Playing Together (Nicely, even!)

I just received validation for many months of yelling "watch out for the baby!" and "Don't stick that in his mouth!" and "Can you please take this diaper to the garbage for me?" NORA AND WELLS PLAYED TOGETHER- NICELY- WHILE I MADE LUNCH TODAY! Isn't this what every mother of two or more dreams about? I officially feel like I have two kids today- not one and a cling-on. AND Wells didn't fall from this standing position until I was able to finish up and get him down. It has been a day of milestones.

Ode to Wells

Ten chubby fingers

Nine months old

Eight o'clock bedtime

Seven first cousins

Six rolls on each leg

Five o'clock cranky hour

Still nurses Four times a day

Three year old sister

Two impossibly blue eyes

One heart he has stolen- mine!

We have People!

Nora has not exactly been a gifted drawer. I have pushed crayons on her since her first birthday and she has always scribbled happily, but until a few months ago, I had not seen any scribbles that actually resembled anything (to me, anyway...) Then she started doing ghostlike figures occasionally. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to find that she had drawn our family a few days ago and pointed out each person to me. When Josh came home, we were commenting on how the eyes were on the top of the heads, like frogs. Nora said "What do you mean? Eyes are always on the top of heads!"

Climbing up... and Falling down

I think I'm ready to scream. A few days ago Wells started pulling himself up to a kneeling position and then a stand when ever he gets the chance. While I am happy for his accomplishment, the problem arises when he decides to get down, or slips unintentionally. He's falling and hitting his head on the floor every time followed by five minutes of inconsolable screaming. I feel like I need to follow him around with a safety net. I think when Nora entered this stage, I actually did follow her around and caught her falls until she was more sure on her feet. I only remember her actually falling on her head once and I promptly rushed her to the doctor. This time around, I am spread too thin. He usually falls when I'm busy helping Nora with something. Josh took these pictures the other day when he came home and I told him what Wells had been up to. We stood there and watched while he stood up and narrowly missed us catching his fall (it's so unpredictable, sometimes he stands for five minutes before falling, usually right when I turn my back...) For some reason, he didn't cry this time. Should I invest in a helmet?

Gymnastics

I took Nora to a gymnastics lesson this morning. She was a natural. I am constantly impressed by her coordination and balance. Go Nora!

Family Photos Easter 2009

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. It became even better eight years ago when Josh proposed on Easter morning in a little red canoe. Five years later, it became even better yet, when we blessed our sweet baby Nora that day. Okay, so we didn't take these on Easter. But we did dress up for church and take them exactly one week later at home. I really wanted a good one of the kids, I didn't even insist on them both smiling, just both looking in my direction. When one looked, the other looked away. When the other looked, the first was looking away. This is the best that we came up with. Even getting Nora to wear that 'scratchy' dress again was quite a feat. Oh well, Happy Easter!

Easter Eggs

It's not really Easter without some egg decorating, is it? There was a little wax crayon that she was able to color on the eggs with that left a white mark behind after the egg was dyed. It reminded me of a batiking project that I did in 4th grade art class.

Washington

Last week we went to Washington because Josh was presenting some research at a conference in Seattle. Here is a random assortment of photos as I try to organize and make sense of all the ones I took on our trip. Amoung other things, including celebrating Nora's birthday and Easter, we were able to visit with some friends and family, a couple of farms and a small museum. It was so nice to get away for a while, and besides flying across the country with two kids and the cold that Wells ended up with, the trip was entirely relaxing.

Three Years Old!

Nora enjoyed a birthday celebration in Washington hosted by her great grandmother. This lady is still spunky enough to throw a great party! It was so cute how she prepared all of Nora's favorite foods and even supplied party favors that made Nora feel like an absolute star! Thanks, Grandma. Nora really played up being the center of attention as usual despite being in a room full of adults, most of whom she had never met before that day. She has been telling me ever since how sad she is that her birthday is already over. I think she's making plans for next year.

Easter Boy

Because Wells is obviously too young for Easter treats, I got him these adorable finger puppets that jumped out at me at pottery barn kids, umm, a while ago. Okay, so they've been sitting in the closet and I have been looking for an excuse to give them to him. I think he liked them, but he's a little hard to read. He basically sticks everything in his mouth and makes grunting noises. What I really can't believe is that I didn't get even one picture of the kids dressed up for church in their Easter outfits. We may have to re-stage that next Sunday...

Easter Girl

We had a great Easter celebration in Washington this year with Josh's parents, grandparents, and little brother. Even though it rained all day and the easter egg hunt had to be indoors, Nora was in heaven. She wanted to practice hunting for eggs the night before so that she would be ready to take on her 12 year old uncle. In the end, she did much better than last year, in that she actually resisted the temptation to open the eggs and empty them as she found them. It wasn't long after, however, that she promptly ate ALL of the candy in each one pushing aside the coins and small toys in the process. My little sugar baby.

Ode to Younger Siblings

As the baby in my family, I often feel sympathy for Wells as I witness the abuse that he takes from an over zealous big sister. Nora had far too much fun creating this masterpiece on her brother's head while my back was turned. The funniest part about it is that he didn't even seem to notice. I took the kids for a doctors appointment last week and found out that Nora is only 8 pounds heavier than Wells who has tipped the scales at 24. When I stand him on his feet next to her, he comes up to her shoulder. It's amazing how two and a half years of headstart in the growth department has quickly amounted to not much. I have people asking me all the time how close in age they are, and with a tone of awe, as if I have broken some kind of world record. The question is always followed by all the people that they know with 'irish twins'. Well, my kids may be Irish, but they're not that close in age, folks. I just have a petite darling followed by a moose who is about to pass her up in height and weight.