Bathtime

Tonight PJ wanted to do everything himself. After we finished dinner, I said it was time for a bath. I started the bath water and then went to let Cheyenne outside. PJ was with me and so we chatted about getting undressed and getting in the tub. Well before I could say anything more, PJ took a left into the bathroom and right into the tub! All of his clothes and his poopy diaper!

Rain Boots

The rain has started in the Pacific Nortwest.  PJ finally gets to wear his super cool fire truck rain boots his Auntie Amanda gifted him.  I love this picture because it also captures how difficult it is to get PJ to look at the camera, but with Daddy's help we got a picture of PJ's cute face and his cute boots!

Going Away Party

Tonight we went to a little shindig to send off some friends we made this last year through Eastlake Church. It was nice to see them one last time before they head out of Seattle. PJ took advantage of the swanky place that we met at and enjoyed some calamari. I love him so much, he is such a good eater right now.

Sunday with G-ma

Today we had to spend most of the day out of the house, due to our open house. To keep our little man happy and occupied we started with a visit to see some ducks. Our first stop of the day was a success! PJ loved the ducks, and even better that G-ma was with us. We also went to church, dim sum, city walk, and Third Place Books. The book store even had a little performing arts show with some local Bollywood dancers of all ages. A fun Sunday!

Timeout Square

PJ is starting to hit out of frustration and lack of words. We have started timeouts. At first we would pick him up and run him to the crib. At about day 3, PJ has started thinking it is fun to go to the crib. So, now we have a more immediate location, a square blanket close to wherever we are at. It's been really funny seeing PJ try to take control of timeout. I managed to get one photo, from at least 20 visits to the square!

Fun Friday

PJ, G-Ma and I had a fun day! We spent some time together at the Everett Children's Museum and played a bunch at home. The museum was awesome! PJ had a great time pretending to drive a bus, played trains, flew on a pretend airplane, and slid on a fire truck slide. A totally fun place.





PJ's latest new word is apple. This afternoon he carried an apple around everywhere he went. When we sat down for dinner he was still holding it. Although PJ never ate much from it, he held the apple close to him.

G-Ma to the Rescue

While I am out of town, Ry has been getting the house ready to be put on the market by Friday, PJ is super sick with an ear infection and hand/foot/mouth disease, we have plans to go to Colorado for the weekend, and Ry just got a big project at work.  So with all that on Ry's plate, it was best to ask for some help.   PJ lots of hugs and extra attention when he is sick, he goes from happy to sad to happy again all in about 5 minutes.  You can feel like you have been on quite a roller coaster by the end of the day, so G's help was perfect timing.  G-Ma showed up early Wednesday afternoon and from what I hear Ry has been super productive with the house stuff and work, while G-Ma handled PJ.
Thanks G!  See you guys soon!

Sick and a Daycare Moment

Today PJ had to be picked up early due to a high fever, and was taken straight to the doctor.  Either PJ has a fever due to his right inner ear being swollen or turns out a lot of the kiddos have Hand/Foot/Mouth disease at daycare.  PJ has to take amoxocilin for the next ten days and we pray that in the next couple days he doesn't show any signs for hand, foot or mouth rashes.  Apparently those symptoms may take a couple days to show up. 
I doubt Ry will be able to share a picture tonight, he has his hands full!  Instead here is a sweet moment PJ's teacher shared with us about their day yesterday.

While on the changing table today Porter had put his hands together in the same hand motion we use to start our fingerplay song "Slippery Fish". Porter's teacher asked him if he wanted to sing "Slippery Fish" and Porter shook his head "yes". While Porter's teacher sang the song, Porter did all of the correct hand motions for all four verses with different animals in each verse. When the song ended Porter's teacher started to clap and said "Yay Porter" and Porter lifted both hands and said "Hurray".

FaceTime with 4 Legged Baby

This evening I got to FaceTime with Ry but it was too late to see PJ. Instead I got to see my furry baby. All is well at the home front, but I sure miss everyone already.

Showing Off the New Haircut

Since I am out of town all week, Ry is sending me regular pictures from home.  Its not fun being on the road without my boys, but the pictures help.  Today I got a picture of our handsome little boy, looking much more like a boy and less like a baby with his new haircut.

Haircut

PJ got his first professional haircut today!  I was out on my way to China for another business trip, so Ryan took PJ on his own to the barber.  I think Ry deserves major kudos for not only being willing to go by himself but that PJ stayed in the chair happily throughout the whole event!  The hairstylist gave PJ a calculator to keep him busy, which seemed to work, it was obviously not her first rodeo. 

 

First sitting in the chair, about to get started

Getting the top cut.  Look at at how good he sits still.

The back is now getting trimmed.
Note the calculator that distracted PJ for the whole haircut.

Almost done, using the calculator as a phone. 



Antique?

Today we had to sign some papers in an office. To keep PJ occupied he was given a real landline telephone. The first ten minutes he had no idea what to do with it. Once we showed PJ what to do with the handset, he had a fun time pretending to call Poppy.

