Vacation for All

Dear Readers, because our family has been on vacation, I thought you might want a vacation from this blog to make you feel a part of the fun. Yeah, that's it.


Before we get started on the vacation fun...a quick stats update.


At our recent doctor's appointment, Miles measured 3 feet 5.5 inches (74%) and weighed 40 lbs 5 ounces (81%). After staring at his ribs during all of the swimming/sprinkler fun on vacation, it was hard for us to believe he was 80% for weight, but he's right in line BMI-wise because of his height. We'll be setting up a speech and hearing appointment soon. Despite Miles' vast vocabulary, he had a still has a bit of trouble with his "r"s and "th"s ("Hello, Mudda. Hello, Fadda"). That, combined with the fact that he talks pretty loudly (even for our family), means we'll just do a check-in to make sure. More to come!


Marshall was 30.75 inches (39%) tall and 22 lb 2 ounces (17%). That shocked us even more than Miles' stats, just because of how much food that boy puts away! Usually, he will eat all of his portion, plus the rest of Miles' dinner. He hit all of the milestones on the doc's checklist too, including saying 3-5 words ("uh oh", "more", and "hello" are still what we hear most often). He also has good handle on identifying his head and belly and is getting close on ear, nose, and eye.


The worst part was that both boys needed shots. Miles was very brave and volunteered to go first. I'm not sure he quite realized what he was getting into...we heard lots of "owie, owie, owie" and had some crying afterward by both parties.


So, on to vacation highlights. I am in the last few days on my month-long sabbatical from work, so we took advantage of both of us having the time off. We headed up first to the lake, and David, Hilary, and Gavin joined the fun:







We celebrated the big boys' birthday at Put-In-Bay (minus the kids) and had cake and ice cream for the June birthdays the next day. It was great fun, despite the annual Attack of the Mayflies.







Then, the real "Nana and Papa Vacation" began. While, Jason and I spent a glorious week basking in the 50 - 60 degrees temps in Washington State, Miles and Marshall hung out with Nana and Papa. Despite a train ride, zoo visit, and other fun activites, Miles still says his favorite part of the whole week was eating snow cones and s'mores.








When Jason and I returned, the mayflies were gone and we were actually able to enjoy some time on the lake.





On the way home, we stopped for a visit with the Bensons and the Falks. The kids all had a fantastic time with the kiddie pool and popsicles!





We were home for one full day before hitting the road again for Lyla's third birthday party. Cupcakes + sprinklers + cousins = success!




This past week, we've had a great time just relaxing and trying to stay cool in the triple digit temperatures. We managed to sneak in mini golf and a baseball game before things got miserable. Then, Miles and Marshall had their "Grammy Vacation" last night so Jason and I could celebrate our 11th anniversary. Miles says his favorite part was watching movies before bed, and Marshall loved swimming, despite his creepy crud (cold? pinkeye? teething? reaction to shot? who knows...).

It's been an exciting month, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. It's been wonderful just being able "be" with my boys.

One Small Step for Boy

It's official - we have a walker! A hesitant walker, but a walker nonethless! He' been taking 2ish steps for Daddy, but I had never seen it, so it's not official until it gets the Mommy Stamp of Approval, right? The boys and I were out playing baseball, and I convinced Marshall to hold on to the bat while I held the other end. Trickster Mommy let go, and he took off the four or five steps to the patio wall!

Marshall is also getting much more vocal. He's really into "uh oh" and loves saying "heh-ro!" when he's talking on the phone. It's kind of hard to tell the difference between "mama" and "more more", but we're starting to figure it out as he gets better at signing.

Our boys and house have been really dirty lately...well, beyond how dirty they normally are. It's all thanks to our new sand "box" that Daddy made for Marshall's birthday. Every night, Marshall crawls longingly to the patio door and asks to go out and play.

Gavin even joined in the sand box party with them this weekend, which, of course, required a group bath afterward!

Gavin was in town to watch Grandpa Bernie do the ride-along at the speedway. He and Miles had a great time with him and Aunt Ashley!

Quick One

I just wanted to remind everyone - we have a YouTube channel, and I just uploaded some cute new videos.

I am also even too lazy to crop out this dude's finger right now. Someday...

Family pic at Lucas Oil!

Bunnies. Baseball. Battlestar Gallactica.

OK, so there's no Battlestar Gallactica in this post, but we have plenty of bunnies and baseball!

In Bunny news, the Easter Bunny came to our house! Miles was over the moon about the whole thing, especially finding the eggs. We had (literally) about a hundred plastic eggs, so he was busy. We were a little worried when we couldn't find one of the hard-boiled ones, but luckily it turned up by Wednesday in Miles' pirate ship!




When I say we have plenty of bunnies, that means more than just the Easter Bunny. We have enough chocolate bunnies to feed an army of munchkin chocoholics. Miles is obsessed with his candy and has finally stopped "just looking" at his basket five times a night.

Marshall whines and points at Miles' candy, but it's not winning us over! It helps that he had his first trip to the dentist on April 2. All looked good, although he'll likely inherit my "buckies", with a big gap in between his front teeth. You can catch a glimpse of his cute littles teefers in his one-year pics:



We have been quite the baseball family lately! As part of a spring break mini-trip, we did an overnight in Louisville and went to the Slugger Museum. Everyone had a great time! We saw Joey Votto's bat being made, played a little in the tee-ball batting cage, and Miles broke the rules by swinging a real bat for the picture:





Yesterday, we had a great day at Victory field for an Indians vs. Mud Hens double header. Miles kept saying that he wanted them to tie so he wouldn't have to pick, and he got his wish...sort of. We watched the Indians win the first game but left in extra innings before the Mud Hens won the second game. We started up in the rafters, but it kept us out of the sun for a little while.



