In case you forget our birth order

I'm the big brother. I have a shirt to prove it. I also like to yell alot these days:

I'm the little brother, my shirt says so.

We like hanging out together:

Cheese Factory

Looking for a small adventure today we headed out to the cheese factory, about 15 minutes from my house.

They have a grassy picnic area and a lake - perfect for a two year old to explore and run around for an hour or two. It was so nice out there today, quiet and breezy!

I have no idea if these wheels have any use in cheese making- but they are on a pivot of some sort, and on a cement track. Mason enjoyed pushing them around, and walking along the track:

Then we headed over the lake area. We walked across a bridge, played on fallen logs, heard crows cawing, and ran up and down hills:

Since Wyatt is always attached to me in the Moby he doesn't get in too many photos of our adventures:

Mason kept saying choo-choo and I had no idea why...until I looked at the shape of this tank. He learned today that this is a propane tank. But I can see how through his eyes it would be a train car...right shape!

Cloth Diapers

BumGenius - our current diaper!

When I was pregnant with Mason I did lots of research on cloth diapers and hybrids. I even bought G diapers. But as a first time mom just leaving the house and diapering my kid in general seemed like a large task. So the environment had to suffer - because the thought of poop that I couldn't throw away was just too much.

When Wyatt was born I reconsidered my options. I realized that I was more organized and could handle the cloth. So we bought Bum Genius diapers. I have two different styles. One is called an all in one - it is sized to fit and has the cloth insert sewn in. It is very easy to use I never have to touch the wet cloth. However I have to buy specific diapers for both boys as they are not in the same size range. The second is one size fits all. This works well because it can go on both kids - but the inserts must be inserted by hand and pulled out when they are "ucky" as Mason says. So my current stash in 6 Large diapers for Mason 6 small diapers for Wyatt and 6 one sizes. Wyatt goes through the supply of his and the one sizes. I could probably use another set of 6 one size diapers. THat will have to wait until I go back to work.

Washing them is pretty easy, but to be fair I have an HE washer that is all high tech. I just push buttons and it will run 3 cycles for me. You need to pre-wash in cold to remove the solids, then you wash in Hot water with 1/3 as much detergent as suggested by manufacturer, and then you do an extra wash. Why you ask? because detergent build up will decrease absorbency of diapers. With my current supply of 18 diapers for two boys i need to wash them about every other day. If i bought more diapers then this would obviously decrease.

I am not full time cloth diapering. When we go out often I put the boys in disposables (we use Seventh Generation). Honestly it is because i haven't bought a wet bag for my diaper bag yet. Also it is because cloth diapers do need to be changed more often. And when Mason is at day care twice a week he uses disposables too. I also use disposables at night, to avoid leaks and waking kids.

Have you all caught on to Diapers.com? For my seventh generation they are about 30% off and I get free 2 day shipping. Can't beat that.

Wyatt smiles

He started smiling at 6 weeks, and it took me two weeks to capture it on camera:

Rush Creek Tot Hike

This morning was a fun story time at the library today. Mason's attention at these things is hit or miss. Some days he is into it, and some days he has a 15 minute attention span (the program is 30 minutes) . Today was the latter. Thank goodness he loves the hand stamps and can be cajoled along to get those.

This afternoon we needed to get out of the house, and I thought I would try out a pretty flat walk that I use to do with my dogs all the time Rush Creek. We left the stroller behind because a tired toddler is a good toddler, and Wyatt and I rocked the MOBY WRAP.

It was so fun walking at Mason's speed and seeing what he sees, and learns. He was actually looking for butterflies today- and he told me so by saying and signing! We learned our sign at Kindermusik, and it is so awesome to see him still use it to communicate. He also is talking in 3 word sentences very often - on this walk he was telling me "I threw rocks" - and it was into the tall grasses which is an approved activity in our family. He also now tells me "I got _____". Him using "I" is an accomplishment as he has been talking in the third person for quite some time referring to himself as "MayMace". Just this week we have been working on asking nicely "May i please ________", he needs to be fed about half of the words..but is getting it!

It looked like someone had just been around clearing the trail, and Mason enjoyed playing with the cleared branches:

We gathered rocks and put them into our pockets:

Mason LOVEs to spit. So we have decided that outside it is OK to do so. He takes advantage of this!

Mason telling me "I got rocks" I replied "Yes, you HAVE rocks"

Playing with the long grasses - he wanted to eat them so bad!

Not too far into our walk we found this blackberry bush with tons of ripe berries on it! We stopped and had a snack on the way out and the way in. Mason is a HUGE fan of this activity. Unfortunately with my iPhone you can't see the berries - but be assured they are right behind where Mason is proudly posed.

And here is the resultant berry mustache:

All in all a great day! We will repeat this walk again, probably quite often!

Guess Who!

