Jacob goes to the aquarium and the new Blacktip Reef exhibit

Jacob has had a lot of firsts in his short little life that have gone undocumented, including his first (and second and third and...) time swimming, and he's experiencing these firsts far sooner than Hannah ever did, which I guess is just what happens with the second kid. They have older siblings who are swimming and running around the aquarium so they've got to buck up and keep up.

Some weekend ago (2 maybe?? I can't keep track of the days, I just know I'm behind), we took the family downtown to the aquarium to check out the new Blacktip Reef exhibit. It was newly opened then and since the animals have to be introduced slowly, we didn't get to see the sharks, but we were happy to watch Calypso, our favorite three-legged sea turtle, and marvel at all the amazing coral. According to the link I provided, above the sharks were introduced today so it looks like it's time for another visit!

I put Jacob in the carrier to trek him around the aquarium for the first time, and Hannah carried her Pinky Pie doll in the baby doll carrier we bought her when Jacob was born (her big sister present). I'm glad she did because I've been itching to get a pic of the two of us together with our babies tucked into our baby carriers. (I've also been meaning to share a picture of Jacob's mullet/rat tail/fur patch--mission accomplished.)

The new exhibit is really pretty. They replaced some of the cement walls with glass so that shorter viewers don't need to be lifted up to see what's going on. They also built all this coral around the hole that leads down to the viewing windows beneath, and each window has different coral and therefore a different view from the window before. We studied each and hung out there for a long time. They also have computers set up down there that tell you about all the animals you're looking at. Hannah and I had fun playing with that for a while. The pictures Eric took from that view are all a bit blurry so you'll just have to take my word on how nice it is because I can't prove it.

Hannah wanted to see the dolphins next so we hiked over to the amphitheater and caught the tail end of one show and then sat down to finish lunch and wait for the next show.

It was too long of a wait though so we abandoned ship and headed to the jelly fish exhibit, but there was a huge line of people waiting to get in there so we flattened a penny in the machine and printed a picture of dolphin on it and then left and came home. That's the nice thing about being members--you can go just to say hello to Calypso, stare at some reef, and get souvenir penny and not be upset that it was too crowded (or that you were too tired) to do anything else.

No trip to the aquarium is complete without stopping to run around Pierce Park. I want Eric to build us one of these tunnels someday when we have a yard...so fun.

Super Dad!

Like I said in a previous post, having to carry around this big baby is prohibiting me from carrying around the big camera, so this summer will go down in history as the least documented summer in Hannah's life. Luckily, technology puts camera phones in the hands of the masses, so moments like the ones below aren't totally lost, they just aren't as preserved quite as nicely as they would be on the other camera.

These pictures span the last month, maybe more. I snap them randomly and then forget about them...I call them the super dad collection.

Eric and Hannah skateboarding down Chestnut Street in Hampden.

Eric and Hannah cruise down the hill kiddie style.

A few weeks ago Eric took three kids under the age of 5 to the pool and not one of them drowned on his watch. I think this is a pretty amazing feat and worthy of the title "super dad". When I arrived with Jacob, all three kids were hanging off Eric, and he was spinning them around like some sort of Hercules. I kept trying to get a shot of that, but the phone camera stalled and got the after shot when all three were already back in the water.

Last week at the farmer's market Eric filled his backpack with veggies and a melon, filled two grocery bags with more veggies, and then hoisted a 36-pound human and her smoothie onto his shoulders.  I believe this is the pictorial definition of a pack mule. (And no, I wasn't just skipping along while Eric carried everything; I carried Jacob, which at 16 pounds, is no small task in itself.)

This summer has been packed full of quality daddy daughter time, most of which is going unrecorded. Hopefully her memory is in full working order!

Hannah gets an archery lesson and other pics from the family reunion

In addition to the obvious highlight of seeing much-loved family members who I pretty much only see once a year, my favorite part of this year's reunion was watching Hannah shoot a real bow and arrow with my Uncle Donny. I went totally mamarazzi and snapped a thousand pictures (which you'll have to scroll a bit to see because I'm far too OCD to post them out of order even though I'm okay with talking about them out of order). I'm thinking we need to visit my Aunt Pam and Uncle Donny more often so Hannah can add "skilled archer" to her list of talents.

She's also working on adding "skilled photographer" to that list. My aunt Pam gave Hannah and Clay their very own cameras upon arrival, and Hannah set out immediately to document the day for me. She stopped documenting after about 15 minutes, but she got some fun shots in that time period. Check 'em out:

Ta dah!! Aunt Pam was Hannah's first subject.

I'll have to teach her how to avoid cleavage shots...or Grammy will have to learn to not bend over like that in the future.

