The Fountains at Lansdowne

Brennan and I have been staying inside for most of the week and we were both in need of fresh air, so I decided to take Brennan over to the fountains at the Lansdowne Town Center. There were quite a few bigger (and bossy) kids there, but Brennan seemed to hold his own. He had a lot of fun getting wet and was pretty bold about going right up to the spraying water.Now that we've been to the fountains at Lansdowne, Reston and Fairfaix Corner, I want to give a little assessment. Reston and Lansdowne's actual fountains are basically the same. Reston has more lunch options, but is a bigger center that requires you to park in a garage and walk to the fountains. There is seating at Reston with more opportunities for shade, but it's farther from the fountains, so parents often feel like they have to stand up to get closer to the water to watch their kids. I liked how close the parking was at Lansdowne and the seating availability right next to the fountains. There also weren't a lot of dog walkers, like in Reston, so you didn't have to worry about kids running into poop, which legally should be picked up, but is sometimes left. Fairfax Corner is a different animal. The fountains themselves are bigger, but maybe a little more intimidating. It has good lunch options and benches, as well as table/chair seating, if you can get one, but there is no grassy area. I really love Fairfax Corner, but at half the distance away, I will gladly make my way back to Lansdowne this summer with the little guy!

We brought lunch with us and sat on the sidelines to eat. What looks like a black and white bag to the right in the photo below is a new cooler I bought for the pool this year, where they don't allow you to bring in outside food. I thought it would go unnoticed as a cooler!

38 Week Update on Baby P #2

I went to the doctor on Monday and was really happy to learn that I had progressed to 3 cm dilated. I never posted a 37 week update because there was no change from 36 weeks. However, this week, my doctor noted a big difference from the prior week and thought the baby might come within the week. I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog, but about a month ago, Brennan started referring to the baby as "Baby Dora," so that's what we've been calling this little one. Baby Dora, come soon! I am ready to meet you! This photo was taken on Sunday at Evan's birthday with my friend Joanie, Evan's mom.

Evan's Birthday Party

This is the season of birthday parties for many of my friends' children. I met most of my local friends at a group for new moms that I attended when Brennan was born, so our kids are all summer 2008 babies. It seems like we have a birthday party on the calendar every couple of weeks this time of year. Evan turned three yesterday and celebrated with a party in the afternoon. I didn't get a good picture of Evan and Brennan together, but the birthday boy is pictured below in the red shirt with a #3 on it. Evan had a bounce castle at his party too and Brennan was thrilled to bounce, climb and slide down.
He liked to climb up with a ball, throw it down and then slide down after it.
They put a bubble machine out and the kids had fun chasing bubbles. Below, Brennan is pictured with Claire, my friend Ashley's daughter, who we often get together with.

The Cowboy Corral

I was able to check-off my last mini-project this week, which was to update Brennan's bathroom with the cowboy themed decor that I had been accumulating. My inspiration started with a Wall Words quote that I purchased about a year and a half ago that read, "God, please tell Mama that Cowboys don't take baths, we just dust off." I loved it and had been looking for a cowboy shower curtain and accessories ever since. I had gotten some cowboy decals and a nightlight at Target a while ago and finally hit the jackpot with a shower curtain, towels and cup at Kohl's a few months ago. I think the space came out really cute. The only disappointment in all of this was that my Wall Words quote wouldn't stick to the wall. I have used this product in the past with no issue at all, so I think I just let it sit for too long and it must have lost its stick. The other decals stuck just fine though and did the trick to dress the bathroom up.
Normally, I'd prefer a cloth shower curtain, but with a little boy who is still working the kinks out of aiming when standing to pee, plastic is going to save me a lot of hassle with clean-ups!
The boot that I'm using as a toothbrush holder was one of a pair that I purchased for Brennan's first birthday and used to anchor helium balloons. It hasn't been more than a piece of clutter in our storage space for the last two years, so I was happy to find another use for it.

"Mom, Help"

When I get ready in the morning, I usually leave Brennan downstairs to watch some of his favorite Disney Junior morning shows. We generally have no issues, however, last Tuesday, I had gotten out of the shower and I thought I heard Brennan's voice saying, "Mom, help," so I came straight downstairs. I went straight to the TV room, but from where I standing in the kitchen, I didn't see him. I looked in the dining room, living room, checked the basement door (it was still closed and locked.) I started to feel a sense of panic. I was saying, "Brennan, Brennan, where are you?" I followed his voice and this is where it lead me:

He was completely fine, but had climbed over the back of the couch to retrieve a ball and couldn't get out. I didn't see him when I had initially peaked into the TV room. I got a little laugh about the situation and helped him out. What a way to get the adrenaline pumping in the morning.

Weekend Work

What a weekend! Poor Brian hardly got to enjoy father's day at all. With a baby due in 3 weeks, there was no time for fun when our last house project was looming overhead. Although Brennan has been in his new bedroom for months, his clothes have remained in the nursery. Brennan's big boy room has nice closet space, but the racks that were in there were terrible. I knew we needed to switch them out before we moved his clothes in. We had completed some some of the work before this weekend - I had cleaned out the guestroom stuff that had previously been stored in there and Brian had ripped out the old rack system, but there was still spackling, painting, purchasing and installing the new racks. I had wanted to do a closet system similar to the nursery, but this closet has a low, sloped ceiling and an access door to a crawl space, so we had to simplify and just do a wire shelf-track system. We added one drawer for shoes. I was skeptical about getting the project done in just one weekend, but I give all the credit to Brian for his hard and diligent work. By 8:30 last night, the closet was done and Brennan was back in his room. Now, I can breath easier knowing that I have space in the nursery for the baby's clothes, blankets and diapers! Brian, you are a great husband and father, thank you for working all weekend and then heading into the office to work all week. I love you. We'll be sure to do something fun as a family this coming weekend! Here are a couple of cute pictures of Brennan in dress up clothes. We went to a playdate at Aubrey's house on Friday. Brennan isn't used to being around girly dress up clothes, so he was pretty excited about putting on a princess dress! He put on the tiara and said, "I'm a princess," and then danced around. It was really cute and funny.At home, he's continued to love dressing up in his fire chief gear, now complete with boots. He was wearing this all morning on Saturday. He likes to pretend to spray us down with water from the fire hose.

