Carrots for Our Cutie

As a Christmas present for Anders, we finally got off our buns and got our little big cutie some food to eat. He's hit the six month mark and stares so intently at people eating food; his time had surely come. He rapidly leaned in to the oncoming spoon and accepted it with gusto, of course!

I swear that some of the pureed carrots made it into his mouth.

Merry Christmas 2012!

Christmas 2012 was a nice comfy day at our household here in Anacortes. Landon is innocent enough that tossing a couple books and puzzles his way keeps him ecstatic and Anders is young enough that you can toss a wad of crumpled wrapping paper his way to keep him busy.

"Santa is coming? And he brings crumply PAPER?! Score!"

So happy this company stays in business! Who knew when Erik and I got our stockings 5 years ago that we would be able to continue to buy matching ones for our sons. Ah, commerce.

Reading/eating new books.

Skype break!

Our first real tree in a while! An armless potato head admires from afar.

Summary of morning: Dad drinks coffee, Anders is just watching, Landon is the center of attention.

Aww, look at those cuties!

The "My First Christmas" brigade. Hanging with his buddy George.

Enter the "perpetual motion" toddlers. Babies not amused.

Summary of late morning: Anders eating paper, Landon playing.

A puzzle to grow into, but he did take a good stab at it!

Mmm, more paper.

This was the first year in a while that we celebrated Christmas in our own home. We put up a tree, hung ornaments, hung our stockings with care by the fireplace and baked cookies until our blood content was equal parts sugar and sprinkles. Can't wait to experience it more each year as the boys get older. It has completely re-energized Christmas to see everything through their eyes.

We are excited to travel back to the East coast over the New Year to see our loved ones. The travels may go spectacularly horrible with the kiddies, or it may just go fine. Who knows? We'll try to be prepared for the former, but que sera, sera! See ya soon, family!

Carrier Qualified

Erik has been gone for a couple weeks, back on the boat for short detachment. But hallelujah, say goodbye to the mustache, folks: this guy is carrier qualified!

Standing in front of "the ball" or "the meatball"... basically the lighting system that helps pilots land on carriers.

Erik and the NFO he was paired up with for CQ. Growler in the background

The flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75)

As far as next moves, Erik is finishing his time up at the RAG and then will have a squadron selection sometime in January or so. We're pretty sure he's not going to get Japan again and we're pretty sure he's not going to the squadron deploying in late January. Plus we're pretty sure he'll get a boat squadron like he wants (as opposed to an expeditionary squadron). [For as much as he complains about the boat, he rather be on it than land. Ask him to explain it all sometime.] So basically his hard work is once again paying off. So when you see him, give the guy a handshake and a pat on the back!

Welcome home, Daddy-sans-mustache!

Two Years

I feel a little stab in my heart when this date comes around on the calendar. The day my mom passed. I think her about her so often and continue to admire her more than ever as I experience motherhood myself. And it's kinda' funny/sad: everytime Landon or Anders is having an extremely fussy day and whining for their mommy, I in turn yearn for mine.

I suppose this time of year decades ago, we were bugging my mom while she decorated for Christmas and anticipated family and friends for a big dinner. As it was, I don't ever really remember her lashing out at us very often in anger or frustration, which I once considered as her failure to recognize us and that we were oft ignored. But I realize now her ability to hum and tune us out from time to time was actually very smart and is basically a mommy survival skill. Good one, Mom. Sorry it took me so long to figure it out. Hope we didn't drive you too crazy!

We had a nice warm cozy home decorated for the holidays every year. I hope I can make Christmastime as special for my boys as my parents did for us.

Gearing up for Christmas at the Mares household. Pants optional.

Santa 2012

This weekend I took the boys to have "breakfast with Santa" which is put on by our little town's parks and recreation team over at the senior center. Breakfast with Santa consisted of getting in line to have a picture with Santa and then getting in another line to get your pancakes and sausage. For as much as Landon has been talking about Santa this year, he looked a little forlorn when faced with the jolly fellow. But! He didn't cry. Nor did Anders. They basically looked like they were thinking "Seriously? This guy? He fits down the chimney? This guy? Hmm."

