Grandma Lynne Went to Greece

And her pictures are gorgeous! See below. She says she wants to go back. Maybe someday we can go too!

On a related note, I seem to be doing the "find yourself through travel" book and movie tour. Just rewatched Bread and Tulips, reread Eat Pray Love, and am halfway through one of my favorite chick flicks of all time, Shirley Valentine. Some good escapism for me in between my 3 hour baby feed schedule!

In the Studio

We had some fun in the photo studio this morning. We all took turns taking pictures. Jake took some great shots himself!

First, Jake wanted some with his rocket launcher:

Then, I took some of Abby and Daddy:

Then, Mike took some of me and the kids:

Then, Jake took this, which I love!

And I took some of the boys:

Then it was Abby's turn. Here's a good 16 week photo of her.

She was hysterical. She only wanted to watch Jake, who by this point was unable to stop moving and playing with his toys off to the side.

This profile shot shows how flat her little head is in the back.

Finally, we got some of her looking at the camera!

And smiling!

Abby Sitting Up

We got all dressed up today to go meet Mary Margaret for coffee. We bumped into some friends there and Abby and her new outfit were much admired! She's also getting really good at holding her head up.

We also went to Jake's school this afternoon for parent/child night. He was ecstatic. He happily showed us several of his favorite works: sawing, making bubbles, shaving soap, and arranging flowers, and was so disappointed when time was up and we had to go! It was great to see him so enthralled and orderly and proud to be doing things all by himself.

Run of the Mill

Today was more or less typical day. Had a quiet early morning with Abby, then went to Nikki's to buy her double jogging stroller, then to the new cafe for a quick jolt of decaf and being out. After lunch with the boys, Abby did her 45 minute nap trick again and wouldn't go back to sleep in her crib, so I put her in the ducky swing, and she was out. That is, until in my zeal to do some reading on how to get 3-4 month old babies to nap longer I accidentally knocked over a framed picture right next to her head! NOT the way to get her to nap longer, clearly! Which she told me, in no uncertain terms.

After nap time, Jake and Mike took Grandma Fran on a virtual tour of the house with the webcam, and Abby and I went to the library and got Jake a slew of new books. She slept there and in the car, and was happy. Mike fixed us all a quick pasta dinner, and after tons of huge smiles at the dinner table, Abby had a huge crying fit that seemed to last for hours, but was really about 45 minutes, both before and after her bath, which she kind of liked. But the minute the bath towel touched her skin, she went off again. She went stiff as a board, turned beet red, and kept pulling my hair out at the roots! She was inconsolable, hungry but rejecting the bottle. I remade it from scratch and tried 3 different nipples. She was clearly trying to tell me something, but I was not getting it. Mike tried too - no difference. I think maybe the first one had something wrong with it and after that she was just all in a tizzy. It finally ended when she accepted her pacifier, had her belly rubbed, and fell asleep in my arms, her little fingers curled around my index finger. Whew. She woke up 45 minutes later and finished the same bottle with no problems at all, and went back to sleep. Double whew.

A bunch of emails were waiting and now it's after 9pm. How do the days go so fast? I am tired and wishing I had more time to do the things I put on my lists every day. I did absolutely nothing I had planned!

15 Week Comparison

Here are Abby and Jake, in photos both taken at about 15 weeks:



They both have round chubby faces, very alert eyes, cute pug noses, and they both gape with adoration at Daddy when he takes their picture!

So that's what's the same. So, what is different?



Abby has a ton more hair! At his age, Jake was still basically bald. And Jake was better at sitting and lying by himself and looking at things for long periods of time. She'll do short spurts, but prefers being in a seat or being held than flat in a crib or on the floor.

He was obsessed with objects. She, it seems, is obsessed with faces. He batted toys hanging from his play gym for hours. She coos at her stuffed animals (the ones with clear faces) and at us.

She is also much more verbal, and tries to interact with us by grunting, puffing and cooing.

Jake was patient and cried quietly, and comforted himself relatively easily. Once he saw the bottle coming, he relaxed. Abby is super impatient and goes from silent to blood curdling in about 2 seconds. She needs a lot of help to be comforted, still. Once she sees the bottle coming, she screams louder!

And this is just at 15 weeks! It will be interesting indeed to see how different they really become.

Warm Weather is Here!

We had several days of over 80 degree weather and we have made the most of it!

Jake used his latest 5 stars to buy an automatic bubble maker, and had a great time blowing loads of bubbles on everyone.

Abby and I finally found a way for me to wear her that we like - a plain old baby wrap - and we've been practicing using it a lot. She shrieks if she is faced in toward me when put in any carrier at the moment. She finds it most unacceptable. But facing out, she is happy as a clam, even though she does need some head support.

