Boy Crazy

The Fagan Boys (Charlie, Colman and Theo) came to visit last week. We like to thank that "Baby Charlie" (now seven) just missed us and told his brothers how great we were. The truth is, it was LegoLand that inspired their journey from San Antonio. We had fun with these sweet boys and it gave me an idea of what it would be like to have five guys! 

 It didn't seem too hard...but maybe cause there were two boy mamas on duty!

Watch out, Fagans, we are coming to San Antonio next!

Don't be a pain in the boat

Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Bill were nice enough (or brave enough) to let us come out on their boat. It was Gus' first boating experience. A man of the sea he is not. But after lots of crying and screaming he proved he was a man of the sleep: 

Leo (a veteran on what was maybe his second boating experience), was comfortable on the boat. Here he is hanging out on the "plank" with cousin Billy.

Cousins Frank and Bill (I know; lots of Bills!) noodling around.

Here is the nanny we hired. I mean Tia!

Every time Leo got in the lake, he announced he needed to go to the bathroom. Luckily, Kathleen and Bill have a potty on their boat because what he needed to do required facilities. No one had ever done that in their boat potty before until Leo did it...twice!

Gus during a brief happy spell

Two of the three Bills

Leo said the boys could sit at the front and the "gwirls" could sit at the back

Captain Leo!

Sleepy Gus

Boating makes you hungry for Goldfish!

Gus doing his "All Done" sign:

After the screaming from Gus and the bathroom christening by Leo, we're not sure we will be invited back. Good thing we have these pictures!

Leo Says the Darndest Things: Part XVIXXVVI

It has been about 18 months since I've posted a "Leo Says the Darndest Things." I've been scribbling things down on Post-Its (or really, these Post-It knock offs that have adhesive on two sides. Weird). So now I think I have enough to share:

A gross darndest thing: 
Leo, age 4 years and 2 months, came into my office after his "relax time" in his room. He said, "May I sit in your lap?" (Leo always says "may," never "can.") "Yes," I told him. "How was your relax time?" And as he's getting comfortable in my lap and I'm thinking how sweet this all is, he says, "Good. I pooped in my pants."

After we cleaned up the poop incident he said he needed to go pee. When he came out of the bathroom he said, "I have bad news and I have good news. Which do you want to hear first?" (And although that statement/question was the funny part I should tell you that the good news was that he peed in the potty, rather than his pants, but the bad news was that his aim was off and some of it landed on the floor.)

A sweet darndest thing: 
"I wish there were two Guses," Leo said. "Why?" I asked. "Because I like to play with him so much. It would be great if there were two of him."
And another sweet one about Gus:
Leo told a lady at swim lessons, "This is my baby brother, Gus!" The lady said, "I bet you love him." Leo said, "I love him more than you even think I do."

Two funny word confusion darndest things: 
"I know what they call doctors who take care of animals. Vegetarians!"

"What would happen if a volcano interrupted?"


A funny/smart darndest thing: 
Leo was playing with a big ball this morning and calling it a piñata. He said, "When you hit a regular piñata the candy falls out but in this case, the candy comes shooting out."
IN THIS CASE? Are you kidding me?

If only he didn't cry because his cheese cube that he wasn't eating anyway fell on the ground, then I'd say he was four going on 40.

Pictures are always better set to music

Especially when the music is Bon Jovi! 

Here is a video of Claire and John's visit from Atlanta (Roswell) to Dallas (Frisco). It's been two months since we've seen our friends but of course it was like no time had passed. Claire and I never stopped chatting and Leo and John never stopped playing, fighting and wrestling. 

As Leo noted, Frank and Gus were "sad because Tyler and Mr. Josh weren't there." But as you'll see, they made do with Claire and John! 

He ain't sweaty, he's my brother

Things are heating up here so when we're not in the water, we're inside, trying to have some fun. 

Here are Gus and Leo sporting their adorable crab shirts from the Robinson family. Leo loves that his has a pirate hat and Gus's doesn't, "because he is a baby and babies can't be pirates." 

Raiding the pantry...Leo is teaching Gus about the wonders of Entenmann's muffins:

Leo loves to climb into Gus' crib when he wakes up from a nap (and throw in all the stuffed animals). Gus doesn't seem to mind:

Sometimes Gus is the instigator!

Leo teaching Gus how to chug:

I think he's got it!

What a difference...

ONE YEAR MAKES! 

(And I'm not just talking about my hair length!)

Gus has been here ONE YEAR!

Gus had his first birthday on June 10th. Well, it was really his second birthday. Our whole birthday system is a little peculiar. Let's call it "The First Anniversary of his Birth." Until now Leo has been telling people that Gus is "zero." Now he can say that he is "one." So that's sort of a big deal. We had a small party at our new home in Frisco. Gus hesitated at first but eventually tore into the cake:

Frank used to always comment, "Leo looks more like a kid now" and I think it happened around 18 months. I'm not sure if it's the hair or the shoes but Gus is looking more and more like a kid. He also sports two piece outfits (shorts and t-shirts rather than onesies) which adds to his kid-ness.

I'm happy to report that after one year, Gus' head hasn't spun around, revealing an evil personality. He's still jolly and laid-back 91% of the time. That's down from 95% because we have to account for him developing more of an opinion about things like toys, food and climbing the stairs. So the kid wails a little more than he used to but it's nothing his blankie can't fix. TGFTB...ATT (Thank God for the Blankie...And The Thumb). But usually he's content or happy or laughing or blowing raspberries and then laughing hysterically. He also claps and I'm pretty sure he says "yay" when he does that.

Gus eats like a kid. When we go out to a restaurant, he orders a grilled cheese sandwich or it's Mexican counterpart, the quesadilla. He likes Goldfish, mac n cheese and pancakes. (Hmmm, I'm not making myself look like mother of the year in the food department.)

Leo definitely loves Gus. Just today he asked if he could sit in the Boppy and hold Gus. (It was a year ago tomorrow that we brought Gus home from the hospital and I recall Leo not being very eager to hold his brother.) But today he wants to hold him and squeeze him, a little too hard. So that's our main issue--Leo being too rough. Our secondary issue is Gus destroying Leo's train tracks. Sometimes Leo says, "I hate Mus!" (his nickname for Gus) but we know he doesn't mean it. Right?

I mean, how could you hate this face?

We love you, Gus! We are looking forward to many more fun anniversaries of your birth!