Kids Updates

Here are some random updates about the kids:

• Davis is all done with daycare.  His last day, after 3 years, was on Thursday.  Next week he starts pre-school.  He will go three days a week for 2 1/2 hours each day, with the option to stay longer for lunch afterwards.  He is very excited about pre-school and "getting bigger".  
• I took Davis to a playdate at his pre-school where I met some of the other parents and he met a lot of his classmates.  He will have 15 kids in his class.  He had a great time at the playdate and didn't want to leave despite falling and cutting open his lip and scratching his face.
• Evan has been teething a lot recently.  He is always a very drooly kid, but in the last week he has got in about 3 teeth.  He has at least 5 now and has handled it very well.
• Evan is starting to crawl.  He is no where near as mobile as Alex, but he can commando crawl his way forward and gets up on his hands and knees a lot.  He can also sit up by himself which helps him a lot.
• Alex is very mobile and very fast.  He pulls up on everything and often can be seen just leaning against something or holding on by one hand.  He can also cruise along things he has pulled himself up on (train table, couch, etc).  Not bad for an 8 month old.  He will probably be walking before Davis did (10 months).
• Alex and Evan love Davis.  They are totally entertained by him and love to watch him play and/or interact with them.
• Alex's favorite toy is the one Evan has.
• Evan's favorite toy is the one Alex has.
• Alex's second favorite toy is a plastic sippy cup.
• Evan's second favorite toy is also a plastic sippy cup.
• Evan is about 22 or 23 pounds.  He is about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds bigger than Alex, but they are about the same length.
• Evan seems to need slightly more sleep than Alex.
• All three boys completed their latest round of swimming lessons.  This was our first session with Alex and Evan.  The twins had their lessons at 6:00pm and Davis at 6:30.  Davis would (mostly) sit on the side of the pool while we were in the water with Alex and Evan.  Then, I take the babies home and Kristen stays with Davis (often swimming in the lap lane that is open).  Its a pretty chaotic time to dinner, then get everybody to the pool.   We'll be doing it again as it has been really great for Davis.  He is a lot more comfortable in the water and has started putting his head under.  It really shows when we go to the Kirkwood pool how much the lessons have helped.  He has even tried swimming without any floatations a few times.  Alex and Evan are very different kids in the water.  Alex loves loves loves to splash the water while Evan is usually trying to eat it.  Its a cute and fun contrast.
• Alex and Evan both sleep through the night (7:30 pm to 6:00am) very reliably.  It is wonderful.  Usually Lilly wakes me up at least once, and frequently Davis wakes me up at least once as well.
• Davis is potty trained (im sure I mentioned this before).  He has done  great job.  He is rarely having accidents and sleeps without a diaper.  He is going a good job waking up at night and going to the potty, though he does seem to need help.  I'm a light sleeper and he usually yells for help and I sit him down then put him back in bed.  I believe it has been several weeks since he has had an accident at night (I knocked on wood).

Update: I started writing this post at 2:00 pm.  When I was watching the kids in the afternoon (around 3:30), Evan got up on all fours and crawled.  No more commando crawling for that kid.

Adbentures in our Ban

It was a typical busy weekend at the Naegle household.  Saturday we went to a friends house in the ebening for Dabis to play with his buddy Luca.  They had great fun in a small pool and playing trains and trucks in the same space.  Sunday we went swimming at our neighbors house in the morning then spend most of the hot day inside before heading to Whittle's Train Shop (a hobby gone horribly wrong as they explain it) in the early ebening.  Today, we trecked to the Missouri Botanical Gardens in the morning then again spent most of the day inside, with a few bentures outside to play in the sprinkler.   I also got in a run with Dabis; Kristen made two solo shopping trips and we gabe Alex and Eban their first bites of "solid food".

Here are a few pictures from the weekend and last week.  The v->b switch in this post is brought to you by Dabis.

