52 : 42 (part 3)

Oh Santa, you were so so so good to our sweet boy. Ewan and his co-pilot had a glorious time driving around the neighborhood early Christmas morning. The only gift that came close to his Boss 302 Mustang was his Sheriff Woody doll, which Darby got him. Taking Ewan shopping for his sister was probably one of the best parts of holiday preparations, he is very in to rainbows (always singing a song about the rainbow) these days, and he picked a big pink CareBear for her, Cheer Bear to be specific, which has a rainbow across her belly and a pink heart nose, and when Darby opened it they were both so excited.

Darby 35/52

An 8 month Darby is 20 pounds 4 ounces and 27.5 inches. She picks food up, her own and her friends, and puts it in her mouth. She crawls at an amazingly quick pace and cruises from couch, to coffee table, to chair, to a parent's leg with out so much as pausing. She is deeply loved by her family, especially her brother, and is a super strong chick when he is a little too rough. From everything we can tell she is busily devising her plan to kick his butt the minute she is able. Her teachers think she will walk by 9 months, but Mama is in denial, and will only accept 10 as an option... we shall see. Today she celebrated her first Christmas, while she did not love Santa when she met him, she did adore the holiday - she received a crawling tunnel from Santa and loved ripping the paper from each of her gifts.

Darby Moira - 8 Months

52 : 41 (part 3)

Ewan has been awaiting the release of "Penguins" as he is a very big fan of the animal movies, more formally known as the Madagascar films. We told him that we would see the movie over the weekend and he could hardly wait. After a nice breakfast it was finally time and this boy basically bounced to his seat in the theatre, he enjoyed every piece of popcorn, laughed hysterically at many jokes, and was so glad his sissy slept through the entire thing. He also enjoyed looking at all the movie posters and making his must see list for 2015!

Darby 34/52

Growing so quickly and becoming more participative in classroom activities. Darby and her friends do fun stuff at school, largely to help them explore their senses, and one of our favorites to see is naked baby painting... so cute and it is always fun to find paint behind knees and between toes. 

Darby 33/52

This girl has decided she has no physical limits as evidenced by a bruise on her face that she got while trying walk. Yes, walk! This week she moved to crawling on all fours, no more army crawl, pulling up on anything remotely stable, cruising a few feet in each direction, and standing with no hands... I repeat no hands. Someone needs to remind baby lady that  she is only 7.5 months old.

52 : 40 (part 3)

We may be getting to the terrible part of the 2s, but it may be too soon to tell. And based on what we have seen we suppose that this boy's terribles are rather tame compared to others (hopefully this does not jinx us). His terribles look like a boy that can't seem to listen to his mama and daddy, nor can he focus on being gentle with his sister, nor can he pick up his toys. He is very passionate about all that he does and all that he is not allowed to do. Ewan is definitely testing the limits and contemplating a shift where he becomes the boss, but we still love him, and between outbursts he covers us in kisses and hollers, "I love you!"

Ewan Porter - 2 Years 9 Months

Darby 32/52

And just like that, at 7 months and 5 days, she pulled herself to a standing position... We are going to have to call in reinforcements soon.

52 : 39 (part 3)

This boy is always up for a good cuddle. Over the weekend we took a mini-break to Napa and Ewan was happy to explore the area with his sister. During some evening downtime Ewan wanted to snuggle with his Darby so he asked to climb in her crib with her for a hang out, and in preparation for our upcoming Disneyland trip he wanted to introduce her to Mickey Mouse!

Darby 31/52

7 months! This lady is a screeching, crawling, 4 toothed dynamo. She is quick, she is funny, and she keeps us all on our toes! For her first Thanksgiving she enjoyed stuffing and whipped cream, quite the well rounded meal for our littlest love.

Darby Moira - 7 Months

52 : 38 (part 3)

While this kid was in to Halloween, and is in to Christmas, we couldn't get him to bite on Thanksgiving. He enjoyed Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and Mayflower Voyagers (a lesser known Peanuts classic), but he didn't seem to care much for the food except for the pumpkin pie. We genuinely think his favorite part of this holiday was holding the grocery list and checking things off the list.

52 : 37 (part 3)

Still no pressure on the potty training here, but there may have been a little bit of bribing recently to get over a certain hump... #buzzlightyearforthewin. And the goal is that no future posts will include the word potty, these were just too cute not to commemorate.

