Brother Bathtime Bonanza!

It's beginning to become apparent to us that Graham may be a bit more even keeled than Finn. He is often content to just sit or lay down and kick around. He is quick to smile and coo. He isn't too phased things like being plunked down in the bathtub next to his brother...

As part of Finn's bathtime routine, he's in the bath from about 6:30 til 6:45, before stories and bedtime. We've been doing this for a long time, and he likes it. I'm not saying that we always get him particularly clean, but it's what we do. We've been thinking of getting Graham into the bathtime mix, since he's now two months old and we're trying to establish a routine for him. Katie found him this great chair on amazon, and it came today so we tried it out! It was GREAT! He and Finn both loved it. And tonight both boys were asleep at 7:15!

If you're interested in learning "The Fortney Way" to baby bedtimes, you can fly us out to see you! We like free trips to visit family and friends. So think about it. There are some downsides to "The Fortney Way" of child rearing. They may include, for instance, one black eye per child per year, your wet child wildly shouting "Nakey Boy!" while he runs around the house after bath, and a lot of poop to be personally dealt with from the cloth diapers. Just let us know when you want us to visit. :)


(Do the Borat fans out there like the photo edit?)

Cousin Jessica Fortney is in town for a visit (mostly with cousins Alan and Margaret in Mountain View) and we all headed down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium today. Finn was tired and hungry, but did enjoy the touch pools, sharks, and the octopus. The visit ended when Finn switched from talking about octopuses to macaroni. Then it was time for lunch.

2 year & 2 month doctor visit

It was a full day here yesterday: the boys had back to back doctor's appointments for their 2 year and 2 month checkups. Both are doing fine, and I finally had enough stats to make a cool chart (Graham is red/orange/yellow, Finn is green/blue/purple):

It's a little misleading because Finn was 10 weeks old at his 2 month appointment, and Graham was only 8.5, but you get the general idea. The most interesting tidbit is that while Finn's head size was always in the 70-85th percentile, Graham's is more like 30. So no giant noggin for him, although he is trying to make up for it in overall head mass by adding on the chins.
After seeing Dr. Lee we checked out the new Sunnyvale Target, where they have carts that seat 3 kids. Finn was very excited to ride in the "trailer," as he called it.

And then before Jonathan headed in to work we squeezed in a pre-Thanksgiving haircut for Finn. This was the first time he sat on one of the chairs (well, horse) by himself rather than in his Daddy's lap, so that was exciting.

And here's a video of Graham from about 10 days ago in what seems to be his favorite spot in the universe: his changing pad. Last week I just left him there while I went and showered and got dressed, and he was still having a great time when I came back.

Graham on the changing pad from Katie on Vimeo.
Monday Graham started at day care, and seemed to enjoy it - he was grinning and watching a mobile when we came to pick him up. We thought Finn would be super excited to have Graham come to "school" with him, but so far it hasn't made much of an impression.
Things are almost kinda sorta starting to calm down around here (I still need to log 50 or so internship hours by the end of the semester), so hopefully I'll get Flickr updated soon. Happy Thanksgiving!

Finn's birthday party, and CHUB!

Hi there! Well, I got my National Science Foundation proposal done. Katie got her giant Masters degree project done. We also had Finn's birthday party! It was at a local park with lots of playground equipment. We had a good mixed crowd of kids and grownups. We had a good mixed crowd of muffins and cupcakes from Icing on the Cake, as well!

There was a dinosaur theme, that extended from plates to balloons, to these cool triceratops masks, below. (Finn with Caitlyn, age 3.) When we mention his birthday now, he'll still say "Friday!" even though it was a couple Fridays ago.

In other news, it was my 33rd birthday on the 17th. Many thanks for cousin Margaret for coming over to let Katie and me got out to dinner to celebrate last Monday. Getting out is so, so, so, so, so important. It was only for a few hours, but so fun. :)
So we also have the other boy, Graham, who still doesn't walk OR talk! Sheesh! But he is REAL cute, and it putting on the chubs at a breakneck pace. He only slows down the eating a little at night. He's been up 3 times a night lately. He loves to lay on his changing pad. I think that is his favorite place beside on his momma. The best part about Graham is that if you smile real big at him he'll smile big right back.

Apple Dirt Day Finn!

