August, September, October, Oh My!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ethan!  

Nate, our happy little guy!

Ethan creates a masterpiece... in his underpants!

Playing with trucks together already

Nate, 5 months

First solid foods, 5 months

These guys sure do adore each other!

Brothers

Nate hangs out with Great Grams, and Grandma D

trucks and sand- what more could a kid ask for?!

Ethan's family/friends party

The kiddos after a visit from the ice cream truck

Ethan looks cool waiting for the train to the "big city"

Ethan and Daddy in the big city

Toys R Us Ferris Wheel- can you tell Ethan is excited to be in a toy store??!!

Sam and Ethan

Trucks at the playground

Ethan checks out the livestock at the Common Ground Fair

Nate and his Billy Bob teeth

Ice cream at Ben and Bills, Bar Harbor, ME

A little rain can't get this kid down

Hiking around Jordan Pond- one of my all time favorite shots of Ethan and one of my favorite places!

walking the trail

Our fam

Nate and I stay warm and cozy

Tubby for Two!

Feeding goats at the Cumberland County Fair

Pony ride!

Apple picking is serious business

Nate practices his sitting

This how Ethan helps out in the kitchen- delivering the squash in  his dump trucks!

Happy fella!

Nate, 6 months

getting good at this sitting business!

Well, it has happened again- weeks and weeks have gone by, and I haven't found the time to sit and write!  Here are the highlights from the last couple of months.  As you can probably tell, we haven't had too much trouble filling our time!  We celebrated Ethan's third birthday with family and friends. We had a wonderful day despite the tornado warnings!!  Happily the sun shined the whole time, and we topped off a fantastic day with a visit from the ice cream truck- not sure who was more excited- the kids or the adults!

We spent a lovely, though soggy weekend in Bar Harbor.  Ethan loved everything about going on an "adventure" from hiking trails, to staying in a tiny house (cottage) to jumping in puddles throughout Bar Harbor.  I'd be lying if I said that I was happy about the rainy conditions, but these day spending a long weekend with my family is awesome, no matter what the weather.

In Nate news, he is now 6 months old, has one tooth, and is getting pretty great at sitting up on his own.  He's moving through these developmental stages way too fast- I can't keep up with him.  As always, he is the  happy, easy going baby that he has been since he was born.  We've found that there are only a few things that really get him upset.  One that really stands out is if you put him in his high chair, and then don't immediately start feeding him, he definitely lets you know that he is NOT happy!  He loves everything!  Even peas and green beans!  We'll see how long that lasts!

Ethan cracks us up with all of the funny things that he says.  He's got a wonderful, extensive vocabulary so the little mishaps in his language are that much cuter.  For example, he loves miso soup and always asks for us to feed him the "toe-food" that is at the bottom of the soup.  He says "bommet" for bottom, and "kepich" for ketchup, and "orangin" for orange.  Pretty cute.  He also answers everything with a "sure do!"  "Ethan, do you want cereal for breakfast?"  "I sure do!"  He is a funny little person!

As nutty as life has been for us, being back and forth from ME to CT, I try to keep everything in perspective.    I am so very lucky to have two adorable, healthy, happy boys.  The rest will work itself out (perhaps not as quickly as I'd like it to, but it will) and in the meantime, I'll just enjoy every moment with these two special guys!  Thanks for reading!!

Nate Plays Peek a Boo!

The last 3 months in Pictures!

We spent lots of time in CT at the Children's  Museum.

Nate, 2 months!

We helped Grandma plant her garden.

We went to see a parade.

We visited the Bronx Zoo.

We drove our dump truck around and around and around!

Nate, 3 months!

We helped Uncle Bob drive his tractor.

We rode rides at the Clam Festival.

We took naps with Mama and Daddy.

We're getting really good at playing board games!

Nate!  We're getting really good at rolling and holding up our head.

We sat on diggers while we watched diggers!!

We spent time on the beach with friends- Ethan and Sam at Ogunquit

We put our feet in the sand!

We did lots of digging!

We practiced sitting up in our Bumbo seat.

Nate, 4 months!

We played in the pool.

Nate and Ethan love each other!

We spent more time at the beach!

 Hard to believe it's been 3 months since I last blogged!  Obviously, a lot has changed- namely, Nate!  He has gone from being a tiny little guy who just layed around taking in the world, to this active learner.  He is rolling like crazy, talking and cooing up a storm, and putting everything in his mouth- including his older brother as is evident in the second to last picture!  He continues to have a such a sweet personality.  He is content to be held, or lay on the floor.  When he wakes from naps, he just waits in his bed, plays with his toes, and is happily surprised when I go into the room to get him.  He lights up when Ethan interacts with him.  In fact, the other night, we were eating dinner.  I had Nate on my lap, and Ethan was eating in the seat across from us.  Ethan was doing something goofy with his fork and spoon, and I asked him to stop.  But every time he clanged them together, Nate would let out a belly laugh that would totally encourage Ethan to disregard me and do it some more!  I'm in trouble with these two!  I want nothing more than for them to have a relationship where they make each other laugh always, even if it's at my expense!

