My winter 1 year-old

So here's the rest of winter.  Mainly just pictures.  I'm hoping to one day utilize a program that can create a memory/photo book out of part of this blog - so that's mainly why.

Lots of new memories and changes in our family over the past few months, though.  I started doing a childcare exchange with a good friend, so on Thursdays week I take care of her little girl (who is now 2) and on Mondays she has James.  This allows Adam to have an additional day to work, which has made a big difference in his income and also just giving him a bit of a break.  I guess it'd be easy to write about how challenging the adjustment was to taking care of two 1 year-olds all day, the funny, frustrating, and fantastic moments that leave me totally beat on the couch at the end of the day.  But I think I'll skip it.  We all know how hard it is.  Diapers, snacks, bibs, socks, mittens strewn about the park, the mischief and the mayhem that never ends.  But what really comes to mind when I think about caring for someone else's baby is how precious they are.  I've babysat before, and was a nanny in my early college years and have quite a bit of experience taking care of kids.  But now that I'm a mom it feels totally different.  I hold Emma in my arms and wipe away her hair from her face, or her tears from her eyes, or just her blueberry stains from her cheeks and I feel an intense love and protection for her that I didn't understand before.  I know she means everything to my friend - I know she is her heart beating outside of her body.  I know my friend has rocked her, and sung to her, and wiped these same cheeks and changed these same diapers and treasured all the same sweet moments.  When I see other mothers (and parents, but mostly moms) I feel a sense of solidarity and compassion and understanding that I didn't used to have.  Sometimes I even see kids and babies at the store or on a walk and I immediately look at them and smile, or make sure they're okay.  When they cry, I notice.  My heart notices.  Because there's a mama out there just like me - a regular woman who has done the extraordinary business of birthing, nursing, rocking, soothing, holding, guiding, loving that little person until they've felt like their arms would fall off.  A mom who thought they couldn't possibly stand another minute of the crying or the mess or the "why the hell has it has been 7 months since I've had a haircut" moments.  I see children now and this is what I see - all of the moments.  And I know almost every mom loves their babies more than anyone could ever understand.  So when I step in to comfort, feed, hold, play with and love another child...I give it my heart.

Most of our days together would seem to the outside to be pretty low-key.  We have our routine, we do breakfast (almost always oatmeal, always bananas, sometimes eggs), dance to music to get our energy up, and go outside.  We almost always walk to the park together, or just play in the yard unless it's totally pouring.  And the kids are pretty hardcore Oregonians, lemme tell ya.  They can put up with a lot more gray and wet than I can.  We eventually wind down and wander in, and there's some mix of quieter, indoor play (book reading usually, toys, potty time for Emma) and slowing down while I make lunch.  The kids eat lunch and play at the table while we "talk" about our day or do the alphabet or things like that.  Both kids go down for their naps around 1, and usually sleep until 3.  Sometimes I nap on the couch if I'm really tired, other days I do quiet chores like laundry or bills or throwing something in the crock pot for dinner.  Some days I just hang out on the computer.  In the afternoon we do whatever we're feeling like that day.  Blocks, playing on the slide outside, having a snack, taking a random bath, whatever.  A few times I've ventured out with friends for an outing - on Valentine's Day we went to the zoo, on Emma's birthday we did an indoor playground, and we've driven out to some new parks.  But mostly we just kick back and live the good life at home.  And a good life it is.

This is how I walk two kids to the park on a chilly February day!

Emma photobomb

It's all fun and games...until someone gets their head kicked.  

James's favorite foods - bananas ("Mann-uh!") and yogurt ("goat!").  Proof that there's really only one important quality in a high chair - easy of cleaning!

James's first bubble bath.  He loved it, of course, especially when his papa dropped all his plastic balls in with him.  I am not too particular about a lot of things, buying organic body products being one of them.  We use Johnson & Johnson and Dove soap (what our doctor recommends to clear up occasional ezcema flare-up.)  But we got this really nice non-toxic, easy-on-the-skin-and-body California Baby bath bubbles in James's Christmas stocking and I fell in love with it.  It only has natural oils (which make up the "cranky baby" scent) and is easy on James's skin.  Plus it makes awesome bubbles.  I've tried some natural bath products that I wasn't too keen on but this one I love.  We already used the whole bottle!

Sometimes Bear has to come to dinner.  It's not optional.

Hanging out at my mom's house in Eugene

James trying to "push" his Grandpa Mark around the kitchen....this is a game James will absolutely delight in playing, but after the first time we get pretty tired of it.  So it's always a treat for James when a new visitor will indulge him in his favorite game.  

James, showing off his true feelings about Valentine's Day...

Mele Kalikimaka!

My oh my....how quickly time seems to be passing these days.  Looking at our little blog is sure evidence of that.  Lots to update and say, but not many free moments to do it, I suppose.  It's a quiet Monday night in the Pruett household - little James is telling himself some bedtime stories and saying "buh-byeeeee" on the monitor as he drifts off to sleep, Adam is working, the house is clean, and it's my Friday.  So I'll take advantage of the moment and jot down some thoughts.

After James's birthday last fall, life got really busy as the holidays were in full swing.  We traveled to Kauai with Adam's family for a holiday getaway that felt partly like a family reunion and partly like a Hawaiian vacation.  We visited with Adam's brother's family, and met our newest nephew, Jun, who is only 5 months younger than James.  Having all the kids and everybody else together is pretty chaotic and fun.  Being on Kauai brought back a lot of memories from our honeymoon, though this trip was very different.  Kauai is honestly one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited and I love being there - immediately after stepping off the plane and feeling the warm, relaxed air I am in heaven!  The island is remarkably rural considering how popular it is and I really hope it stays that way.

