Pics, Pics, Pics

Playing - She really grabs now
A standout at my Sesame Street B'dayParty

Party sponsored by James and kids

Going to the music class Christmas party in style.

Long day.

And...More Pics

One of his favorite things!

He didn't hold back at the Christmas party.

He's a real music lover. He has an affinity for the guitar (played like the violin thanks to a Sesame Street episode that we've seen a thousand times) and the drums.

Miss Rene, his gym teacher. He's the teacher's pet.

Only Enough Time for Pics...

Making Christmas cookies on Christmas day.
The bus was a hit!

My first cabbage patch...who's bigger?

Eating my Christmas cookie!

Bonding

Yesterday when Luke came down from his nap, Sam was hanging out underneath her little music gym. He climbed in underneath with her and just hung out. He'd hit the keyboard for her when it stopped making music and then look over at her to make sure she was watching it. It was pretty cute!

Sam's Day

This post contains a few shots of Sam in various outfits, but yet it is truly all in a day. I set an all time record for poopy diaper changes today...8 total! Four from each kiddo, but hers required two baths and multiple outfit changes. Glamorous, huh?


Anyway, she is cute, cute, cute. Everyone at church kept commenting on her chubby checks and how much bigger she looks than just last week. On top of being cute, she is just almost rolling over. She squirms up on her side pretty good, but hasn't made the plunge yet. Any day, we're waiting patiently.

Luke's Day

The morning started out calmy enough. Luke travels with his red dog now. He happens to be his security object of the moment...they come and go. In fact, as James just put him down for the night he was putting his extra paci up to red dog's mouth (actually it was his neck, but we didn't correct him), patting him on the head and telling him "nap, nap".

Then he showed off his new real, big-boy shoes, by taking them off over and over. I was trying to get out of the house this morning for church, so I put his shoes on a little early while I loaded the car, and then put them on again half-way through the load, then once more just before actually putting him in the car. I didn't have to put on again until we got all the way to church, in the middle of church when he came to my side of the nursery to visit and again just before leaving church. Well...considering we completely forgot his shoes Saturday night when we went to James' work party, I guess he doesn't see the importance of keeping them on all the time.

And nap time went well too today. His hair gets a little crazy, but his smile stays in tact.

The only real cry of the day was this one. He stuck both legs through the gate and grabbed on. Then he was stuck. He couldn't maneuver his legs out to get his feet back on the ground, so he held on for dear life while we took a picture.

Crayola Magic

Crayola rocks. They really do create the greatest kid products of all time. I personally said a word of thanks to them this evening...I thanked them for washable markers!

And...they also are the makers of dots. Dots turn the bath water colors, yet leaves no ring of blue and no blue baby. They're great. Tonight was blue night.

Cutie Pies

Mohawk man!

She fills up the entire sling in her little bath. She used to not even take up half a mere 4 months ago! BTW - She weighed in at 12 lbs and 10 oz this past Thursday at her well-baby appointment. So, she is a bonifide chunk...that is the same that many on-time 5 month olds weigh!

Her hand-me-down-from-my-big-brother Bumbo. She just sat in this all evening upstairs watching Luke run around. She tracked him the whole time and even tried mocking him a bit with a little yell when he yelled once as he passed by.

Luke didn't approve of our handing down his things. He tries to reclaim it all when the opportunity arises. He tries out the Bumbo and her bouncy chair most nights and has become fond of baby toys that he gave up over a year ago! He's getting better, but still making sure she knows who is boss (BTW - it isn't us according to him).

He wanted to hold her. See the look of panic in her eyes? We took some video of him tonight too holding her on the couch. The cutest is when he holds his arms out for you to hand her to him. I'll put that here as soon as James downloads for me...to be continued...

Playmates One Day?

Luke is trying. Night before last he went to Sam's basket of toys and carefully picked one out. Then he walked up to Sam in her bouncy chair and gave it to her (right on top of her face -- I had to redirect and show him to put it down by her hand). Then he took one step back and watched to see what she was going to do with it for about 15 seconds. When she didn't do enough "playing" to satisfy him, he audibly sighed as if to say "Fine then. I tried." Then he went on with his own endeavours. In a few minutes he tried again. This time when she didn't pick the toy up and shake it at him he threw his hands up and walked away, clearly annoyed that she didn't like his offer to play. It was so cute!

Then, last night we put her in the bumbo to look around. He thought that was cool and then got an even better idea. He rolled his big push behind red wagon cart up and pointed to it to tell us to load her up. So we did...I know it sounds crazy...but, James put her in her bumbo in the cart (sort of on top because it didn't fit nicely down in the cart where it might have been as least plausibly safe). Then we told Luke to be easy and go real slow. He inched backwards and forwards with her (like a full foot with me on one end and James on the other) and he was very pleased with himself. He went super slow and easy, somewhat unexpected. I think he thought for the first time that maybe he can get this baby of ours to play with him after all...under close supervision of course.

