A White Christmas in Southtown?!

Mrs. C must have paid a visit to Mother Nature and they ganged up on Heat Meiser to allow snow in Southtown.  The first time since 1947!  This is our third White Christmas in a row.  Unprecedented!  Come to think of it, the snow must be due to one particular d!@# Yankee being down here this year for the first time.  We were home for Christmas this year and nature tried to make it feel like being at the old home.

C got us started this morning, coming into the bedroom to announce with enthusiasm that there were lots of presents around the tree.  I then had to come into the hall with him to look downstairs to see for myself. He then informed me that we would wait to open them, until Mommy and Mena were awake and we had breakfast.  But in the meantime, he would have a chocolate milk!  Remarkable self-discipline and planning.  MY BOY!

It was lots of fun to see him rip open his packages and cheer with delight to see what was inside.  And EVERYTHING was a big thrill.  M opened a pillow pet first and gave it a big hug.  Her big present was a rider that plays music.  It's really for outside, but she rode it all over the house and had a good ole time.

M also liked little E's presents and was not happy when we would not unbox them so that she could play with them.  Little E was so excited with the festivities that she slept through them.   Presumably so she could make sure that she could stay up at night...  Party on...

M's vocabulary has been increasing dramatically.  She likes to say "Dank you"--with a smile--when you hand her something.  She constantly surprises us with new "proto-words" she speaks.  The last few days, she has wanted to do the motions to "Itsy-bitsy spider."

We'll see if it keeps snowing.  The ground was wet before the snow, so it will have to snow quite a bit for any to stick.  C has already proposed that we skip church tomorrow so that he can build a snowman and throw snowballs.  He's planning on lots o' snow.  If we do get to play in the snow, we'll have posts two days in a row.  Talk about unprecedented...

And Now There Are Five

Ellie joined us at 7:03 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 21. Labor started at 5:20 a.m. T was not deterred; she went to church and sang in the choir while having contractions. After lunch, we called Oma and Opa to tell them "You might want to start packing." They had planned to arrive Monday, Nov. 29. We also called M & J to give them the heads up that C & M might be coming over to play. T spent most of the afternoon upstairs with blinds drawn in her dark Mommy cave, while E and the kids played outside in the sunshine and leaves. We arrived at the hospital around 5 and T was already fully effaced and dilated to 5 cm. She quickly got an epidural. When told by Dr. B that she was racing someone else down the hall, T sped up her contractions and had Ellie ready to go by the time Dr. B returned to check on her. In her downtime, T kept the world updated on Facebook. (Because if it is necessary for people to share daily minutia, sharing each contraction is critical.) 4 or 5 pushes and it was over. Thankfully, it was about as quick and easy as they come (esp. for me!) Then T wanted a cheeseburger!

The daughter of one of our friends, when told of Ellie's arrival, asked, "Is she Chinese or black or what?" An excellent question! Consistent with her brother and sister, Ellie does not at this point look like either her mother or father. So she fits right in with our motely crew!

Once C's school was done on Monday, Oma and Opa had arrived, and we all went to the hospital to meet baby sister. C got a chance to hold her. M was intrigued but didn't quit know what to make of the situation. When in doubt, cling onto Dad!

On her first dr's visit on Wed, Ellie had dropped some weight. So T got some advice from the dr and a "lactation technician" on how to feed her. These procedures worked fine until Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning when Ellie decided that she would rather sleep than stick to the prescribed schedule of the medical professionals. Of course, violating the orders of medicals professionals is not to be tolerated in this house, so a kind dr at our pediatrician's office agreed to come in to see Little E to spare us a trip to the emergency room. Once at the dr's office, Little E, of course, then decided that she was willing to eat and all was right with the world; we could return home and eat our Thanksgiving meal. Babies prefer sleeping to eating; Babies refuse to be put on a schedule; who knew?

And so opens the next chapter of life in the H household. This ought to be fun...

Sibling tour & Trunk or Treat

Ellie's arrival must be soon as this morning we took C&M to the hospital for a "sibling tour" of the maternity ward. C was very interested in looking at the babies. As he observed, "They're small." He also became our nurse guide's helper--anything that needed to be distributed to children or adults, he was there and had it done in no time. He also won the "diaper your stuffed animal" contest easily (photo below). He had diapered "mommy doggie" before the nurse had finished her instructions. He left everyone else in the dust. T observed that he must be paying attention when we diaper M as he certainly knew what to do!

C has been asking for a pumpkin, so we got a medium-sized one after lunch. C and I carved it when we got home. It was my first pumpkin carving since I was a kid. And it really made me feel like a Dad to do one for, and with, my son. I remember Mom always did great carvings--with expressions, teeth, I think I remember eyebrows too. I didn't try anything complicated but followed C's instructions for small eyes, a triangular nose and a round mouth. It won't win any artistic awards but it's competent, esp. for my first one. I didn't have to cover up any gaffs and both C and I retained all our digits (or, for cousin A, phalangies!!!). Since I'm likely to be carving a pumpkin yearly for well into the future, I'll have plenty of opportunities to hone my craft (or lose my fingers...).

