Wasden Baby Days!: August 2011

Here's Lewis, very proud of his "trucks" that he built with legos. Mommy was so proud that he kept himself so occupied while she showered!

A note on these tidbits...
I record these as voice memos and then transcribe them later. I love that it gives me a snapshot in the moment of my little boys!

June 15, 2011

Lewis loves stories! When Norah was a little girl, her Daddy would often tell them his rendition of classic fairy tales before bed. I’ve started doing this with Lewis, and he just loves it. His favorites are “Lilylocks”, the Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the Noah story. He also likes the story of Lewis, which is the story of his birth, and the New York City story, which can be any story of visiting the big apple. The other evening he was in story telling mode as I changed his diaper. He started telling me the story of the poop. “And then, there was a poop!” Very entertaining!

To add to this, after Baba’s visit at the beginning of August, we added the Little Red Hen to our repertoire, and that is now a firm favorite. Lewis likes to act out the different sections with the help of his pink flamingo that Rachel gave him. He knows it’s a flamingo, but for story time, it’s the hen!

To add one more time to this...Today (Aug 25) when Lewis went down for a nap, we were skyping with Baba. So, we took the computer upstairs, I set Lewis up with Baba for a great rendition of Goldilocks, then I went to get Beau cleaned up from lunch and ready for bed, and joined in again for the end of the story. Isn't our world completely amazing! There is Baba in South Africa, and he can tell Lewis a bedtime story, do a virtual hug and kiss, and say goodnight. Amazing!!!

June 28, 2011

Today I went to Target with Lewis because we needed to find a suitcase before our trip. We found him a case, and he was really excited. He toddled all around the store wheeling his case behind him. At one point he found some goldfish. I don’t normally let him have them, but he was so darn cute saying, “Oh, these are some goldfish. We need to get these.” Then he unzipped his case and put them right in. A couple times he knocked things down and I told him to put them back. These ladies in the store were very impressed and thanked him for putting them back. He looked rather surprised at first, but finally said, “Oh, you’re welcome!”

July 8, 2011

We are at Acadia National Park and Lewis was getting a bit tired and his foot is hurting him because he cut it on the rocks at Kathleen and Earl’s. So, he decided he wanted to be carried. He’s a bit heavy for Mommy to carry, so Daddy suggested that he do a piggy back, which he did just the other day with Daddy. Lewis said, “No, no. I don’t want to be a piggy. I want to stay with Mommy.”

The other thing that just happened at Acadia was so cute. We’re up on the mountain climbing over the rocks. Lewis was so excited to see the water. He really wanted to go see the water, and he was rather determined, even though the water was probably about 5 miles away!

July 12, 2011

We’re at the playground in Barrington, Rhode Island. They have a new playground here. Lewis went on the big boy swings, which he hasn’t done too, too much. But, he just went on them and did a great job holding on. And, he even seemed to get that if he moved his body back and forth, he could get the swing to move. Pretty good!

July 14, 2011

We’re in the car, heading back from Rhode Island. Lewis dropped his microphone and wanted me to get it. I told him I couldn’t until we stopped. He just asked again, and I said, “I can’t see your microphone. Can you see your microphone?” He replied, “No, I can’t see my microphone. I’m in the car.” (with a very, duh, mom, tone!!!) But of course!

July 17, 2011

It started a few days ago, but Beau is officially scooting now. He can scoot along the ground in sort of an army crawl and go after toys. He’s all of a sudden very determined and is showing us a whole new side of his personality that we didn’t know was there!

Today Rachel looked over at us in church and saw that Beau was eating this little toy pig. She got this really shocked look on her face, and then right away, without missing a beat, she said, “Does he like bacon?” Too cute!

July 22, 2011
Lewis has the most amazing Daddy. He gets so amazingly excited when Daddy comes home at the end of the day. Mike loves to tickle him, play with him, color trains for him, read stories with him, make growling noises with him, and generally just be silly. Here's my amazing husband one morning after taking the early shift!

Yesterday, Lewis was playing with the trains that Uncle Tommy gave him. He told me, “We have to take good care of the trains. Uncle Tommy said to take good care of the trains.”

Trains are his absolute favorite, but the tractor at the farm is pretty cool too!

August 2, 2011

It’s Tuesday morning, and when Lewis woke up, the first thing he said is, “I want to see Baba”, because Baba is coming today. Then, I think between about 6:50 and 7:10, he must have asked if he could see Baba about 48 times. He is so excited to see his Baba!

Swings and Tricycles. Beau now loves to swing in the swing at the playground, and Lewis thinks it's a riot getting to do that with his baby brother. And, Lewis has learned how to ride his tricycle! (Sort of) He's still rather push his feet on the ground than push the pedals. But, he was so excited about riding his new tricycle that he rode all the way to Kunkel Park! (It took about an hour...normally takes 5 minutes!)

