Stay-Cation #1

We have had many opportunities to travel, as we realize that Baby Byrne #2 is closely-approaching in late September. This April, we used one of my parents' timeshare weeks and stayed at the Ocean Beach Club in Va Beach. What a wonderful week! Aside from JB getting called in on the majority of his on-call shifts, we had a great time relaxing in the cooler weather with our little family of three.  J loved the outdoor and indoor pool, the playground at 31st street and spending time eating ice cream with BB and Grandad. 

mountain climber

early morning play-time at the beach in PJs 

ice cream at North End with Grandad

chilly post-pool Boo! 

dump trucks on the beach

J's job: pushing the elevator buttons

making Easter cookies

JBs indoor soccer game

Trip to Chicago for JB's Oral Boards

In early April we set-out for Chicago for JB's Oral Boards, the culmination of his long journey through med school and residency. Many thanks to Pop Pop and Grandmom who were able to watch J while we jetted off. The first night there, we were able to see our friend, Jonathan, who moved to TN for his first job and to be back near family. We miss the Koertens so much, especially now that they have TWO little kids, but we enjoyed the time we did spend together and now have an excuse to make the long drive to Tennessee sometime (who are we kidding...we will never drive that far...hopefully they will get a desire to visit Virginia again!). 

With a belly fully of steak, JB was all set for his Oral Boards on Sunday morning. I held down the fort in the lobby, catching up on a good book (Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver) while JB made his way through 7 cases with various attending physicians proctoring.  The test is very hush-hush, but as of this past Tuesday, we know that.....

HE PASSED!!!!!!

JB (and Jonathan too!) are now officially board certified emergency medicine physicians. The long journey is over! Congrats hubby. 

While in Chicago, we ate good food (of course), such as steak and crab cakes at Gibsons, deep dish pizza at Gino's and classic soft pretzels at a great brewery off the main drag.  By the second afternoon, I was stuffed but somehow pushed through for some more delicious meals later in the weekend! 

The Byrne Baby Bean (15 weeks) at The Bean!

We walked around Chicago, starting at the John Hancock building where we enjoyed a drink (manhattan for JB and a $10 fancy juice for the pregnant lady) in the sky bar overlooking the whole city. What a way to start the vacation part of our vacation! The river was pretty but we opted to avoid the architecture tour by boat as it was slightly to very chilly on the water. Instead, Jonathan found this amazing, eclectic tour of the Pedway System led by a local Chicagoan. The Pedway is a little-known system of connections between buildings that allow people to walk inside over 5 miles of Chicago during the cold winter months. It takes you through the subway, the basement of Macy's, food courts, City Hall, lobbies of fancy office buildings and overpasses. The woman leading the tour did a phenomenal job and we felt like we had a great understanding and appreciation of the city when we finished.  

We even managed to get out for a 5 mile run around Chicago, to see Millennium Park, the Navy Pier and anything else we could stumble upon. Most of our vacations recently have involved sitting in lounge chairs on a cruise ship or at the beach so this was a great change of pace back to our usual active vacation routine! Another enjoyable vacation for the travel journal and best of all, a passing board score! 

Swinging

Our dear friends Reid and Allyson did a babysitting swap with us the other day and Reid was kind enough to snap these amazing pictures of Jackson and LK out on the swing. 

2.5 year check-up

We have a  healthy and growing 2 1/2 year old on our hands! Jackson has not exactly shot up in height but he's up to a solid 36 inches which makes him seem so much taller than he used to be! He comes up to our waists and we don't have to reach down to rub his head anymore. Plus, he can easily see up on the counters so there is no more hiding things towards the backs of the kitchen counters! 

He has gone down a little bit in weight as he has slimmed down and lost some of his belly, which we are somewhat sad about. That was SUCH an endearing belly! 

 J loves to read, play cars, watch for firetrucks and ambulances on the roads and narrate every part of every day. His favorite movies are Cars and Cars 2. He sleeps in till 6:30am! He loves chicken nuggets and will eat green peas now. J gives the best kisses and hugs but likes to snuggle on his own agenda. JB and J spend each afternoon flying the remote control helicopter in the front yard. He loves to take care of Lincoln and really wants to walk him but I don't want a broken arm to come from it... My favorite moments of the day are when he walks up to give me a spontaneous kiss for no reason, family story time at night in our bed and snuggling after bath time.  

 J is very proud to be a big brother in September and will voluntarily show you my belly (no thank you!) and the baby growing in his belly too. We know that he is going to be a kind brother who will show Byrne Baby #2 all the ins and outs of life! 

 Over the past few months he has started to play very well by himself, usually make-believe with cars and trucks or doing puzzles. He still doesn't care about art or any fine motor activities except for chalk here and there. Bubbles and playing in our small sandbox are our favorite afternoon activities, especially when all the neighborhood kids come out to play. Recently, J has started to say, "Talk to me, mom". It's usually when we are peacefully eating lunch or doing a quiet activity together.  Sometimes, he just likes to hear me talk I guess!

 Jackson is still gentle and kind, a quiet thinker most of the time. He is learning to initiate sharing his toys with his friends. The other day, he went over to his play car, opened the door and said, "Here you go Lizzy Kay", closing the door behind her. What a gentleman! We love chuckling at his language development and how he is picking up on the things that we say. "GrandmomPopPop I see you in two minutes!" (it's usually...Jackson you have two minutes to play...two more minutes in the bath...two minutes to...). 