This evening, Advent had its fall festival and Trunk or Treat. Attendance was great. They had lots of activities and games for kids. C, of course, loved the inflatible slides and bounce house. M liked the bounce house too. She couldn't walk on its floor but enjoyed just rolling around on it and getting bounced by the jumping of the bigger kids. C dressed as Iron man, M as Winnie the Pooh (see below). T made sure C collected candy for M too, though as M doesn't eat candy yet, it explains why C was consistently instructed to choose the candy that T likes. After dark, they had a fire pit and smores. C did a great job toasting the marshmellows as I tried to keep M from diving into the fire. I'll give her credit for persistence if not prudence! She also is refusing to let others feed her so she grabbed a smore and got gooey marshmellow over both hands and was fascinated by her ability to generate long strands of goo stretching between her hands. Some got wiped on me as I tried to get it off of her hands.


What a fun day! And tomorrow, the kids will go on the CROP walk with me, and then Trick or Treating in the neighborhood in the evening.

A fun day w/ Ba...

Well, C was in a "Mommy, take our picture" kind of mood...so, of course, I oblige. When the camera came a courtin', Miss M turned into a major ham & made her mission in life to become so fast that I would be unable to capture her digital image for posterity. Fortunately, the camera has a relatively quick shutter speed, so in the immortal words of Leo from Little Einsteins, "Mission Completion."

On a side note, today proved to be an interesting outing for the family. Our close friends, John & Wendy (aka Uncle John & Aunt Wendy to the kids), are moving to Savannah (*insert C pouty face by me*). So, to celebrate, we went to lunch at a local restaurant (very family friendly, w/ yummy food).

Miss M decided that absolutely no highchair could keep her contained, resulting in Ba (aka Dada) having to keep a squiggly toddler (who seemed to develop additional limbs, taking on an octopus persona) on his lap, feed said toddler, all the while trying to eat his reuben. Miss M rapidly decided lunch was done and chose to go on the lam - several times. With a rapidly expanding waistline, I have been unable to keep pace or remain on the lead lap with Miss M. Therefore, Ba bounced up and down (much like a weeble, wobble), laid chase to the heir to the Nascar Points Cup and chased our Speed Racer throughout the restaurant.

Laps led our driving diva behind the counter, as well as an attempted breakout through the front doors. Thankfully, Miss M turned on the charm. The counter employees were very understanding as Ba sprinted behind the counter and extricated Miss M before additional havoc could rein. C summized the situation best by saying (referring to Miss M and the employees), "Maybe her wants to help them work."

Miss M earned a new nickname - the Toddler Houdini, Miss Monkey, or Octo-toddler - take your pick.

Happy 1st Gotcha Day Mena!

We celebrated our one year anniversary with M today. She got two special treats: a piece of cake and a baby doll we got for her in Ethiopia. (When going through the bag of Gotcha Day gifts, I noticed the gifts are almost all for older children. So, while she's too young to remember receiving the same doll before, she may get it for a few more Gotcha Days. My grandmother would be proud: She loved to give recycled gifts and cards--and then would deny it and pretend to be insulted when you pointed it out.)

C was so excited when he got home from school today. His class had their first trip to the library. And he could not believe that they let him take a book home with him. But he also made sure that T and I understood that we had to return it next week. He and I sat down on the couch to read it right away. Until he decided that he wanted to look at the pictures first (though he did tell me what was happening). By the time he was done looking at the pictures, he was ready to play on the computer. But M had just arrived downstairs from her nap and plunked herself in my lap. So at least I got to read about Clifford to someone!

Labor Day at the Zoo

M has been very interested in animal flash cards and C's Big Backyard magazine so we decided to go the zoo for entertainment today. As we've already been to the NC zoo a few times, we went to the Riverside Zoo in Columbia, SC. It's smaller and more compact than the NC zoo which was generally a positive on a very hot day with young kids and a pregnant wife.

The kids had a good time, though C was consistently ready to see the next animal rather than the one we were actually viewing. He especially liked lion, the tiger, and meercat (oh my; wait, that's not how it goes...), and the fish--especially the sharks--at the aquarium. He was amused by the "laughing" macaws. The funniest scene occurred at the tiger area. The tiger was apace about and roaring regularly. So C, and then M, roared back him. He'd roar, they'd roar back--loudly. Cute. Lots of good pictures to see below.


M has discovered belly buttons and now randomly pulls up any of our shirts in order to poke our belly buttons. Her own is not as interesting for whatever reason. C is mystified by the innie vs. outie issue. T has attempted to save us from the one of the most important mysteries of life by explaining it to us. Fortunately, I didn't understand so it can remain a mystery to me. Maybe C understood as he hasn't asked again; or maybe he realized he really didn't want the answer. Many mysteries in life are that way...they are much more interesting when they are mysterious.

