Turning 3 years and 8 months

On December 10 Natalie turned 3 years old, and on December 12 Henry hit the 8 month mark. So, I'm combining an update about the two of them into one post.

On Natalie's birthday she got her big present from us: a kitchen set, with big bin of fake food to "cook"!

Henry, meanwhile, is closer & closer to crawling, although still no movement of the knees (he just army-man crawls around). He is spending more time up on his knees every day!

On December 15 we took both kids to the doctor: Natalie for her 3 year check up, and Henry tagged along as he wasn't feeling too great, and we wanted to have him checked out (this was prior to the stomach bug, but probably the onset, although we didn't know that at the time). [It turns out that Henry actually has had a sinus infection for the past couple of weeks as well, although he was only diagnosed today. We've started antibiotics and he's on the mend!].

Natalie's check up went great: she answered all of the doctor's developmental questions (telling colors, counting, telling her full name, distinguish girls from boys, drawing a circle, walking, and hopping), and we got her stats.
Height: around 3 feet (they actually forgot to write it down on the sheet, and I don't remember), 80%
Weight: 27.5 lbs, 18%
Yep, she's tall & skinny. Wish that we were all that way! She had her blood pressure taken for the first time, and it was good: 88/40. All in all, a good doctor's visit! She didn't like getting the flu shot (the expression on her face was of such shock when the needle went in, and then she only cried a little), but she did so well. Henry was weighed before the doctor checked him out: he weighed just under 17 pounds. He's a peanut, but only 10 pounds less than his big sister, showing what a true peanut she is! I'm sure part of that somewhat low weight was due to his not feeling well, so I think we'll be up closer to 20 pounds at his 9 month visit.

Henry's Baptism

On Sunday, December 5 we had Henry baptized. Yes, we threw that into the same weekend as Natalie's 3rd birthday. The weekend was a bit chaotic, but tons of fun, and having everything at once allowed both sides of the family to go, which was really great. So, all 4 grandparents, Carrie, and Scott were able to come for both events! I already posted on Natalie's party, so here's the info on the baptism!

We had Henry baptized at Evan's CACINA church in Reston. He and our friend Alison have started going there, as it celebrates the portions of the Catholic rites/faith that they enjoy, without the societal preaching that the priests around here are prone to do during mass. Since Alison & Peter have a 9 month old daughter, Anne-Marie, we decided to have the kids baptized at the same time!

Alison & I with the babies

Evan and Peter with the babies

Our whole families (minus their little boy Liam, who was home sick)

Aunt Carrie & Uncle Scott with their niece & nephew. Scott is now also Henry's godfather!

Here's one of my favorite shots from the baptism; it's right after Henry was baptized. You can tell he's not super sure what to think!

After all that excitement, it was time to take a nap. We all headed over to Eggspectations, a nearby restaurant, for a very yummy brunch!

Kathy & Eric joined us for the baptism as well, and at brunch Kathy got this great picture of Carrie and I.

Here's the whole Macbeth side after brunch.

 Kathy snapped this one last picture; Love it!!

It works.

I think this sums up everything I feel about religion and science (from one of my favorite websites, xkcd.com). As backstory, the writer recently had a family member diagnosed with an illness (he let the readers know that, but I don't know specifically what), and some of his comics have dealt with that lately.

A LONG weekend

The stomach flu's been going around the area, and this week, our family got hit with it. The first instance we knew of was a week ago Friday at daycare, when Henry B (another baby at daycare; he's a couple of months older than our Henry, and Essie has him about 6 days/month, so very part-time) suddenly threw up. We were actually there picking up the kids when it happened, but didn't think much of it. Early this past week, he was definitely sick, and stayed away. Our Henry started getting a little punky (as I call it) mid-week, with some loose BMs, but still nothing bad. Natalie was fine.

However, on Thursday Essie called us and Evan had to go pick Henry up after he had two giant blow-outs in a row at daycare. This was about 3pm, and I was stuck in traffic returning from a client visit. Apparently calling for 2" of snow causes the entire city of Baltimore to freak out, leave work early, and clog up the roads. It took me 2 hours to drive 20 miles. Knowing that Henry was sick, I was furious. I eventually got home just before 5pm, picked up Natalie, and we had a fairly uneventful night at home.

