Going public with my resolutions this year. Perhaps this will help them to stick?
New Year's Resolutions 2011
* Work out at the gym 3-4 times per week.
* Cut out refined sugar from my diet wherever possible (nothing crazy here, people. Just a vow to avoid the obvious sources when I can).
* Eat fresh fruit and/or veggies every day.
* Drink more water.
* Eliminate $100 per month of unnecessary spending, and put that money into savings for the things we really want.
* Focus on the moment while laying plans and small steps for our future.
* Play with my children like its the only thing that matters. Because it is. Everything else can wait.
* Be patient. Be patient. Be patient.
Friday, December 31, 2010
New Year's Eve
Well, 2010, it's been real.
What to say about this year that brought me a daughter and grew my baby son into a boy?
I've learned this year that two is more than one. That I love being pregnant but really don't love sleep deprivation-- in case I had any questions about that before... I have watched in amazement as my boy has grown, I have laughed at the things he says and felt my breath catch in my throat at his sweetness and despaired at his obstinate streak. I have been awestruck at just how much I love him and how perfect he is, this creature we have made. And I have held this baby as she has grown, in my belly and in my arms. Soft skin, smiley cheeks, blue eyes... a person as-yet-undiscovered but slowly I am learning who she might be, this girl who is a daughter to me.
And while we're at it, what to say about this decade? These ten years that have brought me through my 20's and into my 30's, from youth to motherhood, from an unformed future to a career path, to Winnipeg and North Dakota and back again, through three apartments and 3 houses and 3 continents. Travels to NYC, Salzburg and Italy and China, Skiing in Denver and New York; parties with friends at the Shaker House and TJAP's and the Cove house; reading and learning and teaching to a Master's Degree and interviewing to 2 different jobs. Moving and a house and a dog and a dog park; another dog and a puppy and moving again; a house and a wedding and a pregnancy and an auction; moving again and a baby and a baby again... It's been a decade, hasn't it?
What have I learned from all at the end of these years? That time does not stretch as far as it did in my 20's, that I can't fit quite as much into my 24 hours. Or, that what I do fit in, looks so very different. That friends and lives cannot remain the same. That we grow and change and our relationships do too. We've seen so many friends leave, move, drift. We've made so many new friends. We've held on to the relationships that matter the most to us and they've grown and stretched and blossomed into the new that this decade has brought. What once was centered around late nights and bonfires and beer now focuses on mornings and playdates and lots and lots of juice boxes.
I have learned that sleep is a very, very valuable thing.
That life changes.
That change is good.
That life is good.
Happy New Year, everyone.
xoxox
Jack and Ivy's mom
What to say about this year that brought me a daughter and grew my baby son into a boy?
I've learned this year that two is more than one. That I love being pregnant but really don't love sleep deprivation-- in case I had any questions about that before... I have watched in amazement as my boy has grown, I have laughed at the things he says and felt my breath catch in my throat at his sweetness and despaired at his obstinate streak. I have been awestruck at just how much I love him and how perfect he is, this creature we have made. And I have held this baby as she has grown, in my belly and in my arms. Soft skin, smiley cheeks, blue eyes... a person as-yet-undiscovered but slowly I am learning who she might be, this girl who is a daughter to me.
And while we're at it, what to say about this decade? These ten years that have brought me through my 20's and into my 30's, from youth to motherhood, from an unformed future to a career path, to Winnipeg and North Dakota and back again, through three apartments and 3 houses and 3 continents. Travels to NYC, Salzburg and Italy and China, Skiing in Denver and New York; parties with friends at the Shaker House and TJAP's and the Cove house; reading and learning and teaching to a Master's Degree and interviewing to 2 different jobs. Moving and a house and a dog and a dog park; another dog and a puppy and moving again; a house and a wedding and a pregnancy and an auction; moving again and a baby and a baby again... It's been a decade, hasn't it?
What have I learned from all at the end of these years? That time does not stretch as far as it did in my 20's, that I can't fit quite as much into my 24 hours. Or, that what I do fit in, looks so very different. That friends and lives cannot remain the same. That we grow and change and our relationships do too. We've seen so many friends leave, move, drift. We've made so many new friends. We've held on to the relationships that matter the most to us and they've grown and stretched and blossomed into the new that this decade has brought. What once was centered around late nights and bonfires and beer now focuses on mornings and playdates and lots and lots of juice boxes.
I have learned that sleep is a very, very valuable thing.
That life changes.
That change is good.
That life is good.
Happy New Year, everyone.
xoxox
Jack and Ivy's mom
Monday, December 27, 2010
33 weeks
No tag, and you'll notice a slight color difference to the bear. We are shooting on location here at Claire's house with Nat's bear (the bear which, incidentally, inspired the purchase of the bear we pose with Ivy, because I loved this guy so much and my wonderful Nat, he always tries to get me what I love...)
A few things of note about Miss IJ at 33 weeks:
*She is working on learning to wave.
*She is so utterly engaging and adorable, I almost can't handle it. Sat in the far back of the van today and couldn't do a thing but chat with this little baby who was constantly seeking out my attention.
*She makes this adorable clicking sound with her tongue when she is excited.
*She is eating more and more foods-- she has now tried bread, waffles, cheese souffle, and rice. She loves them all.
*She has gone to bed without crying two time this week and today too a nap in her crib. Corner turned on sleep??? We can hope!
*She likes sitting up in a highchair out at restaurants but spends most of the time turning around in the chair. Girl never faces the person talking to her if she can help it. Too busy exploring.
*She grabs anything that is not nailed down. Continues to love to chew on paper.
*Very vocal these days. "Ma ma ba!" was heard today, but "Da!" is more common. Today I swear she yelled "Da!" at Corydon and then "da-da-dy!" at Nat to get their attention. If Ivy is going to say something, it is going to have an exclamation point on the end.
*She bounces so much on her little bum that we can't turn our backs on her when we put her on beds or chairs, anymore. Floorbound, this one. She can push up onto her knees and rock, and move backwards 6 inches at a time... Not calling her mobile, yet. But soon, we think. And oh we will be in trouble when Ivy "Octopus" Morehouse gets mobile because she is going to get into EVERYTHING. Just look at the glint in those eyes...
