Not Frank Azar... but still some legal jargon

We amended our wills to include LT. Shawn, Z, Renee, and Sofi came over to be witnesses for the signing. It was a little chaotic with the kids but we got all the paper work done.

After the formalities were out of the way, Z and Bowen got the party started!

Daddy day..er..night care

Kari went back to work. Part time. Really part time. She found a job that requires her to work about five days (or nights) a year. Tonight is her second night back on the job (yesterday was the first) so that leaves me in charge of domestic life for the evening. I like to think of myself as a part time stay at home dad. Really part time.

LT shown here contemplating if he wants to eat the dinner of blueberries and oatmeal that I lovingly prepared for him.

Running with mom

One of Landon's favorite activities is riding in the stroller on runs with mom. Here is a picture of him waiting patiently in his snowsuit for the cold weather.

BBQin' in January

Isn't that what everyone does in January? Actually it was in the 60's yesterday and a beautiful day for BBQing. Sofi's parents invited Dylan and LT over for a little afternoon fiesta with tasty food.

Sofi decided she is just going to skip the crawling phase and go straight to walking. She is learning to walk along the couch (enticed by a pink cell phone of course). LT and Dylan aren't quite sure what they will do first yet, but here all three are practicing their assisted stands.



Landon is trying desperately to get his mom's beer can, completely oblivious to what is happening to his little girlfriend. Dylan is trying to make the moves, but Sofi, like a good girl, is being faithful to Landon, waiting patiently for him to make his move.

"Ahhh, finally..... my Romeo!"

Girl Problems

Here LT finds himself interacting one-on-one with Joss (J-Faz). Apparently the anxiety of talking to a girl is too much for him and he starts crying. I'd like to to think he didn't get that from me...


After watching LT cry for a little while, Joss moves on to something more more interesting - shoes! Note the perplexed look on Landon's face as she leaves him behind. Sadly I can offer no words of encouragement. All I can say is, "get used to it little man, this won't be the last time a pretty girl shows more interest in shoes than she does in you."


Here LT looks to be fairing a little better with Mia than he did with Joss. But look closely and you can see that he's drooling. I'd also like to to think he didn't get that from me...


At a happy hour play date LT squirms in his mom's arms and reaches for Sofia. Better than drooling an crying, I suppose, but you might want to appear a little more aloof.


Crying didn't win over Joss but maybe it'll charm Miake.


When that fails he looks around for help. Maybe LT needs a wingman?


He seems to do better just hanging out with the guys (a.k.a. the three stooges) and being entertained by shiny objects (shiny object not shown but I was holding up a toy to try and get them to look at the camera and they were entranced by it). Not unlike the dads sitting around watching a football game...

Which one of the stooges would make a good wingman?

Plethora of toys

LT was a little slow to actually "playing" with toys (or maybe his mom is crazy and doesn't give him enough credit). But when my mom was over the other day, she noticed the plethora of toys that LT has now and plays with and suggested that I post these on the blog.



When I taught preschool, I read many articles on child development and the conflicting arguments on whether boys and girls are trained to play with certain toys or whether it is nature guiding them. In LT's case I have put out many different toys (even some of my old dolls and pink stuffed animals) and he instantly grabs the cars and blocks (assuming there isn't a remote control or cell phone in the vicinity). Seems to be nature guiding in LT's case.
*******Bowen wants me to remind you all that he is another example of nature being the guide, he loves trucks and golf carts (we don't have to mention in this argument that Bowen also loves pink...)

Boys in Boxes, part deux

Casey, Gavin, Liam, Zack and Landon had another sign language class today (can we even call it that anymore? We just play these days during the "class") Chrissy was smart enough after the last episode of the boys fighting over one box, she decided to get 3 boxes (one for each of her boys). With Z and LT, we had to double up in 2 of them, Liam was the lucky one who got a box all to himself. Z actually liked being IN the box today.

From left to right, Landon, Zack, Gavin, Casey and Liam.

The boxes were the biggest hit besides the pack of diapie wipes...

Sippy Cup

I have been giving LT a sippy cup for a month or so now, but it wasn't until the other day that he actually figured out how to hold the cup AND drink from the cup by himself. Here are a few pictures from this major milestone in babyhood. Unfortunately my photography skills are not quite up to par with my husband's and the best picture of him actually drinking from the sippy cup had too much flash, but here are the moments before and after him actually drinking.

Sista's

After having Landon last June, I realized how lucky we are that I can stay home, that LT has a loving home with both mom and dad, that he has a financially stable family, great role models and that our extended family is so caring and involved. While teaching, I found so many children who weren't lucky enough to have these basic needs. Although I want to stay home with Landon, I also wanted to be able to give back to some of these children that aren't as lucky. I decided that I would mentor a child through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Infinity and I have been sisters for a few months now and LT has even met her a few times. While I don't have any pictures of them together yet (although she adores LT and is very good with him), I took this picture the other day when I went to her school and brought cake to celebrate her birthday. When I walked in the room, she put both hands up in the air and loudly announced "My sista' is here!" I might not get a "thank you" all the time from her, but this gesture showed me in her own way that my influence might actually be appreciated.

Riley and LT, playin'

Emily and I had bookclub yesterday and then a playdate with some other babies a few hours later. Instead of Emily driving Riley all the way home just to turn back this direction for the playdate, she just came over so Riley and LT could play a bit longer. Here are some pictures of them sitting together and sharing toys!
This is a very typical LT look these days. I think he's a happy kid.

