Oh Happy Day

And now, a pause in our regular programming... for one post in real time.

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny, Seattle spring day.  Spring arrived in an instant last weekend, right on cue, and I am so happy it is here.  Even if spring in Seattle means we will have sunshine one day and rain the next four.  The trees are starting to bloom, the air has a spring feeling to it, and the promise of summer sunshine is palpable.  Yesterday the boys and I enjoyed an impromptu trip to a new park before Charlie's speech pathology appointment.  It was so warm that we didn't need jackets!  I love being able to just run outside without much planning.  Also, Andy has been able to come home from work early the last two days, and daylight savings has helped us all be able to go outside after dinner and watch Charlie improve his stability on his two wheeled bike.

Last week Charlie casually mentioned to me that he would like to read.  It has been months since he has shown interest... and since he's just a preschooler I haven't put any pressure on him.  I have several early readers in the house, so I pulled one out and gave it to him.  Just then, Ephram fell down and hit his head so I told Charlie that I'd be right back to read it to him.  I've always learned that you read the story to the child once so that they have an idea of what it is about, and then they try to read it.  At the very least, I was planning to flip through the pages and look at the pictures with him.  But, as I was returning, I heard Charlie start "Rat Naps.  A tan hat.  A tan hat sat.  A tan hat sat on a rat..."  And on and on.  He only needed help with one word - lands.  Now, Charlie used to recognize about 50 sight words, but the ability to put together phonetic sounds always alluded him.  (Not surprising considering he was 3/4 years old.)  In an instant, it seems that he learned how to read.  We've read two more readers now, and Charlie is reading signs and cereal boxes at every opportunity.  I suspect that his newfound success is related to work that we've been doing on his sensory processing, and I couldn't be more pleased with him.

My little one, Ephram, is not a sleeper.  Has never been.  Yes, I've blogged about this on more than one occasion.  I just can't find a way to convey how much I miss sleep.  Continuous sleep cannot be replaced by a string of naps.  And if the only sleep you are getting comes in one or two hour spurts, you feel like all you ever do is nap.  I have not been able to sleep for longer than a three hour stretch since about a month before he was born.  That's sixteen months, people.  Most of the time I have been catching only one hour at a time.  So imagine my shock when he decided to sleep from 8pm until 5:50am last night.  That's almost 10 hours!!!  My little man has never slept longer than 4 hours at a time in his entire life.  (Yes, I woke up at 3am in a panic and checked to make sure he was breathing.)  In an instant, my miracle baby seems to have figured out how to sleep through the night... really, truly, all the way through the night.  Maybe last night was an anomaly, but even if it is, he's done it once and he will be able to do it again.  Ephram has so many traits, more adding every day, that take away his baby-ness and push him into more of a toddler.  Sometimes it makes me sad... but I don't think I'll ever be sad for both of us getting some uninterrupted sleep!

We have been so very busy lately.  Sometimes I feel like nothing is going right.  And then one day I realize that several things have instantly improved.  I am so grateful for these things that come to us effortlessly... they make it easier to wade through the complexities of life!

Happy Birthday Ephram!

Ephram's first birthday party was held on New Year's Day... it was a great way to ring in the New Year!  Because we were still in California, he had a lot of extended family there.  My parents, my older sister's family and my little sister were there... and my brother and grandma came up from the San Diego area as well.  We had stayed the night at my grandma's after our New Year's Eve festivities, so we drove up earlier in the day and set-up the house for the party.  We even had a little high chair kit to dress up Ephram's seat since he isn't quite big enough to sit at the table yet!  (Although I have a feeling that day will be here all too quickly...)

Once everyone arrived we dug into some yummy pizza.  It was Ephram's first time having pizza.  He really enjoyed it, and I think that the crazy bread was his favorite part.

Cousins Quinlan and Braxton both seemed happy to be eating pizza.  Either that, or they are really used to having their pictures taken and can smile on demand.

Despite appearances, Charlie enjoyed the pizza too.  It was the most he had eaten in a couple of days.  Well, the most non-candy food he had eaten in a couple of days.  He, unlike the cousins, was not appreciative of the lens pointing in his direction.

