Nutcracker

This is becoming one of my very favorite holiday traditions.  It was Little One's third, and Little Miss's first, year to go with me to the Nutcracker.  My mother took my sister and I when we were little, and I have such precious memories from that, so the nostalgia is like thick buttercream icing on the cake of a night out with my Littles. I wasn't super sure about Missy's attention span, especially as the show didn't even start till after bedtime, but She was transfixed.  Until She finally fell asleep in my lap during the second act, She was completely absorbed in the magic of the ballet, as was Little One of course.  I loved watching their faces even more than watching the show, and had fun making it a special night for all of us.  At intermission I brought out cookie sandwiches for them, and as we waited for the second act to begin I surprised them with little nutcracker dolls wrapped in shiny tissue paper.  It was one of the sweetest evening I've had, and since that night there has been much twirling about the living room, and Miss frequently spends entire days answering to nothing but Clara.

Cookies!

My Little ballerinas

Didn't quite make it to the finale

Sprinkle

As the sand in my pregnancy hourglass began to run low, some friends and I decided to squeeze in one more girl's night.  We met up for dinner and they surprised me with a baby "sprinkle" for Little Mister!  Because I apparently have friends with excellent taste, the gifts were all fabulously cute.  I never want to hear again that "boy stuff" isn't as cute or fun and "girl stuff" because I know now, for sure, that it is a lie.  The cuteness is out there!  There was also cake and good company, and much celebrating of the Mister.

Swimming Lessons Smell Like Polka

C: "...the pool must be in here somewhere..."

Little One: "let's follow ours noses! It's this way! I can smell the 'cordian!"

C: "great! Wait, you smell the what now?"

LO: "the 'cordion!"

C: "The accordion? You smell it?"

LO: "Yes from the pool water!"

C: "...oh! The chlorine?"

LO: "Mom. That's what I said."

Tells It Like It Is

Missy: "No.  I don't want eat this dinnah.  I want some dessert, a'stead.  I'm NOT goin' eat it!"

Little One (shocked): "But! But Little Miss, you HAVE eat yours dinner! Why, don't you know?  There is kids out there, places, what don't have any dinner.  They don't have any good food like this to eat.  So, if you eat all yours dinner, then, you can grow big and strong, so you can go and help them. See?" 

Missy: "You want help the kids, Little Wan?"

Little One (gravely): "Oh, yes, Miss.  Yes, I do."

Missy: "Great! You can eat my food.  I don't want help people.  I want appa'sauce." 

What Sisters Are For

C: "No, Missy.  Not until you make your bed."

Miss (wringing Her hands): "Oh! Oh Oooooohhhhhh!"

Little One (walking up and putting an arm around Miss's shoulders): "Ok, Missy.  It's ok, come on.  Let's go see 'bout that bed up there.  I'll help you." 

Missy (brightening up and squeezing Little One): "Oh yes! Oh yes T'ANK you! B'cuz, b'cuz it can be weally hahd.  It can be weally hahd to make a bed wif'out a sistah.  Some-times, you need a sistah to help you wif things, right Little Wan?"

Little One: "Oh yes, Missy.  That's what we are there for!  And after we make your bed, we can play baby and Mama!"  

Miss: "OK!  And Little Wan?  YOU can be the Mama."

Portrait of a Family

As the baby-belly days dwindled, I asked a truly talented friend to take some photos of us.  Aren't they sweet?

Family love. Bliss. Happy, smiley, sweetness. Didn't my friend make us all look so cheerful and loving? I told you she is talented. She did, and it was no easy feat.  Because Missy.

Oh, Missy.  My girl with a curl.
I woke Her from Her nap for this activity.  She was not at all amused.  Not even a tiny bit.
Those photos above are some of my favorites.  But in the interest of honesty?  This is about how it really went:


And in a way it's a favorite, too.  It's nice to preserve the loveliness of a family's smiles.  But if a portrait is supposed to capture the true essence of something, a moment of life and personalities as they really are?  This one is prize winning.  I'm keeping it.  So I can always look back, laugh, and remember- yep. That's how it was.

