Lazy Morning

Baron actually settles down now for more than 30 seconds and seems to enjoy it. In fact I think he might have stayed in bed with his dad for a full 5 minutes!

Making Room

The weeks seem to be flying by and we are trying to prepare for baby Harper. Our guest room/office is being turned into her nursery so we did a huge purge and decided to have a yardsale. The sun was shining and we had a pretty decent crowd on Friday. Grandma and Grandpa Weber were here to help - and good thing because Baron was busy! He loved being outside all day and waving to every stranger that came into our driveway. He ran between the tables and thankfully didn't pull much off of the tables. When he needed a break he would sit down with Grandpa and have some sort of snack (animal cookies, cheese, diet coke...haha - the kid seriously didn't stop eating all day!)

In true "Weber yardsale" tradition Grandpa Weber purchased donuts for all of us on Saturday. That was our highlight of Saturday because it rained a little and we didn't have near as many shoppers so we closed up by 11am and decided to enjoy the day as a family instead.

Pumpkin Spice

My house smelled like I had been baking pumpkin pies all morning. The only problem is that I hadn't even turned the oven on! Baron managed to get into my spice drawer, open the pumpkin spice, dump it all over the floor and play in it all while I was making him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with my back to him. I really can't turn my back for a single minute these days. Nate always asks Baron if he is related to the cartoon character Dora the Explorer because he doesn't stop exploring for a single waking moment.

First Peep

Baron enjoyed(??) his first Easter Peep today (in the shape of a Veggie Tale). The first time he touched it he had no idea it was supposed to be a treat that you eat. In my opinion that means these things were never meant to hit our digestive tracts.

Back to the Beach

We had another vacation this weekend to Seaside, Oregon. Grandma and Grandpa Weber were staying there for a week so we joined them for the weekend. Although it is a quick drive from our house, Nate and I had not been there since early in my pregnancy with Baron. The first day was cold, windy and wet! Despite the weather Baron still wanted to be outside on the sand. He liked the sand because it was hard enough for him to walk on.
The second day was beautiful! The sun was shining and the weather was warm enough for Baron to go without a coat. We took his sand toys out and he got to work right away.

Later we played on the swings.

Baron's highlight of the trip was when we rented a bike built for 4 (+ little ones) and he rode in the front ringing a bell and waving to strangers while the rest of us pedaled down the streets of Seaside. We stopped for ice cream. Baron had a spoon to take multiple bites of all of our ice cream cones.

It was such a fun weekend - I just wish it could have been longer...maybe next time!

Spring

Most of the time Baron has this happy little smile on his face. His smile grows into a gigantic grin whenever we are outside! Spring it teasing him because the weather has been typical which means one day we'll have rain and the next it will be dry (well no rain, but everything is still soggy). He could care less if it is wet or not - he just wants to be outside! I couldn't leave this picture out. Baron was multi-tasking by helping me vacuum and taking his suitcase for a walk.

Both of these pictures were taken on the day he turned 15 months. WOW - time is just flying by.

Travel Bug

Now that we are home, Baron keeps packing his adorable carry-on bag and wheeling it around our house. Do you think he has the travel bug?

More Maui Fun

I have to admit that after Easter we started to slack on picture taking, but sometimes it is nice just to enjoy the moment instead of thinking "I need to grab the camera."

This was Baron's first day on the beach. He was overwhelmed to say the least. Walking in the sand was tricky, the waves were loud and the sun was hot. He still enjoyed it, but just for a short amount of time with mommy and daddy.

Baron loved the pool. It brought back many memories of our swimming lessons we took last summer. He still loves to splash the water into his face!

Baron and Aunt Alyson shared a Push-Up. One of Baron's favorite things to do on the beach was eat a cold treat!

Look at that messy face!

I think that Nate and I had more fun with Baron's sand toys then he did! I often found myself playing with them even if Baron wasn't.

Along with the beach, we went hiking and to the pineapple farm.

