Snowy visit

We ended up having about 17 inches at our house this weekend. With Pops, Grandma and Uncle D in town, we took the time to have an early Christmas with them. Lucy loved the snow and went out quite a bit. The snow was nearly as tall as Harper and she was therefore not as impressed. It is still lingering, although melting quickly. These snowy photos were taken when we had about 8 inches. Lucy is still going out a couple times a day. She's looking for reindeer or sleigh tracks. And she sees them everytime.

The girls enjoyed grandparent time: playing dress up, Lucy learning how to operate her new little laptop and walkie talkies, Harper playing with her new hairdryer and make up bag, playing in the snow, playing store and restaurant and reading books. Graham enjoyed new faces and having somebody to always hold him. Pops is still the best at putting babies to sleep. If only he were here more often... And Uncle D will always play, I could use that, too- he could be my "manny"... and Grandma to play with Graham or watch movies with Lucy or read books to Harper...and boy, oh boy, she can shovel snow!

"A walk"

Harper asks for one thing these days to spend her time: "A walk". What this means to Harper is that we throw on coats, grab some random baby doll or stuffed animal (usually the stuffed animal wears pants) and take the baby doll strollers outside to run wild in the court. Even better if Graham is inside, on the baby monitor, and she doesn't have to hear me saying that we have to go inside because of Graham. Lucy joins in the fun sometimes, but it really doesn't matter. Harper loves it. She strolls, she runs, she examines all the neighbors yards looking for birds nests, flowers, colorful leaves, holiday decorations, etc. We still have a lot of snow on the ground so her requests for "a walk" have been unfulfilled the past few days. I'm sure that as soon as we can, we will be hitting the pavement again. Graham will have to nap inside while Harper's baby gets some fresh air and Harper gets some quality time to do just what Harper wants to do.

Photos from St. Nick

I've already reported on the St. Nick fun we had, but I had not included photos until now. Please note the utter glee, yes, GLEE, that Lucy has on her face as she runs across the room to the fireplace to see what St. Nick brought. Only a couple of days until Santa comes, and we can't wait for that same sweet glee all over again, times a thousand.

The hair

We wet it down. We comb it. And while it does not come close to the craziness that was Harper's baby hair, it does have a mind of its own. It swirls. It twirls. It stands straight up. It feels like velvet. All of this funny hair begs to be touched. And he loves it. We have found that Graham absolutely loves to have his head rubbed. It calms him when he is crying. It makes him energized when he is playing. He smiles and he coos when you touch it. Did I mention that it feels like velvet. Gotta love it. "Da hair pa, da hair!" Tony Manero would be proud.

Graham on her heels

Harper went in for a weigh- in today. She has been our Christmas goose this past month since the doctor said that we needed to fatten her up a bit. Many avocados, cashews, hummus snacks and peanut butter sandwiches later, she has gained a pound. That still keeps her off the charts, but it is an improvement. She now weighs 19 pounds, 4 ounces.
Since we were there I had them weigh Graham as well. He gained 2 pounds in the past month and is now 14 pounds.
Little girls and a big man, Graham is gaining ground. Our Christmas goose better watch out, Graham is hungry and looking for something to eat.

Lucy's Christmas Program

Lucy's Pre-K class presented the Christmas story last week for their parents and the younger kids in the school. Lucy was asked to sing in a quartet that was responsible for singing everybody's favorite Christmas carol, "Little Donkey". Never heard of it? Well, that's a shame. Even more a shame that you didn't get to listen to it and all of its 1 1/2 minutes of glory nearly a million times each day for 3 weeks while she practiced in the living room, often adding a microphone to her rehearsal. Harper became so accustomed to the practice time that she knew the song's name "Little Honkey" and knew all the motions and dances not only to that song, but all of the others in the program as well, hence the photo of her performing the dance moves in the pew at the program, while her big sister had stage fright and did not in this particular instance.

Actually, Lucy did great, even though singing in front of a large crowd isn't really her thing, she mustered the courage and did it, even adding a smile here or there or shouting out some of the lyrics particularly loud. The toughest part for her was wearing the skirt and sweater that I required for such an event. No worries, she quickly kicked off the dress shoes moments after the performance and strapped on her sneakers for the rest of the school day and her skirt hit the floor before I had even gotten the little guys into the house when we got home. She was off to put on her "gymnastics pants and a UK tshirt". Little donkey, yes. An ass in a skirt, that she could not be a part of any longer.

Lil' St. Nick

This has become nearly an annual tradition in our house- have baby, have baby dress up in big fuzzy Santa hat for photo session. Since Graham and Lucy have similar birthdates, they are the same age in their first Christmas photos, add that to the fact that both have big blubbery cheeks at 4 months old and you have two babies that look a whole lot alike in a Santa hat. The one difference is that Lucy had super thick eyelashes at this age. Graham is FAR more manly in his Santa gear.

A Christmas Miracle

I'm going to jinx myself, just wait and see. I have bootcamp in the morning and just writing this means that I am likely to be up a zillion times tonight. But the miracle? Graham has slept through the night 4 of the past 5 nights. He eats like a furocious beast from about 5pm until 9pm and then around 9:30 he nods off and we don't see him until around 8am. I actually had to wake him this morning at 8:20 so we could make it to Harper's doc appointment. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that this is a new phase for him. Ian and I just might get our room back by the new year- 10 years together, three kids and a whole lot of sleepless nights, I think we have earned it.

I need a photo

Photos of the snow are coming, I promise. In the meantime I didn't want to forget Lucy's latest adventure. In her preparation for going out into the snow she said, "I have on my power pants!" Then she declared that she was "Joseph" and that she and "Mary need to climb the snowy mountain to get to Bethlehem to save Baby Jesus from the bad guys who were going to go to Heaven". When looking out the window at her antics, you could see her scaling the mountains of snow calling out and talking to her imaginary friends. Thank goodness she's there to save Baby Jesus!

