Holiday Fun

The computer "mother board" is back! Below you can check out some shots from our recent travels -- Christmas and Hanukkah in San Diego, visitors in Alameda, a bus/bart/ferry ride to San Francisco, etc...

Trials and Tribulations

Apologies to my legions of loyal fans (ha!) for the long blog silence. We have experienced a series of technical difficulties from no internet in the new house to corrupted photo files on the camera to the complete implosion of our computer's "mother board" (yes, that problem is just as serious and expensive as it sounds).

In any case, the G. family is currently down in San Diego visiting my mom, so I decided to take advantage of her fully functional computer to catch up a bit on the blog. Here are a few highlights from the past couple weeks:

1.) We moved into our new house and have been VERY busy painting, unpacking, and generally trying to get ourselves settled. In general things are going very well. We even have both boys sleeping in the same room! It amazes me the things that they are capable of sleeping through. Sometimes Max will get up, turn on the light, bang the door, and move Henry's crib around and Henry still doesn't wake up. Sometimes Henry will wake up and want to nurse and cry and cry at the top of his lungs and Max doesn't wake up. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Human beings are programed to be together in small spaces and certainly families all around the world manage to sleep in one room. Somehow, though, it seems miraculous every time my two sleep-challenged boys make it through the night in a room together.

2.) Henry turns nine months old tomorrow which is shocking. Where does the time go???!!! He had a doctor's appointment last week with his new pediatrician. Henry was a champ despite the blood draw and the two shots. Max, however, never does well with having to wait around in a doctor's office. He turned off the lights in the tiny exam room four times while the doctor was trying to examine Henry. I used my super-stern voice and tried to get him in line, but of course he thought it was really funny to disobey me. I'm sure I made a great impression on the new doctor with my oh-so-effective parenting techniques. To top things off, after the doctor left the room, Max turned off the powerstrip on the floor and shut down her computer. I had to slink out of there and tell the two nurses on duty about the incident so they could reboot the thing. Let's just say that they didn't look pleased. All antics aside, Henry was in good health though it is interesting that he has turned from a gigantic infant into a rather petite older baby (40th and 5oth percentiles for weight and height). The kid eats ALL OF THE TIME, so I don't know where the food is going.

3.) On Sunday I took both boys and drove down to San Diego by myself. It was great to be able to load all of our crap into the car and set off on our own schedule as opposed to the agonizing and interminable cross-country flights we have grown accustomed to around the holidays. It was a long day -- 8 plus hours of driving with a few stops thrown in to burn off steam and regain our sanity. The boys actually did remarkably well. They both slept a lot (Thank God!) and I broke out the DVD player for Max. This prompted the most dicey scene of the trip. Envision me driving the station wagon down Interstate 5 at 85 miles per hour (this is the speed that traffic was going, I swear! Things are different in California...). In the back seat, Henry keeps reaching out to grab the DVD player. This throws Max into hysterics -- "No, No, Henry! Get your hands OFF!!!!" Eventually, Max manages to wrench the DVD player away and he subsequently drops it on the ground. I have one hand on the wheel and I'm yelling at Max and reaching behind me to fish the DVD player off of the floor and re-establish it on Max's lap where Henry can't reach it. Good times. We made it to San Diego, though, and it has been great to visit with family. Scott flew in last night so he will be here to drive back North with us on Friday. I can't wait.

So there's a few tidbits for now. I promise to post some photos when I can. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all.

Holiday Greetings



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November Photo Tour

I'm VERY behind in posting photos, so here's a whole bunch of them from the busy month of November...

Our final walk-though of the new house.

Max and Scott still approve of the kitchen!

Celebrating Scott's birthday with Nana.

Feliz cumpleanos, Dada!

Henry waits for the moving van.

Check out that view!

Dodie tries to keep Max entertained.

At last the truck arrives.

At the doorway of the new house.

Henry and Uncle Omri on Thanksgiving.

Henry and Aunt Arie on Thanksgiving.

Omri and his girlfriend, Tina.

Henry's first Thanksgiving (he ate a jar of sweet potatoes).

Henry and Papa enjoying dinner together.

Mommy (in her sexy painting attire) with Henry.

Scott paints the staircase.

Max is excited to finally find a box of toys.

Dodie working in the living room.

Cranky Henry is sick of painting (aren't we all???!!!)

Out goes the nasty pee-stained carpet. Photos of snazzy new wood floors will follow shortly...

Quick Potty Story

Last night I had given both boys a bath and they were wriggling all over the bed as I attempted to get them dried off and diapered. At this rather inopportune moment, Max announced, "I need to poop on the potty." I tried to brush off this request (since when does he EVER use the potty?), but he repeated it several more times. Sighing, I gathered up naked Henry and escorted Max down the hall where I had to hold him on the toilet. To my total surprise, he proceeded to actually poop on the potty! He was sooooo proud of himself and of course I lavished tons of praise on him as well. As we walked back down the hallway to get dressed and ready for bed, Max turned to me and said, "Am I a grownup now?" It doesn't get much cuter than that.