I couldn't leave this picture out. I am still amazed that Nate and I have a blue-eyed child. Baron thought he was such a big boy when he was sitting in the beach chair all by himself.

Grandma Lynn and Baron waiting for Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was good, but Baron liked the Hawaiian Ice that we had for dessert even better!

We had such a good vacation. It was relaxing and Maui is always beautiful. Baron had a great time, but I think he was ready to be home and back in his own bed at the end of the week.

Happy Easter!

Easter morning in Maui - what a beautiful day! This was my favorite part of the entire vacation. Baron came out of his room and found his Easter basket filled with sand toys and bubbles!
Shortly after we headed out to the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua for an Easter egg hunt. Nate was armed with the camera and I had the video camera. I was feeling emotional as I watched Baron celebrate his second Easter. I had no idea how pregnant I was looking until I saw this picture!

While we waited for the "egg hunt" (it should be called an egg grab because the eggs were not hidden) to start, Baron ran around with about 100 other kids on a big open grass area. His hair looks oily in the pictures, but that is only because I was paranoid about his head burning.

We decided to have him practice by picking up leaves. Ha! Practice....ha-ha....I really don't even know if you can prepare a child for the chaos.

Aunt Alyson volunteered to be the guide during the egg hunt. Here they are putting their "game faces" on.

Okay - I guess Baron was just yawning, but we thought he was getting serious about the big hunt.

The hunt started and Baron ran out with the other kids. He went about 5 feet away from us and sat down. Alyson had to do alot of encouraging to get him to put 3 eggs in in his basket. Other children managed to get the eggs he was sitting on.

This is my favorite part of the video, but you can see the excitement in his eyes when he came to show us his treasures.

He was very pleased with his 3 eggs and enjoyed playing with them. Isn't his Easter basket/truck cute? Thanks Aunt Carly and Uncle Tyler.

Nate jumped in to help him open his eggs. Even the Ritz-Carlton fills their eggs with items from Oriental Trading Company!

The hunt was over and Baron was done playing with the prizes and he took off to run with the kids. Unfortunately we weren't able to get a family picture because by the time we attempted Baron had hit his limit and we had to rush back to our condo for a nap.

Goodbye Rain, Hello Sunshine!

We booked our vacation when Baron was about 3 months old. He was small and would fall asleep in our arms and cuddle at that age. So we decided he did not need his own seat for a 6 hour flight to Maui. Well alot can change in 12 months! Despite his energy level, ability to run, toddler-like attitude and my belly/his sister invading his space - we did pretty well on the flight. I think we owe his Aunt Alyson a HUGE thank-you because he fell in love with her all over again and she entertained him most of the flight. It was also nice to have his Grandma and Grandpa on the flight. Grandma packed a goodie bag of entertainment and snacks for him so that helped alot too! He did not sleep at all and had a couple of melt downs, but overall did much better than I had anticipated! He is a pretty easy going kid.
Cheese and his Aunt Alyson - Baron's two favorite things!
Playing with a puppet and a Grandma.

Cuddle time with Grandma.

Curling up with a good book

Baron seems to go through phases of enjoying certain activities. This is the longest phase we have ever gone through. Lately, all he wants to do is grab a book and sit in one of our laps to read it. He has about 5 favorite books and those are the only ones he'll read. Usually we don't even read the entire book. I think it is more about finding the book, coming over to us and jumping in our laps (or patting the couch or floor to tell us to sit down) and then opening and closing the book. In fact, in the second picture I can tell he is saying "ALL DONE" as he slams the book shut. I love this phase and perhaps he senses that which is why it is lasting so long. Baron has never been much for cuddling, so this is great!

