Busy Bee

I'm coming to the slow realization (although I'm not sure I've fully accepted it yet) that Jack Peter is not, in fact, going to be a mellow little guy. He is a wiggler, a scooter, a fall out of the bouncy-seater, rolling, busy little man. Buddy man fights sleep like it's going out of style (and then WHAM, he's out). It's almost as if he's afraid of missing something. He's mostly a happy fellow but when he wants something, he gets MAD with his little smile dissolving quickly into a pout and then into a wail. He'll grace you with a belly laugh or an enormous slobbery grin... and then upchuck a big wad of goo... and then smile some more. He's an entertainer, a social dude, and is Molly's #1 fan. We'll see where this all shakes out as his little personality develops but methinks that I might have another busy body on my hands.

Here He Comes... Mr. America

It's official, Jack has an eensy weensy passport and record of a birth abroad so he's officially a US citizen. Originally we thought he would have to give up his Canadian citizenship when he reached adulthood but, upon further reading, this isn't the case. Poor guy, I think he's really conflicted about who to cheer for in the Olympics this year. Despite that hardship, the nice thing for us now is that since now Jack is a passport holder, we can fly in and out of the country instead of having to hoof it across the border and fly out of Seattle.

As a side note, if anyone else is thinking of having a baby out of country may I suggest that you start the paperwork for the report of birth abroad now. Surprisingly, it's not particularly long or complex but you must list (and I'm not kidding) the PRECISE dates of your physical presence in the US. Doesn't seem too hard at first glance until you realize that any vacations you have taken, any time studying abroad, any mad dashes to Montreal in college -- you're supposed to have all those times filed away somewhere to the day. We did find out from our friendly consulate worker, however, that the State Department has "ways" of checking on these things (I think this was supposed to make us feel better and he was telling us that as long as we got the bulk of dates in the right ballpark, we were okay. I'm not sure I felt better, though. I'm pretty sure I felt Big Brother staring down at me). In any event, start that list now or save all your old passports.

Here is the shiny new American... smiling the only way he ever does, with his mouth wide open.

Egg Head

toddler who has figured out how to open the refrigerator door

+

absent mom due to baby diaper change

_____________________________________________

scrambled eggs

what? who? me?

Blaze of Glory

The Olympic torch came through Penticton yesterday and we joined in on some of the local festivities (these folks enjoy a good parade) to celebrate its journey to Vancouver. The energy was pretty infectious and it made us all excited for the Games (John even watched figure skating the other night without a peep of protest). If anyone remembers, I love the Olympics. L.O.V.E. them. I was excited to see the torch, too, and it even got passed (it changes hands every 300 meters) right in front of where we were standing. We walked down to the Events Centre to watch some of the other stuff after the torch passed by and there were lots of fun things happening there too -- freestyle aerial demonstrations, figure skating, and everyone's favorite, curling.

The munchkins had no idea what was happening but Molly was psyched to wave a flag and even tried to get Jack into the flag waving (aka eye poking outing) excitement.

Jack showed off his Olympic gear. One of my friends here is a former Olympian herself so she felt it was her duty to outfit the smallest member of the group.

Flame passing... those other dudes are security, of which there was quite a bit. The guy who was receiving the flame was an Ironman so I'm pretty sure he could have beaten away any would-be hooligans on his own.

Waving our little hearts out. That's John's building in the back.

The excitement is clearly building

Festivities down at the Events Centre. I'm also rubbing in our gorgeous weather just a little bit...

Little Miss Bossy Pants

I think I need to get Molly this book:

I'm constantly in the doghouse... I often hear "no, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama... THIS one" or "no, over THERE". Trying to stay a step ahead of her is an exercise in futility. Tonight, I watched her very diligently move her chairs around her table like she was setting up for the Queen's wedding (Sarah, feel free to hire her for seating assignments). She was a (wo)man with a plan and you could either follow directions or stay the heck out. Thankfully, John also hears about it from the direction diva too. The other weekend (on our eclectic outfit day) she had to set him straight on a couple of things...

