Im an Alvarado.....

Addies new thing is to say that she is an Alvarado whenever we ask her something or say she is something... IE "Addie you are a guber" and Addie will reply with "I am not a goober, I am an Alvarado". It is a pretty cute little response that seems to make sense to her and always puts a smile on our faces.

Addie's Tagging

So, we only do stickers at the table since we dont want them all over the house. The only thing is I let her put them on her clothes which enables her to peel them off and stick them elsewhere later (notice the Target sticker on my car?? I found it while pumping gas). Maybe a new rule; only on paper. Poor Calvin got tagged with 3 stickers yesterday.

A fist is better than a thumb

So Calvin is working on hi s thumb most of the time and is starting to be pretty successful, especially when sleeping. The rest of the time he can often be found stuffing his whole fist in his mouth :)

Addie Riding Her Bike

We have been going to a nearby school to play this summer, they have a HUGE playground and there are usually only 1 or 2 other kids there so it is easier to leave Calvin in the stroller and be able to wander with Addie as she runs from play structure to bike to field. Plus, here she has a nice big place to ride her bike. She is starting to understand pedaling but not braking (good thing that the playground is flat). BTW, she dressed herself today, hence the fairy skirt on the bike :)

Summer Concert

Last night while Damien worked late Addie, Calvin and I enjoyed a concert out at Hiawatha Park in the Admiral neighborhood. It is free and they put them on every Thursday and the band playing last night was one that I heard when we first moved to Seattle and quite liked so we went..... I knew it would be a challenge without Damien but I figured with food for all we should be happy. I guess what I didnt take into account was that it was Calvins bedtime and there were kids galore for Addie to run and play with and the two mixed as well as oil and vinegar. I am proud to say we made it half way through before we headed home; and the next concert is a kids one so we may have friends that go which is great so Addie can play with them, Yay!

Life is a Beach

It was a georgous morning in Seattle so we headed down to Alki to go for a walk and play. Addie played in the sand for a while and I gave Calvin a bottle (we made it 500 feet before he threw a fit). After Addie had worn herself out chasing the birds, throwing rocks in the ocean and playing in the sand we walked to the end of the beach. Since it was after breakfast, I had not packed a snack but Addie of course wanted a snack to eat in the stroller (I think we have classically conditioned her since we always give her a snack when we go for a walk). I explained that we would have to wait and after a fuss she quited down, then at the end of the trail she ran up to the picnic table, climbed up and sat down and said she could have a snack now. Poor thing thought that the snacks would magically appear if she sat at the table like a good girl and was not too happy to learn that wasnt the case... being a good mom I ofcourse took a photo :). Needless to say it was a long walk back to the car with no snacks and a child that didnt quite understand.

IKEA trip

We went to Ikea today to look at kids tables so we can put something in the kitchen for Addie to eat snacks at and color, etc while we prepare food or wash dishes (something much quicker now that our dishwasher is working). Addie was content pretty much the whole trip, why? Animal crackers, they are a shopping mommy's best friend. Calvin sat in the cart and slept for most of the trip until he woke up and did his bug eyes when he saw Addie's body hovering above him in the seat. He is very good at looking concerned, which was the expression he wore for the entire trip until I got Addie loaded in the car... come on Calvin, she isnt that heavy :)

Aquarium with Grandmama

Monday is always a day to get out of West Seattle since it is trash/recycling day and there are garbage trucks parusing the neighborhood, something Addie dreads and will cling to my leg all day if we stick around. As a treat my mom came up to help watch the kids so we went to the Aquarium where Addie could run around and look at all the exhibits while one of us stayed with Calvin. Addie can run for days, and she ran laps around most exhibits getting enough energy out to take a nap as soon as we got home; Yay!