Ma and Pops Anderson just left from their Thanksgiving visit last Saturday. We miss them already. Luke clearly took to them and I had a full pair of additional baby holders, feeders, rockers. It was great and we had a great Thanksgiving meal that we did very little to help with. What more can you ask for? Maybe a movie and one more day to sleep in, but besides that? Here are some pics we took during their visit.

Helping her to sit up straight. Or just before attempting to push her over the edge, you never really know the intent.

Women and children.

Pops and a sleeping Sam. She slept more when they were here than any other day. When she has someone to pat her on the butt until she falls asleep no problem, but going to sleep on her own is a no-go.

Sitting pretty.

Christmas Pictures

Yesterday was picture day. Luke's 21 month, Sam's 5 month, and Christmas all in a day! Naturally the kids showed out and thus, we have some great pictures. The family pic is a blog exclusive...no family pictures made it to the Christmas card. When we realized from viewing the family pictures that 3 of the 4 of us have double chins, we decided only the kids should be showcased right now...maybe next year :)! Check out a few in this post and the next...

Christmas Pictures Cont.

False Alarm

Luke does not have chicken pox. He has a viral infection; chicken pox is a viral infection, but this is different. They did a culture so we will know definitively eventually, but in the meantime he is basking in the attention. While he was cuddly last night and you could tell he didn't feel himself, tonight he was back on track. On track is his norm, otherwise described as wild and crazy! There was a point when he was running circles in the middle of the family room singing the ABC song. There was a point when he was throwing each ball individually to no one in particular, then retrieving them to start all over. And there was a point where he was stuffing his face so full of fig newton that there was no room left for the jaw movement it'd take to actually chew and swallow the fig newton. So, I'd say his energy level and appetite are fine. And...ask his dad if there is any problem with bowel movements. I can assure you he'd tell you there is no problem there either.

Sam had her first taste of formula tonight and she was not happy about it. She took a sip of the concoction, half and half, and gave me the nastiest face. Then she had a few sips and refused the rest. She went to sleep anyway though, so we'll see if she makes it through the night or not in light of her light pre-bed snack. Last night she slept from 900 to 620! Super sleeper. In other news...her first tutu came in the mail today. It is SO cute! She is having her pictures made in a week and a half and the prime outfit is going to be her in her tutu. Every little girl needs a tutu, or at least that was my justification for buying it. I think you'll agree when you see how cute she is in it.

Chickenpox!

Luke has chickenpox! Or at least we think so. He went to see his primary care doc today and she thinks that is what it is, but you never know for sure I guess. She told us to be careful to wash our hands when we switch between babies...yeah right. But, we are taking him to derm tomorrow first thing in the morning. They say that they can tell us for sure and that if it is the pox that they want him on some med to cause the course to run a little faster than usual just to eliminate any possibility of Sam getting it. Other doctors today told me that the chance of her getting it was pretty much 0% since she is exclusively breastfeeding...so one way or another I think we are safe. I just thought it was interesting though that 1 in 5 kids who were immunized still get chickenpox. I guess if immunized though, they typically get a mild case, which Luke's would qualify as. He doesn't seem uncomfortable, with the exception of a fever. He isn't itching or complaining too much, just feverish which Tylenol fixes. So...anyway, just wanted to share...we have our first infectious disease.

Hold'in On

Before he realized we were taking pictures.
And now he notices the camera is out...he puts his best smile on.

Luke likes holding his sister...and she endures. He usually only "holds" with one hand though, as if he's too good at this to put all his effort into it. The cutest is when he asks to hold her. He'll hold both his arms out, elbows almost touching...we are going to try and get a picture of that pose one evening, as words just can't convey.

Halloween '08 Cont...

The dump was rather anti-climatic for him I think.

Halloween '08

For Halloween we first passed out play dough from the back of the pickup truck. In our neighborhood everyone sits outside to pass out candy...so Luke followed suit. He did great passing out the dough, except he told each of them "thank you" instead of "you're welcome". Maybe next year we'll get that right. When we ran out, we took him to a few houses, like four. He had no idea what to do. We'd tell him to go up and he would just walk up and stand in front of the candy man, staring him down, wondering what to do next. Each time the neighbor would open his bag for him and deposit the goods. And...off he'd go running to the next yard, truck, interesting light, whatever really. So, four houses was enough. Then we came inside and he ditched the bag and headed for the living room. We called him back and talked him into at least dumping the bag. But, that was it, no interest in the candy. I don't think he knows what it is, which was lucky for us. We each had a candy treat after the kids went to bed.

On to the next stop...which wasn't necessarily a house.
Passing out play dough and getting compliments from all the trick or treater parents.


Me and my kids.

Sam looking pretty for the trick or treaters.

All dressed up for music class...with her black tights on, no doubt. Who even knew there were tights for 0-3 month olds?