My boys love each other . . .

My boys love each other and that just makes me warm and fuzzy inside!

Tamlin loves his little brother. And Jude is certainly fascinated with his big brother. We've had lots of sweet moments between these two in the past few weeks. Here's a few examples that I can recall

1. Jude starts to fuss in his bouncer while I am in the kitchen getting dinner dolled out. I peak at the boys, and Tam is shaking one of Jude's toys in front of him and then places it on his chest. Jude is pacified :-) And Tam comes out to the kitchen to declare that he has given Jude the ring-toy and "Jude's happy now."

2. Jude is laying on his back (a rare instance) on the boppy. Tamlin comes over and exclaims "Hi, Jude" loudly and in his face. Jude gets this amazingly big grin on his face at seeing and hearing his brother. Tam responds by grinning like a maniac back. Then, they both start laughing at each other!

3. Tam is cuddled in my lap watching a movie and Jude is laying down next to me digesting his latest milk meal. Tam looks over at Jude and tells me to "move Jude, momma's lap." He wanted to share my lap with his little brother:-)

4. We are getting ready for bed (see previous post about the uncordination of this feat). Jude is laying in the center of Tam's bed while I am helping older brother get his jammies on. When Tam is done, he goes over to pick out a book for me to read him. While I begin reading, Tam decided that Jude was lonely. To help him out, he placed his favorite (and currently only) little Ironman action figurine on Jude's belly for him to play with. Jude responds with a big drooly grin.

5. Frequent announcements of "I hug Jude" or "I love Jude"

6. Here, Tam knows that Jude is too little to play with his puzzle. However, he wanted his little brother to at least see it, so he held it up for him to look at.


Alternately, Tam has been known to say "Put Jude down and come play cars" on more than one occasion :-)

Embarrassing bath photos

Nighttime in our house is still a bit chaotic. Getting the two hoodlums into bed is usually my job since Brian is often at work...and I'm still trying to find the best way of getting the 2 dudes cleaned, pottied, jammied, teeth brushed, burped, read to, sang to, and kissed before wishing them good night.

This past week, Jude has been leaning toward going down for the night as early as 6:45 (before Tam's bedtime) or as late as 7:45 (when Tam is down). If he's zonked early, it means that I have to convince Tam to stay quiet during his night-time rituals. If he's still up, I have to juggle baby lovin' while getting Tam through his night-time duties.

Some how it is working...most nights I have two sleeping boys by 8:00pm (give or take 20minutes).

Speaking of bedtime rituals, I have boys and boys get dirty, which means frequent baths. Jude has gotten a bit too round and long for the little infant tub. Because of this, we have just started bathing him in the full-size tube, with him laying on his back on a towel. Tam thinks he should be in the tub too with his baby brother. Sure, saves a bit on water and Tam helps by washing Jude's feet. Then, when Jude is done, I let Tam play a bit while I get Jude jammied. Both boys are happy with this situation so far. . . and Tam has been excellent at being careful around Jude and not splashing. Such sweeties.

kids shows - my 2 cents

Thumbs up:
Sesame Street = still awesome even after 40 years, and their website kicks butt for helping to teach letters, numbers, emotions, etc...
Sid the Science Kid = makes investigating the world cool...
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan = great learning points, cute (but not nauseating) songs, teaching Chinese (which Tam is mimicing)...
Cat in the Hat = love it / hate it. Annoying songs that stick in the head, but interesting mixture of science and fun...
Martha Speaks = talking dog is weird, but they introduce great vocabulary


Thumbs down...oh so down:
Thomas the Tank engine = mindless drivel...no one warned me that this show has absolutely NO POINT...
Barney = still can't stomach more than a minute of this lovey, crappy musical purple buffoon...
Yo Gabba Gabba= yuck, yuck, yuck...

Car Cruise

Here along our 28th St, is a car cruise held every august. This year, I had the chance to take Tamlin and Jude down to check out the old cars. I knew that Tam would be beside himself with joy at scoping out all the automobiles. I plunked Jude in the front carrier and grabbed Tam's hand as we toured around...

We first stopped at a parkinglot where the cars there were to be judged. Big mistake on my part. These folks did not want anyone coming anywhere near their cars since they were all sparkly and shiny for judging. (ok, I understand that). Additionally, no one really wanted to talk to Tam or me because we obviously weren't judges. I was done with this snobbishness within minutes, and after a quick turn around, I loaded the kids back into our (not antique) car.

However, out of the cars displayed here, Tam seemed to like the Plymouth with the rear spoiler/fin that made it look like "the King" car from the Disney Movie Cars.

Our second stop was much better. This parkinglot just held anyone's car that was being shown to the rest of the population. Here, many people stopped to talk to Tam and I; we had several great conversations with owners and mechanics. Tam loved looking the cars over and checking out all the engines... even the Volkswagens with their engines in the trunks :-) We also sat with an older gentlemen for awhile and just watched the cars touring along in front of us on 28th street. The gentlemen would ask Tam what cars he saw and then tell him what make and model they were. I could only guess at a few of them myself. Jude slept the entire time, only getting restless near noon, which was feeding time. We left with a few photos, a brochure about cars, big smiles, and lessons about old cars. Great times.

carseat results

I had Tamlin go with me to Toys-r-us to try out several of the boosters I was considering buying. I had it narrowed down to 3: the Graco Nautilus, The Evenflow Maestro, and the Evenflow Generations. All three had strengths I was looking for, including the 5-point harness, high weight limits, high safety features, and high recommendations from other moms. Differences between the three dealt with price (Graco was the highest), moveable armrests (Generations), and harness fit when a seatbelt booster seat with older kids (maestro rated best).

I got all three seats down for Tam to sit in, fully expecting him to like the Graco the best because it looked the most comfy (and highest price). But, Tam had other ideas...and liked the Maestro best.

So, I went with that one...based on the opinions of a nearly 3 year old :-)

When we got the booster, I had Tamlin try it out. He exclaimed that it "was so comfy and soft!"
He really likes his new seat!


We got the older seat re-installed in the car with the little baby insert for Jude. He seems to like it too. We are hearing less crying from him in the car...but we have only gone on short excursions so far. Jude does seem to like being able to see big brother Tam and tends to watch him quite a bit. Tam likes to exclaim to the rest of us when "Jude's awake" or "Jude's sleeping"...though this is usually done in a rather loud voice :-) Here's Jude in his new seat; he's 3.5months old.


Now Everyone is and happy again in our vehicle!

Wordless Wednesday - my boys