April 2018

April 2018 in a few photos...

The  boys are really into trains right now, and even Declan can assemble a few pieces of the track by himself. Marshall has made some impressive multi-level tracks, too! 

Scout's in on the action. (I caught him like this when I ran back in the house after we had left for an errand, and I like to think that he was in the middle of playing with the trains and hadn't meant to be caught.)

Go Bruins! 

When you're uncle is in charge of a super cool construction project, you get to visit and watch the magic happen!

Smoothies ("shmoozies") with mama.

Yoga baby.

Playing with trains at our local Barnes & Noble

Shortly after this photo was taken, we handed Declan a napkin, which he promptly dipped into the soup. 

Superhero play is also at an all-time high. Daddy is not upset about it.

Now that rainy season seems mostly over, we're excited to check out more hiking and local parks. Marshall walked most of one way on this one, even though some hills were pretty tough!

Baby couldn't hang.

For Terry's recent birthday, Marshall helped me bake the cake. He suggested (demanded?) "vanilla cake with chocolate frosting" and Terry didn't argue.

Happy birthday to this wonderful man!

After cake, we told Declan to put his hands up to avoid wiping his hands all over himself, and he sat there like this for a solid minute, probably wondering what the heck was going on (and why we started laughing so hard). 

Our first outdoor dinner in our backyard!

We took advantage of a hot weekend day and ventured out to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (the closest beach to my family as a kid!). We will be back several times this summer for sure!

I've been on a pretty decent cooking streak lately, trying out new recipes and just helping us eat out less. While I don't post much about food and cooking (or at all...) anymore, I do still meal plan every week, I focus a lot on real food but of course welcome and enjoy treats, and I still love cooking and baking as much as ever.

Left: burrito filling (homemade black bean ragout from Smitten Kitchen's cookbook, brown rice, corn, and spinach); right: roasted vegetables

lasagna roll-ups, which were kind of a fail, because the store didn't have butternut squash and I forgot to buy three other ingredients, so obviously it was destined to be a disaster, but Terry and I still ate it!

And lastly, some more fun photos from days with Declan:

Wonder at the children's museum

Glaring at me while we drive to pick up Marshall

More to come soon!

Declan: Seven Months

My sweet, smiley boy: you are seven months old! I fall more in love with you every day. You are such a joy to watch, and everyone who interacts with you comments on how happy you seem!

Some fun stats: We have no idea how much you weigh or how tall you are, but you are in 12-month clothes and quickly growing out of them. You can roll to your left side from back to belly but not in any other directions, at least not consistently. You show zero interest in reading books. You LOVE smiling at other people. You're super chatty now, which is just the greatest sound, aside from your laugh!

It's nearly impossible to avoid comparing you to your brother, and at this age he was in a crawling position (but not quite crawling yet), so you aren't quite there but are pretty close. You can scoot around on your belly like nobody's business! Last week's note at daycare said that you like to make your way over to the cubbies to choose a toy for yourself. Such a big boy!

Speaking of daycare, that was the HUGE change this month, and you handled it so well. On April 11, Daddy headed back to work after twelve weeks off with you, and you started daycare. I cried a lot that day--and for a few days after--but you seemed perfectly content with the change. It breaks my heart still that I don't have the same time off with you that I did with Marshall, and I don't think I'll ever reconcile that. But I have to admit that you seem pretty comfortable being around the other babies and all the teachers. I struggle with knowing that you are probably not getting enough sleep (you wake up around 5:30 or 6 and don't get back down for a nap until you're at daycare around 8:30 or 9. That's a long time for you to be awake! And at the end of the day, sometimes you're so tired but can't sleep in the car and end up overtired by the time we get you ready for bed. I'm so sorry.

We've slowly started introducing foods, but you've had a cough for several weeks that is impeding your ability to swallow without gagging and throwing up. But in between those incidents you've eaten applesauce, sweet potato, banana, and peas. We're hoping to ramp things up this month with lots of purees! You're still eating milk like a champ, so I'm not too worried.

Sleep is up and down. In the last week or so you've been going through a rough patch with some separation anxiety, so you sleep best when I'm right there with you, but I can't say I mind too much. :-) We are bummed that you don't sleep through the night, but there are some factors working against you: being in our room (you almost always wake up when we come to bed), having an older brother who occasionally wakes up--and always on the nights you're sleeping well, not to mention the fact that we honestly haven't tried very hard to push you to sleep through. I miss you so much during the day, so if nighttime is my only chance to snuggle, I'll take it.

You absolutely love watching and smiling at your big brother. I look forward to watching your bond grow.

You genuinely seem like a blissful, easygoing baby. When you cry, my heart breaks because it takes a lot to get you truly upset. You always calm down quickly once Daddy or Mommy picks you up, though!

Declan, we are so grateful to have you in our lives. You make our family and our hearts so full. You make us laugh every day, and we are so excited to see more of who you are becoming. Thank you for giving us such joy!