Jacks 2nd Birthday

So we finally celebrated Jacks 2nd birthday on Saturday at Kate Sessions park. We had a little bbq and pinate with family. Jack had a blast playing on the slide and swings and chasing his cousins. The weather was nice, a little windy, but we still had a really good time. I can't believe he is 2, it seems like I was just getting everything ready for his 1st birthday. He is wearing his first Padres hat that he got on Father's Day. He is super good about wearing it, I think he looks pretty cute in it too.

Summer fun part 1

Even though I have been off for 8 weeks I wasn't able to do as much as I wanted. I was feeling better from the c-section but I still had to be careful with what I did and how active I was. Not to mention I still had to do some things at school. Now that school is out and I am done with parent conferences summer is officially here.
We went to Palm Springs for a couple of days with my cousin Rissa. She just graduated from UCSD and needed a little R&R. I don't know if going to Palm Springs with 2 kids gave her that, but it was nice to get away from everything in San Diego. We played in the pool, ate and did a little shopping at the outlets. While we tried to stay quiet so she could sleep in we did a little scootering outside before it was to hot and picked up coffee.
For Father's Day we went to the Padre game. Our first game this season. We have decided we no longer need to buy seats, we just need to bring a big blanket. The grass area they have for families is great, plus a fun little playground to keep the kids entertained. We will be taking advantage of the park at the park for sure this summer.
We will keep you updated with all of our summer fun.
Here are pictures from Palm Springs, the beach and the Padre game.

Family pictures

A couple weeks ago we had our first family photo session. We went to Coronado to a little park that was right across the street from the beach. Jack was a bit of a handful that day but the pictures came out great anyways. Out photographer was great with him as you can see from some of the shots she was able to get his cute little facial expressions. You can also see really how red Addisons hair is, just like her momma. Take a look!

http://photographybyalison.com/clientsite/rader/

So much going on!

Things have been crazy for the Rader household. Getting used to having two has been an adjustment. The biggest thing is everything takes a lot longer to do. I think I have left the house by 8am once, maybe twice. Usually I leave to go anywhere by 11. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. I don't know what I'm going to do when it's time to go back to work. Thank goodness that's not for another couple of months.

So since I last wrote many things have happened. One of the more exciting things to happen is Jack turned 2! We went to Sea World for the afternoon and played in the kids area and visited all of Jacks favorite mammals. We kept it simple and are having his "construction and tractors" themed birthday party next week. I needed a little time to get things together and recover from the baby before throwing a party. I don't know if I have shared that Jack loves Elmo. He will watch his Elmo dvd's over and over and anything he sees that is red, is Elmo. I thought for sure he would love to see Elmo at Sea World and take a picture with him. As soon as he saw him he was so excited, as soon as we started walking towards him he started to panic. His grip on my arm started to get tighter and tighter. So we ended up not getting a picture with Elmo, maybe next time.

We are starting to work on the whole potty training thing. For Jack to go to school with me in the fall he needs to be potty trained. He has an Elmo potty that he loves to sit on and now when he has to go he says "Elmo, Elmo." It took me awhile to catch on that that was what he was talking about. I thought he just meant he wanted to watch Elmo on tv. We've got a lot of work to do to get there, but at least he's interested. It's going to be harder for me to remember to take him to the bathroom all the time.

Addison is growing so quickly. I cant believe she is going to be 8 weeks old this week. She is growing so big and really filling in. I would hope so with the amount of eating she does. I think I am the only one that eats more then her in this house. In the past couple of days she has been trying to roll over. She arches her back and tries to kick her leg over. She loves ceiling fans just like her brother. She's not picky, they can be moving or still and she will be focused on them for the longest time. She likes to talk to us and her little bees that go around on her swing. She smiles at you when you talk to her and it is the most beautiful little smile. I can't wait to hear her giggle. I know I have a couple weeks till that happens, but I can't wait. Addie is the best sleeper, I don't know how I got so lucky. Sleep is very crucial for me to have and to be able to function. I will put her down between 8:30 or 9;30 and she will fall asleep on her own and sleep till 3:30 to 5:30. After a quick feeding she is back to sleep for a couple more hours. Now I just need to get little Jack to sleep as good as she does.

Jack is a fish! I can't believe how comfortable he is in the pool. He loves to jump off the step and swim to me. I have to be very careful and keep my eyes on him the whole time b/c he will do it whenever he feels like it. We have been going to the pool the past couple weekends and I would think he would be exhausted after swimming and kicking and being in the sun for hours but he's not. I of course am more tired then he is. We went to the beach for the first time this summer. It wasn't to hot, it was perfect, minus the flies. Going to the beach with children is a whole different experience. Not only do you need to bring more towels, have endless snacks for the kids and you, sand toys b/c you cant go to the beach and not build a sandcastle, umbrella, chairs, but now that there is a baby you have to have a protected place for the baby to go while you are entertaining the toddler. I wish I had this when Jack was a baby. It's a little tent that has 50+sun protection, shade and a removable screen to keep bugs out. Addison did great in it and slept most of the time while we were there.

Jack is still doing really well as a big brother. He is still really protective of her. He wants to play with her so bad. He doesn't understand that she isn't old enough to catch his big plastic ball when he throws it at her face (thank goodness it's plastic and doesn't hurt) or that she can't play with his trash truck even when he puts it on top of her while in her swing (that kind of hurts). He wants to give her the paci when she starts to cry. For the most part he is pretty gentle when he sticks it in her mouth. He just doesn't get that she doesn't always want it when she cries. Some days he is a little parrot and will repeat everything you say. Those are the days you really have to be careful with what you say.

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing in the past couple of weeks.