is this little blood pressure cuff? It's too much!!

Jack is 38.75 inches tall.
He weighs 37 lbs 8oz.

Simple & Fabulous

It's genius, it's inspired, it makes julienne fries! This is the epitome of simple fun. Brenna made goodie bags for her son, Amedeo's birthday with the ingredients for this Balloon on a String. The beauty of the thing is the whole kit and kaboodle is easy to acquire, inexpensive and it kept the kids (yes, both of them) entertained for at least an hour!

Obviously, I couldn't keep this a secret!Not to mention the giggles that ensued! Which allowed me some time to lay a swanky new peel and stick tiles in the laundry room. It's incredibly easy, I'm doing it totally myself (so entertaining the boys with this genius balloon doo-hicky is key to working on this project. Pictures to come.)

Have you noticed we have a bit of a floor theme going on around here?

Also, here's a cool yoga tidbit- Have you noticed when babies get to the age where they're squirmy they will try to throw themselves out of your arms? They always lead with their heart. They fearlessly throw their entire body sternum-first backwards to try to get out of your arms. Why do they do this? They're still connected to the universal.

Space Party- Go for Launch!

This is my recipe for a Space Party:You need one astro-nut. Six cleverly named snacks: Celestial Snack Mix, App-ollos 13, Veggies from Venus, Big Dippers, Alpha Chees-auri & Planetary Pizza.
One spaceship blasting off.
One planet made from more that two hundred Dum-Dums
One extremely large shuttle shaped birthday cake. Made of four layers of cake and a batch and a half of Rice Krispy treats (to make the nose of the shuttle, which I molded into the shape after spraying my hands with Pam so the sticky warm marshmallow goodness wouldn't stick to me while I was trying to shape it).

One million shoes left at the door.

It's funny because every year I say to myself "Next year I'm going to have it at one of those party places." But every year I end up having it at the house. For a control freak like me I certainly have a thing for chaos... it was, and always is, a great time!