Week 7 with Parker

Vacation time!!!

This week we flew to the northeast for a nice relaxing long vacation with family.  This was our first experience traveling with two kids (and all the gear) and Brady's first time getting his own airplane seat.  For some reason they didn't turn off the cabin lights and Brady stayed awake the whole flight.  Parker slept the whole time.  They did the opposite when we got the rental car.

Let's do this!

After getting in to Boston, we drove up to Cape Ann and spent the weekend on Wingaersheek Beach.  The beach house worked out great allowing both the Muzzey and Seminara families to get some sun and surf.  Through the beach house we had access to a 2 mile stretch of private soft sandy beach.  The water also rose gradually allowing the kids, young and old, to go out and play.  This was Brady's first time at the ocean.  He had fun jumping in the water with his water shoes and running through the small waves, until he fell in face first (we have this on video).  He also enjoyed digging in the sand with Daddy and flying the kite from Grandpa Dave.  Parker did good at the beach too, hanging out with Mommy or the Grandparents, and staying out of the sun since he's too young for sunscreen.  He did enjoy a nice walk down the beach with Mom and Dad just before the sun went down.  The beach house was immaculate, all modern furnishings, large ocean facing windows, and a large wrap around deck with a fire pit.  We may have to rent this place again next summer!  All in all it was a great time and allowed all the family to get together for an impromptu weekend at the beach.

View from the beach house 

Brady enjoying the beach

Getting some sun and surf

Hanging out with Grandma Nancy

The family

We left the beach and headed to NH to get more quality time with the family.  We took the boys to see Great-Grandma (91 yrs young), Aunt Diane, and the new kitty (Olivia aka "Livi").  They enjoyed meeting Parker and bringing out all the toys for Brady, some were the same toys Mommy played with as a kid.  Like Brady's kitties, Livi learned to hide from him quickly.  We also got to see Livi retrieve a toy just like a dog, crazy cat!  From there we went to see the cousins at Little Squam lake.  Their lake house is really nice and sits right on the water with a dock and a boat house.  Brady took a shallow dip, but didn't go in far since the water was cold.  We had a nice dinner outside overlooking the lake with the cousins.  Brady's big cousins took really good care of him and they played hard outside.  Brady was so tired when we got home he was completely jello!

Great-Grandma meeting Parker for the 1st time

Great-Grandma and Aunt Diane with Mom and Brady

The Cousins! Brady (2), Isabella (13), Chloe (9), Parker (7 wks), William (11) 

At the end of the week we went back to one of Mommy's old school field trip spots - Clark's Trading Post.  At Clark's the boys got to see the bear show, ride the train and see the wolfman, ride water bumper boats, and Brady got his face painted.  Brady loved the water bumper boats getting to ride with Grandma, Mommy, and Daddy spraying water on and bumping into the other kids.  He didn't like when he got sprayed, but once he got off he kept asking for "more boats".  He wasn't sure about the train at first either, or the wolfman, but once he got on he got more comfortable.  The next day kept talking about the wolfman.  Brady was really cute getting his face painted, holding as still as he could, and enjoying watching in his reflection.  He chose to get it painted like a puppy.  Grandma did a great job cleaning the puppy off his face at bath time!

Fun in the bumper boats 

The notorious wolfman!

 One cute little puppy

Sharing ice cream with Daddy

The Grandparents have had a lot of fun this week with the boys.  Besides the beach and Clark's, Grandpa Bob has had a lot of fun playing with Brady, taking him on tractor rides, to the park, playing cars, playing catch, you name it.  Grandma Terry has had a lot of fun snuggling and playing with both boys.  We look forward to spending more time with family and friends in the upcoming week!

Selfie with Grandpa Bob

Weeks 5 & 6 with Parker

The big highlights these weeks were Dad's birthday and Father's Day.  Dad's birthday fell on "freaky Friday," a honey colored full moon Friday the 13th.  Next time this happens is the year 2098!  To celebrate his birthday we took the family to Medieval Times - what better way to celebrate with kids than a place that is loud, messy, and you eat with your hands?  Brady loved the "horseys" dancing to the music as they paraded through.  He also liked the joust and sword fighting and thankfully didn't bring any new tricks home with him.  Father's Day was much more laid back letting Daddy sleep in, get breakfast, take his new bike out for a ride, and playing with Brady in the back yard.  It was a great relaxing weekend.

Supporting our knight - the Green knight

Dancing as the horses march in

Taking out the new bike on Father's Day

Brady ready to ride

Enjoying some father-son time on a warm Texas day

Parker keeps growing.  He is getting heavier and longer, his cries and coos are getting louder, he's more alert and less sleepy in the day, less reflux, more aware of things going on around him, and quicker/smoother ability to track objects with his eyes.  He loves his big brother already, turning his head to look for Brady when he hears him come into a room.  Unlike Brady he seems more particular about where he sleeps preferring his co-sleeper, parents arms, or in the car.  He doesn't enjoy the swing waking easily after ~15 minutes.  We've tuned into his routine - diaper, feed, poop, play, sleep, repeat.  Now that we're more experienced parents we get his cues easily and are able to keep him happy.  He still has his cute newborn startle reflex throwing his arms out when he hears a loud noise.  He gets hiccups often which seem to come regularly after a big poop.  His facial expressions are getting more pronounced and varied, the best being all his smiles (some with his tongue out).  Love his soft peach fuzz head too!

 One of his looks - 'blue steel'

 Nice day for a walk to the park

Snuggling with Mom

Smile!

More smiles!

