Presentation Posting Prep-Work

 I have been looking over photos to use in my special presentation post here shortly, and I am so excited, I am about to flip my lid!  These past 45 minutes have been sheer pleasure for me as I got to see the people Kristoffer and I 'used' to be.  One would think I would be super depressed...but I was able to see the pictures and remember the moments attached to them.  I know it won't be as exciting for you, but I will do my very best to describe the circumstances surrounding the picture I post and some other fun tidbits, so hold out a little longer!  I can't wait myself!!  Here is a little sneak peek:

Haha, I KNOW!!!  So, stay tuned my good readers, you will shortly be getting a look into who the people in these pictures are!

Thanks for being my grapes, mama.

Today we took a lovely drive to Tillamook (yes, the cheese!) and toured the cheese factory!  It was perfect for a rainy, blustery day and Marin was surprisingly content in the car and happy in the factory, Owen of course was perfectly happy...so long as he was fed.  As we were driving and Marin was eating her grapes, we had an interesting conversation:

Marin:  Thank you mama.

Me:  For what honey?

Kris:  Marin, say thank you for being my mama, mama!

Marin:  Thank you for being my grapes, mama....

Daddy had Marin all turned around, poor thing.  We had a laugh or two out of it though, she's so sweet.

And of course, I forgot the camera.  These days I am terrible at remembering that blasted camera!  So, I have one picture of each of our lovely children:

Marin last Saturday with daddy at the roller skating rink.  Doesn't she look like a little GIRL!  I mean, instead of a toddler?!  Growing up fast!

And sweet little Owen snuggling with daddy.  Oh my what a little snuggler he is, I just LOVE it!  He was 5 weeks old on Wednesday and weighed in this morning at 11 pounds on the money!  What a hungry hungry boy!  This past week he gained a total of about 9oz.  He is really filling out and has some DE-licious chubb on his thighs.  Marin really never had that, she always had...athletes legs, from the second she came out to now, she has always had toned, lovely legs.  

AND.....Stay tuned to our blog!  Coming soon I will be posting a 

Lyman Special Presentation:  Where It All Began.

*A short mini-series that takes you back to where it all started...BEFORE the children!  Before Kristoffer and Samantha Lyman were even married...yes, a rare photo glimpse into our thin and beautiful 'non-old-and-falling-over-from-sleep-deprivation' days.  

-A bittersweet fairy-tale-romance-drama with splashes of comedic interlude and brow-furrowing, lip-squishing mushy moments.

Aaaaa, Bbbbb, ........?

Marin and I have recently been working on recognizing letters, and while she has been able to sing her ABC's for over a year now, learning what the letters look like is a different story!  The other day I pointed to 'A' and said "Aaaa".  Then 'B'...and I said "beee".  Then I paused and looked at Marin expectantly and waited for her to say 'C'.  She paused and looked at the letter, and looked back at me and said: "Twelve.".  We have a ways to go.

Yesterday she was playing with some special play-dough Grandma and Grandpa gave her, it has impressions in each lid she can press the dough into and make shapes, she likes to make animal shapes and show mommy.

 Is this not the CUTEST little face?!  She is such a sweet girl.  We have to have her say 'happy' instead of 'cheese' when we take pictures, we more of a smile that way ;)

Last night in the car, she say's; "I'm a big sister, mama, thank you!".  What a sweetie, she loves her little brother.  And speaking of little brother, I did a weight check on him this morning, and he was 10pounds 3ounces!  That little bugger has put on 5 ounces in 2 days!!  What a little piggy!

One Month!

Did I really just say one month?!  My little guy is one month old today??!  My-oh-my where has the month gone?  We are just loving our little man, boy what a sweet baby he is.  Here are some of his highlites from the month:

*SUCH a snuggler, and I have to say, I am totally down with this.  I LOVE my snuggly boy.  Marin NEVER snuggled and I really missed out, but he likes nothing better than to be cuddled up on your chest for a snooze, so sweet!

*Nighttime is improving.  We have made him a super cushy bed and have learned that he likes his blue fuzzy blanket loosely wrapped around him, and under his head.  By the time he falls asleep around 11 or midnight, he'll sleep until 4am, but then it's hourly feeds after that until he's up at 7ish :/

*He's learning to enjoy bathtime.