Merry Christmas to you!
We are ensconced in the warm room here at Claire's house in Aurora. Two days post-Christmas it is good to hunker down and do not-too-much here, together. It's been a wonderful Christmas, all told, despite a boy being sick with a fever and general malaise that hit on Christmas Eve. He did not let it get in the way of his enjoyment of the recurring piles of presents over these past 3 days, nor of his extreme joy in getting to play with his cousins (oh, the tears when we suggested waiting til the day after Christmas to travel to NY!). And for the most part it hasn't dulled the glow of the holiday for the rest of us, either. It would be hard, really, to counter the magic of something that looks like this:
(Christmas Eve. The most magical night of the year. I would like to bottle up the way our living room felt at that moment...)
Christmas morning, we had our work cut out for us. All of those presents plus the box you can see Becca carrying, in the background of this picture:
We were up to the task. Ivy was enthusiastic about her stocking presents, spending most of her time gumming the black plastic spoon purchased for her (in honor of her brother's fascination with a black plastic spoon on HIS first Christmas, you'll remember). She was content to watch the insanity as Jack blew through all of his presents and proceeded to help Nat and I with ours. The girl went down for a nap by the time breakfast was ready. We enjoyed our traditional special-day breakfast of meat with a side of meat, eggs, and pastry overload, and then headed back in for the dismantling of the tree presents.
"before"-- the traditional Henderson-women-in-front-of-the-tree shot. bonus this year: a new generation!
"after": the present piles...
Jack with one of his favorite presents-- Boris from Dinosaur Train. The other winner? His Hotwheels track from Becca. No good pics of that as they were all action shots and well, it goes really fast...
Corydon really likes Christmas. Mostly, I think, because it means sitting on the couch next to me all morning. She spent her time putting her head on any and every object I placed on the couch...I love my dog.
Ivy woke from her nap just as the rest of the presents had been opened. We had a lovely, calm time opening her gifts as Jack watched Hotwheels videos on the laptop and Becca set up her new camera in the background. We could have given little girl just one present, I think, with a good bow on top, as a green bow was the main object of interest for her. But she was a good sport and attentively watched me open her whole pile of gifts.
By the time the present insanity was winding down, Jack's last Ibuprofen dose was wearing off, too, and he was in rough shape. We finally made the decision to head off to NY anyways and 2 hours of inefficient packing later, we were on our way. We've been doing this run-off-to-NY-for-Christmas-dinner thing for a number of years now, but never with two kids. We really ought to stop underestimating the difference having two kids makes. Really. It is exceedingly hard to do quick last minute packing and preparations with a baby in one arm. Particularly when the other hand is frequently being used to wipe the nose of the sick three year old. But-- we made it! We arrived to Claire's post-dinner but in time for a brief gift exchange with the Koon family. A very, very happy boy played beautifully with his cousins and it was all worth it.
He's been working on recovering since then...
Last night brought more gifts, with Randy's family, including a treasure hunt to the barn where all 6 grandchildren received personalized, locking toy boxes from Lulu.
And today-- hunkering down. Working on getting a boy well. Watching a girl get to know her grandmother and explore her world. A trip to Target, of course, for half-price Christmas supplies, but then we headed home quickly ahead of an approaching snowstorm. It's cold, in the teens outside, but the fire has been stoked all day in here and we are warm. We hope your holidays have been warm and wonderful too.
Much love.
(Christmas Eve. The most magical night of the year. I would like to bottle up the way our living room felt at that moment...)
Christmas morning, we had our work cut out for us. All of those presents plus the box you can see Becca carrying, in the background of this picture:
We were up to the task. Ivy was enthusiastic about her stocking presents, spending most of her time gumming the black plastic spoon purchased for her (in honor of her brother's fascination with a black plastic spoon on HIS first Christmas, you'll remember). She was content to watch the insanity as Jack blew through all of his presents and proceeded to help Nat and I with ours. The girl went down for a nap by the time breakfast was ready. We enjoyed our traditional special-day breakfast of meat with a side of meat, eggs, and pastry overload, and then headed back in for the dismantling of the tree presents.
"before"-- the traditional Henderson-women-in-front-of-the-tree shot. bonus this year: a new generation!
"after": the present piles...
Jack with one of his favorite presents-- Boris from Dinosaur Train. The other winner? His Hotwheels track from Becca. No good pics of that as they were all action shots and well, it goes really fast...
Corydon really likes Christmas. Mostly, I think, because it means sitting on the couch next to me all morning. She spent her time putting her head on any and every object I placed on the couch...I love my dog.
Ivy woke from her nap just as the rest of the presents had been opened. We had a lovely, calm time opening her gifts as Jack watched Hotwheels videos on the laptop and Becca set up her new camera in the background. We could have given little girl just one present, I think, with a good bow on top, as a green bow was the main object of interest for her. But she was a good sport and attentively watched me open her whole pile of gifts.
By the time the present insanity was winding down, Jack's last Ibuprofen dose was wearing off, too, and he was in rough shape. We finally made the decision to head off to NY anyways and 2 hours of inefficient packing later, we were on our way. We've been doing this run-off-to-NY-for-Christmas-dinner thing for a number of years now, but never with two kids. We really ought to stop underestimating the difference having two kids makes. Really. It is exceedingly hard to do quick last minute packing and preparations with a baby in one arm. Particularly when the other hand is frequently being used to wipe the nose of the sick three year old. But-- we made it! We arrived to Claire's post-dinner but in time for a brief gift exchange with the Koon family. A very, very happy boy played beautifully with his cousins and it was all worth it.
He's been working on recovering since then...
Last night brought more gifts, with Randy's family, including a treasure hunt to the barn where all 6 grandchildren received personalized, locking toy boxes from Lulu.
And today-- hunkering down. Working on getting a boy well. Watching a girl get to know her grandmother and explore her world. A trip to Target, of course, for half-price Christmas supplies, but then we headed home quickly ahead of an approaching snowstorm. It's cold, in the teens outside, but the fire has been stoked all day in here and we are warm. We hope your holidays have been warm and wonderful too.
Much love.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas Eve!
The paper chain is getting pretty short, people...
