we are officially that family

yes, that's right, we went there. we got the double bob stroller. we did a lot of research on the double wide versus the caboose style and in the end settled on the double wide. we go walking a lot and it just made more sense. plus, one kid gets the shaft in the seating arrangement when it is the caboose style. and as soon as one of them decides that they don't want to look at the back of the chair in front of them, it's over. don't get me wrong, we also got a joovy caboose for things like airports, malls and such, but the bob double wide has been a real treat. i mean, this is a total investment. when i am pushing it i feel like i am about the same size as an electric smart car. and we definitely get looks from people. how could you not look at the bright orange monstrosity barreling down the park path.

plus, fiona is big enough that she can ride it without any special contraption or carseat. i love that.

95th percentile...what?!?!?!?

fiona had her doctor appt this week and she came in at 95th percentile across the board. talk about total 180 from the first time we did the whole kid/chart thing. olivia started out strong at a whopping 50th percentile initially and then quickly moved down to the 5th percentile. i don't hold too much in the charts, but it is fascinating to see our 2 month old weigh more than half the weight of our 3 year old! fiona is just a big girl all around. it's a good thing. one less thing to worry about in the large spectrum of postpartum worries.

and the sleep thing seems to be getting into a nice pattern as well. it is quite interesting how much more experimental i am this time around with the nap routine than i was before. and i am finding that if she has 2 solid naps, even at 2.5 months, we are almost guaranteed a good night's sleep (alseep by 8pm and up by 430ish). with olivia, i was so worried about 10 things at once, that i never really stopped to concentrate on one thing like naps or sleep patterns. it was more like...she needs to nap and why isn't the breastfeeding working and should i swaddle her and should we do a binky and can i get to the movies. with fiona, i am trying a different approach of focusing on one thing at a time.

another lifesaver is the sleep sheep. i swear by this thing. i had never heard of it until recently and it is doing wonders for our sleep world. it has 4 settings and we tend to do ocean and rain. basically, you turn it on right after you have put them into their cosleeper/crib and the sound lulls them to sleep. i had started having fiona fall asleep on her own during nap time using this sheep and then we carried it into the evening routine. brilliant, i tell you!

i like to sleep a lot

ya know...i am not entirely sure what my parents are expecting me to do, but i get the sense they want me to engage more. don't they understand that sleeping is what i am supposed to do at this point in my life. i mean, what can they expect. i cannot walk, talk, sit up and while i can hold my head up for short periods of time, i am not exactly brimming over with interactive behavior. sure, i will give them the smile on the diaper table and make cooing sounds when i am chillin' in my bouncy chair, but other than that, i am pretty happy getting swaddled and sleeping. recently they have been wedging me into the bumbo. yes, i am using the term wedge because i am not exactly short on pounds. i am well aware that i have rolls in places that i did not even think could have rolls.

i like the fair a lot

mom and dad took fiona and me to the fair last weekend. it was amazing! there was so much to look at. we had a lot of fun watching people scream on the rides. and people really screamed. a lot. dad also won a prize for me. it looked really hard. he had to roll the rubber ball into the same color slot 3 times. i got an awesome, big eyed monkey. mom and i went to throw darts at the balloon. my dart kept hitting the ground, but i still won a cool stuffed banana.





we even got aunt susie an awesome airbrushed shirt for her birthday. it was funny listening to mom and dad debate what design to get. mom really liked the hawaiian print, but dad said that was for couples. who knew he had so much airbrush design knowledge!

the food at the fair was so fun! i tried my first elephant ear and thought it tasted a bit like cardboard with sugar. we tried to get a sno cone, but the lines were too long. just as well. i was starting to get tired.

the farm animals were super cool as well. i had never seen baby goats before. dad kept using the term kid and it confused me. and i think this is a llama with an intense set of bangs.



on our way out we stopped in a big craft area and mom got really excited. she picked fiona right up out of the stroller and waltzed her in to look at all the stuff. i got an awesome apron that had a pouch sewn to the front that could hold 8 crayons, individually. it's my new art shirt!



i hope we go again next year. at least then my little sister will be able to enjoy it too.

