Family day and laundry

First things first. I am doing so much laundry these days! I think it's not an exaggeration to say it's at least 2 loads a day. And we have a big washing machine. I remember there being a lot more laundry with the arrival of Nathan, but I had forgotten that the newborn stage was particularly laundry heavy. Today I decided to pay closer attention to the situation to see where it all was coming from. Between the 4 of us, there were 11 wardrobe changes/outfits.

Ok, then, onto today. Brian got up with Nathan this morning at 5am. There aren't enough ways to say that I couldn't have been more grateful. When Viv and I were up for the day (3 hours later) we met up with them at Brian's office where Nathan was having the time of his life (they have a pretty fun office and he loved the nerd dart guns all over). We headed over to the farmers market and strolled around. Vivian started the coolish day in a sleeper, but it quickly got hotter, prompting a wardrobe change (#1). She had been in her watermelon romper (from the Davies) for about an hour when I got her out of her carseat to find that she had had a blowout (#2) prompting her third outfit of the day.  Nathan not surprisingly, fell asleep in the car on the way home, all 5 minutes of the ride (see photo) much earlier than his usual time, and only slept about 40 minutes in the car, rather than his usual 1-2 hour nap.

When we got back home Nathan helped with the watering of our flowers and got himself happily drenched in the process so I decided to cut his hair not worrying about our usual dishcloth cape and changed him before a bath to get off the dirt and cut hair (#3). During Viv's next feeding, she spat up all over my dress and self (#4). Brian was in long pants and shirt during out morning, so he changed into cooler clothes (#5). Freshly clean, we played while Brian did a boatload of yard work. There was some more playing outside where the water table got some serious attention. We had plans to meet up with some people at German Park, a festival type event that happens 3 times during the summer with German food, outfits, and music. It was threatening to rain, but forecasts weren't calling for it until 8, so we figured we'd be fine. I changed Nathan into dry clothes (#6) while Brian changed out of his yard clothes (#7).

We got to the park and the sky was even more ominous and it had started to sprinkle. Not to be deterred, I stayed back to feed Viv and Brian and Nathan got spots in line. As I was burping her, she promptly spat up all over both of us. At that point, I had kind of given up so I mopped up the two of us as best I could and figured I'd change us at the next opportunity. We made our way to the front of the line where Brian and Nathan were waiting (see video) and the skies really opened up. Thankfully we had brought umbrellas, and some of the event was under cover, but there really was no way were would be staying dry. I had Viv in the carrier, so she was the driest of the bunch, but don't forget, her outfit was covered in spit up.

The park was actually really fun and would have been much more so had there been blue skies and dry seats. The fire department was there, with two of the nicest firefighters who were more than happy to chat up and pose with a truck obsessed 2 year old for at least 15 minutes. He was in heaven. Nathan was the least phased by the rain and pretty much was determined to do as much walking around in it as possible. In my head I couldn't help but think, "I've already changed this boy twice today because he was soaking wet...." There was a band and Brian and Nathan did some pretty awesome dancing up on stage - I love the way he dances! (see video). We headed home before it got too late, and I changed both kids into their pjs out of their wet and spat up on clothes (#8 &9). Brian and I changed out of our wet clothes (10 &11) and we reflected that it had been a wonderful day, and I will only have to do about 2 loads of laundry to keep up with our pace.

We are hoping to make it to another of the German Park days this summer. I hope to grab these bad boys from Mom first...

P.S. Don't forget burp rags, changing cloths, and blankets on top of the normal sheets, towels, and pajamas....

  

         

June 20th in pictures-from Nonnie

Cute in cherries

We got a package containing the cutest clothes for Viv from Brian's Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tommy. This cherry romper is one of my favorites, it goes really well with baby smiles. 

5th Anniversary - it's a biggie!

A few weeks ago I asked Brian what he wanted to do for our anniversary (I was thinking we should probably line up a babysitter). He responded with something along the lines of, "I don't know, it's not like it's a big one." Hmmm. While I'm really not one to make a big deal out of these kinds of things (I'm perfectly happy if Valentine's Day is celebrated with a post-it on the bathroom mirror) I wouldn't have categorized 5 years as such. I responded with something like, 'Uh, well..." to which he said, "it's 6 years, right?" No, my darling love, 5 years, though I do love that he threw an extra year in there for good behavior. Once we clarified the length of our matrimonial bliss, he conceded that perhaps 5 years was worthy of some hoopla. Little did I know what he was up to!

Background: for those of you who don't know, my wedding rings are wonderfully meaningful to me.

My engagement ring is a family heirloom from Brian's family and I love that it signified me becoming a part of his family. It doesn't hurt that it's also a gorgeous art deco 1920's piece made up of diamonds and Burmese rubies... I always wear it on my right hand.

My wedding band belonged to my grandmother. She passed away the winter before we got married, and it was like having her with me on our wedding day. I always wear it on my left hand.

Anyway, because my rings are so different, I wear my engagement ring on my right hand and my band on the left. It's never bothered me a bit, though sometimes people do ask if have an engagement ring (this actually only actually happened in DC where engagement rings tend to rival ice cubes in size).

Over the last few weeks Brian was working with my mom to come up with the right way to celebrate 5 years and 2 kids and had this baby made for me.

The stones (CZ (I have an issue with the new diamonds), and emerald) stand for the kids' birthstones. I seriously couldn't love it more. Each of my rings connects me to my own, his, and now our little family. What a lucky lady I am. I wouldn't say that I'm a huge jewelry person, I pretty much wear the same necklace about 355 days of the year (ok, maybe I'm just lazy), but with rings like this, who needs other accessories?

P.S. Close up pictures of my hands look weird.

Vivian at 6 weeks

Here are some of my favorites of Viv from the last week or so. She really loves being held when sleeping. So much so that she'll be dead out, and if you put her down those eyes can pop right open. We've taken to making her a little nest on the sofa with pillows to create the illusion of being held. She'll sleep for hours in there, through hug and kiss after hug and kiss from Nathan, no less. The side to side swing we have is also good, but the nest seems to be the best. 

She's darling. I'm biased. 

Nonnie's photos

Here are some photos from Mom's camera that I LOVE! I'm even in some of them!

Zach was sick when we celebrated Father's Day so Leah and Nathan were on their own. At one point they were playing in the tree house and Nathan wasn't do quite as Leah wished. She started calling something like, "Mom, Nathan's not doing what I'm telling him to!" and "Uncle Brian, Nathan should leave now, I think." Our grand scheme to have the kids treat each other like siblings is succeeding! 

Nathan kept that hat on for the longest time. I hadn't packed a sun hat so not only was he cute, but it saved that fair head of his from the rays. He really only uses the pacifier for naps and night time these days, but he had woken up early from his nap that day and was feeling the need for it.