Headlights in the Fog

Beard

I was talking to my friend Sam the other night and she commented that she'd like to see an updated picture of Thom with his beard. Well, here it is for posterity... because believe you me, I'll be VERY happy to see it go. I like how he looks with it, but when he kisses me I feel like I am visiting his lips in a jail surrounded by barbed wire hairs. It's distracting and distancing. HARUMPF!
Today at Gymboree a woman asked me how old was Jack was. After I told her, she said he seemed much older because he was so in tune and aware of everything that goes on. She said, "He doesn't miss a thing!" Isn't that the truth!
After nap today (a rare day when all three of us got sizable naps,) we walked over to Merwood playground. What a beautiful day! I love these early fall days where there is a briskness to the air and a wind rustling the leaves and branches. At the playground a woman commented to me that it was so cold and I replied, "It feels great after being 9 months pregnant in August."

Playdate

My good friend Melissa was over today with her two kids, Leah (2) and Evan (2 months.)
This is Melissa mesmerising the two babies. Kitty was entranced by Melissa... here's a closeup of her cute face:

You know, I am totally head over heels in love with my daughter. She just is such a joyful being... I love her expressions, her quiet excited noises and the way she moves her arms and legs around. I love watching her try to get her thumb in her mouth. I love her pudgy baby belly. I love having her in the moby wrap asleep... breathing, sighing and sometimes snoring against me all cozy. I love having a daughter. I am even starting to like the color pink... which is a good thing because our lives are now filled with it. I love the fact that Kitty can't take her eyes off of me when I am holding her... even our babysitter has commented that she loves 'How Kitty looks at you.' (You meaning ME, ME, ME!) She is just such a happy baby... cooing and gurgling most of the time. (sigh) I LOVE my little girl!

Out of the mouths of toddlers

My friend Lauren says that Jack and his contemporaries (her daughter, Lily, included) can no longer be refered to as 'toddlers.' Their rightful identifing moniker is 'preschooler.' Seeing as I could have put Jack in preschool this year, I have to agree with her. Jack certainly doesn't 'toddle' anywhere: he runs, jumps and sometimes even walks like a duck (which I don't think any adult would be able to do for as long and far as he does.) He also cracks me up everyday with the funny things he says. Yesterday after nap, Jack was upset as he sometimes is that time of day. He gets sort of hypoglycemic and has a tantrum like crying meltdown until you can get one bite, yes, just ONE BITE of food in to him. He cries and carries on and I say, "Jack, all you have to do is have ONE BITE of (insert food here.)" He cries and says, "No, No, NO!!!" and I practically have to force feed him that ONE BITE. He then, after swallowing the ONE BITE, dramatically changes back to his sunny self and wolfs down whatever it is I am offering him. It sounds like I am making this up, but it happens probably 5 days out of 7. ANYHOO, yesterday, while I was doing my force-feeding-mumbo-jumbo, Kitty woke up (hmm... was it Jack's loud crying that woke her up???) and started freaking out in a very high-pitched 'I'm-a-starving-baby' tone. I knew I needed to nurse her ASAP, but I also knew that if I took Jack off of my lap before the proper allotment of post-nap Jacktime, that he would lose it all over again. So, I asked Jack what I should do about Kitty crying. I thought he was going to tell me to a) pick her up or b) feed her. He instead leaned out from my lap towards the swing and said, "You're OK Kitty, you're OK!" It cracked me up.

We've got thumb!

Kitty has found her thumb! It is a wonderful thing as she seems to be sleeping at (slightly) longer stretches now (so far 3 hours is her maximum in a row.) I don't remember how early Jack found his thumb, but Kitty seems to have a good grasp (pun intended) on how to get her hands in to her mouth. I can remember Jack's hands sort of flying around his face looking for a place to land... and missing his mouth completely.
My sister and brother-in-law stopped by for a visit this weekend... I neglected to get a picture of Sarah and Kitty together, but did take this nice one of Jerry and Kitty:
The weekend is a bit of a blur to me. I got more sleep than usual thanks (again) to my loving husband. I also had a killer headache on Sunday which caused me to be a bit of a crying pessimist. Today is a better day: I actually cut part of the shrubs while Kitty napped inside and Jack played in the sandbox.
Last week and this past weekend I managed to watch the entire first season of 'Lost' on dvd. I must say, I really enjoyed it and look forward to watching it in 'real time' now. I didn't have to spend the summer wondering what was down the hatch, as my beloved Tivo had already recorded the season premier before I finished the dvd's. I honestly don't know how we lived without Tivo for so long... even Thom is a convert to its mysterious ways.
Tivo is allowing me to actually watch 'Supernanny' which I had never really seen before because the likelyhood of my watching a show at a specific time on a specific day is very slim. I think 'Supernanny' is pure genius... a reality show about how to parent. Everytime I watch it I learn more and more.
I've gotten some time lately to work in the studio. I've already made Kitty a little fleece coat, and recently bought 'rocketship' fleece to make Jack a new kimono-style coat. Any time I get in the studio makes me feel a little more centered... which is a good thing.