Rocket Launch

Rocket launch
A few hours from where we live, there is a launch pad where real rockets really go into actual outer space.  Really!  As we are a proud family of science geeks, we all think that this is super cool.  So when a launch was scheduled that we could actually witness, we could not resist.  My mom was visiting and because she is awesome she hopped on board when we heard about the launch and quite immediately piled into the car and drove three hours into the late, shivery night in order to hop out just exactly long enough to say, "OOooooohhhh!  Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" watch the streak of fire fade into the sky, and then drive three hours back home.  All that driving and we got in around midnight on a school night, all for about 8 seconds of rocket.  And I tell you, Peanuts, it was worth it!  Because it was a real rocket going to actual space!!  The coolness.  It boggles the mind.

You know you're impressed.

We also made a fun trip out of it, watching Mary Poppins in the car and stopping at a diner so full of character we could taste it in the fried food.  The batter is made of bread crumbs and character.

It was almost as cool as the rocket, although I would not recommend the clam fritatta.  TOO much character.

Veteran's Day

My Veteran

Just over a year ago we were standing on a dock, waiting to welcome J back home.  In the moments just before we saw him, when the sailors began filing down the gangway, everything that had been forced behind doors and under stones in my heart rose like floodwater and began to sting my eyes.  All the worry, the hope, the proud moments and the weak ones.  I will never forget that moment, the one in which it seemed ok to let those things exist because it was going to be over.
We're a lucky family.  J has been gone only once, not for too long, and he came back. Since that moment I have never stopped being thankful for that, and never stopped crying a little in the deep parts of my heart for all the families who are not so fortunate.
For me, though Veteran's Day has always mattered, it will never be the same. This year, I took time to be extra thankful both for J, for the fact that we were able to spend the day together, and for the sacrifices made by those who never will be tangible to their families again. We celebrated all this deep meaningfulness (and also the fact that J got the day off) by taking a trip to Montecello.
We picked apples in an impossibly picturesque orchard on a hill, and then learned all about one of the most influential men in our nation's history- Thomas Jefferson- by touring his home and museum. A fascinating character.  In interesting estate.  A lot of hard questions to answer like "what's a slavery?"  It was a full, educational, and lovely day for us all.

Hot Cider!

Catching Up

It's cold outside, the baby has a cold and wants to be superglued to me, and I slept only a few hours last night and am feeling lazy.  What better opportunity to sit my sleepy self down with a Mister  in my lap and catch up on some of what we've been up to since the fall?
Starting way back in the almost unimaginable, pre-historic days before Mister.  It seems like He has always been part of our family. Better record those earlier days on here fast- they are starting to slip from my memory already.  Look out for the blog tidal wave.  Here we go!

Magic

LO: "Look Mommy!  Look at all the pink clouds!" 

C: "Where?  I don't see any clouds."

LO: "Well.  That's a'cause they're in my 'magination.  You have to use magic to see them."

C: "Oooh, I understand."

LO: "Yeah! Yeah, that's the problem.  Try again, Mommy.  Use your magic.  You will see them." 

Little Mister Sniffles

Sick newborns are definitely good contenders for the most pathetic-little-thing-ever award.  Especially when they are colicky and sick, and even when the sickness is really nothing but a little pre-school party favor cold.  It's hard to be happy when you have to choose between eating and breathing.  Most of us prefer both.  

Little Mister, however, is doing his utmost to hang in there with mostly just the trembling lip.  Me, too.  However, He does have some rough evenings.  Unfortunately for me, this means that I have little time to do much other than cuddle, rock, and walk the baby between chores and time with Mister's sisters.   Fortunately for me, I get to cuddle, rock, and walk the baby all day and that's a pretty nice job if you can get it.  

In the meantime, He is smiling on purpose now, laughing even!  And that's pretty well worth it all.  