First Day of School! Ever!

C's big day went very well. Fortunately, we arrive at the bus stop early as the bus arrived six minutes early. Two other boys from the neighborhood got on at the same time and this gave C confidence to follow them up the steps and onto the bus. He had been telling us for weeks that we was scared of getting on the bus. We called goodbye to him and he turned to wave (see the photo below). Somehow we got through it without any of us bawling all over the place or C hanging onto our legs! It's one of those events in life that you seem to anticipate for so long, with such a mix of emotions and then it's over so quickly. The yellow bus swings around the corner. "There's the bus." The doors open, the kid gets on the bus and has to wait for the people ahead of him to get up the stairs. Then, zip, the bus is off and around the next corner. Probably 30 seconds max.

He brought home some drawings, said they played outside before lunch, and watched "Franklin." For lunch, he had chicken nuggets, chocolate milk, french fries and KETCHUP! As long as they have ketchup, we're okay...

The last few days M has crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip when she doesn't want to do something. It is quite humorous, nevertheless, it is a sign of what is to come...

One day of school done, somewhere between 13 and 22 years to go. Here's to a long and fruitful voyage!

Happy B-day, C

Today was C's birthday--though he denies it because there were no "candles". The candles and the first eating of the cake were last Saturday when Oma, Opa, Maw Maw, Kristy and Hannah could join us. We had a fun time feeding the animals at the Lazy 5 ranch. C's favorite animal was the ostrich because they came right up to the wagon, put their heads over the railing and ate right out of the buckets.

We had lunch at the Chik-fil-a in Mooreville. The staff was great, allowing us to bring in a cake. They brought the cow (who appreciated the chance to come inside the air conditioning after a few hours waving at cars outdoors). M screamed and giggled with delight at the sight of the cow, but would lean away as he approached. C, who is usually scared of costumed creatures, was full of high-fives for the bovine. The manager allowed C to ring a cow bell and led the patrons in singing Happy Birthday.

After a year of claiming that he would be 5 on his next birthday, when several people asked him today how old he is, he replies "4." When I gave him a look, he revised: "6." Somewhere in there. Math was never my thing either.

M was pleased to receive a visit from Bella in her room today. As Bella left, M followed her. This is not unusual. The twist was her singing the song we use to find C when playing hide and seek (to the tune of Frere Jacques)--and the words were almost clear: "Where is Bella? Where is Bella?"

This will be funny when you're 12

We were scheduled to have the first showing of our house tonight so spent a considerable part of the day recleaning and decluttering an already clean and decluttered house. The showing was 6-7 pm so we went out to dinner. About 6:30, Aunt K calls to say the ADT had called her to say that our security alarm had gone off. T turns to me, "Did you set the alarm on?" Before I can say no, C chimes in enthusiastically "I pushed the button!" Doh! He had wanted to push the button to unlock the car doors and apparently pushed buttons on the other fob as well. I've pushed the buttons on the wrong fob myself so its easy to see how this would happen. Nevertheless...groan...

New words

Most families make a big deal over a child's "first word." This is proving somewhat difficult for us as T and I are unable to reach consensus on the standards for an utterance constituting a word. T counts "da da" as the first word. I reject this because, for a long while, M called any object "da da." I was "da da" but so was C, the neighbor's dog, birds outside, etc. By my reasoning "duck" is the first word--although the uncertainty here is that she isn't refering to a web-footed quacker, but patting her head to play "Duck, duck, goose" (see earlier post). Regardless of which word counts as first, we do agree on the order of the words that have followed: ball, Bela (pronounced Bel-Wa), and most recently, dog. Bela of course is the cat and T is most unhappy that M has said the cat's name before "ma ma". (Despite T's coaching her to say "ma ma". M's response to such coaching is to shake her head no.)

M has discovered where Bela's cat treats are kept in the pantry and when the door is open will grab them, hold them over her head and march to the couch in den--behind which Bela is usually sleeping or hiding--and wave them around. M's logic, I suppose, is that a cat will come to play with a shreeking baby waving a plastic container in hopes that the baby will be able to open the container and provide a yummy cat treat. Genetically a cat, Bela is able to ignore such logic, resist the temptation of a treat, a look at M with mild annoyance ("you woke me up for this. I would pity humans but it's not worth the effort.")

C's new word is girlfriend. He took a fancy to one of the high school girls who taught his class at Vacation Bible School this week. Fri afternoon he drew her a picture. Unfortunately, she wasn't in church this morning for him to deliver it. We asked him why she was his girlfriend. He replied "She's bootiful and she's nice to me." Two excellent reasons! The Vietnamese Valentino is now stateside.