Grandparents

George and Helen had all three grandparents visiting over Thanksgiving. They very much enjoyed being hugged and played with and made much of... now I am wondering how well they will like getting back to everyday life with just their boring parents!

Helen was baptized this Sunday as well. She took it beautifully and even smiled. However, George had a little fit when Tim handed her to our pastor- we aren't exactly sure why but think maybe he thought we were giving her away?? Thankfully his Granny was quick thinking and managed to distract him from having an all out tantrum in front of the entire congregation.

As always these are just a sample of recent pics and there are lots more on our picasa site.

Holiday nonpost

We have Tim's parents visiting for Thanksgiving and Helen's upcoming baptism, so no time to update. However if you click on the link to your right for our Picasa page, you will find some shots from a photo session we had done this last weekend. Much cuteness.

He keeps us humble

You know how every parent thinks their child is above average, even a genius? Well, we are no different. George has been a little sponge lately and we are so proud of his obsession with letters (he knows them all by now!) and colors (we didn't even know he had learned these til he was able to point them all out last weekend). On the other hand he has moments of pure toddlerhood that have so far held us back from pre-registering him at Harvard. For example...

Saturday morning I was in the shower and Tim was looking after Helen, when George came tearing out of his room with ... something ... all over his hands. Nope, not chocolate pudding. He had apparently put both hands down his pants at a rather inopportune moment. Boy, am I glad I was unavailable for clean-up detail!

And now let's touch on the events of Saturday evening. We were getting dinner together in a hurry and gave George some veggies to start with. We weren't watching him real carefully until we heard a big sneeze and saw a piece of corn come sailing out of his nose and across the room. A second sneeze was followed by a second piece of corn. !!! At the time we thought the situation had resolved itself but he kept rubbing his nose and trying to put my fingers up his nose, so we took another look. Sure enough, there was another kernel stuck waaaaay up there. We tried unsuccessfully to get it out, then asked Dr Google for advice. Found to our surprise that there are actually several webpages devoted to the subject of getting corn out of toddler's noses. Here's the solution in case any of you ever need to know: Pinch the other nostril shut, cover the kiddo's mouth with your own, and blow real hard like you are doing CPR. Worked like a charm! That stubborn little kernel flew right out of our little genius' nose.

Naptime nudist

It all started with him always taking off his socks during nap, and has progressed to this point... What concerns me is that some day it might occur to him to remove the diaper as well!! (not to mention that this is kind of a chilly way to sleep in a Michigan November)

Big girl

George is very into all things car- or truck-related lately. He tried to take a ride on this little toy car without a lot of success!

Helen smiles in her sleep all the time. Once she even chuckled a bit. She has the sweetest disposition.

Helen also had her one month checkup today. She is 11 lbs 3 oz, 22 3/4 inches long which is 95th percentile for height and weight. Wowzers! She's got the most delicious little rolls in her thighs already. Even George, who was a big bigger than her at birth, was 10 lbs 6 oz and 22 inches at one month. Perhaps she is on track to be a linebacker while George is more of a wide receiver.

Necessities, mothers, and inventions

The rubber has hit the road over here, folks. George got a cold, followed by roseola, and Helen got the cold hand-me-down when he was finished with it. Both of them were sleeping terribly. George did not nap at all for two days and was just a little bear from the sleep deprivation.

Then we had yesterday. It started off well with a trip to church for bible study. We got home right at George's lunchtime, but Helen decided she was hungry too, and then they double teamed me by pooping at exactly the same moment. Tears from both of them. I'm running around with a sippy cup in one hand, wipes in the other, and a clean outfit for the baby in the other. Finally everyone is fed and clean, and both are tired, but neither one seems to think they can fall asleep without being personally held and walked around by mommy. I try this funny little dance for a while where I hold one til the other one is completely outraged and then switch. It goes nowhere.

In the end I find a way to hold each in one arm and patting them on the back with the opposite arm, while sitting on the couch (can you picture this?). Hooray, they fall asleep! Yikes, now what do I do?? I seriously contemplate sitting on the couch for a couple of hours until I realize that (a) I haven't had lunch and (b) I have to pee! So I use all my best mommy skills to geeeently ease Helen on to the couch, resettle George, then geeeently ease him into his crib a bit later.

Crisis averted, and nap strike ended! Management 1, labor zip.

Fall

Aunt Melissa came for a visit this weekend! Here she is holding Helen for the first time.

Halloween fun was had by all. George loved trick or treating, mostly because of all the dogs he got to pet as he went from house to house. Some houses he revisited just to pet the dog again... as for candy, he could take it or leave it.

He also enjoyed being raked into big piles of leaves by his uncle Ben.