...and later that day

it's business as usual.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Birthday Annabelle!!!

I just looked at the time stamp on this post and noticed that it said 8:27pm eastern time which means it is 5:27pm in California... the exact time Annabelle was born 2 years ago... very freaky!!!

Thinking back to that Thursday in San Francisco I could never have imagined what life (or Annabelle) would be like 2 years later... what an amazing & crazy ride it has been!

10 Months Old Today!

In his 10 short months of life, among other things, Jack has:

• mastered reading upside down
• learned to say Mama, Dada, and a bunch of other gibberish
• learned to wave, clap, and quack like a duck
• aquired 2 teeth
• been crawling all over the place
• started pulling himself up to almost standing
• attacked the CD rack on numerous occasions
• managed to find and pick up (and try to eat) all of the left over pine needles from the christmas tree

Teddy's Hair

Last night Annabelle insisted that her Teddy Bear be allowed to dine with her. At first she tried to sit him in the highchair but he was too short to reach the tray, so he ended up sitting on top of the tray while she was eating. Occasionally she would hold a piece of food up to his mouth so that he could have a bite. About half way through dinner I noticed that she was piling bits of steak on top of Teddy's head. When I asked Annabelle why she was putting meat on Teddy's head her reply was: "Teddy's hair, mommy" as if I should have known.

Here is a picture of Teddy with his new hair.

Oobi

Oobi, Oobi, Oobi, Oobi, Oobi, Oobi, he's got a lot to see and a lot to do and he's always with you! Oobi, you, friend.
Actually, Oobi is a hand, with eyes... and a very catchy theme song.
Well, Annabelle thinks so anyway... Yesterday while playing in the living room Oobi came on the t.v. and Annabelle broke out in a little dance. Very impressive for someone who is supposed to be sick (note glistening nose).

Feeling Better

Jack seems to be back to his old self. Still coughing a bit with a drippy nose... yet happy as can be!

The Competition Continues

I think Annabelle was feeling a little neglected with all the attention being on Jack because she went and got herself an ear infection! I suspect she is happy now that she also gets to take Amoxicillin twice a day, which is what she really wanted... seriously. Whenever I give Jack his medicine she asks for some. She loves to take medicine, I don't know why, always has... should I be worried?

As far as the Jack update goes he is still not 100% but the Doctor thinks that his lungs sound a little bit better and that he is wheezing and coughing a bit less. Hopefully another week on the Nebulizer will do the trick.

The Nebulizer

Jack's follow up exam didn't go as well as we would have liked. His breathing had become more labored so we were sent off to the hospital for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. X-ray was negative (phew). Jack was sent home with a Nebulizer (crazy contraption kind of like an oxygen mask but delivers medicine in the form of a mist to the airways) which he unhappily has to use 3 times a day in hopes that his bronchial tubes will clear. He goes back to the Doctor tomorrow to see if there is any change.

(Un)Happy New Year!

Poor Jack has had a nasty cough for all of 2006. Yesterday I took him to see the Doctor and it was discovered that he has what looks like the beginning of baby bronchitis, as well as an ear infection. He has been so good, one would never suspect that he was sick at all if it wasn't for the occasional hacking cough/wheezing and the terrible sleeping pattern. Jack's been put on 2 medications and has a follow up exam on Sunday (yes, a Doctor's office is actually open on Sunday). Hopefully it will all have cleared up by then and that his new year's resolution was not to gain more attention by being sick!

The Magical Healing Powers of Sauce

Last night Annabelle woke up screaming at 2 am with a temp of 103.7. Unsure whether or not to phone the Doctor at such a ghastly hour we decided to slip her some Motrin and ride it out. By morning her temperature had gone down a bit but she was still very cranky and unwilling to eat. After spending the day hopped up on Motrin, watching Dora's Christmas Adventure over and over again, by dinner time her temperature was pretty much back to normal but she was still super grumpy and would not eat....until she got a whiff of Mom's sauce which was bubbling away on the stove! Now I'm not usually one to take "food on the face" pictures (or give my child a bowl of sauce for dinner) but in this case I had to make an exception... and I did throw in a bagel to go with the sauce. By bed time she was all smiles.

Merry Christmas!!

Annabelle and Jack received lots of nice pressies for Christmas. Santa brought Jack a giant Teddy, now we have two jumbo furry Bears in the house! (Good to know we're protected in case of an intruder).

My sister gave the kids this Radio Flyer 2 seater wagon and Annabelle absolutely loves it... so much in fact that she would not let Jack sit in it with her (that space was reserved for Teddies, balls and cars). She was kind enough to let him follow behind in the Jeep though.

The little people also received lots of Little People. Now they have two different farms, the doll house, the garage, the car wash, TONS of cars (some little girl is obsessed with cars) and of course lots of little people. Here Jack demonstrates how fun it is to play with the garage.

