Full Saturday

On Saturday we strolled down to the National Mall to see the cherry blossoms around the tidal basin and we ran into the kite festival. This happens every year. We always happen upon the kite festival on our way to the cherry blossoms. We were mad at ourselves for forgetting for the third year in a row. Ethan wished he had taken his Spiderman kite but he was more than thrilled to see everyone else's Spiderman kites.

We did make the trek down to the tidal basin but the blossoms are still very young and light. I am hoping to take the kids back later this week when the flowers become very pink and they start to snow down on you as you walk under them.

It was a chilly day and Ruby spent it tucked inside the stroller. I felt kind of bad she was missing out on all the action but she didn't seem to mind.

I kept sucking air as Ethan leaned over the railing because I would be the one jumping in after him. Ryan doesn't worry... or swim.

We rushed back home, got ready, left the kids with our friends and headed off to the Utah Jazz game at the Verizon Center. We felt naked without strollers and I made a conscious goal to not rock back and forth without a baby in my arms. But we forgot all about Ryan Jr. and little Ru once the game started. The Jazz won and we found friends to enjoy some Tangy Sweet with. Then we went home and passed out. It was a great day.

Crusty King

 

Lately we have been getting this look a lot:

 

 

 

And now I get where it comes from:

 

photos from Ryan's phone

Medium Small Large

 

 

 

We don't all exactly fit in one arm-length photo.

It was most certainly happy

Yes, Sunday was my birthday and I rang in the beginning of my latter twenties with what I believe is the most delicious chocolate cheesecake every created by man. We gave some friends a try and Ryan declared it too rich for his palette, but I alone have been chipping away at this beauty for the past two days. That would be all fine and good with me if Ryan hadn't shown me the nutrition facts. I don't know about you but I have never before experienced something with 208 percent of my daily value of saturated fat - for one slice! I had no idea that saturated fat could be so tasty.

Thanks Ryan!

Verdict: All hail the ceasar

We gave Ethan a buzz, which turned out to be more like a ceasar ;-). But he likes it and I am thinking we will cut his hair more often in the future.

Sunshine on his shoulders

The other day at the park I looked at my Ethan and thought, My kid is starting to look a little bit like John Denver circa 1984.



And this is not the first time he has born such a resemblance...



Ethan has always had a lot of hair and when it gets long enough and has just the right amount of wave it creates the illusion of an old school football helmet on his noggin. I wouldn't let it get this long but cutting Ethan's hair requires thick skin and really strong arms. It's an all out screamfest/battle and I avoid it at all costs.

So I mentioned Ethan's likeness to the 80's folk/country singer to Ryan the other day and he took swift action. He talked about how Ethan could look "just like Dad" if he could just sit still and not think about the buzzing all around his head. Pretty hard for a 3-year-old to do. So we turned on Ratatoille and Ryan went to work with the clippers. And to our surprise Ethan never even made a peep. He is still living in opposite-of-mommy-world, but I am seeing him grow up so much and I feel so lucky that he is my boy.

Coming up: Will Ethan like the new look hairstylist Ryan gave him? Stayed tuned for tomorrow's post.

Ruby Red Baby Shower

Four weeks before Ruby made her debut, my friends threw me a Ruby Red Shower! Only at the time we did not believe we had four weeks left. At that point I was already really dilated and on bed rest (for only a week) so at the last minute we decided to have the party at my place. Some gals came over the night before and decorated like crazy. You wouldn't believe the conversation between me, JB and RA at midnight after those girls blew up at least 100 balloons with their own lungs. Boy was it out there.

Truthfully, I love everyone who threw and attended this shower. Each one of those ladies is so amazing in so many ways. It was a fabulous soiree and I feel so lucky to be in such good company out here.
































Thanks Melissa Smith, for taking such great photos. Sorry if I used some that you deemed less than perfect. You are amazing!

And yes, that red pear on the couch is me.

The Rubster (pronounced Rooooobster)

This five-month-old girl makes us so happy... and exhausted. She wakes up a lot at night and she rarely naps longer than 40 minutes but that's just enough time to shower and blow-dry so I'll take it. I feel really worn out but, oddly, it's a blissful kind of tired. Don't get me wrong, it's not happy all the time here in the Roe apartment. Sometimes both kids are screaming and I scream myself, then dash to my bedroom at the end of the hall, shut and lock the door and lie on my bed for a few minutes in order to regain my sanity. And one time, instead of turning into Target on Route 1, I came THIS CLOSE to just driving south as far away as I could get. But I turned into Target, navigated the aisles, bought way too much and then went back home to tough it out.

Because honestly, I couldn't live without this girl (and my two boys too). I even love it when she cries (most of the time). Her bottom lip curls out and tears instantly appear on her cheeks and then - get this - she cries "Mama, Mama." Yeah, it's probably more like, "mamamamamama," and an accurate explanation might be that she is learning to sound out consanants but I like to think that she is already calling my name.

Ruby was pretty ornerny for her first couple of months. She is not super patient, explaining her speedy entrance into this world (I'll blog about that sometime). She would sometimes scream uncontrollably and when she did this around other people they would naturally ask what was wrong with her. We would jokingly tell them that she hates life and sometimes I really thought this was true. She still has her moments but she is so happy most of the time. Despite her short sleep cycles, she is very easy to put down. In fact, that's about all I do. I wrap her up and put her down and she goes to sleep. I almost feel like this alone makes up for any of the hard times we have had with her.