Ethan has had a great summer, splitting time between Maine and Connecticut.  He is a great little traveler and goes with the flow, even though our life is a bit crazy these days.  He seems happy to be wherever we land, and his biggest concern always is how to transport his toys from one location to the next.  We had a talk a few weeks back about why we have to stay with Grandma and Papa so often, and how Daddy works in CT now, which is far from our house. Ethan's response was, "Mama, we have to figure out a way to push Daddy's work closer to our house!"  Don't we know it kid!!

Hopefully there will be an end in sight and some resolution shortly to our double state existence.  Until then, we'll do our very best to enjoy our time with our families.  Glad that my boys are so great at going with the flow and that we have such great parents to support us through our transition!

Other than lots of traveling from state to state, things are pretty much the same.  Ethan is all about "mighty machines" all the time.  He can't get enough of trucks, cars, and construction vehicles.  He sings the "mighty machines" ( a t.v series that documents various trucks and machines) theme song constantly.  He calls his hands his grabbers, and is more than willing to eat his dinner as long as we pretend that his mouth is a garbage truck!  I love that he is so passionate about trucks- and I have to say that it's rubbing off on me- my heart jumps a bit when I see a really cool digger, or a really big crane!

This time I won't promise to blog more regularly because clearly that hasn't happened.  I will just promise to do my very best- maybe once every 2 months instead of every 3!!

Seven Weeks in and Doing Fine!

Brothers

Sleepy guy- Nate 4 weeks

Ethan enjoys an ice pop and his bean table

Caught in the food pantry!  Ethan has found creative ways to entertain himself while I am tending to Nate!

Ethan is excited to check out our new minivan!

Nate loves his tubby time!

Very focused on using his new scissors

We went to a Touch-A-Truck event- Ethan didn't want to "touch" any trucks- he just wanted to look, but was thrilled that they had lollipops! (Nate is in the pic, but hidden under my jacket as it was a coooold day!)

Drumming to the Chili Peppers

Snuggles in the morning

Ethan shows Nate how to use his old toy

Clearly Ethan adores his little Nate

So big!

Yawn!

and sleep

Papa and Grandma visit and play with trucks, trucks, and more trucks!

G Ma and Grandpa George visit and play with trucks, trucks, and more trucks!

Splash!

 

 

Wow, does time fly!  Looking back at this most recent set of pics makes me realize that life with two kids goes by way, way fast!  I feel like I am busy every second of the day, which makes the hours go quite quickly- hard to believe that today Nate is seven weeks already!! 

Life with these two is never dull!  Ethan continues to adore his baby brother, and showers him with affection!  I'm so happy to see that he is still as happy as he used to be.  I think every mom has mixed emotions when adding a new member to the family.  I was so worried that Ethan would be unhappy, or feel somehow less loved, or just be saddened that he was missing some of the one on one attention that he was used to. I should have known that my little star would come through though- he is amazing!  As with everything, he happily rolls along with life's changes and is the happiest, most excited kiddo! 

As much as Ethan has amazed me with his pure love for his brother and willingness to accept that life is a bit different now, he has still managed to make his own "fun" when I have my hands tied up with caring for Nate.  We have a learning tower in our kitchen- it's basically a wood structure that allows him to safely stand up at the counters to help me cook, wash dishes, etc.  The other day, I was upstairs showering, and suddenly Ethan burst through the door with a mouth full of candy!  He quickly admitted that he had pushed the tower over to the counter, and climbed up to help himself to some Easter candy in the "candy cabinet."  As sneaky as he is, at least he is willing to give himself up pretty easily.  The other place that he likes to find trouble is in the food pantry.  He'll close himself in the little closet and peruse the snacks- inevitably, when I hear the crinkling of wrappers behind the door, I know that he's sneakily snacking!

A huge reason that Ethan has adjusted so well, is because we've had a lot of great help!  I think that I mentioned that Pete is working in CT during the week.  I've been lucky enough to have the great help of my parents, Pete's parents, and my sister.  Without having these guys around to help and support me and the kids, I think I would be telling a very different story about our "smooth" adjustment.  Ethan adores the adults in his life, and so is thrilled whenever a new playmate walks through the door!

Nate is seven weeks today and has been a great baby!  He sleeps well.  He is still up to eat about every 3 hours at night, but once his belly is full, I can lay he right down and he goes to sleep until he's hungry again.  During the day, he is content to be held, but is also okay with hanging out under his mobile, or swinging in his swing.  He is beginning to smile more and more, which is about the cutest thing.  And over the past few days, he has begun cooing more and more.

 It's very interesting having a baby the second time around.  I think that with Ethan, I was just content with the baby that he was.  Sure, I would wonder every now and again what he would be like, but I didn't give it too much thought.  With Nate, I find that when I look at him and interact with him, I think, "who are you?"  and "what are you going to be like?"  I guess that comes from observing the personality development of Ethan.  I just adore who Ethan has become.  He is my little buddy and makes me smile all the time with his antics.  I'm not rushing Nate out of babyhood by any means, but I can't wait to get to know the little person that he will be! 

So all in all, 7 weeks in, and I have kept my sanity.  There certainly have been moments where I thought I might lose my mind due to sleep deprivation, and a VERY active 2 year old, but with the help of my family, we're coming through just fine.  I'm so lucky to have these two amazingly special little boys in my life, and so, when things get a little rocky, I just breathe and remember how fortunate I am!