Hangin' Around

The craziness of the holidays has dissipated and we enjoyed a pretty quiet January.  Lukas has been working on his big baby muscles and GG enjoyed the first real snowfall of the season.  

the bumbo as seen before genevieve took her pen with a plume (a la Fancy Nancy) to it

still not a fan of tummy time, but less of a lunk than a few weeks ago

hey blue eyes!

"mommy, i look like a pink marshmallow!"

ready to play!

we love how tired she gets after playing in the snow, but dragging around this giant sack of potatoes is no easy task for mom and dad either.  ralph, when will you learn to mush???

snow angel

could his melon look any bigger?  love it!

boo boo at about 11 weeks

squishy at about 9 weeks

dad's lovely assistant installing a new potty in the kid's bathroom.  just one small installation-related flood to report which matt actually blames on genevieve. "i swear i closed that water valve.  she must have opened it".

The quiet is about to come to a screeching halt as we anxiously await the arrival of our friends for the annual Super Bowl get together.  Eight adults, two of whom are 6 1/2 months pregnant, seven kids, 72 hours-o-crazy.  More to come!!

Bedtime Silliness (with a dash of Beyonce...)

Little Red

Despite our agreement to not get each other anything for Christmas, Matt surprised me with a beautiful red cashmere scarf.  Here is what happens when you combine a 3 year old, a red scarf, and two grandparents who wish Sam the Sham was still a big name.

Two Months!

Luke is already two months old.  With all the anticipation of the events of the last two months of 2011, that they've already come and gone and we're full on into 2012 is a little shocking.  Our little man is getting bigger by the second, and over the last two weeks or so has become a lot more chatty and animated.  Kindof coming out of that newborn sleep coma.  He h.a.t.e.s. tummy time and will kick and flail his arms like a turtle stuck on its back doing kung-fu.  The other day Matt told me, "he is so responsive to you," which - after weeks of narrating your life to basically a brick wall - was about the best thing a new mama can hear.  His broad vocabulary includes "guh", "argh", and most often, "goo".  So much so that we have nicknamed him Mr. Goo.  Besides goo-ing, Lukas's hobbies include 3 a.m. pants explosions, watching whatever Sister is doing, and preferring to be held approximately 100% of the time.   

Luke's two month appointment confirmed a few things that we already know.  1 - the kid has seriously dry skin.  Not the full body eczema that G had (poor kitten!), but dry enough that our 2x/day Aquaphor applications soak right in.  Hopefully this just goes away as his baby skin matures, but until then it's tons-o-lotion and a warm bath every night (which is so inconvenient considering G needs to not be a dirt ball either).  2 - his little tear ducts are still blocked.  He gets warm washcloth rubs every morning and night to try to keep them open and keep his little eyes from crusting over, and antibacterial drops for when we need them.  Which he just loves.  Mmmhmmm.  Again, hopefully this will fix itself as he grows.  3 - speaking of growing we're all good in the weight and height departments.  He is 13 lbs 4 oz and 24.5".  93% for height, 90% for weight.  He's gotten a lot more accustomed to the bottle in the last week and even though it means an extra pumping for moi, it's nice to let Matt take over feeding once or twice a day.  He continues to have no tolerance for pacifiers which makes us 2/2 in the anit-paci kid zone.  A pain now, but perhaps a little relief in the braces department??   

Also with his advanced age is coming a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle light at the end of the sleepless-night tunnel.  Lukas goes to bed between 8-9 and is giving me about a 5-hour stretch of sleep, followed by a quick feed and another 3-4 hour stretch before he's up around 7.  Not bad, not bad at all.  Actually the last two nights he's given us 7 hours but now that I've written that down surely I've jinxed it.  Also it would be helpful if Genevieve would sleep through the night.  She continues to wake once a night with nightmares ("there's a ________________ in my room".  Culprits include a dinosaur, an orange piggie, and Rudolph).  At least she goes right back down but still, it's obvious that the two enjoy tag-teaming us in the wee hours.  Stinkers!

Here are pics of Mr. Goo at 2 months!

basically a happy go lucky little guy!

chillaxin with mr. bear

hey dude, let's hold hands

how YOU doin'?

mid "goo"

rockin' out to a little baby mozart

i'm curious mother, how many times are you going to flash that camera?

lazy lunker happily licking the blanket instead of picking up that melon

he he, i got mom to pick me up

why am i back here?

what if i trick mommy into thinking i'm so sleepy?

zzzzzzzzzz

HA!  fooled you

whoa, have you happened to see these five little wiggly things at the end of my hand?

mr. goo and his still blue eyes

a little warm water in all the right places...whee!

making sure we're soaked from cradle cap head to dry skin toe

hey, where's sissy?

there she is!  two clean kiddos ready for story time

Merry ThanksChristmaNewYear!

