Spike

Today was a good fun day and Chris got to come home at a decent hour. He also came and took a nap with A, and they both desperately needed the nap.

Spike comes from the nurses fighting over who got to cuddle and play with G first at the doctor's office. It is his first nickname so to speak and it definitely seems appropriate.

Or one not so fun thing was shots at the doctors this morning. He got 5 because they didn't give him the pentacil because sticking a screaming, crying, kicking infant 5 times over three is preferred here apparently. Overall he has done well and is just more snuggly than normal. G weighed in at 12 pounds, 5 ounces which is in the 50 to 60 percentile. He measured 24.25 inches which is in the 90th percentile. Moral of the charts: we have a long skinny baby. Who knew? We are starting to see issues with clothes because we had suspected this since the arms and legs aren't long enough though he doesn't come close to filling them out in the middle.

Anyway since he is asleep I should go finish laundry and get ready for the next round of crying.

2 Months?!

Well yesterday was G's 2 month point. It is hard to believe that in a month I will be going back to work full time. Yes, you read that right, I said full time as I'm already doing some stuff in a work from home arrangement. Since they never found someone to do all my work it has been waiting for me since November. I called  last week and asked if I could clear some of it before I technically am off maternity leave. This gives me a chance to work at odd times but get some stuff done so I don't go back to a three month backlog. So far so good, we will see how it goes as the month progresses.

Recently we've learned all the words to the Frozen soundtrack. Being the brilliant person that I am, since we can't go see the movie everyday, I got A the soundtrack. Chris and I think it would be fun music to play, but it would definitely have to be in an orchestra setting.

Chris started his term today. Hopefully it will be his last one at ASU. Each term seems to be getting progressively worse, so we really need one of us to find a job elsewhere soon. He is teaching one class as will add running the stockroom. Maybe if they realize they are running through stock room managers they will eventually listen to the person, we just hope it isn't Chris.

Other than constantly wanting to watch Frozen, A seems to be finally adjusting and accepting that G isn't going back where he came from. We are starting to wonder if she doesn't want a baby sister though since she has started calling her Little Brother (a stuffed version of the puppy in Mulan) her Little Sister. She even put the stuffed puppy with her Marie (girl cat in Aristocats) stuffed animal in G's swing. And we wonder what keeps run in the batteries down.

Our weather seems to have become more temperate. It has allowed us to at last get out to the park a time or two. Since we go of of the mountain regularly these days we spend a little more time there playing outside than we would at home.

G is working really hard at rolling over these days. He also loves his jumping swing we have mounted to the door. A likes to climb in it to, but she gets stuck so it is kind of funny.

Anyway, we see the pediatrician tomorrow, so check back for another update of G's stats.

Attached are a few photos from our King's Day last week.

Holiday Pictures from 2013

Icicle trellis that my step-father did. Don't think he thought of this arrangement when he made it.

Icicle trellis in the daytime. Did I forget to mention that we got an ice storm in the mix of traveling around OK?

G and Grandma Sehorn

A got to help make candy this year. She discovered the joys of licking implements

Making Divinity

A, G, and Grandma Sehorn (their great grandmother)

G and Pa Pa (Chris's dad)

During presents the books were the most exciting and A had to read them instantly.

My parents, my brothers and me. It has been 20+ years (if we've ever) gotten a picture like this.

A playing the uke after the party.

My brothers and me at the Meet-n-Greet

G and me at the zoo

A and her cousin getting ready to watch Frozen

G with Uncle J Christmas morning

Showing off the vet kits

Sporting his new hat that Uncle J and cousin M got him. Quite happy to do so

The "big" present Christmas morning that she was happy to finally see.

A helping hand out presents at Mommy Sue's house.

A got Mickey Mouse Legos.

Big J with G sporting the T beanie. G isn't so sure since it isn't OU...

Frozen and Frigid

Well, we survived the holidays again! Go us! We made it to OK, which at times definitely seemed an impossibility. We originally were set to leave Dec 14th, but Chris was called as a juror to report the 16th. Here not even scheduled surgery can get you out of service so a holiday road trip definitely didn't. He finally got dismissed on the 17th and we were on the road within the hour. Then we got about 5 minutes out of our driveway and the pressure sensor in the car went on, so back to the tire store we went to fix the flat. Then we made it to Knoxville and Miss A "spilled." She very sweetly stated, "Daddy, I spilled," and Chris looked back to see she had thrown up all over her car seat and clothes. After we stopped to clean her and the seat up, we managed to get a decent amount of uninterrupted driving in. We finally made it to AR about 1am. We then made it to OK late the next evening since we had more cleaning up to do. 

We got to see Chris' family first this year so we spent a few days with them. The fun thing that happened there was the Legos. Chris's youngest cousin was excited to have someone to play legos with since young twenty something's can't play with legos and it not be creepy. Also one of the cousins kept saying things under his breath not realizing two year olds will repeat anything you say. Pushing us towards Tulsa was a fantastic ice storm. The roads were never bad, but it did wonder for the power lines and trees. It started Friday night and went though...well there was still ice on all the non-road surfaces when we left OK Christmas day which was a Wednesday.

