Trouble With a Capital V

As I write this post, I am listening to Liam on the monitor as he wakes from his second nap of the day. This second nap is on the endangered species list...as he is no longer able to sleep in public, or even the car much, and we just don't stay home all day. He is happily babbling to himself, so I have a few minutes. Reina, is asleep in the "comfy" chair we have have in the kitchen, suitable for guests, bottle feedings and mid-dinner cooking story time. She has had a tendency to pass out there about once a week in the late afternoon. The fabric in the chair is washable, but may be laced with valium, or some non-DEA approved substance that induces sleepiness--its from Ikea after all, and we all know that place is a trip.

Our lives are contrasts right now, the days fly by but I couldn't tell you we've "done" anything. It seems we have been busy, however and are enjoying each other's company most of all. Poor Bill has been busy as well, too many long days followed by too long a research course in California, followed by too many more long days. We all miss him, especially Reina. The kids are asleep when he leaves in the AM and when he returns at night. This weekend I have designated as "Family Lockdown" and am seriously considering removing phones, pagers and email access. Let me know if you're planning to have an emergency ahead of time, please.

Additional contrasts are my two children. While Reina, the Queen of Everything hasn't changed, her mild mannered brother has developed his alter ego. Yes, WAK the V has finally come out of his content-to-lay-there-and-smile baby shell. WAK the V has not only proven he is a BOY (in the social high activity sense of the word, we already knew about the body parts) he has proven he has fallen from the WAK family tree, hard. In a squirmy, wiggly, bucking bronco kind of way. Yes, his curiosity and mobility are endearing, and no, I'm not testing him for ADHD, yet. But cutting 4 teeth and crawling on all fours in the span of 1 week is a little much for this mama whose previous experience at this phase was with the aforementioned self-entertained princess. I'm most of the time a step ahead of him, but we're talking 24/7 for this boy. From getting himself into the bathtub and eating handfuls of mud washed from dog paws (in that order, of course, not the reverse) he is keeping me on my toes. I knew boys and girls were different, but I didn't really KNOW. Hopefully he and I won't get into the same epic battles of will that Reina and I do.

I thought I'd be sad to see his gummy little Stay Puft Marshmallow Man smile go with the advent of teeth, but since he's growing in FANGS first he just looks even more impish and boyish. He still has his cuddly moments, but doesn't have the time of day for his bottle or anything fed from a spoon. When he does settle down to eat, it is Cookie Monster style with both hands stuffing fitstfuls of whatever is in reach into his little fangy mouth.

Reina is enjoying her baby brother. True to her need for superlatives, he is the "best brother ever" along with her "best trick ever", "worst picture ever", and "favorite book ever"! What a girl. She does repeatedly get him in a killer headlock though. I can only imagine how that will go over when he outgrows her tiny hiney within the next year or so...

Sorry no pictures. Better luck next time. Maybe after lockdown weekend.

Merry and Bright

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We are freezing here as we start off 2010, weather stripping doors and snuggling under blankets. Making soup. Long johns. But not really complaining. It is time to hibernate a little. Christmas has been one long marathon, starting, oh, about Thanksgiving. Reina's birthday was a blast for everyone, followed by family parties for nearly the entire week of Christmas. For New Year's the kids got to go out to Gina and Mike's while Bill and I got to hang out with our friends with no kids. Thank you!

Christmas morning was a fun and relaxing time for our family. Reina finally "got it" and after going to Christmas Eve Mass with Anthony, Lisa and Lily and Jack, we took our time getting up on the 25th. She was dazzled by the pile under the tree, but thought we were all done after the stockings were opened. Her jaw dropped when Bill said to open those presents over there!

Liam didn't have much of his own to open, but didn't mind. The papers were fun enough. No two front teeth, either, but that isn't slowing him down at meals.

We didn't have a white Christmas, but it was merry and bright. Hope all yours were as well.

Blogger is kind of driving me crazy tonight, so spacing and formatting may be messed up. Sorry. Enjoy the smiling children...and overlook Reina the Red-nosed. I am apparently an over zealous nose wiper. Lesson learned.

I heard children can fall asleep out of fear. The Christmas song sing-along certainly gave good reason.