Ahh December 31st.  The last day of 2011 means we have survived the year and survived the holidays.  Starting back in November, with Thanksgiving of course.  Since Lukas was all of three weeks old we hosted the big meal this year (and I use the term "hosted" loosely).  K&K and S&E brought delish dishes, Matt manned the bird, and I supervised and made sure Lukas had his own share of the feast.  It was an awesome meal and a fun night.  And while my mom had just left after two weeks of helping us get acclimated to having two kiddos, my dad and brother were able to swing into town for a short visit the day after Thanksgiving to meet the new addition.  

meeting auntie erin

well, this is one way to spend thanksgiving...

...and this is another

i'm HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNGRY!

the fam

a visit from Pop Pop

Once December hit it was time to get the house ready for Christmas.  We went out and found the biggest tree we could fit on top of the Pilot and dragged it in for a decorating adventure (see below).  I look forward to the annual tradition of Matt getting mad as a hornet and swearing like a sailor as he tries to drag the tree inside and set it squarely in the tree stand.  Tis the season!  After decorating it seems that we are sorely short on lights for a tree that size but now we know for next year.  My little elf Genevieve really got into wrapping gifts this year and after we visited Santa she and dad went out to buy a gift just for Lukie which she was very proud of (incidentally, it was a Brewers t shirt and a Packers teddy bear.  Hmm, wonder who chose the store?).  Genevieve also had her first ballet recital in December (again, using the term loosely).  It was more like a regular class which parents were allowed to attend.  She was a VERY proud little ballerina and was excited to show little bro her moves.  Although we're pretty sure her favorite part of ballet was that we let her get McDonald's pancakes after her 9 a.m. Saturday morning class each week, she insists that she wants to keep going.  Weekly hot cakes it is, kiddo.

slightly less intimidated than last year

quick!  take the picture!

underwhelmed

hey mom, i saw santa.  he he.

still scheming on what to add to his christmas list...

ready for some dancin'

tippie toes!

"leaping"

 

 

 

 

Then of course came Christmas!  My parents and bro came into town on Christmas Eve and we immediately headed north to K&K's neck of the woods for a Martin/Maio church service & Chinese food.  Both kids were gems during the service.  We thought we'd be super clever this year and pre-order the food so it would be ready right after church.  HA!  What a complete bust.  It was meant to be ready at 6:30 so when it was 7:30 and Matt and Karl hadn't returned I started to wonder if they had actually gone to China.  They finally came back victorious and many declarations were made about never getting Chinese on Christmas Eve again.  Happy birthday, baby Jesus!

Since our house was choc full-o-guests we had both kids sleeping in our room on Christmas Eve.  Lukie did NOT give mommy the gift of Christmas sleep that night but we finally managed to pull ourselves together sometime around 8 Christmas morning.  We all tromped downstairs together and I mock-gasped when I saw the presents under the tree.  This sent Genevieve high tailing back up the stairs because she didn't want to "see Santa!!!!".  After we reassured her that the big guy was back safe at the North Pole, all was right with the world and we spent the next half-day opening gift after gift.  Matt had a big fire going and K&K came over for brunch.  The whole scene was very cozy and fun.  G got enough loot to keep an army busy and Lukas slept the entire morning (stinker).  Matt and I handed over the kids for the afternoon while we prepped dinner which turned out to be totally scrumptious: smoked turkey breast (I'm no great fan of smoked meat but my husband outdid himself!), cauliflower gratin, roasted sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts, fresh stuffing, yukon gold mashed potatoes, gravy, and for dessert a sticky toffee pudding with brandy sauce so dense and delicious it could give you a heart attack from across the room (only 4 sticks of butter!).

sous chef putting more in her mouth than in the oven

the martins

the #1 fave present

lukas, totally captivated by his gifts

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

how many adults does it take to build one child's train tracks?

uncle grant, who is terrified of babies, and the baby.  well done.

schooling dad at candy land

Now it's New Year's Eve.  Our sixth wedding anniversary.  So far today we have taken a family trip to the hardware store, Matt has done some anniversary mudding, and I've burped a baby while wearing my wedding dress (oh hells to the yes, it still fits!  sure i can't breathe or sit down, but that is NOT the point).

breathing is overrated

 

We're treating ourselves to dinner out tonight - I'm going incognito as a woman who wears makeup - but overall we are truly looking forward to letting the dust settle and getting back into a routine.    

In summary, 2010 was a complete bust and 2011 left us overwhelmed by the wealth of good fortune.  Here's hoping for a nice, normal 2012 to balance it all out.  Happy New Year!