The new arrangement

In light of Lennon's growing ability to move, we've started thinking about babyproofing the place.  We realized that where the chaise lounge was, he could, once he was walking, climb up on it and be able to fall over the railing into the basement, which is a pretty long fall.  So Shelby took Sunday to rearrange the living room to block off the railing from curious babies.  Hillary wanted pictures of the new arrangement.  Hillary - you're wish is my command!  Here it is...

As you can see my house is it's usual cluttered mess, but I will stand behind my favorite saying which is "dull women have immaculate homes."  It always makes me feel better to remember that saying when I'm looking around at my house.  hehe

Angel's new favorite spot

"Like and old lady singer"

Lennon has many winter hats that we've been given by various friends.  He was wearing this one yesterday and I said it made him look Russian.  Mia replied that he didn't look Russian, he looked like "one of those old lady singers."  We asked what an old lady singer was.  Did she mean an old lady who sings?  She said " no, you know a guy who sings old lady."  We were still confused.  She explained what she meant  "YOU KNOW, like 'old a lady whoo' "  She meant like a yodeler.  She's so funny.  She saw a yodeler in The Grinch movie that we haven't even seen in probably more than a year.  

On another note,  Lennon is not crawling, but today he did crawl a little.  He doesn't have his arms and legs working together quite yet, but he moved a couple body lengths across the carpet this afternoon.  It was pretty exciting.  He gets so frustrated though, so I think it may still be a while before he is fully crawling.  Just one day before he's 6 months old!  

The Real Scoop

So, I did some research and found out that my post earlier about Twinkle Twinkle was a little inaccurate.  It turns out that Mozart did not in fact write the melody, rather he performed a piano variation of an eighteenth century French folk song.  "Ah, Vous dirai-je Maman"  is a song about a child trying to convince their mother to give them candy.  The lyrics that we all know and love are but the first verse of a four verse song written by a woman named Jane Taylor in 1806.  The French song is really cute and I plan to learn it so I can sing it to Lennon in French as well.

  

Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman,

Ce qui cause mon tourment?

Papa veut que je raisonne, 

Comme un grande personne;

Moi, je dis que les bonbons

Valent mieux que la raisonne.

Ah! Let me tell you, mother,

What's the cause for my torment?

Papa wants me to reason 

like a grow up;

Me, I say that candy 

Has greater value than reason

It was 16 degrees this morning when we left the house to take Mia to school!  Lennon looks pretty cute all bundled up though, don't you think?

WUNDERBAR!! (she exclaimed with great pleasure)

Finally!  A night of sleep was had for all.  Well, mostly all.  I nursed Lennon last night and put him to bed at 6 as usual.  Shelby slept in the room with him and said he woke up a few times and cried out for a few minutes each time, but didn't need a pacifier or a feeding at all.  He finally woke up at 5 30 and Shelby came to get me.  I nursed him and he fell back to sleep until 7 30!  At that point he was up for two hours and went back to sleep for a nap for 2 1/2 hours.  Then he was up for three and a half hours and went back down for a nap until I had to go wake him up at 5 so that he would go back to bed on time.  So Awesome!!!  I feel so rested and strange to have gotten a good nights sleep.  I initially woke up at 3 30 and was pretty surprised to have not been awoken yet.  I cannot believe he got 11 hours of straight sleep and then napped so well too.  Hopefully it will just continue to improve from this point on.  He was in such an awesome mood today.  He's so sweet and smiley.  I love him!!!

BTW-"wunderbar" is german for wonderful.  Pronounced Vundabah!

"You people..."

Hillary's friend Adrienne had her baby girl this morning!  Yea!  I was on the phone with Hillary talking about it and I mentioned to Mia that Adrienne had the baby and that it was a girl.  Mia was excited, but then after she had a minute to think about it she said "how come every one in our family has girls except for YOU people?"  It was pretty funny.  I told her Adrienne wasn't in our family, but that was no consolation for her.  She's so cute.  She does love her brother so much, but she sure would have been happy to have a little sister in the house.  

Changes

Lennon is changing every day.  He's finally at that point where each day he gets a little easier to handle.  It's so nice.  He now sits down and plays with toys and entertains himself pretty well.  It's so much easier now that I can set him down to fold laundry or do the dishes or whatever.  He's still not into baby einstein videos too much, like Mia was, but he will watch Baby Mozart every once in a while with his standard Lennon style intensity.  

He is making so many sounds.  R's, V's, K's, B's...  He does what I think they call "razzing"  and loves to blow bubbles.  Mia didn't make near as much noise.  She pretty much was silent until she could speak whole words.  A little perfectionist.  Although I know Lennon is still way to little to have a real playdate, he had his first pretend playdate today with Bianca.  She is my friend Claire's one year old daughter.  We joked that they were having a playdate, but really we just hung out and chatted while Lennon drooled on himself and Bianca stared him down and stole his pacifier.  She's a very serious baby.  While Claire and I hung out with the babies, Dusty, who is in town visiting for a few days played pirates with Mia and Mateus.  He is really good with the kids, and I gave him yet another nick name.  I have started calling him Nanny D.