fiona v. the bottle

given fiona is such a good eater, it never occurred to us that she would not take the bottle with ease. at about week 6, we gave her a bottle and with some coaxing, she took it. however, now at 2 months old, she totally refuses it. i'm talking crying, squirming, sweating, and screaming if we persist for too long. we thought it might be the milk because we have a lot of frozen milk and with olivia, my milk spoiled as soon as it was frozen. today, i pumped a bit and she still refused it. by today's end, she let the bottle go into her mouth, but rather than suck, she just bit it and within a few minutes, would start to get upset. so frustrating!

looks like we are going to start hitting the interwebs to see what we can find out about coaxing a stubborn, breastfed girl to take the bottle so that mama bear can go out for longer than 2 1/2 hours.

our new plan:
try different bottles/nipples - apparently playtex has a nipple that works with even the most stubborn of babies
have mom be out of the house
have mom feed her with the bottle
face her away from us in the glider rocker while trying to feed her with the bottle
try daily to have her take the bottle...apparently we should not try for longer than 10 minutes

my 3rd birthday!

i had so much fun at my birthday party. it was nice to have all my friends there, Arlo Big, Yuli, Tealie, Lincoln, Dahlia, Alder, Loic, Levi, Asher, Cash, Brazon, Metztli. i also loved that my big people friends were there as well. i cannot believe i am 3 years old.






mom and dad had organized for periwinkle possum to come. she was fabulous! it was an interactive puppet show and everyone seemed to really like it. and my friends and i got to make dragonflies to help wake the possum up. i punched the possum. not sure why. i think i thought i would wake him up.



the cake was amazing. dad made it. i got to have 2 pieces and pretty much just ate the icing. wow. lots of sugar for me. i played a lot with my very good friend lincoln. i actually call him my boyfriend. we played all night long and it was awesome!

From emo to smiles in 60 seconds

Oh, and thanks for the new dress, Grumpus + Barbara. I thought it would look good with the new striped leggings that my mom got for me. If I recall, Grumpus said he used to do patterns on patterns in college. Style runs deep in this family...

My friend Cash turns 3

I went to my friend Cash's birthday party this weekend. It was a lot of fun. There was face painting and a bike parade. We had so much fun decorating my bike. Mom did most of it, but I picked out colors and art directed.

The Lakeman Ladies

I heart my daddy, too

I heart cuddles

I love it when my big sister cuddles on me. She sings to me and tells me stories. Tonight she gave me lots of kisses and "held" me for a very long time.

Grumpus comes to town

Oh, what fun I had with Grumpus this weekend. I mean, he really knows how to have a good time. We did all sorts of things together. He read me lots of books and took me to the park + coffeeshop in the rain! And Barbara is great. I hope we get to see her again. She made me her official cooking assistant. We made a salad with avocado, grapefruit and peach. So yummy! We made a real mess on the floor though.

One night, Grumpus and Barbara surprised me with an early birthday celebration. They had a cake with candles and gifts. It was so much fun. I even wore a cool cat hat.






What else did we do...we went to their hotel and to a restaurant in chandler's cove. We also walked seward park and threw rocks in the lake, hung out at oddfellows, went to dinner at cafe presse and had a yummy brunch with pancakes at our house. Twice grumpus and barbara babysat me and fiona while mom and dad went to yoga.






I really miss Grumpus. I wish he lived closer to me....

New blanket for me

Nini sent me the loveliest new blanket. And what great timing now that the weather has turned from hot and sunny to rain, rain, rain.

Keep things balanced

I must admit, while having 2 is really intense at times, Mike and I have made a much more concerted effort this time around to ensure we each get some "me" time. In fact, I might even go as far as to say that when you have 2, making the "me" time work is an absolute must to maintain a healthy household.

Being the solo parent with the 2 girls is actually a lot easier than I originally expected. It helps that Olivia is so interested in Fiona and has really embraced the big sister role. When Fiona fusses, Olivia is the first to help her and she will hang with her without us around for long a time before getting bored. Admittedly, our tempers are quicker than normal, but that has eased up now that Mike and I have a code word for when we see the other one going off the deep end a bit. This new tactic has made a huge difference!

