Christmas Celebration

A few weeks ago two friends and I put together a baby shower for our dear friend, Kelcy, who was expecting her first baby boy (after two little girls) in mid January.  We (I) decided on the theme "Welcome to the World, Baby Brother."  I brought vintage suitcases and globes from my boys' room to decorate.  I also made this cake--a four layer dark chocolate with raspberry filling.  It ended up even better than I had thought and I had to post this picture to brag a little.  Also, it relates to our Christmas story because Christmas morning at 7:00 we got a call.  We were still half asleep but picked up the phone anyway for anyone calling that early Christmas has a very good reason!  It was Kelcy's husband asking if we could go get their girls for the day as he and Kelcy were at the hospital waiting for the birth of their surprise (and early!) Christmas baby.  So our Christmas was not exactly as I had planned or expected, but just as good in a different way!

 We did a lot of games and puzzles on Christmas with our friends.  I had made Pulla for several friend gatherings on Christmas Eve and we hadn't yet ODed on it, so we had more.

The boys enjoyed their sugar cereal that Santa brought them (Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks).  We did our own Nativity with costumes.  I grew up as the oldest of seven kids and didn't realize how many double and triple roles my little family would have to play to get the play going!  Davy was a great shepherd and wise man, Edward was a very diligent inn-searcher and guard of King Herod.

We made graham cracker houses with leftover candy.  I really dislike making gingerbread houses.  I'd forgotten how much I hate that activity--the mess! the frustration! the overeating of really nasty junkfood! the waste!  Hopefully I'll forget again until after we do it again next year, for I do think it's something kids ought to be able to do in an ideal childhood!

Overall we had a very merry--and very unusual!--Christmas.  Hope yours was just as bright and joyful.

Playing Catch-Up

We've been going through a little bit of "winter cleaning" after Christmas to help declutter the mix of new vs. old toys and clothes the boys received.  Plus, Rachel wisely decided that we needed to move around furniture now to get ready for the baby coming in June (she figured she won't exactly be in furniture-moving mode when she comes back eight-months pregnant).  We put a few things out for trash day and people took them, so we feel a bit better about actually contributing to the cycle. :)

While cleaning out closets and desks as we moved them around, we found a CD of pictures we had never posted on the blog, so here they are.  From Janeil's visit back in October 2012:

To entice you all out to Boston in the Fall:

Around town at Salem, MA:



At the Annual Charles River Regatta:

Finally, inside footage of the Parent Talk sale!



Captain Davy Turns 4

My first baby is four.  I don't think I could be more surprised if I had woken up and he'd turned 14 or 40.  Actually, I probably will continue to be as surprised for all those birthdays, too.  The years have a way of positively flying by even while the days seem so long. 

What an adorable four-year-old Davy is.  He is bright with excitement for each day, whatever the day brings.  He has figured out all sorts of rules and routines that we have going on at our house and tells his little brother all about them.  Sometimes it's slightly tempting to leave the parenting to him as he does it just as well as I do and often more effectively.  Just yesterday for dinner I was trying to convince Edward to try just one little bite of bean soup.  Davy had helped me make it (the best little bean sorter around!  And such a pro at dumping things in the crockpot.) and had already tried his bites more happily than usual.  Edward refused to even look at it in my hand, but the minute Davy offered a bite from his own bowl Eddy gladly took it and proceeded to eat it up.  Davy is a fantastic storyteller, a beautiful drawer of guys and rainclouds, a spotter of letters and numbers, a negotiator, a sweet friend, and the hands-down best hugger in all the world.

Last week we combined a friends' birthday party with Calvin, Davy's best buddy who was born just two days before in the same hospital.  I got to hold Calvin for a few minutes while laboring with Davy, that's how cool Calvin's mom is.  I want to be just like her when I grow up.  But anyway, the two friends were both wanting pirate parties and so we moms said, let's do it together!  More fun that way for everyone.  It was originally planned to take place at Cal's house with lots of room for a couch pirate ship and lots of little friends sword fighting all over.  But the morning of one of Calvin's brothers got very sick so we moved the party to our house.  Not quite so roomy, but still just as much fun.  Davy was dressed as a pirate for the day of the party, into the night (he wanted to sleep in his outfit but I was afraid he'd get choked in those necklaces so he hung them up on his bed) and the entire next two days. 

