WorWed Bonus: a video!

Wordless Wednesday: A New Obsession

(You know it's time to do diaper laundry when you have your little boy in a salmon-pink diaper!)

Wordless Wednesday: But He Was Still Hungry!

It Don't Mean a Thing...

I'm pretty sure I've said before that Sebastian is a daredevil child. The higher he's tossed, the faster he's zoomed around the room, the more precarious his position, the better! He absolutely adores the swings that we're lucky enough to have at the playground right outside our back gate. We go out pretty much every day if the weather cooperates and swing at least a little while!

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather today (after spending the morning outside, too, at Reston's Founder's Day celebration) to take the boy out to swing after his nap. He and Daddy played a little can't-get-me game that Sebastian found hilarious! There's nothing better than listening to a baby laugh!

The video is a bit on the blurry side because I just took it with our regular point-and-shoot camera (don't have an actual digital video camera), but I think it's pretty amusing anyway! So here we are...Sebastian the Swingin' Fool:

Lord of the Rings Day!

Just for a little background, we call Easter "Lord of the Rings Day" around here. Why? Because we're dorks? Well, yes, we are dorks, but there is more! Every Easter for the past, let's say 5ish years, we've done a LOTR movie marathon (all extended editions, of course...a little over 11 hours!). We get a turkey breast cooking in the crock pot in the morning, and start The Fellowship of the Ring. When that's over, on to The Two Towers. By the time the turkey is done, we're about ready to eat while watching the final battles in Return of the King!
This year, we figured it would be a TAD more complicated with the little man around, but he didn't seem to mind watching at least parts of the movies! Our friend Jen came over to enjoy the day with us, and Sebastian just loves her! Of course that could be because she does amazingly fun stuff like tossing him in the air upside-down, carting him around on her shoulders, and giving him raspberries in his armpit. Jen is an auntie to three boys already, so she knows how it's done!
We watched some of Fellowship, and then had Auntie Laura and Mummo and Pappa over for brunch. After brunch we took a break from LOTR to take the dogs and the baby on a walk around the neighborhood...the weather was too gorgeous to not take advantage of it. A great time was had by all! We walked around the paths, in and out of some neighborhoods, and eventually even ended up in the parking lot of the Catholic church that's right up the street from us. We joked that we at least got close to a church on Easter!
At the end of the walk, we stopped at the park behind our house and played a little. Laura and Jen indulged their inner seven-year-olds on the swings, Ken ran with the doggies, and I pushed Sebastian in the baby swing. Mummo and Pappa sat and watched, enjoying the breeze and sunshine.
We all retreated back inside after a while, Laura, Mummo, and Pappa back to their house, and us back inside ours to watch The Two Towers! Sebastian took a nap...probably best because some of the battle scenes and orc mayhem are a tad violent for such young eyes!
About halfway through the battle of Helm's Deep, the turkey was ready and everyone came back! Uncle Tuomas joined us, too. Everyone enjoyed dinner, and we (of course) talked about politics and pirates and Tony Blair. Ok, so Tony Blair wasn't actually part of the conversation, but I mentioned him anyway because somehow he always ends up being discussed at Sahramaa holiday meals!
Sebastian even got to try some turkey, his very first meat! We shredded some small pieces on his tray and let him go to town. As you can see by his face, he wasn't terribly enthused. We ended up putting Cheerios on his tray, too, and he picked out the cereal piece by piece, trying to avoid as much turkey as possible. (Note: the next day, however, when Sebastian tried some of the leftover turkey in gravy sauce, he loved it! I guess our boy doesn't like bland stuff anymore than his Daddy!) He was too busy looking at everyone at the table to look at the food to distinguish what it was, so he kind of just squished handfuls in his little fist before deciding whether to let them fall back to the tray, or bringing them to his mouth. Hard and O-shaped? NOM! Squishy and stringy? Back on the tray! He ended up eating a bunch of turkey by accident anyway because it was stuck to his hands, so we called the experiment a success!
The evening wound to a close, and Laura was kind enough to do dishes while the rest of us chatted, and Sebastian gnawed on anything that wasn't nailed down (trivets, bottle corks, utensils, napkins, you name it!). Everyone went home, and while we didn't get to Return of the King, it was still a pretty great day. RotK is slated for this coming weekend! Lord of the Rings Day Part 2...the tradition continues!

Wordless Wednesday: Daddy's Little Helper

Cherry Blossoms!