Kitty McKick

This is our babysitter, Karen, reading a book to Jack. You can tell how excited Kitty is by the blurry motion of her kicking legs. When Jack used to do this sort of thing we'd say, "He's dancing as fast as he can!"

The great pretender

This is my son the firefighter. Depending on the time of day, he can be a mailman, construction guy or his most favorite occupation: a conductor of an orchestra. Yesterday, he saw a segment on 'Elmo's World' about delivering mail, and then the next hour was spent sorting and handing out 'mail.' I took him up to my studio and he watched while I made him his very own 'mailbox.' It essentially is a cardboard box with some cutouts in it. We took it back downstairs and postman Jack got right to work! Later I came in to the Livingroom to find a few fireengines parked in the mailbox... and upon further investigation I was told it was a 'firehouse.' You know that old saying that kids don't need fancy toys just a cardboard box? Well, in my house it is most certainly true.
I must tell the world how selfless and wonderful my husband is. On Tuesday, I really hit the wall between sleep deprivation and headaches. Thom devised a plan where I got to sleep the entire night in our bed with Thom just bringing Kitty to me once for nursing. She takes a bottle of breastmilk from Thom usually a couple of times on his normal night shift with her. It made a world of difference in how I feel. I love that man of mine!

Yawn

Here's Kitty in her maiden voyage of our newest carrier: the Moby Wrap

Total awe

Kitty is totally in awe of her big brother Jack.  I noticed it the other day when I had her sitting up in her bumbo seat while Jack and I were playing on the livingroom floor. Her eyes followed his every move. Today it was even more pronounced: she was sitting in the swing and started fussing. I picked her up and she was still fussing until she heard her brother's voice coming from the livingroom. It is a wonderful thing to behold.
Jack and I were in the front room before nap doing what we usually are doing together these days: pretending. He was conducting me with his 'baton' (in this case a small piece of paper) when he stopped and said that he was a boy and had a penis... he then said Kitty was a girl and had a 'badina.' I made him repeat 'badina' several times as it amused me so. Ah! You gotta love 2 1/2 year olds... I certainly love mine.

Rare Time

Right now Jack and Kitty are both asleep... and it is 3:40pm. It is a rare chunk of time and I spent the majority of it working on addressing baby announcements.
It has been a trying week thus far... mostly because I've been getting frequent headaches again. I guess my pregnancy was a gift of lesser headaches because now that my hormones are getting back to 'normal,' I'm getting some killer headaches again. Oh well. I see my neurologist in 3 weeks and I am sure he'll have ideas for a new plan of action now that I am not pregnant.
How's this for irony: I finally got the vacuum cleaner out and started vacuuming and Jack immediately started freaking out because the noise scared him. (sigh)
Yesterday Jack put a dishcloth on his head and told me it was his 'firecoat.' I tell you, his imagination and pretending have just zoomed off recently. Last night, I was in Jack's room right before bedtime (Kitty sleeping downstairs) and Jack insisted that Thom and I both wear 'rocketcoats.' Thom's was a dirty shirt of Jack's and mine was an orange toss cushion. Where did he want us to wear them? On our heads. I hope I never forget the mental image of my bearded husband with a small shirt on his head. I really believe this is the best part of parenting... moments like that one.

Kitty and Cats

Here is a picture of the little girl baby asleep... I just loved the position of her hands!
We had quite a nice weekend. It started out with me going out (alone!) to have two cavities filled on Saturday morning. I joked to my dentist that the next time I went out by myself it would be to get a massage... not have my teeth drilled! Saturday afternoon was the block party... we had a good time talking to all of our neighbors and we also had a lot of fun watching Jack 'charm' the ladies. Sunday morning we went to a party at Ridley Creek State Park for 3 of my friends who are pregnant and due in the next 1-4 months. I enjoyed myself tremendously... it was so, so nice to see all of these wonderful people I hadn't seen in ages. I feel like I am coming out of the hibernation of my pregnancy... I just did not feel like being social at all during the summer. Jack had a good time too, running around and screaming at the top of his lungs with his good buddy Lily.
Thom has been wanting to get a picture of all three cats... this is my effort in that matter:

I just didn't think it would ever happen that we'd get all three cats close enough to get a picture of. Well, Thom did it:

He said it looked as if they were having some sort of organized meeting. Hmm... do you think there is a takeover of the house planned?