Santa Claus Came to Town

We are in the midst of Christmas around these parts. We have a few different gift-opening occasions in order to accommodate all the various families. We tell the kids that Santa Claus travels around to the different houses, so it takes him some time to get from place to place ("This weekend he came to our house, next weekend he'll make it to Grandma and Grandpa's" etc...).

Molly has enjoyed Christmas so far (and has one more to come over New Year's weekend). This was also Henry's first Christmas, so, although he seemed blase about the whole thing, it was a big deal for us parents. Here are some shots from our gift exchange with Grandma and Grandpa T. We had a great time with them -- wonderful food and a fun chance for them to spend several days with the kids. They live far away and don't get to see them as much as the Grandparents H., so this was a treat.


Here is Henry sitting in a funky plastic toy that has no specific use, and therefore has a hundred different possible uses as a toy. It's really a gift for Molly, but we thought he looked cute sitting in it as a bucket:

Henry is enjoying the stuffed dinosaur toy that Grandma T. made for him:

Here's Molly figuring out the two-headed doll that Grandma made. No, it's not some sort of monster; it has a skirt in the middle that you can flip up or down to reveal different doll faces/tops on either side. I had one of these as a girl and I loved it. So did Molly -- she's been sleeping with it ever since Christmas.

Here's an exhausted Henry sporting the darling hat that Grandma T. knitted for him:

This is a photo that Molly took of Daddy, who is wearing a necklace that Molly made of wooden beads threaded on a rope -- one of the many popular gifts she received from Grandma and Grandpa!

This is just a lovely photo of our growing boy:

Let It Snow!

We had our first snowfall of the season this weekend, and quite a whopper too. We got 7 inches of snow here, and Grandma and Grandpa T. got around 17 inches! Molly enjoyed digging in the snow with her shovel and pail, and Henry did NOT enjoy being brought out of the warm house into the snow. But we dressed him up in his Ewok suit (really it's a bear bunting) just for the photo op.

Ears and Bugs (But Luckily Not Bugs in Ears)

We've finished, at least for now, decorating Henry's room. Our finishing touch is vinyl wall decals of various origami shapes -- bugs, birds, etc. They are quite lovely and striking, we think, and make for a unique look to the room. The nice thing about these wall decals is that they are an inexpensive and non-permanent way to decorate.



In medical news, today Molly had a minor operation to put tubes in her ears. She had a buildup of fluid behind her ear drums that was definitely affecting her ability to hear us. In fact, her obvious hearing problem is what prompted us to investigate her ears in the first place. She never suffered from ear infections. So, anyway, after a failed course of antibiotics, we had to have her ears drained and tubes put in to help them drain going forward. It was a very quick surgery, but did require general anesthesia, so it was scary for mom and dad. But Molly, as she has proven over and over, is a terrific and cooperative patient. Doctors really love her. In fact, all the people in the operating room said "Wow, we should tape her and show the other kids who come through here, to show them how calm and cooperative she is!" She recovered nicely from the operation. Going forward, as long as the tubes are in (12-18 months), we always have to put earplugs in her ears when she goes into the water, including bathtime, so that's a bit of a pain. But other than that we hope we'll have no more ear problems!

It's Potty Time!

We have great news: Molly is potty trained! She's been wearing underwear for the last week, and while she has had some accidents, she has stayed dry now for the last three days! We are very proud of our little potty user. Now, we are just talking about daytime; at night she's still in diapers (or Pull-Ups) and will be for a while. But we are very excited to put Molly in her Elmo or Dora underwear each day and have her be dry all day. Today, she even went all by herself with no help from Mom or Dad. We were both upstairs while Molly was playing downstairs, and when we came down, we found she had pulled down her pants, climbed on the potty, and, for real, was "reading" a book on the john. We had to snap a photo. Hilarious!

We had a fun weekend going to a friend's annual Christmas Cookie party, where each guest brings a cookie and we all get to share in the delicious abundance. All was going well until Molly took a bite of a cookie that was made with pistachios. Uh oh. Her allergy kicked in - she got hives on her face and one on her lip, and she said her tongue felt funny. We had to hightail it out of the party and head to CVS to get Benadryl. We felt the reaction didn't warrant an Epi-Pen (at least not at that point it didn't). We dosed her and waited at CVS for 45 minutes to monitor her reaction. Finally we felt it was safe to pile back into the car and head home. Not a great way to end a holiday party. We really have to keep a closer eye on her, especially in a nut-filled holiday season.

Thanksgiving and Good Health

We all enjoyed a terrific Thanksgiving this year with Daddy's family. Molly got to play with her cousins and the extended family got to meet Henry for the first time. Molly looked adorable in a new (to her) dress.


She also got to take more photos with Daddy's camera, some of which are quite artistic, like this one of Daddy holding a lighted spinning Mickey Mouse toy.



In Henry news, he had his two-month checkup at the pediatrician. He's doing quite well. He weighs 11 lbs, 14 oz, right now, which puts him at the 55th percentile for weight. Except for his chronically blocked tear ducts, which give him constant goopy eyes, he's pretty much in perfect health. He still isn't on much of a schedule at home yet -- he often has a fussy period at night, but not every single night. And he is still waking up every three hours or so at night to eat. We're hoping he will start to go longer in between feedings at night. Mommy's getting tired!