Darby 30/52

A few weeks back Darby started swimming lessons. She has teacher Gina, Ewan's favorite, and is doing very well. She loves the water and seems to enjoy the class, especially watching the other babies. This is our sweet mama and Darby time in the water and we love it. In other news Darby's 3rd tooth popped through this week, her top front right tooth.

52 : 36 (part 3)

There is this boy... He is 2 years and 8 months old. He is just over 40 inches and just over 40 pounds. He is a hugger and a kisser and may be the sweetest boy around. He is happiest when he smells like sunscreen and sweet sweat from an awesome day. There is nothing terrible about him or his twos and I sincerely hope I remember everything about this time with him for the rest of my life. He made me a Mom and I will always thank him for that.

Ewan Porter - 2 Years 8 Months

Darby 29/52

Big week for this girl... First time in a restaurant highchair and a shopping cart, plus she started blowing raspberries and crawling. It's all too much and too fast, this mama doesn't want to talk about it.

52 : 35 (part 3)

Costumes this year were dictated by Ewan. When we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween he said, "a Farmer." And when we asked what Darby should be, without skipping a beat he said, "my sheep." Done and done.

This was the first year that Ewan REALLY cared about Halloween. Everywhere we have gone for the last month he has noticed the pumpkins, usually asking for one, which has allowed us to amass over a dozen that are sitting happily on our porch. He also carved his first pumpkin this year, which instantly drove him to want to carve all of them, but we were able to shift his focus to lighting up the one that we did carve.

All of the decorations really excited him and his Halloween story books and Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin have been on heavy rotation. Ewan had fun trick or treating, chatting with all of our neighbors and building his candy collection. The night of halloween we allowed him one reese's cup and some sour skittles, and the first thing he requested when he woke up on November 1st was more candy! 

Darby 28/52

Costumes this year were dictated by Ewan. When we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween he said, "a Farmer." And when we asked what Darby should be, without skipping a beat he said, "my sheep." Done and done.

Darby enjoyed her first Halloween, although she was definitely a bit overwhelmed by the headgear for her sheep costume. She had fun being carried from house to house while Ewan trick or treated, meeting some of our neighbors for the first time. 

52 : 34 (part 3)

This week Ewan's Great Aunt Char, who lives in Massachusetts, came to visit us during a West Coast tour she took. This was the first time she got to meet Ewan and Darby and we had a great time. She and Ewan bonded quickly over a trip to the zoo, burgers and stickers at In-N-Out, and pizza dough at Il Fornaio. It was a great three days that definitely sent a trip to Cape Cod to the top of our travel list so that we can see her again soon! 

Darby 27/52

Oh Peanut,

How have 6 months passed? I was looking at your monthly pictures with your Daddy today and we were both amazed at how much you have grown, and how different you look from your 5th month, this last month was a big one for you. You measure 26.75in (81%) and weigh 19lbs 5.4ozs (93%), which is truly impressive. Your pediatrician says you are awesome and your skills are well beyond your age. 

You impress us everyday with your enviable disposition, your sweet full-body smiles, and your amazingly firm grip (on our clothes, our hair, our cups, our nostrils - you name it). You have two bottom teeth (but your top two are blistering as I type this), you sit like such a big girl, crawl in circles at a truly dizzying rate, are eating fruits/veggies/puffs/yogurt, and are a wicked flirt. 

You make everyday better for everyone lucky enough to spend time with you. There is no one in this world like you baby girl and we thank our lucky stars multiple times a day that you are ours. 

Keep up the great growing, the sweet smiles, and the conquering of every milestone little love. 

Sweet Snuggles, 

Mama

Darby Moira - 6 Months

Darby 26/52

This lady is loving food more and more. Her current favorite puree is butternut squash, which her teachers say she slurps up with amazing enthusiasm. She also still seems to like peas and enjoyed carrots, up next are apples. We also let her play with whole foods, which is common in other parts of the world and is referred to as baby led weaning. When we do this she does not eat much, but she sure enjoys sitting at the table with us and playing with her food!

52 : 33 (part 3)

We are easing our way in to potty training over here. We do not want it to be unnecessarily stressful, and in all reality we just are not worried about it or for that matter committed to it. This last weekend Ewan spent the better part of Sunday in underwear, well truly two pairs, as he said, "I need one for my butt and one for my head." We checked in frequently to see if he needed to use the bathroom and of all his retorts our favorite was, "In a minute, I am hanging out with my dad."

