Sam is 2!

And just like that our little boy is 2! He continues to be tall and thin, weighing in at 27lbs 4.5oz (56th percentile) and 36in tall (88th percentile). He is a happy, and relatively easy going kid. It is very clear that he has passed into the "I'm two" phase, and has gotten much more opinionated. He wants to be more independent, and tries to do all of the things that Josh can do. But he is a very sweet and caring little boy.

His language has really exploded. He is talking in simple sentences, and practicing by copying what everyone else is saying. We think some of his enunciation is better than Josh at this age, but it is hard to tell. He gets frustrated when we don't understand what he wants, so we are working with him to try different words. Sometimes Josh can translate for us, which is just cute :-)

His eating is still touch and go. He will eat fruit, yogurt, cereal and mac and cheese. He will also eat most vegetables, but needs to be in the mood for it. He won't touch chicken, but will sometimes eat taco beef. He will eat most carbs, but still is unsure about cheese. We offer him whatever we are eating, and lately have been getting him to try one bite of something. However, getting him to eat foods with protein continues to be a challenge. The pediatrician said he is gaining weight well, so just keep doing what we are doing. We don't need to feel like we need to cook him something special each night (thank goodness!). We try to make sure that at least one item of our dinner food is something he likes to eat, that way if he is hungry he has something.

He has finally started sleeping past 6am (awesome!), and is still napping well in the afternoon. We switched him to a toddler bed just before he turned two, and that has been working out really well. He stays in his bed until we come into the room in the morning, and then cutely gets himself out of bed.

I weaned Sam over Christmas, so at about 21 months. He wasn't thrilled with it, but adjusted pretty quickly to a new routine. It is really nice now to be able to trade off bedtime routines--one of us puts Josh to bed and one puts Sam to bed, and our mornings are much easier too. All and all, we had a great run at breastfeeding and I really enjoyed the extra snuggles with my baby. But we were both ready for weaning, so even though it was hard to cut him off I know it was the right choice.

It has been really fun to watch Josh and Sam playing together. Sam absolutely adores his big brother, and wants to be just like him. Whatever Josh is doing, Sam wants to be doing. They are starting to play together a little more, and while sharing is still an issue many times, they both really like to make the other one happy.

We look forward to the next year with Sam and getting to know the little boy he is becoming :-)

Traditional Birthday donut. 

Trying to be like Daddy

Traditional Birthday car picture :-)

Costa Rica!!

Better late than never on this blog post! Last summer we took our first family international trip to Costa Rica! This was a family reunion style trip, so we were lucky enough to be traveling with family and stayed in a large house with everyone. Overall we all had a great time on the trip!

Flights....both kids were pretty good on both flights! We flew Southwest and were able to get a free extra seat for Sam both ways :)  Josh is at a great age for flying because he is able to sit quietly in his seat, and when he gets bored he can watch the iPad. Sam was a little more difficult to entertain, and was crabby on the flight home. But overall, they were very good.

We arrived San Jose and rented a car for the 2-3 hr drive to Manuel Antonio. Sadly, the car rental places really cheat you...so after much yelling....we over paid for our rental car and were on our way. We stopped quickly at a grocery store so that we would have snacks for the car ride, and fortunately both kids slept for most of the drive.

Hanging out at our awesome pool

When we finally arrived at the house, it was AMAZING! It was a beautiful open house with an awesome pool. I thought that Costa Rica would be deathly humid and hot, but it was actually very nice weather--similar to the DC area. We settled into our rooms, and the kids went right into the pool :-)  The house was a bit of a death trap for a 15 month old (lots of places to fall), but thankfully there were enough sets of adults watching out at all times to keep Sam safe.

We spent a lot of time hanging out around the house. We had a chef that would make breakfast and dinner, and the kids absolutely loved the pool. There were monkeys and other wildlife in the trees right outside the house which we could see from our living room. The only downside to the house was that it was not very walkable. We were at the bottom of a very big hill, which proved challenging to drive up. Both Josh and Sam enjoyed playing with the other kids on the trip. And we really enjoyed being able to relax and hang out with everyone after bedtime :-)

We took a snorkel boat out for a trip, and I didn't realize that it was humpback whale season in Costa Rica. We saw tons of dolphins and WHALES!! We even saw a Mom and baby practicing their breaches!! I have never been so close to some whales, nor have I ever seen one breach! We got to get off the boat to swim and "snorkel."  Josh was very brave and swam in the ocean a little bit :)  Overall a very memorable boat trip!

