Proof

Just as my brothers and sisters-in-law have suspected, Pete has always made goofy faces in pictures. Can you find him in this one?

Little Sicky

Henry took ill Friday evening. My first clue was the 3+ hour nap he took Friday afternoon. And then he refused to eat his dinner but didn't try to bargain for an alternative meal. He went to bed a little bit early and then the vomiting started around 8PM. I had been lying down with him, got up to get him a drink of water and was in the kitchen telling Pete that Henry was just acting weird, when we heard quick footsteps and saw Henry come scurrying in to tell us he was sick. We propelled him towards the bathroom, where he managed to toss about half of his cookies into the toilet. The other half landed on the floor, wall and side of the toilet.
Friday night we didn't get a whole lot of sleep. There were changes of pajamas, changes of pillowcases and temporary towels on the bed because we didn't want to change all of the sheets. All day yesterday and so far for today Henry has been on the couch, looking like this:
He still has a fever today, but so far has kept down a full piece of toast (which is a huge improvement over yesterday when he wasn't even keeping down water). He hasn't thrown up since yesterday evening...though some of the problems seem to have gone south.
We've been doing a lot of this:
And I made some immunity-boosting soup. Chicken, garlic, shitake mushrooms, carrots, spinach...all the good stuff. This is an in-process photo...
So now everyone is napping again. Clara didn't want to sleep. She fussed for a bit, and then seemed to quiet down rather quickly...so I went to check on her. This is what I found:
We've lowered her mattress, because she's getting too close to standing and we don't want her to launch over the side...I wouldn't put it past her to try.
Here's a top view. This can not be comfortable.
Oh. Sweet baby. I didn't want her to end up with bruises on her face, though...so I bit my lip and moved her. After a concerned glance at me, she fell back asleep. Now I'm thinking about taking a nap on the couch myself.

A Crapload of Photos

Here are just a whole bunch of pictures, and maybe somewhat informational captions:

Clara's been practicing eating with a spoon and fork. She's pretty good at it, and thinks it's quite fun.

My dad made Henry some cargo to go with his crane...a bunch of boxes and other things that have hooks on them. Henry likes to pick them up with the crane and load them onto his big boat.

Here's Clara getting herself into a half-pulled-up position. She pulls up to her knees, and really seems like she's going to crawl, but just won't go that last 2% for pulling to feet or full crawling.

This may explain why she won't crawl. Why would you, when your brother pulls you around in a basket everywhere you want to go? The updated news is that I'm playing phone tag with the lady at the physical therapy office. I've also gotten very helpful tips from Sandy's brother-in-law (thanks Mike!) and my cousin (thanks Katie!). Pretty much everyone seems to feel the same way Pete and I do...doesn't seem like we need to worry, but we're probably doing the right thing getting her assessed.

Here she is in her new dress from Grandma Mary, picking out some books.

And picking out some CDs.

Last night we started Valentine's Crafting 2009. Clara has never painted before, so we thought finger paints were the way to go. I tried to show her how...

And she tried it out a little bit...

But mostly she just kept wanting to do this. Notice that I am simultaneously reaching for her to take her hand out of her mouth, and taking a picture.

She kind of looks like Princess Leia's mom, Queen Amadala, or whoever. She didn't understand why I kept shouting and pulling her hand away. She would cry and look at me like "aren't we supposed to be having fun?"

Henry did not eat his paint.

Here's a typical expression that I get from Clara.

And another.

And another.

And from Henry.

Again.

Fast forward to this morning. Henry rocked out at Starbucks.

And he tried to pose with his sister, but she just wanted to touch his tongue. I told him to put it back in his mouth. Do you think he'd listen to his mother?

The reason I needed Starbucks this morning was to fuel up before our play date at the Children's Museum. We met up with Henry's friend from school. Ryan wasn't able to come to Henry's birthday party, but he's one of Henry's best buds, so I told his mom we'd do this instead.
The boys had lots of fun at the Potbelly restaurant. They especially enjoyed putting the mop through the sandwich oven.

Clara tried to make the rubber tomato fit into the cup with the fabric ice cream "malt".

While she seemed to enjoy the pet vet, she didn't like the stethoscope. I don't think she's interested in becoming a doctor.