Overnight Thursday, Natalie woke us up when she threw up in her bed. About 2 minutes later, while we were cleaning things up, I ran and threw up. I thought it was just some kind of reaction, but it happened again. And again. And again throughout the night. Natalie threw up a second time in her bed (and as we only have 2 sets of sheets for her, that was interesting; we did make-shift bedding for her), and was able to tell us before she did a 3rd time and we got her to the toilet. This all happened before about 5am.

Friday I was completely out of commission. Feverish on and off all day, exhausted, unable to keep anything down; I laid on the couch all day and tried to keep an eye on Natalie while Evan took care of Henry. Essie had to close as the stomach bug took out her whole family too, so Evan had his work cut out for him. Henry had a few more major diarrhea episodes, didn't really want to eat, and just wanted to be held, which Evan had to do for him. Evan ran a couple of errands with Henry, as Natalie and I needed some supplies to rehydrate, and Natalie was SO good while they were gone. I honestly barely remember what she did; I was in and out of sleep on the couch, and she stayed in the living room, playing with her toys, watching Caillou (thank god for that DVD, as much as it might annoy us!), and checking in with me periodically. I have the best 3 year old in the world (she didn't get sick again, and has been great since then). Unfortunately, we had to miss my work's holiday party Friday night because of this, which I was very bummed about, but there was just no way to go.

After sleeping Friday night, I felt better yesterday, but still not great. Was able to keep food down (toast, saltines, lots of gatorade/juice), and got some strength back, enough to let me help Evan out some with the kids. Which was good, because yesterday afternoon he started feeling the effects of the flu! Like Henry, it hit him below the belt. I still didn't have full strength back (probably due to my not having eaten in 36 hours), so he still had to do a lot for the kids. Today, Evan is still recovering. This thing seems to run about 48 hours, so hopefully tomorrow he'll feel much better. Natalie's great, Henry's diarrhea is cleared up and he's eating again - the only thing about him is his nose is SO runny that he's getting congested, and does NOT like to be put down (screams, really, when you do) - and I feel almost 100%. We were able to get the house completely cleaned and aired out this morning (I don't care if it's cold, I had to get some fresh air in here), and on the plus side, the flu helped me lose 5 pounds!

 Evan, I have to say thank you for everything you did for our family this weekend; you're an amazing dad and husband.

Natalie's birthday party

On Saturday December 4 we had Natalie's birthday party at her dance studio, Tiny Toes. It. Was. Awesome! Miss Helen did such a great job with everything - it's not easy to wrangle ~12 girls & boys between 18 months - 4 years old, and she did it, with not one single crying fit from any child, for 2 hours! And this was after having taught 4 classes earlier in the day. Absolutely amazing.

We started off taking some family photos at home

 

Someone was very excited for her party

So we headed out! The party started off in the dress-up room, where the babies (Henry and my coworker Paige's little boy Jasper) hung out

 while the girls dressed like princesses. You can see who the popular princess is!

We then headed across the hall to the dance studio & party room. Here's the room before the kids entered.

The party got under way with a 30 minute "dance class". Everyone was very impressed that Natalie knew all of the dance terms!

It was then time to head to the party room to make a craft: decorate picture frames!

Then a quick game of "freeze dance", and then pizza time!

Followed by Cinderella cake (chosen by Natalie from Wegmans). Yummy!

Natalie enjoyed the singing

Then we headed back to the dress-up room to unwrap presents. Natalie had a ridiculously large pile. Her friends were very generous - she got some great gifts (I'm excited to be able to teach her to play Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, & Cootie!), with her favorite probably being her Disney Princess dressup clothes & shoes. She did get a few duplicates, so instead of trading them in for something else (which she really doesn't need), we took the presents and donated them to a store supporting the Loudoun County Homeless Shelter, which has a suprisingly high number of children living there this year. Very sad, so I was glad to give them toys they needed and start to teach Natalie about giving.

