Banana breakfast

Jake Practicing his MMA

Shopping with Daddy

They thought they were getting their picture taken but it turned out to be a video.

Trying to Raise Mommy

bike+seat+trailer

Clearing the air

It was really sticky here this weekend--like stand smack dab in front of the fan or find any reason to go sit in the office with the a/c kind of sticky. Getting out of the house often seemed like the best option so various combinations of us went on bike rides, walks to the beach or congregated by the pool. Scott tried out the bike trailer for the first time, taking Jake on a tour of Kailua. I think he became a convert to the trailer's genius, stashing groceries and other errand paraphernalia behind Jake's seat while exploring the "bike trails" of the local streets.

We also got to know the neighbors a bit better on the beach, helping them throw an enormous stick for cosmo and watching him franticly pull it from the waves or dig it out from the sand.

And Saturday, after riding the bike with Finn to Safeway to get potato chips, vodka and beer, I made my new favorite burgers (pesto, onion, garlic tomato and mozzarella cheese) and probably made a number of people at the grocery store shake their heads in dismay.

Generally, it was a great weekend. We explored, made friends with local dogs, ate well and got judged.

Wanting to say hi

The most viewed picture of the last year

The way that it works for Flickr views is that you have to click on a picture for it to count as a view. If you just look at the pictures tiled on the page then it doesn't count that as a view. Most of the pictures that are on the first couple of pages on Flickr have 0, 1, or 2 views at the most. This picture above has 74 as of this post. It has moved up into the top five most viewed pictures of mine on flickr and it has been there for less then a week. There is something so cute about this picture and it seems destined to be in his slide show when he gets married.

Baby, Bottle, Blanket

A leisurely ride through Kailua

We went for a meandering bike ride this morning after breakfast and Henry and Jake were so cute in the trailer. The slow pace and cool breeze were the perfect variables for bring on sleepiness. They both feel asleep in the back, Jake with his arm on Henry's belly and Henry's arm curled around it. We tried to run in and get the camera but getting Finn off the the other bike woke them up and we missed our chance. We will be taking a camera with us on the bikes from now on because that was just too cute to explain. We got back around 9:30 and Jake has been asleep for 2 hours now after the ride. We might be on to something here!

Waking up from his afternoon nap

Hold you

Jake has been super clingy the last two days. He was much more of an explorer earlier in the week leaving the rooms and exploring where he could crawl to, which at this point is everywhere. But the last couple of days he has stayed close by and really wanted to be held the whole time. Not sure if he just had too much explore time or if he gets a little sad around his birthday but he has been getting held and cuddled a lot lately. When he is not being held he is holding on to Kate or my leg pleading his case. The great thing is he doesn't scream or cry really aggressively to get up. He just lets you know that life would be better in your arms right now and it is hard to disagree with him.

He's got teeth coming in up top

This is a terrible picture but it is the best of the 20 or so we tried to take. You can see his teeth coming up in the top, he has two to go with the couple he has down below. He has got quite a bite now.

That kid loves him some mum mums

It's like Keiki crack and he is a crackhead. He goes crazy when he see the packages and if you take to long getting it to him look out. As you can above once the sweet sweet nectar of flavored card board surfboards hits his lips he is jonesing no more.

Sleeping Keiki

Jake has been sleeping a lot better lately. In the past couple of days he has had a couple of 2 hour naps, where he is actually asleep for the whole time. He usually only will be asleep for an hour and then we play the plug and re-plug dance for another hour. It isn't restful for him or Kate. I snuck into his room and got this picture from Scott's bathroom, if I got any closer I fear I would wake him.

Beefy yogurt Nipples

Kate is pretty high and mighty about her ability to feed Jake without making a a huge mess. Scott and I are not as good and she points this out to us on a regular basis. Jake is fast and like to grab the spoon or at least smack it if your not paying complete attention. That leads to baby food on the walls and splatters all over his chair and his belly. Well today Kate was feeding the little eating monster and spilled a spoon full of baby food on Jake's belly. No big deal, it happens when your feeding a baby, but because she is so above it all and taunts Scott and I about it I couldn't let it go. "What happen there honey?" "What are you talking about, nothing happened." "Why does Jake have baby food all over his chest, he's Jake 'Beefy yogurt nipples' Cuda right now." The whole time Jake was smiling and waving his arms like crazy. I think he knew that little miss "I'm better then you are" was getting her comeuppance. He was laughing each time I called him Beefy yogurt nipples, though I think I will just shorten it to BYN.

