Manhandle.
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Jessica asked Art to draw a picture of a baby.
(Perhaps this is supposed to be our sweet, balding Bailey. - Jess)
Sledding party.
Today we went over to our friend Erin and Mike's house (parents of Evva) for a sledding party. Kids and parents from Art's preschool Willow came to play, eat and hold babies. From top, Si, Art and Benji Netta with Katie. Bailey is so close to her brother Lewis. Evva and Netta.
Twinkle Twinkle.
Lewis just left this lovely message on my phone. It's not a great connection and breaks off a few times but still worth posting!
Three out of four.
I just had three minutes of time with all four children asleep at the same time. How heavenly! Lewis is actually awake - he just called to me - but he is still upstairs. This is a great moment because i was able to get both girls down for a nap together. Yeah! Alright, everybody, note the time... They went down at 3pm. Lovely. I rely on the fact that the crib is NOT super strong and hefty. I plop them in the crib with a gackoo and wiggle the crib slowly so their heads bobble to sleep. Works about 65% of the time. Worked today! Lewis just sat next to me and said, "Momma, I like you, Momma." -- Jessica
Bailey and Netta's favorite thing.
Actually, I can't fairly call it that since I can't ask them. But I do think it's likely that Bailey and Netta's favorite thing is to wake up in the morning together and then nurse on the couch with Jessica. Mmmmmm. Being able to drink tasty milk till your heart's content and then, when you feel like it, look up and see your Mama's smiling face. What a life!
Talking about birthdays.
Lewis: my birthday is coming from bubbe. Me: no, its a day that's still a long time away. Lewis, concerned: Where is it, Papa?
Winter's final storm.
That's the hopeful name I'm giving it anyway. It's a blizzard well over 12-inches so far and still going. The boys and I took the bus 10 blocks south to a Mexican restaurant and back, playing in the deep stuff along the way. It's super windy and unpleasant. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like when we wake up tomorrow.
Lewis' lovely missing letters.
Lewis has a few key phrases that we love and want to remember before they get replaced by more correct or complicated phrases. Here are a few - "Uh? You didn't give me a foyke!" (fork with an ee sound instead of r) "What lullaby would you like to hear, Lewis?" "Hushaby mine baby." "Look, Momma! I can do it by me self!" -- Jessica
We unplugged our T.V. and some pretty awesome things have been going on.
One of the results of taking away our T.V. is the boys' play has been much more streamlined from one activity to the next. Here car toys are blending with animals as Art makes an Animal Party. I guess part of the party is getting into the car launcher and being shot across the room. In falsetto, of course. Cars, animals, pieces of a broken picture frame (that's right, you heard me - a broken picture frame) all talk in falsetto. We've heard a lot of falsetto since unplugging the T.V..
Art is wise.
I have that tingly feeling in the back of throat and a cold, runny nose. I told the boys that Bubbe would read their books tonight because I feel like I'm getting sick and need to rest. (I also just enjoy listening to my mom read to them once in a while. But I really was tired and too crabby to read joyfully for sure.) After bringing the boys bedtime snacks, grabbing crying Bailey again and coming into the boys' room to sing Lewis a lullaby Art said to me, "Momma, I think I know why you're getting sick. Because you have to do everything!"
My tired, hard working wife.
Jessica hasn't been getting her usual daily nap lately, and the poor girl has been tired! Netta and Bailey have barely been napping lately either. As Cynthia called it when she was in town, they take tiny "naplets". Lewis joins the party.
Hello there students in Helen's Duke maternity course!
This may be news to most who read it, but Helen Gordon, a friend (and a good friend of my father and stepmother's in North Carolina), teaches a maternity class at the Duke School of Nursing in Durham. For a few years she's been using our blog as part of her teaching material for class. It's fun to think about, Netta and Bailey, required reading! Helen just sent me a photo of her office door: from Helen: "Ever so often I update my door with New pics of your girls...they are well known by faculty and staff here at Duke School of Nursing. comments like "gosh they are really growing." The students that followed them this fall always enjoy seeing the changes in our "blog babies." Helen
High jump.
tuesday's are wrestling night, and for an extra special wrestling night we brought the mattress up from downstairs for maximum fun. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt8B-defGRU?rel=0&w=800&h=630]
Hard work going on here!
