first joke

Owen told his first joke yesterday.  At least the first jokingly thing he intentionally said, he's certainly said plenty of other funny things!
A little background (although this in no way guarantees you will find this as funny as Dave and I did): Dave has had a very sore back since he returned from Kenya a month ago and as such can't easily pick Owen up to carry him.  Owen for his part insists on being carried everywhere these days, I think it is his reaction to Elliot and I"m sure it will pass.  I waffle between being frustrated at this and enjoying it as I know one day he will never want me to carry him again.  That being said, I wouldn't mind if he stopped insisting on being carried up and down the stairs...which is where the joke comes in.

I was upstairs giving Elliot a bath and it was time for O to head up for his bath.
O: Daddy, carry me upstairs?
D: no, you can walk.  I'll hold your hand
O: no, carry me!
D: I can't carry you
O: because you have a sore back?
D: yes.
O: carry me?
D: how about you carry me up the stairs?
O (laughing at this): no, you are too big.  I am too little.
D:  you carry me? (mocking Owen)
O: I can't, I have a sore back (then breaks into a fit of laughter at his own joke)

which we also thought was quite funny, and clever.

And a pic of E from this morning:

Owen at the same age.

We're raising clones.

apple picking

We headed out to do some apple picking yesterday.  It was a bit chilly, but we bundled up and went anyway before it got too late in the fall.  O had a great time riding on the tractor out to the apples and was an enthusiastic picker for the first bag...after that he got really into just eating an apple and didn't want to pick anymore.  Which is fine, I picked while Dave, O and E sat and watched the tractors.  Then on to the petting zoo and the playground!  E spent his apple picking time chilling in the moby just soaking it all in!
When we got home O insisted on making apple pie.  Can't really beat a homemade apple pie with fresh picked apples! yum!!

getting suited up in the back of the car

hay ride!

little sock monkey has come out of retirement

the novelty had not worn off yet

tasting the wares

precariously propped on a pumpkin

3 months of E

E welcomed in 3 months of time with us yesterday!  It's hard to believe it's already been that long...and in other ways it seems like he has always been here as he's such an integral part of the family already.  E continues to be a super chill baby.  He has been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now (7pm to 6ish am) which is amazing to me.  O didn't sleep through the night like this until he was 13 months old!  He is also a monster eater in a way that O never was (yup, E, you're going to be compared to O on all these baby milestones...deal with it).  He's going to be my chubby baby for sure!
He has also turned into a big "chatter" and loves to coo and smile away...at least to Dave and I (and his Grandma! They had a big chat every morning while Grandma drank her coffee while we were on vacation).  He will sometimes smile at O, but more often than not is a bit wary/apprehensive of the 2+ year old energy.  But for all this smiling, as soon as he sees the camera come out, this is what I get:

The smiles stop and he just stares at the camera transfixed.  I did manage to get some smile photos yesterday though...he must have been distracted by things other than the camera because we were outside.

I love those big gummy grins!

O, as always, is a great big brother and so much fun to hang around with.  He talks all the time and makes up so many fun stories and has so much to say about all the things going on around him, or reliving what happened yesterday, or last week, or last month!  His memory amazes me!  I really love this age (not so much the "limits testing" portion of it, but the rest of what 2.5 brings is pretty great!).

my little tree hugger

back from vacation

We spent the past 2 weeks in Calgary and the at the cabin while Dave went to Kenya for field work.  We are back and have lots of pics!  We had a great visit with family and friends and Elliot got to meet a lot of relatives.  He did great being passed around without much argument, and Owen loved visiting and playing with his cousins.

Our second night there, my parents hosted a nice get together/dinner with a bunch of extended family.

Great Grandma got to see Owen again and meet little Elliot

with cousins Will and Anna

E chillin' with Uncle Scott

A little cuddle time with (Great) Auntie Joan

cuddle with Auntie Beth

And arguably Owen's favourite part of the whole vacation was meeting my cousin Cody who is a policeman.  At dinner Owen was a bit enthralled with him and kept asking questions like:
"Senor Policeman?  What are you doing?"  "Senor Policeman are you eating your cake?"  "Senor Policeman, did you eat donuts today?"  It was awesome!  So Cody offered to stop by with his partner and squad car the next day so Owen could sit in the car.  At first Owen didn't recognize Cody in his uniform...but quickly got over that as evidenced by these shots:

Owen had lots of fun playing trucks with Grandpa.  And E took his time napping with Grandpa while he watched the news.

 We also had a little bbq with some of my high school friends...but I was too busy socializing to remember to take pics...but all the kids had fun playing with all the 30+ year  old toys my parents still have stockpiled in their house for all the grandkids!

We made a trip to Heritage Park.  Riding the train and the ferry were both a big hit with O.  E basically slept his way through the park.

I hear the train a comin'
It's rollin' round the bend...

Most of O's ice cream ended up on his pants...and hands...and face...and sweatshirt.
 Basically anywhere but his mouth.

 Then to the cabin for some (more) rest and relaxation!

which way to the beach?

relaxing on the park bench while O served "ice cream"
under the slide

O and Anna spent a lot of time "swimming" in the hot tub

driving the boat.  By which I mean staring out the side of the boat while absentmindedly turning the steering wheel (don't worry, we weren't actually moving fast) 

pretending they are an animal search and rescue crew

I took this pic 8 times...somebody was blurry in every shot (mostly O...it's hard to get little people to sit still!!) but this was the best of the bunch

Anna reading to O

Family photo shoot

We had a little family photo shoot with our friend/doula with Owen/photographer Emily when Elliot was 6 weeks old (you'll recall, oh faithful reader, that she did a family photo shoot when Owen was 4 weeks).  Here are some of the shots!

summertime!

and the livin' is easy...particularly if you are a baby and just get to sleep and lounge about all day.

We've also made some trips over to the beach (it's pretty awesome living a whopping 10 blocks from the lakes!), of which Owen's favourite part is definitely just playing in the sand!

6 weeks (+)

Tuesday marked 6 weeks of life for Elliot...and it continues to amaze me that if I didn't have the job I have, I would have had to be back at work on Wednesday. Maternity leave (excuse me, it's not called that, it's medical leave) in the US is so crazy!  You are guaranteed your job for 6 weeks no matter where you work, and 12 weeks if you work for a large enough employer (I work for the state, so definitely a large enough employer).  My employer will also allow further parental leave for up to one year and still allow you to return to your job - but this is not mandated like the other leave, I just happen to work somewhere that allows it.  All of this leave is completely unpaid - the US is the only industrialized nation in the world, and one of only 4 nations total that have unpaid maternity leave.  Crazy.  I will be taking my full 12 weeks starting late August when the semester would be starting again for me, and then an additional 4 weeks of "parental leave" for the remainder of the fall semester (because nobody wants a new teacher taking over the class with only a few weeks left in the semester). Right now I'm just on my regular 3 months of non-paid, non-working summer time.  So, I feel lucky that I will end up getting 7 months of time with my baby before I return to work when most people only get between 1.5 and 3 months.  The academic schedule works out nicely for having babies!

Anyway, here's what we've been doing this week!

dreaming about pooping on our almost daily walk around the lake

naked play time with big brother

tummy time is so much better with a friend!

We also went to the garden store, and O was particularly excited about the skid steer that was parked in the back of the tree area.

Every summer, artists craft mini golf holes that are set up in the Sculpture Garden outside the Walker Art Center (which is quite close to our house!).  So we headed over this morning to play the front 9.

nice form!

rockin' the promotional sunglasses the museum was handing out to the kids.