"Snorkeling"

I had really wanted to go hiking at the national park in Manuel Antonio. The odds were not in my favor, and the one day we went there it was very hot and humid, and everyone (including me) was grumpy. We stayed just long enough to see a sloth (!) and then left to go to the beach. I wish we had left more time to spend at the park and to hire a guide to show us more--but oh well. We all had more fun at the beach, so I don't have too many regrets.

The beach we went to was a black sand beach, and it was great. The water was very warm, so both kids loved playing in the sand and water. We even got Josh to do some splashing! The only problem with black sand, is that it looks like dirt....It took us a few days to get all the sand out of everything....

Julian and I hired a babysitter to help watch the kids one morning so that we could go on an adventure tour. We got to do a bit of hiking, zip-lining and waterfall repelling, which was really fun. The kids hung out at the house with Grandma Bobby and the babysitter, and were both very good. It was our first time hiring a babysitter on a trip, and I'm glad we did. It was good "practice" for Julian and I to hire a babysitter we don't know well, but it felt safe because we knew there was plenty of family around to keep an eye on the kids.

This is old news now to our loyal blog readers...but while on the trip I got a job offer! I knew it was supposed to be coming soon, so I had my phone turned on so that I wouldn't miss it. I had to fill out some paperwork and send it to HR to accept the job while we were still away. We were lucky that a local hotel let us print out the paperwork, and I was able to fill it out, and turn it into a PDF to email. Technology is pretty awesome sometime.

If we were traveling with young kids to Costa Rica again, I would recommend bringing more food. We really couldn't get a lot of our regular snacks, and even cheese was hard to find (or very expensive). Josh pretty much lived on pancakes, crepes and yogurt. And I think Sam lived off of goldfish.

We spent a final night in San Jose at a nice hotel. They did not have suites, but we got a rollaway bed and a crib, which were all nicely set up when we arrived. They had a restaurant downstairs in the hotel, so Julian was able to set up our phone as a monitor so that we could go to dinner after bedtime.

Overall it was a great trip! I would definitely go back if I had the chance!

Fun on the boat

Amazing whale! Photo credit to our boat crew

Jumping!

The downside to black sand....

When in Costa Rica, drink coconut milk

Visitor at our pool

Josh is 4!

We say this every year but we can't believe Josh is four (or actually more than four now)!  Josh is 41.25" tall and 38.4 lbs.  The doctor was very impressed he was still napping and sleeping 7-6 each night (roughly).  Overall he is doing great.  He has gotten a little more picky with eating - or maybe he just likes to complain more :-)  He often says he doesn't like something but then will eat it.

Josh is becoming so independent.  We bought Josh an alarm clock that has a traffic light on it and it turns green when it is time for him to get up.  This has worked really well for us and now Josh knows when it is time for him to get out of bed.  He will often get out of bed and play in his room or sometimes play in the living room.  This is especially good on the weekends when we want to sleep in a bit :-)

Unfortunately this did fail us one time.  One morning Josh came up to our room in the middle of the night.  I asked Josh what he was doing there and he said, "the green light is on."  At that moment I realized we lost power that day and his clock was probably not set properly.  Because he was right I let him stay in bed with us.

Overall he and Sam get along very well.  They often fight about toys but mostly get along and like being together.  We have been taking advantages of grandparents more to go out on dates more than we used to.  In the past Josh made it very difficult to leave the house - lots of crying.  Now when we go out, both boys just say, "bye bye" and no tears.  I think it has some to do with Josh having Sam around and knowing he isn't being left alone.  It might also be the excellent grandparent care he receives :-)

Josh has been doing great at his new preschool he started in August.  We were concerned with him starting a new school he wouldn't have any friends but he is really comfortable there and talks about his friends all the time.  The school promotes building and creativity and Josh frequently builds tall towers and buildings out of blocks.

Josh has been potty trained for nearly a year and only wearing a diaper at night for about eight months.  Just after turning 4 Josh asks to wear underwear at night. We weren't sure when to night wean but this seemed like the right time.  After a week or so Josh was able to make it through the night without an accident.  We wake him before we go to bed to use the potty (he is only half awake) but we very rarely have an accident.  Josh is now diaper free!

Josh talks in complete sentences and his questions have gotten more detailed.  It is getting harder and harder to get things past him!  He can identify all the letters of the alphabet and can "read" his friends names.  He can sound out words a bit and understands letters with sounds make words (not that he is really reading at this point).

Our big boy is growing up and we are so proud of him!

Josh's writing from January 2, 2017. He was writing his whole name "Joshua" and Sam's whole name, "Samua" :)

Sam is 18 Months!

We are so far behind on the blog, but I wanted to be sure to post about Sam's 18 month checkup!

