Tired Lunch

After an exciting morning in the snow, Gabey had some fabulous chicken and apples for lunch. He promptly fell asleep before finishing the last few bites. The picture of him with his eyes half-closed was his attempt at a smile for the camera. Poor tired baby.

In Alex's Snowsuit

Yummy Snow

Winter Sunset

When they're good, they're really good. It really makes me think twice about planting more trees.

For the Reindeer

Alex and I worked on a nice little present for Santa's reindeer (because, after all, who does all the real work at Christmas?) and I think it turned out pretty well. We'll see what the reindeer think. And we'll probably make another one today for the neigh-bors.

Well, Not -Always-

After Turkey

I think we all felt a bit like this after Thanksgiving dinner. OK, not the kids. But the adults, definitely.

First (Significant) Snow!

Daddy and Gabey decided to play in the snow a bit over Thanksgiving.

I Promised I Would

Here's Jeff's Thanksgiving at his parents' house. Not unlike his Thanksgiving at my parents house, only with less reclining couch.

Too Exciting

After eating pear-ple sauce with green beans, Gabe suddenly realized he had been awake since 7 am so he decided to take a nap. He almost napped in the highchair but Mommy saw the telltale signs of rapid nap syndrome and rescued him from uncomfortable slouching just in time. This picture was taken literally less than a minute after he finished his lunch.

Green Beans!!!*

*May contain large quantities of apple-pear sauce to mask the greenbeans.

Oh Dear...

Yesterday I put up the first baby gate. It's at the top of the basement steps, and is really the negligent parent gate. It prevents Gabe from sneaking past us while we're busy in the kitchen and going for an epic tumble. Not that he'd ever silently crawl as fast as he can toward a forbidden goal or anything. Certainly not several hundred times a day, as evidenced by the tiny brush burns on his knees. Well, practically speaking, we have had a few few fires in the fireplace, and I'd imagine that, as long as something's burning, he'll probably have a very enticing goal that outshines the basement steps. But still, safety first.

Of course, Alex refuses to learn how to use the gate. As per usual, she prefers to whine, I mean, ask for help. Everything is more fun when it involves Mommy having to stop what she's doing to help with something that Alex can do by herself but just doesn't want to do.

So, the addition of the gate was exciting enough, but also, far away from any camera, Gabe decided to do something simultaneously impressive and horrifying. He stood up by himself. That's right, with no assistance but cheering (and expressions of dread over things sure to come soon) he pulled himself away from eating Simon R. Green books on the bottom shelf and somehow managed to navigate his way up the side of the ugly living room chair and got himself into a standing position. Granted, it wasn't a particularly stable position, what with one leg far forward and the other far back in a way that surely would have ended in a split if it had not been for a watchful set of parents spotting him, but it was standing nonetheless. Coordination being his worst enemy, he just sort of slumped over after a few intense seconds, but still, it was a successful foray into standing.

It makes me want to cover every hard surface in foam or blankets, and makes me wonder how trips to the playground will be in the not so distant future.

Playtime With Daddy

QotD

"Take it away please because I'm naughty." - Alex, referencing her fork that she stuck into her kitchen chair and then dipped into her milk glass. Good to know that she knows her limitations and is able to ask help to change her evil ways. And I did warn her several times about her misdeeds with the fork, so this was not an entirely unprompted response.

OK, so it wasn't a blizzard. But here's our very first snow at the new house. Alex was very anxious to make a snowman, but somehow that never quite happened. Could have been the rain that washed the snow away, or maybe her extreme lack of clothes. Maybe next time. Gabey was suitably unimpressed as per usual.

The Things I Have Forgotten

I forgot how babies like to move in straight lines, shunning the option to go around in favor of going over and through. Coffee table legs should move for them. Laundry closet doors should open at the insistent, repeated bashing of tiny shoulders to allow easy access to that little door to the washer drain. Sisters are merely objects in the way of the coveted orange balloon. Glass doors do not even exist even if baby foreheads say otherwise.

And cat tails are truly the most irresistible things that swish. No amount of hissing and skittering will dissuade babies from their goal of making all tails sodden with copious amounts of drool. Even though tail fur is one of the world's most gag-inducing substances, it must literally be embraced and cherished as often as possible.

