I’m having a hard time embedding the video, so here’s a link to a clip where Sylvia laughs.
Slow torture
April 22: I hate to do anything that sounds too much like complaining, but Andrew currently has at his disposal a set of behaviors that act upon my brain like the tactics of a malicious, medieval torturer. He seems to assess my condition, and say to himself:
- “I think that the rack (a.k.a. whining) would work pretty well on her right now at melting her brain. I’ve been honing my pitch undulation and body flopping techniques, and I think I’ve hit upon a combo that really does her in.”
- “Hmmm…I know we were just having a great time, but what if I was to run away screaming and hide right now instead of going nicely like we prepped all the way here. That might result in some interesting expressions on her face!”
- “I’ve come up with 14 ways to avoid putting on my pants to go outside. I bet I can come up with another 6 to make it an even 20. Now that Sylvia is crying, this is starting to get pretty interesting. I wonder if we’ll still end up going or if I’ll leave the house a naked screaming flopping mess under her arm. Worth finding out how far I can push the situation until one of us pops!”
He mixes up the hard times with behaviors so angelic, so beatific and sweet that it makes it seem like heaven’s light is shining in our presence. When he makes up stories or chases after bubbles or makes innocent and poignant comments about the weather or his feelings or his love for his sister, well, I can’t imagine anything more lovely.
Sometimes I think it’s a really good thing that he’s cute.
Baby Lerner should be arriving shortly
April 20: I’m really excited for Heather and Michael. Their baby girl should be born this week. Little baby girl Lerner is going to be induced on Tuesday, April 22 (Earth Day:) Statistics show that risks to the baby increase as they go past 38 weeks gestation, so they will be inducing at 38 weeks. Heather’s blog is lernerclan.net, so you can check that for pictures and updates.
Heather and Michael have been through so much after losing baby Allan at 41 weeks in September 2006. I’m sure these final days of waiting are going to be quite challenging, and they could probably use any loving thoughts you have to send their way.
Little baby girl, we can’t wait to see you!!
Fun day in Chicago
April 20: On Thursday, Sylvia and I joined my Gathering Waters friends for a fun day in Chicago. Everyone (but Vicki) drove down to Chicago for a fun day of eating and shopping and museum-going. A perk for both current and recent employees. I was so happy to be included; I just love my co-workers. They are some of my favorite people.
Pam and I drove down together with both babies. Mercy is a week younger than Sylvia. All day, the girls were champs. They hardly had any problems, and they fit right in. Meanwhile, Andrew spent the day at Karen’s having fun playing with all his old favorite toys. Pictures of our gang are in the gallery.
We shopped at Nordstrom’s. The shoe department was…amazing. Karen wrote a great description of the shoe experience in her blog. We ate lunch at a great restaurant by chef Rick Bayless called Frontera. Oh, boy, it was gooood.
Then we went to the Shedd Aquarium for much of the afternoon. When the aquarium closed, it was rush hour, so we decided to shop and eat instead of returning home. We explored Crate and Barrel and then had a yummy dinner at the Grand Luxe Cafe, where everything, especially the portions were grande.
Pam and I didn’t get home until almost midnight, but we had a wonderful day. I feel so lucky to have such great friends. They make me laugh and feel oh-so good about life.
She’s such a sweetheart
April 20: When Andrew crawls in bed with us in the morning, he first wants to snuggle with Sylvia. Often, the first spoken words of the morning are, “Can I hold Sylvie? She’s such a thweetheart!”
Sylvia is so smiley and beautifully engaging these days. Her neck is getting very strong, and she can see across the room clearly. Yesterday while we were gardening, I put her out on her play mat in the yard. She seemed to enjoy it…one of the first times it’s been warm enough for her to enjoy some outdoor relaxation.
In the past couple days, we took two stroller rides with both kids. Sylvia really prefers to be held, but she did well during the 1/2 hour walks to and from Olbrich. It’s neat to have my two kids in the bike trailer/stroller now!
Sylvie can be pretty fussy still. Yesterday she wouldn’t sleep from about 1pm until we both fell asleep at 8pm. She spent much of the afternoon being a not-so-very-happy camper. In the evening, I was trying to lie down with her to help her sleep, but it meant that we both slept together:)
Check out Andrew’s nine-week baby pictures in the gallery. They look so much alike! More pictures of our week are in the gallery as well.
Andrew LOVES “inch worms”
April 20: Andrew spent much of yesterday hunting for worms. He calls earth worms inch worms, despite somewhat lengthy description of why earth worms are called earth worms.