And Santa's also thinking "Seriously?" As in "Seriously, it's only 9am and I have three more hours at this gig?"

Here is what Anders looked like before we left. He was a happy jolly soul! Santa killed his spirit. Or teething dampened it. Probably teething.

The Trials of Family Photos

Whenever I receive a holiday photo card in the mail with a picture perfect exposure of friends and family, my first thought is that there had to be about 300 other photos in the scrap pile.

Landon more interested in boats. Anders more interested in fingers.

The fifteenth break to point to an "aaiirplaannne!"

My grip on Anders is fading fast. Landon's grip on sanity is fading faster.

Happy parents, grumpy kids. At least our nice little town looks beautiful behind us! Come visit us on our island!

5 Months

The A-man turned five months last week and he is becoming more smiley everyday. He is also tenacious in his attempts to grab anything within reach. Seriously, don't try to use a straw around this kid - he swipes it in three seconds flat. What am I supposed to do? Drink out of a cup like a normal person? Straws are one of my only wasteful habits in which I indulge. Children just take everything you have. This is on top of my omission of dairy and eggs in my diet (and a reduction in chocolate - can't quite break that one) due to a sensitive tummy and eczema. My poor little guy. 

Moving on. 

Here are some pics from the last month with the little big guy!

"Peek-a-boo! I gotcha, didn't I? Didn't I?! Ha!"

Love/Hate relationship with the bumblebee.

Official five month photo.

"Come, friend. This has been a successful photo session, has it not? Let us hug."

Likes:
-Freddy the Firefly
-Bumblebee Friend/Foe
-Tubby time
-Rice cereal - insists on "using" the spoon himself

Dislikes:
-When mom eats hummus
-Getting dressed after tubby time - "Just leave me naked, Ma!"

Gobble, Gobble

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving dinner with dear friends who are conveniently neighbors. They just had their baby boy last week (aka Anders Best Friend) so we all welcomed a chill evening with enough food to feed the '84 Bears defensive line. Or two nursing mommies. It's probably equivalent.

This year, I was able to stick with the 30 days of gratitude challenge for the month. We wrote our tidbits on leaves and hung them up. Some of them were on the shallow side such as "Mom is grateful for Nick Jr. on grumpy days" and some were core blessings such as "We are thankful for a warm cozy home on cold rainy days." I will save the leaves each year and hope that the boys will carry on the tradition down the road.

The kiddies torturing Anders while we finish up preparing the grub.

Baby George yawns at the antics. Back to sleep. Zzzzz...

...while two feet away we slice into a freshly fried turkey.

"Woah, place settings?" says Emily. Yeah, we can get fancy once in a while.

Erik was thankful that the Redskins won. And so was I; who needs an extra grump around?

Final note: You know what's sort of depressing? Making a full Thanksgiving spread and then having to make peanut butter and jelly for your toddler because he is the pickiest eater on Earth. Gosh I love that kid and respect his vegetarian wishes, but oy vey. Why can't he just eat a huge plate of every type of food and regret it immediately just like the rest of us? And then go back for round two? And then hate yourself even more? I mean, come on. It's tradition.

Hope your hearts were warmed by time with friends and family and your bellies were full! 

Mustache Tickles

The little guy does throw us a giggle once in a while. Who can resist mustache tickles?*

*I can. I can resist mustache tickles. Children, however, apparently cannot.

Two Years Old

Well it happened: Landon turned two. It's cliche, but where does the time go? I look at photos from earlier in the year and he looks like a baby, still. I guess he sprouted over the summer or something because now all I see is a little guy growing up way too fast. Enter: Dramatic sigh.