Last night Nat and I embraced the Christmas spirit by wrapping up the "Santa presents" in the living room as we watched Love Actually. NOW it feels like Christmas; I simple love that movie. Actually. :)
So, the presents. Oh my. It turns out that Christmas with one kid is pretty ridiculous, but with two kids the present overload and decadence is bordering on obscene. I cannot wait for present arranging tonight! (It will be a challenge to fit it all under the tree, especially with the goal of a Geotrax set up running through the mix.
I love Christmas Eve.
A few quick kiddo updates to tide you over until we get Christmas morning pics posted:
We hypothesize that Ivy is working on another tooth. I was sad to see her gummy smile go but I have to tell you her growing toothers make for an adorable little grin. I like em. She has been focusing her growth in the vocal department recently, with tons of babbling, all sorts of different sounds and all said with LOTS of enthusiasm. She gets very, very excited about paper, combs, silverware or really any other "found object" we give her to hold. She will now brandish the object she's got, look us square in the eye and yell something like "Dado!" or "a GAHHHH!". Before, of course, sticking said object in her mouth and chewing with great vigor. Speaking of chewing, girlie also loves bread. And pizzelles.
Jack is finally on the mend from his cold and getting back to his energetic and hilarious self. Its really hard to quantify his verbal development these days but I would say the biggest change is his ability to effectively describe things to us, as well as to compare two things. The most adorable new verbal habit? Incredibly polite and sincere utterances. Example: Looking at presents under the tree, he picks one up and asks "Who is this one for" "That one is for Daddy." Turning to Daddy: "Oh!! Daddy!! I WONDER what could be INSIDE!! It's for YOUUUU, Daddy. I'm so excited to see what it is!!" I can't type the cadence of his little voice. You'll just have to imagine it as cute as you possibly can... Some not so desirable verbal behaviors continue to emerge, as well, as the boy tests the limits of his individuality. We hear plenty of NO, I WON'T! along with all the politeness. He now takes his little fist and hits it, rather gently but with great meaning, on a surface near him, whenever he gets mad at an injustice. These injustices usually look a lot like telling him he can't watch another Hot Wheels video... Overall though he continues to be a very sweet boy, a very good boy.
I think Santa will be good to him this year... :)
Last night Nat and I embraced the Christmas spirit by wrapping up the "Santa presents" in the living room as we watched Love Actually. NOW it feels like Christmas; I simple love that movie. Actually. :)
So, the presents. Oh my. It turns out that Christmas with one kid is pretty ridiculous, but with two kids the present overload and decadence is bordering on obscene. I cannot wait for present arranging tonight! (It will be a challenge to fit it all under the tree, especially with the goal of a Geotrax set up running through the mix.
I love Christmas Eve.
A few quick kiddo updates to tide you over until we get Christmas morning pics posted:
We hypothesize that Ivy is working on another tooth. I was sad to see her gummy smile go but I have to tell you her growing toothers make for an adorable little grin. I like em. She has been focusing her growth in the vocal department recently, with tons of babbling, all sorts of different sounds and all said with LOTS of enthusiasm. She gets very, very excited about paper, combs, silverware or really any other "found object" we give her to hold. She will now brandish the object she's got, look us square in the eye and yell something like "Dado!" or "a GAHHHH!". Before, of course, sticking said object in her mouth and chewing with great vigor. Speaking of chewing, girlie also loves bread. And pizzelles.
Jack is finally on the mend from his cold and getting back to his energetic and hilarious self. Its really hard to quantify his verbal development these days but I would say the biggest change is his ability to effectively describe things to us, as well as to compare two things. The most adorable new verbal habit? Incredibly polite and sincere utterances. Example: Looking at presents under the tree, he picks one up and asks "Who is this one for" "That one is for Daddy." Turning to Daddy: "Oh!! Daddy!! I WONDER what could be INSIDE!! It's for YOUUUU, Daddy. I'm so excited to see what it is!!" I can't type the cadence of his little voice. You'll just have to imagine it as cute as you possibly can... Some not so desirable verbal behaviors continue to emerge, as well, as the boy tests the limits of his individuality. We hear plenty of NO, I WON'T! along with all the politeness. He now takes his little fist and hits it, rather gently but with great meaning, on a surface near him, whenever he gets mad at an injustice. These injustices usually look a lot like telling him he can't watch another Hot Wheels video... Overall though he continues to be a very sweet boy, a very good boy.
I think Santa will be good to him this year... :)
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
32 weeks, Stan Hywet, and wrapping paper
So some weeks you just don't get winners. Poor Miss Ivy was running a 102 degree temperature for her 32 week photo day. She also had a brother who actually wanted to have his picture taken. WITH her. Sadly, said brother was suffering from a cold and had a chapped lips and a most pitiful expression in every single shot. Here's the only one worth anything from that shoot, and only because its kind of funny, the way she's investigating the previous week's tag. In later shots, she's chewing on it. Go figure.
Here are the two sickies hanging out in the playroom that same day. A glimpse of everyday life. Jack "ball of chaos" Morehouse and his sister Ivy "I'll be a ball of chaos myself, soon"...
You'll be happy to hear that the sickies are on the mend today, though. Enough so that we headed out to Stan Hywet Hall this afternoon to see the decorations and the lights on the grounds. I simply love that place, love everything about it. The ridiculous decadence of it all, the luscious interior decor, the period details, the expansive views framed by perfectly placed doors and patios and birch tree allees. This year's holiday theme was "A Dickens Christmas" and they had many of the rooms done up to illustrate scenes from "A Christmas Carol". Very clever and kind of neat to see the rooms arranged in different ways. Happily for Jack, they also had a model train and village set up in the great hall, which was the only highlight for him. Apparently 3 is not the ideal age to enjoy the manor house tour. Lots of "I want to go to the train!!" and "Can we go to our home now??" from him. Ivy, at least, seemed to enjoy herself, looking around with interest and charming everyone else we saw in the halls. After touring the house we tromped about in the snow and looked at the lights-- it wasn't full dark yet so we didn't get the full effect but it was still a lovely walk. Jack and I had a continuing snowball fight as we walked around. Ivy gazed beatifically at her surroundings. She simply loves to be outside, that one. Driving past the hall once more, after dinner, we caught a glimpse of the light display as it was meant to be seen and we have vowed to go ahead and mess with schedules next year, and go for the evening show to really wow the kids with the lights. They do it up right at Stan Hywet.
