The Double Celebration!

Today was a great day for celebrating. We celebrated David's second birthday and the Baptism of Shaun. We couldn't have asked for better weather, and it was great to share this day with our family and friends.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate today. A special thanks to my Mom and Dad - since the party was at their house, they set up the yard and kept things organized. To my sister for picking up the cake and other miscellaneous items. To Steph & Nick for the awesome Elmo cupcakes. To Benny and Geoff for running the grill for us. To Kristin for always making the best fruit salads. And to MIL, who was responsible for the gorgeous baptism gown that Shaun wore at the Church.

Here are some pictures from the day:

This is Shaun's Baptism gown made from my wedding dress.




Mommy, Daddy & Shaun


Shaun's God Parents


Elmo Cupcake! After David at the frosting he said "Oh No!! Where's Elmo?"


David's Elmo Cake!


The Elmo Cupcakes!


My Brothers and Sister:


Presents!

BEEFCAKE!!

As you all know my nickname for Shaun is "Fat Baby". It's amazing to me how much bigger he is than David was. He is already in 3-6 month clothes. Tonight Shaun (who's 2 months old) is wearing the PJ's I had bought when David was 3 months old and I am sure they won't last much longer on him. My milk must somehow be fortified with Weight-Gain 4000.
He is a great baby and now sleeping anywhere between 4 and 6 hours stretches at night. Most nights I only have to get up twice. He loves to smile and is now "talking" up a storm. In fear of Shaun being victim of the "second baby syndrome" I made sure to capture it on video!

Summer Fun!

Normally I hate summer because it is SO darn hot but this summer has been much cooler than normal. Of course instead of hazy, hot and humid we've had rain, rain and more rain but I think I would rather that than the nasty heat.

Thankfully Mother Nature was kind to us this weekend and gave us a reprieve from all the rain. We packed up the kids and headed over to the Stack's for a cookout. We couldn't have asked for a better day and it was also the day my baby turned TWO!

Swimming with the birthday boy:


Hanging by the Pool:


Auntie Kristin taking over pool duty:


My Big Boy!


Brian getting ready to grill:


I love being back in the area so that we can have these gatherings more often!

Brothers!

David seems to be warming up to the fact that this "little thing" we brought home 8 weeks ago is here for good. He even asks to give "baby kiss?". It's really sweet. David was in a picture taking mood so I sat Shaun next to him ans snapped these two really cute pictures.

David & Shaun


Brotherly Love!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday and to celebrate I made my dad a very special birthday dinner of Spanish Shrimp and Chorizo with Sweat Pea Couscous. I served it with my home made Sangria and then we had Jocelyn's famous pudding cake for dessert! It was nice to be able to hang out with the family and it's really the best part about being back home.

Singing Happy Birthday:


David & Cohen


Robyn & Shaun


Presents!


The Famous Pudding Cake all over David's Face:

Check up

So today I took David for his 2 year check up at his new doctor. He was supposed to have his appointment last Thursday but due to a bad typo in google maps I was over an hour late for so they only did Shaun's check up.

Last Shaun weighed 12lbs 6oz which put him in the 90th percentile. Since I had to reschedule David's appointment to this morning they decided to do Shaun's vaccines today. They re-weighed him and in one week he gained almost a whole pound!! Today he weighed 13lbs 3oz. He isn't even 2 months old yet but between him being a Fat Baby Pig and the cloth diapers it's no wonder he's already in 3-6 month clothing.

David on the other hand is our small fry. His weight was in the 50th percentile at 27lbs but he still falls in the 25th percentile for his height at 33 inches. Other than the fact that he's a midget he is healthy as can be. He had to get a blood draw today and to my shock he was extremely fascinated by the whole process. Who knows, maybe we have a future doctor on our hands!

David? Where are you?

David has made himself at home in the new place. His favorite place is not his new bedroom...but rather a kitchen cabinet:









He runs over to the cabinet and says, "Bye Mommy, see ya!" - he spent over an hour yesterday playing in the cabinet. Who needs a bedroom full of toys when you've got a kitchen cabinet full of baking pans.

Shaun is 7 Weeks!

Shaun is 7 weeks old today! We brought up our bouncy seat last night and today we did a photo shoot! He is such a happy mellow baby (unless he's hungry - then all bets are off)!!



Hey Ladies, call me!


Starting to giggle!


Already Breaking Hearts!


Mark Wahlberg's got nothing on Shaun in his Cloth Diaper!

David & Brady!

Friday David, Shaun and I had a play date at the Stack's. It's so much fun to watch them play together and one of the best things about being back in the area is they'll get to do this much more often.

It is hard to believe that their first meeting was almost two years ago.


Now they are so big! Check them out in the boat and swimming in the pool!


More interested in playing than posing for my camera!


Even Cameron joined in on the fun!


David was hesitant at first about the pool, then he started to have some fun. The pool he went in before was two feet deep and he could run around in it. This one was a little different. I am not sure he liked not being able to touch the ground. We're going to be signing him up for swim lessons this fall. I think he'll really enjoy it!



