Bath time!

Reese gets a bath on the bathroom sink! She is so chill in the bath, and totally relaxes as her big brother and parents soap her up. After she is done Sawyer decides he wants a bath in the sink too!

Look at that hair!

Wow! Reese arrived with so much hair! She is such a beautiful baby and she does have some similar features to Sawyer, but when I look at her with all that dark hair I think "how did I get Joana's baby?"

Welcome baby Reese

Oh boy was I ready for her to come out! After several false starts (I thought I was going into labor at least 4 times in the week prior to October 27th), I finally had real contractions on Sunday, Oct 27th. The contractions weren't regular and varied from 3 minutes apart to 10 minutes apart. It was extremely frustrating because it seemed like I was making no progress. I made pancakes for breakfast, I had Hani take me to Costco to distract me, I took a bath. Nothing made me contractions regular. After a few talks with my midwife I realized I probably wouldn't be delivering that day and would have to go to my scheduled induction on the 28th. Ugh! Around lunch time the contractions became way more intense and I got very nauseated. This scared me. I remembered Joana telling me that she became nauseated when she went through transition late in her labor. I decided to have Hani take me into the hospital to get checked, because I was so frustrated that my contractions weren't progressing and I didn't think I could handle the intensity of the pain much longer. So we went in and the nurses after hearing my story, took me to triage and treated me as if they thought I was going home after being evaluated. The nurse took her time taking my vitals and then finally checked to see how dilated I was. That is when things started moving. She said "oh my, you are 8 cm dilated, and this is your second baby, you could deliver at any minute, we need to get you in a room!" Thank goodness! I was admitted at 4 p.m. and delivered Reese Amelie 3 hours later. It was a much more relaxed and easier experience than with Sawyer. Only 25 minutes of pushing instead of 3.5 hours! It really helped that she had a nice average size head and only weighed 8 lbs instead of 9 lbs 6 oz! I am so happy not to be pregnant anymore.

I'm delivering paaaaaaackages!

Sawyer has really started using his imagination to entertain himself over the last couple of weeks. His fire truck toddler bed has been reimagined into all sorts of other vehicles. Sometimes it's a tractor and he is a farmer. He gets in and out delivering hay to all of the animals on the farm. Some days it's a garbage truck and he gets in and out picking up everyone's "garbage". But the most common, and his favorite is playing "PS delivery truck". He loves to be a UPS man and drive all over delivering "paaaaaaackages" to his stuffed animals. (for some reasons packages is said with and exaggerated Boston accent.) All of the hay, garbage and packages come in the form of books. It is so fun to see his imagination come to life and be part of his make believe scene.

A prayer for baby sister

Tonight when I was getting Sawyer ready for bed, we sat down on the floor to say our prayers, and one of the things I said was "thank you for baby Reese". Then Sawyer said "I want baby sister". I told him that he only had to wait a few more weeks. He replied "hold Reesey's hand, cross the street, hold hand, be safe. Put seatbelt on Reesey in the car, be safe. Turn music on in the car for Reesey, music for Reesey. Show Reesey play doh, show puzzles, show excavator, show all the toys in the closet to baby Reesey." It was so darn adorable. I think he is ready for his baby sister's arrival. After a rough day of tantrums, throwing the camera, and full on two year oldness, it was a super special way to end my evening.

Snuggle a spider?

Sawyer watched a spider crawl along our neighbors front porch yesterday for 5 or 6 minutes. He repeatedly asked to pick it up to which I responded "no, we don't want to hurt him". Then the spider started crawling up on the side of the house. A little ways up he stopped. Sawyer still watching intently said "Spider resting. Pick him up? Snuggle?" This kid is so adorable sometimes!

Gotta love Seabrook (2013)

Our second annual trip to Seabrook with the Timms and Powells was a success. The kids were such a good age this time, and they all played together great. It was so fun to watch and see them be so independent. We spent time at the beach, tried unsuccessfully to fly a kite (since when is there no wind at the beach), went for bike rides, celebrated Nathan's birthday, played shuffleboard, walked the gnome trail, swam in the pool, built a campfire and of course ate lots of good food.

Most notable for Sawyer was his first ever campfire on Saturday night. He even got to roast a marshmallow and squish it between two graham crackers which he loved! The other big event was the pool. It's no secret that my boy has taken awhile to warm up to the water. He has never been a huge fan, until just this last month. All of the sudden spray parks (fully clothed), the shower, and now I guess the pool are really exciting. He swam in the pool at Seabrook long after all the other kids had got out and went home. After about 90 minutes, a poopy swim diaper, and blue lips I told him "one more minute" and he still protested. I think he was ready to stick out the afternoon. Who can blame him though when he has his Papa's full attention and creative mind.

Sawyer has become one with his guitar over the last couple of months. It is his item of choice at almost all times. It even has trumped his kitchen! He loves to sing and dance while strumming his guitar.

