Christmas came and went as fast as it could. Evan seemed to understand what was going on – he knew Santa was coming, knew Santa brought presents, and kept a look out for Christmas trees in every house we went by. Sophie seemed to go along for the ride. Her language skills are progressing quickly and is able to say “christmas tree” (though it sounds like “mis twee”) Max is still a really good baby. Happy to watch everything going on around him – until he gets hungry and cries just enough to let us know he is ready to eat. Max still eats every three hours during the day, and for most of December every 3-4 hours at night.
Christmas morning was great. We did learn one important lesson that we will carry with us into next year. “Don’t let Santa put candy canes – (or any treats) in the kids stockings”. Evan and Sophie went into the living room, saw the candy canes in the stockings, and for the next hour just wanted to eat candy cane while looking around at the unwrapped presents. We only finished opening about 1/2 the presents on Christmas, so we still have a few more left for this weekend.
Evan loved picking out the Christmas tree this year.
Daddyo, Max, Matthew, and Sophie look for the perfect tree.
Matthew and Evan at Christmas tree lot
Daddya, Evan, and Sophie check out thier first candy canes
Evan gets his first taste of a candy cane - they remained his favorite food through Christmas day. (Despite the fact he only had 2. 1 on this day and 1 on Christmas day)
Evan and Sophie reay to go outside on a rainy December day.
Evan and Sophie (with colds) in thier new house that was a gift from Nanny and Poppy
About 3 weeks ago we evolved into Daddy’a’ and Daddy’o’. We had been using Daddy for both of us since Evan was born. Up until 2 months ago, it worked fine. If Evan said “Daddy” and got the wrong one, he would just say “no – other Daddy”. We knew Evan was starting to struggle to differentiate when once in a while he would refer to Daddy JP as “JP”. We had also noticed that over time, Evan used the word “Daddy’a', and seemed to be talking about Daddy David when he used it. We were at the beach one Sunday, and Evan and Sophie and I were walking in the sand. JP had stayed with Max up at the edge of the sand and was watching us. Evan and I were talking and had this conversation:
Daddy David: “Daddy is up there with Baby Max”.
Evan: “no, Daddya here”
Daddy David (realizing he had to do something to help him): “Yes. Daddy’a’ is right here. Daddy’o’ is up there with Max”
Evan: “OHH! Daddy’o’ up there with baby max?!”
Ever since that moment, Evan has been very happy referring to us as Daddya and Daddyo!
Evan and Sophie had colds this week. It didn’t get very bad for either of them. Some coughing and general grumpiness was about it. Daddies and Max and Matthew never seemed to get it, so it must have been mild and it looks like were headed into Thanksgiving with a completely healthy crew! Sophie is talking more and more, which means every day she and Evan are interacting at a new level. (sometimes good and sometimes bad). She still sticks to her favorite words most of the time – mine, me, no, da (yes), Calliou (as she points to the TV), uh-oh, baby, daddy, and nanna (which is handy because it means both grandma and banana!). Max is doing great, becoming more alert and eating and sleeping well. Most nights Daddy’o’ feeds him around midnight and then he eats again around 6 AM with Daddy’a’. Over the last couple of days, Evan has fully mastered the concept of ’sister’ and ‘brother’ and in fact can name his “cousins”! We are working on ‘big brother’, ‘little sister’ thing, and he seems to have almost gotten that concept as well.
Little Brother Max at 5 weeks
Evan and Sophie with friends Sophia and Lonan on a Saturday night playdate
Evan holds his little brother Max
Flashback to Evan holding Sophie for the first time
Sophie takes time to look at the camera while her Daddies try to get the perfect shot
about 15 pictures taken of this moment - this was the best.
Updating the blog has been a little challenging lately. Free time is down to almost nothing, and my early mornings sitting at the computer have been replaced with getting up at 4 or 5 to feed Max. We have had some great times with all three kids, and realize there is no way we could do this with out the help of Grandparents Asperin, grandparents Bowik, and of course Matthew - who has been amazing - helping out in every area at any hour of any day!
Max at 1 month
Sophie with her sunglasses eating a snack
Evan and Sophie enjoying a family picnic in west Marin.
Max at 20 days
Max at 25 days
Daddy'o', Evan and Max enjoying lunch in Fair Play
It’s all about babies these days at home. Daddies are taking care of baby Max. Evan and Sophie have also developed a little “obsession” with babies – and want to help with Max, and take care of their own babies. Feeding babies is fun, changing babies is fun, and sometimes poking at babies is fun!
Sophie feeding her baby a bottle
Sophie feeding her baby a bottle – not the way here Daddies taught her.
Sophie checking out the real baby
Evan feeding his baby some baby food
Evan takes his eye off his baby to smile for the camera
Evan was in the mood to do a little acting in front of the camera – so we caught this on video. Typically he, like most kids I assume, would never ‘perform on command’ so we felt lucky to get!
All three kids are napping at the moment, so I have a few minutes to put a post up about our first few days with Max. Everything is great – I’ll let the pictures tell the story!
Maxwell David Bowik was born on Wednesday October 20th, 2009 at 2:51 PM. 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. He is doing great and was able to come home at just 46 hours old. We are all thrilled. Evan and Sophie are totally thrilled. Evan keeps asking when he is going to cry because he believes that once he cries, that we will give him a bottle. Sophie is just practicing saying “baby” over and over and putting her finger to her lips and saying “shh”.
It’s been a full weekend! To pick up where the last post left off, it turns out that Evan has “hand, foot, and mouth disease”. That’s my self diagnosis, but it seems right on. Not a big deal at all, but the symptoms are “general malaise and lack of interest in solid foods” which is exactly him over the last 3 days. Matthew arrived from Switzerland on Friday night. We kept busy the whole weekend, and despite Evan not being himself, the kids both made progress in bonding with him. We couldn’t be happier with our first experience with an “au pair”! Over the weekend we had Maren’s 5th birthday party, a trip downtown on the trolley, a trip to Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch, and a party to celebrate Lolo’s birthday, and Matthew’s arrival. On top of all this – we are still waiting for little Max to decide he wants to come out of Mom’s tummy!
Evan and Sophie help Lolo blow out candles
Our family portrait - we feel so blessed to have our wonderful parents, Angela - who has given us the gifts of our lifetimes, two and a half wonderful kids, and the best au pair in the world!
Very pregnant Angela!
Evan giving Sophie a big hug and kiss!
Evan relaxing at the end of a long day
Matthew checking something in his English/German dictionary.