17 Months

PJ is 17 months today and I am 20 weeks along with his baby brother.  Wow!  When I was 20 weeks along with PJ I had no idea the next two years would go by so fast and that I would need a blog to write it all down to remember.  This month has been fun.  We had awesome weather to get PJ outdoors, where he is still at his happiest and now he is trying to talk a lot more so we spend a lot of time identifying whatever he points to, while he tries to repeat us.

PJ's latest vocab consists of lots more sounds and babling with a few more specific words.  The specific words we hear a lot are doggo, truck (sounds more like 'ruck' and it is used to identify all cars, trucks and tractors), ball, uh-oh (which sounds more like 'oh?'), owe when he bumps his head, airplane sounds whenever he sees an airplane, bus, bird, milk, Dada, Poppy and Momma.  PJ calls me Momma and generally saves the whiniest tone of the word for me, he also calls Ry, Poppy and G-Ma, Momma.  They all get the most happy excited version.  Also sometimes when we are reading about tractors he points to the tractors and says 'Momma!', which I reply, 'yes Poppy has a tractor', in which PJ then nods and seems pleased that I understood what he said.  If you tell PJ to go give Daddy, Poppy or G-Ma something, he will identify the person correctly, but we all get the name Momma.  So although PJ can say Poppy and Dada, he has yet to use them to properly identify his two favorite people.  We continue to look at pictures daily and identify all of our family memebers, but for now, we are all Momma. 

PJ is getting taller, finally wearing 18 months clothes, although some of the pants we have are too big around the waist eventhough they are long enough.  Such is the life of being a Hammell/Younkin. 

PJ is big into climbing this month as well as getting down by jumping.  Super frightening for mom, but brings him such glee.  He loves his ride-on toy, which we keep outside, so inside he has created all of his trucks, small and large as ride on toys.  Its pretty funny seeing him test out which toy will work best to hold his weight and scoot around on.  We also had a lot more dance parties this month.  PJ loves music and always has, but lately he has been requesting the  music to be on and he likes to just move with it while he plays. Although PJ walks very well and at times will seem very independent; he stills requires we carry him a lot of places when we are out.  I may need to encourage more walking as he is starting to get heavier, but I do enjoy the cuddles andsoon he won't want to be carried at all.

So as another month has passed, PJ continues to improve on his already learned skills, and continues to remind us that whatever we are used to is old news. 

Wow 17 months already!

Colorful Art

Today PJ's face was covered in pink and purple watercolors.  It was quite a sight, but sadly I couldn't get him to sit still long enough for you to see his purple cheeks and pink and purple lips.  I did get a picture of the art that he was creating amidst marking up his face.  Below his purple and pink work, is a coffee filter with brownish orange paint on it that he made earlier in the week.   

Long Hair- Mullet Maybe?

I think its time for a haircut.  PJ's hair continues to grow long and thick in the back, yet his top/front area is still a bit thin and short.  Although the cutest mullet, its still mullet looking and so its time to do something about it.  Stay tuned for a haircut post this weekend.
Another interesting note about this photo is that PJ helped himself to that apple he is eating.  He got it from the center of the dining room table.  I wish I had my camera on me when I caught him climbing the bench and laying on top of the table to reach for the apple.  His face looked so innocent and yet his body was laying on the table!

PJ sitting in his chair, eating an apple, showing off the crazy back of his head hair!

Boys in a Box

Last night at the chili cook off X and PJ had a great time. I just found this picture on Ry's phone and has to share. Alberto put both boys in a cardboard box and pushed them around, much to their delight!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a fantastic family day today.  We went to a Sausage Festival in Everett and then to a pumpkin patch in Snohomish, with the day ending at a chili cook-off at the Curling Club.  The Sausage Festival was basically just a school carnival, but it checked off a bucket list tiem for Ry.  We have seen signs for this festival every year for the last 8 years around this time, and today we did it!  Although a silly carnival it was great people watching and the weather was perfect! 
Taking advantage of the unbelievablely nice weather we headed to a pumkpin patch to meet up with our friends Ryan, Katherine and Noah.  Noah is PJ's friend from daycare and he has parents that we really like a lot.  It was fun mosing around the pumpkins and watching the boys pull/push the wagons and get their hands in the dirt. 
After the pumpkin patch, our friends Katie and Alberto invited us to a chili cook-off, where we didn't have to bring anything more than an opionion and an appetite.  So obviously we headed to the curling club to meet up with them.  There was qutie a variety of chili to rate and fill our bellies with, while little X and PJ had a great time chasing each other around the room.  A nice little Sunday!

PJ and Ry with our pumpkins

PJ is trying to figure out if its best to pull or push this wagon

Noah's Dad got a great picture of PJ marching around.  I love his belly in this picture!

Family photo, PJ is nearly 17 months old!

Baby # 2, arriving ~3/1/2013!

Yep, its true, we will be having another boy and we couldn't be more thrilled.  The best news of all is that the baby is looking healthy and growing right on schedule.  Our ultrasound appointment was 1.5 hours, which sounds long, but the time went by so fast!  We couldn't get enough of seeing his hands, feet, profile, and really any or all of him.  We were already talking about names before we left the room, but don't count on hearing that bit of news until the arrival of our bundle of joy.  That's right we are going to keep his name a secret, but luckily its just another 21 weeks...