Snowball kid!
It can be hard to get a picture with both of them! Have to corral the big one against his will sometimes!
And, lets just count these shots as her 32 week pics, OK? I think she looks pretty good in red...
\
So the drama preceding this photo was that Jack had found a large chunk of snow which he was carrying over to throw at me, when it dropped to the ground and broke apart. This great tragedy was reason to drop to the ground wailing. We took a picture, which seemed the most appropriate response to his behavior. :)
Here's that birch tree allee. I am torn, I bet it was fabulous in full dark... but, we got the view and that mysterious, dusky light.
I love these two guys.
Attempt at a family picture. The first try got Jack's rear view only. You can see Ivy's hood there if you look hard.
Jack "taking a break" on the sidewalk before we left...
Finally, another Ivy photo shoot. I realized when we got home that I loved her outfit. So we posed her for a bit, in spite of her orange face and boogery nose. I promise, the ragamuffin did get a bath shortly after this...
We are in heavy duty Christmas prep mode around here. Since we got the kids to bed I have been alternately frosting cookies and wrapping. Yet another way in which children create exponentially more work with exponentially less time to do it. The wrapping! Those of you who know me, know I like a well wrapped present. I really do enjoy wrapping, choosing the perfect papers, tying a just-right bow...This year, with presents for 3 new babies in the family added on, I may be wrapping straight on til Christmas morning. I have been pondering wrapping paper choices in a new way this year, with Jack old enough to notice and remember details of Christmas for the first time. We have 4 rolls of paper hidden away in my closet, "Santa paper." One reason they are in the closet is they are too long for our wrapping drawer but it does work out well. A good deal of my limited wrapping time this evening was spent moving presents in and out of the closet, attempting to decide what would be from us, and what would be from Santa. This is much harder than it seems, trust me. I think I have the balance now but I reserve the right to re-wrap a present on Christmas Eve if I change my mind...
Visions of sugar plums to you, and a good night...
 |
| From December 2010 |
Here are the two sickies hanging out in the playroom that same day. A glimpse of everyday life. Jack "ball of chaos" Morehouse and his sister Ivy "I'll be a ball of chaos myself, soon"...
You'll be happy to hear that the sickies are on the mend today, though. Enough so that we headed out to Stan Hywet Hall this afternoon to see the decorations and the lights on the grounds. I simply love that place, love everything about it. The ridiculous decadence of it all, the luscious interior decor, the period details, the expansive views framed by perfectly placed doors and patios and birch tree allees. This year's holiday theme was "A Dickens Christmas" and they had many of the rooms done up to illustrate scenes from "A Christmas Carol". Very clever and kind of neat to see the rooms arranged in different ways. Happily for Jack, they also had a model train and village set up in the great hall, which was the only highlight for him. Apparently 3 is not the ideal age to enjoy the manor house tour. Lots of "I want to go to the train!!" and "Can we go to our home now??" from him. Ivy, at least, seemed to enjoy herself, looking around with interest and charming everyone else we saw in the halls. After touring the house we tromped about in the snow and looked at the lights-- it wasn't full dark yet so we didn't get the full effect but it was still a lovely walk. Jack and I had a continuing snowball fight as we walked around. Ivy gazed beatifically at her surroundings. She simply loves to be outside, that one. Driving past the hall once more, after dinner, we caught a glimpse of the light display as it was meant to be seen and we have vowed to go ahead and mess with schedules next year, and go for the evening show to really wow the kids with the lights. They do it up right at Stan Hywet.
Snowball kid!
It can be hard to get a picture with both of them! Have to corral the big one against his will sometimes!
And, lets just count these shots as her 32 week pics, OK? I think she looks pretty good in red...
\So the drama preceding this photo was that Jack had found a large chunk of snow which he was carrying over to throw at me, when it dropped to the ground and broke apart. This great tragedy was reason to drop to the ground wailing. We took a picture, which seemed the most appropriate response to his behavior. :)
Here's that birch tree allee. I am torn, I bet it was fabulous in full dark... but, we got the view and that mysterious, dusky light. I love these two guys.
Attempt at a family picture. The first try got Jack's rear view only. You can see Ivy's hood there if you look hard.
Jack "taking a break" on the sidewalk before we left...Finally, another Ivy photo shoot. I realized when we got home that I loved her outfit. So we posed her for a bit, in spite of her orange face and boogery nose. I promise, the ragamuffin did get a bath shortly after this...
We are in heavy duty Christmas prep mode around here. Since we got the kids to bed I have been alternately frosting cookies and wrapping. Yet another way in which children create exponentially more work with exponentially less time to do it. The wrapping! Those of you who know me, know I like a well wrapped present. I really do enjoy wrapping, choosing the perfect papers, tying a just-right bow...This year, with presents for 3 new babies in the family added on, I may be wrapping straight on til Christmas morning. I have been pondering wrapping paper choices in a new way this year, with Jack old enough to notice and remember details of Christmas for the first time. We have 4 rolls of paper hidden away in my closet, "Santa paper." One reason they are in the closet is they are too long for our wrapping drawer but it does work out well. A good deal of my limited wrapping time this evening was spent moving presents in and out of the closet, attempting to decide what would be from us, and what would be from Santa. This is much harder than it seems, trust me. I think I have the balance now but I reserve the right to re-wrap a present on Christmas Eve if I change my mind...
Visions of sugar plums to you, and a good night...
Monday, December 20, 2010
Snowy weather
I am at Starbucks this morning, ostensibly getting a morning's worth of work done on curriculum planning and alternate assessments, for school. As you can see, I am multi-tasking a bit! It is lovely to be here, watching the snow fall, the buzz of conversation around me, the smell of coffee in the air. I could really get into the life of a freelancer. Who needs an office when there is Starbucks in the world?
It is STILL a winter wonderland out there. While I won't put it past Cleveland to have a thaw between now and Christmas (4 days!!), its been a beautiful, snowy December and I am loving the constant white. Could be a slow drive to Lakewood when I head out to bake cookies with my mom this afternoon, but really, I don't mind. I'm on break! I'm on my "day off!" I am inno hurry and slippery or not the snow has me in a festive mood.
