Y’s Bachelor Party

I can’t tell you what happened at the Bachelor party, but I’ll show you.  We wanted to make sure to kill as many brain cells as possible for Y’s bachelor party so we headed to high altitude where we would get less oxygen.  A bunch of the guys flew on over to Colorado and met for some general naughtiness.  Good stories, none bad (except the 3 hour delayed flight, boo!), but my man card prevents me from divulging any of them.  Regardless, here is one of the many amusing pictures from the river portion of our adventure.

Rafting (or is it swimming?) in Idaho Springs, CO

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Every Reader Its Book

This is one of my favorite pictures of Gideon. It makes me happy that he chooses books so often over toys.

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Gideon is three and rules the world

The complaint department has been inundated with people complaining about the lack of updates. Some days it is hard for me to even take a shower, so you understand that computer time is at a premium… and it is a premium I can ill afford. Case in point: I started this post on Monday.

That being said, I am going to get back to once a week posting about something because writing makes me sane, or at least less loony.

We have been busy doing the things one would expect when you have wee bairns at your ankles all day. Adjusting to 2 bairns is a nightmare some days, but worth it. Gideon already adores Wash and I am sure Wash will come to love those awkward hugs and fingers poking him; that or he will learn to give squeezy hugs and poke some eyeballs himself.

Caring for an infant the second time around has been a breeze. Having a three year old is a challenge, especially because he is bossy, head strong, opinionated, and smarter than he has a right to be. I can’t imagine who he most resembles. Ha!

Gideon is firmly entrenched in the do-it-yourself stage, unless of course he needs a hug or some snuggling. Kids are funny that way. While I applaud his independence, sometimes I really do need to do things for him and those battles are wearisome.

Gideon told me a few weeks ago that I was “mean.” Well, hallelujah, I must be doing something right.

This is a picture of Gideon playing in the pool at the family Lakehouse over Memorial Day.

News about Wash in a separate post and maybe a recipe soon if you are lucky.

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Rag Top Day

Today was one of those rare days in Houston at this time of year: There was a breeze with just a touch of cool, but the air had a latent heat and the sun was shinning. It is the kind of day made for Jimmy Buffet or Bob Marley and some frosty margaritas or good beer. We usually have a few, precious few, of these days before it gets so grotesquely hot that no one, not even the bugs, venture outside. The boys and I spent the morning at a friend’s house, playing in the sprinklers and enjoying the day.

While I write this, I am uploading some pictures of Gideon coloring eggs and I realized that I take a lot of pictures of him in underwear and nothing else. I would not be surprised if the internet thinks that I never dress my child. He does occasionally wear clothes, but he would go naked all the time if it was socially acceptable.

Before we had Washington, I was warned that going from one to two was hard. I started to be a little worried about my ability to cope, but I am glad now for the warning, otherwise I might have wondered who stole my easy, biddable child and replaced him with an argumentative, uncooperative toddler.

Gideon is a great kid, but he is almost three and the main employment of a three year old is figuring out what they think, what they can do, and what they can get away with. Having a smart almost three year old means I also have to content with his highly rational reasons for why he chose to do whatever thing he was not supposed to be doing. We have spent the last month in power struggles with Gideon over the silliest things. Unfortunately for Gideon, he is not in charge of this house or himself even for most things, and it has been a hard lesson for him and a harder lesson for us to continue to enforce.

I have, many days, vacillated between wanting to beat him or wanting to cry at the futility of parenting. (no, I do not beat my child though some days, I really want to!) With a lot of prayer and some careful time spent doing more activities with Gideon (that is all he really wants anyway, a 24 hour play-mate mom), things are improving. He still has his 3 year old moments, he is three after all, but we have more good days than bad now.

Wash is still a pretty wonderful newborn, sleeping and eating night and day away. He is such a different eater than Gideon; we are just starting to get into our groove. I love having a nurseling again. His legs have fattened up enough to start wearing his cloth diapers, thank goodness, and I am very happy about that as well.

Being momma to two boys has been interesting so far and I expect it will continue to be even more interesting as they both get older.

I snapped this last weekend when Ries and Wash took a snooze on the couch.

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Transitions

It is certainly different, having two kids. I know that challenges will continue as they grow. Right now, just getting them both out of the house is a production.

Gideon has been taking the transition from only to sibling ok except that he has been really challenging our authority. He is finding out all the same rules still apply, much to his dismay, and there have been many more spankings and time outs then normal. I sometimes feel like I spend more time yelling at him than talking to him, which is frustrating for me.

We have spent a lot of time on the couch, reading Where the Sidewalk Ends, so I am hoping that counts for something at the end of the day. We have some very generous friends who have been feeding us and a couple of them have brought things for Gideon. The thing he loved the most was a bug catcher’s kit.

