Huxley trying to crawl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ri4UOBUtXk

Thanks - Geoffrey Sidari
206-304-9992

Huxley at lunch today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkUjQaQp7tA

Thanks - Geoffrey Sidari
206-304-9992

I am a big boy, I can feed myself now

I am having a rough night

Daddy came home from his run tonight and this is what he found. My top
gums are really sore and dinner was a battle.

I think I won!!!!!

a few lux'isms

its freaking cold outside
these flowers have had the cookies

Updates -

wow, i've been really remiss! Huxley now 8.5 months sits up and has 2 bottom teeth. The first tooth broke through maybe 10 days ago and the second right behind it, they are still teeny tiny in his mouth. Sitting up has been a gradual progression, he still flops over after a few min and can't back up but is sitting up all the same. He seems to be busy and on the move, squirmy in my arms, always looking over my shoulder for his sister. Always has a big smile to share with us. I think he will crawl any day now, he can go backwards and spin on his tummy and has motions to go forward (rocking on his hands and knees), maybe xmas day??

i've been terribly busy with work. have a few friends in tough spots at the moment and know the holidays will be rough for them, and my heart goes out to them. we have mellow plans, we will have tomorrow (xmas eve) with our best friend deb and her daughter emma and her mom and dad. we will spend xmas day on our own - i have pasta sauce brewing on the stove for our dinner so we can enjoy the day without spending it in the kitchen. i sort of savour our xmas day we don't really leave the house except to go for a walk (and a quick starbucks run of course) and otherwise its just the 4 of us having a nice day, we will enjoy watching lux enjoy her gifts and huxley banging on his new things. i've bought far too much for geoffrey - thats okay, i think he will be happy with his treats!

its so hard not to get lux exactly what she wants - which we did, got her exactly what she wants...except a wii and i had to explain she is too young for a wii and huxley is way too young to enjoy it and we'll get one when everyone can have fun with it.

I'm posting a link to a funny video - huxley is into "kissing" when he sees a face...too cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3YzzZnXlN4

I need to get better at this

I've been remiss in writing. Lux has dug up the scrap book with emails and photos that Nanny gave to her or I (I can't remember) and made me realize that I haven't kept the same memories of Huxley and need to do a better job - at reflections of both of them. I find myself not remembering the details of Lux but her brother certainly reminds me of her, his easy disposition, his "need" for a visit, a smile, a giggle from one of us, his experimentation of sounds, grunts, purrs etc. I guess all babies are the same. And you can constantly watch him trying desperately to fit the pieces together, how to get a toy into his hand, into his mouth, how to get the water to come out of the sippy cup etc etc.

But its the simpleness of a baby that enchants me, their need to be picked up, smiled at, talked to, cuddled, tickled and part of a family, their watchful eyes waiting and hoping for one of the above to happen and when it doesn't he finds his fingers and has a good suck. It was certainly Lux (minus the finger sucking) and is now certainly Huxley but he has the wonderful advantage of watching and waiting for her smiles, hugs, gentle voice and touch and she is all those things to him.

She grows up more and more each day and astounds us with her perception and sensitivities to her surroudings. The other day I asked her "how is Corinne (her pregnant nanny) feeling" and she said "I don't know you would have to ask Corinne" and Geoffrey and I giggled. But she is struggling in some respects to find her way and navigate the complicated "girlfriend" web and it concerns Geoff and I so we do what we can to re-enforce her confidence and remind her that life is really about making others feel good about themselves and just to be a fun and kind friend to kids and include them all in her activities and adventures at school and beyond. Living in our neighborhood will have those challenges of the "alpha" female and we need to do all that we can to mitigate that for her (and us in turn) and remove those obstacles from her life. I am grateful that we have a son - although he's far too young to be a confidant of hers they will grow up together and I hope be life long friends and balance one anothers perspective.

Anyone have any strategies or suggestions for us?

And we continue to adjust to a new home, mommy working etc, everyday is a challenge and an adventure and we do what we can to enjoy each day with our young children and one another.

thats it, a bit of a touchy sermon - sorry about that. back to work!

Pre-Halloween snaps!

Cute video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ozEufcTQ3Y

Beauty and the Beast

I got a new hair straightener in the mail today and gave it a whirl on Lux - tennis anyone? And snapped a classic middle finger pose from a little boy ready for beddy.

Also we got started on the floors of the new house. The guys we hired to do the job met Geoff early this am at the house and ripped up the carpet only to find the oak floors were in beautiful shape (yeah, that what we hoped for). Geoffrey was there tonight dropping off some boxes and had a look at the floors after their first coat and said that they looked really sharp. Glad we had them done, can't wait to see them when they are finished.

a few words about marriage...

today is my 8th wedding anniversary and I think the only one I have remembered! Geoffrey had completely forgotten when I had remembered and called him at 1 pm, but we've had a lot on our minds and we closed on our new house today.

