Ten Months!

Whoa! I need time to slow down a bit. John is ten months old today, and James is turning five in two weeks! How did this happen?

My cute little baby John is growing up fast. He has two teeth now (and it looks like the top two are coming soon). Sigh, no more gummy baby grin. He also crawls properly and speedily and cruises well. That is, when I put him down. The boy has excellent "problem solving skills"; he likes to eat things. All kinds of things-- food, leaves, a piece of a balloon (!!!), toys, wrapped Halloween candy (got that Reece's cup out of his craw quickly),... Basically anything he can get his cute little hands on.

He's recently enjoyed his first bagel and his first (and second and third) pancakes in addition to the previously reported pizza crust dinners. Chicken soup has been a big hit on several occasions, as were Thanksgiving leftovers (we have, at least for the time being, a meat eater!). He likes working the spoon himself; in fact, he's presently attempting to feed himself small pieces of avocado via spoon. Adorbs.

He's building his communication skills. Lots of "maMa!" and "nyee nyee nyee."
He seems to know that a cow says, "boo" (which is how he repeats my "moo"). And I think he tries to say something for "James." He certainly seems to understand much of what we say, and absolutely knows his name.

We're working on consistently sleeping through the night. Many many thanks to Daddy for helping with that!! (per doctor's orders)

John's favorite book is Five Little Pumpkins (thanks, Nana!), and he likes listening to his brother read too.

Here are some pictures of our sweet baby this morning.

Thanksgiving 2012

This morning we were awoken by the original human alarm clock, James. We were tickled in our bed and otherwise entertained before John summoned me away to his room.
After some quality time with him, I made a pot of coffee and headed off to do a 5K one town over. It was a fun start to the day, and I was pretty pleased withy performance given my (lack of) training lately.
I darted home after crossing the finish and was able to join James in watching the start of the parade on tv. He was really into it this year, but I had to DVR it for him as he, Daddy, and Grandpa were off to a high school football game.
After the game, we all convened at Grandpa and Grandma's for some yummy food and drink. John enjoyed the feast-- sweet potato, green beans, turkey, cranberry sauce!
We took a break before dessert during which we caught the rebroadcast of the parade and played with some vintage Star Wars and Connect Four ("Pretty sneaky, Sis!")
After pie, coffee, and NFL, we came home and put our sweet boys to bed.
So Thankful!!

"Happy" Thanksgiving

John, in addition to cutting another tooth (we think), is ready for some turkey.

My Little Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful

So just about every year on Thanksgiving I've posted a list of things for which I'm thankful. Here is the 2012 Edition:

My hair
The chair in John's room
New running shoes
Skype
Ezra saying "Aunt!", "Jshames", and "Booboo John"
John sleeping through the night, and Dan helping him do it
James reading to us!
My family and getting to see them several times this year
The Olympics
Dark chocolate
Orange corduroys
New friends
Badlands Taco
My awesome immune system
Our church family
Seltzer
John eats. And sleeps. And eats pizza.
B&G Bagels
Family leave (and having a job to go back to)
A really good chocolate chip cookie recipe I stumbled upon this year
My iPhone
Dan-- for putting up with me, calming down my crazy, being so handy, being such an awesome dad, ...

James's Bedroom

While we were in D.C. last weekend, Daddy started working on making over James's room. He painted and ordered a rug and bought moulding.
Today the moulding went up properly (after a false start earlier in the week), paint was touched up, carpet was picked up and rolled out, and some furniture was moved back in.
James quite enjoyed "helping" Daddy and Grandpa. And he was THRILLED to enjoy the room at bedtime tonight. He said the carpet tickled!

Tooth

Lower left (John's left)

Yum

Unlike his brother, John apparently likes pizza. Thanks goodness.
(This is his second encounter. The first was last week in DC.)

Lazy Saturday

James was so excited that Uncle Preston had come home in the night. He ran downstairs to see him upon waking up this morning. We had a delicious breakfast of buttermilk pancakes then headed off to the train/trolley-themed playground and the farmers' market.