Molly is training John how to be a Shriner

Trying to trick out her new bike (thanks Holly)

It was her way or the highway.

Sibling Non-Rivalry

It appears that sunnier days are here again (actually, it IS nice and sunny today) and, thankfully, we've all had a much better end of the week than beginning. So, back to my attempts to get some good pictures of the munchkins. I wanted to get a good one of them together because they've been pretty funny with each other lately. Jack is in love with Molly and has now allocated his biggest smiles for her. Molly, likewise, seems to genuinely enjoy having him around (except when she's in a melt down mode. When that happens I'm not sure even her imaginary friend Maya can bring her out of it [and Maya is the big gun around here these days]). She brings him toys and is basically doing what we hope for when you have more than one child. The other day they were having a good ol' time together and I really wanted to get a picture of the cuteness. They, however, had other plans. Jack was interested in perfecting his body building look -- Mr. No Neck -- and Molly was interested in singing Wheels on the Bus (shocking). Neither of them were really interested in putting on their cute faces and cooperating with the photo shoot.

The Beefcake and the Warbler:

Bringing Jack some toys is pretty cool, but I'm not sure all of them are age appropriate...

Giraffe? Sure, why not.

Soap? Not really sure about that.

Saw from Molly's tool set? Not such a good idea. Next up? A bag o' glass.

Better Late Than Never

I had another post up and ready to go and but this has been rolling around in my head for awhile and I'd really like this not to be what I'm focused on again when I'm up feeding Jack at 3 am. Despite my mini-breakdown yesterday, I can't quite reconcile my relatively trivial issues with the gravity of what's happening in Haiti. Also, since this is a record of some of the events early in Jack and Molly's lives, it felt hard to ignore an event of this magnitude (yes, I know I'm a little slow to finally be writing about this). More to the point, if anyone is still looking for an organization to give money to to support relief efforts, Partners in Health is a very, very worthy option, in my opinion.

The work that these folks do, combating health problems in the world's poorest countries by partnering with the local, indigenous populations, is inspirational and the task is awesome in size. PIH has been in Haiti for over 25 years and while some criticized their model as unsustainable, the longevity of their health clinics seem to have proved the skeptics wrong. Making my money have some real impact was important to me (and there are obviously many, many groups that through which this could be accomplished) and since there is already infrastructure and a knowledge base present with these people (this has been more than a one time shot for me. I'm a little obsessed with this organization), it made sense for me to funnel a donation through them. A bonus is that you can make your donation in honor of someone so I made mine in honor of Molly and Jack.

Charitable giving is very important to many of us and it's a legacy that I want to pass on to my kids. Granted, they have no idea what's going on now but like with so many parenting lessons, I think it's better to start incorporating into their lives now so that it's a given rather than an exception. Now, this is obviously an exceptional event but I want it to be a natural reaction to give more when something like this happens. Sometimes it's not possible to give a monetary donation, I get that, so the gift of time or in kind donations are always an option. I'm sort of thinking that no one will have much use for Molly and Jack's time right now so a monetary donation seemed to make more sense.

I'm most definitely, definitely not trying to make this a holier than thou post. I'm guessing that I hit the send button on my donation later than other people. Nonetheless, if Colby taught me nothing else, they did teach me that you can't raise money unless you ask. I figured if I didn't put this out there, I didn't do everything I could do.

Thanks for reading... thankfully, we have the luck and ability to go back to our regularly scheduled programs shortly.

And That's A Wrap

Muchos gracias to everyone for your phone calls, comments, and emails. Writing and getting some encouraging words was SO SO helpful. Those things combined with some bad TV, a big glass(es) of wine (much as I wanted to partake at 5pm east coast time, I did wait until later), and some popcorn really helped to make the day bearable in the end. Okay, and some retail therapy. I won't lie. I don't know that I feel better about things but at least we can close the book on today and go on with tomorrow.

