Mother's Day

Today is a special Mother's Day for me. My first Mother's Day with a made-at-school present. I love the bouquet of hand flowers Max made for me. I think I'll keep them forever. And Max also completed this lovely questionnaire all about his favorite mom!

How tall is your mom? Tall
What color are your mom's eyes? Blue
What color is your mom's hair? Brown
What is your mom's favorite food? Cereal
What is your mom's favorite color? Pink
My mom is____________.
And what was Max's answer? Not nice, not fun, not pretty, not smart. His answer was...A COW. Nice, Max. I thought we were over this, but I guess not.

I had a fabulous Mother's Day and didn't have to do anything motherly at all! Blake even had all three boys down for a Sunday nap, all at the same time. I can't even get them all to take naps, let alone at the same time. Some days I think Blake is a better mom than I am. :)

Oh how I love being the mother of these three very, very special boys.

NBA Playoffs

Every year Blake and I do NBA Playoff brackets. You know, there's nothing like some good marital competition. And every year I win. Well, except last year. And probably this year. It's only the second round and I'm about 98% sure my bracket's a bust. Oh well. Since we don't get TV channels at our house, at least I get a yummy meal in the bar at Chili's so we can watch the game.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

A big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for watching Max and Jack while we were in DC. I love the pictures that came back on Grandma's camera. Everything from working in the garden, the zoo, bubbles, lunch at McDonald's (or as the boy's say "Old McDonald's"), to snow balls in MAY! Utah sure is crazy! And I hear they did a lot of playing on Grandma and Grandpa's new swing set. Apparently, Max took them on a lot of "adventures" on the swing set to everywhere from the moon to Africa. They think that is the best birthday present Grandma has ever received. What lucky, lucky boys to have such fun grandparents!

Gus Goes to Washington

This past week, Blake, Gus and I were in Washington DC for an ortho conference, but really we were there to see Blythe, Vaughn and Baby B. In fact, the only part of the conference that we went to was the opening ceremony to hear Frankie Valli play. Remember, I love Frankie. Too bad I thought it was going to be the real deal and it was just a fakester group. Oh well--I still sang along and even yelled to choose me when they came in the audience looking for someone to serenade. But instead of me, they chose the AAO President's wife. I'm sure I was a close second.
But really, it worked out perfectly that AAO was in DC this year--I am so happy Gus finally got to meet the remaining three members of the family. I think he is going to be good friends with Baby B. It's just too bad most of their time spent together was either being packed around in the bjorns or riding in their car seats. And remember how much Gus loves (cough--HATES) his car seat. Gus would mad scream and Braddock would happy scream right along with him. See--good friends, I tell you.

I was so excited to be in DC with just a little baby so we could go to all the museums and monuments without worrying about losing someone or a little hand breaking some valuable piece of history. And boy did we go all over! During the the 3.5 hot and incredibly humid days we were there, we went to the Holocaust, Native American, Natural History, American History, and 2 Air and Space Museums along with Arlington Cemetery, Iwo Jima Memorial, and up and down the National Mall.
One of the highlights of the trip was a professional tour of the Capitol from none other than Vaughn himself. He even scored us tickets to the Senate Floor (very, very hard to come by) and the House Floor. Blake invited some of his classmates along and we were all super impressed with Vaughn's knowledge of history. To quote a line from National Treasure, "What's one step below crazy?...Obsessed?...No, passionate!" And Vaughn is definitely passionate! It made me wish I remembered more from my American History class.

And wow did we eat some yummy food. Rays Hell Burgers, Good Stuff, Hard Times, Navajo Tacos at the National Museum of the American Indian, and Georgetown Cupcakes (my personal favorite). And even some Sushi place complete with octopus tentacles and salmon eggs. Here is Blake sampling some octopus. Can you see the suction cups? Nasty. But even I tried the salmon eggs that Vaughn accurately described as Fishy-Seawater Gushers. Blythe was the only wimpy/smart one that wouldn't give into the fun experience! :)

We had so much fun in DC. Vaughn, Blythe, Braddock, and Bonni were the best tour guides. Not only did Vaughn give us one incredible tour of the Capitol, but Blythe picked us up from the airport at a very, very late hour, they drove us all over their city, and even let us bunk with them when our hotel was over-booked one night. Plus, how many people do you know who would go this far to get a good picture?
Thank you, thank you! We can't wait to visit again!

3 Months

At three months old Baby Gus
--HATES being in his car seat
--loves to look at his own hands; they are so interesting
--smiles big when I help him do some good old Millcreek Junior High cheers
--is still gassy
--sleeps about 7 hours straight at night
--starts blinking his eyes really fast every time Jack gets near him...he knows something is coming
--consistently poops after every feeding--the loud, juicy kind (I love it!)
--is happiest when he is just laying on my lap
--has laughed out loud once. His first laugh was on April 17 while we were in Utah. The other two boys were in the bathtub and Gus and I were watching. Gus would laugh every time Max splashed the water. Well, only until I yelled at someone to get the camera. Then when the camera got there, he just stared at it instead.
--sucks on his paci so hard that it leaves a mark around his mouth
--has rubbed a complete bald spot on the back of his peach-fuzz head, but still has a row of dark, long hair along the back of his neck
--loves to carry on some intense conversations
--opens his eyes so big that sometimes they look like they're going to pop out of his head
--has the best smile EVER
--is a very, very, very sweet baby. I'll definitely keep him.
And for comparison, here are the other two boys at three months.

JACK

MAX

My babies are definitely getting progressively thinner.

More Family

Gus went on a little trip to Arizona and got to meet more of his family. He really likes them.
Only one cousin left to meet...

Gus Philip Meets Grandpa Philip!

Today we took Gus up to meet the man he was named for. They got along quite well, And I love that they have the same hair-do. None on the top and a little row in the back. Or at least that's what Grandpa used to have.
Gus talked up a storm to Grandpa. Seriously a storm. And Grandpa even said what I was thinking: "If Grandma were here she'd say you're just like me--talking a lot of bologna!" That makes my heart smile.
Grandpa treated us to McDonald's for dinner. It doesn't get much better than hamburgers and tunnel slides. We really, really love Grandpa.
Oh, and if you're wondering why Gus is crying, in the picture taken moments before this, Jack is poking him in the eye. :)

Utah Happenings

We are having so much fun in Utah. Here's what's been happening:

We celebrated Tony's birthday. He is getting old. Good thing he had some helpers to blow out the candles.
Grandma splurged and got a pass to the Discovery Gateway. It's so much fun.

And of course we went to the zoo. Dawna came with us and the last time she'd been was when I was little. Max showed her all around and I think she liked it. Max even brought his train whistle from Grandma's house to blow while he was on the train. We finished our outing with lunch from Hire's. It doesn't get better than that!

Oh yes, and Baby Gus has been with us the whole time, too.

We love Utah!