Crazy

We headed to Maine on Boxing Day - in the hopes that the forecasted blizzard would hit and we'd be able to play in the snow - we were not disappointed.

Our snow fun began after dinner on the 26th when we turned to Oliver and asked - "Would you like to do something crazy?" Asking no questions and without hesitation Oliver answered yes. Moments later we were out on the hill behind Papa and Le Le's house, Oliver yelling "Me skiing! Me skiing!" at the top of his lungs as he raced down the hill in the dark.

He skied until the chairlift (Davis) got tired - at that point we dragged him off the hill with the promise of more skiing when the sun came up.

Over the next couple days Oliver spent several hours testing out his skis at the Snowbowl. He loved every minute of it. We had to bribe him with french fries in order to get him inside at the end of each day.

When not on skis we spent much of our time on the luge run we created at Papa and Le Le's house. The luge began as a fairly easy run, safe enough for Henrietta to take a run on her 6 week birthday.

However, by the end of the our stay in Maine, the run had become slick, fast, turny, crazy, and super fun. I need to get the pictures of our last few runs from my dad, but I am guessing they won't do the run justice. On my last few trips down the luge I launched over the edge and out of the run. Oliver watched decided he too wanted to launch off the track too. We did our best to try and prevent him from flying off the track, but he would have none of it - when he didn't launch he'd yell up from the bottom of the track that his sled was "not workin'." In the spirit of craziness we decided to let him launch - he loved it - screaming "Me launched! Me launched!" as he flew off the track.

Other fun snow activities included chasing the dogs through the snow and gathering big icicles.



We are back at home now - no luge track, no hill outside our door. Oliver has asked if this afternoon we can build a hill in our yard. I wish we could little man - I miss that luge run!

Happy Hollow Days

For the past couple of weeks Oliver has been singing "Happy Holidays," or as he says it- Happy Hollow Days. Thankfully our Christmas was the antithesis hollow - in fact it was chocked full - full of laughter, love, family, food, fun, and - did I mention laughter?

We began our Christmas celebration by attending a Christmas Eve church service. Given the two wee ones we chose a 4:00 family service that included a Christmas pageant. We walked into the church and Oliver, rather loudly, asked "What is this place?" (Clearly we are not regulars.) He followed this up by singing, very loudly, "dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum," (from the book Hand, Hand, Finger Thumb) every time he heard the drum played (part of the pageant). To the relief of many, we ducked out during communion.

On the way home we took a trek through a neighborhood that was decked out in holiday lights. We thought Oliver would be awestruck. Not so, the little man took one look and said, "Let's go to CVS and buy candy canes."

Back at home we had lobsters. After we patiently and painfully explained the life cycle of the lobster and how lobster traps work (and I considered vegetarianism) we managed to get Oliver to sleep - actually much easier than I had imagined given that the guy in the red suit would soon be arriving.

It turns out, we were all good little boys and girls this year and Santa did make a stop at our house - putting presents under the tree and filling the stockings (made by Davis, of course).


It was fun watching Oliver this year. He came down and was so happy to find presents under the tree. He opened one and began to play - he never even considered that the other presents under the tree could be for him as well. Once he caught on, he was quite excited- however, he wanted to play with each and every present before moving on to opening the next. Favorites included train stuff and his rocket. Knowing that Oliver would likely want someone to play rockets with him, Santa made me a rocket too (no wonder Santa spent so much time in his workshop - I had thought it was just an escape from the chaos).


Henrietta slept through much of Christmas, but did spend a bit of time awake - happy and smiling.

Happy Hollow Days!

Motherhood

What does motherhood entail? Running around the house, naked, for about 45 minutes because as soon as my shower ended, before I was able to grab clothes - someone was scaling the bookcase, then someone else needed to eat, at the same time someone was climbing into the refrigerator, then someone else had a massive diaper blowout, then someone was peeing on their bed... It also entails doing the hoky poky in the middle of a crowded Honda dealership then following up the dance with a horrid rendition of Jingle Bell Rock performed no less while driving a toy bus and signing papers with the dealership's finance guy (no, I don't think we were his favorite customers of the day).