This past Saturday was the last peak day to go see the cherry blossoms in DC, and the day of the Cherry Blossom Festival, so we thought we should go check it out. Apparently, though, thousands upon thousands of other people had the same idea! It was crazy-crowded, but for good reason. The blossoms were beautiful, and the day was sunny, clear, and not too hot. But I'm getting ahead of myself!
We packed up the boy and the Beast (our fantastic-if-huge stroller), and headed to Mummo and Pappa's house for a group trip. Pappa drove us to the East Falls Church Metro station, and we took the metro in. (Parking would have been even more of a madhouse!) Sebastian seemed to not mind the metro ride, but he did get kind of antsy, and took turns standing on each of our laps until we were there! We got off at the Smithsonian stop, and met our friend Jen there. It was wall-to-wall people! We headed off walking toward the tidal basin...
We paused for some pictures at the Washington Monument, and then continued on. Oh, did I forget to mention the WIND? Yeah, there was lots of it. And it was strong! Our hair was blowing every which way, and I quickly lamented the fact that I hadn't brought any kind of hair tie to keep it out of my face! Ack! As you can see, though, the weather was otherwise perfect! Sebastian even got to wear his fantastic new hat. At least until the wind picked up even more and it threatened to blow off every other minute. Then it went safely in Daddy's pocket.
We walked around some more and Sebastian fell asleep, clearly unimpressed. Well, that's what you get if you don't nap all morning, kid! It was breathtakingly beautiful, though, especially the clear blue sky, pink blossoms, greenish-blue water, and the white Jefferson Memorial across the tidal basin. We stopped every couple feet, it seemed, to take pictures, but it was well worth it. I got several that could almost be postcards, they're so picturesque! Oh, but notice the fact that the steps of the Jefferson Memorial are black instead of white? Yeah, that's because they're covered with people.
We continued our walk around, and Sebastian woke up right as we crossed the bridge over the Potomac. He needed a diaper change, and since there weren't exactly any bathrooms nearby, we did it al fresco right on the bank of the Potomac! He didn't seem to mind, though it WAS a tad windy to be nekkid! Then we stopped for more pictures.
See, when I say it was windy, I'm not kidding. The wind seemed to pick up, even, as we got to the Jefferson Memorial! I love Sebastian's face in this picture. He's probably trying to figure out why in the world his cruel parents would take him out of the comfort of his stroller to stand in a wind tunnel!
We did manage to get a few good pictures, though...there was quite a line of people in front of this one branch, with the nice backdrop of the Washington Monument in the background. We waited our turn, and then tried desperately to get Sebastian to look at the camera. Unfortunately, the sun AND the wind were coming from that direction, so this is the best we could do. Not bad, though...
Once we got to the Jefferson Memorial, the boy was hungry, so Mummo, Jen, and I went off to try to find a place where I could feed him. My handy nursing cover wouldn't have done much good outside with all that wind! We finally found a corner in the museum/gift shop area underneath the memoral where the kid could eat in peace...it was pretty funny to watch the middle-aged men scatter like cockroaches with the light flipped on the minute they realized what I was about to do! HA!
After the boy was fed and happy again, Jen had to head off to go watch Final Four madness. We decided to head back as well, but just strolled leisurely back around the basin. And then we had to stop for some boy-in-tree pictures, of course. Unfortunately the sun wasn't in the best spot for pictures, but we still managed a few very cute ones, I think. Well, doesn't hurt when your subjects are a gorgeous nearly-hundred-year-old pink flowering cherry tree and a ridiculously cute exactly-eight-months-old boy. While we were taking pictures of the kiddo, apparently several complete strangers commented on the adorableness, and even snapped a few pictures of their own! Yeah, our kid is going to be in vacation albums all over the country! He's THAT cute!
The metro ride home was pretty crazy...so crowded we couldn't even sit down. And with the Beast, there wasn't too much room even to stand! Sebastian did well, though, even making friends and flirting with all sorts of people on the metro, cheering them up despite the very close quarters. We were all very tired once we finally got home, but it was well worth it. It's not every day you get to take your son to see the cherry blossoms in DC for the first time. I have a feeling we'll be back next year. What a fun tradition. We're so lucky to live so close to so many fantastic things to see and do. Sebastian is a lucky boy. And we're lucky parents to have such a well-behaved kid. He did so well all day...the only times he was annoyed were when he was wet and hungry. Understandable! And just look at those eyes...we're going to have to beat the girls off with a stick in 20 years. Yeah, I said 20....hear that, ladies?

Wordless Wednesday: Cheese!