Christmas

Here are some photos from Christmas.

Isaac with his new shovel and broom.

The boys and their fire trucks.

Isaac with Michelle at the Please Touch Museum

Tyler with my Mom

Pre-Christmas

My mom came for a couple days. Here are my mom and Isaac in Rittenhouse.

First time on the big swings!

My littlest guy!


Isaac wearing Mommy's shoes.

Tyler, 1 Month

(Warning: Post written by sleep deprived mom of a newborn, if it is incoherent, sorry!)
Well, as you can imagine, life with 2 little guys is non-stop work (I was going to say "and fun", but let's be honest, it's not fun all the time.) Both boys are doing well, but we are experiencing the understandable adjustment period. Isaac - to life as not the constant center of attention, and Tyler - to life, in general. Isaac loves Tyler and often mauls him with hugs and kisses. And with not getting a lot of sleep, our patience and creativity to deal with issues isn't great. Anyway, we are loving being a family of four and our two sweet boys. Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

Tyler practicing his piano playing.

First Bath


Isaac loves to rake the leaves up and then redistribute them around the yard.

Ben's First Marathon

Ben ran the Philly Marathon in November and we were so proud of him for finishing. Since the race came only 2 weeks after Tyler was born, Ben had been on 1 training run in the month prior to the race and it had only been 7 miles. So I wasn't sure he would be able to finish, but he did and in a great time - 4 hours and 28 minutes. I took both kids out to watch him and it was great to cheer him on. Congrats!!

Here he comes!

Yay Daddy!



There he goes!

Baby Tyler

On November 1, 2011, we welcomed Tyler Daniel Doane to our family. He was born at 7:07pm and was 8 lbs 11oz, 21 inches long. His birth was so much faster and less complicated than Isaac's, for which I am so grateful. I had to be induced, 5 days after my due date, but after starting labor, it only took about 4 hours for him to arrive. It was so wonderful meeting Tyler and getting to hold him and to finally get him out of me! Ben's mom, Grandma Lulu (or as Isaac sometimes calls her, Boo boo!) was here to take care of Isaac and my mom came for a day to see Tyler on his birth day. We are home now and everyone is doing well. Isaac is still trying to measure what is going on and how he fits in to everything, but I am sure he'll settle down once we are return to our regular schedule. It is a lot of energy trying to tend to two little boys right now, and I am grateful for all the help we have received.

Linvilla Orchards

It was a beautiful day yesterday, so we decided to go to Linvilla Orchards, as we do every year to get a pumpkin, maybe some apple picking, see the farm animals and eat apple cider donuts. Stupidly, we went at 4pm on a Saturday and it was a madhouse. And being hugely pregnant and slow, this was not ideal. We got to see the animals which Isaac loves and saw some pumpkins and apples, but the line for apple cider donuts was too long, so we settled for funnel cake. I am trying to do fall things before the baby arrives in 2.5 weeks, but mostly I just want to be sitting on the couch.


Isaac likes to give the baby kisses!

Isaac's favorite thing at school

Dig, dig, dig!

Off to school!

Summer Fun

Well, we survived the earthquake and the hurricane last week! We are also getting Isaac ready for preschool (like getting him a helmet - see below!) He is at such a fun age and we are having a great time playing with him.
I am feeling good, only 2 more months before the new baby arrives!

Dancing with Daddy at Lunch!

Big Boy Bed

Today Isaac transitioned from his crib to a real bed. He loved it which was a relief to us!

Boy World

As we prepare for a new baby boy to arrive in our family... (Did I mention on here that I am pregnant? Well, I am and due at the end of October!), I have been thinking a lot about the realities of being the only girl in a house with 3 boys and being the mother of boys. Here is a great Isaac moment that I caught the other day while he was watching Cat in the Hat, his favorite show. I guess refinement is not going to be a natural tendency in this house!!

Older than 2

Here is Isaac reading with his Daddy on Ben's birthday. Happy Birthday to Ben!

2 Years Old!!!

Today is Isaac's 2nd birthday - Hooray!! I am so proud of him and all he's accomplished this year and for what a sweet and lovely boy he is. When Isaac and I go on walks around the city, he mostly loves to look at and touch fences, chains and anything related to construction. One of his favorite things is Caution tape, so for his birthday, we got a whole roll of it and put it around our house. Isaac was so excited about it and spent most of the day talking about and playing with it.
My mom was here for a birthday visit and we all went to Smith Playground for the morning and then Ben, Isaac and I walked along the river in the evening. It was a great day and Isaac was especially happy all day.

On the Carousel

Gardening with Daddy

Isaac loves helping out in the garden with Ben. But mostly he likes getting sprayed by the hose or watering can.
Sorry this video isn't great, I'm still figuring out video on my iphone.

Dance Video

For all of those people out there who have never seen me dance, or didn't get to see my last show, here are some parts of my performance with Nora Gibson Performance Project from February. Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/21538688
http://vimeo.com/21538073

Trip to the South

A couple of weeks ago, Ben, Isaac and I went down to Memphis to visit Ben's family. Ben and Isaac flew down together so Ben could go to a friend's wedding. I performed again with Nora Gibson Performance Project that day, so therefore had to go a day later. It was a relief to get to warmer nicer weather, as this winter has been long and cold. We were in Memphis for 3 days, during which we went to the Memphis zoo with the Geers, had a great bbq with friends and took Isaac to many parks. Isaac did well, except for refusing to eat everything except Cheerios at every meal.
We then went down to Aberdeen, MS to visit more family, where Isaac had fun playing on the golf course and we were much too close to some tornados.
Back to Memphis for a great Easter dinner and egg hunt, which Isaac did not care about. It was really nice to share Isaac with family and spend some much needed time away from home.

Poconos

Last weekend, we went to the Poconos with Cynthia and Adam, our friends from NYC and their dog, Totti. We rented a farm house and it was great to get away from home. We went on a hike, which Isaac kind of hated, and to the "World's Largest General Store". Sadly, spring is not here yet and it was pretty cold there. With snow forecast tomorrow, warm days are still a ways way.

February

This past weekend, I had my show with Nora Gibson Performance Project and it went really well. My mom came to watch Isaac for me while I had a lot of rehearsals which was very very helpful. I was really touched by all the people who came to my show. It was my first real show in Philly since we moved here, so it was great for my friends to finally see what I do.

The day after my show, we went to Fairmount Park for Isaac to run around and he feel flat on his face on concrete and got this.
There is something so sad about seeing blood running down my child's face. But it's already healing and he doesn't notice it at all.

Tangly Hair

Isaac twirls his hair a lot and lately, he's gotten his hair in knots that take awhile to get out. Here's a video of one of them. Also, at the end of the video, you will here Isaac's new laugh, which attracts lots of attention everywhere we go!

More Charlotte and Isaac