Thank you to everyone who helped make her birthday party such a great time!

Decorating for Christmas

I was waiting to put these pictures up until I had taken a "final" picture of our lights outside at night, but, honestly, it's cold out at night and I don't want to go out there and take pictures. :) So, you get what I have.

On Thanksgiving weekend, we headed outside to put up our lights. It was pretty cold out, so we bundled up the kids. Natalie got to wear one of her new snow suits (purple or aqua; she chose aqua)

In order to keep our hands free, we put Henry's pack n play on the porch and let him hang out in there. He had a great vantage point to watch everyone!

After the lights were done, Natalie & Evan went to get our Christmas tree. We spent the evening decorating

And here's our finished tree!

Almost there!

Every day Henry's getting closer and closer to crawling! This video is from tonight, which is also Natalie's actual birthday! We celebrated by taking her to Panera this morning for bagels, then McDonalds tonight for some nuggets, and then her birthday present: her very own kitchen set! I think you can see it in the background of the video.

Another present

I decided last year that we would start "celebrating" Hanukkah. I put celebrating in quotation marks because all we really do is light the candles each night; there's no religious connotation for me. We celebrated Hanukkah when I was a kid, as my maternal grandparents were Jewish, but I fell out of practice through college and grad school. I thought it might be something nice I could do with the kids every year, and that's pretty much the reason why I do it - it reminds me of something I did as a kid, I think lighting the candles each night is really nice, and it's a holiday tradition that (at least for us) doesn't involve a bunch of presents.

Every night since December 1 (and obviosly ending last night - Evan had to finish up, as I was out of town), Natalie and I have lit the candles (Henry has watched from a safe distance away). I put them in the menorrah, light the middle candle, and Natalie helps me hold it while we light the rest of the candles. She's really enjoyed it, and I talk to her about what the candles represent. I'm really glad she's gotten so into it (she asks to light them at night now), and I love that we have that holiday tradition.

As a kid, we always got Hanukkah presents from my grandparents, so I wanted to give the kids a little something; they each got one gift. Natalie got something she's been asking for for a while now:

Henry got a new outfit (the kid has grown out of a bunch of clothes, so I found something new for him) and new soft shoes to help him get traction while scooting around. His favorite part, though, was the paper:

I also got a Hanukkah present from Evan (or, for those who know the joke, the Holiday Armadillo): new pajamas!

Almost crawling!

Last night (Tues), for the first time, Henry was able to get his knees under himself! Crawling can't be far away; I'm just hoping it doesn't happen tonight or Thursday while I'm traveling for work. Gotta wait til Friday, big man!

And the reason he's not wearing pants? It was far too easy to wiggle out of them.

Leesburg Christmas tree lighting

On Friday night we went to the town green to watch the annual lighting of the Leesburg town Christmas tree. Just as last year, it was really cold, but really fun!

Henry may have been the warmest of all of us, bundled up in his stroller!

After we'd been there a bit, Miss Essie showed up with her two kids Parker & Abbie, and she brought Natalie's friend Gemma with her too!

Natalie and Gemma had a lot of fun running around together

and watching the choir singing (the choir is in front of them, about 2 feet away). The girls insisted on sitting on the ground, even with how cold it was. As I expected, sitting on the ground didn't last very long.

After the music ended, we walked over to be closer to the tree for the actual tree lighting.

The mayor stood on a platform right next to us (she's in the Santa hat) to throw the switch. Parker & Abbie got to be on stage with her! (Abbie's in the hooded parka, and Parker is in the red & blue coat).

The girls loved the lights suddenly coming on! Here they are in front of the tree after it was lit.

Again, our usual shot

And we had to get a family shot in front of the tree too!

