Florida vacation

For Jason and I, a trip to Florida has nothing to do with Disney World and everything to do with the beach. This past weekend, we took our first family road trip, since Grant was born, to Melbourne, Florida. Our friends, Diego & Mary, and their son Luis, graciously offered to let us stay a few nights with them in their beach house rental . We also spent some time with our good friends Chris & Misty and their son Cole.

We had a fantastic time catching up with friends, swimming in the pool, playing in the surf and letting the boys interact. The trip was also a great learning experience for Jason and I on how to travel with 2 young children. We both took home some lessons that we'll keep in mind for next time: 1) travel through the night, 2) when traveling during the day, make lots of stops to break up the trip, 3) schedule golf outings first thing in the morning, 4) Mommy likes her margaritas on the rocks and 5) leave the kids with Grandma & Grandpa. Ok, kidding on that last part (maybe).


This is what Grant did during most of our vacation. He started sleeping 7-8 hours at night!


Evan found a great playmate in Luis, who is about 6 months younger. Apart from a few spats over sharing (ugh!), they got along very well.


Mary and the 3 boys.


We rediscovered this summer that Evan is a fish! He has NO fear of the water (scary!) and is showing all the signs of being ready to learn to swim.


Jason enjoyed sharing his love for the ocean with Evan.



Evan had fun collecting shells during low tide.



Grant's reaction to his first experience of the ocean.

Hi Bok Boks, Hi Roosty

A couple of weekends ago, we visited Chelsea--one of Jason's college friends--for a potluck gathering to meet her new baby, Michael. Chelsea and her husband Roger don't exactly live on a farm, but do own lots of fun creatures, including turtles, lizards, fish, frogs and chickens. Evan had a blast checking out what he called the "bok-boks" and "roosties."

Baby blues

Well, it looks like child #2 will also have Daddy's blue eyes.

A rare portrait

Rare because a) I'm usually taking the photos and b) Evan doesn't usually stand still for more than 30 seconds.

Fussy baby = will try anything

Signs of Grant's evening fussy period (also referred as "the witching hour"): crying, red-faced baby wrapped in baby sling that mom just took off to sit baby in bouncy seat after failed attempt to shove fake nipple (see blue thing, bottom of photo) in mouth.

Update on Grant

So, miraculously, after my post on Grant's frequent waking during the night, he slept 6 hours straight the very next night, and five hours the next, and then 7 WHOLE HOURS last night! (after the first stretch, he wakes briefly to eat, then goes right back to sleep for the rest of the night) I think the new sleeping is due in part to our discovering that he prefers to be swaddled, below the arms, and he sleeps better when he's cuddled in his infant sleep positioner. Whatever works! I'm just thrilled that at 7 weeks old, he's practically sleeping through the night! Evan was about 4 months old before he did that!

First driving lesson

Evan received his first driving lesson last weekend. And after seeing his skills, I'm so thankful that it was only in a golf cart! For those who don't know, Peachtree City is built around 81 miles of paths meant for golf carts, running and biking. Most people who live here own a golf cart and often use it in place of a car. We're hoping to have one later this year, but in the meantime, a friend of ours lent their cart to us for the weekend. During one of our rides, Jason got the bright idea to let Evan take the wheel. How did it go? Let's just say that had Jason not been carefully guiding Evan, we would have ended upside down in a ditch or one of the lakes. It's a good thing Evan has at least 13 more years before he gets his license.... I am no where near ready for that!

Keep your eyes on the road kid!

Nakey

I guess I'm to blame for this one. A few weeks ago, I let Evan swim nude in his pool in the back yard. Now, he's barely outside for more than a few minutes before he's trying to take his clothes off and asking to get "nakey." Enjoy it while you can Evan! It's cute now, but not so much when you hit high school.

Ode to lost sleep

Oh, where have you gone my 4-hours-at-a-stretch sleeper of yester-week?
How I miss the completeness felt from almost a full night's sleep.
Why, now, do you pierce through my nights at 3-and-a-half hour intervals, only to sleep 4 hours when in your swing?
Sleep, how I love thee. How I wish you would return.

Happy Father's Day

For the first time in a very long time, I spent Father's Day with my dad. My dad and step-mom have been visiting us this past week to spend time with their grandkids. Father's Day started with a big breakfast and was followed by naps. Later in the evening, Jason grilled his famous chicken wings and then we cruised around Peachtree City in a golf cart, stopping to do things that fathers love to do with their kids--feed ducks and fish, watch the sunset, wade in the lake and eat ice cream.

All smiles

About 2 weeks ago, we caught Grant with his first smile. But it wasn't until last week that I was able to catch it on camera. Here it is! So sweet.

What's in a [blog] name?

As you can see, I've changed the look and name of our blog site. I decided that "in the moment" was so fitting for this little cyber home that we have created. Our day-to-day life, which is what we share here with you, is made up of little moments of events and occasions and happenings and milestones. And with each post, we are recording these snapshots to preserve in online infinity (I'm assuming that the Internet will last forever??) so that one day, we can look back and remember the many precious moments in our life.

"In the moment" also speaks to the now-ness of childhood. Kids think of everything in the now and have a very limited concept of time, especially the future. And similarly, parents are so consumed with the demands of their children that most days, it's impossible to see beyond "right now." And sometimes, why would we want to? Kids grow up so fast as it is!

