Father's Day weekend fills me up

Caitlin planned a jam packed day of fun activities for Father's Day weekend, including a Friday night at the beach and Saturday morning at the bounce house. If you didn't know, Max LOVES the bounce house. What 2 year old wouldn't? After that we headed down to the taste of Randolph street festival.


The place is crawling with food vendors from the many amazing restaurants on the few blocks west of the loop. Publican, famous for amazing meats, got my attention.


Yes sir, I will eat you.


Caitlin was attracted to De Cero's guacamole and chips...with good reason. We did both feel that maybe the guacamole was better in years past. But it is hard to compare year to year.


Something to know about the festival this year was that it was crazy hot. Like 97 and humid.


Here is proof. Max in a stroller. It is almost impossible to get Max in a stroller. It takes massive heat and a morning of bounce housing to get this kid to just sit down.


We got to the stage and tried to get Max to dance, which he loves to do. Not in this heat mama!


With a little holding he got more into it.


Sam? He was in to sleeping next to my belly. Probably from heat exhaustion.


I got me some beef belly sandwich with all the good fixings as well. Holy good in my belly this was.


Get in there right now fool sandwich!


Max had pretty much had about much festival as he could handle after an hour and a half...so we made our way back to Yari.


So coot.


Sam woke up at the tail end and I think was very happy to be free of my heat.


After sleeping so long that day, Sam was wide awake that evening. This allowed us to take some cute shots.


Like this.


And this! Saturday was awesome with only more activity goodness to come!

The Maiden Voyage

For Father's Day (on which I will report soon), Max gave me an amazing gift. When Caitlin asked him what he wanted to get me, he said a kite. So they got on Amazon and picked one out together. Today after work it was a Farley blustery day (even though it wasn't Windsday), so we decided to take that mother out for its maiden voyage. We went to the beach and prepared.


Max was insistent on flying the kite first, but he couldn't quite get it to stay up.


So together we worked on letting out string at the right times and picking up the slack at times of decreased wind. Before you knew, we had a full-fledged kite flying extravaganza going on! Father and son style!


Look how much fun we're having! hoorabies! Max was so proud and sat and held the kite for a long time, watching it dip and swerve and dive.

But, as is to be expected, he decided he would see what happens when you let go. That sent me sprinting across the beach at full speed, barely catching the line before it went into the lake. That, of course, was freakin hilarious to Max so the that is all he wanted to do. No dice homie...kite flying is going to resume another day!

Awesome gift, awesome memory. Thanks Max!

The Jammy Jungle

Don't you hate it when you get all tangled up in your pajamas while you sleep? This is how Caitlin found Max this morning - completely disheveled and lost in his shirt. It didn't stop him from enjoying some milk and rice krispees though. Nor did waking up all confused prevent him from having an amazing day that included this:



Swings!

Solid Max, solid.

Business Travel Boos

Who really likes business travel? You don't really get to see or do anything, just sit in hotels. Meanwhile, you miss this:








See ya on Sunday homies!

Kickin It At the Zoo

Don't let the last post fool you...we have ventured out with the dudes quite a few times since we have had Sam. Trips to museums, Costco, parks, the beach...and last Saturday, the ZOO!


Max was pretty amped when we asked if he wanted to go to the zoo that day. He ran and got his shoes on and chose a t-shirt...an awesome one at that. So when we showed up at a farmer's market in Lincoln Park first, he put his foot down on that. Get me to the ZOO!


Fine Max, fine. So we started walking north to the zoo. We mostly walked with a lot of swagger.


Until Max got bored of walking and joined Sam in the stroller. A friend hooked us up with a Juvi, so Max gets to ride like a playa!


Now Lincoln Park zoo is nothing special...but it is free and has just the appropriate amount of zebra butts to keep a 2 year old interested.


And a pretty darn decent monkey/gorilla house.


And one very active Sea Lion that Max watched for a good 15 minutes as he swam in circles.


Where to next Mama? Caitlin - I will punch the person who says this woman can't multitask.


We went north to Africa and saw some sizable giraffes and some pretty lethargic rhinos.


Not officially part of the zoo, but definitely one of my favorite Illinois animals, we saw this cardinal and talked about how pretty it is.


Max at this point started chasing seagulls and fells down and got his very first blood soaked boo boo. He was not happy about it and wasn't really sure what to do with blood. So, to lift his spirits, I got him a ride on the train.


Man did it work. That face is legit joy and excitement. He was literally ecstatic to be going in circles on this train. Even other parent's were watching him and not their own kid.


Hi everyone!!! Hi!!!!!


Sam found it pretty amusing as well.


Or maybe he was smirking at the flamingos. Hard to remember.


On our way out I snapped a photo of Caitlin and precious BeeBee Sam.


And the whole fam with the Chicago skyline behind us. Yep, it's where we live. Chicago is at its finest in the summer. Nothing but fun.