He used the book, net, and magnifying glass to look for bugs all day, for about three days in row. It was great and kept him very happy. Currently, in typical almost three-year-old fashion, he is yelling at me from his room, insisting that his quiet time is over and he is not tired.

Riiiiiight. I have heard that song and dance before. It is the kind of song and dance where your partner insists he is a great dancer, but than tromps all over your toes while bumping into all the other couples.

Wash is great. He sleeps at night, only getting up once around 2 or 3. I am actually getting some sleep. I thought babies who slept were an urban legend. Seriously. People make that stuff up to torture new parents. Gideon still wakes up a couple times a night. When Gideon was little he woke up like clockwork, at 10, 12, 2, 4 and was up at 5 or 6. And by little I mean for the first 6 or 7 months.

I am sure the sleep patterns will shift, but for now, I am getting enough sleep. Ries, who is in charge of Gideon at night, is not getting as much as he would like.

I feel incredibly blessed to be a mom, even though I mostly wonder what the heck I am doing. Plus, my boys are really very adorable.

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Introducing Washington Nathanael

I wanted to have this post up earlier, but it has been busy around here. We are all adjusting, recuperating, and learning our roles all over again. Everything is so markedly different than last time. In many ways, we are parents for the first time again, since we have never really had a newborn at home before. Washington’s name was not a sure thing until we got to the birth center. I made an executive decision. We has been waffling between two names. We liked Washington, which was a unique first name, but not a name that was so weird no one would have heard of it. Nathanael is one of Ries’ middle names.

I prayed, and so did a lot of other people, that we would have a normal birth with a healthy baby and the Lord was very good to all of us. After a short 8 hours, Washington made his arrival on March 21st, the first day of Spring. We got to the birth center just in time, around 5:15 am and he made his appearance by 6 am sharp! I plan on writing a longer post about the labor and birth, but no today. Washington was born in the tub because that is where I happened to be!

Washington was helped into the world by the two ladies that were there for Gideon’s birth, Jackie Griggs and Camilla May, two wonderful midwives that have been huge blessing to our family. Ries was, as always, an awesome coach. Daddy was happy his son waited until the last basketball game was over Sunday night to start making his arrival known.

While I was being tended to, Ries took Washington out to meet his big brother and his Gammy and Gampa. Gideon asked why Wash was not talking yet. We stayed at the birth center for a few hours.

Washington and I were both fine, great actually, so after a few hours of rest and lunch, we all headed home. Here is a picture of us with Jackie before we left.

After getting home, Washington was surrounded by grandparents.

Washington and Papa

Washington and Oma

Gideon wants to hold, kiss, snuggle, and poke Wash at every opportunity. I know this will only get worse/better. Gideon is enamored of his little brother and does not seem too disappointed that Wash does not play with him yet. Gideon seems to be taking the addition in stride. He is enjoying having his Daddy home and the full attention from Daddy he has been getting. His tune may change when he is home alone with Momma in a couple weeks.

Our first day home, Washington also had visits from Aunt Katy, Uncle Keith, Cousin Kaiden, Uncle Christopher, and Aunt Sydney. We handed out bottles of homebrew to visitors and Ries toasted with a glass as well.

As I said in the beginning of this post, we are learning about newborns all over again. It has been fun having this tiny thing here with us. He eats like a champ, a marathon sucker like his brother, who thinks eating every 30-40 minutes is life or death. Good thing I am already used to that kind of eater. My milk came in yesterday, so Wash has been happily filling his belly.

He looks very different from Gideon at this age. I am looking forward to seeing his little personality as he gets older.

We have been very blessed.

There are more pictures on my flickr page here.

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Like Father, Like Son

Our Future Homebrewer

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

Our new Brew Your Own Magazine came in the mail today. Gideon carried it inside, sat down on the couch, and told me he was reading about beer. Nothing gets by this kid.

His Gammy informed me today that while they were watching him on Friday he made a friend at their church, a girlfriend. While playing on the indoor playground, which is one of those play structures with a lot of tubes for climbing, he met a girl names Rachael from the 3 year old class.

Gideon and Rachael sat in the tube together with Rachael planted firmly in Gideon’s lap. I am told he had his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek when she left.

What a flirt!

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Trick or Treat in Pictures

Our pumpkin, a large warty specimen, was extremely hard to carve, but Ries applied his muscles and Gideon took all the credit.

Saturday night, we all went to a family Halloween party which always has great costumes. We went as zombies.

This year was the first year that Gideon went Trick or Treating. It was cute. Here is the trick or treating group, consisting of Ries, Pullo, and Darth Vader aka Gideon.