 He prays before dinner, which usually consist of him squeezing his eyes shut TIGHT, holding our hands and whispering in an almost inaudible voice, "Jesus loves me...jfjad;fdjaklfkaj....kdjfkasdjfkjafiejfl;iajse....AMEN". He loves bed time kisses and must have a big kiss, little hug, little kiss, big hug from mom, dad and Lincoln :) Goober. We are battling a month-long cough and are doing a rule-in/out allergies followed by a possible asthma test if allergies are negative. Prayers for our little guy. He hasn't slowed down a bit and doesn't seem bothered but we just can't stand to hear him coughing at night...breaks our hearts. 

 J loves to hang with the big kids, including Pop Pop and his friend's motorcycle. He has also become quite the daredevil outside on playgrounds and climbing trees. It's amazing that I am able to stand by and just watch him without stepping in. It takes every ounce of me to let him be a kid and realize that broken bones heal eventually, but I need to let him cultivate his explorer spirit! 

Family

Family comes in all forms for us. I have not been able to post recently for a few reasons....

1) First trimester FATIGUE

2) We have been having an incredible few months with family!

3) Lots of traveling

Here is a little of what we have been doing....

We got to celebrate Hannah and the upcoming (now past) birth of her third child and first little boy, Sam. We just love this family (look at these amazing women who were all there to support her!) and are so glad that we get to do life with them. Plus, it's just great to see a little Byrd boy with those classic Byrd cheeks! 

We have enjoyed many days at the park. One day J found this cute little dog attached to a stroller and he went to stand by it. When the dog started to whimper for his owner, J said, "It's ok, buddy. I love you". Melt. My. Heart. I love how he looks like he is standing guard, watching over the park.  I love days when we can go to the zoo as a family and it's so incredible to see how J has changed from the days in his stroller to running around like a crazy man, up ramps, climbing walls and identifying all of the animals. I love how he just loves to explore the zoo. Most days we usually spend more time looking at rocks rather than animals but it's just so nice to be outside and let him be little. 

 We love time with BB and Grandad! We enjoyed a fun dinner at the Cheesecake Factory where J proceeded to demolish bananas, chicken fingers, bread and anything else he could get his hands on. I think his belly was twice the normal size (which says a lot!) when we left. I love to see how much fun he has with them, giggling and sharing smiles. 

life is more fun when you do lots of jumping 

 We spent a weekend early this year with Grandmom and Pop pop when JB was working nights. Look at these guys...just being buddies and sharing a Berenstein Bear book together. One afternoon we headed down to National Harbour which is so much fun and would be awesome in the summer. They moved an incredible statue, "the awakening", here when the park was created and J loved climbing in the mouth and tickling the huge foot! 

First Peep, from the Peeps store

 as the summer months approach again, so do "Compound" dinners. We love living right near the Mazzios and McNabbs and it's so much fun to see our kids interact and become best buds. Each night when we sing "He's got the whole world in His hands", Jackson specifically mentions Luke and Katie, and Charlotte and Caroline.  I love how he looks up to these kids and love that we trust these other families to help us parent our kids and support each other in life.

library play time

big boy swing! 

 And finally, the BEST part about family is our recent addition, born in late February. his name is William and he made me an aunt!!!! Jackson loves to talk about New Baby William and we face time whenever we can (although he is sleeping most of the time). I can't wait to see him later this month.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's been over a month since my last post. Whew. Life has been crazy and will be explained when I have a little more time to sit down an write another post. But for now, here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately!

Jackson continues to boycott sleep but is in a good mood most of the time. His new phrase is "oopsey-daisy" whenever he drops things! It's precious and I have no clue where he got it from. He counts "one, two, eleven!" and still loves to play hide-and-seek. He likes to snuggle and "be cozy" on our bed or under the big blanket on the couch. We have both been fighting colds and thanks to the McNabbs, we have been watching Cars and Cars 2 on repeat all week. Guess what Jackson is getting for Christmas?? I still adore how he plays laying down like this...cars, chalk, reading books....all on his belly.

Our weather has been crazy, as it has been in the rest of the country. Whereas we are definitely ready for winter to be OVER, we have really taken advantage of some beautiful spring/summer-like days recently!

 J is a big helper around the house and loves the phrases, "all by myself" and "I do it".  He is actually quite proficient at many things like dumping his leftover dinner into the trashcan and putting his plate in the dishwasher. It take some reminding but it usually gets done. He loves to brush his teeth but we are still struggling on getting dressed/undressed. He is great at picking up his toys and vacuuming. We baked last week and he cracked the eggs for the first time...a little messy, but how else are you going to learn?! 

the self-flip 

 I had a chance to do a 9 mile race with Kaitlin at the Dismal swamp. Great runners dress alike :) I am eagerly anticipating the days when I can leave the house in shorts and a tank top...all these layers make it tough (and oh-so-un-motivating) to get out the door with a kid.

 We are really enjoying time with our almost-two-and-a-half-year old, whether inside or outside. J and I love to make silly faces as we snuggle after bath time.  We spend hours at the aquarium and the zoo...sometimes three times a week at the zoo. Thank goodness for an amazing zoo right down the road!! The pirate park with Lizzy Kay, Ellie and William is always a blast. Jackson longs to be a big boy and will run after the older kids playing soccer. I'm so touched by how many of them will let him play (and will play appropriately with him at his skill level). 

Lizzy Kay

Firetruck Garage 

J and JB on the Rhino at the zoo