The Secret Ingredient is Love

Baking cookies with Grandma Rose for Great Grandma Genny. He only licked a couple of them.

We Thought He'd Be a Cat Person

Elsa, he misses you so much.

Ho Ho Ho. Christmas.

Noah never quite figured out how to say, "Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!" like we tried to teach him, but he came close. He's still saying it today.

There are billions of pictures of Christmas (and more Christmas to go!), but this is one of my favorites. Noah trying to escape and Greta looking petrified that we might actually let her rowdy big brother hold her.

F is for Fake Believe

Going camping. Putting dolly to bed. Having long conversations on his toy phone. Telling his teddy bear to "Wake! Up!" Noah has started to pretend. This is really, really fun.

Atomic Words

Our house has become a lab for experiments in sound. Greta is ah-goo-ing and giggling at her brother. Noah repeats the last two words of every sentence he hears and busts out with his own new word every fifteen minutes (see Vocabulary Explosion). It's astonishing and hilarious, most of the time. He's also trying out some tiny sentences: Daddy home. Mama hug. Baby crying. Heart melting.

Baby Mugshots

The side by side comparison at age two months. Noah is on the left, Greta on the right.

Jukebox Heroes

Noah and Garrett discuss their favorite 50's hits and take turns putting the quarter in the slot.

Snuggle Up

Sam gets some valuable baby cuddling practice in with Greta before grandbaby Peter Daniel comes to visit later this month.

The Sound of Music

News highlights of the week as reported primarily by Greta on location in the living room (with some background interjections by Noah and his toys). Sorry for the weird effect on the first and last clips.

Found My Voice
Uploaded by houseofhanson

Nikolaus-Stiefel

Noah and Greta were good little (partly) German kids all year, and St Nick came last night to fill their stockings with goodies.

Good Thing It's Not Prom Night

Baby acne is a huge bummer, but Greta is keeping her chin up. It's already getting better.

Snow (A Teeny Little Bit)

Swing

Our Thanks

I am thankful for this wonderful, beautiful, loving family and the one we left back west in Minnesota. What else is there?

Sourire

Just when you're starting to feel overworked and underappreciated...

Go, Diego, Go

Krista, do you remember this ball pit that you got Noah for his birthday? We had to put it away about six months ago because he was completely freaked out by the balls falling on his head from above. It came out again this morning and is waaaay more fun. He's still freaked out when the balls fall on his head from above, though.

Nice Dress

Greta looking angelic in her baptism gown.

WonderTot

His super power is the ability to reach anything, no matter how far out of his reach you thought you put it. His most recent favorite new word? Climb, of course.

I actually caught him running with scissors yesterday. My goodness.

Mmmm.... Meat Cookie

Noah feeds Aunt Tricia apple bread with pickle juice fingers and a subtle hint of summer sausage (meat cookie). Yum.

Belly Bubbles, Playtime

Greta makes some pretty funny faces when she's gassy. Sometimes she smiles. Those are just for us.

Noah wants to play near his sister - not really with her.

Tick-o-Tee

It was incredibly difficult to get Noah to stand still for even one photo. The excitement of Trick-or-Treating overwhelmed him. Or maybe he was high on the Kit Kat from the Happy Halloween package from Grandma & Grandpa.

He went out to all of 10 houses. We tried to teach him "trick-or-treat," but R sounds are very hard. He invited himself into several of our neighbors' houses and came home with cold fingers and far too much candy.

By the way, he's Simba from The Lion King. Not a chipmunk.

Ready to Learn

Noah is the short kid in the striped shirt.

There was a group of elementary school kids in the park yesterday, learning about bears. Noah abandoned the slide (WHAT?!) to play with them. He sat and listened very attentively to the teacher talking about what bears eat and how many bears can survive in the forest. He so wanted to hang with the older kids... he caused quite a scene when it was time for him to leave them alone and get back to the playground.

I think he's ready for daycare.

Smile

Peek-A-Boo
Uploaded by houseofhanson
For those of you who don't speak Noah's language, the only word he says in this video is "Smile." Thanks, Noah. I will.

