Follow the Leader

Leo's friend Mary Harper came over today for a playdate. Their favorite activity has been carrying around this green snake from both ends. They have been running back and forth, from one end of the house to the other, laughing and giggling the whole time. So cute!


You'll have to watch the video to get the full effect of their cuteness...

Watermelon

Jack loves watermelon. Seriously. On his list of top 'loves', it would have to be me and Leo at the top, and then watermelon would be a close third. During the summer, when watermelon is in season, we buy 2-3 a week. Jack will cut one up, and fill one of our large tupperware containers with the large ruby-red cubes. And then he will eat it, all day long. You've never seen watermelon disappear so quickly.

When I was at the store yesterday I saw them. A giant pallet bin-- filled to the top with the large green orbs. And I'm not going to lie- I felt a lump in my throat, and I had to choke back some tears. It made me sad to think that Jack won't be home for watermelon season this year.

I bought one anyway. And today I cut it up into large cubes, just like Jack does. I filled up a giant tupperware container, and I have been eating it all day. And guess what? Leo LOVES watermelon too. Just like his daddy.

Another One Bites the Dust

I don't know what it is about 16 month old boys... but they can get into trouble in the blink of an eye. Here are just a two examples from a week in the life of Leo:

Tuesday: Mom was on the treadmill in the family room. Leo was playing in the same room, on the other side of the barrier mom made to keep him out. Leo decided to break through the barrier (which he has never done before), and in a split second was climbing onto the back of the moving treadmill. He planted one hand on it and was instantly spun backwards, doing a faceplant on the moving belt as we went down.  Result: Raspberry on the end of his nose, and a big fat lip.

Saturday: Leo scratched himself when he was playing, with an unknown object. Result: Scab on the side of his nose.

Sunday: Leo was playing in nursery at church.  He tripped and hit his lip on the back of a kiddie chair. Result:  Lip cut open from one of his teeth, and LOTS of blood. Mom and nursery leaders very freaked out.

Needless to say, I felt like a horrible mom most of the week...   I hope I can keep Leo alive until his next birthday. Should I keep a football helmet on him, or what?

Swim Lessons

Leo had his first swim lesson last week. He was definitely the oldest one there (16 months), and the other babies were all about 5-9 months old.

We sang songs and splashed and twirled around in the water to get the babies accoustomed to the water. Leo swam a lot last summer, so he was perfectly comfortable in the water. But he did enjoy smiling and laughing at all those babies!




 
 
 
 
 
I know his eyes are closed in this photo, but the expression on his face is just adorable. What a cutie.

The Places We've Been

***Update:  I'm now making these shelves, due to popular demand!  You can find them here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SouvenirSand?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Jack and I love to travel. We have been collecting sand from the places we visit since we got married almost 8 years ago. (It actually started before that, when I brought home a little bottle of sand from the beaches in Southern France, where I served my mission) Our little sand collection has grown over the years, and I searched in vain for a way to properly display our collection. I eventually made my own wall shelf, and filled it with small glass vials that I ordered online. This project is finally complete! I am so pleased with the results.

As I retyped the labels for these vials I was reminded of all the places we've been, and all the memories came flooding back. I had to call Jack so we could reminisce together. We laughed at some of the memories, and shook our heads at some of the 'adventures' we had along the way. It was so much fun to remember all of those experiences.

In short, this collection has done what we hoped it would. It stands as a reminder of the places we've been, and how life is "always an adventure"...

Our Funny Boy

Our funny little Leo. What a cutie!  I had to share some of his photos from the last month.  This first one show how his 4 top teeth are coming in.  It took him a while (14 months) to finally get some teeth, but they're coming in strong now.

He has recently discovered the power of those front teeth and so he likes to bite off big chunks of food, which fill his little cheeks to capacity.




We went with some friends to a nearby park and Leo had a great time on the slides and the swing.  He also got a hold of mom's hat, which was a fun new toy.



 

 Lastly, a friend gave us this play lawn mower, which Leo has enjoyed pushing around the yard.  (It might be fun for him now, but we'll see how he feels about mowing when he's 15.) I'm not sure what he's pointing at in this one, but I think it was a plane flying overhead. Leo is getting more and more interested in airplanes, which thrills his Daddy. I think Jack is already planning some trips to the Air and Space museum with Leo when he gets home.

This place is a Zoo!

Leo had his first trip to the zoo this week, and he loved it. The National Zoo, which is here in DC, is on the smaller side but it has free admission, which is great. I think it will be a popular destination for us this summer.

Leo can only say 'dog' and 'cat', so he called the lions and tigers 'cat' and eveything else was a dog. I think his favorite was the monkeys and gorillas because they swung around on the ropes and bars, which was pretty exciting to Leo. He also liked the elephant, which I'm sure is the biggest animal he had ever seen.

Leo has always enjoyed pointing at things, from the time he was a baby. And the zoo sure gave him a lot of things to point at...

Dogwoods

DC is known for it's famous display of Cherry blossoms, but I have to say that the real show stopper around here is the Dogwood. The beautiful flowering Dogwood- which is a tree, but happens to be Virginia's state flower- comes in many shades of pink and white.

We are lucky enough to have two of them in our front yard, and hundreds of them throughout our neighborhood. They are spectacular, and I just had to show them off!

