V is for Visit

Finally! Finally James and Virginia are old enough to play together without us anywhere near them! Emily and Virginia came for a visit last weekend and this new friend feature is THE BEST. Emily and I actually held a conversation where we looked each other in the eye. THE BEST. James spent most of the weekend inviting Virginia to go upstairs to his room or downstairs to the playroom and Virginia spent her weekend....

...worrying about Molly. 

Here, she had pulled the ottoman across the room for the express purpose of watching Molly. Sleep. Watching Molly sleep. Too sweet. James, of course, thought that this kind of care and concern for Molly was absurd.

...and flirting with James. I think I will be posting this photo until they are in college.

...she didn't even mind when her momma doted on Molly and told her how beautiful and amazing she was. I doubt she could help herself.... she's pretty great (Emily AND Molly). ; )

The only reason I don't have more photos is because Emily and I spent most of our time chasing after James and Virginia frantically screaming, "do you have to pee?" I am happy to report that is was an accident-free weekend.

Thanks for a great visit V&E! Come back soon! 

And Now a Word From Our Sponsor....

...and a public apology. I am sure Brian can attest to the fact that those (apologies) are few and far between so bookmark this page and read it over and over people!

Here is our sponsor, Susannah: 

generous loaner of swings, clothes, jumpers and endless advice on dealing with life with two under three. I love her so much that I am choosing to showcase her here with her new sassy haircut.

So, before I had James, several people told me to get a swing. "My kids loved the swing!" they said. "That swing really helps them sleep," they said. But I wasn't having anything to do with it. "I don't want him to get used to the swing or he'll never sleep anywhere else," I said. I mean, I was adamant. 

So self-righteous. 

So empowered. 

So DUMB. 

James was a terrible sleeper and we spent SO much time rocking him to sleep that by the time he fell asleep, he would wake right up ready to eat and so it went for months and months.

Flash forward 2 1/2 years and Molly enters the scene. I immediately realize that I need a place to put her where James won't step on her and if she falls asleep, then BONUS. I am at a playdate at Susannah's house and she casually says, "oh, I have one of those side to side swings. Do you want to borrow it?" I had that thing in the trunk of my car before she even finished the sentence. Took it home, assembled it in five minutes flat and threw in my baby. MAGIC. She fell asleep instantly.

Now Molly LIVES in the Fisher Price Nature Sounds swing or "The Magic Swing" as we refer to it. She and I love this swing so much that I carted it to South Carolina with me and I wasn't even embarrassed to do it. This weekend, you can find me carrying this swing through the streets of New York City as I never leave home without it.

This is, in fact, the EXACT same swing that my friend, Heather Bridges tried to force upon me before I had James - "it will save your life!" she said. So, apology #1 to you Heather. I am also  positive that Brian's parents would have bought us this exact swing if I just would have listened to his mom's advice and put one on our registry, so apology #2 to you Eileen. And finally, apology #3 to you James. Think how different your first year would have been if I just had the MAGIC swing.....

KC & Missy - Spring Visit

Brian's cousin, KC and his girlfriend Missy came for a visit last weekend. No, I don't mean this weekend, LAST weekend. I am about seven days behind, people, seven days! Anyhoo, they arrived LATE in the night on Friday or maybe it was EARLY in the morning on Saturday after driving 5+ hours from NYC. As I may have mentioned previously, James is still greeting us in the morning around 5:30-6am (no, we cannot break him of this and yes, we've tried). KC woke up at 7 and at approximately 7:04am, he was doing this:

I am pretty sure that KC refers to this weekend as a "working weekend" since that's what James had him doing for 48 hours straight. We took them on the patented "Coyne Old Town Tour" (and by "patented", I mean we try to recall factual information about buildings and locations, but mostly we just tell our own versions) and James did not let KC out of his sight the entire time.

KC carried him... A LOT...

taught him how to use the rope hill at the playground...

and gave him 50 cents so he could buy his first ever lemonade stand lemonade. Here he is apparently mulling over the menu options of lemonade, lemonade or lemonade:

He decides on lemonade (huh!) and pays the sweet girl:

and guess what she gives him?!

James & Missy fed the ducks with THIS bread:

and then we went home for what I'm sure KC thought would be a break....

Nope, we have another kid!

KC doing double-duty:

Dinner on the back patio. Look at big boy James eating with the big kids at the big table!

DAY TWO: 

What Old Town visit would be complete without at least SOME public transportation? 

The trolley with Missy:

and Uncle Kevin:

Molly took her usual tour... of her eyelids

and James led us all back home.

and then KC & Missy went home.

Boo.

Hiss.

Aaaaaaah!

Molly can sleep through anything. She naps in the living room while James runs past her 100 miles an hour screaming, squealing, making sound effects for airplanes and trucks, all at the top of his lungs. And still, she sleeps.

James has never been a sound sleeper like Molly. Always easy to wake. Their rooms share a common staircase so we've been nervous to put them to bed at the same time. Well, thanks to our traumatic (for me) trip to the zoo. We worry no longer!

Here's video of James in his car seat with Molly about 1 foot away from him. We are in the car, in yet another line of traffic, just waiting to get OUT of the zoo and Molly is HUNGRY.

Heeeeeey...

I mean, really. Couldn't you just eat her up?! I am soaking up all these "I love Mommy" moments because I know it's all going to go downhill around age 12.....

