Xander's 2nd birthday party

Sunday evening we had a lovely birthday party for Xander. I was supposed to work Saturday night but luckily I was able to leave a few hours early and get some extra sleep so I wasn't totally cranky for the party! Yeah for sleep! It was a gorgeous day and all the kids were able to play outside. We had yummy burgers and dogs and delicious cake care of Xander's godmother. Xander got some great present from all his friends- current favs are new thomas trains, his tonka truck, a new set of wooden stackers, some farm bath toys, a beautiful new kid size picnic table, and a whole new set of books for bedtime(or anytime) reading! All in all it was a great party and I am so happy that everyone was able to come and celebrate our baby turning two! After the party Xander climbed up onto the kitchen table and got into the rest of the cake. We missed this event b/c we were at the movies but according to Nan he "really loved his cake." It's still more than edible even after he pawed it half to death! After the party Nan watched the kiddos and we had a fun adult only movie night at the drive-in. We saw Shrek and How to Train a Dragon, both of which were pretty good. I'd like to see How to Train a Dragon again b/c we had some sound issues at the beginning (the batteries in the radio died) and the sound wasn't so great until we got the car radio up and running. Also I think Xander might like it- although there was no singing so maybe not!

Alexander is two!

Happy Birthday my little man! I can't believe that Xander is TWO years old already...it's totally flown by. We're having a farm themed birthday party for him Sun evening so hopefully he will enjoy it. This is a picture of the beautiful cake that his godmother made for him!

James cut his first tooth!

So James has been pretty cranky recently and now I guess I know why. Yesterday I noticed that he had a little pearly spot on his gum and voila this afternoon there was the tip of a shiny new tooth poking through on the bottom! Now we have had great discussions about how there will be no biting mama now that he has a tooth and so far he has complied nicely- hopefully that will continue.... He's still practicing crawling on his hands and knees. He usually only makes it a few steps before he flops onto his belly. He's been cruising like a fool though. He likes to stand and hold onto things- he's taken a tentative few steps around the exersaucer but when he goes down he usually goes down pretty hard, so he's a little gunshy. We have to make sure that we don't practice around Xander b/c he tries to come and "help" which usually ends up with James on the floor with new bruises!

Apparently it's a week for new teeth b/c Xander cut 2 new teeth on the bottom.

hot and sticky...

So I was feeling like a big wimp b/c the heat today has just been killing me. I mean I survived 3 years in Senegal so why is one spring day in NH making me feel like a sack of limp noodles?!? Then I looked at the the thermometer and realized that it is 102 degree outside and I felt slighty vindicated- 102! can you believe it? global warming anyone... Luckily it is only 88 in the house!

a week of first..James started crawling!

Apparently learning to sit up was a key component to James figuring out how to crawl on his hands and knees. He hasn't done it consistently yet but he's taken those first few lunges forward and I think he's realized that it is faster than the wounded soldier crawl b/c he keep at it! He's figure out the arms- it's just his hips are weighing him down!

James sat up all by himself!

So today James sat up all by himself! He's been sitting when placed in a sitting position for a long time but this afternoon while Frank and our friend R watched he sat himself up all by his lonesome! He was so proud of himself!

James is eight months old...and it's mommy's birthday too!

Happy Birthday James and Mommy. My little man is getting so big, he's pulling himself up all by himself these days and army crawling like a champ. He's still a bit of a spoiler brat in that he wants to be held ALL the time but he's slowly learning that unless his brother is attacking him being on the floor playing isn't the worst ever!

Make way for ducklings.....

Well our 2 muscovy females hatched their ducklings today. It looks like there are about 15 or so babies bewteen the 2 of them. The one only hatched 2 and the second hatched WAY more- we haven't gotten an accurate count yet b/c she is hiding them quite well. Now we just have to keep them alive! Pics to come when they aren't hiding under mama.

Update 5/23: actually it looks like there are about 16 ducklings total. We may have had a few dissapear but it's been kinda of hard to keep track b/c they keep switching ducklings between the two hens. It seems to be about an equal number of blacks and browns. I guess it is a good use of mothering resources to divide up the duckies but it does make it difficult to keep track.

Alexander gets his first haircut!

Here are his lovely golden locks before I hacked them off! He was beginning to look a bit like a ragged duckling! But every time I tried to get near him with a pair of scissors he ran away screaming so I was thinking he was going to end up wearing it long when our friend suggested using clippers. So we buzzed daddy's hair first so he could watch and then took the long blade to him. He didn't like it very much but at least he doesn't look like a ragged duckling any longer.

Sleep...

I never understood before I became a full-time night shift working mom of 2 boys under 2 how sleep-deprived I could be and still function. As a mother sleep takes on a whole new meaning. As my college roomates will attest I used to be able to sleep though anything (and often did sleep through things I probably shouldn't have)! And yet now if I get 4 hours of sleep in a row I feel like I have had a full night's worth. I honestly can't remember the last time I slept for more than maybe 6 hours straight- it has literally been years! On a recent car trip I looked back to find both of the boys sleeping like the little angels they pretend to be and was struck by not only their beauty but my true appreciation of how nice it is to have a few quiet moments to reflect on how beautiful they are when they sleep! Too bad I couldn't have run for my bed at the same time to take a nap.. sadly my days of sleeping in the car seem to have come to an end. It was so nice in this moment to be able to look at my boys (after of course craning my neck around so I could get a look at James rear-facing) and ponder their similarities and differences in close proximity. Xander is going to look so much like his daddy- albeit it with blond hair and blue eyes and his mommy's coloring and James is a baby version of Uncle James- apparently his name choice was very appropriate! And yet they have the same nose (hopefully it will look more like mine and not like Frank's)! It's so easy when they sleep to just feel your heart overflow with love for them (as compared to recent waking hours since Xander has discovered the word "no"!).