You were all right, though. Molly gave me big snuggles after her nap and I got lots of these from my little man:

Perfect Storm

Today is one of those days where I fear I may pass out if I take any more deep breaths. I've already put myself in a mom time-out, put a pink hat on Jack just to get out of the house quickly (so that some energy can dissipate into the great blue yonder), snapped at Molly, and have had to consciously stop doing battle with her to wear a shirt (let me tell you, she's got a sweet outfit on today. Topless for much of the morning, that's my style). The hard part is that I realize that a lot of this is my fault. She's two -- what the hell does she know? Two means being impulsive, frustrated, possessive, fickle, and having a rapidly changing mind. Being thirty-two does not mean I get to do or be those things (but it does mean that I need a cup of coffee before I start my day without being a lunatic. That, unfortunately, didn't really happen today). It's drizzly, chilly, and dark outside -- the universe is {clue dramatic music and be forewarned, there is some hyperbole happening here} so very clearly against us.

Jack also has not felt like being put down today, has spit up and pooped on multiple outfits, and is probably tired of being poked and prodded (and can't get across to his sister that he's perfectly able to roll over on his own, thankyouverymuch) so it feels like a very perfect storm of crabbiness here. What is particularly bad about today is that I think Molly was really hurt when I snapped at her. To see a crushed look on her face for grumping at her made me feel SO badly. Sure, I apologized -- but so did she and I don't even think she knew what she was apologizing for. To hear, "I'm sorry, Mama" from her broke my heart into about 30,000 pieces. Like I said, she's two and she shouldn't really be apologizing because she's just trying to get her needs met. I know that she needs to learn to wait her turn, learn to share, and be patient, but I'm not sure she got the memo on that. She's adjusted beautifully to being a big sister (aside from helping Jack turn over, although she really thinks she's helping) and entertains him, brings him toys, looks for "Buddy Man", and, very helpfully, tells him when he's sleeping. I know that the waiting and patience part is also part and parcel of being a sibling but I also get it's hard to lose being the center of the universe.

Both kids are sleeping, I'm going to attempt to restore some order to our little universe, and cross my fingers for a better afternoon (I'm realizing that parenting is a lot about luck and the right combination of circumstances). If anyone has a time machine they'd like to lend me, though, I'll gladly borrow it. I just haven't decided if I'd rather go backwards and fix things or forward and forget about today. I'm also glad that no one's voting on parent of the year award today. I mean, I know that I'd be a shoo in on most days (sure. right. yup. keep telling yourself that.), but I'm pretty sure I'd have a Jim Rice moment today -- not this time, big guy.

Happy Tuesday?

That's it, she's outta here... in one of the more eclectic outfits (where not all the pieces actually belong to her) that we've managed to piece together.

I'm pretty Jack's thinking that he didn't sign up for this loony bin. What is wrong with these people?!?!?

You Know You Have A Problem When...

your two year old knows all your favorite coffee orders. This morning, she pulled up to John (who was sitting and holding Jack in the living room) in her Cozy Coupe and, very nicely, requested an "iced mocha, please". What is this? The local Starbucks drive-through? On second thought, John does make a nice looking barista... and yes, she also knows my Dunkins and Tim Hortons orders as well. This is bad. Very bad.

Chasing Their Dreams

Yes, these are some more pictures from Maine. I haven't had the most cooperation in taking pictures from certain small people since we've been back, so I'm still relying on our trip documentation to hold me over until someone starts taking my requests seriously again. Actually, without naming names, what I really need is for some cooperation when I request it as opposed to hamming it up five minutes later or stopping as soon as I pull out my camera (Jack is such a rascal...). I'll get back to you when the cooperation starts up again... I guess I'll see you in 2020.

Since we don't have any snow on the ground here (I was just mentioning how nice this is to a friend of mine. I've decided that I'm really a big fan of having snow close by but not in my driveway. I'm pretty sure my membership in the native New Englander club just got revoked for saying that), we had to have our snow-right-outside-our-door fun 3000 miles away. Molly likes the snow because a) she likes to eat it, b) she loves to say "I'm freeeeeeezing" even when she isn't, and c) she likes going through that rite of passage of one's snow gear weighing more than the person inside it.