36 Week Update on Baby P #2

Just wanted to give a quick update on what's happening with my pregnancy. I went for a growth sonogram yesterday and the baby is measuring just fine. The baby's estimated weight is 6 lb 5 oz, with 4 weeks to go. So, looks like I will have another 8 pounder. The other news from this appointment is that I am 1 cm dilated, so I was glad to find out that I've started to make a little progress. I looked back at my posts from June 2008 and I wasn't 1 cm until 38 weeks, so I'm about 2 weeks ahead of where I was with Brennan. With Brennan, it was 3 weeks from the time I started dilating to the time I went into labor, so hopefully that will be the longest this baby will wait to come. I'll keep you posted!

3rd Birthday Party

For the last two birthdays, we've had friends and family over the second weekend in July to celebrate Brennan's birthday, but with a July 11 due date, I knew I had to plan something different this year. Brennan understood what it meant to have a birthday this year, so I didn't want to just skip a party. We decided to have a small party with local friends, who have children that are Brennan's age. We figured we would celebrate with family individually, as they come to meet the baby this summer. We ended up having four families here on Saturday and had a great time. We rented a bounce castle from Northern Virginia Party Rentals and the service was fantastic. This bounce house was in our front yard from 8 AM - 8:15 PM! The only downside to renting this was that Brennan thought it was his to keep and was in tears when they came to take it down.
The party was pirate themed and I set out a treasure chest table for the goodie bags. Thanks to Pete and Meg, who had given Brennan that buried treasure chest last month, when we were on Long Island, I pretty much had everything I needed to stage the table!

I made pirate cupcakes for the party and created the serving tray by gluing antique-esque scrapbook paper to a foam backed poster board. I put the ship together using a little craft set that I found at Michael's.

Here is a close-up of the cupcakes. I think they came pretty good, although they took longer to decorate than I expected! Nearly 3 hours for just 24 cupcakes. But, I was pleased with the finished product and Brennan was really excited about the pirate cupcakes, so it was definitely worth it!

Here is Brennan smiling as we were getting ready to sing happy birthday.

After cupcakes, we decided to try opening gifts. This was the first time we did gift opening at the party and Brennan did great with it. He sat in his little chair, opened the gifts, showed them off and with a little prompting, thanked everyone for their presents. He got some really nice new toys that we have been playing with all weekend.

Brennan was in his pirate jacket all party long, but I had bought pirate costumes for all the kids. After we did the gifts, the kids were excited to dress up. The costumes seem to give them an extra burst of energy and they were running around the house, going nuts with their foam swords. Thankfully, no one got hurt.

Brian engaged them in a little sword fight.

All in all, we had a great time and want to thank everyone who came out to celebrate with Brennan!

Heat, Haircuts and Other Random Happenings

The heat continued all week, although we had a few breezy days that didn't feel quite as bad. We spent a lot of time hanging out in the yard, playing with the sprinkler and kiddie pool. In just the week that we've played with it, Brennan's gotten much braver with the sprinkler and is now willing to go right up to it without too much fuss about it spraying water near his face. In our swim lessons, I've noticed he's much bolder about the pool this year as well. He doesn't freak out if his face goes under the water and he loves to jump in from the side of the pool. In fact, he's been asking me to stand farther and farther away as he jumps, which increases the likelihood of his face getting wet. It's been fun to watch his progress.
We've been enjoying eating lunch outside, under the umbrella or on the deck. Friends came over for a playdate on Thursday and Brennan enjoyed having some company his age in his pool. We also pulled the water table out to the driveway, so between the pool, sprinkler and water table, it's been water-play central over here. On the hottest days, I have even been cooling off by walking through the sprinkler :)

I love to keep Brennan's hair a little on the moppy side, but he was in need of a trim and I've been dreading having to do it. He does not sit nicely for a haircut. It's generally a fight, with him crying and Brian having to hold his hands down, while I cut. It feels like torture for both Brennan and myself. Trips to Cartoon Cuts are even worse. Last week though, Brian was trimming his own hair with the clippers and Brennan was interested in what he was doing. Brian let him "help" a little and I decided to throw in the towel and give up on the longer hair, if Brennan was willing to let Brian cut his hair. Sure enough, while I was out on Tuesday, Brennan allowed Brian to buzz his hair, including squaring off and cleaning up his neck. Brian used the longest attachment on the clippers for the top of his hair, but it's still shorter than usual. However, I think it looks fine and it got me off the hook, so I am not complaining! With Brian leading the way, Brennan has also starting taking showers and seems to prefer them over baths now. It makes our nighttime routine so much faster and hair washing a lot easier. I am loving these turning points.

Kerry sent me this great picture of her, Brennan, Philip and their new puppy, Stella. It was taken when we were on Long Island on May 21. I wanted to share it with you here.