Happy 2010

Nana and Poppa came for a visit for New Years - and the kids basked in the attention.

Spencer got to go to a Blackhawks game with Daddy and Poppa (and posed before the game):

Teddy got his second haircut, and we took the twins to California Pizza Kitchen afterwards:

And I've borrowed some of the pictures from Nana & Poppa's camera:

Spencer and Daddy reading:

Spencer does some playing:

Spencer and Poppa:

Poppa fed the twins:

Spence shows off his cars:

Daddy and Spencer played some football:

Happy New Year

Christmas, 2009

So Christmas was, um, almost a month ago. Many photos were taken, a turkey was smoked, and approximately a gazillion presents were opened.

Unfortunately we had a bit of the bubonic plague the week before the holiday. (Ok, fine, it was just some random virus that gave Spencer 48 hours of throwing up, then Teddy a good solid week of fever-plus-no-will-to-live-itis, followed by red eyes, then finally Lizzie and me a quick few days of the same. Fun was had by all.) So poor Ted wasn't quite at his best for the festivities, but he made enough of a recovery to enjoy stockings and such.


Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, so Spencer helped Grandma make some pancakes.




This unfortunate "winter" thing continued - the silver lining is that Spencer and Grandpa could build a (diminutive) snowman. Bonus: he's still almost the same height, several weeks later!

I've heard that some people do something called "baking" for the holidays - Grandma brought sugar cookies with and Spencer helped decorate. He was enthusiastic in adding sprinkles, but wanted us to remove them before he ate the cookies. And, at least the first day, he only licked the frosting off - no need to dilute it with a cookie, thanks!

Lizzie discovered climbing just in time for the holidays. And look! Someone put these handy colorful stools just below the tree she'd like to pull down!

Teddy had mostly recovered by Christmas Eve, happily. The sweaters, incidentally, are an extremely fun (handmade!) gift from Grandma.

Spencer helped set the table! He didn't eat anything, however. Ah, well. There's always next year.

Wheelbarrow!

Teddy found the cookies that Santa didn't finish. Yes, he was feeling better just in time for Christmas.

It's Slinky! It's Slinky! for fun, and love, and Joy!
It's Slinky! It's Slinky! It's fun for a girl and a boy...

Important to get your look just right for Christmas day.

Ta Da! (Another sweater from Grandma! One that has been worn pretty regularly since Christmas.) The bunny hand puppet has been quite a hit - I'm not sure why, but all 3 kids crack up whenever we make the bunny sing or talk.

Who invited the Irish warrior guy? Good thing he's appeased by a Guinness.

Spencer plays Connect-4 with Grandpa.




Yes, it looked like Christmas exploded in the living room.

Farewell 2009

Catching up quickly... the last of the pre-holiday photos.

Skating lessons!

Poor Teddy - he's not adapting too quickly to the only-one-nap-a-day plan.

New House

The new house is working out just fine so far.





And we are taking every possible opportunity to play outside while the weather permits.







There are three definite cases of coughing and sniffles in the house (five, if you count adults. I haven't heard the cats coughing yet, but I assume it's only a matter of time.) So I wasn't surprised that Teddy was waking up regularly - but when I was checking the progress of his eighth tooth yesterday, I found that 2 new molars had sprouted, in addition!

So, for the first time, Lizzie is losing the tooth count battle with her brother! She doesn't seem too disturbed.

October

If I wait for coherence to strike, it may take years before I post again. So pictures, instead.

Happy Halloween, from Spiderman, a puppy, and a fire fighter!

So, we've had an eventful month.

We've learned to climb things, like boxes:

And stairs:

And - we acquired a back yard! With a tether ball! Note that every time Lizzie gets a good whack at the ball, it ends up hitting her in the head.

So, we're now suburbanites. And the blog name is an anachronism.

As Teddy is reading, Urban Babies Wear Black - and apparently suburban babies wear lilac.