This was around the time that Ephram started hamming for the camera.  I love that he smiles when he sees me pick it up...  doesn't he look so cute?  He was so excited to eat the food that all the big people were eating.

And cousin Evin was super excited to have another Dr. Pepper.  I'm assuming he brought it up from his visit with Uncle Jordan.

We had a hard time getting Eprham to keep his little hat on for a picture, he was much more interested in playing with it then wearing it.  Here he is soooo close to yanking it off!

Once dinner was over we prepared to open presents.  Ephram was excited when he saw the pile... he had a lot of opportunity to open presents in one week!

His cousin Dustin gave him a little toy camera.  Ephram was pretty excited about it.  So was Dustin - he had fun showing Ephram how it worked.  Three months later, Ephram still pulls this new toy out regularly!

Cousin Quinlan made him a special card.  Actually, she made him three.  She's pretty artistic!

Even though he'd had tons of practice, he was still very neat about his present opening.  I am guessing it will be a different story next year.

Ephram also had a present for all of his cousins - glow bracelets.  Dustin was really excited about his!

After a little bit of playing it was time for cake.  We had one for the family and one just for Ephram.

We all sang Happy Birthday... and Ephram cried through the entire song.  He wasn't ready to sit in his chair I guess.  So, yes, I made everyone sing the song again.  Originally, I wasn't going to recount the story of the two birthday songs... but it's a part of his birthday, so I figure it belongs here.  I really just wanted one "happy" video to document his first birthday song!  

By the time we recorded this video Ephram had already watched some cousins start to eat their cake.  This made him much more interested in it... and is likely why he tolerated the experience better.  My favorite parts about this video are when he tries to put his finger in the fire from the candle, and then when he sticks his finger in the frosting as though he is ready to start.

And then we took out the candle, gave him the cake and let him eat it as he wished.  At first he was very delicate, picking up some yellow frosting with one hand, some blue with the other.

And then he started taking little licks of the frosting he'd picked up.

I'm pretty sure he liked it because he started reaching into the cake further, and actually started to get little bits of cake too.

Yeah... he likes cake.  He also likes painting with frosting fingers.

This is what the cake looked like when he was all done!

I got him cleaned up and the kids enjoyed some more playtime before bed.  What a great first birthday for my growing boy!

New Year's Eve 2010

The next holiday came quickly... too quickly for me!  I spent New Year's Eve 2009 in the hospital... giving birth by c-section to Ephram at 8:45am.  It was absolutely the best, and longest, NYE of my life.  I don't think any other will ever top it.  However, we pretty much skipped the normal NYE festivities last year.  (Although we did watch quite a bit of the Twilight Zone Marathon from our hospital room.)

This year I had so many mixed emotions as we woke up on NYE morning.  My baby was 1.  In fact, not a baby any longer... now a toddler.  And I wanted to enjoy the holiday too.  I wanted all of my boys to enjoy the holiday and get some cousin time in...  so we headed to Legoland to celebrate.  Legoland has a cool tradition of dropping their own "brick" (mirroring the ball in Times Square) earlier in the evening so that the kids are still awake.  We had decided to have Ephram's first birthday party the next day, so that we wouldn't be cramming too many things in at once.

Charlie was very excited to be back at Legoland.  All of the boys posed for a quick picture near the entrance.

And then we were off to the first ride.  We chose a ride that Ephram could go on first; after all, it was his birthday.  Irony?  He fell asleep before we could get onto the boats.  Still, we enjoyed the ride and I think the rocking waters may have helped him get in a good nap.

Then we headed to the ride Charlie had been looking forward to...  They have cars that the kids can drive.  The cool thing is that they are free-driving, no tracks!  Last time we were at Legoland, Charlie didn't have the best driving skills.  This time I was impressed!  The next time we are there he will have graduated to the older-kid cars.

And, I also have a short video of his driving skills too...  he was having a lot of fun weaving back and forth.

