Where the Wild Things Are... Delhi! And Some Mer Rouge Too!

Paddy's inaugural trip to the US would not have been complete without a trip to the city, er, village, of Daddyboy's boyhood... Mer Rouge, Louisiana.  So we loaded up the car and headed over!   Mer Rouge is one of my favorite places for the reason that it is peaceful and pretty.  Here's some of the highlights.

When I look at this picture, I feel just AWFUL for making my family stand out in the blazing Louisiana heat and face due west into the setting sun.   For a silly picture.  I took this exact picture the first time Claudia rolled into Mer Rouge for the first time.  No one looked nearly as pitiful, though. 

A few of our favorite things in Mer Rouge include, but are not limited to, Paps, Mama Kate, Country Cream, paddling pools set up in a beautiful pecan orchard and indoor remote control helicopter play.

And who knew they had an awesome wild animal park in Delhi, Louisiana?  I didn't.  But Paps did!  Paps took Claudia for a little adventure ride through the park.  When asked what her favorite part of the trip home to the US was, Claudia replies, without fail, "well, a llama spit all over Pap's truck!" 

Here's Claudia and Daddy feeding the offending llama. 

These two kiddos had a blast visiting their Paps and Mama Kate.

Yessiree.

Three generations of McLendon men... well, two men and a baby.   Gerald Wallace McLendon (Paps), Russell Wallace McLendon (Daddyboy) and Patrick "Paddy" Wallace McLendon (lil man)... I just love them all so much!

THANK YOU, Paps and Mama Kate for making this trip so special.  We had so much fun and can't wait until we see you all again.  We love you both!

Five Months and Feeling Fine!

Patrick is now FIVE months old!  He had his five month birthday in Houston, so this post is about a week late.   Bless his heart, before we left, he had really gotten the hang of sleeping most the night (from about 6:30 pm until 4:00 am).  Then we decided to take him across the world ... he had day/night confusion the whole two and a half weeks we were there.  And he got sick with the croup.  And he cut his first tooth.   Nevertheless, little man soldiered on and did great.   The kid is tough as nails.

Paddy LOVES his glow worm, being outside, being carried in the Baby Bjorn, his sister, playing peek-a-boo, looking at himself in the mirror and seeing his picture on the computer.  Paddy does NOT love having his nails trimmed, riding in the car, diaper changes and coming inside.   This boy would probably be happiest if we moved his crib outside.

Another dislike ... watching us eat dinner.  He swats and grabs at our food and screams when we won't give him any.  We go to the doctor tomorrow for his five month check up.  I'm taking the various boxes / jars of baby food I've bought (which is all in German and Hungarian) to find out what the heck to feed him. 

If you zoom in really close, you can see his first little tooth in this picture.  It's in the bottom / middle and there's another one getting ready to come out next to it.  Bye bye gummy grins, hello toothy smiles!

My sweet boy.

He's getting a little more comfortable in the Bumbo.  Mostly he just seems like he's trying to wiggle out of it, though.   Big thanks to Amy for bringing the green Bumbo... I don't think he would have liked sister's pink one.  

He is still largely concerned with figuring out whether he can fit both mitt and foot in mouth simultaneously.  So close!

I do hope that they will be become good friends as they grow older.  Patrick adores her and she is a proud big sister.  We do have to work on Claudia being more gentle with the little guy and she is getting a little less jealous with every day... but really, I am impressed with what a good big sister she is to Paddy.   Patrick, I hope you always love and appreciate sweet Claudia.  =)

Here's a little snippet of Paddy in action.  That's me screeching in the background and sticking my finger over the camera lens.  Master photography and narration.  Just for you!  

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Hello friends!  We just got back from two and a half weeks in Texas and Louisiana!!   We kept really busy visiting friends and family, getting Paddy Christened, fighting off illness, going to a baseball game, hosting a baby shower, experiencing a wild animal safari, swimming, having bubble fights... all kinds of fun stuff.  I took approximately 700 pictures.  In two weeks.  700 pictures.  In two weeks.  How does that happen?  I will manage to distill most of those so I can share here.  Our time home went by so fast and we are so thankful to have been hosted so graciously by our families.   We miss y'all so much and can't wait for our next visit.  

I'll start picture sharing with trip to Minute Maid Park... home of the Houston Astros.  