After lunch, the little boys conked out for long afternoon naps while the grown-ups took turns going for a run. James enjoyed some quality time with Uncle Preston while Mommy and Aunt Ali were running. After reading a book about making a cherry pie, James and Uncle P did just that!

Friday in the District

James loooves DC. On several occasions he told me he did NOT want to go back to NJ in Sunday.

We got out of the house early in order to take the metro (James adores his map of the metro) to the Air and Space museum to see what Ezra enthusiastically calls "Elmo Stars," a Sesame Street planetarium show. It was fun, and all three boys enjoyed it. John and Ez were dancing to the music at the end! We followed that up with storytime (a book about airplanes) then had some lunch.

Next we headed to the American Indian museum (the little boys each took short stroller naps) where we saw some cool exhibits. James particularly enjoyed the balance boards for kayak training and the exhibit about how snowshoes work.

We came home to a delicious dinner (thanks Aunt Ali!) and got the boys to bed early, which allowed the mommies some bonding time.

D.C.!

When James awoke yesterday morning, he said, "I love everything about Washington D.C.--the city, the metro, the row houses." He really is having a ball.

We left NJ midday on Wednesday. Ali and I had planned this over a month ago, and Dan endorsed it (offering to work on a little house project in our absence--- hope that's going well!!). The darn Superstorm threatened to alter our plans. Especially when the nor'easter rolled in on its heals. But we decided to move forward. James ditched school yesterday and today (make-up days from last week), and is missing the re-scheduled Halloween festivities at school and in town today (what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?)

He was pretty psyched about the snow that had started falling as I packed the car Wed., but not as psyched as he was to see Ezra and Aunt Ali.

The car ride was practically perfect. The weather was a non-issue (thankfully), and both boys napped waking up with about an hour to go. John didn't get fussy until the last twenty minutes or so. James helped me pass puffs, one at a time, to John which seemed to help greatly. Except when the brother-to-brother handoff failed, or when James would eat the puff I passed him instead of passing it to John. But all-in-all, a smooth journey.

Ali had made a delicious pot of chicken noodle soup which James and Ezra both delighted their mothers by eating. Good influences on each other! We ended up all going to bed at about the same time which made for a well-rested party on Thursday.

After a leisurely breakfast, we headed out to the metro. James was thrilled! We picnicked at the National Portrait Gallery then checked out the preside trial portraits. James isn't as into the presidents as he was a few years ago, so we moved along quickly, and James also got a lesson in non-children's museum etiquette-- no touching! The funny part was when there was a beaver pelt that said "please touch," so Ali told James to touch it, and he wouldn't. It was as though he thought she was trying to trick him into breaking the rules! Then we showed him where it said please touch, touched it ourselves, and he did too. (quite soft, btw)

Next stop- LOFT for a little shopping by the mommies. Then on to the Building Museum! All three boys had fun in the kids' area (hands-on for sure!), and we even checked out what James called "the museum part of the museum" before heading back to the metro. We enjoyed some really good pizza (pasta for James) then came home. After a joint bath venture for James and Ez, the boys went to bed rather easily.

Looking forward to more adventures today!
(all pics courtesy of Aunt Ali.)

Hurricane Naming

Sandy was a male hurricane.
Yes, he was.

The list of hurricane names is predetermined and follows either a male-female or female-male pattern. One year begins with a male for A then a female for B and so on. The next year a female's name is used for the letter A.

Oh, that's another thing. No matter how many or how few storms there are one season, you always begin with A the next year.

I know you can find the lists of names; just google it. However, I didn't need to consult a list (and burn my battery during our power outage) to know that Sandy was a "he."

Beryl was a storm in May (who threatened my baby sister's wedding). Beryl is a girl. Count your letters. S-Sandy-is a boy.

Also, you may remember the female storm Irene from last year. If you count the letters, S would have been female last year, and is thereby male this year.

So, when referring to Superstorm Sandy, now you know he was male.

Camping Out

James and Daddy are camping out by the fire tonight.
(Dan decided to switch out our red couch with the old sleeper sofa yesterday.)
Easing back to "normal."