And beauty.


Max took a break to instruct me that his boo boo had not gotten better and he needed medicine and a band aid when we got home. Fine Max, we are on it bro.


Is it possible for Max to have a better Saturday? Hard to imagine. Plus he got to skip his nap! Man, a day doesn't get better than this.

My Guys (I'm Talkin Bout My Guys...My Guys!)

Well, Sam is 6 weeks old. He is getting cuter and less newborn every day, which means we are sleeping a bit better and getting a little more out and about. Regardless, we still spend a lot of time I doors just kickin it with Sam.


Sometimes Mr. Grumps doesn't want to go outdoors to party, so he gets to just kick it on the bed.


And stare at mama (or more likely, the light or black frame on the wall)


He doesn't cry nearly as much anymore and now you get a few 1/2 hour periods where he is pretty content just chillin.


Baths used to be a disaster, for example, but now he quite likes them. Who wouldn't want to sit in some nice warm water while someone gives you the rubdown? I know I would.


Baths are the best!


Transition to the other half of our world, which is almost always taking a bath at the same time with all his toys and drawing on the bathtub walls with dada.


Mittoo! Hey MITTOO! Stop putting the bath crayons in your mouth!!!


Oh, now you are going to hide from me? Listen mister...I know where you are.


Clean that mouth out right now young man! As you can tell, he has a harmless and almost comical naughtiness to him, which we all love and wouldn't change if we could.


The post bath ritual...watch one Disney cartoon on dada's iPad and read some books. Occasionally Sam will join.


And of course that almost always turns into crazy boy time if Max is involved. Okay, maybe I egg it on.


Mostly it's just tender times across the board with some brotherly bonding...


...some hardcore silliness...


...and all that good stuff. I have two very sweet boys.

Oh Samn!

In my last post I honored Max. Now I feel compelled to honor Sam. There isn't as much to write about him yet because Sam mostly just poops his pants, cries, sleeps, and eats milk from mama's boobies (as Nana Judes taught him to say). But in the short five weeks we have had him in our lives, here are some things I appreciate about him:


- First and foremost - he sleeps better than Max! He started sleeping at night within a few weeks and he isn't as fussy at night. He usually sleeps his 2 1/2 to 3 hours, eats, then does it again. This is awesome and essential since Caitlin has two to deal with all day.
- Sam is ripped. There is no way he has torticollis (hooray!) and he already puts weight on his legs (something Max didn't do for about 11 months)
- He smiled his first groupings of smiles this week and of course they were with Dada.
- He takes a binki and a bottle. Yippee!
- he falls asleep on his own. This means you don't have to rock him until he is completely out, but can just put him down sometimes with his eyes open and he'll fall asleep on his own. This saves my arms and back from certain death. Bonus!
- his cheeks are soft and mad kissable

Oh Sam. Keep at it and each week you are going to get better and better, love you!

A Max Quick Post

I feel compelled to write a quick post about Max. I wish there was a perfect way to capture him right now exactly the way he is so when I needed it, I could summon it up and smile my freakin brains out. He is perfection in a two year old and I love it. While I recognize that he will only get more awesome, there is something special about this age when they start to discover the whole world around them and internalize it to their naive and inexperienced minds. Everything is a funny warping of what they are seeing, what they have seen their parents do, and what they have seen in cartoons. The lines between those things blur constantly and its hilarious. Because I can't make a carbon copy of him at this age to reference forever, here is some stuff I love about Max right now.


- He doesn't have a bad bone in his body. He has toddler moments, but they never seem rooted in anger, malice or guile. And they are short.
- He knows how to use the word "love" and knows how to show love
- He is sensitive to sadness and pain, and is particularly protective of his animals and Sam. See photo above.
- When he is outside, he has to skip or run (unless he is tired from the beach)
- He likes to pretend. His obsession is monsters, dragons, giants and wolves. He finds them under rocks and in bushes, names them (things like tsotsot, nadio, and doda), puts them in his pocket, and then takes them home to give them a bath.
- He still idolizes me and his eyes/mind explode when I get home. I know that will end soon. Boo.
- He loves music, dances and sings any song he learns.
- He never wants to leave the house. Once he gets outside he never wants to come back in. He never wants to go to bed. I interpret this as a natural ability to be happy with what he has and where life places him.
- He says goodbye to people, church, the playground, museums, etc. Everything in his life has feelings and life...even buildings.
- He has nightmares or a rough patch at night and wants me to hold him and sing him songs. This is basically my favorite thing to do in the whole world. You can talk him through the nightmare (like, wolves can't get into a brick building like our house, so they can't steal his puppy dog or monkey), calm him, and then watch him fall asleep. I literally jump out of bed if I hear him cry because he is finally old enough that what I can provide is what he needs. Right now Sam needs mom, but Max is satisfied with me.