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Two's company

Come and knock on our door. We’ve been waiting for you.

Where the kisses are hers and hers and his, three’s company too.

Ok, now that I’ve ensured those annoying lyrics are in your head for the rest of the day I can move on to the fact that Malcolm and Adam are officially roommates!

This has been a move that I have been wanting to do for months and finally worked up the nerve to get done. There were several reasons to wanting the boys to share a room when we actually have three bedroom so there is technically no need.

Reason one, Malcolm’s air conditioning has always had some issues and they are finally going to do some work in his room to look into it. I’m not confident they’ll actually fix it but now that he’s not in there I don’t have to stress over it.

Reason two, Adam lately has wanted the lights on and when we put him to bed, pouts and says- But I’m all alone. He from the minute we started suggesting this months ago (to see how he would respond and let him get used to the idea) was all for it.

Reason three, I like the idea that the boys don’t have stuff that is ‘mine’. Of course some toys will belong to one boy but in general sharing rooms makes most stuff shared commodity and takes away ownership. The rule in our house is if someone is playing with something the other has to wait his turn.

Reason four, I think it’s nice that they’ll grow up together and be able to be closer, literally and figuratively.

Reason five, it’s nice to have a guest room for all our visitors who travel so far to see us!

Bedtime took us a couple of weeks to get down but it’s been going pretty well. We do combined book reading where each boy picks a book and Malcolm has his milk while we’re reading. Then both boys go down pretty easy. It’s made bedtime for Adam easier, he seems to fight it more. I’m not sure if it’s because he feels comfier with Malcolm there or he’s just so exhausted by bedtime now that his nap is nonexistent.

Morning times are still a work in progress. One boy or the other tend to wake each other up at dawn. Lately if it’s before 6 (it’s always before 6) i give both boys books to read and they stay in bed reading until Adam’s stop light alarm clock turns green. This has had mixed success but I have caught some precious moments on the alarm clock. Adam the other day walked over to the bathroom to get something, he then walked over to Malcolm’s crib. It took me a couple minutes to realize he had gone and gotten a tissue to wipe Malcolm’s runny nose, which Malcolm then proceeded to grab and tear into a hundred pieces but it’s the thought that counts people.

I also love how when Malcolm stands up and throws his books out of the crib to drive home the point that he has had enough and would like an adult to come retrieve him, Adam decides that this means anarchy shall reign and throws all his books down in solidarity! He then usually gets Malcolm one of his books back. The best part is all this buys me another 10 minutes in bed, yes I’m staring at the monitor to make sure all hell doesn’t break loose but sometimes you’re just not ready to get up at 5:15.

Happenings

Loving his big boy carseat

Date night at Hungry Hound.

After doctor treat at Starbucks.

“Daddy, I want to be like that boy. But I cannot because he is yellow and I am pink” Deep thoughts by Adam.

Unequal reward systems doled out by the obvious.

Professional haircut after failed attempt at cutting bangs by mommy.

Wedding!

And a scarf to cover up the oily salad spill.

More wedding,

Adam’s idea to “have babies that then growed all up”. When I mentioned that he would have a baby maybe someday his reply was “I already have a baby, it’s Malcolm, he’s sleeping”.

Fancy birthday candle from my good friend Kate.

Mind Museum Faces.

Two friends walking Cider.

Two parents walking Adam and Cider.

Two friends taking a walk.

Owning the stroller.

Art fair in Salcedo Park. The bottom left now lives in Adam and Malcolm’s room.

The reason mommy cut bangs.

A visit from Tamer.

Easter Morning

Easter morning came before we knew it. We were so excited to celebrate Adam’s fourth Easter (!) and Malcolm’s second! We started in mommy and daddy’s room before the egg hunt began!

Malcolm’s new obsession is my card box (opened in the back right). Shown here is a sympathy card he pulled out of the box and carried around for the next 20 minutes. It’s pretty darn cute, even if it means I will have no non wrinkled cards to send anyone when needed (good cards here are pretty hard to find so I tend to hoard them when I can).