Cheerios and spoons are for jamming into the back of your throat. The more dramatic the coughing, gagging and general distress, the more Daddy worries, and the more Mommy has to reassure Daddy that sudden spoon-related death is not about to occur in the Cheerio-encrusted high chair.

Cords are just natures way of encouraging babies to stretch and reach for the stars. With a brief moment of chewing on the way.

Independent playtime is only good when Mommy's watching. She shouldn't actively participate, but she also should never sneak off to check email or *gasp* do the dishes.

Sneezing only occurs when there are huge mouthfuls of oatmeal, preferably with sweet potatoes or something equally colorful, in baby's mouth. The splatters will always reach the person feeding the baby, every article of baby's clothes, every nook of the high chair, at least half of the kitchen table, and hopefully at least one cat.

Sunset

Leaves!!!

Alex is very helpful with the leaf raking. She makes sure they're piled up properly and then escorts each tarp-load to the future veggie garden. Gabe helps by not helping, which is, really, the best way to help sometimes.

Siblings Sitting

It's a bit fuzzy, as are all the action shots, but Alex is holding Gabey in her lap. Sort of. This is after she tried (very, very unsuccessfully) to pick him up. (He's clearly only gaining weight as a self-defense mechanism, and it seems to be working.)

Just Another Day

Actually, it was a picture-perfect day here today. 70-ish, sunny, fall color just a hair past peak. We went to Tower Hill Botanic Garden for an afternoon of very slow walking on paths not fit for any stroller. Gabe was in the carrier and Alex was creeping along a few feet behind us at all times. She even crawled at one point to truly bring home the point that she has only one speed. Despite our snail pace, we had a lovely afternoon eating popcorn on the swinging bench, picking up only the best leaves, and whining a little. Here's Alex saying "CHEEEEEEEEEeeeeeese." for the camera while chuffing down copious amounts of popcorn. With a finger in one ear symbolizing a day of not listening to anything. Gabey is off-camera trying to eat a leaf.

How Could I Forget?

Alpacas - we saw them at the fall festival at Tower Hill. These guys made an impression on me. The impression that alpacas are kind of ridiculous.

QotD

"I'm doing the cake dance. I have to spin like a cake does." - Alex, obviously.

Rooster

We just need some yellow pants and the costume will be complete... Thanks Grammy and Grampy. :)

Peas!

He liked them, I swear.

Dear Custard,

Thanks for all the stupid. We'll miss your ham-chomping, yowly ridiculousness. I'm glad it only took you 8 years to accept me as family, but I'm so sorry I only had 11 years to know you. You were our furry brother from another mother, and we'll always expect you on a pile of clothes or just around the corner protesting some injustice visited upon you by the other cats. I hope there's lots of gravy where you are now. And thanks for giving Alex that one last butt-wrappy, I know she appreciated it. I wish you were here puking up spider plant right now, and can't believe how much I miss you. You dumb, loud, obnoxious cat.

Another Solid Food First

It's another blurry action shot of Gabey eating something. I decided that his first Halloween card (thanks Granny and PopPop) was best served at room temperature and whole. Other culinary delights (not pictured) for this week include several books and a magazine.

Fabulous Sunglasses

What can I say? Sometimes it's fun to play dress-up with the boy. He'll curse me for it later. Oh well.

New Hat!

Sadly, there was no electric green yarn at the craft store that was fuzzy and warm enough. But this blue seems to do the trick, and Gabe likes his new hat very much. He also likes Alex's sunglasses.

Swingset Predator

Our hawk made an appearance today on the swingset. Good thing no tasty kids were swinging at the time!

Say Cheese...

Squash

First Sweet Potatoes

Fed by Alex, of course.

Exotic Meat

Apple Picking

At Tougas Farm. Many apples were picked, all were dropped on the way to the bag.

Bananas!

Gabe's exploring new foods. He's been devouring rice cereal at a frightening pace, and has attempted mashed potatoes. He's not a fan of potato lumps. But hands down, his new favorite is bananas. Alex volunteered to give him his very first taste of bananas, and if you look extra close, you'll see that her precision feeding is about as precise as his precision eating. Cheek and eyeball covered in banana aside, they both did very nicely and everyone was happy.