  

Lennon is trying sooo hard to crawl these days.  He tries and tries and then just gets really frustrated when he just ends up going backwards.  He'll get it one of these days though, and then look out!  He's going to be into EVERYTHING! 

 

Mia had her first ice skating lesson today.  Thanks Grandmommy!  She had a really good time.  She fell down a lot, but it didn't seem to phase her.  Such a trooper.  We had gone ice skating once last year and she fell down a couple times and got so frustrated that we left, so I was a little unsure as to how she would handle it.  I think she'll really do well because she's not afraid at all.  It was pretty funny watching as the kids all fell down all over the place .  Mia kept a smile on her face the whole time.  She was really sweet and kept waving to me and Lennon through the glass throughout the whole lesson.  She loves him so much.  She's had a lot of fun with Dusty in town.  His visit overlapped Grandaddy's by a day and we all had breakfast together saturday morning at David's hotel, and then came home to play in the snow.  Shelby and Dusty helped her build our first snowman of the winter while David played with Lennon.  The snowman was pretty pathetic, but much better than the teeny one she and I made last winter.  We went to the science museum on sunday after church and Mia got to see sheep lungs and a heart up close and personal.  I thought it was totally gross, but she loved it.  She got to wear gloves and feel all over it and open up the heart and look inside.  She was really engrossed in what the volunteer had to say about how it all worked.  It was fun seeing her so enthralled in something.  Kids are so much fun.

They are both changing so fast.  It's hard because on one hand I want to freeze them right where they are and never let them get any older, but at the same time I am so excited to see them change and grow and find out what kind of people they are going to be.  What will their interests and passions be?  I can't wait to know them each better and better every day. 

Grandaddy's visit: and I don't want to grow up...

Grandaddy came in town for work and Mia and Lennon are SOO happy to see him.  Lennon is getting to showcase his sitting up skills.  We put him in a highchair in a restaurant and Grandaddy got to give him his first taste of apple sauce.  We've given him avacado a couple times and a tiny taste of carrots.  We really don't think he's quite ready for food yet though, so we're going to wait a little longer before we start giving him solids regularly.  For now, he seems pretty happy to have nothing but good old-fashioned momma's milk.

On another note, on the way to school this morning, Mia said that she didn't want to grow up.  When Shelby and I asked her why not, she had the funniest remark.  She said "well, I'm afraid if I grow up that I might have twins.  And if I have twins and I'm holding one and he is sleeping and the other one starts crying then what would I do?  It might just be too hard."  She's such a funny little girl to be thinking of things like that.  

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

It looks like Lennon may be a Mozart fan.  We've recently discovered that he prefers 'twinkle twinkle little star' over other songs.  He doesn't like if you change the rhythm or tempo at all.  He's a purist.  He doesn't even seem to respond the same to the ABC's, which is the same melody even.  He's such a funny little guy.  He's been in such a good mood lately.  

Lennon is officially sitting up

It's been several days now and I even forgot to tell Shelby that he was doing it.  Oops!  He is sitting up and he LOVES it.  He now enjoys sitting on a blanket on the floor and playing with toys that we set out in front of him.  What a cutie!

Our big snow storm

Well, here are a few pictures of why Mia's school was cancelled today, along with most other schools in the area.  Isn't it pretty?

Just a cute picture of Mia.

She sure does LOVE her oatmeal!

Lennon playing with his Auntie Jess

Mia's favorite picture of Lennon currently.

Our new blog

So, here is Lennon doing a nice intro for you all to our new blog.  My sister and sister in law both have awesome blogs, so I thought I should maybe have one also to showcase my lovely little children.  Lennon has been sleeping sooo much better lately.  When he got bronchialitis (not sure on spelling) over the holidays he starting taking regular naps and now he is sleeping much better at night too.  During the day he takes three naps usually lasting about 45 minutes to an hour and a half and at night he's been going from 6 until about 2 when he eats and goes right back to sleep until about 5 30 or 6 30.  I am feeling much better with the added sleep, plus with him sleeping so much better, he is in much better spirits during the day.  Whenever we've been out this past week people have commented on what a sweet, happy, flirtatious baby he is.  It makes me feel really validated when he is happy, even though I know it doesn't have anything to do with me.  I love him so much.  

Mia really loves him too.  She is soo proud to have a little brother.  She commented the other day how fun it was to "have a little baby and to watch him change and grow."  I put him to bed a couple of nights ago and she wasn't in the room and when I left his room I found her on the floor in the hall looking sad.  She said her feelings were hurt because she always puts him to bed with me and sings with me and I didn't wait for her.  She's such a great big sister.  Such an awesome kid.  She's spending the night with her best friend Naomi tonight because school has been cancelled all over Massachusetts due to a huge storm that is coming through.  I'm excited because it's been a while since we've had a really good snow.  

lenrique iglesias

Lennon sure was talking a lot today. What a sweet boy...