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.

Can't Wait! Can't Wait!

Reina keeps asking "is it Christmas time yet?" even though we've been explaining that Christmas is a season as indicated by her Advent calendar. She IS excited. She helped me wrap presents today, including taking two small boxes, finding something that fit in them and wrapping them with the self-stick paper. She didn't tell me what was in them, only that they were for me and Bill. Oh boy. Too small to have wrapped the cat.

Christmas WILL be here soon, and hopefully a white one, but what I can't wait for you all to see some of these pictures. I'm not bragging, really. Merely eager to share what my fancy new camera can do, no matter who's pushing the shutter button. And, I downloaded the photos myself...with some coaching. I can be taught.

Reina's official birthday portraits

Santa's Little Helpers

Daddy Pancake Night

Reina's Dream Day

Reina's birthday was a great day...she awoke knowing it would be. We started the day with a delicious breakfast of eggs and "breakfast toast" otherwise known as English muffins. She got to wear her fancy party outfit handmade by Gram ALL DAY. We ate potstickers at lunch by request. When Daddy woke up from his post-overnight shift sleep, we went on a mommy/daughter date to see Disney's The Princess and the Frog. It was Reina's 2nd time at a movie theater, my first time with her. We came home and opened gifts, including a pink digital camera that really works so she can leave ours alone. We hosted a pizza party for local family and friends. We had cake with pink (strawberry) and purple (black raspberry chip) ice cream. We rocked out to Guitar Hero. We covered everything with our new stickers. We (well, just Reina) got naked to try on all her new princess dress-ups from Uncles Matt and Jen. We stayed up late. What a day!

A photo recap:

it's good to be the queen

Holiday Rush

I'm not sure I'd say I was fully humbug about Christmas this year. I just haven't really gotten into the shopping (practically none, no parking available at the mall) but am thankful for free shipping and the internet. I've never been much of a baker and the Christmas cards and letter have always been Bill's territory.

But every time I feel scrooge-like, Reina says or does something that reminds me that this Christmas, her 4th actually, is really the first she has been really aware and excited. Like today when she begged for hot chocolate before dinner because she saw one snowflake. Or when she checks the date on my watch in order to know which ornament to hang next on her Advent calender. She has gotten into the "Elf on the Shelf" who watches her behavior and reports to Santa. She's a quick one, though. "The elf doesn't see me when I go bye bye." Huh.

On Thanksgiving morning, she came down to the kitchen where activity had already begun and cried "it's Thanksgiving!" with pure glee. She gets confused about the religious aspect, asking if Jesus is a baby or a grown up. She knows about giving gifts, but has already kind of spilled the beans to Daddy about his (not really, I gave her a decoy).

I hope this season finds you and yours happy and healthy and not too humbuggy about the details. As a part of our yearly preparation for Christmas we have several family birthdays I feel I need to mention. Michael-Dad celebrated his on the 13th. We've been fortunate to have spent some time with him and Gina-Mom et al recently, including a Polar Express train ride during which Reina treated Santa as though he had cooties. Bill's Dad "Bub" was born today. We are still in the first year since losing him and his birthday is one of many dates during which we think even more about him. My two favorite boys carry on his name. Gina's dad, Popeye, was born on December 23rd and every year the family gets to together to celebrate each other and the holidays. Not to be forgotten, Little Miss Reina will be turning 3 years old on Thursday. She has asked for a pink cake with goldfish crackers. Delicioso!

Once I really figure out how to get my photos uploaded I'll be more timely, until then...

Trade Offs

We've had to deal with some trade offs lately. Heck, I guess it is true you can't get something for nothing these days. The most significant and worthwhile of theses trade offs has been Reina giving up her daily nap...in exchange for wearing underpants.

She's a little on the old side, but still within normal range I guess for potty training, especially for one so inderpendently minded. We just had to wait for her to be ready. Her "aha" moment? Halloween candy as reward. Brilliant. She's down to 1 pair of pull ups a day, for overnight only. I think she's only had 3 accidents in over two weeks, and two were in one day. I had nothing to do with this. She trained herself. A sign of things to come I'm sure.

The lack of photos on this blog has been tragic and I do feel guilty. However, you asked for it, so now you're getting about 385. The trade off will be lack of much commentary since my nap time blogging time has disappeared. Also, last week we all had colds, Bill was out of town and then I had a rather dramatic reaction to my first wasp sting which prevented me from wanting to use my arm for a few days.

Ok. Time's a wasting. Picture time...out of order, no captions. But lots. A glut.