One Month of Mister

Imagine showing up at someone's house, not knowing the language, with the severe handicap of being unable to walk, talk (or do anything really), and being surrounded by the chaos of two dogs, two small children, and various visitors.  Quite the shock after a peaceful lifetime of solitude, wouldn't it be?
And yet, this sweet Mister has come through a whole month of this overwhelming circumstance with grace far beyond his days.  He's taken it all in stride nicely, and though  it has only been a month (yesterday), we've gotten to know a few things about our new addition in between all that chaos.
For one, the poor thing takes after His older sister in that He suffers from a terrible newborn rash and also (cue doomsday soundtrack) from colic.  He does not have the ALL-evening-without-a-second's-letup colic that Little One had, but his woes are enough to keep us on our toes (Reaching for the coffee).  Poor little thing.  Sometimes 4PM hits and his lip pops out and trembles.  His knees draw up and out comes the Pitiful Wail.  We look at Him and kiss His forehead and say gently, "there, there, Little Mister.  You're giving it a good try.  But if you think you can phase us with that mewing little cry you have no idea how battle-hardened we are, son."  I'm not sure whether it's His subdued personality, a less intense case of it, or the fact that our experience makes us both better at knowing how to ease the trouble and less phased by it, but in the end this round of Colicky Baby has been slightly less exhausting than the last.
Other than the evening colic drama and a few nursing issues, though, Mister is a breeze of a baby.  He is unperturbed by the raucous noise of the household, does not complain about being dragged out into sub-freezing temperatures for pre-school drop-off.  In fact, when not in pain or really, really hungry, He is not at all a fussy guy.  As long as He has a clean diaper (a true must for our gentleman) and a full tummy, all He asks is to be snuggled as much as is humanly possible.  He loves to be cuddled SO much.  So, so much.  Fortunately, there is a whole household full of people who are only too happy to oblige.
He loves the bath, loves the play gym, and loves to be read and sung to.  He likes to look right at your face with a concerned, serious expression, as if trying to classify you for His research on alien species, and then break out into a huge grin as if deciding that you are at least a very amusing creature.
He's a pretty calm, happy little dude.  Of course, He has spent His entire month of life being constantly and extremely adored by a crowd of fans. Plus, He has the cutest, most awesome sock collection probably ever.  Who wouldn't be happy with all that?
Overall, the sweetness and cuddliness far outweigh the colic and the frequent night time demands for attention.  They even outweigh the laundry and that is a hefty level of tonnage.
Little Mister, I never knew what it would be like to have a boy.  I wasn't sure I was, you know, that kind of Mama.  But you have so quickly and completely set me straight about that.  It turns out that having a little boy is amazingly fabulous.  It is heart-explodingly joyful, just like having little girls has been.  It turns out that having three littles is wonderful and perfect.  And, my goodness, so are you.
What an incredible month it has been!  What a lifetime it will be.  We love you!

I Haven't Seen You Since Last Year

Hello, Peanuts.
Happy 2014- can you believe it?
I have some catching up to do here, if I can.  I kind of dropped the blogging ball at the end of 2013, because Colic.
It's just as well, though, because no one was awake long enough to see any other balls drop on New Year's eve, I assure you.  I provide failure by metaphor as a service.
Today is also the first one we've had without company since Mister's arrival.  No offense to you all but, in this gig of mine, adult interaction is a rare and priceless gem. When I have the option, I'd sort of rather spend my slivers of time between diaper changes, piano practices, hi-ho-cherio-ing, and working on my imposing 3-D artistic rendition of the Swiss Alps (in the medium of half-folded laundry) speaking to an actual person's face than typing, even if it is to you lovely Peanuts.
That said, all the faces are gone now, and there are critical moments of family history in need of plastering on the world wide web for posterity, so it is my hope that I will have the opportunity to bore you with it all soon.  In the meantime, happy New Year!  What are your big goals and dreams for 2014?  My first resolution is to take a shower and  brush my teeth without anyone crying about it.  I aim high.