News and Information

Congratulations to the Wilson's for their latest addition, Brody Allen, my new nephew!

I'm sure they'll have pictures to come.

Oh, and Erica, yes, that is indeed the blanket you knitted for Kindred. Knit? Anyway, I love it. Perfect size and weight for autumn. And it's so colorful! Thank you all over again.

The Fall, briefly

Fall used to be a sentimental time for me. That whole "going back to school" feeling. But I've grown out of that feeling and it has been replaced by other memories and experiences. Our road trip carries a lot of my seasonal memories.

For instance, when it is a cloudy and very windy autumn day, I find myself transported back to Kansas. When it is damp and humid, yet still a little chilly, I remember Portland.

Then there are other experiences, further back. When it smells outside like October, I remember the March of the Americas, when I was a part of a group of poor and homeless folks and their advocates who walked from Washington, DC, to the United Nations in NYC during the whole month of October in 1999 to present documentation of Human Rights Violations done to the poor in the US.


Those are my strongest affilliations with Fall. I am glad I live in a place that has seasons. I often feel a little sad for folks who don't (although I am envious, when I'm sweltering or freezing, of their middle temps!).

In other news, Rose and Justin got married yesterday. Can you believe it? (You can see Rose here. She's next to Justin in the little video halfway down the page on the right.) It was a lovely Autumn wedding. Congratulations to the Donner-McCullough's! (Or "McDonners," as other might prefer to call them.)

Rest has its benefits

I am not getting enough sleep. (Do any of us, besides perhaps males between age 17-23 who manage to have the abilty to sleep until 3pm?) But here's some evidence of my own deficiency.

Yesterday I had to go to the local produce stand because I had run out of onions. (Really, who lets themselves run out of onions?) I had very few dinner options without them, so I packed the boys up in the chilliness and headed down the block, Elias in the MobyWrap and Kindred in the stroller.

Flashback: Both Elias and Kindred have colds, so I had a really long night previously with Elias who eventually needed to sleep in his swing (to drain his congestion) and I on the futon couch. This was accompanied by an early morning with Kindred who awoke around 7:15am to the alarm he had managed to set for himself on a travel alarm clock he'd evidently discovered in his room.

So I'm off to retrieve the onions, bleary-eyed and overwhelmed with the simple thought of dinner, and a little discouraged at the possibility of a windy rain approaching. I make it the 2 blocks to the store and shop shop shop. I paid at the counter and exited the crowded venue, now feeling a drip drop here and there, so I'm anxious to get my little sickies back home and warm.

When I pull the stroller up the the door, I make my plan to take Elias inside and then come back and get Kindred, who will have helped himself out of the stroller by then, and unload my groceries. "But wait a second," I say to myself. "I don't remember loading my 3 bags of groceries into the pouch of the stroller." Sure enough, I had left my purchases behind on the counter in my haste to avoid the rain. Ironic, isn't it, that then I had to turn right around and scurry foolishly back to the store, past the same people waiting for the bus, hoping they had not returned my fruit and veggies to their places on the shelves while silently thanking me for a kind donation to their little produce stand?

When I got back inside, they reprimanded me. "Vere did you go?" they demanded. "Ve ran out to luke for your car." (They're Russian.) I replied that this was simply the actions of a mother of a newborn. They kindly gave me back my groceries.


And then today I got Kindred up from his (20 minute) nap and put his shoes on so that he didn't slip all around the house in his socks. I let him pick: new shoes, flashy shoes or choo-choo shoes? New shoes it is. Then I noticed he was falling more frequently onto the floor and seemed to lose his balance quite a bit. I thought, "Son, you need to sleep. You are exhausted!" I watched him pick himself up every time he fell and brush off his hands, and say something like "Ohm oorts." (Arm hurts) or "Nee oorts." (Yep, knee.) As we were sharing dinner, just the 2 of us, I was enjoying how quiet the setting was. Kindred was being so well behaved and Elias was sleeping and Michael was out. Kindred starting bouncing his feet on the high chair. Thump Thump Thump! I tried to make him stop, without success. So I thought I would remove his shoes to get a thump instead of a Thump! This is when I discovered I had managed to put his shoes on the wrong feet. Four hours earlier. And there I was piting him for being so clumsy and sleepy.

My poor boys.

This one's for you, Chris!

This outfit is on loan from our Fantasy Football obsessed friend, because he wants it back to put on his newest (third) daughter when she arrives sometime in January. (The outfit is so soft Elias has worn it for 3 days!)

Oh, and this is a bonus. He really was into the headlines today.

A Family Visit

Grandma Carol and GreatGrandpa Dave came from Florida for a week or so to visit their old stomping ground and were able to spend a few days with us. Here's some pictures of them all (including Dad/FFil/Grandpa) hanging with Elias. (The first time GGDave met him.)

Elias is 2 months old

Can you believe it's been 2 months?

Because of my complete lack of free time, I have sacrificed keeping a journal for the boys for now. I had one for Kindred, but I haven't written in it since Elias was born. I have relied on my blog to keep track of what has been happening in their lives and development. (Sorry if that gets boring to any of you, but now you understand why all the updates.) I will write a longer post about Kindred and all his new words and activities soon, but this one is to talk about the things I don't want to forget about Elias.