The new house is lovely - 1890's, lots of good woodwork, and separate bedrooms for the kids (well, the twins are still sharing, but eventually we'll probably separate them.) I'm pretty sure we'll even finish unpacking someday.

And - a four-year-old I know lost a tooth! (Note that the red around his mouth is spaghetti sauce, not blood.) It came out during a wrestling session with another boy, and they never found the tooth itself - since it didn't hurt much, and didn't bleed much, we're assuming it was a natural occurance, and his adult tooth will show up sooner or later. Though obviously we'll take him to the dentist one of these days to be sure.

We decorated the new house.

Also - Lizzie had a minor surgery to remove a dermoid cyst over her right eye - the picture below shows the worst of the swelling. I have to say, she was a champ throughout - we thought she would be shy around the strangers, but she smiled and chatted with them like there was no problem. She was pretty grumpy when she woke up after the surgery, but we left an hour later, and she slept through the car ride home - and after we got home, I think she just never acted like it bothered her at all.

Happy birthday RB! Banana cheesecake was enjoyed by all.

Improbably, Wimsey still seems to enjoy the attention he receives. Most of the time.

And that's all for now.

1-year-olds

Just a quick post - I can't just let my babies' first birthday pass totally without a picture or two! (Technically I guess I did, since the birthday finished 23 hours ago. But I'm very close to being on time!)

An announcement, too, for those who haven't heard: we're moving! In 3 days, movers will show up bright and early, load up all our earthly possessions, and move us out to the nearby 'burbs. Keeping 3 kids in one room is a bit challenging, so we're looking forward to spreading out, and sending the kids out to play in the yard. I'll send out an email with revised contact info at some point.

Anyway... the accumulated photos - friend A has been around for much of the summer, which has been lovely:




Bubbles!

First day of school... I probably wouldn't have gone all-navy for clothing, but he picked clothes himself.

And - a White Sox game with Daddy! (Note a bit of an ice cream mustache.)

And babies, now one-year-olds!

The level of activity has become somewhat alarming - we finally invested in, well, basically a plastic cage. Because Teddy has an alarming tendency to play with cleaning supplies he finds in cupboards, and Lizzie loves stairs. As long as they don't notice they're locked in, they don't mind the playpen so much.

I think one of Teddy's new teeth is visible in this picture. He now has 6, tied with Lizzie - but both of them are probably going to be getting two more in the next month or so. Sigh.

Finally: sugar! Lizzie, as per usual with food, focused on neatly transferring it from tray to mouth. Teddy focused on spreading a thin layer of chocolate over the entire living room (and, as a bonus, he got quite a bit in the tub when I gave him a bath later.)

Happy birthday sweeties!

Michiana!

Before vacation, a rite of passage for every young boy: haircut! Teds wasn't thrilled with someone wielding scissors near him:

And afterwards: what a handsome little guy! My babies are pretty much gone: little toddlers, almost.

We rented a house on Birch Lake, in the southwest corner of Michigan ("Michiana" is the term used, for the counties around South Bend, Indiana.) It was a lovely lake, and we rented a lovely home, with two docks just right for fishing, and a shallow area just right for swimming. It came well-equipped with grandparents, as well - all four were around for at least part of the week, to Spencer's great joy.

Unfortunately, the weather was only warm and dry enough to swim for part of the week - but it was just right for fishing! (A real fisherman doesn't mind the rain.)

Spencer learned the important basics: How to exaggerate the size of the fish you caught, and the ferocity of the one that got away. How to avoid messy associated activities like putting the worm on the hook ("I'm not allowed to touch worms!") and cleaning the fish ("Oh no, we won't eat it, we always let the fish go back home!")

In fact, he was so successful he won a trophy! Which now sits proudly on the headboard of his bed, even though most home staging professionals would advise that we put it away until the house sells.

There was a canoe at the cabin, and some friends showed up with kayaks, so everyone got out on the water a bit.

