Saw the Big Man

We took the kids to visit Santa yesterday at Pentagon City Mall. P&F were in complete awe. I think this will be one of the magical Christmas' for them because they are at the perfect age.

Fletch couldn't believe it when Santa said that he had seen both Planes movies and knew about Cabbie--the toy that Fletch asked for. Piper was tickled pink when Santa read the letter that she wrote him. It was pretty cool. Deke shed a few tears and then warmed up enough to Santa to not cry the entire time.

Here is the final product from the visit.

We have one smiling child, one stoic child, and one with a big, toothy grin/doing something weird with his bottom teeth--all three very excited for Christmas.

Deke: 18-months

This little guy turned 18-month yesterday. Where is the time going!?! Here are his latest stats:

Birth: 7lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches

2 weeks: 8lbs 9oz (49%), 20.25 inches (32%)
1 month: 10lbs 8oz (66%), 21 inches (31%)
2 months: 13lbs 1.6oz (70%), 23 inches (47%)
4 months: 15lbs 13oz (61%), 25 inches (46%)
6 months: 18 lbs 9oz (71%), 27 inches (68%)

9 months: 21 lbs 15oz (85%), 28.5 inches (57%)

12 months: 23lbs 1oz (76%), 29.75 inches (43%)

15 months: 25lbs 0.9oz (81%), 31.5 inches (73%)

18 months: 25lbs 11oz (71%), 32.75 inches (63%)

The doctor said, despite nursing a little cold, that he's happy and healthy. He has about 5-10 words--all of which sort of sound the same but that's normal at this age. He has also a lot of separation anxiety and stranger danger, which is also appropriate at this age. Thankfully, it also peaks at 18 months, which means at some point in the near future, I might be able to leave the room when Deke is awake. Right now, he cries big, fat tears if we even turn our back to walk out. Poor little guy.

The big thing that we're still working on is walking, but he's making a huge amount of progress. He got braces for his ankles due to his low muscle tone about a month ago. Since then, he's become much more sure of himself on his feet. And then, this happened over the weekend:

Not walking has left Deke really frustrated and cranky, so between that, having four teeth coming in, and his separation anxiety, he is pretty ornery lately. But, overall, he's my little cuddle-bug, and we love him so much. Next up for him--a haircut. That will probably be his biggest milestone yet since the essence of Deke is really captured in his crazy hair but it's getting a bit out of control.

Halloween 2014

Life is getting a little bit crazy again around here, with work being nuts, travel last week and again this week, and just the normal routine insanity. So, this post is just a bunch of photos from Halloween. We had an Elsa (of course), Dusty Crophopper from Planes, and a squid.

Piper and Fletch, of course, loved trick or treating. Deke was kind of ambivalent about it. We all had a great time and got way too much candy. I think we'll be reusing some of the candy at Easter.

Next up, our trip to Boston. Stay tuned....

Pumpkin Patch 2014

We continued tradition this year and headed to get pumpkins on Columbus Day weekend. However, we did break with recent tradition and went to a new place--Shlagel Farms in MD. It was the same place we went strawberry picking earlier this year, and just like last time, we all had a blast. Here's the photo recap.

We started with a hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Where we picked a few pumpkins. I think this was the first time I've ever actually picked pumpkins.

We then stopped to take a few pictures....

The nice farmers even got a great family shot.

When we paid for our pumpkins, Fletch discovered some farm fresh tomatoes, and helped himself. That boy loves fresh tomatoes.

Then we played in this "cornbox"--a sandbox filled with corn. What a great idea!?! The kids loved it.

Then Piper and Fletch ran around the hay maze.

We also spent some time with the cutest little baby calves. They were so sweet. We ended the day by spending some time at the small playground and enjoying the most delicious apple pie sundae. This place has some serious yummy treats.

This was such a fun day. I highly recommend it. I know there are a lot of bigger farms/agritainment places in the area, but this had everything you need for a fun day, and it's a real working farm, so it was cool for the kids to see that. I can't wait to do it again next year.

By the way, to see how much the kids have grown, check out these pics from our pumpkin tradition in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.