Jack is in a festive mood too. Nat noted the boy's head may pop before we make it to Christmas, he is just sooo excited. A few times a day he asks us if it is Christmas morning yet. We have put a few packages out under the tree. He is in love with a package wrapped in silver paper and carries it around with him sometime. The other day he lovingly gazed at it while using the toilet. He is certain that it contains hot wheels and I fear he will be sorely disappointed when he opens it to find pajamas. Even if they have rocket ships on them and glow in the dark. He is doing a great job on waiting to open the presents, though, I have to give him that. He understands that he will wake up to Christmas morning, so he asks if it will be after his nap... We made a paper chain last night to help him understand that there is still some time to go before the big event. (He still really struggles with concepts of time, night and day, etc). I am hoping that Christmas morning lives up to all this anticipation! This is the first year he's been so aware of everything. And the first year he's had preferences for what he wants. Yesterday at our Fake Christmas Morning celebration with our friends, much whining and unhappiness ensued when he did not like the hot wheels he recieved (he much preferred the one Greg got, of course). Here's hoping he still likes Geotrax....
It is wonderful to be on break, even more so as we've not gotten too much sleep the past 3 nights due to two sick kids. I am actually thankful that they seems to be getting their Christmas illness out of the way before Christmas, but it is still pretty awful to have two sick kids. Really. Not fun at all. Thank god there are two of adults in the house, too. Night before last Nat stationed himself upstairs to deal with Jack's frequent "blow my nose!!!!" wakings and I spent the night rocking and administering Ibuprofen and Acetominophen to a feverish girl downstairs. Last night, thankfully, the on-the-mend boy slept well so Nat and I split the night with the miserable baby girl, rocking her in her carseat, changing poopy diapers and doing lots of shushing. She woke this morning with a normal temp so fingers crossed we are emerging from this spate of illness at our house.
OK, back to work with me. I have an hour before meeting Nat and the kids for lunch. Nat was taking those 32 week photos this morning (a little late, we didn't want to memorialize poor Ivy's flushed-cheek, booger-faced,glassy-eyed look) so check for those tonight.
Snowy regards and a holiday mood to you all!
It is STILL a winter wonderland out there. While I won't put it past Cleveland to have a thaw between now and Christmas (4 days!!), its been a beautiful, snowy December and I am loving the constant white. Could be a slow drive to Lakewood when I head out to bake cookies with my mom this afternoon, but really, I don't mind. I'm on break! I'm on my "day off!" I am inno hurry and slippery or not the snow has me in a festive mood.
Jack is in a festive mood too. Nat noted the boy's head may pop before we make it to Christmas, he is just sooo excited. A few times a day he asks us if it is Christmas morning yet. We have put a few packages out under the tree. He is in love with a package wrapped in silver paper and carries it around with him sometime. The other day he lovingly gazed at it while using the toilet. He is certain that it contains hot wheels and I fear he will be sorely disappointed when he opens it to find pajamas. Even if they have rocket ships on them and glow in the dark. He is doing a great job on waiting to open the presents, though, I have to give him that. He understands that he will wake up to Christmas morning, so he asks if it will be after his nap... We made a paper chain last night to help him understand that there is still some time to go before the big event. (He still really struggles with concepts of time, night and day, etc). I am hoping that Christmas morning lives up to all this anticipation! This is the first year he's been so aware of everything. And the first year he's had preferences for what he wants. Yesterday at our Fake Christmas Morning celebration with our friends, much whining and unhappiness ensued when he did not like the hot wheels he recieved (he much preferred the one Greg got, of course). Here's hoping he still likes Geotrax....
It is wonderful to be on break, even more so as we've not gotten too much sleep the past 3 nights due to two sick kids. I am actually thankful that they seems to be getting their Christmas illness out of the way before Christmas, but it is still pretty awful to have two sick kids. Really. Not fun at all. Thank god there are two of adults in the house, too. Night before last Nat stationed himself upstairs to deal with Jack's frequent "blow my nose!!!!" wakings and I spent the night rocking and administering Ibuprofen and Acetominophen to a feverish girl downstairs. Last night, thankfully, the on-the-mend boy slept well so Nat and I split the night with the miserable baby girl, rocking her in her carseat, changing poopy diapers and doing lots of shushing. She woke this morning with a normal temp so fingers crossed we are emerging from this spate of illness at our house.
OK, back to work with me. I have an hour before meeting Nat and the kids for lunch. Nat was taking those 32 week photos this morning (a little late, we didn't want to memorialize poor Ivy's flushed-cheek, booger-faced,glassy-eyed look) so check for those tonight.
Snowy regards and a holiday mood to you all!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Whirlwind
That's what Christmas is, you know. Even with two (yes, 2) snow days this week, I have managed to be too busy to update the blog. Sorry for that, readers. Will vow to do a teeny bit better now that I am on winter break. Hallelujah. Not a moment too soon, this break. I am looking forward to getting caught up on laundry, cleaning, and school work, in addition to the blog. After we get done taking care of our sick kid, that is. Poor Jackie has himself a doozy of a cold, and has been up wanting us to blow his nose, crying and pitiful, 4 times in the last 45 minutes. Sigh. Gonna be a long one tonight.
In the meantime, here are Ivy's 31 week pictures. (must post before we take her 32 week pictures tomorrow... wowza! 32 weeks...)
There they are! two teeth!
This one, actually smiling at the camera. Remarkable.
One of Ivy's newest tricks is grabbing her "garden art" flashcards, mounted on the wall next to her changing table, and pulling them off the wall, two at a time, so she can bang them and then stick them in her mouth. This is her preferred method of playing with just about anything in the universe. She always seems particularly pleased with herself about the card heists, though. She prefers the butterfly.
She is also pushing up onto her knees and rocking, just a little bit. I don't think she's ready to take off yet but she's working on it.... watch out world, Ivy is coming to chew on you.
