He's a Looker!

I've really been enjoying Skip lately. He's almost four months old and is full of smiles and coos. I've actually decided that I'm kind of over that 0-3 months stage because this is way more rewarding.

I'm also loving how CUTE Skip is! This photo is Exhibit A, with more to follow. I find myself always telling him how adorable he is, but then I think of Grandma Linda and how she always tells children that they are resilient and quick to laugh and kind and all that stuff and so I tell him those things, too. We don't want him growing up thinking he can skate by on his looks!

Oh, and the other thing that makes Skip like 500 times more adorable is that he has been sleeping through the night for past few weeks! The Kate and Tori training program has been a smashing success and he typically sleeps from 7:30pm to 6:30am. This makes me like him (and everyone else around me) much more because we are finally getting our much-needed sleep! As of yesterday we put Skip on a new training program so that he can fall asleep on his own, rather than us having to put him to sleep or having to give him his pacifier every three minutes when it falls out. He fell asleep tonight -- without his pacifier, which was only by accident -- within about five minutes!

Okay, sorry to brag if you're reading this blog and your kid is keeping you up at night (Jenna!). I'm just pretty excited about all this. I'm a much better parent when I'm rested!

Kate & Tori's Big Anniversary Weekend

Sadly, I don't have any photos to post, but last weekend Tori and I left the kiddos with my parents and we spent two nights at their house in the mountains to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. There couldn't have been a finer anniversary present than TIME alone together. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for the great gift!

I love for Zadie and Skip to spend time with my parents (and not just because we get a break). Zadie loves playing outside on my parents' deck and is really well-behaved while she's there. Skip isn't super aware of his surroundings just yet, but he definitely loves all the attention my parents give him and he responds with lots of smiles and cooing. Oh, the other thing Zadie loves is that my dad lets her drive his car around in the driveway!

I've also heard that Zadie had some ice cream that weekend, which would be the first time she's ever had any. Oh, dear!

Surprise Visit From Grandma Linda

Two weeks ago we got a call from Grandma Linda telling us she was driving to Texas and had decided to take a different turn and come see us instead. She was here in a few hours and we had a great five days together.

The weather was kind of grey and cold while she was here, so we actually didn't have as active a weekend as we usually do when she visits, but of course we still fit in two bike rides. At this point, Skip really doesn't like riding in the bike trailer. He pretty much screams his head off until he starts choking and we have to pull over and stop and someone has to take him home. But we're confident once he gets a little older he'll enjoy it as much as Zadie does. If he wants to go on adventures with Grandma Linda, he better come around!

It always takes Zadie about a full day to completely warm up to Grandma Linda once she arrives, but then they go off on all kinds of fun adventures together, like to the dog park, Jamba Juice, bike rides, etc. Skip isn't quite big enough for the full Linda experience, but his time will come soon enough! In the meantime, he gives her plenty of smiles and she does reiki on his flat head.

Fudgesicle

Kim took some WONDERFUL photos of Zadie over Labor Day Weekend and I haven't posted them yet because I was trying to give equal opportunity to Skip, but it's hopeless at this point. Skip will have his day in the sun when Kim takes his photo in November.

This is my very favorite photo that Kim took. As many of you know, Zadie really hasn't ever had anything chocolate except on her first birthday when the crowd revolted after Tori tried to take away her chocolate cupcake. So she was quite enjoying this fudgesicle at my parents' house.

And this is another great shot of Zadie. This is the one we're going to put in her portfolio when she becomes a child star. Haha. You can check out some of Kim's other photography on her blog.

Away with the Grandparents

My parents picked up Skip and Zadie this past Sunday and kept them for three glorious nights. It was a really busy work at week for us, so it worked out perfectly for them to take over. We had just got Skip trained to sleep through the night, so he came through during their time with him. I really wanted both kids to be perfect little angels since my parents are actually going to babysit AGAIN next weekend when we celebrate our anniversary. And it seems the kiddos came through big time. Here is an email my dad wrote to my family:

The kids were incredibly good. This was my first extended time with Skip. Kate recently wrote on her blog that he is the best kid ever. I read this right before we picked him up Sunday. I figured this was well placed propaganda. However, I came to the same conclusion. I’ve never seen a better baby than Skip. I particularly liked the fact that he was so generous with his smiles. He would even laugh out loud at his Granddaddy’s shenanigans and tried his darndest to talk to me . Zadie is more active and kind of bossy but, GOSH, she’s sweet! I was amazed by how protective she is of Skip. She LOVES her little brother.

So thank you, Mom and Dad, for your excellent care. I tried calling a few times to see how it was going, but my parents were always so busy they didn't have time to talk!

No Standards Whatsoever

As many of you may know, Tori is an extremely clean person. Her mom has always worried that she'll be so busy cleaning that she won't take enough time to do the fun stuff (apparently Linda wishes that she had let things go a bit more and hadn't spent so much time worrying about having a clean house when she had kids). Well, Linda, this photo is to ASSURE you that you need not worry. Tori has become quite adept at dealing with mass chaos, as you can see in this photo.

I'm not nearly as neat as Tori, but I'm still pretty clean and I have to fess up and say that I really used to judge people who had kids and whose houses and cars were messy. Now I look at this photo and I am humbled. I never would have thought that our house would look like this -- of course we clean it up at the end of the day or when people come over, but there's a certain sense of surrender that I think you can detect here. In this case I am surrendering so that I can read the Sunday paper.

Can you believe this photo?! The little culprit is not even pictured, either.

Skip in D.C.

I've been feeling badly about the fact that I have many more great photos of Zadie than I do of Skip -- I don't want this blog to seem like I have more to say about Zadie than Skip. But let's face it, it's much easier to get great photos of a 20-month-old than a 3-month-old. Also, Tori didn't take any photos from her trip in D.C. (blame it on the wife!).

But today Tori's friend sent along this cute photo of Skip. And I want to take this opportunity to say that I think that Skip is really the best baby I've ever known of. I'm sure that you think I'm biased, but I don't really think I am. Zadie was good, but Skip is even better. What do I mean specifically? Well, he only cries if he is (1) hungry, (2) tired, or (3) in pain (like if Zadie drops a book on him). But all of these situations are quickly resolved. When he wants to go to sleep, I just cradle him in my arms and maybe give him a pacifier and then he's out. Tori has her own method, but either way it's really easy.

Some babies might be really easy because they have zero personality and aren't interactive. But Skip is full of smiles and loves to interact with people. It's so easy to make him smile!

The only thing dear Skip needs to work on is sleeping through the night, but I think that's right around the corner. He's been getting much better -- lately he just wakes up once around 4am and then we give him a pacifier and pat him a little and he falls back asleep until around 6am.

So, in my humble opinion, Skip is the best baby ever!