The Usual

Great-Grandma (Gi-Gi) Archibald came to visit us while we were here in UT.  Alec and Charlie are just lappin' up all the attention and yummy food.  We've pretty much already hit the usual "musts" for a trip to Provo. Besides visiting with family, we've gone to the Bombay House and Distribution Center, made/ate cinnamon rolls, cafe rio salad, pancakes, pizza, home-made popcorn and watched an old classic: Scarlet Pimpernel, played with toys and out in the backyard, read books (me), watched TV(chris) and last but not least we held/played in an AGA (Archibald Golf Association) tournament.  Even I got out on the executive course for a few holes with Chris, Thom and Brittany. Edward pulled out his first win on the tour in the I.D.E.S. (meaning coming soon) tournament.  More details will follow. We sure are having fun. 

Spring

Spring is here in California! We get some warm days and some cold(ish) ones.  We've had my brother Justin stay with us for a few days while attending a symposium here at Stanford.  We love having him to ourselves. The same weekend my sister was in San Francisco for a Choir Trip and we went up to hear her perform in the Grace Cathedral. Its was gorgeous. We walked outside our back door a few days ago and noticed a birds nest with 4 eggs in our stroller two feet outside our door! Luckily it was our old stroller we no longer use so we're not worried about it. We tried to unscrew the cup holder (where the nest is built) and move it farther away but then watched as the Mama bird couldn't find it. We moved it back and now she's happy and getting used to us enough to no longer hurriedly flap away whenever we walk out our door. We can get within a few feet and she'll still just stay on her eggs watching us. I'm excited to share this whole egg-to-baby-bird process with Alec.  I love Spring.  

We drove to Utah yesterday to party with Chris' family for Spring Break. Most of them haven't met Charlie yet and he's too cute to keep to ourselves.

Camping

We went camping Friday night. It was exciting, cold, simple, exhausting, complex, centering, humbling, peaceful, crazy, and cold. I can't help all those contradictions. Somehow it was both ends of the spectrum. Chris and I both thought, in the middle of the night when both kids were inconsolably crying, "lets never do this again" and yet I'm already thinking about our next camping trip. There is some need to be out in the wild with the wind, darkness, moss-covered trees, leaf and pine needle strewn paths, and clean air. I just need to wait until it is a bit warmer (unless we get better gear) to satisfy that need. So, notes to Next-Year-Self: Yes, it is still too cold to go camping in March ... even in California. No, not even bringing every blanket you own will help. Yes, it was a good idea to cook your dinner and freeze it before hand. No, you can't count on there being firewood at the campsite.

He's Back and Rolling Over

**Sorry, Charlie - this is bound to be a classic i-can't-believe-my-mom's-telling-this-story post. **

Just the next day after my "solid food=solid sleep" post, Charlie made me eat my words. Recently he's been waking up so much and not hardly sleeping longer than 10 min at a time during the day. Its been rough to say the least. See, I guess the rice cereal kind of plugged up his system because he went over a week without a messy diaper. By the end of that period he was fussing all the time, and passing gas and acting miserable! I was on the phone with a nurse when he started grunting and working on something! Hooray! I've never been more happy to change a messy diaper. Now my sweet, happy Charlie is back. More good news, Charlie rolled over for the first time by himself last week, from his back to his front. Now, according to Chris, he can also roll over from his tummy to his back! He s growing up so fast. A recent favorite activity of his is toe sucking. I know, gross and impossible for most of us, but I guess his chubby, clean toes taste pretty good because he can never get enough.

smiley face

Alec likes to find and draw smiley faces. He first draws a circle and then proceeds to scribble all over it so you can hardly tell what it is. The other day was an exception. He was using sidewalk chalk and drew an AMAZING smiley face. I got so excited I busted out the camera and even labeled the picture so others could understand what he drew.

These are both just typical Alec looks. He was so proud of his drawing, it was sweet to see. Oh, and enjoy his awesome hair since I just cut it last night. I still tried to keep it semi-long and was only marginally successful. The kid's got a "I can do it myself, but really I can't and shouldn't even try" type of mother. Poor boy.

songs, anyone?

I'm in the exercising groove and am in need of help. I need more songs to exercise to! Something uptempo and full of happy-I-need-t0-move feelings. Lately I've been stuck on some songs from Across the Universe soundtrack, and I want to branch out. Any tips??

Alec doing push-ups and stretches with me

Solid food = Solid sleep

Charlie has been having rice cereal for a few days now and his sleep is awesome! I feed him at bedtime around 7:30pm and then I feed him after 5:00am! Its a wonderful thing, now I just need to go to bed before midnight. He is an amazing eater, just like his brother. He ate 1/4 cup without spitting out hardly any his very first time and he's only gotten better. Go Charlie!