Yesterday Jack and Daddy had a bit of an adventure before preschool... coming into the kitchen who should they see but our resident mouse (who has been leaving evidence of his existence around our house for a while now), sitting by the fridge. Apparently the mouse was not doing so well, rather listless and allowed itself to be swept into a box. Whereupon Jack fell in love with it, talking to it,saying it must miss its family, it must be dizzy from walking in circles,it must be hungry. He gave it peanut butter on a wheat thin, which it enjoyed. "Daddy, I LOVE mouses!" he exclaimed. "Mice,"Nat corrected him. "No, Daddy," said my boy, "it's a MOUSE." Parents don't know anything, do they?? This mouse was "returned to his family" outdoors, but Nat did take the boy to the pet store after preschool where he could actually pet a mouse... hmmm... I am seeing small cages in our future. I guess he is my son, already loving mice at the tender age of 3! (I spent years begging to have a mouse for a pet, and building small homes for mice in the yard... what fun to see it all from the other side!)
In the meantime, here are Ivy's 31 week pictures. (must post before we take her 32 week pictures tomorrow... wowza! 32 weeks...)
There they are! two teeth!
This one, actually smiling at the camera. Remarkable.One of Ivy's newest tricks is grabbing her "garden art" flashcards, mounted on the wall next to her changing table, and pulling them off the wall, two at a time, so she can bang them and then stick them in her mouth. This is her preferred method of playing with just about anything in the universe. She always seems particularly pleased with herself about the card heists, though. She prefers the butterfly.
She is also pushing up onto her knees and rocking, just a little bit. I don't think she's ready to take off yet but she's working on it.... watch out world, Ivy is coming to chew on you.
Yesterday Jack and Daddy had a bit of an adventure before preschool... coming into the kitchen who should they see but our resident mouse (who has been leaving evidence of his existence around our house for a while now), sitting by the fridge. Apparently the mouse was not doing so well, rather listless and allowed itself to be swept into a box. Whereupon Jack fell in love with it, talking to it,saying it must miss its family, it must be dizzy from walking in circles,it must be hungry. He gave it peanut butter on a wheat thin, which it enjoyed. "Daddy, I LOVE mouses!" he exclaimed. "Mice,"Nat corrected him. "No, Daddy," said my boy, "it's a MOUSE." Parents don't know anything, do they?? This mouse was "returned to his family" outdoors, but Nat did take the boy to the pet store after preschool where he could actually pet a mouse... hmmm... I am seeing small cages in our future. I guess he is my son, already loving mice at the tender age of 3! (I spent years begging to have a mouse for a pet, and building small homes for mice in the yard... what fun to see it all from the other side!)
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sitting here by the fire...
and wishing I had time to really write. Not just hastily add one or two typo-ridden anecdotes about the children. Not just caption a few photos. But really write. Muse. Ponder. Describe. Detail.
It's been a wonderful past few days around here, really. Busy busy busy. Why do I have no time to write? Partly because of the children, of course. Its easy to balem them, their night wakings that sap my energy, the constant need to play with hot wheels or bounce a baby or prepare a meal or tuck in to bed... But its not entirely their fault, to be honest. By the end of this week I will have spent a total of about 9 hours at rehearsals and concerts, performing the Messiah with a local orchestra. In addition to the WSC winter concert last weekend. I am taking an online course for Behavior Analyst certification. I just started doing morning reading tutoring and I am going to the gym 2-3 times a week. These are all good things. Wonderful things. Many qualify, I daresay, as rich-and-beautiful-life things. But they take the time, these wonderful things, leaving only snippets here and there, at the tail end of a long full day, to sort through all the events and the thoughts that went with them, here by our cheerful fake fire in our pine-scented, candle-decked, laundry-strewn living room...
I've had a couple of really wonderful drives this week, along routes that I rarely travel, as I have headed to and from the Messiah rehearal and performance. The novelty of finding my way to a new location, scoping out the houses and general scenery of a new route-- it is such fun! Stimulating and almost freeing. On my usual drives, so familiar I slip into auto pilot before I buckly my seatbelt, my mind wanders to my day, rehashing or planning or both. But the novelty-- I am alert and aware and observing everything as I search for the right street signs, and if my mind wanders-- it tends to go to the new, too, to far-flung plans for the future to imaginings of the distant past, to wild what-ifs and ideas for change, to places and things that might never happen but are sure fun to think about... This week I got to explore routes to downtown on my way to and from Tri-C Metro. Who knew Prospect Ave had a section with fantastic old brownstones? And there is so much new construction on Euclid! Driving on Carnegie and looking at the backs of factories I could sense the dissatisfaction that had driven the Millionaires out of Millionaires Row. Tonight on my way back home from Parma, I discovered that 176 East offers a most spectacular, panoramic view of the lights of the city, downtown and the spreading industrial valley to the south, framed by a marvelous stack of highway engineering. As this particular view opened up before me, the song "Where are you Christmas" was playing on the radio. And I thought to myself, my breath catching a bit at the lovliness of it all, the red-and-green of the Terminal Tower glittering up ahead-- here. Christmas is right here.
Incidentally, I have to say that I am a fan of the constant stream of Christmas music being played on a few local stations. Sensitivity to other religions be damned. It's Christmas and I want to be able to sing along with carols and cheesy Christmas songs at any moment. Thank you, 106.5.
Tomorrow promises the same sort of full-and-wonderful busy-ness as today. We are hosting Soup Supper tomorrow evening so we're going to try to be smart and use our crockpot as we also need to clean the house and I have a concert to be at by 3:00...I'd love to decorate the tree, too. Perhaps we'll even fold the laundry!
Hey, a girl can dream, right??
Finally, because it just feels weird to write a post that is not centered on the children... here's a little slideshow of today.
It's been a wonderful past few days around here, really. Busy busy busy. Why do I have no time to write? Partly because of the children, of course. Its easy to balem them, their night wakings that sap my energy, the constant need to play with hot wheels or bounce a baby or prepare a meal or tuck in to bed... But its not entirely their fault, to be honest. By the end of this week I will have spent a total of about 9 hours at rehearsals and concerts, performing the Messiah with a local orchestra. In addition to the WSC winter concert last weekend. I am taking an online course for Behavior Analyst certification. I just started doing morning reading tutoring and I am going to the gym 2-3 times a week. These are all good things. Wonderful things. Many qualify, I daresay, as rich-and-beautiful-life things. But they take the time, these wonderful things, leaving only snippets here and there, at the tail end of a long full day, to sort through all the events and the thoughts that went with them, here by our cheerful fake fire in our pine-scented, candle-decked, laundry-strewn living room...