We spent a lot of time packing and preparing (10 days away with a 1 year-old requires some major planning!) and in the end I was surprised by how much easier traveling with James was than I had anticipated.  The plane ride itself was 6.5 hrs on the way over, and I was pretty anxious how our active little boy would handle it.  I talked to a lot of moms beforehand and got some great suggestions (individually wrapping tiny toys, lots of snacks, having new/novel books/toys) that helped.  The night before we left for the trip, James came down with a very sudden high fever.  He woke up from his nap fairly warm, and fussy, and then wouldn't eat, and then was crying inconsolably and had temperature of 104.3.  Babies do run higher temps than adults but it was pretty frightening.  We spent a few hours in the ER waiting for his fever to break, rocking him gently and letting him nap on us.  He did recover okay and we debated about what to do - at this point, it was only hours until our flight left - and at the doctor's suggestion (he happened to own a condo on Kauai and knew how hard it would be to rebook our flight Christmas week) decided to go for it.  Sure enough, the next morning James was fine and we brought some medicine with us just in case, knowing we could get good medical care there for him if needed.  As challenging as it is to fly for many hours with a young toddler, I have to say that watching your child suffer from sickness is much, much worse - and I remember the ER part being much harder than the plane ride.

We are huge fans of our Ergo carrier in general and found it be really useful traveling - especially at the airport.  Security was a breeze and they let James & I walk right through with him the carrier.  We tried to keep James awake as long as possible, and after letting him run around the concourse he was pretty conked out for much of the plane ride.

Waiting for our rental car in Hawaii....are we there yet?!

Adam and James in Sea-Tac on Christmas Eve

The actual trip itself was pretty awesome.  Lots of warm days, and a few warm rain showers, lots of snorkeling (Adam makes a point of going at least once a day while there), walking down the street to the beach, playing in the pool, or just hanging out with the babies and Yuri in the condo.  Mark and Elaine helped watch the kids quite a bit so we had some couples-only for snorkeling dates or whatever else we felt like doing.  We did less sightseeing and driving than our honeymoon, and mostly just enjoyed good times relaxing as a family.  Adam's parents, brother and sister-in-law went snorkeling and every day we walked down to the Baby Beach in Poipu, which was just perfect for us.  It's a special little cove on the shoreline that's blocked from the waves so the babies and kids can safely play in the ocean.  Plus it's really shallow all the way out, and just on the other side was some pretty good snorkeling.  We ate a lot of good, fresh fish (I'm sure I ate a year's worth of mercury in all the tuna we had) and fruit.  Despite the babies being early risers, we got a lot of good rest and could actually hear the ocean and feel the breeze coming into our room at night...heavenly!  One of my favorite memories is from a morning when Adam, his parents, and Yuri drove up to Waimea Canyon together, and Chris and Eri took Jun out on a long drive and it was just James and I alone in the condo for a few hours.  It rained that day, but it was warm water coming down through the palm trees and I laid out on the lanai all by myself and enjoyed some down time being on baby monitor duty.  I realized that for the first time in a long, long time, I really had nothing to do.  No computer, phone calls, housework, projects, cooking or anything else to distract me.  I laid there and read books and gathered my thoughts and just gazed out at the ocean for three hours listening to the baby monitor.  I could see the waves crashing down at the beach and felt so relaxed and happy.  There is so little time I have to just be - to sit, think, not busy myself with something that needs to be done - and it may have been one of the most peaceful, happy times of my life.  

Anyway - lots of great memories made and fun to be had.  Here's some favorite shots:

Late evening swim at the pool.  Yuri and her grandparents spent a lot of time here!

James and I taking in another gorgeous sunset 

James, plotting how to get his little hands back on his favorite book that Jun was borrowing.  

Running after the feral chickens, who are everywhere on Kauai

Mark & Elaine walking back from the beach

James, fussing about some kind of minor unpleasantness on a nice day at the Beach House lawn

How many Hawaiian prints can you fit into one picture....?

Baby Beach

When in Hawaii....

Beautiful baby Jun

Some shots from the North Shore.  This spot, Ke'e Beach, is supposed to be an amazing snorkeling spot but the waves were too high (as you can see) so we hung out like beach bums instead.  The North Shore is my favorite part of the island - lush, green, and absolutely beautiful.  This is just a hop, skip and a jump away from where Jurassic Park was filmed.

Adam and I goofing off on our date night in Hawaii.  We drove to the East side and visited some of our favorite haunts from our honeymoon, including this spot for dinner- Kalapaki Beach Hut.  Best burgers on the island!

James checking out our room.  You can tell by his expression below how much he loved the place...

James being a ham at dinner.

Mark and James at a market near Hanalei Bay

Just two guys kickin' it on the beach

Our whole gang (minus Adam) having some shave ice in the sand

My sweet baby boy having some sweet Hawaiian slumber.  I was worried about how he'd adjust to sleeping in a new room (his at home is much darker and quieter) but we brought our white noise machine and he seemed to feel right at home.  I also noticed that for the first time, he seemed to be really comfortable sleeping on his back...I think at night our house gets chilly and he usually curls up to be warm, but here loved just laying out in his skivvies, feeling the ocean breeze...

James playing at the beach in the early morning light.  He was still on a 2-nap schedule, so we often tried to get a swim or snorkel in before his morning nap to make the most of our time.  It worked out great since the beach was often deserted and we had it all to ourselves.

James is one of his adorable Hawaiian outfits.  James's grandparents found a few Hawaiian shirts at a garage sale, and he looked pretty stylish in them, I must say!

James and his Nana, who is so sweet to him.

It was a really special Christmas - truly one of the best family vacations ever and we can't wait to go back.