Merry Christmas!

This is a photo of the photo that Jack and Sadie took with Santa last weekend. Sadly, we don't have a digital version. The kids were pretty pooped by the time they got onto Santa's lap. There was a lot of waiting around to get to this moment. They were pretty excited when Santa first entered the room. He was a very vivacious santa, and sang Christmas carols with all the kids. Sadie and Jack both battled the crowd to get close to him.

We're off to the east coast and snow tomorrow. Delaware got a foot and half of snow today! Hopefully the snow will stop in time for a smooth flight for our broad tomorrow.

This blog will go dark until we get back, but I do wish all our readers a very merry Christmas and promise a New Year filled with lots of new Jack and Sadie photos!

Holdovers

Here are a couple of close-ups of the kids from a few weeks back. We did not take too many photos this weekend. We're swamped with trying to prepare for Christmas. In the absence of new photos hopefully these two will keep the sadie-and-jack-ophiles of the world satiated.

Master of Disaster

Last week was one crazy week with Jack. On Wednesday night he catapulted himself out of his crib and fell 4 feet to the ground. Amazingly, the crib-fall did not even result in a bruise. Although it did produce quite a bit of anxiety for J. and I worrying about how to keep Jack safe at night. And then, on Thursday, Jack went to battle with a child's folding chair at daycare and got his thumb caught in the chair's hinge. He cut his left thumb badly and we had to rush him to the ER. He got 8 stitches in his thumb. To keep him from messing with the stitches he'll be wearing the large bandage shown in the photo above for a while. Once the ER staff tied Jack down and numbed his hand he took the stitches well. J. stayed with him while they sutured his thumb. J. entertained him with a cell phone and the doctor said that is was the only time a child laughed while getting stitches. Needless to say, Jack earned his new nickname "Master of Disaster" this week. We can only hope that the nickname becomes irrelevant soon.

Turkey Days

Sorry for the delay in getting the Thanksgiving photos up. I have no excuse; we've actually had a very relaxing weekend. Jack and Sadie got the thrill of dressing up and entertaining guests by tearing through the house on Thanksgiving, but they had to wait for their turkey until Friday because it wasn't out of the oven until after bedtime. Turkey was a hit, and has been a constant at every meal since though. I've even turned them onto one of my holiday favorites: biscuits with turkey and gravy. Sadie experimented with putting turkey down her shirt. Jack focused on how much turkey could physically fit in his mouth. Sadie and Jack don't lack for creative outlets at mealtime.

Moffet's

We took the kids to our favorite restaurant on Saturday, Moffet's Chicken Pie Shoppe. Man, the chicken pot pies at Moffet's are good. The kids enjoyed the chicken pies, but pupusas are still their favorite food. Their taste buds must just not be refined enough yet to appreciate a good old fashioned chicken pie. I'm sure they'll come to love Moffet's in good time. They're going to have to - it's one of the only restaurants where the waitresses don't recoil in horror when we walk in.

Bath time

I think this photo speaks for itself.

First Words

I figured that I should follow up the H1N1 post with some more positive news.

Sadie and Jack have been talking for a while now, but J. and I have debated what counts as the official first words. Both the kids said "Dada" pretty early on. "Dada" and "Mama" were followed by "Hi" and "Bye." The kids even went through a phase of being into the exclamations "Wow" and "Ut Oh." But I've always thought that a child's first word is really the first non-proper noun that they start using because it tells you about their personality. The first non-proper noun is a manifestation of what they find most fascinating - what they are eager to tell others about.

Sadie's first non-proper noun was "Bellybutton." Sadie loves her bellybutton. She loves to show it to people. She loves to check that it's still there. She loves to tell you about her "beh-beh," as she calls it. Sadie also now likes to point out "ki-cat," "das," and "ba-bies" (not to be confused with "beh-behs").

Jack has also become fascinated with his bellybutton, but he chooses not to verbalize his affection for it. We're still waiting for his first non-proper noun. Or at least, I'm still waiting for it.

