Swimming in York

While Daddy tackled a ginormous to-do list at home, I decided to take the boys off to York for the weekend for a little QT with Nana, Grandpa, and GG, and give Daddy some peace and quiet. He appreciated the extra sleep, and we had lots of fun with the fam!

When we arrived on Saturday, we pretty much went straight to Pinchot Lake for a picnic and some swimming. Joergen got to hang with GG...



... while Liam played Ring Around the Rosie with Nana in the lake (we all fall down!):



Grandpa, when not making sand art with Liam in the water, had fun doing some Joergenrobics:



We also spent a morning at GG's house, and both boys got to go swimming in the pool. It was Joergen's first time swimming! He was so completely and utterly relaxed in that pool, and it was cute to see him so zen. Liam is getting really into swimming-- Nana showed him how to put his face in the water and blow bubbles, and he's getting good at kicking his legs. I know he'd love swimming lessons, but I think it'll have to wait until next year!



4 generations in the pool!

No joke, within 30 seconds of wrapping Joergen in a towel after swimming, he was o-u-t.

Us with Aunt Jayne in the gazebo at Normandie Ridge. The gazebo will be dedicated to Great Grandpa G-willie in July, so it's a special place for our family.

Liam and Joergen have been such good little travelers! Next stop is the Poconos for the G-willie family vacay at the end of July. Can't wait to see the gang from France!!

3 Months Old

Little Joergen turned 3 months old on Sunday!



He is getting so big and strong-- he loves to "stand" on our laps and is starting to scoot a little on his back. He is holding his head up pretty well, too, and is definitely grabbing onto toys, fingers, and of course mommy's hair!



We have had some suspicions that Joergen might be starting to teethe (which would be right around when Liam did, so it would not be that suprising!), as he has started drooling and is gnawing constantly on his fingers... or on anyone else's fingers, for that matter. Time will tell! He remains a good-natured and easy-going little guy-- which is a good thing, considering how crazy our house can be with Liam and how much we schlep him around. I am so grateful that he's been such a good baby. Now, if only we could get him to sleep more at night! I'm back at work full-time starting next week and the pack-and-play is going to Miss Doreen's, so it's crib time, buddy!

Vermilion Vacation

Where to even begin?!

We got home yesterday from a long weekend in "Coastal Ohio" (who knew?!), where we celebrated Grandma's milestone birthday with family on Lake Erie. It was the perfect mid-point between us and the Illinois gang, so after 8 hours (give or take) of driving each, we arrived at the Cottages at the Water's Edge for 4 fantastic days of sunshine, a little rain, and a whole lot of family fun.

This was our first major road trip as a family, and I am happily amazed to say that the kids did great! We left in the middle of the night both on the way there and the way back, so in both cases we were about halfway to our destination before the boys even woke up. We will definitely do that again!

The Cottages were a right on the water (hence the name...) and although they were individually pretty small, we had our own private beach, lots of green grass to play on, and plenty of outdoor space for hanging out together.

It was an incredibly relaxing few days, and there really was something for everyone. Both Liam and Joergen were in their own little heavens! For Liam, he could pretty much get out of bed in the morning and spend every other moment of the day outside-- including his meals! Except for breakfast, which was spent every morning with Daddy and Papa in our cottage, and was a great way to start the day. For Joergen, he could smile and flirt to his little heart's content and had lots of loving arms to hold him. What could be better than that?!

So here's how we spent our vacation:
We reconnected with family...



and soaked up the sun...



We played in the sand...



...went swimming in the lake (I think kids must be immune to cold water!)...



...relaxed on the beach...



... took walks with Papa...



... and of course played baseball!



Who wants to go fishing?



We colored when we needed a little quiet time...



... and grilled when we were hungry.

We learned fun new games...

...found some new playmates...

... and played some serious volleyball:

(ok, not that serious. Daddy played with Joergen strapped to his chest, and Liam just ran around in circles, thrilled to be part of the action!)

Liam and Toni formed a special bond together-- and it was really hard to say goodbye at the end of the trip!

Kate, Toni, and the boys before Grandma's birthday dinner:

Singing waiters brought Grandma a birthday cupcake after dinner...

...and she got a little help blowing it out:

I don't know that I've ever seen Liam so happy-- and have so few meltdowns-- for that many days in a row. And Aunt Beth, aka The Baby Whisperer, helped ensure that the same was true for Joergen.