Darby 25/52

Darby's first trip to our favorite pumpkin patch in Napa was a success. She loved the pumpkins, watching all the big kids run around, and tried desperately to eat some hay. We went first thing in the morning to avoid the heat but were still very sweaty when we left the patch at 11:00am for our lunch reservation. While many mom's love picking Christmas outfits, I love picking pumpkin patch outfits, probably because it is the first in a line of favorite Fall festivities... this week definitely deserved 2 photos!

52 : 32 (part 3)

A boy and his tractor :) The pumpkin patch is a favorite tradition and Ewan loves to sit on the tractors. This annual trek to the pumpkin patch we love in Napa was all the sweeter because Ewan got to take his little sister Darby as his co-pilot on the tractor! Looking at how much this boy has grown since our last trip to the patch is a tiny bit sad, but watching him become an amazing boy is a lot a bit amazing. 

Darby 24/52

Swinging for the first time is surely a sweet occasion. In reality Darby sat politely in the swing while her brother was a leg pumping maniac 4 feet away demanding mama push him, but she was 100% satisfied with that. 

52 : 31 (part 3)

31 months, aka 2 years 7 months, is so sweet and utterly infuriating at moments. Ewan catches us off guard by randomly telling us about porcupines, singing the entire alphabet song by himself at the dinner table when we didn't know he knew it (he calls it the A B C Ds song), drawing things that actually now look like those things, and telling jokes he then laughs at hysterically (such as yelling "wake up" if you close your eyes and pretend to sleep)! The demands of this boy are probably pretty similar to 6 months ago, but now he tells it like it is.

"Ewan it is time for bed." "Soon," says Ewan. 

"Ewan time to get out of the bath." "5 more minutes," is said with 5 little fingers held up to your face. 

"Darby is playing with the dinosaur Ewan." To which he responds "no, Baby Little dinosaur, Ewan dinosaur," one he hasn't touched in a year keep in mind.

After refusing a slice of apple, "oh Ewan, if you don't want your apple can we give it to Darby?" "No, it's me apple, Ewan need apple." But lo and behold he did eat the apple so maybe this is the trick to getting finicky preschoolers to eat something besides yogurt. 

Of course in the midst of all this preschooler madness Ewan will still sweetly walk up to his mama and grab her cheeks for a big kiss, run and kiss sissy's arms before he heads off to play, and look up at his dad with those brilliant blue eyes and beg to race cars. He is a truly great, sensitive, compassionate boy that loves art, music, and friends - AND he is sometimes simply possessed by his longing to be independent. For us this is 2!

EP - 2 Years 7 Months

52 : 30 (part 3)

Life is full of important lessons. This week at the Zoo Ewan learned, "snow leopard eat rabbit." Arriving earlier than usual we saw many of the animals eating breakfast, it seemed oddly run of the mill to Ewan who didn't skip a beat. This trip Ewan also rode the train for the first time, as seen in this week's photo, and as all our friends told us now that we have done it we will have to do it every time because kids don't forget about the train.

Darby 23/52

People continue to ask if Darby is always this happy, the answer is yes. This was a particularly sweet week full of this new crinkle nose smile that lights up any room.

52 : 29 (part 3)

Ewan went in the pool for the first time as a 3-month old and has loved it since. With his recent head-crack we have been very strict about him wearing hats in the sun, which led to the search for a swim hat. This week's photo shows Ewan modeling his swim hat, which serendipitously makes him look a bit like Spike Lee. He loves the hat and received many compliments at the pool!

Darby 22/52

5 months Darby Darbs! People ask how you are and all we can say is "wonderful!" This month you are measuring 26.75 inches and 17lbs 11.5ozs --- growing daily. You are such a happy girl and you make everyone around you smile. Everyday when we pick you up at school there is a tale of your smiles making someone's day better. Your only angry moments come with hunger or exhaustion. You enjoy all of our outings and are getting so good with your hands, reaching out and grabbing everything you want whether it be your purple wood diplodocus (your current favorite toy), mama's hair, or daddy's shirt collar. You babble and squeal and make everyone giddy my dear.

Darby Moira - 5 Months

52 : 28 (part 3)

While on a trip to the grocery with Kevin, Ewan requested a pumpkin. He of course wanted the largest ones that they had, but was convinced the smaller variety were cooler. He brought his pumpkin home, named him Orange Pumpkin McDonald, drew portraits of him, and has since taken him everywhere, including bed as seen in this week's photo.

Darby 21/52

Trying solids with Darby has been fun! So far she has eaten bananas, baby cereal, carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes. To our great surprise the big winner thus far is peas!

Darby 20/52

Darby started rolling about a month ago, but now she takes it very seriously, rolling from one side of the room to the other, and occasionally under furniture, which she does not like too much!