I'm not kidding about the snow eating. She'll go for any of it -- clean snow, dirty snow, that other color snow... it's gross to watch her try and shove a handful of the stuff that fell off the car tire in her mouth while I'm trying to get Jack's car seat in. Really gross.

Sledding was also big fun... the snow flies right up into your face so you don't even need to make much of an effort to eat it.

Other winter creatures need food too. Does it look like she's helping Grampy fill the bird feeders? Don't be fooled...

It's really just an excuse to eat snow.

As I watch my kiddos grow up, I'm realizing that they both like to do things with some serious single-minded determination. Molly and the snow eating, for instance and Jack and the...

sleeping...

sleeping...

sleeping...

and sleeping. I guess I don't have to wonder where he gets it.

I'm really proud that Jack not only works really hard each day to sleep, but chooses THE most uncomfortable looking positions to sleep in. I have mentioned the Doyle elasti-neck before but he is working zealously on perfecting it so that he can overtake his dad in finding really painful positions to zonk out in.

Monkeying Around

My parents sold the house that we grew up in so they have been busy cleaning, sorting, and packing. My mom is a little, ummmm... well... slightly good at keeping the past alive, shall we say. She's endured lots of ribbing about it, especially when we threw away those coconut cups that were from my parents' honeymoon, but every once in awhile there is a gem stored away that I'm really glad she kept.

Molly is slightly obsessed with Curious George. This guy was mine as a munchkin and my brother came across it when he was helping my parents pack and they brought it back to Maine for Molly. What buddies these two have become. She laid out this scene all by herself and wasn't hip to the fact that we had caught on to her reading books to her newest pal until the last two pictures. If you notice, she has a couple of different books that she's reading aloud to Mr. George so she spent some time (amazingly) edumacating the other monkey in the house.

Return of the Natives

Have you been looking for us?

We haven't been hiding...

We didn't drive off...

But we're sure happy to see you!

We're back from a long and lovely trip home to see family and friends and enjoy some great company, meet new little friends, and enjoy the holidays. We had a great visit with the Seattle folks on the back end and have continued to celebrate Christmas with each step of our return trip. Jack survived his first cross-country trek, Molly continues to improve her musical repertoire and is singing like the world is her personal Broadway stage (including on the plane with a young gentleman who maybe wasn't as enamored with her tunage as, say, some grandparents we know), and John and I are ready to stay put for a few weeks. Thanks to everyone, once again, for putting up with us, rearranging schedules, and living with our fluctuating plans. We loved every minute of being back home.

Rhode Island, It's For Me

I honestly can't count how many folks we have been able to catch up with over the past three and a half weeks -- it's been so, so much fun to see everyone. One group that we don't get to see often enough is the Rhode Island crew. John's cousin Beth has graciously hosted gatherings several times and Aunt Ellen has pulled the group together so that we can see lots of people at one time. This time, Molly took real advantage of her cousins and several other family members to run herself silly (and exhausted). It was also the first time we got to introduce Jack to these guys. Aside from promptly spitting up on Beth's rug (it just means that he likes you), he was his usual smiley self.

Both munchkins were excited to see Aunt Kathy

Aunt Karin and Jack had some good conversations and we got to catch up with Cousin Becca -- she is finally able to put weight on her foot that she broke six months ago! What a trouper.

Jack has become a real baby (not like that faker he was before) while we've been out here. He rolled for the first time yesterday, is doling out big smiles (especially post-eating), has become pretty interactive, enjoys a super stretchy neck that likes to drift into the horizontal position while sleeping, and is actually a pretty good sleeper -- and an efficient eater (a big part of maternal sanity). He reserves some of his biggest smiles for Molly (and for me, but I think that has more to do with the fact that I am his food source) and it's a gift to see the sibling bonding beginning to happen. Molly really has, to my surprise, been completely fine with Jack from day one. We did some preparing with books and such but I think she just likes to have someone else around who can eventually share in her mischief. She's solicitous of her little brother -- looks for him in the morning, has mostly stopped stealing his binky out of his mouth (and brings him binkies if he's crying), likes to lie with him on the play mat, and pats his head (gently, even). She also just goes about her business a lot of the time and doesn't pay him much mind -- fine by me. We'll see what happens when he's old enough to get his mitts on her stuff.

