The One-Armed Wonder

If I were a superhero, that would have to be my name - that or The Magnificent Multitasker. Since Jake was born I've become exceptionally proficient at doing things with one arm (yes, I'm grateful that I actually have 2): cooking, washing dishes, making beds, vacuuming, even ironing. I'm still working on sweeping and typing, but I might get there since Jake's favorite position is on my shoulder at just the right height to gnaw on his fist. What makes it even more insane is that I'm usually carrying on some kind of debate with Haley about wearing shoes outside or how much floss is an appropriate amount for a 3-year-old.
We decided that if you could extrapolate from her current behavior, we would guess that when she grows up Haley will be a lawyer, a hostage negotiator, or a flight attendant. She's very persistent and logical when trying to convince us of something, will always try to negotiate for less vegetables and more bedtime stories, and sounds like a Stepford Wife when talking to Jake (see previous post). Sometimes she just seems too grown-up for a 3-year-old. Like the other day when she spilled her dry cereal on the kitchen floor and I asked her to clean it up. A few minutes later I heard her with the DustBuster and she was in there sucking it all up. Or the other night when Rob and I were busy doing something terribly important like watching Desperate Housewives and we heard her go into the bathroom, brush her teeth, and dry her own hair (this is the girl who refuses to potty train). She also regularly cracks us up with things she says. Some of the more recent ones:

-While driving in the car: "Oops! Can you hold this for a sec? Cause I just made a big mess."
-While getting tickled: "Look at all the fun in my eyes!"
-Getting tucked into bed: "I hope you have awful dreams. Wait, is that right? Oh, awfully sweet dreams."
-During a debate about the benefits of eating carrots: "Well, I have a flashlight so I don't need to eat those carrots."
-Out of the blue while we were shopping at Target: "Maybe baby sister really isn't in my tummy. Because Jake came out of yours and I haven't been to the doctor in a while...so I guess she wasn't really in there."

Did we mention she's a prodigy? Haley loves letters - here she's practicing writing "Happy Mother's Day". Yeah, yeah, we know pride's a sin...

You Light Up My Life

Jake started smiling at us last month, and we just can't get enough! He gets so excited when we hover over him, talking like idiots and grinning. He starts wiggling and kicking and his eyes light up, and just recently he figured out how to get his mouth, tongue and throat to all work together and coo at us. It's great! Haley really loves it and runs over whenever she hears me talking to him. She'll open her eyes wide in this exaggerated (and slightly hilarious) way and say, "Hi, Jake! Hi, hi, hi!" in a loud falsetto. From his reaction it's clear these two are going to be good friends growing up.


Above: Jake slumps and smiles.
Left: Jake after church in his blessing outfit - so snuggly!

Big Girl

HALEY TURNS 3!

Last Saturday we celebrated Haley's 3rd Birthday, complete with balloons, gifts, and a "fairy princess castle cake." She was so excited to get started with the celebration that we had to beg and bribe to get her out of her pajamas before opening presents (that's what I get for leaving them on the coffee table). So the gifts were opened before breakfast, which left a long, rainy day ahead of us. She and Rob played with her new toys (roller skates! Cinderella doll! Littlest Pet Shop! Candyland!), which gave me a few minutes to put the finishing touches on the cake that had taken me most of the night to decorate...

For lunch Haley had asked to go to The Green Mill, a local restaurant. We thought this was a really cute and grown-up preference for her to have, until we got there and realized she was really after the mints they have by the front door (oops, looks like she inherited my sweet tooth). One lunch out + fussy, hungry infant + birthday excitement + lots of mints on an empty stomach = toddler meltdown. Thankfully she's not old enough yet to have unrealistic expectations about how things are supposed to be (another of my weaknesses I hope to not pass down), so she didn't hold a grudge and fell asleep in the car on the way home. Rob and I were very grateful at that point that Haley hadn't wanted a party with friends - it might have just been too much for us all to handle. Instead we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with balloons, eating cake, and enjoying our giggly, gorgeous 3-year-old.
Haley thought it was great that Jake could hold onto a balloon all by himself.

The Fairy Princess Castle Cake!














