Alan was bathing Lex tonight and sat down
to read a magazine while Lex played in the tub. After awhile
Lex got bored and leaned over the edge of the tub, looking at
Alan, and said “I see you read book.” According to our pedi, by
age two children should have a vocabulary of 50 words and be
able to use two word phrases. I think we’re doing ok
here.
Happy New Years Eve too all. It was a beautiful
day today. Sunny, freshly fallen snow, etc. I took Lex out to
play for awile. He refuses to wear mittens, but after his first
fall (face first) in the snow he was all too happy to let me
put mittens on him :) I pulled him on the sled around the house
a few times and shoveled the driveway. He had trouble walking
in the snow because he was so bundled :) So he spent most of
the time playing in one spot unless I came and held his hand
and walked him to another. This was his first real snowfall,
but he’ll get the hang of the winter wear soon.
We are celebrating tonight in true fogey style
— not at all! But to those of you partying hardy and those of
you not, have a good one and we’ll see y’all in 2007!
I posted photos from Christmas on the
photos
site, as usual. Lots (most) of Lex, as usual :) There
are also a few movie at the end. I think they are mostly of Lex
playing in the wrapping paper, but my computer didn’t want to
play them smoothly tonight, so I’m not even sure exactly what
they are. Joyce took a ton of pictures too, so if I can get
those from her I’ll post them as well. A good time was had by
all.
I had my 28wk checkup today. I think I’m
only 27 1/2 weeks, but close enough. Baby is doing great. The
midwife found its heartbeat immediately and was impressed with
how strong it is. I’ve given up weighing myself since we moved
here, so I was surprised with my weight gain, but whatever. I
just need to be sure to loose it all after this baby! (famous
last words, huh?)
We had a great
holiday. This year Lex understands presents and how to open
them, but doesn’t yet have the expectations of Christmas. I
thought that made for a nice combination. He got lots of toys
and stuff.
I’m pretty sure he woke up
from his nap yesterday about 6 times smarter than he went to
bed too. He suddenly is using question words, counting to 20
(skips a few in the teens, but real close), and speaking in
sentences. It’s weird, but cool. The midwives today were
surprised that he’s only 19 months (even though one of them was
there at his delivery!)
The other
midwife is new (still in training, I think) and she commented
on how neat it must have been to be born on the Farm. I thought
that was funny. I mentioned it with my first pregnancy and I
guess now it’s in my permenant record :) She was gushing about
how Ina May is her inspiration.
One
thing I learned today at my appointment is that the rumor that
2nd babies come faster is very accurate. And it’s accurate per
person, not just on average. They said that since my labor with
Lex was so quick I should make a point to come to the hospital
sooner with the next baby and they would likely admit me
earlier because they will be anticipating a fast delivery.
Cool! Can’t let myself get too excited, but let’s hope it works
out that way :)
Off to bathe the boy
now. Happy New Year to all!
Quick baby update first. I think this pregnancy
is going to seem much longer than the first one. Probably
because I’m more out of shape than I was before. Anyway, I feel
so much bigger, so much sooner than I did with Lex. I think by
the end of 40 weeks I’m gonna be way past ready for delivery.
Hopefully this little one doesn’t keep me waiting an extra
eight days like Lex did!
We had a great
cookie party this weekend. Jim & Julie came, as well as
some new friends, Carl, Michelle, and Dylan. Dylan is a few
months older than Lex. They usually sort of play by each other,
but last night they had a good time playing together. They
chased each other around the table and slid across the floor
and played with the new blocks that Jim & Julie brought
(thank you guys!!). It was great. Meanwhile the grownups made
and decorated lots and lots of cookies. I made a bunch of
cut-out sugar cookies… well, I made the dough and then made
everyone else cut them and ice them :) We got to play with the
101 giant plastic cookie cutters I bought a few weeks ago. Lex
has been playing with them like toys up until now. Don’t worry,
I washed them well before we used them on the cookies!
Anyway, a good time was had by all and once
again we have tons of cookies for the holidays. I think we
ended up with the most…. three large platters full!! But I’m
sure they’ll get eaten.
This last picture is from this morning. Jim
& Julie also got Lex a foam box toy with different shapes
and textures and stuff. He likes it a lot. This morning he got
both feet into the circle hole. I thought he was stuck. I
laughed :) But just after I took the picture he got himself out
again, easy as can be. He’s such a smarty.
For awhile now Lex has been saying “I love
you too” when Alan or I say “I love you” to him. This morning
he came into the office, put his head on my lap and said “I
love you pukin.” It was so sweet!! I grabbed him, gave him a
big squeeze, and said “I love you too.” He said it again,
unprompted, later in the morning too. We were getting ready to
go for a walk and he was sitting in my lap so I could put his
shoes on. He turned his head to look up at me and said “I love
you.” He’s so perfect!!
