After our Tuesday day or "rest," if you can call it that, we decided to venture out to the Houston Children's Museum so the tots could actually do something that they would enjoy for a change (versus walking around yarn store after yarn store). There's a children's museum not too far from were I live and I wanted to take Gunnar there for his birthday but that unfortunately didn't happen. Because of that, Cassie said that we would take the boys when we came to visit... so that's what we did! This place was huge! Overwhelming doesn't even begin to describe it. For Jackson, it was like a huge playground. He was able to walk (or run rather) all over the place and play with everything. For Gunnar though, he's still a little small and short to be able to reach everything. Luckily for us, the place is equipped with a special area for kids up to 3 years old. It was perfect. Exactly what they needed. So many toys for them to play with, things to manipulate and get their brains working! I enjoyed watching the both of them play so much. I've never seen my little man play like that before so it was a real treat. I also learned a lot about him and he's been surprising me each and every day so far this week with the things he knows.
For starters, my child (to my utter surprise) knows what "lay down" means in the context of nap time. I've been having some difficulty with him napping here the past few days and yesterday I would come in the room and he'd be standing up so I would say "lay down" and he just plopped right down! When I say "night night" he puts his head on the pillow. At the children's museum, he watched Jackson push buttons and manipulate toys and he followed suit! He's just like a sponge and absorbs so much so fast! It always amazes me that such young children can figure out how toys work even if they've never played with them before.
My favorite part of our trip were Jackson "driving" a girl on a "date" in the toy car (pictured above) and also when 2 older girls came up to Gunnar to give him toys and play with him. Our boys clearly have this girl thing figured out way in advance.
Knitting that is. How can anyone resist beautiful yarn? I know I sure can't! Today we visited yarn store #3 in hopes that they would have a wonderful selection of cascade and they sure didn't disappoint! It was magnificent. Not only did they have 220, but also cascade paints! In addition to the wonderful selection of cascade, there was a TON of other wool. Oh how I wish my lys was like this one! I envy Cassie for living within a half hour of such a yarn heaven. In addition to the pretty red I bought, I also bought another set of 16" size 5 circs (addi turbo this time) so I could cast on 2 pairs of longies at once... which I need to do since I have some much new yarn!
After spending time at the yarn store we headed to get sonic for lunch thanks to the massive craving we conjured up for ourselves... it was delish!
The boys are now playing happily around, getting in to trouble, the usual. And in big news.... it's snowing! I've only been in snow up in the mountains and it was already on the ground. But now, it's actually falling! I'm beyond thrilled because I didn't think the weather man was actually going to be correct. So now we (or maybe just I?) am enjoying the snow flurries that are falling.
Monday we decided to head out to this yarn shop that was supposed to be amazing. Emphasis on the "supposed." It was not. Huge disappointment. There were all of 3 (or maybe 4) colors of cascade 220 and maybe a few other brands on wool. Not what we wanted. We did each buy 2 skeins of a beautiful charcoal color though.
After that huge disappointment, Cassie decided to check the cascade website to see if there were retailers close by that sold it... sure enough, there were 3 other places. 2 of them are closed on mondays so we went ahead to the one that was actually open. It wasn't a fun drive there, but it was nice and had a MUCH better selection. There we each bought some more yarn. We were really looking forward to going to this next place called Twisted Yarn though. Based on pictures we saw on their blog, they certainly had a beautiful selection of cascade... but that would have to wait until tuesday.
The boys were learning a valuable lesson today that will carry through out their sweet little lives.
sharing
As 1 year olds, it's not something they're too fond of, but luckily Jackson didn't pitch a fit when Gunnar decided he was going to steal *ahem, help* him finish his lunch as well as snack on some goldfish later in the day. The boys also shared dinner tonight... and of course mine also shared dinner with me, even though I didn't want to. But hey, if I want him to share I need to share right (with certain exceptions of course)?
The plane ride went better than expected... but even still, I never want to travel with a toddler by myself ever again. Not once did he cry or make a fuss (yay!) and I attribute that to my preparedness of having a bottle of milk for him to drink during take off and landing. I also made sure to have a new toy (as you'll see in the pictures) and some snacks for him to eat while I ate the meal the flight provides. We ended up getting a whole row to ourselves because the back of the plane was pretty empty which was nice. Even with our own row, my child insisted on constantly climbing over me and on the seat.
Cute story: there was a family sitting in front of us that had 2 boys, 1 I'm assuming was around 18 months or so and him and Gunnar kept smiling and looking at each other.
All in all, it was a decent flight and the landing was especially cute. We arrived in Houston around 7:10pm so it was dark out and they had the runway all lit up... which Gunnar LOVED! He kept climbing over me to look out the window and when he did he smiled and started giggling.
Gunnar was awarded his first massive bruise. How did he earn it you ask? Well, let me tell you!
First, he smacked his head right onto the corner of the wall (fun, huh?), then the kiddo thought it would be a marvelous idea to fall and then roll right into the bottom corner of the freezer door (which is pointy). That mountain on his forehead appeared within minutes and then proceeded to bruise the next morning.
For the next 11 days it will be!
I am beyond excited to be saying goodbye to CA and hello to Houston, Texas tomorrow! Gunnar and I will be visiting one of my best friends until March 3! This month has gone by incredibly fast which I am so thankful for. And now, I just need to get through my test tomorrow morning and then off to LAX we go!
Until then... I have a suitcase on my bed that is already filled and yet I still have more to put it in. Thank you for taking up a huge bulk of the room, cloth diapers.
You can expect some extra bloggy-ness while I'm on "vacay" since I'll be taking a break from my every day life and snapping pictures like no ones business!
Today is a BIG day in our house! My baby is now a toddler! I hardly believe that 1 year ago today (at this time), I was being admitted to the hospital to have him, and now here he is walking around with an empty Pepsi can. =)
Since today is such a special day, I decided it would be ok to splurge and let the little man have chick-fil-a for lunch... with fries instead of fruit! I know, I'm crazy!
on a healthier note, he did have good ole water to drink!
1. Confession: I have been called out on my failure to blog. Thank you, Kassi. It's not that I don't love blogging, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't, I just kind of forget to do it thanks to all the other craziness that goes on in my life.
2. New goal for myself... blog twice a week. That's a step up from my serious lack of blogging so hopefully I can get into the habit of twice a week and then I'll move up from there.
3. My baby is turning 1 on thursdy.... when the heck did that happen? I can't believe how fast this year has gone by and how many things have happened!
4. On that note, we're having his party on saturday. Guess who's done absolutely nothing to prepare for it? Oh yeah, me!
5. How can this not make you smile?
My new lens came today and needless to say, I'm beyond ecstatic. I have to thank MckMama for being the one to recommend this lens in a post of hers. It's truly amazing and I'm sooo happy to finally have a lens with an f/stop that goes below 4.5! (btw: it's a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II)
I just finished up this adorable I-cord beanie and it needs a home!
Yarn: Adriafil Knitcol 100% wool in Van Gogh colorway
Size: up to 6 months. this has lots of stretch in it and the brim can be rolled up for tiny babies
