The Park and The Tree

One evening Mom, Chelsea, and I took the kids to play at the playground after dinner.  

I had had my camera out for the past hour or so, and commented to Chelsea that I was done playing photographer for the night as I put it in it's bag.  Then I turned away from the playground and saw this...

and pulled it right back out.  

I mean, seriously.Jayce climbed right on in.  It had very climbable low limbs, so he scurried on up.See him?But he couldn't go much further up once he was in it, and got bored quickly, which is fair enough.

So I gave Chelsea my camera so that Hannah and I could pick a few of the flowers.  
That Chelsea, I'll turn her into photographer yet! :)  I love this one, even though we were pretty disheveled from a full day of playing in actual sun. :)Goodbye beautiful tree and park!  You were a good end to the day.

Hooray Daddy!

There was a half marathon near Richmond the first weekend that Mom and Chelsea would be in town.  We had briefly discussed maybe running it with her, but since she would have just finished her first full marathon the weekend before, we obviously decided against it.

But the Wednesday before the run, one of Chris' colleagues offered her bib to Chris because she had already registered but no longer would be able to run.  He took it.

 

So on Saturday morning, we got up, made a few signs, the kids ran around the house shouting encouragement to Chris who was already running, and we headed out to meet him at the finish line.

We arrived at a perfect time, about 10 minutes before he was set to finish.  We saw him coming, got our signs ready, and I had to get onto the course and flag him down before he saw us.When he got nearby, Jayce ran out onto the course with him and they crossed the finish line together.  The race photographers got pictures from the front of them both smiling as they cross the line, Jayce with his sign still in hand.  We're definitely buying one.  I loved it.Happy race day Chris!

Friends

When Hannah was born we decided that we wouldn't try to force her on Jayce.  Like, make him talk to her all the time, make him give her kisses, make him hold her if he didn't ask to, etc.  There was a lot of change in his life, going from an only child to a big brother, and we wanted to ease him into it a little bit.  So they were often alongside of one another, but not really "together."

Also, it kind of worked for our family dynamic and schedule to do things with them separately.  

Hannah never took a bottle or formula so only I could feed her.  I would feed her before dinner and she would have a little nap or swing while the rest of us ate.  Then I would give her a bath while Chris played with Jayce.  Then Chris would give Jayce a bath while I fed Hannah and put her to bed.  Then we would take turns doing Jayce's bedtime routine with him or spend some time just the 3 of us.  

As time went on, even though the kids were bigger and could do things like bathe at the same time, we still did them separately.  I think it was mostly just out of habit and it gave us each some one on one time with them.

Once Chelsea's move to London went from a possibility to an it's happening, we knew we had a decision to make regarding our living arrangements.  We live in a 3 bedroom flat.  Should we move to a bigger place with more bedrooms, move Hannah into our room, or Hannah into Jayce's room?  We decided on the latter.

We were a little unsure about how this would all go down, because though Jayce is good with Hannah, I wouldn't go so far as to say that he likes her.  There is no sort of protectiveness or paternal instinct for her.  It would be most accurate to say that Hannah loves Jayce, and Jayce tolerates Hannah well.

So we put them in the same room.  

We ordered a new bed for him.  He had previously had a double in his room that was perfect when it was just him, but a bit of a tight squeeze once we added her (US sized) crib.  (The baby cots here are all significantly smaller I think to accommodate smaller bedrooms.) 

A bit of a squeeze, but just temporary.

Now that they would be sleeping in the same room we needed to align their bedtimes and routines.  For the most part we've been giving them their baths at the same time, but then putting Hannah straight to bed while Jayce had a bit more time for quiet play and stories.  But now we've pushed Hannah's bedtime back a bit and put them to bed together.

The first night, we didn't do anything too crazy as far as trying to set up a new bedtime routine or whatever.  We just put her crib in his room, read his story to him while she was in her crib, and then turned out the light and left.  

It worked.

Our friends had warned us that it would take forever for them to fall asleep that night.   That they would be up giggling and playing and too excited to sleep.  But that wasn't the case.

Actually, Jayce's irritation of Hannah worked in our favor that night.  I could hear her saying, "Jayce! Jayce!  Jayce?  Where is Jayce?  Where you gone?"  And then silence.  

Sleep.

It turns out that Jayce's unwillingness to chat with Hannah and his irritation at her being in his room worked magic on getting him to sleep.  He pulled his covers over his head so that she would stop talking to him, and was so focused on that that he fell asleep.  He didn't get out of bed a million times to ask for a million things, flop around in his bed, get up for water and bathroom trips and extra kisses goodnight.  He just fell asleep.  And when he was quiet, she fell asleep too.  

Awesome.

The strangest thing has happened since we've had them in the same room.  They have kind of become little buddies.

