Family Vacation!

Recently my mom decided that she was burned out at work and needed a long vacation; when we mentioned how jealous we were of her plans things quickly evolved into a family vacation (the first in almost 10 years) with her, my stepdad, my stepsister & her husband, and John & I & our boys.  In other circumstances (having learned lessons from our trip to Asia last Spring) John and I would have been hesitant to fly with our 2 little boys, but we jumped on the opportunity to spend a week on a beach with plenty of hands around to help with the 2 tornados of activity we refer to as our children.  Our destination?  Playa del Carmen, Mexico, which is about 45 minutes south of Cancun.  The verdict?  It was glorious.  The beach was golden, powdery sand and the beach was a fantastically brilliant blue.  Flying with 2 small children isn't really at the top of my to-do list, but we made it, and the very first thing Jack did was strip off his clothing and sit and play in the sand in his underwear.  In fact, this was how he spent the bulk of our vacation:

 Playing in the sand with the trucks that we brought.  We brought Jack plenty of clothes, including 2 bathing suits, and he wore almost none of it because he spent most of his time in either his underwear or a swim diaper.  Nathan had a great time too - the beach connected to the building had plenty of lounge chairs and palapas, and the staff would set up umbrellas wherever needed.  So Nate would spend his time hanging out in the shade and enjoying the breeze (and of course nursing whenever he needed) and even got to the point where he would just close his eyes and snooze right there.

Though there's a ton of activities to do in PdC, we really were happiest relaxing on the beach with the kiddos.  We did get a visit in to the ruins at Coba and Tulum, and John even got in a morning of fishing while I went snorkelling.  Other than that, we enjoyed the glorious scenery and just kicked back and relaxed.  And of course no trip with John Dwyer is complete without delicious food.  One of the biggest benefits to staying in a condo was the ability to cook some of our own food (especially breakfast) but we made sure to do some great meals out.  The 'must try' food in the region is tacos al pastor - a corn tortilla filled with marinated pork, cilantro, onions, and pineapple; they were just delicious.  We found a couple of restaurants that we went back to more than once because we enjoyed the food so much, and I think the dish John enjoyed the most was called the carboncito (at the a restaurant named Carboncitos) that was a diced marinated pork chop cooked with bacon, topped with cheese, and served with corn tortillas and your preference of salsa.  We ate memorably well!

All in all, PdC was an incredible destination.  It was by far one of the most family friendly places we've been, and not only did it have a ton of things to do the beaches there were really the most spectacular we've seen.  We had such a great time, all 4 Dwyers were sad to leave!

Happy Anniversary!

It's amazing to think that 5 years ago today John and I were married.  I still get a chuckle out of how I met John: my junior year in college one of my roommates had a huge crush on one of the boys that lived next door to us.  In her zeal to spend time with him she got him to drop by one Saturday night, and he brought a couple of guys with him: his twin brother (who had a thing for one of my other roommates) and some other guy.  I still remember the thought that ran through my head as I saw them - "I hope I don't get stuck with the weird friend."  Though it took John an almost ridiculous amount of time to finally ask me out, I quickly got to know him for the kind, generous, wonderful man that he is.  Even now, 5 years and 2 kids later, there's no one I'd rather be with.

Oh, and my roommate never did manage to get that boy to go out with her.

Potty Training Jack

Sometimes the changes in our household can be abrupt.  We knew in theory that we would need to potty train Jack in the next couple of months, especially since he's starting preschool in the Fall.  What we weren't expecting was for Jack to decide he had a problem with wearing his diaper.  No details are necessary, but we got pretty tired of cleaning up after him, and it quickly became obvious that we needed to start potty training. 

Jack is a strong willed kid, and John and I weren't quite sure what to expect.  We certainly didn't anticipate his reaction to potty training!  He just refused to go.  After the first couple of accidents he figured out what we wanted, and whether it was because he was intimidated or scared or just hadn't figured out his little body yet, the kiddo held everything in.  The training method we're using is an intensive one and John and I were at our wits end by the end of the first day.  We were amazed at the bladder control this kid has - he was easily going 5-6 hours without peeing!  No matter how many times we'd tell him to let us know when he had to go potty, took him to the bathroom, offered him rewards and treats, and tried our best, he just would not go.  The poor kid was miserable!  John and I weren't particularly thrilled either.