Daddy-ohhh!

Clay's smiling eyes.

Her beloved ponies, a present from Grammy.

Alrighty then! Our budding photographer has taken a few fun pics since this day, but I'll have to post those separately since this post promises to be large and in charge already.

Grammy and Aunt Pam always have bags goodies for the kids to keep them busy. Butterfly nets were in the loot stash this year.

Hannah sprawled out inside with a crocheted coaster balanced on her head to beat the heat. I love the pose. I feel like this could be a painting.

Some random shots of Hannah running wild in the wide open grass, which further motivates us to find a house that has at least some grass...

And now we come to the point in the day where Hannah gets her first archery lesson, the highlight of my day.

 

Clay's turn!

 

I'm going to be lazy and say very little about the next few pics, after all, there isn't much to say beyond "here are some pictures of people I love doing stuff."

Here's the part where I share/save for posterity some pictures that other people took. My Uncle Wes snapped this first one of Jacob laughing at my Aunt Pam.

Photo courtesy of Uncle Wes

I stole the rest of these pics from my cousin, Kim.

As usual the kids have monopolized the blog and my entire memory of the reunion, which makes sense given their monopoly on the universe as I know it. I suppose that's included in the definition of a mother, along with "one whose hair smells like baby vomit" and "schlepper of more gear than can fit in the bed of a truck." It's not a terribly glamorous role, but then again, I'm not a terribly glamorous person, and let's face it, when it comes to the universe, kids are right up there with trees and stars on a level of coolness (with mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and all other vampire-ish bugs being on the opposite end of that spectrum).

Little big baby is no longer a newborn

Jacob turned 3 months yesterday, which means we are officially parents to an infant, not a newborn. His insane growth seems to have slowed down as is obvious by the fact that he was coincidentally wearing the same onesie he was wearing when he turned 2 months. That's a relief! I emptied out his drawers and replaced them with clothes from the next size up three times in his first 3 weeks.

He is such a happy baby. I mean, he screams his butt off in the car the vast majority of the time, but for the most part, if he's not strapped into a car seat and all his needs are met (and now that his reflux is settling down), he's pretty laid back. And he's super social. He will talk and talk and giggle like crazy. His giggling is so infectious that I spend a great deal of time instigating more of it.

Work has been crazy, but I'm hoping to catch up on the blog this weekend....wish me luck!

Hannah's Bad: hamming it up at the spring dance recital

Hannah's spring dance recital was the same day as HonFest so after a little rest, I slicked her hair into a bun, packed her costume, shoes, and snack into her backpack, and let Grammy walk her to the church around the corner where her school holds their performances. Eric followed shortly after, and Amy and I were right behind him after a trip to the grocery store to grab some last minute flowers.

The theme was light and dark so each class did two dances, one to something very saccharine and one to something with a little more edge (in some cases, a little too much edge...). Hannah's class danced ballet to Twinkle, Twinkle wearing the tutu she's pictured in below, and then in the second act they traded their tutus for jazz pants and their ballet slippers for tap shoes and danced to Michael Jackson's Bad. It. Was. Awesome. Hands down one of the most entertaining performances I have ever seen, and yeah, yeah, I know, I'm partial, but seriously, it was so cute. I can't wait for the video so I can try to clip out her scene and upload it everywhere.

The best part was at the very end when each class comes out one at a time to take a bow. Hannah aced this part. She bowed by tucking her chin to her chest and rolling her spine down a little rather than by folding at the hips, and she did it over and over and over again. She kept bowing and smiling this huge smile long after the rest of her class had stopped, and she kept it up even as the next class was filing out in front of her class. Then she poked her head between the shoulders of the girls who ended up in front of her and continued to bow! We were cracking up laughing. How did she get to be such a ham??

There's no flash allowed during the performance and although the stage is very well lit, all the pictures that Eric took during the performance are blurry. We hung around after the show and managed to talk Hannah into putting on her tutu again and posing on the stage for a few shots. She wasn't thrilled about it as you can tell from the forced smile, but she humored us.

Since Eric was manning the camera, I took advantage of the opportunity to be in a picture--the first picture of me and both kids! 

Eric declined his chance to be in a pic, so did my mom, and Amy tried to as well, but I managed to talk her into it.

We're taking the summer off but my guess is that she'll want to start dancing again in the fall, and I'm in favor of it because in addition to the obvious reason of wanting her to be happy and do the things she enjoys, I think that getting comfortable in front of a crowd at such a young age is a great experience and a huge confidence booster. Anyway we just inherited some leotards and tights so that'll cut down on our initial costs! All we'll have to do is stalk the consignment shops for new tap shoes and ballet slippers.....