Blown Away

Last weekend we had a quite a storm that started in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning. I knew it might rain so I wasn't shocked when I heard the rain, thunder and lightning when I got up to feed Wyatt in the middle of the night. It also sounded really windy but I was still very surprised to see this when I looked across the street the next morning. (If you click on the photo below to make it bigger, you'll see the huge limb that took out the neighbor's fence and also landed on the garage. You can also see a lot of sticks and branches in our yard.)



I couldn't believe it! Wow. We have some serious storms here but I haven't seen anything like that before. Trees were down all over the place. Or there was so much damage that you had to take the whole tree out, like we had to. This is our backyard.



If you ask me, this was a special gift from God just for me. Rob would not agree. That tree had been a sore point between us ever since the squirrels planted it for us there. I wanted it gone when I saw it coming up and Rob wanted it to stay. I hated it because it shaded too many of my plants that I like which require a lot of sun. Rob liked the privacy it gave our yard. I agree that we need something tall in that area for privacy but a large bush/shrub that doesn't shade my plants would be a far better option. Rob asked me that morning, "Did you see the backyard?" I told him yes and he said, "So how happy are you right now?" Hee Hee- oh so happy! So long tree!!

Since so many people had so much damage, the city allowed everyone to put all their fallen limbs and branches in your front yard for a special free pickup they would provide. Nice. And then every street you went down looked like this.



It turned out the winds were above 70 mph in our area- woah! Anyhow, it was quite the storm. I think a lot of people were unhappy with the damage done but I couldn't be more pleased with how it all turned out for us. And now, I actually have both boys asleep in both their beds so I am going to write some thank-you notes which are long overdue!

2 Months Old

Wyatt turned two months old yesterday so it was time for another photo shoot.



I took Wyatt to the doctor today for his 2-month old checkup and he is doing just great. He weighs 12 pounds, 4 ounces and is 23 3/4 inches long. I looked up Rex's measurements at this point and was shocked to see that Rex already weighed 14 lbs, 10 oz at this point and was 1/4 inch shorter- what a pudge! I was sick- again!- and had to take my second round of antibiotics in just six weeks. It was something different each time. I don't get sick very often at all so this has been really crappy. But I am doing much better now. Rob's good and the boys are both good too. It's been super hot here lately (115 heat index) but is a little better now. We had a crazy storm this weekend. I have a lot to say about that and will put it in my next post with pictures of some of the damage. One more exciting thing to report is that Wyatt is now sleeping in his crib. His first night was the same night as the big storm so that didn't go too well but it's been going a lot better since. My boys are both getting so big!

Block Party

Last week, there was a block party in our neighborhood that we went to. You can get a trailer that has tables and tents (other stuff too, I think) from the city and they even come and block off your street for you.



It was a potluck and there were lots of good things to eat. It was nice to get a break from planning and making dinner. Not that I do much of that anymore but I think Rob appreciated the night off. I have a wonderful husband. Rex had the BEST time running around with the other kids that were there. When I saw Rex I asked Rob, "Did you pour some water on him to cool him down or is he just that sweaty?" Turns out, he was just that sweaty.



Towards the end of the evening, a policeman stopped by to say hello and the kids all got those little sticker badges and got to check out the police car. They all thought it was pretty cool. Hopefully, this is as close to the back- or front- of a police car as Rex ever gets.

Coo-Coo-Kachoo

It has been milestone mania with Wyatt lately. He is smiling now which I posted last time. And then, about a day later, he started cooing. These are two of my most favorite things so I am just in heaven right now. Here's a little of the cooing (you can also hear Rex screaming and having a good time taking his bath in the background).



Finally, he rolled over the other night- I believe it was Wednesday night- from his tummy to his back for the first time. I got him to do it twice to be sure it wasn't a fluke. It wasn't- he was two for two. I didn't get a video of that yet. Rex hit all his big milestones kind of late and it seems like Wyatt is going to be on the fast-track. Not that one is better than the other or anything, it's just funny how two kids from the same gene pool can be so different!

Since You've Been Gone

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted! So much has been going on and for a while, I thought our computer was dead. We recently had our internet "upgraded" by our service provider which meant it started working like crap. Then one day, my computer just randomly shut itself off and I could not get it started up again. I thought for sure it was dead. I love my iMac but I was ready to run right out and get a MacBook. First though, I loaded up Rex and the iMac for a trip to the Apple Store Genius Bar in Des Moines where it started up with no problem. The genius tuned it up a little and explained some problems that our service provider is having and why our internet connection is so slow. It all works great now and we've had no more problems so time to blog!