*What a sweet little smile he has!  Awww, I love smiles from my little boy.

*Weight check!  Last night he weighed in at 9pounds 14ounces, just 2 ounces shy of 10 pounds.  Hungry much?

*He is a CHAMPION belcher/pooper/tooter.  Oh my goodness, this kid can put the best of the best to SHAME!  We aren't quite sure which side of the family this little gift came from...perhaps it's just a boy thing?

And here's our young man flopped over the side of the boppy for a nap. 

 Marin helping me vaccum the other night.

Nobody Does it Better....Than Dad

Dad's are just wired to play.  And I...think it's wonderful!  I am horrible at "playing".  My sweet girl often wants to play and pretend and do all the normal 2 year old things, and I'm stumped!  "What am I supposed to do?!", I often ask myself.  With babies it's fairly easy...you understand their basic needs and address it, end of story.  But playtime?  I'm hopelessly lost.  Lucky for me (more-so Marin), I have a great husband that LOVES to play and more importantly, knows HOW to play.  His idea on babies, however?  "What do you DO with it?".  I'm so glad we even out the playing field around here. 

This is a video of Marin and Daddy playing "Rocket Ships".  They cut some pieces of scrap wood and decorated them with screws, nails, etc, and then finished them off with a nice "marker" job.  Then..., well, you'll see:

I KNOW!  Here's Marin showing off one of her rocket ships.  Poor girl is a terrible poser for the camera, mommy will work on that with her ;)

And, last night before she went to bed.  She likes to make a "Big Marble Track" with daddy, consisting of blankets draped over the couch with little cups at the bottom she tries to hit with the marbles.

Marin just loves her daddy!

Isn't He Precious

Kristoffer and I have determined that we make some dashingly cute little babies.  My-oh-my, look at what a precious young sir we have added to our family!  He certainly is growing big and strong, this morning on our bathroom scale he weighed in at 9 pounds 6.4 ounces, a full pound (and some change) heavier than his birth weight, 3 weeks ago!  

Look at that sweet mug, he is going to be such a charmer ;)

This morning, I brought out the play mat, and he was just amazed!

Little froggy feet!  He is just about too small for this outfit, so I had to get a pic!

The little rings to hang on the loops are stored away in the garage, so I made-do with some industrial sized office clips.  The poor stuffed animals didn't know what hit them...it actually looks a tad sinister...huh.

Poor lobster :(

And my sweet boy has been smiling at me for a few days now, umm, yeah!  Who knew 2 week old babies were able to smile in response!  I thought initially it was just a fluke and chalked it up to gas (the usual baby-smile-culprit), but I noticed as I smiled and talked to him, he was working hard at studying me and pulling the muscles in his face.  And the sweet reward of a newborn babe's innocent smile, ahhhh, there's nothing like it :)   

I have been noticing more and more differences between Owen and Marin when she was a baby, it makes me laugh, because although I know they are different, it's funny that such different little personalities arise from a singularly similar gestational experience!  Yes, yes, I get the whole genetics thing, it just makes me laugh, that's all.  

Feeding Time:

Marin:  Happy with every two hours during the day, every 3-4 hours at night.

Owen:  Cluster feeding.  At least every two hours during the day (if not more) and cluster feeds in the evening (an hour to 90 minutes after he finishes his last feed).  Nighttime, every 2-3 hours.  Once, he slept for 4 hours straight...I was amazed.

Naps/Bedtime:

Marin:  Swaddled, no bink.  Not a snuggler, ever, always wanted to see what was going on, did not like being on her belly.

Owen:  Wrapped loosely with hands near his face, sometimes wants a bink (so weird to me!).  Totally a snuggler, loves being on his belly.

Bathtime:

Marin:  LOVED being naked (still does) and was always ready for a bath or shower.

Owen:  HATES being naked and tolerates bath/shower time.

I am learning to be a mom of two now.  It's been a scary adjustment, and I'm still working hard at it.  I'm getting little sleep at night, so my patience level is pretty poorly stocked, and the weather isn't quite nice enough to go outside, so we spend our day's inside.  It's a work in progress though, each day I (hope!) try and learn something.  The blog posts may be a bit more staggered for a while though, sorry!