Duck Donuts

One of my favorite Outer Banks traditions is donuts at Duck Donuts. They are made to order--you pick out your icing and topping and then you can watch them make it for you! I totally butchered our order--for some reason the little grid baffled me.



My favorites were chocolate icing with peanuts and peanut butter icing with chocolate sprinkles. Surprised? I didn't think so.



It was so fun to vacation with Megan and Dane and little Piper! Lots of things are easier when you vacation with friends--more people to play games with, more dads to entertain kids, and more moms to prepare meals.



We took the donuts home to eat on the deck because Duck Donuts is lacking in the table and chair department. Although I can't imagine a better place to eat donuts--by the sea.

Keaton at Two Months

Keaton is two months old! Which is twice as old as last month. Which mean time really flies!



Best thing about two month old Keaton? Sweet sweet smiles. Lots of them. And sweet coo-ey giggly sounds. Oh it's the sweetest. He was sleeping in my lap the other day and kept giggling in his sleep. It was perfect.



Not too many developments in the last month--no rolling over or talking or anything. Just smiles. And general chubbiness.



Two months brought Keaton's fist trip to the beach and a very exciting long drive there and back. He's not the biggest fan of car trips... which does not bode well for our MEGA car trip to my sister's wedding in Ft. Lauderdale next weekend. #prayforus



Keaton's a pretty good sleeper--most of the time going down for the night between 8 and 9 and sleeping until between midnight and 1, then getting up to nurse three hours later... and then kind of being a fussy fidgety sleeper until he's up for the day around 8.  Much like Braden. He sleeps better on his belly (rule breaker!) and is a pretty good napper too.



(He has two feet, only one pictured here.)  As I was taking pictures of Keaton, I turned and looked through the window and found this hooligan. #crazybigbrother #hashtag

Keaton-gator

I'm doing my best. I really am.  I'm trying hard to make sure that sweet, little Keaton gets as many pictures as the first two did. Which is good, because he has just as many sweet smiles as Braden and Finley.



When you are taking a zillion pictures of your kid (or dog or house or food), you have to put them somewhere, otherwise they turn to viruses and melt your computer. It's true, Google it. So this is my yearly reminder to do something with your pictures to save them forever. Print them. Blog them. Frame them. Make a photo book. Something so that they don't get lost in the abyss that is your hard drive. They'll thank you.

Brothers

We made our triumphant return to church this past Sunday.  It would have been sooner--but we were out of town two Sundays at the beach and had a parade of company coming through every weekend we were home! I told Sol I needed a picture of the boys--and for some reason they somewhat participated.

It's amazing what the promise of a mini-Oreo and cupcake will get out of your children... Finley was willing to hold Keaton and Braden was willing to hold semi-still.

Poor Keaton. He needs to get some head control so he can hang with his crazy brothers.



As crazy as life feels right now, I can sometimes see glimmers of what may be years down the road. Voracious eaters. Holes in the wall. Wrestling. Stinky feet. The end of matching outfits... Probably Star Wars. Definitely Legos and Transformers. I'm looking forward to it. Until I step on a Lego.

Finley Boogies

One of the big changes with the boys this year--they were able to play a little more actively in the ocean! And they loved it. Braden has no fear, and Finley became a competent enough swimmer that the water didn't make him nervous.  His newest skill? Boogie boarding.







Sol would carry him out on the board and set him on a wave that pushed him in. HE LOVED IT.  Everytime he stood up at the end and said THAT WAS AWESOME! It was adorable.

Just a Little Post

To blog or not to blog.

Sometimes I haven't written a post in so long (eight days!) that I feel like I have to write an awesome one to come back with.  And this one isn't it.  We spent last week in the Outer Banks and it was lovely. We basically went to the beach, ate and listened to Justin Timberlake. Over. And. Over. I've almost watched all of Twin Peaks, which is probably the best show of the early nineties. I'm not sure how to deal with the end of Breaking Bad in all its glory. And I'm trying to figure out how to drive to preschool twice a day and not die of kids yelling and crying in the car. Basically, I want a nap and to talk to someone about TV.

But because I have this crazy need to post something, here's the best picture of my big boys from the beach. Almost both looking and almost both smiling. We had a sandy, sunny blast.

Pie, Slides and Dives

I had been looking forward to going to the pool with Vic since Keaton was born.  Labor Day conveniently fell six weeks after he was born and I was allowed back in the water.  All the things I had wanted to do all summer--go off the high dive, go down the slide--I could finally do. And I could do them with my (braver) pal Vic.

THE SLIDE IS FUN. THE HIGH DIVE WAS SCARY. I was shocked that Victoria climbed up and went off so bravely. I did not. I screamed. Like a little girl. Eh.



One of the Labor Day festivities was a pie eating contest.  After my initial disappointment that it was a slice of a pie and not an entire pie has subsided, we were ready to dig in.  Although apparently, a pie eating contest is a face only thing. Which we did not realize.  It was hilarious.

I had lots of peaches in my nose, but I beat Vic and the nice lady gave us both coupons for $.50 off the snack bar because... well I think she felt sorry for us. That's fine. We bough CHIPS.



Finley was considerably cuter at eating pie. Such a neat little fellow. He was definitely the youngest kid up there and did not get the racing aspect of it. Still adorable though.