Old MacDonald

The Happy Birthday song was his favorite all summer but as we enter into fall it seems that "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" has won out and is now the only song for him. If he is singing it with us he suggests all sorts of animals, but if he is singing it alone Mr. MacDonald only has chickens, and they go cluck. Here he is at the beach in Boston with our friends Adam and Lisa, making a microphone out of the pin in the umbrella pole.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Sawyer sang his first song this week. We were sitting at the table and noticed him singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to himself. He was even doing a few of the hand motions. Of course he drops a few words and syllables here and there, but he went through the whole thing and then said "Yay!" and clapped for himself. A few days later he did the same thing with Happy Birthday. Again he followed it up by saying "Yay!" and clapping for himself. It was kind of adorable. He also sang the ABC song, but he only sings A, B, C, D, E and then starts up at Q and finishes the rest of the letters. It is so sweet to hear him sing to himself.

I want it!

Sawyer came home today with a new phrase, "I want it". He says it for everything food, trucks, clothes, mama, the chair, anything really. It is so funny to watch him try out these new phrases and see what works. He doesn't use it to demand things, just as a way to ask for things. Before he would say "mine?!?!?" as a kind of question/statement, or just "please". It is amazing to see his vocabulary develop. He is getting so big!

2nd annual tulip festival

Sawyer and I made are annual trek up to the tulip festival in Mount Vernon again this year. Last year it was our first date, but this year we had company. We drove up with Shelby and Laura and had breakfast at Calico Cupboard. Banana, coconut pancakes, yummy! Then we met up with Dana, Nala, Carla, and Hazel at Roozengarde's field. It was a gorgeous day out and Sawyer was super cooperative and let me take lots of pictures. Hazel and Nala were less excited about the whole experience. Sawyer especially loved smelling the tulips this year!

Firetruck bed

Hani and Sawyer set up his new Fire truck toddler bed a few weekends ago. He loves it. He loves getting in and out, climbing the ladder, jumping. He gets so excited to show friends when they come over. Lucky for us, he doesn't get out in the morning until we come and get him. He just stands at the end and says "mama, mama, mama" until one of us shows up. We will see how long that lasts though.

Hap Pa La

"Hap pa la" was Sawyer's first attempt at Happy Birthday. Now he says Happy Birthday, with huge emphasis on birth, he draws it out and his voice goes way up before he says day. It is so cute. I think it might be my favorite thing he says right now. He is obsessed with having us sing Happy Birthday. We sing it so often and so many times, that we usually go through every person we know and then start on inanimate objects until he is finally bored and lets us move on.

Sawyer goes to the dentist!

Sawyer got his 11 teeth checked out today, and even let Solange, the hygenist polish them. The hygenist was great with him, she showed him how to brush a stuffed frog's teeth, and read a truck book with him, before having him sit on my lap. She showed him all her tools, and even let him push the buttons to make the chair go up and down, which he promptly broke and we had to be moved to another chair. :) His second favorite dentist toy was the water sprayer. She would polish his teeth and then ask if he wanted water. He would say yes and then do the sign for more! While waiting for the dentist, Solange blew bubbles for him using only her hands and lots of soap. By the time the dentist arrived he was done sitting still. He barely let her get a look at his teeth, but overall he did great! I don't think I could have asked him to be any more patient.

On our way home with a new toothbrush, toy boat, and a balloon from the dentist!

"Pace peas"

Sawyer has brought home his first phrase from school. Space Please! But it comes out "pace peas". It is so cute. This morning he climbed up in the chair next to me and start to push me out and say "pace peas". He has done it at least 3 times today. It's hilarious.

Maybe a Chef or a Professor?

So if Sawyer's early interests are any indication of his future career. I think we have a Chef or Professor on our hands. The two things our little guy does more than anything else is "cook" in our kitchen or his. He especially loves all sizes of pots and pans. Or getting to use any of Papa's kitchen toys.

When Sawyer is not cooking he is reading. He likes to read a lot. Yesterday we spent two hours reading. He is especially attached to books with trucks, dogs, or his French book where you identify objects in the scene (really just one page in this one, the one about a kitchen.) He generally likes to sit right next to Hani or I, or sit on our lap, but recently he has started multi-tasking.

All this reading and his recent habit of walking with his hands behind his back makes me visualize a professor walking at the front of the classroom looking over his students working hard on an exam. Cooking and reading take up about 80% of the time he is not eating or sleeping, but he also seems to really like to dance to music, play drums with his dad, and do puzzles. It will be interesting to see how these interests develop over the next few years.

Walking and Talking. Welcome to the Toddler room at school!

Sawyer's vocabulary exploded this month. When the doctor asked at his 18 month appointment how many words he uses, I said 10. Hani thought it was closer to 20. We decided to count over the next day and it was more like 35 plus 10 signs. Holy cow, my boy is talking. He has also given up the stroller and has started to go for walks with me. On our first walk we went about 10 blocks, or about 20-30 minutes. At one point during our walk he heard music and stopped and looked around. He kept asking "where?" It was a wind chime on someone's porch. He spent the next 5 minutes swaying and clapping to the chimes. When the wind would stop he would sign/say "more". It was so cute.

It's got to be the move into the toddler room at school that has brought on so many changes!