2/07/2012

Getting back into the swing of things

As I said in my last post (about nine months ago now), the longer you put off writing a new post, the harder it seems to be to make yourself sit down and actually write the post!

We've been busy over the last nine months! The biggest happening, of course, would be the addition of Island Baby! We welcomed our bouncing baby boy a couple of days before Thanksgiving. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 8 oz., and measured 20.75 inches long (the smallest of all three kids, by birth weight, and tied with his sister for shortest birth length!). Now, at two-and-a-half months old, he is already fighting like mad to catch up to his brother and sister and be able to move along with them. I don't imagine that he will leave me much time to sit still! Thankfully, when he does slow down, he is a fantastic snuggler, smiler, and coo-er. That more than balances out being exhausted at the end of the day for me!

Other happenings: Island Boy is now in pre-school for a few hours each morning and is loving it! Island Girl is working her way quickly into full-blown "two-dom" and is extremely verbal as well as extremely active. I have caught her trying to scale the bookshelves on more than one occasion.

We have been thoroughly enjoying our time on the Island, and have taken advantage of some amazing travel opportunities that life in the middle of the Pacific provides. In May, Island Dad and I used a visit from Island Nanny as an excuse to take a "babymoon," and went on a long weekend to Osaka and Kyoto (Japan) while Island Nanny stayed with Island Boy and Island Girl. Then, at the end of July, we took a family vacation to Tokyo. We saw many wonderful sights (and it's always nice just to see the sights of a city, anyway!), and also got Island Boy and Island Girl their first taste of Disneyland with a one-day visit to Tokyo Disney. It's safe to say that they weren't the only ones among us who had fun that day. Island Dad and I did also enjoy learning much more about the history and the culture of the city. At almost two and almost four, the older kids already have more stamps on their passport than I did until the age of, well, 29!

All three Island Children and I have been on the mainland for awhile visiting family (the beauty of not having kids in school full time just yet!), and will be heading back in a couple of weeks. Our time on the mainland has been spent enjoying getting spoiled by grandparents (and believe me that it's not just the kids who are getting spoiled) and seeing family and places that we likely will not get to see again for a few years. We have enjoyed the zoo, the children's museum, the science museum, restaurants that we can't find on the Island, and, of course, Starbucks and Target!!

I'm going to try to get more regular about posting, especially once we are back on the Island (I know, famous last words, right?)  Here goes!