All that said, Olivia still has some tough emotional stuff, but we each try and spend 1x1 time with her and that seems to help alleviate the meltdowns. They used to be quite frequent, but that is tapering off. It helps when people come over and spend a lot of time with her vs doting on the baby. It is more important to get her to a good place in my opinion and tbh, people can hang with the baby from afar since she spends a lot of her time sleeping.

I have really enjoyed the time out with the girls. At least a couple times a week I take them to the library or Seward park for a long walk. That gives Mike and opportunity to go to yoga or get a massage (2 things I have been trying to do weekly at this point and with much success). I actually think this is critical to our sanity at home. Mike likes to go to the park with the 2 of them and that gives me a nice break as well. Having a quiet house is a real treat.

The night time is the right time

I love the hour before mom and dad put me to bed. The lights are low, there is some kind of ocean sound in the background. It is nice. We all hang out in the bed together. Here are some photos from the other night...

[enter mom] Fiona is really starting to find a groove. I am sure as soon as I post this that groove will change, but it has been pretty consistent for the last couple of weeks. It is really nice to have a big baby! She typically sleeps from 10pm-3am and then sleeps until between 6 and 7. I am still eager to try and have a night where I don't get up, but in due time I suppose. She took the bottle on Friday night without much fuss, so we seem to be covered on the feeding front now.

No more diapers for me...

it's official...i am a diaper free! after 3 mornings of a dry diaper, mom and papa tried a night without a diaper and i did not wet my bed. woohoo! it feels pretty cool. i kinda wanted to stay in my diaper, but now that i don't wear one at night, i prefer to not have one on. they are so bulky and leave terrible lines in my pajama bottoms. i feel like such a big girl right now!

I did it! (dry diaper alert)

I woke up this morning and my diaper was dry! Mom and Dad have been talking about this for some time now and Ijust wasn't ready yet. Last night they said if I woke up with a dry diaper, then we would have pancakes for breakfast. Pancakes are my favorite! And guess what?!?!? My diaper was dry this morning. Mom and Dad were so happy. And I feel like a really big girl now. I wonder when I can start going to bed without a diaper. Maybe I should see how many mornings I can go with a dry diaper first. Yeah me!

Picnics at the Sculpture Park are cool

Mom and Dad came and picked me up from daycare kinda early yesterday. I was pretty excited. They said we were going to go for a picnic downtown. Mom had a touch up trim at Vain and Dad, Fiona and I waited for her. Once she was finished, we headed towards the water. Mom pointed out a big structure and said we were heading over there.

We walked around a for a bit. There was this weird, red metal structure that looked kinda like a spider. Then Mom and I went down the hill a bit and saw a washing machine and console with turntables. They were made out of wood and sitting in the middle of the grassy hill. Pretty strange. Our washing machine sits in our house and is made of metal. It is safe to say I was confused.

Dad and Fiona found a great spot on the grass and we went and sat with them. It was too sunny, but I borrowed Dad's iPhone and took a bunch of pictures. I will make sure to post some.

Our picnic was yummy. We had cole slaw, greek salad, cheese and crackers and pigeon poop (that's an inside joke with me and my family).

Unfortunately, the grass was quite wet, but the big blanket was still nice.

I hope we do that again.

My Belly vs. Me

I must say, my re-entry back into the world of getting fit has been interesting. After watching my belly shake during a laughing spell, I thought, that's it...I am officially waging a war against you. You and me, Mr. Belly, are going to have words.

Last week, I did my first long walk around Seward Park. My sister was in town and I thought it would be a good spot to show the fam as well as double as my first test drive of walking almost 3 miles. It felt great, but I cannot believe how tired I was that night. In true form, I went back to walk it again the next day. Hey, it's starting to get a little easier, but I was huffin' and puffin' for sure.

Once I realized the walking thing was doing me right, I thought I would take on a level 2 yoga class at Samadhi. Ummmm...wow. I was astonished by how weak my muscles were. I was unable to do things like plank or chaturanga. My arm strength is essentially non-existent. Looks like I have a long road ahead of me on that front. It felt amazing, though. It was a wow class for me in that I fell into the groove of the breathwork and movement, but just struggled a lot with poses that required a lot of upper body strength.