I don't want to forget how tolerant he is, generally, of his brother. Kindred frequently wants to " 'old baby Ayiyas," or rest his head on him, or bounce and squeeze him. Sometimes Elias screams and yells, other times he is very patient. (Kindred is, for the most part, pretty gentle.)


I don't want to forget how strong he is, or how lively. He gets so rigid and stiff that he stands up and won't bend. He'll stay that way for long minutes. (I have had to resist making one of his pet names "My Little Stiffy".) He kicks his legs all over the place without moving his upper body at all when he is lying on his back. He can hold his head up for extended periods of time already, and could even when he was 2 days old. When he gets swaddled, he lies there and turns his head back and forth back and forth.


I want to remember how much he loves his swing, rocking back and forth and watching the fishies. And how long he can sit in it, peaceful and content, staring at all of us, watching our every move.


And of course I want to remember how he could be totally calm and fine one minute and then completely hysterical the next, beet red and wailing. It's also always surprising how sensitive he is. He gets a little bump or scratch, and forget it. He acts like he has been mortally wounded.


I think Elias might become a thumb/ finger sucker. He still doesn't have control of where his hands go, but he tends to put his hands in his mouth a lot.


Finally, I want to remember how expressive he is. He smiles and laughs. He responds to being tickled. He gets excited to see us. He makes little noises that accompany his smiles, and I love them.

He is wonderful, and I love watching him grow and learn. It's hard to imagine that he is going to get bigger, but he's already grown so much. He so tiny and light, but I know that somehow someday he is going to be much taller than me. It's hard to wrap my mind around this.

Happy Birthday little one.

Look

Once again, I jumped ahead, so you should look back and find the post where we went out to a farm to pick pumpkins.

I radio heaven, I get mixed signals...

Woke up to rain. In a bad mood.
Kindred gets into stuff he isn't supposed to.
Elias is mad.Kindred gets into more things he isn't supposed to, like to tarragon leaves. He "helps" to clean them up. (Notice he's got Elias's pacifier in his mouth. Yeah, not a big shocker.)

Elias stays mad. All morning.Kindred feels like spice messes are the way to go today. Here he is shaking the salt and pepper everywhere. (The pink mark must be the physical evidence of the o-called "devil on you shoulder".)
Put Kindred to bed.

It's only been 1 hour and 5 minutes, and suddenly, he's calling me. This is the child who typically sleeps for 3 hours.

Deep breaths. Drunkard's Prayer will get me through.

Punkin' Pickin'

Went pumpkin picking last weekend with the Grandparents. Fun was had by all.

The Bumbo Series

Elias got a new Bumbo seat-- Thanks Grandpa Dave! He technically isn't suppsed to sit in it until he's 3 months old, but he can hold his head up pretty well so we let him try it every once in a while for a few minutes. He was watching the playoffs with Daddy in this series.

"Thanks, Dad. Go Mets."

Assortment

I'm glad you all enjoyed the game. The answer? Kindred is pictured in #s 2,4, and 7. (Yay, Liz, Darren and Ted!) The rest are Elias. Isn't it funny how much they look alike? Of course, sometimes all babies at this age look alike, so it shouldn't be all that surprising. They are brothers. (Oh, by the way, I screwed up the sidebar of the blog somehow, but thankfully I have a husband who can read this html crap and hopefully fix it. Just looking at the code has given me a headache. Sorry.) (and thanks, michael.)

Anyway, here's an assortment of pictures just for fun.

Kindred actually brought me the camera (which is under the "No Touch" category, but he found it) and then stepped back for me to take his picture. I obliged.

I realized, looking at my darling child sleeping on the changing table that this won't last long. (Changing tables are high up. I didn't mean to nap him there. He just conked out.)

Michael called this one of his "glamour shots." I love it.

Michael is gone from 9am to 6pm on Tuesdays, so I have to find lots of ways to fill the day. I planned on walking to the library, but it rained. So we took lots of pictures of ourselves. This killed about 15 minutes.

And here are a few more short videos the pass the time.

A Game

Elias is a laugher. I love that. (That's a hint.)

Anyway, I decided to have a little fun and go back to pictures of when Kindred was 2 months old and see if I could set up a picture of Elias dressed and positioned just like Kindred. So here's the challenge. There are 3 pics of Kindred in this mix. Can you find them? (PS- Jim, #5 is for you.)

1

2

3

4

56

7

The Unhappy Barber-ed

Daddy made an attempt at a much-needed haircut for Kindred. To be frank, Kindred was less than cooperative....

Daddy tried reasoning, symapthizing, even cutting some of his own short locks to convince Kindred that a haircut was a fabulous and painless endeavor.

But Kindred was downright unhappy about the situation, even with cookie bribes and VeggieT@les.

Finally, after some patience and some sneaky maneuvers, and some standing up in the high chair (very dangerous), hair was acceptably trimmed...

...and happiness was acheived once again.