Flowers

I just have to brag about my amazing husband for a minute... Bowen usually puts himself to bed around 6 upstairs in our bedroom. A few nights ago, it was long past 6 and Bowen was just laying outside our bedroom door which I thought was strange. I went up the stairs and noticed the door to our room was closed (which it hardly ever is). When I opened the door to let Bowen in so he could go to sleep, I found gerbera daisies lying on the bed from Bri. I took LT up to admire the beautiful flowers and here are some pictures of his reaction to them. Apparently he wanted to lay himself in a bed of orange petals.

As with everything these days, once he grabs onto something, it is difficult to get him to release before he puts it into his mouth. Unfortunately putting tissue paper into his mouth leads to some discoloration of the tongue and face as we found on Christmas day. Who knows what happens when a baby eats Gerbera daisies, but lets not find out...

Blueberries

After nearly two agonizing months of trying to find foods that LT will eat, we found one! Of course it is blueberries, don't get me wrong, I sure love blueberries, but they are not the cleanest of foods to eat. Here are a few pictures of him enjoying his first taste of blueberries...


"Hey mom, mom, here's my mouth, I am ready! "(a face we rarely see when eating, usually his lips are pursed and his head is turned the opposite direction.)



"Mom, if you can't feed me fast enough, I will just feed myself."


Either end of the spoon works, right?

Conspiracy Theory

Has anyone ever noticed that so called "blue berries" are really purple? Think about it...

Baby Games

Some little video clips of the latest baby game which involves jumping on the bed, laughing and clapping.

The Market

All dressed up in the floppy ear dog hat and jam-jams for a big Sunday morning out on the town.

We had a little family outing at The Market downtown on Larimer. Kari and I had some coffee and LT got some apple sauce. The Market is easily one of my favorite places to get coffee, in fact, I was there again promptly at 6AM the next morning getting a little work done before going into the office and getting a lot less work done.

The Zoo

On Saturday LT turned seven months old. To celebrate we went to the zoo (or maybe we just went to the zoo and realized later that it was his 'birthday'). I think Landon was the youngest baby there that wasn't a younger sibling of a kid who is old enough to actually applicate the zoo experience.

None of us can remember what this animal is called but it's something I'd never heard of and apparently no one else had ever heard of it either because it wasn't exactly a popular exhibit.

We also saw a tiger (not pictured) and I made some comment about how it was one cat that Bowen shouldn't mess with. Ironically, Shawn sent me this article about a boxer helping to raise a young tiger a little later that day. Maybe a tiger would make a good friend for Bowen...

Sunday at Riley's

At seven months LT still seems pretty small but sitting next to a six week old gives some perspective on just how much he's grown. I didn't get a very good picture because Z decided to grab the pillow and shield LT from the camera with it - I guess they are learning to team up to avoid the paparazzi.

LT, Z, Jack and Riley playing together.

Just the 5 of us...

Shawn and I watched the triplets again the other day. Z and LT have come along way from the speedbumps they once were. They now sit up and get crashed into (but hey, small steps, right?!!!) Maybe someday Z and LT will be able to keep up.

With 3 crawlers, it was tough to get a good shot of all 5, but here they are.


Z, LT, Casey, Gavin, Liam.


Gavin, Liam, Casey, Z and LT.

gonna party like it's 1999

More accurately we partied like it was 2007 and we have a new baby! Which, as it turns out, is pretty different than we partied in 1999. We had a couple of drinks and a fantastic dinner but were home and in bed by 8PM. Sofia's parents hosted a new years eve celebration that started at 4 to accommodate our new lifestyles. A few pictures of the little ones 'celebrating' below.

Z, LT and Sofia.

Joss joins the party and Z cries.

Mia and LT.

You put your kid in a box...

LT just chillin' in the box having a grand old time.


The triplets playing with the box - it's the box that holds all their toys but apparently it is the best toy of all.


Z didn't seem to like being in the the box as much as LT.

Girl's Team

We've had a couple of posts featuring the boy's team but until now haven't had one of the girl's team. The girl's team is now outnumbered in the family 3-2 but due to Title IX, Landon gets to be in their team picture to make things even.

At left - Hailie gives LT a lick on the ear which results in a little laugh and a big smile.

Baby Crash!

Dylan, on the right, is just a little bit younger than LT and he is still in the process of mastering the art of sitting up on his own.


The price of becoming a sitting up on your own master is the occasional face plant into the carpet or one of your toys! It wasn't too long ago that LT was doing the same thing. He still does have the occasional baby crash although they are getting more and more infrequent. I suppose we are in for a whole new level of crashing when the walking starts though...

Notice Landon's concerned/surprised look as Dylan goes over. It's the same look he makes when he gets startled by unexpected sounds like the dogs barking. The right arm up isn't a coincidence either - when he gets startled he waives his hands around like he's going to fly away.

Pterodactyl Sounds

I think it was Joss's parents that first coined the phrase "making pterodactyl noises." To be honest, I don't know what a pterodactyl sounds like but for some reason it seems like a fitting description of these noises.

Poppa and LT

LT with his Poppa on Christmas day.

Ball Room

My mom really wanted to get both her grandsons something that they could enjoy together, so what better thing than their very own ballroom. LT might be a bit young to enjoy this, but Nicholas sure had fun while he was here. He kept wanting LT to "play" in the tented room with him. Play is a relative term these days....