Cuties in PJs

Looking back over some recent posts, I've apparently been taking a lot of pictures of the kids in their jammies lately. I guess they just look too cute to me! Because I can throw them up here quickly, and then I've posted all that I have, here are a couple more :)

Thanksgiving 2010

For the second time since we've been married, Evan and I chose not to travel for Thanksgiving this year. The first time was in 2007, when I was < 2 weeks from my due date with Natalie; traveling 4-5 hours away to be with family just wasn't really feasible! This year, I didn't really have the ability to take time off before Thanksgiving day to have a travel deal, as my PTO days don't kick in for a few more weeks. Plus, traveling for both Thanksgiving and Christmas is just exhausting now -  the idea of packing ourselves, kids, and dog for two holidays within a month of one another is just too much! So, we're going to try and do at least one of the two holidays at our house (or at least very close by) for the forseeable future. It may not happen (obviously plans go awry), but it's a nice goal to have!

This year, Kathy & Eric invited us to their house for Thanskgiving! They're only an hour away, so getting there for the day was easy. We had a really great time. Their parents were there, as was Eric's sister Lisa and her husband Chris, and Kathy's brother Robert and his wife Kristina. So, we felt very honored to be included in their family holiday! Here are the ladies:

Kristina, Kathy, me, Lisa, Eric's mom, Kathy's mom

Kathy did a great job decorating:

Henry sported his holiday best (hand-me-downs from Natalie's first Thanksgiving!):

Evan and I got our standard photo:

 Natalie didn't want to nap, but she did rest some on the couch. She also watched Cinderella (particularly the "bibbity bobbity boo" and "make Cinderella's dress" scenes) over and over again.

Natalie and Henry enjoyed their Thanksgiving meals:

We did try to give Henry some mashed potatoes, but they did NOT sit well. Guess he's still too little! 

And a little family cuddle time on the couch

 

Busy two weeks

I finally had some time tonight to get two weeks worth of pictures off my camera, including Thanksgiving photos. There were some I had totally forgotten about! I would normally never let pictures sit for that long without at least putting them onto my computer (even if they don't get put up here on the blog; I know to some a week or two isn't long, but it is to me!), but the last two weeks have been absolutely nutty.

With last week being Thanksgiving, I had a short week at work but was trying to catch up on a bunch of stuff, primarily follow ups on the leads I got from the Society for Neuroscience conference I attended the week before that. Plus we had a few marketing things to let customers know about, so with all of that, the short week turned out to be really busy! At least we weren't traveling for the holiday. Then, this week I feel like I've barely been home. Monday afternoon I headed up to NJ (as I said in my previous post), and didn't get home until about 6:30 on Tuesday. I was in the office on Wednesday, took Natalie to her dance class, and tried to play catch-up on some household stuff that night. On Thursday I headed up to Baltimore with two of my coworkers for a training session with one of my clients; I was gone for 12 hours, got home to be with the kids, and then had to work for 2 more hours since I hadn't gotten any work done that day on the training. Today I managed to get everything done on my to-do list: all of my clients who needed follow up were contacted, I produced three quotes for customers who called in about it today, I received in 2 orders, I set up 2 client calls for Monday, and I dealt with our fairly needy customer who we visited in NJ. So, a really full week! I've finally had two seconds to rub together, so I got the pictures off my camera. Turns out, I've got some good stuff on there!

I still need to finish going through the photos, but I've got a couple to put up here now. I previously published this video of Evan reading to the kids, and them laughing hysterically. I didn't realize that I had also taken some cute photos of the kids that night in their pjs!

I love this photo!!

Random November pics

It's just about the end of the month, and since I'll be traveling for work overnight Monday-Tuesday (I have to head up to NJ to cement a sale to a customer), I thought I'd finally post my miscellaneous November photos that don't really fit together, so I'll just throw them up here in a hodge-podge :)

First: Natalie modeling her rain gear.

Second: Henry looking cute in his jumperoo

Third: Natalie's friend Ruth (from daycare) celebrated her 2nd birthday. Ruth loves flamingos, so Miss Essie made her the cake on the left (it was made with real strawberries, and SO good!), and the other was store bought (chocolate, and quite good). Too cute!

Natalie enjoyed the chocolate cake :)

Last up: Henry showing how well he sits up on his own now!