OK, there's another word at the end of the video too. I haven't translated that one yet. Any ideas?

Cheese and Whine

We haven't posted a video in awhile. This part is the cheese.

Noah Hugs Greta
Uploaded by houseofhanson

Noah is taking more interest in his sister. He means well, but his hugs can sometimes be a little aggressive. Just ask Wilson.


As for me, I'm doing OK. Just OK. I miss being able to get out of the house with the ease of just one extra person to pack up for. I miss makeup and hair products. I truly despise this no-longer-pregnant-but-not-yet-normal body. And although Greta is a better sleeper than Noah was at her age, she's still a normal three-week old. I miss sleep. I miss being able to have the dishes and the laundry done simultaneously. I wish I had more arms. It kills me to pick up just one baby while they're both crying.


In these sleep-deprived, overwhelmed, post-partum hormonal days, it's really difficult to find perspective. Remind me that I have a beautiful, healthy family, OK? And that this crazy time is so short. Pretty soon, the 0-3 month clothes will have been handed down, the mountains of diapers will be gone and I'll never have to hear Elmo's annoying voice again.

And I'll be 25 and wearing the size I wore in college.

Goodbye, Mommy

Noah doesn't need me anymore. He's found a new love. She's younger and cuter than me, and she has the most fantastic pink sparkly shoes. They met at the park yesterday. I could see why Noah was attracted to her: she's an older girl (probably about three) with curly blonde hair who shared the bouncy bridge with him. Usually the older kids run right by, barely managing not to knock him off the playground enitrely. Noah was thrilled to have the attention of another kid (who wants to play with Mom & Dad all the time?). So thrilled, in fact, that he decided to hug her.

At first he was timid. He held out his arms sort of near her, as if he wasn't quite sure what to do next. Should he hug her? What if she didn't hug back? After a few awkward moments, he decided to go for it. She hugged back, then turned to go down the slide. Noah was so delighted at his success, that he hugged her again. And again. And again. He followed her around the playground hugging his new crush.

Should I be weirded out by this? Is this just because he's an affectionate kid, or is it some sign that he's no longer getting all the hugs he needs at home? Ann-Marie, I need a little help with my Pre-K Psychology.

Baby, Baby

Our pediatrician warned us that Noah might take a few developmental steps back with the arrival of the new baby. He has. He's back on the pacifier constantly and he's waking up at 5:00 am again. We're not even going to talk about bottle-weaning right now.

Fuscia Fantastic

Thanks to the House of B for introducing us to this slide show maker. Because who can choose just a couple pictures of their adorable baby?

Glee

Dads are super fun.

Giddyup

Noah rides off into the sunset.

I know this picture is out of focus, but I think it's hilarious. Noah drags all of his toys out onto the deck whenever he has a chance. Including during rain storms and when naked. I'm not sure if he's outdoorsy or just odd.

Sleeping Beauty

For the second day in a row, Noah feel asleep in the middle of lunch. Being a big brother is hard work.

P.S. I cut his hair again today. Badly. Someone please take my scissors away.

P.P.S. I also managed my first solo outing with two kids today. It was a trip to the park, and it took such extensive planning on my part that I was not about to be stopped by the rain that started falling as soon as our car left the garage. We had a few slides down the slightly moist slide, a few trips across the (slippery) bouncy bridge, then came home. Greta snoozed in the Bjorn. Success.

While You Were Out

I discovered some pictures on the computer this morning. They're from my dad's camera, taken while Kevin and I were at home in the first days with Greta.

Noah has recently discovered that he can slide on his own and that it's super fun. The exception is the tube slide - that one is still a bit scary.

October Is

Noah's October To-Do List:

Play in the leaves...

(see the rest of the pictures here - there are about a million)

Feed a goat...

Run through a hay maze...

(see more shots from the apple orchard here)

The pumpkin patch and the Halloween party are still to come.

Dear MM

A really sweet picture of Grandpa and Greta