Around Washington, Part 4

Here are some more pictures from our trip.

Probably one of Holton's last sink baths... We already bathe him in the baby bathtub inside the regular tub at home, but had a fun bath in my mom's kitchen sink while we were in Virginia.

While we were at my conference and staying at the hotel downtown, we took a wonderful walk (although it was warm!) to dinner at an amazing and very authentic Italian pizza place called Two Amys.  On our way, we passed the National Cathedral.

We also passed several embassies... Here I am on Azerbaijani soil!

Brian and Holton did lots of sight seeing while I was at meetings.  Here are the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History.

What were the pups doing while we were gone?  Missing us of course, but also having a blast at home with Uncle Brent, Aunt Erika, and cousin Harper!  Thanks guys for watching over our home and puppies!

One morning, we walked the Mall.  I love this picture Brian took...

Standing next to the Washington Monument.

And looking down the Mall at the Lincoln Memorial.

We waved hello to President O...

Brian at the Newseum

Ringo playing in our yard

Lucy - never gets tired of playing catch!

Harper and Ringo - wonder who won this battle???

Holton Laughing!

We captured some of Holton's first laughter on video last Tuesday night.  I was kissing his tummy and he just started giggling...  This just melts my heart...  I would do anything to make him laugh!  Oh how I love my little boy!

Washington D.C. Trip Part 2 - Holton is 3 months old!

Holton turned 3 months old during our DC trip.  I can't believe how fast he is growing!

 What can I say, he's a hungry man!

 Adelyn is such a good big sister.  She really loves her brother!

Holton continues to be such an easy-going baby.  He's smiling all the time now and is so much more alert.  He's holding his head up more and follows objects from side to side in front of him.  He also seems to really love and be calmed by music or singing.  He's a great eater, and he's sleeping at least 6 hours consistently most nights (yay!).  He has the softest smoothest skin.  I think he is actually losing hair right now, or else it's just not growing as fast as the rest of him!  

What a bundle of joy you are Holton - I love you!

Washington D.C. Trip Part 1 - Easter

This is the first of several catch up posts... I am long overdue and April and early May have been full of fun times with our family and friends.

Addy got her first tutu skirt:

We took a trip to Washington D.C. in late April for my American Society of Breast Surgeons annual conference.  We were able to spend the first part of the week, including Easter, at my parents house.

I was a bit nervous about flying with two kiddos... we got a portable DVD player for Adelyn to use during the flights.  Here she is at home "practicing" for the first time.  I thought she might try to pull the headphones off, but no... she loved it!

And here she is in flight...

My favorite comments from the flight from Addy:

upon landing, "It's good to see the ground again!"

and, "Another airplane...that's interesting!"

Having a seat for Addy so we could bring on her car seat was so helpful.  She was comfortable and secure and didn't even ask to get down.

Holton also did great on his first flight.  No ear issues at all (from either child), thank goodness.  We lucked out and had flights that weren't full, so we used the bulkhead seats behind the galley to spread out a bit.

Great-grandmother Holton came to visit for the weekend. This was her first time to meet Holton!

Pajo and Holton

Easter Sunday

 Addy got to open a few early birthday presents, including this adorable set of fabric letters spelling her name. 

She also got her very first computer!

 My little Diva preparing for her first ever Easter Egg Hunt.  She has no idea what's about to happen...

 She figured it out quickly, although still didn't know at this point what was in the eggs!

 Pajo supervising.

 Egg hunting inside.  The eggs proved to be great entertainment throughout the week... we hid them (with and without anything inside!) over and over again.  I think my mom even used them to get her to eat!

 Lazy afternoon.  Like grandfather, like grandson!

 Julianna and Katherine came over to visit and meet Holton.

 Great Gran and her newest great grandchild (now 3 boys and 1 girl!)

More to come from our trip in future posts...

Photo Update

Yes, we are tired... but we are so blessed.  And as much as I am looking forward to getting more sleep, Holton will never be itty-bitty again.  So I am so grateful for this time and just trying to savor it all.  Like Mary, I'm treasuring these moments in my heart.  I want to remember both of my children at their current ages - so different, yet so fun!

Adelyn is like a sponge right now.  We finally have let her watch a few of the Baby Einstein videos.  She loves the Noah's Ark one!  I watched her watch it tonight (and she's only seen it a few times) and she knew every animal!  Even the anteater, and another one I didn't even know from Africa and frankly cannot remember as I sit here typing!  She is talking up a storm!  Full sentences... sometimes so fast she gets tongue-tied and speaks in some foreign language!  I can hardly keep up!

She loves to dance!

Cousin Tomomi, you'll recognize this outfit.

 The little man actually does sleep... on average a 6 hour stretch at night now.  Last week, he slept 9 hours one night... I woke up in a panic!

 And he is rewarding us for all of our hard parenting work with lots of adorable smiles...

 We sure do miss our Pajo (and Majee too!) after he was here to help during Brian's conference.  Addy still says "We dropped off Pajo" (at the airport) all the time.  Tonight as we were praying, out of the blue, she said "No Pajo not naked, Pajo has on clothes."  She had me cracking up laughing!  Not sure where this came from, but hopefully, yes, Pajo has on clothes!

 Our church's baby dedication was Sunday, April 3.  We had a whole bunch of family and friends present to celebrate this day with us.  Thank you everyone who was there - it really meant so much to us!

 Adorable baby gift (two onesies with French cute sayings on them) from our friends the Stringer's.  This one says roughly "My little treehouse" I think!  (I know, one day back when, I did speak French... but a lot of life has happened between now and then!)

 Addy sharing a secret with Holton:

 More smiles...

 Chilling out with Daddy.

 Adelyn loves to pat Holton on the head and say "soooft".

 My TWO children!

 Addy loves to make this gesture.  I'm not always sure what it means, but it makes me laugh!

And that is all for tonight!