Tree trimming

Matching monkey pjs, Charlie Brown Christmas special on tv, advent calendar chocolates and putting up the Christmas tree. It was a good night.

Harper at 18 1/2 months

Graham at 3- 31/2 months

An ornamental brother

What happens when you leave a little big sis alone with her baby brother for 30 seconds along with a pile of ornaments? You get a decked out baby brother. This is the scene I found when I hung an ornament on the tree with Lucy, turned around and saw Harper running down the hall. There are no hooks, but she obviously thought she was doing something she shouldn't be. Naughty list. That's all that needs to be said.

What tutu?

The best part of Harper playing dress up is that the dress up clothes just become part of her attire. In other words, what tutu? Doesn't everyone wear a tutu and boots when you have to run errands, pick Lucy up from school and go to the doctor? In Harper's world, a little splash of dress up just feels right.

Tubby time

Graham loves a bath and is starting to splash and make a big mess out of each and every bathtime. This was the first week of Dec, Lucy took the photos and Graham is still fitting in the tub. Just a few weeks later I am wondering if ol' GW should start taking baths somewhere else since his belly is starting to overflow the tub. I can't wait to have him sitting up in the tub with the girls for bathtime. Ian gives baths- that would mean a whole 30 minutes to my self each bathtime, rub a dub dub!

Not sleeping anyways

I don't write many blogs about myself, but today is an exception. Why? Because this morning at 5:30am it was the coldest morning of the season so far- 26 degrees with a 13 degree windchill. What does that have to do with me? Well, at that time I was entering my first day of "boot camp", outside. And Taylor, my personal motivator, was joining me. We ran uphill (not sure I have really run in about 5 years), we did squats and lunges more times than I care to recall (although my legs are recalling, and recalling). My stomach, which obviously could use some extra crunches, was on fire. An hour later I was hot, tired and ready to throw up. About 10 minutes later I was ready for sleep, freezing and hoping, praying that the kids would choose this morning to sleep in. They did and we all rolled out of bed around 8:15. Hot tea, hot breakfast, hot shower and I was feeling much better.
I'll be back on Monday and maybe I will have more than 2 hours of sleep under my belt (no exaggeration, each kid woke up a couple of times last night and with a 4:40 wake up call, that doesn't leave much time for real sleep). I'll keep up the camp as long as I am not a complete zombie or modern medicine doesn't decide that a little bit of extra belly weight is a great way to live to 100. Either way, Sgt. Gunny, the trainer, won't have it. He'll be yelling, "C'mon Motivators, get up that hill" and I'll be huffing and puffing all the way.

St. Nick's Day is for believers

Each year for St. Nick's day the kids get an ornament and other little goodies like chocolate advent calendars. St. Nick tries to give an ornament to each kiddo that means something to them for the year. Here are this year's ornamaments:
For Graham, a little elf-like man that has "best brother" written across his sweater. I think that is all the explanation needed.
For Harper, this was a hard decision- a bumblebee or a lollipop? I went with lollipop. Not only does Harper have a sweet tooth like her Pops, but she adores the song "lollipop, lollipop". She also remembers playdates with friends when they ate lollipops together and that is all I hear from her when I tell her that Caroline is coming over. The only thing that disappointed her with the ornament was that it looks real, but isn't.
For Lucy, a Rudolph ornament was delivered, as asked for in her Santa letter. The movie, the song and the calling of reindeer are obsessions of hers right now. Rudolph has a prominent place on our tree, sort of. He is not high or in the center, rather he is bottom left, right where Lucy can reach him but as she says, "a little far way so Harper can't get him."

St. Nick also brought Santa socks and a Barbie Nutcracker DVD for the girls, and a new bottle for Graham. And with Santa's magic, the bottle has worked, when no others had for over a month. Christmas magic? Oh yes, Santa, I believe.

All I want for Christmas...

Here are the official Santa letters:
"Dear Santa,
For Christmas I would like Elmo, play doh, and books. Love, Harper"

"Dear Santa,
This year for Christmas, I would like some little policemen and little firemen. I would also like an ice cream maker, a kitchen set and some more pots and pans that I can flip green beans in. I would like another chapter book and a puzzle, maybe a turkey puzzle. Little fish and a movie, maybe watch a crocodile, but not mean, nice!
Santa, I would also love a Rudolph ornament, and maybe a Blitzen, Snoopy and a Woodstock one.
That's all. Merry Christmas and off you go! And have a merry Christmas. Love, Lucy"

Graham gave no comment when asked what he wanted for Christmas, but he did smile... and wet his pants.

Heard on Governors Ct.

So many lucyisms lately, here are a few:
-Singing at the top of her lungs in the family room, "On the first day of Christmas, my TULIP said to me..."
-While playing with a doll that Uncle Hunter brought her from Williamsburg, "Her name is Homey."
-While naming the extra reindeer in her Santa crew, "the last one's name is Hellness"
- "Harper and I have decided. We are going to get big and Graham is going to stay little. That's his job."
-On the way to school: "Mom, why do you think the Monkey class is the best. I mean, I know it is, I'm just wondering why YOU think it is the best."
-While playing with her Christmas nativity set: "Hurry! Hurry! The bad angels are taking baby Jesus!" and then, "It's ok Mom, the camels and the cow are going to save him and bring him back to Mary and Joseph and they can open their presents from Santa then."
- At warp speed, along with much other nonsense, " Stegasaurus and Tyranosaurus Rex". This alone might not be that funny, but the fact that she was telling me some nonsense story and said this phrase no less than 10 times in 2 minutes was quite a mouthful.