I'm so glad you're here

"Hey little buddy, I'm so glad you're here" ~ uttered by Julia while hugging Andrew on the couch. No joke, she really said it.

Andrew at four and a half months old

A Snort makes front page news!

Julia and I were excited to see a SNORT! on the front page of the news this morning. A nice big yellow one. And, as fortune would have it, we actually saw one driving down OUR STREET this morning too. Right by our house! A Snort, for those who may not be familiar with the term, is what others might call a --well, I don't know what they're called in other circles, actually. A digger machine? Anyway, we call them Snorts, because that's how they're called in one of our favorite books, Are You My Mother, by P.D. Eastman. It's a pretty big deal to find one around town, especially one that is not sleeping. And one on the front page of the news seemed blogworthy. Here is the picture:

My return to work

This is Wendy hanging out with Julia and Andrew in our den. She's the most wonderful Nanny and we feel soooo lucky to have found her. I returned to work yesterday for the first time since before Andrew was born (I had 5 months off to the day.) It was sad and strange to be working again, but I felt much better about it knowing that Julia and Andrew were home and happy with a wonderful caregiver.

Getting to work was a challenge, however. First, I purchased a new dress to wear on my first day only to realize the night before that I can't wear dresses right now, because they don't allow enough access for pumping. ...Last minute change of clothing strategy... Second, Jeff had an early morning meeting that he forgot to mention until the night before, so suddenly I was faced with solo duty for getting both kids up and going in the morning, along with myself. ...I was running a bit later than planned... And finally, Jeff had not moved the car seats into Wendy's car given his early departure, and she needed to transport the kids. ...Wendy and I ended up switching cars for the day... Despite these challenges, I did make it to work, in Wendy's car, in my alternative outfit, by 8:58, just barely before it becomes unfashionably late. Hopefully it'll go smoother next time!

Paul, George, Chewy & Wicket

In an exciting day, Jeff's dad, who is this year's President of the Tournament of Roses, is joined by Chewbacca and an Ewok to announce George Lucas as the 2007 Rose Parade Grand Marshal.

More news about this can be found, among other places, at www.starwars.com.

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Andrew!

SPLASH!

Both his babies!

Playtime on the couch this evening before bed. This picture is kind of out of focus, but it was such a cute moment, and both kids are looking so happy I thought I'd post it anyway.

A picture of Mommy, by Julia

Julia drew this picture and handed it to me, saying that it was a picture of Mommy. She also drew one of Daddy, and another one of Daddy and Mommy together. This is the first time she has claimed that one of her drawings is representational. It was just so cute (the comment, if not the picture) that I had to post it. : )

Benne stops by for a quick hello

Hi Benne! Thank you for dropping by to see us today. Julia and Andrew loved seeing you, as did I. What a cute picture!

Playdate at Happy Hollow

Four of us moms joined forces for a trip to Happy Hollow, a zoo and amusement park for toddlers. What a great place for little ones. We had a great time, but I must say it was almost comical trying to stay together. The 4 toddlers were zooming every which way, and a couple of us had babies to keep track of as well. Julia tends to be a dawdler, so I found my self repeating "Come on, honey, lets catch up to our friends!" constantly. (Those boys can really zoom!) Anyway, I had my hands too full to take pictures, except for this one shot of Julia with Jackson and Sawyer (whom you can barely see) playing on a fire truck.

Big Milestone: First roll over for Andrew

Andrew has rolled over! This picture was taken mere moments after he rolled for the first time. One moment he was on his back, I looked away for a minute, and suddenly there he was on his belly. The inchworm that had been resting on his belly managed to stay on top of him during the roll. He has a cute happy look on his face, and no wonder! Congratulations Andrew!

Introducing Wendy, our wonderful new nanny!

I am very pleased to announce that we have hired a nanny for Andrew and Julia. Wendy is WONDERFUL and we feel so lucky to have found her. She has been a nanny for 20 years, she is full of energy and has great ideas for how to get Andrew to sleep, how to get Julia to eat more vegetables, and all manner of other childrearing connundrums. She started with us a few days ago and is doing half days this week as we work up to full time and my return to work, planned for Sept 21st (next week on Thursday.) She came with us to Tiny Treks this morning, where I snapped this picture of her. Welcome Wendy!

First day of Tiny Treks

First of all, YAY, photos are back.

Today was our first day of Tiny Treks, a Tuesday morning program for 2 year olds that is held in a different outdoor location each week. We are going to get to know some of the great parks and hidden treasures of the Peninsula this year. Our first meeting took place at Bol Park, where the kids got to see Chickens, Donkeys, and do a creek walk. They also have a snacktime, do a short walk (the "trek") and do circle time with songs and books. What fun! Here are a few pictures of our first excursion:

Vegetables

The other day I watched as Julia fed one of her baby dolls from a baby spoon, and she said to the baby "Just try it. You might like it." (Something she's heard us say a million times, obviously!) I asked her what she was feeding her baby. "Vegetables." She said. : )

Everyday images from around the house this month

Well, Blogger isn't letting me upload photos, but I still want to blog, so I'm just going to include a link to the pictures on Shutterfly. Here are a few pictures from day to day life in early September 2006. Just snapshots taken around the house. Click Here. Andrew is continuing to get so big. People see him and think he's much older than he is. He grows out of his clothes practically before I've gotten the tags off. Julia is getting soooo accomplished in her language. Which reminds me to post a story about something she said the other day. Next post...

Blogging PROBLEMS!

To the extent that anybody is looking at this blog regularly (and I know I have a few "fans" out there, thank you so much) I have been unable to upload photos since upgrading my blog to the new Blogger Beta. I was excited to upgrade because of the new feature that allows tags, or categorizations, and therefore more options for organizing, sorting, and grouping blog entries. But it turns out it was a huge mistake! I know Google is aware of the problem and trying to fix it. Meanwhile, I'll keep working on workarounds, and hopefully I'll be able to get something going. I'm addicted to blogging so this is a huge blow! Hopefully I'll have more pictures to share soon...

Having fun around the house

I've been enjoying spending more time with Julia while on maternity leave. I had originally thought I would keep her in daycare on her regular schedule while on leave. The thinking was that I'd need time to recover and get to know Andrew, and that Julia would be better off if her schedule remained relatively stable and unchanged during a time of transition. However, things haven't worked out that way, which has turned out to be a very good thing. To make a very long story short, we've decided to take Julia out of daycare and shift to a nanny strategy for her and Andrew when I return to work later this month. We'd already been gradually shortening Julia's days at daycare because she wasn't adjusting well to the new 2 year old room (for the past month I've been picking her up at noon everyday.) Now we're keeping her home entirely more often than not, as we prepare to transition to a nanny (whom we have yet to hire, yeiks.) But it's been great for me to discover that I can handle both of them, and that I'm enjoying it! It's been such a pleasure to spend more time with Julia and now I only wish I had more time. I'm due to return to the office at the end of the month. I had planned to upload a couple of pictures of Julia engaged in fun activities around the house, but I haven't been able to upload pictures since I switched over to the Blogger Beta. I am hoping they fix the problem soon, or that I learn what I'm doing wrong!

He's a big boy, that's for sure

This isn't the most charming picture ever, but I just had to post it to show how much Andrew has grown! We usually put Andrew in the car seat, then perch that on the stroller. But Tucker had an "inappropriate elimination" in the carseat (again!! ughhhh!) so we decided to try strapping Andrew directly into the stroller. Well, it worked just fine, he's so darn big already! We walked the kids to the crepe place for an early dinner, then stopped by the park. A nice outing on a Saturday afternoon.