I think lots about relationships and things, particularly since a few close to me have had marriages dissolve in the recent timeframe. And I had a long conversation with my young married Mormon nanny about forever and marriage and what it means and how you know you found the "right one" and I think I know enough to articulate it on my 8th anniversary.

The right one is when your husband and you part ways on your wedding anniversary and the night you're eating pizza on the floor of your new house so that he can go to a networking event and you can take your kids home and get them bathed and in bed, and you know you're a team with the same goals and dreams and you know that you have countless nights in front of you to celebrate your life, your life together. You make sacrifices together, you celebrate together, you plan together, you parent together, you grow together and you talk and dream together, and that nothing feels rushed or immediate because you have an entire future together. And some night in the future we'll have a moment to celebrate an anniversary, but eating pizza on the floor with our kids was sure a nice way to celebrate today, a special day for us all.

Thats all I got, but had another thought today about Lux, will share that tomorrow when I have more energy. But for now, my husband is home now and the kids are fast asleep (however hard to find Lux in her bed with all the toys, teddys, dollys, night night blankets that have crept into her beddy in the last few weeks (someone's coping with some change at the moment...).

xo

Went to the Puyallip Fair came home with the swine flu...

Or at least I think I did, whatever I have its extreme. Here are some snaps from the Puyallip fair and a copy and pasted email from an email I sent to my mom and dad...thanks for the newsy note and photos from mom, sorry to hear about phil and pete's woes, clearly sue has enough anger and hatred for pete to last a lifetime, and a terrible shame to involve the boys in her hate, pete should tell the lot of them to piss off, cam included. glad to hear that amelia is settling in and not a big cry baby about the whole thing like i was!!

we spent yesterday at the puyallip fair (sp??), i guess very similar to the PNE but probably worse. lux found it amusing and we found it hot, crowded and disappointing. i did take lux on a ride that once we got going realized wasn't kid or mom appropriate, she was very quiet until the end when she asked if "we can get off soon", brave kid i wanted off immediately. not one of my proudest parenting moments. but it had its revenge on me today, either i woke up with swine flu or the ride was like putting my entire body in a washing machine and dryer since every muscle and ounce of my skin today hurts, in fact i feel the pits. bill gates and family were there yesterday as well but we didn't see them or anyone nearly like them

our exciting news huxely ate pears today and yesterday and took a crap in the bathtub (thats a first for either kid) i should have known, he had a look on his face and was farting quite a bit and next thing i knew a little orangish loose turd appeared in the tub and he seemed quite satisfied. i bleached the entire house and him afterwards. i think its the most interesting thing i've told geoff in a long time, he was fascinated by my story.

what is this crap...

cheerful enough but i don't like food...yuck

A few snaps

Work is most definitely interfering with my blogging and photo taking (and of course spending time with the kids!), so I guess when I'm not working I'm just with them. I'm sitting here this am trying to get mr nibbles to eat some cereal and all he wants to do is suck on his hands.

First Sleepover

A weekend of firsts for Lux, confirming that she is growing up...terrible, terrible that Huxley will too someday be 4, I love having a baby in the house, in fact if it was my way we would ALWAYS have a baby in the house.

Weekend kicked off with taking Lux to buy her first pair of tap shoes and second pair of ballet shoes, black tap shoes and she decided on pink ballet shoes (although was torn over the black ones). We then drove her to Deb's for her first sleepover to celebrate her bestfriend Emma's 5th birthday. I sort of expected her to bail on the idea when we dropped her off, NOPE, she didn't bail. So off she went, and when I spoke to Deb last night her and Em were tucked into Em's bed after multiple "go to sleep" warnings they fell asleep (only to wake up in the middle of the night to chat and visit and again be warned to go to sleep! They were up at 6 am, roaring around the house.

She went off for her FIRST manicure and pedicure after breakfast (hot pink for her, purple for emma) and when we picked her up and she saw me standing at the glass doors she crumpled to her knees crying (and my dog barked and growled at me), what a welcome! Guess she was certainly ready for her FIRST sleep over.

Geoffrey and I sort of felt like happy empty nesters. Geoff went "tailgating" at the U's first footy game of the season and Huxley and I had a glass of wine with my friend Bryndis and her daughter Ella (also Lux's good friend) and we wandered down for some tailgating with kids in tow in strollers amid drunk, loud, crazy uni students and they noise made Huxley cry and a drunk uni student yelled "you made the baby fucking cry". Geoffrey enjoyed meeting more of our new Laurelhurst neighbors, what a small town feel the neighborhood has...

