More snoo-moos?

Day 308


Day 33

Tom took Soren out in the snow this morning, hoping to get to a playground. The play area on the grounds of our complex wasn't accessible, what with the two foot snow drifts, so they tried the park that's just outside the rear gate here. Alas, snow plows don't fit on slides, so it was largely a futile effort. But Soren got to expend some energy and came home soaked from the knees down & asking for more "snoo-moos." (Snowballs.)

Eleri had another mostly-awake day, which I'm hoping will mean she'll go to sleep earlier again tonight. She's getting rather proficient at holding up her head (like, even more so today than yesterday), and a few times I've seen her with a distinctly happy look on her face, smiling with her eyes if not quite yet with her mouth. It's like she's starting to become a real person! ;)

It started snowing yet again this afternoon and is supposed to continue overnight & through tomorrow. I'm starting to wonder if Tom will have to go to work this week at all. Hehe.

Lovely Lazy Monday

Day 307


Day 32

Tom's work was canceled on Monday (and will be tomorrow, as well), so we're in the middle of an extra-long weekend. Whee!

This morning, Tom was reading something on the interwebs that included a photo of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. It didn't take much prompting to elicit the following exchange:

That's my boy! Tom spent some more time trying to get Soren to say, "Freeze, dirtbag! FBI!" but somehow it always ended up either sounding like "freeze, bag-bag" or "freeze, backpack" or (once, most humorously) "freeze, diaper bag." Tee hee.

That was about the extent of the excitement for the day. Tom did brave the roads to procure lunch & additional supplies for us, but I didn't even make it out of pjs. Gloriously lazy.

And Eleri's a month old today! I really can't believe it's been that long since her birth, already.

Snowed-in Weekend

Day 305


Day 30

Saturday:
Snow! A fair bit of it! It was quite windy, so the snow did a lot of swirling and not as much sticking as it might have otherwise done. Nevertheless, it snowed more or less all day, so there was rather a lot on the ground by day's end.

Eleri was awake more than usual during the day on Saturday. As a result, she fell asleep much earlier that night, which was nice! Saturday night, while Tom was getting Soren put to bed and Eleri & I were doing our nightime computing in the living room, the power went out. The lights blinked a few times before finally giving up. Ah, timing, right when it was about to get super cold overnight - predicted low of 9F! (I whine about the timing, but it could have been worse. We could have lost power in the middle of dinner prep, or while showering, or just after starting a load of dishes in the dish washer.) We didn't know how long we'd be without power, so Tom gathered up the most perishable of the refrigerables and put them out on the balcony. We kept Soren in our room for the night, the four of us cozy and warm in our big bed.

Luckily, the power was restored around 1am (I know this because I was awake...figures...Eleri goes to sleep at a civilized hour and I'm struck with insomnia), so our drafty apartment didn't get a chance to turn into a complete icebox. I read about other people in the area who were far less fortunate, with their power staying out for 48 hours or more.

Sunday:

Day 306


Day 31

Ever since he heard this story on NPR last month (about the death of announcer Jan Gabriel), Soren's been randomly saying "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" every now and again. It's very funny.

No new snows fell on Sunday, but there was a lot of shoveling and plowing and such. I believe the official snowfall total for the 2 days of storming was 32.6 inches, which surpassed the previous 2-day record of 20-something inches. And it's due to snow yet more on Tuesday and Wednesday. Snowmageddon, indeed.

After being awake for much of the day on Saturday, Eleri must have decided she's not ready for that much excitement in her life, because she spent Sunday in a sleep-eat-sleep-eat-poop-eat-sleep sort of pattern. And was then awake late into the night again. Sigh.

I think Soren's starting to go a wee bit stir-crazy from being stuck indoors for a few days. He's been saying, "Playgroup, [A's name]?" which is adorable, but I feel bad about having to inform him that he's out of luck. Maybe we can get him out to play in the snows in a day or two.

By the way, how do people even have Super Bowl parties on the East Coast? The game didn't even start until 6:30pm! And wasn't over til after 9:00! Who wants to get home late on a Sunday night, stomach a burbling mixture of beer, chicken wings & nachos, only to have to get up early for work on Monday? Weaksauce, says I.

A slightly media-heavy post

Day 304


Day 29

So, it's snowing here. It was a fairly wet snow for most of the day, so there wasn't much in the way of accumulation until this evening. The claim is that we might be getting up to an inch an hour overnight, with a total accumulation of around two feet by tomorrow night. This article puts the snowstorm into context; this is only the third year on record to boast two or more storms with double-digit snowfall. (Interestingly, the previous two instances were also in El Nino years.)

Oh, what's that? You'd like more side-by-side shots of the kiddos wearing the same outfit? You are in luck!

Tom was set free after lunch today (all federal employees got a half-day on account of the snowpocalypse), so I've spent this whole afternoon and evening thinking it's Saturday today. What a lovely surprise when I remembered it is only Friday!