Zoo Friday

This morning we went to the park right after breakfast which is the perfect time to go, no one else has gotten there yet so Addie can run around and play with any toy she wants which is awesome. We were able to get plenty of playing in before we headed off to the zoo for the rest of the morning. Despite me getting there within an hour of opening it was still pretty crowded and Addie rode in the stroller for the first half since she was tuckered out form the park. But, by the time we got to the penguins she was running all over the place, but the zoo is great because there is plenty of space to run..... I think it is going to be a good nap today. The picture of Calvin is him in the bjorn, for some reason the way he chose to sleep was fish hooking himself with his thumb, ouch. I tried to remove it but he woke up and was pretty cranky and promptly did it again so I let it be, whatever works I guess.

More Pictures

Family Portrait Time

We had our family portrait done so we could get some pictures of Calvin up in the house. While it was a little bit of a challenging day with Calvin, she seemed to get pretty good pictures of the kids. I particuarily love the one of Addie flying up in the air. I will post some more in the next post, it only allows so many before erroring out.

Seattle Kids Museum

We went to the Kids Museum this morning to do something new, Addie had a great time, almost too great, she threw a little bit of a fit when we left. They have lots of different areas, a under the sea exhibit where Addie drenched herself playing with toy boats in the water, a small town with a market, post office, fire engine, restarunt, etc. She was able to run around and not be too distructive while I tried to keep up with Calvin strapped to my chest sleeping in the bjorn. It was fire saftey day so they also had a fire engine outside for her to look at, she is starting to like fire engines (before she was always scared of them) but she still HATES the garbage trucks. Yesterday was trash day so going for a walk on trash day is not an enjoyable experience... I think we will stay indoors on Mondays or go to the other side of town.

Sleep?

With Addie we have been trying to get her to sleep in her own bed for the whole night and not in our bed. Calvin got booted out of our room at 4 weeks (Addie was in our room until she was 3 months old and has reverted back to our room ever since the move). The problem is that with her new bed she can simply climb out of bed and walk down the hall to our room. We have been sitting with her until she goes to sleep which can often take up to an hour and then letting her sleep in our bed whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night. Earlier this week we changed our tactic and now sit with her for a bit and then let her know it is bedtime and simply close the door to her room (we put a child proof grip on the door nob so she cant open it). She usually fusses for 10 minutes and will then either go to sleep or sometimes sing and read to herself. Yesterday we did this for her nap and when we went in to check on her we found her curled up in a ball on the floor, apparently she didnt make it to the bed.
Calvin is now sleeping through the night about half the time which is great. I think that this is the same time Addie started sleeping through the night so I am happy that both kids have proven to be good sleepers in the baby stage. I think another few weeks and Calvin waking up in the middle of the night will be an outlier and not the norm, yeah! He still sleeps a lot during the day too but as long as he is sleeping through the night I am fine with him being a sleeper during the day.

Bacon Oatmeal Cookie!

Today we went for a nice walk in the morning to Hiawatha, the park down in the Admiral district. It is about a 40 minjute walk so Calvin and Addie can take a nap and we can enjoy a little peace and quiet in the morning. Addie enjoys the playground there so she can get some of her energy out while Calvin gets a bottle. On the way back we hit up the Farmers Market at the Alaska Junction where we got a Peanut Butter Cookie and a Bacon Oatmeal Cookie (couldnt resist atleast trying it, and it wasnt half bad). Addie got to get in one more round at Ercolini Park by our house where we ran into one of Addie's PEPs friends Grady so they got to play together for a while; of course Calvin slept the whole time so you get another picture of Calvin sleeping :) . With all that park time Addie took an epic nap and slept from 12-3, which let Damien clean the garage and me to plant the side driveway area of the house. It is a lot harder to dig in this yard than Maple, I actually ended up using the pressure washer per Damiens reccomendation to "dig" the holes. It worked OK but I will need to put some dirt on top of the plants to help make sure they are covered. I think it looks better than it did but will need to work on it a little bit more.

I cant forget Calvin!