"In the moment" is also an attempt to remind myself to enjoy and remember all of these moments--the happy ones and the frustrating ones.

So, we hope you have enjoyed looking into our little moments--and we hope you stick around for many more to come.

Cake and more cake

In the last two weeks, Evan has been to 3 birthday parties, including his own. The first one was my friend Heather's daughter Sophia, who turned one. This weekend, we threw a party for Evan's 2nd birthday. In attendance were Uncle Shane, Aunt Kim, Uncle DJ, Aunt Heather and Grandma & Grandpa Terreri (as well as several of our friends). The family came to celebrate Evan's birthday and meet baby Grant. We had a great time visiting with everyone and it was neat to see Evan reconnect with his aunts and uncles. The last time he saw most of them was a year ago, which I'm sure he doesn't remember. Now, when we talk about them and show him pictures, he'll recognize them. And, with this visit, we have official new names for G&G Terreri. Grandma is now referred to as "Grandma Soon." The week before she arrived I kept telling Evan that his grandparents were coming soon and he would whine and cry, "Grandma soon?" and I would say yes, Evan, she's coming soon. So when she walked through the door, he yelled "Grandma Soon!" He called her that for the rest of the day and throughout the weekend. Apparently, Evan had no clue what the word "soon" meant, so he thought it was just part of her name! Grandpa is now called "Paw-paw."

This year's party was all about Thomas the train. What little boy doesn't like Thomas? Our gift to Evan was a train table and all of the party goers brought Evan various pieces to go with his set. He ended up with LOTS of Thomas cars! Thanks to everyone who came to the party and made his 2nd birthday a special occasion.

Now, here are some pictures.

Sophia's birthday party--she really gets into her cake!


Bella and Evan are a bit more dainty.



The train table, before and after the party. Look at all of those trains!



Evan's birthday party--he was a champ at blowing out his 2 candles...


and opening his presents...


and pouring from the keg.


Evan & "Grandma Soon."


Uncle Shane, Grant, Aunt Kim & Evan. Congrats to Kim & Shane who are due with their first baby in November!!

Friends

Evan is very lucky to have such great friends!

Evan will love this picture when he's older. But hey, when you're trying to potty train, you'll try anything!


Evan & Bella sippin on juice.

1 month already

Today was Grant's 1 month check up. He is doing great! He has gained 2 lbs since birth and grew by 2.5 inches. He is almost exactly on par with Evan's 1 month stats. And, dare I say it, but I think he's sliding into a nice sleeping schedule at night. He's been going to bed around 9pm and sleeping between 4.5-6 hours during the first part of the night. On the downside, he then wants to stay up for about an hour after that first leg of sleep. Hopefully he'll phase out of that soon!

A few pics

....to hold you over. We've been pretty busy lately, which accounts for the lack of posts. We've taken tons of pictures, but I haven't found the time to post them all.


Evan's "mad" face appears at the most unlikely of times. Shouldn't finger painting be fun??


Thankfully, he is nothing but sweet toward Grant.


I recently rediscovered the beauty of the baby swing.


Isn't he sweet?

Extreme makeover

Having a second child doesn't mean we can stop working on our house! Our humble abode was in desperate need of a paint job, not only to update the 70s-style dark brown color, but to cover up areas on our siding that were completely bare. We're guessing the house hadn't been painted in at least 10-15 years. After deliberating over colors, we finally bit the bullet. The body paint color is a sage-grey/green and the trim remains a dark coffee brown. After the painting was done, I wasn't so sure we had made the right color decisions. But after living with it for a few days, it's growing on me. I think it was just such a drastic change that it took a while to get used to. Eventually we want to put shutters around the front windows to add some accents. The painter told me that his crew used over 70 tubes of caulk to repair patches and cracks in the siding--that was the most his company had ever used on a house before! Here are some before and after shots. Keep in mind that we still need to replace our very old and dirty roof and overhaul/landscape our front yard.... those are some of the next projects on our list.

Before:


During:

After!

Cute baby #2

He's still so cute!

Grant's newly revealed belly button.

As if to say "enough pictures! leave me alone!"

And let's not forget the original baby. He likes to ham it up and then run and see the preview of his picture on the digital camera screen.

Stuff your sorries in a sack

For the past month or so, we've been teaching Evan to apologize when he does something wrong. Lately, he's been saying "sorry" a lot. Sometimes, he even says sorry when he hasn't done anything at all. I tell him, "it's ok Evan, you don't have to be sorry--you didn't do anything wrong." Jason, however, has been telling me to bank them! He says we'll need them later! Anyway, it just made me think about the Seinfeld episode where George & Jerry are arguing:

Jerry: George, I'm sorry I slept with Nina.
George: You can stuff your sorries in a sack, mister!
Jerry: I wish you'd quit saying that!

NKOTB

For those of you who knew me around the age of 12, you know I was a huge New Kids on the Block fan. And in case you didn't know... they're back on tour. Mostly, the idea of them being back on tour is hilarious. But there's also a small part of me that's considering going to their concert when they come to Atlanta. Shhhh--don't tell anyone I said that.

Last week, they happened to be performing on the Today Show when Evan and I were watching. I SWEAR to you that I did not prompt Evan to watch and dance in front of the TV, as seen in the picture. I did, however, teach him to sing "woh-oh-oh-oh, hangin tough!" Jason was less than thrilled. But if our son likes NKOTB, who are we to censor his taste in music? We'll save that for the teenage years.