Even me! (Spence took the picture - though I may have leveled the horizon a bit in Photoshop.)

Grandma made a trip or two out on the lake:






And the pictures are small, but I think Daddy and Grandpa are in two of these:

The swimming was lovely, while the weather lasted:

The twins... well, due to their new-found ability to get anywhere, and their continuing desire to eat everything, I was pretty nervous whenever we took them outside. They were pretty-much stroller-bound after I found Lizzie taste-testing rocks. Plus - rain! So mostly they hung out indoors.


Aunt S keeps testing my assertion that it's tough to carry them both at once:

They each climbed stairs. Or rather, they climbed one stair, and then fell back down and screamed. Repeatedly. It was fun.

Patty-cake! Over and over! With occasional versions of "We Will Rock You" for variety.



Teddy gets the haircut - but Lizzie gets the pretty ribbons. Which end up on the floor as soon as she notices them. But you know, we make an effort.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoy the patio:

The grandmothers admire Spencer's muscles:

And finally, and early 1st birthday! Three weeks early, but with family gathered it seemed like a good idea. And it looks like we're packing up and moving a few days after the actual birthday, which makes it a bad time for a celebration any bigger than a cupcake or two.

It's hard to see in this picture - but Lizzie was a bit confused about the whole procedure. My girl who eats cat food was hesitant to put frosting in her mouth. Teddy, on the other hand, got fully into the spirit of the thing, and was covered in frosting still the next day.

Flying by

Summer is flying by. It's disturbing, actually... we finally had our first hot weekend, and suddenly I'm seeing trees with bits of red and yellow.





A tisket, a tasket....





Yes, this is just a bit posed. Not totally Anne Geddes, though - they were playing with the basket, so I figured I'd pop them in and see what happened. (The cheeriness in the pictures was short-lived.)






No, it isn't possible for 3 kids to look at the camera at the same time.

The twiddlebugs are totally, terrifyingly mobile by now. Lizzie opens and closes things repeatedly, until her fingers get pinched. I ended up blocking the fireplace with a toy box, because I really don't need ash everywhere.

"Hey! No fair! How come she gets clothing that's convenient for eating and I don't?"

The glamor shots are only somewhat ruined if the front of your shirt is covered in drool and food.

I seriously hope that the amount of drool and flushed faces I'm seeing recently means more teeth soon. We're currently at 10 down, 30 to go - Lizzie leads by 2 teeth.

If someone gets a phone, everyone gets a phone. Yes, they do acidentally dial people from time to time, though usually it's just the recorded message beeping and telling us that the number they dialed is not valid.

For the last few years, we've spent a weekend with friends just up across the border in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. This year I didn't take any pictures at all - turns out that chasing after the young 'uns in an un-baby-proofed environment makes messing with a camera kind of hard.

However - our hosts got lots of great ones, so I'll borrow a few:

We undressed the twins, and got the swim diapers on, and slathered on the sunscreen, and inflated the little baby floater thingies, and we were ready to go in the water! Then, they screamed every time the water touched them for a good 10 minutes, before we gave up and went back to the shade.

However, someone wasn't scared of the water - Spencer isn't quite a proper swimmer yet, but I think if we can get some good water time, he will be soon.

The stairs down the hill to the dock - note that we did not carry the babies down the hundred stairs.

Finally, a boat ride! Unfortunately, the babies haven't been sold on the necessity of a life jacket yet.

And.... back home.
I tried to get her to wear the glasses, no dice.

Kitty! Poor Wimsey... between being old and tired, and being sadly in need of attention, he puts up with quite a bit. And he doesn't use the claws until he's taken a fair amount of (loving) abuse. Lizzie has a much easier time catching him than Spencer did 3 years ago.

Rub-a-dub-dub.... note that Spencer has decreed that Teddy is the butcher, Lizzie is the baker, and he is the candlestick maker. (Though I don't think he'd argue if Liz and Teddy switched.)