To help ease my and Rob's workload, we are teaching our little superhero how to clean.



We are also teaching him how to give his brother a bath.



Ha! Both of those are not true- duh- but they are funny. In the first one, Rex kept grabbing the duster and "helping" his dad clean up one morning. In the second one, it was bath time and as soon as Rex got in the bathroom he started stripping down. That would explain the lack of pants on the kid. We told him to hang on a minute because Wyatt had to get his bath first. It is so funny that Rex can't wait for his bath now because he used to hate bath time.

Why is it that I think of so many good things to blog about during the day then now, when I finally get a few minutes to work on this, I can't think of anything? Wyatt was up to 11 pounds, 14 ounces when we got his weight checked on June 29th so he is growing a ton. He just started smiling on Friday and I tried to capture it with my camera but ended up getting two almost-smiles.




Rex started sleeping in his big boy bed this week. The first night did not go well at all but things have been getting better little by little ever since. Here he is spending one of his last nights in the crib and waking up from a nap in the new bed.




Rob and I haven't been up to much. Just trying to stay sane with a new baby and a 2 year old is enough. We so look forward to the day they can walk out to the car, get in it and we can all go somewhere. Or just to a time when we don't have to change any diapers anymore. I do remind myself to enjoy this phase too and that when they are more independent, then I will wish they would spend more time with us. I'm sure there is no perfect age- you just have to enjoy the good parts of each phase and get through the not-so-good parts. I have been enjoying all the flowers in my yard right now. Everything looks so beautiful out there and I will try to remember to get some pictures to post next time. I think that's all for us and since Rex just took his pants off and told me "diaper", I guess I better go get him changed!

One More Celebration

I forgot to mention that Wyatt turned one month old last Saturday. Yay Wyatt! I took some photos of him that day.



I was inspired by pictures Nanette did of her daughter every month. I wasn't prepared though and didn't get the stickers in time to put on a shirt so I had to use Rex's bathtub toy letters and numbers. I can't decide if I should keep going with that look or get the stickers for the rest of the months. Hmm...

Seemed Like A Good Idea

I realized not too long after Rex was born that his 2nd birthday and Father's Day would be the same day. I thought that was pretty cool until it actually got here. I still think it is somewhat cool, I just didn't think about how much work that would be to celebrate all that. Then you throw in a new baby and a grandma with a birthday the very next day (my parents are visiting right now) and it just seems like all out mayhem. Mostly, Rex's birthday got celebrated. We kind of celebrated my mom's birthday with Rex and we kind of celebrated the next day too but neither was all that great, I'm afraid. I'm also sorry to say that Rob made breakfast and dinner that day and didn't even have a present to open. But that was only because he got his present in April (golf clubs) as his Father's Day/birthday/and-maybe-even-Christmas-too present.



Rex had a good time, I think. He had his dinosaur cake which I will make him every year. Well, actually I managed to sweet talk his Papa into making the cake since I was busy with Wyatt. He opened his presents after that. Rob did most of the birthday present shopping so he got Flarp (putty that makes a fart noise when you stick your finger in it that he actually is not even old enough to play with yet), a bubble gun, magnetic letters for the fridge (the kid seriously already knows about half the alphabet- hopefully this will help him learn the rest), and a rubber duckie and boat for the bath. I got him a set of Curious George dvds a while back so I wrapped those up for him too. Here are some birthday photos.






That's Rob playing with the Flarp in the background- guess who he really got it for?


So it was a busy weekend to say the least. I think everybody had a good time though. As I mentioned earlier, my parents are here visiting right now. Actually, they are on a little road trip for a few days but they will be back tonight. They got to meet Wyatt and are having fun with Rex too- he is a lot different than the last time they saw him in November! We are enjoying visiting with them as well and it is sooo nice to have helpers in the house again! Wyatt seems to be going through his 6-week growth spurt a little early so I better get back to my duties.

Like Father, Like Son

We get a lot of comments about how Wyatt looks so much like Rex. And he does. But here is who he really looks like.



That is Rob at 3 months old. Here is a picture of Wyatt that I took yesterday.



