Cupcakes to Celebrate

We had a lot to celebrate today!
Otto had a dry day of potty training, (we had some setbacks after James was born, so today was something to celebrate) James turned two months old yesterday, we sold and closed our house yesterday and Andrew finished a long week of inpatient rounds. So, Otto and I made cupcakes.
Otto was such a good helper! He mixed the batter and poured on the sprinkles. Yum!

A Weekend at Jordan Lodge

Last weekend we spent with our good friends at a yearly retreat to Oma Lodge. This year with so many new additions we stayed in Jordan Lodge instead. There were 14 adults and 9 kids! What a fun weekend.Proud dads, Andrew, Bill and John.

Otto swinging with Liam.

Pancakes with Otto and Arlo.

James, Aria and Oliver. Where's Juna? All born within three weeks of each other.

A fun trip to Smallwoods fruit market just outside of Leavenworth.
(Liam, Arlo, Otto and Owen)

Andrew trying to shoo away the escaped goat from the petting farm. What a friendly pest.

We all took a ride in the cow tractor train. Here's Otto and Liam.

Otto. So cute!

James snuggles with Sailor.

Carolyn testing the workmanship of the hammock with 5 toddlers perched atop the river bank.

We were the second to arrive and the last to leave. It was so beautiful!

Playdate with Owen

Karen brought Owen to our house today for a play date with Otto. Can you say goofy? Crazy? These two boys are like brothers. It has been lots of fun watching them grow up together. We're sure going to miss spending so much time together after we move. We'll still have play dates though!

Here is our AMAZING nanny, Karen, managing to hold James while reading a story to Owen and Otto. And no ones crying! Hey Karen, can you come over every night about 7pm?

Snuggles

Andrew was in charge of James last Saturday morning and really wanted to finish reading his book. Lucky duck got his wish and a super snuggley baby too! Too cute!

Grandma Kathee and Opa Return

Grandma Kathee and Opa returned last week from a long vacation to Germany. We all missed them a lot and were so happy they had a good trip and returned safely. Grandma Kathee had some catching up time with her two grandsons. Here she is playing with Otto and all his new toys. Thank you!

The Smile = GRATIFICATION

James started smiling a couple weeks ago and I knew no one would believe me so I captured it on photo. He even coos and has the cutest dimple in his right cheek.

Otto gets the most smiles and coos from James without even trying. I can feel an attraction from James towards Otto. It must have something to do with utero.

Here's more proof although this doesn't capture his biggest smile.

The Zoo (X 2)

I survived my first solo trip to the zoo with the two boys. In fact packing up and leaving the house was the hardest part. James was in the Bjorn and Otto was in the stroller. I got some really cute photos of Otto, but forgot to turn the camera around to take a picture of James. Oh well, he slept the whole time through his first trip to the zoo anyway.

Such a cutie!

Movie Night

Aunt J joined us for our first family movie night. The featured flick was "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back." (the cartoon version) These two snuggled up.

Mohawk Man

Otto's sportin' a new look. Love his rockin' guitar tat from the Evergreen State Fair.

Holding James

Otto is adjusting fairly well to having James join our family. James is so quiet and easy most of the time, so Otto doesn't really interact with him very much. He does like to help change his diaper by standing on the bottom drawer of James' changing table and rubbing vasoline on James' leg. He's still curious about his poop and always wants to see it. This is a topic of great interest since Otto gave up diapers on August 1st, 2009. Yup, he's potty trained finally and thanks to Daddy for that one. Andrew basically told Otto he wasn't going to change another poopie diaper and that it was time for Otto to wear only underpants.

Chef Otto

Otto's shucking corn from our garden. Grandma Joan bought him a new chef/kitchen play set. He played the part well. So cute!

Harvest Time

Here's Otto after harvesting beans with Grandma Joan. He's practicing his "cheesy" smile.

Walking Diego

Auntie J came over and took Otto to his swim lesson. She stayed with us and brought her dog Diego. Otto loved playing with Diego and felt especially important walking Diego.

In Love

Grandma Joan is incredibly happy with two grandsons!

Zucchini Bread

My little kitchen helper! We made a batch of zucchini bread together from a zucchini that Grandpa Doug gave us. Yummy!

Big Brother Otto

Otto became a big brother to James Patrick Richter on July 24th at 7:01am
He was so curious upon meeting James for the first time. He inspected all his parts and was particularly interested in his umbilical stump.

Incredibly Long Absence

Wow! It's been so long since I posted any updates of Otto. I look at the last post from Jan. and hardly recognize our little Otto now. He's grown and changed so much...

Let's start with the binkie. It officially disappeared on Tuesday, April 26th, 2009. It's one of those dates I'll never forget. Andrew came home from work and joined us in Otto's room for bedtime. He began telling me about an article he had recently read about pacifier use and the bone structure in the mouth. Otto overheard the conversation and automatically spit out the binkie. I seized the opportunity and discretely scooped up the binkie. I hid it in the closet and never gave it back. Otto asked for several days afterwords, but I held my ground.

Next, Otto transitioned from a crib to a twin bed in Feb. 2009 just before we left on a vacation to Mexico. He had stayed the night with my mom for the weekend and when he returned we surprised him with a new bed and new decoration. He wasn't too happy with us for not including him in the transition work, but he transitioned easily into his new bed.

As I mentioned above we took a trip to Mexico in Feb and another one in March. We first went to Puerto Vallarta for Andrew's work conference and met some wonderful new friends who had a son, James, a few months older than Otto. We had a great time hanging out with them each day. Our second trip was to Akumal with Andrew's parents. We had a fantastically relaxing vacation and got to see some new sights in Mexico. We may be returning to this quiet secluded villa.

Those are the major milestones/updates for now. Except for Otto becoming a big brother, but I'll post a separate entry for that.