Has it really been almost a year?

Okay, so clearly I'm not a great blogger. Things have been busy - good busy. Not sure how to effectively account for the last 11 months. This will be a somewhat lengthy post as I'll try to go through some highlights (that I can actually remember) to catch up:

February/March 2011 - Went to Quechee at the end of February with the kids and Jay, Michelle, Morgan and Hailey joined us. Sean didn't sleep at all. I think we had fun but mostly I remember trying to get him to sleep and trying not to wake anyone up. Other than that it was fun (I think). I went back to work at the beginning of March and sunk right into a pretty busy time. Sean continued to be such a good baby in spite of his reflux which he stayed on medicine for until about 10 months old. In the last post, I mentioned him sleeping through the night. That was a fluke. He didn't really sleep through the night consistently until about 8 months.

Spring/Summer 2011 - Sean began to crawl around 8 months and once he got going he was fast! As I said, it was about this time he slept through the night. I finally broke down and went to the doctor who told me to put a bunch of pacifiers in the bed and then let him cry. I finally did do the crying thing. I have to say I think it took a half hour of pretty half a&% crying and it was over. Felt a little silly that we hadn't done it sooner. Sami came out to help with the kids in April and somehow survived the two of them. On Memorial Day weekend, Matt asked me to go look at a house about 2 miles from ours that he really liked. We both fell in love with it and loved that the neighborhood (and that it was around the corner from Randi!) Ended up having our offer accepted on my birthday and selling our house within 10 days. What a whirlwind - and during my busiest time at work! We went back to Ohio for July 4th and had fun at the Zoobezi Bay with Charlie and visiting everyone. We got to see Jules in the parade in New Albany. We missed Sarah because she moved to Chicago just before we came to town :( But we were excited for her and her new home! In August, the week before we moved, we went to New Hampshire for a week vacation with the other Roberts families. We had so much fun. We went to Storyland, a kids park, and Whale'sTale, a water park. Everyone helped out with Sean who slept well for us and had a great time. Outside of Charlie's many, many dramatic outbursts, I think he even enjoyed it. We came home to pack up the rest of our stuff and moved the next week! The move was exciting and exhausting and already seems like a million years ago. We have loved the new house and especially our new back yard. Below are some pics from the spring and summer.



Fall 2011 - So what has been happening lately... Sean started walking right around his first birthday. Just little steps here and there and then really decided to walk right around Thanksgiving. We had a big party in the beginning of October - a combination house warming and what we think will be an annual party. Charlie had a blast. We had a huge jumpy house. Then we had Sean's first birthday party and then headed to Ohio for Thanksgiving. As usual, we enjoyed seeing everybody and just relaxing and enjoying all the extra attention. We went to my 15 year high school reunion which was interesting. Then most recently we had Charlie's fourth birthday party as he turns 4 in about 3 hours. Hard to believe! Some pictures from this time are below.

A very white winter

Charlie introduces us to Sean.



Pictures from this winter.

What a few months it has been! Charlie turned 3 in December, which was a blur of a month. It seemed like we went from Thanksgiving to Charlie's birthday to his birthday party to our trip to Ohio for Christmas. Probably seemed like that because we did! It was all good stuff though. Thank goodness I was on maternity leave to keep up with it all. Charlie's party was great once again and we were blessed to be surrounded by our loved ones. Just a few days after the party we headed to Ohio for the holidays for two weeks. It was a nice long visit. So great to see everyone, including several of my high school friends and their kids, and it was great having extra hands around to help with the two kiddos. Charlie was so spoiled. Aunt Edie took him to the movies, Uncle Pat and Aunt Holly took him to the zoo to see the lights and Julia came to visit him and play a lot. Not to mention Sami and Papaw who doted on him as usual. Sean sort of slept through Christmas as you can see above, although he probably saw more of the nighttime than we hoped for :) Charlie really understood everything this year though and so that made the whole holiday season that much more fun. He got a Lightning McQueen bike and a Buzz Lightyear doll from Santa.