Alex and Eban watching Dabis swim in the pool

Dabis swimming by himself

Dabis at the train store

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Drums at the Botanical Gardens

Lilly is a little crazy sometimes

Alex

Eban

Eban would really like to get this whole toy in his mouth

Sprinkler time in the back yard

Sprinkler time in the back yard

Sprinkler time in the back yard

Sprinkler time in the back yard

Sprinkler time in the back yard

Alex before first contact

Alex before first contact

First bite

Rejected!

Dabis really wanted to gibe Alex his first bite

Dabis gabe him the first bite, then let him habe the spoon

Weekend wrap-up

Labor day weekend was a good combination of being busy, relaxing and saying good-bye to summer.  Our heat-wave broke when Hurricane Earl passed off-shore and the weekend was a fantastic 70 to 80 and sunny.  A great break after 5 days of 94, 92, 96, 94 and 95 for highs.

This weekend we:

• Went to the Y.  Freddy's class was cancelled because of the holiday weekend, so we went a little later than usual.  However, we ran into Freddy in the gym and he gave a special 6 person extra hard version of his class.  It was a great workout, much better than we would have done by our selves.
• As part of the next bullet item, we made a quick trip to Ikea for dinner and a new table and chair set for Davis to play with in the living room.  So far, both the cats and Davis approve of the new plastic furniture.
• Saturday we went to our first Revolution soccer game.  Kristen got deeply discounted tickets from Groupon that included a free shirt.  The game was at 7:30, a little late for our little guy, but we went anyways for an adventure and to start testing our parenting comfort zone.  The game, what we saw of it was fun, but Kristen was expecting a European atmosphere as was a little disappointed by the lack of passion from the American fans.  I spent a lot of time out of my seat with Davis walking around, but was rewarded by catching a tee-shirt thrown into the stands at half-time.
• Sunday we went peach picking in North Andover.  Davis had a blast running around the orchard then feeding the animals afterwards.  We fed llamas, goats and a cow.
• After a family nap and sleeping on dad Sunday, we went to our friends for a BBQ.  Davis again had a blast running around, climbing in chairs, eating and playing chase / hide and seek between the air whole-house air conditions.
• Monday we took Davis to a cyclocross practice in Lexington with a few people from Quad Cycles. Kristen and I are both planing on doing a race next weekend so we wanted to get our bikes tuned in and get some technical practice in.  We took turns practicing and supervising Davis eating donuts, peaches, water mellon, water and blue berry muffins by the handfuls.  Unfortunately, I did crash and hurt my right knee a little bit.
• After we got back from practice, Davis took a long nap and we cleaned the house and yard. 
• After naps and an early dinner, we skyped with Grandparents then headed to the nearby sprinkler park for the last time this year.  School starts tomorrow in Arlington and the sprinklers get shut off.

I have some videos from this weekend that are not uploaded anywhere yet, but here are a few pictures from the soccer game:

Exploring the seats before the game

Seattle Fans

With Mom

Hey mom, there is a soccer game over there!

Mom watching the game, Davis watching something else.

Tired guy, right before heading home

Weekend wrap-up in bullet points

Saturday:

• Cranberry Country Triathlon (Kristen)
• An hour at the park playing chase and going down the slides
• Bought a drum, tambourine, moroccos, and other music instruments for $3 at a garage sale
• Fell asleep in the chair together
• Shopping in Arlington Center

Sunday:

• A small cold for Davis
• Breakfast at Ball Square Cafe
• Kristen worked 
• 6.6 mile run with Davis (6:54 miles)
• We went to the Zoo
• No nap
• Raspberry picking (and eating)
• Played the drums
• Water park
• Chicken wings and water melon for dinner
• Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa in Hawaii
• Early bedtime

Next week:

• 11 mile run (John)
• Finish draft of research plan for professor applications (Kristen)
• 8th Anniversary

Two weeks from now:

• First cyclocross race of the year (both of us!)

