Snowbound Herpetologist

Hi, everyone - no time for blogging!  We are all alive, though, and things are going well - just busy :) Here are some photos of recent events! Cider donuts and pumpkins = North Country Fall Everybody loves donuts! Maya makes me take photos of every. single. flower. we ever walk by. We spend a lot of time eating snacks in the back of our truck, apparently...? It froze with a vengeance and the tomatillos weren't ripe, but I picked them anyway. Making tomatillo salsa! This is husband's speciality :) I went on a business trip and husband sent me this photo of waking the babies in the morning :)   Welcome to the Great Gray Growout, 2018-2020.  I'm never dyeing my hair again, and I hope to have it completely natural by my 40th birthday.  It's going to take that long to grow it out!  This is the beginning.

I only have a few minutes to post because a) we moved my entire department to a new building on campus this week (I *never* want to move an entire lab again, it was horrible and still not finished) and b) husband is about to leave for Peru - the kids are in rare form this morning and it's epic.  I feel like I was already in a stress debt from writing a zillion lectures this semester, and then the summer has been equally stressful and sleep deprived, so I have retained the debt long after I thought I would clear it. We took Annika for another blood draw this weekend to see if her anemia is improving with the supplemental iron, but I have to say, she still eats a ton of non-food items, so I am skeptical. Her WCC appointment went well, though, and she is nice and huge.  Developmentally, she still seems right on track - running, climbing, talking.  I still can't understand most of what she says (because it literally all sounds the same), but she's *trying* to make tons of wor

Annika went to the pediatrician this morning for her 15 month WCC, so I thought I'd do a quick update of the growth charts and throw a few recent photos up! Maya, Annika, and I flew alone to California - the plane rides were nothing short of a disaster, but we survived.  Annika only slept for 5 minutes on one of the the four legs, basically crashing out as we landed at my parents' airport.  Good times. Maya is going through a bit of an ill-behaved phase, but we are trying to suss out the root of it (unclear) and provide a strong, yet supportive, framework for her to re-find her center.  P.S. I think her teenage years might break me. Enjoy the photos! Sisters in a box ("sister" is one of Annika's favorite new words) The *only* time she slept...as we taxied in The 30 seconds I got to spend on the beach before Annika went ballistic about the wind  Story time with Grandma Judy! Do you ever have a day where nothing seems like it's wh

The semester is very close to ending, so I have a few minutes to update while I drink my afternoon coffee (which is vital to power through the rest of the things I have to do this afternoon, which is the pile of shit that I've been avoiding while teaching because I don't want to deal with it!).  Indeed, this might be the very first month since Annika was born when I did the update actually on the 24th! Annika at 14 months is impressive in many ways, anxiety-inducing in others.  Her motor skills (gross and fine) are all awesome - stairs are messy and she can't handle much perturbation to her balance, but overall, she's moving well, handling toys, and using a spoon (although in an unorthodox fashion, see video below).  Her verbal skills, though, are less impressive.  Maya had 30+ words and another 20+ signs by 13 months, and Annika is hovering around a dozen words (and maybe 5 signs) at 14 months: mama, dada, maya (ya-ya), owl (who-who), la la la (that damn book is equa

I mean seriously - look at the determination in those eyes! Also, a few videos:

The end of the semester has been brutal, but I'm sneaking in 20 minutes on this crisp Easter morning to provide a super fast update before we head off to the neighborhood egg hunt. Annika at 13 months is equal parts super fun and super cranky.  We've had a series of daycare illnesses (both conveniently - and horribly - timed to mostly affect weekends, which means she hasn't missed any daycare but has also been in rare form for the time we have her most), her molars are trying to emerge and her gums are super swollen, and she's been going through a very clingy phase in which mama can't go anywhere or do anything without screaming.  That said, when she's rested and Tylenoled, she is so, so much fun.  She is doing a lot more exploring of toys (putting things in and out of baskets, hauling dolls everywhere and burping them, wearing everyone's clothes all the time), and she and Maya wrestle like you wouldn't believe (to a continuous chorus of "Be gentl

Happy birthday, baby boo!  She is so, so big :)  Walking, talking, the works!  I'll try to update this later with some actual text, but in the meantime, here are some photos!  She demolished her cupcake :)