Swimming and a Symphony

We rode our bikes along the path by the river, to the waterfront park downtown. The youth symphony and the big people symphony were putting on a free show. We met up with some friends, shared a bit of food, and listened to some music. Then we all left early so we wouldn't have upset kids. Halen absolutely loves live music. He loves the clapping part. He gets real excited about being in a crowd of people all clapping at once.
The next day we went swimming in the neighborhood pool. We'd never been before. I'm not a big fan of sharing the pool with rowdy older kids when I've got little kids. I used to take trips to the neighborhood pool with my niece and it was always more trouble than it was worth and a little scary. The older kids aren't ever being bad or anything, just being kids in a pool, acting like they're supposed to. Anyway, we never went because I was always sure there'd be tons of kids there. It closes Labor Day, so I figured I'd give it a try, going early in the morning on a weekday. It worked out. We were the only ones there. The kids had a blast and took really great naps when we got home. Two days later I still feel like I need a nap. I guess I'll just pour another cup of joe instead.

and trois

Corrie came a few days after Melanie left. We ate lots of yummy vegan food, took a great bike ride, explored Mt. Tabor, and swam in the cold cold river on a not so sunny day. Corrie and I even went out without any boys. It's been awhile since I've done anything without any boys around. We went to the same spot Dan and I went to on our date, the Bye and Bye. It's a vegan bar and it has great food. It's all bar though, so we can only go there without kids. We had some good times, but it was a little too short. I also fell asleep at 8pm the night before she left. Oops. That's what happens when mommy goes out and stays up late one night. I gotta catch up the next couple of nights. If I hadn't done all these posts all at once, I'd have a little more insight on all the visits, but I am trying to get caught up. There, caught up.

visitor deux

Then my aunt Melanie came. Dan and I actually had a date night when she was here, the first time he and I went out together without kids in over a year! We tried not to talk too much about the kids, but they did come up. We did a great hike to Wahclella Falls. Melanie and I took a dip in the icy water. Halen was amazingly good at climbing the boulders. He's 2.5 and already rock climbing. We also rode roller coasters and got bad chiropractic adjustments from them. It was a good week for sure. Mel, you're welcome anytime! Cock and Balls donuts are always here for you.

Visitors

We have had a busy month, with visitors for close to 3 weeks straight. I'll put a few pics of each visit in their own separate post. First, we had my dad, his wife, my adopted sister Brandi, and my niece Kayla. They came up from Mississippi. We rode the scenic train, had a snowball fight on top of Mt. Hood, visited Mt. St. Helens, swam in the river, toured downtown, and hiked at Multnomah Falls. Halen loved hanging with his cousin and aunt. They were great with the kids and it was fun for me to catch up with them as well.

What Mom? No, I'm Superman.

This is how every sentence or conversation with Halen starts these days. I call him Halen and he replies with, 'What mom? No, I'm Superman.' After I remember to call him by the right name, we can continue. I got him some superman jammies and made him a cape. That's all he wants to wear now.
I've got some serious catching up to do on the blog. We've had a steady stream of visitors, with one more coming in a few days! I'll try to catch up with the blog soon, but I'm also behind on laundry and vacuuming and all that domestic stuff too, so it may be awhile.

Parents, Always Talking of Poop

And I am no exception. Friends of ours have a 10 month old who hasn't pooped in a diaper in 2 months. They started putting him on the potty at 6.5 months old. Most people poop on a fairly predictable schedule, even babies. Liam has one poop in the morning, first thing. Then another later after lunch. We used to lay in bed and play awhile before getting up. Liam would crawl to all of us, giving his wet slobbery good morning kisses and hair pullings. Apparently, this is also when he was pooping. Now I have to drag myself out of bed a few minutes before I'm ready, but the trade off is that Liam deposits his poops neatly into the toilet. I think it's worth it. Cloth diapers require scraping poop into toilet, a practice that often results in poop on the hands. You are also supposed to do this with disposables, but no one does. Human poop in landfills is really really bad for everything. Thank you Liam for doing your part to keep landfills and my hands free of poop. I salute you!