Apparently the twins don't dislike water per se, they simply prefer that it be heated and indoors, and it's helpful if big brother is around to show how much fun it is.

O Canada

Of course, we're good patriotic citizens of 2 countries. And Spencer and I, at least, are quite fond of blowing things to smithereens. Which made it a bit odd that we managed to spend Canada's national holiday home in Chicago, and the 4th up north of the border, with no fireworks either day.



However, Spencer and his Nana did manage to conjure up a patriotic cake:

And, before dinner, after grace, Spencer added the pledge of allegiance. Plus, after we watched the DC fireworks later that night, he exuberantly announced "Those were the best fireworks I've seen in years!" Always good to have your 4-year-old getting nostalgic about years past.

Lots of baseball. Teddy and Lizzie are getting to the point where they really want to play ball.

Of course, mostly they just sit on Mom's lap and cheer on their big brother.

Plus: the cottage! Every minute not spent fishing is clearly a waste of time.

The morning I made it out on the boat with the guys, Spencer caught 12 fish! Of course, Poppa put the worm on the hook, and cast, and unhooked the fish. But Spencer reeled like a pro, and once he held a fish, until it flopped out of his hand!

And the kiddios pretty much played and charmed their way back and forth across southern Ontario.

Spencer had a quick ride in Uncle R's ATV: (um, not Teddy. This pose was just for photo purposes!)

Out at the campfire, before bed. The bug spray was extremely important.

Woah, who is that?

And the tradition of wearing funny hats in Ontario continues:

June

I have to admit, June in Chicago wasn't the meltingly-hot time it often is. Which was fine. Really, the only disappointing bit is the large number of cute outfits for Lizzie almost never got worn: the twins pretty much both shot past the 9-month size, and I think it rained the whole week the outfits might have fit.

Last week we had the 9-month checkup (2 weeks late, actually.) They're both good-size babies now, switching from the special high-calorie formula to the regular stuff. Lizzie is a solid 20-pounder, and Teddy is catching up, at 19.5. Their height impresses me more, actually - Lizzie is 29 inches long (75-90th percentile!), Teddy is 28.5, but big brother Spencer was only 28 inches at that age! So we're officially ignoring the 5-week-preemie status now - on to worrying about other things.

Finally, photos!

Here's Grandma and Teddy, in the last pic from May's visit:




Lizzie, then Teddy, on the swing:

This chair is no longer a safe resting spot. Also, note the long sleeves - it's freakin' summer!

On the floor rolling all the time now:

Bathtime - I've since stopped using the seats:

At Spencer's graduation - from the first year of pre-school. Yes, it's possible there are a few too many commencements for kids these days. But it was a cute ceremony.

We had our floors refinished, and so spent a week in the Hyatt downtown (used Priceline for the first time - the room rate was great, but the hotel's fees for parking and sundries were not.) Chicago was the kids' oyster - however, it was a rainy, grey version of Chicago, which wasn't nearly as much fun.

Plus, Teddy's first two teeth led to lots of this:

Good thing he's cute. Because seriously, kid. There's no way that growing teeth hurts more than childbirth.

Good sleeper:

And the big kid (plus a change in hotel). Who spent a nontrivial portion of the week wanting to go home, and when we got home started complaining that he missed the hotel.

Bed head:

They don't match too often. At least when they do match, it's in outfits that are 2 months out of date. We can't have too much fashion in our household.

Back home.... ooh! a cat!

A rare sundress-worthy day. When I put this on Lizzie, her big brother said, unprompted, "She looks like a princess!" I guess they're teaching princess clothes to them in preschool? (I was going for a woodland fairy look, actually. But, you know, whatever.)

The guys, hanging out on the sofa:

Now the twins are sitting and rolling and scooting and there's no keeping them still. And no counting on anything left on the floor remaining uninvestigated.

Yep, it's time for the baby gates.