Bottling Day

It's bottling day at Cellar de Block (our as yet unnamed winery in the cellar below our garage).  We are in the midst of bottling about 300 bottles of Chardonnay and 600 bottles of Cabernet. 
How very Walla Walla of us right?



The Chard

Haydn rocking the Cab

Me manning the syringe station (taking out excess from each filled bottle to get it ready for the corking station (Pete) behind me

 

I'd say that I totally can't wait to drink this wine -- but wait, I already am!

My 9 month old, today

I get these BabyCenter.com emails that tells me what my "9 month old, today" is up to.  Well, I'll tell you what he's up to.  He's making his mom & dad and everyone around him smile from ear to ear constantly.  He is a barrel of laughs, he follows his sister all over the house from dusk til dawn, he sleeps like an angel, he eats like a horse, and he is by far, the sweetest and most adorable 9 month old that has ever lived
(except for his sis of course). 
I'm going to show him this post when he's 15 and I'm ready to strangle him!
Jameson Coen Andrew Block - we love you!!!

Simpatico

I like to call this one:  Mothers of the High Energy Child unite!

Thank you two for coming all this way to celebrate with us.  You are the BEST!

The Party {to end all parties}

This weekend we celebrated, big time.  I've mentioned "my Stacy's" before, the ones that have girls born in February 2009.  We all put together, along with Stacey's sister Avril (who's little girl, Emma, was born 2/6/09) a four way 2 year old birthday party.   And we had a freaking blast!  All in all we think there were about 60 adults and 20 kids at the party. On top of it all, on Friday night before the party Andy left to go pick up some Thai for dinner while I cleaned....and he came back with my MOM!!  They got me good, and I am not easy to surprise!  I am so happy she was here!!!  Angela & Deven also came over from Seattle and as always, we had so much fun with them.  We are so blessed with wonderful friends and family and feel so fortunate to have made so many great friends since moving to Walla Walla...Thanks everyone for making this such a special day!

Celebrating Sofia (2.3.09), Emma, (2.6.09), Hadley (2.12.09) and Junie (2.25.09)

The bouncy house!

So happy with Gramma

Grandma Vicki & Jameson

Twins :)

Deliciousness

The spread

Not only gorgeous, but delicious

Amazing!

Avril and her girls Emma & Alina & Auntie Stacey

Bouncy!

Me & the Staceys

Hads goofing off with Daddy

Peter & Evie (3 months)

Junie's awesome "cheese" face!

All of us with our girls!

Hads, me, Stac, Sofia

Ange & Dev came from Seattle to help celebrate and eat cake :)

 

Sam & Eli helping with the pinata

Tall Girl?!

Hadley had her 2 yr appointment and to the Dr's surprise (and total hapiness) Hadley weighed in at 24.2 lbs -- which is in the 25th %!  She gave me big kudos for the gluten free diet, since obviously it's working.  Our girl went from the 5th % to the 25th % in the last 5 months!  Amazing!

She also checked in at 33.5 inches...which is 2 ft 9 in or something....they say if you double your kid's height at the age of 2 that that will be their height as an adult...what's that like 5'6''?!  (Forgive my math, I don't have my ten-key handy) What the heck right?  So weird coming from such a long line of short women :)

Two.

Today the little girl who made me a mommy turns two years old!  Yep, I'm definitely going to cry.  I will never forget how I felt the moment I first saw her at 10:42pm, how nervous I was the day we brought her home to our apartment in Zurich, the way I felt when she took her first steps on Christmas day at the house I grew up in, how happy it made me the first time she said "mommy" when I was tucking her in for bed.  It is hard to imagine that two years have already gone by.  I remember every little thing like it was yesterday, and I hope I always do.  I could not love her more, or be more proud of her as a little person.  I am so looking forward to years to come but at the same time I want to freeze time and never forget her right now, all the little things about her. Her messy blonde bed head, how she swaps her binkys in her sleep, how she smells like a cabbage patch doll because she is forever carting hers around, that she'll only eat oatmeal 99% of the time, the way she says "dowy and bowie" for daddy & buddy, how she laughs when I tickle her, how she has little toddler conversations with her brother about what he should eat and where he should go (she's bossy!)...this kid is the whole package.  She is smart, funny, beautiful, independent, defiant, opinionated, and above all, the the most amazing little girl I've ever met (I might be just a tad biased).  At times, she can make me want to pull my hair out, or have a drink with lunch, but mostly she just makes me smile and want to keep her safe forever and ever. 

Happy 2nd birthday Hadley Rose Block.  You are one in a million.

Poop

Don't worry, I won't include a picture! 

Ok, so anyone that knows us, knows that Andy & I do not discuss poop.  Like, ever.  I don't poop, he doesn't poop - no one in this family poops! 

Except for, drumroll please, miss Hadley! 

I will be the first to admit, I would be happy if my kid stayed in a diaper until she's 4.  I have my hands full over here and potty training has been the last thing on my mind.  However, I am learning as I go here, and I have learned that it doesn't so much matter what's on my mind, but what is on Hadley's mind. 

All the Grandmas kept telling me that Hadley was ready to potty train, and I totally ignored them.  I even ignored when Grandma Allison brought over two super cute matching pottys (upstairs & downstairs) a potty calendar and potty treats...totally ignored it. 

Well, I can officially tell you that my kid didn't ignore it, in fact, she went gangbusters on that thing and I kid you not, potty trained herself today.  I still have her in a diaper, mostly cause I don't have any big kid undies for her yet, but not ONCE today did she actually go in it.  Every time (#1 & #2) she had to go, she whipped that thing off so fast and went running to the bathroom to use the pot, much to my chagrin! 

So I guess that's that!  Now mommy just needs to get on board and figure out how we're going to approach trips out of the house and night time and all that, but I think it's pretty safe to say that not only are we a mere 6 days from having only one child under the age of two, dare I say it -- we're about to have only one in diapers!

Time for another?

(Totally kidding)

Bowie wants yogurt.

I couldn't get Jameson to eat anything yesterday. 
So big sister decided to take over.  She went over to the fridge and proclaimed, "Bowie wants yogurt".  (Bowie = Buddy = Jameson)
Turns out, she was onto something.
After feeding him the whole container, she then gave him a bath, a bottle and put him to bed. 
What do they even need me for anymore?

Move it, move it!

I totally swore I would never let my kid watch TV til she was 5. Whoops :)
Move it move it = Madagascar....we've watched nine hundred thousand times.

Rough Start

I never used to be one to get sick often, but since having the kids I can't seem to stay out of the sick house this winter! I am laid up in bed with my second major cold of 2011. I'm sure they are thrilled at work...of course they'd probably be less thrilled with me showing up in my current state. This 102.7 fever I swear is more stubborn than my almost 2 year old - and we are talking stubborn!

I want my mommy!