Routine, etc...and being in the sun!

I think Garrett was close to 6 months old before I felt like I knew how each day would go for the most part. Addison is 2 and a half months old and I can say that 75% of the time we have a routine for about 75% of the day. There's about 25% of each day that never goes how I think it will and there's 25% of the time that nothing goes how I think it will. But I still feel pretty good about it and feel like we're going in the right direction.

Because I'm feeling more organized and confident about what the kids need and when they need it, we've been able to add our late morning walk back to the day. Garrett and I did it most days, but it hasn't happened much since Addie came along. But we started back up last week and haven't missed a day. Our days go SO MUCH better when we have time outside. Garrett loves being outside and it takes a nice chunk of time and makes the day go faster and smoother. It's also awesome that we have a fun park a block away and Garrett would stay there for hours. I don't love going there with both kids because Garrett's not a great listener and he runs off a lot to places I can't get the stroller. But we've stopped a couple times. I'm looking forward to longer days so we can go on dinner picnics to the park so Paul can watch a kid while I watch the other. We've even had a few times where both kids napped at the exact same time! It's heaven...those little mommy victories...

Anyway, here's what we've been up to.We play a lot.
We celebrated Paul's aunt's birthday. She wanted In-n-out for dinner so I dressed the kids in their in-n-out onesies that they got for Christmas.
I try and take a picture of Addie if she's ever dressed in anything other than a sleeper because it doesn't happen much.Garrett hung out with his Grandma for a couple hours one afternoon and when I went to pick him up he'd helped pick these flowers for me from Poppy's garden.Garrett still drinks from a bottle. I really have no idea when 'they' say to stop that, but he doesn't seem interested in stopping anytime soon. (And I don't do much to get him to stop.) He can drink for a straw and a sippy cup, but as far as no spills and efficiency, the bottle works best for us. But he always wants a bottle hanging out of his mouth lately. Even if it's empty. He walks around and plays and keeps a bottle hanging there. Sometimes its full of juice and it takes him 3 hours to finish it. It's clearly become a comfort thing for him though, because its empty more often than not. I bought a pacifier a couple days ago for age 12-36 months. He's never taken one, and I wasn't thrilled about introducing him to one, but the empty bottle is driving me crazy. I gave it to him and he thought he was the coolest dude around for about 5 minutes. Then he pulled it out and went back to the bottle and hasn't sucked on the pacifier since. I know, take the bottle away...blah blah... Easier said than done.

**An update since I started writing this a couple days ago. Garrett had a check-up at the doctor, had 3 (tear free) shots, and the doc said its time to ditch the bottles. Lame.

Anyway, other fun stuff.

We went to Downtown Disney to have lunch with some friends from San Diego. I only have these pictures from before we left, none at lunch. It really is fun having a 'cool dude' and a 'pretty lady' to get all dressed up to go out.I gave cake pops another shot. I hate the cake pops that you mash up the cake and mix with frosting. They don't taste bad, it's the making them part that grosses me out. I feel like I'm dipping handled play dough in chocolate and serving it. But I think they're cute. I found this cake pop pan and it's actual non-mashed cake under that chocolate. They were so easy and fun to make, and yummy.I made the cake pops for a family get together. Paul's cousin was in town from Scotland and we had dinner. I of course only took pictures of the kids. Garrett's second cousin taught him all about dolls, (bottom left) and for about the millionth time, she told me, "Cousin Garrett is so cute! He's almost as cute as my cousin Jonathan." Someday I'm hoping Garrett will win the cute contest against whoever this Jonathan kid is. ;) And another second cousin (top left), after he spent a lot of time examining Addie and holding her hand, said, "Hmm, maybe I'll marry cousin Addie..."We spent a day last weekend at Huntington Beach. It was a beautiful day. We took our new wagon and it was great.We had lunch at Ruby's on the Pier. How cute are these faces? I love these kids. In the black and white picture of Garrett he was mad that he couldn't have diet coke and mustard. He had to settle for limes and pickles...He loves those things. Funny kid.We took a long walk and we played in the sand. Garrett was so fun at the beach. He loves sand. The first time we took him it scared him, but now we can't drag him away. Sand was in every pocket, every cuff, in his ears, eyes, hair, and diaper. And he enjoyed every second of it.We're having a pretty good winter.