Here is little man at his first MLB game.  Go Astros!  It's a shame they are so pitiful, but, in all honesty, we didn't watch much of the game.  Our attention was diverted to more important matters, like keeping Claudia from eating random bits of junk food off the ground.

Daddy was there for "work", but he came and found us for some family fun.

Guess what Claudia ate?  Everything!  Everything includes one extra large cotton candy, one extra large tub of popcorn, one hot dog, extra ketchup, one miniature baseball helmet full of Bluebell ice cream (God bless Bluebell!) and a bag of Cracker Jacks.  We rolled her home when all was said and done.  Can you believe Cracker Jacks come in a bag now?  They almost felt like fake Cracker Jacks to me. 

Somehow we managed to make it through five, maybe even six innings.  Go Astros!  I don't think they are in last place this year!  Might be second to last, but that's better than last!  Thanks Gram & Pawpaw for the fun times at the ballpark!

Claudia Being Claudia

Sweet Claudia.  The girl loves to play dress up.

She's got quite the imagination these days.  In addition to English, she speaks all sorts of gibberish languages.  She has also invented pretend animals and pets.  My sweet girl has come up with all kinds of make believe games.  Dress up is still her favorite game, though.

Last week, at a birthday party, Claudia spent about half an hour giving hugs to this puppy attached to a bouncy house.  She's pretty cuddly herself.

She didn't want cake.  Just wanted to cuddle with the puppy.

And thank goodness for rainy days.  Puddles.  Nature's best toy.

Thankfully, most of the mud came out of this outfit.  Every minute spent scrubbing was well worth it.

Bop and Paddy

Sometimes Claudia wants nothing to do with Paddy.  Sometimes Paddy is deathly afraid of Claudia.  And sometimes there are just these wonderful moments where they are best of friends.  Well, as best of friends that any three year old and four month old can be.  I like those moments!

In these moments, Claudia has decided that she is also a baby.  She talks in a baby voice and does "baby tricks", e.g., rolling, cooing, sitting up in Bumbo.   She asks "are you impressed with your big baby?"  We confirm that we have nothing but admiration for both babies.

Now that Paddy is an accomplished roller and determined wiggler, diaper changes and getting dressed are barely or halfway accomplished.



Luckily I have a little assistant who helps me with these things!!

Continuous State of Motion

Both tots are on the move.  Claudia on her balance bike.  Paddy on his play mat.  What's a balance bike, you ask?  Its an iddy biddy bicycle for iddy biddies.  It has no pedals.  It teaches kids how to balance.  Hence the name.  They don't do training wheels in Hungary, so all the kids start off on these, the result being the children learn how to ride bicycles much earlier and, from what I've witnessed, much easier.  

Claudia is getting pretty good at balancing.  She gets a running start on the bike, kicks up her little legs and squeals something like "this is how you doooooo it!" 

For the most part its a pretty exhilarating experience for her.  She did have one crash, though.  We were going downhill and she just got going too fast.  She didn't seem too shaken up.  Didn't cry.  But she was a little more cautious in her gliding.

Luckily, she's still at the age where kisses make things all better.

And also the stage where the bike is small enough for Daddy to carry it when CC gets pooped.

Bop glided herself to the park.   I couldn't help but take a picture of this.  This ridiculously awesome slide shoots the kids down so fast they always land face down in the sand. I suspect it would never pass muster in the United States.  Claudia always lies there like a slug in the moments following her trajectory from the slide.  Shaken up a bit, but still happy.  Like all kids should be on the playground!

Swinging like a big girl.

This is how Paddy spent his time at the park.

And here is little man rolling!  Rolie Polie Paddy Pie!  Pay no attention to the screechy voiced narrator.  That is definitely not me.  Definitely not.  Do note that Paddy slaps the camera at the end when I got too close to his face.  Seems like something his daddy might do!

Little Man is FOUR Months!

Paddy Boy!  You are FOUR months old.   I can't get enough of you sweet boy.  Watching you grow is a most amazing experience.  Every day you discover something new.

You are trying new things... like sitting up.  But usually something like this happens.  Plop.

... or this.  Forward plop.

Right now you are experiencing lots of firsts.  Some of theme great, some not so much.  But that is just how life will go.  Hopefully the good always outweighs the bad and great things are sprinkled in with the good!