Both my kids are sleeping, Geoff is off to a Trivia night at the local pub (2 nights in a row, and he hasn't enjoyed a social night out maybe since we were married...).

One more day at home and then I'm back in the office, I'm ready. Will update my blog then - tomorrow Lux and I have a blackberry pie to make with blackberries we picked today!

nite nite.

http://www.cbbain.com/Pages/PropertyDetail.aspx?ListingID=32748278&CSPS=v1-XQAAgABoAAAAAAAAAAAAAFIKQAi1wBkNCfqi3H22fBY1W7lqaGj4EFU6lBY7J

shack for sale, after a ball breaking few weeks and with the help of craig and trude and many more our house is on the market! within 30 min of it being listed a realtor came by and assured me "it will sell quick" and that the "place looked great", damn rights it looks great, we killed ourselves getting it to look this good! i still feel we're listing it for too low, even though the comps i've seen tell me we are not, regardless it is a nice house and looks spotless. i think though we will kill one another living here for the next 26 days, trying to keep the place tidy. crash is being shipped off to aunty debby on sat for the month, too bad i can't ship off geoffrey and lux too (my mess makers).

will keep you all posted, send us your best thoughts this month, its sure not to be our best with me back at work, our house on the market, coordinating a move (even if its a tiny distance), coordinating projects at the new shack, geoffrey working his requisite 60 hours + a week...it will all be worth it when we wake up in our new home!

kids asleep, lots of arguing downstairs

the pictures say it all...geoff declared himself boss of all household renos...

Peps group

Here's a snap from my peps group, all but i think 2 mommies/babies weren't there. I really like them all, its a wonderful group of moms, really a nice group of woman and they get such a kick out of Lux. Clockwise around they are (mom names/baby names): me/huxley, mary lynn/amelia, rebecca/ford (live across the street from Lux's playschool), melissa/keaton, amy/claudia, laura/ryann (little girl), meghan/drew and of course Lux. I mostly walk with Mary Lynn, Meghan and Melissa, but all such nice people! We are sitting drew tonite and Lux is so excited she is nearly crapping herself! I'm sure we will stay in touch with them all! Laura, Rebecca, Amy and I all work - oddly enough I will see Rebecca when I return to Microsoft, she is a consultant and working with a team there that I work with, would be nice to get to know her better as she will be a new neighbor and a really neat person.

busy day

not sure if i could clasify today as a work day! my work email isn't working and well anyways i said to them they would see me after labor day - its called "slow re-entry".

what a complicated day - but we've pulled it off. now lux is in bed, huxley is having his last cry out and finger suck, geoff is at home depot (his head nearly exploding from what lies ahead of us with prepping this house to buy another) and likely panicking about going back to a family of two adults working (i think he will have the hardest adjustment to it all in some ways).

back and forth back and forth between the our house, the new house, fred meyer, home depot, pre school, playdate, peps dinner (my NEW mommy group) and more work to be done to prep our family room for painting. so the new house has some electrical work needed, a new tempered glass sliding door, and has two cracks in the sewer line (thankfully in relatively easy places to fix). glad we paid for extra inspections to have a very clear understanding of the home, certainly no deal breakers but things to be addressed. we will see what the seller is prepared to provide back to us as credits since the woman is too old to coordinate the work herself.

noteworthy news about the home - the drummer from Guns and Roses lives 2 doors down, funny since its a bit of a snooty, boring neighborhood to have a head banger living in AND most importantly it is THE street for trick or treating - so there, that certainly improves the value of the home. OH and no power lines, all the power lines are buried underground, talk about snooty. anyways i guess we will meet the drummer at least on halloween when we trick or treat at his home, wonder what candy he gives out?

so thats all i have, excited about the house, feels good in a way to move, i have bags to go to the good will, to the dump etc, cleaning house!

The below

a poem written for me by my dad 25 years ago, I have carried the original piece of paper with me since that day and just found it while packing up the house, so thought it best to write it down electronically in case in a move the paper gets lost (although I will put the paper in Lux's things so that she has it when I'm old).

I remember the day my dad took me to this place, I remember many days there. Its a beautiful poem and a beautiful memory.

For Claire, fourteen

The old orchard was decadent,
long deserted by its founders,
but flowering,
and little wild bees filled
every blossom.

The grass, high for early spring,
and spring soft and green,
hid fallen fences and

from a bare
root cellar, collapsed on one side,
skittered a swallow
who had homesteaded there.