This girl has an amazing sense of balance - we'll try them outside if it ever stops raining.

It's becoming a tradition that she gets to help bake the birthday cake. Yum, cake batter!

Ramblings Resulting from Rain

I woke up early this morning to the sound of rain, which isn't very remarkable except that it was the exact drizzle, the very same pitter-patter and drip-drip-drip that ran like a very wet soundtrack through most of my childhood. Rob often teases me about my "super-senses," but as I lay there in the pre-dawn hours and listened to raindrops my mind was flooded with random memories and I was suddenly very homesick. Maybe that's not the right word, since my home now really is wherever my husband and children are. But it made me think, and I hope that as I go throughout my days trying to get to Target without Jake screaming in his carseat or thinking for the hundredth time that I really should mop the kitchen floor or worrying about getting the sweet peas planted - I hope that I'm taking enough time to create a home that Haley and Jake will one day feel homesick for...

Easter Fun

BUNNIES CAN'T CARRY BASKETS, OR CAN THEY?

Easter is a little confusing for Haley. Besides the complicated religious subject matter, there's the question of the Easter Bunny. It doesn't help that we have real rabbits in the neighborhood and we often see them in the back yard nibbling on my tulip leaves. It also doesn't help that Rob and I love to have fun at her expense and try to play up the myth. So after church we went in the back yard to see if we could spot the Easter Bunny. We walked all around the yard and when she wasn't looking I snuck inside and brought her basket out on the deck. Then I told her I'd seen Mr. Bunny himself hop across the deck, drop the basket, and hop away. You can see the confusion in her face in the pictures. Her basket is, after all, about 3 times as big as the rabbits we see. Of course couldn't have cared less once she realized there was candy and toys for her, but she did keep saying how nice it was for the Easter Bunny to bring her "so many great things."















The myth of the Easter Bunny also came in handy a while later when I had to convince Haley to take a nap. We were all sick, but she stopped taking naps months ago and didn't like the idea one bit. So we made up some convoluted story about how only once she was asleep would the Easter Bunny hop into our house to our fridge to get the eggs she had decorated so that he could hide them in our yard - I can already see that we're going to have to practice our stories if we want her to believe past age 4. Anyway, she took a nap, hunted for eggs, and had a great time, which is all we were after in the first place.




Her basket got so heavy that it dragged on the ground and she started losing her loot.










Jake slept through all of the excitement; coloring the eggs led to SO many questions - I think we have a budding scientist on our hands. Why? Why? Why?

Adjustments For All

LITTLE MOMMY

It's hard to believe it's been a whole month since Jake joined our family. Which is odd, because there have been many days and nights where I swear time has frozen and I fear we'll be doomed to live out our days holding a fussy newborn. Fortunately Rob is an amazing husband with no qualms about changing diapers or burping Jake at 4 in the morning. We're also extremely blessed that Haley is such a sweet big sister. If he starts fussing she'll rush over to him and slide his pacifier back in like a pro. This morning she asked to rock him in her mini rocking chair and he gave us one of his first real smiles (we'll remind them of that moment in 15 years when they're fighting over the phone/remote/car). The adjustment hasn't been seamless - she still loves to pretend she's a baby and play with his binks, car seat, bouncy seat, etc. - but it finally feels like life is settling down a little bit...hopefully I won't be kicking myself in a few days for writing that.

JAKE TRANSLATIONS

Some things Jake might be trying to tell us:

"Hey! Pooping is hard work and it hurts like *%^$! I'll cry about it if I want to."

"I DO NOT LIKE HATS! Is that clear? NO HATS! They cover up my fine faux-hawk, so if you put that 'cute' thing on me one more time I'll scream bloody murder."

"I am NOT my sister (duh!), so I am in fact bothered by wet diapers and gas. Please don't be so lazy with the changing and burping."


FRESH AIR, REDISCOVERED

As mentioned in the last post, this past week has been amazingly warm and sunny. The brown grass is turning green, the forsythia is blooming, and we might even see some daffodils in a few weeks. It's hard to believe that less than a month ago we were still wearing our winter coats.

