Silence

Sometimes when I haven't updated in awhile it's because not much is going on. Other times (like, say, the past month) it is because there is TOO much going on. Here is what has been going on around here:

1. Chris starts a new job tomorrow! He's had three and a half weeks off between jobs which seems like it would make things less busy and not more. But there is a certain power to routines and we have been far out of ours. He was initially planning on working a two week notice and then taking a week off, but circumstances conspired in a way that made that unnecessary. He's been keeping plenty busy, but I know he's looking forward to starting the new job.

2. Because Chris hasn't been working (and I only work part time) we have been taking Jacob and Alex on various "adventures". We went to the Children's Discovery Museum one week which was both very fun and completely exhausting. The next week, Chris's grandparents were in town and so the six of us went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Everyone had a great time and it was really a lot of fun to see Jacob playing with Chris's grandfather. Our BIG adventure, though, was a road trip down to San Diego to go to the zoo. We drove down Monday, went to the zoo on Tuesday, and drove back Wednesday (by way of the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield). A whirlwind trip to be sure, but we had a wonderful time. It was Alex's first time traveling and we learned a little about his style - which will serve us well in another month when we head to the east coast!

3. We celebrated Easter with our friends: This has become somewhat of a tradition since we don't have much family around and most of our friends don't really do their own celebrations. Also, we have the only household that does egg rolling (now with an actual egg rolling board and not a bookshelf propped on a box) so obviously everyone wants to come here! Total chaos ensued, everyone seemed to have fun, and the boys were so worn out that we got a later start to San Diego than we intended - but we all got a solid 8 hours of sleep which is extremely rare these days so we could not complain at all about that.

4. Alex started solid foods: So far, it's just been rice cereal (he's not a fan) and applesauce (he's a HUGE fan). We will be trying butternut squash later today. He actually still hasn't figured out the whole spoon thing - he still sticks his tongue out every time we put the spoon in his mouth which sort of defeats the purpose. But he does get very excited about the applesauce. His 6 month appointment is on Wednesday already!

5. We found a new daycare: Since Jacob's been going to the Cisco daycare, we had to find a new daycare. He's actually still going to Cisco through the end of this week - you have to give them 30 days notice, which also means he can stay for 30 days past Chris's last day. Starting next Monday he will be going to a Montessori pre-school that is not too far from our house. He will still be going three days a week, but in order to get him in as soon as possible he is switching from Monday, Wednesday, Friday to Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. This means no more 123Grow but realistically we haven't been going much anyway. I was little hesitant about the whole Montessori thing - it seems so buzzwordy - but we really like what we saw there. We were really spoiled by the Cisco daycare and we weren't having much luck finding a good replacement until we found this preschool. Alex will be able to start on his first birthday - but not a day before because of the way they are licensed. This might mean that we have to get a little creative in a few months. Jacob stopped coming to work with me when he was 9 months old because he was just getting too busy to bring with me. But Alex seems to have a much more easy going demeanor so we will just have to see how things play out.

I understand that each of these things could be a post on its own. We obviously have pictures and stories from our adventures that I didn't post here. So my plan is for this to be an overview and over the next few weeks (and after I have all of the pictures in the same place) I will post more details since things will sort of be settling down a little more. That's the plan.