New Jersey weekend

Last weekend we stayed up in NJ. I had a big work trip planned (3 days of customer visits), and timed things so that I did visits on Thursday in Maryland and outside of Philadelphia, then Friday in Philly & Camden, then met Evan and the kids at his parents' house on Friday night. This was a first for Evan: driving about 5 hours by himself with the kids and Calla! They all stopped at his cousin's house in Pennsylvania for a break on the way up; I think everyone enjoyed the break, although I was sad that I didn't get to hang out with that part of the family! We'll have to make another trip up there again to all hang out.

Saturday was a hang out with the family day. Grandma Lynn and I took Natalie to run a few errands in the morning, and we had some hang around time in the early afternoon. Look how cute the kids are together!

That afternoon we took the kids to the library. There was a special musical guest (Kurt...something) who did an hour performance for the kids. He was really good - funny, engaging, active, and the kids had a great time. I was even entertained! Moreover, Natalie & Henry both loved it!

Twice during the show the bubbles went off - obviously, this was a highlight for the kids!

Towards the end Kurt passed around shakers for the kids to make music too.

Henry got to have one as well!

Note: How do I know this guy was entertaining? Henry sat in his car seat for an hour without fussing once, just watching and listening. He NEVER does that!

That night, we celebrated Evan's grandmother's 98th birthday! Not only were Henry and his daddy dressed in similar colors

...but so was Uncle Scott! Had to get a picture of the 3 boys in their green sweaters & jeans.

The Macbeth men

 Here's Gram with her great-grandkids. She actually lifted Natalie up onto her lap with no help; we all had a minor freak out when she did, but she was fine. Impressive lady!

It's unusual to be able to take a picture like this: 4 generations of women in the family.

And we finished the night with Natalie's favorite thing to do at her NJ grandparents' house: bathe in their big jacuzzi tub!

I then had to leave on Sunday night to head out for another day of site visits in Pennsylvania starting early Monday morning; Evan brought the kids home by himself again on Monday. It was a great way for me to get 3 days of site visits in and be away from my family for a minimal amount of time, and the timing was great with celebrating Gram's 98th birthday. 

Picture with Santa

In December we were at the mall, and the line to get your picture with Santa was, well, there was no line, surprisingly! So, even though the kids weren't dressed up for it, we had them do a Santa photo, and it went very well! Henry didn't mind Santa holding him, and Natalie hopped right up next to him. Next year we'll get them dressed up first!

Playtime videos

First up: making music! We hadn't played with the Leap Frog music toys in a while (these were all Natalie's from when she was younger), as Natalie had outgrown them, but we've started pulling them back out for Henry to play with lately. Of course, Natalie finds them entertaining again when Henry starts playing with them, but she shares well.

She also knows how to rock on her own!

Later, the kids were taking turns "flying" on my legs. We were having so much fun I summoned the strength to get them both up and flying at the same time!

And one of Natalie's favorite playtime activities is making Henry laugh, which she accomplishes quite well here.

Princess Natalie

For her birthday Natalie received Disney Princess dress up clothes & shoes. They were a big hit for the first week or so, but since then she's really only played with the shoes, and even then she mostly just likes to line them up around the living room and complain when Henry messes up the lines!

On Wednesday after dinner Natalie asked if I would help her play dress up. First up was Snow White

Belle

Cinderella

and Sleeping Beauty

Henry crawls!

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Henry has been "King of the Inchworm", i.e. inching his way around the floor instead of truly crawling. However, he has been reliably getting up on his knees for over a month now, so I've gotten plenty of pictures of him *almost* crawling! These two are from Tuesday night. Isn't he a super cutie?!

Note: Don't worry about Henry falling down the stairs; Evan and I were sitting just below him ready to catch if he tried to go down the stairs. However, every time he put a hand out and realized there was no floor there, he pulled back and stayed away from the edge. Good boy!

Essie said during the day on Wednesday she gave Henry some no-pants time, and he got up and was truly crawling! So, we tried it out at home Wednesday night, and I managed to get a brief video of him really crawling! It's still a little wobbly, but he'll get the hang of it with more practice!

Winter visit to the park

New Year's Eve was about 15 degrees warmer than it had been over Christmas, and most of the day was bright and sunny, so we decided to take advantage of the brief break in the winter weather by taking the kids to the park. Henry got to try something new: swinging! As I expected, he loved it. 

I like this one of the both of them swinging together!

 Natalie was excited to be at the playground, but not totally thrilled to discover that she no longer fits into the baby swings. She prefers them as we can push her higher without risk of falling out, but she's just too big! So, she has to stick to big girl swings now, and learn to pump.

Evan snapped this one of Henry and I - I love it!

Natalie did have tons of fun climbing and sliding on the playground. I like how she's making the exact same happy face in each of these three photos!

Henry got to try out the slide as well, with his big sister's (and Mommy's) help!

Natalie wanted me to get in on the sliding fun too.

Even though it was warm for January, it was still chilly, and once the wind started picking up it was time to bundle Henry into his car seat for the stroller ride back to the car. It was definitely a good winter trip to the park!

Henry is 9 months old!

Last Wednesday (January 12), Henry turned 9 months old! On Friday he went for his 9 month well-baby checkup; luckily, he's back to normal (all illness is gone, the antibiotics are finished, and he's sleeping through the night again), and his check up went very well. Two notable things at the checkup:
1. He's a peanut! We think he's so big, cause he's bigger than Natalie at the same age, but compared to other boys he's tiny!
Weight: 17 lbs 10 oz (9th percentile)
Length: 28.5 inches (60th percentile)
Head: can't remember, but 28th percentile
     His weight is definitely low, but it's always been that way so the doctors aren't worried. I guess most baby boys are just chunkers! He's not; just like his sister, he's pretty long and lean. And he eats a TON, so that's definitely not a problem!

