Three Years and Five-ish Hours Ago....

I got to meet this guy for the first time:

I never doubted wanting to have kids, and I always wanted to have a daughter.  But I'm so glad now, too, to have the experience of having a son.

And not just any son, but this boy in particular.  He is:

 Silly...

 

 Playful....

 

Artistic...

 

And, as this *series* will show, apparently quite the dapper man:

 

Otto was so pleased to have this fancy outfit for a wedding that he insisted on trying it on in another store when he saw that Stella was getting to try her dress on.

 

In a snazzy hat like Dad.

 

 In the new orange vest he picked out by himself.

He's also reinforced what I learned about nature versus nurture with Stella.  While he has his evolved, feminine side due to having a big sister, he's also naturally into cars, trucks, balls, trains, guns, physical play and the like:

 

 A truck--woohoo!

 

 A natural-born Seahawks fan--"They run and catch and crash!"  This picture doesn't show it, but I think Otto was still the happiest I have ever seen him when we came home with the jersey for him (that he still wears at least twice a week).  Tyler often jokes that his natural sports ability/motor skills are a bit wasted on Otto with him as his father.

Otto's also affectionate, kind, thoughtful and loving.  When we were hiking last week, he was riding on my shoulders (like he did last year in the picture below) and said to me, "Mommy, I wish I could be with you always."  And it's not uncommon to have a conversation that goes something like this:  "Mommy, I love your earrings.  Mommy, I love your hair.  Mommy, I love everything about you!"  He's going to be the best husband ever.

 

  Tuckered out after a two mile.

 

On the Hanalei Pier in Kauai, just over a year old. 

 

 

 A pretty recent shot and one of my personal favorites.  His favorite pants.  His favorite shirt.  His special friend, Pig.  One of my dearest loves in life.

Happy birthday, Otto.  I'm so glad you are part of our lives.

Ot-two!

Two years and seven hours ago (roughly), this guy entered our lives:

Otto, less than 24 hours old

And now Otto's two!

Somehow over the past 24 months, I think I've lost 12 of them.  Time has flown by.  I never felt bad about not having a baby book for Stella--her life and milestones were more than adequately caught in all their glory here.  Otto?  Well, Otto's a second child who also had the (mis)fortune of joining us when our lives as a whole just got busier, professionally and because having two kids has really been exponentially more work than just one. 

But we love him none the less, despite less documentation.  He's a fascinating little person.  And, for his second birthday, I wanted to capture some of the Otto-ness we love and appreciate these days. Because while I think now that I'll always remember these details, too soon, they will be replaced by new developments and observations, at risk of extinction without taking the time to capture them as they are these days.  So here goes!

Otto and balls--soccer balls, footballs, bouncy balls, basketballs, volleyballs, light-up balls--you name it, he loves it.  I remember playing a game of rolling a ball back and forth with Stella.  I had read somewhere that it was a developmental milestone of some sort.  She'd sort of humor me, roll it a few times and then want to move on.  The first time we gave Otto a ball, it was a revelation, as if he realized that his hand was *made* to catch and throw balls.



In fact, he is a better catcher than Stella is at four and a half.  And he drop kicks and does things that regularly shock and amaze me.  His gross motor skills are definitely strong.  We joke that it would be funny if Tyler ended up with a jock for a son.

But he's really not just a jock--he's got a surprising ability to focus and systematically solve things like puzzles and building.  I'm convinced he got some of the Soenksen/Stachowiak engineering genes that didn't express themselves in the same way with me.  His teachers at school are regularly mentioning how surprised they are at the way he does complex puzzles and builds 3-D shapes with these metallic shapes.

The first thing Otto showed us with his birthday metal shapes was this house he built

Completing his birthday puzzle (and, yes, with his helmet for his to-be-delivered bike present)

Another thing about Otto--he's got a natural charisma and is (generally) more outgoing.  When I drop him off at school, kids are always shouting "Otto's here!".  And when I ask him what he liked best about his day, he says "friends!"  (Stella, as a counterpoint, always talked about going on a walk outside.)



He can be a ham.  One day, I wanted to take a picture of Otto and Stella as we went in the house after school, because I thought they looked cute.  Now about every third day, Otto stops in front of the door and says, "Picture, Mommy!  Cheese!"

 

Although, if you ask him to smile, he squints his eyes.  Like Tyler, I've learned to ask for a smile then wait for him to laugh at himself to get a good shot:

"Smile, Otto!  No, with your eyes open!"

He also can prefer to be behind the camera:




He's not afraid of his feminine side:




And has quite the sartorial sense:

Unbelievably, I don't have a recent photo of him in his favorite plaid fleece pants with matching jacket. What will we do when he outgrows them?