H1N1

Swine Flu has hit our home. Jack woke up last Sunday morning feeling terrible and suffering from a 104 fever. He had two pretty rough days on Sunday and Monday, but has been improving steadily since. Today he seems about 70% himself. We saw our pediatrician yesterday and he said we're out of the woods - Jack is beyond the phase where there would be any complications from the flu.

Sadie also got H1N1, but only a very mild case of an intestinal virus. It doesn't seem to be slowing her down one bit. I think she's much more bothered by Jack being the center of attention. She's even tried a fake-sounding cough a couple of times when we've been focused on Jack.

The good news is that Jack's immune system seems be getting better and better at fighting off illness. Our pediatrician was very happy that the flu didn't cause Jack to develop bronchitis. We're crossing our fingers that we might get a few month respite from the pediatrician's office some time soon.

HomeWalk

Jack, Sadie, and I did the 5K HomeWalk to end homelessness on Saturday. Here we are at the finish line. As you can see I did the heavy lifting, including carrying the mighty-heavy Jack in my arms for a chunk of the walk. The kids were good sports though, and that was much appreciated. Thanks to incredibly generous family and friends we raised $440 for the walk! I also organized the Skid Row Housing Trust team for the walk and we had more than 50 people join our team and we raised over $2,800.

It was exciting to have Sadie and Jack join me in my work around homelessness. I hope that ultimately they will develop an appreciation for social justice work and be proud of their mama for what I do everyday. It make take a few more years of bribing them with tasty snacks to keep them happy at this annual walk, but someday I hope they do get excited about the cause itself.

Happy Halloween!

Favorite Book

Over the past 18 months we've developed a solid selection of children's books, but if Sadie and Jack had their way we'd read just one book every night: Baby Animals Peekaboo. Jack and Sadie come running every time we take this book off the shelf. They both pile on to the lap of whoever is reading the book. And they demand that we read the book at least twice through. Apparently Baby Animals Peekaboo is over way too fast.

Baby Animals Peekaboo is not an award winning children's book. I'm not sure the author's name is even on it. I think the only place it is sold is Target, and Target has a far from impressive children's book selection. None of this matters to Jack and Sadie though. Who needs a story, when you have a book with fur, animal noises, and the surprise of peekaboo? Not these two.

He loves swimming!

Pud invited us over to her hotel a few days ago to take advantage of the indoor pool. She had the challenging task of trying to keep Jack from drowning in the pool. He was thrilled to be in the pool, and accordingly wanted to explore every inch of it.

The babies had a fantastic visit with Pud and we're all sad to see her leave tomorrow. The east coast is just too damn far away!

Descanso Gardens with Pud

Pud is here for a visit this weekend, and what a weekend it's been. It's been action-packed, with Jack and Sadie's first professional hair cuts on Friday, Descanso Gardens on Saturday, and swimming on Sunday. I foolishly forgot to bring the camera for the hair cuts, but I did get snippets of hair from each of the babies. Sadie's hair does not look that different, but Jack is looking particularly handsome with his new doo.

We got this shot at Descanso Gardens on Saturday. Sadie and Jack had been racing around the children's garden, but they stopped for a brief second and J. snapped this picture.

The Saddest Excuse for a Pumpkin Patch

We ventured out on Sunday for a little fall cheer to a local pumpkin patch. There are some weird ideas about what constitutes a pumpkin patches in LA. Many of the local pumpkin patches include corn mazes, rides and carny food stalls. This particular pumpkin patch wasn't more than a dirt parking lot with a small area for pumpkins, some bizarrely passive goats and sheep being passed off as petting zoo, out of place rides such as bumper boats, and cheap Thai and Chinese food. J. and I were pretty disappointed. Fortunately Sadie and Jack were completely oblivious and were happy to frolic among the pumpkins. Jack, our strongman-in-training, spent most of the time trying to lift pumpkins that were half his size. Sadie just crawled all over the pumpkins like they were part of a jungle gym.

