ND Vacation - July 08

We spent much of our visit enjoying the quiet peaceful afternoons and evenings on the porch.
Dad, a.k.a. "Papa", got some bonding time with both kids. I have a feeling at this moment JD must have gotten into something, so Papa was helping to keep him out of trouble. JD has a knack for finding the smallest items. . .
As you can see, high chairs and doors are no match for him.
One of my favorite kid moments of our visit was the evening A came out onto the porch and asked Mom, a.k.a. "Grandma", if she could wear "the hats." She gave us quite the fashion show! At the time, I didn't think the spaghetti on her face was too noticeable. Apparently, I thought wrong! At one point, she was very concerned with the mess she was making with all of the hats, and she told Grandma about the mess she was making. But Grandma assured her it was okay. :)
A and JD enjoyed visiting Great Grandma and Great Grandpa while we were in ND. They played catch together, shot baskets, played puzzles, played the organ, saw wild turkeys and bunnies, and ate snacks. Good time had by all!
One of A's highlights of the trip was her truck that Papa put together. Here they are before she had any idea that it actually moved!
I guess A couldn't resit a good swing!
One morning, we all gathered in the library for some down time. I don't think Papa had any idea that his down time involved some good old fashioned wrestling. I think Papa has been a wrestling magnet since we were little. In fact, our childhood pictures look pretty much the same, don't you think?
JD loved being outdoors on the porch, although we didn't have a moment's rest. Flower petals, loose wicker, water, and the stairs were constant amusements for him.
A enjoyed eating lunch with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma one day at The Rose!



I love this video, because Papa did his very best to explain the rules of the road to a toddler. (Unfortunately, they were testing the emergency broadcast system at the same time. Sorry about the extra noise.) Maybe it was the extra noise that distracted her?

And, here is the result of Papa's well-intentioned explanation of how to drive the truck.

Thanks for a great three weeks, Mom and Dad. We had a wonderful time!

June

Now that school is out, I have the pleasure of updating my blog ON A MONDAY MORNING! Hurray!!!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Thanks for the Sand and Water table, Grandma and Papa.

JD and A LOVE to take baths together, especially now that I realized he's big enough to not need the infant bath tub any more. Let's just say I'm a little slow with making transitions.

Moses in the bull rushes? Nope. JD in the laundry basket.

This was JD's first trip in the red wagon. They both loved having a riding buddy.

Now that JD is crawling, pulling himself up and standing, etc., I wasn't surprised to hear "thunk" yesterday. He gave himself about a 1/2 inch cut on his forehead, thanks to the futon. I think this will begin a long relationship with Neosporin and bandaids.

April and May '08

What Were We Doing in February?

Check out my Slide Show!

Not Much Happening Around Here

Not much has been happening around our house. I went back to work two weeks ago, and life seems to be settling into a rhythm for J, A, and JD. Thankfully, J is good to take photos of them while I'm at work, so I can see what they've been up to. A is still very much in love with her little brother. He gets lots of hugs and kisses from her everyday. He's slept through the night three times in the last two weeks, so we will be making the transition to having them sleep in the same room. I'll let you know how that goes.
Every once in a while, snow falls in Vancouver. Rarely does it stick. But, on this particular day, A was optimistic and asked J if she could put on her boots and go outside. She does have snow boots, but she realized that her rain boots would work just fine. Note: nothing accumulated on the ground. But, that didn't stop her from having fun for a few minutes.
Thanks to my mom for saving some of my old clothes and Halloween costumes, A has been enjoying her "dress up" clothes.
JD is all smiles these days, and I'm an adoring Mama. Doesn't that smile just make you melt?

All Good Things Must . . .

come to an end, and so has another season of football. Oh, yes, we are well aware that it hasn't for everyone, but for the fully-consumed Seahawks fan at our house, it ended on Saturday after a terribly nasty snowstorm in Green Bay, some well-defended plays by Al Harris, and not much of anything from Seattle after the first two minutes of the game. It's always kind of hard for me to accept the reality that there will not be another game for them to redeem themselves. But, I have high hopes that Seattle will come back even stronger next season.

Until then, I hope Eli Manning and the Giants have a terrific game on Sunday.

Wildcard Victory . . . Packers, Here We Come

Well done, Seahawks!

Can You Name This Tune?