After awhile we made our way to the Pick-a-Brick station.  We love getting rare lego parts.  Andy and Charlie picked out some good bricks to add to our collection.

And Ephram had a lot of fun telling them which bricks they should pick.  (Of course he was wide awake now that his first amusement park ride was over!)

Soon it was time for us to start waiting for the show to begin.  We went and found the cousins, and had a good time holding spots for the show.  I think running around with Quinlan may have been Charlie's favorite part of the day!

They also have goody bags for the kids every year.  This year the goody bags included some hats and glasses... among other things that I can't recall.  I guess I should catch up on my blogging so that three months of memory loss don't get in my way!

Before we knew it, the crowd was counting down... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2....1!  And then the fireworks show began.  It was an impressive show!  It even held Ephram's attention for awhile.  (He had been having a hard time for the hour before the show started.)  And yes, we were all bundled up... it was actually very cold that night!

Then the show was over, and we'd already celebrated the New Year... all before 9pm.  We headed back to my Grandma's house to celebrate the real deal.  Charlie and Ephram both fell asleep before midnight, but Ephram woke up just in time for us to celebrate the real arrival of the New Year.  Unfortunately, he wasn't too happy at the rude awakening.

It was a very nice New Year's Eve.  And I hope Ephram comes to enjoy the fact that his birthday lands on a holiday where you get to stay up partying until midnight... I love the fact that each time we usher in a New Year we will also be ushering in his next one.

Ephram's First Steps

Ephram took his first "real" steps on December 23rd.  The first time he went to California, he learned to crawl.  The second time he learned to walk...

What's going to happen next time?

California Park Play

Charlie was so excited to go back to the park by my parent's house this Christmas.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature sent some pretty severe rains and a huge sinkhole opened up right in front of the park... it was closed for our entire visit.  Luckily there is a park right by Grandpa Kovar's house that worked just fine.  We visited it several times during our stay this year.

They have two play structures at the park - one for big kids, and one for toddlers.  Charlie enjoyed both of them.  Since Ephram was newly walking, we let him explore the toddler playground too...  I didn't get any pictures of it though, because I still had to help him a lot!

The park overlooks the valley - I've always loved some of the views in Riverside...  especially in the winter when smog doesn't block your view entirely.

There are also two sets of swings.  One day Charlie enjoyed being pushed by Grandpa, while Andy pushed Ephram in the toddler swings.

There's a nice grassy lawn where we saw trees that weren't completely bare - as all the trees by our home in Washington were.  Charlie had so much fun running around and throwing those leaves!

And Ephram had fun watching him, mimicking from the stroller.

We also saw some beautiful sunsets while we were there... this is one that graced the sky as we were finishing up at the park one night.  We decided to take a walk to enjoy it.

We all had fun spending time outside.  Now, if only it hadn't have been so cold for most of our visit... oh well!

Boyce Family Fun

Of course, we also spent ample time with my family while we were in California.  Here are some pictures from the time we spent at the boys' Grandma and Grandpa Boyce's house.

Ephram and Charlie both love spending time with Grandpa Boyce.  My dad was especially good at getting Ephram to go to sleep on some nights that I was struggling.  He also let Ephram play with his iPod.  Ephram impressed us all by figuring out how to use it on the first try with a few finger swipes.  Of course, now I can't keep him away from mine!  He also enjoyed getting to ride around on Grandpa's shoulders.

One of the best parts for the boys was all the time that they got to spend with their cousins.  The night that the Harris' arrived, we came home to find all of the cousins camped out in front of the tree.  Who wouldn't like to sleep in front of a beautifully lit tree with a pile of presents in front of it?

We always celebrate Quinlan's birthday when we were there, as it is just a couple of days after Christmas.  This year we enjoyed tacos and cupcakes.  Dustin was especially happy to enjoy a cupcake in his sisters' honor!  After cake and presents, the kids had fun running around with party blowers.  They were a big hit to all of the kids, regardless of age!

We had a lot of fun with our Boyce family... hopefully it won't be long before we can see them again!