I've had a couple of really wonderful drives this week, along routes that I rarely travel, as I have headed to and from the Messiah rehearal and performance. The novelty of finding my way to a new location, scoping out the houses and general scenery of a new route-- it is such fun! Stimulating and almost freeing. On my usual drives, so familiar I slip into auto pilot before I buckly my seatbelt, my mind wanders to my day, rehashing or planning or both. But the novelty-- I am alert and aware and observing everything as I search for the right street signs, and if my mind wanders-- it tends to go to the new, too, to far-flung plans for the future to imaginings of the distant past, to wild what-ifs and ideas for change, to places and things that might never happen but are sure fun to think about... This week I got to explore routes to downtown on my way to and from Tri-C Metro. Who knew Prospect Ave had a section with fantastic old brownstones? And there is so much new construction on Euclid! Driving on Carnegie and looking at the backs of factories I could sense the dissatisfaction that had driven the Millionaires out of Millionaires Row. Tonight on my way back home from Parma, I discovered that 176 East offers a most spectacular, panoramic view of the lights of the city, downtown and the spreading industrial valley to the south, framed by a marvelous stack of highway engineering. As this particular view opened up before me, the song "Where are you Christmas" was playing on the radio. And I thought to myself, my breath catching a bit at the lovliness of it all, the red-and-green of the Terminal Tower glittering up ahead-- here. Christmas is right here.
Incidentally, I have to say that I am a fan of the constant stream of Christmas music being played on a few local stations. Sensitivity to other religions be damned. It's Christmas and I want to be able to sing along with carols and cheesy Christmas songs at any moment. Thank you, 106.5.
Tomorrow promises the same sort of full-and-wonderful busy-ness as today. We are hosting Soup Supper tomorrow evening so we're going to try to be smart and use our crockpot as we also need to clean the house and I have a concert to be at by 3:00...I'd love to decorate the tree, too. Perhaps we'll even fold the laundry!
Hey, a girl can dream, right??
Finally, because it just feels weird to write a post that is not centered on the children... here's a little slideshow of today.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
7 months old!
Today Ivy is 7 months old!
Here are her 30 week photos, to celebrate.
A milestone update will follow when I am not quite so tired...
In the meantime, here are some photos of last night's Christmas decoration insanity. Otherwise know as "why in god's name did we think we needed to add MORE clutter to this house????" :) Because its Christmas,that's why.
Here are her 30 week photos, to celebrate.
A milestone update will follow when I am not quite so tired...
In the meantime, here are some photos of last night's Christmas decoration insanity. Otherwise know as "why in god's name did we think we needed to add MORE clutter to this house????" :) Because its Christmas,that's why.
Winter Wonderland
Remember that note that December was off to a wintry start? We had no idea. The past 3 days have transformed the Cleveland Area into a true wonderland of white. Trees and roofs and streetcorners mounded with white. The world glowing incandescent, streetlights reflected to the all-white sky.And it is a good thing it is so stunning considering the drive home I had this evening. Perfect winter wonderlands can mean slippery slow-going roads, that's for sure. 1 hour and 30 minutes into my usually 30 minute drive home, I was stuck with an intense appreciation for the fact that I don't have to drive that long, or get home that late, every night. After arriving home to two whiny children, my own nerves frayed from fishtailing my way home, I decided we'd best embrace the weather and bundled both kids up for a foray into the dark, snowy yard. It was magic out there. Hushed and soft with the whoosh of slower-than-normal cars going by. Jack enthusiastically shoveled snow onto Corydon's back ("She LOVES snow on her back, mommy!" and Ivy was content as a little plum the whole time we were out, snowflakes catching in her eyelashes and hair.
We lasted about 5 minutes before Jack declared himself ready to go inside and watch videos (his favorite thing in the world these days, particularly Hot Wheels videos on the computer). We had hot chocolate on the floor of the kitchen together, Jack still in his snowpants. What a lovely time of year this is.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Another one
In an effort to keep you abreast of the things in life that truly matter, dear reader:
Ivy has another tooth. Two teeth in 4 days. The kiddo gets a pass on the rough nights she's been giving us. Poor little mouth.
She also has a bit of a cold now, too, so it is going to be a tiring week. Sigh.
Oh, and I thought of another wonderful Jack-quote from the weekend. At Nat's birthday breakfast Saturday, looking at the presents: "Look, Daddy, presents for you! Each present is from each person and they are all for you!" He can really be a doll, that one.
Ivy has another tooth. Two teeth in 4 days. The kiddo gets a pass on the rough nights she's been giving us. Poor little mouth.
She also has a bit of a cold now, too, so it is going to be a tiring week. Sigh.
Oh, and I thought of another wonderful Jack-quote from the weekend. At Nat's birthday breakfast Saturday, looking at the presents: "Look, Daddy, presents for you! Each present is from each person and they are all for you!" He can really be a doll, that one.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Wintershow and Wonderful days...
December is off to a wonderful, wintery start. December 1st, in fact, brought our first snow of the season, with a mix of sun and snow-filled clouds and perfectly acceptable December temperatures in the 30's since then. This week has brought us two birthdays and if the rest of our year is as lovely as our birthdays have been, the mid-thirties will treat Nat and I well...
Some recent events, photos, and anecdotes about the stars of this show...
Thursday night we went to the Botanical Gardens for what has quickly become one of our traditions of the holiday season: attending Member's Night for the Wintershow. A chance to walk through the glasshouses at night (magical) and show off the kids in a wonderland of decorated trees and gingerbread houses. Complete with cookies and cocoa and 20% off in the Garden Store. Could it get any better??? This year we were joined by Melinda and Naomi, and had a grand time wandering, chasing Jack, and watching the model trains. It was also fun to have a little girl to show off, all decked in her holiday finery. She was called, at one point, "Santa's little doll baby." She was pretty cute, actually.
See?
(her daddy's not bad either...!)
Here's Jack enjoying his favorite part of the evening...
and being generally cute himself...
Melinda and Naomi...
Mom and the kids..
