playground fun

Noah and his BFF, "Eddie K." have been hitting the playground pretty hard these past few weeks. They play really well together, so it's nice to get them together. Recently, they've been coming up with different words or phrases that they think are funny and they'll just repeat them over and over again. It all started when we were on the bus coming back from preschool... Eddie turned to Noah and said, "Chicken pox!" Noah thought that sounded hilarious so he repeated it and they've been saying that back and forth to each other for over a month now every time they see each other! They've recently added "peanut butter", "what the heck is this?", and "activated!" We haven't been able to figure out why certain words catch on and are funny but they are hilarious when they get going.

Here's some video footage that Eddie's dad caught on a typical playground day:

"Chicken Pox"

"Monkeys"

Horeys in NYC

Just wanted to catch up with some pics and details of Jon's family's trip to NYC to meet Gabriel! Everyone was able to come out for a visit and it was so nice spending time with the whole family. Noah got some much needed attention from his aunts, uncle, and grandparents and Jon and I got some help with the kids... it all worked out great! Noah took his first trip to see the Statue of Liberty and had a great time on the boat. We made it to the zoo and the Museum of Natural History, had a lovely adult-only dinner at the delicious Ocean Grill (thanks again for bbsitting, Kendra!) and even got Grimaldi's (wouldn't be a NYC trip without it)! Good times with the fam... wish we lived closer!!!

Thanks for all the great pics, Chrissy...

on the Staten Island Ferry

(check out the identical expressions!)

Liberty Island with Nana

holding his torch high!

silliness!

Central Park Zoo

petting zoo with Grandpa-pa

Museum of Natural History

(family of 4... yikes!)

storytime!

practice, practice!

Backyardigans with Chrissy!

the fam

Oh baby!

My best friend from high school, Jade, came to meet Gabriel and take some pics of him. She's an amazing photographer and we had a great time trying to get him to behave for the camera. Check out these awesome pics and her website! (she's local :)

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Gabriel is doing really well these days. He's started to come out of his newborn-i-ness and is gracing us with lots of smiles and coos (and he can now be put down for half a second without screaming his head off!). He's awake and alert much more during the day (which is a nice change from him being awake and alert in the middle of the night!) and he's starting to sleep in longer stretches at night. I still think we're in for another brutal few months of night time feedings, but it's not taking as long to feed and get him back down to sleep these days so I really can't complain. He's a really sweet little baby and we're so happy he's ours!

updates...

We're alive... and finally coming out of the haze of life with a newborn! I can't even count the number of times I've sat down to start a post these past few weeks and thought, "I could be sleeping right now" then immediately crashed on the couch. Gabriel is almost 2 months old now and we're finally starting to get into a groove with him. Don't get me wrong, though, life with 2 kids is complete choas (I have a new found respect for moms with multiple children) but I think I am starting to see some sort of consistency in a routine and hopefully we'll start to get some more sleep SOON!

SO much has happened in the past 2 months that has been blog-worthy and I have really started to feel bad about not catching up sooner... but I'll do my best to update.

A few things worth mentioning...


I turned 30! It was actually kind of a depressing day... it was my first day alone with both kids. Both kids were super fussy all morning and and I quickly realized how my life had changed! Luckily gma and gpa S. came to the rescue with dinner and b-day cake. Jon got me an awesome new running watch that kind of depressed me at the time because I couldn't use it yet... but I love it now!

We got to go to the DMB show. We took advantage of gma S's stay and snuck off to see the first show of the tour! It was a really good time... even though we were SO tired through the whole concert. But it had been such a long time since we had been to a show that we loved every second of it.

We had tons of family here for Gabriel's blessing. Jon's whole family was here from Oregon to meet Gabriel and participate in his blessing and my older brother was here on business and re-arranged his schedule to be here. It was such a rare event to have so many family members all in one place! We were thrilled that they could all share such a great day with us.

Noah turned 3... more on this soon! He's had some serious ups and downs in his new role as a big brother. But now that he's officially 3... I think he's finally starting to understand the dynamics of our new family (i.e. he has to SHARE the attention and get learn how to entertain himself!)

more updates to come!

stay tuned...

Annnouncing...

the much anticipated (and early :) arrival of baby brother...

Gabriel Thomas

born on

Sunday, March 29th

at 8:41am

stats:

8 lbs. 7 oz.

20.5 inches long

Baby Gabriel made his debut into the world about 2 weeks early and has seamlessly transitioned himself into our little family. The labor couldn't have gone more smoothly and all of my anxiety around getting Noah cared for during that time was completely unnecessary. Everything worked out perfectly (even though after it was all over we had been up for about 40 hours!) I spent 2 glorious days at the hospital (I felt like I was in a hotel -- a complete vacation away from life with a 2-year old!) and I had a wonderful time bonding with my new little guy. He is the sweetest little baby and I'm not ready for him to grow up at all (I used to curse people that said that after I had Noah, but I'm loving a newborn right now!) After having such a complicated labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery with Noah -- and the having him in the NICU... Gabriel's entrance into the world has been a completely different experience -- one that made me even think I might do it again!

Noah's reaction to Gabriel's birth has been really fun to watch. He's been a great big brother so far. He is very concerned about him all of the time and is very sympathetic to his cries (sometimes to the point of crying himself, but that just makes me laugh!) He's very territorial about him especially if someone else is holding him, he says, "Mommy, that's your baby!" (even if daddy is holding him!)

My reaction to Gabriel's birth (after seeing what a doll he was, of course) was, "I'm so glad I"m NOT pregnant anymore!!!" (I reached my goal of not being pregnant on my b-day :) Jon's reaction (also after admiring his cuteness) was , "Does this mean we can go to the DMB show in April?" We're home now and it's been amazing to have Jon around and actually spend some quality time together. Life with 2 kids now begins!

Okay -- I know this is what you're waiting for anyway so I'll stop talking now.

random Tuesday thoughts

Did anyone else see Olivia crash and burn during her DVF handbag presentation last night? Ah, sweet, sweet karma... What was that, Olivia? "multipletude??" -- good one. So glad Whitney got some sense of revenge after O took all the credit for the ELLE cover shot. Sorry if you're an Olivia-lover, but she really gets under my skin... watch here to catch up. I can't believe next week is the season finale! How will I ever make it through the end of this pregnancy without my "City" fix?

It seems that Noah is over his paint-eating phase(!) at school and had a great day today. His teacher even told me he was a great listener today and was very polite... we may be turning a corner here (fingers crossed). Most likely just in time to get his world rocked when baby brother makes his appearance. But I'll take what I can get!

...and last but not least...

anyone know where I can get a shirt like this?

mommy's belly

he mocks.