Soren's musical tastes continue to expand as we continue to expose him to more stuff. Well, okay, it's probably a tad early to be talking about musical tastes, as his sample set is still quite small and he hasn't really expressed much in the way of displeasure at the things we've tossed at him. But anyway. My point (and I do have one) is that he's recently added another to the list of songs he requests to have played for him. This one is Pomplamoose's cover of "Single Ladies" (by Beyonce), which I actually quite enjoy. It's funky and quirky and Soren asks for "Wuh-uh-oh" when he wants to hear it, which cracks me up every time.

Speaking of single ladies, the only one in our house has now been in the world for 4 weeks! She's starting to get a little more control over her giant noggin and will even brace her legs out to "stand" in our laps if we hold her upright, instead of just tucking them in close to her wee bum. Still likes to rock & roll all night (and part of every day), though she's been spending a little more time awake during daylight hours.

All right, that's about all I've got for now. Happy weekend, one & all.

See them gaily gad about

Day 303


Day 28

I feel like I spent most of today getting ready for things. By the time I got Soren fed this morning, it was time to get ready to go to playgroup. As soon as we got home from playgroup, it was time to eat a very quick lunch and get ready for naptime. After naps, we had to start getting ready to go to the grocery store. You get the picture.

Playgroup was good, as I've come to expect. Soren ran around, Eleri slept, I socialized. Everybody wins! Amusing playgroup anecdote: Soren, A and another little boy, G, were sitting around with a little tub of goldfish crackers between them. Soren was kind of turned toward me, babbling in that earnest - but completely incoherent - way of his, waving his hands around in a great animated fashion. G, apparently seeing that Soren's hands were busy, took it upon himself to feed Soren a goldfish, but Soren was so wrapped up in his story that he didn't notice at first. So G waited patiently, holding the goldfish right up to Soren's mouth until Soren realized what was going on, opened his mouth to eat the cracker, said, "Thank you," and continued on with his story. It was pretty hilarious.

We're supposed to get a bunch of snow here (like, up to 2 feet) in the next 48 hours. In anticipation, people have been mobbing the grocery stores all day. We have (obviously very tentative) brunch plans with Max & Agnes for Saturday, so we needed some brunchy supplies, and that meant that I had to throw in my lot with the savages at the store this evening. Ugh. My children, fortunately, were reasonably well-behaved (and/or asleep), which is more than I can say for my fellow shoppers. Could've been worse (it could almost always be worse, when large crowds of ill-tempered people are involved), but it still wasn't much fun.

The lass got to wear her bear suit again, though. And I overheard an older gentleman in the line next to ours pointing us out to the lady behind him, saying something about how it looked like I was carrying a teddy bear in my front pack.

Snow day

Day 302


Day 27

So, Tuesday night it snowed. Not a ton, but enough to cancel our plans for a morning outing. There's a "Stroller Walk & Talk" thing at the nearby mall once a week (another playgroup thing, but more for us moms, since the stroller-bound kiddos aren't exactly doing much playing). I'd wanted to go before Eleri was born, but they always scheduled it in the middle of Soren's naptime. However, after New Years they switched it to a morning thing, so now we could conceivably attend. I wasn't up for digging out the snow from behind the car this morning, though, so we stayed home. Maybe next week!

By mid-afternoon, it had started to rain a little, so most of the snow was melted by the time the weasels were done napping. We ended up venturing out for an errand, which gave me an excuse to dress the lass in one of her bear suits. Too much cuteness! Soren also looked pretty cute in his hooded sweater and jeans. Such a little man.

Turns out it's really not so scary to go places with both of them

Day 301


Day 26

Tuesday morning I did, indeed, brave a trek to playgroup at the library. Soren was very happy to run around with his toddler crew, and Miss Eleri was much fawned over, though she slept in my lap pretty much the whole time. There was another little girl there, born just a couple of weeks before our lass; Eleri outweighed her by a good pound or so, at least. Hehe.

But man, it took me a full hour to get out of the house, between a couple of diaper changes, getting both kids (and myself) clothed, and gathering all the miscellaneous accoutrements we needed to bring along. Plus, while I was in the middle of getting Soren dressed, Eleri woke up and demanded food, so we had to take a nursing break. Note to self for future reference: allow for a lot more prep time to get out the door!

When A was over to play on Monday, he left behind a little tractor toy in Soren's room. I noticed it Monday night and set it aside to bring with us to playgroup on Tuesday so we could return it. So Tuesday, during the epic getting-ready-to-go, I told Soren to go get A's tractor as I was heading back to our bedroom to change Eleri's diaper. I didn't really expect him to fully comprehend what I was asking, or to remember that the toy didn't belong to him, but when I came back into the living room, there was the tractor sitting by our bag, ready to go! I was really quite impressed. That boy knows and understands a lot more than I give him credit for, sometimes (and I give him credit for a lot, these days).

I usually listen to NPR in the car, but lately I've been playing Here Comes Science, which our friends the Cachews were kind enough to give us for Christmas. It's the latest album from the band that sings Turn Around, which Soren likes. I've been enjoying it thoroughly, and it certainly beats all the Dora songs as far as having something stuck in my head is concerned. Chef recommends!

