This is why daddies are the best

Not quite stories

1. It's funny to see which words the boys will snatch out of our sentences and repeat. My favorite so far is "nostril." Less funny is how some words are pronounced. Guess how Liam shortens the word firetruck. You'll have to figure it out, I'm not going to tell you. Also suspicious sounding is "sit," "seat," and "shirt." I just hope they don't drop any bombs at church...

2. Skyping is still a weekly ritual. Sometimes though when we first connect with Sean's family, they sound... well, they sound like squirrels.

 (squirrely skype from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

And it is sooo funny!

3. Sean finished his Sub-I! Despite the hours, Sean enjoyed it. There was a little boy who had gotten a G-tube inserted but after noticing some signs, Sean discovered that the boy had a life-threateningly low hemoglobin count. Thanks to Sean, that boy is alive. I could tell that day how proud and honored Sean was to have helped in such a way.

It wasn't too bad for us at home, either. Because I knew it was going to be a yucky schedule, it didn't seem so awful whilst in the middle of it. Plus, the crazy call schedule at least added some variety. We were all looking forward to an easier Neurology rotation. We all had to take a hard swallow, then, when Sean started work on Monday at 8am and wasn't done until 8pm. At least he's assured he'll get two days off when the baby's born. So much for taking it easy while Sean has more time to help.

4. It's so wonderfully fun to teach the boys new games. Sean and the boys have a blast playing Hide and Seek:

 (hide and seek from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

Their favorite part is the start of the search- sometimes their excitement in finding dad is a little lackluster. We also just started playing Red Light Green Light, which they think is awesome. Though the idea of suddenly stopping still mystifies them. Had they been drivers, their licenses would have been taken away long ago.

5. I've never been this pregnant before. Were this my first pregnancy, I would have delivered (by induction) a week ago. That's bizarre. And I'm tired. Oh how tiresome is the last month of pregnancy. Things falling on the floor is the bane of my current existence. I should get one of those grabber hand things. Yeah, that's a great idea! Someone bring me a grabber hand!

6. I got things all set up to make a yummy dessert together as a family. We put all the ingredients mixed, got the blondies cooked, and cooled the dessert. I had just finished drizzling on chocolate before I scampered over to the recipe to make sure there weren't any more steps. Just as I looked back, there was Liam, reaching up to the Pyrex dish. My very urgent "no!" went unheeded and down came the dish. And how it did crash. Glass spread to every corner of the kitchen. At least there were no injuries. But we didn't get a single bite of that glass-dusted dessert. Such a shame.

Window Buns

They're going to be so mad at me when they're older.

Cuddling Cold Boys

I love my family.

So incredibly much.

Bubble Beards

One day I poured a little bubble solution in their bath. Guess what the kids have demanded every day since. This day, we decided to sport some bubble beards.

Liam really owned the look.

Dash just giggled the whole time.

Sean added a little volume to his scruff.

And no one told me how lame my beard was. Dang.

Technology

With Great Vocab Comes Great Responsibility.

Pontification Part the First: I used to take such pride in being the one person on the planet who could completely understand every word that came out of my children's mouth. Sometimes it would take a minute of pondering but I'd always eventually figure it out. But as their vocabulary is expanding faster than their ability to ennunciate, I often find myself at a loss.

Currently, "nee noo" is a complete mystery. As far as I can tell, they use it when they want something really bad. But the translation I have no idea.

Sometimes words are so similar, I have to run through a mental list before I hit upon the winner.

"Bah!" You found a ball? You see a bus? Oh, there's a bug!

"Tah tow!" You want a toy tractor? There's potatoes on your tray? Ah, you'd like more tomatoes!

Don't get me wrong, they're able to communicate so much more now and we're all happier for it. But I can no longer claim to be the end-all be-all translator for the boys. I scratch my head with everyone else.

Pontification Part the Second: Most of the things they first learned as a sound ("moo" for a cow) or learned to sign are slow to translate verbally. They still say more animal noises than their names. Many vehicles are still "ptttttt." Flowers are still a waving hand.

Sometimes we'll have them repeat things we read, word by word. We'll go like this, "The... dog... is... in... the... plane." And they interject,"... ta... dah... iss... in... ta... PTTTTTT!" The sound effect just takes over!

Bit by bit, though, they're coming around. Recently they've actually starting saying "car" (well, "caw"). It all just takes time.

Pontification Part the Third: All this talking shows us what they really care about by way of repetition. Things I most often hear each day is, "dada work," "dada home," and "dada PTTT [spinning hand around]." The latter sentence refers to when their dad flew a propeller airplane over a month ago. So it's not only obvious they're obsessed with their dad but it shows me what sticks with them. They often do the giraffe sign followed by "zoo. eat," talking about when we fed the giraffes at the zoo. TWO months ago. Whenever we hear a lawn mower going, they exclaim, "gampa!" since Grandpa Z cut our grass while they watched during their last visit, which was ages ago.

It's neat to see what's important to them, what sticks with them. I like this talking thing.

Peekeeboo!

When the water's all drained and the boys are out of the tub, we flop their towels atop their heads. What do they say when they pull their towels back?

Peekee boo kee!

Or sometimes even peekee boo kee boo kee boooooo. Some variation on the classic.

And it's soooooo cute!

(Here they are playing peekaboo with their wet napkins at lunchtime-notice how Dash's original version sounded rather similar to something, erm, offensive:

 [peekeeboo1 from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.]

Thankfully, he's a peekeebooker now.)

Playground Scuffle

Sometimes, this is just how things go:

What's life without a little tribulation

Courtesy of Sean

Sean's finishing up call right now and we're all missing him like crazy. He can't get home soon enough! So in the mean time, let's enjoy some images from Sean's point of view.