On Thursday she and I did a small hike at Pleasant Grove and she actually fell asleep in the wrap, head forward with her chin hanging down toward her chest. I had to hold up her drippy little chin until she woke up.

She looks mighty cute in it!

Today was fix the lawn day and Abby enjoyed watching all that we were doing to thatch and lime the lawn, in her little green sundress. Jake was DYING to put grass seed down but we didn't get to that yet today, despite him asking to do it only about 1,000 times!

Neither of them napped long today so we are hoping for early bedtimes and a quiet evening!

Grateful Day

Oprah says that she tries in her journal to write about what she is grateful for. So here goes:

Today I am grateful to have such wonderful, supportive friends. An hour with them at pleasant grove was all it took to make me feel social and loved.

I am grateful for old friends, like Heather, who wrote nice things on my blog and new friends, like Kristin, who gave such genuine appreciation for my comments on hers. And close friends, like Ash, whom Jake, Abby and I visited today in their driveway and we caught up on new baby happenings. I’m hoping we get to walk and picnic on Friday with our expanded clans and fancy new double strollers!

I am grateful to have such a creative little boy who insisted on playing with clay with me after naptime today, and then put everything away by himself. And to have such a responsible and involved one, so intent on helping to give his sister a bath, that he did practically every step for me except dunk her in the water!

And I am grateful that I was able to give Mike more time today. With just a Jake pick up from school, some clay time, and a walk outside with both kids before dinner, I was able to change the whole shape of his work day. And he was so very appreciative!

I am grateful to have my little girl too. I sometimes still cannot believe she’s really here. We sang and read books at bedtime tonight and she was really alert and aware. Her smiles warm my heart. You can see they come from her spirit, not just her face. She is a happy girl.

And I am a happy mom.

Highlights of our Week:

Wednesday was Abby Day. Abby and I had a day out. We left after a bath and a meal for each of us and spent the day picking up things from friend's houses, shopping, and stopping in various places to eat. She was a total pleasure - sleeping whenever in the car, and charming everyone she saw. She got the most attention at Lowe's -- EVERYONE smiled at her there and she loved looking up at the things in the tall aisles from in her infant carrier. It was a nice day.

Friday was Jake Day. I spent the morning at Jake's school. There was a coffee chat for parents with the school director that I attended and then I observed Jake in his classroom from behind a one-way mirror for about an hour. He was working on a sawing "work," quite intensely, the whole time I watched him, until it was time for group. He was using a tiny safety saw to cut pieces of cardboard. He clearly loved it, and several of his friends came to sit across from him and watch or do their own work. The only time he got up was to get more cardboard and to continue working. When the lights flickered and it was time for group, he put the sawing work away carefully and then sat down and watched intensely while his teacher Amee sang songs, read stories about chickens (they have a long term project involving some incubators and some chicken eggs) and told stories. He did not sing, but he was clearly engaged.

He went out to the hallway to change out of his slippers and I heard him ask for help with his shoes. And when Amee called his name for lineup, he got up and grabbed his friend Stuart to come stand next to him. They filed outside for playground time and after about 5 minutes of chatting with his teacher's helper I went out to play too. He was so glad to see me! He screamed "Mommy!" and came running to give me a big hug. I played with him in the sandbox for about a half an hour and the interaction between the kids and me and him was the most interesting part of the visit. They talked to me incessantly, all wanting to tell me things about what they do there, where the bees are, how they dig for earthworms, what to do when the girls didn't want to play with them, etc. One little girl stared straight into my mouth and told me in a very puzzled voice that I had lost an adult tooth! (which is true!) They were wonderful kids, and Jake was very comfy there. On the way out, he showed me where he sits to wait for us before pick-up. It was a lovely visit. He observes a great deal, according to his teachers, but is absorbing a lot that way. And I could tell he's also made himself at home in a nice social circle there too.

Saturday was Family Day! And the four of us ventured out for the first time to a new place with a car full of supplies. We went to the Walton's Family museum in Schuyler for their spring festival. It was supposed to be 85 degrees so we were in shorts and Abby was in a bubble sundress but when we got there it had turned cold and rainy so the whole event had been moved inside and we loaded on our sweaters and blankets for A and strolled in through some huge puddles. Still, there was live music and food and lots of little rooms to visit and we had a nice time. Jake was exhausted and told us so and just as he fell asleep on the way home, Abby started to screech with hunger! We stopped to feed her and then stopped at the Eagles' Nest to feed us. A great time was had by all.

Today is Sunday and we are all tired.

Oh, and the other highlight this week is that both Duke and Columbia have contacted me about teaching for the year and someone else wants to incorporate me into a great new project. It is nice for the maternity-leave mommy's ego to know that I am still in demand for something other than feeding, changing and comforting!