First Seesaw

We went to an amazing playground yesterday in Culver City. We were there to visit our friends Dan and Ronite's new baby and they tipped us off to a park nearby. The playground was fantastic with lots of different play structures: boats, trains, constructions sites. There were different jungle gyms for different ages. There was also a great seesaw that had benches rather than individual seats at either end. J. got Sadie and Jack going on one end and rocked it from the other. As you can see it was a big hit.

Balloon Artist

We went to a party today where there was a balloon artist, and I have to say this guy was a true "artist." He made the most amazing balloon creations I have ever seen. Jack and Sadie were in absolute heaven. The minute he handed them each their own balloon creations joy spread across their faces like a match catching fire. It was hard to photograph because they were screaming and waving their balloons so frantically that most the pictures came out blurry. We did manage to get a few decent shots thankfully.

Elenora's

Jack and Sadie go to Elenora's, our daycare provider, Monday thru Thursday while I'm at work. We've been lucky to find a stable, affordable, and loving environment for them. Elenora has been running the daycare single-handedly for over 20 years. I don't know how she does it, but she takes care of six kids. Here are Jack and Sadie with the full gang including Zane, Sylus, Miriam and Geninna with Elenora in the background.

Sadie Girl

In the mornings Sadie loves to take her blankets and her Jelly Cat pillow out of her crib and roll around on the floor with her bedding. J. got this photo of her Saturday morning.

The Dragon

Sadie and Jack got this awesome rocking dragon from Grandpop and Paula for their first birthday. They love the dragon. They fight over the dragon. They do tricks on the dragon. It may be one of their all time favorite toys.

Picture Books

This photo should be an advertisement for reading to kids early. Jack and Sadie both love story time now. They both climb onto our laps for their bedtime story every night. Some day I'm going to make them their own book with photos of them in it. I've already got a title: The Adventures of Handsome and Sugar Pie.

Cuties in the Tub

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I don't know what it is, possibly just my motherly bias, but Sadie and Jack have seemed abnormally cute lately. I love arriving at daycare at the end of the day and watching them toddle around Elenora's yard. Maybe they just seem more human now that they get around on two feet. Or, maybe as they grow they are filling into their facial features. Whatever it is they are damn cute. I couldn't resist taking a few photos tonight to share their adorable-ness with the worldwide web. This was bath-time tonight. During which we learned that sucking on shampoo bottles gives one the hiccups. There's important learning happening all the time in our house.

Pink Sunglasses

I've spent months conditioning Sadie to not immediately rip sunglasses off her face. I have not succeeded in training her not to rip my glasses off my face, but she recently started tolerating her glasses for a few seconds before they inevitably make their way into her mouth. Here is the fruit of my labor - our best glamour shot yet.

More Summer Vacation - Jack & Libby

For the final summer vacation pic, we choose this shot of Jack in Libby's arms. Libby is fantastic with the babies. She knew just how to keep our little monkey entertained!

More Summer Vacation - Dad & Ima

I have finally sorted through all 1,230-some odd pictures from our vacation two months ago. Sadie and Jack had a wonderful time with Dad and Ima while we were all in Bethany Beach. Like much of the vacation there are more photos of Jack with our families because Sadie stayed close to her mama, while Jack warmed up a little faster. We had a wonderful week in Bethany. Having a home-base that we did not have to leave everyday was a big plus since going anywhere at this age is a big production. We did make it to the Rehobeth boardwalk one afternoon. Sadie had the time of her life on the carousel and Jack loved the ferris wheel. Beach life seemed to suit them both well!

The End of Summer

This is really a summer vacation pic, from our time at the Delaware shore, but it seemed like a nice summation of the summer. We've had a lot of adventures this summer, many of which involved Sadie and Jack having new experiences and being extremely excited. Some of those experiences have felt a bit perilous, like this one where Jack caused their floaty to capsize not long after this photo was snapped (thankfully their dad was by their side and quickly rescued them).