Ries said Gideon did well though he did need to be prompted to say “trick or treat” a few times. I did hear that Gideon once used the phrase, “I want some candy!” but reverted to the accepted standard after that. After he got the hang of it, he started tattling on other kids who did not use the proper greeting for candy.

We also taught him to say “thank you” after he got candy. Ries had to prompt for that a few times as well. Once after receiving candy, Ries asked Gideon, “Now what do you say?” Gideon replied, “Can I come in?” At least he asked first.

I stayed home with Wicket and handed out candy. She was well behaved and liked seeing all the kids dressed up.

Overall, we all had a great Halloween. Gideon had a blast and that is all that matters. Here is my favorite picture from Sunday.

To see all our Halloween pictures, visit my Flickr set here.

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Morning Nap

Morning Nap

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

Wicket has adjusted well to being in our family. Pullo plays very nicely with her. She on the other hand, jumps up to be level with his face and then swats him with a one-two punch. It is so funny. Wicket can jump very high and she does so with puppy abandon when she is excited.

Gideon is fascinated by her and loves to pet her warm belly. She sleeps on our bed for the moment, but will soon have to graduate to the nice bolster bed I bought her this week.

Wicket is on her second accident free day, so things are little less like a zoo here. She still has to be watched like a hawk. She has discovered that chewing on books is great fun, so I have been keeping a special eye on her.

Wicket is a sweet girl and I am glad she is with us.

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Meet Wicket

IMG_4700

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

Meet the newest addition to the Smith Zoo, Wicket, an 8 week old Great Dane. We got her from a local dane rescue group.

So far she is fitting in very nicely. She has some manners to learn and we are working on house training but she is a sweet girl. Gideon is very timid with her, as he is with most smaller dogs, and trying to figure out how to tell her no.

Pullo likes her, though he pretends to be aloof. He needed a big dog friend and she is already very feisty with him.

I am looking forward to being past the puppy stage, which is cute, but a lot of extra work.

Updated: I should add that the name Wicket comes from me listening to too much Slice of SciFi which discussed this character recently in a trivia bit.

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Camping in Colorado

The Smiths recently returned from a week long camping trip in the mountains of Colorado. While we do tent camp, we do not backpack camp. I have a friend that refers to this as “fat camping” because if you are not carrying it around you are fat and lazy. We tent camped with a king size air mattress (yes our tent is that big) and it is a good thing: All four of us slept on it every night, Ries, myself, Gideon, and Pullo (who kept our feet warm in the cold mountain air).

Here we are on our hike on Inter-Laken Trail in Twin Lakes, CO. Notice Pullo’s shoes in the photo.

Trip stats:

Hours to travel there: 23
Days it rained: pretty much every one, a shower at least
Days it rained continuously and we considered leaving altogether: 3
Generations on the camping trip: 4
Tents: 2
Popups and RVs: 2
Cushy accommodations (aka RVs and popups) slept in by the “Old Folks”: 2
Miles hiked: 5
Miles driven during the trip: 3,018
Spoiled dogs who required their own hiking shoes: 1
Showers taken: one on Wednesday
Baths taken by Gideon: 3, one in the fancy RV!
Peeps harmed and consumed in the Great Campfire Roasting of 2010: 12
Nights I had to leave the tent to go to the bathroom (outhouse really) and wonder if a bear would eat me: all of them
Towns visited: Telluride (gondolas!), Mountain Village, Ouray (hot springs!), Leadville
Hours to travel home: 20

It was a nice trip though it rained constantly the first three days we were in Telluride. We actually left that area Tuesday, after realizing that the rain would not stop and the tents had taken all the moisture they were going to deal with before the rain came inside in buckets. Once in Leadville, where we hooked up with my grandparents, the weather was amazing, with the normal mountain showers and sunshine.

We hiked Inter-Laken trail, a short 5 mile hike to an abandoned resort on Twin Lakes. Pullo wore his saddle bags and new hiking shoes and I think 5 miles is about all he is able to go. He was very pooped at the end of the day. Gideon made it about a third of the way and then was passed around for the rest of the journey.

We ended up in Leadville for their annual Boom Days festival which is a fun weekend of small town festivities, including a pancake breakfast, parade, and mining events.

I loved being in the mountains again. It has been too long since I have been surrounded by my favorite views. Gideon had a wonderful time being dirty all week and being spoiled by Grammy and Oma (whose idea of a morning snack is Green Tea and an Oreo cookie). The day after we got back, he cried and asked to go back to the campsite to Oma.

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Safety First

IMG_4261

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

Always wear the proper safety gear when playing full contact sports.

