Easter Sunday

Our Easter Sunday was pretty mellow.  It was pouring rain and freezing so sadly we didn't get to have any easter egg hunts outside in the spring sunshine.    We made Duke a jelly bean trail to his Easter Basket and he loved following it and finding his treats (a tradition from my childhood).  We made a few fake trails with stuffed bunnies at the end to throw him off so he had an armful of bunnies by the time he found his real basket.

He also ate his way through the jelly bean trail and for a boy who has had about 5 M&M's in his whole life (he never gets candy) the sugar went straight to his brain and he turned into a crazy person.  We went out to breakfast which was kind of a disaster (due to sugar craze).  Lesson learned on the candy.

He loves looking at this picture.  He picks it up all the time and says "mommy and daddy!".  There's an easter egg under there :)

Playing with is new gears toy after the post sugar craze nap.

Love,

Chels

Colorado

Duke and I spent some time in Colorado at Grammy & Pop Pop's house in early March.

The weather was crazy and we were playing in the snow one day and at the park in t-shirts a couple of days later.  Duke loved the snow ~

He got a teeny Duke sized hot chocolate when he came inside ~

We spent a day at the aquarium ~

And had a few trips to the park ~

Duke's favorite part of the trip was exploring the huge construction machines building new houses on my parent's street (we went on Sunday when there wasn't any work going on).  He is OBSESSED with construction trucks and knows all of their names.  Excavator is his favorite ~

Love,

Chels

Morning

Duke waving to Daddy and saying "miss you" as he leaves for work in the morning.  He has started doing this every morning and it's equal parts cute and sad.  But the excitement when he comes home at night makes up for it :)  This boy can't get enough of his Daddy lately.

Love,

Chels

I Blinked, And He Was 2

At the end of January our little baby boy turned 2.  He is growing and changing right before our eyes and it is the most amazing thing to watch.  Some days I just want to freeze time and keep him at this sweet stage forever.  I'm sure I say that at every stage.

Duke Bear is his nickname right now (among many others).  He gives me and dada about a thousand hugs and kisses a day.  He really, really loves animals,  especially elephants and tickling giraffes necks.  He also loves trucks and construction machines and pretty much any mode of transportation.  He is transfixed by music and loves to watch youtube videos of bands playing live.  Anything with string instruments holds his attention.  He loves his toy drums and guitar and violin.  He recently discovered Mickey and Diego.  

At night during our hours long bedtime ritual he makes me ask each animal to lay down and go night night after he makes the sound....Duke: Meeeeoooow.  Me: Lay down kitty.  Duke (stands up again): Hisssssssss.  Me: Time to close your eyes snake.  Duke (gets up and jumps on bed): Parrroooooooo  Me: Lay heady on pillow elephant.  And on and on and on until he finally settles down and asks for his seahorse and soft blanket and 50 hugs and a drink of water.

He is a little smarty.  He knows the whole alphabet and counts to 20 (but always leaves out 15).  He knows his shapes and colors and can spell his name.  He loves reading books and doing puzzles and roughhousing with daddy.  He likes to "climb high" and be "super tall" and touch anything and everything.  

He really loves strawberries, cheese, and "banana gas" thanks to his new favorite book Monkey Truck.  He is OBSESSED with water.  Drinking it, swimming in it, touching it and pouring in on the floor.  A true aquarius.   

He has perpetual bed head that we can not tame.  When he gets up from his nap all sleepy and warm and sweaty and calls me from the top of the stairs he always looks at me and rubs his eyes and says "did you have a good nap" since that is what I have always asked him.  

Between the hours of 8pm and 6am it is mama only and any help from daddy will just not do.  He has yet to sleep through the night and prefers to sleep with every inch of his body touching mine.  One of these days I will get to stretch out again but it's ok, i'll sacrifice sleep for all I can get out of this sweet baby boy.  He is still nursing and weaning is proving to be difficult.  

He has been on around 23 or so round trip flights, i've lost count.  We got him a passport recently and plan to use it this spring.

We celebrated his 2nd birthday with a visit from Grammy, a trip to the children's museum, a teepee, a jumpolene (that he refused to get in), trucks and some homemade funfetti cupcakes from scratch.

We love this little boy more than any love we have ever known.  Ritch and I look at each other often and just say "he's the best".

We love you Duke Bear.

I think he had a fun birthday :)

Love,

Chels