Did you ever watch that old game show? I watched a lot of game shows in the 80s, this being one of them. I bet you can name this tune in 4 notes.

Two Months Old

Christmas in WA

Sorry in advance for the very poor quality on the photo. Our camera broke, and this is what the disposable gave us. I guess it's better than nothing!

Some ND Christmas Highlights

Where Did December Go? I Don't Know. I Don't Know.

I am a fan of Will Farrell. Not all of his stuff, but quite a bit. I became a fan in the 90s, when he was a cheerleader on SNL. Perhaps you remember the chess tournament skit, when Will and his partner said, "Where did Bobby Fisher go? I don't know! I don't know!" Though I've never been, nor never will be, a cheerleader, I have come to the same conclusion about December. Where did it go?

This is what I've come up with:
1) mailed Christmas pictures of the kids
2) an open house for J's sister
3) a birthday party for R, H, and T
4) a hair cut
5) a doctor's appointment
6) Christmas

Not much really. Pretty mundane compared to most, I'm sure. And yet . . . here we are already at the end of the month.

I'd say this is one of my biggest adjustments as a mom -- days feel very busy, yet I feel like I accomplish very little. In fact, I've come to organize my day into two categories: before nap and after nap. Not mine, just in case you're confused.

But, I'm not complaining. I have loved being home these last two months, and I mourn my transition back to work in 8 days. It's just that, in response to my dear friend K, who wondered why I haven't posted anything in a month, I couldn't think of anything incredible to post.

Hopefully this is better than nothing.

Keeping Things Real

A few months ago I read an article in a parenting magazine about a mother's mortification about her daughter's choice of clothing. I remember reading that article and thinking 'Not my A. She wears whatever I dress her in.' Yeah, Little Miss Prideful spoke too soon.

Earlier in the evening, she brought my 2nd grade ND bicentenial dress down from the playroom and wanted J to help her put it on. He said as soon as she had it on, she twirled and twirled with a huge grin on her face. He couldn't bear to make her take it off, and I was in far too much of a hurry to have a power struggle. So, A proudly wore the Laura Ingalls Wilder look-alike dress, with purple fleece pants, and brown Strawberry Shortcake shoes to Costco. She smiled and said, "Hi!" to everyone we passed in the store. And I was slightly less mortified than I would have been had I not insisted she wear a pink sweater. It WAS cold that night.

When we got home, I told her I wanted to take a picture because she looked so pretty. She glowed!

A's Turkey House

A is excited about many things, some of which puzzle me. For example, the moon. If she's in the car at night, we hear, "Where's the moon, Mommy? Where's the moon, Daddy?" what seems like a million times. And I wonder how she even knows about the moon. I know I haven't told her.

Well, I have our two neighbors with giant, illuminated, inflatable turkeys to thank for her intrigue with Ben Franklin's favorite bird. The first night she saw them, our entire dinner was filled with turkey (when she says it, it sounds like kee-kee) talk. Specifically her questions centered around when we would go to see them next. And all I could think was 'Who invented those stupid inflatables, anyway?' I'm not a fan.

Because of her love for turkeys, my mom started singing "Down by the turkey house . . ." to A, and A LOVED it. Thanksgiving morning A insisted on holding a wooden turkey I had on the table, which she promptly put into a clothes basket and announced, "Turkey (kee-kee) house, Mommy." I guess that turkey needed a home.

Geese

I'm from ND, as you know. Not everyone from ND hunts, but many people do. It's just part of the culture. If you mention hunting here in WA/OR, people usually gasp and call PETA on their speed dials. Okay, it's not quite that bad, but you know what I mean. Animals, especially dogs and cats, get the red carpet treatment around here. I like animals, but I don't regard them quite that highly. I do, however, go crazy over deer sightings. There's just something about those four legged creatures that gets me every time. J claims that I have an eye for them when I spot them on our long road trips to ND. I secretely smile and feel very proud inside.

I don't necessarily feel the same excitement about geese as I do about deer. But, I do like them. I think it's because I love fall and winter, and when you see geese, you know fall is here and winter is coming. I don't know much about them, but I am intruigued by what I've heard. They fly in the V formation, for instance. How does that happen? Who decides who gets to be the lead? Or is that the worst place to be, because wouldn't he/she get the most wind resistance? I know these aren't deep thoughts, but their mine.

