Your first month home

To Blake:

I took this picture of you when you were one month old, doing what you like to do best--sleep. Unfortunately, you don't like to sleep for very long periods as eating is the other thing you like to do best. Your best sleep of the day is from about 6:00 am to 9:00 am. But, we're working on this. Just last night you slept from 10:15 to 1:00 am!

So far, your best talent is making various loud noises, including groans, grunts, and toots. Hence, your nickname is Grumpy McTooty (or Grumpy McFarty is Faith isn't around). Your other big talent is bopping your head around...I can't believe how much you want to look around when you are awake.

Your sister is constantly hugging you, kissing you, and holding you. She's also started making you bracelets and crowns. Hopefully you will still like the hugs and kisses when you're older and forgive the "dress-up" aspects of her fascination with you. Her new excuse for not liking school is "I don't get to see Blake enough."


You still have to be patient with me as I have yet to figure out how to change your diaper without having you pee all over the place. So far, you've peed in your face and on your hair (much to the delight of Faith). Your dad has no problem with this...I'm assuming it's because he's more familiar with the equipment.

You've definitely fit right in to our family...I'd forgotten what it was like to have a newborn in the house. The sleeplessness, the diapers, the distinct newborn cry...the super-soft hair and skin, the fascination with all your little facial expressions, the surprise of seeing your eyes open for more than a few minutes. We all can't wait to see what happens next.

Let it snow!

Faith's been enjoying the snow banks in front of our house. Considering we had almost no snow until mid-January, I think we've more than made up for it. She's also been working at keeping her snow fort in good shape since Nana left, although it's been a losing battle the last few days with the amount of snow we've received. They even cancelled the buses on Wednesday.

Happy Valentine's Day

Faith got Blake an "I Love You" pillow for Valentine's Day (even though she gave it to him in January...she "couldn't wait"). I took a couple of shots of the kids with the pillow, for posterity.

Blake George

On Tuesday, January 16th at 11:47 pm the newest member of our family arrived. I'd like to say right on time, but he decided to be like his sister and come out at 33 weeks...although he outlasted her by two days. He did, however, show off his mother's genetic heritage by being born over a pound bigger than his sister and was quite large for his age at 5 lbs 2 oz. He was 18 inches long.

He gets lots of comments on his hair, which is brown with blond tips. Just like he went to the hairdresser for highlights before he was born. We'll see how long it lasts, but it seems to be getting lighter each day.

33 weeks pregnant

George took this picture of me on Sunday, two days before Blake was born so you can see just how big (or small) I was when he was born.

School trip

When Faith got back to school after Christmas, we found out that the kids were going on a field trip to the local arena for a morning of skating. I volunteered to go and help tie skates...you can imagine what taking two classes of 5 year olds skating can be like.

The morning of the trip, Faith informed me at breakfast that "Daddy said to make sure you don't go on the ice." Sheesh!

Anyway, the trip was fun for everyone (although laughable for me trying to get around my pregnant belly while tying skates :). The kids were quite amazing. They ranged from pro skaters to never been on blades.

Faith did a great job. She skated around and around and around and around, thanks to a little help from the "kid bars" at the arena. She even skated by herself for a bit (with a little help from her teacher).

Generation gap

Faith is definitely growing up with a different perspective on pop culture than we had. We started reading Charlotte's Web this week as we're planning to see the movie tomorrow night. But, for the first few days, she called the book "Charlotte's Web Site".

The week before, George had been excited that Charlie Brown's Christmas was on TV. He wanted Faith to be just as excited and told her at supper that they could watch Charlie Brown's Christmas Special that night. Faith's response?

"Who's Charlie Brown?"