Spencer Ham

Spencer's a cute little ham and loves having a back and forth cooing / laughing conversation!  Here's a video with a funny ending...

Space Shuttle

This past weekend we took the boys to the Udvar-Hazy Center - part of the National Air and Space Museum that is out near Dulles and setup to display many large aircraft as it is an indoor hangar.  Ryan and I have been many times (they also show movies at the huge IMAX screen there) but had not taken the boys yet, so we decided it was a good time to introduce them and let them run around and see the "airplanes" (really more like spacecraft, rockets, and satellites - but that's a little over their heads right now).  They had a blast pointing to everything and saying vrrrm vrrrm vrrrm.  The museum is huge and there is plenty of space to let them "loose" without getting into too much trouble.  It was especially nice on the second level where there is a long, wide hall overlooking the Space Shuttle Discovery, the current centerpiece of Udvar-Hazy.  The boys ran around, had some snacks, and got very tired out by the time we left.  Even baby Spencer had a great time seeing all the planes overhead from his stroller!

Locked In

Oliver locked himself in the playroom yesterday morning - which wasn't a surprise given his obsession with opening and closing doors lately, but still a situation we were not exactly prepared for!  He was in there by himself for about an hour by the time we got him out.  Luckily the room has a sliding glass door (also locked) on the other side, and so we were able to take shifts monitoring and distracting him from the outside while we worked on the lock.  Owen was very concerned about his brother's disappearance and kept trying to open the door himself!

Wee Play

Today we discovered an indoor play place that has open play on Wednesday afternoons - and it was perfect for the boys to run around and try out new toys, with a low probability of hurting themselves.  The large room was enclosed by a permanent 3 foot tall wall, which minimized the need to chase after them because they couldn't escape the play area.  Occasionally an adult would enter or leave through the latched opening, and Oliver would dart over and try and sneak his way through!  Owen loved walking up and down the ramp made for a toy car ride-on.  After his introduction to an outdoor ramp at the playground we visited in New York City, he loves walking on anything ramp related.

The sad thing is that I heard another mom say that "Wee Play" is going to be closing down in August!  I guess we'll have to be on the lookout for similar places come fall and winter...

Bad Cats, Bad Boys

This is what Ryan found the other day when bringing the boys up for their afternoon nap!  The cats know they've never been allowed in the boy's bedroom, and so we don't usually need to close the door when the room is empty.  The funny thing was that Ryan walked in and didn't notice them until Owen kept making his "meow, meow, meow" sounds.  Ryan said he started looking around the room to see if there was a book with a picture of a cat on it or something to prompt Owen to be making these sounds...and then he saw the culprits!

This next series of pictures is a small glimpse of the new challenges we're facing with avid climbers!  We've had a great past few months of playing in the recently baby-proofed family room, playroom, and deck...and now suddenly all of those areas present new hazards, and ones that you really can't do much about!  I can barely tolerate watching them play in the family room anymore because all they do is climb all over the couch, desperately trying to get on the back near the light switches so they can turn them on and off...and it's a pretty steep fall from the back to the floor!  And no need to explain the situation with the coffee table!  It turns into a game of who tires out first, as I continually remove them and they turn right back around and climb back up.  

In our wonderfully baby-proofed playroom, they've discovered they can remove all the books from the bookshelf and climb on up and through the openings.  They also push around and stand on things (Lego box, storage boxes, etc.) and dangerously jump around, or try and look out the window.  At least in the playroom I can remove all of these items.  If I were able to take a picture of most of these infractions (I have to admit, they are usually funny or cute while caught in the act) we'd have a lot more injuries!  It seems like they are constantly cooking up a scheme to get themselves hurt!  

Big Boy Slide

The boys have become big climbers over the past couple of weeks. They love climbing up on chairs, couches, tables...anything within reach. I took them to this little playground last Friday afternoon because they were going stir crazy in the house. They spent a lot of time climbing up and then going down the slide - the first time they've done this completely on their own. Owen really worked up a sweat!

Milestone: Spencer Can Roll!