Haley loves that she can escape the confines of our house, and I'm thrilled that she's finally old enough that I can let her go out on the deck without worrying that she'll fall off (yeah, it's only 2 feet high) or wander off. I can't remember the last time something kept her so entertained (well OK, Aunt Katie did) and she's already talking about getting out the swimming pool and helping me plant seeds in the garden. Every day she asks, "Is it Spring now, Mama?" or "Do I look so Spring-y in my capris?" We definitely need to start looking for a job in a warmer region!

Thaw 2006

WEATHER CHANNEL GEEK

It's hard to convey how much our life revolves around the weather here in North Dakota. Rob teases me for obsessively checking the Weather Channel, and I can understand why. You'd think that darn cold is darn cold, no? And it's true that we've decided 40 below zero doesn't feel that different than 20 below zero - you won't be taking the kids sledding either way. But around this time of year there are so many weather variables that impact how I'll plan our day: 55 and sunny with no wind? An hour at the park with a warm coat. 62 but cloudy with 25 mph gusts from the north? Better use Sam's Club as our playground. 47 and breezy? Haley will last 30 minutes bundled in the jogging stroller, but I'd better leave Jake at home with dad. 72 and gloriously sunny? We'll throw open all the windows and spend the entire day in the back yard.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Spring snuck up on us this year just as we were beginning to doubt it would ever arrive. When Jake was born a month ago it was dangerously cold and we still had 18 inches of snow on the deck. But we had a few warm, rainy days and suddenly spring was in sight. So was the river! In case you weren't paying attention in 1997, Grand Forks was the site of a devastating flood - the combination of a late-winter blizzard and lots of spring rains. Since then a massive dike system has been nearly completed and was tested this year when the mighty Red began to rise over its banks. The water reached the 5th-highest level ever recorded and yet we didn't see a bit of it in our newly-finished basement. All but one bridge between Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, MN were closed, and you can see why in the picture above. We walked one afternoon along our favorite greenway trail, until it disappeared under the river (below).

Two weeks later the water is slowly receding and we've been enjoying day after day of temperatures in the 70's...mosquito season must almost be here!

Welcome, Baby Jake

THE MIRACLE OF (INDUCED) BIRTH

On Tuesday, March 14th, Baby Jake was ushered into the world - although he probably would have been content to stay in the womb for a few more days. But I was so ready to NOT be pregnant anymore and Grandma and Grandpa Wood and Aunt Katie were in town to take care of Haley. So when the option of inducing was offered we jumped at the chance.

It was very strange to have an appointment for birth and to know that the bump we'd been calling "Baby Brother" would be born that day. Within an hour of checking in the doctors broke my water and began giving me Pitocen - labor was on the way! Everything went very smoothly and quickly - almost too quickly. As with Haley's birth, the epidural did not get placed in time for the delivery, so once again I experienced "natural" childbirth. Fortunately for me he was not a large baby and I only pushed for about 5 minutes (grateful for every crunch and sit-up I'd ever done) before Jacob Robert entered the world. He weighed 7.0 pounds, was 20.5 inches long, and had a full head of hair - our perfect little son!












Haley was so excited to meet her baby brother, but quickly realized he wasn't much of a playmate. She would stop in the middle of playing to touch him and exclaim "He's so cute!" before promptly returning to whatever it was that was more entertaining than Jake. A few days after he was born I said wasn't it so great that Jacob was out of my tummy so we could see what he looked like - she replied, "Yeah, because I really didn't think that he was really in there!" How bewildering this miracle of birth must be to toddlers. At least we have a few more years before the real questions start...

Mama Bird

Nesting has taken over our household lately - I think if there were any leaves in sight I would be gathering them, but we're still blanketed in snow so I've been gathering blankets, onesies, and tiny socks instead. And if you look closely at our dishwasher, you'll see that it's surprisingly free of gunk around the outside of the door. Our oven is currently doing a self-cleaning cycle. The microwave is scrubbed clean of splatters and spills. The washer and dryer have been wiped down and cleaned out (yes, you read that correctly - I cleaned the inside of our clothes washer). And do you need to find a recipe for a blueberry-nectarine tart? Simply look under the "tarts" tab in the recently-organized Wood family cookbook.