It also entails getting everyone dressed, in record time, to get outside and catch the first snowflakes of the year on our tongues - and then take a walk in the snow making tracks with our dinosaur feet (yes, according to Oliver we are now a family of dinosaurs).

It also entails having the littlest dino in the family attached to me most all the time and being able to look down at her sweet, quiet face when I am rushing around - reminding me that there is no need to rush or finish my list - that spending time with my little dinosaurs is the most important thing of all.
And, giving myself a little freedom while at the same time giving the boys another way to bond with Henrietta - whose favorite activities continue to be eating (last week at her four week appointment she weighed 11 pounds and one ounce) and sleeping.

Check out her hands -strangely she sleeps with them straight up in the air.

Talk to me 'bout it

Oliver likes to know what things are and how they work. For example, yesterday I spent much of my day answering questions about clouds and and satellites. "Mommy, what are clouds? How do they work? Mommy, talk to me 'bout them." He was not at all satisfied with my answers so we visited the NOAA website and got some information there - he felt much better about the information he got there. So much better that he decided to ask about something new - satellites. "Mommy, what are satellites? How do they work? Mommy, talk to me 'bout them." "Orbit? Mommy, talk to me 'bout orbit." Again, for both orbit and satellite my answers were too basic for his taste - we had to visit the NASA website - thankfully those guys had the information Oliver wanted.

I am in so far over my head with this kid.

Our pterodactyl

We have a little dinosaur on our hands; Miss. Henrietta is a squawker. While the noises she makes could potentially be heard today, Davis, Oliver and I think it is more likely her noises are based in the Jurassic period - from a pterodactyl to be specific. We'd already started to refer to her our little pterodactyl when, on a family outing to Marshall's, we found a talking pterodactyl toy that, when pressed, sounded exactly like Henrietta. I'm sure she was hoping the toy would serve to relieve herself of the nickname, sorry little one, for now you remain our little pterodactyl.

Our little dino is one month old today - a milestone Oliver is excited about as we promised him we'd have a little birthday celebration tonight and he could be the one to blow out the candles.

Speaking of the older monster. He continues to both crack me up and make me want to tear my hair out. Last night he was eating popcorn and got is everywhere. I gave him the vacuum and asked him to clean up. He did and then asked for more popcorn. When I left the room he was eating it; however, moments later I returned to find him vacuuming up the bowl of popcorn. "Mommy, you told me to vacuum it all up." Touche.

Miss. Molly Doyle has already managed to hit the slopes - the lack of snow here has prevented us from doing so, but Oliver is ready. He's been spending a good amount of time traipsing throughout the house and yard with his helmet and boots on yelling for snow (and in the picture below, wearing the helmet and boots to play with Play-doh). Wile a white Christmas would be nice, I am not sure I am ready for snow yet, and therefore have been asking him to keep his requests for snow a little quieter (although he could be screaming so as to be heard above the squawks of his little dino sister).

Wet

This morning the thermometer read 50 - knowing that a day in the 50s is rare (and will be so for a long long time), I got the two little ones ready and out the door in record time. We walked down to the play ground - a place I thought Oliver would be thrilled to see after being kept away for the past couple weeks because of the cold. Surprisingly he was not excited - he was not thrilled that everything was wet after yesterday's rain. I tried to convince him that getting wet was no big deal, that we'd head home and change our clothes after playing. No luck, he looked at me, sadly, and said he wanted to leave. So leave we did. And on the way home he jumped, ran, splashed and played in every single puddle we could find.

Give he was all wet from the puddles I suggested we head back to the play ground - "No mommy, the playground is wet, I don't want to play there." Right, I forgot, how could I be so silly to suggest going to a wet playground.

Big brother

Oliver continues to take his role of big brother very seriously. And (with the exception of just two instances so far) continues to be a very caring big brother.