Spencie learned to roll over today, from his belly to his back, at 9 days past his 4 month birthday!  The funny thing is that when I woke up this morning, I told myself that today would be the day he did it.  I think that was because he slept on his belly for a good part of the night last night, inching around the bassinet.  It was actually one of his best nights of sleep in a long time, since recently he's only wanted to be held by me all night!

When we woke the big boys up today, we helped Spencer practice rolling a few times in their room while they played.  He was really, really close...but couldn't quite get the momentum to tip over.  I told him to take a nap and think on it, and that he'd get it when he woke up...and sure enough he did!  The second video is him showing off with more rolling out on the deck in the afternoon.  He had more incentive to roll over this time and see Owen flying high up on the swing.  In the last video you can see how happy and full of smiles he was because of his new accomplishment - he even laughs!

The Shopping Car Cart

If you've ever wondered about those shopping carts with a plastic car attached to the front - here's the scoop!  Back during the power outage, we left our hotel room for a change of scenery and mini shopping trip to my favorite grocery store - Wegmans.  We only needed a couple of items, so the main mission of the trip was to eat up some time...and get the boys each a balloon!  Owen has really taken to the color orange lately (he always picks the orange balls out of the ball pit and carries them around, chooses books with orange covers, etc.), so I wanted to get him an orange balloon.  It was a good thing we didn't need many items, because Spencer in his car seat took up almost the entire cart.

So at first riding in the "car" cart in a busy grocery store was an exciting novelty for the boys.  Similar to their cozy coupes at home, this one was bigger, with room for them both to sit side by side.  However, it was much more difficult than I thought it would be to push, turn, and navigate aisles!!  This is definitely not the way to go if you're in a hurry.  And while the whole experience was entertaining to the boys for about the first 10 minutes, they soon became antsy - wanting to get out, and trying to grab everything within reach from their seats.  Luckily the car had seat belts, but there was still plenty within reach for their little hands.  All in all, the cars were fun and I'm sure we'll try them again someday.  They do provide an option for bringing all 3 boys to the store with me alone (even though I did have help with me on this day) - but that is not something I plan to do at this stage!

In the end, the boys got their balloons, I got my favorite chocolate chip cookies, and all were happy :)

Mission accomplished!

Pool Mania

July has been very hot, with temperatures in the 90's and sometimes 100's.  I never thought I'd see the pool temperature reach the mid 80's, but it has and feels great...even for baby Spencer!  We've been trying to take advantage of the pool by bringing the boys in everyday that we're home - sometimes even twice a day - and it's been great.  Owen and Oliver have learned to kick when you float them around on their bellies.  Their favorite game is to play with the diving rings on the steps in the shallow end.  They throw the rings on the second step down, say "uh-oh", and then reach down and try to retrieve it.

Babies Take on NYC

This past weekend we had an awesome time visiting New York, and were very lucky to be invited to stay at a friend's apartment in the upper west side of Manhattan while she was out of town. We experienced life in the busy city with 3 babies, from an apartment up 4 long and narrow flights of stairs! Here are a couple photos of where we stayed - the apartment was in an incredible location, a couple of blocks from Central Park. The biggest challenge was not having high chairs to feed the boys! Being in a new environment with so much to explore trumped the boy's three meals a day and snack routine. We literally spent at least an hour at each meal chasing them around with spoonfuls of food after their voluntary 2 or 3 bites.

We spent Friday morning walking around Central Park. The boys saw lots of horses and had fun getting out of the stroller and running around.

That afternoon we met up with Erin and Bill and went to a really cool playground for toddlers called the Little Engine Playground. It had a soft padded ground and featured a low to the ground train for kids to climb.  Owen especially loved running up and down the wooden ramp.  There was also a sprinkler to run around in, which was nice on such a hot day!

Saturday we met with one of Ryan's co-workers who lived nearby for a quick walking tour and a stop to see the view from the top of his building.  Then it was off to Hela's baby shower for me and Spencer!  He found the subway ride nice and relaxing, sleeping almost the entire way.

Our last main stop was the American Museum of Natural History on Sunday.  The Museum is home to the world's largest collection of vertebrate fossils, totaling nearly one million specimens.  The boys loved the famed dinosaur exhibits - you can see in the pictures below there were many interesting things to point at!