August 3, 2011

I just came downstairs this morning. It’s about 8am. Lewis is in his PJs and his yellow rain boots. He told me, “ I would like some of my own special yogurt.” I said, OK. He said, “Cause Daddy took his own special yogurt to work and I would like my own special yogurt.” Oh, OK. Well, where’s Daddy, I asked him. He went to work, Lewis replied. Well...where’s Baba? He’s upstairs working, Lewis told me. Oh! Lewis can just tell me about everything that goes on around here now! It still takes me by surprise that he can tell me and be right!

On that note, that reminds me of something funny that happened a couple months or so ago. I came downstairs just barely after Mike had left for work. I looked around for my phone and didn’t see it. So, I asked Lewis where it was, thinking that perhaps he had been playing games on it or something. “It’s in Daddy’s pocket”, he told me. And, he said it with such conviction that I immediately knew he was right. Oh no!!! We have no landline, so tracking down the phone that day was interesting!

August 9, 2011

At sacrament meeting on Sunday, right after Lewis took the sacrament, he yelled out pretty loudly, “Jesus loves me SOOOOO much!” It was just the cutest thing in the world!

Right now we’re driving in the car on our way over to our cousins’ house where Lewis will stay while Mommy’s at the WOW. I’ve been telling Lewis how he’ll stay with his cousins and they’ll play with him and he’ll need to listen to them and help them, etc. Well, as we were driving I said, “Now Lewis, if you feel sad, what do you think you can do?” He said, “I can ask Heavenly Father, and he’ll make me feel better in my heart.” I told him that’s exactly right. We had just talked about that in a Family Home Evening lesson. We looked at a picture of Joseph Smith when he was in jail and talked about how he prayed to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Father helped him feel better when he was sad. So, I told Lewis he was exactly right and I was so proud that he knew that. Then I told him that he could also ask Megan and Rachel and Brie and they can help him or give him a snug or get him a snack or something like that. Then I said, “and, that will make you feel better.” He told me, “No, that will not make me feel better. Rachel will make me feel better in my heart!” He is such a sweetie.

August 16, 2011

Beau is so cute. He is so determined and isn’t deterred. When he goes after the electrical wires, which he is prone to do now, I pick him up and set him down somewhere else with some toys or something. But, he CRIES. He remembers that he’s not getting those electrical wires that he lets me know. It’s funny – I don’t remember Lewis remembering things that much. He was more easily distracted, I somehow think.

Beau also seems to have a great sense of direction to accompany his great memory. This morning (actually Aug 25) I set him down in Lewis's room, and twice, he crawled out and scooted straight over to Mom and Dad's room and right into the bathroom to try and play with our trash can in there. (It happens to be ceramic and probably breakable - of course, it's the only trash can he's really that interested in!) I'm amazed that he remembers so clearly that it's there and how to get there!

One of Beau’s very most favorite activities is to sit in the living room in front of the basket of diapers and to pull all the diapers out so happily and gleefully. He’ll play with them and try to eat them. He just looks blissful!

Lewis is so sweet and so polite. For example, he said to his Didi, “Didi, can I ask you a favor? Can I play a song?” Then today in the car, he said, “Didn’t I ask that so nicely?!?” He is so sweet and cute!

I asked Lewis at the end of the day for the last couple days what his favorite thing was from that day, and he said the ice cream treat...which meant the banana whip at Bent Spoon. Then today when we were taking Cat and Didi to the airport I told him we were so lucky to have Didi and Cat, and I asked him what his favorite thing was from our time with Didi and Cat. He told me, “My favorite thing was the chocolate cookie that Didi made!” Good choice kid!

August 17, 2011

Lewis and Rachel were just outside swinging on the porch swing. Rachel asked Lewis, “What does a doggie say?”, and Lewis said, “Ruff, ruff!” Then she asked, “What does Lewis say?”. Lewis responded, “I want to build some tracks!” Then she asked, “What does Rachel say?” And he replied, “She says, I love you, Lewis!”

August 18, 2011

I am so proud of Lewis right now. Lewis just finished his lunch, and Beau finished his lunch and started nursing. Lewis said to me, “I’m going to get the vacuum. Cause I’m going to vacuum up the Cheerios. Cause Beau dropped the Cheerios and made a mess!” So, he went and got the dust buster, and he has vacuumed up every single Cheerio on Beau’s high chair and on the floor. He is such a sweet, helpful boy. I’m so proud of him!

August 22, 2011
Today we went to the farm to do our weekly pick up. I was thinking that I'd come back later in the week to do the pick your own because it had rained all weekend, and I figured it would be pretty messy out in the fields. But, this sweet mom and her two boys showed up whom we often play with. Her boys really wanted us to go out in the fields. So, boots on, sunscreen on, and we did. Beau stayed nice and dry while he slept on my back. But those other three boys literally took a mud bath for about 2 hours straight! I've never seen kids so happy! First they sloshed through a huge wet puddle sort of area. Then once we enticed them out to the green beans, they picked for a while and then found the sticky mud. After some raspberries and blackberries, we were on to the tomatoes where the mud was so sloshy and sticky that Lewis got stuck in it numerous times. We finished off with the mud over by the basil and flowers and then took one last bath in the really big mud puddle at the exit. It was amazing!!! Lewis had a ball! We came home happily in just a diaper, and boy did he sleep well that afternoon! Sorry...no mud pictures...I was afraid my camera would get wet!

