Intensity Face

Before we get to the title of this post, I need to do some catching up on the past couple of weeks.  First off, we had a very fun Halloween around here.  The twins got to go to a school party, go to a Halloween party at taekwondo, and then hit the streets for trick-or-treating.  They managed to get a haul, but since one twin doesn't even like candy (except to sort, trade, and play with) we gave a vast majority of it away.  Not before I secured a handful of Reese's peanut butter cups for myself ...

Here's a pic of the crew.  Iver was 'dressed' as a pumpkin, but A & J really stole the show with their wizard and robot costumes:

(Despite his expression in this photo, Iver thought it was great that his brother and sister were in costume.  He knew exactly who they were under there.)

This brings me to the unrelated, but worth noting, phenomenon with Iver that we call "Intensity Face."  What is this, you may ask?  Well, it's something that started happening a couple of weeks ago primarily at the breakfast table.  We'd all be sitting there and occasionally Iver would do this thing where he'd open his mouth and shake his head a little while looking at all of us.  Then he'd start laughing.  Then we'd start laughing.  Now, it's at the point where he'll do this to us to get us to laugh.  Or, if we want to make him laugh, we do it first and then he'll do his own version and then start laughing.  It's hard to describe and this video isn't the finest example, but it gives a little glimpse into how Iver's personality is developing at this stage (that is, being a complete ham at times).  Take a look: http://youtu.be/4oqbq4WYchI and http://youtu.be/-f9dtl6Hs3c

Iverese

There's been a lot going on with us these days -- between school, work, pregnancy, owning two houses (and trying to organize work being done on one while contemplating selling the other within a handful of months) -- we're basically at maximum capacity around here.

That said, I'm trying to document what I can.  Right now, Iver is in the midst of "talking" all of the time.  I call this "Iverese" because it is uniquely his language.  He'll talk like this when you're changing his diaper, when he's going to bed, when he's in high chair -- basically all of the time.  It's hard to capture it on video because he wants to touch my phone as soon as I take it out and point it at him.  That said, this little clip (http://youtu.be/cctBbArlKXM) will hopefully give a glimpse at our budding linguist.

My Parent-of-the-Year Moment

If you take a look at this picture, you'll see how sarcastic I was being with the title of this post.  This was definitely not my finest day as a parent.

KLC and I went to an appliance showroom to finalize our decisions of a refrigerator, dishwasher, range, etc for the new kitchen.  We were trying to do this relatively quickly since our architect needed the exact specs to put into the design, and we're anxious to get moving on this so we can get going with a contractor.  Iver was being a good sport about the whole thing about looking at lots of stainless steel things that were not toys, but then got fidgety.  I decided to let him move around on their carpet for a little ...

This is where I should have noticed that they had samples for granite countertops about a foot off of the ground.  This is also where I should have noticed that the samples were not attached to the wall.  Needless to say, Iver motored over to the closest one and pulled it off.  Even though I was about a foot and a half away, I wasn't quick enough to stop what felt like happened in slow motion.

The piece of jagged granite (yes, it wasn't even a smooth piece of rock) fell toward his eye.  We were so extremely lucky that it just grazed the area outside of the eye and didn't touch the eye ball.  KLC were able to get him into his doctor's office right away to confirm that everything was OK.  I'm still having bad daydreams imagining what could have happened.  The good news is that Iver seems totally fine after the experience while KLC and I are the ones apparently more traumatized.

(PS If you come to visit and see Iver wearing a ski helmet and goggles 24/7, you'll know why.)

A Fall of Firsts

In the past week or so, we've had a lot of "firsts" around here.  To begin with, the twins had their first day of school, entering first grade (see KLC's blog for pics: http://hootnhowl.blogspot.com/2013/09/first-graders.html). On her post, you'll also notice that we also had the first visit from the Tooth Fairy to the family, whose going rate is $1 a tooth, by the way.

And, just this past weekend, we got to celebrate Iver's first birthday.  It's hard to imagine that it has been a full year since the little pumpkin came into our lives.  I managed not to get any good pics from the party where Iver got his first taste of cake and ice cream, but I think we'll be able to find something decent to post from the day.