Four weeks from now:

• Wilimington half marathon (John)
• Wilmington 5k (Kristen and Davis)

Pictures from today:

A great week

Davis and I are winding down are week together.  It has been a blast.  Highlights of the last few days:

• Going out to breakfast with Mom
• Meeting Mom for lunch
• Making a breakthrough at the YMCA child care and being able to get a full workout in
• Going to the beach
• Playing at the sprinkler park
• Lots of tickle and toy time
• Falling asleep on dad for nap time

Davis is a wonder and a joy for us and I throughly enjoyed my time with him this week.  This weekend will be tons of family time and hopefully a full workout for Mom and Dad at the Y and a bike ride on Sunday.

Toes are awesome

It's been a long time since I have blogged..since May in fact.  Luckily, John has been keeping up with posts recently, but I would like to get better at it since it's proving to be important for documenting Davis' development and sheer awesomeness.  So here's a small warmup to get me back in the swing of blogging. 


I don't think I've mentioned it here, but after I defended in May (and officially graduated in June), I began work as a postdoc, joint with my Ph.D. lab and a new lab.  I'm still working out what it all means with regards to where I am and when, but it's awfully comfy to stick around my old stomping grounds and work with the same people I have been working with for years.  The biggest change in my postdoc is that I am now doing biological experiments and very little computation.  It's been quite the change and an eye-opening experience.  I've been completely overwhelmed and it's been pretty hard to go from feeling like you know something to feeling like you know nothing.  I'm blessed with great colleagues who are happy to help me through the learning curve of experiments (and enough of them I can spread out the wealth of my ignorance among them all, decreasing the burden on any one of them, although some still get a pretty heavy dose of me).  I think I enjoy it.  In contrast to when I was doing fabrication, the experiments I'm doing go fast enough to keep me excited about them.  Fabrication work left me pretty unexcited about getting back into the lab, but it's proving to be a completely different mode and timescale (for reference, it was typically 6 months to a year of fabrication before you ever even got to sit down with a device to see if it did what you hoped it would).  One of the hardest transitions to this new way of life is scheduling my day.  I'm eating lunch at 2:30 in the afternoon, missing the gym, and coming home exhausted after a full day of standing and running between labs.  I think as time goes on and I get the hang of things, it will get better.


Davis is growing and changing by the day.  It's cliched, but.. It sure is amazing to see the world through the eyes of a newborn/baby/toddler.  For example, Davis loves the toe song.  You know the one that goes "This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed home..."  When we take off his shoes and socks he looks at his feet and points and I sing the song.  He laughs in delight when the last little piggy runs home.  He usually points again and we sing again..then one more time usually, perhaps a few more times.


John and I are amazed by his capacity to pick new things up and even extend them.  For example, when we went to the water park, he picked up a stick.  When he saw other kids putting things like buckets in the water stream to catch water, he put his stick in it.  Then when a little girl showed him how to catch water with a bucket, he tried it.  The first time we went to the water park he splashed in the puddles on the perimeter.  The second time, he was running through the center where the water was pouring down.  Who knows what he will do next time.


Davis is certainly like his dad was, a "me do it meself" kind of guy.  He gets upset at mealtimes if we try and give him finger food a little at a time.  This morning breakfast went much better when we handed him the entire plate of eggs and toast along with a fork.  He's doing wonderful at feeding himself with a spoon and fork.  We just have to be on the watch for when he finishes in order to catch the plate before it hits the ground.   


We hoped to go camping this weekend, Davis even has his own sleeping bag!  (Davis fell asleep on my sleeping bag on the last trip and I was freezing all night long).  Unfortunately, it looks like thunderstorms will prevent our trip from happening this weekend. 

Water Park

Recently, we've been enjoying taking Davis to the sprinklers/water park at the school near our place.  When we went on Monday, we took a camera and got a few pictures of the little guy spashlin' and enjoying water.