900

It has been 900 days since my little baby Lucas was born!  I have been able to spend all 900 days with Lucas (with the exception of the days when Poppy was in the NICU in Everett and my Mom had to drive back and forth from Oak Harbor with him every day) and I've been fortunate enough to see him turn into a super smart little boy.  We can hold conversations now, you know?  Heck, just this evening at dinner he started a discussion about what we eat.  He said "Mommy eats poop.  Mommy eats BROWN POOP!"  Yes, he did.  So now not only is he incredibly smart, he's so smart and so good with words that I'm getting scared about taking him in public for fear of what he might tell people.  For the record, I do not eat poop, brown or otherwise.

Lucas at 900 days old.

It is hard to believe that in 100 days Lucas will be in quadruple digits.  Where does the time go!?

Adventure!

We went on an adventure on Thursday.  I've been grabbing brochures of local and semi-local attraction whenever I see them, hoping that one day we might be able to cram in a trip or two to see some of what Northwest Washington has to offer.  One of the brochures that I manage to keep getting every time (seriously, I have about seven of them by now) is for the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett.  We decided that this would be a fun thing that we could do before Adam leaves for a while again, so we all got up extra early and headed out of town.  The first part of our adventure took us south, all the way down the island to the ferry in Clinton.  We'd never gone over on the ferry, so it was a real treat and we didn't tell Lucas ahead of time because we didn't want him to whine for the entire trip about wanting be on the ferry "right now!" 

We made good time and really lucked out because the boat had just pulled up and we only had to wait a few minutes before driving on.

As soon as we parked, we quickly got out of the car, got Lucas and Poppy out of their car seats and headed to the top of the boat so we could have the full exciting experience of ferry traveling on the less-than 20 minutes it takes to cross to Mukilteo.  Lucas was so excited to be on the ferry boat and kept saying "We floating!"  Here he is with Poppy sitting on the benches at the front of the boat.  We only went outside for a couple of minutes because it was so windy and cold and because we were so rushed getting out of the car, we forgot their hats.  Notice, we also forgot Poppy's shoes.  But that's okay.  Its not like she was trying to walk anywhere!

We were packed in like sardines.

I held the camera out the window to take a picture out the back of the boat.  We were one of the last cars to get on the ferry, so there wasn't anyone parked behind us.

After leaving the ferry, it was only a short drive to the next part of our adventure.  Lucas wanted to stay on the boat all day (and did NOT want to get back in his car seat after our quick jaunt to the viewing deck), but perked up slightly when we told him we were going to look at airplanes.

The Flying Heritage Collection is located in a hangar at Paine Field in Everett.  It is a collection of old military airplanes (described as "(airworthy vintage military aircraft" on Paul Allen's Wikipedia page) that belongs to Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft.  They have planes from the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, and Japan.  They also had a couple of tank-type vehicle, but the planes got most of our attention.

Lucas and Poppy were given brochures when we got there.  Lucas seems very interested.  Poppy seems very hungry.

And now for some planes...

Lucas had fun looking inside the cockpit model they had.  He especially had fun trying to climb inside it.

Since Lucas is a English boy (sort of) I wanted to take his picture in from of one of the planes from his "home" country.

More planes...

This is a Curtiss JN-4D Jenny and it was built in May, 1918...that makes it 90 years older than Lucas!

Lucas wasn't as crazy about this plane (Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk) as I thought he'd be.  He did like to say "Airplane has a mouth!" 

 This was the only Navy plane (Grumman F6F Hellcat) they had on display.  It isn't ready to fly yet, but they said that they hope to get it "airworthy" by next Spring when they do their Fly Days.

All of us in front of an RAF Hawker Hurricane Mk.XIIA (behind Adam) and a North American P-51D Mustang from the US Army Air Force (behind me).

 

Lucas and Poppy semi-posing in front of the other RAF plane, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc.

Poppy is 10 months old...and Holly is 27 years old!

My little Poppy Seed Muffin is 10 months old today (on Aunt Holly's 27th birthday!).  Over the last month she has gained a tooth, has learned to throw better fits, has learned to drink from a straw, has taken her first ride on a ferry, and has pretty much dropped her morning nap entirely.  She has also moved from the infant tub over the kitchen sink to the inflatable duck tub in the bathroom and now puts herself to sleep at night (YES!).  Today she finally figured out how to sit herself up.  No, she's still not crawling, but Girlfriend sure can roll!  Big changes for my little girl! 

Poppy at 10 months!

I walked left Poppy in her crib to watch her friends dance (that means that I turned the mobile on for her) so I could run out to the kitchen to grab my camera and when I got back she was sitting up playing with the buttons on her mobile.  Oh boy, we're going to have to move the crib mattress down to the lowest level so she can't pull the whole thing down!

She was pretty excited about her new trick!

Here's my little Diva showing some attitude.  Notice the hand on the hip and the serious stare-down she's giving me.  No, I'm kidding.  It looks like she's giving some attitude, but this picture was just between smiles and clapping for herself over her new trick.

Lucas wanted in on the action, too.

This picture is blurry, but I love that you can see how happy Lucas makes Poppy.  She loves her brother!

I want to wish my favorite younger sister HOLLY a very happy 27th birthday today.  I sure hope Brad has the camera ready to get your reaction when you open your presents.  Believe me, I've outdone myself this year.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOLLY!!

UPDATE! Holly opened her presents and Brad was nice enough to quickly email pictures! 

I knew she'd be excited to be getting her very own Snuggie!!  And in camouflage, so she'll be able to wear it to the store and fit right in.  It is Douglas County after all. :-)

And if the excitement from finally getting her own Snuggie wasn't enough, we got a Snuggie for her little doggette, Chloe, too!