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Cooking at the Smith House

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Originally uploaded by eprahs

Gideon has been helping me cook since he could climb the step stool to reach the counter. He is proficient at stirring, measuring salt, and stealing food from the prep pile.

My friend Paul, who has left Texas for Missouri, snapped this as we made enchiladas a couple weeks ago. We can be found in these exact places almost every night as we cook dinner before Ries gets home. We both wear aprons. Gideon’s apron is dino camouflage.

I highly recommend this activity if you have kids. Here are a few rules we have for cooking and safety, some of which, we figured out the hard way. Not following the rules means not helping:

1. No crying, pouting, jumping, or shenanigans on the step stool.
2. Do not eat anything unless Mommy gives it to you or tells you it is safe. (This rule was added after I caught Gideon sticking his finger in the juice of a thawing pork loin and licking it. GROSS!)
3. Never grab things off the cutting board.
4. No touching anything Mommy does not give to you.
5. All workers must wash hands before cooking.
6. When we open the oven, stand on the other side of the kitchen on the rug until Mommy says you can move.

I always have to guard the chopped vegetables and olives from Gideon, who would happily eat everything before it has a chance to be cooked!

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Sparklers

Sparklers

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

We did indeed play with sparklers over the Fourth of July. Gideon soon realized that the more dangerous your actions while holding flaming things, the more hilarious life is… and EXCITING!

The lovely lady in the video spelling is my Mom, Gideon’s Oma.

It only took a couple sparklers for him to figure out how to do a full arm pumping run while clutching his sparkler tightly. He fell a couple times and landed with his face right next to the flame in his hand.

After I got him to stop running, he would wave the sparkler wildly, often missing his head, eyes, and hair by a breath of wind.

Gideon enjoyed watching the fireworks all across the lake as well. His favorite part of the fireworks though was when my Dad and our friend Brian would light the fireworks and then run away. Gideon would scream. “They run away!” at the top of his lungs and that is the part of the story he repeats when I ask him about fireworks.

All in all, it was a successful venture with fire. No one got hurt and we had a great time.

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In the Fermerator

We finished our first batch of beer that we kegged a while ago.  It seems like kegged beer disappears faster, especially when you invite your friends to share.  We are down to our last 2 bottles of Roggenbier, which turned out better than I expected.  Luckily we foresaw this shortage of beer coming so we have been brewing a few more.  We have a honey porter that is nearing the end of its aging period.  There is a hard cider (our first attempt at duplicating anything we’ve made) that is also in the aging process.  And we have two carboys that are sitting in our fermerator (fermenting refrigerator).  They will be done fermenting in about a week and then they are going into the kegs.  One is a double IPA (the one on the right with the hops floating in there) and the other is a Belgian tripel.

Sitting in the Fermerator

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Buddies

Buddies

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre

This is Gideon with his friend, Caleb. It is so sweet to see them, even this young, really love each other. They get excited to see each other and enjoy stealing toys from one another. It is pretty cute.

Gideon and I have lunch with Christine and Caleb once a week or so. This gives the boys a chance to play and gives us some time to chat. Mommas need buddies too!

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Happy 2nd Birthday, Gideon

Sorry this is delayed but we were busy, doing birthday stuff and trying to fit our lives around it.

Gideon's 2nd Birthday

Gideon turned 2 years old yesterday (already!?).  We went out to eat pizza and then came home and had cupcakes and opened his present.  He received a multi-compartment bio-dome that contains an aquarium for triops (triops and food included) and areas for other ants and bugs to put in there.

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Electroencephalogram

Because of his two febrile seizures, Gideon pediatrician wanted him to go in for an EEG. Though it is uncommon that febrile seizures cause or indicate something more serious, she wanted to be sure.

You have to be restful, i.e. still, for the procedure so they asked they we only let Gideon sleep about 6 hours last night. We were actually going to a neurologist who specializes in pediatrics so they have experience with kids. Still, my child is not a great sleeper and only letting him get 6 hours is no guarantee of a sleepy child.

As I predicted, 6 hours made him a bit delicate, but not sleepy.

Gideon was hooked up to a bunch of electrodes and then asked to lay still for 25 minutes. Amazingly, he did. We read a book about leprechauns that his Oma brought him from Ireland. They flashed a bright strobe light in his face a few times and they declared him done. The doctor came in and said Gideon was exceptionally behaved.

We will get the results back on Friday from our regular pediatrician. Thanks for everyone that has been concerned for him. We do appreciate all the prayers.

Gideon is still getting over bronchitis. He feels better, but you can still hear the mucus rumbling around. Ries said he sounds like a purring kitty. With the lack of sleep, even after a nap, Gideon is grumpy. He is still mad that sick time rules and behaviors do not fly anymore as well.

Mean, mean parents.

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