And is a bit obsessed with swimming and swimsuits:

It started in Iceland when we went swimming everyday--anytime we even mention "swimsuits" he gets excited and obsessed.

And he's a talker.  Some of it is probably trying to keep up with Stella and get our attention (which is, frankly, less laser-focused than it may have been at other times....) 

And he's ironically both laid-back/easy-going and sometimes super-sensitive:

We see this point pretty much anytime something is disappointing...

 

There's so much, it's really impossible to capture his essence with these few photos and words.  He loves trains and cars and diggers (but not loud noises).  He looks up to Stella and wants to emulate her.  He's actually very kind and better at sharing and taking Stella into consideration than she is with him.  And my life is infinitely richer for having him in it.

 

Happy second birthday, Otto.  We love you.

Two Month Catch Up (sort of)

The other day it hit me that it's November. And I'm not sure where the last two months went--I think I lost September and October. It might have had something to do with having had four work trips and 60-hour work weeks.... But we're still here, plugging away, checking in too rarely, and having too little time for things, especially chronicling life when we feel like we're just barely keeping up as it is. And there's a lot that's been going on:  a trip to Walla Walla, Halloween, a trip to the pumpkin patch, winemaking..... but this won't be a faithful recounting of all of that.  Rather, I just want to capture a few thoughts about life these days.

I'm starting to get hints at life with two kids, rather than babies. Yesterday, we were outside, Stella was helping rake, Otto was keeping himself busy, and we were getting things done, getting fresh air, and the kids were even playing together.  (Of course, these moments are also regularly followed by fights and tears...)

Otto's a happy, easy-going guy.  And definitely more physical than Stella.  Here he is having graduated to sliding facing forward instead of on his tummy--just one of the many ways he's growing up so quickly!

 

Halloween 2012, with a Rapunzel Fairy and raccoon.  We went to six houses where Stella shyly said trick-or-treat.  Otto was ready to be right in the thick of it--definitely less shy than big sister!

Building a tower--another way that Otto definitely seems more boy-like.

Crush 2012:  Stella got to get her hands dirty this year.  I'm guessing she's one of the few four-year-olds with working knowledge of the wine making process.  ("Mom!  The caps fell!")

Stella's been a mama's girl for a long time, but she's increasingly getting more daddy-centric. I love this picture of them both in Walla Walla.

 

The family these days--Otto talking, copying Stella, laughter, a bit of chaos.

 

And, here we are, all together, the Hill-Stach's at the Pumpkin Farm. 

We have a walker!

Otto's been pulling up and walking along things for awhile now, but he may have crossed the threshold from a few steps to full on walking:

And he looks so proud of himself!  And, yes, that's Stella randomly talking about a banana since she's trying to get my attention away from her little brother.

Summer sun, sometimes

When I did my last post, about Otto turning one, I had intended to follow it up the next day with a post about our general life and misadventures so far this Summer. Now that two weeks have past, I figured I might as well get around to it. I'll keep this short and sweet, with just a couple of photos and captions, to keep the extended family up to date and so that when Sarah and I come back to this blog several years from now we can go "oh yeah, we did that."

Anyhow, here goes...

Father's Day was a pretty low-key affair. We celebrated it by having one of my favorite meals, pho, at one of my favorite restaurants, Ba Bar. Delish! And the company couldn't be beat.

With his one year Birthday approaching, Otto "graduated" to a Big Kid Car Seat™. Look how proud he looks. Unfortunately, Otto isn't a fan of car seats, period, so we still usually have our fair share of crying on the road.

We had out 5th Annual Housewarming Party, which is still one of my favorite annual get togethers, and our largest party each year (this year we had 73 guests pass through). Sarah did a better job photographing the party this year than we have in the past, but you're still stuck with a picture of me acting like an idiot by the grill. Like last year, we had a Build Your Own Hot Dog Bar... which seemed to be a hit again. (Photo by Stephanie Greene, by the way.)

It's probably worth mentioning that the week leading up to our Housewarming Party was chaos. Not only because we were prepping for the party, and not only because Sarah had to travel out of town for work, but also because we finally moved into our remodeled basement. I won't get into that now, since I still want to take some better pictures and do a whole entry on it, but ...yeah... exhausting. Though we are happy to be settled in downstairs now, and definitely appreciate having more space.

Stella and Otto's Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Tim came to stay with us for a long weekend, at the end of June/start of July. It was the first time Otto had met either of them, so it was great to spend some time with them both. Above, Stella hangs out with them at the Seattle Aquarium.

