What to do with a 19 month old

This is not a list of suggestions...but a question. What do you do with a toddler when you are usually feeding or dealing with a fussy baby and the weather outside is too cold? (although we have been lucky the last few days)

How we know there is a problem

1. Sawyer laughs and claps when The Office theme song comes on
2. He screams, claps and laughs preemptively on Finding Nemo
3. Dora and Diego are a part of his 50 word vocabulary
4. So are cookie and candy
5. He requests nigh-nigh (bed)

What we've tried

1. Play-doh, very well received, although every couple of minutes he tilts his head to the side, puts it to his lips and a little questioning sound, like "are you sure this isn't tasty?"
2. Coloring with crayons and markers, all of which have also been consumed
3. Cooking. This he loves, surprisingly he is not very good at it.
4. Play dates, which the last time we had several kids over here they played in his room with his toys while he hung out on my lap pointing at the tv
5. Playing with da-da which is always a hit
6. Touching Oliver's head on the exact same spot 20-30 times a day and repeating "baby"

So if you have any fantastic ideas for me, I'd love to hear them! Can't wait for summer! And for your viewing pleasure...

Funny Da-da

What we've been up to...things are great most the time, but I definitely have my hands full and could use more sleep! Sawyer is so cute. I taught him today the answer to "Who is the president?" And since I was laughing when he'd reply "O-mama" he thinks it's the funniest thing to say.

Here he is playing with da-da. And yes, that's my husband who had back surgery, and no there is not a trampoline underneath of him.

Little Ollie is doing great! He likes to be snuggled, but usually if he's being held he's happy. There is just something so sweet about a newborn, I can just stare at him all night. Sawyer has started giving him stones, fists, pounds, whatever you call it when you hit fists with someone. He discovered that Oliver's hands are always in position, so funny.
And here is our little PGA Golfer. Granted he is golfing below with a recorder, he does have two plastic clubs he usually uses. He sets up, he'll look left to right...pause, and then give an amazing swing. We are really not sure where he got it from. He holds his hands right, one on top of the other, he bends his knees a little, he even pivots his foot. I have a GREAT video of him that will be posted sometime soon here, promise mommy :)

Mommy

My mommy has come and gone :( She arrived the day after Oliver was born and stayed for almost two weeks! It was so great having her here, she was Sawyer's playmate, Ollie's tummy fixer, my daytime friend, the dinner maker, cleaner and just about everything. I am so glad I have a really great mom, and I miss her soooo much. She said I would be sick of her and want her to go home...not true! Come back mommy. As an extra special treat my older sister Amy was able to come visit for the weekend too! She was doing a study with her youngest son, Talon, in St Louis and she will hopefully be able to come twice more in the next year and a half. It was really fun having her here, and the weekend felt like a good old fashioned girls weekend with eating out, a movie and talking. Sad sister, I miss you so much!Here are the boys. Talon is the pale one, of course :) He's 6 months old. Aren't they cute all dressed up and fancy? Ollie is wearing a tie too, you just can't see it.

Oliver

Here are some more pictures of our beautiful boy Oliver. My friend Maren took some of these, she's very talented! I've only been on my own for two days now. It is going to be adventurous having two, but so far I haven't broken down. Sawyer is definitely acting out. He loves Oliver though, and puts his finger on his cheek and says "baby" probably 20 times a day. He's just learning to be patient...the hard way. E has been fantastic, taking extra special time playing with Sawyer. Oliver is a sweet sweet baby boy, we are all in love. Sometimes I have déjà vu thinking it's 18 months ago and I'm looking at Sawyer...but when Ollie's eyes are open we can really see how he is his own little guy.

I made him this little beanie in the hospital, it is tiny, and probably doesn't fit anymore!

So can you tell who is who? One is Soy, one is Ollie.

Our sweet baby boy

Our sweet Oliver came into the world at 7:31 am Tuesday January 6th. He weighed 7 lbs and is 20 inches long.
We've loved the name Oliver even before we knew we were pregnant. We toyed around with a few others, but it was meant to be. For his middle name, we had a few others we thought we would use. Lately I've loved the idea of King, E is called Rey by his family, which is King in Spanish. Then Oliver was born on Three King's Day. We even saw a few other signs at the hospital, so thus, Oliver King.

Sawyer is loving his little brother. When I came down the stairs this morning, first time being back from the hospital, he started whining and pointing at me. How sweet, he missed his momma. Nope, as soon as I handed Oliver to my mom to hold Sawyer, he went to the baby! He loves to give him kisses and point at his forehead and say, "baby...baby..."

Proud proud Papa. We are so happy and thrilled to have Oliver in our family.

Everything went great and we are all doing really well, except mom and dad could use some more sleep. My mom is here for a few weeks and her help is priceless. I already have no idea how I'll do it on my own!

Surprise!

I thought the title might get some of you here...no baby yet ;) But we did have a GREAT surprise on Sunday Dec 28th E's family showed up at our door! They live 22 hours away. I knew for a week that they were coming, and thank heavens because to say I've slacked lately in all departments is an understatement! But E was entirely surprised and was just laughing, it was great! They stayed with us through New Year's day, and here are some of the events!

They came with more gifts than we had for ourselves on Christmas Day! Including this bounce house for Sawyer, which he of course loves, and quickly learned to stand back and toss the balls in himself.
On Monday we toured E's school and showed them where all the magic happens. We played some ping pong, foosball, pool and Ms. PacMan in the rec room. They surprisingly didn't want to go to the anatomy lab and see all the dead bodies. Then we ate at the most happening place in town, Ruby Tuesday. That evening we played games...I think, we played a lot of Catch Phrase and Outburst!

Tuesday we headed out to Nauvoo, 2 hours away, and Sawyer was quite entertained with his Nana! The last time they saw us, or Sawyer, he was 6 weeks old, so it was great for them to get to see our little growing guy!Three Ernesto's! (Sawyer is actually E. Sawyer) E with his sister Laura.
Ernesto Sr. and Patrick, Laura's husband.Sawyer enjoying a candy during lunch in Nauvoo.E, Mom, Dad and LauraE and his papa.

New Year's Eve we bummed around, playing games, watching movies...there isn't too much to do around here. Oh and of course we went to WalMart. We celebrated the New Year in style with hats, food, dancing...it was great!

Thank you so much for coming to visit us! We love you and miss you already. We were sad not to see E's sister Celi and her husband and kids, hopefully it won't be long. Being Panamanians and Floridians, they were very excited for cold and snow...we didn't deliver on the snow, but it was cold!

Merry Christmas