Jamaican Baby

I'm not exactly sure when or how it happened but somewhere along the line Annabelle has picked up this bizarre Jamaican accent. Her favorite thing to say these days is Sno' Mon' as in reference to a snow man but it just sounds crazy, like she's been hitting the pipe. Maybe she's been spending too much time on the internet looking at web sites like this: http://www.jamaicans.com/childsguide/speakjamaican.htm

9 Months Old Today!

We had a little photo shoot in honor of the
big day and Jack had a great time playing up to the camera whilst wrestling with his Cheerios.

Jack had a check-up today and appears to be in tip top condition. He had 2 shots and cried less than he did when he met the scary German Nurse. He is now weighing in at 21 lbs.12 oz. and is 30 inches long! That is pretty tall for his age (90 something percentile), I'm guessing they made a mistake. Seriously, look at the boys parents!

Father Christmas

Today the kids had their picture taken with Father Christmas. Looks like Jack is getting what he asked for. Annabelle, on the other hand, must have asked for a pony again...not this year it seems.

This was Annabelle last year when she struck out with Santa...

Mirror Mirror on the Stove

STUUUUUCK!

Annabelle has gotten herself into a few sticky situations recently. Yesterday I found her in the swing, a few days ago it was the car. Shortly after getting into these positions she realized that she couldn't get out and started to panic and scream STUCK! STUCK!. Like the good mother I am when I heard this I rushed right in, laughed, and then went to get the camera.

What A View??

Earlier today I opened up the front door and this is what I saw. I think it's time to get some boots... and gloves... and maybe a shovel.

Winter Babies

Settling In

Not too much going on... The plumbing problem has been resolved and things have started to settle down a bit. The boxes are slowly disappearing but (as you can see in this photo) we still have some painting to finish. We've managed to put up a Christmas tree and some festive decorations and the kids seem to be adjusting to their new residence quite well.

Happy Thanksgiving

What a crazy week this has been. On Sunday night we finally got word that the movers would be here Monday between 12 and 2. Hurray, we thought!! We were so excited... until 2pm came and went, as did 3,4,5,6,and 7pm. At 8pm the driver finally showed up...solo. Nick and I wondered how on earth this man was going to unload all of our belongings on his own? Did he have some sort of Herculean type power which was not visible to the naked eye? Seemingly confident, Allan our driver made his best attempt to unload as much as he could (in the pouring rain) but sadly even with Nick and I helping we couldn't finish the job. So we gave up at about 1am. After spending the night parked on our cul de sac in his 18 wheeler (which took down a few of the neighbors telephone lines), Allan the driver (and the 2 little elves who arrived Tuesday morning to help) quickly got the truck unloaded (in the pouring rain).

I think as far as moves go this was the worst...but I say that every time. Perhaps our choice in moving companies has gotten progressively worse. This time though things have gone wrong...bad things. Besides being ridiculously late with the delivery of our goods, the movers #1) put a few nice deep gashes in my newly refinished hardwood floors (I'll say no more on that subject), #2) destroyed a book shelf (no big deal it was a Target special), #3) lost the screws to Annabelle's crib (quickly solved with a trip to Home Depot, but the poor child had to be relegated back to Nana & Papa's for our first night in the new house), #4) broke Jack's swing (OK, he's getting too big for it anyway), #5) and this is the most annoying- lost (read stole) a box which contained our entire DVD collection AND my Christmas CD's (nice timing)! I guess I deserve it for actually labelling the box properly.

That being said, there are worse things in life than an unpleasant move... like waking up Thanksgiving morning with a tropical rain forest in your basement. Or giving your daughter a bath only to find that when you drained the tub all of the water came up through the downstairs toilet (resulting in a very smelly wading pool in your kitchen and bathroom). Then having to clean up that very smelly wading pool without the use of running water...or gloves. Like I said, there are worse things in life than an unpleasant move and this year on Thanksgiving I am very thankful. I am thankful for my health, and that of my family and friends, but most of all, on this day, I am thankful that my Uncle knows a thing or two about plumbing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Master Jack

Although Jack has been pretty grumpy about the whole move situation it hasn't stopped him from reaching life's little milestones. This week he has mastered sitting up on his own and he also waved goodbye to his daddy for the first time this morning!!

Move Update

First off, it still hasn't happened. When "early next week" came and went I phoned the movers (Globus Moving Company- incase you were wondering who NOT to use in the event of a move) and I was told "we'll be with you either Thursday or Friday morning". Here it is Friday morning and still no truck. Nick had a phone call yesterday from the driver who apologized for this most recent delay and then went on to explain how he had fallen ill the day before and needed to take a day off from driving....that's acceptable, people get sick, but here it is November 18th and we were expecting our things on November 5th. Having driven across the country once or twice before (although never in an 18 wheeler) I know that it normally does not take this long...even with the slight delay when the truck broke down. It's all just very annoying. So the latest claim is that we can expect delivery either Saturday night or Sunday morning...but I will not be betting on that!