Work it, Chloe.  From what I hear, this means you're a real Douglas County girl now.

Holly and Chloe rocking the Douglas County Chic Look.  I think its safe to say that I got Holly her best birthday present ever!



The Ladybug and the Shark

I ordered a couple of (totally unnecessary because they already have too many) hats from The Children's Place over the weekend.  They got here this morning and they are so cute!  I'm glad I ordered them bigger than I was originally thinking, because they both fit pretty well with a little bit of growing room.  Lucas has 4T-5T for his big head (to house all his smarts, of course!) and Poppy has 18-24 months.

Poppy has a ladybug hat...

And Lucas has a shark.  He wouldn't stand still for me to take a picture of him alone, but once he was strapped into the stroller for our walk, there was no escape!  Notice the synchronized drinking going on in this picture.  These two are very talented!

Part of the way through our walk, I stopped and asked them both to smile.  This is what they gave me.

300

Poppy is 300 days old today.  Hard to believe, isn't it?  I have taken a picture of Poppy at 100, 200, and now 300 days old.  Today's picture was probably the worst, and the hardest to get because of her interest in the sign I made for her and her penchant for throwing fits of late.  She is a diva, no question.  Here are a few pictures of my 300 Day Old Girl, but first I'd like to share Day 100 and Day 200 since those were taken pre-Blog.

And now she's 300 Days Old!  She hasn't quite mastered sitting like a lady, yet...

This is probably the best picture I was able to get.  The days of not caring about her sign are over.  She was fascinated!

Happiness is having a piece of paper that can be very noisy if you shake it a lot.

Poppy always brings the drama.  This is her response to me momentarily taking the paper away.

The paper began to show some signs of wear and tear.

"Let me have it!  I want it!"

"I'm gonna get it!  Watch out!"

After I was done taking pictures and threw the sign in the trash, Poppy freaked out for a full 15 minutes.  I'm talking a genuine, full-on, tantrum.  Arched back, screaming, I'm scared to think what she will be like when the Terrible Two's hit!  Or the teenage years!  My goodness!



Cold

Yesterday started out looking like it was going to be another nice (but chilly) day.  The sun was shining, we could see the Olympics, there were a few patchy clouds, but it was mostly clear.  And then came the fog.  Dreary, icky fog.  The sun put up a good fight for a while, but eventually it was overtaken and the fog won out for the day.  Lucas had been talking about playing outside since he got out of bed, so even though it was still only 55 and windy, we bundled up and headed out. 

I took a picture of the thermometer.  Why?  Oh, because I'm a dork!  And because I really wanted to show off how fabulous our house is, what with the rusting staples and peeling paint that's holding it together.

The grass was too wet for Poppy to roll around, so I took her exersaucer outside and she hung out on the patio.  This was the first time she wore her pretty polka dot coat and hat that I bought her a year ago.  This, some pajamas, and a little flowered dress were the first things I bought after finding out that she was a girl.  Also, in case you can't see, my little fashionista has gold shoes on.  That's right, gold shoes.  She is one fancy lady!

Lucas usually ends up taking his jacket off several minutes after going outside.  Most of the time, it isn't actually cold enough to need a jacket so I just let it go.  But since it was pretty cold yesterday, I told him he had to keep it on.  He didn't listen.

He also thought it was really funny that I kept telling him he needed to put his jacket on.  He started running laps while yelling "No jacket, Mama!  Can't catch me, Mama!"

Poppy has recently developed a real love for water from a straw cup.  I had no idea she could even use a straw since I'd never let her try it (Lucas couldn't get the hang of using a straw until he was 16 months), and one night she rolled over and found Lucas's water cup sitting on the floor.  Much to my surprise, she picked it up and started drinking!  Now if he has a cup of water, she needs one too or she gets all whiny and jealous.  I only put a little bit of water at a time in the cup because she will just sit there and drink it until its gone.  This girl has no self-control.

I ended up putting a sweatshirt on Lucas because he kept fighting the jacket.  I can't believe how old he looks here.  Where did my baby go!?

While we were on our walk, we saw an old friend we hadn't seen in quite a while.  Fernando!  I'd like to introduce you to Fernando, one of our neighborhood Bald Eagles.  As far as Lucas is concerned, when we see an Eagle, it is THE Fernando.  He knows that Fernando is an Eagle and that he lives in a nest in a tree.  We talk about Fernando a lot, especially when we see him flying, but that actually hasn't been very often lately.  Yesterday we got really lucky because I saw this particular Eagle in a tree while we were on our walk and I had my camera with me.  We were able to get close enough so that Lucas could see him and then we got the extra special treat of hearing Fernando "talk" to us!  There were a bunch of small birds that kept flying at him (or her, I really have no idea if its a girl or a boy) and he was not happy about it.  So he was making this very loud screeching noise.  Lucas got a real kick out of that and when I asked him if he heard Fernando talking to us, he said "Fernando sounds like a dolphin!"

Fernando didn't take too much harassment from the little birds before flying away.  We continued to be able to hear his screeching while we walked down the street, though.

We stopped just before we had to turn up the hill and saw Fernando sitting in a different tree without the little birds annoying him anymore.  And what's this?!  Fernando has a friend!  I didn't notice it until I looked at the picture on my camera, but there was a second Eagle in the tree.  Lucas was really excited!  And me too, I guess.  I'm the one with my huge camera out looking like a tourist while walking through my own neighborhood!

Lucas could see the Eagles in the tree and he was so happy.  He was pointing and saying "Right there!  Fernando is right there!"  Poppy was indifferent.  She cared more about gnawing on the strap for her water cup than bird-watching.