52 : 27 (part 3)

Sweet Ewan,

You are two and a half now, or two point five as your Daddy taught you. This is a fun age buggy, you sure know how to push our buttons and crack us up all at once. 

We are still predicting you will be an engineer of some sort, your favorite activity is building castles with magnatiles. You amaze us with your understanding of the different triangles and how you can fit them together to make "stop signs" and "spiky roofs" for your structures.

Your imagination is growing more vivid everyday and you now ask for original stories at bedtime instead of our go to songs. Bedtime is one of the sweetest times with you, you are in a fighting sleep phase but you are so tired from playing hard that it only takes a few minutes until your warm body is breathing the rhythm of sleep and we can't help but be lulled to sleep as well. You don't need us to fall asleep, but it is honestly the only time you are still and we can steal cuddles. 

Ewan boy you have the sweetest soul and frequently stop to kiss our arms, our hands, our knees... Whatever you can reach to show your love. When we ask for kisses you wander up and put your hands on our cheeks and offer big smooches. Your love makes any day better and we are so grateful to have it. 

We dread the day your sweetness is tarnished by this world Ewan, if only we could protect you from that inevitable fact. This world is lucky to have a boy like you and so are we. 

Knuckles - Blow It Up,

Mama

Ewan Porter - 2 Years 7 Months

52 : 26 (part 3)

School was closed for the end of last week to get ready for the new school year, so we took some time to visit Mama and Daddy's offices. This week's picture shows Ewan preparing to take over the world one day. We also spent some of our off-time taking sibling portraits, going to the zoo, and mini-breaking in Napa!

Darby 19/52

This week Darby started her academic career. Mama went back to work and she started in the Starfish classroom, just a few doors down from big brother. From her first visit Darby has done great at school, already loving her friends and teachers, but Mama has missed her dearly. And because timing always works out in our favor Mama's first day back to work coincided with the first day of a mandatory overnight offsite for Daddy, so she also FaceTime'd for the first time this week as well!

Darby 18/52

Darby,

How has it been 4 months already?! In a week I will be headed back to work and the thought of not spending everyday with you makes me misty eyed. You were so amazingly easy to love from minute 1, even though it was 2:15 in the morning. My love for you has overtaken me, I can't even explain it. 

With your brother I had my reservations about daycare, but with you I can't even imagine it just yet. I feed you 6 times a day, soaking in your chubby arms, rolly thighs, long curly hair, and big blue eyes. Your eyes are shaped and set just like your daddy's and that alone makes me weepy. 

You are rocking at being 4 months according to your pediatrician, you are 26.25 in tall (99%) and 16 lbs 6.8 ozs (91%). Honestly mama was worried you were going to be short, but you grew a lot and are now topping the charts. You have started solids, trying cereal and bananas so far, although neither thrilled you. We got your passport this last week in preparation for an upcoming holiday this winter.  You are finding your voice and squeal very loudly so we know you are near and we watch with anticipation as you roll, pivot and scoot to the point that you are losing the hair on the back of your head.

Darby my darling you are an easy smiler, giving them out for free to anyone that asks, but no one like your big brother Ewan. We all adore you. 

XO,

Mama

Darby Moira - 4 Months

52 : 25 (part 3)

Two things are pretty constant with Ewan these days, he prefers to be "nakie" (diaper is on) and he wants to be hugging/holding/touching/kissing his sister.

Darby 17/52

Darby is growing so quickly these days and seems to be in a bit of a growth spurt, lots of eating and sleeping. Her first two teeth are nearing the surface, she is finding her voice with VERY loud squeals, she is rolling and scooting around on her back and belly, and she seems to be enjoying her cushy baby life. We have captioned this week's photo, "where is my pina colada?"

52 : 24 (part 3)

This summer we worked on a wall of planters for herbs and other edibles, and repainted some weathered items in the backyard. Ewan has become a very independent 2 year old and insists on helping Daddy with all his projects. In this week's photo he is painting one of our blue planters, this is also the color he selected for the repainting of his adirondack chair.

Darby 16/52

This week Darby girl went for her first swim. She had a lot of fun in the pool at the club and even survived her first dunk. Swimming lessons will start when our girl is 6 months old, for now we are just splashing around! This week Darby also rolled from belly to back, she did back to belly last week.

