Weekend Fun

The Marlers had a busy weekend – especially Saturday. Our day started with an early morning trip to Rolly Pollies for Ian’s running, climbing, swinging, jumping, and general good time. Then we headed to the Phoenix zoo to check out their Halloween themed event (something about feeding pumpkins to all the animals) but the place was totally packed when we got there – not a parking spot to be had. We decided to make the most of our day so we headed to a new shopping center in the area to have lunch and le the boys play while mommy shopped.

We ended up at Dave & Buster’s, which is a big video arcade and restaurant. Hannah proved once again that she can happily sleep anywhere. Meanwhile Ian and Daddy forgot about their food and played a ton of games. Ian was especially excited about whak-a-mole, the driving games, and anything that delivered tickets as the reward. When it was finally time to leave we tried to convince Ian that it was a good trade to exchange his tickets for some of the little trinkets, but he wasn’t having any of that plan – those tickets were so hard to get that he wasn’t giving them up.

Normally at this point in the day Ian takes a nap but today he was having too much fun and didn’t want to rest. He crashed briefly on the drive home, then woke up as soon as the car slowed into our community. We helped clean house then started talking about what we would do for dinner. Since Mommy and Daddy couldn’t decide we asked Ian what he wanted to eat – he gave a big smile and declared, “PIZZA!”

Daddy took Ian to Lowes for the guy stuff and Ian ran through most of the isles asking “What’s that?” and “Why?” for all the new items he was finding, climbed the mobile stairs and pushed shopping carts, and just to prove how strong he is these days he swung between the bars under the big shelves like he was at a playground.

By this point Ian was ready for dinner so we went to our local pizza place and ordered a carry out pie. We got dinner and Ian safely into the car, headed towards home, and suddenly the car was quiet – the wild man was fast asleep.

Jump ahead to around 11 PM when Ian finally woke and called for Danny and Mommy. He told us he wanted milk and that he was hungry. We offered pizza but he had changed his mind – he wasn’t interested in his normal cheesy favorite. We asked what he wanted and he squinted his tired eyes, thought for a little bit, then said very clearly, “green beans.” Mommy was shocked and Daddy thought it was super cute. We’re betting that there aren’t too many kids out there that have a late night craving for their green veggies. J

Weekends are the best.

Ian Pee Pee'd in the Potty!

Yesterday for the first time, Ian pee pee'd in the potty. He was about to hop in the shower and he told daddy he had to pee pee. Andrew didn't believe him at first, but he said he had to. So, the proceeded to the potty and Ian made Andrew wait outside. Ian hopped on the potty and did his business. We gave him oreos as a reward. We're so proud of him. It probably doesn't sound big, but to us this is HUGE. It's his first step toward being potty trained. Woohooo!

New Photos Added

Added photos from the last several weeks. Mommy has to go to bed now, will update the blog on what's happening with the kids very soon.

Good night...

Going back to work...

Mommy's going back to work tomorrow. I'm quite sad about it. With Ian, I needed to go back to work for the adult interaction and distraction. With Hannah, it's been much different. I think it's because I'm not confined to a pump this time and from having an active toddler, that I've been more mobile this time around. I got to do a lot of errands, shopping, and working out at the Y during the day. I'll definitely miss all of the time I get to spend with Hannah and picking up Ian every day from school. I'll also really miss taking him to Rollie Pollie two times a week and the occasional visit to his music class. Ian and I got a lot closer during my maternity leave and especially during our trips to San Francisco.

Dave, Zoe's dad, will be watching Hannah while Andrew and I are at work. Ian will continue to go to daycare. We thought we'd keep Hannah out of daycare for the first 6 months or so, so that she doesn't get as sick as Ian did. Then we'll eventually transition her to daycare. We know she'll be in good hands with Dave and Zoe during the day. Ian will be so jealous Hannah gets to play with Zoe.

I need to get ready for work tomorrow so I'm out of time to post new pictures. I'll try to make time the next few days to do so. The kids are still doing great. They're both really chatty right now.

Marler Family Portraits

So we went back to Portrait Innovations on Sunday to take our family portraits and for shots of the two kids. We had to wake Hannah up from her nap so she wasn't too happy about taking pictures. The photographer tried his best to get Ian to smile and look at the camera. We also tried to entertain him with a rocking chair, a scary mooing cow, a flower, a pumpkin, a ball, you name it. We did get some really good shots of Ian though and some good shots of the family. Overall, we're pleased and we'll probably do this at least once a year. Hopefully, as Ian gets older, he'll start to become more cooperative with taking pictures.

These are the raw low resolution shots so they haven't been corrected.