The bright side is that now, on Day 5, we finally had a breakthrough: Jack realized that if he pees in the potty he gets a peanut butter M & M.  We were already giving them as rewards, but he finally made the connection between his action and the treat.  Thank goodness.  We're not 100% potty trained, but things are looking up!  And as everyone says, it's not like he's going to college still in diapers.

Win Some, Lose Some

As pretty much everyone knows, Jack is a man of few words.  Where most kids his age are talking up a storm he prefers to be pretty quiet.  He hears just fine and he has excellent comprehension, he just doesn't feel like speaking especially when he can just do things himself.  It's amazing that he's kept quiet this long out of sheer stubbornness - after all, we've heard him speak, he just chooses not to.  But we feel like we finally had a breakthrough!  Over the last few weeks new words have been coming out of his mouth, and John's even gotten him saying "please."  Hooray!  Of course, Jack's not going to make things too easy for us.  Just when we're making progress on something that's been bugging us for over a year, the munchkin throws a new wrench in our plans.  He's decided that he no longer likes wearing a diaper.  Needless to say it's been a long week for us, and I'm starting to get tired of cleaning up all his little messes.  Hopefully we'll make it through this 'bump' quickly and in one piece!

Terrible 2s - Ugh

Jack is a pretty good kid about 90% of the time but lately that other 10% has just been a battle.  This past week has seemed especially difficult.  I know that my family finds it hysterical but I still cannot believe how stubborn this little man can get.  It's amazing!  At 29 months I don't think we have ever successfully gotten that kid to eat a bite that he does not want, and the kid will barely speak.  His hearing his fine and he comprehends what we say, he's just not interested in speaking.  And lately he's added a new tactic into his arsenal: when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do he'll ignore me - as though his toys are now the most interesting thing in the world and he's too engrossed in them to even make eye contact with me.  It's been like talking to a brick wall!  The real tipping point for John and I, though, has been Jack's interactions with other kids... because the ignoring me becomes a serious issue when I'm telling him things like "be gentle with the other kids" and "don't tackle them to the ground".  We're trying to nip this in the bud before Jack becomes that kid.

So here's a photo of my handsome, stubborn boy, and here's hoping that this week sees some real progress!

Jack

Apparently this is Jack's pose of choice.  He walked up, handed me the camera and then proceeded to climb onto our couch (with his truck, of course) and cover himself with pillows.  Of course I obliged him and took a picture :)

Saturday Morning Donut Date

As most of our family members know at this point, John and I switch off weekend mornings to sleep in.  So I get up with the boys on Saturday mornings, and frequently I like to take them on outings or an activity of some sort to help pass the time.  A favorite?  Getting donuts at Frost in Mill Creek.  Jack gets excited just going into the store, and when we get our donuts he and I sit at the counter (with Nate in his carseat on the floor) and split a donut.  It's one of those moments that's a special thing for just Jack and I, and while it's not something we'll do every weekend I really look forward to the Saturdays that we do.

Painting with Jack

Today I busted out Jack's paints and smock (courtesy of Allison) and he had a blast!  As soon as I got everything out he plopped down on his little table and sat there at the ready, excited to do some painting.  Jack is already enjoying the arts and crafts from the Bates aunties and cousins.

Smiley Nate

With Nate being our second child it's hard not to look at him and think about what Jack was like.  Personally, I think the two of them look an awful lot alike, though one things for sure: while both of them started smiling early, Nate smiles way more than Jack did as a newborn.  It's so easy to coax a grin out of him!