First Word!

Well, it's official -- Henry has spoken his first word. Despite my blatant attempts at coaching and despite the fact that this has happened to me once before (Darn you, Max!), the first word is definitely, "Dada." He has been babbling all sorts of different consonant sounds for months now, but today was really the first day that we were certain that he said "Dada" with intention. I was giving the boys a bath and Scott walked into the room. Henry looked up at him with a huge smile breaking across his face and proudly proclaimed, "Dada." As further proof, I waited a few moments and then asked Henry, "Where's Dada?" Without a pause he looked right up at Scott. It was such a sweet moment I almost forgot to be jealous. ALMOST. Who is it that gave birth to that child? Who nurses him many times a day (and sometimes many times a night)? Who spends almost every waking moment with him???!!!! Sigh...We'll keep working on the "M" sound.

Not to be outdone, Max has also made leaps and bounds with language over the past weeks. He chatters nonstop now, giving me advice on driving ("That light is red, Mommy. Red means stop"); Offering thoughts on patriotism and the new administration (upon seeing an American flag -- "It's a Barack Obama flag!"); Keeping us all on the straight and narrow in terms of rules (upon taking my hand to cross the parking lot -- "Safety is our number one priority!"). That kid cracks me up many, many times a day. What a lucky mom I am to have two such sweet and articulate boys!

Hallelujah!

We bought Max a fancy new alarm clock that turns green in the morning when it is time to get up. I feel like I'm doing an infomercial here, but this clock is a godsend! For the past two mornings, Max stayed in his room without yelling and carrying on until the clock turned green at 5:45am. This may not sound like much to some, but it is close to an hour more sleep that Max's mommy has been getting that she was not getting before. We're going to start moving the clock back a few minutes at a time so that maybe Max and Mommy can sleep until 6am or, dare I even dream it, maybe 6:30! Here's the blessed clock if anyone wants to check it out:

http://www.americaninnovative.com/products/teachmetime.php

Why I Love California

It is jaw-droppingly gorgeous here. I'm not talking about the beautiful weather (though it has been balmy and clear almost everyday since we arrived), but more the amazing scenery around every turn. Simple jaunts down the freeway afford staggering views of San Francisco Bay. Crossing over the Bay Bridge is astonishing every single time as the city of San Francisco comes into view with the Golden Gate Bridge peeping through the fog in the distance. Max, Henry, and I went to a regional park in the hills above Oakland called Redwood Park, and I could have sworn that I was in some remote national park in the Sierra mountains. This place was gorgeous! There were towering redwood trees that were hundreds of years old along a rocky wandering creek. You could hike for miles in that place without seeing another human being. I don't mean to sound snobbish, but there's something about landscapes in the West that is inherently more grandiose than what you find out East. Virginia, for example, has history galore, rolling green hills, some nice rivers and even some modest mountains. In California, however, everything is on a different scale. Mountains are taller, distances are greater, coastlines are more rugged and more scenic. Scott will scoff at this because "place" doesn't matter much to him, but I feel very tied to the land here. I was in Virginia for ten years and as much as I built a happy life there, I never felt completely at home. California is my home, and I feel so lucky to be able to raise my boys here beside the ocean and beneath the redwood trees...

Oakland Zoo

Scott had the day off on Tuesday for Veteran's Day and so we went on a family trip to the Oakland Zoo. Oakland sometimes gets a bad rap as a city, what with the high murder rate and all, but it definitely has its nice spots and the zoo is one of them. It is very kid friendly and Max enjoyed, among other things, crossing the lily pads, climbing the spider web, and riding the car ride. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the amazing views of alligators above and below water. Henry enjoyed being outside and gazing adoringly at his older brother.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

I bathed both boys by myself the other night for the first time since we've been in California. Because Ron and Lynn don't have a bathtub, Henry's been using the baby tub and Max has been taking a shower with Scott. Well, Scott was working late and I couldn't handle both boys in the shower by myself. The solution was to cram them both in the tiny baby tub. Strangely, they loved it! Henry, of course, was simply thrilled to be close to Max. Max, however, really enjoyed splashing and soaking. It's been several weeks since he's been in a bathtub and apparently he misses it (though he does love that quality shower time with Daddy!).




Note: I plan to use both the photograph and video as blackmail material when the boys are older. Don't you think their future girlfriends will be amused?

A Cart Built for Two

Now that young Henry is a proficient "sitter," we've had fun experimenting with shopping carts built for two. Check out these pictures from Nob Hill Market and Costco. Max was so in love with the blue police-car shopping cart that I thought I'd never get him out of there. God help us if we ever decide to shop at boring old Safeway! They're really behind the times in the world of shopping carts. As for Henry, he's so happy to be close to his older brother that I could stick the two of them in a box and he'd be just as excited.