Oh! Phew. I'm at the end! It was hard to get the boys to hold still for a photo at the museum. They had a great time together. Henry had a bit of a meltdown when it was time to go. Now, thank goodness, both children are napping. I've had a couple cookies....but I'm pondering a bloody mary.

Hip Hip!!

I wish I had pictures of my kids watching the events today, like the cute photos of Adelaide and Anders. I took some at school of my students watching the pre-swearing-in events (they were in P.E. during the actual swearing in) but those aren't on this computer.
I do, however, find this photo pretty moving:
And here's a little story...we were discussing the Shure mics at the Neighborhood Ball, and then Mariah came on and sang into her rhinestone encrusted mic, with the rhinestone encrusted stand. Henry's explanation was this: "When Shure microphones get really old, they get sparkly."
If only we all got sparkly as we aged.

Oh this is a happy day. I'm so happy for my children!! They had to be born under the messed up reign of George W. Bush, but they get to grow up in a whole new era of Hope!

Mixed Up

Okay, this post might be a little chronologically mixed up, but it's taking me forever to get to it*....so it's just going to be what it is...
First off: Little One Year Old Girl....She's been a bit sick these last few days. Boo. Tuesday I took her to daycare and then got a call at about 10 AM- right while I was holding the hair back on a little girl who was ralphing in my classroom trashcan. Fun! So Clara's daycare lady called and said she felt warm and blah blah blah....so I went to pick her up. Her fever has been up (to 105) and down (with ibuprofen) for the last few days. Her mood has been fine, she's been busy, as depicted below. Today we went to the doctor, which we were scheduled to do anyway. Long story short: she has a mild ear infection, which probably didn't cause her fever, but probably didn't help either. So we got her a prescrip. for that. Also asked about her not walking stuff and am going to make a call to a physical therapy place.
A few nights ago....was it Sunday? Jeez. I made trout for dinner. Just felt a little proud of myself for making fish other than salmon, so here's the photo. Used the Angry Trout recipe, which Will sent me. Turned out pretty good. I'm a little embarassed by the butter on my bread in this photo. I am of German stock, but still. You have to trust me when I say that the pats of butter were not very thick. Also...this may explain why Clara giggles when she touches my tummy.
So, there was one little hiccup with the preparation. Flames may or may not have reached the cabinets above the stove. Pete thought I could use this:
Also...we had a lovely dessert! Ed, our friend from across the street (I secretly think of his as our local Don K.) brought over this still warm apple and raisin strudel. I guess it was a thank you for Pete having helped Helena do some shoveling the night before. We've had a lot of snow.
This is just a picture of Henry "helping" take the sheets off his bed last weekend.
And, going back in time to Friday night- Dad and Kathie were still in town and we all went out to Pinstripes for some bowling and dinner. Clara was in one of her cute new outfits.
Dad helped Henry do his bowling.
Clara got a little excited, and a little bossy.
Henry used the ramp for most of his turns.
Dad got a little strike-happy there at the end.
Here's a totally blurry picture, but you can see how fun it is to eat right there at your lane. Fancy-Shmancy bowling.
On Friday and Saturday there was much outdoor play to be done. Dad and Kathie stayed inside with Clara (and washed my dishes!) while Henry and I went out to play with Anna. You can see here that they hadn't even plowed the street yet, which made for much fun sled pulling.
Then we walked over to the sledding hill, and on the way back Anna and Henry plopped down on a hill for some angels. Helena took these photos and sent them to me...
On Saturday we finally remembered to get the snow igloo out. It took a little break last year- even though we had so much snow. If you'll remember there was pregnancy followed by baby, followed by pneumonia, which didn't lend itself to a lot of outdoor play.
Here is Henry introducing Anna to the igloo:
We drug it out to the front yard. Anna and I had to trek through knee-high drifts on the side of the house to bring it around.
It wasn't too cold out (yet!) so Clara came out for a little fresh air while Pete and Helena shoveled and I played with the kids.
How cute is this little snow baby? I hope this isn't the reason she has had a fever and ear infection...
Later the kids came in and played a little play-doh while Pete and Helena finished the shoveling, then we all had some chicken-spaghetti casserole. And that, in a back-and-forth way, brings us up to now. I think.

*And then, prolonging things even more, the news about that plane in the Hudson River came on while I was trying to post....