There are so many stories I wish I had taken the time to sit down and write, but I will just do a quick list of silly things he has done lately:

• Baron discovered "Oldies" music while in a grocery store. He danced the entire time we shopped and now an oldies station is the regular in our car.
• I learned that the saying "babies know twice as much as you think they know" is true because Baron knows that empty boxes (whether the box was emptied by him or not) go in the recycling pile. He'll do this with any box now - even if it is supposed to be holding his blocks or my dishwasher detergent.
• Baron has learned to do leg squats ever since I started going to our Stroller Strides class. Next time you see him - ask him if he has done his squats for the day. He'll do them with enthusiasm. I wish I had that kind of energy!

The days are flying by which means our 2nd baby is growing like crazy! I was told by the moms at our playgroup yesterday that there is no question whether or not I am pregnant. Yippee! I was tired of feeling wide. I am not sure if I posted this earlier, but Baron is going to have a little SISTER! We are very excited, but I must say I was completely shocked. I just had it in my head that I was a mom to boys. I guess we still have about a 10% chance it is a boy. The ultrasound techs would only give us a 90%-99% chance that it was a girl. She was very modest in her ultrasound (ankles crossed or umbilical cord placed appropriately) so no one will give us the 100%. We have decided to name her Harper Florence Holstein. Harper is a name I have loved for years and it has grown on Nate. Florence is after my mom, my grandma's middle name and Nathan's grandma's first name. She is a mover and a kicker. Nate was able to feel her on St. Patricks Day which was much earlier in the pregnancy than he felt Baron. I started feeling her at 14 weeks! Crazy, but I think that things are different the second time around.

Trying to keep up...

I have had a terrible cold for the past two weeks so I feel like I am behind...with everything! I don't know what my excuse is for the other three weeks that I have not been blogging. We are taking less pictures than we used to, but I believe that is because my target moves very quickly and I am trying to keep up with him! So let's just do a quick review of the past month:

At 13 months, Baron decided he was done crawling. One weekend morning I was on the phone with my mom and Baron picked up his toy phone and started walking around our downstairs while dramatically talking on his phone. That was the moment he graduated from taking a few steps to walking. He is very proud of himself! Ta-dah!!!

His love for food continues. Lately the food of choice is anything with blueberries in it. Including smoothies. He might be surprised to discover that half of this smoothie is actually made of spinach. I am not afraid to fool my child into eating more veggies! However, he does have his fair share of junk food....notice the Pop Tart in his hand in this photo. We have had very nice weather off and on this month so we are practicing walking in his cute Keen shoes that showed up on our doorstep from a very special person (who I am not allowed to name) in preparation for a vacation we will be taking soon!

The Easter Bunny made an early delivery to our house and left the LARGEST egg I have ever seen! Baron has turned this into his new helmet. He puts it on his head and talks/yells. He likes the echo. Speaking of talking - he is talking up a storm, but I have no idea what he is saying 95% of the time. His grandparents (both sets) have always been better at inturpeting what he is saying. Good thing we will be seeing both sets in April so they can help me understand!

More to come...Baron is awake now and I just realized that I have not even mentioned our 2nd child (who is growing everyday and kicking me as we speak!).

Sunshine and Ducks!

We have had BEAUTIFUL weather for the past few days and it is supposed to remain nice until Tuesday. Today we decided to check out a park we had never been to before. Actually - we didn't even know it was here until Sara and Todd told us about it. It was such a nice park and we walked around for a while. Baron was very relaxed in the fresh air!
After our walk, we went down to the waterfront. There were a bunch of families fishing off the shore and many more out in the water in their boats. We woke Baron up (he usually doesn't nap in the morning) and then Nate set Baron up on a rock so we could take his picture. Baron thought it was a slide and kept leaning forward to go down it!

In Nate's baby book it says that one of his favorite things to do as a child was to feed the ducks. We didn't have any food with us, but I think Nate really enjoyed showing Baron the ducks. Baron wasn't so sure when one of them decided to get really close.

Judging from Nate's continuous smile all day - I think we can write in his adult book that one of his favorite things is hanging out with the ducks and his son.

It was such a wonderful family day. I wish everyday could be a sunny Sunday!