Brian even put him in a sort of wet suit to see if that would help but he clung to me with a kung fu death grip and said "I don't like it" so I took him out and let him play on the pool steps for a while.


Next time we'll get Shaun in on the fun but he was content to sit in the bouncy seat in the shade on the deck. It was a great day (first sunny day all week) and we can't wait to do it again soon!

As we all watched Brady, David, Cameron & Shaun we realized that in a few short months their will be ANOTHER boy in the mix when Princess B welcomes her new addition this November! Yep we're ready to start our own football team!

Story Land

Yesterday we took a headed to northern NH to Story Land. I remembered going when I was a kid and was really excited to be able to take David. We met up with the Stack's early in the morning, got our coffee, and headed out. It was overcast but all weather reports said the rain would hold off until the afternoon. The rain started halfway during our trip. I was confused because nothing said that we would get all that rain. We even heard a weather report on the radio station for the White Mountain Region that said "Partly sunny in the morning and possible thunder storms into the afternoon". Hmmm...if it is partly sunny while pouring down rain I would hate to know what that weather guy's thunder storms would be...a monsoon maybe?

Well, we got to the park and the rain still coming down pretty steady, but we had some umbrellas and had made the 2.5 hour drive and there was NO way it was going to keep up...the weather said so, right?! So we bought are tickets and headed into the park. We took David out to measure his height so we would have an idea for the different rides - he's about 33 inches tall. As soon as we took him out of the stroller he was off. He ran over to a big tree fort with a slide. He and Brady had so much fun running around.

As we looked at the sky, we decided it probably wasn't going to let up anytime soon and decided to join the rest of the crowd and purchase our own bright yellow Story Land Poncho's. We were styling now, but at least it meant we didn't have to carry around the umbrellas anymore!

After the tree house we made it over to another play area that had a place filled with plastic balls. I think if we left it up to David and Brady we would have spent the whole day there, but since there was a huge park to see, we had to drag the boys out move on. Next was the Mad Hatter Tea Cup ride which David ran to get onto. I wasn't sure if he was going to like a ride like that but as soon as it started his face was grinning from ear to ear. He got real upset when we had to get off the ride. I had to explain that there we many more rides to be seen!



After that David went on the Carousel, a Swan Boat Ride, a Train ride that encompassed the entire park, a giant Whale that moved up and down, and the Antique cars. We had wanted to see the circus but by 1:30 we were soaked and cold, poor David's lips were turning blue. The poncho was pretty big on David and after a while he was getting frustrated so we took it off.



We just couldn't stay any longer. We made a quick stop at the souvenir shop and to take a picture by the sign and it was time to go. Erica and I decided it would be worth a shot to see if they would give us a voucher to return since the entire day was a washout. Well, ask and ye shall receive! We may just take another trip on a nicer day since we know David would have fun and it would be free for us!


Even though we were soaked, cold and tired we had a great time. I only wish the ride home were as painless as the ride up though. Route 16 is not fun on a Sunday afternoon and next time we'll seek an alternate route because FOUR hours to get back to Plaistow.

New England Sand Sculpting Festival

This week in Revere is the New England Sand Sculpting Festival. I decided since I finally got my MA plates on my car (and no longer driving around on expired tags) that I would take David over for a looksy.

We left the house at 7:30am so that we would miss the crowds. First we walked down by the water and then over to see the artists. The sculptures were pretty cool. I can't imagine working all day in that sun though!

Cool Just Like Daddy!

Shaun is 5 weeks today! On Monday we moved him from the Pack 'N Play that was set up in our bedroom to his own room. Now we just have to figure out a way to prevent him from waking up David up at 6am.

Here are some new pictures - he may be "Cool Just Like Daddy" but his good looks come from Mommy!



Hi Mommy!


Starting to smile


Sticking out his tongue

Fat Baby Pig & Monkey

These are the new nicknames for the boys. Shaun, who is also referred to as Ziggy Piggy, got this name because all he does is EAT. I mean the kid had almost 10oz of milk the other night when we were out. We were only out for 5 and a half hours. Sheesh. I can already tell he is going to be bigger than his brother. Check out the double chin he is already sporting. His next weight check will be on the 24th.

Fat Baby Pig:


David is like a monkey. He just has to climb on everything, couches, stairs, me. Just today I found him sitting on the coffee table. I mean seriously.


Check out the monkey climbing the wall at the playground.

David's Big Boy Bed (well Futon!)

We had decided that since David would be 22 months when Shaun was born that we would transition him to a regular bed. We didn't want to have to buy another crib when we knew David wouldn't be using it for much longer anyway.

We were trying to decide what to get him when it dawned on us that we could just use our futon. He has done really well with the transition considering all the big changes the poor kid has gone through recently. He sometimes gives us a hard time, but for the most part he goes right to sleep. The only difference between his crib tantrums and his big boy tantrums is that he can get out of bed now and bang on the door instead of just shaking the railing on his crib.



That is David in his new bed with his new bedding that his Omi got for him. Can you believe he is going to be TWO in a month!?