Happy Birthday! Finn is 2 today! Yay! Here he is with his present from Katie and me, which he got last week---a strider bike! He's getting better at it already. The point is that you learn how to balance first, and then later on, after you've mastered that, then you learn how to pedal. Probably the pedal bike will come in another year, if he makes good progress. I saw him coast with his feet off the ground for about 6-8 feet yesterday, so it's going well. "Bike ridin'!" "Bike-ul, bike-ul!"

Bike ridin'! from Jonathan Fortney on Vimeo.

Although he doesn't really know what his birthday is, he is excited, and can yell about it really loudly, if the need arises. Below is one of his presents from Grandma Sheryl. Now he can help around the kitchen (he's good at "dumpin'" ingredients in) and look good too.



A quick movie I took of family dinnertime from last week:

Dinnertime from Jonathan Fortney on Vimeo.

Halloween, revisited

We've been going through some life the past couple of weeks, so sorry for not getting around to posting. Katie is working on finishing her Master's degree portfolio and I'm writing up a proposal to the National Science Foundation. (I need to convince them to give me $300K of your money. No, it doesn't go into my pocket.) Both are due on Monday. So there has been a lot of Graham juggling during the days, and non-stop work after both boys go to bed. It has been a team effort!

I thought that I'd give a summary rundown of trick or treating back a few weeks ago. Firstly, Finn would only say "Tricker," and that was just at home. The thing he said best out on the streets was "Next house!" I was interesting to see what was going on through his eyes. Very bewildering but not too frightening. For instance there was the 5-foot giant chicken that stopped him dead in his tracks:

Sometimes Finn would try to reach in and give candy to people who were giving him candy, like a trade. The neighborhood that we visited was a few streets down from us. They go ALL OUT. Pretty much every house had substantial decorations, and there were kids and parents everywhere. The road was closed off to traffic.

It had always annoyed me that in E.T. the kids went out trick or treating BEFORE it was dark out. Who does that?! Well, it is interesting that Finn is basically never outside when it is dark. He goes to bed and 7 p.m. and by the time he goes outside in the morning, it is light out. He just doesn't do darkness. So of course we had to get an early start on trick or treating, since he goes to bed so early. Even so, at 5:45, when we started, there were a fair number of kids. It was definitely more crowded at dusk at 6:45, which was a good sign for non-lameness of California children and parents. As he gets older, I'm firmly committed to him actually going trick or treating when it is dark out. Because to do otherwise (except when you're not even 2, is well, lame.)

My lasting memory of our outing was the large amounts of alcohol consumed by the adults. We saw parents leading their kids while drinking bottles of beer and to-go cups of wine. Many people answered their door holding glasses of wine. One woman in front of us in line for candy said, "I brought the cosmos!" to her neighbor. Another house had the grill going and a keg. So the adults succeeding in having a good time as well. We didn't partake....but there is always next year. :)

Graham smiles, and Finn talks A LOT.

Hey everybody!
My portfolio is due in less than two weeks, so I've been a bit too panicky to blog. I'm getting close, though, so I thought I'd take a moment to post a couple videos.
First, here's proof that Graham can smile, a movie taken about a week after the first smile, which was at about the 4 week mark.

First (week of) smiles from Katie on Vimeo.
And some photos Jonathan took at dinner tonight - looks like we may have another goofball in the family. (FYI, pumpkin bibs are still totally appropriate until at least Thanksgiving.)
And finally, a video of some of the other stuff he's up to these days - waving his limbs around, turning his head to look at sounds, and following objects around with his eyes. Also, being cute.

Graham kickin' around from Katie on Vimeo.
In Finn news, trick-or-treating was a good time (more photos soon, hopefully), and he's better at talking every day. The words are clearer, there's an astounding number of them, and the other night he busted out with a real sentence: "Read it again please," (or "Read it. Gen. Please." if you want to be picky) rather than his usual "READit! READit! READit!"
Tonight he helped me make pumpkin cookies. I measured out ingredients and he was in charge of "dumpin" them into the mixing bowl. Also slamming down the top part of the stand mixer, and occasionally turning it on. He later ate half a cookie, which I suppose means I'm responsible for the other two dozen. Here he is in the Safeway parking lot on Sunday, excited to be posing with the moon.