I think Landon is such a great personality (says the mom - big surprise). I think he's awfully smart and charismatic with his smile. He seems very loyal to his small inner circle; he likes giving his best friends hugs but is wary of large groups of kids. He is a little quiet at school, but a chatterbox at home. He has so much confidence these days in his expanding vocabulary that it's causing a perma-smile. Mom and Dad are smiling, too: our ability to communicate with Landon more is leading to noticeable amount of reduced tantrums. 

He's just... special. In a lovely, awesome way. We love you, Landon.

So done with the photo session. Get this boy some snacks.

Likes:
-Baby brother
-Toy Story (Buzz Lightyear in particular)
-Puzzles
-Peanut butter and jelly
-High fives

Dislikes:
-Meat, casseroles
-Sing alongs
-Sharing puzzles

Built-ins: Check!

I spy... with my eye... 

a set of completed built in bookshelves hand-crafted by my hubby! I love them and I love him!

And now on to the next thing on my list: a new mantle. We are going to the salvage yard next week. Standby.

Halloween 2012

Well in typical Northwest fashion, it rained this year for Halloween. It was on and off, and of course we hit the "on" period with a fierce accuracy that left us wet and ready to head home after three houses. Landon was quick to catch on to the whole trick or treat game and he dutifully said thank you (or "took yooo!" in Landonese) so it made this momma proud. Anders just chilled in his stroller and fell asleep despite the rain falling on his canopy (or perhaps because of it?).

We went through about 200 pieces of candy, gratuitously handing out multiples at a time as a nod to the trick or treaters willing to make the rounds despite the weather. I will undertake hiding the remainder and save it as "deployment candy" that will work its way into boxes over the next year. Now if I could just figure out how to hide it from myself...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! 

Landon's pumpkin. Anatomically correct with four big front teeth.

Helping Daddy for a hot second before he realizes the innards are kind of gross.

Anders on standby, playing with his firefly toy.

Pumpkin break to steal brother's hat and then give hugs.

This little dragon is ready to rock and roll!

This little cheeseburger isn't sure where to go and what is happening yet.

This could be a cute photo if Erik wasn't rocking another creepy boat 'stache. It's that time of year again, folks... carrier qualification time. Ugh. Please direct attention to the cute child instead.

This also marks the year that I saw someone intentionally grab the Almond Joys from the candy bucket. It was a cute little princess girl and I told her she could have as many as she could find. She squealed with delight as she ran back to her mommy, declaring "I got FIVE Almond Joys!" That little princess is an enigma as far as I'm concerned because I have never met anyone happy to receive a Mounds or an Almond Joy. You go, girl.

Four Months!

"I feel like he's a really big guy, right? Like, he's becoming pretty huge, huh?" 

This is what the doctor said as she washed her hands in preparation for Anders' appointment. To which I responded "Becoming?"

Actually the little big guy is starting to plateau a bit and is within the 75th percentiles for stuff. That's what they tell me, anyway. All I know is on my personal scale of squooshy wooshiness, he is a level cuddle wuddle. 

"Hah, hah, hah, hah, staying aliiiiiive! (at four months ooooold)..."

Let's see, what is he up to. We are in the drool bib every day phase (well, more like three bibs a day). Developmentally, he is rolling over from back to front, especially when on his jungle floor gym. Just like brother! The same day he did that, he also graced us with his first laugh. It is a great sound that booms from his belly. He is a tough crowd, though. He's pretty good for a single chuckle when you kiss his tummy but I've definitively pushed borderline ridiculous territory in songs and dances to hear his full belly laugh. But what a great sound when it happens! 

How many patterns and textures can we get in one photo?

Happier once he ripped the sticker off his shirt.

True form these days - hands in mouth. Always. Drooling. Always.

Hitting his limit with the photo session, Anders tries to make his escape via rolling.

Likes:
-Watching brother
-Chewing on hand
-Post bath massage
-Waking up a couple times a night to say hi to mom('s boobs)

Dislike
-Being poked by brother
-Stuffy noses (three colds and one sinus infection already)
-Will NOT touch a bottle. Bleck!