Up next?  Our first double mortgage!  OK, that's not really the news.  Our next big thing is that we're closing on a new house next week.  It's not too far from where we live now, but it's slightly bigger and on a quiet street.  It's a mid-century modern house in great condition.  KLC and I got to meet the owner and his daughter accidentally when we went to look at the house (it's a long story but basically we thought there was an open house, but there wasn't.)

After looking at many houses over the past several months, there was something about this one that just clicked for us.  The owner has been there for the past 50 years -- yes, you read that right -- and it is a truly loved family home.  (As an example of how meticulous they kept the house, the dishwasher from 1972 in the kitchen still works.  I'm happy any time I can be introduced to a working appliance that is older than me.)

Alas, the dishwasher and the rest of the kitchen need some updating, obviously, so we will be embarking on our first renovation.  Unlike other handier members of my family, we won't be doing any of the work ourselves.  Rather we have hired an architect and will be getting a general contractor to do everything we can afford want done before we move in.  So even though we will close on the house in just a few days, we'll be staying in our current one probably through January and then putting this one up on the market.  The housing market in our part of the Seattle has been really good lately for sellers, so we're knocking on wood that this keeps up through the spring!

On The Move

Well, it's happened.  We can no longer take our eyes off the pumpkin because he is officially mobile.  He's been flipping over to his hands and knees from a seated position for quite some time, but he never seemed to want to go anywhere after that.  No more.  The little guy has figured out that he can basically gets wherever he wants to go.  Leave him on the floor before bath?  He heads to the front door (see pic).  If you want to see him in his full moving glory, take a look at the video on You Tube ...  http://youtu.be/L4gfEHH91HY

RV Trip!

About a week and a half after we returned from Massachusetts, we set off for our next adventure of the summer: a road trip to the Oregon Coast in a rental RV.  The main impetus for going to the Oregon Coast was that KLC's mom wanted to have some of her ashes scattered along a particular stretch of beach where they would often vacation as a family when KLC was younger.

Of course, we wanted to honor her wishes, and we decided to do it in a way that we thought she would approve.  Rather than just drive straight there and rent a house or hotel, we chose to rent an RV in Portland and then drive to three different campgrounds along the coast before ending up in Lincoln City where we would meet other family for the scattering.

It was our first (and probably last) time renting an RV.  Especially a 30-ft one.  Somehow we managed to avoid hitting anything or anyone while driving this enormous house on wheels.  We were also able to give the twins a taste of 'real' (aka, tent) camping by using the new tent that my parents got the twins for their birthday last month. Along the way, we went to a maritime museum in Astoria (see the pic of J in the Coast Guard survival ship), explored a shipwreck, visited the Tilamook Cheese factory, and saw some spectacular scenery.

The morning we scattered her mom's ashes, it was clear and blue -- not a given on the Oregon Coast at any time of the year.  There are a group of seals that sun themselves across the bay on a spit of sand at this particular spot.  One of them was bobbing around in the water not far from where we gathered.  I got the feeling it was Ruth giving a wave to say hello and glad we could make it.

Vacation in MA

Last week, we traveled back to Massachusetts to visit with family and friends.  Our goal is to get back East every summer, but with pregnancies and very small babies, this is a little tricky.  Since we didn't make it last summer, we were very excited to get there this year.

There were lots of cousins and new friends to play with and so the twins had a blast.  Iver was his happy self and was thrilled to be held by so many new people.  We (meaning KLC) took a ton of photos on the trip, which hopefully we'll get organized and uploaded soon.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share a couple that I took with my iPhone, which is probably the right vehicle for my photo-taking ability (which is not very high).

Note to self: consider buying the extra seat once the babies get to be about, say, 10+ months old.  Iver was a trooper with the flights, but he's just a little too big to sit on our laps for 6 hours.  And, unlike the twins, we can't give him a video or books to entertain him.  The good news is that he was entranced with the airplane safety card.  I think that kid knows more about how to exit a plane than anyone!