An aside:  pirates have been one of the best things that have happened to meals around here, crazily enough.  I mentioned that pirates had to eat whatever the cook served them and usually it was much worse than what mom serves, and since then Davy has eaten what's served a lot more gratefully.

Even Eddy wore his pirate gear the whole day, a pair of pajamas:

 

I hope I don't embarrass Collin too much by outing him here, but he actually did most of the cake decorating!  We had a fun late night putting all the finishing touches on this tray of brownies.  It was  a real hit with the kids.  I was surprised but not too surprised how quickly they divvied up the fondant pieces and stuffed them in their mouths.  Within seconds the entire treasure map was demolished!

Amahl and the Night Visitors

This weekend has been busy with rehearsals and performances of the little Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors.  We had so much fun being part of the chorus of shepherds who bring food and a dance to the kings.  Our boys stole the show with their cuteness.  They both got to carry their own stuffed lambs and Edward brought a pomegranate to Kaspar, the king, then ran back to me with a big smile on his face.

The professional photographer was unable to come for some reason, so Collin volunteered me and my camera to take some pictures.  Here are the ones of us.  If you want to see some more of the cast and candids behind the scenes go here.  I took the portrait looking ones on stage and Collin took the candids.  We make a good team.

Davy and Eddy loved the attention and the routine of going on stage.  During the week Eddy would even ask for the "Emily" song (the first part of the shepherd's chorus).  But by this afternoon they were thoroughly done with the acting life.  They both fell asleep on the way home, at 5:30.  It has been a couple of days of late nights and expecting an awful lot of good, abnormal behavior.  Let's give it a rest for a while, but I bet soon enough we'll be ready to do it again if the chance should come along for the whole family to have a small part in a good performance!

Three kids in one post

Davy's had a difficult week.  Something weird is going on with allergies--we think?!  We need more information, but in the meantime poor kid is having a rough time of it.

Good things that have happened:  helping Eddy with a prayer tonight for bedtime Davy prompted, "Please bless the food . . . wait there is no food here!"  And he joined us up on stage at the Amahl and the Night Visitors practice this evening with no prodding or persuading.

 

The last time we drove up to the Museum of Art in Boston Eddy said, while we were finding a parking place, "no touch.  Just look eyes.  No touch."  

Eddy does not go to bed when sent.  (Granted, the boys have an early bedtime--7:30 at the latest (when Dad is in charge I guess it sometimes goes longer!).)  Instead he plays "quietly" with toys or reads stories to himself in the dark.  He'll occassionally wander out but knows he'll be sent right back.  When he finally does go to sleep he crashes perpendicular to his mattress, often with feet dangling off the edge, like he couldn't even tuck himself in he really was so tired.

And here is our baby!!  We got a bonus sneak peek at the baby on Thursday.  I went to the midwife birth center in Cambridge for my first prenatal and had an awesome first impression with the place and people.  I think I will be so happy delivering at the birth center this time (I loved the midwives at Mt Auburn, but the hospital was just . . . was just not.).  When it came time to check for the baby's heartbeat the midwife couldn't find it, after carefully checking and rechecking for like 20 minutes.  By this point I was getting a little apprehensive about the baby, and the two boys at a friends' house, and my parking meter time.  The midwife still couldn't find the heartbeat and said she really expected and needed to hear the heart as far along as I am.  She made a quick phone call to the partner hospital across the street and they slipped me in for an viability ultra sound right then and there.  While I was waiting to be registered for the ultra sound and then waiting again for my name to be called to go into the radiology lab my imagination started to go crazy with all the terrible possibilities.  I was thinking, what if I'm making this whole pregnancy up?  What if all the symptoms actually mean I have a massive tumor or something?  What if what if . . .  So when they gelled up my tummy and put the little wand thing on and a real life baby--with a beating heart and sucking a thumb--popped up on screen I actually said, "oh, look, there's a baby in there!"  The ultra sound technician lady was like, yeah . . .  In any case, all is well with the littlest one.  The boys were just fine with friends, though I did getting a parking ticket, pooh.

Now a story about Collin.  And me.  And that crazy thing called being men and women trying to talk to each other.

