The baby

Habits are hard to break. When Henrietta was still snuggy in my tummy we referred to her as "the baby." Unfortunately, the majority of the time we still call her that -or, even more endearing, "that baby." As in - that baby needs her diaper changed, or the baby is full of smiles. It really is quite horrible as it sounds like we don't know and love the baby - but really, I promise, we do.

At nine weeks Henrietta is full of personality and rolls - 12 pounds 15 ounces at yesterday's appointment. She smiles when anyone and everyone gives her even a fleeting glance. Her smiles are so big and wonderful that I melt every time. She is also always happy to go along for the ride - whether it be strapped to me in the Moby or Bjorn, in her car seat, or just tucked under my arm - she is always either wide-eyed watching everything, with a big huge smile, or fast asleep. Now this brings me to sleep - she is an awesome sleeper. I feel like we earned it - she sleeps from about 9:30 til 3:00 then sometimes wakes at 5 and sleeps until about 7:45 or sometimes decides she'd rather sleep and skips the 5 AM wake up. Seriously, I am up more at night with Oliver than with Henrietta.


Now Oliver, he sometimes calls her the baby, but most of the time he calls her Henni. There were several other nicknames we were considering, but given how adamant he is that he/we call her Henni, that might just end up being her name.



I love this picture - it really shows how many times a day she escapes death by Oliver.

Rated R for Roar

Maggie made this video of Oliver today - roarrrrrr!

Blizzard

Yesterday we awoke to a blizzard - snow, snow, snow -and even more snow - and lots of wind. I was super excited. I couldn't wait to get outside and play in the snow, shovel snow - and spot big huge snowplows. Davis had decided to work from home, so I was looking forward to doing all of the aforementioned with Oliver - leaving Henrietta inside to help do something crazy with spreadsheets. I was however, once again, reminded that a two and half year old is unpredictable. Oliver looked out the window and declared there was too much snow and that he was too busy to go outside. So instead we did art projects, read books, played trucks...Oliver being happily content with these activities and me asking him about every 5 minutes - do you want to go outside? Did you hear that big snowplow? Should we go see it? Do you want to go sledding? Finally I got us out of the house around 1:00.

By 1:00 the snow had covered our steps and had started up the door.

Oliver took one step outside and, again, declared there was too much snow. I quickly dug him a path too keep him outside - and then kept him outside by asking him to help me snow blow (the camera man had a bit of trouble actually capturing the snow blowing).


I managed to lure him outside again a bit later in the day - he kept shoveling the piles back onto where we'd already shoveled so I had to lure him inside with the promise of hot chocolate - however, once inside he stated he needed a vanilla ice cream cone with sprinkles on it in order to warm up. Interesting.

Here are a few shots showing all the snow - a little over 2 feet.

Action

Lots of action in and around our house last week -

An excavator knocked down part of the house behind us


And we finally brought the play mat down from the attic for Henrietta.

Super...slow

Oliver's modus operandi has long been super fast. Perhaps that is why he loved the luge track at Papa and Le Le's house (here are some more pictures of our night sledding adventures).



However, it would seem that he left his super fast self in Maine. Ever since the 31st, when we returned home, Oliver has been moving slower than molasses on a cold day. That being said, while is body is moving slowly, his mind is racing. A typical day of late -

I am sound asleep, cozy in the bed despite being sandwiched between Oliver, Henrietta, Davis, and a two foot dino named Mark. Suddenly Oliver pops awake and declares what he is (he never wakes up as a boy, but rather awakes as some animal - sometimes it is a polar bear, other times a worm, or a fox, or a dog, or a moose, a woodchuck...) - "Me snake. Here's a snake kiss mommy." Still pretty much asleep after my snake kiss (which, in case you were wondering what a snake kiss is, it is a slobbery lap) I am asked - "Mommy, how does groundwater work? Tell me 'bout it." Groundwater?! It is not even 7 in the morning, I am still asleep and I am supposed to explain groundwater!? Ummm. "Mommy, you need a pump to get the water, right?"

Once we finish the groundwater discussion and get ourselves together, we head out for a walk. The boy previously known as Super Fast used to make it down to our favorite coffee shop in 5 maybe 10 minutes depending on how pregnant and slow I was on a given day. Over the past few days it has taken us between 45 minutes and an hour each way. Why? Oliver is interested in tracks - each and every track. "Whose track is this?" "Whose track is that?" "What made that track?" An answer such as - all of the tracks you see on the sidewalk are from people, from their boots and shoes, and the tracks on the road are from cars - is not an acceptable answer. "Whose tracks? What is their name? What kind of car?" Holy smokes!

In an effort to get a bit of exercise, since our two hour walks didn't prove to provide much of any, Davis and I wrestled Oliver and Henrietta into the stroller. And, amazingly, we were treated to two sleeping and peaceful children.