Brady has been amazing this week, what an imagination!  It's so cool to see the world through someone else's eyes.  This week he pulled a Texas magnet off the fridge and flew it around the house like an airplane - the two points of Texas do kinda look like wings.  After filling the bird bath he ran to get his rubber ducky and put it in for a swim, why not?!  He used his pool noodle to blow through and make noises like an elephant after he rode it like a horse.  And he loves to build forts using pillows and the ottoman off the couch.  What a smart, fun, incredible kid!  He's also getting so good with his words.  He gave mom an empty can of soda and told her to be careful, dangerous (sharp edges).  And what a singer - he's great at reciting his ABCs during a bath time or singing nursery rhymes while jumping on the bed (even if monkeys jumping on the bed have ashes ashes we all fall down before row row row your boat).  Mom surprised him by picking him up at school with Parker, getting to show off his new little brother to his classmates and teachers.  

 Rubber ducky going for a swim

 Fixing his bubble gun

Playing with Mom

Helping Dad clean the truck

The 2014 men's soccer world cup started this week in Brazil with the top 30 teams from across the globe.  Parker and Mom have enjoyed watching the matches and learning the geography and culture of Brazil.  So far Netherlands and Germany look good, Spain and Portugal look awful, and the US beat Ghana (who had beaten us the last 2 world cups).  The action continues through mid-July.

  Go team USA!

Brady 1st time on the potty

It finally happened - Brady went on the potty!!!  It happened today at school after he saw his classmate go and get rewarded with a sticker.  So he tried, and even though he only got a few drops, he did it!  He too got a sticker.  Could this be the beginning of the end of Brady in diapers?  Maybe.  We will continue to try at home, and may need a bigger seat so he fits better, but we are super excited (and proud) for our big guy!

Today's daycare sheet - see highlight

Week 4 - Parker turns 1 month old (already!)

Parker turned 1 month old this week!  Time to put away the newborn clothes and newborn diapers.  He has graduated to size 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers.  This makes us sad, but good to see our baby boy grow and get stronger.  In honor of his birthday he got to see a drive in movie (this is his second movie experience, his first movie ever was Xmen Days of Future Past).

This week Parker managed to roll over all by himself in his play yard and again on the couch (to see the Red Sox beat those pesky Tigers).  And on day 23 he started to SMILE!  He has a wonderful smile.  He still smiles and laughs in his sleep showing what looks like dimples on his cheeks.  His coordination is getting better allowing him to get those fingers up at or in his mouth.  He continues to track moving objects with his eyes and focus on objects at further distances.  In addition, he's started making more coo sounds not just baby grunts.  He sleeps on and off throughout the day for 2-3 hrs at a time, and is awake 1-1.5 hrs in between.  At night we swaddle him with his arms in and he sleeps 5 hr stretches waking up once in the night for feeding/diapering (2-3am) and again early morning (5:30-7am), but overall let's Mom and Dad get sleep.  Depending on how sleepy he is, we may put him down when Brady goes to bed or we'll keep him up with us until we go to bed.  He continues to eat and nurse well, seems to eats more than Brady did, but still has some reflux which we have been managing.  Unlike Brady he doesn't sleep as well in his swing, preferring Mom or Dad to hold him.  He's gone through 2 growth spurts recently.  During these cluster feedings he's fussy and less willing to play or do tummy time preferring to sleep if he can in between.  This only lasts a day or so.  He seems to like being bounced up and down in his car seat (vs side to side), this helps with the fussiness.  Took him to his 1 month doctor appointment (we didn't have one of these for Brady) and he weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz and got his second Hep B shot.  His baby acne seems to be clearing except on his cheeks.  He does some funny faces - blue steel, wrinkling his forehead, tipping his head back to stare at objects - he is just such a cutie!!!

Brady had a great week too.  He loves playing with his little brother and helping out Mom and Dad.  One morning he was really sweet and shared his legos with Parker.  He even showed him the lego dinosaur he'd made.  He likes to help feed Indy, bring Parker blankets or read him books, or carry things for Mom and Dad.  Brady is getting so grown up, he can now go up and down the stairs by himself (we hold his hand down the stairs).

With the good weather Brady's gotten to play outside a lot.  Unfortunately we signed a slip at school almost every day the past week due to scratches or bumps on his head.  One fall put a big lump right in the center of his forehead - the teachers said he cried a little but told them he was ok and went back to playing.  Our tough little guy!  He's also gone on lots of walks to the park or played with the water table in the backyard.  With the start of summer the play pools are opening and Brady will gets lots of water time.  Brady also got a great surprise this week - a bike trailer he can ride in behind Dad!  It seats 2, so when Parker grows up he can join in on the fun.  Eating out with a toddler is a challenge, it's hard for the little guy to hold still, with all that energy we can't blame him.  His favorites are Chilis and Mellow Mushroom.  And with all that energy Brady is jumping off EVERYTHING and on to anything.  He likes to dangle over the slide at the park, which makes Mom really nervous, but he's a pretty strong kid.  And he doesn't want to nap on weekends and miss anything, but he sleeps great at night.

Overall life with two little ones is chaotic but fun.  Things are always busy in the Seminara household, but we wouldn't want it any other way.  Looking forward to taking the boys northeast this summer for some beach, party, and lake time with the family!

 Mr Cutie

 Parker meeting Elmo

 Happy baby

 Muscles!

First shot at the Docs

 Brady helping wake Parker up in the morning

 Mr Squirrel strapped in ready to go in the truck

 Poor Brady's egg on his head!

 Brady's new wheels

 Chasing ducks at the park

 Momma's boys

 Showing Parker his Lego Dinosaur

The brothers hanging out together