I was trying to prop Wyatt up so the pictures would be really similar but he just kept sinking down so that didn't really work out. I'm glad Wyatt looks like Rob- Rex looks a lot like me and now we each have our own mini-me. Ha!

My parents arrived yesterday and it is so good to see them. It has been nearly a year since they were here last. And I'm not gonna lie, it is also really nice to have some helpers around again. We haven't been up to much lately. I think I have only been out twice since Wyatt was born- once to a doctor appointment and once to get my Powerball ticket (I will win the jackpot one of these days- I will!). Rob is doing so great with taking care of all the shopping, making dinner and doing the dishes. I have such a wonderful husband! Oh, by the way, Wyatt is 4 weeks old today. I can hardly believe it- time is just flying by. And Rex will be 2 on Sunday. Wow. And I would like a nap now while the boys are both asleep so I better get to it. Goodnight!

Naptime

Holy cow- both kids are asleep right now and I have a few quick moments to blog. I wasn't sure when I would have a chance again. Rob's parents were here to visit and help us while Wyatt was born. They were so much help to us and it was a sad day when they left this Tuesday. To make matters worse, that was the day I got sick. Little infection, lot of fever and a total mess. I got some antibiotics from the doctor and am on the mend now but it's been a really rough few days at our house. Tuesday was also the day we had Wyatt's 2-week-old check up with the pediatrician. He's quite the healthy guy and healthy eater- he gained 13 ounces in 11 days. Everything looked good and there were no shots- just the kind of appointments we like to have. I got this picture of him a few days ago with his eyes open (a rare thing since he sleeps so much of the time). Very serious baby.



Rob's dad helped him build a gate and trellis on the side of our house. We used to have one there but it was falling apart and the paint was peeling off the thing so Rob took it out a while back. Now that we have a little boy who likes to run around the yard, it seemed like a really good idea to get that gate back up. The little boy who caused all the work decided to pitch in.

He helped dig the holes for the posts with his dad.


Then he decided he would rather sit back and supervise...


And let somebody else do all the work.


The three of them did a great job- it is coming together very nicely though it isn't quite done yet.


So, to recap, Wyatt is doing great, I am getting better, and Rob and Rex make a good team. I'm even managing to do okay with the two of them while Rob is at work and I'm on my own. It should seem like cake then once I'm feeling good again, right? We took a walk today and I used the double stroller to tote around my boys. With 90+ pounds of stroller, car seat and kids to push around, I was surprised at how easy it was to steer and maneuver. There are a couple of places where we go uphill some and that was tough but besides that, it was not bad.



Wyatt should be getting up soon so I better wrap this up. Don't want him to wake up, start crying and then wake his brother up too! But first, one more picture of my two boys.

What's In a Name?

Oh Juliet, there is so much to a name. Let me tell you. We had the hardest time coming up with a name for our precious little boy. We went through so many. First of all, I did not want something popular which I determined would be anything in the top 100 names on the Social Security website for 2008. Other things that were important to us were having a short name and something that was most definitely a boy's name. I get things addressed to "Mr. Shelby" and it drives me nuts. One name we really liked was Dean but it is the name of Rob's boss so it was out. Next was Clark but we could both think of Clarks we don't like so that was out. We liked Harrison for a while but got over it. I liked Wade, Grant, Finn and Sawyer but Rob said no. Rob liked Buck and Huck (seriously) and I said no. Some others we considered were Henry and Theodore which were both in the top 100 so they were out. I liked Reid but it sounds funny with our last name, Let's take a quick break in our story now for a cute baby photo.



Finally, I realized I was stuck on names that sounded like they were out of the wild west- Cole, Cooper, Bennett, Jasper among others we had already discussed. Wyatt was one that had already been on my mind but I was afraid it was too popular, thus violating my one main rule. With Rex, I was stuck on names that sounded like old-time movie stars- Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, Clark Gable and the like. But this time it was outlaws and cowboys of the wild west for some reason. So one night Rob was looking on the computer and he came up with Zane. Zane was the leading contender for quite a while but we couldn't find a middle name (which had to be a family name) that we liked with it and I still preferred Wyatt. About 2 weeks before baby was going to be born, I asked myself, "Would you rather have a name you really, really liked or one you didn't like as much but chose just because it was less popular?" Hmm. So I finally, with maybe one week to go, decided that it was more important to have a name I really liked and we chose Wyatt which was absolutely the right choice. Here's Wyatt again.