Snowbound Herpetologist

From the pediatrician this morning: 22lbs 1oz (10 kilos!!! - plus, final confirmation that my home scale overestimates weight by 1-1.5lbs) and 29.75 inches long! My parents successfully left this morning to head back to California - it was a FANTASTIC visit (and SO helpful!!), and we're sure going to miss them! Some recent photos: She's still not thrilled with the car seat - and she's outgrowing it this month!  I bought a new one that arrives tomorrow.... Maya's written language is (literally, ha) exploding! I had to set up a "puke pad" in my bed this week - awesome.

Two things that make me marvel about this video (other than the INCREDIBLE fact that she's standing pretty much unaided): how tired I look (I mean, seriously  - I actually think the level of dark circles makes me look kind of ill), and my super funny postpartum regrowth of hair :)  It comes in as this shockingly weird fringe around my entire hairline - it's about 2-3 inches long right now, which is the peak of awkwardness :)  This happened with Maya, too!

Happy 3/4 birthday, Annika!  This month, she has perfected both crawling and pulling to stand - both *much* earlier than Maya did!!  We finally have our first sign, which (most surprisingly!!!) is "more."  She still can't point to any person or body part on command (i.e., she has no idea what "mama" means), but she somehow understands the abstract concept of "more?"  How is that even possible???  So clearly, we have a ways to go before we have any real communication, but maybe this next month will see some exciting progress (because you know moms always worry until the skills finally show up!) Annika has also started playing games, including her own version of peek-a-boo where she hides her face and waits for us to say "Where's Annika?"  Then she pops us, we give the obligatory excited "peek-a-boo!" and she dissolves in a sea of giggles.  She also loves to roughhouse with Maya, which causes me a lot of anxiety as well since th

That's right, folks, I'm solo parenting for a while!  I've been on my own since Tuesday, and so far, things have gone pretty well.  I was tired today because the baby slept like crap last night, which meant my motivation was low for cleaning the entire house in preparation for my parents' arrival on Monday - but on balance, we look pretty good!  I met all my work obligations this week, kids had a good week at school (and we were even arriving on time by Friday!), and swimming lessons went well today despite a torrential downpour.  During the bit of time we have right before bed, I'm even trying to teach Maya to read!  I bought most of the girls' Christmas and birthday presents, and on Wednesday, I even had both girls asleep in their own beds (with the dishes done!) by 8pm.  Super mom alert!!! :) Anyway, Annika cut her third tooth yesterday and is getting very good at pulling to a standing position.  Her other trick is that she's definitely figured out what

The baby is now proficiently crawling!  This is excellent (and earlier than Maya), but it also means that my baby-proofing hell is now a reality.  Baby-proofing with a pre-schooler around, especially in the North Country autumn with its never-ending supply of fallen leaves, is exhausting.  There is always, ALWAYS, shit on the floor that the baby can get.  I'm trying to think back to what these months were like with Maya, and I have no recollection of it being this stressful.  To the best of my recollection, we didn't even have a gate on the stairwell going upstairs until after she could climb the stairs (Annika's not there yet, by the way).  Did I not worry about my office/the plants/cupboards/trash/toilets/cat toys in the same way?  I mean, yes, now I have all of Maya's tiny-pieced toys to worry about as well, but damn, the rest of the stuff is all stressful too. In any case, Annika no longer remains where you leave her (EVER), which will be interesting over the next