Rookie Mistakes

James and I met up with his school friend, Jackson and his mom at the National Zoo last Friday. Allow me to set the scene by saying that the potty training WAS going quite well. Without going into too much detail, James was doing all of the things he was supposed to, etc. He was doing SO well that he wore big boy underwear to school on Thursday, but I was at the school to ask him our new mantra... "do you have to pee?" Seriously, we say it about every 30 seconds. So often that James said to me on Wednesday, "Mommy! You keep saying that!"

So great was our boy doing that, on Friday, I made ROOKIE MISTAKE #1. I put him in underwear to drive to the zoo. I did not count on him saying "I have to pee!" while we were stuck in "traffic" waiting to get to a parking space in the zoo. Bumper to bumper, no- end-in-sight traffic. The kind of line that you can't get out of. It went a little something like this:

"I have to pee!"

"I have to pee!"

"I peed."

Which brings us to ROOKIE MISTAKE #2.

I park the car and take him to the back to change him. I then realize that, although I brought 3 extra pair of underwear (good mommy), I failed to bring any extra pants (bad mommy).

Luckily, Hanes now makes toddler-sized boxer briefs which I (thankfully) brought. So, on goes the pull-up with boxer briefs on top. Like shorts. Little gray underwear shorts. Poor kid. It looked like this:

That's Jackson, in a full-length pair of pants with a diaper. He has a good mommy.

I will not go into detail about ROOKIE MISTAKE #3 which involved a pull-up change in a muggy public bathroom with no less than 1,000 people waiting for the change table.

Not completely unrelated.... when we signed up to be "Friends of the National Zoo" (FONZIES we call ourselves), we signed up for the family category. Brian thought that it would be a good idea to sign up as Stephanie and James since that's who would be using the benefits the most. BUT, here's what our mail looks like:

Friday Photo Show... On Sunday

Sorry for the delay in posting... uh, did I mention that we're potty training??

Molly 10 weeks

Happy...

and healthy.. check out those legs!

Getting stronger....

Molly 11 weeks

Cute girl outfits...

but it's really all about the shoes, right? Thanks Oma!

Loves her mommy....

and her daddy...

but definitely undecided about her brother....

Pirates and Soldiers

Tonight at dinner....

James: Daddy, you are a pirate and a soldier.

Daddy: Well, I am not a pirate - pirates steal things and that's naughty.

James: Why do pirates steal things?

Insert 20-minute conversation about pirates and stealing here.... (and no, I do not let him watch the news).

James: Do you steal things to put on your plane?

ooooooohhhh. right.

"PILOT and a soldier."

of course.

Happy Birthday Uncle Kevin!

As Air Force gypsies, we don't usually get to live near family. None of the bases that house Brian's plane are anywhere near our family members so being here in VA with Uncle Kevin has been awesome. It's been great for James to spend some time with family on a more consistent basis and the free babysitting just can't be beat!

James just loves commanding Uncle Kevin's attention. This is him whisking Kevin off into a corner for some serious convo during our Pitt Mews party earlier this month.

Last week we got to celebrate Uncle Kevin's birthday together. 

Molly wore her party outfit and looked lovingly into Kevin's eyes.... 

yup, another one wrapped around the finger.

James "helped" decorate the cake and open ALL of Uncle Kevin's gifts...

I have no idea where the very southern "happy birthday to yeeeeew" came from.

Happy Birthday Uncle Kevin!

Easter 2009: AKA "I Hatched It A Little"

Easter 2009: dying eggs, easter baskets, and potty training. A perfect combination.

Not really. It's a little tough to get a toddler to sit on a potty while he's all amped up on jellybeans, but whatever.

 

Slippery little suckers...

The loot. Please note that Molly has received her first (and only) pony at the age of 10 weeks.

Past the Thomas train, past the moon sand, past the kite and STRAIGHT to the jellybeans.

THE EGG HUNT

Sorry about this end shot (pun intended) - as I mentioned, we (and I mean WE) are potty training so pardon the Mickey Mouse underwear....

Translation for the end of this video: James drops the egg and it cracks and he says, "oops, I hatched it a little."

Birds Of A Feather...

Pitt Mews Party

Last weekend, Brian and I threw a "welcome to spring" party in the Mews. We invited all of our neighbors and a few friends from the area. Even though it was a party of full-grown adults and was held at the very mature time of 3pm, we partied like it was 1999. 

By that, I mean that in 1999, Brian and I were 25 - all the parties we went to usually involved at least one injury, broken furniture, and a trip to the hospital. (I am exaggerating here, Mom!) BUT, as I was saying....

So the party started at 3pm and by 4pm, a woman burned her finger (on a fondue pot), a man fell out of (and broke) a chair (he was sporting a cast on half of his leg), and by the end of the night, a dog was taken to the doggie ER for not only eating chocolate, but for eating chocolate-covered espresso beans. YIKES. (She (the dog) had her stomach pumped and is fine.)

getting set up in the mews...

These are our neighbors Mike & Jane. So nice, so friendly and so.... TALL.

I am so short that I don't even think they knew I was there....

Good friends Dawn & Lisa...

Friday Foot Show

Molly finds her feet.... and then tries to eat them. 

We had Molly's 2 month "well baby" appt on Wednesday:

11lbs, 4oz and solid as a rock.

MISSING

Our son.....

We found this kid:

but this one is missing:

Last weekend, Neighbor Pat (retired Navy Admiral) shamed us into getting James' hair cut. He even went with us to the barber (Miss Kim) and got his hair cut too. 

Haircut: $15

Wacthing Neighbor Pat act like a "superhero" in the barber's cape: priceless.