The three twins

Hollace and I ventured down to Oakland to visit Greta, Kathleen, Joseph and Malcolm this weekend and had a total baby rager. When all six of us walked down the street people couldn't help but stare and comment. Most frequent guess, "they must be a mommy and baby group." 

Hollace is a splendid travel companion. Here he is taking a catnap on the BART. 

First meeting. Malcolm was thoughtful, Joseph thrilled and Hollace looking a little stunned. 

Hollace and Joseph had a fabulous time on the playmat together. 

Hollace and Malcolm, face to face. 

Practicing my multi-tasking. Bouncing Hollace in the chair and cuddling Malcolm. 

Greta and Hollace having some snuggle time while the other boys napped. 

Kathleen and I successfully got Joseph and Hollace to nap while walking to brunch. 

Then they woke up. 

Hollace and Malcolm. 

Hollace and Joseph had a thrilling time checking each other out. 

It took some effort to get them all awake and happy at the same time given they all have different rhythms. But, finally, a shot with all three!

Passed out on the flight home. 

He's getting chunky

He also really loves animals. Hard to tell what's happening below, but my coworker's dog, Frances, can't help but kiss babies. Everytime she would he'd give a big grin.  

Halloween

Anders was all in for Halloween, until Halloween arrived. He refused to wear his costume to school and at the school party on Friday. A teacher even caught him trying to ruin his costume! 

On Halloween morning he was completely uninterested and wouldn't even put on his hat. Between his holiday malaise and the deluge outside, we planned just to skip the whole celebration (the upside is that we had another whole day of nakedness and potty training around the house)! Just as we were trying to figure out what to do for what looked like a late dinner while I was unpacking all our 3-6 month clothes, Rebekah reminded us about coming over to give out treats with her friend and her friend's son, Adrian. Anders was so excited he did a 360, put in his costume and even posed for photos. In the container of 3-6 month clothes I found Anders first Halloween costumes, so coincedently we had something for Hollace (I know, second child getting the short end of the stick already). We grabbed take out Chinese and hightailed North for a very late dinner and the last of the trick or treaters. Anders did refuse to wear his costume into Colby and Rebekah's house, but we were able to talk him into wearing his hat later. 

So, without further adieu, our soldier and pirate. 

Hard to tell, but Hollace was a little pirate. 

Rebekah, Ofelia, Adrian and Anders. Hollace was asleep and missed the photo op. 

Check up

Anders and Hollace both had doctor appointments this week, both got shots, and neither was particularly thrilled by it. But, both powered through and rebounded when we regrouped for a treat. 

They had this crazy device that took a photo of Anders' eyes and from the image they can determine if he needs glasses or has any issues with his eyes. He was given a clean bill of health and a commemorative photo. 

Hollace weighed in at 12lbs 12oz aka 50th percentile. He was so short that the doctor thinks he was measured poorly. Here's hoping. Otherwise she was particularly impressed with his head and leg strength. 

Closeup, that night, of our smiley guy. 

Potty training

Basically that is our number one focus these days. We've even gone cold turkey at night! While we have had our fair share of midnight accidents, we're on this train and are riding it until it ends. 

Pull-ups are now something he plays with. He's not interested in wearing them. 

Meme visited for the long weekend. Fortunately she was on board with a weekend of cold turkey diaper training and didn't mind just hanging around the house. We did make a few outings though:

To the pumpkin patch. 

Meme, Anders, Hollace and I selected the pumpkins. 

But Ryan and Anders did all the carving. 

Notice the chocolate chip cookie joy. 

Recap

Life hasn't slowed down one bit since the arrival of young Hollace. Fortunately most of the busy is coupled with joy, so there's not much to complain about. 

Ryan has been spending his Friday's with Hollace. This picture was snapped after their first day together, both were exhausted. But, all of us are enjoying the change up, and I'm happy to have one day at work during which I can completely focus on my todo list. 

Unlike Anders, Hollace's starter books are pretty wordy. Wonder if he'll talk earlier than Anders?

Ryan made a shadow puppet to play with. Anders is pretty taken with it. 

Ryan and Anders making meatballs in preparation for dinner with the Baxters. I wish we took photos of this night. Anders and Hazel ran around with Dylan, 7, and Trace, 4, the entire night. At one point Dylan, who has always been incredibly sweet, said to me "you're friends but you feel like family." That pretty much melted my heart. 

We also tried out the fireplace for the first time that night! Pretty cool. 

My dear friend Jesse came to visit this week. Hollace got a lot of snuggling. 

What most weekday mornings look like. These photos are never posed. Anders really loves being close to Hollace.

After dropping Jesse at the airport we grabbed a happy hour beer with Rebakah. With each week my weekday city time is shrinking. It's kind of sad.  But, such is life. 

Who's this dog? Why, it's Hazel. Ryan got some grooming clippers and sheared her. We now have a schnauzer. 

 

Rolling over

On his two month birthday Hollace surprised us all by rolling from his back to his belly!