Day Two of Videos

Justin and I were trying to wake up S for burping.  It didn't go too well, as you can see.  We had already been doing this for several minutes before we started videoing.  Prior to the camera, S was actually grinning at Jessie when she yelled at him.

Brother and Sister

I don't always put videos online, because I don't often watch them myself.  I guess I am not patient enough.  Still, I meant to post this on Valentine's Day.  Yes, I am a tad bit behind lately.  The second video is another one from M and GQ.  They are such good friends.  While I have been pregnant forever, and I don't have room in my car, and pretty much it would be insane... I would love to have siblings that were as close as they are again.  They tend each other for the majority of the day and really enjoy each other.  Don't worry, everybody has voted 'no' to that particular bit of craziness on my part.  

Because Grandma says I haven't put any new pictures up lately, which just so happens to be true...

Below is a picturesque version of M's favorite activity... which is rubbing her hair into baby's face.  I am not quite sure why this is her version of "I love you" and we've discussed that S may not enjoy having her hair in his face, but it seems strangely instinctual, and she does it all the time.

(At the hospital, the pediatrician on call informed me that my children were not allowed to kiss the baby.  I am SOOOO good at following rules and being told what to do.)

This "lovey" was given me by a good friend in the MBA program when I admired her son's.  Unfortunately, GQ had already chosen his favorite blankets.  I have started early with S so that he will love this cute mini-blanket.

S spends his time among us.  He takes all his naps surrounded by screaming banshees and regular day activities.  When it is quiet at night, he is very confused and doesn't go to sleep as easily.  Justin has suggested taping some screaming/fights/playing time and letting him listen to it at night. 

Actually clean after a bath.  His hair is much lighter when it is not greasy :)

Correction

Things I do not correct at my house:

When M calls Las Vegas "Las Gevas"

When E says "Expecially" instead of "Especially."

Things GQ does correct:

When I call him "sweetie."

He says: "No, I am Guapo Grant."

Give me a P O P U L A R.

On the way to school this morning, E announced that a certain girl at school was very popular,and she didn't know why. Since a main goal of mine with school is to not insert my strangeness (which is manifold) into E's consciousness, I said "What is popular?" E informed me that this is when everyone knows who you are. I asked how she felt about this, and she said "Fine, but I am running out of friends."

Hmmmm.

I believe this is when I - as the mother - am supposed to have some enlightening advice to give.

But hello - this is me.... nerd central. I'm pretty sure that only popular people produce popular children, so my kids are pretty much out of luck. Not exactly the kind of happy information to be sharing in carline.

Not that I want them to be popular. But I would like E to have one really good friend to go about being normal and well-adjusted with. As far as I can tell, the closest option for this is one girl who will play with E in the classroom (they are both "readers" and so they like to write stories and such) but ditches her on the playground. Since this often reminds me of my West High days, I don't have much fondness toward this fair weather friend - a fact I have kept to myself (and forced Justin to hear in late night long-winded speeches.)

But all this inner - and useless - dialogue aside... what am I supposed to say.

Is E bossy and a little intense? Yes, but she has enough of a complex about this and I've decided to lay off it for awhile.

Does E wear extremely strange outfits? Yes, and I'm sure she looks funny, but I really don't want to start dressing for peers at age 6.

Does E read at a pretty high level for her age? Yes, and I've seen how this bothers other kids myself. But I'm not going to tell her to go read in the corner.

So, how do I teach her to seek out that one good friend who cares about the right things? And how do I tell her to be that kind of friend when she is 6 and is prone to normal 6 year old fits and obsessions? And what do I say to her in the meantime?

Frankly, I've got nothing.

This morning...

... E informed me she felt sick.

E often does this. E's version of an anxiety attack is to either feel like she is going to throw up or to have extremely itchy feet.

I told E that I could not tell if she was really sick and that she had to decide "which kind it was". She decided she was just nervous, and went to school.

I got home.

I got three children out of their carseats.

I fed S.

I luckily did not get M and GQ in the tub as quickly as I had planned.

The phone rang.

E had thrown up at school.

So.... I put on jeans and a sweatshirt, wiped off my eyes, made M put on a sweater to hide her pajamas, made GQ put boots over his sleeper jammies even though they squished his toes, and put S back in his carseat (can't be more constrictive than a womb... can it?) and off we went.

When we got home and I got everyone out again, I debated trying to accomplish all those things on my list or sitting on the heater vent and reading a book. Can't the day just be a lost cause at 9:00?

In furtherance of this theory I decided to finally eat my breakfast.

So what if it was a pint of Ben and Jerry's Phish food Justin gave me for Valentine's Day?

I bet it makes good milk.

Bath time:

Go out in the cold time:

Hang out on Aunt Becky's blanket time:

My Crazy Photo Shoot

A few newborn photos.  S was a good sport and let me bug him for way too long.

Alfalfa

Just add the pokey-up hair in the back and you'd have Alfalfa from the Little Rascals.

Of course, we think this one is cuter.

Baby Brover

Grandma's Oldest and Youngest

Samson Brim Nelson

11/26/1992

Spencer Harmon Wood

1/30/2012

More Photos

Just photos today...

Instagram photos:

Coming home from the hospital:

Hanging out in his laundry basket (a boy needs some protection from the swooping of siblings):

Sleeping:

Aunt Penny's package at the hospital:

Snuggling in the hospital bed:

The bulbs bloom when the baby arrives:

Flowers from Grandma Paula and Grandpa Mark:

A Name

We have named baby... Spencer Harmon Wood.

I also put up all the posts I wrote before the baby was born.

Hair

Normally I cut GQ's hair:

And actually, I do an okay job.  I don't buzz his hair, I cut it.  And I've always liked it.  This last time though... it was a little cold outside when I was cutting and GQ didn't want to sit outside any longer.  So, we missed a few parts of his hair.

Okay, we missed a lots of parts of his hair.  And maybe I'll have to buzz it to get it back to normal again, but we get some really good hairstyles off of this little cut:

This, however, is my personal favorite:

Which is why we took the picture in Church.... shhhhhh.  GQ was most excited about his tie - which is only slightly pictured - but which he is obsessed with.  He notices nothing out of the ordinary about his hair.

(I'm thinking he looks like Kevin Bacon from "Footloose"?  What do you think?)

Squinkies

For Christmas, E and M received some squinkies.  GQ has been sorrowing every since.  Normally they let him play with "The Sea Witch" and that is it.  So, on one of our dates Justin and I looked to see if we could buy some $4 squinkies that were for boys.  No such luck.  They do have "boy squinkies" online, but they are more than $4.  Which is a bit too much for squinkies, since they get lost quite often anyway.

With that said, it suddenly occurred to me that I did have a box of old-school Polly Pocket sized Star Wars toys:

Which means that now Han Solo and Luke Skywalker play with Ariel....

And GQ has some great light-saber options.  Who needs squinkies?