We did a lot of gardening yesterday, and Andrew’s role was to find worms. Bryan got out a jar, and Andrew put dozens of worms in it. They marveled and remarked at each worm, often bringing them to me when they were particularly cool. Andrew’s face was glowing with excitement and discovery as each new worm was unearthed.
Later, Andrew discovered that some puddles in the street in front of our house contained lots of worms. The problem? They were all dead.
Andrew didn’t seem to recognize this. He said that they were “swimming in the ocean.” He spent about an hour picking up the worms, holding their grayish, gooey bodies (“They are long and thin, Mommy!”), and moving them from the “ocean” to the pavement. “Touch them, Mommy!” I have a pretty big tolerance for dirt and decay and the general grossness of biology, but I admit to having a bit of a gag reflex when Andrew tried to set one of his very slimy, very dead worms on my knee.
this morning, Andrew woke up and nearly immediately started clamoring to go outside to see the worms:)
Maretta’s wedding is close!
April 20: Maretta and Kyle’s wedding is coming up in only one month and four days! They’ve been engaged for over two years, so it’s kind of hard to believe that the wedding time is nearly upon us. Maretta is graduating with a degree in theater (acting) from the College of St. Catherine’s on May 18, moving out of her dorm, and heading down to Madison for a week of preparation. The wedding is on Saturday, May 24, and after that, Maretta and Kyle will be heading back to St. Paul. Kyle is a PhD student at the UM, and he has a few years left in his program. Maretta will look for work and hopefully get some acting roles in the Minneapolis/St. Paul theater scene.
Nearly everything is lined up for the wedding. Maretta, Kyle, Kyle’s Mom (Marilyn), and I have teamed up to do the organizing. When Maretta was home over spring break, we got a lot done. With spring on the way, it’s feeling more and more like wedding time!
Urge to fuss…fading
April 16: It’s been an intense few days with the kiddos since we returned home from Wichita. However, I have noted that Sylvia seems to be past the worst of the evening fussy times. Makes me think of the Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror V quote: “Urge to kill… fading… fading… fading – rising! Fading… fading… gone.” Substitute “kill” for “fuss,” and I think you’ve got a good description of where we’re heading:)
Reconnecting in Wichita
April 15: Our trip to Wichita was really nice! We left early on Friday morning and returned home late on Sunday night. Bryan’s parents and Ben and Melanie drove up from Texas to meet us there, and we got to see Bryan’s grandparents, his uncles and aunts, and several good family friends. Our pictures of the weekend were plentiful, but they were taken on three cameras. So the gallery currently holds one camera’s worth of pictures.
Andrew really enjoyed spending time with everyone. He’s petitioning hard for a trip down to Granny and Grandad’s house, so I think we’ll be looking at a trip down to Texas in June or July. We’ll probably even leave him down there to spend a bit of solo time.
Bryan’s grandparents are doing well. Grandma and Grandpa Harvey are back in their own home after spending some time in an assisted living suite while Grandpa recovered from hip replacement surgery. Bryan’s grandpa, Dandy, passed away last October, so it was nice to see Grandma Jo and give her some hugs. She’s doing well and is as full of vim and vigor as ever.
We missed seeing Ben’s family and our friends, Julie, Jerry, and Grayson; but maybe next time! Andrew loved playing outdoors. The wind was coming on strong, and it wasn’t exactly warm, but that kid has been cooped up inside for so long, he jumps outdoors at the slightest opportunity:) Fortunately, he had lots of loving relatives willing to join him for some running around the yard time.
It was great to introduce everyone to little Sylvia and to let them see what a neat person Andrew is turning into. A great time was had by all!
Two-month check-up
April 14: Sylvia just had her two-month appointment this morning. For those who have been waiting for statistics, here’s her info:
Height: 23″ (95th percentile)
Weight: 11 lbs, 14 oz (75th percentile)
Head circumference: 15″ (80th percentile)
Up until now, she’s been around the 50th percentile for height and weight. And Andrew was usually between the 25th and 50th percentile. She’s growing big!
Our pediatrician was really happy with how she looks. Sylvia even gave her some dimply smiles. That is, before she got her vaccinations. She received three shots this morning, and she’s mostly been sleeping since. She woke up just as I finished putting Andrew down for his nap, and she was in a really unhappy mood. I gave her some more Tylanol, nursed her, and laid her back down. Poor baby was acting like she didn’t feel well. I’d imagine that three vaccines would make a baby both sore and feeling a little sick too.