park it

today was mommy's first full day alone with both kids since annie was born.



daddy went to work and roxana called in sick so it was time, 29 days in, to fly solo.



of course it was hardly the challenge it could have been, as jack was at nursery school for the morning and a friend brought by lasagna, so dinner is already prepared.



but, after jack's nap, we decided to take advantage of the relatively nice weather and head to the park.

having both at the park can be a challenge, especially when annie is in the stroller and jack wants someone to run after him and play constantly, but somehow we managed.



since jack doesn't deign to use the stroller much these days, it has been converted for annie's use -- the seat flipped around to face the pusher and laid back flat.



but, as an accommodation to jack, we did buy and today installed a ride-on board for the back axle of the stroller for when he wants to roll behind rather than walk beside.

he seemed to enjoy his perch by the handlebars, though he still feels a little nervous when we're on hills ... our neighborhood is mostly mountainous (and our main export is chrome) so that could be problematic in the future.



but for this afternoon it worked ... we were parkin' it ... and surviving.



now just have to make it through tubby time with the "double feature" ...

first sled

as we told you, annie was born in the midst of an ice storm.

shortly after we got home from the hospital, there was not only ice ... there was snow!

so grandpa and daddy took jack out to the nearby park, where they found an abandoned sled (actually more of a plastic saucer).

and so it came to pass that jack went sledding for the first time in his young life.

jack loved getting dragged up the hill and then whooshing down. and daddy's back held up enough for multiple runs.

the next day, after having given the poor abandoned sled a home for the night (read: grandpa absconded with it), we brought it back to the park where we found it and daddy went to the hardware store and bought jack his very own sled ... jack was thrilled and was particularly proud that it was red and it was even faster than the blue sled.



wheeee!!!!!!

smiles everyone, smiles!

although she has not yet developed a responsive social smile, annie nonetheless often reflexively shows us her toothless grin.

can't wait to see this as a result of something we've actually done!

welcome [me] to the world

when annie was born, she got jack a present to ingratiate herself ...




and jack has been pretty impressed with his bruder fire truck.



ironically enough, "bruder" means "brother" in german. that annie ... already making multi-lingual plays on words!!


he has not shown any resentment toward her ... has not asked us to return her to the hospital or throw her in the trash, as other people have recounted their first-borns doing.

in fact, these days jack tells us with some regularity, "i love my baby sister!"


never underestimate the importance of heavy machinery!

we got annie!

mom's eye view

so we had a bunch of annie photos for you ... but in a real-life "dog ate my homework" kind of situation, we're having internet connectivity problems.

while we call comcast to figure out our problem (and possibly verizon to end this madness and finally get fios), enjoy this image from mommy's pov.

quick pix

since ald (a little ditty) is taking flak for not posting enough pictures of annie, here is one to tide over the virtual mongol hordes until we can post some taken with the "real" camera ...

enjoy!

pediatric update

annie's two-week check-up came yesterday and she passed with flying colors!

she had previously seen dr kornfeld (or dr dana, as many of her patients call her) twice in the hospital and once last week, so it was not a new experience for annie.


......................annie, day 4......................

but, despite the foreknowledge that she was about to be undressed, poked and prodded, she was in her usual zen state.

she did, however, proceed to expel liquid from every orifice while in the examining room -- pooping, then peeing, then finally spitting up ...

(ed note: by-the-by, posts on poop are verboten by daddy, but this information is incidental to the larger story and so we hope this technical infraction will be overlooked).

before the purge-a-thon, she weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces ... a measurement above birthweight at two weeks is what they want to see, especially when our precious little poop machine prolifically dipped down to 7 pounds, 8.6 ounces in the hospital. dr. dana declared, "look at my fat baby!"

everything else seemed just fine and our visit was proclaimed a success.

but, lest we give the impression that annie is the next panchen lama or something ... she had her heel pricked at the visit's end for her second metabolic screening and she howled like ginsberg. the nurse closed the door so that she wouldn't frighten other children! but, she soon calmed down and has a sporty (and seemingly giant) purple bandage to show for her troubles ...

so, we will return in two more weeks for her one-month checkup. one month?!? how the time flies ...

angel baby

we seem to have a surplus of angels at our house these days.

miss annie is certainly acting like an "angel baby" ... according to the rubric laid out by tracy hogg, aka the baby whisperer.

she is a great sleeper and a very mellow soul.

as dedicated blog-followers know, our firstborn, master jack, was not exactly what one would have termed an "angel baby." he fit more into the "spirited" category (still does!) ...

so who knew he'd all of a sudden be an angel too?

well ... that's what he declared from his bath the other night ...

"look, mama! i'm an angel!"

he means the bubbles clinging to his arms and chest ... making him look like he has angel's wings.

i'll try to keep this angelic-ness in mind next time we're headed for a time-out ...

adios to livin' la vida ...

the time has come for the blog to evolve ...

while livin' la vida jack has chronicled the past two years of jack's life, there's a new kid in town and we have to adapt.

so, as you'll notice, we are now "a little ditty" ... (insincere) apologies to john cougar mellencamp.

but if, gentle readers, you're still looking for the old llvj, don't worry ...

you can always find it here (or through the link on the sidebar of this page)