When you smile at Ruby, she scrunches her nose and her arms flail rapidly because she is just so excited and she exhibits the bodily control of the egg noodles I'm making for dinner tonight. When she talks, the sides of her tongue roll up, making for a pretty interesting dialect. She inserts everything she can grab into her mouth and spits up what seems like most of the milk she drinks. But we know that can't be the case because of her weight. She is in the 90th percentile for her weight - small compared to her older brother at that age, but gigantic compared to most of the other dainty babies surrounding us.

We love our chubby little Rubster.

Much cooler than Mousetrap

This one is for you, Al. On second thought, I'll give you a call since I am pretty sure you don't read my blog :-).

Warming up

We went to the park today and it was deserted. And for good reason. It was freezing. Ruby and I lasted through about 20 minutes of shivering but Ethan dragged his feet when I told him we had to go home. He loves going to the park.

He did not always feel this way, however. For about the first year we went to the park, Ethan would never just run to the playground equipment and climb up/slide down/dig in like the other kids. When we arrived, he would stop and his eyes would slowly creep over every person in the area. He would survey the stairs, the slides, the connecting tunnels. He would observe the kids screaming and moms and dads visiting. He would study. He would assess. Then he would take a seat beside me on the bench.

It usually took him him about a half hour to an hour before he started to play. Eventually, he would be all in, running and jumping and laughing like the other kids. But it always took some serious warming up.

He is also not an instant friend (or a cheap date, as my aunt Susan says). He is not usually the first to say hi and often shies behind me or Ryan when people acknowledge him. But if you are aound him long enough he eventually becomes the little joker that Ryan and I know and love.

He is like this in most aspects of his life. And so I knew potty training could be more than frustrating. It has taken several months of begging and crying (on both sides) to even get him to just look at that controversial mini toilet and try on those cool Mr. Incredible underpants but slowly Ethan worked up the courage to do it. I think the promise of Girl Scout Cookies finally helped him along and once he realized he knew how to use that potty, it just clicked. We are not completely through the process but it is finally working.

It just took a lot of warming up.

All by myself

I hear the term "all by myself" several times each day. When Ethan pulls his underpants up. When he climbs on the birthday bike that is much too tall for him (should have given it to him next year). When he puts his shoes on.

His recent surge of independence has rubbed off on me a little bit.


During the crazy snowstorms (or at the least the ones we had power in) I became determined to sew a skirt. I bought the pattern a long time ago and I think I have just been too chicken to try it. The pattern is not advanced, rather I am such a novice. In fact, I had never made any item of clothing without the physical help of someone else before until I made this skirt. That's right. I did it ALL BY MYSELF.


Well, OK, so I researched on the Internet and called my mom about a few things. And, in true Megan fashion, I ignored both of my mother's pointers and now I am kicking myself for being so lazy and vain.


The first piece of advice my mother had was to wash my fabric before I cut it out. I know what you are thinking and I really did know that washing the fabric was the first step before my mum told me. It's just that I wanted to start THAT NIGHT and I had put off laundering the fabric the night before since I had already plopped down on the couch with the remote in my hand after throwing the kids in bed and I was pooped and that laundry room is TWO DOORS DOWN! So I told her the skirt wouldn't get dirty because I would only wear it to church. You know how this story ends: Ruby thinks it is funny to throw up all over everything and she saves her nastiest smelling, white curdled stuff for things that are labeled DRY CLEAN ONLY.


Anyway, my mom's second admonishion was to make the skirt in a size 12. I saw the measurements on the pattern and knew that I wouldn't be able to fit in a size 6, but surely I wouldn't be a size 12. That sizing chart must be ancient, I thought. So I made a 10. And now I worry every time I sit down in the thing that it will rip since it feels a little too tight. Oh well. I wore it to church anyway and advised people to keep their distance. If you look too closely at the zipper or front tabs you can tell it is my first abm skirt (note the absense of any close up photos. Too bad since the buttons are these fabulous bronze flowers).



It was a lot of fun to make and I think it turned out pretty cute.

In other news, I thought this was awesome. Thanks for the enjoyment, siblings.

Harvey Faircloth Spring/Summer Collection

I met this gal, Katie Hatch, a while back at a party thrown in her honor by my friend Mauri (who should start a blog this minute). Katie mentioned that she was starting a clothing line called Harvey Faircloth. I checked it out online after the party and thought it was pretty cool.

And then I saw the new collection on a blog yesterday and I completely adore the playful shapes, the vibrant pattern on this dress and those colorful sunglasses. Too bad I can't afford any of it :-(.

I think I am seeing green. What color would you wear?

First birthday party on his third birthday

Last year at around this time, my friend Catherine and I laughed about how neither of us had thrown our boys a birthday party yet. They had both just turned 2 (2 days apart) then and we had yet to invite people outside of our families to celebrate. So we decided that when they turned 3, we would throw a crazy birthday party together. We planned this bash for early February, sent e-mail invitations out and then got working on a serious superhero birthday party. And then came Snowmaggedon (snowstorms are such a novelty out here that they receive names), so we rescheduled the party. And then Snowverkill hit (more on both of these blizzards later). We realized that the church parking lot was covered in several feet of snow and were asked to reschedule again. So, two weeks after our initial party date, Andrew and Ethan finally got a birthday party.

Ethan

Andrew

We made capes for all of the kids. They then decorated the capes with sticky felt. They wore themselves out in the gym.

My fabulous friend Lindi took these photos:

Thanks to Catherine (for doing basically everything), Lindi (for being there when we needed you and taking awesome photos), Jason B. (for letting us hold this at the church), Rachel (for holding everyone's babies) and everyone else who helped out with this party!