Buddha Baby

Come rub my belly for good luck!

The Children's Museum rocks

I had so much fun today. Mom, Aunt Susan and my cousin Joe took me to the children's museum this morning. I was playing hookie from daycare which was really fun! I love the children's museum so much. I was particularly obsessed with the kitchens in the different countries today. I made everyone a meal in like 3 different countries. I also ran a lot. There was so much to look at and so little time.

[enter mom] This was a tough trip for me...I was feeling particularly sleep-deprived and when Fiona started to fire it up, I found a quiet place to breastfeed. Unfortunately, Fiona chose to have a blow out and by the time we were leaving, I was at my wit's end. Lesson learned...when you are exhausted, just stay home. Even if you have family visiting...better to keep a sane head than lose it. Oh, and the heat did not help.

Going out in my slippers

Not sure how to tell my parents that wearing slippers out in public is not ok. And the fact that they are ducks is even more tragic. I understand that it was cold out, but won't socks do? I managed to kick one of them off in the car and that managed to get the message through. Mom took both of them off and tbh, I have not seen them since.

And can we talk about the pants OVER my onesie? This particularly fashion feature is icing on the cake. Slippers, pants that expose a front butt, what's next Mom/Dad? Seriously.

Rainforest Cafe...scary or fun

Mom and dad took me to run some errands in Renton and told me they had a big surprise waiting for me. I was very excited. I saw we were pulling into the mall parking lot and thought...they are going to take me shopping! But, oh no no no...we went to the rainforest cafe. It was pretty cool, but I must admit, the gorillas freaked me out. And that is where they sat us! Every few minutes, the gorillas would start dancing around and making loud noises. I had mom sit between them and me. I was so gobsmacked by all the stuff around me that I did not eat. And I think mom was totally overwhelmed. Dad got a beer and maybe mom should have as well....

Towards the end of the meal,mom stopped the balloon-making man. I got to look through a picture book and picked all of them, but ended up with the dog. Go figure. I love my dog, but don't understand why it is the size of my hand now. Makes me sad.

The Movies with Mom

I like the movies. It is nice and cool (oh and quite dark) in the cinema. Mom took me on Tuesday afternoon to see The Kids Are Alright. I think she liked it a lot. There were a couple of sniffles and I even heard her laugh out loud twice.

[enter mom] Yes, I went in to the movie with some skepticism because I find Annette Benning to be quite the arrogant tossrod, but the movie was excellent. I felt like I was dropped into someone else's living room/life for 90 minutes. Nice escape. And Fiona just slept on my shoulder. I made the mistake of getting her out of her carseat prematurely so spent a good chunk of the time rocking her. Yeah for cry baby tuesdays at the columbia city cinema!

Life of a working father

Here is a picture of the bags under my eyes, resulting from working a 9-5er and being a father of two at the same time. My day typically begins around 6:30 or 7am and doesn't really end until after 10:30 most nights. And then there is all the time being awake at night too. Super!

The quality of my work is suffering - I sent an email to a lot of customers last week and it didn't make a lot of sense. EWSD - emailing while sleep deprived - guilty as charged. Luckily my boss and workmates are pretty understanding.

And at home I'm completely outnumbered now. My poor single Y chromosome is up against 7 Xs. Not to worry, I've always fancied myself as a bit of a ladies man.

4 weeks going on 13...

Life is hard for me right now. I have terrible acne, dry skin in the most uncomfortable places, a painful rash on my bum and my hair is falling out in such a way that it looks like a half moon on the crown of my head (think grossman in tropic thunder). poor me, right? i feel like a pre-teen. i sure hope it gets easier from here onwards. oh, and i am really gassy. thankfully mom and dad took me to an osteopath to help get my system back in order, but it still needs a lot of work.

Snuggles with my baby sister

I just woke up from my nap and came in to mom and dad's room to see fiona sleeping. I wanted to snuggle with her so mom and dad set me up on the bed with a pillow. I love getting my photo taken with her. My parents call it "hamming it up" for the camera. I just like to get a bit "emo" with it all.