Auld Lang Syne

Apparently, 2010 is already the year of the slacker. Good lord, January 3rd has almost gone the way of the dodo and I have nary a post up and running. But, I do have good reasons. Really. Seriously. As soon as I think of them, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, just a brief word about this here new year. A lot of people seemed relieved to leave 2009 in the dust. I do not share in these feelings. While there were some, perhaps, unfortunate or less desirable changes that occurred for me, the good very much outweighed the bad and any icky changes that happened have had (perhaps unintended) really positive outcomes; a bunch of silver linings, if you will. For starters, in January, we found out that we were going to have bebe #2 come visit us and take up residence. Unadulterated joy was followed by 18 hellish weeks of morning sickness (I am seriously considering poking whomever came up with the "morning" part of that term's eyes out). Come July, however, I started feeling simply swell. And in August, I started feeling huge and wondered why people really like being pregnant (crazy Liz). And come October, well, I'm not sure any mom can put into words how amazing it is to hold a new addition to the family in your arms for the first, fourth, fifteenth, or five hundredth time. Jack is... well, Jack is sweet, full of smiles, already in love with his big sister, chubby, happy, and full of love. His birth was a transformative and empowering experience and my seemingly mellow little guy is my little slice of daily peace, fun, and love who sits faithfully alongside his fantabulously funny sibling.

June was our other big change with our move to BC. The downsides are still there -- mostly that I really, really miss our family and friends. The silver, maybe even gold, lining for this one, however, is that we've had some really great extended visits with family (and Ez gets the friend hero of the year award for being our first non-familial visitor). Our little family has also been able to become a really strong little unit and go on all sorts of adventures together since it is mostly just us. I have ants in my pants and need to DO something (not like some people who have fire ants in their pants and REALLY have to go go go, I just have the regular kind) most days and being up there, we've had ample opportunity. We've seen some overwhelmingly, take-your-breath away beautiful places and we've barely left a hundred mile radius. Once we decided to move and actually got there, there was no point in being bummed out on a daily basis so we make the best of a not really so bad situation and just do stuff that we can't do here in order to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.

There's more -- more ups and downs, more goods and bads, but really, for me, I'll mostly remember this year for those above two milestones. I'm proud of my kiddies, feel so lucky to have family that goes out of their way to be with us, am immensely thankful for the friendships that have not only sustained but grown, and am grateful for a husband who puts up with my quirks, habits, rants, and the occasional memory lapse.

We've been very busy this trip (hence the slacking), and while there have been moments when I think how much I would like to be back in a routine and know that Molly was going to go to bed in a snap (sorry mom), it's a blessing that we've been busy. It's a full life that we lead and while I wish I had some inventive new year's resolution, I think mine will remain the same as it has in prior years -- to simply to count my blessings, to not get too hung up on the junk and crud that can occasionally gunk up our gears, and to thank all of you folks out there that allow us to lead these mostly happy and very full lives. 2009 is the year of the thanks... and now on to the good stuff.

Rounding out 2009 for Mr. Jack Peter...

Truthfully, Jack spent most of our trip to the Children's Museum snuggled tight in the Bjorn but we broke out the big gun to say hi to Big Papi.

Molly "helped" Jack make some phone calls. Helped... riiiiight. She just didn't want to get busted for stealing her dad's phone and instead offered her services to her baby brother.

Mr. Happy Pants

The Divine Miss M's end of year fun...

dining with her pal, Hannah. We have a similar picture from Valentine's day with these two gal pals.

Besides the construction zone and bubbles (see below) at the Children's Museum, Molly enjoyed the beauty parlor the most. How she knows what to do with hair is beyond me... she has more of it herself than she used to but she's not exactly swimming in it nor will she let me doing anything with her mullet.

Bubbles were f.u.n.

Like I said, I get ants in my pants to get outside. My children get to come along on this joy ride.

We took the kiddos bowling (Jack slept) -- how funny are little bowling shoes. Molly was surprisingly good and it was SO funny and cute to watch.