After the first game, Miles insisted on conducting a mission to find his friend Eli. Luckily, we found him (with Mom and Dad Garrett, of course) sitting right behind home plate. We elbowed our way in to some empty seats near them and enjoyed the rest of the game in style! It was a great day.

Year One? Done.

My little boy is now a BIG boy! Marshall is a big one-year old.

As tended to be the theme of his first year, Marshall was sick but generally happy enough to stick his way through it for his birthday. We started the day at the doctor's office. The fun stuff - he is 50% in height. Didn't get an actual number, but the charts say that is around 29-30 inches. His weight was down to 10%...19ish pounds. Head stays tiny at 5%. If his 12-month shots weren't bad enough, the doc also said he had another ear infection and pink eye. This was after we went to MedCheck on Sunday (after a 103 fever) and they said he just had a virus...ears and eyes looked fine.

Nevertheless, he seemed in good spirits, and it just seemed depressing to spend another day at home, so we took him to the Children's Museum for a little bit as planned. Shhhhhh...Miles must NEVER know! We decided this was (and might be) the only time Marshall gets both parents to himself to do what he wants. He really enjoyed his time in Playscape and even tolerated the carousel.

We had lots of fun at his party on Saturday. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we spent a lot of it outside.

It took Marshall a little while to get into his cake, but he got the hang of it. He was even more into it on his actual birthday, even licking the plate!

I am amazed at how big he suddenly seems. When he did this, I could hardly believe my eyes:




I can't leave big brother out of this post. Check out his genius idea to lure Peyton Manning back to the Colts:

Combover No More

Well, crap. I had this entire post written, and, thanks to the "genius" of my iPhone, I accidentally deleted it. So here goes round #2...if it seems a little rushed and flat, you'll know why.

Marshall got his first hair cut today! Why, you may ask, does this baldy need a trim?

...because he had a baby combover, that's why! He had this 4-inch lock of hair behind his ear that reminded me a lot of my Grandpa Woodling's 'do in the 80s. With that and the scruff over his ears, we figured it would be good to spruce him up a bit for his big First Birthday party this weekend.

He did a fantastic job! He only squirmed a little and didn't shed a single tear, unlike his big brother Miles' first haircut.

Marshall is a big boy in more ways than one. He is getting to be pretty good at walking with help. He wants to walk everywhere that he can - his little black Chuck Taylors are getting worn out! He's down to holding on with one hand now. Marshall also is pretty much on to big boy food now and will start to move away from bottles soon. He gets really mad when he doesn't have the same food as the rest of the family, and he insists on having a spoon or fork just like the big people.

Here he is a while back, with his walking toy:



Miles is also growing so quickly. He continues to love pre-school and is learning so much. I'm not sure if I'm just a proud mama, but I would say that he is "pre-reading" now. He recognizes simple words like "go" and can take a guess in context with the pictures as to what some words are. The other day he guessed correctly when he said, "Does that sign say Applebee's?". Now, it's true that they do have an apple on their sign, but he's only only eaten at Applebee's about twice in his life. If he had correctly guessed what the McDonald's sign said, that would be a completely less-impressive story.

He also loves to sing and dance. Here are his "moves like Jagger":



We had a fun time a few weekends ago in Lexington, celebrating cousin Natalie's baptism. Other than infecting the entire Kolb family with strep throat, it was great bonding with the cousins!

Okay, computer's getting ready to die, and I'll be damned if I lose another post. More from Marshall's birthday to come!

Snippets

Marshall is growing by the minute! He's now 11 months old and is really developing a fun personality. He's getting really playful and can get around like a champ by crawling or cruising along the couch. He's shoveling as much food in as we give him and pretty much eats whatever we do. He thinks his brother is hilarious and loves waving to him when he goes on buggy rides at school.

Check out the fun he had at Monkey Joe's last week:



Speaking of hilarious brothers, here are some Miles story snippets:

Me: "Miles, how did you get so big?"
Miles: "Because I growed up and had all my birthdays!"

Miles (while watching the Butler/Valpo basketball game): "He's not wearing any shirt!"
Me: "Yeah, crazy frat boys. Are you going to be a crazy frat boy like that when you're in college?"
Miles: "Noooo..."
Me: "Are you going to be in the band?"
Miles: "Yep." (Thinking...) "No, I'm not going to be in the band, I'm going to be a football player!"
Lord help us...

During bedtime prayers: "Mommy, I'm turning to the wall, but I still love you and I still think you're pretty."

Me: "Do you want to wear your overalls tomorrow? Grammy got them for you and she would love to see you wearing them."
Miles: "Those big pants? I'll look like Steve Urkel!"

Me: "Tell Daddy what you told me about Bible Time today."
Miles: "I don't remember..."
Me: "What happen with the jailors? When the locks fell off? The earth..."
Miles: "There was an erf-queek."
Daddy: "An earthquake? What happened?"
Miles (paraphrased): "Well, the Cat in the Hat is inside the earf, and he kept turning this ham machine and it made a queeking sound, and that was an earf-queek."

Miles, out of the blue: "Mommy. Daddy doesn't listen to you."
Me: "I know! You're right."
Miles: "I listen to you. Marshall listens to you. But Daddy doesn't listen to you."

Brothers!