Halloween

 

Halloween was so fun this year! Ian went Trick-or-Treating for the first time and had a great time. As for Joseph, I would describe it as the best night of his life! He thoroughly enjoyed wearing that adorable fish costume we borrowed from some friends and was delighted to march up to each house (at his own pace) and climb up and down the steps, over and over. He didn't want to be rushed and would often get to the sidewalk only to turn around and try to walk up to the same house again. He loved holding my hand while walking down the center of the street, and you would not have even guessed it was almost 2 hours passed his bedtime!

 

Joseph was in such a jolly mood. He laughed, breathed audibly (which he does when he is really enthusiastic) and chattered to me while we followed along behind Ian and Dad. Several times Joseph just parked himself in the middle of the street to sit down and riffle through his bucket. When his little legs were ready for more he was up and at 'em to cut across more grass and inspect more front steps. Joseph probably would have continued on until he fell asleep on his feet. A few times Ian squatted down inside his whale costume and said "I am just going to take a little break for a minute. I just need two little rests."

  Ian got the "tricker-treat" routine down quick and had a hard time at first not stopping to eat each candy after he got it. I overheard him telling his nursery leader the next day that "lots of girls" gave him all the candy. I think he was remembering one house where elementary age girls ran out to meet us in the street and were dumping handfuls of candy in buckets to help their parents get rid of it. And when we walked past a second time they did it again. So even though Joseph only knocked at 4 houses he came home with half a bucket of candy!

We didn't spend any time handing out candy -- we went to our friends incredible Halloween bash instead before we went Trick or Treating! We had a great time and it all made for the perfect "first" Halloween for our boys. Unfortunately now Ian feel entitled to a piece of "trick or treat from my pumpkin" each time he goes potty, and to my dismay Joseph has begun to say 'candy' (nanny).

Potty Training

Ian's potty training. And I hate to jinx it, but it's going well. Aside from some miss-placed #2s, he's been dry since the morning we started, last Wednesday. He was delighted when he first placed a #2 in a toilet when we werea t Jason's Deli last weekend. He keeps reminding me of it.

When an accident occured at church last week and I was cleaning him up in the nursing room with some of my friends around, Ian wispered "Are you embarrassed that I put the poopy in my underwear instead of the toilet? How sweet! And no, I was not, and I told him so. Wish us continued success!

Joseph is ONE!

Scott hadn't left for work yet when Joseph woke up, so his first birthday treat was waking up to daddy! But first things first: you must insert the binkie before the festivities can begin.

The boys and I did a little decorating for the occasion. Mostly I blew up balloons and wound crepe paper around everything, while they followed behind and tore it down. I guess it all became part of the entertainment.

Here Ian was sneaking a peak at Joseph's presents.

Ian wanted to help open the presents, but tried so hard to let Joseph do it. Joseph hadn't the slightest interest in doing it however.

Scott hit a homerun when he picked out this school bus. Joseph loved it, and perhaps Joseph may even get a turn playing with it. Eventually.

A remarkable thing has happened in the weeks since Joseph's birthday -- Ian seems to respect and appreciate Joseph now that Joseph has cool toys of his own to trade.

Joseph starting eating before we even blew out the candle. Unlike his big brother who ate nothing but homemade babyfood and milk until his first birthday, this kid is no stranger to sweet treats and knew just what to do! (Sadly, I can't figure out how to post video in the new blogger editor. Does anyone know how to switch back to the old editor?)

Pausing to reflect on aging.

Arriving at the point where the thought of eating more makes him gag.

Raise your hand if you are ready for a bath!

  The aftermath.

The party animal is now all ready for bed.

We had lots of fun celebrating Joseph's first birthday. I was so glad we decided to come home from New Orleans a day early so he wouldn't wake up to his birthday in a hotel bathroom, and then spend the rest of it in a car.

Joseph is a joy to have in our family. Those first few fussy, acid-refluxy months gave no indication of who our little Joseph truly was. He has grown into an energetic and affectionate, easy-going little buddy. He is so engaging and loves to look people in the eye. He frequently crawls into my lap in order to lay his head on my shoulder for a moment before running off to do something else. He greets strangers with "Hi!" and an enthusiastic wave. He sleeps 12 hours every night and loves to take a nap. His blanket and binkie are his constant sidekicks. He adores his big brother and puts up with a lot of shoving in order to be Ian's shadow. He seems to be so aware of his body and can make it function how he wants it too, as evidenced by rolling at 2 months, crawling at less then 6 months, and walking at 9 months! He can also sit on a chair for extended periods of time while coloring or using (eating) playdough.

So far he says "Daddy, dada, mamma, banana (nan-nana), Ian (Eeeee), hi (eye!) and cheese (eeeze!)

We are so glad he is ours!

New Orleans

Scott (and his lucky wife) were invited to attend an engineering conference in Louisiana last week. Even though some incredibly wonderful friends offered to care for the boys while we went (I know, we have the best friends ever) we decided to make a family trip out of it and spent 4 days in New Orleans together. And as an added bonus, our good friends the Linfords were there too! We were able to get adjoining hotel rooms and it was wonderful to have someone fun to play with while the guys spent the day at the conference. Sadly, we didn't get a picture all together! We had a great time experiencing New Orleans with them though.

Our hotel room had a large window with a little boys' dream view: it overlooked the Mississippi river, which had river boats and barges going up and down it all the time. On the street below us was a train track and a road with lots of truck activity. And since we were on the 19th floor, we didn't have to hear any of it! The boys were in heaven watching everything and they spent nearly all our time in the room playing in the curtains and watching the show the boats and trucks and trains put on for them.

Joseph loves to perch his little body right on top. Ian thought it looked like a boat and hoped on too.

 

The architecture, food and insectarium were my favorite tourist attractions of the trip.  Check out the iron balcony in the above picture. While some of the French Quarter was keep-your-eyes-to-the-ground-nasty, several streets had beautiful porches and lovely greenery. Here is a Catholic church and the world famous Cafe du Monde which served incredible bengiets (deep fried doughnuts). A man was playing what looked like a homemade tuba outside the cafe.

Aside from the albino alligator we saw at the aquarium, we didn't get to see any live alligators. Darn. But we saw plenty of alligator souvenirs! Look at all those jaws!

Above, Joseph is eating a squid at a restaurant some NO native friends recommended. See that tasty leg sticking out of Joseph's mouth? Below is Scott at the insectarium. This was my favorite thing in NO. There were tons of live bugs and lots of interesting bug information. Ian loved it.

Behind the normal cafe at the insectarium was the Bug Appetite Cafe. Here a chef prepares candies with bugs in them, including Chocolate ChirpCookies. She just got this batch of water roaches and hasn't decided what to make with them yet.

 

And here is Ian eating a piece of toffee with a cricket in it. Not to be outdone by our toddler, Scott and I ate one too. And regretted it. Notice Ian's black eye in this picture. He ran into a wall one evening and got a small cut near the corner of his eye. He woke up with a shiner. It went nicely with the fat lip he got the next morning from splitting his lip open on the door in our hotel room. Boy is it tough to keep two active boys safe in a hotel!

It was a fun trip. We ate and ate and ate and by the time we were headed home we could eat no more. When we got home it was time to celebrate Joseph's birthday!

PS Scott says I need to clarify some things because some people are left with the impression that New Orleans is a cool city. The take-away from this post should actually be that it was fun because Scott's employer footed the bill and invited us there in the first place, and our buddies the Linfords had an adjoining room to ours, which was incredibly fun. We still think that there are probably more than 100 US cities that you have never heard of that are cooler than NO. Go to one of them instead. Seriously.