Then it was on to our Easter baskets. Each boy got a new Easter book and a couple of little treats, horse stamps and a board game (thanks Grandma Gertch) and new cute matching bathing suits from Aunt Sandra, Uncle Shawn and cousins Roman and Isla.

Then it was time for the Easter egg hunt!

Adam LOVED it! He found all the eggs. Malcolm was much more interested in the books. He’s really gotten into books lately and loves to bring them over to us to read. You may be wondering who that cute dog it- his name is Cider, he’s a poodle puppy. Our friend is looking for a home for him and we decided to have a trial run. The boys LOVED him and he was a very sweet puppy…but…we decided to wait a couple of years. Anyways…back to Easter!

And then people, this is what happens when a three year old eats only chocolate for breakfast. Malcolm, who had been fully occupied with his new Easter book decided to go in for one of Adam’s eggs. We asked Adam (who had found all the eggs) to share one with Malcolm….

Not so much….

All that for Malcolm to have an egg and feed it to Cider the dog.

Oh the tears!!

The drama of having to share ONE of many Easter eggs. But you know what helped people? More chocolate 🙂 Maybe next year we’ll hide stickers in the eggs. Or have breakfast first?

Guess which boy misses Cider the most!

Sharing horse stamps (but still not the chocolate).

Happy again 🙂

We had invited some friends over so we put a leg of lamb in the oven and made some Greek sides, We had roasted rosemary potatoes, spinach pies, orzo and feta salad, tzatziki and more!

Then the little ones had another egg hunt. Here is where you may say, but Fo, are you sure that’s the best thought out idea? To give these already hyper on sugar candy little ones more sugar? Aha, but here is where I had a genius moment. I had squirreled away Adam’s cache of eggs away earlier and I re-hid them. Thus resulting in a sharing of the wealth.

Then we tried to get these sugar loaded babes on the couch for a picture.

We had better luck with the adults (and babies)!

I’m always amazed at how lucky we are to have such amazing friends who make the holidays special even though we’re so far away from our family. Happy Easter!

The Fun Farm…again!

With a four day weekend upon us for Easter we decided the best plan was to have loads of activities! We’ve learned that the more outside time these two get the better we all feel and the easier bedtime and naptime is. After our morming at the farm both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home and stayed asleep through a move to their beds and slept for three more hours! Heaven!

But lets start at the beginning. The drive is about 45 minutes with no traffic, which ONLY happens in Manila on a Sunday or a holiday. Luckily it was a holiday, so we were there quick. First up, the new pig pen!

Color us excited..or maybe not sure?

Then it was on to rabbit feeding. Adam was in heaven! He delicately fed each rabbit carrots and pet them and tried to pick them all up. He is such an animal lover and he went around saying ‘How cuuuuute’.

Also, Adam has reached the stage in life where he would like to pick his own clothes …this means all the photos for the next unknown lenght of time will have Adam wearing his shark shirt or this neon green Philippine air force shirt picked up on his field trip to the Air & Space museum….I’m tempted to disappear these shirts but he loves them so, so get used to neon green people.

This little peanut was wary and did NOT like when those scary rabbits came up and sniffed him. He would run back to me and beg me to take him out.

“Why are you letting these wild animals sniff me mama??”

Then time for some fishing. The fates were not on our side this time and despite waiting for quite a patient while there were no nibbles.

So….on to a rowboat ride.

Adam moved on to his favorite! Horse back riding!

This little peanut wasn’t so sure about those big horses so he stayed right by me. He loves staying right next to me and is a cuddler by nature. I’ll take it!

Maybe next time I’ll go horseback riding mommy 🙂 This time I’ll stay with you please!

Then we took a Carabao back to the picnic area for a yummy picnic that we packed.