Sam is doing great! He is still tall and thin, he is in the 92% for height and 60th for weight. We were a bit worried since he is a picky eater, and won't really drink milk, but he has stayed on the same growth path so we are going to stop stressing! (By we, I mean me)  Sam has really been learning a TON in the past few weeks. He is trying to learn so many new words and tries to imitate everything you say. He understands so much more than he can communicate, but you can ask him to do things and he will do it. He probably can say about 15-20 words now, but they are still mostly one word statements and not yet sentences.   It has been so fun to watch him learning and understanding more things!

He has been sleeping pretty well, he is finally making it past 6am (yay). He still wakes up occasionally when he is sick or teething or going through a growth spurt. He is getting his last 4 canine teeth, so has been drooling up a storm lately.

Overall he is still a very happy and playful little boy. He loves playing outside, water play, balls, cars/trucks, and "cooking". He has been "rough housing" with Josh (or other friends), which is really cute....but also a tad concerning. He likes to hug Josh and knock him down and laugh. As parents we find it quite cute and funny, but we know we need to teach Sam to be more gentle. His class at school is mostly older kids, and mostly younger siblings, so at least the other kids are also a bit rough :)

Sam started last month at a new preschool (with Josh) and LOVES it. Like I mentioned, he is with older kids, so his language and understanding has been increasing so much. The school is really great about being creative with kids, and encouraging them to learn and discover things. His new teachers love him, and say that he never cries and is always great in class.

Sam and Josh have been fighting over lots of toys, but you can tell how much they love each other. Sam asks for Josh anytime he is not around, and wants to wake him up when he is not up yet. He just yells "Jossssh!" and points to his room. As Sam starts understanding more and more, I hope that some of the fighting will improve, hope springs eternal ;-)

We put them to work at an early age

Happy boy :-)

First haircut

Happy after the haircut!

The Beach!

Julian and I were very proud when we realized that both Josh and Sam have been to the beach every summer of their lives. Both kids are certified Beach Bums, so I think this is a tradition we will have to keep up. Julian's Mom and Stepdad have rented the same house the past few years, in Rehobeth so we were able to go for a long weekend over the 4th of July.

We left Friday afternoon so that the kids could nap in the car on the drive to the beach. It mostly worked as planned, although both kids only took about 1hr naps. Josh woke up from his nap screaming and crying, a telltale sign that he is getting sick. And his nose started running. After getting some Advil Josh settled down. Both kids were pretty good in the car, even though they were awake. We didn't hit traffic until we got close to Rehobeth, so that was good. Josh had been a bit overly whiny in the morning (another telltale sign he is getting sick), so we packed the nebulizer just incase. We had him use it right when we arrived to make sure that he wouldn't have a full on asthma attack. 

Both kids LOVED exploring the house. Sam started walking in the last week or two, and enjoyed walking all around the house. Josh remembered the beach house from the year before, and was very happy to be back. We decided to rent a pack and play and stroller for this trip, so that we would have extra room in the car to bring our bikes (and burley). The stroller was a bust because the front wheel was not adjustable, but the crib worked out well. Lesson learned to always ask about the front wheel when renting.

After settling in a bit, we all headed out to dinner at Grotto's! And to purchase beach toys for the next day :-)

Both kids had a rough night sleeping the first day. We had them sleep in the same room, which actually worked out great. Sam was a bit scared of sleeping in a new room, until he realized that Josh was there too.  Fortunately they both did really well sharing the room for the rest of the trip. Even for nap!

Both kids LOVED the beach. No shock there :-)  Josh had several shovels and toys and loved digging really big holes. Sam loved jumping in the holes and upsetting Josh, until he discovered the water...which he absolutely loved. We finally got Josh into the water on the last day, and I think we have converted him. He realized how fun it was to jump and splash. Both kids LOVED to demand buckets of water to dump out on the sand, or just to splash in.

We brought our bikes this year, and we were happy to use them a few times. We biked with the whole family and stopped to pick up some donuts to bring back to the house.  Julian also took the kids out for a bike ride while I went running, and Julian and I were able to bike out for lunch while Bobby watched the kids.

We also made it back to Funland, and they both had a great time. It was so cute to see them both sitting together on the rides. Josh would have loved to spend all day there.

We drove back home around bedtime, which worked out very well. And it was nice to get an extra beach day in by leaving late :-)

Overall we had a great trip, and can't wait to spend many more summers at the beach!

On our way to the beach!

Josh teaching Sam how to play skee ball 

Enjoying the beach!

Sam enjoying his donut!