Since we have been back we have gotten into a good rhythm and I think Charlie is really enjoying being a big brother. He still needs some reminders but can be really helpful. Sean loves to watch him play and laughs and smiles when Charlie talks to him. The last few nights Sean has been sleeping through the night too which is great! Especially since Matt has been in California quite a bit for work. I have such respect for single parents. I don't know how you do it. Of course we have had our share of snow this year. Over 50 inches so far after 4 snow storms and now they are saying we will get another this week. Charlie loves playing in it though. He has been sledding and building things and it has been fun to watch him enjoy it all. We have over 3 feet of snow in our yard and in some areas over 5 feet from drifting. I told Charlie it was melting the other day and he cried and said, "I don't want the snow to go away. I want to play in it." I told him not to worry, at this rate he'll be playing in it until July.

Sean is just over 3 months and he is such a good baby. He doesn't fuss much and laughs and coos alot. I enjoy getting to spend the extra time with him and Charlie while I am on leave. Sean managed to get himself from his belly to back the other day, his first big milestone. He is growing like a champ too. I had him at the doctor at 6 1/2 weeks and he weighed 10 lbs, 10 oz. Seven weeks later I had him in and he was up to 14 lbs, 13 oz. He had gone from the 44th percentile in weight to the 78th! I couldn't believe it. His length was holding strong in the 95th percentile. We are so lucky to have two healthy boys.

I head back to work in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to the adult interaction, but I will miss not being on a schedule. I'm so grateful that I have had this much time off though. We are headed to Quechee in a few weeks for a long weekend before I head back to work. Looking forward to a change in scenery and the chance to enjoy the snow with Charlie.

Sean joins the family!

Okay so it only took a month this time around. Not so bad. Our newest addition to the family arrived 4 weeks ago. Sean Matthew Roberts was born October 22, 2010 at 3:31 p.m. weighing in at 8 lbs and measuring 20 inches. Labor was not fun but delivery was much easier than it was with his moose of a brother. We lucked out in that I went into labor on a Friday morning before Matt was supposed to leave for a golf tournament and when there were lots of people around to pick up Charlie. Aunt Michelle happened to be right in the neighborhood and was able to come pick him up before we headed into the hospital. We got to the hospital around 11 and after a hellish few hours followed by God's gift of an epidural, we had expanded our family (and I was no longer pregnant - wooohoo!).

Sean has been great to us thus far. He only fusses on occasion to remind us he is actually a baby but otherwise is pretty pleasant and happy as long as he is full and dry. His brother has put us through our paces though. He loves Sean a little too much - wants to be in his face all the time, wants to hold him (at first "use him" as he said), and give him kisses. Which is probably how the whole family, including the littlest one, ended up with a cold the last week. But less than expressing any hard feelings toward his brother, he acted out by being a total monster and having every behavioral issue you can imagine. (Think hitting, kicking, screaming, throwing. At one point, I thought about Googling "toddler boot camp" to see if anything popped up.) Somehow we have all survived the last few weeks. Probably thanks in most part to his grandmother, Sami, who came and stayed for two weeks when Sean was a week old. Boy things are easier when there are 6 adult hands in this house. Charlie is adjusting now though that we seem to be getting in a rhythm and his schedule is back in tact (and he's getting used to this whole idea of a brother and sharing the lime light). The worst of it is that for the last few weeks, Charlie hasn't been sleeping through the night. He yells out for us or just shows up in our room. So at times the entire family is awake in the middle of the night. Why not? I'm getting used to operating on 5-6 hours of interrupted sleep though and we will get through it.

All in all, we are doing really well. Looking forward to the holidays and the possibility of more and more regular sleep.

Ready for fall - and our new addition

Swimming in Lake Pinneo in Quechee


Charlie and Morgan jumping off the starting block at the pool in Vermont


What a great summer! We really enjoyed every bit of it, going to the beach in Duxbury a lot and enjoying a vacation in Quechee, Vermont, which is where the videos above are from. We swam in Lake Pinneo and at the swimming pool and explored Dartmouth's campus and Woodstock. We had lots of visitors (Randi, Dom, Andrew, Grampy, Sam, Jason, Michelle, Morgan, Hailey and Grammy). It was very relaxing. Charlie is a fish. He loves jumping in and going under water and he is definitely ready for swim lessons next year.

