Me in Action

I covered a big big court hearing earlier this week, with a mob of media (national and local) and we had to rush to keep up with the defendants as they came up the federal courthouse steps. A channel 4 photographer had just slammed into a light pole and fell down. Reporters, cameramen, photographers and attorneys were jostling and elbowing each other, etc. We were all asking questions of the accused and trying to keep our microphones in place to catch their answers.

I say all this to defend my obvious deer in headlights look here:



Thanks to the photog at my sister TV station for capturing this moment and putting it on the evening news!

Sleeping Beauties

The other night I snuck into the boys' room to get my clothes (tiny closets) and saw this cute sleeping bum in the air. I wanted a picture. JB tiptoed in, and bam -- both boys were wide awake and crying. Whoops. The next night we got our picture. I think it's funny how Max sleeps on his back now, but used to be just like Ben.
Their colds are still raging, which means sometimes they have coughing fits at night. But it also means great nap times. We all slept this afternoon until 5 PM. I haven't done that since Sunday afternoon naps in college.

Ah, sleep. People ask me about sleeping in on the weekends with my early wakeup call during the week. Our boys go to bed at 7:30 and never sleep past 7 AM. But sometimes if JB is up with them on a Saturday or Sunday, they never know I'm home and I can roll over until 8 AM. After that I feel weird. I always wake up early because my body is used to it, and I fade between 9 and 10 PM.

Exciting post I know but I wanted to have a new post for you to look at!

Christmas colds

Colds in our house almost always seem to lead in ear infections. Ben has one in his right ear and he's been quite sad about it. Max also has a cold and is wiping his nose on his clothing, my clothing, and our couch cushions. You know you're not getting an affectionate snuggle when you feel a nose rubbing on your pant leg.

Despite his sickness, Ben showed off for the doctor at his 12-month checkup yesterday. The Dr asked if Ben babbles, so JB pulled a ball out of the diaper bag. Ben burst into "baw, BAW, baw!!" and reached for it.

Also, when it was time to weigh him, he tried to crawl, flip, stand and wiggle his way off the baby scales. So JB had to be weighed with him. Ben is 24 pounds, 6 ounces. He's 70-something percentile for weight, 99th for height. Big Ben.

Baby Ben no more

My Baby Ben is now one year old. He couldn't believe we were all singing at him. He also didn't know what to do with his cupcake.

One of Max's favorite parts of the party was when he got a present from Aunt Sarah. Matching Christmas pajamas for the boys -- aren't they so much fun? I wish there was a bigger pair for JB.

Ben can now take up to seven steps in a row before plunking down to crawl the rest of the way.

He loves balls of all shapes and sizes. His first word in the past month was "ball," and now he says it all the time. "ball, BALL Ball!" He also says "Night-night," "dis," and "dat."

Just a year ago I was watching the snow fall from the hospital window. For the next month I watched the neighbors' Christmas lights shine on the snow outside the window at night. Even though I'm sad Ben is growing so quickly, I'm quite glad those days of waking up every few hours are over.

Christmas Cheer

We took our family pictures today for the annual Christmas letter. It took more persuasion to get Max to smile than it did Ben. I think that little guy was thinking, "It's my birthday. I have this new sweater on, I just had some milk, I can see my blankie over there -- I'm happy!"

We decided on the above picture to send out, but this one below came in a close second.

Below you can see the grumpy Max.

JB's brother Bart took our pictures, and then we took their family picture. We bribed Max and Emily with a trip to the nearby playground.

Wait just a little bit more

I'm itching to put up my Christmas decorations, but we want to wait until Ben's birthday is over on December 6th. We think it will be nice to separate the two events.

Sure, he's only turning one this year, but maybe in the future he'll want to have his birthday made special and not just another day on the way to Christmas.

Or maybe he won't care, and I can go back to putting up the Christmas tree in the days after Thanksgiving!

Oh deer again

For a few months Max stopped talking about deer, and I thought he was over his fear/fascination but in the past month he's been talking about deer again, nonstop.

I thought that watching "Bambi" would help Max get over his deer fear. I don't think it worked. He doesn't seem to think of Bambi as a deer.

At night as I tuck him in he says, "Deer won't eat me. Deer don't come inside." Once he said, "Deer won't get my toes because I have feet pajamas on." No wonder he keeps asking to wear the feeties. He also wants me to make sure deer won't eat Benny in his crib. I told him, "Mommy and Daddy will protect you. The deer never come inside." Yet I heard him tell his little friend Lincoln the other day, "A deer came up the stairs and bit my fingers." Either he has a vivid imagination or he dreamed that and thinks it's fact.

He asks if deer poop. Yes, son, they do. Everyone poops, as we learned from a book from the library that we read over and over a few months ago during the great pooping crisis of 2008 (thankfully that's all in the past now).

This is all because he saw deer in his grandparents' backyard last March and now he wonders if they'll be coming back, or coming to our house this time. I told him the deer like to eat plants and bushes but really don't like people, so now he'll reassure me: "Deer don't like people. They are afraid of us!" Yet I still think deep down he is afraid of them. Weird!