2. Henry crawled for the first time! He was on the table for the exam, and the doctor laid her otoscope down on the table, and he crawled right over to it. No more "inchworm"! Although, he still goes back & forth between the two; we only get a few inches of actual crawling before he's back down on his belly, but it's a start.

Other new things this month:
-- He can now go from lying down to crawling position to sitting, and back again. Makes him fuss less as he can get into a position he wants, versus the one we put him in!
-- He's stopped boycotting finger foods, and is back to eating puffs & rice crackers. Makes meal time much easier for us, as he can munch on those while we get to eat our dinner! We even had him try a little piece of spaghetti last week, and he ate it! I think we're going to start trying more small foods soon (cut up pasta, bread, etc).
-- While he's less fussy right now than he was in the previous month while sick, he still wants to be held a LOT. It's probably separation anxiety, and I love how snuggly he is, but there are times when it's frustrating cause I/we can't just hold him all the time!
-- While no words yet, he's getting really good at imitating our sounds, whether talking or nonsense sounds (tongue clicking, etc).
-- He's figured out how to pull himself up to standing in his crib, but no where else yet, although he's trying! He really does like to practice standing

-- Yesterday we finished up his first full haircut, cutting around the ears and the back (he was close to having a baby mullet). It looks really cute! Pictures soon, I promise (I have some before & afters).

A fun Saturday

Last week, the kids got sick again. The antibiotics didn't kick Henry's sinus infection, and it evolved into a mild ear infection and pink eye on Wednesday. Luckily, it was one of the most mild cases of pink eye I've ever seen, we quickly removed him from daycare and got him on a stronger antibiotic, and within 24 hours his eye (it was only in the left) was much better - no pinkness, and only slight crustiness. We washed hands, we tried to keep Natalie away from Henry's face...but of course, on Thursday afternoon Essie found her eye in a similar state. The pediatrician called in antibiotic eye drops for her, and I kept her home on Friday; by Friday night her eye was fine. Luckily, no one else (us or anyone at daycare) got pink eye - I think we managed to nip it in the bud!

On Saturday, everyone was feeling much better. Henry practiced making some music (and showed off his new haircut I gave him last week - I had to trim the bangs finally, they were just getting WAY too long!)

Natalie got to go out in the snow for a bit and sled for the first time! I pulled her down the small hill behind our house, and dragged her around a bit on the snow-covered path.

 As we're getting more snow right now, I hope to take her out again tomorrow!

Then, Carrie and her boyfriend Matt came over to babysit for us. Evan and I got all dressed up and got a "prom" style photo

Natalie needed to get in on the picture time too.

Evan and I went to a great restaurant in Middleburg, VA: The French Hound. So yummy! French-inspired food; I had delicious mussels & fries, while Evan had the steak special. Everything was good. We then met up with some friends of ours to see Black Swan - I enjoyed it, and I see why it was nominated for so many Golden Globes, although it wasn't quite as engrossing as we all would've liked. But having a nice night out was great - thanks Carrie!

Henry and the cars

Henry is a big fan of one of Natalie's new toys: the battery powered cars. Think about: what's not to like from his point of view? They move around, they have lights...they're a dream toy to grab at. It normally takes him a couple of tries, but he is eventually able to get ahold of them (much to Natalie's displeasure, most of the time!)

However, we found one way to position Henry with the cars where it's MUCH harder for him to grab them. And, as much as I feel kind of bad laughing at my child, watching this is really funny.

Snow at the OBX

The day after Christmas, the Outer Banks got something it hasn't gotten in years (since winter 2002, to be precise): a serious accumulation of snow! I think the final estimate was about 4 inches, which is a TON for that area. Natalie really likes snow, and I luckily thought ahead to bring her snow boots, so when the snow slowed down a little bit I was able to bundle her up and take her outside for a bit.

These shots are of my parents' house and part of their yard.

Natalie in the snow. 

Carrie, Natalie and I

Making circles in the cul-de-sac next to my parents' house.

And what did the doggies think of the snow? They'd rather be inside.

Needless to say, there is no preparation for snow at the OBX - no road salting, no plows to send out (during or after the snow). This made driving home a bit treacherous on Monday - it took us about 40 minutes to get off the island, which, this time of year, should really take about 10 minutes. But we went nice and slowly, and everything turned out fine. I wanted to see the beach with snow, so we drove over to the beach road and off the island that way. I didn't get out of the car, as we were on our way home, but I was able to get some pretty cool pictures from the car window.

Christmas in the OBX: Christmas Day

Christmas morning = time to open presents! Henry liked checking out the boxes. 

Opening presents is super fun!

 As I said at the end of my previous post, we pulled out the bike last. Natalie was SO excited about it!

She wasn't totally sure about the helmet at first, but I told her she had to wear it when we took the bike outside. She was ok with it then (see below).

After breakfast, it was time to play with presents. Here are the motorized cars & track she received from Grandma Sandy & Grandpa Rich, surrounding the Fisher Price barn she received from Carrie.

Aunt Carrie got Henry a very cool musical sit-to-stand walker; Henry had fun pushing all of the buttons!

And then...more family photos!

A photo we haven't been able to take in a long time: the 4 cousins!

We headed outside to let Natalie practice riding her bike. She did pretty well; after only a few minutes she'd already figured out how to get on & off by herself! She's still having a little trouble figuring out how to peddle, but that will come with practice. She got a little frustrated, hence the look on her face in this photo, but overall she did well.

We were able to snap this photo of Mom, Carrie and I. Love it! I think it's one of the best we've taken of us in a long time.

 My mom invited a friend of hers and her husband over for Christmas dinner as well, so we were able to take a family photo. I think it came out very well!