Just wanted to upload a few pictures of Calvin, he has been sleeping for most of the day today getting over his cold/caugh. He loves his farm animal vibrating chair and smiles often when he sites in it. For some reason he does not like his rainforrest animal swing, he throws a fit if I put him in there and try to swing him, although he will sit in it and look at the mobile if I dont turn the swing feature on, go figure.

Addie's Best Friends

This is the new scence in our house, Baby Doll and Monkey in Calvin's toys and clothes. Each morning when I get Addie and Calvin up Addie gets a new outfit out of Calvins drawers for baby doll and monkey and they get dressed along with Addie. She then moves them into the swing, chair, pack and play, etc to have some "chill" time. I asked where Calvin was supposed to go if monkey and baby doll were in all of his tiys and her response was "on the floor". You have to love her thinking.

Thursdays Belated Post

So, my goal of one post every day got blown away on Thursday. Often I post when the kids are taking a nap or once they have gone to bed. On Thursday, Addie did niether (she did finally go to bed at 10:15 when we went to bed). The doctors appointment for another double ear infection was the main event in the morning and for some reason Addie did not want to take a nap no matter how hard I tried. I figured the silver lining would mean that she would atleast fall asleep early so we went to the wading pool in Lincoln park after Damien got back. Addie had a lot of fun playing with a buket she found and a little red army figurine. Calvin and I stayed on the picnic blanket enjoying some pizza from Bakery Neveau. Once we got home we kept thinking Addie would go to bed, but no matter how long and hard we tried she couldnt sleep. Her room gets pretty hot so that may have been part of the problem.

Calvins New Favorite Thing

So, poor Calvin has gotten the cold that Addie brouight home and has been caughing and breathing through a stuffed up nose. Today before his nap I finaly got out the nasal aspirator (I usually use it as a last resort since Addie always screamed bloody murder with it). I put him on his changing table, he was allready screaming from being tired and I figured it couldnt get much worse. I stuck it in and suctioned the first nostril and he got very quiet, I was waiting for him to start screaming when he started to laugh instead. I went on to do the other side of his nose and he again giggled and then smiled. Apparently he quite likes it, only his little duck toy makes him smile as much as the nasal aspirator.

The Aquarium

We went to the aquarium this morning and had a much different experience than in the past, Addie actually liked the fish. She was almost a little too enthusiastic often screaming "wow", the poor people sitting enjoying tranquil moments had to endure a 2 year olds excitement for a minute or two before she ran off to the next fish. Calvin slept through everything but the seals (where he got a bottle and became much happier to walk the exhibits).

She'll Find You... Wherever you are

So, it was a rough night in the Alvarado house with Damien out of town and just me to deal with the kids. Addie of course woke up half way through the night and came into our room and quickly climbed into our bed where she proceeded to take up as much of the bed as she could. Calvin woke up at 2:30, the poor guy was hacking and couldnt breathe through his stuffed up nose. It makes me nervous to put him on his tummy (the only way he sleeps) while he is allready having prblems breathing so I decided to sleep in his room on the floor for a while, I know I am a softie, Damien tells me all the time. Anyway, all was well untill I woke up at 4:00 to find Addie burrowing in next to me, she had woken up and gotten out of our bed to come find me.

Addies Backpack

Today was the first day of both kids at home with me full time. To help get into a routine and get out of the house I am going to try and go to the YMCA each day where they will watch the kids (Calvin in the infant room and Addie in the kids room) while I work out/shower, etc. THey each will need their own bag while they are there to keep with them so I mentioned we may need to get Addie a backpack, somehow that hit a chord and that was all she could talk about for the rest of the day. So, after her nap and a bout on the playground we went to Target where she tried on 9 backpacks and finally found one she liked. The thing is half her size, but she loves it. You can see the pictures of her walking down the isles of Target, plenty of people were smiling at the sight of Addie with the enourmous backpack. Even when we got home she wanted to carry it and pack it, I think she is looking at it as a step in big girl status.