All but the crude stone
foundations of the buildings were gone,
the lumber burned or recut
to fit city tastes,
and the red bricks
ornamenting modern rooms.

I would have missed
the signs of life, unearthing
only the frayed fabric
of bygone families,
except for you. You
led me around the place
and showed me blossoms,
not decay,
and my heart sang
for the life in you.

1984-05-24

the night before 20 weeks

today is my last day of maternity leave, i'm feeling so mixed about so many things, but predominantly feeling is happiness and peace and excitement. its 8:03, my daughter is in bed, and i hope she is asleep soon, she's coming a bit undone at the seams these days, her life is in constant change and adjustment for what seems like a year, this time last year we introduced a new nanny to our family (one lux adored but i was never happy with), she started part time preschool as the second youngest of mostly a group of nearly 5 year olds, shortly after was told mommy was pregnant, watched mom suffer through a tough pregnancy, introduced a new brother into the family, we all (save for huxley and my mom staying with us) had a rocky adjustment to a family of 4, i would say at times we are all still adjusting. AND now mom back to work, another year of pre school in front of us and a NEW HOUSE. thats enough for any 4 year old!!! and in between she has learned to swim, dropped diapers from her naps, embraced a new family member (one that mom and dad adore as much as they do her)...and oh countless other wonderful, thrilling things.

as i write i realize that this mat leave has been as much about lux as anyone. but its also been a glorious 20 weeks, and i'm realizing now that i must have had an agenda and most of the things on that agenda of sorts were crossed off, but most importantly i was simply able to be a "mom" a fulltime mom and i have loved it, loved every minute of it, it has filled me and fulfilled in ways i never imagined. and i'm so very grateful to my children and husband for giving me this wonderful opportunity. i will cherish these 20 weeks as likely the best 20 weeks of my life and that said i know i have fulltime motherhood in front of me at some point in my future.

now to huxley, he kicked this all off! he's lying next to me asleep on my bed, so peaceful. i find it hard to describe the tempermanent of my children, they are both so complex to me. huxley simply exists in our family, he's "there" and everyday he stakes his claims on us a little more and he gradually develops from one day to the next. he is nearly 5 months but still seems very much like a newborn. i have never left him for longer than 2 hours max, when lux was this age i left denver for a 24 hour business trip to DC - oddly enough i have no clue what it will be like to leave him for 8 hours as early as monday (5 days away), i have done nothing to prepare for that, i guess we'll just wing it and see how everyone does. we have tried a little cereal and he seems way too young for it, shows NO interest. he does take 1 bottle a day usually from only me. he is starting to have predictable naps, but only at home, when we are out and about he usually doesn't rest so those days are over. in the last few days he seems to fall asleep at about 8 pm and i feed him once more at 10 and he sleeps until 7:30 am. he is both more placid than lux was and also more presistent than she was so his opposites are more distinct than hers. he likes to visit, he likes to be held and picked up, he likes his sister's voice and doesn't like his dad's, he loves to nurse, seems fine with a bath and water.

so back to work and in a new home in a little over 1 month, the house i expect we will leave in for a very long time, i would hope until we are old and the kids gone, that seems a long time away but reminds me of the wonderful years we have ahead of us and reminds to remember to cherish them and BLOG about them.

i am blessed to have lux and huxley to have geoffrey and our families and friends and feeling pretty good about my decision to go back to work for sometime and see what the future holds for us.

time to fold laundry, two children sleeping, husband at a birthday bash. nitey nite.

i'm flippin cuter!

god i'm flippin cute!

first cereal

first solid feed (aug 16th, 4 months and a week), didn't know what the hell we were doing. photo by lux (pretty good isn't it) will wait another month to see if he is ready for cereal then, for now its tittynumnums all the way.

we have a swimmer!

check this out! courtesy of uncle rhys, 2 weeks at kootenay lake and two weeks of swim lessons we have a swimmer!!

very scary!

went to get huxley up from a nap and he had turned into a fire breathing dragon! yicks.

huxley weighs in -

I know its been forever since I posted - we've just returned from our summer vacation and I was limited to an hour of webtime daily by my husband and that was spent doing other things online...so I'm back, hi.

Huxley had his 4 month appointment today, he's a little shrimp but a perfectly proportioned one - 14.4 pounds; 24.5 inches in length; 41.5 centimeters head (funny only one measurement in metric...I guess the US is easing into metric one measurement at a time) all 25th percentile, so I had inaptly named him lard ass. He is though, as I suspected extremely touchy and has an under developed nervous system, nothing to worry about since everything else seems fine.

Attaching a few snaps of our beautiful son (this is what happens when you have an older sister).

And some more family time

Just a liitle family time!

Zoo Round two