This summer was the first period where many of our close friends and family got to really know Jack and Sadie. Their personalities have really exploded this summer as they have become aware of their surroundings and are gaining new communication skills every day. It's been amazing for J. and I, as their parents, to be able to broaden our world a bit, get out of the city, and get time with our larger network of loved ones. While it's a bit sad to see this summer of firsts (walking, swimming, waving, wagons, hiking, the farmer's market, and so much more) come to end, it's exciting to know that our world as a family is only going to expand more. Sadie and Jack are only 16 months old and we've been able to do so much already. I can't wait to see what's in store this fall and winter!

Sadie Walking

This is technically a summer vacation photo, but with no one else in the photo I figured it could go under a different heading to shake things up. Sadie took her first steps a few nights before we headed home to LA. I believe that it was July 17th to be exact. We, of course, don't have her first steps on camera, but here she is getting ready to walk independently.

Since we got home both Jack and Sadie are walking independently. Sadie is a bit more sure-footed, but Jack makes up for his clumsy walking by having mastered the skill of carrying heavy objects while he walks. It's quite a sight.

More Summer Vacation - Mum and Pup's

I'm back to posting photos from our east coast trip. This is about the half way through during a visit to Mum and Pup's.

Huntington Gardens

We have so many pictures from our vacation and I will get to posting them, but in the interim I thought that I'd post this picture taken at the Huntington Gardens today. We had such a nice weekend this weekend. Life is back to normal. We saw lots of friends this weekend. We even got out for a concert last night. We also found time for nice family outings. We had our best visit to the Huntington Gardens with the babies yet. They are now able to walk with us if we hold their hands, which makes it much easier for them to explore nature since we had to limit crawling in dirt and mud in the past. It was quite the coup to get a photo of the babies together and both looking at the camera. A few pictures later we got one of Jack pushing Sadie away by the throat and her screaming. It's good to have at least one photo that proves that they can play nicely together.

More Summer Vacation - Jack and Tiff's

It will be time for our Christmas trip east before I finish posting our favorite photos from our summer trip. Whew, we took a lot of photos. I'm determined to blog about the major parts regardless.

Anyway, we made a marathon drive from Maine to Delaware during our trip. I'm not sure we'll be trying that with the babies again. To break up the drive we stopped by our friends' Jack and Tiffany's home in Boston. It was the perfect pit stop because Jack and Tiff have two awesome young kids of their own, Rowan and Liam. Their home is totally child-proofed and filled with toys. Parents and babies alike were in heaven with this stop. Jack and Sadie quickly made themselves at home and appropriated all of the toys. Fortunately Rowan is good at sharing and Liam was too young to notice. Sadie and Jack were particularly enamored with a parachute tunnel. We recently purchased our own tunnel because this one was such a hit.

It was a great visit and I can't wait until all of our kids are old enough for a big family camping trip on the east coast. I'm sure we'll put National Lampoons Vacation to shame.

Our Boy is Back

Last week was our most harrowing week as parents yet. On Tuesday night Jack had a fever induced seizure. Frightened out of our minds we immediately called 911 and the paramedics rushed us to the hospital. Jack's seizure lasted 2 hours - the longest and worst two hours of our lives. It took a few days, but by Thursday afternoon Jack was stable with no fever and the doctors had ruled out all serious causes for the seizure. I had a similar seizure as a baby, and from what we here they are somewhat common. We were able to bring Jack home Thursday night. Since then he has been recuperating well and by today was back to his old self - taking toys from his sister and protesting naps.

We were really lucky to have numerous close friends step in to watch Sadie and help us out while Jack was in the hospital. It was a crazy time that is thankfully behind us now.

We haven't ventured to take Jack out yet, but I know that it will not be long before he's back on the swings at the playground!

More Summer Vacation - East Boothbay

Here are a couple shots from John and Paula's house in East Boothbay. Jack and Sadie learned to wave this weekend and it was unbelievably cute. I'm not sure if these photos capture it, but they were having a lot of fun waving from the stairs.

More Summer Vacation - John & Paula's Boat

Sadie and Jack were able to experience being out on the water for the first time while we were in Maine. John and Paula took us out on their boat in East Boothbay. The babies loved being on a boat. Jack, in particular, insisted on being at the bow of the boat.