Yesterday for Nat's birthday we had what we hope will be a monthly tradition: Do Nothing Day. Many thanks to Gram, who bravely took on the challenge of our 2 kids for the day so we could go out to lunch, browse aimlessly in stores on Coventry, sit around on computers, and go out to coffee with Melinda and Will. It was lovely. We spent most of the time, of course, talking about our kids. We also spent a lot of time saying, repeatedly, "Really? This was what our lives were like, ALL the time? Just 3 year ago? Really??" Unreal to think about having so much time. With so little to do with it. Unreal and pretty delicious. We did realize about an hour before picking up the kids, though-- those kids are the reason we were so completely focused on fully enjoying every minute of leisure, the reason we appreciated it all so fully. Don't know what you've got til its gone, and all... And the kids have been pretty lovely themselves the past few days, so it felt pretty good to see them again at the end of the day.
Jack has thoroughly enjoyed the week of birthdays. He stated yesterday at Nat's special day breakfast, with his worried, earnest face on, "I was HOPING for it to be Daddy's birthday...!" He loves frosting, and candles, and his rendition of Happy Birthday is getting pretty good. His verbal skills as a whole have really gotten pretty impressive recently. It's hard to really summarize his developments in this area (I kind of miss the days of easy updates, capturing his new words in a sweet little list....) But there has definitely been a shift recently-- perhaps since preschool?-- with increased articulation and longer sentences and this fascinating logical synthesis he is starting to experiment with. A new area of interest for him is "getting to be the same size as..." For instance yesterday in the car he told me, "When I was the same size as Daddy, I could lift my 3 drawers in my bedroom." He also reassured me that when I get to be size of Daddy I'll be able to reach things in the backseat. :) He's a very encouraging young man! (Complete with patting our back, can I tell you how cute that is???)
Another fun quote-- today at lunch, as we talked about dinosaurs, Jack disagreed with us about Brontosaurses being bigger than T-Rexes (because in his mind the T-Rex is the ultimate dinosaur). When we tried to explain it, he said "No, because in that dinosaur book I was reading, there was a picture of a T-Rex and it was bigger than the Brontosaurus." Seriously. The kid is supporting his thinking with evidence from the text.
Along with his amazing language and adorable face and charming self, he is also a bit of a maniacal, hyper and impulsive, opinionated and obstinate 3 year old at times these days. Without warning, he's yelling at us to listen to him or running and climbing like a banshee or refusing to eat or do something else with a loud "No" and an exaggerated mad face. Experimenting with being his own person in the world, I imagine. And when I step back from the behavior I can see it as a fascinating stage in his development. But to be honest much of the time I am ready for "3" to get a move on, to see if 4 is any better...
And then, a moment later, he'll say something so funny and perfect and back in love with him I go...
Some recent events, photos, and anecdotes about the stars of this show...
Thursday night we went to the Botanical Gardens for what has quickly become one of our traditions of the holiday season: attending Member's Night for the Wintershow. A chance to walk through the glasshouses at night (magical) and show off the kids in a wonderland of decorated trees and gingerbread houses. Complete with cookies and cocoa and 20% off in the Garden Store. Could it get any better??? This year we were joined by Melinda and Naomi, and had a grand time wandering, chasing Jack, and watching the model trains. It was also fun to have a little girl to show off, all decked in her holiday finery. She was called, at one point, "Santa's little doll baby." She was pretty cute, actually.
See?
(her daddy's not bad either...!)
Here's Jack enjoying his favorite part of the evening...
and being generally cute himself...
Melinda and Naomi...
Mom and the kids..
Yesterday for Nat's birthday we had what we hope will be a monthly tradition: Do Nothing Day. Many thanks to Gram, who bravely took on the challenge of our 2 kids for the day so we could go out to lunch, browse aimlessly in stores on Coventry, sit around on computers, and go out to coffee with Melinda and Will. It was lovely. We spent most of the time, of course, talking about our kids. We also spent a lot of time saying, repeatedly, "Really? This was what our lives were like, ALL the time? Just 3 year ago? Really??" Unreal to think about having so much time. With so little to do with it. Unreal and pretty delicious. We did realize about an hour before picking up the kids, though-- those kids are the reason we were so completely focused on fully enjoying every minute of leisure, the reason we appreciated it all so fully. Don't know what you've got til its gone, and all... And the kids have been pretty lovely themselves the past few days, so it felt pretty good to see them again at the end of the day.
Jack has thoroughly enjoyed the week of birthdays. He stated yesterday at Nat's special day breakfast, with his worried, earnest face on, "I was HOPING for it to be Daddy's birthday...!" He loves frosting, and candles, and his rendition of Happy Birthday is getting pretty good. His verbal skills as a whole have really gotten pretty impressive recently. It's hard to really summarize his developments in this area (I kind of miss the days of easy updates, capturing his new words in a sweet little list....) But there has definitely been a shift recently-- perhaps since preschool?-- with increased articulation and longer sentences and this fascinating logical synthesis he is starting to experiment with. A new area of interest for him is "getting to be the same size as..." For instance yesterday in the car he told me, "When I was the same size as Daddy, I could lift my 3 drawers in my bedroom." He also reassured me that when I get to be size of Daddy I'll be able to reach things in the backseat. :) He's a very encouraging young man! (Complete with patting our back, can I tell you how cute that is???)
Another fun quote-- today at lunch, as we talked about dinosaurs, Jack disagreed with us about Brontosaurses being bigger than T-Rexes (because in his mind the T-Rex is the ultimate dinosaur). When we tried to explain it, he said "No, because in that dinosaur book I was reading, there was a picture of a T-Rex and it was bigger than the Brontosaurus." Seriously. The kid is supporting his thinking with evidence from the text.
Along with his amazing language and adorable face and charming self, he is also a bit of a maniacal, hyper and impulsive, opinionated and obstinate 3 year old at times these days. Without warning, he's yelling at us to listen to him or running and climbing like a banshee or refusing to eat or do something else with a loud "No" and an exaggerated mad face. Experimenting with being his own person in the world, I imagine. And when I step back from the behavior I can see it as a fascinating stage in his development. But to be honest much of the time I am ready for "3" to get a move on, to see if 4 is any better...
And then, a moment later, he'll say something so funny and perfect and back in love with him I go...
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