After lunch Adam found this group making bubbles. Adam is for sure my child. His competitive side came out. See that cute little girl in pink, Adam and her were having a ‘Who can pop the bubbles faster’ contest. Every time Adam got one he would sing out- “I got it fiiiiiirst!!” Pink shirt girl was not a fan.

After a healthy amount of competition it was off to the playground and swings. Adam LOVES this tire swing and stayed in it for no exaggeration, an hour. He’s lucky he has a daddy who pushed him for all that time!

This little peanut lasted about 5 minutes and then it was off to the sand playground, his favorite.

Malcolm’s new love, opening and closing doors. Just, please, please, please keep your little fingers away Malcolm! (ps- his little pinky thankfully healed up and you can’t even tell it was the victim of slammed door!)

Here you have Malcolm’s ‘Yup, I just threw sand and what are you going to do about it’ face….

We are pretty lucky to have such a great place for kids so close. It was a great start to our Easter weekend!

Hello Mr. Bunny

Malcolm, guess who’s behind the door!

It’s the Easter bunny! Surprise!

Oh, so it’s not a good surprise?

What? You’re terrified of a man in a bunny suit? Ah, ok. Got it.

Adam, what about you? Not sure?

Success! Malcolm want to try again?

No, ok. At least one kid likes the Easter bunny this year!

After our failed Easter Bunny interaction (thank you kind marine who donned a hot furry Easter bunny suit to make some kids Easters, and scare a few of them) we moved outside where things started to look up. Games, arts and crafts and of course everyone’s favorite- the Easter egg hunt!

Adam loved showing Malcolm and Penelope how to play bean bags.

Can we talk for a minute about how hard it is to keep a three year old from collecting Easter eggs before the hunt has officially started. It is VERY HARD! Thank goodness for my friend Jenny who had a couple eggs in her purse.

Eventually it was (mercifully) time to start the Easter egg hunt. Adam loved it and was pretty good this year. He found tons!

I love the death stare Adam is giving Malcolm over touching his eggs. We eventually shared some but it took some negotiations.

And because the holdiays make me nostalgic here is Adam at the same Easter party at the same place (the Deputy Ambassador’s house) just a month older than Malcolm is here!

Smile please!

You may wonder how we have so many wonderful pictures of the boys. Fo, how do you do it? Your children are never crying, they’re never whining, they love taking photos. Not pictured- the whining, begging, bargaining, time and tears! But tears or no, I think it’s always worth it!

Whenever we have a holiday where the boys are out of t-shirts and leggings (oh how I love baby leggings- and yes Randy, baby leggings are for boys too!) I have to work hard to convince all the boys in the house to take some to photos (yes- all the boys, even the ones over 5 feet). I have a feeling this will only get harder as the boys get older, but it won’t stop me from trying. Welcome to the trials of being the only lady in the house!

Well, at least I don’t have to convince this one yet. He was all smiles and ready for his close up! He actually is a total momma’s boy, so if I holding him he’s happy for a while, until some shiny object catches his eye of course.

Smiling and showing off his 8 teeth!! Not so much the lump of toddler laying to my left. Note smeared chocolate on bottom right of white shirt, more on that coming up. Can you handle all the excitement people!

Everybody keeps telling me Malcolm looks exactly like me. Is it weird that I just don’t see it? Is it the tongue people? (Malcolm was obsessed with his tongue last week, this weeks he’s moved on to his shoes).

I finally bribed my toddler lump with a piece of Easter candy. In his defense our air conditioning had stopped working (it was fixed later that day) and it was pretty hot in our apartment. Maybe that was contributing to the toddler angst. And I had already bribed with Easter candy to get him to wear his nice shoes as opposed to his green sneakers (remember chocolate stain on shirt above). What am I going to do when candy bribes no longer work and I have to give him something else? What comes next? Money? The keys to my car?

Well, for now candy works. It bought me a sitting up toddler. It unfortunately didn’t buy me a smile. Mayeb I should try money next time.