My High School friend, Bazor, got married (or rather, renewed their vows, since they were officially married last year in a small ceremony) in early July, and I was one of the groomsmen in the ceremony. It was an amazing experience and wedding, and I'm really happy for him, his wife Tanya and their lovely daughter Zoe (who was born two days after Otto). I'm sure I'll be getting some fancy photos when the official ones are finished being prepped, but for now here's a blurry photo of me and Stella having our first Father-Daughter dance. Another special experience, even if it mainly involved her hanging like a rag-doll while I swung her around.

Finally, while the weather this year is still less-than-impressive, we have finally got a little sun this July. This gave us the opportunity to do some fun Summer activities, like take Otto to the wading pool for the first time.

Anyhow, that's a quick run down of some of the stuff that's been going on at the Hill-Stack Shack. It definitely doesn't cover everything that's going on, like for example Otto has also started taking his first steps (small detail, that), but at least it will ease my Blogger's Guilt for a bit.

Finally, it probably bears mentioning that at the end of August, we'll be going to Kauai for a week. It'll be Otto's first big vacation, and hopefully will not only give us a chance to unwind a bit, but will also give this blog a chance to be a travel blog again, if only for an entry or two.

One year down!

"I've got two kids,
I've got two kids,
They're Stella and Otto,
Yes, I've got to kids."

(...and here they are.)

That's just one of the goofy little songs that I find myself singing to Stella and Otto. More of a jingle, really. But, while it's not exactly cutting edge song writing, I have to admit that I always have a soft spot for it because, well, it still amazes me that I have two kids.

And, even more amazing, the youngest is turning 1 today!

Happy Birthday, Otto!

The cake and cupcakes Sarah made for the party we had for Otto over the weekend. Still not sure how she got all those done, along with the 500 other things we had to take care of.

Otto digs into his cake. Literally.

Crazy to think that it was a year ago today that Sarah and I made our way to the hospital, for Otto's big arrival. In fact, in roughly 2 and a half hours time, from when I type this, it will be one year exactly from when he appeared.

And, what a year it has been. Highs and lows. Somehow both rushing and slow. Frequently exhausting, but often rewarding. I remember in the first weeks after Otto's birth thinking "actually, having two kids isn't much harder than having one." At this point, I'd definitely rethink that bold claim a bit. But, never for a second have I regretted having a second kid.

And, seriously, he's such an amazing, amazing kid. A wholly different person than Stella, but one just as wonderful. It's interesting, as he grows and her personality develops, how I find my relationship is so much different with him than it is with Stella. Is it because he's a boy? Or because he's the youngest? Or, just because he's his own person, with his own personality? Certainly, a combination of all three. But, regardless of the reason, it's incredible how you can have two people in your life who you love equally, but who you find yourself relating to and bonding with in different ways.

While Stella has always been thoughtful and cautious, creative and into books; Otto is much more physical and daring, he has little interest in books and crayons yet, but already stacks blocks and loves tossing balls (two things Stella didn't do till she was much older). The observation Sarah and I have made several times is that when Stella used to first encounter a new object, she'd pick it up and turn it over in her hands again and again, looking at it carefully. Otto picks it up, bangs it on something and then tries giving it a toss. Otto's probably easier going than Stella is overall, and less inclined to get scared or worried; but if he's upset or frustrated, he's much more stubborn. And, as I've mentioned several times before: The boy has a pair of lungs.

As I said, it's like they're their own people or something. Crazy.

Developmentally, Otto's got a lot going on these days. Sadly, he's still not sleeping through the night consistently, but he's making a lot of big steps literally and figuratively. He's not quite walking on his own yet, but can waddle along while holding mine or Sarah's (or even Stella's) hands. And, he stands on his own from time to time. He's also gotten very good at going upstairs since we relocated the bedrooms to the basement (more on that in another entry), and can even go down stairs fairly well too.

He's also a pretty darned good hugger too.

Meanwhile, in his mouth, his sixth tooth is finally arriving, meaning his smile will seem a little less lopsided for a bit. And, he seems to finally be getting past the point of immediately sticking everything directly into his mouth. Also, he's not talking yet, but he spends a good portion of his time pointing at things and making a "dat" noise, which we take for him working on identification. Leading to a lot of exchanges that go something like this.

"Dat?"
"Dog."
"Dat?"
"Dog."
"Dag."

"Dat?"
"Fish."
"Dat?"
"Fish."
"Dish."

So, I think he's working on it.

It's been a crazy year. A wonderful year, if often tiring year. As I started our this entry by saying, it still sort of boggles my mind that I've got two kids. But, I'm a happier and better person for it.

Happy Birthday, Otto!

Otto, sporting the last of his little monthly shirt stickers. You made it, Otto!

It's Official--Otto's a Mover!

Time to start babyproofing...




And notice my little mini-me?

I checked, and this is almost exactly the same timing as when Stella started to commando crawl, right around 7 months. Go Otto! Now just to get onto hands and knees....