Guess which one is Mason and which is Wyatt:

Pizza Night

I have wanted to be one of those families with game and movie nights. So we have started doing homemade pizza and movie night..once so far. Mason is a great helper at eating ingredients faster than they can be put on the pizza, and the movie lasted about 20 minutes before he lost interest....but it was fun. I don't know that we will do it every Friday - but maybe once a month or so!


Adding the cheese:

Adding the toppings:

The finished product:

We got into jammies before the movie just in case Mason fell asleep during the movie. He got bored before that happened...but he did insist on his rain boots being a part of his movie watching attire. Quite a nice look I think:

Snuggling with Dad while watching Cars:

How does Mason get along with Wyatt?

I keep getting asked how the boys get along, and how Mason feels about his brother. Here is a photo answer to that question.

More Tahoe

In our family both Kurt and I have a camera, and both go along and shoot the same series of events...i don't like this system but it is a battle i have not yet won. So here are some of the Tahoe highlights that came from his camera.

Our second night in Tahoe we all went out to the toll house store to get some fresh baked cookies. Mason said he wanted to walk, and Wyatt had been asleep in his car seat. However things change quick when you are parents to an almost 2 year old and a 6 week old! Wyatt woke up and wanted to be held...Mason was walking a but slowly while eating his cookie and it started to rain....so into the infant seat he went. He never seemed to notice that he was about a year and a half too big for this seat.

On our way to get cookies we found this hand chair sitting outside a spa. What almost two year old boy could resist sitting in it? Well, certainly not this one! What a cutie!

Baby Body

I know when I hear other mom's who have just had kids complain about how they look I roll my eyes. You just brought a new life into the world...of course you look different. That said, spending three days in a bathing suit in Tahoe was not good for my self esteem. In photos of me and the boys i see the belly rolls before I see what is going on in the photos

After I had Mason I told myself for an entire year that my body had "just" given birth and that it was just a matter of time. Then I got pregnant again.
It's not a matter of weight..that is the same as before Wyatt. But I am in jeans that are 2-3 sizes bigger than before. I have basically no muscle tone anywhere in my body. So this time, 2 months after having Wyatt, it is time to get in shape.

After coming home from Tahoe I was watching TV and on came an infomercial for P90X. Those of you who know me know that I am a sucker for good marketing. I wanted to try it and have 6 pack abs in 90 days. I felt ridiculous for wanting it. I posted something similar on facebook, and was shocked to hear that people had positive things to say. Before I spent $120 I figured it would be good to prove that I would follow through with this. So I went to my on demand exercise TV and chose a 25 minute Jillian Michaels program. I figured this would be easy - I am out of shape - but 25 minutes would be do -able. I was wrong. I couldn't get through it. And the following day i was sore.

So starts project get my body back. I don't expect to be in the shape I was when i got married and could spend 2 hours at the gym everyday..but I do want to be healthy and toned. So, when I can get through a silly 25 minute workout of jumping jacks and push ups without taking a break i will splurge on the TV infomercial and spend 90 days confusing my muscles.

Trip to Tahoe!

Some friend's of my in laws had a time share in Tahoe for a week, and didn't want to go for that long! So we got to go to the awesome Marriott's Timber Lodge at Heavenly in South Shore.for free. From Novato to South Shore it only took us 4 hours (with an hour stop for lunch). It was gorgeous - we had a bedroom and separate living area that had a full kitchen complete with washer and dryer! The resort layout is awesome within a 5 minute walk we had a grocery store, spa, movie theater, restaurants, coldstone, and toll house cookie shop. Perfect for us! I forgot to take photos...but here is one of the boys snuggling on the super comfy bed.

Having an almost 2 year old and 7 week old with us, we skipped the bike riding, horseback riding and river rafting that I am used to in a Tahoe summer vacation. Instead we spend the mornings at the beach digging in the sand, making sand castles, and playing the VERY cold lake.

Then we would head back to the hotel for lunch and nap time for the boys, during which Kurt and I watched rented movies..we saw "It's Complicated" and "My best friend's girl". Great chick flicks and thoroughly enjoyed by us!

The afternoons were very overcast, but still warm. So we would head down to the pool - which is heated to 85 degrees year round! In addition to the adult pool there is a kiddie pool and 3 separate hot tubs. As you can see Mason loved the pool and water:

For dinner two out of three nights we went the restaurant at the hotel: Fire and Ice . Not because it was convenient but because it was DELICIOUS and awesome.

You walk in get a bowl and pick all the raw ingredients that you want: Meat, Veggies, Noodles, Sauces

Then you take your ingredients to the cooks/chefs/ entertainers who slice, dice and throw things in the air. All the items in your bowl get laid out in a line on the grill along with a ton of other people. The cooks put on a show and you get to chat with the other patrons:

Then for dessert you can order S'mores!!!! Crazy fun and delicious..as Mason seemed to agree.

All in all it was a fun and relaxing trip...we hope to go back there when there is snow in the area. None of us ski or snowboard, but it would be so fun to just relax and play in the snow.

I still have some more pics to add...but it is late, so they must wait.