Home Improvements

The last few weeks I have been working on the exterior of the house, and the front yard. It is amazing what a difference a few changes can make. It started when I painted the front door.  (I just had to get rid of that country blue color!) I also painted the original 1962 hardware, which I love for it's vintage feel. 

This week I took down the shutters and window boxes so I could paint them black. But when I got the shutters down I realized that I liked the house a lot better without them. And since I'm going for a clean, mid-century modern look (like the era of the house), it makes sense.  So the shutters went out to live in the shed, and the window boxes got painted and put pack up. They even got some new flowers planted in them. The house was looking so much better!  I still plan to replace that carriage style porch light (yuk!) with something more modern that will go with the new house numbers I put up. It's going to look fantastic!

Next, the yard.

First I had to get rid of all those weeds in that bed along the sidewalk.

I have wanted to edge the sidewalk with some nice plants, but it was going to cost me several hundred dollars for that many plants. I wasn't ready to invest that much in it. So when I read on a blog that someone was tearing out a whole patch of lirope from their yard, I promptly emailed them to see if I could pick them up.  It was an hour and a half drive to Richmond, but I got over 100 plants out of it. (Which would have cost me about $500)  Sweet!  And they were the exact plant I had wanted in the first place. Awesome.

Look how full my car was!  (Thanks John and Sherry for hooking me up!)

It took me a couple of days to dig up the weeds, plant the lirope, cut a trench along the edge, lay down the weed cloth, and then spread the mulch.  It was back-breaking work, and I am exhausted now... but it was all worth it. I am so pleased with the results.

Here is a 'before' picture of the house when we bought it a year ago. You can see it with the blue shutters. We're not quite done yet, but we have made a lot of progress...

Little Boy Blue

Leo loves blueberries.

I was making a smoothie one morning, and decided to pull out a couple of frozen blueberries for Leo. I put them on his high chair tray... and it was love at first bite. 

Soon his face was covered in purpley colored juice, and his hands were sticky and blue. Here he is, doing the sign for "more."  

More, more, more!  He just can't get enough of them.

Easter Fun

It's a few weeks before Easter, but we had a Easter Egg Hunt at my sister's house on Sunday. Leo didn't grasp the concept at first, and preferred to pick up sticks and pinecones instead of eggs, but he eventually got the hang of it. And when he discovered that the eggs were full of candy he got even more enthusiastic...

Double Trouble

We visited my sister in Utah and Leo had a great time with his cousin Bridger (who is 7 weeks older).

They had fun tickling each other, playing in their tunnel, and getting into trouble all over the house.  Leo taught Bridger how to empty the kitchen drawers, and Bridger taught Leo how to throw things down the stairs. They were full of energy, and had lots of mischievous fun together.

Our first day in Utah felt like "Spring", but that quickly changed to a week of snow and heavy rain. Leo and I had packed our Spring clothing, so we were not prepared for such cold weather! Brrr.
Luckily, the sun came out and we enjoyed a few sunny days before coming home.



Farewell

Jack left for Iraq yesterday. He will be gone for 6 months. Saying goodbye was heartbreaking, and we miss him already.

It will take him several days to get to Baghdad, where he will be staying. (He will be working for DCMA as an auditor of service contracts for the military.)  Once he gets settled we should be able to talk on the phone and do web-chats, so we are looking forward to that. Thank goodness for modern technology that makes it so much easier to keep in touch, regardless of where you are in the world. 

My aunt was telling me that when her husband went off to Vietnam that she rarely got a letter from him, and only got to talk to him once by short wave radio. (He waited in line for 2 hours to make the call, but they could hardly hear each other, she cried the whole time, and then they got cut off!) Thank goodness for modern technology!

Jack and Leo have been spending lots of quality time together the last few weeks. They've had a great time riding horse back, wrestling on the floor, and having 'tickle fiesta'.  Leo sure loves his daddy!

Cherry Blossom Festival

We drove into DC today to see the Cherry Blossoms festival. The blossoms are at their peak this week, and they were pretty incredible. Over 3700 trees surround the Tidal Basin, and the Jefferson Memorial.
People from all over the world were there to see the trees in all their splendor.

It was a chilly 40 degrees outside today, so that put a damper on our Spring-time revelry... but we had a great time nonetheless.

Here are some more photos of those fabulous flowering trees:

Laughing Leo

Shenanigans

Leo is 14 months old now, and is so full of personality. He still loves pointing at things, but now he also does this funny shrugging thing, with his elbows put together, and hands put out. (as seen in the bath photos below)  It is so charming.

Leo is also really into books. He loves pointing at the pictures, and bringing them to me so I can read him a story. (His attention span has improved slightly so he will actually sit still long enough to hear one.)

Leo was in his room today, playing while I was in the kitchen. It was a little too quiet in there... I should have known that he was up to something. A few mintues later he came out of his room covered in baby powder. 

(at least this mess was easy to clean up!)

And for the biggest news of all... it looks like Leo is FINALLY getting some teeth!

If you look closely you can see the two on the bottom starting to push through. Yesterday afternoon he was really in pain, so I just rocked him for about a half an hour until the Tylenol kicked in, and then he took a 2 1/2 hour nap... then he was fine. Poor little guy. I'm sure there are some sleepless nights ahead.

Finally, a cute video of Leo playing with a stuffed animal.
He never ceases to amaze me with his cuteness...