This week we had to take Henrietta to the doctor because she was having a lot of gas (I know, I know - embarrassing). As soon as the doctor walked in the room Oliver told him that his sister was a gassy baby and then told him that he could not give her any shots. Throughout the whole appointment Oliver carefully watched every move the doctor made. The doctor suggested Mylicon and I have to say - it is amazing. Henrietta has been having at least one five hour stretch of sleep each night now that she is relatively gas-free. Now if only we could find something that might work for Oliver - my friend Oliver has not only given up napping, but has also decided to get up every two hours at night. At this point Davis and I are considering the following - velcroing him to his bed, duct taping him to his bed, a tranquilizer gun, drugs... Every night we come up with some new plan and every morning we declare the plan a failure (I have another plan up my sleeve that we'll try tonight - fingers crossed it works).

Things are otherwise going well. Oliver is doing lots of work around the house.


And Henrietta is doing well - eating up a storm (she's already 10 pounds) and is happy because we've started to pull some baby things down from the attic.

I think she's bigger than her brother was at 3 weeks because Oliver wore this sweater when he was six weeks; at three weeks it is already a belly shirt on Henrietta.

Splish splash

Yesterday Oliver and I spent some time looking back through our blog - the pictures from Oliver's first few weeks seem as though they were taken yesterday. I remember, for example, being both excited and petrified for Oliver's first bath. Prior to the bath both Davis and looked at our Dr. Sears book and followed the first bath instructions to a T. The bath pictures caught Oliver's eye too. He thought the pictures were pretty silly, that he was really tiny - and he wondered why Henrietta had not yet taken her first bath (hmm, maybe because I was having enough trouble getting three people showered, dressed...but the Rocket was right - it was time to giver her a bath).

A few hours later Oliver used his persuasive powers and I found myself up to the attic digging for the baby tub. Moments later Henrietta was treated to her first bath. Oliver, once again, proved to be an amazingly caring and insightful big brother - without our help or guidance (although we were obviously there ready to step in), Oliver was the one who, sans the Dr. Sears book, gave Henrietta her first bath. Henrietta seemed to really like the bath - perhaps it was because of the boats Oliver thoughtfully gave her?


Once her bath was over she turned into a shark and Oliver commandeered the tub.

After his bath Oliver chose an amazing outfit for bed - shark hot pants over monkey pants with a striped shirt (on a side note - Henrietta's pediatrician commented on Oliver's outfit the other day - "Wow, he would be really stylin' if roller derby came back in style").

Several people have asked if Oliver and Henrietta look alike - here are pictures from Henrietta's and Oliver's first baths - both pictures taken at two weeks.

(Henrietta)

(Oliver)

Myths and legends

Henrietta is now two weeks old. I've had a few minutes to think back to her birth and also do a bit of research -

Oliver was an early bird; he arrived a week earlier than his due date. Labor started out of nowhere with him and was over relatively quickly. And his actual birth was, like he is today, super fast. Given this history, and that we live a half hour from Beverly Hospital when there is no traffic, the midwives suggested that we not dawdle too long at home with Henrietta's labor.

Davis and I were both convinced that Henrietta would be early. I was so convinced that I scheduled a number of appointments for the week of the 15th (which I had to cancel) because I was sure we would have a baby that was at least a couple weeks old. Ah no. Henrietta arrived on her due date - the 15th. And, despite the predictions of the midwives', labor was twice as long as Oliver's- 12 hours (or 22 hours if you count from when my water broke). However, once Henrietta decided that it was time to join us she did - with just one push. In the craziness of her quick arrival it took me a minute to realize the baby on my chest was blue. Henrietta entered the world with the cord wrapped around her neck and holding the cord firmly in her hand. She also was born with "the caul." What this means is that she was born with the amniotic sac over her head. Normally this ruptures prior to the birth - only about 1 in 80,000 births have partial or full caul (full caul is much rarer - Henrietta had full caul). They removed the caul before placing her on my chest, but Davis says that it was a bit unnerving seeing Henrietta enter the world with the sac over her head.

In medieval times being born "with the caul" is supposed to be a sign of good luck. In European history "the caul" was supposed to protect people from drowning, Therefore, a baby born with the caul could bring a family great fortune as it (the caul, not the baby) could be sold to sailors for a good chunk of change. Babies born with the caul were also said to be heirs to the throne and were also said to have a special destiny and possess psychic abilities.

Those who were born with the caul include Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Lord Byron and Kahlil Gibran.

Only two weeks old and she's already provided us with a history lesson.