In Tulsa we had a meet and greet for G and most of my family showed up. We also took Miss A to her first movie at the theatre, we went to see Frozen. It was our family movie this year, so my brothers (who had already seen it with their girls) loved seeing it again. Really it was my niece M who made sure we got to see it. :) A loved it and wants to see it every day now. My older brother got her and her cousin matching outfits for the movie and A wants to wear that every day as well. Since we can't get the movie yet I bought the music so once in the morning and once in the afternoon we listen to the soundtrack. Miss A likes to sing along and we know all the lyrics as well. 

Christmas was a lot of fun with a four and two year old. They were appropriately excited and very thankful for the toys and clothes. More for the toys but Miss A liked the clothes as well.

We went to AR on Christmas day. The puppies were exciting and getting to see Jeff, Josh and Kristin was fun for both kids. Mister G was starting to smile about this time so fun smiles were given to all willing to stick their tongue out at him. His new favorite game is to stick his tongue out at someone to see if they will do it back. If they stick it out then he smiles. He may have dimples after all, and he has an infectious grin. 

For new years we had friends down from Chicago. We played lots of games and managed a trip to the big house at Miss A's request. Chris wanted to visit a brewery in Asheville, so since his beer drinking friend was around (the guy in our couple from Chicago) we stopped in one of his favorite breweries. We also had ice cream outside when it was around the freezing mark.

Now we are all stuck inside because it is frigid outside. It was minus ten this morning about 7, and the wind howled all night. We have several inches of new snow but don't want to go out and play really as it is too cold! It is about noon and we are sitting at minus one...

Anyway, it appears both kids are sleeping (or soon will be) so I'm going to do some quilting. Will post a photo series of our trip later.

Christmas Cookies!

Well, St. Nicholas came on Thursday night and filled our stockings (I don't like the shoes) but we haven't opened them because A has to let mommy and daddy sleep enough so they have the energy to open them. Part of the tradition we are trying to create is also making cookies. We make graham crackers, but since they are rolled we can use cookie cutters and make "mans" and Christmas tees! We also made some jingle bells, but they aren't pictured here.

A few funny things from this week courtesy of A:

•  <person> you have 2 options, go to time out or go set- up church
•  "Why are you up?" asked Chris, "Because the sun is," was the response before 7 one morning. (However, because the sun is down is not a good reason to get ready for bed)
•  Um...just not yet. We hear this when asking to go potty, clean-up, get ready for bed, so just about everything.
•  He has a pooooopy piaper.

G is starting to be awake more, though he still sleeps a lot as he is growing a lot. He is really getting control of his head, so that's a good thing. He is kind of panicky and we think it is from the crushing hugs he gets courtesy of his big sister. She also really likes to give him kisses and often tries to pick him up, not realizing he weighs about half as much as she does.

We managed to not get a lot of the ice predicted in the storm today, it was just a bit wet with some ice, but nothing appreciable and no accumulation except on random trees.

Pediatrician Visit

We all went to the pediatrician today for G's 3 week appointment. He is now weighing in at 10 lbs and is 22 inches. He's grown a lot, and put on a fair amount of weight. The nurse was kind of upset when I told her that he sleeps on his stomach, but since they only theorize that SIDS is caused by stomach sleeping I don't really care. I'd rather be honest and get my hand slapped then lie to the docs. The doc was good about getting A involved in the check-up. He asked her name and his name and let her listen to the stethoscope.

Miss A is doing better with it just being the three of us at home. We try and do one excursion a day and take a nap. She is getting a lot more sleep so I'm sure that helps with the attitude. We also have worked on our Christmas tree a lot this week and are getting ready for St. Nicholas Day, which is Friday. A is getting into St Nicholas Day, so we're excited about that. She also has opted to give honeybees as her Heifer gift this year, but says her little brother can't give anything.

Thanksgiving

I made jerk baked beans modified from the recipe here. I used what bacon we had, agave nectar for sugar, no garlic, but 2 shallots in place of garlic and onion. I also didn't make the seasoning separate. I just put everything in the crock pot. In the seasoning part of the recipe I substituted paprika and some cumin for the cayenne. I also used an entire bunch of green onions up to the greens as opposed to just 2 tsp. Cooked in the crock on high for 6 hours, stirring occasionally.

Overall we had a good day. We played outside in the sunny snow some, cooked some, cleaned some, played some. A woke us up early and was already dressed. Hopefully she won't do the early bit tomorrow, but the self dressing would be nice. We are slowly getting over the jealousy thing, and hopefully will be able to put it behind us soon.

G is doing well. Eats, sleeps and makes diapers. Is overall a pretty chill baby at this point, and hopefully that will last.

As both kids are sleeping I should be too. Hope everyone had a great turkey day and enjoyed a tryptophan nap.