Charlie has advanced a lot in his playing, using his imagination and keeping himself busy playing independently more (woohoo!). He fell in love with the movies Cars and Toy Story and now thinks he is Buzz Lightyear most of the time and spends time reenacting any one of the three movies. (He can quote pretty big chunks which promoted us to limit how much time he spends watching them.) When Aunt Edie came to visit he even went to the movie theater for the first time and saw Toy Story 3 (and sat and watched the whole thing!). As we have entered football season, he spends a fair amount of time running around the playroom with his helmet on playing football. The other night when I asked him to come to dinner he informed me that he couldn't because "his team needs him." His love for sports extends to pretty much anything - he loves to play soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball - you name it. (Of course I'm hoping the hockey and basketball die out but I'm realizing that I probably won't get to pick.)

He is starting to think and argue with some logic which is fun and interesting to watch. Although he has been potty trained since April, he recently had a few weeks marked by accidents and I was convinced that they were really him choosing not to stop playing to go potty so I told him if he went all day without an accident, he could have a Toy Story sticker. So when I pick him up one day, Randi tells me he did have an accident so no sticker. On the way home he proceeds to tell me he didn't really wet his pants, it was the water from the water table. I told him Randi smelled it and it definitely wasn't. Then he asks me if I heard what a good boy he was and how he used his listening ears, took turns, shared and didn't hit or push his friends? He suggested that maybe those were good reasons to get the sticker after all. Have to admit I was impressed at how he was trying to work the situation (but I still didn't give him the sticker).

We are all getting ready for the arrival of another baby boy Roberts. Still no name. I will be so relieved when there is a birth certificate and something to call this kid. I keep saying I hope he pops out with a name tag on. Charlie is excited although unsure what to expect and already wants to play with all of the things we have dragged out of storage. I'll be surprised if he doesn't end up in the bassinet before it is all said and done (which will surely be the end of the bassinet). Charlie tells me he is going to help his baby brother learn to swim, and he's going to carry him in from the hospital and he's going to change his sheets if he wets through his pull ups at night. I'm a little nervous about the swimming but these all seem like nice gestures to me. The baby dropped about a week ago, very early at 32 1/2 weeks, which has alleviated some of the discomfort and created some new. I was also diagnosed with gestational diabetes a few weeks ago so I've been on a modified diet and testing my blood every day. All in all, it is a minor condition that is manageable and not dangerous for the baby when it is managed so that is a relief. And it is temporary, but I have to say for someone with a sweet tooth like me and a love for breakfast cereal in the morning, it has been a bit miserable. I've already given Matt a list of food to have on hand after the baby is born :) And my doctor said he would induce me after the 37th week and by my due date at the latest so we are looking at 6 1/2 weeks at most before I get my hands on some Cheerios!

A great summer so far!

This video is of Charlie taking a spin on his cousin Morgan's bike with the training wheels at the Cape. After a few minutes he did really good and eventually was able to ride around the island all by himself. As he learned in this video, turning too fast causes the bike to tip.



This video is of him going down the water slide at the New Albany pool in Ohio. He is in the orange shirt on the steps in the beginning. He had a lot of fun!



We have had an awesome summer so far. In honor of our first year with a Duxbury beach sticker, the weather was actually nice enough to go quite early and quite a bit so we have been making our beach trips. Charlie loves it! He continues to be a little fish so we have to keep an eye on him because he has no fear. This last week for the 4th of July we took a trip to Ohio and he was able to visit everyone there. He went to the pool in the video above twice - and we had a little party by the pool one of the days - and he got to go to Zoombizi Bay with his Uncle Pat and Aunt Holly. Sami and Papaw also bought him a little pool so he was able to swim at their house (not to mention he really enjoyed swimming in Sami's bathtub). After we came home from Ohio, he went to Randi's for a day and then we headed to Cape Cod where his Uncle Jason, Aunt Michelle and cousins Morgan and Hailey were vacationing. He had a blast. He got to go to the beach, stay up late, have popsicles and ice cream, go to the kids concert and dance, and watch the sparkler show in the front yard at night. And he learned to ride Morgan's bike as you can see above. I'm so glad we are getting to spend such great time together this summer before the arrival of Charlie's little brother.

I'm just over 5 months along now and so far the pregnancy has been very similar to when I had Charlie except I'm bigger and my joints are loosening up much sooner. We are excited for another little boy and I know Charlie will be happy he has a little brother - someday. He has just started talking about the baby. Before he ignored you if you even mentioned it. He went through a bit of regression when I first got pregnant - wanting to sleep in his crib and use a binky and whatnot. Now he has turned the corner except most of the time he insists it is a sister and refers to "her" and "she." I think in the end he'll be pretty happy with a brother and although I think this next one is going to be *very* tough, I think he'll be a great big brother.