We all took a break to open some more windows. Which of course everyone loved much more than photo taking. This little peanut loves opening and closing things so this was right up his alley.

Everyone seemed happy to pose when the grownups were out of the picture.

Ok, then the crowning moment, an attempt to get all four of us in a picture.

Once again trying to convince my teenager toddler that laying on the couch won’t work..time for reverse psychology. We told him he is welcome to sit this one out we will take the picture with just Malcolm.

This of course worked like a charm! Good enough my friends, good enough!

Throwback to last year’s Easter’s photos! Look at those cheeks and that little smile on both of them!!

Field Trip!

Adam’s school has been planning a field trip the past couple of months but it had to be postponed a couple of times. When it was finally scheduled for last Friday I decided to take the morning off from work and join. I had to miss day three of a Wildlife Conference but it was worth it!

Adam was so excited. He talked about it all morning and he was so excited I was coming with him.

We went to his school and waited for the buses to come get us. We had just enough time to take some pictures.

Before we knew it the bus had arrived and a short trip later we were there! We decided to take a group picture before the kids got worn out!

After that we headed in! The museum was great. There were airplanes everywhere and Adam was in heaven! There were plane to look at, helicopters to drive, missiles to sit on and cars to take rides in!

Kattars come to town

George and Kate came to visit us this past weekend. I know I always say this but we’re pretty lucky that they’re so close! They came in Wednesday, right after I took this guy to the doctor who diagnosed him with a bad ear infection. Luckily he was still in good spirits and up for playing with his BFF George.

Kate was actually here for work so these two hung out Thursday and Friday while we went into the office. They managed to amuse themselves all morning in the playground and took naps and were ready to play with Adam when he came home and even managed to convince Maria that it was a good idea to take all three boys to the bouncy castle downstairs.

We went to dinner on Friday at Stockton Place without anyone under four. It was so nice to chat with Kate and the food was amazing. This place is quickly turning into my favorite place. There is nothing better than a good meal on a Friday night with a good friend and some good wine.

We were all pretty excited to hang out for the weekend and not have to head to work or school! Adam asks me every morning if there is no school and no work and he gets so excited on the weekend when I finally say- no school, no work!

We had big plans to spend the weekend playing by the pool and relaxing.

The next morning we had some time before Kate and George left and decided to take some photos of the boys.

Here is Malcolm waiting for his BFF George to come.

It’s always an awesome weekend when Kate and George come to visit! We can’t wait for next time!

Showers of Happiness

Our friends Sasha and Judy are having their first baby (a boy!) so we threw them a shower at our house this weekend. Judy wanted to invite guys so it was coed shower. This made it trickier since I didn’t want to scare the guys away. I kept it simple so all the guys would feel comfortable. Flowers and candles for decor.

We served mimosas! Everyone loves mimosas.

Father to be!

And a lot of yummy food!

After eating a lot of yummy food we played a trivia game to see who knew the most about babies. The mom to be, Judy won! So I guess she’s ready 🙂 My favorite question:

What body part are babies not born with? Answer- Kneecaps!!! Who knew.

We then went around and gave some advice to Judy and Sasha. Randy’s advice was to appreciate even the more difficult times of having a baby because those are the bonding times that will make you all closer. Mine was that those first couple months will seem very long and at times never ending but in reality the time will fly by so fast so enjoy these months because they really are so special. To quote a podcast I really like, this really is the longest shortest time.

Then it was baby present time. I love this time. I’m a sucker for little baby clothes and books and toys. It was so cute watching Judy and Sasha open their presents and see how excited they are about for their baby boy to arrive.

A great time was had by all!

Mornings

Mornings are my favorite time these days. The boys are up early, early, early but even when we’re soooo tired and it’s 5am at least we have a little longer with them before we head to work. This week was an exciting week. Adam’s school had ‘Dress like your favorite character in a book day’. Since we already had a Max costume from Where the Wild Things Are, and since I forgot it until the day before Adam dressed like Max.