Local Shoppers

A lot of the stores we've been going into lately have these great shopping carts that double as cars. Most are a pain in the butt to maneuver but perfect for transporting two kids and all of your shopping...this particular model was found at the Home Depot. Although Jack did eventually have to be relegated to the baby Bjorn because he kept flopping forward and bumping his head on the wheel, he was good enough to pose for this picture (which was taken with my cell phone).

Arrrrrgh.

I am beginning to wonder if we will ever get our stuff. Will we ever move into the new house? If our moving company has it their way the answer would be NO! They have been taking their sweet time with our move and now the moving van has apparently broken down somewhere in middle America! According to the dispatcher the driver got a flat tire and rather than pulling over to the side of the road like the rest of the world would do decided that it was a good idea to drive the van to the next rest stop, which resulted in a broken axel. Now we must wait for a part to arrive so that the truck can be fixed. They are now estimating that we might get our stuff early next week... looks like another weekend at Bob and Donna's. On the up side: maybe we'll be able to finish painting before the furniture gets here.

Happy Halloween

These pictures were taken yesterday, the day after the first snow fall of the year...it was 70 degrees and all of the snow had melted. Because it was such a nice day (& knowing the kids would spend the real Halloween at the doctors getting Flu shots) we took them out for a trial run of the costumes.

On Halloween (after the shots) they dressed up again and went to the playground. On the way back we ran into a crazy neighbor lady who insisted that Annabelle "trick-or-treat" at her house and gave her a straw...I think that was a trick.

Annabelle calls her costume "the Rah" which I'm guessing is her imitation of a dinosaur. She even chose the costume herself!

The First Snow Fall

October 29, 2005 - Boston MA

Jack Jack

No, Jack is not becoming a "Rapper" with his fancy sweat suit and fashionable bandages. He actually had to have some blood drawn today to check for allergies so that he can receive a Flu shot...if I knew ahead of time that they would be tapping into his veins for this blood I think I may have reconsidered him getting the Flu shot. As it was the Nurse missed his vein twice in the left arm before giving up and trying the right arm. After a couple of stabs there she was able to hit the vein and extract a few viles of blood. Jack was a trooper, he only let out one little squawk during the whole process. The real tears came after this photo was taken and I removed the bandages. As for the sweat suit, well what can I say, it was a gift.

Daddy's Little Girl

What exactly did Nick say to Annabelle to elicit such a great response? We'll never really know but I bet it has something to do with Granny buying her a pony for Christmas!

A Week of Firsts

If you look closely at this photo you can see the tiny white slit that is Jack's first tooth! It was discovered earlier this week...I think it's neighbor (aka tooth #2) should be appearing any day as well. Another first for Jack this week was his first cold which he has has for 2 days now...poor Jack is all stuffy and sounding like Darth Vador. First #3 for the week is that rather than inching along on his belly like he's in boot camp Jack was able to get up on his hands and knees and sort of rock back and forth...next step crawling!

Brick House

Everything is still going ahead with the house and we are scheduled to get the keys in 10 days. Today the kids and I went over to the brick square to meet Chuck our realtor (aka The Real Estate Wizard) and "Dave" the hardwood floor guy (the floor guy really has some great Chinese name but I guess thinks it is too difficult for us to pronounce so he has asked to be called Dave). Anyway, "Dave" gave us a reasonable quote for refinishing the floors so I have booked him for October 29th. It should take him a few days to do the job and another few days for the floors to dry completely. We are hoping the movers will be able to deliver our stuff on November 5th.

"Uh Oh, Boo Boo"

For the past two weeks Annabelle has had a cold, nothing serious just a runny nose and slight cough, no fever or anything, but just generally feeling a bit under the weather. This past weekend she started tugging at her ear so I thought it might be time for a visit with Doctor Pam. This afternoon I loaded up the gang and headed over to the medical center. Dr. P. gave her the once over and it was determined that Miss Annabelle does indeed have an ear infection. One prescription and a toy theft (see pockets in photo) later and we were on our way.

The New House

Hopefully I'm not jinxing it by posting a picture too soon but we are scheduled to pass papers on October 28th! We've already had the inspection and the house seems pretty sturdy. It needs some updating and decorating help (and new non-yellow shutters) but nothing too major. I'll be holding my breathe for the next 3 weeks!

Action Jack

Jack is becoming a real "swinger". He usually likes to hang out on the swings and keep an eye on things when we're at the park. I have a suspicion he might be running around before we know it though.

Motorcycle Madness

Where has the time gone? It seems like just a few months ago Annabelle could barely walk! She's now mastered all of the obstacles at the playground, including a rock wall (small plastic and tot sized but a rock wall none the less) and this motorcycle, which she couldn't ride a month ago. It's all happening way too fast. Annabelle is 20 months old today!