Netta. Though a bit delayed, I am finally getting around to posting a picture of baby hands grabbing things. The girls are both fervently practicing grabbing, grasping and batting at things with their hands, including the hands themselves. They are starting to show a preference for fingers and thumbs over pacifiers and today Bailey even got mad when I moved her away from a toy she was working on grabbing. Some toys have been grabbed and moved to the mouths. That is real baby progress.
Visiting Nicholas' tree.
Today (nature day) we all took a walk south 2 blocks to the egret's nest, an especially beautiful drainage ditch. There, on the edge of the pond, is a tree that has a small opening in the bottom. We all like to pretend that Nicholas, a small bunny, lives there with his family. Today when we visited but Nicholas was away. We left him a little piece of brownie. Then, as we used to do, Art asked to hear a story about Nicholas. I have fun making up some fun thing that involves Art and Nicholas together. Today they found a magic leaf that, if they held it, would make them fly. Art gets entirely wrapped up in the stories imagining him and Nicholas together. Today he asked with intensity, "Papa, is Nicholas real or not?" Jessica took this nice photo of Art and Lew sitting on the frozen pond listening to a story. And Art soaring from the top of a big pile of snow: Jessica wisely suggested I photograph Netta's gloved foot:
Valentines nap.
Lewis was upset today during naptime. He was refusing to get in his bed, insisted he didn't want to take nap and was crying plenty. He was just really tired and grumpy. And then Art had the brilliant idea that he could sleep in Lewis' bed with him and that that would make him feel better. And it did. Lewis agreed instantly and that's where they slept for the next hour and a half.
Another boring doctor's visit.
A very uneventful 4-month checkup today. Girls are very healthy and growing nicely. Netta: 12lb 13oz, in the 27th percentile Bailey: 13lb even, in the 31st percentile
I am completely in love with these girls, they are really wonderful.
that's what jessica just said. --sent from my handheld device--
Harold.
This is my grandfather, Harold Parker. He was my dad's dad, whom I never got to meet. Look at this stunning photograph! I cant keep my eyes off it! So much style! So much verve! It makes me imagine a man with a lot of intention in his life. A man who invests his full energy into things. That's the kind of man my dad was. Here's what my uncle Dick wrote about the picture: "Hey, here's a photo Dad had taken at a St.Paul dance joint. I'm almost certain it was in the 1930s, maybe as early as 1934, when (by my calculations) he came to St. Paul to work for Swift at age 21. No, he did not hookup with gangsters -- respectable men all dressed that way. Dad told me in 1971 or spring 1972 that he was glad to have his own business and sorry he had worfed for the same company (Swift) for 28 years -- 1934, I reckon, until he left in 1962. By the 1970s he was ill with chronic leukemia but still running his insurance agency. He made that mention of his career as we we...
Lewis and Bailey.
Lewis always likes to get really really close to a baby and say something like "Hello little baby wadya doing lil' baby!?"
Photos from Egypt
I'm working the photo desk tonight at work and put together a gallery of some of the best photos over the past two weeks from Egypt. The people of Egypt have inspired me, as have these brave photographers who were there as our witness. http://photo.twincities.com/ssp/m/embed.js SlideShowPro({ attributes: { id: "album-3612", width: 800, height: 600 }, mobile: { auto: false }, params: { bgcolor: "#000000", allowfullscreen: true }, flashvars: { xmlFilePath: "http://photo.twincities.com/ssp/images.php?album=3612", displayMode: "Manual", contentScale: "Proportional" } }); Watch in full screen mode.
How I survive staying at home with four children five and under, including twin babies...