One Sunday with Vic and Co.

Vic came to visit for Labor Day weekend. As with most of her visits, we did a lot of everything.  A lot of laughing, a lot of couch sitting, a lot of TV watching, a lot of cupcake/cobbler/pie/candy eating... just a lot of fun.  That's what happens when we are together--a lot of everything.  On Sunday, we tricked several East Coasty friends to come to town for some fun. We started at Farmer's Road--my favorite fast food restaurant--local, healthy, cheap food!



I really, really just like having someone who knows how to work my camera around. THANKS VIC.

Vicki brought her little girl and baby bump--and Emily brought Keaton's pal Charles. I'd like to try to count ridiculous things in this picture--Keaton's diaper blowout, Finley hiding beteween Vic and I, no children looking at the camera, Vic's excited face, me not realizing there's chaos around... it's a great slice of life.



Well here's a nice one without the babies. It certainly easier to look lovely when you aren't holding squirrely kids.

After lunch, the ladies (sans Emily) headed to Longwood Gardens. I did not like having to sit in the backseat on the way because I was the only person in the car who was not pregnant and under six feet. CRAMPED.



I'd been dying to visit Longwood--it was still a little warm, but the kids had a great time splashing in the fountains. They are running all over and are designed to let kids enjoy them!  They got wet, which is always a bit of a struggle for me... but they dried out and we survived.




There are children's treehouses through out the gardens--we only made it to one, but the boys both thought it was great. My favorite part of the day was getting dressed after Victoria. She's wearing an anchor shirt? I'll wear my anchor shorts. She's wearing her gold initial necklace? I'll wear mine too!  We were wearing our matching Jacks until she changed into more sensible footwear for walking.  Twinsies for life.

First Day of Preschool

The boys started preschool this week--the first time for both of them. Finley is going five days a week (so big!) and Braden is going two. Because it's unacceptable for any child to go to school without taking a picture with a sign these days, we took a few of those. And luckily Victoria was here to be the photographer, so we actually got a decent family one! Hooray!

I was surprisingly not sad at all to send the boys off.  I think the chaos caused by Keaton made me READY for those few hours with less kids. And Finley was beyond ready.  I was a little worried about him--most of the other kids are older and had been in preschool the previous year. But his teacher assured me he had a great vocabulary and seemed very bright.  Relief. He's come home every day telling me all about their centers and his job in the classroom--he loves it.





Can someone explain how we became parents to a kiddo who is headed off to school every day? I'm not expecting to handle kindergarten so gracefully--I fully expect to be a melty mess next year.



Braden struggled just a bit--the teacher sad he was a little sad towards the end, but the tears had dried up by the time we got there.  I can only imagine what preschool with a room full of two year olds looks like! I've done a much poorer job teaching Braden things on my own, so I'm glad he's headed off where someone else can straighten out colors and letters and such. As you can see, he was really into taking pictures. He was really interested in the baby wipe and dandelion he was holding. Typical B-Town.



BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!



It was the perfect first week of preschool--Sol was on the evening shift, so he was here to help us get ready in the morning and start working on a routine of getting the kids dropped off and picked up. It's kind of a lot of coordinating for a somewhat sleep deprived mom to figure out.



In our not best timing move--we're headed to the beach next week, so the kids get a well deserved break from school. Whoops.

Six Week Check Up

We somehow skipped Keaton's one month check up and sailed over to the six week one--so here are his stats.  He's still small compared to his brothers, but is exhibiting the same early weight gain that we expect to taper off recently. Even if they end up skinny as rails, I cherish the short lived days with chubby cheeks.

Head: 38.4cm 60%
Length: 21 3/4" 28% (passed F's birth length, but not B!)
Weight: 11lbs 3oz 57%



He got some shots which made him sad--and pretty grouchy for the duration of the day. None of us liked that. And I got to hear what Braden's imitation of Keaton's screams are. Fun.



Keaton's rolled over once--I think it was a fluke assisted by the smooth leather and the slope of the couch cushions. He's a big smiler--our pediatrician said early smiling is a sign of intelligence. Harvard, you can be expecting Keaton's application in about seventeen and a half years. Stand by. She also said he had the head control of a three to four month old.  I'm going to make sure I remind him of that whenever he's feeling sad later in life--at least he had good head control at an early age!

I Want to Ride My Bicycle, I Want to Ride My Bike.

I wish the title of this post was the song we sing when we go out to take Finley to practice his bike riding skillz.  Instead, we have to sing the song from Mickey Mouse Road Rally. Let me tell you, it's hurting our street cred.



Finley's making great strides (pun intended!) with his bike riding.  Our old neighborhood was a bit busy to practice on the streets. This one is much less trafficky with some nice downhills to let him get enough momentum to practice coasting.



Strider bikes are the coolest--they let kids get the hang of balancing before they have to worry about pedaling. And they are cute. Which helps balance out the menacing helmet Finley is sporting.



We're so proud of him for getting the hang of it! I'm surprised how much he loves to ride the bike--and he gets away from us really fast! The crashing has been pretty minimal--no skinned knees.



And here's a decent video of him riding his bike away from us... Sol is still mastering the art of the iPhone. :)