So... the firsts...
This big month you:

• Slept through the night:  On May 11, 2012, you slept for more than 8 hours straight.  Sadly, it was a very short lived first.  After  a week or two of blissful sleeping, you learned how to roll (!) and now you practice this new skill every night.  All night.  You're up.  All night.  It doesn't leave much time for sleeping.  Hopefully you will start sleeping more soon!
• First laugh:   On April 18, 2011, I was holding you and Daddy tickled your cheek.  It made you giggle.  This was technically last month, but this past month you have been laughing much more... usually at your sister's daily ballyhoo.
• First roll (front to back):  On May 10, 2011 you rolled front to back, pretty much by accident, aided by the force of gravity. 
• First roll (back to front):   On May 23, 2011 you rolled from back to front on your playmat in the living room.   You have completely mastered this now and you refuse to stay on your back now.
• First illness:  You cought your first cold on May 28, 2012.  You are SO tough and are already feeling much better.
• First slept through the night on your tummy:  May 24, 2012.  Completely against your mother's will.  It gives me fits that you roll onto your tummy and insist sleeping that way. 

WOW, we are so proud of all these big firsts, little man!

You are my sweet little guy and I cherish all the moments I get you all to myself.   My arms feel empty when I am not carrying you around the house and holding you on my lap.

We are so in love with our Paddy Boy!

Getting There Is Half the Fun

Forgot these fun car pics... There was sleeping, snoring, laughing, crying and screaming. And a Czech Highway Patrol shakedown. Can you believe the cops have credit card machines in their cars for immediate payment of tickets? Seemed a little shady, but what can you do? We drove away, with less cash and speed in our step.

Czech it Out!

We had a long weekend here in Budapest, so we took advantage and hopped in the car to Prague for a little Bohemian break.   It's just a few hours (5 under normal circumstances), but we made it there in about 6.  With Bop and Paddy, I think we did as best as anyone could have hoped.   It was a weekend full of warm days with crystal blue skies in a friendly city.  Perfect for Paddy's first road trip!

Here's a few pics from around Old Town Square.  One day I'm going to insist we rent one of those zippy little red roadsters.  I just need to figure out where to fasten the two behemoth car seats.

Bop's favorite thing was watching the Astronomical Clock Tower show.  Every hour on the hour, the little doors at the top of this clock swing open and little figurines of the twelve apostles come out for a show, all while a skeleton rings the bell.  The clock keeps Bohemian time, modern time and celestial positions (which I think means where the sun and moon are positioned).

Bop was pleased to get another nesting doll.  She named this one "Little Claudia."   The one she got from her last Prague adventure disappeared one piece at a time until there was none.

The Charles Bridge is my favorite Prague attraction.  It's a beautiful pedestrian only bridge over the Vltava River.  Claudia enjoyed the organ grinder and his dancing monkey.  It's a big hit with most of the kids toddling along the bridge.

We saw everything from children dancing in authentic Czech outfits in the Old Town Square, fancy old roasters zipping around town, my favorite Czech shop, Manufaktura (a wonderful Czech shop that sells amazing soap and bath products and also wooden children's toys), the beautiful temples in the Jewish Quarter and all the beautiful, ornate architecture all over town.

The Castle District was hot and crowded.  It took all we had to keep Claudia from jumping in the fountain.

Paddy definitely enjoyed his first trip... even if he did spend most of it asleep in his stroller.

View from Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge

And look who we found!  Patrick and Logan are just two little Texans, travelling the world at 3 months old.  Sweet baby boys!

My sweet Paddy in front of the Astronomical Clock.  He won't remember a single second of this trip later in his life, but maybe he'll get a kick out of this picture someday.  Scowl!

I love waiting for that clock to go off.  Hundreds of people are all huddled together, waiting with bated breath, no one moving an inch, cameras poised.  I think I took more pictures of the waiting crowd than of the clock. 

I had to share.  Russell and his Grandma have such a funny relationship.  Russell talks all kinds of nonsense to her and she just gasps and responds "Oh, Russell, that is awful" to whatever crazy story he has told her.  This is not the first "I lost my passport/wallet" postcard she's received and I suspect it won't be the last.

Now, time to do some laundry!!