I'm feeling quite sunny and capable today and I thought it was a good time to share with the world one of my survival strategies, because I know the world has been watching and waiting to hear this vital information. First of all, let me thank my neighbor Kathy, who doesn't read this blog because she doesn't even know us well enough to realize it exists, but who brought my family dinner tonight just to be kind. She brought us dinner a couple months ago, too, but she wanted to do it again since, as she said, the help usually dies down once the babies aren't so new anymore. And so I thank Kathy publicly for her ham, cheesy hash brown potatoes and spinach and strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing dinner (plus side of chopped fruit for the boys) not only to let the world know what a thoughtful neighbor she is but so you can all see how I keep my sunny disposition: I NEVER deny help. That is survival strategy number one. Survival Strategy Number 1: Never deny help. I ...
Art's school, a place of peace.
Art's preschool Willow is so peaceful. I love knowing that Art walks down in the Mr. Jen's basement and knows he'll feel loved, safe, accepted and creative. It's a great space for a little boy to grow. Ms. Jen with preschoolers Evva, Ben and Art.
A note about nature show night.
Here's a sliver from a nice email from Jessica about how bedtime went tonight (I'm working late). The bird's nest, btw, is a pile of blankets and pillows behind the couch. ---------- We watched nature shows in the Bird's Nest on my iPad. More dinosaur CGI. GOod stuff. While i was getting the girls into their pajamas Art called upstairs to say, "Mama! Mama! You have to see this! They just said that T-Rex's eyeball was as big as a SOCCER BALL!" I left for work just as Jessica was feeding a baby and reading books to the boys in the bird's nest. She really does work SUPER HARD.
Josh just shows up sometimes.
Every once in a while Uncle Josh just shows up. I guess he just pulls off his route home from work to come and chuck the boys around for an hour. Well, that's what he did today and they had a good time. I was nursing the girls when he arrived and I sent him right upstairs to wake up the boys. Then they went on to play with the parachute i borrowed from music class, jump over things in the basement and do several rounds of hide and seek. Then just as quick as he came, he was gone. What a lovely surprise!
Leftover photos from Nanna's visit
Here are some photos that my mother took during her visit a couple weeks ago. https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
Netta and Bailey could be married to someone one day.
I'm sitting here editing photos from a wedding I shot and am just realizing that they may be married one day. Doh! I'm starting to realize they are daughters and I feel differently about them. It's weird. I don't want to say more protective, but I am sorta. I was changing Bailey's diaper yesterday at IKEA and found myself wanting to protect her privacy in a way. It felt mildly ridiculous and certainly something I've never done with the boys. Weird!
What's happens at night in our house.
Our girls, amazingly, sleep through the night. At least in the official interpretation of 'sleep through the night', which I think is 6 or more consecutive hours. It's an absolute gift they do and something we try to never take for granted. Arthur was a horrible sleeper and, as you can imagine, was an extra special shock to our 30+ years or sleeping as long as we wanted. I remember fearing the twins for that reason alone. No sleep. It's just really hard to be a normal human when you're up at night a gazillion times, and we were with Art. And, as if hitting some sort of one in a million jackpot (rather, two in a million), these girls sleep. BOTH of them. And looong. They usually go down by 9 and sleep until 5, 6, or, like last night, 7:30! That's ridiculous in my view by I'm not going to tell them. Anyway, a ritual of sorts has evolved at night when the girls wake up. It's usually around 5am. I'll roll out of bed and grab whoever's fussing and st...
2010, our family in pictures
I had meant to post this a while back but forgot. it's a collection of some of our favorite photos from last year. Click here to see the thing full screen. https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
Donut Day.
Thursday is donut day (actually, now it's every other Thursday). I pick up Art and his friends Ben and Si from preschool (and Evva, her brother Oscar and nanny Kersten often join us, too). I think it's one of those experiences that, in their smaller world, is just a really big fun deal. DONUT DAY!
This actually works!
wearing goggles to prevent lots of crying while cutting onions. Sorta foggy though...