Sunday, May 31, 2009

the last night in May

Noah is about the smiliest baby ever to have slept (or not slept) in this house.  He lights up at everyone, and not just with a smile, but this enormous grin that takes over his whole face.  I haven't caught it on camera yet, because even though he's been doing this for 7 weeks now, I still can't put him down to take a picture.  He's too sweet.  Noah also coos.  And I mean, the boy talks.  He has more to coo about than our very social girls did as babies.  He will giggle and "ooh" for anyone and has started that developmental bubble blowing.  I love hanging out with him.  The middle of the nights are sweet although, I'm ready to sleep.  Its been a long time.  He is consistently waking up between 3 and 4 am, and is so hungry he gasps as he eats.  I hope that soon, some of this food will stick to him and he'll sleep say maybe 7-8 hours.  That might mean I'll sleep more than 4-5 hours at a stretch.  I'm not complaining.  I think someday I'll long for these sweet nights again.

I wanted to have our kids soclosetogether so that they'd always have each other.  Now the babies have come and our routine as a family begun.  Zoe is working on growing teeth lately, which makes her sleep late.  One of these mornings, Noah was back down for a nap, and the normal breakfast routine included only Piper and me.  Piper talked away, welcoming her day.  She chattered and observed, and asked lots of questions.  I bumped around, half awake, messing with the french press, and tried to keep up.  And I thought "wow I'm glad we have Zoe," all 20 months of her.  I had no idea how quiet I am in the mornings and how much they talk and play then.

She and Piper love each other well for being so little.  They hold hands, giggle, and really enjoy being together.  They each slip off to play by themselves at times, but for the most part stick together.  I'm curious how the next few weeks will go as we put Zoe and Piper back in the same room to sleep at night.  We separated them when Zoe was about 8 months old, so they've had their own "space" for as long as each can remember at this point.  I've been talking it up with Piper and she is happy about it as long as Zoe is still in a crib, and not a big girl bed.

Once the girls are settled, Noah gets a room, and I get my closet back.  Noah currently and this minute is curled up on a crib mattress that's laying in the middle of my closet floor.  I'm trying to move everyone now, because I expect him to start rolling in a few weeks and this arrangement will no longer be sufficient.  He'll land in shoes if he rolls too far.

Brandon is back from playing basketball now so we're going to sleep.  I'm turning off the PBS documentary on cows, and posting my note.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

sundaynight

I have no photo of the crane yet, but that's not what you really came to see, right?


little guy


lazy rainy day


sweet zo


boogie bunny

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Backyard Crane

B made a little video with the footage he shot today, trying out the crane that he built yesterday. I've been in bed with a fever all day so I missed out on the fun. The crane is really cool, and I'm excited about what we can do with it.

Friday, May 1, 2009

I have to start somewhere

The first note is that while I have pictures of our third baby, they are fewer.  Its not as I understood it -that you have less pictures of later children because you aren't as excited about all of their firsts.  Its just because when the firsts are happening, I am not sitting there grinning with my camera ready.  In fact, usually the camera is in the car and the other two babies are attached to me physically somehow, by their own doing, and there is a pile of laundry and shoes blocking the door.  Then Noah stops smiling/cooing/growing and chaos resumes.  I do have some pictures to post, just not on hand.

Brandon bought a new laptop.  My main goal with it is jotting down some of our stories while standing in the kitchen during naps or cleaning.  If I sit at the desktop, somehow time gets wasted and I've recorded nothing.  The computer came home Wednesday so I'm hopping to it.  Unfortunately Zoe is choosing not to sleep so I'm distracted.  She's crying and I'm hoping that the gentle sounds of the buzz saw in the garage will lull her to sleep.  The buzz saw is Brandon building a crane for a video camera to use tonight to film the closing of the Student Center on campus for the website.  He decided to build it last night and has been moving since then.

Kid updates - Zoe is singing and talking a lot finally.  She's 18 months old and has maybe 10-15 words.  And her own language.  Her language is a gibberty thing with recognizable words and sentences.  It sounds like nothing I've ever heard before.  What I do hear her saying, and recognize is "Shoe!" and "Hello!"  Those two are always yelled, and "shoe" is often a command.  She sings to the tune of ABC/Twinkle Twinkle and has been singing with Piper, when Piper sings the Veggie Tales theme song.  I know a million kids have done this, and sung that song, but it is still really, really, really cute when they do it.

Noah is cooing and grinning, eating and sleeping during the day.  And most of the night.  He wakes up once between 2 and 4 am.  I'm not falling asleep sitting up anymore so I can't complain.  He's been a pretty great baby.  One person (thank you Kara) thinks he looks anything like me.

And Piper.  Our firstborn turned three last Friday.  She is so fun to watch.  She loves climbing up and jumping off of things.  But she does heed our warnings about hurting herself.  She's not a real big fan of that.  

I want to record this, but just for thought: Piper had her first bad dream today I think. I was about to step into the shower this morning when she flew in looking sleepy and upset.  She told me there was a bear growling at her outside her window.  Last weekend as part of her birthday celebration she got to go see Disney Earth with Brandon, and then again the next day with her cousins, and Grandma.  It concerned me then that it might be too much for her, but at three, Piper is already into this sort of thing.  She came home re-enacting the caribou and wolf scene.  I shouldn't ruin it for you if you aren't aware of a caribou/wolf relationship but its very "food chain"y.  The movie shows no blood, but does show animals choosing and preparing their meals.  Anyway.
The bear outside was growling at her.  Our conversation:
Me: Why was it growling?
P: It wanted to growl at me.
Me: Was it looking for popcorn? I still haven't been to the store.  We don't have any.
P: Yes, it wanted popcorn, but we don't have any, Mommy.
Me: I know.  Just tell it to go somewhere else for popcorn.  It can come back here for some after I've been to the store.
P: Yeah.  We don't have any yet.  We have to go to the grocery store.
Me: And also, just tell the bear to ask you in a calm voice.  There is no need to growl.
The last part was really creative I think, because this is the same note Piper gets during a fit or screaming episode.  Little girls are prone to both.
Piper has talked about the bear a few more times today.   I did ask if the bear was a polar bear, trying to figure out if the movie started all of this.  She said no, he was brown.   

That's our day so far.  I'm off to sweep up the dried playdoh off of the floor and pick up toys.  Pictures to come.