Next we head to Vermont in a couple of weeks to vacation in Quechee. Very excited for that. And Aunt Edie comes to visit and help take care of Charlie in a few weeks too so that will add to the excitement of summer for us.

Other than that, not much to report. Charlie continues to keep us laughing and pulling our hair out sometimes. We are blessed to have him.

We survived another winter!

 

 

Nothing is better than when the weather gets warmer and the grass and trees spring to life. It wasn't even a bad winter, but it's still a great feeling. Fortunately, we were able to escape the cold one week when we went to Fort Myers with Sami and Papaw. Then we had an amazing Easter weekend - it was in the 70s and 80s the whole time. It was such a nice foreshadowing of what it will be like in a few months. I've posted the most recent pics to the right.

In terms of recent developments, Charlie is now sleeping in his big boy bed and is doing great. He has been sort of potty training for awhile now. We haven't been as focused as we could be so he's about 75% of the way there. He can at least hold it for quite awhile. He is still his father's shadow. He absolutely idolizes daddy. He tries to do everything Matt does and it is quite hysterical at times. (For example, he just ran by me with an iPod band on his arm and his DVD headphones on, much like Matt when he goes for a run.) Outside of that, he just keeps popping out with some really funny stuff so I thought I would share a few stories (and document them so I don't forget!).

1. On the way to the airport to leave for Florida, we are in the tunnel and Matt's brother Jason says "Do you like tunnels?" Charlie says "yeah." Jason says "What about bridges? Do you like bridges?" Charlie says "yeah." Then Charlie says "I like frostem emmy weeps (Frosted Mini Wheats)." Apparently cereal and civic structures are in the same category in his head.

2. On the plane on the way home from Florida, the pilot comes over the loud speaker and is doing the normal spiel of how high we are flying, how long it will take, etc. Charlie is looking up at the ceiling trying to figure out where the voice is coming from and finally says "Um, yeah... I'd like a coffee and some munchkins." Suddenly we were at the Dunkin' Donuts drive through.

3. Randi, Charlie's day care provider, sometimes has to take Charlie to the baseball field with her because her son has practice. I meet them at the field to pick Charlie up. He hops out of her van, looks at me and says "I need my glove, Mom." Um, he doesn't have a glove. We get past that and head over to the bleachers. We sit in the bleachers and he looks at me and says "I need to be out on the field!" I tried to explain to him that he wasn't on the team but would be some day and he goes over the fence starts pulling on it and yells out to the kids on the field, "Hey guys! Open the gate!" It sort of broke my heart. Some day it will be his turn...

Hot Dog Dance

The video above is sort of long but we found it pretty cute. Not only does Charlie appear as a promising future underwear model, but he has got the dance moves to make the ladies go extra crazy. He is dancing to the theme song to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, one of his favorite shows. And if you ask me, there is maybe nothing cuter than a little boy in his Mickey Mouse briefs. Too precious.

News of late is around potty training. Charlie is doing really great. Still working on doing #2 in the potty regularly. You have to catch him when you see the faces and get him to the potty - he doesn't think to go himself. But other than that, he does great. I've even ventured out in underwear. My favorite part of the whole process is when he flushes and says "bye bye." Other news... I'm afraid he probably isn't too long for his crib. Sniff, sniff. The other day he told me he wanted to sleep in his big boy bed. I talked him into sticking with the crib but we think he will likely climb out soon and even if not, he is getting awfully big for the crib.

We had another great weekend. We threw a birthday party for Grammy at our house and Charlie got to play with his cousins and sing. We made valentines and cookies for lots of people and delivered them. And it was nice enough to play outside which was a treat. Then tonight we went to the Boyers for lasagna (yummy) and Charlie played with Caroline. They love each other!

Funny story from last weekend. We were eating leftover pizza and I looked over and Charlie was holding his napkin pinched in half with his fingers. When I asked him what he was doing, he said "Shhhh. There's a lady bug in there. I don't want to scare it." I had a moment where I thought if it was really a lady bug that he had picked out of the pizza, I was going to puke. Of course, I opened the napkin and it was a squished tomato :) He keeps us laughing.