Clearly Angel Wings

An afternoon at Tower Hill, and all I got were pictures of the kids not looking at the camera but very obviously saying cheese. Well, Gabey wasn't doing either thing, but anyway...

Hmph, there are more pictures but they're not loading at the moment, so I'll try to post them later I suppose. Suffice it to say they're all fabulously just out of focus and never is anyone directly looking at the camera.

Sand and Water

And a little snot. Alex has a cold, but that doesn't stop her from getting completely soaked and simultaneously sandy in the new sand and water table from Grammy and Grampy. Thanks!!! We had to take down the umbrella today because it blew inside out with all the leftover hurricane winds we've had all day.

Cape May, Sort Of

Well, ok, it's the deck, but it's by the sand and water table. Close enough for now.

Good Big Sister

Today was a busy day, not unlike every day, so I yet again relied on the exersaucer to keep Gabey happy for a few minutes while I tried to do the dishes, laundry, or some such nonsense. Alex was in the living room, Gabe in the dining room. When I returned from whatever exciting household chore I was up to, I found Gabe still happily burbling and gurgling in the saucer, oblivious to the world around him because, hey, there was a letter b and a bee together on a plastic floppy pole just begging for him to grab and gnaw. I picked him up anyway, because I'm just that over-achieving of a mommy, and to my surprise, the rattly lion toy was jammed in the seat with him. Alex had thought that maybe he would want it and took a second out of her busy schedule (Spongebob!) to drop off one of her old toys for his chewing pleasure. I know that she'd fight me tooth and nail half the time if I asked her to surrender a toy to the drooling maw of her baby brother, but she knows what he likes and can't help herself, as long as no one else is watching.

Oh, before I forget, this about sums up the move. We got through it with some sleep, cuddling, and Oreos. Lots of Oreos. Oh yeah, a foot rub too.

Rice Cereal, Cereally Cute

Toes

Gabe has found his toes and loves them very much. Alex and Diesel love to watch him love his toes. And he loves to watch me watching him love his toes while I take a picture. He also says something profound in this picture.

New House, New Mirrors

So, for an anticlimactic first blog in the new house...

Alex is working on potty training, and one of the important aspects of potty training is the hand washing. At the previous house, the faucet was too hard for Alex to operate, so I had to be there to turn the water on. But she can turn on the sink here, so she's pretty much on her own for the entire potty experience now. However, there's been one glaring problem with the new bathroom.

The mirror is right there for her to look at. She spends more time admire her own fabulousness than she does washing her hands, and the water runs and runs. Lovely.

Also, Gabe has learned that the full-length mirror in our room is fun to look into. He smiles and laughs at himself while he practices standing up, and we've also discovered he likes to be semi-dropped in front of the mirror. Apparently it's quite hilarious to almost fall on the floor repeatedly. Sure, whatever makes ya happy, kid.

I have also discovered that Gabe is alternately thrilled with and terrified of being tossed ever so gently in the air. So we'll wait a bit longer to make that part of our routine.

Too Obvious?

I'm thinking someone might actually notice this and like it...then again, maybe I should just let the house sell itself.

For Blackmail Purposes Only

Big sister and little brother. :)

Pineapple Lilies

I still find it very strange that pineapple lilies only look like pineapples but smell like dill. The purple ones are a lot of fun since their leaves are tinged with the same color. They're a bit lost in the pot with the white ones and (as is in almost every pot we have) oxalis. I'll have to try to separate them and pop them in a pot with the purple oxalis for next year!

I'm happy to report that Alex restrained herself this year and didn't pick a single pineapple lily. She smelled them all and did a little pollination, though. :)

(Side note - I just spell-checked this entry and found that oxalic is a recognized word but oxalis is not. Strange...)

Sandy

Gabe and Alex decided to play in the sandbox this afternoon. Gabe's approach was more feet-on than Alex's, but they both ended up a bit sandy.

Truck

Gabe has a favorite toy, and it's name is Truck. He also has developed the uncanny ability to know when I'm taking a picture of him and *gasp* can look at the camera! Alex, take note. He figured this out about 2 years before you did.