When we arrived back home, to say we crashed would be an understatement. If the question was, "What were the men in your life doing at 3:30 pm yesterday?" then the answer would be...

Thank you Grandma, Papa, Aunt Lyn, Uncle David, Uncle Jake, Uncle Andrew, Aunt Beth, Abby, Kate, Toni, and Aidan for an AWESOME trip! We love you all!

Buzz

So Joergen and I walked in the door from church on Sunday and were a little shocked to see the other half of our family with a "little" less hair!



Liam (who may or may not have been coached by his father) told the hairdresser that he wanted a buzz... 2 guard please! And in fairness, when it was Daddy's turn to take the seat, he let Liam tell the hairdresser what kind of haircut he should get. I guess Liam only knows of one kind!

Who knew that the guy with the most hair in our household would be this one?!



Joergen is 10 weeks old and is seriously growing like crazy (in case you couldn't tell). I think he's working on catching up to his big brother! He is also working on laughing-- which is currently more like a funny growl-- and razzing too. He continues to love "conversation" and is chatting up a storm.

I've been slowly working my way up to going back to work, and so far, Joergen has had two full days at Miss Doreen's over the last week and a half. All in all, he's doing great (and probably better than his mama). Much less resistant to bottle feeding than his brother, that's for sure! I think he's loving the attention from Liam and the girls, and we have even caught Uncle Sam stealing him away for some guy time.

Liam is getting more and more verbal by the day; it's amazing how quickly he picks up on words (time to seriously watch our language!) and strings them together. And he finally says "mouse" instead of "douse"! Perhaps the "d" thing is starting to go away?

He had his very first trip to the dentist last Thursday. If you know Liam, it is no surprise that he ate. it. up. He is such a show-off for doctors! Dr. Missy was terrific with him and really put him at ease. He learned how to brush his teeth and even earned a prize out of her treasure chest-- fake dracula fangs! He got a kick out of popping them in his mouth and scaring people for the rest of the day, and Uncle Sam just laughed out loud to see "the Count" in full force!

Liam is also starting to really get an imagination, which is so much fun to see! Playtime, when not baseball, has lately been hunting dragons (thanks to this movie) or imaginary bugs! He also loves when you make up stories-- preferring the dragon theme of course. He has learned his colors and will be the first to tell you exactly which cup or crayon he wants.

We are preparing for 1st big family roadtrip and leave on Thursday morning for Vermilion, OH, for a long weekend with Grandma, Papa, and the rest of the gang on Lake Erie. We are so excited (Liam has demanded we go to the beach NOW!) and pray everyone has a safe trip!

Getting Out

We took advantage of the break from the heat this past week and got the boys outside for some fun!

Because we had a rainy start to the softball season, we had 2 make-up games last week-- both at the field right down the street, which was perfect for some after dinner/before bed running around. Per usual, Joergen spent the games pretty much like this:



...while Liam, on the other hand, had fun trying on all the catcher's masks and convincing our teammates to play "beeball" with him between innings. Liam is really into baseball right now. We spend most afternoons after I pick him up from Miss Doreen's in the basement batting, and he is suprisingly good about taking turns! He always lets you know just when it's "Eeams durn" or "Mommy's durn".

Over the weekend, we decided to check out the Spring Grecian Carnival at the Greek orthodox church. Although we had to skip all the food (it looked amazing, but sadly everything was cooked in peanut oil...), we had a blast on the rides. What a difference a year makes... Liam could not have been more brave about riding the rides all by himself!

He also got to ride some rides with Mommy...

... and climb on the biggest jungle gym ever with Daddy!

On Sunday, it was time for our church's annual 10 Miler/5k, and we decided to do the 5k as a family. We may or may not have been the very last to cross the finish line, but hey! We finished! Which was kind of amazing considering that was the longest Liam has sat in a stroller in over a year! (And even then, he was SO done with sitting in the stroller after mile 2 and had to walk the last one himself!)

Peanut Butter 2, Liam 0

Can't this poor kid catch a break??