Jake is very thoughtful

He got his auntie some flowers for taking care of him. It's amazing really how he pulled that off not even being able to walk, or talk, or read, or anything. He's a very thoughtful young man and his mommy is doing a great job of raising a gentleman already.

Couple a dudes at the gym

Bopping and riding

We went for a bike ride after I got off work to return some library books and grab a tasty coffee beverage at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. As long as we are moving Jake digs the trailer. He gets a little antsy when we stop. I think he might be an East Coast kid or something. He get impatient when nothing is happening and I picture him with a New York accent yelling at us to move it already. While Finn and I were in the library getting new books Kate pushed the babies around a bit. She stopped for a bit and to entertain Jersey boy she bopped him on the head with the yellow swimming noodle. He would crack up each time she bonked him and so she did it over and over for about 15 minutes. He couldn't get enough of being bopped by the noodle.

And some times he cries

Lest you think it all dandelions and peaches over here with the happy smiley photos and great videos of fun here is a collection of crabby baby pictures to help you get a fuller picture.

He loves that chair

Jake loves this chair and especially when Henry is in it. He crawls all over and plays with the frog on the back. Henry seems to love it too.

the end of the screaming

As James mentioned, Jake has a tendency to scream when he is unhappy (when you move him away from the kitty food dish, when you take an electrical cord out of his mouth, when you put him down and he wants to be held, etc). It seems like a natural response for an 8 1/2 month old baby who can't yet communicate with words but wants to let his displeasure be known. The problem is, we obviously don't want to encourage this as a form of communication and it makes Finn think that screaming gets you to pay attention to him as well. So we have been saying "no" in a stern voice and then when he does it again, we put him in his crib for about 1-2 minutes or until he calms down. There are obvious allowances for hunger, tiredness or physical pain that get other sorts of responses but for the most part we are trying to be consistent so that he gets the idea--when he screams, he does not get what he wants. But this method has worked a bit haltingly, partly because there are other children to deal with and also, between James, Scott and me, sometimes the reactions vary. So what do you think Mand? How would you want him to be disciplined, not just for screaming but for other behaviors yet to come up? I know we don't want him to have a bad association with his bed either but I know for Finn, his crib was the easiest, clearest way to isolate him. Any thoughts or anything you would have us do differently?

A good Weekend

After a great weekend with Daddy Jake is back to being one of three. He has been picking up a little high pitched screaming this weekend that we will work on. Daddy let a little more slide then that task mast Auntie Kate but Jake adapts well. He slept till 7:15 this morning after a bottle, one plug, and winding up of the music playing dog. He really loves that dog, he watches it move it's head and lays there listening to it. We need to figure out how to rig it to never stop playing.

He's into everthing now

$200 an hour Keiki

We played a lot in our room yesterday as Kate folded clothes and I watched a little Olympics. The boys were super amped up and Finn was all over the place. Jake has lately been into everything. He should open a business to baby proof houses. We drop him in and 20 minutes later he has shown you every thing that needs to beaddressed before you have a kid. We could make some cash off this kid.

Laundry day part two

Laundry day Part one

A cup for a Kate

After Finn, Henry, and I got back from the beach and Kate and Jake got back from Ross we met out in the back grass. We were all sitting out on a couple of towels watching Finn run around. Jake was sitting but then crawled in Kate's lap to give her a hug and Finn hugged her from the back making a nice baby sandwich. Finn wanted to be in front of Kate so he grabbed a plastic cup and tried to trade straight up for it. "Here go Jake, a cup!" Apparently the going rate for a Kate hug is a plastic cup, or it isn't, Jake said no deal and kept on hugging away.

Morning Routine

Rawkin the Hawk after a bath