Greetings from South America

They blog has been quiet the last week since I have been on a longer than usual business trip.

But here is what you all really need to know - Lisa is an amazing supermom. While I am down here in Bogota, she has been holding down the fort, housebound becuase of two sick kids. She must have the patience of a saint and incredible resilience.

I love you, Lisa - i'll be home soon.

Here are a couple quick shots of the boys that i haven't had a chance to post....

Evan's Third Month

Wow, the blog has been pretty quiet lately. That means that our lives certainly haven't been. Pictures have been taken, edits have been made but without a magic elf in the house, these posts don't write themselves :) I've got tons to catch everyone up on, and i will soon enough, but today is just a quick note as Evan turns 3 months old. He sleeps through the night pretty regularly and has no problem spending time in his various carriers while we chase his brother around. Definitely an adaptable kid. We're trying to work in more tummy time but he seems happier on his back where he can kick and squirm.

Here are a few shots of how he is growing. Oddly enough, Ryan was almost completely bald at this age where Evan still has most of the hair he was born with....

Indoor Alternatives III - Play with your brother

When all else fails, and there's nowhere else to go, you can stay home and play with your brother. With Evan learning to laugh and smile, he is even more interesting to Ryan. He loves that his antics get a reaction from his little bro.

First, a little game of peekaboo..

Then a quick lesson on toys...





And finally, some quality hugs and pictures...

Indoor Alternatives - the inflatable version

When the mall is too far and you don't mind spending a few bucks, there are some other great indoor options for the little guy. The newest one out here is Jump-N-Jimmy's - a bunch of moon bounces on an astroturf floor in a warehouse. Throw in free coffee, wifi and TV for the parents and it works out pretty well...

Indoor Alternatives

Between finding time to download the pictures off the camera and a business trip out west, I am pretty far behind on posting - two weeks as a matter of fact. So let's rewind to Valentine's weekend. It can get difficult to keep a toddler entertained when it is cold, snowing, and/or too snow covered to do anything outside.

Step one was the play area at Tyson's Corner. Clearly we were not the only parents to come up with such a brilliant idea as the place was mobbed. Ryan darted among all the other kids (as we tried to keep him from pushing his way through) managed to burn off some energy.

Occasionally he would stop to take a little break and survey the scene.



After we finished there, him and I took a few laps around the food court in the train. I have to say, this was a big deal for me as he actually chose me over his mommy to ride with. Opportunities like that a few and far between.





In part two of this series, we will explore the world of indoor bounce houses....

Evan is Two Months Old

Scary fact - since Evan's birth, we have received roughly the equivalent of an inch of snow for every day he's been with us. I don't know what he brought with him, but it has been once heck of a winter.

Evan is an awesome baby. In the past week has started to sleep through the night. He is making all sorts of fun baby noises and smiles tons. Evan is also really focusing on what is around him - especially his brother. Lisa swears he has a special cry to let her know when Ryan is pestering him :)

I didn't have much time to shoot him today but here are a couple of him asleep after dinner...check out those chubby cheeks...

He still has quite a bit of hair although some of it has fallen out. The blue eyes are still hanging in there too so I am keeping my fingers crossed...





Even from a couple weeks ago, you can tell how much hair he used to have - and how much chunkier he is getting...



As the second child, he is also quite adaptable. He gets to come along on Ryan's adventures so he has become quite comfortable being worn...




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We will get his official stats tomorrow when he goes in for his two month checkup. All in all, he is a really happy baby. Once we get over the spitting up phase we will be in even better shape!

We Got Some Snow

In case you hadn't heard, we got a little bit of snow here in Virginia last week. According to the official Bristow Snow meter, this is how much we got...

The streets in our subdivision definitely we not designed to account for this much snow. Between the plow and the shoveling most of these piles are at least my height.









It wasn't until a few days after the storm subsided that we were able to take Ryan out. He came down with a really bad chest cold as the weather rolled in. Simply getting the boys ready to play outside is a production itself. Ryan was intrigued by his snowpants whereas Evan was slightly less enthusiastic about his cold weather gear...





Once we got outside, Ryan was pretty amazed at how deep the snow was and was none too happy when he sank in up to his chest. Weighing in at a whopping ten pounds, Igor didn't fall at all.





He settled on to a nice high mound where he could engage in his two favorite snow past times - eating it, and throwing it.