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.