A few movies from when we were decorating
the Christmas tree this weekend. Alan filmed them and Lex was
the star, so I’m doing my part by publishing them :)
Christmas
Tree
Playing
On/Off
Laundry
Lex is
very helpful (mostly) with the laundry.
Today was a festive day. We
bought a Christmas tree from a guy who runs (ran?) a (now
condemned, I believe) motel. It was great. He came highly
recommended. We were looking at the five-foot trees and they
all looked so small! I started reminiscing about my childhood
trees… walking for a mile down a steep hill in three feet of
snow to cut a down an eight-foot tree, dragging it back up that
huge hill and into the living room, where we realized that
eight feet just doesn’t fit, so back out again to chop off the
top, then back in to see what we’ve got. Much more adventurous
than a motel parking lot. 
We settled on a nice five-foot
tree and then they wrapped it in string and Alan put it on the
top of the Subaru where it looked even tinier. I kept thinking
it was just way too small. But logic prevailed and when we
brought it in the house and unwrapped it, it was perfect! Alan
got it all nice and straight in the stand and we put lights on
and (for the first time ever) all of the ornaments we own. Lex
had fun with the extension cord we bought that has a big red
button on it. We plugged in the tree and the window lights and
he turned them on and off about a hundred times. The neighbors
must have thought we were insane. :) 
Lex was very helpful at taking
the ornaments out of the box, identifying them, and then
handing them to me to put on the tree. He got a little crazy
when we ran out of ornaments and started digging through the
boxes, throwing paper around, and then resorted to taking them
off the tree, identifying them and handing them back to me. I
think he was missing the point of our evening activity, but a
good time was had by all.
I took Lex over to the La
Sallete Christmas lights display tonight. For those of you not
in the know, this local La Sallete group (church? I’m not
really in the know either) puts up a huge Christmas display
each year. They have an entire hillside covered in lights,
mostly shapes and words like “peace” and “faith.” They also
have a big nativity scene and children’s activities on
weekends. We just went to check things out and Lex enjoyed the
many different shapes and colors of lights. We counted the blue
stars and Lex argued that the stars are supposed to be in the
sky :) Smart boy. It was a nice evening. He didn’t even
complain too much about the excessive bundling that marks the
beginning of winter.
I’ve also had the
chance today to reflect on how fortunate we are. I met with a
friend of mine this morning to be interviewed for an article
she is writing on the choices moms make regarding working
outside of the home. The conversation reminded me how lucky I
am that we are in a position that allows me to be home
full-time with Lex. While we aren’t financially well-off by any
means, we are certainly stable enough that we can prioritize
our child’s well being over money. Not enough people have that
option and I feel very lucky that we do. I also found out
recently that two women I know who are pregnant with their
second babies (both have kids about Lex’s age) are having
pregnancy complications. I feel very fortunate to be having yet
another smooth pregnancy and I can’t imagine, particularly at
this time of year, having to worry about the health and well
being of my little baby.
But enough of
that… Here are some pictures from the last few days. We went
down to visit Jim and Julie last weekend and Alan and Lex
enjoyed Jim’s video game setup. Lex also enjoyed Alan’s
breakfast the next morning. The bundled Lex pictures are from
La Sallete tonight.
Lex got his first haircut tonight. His
little tail in the back was getting out of control. Not in
length so much as in rattiness. It was constantly tangled and
sticking out at odd angles — so we chopped it. Lex sat on
Alan’s lap and read a book (The Great Cookie Thief — his
favorite) while I gave him just a little snoop. I tried first
with the clippers, but he wanted no part of that, so I used
scissors instead and he was fine. He shooed at me a few times
because my efforts were interfering with his storytime, but
otherwise he was great. I tried to leave as much of the curlies
as possible without the mess. We’ll see how I did in the
morning. :)
On another note, I’m growing
a gymnast inside me. This little one is constantly on the go.
Lex has started sleeping later (6:00 or 6:30am), but still
frequently makes noise around 5:30am. This usually wakes me up
and then I can’t fall back to sleep because the little one
inside is bouncing all around. Silly babies!
Holiday preparations are underway. I got tired of
unpacking, so I moved on to decorating instead. This weekend we
are going to attempt a Christmas tree. Will be our first (not
counting the fake, table-top one Alan’s parents gave us a few
years ago). I’m sure it will be quite the experience. And, of
course, I’m so excited! :) In the meantime I’ve been slowly but
surely putting out the decorations we have and teaching poor
Lex that they almost all are for looking, not touching. He has
been perfect so far, but I think the tree will overwhelm him
with temptation.