All cleaned up after a day at the beach

Sitting with grandma

Sam's first time on the boat ride

Josh trying to get some rays

Stitches

Sadly, we now have the parenting badge of the first stitches. Back in March, we took a family trip to see the cherry blossoms, and unfortunately Josh fell off his seat on the metro and landed on a metal block on the floor and got a bad gash on his face/lip. Once I got a good look, I knew we needed to go straight to the ER. The crying and bleeding actually stopped pretty quickly, so we knew he hadn't been seriously injured. But with the location and size of the cut, I knew it would not heal well without stitches. 

We went to our usual ER, and were seen quickly by the nurse. They said because the cut crossed the lip line, it was a more difficult cut to stitch. They said we could have the nurse practitioner on call do the stitches or we could page the plastic surgeon. We decided that if Josh didn't heal well, we would always regret not waiting the extra 2 hours to see a plastic surgeon and decided to page him. Josh got to watch a movie while we waited and Sam took a short stroller nap. 

Once the plastic surgeon arrived he took a quick look at it, and then explained to Julian and I what would happen. They would strap Josh down and do it as quickly as possible, but that he would not be happy. They were very nice to Josh and let him strap monkey into the restraining device (we called it a hug machine...but it was basically a straight jacket), and then got to work. It was pretty tough to watch, but I tried to stay calm and talk to Josh. It was over in a few minutes and they gave Josh a Popsicle. He recovered quickly, and was excited to play with the toys.

The next few days were a bit rough emotionally for him, I think he was realizing that he wasn't immortal but didn't really understand the feelings. We talked about it a lot, and that seemed to help.

The plastic surgeon did a great job and the stitches healed very quickly. 3 months later Josh still has a bit of a scar, and you can feel the stiffness in his lip. We've started putting vitamin E on it at night and massaging the area slightly.

Not an experience we would like to repeat anytime soon, but we are glad everything turned out ok.

Family Selfie!

Thank goodness monkey was in the car!

Just doing some playing while we wait for the Dr.

::sad face::

All better!

He was promised a few minutes to play after they were all done :-)

Sam's 1 year stats!

Sorry we have been so slow to post, but we will try and catch up a bit. Sam had his 1 year check up a few weeks after his birthday. He is 30.75 inches tall (79th percentile for height), 21 pounds and 4 ounces (46th for weight) and 66th for head size. He is doing well over all, and was a very good boy at the doctors!

He is starting to talk, just a few words so far. Honestly, I'm not sure I would have recognized them as words when Josh was learning to talk-because they are more like sounds. He says, "ba" for ball, "mama" for me, "bo" for book, and an "m" sound for more. Around 13 months he has started saying, "Ja!" for josh. He doesn't say these things all the time, but it is noticeable when he does. We know he can say, "Dada" as well, but I haven't heard it lately.

At 12 months Sam had not taken any real steps, but was cruising on furniture and a very speedy crawler. He is now taking steps (13.5 months) and I think he will be walking pretty soon! I know I shouldn't compare my kids, but I think at this age Josh had stronger gross motor skills but Sam has stronger fine motor skills. Sam is able to play with toys that Josh wasn't at this age, but Josh was walking by 12 months. It is interesting to me to see how each kid develops so differently!

Sam has been a pretty picky eater. I talked to the pediatrician, and he basically said to keep offering him food and he will eat when he is hungry. We find that Sam will eat fruit, sometimes vegetables, most carbs, but zero protein (no cheese, no meat). I've been able to get him to eat soy beans (edamame). And I recently discovered this AMAZING soybean spread that Sam LOVES. Don't Go Nuts is the brand, and it has the flavor and consistency of peanut butter, so even Julian will eat it! Sam also will not drink whole milk. He will drink water out of a sippy cup, but shakes his head no if you try and give him whole milk (or even breast milk) in a sippy. This wouldn't bother me as much, except that he will not eat anything else with fat or protein in it. He will eat yogurt, so I give him that every day.

We also had Sam tested for allergies, and we think he does not have any! The cashew test was a light positive, so we are to feed him the other nuts first and go from there. I am supposed to try peanut butter on him, but I haven't quite figured out how to balance a nut free home with feeding him peanuts. We are doing blood work for Josh soon to see how his allergies are doing, so that will also help us decide how careful we need to be.

I'm still breastfeeding Sam, although I think my goal would be to start cutting back soon. It has been tricky to do that since he will not drink milk in a sippy cup. He also won't really take a bottle if I am around at all, so we haven't had luck putting whole milk in a bottle either. Sam seems to be both patient and stubborn, which is a dangerous combination :-P

Overall, he is such a smiley happy little guy! He loves splashing in the bathtub and during water play. And he loves anything that Josh is playing with.

Just playing with a plastic bag at the pediatricians appointment

Selfie of Mommy and Sam in Dr Kulp's chair

Where it all began!

Enjoying a birthday donut! (Krispy Kreme of course!)