Blogging... or not

I'd hoped that I'd have an easier time finding opportunities to update the family blog, but it turns out with 2 boys I tend to run low on spare time.  Don't get me wrong, they're both great kids, but between the 2 of them they take up an awful lot of my time and attention and then when you try to add in things like chores, household projects and even the occasional workout... there's not much time left in my week let alone in my days!  Fortunately it's a 'good' busy, with 2 happy little campers and parts of the house are even clean sometimes :)

Jack and Nate

One of the questions that John and I have gotten the most since Nate's arrival is asking how Jack's doing with being a big brother, and for good reason.  During his 26 month reign as our only child Jack was the center of John's and my universe, not to mention utterly doted upon by his 6 grandparents.  I have to admit, as Nate's due date crept up I found myself feeling increasingly guilty knowing how much we were about to rock Jack's world and also fairly worried that Jack was going to resent his little brother's intrusion into his life.  So you can imagine our shock when we saw that Jack was so excited to be a big brother!  He is fascinated by Nate and continually wants to touch him and he even finds the little one hilarious.  Sure, a lot of his affection is shown by trying to poke Nate, but the kid's only 2 so it's to be expected.  I have even seen him try to share his trucks when the baby's upset, and as the above picture shows Jack's even offered his beloved pacifier to his little brother.  Of course, that's not to say that we didn't have some growing pains because Jack definitely did some acting out... for a little while we had to go back to square one when it came to how he's supposed to behave with other kids (the low point was when he headbutted his little friend Bryn) and we got an awful lot of crocodile tears with every minor bump and bruise.  But for the most part Jack's really embraced the role of big brother and decided that he's a big boy now.  Our stubborn little boy will even occasionally listen to us when we tell him not to do something!  John and I have really lucked out with how great Jack's adjusted to having Nate around.

Nate's 1st night away from home

When we found out that Dad and Cheryl got about 2 feet of snow up in Cle Elum this past week John and I agreed that it would be great to take the boys up there to enjoy what could be the last gasp of winter.  Jack has had so much fun in the snow this winter, and after being at home for the past 6 weeks it was nice to have a change of scenery.  Nate did very well away from home, even considering that we tried to keep to just the essentials when we packed.  It's good to know that the little one is so portable!  Jack of course had a blast, especially when he convinced Grandpa Mike to push him on the swing for what seemed like hours on end.  He also greatly enjoyed shovelling snow - it's about time that we put him to work.

There's 2 of them

Here we are 6 weeks after Nate's birth and things have settled into a nice, new 'normal'.  There's something completely surreal about bringing a baby home from the hospital; all of a sudden you're bringing an entire new person into your home and your family.  Yesterday there were three of us, today there's four.  Oddly, the adjustment has been pretty uneventful.  We'd wondered how Jack was going to handle having to share the spotlight, but the kid has been fascinated by his little brother and he's been fine with mom splitting her attention between the 2 boys.  One thing's definite: it's been much easier to go from 1 kid to 2 than it was to go from 0 to 1.  This time around it feels like we've hit the ground running; my recovery was much faster and the boys and I fell into a routine pretty quickly.  That's not to say that we haven't had our bumps in the road... I cringe when I have to get everyone into the car, and of course I could have cried when Nate dropped one of his nighttime feedings a week ago - the weeks since he was born I was lucky to even get 3 hours of sleep at a time.  Even in the hospital Nate kept me up almost all night, and when he started sleeping he'd still decide that when he got up to eat he'd prefer to stay up for an hour or two.  As you can imagine by the end of this I was in something of a haze; in fact I'm still trying to remember where I put my credit card!

It's amazing to look back at when Jack was a newborn and compare it to now, because it's a night and day difference.  We both felt much more confident and prepared, and so it doesn't feel like we've had to put our whole lives on hold since we have a new baby.  We're eating dinner as a family every night, we're out and about and doing stuff, and I even get a shower every day. 

So to summarize, 2 really does seem to be better than 1 - at least when you're lucky enough to have kids as awesome as Jack and Nate!

And now we blog

Jack and Nate are lucky enough to have all sorts of friends and family that dote upon them, especially grandparents that think they're bundles of 100% greatness.  Especially now that we're busier with the two little ones a blog just seems like the best way to share our photos and keep everyone up to date on the doings of our little family.  Plus this way Dad and Cheryl will no longer be dependent on Anj showing them what we post on Facebook.