As soon as we were back from our trips this summer, Beau started on solids. And boy, does he ever love them! He’s been such a mellow little boy, but once he sees that bowl and spoon, he starts grunting and moaning and tensing up. You can’t take a break between spoonfuls for more than a fraction of a second! It’s so cute!

The other big news is that Beau is now a mover and a shaker!!! The day that we left to drive back down from Rhode Island (July 14), he started sort of scooting around and getting up on all fours a little. Within three days of being back, that army crawl had gotten pretty good. He could scoot across the floor to get toys. And, within a few days of that, he was able to sit up all on his own. What a little pumpkin! He’s so cute and self-sufficient now...well, relatively! It’s been over a month since he started his army crawl, and he seems to just be settling into the scoot with his arms and toes. He can get around so well that way that he doesn’t seem anxious to try to really crawl! Then, on August 17^th, Beau pulled up in his crib. Uh oh!!! We scrambled to lower the mattress that very evening, and all was well. He hasn’t been pulling up too much since then, but here and there. It’s definitely just a matter of time!

Lewis has been rather obsessed with “ice cream treats”...smoothies. We love making them, but we’ve now had to cut him off entirely because Mommy and Daddy can’t deal with what comes out the other end after he has one!

We took a fun trip to the Children’s Museum with Rachel. She was so sweet playing with Lewis the whole time and really letting him run the show. He loves that place!

Mommy and Daddy had a fun date night out to a bluegrass concert in Lawrenceville one evening. That’s always a treat!

Then we were really treated to a weekend in the city courtesy of J&J. It was the intern celebration weekend with a couple events for Mike to attend. We stayed in the Parker Meridian, just a couple blocks from Central Park. Lewis was in heaven with a hotel to explore and all the buses and cabs of New York City! We got in some good pool time at the hotel. We’re quickly learning that when you travel with kids, this is as much of a draw as anything else! A friend came over and babysat the boys while Mom and Dad went out to a schmancy dinner the first evening. Saturday was filled with jogging in Central Park, Sara Beth’s for brunch, a visit to the MET, more play time in Central Park, and relaxing at the pool. Mike went to a bowling event with the company that evening while Norah stayed in with the boys. It felt like a really fun little getaway!

Baba came to visit us for a few days at the beginning of August. He had flown it to be with Louise and Tom for Tom’s surgery. Once they were settled and wanted a bit of alone time, he came down to see us. It’s always a treat to have Baba here! We picked and picnicked at the farm together. Had lots of playground and play time with the boys. Then on Saturday, Baba came into the city with us so Norah and Mike could catch the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the MET for its last weekend. Check out the lines to get in! We made it into the line fairly early, so we probably waited about an hour outside and then two hours inside. By the time we left, people were waiting easily for three hours outside and another three inside. Crazy!!! It was rather spectacular, so we were excited that we got to do it. Baba took the boys to play in Central Park while we had our museum excursion, and they had a fabulous time.

The big news in Norah’s family is that Louise and Tom secretly and privately got married while Baba was here visiting us. They called to tell us the happy news, and gave us quite a surprise! We’re very happy for them officially to be husband and wife as they have now started Tom’s chemo treatment, and we’re thinking about them and praying for them every day.

Mid August brought...the WOW! The Women of Wasden getaway! This year Beau got to join in the girls’ festivities. We stayed at the lovely Inn at Bowman’s Hill in Bucks County. It was such a beautiful property, just made for relaxation and gluttony – two tenants of the WOW! We had a lovely time going for walks and jogs, swimming in the pool, eating amazing breakfasts, eating amazing dinners, eating a ton of chocolate, and eating really good desserts. And, it was just lovely to spend time together. What a treat! Lewis had quite the treat too because his cousins babysat him during the day while Mommy was at the WOW. Those girls are just amazing! They are so sweet and positive and great with him. I always feel like he seems so much more grown up after he spends time with them. We really appreciated their help.

The day after we got back from the WOW, Cat, Didi, and Norah all went into New York to see...Wicked!!! It was so amazingly fabulous! I really wasn’t expecting it to be that exhilarating and breathtaking and amazing. For a show that’s been around for a good while now and has had so much hype, I almost didn’t expect it to live up to the hype...but it did! It was SO much fun!

We got to have Cat and Didi here for just a couple more days before they flew back home. Those happy days were filled with two decadent Bent Spoon visits and lots of fun and laughter. Rachel was also staying with us during their visit and beyond while her mom and sisters were away at Girls’ Camp. So, we had lots of fun dress up time, baking time, playground visits, a farm visit, and Lewis’s first trip to go bowling. It was great!