Not that any of this maniacal cleaning means our home looks clean any given time. There are still piles of unopened mail on the counter and Kix that crunch under our feet on the carpet. It's the long-term, built-up dust and grime that have been bothering me. Fortunately Haley thinks it's a great game to wipe things off and knows right where the rag drawer is. She spent about 20 minutes with a spray bottle of water and a rag, "washing" the top of the coffee table. It really helps that Haley sees Cinderella scrubbing floors - she'll scrub and scrub while belting out "Sing Sweet Nightingale" (she says "nightin-dale"). Too bad she probably won't feel the same way about cleaning when she's 16...

In other Adorable news, Haley's been perfecting the art of wrapping us around her little finger. Her latest phrase is "will you come be my friend?" It's hard to resist that - even in the middle of a project or as we leave her room at night - especially when she adds "I love you to the moon and back, Mama." Sometimes it's hard to believe she's not quite 3 - today she's been throwing around words like "usually"and "actually." Let's hope the cute streak continues through the arrival of Baby Brother...

I wonder if they serve posted eggs at Monster Feeb

Almost every night Rob and I fall asleep comparing the cute things Haley said that day. Sometimes they're just mispronunciations ("posted eggs" instead of poached eggs), others are on purpose. She likes to change out syllables and make up new words - Red Lobster becomes Monster Feeb, and it's so nonsensical and charming at the same time that we always end up in stitches. I'm sure at some point "Genard's" will self-correct to "Menard's" and "keevees" will become "kiwis", but for now we won't try too hard to correct her.


The highlight of our week was an unexpected visit from our friends April, Dave, and Morgan. Haley was so excited to find out they were coming that she was literally bouncing off the walls. Having not seen them since June, Haley said Morgan looked "different" and we had to explain that she had been growing and getting bigger too. The girls had so much fun playing together and were especially excited to get tucked into their beds for their first slumber party (although both wound up in their parents' beds). We can't wait to see them again this summer and introduce Haley's baby brother to Morgan's baby sister.

Construction continues

The past few weeks have seen our basement go from storage area to construction zone. Rob is making impressive progress, with the framing and electrical almost finished, and we hope to have the electrical inspector sign us off this week. We'll then be cleared to install insulation (lots of it!) and put up sheetrock. We know you've been dying to hear our step-by-step progress!

Above: Our new window makes a big difference. Before this was just a cinderblock wall.

Use of the word "we" above really refers only to Rob. He's down there every spare moment of his evenings and weekends, and I've only gone down to help once (but many other times to give opinions...). Last Saturday we all spent the afternoon down there - Rob and I stringing wire and Haley practicing gymnastics. She has a bar to hang on and a balance beam made from 2x4's. Between that and her baby dolls she can self-entertain for hours!

Haley's decided she's really not fond of many of the power tools, especially the air compressor which she calls the "pa-chunker". It turns on randomly to, well, fill with air I guess. We were down there one time and she was playing by it while Rob and I talked in the other room when it turned on. She ran to me and leaped into my arms, literally whimpering and shaking. Now she won't go down the stairs without yelling, "is the pa-chunker off?" Every loud noise is now a Pa-chunka - if she bumps or drops something in the other room and I say, "What was that?" she'll yell back, "Nothing! Just a Pa-chunka!" I suppose we could tell her what it's really called, but that would spoil the cuteness.

Stay tuned for more updates on Hotel Wood...



















This is what I've been busy with the past 2 weeks - I completed my 2nd cake-decorating course, and we have a lot of Royal Icing flowers around the house to prove it. This was our final project - the birds are a little cheesy, but I made all the flowers myself!

Two going on 12...

Haley is continually surprising us - both in what she does and says. Some cute things Haley has said this week:

When asked after dinner if she had room in her tummy for a cookie: “Yep, right here (pointing to a spot on her belly). It’s a nice, round spot for that cookie.”

When we were saying she had eyes like Daddy, hair like Mama, etc.: “Where did we get all these pieces to build me?”

As she leaned her head against my belly: “Hello in there! How are you doing?”

As I tucked her in and said goodnight: “After I close my eyes and go to sleep it will be a new day, and we can stay home all morning and play, play, play.”