52 : 23 (part 3)

3 years and 5 months and he has his first sutures... which are evidently done with glue these days. Running to the front door in excitement to go out to dinner Ewan tripped over his own feet and hit his forehead on the edge of the wall, if you look closely at this week's photo you can see the tape under his bangs. His Daddy ran to his side just in time for the Monty Python blood spurting and we quickly headed to the ER. Ewan was a major champ and quickly became a pro at Angry Birds as the nurse gave him a hospital iPad to play with. Daddy was with Darby, as an infant in the ER is not a good idea, and he quickly procured a chocolate cupcake for our boy, who fell asleep in bed with Mama watching Toy Story 3 that night, he was fine, but Mama needed the cuddles.

Ewan has become an amazing conversationalist and so we want to commemorate some of our conversations here. At a traffic signal Ewan said to Mama, "it green now mama, you go." When Ewan decided he wanted milk he said, "need milk, Mama do it." When getting dressed in the morning Ewan told Daddy, "No pants, Ewan like nakie." He sings along with songs, makes up his own tunes, and generally keeps us entertained and on our toes.

Ewan Porter - 2 Years 5 Months

52 : 22 (part 3)

Since Darby was born we are always looking for ways to spend solo time with Ewan and show him what a good big boy he is. This past weekend Mama thought it would be fun to bake with Ewan as he loves when they do cooking activities at school. We did a simple funfetti cake with blue frosting and fishy sprinkles. Ewan enjoyed the blue frosting as seen on his left hand in this week's photo, but his favorite was the "batta" he is sneaking with his right.

Darby 15/52

This Sunday (8/3/14) Darby rolled over! And like the weird strong baby she is she rolled back to belly first. Belly to back is much more common as a first roll over since it takes less strength, but our girl seems to love tummy time so much she rolls to it herself now. After she rolled over Mama and Daddy looked at each other as she kicked her feet seemingly trying to crawl, we know it is much to soon for that, but humor us little lady and act like a slug a bit longer.

Darby 14/52

This week Darby experienced an important tradition - Mama and Auntie Whitney took her for her Ferry Building Baby Lunch! Between Mama and Auntie Whitney there are four babies so this was the fourth lunch and they went fancy - Slanted Door - amazing Vietnamese food, always a favorite. Darby was the perfect little lady that lunched and the timing of this lunch aligned perfectly with Auntie and Mama's Birthdays so there was a little celebrating going on for that too... Darby learned this last weekend how much Mama loves her birthday with her first hotel stay at Cavallo Point!

52 : 21 (part 3)

This past weekend we went away for a mini-break to Sausalito to celebrate Mama's 33rd birthday. Our hotel room had an amazing view of her favorite monument, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the town offered great food and fun exploration options. As usual the simple things rule with Ewan, when we checked in to the hotel he snagged a free apple by the lemon water and after Mama took one big bite out he went to town, for what seemed like hours. For the next two days when we asked Ewan if he needed anything all he would say is "Apple!"

52 : 20 (part 3)

This last week Ewan's Grampy came to visit for a few days so he played hooky from school one afternoon and we went to Curioddysey. Ewan loved showing Grampy the animals outside and all of the science displays inside. Showing the telltale attention span of a 2 year old Ewan ran from exhibit to exhibit and used his big blue eyes to get himself a stuffed lobster and a dinosaur spinner at the gift shop. This week's photo shows Grampy adjusting the cascades exhibit and Ewan's attention wandering. 

Since Grampy left Ewan has added him as an animal to our nightly singing of "animal" - Old MacDonald had a Farm - with a hi hi here and a hi hi there, here a hi, there a hi, everywhere a hi hi. He also expects Grampy to be in the car whenever Mama picks him up from school and when Daddy picks him up and asks who is at home waiting for him he replies "Grampy", evidently an impression was made. 

Darby 13/52

3 months! How has our Darby already been with us for 13 weeks... yet in that short time we already can't remember life without her?!

Sleeping like a champ (11-12 hours each night) and eating like a maniac (six times a day) allowed Darby to grow 2.75 inches (25 inches) in the last month! She also gained 1.5 pounds (14 pounds 12.5 ounces) of squishy baby pudge that we adore. 

Her smiles are full body grins, her giggles are guttural, her eyes are bright blue, and she is simply a delight.

Darby Moira - 3 Months!

Darby 12/52

This week Darby took her first bath in the big tub with her brother. She was skeptical at first, but seemed to be enjoying it by the end. Ewan loved having her company and kept asking for "Sissy Di-Di" after we took her to get her jammers on. 

52 : 19 (part 3)

This boy is soaking up the summer. In addition to swimming lessons we have been visiting the pool at the club and having a splendid time - sun's out guns out!