I came back from the appointment on Thursday with the above story.  As a second highlight of the visit I said to Collin, "Oh, and I gained 10 pounds from my prepregnancy weight.  Can you believe it?"  Collin said with a glance toward my middle, "yes I can believe it.  You better be careful."

Ack!  Err-errr.  Wrong answer!  I knew he was referring to the fact that I gained a whole bunch with Eddy (who was 10 lb 14 oz), and even the midwife told me to try to gain less weight this time as it's quite possible I'll have another big or bigger baby.  Still, thanks, Collin, for bringing it up again!

I was just surprised because I guess I thought 10 pounds looked like a lot more than I feel I'm carrying.  And at this point with the other two I'd lost weight from 1st trimester morning sickness.  So, wow, that does mean I should be extra careful, now I think about it.

And then I laughed as I thought about all the possible worse answers that could have come out of Collin's mouth.  For example, "Oh, I thought you'd gained at least 20."  Something like that would have been much worse.  Or maybe especially, "You look just the same to me.  Don't you always look like that?"  I suppose the moral of the story is that any conversation around a woman's weight guarantees that the man will say the wrong thing no matter what he says.

The warmest room in the house

So our house is a quirky old New England house with lots of charm and personality.  These are the terms I use for half the year, anyway.  As the cold winter months are setting in, though, my words change to "outdated" and "inefficient" and most of all "mumble mumble drafty."  In short, our house is freezing! 

We have the thermostat set at 70 degrees and are paying dearly for that.  We're in sweatshirts and wool socks and layers of blankets anytime we're sitting still.  And still cold!  The only room in the house that feels anywhere near to that 70 degree mark is the bathroom.  It only has one window (which is still drafty, but maybe has better sealant?) a big old vent right under the towel rack (hands down the best part of winter.  I love having nice warm towels in the morning, and no mildew like in summer.), and is the tiniest space to heat.  With the door kept mostly shut it's easily 70 or more degrees. 

The other morning I was reminded of just how apparent the difference between the bathroom and the rest of our winterized house it.  Davy announced loudly upon coming to the breakfast table, "Mom, I don't need my jacket any more because I got warm on the toilet.  The toilet seat was so warm.  I couldn't believe it!"

PS Please excuse the potty stories.  I guess it just seems so normal these days when potty humor is the funniest thing in the world to an almost 4 year old and half the day is spent in the room with a potty-training toddler.  Collin and I have more conversations around this sort of stuff than I ever thought possible.  So if a little bleeds over (hopefully somewhat tactfully) into the blog, you'll know you've just been welcomed into our very real everyday life!

Anderson Kid Photos

A few weeks ago I got to take "school pictures" for the Anderson children.  Would you believe they charge $40 a pop for school pictures?  Still, in this digital age and with those ugly awkward backgrounds and one-shot shoots?  All uniform and no personality--boring!  So when my friend--who has four kids in school--asked me to take some pictures I was like, yes!  Don't you dare spend $200 on those things!  Plus I like (and need) the practice . . .  :) 

So youngest to oldest (the youngest two are 17 month old twins!):

 

 

 
See what I mean about personality?  This one would've been tossed (deleted, I guess).  And what a keeper!

Backlogged videos

Here are some videos that have been sitting on my desktop for weeks.  I've just been so lazy on the blog since pregnancy prioritized my life for me.  Lots of things have been/are slipping, but hopefully we'll be back up and running again soon.  Enjoy these little clips of life around the house with our "free entertainment."

Part one (above) and part two (below of the same conversation.

Eddy's in that awkward between no nap and full ability to go til bedtime stage.  He refuses to take an afternoon nap during quiet time but if we're in the car anytime after 3:30 or 4:00 for longer than 5 minutes he is out cold.  It's the funniest thing to watch him fall asleep.  I don't indulge while I'm driving, of course, but a few weeks ago as we were driving to Concord to our Amahl and the Night Visitors practice after church on Sunday I was a passenger and caught the whole act (while debating whether I really wanted him to stay awake so he would actually fall asleep at night or just let him be so he would sleep through rehearsal).

PS  I just actually watched the videos.  It's not nearly as funny in the videos.  I wish you could see his eyes rolling like crazy while his head bobs and jerks around.  Those crazy eyes just crack me up.  I'll keep them just to remember anyway.