Why, I DO have eyelashes!

I always think they like my kisses but then I see pictures like this that make me wonder...

Those men in my life, they sure have the world's best eyes!

36 weeks (almost)

I was looking forward to this week's doctor's appointment for months, for we'd finally get another peek at our little man. The point of the ultrasound was to check if he is head down... he is! Good work, little monkey. I was hoping we'd get a printout but the PA just point out a few things and that was that. I guess we'll meet him soon enough, right? As consolation, here's one of me:

Not much change since I last updated. I just weight more, my feet look like the belong to a fatted pig, and I celebrate the rare occasion when I wake up only one time at night to use the bathroom. Oh, also, while my hip pain is a bit better during the day, it is killer at night- wakes me up more than my bladder. I'm getting GREAT practice for the baby night wakings.

And though I'm still hoping he doesn't come early, we're getting very excited for our new bundle. We think we've decided on a name, just working on the middle name. Maybe we'll announce that when it's finalized (if you ask, we'll probably tell you what we're thinking). I'm getting my birth plan in order and reading lots of books. Getting his room together is coming slooooowly. Probably because everything I do nowadays is sluggish. But I decided to find a picture of myself at almost this same point when I was pregnant with the boys:

Ah, I am smaller than last time!

What do your elf eyes see?

Bread and Fish

There's a shopping area nearby that surrounds a big koi pond. One night, we took some heels of bread over to do a little fish feeding.

Oh the delight on their faces when the boys saw that first morsel of bread get gobbled up.

Then they were machines- grab a piece, throw it overboard, grab, throw, grab, throw. As fast as they could manage.

Sometimes we'd scoot from one spot to another just to see how quickly the fish would follow. Practically instantaneous.

Those fish, I tell you, they take no prisoner when it's feeding time!

And now whenever I bring out a piece of bread for the boys to eat, they talk about how we fed it to the fish. Ah, the simple memories.

Chopstick Prowess

Chopsticks are hard to use, right? Well, not for Sean but for me it is. And for the boys it was... until they used the little chopstick assist devices.

Dash was popping those tomatoes in one after the other. No problem.

Okay, maybe a little more practice is necessary and an extra hand has to come in to assist on occasion. But I tell you what, Former-Hmong-Missionary Dad is crazy proud. (They've come a long way.)

Old Man Pants

Flotation

I have two little boys that are slowwwly getting the hang of floating on their own (with floaties). Here's how a pool trip usually goes down.

They start out in the little pool where floating's no big deal. The bottom of the pool is readily available any time they decide to stop floating.

Then we graduate to the big pool. When we let go they excitedly/anxiously try to reach us again.

Sometimes if we're evading them too much for their liking, they bob over to the side. They're deft wall sliders.

But after a while, they get comfortable and start really enjoying a float on their own. Such brave boys. (Please ignore the giant bubble woman floating next to the cute child.)

Chapped Lips

The new thing: Chapstick.

Good for chapped lips.

Fun for the toes.

Perfect spittoon capabilities.

Excellent pucker practice.

Sub-I

Sean's doing his Sub-Internship this month. What's a sub-I? Well, you're first year of residency is called your Intern Year. So as a sub-intern, Sean has more responsibility and assumed knowledge/experience than a regular med student but not as must as a first-year resident.

Well, that's how it's supposed to be but it sure seems like he's required to work more than the residents. He only gets one day off a week (which I think may be standard fare during his intern year. Oy.). In the last week, he's been on call three times. Meaning, he goes to work at 6am and isn't done until the next morning at 10:30am (at best!). Can you imagine having three nearly 30 hour shifts in a week;s time? I added it up and from last wednesday to today, he's worked more than 100 hours. The man's tired.

He hasn't had much of a chance to be reflective but I think he's enjoying it some. He likes having more independence, he likes being able to be more involved, he likes that he actually does know things beyond the level of a regular med student. If only he didn't have to work so darn much.

We at home sure miss him. In the near future he'll start having to take residency interview trips, so at least this experience is preparing me for that. But we also make the most of all the time that he's home. It's a hot commodity. We all love him so.

Let me leave you with one of the best conversations I have ever heard.

Sean: What did you do today?
Liam: Eat.
Dash: Toot.

Olympics

The television has been on an unprecedented amount since the Olympics began. We all can't get enough. I keep trying to go to bed early but never succeed because the sports just suck me in. My favorite is probably volleyball, followed by gymnastics. The boys, however, only tolerate those events- they often request to see more bikes, we just found out that they think equestrian jumping is hilarious, but they most enjoy swimming.

Oh how often they request "pool." Actually, it's more like the most pitiful "poooooooooooooool" you can imagine.

But then when "pool" is on, they're happy as can be!

I'm not a very good swimmer, so you tell me: how's their form?

New Chairs

I swear they wear pants. Sometimes.

Doodle

It's so funny to see how these two boys change. For the longest time, Dash was hardly interested in coloring. A couple lines maybe and then he'd want someone else to draw for him while he watched (and directed). Liam would scribble away. Then, a month or so ago, he started coloring like crazy. Out of the blue. I don't know the impetus but Dash suddenly couldn't get enough.

Since then, they've had phases of favorite particular mediums. First crayons, then colored pencils, then markers (do other moms like markers? Man, they are so annoying). Now, their medium of choice is the Magna Doodle.

I think Liam just drew a pepper!

I think the boys like it for the same reasons I do: draw, erase, draw something new. No muss no fuss.

Look how they can pour their intense focus on their art. Ah, I love it.