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This is NOT a fluke...

All the parenting tips and suggestions say that putting your baby on their tummy during their awake time encourages neck strength. Later on, tummy time leads to rolling and crawling.

As Ben and I are trying to be good parents, we have put Henry on his tummy in spite of his loud and heart-wrenching complaints. Since he has only recently started waking up for more than just meal times, we have only managed this twice.

The first time, Ben hovered over Henry while the little guy screamed and whimpered. We both tried to not feel guilty as he struggled and rocked. Much to Ben's surprise, Henry started to rock himself onto his side.

"Look at this Mama!"

"Hmm? Oh, he's not going to get over. Not for a few months, anyway."

A minute or two later:

"Mama!"

There was my little guy innocently lying on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Did you help him get over?"

"No!"

"Oh, well. It was probably just a fluke. Babies this young don't roll over."


The next day, just out of curiosity, I put Henry on his tummy just to see if it WAS a fluke. I was talking to Dara through IM at the time.

Mouse: i'm ignoring my son crying on his stomach...
Dara Bara: that's sad...
Mouse: he rolled over yesterday and I'm checking to see if it's a fluke
Dara Bara: probably a fluke
Mouse: he just did it again
Dara Bara: wow
Mouse: lol... what a strong guy

Ben thinks we've got a super-mobile kid on our hands. Perish the thought!!

Sunshine in my heart

The sunshine in my life has effectively been doubled! To illustrate that are some fun pictures of my two little beams of light. (No, we did not plan the outfits, it just worked out that way!)

Hard to believe that Audrey started out that small.

"Henry?"

Henry and a few of Audrey's "gifts".

The gift giver.

Here we witness Audrey giving a golf ball to Henry.

Gift accepted.

Mama's Little Shoe-Horse

My little girl isn't quite so little anymore.. and she LOVES shoes. (Especially Mama's)


It takes some practice to get these kinds of shoes on.


Whoot! Just look at those calves!!

She's much cuter than her Mama in these shoes. :)

Dance Baby, dance!!

Mother's Day at Nanny's House

After church and naptime, we all headed over to Nanny's house to celebrate Mother's Day. The weather was just about perfect and we spend a lovely afternoon and evening in one of her courtyards.
Grandfather set out a nice fruit and cheese spread, allowing everyone to eat whatever and whenever they wanted. (Which for me meant almost constantly...)


Audrey's favorite food were the chips, of course.


Mama's favorite food was... everything.


Sasha and Uncle Joe


Audrey and the requisite cup of ice.


Audrey and Uncle Sam


Audrey takes a pit stop with Mama and Nanny.


The highlight of Audrey's visits at Nanny's house is chasing around the chickens!


Audrey never walks anymore if she can at all help it. It's run, run, run!

All in all a fun day!

Henry Hyde

So we went in to have a baby on May 1st. I almost had a promise from my doctor that we would get induced that night. I kept having regular, though unproductive, contractions that would go on for hours. Fortunately, they put me on pitocin right away and I was off. It took a while to get my contractions going nice and strong, and I ended up needing a second epidural (since the first one left a "window" over my left hip).

The nurse midwife was awesome! She did her masters study in positioning women for labor. Apparently, if you prop up a woman in just the right way, it will help the baby come out much easier and better. So, I was cuddled with numerous pillows and blankets while I was waiting for Henry to make his appearance.

At about 3pm on May 2nd, I informed one of the nurses that I thought something must be happening since I was finally starting to feel a tiny bit of pressure. I figured I must be a ways off since I had felt a whole lot of discomfort with Audrey right before she came. When the midwife came in and checked me, little Henry's head was about two inches from coming out on it's own! If I hadn't said anything, I probably would have had that baby by myself! (Scary!!)

Two good pushes and he was out. All I wanted to know was whether he was a boy or not. I gave away all my girl clothes and I was worried that a surprise girl would end up going home naked!

So at 3:32pm on May 2nd, my little Henry Hyde joined the family. He was a solid 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 3/4 inches long.

All I can say is "Thank Heaven I'm not pregnant anymore!"


So relieved to have such a sweet boy in my arms.


"Why is it so cold and so bright and so loud?!?"

You'll be so big before I know it!

Audrey is 2!!

I know I said something to this effect last year, but it really seems improbable that I've managed to keep a kid alive for another year. Even more improbable, she's happy, healthy and really smart.
Audrey just turned two on April 22nd and she frequently amazes me. She is learning spanish and chinese words and uses them appropriately. She remembers things we have told her weeks before and haven't mentioned again, then she'll bring it up on her own. She is fearless (except for a certain chicken and her daddy's skull bank) and she is happy most of the time.
Since Ben and I spent her birthday in the hospital trying, fruitlessly, to have a baby, we celebrated her birthday a couple of days later at Nanny's house.

We practiced for a couple of days to help her learn to blow out candles. (That didn't prepare us for her trying to accidentally eat a lit candle while trying to blow it out at Grandpa's house the following Sunday.)

Yum! A few more bites of frosting and I'll lose interest.

Nanny picked all the right presents! I was thrilled!

Finally! A phone just my size!

What did Mom and Dad get me??

Perfect! (And specifically calculated as a toy that she can't shove crayons into.)

Everything becomes jewelry in the end because I'm a girl.

Easter Fun!

Okay, so it's been almost a month, but I'm finally getting round to telling you about Audrey's first Easter Egg Hunt. She didn't get an Easter Egg Hunt last year because she couldn't walk yet! So, this was a fun year. We waited until after church and her nap to get started. Here is a look at the fun!!

Snoozing after a fun morning at Church!

I am in love with this picture of Audrey!


The whirlwind begins...

We did have other shots, but she was moving so fast, she was not much more than a blur. :)

Mom and Dad had fun being sneaky with where the eggs were hidden.

She looks confused now... but in about 5 minutes, she'll be super excited about what's in her eggs!

Student - 1... Media - 0

I found an interesting article this morning. I wholeheartedly agree that there needs to be greater accountability on the part of the media. I always thought that it was the responsibility of the media to report FACT, not hearsay.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090512/ap_on_hi_te/eu_ireland_wikipedia_hoaxer

I did enjoy this article on a level of amusement as well. You have to appreciate a good, relatively harmless hoax.