This one threw us for a loop! Liam was an hour post-breakfast (yogurt and Cheerios-- nothing out of the ordinary), when all of the sudden his eye started to swell, and other than it starting with the opposite eye, the reaction pattern was completely identical to last time. Doreen called me right away, and neither of us could believe it! He hadn't eaten anything with nuts, and there was no food around when it happened. All we can guess is that something in her house, whether it was a toy or some surface, was contaminated with peanuts and Liam put his mouth on it.

A dose of Benedryl halted the reaction and made the hives go away within a few minutes-- but those poor eyes! His pediatrician's office recommended we go right to the ER again, but given the similarity of this reaction to the last one, I called his allergist just to get their take. Obviously I wanted to do the right thing, but I didn't want to go through all of that again just for Benedryl and Prednisone, both of which we have at home. Dr. Wodell confirmed that a trip to the ER was not necessary at this point since the reaction was not progressing, and gave me the dosage amounts for both the steroid and Benedryl for the rest of the day. He did say, though, that we just needed to monitor his condition closely and to head straight to the ER should symptoms worsen. I just thank God that didn't happen-- and we didn't have to use the Epi-Pen!

Liam is really starting to understand what all of his means, which is both good and also a little heartbreaking. Doreen said that as soon the reaction started, he put his head down, groaned, and said "Liam doctor, again. Joergen, Deen's" (Deen is his word for Miss Doreen). He definitely remembered the sequence of events from the last time around! We are heading back to Dr. Wodell's office on Monday for some additional testing just to make sure that it was really exposure to peanuts that caused this reaction and not some other allergen we aren't aware of.

Liam was pretty sad to have "boo-boo eyes" again and to be stuck at home rather than outside with his friends at Doreen's, but the good Lord sent him a little angel to brighten his day. We heard a knock at the door, and there on the doorstep was a package from his little friend Abby Cooper... and it was filled with chocolate lollipops! Nut-free, allergy safe chocolate lollipops!! Abby saved the day!

Liam had a chocolately good night's sleep and woke up this morning looking like he lost a fight-- but he was at least back to his happy little self :) As we continue to figure out how to navigate this allergy, we just thank everyone for all their advice, support, and prayers.

Memorial Day Weekend

Who doesn't love holiday weekends?! It was HOT, but we made the most of the long weekend and did our best to stay cool. Liam spent much of the weekend "swimming" in the little pool he got for Easter from Nana and Grandpa:



With the help of a deck umbrella, this was the perfect place to beat the heat! The Derry boys lounging pool-side:



On Sunday afternoon, we went to a cookout at Miss Doreen and Uncle Sam's house. Liam had a blast playing with Gina (EEEna), Louie (Douis), cousin Maura, and with Doreen and Sam's nephew, Sante. Liam's current favorite thing to do is to play baseball, so he was pretty happy when Louie wanted to play. Batter up!



The kids actually ended up spending most of the cookout jumping on the trampoline at the Shea's house next door. Liam had never been on one before, but Gina (in the black) took him under her wing, and he loved it! It took some creativity to peel him away from that trampoline at the end of the evening.



Joergen, on the other hand, preferred to stay in the shade and soak up attention from the ladies:



Uncle Sam, who has nicknamed Joergen "Kronk", even managed to steal him away for a little while himself. It was nice for Daddy and me to have both of the boys happily occupied!

On Monday morning, we took the boys for Joergen's first trip to the zoo. The Philly Zoo partnered with the Jim Henson Company to create this cool animal conservation program at the zoo, so we were looking forward to checking it out.



We stopped one of the puppet shows to learn about frogs from "Phibi", and we were proud of little Liam for being the only kid in the crowd brave enough to volunteer to go up to the stage to help teach everyone how to jump and ribbit!



Joergen, Mommy, and Liam in the primate house (how cool were those gorillas?!):



Liam and Daddy at the big cat exhibit. We saw jaguars, lions, and got up close and personal with a tiger!



Last stop before heading home was to check in on the "jaffes". Liam loves them and was excited to see the baby out!

It was pretty steamy out, so we didn't stay long-- while he was awake, poor Joergen was not exactly loving his zoo experience. All four of us took some serious naps that afternoon in the comfort of the AC at home!

We also used this weekend to start working on transitioning Joergen from sleeping pretty much exclusively in his swing (which was a habit he got into when he was so congested and needed to be upright) back to sleeping horizontally in his pack-and-play. And I'm very happy to report success! Joey slept for 6 hours straight last night!