Brothers

So far life with 2 has been going smoothly!  Owen continues to be a great big brother - alternately ignoring or wanting to help/hold/feed/play with Elliot.  He hasn't shown any signs in the way of jealousy yet, although he has been a bit more ornery, which could easily be chalked up to being 2 or the fact that he also has two more molars making their debut.  Elliot is showing himself to be the most chill baby on the planet.  We thought we had it pretty good with Owen when he was a baby (despite the crazy feeding issues in the early weeks), but Owen's chillness was nothing compared to this one...perhaps we are in for terrible teenage years.  Easy E has only been feeding once in the middle of the night (somewhere in the 2-3am range) then goes straight back to sleep until 7ish.  We'll see if this changes as he comes out of the sleepy newborn phase.  I should go knock on wood now, I've jinxed it all by putting this info out there in the world!

First family outing to the park on Saturday, where Owen, of course, only wanted to dig in the sand.

napping on Dad's lap

"who are you lookin' at?"

Owen made this nest of pillows and insisted Elliot join him

such a good big brother!

Welcome Elliot!

Elliot Alfred Iredale Fox arrived Tuesday, June 17 at 4:41pm.  He weighed in at 6lb 12oz (almost an entire pound bigger than Owen was!) and 20.5 in long.  Delivery went smoothly, we left the house at 1:40pm to head to the hospital and spent a "whopping" total of 3 hours in the hospital before he arrived - I got a spinal block after 2 hours of contractions coming every 2 minutes - with several double and triple peaked contractions in there for good measure (never actually got the full epidural because I delivered about an hour after the block was put in and the NP arrived with the epidural medication about 2 pushes from birth) and it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  Such a different experience than Owen's birth - actually kind of enjoyable it was so calm.  The delivery room went from being this very intense place to being a comedy club in the span of 10 minutes!
Anyway, enough on that.  Here's what you actually want...pictures!

in labour!  This was pre painful labour...about 11am

every newborn needs one weird photo face!

there is lots of hair under that hat!

sleepy baby!

long toes!

see all that hair!?!?

looking a lot like his older brother at this age!

proud papa!

happy mama!

content baby!

 Owen stayed Tuesday night with our friends Brian and Tiffany (whom he LOVES!!) and had a great time with them.  We arrived home Wed evening about 7:30pm from the hospital, and Dave went and picked Owen up to bring him home to meet his brother.  Owen was VERY excited to meet Elliot and talked the whole way home about him apparently!  When he got in the door he ran in and gave me a hug and immediately asked where Elliot was.  Then they had a little sit on the couch together and Owen was a very proud big brother and kept wanting to rub noses with Elliot, just like the Woodsey family does in his books...it was very cute!  He also kept trying to share his toys (turns out 1 day olds don't really play with skid steers...) and asked if Elliot could sleep with him last night (sorry, no - babies can't sleep in the big bed...which Owen has been consistently sleeping in for the past 2 weeks now!).  This morning he wanted to "read" to Elliot.  I think he is going to do just fine as a big brother!

nose rub!

all my boys!

Owen-ism

We must have heard some Nancy Sinatra recently to start this off, but here's our conversation last night:

Dave: beds are made for sleeping
Me: and boots are made for walking! (ha!)
Owen: What, Mama?  (oh, Owen, one day you'll appreciate my humour and our banter!)
Me:  boots are made for walking and beds are made for sleeping
Owen: Nooooooo
Me: yes!  beds are made for sleeping in
Owen: Nooooooo
Me: Well then, what are beds made for?
Owen: looking out the window!

ah, this explains a lot about bedtime recently...

And some pics from daycare for your viewing pleasure.

all lined up for post nap snack! (O on right)

 After breakfast, they do a little bit of "school time" where all the kids sit and learn various things depending on the week (colours, numbers, days of the week, letters, etc.)

looking very thoughtful for class time  

In the sandbox with Finn.  Finn is one of his best friends at daycare.  They like to nap beside each other every day, and whoever wakes up first apparently likes to secretly try to wake the other up to play!

on his maquina (machine).  He loves that John Deere hat!

blocks and puzzles with Melissa!

lots of gardening!

Our past week and a half or so has been filled with lots and lots of gardening!  We got all of our veggies, herbs, and some annuals planted.  Owen was a big "help" with all of it...mostly he played in the dirt and randomly watered things he thought needed water.

weeding - a kid after his Grandma's heart!

patiently waiting at the Farmer's market while Dad picks out a pepper plant

"I caught an Owen!"

digging in the compost...just like Dad!

the forest of dill needed water

bleeding heart too.

We've also been doing some Friday evening picnic dinners now that the weather is nice.  We headed over to Lake Nokomis last week and Lake Harriet (no pics) this week.

mmmm....corn fritter!

Owen loves climbing up the ladder, but refuses to slide down the slide...it caused quite the traffic jam

Soviet Era Owen

He has also become mildly obsessed with brushing his teeth lately.  He brushes like 4-5 times a day...not ever very well or thoroughly, so I figure they all add up to about 1 good brushing.  

sweet bed head!

drinking from the sink tap may be the reason he likes to brush so often...

such a ham!

family selfie at the Lyn-Lake open streets fest this morning!