We're Back!!

One day and three hours shy of one week...

Marathon Morning

It's marathon day. But not really. Which is unfortunate because the weather is beautiful and quite possibly perfect for a marathon. And I feel sad for the runners who traveled from near and far after training for months only to find out on Friday night that the race had been canceled.

Do I think nyrr made the right call, in light of the damage and subsequent recovery in the area? Yes.

Should they have made that call on Tuesday? Absolutely.

Personally, I donned one of my NYC Marathon shirts and went for a run this morning. I couldn't join any of the relief runs being staged in the city in place of today's marathon, but it felt so good to just run. It was my first run in a week. My first run since I had taken my last minute last run before the storm last Sunday morning. I had a chance to hit many neighborhoods in town-- some with power, most without (identified by the sound of generators humming). I saw downed trees and brand new utility poles. I saw a train running!

I made it home in time for a hot shower (delightful) and warm breakfast (grits!) before heading to church. Which has electricity and (plenty of) heat. I charged my phone there, and we enjoyed a few hours of fellowship including trick-or-treating by the kids through the classrooms downstairs.

One of our neighbors gave James a bunch of (duplo) Legos that he's been thoroughly enjoying. He built a zoo and train this morning.

We're having an early dinner this afternoon at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We've seen lots of utility trucks, so we're hoping to beat the Nov 11th estimated date for power restoration.

Power-less

Still no power. After a few interruptions in our sleep last night (failed trip to get gas-- long lines even at 11!, diaper change for John, bathroom escort for James, musical beds...), we ended up sleeping in until after 7:30. Nice.
Dan got up and got the fire going, then we had French toast and hot chocolate. Yum.
James started the day with a long, leisurely, warm bath. (I quite enjoyed the steamy warmth in the bathroom!) John eventually joined him for their first bath together. Fun brothers time!!
Dan and James did a little yard work while I laundered (in a pot of boiling water-- very Survivor) James's underpants. Turns out a week's worth isn't enough in an emergency situation...
We had quesadillas for lunch then all headed outside to rake. Our leaf pick-up is scheduled for this week, and thanks to Sandy we have plenty of leaves and very little gas for the blower. Turns out I really like raking. It's satisfying in the same way that mopping is. However, quite frustrating in that it takes forever!! We didn't finish the front yard, but we did get quite a lot of it done. The backyard remains buried.
Grandma and Grandpa are back from their cruise and are staying here tonight. We had split pea soup with them for dinner and tried to bring them up to speed on the daily schedule without power.
We're going to try a new sleeping arrangement tonight-- Daddy and James in one bed, Mommy and John in another. Should keep everyone warm without any fighting for blankets. We hope. (Grandpa and Grandma are electing to sleep by the fire.)
Trucks from CA are in town today working on the lines, so we're hopeful!
One benefit of no power tonight-- fewer clocks to turn back!!!

Four days later...

It was this time Monday night when the power went out. Still out.

We've rearranged the family room so that the seating is near the fireplace. The TV is ignored, off to the side. I don't really miss it. It's nice going to bed early, all four of us together, no fussing from James (he's fallen asleep in front of the fire almost every night).
Sure the bed is crowded, but we're warm and getting more hours of sleep than usual by far!

The boys are both working on new skills-- James has been reading more new words (last night he read Heinz Cocktail Sauce!), and John is cruising as well as more consistently crawling with his belly up. (he also ate and then spit up a leaf this morning. Good times.)

Dan went back to work today. By bike. We're trying to conserve gas as that situation is getting out of control...

John had a nap this morning during which I did some cleaning by the light of the sun. I even dusted!

Then I took the boys to our friend-with-the-generator's house where several of us met and had lunch, charged phones, and talked while the kids played. So nice!

Tonight we had "grilled" lasagna (the last of the lasagnas Dan made when John was born) with apple pie for dessert. (another freezer treasure baked on the grill)

James enjoys playing with glow sticks each night and is currently cuddled on Daddy's lap enjoying stories by the fire. I have a snoozing babe in my lap.

Tomorrow we rake.