I also like geese, because my dad likes them. I don't think I've ever heard him say why, but if he paid attention to them, so did I. When Dad was out to visit us a few weeks ago, the geese were out in the farmer's field across from our house. He took A out to see them a few times, and I found that precious.

So, when I saw them out again today, as J was hanging Christmas lights, I had to take a picture. Not because there's anything so profound about them. But it was a sweet memory for me, of Dad and A, hand-in-hand, looking through the fence at those geese. Maybe she'll grow up to like them too.

Chevy Chase

Perhaps you remember that we moved at the end of May into a different home. Our first home was one story, and J did a wonderful job putting Christmas lights on the house each year. It was a couple hour job at most.

Well, now we own a two-story home. And, my dedicated decorator braved the heights to tackle our steep roof on Tuesday . . . and part of Wednesday. It's always hard to know how many strings of lights you'll need the first time. But it was all worth it. I think he did his best job yet!

What does this have to do with Chevy Chase, you may ask? Our next door neighbor, Wayne, after seeing J up on the roof for hours, making sure that everything was perfect, called J "Chevy Chase." Now, I'm sure there are a few dedicated Chevy Chase fans out there, but I'm not one of them. I am, however, unfortunately aware of what Wayne was referring to. Just in case you're one of the lucky few who haven't seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, let's just say Chevy Chase REALLY likes to decorate with Christmas lights. And it's not the tasteful kind of decorating. It's the let's-see-how-many-neighbors-can-loose-power-because-of-all-of-my-tacky-lights kind of decorating.

So, let me be clear. J is no Chevy Chase. You did a beautiful job!

Two Weeks Old

This week, we were delighted to hear that J D's weight was increasing, so we are no longer going to the doctor every other day for weight-ins. Hurray! Today, he was at a whopping 7 lbs. 14 oz., and we were thrilled. Our life hasn't totally revolved around his weight this week. But, honestly, I don't know where the time goes. I want to say I'm out of the new mom fog, but I think that would be too generous. I'm not sure that I've accomplished anything at all, which is a bit wierd to me. But I can say this: J D's feedings are improving, I'm getting slightly more sleep, I've relaxed a ton now that he's gaining weight, and I've given him two baths. I guess that's something!

Yes, that IS a Winnie-the-Pooh towel he is wrapped in. And, NO, I haven't out-grown that huggable old bear.
Here he is on his two week birthday. He's filled out quite a bit, don't you think? He looks like he's pondering something very deep -- perhaps when he should eat next?

Just a Rockin'

1 Week Old

This is a pretty typical view of J D. It's a highlight each day when he can stay awake for a few minutes and show us his bright eyes. We've had several trips to the doctor this week, because he's not gaining weight and having adequate output. So, I've been diligently filling out the chart from the hospital, so I can keep track of his eating and diaper changes. I remember doing this for a few weeks when A was born, because I just couldn't trust myself to remember. J pointed out that this is the one time in life when we are actually excited to see and change bowel movements. J also mentioned, perhaps in one of his more sleep deprived moments, that he might start recording his own b.m.s. You know. "Just for fun." I'm glad he can find humor, even with this!

My dear brother, A J, requested a sighting of our parents on the blog -- so here's to you, A J! Pictures of mom are few and far between, but here's one of Dad and J D.

A has continued to be incredibly sweet with her new baby brother. She asks for "my turn" to hold the bottle, she pats his back when I'm burping him, and she insists on putting his hat back on when it falls off. J found an old Golden book from the 50s called My Baby Brother that she pretends is about her and J D. I find it amazing that a two year old can suddenly take on the role of mothering. It's pretty precious.

A glimpse from into our world

Well, after a bit of an impatient confession in my last entry, I was humored with the very punctual appearance of our son, John David, on his due date, Nov. 1st, at 10:04 a.m. We are home now, and I am again reminded of how good God is to give us such a precious little boy, how much patience I need with all of the adjustments that come with a growing family, and how much I need His help. Thankfully, I believe His help came in the form of my parents, who arrived late last night from ND, and we are all making these adjustments together.

I hope you enjoy a glimpse into our world.

8 lbs. 1 oz., 19 1/2 inches long

When A came to visit, she said, "Hello Baby!"

J D 's proud dad

Precious footprints

J D's first trip in the car was a success. He slept the whole way home, while A announced from the back seat, "We're home baby brother, we're home!"