Not in a "Jayce rushes out of school to greet Hannah" sort of way.  More subtle than that.

More like, he doesn't get annoyed when she climbs up on the couch to sit with him.  He will even share sandwiches with her.

He even lets her sit with him to watch a little tv and doesn't get annoyed if she's touching him.  Sometimes he'll hold her hand while she walks down the steps or after school when we're going  back inside.  She has started randomly giving him hugs and snuggles throughout the day, and sometimes he gives them back.  We have praised him for being so kind or sharing so well with her, so sometimes he'll do something nice and then immediately tell us about it for some positive re-enforcement.  This doesn't bother me a bit.  Now that Jayce has his new bed, she climbs in to read one of her books while he reads us stories before bed.  When stories are over she goes into her crib without a peep.

Actually, they usually wait until we're downstairs before there is a peep.

It turns out that we've had belated combined room "post-bed time giggling and chatting and playing together and not going to sleep."  Sometimes we go up and tell them to keep it down, but sometimes I just let them wear themselves out.

It's like they're friends. :)

A New Addition

This fall there will be a new addition to our household.  

Chelsea just graduated from Akron University and will be starting her Masters degree here at SMUC in the fall.  We're so so excited for her.  She's so excited that she's been hugging trees ever since she got the news.

We started talking about the possibility before we moved here.  SMUC has a program in Applied Sport and Exercise Physiology that sounded right up her ally.  So did moving to London.  So she's doing it. :)

When she came with us to help us move, she met with someone in the department to see the campus, talk about the program, her interests and experience, and see how they aligned.  She went home and applied.

In March she found out she was accepted and struck a pose.

When her and mom came to visit last month, she met with one of the professors and the International Office to get some more questions answered and fill out paperwork.  Chris gave mom the grand tour of the campus, including the coffee shop(s), and the track where **Mo Farah trained before the Olympics.  

About a month later, she found out she got a scholarship and started kissing the air.

And in September she will move over here.  We are SO so excited for her and all that is ahead of her.  Also, our kids are excited, because they think she's okay too.

We love you Chels, congrats!!

 

**On a semi-unrelated side note, the second week that we lived here, a friend was over for a conference and came to stay with us one night.  Chris took him to campus on Sunday to show him around, and when they stopped for coffee they noticed a guy running around the track who looked a lot like Mo Farah.  They stepped outside and it turns out that it was him, just running leisurely around the track while his daughter rode alongside him on her bike.  

This was while Chris and I were still reeling a bit from moving to London.  So when Chris told me about it, we were like, "Yeah, no big deal.  Just stopped by campus on the weekend, and Mo Farah was there for a run with his kid, about 3 weeks after he won 2 gold medals.  This is our new reality."  Weird.**

Hannah

Hannah, you little peanut, you are the light of our life.

I've come to realize over the past 5 years of being a parent, that your children bring different things to the family dynamic at different ages and seasons of their life. 

Right now, you are our own personal clown. We are always genuinely laughing at and with you.  You are imitating us, imitating your brother, imitating what you see on tv and around you.

You talk like a little adult, using little sentences, adult expressions, and facial expressions.  You will furrow your brows at your dad and tell him that he's crazy if he's dancing silly or being loud.  Or you join right in, dancing, shaking, and spinning until you're dizzy, and we're laughing right with you until we can't resist for another second and need to scoop you up for a kiss.You are so cuddly, often demanding to be "nuggled," as you'll say, or most recently saying "Mommy, I hold you!" when you want to be held.  I know that I used to say this when I was little so I get a kick out of hearing it.
However, you are still a bossy, sassy little thing.  Last night you laid in your bed yelling,

Mom!  I hold you!  Mo-om!  You hear me Mom?  I hold you!  Mo-om, you hear me?

I mean, seriously Hannah.  You were just making sure that I heard that you bossing me around.  From your crib.

But you are still just the sweetest.  

We can't resist your chubby cheeks.  The way you hug your bears and babies and pat them lovingly on the back.  The way you run on your tippy toes and pump your arms.  We can't resist your little curls and flips.  Or the way you pronounce hands "hay-yonds" or pants "pay-yonts."

We love how we are always in the middle of a tea party.  How you pretend to be asleep if you are caught doing something that you shouldn't.  How you are always singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,' except you say, "twinkle twinkle ra-di-o…"We love the way you ask your dad for chocolate the minute he walks in the door and then do a little happy dance.    The way you randomly cover your eyes, count to three, and then yell, "I coming!  Ready or not!"  How you have joined right in with the "Dad and Jayce Wrestle Time" at the end of the day and claimed it as your own.
Most of all, we just love you little one.  You are a beautiful and wonderful little handful, and we're so glad you are ours.  Happy 2nd Birthday.

XOXO