Tuesday night it snowed, and Eleri was a shanking beast, awake until well after 1am again. I do not believe the two are related. Nevertheless, blargh.

Any time the Dora theme song would like to stop playing in my head, that'd be great

Day 300


Day 25

And now, here's Baby Soren enjoying the same pacifier his sister's got in her picture for today.

Soren's buddy A came over to play today. It was still too cold to go outside, so I'm glad the boys were able to chase each other around the living room and get rid of some excess energy. They're starting to say each others' names, which is really adorable. It's also been neat to watch them, over the past few months, start to do less parallel playing and more cooperative playing. Eleri slept in her crib the entire time A and his mom were here (a good couple of hours) and, naturally, woke up right after they left and it was time to put Soren down for a nap. Ha.

Speaking of Little Miss Eau de Lait Aigre, she had another bath tonight, and it was - remarkably - a scream-free affair this time. On the contrary, she seemed to actually enjoy herself. So that's great. May have just been a fluke, I realize, but I'm hopeful that she'll decide baths aren't so horrible after all.

Tomorrow I think I'll brave playgroup at the library. Social interaction is good! (And not just for Sir!)

I like grouping the weekend days together like this

Saturday:

Day 298


Day 23

We woke up to a rather generous dusting of snow outside on Saturday morning. It continued to snow for most of the day, eventually accumulating about 6 inches. Nothing like our big storm last month, but it was still pretty. I'm glad we didn't have anywhere to go. I had hoped to go for a swim (in the indoor pool, obviously) this weekend, but I awoke Saturday with a pretty nasty sore throat, so I scrapped those plans. Next weekend!

Sunday:

Day 299


Day 24

No additional snows overnight, and the roads were nice and clear, so I went on a grocery run in the early afternoon. Having two small kids (or even just one) really makes you appreciate being able to go grocery shopping without them. Soren's actually really good in the store - a little grabby sometimes, but not in the "I want it! I want it!" sort of way. Really he just likes grabbing things if I let the cart get too close to the shelves. Or he likes reaching back and grabbing things that are already in the cart. But he doesn't pitch a fit when I take them away and put them back. Really it's the whole getting in and out of the car production that I'm most pleased to avoid. I know there's not really a big difference in the amount of time it takes, but it just feels so much easier when I'm by myself.

Here's another pair of "same outfit, different kids" photos.

Soren was just a couple days shy of 2 months old in that picture (so, like, more than twice as old as Eleri), which is part of why his head looks smaller. It's just in better proportion with his body. (In better proportion with? That doesn't sound right, but I can't quite come up with the proper...you know what I mean.)

Man, the weekend went by way too fast. I'm not ready for Monday yet! Can't we get a do-over on today or something?

My brain's all fuzzy, and I'm fresh out of amusing anecdotes, so I'm going to wrap this up before I waste more pixels on drivel. I'm sure I'll be more entertaining tomorrow!

Shankopotamus

Day 297 / Day 22

The weather took a turn for the cold on Friday (not sure if it even broke 25 all day), so we stayed indoors. Soren was up earlier than usual again, and I guess two days of early rising caught up with him because at naptime he slept for almost three and a half hours. Whoo!

Friday also marked 3 weeks since Eleri's birth. I can't believe it's been 3 weeks already. She still feels so new!

It's been a while since I wrote about shanking (seriously...that post is almost 4 1/2 years old!). In the comments, there was some conjecture as to the existence of a shanking gene. If indeed one exists, it would seem our wee lass has inherited it. Before she was born, she frequently kept me awake late into the night with her kicking and flailing and hiccuping. And even though there were a couple of nights this week when she fell asleep before midnight, for the most part she's continuing to stick to her late night shenanigans. I call it the Eleri Johnson Party Hour, though that's completely a misnomer (definitely not a party, and usually way more than an hour in duration).

Friday night was worse than usual. She was awake and largely unhappy from about 10pm until well after 1am. Bubbles in the belly seem to be the major culprit in her unhappiness, but why they bother her so much more at night than they do during the day is beyond me. Fortunately, once she finally does succumb to sleep, she's pretty much out for the night. She'll wake me up a couple of times - grunting a little, not screaming - for a snack, but then she'll go right back to sleep. So that's nice, at least. We just need to get her shanking under control because let me tell you, after a long and tiring day, a 2 or 3 hour intermittent crying jag is most definitely not at the top of my wish list.

Of course, as I type this, it's a little after 11pm and she's passed out on Tom's chest like a little angel child, having commenced (and, obviously, completed) her shank-fest somewhat earlier than usual tonight. I should perhaps take advantage of this fact and get some sleep, myself.

Ach, I spoke (typed) too soon. She stirs. I think I'll wrap this up anyway, since I'm just kind of whining pointlessly at this...er...point. She really is a remarkably easy baby on the whole. And cute as the dickens. (Not, mind you, the Dickens.)