One Last Disney Thing

If all the other posts weren't enough for you, I have one last Disney thing. Here is video from our trip. It's especially cute about halfway through where Piper and Fletch interview us.

Disney Trip Report: Day 6 and 7

Thursday: This was our last day at the parks. We thought the kids would sleep in because they were up so late the night before, but nope, everyone was up and rarin’ to go by 6:15am. We headed back to Magic Kingdom, where we stood in the hottest, sweatiest line ever to meet Ariel. Apparently they didn’t turn the air conditioning on right away, so it was just awful. But, the kids were excited to meet her, and it was worth the wait. We then just walked around and did all the final things we wanted to see and do: ride Dumbo (loved the play area for kids to wait in), Barnstormer and the train, meet Goofy and Donald one more time, try a Dole Whip (good but not sure it lived up to the hype), eat at Casey’s Corner (yum!), shop, etc. 

 

We were going to try to stay the entire day, but we knew it was time to go when the kids were acting up so much and so extremely tired that at one point, Piper, Fletch, Deke, and I were all crying in the middle of Magic Kingdom. We decided our time in the parks was over and to end on a high note. We went back to the hotel and swam in the pool, to give the kids some downtime. We even skipped our reservation at 1900 Park Fare to meet Cinderella because we knew we were done. Plus, Fletch had told me earlier in the week that he didn’t want to see any of Cinderella’s stepsisters, so I was a little concerned he’d react badly at the dinner.

Friday: We just got up early and took the Magical Express to the airport. We got home around 3pm.

Overall, looking back, we had a wonderful time. In was, however, a ton of work, with three little kids. In the heat of the moment, I was vowing that we’d never travel with the kids again (especially on the flight home when JetBlue split up our family and we couldn’t find anyone to switch seats with us). However, by the time we got home and after I started looking at all the smiles in the pictures, it made me want to go immediately back. I’ve decided it was a bit like a marathon: during it, you’re working so hard and wondering if it’s worth it…the minute it’s over, you can’t wait to do it again. Thankfully, we’ve vowed to go back in a few years when Deacon is older, so we’ll get to experience the magic another time.

Disney Trip Report: Day 5

Wednesday: We got up early to be at rope drop at Magic Kingdom. I loved the little show they put on to start the day. And then, as soon as the park opened, Eric, me, and ten thousand other people all ran to get in line to meet Anna and Elsa. It felt like running in a race because people were passing each other, yelling, etc. It was crazy. I got to Princess Fairytale Hall, and then saw Eric. We jumped in line, and only had about a 5 minute wait. Anna and Elsa were together in the same room, but you get to meet them separately, and they spent a good amount of time with each child. I was very impressed. Piper was in heaven. Fletch got all giggly and goofy when he met Anna. It was a magical experience for all of us.

After that, we rode the carousel, It’s a Small World, the Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan’s Flight, and met Chip and Dale and Tinkerbell. 

We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. This was probably our worst meal. The food was just mediocre, and they kept us waiting for about 25 minutes past our reservation. We actually had gotten there about 20 minutes early, so it was a long wait. After lunch, the kids were exhausted and just acting up so much because they were overstimulated, overtired, and overwhelmed. We ended up going back to the hotel early with the hopes that the kids would all nap when we got there. Of course, that didn’t happen, so we just did quiet time with lots of TV. 

Around 5:30pm, we went back to Magic Kingdom, and it was relatively empty, so we got to go on a few rides (Buzz Lightyear—so much fun) and just walk around without a million other people. We also went to the Incredibles Dance Party, which was a lot of fun. It gave the kids some time to just run free, dance, and not be told they had stand in line, watch out for anyone, ride in a stroller, etc. They needed that to burn off some energy.

 

 After the dance party, we had dinner at Cosmic Rays (decent, not great but the music entertained the kids), and then we watched the Main Street Electrical Parade and then the fireworks, which were all awesome. 

It was such a fun night and the kids did great staying up so late. Getting out of the fireworks was a chaotic with such a huge mass of people all funneling to the exit, but we got home in about 20 minutes since MK is such a short walk to Bay Lake Tower. By that point, it was nearly 10pm, and we all just collapsed into bed.